Cayetano’s ambition

Sen. Antonio Trillanes called Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano a “political snake” in reaction to the latter’s word war with former president Benigno Aquino III on the Philippines’ territorial dispute with China. Cayetano is a defender of President Rodrigo Duterte’s avidly pro-China policy to the point of his administration negating the country’s win in the Arbitral Tribunal hearing on the two countries’ conflicting claims on some South China Sea territories.

I agree with the “political snake” tag, which I say is a product of the man’s overflowing ambition, something that has become the cause of his downfall. He so desperately wants to become president he sold his soul to the devil, sort of, making him the current subject of either derision or amusement.

In 2016, he pretty much laid down the path to the presidency he wanted to take. He aimed for the vice presidency and saw the then popular bet Duterte as the politician he would attach his fortunes to--by hook or by crook if you will. His maneuvering was, I would say, shameless and I could even sense Duterte only grudgingly succumbing to his wiles. But he did succeed in easing out Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. from the Duterte running mate picture.

Even then, Cayetano lost the vice presidency to the political neophyte but straight Leni Robredo and could not even get more votes than the discredited Marcos, which sums up how much his political stock has fallen since then. Worse, he showed the kind of stuff his character is made of by, again shamelessly, wiggling into a position in the Duterte Cabinet, the Foreign Affairs portfolio no less, even if he has no credentials for it.

Cayetano it was who created what can be called the “Kuwaiti mess” when the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) rescued distressed Filipino workers in Kuwait without the knowledge of the government there, a violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

Cayetano obviously wanted full disclosure of the operation because he brought with him diehard Duterte bloggers like Margaux “Mocha” Uson and RJ Nieto.

The reaction of the Kuwaiti government was swift. It declared Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Renato Villa persona non grata, the first Filipino envoy to be expelled from the host country in recent history, and detained some Filipino diplomats there. Had it not been for the help by steady hands like Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, the situation would have worsened.

I have always been suspicious of Cayetano lugging around Uson when she is not an employee of the DFA. The man apparently wants to ingratiate himself to Uson’s diehard Duterte supporters (DDS) cabal with an eye to the 2022 presidential jousts. Incidentally, Cayetano’s ambition could again be thwarted by a woman. The President and his DDS apparently wants Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte to become president next.

Cayetano should be told that the country’s politics is littered with the carcasses of overly ambitious politicians who wanted to become the country’s president by hook or by crook. Remember Manny Villar, Jejomar Binay, etc.?