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.

(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., also on www.gnntv-asia.com, this week on "Kudos MWSS: Water rates reduced"; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com; and text reactions to 0923-4095739)

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)

Laying the premise

Herman Tiu Laurel / DieHard III / The Daily Tribune / 09-18-2013 WED

The Yellow faction of the ruling class is laying the premise for the conviction by publicity of some of the leading lights of the political opposition. Consider these headlines: "3 senators amassed P581M in kickbacks" and "Exclusive: Napoles partied, joined Estrada family affairs," the latter of which unjustifiably drags the entire family into the picture.

The oligarchy's controlled mainstream and online media--from the Oink-quirer to Rap-purge--are blatantly sidestepping the main stories of the preeminent role of administration porkers (e.g., the Angaras and the Abads) in the entire pork system. While an administration ally like Ruffy Biazon has been included in the plunder case with Janet Lim-Napoles, the consensus is that such a move is mere tokenism.

Moreover, even if it has been repeatedly claimed that other administration allies will eventually be charged, the administration's operators are merely hoping that time and other issues will overtake the public's interest, allowing the Palace's protected species an easier exit.

This administration's complicity in the pork scams is as rooted to the system that has prevailed since 1986. As the inception of the pork barrel was made possible by the mother of the Yellow movement, Cory Aquino, how can we expect the son to be any different?

Former Senator and Marcos Press secretary Kit Tatad, who has reinforced his statesman stature several times over since retiring from elective politics, has written an exposé that has gone viral on the Internet of BS Aquino's day-long session with Napoles in Malacañang before the latter "surrendered."

Tatad exposed the secret August 28 closeting of Napoles with Lacierda and company in Malacañang before her publicized surrender, with BS Aquino joining them intermittently while attending to various events within the Palace grounds. Malacañang tries to belie the exposé by showing BS Aquino's engagement on that day, yet none of his scheduled activities negate Tatad's revelation about the closeting of Napoles in Malacañang.

But even without it, the general public had already believed that the suspicious behaviors of BS Aquino, Malacañang officials, and Cabinet members (e.g., calling Napoles "Ma'am," BS Aquino's deference to her, etc.) indicated long ties between the administration and Napoles.

Continuing with the Yellows' grand zarzuela, the other premise being laid that's farthest from the truth is that the "system" will now be cleansed with these plunder charges.

Truth is, the system will not change because the most fundamental cause of the corruption in our society persists and will become even stronger. The Tribune report of Charlie Manalo at the start of the week is more than enough proof: "'Epira flaws more costly than pork barrel scam – lawmaker'… The chairman of the House committee on energy wants a thorough review of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), saying Filipinos may be losing more in high power rates compared to the alleged irregularities in the pork barrel funds involving businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles." Kudos to Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali for raising this issue and Manalo for reporting it.

Manalo's report points to one of the root causes of the disproportionate concentration of wealth in our society and how these powerful economic interests play the most dominant role in a "system" that will continue to corrupt politicians of all stripes through other means than pork to get the legislation they want in order to feed their greedy schemes.

These economic powers who control mainstream media and finance much of the organized PR within social media are also directing the selective campaign on pork and will likely call off their attack dogs only when the right time comes--which is just before they completely suck in the administration "sow-lons."

Rep. Umali will, thus, have to watch out from hereon as he will be a target of these oligarchs, given his comment on the public's losses from Epira dwarfing the cost of legislative pork.

On the international front, the premise being laid by Western media on Syria's chemical weapons use is that the evidence from the United Nations investigation points to Bashar al-Assad's government--that is, that the chemical canisters bearing Cyrillic (Russian) markings point to chemical weapons supplied to the Syrian government during the Soviet era; that the quantities were huge (350 liters) and fired by rockets, etc.

The problem is Western media had already been projecting these conclusions long before the UN investigators had submitted their official findings and before the voluminous report can even be read through by the UN Security Council.

As always, the game is propaganda--setting the premise even before audiences can get the facts straight. Citizens of the world, beware.

(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; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com; and text reactions to 09234095739)