A senior citizen’s gripe

The memory of many a senior citizen, like me, gets beclouded by the welter of passing years. There is no denying that our recollection is really not as sharp as in our younger years. At times, we stare blankly at familiar things simply because our memory is so blurred that we cannot retrieve certain details. There are, of course, exceptions to this sad reality for some of us are so blessed as to recall past events with uncanny clarity and incredible vividness.

Some past scenes, however, either written in screaming prose or occurring in startling and dramatic fashion, refuse to be buried in the depths of the forgotten. In my case, I remember the promise of then candidate Rodrigo Duterte which he made in the third presidential debate. This happened almost exactly five years ago. To make sure that I do not color the event with my negative perception on the president, I have taken the efforts to retrieve from the files of news sources what he spoke. Duterte said he would ask the Philippine Navy to bring him to the boundary of the Spratlys so he could ride a jet ski while bringing the Philippine flag as he planned “to go to the airport built by China on reclaimed land in the Spratlys and plant the Philippine flag there”.

The dazzle of Duterte’s nationalistic pronouncements fizzled not long after more than 16 million Filipinos, excluding me, voted him president of the republic. The president reneged on his hallowed promise! He desecrated a solemn vow because the truth is that he never rode on a jet ski to the Spratlys to announce in the midst of Communist Chinese invaders that were illegally occupying Philippine territory. I could accept the emptiness of Frank Sinatra’s 1964 version of the song “Fly me to the moon and let me play among the stars” for indeed it is impossible, but I refused to admit that the man seeking Malacañang used hyperbole to corral our collective trust. How could the man so lie to a nation!

If I accuse the president of abandoning his promise to defend our territory by allowing Red China to build military installations in Philippine-owned islands within the West Philippine Sea, it is because my senior citizen’s memory is not yet totally failing me. His 2016 words (about riding a jet ski) are still clear to me. And here is worse. The gravity of his failed promise is even more highlighted by recent news that Communist Chinese vessels of varying descriptions have begun moves to usurp the Julian Felipe Reef. My goodness, if my memory is still clear, this is a part of our (meaning Philippine) Exclusive Economic Zone as ruled by the International Arbitral Tribunal. Yet, instead of riding that promised jet ski to drive these invaders from our shores, or make vehement declarations against this Chinese invasion, and in the process uphold a rule of international law, our president would, in lavish ceremonies, welcome the landing of Sinovac as if it can erode the stain that in his administration the Philippines is the last country among ASEAN member nations to implement an anti COVID-19 vaccination program.

Mine may be one old man’s gripe, but let me caution the president that it can also be the sentiment of more than one senior citizen.