Justifiable anger

Responding to comments by Foreign Affairs secretary Perfecto Yasay, US Ambassador Philip Goldberg said the United States has not failed the Philippines. With China in virtual control and possession of every Philippine sovereign and economic claim in the South China Sea, that is not only very difficult to believe, it comes across as an insult.

The structures and facilities that China built on these sovereign and economic claims did not just appear overnight. They were laid down and built brick by brick, so to speak. And the United States, the most powerful country in the world, could have stopped these illegal land-grabbing activities if it wanted to, knowing fully well that these claims belonged to the Philippines, which it describes as one of its strongest and most enduring friends and allies.

With its many eyes in the sky, the United States knew what China was up to from the very first brick it laid. But the US did nothing. It merely stood by and watched. It failed one of its strongest and most enduring friends and allies. It failed the Philippines. The United States, for whom many Filipinos gave up their lives for during World War II, could not even send a ship to shadow the Chinese activities.

But of course the United States has a long history of abandoning its friends and allies. When dictator Ferdinand Marcos was still useful to the United States in fighting the communists, then US Vice President George H.W. Bush in 1981 toasted him, saying: "We love your adherence to democratic principles and to democratic processes. We will not leave you in isolation." But of course, when his people rose against him, the US dropped Marcos like a hot potato.

Only recently, the US struck a sweetheart nuclear deal with Iran, to the consternation and disappointment of Israel, its strongest and most enduring friend and ally in the Middle East. And why would Israel not feel betrayed? Iran is the biggest nuclear threat to Israel. That is why, at the funeral of former Israeli PM Shimon Peres, current Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu never shook the hand of US President Barack Obama, much less speak to him, though they were seated beside each other.

What Netanyahu felt is shared by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who felt he got a raw deal from Obama despite continued references by the Americans to Filipinos as their strongest and most enduring friends and allies. How can Duterte believe such assurances when he has just been treated so shabbily by Obama? But when Duterte responded in the only way he can - by means of strong words - it is his language that gets world attention, not the context in which he said what he said.

The aggressive war on illegal drugs waged by Duterte is a very divisive issue. Some agree with it and some obviously don't. But then, everybody is entitled to his opinion and that should have been that. Obama may disagree with Duterte, but he still needed to treat him with the courtesy and respect the president of a country deserves.

Obama cannot pretend he does not know because, as president himself of the most powerful nation on earth no less, he is supposed to know everything. And he cannot ignore the fact that Duterte was elected in a democratic process, winning overwhelmingly on his promise to fight drugs and corruption. If he did not like Duterte, the least Obama could have done was to respect the will of the Filipino people, who are his country's strongest and most enduring friends and allies.

If Obama had anything to say to Duterte as the duly-elected president of America's strongest and most enduring friend and ally, he could have easily picked up the phone and do some direct engaging, the way true friends and allies do. But Obama clearly had other things in mind. On the way to Laos to attend a summit of the Asean, of which the Philippines is a member, Obama called out Duterte in public, shaming and humiliating him before the world. But why did Obama do it?

Because he wanted to project himself as a champion. Because back home his party's candidate Hillary Clinton was struggling. Because he wanted the lustre of champions to rub off on Hillary. Never mind if he had to do it at Duterte's expense. It was all about politics not human rights. Human rights has never been a strong suit of the US. Check American history. As to extrajudicial killings, they are happening too in Obama's own backyard. "Black lives matter" was not born in a vacuum.

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