Defensive and insecure

By Artchil B. Fernandez

 

Du30 opened and closed his second to the last State of the Nation Address (Sona) criticizing Senate Minority Leader, Sen. Franklin Drilon. Attacking a senator who is not even his arch critic and enemy (on the level of former senator Antonio Trillanes and Sen. Leila de Lima) reveals a defensive and insecure Du30.

Presidential Sonas are supposed to be inspiring and uplifting. Du30’s Sonas since assuming the presidency neither inspire nor uplift and Filipinos anticipate none of these in his latest. With Covid-19 ravaging the nation, Filipinos at least expect Du30’s Sona this year to present a blueprint or a road map on how the country fight and recover from the pandemic.

No blueprint or roadmap on how the administration will balance health and the economy amid the pandemic was offered by Du30’s Sona this week. He also failed to rally the nation in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic or boost up the spirit of a people weary of the plague. Instead, he wasted the opportunity by displaying his insecurity and justifying his failure as the leader of the country.

Du30 lazily delivered his speech like a student in a hurry to finish a class report he did not prepare. His Sona only became interesting when he deviated from the script and gave off-the-cuff remarks. The ad-libs revealed what Du30 really thinks and feels.

In the first outburst during his Sona, Du30 attacked telco giants Smart and Globe, in a bid to resuscitate his anti-oligarch posture and as a follow-up to his closure of ABS-CBN. Du30’s tirades against Smart and Globe is a pathetic attempt to sustain his populist stance while at the same time exposing his insecurity of the future, particularly his future and that of his underlings. Du30 has only two years left in office and his legacy is not yet secure in terms of effecting the meaningful change he promised during the campaign. His bloody and gory war against illegal drugs is not a legacy but infamy/iniquity.

Aside from legacy insecurity, the other insecurity of Du30 is the future of his oligarchs and cronies once he is out of power. The future of his most favored crony Dennis Uy hangs in the balance as his debt-driven wealth could vanish, his business empire might crumble without the backing of the Philippine state. Du30 is under pressure to secure Uy’s and his other cronies’ future.

Uy’s Mislatel in partnership with China Telecom was granted license to operate the third telco in the country. It is scheduled to launch their operation next year but sorely lack the infrastructure to be competitive with Smart and Globe. If Du30 can bring down Globe and Smart by forcing them to close down (like what he did to ABS-CBN), this will be a huge boost to Mistlatel and China Telecom’s chances of breaking into the highly competitive and capital-intensive telecommunication industry.

But Du30’s insecurity torpedoes the economic prospect of the country. His killing of ABS-CBN’s franchise and threats to expropriate Globe and Smart fatally undermines the effort of his administration to attract local and foreign investors. Who would want to put their money in the country if the government can close down or take over their businesses at whim? In the time of pandemic where millions of jobs are lost, driving away investors (local and foreign) is the best way to keep unemployment high.

In his second tantrum during the Sona, Du30 was defensive, especially of his failure to defend the territorial integrity of the country and his shameless subservience to the bully neighbor and thief of Philippine territory, China. Du30 vainly tried hard to justify his defeatist mentality and cowardice.

China is strong and powerful while the Philippines is weak militarily, so goes Du30’s defeatist logic. He cannot afford to go to war with China for it will only lead to certain defeat. “I am really inutile,” Du30 admitted on the issue of the West Philippine Sea.

Du30 simply parroted China’s line which is treason of the highest degree. China wants countries whose territories it grabbed to believe war is the only alternative in the territorial dispute, so they meekly surrender. Du30’s admission of weakness is a big no, no in international diplomacy and is heaven sent to China.

Truth is, the Philippines is not powerless against China. The thinking that war is the only option in the territorial dispute in the West Philippine Sea is a big lie. There is an alternative to war and that is international diplomacy. The Philippines won a decisive legal and moral victory over China in the dispute before the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague. Under international law, China’s claim in the West Philippine Sea is invalid and the territories China stole belong to the Philippines.

Philippines can use the PCA decision to rally international support and secure global opinion against China. Aggressive bully and thief like China can be deterred by a united community of nations. A bully is always helpless when confronted by a strong group.  Du30 refused to take this alternative and keep on insisting his traitorous stance.

A golden opportunity was missed by Du30 when he used his Sona to parade his insecurity and by being defensive. He could have used the occasion to unite the nation suffering from a pandemic and assuage the fear and anxiety of Filipinos. Instead, he used his fifth Sona to further divide the nation by threatening the rivals of his oligarchs.

Four years in office and Du30 remains a petty politician instead of a statesman. His concern remains narrow and personal – that of his family and his cronies/oligarchs. This is evident in his recent Sona where he rages against those who he thinks hurt his family (on the issue of political dynasty) and threaten his oligarchs/cronies’ interest.

The real tragedy of Filipinos suffering from the Covid-19 pandemic is having a leader who is not only incompetent and inept in handling the health crisis but also selfish and self-centered.