As I contemplate the many bad things that are happening to this country’s relations with the international community, I am reminded of a legal maxim of Roman origin. Translated from Latin, the maxim reads, “One must not destroy what one does not own.”
The “what one does not own” that I have in mind is the goodwill that until recently the Philippines enjoyed vis-à-vis certain international institutions and world leaders. In recent weeks, the Filipino people have seen a sharp deterioration in this country’ relations with the United Nations, the European Union, the US government and the Roman Catholic Church and with world leaders like Pope Francis, US President Barack Obama and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Much goodwill toward the Philippines has been lost in the process.
Like any group of individuals, the Filipino people have a balance sheet. On the left side of the balance sheet are listed the assets of the Filipino people and on the other side are their liabilities. Chief among the assets appearing in the balance sheet is the goodwill that the great majority of the world’s nations—almost all of the members of the UN—feel toward the Philippines. It is this asset of the Filipino people that is undergoing erosion.
The international community’s goodwill toward and respect for the Philippines did not materialize overnight. Rather, they are the results of decades of exemplary Philippine precepts of international order and of steadfastness in the defense of libertarian principles. By 2015 the Philippines’ reputation as a respectable and responsible member of the international community had become firmly established.
An original signatory of the organization’s charter, the Philippine relations with the United Nations has always been characterized by utmost goodwill and cordiality. The various agencies of the UN—including UNDP, WHO, FAO—have steadfastly supported this country’s economic development efforts, and the financial agencies of the UN (IMF and the World Bank Group) provided support to the Philippine economy during its recurrent financial crises. With every crisis resolution the bonds between the Philippines and the UN became stronger.
The relationship of goodwill between the Philippines and the European Union, whose membership includes most of the countries that comprise the First World, has likewise become stronger over the years, with the EU providing financial and technical support for this country’s economic development programs. As with the UN, cordiality and mutual respect have been the hallmarks of the Philippine-EU relationship.
Because of its being a country with one of the largest Roman Catholic populations in the world—and its being the only Catholic country in Asia—the Philippines enjoys pride of place in the world of Roman Catholicism. Pope Francis’s pastoral visit to this country in 2015 was one of the first of his Papacy.
Since 1991 relations between the Philippines and the US, this country’s former colonial master, have undergone jarring. In that year the Philippine Senate voted to not renew the Philippines-US Bases Agreement, in the process demonstrating this country’s readiness and ability to display foreign-policy independence. But the underlying goodwill between the Philippines and the world’s only superpower was not badly shaken by the negative developments. Between the governments and peoples of the Philippines and the US there has always been a recognition of the value of maintaining a relationship that is now 145 years old.
At this point I go back to the Latin maxim that I cited at the outset of this column. “One cannot destroy what one does not own.”
The goodwill, respect and trust discussed above are the property of the Filipino people. The people of this country have worked long and hard to win the goodwill, respect and trust of the world. Only the Filipino people have the right to perform acts—acts of insolence, uncivility and insensitivity—that have the effect of destroying the goodwill, respect and trust that the international community has long accorded to the Filipino people.
No single individual, whatever his station, has the right. No one person may destroy things that belong to the Filipino nation.
E-mail: rudyromero777@yahoo.com
