The importance of requiring Americans to get Philippines visas

The head of state of any sovereign nation should show some degree of delicadeza, in refusing to make his people and his government subservient to any other country, even if they are superpowers. This is the mark of our president. And we should support him.

The one most significant attitude that endears President Rodrigo Duterte to the Filipinos is his firm insistence in upholding the dignity of our independence. The people love him for his refusal to bow to any nation, even to the United States. While presidents Cory Aquino, FVR, Erap, GMA, and PNoy, just a few weeks after inauguration, already looked forward with much expectation to visiting Washington, Duterte is about to formally refuse the invitation of President Donald Trump, who already visited our country much earlier in his term. This attitude, among others, led to Duterte's more than 80% approval rating even while approaching the midpoint of his presidential term.

For indeed, what gave some remote senators of the US, the audacity to pass a committee resolution, which practically dictated on our judiciary how to handle the cases of Senator Leila de Lima (accused of a serious charge related to drugs, and whose detention has been affirmed by our Supreme Court as valid and constitutional), and that of Maria Ressa who is facing charges on alleged tax evasion and supposed violations of the anti-dummy laws. Who gave Trump the authority to pressure the administration of Philippine justice, by including in the US budget for 2020, a provision that bans the jailers of De Lima?

What the Americans can’t seem to accept and even to absorb in their minds, even after 75 years from our independence in 1945, is that the Philippines is no longer a US colony. It’s no longer a vassal state of the Americans. The US ambassador here is not like Governor General Taft or McKinley. We are an independent nation. We have our free government. We already drove out the US bases from our country. The Laurel Langley Agreement, (whereby the US was allowed to exploit and use our natural resources), has already expired. Thus, we are entitled to respect, just like any sovereign states. If other past presidents acted with subservience, Duterte is of sterner stuff.

If our citizens are required to line up and beg for a US visa, then the Americans must experience the same ordeal. That is called the reciprocity principle. It’s a generally-accepted principle in international law, which our Constitution adopts as part of the law of the land. The Philippines must assert its power to deny entry to any alien, of whatever nationality who, we have enough reason to believe, are pedophiles, drug couriers, or even servicemen, who are most likely to kill LGBTs, as was done in Subic, or have the tendency to rape some girls and refuse to be detained after charges have been filed and the criminal trial was ongoing. The reason why we were not respected was because we refused to stand up with dignity.

Nora Aunor had a movie that won much acclaim, "Minsa’y Isang Gamu-gamo," where her brother was shot by US servicemen, having been mistaken as a wild pig. We will be forever treated as pigs, if we keep on walking on bended knees. We should start standing up even to taller guys. We should require them to line up and ask for Philippines visas too. Believe me, it is good for our national dignity.