Aliens over our rural banks II

Aliens over our rural banks II

(Herman Tiu Laurel / DieHard III / The Daily Tribune / 06-12-2013 WED)

 

In our last column we reported the very quiet passage of RA 10574, which opens Philippine rural banks to 60 percent foreign ownership, signed into law by BS Aquino III last May 24.  A former head of a rural bank association in the country whom I interviewed sounded the alarm that foreign interests with ominous intentions will now gain not only a foothold but control of the grassroots credit network of rural banks, allowing them to push programs that may be totally harmful to the Philippine economy and Filipino people, such as those of US food giant Monsanto, which can fast track the insertion of GMO (genetically modified organism) seeds and ancillary products such as pesticides and fertilizers into our food chain.  This law will ultimately prove immensely deleterious to the nation, especially for future generations.

 

Moreover, Philippine rural banks suddenly found themselves undercapitalized when the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) introduced new rules under Basel III imposing higher capital requirements for all banking institutions the world over.  The BIS has been severely criticized in the past for failing to monitor or anticipate the crises that arose from abuses committed by global banking and financial institutions of their financial powers and businesses, such as the Wall Street collapse in 2008 which caused the financial Armageddon still bedeviling the US and European economies.  The BIS has detractors aplenty, including US law scholar, economics researcher, and public banking advocate Ellen Brown, who wrote the article, “The Tower of Basel,” which likens the BIS abuse of power, arrogance, and corruption to the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel, at the same time exposing the international body’s plan to issue and control the global currency. 

 

A global currency to replace the US dollar today may be a relished prospect for many, but does anybody (except the global bankers) believe in having a band of secretive, elitist, unelected, and unaccountable powers, such as the BIS, define and control such a global currency?

 

For most Filipinos who invariably don’t know a thing about how their peso is controlled, much less manipulated, by alien elements, these issues do not matter.  For this reason, the Philippine economy is one of the most badly victimized by the global currency manipulators.

 

Every cycle of Philippine economic collapse has been precipitated by massive currency devaluations caused by global manipulations--from the decontrol by Diosdado Macapagal in the 1950s, which destroyed our incipient industrialization, to the 1970s devaluation that collapsed the Lopez empire, as well as the 1997-1998 Asian Financial Crisis.

 

Back to RA 10574 or the Foreign Equity Bill allowing 60 percent voting stocks ownership of Philippine rural banks by foreign interests, one rural bank association official said, “Now that foreign investments are allowed, rural banks are… in a better financial position to reach out and serve both the unbanked and under-banked through improved banking services.”  But the fact that stares at anyone who cares to open his eyes is, the Philippines, along with its banking system, is awash with cash, which only needs to be redirected by Philippine financial and banking authorities to rural banks.  This is evidenced by the repeated headlines in the business papers, such as “Cut in SDA rate seen to be just a matter of time,” which means the further reduction of interest rates, from 4 percent just months ago to 2 percent today and even lower in the weeks ahead, for the P2-trillion Special Deposit Account (SDA) with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

 

What is the BIS’ role in this?  It’s none other than to raise the equity requirements for all banks in the world under its aegis.

 

Rich and powerful countries such as China would have no problem with it as they are awash with cash and are still able to retain control over their currency while maintaining public ownership and management of all major financial and banking institutions.  For Philippine rural banks, however, no matter how well run, the requirement simply compels them to look for new sources of equity.

 

Basel III is a key to pushing small rural banking systems of many Third World countries to control by foreign funds.  What can and will surely follow is the rape of their economies.

 

The crafters of RA 10574 must have done their homework on how to justify the 60 percent foreign ownership of rural banks, which still ought to be subject to the constitutional provision protecting Filipino control; but we’ll do our part now with pro bono lawyers to examine the constitutionality of this law.

 

Slowly but surely, the Philippines is coming under the New World Order run from the centers of Western finance (i.e. the City of London; Basel, Switzerland; Wall Street), under the direction of the unelected and unelectable oligarchs of money and power circles, e.g., the Bilderberg Group (whose last meeting at Grove Hotel, Hertfordshire, England on June 9, came complete with a no-fly zone).

 

But that should no longer come as a surprise since everything in the Philippines, from the top--its president, the entire banking system--down to the grassroots level (rural banks), is being unquestioningly placed under the control of those whom financial critic Max Keiser calls the global financial “banksters.”

 

(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. on “Mon-Satan, the GMO evil”; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com; and text reactions to 09234095739)

Aliens over our rural banks

Aliens over our rural banks

(Herman Tiu Laurel / DieHard III / The Daily Tribune / 06-10-2013 MON)

 

While countless half-conscious thinking Filipinos (most of whom are not even thinking anymore) were being distracted by the antics of self-serving senators dramatizing their “sacrifices” for principles and country, countless more foreign exploiters continued to extract their pound of flesh from the Malacañang occupant whom they conspired to boost to power in 2010 through the Smartmatic Hocus-PCOS (precinct count optical scan) machines.

 

So, as expected, BS Aquino III delivered fast on many items on these foreign interests’ wish list.  The earliest was the implementation of the value-added tax (VAT) on toll fees, put off by PeNoy’s predecessor Gloria Arroyo for five years after the forced passage in 2005 of the so-called rVAT (deformed, not reformed).

 

Lately, we again picked up one little known concession to these alien SoBs that managed to creep surreptitiously through Congress but has now suddenly turned into law, reportedly allowing foreigners 60-percent ownership of Philippine rural banks.

 

That law was signed by BS Aquino III on May 24.  When I called my rural banker-friends about this, their reactions confirmed my worst fears.  A former head of a rural bank association in the country has sounded off the alarm that foreign interests with ominous intentions will now gain not only a foothold but control of the grassroots credit network of rural banks, allowing them to push programs that may be totally unhealthy for the Philippine economy and the Filipino people.

 

One example he cited has to do with control of rural financing and its access to farmers.  Under the new law, foreign companies such as Monsanto can now fast track their insertion of GMO (genetically modified organism) seeds and ancillary products such as pesticides and fertilizers into our food chain that will ultimately prove immensely harmful to the nation, especially for future generations that may be irreversibly damaged by these perilous products, which countless other countries are already rejecting today.

 

I picked up the information about BS Aquino III’s signing of RA 10574 from one of the dozen or so foreign newspaper columnists spread throughout print media.  This one I read from Ben D. Kritz of The Manila Times, who described the law BS Aquino III signed allowing majority foreign control of Philippine rural banks as “Only a gesture, but a welcome one.”

 

Kritz is a very good business writer and I have quoted him once before when his view of the Fitch’s and other ratings upgrades supported the correct view (which I have been impressing on the Filipino public’s mind) that these are just come-ons to get the Philippines to borrow more without really being investment-drivers.  This new item from him, though, reflects the core mission of all foreign columnists in our mainstream and second line print media--advancing foreign access into and control of the Philippine economy.

 

Kritz describes the Philippine rural banking sector as “troubled.”  Yet those troubles would not be there if not for the unhelpful policies of the Western-controlled international banking community and institutions.

 

The most recent imposition on the Philippine rural banking system comes all the way from Basel, Switzerland via the Basel III Accord around supposedly “global, voluntary regulatory standard on bank capital adequacy, stress testing and market liquidity risk… agreed upon by the members of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in 2010–11… scheduled to be introduced from 2013 until 2015…”

 

Basel III supposedly strengthens bank capital requirements by increasing bank liquidity and leverage.  But as a consequence, the vast majority of Philippine rural banks (no matter how well and professional these are run) are finding themselves undercapitalized.

 

Basel is the base for the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).  What emanates from it has come to be known at Basel I, II, and now III.  It’s also known as the central bank of central banks.  While few even know of this body, it rules with the power of life and death over hundreds of millions of people.

 

In the great, voluminous book by historian and theorist on the evolution of civilization, Dr. Carroll Quigley (“Tragedy and Hope: A History of Our Time”), he writes of the international bankers behind the BIS:

 

“I know of the operations of this network because I … was permitted … to examine its papers and secret records.  I have no aversion to it or to most of its aims and have, for much of my life, been close to it and to many of its instruments… The powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole.  This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences.  The apex of the system was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world’s central banks which were themselves private corporations.”  (Continued on Wednesday.)

 

(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. on “Mon-Satan, the GMO evil”; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com; and text reactions to 09234095739)

China: A better ally

China: A better ally

(Herman Tiu Laurel / DieHard III / The Daily Tribune / 12-03-2014 WED)

 

The United States of America invaded the Philippines at the turn of the last century and killed an estimated 600,000 to one million Filipinos in the Fil-American War that ensued.  It colonized the country until “granting” it independence in 1945 but forced onerous pacts such as the 1946 Bell Trade Act (later renamed the Laurel-Langley Agreement), the 1947 Military Bases Agreement, and the 1951 RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty.

 

In over 100 years, the US dragged Filipinos from the Fil-Am War to the War in Iraq--11 wars in total.

 

In 1991, the US bases, which were then only at Subic and Clark, were ejected.  Now, they’re back under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) that allows US bases all over the Philippines.

 

From 1945 to 2014, all attempts by Philippine leaders to transform the Philippines into a modern and prosperous society--from President Elpidio Quirino’s “Total Economic Mobilization” and President Carlos P. Garcia’s “Filipino First” policy to President Ferdinand Marcos’ “11 Industrial Projects” and energy development--had all been sabotaged by the US.

 

The late industrialist and former Philippine War and Agricultural Secretary Salvador Araneta explains in his 1999 book, “America’s double-cross of the Philippines: A democratic ally in 1899 and 1946,” how the Dodd’s Report of the US Congress demanded that the Philippines be made the vegetable garden of Japan for the latter to develop as an industrial bastion against rising China.

 

China has been a neighbor and trading partner of the Philippines for at least a millennium, as historian E.P. Patanne wrote, “Sulu political relations and cooperation with China dated back to the Yuan dynasty (1278-1368) … With Chinese co-operation, Sulu subsequently became an international emporium… Sulu featured prominently in the annals of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), being among the first country in the Nanhai (the Chinese term for the South China Sea) to send a tribute mission to China in 1370, two years after the founding of the Ming dynasty; then again in 1372.  Sulu continued to send tribute missions to China in 1416, 1420, 1421, 1423 (and) 1424.”

 

China has no intention of invading its neighbors despite Green Card holder Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario’s attempts to convince BS Aquino that China “lays claim to Western Luzon” (see Rigoberto Tiglao’s Nov. 30, 2014 Manila Times column quoting Trillanes’ report).  China has had encounters with neighboring countries over territorial disputes but it has never invaded any country.  Now, with China’s economy surpassing the US, it even engages in “soft diplomacy,” building economic alliances such as giving $700 billion in aid to ally Cambodia and $12 billion to Africa, building railroads in Latin America, or infusing massive funds to new financial alliances such as the BRICS, SCO, AIIB, NDB, et al. (we need one whole article just to explain these).

 

China today, guided by the “smiling” Communist Party of China (CPC), is a beacon of global cooperation for the World’s “peaceful development.”  I describe it as “smiling” for indeed all the Chinese officials who welcomed and discussed with the recent Filipino delegation, which I will henceforth call the PMTTD11.20.2014 (Philippine Media and Think Tank Delegation of Nov. 20 to 29, 2014), met every one of us and faced every difficult issue--particularly the very youngish IDCPC Deputy Director General Mr. Zhang Xuyi, who concluded his every response to the delegation’s even toughest questions from the youngest delegates on the West Philippine/China Sea--always with a smile.

 

A key initiative of China today is the New Silk Road and Maritime Silk Road program, which it is initially funding with $50 billion.  Unfortunately, unlike the ancient Silk Road, the Philippines is being skipped in today’s Maritime Silk Road map.

 

The China of the 12th Century is back to serve as the center of global economic resurgence, and the Philippines must be restored as, in the words of E.P. Patanne’s historical account, an “international emporium.”

 

Lucio Pitlo, one of our delegates, lately emailed me on how RP can negotiate on an equal footing with giant China; my reply: “Deng’s ‘bilateral talks and mutual development’ principle has always assumed equality of footing.”

 

The problem of Filipinos’ “inferiority complex” arising from the country’s unequal relationship with “Big Brother” USA, which it has “negotiated” with since 1945 under the shadow of economic, political, and military presence and blackmail of the US Filipinos, is such that our people, especially our youth (like our feistiest delegate Manila Times reporter Mr. Ping Bauzon), are fired with nationalistic pride and raring to prove it by militant defense of our islands without compromise, even without having a proper historical perspective in mind.

 

And so I raise the matter of Malampaya, which is “ours” in principle but from which Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon extract 90 percent of gas and revenues.  Can we proudly call Malampaya “ours” under this circumstance?  From all sources, China is willing to go 50/50.

 

However long it may take--but I hope it’s sooner than later, as we are losing out to the rest of Southeast Asia in riding the crest of the Asian Century with China’s rise--there will be a new, open, brotherly, and cooperative relationship between the Philippines and China, especially with the growing number of Filipinos living and working in there.  Here’s an article that highlights this growing Filipino sector: A Philippine Friendship Club in China by Austin Ong (http://www.austinong.com/blog-2133823458/-a-philippine-friendship-club-in-china).

 

(Listen to Sulô ng Pilipino, 1098 AM, dwAD, Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.; watch GNN Talk News TV with HTL on Destiny Cable Channel 8, SkyCable Channel 213, and www.gnntv-asia.com, Saturday, 8 p.m. and replay Sunday, 8 a.m.; search Talk News TV and date of showing on YouTube; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com; and text reactions to 0917-8658664)