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Dubbed as the most popular U.S. envoy the country has ever had, former United States Ambassador Kristie A. Kenney bid farewell after almost four years of tour of duty in the Philippines.
Saddened with her departure, Kenney’s admirers and well-wishers professed how the former Ambassador was loved as a friend of the Filipino people. The Arroyo government even conferred to her the Order of Sikatuna for her "outstanding contribution" to the advancement of US- RP bilateral relations.
With that picture perfect smile, Kenney, the first woman U.S. Ambassador to the country, played her part well as Washington’s "It Girl" in diplomatic affairs.
However, Kenney left not only good memories but also a lifetime of scars on the country’s sovereignty and our people’s dignity.
Perfect choice
Kenney’s admirers described her as warm, cordial, and outgoing. In November 2005, during the term of former U.S. President George W. Bush, she was appointed to the U.S. Embassy in Manila.
She boasts of an exemplary career in the U.S. Foreign Service. She served as Executive Secretary to the U.S. Department of State, the most powerful state department in the world. She was also assigned to key positions in the U.S. National Security Council, and even as Political-Military Officer of the North America Treaty Organization (NATO).
Being with the U.S. Foreign Service, she served and worked with some of the most influential personalities in the U.S. government. Kenney worked directly for U.S. State Secretaries Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell. She was employed under two consecutive U.S. Presidents – Bush and current President Barack Obama.
Trusted with sensitive posts in her home front, she also served as US Ambassador to Ecuador and held posts in the U.S. Embassies in Argentina and Jamaica.
Condoleezza Rice, former U.S. Secretary of State, said to have handpicked Kenney for the Ambassadorship to the Philippines because of her “people-oriented” style. It was necessary to captivate the hearts and minds of the people and neutralize dissenters to advance U.S. interests and programs in the country.
While onboard her post, Kenney immersed herself to the most trivial as well as to highly political activities.
Kenney became a familiar face to millions of Filipinos due to her frequent national TV appearances. She made rounds on popular shows promoting charity projects, sports and environmental concerns. Not minding how silly she looked, she gamely danced the popular craze “Papaya” in Umagang Kay Ganda. Without hesitation, she playfully joined TV host Willie Revillame in dancing “Boom Tarat-tarat” on Wowowee. In one of her final interviews, she gamely mimicked Michael Jackson’s Moonwalk in a show.
She also joined the frenzy over collegiate basketball rivalry. Kenney was often seen among the waves of blue and green crowds during game matches between Ateneo Blue Eagles and Green Archers of De La Salle University.
Setting aside frivolity, Kenney did her work seriously. She made frequent trips to Mindanao. She even got the record of being the only U.S. diplomat who met with leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Kenney even flashed her infectious smile when fully armed MILF fighters greeted her during peace talks.
When calamities struck the country, Kenney was "more visible" than President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. She actively joined relief missions, saying it was heartbreaking for her to see the devastation Ondoy brought to Filipinos. The U.S. Embassy gave out a total of US$100,000 (P4.7 million) for immediate relief and rehabilitation.
Public relations wise, Kenney was good copy. If local journalists have any lament, it is that Kenney often avoided answering tough questions during her stay in the Philippines.
Victories for Uncle Sam
Beyond Kenney’s contagious smile were decisive victories for the United States.
No doubt, she showed empathy and compassion for the people, making her mission to the Philippines a success.
However, she is considered by some groups such as militant student organization League of Filipino Students (LFS) “as the poster girl for U.S. intervention in the Philippines.” LFS is critical of U.S. involvement in the country's internal affairs.
In a statement, LFS chairperson Terry Ridon said “it was during Kenney’s stint that U.S. troops deployment and presence became more flagrant.”
Kenney re-echoed the U.S. position of involving itself in the “counter-insurgency” war in the Philippines. She defended the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) to the hilt even when it was under pressure of abrogation due to the infamous Subic rape case.
She paved the way for more concession for Washington.
Last year, new U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates justified the prolonged stay of 600 elite U.S. troops in the country under the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Chief Leon Panetta made a brief visit to Malacanang to affirm the country’s role in counter terrorism.
Information released by the New People’s Army (NPA) detailied how U.S. troops are embedded in Philippine Army units for counter-insurgency operations. The direct participation of American soldiers in military operations was denied, however, by the U.S. Embassy and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Policy of intervention
The U.S. military was able to re-establish its permanent presence in the country because of the VFA.
The revolutionary umbrella organization National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) says the U.S. stationed a 600-force Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines (JSOTFP) in several areas. Under the VFA, U.S. had used the Balikatan exercises and humanitarian missions to camouflage the real intent of U.S. military presence in the country.
On April 2009, a U.S. soldier was wounded in a joint U.S. and AFP operation against a unit of the New People’s Army in Masbate. While on September 2009, two other U.S. soldiers identified as S/Sgt. Jack Martin and SFC Christopher Shaw, died when their vehicle was bombed while crossing a combat area in Indanan, Sulu.
Even Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago raised concerns over the death of U.S. soldiers in Sulu as additional evidence that U.S. troops are already engaged in activities that are not within the bounds of the VFA. She said American soldiers were already engaged in an unconventional warfare.
Kenney went out of her way to secure U.S. interests in Mindanao. This fact justified her frequent trips to the region and her direct involvement in the peace negotiations between GRP and MILF.
She said the U.S. wanted to see lasting peace in Mindanao stating that, “a Mindanao that reaches its economic potential is a Mindanao that helps all of the Philippines.” Critics, however, assert that the U.S. valued the strategic importance of Mindanao, especially after the Philippines was adjudged the ‘second front for the U.S. war on terror’.
For Santiago, the continued presence of American troops in the country is not only to train Filipino soldiers. “Their purpose is to serve their own agenda,” Santiago said, which may be considered perfectly natural in international relations. “Of course, it would be out of character for Kenney to admit it outright,” she added.
Rape of sovereignty
When a U.S. soldier was accused of raping a Filipina, Kenney's competence as a diplomat was put to the test.
Around the same time of Kenney’s appointment in 2005, “Nicole,” then a 23-year-old management accounting graduate, accused four U.S. Marines - Lance Corporals Daniel Smith, Keith Silkwood and Dominic Duplantis, and Staff Sgt. Chad Carpentier - of conspiring to rape her in a van at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.
Protests and legal cases followed. Organizations including Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) and women's group GABRIELA launched a national campaign for justice to ‘Nicole’ and the cancellation of VFA.
Balikatan participant Smith was found guilty of raping ‘Nicole’ and was sent to the Makati City Jail in November 2006. He was later transferred to the U.S. Embassy by virtue of an agreement between Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo and Kenney (known as the Romulo-Kenney Agreement), citing the VFA as basis.
Smith was released from detention in April 2009 when the Court of Appeals reversed the decision of the lower court. The acquittal enraged patriotic organizations and personalities. Smith immediately returned to the U.S. after his acquittal and Nicole retracted her statements on the case.
Despite all of this, Kenney’s humanitarian character can never mask the continued intervention of the U.S. in the Philippines’ internal affairs, prolonged military presence and the lopsided bilateral relations between the two countries.
Photo by Michael Ray Baniquet c/o Flickr. Some rights reserved.
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