DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/11/10
Headlines last Saturday focused on the doubling of the congressional “pork barrel” through an extra P50 million allocated for each congressman, over and above the regular P70-million take, in exchange for “looking the other way on Aquino’s non-transparent lump sum appropriations in the tens of billions.” Also highlighted was the gargantuan concession by the Palace to now Rep. Gloria Arroyo — ostensibly for the same reason — of P2.2 billion in public works “pork” while adjacent congressional districts got measly amounts of a million or two.
These latest adjustments in the pork barrel already included amounts to appease several Visayan congressmen who earlier stonewalled the approval of the budget when they decried the “raw deal” they got from being left out of the huge pie. But that’s not all: All congressmen (save for those from the party-lists) will now get P25 million each from the Road Users Tax!
Everybody in Congress, especially that grimacing little Gloria, is now very happy — except for the public that’s sure to seethe over this. But getting mad is not going to change things unless there’s a physical revolt.
At least Aquino III is fulfilling his promise of “change,” except that it is not the “change” people expected of him during the campaign. As one Yellow mainstream daily headlined, Aquino III is sure to face the challenge of “Changing (the) old system;” but he’s doing it only for the worse — with more pork, more compromises with his avowed target, and more doublespeak than Gloria ever uttered in her first 100 days in 2001.
So what’s the point of forming the “Truth Commission” when even this early, Aquino III is already engaged in heavy horse trading with Gloria to get Malacañang’s lump sum appropriations through Congress? That’s another confirmation that Arroyo exercises tremendous clout in the Lower House; and I am not surprised, as the Speaker is an Arroyo crony himself.
All told, the whole system is a system of doublespeak, and the Filipino people would do well to put that in their minds and totally dismiss anything the caboodle of politicians, particularly the top honchos, will ever again say to the public.
My purpose of engaging in a continuing public discourse through radio, cable TV, and writing is to expose the doublespeak, the lies, which people are subjected to each and every moment of the day. A nation simply cannot survive on doublespeak; as vision cannot arise from lies. It is my hope that the Filipino people and the various social leaderships that are not party to this system of lies may come together and exterminate the lowlifes that have wormed their way into the corridors of power.
Last Friday night, in our celebration with close friends, one of the subjects that came up was the budget cut of P1.2 billion from the University of the Philippines, described by former UP president Dodong Nemenzo as “paralyzing.” This was discussed alongside the “K+12” plan of Aquino I+2II’s Bro. “Damaso,” Armin Luistro, that was heavily criticized as the increase in the overall education budget of P2 billion will only go to such a scheme that is overwhelmingly rejected by parents and public school teachers alike. We all agreed that since Luistro admonishes parents to look at “K” not as a burden but as an investment, he should first become a parent to know what he’s preaching about.
Ultimately, arguments for “K+12” center on “conforming to international practice” — yet another euphemism for globalization. So the best counter argument: Adding two years to poor quality education is still two more years of poor quality education!
Speaking of education, a surefire budget for “wrong education” is found in the huge increase for the Arroyo-esque “cash transfers” program. As an old Chinese saying goes, “Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, but teach a man to fish and he will feed himself forever,” it appears that neither Aquino III nor Dinky Soliman wants the Filipino poor to learn how to fish. By slashing the budget that higher education rightfully deserves, only to divert this to dole outs, thus “dumbing” down the people, the DSWD should now be called the “Department of Social Welfare Dependency.”
But wait: Given the huge increase in its budget, the DSWD now even has a housing component. As a result, the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council must be crying over scraps while Dinky thanks her lucky stars profusely. Why, she now has the wherewithal to buy several 4x4 pick-ups to spread her dole outs. And even as she continues to deny that these are SUVs (only “trucks,” without ever mentioning the brand), any idiot will know that a 4x4 pick-up is also an SUV! Another doublespeak again.
PS — I lost my main cellphone last week and won’t be able to respond nor act on requests for a while. I committed to see some visitors to Manila from Mindanao referred by Dionisio Lopez of Zamboanga. Although I am very eager to meet with them, I hope Diony will understand my predicament. If the visitors are still in Manila by the time this column reaches Diony, he can text me at 0922-8797627. Regular texters can also send their reactions and suggestions to this number, especially those who send their views for our radio program discussions.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m. on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Monday, October 11, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
7,748 plus 100 days of Yellow infamy
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/08/2010
Aquino III is but a continuation of Gloria Arroyo, as Arroyo was an extension of Fidel Ramos, who, in turn, carried over policies of Cory Aquino, the first Yellow puppet to have kicked off the globalist neo-colonial counter-revolution against Ferdinand Marcos’ national economic development program spearheaded by past nation-building presidents, Quirino and Garcia.
Simply put, Aquino III cannot be seen in any other light. Apart from not having his own agenda, he and his Cabinet have only upheld a policy of mendicancy, dependency, and enslavement to the oppressive Washington cabal (that subsidizes its crony oligarchs around the Makati Business Club), while taxing and exploiting the people, pulling economic support out from under them, and negating initiatives toward self-reliance and self-sustaining productivity.
Grading Aquino III from this exploitative angle, one can indeed agree with the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s 90-percent score for him. On the other hand, if, like most of the 90 million or so Filipinos, the gauge will be faithfulness to such campaign promises as honesty, integrity and change (from Gloria’s deceitfulness, complicity in corruption and crime, cronyism, nepotism, competence, disservice to the people, alleviation of their burdens, better governance, etc.), then there are not enough Ds and Es to write down on PeNoy’s report card.
A very good example is the Malacañang Press Corps which has, among its ranks, the nearest yet objective people around the official Cabinet and their boss. In an informal survey among them, 17 Palace reporters gave Aquino III a C, seven a D, while two gave him a B and one an E.
From what I can see in my interviews with the common folk, these Palace reporters reflect the rest of the country’s views. Although they may be polite, they’re unwilling to give even an overall passing mark. Reality, however, has a way of being distorted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) of Mahar Mangahas when it comes to the rescue of the Yellows’ political pets through manipulated popularity surveys whenever needed.
The latest SWS survey from Sept. 24 to 27 puts Aquino III’s satisfaction rating at 71 percent satisfied against 11 percent dissatisfied. This, as office secretaries, guards and janitors I come across are all one in rating Aquino III far worse than how the Palace reporters graded him. Well, this SWS survey is just a repeat of how the Yellow myth was earlier buttressed when Aquino III’s trust rating in July zoomed to 83 percent, even when over half of the nation voted against him.
The myth of Aquino’s popularity has to be maintained by the ruling class of oligarchs, their media and their minions to effectively follow the diktats of their foreign patrons. We often hear from the spokesmen of Aquino III the mantra of “sacrificing political capital to implement harsh measures” whenever they raise taxes and fees on toll ways, remove senior citizens’ VAT exemptions, pull out subsidies for public utilities such as the MRT, penalize farmers by eliminating price subsidies, as well as help Aquino III cover up serious transgressions of ethics, morality and trust (from the complicity of Aquino III’s lieutenants in the increasingly rampant jueteng operations to his direct personal failures, such as in the Hong Thai hostage tragedy, ad nausea).
For sure, the powers-that-be still have to stretch that illusory political capital as more pains are to be inflicted, such as the looming MRT fare hike in a month’s time.
Like the first two years of Gloria Arroyo, the Establishment is maintaining the perception that “while the lieutenants may be fouling up, Aquino III is still personally a good leader.” Hence, they’re postponing the day when the people would eventually blame the top honcho himself — or so they think.
In this light, the Reproductive Health (RH) bill brouhaha, supposedly pitting Aquino III versus the Catholic hierarchy, has become a PR manna from heaven for Malacañang’s spin masters for now. Aquino III is cast as an underdog against the archaic Church, while the continuing jueteng and other scandals, plus issues of economic hardship, are conveniently set aside.
I believe that in spite of the Catholic hierarchy knowing the RH bills to be antiquated, the bishops are only too happy to figure in this moro-moro with their Yellow santa’s only son. It’s a farce made more glaring by the fact that the Yellows, who are now protesting Church intervention against their dummy, celebrated the same when it was used against Marcos and Erap.
In the final analysis, since the first 100 days is not a grading period but a moment for taking the nation’s bearings, we ask: Where is the helmsman taking the ship? Lao Tse said that the journey of a thousand miles begins with one single step. But where is that first step headed? Or where is RP’s ship of state headed to?
Aquino III’s sails may be billowing but the anchors are still down! Even if he reached the malls of America and the steps of the UN building, in policy matters, he is merely running stationary, going nowhere. His first 100 days is just more added to the 7,748 days (24 years less Estrada’s two-and-a-half) of the same political-economic paradigm that Cory set in 1987, with the country being fed on a lot of wind, getting poorer, and ever more dependent on rice imports and manpower exports, with ever-growing debt and demoralization of the people.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m. on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/08/2010
Aquino III is but a continuation of Gloria Arroyo, as Arroyo was an extension of Fidel Ramos, who, in turn, carried over policies of Cory Aquino, the first Yellow puppet to have kicked off the globalist neo-colonial counter-revolution against Ferdinand Marcos’ national economic development program spearheaded by past nation-building presidents, Quirino and Garcia.
Simply put, Aquino III cannot be seen in any other light. Apart from not having his own agenda, he and his Cabinet have only upheld a policy of mendicancy, dependency, and enslavement to the oppressive Washington cabal (that subsidizes its crony oligarchs around the Makati Business Club), while taxing and exploiting the people, pulling economic support out from under them, and negating initiatives toward self-reliance and self-sustaining productivity.
Grading Aquino III from this exploitative angle, one can indeed agree with the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s 90-percent score for him. On the other hand, if, like most of the 90 million or so Filipinos, the gauge will be faithfulness to such campaign promises as honesty, integrity and change (from Gloria’s deceitfulness, complicity in corruption and crime, cronyism, nepotism, competence, disservice to the people, alleviation of their burdens, better governance, etc.), then there are not enough Ds and Es to write down on PeNoy’s report card.
A very good example is the Malacañang Press Corps which has, among its ranks, the nearest yet objective people around the official Cabinet and their boss. In an informal survey among them, 17 Palace reporters gave Aquino III a C, seven a D, while two gave him a B and one an E.
From what I can see in my interviews with the common folk, these Palace reporters reflect the rest of the country’s views. Although they may be polite, they’re unwilling to give even an overall passing mark. Reality, however, has a way of being distorted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) of Mahar Mangahas when it comes to the rescue of the Yellows’ political pets through manipulated popularity surveys whenever needed.
The latest SWS survey from Sept. 24 to 27 puts Aquino III’s satisfaction rating at 71 percent satisfied against 11 percent dissatisfied. This, as office secretaries, guards and janitors I come across are all one in rating Aquino III far worse than how the Palace reporters graded him. Well, this SWS survey is just a repeat of how the Yellow myth was earlier buttressed when Aquino III’s trust rating in July zoomed to 83 percent, even when over half of the nation voted against him.
The myth of Aquino’s popularity has to be maintained by the ruling class of oligarchs, their media and their minions to effectively follow the diktats of their foreign patrons. We often hear from the spokesmen of Aquino III the mantra of “sacrificing political capital to implement harsh measures” whenever they raise taxes and fees on toll ways, remove senior citizens’ VAT exemptions, pull out subsidies for public utilities such as the MRT, penalize farmers by eliminating price subsidies, as well as help Aquino III cover up serious transgressions of ethics, morality and trust (from the complicity of Aquino III’s lieutenants in the increasingly rampant jueteng operations to his direct personal failures, such as in the Hong Thai hostage tragedy, ad nausea).
For sure, the powers-that-be still have to stretch that illusory political capital as more pains are to be inflicted, such as the looming MRT fare hike in a month’s time.
Like the first two years of Gloria Arroyo, the Establishment is maintaining the perception that “while the lieutenants may be fouling up, Aquino III is still personally a good leader.” Hence, they’re postponing the day when the people would eventually blame the top honcho himself — or so they think.
In this light, the Reproductive Health (RH) bill brouhaha, supposedly pitting Aquino III versus the Catholic hierarchy, has become a PR manna from heaven for Malacañang’s spin masters for now. Aquino III is cast as an underdog against the archaic Church, while the continuing jueteng and other scandals, plus issues of economic hardship, are conveniently set aside.
I believe that in spite of the Catholic hierarchy knowing the RH bills to be antiquated, the bishops are only too happy to figure in this moro-moro with their Yellow santa’s only son. It’s a farce made more glaring by the fact that the Yellows, who are now protesting Church intervention against their dummy, celebrated the same when it was used against Marcos and Erap.
In the final analysis, since the first 100 days is not a grading period but a moment for taking the nation’s bearings, we ask: Where is the helmsman taking the ship? Lao Tse said that the journey of a thousand miles begins with one single step. But where is that first step headed? Or where is RP’s ship of state headed to?
Aquino III’s sails may be billowing but the anchors are still down! Even if he reached the malls of America and the steps of the UN building, in policy matters, he is merely running stationary, going nowhere. His first 100 days is just more added to the 7,748 days (24 years less Estrada’s two-and-a-half) of the same political-economic paradigm that Cory set in 1987, with the country being fed on a lot of wind, getting poorer, and ever more dependent on rice imports and manpower exports, with ever-growing debt and demoralization of the people.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m. on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Monday, October 4, 2010
Entrepeneurship vs mendicancy
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/04/2010
The Aquino III “working visit” to the US lasted for eight days. The daily reports of his hotdogs and hamburgers, photo ops of his walking in front of landmarks, and one or two gatherings with US-based Filipinos streamed into Manila’s front pages everyday that week. What is clear is that the PR machinery was working; but was Aquino III really working at all?
Three items highlighted that trip: (1) the US dole out agency, Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC), and its so-called $434 million grant (spread over five years) “for Aquino III’s compliance with anti-corruption standards;” (2) his seven minutes of glory chatting with Obama; and (3) the so-called $2.8 billion “investments” he claims to have brought home.
That the five-year MCC grant was released due to Aquino III’s anti-corruption credentials is an outright lie. This dole out has been flowing since 2003, going primarily to Mindanao projects where the US runs “conflict resolution” and “better governance” programs through the MCC, the US Agency for International Development (USAid), and groups such as the US Institute for Peace (USIP) led by J. Robinson West as Chairman, who is also head of PFC Energy (the US’ largest energy advisor).
If anything, this only reveals the pincer moves toward Uncle Sam’s goal: The capture of the oil, natural gas, and other resources of Mindanao through “peace” with the MILF and the establishment of a BangsaMoro Juridical Entity which Aquino III has given a positive spin lately.
Meanwhile, the promise of $2.8 billion in investments by a country that is now on the brink of financial and economic collapse is only fool’s gold, and Aquino III is bandying it about as if he had birds in hand. Well, his little birdies should have told him that the US’ promises to the Philippines have all been broken from the day it held sway over this Malay nation that was the first to succeed in an anti-colonial revolution, only to be betrayed when it was sold for $20 million.
Over the century that has passed, the US has already siphoned gold and other riches from the Philippine archipelago; utilized its strategic sea passages and harbors for imperial dominance and used our people as cannon fodder for the Second World War; aside from aborting the nation’s efforts toward industrialization through the Quirino, Garcia, and Marcos governments.
As we cringe at how Philippine media echoed the crowing of the Aquino III begging entourage, I am particularly incensed at one radio tandem that enthused over the reported $1-billion investment an American softdrink firm is supposed to make for “strengthening marketing execution and enhancing system logistics and delivery capabilities in order to better serve its expanding customer and consumer base” in the Philippines — which can only mean the proliferation of more diabetics in the Philippines!
Why, confusion even attended this announcement as Gloria Arroyo also boasted of a $1-billion investment in August of 2009. So the only thing new in this is the “press release.” And that’s why the soft drink company and Ricky Carandang stumbled over themselves to assure that it’s a new $1 billion coming.
It has often been said that “beggars cannot be choosers;” and that promises and illusions tide over the hunger by helping someone escape his dire realities. These are probably the reasons mendicancy, dependency, and escapism have become Aquino III’s answer to the national economic crisis, given the importance his government has placed on the begging-cum-propaganda mission.
Yet that’s what Filipinos have done decade after decade — waiting for manna from the Big Apple’s heaven while the rest of Asia started sailing away to become tiger economies in the 1980s and 1990s. This they’ve precisely done by shunning the beggar’s mindset while striving for self-reliance and economic development.
And as these are also the hallmarks of entrepreneurship, we ask: What if PeNoy never left for the US to gulp its hotdogs and burgers and just rolled up his sleeves to work on the nation’s farms and industries?
What if Aquino III sat down with the Philippine coconut industry and tapped the 330 million coconut trees for more than its crude oil, by adding nutra-ceuticals, pharmaceuticals, as well as industrial and ecological materials into the product mix, to multiply by five times the sector’s present $1-billion output?
What if Aquino III rolled up the hem of his pants and walked the rice paddies to figure out how to match China’s rice productivity of 6.6 tons per hectare and raise Philippine output from the present 3.8 tons?
What if Aquino III hunkers down with industrial and residential electricity consumers to formulate a plan to narrow the gap of electricity prices in the Philippines with that of our Asian neighbors to spur manufacturing and employment growth?
What if, instead of allowing Cesar Purisima to increase the national debt with bonds issued to his banker-masters, Aquino III sat down with groups such as the Freedom from Debt Coalition and worked on auditing the debt to cut down RP’s debt-servicing?
What if the country had an entrepreneurial instead of a mendicant political leadership? Wouldn’t that offer us a more dignified, promising, and progressive Philippines, especially for the next generation? Ah, but can a mendicant see beyond the crumbs laid out before him?
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m. on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/04/2010
The Aquino III “working visit” to the US lasted for eight days. The daily reports of his hotdogs and hamburgers, photo ops of his walking in front of landmarks, and one or two gatherings with US-based Filipinos streamed into Manila’s front pages everyday that week. What is clear is that the PR machinery was working; but was Aquino III really working at all?
Three items highlighted that trip: (1) the US dole out agency, Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC), and its so-called $434 million grant (spread over five years) “for Aquino III’s compliance with anti-corruption standards;” (2) his seven minutes of glory chatting with Obama; and (3) the so-called $2.8 billion “investments” he claims to have brought home.
That the five-year MCC grant was released due to Aquino III’s anti-corruption credentials is an outright lie. This dole out has been flowing since 2003, going primarily to Mindanao projects where the US runs “conflict resolution” and “better governance” programs through the MCC, the US Agency for International Development (USAid), and groups such as the US Institute for Peace (USIP) led by J. Robinson West as Chairman, who is also head of PFC Energy (the US’ largest energy advisor).
If anything, this only reveals the pincer moves toward Uncle Sam’s goal: The capture of the oil, natural gas, and other resources of Mindanao through “peace” with the MILF and the establishment of a BangsaMoro Juridical Entity which Aquino III has given a positive spin lately.
Meanwhile, the promise of $2.8 billion in investments by a country that is now on the brink of financial and economic collapse is only fool’s gold, and Aquino III is bandying it about as if he had birds in hand. Well, his little birdies should have told him that the US’ promises to the Philippines have all been broken from the day it held sway over this Malay nation that was the first to succeed in an anti-colonial revolution, only to be betrayed when it was sold for $20 million.
Over the century that has passed, the US has already siphoned gold and other riches from the Philippine archipelago; utilized its strategic sea passages and harbors for imperial dominance and used our people as cannon fodder for the Second World War; aside from aborting the nation’s efforts toward industrialization through the Quirino, Garcia, and Marcos governments.
As we cringe at how Philippine media echoed the crowing of the Aquino III begging entourage, I am particularly incensed at one radio tandem that enthused over the reported $1-billion investment an American softdrink firm is supposed to make for “strengthening marketing execution and enhancing system logistics and delivery capabilities in order to better serve its expanding customer and consumer base” in the Philippines — which can only mean the proliferation of more diabetics in the Philippines!
Why, confusion even attended this announcement as Gloria Arroyo also boasted of a $1-billion investment in August of 2009. So the only thing new in this is the “press release.” And that’s why the soft drink company and Ricky Carandang stumbled over themselves to assure that it’s a new $1 billion coming.
It has often been said that “beggars cannot be choosers;” and that promises and illusions tide over the hunger by helping someone escape his dire realities. These are probably the reasons mendicancy, dependency, and escapism have become Aquino III’s answer to the national economic crisis, given the importance his government has placed on the begging-cum-propaganda mission.
Yet that’s what Filipinos have done decade after decade — waiting for manna from the Big Apple’s heaven while the rest of Asia started sailing away to become tiger economies in the 1980s and 1990s. This they’ve precisely done by shunning the beggar’s mindset while striving for self-reliance and economic development.
And as these are also the hallmarks of entrepreneurship, we ask: What if PeNoy never left for the US to gulp its hotdogs and burgers and just rolled up his sleeves to work on the nation’s farms and industries?
What if Aquino III sat down with the Philippine coconut industry and tapped the 330 million coconut trees for more than its crude oil, by adding nutra-ceuticals, pharmaceuticals, as well as industrial and ecological materials into the product mix, to multiply by five times the sector’s present $1-billion output?
What if Aquino III rolled up the hem of his pants and walked the rice paddies to figure out how to match China’s rice productivity of 6.6 tons per hectare and raise Philippine output from the present 3.8 tons?
What if Aquino III hunkers down with industrial and residential electricity consumers to formulate a plan to narrow the gap of electricity prices in the Philippines with that of our Asian neighbors to spur manufacturing and employment growth?
What if, instead of allowing Cesar Purisima to increase the national debt with bonds issued to his banker-masters, Aquino III sat down with groups such as the Freedom from Debt Coalition and worked on auditing the debt to cut down RP’s debt-servicing?
What if the country had an entrepreneurial instead of a mendicant political leadership? Wouldn’t that offer us a more dignified, promising, and progressive Philippines, especially for the next generation? Ah, but can a mendicant see beyond the crumbs laid out before him?
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m. on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
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