President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo seems to have transformed into the crass, pretentious, social-climber Doña Victorina portrayed in Rizal’s “Noli Me Tangere.” When the director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency, Leon Panetta, kicked off his Asian tour, the President broke protocol to meet with him in Malacañang, a case of our own head of state having a low opinion of her position. The CIA chief isn’t even a member of the US president’s cabinet; he is, in the official scheme of things, not a high-ranking official—and certainly not one who is entitled to meet a head of state, particularly that of a friendly, allied nation.

We doubt if the Palace will be able to point to Panetta meeting any other Asian head of state or even senior minister in the other countries he is visiting. Not because these countries don’t value their relations with Washington, but because official protocol exists to maintain at the very least the appearance of mutual respect, dignity and equality among governments, by keeping official meetings on a corresponding, equal level, among the officials concerned. The director of the National Intelligence Service Agency—not the national security adviser who has cabinet rank—is the local equivalent of the CIA director.

If Panetta had been designated as a personal envoy of Barack Obama, then the President could have trumpeted this, craving as she obviously does, any sort of recognition by the American leader, but neither the Palace nor the US Embassy mentioned this. The Arroyo administration leaves no stone unturned to foster the impression it enjoys the grace and favor of Washington, after all.

Upon meeting the CIA director, the Palace announced that the President received an invitation to go to Washington for a tête-à-tête with Obama—at very short notice. The Palace, it should be recalled, pooh-poohed rumors the Panetta visit was a sign of American unease over the 2010 elections, by saying it had been in the works for four weeks. Now the President of the Philippines has been given two and a half weeks to get her act together and scoot off to Washington.

Two possibilities are raised. The first is that when Washington snaps its fingers, Manila jumps, and so, the President’s visit to Washington may be in the nature of a summons to explain herself or receive instructions, which makes her a small but energetic puppet indeed. The second theory is that the President has been such a pest that Washington decided to please her, but that what will transpire is yet another meaningless—and expensive—photo opportunity at Filipino taxpayers’ expense.

The Palace should spare us the claptrap of this being “a very important milestone for our diplomacy abroad,” and that the President’s July 30 visit is “a great honor for the country and a recognition of our country’s importance.” Only the unimportant shriek about their importance. Only the social-climbing but still obscure chalk up the lowest-level meeting possible (the President will not be going on either a state or working visit) as a “milestone.”

Such bootlicking language is particularly nauseating considering how the President’s own father was willing to sacrifice a Washington state visit (which all Philippine presidents crave as a sign of status) to show his displeasure over the US Congress’ handling of Filipino veterans’ pensions. This is much ado about nothing. A trip for nothing.

The Obama administration has made reversing the Bush administration’s penchant for interfering in foreign governments a centerpiece of its foreign policy. The recent goings-on in Honduras provides a good example of how this works. It reportedly cautioned the Honduran military against conducting a coup, and when the coup was launched anyway, Washington moved in lock-step with regional and global opinion in condemning it and imposing sanctions.

So far as any possible plans the administration may have then, it’s logical to conclude Washington is inclined to keep a hands-off attitude toward domestic Philippine politics. Manila would only trigger a Washington response if it behaves in a manner that scandalizes global public opinion—in which case, Obama will most likely adopt the international consensus.

Or has our President become so hard-headed that she needs Obama himself to tell her this?