In Vientiane, Laos on Thursday, Sept. 8, US President Barack Obama and President Duterte finally met on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Nations summit.
They were supposed to have a substantial bilateral summit earlier. Duterte was supposed to ask for more military assistance for Manila to enable it to combat terrorism, illegal drugs, and incursions by China into the West Philippine Sea. The bilateral was canceled by the US delegation after Duterte threatened to curse Obama and kick him in the ass if the president of the world’s most powerful nation brought up the issue of human rights.
Speaking angrily before boarding his plane on Monday, Sept. 5, the Filipino leader uttered “son of a bitch” when asked about the possibility of Obama lecturing him. “I do not have any master except the Filipino people, nobody but nobody. You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Put*ng ina, I will curse you in that forum,” he blurted out.
“We will be wallowing in the mud like pigs if you do that to me,” Duterte warned, clearly addressing Obama. The President rightly believes the US, in the course of its history, has committed more human rights violations in the mainland and overseas than the Philippines, and in fact, more than any other nation on earth.
Later, Duterte made that point while addressing his fellow Asean leaders. He showed them a picture of the Bud Dajo massacre by American soldiers of some 600 Muslim rebels in March 1906 thus reheating a sordid chapter in Philippine-American relations.
Six miles from Jolo, Sulu, Bud Dajo is the crater of a dormant volcano where the Filipino rebels sought refuge for their last stand against the invading US forces numbering some 750 men led by a certain Colonel J.W. Duncan. The killings and pillage that took place in four days in 1906 mark the event as America’s First Vietnam, the bloodiest battle of the Moro rebellion against the Americans. Two-thirds of the dead Moros were women and children. This is the incident for which Duterte want the Americans to apologize today before they could be allowed to question him about drug-related killings.
Some 3,000 have been killed in Duterte’s drugs war and more than 720,000 have voluntarily surrendered and admitted to illegal drugs use.
Duterte’s outburst against Obama has sent stock prices in Manila crashing down Wednesday (Sept. 7) as foreign investors pulled out more than $58 million in funds and sold a net of $333 million in a 10-day stock market decline. US basketball star LeBron James also canceled what would have been his third trip to Manila. His visit was canceled, at the last hour, by Nike, a US company, which cited “logistical challenges.” “Nike has made the difficult decision to cancel the Manila portion of LeBron James’ Asia tour. We apologize to all the fans in the Philippines and will look to reschedule the tour in the future,” its statement read.
On Tuesday, Sept. 6, Duterte, in a statement, expressed regret about his remarks.
It is not yet clear how Duterte’s hostile attitude towards the US president could disrupt or hurt Philippine-US relations. Manila has agreed to host five US bases across the archipelago as part of Obama’s Pivot to Asia doctrine to halt or neutralize creeping China hegemony over Asia. The US considers itself a Pacific power and accordingly, has cobbled military pacts and alliances with strategic countries like the Philippines.
By habit and tradition, Philippine presidents normally kowtow to the US.
In 2000, then President Joseph Estrada refused US demands that he stop his all-war against separatist Muslims in the Philippine south. The demand was in a letter hand-carried by the US secretary of defense, William Cohen, and signed by President Bill Clinton. In his 2000 meeting with Estrada, Cohen also offered to call Clinton for him to talk to the Philippine president.
Estrada said the call was not necessary as he had made up his mind to pursue his all-out war against the Muslim rebels under the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Mindanao, the southern island. The then-popular Philippine president won that war, capturing 45 MILF camps, including their headquarters, Camp Abubakar. By January 2001, Estrada was out of power, ousted by what Estrada believes now was a US-instigated coup.
During his 20-year presidency, Ferdinand Marcos established relations with China ahead of the US.
The Filipino strongman also cut the 99-year lease on Clark and Subic bases to 25 years, made the Americans pay an annual rent for their use, and demanded that the facilities be called Philippine bases with the Filipino flag flown alongside the US flag.
By late 1985, Washington was demanding that Marcos call an election to legitimize his extended rule. He fell for the ruse, called a snap election in February 1986, and won. But allegations of cheating triggered a US-inspired military coup that ended Marcos’ 20-year reign.
Thus, two Philippine presidents fell because they didn’t pay heed to US diktat.
In July this year, Manila won a stirring arbitral tribunal victory in The Hague which declared that there is no such thing as historical rights in China’s claiming 80 percent of the South China Sea.
At his impromptu meeting with Duterte last week, Obama apparently managed to get his point across just the same—without the threatened volley of expletives from Duterte. “‘Do it “the right way’,” Obama advised.
“As despicable as these [crime] networks may be and as much damage as they do, it is important from our perspective to make sure that we do it the right way,” Obama related to reporters after the tête-à-tête. when asked about his conversation with Duterte.
“Because the consequences of when you do it the wrong way are innocent people get hurt and you have a bunch of unintended consequences that don’t solve the problem,” Obama said he told Duterte.
Earlier Monday last week, Obama initially ignored Duterte, calling him a “colorful guy,” and then called off the meeting after the latter’s diatribes made headlines around the world.
Obama and Duterte met briefly and shook hands on Wednesday (Sept. 7) night before an Asean leaders’ gala dinner. They only exchanged “pleasantries,” said the White House.
Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said he was happy the two leaders had met Thursday. He told newsmen: “They met at a holding room and they were the last persons to leave the holding room. I can’t say how long they met. It all springs from the fact the relationship between the Philippines and the United States is firm, very strong. The basis for this relationship is historical and both leaders realize this. And I’m very happy that it happened.”