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ALL it took was for the United States to cancel Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa’s visa for all hell to break loose. At first, Malacañang spokesman Salvador Panelo downplayed it as a non-issue.

As it turned out, President Rodrigo Duterte was so affected by what happened to dela Rosa that it induced him to let loose his pent-up rage against the US, something that dates as far back to his issues with former US President Barack Obama. In retaliation for the cancellation of dela Rosa’s visa, he lashed out at the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the US. In his typical expletive-laden ramblings, the President initially gave the impression that it was a threat, where he gave the US one month to restore dela Rosa’s visa, and failure to do so would cost the US the VFA. But later, it appeared that it was no longer a threat, but a directive for the appropriate agencies to begin the process of terminating the VFA.

Senator dela Rosa must indeed be very lucky as a person for whom the President feels a lot of warm affection. Dela Rosa must be so important a person for the President, a valuable ally. Many people simply couldn’t believe that dela Rosa’s US visa could be more powerful and valuable to the President than a bilateral agreement with the US which, while problematic, has also brought many benefits, particularly to our military.

But defenders of the President, and of dela Rosa, argue that it is not just about dela Rosa’s visa. The senator himself pointed out that it is about the one-sided US-Philippine relations, and of a President whose temper is triggered when his people are treated unfairly.

These rationalizations are not convincing. Our relations with China lack balance and symmetry, with the President taking up a policy of appeasement, if not of fear, towards it. Former ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales and former Foreign Affairs secretary Albert del Rosario were unfairly treated when they were denied entry to Hong Kong, yet the President did not raise hell. Obviously, he has no problem with an unbalanced relationship with China when his political enemies and critics are the ones that are being treated unfairly. Apparently, they are not his people.

Duterte loyalists argue that he is simply asserting our sovereignty against the attempts of the US to undermine it. However, it stretches logic to believe that dela Rosa’s US visa cancellation is depriving our country of our sovereignty. Not even the rider to the 2020 Budget Law passed by the US Congress and the US Senate resolution, both of which invoke the Magnitsky Law, can be construed as acts of infringing into our sovereignty.

Indeed, while both acts of the US Congress can be taken as pressuring our government and passing judgment on our internal processes, the consequences do not amount to a denial of any of our rights and entitlements as a sovereign country. There is no threat of economic and political sanctions against the republic. Whatever sanctions are issued, these are all aimed towards individuals, either as government officials or as private citizens. Certainly, these persons, and even the President, do not constitute the Republic. More important is the fact that the sanctions do not even amount to a denial of rights, or a jeopardizing of lives. Certainly, a Filipino citizen does not have the right to a US visa.

What would constitute as a blatant violation of our citizens’ rights, and amount to an assault on our sovereign rights, is when China encroaches into our exclusive economic zone (EEZ). It is bad enough that Chinese ships prevent our own citizens from fishing within these waters over which we have sovereign rights bestowed by international law. It is worse when they jeopardize the lives of our citizens by putting them at risk. This is what happened to the 22 fishermen from Mindoro when a Chinese vessel rammed the Gem-Ver fishing boat near Recto Bank, which is within our EEZ, and left without making any attempt to rescue them.

And here lies the painful reality. Senator dela Rosa has no right to a US visa, while our citizens have a right to fish within our EEZ. Dela Rosa’s life was not jeopardized when his US visa was canceled, while the lives of the 22 Gem-Ver fishermen were all put at risk. And yet, the President is not angered by what happened at Recto Bank. In fact, he even belittled it as merely a small incident.

You contrast this with his rage to terminate the VFA, a bilateral agreement that is a product of a complex diplomatic process, and ratified by the Senate, simply because dela Rosa’s visa was canceled.

The issue here is about the proportionality and the sanity of the response, and not whether we can and should respond. Certainly, we can retaliate, as we have already done against Senators Patrick Leahy, Richard Durbin and Ed Markey, by banning more US senators. We are within our rights here.

While we can terminate the VFA anytime we want, it is demanded by the rubrics of reason and political maturity to think of the consequences and the political and economic costs for us. Dela Rosa is just one senator who lost his privilege to go to the US. But voiding the VFA will affect not only our national security, but also our economy.

The President should make decisions not in a fit of tantrum or anger, but as a true leader willing to set aside his rage and personal issues, and the convenience of his political allies, if it is for the good of the Republic whose interests exceed his and those of his friends and allies. After all, dela Rosa is not the Republic. He isn’t. All of us are.