Time for RP to cut its umbilical cord to the US

Call the Philippines anything you want - poor, corrupt, land of cheats, one of the most dangerous places on earth, whatever - but the fact remains that it is a sovereign state and therefore deserves a little respect by the rest of the world.

The United States Senate can conduct all the hearings it wants on the extrajudicial killings and poor human rights track record of the Philippines, but at the end of the day it does not have the right to tell Filipinos what to do.

No one is trying to sweep all these unflattering things about the Philippines under the rug. But we proceed according to our own pace, in accordance with our own style. If we sink, we sink without having the United States derive pleasure in pushing us down.

This arrogant country has no right telling other countries what to do, especially at this time when it is losing old friends more than it can win new ones. This hypocritical country must stop trying to set examples that it itself cannot follow even without outside intervention.

What gall does the United States Senate have in threatening the Philippines of a cutback in military aid if it does not do the American bidding regarding the high incidence of violence in the country.

Go ahead. Cut back on your military aid and then watch the Philippines become the new haven of the al Qaeda-sponsored Jemaah Islamiyah whose real targets are not Filipinos but the Americans.

It is time the Philippines cut the umbilical cord that has historically bound it to an oppressive, abusive and opportunistic country that calls others an ally only if it can squeeze all the benefits it wants to further its own interests.

The United States does not really care about the Philippines. It binds us to a number of treaties and agreements with a mind to respect them only if it works for its interests but never for ours.

Take the Visiting Forces Agreement and how it was made to apply in the case of US Marine Daniel Smith who was convicted by a Philippine court of raping a Filipino woman. Then range this VFA against the way the United States has treated us concerning the nurses board exam issue.

Consider further the attempt of the United States to make the Philippines the frontline in Southeast Asia in its war against global terrorism and then watch it stand idly by as other nations slowly edge the Philippines out of its claim to some of the Spratly isles.

At the US Senate hearings on the extrajudicial killings in the Philippines, the arrogant US senators listened only to those who have axes to grind against the Philippine government but refused to hear Filipino military and police officers who went there to air their side.

True the Filipino military and police officers were not invited to the hearings, but if the purpose of the Americans was really to determine the truth, then it should have seized the opportunity that was knocking on the door for the other side to be heard.

But the United States wants to use the Philippines as a cover for its own dismal track record in these contemporary times. Faced with escalating violence in Iraq and a losing war in Afghanistan, the United States is now desperately trying to find scapegoats to deflect attention.

The maintainer of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo is telling the Philippines it has dirt on its face. The country where schoolchildren shoot up schools and teachers have sex with their pupils is telling the Philippines to get its act together. What hypocrisy this is.