So the Philippines is again hosting the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and in the last 24 hours, I have seen enough ass-kissing I am beginning to be sick of it.  

The militant group Bagong Alyansang Makayabayan (Bayan) got involved in a stand-off with the anti-riot police after they have shown their displeasure over US President Donald Trump coming here.

Bayan Secretary General Renato Reyes said that they are not worried Trump and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte would loathe each other, they are worried that the two might hit it off as Trump is known to be “racist, fascist, and imperialist” and someone like that being friends with an equally fascist Duterte does not sound very promising.

Reyes’ worries seemed to have bearing to the reality of things as instead of calling out the current Philippine administration for its infamous drug war, Trump resorted to playing nice and even lauded Duterte’s manner of handling things.

The same with Myanmar’s Rohingya crisis, in the last few hours that bilateral meetings have taken place, none have mentioned the “genocide” that’s happening on the Burmese lands so far.

For something that is so alarming, something that has taken so many lives and is still ruining thousands of lives, it hasn’t at all been mentioned.

It’s like watching a family reunion wherein every sibling refuses to discuss the things that are truly happening in their respective families out of shame or maybe reluctance to do so as they are enjoying the violence that are happening in their own houses and see it necessary in their children’s discipline.

But while in reunions children don’t die, in the case of the ASEAN Summit, the issues that are being left unspoken about are curtailing lives. Around 9,000 lives have been already been cut short because of this crazed Drug war in the Philippines whereas thousands of Rohingya people have already died sad, brutal deaths and yet there go our world leaders, cajoling each other and are seemingly scared of calling each other out.

It seems that everyone would now trade Human Rights for a stronger economy. Human Rights have now taken a back seat in international relations. World leaders would rather scratch each other’s backs and overlook any sort of injustice for the sake of cooperation and financial assistance.

I was never a believer of the idea that the United States has been assisting the Philippines all these years because they sincerely want us to become a strong and independent nation. I have always believed that US assistance meant quid pro quo. But big brother America calling out Duterte’s drug war right now could have helped Human Rights activists in their fight against the injustices brought about by the drug war. It doesn’t matter if it would sound highly hypocritical, it could have been a saving grace, still.

But apparently, no one is going to call out anyone.

Nevertheless, there is a lesson here.

When world leaders make it seem that Human Rights is no longer a priority, it is up to the people to let them see that it actually is./WDJ