It was a sight to behold, one incumbent and four former presidents standing next to each other. President Rodrigo Duterte and former Presidents Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Benigno Aquino III were photographed together as they attended the first National Security Council meeting on Wednesday.
For the first meeting during his administration, Mr. Duterte led his four predecessors, the vice president, key Cabinet members and leaders of both Houses of Congress in talking policy and strategy about the Philippines’ territorial dispute with China after the July 12 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in our favor, the peace process with both the Moro and the Communist rebels, and the campaign against illegal drugs.
The meeting, which started Wednesday afternoon, dragged well until the evening—which indicates either the leaders involved had difficulty finding common ground, or that they simply had too many ideas for cooperation that they could not bring themselves to stop.
We will discover how the meeting turned out in the next few days, and whether the results would have bearing on the actual strategies and action plans to be adopted by the Duterte administration, or whether the meeting was all for show.
We’ve had enough of spectacles: For instance, the immediate past president, Aquino, showing up at the meeting still sporting a yellow ribbon, not the colors of the flag, on his chest. This ultimate display of divisiveness was made only worse by his snub of his own immediate predecessor, Arroyo, whose hand he reportedly refused to shake. Mr. Aquino had caused the imprisonment of Mrs. Arroyo for four years for plunder charges despite the latter’s debilitating sickness. She has been a free woman for just a week after the Supreme Court ordered her release, finding inadequate evidence to support the case against her.
Mr. Aquino was also conspicuously absent in Monday’s State of the Nation Address, saying he preferred to watch it in the comfort of his living room so he could focus. If we did not know any better, we would say he did not quite know how to face all the people he has alienated and unnecessarily pilloried. He would have felt alluded to when Mr. Duterte mentioned the culture of vindictiveness that prevailed in the past.
That former presidents go back to their quiet lives as civilians after their terms is really just an illusion. Some assume further responsibilities, as Mr. Ramos has agreed to do when he accepted the role of special envoy to China. Some take on other roles in government. Others languish in jail for what they did or did not do while in office, whether or not the charges are deserved.
And then there is Mr. Aquino who cannot quite snap out of his mean, petty, childish streak even when he is now supposed to be acting like an elder statesman. In truth, there was nothing statesmanlike with how he conducted himself while in office. It would be a stretch to expect he would act otherwise now that he is supposed to know better.