The forest's afire, stupid!

DIE HARD III / Herman Tiu Laurel / 9/30/2013 / Daily Tribune

There is a forest fire but social media trolls were chopping away at one tree. That was the picture in a newspaper reporting some social media tweets day after Jinggoy Estrada's privileged speech last week. Jinggoy didn't dwell on the charges against him, that's for the courts now and he had already said so in his speech.

Jinggoy's offensive was an extensive exposé of systemic corruption of the Yellows' system. The Yellows don't want that. Jinggoy dwelt on the comprehensive picture, exposing presidential use of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and other levers to bribe politicize and distort legislation, fiscal conduct and justice, the perfidy of Commission on Audit (CoA) with its BS Aquino appointees, etc. Jinggoy didn't start the fire, it raged angrily even before he got there.

The hostile tweets on Jinggoy reflected, also from the usual civil society-yellow types, foaming-in-the-mouth anti-Estradas neurosis from the Edsa II days. They afflicted fume at a personality but are blinded to the broader systemic crisis. Rabid "evil society" types refuse to see the CoA turned from fiscal watchdog into attack dog against Liberal Party rivals, or the channeling of the PDAF for Malacañang's bribery, or the LP "sow-lons'" pork orgies from the diarist whose fabricated entries "convicted" Erap in 2001, to political-porker-with-wings (butterflies are passé) Drilon and P 6-million burger gorger look alike's pork, or the P70-billion unaudited PDAF likely going to other LP "sow-lons."

The newspaper that front-paged the anti-Jinggoy tweets also headlined Jinggoy's exposé comprehensively. But focusing attention on the anti-Jinggoy tweets already tilts some readers' perception is led to various stages of cognitive dysfunction. Cognitive dysfunction is the inability to think clearly, organize thoughts, analyze that obsessive hate can cause. It's the same as some of those who have absorbed the hate Marcos psychosis. This is the mass mania cultivated by the Yellow machine in the mainstream media over the past 25 years which is still effective in deflecting any potential frustration and rage away from the present Yellow power wielders.

The pork barrel controversy has so overtaken the national psyche that the nation, and not accidentally, has lost the balanced and comprehensive perspective required to solve the national crisis. One cannot douse the forest fire by chopping down or spraying water on just one tree. The individual trees are singed or are burning because the forest was ablaze long before the conflagration exploded with Janet Lim Napoles today.

Jinggoy didn't start the fire. Ah, yes, that was in 1989 when under Cory Aquino's watch the PDAF formally made its way into the General Appropriations Act. Point this out to anyone of the tweeting Yellows and they'll pull your hair out.

This space has long fought for the causes that could restore sanity and balance to the politics of this country. It is among the first to expose the insanity of burning down the house to drive out from power the imagined "rat" from Malacañang in 2001. Edsa II, of course, eventually led to the whole house being taken over by the biggest rats. We exposed the fraudulence of the digital elections based on countless violations of security safeguards provided by law. We were among the first to raise the "pork" issue but saw how the Yellows redirected it as a political ploy to divert from an Aquino sibling's shenanigans in the Metro Rail Transit deals and eventually from Malacañang's own pork-related corruption.

For Oct. 4, "patsies" of the financial and economic interests that have maneuvered all "people power" exercises since Edsa I (only too happy to redirect the rage against them to the "sow-lons") have organized a "Million Man March" again but at the Ayala-Paseo junction. It will be a Friday afternoon affair, easy for the social media yuppies to congregate at before partying in the evening. The choice of place and time was made because the last Sept. 21 "Million Man" activity flopped after the Sept. 11 Edsa Shrine gathering had more cops than rallyists because of their insistence not to link the issue to BS Aquino's pork.

Tsk, tsk. That's just so typical of the Yellows.

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Officer salutes MNLF

DIE HARD III / Herman Tiu Laurel / 90/25/2013 / Daily Tribune

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in early September 2013 officially informed the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) that the Philippine government had terminated the tripartite review of the full implementation of the parties' 1996 Final Peace Agreement (FPA). Even as Absalom Cerveza, a member of the MNLF peace panel, relayed his group's desire for the full implementation of the 1996 peace accord, the stand of the Philippine government was already "irreversible." And that, says former Tawi-Tawi Gov. Al Tillah, was what "broke the camel's back."

Since the OIC still recognizes the leadership of Nur Misuari over the MNLF as representative of the so-called Bangsamoro in the Philippines, the MNLF is thus continuing its "decolonization" of Mindanao to this day.

BS Aquino clearly underestimated the implication of his letter terminating the 1996 FPA that led to the recent MNLF offensive. He also clearly didn't fathom that added threats would only spur warrior Tausugs to further resistance. As a Tausug saying cited by Al Tillah goes, "In a fight it's better to see the white of one's bones than the white of the sole of one's feet."

Thus, from a renowned retired Philippine Air Force Gen. Nick Sotelo comes this letter dated Sept. 22, 2013 saluting the 200 MNLF fighters, the vital parts of which we quote: "I pray that the debacle in Zamboanga City in the south will soon be over … While I do not wish death upon them, the measly band of 200 MNLF fighters, I would say, have balls of steel since they know that they will be martyred when going into the hornet's nest.

"Our government seems to have sidelined the importance of their group in the peace agreements … Let's not forget that even just having the capability to sting like a small bee, they chose to, with about the same number of fighters, challenge Malaysia on the issue of Sabah … (Now) we go back to poverty, the root of most, if not all, rebellion in the Philippines. We go back to our masters of the last 30 years who have created a very conducive climate for such activities. I am sure, without poverty, nobody in their right mind would join the communist NPA (New People's Army), the MNLF, the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) … We go back to recent revelations that our elected and appointed officials are, in fact, part of the biggest syndicate of them all…
"Now, we have a political leadership that is trying its best to maintain the 'daang matuwid' or the straight path. But how straight is it, really? Does this path also apply for his circle of friends and party mates? … We will see. And when we do see, we will judge how real their quest for a better Philippines really is. Let us all pray that our country starts bettering itself, like a body fighting off an infection. I am sure we are not a hopeless or terminal case. There are still a lot of men and women in our nation who are willing and able to make the sacrifice of doing things the right way … Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!"

We say "Mabuhay" as well to Gen. Sotelo, whom we remember from the Edsa I days when he flew his helicopters in favor of change.

Would it be correct for me to read his saying, "We go back to our masters of the last 30 years who have created a very conducive climate for such (rebellious?) activities" as an indictment of the succession of Edsa I political leaderships (or the "Yellows" as many call them) and their failure? If so, this is significant as it represents a rethinking of our nation's view of the legacy of Edsa I that's about 30 years now — a legacy leaving the Philippines worse off than ever before 1986.

Gen. Sotelo's zeroing in on "poverty" as the unresolved root of rebellion and a legacy of the past 30 years is absolutely on target, but naming the "elected and appointed officials" of government as the "biggest syndicate of all," I would say, is short of the mark.

Even tripling the corruption of these "elected and appointed officials" would not reach half of the plunder of the foreign, traditional and corporate oligarchy who are the real abettors of the country's farcical elections and economy through funding all sides and paying off politicians to legalize the immoral — from the privatization of public utilities and services to their monopoly of mineral projects, such as Malampaya, the gold mines, ad nausea.

The oligarchy remits trillions abroad or just earns interest from the people in the P1.8-trillion Special Deposit Account with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Just a fraction of that already makes them rich beyond imagination; yet they deny the nation it's just share of the wealth from its labors and its territory's riches.

Like all of our gallant soldiers, Gen. Sotelo has served and sacrificed for the nation — but most have only protected this present system and not the people. When patriots like him start joining the broader struggle against the entire "system" and allow the genuine transfer of power to policies and programs that truly represent "the greater good for the greatest number of people," then we shall have begun changing this country.

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Move UN out of US

Herman Tiu Laurel / DieHard III/ The Daily Tribune / 09-23-2013 MON

The Latin American community of nations was up in arms against the US last week. Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro was denied permission to fly through US air space en route to China. At the same time an official Venezuelan delegation to a United Nations (UN) conference was being given by the US a very difficult time obtaining visas, jeopardizing the country's participation in an important international discussion.

Just days prior to those incidents, Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff had already cancelled a scheduled meeting in the US with President Barack Obama in protest of the latter's National Security Agency (NSA) spying on the Venezuelan president's communications.

A month earlier in August, the plane of Bolivia's President Evo Morales, which was traveling home from Russia, became grounded in Austria after Spain, Portugal, and Italy abruptly blocked their airspace to it--a move that was later learned to have been made upon the request of the US, which suspected the presence of NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden on board.

Never mind if the hostile act of these countries endangered the lives of the Bolivian president and the other passengers on board. It was done all at the behest of the US, violating international law.

This incident, coupled with the latest US acts against Venezuela's Maduro, has prompted Morales to prepare a lawsuit against the US government for "crimes against humanity."

The Bolivian president now also proposes that the 33 members of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) withdraw their ambassadors to send a message that "The US cannot be allowed to continue with its policy of intimidation and blockading presidential flights."

These problems, with the increasingly overbearing US attitude toward all countries, is highlighted by revelations of the NSA's spying on the UN itself and all significant member-countries, leading to a UN warning to the US government. But why stop at just issuing a warning to the UN host country that is so incorrigibly abusive of the UN and its member-states? Why not move the UN out of the US once and for all to a country that is genuinely neutral and away from the snooping and abuses of the latter?

There are about a dozen countries that are internationally recognized as neutral: Austria, Costa Rica, Finland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Malta, Panama, San Marino, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Geneva, Switzerland is the site of the headquarters of many international as well as UN family organizations, such as the International Red Cross and the UN High Commissioner on Refugees, among many others. But smaller countries that are entirely innocuous may be even better choices, such as the small republics of Malta or San Marino, which could never be suspected of having the capacity to spy or intimidate other countries; as they are expected to be the perfect host for the international community's center for dialogue and cooperation.

The idea of moving the UN headquarters out of New York is not a new one. Iran's leaders have raised this in the past, stressing that the US "has proved that it does not deserve to host the United Nations member states… but seeing as the articles of association of the UN state that the United Nations' permanent headquarters is located in New York, transfer of the headquarters requires rectification of the said articles of association."

Although some other suggested sites that are heavily tainted with anti-US sentiments, such as Darfur and Zimbabwe, don't seem appropriate, those two small republics (Malta and San Marino) seem most "neutral" among the neutrals.

There are many other advantages to moving the UN's headquarters out of the US. One of these is reducing the cost of maintenance and operation as New York is one of the most expensive cities in the world; same with saving $2 billion required for any renovation the UN's aging 60-year-old buildings and the replacement of asbestos components that proliferate in them. More importantly, this will end the perennial high handed bellyaching of the US over its comparatively higher share in funding the UN, said to constitute 22 percent and often made a basis by the US to pressure and manipulate various UN agencies to unfairly bend policies toward US interests. It's about time the five permanent and 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council augment their contributions.

A genuinely neutral location for the UN will really enhance the independence of the premier international forum for resolving the gravest issues of our world today; boost humanity's prospects for permanent peace and prosperity for mankind's children and grandchildren; and avoiding the dreaded final world war that will permanently poison the future of Earth.

(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., also on www.gnntv-asia.com, this week on "Kudos MWSS: Water rates reduced"; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com; and text reactions to 09234095739)