Alejano is doing what Trillanes left off, and he starts with a speech at Cambridge Union

In her column at The Manila Times titled “Gary Alejano at the Cambridge” she eloquently summarized what the Magdalo representative did in front of her foreign audience of the Cambridge Union.

Alejano who is desperately vying for a seat in the senate this coming 2019 mid term elections, launched more destructive statements against President Rodrigo Duterte. Compared to the statements made by Vice President Leni Robredo, the attacks were intentionally made for the foreign audience, with the hope that the media mileage it can create will propel him of replacing the soon to be private citizen, his mistah, and co-Magdalo Senator Antonio Trillanes.

Magdalo Represetative Gary Alejano (photo credit to owner)

On the same venue a few weeks back Senator Manny Pacquiao’s speech gave us inspiration to strive for our dreams, the Alejano is the complete opposite and more to the point that if only we can speak for ourselves, just to disapprove all the lies that was propagated at Cambridge against Duterte and the country.

See below is the full quotation of the column of Ms. Rachel A.G. Reyes

Gary Alejano at the Cambridge Union

CAMBRIDGE, U.K.: OPPOSITION politician and Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano spoke last night at the Cambridge Union. He gave one of the most powerful indictments of President Duterte’s regime yet, delivered on the international stage. Last week the Cambridge Union had hosted Manny Pacquiao, who denied that there had been any extrajudicial killings under Duterte’s anti-drug war. Alejano was quick to put the record straight.

Founded in 1815, the Cambridge Union is the world’s oldest debating society and prides itself in promoting free speech and the art of debate. It hosts Nobel Prize laureates, presidents and freethinkers. Relatively speaking, Gary Alejano, the 45-year-old congressman and former naval officer, is little known. But his star is rising fast.

Jailed for seven years for leading two failed coup attempts in 2003 and 2007 against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Alejano has gone on to become one of the most outspoken critics of Duterte. In 2017 he attempted to impeach Duterte and, with Magdalo partymate, Sen. Antonio Trillanes 4th, filed a supplemental complaint to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, charging Duterte with crimes against humanity. Now running for senator in next year’s elections, Alejano is taking an unequivocal stand against the killings and China’s encroachments in the West Philippine Sea.

“The killings continue unabated,” he said in his 25-minute speech before an audience of Cambridge University students. Citing police records and calling the killings state-sponsored, Alejano noted that as of May 2018, 4,279 drug suspects had been killed by the police. However, according to unofficial estimates, he said, the “total number of killings is now almost 30,000.” He charged Duterte’s political allies, including most of Congress, with complicity. “Government officials have the audacity to twist facts and condone and justify the killings,” he said. “Investigations were either stalled or whitewashed.”

Aicha Dijkshoorn, a Dutch graduate student studying neuroscience, had heard reports about extrajudicial killings through Dutch media. “News on the Philippines is mainly focused on overcrowded prisons and EJKs and I thought Dutch media was biased.” But Alejano’s talk, she said, “confirmed the reports.”

“Is the drug war a sham?” pointedly asked one questioner who referred to the recent illicit entry of billions of pesos worth of drugs through the Bureau of Customs. “I would have expected the President to have gotten mad, berserk, over the smuggling of tons of drugs,” answered Alejano. “Instead, he has been silent. We want to support the President but he needs to be true to his word.” The glaring irony, he emphasized, was that the price of drugs was falling due to oversupply.

Alejano’s response to questions from the floor was spirited and combative. He sharply criticized Duterte’s fiscal and foreign policies that leaned heavily towards China and Chinese loans. The Philippines, he said, had become “subservient to China.” Recounting the ongoing Chinese militarization of the West Philippine Sea, he talked about the plight of Filipino fishermen in Scarborough Shoal. Chinese naval ships were harassing the fishermen and their catch was being confiscated. “It feels like Filipinos are thieves in their own waters,” he said.

“Why is President Duterte accepting Chinese loans that carry interest far higher than the loans being offered by Japan?” asked an irate Filipino student. “Because, according to Duterte’s chief economic advisers,” Alejano said wryly, “the Philippines want to make new friends.” The Duterte administration, he added, simply did not want to do or say anything to offend China, even at a cost to the country’s own resources, sovereignty and “our respect for ourselves.”

“It is as if the Philippine government has developed Stockholm Syndrome,” he said, referring to that unfortunate psychological condition that causes hostages to cooperate with their captors as a survival strategy. “Our policies are in line with China’s interests.”

“What would you do differently then?” challenged another student. It was a question Alejano positively relished. “First, we should use a multilateral approach. We should use our victory in the international tribunal [on the South China Sea dispute], to forge a consensus among nations that China does not follow international law.” The ruling should be used as leverage instead of being squandered was his clear message. Second, he called for a robust maritime strategy. “Not necessarily confrontational or leading to conflict,” he said. “We just need to start supporting our own fishermen.” This statement produced an almost palpable “hear, hear” across the room.

Someone had to bring up the fact that the President was still enjoying high poll ratings. It may as well have been me. What was Alejano’s explanation for this? Fear and fake news, he said. Duterte had succeeded in sowing fear, he said. “If you are a witness to killings, or to the rounding up of suspects, [or your name appears on] a narco list, all of whom are targets of a death squad, do you really think you will speak up against the President? Or would you rather play safe and say you agree with the President?

Further, Alejano reasoned, social media and airwaves are bombarded with news that keep people believing in Duterte and his administration. “We are against fake news and propaganda because it manipulates the minds of the people,” he said. “It’s a challenge to educate the people.” On a night where he truly shone, this answer was possibly his least convincing.

Alejano is an intelligent, articulate and passionate orator with a serious and promising political future. Should he win in next year’s elections, he will maintain the relevance and rigor of the opposition. But he needs to contend with the President’s popularity and properly understand the diverse and complex sources of his power.

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Report from Manila Times