Foreign policy under Cayetano
As anticipated, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano was appointed by President Duterte as the new Foreign Affairs Secretary. This is a welcome development for the international community especially to diplomats in Manila because Alan Peter is perceived to be eloquent and most likely will have the ability to decipher what the president really wants to say, having been with him long enough to read him. Alan is also known to be very close to the president’s “alter ego,” Christopher “Bong” Go. With such being the case, it is obvious he would be able to articulate and effectively communicate the administration’s foreign policy tack and in turn, transmit important messages from the international diplomatic community.
It was actually during the state dinner for Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah at Malacañang Palace that the president privately confirmed his choice of Alan Peter to head the Department of Foreign Affairs. The president told him, in Tagalog – “Ikaw na. Timing na lang natin (You’re it. Let’s just wait for perfect timing).”
During the state dinner, Alan took me aside and said we should sit down and talk after having been reappointed by the president as special envoy to the United States.
Unfortunately, our good friend Jun Yasay was distracted by citizenship issues which kept him from being focused especially during those tumultuous times when our relationship with the United States was going through a rough phase, rendering the messages being transmitted somewhat garbled along the way.
Senator Cayetano has been joining the president during presidential visits abroad, and was present in international meetings relating to the South China Sea. Many say that in retrospect, they were not surprised to see Cayetano on stage with the president’s economic managers during the Dutertenomics forum.
At the second forum in Conrad Manila with big businessmen and foreign media, questions regarding the Philippines’ relationship with other nations were handled by Cayetano. Asked about the foreign policy of the president, Alan Peter was direct: The Duterte administration’s policy is to be friends to all; enemies to none.
During the first press conference following his appointment, Cayetano said the administration is cognizant of issues surrounding the South China Sea, assuring that past efforts from the time of Ferdinand Marcos will not be squandered. “We will not waste anything, and that means all of our bullets and arguments that are favorable to the Philippines are still there.”
In a way, this falls along the same lines as Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio’s cautionary statements, saying that the Philippines has “many cards to play that are not confrontational,” opining that we can still trade with China without waiving our rights over the disputed territories.
The president’s (non-confrontational) strategy and his diplomatic stance has resulted in assurances from other claimant countries that no claims (or at least for the meantime) will be made and no meddling will happen, or so Cayetano explained in words to the same effect.
The new DFA secretary has opined that the South China Sea dispute is not only between the Philippines and China as it also involves other claimant nations and impacts stakeholders in the Asia Pacific region. “The Philippines is now on a strategic role to talk to Japan, Australia, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan and the others not to militarize the area,” he said, adding that the Philippines has to find a way to work with the others and avoid a situation where other claimant nations would go against each other, echoing an earlier statement that the approach regarding the SCS issue should be “How do you manage the dispute?” rather than “How do you solve the dispute?” – which is what the president has been doing all along. Many believe this has been successful as more nations are listening, with the Philippines “no longer just a speck that is a very small player in world affairs.”
Cayetano says he will focus on building bridges and will avoid “microphone diplomacy” where statements are broadcast in media to address issues and engage other countries. In diplomacy, some things are not meant to be broadcast, for instance, negotiations, he said.
Actually, I think the new Foreign secretary should articulate our foreign policy direction himself because oftentimes, many diplomats are “confused” by administration signals that are coming from different directions.
Certainly, one of the most critical aspects is that Cayetano has direct access to the president – something that is key to foreign governments who want to be assured that when they talk to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, their message would be communicated in the right way to the president. This is the main reason why Cayetano’s DFA appointment is important to the international community.
Obviously, articulating our foreign policy is a very challenging task, but between Alan Peter and Defense Secretary Del Lorenzana, we have a good team who can work together especially on relationships with countries like the United States. There is still no doubt in anyone's mind that the United States is still our number one ally who can help us especially in fighting terrorists.
Sometimes, diplomats get confused with the Filipino psyche. Which reminds me of a funny story about a diplomat I met a few years ago who when he told me that, “In the next three years, I am here to try to understand the Philippines and the Filipino.”
Three years later, just before he was about to leave for his next post, I asked him what his thoughts were. His funny reply: “After three years, I learned that when a Filipino says something, he actually means something else. Today, I’m as confused as I was when I first arrived.”