When presidents meet

It is interesting to speculate on what President GMA and President Obama will talk about when they meet on July 30. Given the little we know about their personalities and characters there is no telling what it will be about.

Certainly, the meeting was called urgently even the American ambassador was caught flatfooted. She told the press President GMA would meet with President Obama before the end of the year.

The invitation has come earlier and I understand from reliable sources it was conveyed directly from the White House to Malacañang Palace. Whatever our political differences, Filipinos should rally behind our President and hope she does well in addressing mutual concerns. 

A president is a symbol as well as a person. As a symbol she speaks for the country and the Filipino nation. Those who insult her as a symbol insult our country. The Opposition should refrain from making hasty and unfounded statements. It only puts the Philippines in a bad light to the rest of the world when Filipinos are seen scrambling to put their own house down for politically partisan interests.

The official announcement says the talks will be about ‘substantive matters’ like the campaign against terrorism and climate change, among others. It will not be about the internal politics of the country.

It is contemptible how Filipinos shamelessly urge the United States to interfere in the country’s internal matters. They had better re-read our colonial history. At the very least they should respect the heroism of our forebears and heroes who fought mightily, sometimes with nothing but knives and spears to achieve the independence of this country. This cannot be diminished by cheap politics from the Opposition.

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If it does come to pass that President Obama should talk about matters that interfere with our country’s affairs (which I do not think he will) Mrs. Arroyo should bring up the Bells of Balangiga. The bells were taken away as war trophies by US soldiers in 1901. America has not returned these despite requests from Philippine presidents.

An American general ordered the province of Samar, which included Balangiga, be turned into “a howling wilderness”. Thousands of Filipinos, (also called ‘niggers’ then by American white soldiers) died. Filipinos regard the Bells of Balangiga as Americans regard the Liberty Bell – a symbol of their struggle for independence.

That should put to task any attempt on the part of Americans to call RP-US ties as “partnership and maturity of a relationship based on equals”.

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The Heritage Foundation has come forward at this time to warn President Obama on what he must do when he talks to President GMA. This is the same foundation that vilified President GMA in 2004 when she recalled the Philippine contingent from Iraq for the sake of a Filipino truck driver. The right wing think tank predicted President GMA would be ousted by the Filipino people and said she would not last 2005.

At least the Heritage Foundation directed its statements to their President unlike Filipinos who forgot they had their own country and addressed their concerns to President Obama. An official of the right wing think tank said President Obama should make clear, “his respect for President Arroyo is grounded in the constitutional order of the Philippines and the office she holds.” I wonder where he was when Marcos and Erap were ousted?

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Having read about President Obama and seen the unfolding of some of his foreign policies, I do not think that the Heritage Foundation needs to warn him.

Moreover, its warning is partisan. It would be more accurate if President Obama were made aware it is a debate on Charter change taking place and there are two sides.

If there are Filipinos against Charter change there are even more Filipinos for Charter change even if they do not appear in oligarch-owned media. It is about time that President Arroyo balances her actions in deference to this wide constituency for constitutional reform.

If America sincerely wants a more democratic world it should help us, not hinder us, from voting in a referendum so Charter change can be voted upon democratically instead of pushing for elections that favor the rich or candidates that can be called upon to serve American rather than Philippine interests.

The Philippines must be given the space to strengthen its sovereignty before it can be a reliable sovereign ally in the region.

President Obama has opened new frontiers in diplomacy and would know better than dictate to the Philippine president what she must do in the interest of her country.

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In my opinion, the invitation to the Philippine president is part of an overall plan for America’s return to Asia. It had been neglected with America’s preoccupation with Iraq and Afghanistan. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered the message at the Asean meeting in Phuket.

President Arroyo should be reminded as well how the country’s neighbors regard American presence in the region when she talks with President Obama. Asean countries would cooperate and be friendly with the US but they are not prepared to sacrifice their own policies to strengthen the region.

Asean member countries rejected US calls to expel Myanmar over the detention of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who is the chair of the 10-state grouping told Clinton that while Asean and the West ‘have the same goal, we cannot implement the same policy.”

He added there were not enough grounds to expel Myanmar. In Prime Minister Abhisit’s view “if Myanmar is expelled it will further isolate the regime”. That would not solve the problem he said. He also rejected imposing more sanctions on Myanmar, as the United States and European Union have done. ‘

“We insist on our policy of constructive engagement and hope that the US will understand,” he added.

Another Asean member, Malaysia added its voice for a more constructive engagement with Myanmar. Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Anifah Aman said “it was time for Asean to engage directly with the Myanmar leadership and set up a development fund to assist the country, instead of just asking it to free political prisoners and urge it to embark on the path to democracy.”

He suggested Asean take the initiative to engage with Myanmar and ask it to nominate an envoy, assign a country such as the current Asean chair Thailand to set up a working group that would cobble an incentive package in tandem with a road map towards democracy.