INFOWARS
Herman Tiu Laurel
3/28/2008
Dear Gemma, your heartbreak letter pouring your disgust over corruption in the Philippines has circulated all over the Internet and returned to Manila as a piece in one of the mainstream newspapers. You rail as a “taxpayers” against the “criminals in ‘barong’” stealing the 30% from your income you pay as a citizen, expressing disgust over the senators associated with crooks (referring to Glorias gang) such as De Venecia, Enrile, Mike Defensor. I specially liked your snide on Joker Arroyo for “making a joke of his own ‘pag bad ka, lagot ka!’ ” You missed the mark somewhat when you allowed Gloria a leeway in saying “PGMA time and again turns a blind eye to her husband’s financial deals” – as if Gloria weren’t the mastermind of the entire caboodle of corruption.
You correctly lamented the attitude by some expat Filipinos: “They say the few stupid ones like me who remain in the Philippines are no longer capable of showing disgust.” It’s good you said that you “…don’t agree” and “Many like me feel anger at the brazenness of men we call our leaders, embarrassment to share the same nationality with them… But I am writing this because I need to do something concrete… I want to make it known that there are also Filipinos who dream of something better … I want them to know that my country is not filled with scalawags and crooks in every corner, and that there are citizens left who believe in decency, fairness…” You called for Filipinos to summon the power of good and implored “mothers out there to raise your children the best way you can…”
Ms. Dimaculangan, your letter struck a powerful chord among Filipinos abroad that they circulated it until your plaintive cry came all the way back to your home country. It rang a powerful bell in the hearts of your countrymen to your call not to be cynical but to let “… your voices be heard” to do “what you can for this land of your ancestors and your heritage”. But the question you have not provided an answer to is “what to do”. Before I proceed to give my response to your cries, Gemma, let me say that this country and its government is really replete with good, self-sacrificing and honest citizens – the vast majority of its soldiers and policemen are honest and faithful to their service despite living in pitiful hovels in squatter areas while the elite they protect wall themselves off in Forbes or Dasmariñas Village, or in Makati condos aeries.
There are over half-a-milion Filipino public school teachers and many, like Teacher Julie of Patubig Elementary School in Bulacan and Teacher Deo of Krus na Ligas High School in Quezon City, who work in oversized classes of up to seventy students. Underpaid and they often foot the bill for what the schools lack – such as a busted fluorescent light tube or even electricity payment the provincial and education funds can not cover because 60% of the National Budget goes to payment of external debt. Which really brings us to the international dimension of our crisis and the corruption of the country’s top government echelons: we are country endowed with natural bounties other countries covet and exploit while we grow poorer, but we never elected the most corrupt leaders like Arroyo whoe was installed by foreign powers with their local collaborators.
Take Edsa Dos which deposed a national leader elected by eleven million Filipinos in only two-and-a-half years in office; Estrada was not even given a chance to fail; he was never given the opportunity to prove the viability programs. Who did him in? This is what most people now know: A combination of local oligarchs in the power, water utility and telecommunications businesses aided by local Church potentates like Cardinal Sin, trapos par excellence like FVR with the most corrupt police and military generals like Ebdane, Mendoza, Espinosa, and proclaimed by a Supreme Court unfaithful to the Constitution. What few Filipinos realize is that Bush and corporate America were behind it too, to push the “War on Terror” and privatizat and plunder the national wealth.
Like many Filipinos, you do not see the methods of the foreign predatory powers that have plagued the country from Lapu-Lapu through Gabriela Silang, to Jose Rizal and Bonifacio down to this day: the foreign powers use their economic and political clout to put in their “governador-general”. The foreign powers were appointed to her “Council of Foreign Economic Advisers” Gloria. The foreign powers love corrupt leaders like Gloria Arroyo because they are “buyable”, and if the financial price becomes too high lie Gloria’s (the Chinese are bidding higher) then they are “blackmail-able” like in ZTE-NBN. Worse comes to worse, the foreign power can oust a leader by Filipino generals trained in Fort Bragg staging in “coup” disguised as “people power”. It was in the hope of ousting the foreign powers that Rizal, Bonifacio, Mabine et al dedicated their lives to National Revolution.
Ms. Dimaculangan, this aspect of foreign corruption of our national affairs is what you miss in your otherwise comprehensive review of corruption in our society. Putting moralof the story in a nutshell I turn to the current rice supply problem, which is a food supply issue. Arroyo’s regime used the agricultural budget for fertilizers to buy the 2004 elections while letting rice smuggling go unchecked the past seven years; President Estrada put a top priority food security, certified an irrigation expansion bill into law and prioritized other food programs – like milk production. The next food crisis is the global shortage of milk which is already felt everywhere in rising prices. Estrada put into law the Carabao Breeding Program, anticipating this milk crisis by a decade. Gloria has done nothing on this score, and it is the youngest Filipinos who will suffer.
President Marcos prioritized irrigation and food productivity while Cory Aquino cancelled almost all major irrigation dams Marcos initiated, yet to this day Marcos is demonized while Cory Aquino is lionized by the Western and local elite-controlled media. The fact is, in many surveys the pining for the “good old days” of tangible economic development and benefits of the Marcos era is growing in the hearts of many poor Filipinos. It is not easy to sort out the truth after the “demonization” of Marcos and Estrada by international and local media, and even by the educational system directed by those in control today. Over time truth will out and the un-Filipino character of the puppet leaders of the foreign powers are sure to be exposed completely while the pro-Filipino will stand out: deposed Marcos and Estrada had Filipino welfare at heart while Cory, FVR and Gloria who have enjoyed Western support have brought us to the present dire straits.
Corruption is always an issue, but not all corrupt countries get poorer and poorer like the Philippines. China and India are corrupt, higher than the Philippines in many corruption surveys but they are growing as economic dragons. You see, Gemma, the greatest corruption is betrayal of your country’s welfare. I have news reports on the milk crisis now in the U.S., Britain, India and many other countries. Like the early warning the past years on the growing rice shortage I am alerting Filipinos to the impending milk crisis for the Philippines – but as usual, few will take heed; while the country rails and flails about ZTE-NBN and corruption the next famine is creeping into every crib in every home: the milk shortage.
(Tune in to 1098AM, 8:30 to 9am, Monday to Friday)
Monday, March 7, 2011
Food Security: The Litmus Test of True Leadership
INFOWARS
Herman Tiu Laurel
3/24/2008
The worsening rice crisis today brings to light Filipino leaders' focus, or lack thereof, on the fundamental issue of national food self-reliance. Over the past four decades, the Philippines has enjoyed some self-sufficiency in its staple rice supply during Marcos' time--a fact that somehow cannot be remembered, much less, acknowledged by his incorrigible critics. The only other time when food self-sufficiency was ever made a national goal was during President Joseph E. Estrada's brief two and a half year stint when he championed food security as one of the country's top priorities. Again, rabid anti-Estrada barkers never focused on this important aspect of his governance as they preferred to demonize him with unfounded issues without end.
In contrast, Fidel V. Ramos, exalted by the Edsa Uno and Edsa Dos crowds, espoused the cultivation of "high value crops" such as black pepper and cut flowers for export. In turn, domestic planting of rice, corn, wheat, and other staples, which enjoyed surplus production in other countries, notably western ones like the U.S.A., were discouraged outright. Such a lopsided program was pursued by his rotund agriculture secretary, Roberto Sebastian. Ostensibly, this campaign was built on the principle of "globalized agriculture" wherein countries like the Philippines would become dependent on others for basic commodities. It became no accident then that the "rice pila" (queuing for rice), last seen during the Second World War, hit our country in 1996.
FVR's globalization logic went this way: the U.S. produces surplus rice and even has a program of donating rice supplies to countries in need, so why bother planting these when a country can get them so much cheaper from outside? Marcos didn't buy such mendicant mentality and insisted on self-sufficiency, prioritizing irrigation construction and rice exportation in 1968 even before collaboration with the International Rice Research Institute was formalized. Similarly, Imelda Marcos displayed more food sense, promoting vegetable planting in traffic islands and backyard food gardening to provide for the poor's needs.
FVR's policies certainly go back to Corazon C. Aquino who took the first steps to globalization when she deferred or cancelled thousands of water impounding projects in the Marcos era mini-hydros program, which used to provide cheap rural power. Mrs. Aquino paid lip service to irrigation construction but actually kowtowed to the West's demands to curtail it by cancelling vital hydroelectric dam projects such as Laiban, San Casecnan, San Roque and Chico. Her centerpiece "Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law" didn't help either as it limited government funding of CARP infrastructure (including irrigation) to only 25% while requiring 75% to be sourced from international funding, which dried up when global NGO's campaigned against World Bank loans and grants for hydroelectric dams. FVR revived the dam projects alright, but only to privatize and overprice them through his infamous Independent Power Producer contracts.
President Estrada, on the other hand, drew up one of his finest programs, the Carabao Breeding program, despite ridicule and belittlement from Ivy League "economists." That initiative led to the establishment of the Carabao Breeding Center in Nueva Ecija, which has shown resounding success. Even FVR's sister Leticia Shahani eagerly joined in and marveled at the increase in Carabao milk production for "kesong puti" and particularly, for mozzarella cheese for which it is most suited. If only Estrada's support for the Carabao program had continued uninterrupted, we could already be halfway in cutting the $ 500-M imports annually.
Throughout the two and a half year-government of Estrada, I was a critic out of my journalistic duty, despite having voted for him; but I turned to help his administration without even meeting him in year 2000 when it become obvious he was being victimized for some of his independent policies--among which was his "food security" program. His dedication continued even while in detention when he conceived his "Rebolusyon Kontra Gutom" to convey the continuing urgency of food security. To this day, Estrada has continued to distribute vegetable seeds and starter piglets to farm communities.
The food policy of a Philippine leader reveals more than what superficial political diatribes can bring out. While the demonization of Marcos and Estrada dominates Philippine media, their vital programs and advocacies are deliberately evaded, skirted or even suppressed. The fact that the two advocated the correct policies in many vital areas of governance, where Cory, FVR and Gloria all failed because of their adherence to the foreign diktats from Washington, is clearly a source of embarrassment for Edsa Uno and Dos apologists; hence, the incessant demonization. I have challenged Billy Esposo and Tony Abaya to public debates on these issues, yet they continue to hide behind mainstream media's anti-Marcos and Estrada mantra.
What the Filipino people and their compatriot OFW's should begin to appreciate is the geopolitics behind the Philippine political leaders' actions and the intellectual debates behind them. Being an economy primarily dependent on the U.S. and Japan, a vast majority of the Philippine intelligentsia is beholden to Western funding through academic or corporate, direct and indirect sponsorships, making independent thought among the Filipino intelligentsia increasingly rare. As I often say, the peasant with his one hectare-rice farm is more independent of mind than the economics scholars of U.P. or Ateneo because these two won't have their bowl of rice if they don't sell themselves while the farmer will have at least his own after the harvest.
The continuing Philippine food dependency can only be understood with a study of Henry Kissinger's "National Security Study Memorandum 200: Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security and Overseas Interests" and King George VI of Britain's 1944 Royal Commission on Population, which aimed "to consider what measures should be taken in the national interest to influence the future trend of population." These two studies found population growth in the Third World as a threat to their countries' national security because, "a populous country has decided advantages over a sparsely-populated one for industrial production" as what China and India are showing today.
Kissinger's memo asked: "Would food be considered an instrument of national power...Is the U.S. prepared to accept food rationing to help people who can't/won't control their population growth?" As such, thirteen countries were targeted for population and food control: India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Turkey, Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. Kissinger's memo translated into USAID-funded UN and local population control programs and a slash in IMF-WB funding for irrigation which hit hard Cory Aquino's 75% foreign sourcing CARP. It doomed Philippine agriculture to perpetual shortages and dependence on imports, defenseless against food being used as a weapon through global supply and price manipulation--just as she did when she started the process of privatization of oil and energy.
The Philippines continues to pay a dear price for allowing its leaders' subservience to U.S. diktats to keep the country dependent on food imports (hence, smuggling). The loss of independent political leadership to two U.S. & local oligarch plus mainstream media-engineered coup d'etats disguised as "people power" prevented a breakaway from centuries-old food import dependency. Now, a global food crisis is certain to cause growing famine in the Philippines, making an explosion of true people power from the hungry population of millions inevitable.
The third quarter of the year is traditionally the time when the rice crisis hits so we should begin to see new convulsions of the social volcano by then. But the prevailing globalist mindset among those in power and in the opposition offers no solution to the problem that requires long-term programs for national self-sufficiency. Visionary leaders and soldiers must pick up the cudgels in restoring our country's self-sustainability. It will be another chance for this revolutionary option to offer itself -- if it articulates a program well enough for all to hear.
(Tune in to 1098AM, "Kape't Kamulatan, Kabansa," Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 9:00am)
Herman Tiu Laurel
3/24/2008
The worsening rice crisis today brings to light Filipino leaders' focus, or lack thereof, on the fundamental issue of national food self-reliance. Over the past four decades, the Philippines has enjoyed some self-sufficiency in its staple rice supply during Marcos' time--a fact that somehow cannot be remembered, much less, acknowledged by his incorrigible critics. The only other time when food self-sufficiency was ever made a national goal was during President Joseph E. Estrada's brief two and a half year stint when he championed food security as one of the country's top priorities. Again, rabid anti-Estrada barkers never focused on this important aspect of his governance as they preferred to demonize him with unfounded issues without end.
In contrast, Fidel V. Ramos, exalted by the Edsa Uno and Edsa Dos crowds, espoused the cultivation of "high value crops" such as black pepper and cut flowers for export. In turn, domestic planting of rice, corn, wheat, and other staples, which enjoyed surplus production in other countries, notably western ones like the U.S.A., were discouraged outright. Such a lopsided program was pursued by his rotund agriculture secretary, Roberto Sebastian. Ostensibly, this campaign was built on the principle of "globalized agriculture" wherein countries like the Philippines would become dependent on others for basic commodities. It became no accident then that the "rice pila" (queuing for rice), last seen during the Second World War, hit our country in 1996.
FVR's globalization logic went this way: the U.S. produces surplus rice and even has a program of donating rice supplies to countries in need, so why bother planting these when a country can get them so much cheaper from outside? Marcos didn't buy such mendicant mentality and insisted on self-sufficiency, prioritizing irrigation construction and rice exportation in 1968 even before collaboration with the International Rice Research Institute was formalized. Similarly, Imelda Marcos displayed more food sense, promoting vegetable planting in traffic islands and backyard food gardening to provide for the poor's needs.
FVR's policies certainly go back to Corazon C. Aquino who took the first steps to globalization when she deferred or cancelled thousands of water impounding projects in the Marcos era mini-hydros program, which used to provide cheap rural power. Mrs. Aquino paid lip service to irrigation construction but actually kowtowed to the West's demands to curtail it by cancelling vital hydroelectric dam projects such as Laiban, San Casecnan, San Roque and Chico. Her centerpiece "Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law" didn't help either as it limited government funding of CARP infrastructure (including irrigation) to only 25% while requiring 75% to be sourced from international funding, which dried up when global NGO's campaigned against World Bank loans and grants for hydroelectric dams. FVR revived the dam projects alright, but only to privatize and overprice them through his infamous Independent Power Producer contracts.
President Estrada, on the other hand, drew up one of his finest programs, the Carabao Breeding program, despite ridicule and belittlement from Ivy League "economists." That initiative led to the establishment of the Carabao Breeding Center in Nueva Ecija, which has shown resounding success. Even FVR's sister Leticia Shahani eagerly joined in and marveled at the increase in Carabao milk production for "kesong puti" and particularly, for mozzarella cheese for which it is most suited. If only Estrada's support for the Carabao program had continued uninterrupted, we could already be halfway in cutting the $ 500-M imports annually.
Throughout the two and a half year-government of Estrada, I was a critic out of my journalistic duty, despite having voted for him; but I turned to help his administration without even meeting him in year 2000 when it become obvious he was being victimized for some of his independent policies--among which was his "food security" program. His dedication continued even while in detention when he conceived his "Rebolusyon Kontra Gutom" to convey the continuing urgency of food security. To this day, Estrada has continued to distribute vegetable seeds and starter piglets to farm communities.
The food policy of a Philippine leader reveals more than what superficial political diatribes can bring out. While the demonization of Marcos and Estrada dominates Philippine media, their vital programs and advocacies are deliberately evaded, skirted or even suppressed. The fact that the two advocated the correct policies in many vital areas of governance, where Cory, FVR and Gloria all failed because of their adherence to the foreign diktats from Washington, is clearly a source of embarrassment for Edsa Uno and Dos apologists; hence, the incessant demonization. I have challenged Billy Esposo and Tony Abaya to public debates on these issues, yet they continue to hide behind mainstream media's anti-Marcos and Estrada mantra.
What the Filipino people and their compatriot OFW's should begin to appreciate is the geopolitics behind the Philippine political leaders' actions and the intellectual debates behind them. Being an economy primarily dependent on the U.S. and Japan, a vast majority of the Philippine intelligentsia is beholden to Western funding through academic or corporate, direct and indirect sponsorships, making independent thought among the Filipino intelligentsia increasingly rare. As I often say, the peasant with his one hectare-rice farm is more independent of mind than the economics scholars of U.P. or Ateneo because these two won't have their bowl of rice if they don't sell themselves while the farmer will have at least his own after the harvest.
The continuing Philippine food dependency can only be understood with a study of Henry Kissinger's "National Security Study Memorandum 200: Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security and Overseas Interests" and King George VI of Britain's 1944 Royal Commission on Population, which aimed "to consider what measures should be taken in the national interest to influence the future trend of population." These two studies found population growth in the Third World as a threat to their countries' national security because, "a populous country has decided advantages over a sparsely-populated one for industrial production" as what China and India are showing today.
Kissinger's memo asked: "Would food be considered an instrument of national power...Is the U.S. prepared to accept food rationing to help people who can't/won't control their population growth?" As such, thirteen countries were targeted for population and food control: India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Turkey, Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. Kissinger's memo translated into USAID-funded UN and local population control programs and a slash in IMF-WB funding for irrigation which hit hard Cory Aquino's 75% foreign sourcing CARP. It doomed Philippine agriculture to perpetual shortages and dependence on imports, defenseless against food being used as a weapon through global supply and price manipulation--just as she did when she started the process of privatization of oil and energy.
The Philippines continues to pay a dear price for allowing its leaders' subservience to U.S. diktats to keep the country dependent on food imports (hence, smuggling). The loss of independent political leadership to two U.S. & local oligarch plus mainstream media-engineered coup d'etats disguised as "people power" prevented a breakaway from centuries-old food import dependency. Now, a global food crisis is certain to cause growing famine in the Philippines, making an explosion of true people power from the hungry population of millions inevitable.
The third quarter of the year is traditionally the time when the rice crisis hits so we should begin to see new convulsions of the social volcano by then. But the prevailing globalist mindset among those in power and in the opposition offers no solution to the problem that requires long-term programs for national self-sufficiency. Visionary leaders and soldiers must pick up the cudgels in restoring our country's self-sustainability. It will be another chance for this revolutionary option to offer itself -- if it articulates a program well enough for all to hear.
(Tune in to 1098AM, "Kape't Kamulatan, Kabansa," Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 9:00am)
Philippine tragi-comedy
INFOWARS
Herman Tiu Laurel
3/17/2008
These days, I laugh and cry alternately, like a madman. I laugh because Edsa Dos and Gloria Arroyo have gotten their just and painful deserts. But I cry
because the Filipino people have once again lost more in the struggle to oust the corrupt Gloria, installed by the same people who are now pretending to
lead the anti-corruption campaign against her. The patriotic and nationalist movement has gained some and lost some, with the balance slightly favoring the
positive. The big winner is the Anglo-U.S. tandem that instigated this Vic Corpus-Jun Lozada caper; the tandem retains its monopoly of knowledge of what and where the Philippines' submarine resources lay while leaving the Chinese bruised and
hurt--which ought to teach the latter a thing or two about dealing with corrupt regimes their adversaries install.
Many Filipinos were focused on the latest Leo San Miguel twist in the Senate as the ZTE story spun into a second phase – the China-bashing. The U.S. Embassy must now be laughing all the way to its group's newest oil digs in the Visayas and claims around its adjoining seas. A thousand and seven hundred kilometers down South in the Sulu islands of the Philippines, the American forces are now swarming all over it like a new protectorate of the U.S., according to our compatriots there. The great chess game across this great swathe of the Asia-Pacific is accelerating with the visit of U.S. Ambassador Kenney to MILF chief Murad Ebrahim last February 19 highlighting it – reminding me of my column a year ago, "Kosovo in Mindanao".
Meanwhile, the National Democratic Front organizations, namely Bayan, only managed to portray the paucity of their leadership of the anti-Arroyo movement by conducting a rally last Friday that showed how weak it is in shepherding the opposition forces. Even if it was joined by the conservative Catholic Church leaders who helped put on a number of shows on stage; what I saw and heard in that portion where a choir was singing "Kumbaya" (a song sarcastically depicted in movies and skits to connote a blandly pious and naively optimistic view of the world and human nature) left me depressed. If you know the lyrics you will see its inanity at once. Just check it out on the Internet and drown in its oozing mush, which is all right for a Girl Scout bonfire--but at a protest rally? C'mon, c'mon.
Honestly, I perceive that the Catholic Church is only in the anti-Gloria movement to dissipate it, not to escalate its power and militancy. From Day One of “Hello Garci” to the present ZTE exposé, it has not moved an inch to pressure for an early "retirement" of this corrupt regime – only now to end with their collective call, contained in the pastoral letter issued by Archbishop Angel Lagdameo on February 27 to give Gloria all the time to continue the cover ups. The letter has been publicly and heartily welcomed by Malacañang. If the truly progressive bishops want to help achieve any real change in this country, they will have to do it outside of the CBCP
which as an institution will always bow to the Papal Nuncio directed from Rome by Pope Ratzinger.
While some Catholic Church leaders have said "mea culpa" for their 2001 misdeed that inflicted Gloria on the nation, they have not proposed any real solution. It's singing "Kumbaya" while the bonfire is burning the country down. Their traditional allies are doing the same thing too, like the Jesuit Bernas and International Finance Corporation and World Bank exploitation agent, Christian Monsod who have also said "mea culpa"--admitting their error in 2001's Edsa Dos, yet asking the public to just trust them and just go by the present Constitutional process. What they do not say is that their Constitution of today is a travesty of THE real Constitution, an adulterous marriage contract of an illegal second marriage without the annulment of a first marriage.
The broad masses, as well as the middle class and students are not being taken in by these diversionary tactics. Note that very few masa joined the Liwasang Bonifacio rally last Friday and the students arrived mainly during the jamming portion of the rally as evening approached. The Edsa Tres came only in token numbers, while the Laban ng Masa was completely shut out. The Black and White didn't appear but their members represented by Leah Navarro and Boy Saycon, constituting an entire ten percent of the full force don't even matter. What people should look forward to is the Edsa Tres rally that will knock all of them down this coming April. That will be a resounding statement from the masa.
I am taking a philosophical attitude to the goings-on in the political front at this time. There’s a lull in the struggle brought about by the realignments from the February 29 mass rally in Makati. Some key leaders have in their own way found the wisdom in the strategy of "crystallizing and polarizing" that I have advocated all this time. Let the Bayan Muna and the Catholic bishops do their thing, but let the genuine opposition representing the masa reverberate by its own actions and its own voice. Echo what was declared at Edsa Tres – Poor People Power. Let the genuine issues ring out - exploitation of power, water and other public utilities by big corporations; the hunger and poverty; the violation of the people's right to choose their leaders, especially when this runs counter to the elite's wishes.
The link between the mundane hunger issues and the higher plane of geopolitical events needs to be established, to awaken the nation to the tragic-comedy; but there is no cooperation from the oligarchy-controlled media, the Church and the bureaucrat-controlled educational system. These vital national insights need to be impressed on the national consciousness: (a) Anglo-U.S. imperialism and Chinese expansionism can only be resisted with a zero-greed nationalist government; and (b) Philippine sovereign development is imperative if the nation is to survive the oligarchy-engineered and accelerating global political, energy and food crises. The shortest route to achieving national transformation is the emergence and acceptance of a nationalist vanguard leadership to jiu-jitsu the system (as what has been done in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador). The good news here is that that force already exists - the Bagong Katipunero movement and the patriotic civilian leadership.
Philippine political moods rise and ebb through three annual seasons, the next high tides are in May-June and July-August. Let us look forward to escalate the pressure for change again. Meanwhile, let the Holy Week vacation be an opportunity for consolidation for the next intensification of the struggle.
(Tune in to 1098AM, Kape't Kamulatan, Kabansa, Mon. to Fri., 8:30 to 9:00am)
Herman Tiu Laurel
3/17/2008
These days, I laugh and cry alternately, like a madman. I laugh because Edsa Dos and Gloria Arroyo have gotten their just and painful deserts. But I cry
because the Filipino people have once again lost more in the struggle to oust the corrupt Gloria, installed by the same people who are now pretending to
lead the anti-corruption campaign against her. The patriotic and nationalist movement has gained some and lost some, with the balance slightly favoring the
positive. The big winner is the Anglo-U.S. tandem that instigated this Vic Corpus-Jun Lozada caper; the tandem retains its monopoly of knowledge of what and where the Philippines' submarine resources lay while leaving the Chinese bruised and
hurt--which ought to teach the latter a thing or two about dealing with corrupt regimes their adversaries install.
Many Filipinos were focused on the latest Leo San Miguel twist in the Senate as the ZTE story spun into a second phase – the China-bashing. The U.S. Embassy must now be laughing all the way to its group's newest oil digs in the Visayas and claims around its adjoining seas. A thousand and seven hundred kilometers down South in the Sulu islands of the Philippines, the American forces are now swarming all over it like a new protectorate of the U.S., according to our compatriots there. The great chess game across this great swathe of the Asia-Pacific is accelerating with the visit of U.S. Ambassador Kenney to MILF chief Murad Ebrahim last February 19 highlighting it – reminding me of my column a year ago, "Kosovo in Mindanao".
Meanwhile, the National Democratic Front organizations, namely Bayan, only managed to portray the paucity of their leadership of the anti-Arroyo movement by conducting a rally last Friday that showed how weak it is in shepherding the opposition forces. Even if it was joined by the conservative Catholic Church leaders who helped put on a number of shows on stage; what I saw and heard in that portion where a choir was singing "Kumbaya" (a song sarcastically depicted in movies and skits to connote a blandly pious and naively optimistic view of the world and human nature) left me depressed. If you know the lyrics you will see its inanity at once. Just check it out on the Internet and drown in its oozing mush, which is all right for a Girl Scout bonfire--but at a protest rally? C'mon, c'mon.
Honestly, I perceive that the Catholic Church is only in the anti-Gloria movement to dissipate it, not to escalate its power and militancy. From Day One of “Hello Garci” to the present ZTE exposé, it has not moved an inch to pressure for an early "retirement" of this corrupt regime – only now to end with their collective call, contained in the pastoral letter issued by Archbishop Angel Lagdameo on February 27 to give Gloria all the time to continue the cover ups. The letter has been publicly and heartily welcomed by Malacañang. If the truly progressive bishops want to help achieve any real change in this country, they will have to do it outside of the CBCP
which as an institution will always bow to the Papal Nuncio directed from Rome by Pope Ratzinger.
While some Catholic Church leaders have said "mea culpa" for their 2001 misdeed that inflicted Gloria on the nation, they have not proposed any real solution. It's singing "Kumbaya" while the bonfire is burning the country down. Their traditional allies are doing the same thing too, like the Jesuit Bernas and International Finance Corporation and World Bank exploitation agent, Christian Monsod who have also said "mea culpa"--admitting their error in 2001's Edsa Dos, yet asking the public to just trust them and just go by the present Constitutional process. What they do not say is that their Constitution of today is a travesty of THE real Constitution, an adulterous marriage contract of an illegal second marriage without the annulment of a first marriage.
The broad masses, as well as the middle class and students are not being taken in by these diversionary tactics. Note that very few masa joined the Liwasang Bonifacio rally last Friday and the students arrived mainly during the jamming portion of the rally as evening approached. The Edsa Tres came only in token numbers, while the Laban ng Masa was completely shut out. The Black and White didn't appear but their members represented by Leah Navarro and Boy Saycon, constituting an entire ten percent of the full force don't even matter. What people should look forward to is the Edsa Tres rally that will knock all of them down this coming April. That will be a resounding statement from the masa.
I am taking a philosophical attitude to the goings-on in the political front at this time. There’s a lull in the struggle brought about by the realignments from the February 29 mass rally in Makati. Some key leaders have in their own way found the wisdom in the strategy of "crystallizing and polarizing" that I have advocated all this time. Let the Bayan Muna and the Catholic bishops do their thing, but let the genuine opposition representing the masa reverberate by its own actions and its own voice. Echo what was declared at Edsa Tres – Poor People Power. Let the genuine issues ring out - exploitation of power, water and other public utilities by big corporations; the hunger and poverty; the violation of the people's right to choose their leaders, especially when this runs counter to the elite's wishes.
The link between the mundane hunger issues and the higher plane of geopolitical events needs to be established, to awaken the nation to the tragic-comedy; but there is no cooperation from the oligarchy-controlled media, the Church and the bureaucrat-controlled educational system. These vital national insights need to be impressed on the national consciousness: (a) Anglo-U.S. imperialism and Chinese expansionism can only be resisted with a zero-greed nationalist government; and (b) Philippine sovereign development is imperative if the nation is to survive the oligarchy-engineered and accelerating global political, energy and food crises. The shortest route to achieving national transformation is the emergence and acceptance of a nationalist vanguard leadership to jiu-jitsu the system (as what has been done in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador). The good news here is that that force already exists - the Bagong Katipunero movement and the patriotic civilian leadership.
Philippine political moods rise and ebb through three annual seasons, the next high tides are in May-June and July-August. Let us look forward to escalate the pressure for change again. Meanwhile, let the Holy Week vacation be an opportunity for consolidation for the next intensification of the struggle.
(Tune in to 1098AM, Kape't Kamulatan, Kabansa, Mon. to Fri., 8:30 to 9:00am)
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