Leni Robredo prefers Filipinos to remain beholden to foreigners

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It’s a big irony in the Philippines that the rich and educated actually suffer more from colonial mentality than the middle and lower classes.

Saw this Bloomberg Philippines video and I was struck by the attitude of the Pinoy anchor person while he was interviewing Agnes Callamard about the situation in the Philippines.

I think the Pinoy anchor’s name is JP Ong. He looks like your typical sheltered, upper middle class Starbucks type. Listen to his line of questioning. He’s so starstruck with Callamard and the UN that he thinks they should just step over the head of the Philippine President.

Ong should be reminded that Callamard has not conducted a single investigation herself in the Philippines since Duterte became President. Callamard acts like she’s such an expert on what’s going on with the drug war, yet all she really knows is what’s been fed to her by local journalists and human rights groups who have vested interests.

Ong should also be reminded that a UN rapporteur is not the UN. UN rapporteurs are not employees of the UN. They don’t speak for the UN. They’re only outside contributors to the UN. Callamard has some nerve demanding that she set the terms of her visit to the Philippines as if she’s some kind of VIP. She’s just an insignificant hanger-on but she’s more demanding than actual state leaders who come to visit, like Japan PM Abe. (Maybe the DFA should write a formal complaint to whoever deals with rapporteurs in the UN, Callamard is really overstepping her bounds.)

It’s painful to see how blinded this Ong is by his colonial mentality, that he’s ready to hand over the reins of his country to a clueless white person, and disregard the Philippine President who was elected by 21 million Filipinos and is trusted by 86% of them. But when I look at the comments on the FB thread of the video, I feel a lot of hope. The sheltered foreign-worshipping types like Ong are a dying breed. Many Pinoys are wide awake now and ready to stand up for their country.


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Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 20, 2017 at 4:18 PM

    Where does Leni come into this picture? Good article though, colonial mentality is quite strong in the Philippines i hope it erodes into a more apt placed nationalism... Nothing like "pinoy pride" where people get their pride from someone else's achievments. Work hard and do what is right <-- that is enough for an individual source of Filipino Pride. Starbucks type yea.

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