DIE HARD III / Herman Tiu Laurel / March 10, 2014
The near-future of the world hangs on the events in Ukraine and on whether the majority of Ukrainians will get justice in the aftermath of the Western-funded coup against their democratically-elected President Viktor Yanukovych — much like what was inflicted on President Joseph Estrada and the Filipino nation in 2001.
Crucial to the outcome is whether the people of the world will be getting the correct information amid the fog of disinformation that the West is now engaged in to waylay them into supporting its hegemonic aggression in Ukraine — much like this recent Agence France Presse (AFP) report hyping the enlistment of Western Ukrainians in the military to oppose what they term as “Russian aggression.”
This space aims to counter Western disinformation, which invariably sets skewed perspectives for its Western and Filipino audiences. And how does the West use the so-called free press to achieve this? US socio-political critic Paul Craig Roberts explains in Counterpunch (“Propaganda, Wrong premises: Ukraine through the Fog of the Presstitutes”): “Presstitutes sell themselves to Washington for access and government sources and to keep their jobs.”
Thus, standing out lately is international news channel Russia Today (RT), which did not interfere at all with its Washington-based opinion show host Abby Martin, despite the latter’s erroneous criticism of Russian Crimea’s status. RT also kept its cool when one of its news anchors, Liz Wahl, made an unethical on-air resignation, allegedly in protest of the network’s “censorship” of an interview with former US presidential bet Ron Paul, then later publicly acknowledging that she would accept a job from CNN — as if CNN does not censor. Who could forget that during the 2003 Iraq War coverage, CNN summarily fired star reporter Peter Arnett for expressing disagreement?
Predictably, US neocons elevated Liz Wahl to sainthood, even as days later Ron Paul clarified that what he had said in the interview was never tampered with — thus, making Wahl quite a hypocritical fraud.
At this point, however, I will shift to a totally different subject, as my column title today suggests. As journalist, I am also committed to “comfort the discomfited and discomfit the comfortable,” which is what Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) colleagues have asked of us.
I taught political economy and mass communication/journalism at the PUP for three years and graduated from the PLM’s business administration course. Now, the faculty of these two public universities have come to me for help in airing issues against their top officials.
PUP President Emanuel de Guzman, for instance, was said to have academic credentials that are absolutely dubious, using a most probably fraudulent transcript of records, with 15 subjects dropped, seven subjects rated 5.0, 12 subjects with no credits, and four subjects with incomplete grades.
From the PLM, faculty members submitted to us a letter from the Bagatsing Law Office to the Office of the Mayor of Manila that listed these grave concerns: 1) the appointment of PLM President Artemio Tuquero whose overage status was basis for the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to invalidate two previous appointments as president of the University of Manila; 2) the appointment of Dr. Elena Cernia as Dean of the College of Management and Entrepreneurship, despite dismissal from an earlier service for violations of Section 4A (a)to (c) of RA 613 for misconduct, dishonesty, neglect of duties; 3) the irregular designation of lawyers Carlos Carlos as legal counsel (already rejected by the CSC) and Alex Erese as Dean of Student Services, as well as related issues.
In the case of the questioned credentials of the PUP president appointed by BS Aquino, all the physical evidence, such as the likely fake transcript of records, seem incontrovertible. Dr. Orly Molina, professor from the PUP doctorate program, has brought the documentary evidence against him to the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), which Chairman Patricia Licuanan has just apparently sat on.
The political patron of De Guzman turns out to be Speaker Sonny Belmonte, who seems to ride roughshod over our education authorities.
Many of the faculty and administrative career professionals in both institutions of higher learning are apparently suffering severely from the sense of indignity and injustice caused by these unresolved questions.
Members of the PUP faculty have, at least, raised these to the courts, even though that may not be enough. As I have told the PUP professors who appeared on my GNN public affairs program, they may have to stage pickets and rallies to call attention to the shameful fraud in the executive office of that university.
(Tune in to “Sulo ng Pilipino” on 1098 AM, dwAD, Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m.; catch GNN’s Talk News TV with HTL on Destiny Cable Channel 8, SkyCable Channel 213, and www.gnntv-asia.com, Saturday, 8 p.m. and replay Sunday, 8 a.m., this week on “Manila: Sunshine in the city”; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com; and text reactions to 0917-8658664)
The near-future of the world hangs on the events in Ukraine and on whether the majority of Ukrainians will get justice in the aftermath of the Western-funded coup against their democratically-elected President Viktor Yanukovych — much like what was inflicted on President Joseph Estrada and the Filipino nation in 2001.
Crucial to the outcome is whether the people of the world will be getting the correct information amid the fog of disinformation that the West is now engaged in to waylay them into supporting its hegemonic aggression in Ukraine — much like this recent Agence France Presse (AFP) report hyping the enlistment of Western Ukrainians in the military to oppose what they term as “Russian aggression.”
This space aims to counter Western disinformation, which invariably sets skewed perspectives for its Western and Filipino audiences. And how does the West use the so-called free press to achieve this? US socio-political critic Paul Craig Roberts explains in Counterpunch (“Propaganda, Wrong premises: Ukraine through the Fog of the Presstitutes”): “Presstitutes sell themselves to Washington for access and government sources and to keep their jobs.”
Thus, standing out lately is international news channel Russia Today (RT), which did not interfere at all with its Washington-based opinion show host Abby Martin, despite the latter’s erroneous criticism of Russian Crimea’s status. RT also kept its cool when one of its news anchors, Liz Wahl, made an unethical on-air resignation, allegedly in protest of the network’s “censorship” of an interview with former US presidential bet Ron Paul, then later publicly acknowledging that she would accept a job from CNN — as if CNN does not censor. Who could forget that during the 2003 Iraq War coverage, CNN summarily fired star reporter Peter Arnett for expressing disagreement?
Predictably, US neocons elevated Liz Wahl to sainthood, even as days later Ron Paul clarified that what he had said in the interview was never tampered with — thus, making Wahl quite a hypocritical fraud.
At this point, however, I will shift to a totally different subject, as my column title today suggests. As journalist, I am also committed to “comfort the discomfited and discomfit the comfortable,” which is what Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) colleagues have asked of us.
I taught political economy and mass communication/journalism at the PUP for three years and graduated from the PLM’s business administration course. Now, the faculty of these two public universities have come to me for help in airing issues against their top officials.
PUP President Emanuel de Guzman, for instance, was said to have academic credentials that are absolutely dubious, using a most probably fraudulent transcript of records, with 15 subjects dropped, seven subjects rated 5.0, 12 subjects with no credits, and four subjects with incomplete grades.
From the PLM, faculty members submitted to us a letter from the Bagatsing Law Office to the Office of the Mayor of Manila that listed these grave concerns: 1) the appointment of PLM President Artemio Tuquero whose overage status was basis for the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to invalidate two previous appointments as president of the University of Manila; 2) the appointment of Dr. Elena Cernia as Dean of the College of Management and Entrepreneurship, despite dismissal from an earlier service for violations of Section 4A (a)to (c) of RA 613 for misconduct, dishonesty, neglect of duties; 3) the irregular designation of lawyers Carlos Carlos as legal counsel (already rejected by the CSC) and Alex Erese as Dean of Student Services, as well as related issues.
In the case of the questioned credentials of the PUP president appointed by BS Aquino, all the physical evidence, such as the likely fake transcript of records, seem incontrovertible. Dr. Orly Molina, professor from the PUP doctorate program, has brought the documentary evidence against him to the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), which Chairman Patricia Licuanan has just apparently sat on.
The political patron of De Guzman turns out to be Speaker Sonny Belmonte, who seems to ride roughshod over our education authorities.
Many of the faculty and administrative career professionals in both institutions of higher learning are apparently suffering severely from the sense of indignity and injustice caused by these unresolved questions.
Members of the PUP faculty have, at least, raised these to the courts, even though that may not be enough. As I have told the PUP professors who appeared on my GNN public affairs program, they may have to stage pickets and rallies to call attention to the shameful fraud in the executive office of that university.
(Tune in to “Sulo ng Pilipino” on 1098 AM, dwAD, Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m.; catch GNN’s Talk News TV with HTL on Destiny Cable Channel 8, SkyCable Channel 213, and www.gnntv-asia.com, Saturday, 8 p.m. and replay Sunday, 8 a.m., this week on “Manila: Sunshine in the city”; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com; and text reactions to 0917-8658664)
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