Uncouth host

The venue was Malacañang. The backdrop was draped in white and blue. The sign of the dove was symbolic—for the spiritual it stood for the Holy Spirit, for the secular it projected the message of peace. What was to transpire, except for the exalted guest’s speech, was anything but peaceful.

The elected lord of the manor, there to welcome Pope Francis in behalf of the Filipino people, ranted at his guests. First at the Pope: “The necessary security preparations, I should admit, have been somewhat of a security nightmare for us.”

In Filipino culture, that was not funny. The Filipino welcome is even overdone to the point of the host making ends meet just to make the guest most comfortable. In Filipino culture, “welcome” is understood as expecting nothing in return. The cost is not counted. The left hand does not know what the right hand is doing.

The millions who turned out in the streets of Manila surely did not count the cost. Those who camped outside the gates of the Apostolic Nunciature in Taft Avenue beginning in the wee hours of the morning did not count the cost. Otherwise, they would not have been there. Those in Tacloban who shivered under the rain and in the blowing winds of Typhoon “Amang” certainly did not count the cost. But the man who is supposed to represent these people euphoric in their welcome of the Pope was anything but compassionate with his own.

Vatican staff accompanying Pope Francis reportedly gave him a hint of what was to come after the Colombo visit that saw garlanded elephants: “Wait till you get to the Philippines.” The Filipino rapture over a visiting pontiff, three in history, has always been one of a kind. Leaving Manila in 1995, St. John Paul II is said to have uttered these words: “The Philippines is a phenomenon.”

The rest of President Benigno Aquino III’s speech revealed a president unable to rise above his own petty concerns, reflecting his poor cognitive sense. The second worst part was ranting at previous criticisms from Philippine bishops (who were seated right across the podium) when it was he who openly went against established faith and morals of the Catholic Church.

But first, a very lame attempt at intellectual dishonesty when he said: “We were further taught that if we do not intercede to make each person capable of exercising true freedom of choice, then we are not our brother’s keepers.” Of course, he meant the Reproductive Health Law. But who did he say taught him that? The previous sentence referred to the “Church.” Which church would that be? In the afternoon, the response came from Pope Francis at the Encounter with Families at the Mall of Asia Arena: Uphold the ban on contraception. Aray!

The Pope accompanied that statement with an illustrious praise of Blessed Paul VI for “his courage to teach future generations with an encyclical,” a clear reference to “Humanae Vitae.”

By ranting at his guests, someone said, Mr. Aquino called a spade a spade. No, he called a spade by another name and in doing so came out a softie, exposing a disturbed man who has no sane sense of even the choice of content for his speeches, and his low value system and sense of civility. The nation was in euphoria. The President was simply out of touch.

And he laid bare not only his lack of prudence but what is now clearly a dangerous inability at constructing concepts (e.g., his Lilliputian concept of what “church” is), his sense of reaction to events, and finally his way of organizing his personal value system. I am convinced—this is a president who has very low cognitive and affective skills. That should be enough to make us look forward to the end of his term a little more than a year from now. Filipinos can be a discerning people. He has continuously underestimated that.

Mr. Aquino just missed a glorious moment of history. Previous presidents did well. The Protestant Fidel V. Ramos was an impeccable host to Pope John Paul II in 1995. The president is president of all people, regardless of race and creed. Mr. Aquino let go of an opportunity at statesmanship. He chose instead to address his obsession with gaining political allies. How does he contrast now with Gloria Arroyo whom he portrays as his exact opposite? At the tail end of his term, he is still in the blame game.

No wonder this is now the state of our nation—a nation entangled in a selective anticorruption drive under a culture of impunity, where Liberal Party allies are exempted from trial by publicity and from the hounding of the Ombudsman; a politicized disaster relief body that manipulates even the casualty numbers, not to mention the open violations of the Constitution. These are signs of a warped sense of judgment.

At a time of mercy and compassion, our President chose to be bastos. I join the many who have chastised him. I also join one educator who wrote:

“As a teacher of students, I myself am in a quandary how best I can help my students. I can only sigh and warn my countrymen to brace for more blunders, unless someone in his government would take time to help him work on what is missing in his cognitive and affective domains. Pope Francis, you asked that we pray for you. But I also beg of you, please pray for our country and our people, especially our poor. The message of mercy and compassion are words that this President needs help and time to process.”

President Aquino’s time is fast running out and still he doesn’t get it.