FORMER President Fidel V. Ramos has tendered his resignation as special envoy to China. It is actually fait accompli and only the formality of having to hand a formal letter awaited it.
FVR should have done that earlier before he had been dismissed as a passing fancy, forgiven because senility and being grumpy come with age. But he still managed to fit himself with an accolade: that he is bowing out of service for he had broken the ice between the Philippines and China. What he is telling us is that he had paved the way for Presidents Xi Jinping and Rodrigo Duterte to start a conversation. But I for one, will not buy this story.
FVR said a mouthful against the manner by which Duterte conducted himself during the Asean summit. He virtually spluttered mud all over Duterte before the President’s meeting with President Jinping. There is simply no clue at all that FVR had anything to do with the honors that China accorded the Philippine head of a sovereign state. Meeting a minor deputy from the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, which FVR did, does not an ice breaker make.
FVR and his sister Leticia Ramos Shahani were in fact pontificating and chiding Digong for his cussing and undiplomatic mien, the latter acting like she is the guru of international relations. Well, they have their books and lessons in foreign affairs which tell of how to deal with nuances of American policies. I’m certain that our man from the boondocks of Mindanao is not wanting in the rudiments of diplomacy. Something tells me that Duterte was into a more subtle act that bends the rules, formalities and niceties to get to his objective.
How and whatever he did must be something effective even if it defies the norm for he was sent off by his hosts and came home to his country like a conquering hero.
Leticia is quiet and so are most of his critics. In less than four months, Duterte achieved where his predecessors failed and repaired what former Noynoy Aquino marred for the six long years of his reign as President.
While FVR is still delivering his valedictory address as special envoy to China, President Duterte is spending a simple reunion with his departed parents in a public cemetery. But the ultimate maverick is still hounded by the press who refuse to give him a break and waiting for yet another slip of the tongue worth the headline and intrigue. If they thought they had one over Duterte before, they are grossly mistaken. They had been taken for a ride by this jungle shrewd on his way to Malacañang.
Duterte is a man in a hurry. In a flurry of state visits, he brought home billions of dollars to build infrastructures which the Philippines is in dire need of and trade commitments that are unquantifiable. Relations between China and Japan have warmed up and while so much had been achieved the bests are yet to come.
What of the US of A? The last time we heard from an American senator is barring the sale of assault rifles to the Philippines for fear that it will be used for extrajudicial killings.
What an idiot that senator can get. But I don’t blame him for believing in Edgar Matobato. In our own senate, we not only have one but two morons who swallowed the tale of Matobato like it was the biblical truth.
