BY all means, Misfit Sara hardly understands international diplomacy and the accompanying norms, mores, and procedures, protocols, and the other nations’ sensitivity, when she launched her ill-fated roadshow for the interim release of her father, Rodrigo Duterte, a former Philippine president, who faces crimes against humanity charges before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for his bloody but failed war on drugs.
Misfit Sara could have assumed and presumed that because she is the vice president and the daughter of the jailed ex-president, she could get what she wanted and that everything would have been fine with the foreign governments, even when she committed diplomatic faux pas to clamor for her father’s interim release.
Misfit Sara received a reality check, when she went to Australia to drumbeat her father’s interim release. Father Rodrigo is currently staying in a prison facility of the ICC in Scheveningen, The Netherlands. To her surprise and consternation, she has come to realize that, by this time, international diplomacy according to what she wanted has many ramifications. The relations of two countries should not in any way be compared to the relations of two sister cities.
The interrelationship among countries in the international community is brutally complex, as they involve many factors, foremost among which is each nation’s national interest. Diplomacy involves national concerns and interests, which foreign countries pursue with vigor, dynamism, and consideration. She should stop thinking as if she was still the mayor of Davao City, who could get what she wanted by the mere flick of her fingers.
Misfit Sara went last week to Australia, hoping to drumbeat support for her father’s interim liberty. She met a group of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) there, who lustily cheered for his father’s return to the Philippines. But that was all. She got the surprise of her life when Australia Foreign Minister Penny Wong did not meet her at all. No official reason was cited but it could be surmised that her request for an appointment with her did not follow the established norms in diplomacy.
Diplomacy entails the use of the acknowledged diplomatic channels. There is a specific office that is charged to establish relations with foreign governments through their respective embassies in the host countries. Australia has its ministry for foreign affairs, which usually deals with foreign embassies there. This is for transparency and accountabiity.It was not known if Misfit Sara communicated with the Philippine Embassy in Canberra.
The Australian foreign minister did not only meet her. Canberra went to the extent to issue a statement that it is not inclined in any way to receive her father even if the ICC grants him his request for a temporary release. There is no way to interpret Australia’s message but a slap on Misfit Sara’s face. It was also a subtle message for her to get out of Australia, or else a much stronger statement would follow.
Misfit Sara was supposed to stay in Australia for a week, but cut short her stay when on the third day, she returned to Manila. She was unwanted there. Australia did not appreciate her presence there. First, there was an element of disrespect to the host country when she attended a rally of OFWs there in support of her father’s temporary release.
Host countries (these include Australia, a democratic country with a long tradition of support for human rights and democratic traditions like free speech) prefer diplomatic engagements than public rallies, where the OFWs were shouting on the top of their voices to pressure the ICC to release her father. Without admitting it, Australia could have felt insulted when Misfit Sara went there to urge OFWs support for her father’s release.
Host countries are also sensitive to moves that could be construed as interference of the internal affairs of other countries. They do not want to be perceived as interventionist in the internal affairs of another country. Without her knowledge, Misfit Sara somewhat compromised Australia’s refusal to interfere with the Philippine internal affairs by tying its hand on her father’s temporary liberty.
What she did was informal lobbying and Australia deftly parried her initiative by making it absolutely clear that her father is not welcome there even if he gets a temporary furlough. Misfit Sara should learn this lesson in international diplomacy. She should stop her roadshows in other countries. They are not helping her father though.
