Diplomatic offensive

At the Manila Overseas Press Club (MOPC) President’s Night last Friday, the President spelled out her foreign policy thrust that will set the new tone that will have an impact on our foreign relations, particularly with the United States in the coming decade. There is no question that the Angelo de la Cruz crisis has become the turning point in our diplomatic direction. In effect, GMA is steering our diplomatic offensive towards what she feels is important for the country – Filipinos First.

Of the documented eight million Filipinos working all over the world, 1.4 million work in the Middle East with 4,200 working in Iraq. In fact, the President said last Friday that we continue to have the largest civilian contingent in that strife-torn country. This has become a major factor in the "eight realities" of the foreign policy that the President bared. Two of which are: Overseas Filipino Workers will continue to play a critical role in the country’s social and economic stability; and the international Islamic community is becoming more and more important to the country. More than ever, we have to protect them because they play a vital role in the country’s economy. Only when we achieve economic independence can a truly independent foreign policy be a reality. Global and domestic realities have forced us to enter a transitory phase in preparation for that objective.

Former Trade Secretary and now Senator Mar Roxas intimated to me the other night that during a Cabinet meeting where they discussed the sending of troops to Iraq – he said most of the Cabinet members were actually against it. Mar said that a low-key medical mission composed of doctors and nurses would have been better in supporting the Coalition of the Willing instead of a small, high-profile troop contingent. In retrospect, Mar and the other members of the Cabinet were right after all. Be that as it may, we now have to move on to a new level of relations with the United States. At the MOPC forum, Ambassador Frank Ricciardone was initially apprehensive but after the President’s speech where she welcomed the Ambassador back from his consultation trip to Washington, D.C., Frank seemed to be more relaxed. At the sit-down dinner, the President requested the Ambassador to join us at the presidential table. During the open forum, Philippine STAR’s Marichu Villanueva asked the President to comment on whether the United States would take us back as Coalition member. The President said that she couldn’t answer that for the United States and that Marichu should refer the question to the Ambassador who declined to comment. This prompted Foreign Affairs Sec. Delia Albert to come forward to explain that she and Ambassador Ricciardone will be issuing a joint statement tomorrow. So I guess we’ll just have to wait for that.

Now that we are on the ropes diplomatically, in the next couple of months we have to come out with a strong diplomatic offensive to amplify this new foreign policy to our allies. Looking back, Apolinario Mabini, our first Foreign Affairs Secretary, foresaw that the Philippines would be ceded by a defeated Spain to the US. Consequently, Mabini advised President Aguinaldo to adopt an independent foreign policy in his short-lived revolutionary government. As early as 1898, Mabini knew then that the only way to be independent was to have our own foreign policy. Over the years, our foreign policy took on many turns but on the whole did not stray from the American line. Gen. Carlos P. Romulo, who was widely considered the original "American boy", made it even more pronounced during his term as Foreign Affairs Secretary.

As part of our diplomatic offensive, it is high-time that we have experienced career diplomats in very sensitive posts. And if we do have political appointees – who by law should only comprise 49 percent of the total diplomatic posts – they should have the clout, the resources, and the respect of their potential host countries. In fact, Ambassador Alfonso Yuchengco, who sat beside me at the presidential table during the MOPC President’s Night, is one such political appointee. Ambassador Yuchengco was very effective as our envoy to China during President Aquino’s term. During his stint in China, he disclosed to me Deng Hsiao-ping’s firm commitment during Cory Aquino’s China state visit that they will not provide moral or financial support to the local Communist movement. Since then, they have kept their word. In Ambassador Yuchengco’s last posting as Permanent Ambassador to United Nations, he was instrumental in getting our present UN Ambassador Lauro Baja elected as President of the Security Council.

Thomas Friedman in his bestseller The Lexus and the Olive Tree wrote that "the traditional boundaries between politics, culture, technology, finance, national security, and ecology are disappearing". In a globalized environment, political and career diplomats have to see things from the perspectives of these six dimensions in order to read the connections, connect the dots, and see the whole world. Our diplomats should therefore be trained to think and see as global strategists to understand the seamless web of relationships, see the system of globalization, and shape the world accordingly. "Without an awareness of the whole, there can be no strategy. And without strategy, there is only drift," warned Friedman. And unchecked drift leads to chaos.

Drift is exactly what happened to us. International censure and doubt over our word could probably have been averted but in the end it has become a blessing in disguise because our shortcoming made us realize what we have to work on. Now that we’re on the offensive, the President could consider appointing both career and political diplomats who have the global outlook and the communication skills to launch a diplomatic offensive that will restore relations, improve our image, and mitigate possible sanctions being prepared for us. Believe it or not, former President Estrada’s inaugural statement, Walang tutulong sa Filipino kundi kapwa Filipino, holds true more than ever today. The country really needs to be economically independent to be able to pursue its own interests without fear of being placed in an awkward position of kowtowing to foreign interests. Nevertheless, we have to be realistic enough to continue having good relations with the United States because it is the world’s only superpower and our biggest trading and security partner. But at the end of the day, after "400 years of living in a convent under Spanish rule and 50 years in Hollywood under the United States", the time has finally come for us to pursue our real independence.

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