Pity how badly PBBM-Zelenskyy parroted US WPS scenario

Mauro Gia Samonte

IF that was intended to be the rehearsals for what the United States had scripted the West Philippine Sea war outbreak, then the meeting last week between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Philippine President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. was badly done. Could the defect, in fact, be attributable overall to lapses endemic in a poorly contrived script?

To begin with, the scenario being rehearsed is war. You don't talk about war strategy and tactics under full media glare. The recent attendance of the two heads of state at the Shangri-La Dialogue would have been the perfect setting. As in all Hollywoodian cloak-and-dagger episodes, the presidents move in a cacophony of sign language, with much emphasis on eye messages, until they agree on a quiet nook which with characteristic filmic touches their respective entourages of clandestine security personnel secure from all possible detection and intrusion such that what they talk about is known only to the two of them, done through style and method characteristic of film geniuses. Under a film editor of exquisite expertise, the most unlikely executive session could be made to intercut with footages of vessels of the Philippine Coast Guard and China Coast Guard increasingly coming to blows in their worsening tension in the South China Sea. A truly brilliant cutting would be the blasting of a China-made vessel by a US naval ship in the continuing war exercises in the South China Sea by the US naval forces and their Western and Asian allies: the final statement that the long-anticipated outbreak of the US-China war has, in tragic inevitability, come at long last.

But, no. What otherwise they could have more effectively discussed in a hush, they tackled in the full presence of media, complete with every embellishment of grand red carpet regalia. What took place was not an honest-to-goodness sharing of each other's respective national concerns but an act which for cineastes must not only be repulsive for being stagy but revolting as well for being clearly crafted for show.

Of the many embellishments the affair lacked to make it a grand movie shoot was a script girl to throw the correct lines whenever it became apparent that either PBBM or Zelenskyy was groping for the right words to say.

It should take a painstaking effort by a transcriber to make sense out of the following utterances by President Zelenskyy.

"Thank you for this invitation. And we are very thankful ... As in ... And to your country which supports Ukraine, our territorial intelligence [and] sovereignty of our country ... Thank you so much for your big word and clear position about us ... About Russian occupation of our territories ..."

Imagine the predicament Bongbong must have been in, trying to decipher each utterance by Zelenskyy and then crafting an impromptu reply. In actual movie shoot rehearsals, this situation does not offer much problem. You can do as many takes as are needed to make a good shot. But in presidential talks, no such quadruple takes are allowed. Either you do it nice the first time out or not at all.

Anyway, Bongbong appeared to be the more qualified at the undertaking. It was evident he took the cue from Zelenkyy's "Russian occupation of our territories" to get the theme of the talks: respect for a country's territorial integrity and sovereignty. (Note in the video of the exchanges that Zelenskyy was doing his damned best to stay on course, that is, stay on the Russian occupation theme). Thus did Bongbong become able to make an apt response.

"I know that your crisis in your country has occupied all of your attention and all of your time. And it is a great pleasure to meet with you to discuss some of the issues that are common to both our countries and hopefully to find ways forward for both of us together ... But once again, I wish that under better circumstances, I am happy that you are able to come and visit at your pleasure, Mr. President."

So, we see that for all the bad elements, the rehearsals that were the Zelenskyy-PBBM talks that Monday morning went its destined course after all. They emphasized foreign aggression as the evil in the Ukraine crisis, so must it also be in the increasingly simmering tension in the South China Sea. The situations may parallel each other, but they could not pass as syllogism. Self-preservation was the moral ground for Russia to embark on the special military operation that eventually degenerated into the Ukraine war. Historical rights (the nine-dash line) were China's reason for asserting sovereignty over the region, which happens to encompass the Philippines' own over the area. It would appear that as far as conflicting territorial claims are concerned, Ukraine and the Philippines are similarly situated on the receiving end and so must endeavor to help each other get out of the predicament.

But then again, precisely for doing that — for wanting to help each other get out of war — they must engage in the very wars they must get out of.

That's where the Zelenskyy-Bongbong rehearsals went awry.

Who of the two is to blame?

Neither. They are just actors.

In every movie shoot, as the ultimate measure of success of a scene is in the director, so is failure.

Who directs the Ukraine-Russia war, who directs the Philippine-China war?