A ‘strongman’ who is ‘inutil’

“Inutil” was how President Duterte described himself during his State of the Nation Address regarding the country’s issues with China’s aggression in the West Philippine Sea. How pathetic is that for a “leader” touted by his sycophants as just the “strongman” this country needed to get things done?

He feels “inutil” because a lopsided war with a superpower like China can never end well for a Third World country like the Philippines. That is so true. But war with China would have been too farfetched to imagine if the biggest superpower like the United States has the other country’s back.

China, the nastiest bully in Asia, could have taken tiny Taiwan anytime, but it fears the United States’ mightier power, which has the latter’s back. Before Mr. Duterte, America had the Philippines’ back, too. So how did all this come to pass that we are now announcing to the whole world how weak and “inutil” we are?

Ever since the United States denied Mr. Duterte a visa to visit his girlfriend there “when he was in college” (“Duterte assails US for strict visa policy,” 10/21/16), he obviously has not forgotten that rebuff or forgiven America for breaking his fragile heart. That deep-seated hatred has been simmering to a boil. And now that he is President, it’s payback time. His pivot to China, which considers America its “mortal enemy,” is seen more as showing his spite for America than anything else.

That’s how petty it all really was. See how Mr. Duterte instinctively reacted when Sen. “Bato” dela Rosa’s US visa was canceled? That was all Mr. Duterte needed for a tit for tat. With just a flick of his fingers, he unilaterally canceled the Visiting Forces Agreement that made the only presence of America’s power in this country felt around Asia. It has all been just tantrums.

With a fickle, feckless, unreliable partner like that, who can blame America for not taking the Philippines’ security issues seriously, as it does Taiwan’s? US President Donald Trump’s words were ominous when asked about Mr. Duterte’s petulance: “I don’t really mind if they would like to do that, it will save a lot of money.” So, will America come to the defense of the Philippines in the face of China’s “creeping invasion”?

Heaven help us!

Jeremias H. Tobias
[email protected]