FIRING LINE: New Uncle Sam

By
Robert B. Roque, Jr.
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By Robert B. Roque, Jr.

Joseph “Joe” Biden is the presumptive United States president to succeed Donald Trump. Turning 78 on November 20, the former vice president of Barrack Obama, barring any impediment, will be inaugurated on January 20, 2021 as the oldest American president in history.

He leads the Democrats in marching back into the White House and will be only the second Catholic US president (the other being John F. Kennedy).

What’s in store for the Philippines under a Biden-led Washington, D.C.?

People in Malacanang are cautious of making a call at this point. After all, President Duterte is known to have berated the last Democrat who sat at the White House.
But should there be a lack in personal affinity between the two leaders, Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez is – as Sen. Ralph Recto articulates it – “well-positioned to help steer our country’s interest through whatever changes a Democratic White House would bring to PH-US relations”.

Setting that aside, many local politicians believe the history between the two countries runs so deep that remaining allies – whoever sits as president at opposite ends – is a foregone conclusion.

Pro-administration congressman, Rep. Joey Salceda of Albay, could be the most optimistic man in government about Biden’s victory. He sees US foreign policy to return to multilateralism, which bodes well for the Philippines in multiple fronts such as trade, environment, and defense and security.

Although human rights in the Philippines may be a bane in the hearts of Democrats, Biden is known to be a centrist, which means he is not likely to be “an interventionist as other left-leaning Democrats in terms of foreign policy”, a noted political analyst says.

Philippine bishops, though, have a mouthful to say about Biden’s separation from Catholic dogma when he supported state-funded abortion and contraception. But they see hope for more humanitarian consideration of migrants and refugees with him taking over from Trump.
Stability could perhaps be my best impression of a Biden presidency, void of his predecessor’s polarizing nature and replacing it with an aura of graceful age and fatherly wisdom. However, given that the election result pictures a deeply polarized American society, his administration faces a daunting task of uniting a Divided States of America.

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Speaking of elections, there’s another one coming up tomorrow (Nov. 11) to fill vacant slots in the International Court of Justice next year. The ICJ is also known as the World Court, being the highest United Nations court for inter-state disputes.

I am shocked that despite the Philippines’ nomination of a Japanese judge to the ICJ last June, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. has publicly – and I mean via Twitter – ordered Manila’s mission to the UN to vote for the Chinese candidate to the ICJ.

Last March, the Philippines also snubbed the ASEAN candidate – a Singaporean – to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) by voting for the Chinese nominee to be the UN copyrights chief.

There’s a pattern here. What gives?

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SHORT BURSTS. For comments or reactions, email firingline@ymail.com or tweet @Side_View. Read current and past issues of this column at https://thephilbiznews.com/

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