Duterte's impetuous action against Obama shows misplaced, distorted & retarded nationalism

“ He lambasted Obama for something which did not happen when he did not even say a word against China for sending their ships once more in the disputed Spratlys islands?”

I see nothing wrong with a Chief Executive of a sovereign nation commenting against another leader of another sovereign nation. The world is supposedly democratic and such exchanges happen between and among heads of state. The only thing that bothers me is---do we share the same sentiment as what our President Duterte expressed in his latest outburst against US president Barack Obama? Is such behavior consistent with Filipino values?

For millennia, peoples of these islands have this respect for other people, even brutes such as their Spanish, American and Japanese invaders and imperialists. The Filipino people are highly respectful of other people. We are the only people in the world who uses “po” and “opo” at the end of our sentences, the highest expression of respect for the person we talk or engage with. Even during debates or heated discussions with other people, we Filipinos pepper our language with “pos” and “opo’s” still respectful with our enemies.

We only utter these curses in the heat of passion, when we see and feel that the other person is disrespectful to us and is violating or has violated our rights as a person and individual.  Even during those times when we were struggling against our imperialist invaders, we have remained a respectful people.

Obama, for all his faults as a person and as a leader, is still sitting as the president of the United States of America. Whatever we say about him, Obama is a person respected by millions of people, and if we go by the logic being peddled by Duterte, even cut half a billion off Obama’s admirers throughout the world, and you still have 300 million Americans with the highest respect for him, just because he occupies the top most position in their government.

Curse him if you want, but curse him for something which it is still in the future tense, is utterly stupid. When Duterte made those outbursts, he was still in Manila and he has’nt arrived yet at the ASEAN summit to meet Obama. There was still no bilateral meeting with the two leaders, and no discussion about the human rights situation in the Philippines.

Duterte cursed Obama and Obama responded by cancelling his meeting with the Philippine president. Is that good? Yes, it is, says Renato Reyes of Bayan Muna.

I ask Mr. Reyes—how about the Chinese? AT this juncture, the Chinese government have sent their boats and their frigates to the Spratlys island for another series of construction there.

Inspite of what Duterte warned them against—never to do another construction project there at the disputed territories---these Chinese imperialists are showing their impetuousness by sending their men and war materiel.

This Chinese action is a direct affront against us, a very clear case of imperialism but got no harsh comments or tirades from Duterte. Instead, here is our President cursing a long-time ally just to show his “alleged nationalist sentiments” and is basing his anger for something which did not happen in the first place? Duterte should exercise careful circumspection.

Duterte should be mindful of the fact that he is no longer a local government official cursing, fighting off or commenting another petty government official. He is now representing the interests of 101 million souls, 16 million of whom probably share the same warped view on international relations with him, but there are still about 84 million who probably do not and instead, want to have good relations with other nations and races throughout the world.

Instead of going to war with China for direct imperialist action in Philippine territory, Duterte did the unthinkable and directed his tirade against an ally who, in the end-game, would probably side with him in the event of a confrontation with the true imperialists—the Chines