DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
12/30/2011
The raggedy “little girl” doll was all-too-willing a tool in the subversion of our country’s slow but fledgling popular democratic governance. For her almost canine devotion to her masters, she was rewarded with her share of the plunder by the US and the local oligarchy for nine years. But, as that raggedy doll became worn out and torn on all sides, she was amply thrown away, replaced with a “little boy puppet.” This dummy, with a wooden smile carved into a wooden face (perplexing everyone besides himself), has a wide eyed gape like the cowboy marionette of the 1950s puppet show, Howdy Doody, coupled with the jerky motions and hobbling gait of Jim Henson’s Muppets.
The past year, this little boy’s puppeteers made him over as a “hanging judge” to end 2010 with a bang. For the New Year, they are dressing him up as the “little drummer boy” and “little tin soldier” rolled into one, hobbling off to a new adventure of patriot games — even when the future of our people, our children, and grandchildren is not something to be toyed with.
Two of my recent columns raised the alert for the heightened geopolitical tensions being drummed up in the Eurasian front, centered on Syria and Iran, and in the Asia-Pacific front, on the South China Sea issue. “A creeping World War III” and “Useful idiot’s autocratic mission” are a wake-up call to the real and present danger of having a literally insane leadership in Malacañang — installed in the 2010 “Hocus-PCOS” elections, where technical shenanigans had been established and where the key to uncovering the electoral manipulation lies in the second software sneaked in. Yes, my friends, they do go to that extent to control our elections, with US software company, Dominion Voting Systems, at the core of that discredited AES of Smartmatic.
War does not just happen. It is painstakingly planned on a long-term basis. And it is seldom done so for reasons other than money. Since wars are utterly expensive in resources and lives, these are never initiated without a clear payback in mind. We see that in every conflict initiated throughout the millennia. In the latest one in Libya, the lion’s share of that country’s oil revenues now go to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) countries, leaving mere drops for the Libyans themselves.
The assaults on Syria are aimed at Iran’s oil, which, in turn, leads to the ultimate goal — aborting China’s rise as a world power. The personal assaults on Vladimir Putin by the plethora of “opposition” groups funded by Western NGOs (like George Soros’ Open Society, the National Endowment for Democracy, and Freedom House) is meant to weaken Russian politics for the ultimate assault on its sovereignty and the weakening of the Russia-China alliance.
Meanwhile, in Asia, the Australia, New Zealand, United States Security (ANZUS) partners are aiming for the China Sea issue as the casus belli against China — this, despite perfectly sound arrangements having been forged by that emerging superpower with Asean to resolve their shared maritime territorial and resource issues through peaceful dialog and joint exploitation.
Thus, with an irrational element needing to be introduced, the likely “hero” would be a little boy blue with all his insecurities covered up by his love of guns, the company of his kabarkada cronies, all while exhibiting an incompetence that has caused the most dismal Asean growth rate the past year and presiding over troubles at home that are wreaking havoc on the nation’s institutions.
Here, the perfect chance to escape all these woes is by playing soldier and patriot, egged on by a Big Brother, who promises this little “useful idiot” a steady supply of disposed guns, warships, and planes for his war games. No surprise there really — for this little dummy now struts before his generals, declaring a shift of focus, from internal security to the defense of the realm. And as the little boy now has his toys to brandish, all it takes is to provoke an overreaction from the “enemy.”
That situation was very eruditely described in the Asia Sentinel, a prestigious Web magazine that features well-known Asian writers. In a Dec. 20 article there (“US Playing a Dangerous Asia-Pacific Game?”), Gavin Greenwood says: “On Dec. 14, Philippine President Benigno Aquino formally commissioned his country’s latest and most capable warship, a 46-year-old former US Coast Guard cutter. Renamed the Gregorio del Pilar after a young revolutionary general killed fighting American troops in 1899, the navy’s new flagship… along with many other small warships, form what military strategists like to call ‘the tip of the spear’… The significance of this ageing vessel’s deployment, however, is not its manifest inability to defend itself — let alone the Philippines — from almost any other warship afloat in the region but that such an attack could invoke the country’s 60-year-old mutual defense treaty with the US… The role of the Gregorio del Pilar may be seen as simply to remain at sea long enough to get in the way of a potential enemy — invariably seen as China — and introduce a layer of uncertainty over the consequences of any direct action against the Philippines or its state assets…
“By providing the Philippines with even the most limited means to confront an opponent at sea, backed by Clinton’s explicit signaling her government’s resolve to stand by its treaty obligation, Washington may have handed over the potential detonator for an armed confrontation with China to the crew of an elderly ship that had once borne the name of the first US Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton’s caution that ‘when the sword is once drawn, the passions of men observe no bounds of moderation’…”
Such a sword — in the hands of a little tin soldier boy imbued with a growing sense of insecurity over his domestic failures and the conflicts he has spawned, who is moreover nervous and fretful of the consequences of his rapidly disintegrating governance — can certainly come in handy, with Big Brother eagerly awaiting the consequences.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Saturday, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
Friday, December 30, 2011
Friday, December 23, 2011
Useful idiot’s autocratic mission
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
12/23/2011
BS Aquino III had wanted to impeach the Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice (CJ) as far back as January, our informant tells us. Now, even the Senate President faces an ouster plot by a Liberal Party that wants to consolidate its hold on the upper chamber, with the last phase of the plan getting the Vice- President “boiled” in the proverbial “hot water.”
Eight demonstrably lame charges were raised against the CJ, such as his alleged “biased” decisions — despite the fact that SC decisions are collectively arrived at. What is indisputable is that this CJ ouster move would allow BS Aquino and his cohorts to appoint one of their own to the top post, such as (alleged Machiavellian) Justice Antonio Carpio of “The Firm” or Ma. Lourdes Sereno, a demonstrably biased magistrate for the ruling powers.
Our source, very high up in politics, was told in a visit to Malacañang last January — long before the Palace and its previous occupant figured in a “hold departure” imbroglio — that the maximum goal was to oust nine more SC justices. Why would Malacañang want this if the problem, as it is being made to appear, is simply the CJ (along with perhaps two of his associates)?
It should be clear by now that there is a bigger agenda to this impeachment: The replacement of as many sitting justices with BS Aquino’s appointees. Hence, the goal is full control of the SC, with justices beholden and compliant to the Executive. After this, there will be full control of the Senate; and an autocracy without a vice- president would soon follow.
Who could have thought of this? Like many of us, my informant does not think that either BS Aquino or his lieutenant is bright enough to conceive of such a plan. We are, of course, no stranger to PeNoy’s fecklessness throughout his stints in the House and the Senate; in his election campaign; and, now, his know-nothing, do-nothing presidency.
It is apparent that Renato Corona was speaking with more than just propaganda (or even Hacienda Luisita) in mind when he accused BSA III of fomenting a “dictatorship” — though I think by the time the VP is immobilized, the term “autocracy” would be more accurate. So, who could be so skillfully coaxing PeNoy into this direction and why?
Knowing the history of authoritarianism (of both President Marcos and Cory Aquino), we can only conclude that it is no one else but the US State Department.
Marcos kept Ambassador Henry Byroade on martial law plans, even as he had the brains to plan and carry it out all by himself. Cory, meanwhile, had her “revolution” and “revolutionary government” thanks to the US. BSA III’s candidacy was also conceived and run for him by the same forces that backed his mother. Kristie Kenney, the US envoy at that time, even appeared on national TV saying, “I wear Yellow,” in the run-up to the polls.
Later on, as PeNoy was in his first few months in office, one of his executives kept asking one of the Yellow veterans this question: “Has the US Embassy talked to you?”
When the executive no longer sought him for guidance, this Yellow veteran (who remains anonymous for now upon his request) then asked him about this and was told that the Palace was already in close touch with the Embassy.
Yes, the US State Department does micro-manage, especially when it’s a matter of national security — like when it micro-managed the transition from Marcos to Cory with the frenzied trips of Philip Habib and Stephen Solarz, or the earlier “snap election” TV interview with Nightline host, etc.
Marcos planned martial law from 1966 to the moment it was declared in 1972. While BSA III didn’t plan his mother’s death or his run for the highest seat, he did “win” after a confounded automated election system, which coincidentally used US-based Dominion Voting Systems software that faced many issues in New York’s elections.
With the gamut of social and economic challenges left unaddressed, BSA III curiously gives priority to his government’s conflict with the SC, as well as a foiled Senate shake-up. Amid this faltering governance, US State Department officials, namely, Hillary Clinton, seem to be more concerned with buttressing PeNoy’s “machismo” exertions on the South China Sea and “upgrading” Philippine naval assets with “junk” Hamilton cutters.
Last Nov. 17, Barack Obama declared before the Australian Parliament that the US will now “shift from the war on terrorism to economic and security challenges in the Asia-Pacific region,” as he deployed 2,500 US Marines to that country. Indonesia warned that such a ove will only spark tension and mistrust, on top of “irritating” China. It was then no accident that President Hu Jin Tao called on the Chinese Navy weeks later to “prepare for combat.”
All this is happening under a simmering new “cold war,” with Russia on the European front and us in the Pacific theater.
On Dec. 12, the little gun-loving PeNoy addressed the new Armed Forces chief “to shift the military’s focus from defending the country from internal threats to defending it from external (ones), particularly intruders… since the government’s separate peace negotiations with communist rebels and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) are moving forward.”
I have always wondered why communist leader JoMa Sison went to the Netherlands, and not Cuba or China, for exile; or why Ninoy coddled and Cory released him. Now, he is rumored to be coming home to sanctify another Aquino in order to cap off the political consolidation.
With the many rebellions supposedly ending, with the MILF soon happy with its territories (having permanent US bases), and with BSA III as their unifying leader, what could be the end game? Is it to unite the nation in a “holy war” against the intruder in the now dubbed West Philippine Sea; is it to nettle and consternate the enemy of the US while inviting devastation the way the Philippines did in World War II? Useful idiots all indeed!
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Saturday, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
Herman Tiu Laurel
12/23/2011
BS Aquino III had wanted to impeach the Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice (CJ) as far back as January, our informant tells us. Now, even the Senate President faces an ouster plot by a Liberal Party that wants to consolidate its hold on the upper chamber, with the last phase of the plan getting the Vice- President “boiled” in the proverbial “hot water.”
Eight demonstrably lame charges were raised against the CJ, such as his alleged “biased” decisions — despite the fact that SC decisions are collectively arrived at. What is indisputable is that this CJ ouster move would allow BS Aquino and his cohorts to appoint one of their own to the top post, such as (alleged Machiavellian) Justice Antonio Carpio of “The Firm” or Ma. Lourdes Sereno, a demonstrably biased magistrate for the ruling powers.
Our source, very high up in politics, was told in a visit to Malacañang last January — long before the Palace and its previous occupant figured in a “hold departure” imbroglio — that the maximum goal was to oust nine more SC justices. Why would Malacañang want this if the problem, as it is being made to appear, is simply the CJ (along with perhaps two of his associates)?
It should be clear by now that there is a bigger agenda to this impeachment: The replacement of as many sitting justices with BS Aquino’s appointees. Hence, the goal is full control of the SC, with justices beholden and compliant to the Executive. After this, there will be full control of the Senate; and an autocracy without a vice- president would soon follow.
Who could have thought of this? Like many of us, my informant does not think that either BS Aquino or his lieutenant is bright enough to conceive of such a plan. We are, of course, no stranger to PeNoy’s fecklessness throughout his stints in the House and the Senate; in his election campaign; and, now, his know-nothing, do-nothing presidency.
It is apparent that Renato Corona was speaking with more than just propaganda (or even Hacienda Luisita) in mind when he accused BSA III of fomenting a “dictatorship” — though I think by the time the VP is immobilized, the term “autocracy” would be more accurate. So, who could be so skillfully coaxing PeNoy into this direction and why?
Knowing the history of authoritarianism (of both President Marcos and Cory Aquino), we can only conclude that it is no one else but the US State Department.
Marcos kept Ambassador Henry Byroade on martial law plans, even as he had the brains to plan and carry it out all by himself. Cory, meanwhile, had her “revolution” and “revolutionary government” thanks to the US. BSA III’s candidacy was also conceived and run for him by the same forces that backed his mother. Kristie Kenney, the US envoy at that time, even appeared on national TV saying, “I wear Yellow,” in the run-up to the polls.
Later on, as PeNoy was in his first few months in office, one of his executives kept asking one of the Yellow veterans this question: “Has the US Embassy talked to you?”
When the executive no longer sought him for guidance, this Yellow veteran (who remains anonymous for now upon his request) then asked him about this and was told that the Palace was already in close touch with the Embassy.
Yes, the US State Department does micro-manage, especially when it’s a matter of national security — like when it micro-managed the transition from Marcos to Cory with the frenzied trips of Philip Habib and Stephen Solarz, or the earlier “snap election” TV interview with Nightline host, etc.
Marcos planned martial law from 1966 to the moment it was declared in 1972. While BSA III didn’t plan his mother’s death or his run for the highest seat, he did “win” after a confounded automated election system, which coincidentally used US-based Dominion Voting Systems software that faced many issues in New York’s elections.
With the gamut of social and economic challenges left unaddressed, BSA III curiously gives priority to his government’s conflict with the SC, as well as a foiled Senate shake-up. Amid this faltering governance, US State Department officials, namely, Hillary Clinton, seem to be more concerned with buttressing PeNoy’s “machismo” exertions on the South China Sea and “upgrading” Philippine naval assets with “junk” Hamilton cutters.
Last Nov. 17, Barack Obama declared before the Australian Parliament that the US will now “shift from the war on terrorism to economic and security challenges in the Asia-Pacific region,” as he deployed 2,500 US Marines to that country. Indonesia warned that such a ove will only spark tension and mistrust, on top of “irritating” China. It was then no accident that President Hu Jin Tao called on the Chinese Navy weeks later to “prepare for combat.”
All this is happening under a simmering new “cold war,” with Russia on the European front and us in the Pacific theater.
On Dec. 12, the little gun-loving PeNoy addressed the new Armed Forces chief “to shift the military’s focus from defending the country from internal threats to defending it from external (ones), particularly intruders… since the government’s separate peace negotiations with communist rebels and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) are moving forward.”
I have always wondered why communist leader JoMa Sison went to the Netherlands, and not Cuba or China, for exile; or why Ninoy coddled and Cory released him. Now, he is rumored to be coming home to sanctify another Aquino in order to cap off the political consolidation.
With the many rebellions supposedly ending, with the MILF soon happy with its territories (having permanent US bases), and with BSA III as their unifying leader, what could be the end game? Is it to unite the nation in a “holy war” against the intruder in the now dubbed West Philippine Sea; is it to nettle and consternate the enemy of the US while inviting devastation the way the Philippines did in World War II? Useful idiots all indeed!
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Saturday, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
Thursday, December 22, 2011
The Oligarchy, 2011 and 2012 drags
CONSUMERS DEMAND!
Herman Tiu Laurel
12/19-25/2011
I owe it to our weekly OpinYon readers to give a year-end assessment of the state of the national economy. For Juan de la Cruz, keeping track of the country’s financial, material and social conditions alone is a task made doubly difficult by the leadership in Malacañang that certain quarters say deliberately creates noisy political sideshows and circuses to divert attention from the true economic picture. This time, though, summing up and accurately describing the state of our economy is made a bit easier with the IMF (International Monetary Fund) assessment of our GDP (gross domestic product), which it says “is well below the official 5 to 6% target and the 4.5 to 5.5% forecast,” prompting it to cut its full-year outlook for 2011 to just “3.7% from (the previous) 4.7%.” The BS Aquino III administration actually had, in economist Ben Diokno’s words, only “aspirational” growth rates of 7 to 8%; whereas the reality for the people now is an “asphyxiational” growth rate that is choking our economy.
The IMF’s projection for Philippine GDP next year is 4.2%. Truth to tell, for an economy to just stand in place, at least 6% growth should be achieved; below that, it would be simply falling behind expectations--for example, in jobs generation, which is vital to a growing labor supply setting like the Philippines. The Aquino III administration cannot contend that the global financial and economic crisis since 2008 has hampered its efforts because all other countries in Asia are faced with the same conditions but with them doing much better. The IMF projects that Vietnam’s 2012 GDP will be 6.5%, with its 2011 growth rate estimated at 5.8%--almost double that of the Philippines. The consensus of all economic analysts about our country’s dismal performance has been the under-spending of the Aquino III government, courtesy of its Budget Secretary Butch Abad and its economic team, led by NEDA (National Economic Development Authority) chief Cayetano Paderanga. For lesser fiascos, other officials have been fired; but not in this administration.
As this column was intended to analyze, reflect and provide enlightenment and guidance to OpinYon readers on consumer welfare and protection issues, this focus necessarily brought us to the gamut of social, financial, as well as micro- and macro-economic issues. We have given the most space and effort to electricity, putting it on the people’s consciousness as the top economic issue. Today, almost everyone knows that the Philippines has “the highest power cost in Asia” and a national outcry has been raised to demand action from the highest authority of the land. But, in spite of such calls, coming even from normally taciturn conservative business and labor groups, Malacañang has chosen to stay meek and mute. Worse, Congress and the Senate are not only equally mute; but the Energy Committee chairs, Sen. Serge Osmeña and Rep. Dina Abad, are actively suppressing initiatives from the few legislators who have dared to raise questions. Oligarchs win, people suffer.
I cannot overemphasize the deleterious and devastating impact of the oligarchs’ control of our political institutions that determine the rest of the nation’s economic-social governance, which stack the odds against the people. As in electricity, our petroleum sector which was privatized and deregulated since FVR’s term--a common program of all the Yellow (Edsa I and II) administrations from Cory to Gloria and now, Aquino III--charges some of the highest rates in the world. A recent report on Philippine gasoline prices showed our unleaded gasoline to be 20% higher than the highest unleaded gasoline prices in the United States.
The major oil companies here are alliances of the local oligarchs with the global petroleum giants--from Shell, which has the Ayalas, to Petron, which has the Ashmore group with San Miguel Corp. lurking behind--all traditional oligarch family names intertwined with the political dynasties of the land.
But that’s not all: As we turn to every strategic sector of the economy, we see the oligarchs and their abuses. Our telecommunications charges, for instance, are high due to the highest interconnection fees in the world. Our MRT and LRT have been exploited by a few local families that conspired with the regime of FVR to set sky high profits for the “investors” while financing these with government “sovereign guarantees;” which led to a forced government buyback and instant profits in connivance with Goldman Sachs and other foreign finance mafia firms suing the Philippine government for payment (with the captive Arroyo government only too willing to cooperate by compelling the DBP and Land Bank to cough out $800 million to $1 billion).
By the way, scandals are now erupting around this involving Bobby Ongpin while BS Aquino III and MVP this time around are working out a sweetheart deal to re-privatize the MRT after taxpayers shell our P6 billion to refurbish it, with MVP subsequently allowed to raise fares by up to 70% by 2012.
Our regular column here has also dealt with other critical issues involving the scams of global oligarchy-captured institutions such as the WHO. We were among the very, very few Filipinos who understood the scam behind the H1N1 scare to compel our governments to buy billions of useless vaccines, which now have all gone to waste. We also wrote of the HPV vaccine hoax, which is still being pushed by pharmaceutical firms, beauty consultants (like Belo) and some government health officials, being completely unnecessary aside from being very harmful, as many cases of serious side effects in the US have shown.
Invariably, at the root of all these problems that bedevil consumers (who are also taxpayers and citizens) is the financial oligarchy that pulls the strings and moves its puppets (in the corridors of government and other multilateral or national public institutions, as well as mainstream media) to pull the wool over the public’s eyes while picking their pockets.
Our society and country must therefore head toward the elimination of the power of the oligarchy over our national polity, government and financial structures, in order to restore genuine people’s power (not of the Yellow kind that hides the oligarchs behind its glare). We still hope that our electoral system can bring the changes we need, by installing the correct political leaders who will uphold public interest over oligarchic greed.
Since we have two elections ahead where our actions can count, we need to treble our efforts to educate, elucidate and enlighten the nation and the people. That is what we in OpinYon have pledged to accomplish, along with my own little tri-media sphere that always blares the message: “Down with the Oligarchs! Up with the People!”
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Saturday, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
Herman Tiu Laurel
12/19-25/2011
I owe it to our weekly OpinYon readers to give a year-end assessment of the state of the national economy. For Juan de la Cruz, keeping track of the country’s financial, material and social conditions alone is a task made doubly difficult by the leadership in Malacañang that certain quarters say deliberately creates noisy political sideshows and circuses to divert attention from the true economic picture. This time, though, summing up and accurately describing the state of our economy is made a bit easier with the IMF (International Monetary Fund) assessment of our GDP (gross domestic product), which it says “is well below the official 5 to 6% target and the 4.5 to 5.5% forecast,” prompting it to cut its full-year outlook for 2011 to just “3.7% from (the previous) 4.7%.” The BS Aquino III administration actually had, in economist Ben Diokno’s words, only “aspirational” growth rates of 7 to 8%; whereas the reality for the people now is an “asphyxiational” growth rate that is choking our economy.
The IMF’s projection for Philippine GDP next year is 4.2%. Truth to tell, for an economy to just stand in place, at least 6% growth should be achieved; below that, it would be simply falling behind expectations--for example, in jobs generation, which is vital to a growing labor supply setting like the Philippines. The Aquino III administration cannot contend that the global financial and economic crisis since 2008 has hampered its efforts because all other countries in Asia are faced with the same conditions but with them doing much better. The IMF projects that Vietnam’s 2012 GDP will be 6.5%, with its 2011 growth rate estimated at 5.8%--almost double that of the Philippines. The consensus of all economic analysts about our country’s dismal performance has been the under-spending of the Aquino III government, courtesy of its Budget Secretary Butch Abad and its economic team, led by NEDA (National Economic Development Authority) chief Cayetano Paderanga. For lesser fiascos, other officials have been fired; but not in this administration.
As this column was intended to analyze, reflect and provide enlightenment and guidance to OpinYon readers on consumer welfare and protection issues, this focus necessarily brought us to the gamut of social, financial, as well as micro- and macro-economic issues. We have given the most space and effort to electricity, putting it on the people’s consciousness as the top economic issue. Today, almost everyone knows that the Philippines has “the highest power cost in Asia” and a national outcry has been raised to demand action from the highest authority of the land. But, in spite of such calls, coming even from normally taciturn conservative business and labor groups, Malacañang has chosen to stay meek and mute. Worse, Congress and the Senate are not only equally mute; but the Energy Committee chairs, Sen. Serge Osmeña and Rep. Dina Abad, are actively suppressing initiatives from the few legislators who have dared to raise questions. Oligarchs win, people suffer.
I cannot overemphasize the deleterious and devastating impact of the oligarchs’ control of our political institutions that determine the rest of the nation’s economic-social governance, which stack the odds against the people. As in electricity, our petroleum sector which was privatized and deregulated since FVR’s term--a common program of all the Yellow (Edsa I and II) administrations from Cory to Gloria and now, Aquino III--charges some of the highest rates in the world. A recent report on Philippine gasoline prices showed our unleaded gasoline to be 20% higher than the highest unleaded gasoline prices in the United States.
The major oil companies here are alliances of the local oligarchs with the global petroleum giants--from Shell, which has the Ayalas, to Petron, which has the Ashmore group with San Miguel Corp. lurking behind--all traditional oligarch family names intertwined with the political dynasties of the land.
But that’s not all: As we turn to every strategic sector of the economy, we see the oligarchs and their abuses. Our telecommunications charges, for instance, are high due to the highest interconnection fees in the world. Our MRT and LRT have been exploited by a few local families that conspired with the regime of FVR to set sky high profits for the “investors” while financing these with government “sovereign guarantees;” which led to a forced government buyback and instant profits in connivance with Goldman Sachs and other foreign finance mafia firms suing the Philippine government for payment (with the captive Arroyo government only too willing to cooperate by compelling the DBP and Land Bank to cough out $800 million to $1 billion).
By the way, scandals are now erupting around this involving Bobby Ongpin while BS Aquino III and MVP this time around are working out a sweetheart deal to re-privatize the MRT after taxpayers shell our P6 billion to refurbish it, with MVP subsequently allowed to raise fares by up to 70% by 2012.
Our regular column here has also dealt with other critical issues involving the scams of global oligarchy-captured institutions such as the WHO. We were among the very, very few Filipinos who understood the scam behind the H1N1 scare to compel our governments to buy billions of useless vaccines, which now have all gone to waste. We also wrote of the HPV vaccine hoax, which is still being pushed by pharmaceutical firms, beauty consultants (like Belo) and some government health officials, being completely unnecessary aside from being very harmful, as many cases of serious side effects in the US have shown.
Invariably, at the root of all these problems that bedevil consumers (who are also taxpayers and citizens) is the financial oligarchy that pulls the strings and moves its puppets (in the corridors of government and other multilateral or national public institutions, as well as mainstream media) to pull the wool over the public’s eyes while picking their pockets.
Our society and country must therefore head toward the elimination of the power of the oligarchy over our national polity, government and financial structures, in order to restore genuine people’s power (not of the Yellow kind that hides the oligarchs behind its glare). We still hope that our electoral system can bring the changes we need, by installing the correct political leaders who will uphold public interest over oligarchic greed.
Since we have two elections ahead where our actions can count, we need to treble our efforts to educate, elucidate and enlighten the nation and the people. That is what we in OpinYon have pledged to accomplish, along with my own little tri-media sphere that always blares the message: “Down with the Oligarchs! Up with the People!”
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Saturday, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
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