THE elaborate attempts to discredit the Arroyo administration for the withdrawal of the Philippine humanitarian mission from Iraq took a new turn the other day with the critics’ repetition at every turn of the slur made by an American television talk show host about the government action.
The remarks were intended to be funny as is the essential content of the long-running show but the interjections were clearly and maliciously disparaging to the country’s character and leadership.
American talk show host Jay Leno had mocked that "A new world record has been set in the 100-meter dash," and that "it was set by Filipino troops fleeing Iraq."
Predictably, the comic effect of the ridicule was met with applause and boisterous burst of laughter in the studio audience whose reverberations reached the world, including Malacañang.
But the President’s spokesman, according to an Associated Press report, was not laughing.
"Our courage has been demonstrated in (World War II battlegrounds) Bataan and Corregidor and every battlefield where we have fought," the report quoted Palace spokesman Ignacio Bunye.
As may be noted, it was the first time that Malacañang said anything about the Angelo de la Cruz crisis and the Philippine humanitarian troops withdrawal since it assigned media responsibility to the Foreign Affairs Department the other week.
It was an arrangement seen partly as a way of shielding the Office of the President from directly reacting to criticisms for its decision on the case.
Already, US allies have expressed dismay over the government’s withdrawal of the Philippine peacekeeping contingent in Iraq, fearing it could result in increased hostage-taking by Iraqi militants of multi-national volunteers involved in the rebuilding of the war-torn country.
But as Bunye said, "All we can say is that what is first and foremost is the national interest of the Philippines," the same response made by Senate President Franklin Drilon when first asked to make comments on the presidential decision.
Meanwhile, efforts to reconcile US disappointments over the government action with the need to maintain the best of relations between the two countries became clear when Ambassador Francis Ricciardone the other day expressed sympathy for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s predicament.
He called the President’s decision "truly inspirational," citing her standing up to the tough crisis and demonstrating that she cared for the hostage and for the country’s longer-term interests.
We salute her, he said, and stand behind her.
