Insanity of the tallest order
in the pages of our history as they, at present, reverberate throughout the world in unbelievably indistinct and lurid perceptions.
President Duterte announced, in words that nurture confusion, that he was separating from the United States of America. Well, he earlier made profane-laden remarks against American President Barack Obama, Ban Ki Mon of the United Nations and the EU that could have cushioned me from the harsh impact of his misguided tongue. Still, I fell of my chair when I heard him plagiarize the lyrics of a song, to say words to the effect that he was embracing Russia and China "against the world."
Duterte is our president on the votes of about a third of the voting population of the country. He might have imagined that his overwhelming political mandate gave him the authority to assume that what he thinks is what our countrymen also think. But, for him to say that it is Russia, China and the Philippines against the world, did he realize that it might not be in the hearts and minds of Filipinos to sever our friendship with the USA? A survey said that Filipinos have a 66+ trust ratings of the Americans but for the Chinese, a startling low negative 33 grade. Is he dismissing that cold fact? It is plausibly not in the interest of the greatest mass of Filipinos to turn our backs to an old ally in exchange of a suddenly beneficial attitude of an ideology that does not run parallel to our democratic ideals.
How can our president, perhaps carried by the Chinese pamper he received, personally disregard the fact that an international arbitral body condemned the rapacity of our neighbor in usurping our territory, a ruling that should represent the interest of our entire citizenry? Yes, for him to speak his mind as if it is the collective sentiment of our people is, sadly, both ghastly and insane.