Ilonggos: Cayetano persona non grata

There was something that I learned from my Public International Law of decades ago, that some learned officials of our neighboring Negros Island wanted to give a wider scope. This was the Latin phrase “persona non grata”. Its literal meaning is “unwelcome person.” As Law students then, we learned that it referred to the practice of a state prohibiting a diplomatic officer from entering the country as a diplomat, as an “unwelcome person”.

The term also meant censuring a diplomat already resident in the country for conduct unbecoming of the status of a diplomat. The internet also records this term in the sphere of diplomacy. Accordingly, a persona non grata is a foreign diplomat who is asked by the host country to be recalled to their home country. If the person is not recalled as requested, the host state may refuse to recognize the person concerned as a member of the diplomatic mission.

I was shocked to read an Inquirer.net report that Representative Julio Ledesma IV of Negros Occidental 1st District, called Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano a “disgrace to the Senate” after Cayetano led a two-day boycott that left the upper chamber paralyzed. No matter how I look at it “disgrace to the Senate” are more blunt words than diplomatic language. I was even more shocked to learn that this Negros Occidental solon has reportedly urged the local government leaders of his district to declare Sen. Cayetano persona non grata in their localities. Really, I did not realize that this Public International Law term could be appropriately applied to a rather domestic political situation.

I have to presume that this Negros lawmaker casts a giant shadow over his fellow Negros leaders. After all, his words describing Cayetano as having committed “acts inimical and deleterious to the common good” indicate strong leadership. For instance, Mayor Renato Gustilo, of San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, in a cautionary reaction to the call of Ledesma to declare Cayetano persona non grata, said: “We will support Cong. Jules if we have a basis to do it.” Although Mayor Salvador Escalante, of Cadiz City, who is the president of the Negros Association of Chief Executives, said that the mayors’ positions will have to be taken on Ledesma’s call. It was evident though that their collective disappointment on Cayetano could be discerned from his declaration that “Senate now is not the Senate that we have known when the senators were Miriam Defensor Santiago and Franklin Drilon, who tackled the welfare of the people.”

I am not certain though that an apparent signature campaign for Cayetano to resign as Senate president is a result of Congressman Ledesma’s tirade. I came across a report that a group called Team Pinas led by political scientist Cleve Arguelles is moving this signature campaign demanding Cayetano’s resignation. A news report said that this campaign now has 65,000 signatures with close to 6,000 signatures being gathered on Thursday alone.

It is easy to think that Congressman Ledesma’s feeling of extreme disappointment on Senator Cayetano is deeply rooted in his respect for the dignified leadership of Senators Drilon and Santiago, his fellow Ilonggos. But, the record of Cebuano senators of the past is something we can be more proud of than the Ilonggos. In fact, Senator Mariano Jesus Cuenco, whose very honorable name is now mentioned in all present discussions on Senate quorum, was a Cebuano. If the Ilonggos had Drilon and Santiago, whose statesmanships Cayetano desecrated, in Ledesma’s mind, we had Fernan, Serging, and the brothers Sonny and Lito Osmeña, whose brand of leadership might have also been stained by Cayetano. In such paradigm, Cebuanos should emulate Ledesma’s example of declaring Cayetano persona non grata.