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Friday, March 29, 2024

No room for jokes

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Remember the promise of then-candidate Rodrigo Duterte that he would hop on a jet ski to assert the Philippines’ claim on the West Philippine Sea?

In the same year that Mr. Duterte clinched the presidency, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, where the Philippines logged a formal complaint against China three years before, ruled in our favor, discrediting China’s claims of a so-called nine-dash line.

The succeeding years, however, were a disappointment, as Mr. Duterte effected a pivot to China in an attempt at an “independent foreign policy.” In turn, China pledged financial assistance to fund the administration’s infrastructure projects.

And even as he acknowledged China’s frequent incursions on our territory, and even as diplomatic protests were sporadically filed over this or that incident, the President always said that going to war with our giant neighbor would be futile and disastrous, given our disparity in military might.

Last year, Mr. Duterte finally said what we had suspected all along – the image of him boarding a jet ski on our waters and planting the Philippine flag on our territory was just a joke, and woe to those who believed he would even do it in the first place.

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These days as we deliberate on whom to vote for as our next leaders, making sure to consider expertise, experience and integrity most of all, and as we look at the candidates’ concrete plans on how to manage our complex domestic issues, let us also look at how they intend to defend us against bullies and aggressors.

A leader should inspire confidence among the people, and assure them that they will not be left to their own faculties in securing what is rightfully theirs. A good and sincere person, after all, will not try to take advantage of a friend’s trust and good faith, especially if that friend is somehow more vulnerable or less equipped to protect himself.

Certainly, that person would not take offense, much less retaliate, if he or she is called out for some wrongdoing.

Let us look to the international community for support and assurance, believing that a common code of decency should govern our actions between and among each other.

In the meantime, let us sift through the rhetoric and the vague motherhood statements – and never take a joke seriously when we hear one, no matter how much we want it to be true.

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