Jun Ledesma
From where I am today, I can feel the wind of change in my homeland. The simmering heat is not enough to warm the chilling of political accord that pervade for some time now. That statement coming from Bongbong Marcos being “horrified” by the bilateral talks between former President Rodrigo Duterte and Pres. Xi Jinping virtually cuts whatever is left of the delicate thread that binds the two. That thread is personified by Vice Pres. Inday Sara Duterte. And that is demonstrated in no uncertain terms by Marcos Jr. appointing not one but three government caretakers while he is out of the country. This is a clear symptom af a schism in the unity team.
What horror there is in the talks, or call it gentleman’s agreement, between heads of state? Would the euphemism matters? Recall that the relationship between China and the Philippines had been eroded during the regime of the late Pres. Noynoy Aquino. Duterte and China’s President Xi Jinping engaged in a bilateral talks which abated the tension in WPS. Thereafter our fishermen resumed fishing in the area and our trade with China went into high gear. Truth to tell, China and HongKong became our biggest trading and investment partner. So what is so horrific with that?
Sadly though when Marcos Jr. took over the helms of government, he cuddled close to US Pres. Joe Biden. He had his own bilateral talks with Biden where he committed to allow five more EDCA bases to be established all over the country. That, in any language, was horrific for that virtually made the Philippines the next arena of an armed conflict, God forbids.
As I write this piece PBBM is (again) back in Washington, DC in a trilateral talks with Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and President Biden. There’s not much news here about the visit given the fact that what gets precedence in the networks is the Presidential election on November 5 this year.
Just about the same time, former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte is having a press conference in Davao City. He shrugged off Marcos earlier statement on how horrified he was over what he claimed was a “secret agreement” that transpired during the talks of Duterte and Xi Jinping. Duterte asked how Marcos Jr. can be so clueless when his present National Security Adviser, Eduardo Ano, was all the time present during his bilateral engagement with President Xi? Ano, by the way, was Duterte’s Secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government.
So far what we are witnessing is nothing but the proverbial “giyera patani” between a clueless Bongbong Marcos as he asserts he is, and Tatay Digong who, while in retirement in hometown Davao, is still an object of tirade from various political persuasions in Metro Manila. Duterte nevertheless is not short of ammos against his political tormentors. His adversaries are aware of his undiminished popularity and are scared more than anything else that his endorsements in the coming mid-term elections next year will matter a lot to their political destiny.
If FPRRD is a virtual folk-hero in the Philippines the same is true here among Filipinos in America. Shopping in malls or eating in restos where many ‘kababayans’ work, the first remark you hear when they know you are from the Philippines is: “aahh Duterte”.
Duterte is as effective endorser in the Philippines as well as in the U.S.of A. Now you know who among the Presidential candidates here is his friend.