Manufacturing ignorance

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
3/28/2011



The term agnotology is gaining more usage. I heard it used on television for the first time last week, on the program of Max Keiser on RT (Russia Today, on Global News Network, Destiny Cable). His partner Stacey Herbert described as agnotological capitalism American neo-conservative newspaper and TV (Fox News) pundit Ann Coulter’s rejoinder to the anti-nuke wave in the wake of the Fukushima nuke disaster. Coulter said on Bill O’Reilly’s show on Fox News that radiation in some dosage levels can be beneficial to humans, i.e. the hormesis theory, citing without naming “a stunning number” of physicists reported on the New York Times and some other papers. Of course there is no “stunning number,” but Coulter added that to create an antologic situation in the minds of audiences who may not be alert to the ploy. Keiser cited this a “manufacture of ignorance,” the same way the tobacco industry has tried to convince people smoking is good for the health.

Agnotologicism or manufacturing of ignorance is an important rephrasing of the old terms misinformation and disinformation, expanding the meaning to include the idea of deliberate, systematic, structured creation of gaps in information and understanding in the public’s mind. The neo-conservatives in the US are often identified with the far right, ultra-capitalist causes, which include the nuclear and defense industry lobbies. Ann Coulter and Bill O’Reily rooted for every American and Nato wars, and they are now for the attack on Libya. The nuclear lobby is a lobby for the uranium based nuclear power because it is also adjunct to the nuclear weapons industry. It all ties in, including their desire to downplay the terror of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The Thorium nuclear reactor has no such lobby as it does not produce the weapons grade byproducts.

Manufactured ignorance can also serve the interest of the complete opposite pole — the solar and wind power lobby. These two lobbies are having a heyday nuking nuke power and selling themselves as the only alternative; but they are not telling anybody that their options simply won’t supply the base load power requirements of modern society and standards of living. We can take from the nuclear lobby the truth against the other side of the issue, writing in Forbes magazine March 18 on “Options for Replacing Japan’s Busted Nukes” or the Fukushima plants Christoher Helman says “Solar — Right now, the Mojave Desert is home to roughly 400 mw worth of solar projects, the biggest concentration in the world. To get 6,000 MW from solar power would require Japan building more installations than currently exist in the entire world — about 50,000 acres covered with parabolic troughs at a price of some $24 billion.”

Even then, Helman says, “the generation capacity would not be baseload, only on when the sun shines…. the long-term cost of solar power comes to 25 cents per kilowatthour.” On wind power to replace the six Fukushiima power lost he says, “You’d need something like 4,200 turbines covering well more than 60,000 acres at a cost of $11 billion. Again, this would not be reliable baseload power. Wind costs roughly 10 cents per kwh.” These solar and wind advocates don’t allow the public to see these, creating an agnotologic situation by glossing over these. Helman, who seems to be of the nuclear lobby, makes an agnotologic move when he describes nuclear power as costing only 11 cents per kwh — which does not include the astronomical costs of storing radioactive waste and the unlimited potential for financial disaster from accidents like Fukushima; financial forensic analyst Hiro Vaswani estimates it would really cost $ 5,000 per kwh.

In our Philippine media setting, agnotologic situations are created every day. One example of this is a recent exposé Quezon City’s councilors’ “ghost employees” by a ratio of 10 to 1 favoring ghost employees: thousands of the walking, salary collecting dead. However, the report omits something. In the last Quezon City elections reform candidates running on a platform to expose former Mayor Sonny Belmonte’s corruption presented facts and figures taken from QC Hall documents. It exposed thousands of ghost employees in city hall itself. This was not cited in the recent exposé as the writer is said to be friendly with Sonny Belmonte. Corruption during the Belmonte nine-year era is very vital because his city administrator is now sitting in Malacañang. If such corrupt officials are riding high and more powerful than an Ombudsman, how can there be a “matuwid na daan?”

The Libyan situation presents agnotology cases galore, such as the admission by the anti-Gaddafi opposition leader Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, in remarks to the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore that he recruited al-Qaeda fundamentalists to fight in Iraq. Likewise, that the CIA has been funding al-Qaeda from its very inception. Mainstream media, especially Al Jazeera, hardly report these; especially Al Jazeera, funded by the Emir of Qatar and backed by the Western powers, US and British; now at the forefront of the attack on Libya (Qatar the only Arab country providing planes). Agnotology or the manufacture of ignorance is the groundwork for manufacturing consent for war and other unsavory things.

(Tune in to Sulo M-W-F, 6-7 p.m. on 1098AM; TNT with HTL, Tuesday 8 to 9 p.m., replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our selected radio and GNN shows)

Push geothermal, study thorium

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
3/25/2011



Energy in the Philippines is indeed the highest in Asia and one of the most dependent on outside sources. If those of you in the Meralco (Manila Electric Co.) franchise area, comprising almost 70 percent of all electricity consuming households and industries, have noticed an apparent lowering of power rates the past month, it’s definitely not because of that utility company’s lower distribution rates that are fixed at an exorbitant amount.

Under the prevailing system, which is based on the totally distorted Performance Based Rate-setting scheme of the Energy Regulatory Commission, even as exchange rates affect the generation charge significantly (as does the weather), the overcharging in distribution, supply and metering will simply stay the same and continue to be a festering issue for consumers.

Still, despite the high power costs, very little new power plants have been set up. An oft-cited but scarcely explained excuse is that so-called “investors” have only been able to take over decades-old thermal, hydro and geothermal plants — which is why a revival of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) has been repeatedly proposed, supposedly to make up for the lack.

The ongoing Fukushima nuclear crisis has undoubtedly put the brakes on the BNPP revival plan for now. Its proponent, Mark Cojuangco, has declared a momentary freeze on it as anti-nuke detractors are having a field day lambasting nuclear power, with many otherwise sane people falling into the bandwagon of recoiling from all things nuclear.

One particular individual I berated for this panic reaction (who praised an inveterate obfuscator, Gloria Arroyo economic adviser Joey Salceda, for hurriedly issuing a mea culpa for his previous support for the BNPP revival plan) has shown that we all need to counter whatever irrational, unscientific, as well as opportunistic responses there are from loudmouths who only seek to get on the good side of a nuke-fearing public at the height of the current scare.

Although I, too, am against the revival of the BNPP and have relentlessly pushed for the doubling of this country’s geothermal capacity, I am also against the “nuke from the hip” stance of opponents of fission-based power because there is a real scientific alternative.

On my Global News Network TV show last Tuesday, I invited the eminent Filipino physicist, Dr. Roger Posadas, former Chancellor of the University of the Philippines (UP), who still teaches science courses at the premier state university. In particular, I was interested to bring to the public his knowledge of an old alternative in nuclear power which the US and the other nuclear nations never developed because, in contrast to uranium fuel-based nuclear reactors that were preferred because these offered weapons grade by-products, this other nuclear fuel promised non-proliferation, given its non-weapons grade waste materials.

This material for fuel is none other than “Thorium” (symbol Th, number 90 on the Periodic Table of Elements), an element that is four times more abundant in nature than uranium and available in large quantities, such as in the monazite sands of Palawan.

Thorium reactors were already operating in experimental models in the 1950s when the world was still in the idyllic post-war period of the “Atoms for Peace” program; but the US was at a crossroads then between genuine use of atomic knowledge for peace and its necessity for political power. The latter won out, of course, and uranium-based nuclear reactors became de rigueur as the sole technology for all US nuclear power plants despite all the inherent dangers and highly radioactive wastes that take 10,000 years to decay (which moreover require astronomically expensive facilities to store and contain).

The thorium alternative’s advantage when compared to uranium as fuel is briefly summarized by Turkish nuclear expert Ayhan Demirbas and quoted on Wikipedia: “Weapons-grade fissionable material (U-233) is harder to retrieve safely and clandestinely from a thorium reactor; thorium produces 10 to 10,000 times less long-lived radioactive waste; thorium comes out of the ground as a 100 percent pure, usable isotope, which does not require enrichment, whereas natural uranium contains only 0.7-percent fissionable U-235; thorium can not sustain a nuclear chain reaction without priming, so fission stops by default… unlike uranium-based breeder reactors, thorium requires a start-up by neutrons from a uranium reactor… (with experts noting that) ‘the second thorium reactor may activate a third thorium reactor’… (which) could continue in a chain of reactors for a millennium if we so choose’… (thereby adding) that because of thorium’s abundance, it will not be exhausted in 1,000 years.”

So, there’s nuclear power apart from uranium after all; and that’s thorium.

At the end of my one hour-program with Dr. Roger Posadas, I summed up my view: Push geothermal, study thorium. But Dr. Posadas was far ahead. He wants UP to restore the Nuclear Physics studies that were scrapped after the BNPP was mothballed. He also wants the country to “leapfrog” into thorium energy technology development in order to join China and India in the race to produce the first commercially-viable thorium power plant, which can be as small as 1 megawatt to as large as 1 gigawatt, and be as democratic as geothermal power.

I proposed that we start an advocacy and educational movement for the thorium alternative, and there is an international Thorium Energy Alliance (TEA) to link up with. Among other things, reducing fossil fuel, coal and other polluting energy sources will significantly reduce medical costs for lung problems that are currently costing billions annually. For this and several other compelling reasons, we have to start this initiative NOW.

(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM dwAD; TNT with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8, on “The Merci Show and Other Zarzuelas;” visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus select radio and GNN shows)

Why Merci will be acquitted

Alan F. Paguia
Former Professor of Law
Ateneo Law School
University of Batangas
Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila
alanpaguia@yahoo.com
March 22, 2011



Merceditas Gutierrez, who is claiming to be Ombudsman, will be ACQUITTED.

14 Senators have disqualified themselves by publicly recommending the impeachment of Merci and necessarily lost the APPEARANCE of the "cold neutrality of an impartial judge"- thereby giving her the defense of NONCOMPLIANCE with due process of law. This is if we follow the logic of the prosecution which ASSUMES that Merci is still the Ombudsman.

The fact is she merely inherited her TENURE of about 4 years from Simeon Marcelo's constitutional 7-year TERM - which expired, by operation of law, on November 2009.

After the said EXPIRATION, Merci's official acts were done WITHOUT JURISDICTION, and therefore, VOID from the beginning.

Hence, the current impeachment process appears to be a grand COVER UP of her illegal acts by those who, directly or indirectly, benefitted therefrom.

Who are those powerful or influential beneficiaries?

The Filipino people must know.

Agnotological war

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
3/21/2011



Agnotology is a neologism on the study of culturally-induced ignorance or doubt, particularly as this relates to the publication of inaccurate or misleading scientific data. And since the press and media shape 70 percent of what’s known to be culture and knowledge today, it would be more accurate to also include media-induced ignorance through their selective information and news.

In the three literally burning issues of the day, many problems in people’s understanding of the truth are symptomatic of the agnotological conditions perpetrated by news media and the dominant information system hegemonies of the world. From the Fukushima crisis in Japan, to the Libyan struggle in North Africa, to the pro- and anti-nuclear as well as the pro- and anti-Merci impeachment debates in our own setting, the deliberate inducement of ignorance have all led to adverse consequences for people everywhere.

In the nuclear fall-out crisis stemming from the Fukushima reactors’ failures and radiation emissions, we find a culturally-induced ignorance of the Japanese people toward complacency with regard to their authorities’ abuses and unreliability. Japanese power plant officials, for one, kept everyone ignorant of very vital information.

In the first few days, no one was given an inkling as to the enormity of the problem. It was only when one nuclear reactor after another gave way that a clear admission that at least four of them were in really serious trouble came out. Despite this, the Japanese continued to be very trusting of their nuclear authorities, even after threatening radiation levels reached beyond the 20 to 30-mile radius.

What we’re witnessing here is a case of “structured ignorance.” It took criticism from cultures less trusting of authorities against Japan’s niggardly crisis updates to alert everyone of the mortal dangers in this unfolding crisis. Still, this hasn’t been the worst of the lot.

In the case of Libya , where media-induced ignorance through blatant misinformation and disinformation are being used to justify a foreign-backed coup d’etat and eventual Nato oil and land grab, so-called “Allied” fighter jets are now pounding on Tripoli as of posting time.

Al Jazeera was at the forefront of this disinformation and misinformation campaign, starting with its unsubstantiated reports (and later proven false by Russian satellite monitoring) of Gaddafi forces and war planes mowing down unarmed civilian demonstrators. In all video docus from Libya I have seen, the anti-Gaddafi forces were always heavily armed. While there are those who see Al Jazeera as an alternative to CNN and BBC, it actually plays a complementary role through its more subtle information subversion as it appears to be less pro-West than it actually is.

Al Jazeera, for instance, pumped up demonstration casualties to “thousands,” even when these later turned out to be only over a hundred. Such exaggeration was especially blatant considering the fact that even as the turmoil in Libya entered its third week, with a full scale battle in the city of Misrata, the real casualty figure there numbered only 25.

By and large, Al Jazeera’s interviews and panel discussions hardly ever feature the side of Gaddafi or the voices of pro-Gaddafi people on the ground. And as the Gaddafi counter-offensive gained ground, it became clear, too, that the alleged “total loss of popular support” for the Libyan strongman was completely false. Yet, Al Jazeera’s on-site reporters kept on annotating their news with a blatant anti-Gaddafi virulence.

One of the most obvious lies Western media and the anti-Gaddafi forces tried to foist on the world in the first week of the conflict was that the Libyan opposition movement abhors foreign intervention even to support its cause. But not long after Gaddafi’s counter-offensive successes and before the UN “No Fly Zone” resolution, the anti-Gaddafis in Benghazi were literally begging for it and jubilated when Nato promised to start arming them and bombing pro-Gaddafi Libyans for a grand bloodbath of Arab blood.

With Nato and monarchist anti-Gaddafi forces collaborating, an oil and land grab that will “Balkanize” Libya isn’t too far in the horizon. But more devastation will follow, just as what invading forces did to Iraq.

As the world continues to be kept ignorant of the systematic destruction of the cultural heritage and infrastructure of Iraq by its occupying forces, this is the crux of what Felicity Arbuthnot wrote in a recent article about Libya: The bombing of Libya will begin on or nearly to the day of the 18th anniversary of the beginning of the destruction of Iraq, 19th March (in Europe). Libya, too, will be destroyed — its schools, education system, water, infrastructure, hospitals, and municipal buildings. There will be numerous “tragic mistakes” and “collateral damage,” involving mothers, fathers, children, babies, grandparents, the blind and the deaf, and so on. And like the wonders of past empire’s remains, as with these nations’ rich histories (Iraq and Afghanistan), Libya’s, too, will be gone… forever.

Finally, let’s apply this agnotology to the Philippine setting: The debates between pro- and anti-nuclear power advocates, same with pro- and anti-Merci Gutierrez impeachment proponents simply reveal that both sides are wrong. In the former instance, all of them are all deliberately leaving out geothermal power in their discussions. This, despite a 2010 report by the World Geothermal Congress that total potential of the world for geothermal energy “…is equivalent to 40,000 GW while the total world energy demand (today) is equivalent to 15,000 GW.”

Both the pro- and anti-nuclear power lobbies are definitely creating ignorance of the only true alternative — geothermal energy, of which the Philippine has limitless potential.

Meantime, in the Merci impeachment moro-moro, the nation is being kept ignorant of the fact that both sides are similarly corrupted and will never work to sustain the “Rule of Law” when they all threw this away and resorted to the “Rule of Force” in the case of President Joseph Estrada.

Truly, the facts are there for all to see; and only an agnotological media will continue to befuddle the issues to the people’s detriment.

(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM dwAD; TNT with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8, on “Energy Futures;” visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus select radio and GNN shows)

Agnotology in Philippine journalism

CRITIC'S CRITIC
Mentong Laurel
3/21-27/2011



While the earthquake and tsunami of Sendai continue to reshape the Japanese Islands as well as world views about tectonic shifts and nuclear energy, a term I came across the past few weeks could be of the same import in our understanding of media and information in society--“Agnotology.” It is indeed timely considering OpinYon’s last cover story (“Muzzling the Press”), where it highlighted the entry of Big Business into media.

San Miguel Corp. and the Manny Pangilinan juggernaut are into all forms of media acquisitions these days, breaking down whatever barriers there are against corporate monopolies of multimedia as a devastating tsunami would against any coastal town along its path.

Pangilinan has taken over ABC Channel 5 and has his sights on two dailies, increasingly co-opting media and controlling news interpretation. The same happened with the Lopez-controlled ABS-CBN and Meralco, which allowed the latter, in cahoots with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), to buy the 2001 passage of the EPIRA law without the people realizing that it would cause the Philippines to suffer the highest power rates in Asia .

Agnotology is the term for the study of culturally-induced ignorance or doubt, where media shapes 70 percent of culture. It’s a neologism coined by Robert N. Proctor of Stanford University , rooted in the Greek agnosis or “not knowing.” Proctor also coined terms to describe new information conditions such as “structured apathy,” “victims of disinterest,” “the social construction of ignorance,” etc. In 2003, he described agnotology as the “study of ignorance.”

Agnotology differs from “propaganda” in that the latter can be prima facie false while the former uses other strategies than outright falsehood. An example is the American tobacco industry’s campaign of raising other health hazards to induce doubt that tobacco use causes cancer. Bush’s use of the “Weapons of Mass Destruction” (WMD) canard to start the Iraq War is another agnotological stratagem.

In the Philippines, a good example is Meralco and sister company ABS-CBN’s cover-up of the sordid details of the EPIRA law through a 2001 TV ad that featured a couple with a new electric fan saying EPIRA will bring power costs down.

Everyday in Philippine newspapers, agnotological journalism is at work. Over the past week, this vital information came up only in inside sections of newspapers: The P690-billion debt service of the country--almost equivalent to half of the national budget--on its $67-billion foreign debt, which is of “tsunamic” proportions.

Compare this to the estimated damage of the Sendai magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami at $100 billion and you can easily deduce that the Philippines has been living in a continuing tsunami all this time--one that is financial and economic, and in epic proportions. Yet such an issue almost never makes it to the front pages nor does it ever become a serious subject for debate among the 50 or so major columnists in this country.

It’s so bad that another “victim” to this “structured ignorance” has been the idle P1.2-trillion Special Deposit Account (SDA) held by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. No one seems to care to bring up this interest-earning SDA even as the country scrounges for “foreign investors” who make us swallow onerous terms for BOT investments that make us even poorer.

Peter Wallace, whom the corporate powers with their advertising and PR clout compel local media to cite as an economic “authority,” pushes for foreigners to be allowed to own media in the country. He writes in Manila Standard Today: “In the 1986 discussions of the Constitutional Convention, it was decided that foreigners should not be allowed to influence the Filipino public so foreign media was banned from operating in the Philippines … But this is meaningless in 2011. I can tune in to CNN anytime… Today it’s in your living room at the flick of a switch (sorry “push of a programmed button”). CNN can dominate you without trying. So why not let them have an office here?”

Wallace leaves out one vital issue that the public is ignorant of: That, when allowed full rein, foreign media players will also be buying into local newspapers and similar media to take full control of editorial policy. So, it’s not as simple as allowing them an office here--which they in fact have, along with a number of correspondents. If anything, Wallace’s CNN argument shows that we do not need them to own local papers (to fortify their presence here) since we can get them on TV anyway.

Indeed, agnotological techniques are a most useful tool in political column writing. Bobi Tiglao in his “Outlook” on the “Frenzy against Merci,” in defense of the embattled and discredited Ombudsman in the “plea bargain” for Gen. Carlos Garcia, said: “…For starters, even if all Gutierrez did in the past five years was to win only this particular conviction, her performance would have been stellar. I am referring to the conviction of former President Joseph Estrada in 2007, which was during Gutierrez’s watch, the first time that a president was convicted of graft.”

Tiglao leaves out the fact that the court that tried Estrada was a political “kangaroo court;” that the decisions were clearly distorted; and that all the jurors were well-rewarded by the political authority then (Tiglao’s benefactor, Gloria Arroyo) with promotions to the Supreme Court or, like Merci, to the Ombudsman’s post. What this shows is that these Gloria Arroyo stooges, whether conscious or not, are foremost experts in agnotology, spreading themselves out as columnists in several newspapers sowing agnotological ignorance.

But then, they must have had ample time to practice since the anti-Marcos campaign that was initiated by the Yellows has long been another example of this agnotological “structured ignorance” done on a massive scale--in schools from the elementary to the university level; in church sermons; in Western media including the History Channel; as well as in local media--in a campaign that has lasted 25 years since 1986.

The nationalistic economic development program of Marcos, i.e. his successful car manufacturing, copper smelter, local fertilizer production achievements, etc., has been almost completely wiped out from all historical accounts of that period. Despite this, what the Yellow movement’s agnotological campaign has not been able to erase is the memory of the “rice exports” Marcos achieved, which goes to prove that historical facts and truth will still out so long as the faithful historical memory of ordinary citizens survive.

In this regard, we must point out that Imelda Marcos also continues to be a victim whenever her “3,000 pairs of shoes” are mentioned, since it is seldom explained that most of these were gifts from Marikina shoe makers who wanted Imelda to promote their products by wearing them--small comfort for an industry subsequently killed by the Yellows’ wholesale adoption of liberalization and globalization.

Thus, it is evident that the task of genuine journalism and its advocates, such as OpinYon’s writers, is to keep filling in the deliberate gaps that the mainstream agnotological media deliberately leave behind.

(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; TNT with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8, on “Philippine Energy Alternatives;” visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and watch or listen to our select radio and GNN shows)

Talk News TV with Herman Tiu Laurel

TOPIC: Cuba, Venezuela on Libya
Guests: Ambassadors Manuel Perez Iturbe of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Juan Carlos Arencible Corrales of the Republic of Cuba


[PART 1]

[PART 2]

Earth Hour and Global Warming BS

Sangandaan '93
Richard James Mendoza
3/19/2011



Next Saturday, many gullible people are going to participate in what is called “Earth Hour”, a 60 minute ritualistic orgy of the environmentalists where they turn the lights off in a symbolical (but futile) attempt to reduce their carbon footprints. This year, it will be held on March 26 at 8:30 p.m. on each country’s respective time (meaning, the event wouldn’t be held simultaneously but in a staggered pattern). Sadly, the Philippines is one of the event’s participants. Indeed, it is saddening as most aren’t yet aware of the blatant misinformation and scaremongering led by the so-called environmentalists along with the mainstream media about global warming/climate change or whatever name they’ve given to it (I wish they’d make up their minds about the naming convention).

What’s so special about carbon dioxide (CO2) that makes these kinds of people react wildly? In their words, it causes the so-called “greenhouse effect” wherein the sun’s rays enter the Earth’s atmosphere and the atmospheric gases (for them, it’s CO2) act like the glass panes on a greenhouse, reflecting the sun’s rays inside the atmosphere, thus only allowing few of the remaining sun’s rays to escape (in the form of heat). But a little research shows that CO2 doesn’t even have a significant amount to affect the Earth or its temperature for that matter. In fact, it is only about less than 1% of the atmosphere’s component. And where are all these CO2 stored if it isn’t even a significant part of the atmosphere? The answer lies in our oceans. These vast bodies of water release carbon dioxide in very slowly and if my memory serves me right, it’s around 800,000 years.

If one would look at the CORRECT graphs and figures, one could see that the flux of temperature is followed by the flux of carbon dioxide. In other words, fluctuations in carbon dioxide FOLLOW fluctuations in temperature, not the other way around as these people would like you to think. Looking at the previous sentence, one might wonder why I said “CORRECT graphs…” with obvious emphasis on the word “correct.” The reason is the so-called “Hockey stick” figure, famously used by Al Gore in his documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.” The “graph” shows the rather steady line in the past centuries but suddenly rises in the 20th century, giving an impression of a hockey stick. Later investigations found out that the data and the graph itself were manipulated, thus losing its merit even to the alarmists.

Some might ask: “But what about the greenhouse effect?” It turns out that the term “greenhouse effect” is nothing more than “a deceptive term,” according to W.R. Pratt, in a booklet entitled “CO2: The Debate Is Not Over” which can be found in this link: http://www.spinonthat.com/CO2_files/CO2tdino.pdf (PDF file, requires Adobe Reader). According to Pratt, “The term was first coined in 1824 by Joseph Fourier to describe the way the atmosphere is warmed by the heat from the Sun. But it is John Tyndall, who according to some, it is claimed, is responsible for proving that the Earth has a greenhouse effect. It is strange then that in his book entitled Contributions to Molecular Physics in the domain of Radiant Heat written in the 1860s when he was professor of Natural Philosophy at the Royal Institution (previously known as the Hidden College) that the closest he comes to alluding to anything like a greenhouse effect is a reference on page 117 to the atmosphere behaving like a dam on heat energy from the sun. However even this is an extremely inaccurate and unhelpful analogy because there are only two dynamics invoked in the example of a dam: The water flowing down hill and the wall of the dam across the path of the body of flowing water. However the dynamics involved in the heat energy from the Sun entering the Earth’s atmosphere are so numerous that they simply cannot be quantified.”

Again, some might ask: “But how about climate change? This is a dangerous threat to our planet.” Cut the trap, will you? The climate is ALWAYS changing. As matter of fact, the only thing constant in this world is change! Why are people allowing these liars to brainwash them and not even bother to ask? Because “the debate is over,” they say. But no, science is not about consensus. There would be and should be always a debate to discuss the different theories that are continually appearing. Even the Big Bang theory is no exception. And yet, we have these prevaricators shoving their goods into our throats saying “The debate is over!” They are no different from the so-called “civil society” that I’ve seen here in our country.

How about the Earth Hour? Don’t even bother joining their farcical orgy and burning candles. It’s an exercise in futility. Question: If these alarmists are SO concerned about reducing carbon dioxide and “saving the planet,” as they claim, why don't they do these things? Here, I have a list of methods to reduce carbon dioxide. It’s from www.globalwarminglies.com with some editions. Without further ado, here are some of the ways to reduce carbon dioxide and “saving the planet”:

STOP breathing: When you exhale, you release CO2.

Don’t drive: We all know how bad driving is.

Don't live in a house/apartment/condo or any building that uses gas or electricity: Homes produce 2-3 times as much CO2 as cars.

Don't wear shoes or any sort of clothing produced in a factory: Grow a cotton field and make your own clothes by hand.

Quit school: Those school buildings produce more CO2 in a year than you do in 20 years.

Eat meat raw: Whether you're using gas or electric both produce CO2.

Turn off this monitor and computer: You hypocrite.

Don't use toilets; urinate or defecate in your backyard: The water in your house is cleaned and sent to your house using pumps that use electricity.

Stop exercising: Increasing your heart rate increases the amount of oxygen you take in and turn into carbon dioxide when exhaling.

And my personal favorite...

DIE: Dying younger means you will do all of the things above less. Living a year less means you will save the earth 8.4 tons of CO2 every year you're not here!

Now, why not these so-called environmentalists do the list (especially the last item), thus culling some idiots in the process? Well, as they say: “Do as I say, not as I do.” In short, hypocrisy! In conclusion, let me quote a few lines from a song by Kamikazee entitled “Ert”:

“As far as I can tell,
This place just looks like hell,
Controlled by hate and greed
Self-centered goals and dreams…”

Pinoys' daily tsunamis

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
3/18/2011



While the world’s attention has been diverted to the Japan earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis, the many tsunamis on Filipinos continue daily, wave upon wave. This month, the final 2010 figure on the nation’s debt servicing for interest and principal payments hit a staggering P690 billion. That’s practically half of the national budget; up 10 percent from 2009. This gobsmacking payment is being made despite Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Gov. Amando Tetangco’s continuing boasts that the country has around $63 billion in foreign exchange reserves simply lying idle in various financial instruments.

Such tsunami of hubris and arrogance can only come from a government that thinks very lowly of the Filipino public, assuming that the people are unable to see through its farce of staying in the good graces of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) while pummeling the people more with burgeoning taxes.

In the wake of what the country is witnessing in the Japan disasters, there has been quite a lot of speculation about how the Philippines could cope if anything similar happened here. Government is, of course, yakking about preparedness for such events. Seriously though, given the financial state of the Philippine government, if anything close to what hit Sendai, Japan were to happen today, the country would just be a little better off than Haiti in the aftermath of its own killer quake.

In particular, if a mega-quake were to hit the coast around the capital, Manila Bay will be drained for a few moments and an equally gigantic tsunami will soon engulf the city up to the limits of Makati and Malabon-Navotas, up to Obando, Bulacan. Even Cavite will most probably see the same devastation as Minami Sanriku, with the death toll reaching the equivalent of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

If we consider the state of preparedness and availability of equipment and leadership that we witnessed during the massive “Ondoy” flood, then the Philippines will be in real trouble if a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami were to hit us today. During Ondoy, government wasn’t even able to gather enough rubber boats; and we certainly know of the sorry state of our Air Force’s helicopter fleet (which used to number hundreds in Marcos’ time but is today down to two dozens).

A country that is drained of P690 billion (or $16 billion) just for debt servicing will simply never have the resources to prepare itself nor the equipment and supplies necessary for survival and reconstruction from monumental disasters such as what we have seen more frequently around the globe. Just think: The estimated cost of Japan’s devastation at $100 billion is already about the total debt of the Philippines at P4.4 trillion.

Added to this murderous debt servicing is the annual tsunami of the siphoning off of people’s resources to the Big Corporatocracy, which, on record (as Gloria Arroyo economic adviser Joey Salceda pointed out before Big Business in 2010), has swallowed down P1 trillion every year, like huge earthquake fissures chomping down huge trucks and structures. Truly, the Filipino people have long been hemorrhaging even before any epochal physical or tectonic disaster has ever hit the country.

The daily scene in Metro Manila’s streets, for one, is no different from the disaster-ravaged lives in the Sendai Shinruku area today: Children in ragtag clothes shivering in the cold nights (even if there’s no winter here); thousands of homeless in the alleys and side roads; and makeshift houses of cardboard and salvaged tin sheets dotting the landscape of blighted areas.

But that’s not all. Yet another great Philippine tsunami is also at work here — the tsunami of idiocy.

The debate over nuclear power in the Philippines has resurfaced in the aftermath of the feared Fukushima nuclear meltdown. It is right for Mark Cojuangco to back down from his proposal, as he did so already. But the anti-nuke proponents are now making hay in pushing their agenda — the promotion of solar and wind energy.

The problem here is that these baby energy methods (solar and wind) are just as idiotic as the previous insistence of the pro-nukes to borrow $1 billion for nuclear energy given the fact that the Philippines is sitting atop one of the richest hoards of geothermal energy in the world.

This information is backed by no other than the US Geological Surveys agency. Moreover, it is also a well-known fact among the world’s geothermal authorities that the Philippines is a pioneer in this field and has one of the best crops of geothermal engineers and technicians ever. So why is geothermal energy being deliberately side-stepped?

While we have to live with this disaster area called the Philippines because we were born here and grew up here, there comes a time when we need to ask: How much longer can we hang on? This, especially as the tsunami of idiocy has reached all the way to the top, with Aquino III writing off P6 billion in tax debts of an oligarchic company’s power plant in Pagbilao, Quezon, at a time when the Philippines continues to reel from the financial tsunami of the national debt and the continuous exploitation by the corporatocracy.

Maybe a real, physical, tectonic and oceanic tsunami would be a blessing — to wipe off such idiocy from the face of this country, in order to finally allow the authentic Filipino spirit to rise and reign over this land.

(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; TNT with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8, on “Philippine energy alternatives;” visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our select radio and GNN shows)

Learning moments

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
3/14/2011



Global media enhance the learning moments from last Friday’s dramatic magnitude 8.9 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. We have learned again from this latest earthquake and tsunami. First, that we have not seen the peak of the earthquake intensities our earth and Mother Nature are capable of: The 1995 Kobe 7.2-magnitude earthquake demonstrated the physical devastation to industrial infrastructure, the 2004 Indian Ocean undersea quake visually highlighted the trans-oceanic devastation in lives (240,000 killed) a tsunami can wreak on coastlines of continents thousands of miles apart, the Sichuan magnitude 8 earthquake in China in 2008 pictured for the world the impact of such seismic disasters in a mountain setting as landslides blocking rivers threaten inundations of already hard hit quake refugees. The Christchurch, New Zealand quake shows that no place on earth, even the idyllic, can be complacent. The current Sendai quake highlights the risk of mega-quakes to nuclear power plants.

The world, especially the Philippine proponents of the new nuclear power project, undoubtedly watched with great anxiety the events at the Fukushima 1 nuclear power plant. Commissioned 40 years ago and the oldest of the over 50 nuclear plants in Japan, the Light Water reactor Fukushima 1 power plant’s regular cooling system was disabled by the quake; its emergency power knocked out by the tsunami and back up battery-power cooling system didn’t suffice to cool down the reactor. While the Japanese military moved in emergency power the nuclear reactor continued overheating until explosions destroyed its concrete outer shell and broadcast all over the world. I followed the Fukushima events closely from the Japanese cable news NHK while following the analyses on RT (Russia Today, more comprehensive on Fukushima than CNN, BBC or Al Jazeera). Early evening the NHK put on screen the Japanese spokesman announcing that a total meltdown and major radiation leak had been averted.

For the past decade I have advocated the development of geothermal energy for the Philippines and crusaded against the proposal for a $1-billion new nuclear power plant. We are one of the richest in the world in geothermal energy, it makes no sense to indebt ourselves by another billion dollars and be dependent on uranium fuel monopolized by industrial countries. Our geothermal energy has proven to be one of the cheapest and most reliable for our energy needs. However, neither have I subscribed to the fear mongering of anti-nuke activists who caused our Bataan Nuclear Power Plant to be mothballed, which led to massive power shortages and billions wasted. The Fukushima power plant crisis should compel advocates of the new billion dollar nuclear power plant to pause; we hope they all join instead the campaign to push geothermal energy development to the maximum. The lesson of Fukushima for Filipinos: geothermal is the only alternative.

The Sendai, Japan earthquake and tsunami shifted the world’s focus away from Libyan crisis. Gadhafi started to turn the tide after the surprise of the armed insurrection that started in the eastern city of Benghazi. Today, it is clear that the turmoil in Libya is not the “people power” as it was in Tunisia or Egypt. The turmoil was a very well planned and deliberate attempt at a coup d’etat with armed insurrection. Western allegations of Gaddafi’s air force firing on civilian protestors were debunked by Russian satellite monitoring which showed no such flights. RT (Russia Today) also debunks alleged bombings as its resource persons said that no proof has been shown by the West that these have occurred, only CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera footage of jets flying overhead. Billowing plumes shown by Western media may really be artillery explosions. Rebel forces in expensive SUVs highlighted the “rich rebels,” as Argee Guevara noted; giving him the impression that the issue in Libya is not poverty, unlike in Tunisia and Egypt; the issue in Libyan is control of oil.

Two important developments in the Libyan situation are: 1) Hillary Clinton’s admission that Benghazi, stronghold of the rebels is the origin of many Afghan and Iraq al-Qaedas; 2) the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Arab League’s call for instituting a “No fly zone” over Libyan. Hillary report strengthened Gadhafi’s claims. The GCC and AL states are practically ruled by Western installed feudalistic clans where the more authentic “people power” are even today being suppressed violently. Amr Mousa, secretary general of the AL, is one of the two Western candidates to replace Mubarak. Gadhafi has criticized these Arab groupings repeatedly for their failure to oppose Western invasion of Iraq, inaction on the Palestine-Israel issues and subservience to the West. The only real independent, sovereign leader in this question of the “No fly zone” is Muammar Gadhafi, and if he survives this conspiracy against the socialism of Libya Gadhafi may just become the Arab people’s new Nasser.

In the Philippines, the people missed one learning moment when the mainstream media downplayed the P6-billion illegal tax write off Aquino III gave to Mirant and “Team Energy,” the past and present owners of the Pagbilao power plants, by Executive Order 27 of the President which does not have any legal cover for such as act. Taxation is the exclusive province of Congress. PeNoy cannot afford P 5.4-billion subsidy for millions of MRT-LRT commuters but he can afford it for one foreign power company?

(Tune to Sulo ng Pilipino, M-W-F, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; TNT with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8 : “ARMM Hocus PCOS?”; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and listen to our select radio and GNN shows)

Op-Ed neo-colonialism

CRITIC'S CRITIC
Mentong Laurel
3/14-20/2011



Philippine mainstream newspapers that are rooted in the neo-colonial economy and dependent on their Western counterparts for ideology, inspiration, and content naturally reflect a significant amount of colonial mentality in their op-ed pages. One such proof is the proliferation in local op-ed sections of syndicated or featured columnists from Western newspapers, with a preponderance of conservative and neo-conservative views that tend to distort local readers’ appreciation of the greater political-economic milieu in line with their bias.

While there are some notable exceptions, such as progressive writer Ken Fuller, whose original articles for the domestic audience are published by The Daily Tribune, other foreign columnists--mostly of the neo-liberal stripe--often seem to engage in misinformation to waylay Filipinos from the concept of economic independence.

One of them is Peter Wallace, an Australian-born, self-proclaimed economic expert who dishes out advice through his Wallace Business Forum and writes “Like It Is” in the Manila Standard Today. Often acting as a spokesman for the foreign chambers of commerce, his aggressive critiques on RP’s vital issues are what would constitute as barbaric rudeness in other Asian cultures. Another one is John Mangun, who writes “Outside the Box” for the Business Mirror. His articles expound on economic globalization and liberalization, as well as stock market speculation, as the keys to Philippine economic salvation (even when these are just designed to favor foreign investors if you ask me).

Last Feb. 11, Peter Wallace wrote, “We have to wake up,” arguing that contrary to the common notion in the country that the Philippines is on top in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry, it is actually falling far behind India , China , Malaysia , Egypt , Indonesia , Mexico , Thailand , and Vietnam--and correctly so, far behind at No. 9.

Wallace lamented: “That’s a long way down… Indonesia and Egypt were behind the Philippines in 2005, Vietnam trailed us in 2009, now they’re heading up.” Then he said that BPO operations cost less in Egypt and other countries than in the Philippines , which is true again. But right before he completed the logic of the “costs,” he inexplicably turned to criticize the Philippines on the issue of the use of English, stressing that for Filipinos to catch up, they must be educated in that language, adding that he has “badgered on this for years.”

However, when one probes deeper into why Wallace is adamant at it, his logic suddenly falls flat because NONE of the seven (out of eight) countries which by his own statistics are doing better than the Philippines in the BPO sector (China, Malaysia, Egypt, Indonesia, Mexico, Thailand, and Vietnam) use English as their medium of instruction. India , of course, uses English; but it is clearly the exception.

Ironically, Wallace tried to divert attention from the real culprit for success or failure, i.e. cost. This, in spite of the fact that one of the major reasons regularly cited by Philippine BPOs for their difficulties has been the power costs for air-conditioning, equipment maintenance, etc.

Philippine electricity rates have become the highest in Asia since 2001 when the Asian Development Bank dangled a $300-million loan in exchange for the power privatization law known as EPIRA (Electric Power Industry Reform Act). These jumped even higher when Manny Pangilinan of the Salim group and other foreign investors took over Meralco in 2007, and with the ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission), instituted the PBR (Performance Based Rate-setting) mechanism that gave Meralco gargantuan 60- to 80-percent profit increases annually.

But as Wallace has always promoted power privatization and deregulation, such a fact has, of course, been unsurprisingly obviated. So in order to skirt the cost issue further, he detours to education again, saying “I’m delighted the President agreed to 12 years to learn… but has yet to give English the priority it must have.” Frankly, though, the K+12 or the twelve year-basic education policy is only based on a misrepresentation of international education standards. As such, it is rejected by many Filipino public education experts and economists as an enormous burden.

Meanwhile, back to the issue of power rates, John Mangun in the Feb. 23rd edition of Business Mirror wrote, “Philippine electric rates highest? False,” apparently attempting to counter “one of the major daily newspapers” which he alleged ran the headline “PHL has world’s highest power rates.”

Mangun should have identified the “major daily” so that anyone could have easily verified the assertions made. But no; it seems he doesn’t want to identify the newspaper at all (unsure perhaps of the veracity of his counter-claims?).

What this writer can claim without any ambiguity is that many newspapers and columnists, including yours truly, have asserted that the Philippines indeed has “the highest power rates in Asia .” We have provided statistics, including compilations of entries that have individual cross references for official sources, to show this. We have indeed also written--and it is verifiable--that the Philippines has “among the highest power rates IN THE WORLD.”

Mangun’s account of his electricity bill shows how obtuse his computations are: “Last month it was P4,166.55 for a consumption of 396 kWh. So that is P10.52 per kWh. At the current peso-dollar exchange rate of P43.685, I am actually paying 24 US cents, not 18 cents. Before government taxes, the rate is 21 US cents. I am now confused.”

If Mangun were to compute for those consuming 400 kWh and up, he would find their distribution cost at P2.394/kWh (plus or minus the exchange rate and other factors) to his P1.723/kWh (or for those consuming 299 to 399 kWh).

Mangun continued: “I looked at rates from Hong Kong Electric… 18.6 US cents before taxes and other charges, the same as the combined Napocor and Meralco basic charges. That’s interesting.”

But this is what we downloaded from CLP Electric of Hong Kong: “CLP Power Hong Kong Limited (CLP) today announced that the Company is increasing its tariff by an average of 2.8 percent… With effect from 1 January 2011… which results in an average net tariff of 94.1 cents per unit of electricity…” or divided by 7.75 to get the US dollar equivalent, the Hong Kong rate is only at 12 US cents!

Mangun admits Vietnam's 6.5 US cents/kWh is four times lower than Philippine rates. His own data for Singapore’s 18.89 US cents/kWh is also much lower than his computation of his own electric bill in Manila at P10.52/kWh or 24 US cents. By now, the differences must be glaring to him.

Wikipedia put Philippine power rates last year at 28 US cents/kWh, and indeed it was when exchange rates were far more adverse against the peso. The Philippine Congress, during floor deliberations between Rep. Evardone and the ERC, put the Philippine rates at around 18 to 19 US cents/kWh--but that’s by the trick of averaging all the power rates of hundreds of electricity cooperatives and distributors all over the country, despite the fact that almost 70 percent of the country is served by Meralco, which charges the higher power rates of them all.

Mangun finally concludes, but again with a mischievous twist: “Are power rates high in the Philippines in comparison to many countries? Yes. Why? Because we generate most of the power from imported fuel.”

Good grief... Vietnam, Singapore, and Hong Kong don’t even have significant local crude, coal, or geothermal resources; but their power rates are still lower than the Philippines! What Mangun does not want to say is that privatization and the profiteering of foreign “investors” with Filipino dummies in the power sector are the very conditions that have kept on hiking power costs in this country. And we haven’t even yet factored in the “proportionality” of our power rates to the level of RP’s floundering economy. That’s sure to be another Waterloo for Mangun’s arguments--not to mention those of his like-minded ilk in Philippine mainstream media.

(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; TNT with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8, on the “ARMM Hocus PCOS?;” visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and watch or listen to our select radio and GNN shows)

Talk News TV with Herman Tiu Laurel

TOPIC: Pete Ilagan of NASECORE explains the reason for high electricity rates
Guests: Pete Ilagan, President of NASECORE and Dianne of Freedom from Debt Coalition

Local Gaddafi bashing parrots

CRITIC'S CRITIC
Herman Tiu Laurel
3/7-13/2011



Members of Philippine mainstream media are into Gaddafi bashing galore. Noli de Castro, Korina Sanchez and Ted Failon mock him as a bloodthirsty “delusional dictator;” Randy David described Gaddafi’s statements in a recent interview with the Western press where he said, “My people, they love me all; they would die to protect me” as “pathetic;” while Marlen Ronquillo in The Manila Times wrote, “Qaddafi? You recall much about this supposed great Pan-Arabic leader who proclaimed himself as the heir to Nasser . You can compare him to a cheap Pinoy politician--one who looks better in the photos.”

Listening to or reading these Gaddafi bashers, you’d think the guy is the pits; but when you examine the reality from the other side, realization comes that these local pundits really know very little about Libya and Gaddafi, echoing only what emanate from Western propaganda, which is a real disservice to their audience. Here we bring to OpinYon readers views of international observers from the other side of CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera et al.

From Libya’s Mustafa Fetouri, a top prize awardee of the Samir Kassir Award for Freedom of the Press 2010 and a regular contributor to The National, The Tripoli Post, the Qurya and the London-based Middle East Online news website, as well as a frequent resource person on the BBC, France 24 and Al Jazeera, and director at the Academy of Graduate Studies in Tripoli, Libya, and international lecturer, comes this recent article in The National, entitled, “Libya’s toxic tribal divisions are greater than Qaddafi:”

“Col. Qaddafi’s main support comes from three major sources: the Warfalla, based 180 km southwest of Tripoli , the largest tribe in the country… (comprising) a majority of well-educated Libyans. Qaddafi’s own tribe, centered in Sirte, 500 km east of Tripoli , is another pillar… The allegiance between Qaddafi’s tribe, Gaddafa, and the Warfalla has been described as a ‘blood link’… Prejudice against other tribes in Libya , particularly against the Misrata, (makes) many Warfalla more hard line than Col. Qaddafi himself. Sizeable support for Col. Qaddafi still exists within these two tribes, which form a triangle with the Mediterranean as its base that points deep into Libya ’s south, where Col. Qaddafi also draws sizable support. Sebha, the capital of Libya ’s southern region, has not seen any demonstrations so far. This tribal landscape must be understood… the country has not had political parties for more than four decades. Civil society does not exist, nor does the idea of loyalty to the ‘state.’ There is not a constitution… no practical mechanisms to guide the country in the event of a power vacuum at the top.”

When Gaddafi says “his people love him and would die to protect him,” there indeed are such “blood ties” that he can count on. Maybe Randy David reacted too soon. One can see in recent days that support for Gaddafi has consolidated after the tribes recovered from the initial disarray. The tribal milieu Gaddafi and Libyan society find themselves in explains why, despite these intractable fault lines, Gaddafi in his 41 years has managed startling achievements. We highlight some of these from David Rothscum’s “The World Cheers as the CIA Plunges Libya into Chaos” on the Centre for Research on Globalization’s website:

“How was Libya doing under the rule of Gadaffi? …Before the chaos erupted, Libya had a lower incarceration rate than the Czech republic … the lowest infant mortality rate (and)… the highest life expectancy (in) all of Africa ... Less than 5 percent of the population was undernourished. In response to the rising food prices around the world, the government of Libya abolished ALL taxes on food… (Libyans had) the highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita… the highest Human Development Index of any country on the continent... (where) a lower percentage of people lived below the poverty line than in the Netherlands . How does Libya get so rich? The answer is oil… (It) does not allow foreign corporations to steal the resources while the population starves, unlike… Nigeria … that is basically run by Shell. Like any country, Libya suffers from… corrupt bureaucrats… (Still) Gadaffi called for the oil revenue(s) to be distributed directly to the people...

“Gadaffi is not the president of Libya . In fact he holds no official position in the government. This is the big mistake that people make. They claim that Gadaffi rules over Libya when in fact… his position is more or less ceremonial… The current prime-minister is Baghdadi Mahmudi. Calling Gadaffi the leader of Libya is comparable to calling Akihito the leader of Japan . Are the protesters in Libya comparable to the protesters in Egypt and Tunisia ? Not at all. The building of the parliament of Libya was put on fire by angry protestors. This is comparable to protesters putting the United States Capitol on fire. Do you think that for even a moment the US government would sit idly by as protesters (do so)? The riots erupting now are not secular youth desiring change… A group calling itself ‘Islamic Emirate of Barka,’ the former name of the North-Western part of Libya , has taken numerous hostages, and killed two policemen… On Friday, the 18th of February, the group stole 70 military vehicles after attacking a port and killing four soldiers…

“A group recently arrested in Libya consisted of dozens of foreign nationals that were involved in numerous acts of looting and sabotage. The Libyan government could not rule out links to Israel . Great Britain funded an Al Qaeda cell in Libya , in an attempt to assassinate Gadaffi. The main opposition group in Libya now is the National Front for the Salvation of Libya … (Funded) by Saudi Arabia , the CIA, and French Intelligence… (this) group unified… with other opposition groups to become the National Conference for the Libyan Opposition. It was this organization that called for the ‘Day of Rage’ that plunged Libya into chaos on February 17 of this year… The tribal system that is still strong in Libya is useful (for exploiting) such a war since Libya has historically been divided into various tribal groups. This is also why the Libyan government responds by importing mercenaries…”

Furthermore, we have to take note that Russia Today has already reported on various stories that are being suppressed by Western media, such as the presence of US Special Forces very early on in the turmoil in Libya . Likewise, people should know that Russian satellites monitoring Libyan air space are finding no such attacks by Gaddafi’s jets on protesters, as claimed by the West. In fact, the disinformation has been so blatant right from the get-go that Al Jazeera, the UK ’s Telegraph, and many Western media previously claimed that Gaddafi had flown to Venezuela , even when this was nothing but a lie.

Philippine mainstream media should not just parrot their Western counterparts’ demonization of Gaddafi and justify imperial invasion for oil. They should gather and report the whole picture to liberate the Filipino mind and culture.

(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; TNT with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8, with the Cuban and Venezuelan Ambassadors as guests on the Libyan situation; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and watch or listen to our select radio and GNN shows)

AFP-NPA unity vs imperialism

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
3/11/2011



The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)-New People’s Army (NPA)-National Democratic Front (NDF) combined should declare a unilateral end to its war against the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and instead focus on enlightening the soldiers of our Republic on their true role of “protecting the people.” This longstanding war is but a distraction from the real one that must be waged by all — the war against imperialism.

This war, directed at Western powers eager to regain their dominance either through an expanded Nato (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) role or by other means, will be a boon to all Third World countries that have successfully struggled to break free from the stranglehold of neo-colonialism.

Thus, “peace talks” between the NDF and the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) not only distract but also perpetuate the lie of Western governments’ “peace mediation,” making them appear to have better intentions to obfuscate from the real tyranny of their imperialistic oppression.

This article is a fruit of my discussion with an underground cadre who admitted his dilemma over the AFP-NPA war. When an NPA fighter is killed, his immediate and extended families ache for revenge; likewise, when an AFP soldier dies at the hands of the NPA, his entire clan also seeks to avenge his death. It turns out that both sides of similarly impoverished families only become much poorer after their heads of families are killed.

The recurrent peace talks between the government and the communist rebels simply stretch out this futile and self-defeating struggle that deepens the devastation of this country. Instead of harnessing precious resources and human energy, and instead of strengthening our national resolve to break the shackles of those lecherous international bankers and their local oligarchic partners, what has really been accomplished to date?

The NDF Web site itself exposes the farce of the peace talks as murders of members or supporters of the Left continue to be perpetrated, such as that of Rody Dejos and his son Rody Rick in Santa Cruz, Davao del Sur; or that of Bayan Muna activist Rodel Estrallado in Bicol, among many others; vice-versa the ambush of the Eastern Samar Regional Mobile Group, killing its police team leader and wounding three others. And even as peace talks with government resume, NDF consultant Alan Jazmines is arrested. The list just goes on and on.

Meanwhile, some of the best and brightest of our young countrymen are sacrificed to the altar pyre of this war, such as the much publicized Mindanao State University scholar-turned-NPA guerilla Kemberly Jul Luna, aged 21, who died in an AFP-NPA clash in Bukidnon last year. How many more of such valuable lives must be wasted before the NDF’s leaders can rise above their war obsession and farcical peace talks?

In the meantime, lots of time — years, decades, nearly half-a-century — is lost. If only the intelligence and articulation of such valuable talents such as Kemberly were utilized in educating the masses and the AFP rank-and-file to deny the imperialists, neo-colonialists, and oligarchs the coercive arm to impose their exploitative and oppressive socio-economic system, the AFP could have become the weapon of the people. This, even before Latin American countries found their Hugo Chavez, who became Venezuelan president and started the wave of progressive victories in that continent, from Bolivia’s Evo Morales, to Argentina’s Nestor Kirchner, Brazil’s Lula da Silva, Ecuador’s Rafael Correa, and Paraguay’s Fernando Lugo.

A unilateral declaration by the CPP-NPA-NDF of the end of its war against the AFP and a call for unity with the Armed Forces to fight the common enemy of imperialism will be a dramatic elevation of its stature in the eyes of the Filipino people. It will also be a shock to the AFP that has the real potential of triggering a paradigm shift among the rank-and-file and idealistic young officers. They will definitely be liberated from their paranoia against the NPA and be free to reflect on their ironic situation of being defenders of a system that does not serve their families’ interests while dedicating their efforts toward building the nationalist corps.

The best and the brightest of the NDF youth, in turn, may start joining the PMA (Philippine Military Academy) and be part of rebuilding the officers’ training institution into a nationalist school instead of a careerist breeding ground. With a united People’s Armed Forces, imperialism would not stand a chance.

Further, with a united People’s Armed Forces, the nation can finally resolve one last insurgency that has continued to bar the country’s road toward peace and prosperity — that of foreign interference in Mindanao. Should that fateful day come, the shameless alliance between the US, Great Britain and Malaysia, and their patsy Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) can be ended with finality, along with those demeaning “peace talks” held in a foreign land, under the watchful eyes of those who yearn lasciviously to swallow the riches of this nation’s southern islands and seas.

The NDF should thus learn from its debacle in 2008 when it was seen standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the US and British ambassadors (like godparents), ready to sanctify the unholy pact between Gloria Arroyo’s government and the MILF to establish the BangsaMoro Juridical Entity.

Everyone should know that the MILF, an organization that was given its second birth after sending that wimpish, subservient letter to former US President George “Dubya” Bush, is nothing but an insult to the movement against global imperialism.

(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; TNT with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8, on the “ARMM Hocus PCOS;” visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our select radio and GNN shows)

Talk News TV with Herman Tiu Laurel

TOPIC: Sorry Yellow?
Guests: Charito Planas, Former Vice Mayor (Quezon City) and Jose Linggoy Alcuaz, Former NTC Commissioner


[PART 1]

[PART 2]

[PART 3]

A Trojan horse

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
3/7/2011



Ten years ago, a professional civil servant from the Commission on Audit (CoA) named Agustin Chan was in the thick of investigating a P224-million anomaly in a special fund earmarked for the tobacco industry. The trail that led to the northern provinces became his basis for issuing “tracers” or demands for government officials who were directly responsible to answer his queries.

In particular, he wrote the Ilocos Sur provincial accountant on Sept. 4, 2001 for a listing of expenditures charged against the fund for that year, as provided for by Republic Act 7171. But even before that, he already raised the matter in April 2001 to the governor of the province who usually got the biggest allocation, Chavit Singson, to liquidate P124 million in accumulated cash advances or be made liable for “malversation of public funds.”

Six months later, CoA auditor Chan and his driver Alex Recacho were ambushed and killed along the national highway, in Sitio Baoay, Barangay Paing, Bantay, Ilocos Sur. Neither the Yellows, in “civil society” or academe, nor the institutional Catholic Church ever let off a squeak to denounce these twin murders.

Fast forward 10 years: March 3, 2011, Ateneo de Manila. A religious mass cum candle-lighting ceremony was held at the Church of the Gesù with white robed participants and melodramatic chorale evoking a sanctified (or sanctimonious) air to honor “whistle-blower” Heidi Mendoza who testified on the massive corruption in the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines).

Since her testimony a few weeks ago, a teleserye-like atmosphere has unfolded, with heart-wrenching cries and spiels (a la ZTE-NBN crybaby Jun Lozada), along with nuns and priests “securing” her, a dramatic backstory of her resigning from a “corrupt government,” peppered with “public clamor” for her to return because “her children asked her to,” and then, an offer of the CoA chairmanship from the President, to which Mendoza was quoted to have said, “I won’t give him a hard time (convincing me).” Wow naman, how cute!

Yet what is the reason for this blatant double standard in civil society’s treatment of one CoA auditor over another? Here, I am not only comparing the Jesuit institution’s treatment of Agustin Chan to their darling today but to many others also killed in the line of duty, such as State Auditor IV Anita Gallito, head of the CoA Unit at the Education Department’s Division Office in Tandag, Surigao del Sur, who was gunned down in front of her home in Tago town.

These killings of Chan and Gallito shocked the audit community; but there never was a quip from “civil society.” Neither has the Ateneo nor its affiliates, such as its School of Government, given due credit to those who first raised and exposed the AFP corruption issue and started it all — the Bagong Katipuneros (a.k.a. Magdalos). Why is it that all the accolades seem reserved only for the Ateneo and civil society’s “darling?”

Weeks before the “Mendoza-as-CoA chairman” drama aired, our “investigator” Oliver already alerted us to the “plot” to appoint Mendoza. At the time, no one had the dimmest idea of that yet, as media were not even aware of the then CoA Chairman Reynaldo Villar’s avowed legal battle to stay on in his post.

Oliver attributed the push for Heidi Mendoza’s elevation to the “usual forces that wish to privatize government functions,” i.e. the same people who pushed for Swiss firm SGS to take over Customs functions and for Vitaliano Nañagas to be appointed as chairman of the Social Security System (SSS) in 2001 to privatize the fund, only to be deposed by SSS employees. He then cited the grapevine’s report of a foreign private company expected to be subcontracted for CoA’s financial audit functions in the event of a Mendoza appointment.

I remained skeptical until I heard American gofer Harvey Keh of the Ateneo School of Government at the Ciudad Fernandina Kapihan, floating Mendoza’s name for the chairmanship of the CoA. Coming from Keh, who represents an institution that has spawned quite a number of apologists for the likes of CodeNGO, this is another sure sign of foreign interests at play.

Make no mistake: Heidi Mendoza is an asset from SGV, a breeding ground of corporate operators such as the Hyatt 10’s Cesar Purisima (who wants to restore SGS to Customs). And just as it was for Cory Aquino since Edsa I, Gloria Arroyo in 2001, and now, Aquino III, Heidi is being made out to be another “gift from God” by the Yellows.

However, 25 years of Cory’s legacy and 200 days of Aquino III have only shown that “gifts from God” do not necessarily deliver heaven on earth. There have been and there are many more heroic public servants whom the Ateneo, the Jesuits, the nuns, and civil society have inequitably and inexplicably never sought to give due respect to, and more whistle-blowers than they have ever reached out to help, such as the late Sammy Ong (who exposed Hello Garci), anti-jueteng witness Sandra Cam, along with Jose Barredo and Dante Madriaga of the fertilizer fund and ZTE-NBN scams, respectively.

Given the record of these Yellows and their patrons in giving the Filipino nation such “gifts from God,” we should henceforth be wary of another one. After all the hype surrounding the conferment of “sainthood” to the Yellows’ icon, the Filipino people are almost certain to open the gates of their hearts again — this time, to another Trojan horse — only to regret it a little too late.

(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; TNT with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8, on “Cuba, Venezuela on the Libyan Crisis” with Ambassadors Juan Carlos Arencibia and Manuel Perez Iturbe; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our select radio and GNN shows)

It's the Anglo-U.S. con game, stupid

INFOWARS
Herman Tiu Laurel
6/2/2008



The country is up in arms against the Lopezes for the swindle of people's hard earned money for astoundingly overpriced electricity, with much of it never delivered. Meantime, some well-meaning citizens and consumer advocates who are siding with Winston Garcia, unknowingly perpetrate a grand deception to merely transfer Meralco to Arroyo's cronies, even with just the false hope of negligible power rate reductions in mind. And while a church leader says government is "not known as a good businessman," this, too, wrongly implies that it's better to make power a commodity for profit instead of a tool for public service. The real culprits in the exorbitant power prices in the Philippines—the Anglo-U.S. overlords, along with their predatory policies, which are enforced on us through corrupt leaders they help install—are escaping scrutiny in the cacophony of acrimonious debate and propaganda.

That is why a few clarifications are in order.

First of all, privatized electricity is without a doubt higher in cost than publicly owned and operated electricity. The reason is simple: the profit factor pushes up the price automatically. Add deregulation to privatization then you have a money juggernaut gone amuck, as what had happened with Enron in 2001 by way of artificial power shortages to jack up rates. If the Bible points to money as the root of all evil, then by syllogistic consequence, making electricity a commodity for money-making rather than a service for the public good now makes it the root of the Meralco and IPP-PPA evil, bedeviling the Filipino people. Not surprisingly, the idea of privatizing electricity originated from England and the U.S., with Thatcher, Reagan and Bush, Enron, Bechtel, etc.

Second, the Lopezes admitted that it faced financial collapse in the first quarter of the 1970's. The Lopezes were forced to seek government's bail-out, the two biggest factors were: (a) the peso devaluation that crippled Meralco, which had huge obligations to its U.S. benefactors and international banks (led by IMF-WB), all denominated in dollars; and (b) the sudden, inordinate rise in the world price of oil, which was the main fuel of its power plants at that time. These two are undoubtedly within the purview of the Anglo-U.S. powers to manipulate to their advantage, which is why in today's oil price hike, 60 percent is attributed to oil trade speculation in cahoots with banks. The same thing happened from 1971 to 1973, when they triggered the 6-Day Arab-Israeli War and oil price spikes, down to their conspiracy with OPEC and the Saudis to recycle petro-dollars through Third World debt entrapments.

Since time immemorial, exchange rates are manipulated to the advantage of the U.S. The decline in today's dollar, for instance, is due to the controlled depreciation the U.S. hopes will stem its imports, promote domestic production and push its exports all over the world. Thus, we can see U.S. Chevy's and Fords in the Philippine market again in numbers not seen since the 1960's. But it still hasn't worked effectively since China has not revalued as the U.S. wants.

The Lopezes were bankrupted by the peso devaluation of the 1970's, in the same way that Napocor's debts ballooned after the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. Napocor was laden with dollar obligations from Ramos' IPP contracts, including the supply of oil and coal for IPPs. Thus, it was a devastating triple whammy for Napocor: the dollar doubled in value, its profitable power plants and markets were privatized, and its fuel supply contracts rose in cost.

Third, in the 1992-93 Philippine power crisis, Meralco signed a long-term supply contract with Napocor to ensure a steady, cheap power supply for distribution to its six-million customers. At that time Royal Dutch Shell and Texaco were already jumpstarting the Malampaya offshore natural gas platform and needed to ensure their market. So Ramos intervened to broker the natural gas IPPs, which the Lopezes gleefully accepted even if it had to renege on its contract with Napocor as there was more money to be made that way. But then, Meralco simply had to conspire with Gloria to have the penalties for violating the supply contract with Napocor, a whopping P52 billion, passed on to consumers. Only opposition from the likes of this writer, FDC and Nasecore stopped it.

Fourth, what Royal Dutch Shell, IMF-WB, the oil giants, Wall Street and the Washington-London axis want, they get. With Gloria's imprimatur, imagine them indexing the low-cost natural gas for electricity to high priced diesel, which we are only beginning to discover through probes into the Malampaya-Lopez-Arroyo connections!

Fifth, in the domestic war between the Lopezes and Arroyos et al, who are all puppet-agents of the Anglo-U.S. powers, the Lopezes will win because the economic agents are more permanent while the political puppets are more expendable as the shock absorbers and red herrings of the people's wrath. When someone asked who I am siding with in the Meralco-Lopez fight against Gloria-Garcia. I said that I'm siding with neither as I side only with the people against them all, the Anglo-U.S. imperial swindlers and their puppet-agents. To believe that the Gloria-Garcia side will really bring about the correct power price reduced to the level of the average Asean or Asian power rates is to be a fool. The Epira privatization law and the whole structure emerging from it, including the IPPs, the inutile ERC and the manipulated Wesm, stops any attempt at really arriving at an economic power price. Bring it to court and it'll take the next twenty years to resolve, all in favor of the money mongers. This is why I make a call for revolution to turn things around--peacefully, I hope.

Peaceful revolution can succeed if our electoral system can be trusted--as shown in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Argentina, Brazil and Chile where patriotic and pro-people forces and reforms won by election. Otherwise, we'll need the intervention of enlightened, pro-people military forces to aid genuine civilian leaders march up the path of reform and change peacefully. The imperative reforms are the restoration of the pubic ownership and management of the energy sector as a public service, to junk the Epira and its conversion of electricity into a commodity for profit. Then a medium term program for energy self-sufficiency be put in place. Indeed, the country is most ready for revolution after the Meralco-Lopez versus Arroyo-Garcia comedy that has outraged to the maximum.

(Tune in to my shows, "Talk News TV," on Destiny Cable Channel 3, every Tuesday, 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., "Kape't Kamulatan, Kabansa" on 1098AM, Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m., and "Suló ng Pilipino" every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on the same station)

The banes: debt trap, profit motive

INFOWARS
Herman Tiu Laurel
5/30/2008



The Meralco stockholders meeting highlighted the acrimonious divide between the pro-Lopez stockholders and mobs and the pro-Winston Garcia group. Who represented consumers there? None among the two groups is pro-consumer and for really lower rates. The issue of getting the fair, Asean average price for electricity for every Filipino was drowned out by the fight between the Lopezes and Garcia. We know of course Garcia claims to be fighting to lower Meralco electricity prices, but only idiots and fools would believe that. Garcia is in the Meralco fight as a proxy of other faction of the exploitative economic elite and the power mongering of the political usurpers in Malacañang – all for the profit motive.

Meralco stockholders gain no sympathy from this quarter. They too benefit from the exploitation committed by the Lopezes and Meralco. Some try to present shareholder corporate participation of this public utility company as economic democracy, nothing is farther from the truth. Shareholders of privatized public utilities are in the same category as the controlling stockholders, profit seekers gouging the consumers. They are taking the free ride on the backs of power users’ monthly bill payments which capitalizes and finances the power company and its growth. These stockholders undermine the principle of public service in public utilities by their obsession for profit.

Meralco workers rooting for the Lopezes and booing Garcia reveal their self-serving motives. They are traitors to their class of millions of fellow workers who are reeling from the extortionist electricity rates. If the Meralco employees had the right perspective they should have joined the hundreds rallying outside the stockholders meeting hall, at the lobby and outside the Meralco building condemning both the Lopezes and Garcia. These groups, including the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) and EmPower Coalition are demanding popular and democratic ownership and control of the power distribution company by consumers. It is these groups that have been vindicated in the Meralco and Epira abuses they have exposed the past decade.

FDC, EmPower and this columnist have labored the past decade to expose the anomaly of privatizing power, particularly the abuses of the Lopezes and Meralco. If we take history further back to the late 60’s our groups have rallied against the Lopez abuse since the LAPVIIR days (which we have written of, i.e. the Lopez campaign fountain and our rallies against their ostentatious wealth display). The correct principle in this struggle is that public utilities such as electricity and water are natural monopolies, naturally funded from the public sector because of its huge financial requirement amortized by consumers’ payments. The public must be made aware of the absolute necessity of banning the profit motive in public utilities and the imperative of restoring them to public ownership.

We need to have a quick and permanent solution to the oppressive electricity prices, but at the rate Garcia’s motives are being suspected and the Lopezes’ legal obstructionism to change in the power sector, the public and the country’s suffering will go on without relief in sight. Whoever between the two wins, the people loses. This pointless struggle of the two avaricious factions of the power elite should awaken the Filipino middle class. They should join the long languishing masa in the brewing revolt against these power oligarch and Gloria’s corrupt system. The thinking elements among the military should reflect on these developments showing the greed of these oligarchs and the corrupt political regime, and how they aggravate the already desperate economic crisis.

The past few days Gloria Arroyo has grandstanded on a proposed allocation of two billion pesos from RVAT collections for dole outs to poor power consumers, jeepney and other public transport drivers, for tuition, etc. That’s the classic consuelo de bobo. The RVAT collections in 2006 was P 75-B, it is bigger now. Even just basing on the 2006 level the P 2-B dole out would not even constitute five percent of the entire RVAT collection. What the public should keep in mind is that 70% of the RVAT goes to debt service. The high prices of gasoline and other oil products are rooted in the onerous national debt. Even our tuition fees for our children’s education has RVAT tacked on to it, which is a real abomination if we value education as a basic right.

We reported the trial balloons from the DoF and secretary Teves regarding Gloria’s need for more revenues, but knowing how enraged the people are now about the RVAT the Arroyo government has made a feint and a sidestep. Gloria has announced that there will be no need for new taxes until her term officially ends in 2010 (as if she has any intention of leaving). On the same day as this news cam out the Margarito Teves announces that “ ‘Gov’t considering higher privatization earnings this year ‘ … including 40% stake in Petron and Philippine National Oil Co.-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC), 120-hectare Food Terminals Inc. (FTI), government’s real estate property in Fujimi, Japan; its stake in Meralco and Eastern Telecom Philippines Inc.”

We will ask Yuko, a Filipina in Japan and Gloria nemesis, to check the Fujimi property as there are prohibitions to selling Philippine government properties in Japan. The Petron shares are hugely profitable stocks, selling them would be a great loss to the public; and the government’s Meralco shares’ announced sale by the DoF raises the suspicion that it is depressing the value of those shares through the threat of government takeover to allow Gloria cronies to buy the shares very low. The day after the rowdy stockholder’s meeting Meralco shares have gone down by around 5%, a few more days and weeks of this and its value may just crash through the floor tiles – a great buy for anyone who gets insider information Gloria can provide.

It’s a pity that the no-nonsense senator who filed the bills to end the automatic debt appropriations and cap Malacañang’s debt contracting power is shackled in detention. Senator Trillanes filed those bills to limit the country’s debt problems and taxes stemming from it. The good news is that more testimonies, including that of journalist Alvin Elchico shows that there was no coup d’etat at Oakwood. They should let Trillanes out now to help fight the cause of the people in the Senate against debt and taxes. As soon as Trillanes gets out he will be among our first guests for our Tuesday, 8:45 to 9:30pm “Talk News TV” on Destiny Cable, GNN Channel 3. The maiden episode was quite interesting.

(Tune to “Kape’t Kamulatan, Kabansa” 1098AM, 8:30-9am, Monday to Friday)

Oil tax, budget & other lies

INFOWARS
Herman Tiu Laurel
5/26/2008



Last week the Department of Finance announced that its April budget surplus was a record P 25.8-B, double of last year. What it did not report is the P 24.8-B loss of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) which appeared in very small newspaper items on the inside pages. The BSP will get P 40-B fresh capital infusion from the national government through a special purpose trust to raise funds through 10-year bonds. This is on top of a $ 500-M overseas float, and as the report says: “The government would likely renege on a vow to limit foreign borrowings this year…” Finally, from several newspapers we culled this item, actually the second time it’s been floated by Gary Teves, “Government seeks more revenue to balance budget”.

The Arroyo government and its financial authorities are attempting to put on a grand tale about an “unprecedented budget surplus” while actually losing a lot of money in the BSP and other areas. At the same time more borrowings are on stream to cover up the growing losses, and while putting up this show the Department of Finance is actually pressing on Congress for the past two months now to enact new taxes. Just to remind one and all, seventy percent of all taxes go to debt servicing, and this new tax request clearly triggered by IMF-WB demands simply unmasks all the lies about the “budget surplus”. But these are not the biggest lies they are foisting again on the people, the biggest today is the oil excise tax cut that’s supposed to help the people tide over the high petro prices.

Last Friday morning I listened with glee to Joe Taruc of DzRH interviewing Finance secretary Margarito Teves. He was pressing on why the DOF does not accede to a reduction of the RVAT on fuel. Teves kept bringing the discussion back to the “removal of the excise tax” and saying that its “revenue neutral”, as if being revenue neutral is any help to the Filipino fuel consumer. Taruc asked why not reduce the RVAT down to six percent down from the present twelve percent. Teves continued to evade the issue. The reason for his evasiveness is that the 3% excise tax removal is only a sleight of hand, that doesn’t disappear because as oil prices rises the RVAT rise event bigger than the excise tax as it is on the much higher retail price and four times bigger.

When you add the rise in world oil prices expected to hit $ 150/barrel driven by speculative manipulation, the RVAT will actually rise up to eight times more eventually! Gloria Arroyo and the IMF-WB don’t need the excise tax. They’d been waiting for oil prices to rise to cover the excise tax and more. They think they can fool the people with this, but if the Ibon Foundation survey is accurate that Arroyo’s approval rating is negative 75% then we know people are learning that there’s nothing to believe from the Arroyo regime. However, it is still of utmost importance to go beyond Arroyo and expose the IMF-WB-Makati elite (Ayala, Yuchengco, et al) conspiracy to perpetuate this debt trap upon us, and show how easy it is to break the chain of this debt.

Filipinos don’t want to be called “balasubas”, especially when honoring a debt. It is therefore takes a difficult task convincing Filipinos to campaign for “debt default”. It will be easier for them to understand once we explain that the biggest debt defaulter in history is the United States of America. From a great article by Eric Janszen you can find in the February 2008 Harper’s Magazine it is explained:

“The Next Bubble: Priming the markets for tomorrow’s big crash… ... by the second quarter of 1971, the U.S. balance of merchandise trade had run up a deficit of $3.8 billion (adjusted for inflation)… Members of the Bretton Woods system, most famously French President General Charles de Gaulle, worried that the United States intended to repay the money borrowed to cover its trade gap with depreciated dollars. Opposed to the exercise of such “exorbitant privilege,” de Gaulle demanded payment in gold. With the balance of payments so greatly out of balance, newly elected President Richard Nixon faced a run on the U.S. gold supply, and his solution was novel: unilaterally end the U.S. legal obligation to redeem dollars with gold; in other words, default.”

The U.S. as a creditworthy entity is a big lie. It is the richest country in the world because small countries like the Philippines are led by politicians who refuse to expose this lie, instead they connive in the plunder of our country through unjust debt payment. These politicians fear removal by the powers in the U.S. State Department, the Pentagon or Wall Street if they opposed the debt trap. The only thing needed to end the debt problem is either have the gall to default on a legitimate debt as the U.S. did in 1971, or have the courage to repudiate an unjust, murderous debt. The only roadblack to our national economic and social recovery is this debt – remove it and we’ll take off like a rocket, like Argentina has done. There is nothing to fear in debt repudiation but fear itself, and life will be sweet after debt.

"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts", Abraham Lincoln said. There are daily lies in our media and politics, the same is so globally:

It is not true Myanmar prevents all countries from helping their typhoon victims. They are allowing Asean to help, but not former colonial invaders. The BBC had to apologize for using 2004’s Tsunami videos to exaggerate reports on Myanmar – a devious lie if it were not caught. It is not true Mugabe is a demon; it is the British that want to re-invade Zimbabwe using Tsangarai. Every day, the Infowar must be waged. Our crusade is advancing into Destiny Cable, Global News Network’s (GNN) “Talk News TV”, Monday to Friday, Channel 3, 7:30pm to 9:30pm. Analysis from this columnist and guests every Tuesday from 8:45pm to 9:30pm; this Tuesday: “The National Crisis: What is to be Done?” with Linggoy Alcuaz and Maris de la Cruz. GNN challenges ABS-CBN-ANC’s dominance, and cheaper rates from Destiny Cable too.

(Tune in to 1098AM, 8:30 to 9am, “Kape’t Kamulatan, Kabansa”, Monday to Friday)

The Social Revolution

INFOWARS
Herman Tiu Laurel
5/23/2008



A colleague quipped one morning, “You seem to end all your columns now with a call for social revolution.” And indeed I am, as anyone aware of the dismal future this country is facing would be. It’s not just the past seven years under Gloria, it’s the decades of decline in quality of life Filipinos, middle and masa classes. Ever since the Edsa I elite led coup against the Republic, this has worsened. In fact, it’s been declining since the 60’s after Diosdado Macapagal won over Carlos P. Garcia. This had been the case except for the brief spring of Marcos II when he asserted the demand for bases rental and started the energy and industrial development programs. We had been declining since Macapagal took the American Manufacturer’s Association and CIA funds to win against Filipino First president Garcia.

The decline accelerated rapidly in the wake of Edsa I. Cory Aquino’s sell out of the Philippines’ most vital interests precipitated it– her boast to pay all the onerous foreign debt and her not-so-known bloating of our domestic debt to the local finance mafia, her sell off of state assets and cancellation of major energy projects, and her request for U.S. “Phantom jets persuasion flights” to stave off a military rebellion that marked the end of any semblance of sovereign struggle of the country. By the time Ramos took over mendicancy to the U.S. had become the pre-qualification for ascendance to the presidency – blessing from the State Department, Pentagon or Wall Street, New York. When a homegrown president was elected in 1998, the Edsa I cabal went into motion to depose the most popularly elected president.

Some socio-political critics today still limit their analyses of the Philippine crisis to the “single-personality” cause. They blamed everything on Marcos, then Estrada. Despite the exit of the two from power the Philippine social crisis not only persisted but even worsened. Today, all blame is on Gloria, which is only partially correct. The other past is that she is only the continuation and alter ego of Fidel V. Ramos, including and particularly in the energy crisis issue. They are the Father and Auntie of the IPP, PPA and Epira, but then there are many ninong and ninangs too behind them – the oligarchs. They are the continuing cabal that stay in power whoever comes as the new political power. This is the permanent power that underlies the tale of the Philippine socio-economic-political crisis – the oligarchs.

The Meralco story is just the most obvious of the many operations of the oligarchs in the country. The Lopezes are too overt with their wealth and power. In the 1960’s the Lopez tied up with Marcos, Fernando Lopez ran as vice to Ferdinand. Patriarch Iñing Lopez had a wedding anniversary bash so unabashedly opulent and ostentatious, flying in guests worldwide and newspapers reported the champagne fountain that flowed. All perceived to be taken from the monthly payments of millions of electricity consumers. The LAPVIIR (Layman’s Post-Vatican II Reforms group) picketed that wedding anniversary, and I don’t think ever since then that the Lopezes had ever recovered from the public impression of their socially irresponsible business practices and extravagance.

Charity work of the Lopezes smacks of self-serving agendas, like the Bantay Bata program that has been shown to use it ABS-CBN clout to extort donations from the Department of Education, or that project in La Mesa Dam for alleged environmental protection that had become apparently a front for the Lopezes real estate project, and that eye care hospital in Rockwell I visited once with my wife to have a consultation which turned out to be charging so high that’s its really extortionist – and I had to move over to the old Manila Doctors’ Hospital to find better but more affordable eye care. But the most chagrining fact about the Lopez octopus is their cross-ownership of mega-media establishments which is used in their blatant business-political machinations.

The Lopezes are not alone; Cebu’s Garcias is among them, among its scions is the Meralco nemesis now whose top GSIS job allows the clan to maneuvers billions in funds for the objectives of the political boss today – Gloria. The Garcias are no match for the more illustrious Spanish surnames like Razon, Aboitiz and Alcantara who have cut up the energy sector for themselves. Razon (Gloria’s election fund manager and whose Manila port operations charge the highest in the world) got Transco, which earns $ 400-M a year, for $ 4-B in installment for what is valued at least $ 6-B. Congress is now rushing its franchise. The Aboitizes (Cory Aquino appointed one to NPC) and Alcantaras (who had at least one in every cabinet since Cory Aquino) have their share of IPPs but want a slice of Meralco’s distribution – which they will get care of Gloria, Enrile and Mikey’s “open access” amendments.

The Philippine oligarchs follow Amschel Rothchild’s dictum (founder of the world’s most powerful Jewish financial network the past two hundred fifty years): “Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes the laws.” The U.S. is also dominated by its financial oligarchs, defense industries and its privately owned U.S. Federal Reserve. The power of money affects each world citizen more than they can know today, due to media’s lack of reporting on it. The world market oil overprice today by 60% is due to manipulation by oil traders in cahoots with global banks recovering their loses from dollar depreciation and the subprime crisis – taking advantage of China and India’s fears of Western lock-out of their oil needs. Philippine oligarchs are small fries, but the global financial powers empower them as Philippine agents to exploit the country.

Philippine history is shaped by these traditional oligarchs who connive with traditional politicians to turn the Philippine government and its laws into tools for exploitation of the nation’s patrimony, toil and sweat. The Lopezes were “franchised” by the American’s General Power Corporation charge the high rates to pay them off for Meralco. What the Lopezes did in power Razon has done in port operations, the Ayalas in water and telecoms, the Aboitizes and Alcantaras in power and oil, as nausea. In 2010, they’ll back another controlled, and most likely “winnable” but spineless or most corruptible candidate. If they lose they can plot the next “people power”. Only a social revolution can sweep aside these cabals of oligarchs and corrupt politicians, and install leadership for genuine reform of the economic-political power structure for social equity and national development.

(Tune in to 1098AM, “Kape’t Kamulatan, Kabansa”, 8:30-9am, Monday to Friday)