DEMONSTRATING the sycophancy of Filipino officials in relation to the Americans, Philippine ambassador to Washington, Jose Manuel ‘Babe’ Romualdez, bared in an interview by Richard Javad Hedayrian, for the Asia Times last March 9, 2023, that he was “tearful” when he talked to then Pres. Rodrigo Duterte via zoom back in 2021 not to terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), at a time when Duterte was seriously considering its termination.
The VFA was signed in 1998 during the term of Pres. Joseph Estrada.
The interviewer, Hedayrian, is another American mouthpiece in the mainstream media and a known partisan of the discredited Liberal Party (Dilawan).
Revealingly, Romualdez admitted to tying the continuation of the VFA to the US delivery of anti-COVID vaccines’ that the Philippines had already paid for but was withheld by the United States in order to first inoculate American citizens on the order of Pres. Joe Biden.
In the interview, Romualdez disclosed that instead of “crying” and being angry over American perfidy at not honoring a consummated transaction that involved the lives of Filipinos under threat by the pandemic, he instead found a way to push for the VFA’s continuation on behalf of the United States.
Romualdez also disclosed that he first talked to then foreign affairs secretary Teodoro ‘Teddy ‘Boy’ Locsin to help convince Pres. Duterte to continue the VFA. Locsin is also known for his pro-America bias.
Romualdez disclosed that instead of “crying” and being angry over American perfidy at not honoring a consummated transaction that involved the lives of Filipinos under threat by the pandemic, he instead found a way to push for the VFA’s continuation on behalf of the United States.
“I talked to the president in Tagalog [Filipino] and I was tearful because I really meant it, because I have so many friends who had already died [from Covid-19 infections] and I said: “Mr president, we need to give this VFA a chance, because it will help us get our vaccines to our people, Romualdez bared.
“Shortly after, Secretary Locsin called me and said the president had decided that [due to our conversation] we will go ahead and restore the VFA. So that’s the story, that’s how it happened,” said Romualdez, a first cousin of Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.