DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/08/2010
Aquino III is but a continuation of Gloria Arroyo, as Arroyo was an extension of Fidel Ramos, who, in turn, carried over policies of Cory Aquino, the first Yellow puppet to have kicked off the globalist neo-colonial counter-revolution against Ferdinand Marcos’ national economic development program spearheaded by past nation-building presidents, Quirino and Garcia.
Simply put, Aquino III cannot be seen in any other light. Apart from not having his own agenda, he and his Cabinet have only upheld a policy of mendicancy, dependency, and enslavement to the oppressive Washington cabal (that subsidizes its crony oligarchs around the Makati Business Club), while taxing and exploiting the people, pulling economic support out from under them, and negating initiatives toward self-reliance and self-sustaining productivity.
Grading Aquino III from this exploitative angle, one can indeed agree with the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s 90-percent score for him. On the other hand, if, like most of the 90 million or so Filipinos, the gauge will be faithfulness to such campaign promises as honesty, integrity and change (from Gloria’s deceitfulness, complicity in corruption and crime, cronyism, nepotism, competence, disservice to the people, alleviation of their burdens, better governance, etc.), then there are not enough Ds and Es to write down on PeNoy’s report card.
A very good example is the Malacañang Press Corps which has, among its ranks, the nearest yet objective people around the official Cabinet and their boss. In an informal survey among them, 17 Palace reporters gave Aquino III a C, seven a D, while two gave him a B and one an E.
From what I can see in my interviews with the common folk, these Palace reporters reflect the rest of the country’s views. Although they may be polite, they’re unwilling to give even an overall passing mark. Reality, however, has a way of being distorted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) of Mahar Mangahas when it comes to the rescue of the Yellows’ political pets through manipulated popularity surveys whenever needed.
The latest SWS survey from Sept. 24 to 27 puts Aquino III’s satisfaction rating at 71 percent satisfied against 11 percent dissatisfied. This, as office secretaries, guards and janitors I come across are all one in rating Aquino III far worse than how the Palace reporters graded him. Well, this SWS survey is just a repeat of how the Yellow myth was earlier buttressed when Aquino III’s trust rating in July zoomed to 83 percent, even when over half of the nation voted against him.
The myth of Aquino’s popularity has to be maintained by the ruling class of oligarchs, their media and their minions to effectively follow the diktats of their foreign patrons. We often hear from the spokesmen of Aquino III the mantra of “sacrificing political capital to implement harsh measures” whenever they raise taxes and fees on toll ways, remove senior citizens’ VAT exemptions, pull out subsidies for public utilities such as the MRT, penalize farmers by eliminating price subsidies, as well as help Aquino III cover up serious transgressions of ethics, morality and trust (from the complicity of Aquino III’s lieutenants in the increasingly rampant jueteng operations to his direct personal failures, such as in the Hong Thai hostage tragedy, ad nausea).
For sure, the powers-that-be still have to stretch that illusory political capital as more pains are to be inflicted, such as the looming MRT fare hike in a month’s time.
Like the first two years of Gloria Arroyo, the Establishment is maintaining the perception that “while the lieutenants may be fouling up, Aquino III is still personally a good leader.” Hence, they’re postponing the day when the people would eventually blame the top honcho himself — or so they think.
In this light, the Reproductive Health (RH) bill brouhaha, supposedly pitting Aquino III versus the Catholic hierarchy, has become a PR manna from heaven for Malacañang’s spin masters for now. Aquino III is cast as an underdog against the archaic Church, while the continuing jueteng and other scandals, plus issues of economic hardship, are conveniently set aside.
I believe that in spite of the Catholic hierarchy knowing the RH bills to be antiquated, the bishops are only too happy to figure in this moro-moro with their Yellow santa’s only son. It’s a farce made more glaring by the fact that the Yellows, who are now protesting Church intervention against their dummy, celebrated the same when it was used against Marcos and Erap.
In the final analysis, since the first 100 days is not a grading period but a moment for taking the nation’s bearings, we ask: Where is the helmsman taking the ship? Lao Tse said that the journey of a thousand miles begins with one single step. But where is that first step headed? Or where is RP’s ship of state headed to?
Aquino III’s sails may be billowing but the anchors are still down! Even if he reached the malls of America and the steps of the UN building, in policy matters, he is merely running stationary, going nowhere. His first 100 days is just more added to the 7,748 days (24 years less Estrada’s two-and-a-half) of the same political-economic paradigm that Cory set in 1987, with the country being fed on a lot of wind, getting poorer, and ever more dependent on rice imports and manpower exports, with ever-growing debt and demoralization of the people.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m. on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Friday, October 8, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Entrepeneurship vs mendicancy
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/04/2010
The Aquino III “working visit” to the US lasted for eight days. The daily reports of his hotdogs and hamburgers, photo ops of his walking in front of landmarks, and one or two gatherings with US-based Filipinos streamed into Manila’s front pages everyday that week. What is clear is that the PR machinery was working; but was Aquino III really working at all?
Three items highlighted that trip: (1) the US dole out agency, Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC), and its so-called $434 million grant (spread over five years) “for Aquino III’s compliance with anti-corruption standards;” (2) his seven minutes of glory chatting with Obama; and (3) the so-called $2.8 billion “investments” he claims to have brought home.
That the five-year MCC grant was released due to Aquino III’s anti-corruption credentials is an outright lie. This dole out has been flowing since 2003, going primarily to Mindanao projects where the US runs “conflict resolution” and “better governance” programs through the MCC, the US Agency for International Development (USAid), and groups such as the US Institute for Peace (USIP) led by J. Robinson West as Chairman, who is also head of PFC Energy (the US’ largest energy advisor).
If anything, this only reveals the pincer moves toward Uncle Sam’s goal: The capture of the oil, natural gas, and other resources of Mindanao through “peace” with the MILF and the establishment of a BangsaMoro Juridical Entity which Aquino III has given a positive spin lately.
Meanwhile, the promise of $2.8 billion in investments by a country that is now on the brink of financial and economic collapse is only fool’s gold, and Aquino III is bandying it about as if he had birds in hand. Well, his little birdies should have told him that the US’ promises to the Philippines have all been broken from the day it held sway over this Malay nation that was the first to succeed in an anti-colonial revolution, only to be betrayed when it was sold for $20 million.
Over the century that has passed, the US has already siphoned gold and other riches from the Philippine archipelago; utilized its strategic sea passages and harbors for imperial dominance and used our people as cannon fodder for the Second World War; aside from aborting the nation’s efforts toward industrialization through the Quirino, Garcia, and Marcos governments.
As we cringe at how Philippine media echoed the crowing of the Aquino III begging entourage, I am particularly incensed at one radio tandem that enthused over the reported $1-billion investment an American softdrink firm is supposed to make for “strengthening marketing execution and enhancing system logistics and delivery capabilities in order to better serve its expanding customer and consumer base” in the Philippines — which can only mean the proliferation of more diabetics in the Philippines!
Why, confusion even attended this announcement as Gloria Arroyo also boasted of a $1-billion investment in August of 2009. So the only thing new in this is the “press release.” And that’s why the soft drink company and Ricky Carandang stumbled over themselves to assure that it’s a new $1 billion coming.
It has often been said that “beggars cannot be choosers;” and that promises and illusions tide over the hunger by helping someone escape his dire realities. These are probably the reasons mendicancy, dependency, and escapism have become Aquino III’s answer to the national economic crisis, given the importance his government has placed on the begging-cum-propaganda mission.
Yet that’s what Filipinos have done decade after decade — waiting for manna from the Big Apple’s heaven while the rest of Asia started sailing away to become tiger economies in the 1980s and 1990s. This they’ve precisely done by shunning the beggar’s mindset while striving for self-reliance and economic development.
And as these are also the hallmarks of entrepreneurship, we ask: What if PeNoy never left for the US to gulp its hotdogs and burgers and just rolled up his sleeves to work on the nation’s farms and industries?
What if Aquino III sat down with the Philippine coconut industry and tapped the 330 million coconut trees for more than its crude oil, by adding nutra-ceuticals, pharmaceuticals, as well as industrial and ecological materials into the product mix, to multiply by five times the sector’s present $1-billion output?
What if Aquino III rolled up the hem of his pants and walked the rice paddies to figure out how to match China’s rice productivity of 6.6 tons per hectare and raise Philippine output from the present 3.8 tons?
What if Aquino III hunkers down with industrial and residential electricity consumers to formulate a plan to narrow the gap of electricity prices in the Philippines with that of our Asian neighbors to spur manufacturing and employment growth?
What if, instead of allowing Cesar Purisima to increase the national debt with bonds issued to his banker-masters, Aquino III sat down with groups such as the Freedom from Debt Coalition and worked on auditing the debt to cut down RP’s debt-servicing?
What if the country had an entrepreneurial instead of a mendicant political leadership? Wouldn’t that offer us a more dignified, promising, and progressive Philippines, especially for the next generation? Ah, but can a mendicant see beyond the crumbs laid out before him?
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m. on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/04/2010
The Aquino III “working visit” to the US lasted for eight days. The daily reports of his hotdogs and hamburgers, photo ops of his walking in front of landmarks, and one or two gatherings with US-based Filipinos streamed into Manila’s front pages everyday that week. What is clear is that the PR machinery was working; but was Aquino III really working at all?
Three items highlighted that trip: (1) the US dole out agency, Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC), and its so-called $434 million grant (spread over five years) “for Aquino III’s compliance with anti-corruption standards;” (2) his seven minutes of glory chatting with Obama; and (3) the so-called $2.8 billion “investments” he claims to have brought home.
That the five-year MCC grant was released due to Aquino III’s anti-corruption credentials is an outright lie. This dole out has been flowing since 2003, going primarily to Mindanao projects where the US runs “conflict resolution” and “better governance” programs through the MCC, the US Agency for International Development (USAid), and groups such as the US Institute for Peace (USIP) led by J. Robinson West as Chairman, who is also head of PFC Energy (the US’ largest energy advisor).
If anything, this only reveals the pincer moves toward Uncle Sam’s goal: The capture of the oil, natural gas, and other resources of Mindanao through “peace” with the MILF and the establishment of a BangsaMoro Juridical Entity which Aquino III has given a positive spin lately.
Meanwhile, the promise of $2.8 billion in investments by a country that is now on the brink of financial and economic collapse is only fool’s gold, and Aquino III is bandying it about as if he had birds in hand. Well, his little birdies should have told him that the US’ promises to the Philippines have all been broken from the day it held sway over this Malay nation that was the first to succeed in an anti-colonial revolution, only to be betrayed when it was sold for $20 million.
Over the century that has passed, the US has already siphoned gold and other riches from the Philippine archipelago; utilized its strategic sea passages and harbors for imperial dominance and used our people as cannon fodder for the Second World War; aside from aborting the nation’s efforts toward industrialization through the Quirino, Garcia, and Marcos governments.
As we cringe at how Philippine media echoed the crowing of the Aquino III begging entourage, I am particularly incensed at one radio tandem that enthused over the reported $1-billion investment an American softdrink firm is supposed to make for “strengthening marketing execution and enhancing system logistics and delivery capabilities in order to better serve its expanding customer and consumer base” in the Philippines — which can only mean the proliferation of more diabetics in the Philippines!
Why, confusion even attended this announcement as Gloria Arroyo also boasted of a $1-billion investment in August of 2009. So the only thing new in this is the “press release.” And that’s why the soft drink company and Ricky Carandang stumbled over themselves to assure that it’s a new $1 billion coming.
It has often been said that “beggars cannot be choosers;” and that promises and illusions tide over the hunger by helping someone escape his dire realities. These are probably the reasons mendicancy, dependency, and escapism have become Aquino III’s answer to the national economic crisis, given the importance his government has placed on the begging-cum-propaganda mission.
Yet that’s what Filipinos have done decade after decade — waiting for manna from the Big Apple’s heaven while the rest of Asia started sailing away to become tiger economies in the 1980s and 1990s. This they’ve precisely done by shunning the beggar’s mindset while striving for self-reliance and economic development.
And as these are also the hallmarks of entrepreneurship, we ask: What if PeNoy never left for the US to gulp its hotdogs and burgers and just rolled up his sleeves to work on the nation’s farms and industries?
What if Aquino III sat down with the Philippine coconut industry and tapped the 330 million coconut trees for more than its crude oil, by adding nutra-ceuticals, pharmaceuticals, as well as industrial and ecological materials into the product mix, to multiply by five times the sector’s present $1-billion output?
What if Aquino III rolled up the hem of his pants and walked the rice paddies to figure out how to match China’s rice productivity of 6.6 tons per hectare and raise Philippine output from the present 3.8 tons?
What if Aquino III hunkers down with industrial and residential electricity consumers to formulate a plan to narrow the gap of electricity prices in the Philippines with that of our Asian neighbors to spur manufacturing and employment growth?
What if, instead of allowing Cesar Purisima to increase the national debt with bonds issued to his banker-masters, Aquino III sat down with groups such as the Freedom from Debt Coalition and worked on auditing the debt to cut down RP’s debt-servicing?
What if the country had an entrepreneurial instead of a mendicant political leadership? Wouldn’t that offer us a more dignified, promising, and progressive Philippines, especially for the next generation? Ah, but can a mendicant see beyond the crumbs laid out before him?
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m. on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Friday, October 1, 2010
The war for truth rages on
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/01/2010
The administration is on a continuing PR blitz to extract very ounce of propaganda gain it can from the recent US trip of Aquino III. After the so-called $434-million five-year Millennium Challenge Corp. “grant” (of roughly $87 million per year) — explained in our previous column as a “mirage” when stacked against our annual $17.8-billion debt service, which Aquino III isn’t squeaking about — now comes the so-called $2.4 billion in “investments” as pabaon.
Ado Paglinawan, one of the organizers of the “Solidarity for Sovereignty” movement exposing the Hocus-PCOS in the last elections, who has frequent tit-for-tat exchanges with US-based Yellows on the Internet, deftly answered a certain Mon Ram’s crowing about Aquino III’s alleged “huge investments” with this letter:
“Dear Mon,
“Of course, you know better than being swept your feet by this toy president.
“This is what a blogger among us, not I, once called ‘political masturbation.’
“You see, I worked for the Philippine Embassy in Washington DC for seven years under Ambassador Pelaez.
“Before Cory Aquino came to the US and Eddie Ramos after her (I was in charge of press protocol for these three visits), the whole Embassy, especially the economic and trade sections, was busy padding up hallelujahs in millions of dollars, even if they were still on paper or under negotiation or were already on the roll. The entire Philippine diplomatic mission in the US, including those in the UN, gets organized and makes a ‘praise list’ to play on public perceptions.
“Remember the multilateral aid initiative under Ambassador Elliot Richardson that was inspired and proposed by Ambassador Pelaez to serve as a mini-Marshall plan for the Philippines after being ‘ravaged’ by Marcos rule? That was billed at $3 billion (when the exchange was still P20:$1) from 19 countries and multilateral institutions.
“Know what? Less than half of it was used by the Philippines. Reason? We did not have the absorptive capacity to use all of it. $100 million of that money donated by the Sultan of Brunei, intended to build a state-of-the-art satellite receiving station in Barotac Nuevo in Iloilo, was even diverted by Cory Aquino to fuel the government’s budgetary requirements for salaries. Had that facility been built, we could have better prepared for ‘Ondoy.’
“The only thing that really made sense was the $800 million the Philippine Embassy lobbied through (the US) Congress, capitalizing on Cory’s home-run speech… But this was because the Americans themselves managed the project using Korean contractors in building the airport complex, the seaport and related infrastructure, the four-lane circumferential road around the Sarangani Bay, and financing for farmers and fishermen’s cooperatives in South Cotabato and Sarangani provinces. None of that money was lost to corruption, diversion or incompetence. Try visiting General Santos City and see what I mean. The second visit of Cory Aquino and the first visit of Eddie Ramos were basically fruitless.
“This is to say that PeNoy has nothing whatsoever to do with this $2.4-billion talking point that he is barking about in terms of US investments. He just read this from his teleprompter. In fact, I question this hot air because who would invest in a country where tourists are being mowed down by the police? (The millennium fund, of course, is also not his but in fairness, Gloria Arroyo’s legacy, even if that is hard for me to admit. The release of the fund is just happening during the toy president’s watch.)
“These billions that PeNoy is crowing about (are) merely a praise report to supplant: (1) his incompetent appointments; (2) his family’s Hacienda Luisita land-grabbing; and (3) the Rizal Park hostage-taking where the PNP’s ‘friendly’ fire massacred in cold blood innocent Chinese tourists.
“As PeNoy returns to the Philippines, he is still without any brownie point and his lackadaisical 100 days is about to end. I have not even verified yet if Enrico Puno and Tony ‘Boy’ Cojuangco are meeting him at the airport to give him a reality check. LOL!”
Frankly, I have long given up on such online debates with US-based Yellows. In fact, I’ve already opted out of the Worldwide Filipino Association forum led by a certain Cesar Torres who claims to have a thousand subscribers, most of whom are either Yellows or mere hecklers not interested in the truth.
The “Mon Ram” that Ado had his tit-for-tat with is just one of a number of confirmed Yellows. We can’t even tell if they’re for real or just part of a PR team hired to constantly prop up the Yellow argument.
During the last election campaign where debates on the Web got intensely acrimonious as tons of disinformation were being dished out, I challenged a certain Perry Diaz for a real square-off via an open and media-covered debate in Manila. After a long period of heehawing, Diaz accepted it only if it were held in Hawaii, which is really saying that he didn’t care enough to come home to his native land, which he supposedly cares so much for, to exhaustively ferret out the truth.
Well, it seems many of these US-based Fil-Am bloggers are only there to show off their sites to State Department people to gain points for their citizenship.
We’re just glad the fight for truth is alive and well for some noted US-based Filipinos such as Ado Paglinawan, who are still bravely manning the ramparts.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m. on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/01/2010
The administration is on a continuing PR blitz to extract very ounce of propaganda gain it can from the recent US trip of Aquino III. After the so-called $434-million five-year Millennium Challenge Corp. “grant” (of roughly $87 million per year) — explained in our previous column as a “mirage” when stacked against our annual $17.8-billion debt service, which Aquino III isn’t squeaking about — now comes the so-called $2.4 billion in “investments” as pabaon.
Ado Paglinawan, one of the organizers of the “Solidarity for Sovereignty” movement exposing the Hocus-PCOS in the last elections, who has frequent tit-for-tat exchanges with US-based Yellows on the Internet, deftly answered a certain Mon Ram’s crowing about Aquino III’s alleged “huge investments” with this letter:
“Dear Mon,
“Of course, you know better than being swept your feet by this toy president.
“This is what a blogger among us, not I, once called ‘political masturbation.’
“You see, I worked for the Philippine Embassy in Washington DC for seven years under Ambassador Pelaez.
“Before Cory Aquino came to the US and Eddie Ramos after her (I was in charge of press protocol for these three visits), the whole Embassy, especially the economic and trade sections, was busy padding up hallelujahs in millions of dollars, even if they were still on paper or under negotiation or were already on the roll. The entire Philippine diplomatic mission in the US, including those in the UN, gets organized and makes a ‘praise list’ to play on public perceptions.
“Remember the multilateral aid initiative under Ambassador Elliot Richardson that was inspired and proposed by Ambassador Pelaez to serve as a mini-Marshall plan for the Philippines after being ‘ravaged’ by Marcos rule? That was billed at $3 billion (when the exchange was still P20:$1) from 19 countries and multilateral institutions.
“Know what? Less than half of it was used by the Philippines. Reason? We did not have the absorptive capacity to use all of it. $100 million of that money donated by the Sultan of Brunei, intended to build a state-of-the-art satellite receiving station in Barotac Nuevo in Iloilo, was even diverted by Cory Aquino to fuel the government’s budgetary requirements for salaries. Had that facility been built, we could have better prepared for ‘Ondoy.’
“The only thing that really made sense was the $800 million the Philippine Embassy lobbied through (the US) Congress, capitalizing on Cory’s home-run speech… But this was because the Americans themselves managed the project using Korean contractors in building the airport complex, the seaport and related infrastructure, the four-lane circumferential road around the Sarangani Bay, and financing for farmers and fishermen’s cooperatives in South Cotabato and Sarangani provinces. None of that money was lost to corruption, diversion or incompetence. Try visiting General Santos City and see what I mean. The second visit of Cory Aquino and the first visit of Eddie Ramos were basically fruitless.
“This is to say that PeNoy has nothing whatsoever to do with this $2.4-billion talking point that he is barking about in terms of US investments. He just read this from his teleprompter. In fact, I question this hot air because who would invest in a country where tourists are being mowed down by the police? (The millennium fund, of course, is also not his but in fairness, Gloria Arroyo’s legacy, even if that is hard for me to admit. The release of the fund is just happening during the toy president’s watch.)
“These billions that PeNoy is crowing about (are) merely a praise report to supplant: (1) his incompetent appointments; (2) his family’s Hacienda Luisita land-grabbing; and (3) the Rizal Park hostage-taking where the PNP’s ‘friendly’ fire massacred in cold blood innocent Chinese tourists.
“As PeNoy returns to the Philippines, he is still without any brownie point and his lackadaisical 100 days is about to end. I have not even verified yet if Enrico Puno and Tony ‘Boy’ Cojuangco are meeting him at the airport to give him a reality check. LOL!”
Frankly, I have long given up on such online debates with US-based Yellows. In fact, I’ve already opted out of the Worldwide Filipino Association forum led by a certain Cesar Torres who claims to have a thousand subscribers, most of whom are either Yellows or mere hecklers not interested in the truth.
The “Mon Ram” that Ado had his tit-for-tat with is just one of a number of confirmed Yellows. We can’t even tell if they’re for real or just part of a PR team hired to constantly prop up the Yellow argument.
During the last election campaign where debates on the Web got intensely acrimonious as tons of disinformation were being dished out, I challenged a certain Perry Diaz for a real square-off via an open and media-covered debate in Manila. After a long period of heehawing, Diaz accepted it only if it were held in Hawaii, which is really saying that he didn’t care enough to come home to his native land, which he supposedly cares so much for, to exhaustively ferret out the truth.
Well, it seems many of these US-based Fil-Am bloggers are only there to show off their sites to State Department people to gain points for their citizenship.
We’re just glad the fight for truth is alive and well for some noted US-based Filipinos such as Ado Paglinawan, who are still bravely manning the ramparts.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m. on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
