The old soldier hasn’t died yet. In fact, he’s staging a mighty comeback as special Philippine envoy to the People’s Republic of China.
Fidel Valdez Ramos, our oldest living ex-president, is also one of the latest appointees of the Duterte administration, having just accepted his assignment as personal representative of the president to bilateral talks with our superpower neighbor. I know of no one in this country who deserves to be called “elder statesman” more than FVR, and not just because of his advanced age.
The Chinese, who must know of Ramos’ stature and seniority, should be flattered with his designation. President Rodrigo Duterte is certainly giving the post-arbitral negotiations with China the respect they deserve —especially at a time when Beijing wants to be treated with a lot more respect than usual, having just lost in the case filed by Manila in The Hague.
And Ramos is not just a distinguished former president: He also comes from a family of top diplomats who have had excellent ties with the Chinese in the past.
Ramos is also a foremost exponent of the policy of bilateralism and of regional cooperation through the Asean. There is, quite simply, no one more suited to the special envoy’s job than he is.
Of course, Ramos has retired from the presidency for nearly two decades now, which is why he needed some time to think things over after he was offered the post by Duterte. “What if I croak?” he asked reporters with his usual dry humor when they wanted to know if he was going to take the job.
But in the end, I think Ramos simply could not say no to the request of Duterte, who has publicly declared that it was FVR who convinced him to run for president. Because Ramos must somehow feel responsible for Duterte’s victory, he cannot very well deny the new president his services, especially on such a sensitive and important matter as Philippine-Chinese relations moving forward from the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
But Ramos also asked that Duterte convene the National Security Council, the highest policy-making body of government, which includes all former presidents before he takes on the job. And FVR can certainly use an infusion of the latest information and policy directions before he embarks on his new mission.
As a long-time admirer of Ramos, I wish him all the luck. I pray that he uses his gifts of wisdom, experience and perspicacity in order to steer us confidently into the new day of our long-running relationship with the Chinese under Duterte.
Mabuhay ka, FVR. Kaya mo yan, sir!
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Last Monday, President Rodrigo Duterte said he had no time to waste on blaming his predecessor. But Noynoy Aquino stayed away from the Batasang Pambansa, just to be on the safe side.
I’ve always maintained that Aquino was a fake tough guy, anyway. The tough-talking, kanto boy-sounding Noynoy, after all, was just a figment of his speechwriters’ imagination; the guy lived a rich kid’s sheltered life until his mother died, an event that propelled him almost immediately afterwards to the presidency—a job that put even more distance between him and the people and the daily realities that they face.
And so I wasn’t surprised that Aquino, when the very first opportunity presented itself to him to face people who did not belong to his household now that he is no longer the all-powerful president, refused to leave 25 Times Street. Aquino said he wanted to watch Duterte’s first State of the Nation Address at home on television, so he would not be distracted.
But Aquino was lying again, just like he lied so many times during the six years that he was president. The truth is, he was scared.
He was scared of being blamed for the wrong things he did and didn’t do while he was still in office by someone like Duterte, who by now has a fairly accurate idea of what went down in the last six years. And he was deathly afraid of being anywhere near his own predecessor, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, just recently freed by the Supreme Court after six years of judicial persecution on Noynoy’s orders.
He was scared to see all the congressmen and senators whom he bribed and bullied in order to have his way with them. He was probably ashamed to see what they did right after he left the presidency, which is to leave his party en masse, after they had professed their loyalty to him for six long years.
Perhaps he was even scared of facing the media, who would still point their microphones at him but who would be treating him with markedly less respect, now that he’s just another ex-president. Or perhaps he is frightened of being with so many important people and having none of his sisters (who have played the tag-team role of his mother’s replacement) around.
And so, Aquino was the only living ex-president who didn’t go to Duterte’s Sona. And you know what else?
I think nobody really cared.