FIRST, the Thomasites and then Rambo and Hollywood, all of these have been thoroughly effective in transforming the average Filipino mind into an enduring colonial territory long after Taft and McArthur had left.
The 51st American state cannot be found in any atlas or map because it is in the hearts and minds of many Filipinos who still look up to the supposed greatness and benevolence of the West.
This much is true, such that when President Duterte spewed sharp criticisms against the hypocrisy of America to call him out for human rights violations from the bloody drug war he instigated, there was a collective gasp of horror audible from the middle class enclaves of Manila all the way to the suburban dwellings of Filipino migrants in sunny California.
More than a diplomatic gaffe, it was a social faux pas for many Filipinos.
The statement of the Philippine president drawing attention to the history of genocide undertaken by the United States of America government not just against American Indians but also against millions of Filipinos and Moros during the war of pacification, was like the antics of a drunk uncle in a social gathering, he who must be bodily removed from the premises in order to appease slighted guests.
Offer them more wine, food, US bases and even our delectable tiny small-breasted women to make up for the untoward incident.
Americans have insatiable appetite for these and more, some Filipinos must have mused in their panicking minds.
In this instance, it was Obama who was the target of their president’s uncontrollable mouth, que horror.
The first black US president, leader of the free world, charismatic and excellent communicator, with a hipster playlist to boot, called an SOB, as media reports have it, by the president of a small nation whose citizens’ sense of national pride turn flaccid and curl up in the face of a former colonial ruler and current world superpower’s gentle reminder of its global hegemony.
It did not help that many both here and abroad were fanatics of both America and Duterte. The incident left them at a serious quandary - will they stand by by their president from Davao or will they let down the leader of the land of the free and the brave? I wager that for this type there is no contest, the Philippines is where you come from but America is the ultimate destination.
A black neoliberal president leading the land of abundance is preferable than a third world populist leader with questionable sense of decorum and style lording over a society on the brink of collapse.
There is no point debating with the fan boys and fan girls of the great US of A, the kind who sees America as the land of milk and honey, the great antithesis of everything that is wrong and backward about our own country and the rest of the world.
For them, America and its leaders can do no wrong. What’s the point of disabusing them from their illusions?
But there is also a specialized segment of the population who remain unperturbed and stoic amid all the raucous generated by Duterte’s controversial statements.
Mainly coming from the academe or in media, these intellectuals and opinion-makers scoff at what they observe to be poor posturing from either camp.
They find the criticism of the yellow camp on the issue of diplomacy and the lack thereof wanting as well.
On the other hand, they dismiss the rant of the president as the incoherent ramblings bereft of any import for they are not used to be upstaged in their anti-colonial musings.
Perhaps it is an indication of how the bar has been set far too low by those before him that these powerful lines uttered by Duterte can be considered historical and unprecedented.
Instead of being smug, however, there are a lot of reasons to be moved.
Let us consider once again excerpts from the president’s controversial statements: “...You know, the Philippines is not a vassal state.
We have long ceased to be a colony of the United States…I do not respond to anybody but to the people of the Republic of the Philippines…America has one too many to answer for the misdeeds in this country…That is the reason why Mindanao continues to boil.
As a matter of fact, we inherited this problem from the United States.
Why? Because they invaded this country and made us their subjugated people. We have long been a Republic.
I do not -- I said, I do not kneel down before anybody else, except the Filipino in Quiapo walking in misery and in extreme poverty and hunger...”
