Very foreign policy

So the United States will stand by the Philippines after all. That’s the latest in the on-again, off-again, professions of friendship and mutuality by American officials in the wake of the Philippines’ trouble with China over the Spratlys.

Smiling broadly before photographers to affirm the special friendship, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced: “We are determined and committed to supporting the defense of the Philippines.” To prove the point, she revealed that the United States would be providing the Philippines with affordable military equipment with which to defend itself.

Smiling broadly as well in the photo op to affirm the partnership, Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said that though the Philippines was a small country, it was “prepared to do what is necessary to stand up to any aggressive action in our backyard.” Proof of that was that P-Noy (President Aquino) had already allocated P11 billion to upgrade the Navy.

So all’s well that ends well?

Not really.

At the very least, that’s so because the American signals have been confused and confusing all this time. Shortly after US Ambassador Harry Thomas personally assured P-Noy that the United States would “be proud to stand by your side” in any conflict with China, US Embassy spokesperson Rebecca Thompson announced that “the United States does not take sides in regional territorial disputes.” So Clinton’s assurance is the final thing? Well, that is the one thing the United States has in common with the Philippine Supreme Court, which has a habit of reopening cases it has ruled upon “with finality.”

In any case, easiest thing to vow, hardest thing to do. That too is the one thing the United States has in common with Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Franklin Roosevelt vowed to indemnify the Filipinos to the last carabao for fighting the Japanese during World War II. His successor, Harry Truman, fulfilled that vow by making reparations contingent on the passage of parity rights while promptly rehabilitating defeated enemies Japan and Germany.

The United States has never fought any wars for the Philippines. But the Philippines has fought all the wars for the United States.

At the very most, even if the United States were to prove true to its word of taking the Philippine side in its dispute with China—it has every reason to, Clinton has been rattling her saber against China for some time now, citing human rights violations, while trying to open the Chinese market to American business—what of it? Indeed, even if the United States were to prove true to its word of selling the Philippines decent second-hand arms—in lieu of defective third-hand ones, like helicopters that routinely crash on routine missions—what of it? It doesn’t make the Philippines look good, it makes the Philippines look ridiculous.

The notion of the Philippines preparing itself for a confrontation with another country, never mind China, by arming itself is the most idiotic thing in the world. Del Rosario does not look heroic saying that thought this country is small it will do everything to meet any act of aggression, he looks laughable. That’s what the violent trembling you see among our neighbors is all about: They are not quaking in fear, they are trying to suppress laughter.

The only ones who will be glad that we are going to get new arms, however “new” is qualified, are those in government who have a fetish for guns. And the only ones who will be glad that we are going to meet any threat with force are those who are going to see their budgets raised to eye-popping highs: The “budget Chinese” will soon replace the “budget Huks.”

Can you imagine what P11 billion can do if it was just used to modernize classrooms instead of weapons, or, hell, just raise the salaries of public school teachers? That would go farther toward ensuring national security, raising as it will a generation of kids whose heads are filled with ideas instead of gunpowder.

The only way we can defend ourselves is knowing what our options are, what our capabilities are. No, more than that, the only way we can defend ourselves is knowing who we are, what our interests are. For so long have we compromised our security, our wellbeing, our future by playing Tonto to America’s Lone Ranger in the world, and succeeding only in living up to the name but not to the role. “You actually think you’re Tonto? You’re even more tonto than we thought.”

How do you think we looked to the world when Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo preened and postured about being America’s right hand against Iraq, the leading light in the Coalition of the Uto-Uto? How do you think we now look to the world preening and posturing that no one can bully us, we are nakasandal sa pader, however the pader is made of cardboard, like the façade used in movies? How do you think we now look to the world crying before Mother America about the bully in the schoolyard instead of teaming up with the other Asian countries similarly bullied to confront the oppressor?

What we need is not to modernize our Navy or our Armed Forces, what we need is to modernize our thinking or the force of our brains. What we need is not a strengthening of our military resolve against China—what kind of military response can we trot out anyway even with an infusion of P100 billion?—what we need is a launching of a diplomatic initiative to win our Asian neighbors to our side. What we need is not a reaffirmation of our “special relations” with the United States, which has proven vastly inferior to siopao espesyal, what we need is a reexamination of our status as an independent nation. What we need is to know where we’re coming from and where we want to go.

What we do not need is a foreign policy that is totally foreign to us.