Antediluvian

I

Monday. 

Shift ends at six in the morning.  The fx trip home could have been a breezy affair.  Nothing special,  except that when I checked the passengers around me, they were all high-bridged,  browned eyed kids on their way to school.  In their clean white uniforms, reading notes and photocopied books,  I was the odd one with my brown skin,  flat nose  and drab clothes. 

You see them everywhere - the Persians - at  Salcedo Park, in the gym at Eclipse, and especially around the University Belt where they converge and study in our universities. How a lousy (yet cosmopolitan) city like Manila caught their fancy remains a question.  Our ambivalence towards Muslims, particularly the Shia should have driven them away. But instead, they keep on coming - study in these transit-loving islands and then they leave,  never to return.  You see them in pairs, groups or even swarms - quietly doing their business. 

Always distant and aloof from the listless locals

II

The Chinese has postponed the execution of three Filipinos convicted of drug trafficking. The government made a plea to reconsider out of humanitarian reasons. Even the vice-president was dispatched to Beijing to  show the importance of this issue to the country.  

Political gains could be made, should his trip becomes a roaring success.

First there was the snub.  Beijing doesn't want to receive Binay.  When news of this humiliation made headlines, China revised its stand and allowed Binay to fly.  "Let's hope for miracles,"  he said before leaving the airport. I remember how a pragmatic denizen on Twitter scoffed at the thought.  The next day, an unprecedented decision was made.  The Supreme Court of China agrees to review the case.  

"Consider it a friendly gesture. A request granted to a friend," the Chinese mouthpiece said.

III

Binay's trip echoes to the time when the datus sailed all the way to China in their feeble Balanghais. While Zheng He's Treasure Fleet made port of calls to various kingdoms and cities around the region, our confederated tribes went to the Jade emperor's court to recognize and honor its sovereign.

Picture Binay in loincloth and  bahag as he offers fealty and the land's abundance to the Sung ruler. Imagine him being received with pomp and splendour befitting a regent under the mighty dynasty's benevolent shadow. Though centuries of western mind-control may have glimmered our memory,  the past finds its way to rekindle the present.  When the brown skinned Binay returns home with the prisoners' reprieve, his success was hailed across the land.

IV

This  sea  change  brings  us  back  to our roots - where traditional frenemies and trading partners abound in lands around us.  Gone are the days when we would be shoved as another country's colonial subject and instead, we now deal with nations according to our best interest.

The old world is crumbling.  Much as I would like to reassert what colonial brain-washing has taught me, Uncle Sam is not around anymore. Mired in debt, political intrigues and economic fall-outs, its power and prestige has now waned.

Without the ex-master meddling in our affairs, I can't help but feel suspicious of the new player. Since the failed hostage rescue attempt at the Quirino Grandstand last year, the growing influence of China has eclipsed those of the United States.

Distrust stems from the idea that no friendship between a strong and weak country stays equal. Should the drug mules doomed to capital punishment get deported home, expect a huge concession from the Chinese. The oil-rich islets west of Palawan should be a fine payment.  If not possible, scrapping the Visiting Forces Agreement could be a sound trade-off.

But we must remember, we get our bread from the Americans.

Diplomacy has always been a cunning game and we still have much to learn.  While we sought reprieve from Beijing over our prisoners, another delegation flew to Taipei to repair ties with that Chinese country.  Last week, we insulted the island after turning over Taiwanese prisoners to the mainland despite demands from the latter.  Ignored, Taipei retaliated by threatening a mass pull-out of OFWs.

Meanwhile, cross-straight relations reached unprecedented heights by signing trade agreements between the two Chinas.

By now you know, we have been taken for a ride.