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)