US Defense Secretary Lloyd James Austin was in Malacañang recently to pay President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. a call. He was reported to have handed over $1 million in urgent humanitarian assistance to the Marcos government for having borne the brunt of six significant typhoons over a very short period of time. The news photo appearing in the press captured the oversized Pentagon chief in a dark suit towering above the medium-size president in his polo barong.

It did not show Marcos at his best, as far as optics went, but there was more than optics to it.