AND WE are not “little brown Americans”. We are a free and independent nation.
Yes, we have been on record a colony of the United States of America for 50 years until they went through the motions of giving us independence on July 4, 1945 and since then we have become a de facto colony – until President Rodrigo Duterte stood up and said enough is enough; we are an independent and sovereign nation and not a vassal of America.
Whatever our government does is our business and not that of the United States of America and we certainly do not need their approval.
But it seems our “big white brother” has forgotten that and still has the mind-set that the internal affairs of the Philippines has to conform and needs to be approve by them.
When our courts convicted on June 15, 2020 a certain Maria Ressa, lately the executive editor and chief executive officer of a social media blog site called Rappler that claims to be an online news site, for the crime of cyber libel, there was an interesting (to say the least) Twitter post by the current United States ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim.
Here’s that post that came out June 17, 2020 on social media site Twitter: “We are very concerned by the verdict against Maria Ressa and Reynaldo Santos and call for resolution of the case in a way that reinforces the US and Philippines’ shared commitment to freedom of expression, including for members of the press.”
In case you’re wondering, the current US ambassador to the Philippines is of Korean ethnic origin, but that does not make him any less American than Hillary Clinton or George Floyd.
I was not really surprised at this tweet by the US ambassador considering that Maria Ressa (never mind Reynaldo Santos, he’s just collateral) is first and foremost an American citizen and only a dual Filipino citizen by convenience. Take note that she has voted in all US elections but never in Philippine elections, so we can say that Ambassador Sung Kim is just concerned for his fellow American.
And what does he mean that the case be resolved according to what the US thinks “freedom of the press” is? The case was tried and verdict was handed down by a legitimate court of the Philippine judiciary using our libel laws that were ironically patterned after that of the United States.
It is common knowledge in international relations and diplomatic circles that whenever a vote is taken at the United Nations and the United States votes “yes”, the Philippines is automatically counted as a “yes” vote without even bothering to ask our United Nations Ambassador what our vote is.
We are a joke at the United Nations. Our first United Nations Ambassador Carlos P. Romulo – who served as secretary-general of the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council – had been called a lackey of the United States, and he fancied himself as a “little brown American”. Well, the United States financially supports the United Nations and its headquarters are in New York; why do you think Romulo became secretary-general in the first place.
During World War 2 when Japan invaded the Philippines, the United States did not come back and retook the Philippines because it loved the “little brown Americans” and wanted to save them from Japan; they were just taking back their colony. “I shall return” was just a PR stunt.
The natives of these islands are so enamoured with the Americans and being Americans that this is the only country where the No. 1 ambition of its citizens is a “green card”. It is also the only country where the No. 1 sport is basketball and the dream of every aspiring Pinoy basketball player is to fly like Michael Jordan and dunk the ball. Too bad the average height in these islands for men is 5 feet and 5 inches, which makes it almost impossible to play “above the rim”. And with this pathetic desire to be fair skinned and blond like Jennifer Lawrence or Taylor Swift, the cosmetic companies selling “skin whiteners” and hair dyes have been making huge profits in the Philippines.
So is this a mutual love affair or a one-way street? Let’s check out how much in aid does the United States of America love the Philippines.
According to www.devex.com here is a summary of the financial commitments of the top 10 donors assisting the Philippines; take note that these figure were before President Duterte’s pivot:
1. Japan – $2.66 billion
2. China – $1.16 billion
3. World Bank – $950 million
4. Asian Development Bank – $667 million
5. United States of America – $186 million
6. Global Fund – $160,138,360 million
7. Australia – $123.1 million
8. European Union – $96 million
9. Canada – $25.7 million
10. Republic of Korea – $20 million
It turns out that Japan loves us more, with China next. The much beloved United States of America is a far fifth place. What does this mean?
Simple really. We are not No. 1 to the Americans. It looks like a one-sided love affair with the “little brown American” at the losing end./PN
