DU30’s bold tacks in ‘foreign policy’

WHO says the Duterte administration is a greenhorn in matters of foreign relations? On the contrary, it has aggressively demonstrated and pursued some bold and cunning stratagems in that direction, hitherto unseen by our ASEAN neighbors.

It all started in early 2015. Then candidate Digong Duterte made some blatantly unpalatable words when he was caught in a heavy traffic while on his way to the airport on the same day that visiting Pope Francis was due to arrive on that January.

Then the presidential campaign in 2016. The aspirant took a heavy fire from the public for his cussing words while recalling his being caught in that vehicular snarl. His acidic narration, many said, was one sure way to lose votes. And so he volunteered to go to Rome and personally apologize to the Holy Father.

Well-meaning friends told him not to waste his time because the Holy See would not issue an invitation for him to have an audience with the Holy Father.

End of the first diplomatic debacle.

A month before election day 2016, DU30 narrated to an audience in a Roces Avenue crowd about an Australian woman missionary who was raped by rioting inmates of a prison compound in Davao City. He said something that really bothered not only many local citizens but the staid foreign communities, as well, notably, US Ambassador Philip Goldberg.

The American diplomat consistently took a swipe at Duterte when interviewed by reporters during various occasions. In return, the candidate never forgot those occasions, and, in retaliation, called Goldberg “bakla” before media representatives.

The word is a street name for either gay or weakling.

That was the second diplomatic gaffe emanating from the would-be Malacañang occupant.

The raging diplomatic issue about the Duterte administration that the world community is talking about these days is the so-called “extrajudicial killings” victimizing illegal-drug peddlers, users, and protectors.

It is whispered around in foreign communities in the country that the police are indiscriminately pulling their triggers on suspects, and killers disguised as “vigilantes” are known by police officials.

On these incidents DU30 professes innocence. And so when his name is dragged into the killings (reportedly 1,400 victims so far, an unofficial figure), he flies into a rage.

And every time prominent foreign officials from the United Nations, the US State Department, a n d t h e Va t i c a n i n s i n u a t e a b o u t the national police’s involvement, the President goes on a rampage of undiplomatic words.

One personality DU30 refuses to see is UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon, fearing the world body official will scrutinize him on “those human rights violations,” a euphemism for “extrajudicial killings.”

That is the third diplomatic faux pas

And the fourth blunder – the Chief Executive’s departure speech at Davao International Airport prior to his leaving for Laos to attend the Asean Summit meeting on September 4-6.

He virtually insulted US President Barack Obama who he thought would ask him to stop those vigilante killings in a one-on-one meeting arranged between the two of them. President Rody swore to humiliate him before the regional crowd if President Obama implicated his administration in those killings.

The scheduled meeting was called off by the White House and rescheduled “to some later date.” In Manila street parlance, “Baka sa Pasko pa yun!”

Meanwhile, a Cabinet secretary made a jolting revelation during a casual broadcast media interview last Sunday in Davao. He said he listened to a Duterte proposal voiced out earlier that day during a top-secret meeting to hire mercenaries to fight ASG bandits in Sulu and Basilan.

The Gurkhas, specially trained jungle fighters by British commandos, were mentioned, according to the Cabinet official. These Nepal natives are known for their fierce fighting method.

If hiring the Gurkhas will not violate any diplomatic precedence, then DU30 may be able to get a few battalions of them. England is reportedly trimming down Gurkha guards where they perform these days in purely ceremonial functions.

And Hong Kong is also downsizing Gurkhas’ deployment as guards along the border with the rest of China.

By the way, Gurkhas demand that their combat fees must be paid in British pounds, sources intimated.