So how come not a word has been heard from Malacañang or the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) after US Ambassador Kristie Kenny held talks early last week with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chairman Murad Ebrahim and the rebel group's central committee members?

She may be the envoy of a superpower but Kenney has absolutely no business negotiating with the secessionist rebels. That's a brazen act of interfering with our domestic affairs, a no-no in international relations.

I checked with the DFA spokesman. He said he knew nothing about it. He asked the officer in charge of the American desk. She also knew nothing but endeavored to check with Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo who was in Singapore. That was Tuesday last week.

The following day, I checked again with the DFA spokesman. He said there was still nothing he could give me. He promised to check again with the American desk officer.

The spokesman sent me a text message a little later saying the American desk officer had not yet received any feedback from Romulo.

(I truly feel sorry for these career officers. They are the ones manning the ramparts and yet they are almost always kept in the dark and out on a lurch.)

Finally, I checked with the acting DFA secretary. He had no clue about the matter either but said he would check with Romulo when the latter returned from his trip the following day, Thursday.

By midnight Friday, no word had been received from the erstwhile acting secretary, the spokesman or the American desk officer.

***

One thing is for certain: There was never any formal or written request from the US Embassy.

The day before Kenney held her talks with Murad, she and Romulo were together at the inaugural ceremony of the ongoing Balikatan military exercise. It is possible, I am told, that she spoke with Romulo about her planned trip the following day to meet with Murad.

There are three possible scenarios I can think of:

First, Kenney told Romulo about her planned talks with the MILF and he gave her permission. In so, Romulo should be fired for dereliction of duty.

Second, she asked Romulo's permission but he turned her down and she went anyway. In this case, Romulo should have summoned Kenney by now and told her that what she did was an "unfriendly act" and that we are asking Washington to have her withdrawn as soon as possible, in effect declaring her persona non grata.

Third, she didn't mention it to Romulo at all. In this case, Kenney should be declared persona non grata outright and asked to leave the country forthwith.

***

To give the reader an idea of the gravity of Kenney's action, let me cite two instances of which I have personal knowledge:

When I was ambassador to Bangladesh, an Australian charge' d'affaires was caught by the government clandestinely meeting with the main opposition leader. The CDA was told to pack her bags and leave the country in seven days.

Another instance was when the Indonesian government registered its extreme displeasure with us when, in the early '90s, we received in Manila one of the then rebel leaders in East Timor, Jose Ramos-Horta, who is now president of Timor Leste.

I was instructed by then Foreign Secretary Roberto R. Romulo to try and explain our side to the then Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas who was a friend of mine. Alatas happened to be transiting in Vienna where I was posted as ambassador. He was terribly upset and told me that the late President Suharto was contemplating a more serious form of protest.

I explained to him that Ramos-Horta came to Manila not on the invitation of the government but by a non-governmental organization sympathetic to the Timorese struggle for independence. Still, he insisted, being a close friend we should not have allowed Ramos-Horta entry into the country. He made sure we didn't miss the point when he cited the fact that we were also facing a secessionist movement in southern Mindanao.

I like to believe that my plea for understanding with Alatas helped to mollify the Indonesians because, as far as I know, no further action was taken by them on the matter.

***

When I was ambassador to Thailand, there was no second guessing what the Thai Government would have done if I, or any other foreign ambassador for that matter, had the temerity if not the stupidity to hold talks with the leader of the Muslim secessionist group in southern Thailand. I would have been thrown out in a jiffy.

Neither can I imagine any foreign ambassador in Indonesia meeting with the erstwhile rebel leaders in the Aceh region without courting swift reaction from Jakarta.

***

Kenney said her visit was private. (Private, my foot! She was accompanied by her deputy and USAID personnel.) Being the professional diplomat that she is, she knows that excuse just doesn't wash. The only private thing she does in this country is what she does in the privacy of her boudoir.

***

If nothing is done about Kenney's offense, we can forget about ever getting any respect from the US or any other country.

***

If she knew there were irregularities in the obscene ZTE-NBN deal the night before it was signed in her presence, how come it took Ms. Gloria Arroyo five long months to cancel it and only after it was exposed to the public?

What do you think?

***

Today is the 305th day of Jonas Burgos' disappearance.

I suggest that Senator Joker Arroyo, instead of vainly trying to defend Ms. Arroyo in the halls of the Senate, take up the cudgels for Jonas and the hundreds of other Filipinos whose human rights have been and are being violated under her regime.