Former National Security Adviser Jose Almonte counseled President Rodrigo Duterte to exercise restraint in his foreign policy pronouncements. The former NSC braintrust of former President Fidel V. Ramos suggested President Duterte can chart an independent foreign policy and expand relations with China and Russia without breaking ties with trusted long-time allies like the United States.
Almonte expressed the view in a press conference on Thursday. He and I are on the same page on the issue of making new friends while keeping old ones which I wrote in my Wednesday column in the Standard. It’s too bad JoeAl doesn’t have a bigger role in the Duterte administration. He could ,with his stature, rein in the President’s frequent outbursts in foreign policy. Digong’s confrontational statements against the US, UN, and the European Union are making relations with them tenuous and strained. He even dared the three to withdraw their foreign aid boasting the Philippines will survive without them Brave words – but the President could be spooking the market and the stock market which will have businessmen concerned.
In a speech in Davao, Duterte reiterated this year’s Balikatan war exercises with the United States would be the last under his watch. He even dared the US to oust him through assassination with the use of the Central Intelligence Agency Be careful what you wish for. If the US really wanted to handle you with extreme prejudice it might just be biding its time. “Handle with extreme prejudice” is the CIA phrase for assassination.
“I will not stick with you (US), go ahead withdraw your aid. Filipinos are not mendicants,” Aside from his pointed words to President Barack Obama, Duterte also had vitriolic words for the European Union and human rights groups criticizing the extrajudicial killings of suspects in his brutal war on drug pushers and users. Those are brave words but the reality is that it would be difficult for a small country like the Philippines to survive without foreign aid, especially military grants in the face of external threat arising from the South China Sea territorial dispute. If Duterte wants to cozy up to China, fine. But let’s not veer away from US ally America.
Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr., who hasn’t expressed any original foreign policy of his own has only echoed the President’s sentiments. He faulted the US for failing to show any strong support in its maritime border dispute with Beijing in the South China Sea territorial row. What does he want the US to do, start firing missiles in the direction of China? International relations, in case Yasay doesn’t know it yet, is based on restraint even if you have the military muscles to flex. This is more China’s approach in the South China Sea where it bullies the Philippines and Vietnam by grabbing Scarborough Shoal and the Paracels.
China must be enjoying all this. Duterte is courting China even after the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague has ruled in favor of the Philippines and rejected Beijing’s claim of nearly 90 percent of the oil, gas and mineral-rich resources beneath the South China Sea. Instead of negotiating from a position of strength with The Hague ruling, Duterte wants to sleep with the enemy. For this, China lifted the import ban on our bananas. At the height of the dispute on Scarborough Shoal (Panatag), the Chinese held crates of Philippine bananas and let them rot at the docks due to alleged fruit infestations. How about letting our fishermen fish in Panatag where they have always done before the Chinese grabbed Scarborough Shoal? Better yet, how about abiding by The Hague court ruling?
The US, on the other hand, will turn over to the Philippines several refurbished C-130 planes as a manifestation of its military assistance under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement that Duterte wants to abolish. This has raised concern among the locals and international observers.
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This was sent by Mel Amado, the resident wit at the Wednesday Club Bar and Lounge of The Pavilion Hotel. He says: Never get jealous when you see your ex with someone else. Our parents taught us to give our used toys to the less fortunate. The beauty of this joke is that it is not misogynistic as there is no gender specified.