This was the most bizarre presidential trip by any president of any country that I am familiar with.
After canceling the trip to New York last August, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo suddenly left on Sept. 22 for New York, suspiciously after the American International Group was nationalized by the US government, ostensibly to address the General Assembly of the United Nations, to meet the secretary general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, and to promote the candidacy of Sen. Miriam Santiago for a seat in the International Court of Justice.
But here is the bizarre part. According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer of Sept. 23, “…..Ms. Arroyo will also have meetings with St. Vincent and Grenadines, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Antigua and Barbuda, all from the popular tourist destination Caribbean group of islands. She will also meet with leaders from Andorra and San Marino, which are among the six smallest nations in Europe.
“On Thursday, she will hold bilateral meetings with Senegal, Cyprus and Antighua (sic) and Barabadu (sic)…..”
In the electronic edition of my article Deeper in Corruption of Sept. 23, I inserted this tidbit and wondered why she was meeting with the leaders of these tiny countries, which are best called Lilliput countries, and I asked out loud if she was doing so to mask meetings with people from those other Caribbean Lilliput islands, Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands, well known havens for laundering illicit money.
So, not counting Antighua and Barabadu, President Arroyo was meeting the heads of state, heads-of-governments or, at the very least, the chefs de mission of five Lilliput countries and two real ones..
In the Philippine Daily Inquirer of Sept. 25, apparently in an oblique rebuttal to my speculation, Malacanang added Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea. Slovenia, Comoros, Iceland and Belgium. “She will also attend an art exhibit hosted by the President of Argentina, and dinners hosted by the President of Costa Rica and the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea. She will also receive the foreign ministers of Russia, Norway and Libya…….”
That adds up to seven Lilliput countries and eleven real countries. But note that the above sentences are all in the future tense. So we can only assume that, but we do not really know if, she actually met with the heads- of-state or of-government, or chefs de mission of 18 sovereign countries in the two days that she had in New York (Sept. 24 and 25) before she had to take the evening flight to arrive in NAIA early dawn of Sept. 27, international date line inputted
But wait, that’s not all. In the Sept. 27 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, more countries were added by Malacanang to President Arroyo’s list of alleged conferees: the “representatives of Afghanistan, Iraq, Gabon, Greece, Yemen, Pakistan, South Africa and Panama. That makes it seven Lilliput countries and 19 real countries….all .in the space of two days or 48 hours.
If one were to remove 14 hours for sleeping two nights, six hours for eating two breakfasts, two lunches and two dinners, and another four hours for putting on make-up twice and choosing the matching shoes, dresses and handbags twice, that would leave about 24 hours for meeting the heads-of-state or of-government, or the chefs de mission, of 26 countries, including seven Lilliputs.
Or an average of about 55 minutes per country, assuming that everyone was efficiently lined up outside President Arroyo’s hotel suite and each one stepped in immediately after the previous one stepped out.
No wonder Press Secretary Jesus Dureza fell ill and had to be hospitalized in New York. He was probably stressed out because he could not remember who was from where..
That must be a world’s record in international relations. Sarah Palin could use a tutorial session with President Arroyo on how to meet with 26 heads-of-state and of-government, and chefs de mission in 24 hours.
In her visit to the United Nations last week, Palin met only Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in his Captain Marvel costume, and that dirty old man, Henry Kissinger, who could not get up from his seat after he was bussed on both cheeks by sexy Sarah.
But why would President Arroyo want to meet with so many foreign officials in such a short time? The answer may be in the photo (credited to one Rey Banquet) that appeared on the front page of the Sept. 25 issue of the Standard Today. It is a photo of the plenary hall of the General Assembly while President Arroyo was making her speech.
It is impossible to make out the diminutive President Arroyo in the photo, but you know it is she speaking because the two giant screens above the podium show someone who looks like her. But the notable thing about this photo is that it showed that one fourth to one third of the seats were empty.
Malacanang made a fuss of the fact that President Arroyo was scheduled to speak right after President George W. Bush and French President Nicholas Sarkozy. Unfortunately, after the two heavyweights were done, one fourth to one third of the audience stepped out of the hall…. to smoke, to empty their bladders, to stretch their legs, to call their boy friends or girl friends, to order pizza for lunch or dinner…and did not bother to return and listen to the perceived lightweight who followed.
They apparently realized their mistake moments later, which is why they conceivably lined up outside President Arroyo’s suite and took turns seeking their 55 minutes of enlightenment on geopolitics and governance..
As for the Lilliput countries whose heads-of-state President Arroyo apparently chose to seek out even before she got to New York, here are some background information. As a former avid stamp collector (from age 11 to 26), I have some familiarity with these far-away places with strange-sounding names, but I dug up more data about them from the 2008 World Almanac and Book of Facts, as well as from Wikipedia.
St. Kitts and Nevis (Pop. 39,349, .281 sq kms, slightly smaller than the 300 sq kms of Lubang Island off the mouth of Manila Bay).Caribbean. Reached by Columbus in 1493, settled by the Brits in 1623, became independent in 1983.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines (Pop 118,149, 389 sq kms, slightly larger than the 343.5 sq kms of Siquijor Island-Province.) Caribbean. Visited by Columbus in 1489, claimed by the British and the French in the 17th century, ceded to Britain in 1783, became independent in 1979.
Antigua and Barbuda. (Pop. 69,491, 443 sq kms, or almost exactly the same as the 445 sq kms of Sibuyan Island, located between Masbate and Romblon) Caribbean. Reached by Columbus in 1493, British colony since 1632, became independent in 1981.
Comoros Islands. (Pop, 711,000, 2,170 sq kms, slightly bigger than the 2,125 sq kms of Pampanga Province.) Indian Ocean. French colony since 1841, became independent in 1975
Cape Verde Islands. (Pop. 423,613, 4,033 sq kms, smaller than the 4,468 sq kms of Cebu Island-Province.) Atlantic Ocean. Portuguese colony since 1462, became independent in 1975.
San Marino. (Pop. 29,615, 61 sq kms, smaller than the 71 sq kms of Mactan Island.) Europe, in the middle of Italy. Founded in the 4th century, claims to be the oldest state in Europe. Not true that it was almost accidentally bulldozed into oblivion by Mafia casino developers.
Andorra. (Pop 71,822, 488 sq kms, slightly bigger than Sibuyan Island.) Europe, between France and Spain. A co-principality with joint sovereignty under France and the Bishop of Urgel, 1278 to 1993.
(Personal note. There are two easy overland ways to go from France to Spain: along the Atlantic coast or along the Mediterranean coast. And one hard way: over the Pyrenees through Andorra. When I toured Europe by Vespa motor scooter in 1961, I chose the hard way. As a stamp collector I wanted to mail postcards to myself affixed with Andorran stamps Did the same in Liechtenstein, Vatican City and Monaco.
(I also wanted to reach the highest pass in the Pyrenees: Puerta de Envalira, 2,407 meters above sea level, in Andorra. If Burnham Park in Baguio is one mile or 1.6 kilometers above sea level, Envalira would be a point straight up in space 800 meters above Burnham. Cross-country in Andorra is all of 41 kilometers.)
Why President Arroyo wanted to meet with the top officials of these seven Lilliput countries is beyond me. Has she started to collect stamps? Is she losing her marbles? Or was she using these publicized meetings to hide (from the CIA and the NSA) clandestine meetings with gnomes from those other Lilliput places: Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands? Bizarre!. *****
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