‘…so I found it fluff for JPE to mention Kissinger’s opinion as a sort of justification for a go slow policy with China on the WPS.’
LONG before Juan Ponce Enrile and Rene Cayetano had a falling-out there was PECABAR, short for Ponce Enrile, Cayetano, Bautista and Reyes, the principals behind what during its time was a politically influential law firm. Their office was at the Vernida IV tower right across the Makati Sports Club, and in the early to late 1980s PECABAR was like a magnet to many political types, who dropped by to consult with the one and only JPE, and to plan political moves with Cayetano, who as secretary general headed the Enrile wing of the Nacionalista Party after the EDSA Revolution.
I know this for a fact because I, at age 24, was “head” of the Young Nacionalistas, the youth arm of the party. And when Cayetano (with or without Enrile) toured the country organizing chapters in key urban centers, I was there to link up with the younger generation and even with those above 30 who hung on to their positions in the youth arm of their respective chapters. Many of those who traveled with me — a mixed bag of my classmates from UP and friends from other schools — are now accomplished professionals.
Some are in government, others in the diplomatic corps, many are lawyers, and one was none other than Alan Peter, the eldest son of our party secretary general.
All of these were built around the idea that JPE was going to run for president in the first presidential elections after Cory. Which I thought was not a bad idea, given his keen mind, surpassed only perhaps by that of Ferdinand Marcos.’ But for one reason or another, JPE delayed in making any announcements and before you knew it everyone was organized:
Mitra, Danding, Doy, Salonga, Imelda, Miriam and Fidel Ramos. Everyone, that is, except JPE who, at the last minute, decided not to run for president in a race eventually won by the “other EDSA hero,” FVR. (Miriam, had she been alive to read this, would insist that it was she who had won!)
Given the crowded field of 1992 and the strong emotions people felt toward JPE, I guess backing out was a wise move. But I think with 1992 slipped away his last and best chance of becoming president of the Philippines.
Very few controversial political characters have lived as long as JPE has, maybe with the exception only of Emilio Aguinaldo. Most of his contemporaries have since passed away: but what is amazing about JPE is not just that he has outlived them; he has done so with a mind that seems to be as sharp today as it was, say, 10 years ago. Which is a lot to say for someone his age — 97!
No wonder it is still to JPE that many people in positions of political leadership turn for advise or guidance, enlightenment even. He has seen “everything,” survived everything, and outlined everyone. He can talk about policy history, explain the rationale behind a presidential decree still in force today, and, as in the case of the WPS, explain some of the nuances that make the situation both complicated and critical.
I was just flummoxed by his statement the other day that during a discussion he had with Henry Kissinger, the latter had warned him that the US would not come to our aid should we get embroiled in a South China Sea dispute. When did this conversation happen?
Kissinger was the secretary of state during the latter part of the Nixon presidency and held on for a year after Nixon resigned in 1974. Did JPE have a chat with Kissinger during those years, when Martial Law was still fresh here but there were no major issues between us and China on the SCS? In fact, during this time China was embroiled in internal political struggle with “capitalist roaders,” on the one hand, and “leftist” elements on the other, a struggle that would result in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. And if their chat happened during these years — when the US (and even the Philippines) established diplomatic relations with China, one would wonder how the idea that the Philippines would be embroiled in a SCS dispute could arise. At that time America ruled the waves in this part of the world.
Could the conversion have come later in life? Perhaps. But after 1975 Kissinger slowly receded into the background of US foreign policy making, his opinions sought after once in a while but nothing more. Yes, his book on China shows how keen Kissinger is on the emerging global power — but his opinion about US action (or inaction) would simply be that — his opinion. Not gospel truth at all.
And so I found it fluff for JPE to mention Kissinger’s opinion as a sort of justification for a go slow policy with China on the WPS. A friend even said his reaction was “So what?” At bottom, the issue of the WPS should first be analyzed by Filipinos based solely on Philippine interests before moving on to trying to understand how promoting these interests would impact the interests of other states around us. And when doing the latter, what matters would be to understand the current doctrines in the different Foreign and Defense ministries, and not old doctrines or old analyses which may no longer be in tune with the times.
But WPS aside, no one can deny that there will never be another JPE. Like him or hate him, the man is a one-of-a-kind.
