A LETTER TO...

Lifted from MBF

30 June 2024

A MESSAGE FOR BONGBONG

Good evening, Bongbong

I don’t know you but I know a lot about you. We never had the occasion to meet. But I met your wife Liza when she was studying law at the Ateneo Law School in Makati. Perhaps she doesn’t remember because it was many years ago. If I recall it was in 1984. Benhur Abalos was also studying law there at the time.

I can understand Edsa Feb. 1986 was a trauma when you were 18. My father, a close friend of Ronald Reagan, was the one who asked him to ensure no harm would come to your family when you left the Palace. Gen. Teddy Allen carried out the order of President Reagan.

I am writing to you at a critical time of our history. The world is undergoing many changes. Donald Trump, a Republican, is expected to succeed Joe Biden, a Democrat, as president this November 2024. Trump’s first priority in foreign policy is to reach an accomodation with Russia and China for global peace. He promised to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours. He is also likely to bring peace to the Middle East through a continuation of the Abraham Accords which he initiated in 2020 when he was president. Many fundamental changes in US foreign policy are expected when he returns to the White House. No doubt these will impact SE Asia, including the Philippines.

I like to think you did your best, but mistakes were made in your foreign policy by antagonizing China and Russia who are allies. I won’t go into their detail here, but suffice to say it’s time a different leader takes the helm to correct them. Most Filipinos I am sure aren’t eager for a war with China but that is where many see you leading them towards. As Singapore’s former prime-minister Lee cautioned, “You sure you want to be the next battleground?”

It takes courage for anyone to admit he made a mistake. It also takes courage to relinquish power. But power is an illusion. The only one who has power is God. 

What is more important in life is to preserve a good family name. Life consists of making hard choices, at times the need to make sacrifices as your late father did to avoid bloodshed at Edsa by “cutting clean.” I admired your father because he placed the national interest above his own. It takes courage to do that and he did it because he truly loved his country and his people. He did it because he loved his family and wanted his children not to be hated by his people when he was gone. It was because of what he did that the Filipinos elected you and your sister Imee back to national positions. It was because of what he did that President Rodrigo Duterte thought he deserved a burial in the Libingan ng Bayani. Do you think that if there had been bloodshed at Edsa, the Filipinos would have elected you as senator and later as president?

You owe it to your father to make a similar sacrifice. You owe it to your sons if they choose to have a political career at the national level when you are gone. At the age of 66, consider yourself blessed that you have more than enough money to retire on which sadly is not the case for 99% of 110 million Filipinos. My advice is at your age look for the peace that many seek but few find in the company of your loving wife Liza than face the uncertainty and humiliation that may come in the near future. Oneday you will thank me for this advice.

I am sending a copy of this message to your sister Imee who has done much to pray for you and strove constantly to preserve the good name of your father.

CTTO Jose Alejandrino

Comments:

"I believe the Philippine position expressed in PBBM’s speech at the Singapore conference is the correct posture.  A leader of a country should not show weakness in front of the whole world.  That speech did not mean we are going to initiate war, rather we will respond appropriately if we are attacked.  

Hindi kaya ginagamitan lang tayo ng Tsina ng golpe de gulat  upang matakot tayo at bumigay para makuha nila ang buong sakop ng 9 dash line nang hindi kailangang ang giyera.  Dahil kung talagang giyera ang solusyon nila sa di pagkakasunduan dapat binanatan na nila ang Taiwan noon pa, o kaya gineyera na nila ang India dahil sa border dispute, o ang Vietnam at Indonesia matapos ang salpukan nila sa SCS. Sa atin pa kaya sila makigiyera gayon alam  nilang meron tayong MDT sa USA?  Kung nagaalaala tayo sa kasiraan ng ating mga siyudad, di kaya nasa isip din ng Tsina ang maaring mangyari sa kanila kung reresponde ang US at mga kaalyado?  Sa tingin ko ginagamitan tayo ng Tsina ng psy war at sa ganitong laban talo ang unang kukurap." ~Virgilio C. Leynes

Reply to Virgilio C Leynes  - "The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting. If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat". ~JVDOcean

Reply to Virgilio C Leynes 10yrs ago I believed China would not want war with anybody but just want to expand the reach of their industrial might. "Be wise as a serpent but harmless as a dove". We couldn't afford to be another Ukraine. The US provoked Russia far enough and (US & Ukraine) got what they wanted. After all, we are bound by our constitution to be friend to all and enemy to none. I agree we should show our unwavering persistence, but also be cautious while exhausting diplomatic channels. While showing the Chinese and everyone that we are willing to go through depths to protect what is ours, we should also be willing to talk as proved effective last admin. Besides, Aguinaldo exhausted diplomacy before facing the treacherous americans, who perpetuate that same character over the next century. Every nation have its own interest in mind and pursues it, we just have to find a common ground." ~JVDOcean

Reply  to JVDO: "The negotiating table will eventually be the final arena of the conflict. Still, we should sit down not in a position of fear or cowardice but with conviction of our just cause." ~Virgilio C Leynes 

Reply to Virgilio C Leynes - "Thank you for your wisdom sir Vir. Hope our captain knows what he's doing and looks beyond it. For if there's conflict of interest, personal over national, then that's where the problem could start." ~JVDO