Will DFA’s Cayetano resign? Political analyst says “no” because Filipino politicians have no delicadeza

The Philippines diplomatic row with Kuwait has been nothing but spectacular, giving the public a riveting political drama, reminiscent of political TV shows in the US.

As the public waited anxiously how the political drama, starring Alan Cayetano, pans out, political analyst Jose Alejandrino gives us an entertaining and enlightening insight of the incident via a Facebook post.

As a first salvo, Alejandrino said that DFA Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano is figuratively toast after rescue video of Pinay worker in Kuwait made it on Facebook.

First, the rescue video incriminated the Philippine embassy officials that it had broken Kuwaiti laws.

Second, posting the video on social media made the Kuwaitis look impotent, adding insult to injury.

Alejandrino remarked that “no government in its right mind could ignore such an affront to its sovereignty.”

“Kuwait is not a Philippine colony,” Alejandrino added.

In a Facebook post, “THE BIRTH OF STUPIDITY AND THE DEATH OF DELICADEZA” Jose Alejandrino introduced several intriguing theories why Cayetano and his so-called social media team decided to post the video on Facebook.

  • public image buildup towards an eventual presidential bid.
  • wanted to show their boss was just as macho as Duterte.
  • However, the publicity stunt concocted allegedly by Cayetano and his social media team backfired after Kuwait started rounding up the names involved in the rescue of distressed OFWs.

    Just when Cayetano and the Philippine embassy officials in Kuwait thought that they can start to relax after Mocha Uson announced that President Duterte’s met with the Kuwaiti ambassador to the Philippines and fixed the diplomatic row, Kuwait made an earth-shaking announcement while the majority of Filipinos went to sleep.

    Past midnight, the Kuwaiti government ordered the expulsion of the Philippine ambassador to Kuwait Rene Villa, giving Villa one week to leave the tiny Kingdom.

    As if expelling Villa from the tiny kingdom was enough, the Kuwaiti government also declared Villa persona non-grata or “an unwelcome person”. Likewise, Kuwait told its envoy to leave the Philippines immediately.

    In hindsight, Alejandrino was correct that the uploading of the rescue video was the biggest mistake that Cayetano and his social media team ever made to date. Check out how Alejandrino describes the dilemma that Cayetano and the DFA have put themselves in.

    “Frankly, it was the biggest stupidity anyone could concoct. How can the SocMed team expect their operations not to backfire? How can the DFA secretary feign innocence? If Cayetano says he knew nothing about them, he would be admitting he doesn’t know what is going on inside his department or at his embassies abroad. In other words, an admission of incompetence. A copout of his duties and responsibilities. If he says he knew about them, he would be admitting he approved or sanctioned the breaking of laws of a sovereign country. Either way, his goose is cooked.”

    On rumor that President Duterte extended his apology to the Kuwaiti ambassador to the Philippines during their meeting, Alejandrino said this is a tacit admission by Duterte that the publicized rescue of the Pinay OFW was wrong.

    “A netizen commented the president has apologized to the Kuwaiti ambassador for the incidents, like he did to Hong Kong citizens for the bus massacre under Noynoy Aquino’s watch. If so, it was the correct thing to do to mend the broken image of our country in Kuwait. The apology I view as a tacit admission by the president that what Cayetano’s SocMed team did was wrong. One only apologizes for a wrong done.”

    As a parting shot, Alejandrino asked Cayetano’s resignation for putting Duterte and the government in an embarrassing situation to make amends for the wrong he has done.

    As I wrote previously, there is a right way and a wrong way of doing things. When personal interests and political ambition enter the equation, it can never be right. And when you have done wrong, the only right thing left to do is to resign out of delicadeza.

    Will Cayetano heed his call? Alejandrino doubts it.

    “Delicadeza, what’s that? It went out a long time ago.”

    You may watch the controversial video below.

    Your thoughts?


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