During the ASEAN summit happened last Tuesday, Sept the 6th in Vientiane, Laos, the White House canceled U.S. – PH scheduled bilateral meeting after our President Rodrigo Duterte made a stir giving strong statements the day before.
We would like to commend the U.S. President Barack Obama’s decision for canceling his meeting with our President Rodrigo Duterte. This is not a kiss-ass statement – please continue reading.
Whether it’s because of our President Duterte’s strong statements or not; clearly, there was something wrong with those statements, and the timing appeared risky as well.
Similar to a mature individual who oversees things while in a relationship, if for whatever reason he thinks it’s not the right time to talk to that someone, then he’d rather postpone the meeting until he’s confident enough that the person he’s going to talk to is calm enough (allowing good flow of oxygen to someone’s brain) to speak with. And besides, President Obama has plenty of issues to deal with, probably way more than we can imagine. It would be fair enough not to let himself be absorbed with this possible clash in the first place. Remember, the goal of every leaders’ meeting should be productive. If President Obama still resumes the meeting after knowing our President doesn’t appear to be calm and prepared (to have a productive conversation), then he’ll appear twice as irresponsible as our president’s mouth.
We hate spoiling this, but we’re not sure about it anyway: on second thought, our president just expressed that he doesn’t want any sort interference that might come from President Barack Obama ’til he’s not finished with his war on drugs, solving criminality, and achieving peace and order. He just has to say it in an angry, unpleasant way sending a message like “if you’re just going to bring up concerns about how I restore peace and order to my country, then forget it, we’d rather not talk.” So, maybe President Obama felt hesitant about it, and he’d rather not waste time.
As a longstanding ally, why would he still resume the meeting after having thoughts of a possible clash? To argue? To experience awkward moments?
Whoever wins their (possible) argument won’t matter. Because technically, they will both lose! No solution has been agreed; no flow of communication has been processed; and therefore, no sort of cooperation will materialize. That would be a waste of time and a waste of taxpayer’s money! That’s obviously counterproductive to this year’s theme which is “Turning vision into reality for a dynamic ASEAN community.”
For us Filipinos, we can’t expect the rest of the world to see our president the same way as we know him. We may think our president won’t mess up with the meeting, but President Obama and the rest of the world cannot be sure about that. So just to be safe, it would be wise enough to cancel the meeting before something unpleasant happens which might tarnish our longstanding relationship with the United States, and that would be unfair for the rest of the Filipino citizens to bear the consequences. Take note; prevention is better than cure.
Sa kabila ng mga ibinabatong balita ukol sa ating pangulo at sa mga pangyayari sa ating bansa na umabot pa hanggang sa iba’t-ibang parte ng mundo, tapos bago pa lang makipag pulong ang ating pangulo sa pangulo ng ibang bansa ay mukhang mainit na ang ulo, ay malamang, sapat na dahilan na iyon para maglunsad ang Estados Unidos ng pag-kansela ng pagpupulong sa ating presidente. Mas mainam na yun at baka saan pa mapunta ang usapan na siyang ikasira ng pagpupulong at ang masama pa nito, ang pinaghirapang relasyon.
On the other hand, as we undergo the initial phase of our “cleaning up” process, our President Rodrigo Duterte has been busting his 71-year old body by receiving media critics (both local and international) left to right regarding these issues concerning extrajudicial killings, dealing with territorial disputes after Hague ruling, continuing war against drugs, corruption, and criminality. Then, there goes our military force battling against Abu Sayyaf (considered as a very violent Islamist militant group and was responsible for the Philippines’ worst terrorist attack). And the latest so far is the bombing in Davao city, not to mention the usual Philippine president’s routine. Remember, we’re talking about the Philippines! “Ibang stres lebel ito… Pilipinas ito eh…” (This is a different stress level because this is the Philippines). As far as we observe, that’s dynamic!
See, we all know what we’re dealing here, and it might not appear as stressful enough from other developed nations since we’re not as developed as them. A reasonable analogy regarding this, it’s always been a struggle for a baby animal to get out from an unhatched egg up to learning its way towards survival within the norms of the ecosystem.
Our president is obviously mature enough to keep in mind that the ASEAN summit is significant enough to be careful with his words, but for whatever reason, it didn’t happen. Whether our president is stressed-out or not, it won’t be surprising for us to see him appear stressed because he is stressed-out!
Is being stressed-out a valid reason? Not at all. No matter how stressful things are, every leader has their share of critical problems to solve. That’s already given as the leader of the nation. And that’s precisely the reason why we should commend the United State’s call for canceling their meeting with our president; sure for safety issues; to prevent unpleasant events; to provide time to clarify what happened; and at some point, it offered our president some leeway to explain his actions as a mark of extending their consideration. That looked like a sensible ally, don’t you think?
However, we can’t apologize on behalf of our president. Let him be responsible for his actions, and we shouldn’t treat him like a wuss. But similar to him, most of us regret hearing those strong statements which appeared to be leaning more towards an unpleasant side than just stating his opinion.
Thoughts to Ponder
It appears to be that the more President Rodrigo Duterte expresses his dissatisfaction to media personnel, the worse he gets misinterpreted, or the more he responds to the questions inappropriately.
It came from his own words that we are his masters. So let’s help him learn how to talk like a president through classical conditioning by start calling him as Mr. President (not the mayor) by all of us, regardless.
Given the kind of temperament that our president shows publicly, perhaps he should consider a moderator who would escort him for the meantime, then wean him until he gets accustomed. It will be a plus if the escort-moderator knows how to get “wicked” swaying away those annoying journalists.
Good flow of communication is critical to success. Given the fact that currently, our President has at least 90% supporters, let’s hope that someday he’ll address to us the specifics on how we can help him do his job less stressful.
Our president has already given a formal statement of regret for what happened, now let’s move on and get back to work.
J. Letre