Cayetano’s apology for rescue praised, criticized
The apology offered by Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano to the Kuwaiti government has raised praises and protests from various sectors.
Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, in a press briefing Wednesday, said the country has earned the respect of the Kuwait in apologizing for the conflict caused by the Philippine embassy's rescue of abused domestic helpers in their country.
"Actually we gained, I think, the respect and the friendship of Kuwait more. And maybe some other countries na (that) at least, marunong din palang magpakumbaba, humingi ng paumanhin (the Philippines is humble and apologize)," Pimentel said.
The Senate chief said the government "would have been insulted also" if Kuwait had enforced its own law, or such a rescue operation, in the country.
Representatives hit apology On the other hand, solons from independent blocs in the House of Representatives believe that Secretary Cayetano's apology to the Kuwaiti government was not appropriate given the larger context of overseas Filipino workers' (OFW) plight in the oil-rich state.
Akbayan Party-List Rep. Tom Villarin and Anakpawis Party-List Rep. Ariel Casilao reckoned that the apology from the Philippines' top diplomat will "hurt" the OFWs.
Villarin belongs to de facto opposition bloc "Magnificent Seven," while Casilao is part of the militant Makabayan bloc. Both are considered independent factions by the House leadership.
"Foreign Affairs Secretary Cayetano's apology was not the proper response as it diminished the value of OFW lives in peril," claimed Villarin. ‘It is proper to apologize’ Meanwhile, Pimentel defended the apology saying: "Kung tayo rito sa Pilipi- nas very zealous tayo about sovereignty, nakita niyo, ganun sa ibang bansa. Siguro sa mata ng Kuwait authorities, we were enforcing their laws (If we Filipinos are very zealous about our sovereignty, it's the same for other countries. Maybe, Kuwait authorities saw that we were enforcing their laws in their land)," he said.
"So kung sakali mang lumampas tayo dun (if ever we crossed the line), that we were enforcing some of their laws, tama naman po na mag-apologize tayo (it is only proper that we apologize)," he added.
Pimentel stressed that the Philippines should be conscious about it especially that the administration has been asserting the country's sovereignty amid remarks from foreign nations. ‘Rubbing salt to an open wound’ For his part, Casilao described the DFA chief's apology to the Kuwaiti government as "like rubbing salt to an open wound."
"Ang mga OFWs na nga ang inaabuso, ginagahasa at pinapatay, tayo pa ang magbibigay ng apology? (It's the OFWs who are being abused, raped and killed, and yet we're the ones who should give an apology?) he pointed out.
Apology for rescue efforts
Cayentano on Tuesday said that he apologized to Kuwaiti Ambassador Saleh Ahmad Althwaikh for the Philippines Embassy's recent rescue efforts on some distressed Filipino domestic helpers. This, after a video of the Embassy's action went viral on social media.
But Cayetano said the rescue should be treated as a exceptional case since it was carried out "in the spirit of emergency action to protect Filipinos."
"It is in this spirit that I apologized to my counterpart and we apologized to the Kuwaiti government, Kuwaiti people and the leaders of Kuwait if they were offended by some actions taken by the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait," Cayetano was quoted as saying.
President Rodrigo Duterte earlier ordered a deployment ban on OFWs to Kuwait.