Odd man in the Cabinet

MR. TEOFISTO GUINGONA, an appointed Vice President and Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), is a pathetic figure in the administration of President Gloria Arroyo.

That it took him this long to realize that his twin appointments are just plain political payback for the role he played in the oust-Estrada putsch --- and clearly not on his competence to be a VP and preparedness in foreign policy matters --- should add more to the naiveté and infantalism that he seems to exude. Worse still is his mistaken belief in himself, which obviously has gotten hold of his amorphous mind, holding on to two exalted positions in government --- what in the words of President Arroyo, could have been her worse political mistakes committed so far in her administration.

The re-assuring tete-a-tete given him Wednesday (July 3rd) by his erstwhile colleagues in the Ramos cabinet --- headed no less by the former president --- should further confirm that he is truly the odd-man-out in the Arroyo cabinet. Unlike his colleagues in the past administration, he is the only surviving relic among them, the now hanging bridge connecting the has-been with those of the present.

Guingona’s dogged position against the Balikatan exercises; his earlier announcement of gunning for the presidency in 2004 (which he subsequently recalled less than 72 hours afterwards); as well as his gaudy pandering of such romantic, albeit nationalist issues, as national sovereignty, territorial integrity and anti-Americanism (patriotism in his words); merely revealed his cold war mindset that only his friends in the communist left and their various front organizations are now mouthing.

In the era of globalization; unheared of technology and information innovations; the Internet and the virtual demise of nation-states and political boundaries; global warming and endangered bio-diversities; the Euro and WTO; DNA sequencing, the double helix theory and Human Genome researches; along with the wonders of mobile and satellite phones and global positioning systems (GPS); Guingona and his ilk are now truly decades away from where we are. And to think that this is the same archaic mind earlier charged of manning the ramparts of the country’s foreign policy initiatives.

In Guingona’s case, President Arroyo had indeed committed a political blunder, ab initio.
Still, let us give the Vice President the benefit of the doubt. Is he a patriot (as he claimed), or just a naïve dreamer with a mind fashioned during the cold war era?

He is of course consistent in taking positions relative to various RP-US issues, past and present --- a consistency that could lead him either to suicidal oblivion or true wisdom. He was concededly a patriot in 1991 when, as a senator, he voted against the continued presence of US bases in the country --- a relic of the July 4, 1946 political “independence” supposedly given us by America. In 1991, however, the US was already assessing the nature and character of her military presence in Asia brought about by technological advances in her military preparedness --- and principally because of the implosion and subsequent collapse of the USSR, the Warsaw Pact powers of Eastern Europe, the fall of the Berlin wall, death of Mao Zedong in 1976, and the ascendancy to power of a reformist market-forces-embracing Deng Xiaopeng (with his Four Modernizations Program) --- all pointing to the direction of the beginning of the end of the highly volatile cold war era.

The bi-polar world of global politics then became unitary, with US as the sole and undisputed superpower remaining in the international political and military landscapes.

Permanent or stationary military basing rights, such as those then existing in Clark and Olongapo, underwent a critical and strategic assessment from America’s security and military considerations. With US bases remaining in Diego Garcia, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Okinawa; the highly mobile US Pacific Fleet patrolling China Sea, Indian Ocean and the Eastern Pacific seaboard; the relatively low-technology level of Mainland China’s (PROC) military preparedness, communist Vietnam and North Korea; together with former US President Ronald Reagan’s awful Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) launched in the 80s; all these must have weighed heavily in America leaving the Philippines militarily.

Thus, if Guingona’s senate vote in 1991 against the extension of the RP-US military agreement was indeed patriotic, it was also decidedly, and most importantly, based on America’s realistic assessment of her changing security/military position in this part of the world. America’s military presence did not diminish beginning 1991 --- it has in fact expanded and became more lethal since then --- the seeming “retreat” merely oriented to give way to her changing military superiority.

Then comes the issue of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) forged last year when Guingona was already the sitting Vice President and DFA secretary. That VFA was already a living military reality, which has in fact given birth to several joint military training exercises between US and Philippine armies, should have made Guingona a true statesman by just keeping mum on his anti-VFA position. But when the Terms of Agreement (ToR) of the Balikatan exercises (in Basilan and Central Luzon) were being discussed (sought in the first place by our President following the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the US and the pestering presence of the local Abu Sayyaf terrorist group), Guingona remained steadfast against the agreement. Now that President Arroyo is seeking the extension and expansion of the exercises, based no less on petitions by the people of Mindanao (Guingona is a Mindanaon) --- and what PGMA feels is for the good of the country --- the good DFA secretary is again knit-pricking the decision. If this indeed is patriotism, perhaps we need to forge now a new language among us.

Incidentally, why is Guingona so focused on the VFA and our military exercises with the US, yet suspiciously silent on a similar arrangement we have with Malaysia (there is an on-going training exercises in the country with them)? Also, why his alleged act of patriotism kept him mum when communist Chinese vessels years ago began erecting permanent “observation posts” in the Kalayaan islands? This is something that continue to baffle us to this day.

By next week, July 15th, Guingona’s resignation as DFA secretary will take effect. Pending the appointment of his replacement, PGMA will hold on to his portfolio.

When will the appointed odd-man-out of the Cabinet finally leave the government? *

Reprinted with permission from the author and the Manila Times.

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You may email the author at ernie@philippinestoday.net.