I can't believe it's really happening. Though the whole operation is still shrouded in ambiguity, a direct consequence of the government-imposed news blackout -- are they all returning, and is it going to be by July 20? -- it looks like Philippine troops are indeed being pulled out from Iraq.
To be sure, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is doing this to save her ass as well. Activists in mass rallies, politicians, newspaper columnists -- I include the Philippine Daily Inquirer's strongly worded editorial here as an example -- all called for withdrawal from Iraq.
My dad (we were all debating this over breakfast) swore up and down that there was no way the Arroyo government would "concede to the terrorists" -- by the way, it's "conceding to reason," as one journalist put it -- because the Philippines had too much to lose. But loss of contracts and military support aside, I argued, don't mean anything to the public right now; if an instant poll could be taken, the overwhelming majority of the Filipino people would vote for the withdrawal of troops to save the life of one man. And so, it seems, Arroyo has done.
But as Congressman Teddy Casino of BAYAN put it:
She seems to think that it would be far easier to explain to the U.S. her action on the hostage situation than to appease an angry public in case Angelo dela Cruz dies.(It isn't every day a former classmate of mine -- and former fellow UPLB Perspective staffer -- gets quoted in the New York Times.)
So I'm not going to be celebrating any moral victories here, or championing the Philippine government's "taking a stand" against an unjust war. Already Arroyo's congressmen are busy worrying about appeasing Uncle Sam. ("You do understand why we're doing this, right, Daddy?") Still, it's worth it -- for now -- to see the Coalition of the Willing get their knickers in a bit of a twist.
Posted by the wily filipino at July 16, 2004 09:21 AM