THE PRESIDENT’S SPEECH IN PERSPECTIVE by Philip Jr Lustre Going over the comments posted by netizens critical of PNoy’s speech in his one-on-one meeting with Pope Francis in Malacanang three days ago, I read arguments that ranged from the asinine to the pertinent. The most common argument was that the one-on-one meeting was not the occasion for the President to raise the issues about those corrupt clergymen. They expected the President to be polite and solemn, but not a hardboiled head of state, who spoke out his mind on the nagging issues of the day. Their focus was on the behavioral aspects, or the need for decorum, without necessarily understanding the intricacies of diplomacy. They apparently forgot that the Pope is also a head of state like PNoy. They forgot that when two heads of state meet, the whole world could expect them tackling a wide range of the burning temporal issues of the day – political, social, economic, and the global challenges, among others. Going over their comments, I also found out that theirs were a function of the following elements: ignorance, faulty logic, wrong set of facts, or plain disdain on the President. Their skewed arguments could revolve on one of the four things, or a combination of two or three of those things, or all of those things. Sometime, somehow, and somewhere, one of the four elements is present. What they did not know was that the President took advantage of their one-on-one meeting to serve as his forum to voice out what he felt about the local clergy. By making public his sentiments, he did not only speak to Pope Francis but to the entire world. He did not make a “sumbong” (complaint) to the Pope, but reported to the world the corruption of some members of the clergy in the Philippines. It should be noted that the President did not only complain of the corrupt bishops in the country. On the contrary, he told the Pope the ways many clergymen opposed the brutal Marcos dictatorship and they ways they braved the perils of the struggle against the dictatorship. The Pope knew what the President was saying. Francis came from Argentina which had a string of military dictatorships. The people of Argentina suffered martial law excesses the way Filipinos did. The two countries have many things in common. The President’s open criticisms of those corrupt bishops did not escape the papal ears. No less than the Vatican spokesman has confirmed that the Pope was taking the President’s words seriously. Soon, a validation process would unfold as the Pope has expressed intentions to talk to many people to verify what the President has said. We could expect the President, or his representatives, to discuss the details with the Pope or his representatives. This time, the pertinent details will be given in private. There is no need to make them public. The details would include the identities of these corrupt bishops, their corrupt ways, and other pertinent details. We could expect the President to clarify his issues with those backward elements of the church. Allow me to give some background information. When the President took over in 2010, he immediately collapse the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Ecclesiastical Affairs, which GMA created during her term to do some fixing job among the members of clergy. That obscure office did not function as pious arbiter of the differences between the Church and the State, but acted as the office that generously gave money to corrupt bishops in exchange for their silence and acquiescence to GMA’s corrupt ways. Many netizens still do not know that the President is in possession of intimate details of the bishops’ corrupt ways, which included the hush-hush money they regularly received from GMA minions. When he delivered his speech, PNoy knew he and the Pope were on the same wave length. In fact, the President’s took the cue from the Pope’s move to unveil the 15 “sins” of the Curia. We could expect Vatican to address the issue of corruption among bishops through policies or some other reform initiatives. This is the process. The President somehow succeeded in communicating essential matters to the Pope. This is diplomacy at work.
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 13:12:21 +0000
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