Laws are not for geopolitical accommodation

Okay, so President Arroyo has succeeded in persuading the Kuwaiti emir to commute the sentence of Filipino worker Marilou Ranario from death by hanging to life imprisonment for the killing of her employer.

What then does that prove to anyone? That Arroyo is such a compassionate woman? That she is a leader who would spare no effort to save each and every subject of her land? That she is such a good negotiator?

On the Kuwaiti side, does that mean Filipino lives are more important than their own? Does that mean a willingness of the emir to relax Kuwaiti laws in favor of geopolitical or even personal considerations?

President Arroyo can always comfort herself with the thought that in a job such as hers, appreciation for what she does hardly comes even in trickles. It is such a thankless job that the presidency is a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't occupation.

But such a comforting thought should not lure her into a situation where she makes a foreign policy about saving lives condemned for cause and in accordance with laws that are in force and applicable in foreign lands.

Of course the Philippine government is under strict obligation to do what it can to protect Filipino lives in whatever situation these lives may find themselves under threat or jeopardy.

But there are parameters where such obligations can only be pursued. For instance, the Philippine government cannot take an initiative that will undermine the integrity of applicable laws and customs in effect in a foreign land in relation to a Filipino in jeopardy there.

To pursue such an initiative blindly will send the wrong signal to foreign lands with which we have good relations that we have little respect for their laws and customs, and that we have little or no sensitivity for the victims of criminal acts done by Filipinos abroad.

Arroyo should not be encouraged and heartened by the fact that she may have been quite successful in her tendency to pluck Filipinos in trouble overseas out of harm's way. She must remember that she can only be successful once, twice, maybe a few times, but not always.

She must disabuse her mind from ever believing that personal intervention at the highest levels works because it works for her. She must also consider the plight of her foreign counterpart, whose gallantry probably gets stretched too thin over her intercession.

There are millions of Filipinos abroad. And while we believe in the inherent capacity of the Filipino to make good in what he does, we cannot at the same time delude ourselves into believing they are not just one act away from breaking the law.

Given the vast probability that there will be more Filipinos whose great misfortune it will be to run afoul with the law in other countries, it would be foolhardy for Arroyo to press on with her live-saving policy.

For it is clear that in the face of such vast potential for legal confrontations to happen, Arroyo simply cannot attend to each one of them as they happen. She will simply have to turn the other cheek on some of them. When she does, she will then be selective.

And what about quid pro quo? Was this the reason why we have been soft on that US Marine convicted of raping a Filipino woman? Laws, like everything else, are only as good as their weakest link. Give an inch to compassion over crime and we weaken our defense against it.