BFF USA

Our friendship with the United States of America has always been and will always be work-in-progress. Colonial mentality, renamed “mental colony” by erstwhile comedians, is slowly being eroded as economic and political ties become more tenuous, strained and tested by the passage of time.

The little brown brother, who turned misty-eyed at the mention of the close ties between former colonizer and subject, is a dying breed. Even the apologue of Superpower America has begun to sound untrue ever since Hanoi punctured its mythical invincibility and relief from domestic recession remains remote. Captain America has grown flabby.

This is not to say that we should now transfer loyalty and replace best-friend-forever (bff) USA. After all, the alternatives seem even more unacceptable. Allegiance with the presumed next-superpower, China, would be like agreeing to be the marginalized 5th concubine in a harsh, rich man’s harem. With all the imperfections of a democracy, Communism offers an even darker future as history has proven. We’ve learned that our homegrown Marxist ideologues have feet of clay after all. The Left has been unmasked to be every bit as trapo as the trapos they lambast. And we have personal experience that a benevolent dictatorship is a fairytale with an unhappy ending.

Deep friendship requires that the rose-tinted glasses be taken off for sharper focus and a more objective assessment. Evaluating our true standing with a longtime ally is overdue. It is time to outgrow the little brown brother routine. There were times when we expected Big Brother but got Ruthless Negotiator instead; times when self-interest was thinly disguised as an altruistic gesture; times when our sense of entitlement was rudely shattered.

The tale of two Smiths, more than one hundred years apart, examines the hypothesis of friendship between two nations.

On December 2006, the Makati Regional Trial Court found Lance Corporal Daniel Smith guilty of raping Suzette Nicolas (aka Nicole). He was sentenced to 40 years, reclusion perpetua. The premise of the verdict was that Suzette was too intoxicated to fight danger or give permission for consensual sex.

Smith was in custody at the Makati City Jail, when he was whisked away to the US Embassy. Even when the Supreme Court ruled that he should be held in a Philippine-run facility while awaiting the result of his appeal, this was ignored.

On March 2009, Suzette’s mother submitted a sworn affidavit signed by Suzette recanting her accusation. She said that she wasn’t sure that she was raped, her conscience was bothering her and she wanted to move on with her life. Suzette received a US visa and P100,000. She left for the US sometime mid-March. On April 2009 the Court of Appeals reversed the decision of the lower court and ordered Smith’s immediate release. He was flown back to the US.

Reactions ranged from a dismissive shrug to outrage. One solon quipped “it must have been a deal too good to refuse,” while another noted, “America’s act of buying Nicole’s silence is a precedent...our morality as a nation is trampled upon, our justice system spat on.”

Rewind to September 28,1901. The second Smith story starts with a massacre in Balangiga, Samar during the Philippine-American War. Filipino freedom fighters ambushed Company C of the 9th US Infantry Regiment. Of the 74 men, 36 were killed in action, including all its commissioned officers. Twenty-two were wounded and four were missing in action. Eight died later of wounds received in combat; only four escaped unscathed. The villagers captured about 100 rifles and 25,000 rounds of ammunition. They lost 28 men and 22 were wounded.

The incident was regarded as one of the bravest acts of Filipinos in a war and one of the worst defeats of the US Army equivalent to Gen. Armstrong Custer’s last stand in the Battle of Little Bighorn.

In retaliation, Gen. Jacob H. Smith was commissioned to “pacify Samar.” Smith instructed Battalion Commanding Officer, Major Littleton Waller, “I want no prisoners. I wish you to kill and burn; the more you kill and burn, the better it will please me...The interior of Samar must be made a howling wilderness.” He ordered that any Filipino male above ten years of age capable of bearing arms be shot. He became known as “Howling Wilderness Smith.”

Waller reported that in a period of 11 days, his men burned 255 houses, killed 39 people and shot 13 carabaos. From the burned town church, three church bells were looted and taken as war booty. One of the bells had reportedly tolled as a signal for the surprise attack.

Today, despite pleas for the return of the Balangiga bells, one remains with the 9th Infantry Regiment at Camp Red Cloud, South Korea. Two are on the former base of the 11th Infantry Regiment at F.E Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Smith and Waller were subsequently court-martialed for illegal vengeance against the civilian population of Samar. Waller was acquitted while Smith was found guilty, reprimanded and retired from service.

The tale of the two Smiths belies the protestations of friendship. The refusal to give back the Balangiga bells and the light slap-on-the-wrist of two erring Smiths are hardly acts of friendship. The sooner we realize that what we mistook for friendship is really just a servile relationship, the stronger we will become. It’s time to stop fooling ourselves and relying on “friends” to bail us out of trouble. Whatever assistance or intervention the US gives us depends on what’s in it for them. It’s the way it was in 1901 and 2006. It’s the way it is today.

We declared our Independence 114 years ago. It’s time we live up to it, stand on our own two feet and be self-reliant. Only then can we become an equal. And only a peer can be treated as a real friend. July 4 is not so much a day of friendship as a renewal of shared interests. That’s as clear as a bell.

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