Arroyo meets Clinton; ignored by Obama

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo met with US State Secretary Hillary Clinton in Washington. The President and the former first lady of the United States met for 30 minutes at the State Department and according to the reports, they've talked about the Philippines' strategy in ending the Moro insurgency in southern Philippines and addressing the effects of global economic meltdown.

Arroyo asked Clinton to include the Philippines in her scheduled trip to Asia later this month. However, the latter made no confirmation to make a side trip to the Philippines albeit Clinton is set to visit China and Malaysia, among others.

Arroyo made a two-day visit to Washington to attend the annual National Prayer Breakfast, with Obama as the guest speaker but failed to meet the new president, much less to even shake a hand on him. As I can recall , Arroyo made a state visit last year in the US wherein she was also ignored by Obama. Obama instead wrote a letter to Arroyo. I cannot help, but use the term "ignored" because for me Philippines is not even worth a plugged nickel in the first place for America. Do you think the Obama administration will likewise ignore the likes of French president Nicolas Sarkozy or Pope Benedict XVI when they plan to visit the United States? Certainly not. In this instance, we can see how power is measured, how the Philippines is perceived by the American government; but of course America don't want it to look overtly so they let Hillary to meet with Arroyo.

Here is the video of their meeting, as posted by the US state department in YouTube.