BS Aquino makes a fool of RP
(Herman Tiu Laurel / DieHard III / The Daily Tribune / 07-13-2015 MON)
They just couldn't restrain themselves. BS Aquino's factotums had to have an all-out junket at The Hague. With Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto del Rosario was a delegation reportedly consisting of 50 people. They didn't even try to mask their intent. Including the irrelevant likes of Ronald Llamas and a few more hangers-on with absolutely no role in the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea (ITLoS) case makes the junket all the more obvious. Then there's the Philippine "all White" plus one miniscule brown man legal panel led by Green Card holder Del Rosario for good measure.
When the Philippines was pursuing the other, really important territorial case called the "Sabah claim," which BS Aquino and his ilk desperately want people to forget, the erudite legal experts expounding on the issues and representing the Philippines then were Filipino legal heavyweights Diosdado Macapagal, Arturo Tolentino, Jovito Salonga, and others.
We are told by Filipino lawyers that the hiring of these foreign legal experts involves hefty commissions. Whatever the real motivation behind this is, hiring foreign lawyers already compromises the image of the Philippines' case at the ITLoS. I can only imagine other Association of Southeast Asian Nations states laughing.
Another irrelevance to The Hague team is Sonny Belmonte. He claimed the big delegation is to impress the court. I would think that the judges would prefer to be impressed by the power of legal arguments rather than the number of delegates--but Belmonte's view is really very Filipino, thinking that the "mob" can replace thinking. I will not comment on Belmonte's meeting with Jose Ma. Sison for I have too much respect for the "reaffirmists" here I work with on various people's issues in the country. But, of course, Joma's position has implications on the World's anti-imperialist struggle.
The same day as the start of oral arguments on the Philippines' case against China's claims at the ITLoS, two historic anti-Western imperialist conferences convened in Ufa, Russia.
The first, consisting of the BRICS alliance of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, represents the major countries of four continents and almost half of the World's population and economy. Indonesia, representing the Islamic world, is the next major country at the door step of the BRICS, an alliance that has been dubbed not just an alliance of civilizations but also of cultures--unlike the G7 that's homogenous (except for junior partner Japan).
The second, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) consisting of China, Russia, and the Central Asian states (with India and Pakistan as incoming members) met from July 7 to 9.
Vladimir Putin hosted both meetings, debunking the West's isolation of Russia. While the SCO is preparing the unity of its members to combat terrorism (read ISIS and related terror groups engineered by the US and its client states), the BRICS has set up, among others things, the $100-billion New Development Bank and a $100-billion currency stabilization fund to counter the frequent currency attacks conducted by the West.
The BRICS and SCO are affirmations of the rise of the Asian Century with Eurasian giant Russia tilting toward the East. This ends the era of Western Imperialism.
Brick by brick, the multipolar world is being laid. It is in this context that China's security is essential in the struggle to end the resuscitation of the US "Asia pivot" and its hegemony.
A Philippines that is part of the liberation of the world would expand its consciousness to appreciate the imperatives of solidarity of all anti-imperialist countries--including China--while sharing in the opportunities and responsibilities.
To speak too directly about the real implications of members of the Philippine Left being waylaid into the campaign to restore US hegemony in Asia would be too hurtful. The united front is too important for this to be allowed to happen.
We in the campaign to restore the anti-imperialist perspective in the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea issue are patiently explaining the issues with individuals overwhelmed by the well-funded tri-media and social media propaganda (reportedly managed by Campaigns and Grey, a US PR firm with a $20-million budget for the Philippines).
This project has been very successful in shifting the raging emotions of the Filipino public away from the Mamasapano fiasco and apparently reversing the trend toward more productive attitudes to bilateral talks with China.
However, I am impressed that the latest surveys still show a staunch 17 percent of Filipinos trusting China despite the Great Wall of Disinformation of the Inquirer and other mainstream media. We will still reverse this soon as our forces for liberation from Western hegemony start cranking up books, pamphlets, comics, and other education materials.
The best allies of this anti-Western hegemony campaign are the incompetent and corrupt forces of the Americans themselves who cannot hide their sham. The junket at The Hague and the American legal panel supplanting any genuine Filipino effort, as much as the Mamasapano fiasco making fools of the Philippines, exposes them for what they are.
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