Picnic, protest, and social transformation: Change beyond the anti-corruption crusade

EVERYMAN / David Michael San Juan / Manila Standard Today / August 27, 2013

August 26th of the year 2013 was not an ordinary National Heroes' Day in the Philippines. Thousands of citizens voiced out their support and participated in the "MILLION PEOPLE MARCH TO LUNETA…" dubbed "PROTESTA ng BAYAN!!!" (People's Protest) by a Facebook page that purportedly sparked the good fire that engulfs the country now. The "massive pocket picnic" (as the Facebook page labels it) was primarily aimed at calling the government to "abolish pork barrel" and "demand transparency and accountability." The same page declared that no "group banners," "political colors, and "speeches" would be allowed in the gathering. Some self-styled organizers of the event claimed that is not about being leftist, rightist, or centrist, and angry anti-leftist posts in various news Web sites seem to suggest that the assembly would try its best to be apolitical (e.g. devoid of radical politics)— as if it were possible.

This explains why, initially, leftist activists were lukewarm to the idea of joining the assembly. Indeed, what's the point of protesting if there would be no banner and speeches to publicly explain what the people are protesting about? Nevertheless, the main leftist organizations under the umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) and its allied partylist organizations under the Makabayang Koalisyon ng mga Mamamayan (MAKABAYAN) finally decided to mobilize their organized forces to join the Luneta assembly from their convergence point at Liwasang Bonifacio. BAYAN and its allies marched towards Malacañan Palace after the Luneta assembly to emphasize that the Executive branch must be held accountable, too, for every cent it spends. Meanwhile, even church-affiliated groups such as De La Salle Philippines, Catholic schools such as Ateneo de Davao and Colegio de San Juan de Letran, and broad-based coalitions supported by church people such as Pagbabago People's Movement for Change also supported the gathering and mobilized their respective communities.

As half of the anti-pork barrel campaign has been already won with the president's declaration that the pork barrel system has been abolished, this article will instead focus on the socio-economic reforms that the citizens need to champion if they really want genuine social transformation beyond the anti-corruption crusade. This is a manifesto against fellow taxpayers and citizens who stupidly reject the Left and its agenda without even bothering to take a look at what it has to offer.

To ensure that the gains of the anti-pork barrel movement will not be reversed, the people need to clamor for the passage of the Anti-Dynasty Bill. This legislative measure aims to democratize the country's political system by empowering non-traditional politicians and grassroots parties primarily through breaking up the elite clans' monopoly on elective posts. Unknown to many anti-Left loudmouths, the biggest leftist partylist in Congress, Bayan Muna, has been filing its own Anti-Dynasty Bill since 2001 when it first joined the party-list election (which it topped). Aside from resolving corruption and bringing back power to the people, massive unemployment and poverty need to be tackled. Since the leftists first participated in elections in 1935 through a coalition of the Republican Party, the Socialist Party and groups affiliated with the old Communist Party, that supported the presidential candidacy of Bishop Gregorio Aglipay, they have been campaigning for the country's socio-economic emancipation through political independence, nationalization of key industries, and land reform. Essentially, today's leftists laudably maintain the same agenda for Philippine progress.

Undeniably, the call for political independence remains relevant, as we are still led by Cold War-era militarists who think the best way to defend the Philippines from Chinese incursions is to invite more American soldiers to stay in semi-permanent bases around the country. The Philippines' almost-always negative balance of trade further confirms its over-reliance on foreigners which the leftists have been criticizing since time immemorial. Decades under corporate capitalism has failed the Philippines, as evident in the lack of ample job opportunities here proven by the ever-growing billions of dollars of OFW remittances. Neo-liberal globalization wiped out most of our fledgling industries due to the premature lifting of tariffs and lack of safety nets for local firms. Hence, nationalization of key industries, and the call for industrialization, both emphasized by the Philippine Left, are commonsensical. Land reform, another leftist cause – partly a legacy of the Katipunan's egalitarian anti-hacienda policy – is of course vital to supply the needs of local industries, and to generate enough employment in the still underdeveloped, and relatively poorer rural areas.

Anti-Left kibitzers in the Philippines, when cornered into agreeing that the Left's vision for the Philippines is indeed correct and must be tried, resort to asking the question "Where do we get funds for such reforms?" Fortunately, leftists and even some moderates have a ready answer: debt renegotiation, debt repudiation and repeal of automatic debt payment appropriation, use of SSS and GSIS funds, and higher tax rates for top corporations. Such progressive reforms will not only provide funds to finance Philippine industries, land reform, and agricultural modernization, but will also enable the government to generate enough funds for free education at all levels, universal health care, and subsidized housing. All of these are egalitarian reforms will certainly erase the wide gap between the richest and poorest families in the long run.

As a taxpayer who pays more than what corporations shell out (in terms of tax as a percent of income), I entreat my fellow taxpayers to open their minds and consider the merits of the Philippine Left's vision for a free and prosperous country for everyone, beyond a mere end of the pork barrel regime. Let a thousand flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend, for we are in a democratic country where leftists have the right to be heard and be listened at too, especially after more than a century of our country's decrepitude under non-leftist administrations.

(David Michael M. San Juan is an instructor at De La Salle University-Manila.)

US WMD lies after lies

Herman Tiu Laurel / DieHard III / The Daily Tribune / 08-28-2013 WED

 

If there is still any doubt that the US and Western ruling classes are intent on spreading war and madness in the world, then their latest lies on the "chemical weapons" attack in Syria should vaporize it all.  Despite the many evidence of Syrian rebel terrorist possession and use of poison gas exposed since May--amid an ongoing United Nations investigation of the last reported use of chemical weapons in rebel-held areas still have to reach any conclusion--the US and Western imperial countries are baselessly presupposing the guilt of the Bashar al-Assad government and are poised to launch cruise missile attacks even without US congressional and UN Security Council approval.

 

The US is making excuses for preemptively dismissing the UN investigation, claiming it is too late.  It says evidence may have evaporated already as snipers are said to be slowing down UN inspectors' entry in rebel-held areas.  It is not without reason that we are assuming they are likely to be rebel snipers.  But none of these realities on the ground will ever dissuade the US, the French, Turkish, their allied Gulf states, and others from attacking without any solid justification.  They just want war.

 

They know that since the final collapse of the Western economies is just months away, the ultimate goal is to eventually crush the ascendant economic powers, namely, Russia and China.

 

In May 2013, UN investigator Carla del Ponte said this about a sarin gas attack in a town in Aleppo, Syria: "Our investigators have been in neighboring countries interviewing victims (and) doctors … According to their reports there are strong, concrete suspicions … This was on the part of the opposition, the rebels, not by the government authorities … This is not surprising, since the opponents (i.e. the anti-Assad opposition) have been infiltrated by foreign fighters."

 

When some Filipinos, such as Walden Bello, claim that Assad kills his own people, they feign ignorance of the fact that from the very beginning, US-funded terrorists have been killing civilians and blaming it on the Syrian government--just as they are doing elsewhere.

 

More recently, toward the end of May, Turkish state media Zaman reported that Turkish agents seized 2 kilograms of sarin gas in Adana City from Al Nusra terrorists heading for Syria.  Six days ago, opposition reports of a purported Syrian government rocket attack with toxic agents on the Ghouta region where hundreds died is now being used by Western imperial countries as a justification for an imminent attack.  But strangely, hundreds of videos showing apparent victims of a chemical weapons attack in Syria were uploaded on YouTube last August 20, a day before media reported the actual attack, which made Russia's Foreign Ministry suspect the incident to be a "pre-planned" provocation staged by the Syrian rebels.

 

Even as the Syrian War is thousands of kilometers away from the realities Filipinos face today (i.e. poverty due to the corruption of the ruling class and its political puppets), what they do not realize is that the destruction from war and mayhem in the Middle East is fast approaching the borders of this region.

 

Few even know and even fewer appreciate the portents from the US "pivot to Asia" announced by Barack Obama in 2012.  Agents of the US in the Philippines are expectedly re-directing the danger of US imperialism by deliberately barking up the wrong tree, i.e. fear-mongering on a non-existent "Chinese invasion"  (dispute, yes; but invasion, no), when it is US that has occupied the Philippines in all but name.

 

Conscientious Filipinos should hammer away with the truth about US and Western imperialist wars and hegemony, and crack the iron dome of misinformation and disinformation over the Filipino mind by CNN and Reuters et al. aided by local mainstream media and Western-funded NGOs.  We must expose and oppose these wars against humanity and open the people's resistance to them, just as US and international anti-war heroes such as Bradley (now transgender heroine, Chelsea) Manning and Edward Snowden have done.

 

According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, only nine percent of Americans believe that Obama should now act while 60 percent, mindful of their government's lies, strongly oppose US intervention in Syria's civil war. 

 

Indeed, they've been served lie after lie--from Colin Powell holding up the vial allegedly containing evidence of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction before the UN, to Secretary of State John Kerry concluding that Assad is to blame when the UN investigation has not even taken off the ground.

 

Sad to say, we have some "Filipino patriots" who see nothing wrong with the US--the same ones who see everything wrong with every other country that refuses to kowtow to that imperial trouble-maker.

 

(Tune in to 1098 AM, Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.; watch GNN Destiny Cable Channel 8, Saturday, 8:00 p.m. and replay Sunday, 8 a.m.; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com; and text reactions to 09234095739)

Hijacked momentarily

Herman Tiu Laurel / DIE HARD III / The Daily Tribune / 08-26-2013 MON

The national outrage leading to what has been dubbed the "Million Man March" today against "pork" started escalating when news of the Ballsy Aquino-Eldon Cruz extortion and the pass-on of public utilities' corporate income tax to consumers came out. The government, the pre-eminent family of the ruling class, and the ruling class itself, along with the country's top corporations, all reeled from the tide of awareness of their perfidy.

What appeared to be a brilliant diversion, executed through the persistent campaign of a mainstream newspaper tagged "The Daily Oink-quirer," has now revived a 10-year-old corruption issue that stemmed from the "Joc-joc Bolante Fertilizer Fund Scam" involving the pork barrel funds of several "sow-lons."

Since the controversy was also huge at that time, one brave investigative journalist indefatigably pursued it. For that valiant effort, Marlene Esperat paid the ultimate price for that exposé, as she was cold-bloodedly murdered in 2005. Very little came out of it and the brains behind her killing are still on the loose.

Back then, the group, Lawyers Against Monopoly and Poverty (Lamp), of Cefie Padua filed a legal suit against the "pork barrel," raising it all the way to the Supreme Court (SC), asking the courts to declare the disbursement of the fund illegal and unconstitutional. But the SC, then led by Justice Renato Corona, dismissed the case.

Ironically, seven years after that decision, the SC's chief justice, Renato Corona, was impeached by the House in 2011 ostensibly due to the speedy release of solons' pork barrel allocations and convicted using "pork barrel" enticements for the votes of some senators, all anchored on the ruling family's vengeance.

The whole point of this historical recounting is that the self-proclaimed "civil society" that has hijacked today's "Million Man March" never went as far as it has done today. Its newspapers and broadcast media have never gone to this extent of placing the issue of "pork" at the forefront. Could that be because civil society was okay with it as long as it was still allied with the sitting government; and now that a redirection of certain issues is needed, it got its controlled media and PR agents working overtime?

The evidence showing "civil (or evil) society" hand riding on and grabbing the steering wheel of the current anti-government and anti-corporatist wave is the discovery of the use of the clenched fist image superimposed on the sun of the Philippine Flag on the "Million Man March" posters, which is the exact copy of one of the 2010 BS Aquino III campaign posters.

Investigative efforts of netizens produced an admission from a certain Peachy Bretana, who claims to have just downloaded and copied it. But a prodigious search reveals that the 2010 logo was nowhere on the Internet; so Bretana must have had a hard copy to extract the image from. It turns out, Bretana is from international ad agency Publicis.

Meanwhile, another mover, Inday Espina-Varona, is affiliated with ABS-CBN. Varona was a former NUJP (National Union of Journalists of the Philippines) colleague whom I had shunned since her Edsa II advocacy of the coup against a legitimately-elected president.

ABS-CBN has been at the forefront of steering the "million man march" and one morning late last week Noli de Castro interviewed a certain female lawyer surnamed Aguilar. Who "appointed" Aguilar to speak for the march and announcing the guidelines for it? Coincidentally, Aguilar admitted to be from an ad agency, too.

As for the other personalities, on Saturday at the Annabelle's Kapihan, Fr. Robert Reyes and a certain Manny Lopez were presented as among the organizers of the "Million Man March."

Today's march is supposedly a "spontaneous" social media and netizens' event. Though netizens' rage and passion over pork are undoubtedly real, the other matters could have been stoked and directed using underhanded means, such as "sock puppet" accounts.

David Warner of the New York Times exposed this, saying, "A fake virtual army of people could be used to help create the impression of consensus opinion in online comment threads, or manipulate social media…" So as the controlled print and broadcast media follow this through, presto, they have a redirected rage from the Ballsy-Eldon Inekon extortion try and the corporatist scams to the old pork barrel issue.

This mass consciousness is then backed up physically by the Catholic Church (like in Edsa I and II). The Catholic Educational of the Philippines (CEAP), for one, has announced that it would be mobilizing students to join.

Then, various innocent "leftist" and "citizens" groups are marching along for variations of the protest theme. Bayan will distinguish itself by having its own march from Rizal Monument to Mendiola, an attempt to re-direct the re-direction of "evil society."

Another group (comprising S4S, Tandem, and others) wants to burn a giant yellow ribbon at the Quirino Grandstand. I hope they do so as that would be shifting the focus to the right direction.

Then that's the time we shall all raise the call for the complete abolition of BS Aquino's P1-trillion "discretionary fund" as well as what whistleblower Mel Magdamo would like to call Malacañang's "BABOY" or Benigno Aquino III's Budget for the Oligarchs and Yellows.

(Tune in to 1098 AM, Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.; watch GNN Destiny Cable Channel 8, Saturday, 8:00 p.m. and replay Sunday, 8 a.m.; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com; and text reactions to 09234095739)

US drones and clones

DIE HARD III / Herman Tiu Laurel / 8/19/2013 / Daily Tribune

In several episodes of "Politics Today" on GNN, former Parañaque congressman and US Naval Academy graduate Roilo Golez lambasted those whom he calls "leftist nationalists." According to him, all they do is incessantly protest US Naval ships visiting our shores while keeping mum about Chinese maritime vessels plying Philippine waters. Others, such as FVR national security adviser Jose Almonte and anti-communist Party-list Rep. Jun Alcover, have echoed the same line — which should lead us to ask: Why don't they mind US ships encroaching into Philippine waters, more so without authorization, such as in the case of the USS Guardian in Tubbataha Reef?

The US not only sends regular vessels but docks its nuclear ships in Philippine ports — not caring one bit for the Philippines as a constitutionally-declared "nuclear free zone." Of course, the US is neither going to confirm nor deny this.
US naval violations of Philippine sovereignty have been a problem for decades, especially after the termination of its bases in the country. However, the situation has become even more complicated with the advent of its massive use (or misuse) of aerial drones in the Philippines.
In February 2012, Mindanao news media reported the drone killing of some Abu Sayyaf elements. Then, in January 2013, we can recall that a US drone was fished out off the island of Masbate.

Last week, a Mindanao religious, Sister Noemi Degala, executive secretary of the Sisters' Association in Mindanao (Samin), called on the Philippine government to reject US requests to permit a drone base in the country (as if there is none yet). Degala dubbed this as a "killer program," citing the case of Pakistan where thousands of innocent women, children, and men are killed by such drones as "collateral damage." Policymic.com cites the finding of Columbia Law School's Human Rights Institute that Pakistani civilians killed by US drones are "significantly and consistently underestimated" by tracking organizations. And, citing a New York Times report quoting Pakistani sources, some estimate that "50 civilians are killed for every one terrorist."

The worst part of such US (and Central Intelligence Agency) drone strikes is the targeting of "first responders," or rescuers who run to the aid of victims in such attacks. This second drone strike specifically targets those who aid the wounded, while the succeeding ones are aimed at funeral rites for those killed in previous strikes. As the CIA assumes that all those who sympathize with the slain "terrorists" are guilty by association, the world has probably never seen a more cowardly, inhuman, and inhumane policy such as this.

The drone warfare program of the US-CIA is so scandalous that it has elicited condemnation from even the most spineless international diplomatic office in the world — the United Nations, with the UN Secretary-General declaring civilian US drone casualties as "unacceptable."

Filipinos must therefore object and protest the use of such drones everywhere, particularly within the air space of this country. I am in solidarity with all those who have protested the presence and use of US drones since its first reported use in early 2012 and in the Masbate drone incident.
Now, we join and encourage all Filipinos to be one with Degala and Samin in demanding that the Philippines reject any requests from the US to establish a drone base anywhere in the country and to stop any use of such drones within Philippine land and seas.

This campaign must be carried to all the schools, churches, and other forums. Hence, I extend this invitation to Sister Degala and Samin to appear in any one of GNN's shows, including mine, to air this issue further.

Meanwhile, I would like to address the good ex-solon from Parañaque and his colleagues to join all conscientious Filipinos in rising up against the US' drone warfare and its attempts at securing permission to establish its drone base in the Philippines by calling for their rejection.
Let us remind one and all that when that US drone killed those suspected Abu Sayyaf elements back in 2012, they were mere suspects — never brought to court to face justice — and simply presumed guilty on the say-so of US "intelligence."

If former Rep. Golez and his ilk cannot speak out against such blatant US abuses, then we cannot help but think of them as US clones being silent on the evils of drones everywhere and the US' continuing violation of Philippine sovereignty.

(Tune in to 1098 AM, Tuesday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m.; watch GNN Destiny Cable Channel 8, Saturday, 8:00 p.m. and replay Sunday, 8 a.m., this week on "MNLF Republic"; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com; and text reactions to 0923-4095739)

Wayward aim

DIE HARD III / Herman Tiu Laurel / 8/14/2013 / Daily Tribune

The so-called BangsaMoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) has reportedly sent 20 youthful bombers to terrorize Manila. Bus stations, Metro Rail Transit and Light Rail Transit rides, malls, and any place where masses of people congregate are a probable target. This follows the multiple bombings in Mindanao that have already claimed almost two dozen lives. The BIFF is just one of a myriad of Muslim separatist groups believed to be doing such acts. Of course, these are just the most recent flare-ups in the decades-long war and terror from Islamic separatists, most of which are linked to international terror groups that are, in turn, directly or indirectly inspired, organized, armed and funded by the US and its Gulf allies such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar et al., like what has been happening to Libya and now Syria.

During the time of President Joseph Estrada, he aimed for the final resolution of the Muslim separatist problem by vanquishing the main force of the movement. He succeeded in taking over all major Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) camps and forced its top leader to flee to Malaysia. That was the first step to final stabilization of the political-military situation in the region. It was, however, a victory that irked the US, an imperial power that wants to ensure its pre-eminence in the country by keeping destabilizing forces alive and active, thus, leading it to help depose Estrada. But even as the US started to coddle the MILF more directly through the so-called peace process, where it had its puppet Philippine presidents give way to the MILF in terms of territories and control, dozens of our soldiers had been ambushed and beheaded over the decade.

The past two weeks, newspaper front pages were filled with reports of initiatives from BS Aquino's government — led by Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and Defense chief Voltaire Gazmin — inviting "rotating" US forces into Philippine military and naval bases, even moving the Manila-based military facilities to what had been for two decades the commercial hub of Subic, with the "threat" from China as the justification for these moves.

On the civilian side, former US Naval Academy cadet Roilo Golez has been the point man of the anti-China West Philippine Sea Coalition, after taking his cue from Filipino-American Loida Nicolas-Lewis and her Fil-Am gofer Rodel Rodis. To this end, all of them champion the purchase of arms hardware from the West.
To BS Aquino and this group, the chief and implacable enemy of the Philippines today is China, so much so that they will even violate the Constitution to invite foreign US military forces in. These people really think so lowly of the public's level of intelligence that they expect Filipinos to believe their thesis that the Philippines should devote hundreds of millions, if not billions, to prepare for war against China. Well, as Golez said in an interview with Harry Tambuatco on GNN, the Philippines need not worry for it will have "allies" in this war (of course, referring to the US and Japan). We will gladly leave Golez to his wishful thinking; but while his group saber-rattles against China, the fact is Muslim separatist terror bombings are already bombarding Mindanao — threatening the same in Manila.

Without a doubt, the inanity, if not insanity, of these anti-China warmongers knows no bounds. They expect Filipinos to accept their crappy logic that China is the main enemy and that there can be no bilateral dialog with it. Yet, they, along with BS Aquino, are not at all adverse to having such talks, even finalize agreements, with the MILF, which has killed hundreds of Filipinos, beheaded dozens of Filipino soldiers, and would not even meet the Philippine government halfway in negotiations by demanding a 75-percent share of the resources of the territories it claims? To wit, even if there have been diplomatic impasses and tensions, the Chinese government has neither fired one shot nor harmed the hair of one Filipino. Still, Del Rosario will not engage in any dialog with it while and Gazmin, Golez et al. want to prepare for war?

China today employs around 10,000 overseas Filipino workers as hotel staff and entertainers, and others as English teachers. Some are even missionary workers there. China buys billions worth of agricultural goods, such as bananas and coconut products, from the Philippines. It has made every effort to pursue dialog, with its Ambassador Ma Keqing even humbly appealing to the Philippines to meet halfway in negotiations. Yet all that Del Rosario, Gazmin, Golez et al. do is aim their diplomatic, verbal, and other guns at China. Meanwhile, I do not see or hear these characters focusing any attention on the real threats from the BIFF and its ilk, or even from the MILF, which still threatens to secede if its lion's share of Mindanao's wealth is not granted.

This wayward aim of Del Rosario, Gazmin, Golez et al. leads me to suspect that they are in alliance with the terrorists in destabilizing the Philippines to keep it from real economic and national progress.

(Tune in to 1098 AM, Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.; watch GNN Destiny Cable Channel 8, Saturday, 8 p.m. and replay Sunday, 8 a.m., this week on "Hocus PCOS, final verdict" with Ado Paglinawan, former Comelec IT expert Ernie del Rosario, and whistleblower-lawyer Melchor Magdamo; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com; and text reactions to 0923-4095739)

A-piece-ment miffs BIFF

DIE HARD III / Herman Tiu Laurel / 8/12/2013 / Daily Tribune

The so-called BangsaMoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) are reported to be miffed over the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)'s monopolization of all the pieces of the Mindanao pie from BS Aquino III's policy of "a-piece-ment," i.e. for being left out of the loot. But can we be sure that this is the real reason for the BIFF'S beef with the rest of Philippine society, so much so that this alleged breakaway group has now been rocking innocents to their core with its improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
The personalities behind this "rebel terror" group, as well as their real identities and motives, are as a myriad and labyrinthine as the international networks of al-Qaeda, which US intelligence services organized (and continue to utilize) for terror destabilizations and destructions all over the world — from Libya to Syria, and to our very own Mindanao. Last I heard from a most competent source, the Uighur al-Qaeda branch is already in Central Mindanao.

The nerve wracking IED bombings in Mindanao should compel all Filipinos to rethink government's approach to the Islamic separatist problem — the same used by Fidel Ramos, then adopted by Gloria Arroyo and, now, BS Aquino III — which can be summed up as "a-piece-ment," that is, to give way to rebel demands and parcel away, piece-by-piece, more and more of Mindanao and its rich resources to these separatist groups. And as this happens, Malaysian and US-British sponsors of these "a-piece-ment" talks wait in the wings to get control of these resources as they always have, as in the case of their tyrant-run client states in the Middle East. This "a-piece-ment" strategy was disrupted briefly by President Joseph Estrada's "only one flag" policy that led to the bulldozing these separatists' claimed camps and headquarters.

Back then, Estrada already had the MILF on the run, with its leader fleeing to the bosom of Malaysia to ponder the end of his separatist and tribal ambitions — but not before he thought of writing to the great imperialist infidel, George "Dubya" Bush, in meek supplication to lift his defeated force. Thus, on the wings of the great eagle, the MILF was lifted back to life while Estrada was deposed by a conspiracy of US-backed corrupt military putschists and "civil socialites" that paved the way for the decades-long "a-piece-ment" negotiations and, now, the final 75/25 percent slicing of those parts of Mindanao and the Sulu Sea in favor of the MILF. Other groups understandably cried foul — most notably the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) for the treacherous terms over North Borneo (Sabah) and other aspects of the deal. Thus, the MNLF has threatened a new war over these issues.
Security expert Rommel Banlaoi informs us that there are even more groups — most likely Jemaah Islamiyah (JI)-linked al-Qaeda — that may be considered suspect in the bombings.

In my interview with Banlaoi, cut short by the arrival of the station crew from Solar News, I was being shown documents pointing to another group that read like "Indama," although I could not be sure because of the rush. For sure, future discussions and analyses with Banlaoi will be reported in this space. What is incontrovertible about the situation in Mindanao is that after President Estrada's policy of "one country, one flag" was dismembered by the succeeding Edsa II governments of Arroyo and BS Aquino, separatist-terror now seems to proliferate, with Malacañang having no alternative policy to its "a-piece-ment."

Whatever defense policy emanating from Malacañang these days only centers on a build-up of weaponry in relation to the China-Vietnam-Philippine maritime territorial disputes. US navy cutters are bought with Malampaya funds to defend the seas but are immediately brought to the repair docks, while attack helicopters are on the purchase orders, etc. But the West Philippines Sea, or South China Sea, or what others now call the Asean Sea, is all acoustic and no war—while a real war with IED terror and savage BIFF-MILF renegades and other paramilitary forces is raging. Is Malacañang going to send the rickety BRP Ramon Alcaraz to Cotabato or Cagayan to Oro to hunt down the terrorists? Wouldn't the hundreds of millions for weaponry be better spent for intel to wipe out such separatist terror forces first?

The territorial waters issue with other claimants is better resolved through honest interaction and dialog, as we have seen in the resolution of the imbroglio with Taiwan. Manila-Taipei relations have normalized with the objective National Bureau of Investigation investigators releasing their findings and recommending the appropriate filing of charges against erring Philippine Coast Guard members. The saber-rattling of the past could not have produced any good. Now, thousands of overseas Filipino workers are able to leave purgatory and go on with their productive employment in Taiwan (where the minimum wage is around P28,000 a month).

The same beneficial results would definitely arise from a dialog on RP's West Philippine Sea claims with China, especially with Ambassador Ma Kequing's call for both sides to "meet halfway." But what's keeping productive peace with Asian neighbors from being actualized? It's clearly Malacañang's fear of the US and some quarters profiting from RP arms purchases.

Lessons must be learned: "A-piece-ment" in Mindanao is a failure; a comprehensive national security strategy is needed to define priorities; and the free reign of separatist terror groups must be eliminated as Estrada did by shifting national focus to that through a quick resolution of disputes with China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, and other claimants by sharing in the disputed territories' economic benefits while agreeing to disagree peacefully over sovereignty issues.

(Tune in to 1098 AM, Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.; watch GNN Destiny Cable Channel 8, Saturday, 8 p.m. and replay Sunday, 8 a.m., this week on "Mindanao or WPS: Security priority"; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com; and text reactions to 0923-4095739)

Changes

DIE HARD III / Herman Tiu Laurel / 8/7/2013 / Daily Tribune

There is an air of change wafting through Metro Manila these days. It can be sensed in several spheres of Filipino life at the heart of this nation. What is bringing this about is probably the onset of the search for alternatives by the Filipino people, who have patiently lived under the post-1986 ruling powers' promises of heaven-and-earth but got the opposite, coupled with the emergence of the Edsa III consciousness among the displaced middle class out of the decades-long decay in their economic and social standing. This Edsa III awareness may not be wholly understood by the middle classes themselves but is signified by the outstanding comeback of President-Mayor Joseph Estrada, especially after his recent impact clean-up and traffic easing projects in the City of Manila.

In the media community, too, this air of change is being reflected in the many new "kapihans" emerging in the metropolis, challenging the old, tired media breakfast and coffee klatches that began in the 80s and 90s that have overextended their natural lives, surviving only for the sponsorships that the state gaming bodies and a few other government financial and social institutions provide. Among these new and exciting "kapihans" that have sprouted is the Aristocrat Kapihan every Monday morning (in the historic Aristocrat on Roxas Boulevard, naturally) organized by veteran mediaman Melo Acuña of Radio Veritas; another is the Mabuhay Forum at the Mabuhay Resto fronting the demolished Army Navy Club, every Tuesday, by former press club prexy Fred Gabot and Fil-Am Gawad Kalinga leader, lawyer Rose Cabrera.
These two new media kapihans are both fresh and energizing, oxygenated by the breeze of Manila Bay and far from the smog of Mabini, M.H. Del Pilar, Ortigas, Greenhills, Morato, etc.

The organizers also offer new media presence as Melo Acuña brings in the foreign correspondents from Focap (Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines) as well as members of the diplomatic corps (as in the last forum on Philippine-China issues with a Bloomberg correspondent and Mr. Cang Hoang Nghia of the Vietnamese Embassy present), which is also the case with the group of Ricky Sunga and Fred Gabot, the latter of whom networks events at the Mabuhay Forum with a chain of Filipino-American newspapers in the different US states that he is connected with.

There is another forum I almost forgot — the Bayleaf Media Forum with Greggy Licaros and Jonathan de la Cruz, which we'll have more of in future columns.
From such gatherings I have mentioned, I noted significant changes in the perspectives of media that would reflect changes in the public's mind on major issues as well.

In the Aristocrat Kapihan on the issue of the West Philippine Sea with Sen. Leticia Shahani, Chito Sta. Romana, Jay Bataongbacal of the Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea of the UP Law Center, and Richard Javad Heydarian of the Ateneo, both resource persons as well as the audience manifested the dominant view that "bilateral" talks between the Philippines and China is the practical and almost inevitable conclusion, even if the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea case filed by RP prospers in the long run. That was also the point of Tess Villapando, a Church lay media worker.

The Mabuhay Forum, organized under the auspices of the Manila City Hall Press Club and established in the 50s, is, we are told by Fred Gabot, the forerunner of the National Press Club by three or four years. The last topic of discussion there that I attended was the Botong Francisco painting pull-out from city hall for the purpose of restoration but without the proper documentation. Previous to this was the discussion on Mayor Estrada's action to free Manila's major streets from traffic jams, with the removal of "colorum" and unauthorized buses. The next issues will likely be the Manila Bay reclamation project and the proposed privatization of public parking slots. Be that as it may, media covering the Manila beat sense a new openness, transparency and decisiveness at city hall today.

Over and above all these, however, is the most startling change in the mood and perspective of the nation now reflected in social networking sites. This change I would reiterate I trace to the premise I stated above — the failure of the Edsa I promises and the outstanding example presented by the alternative leadership that Joseph Estrada represents and has exhibited. A screenshot of ABS-CBN News' Facebook page shows various endless threads that say, "I remember her (Cory) as someone who contributed to the misery of the Filipino people; an oligarch doormat who doomed the Filipinos to poverty … May she burn in hell — if it existed; the one who put the Philippines to its greatest misery. She gave… ABiaS-CBN and… other companies back to the Lopezes without anything in return…"

Indeed, the truth shall set us free.

(Tune in to 1098 AM, Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.; watch GNN Destiny Cable Channel 8, Saturday, 8:00 p.m. and replay Sunday, 8 a.m., this week on a "Collage of anti-war documentaries"; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com; and text reactions to 0923-4095739)

Ending the next war now

DIE HARD III / Herman Tiu Laurel / 8/5/2013 / Daily Tribune

This week, the world will be remembering the Aug. 6 and nine bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — murderous incidents where hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians were massacred by both US bombs and their own morally infirmed Japanese imperial leaders. Amid today's attempts at reasserting Western neo-imperialist hegemony over the globe, we lay witness to the deployment of the "missile defense" system encircling Russia, followed by last year's US "pivot to Asia" threatening China. Japan, either on its own or under US pressure, triggered tension to justify that pivot by nationalizing the Diaoyu Islands (which it calls Senkaku) and reigniting "ultra-Japanism" with rightwing politician Shinzo Abe's push toward junking Japan's "peace constitution."

Here at home, efforts to stir and intensify anti-Chinese sentiments have been in the works for the past two years, led by some US-based Filipino-Americans and Philippine political personalities. All these culminated last week in an attempt by this "Filipino diaspora" at a "global" spate of anti-China rallies in front of several Chinese embassies. In Manila, a group of around 500 — with some Akbayan "hakots" carrying professionally-printed streamers, alongside some "elite" civil socialites — were all led by a US Annapolis Naval Academy graduate who served as a former Gloria Arroyo national security adviser. One leader there announced that they are not against the people of China but against the Chinese government, without understanding that the Chinese people are probably far more sensitive to their own nation's sovereignty than their politicians.

An even worse misunderstanding on the part of those attempting to stir anti-Chinese sentiments into a maelstrom from RP's territorial disputes with the Asian giant is the idea of promoting an alliance with Japan by opening Philippine naval and other military facilities to the World War II villain. There are just too many adverse memories that the terms "Japan" and "military" conjure up even among the generally historically amnesiac Filipinos.

As we are beginning to see on the Internet in the wake of announcements from the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Defense chief, the wounds of Filipina "comfort women" as well as historical accounts and images of the devastation of Manila and the plethora of atrocities under the Japanese military are quickly re-opened.
The latest reaction of the Chinese representative to the Philippines reflects the path China wants to take. Ambassador Ma Keqing last Wednesday suggested that the Philippines meet China halfway in the current standoff in the disputed waters of what I would call "The Asian Sea" (West Philippine Sea or South China Sea), saying the two countries are close neighbors with a friendship that dates back thousands of years. Ma implored the Philippines to "properly handle (such) differences through dialog and consultation, jointly promote cooperation in investment, trade, tourism, agriculture and other areas and enhance exchanges and friendship between the two people." In short, she was proposing that both sides "jaw-jaw" and not "war-war," as British imperialist warmonger Winston Churchill used to say to avoid "lose-lose" situations.

While China is offering more opportunities for dialog and peaceful resolution of tensions with the Philippines, the prospects of which could even surprise anti-China Filipinos with the benefits these can provide the country, China will not be as open and flexible with Japan. China is waiting for any excuse to settle scores with its erstwhile North Asian foe for the oppression and humiliation of World War II — and Japan knows this. While Japan likes to talk tough, it must be noted that the olive branch is being extended by the other hand simultaneously. Led recently by Hiromu Nonaka, former Japanese chief Cabinet secretary, a mission to repair the strained relationship was made as Nonaka recalled the consensus on side-stepping the dispute in allowing more than 40 years of the "common aspiration" for peace and friendship.

There is no reason to believe that Japan wants the tension with China whose market is a major hinge for its own economic recovery and prosperity. In this week of remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the absolute pointlessness of promoting conflict with China and inviting "mutual destruction" through any level of physical conflict among neighbors is highlighted. It is simply utter stupidity — except for those countries that are not in the region, such as the US, whose territories are so far away as to be safe from immediate harm in case of any Asian conflict. It is the US that is pushing the installation of the "missile defense" system in Japan, allegedly to protect against puny North Korea, but which is more believable as a deployment to neutralize China's retaliatory capacity against US assets in the region.

Asia understands that a "next war" in the region will mean devastation for the entire neighborhood; and every effort should be made to overcome the poisoning of minds that US neo-imperialist assets are working at.

As the Unesco Constitution's preamble states: "Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed…"
We must end the next wars — as well as the next Hiroshimas and Nagasakis — not tomorrow but "today."

(Tune in to 1098 AM, Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.; watch GNN Destiny Cable Channel 8, Saturday, 8 p.m. and replay Sunday, 8 a.m., this week on a "Collage of anti-war documentaries"; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com; and text reactions to 0923-4095739)

RP: US-occupied territory

DIE HARD III / Herman Tiu Laurel / 7/31/2013 / Daily Tribune

Monday night is Harry Tambuatco on Global News Network's 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. program, "Politics Today: Talk News TV." Last time Harry had former Gloria Arroyo national security adviser and US Naval Academy graduate Roilo Golez, along with Philippine Military Academy (PMA) alumnus Nick Sotelo, the topic was China's "invasion" of the West Philippine Sea (WPS) or what history books — including those of the Philippines in the past — have called the South China Sea. In the week prior to the interview, the West Philippine Sea Coalition (WPSC) led by Golez had staged a rally in front of the People's Republic of China (PRoC) embassy in Makati. The best estimate of the attendance is between 400 and 500, including the "hakot" of Akbayan — this despite Filipino-American "patriot" Rodel Rodis' article "Stand up or kneel and beg for mercy" that called for 80,000 participants and the 5,000 Golez announced would attend.

In Tambuatco's "Talk to Harry" segment, Golez and the PMA old-timer kept raising the China bogeyman while lambasting the "Left" (not Akbayan but Bayan Muna et al.) for failing to protest the so-called incursions of Chinese maritime and naval vessels through WPS waters. It was a rational presentation of the platform of the WPSC and its criticisms of China's policy in relation to the WPS. One observer even said that which Golez had presented was both honest and correct in that the entire China Sea is a narrow body of water that can easily be closed off and constitutes a real threat to the free flow of goods and energy supplies to China. While Golez understands this, he fails to appreciate its significance in the concerns of the Asian superpower.

Considering the West's history of imperialism against almost every other country in the non-Western world through the past centuries and in view of the recent US "pivot" to Asia that saw the target deployment of troops, radars, and missiles to Australia just below the choke points into the China Sea, China's concerns cannot be simply brushed aside. While China has always declared that it is not averse to bilateral negotiations on joint exploitation of natural resources in disputed territorial waters, it is adamant in maintaining its sovereign claims to preserve its security perimeter.

As historian, Prof. Antonio Pangilinan of UP explained at our Diliman Book Club session last month, this is a form of the US Monroe Doctrine over South America.
Over and above the issue of security, what China and the Chinese people hold most dear (and inviolable) is the historical meaning of the sovereignty claim. No Chinese leader can ever appear to cede, yield, or lose this claim without suffering the unforgiving enmity of the 1.5 billion Chinese people. A claim is just an assertion until one acts physically on it, which is why all parties to the South China Sea dispute (i.e. Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and China) are acting on it by building immovable buildings and facilities. As for the Philippines, it maintains a few dilapidated shacks in some islands and one rust-scourged immobile ship in Second Thomas Shoal. The Philippines had two decades since Marcos to make serious moves to establish physical presence, but all that has been squandered.

Golez continues to stress the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLoS) and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLoS) as if it these were written in stone. He even overarches their importance by asking, "How would China look if it does not respect the ITLoS proceedings?" or words to that effect.
The fact is, even the United States of America, upon which the likes of Golez look for support unabashedly, has not ratified the treaty and is neither a participating party in the UNCLoS nor in the ITLoS.

Moreover, the ITLoS, like many international tribunals, is far from being bias- and politics-free. China has thus rejected the proceedings and waived its right to name a representative to the ITLoS panel, where the current president is Japanese while panel members are all European. Golez rails against China's various ships traversing through waters claimed by the Philippines and faults the Leftists for protesting only US ships' transgressions. But, of course, everybody else knows that the US, Britain, and their allies romp around the areas not only with ships (as evidenced by the USS Guardian in Tubbataha last January) but with vast numbers of drones as reports the past few days indicate.

Truth to tell, these waters are just peripheral territories; the real ones that matter are a nation's lands, its economy, and its society. The sad fact is, the US and its allies have occupied and still occupy the entire Philippines, along with its economy and resources — albeit behind the cover of "free trade," "globalization," foreign debt, the Philippine Stock Exchange, feudal and corporate dummies, the US-controlled Armed Forces of the Philippines flag officers and generals, and, of course, the corrupt political hierarchy.

As such, the opening of the country by the present BS Aquino III government and its blatantly pro-US foreign and defense secretaries to US and Japanese military and naval forces drops whatever pretense of sovereignty the US-occupied Republic of the Philippines still carries today.

(Tune in to 1098 AM, Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.; watch GNN Destiny Cable Channel 8, Saturday, 8:00 p.m. and replay Sunday, 8 a.m.; join the Bay Leaf Manila Kapihan next Thursday, 10 a.m., with Greg Licaros; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com; and text reactions to 0923-4095739)