Trumped

ASSISTANT Secretary Mocha Uson lost sight of the “real change” discourse, of the need to fight the drug war, and other parts of the narrative. At the ASEAN Gala Dinner, she got reduced to the same awful situation of past colonial-minded leaders: Bowing prostrate at the presidential table, telling The Donald that she’s a fan of The Apprentice, and asking him for a “selfie.”

Elsewhere, the mighty Manila Police District led the National Capital Region Police Office in their thousands in “blocking” the US Embassy and the ASEAN Summit venues, and the network of streets leading to them. Truncheons, shields and water cannons weren’t enough. For the first time in history, the police used sonic blasts against protesters.

Days prior to the ASEAN Summit, the good people of South Korea already gave us a foretaste, a preview of what comes along a visit by US President Donald Trump – huge, angry protests.

Oppa knows how to fight. We should know. We share with South Koreans a similar experience of fighting and defeating dictators, oligarchs, and foreign intervention. This time, their very nation’s existence is put in peril by Trump’s threat of nuclear war against North Korea — surely, that’s reason enough to inform Trump of their displeasure, to put it mildly.

The Philippines knows how to fight too, and knows the US fairly well. Our status as the lone US colony became a magnet for invasion by its enemy in the last war. The presence of US military bases until 1991 was a source of insecurity, and didn’t prevent but fostered the rise of the Marcos dictatorship.

The neocolonial state and the unfair relations with the US since 1946 have not resulted in the promised advantages. We have only lagged behind our neighbors — no thanks to widening income inequality, to the supremacy of oligarchs, to the plunder of our natural resources mainly by US-led multinationals, and to the rise of worsening types of neocolonial leaders.

The round-the-clock, bottomless, and unlimited “visiting rights” of US military forces under the VFA, and the Philippine camps-turned-US military bases under EDCA could not deter the invasion of parts of the West Philippine Sea.

The touted “special relations” between Manila and Washington has always been suspect because of unfulfilled promises, and a long history of betrayals and onesidedness.

Truth to tell, we as a people have no big problems with those of our regional neighbors. Often, our overseas Filipino workers, expats, and tourists share common cause with them in other countries.

If decades before, the people of the region joined the rest of the world in denouncing the Myanmar junta for denying democracy to the Burmese, today we do the same over the genocide of the Rohingya.

If decades before, the people of the region joined the rest of the world in supporting the East Timorese in their fight for self-determination, today we do the same for the people of Papua.

If decades before, Filipino freedom-fighters and democracy activists shone light on the fascist dictator, today we draw attention to the USbacked war on drugs and the massive carnage it has caused.

In all these instances, the people of the region found ASEAN to be silent. But its official description, not its name, should merit close attention. ASEAN is an association of governments and government leaders. Whether these heads of government actually represent their peoples and their aspirations is up to the peoples to say.

We Filipinos were rightfully furious in 2016 that President Duterte failed to mention in the ASEAN declaration the case the country won in The Hague regarding the West Philippine Sea. That was Duterte’s fault. And ASEAN’s too, because it allowed another pro-Beijing ASEAN head of government to prevent that it be mentioned.

There are no indications that the chief Philippine cause in the international scene — the defense of its territory — won’t be won in ASEAN. ASEAN won’t allow it, as it has not allowed in 2016. Duterte’s world-infamous loud mouth has gone silent in ASEAN. He cannot even get a priority number to talk swiftly with the Chinese president; he was made to wait.

And so like other previous presidents, Duterte has opted for the standard Philippine presidential position of relying on and showing fealty to the American president: All done under the guise of “Filipino hospitality” — the go-to apology of the colonialminded to justify groveling right here in our homeland.

We are not the only nation where everything stops and temporarily goes on an extended holidays. Many do out of convenience. But in our case, as pointed out by many friends, it is to show off to and to minimize problems for our guests. It is also exhibit us as obedient, suffering cattle who could use more aid, trade deals, military support. More of the same.

The angry protests don’t just provide a counterpoint to ASEAN and to the Duterte-Trump meeting. It is a continuation of the Filipino, Southeast Asian, and Asian saga. Prevented from speaking out about our own country and about our cares by the mighty police forces, we persist.

As the rise of Aung San Suu Kyi, Duterte, and even Jokowi shows, changes of heads of governments promising change are not enough. And amid the fiesta of these leaders, and their foreign sponsors (aka dialogue partners), the protests offer the people a glimmer of much-needed hope and also a reminder of challenges waiting to be met.