Inquirer Editorial

Editorial : Impertinence

VICE PRESIDENT Noli de Castro says he has no recollection of any meeting with former US Embassy Chargé d'Affaires Joseph Mussomeli where they discussed at some length politics or any other subject matter. As far as he can recall, De Castro says, he only had three "casual meetings" with the American diplomat, all of them during official functions where they got to exchange little more than pleasantries. Thus, the Vice President adds, he could not have confided to Mussomeli that there was "circumstantial evidence" of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's involvement in election fraud, as the US official reported in a document that is on file with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. "I don't even remember his face."

Of course, De Castro has every reason to plead amnesia not only with regard to how Mussomeli looked but more so about that embarrassing, if not damaging, piece of information about election cheating. Having declared himself firmly on the side of the President, he is not supposed to provide more ammunition to the opposition that has been trying to force Ms Arroyo out of Malacañang.

But if that meeting with US officials did indeed take place, then the Vice President has even more reason to remember it well. In the report, one of several documents believed to have been downloaded from FBI files and sent to some Filipino opposition leaders, Mussomeli and other US government agents barely try to hide their contempt for De Castro. When the US officials asked him about US-RP military cooperation, according to the report, De Castro replied that he "supported the global war on terrorism.... On Iraq, however, he said he didn't understand 'what was behind it."' When he was asked about his legislative priorities, the report said, "he searched for words" and his chief of staff had to come to his rescue by pointing out that the Vice President's "policy interest [is] anything that would benefit the masses," adding parenthetically "especially the TV-watching, vote-rich masses." The report went on to point out that when the US officials inquired about the biography of Rudy Giuliani on his desk, De Castro said it had been given to him as a gift and "he hadn't read it."

But what other US officials apparently found most odd and revealing was the Vice President's complaint about the imbalance in RP-US trade relations. The report quoted him as saying that the Philippines was "your Number One ally and our President your Number One fan," but other countries seemed to be "getting more."

Their verdict: "There is no indication De Castro has much knowledge or interest in foreign policy issues." An unidentified State Department official concluded: "If this is what De Castro can offer on domestic and foreign policy issues, then the opposition should rethink [its] position as protracted uncertainties will deepen and increasingly harm the current political and economic situation if De Castro succeeds [Ms Arroyo]." Simply put, De Castro was weighed and found wanting by officials of the US Embassy, the State Department and who knows what other US government agency.

But if De Castro is the bumbling ignoramus US officials painted him to be, he was a greater fool for giving them the opportunity to interrogate him like he were applying for a job. That's very clear from the questions these officials peppered him with. If he were conscious of his dignity as a leader of an independent country, he would have shown them the door the moment they started probing his mind. What was he doing, accommodating their impertinence and arrogance? Did he think he needed US approval to succeed to the presidency in the event that Ms Arroyo was booted out of office?

The Vice President owes his office to the Filipino voters who elected him. According to the Constitution, he assumes the highest office the moment the President can no longer discharge her functions. And he needs no clearance from anyone, least of all a foreign power, to do so. He should have reminded his American interrogators about this instead of submitting meekly to their questioning. Then he would have spared himself the humiliation of being ridiculed and treated with extreme condescension. If De Castro's election was a mistake, Filipinos will have to live with that mistake. No American official should presume to undo it.