President Rodrigo "Digong" Duterte is now in Laos to attend the ASEAN Summit. His pre-departure statement at the Davao International Airport caused a stir in the international news as he said, "I am a president of a sovereign state and we have long ceased to be a colony. I do not have any master except the Filipino people, nobody but nobody. You must be respectful. Do not just throw questions."
Now what provoked the President to make such a fiery, feisty speech? Apparently some columnists wrote something that irked the President especially on the issue of US President Barrack Obama's raising the issue of extra-judicial killings when they meet in Laos for the ASEAN Summit this week.
So when the press asked Duterte about the specter of being questioned by the US President on his human rights record, he had this to say, "Son of a w**** I will swear at you in that forum. Who is Obama to ask me that? I'll tell you, 'Who are you?'" "Wala akong pakialam sa kanya (I don't care about him). Who is he? When, as a matter of fact, at the turn of the century, before the Americans left the Philippines in the pacification campaign of the Moro in this island, there were about 6 million ang population ng Moro (the Moros had a population of 6 million). How many died? Six hundred. Answer that question and give the apology, I will answer it."
PresidentDuterte just cited Philippine history, which I'm sure many Filipinos have already forgotten, except those students who seriously study history. Perhaps he could be wrong with the number of Moros at 6 million at the turn of the century when the population of the country was perhaps a high of 10 million, but for sure more than 600 Moros were killed in many skirmishes between the Americans and the Moros. This is not to mention the number of Filipinos who were ethnically cleansed by the Americans.
Lest you have already forgotten, the famous 1911 caliber .45 automatic pistol was created by Samuel Colt in the Year 1911 because then Gen. John "Blackjack" Pershing needed a man stopper, a single bullet that could cause a man to fall down with one shot. That was the only way to stop the Juramentados (they are the Jihadist of today) who attacked American positions and their .38 caliber rounds could not stop the Juramentados from moving forward. If you didn't know American troops were fighting the native Americans during the Indian wars in the late 1800s, but the first time they fought Muslims was on places like Patikul, Sulu at the turn of the century. There was also the famous battle of Bud Dajo where 600 Moros were killed by the Americans.
So if at all there will be a meeting between Duterte and Obama, I'm sure they would be discussing Philippine history! Mind you, it is the first time ever that a Philippine president showed that he was not cowed by the upcoming meeting with a US president. I already warned Duterte that it was pointless to meet with Obama who is on his last few months as US president and therefore considered a lame duck. As we wrote in yesterday's column, even China has shown no respect for Obama.
But in this day and age of instant communications, the support team of Obama got wind of the fiery tongue of Duterte so the media asked him for a statement and this is what Obama had to say, "And so, undoubtedly, if and when we have a meeting, that is something brought up. And my expectation, my hope is that it could be dealt with constructively. But I'll have my team discuss this, I've got a whole bunch of folks that I'm going to be meeting with in the course of the next several day, so I expect that will continue, but I wanna make sure the setting is right, the timing is right for us to have the best conversation possible."
I'm sure that if and when this meeting would take place, Obama would be very careful in trying to pin down Duterte with his human rights record when America's human rights records is also a spotty one. Above all, as a Filipino, I'm proud that for the first time ever, we have a President who wants to stand as equal to the US president and not be looked down as a puny 3rd world country begging for alms from the US. We saw this in former president Benigno "PNoy" Aquino III who unabashedly showed to the world that he was so pro-American to the point that the US president showed us no respect.
Meanwhile, the attacks in the social media continue with the yellow supporters questioning Duterte for thumbing his nose to the Americans. One even dared to tell me that the Americans were the first responders when super typhoon "Yolanda" struck. This has nothing to do with that issue. America was the first to respond to Yolanda simply because the 7th Fleet was near Philippine waters and America wanted the world to see that they can respond quickly to natural disasters. But our history with America is replete with serious violations of our human rights. That's the truth!