DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
12/5/2011
The only moment my interest in the ongoing drama between Gloria Arroyo and the Yellow government perked up was when the former’s mouthpiece, Elena Bautista-Horn, broached the idea of a “Put the Little Girl to Sleep” plot brewing--hence, the PeNoy government’s obsession to put the “little girl” in a government hospital where it could be carried out.
At first, I reacted to it as I would to any joke; but on second thought I realized that there are many, many parties who would like to permanently bury their fears of whatever beans GMA may someday spill about them. For starters, there’s a host of oligarchs who used her government to obtain their behest loans and sweetheart deals that were all injurious to the people. There are still more military and police generals, who raked in billions under her watch, dreading the prospect of being exposed. Then, there are the geopolitical twists, which the US fears Gloria can fiddle with to save her hide.
That last notion gained provenance when I saw on the History Channel the feature on the “Ampatuan Massacre” and the manner in which the American producers portrayed Arroyo and stressed her closeness to the Ampatuans. To most Filipinos, this is an obvious fact; but to an analyst of US full spectrum propaganda and cultural warfare like me, this is a significant half-truth.
True, Arroyo depended on the Ampatuans for election engineering, but so did PeNoy’s mother, Corazon Aquino, who was the one who raised the Ampatuans from small-time provincial warlords to full-fledged major ARMM (Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao) players as a counterfoil to the Muslim politicians of the Marcos era.
We also know from Yellow sources that PeNoy was, in fact, scheduled to visit the Ampatuans for his 2007 senatorial bid just before the massacre took place, and only then--like every other politician who used to beeline to the clan for their vote additions--did he avoid the Ampatuans like the plague.
The bias of US political strategists for the Aquinos and (currently) against Arroyo was evident in the WikiLeaks-obtained e-mails of the US Embassy in Manila to its home office. There, it was shown that the 2005 Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) decision on the distribution of Hacienda Luisita land to its farmers was followed with concern. The embassy also interpreted that order as Gloria’s way of getting back at Cory, supposedly after the latter joined the so-called Hyatt 10’s Arroyo ouster call on July 11 of that year--a move that had all the markings of a US-sanctioned operation. Back then, Arroyo was already getting much too playful with Chinese interests at a time when the “Hello Garci” exposé became too much of a liability for the US-aligned ruling class here.
Before that, things were pretty honky dory between the two: Cory, after spearheading Edsa II, gave Gloria her all-out support through several military mutinies, even raising her hand after the Oakwood incident. In the 2004 polls, they were together in preventing an FPJ win. Later, Gloria gave the Aquino-Cojuangcos military support which led to the Hacienda Luisita massacre.
Despite former US Ambassador Kristie Kenney’s fondness for Arroyo, the US State Department clearly didn’t fancy her anymore midway through the previous decade. Still, none of that constitutes any real possibility that they have any interest to do her in. It’s the domestic elements that have connived and conspired with Gloria where any danger could come.
Just as unseen forces snuffed the life out of PeNoy’s father, Ninoy Aquino, those out to sow chaos by creating a trigger for a major destabilization move or to cover up for a brewing major scandal, may well decide that putting the little girl to sleep would fit their desired scenario perfectly.
On the other hand, it could simply be a case of the little girl wanting to put herself to sleep, seeing that her “castle in the air” has crumbled despite the meticulously planned Aquinorroyo zarzuela and other defense or exit strategies.
But would Gloria Arroyo do an Angie Reyes (assuming Angie Reyes really did himself in)? As far as lawyer and legal icon Alan Paguia is concerned, that case still cannot be closed until all the legal requirements are met (which haven’t). Besides, the supposedly grieving Reyes family is now enjoying a few hundred millions of public money, which they apparently no longer have to account for. But, as the former Edsa II general purportedly took his life due to “honor,” the danger of an Angie Reyes redux for Gloria is diminished since she has none of it.
The only real danger to Arroyo probably will come from what President Joseph Estrada and his senator-son Jinggoy have warned about: The wily rodents at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center.
On a more serious note, these have come out in various international media since our last column “A creeping World War III:” From GlobalResearch, “So concerned has the Kremlin become about the growing American fascist police state it caused General Nikolai Makarov, Russia’s top military commander, to issue a warning to the West last week that the Motherland was fully prepared for a nuclear World War III and which prompted the Obama regime to state that it would immediately cease observing their arms treaty with Russia;” from Prison Planet, “Citing a report by China’s Central Television… an unnamed government official warned (the US and Nato), ‘Any threat to Pakistan is a threat to China’;” and from various news sites, “Chinese General Threatens ‘Third World War’ To Protect Iran… Major General Zhang Zhaozhong commented that, ‘China will not hesitate to protect Iran even with a third world war.’”
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Saturday, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Compensation?
BACKBENCHER
Rod Kapunan
12/3-4/2011
Now that the Supreme Court has decided last November 23 to distribute the remaining 4,915 hectares of the sprawling Hacienda Luisita —the property which historically has been laced with murders and assassinations—to the farmers, the next question is whether the landlord clan of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III would insist on payment for compensation.
Once this question ripens to actual court litigation it could mean another setback to the farmers who since 1968 have been waiting for their share of the land they tilled. For 43 long years or ten years after the purchase by Don Jose Cojuangco on March 31, 1958 from Tabacalera, the distribution of the original 6,400-hectare hacienda was made part of the condition to secure loan from the Government Service Insurance System and from the then Central Bank of the Philippines.
Specifically, the Monetary Board of the CB, by virtue of Resolution No. 1240, granted to Jose Cojuangco the loan of $2,128,480 for the purchase of the sugar mill. Finding interest in buying the plantation, he secured a second loan of P5.9 million from the GSIS, which was approved by the board of trustees in Resolution No. 3202. Part of the deal was to distribute the land after ten years pursuant to the land reform program of the government.
On its face, the decision is a judicial landmark to the estimated 6,296 farmer-beneficiaries considering that the person who will be affected is no less than the President. They have every reason to rejoice for that would mean their emancipation from the bondage of the soil. But taking a second look at the decision, one could not help suspect that the highly polarized magistrates, with one abstention, coalesced in voting to have the hacienda subdivided.
Maybe the Arroyo-appointed loyalists were out to embarrass what they see as a good-for-nothing administration. For the Aquino-appointed justices, their concurrence has been interpreted as a consciously sorted-out strategy; that possibly, Malacañang had given them the “go” signal. One cannot discount that for in no time the Secretary of Agrarian Reforms, Gil de los Reyes, came out with a statement saying he would immediately seek the enforcement of the decision once it becomes final, while PNoy expressed no objection provided they are paid their just compensation.
To give in to this possible clever scheme of being paid based on the present fair value of the property would amount to another round of swindling. Any right-minded appraiser would say that if ever the owners of the hacienda are to be paid the value for their property, appraisal should be based in the 1968 valuation. The land cannot be assessed beyond that period because the owners stand in default on their loan agreement. So, if they got it say for a total of P10 million, considering that the exchange rate at that time of the peso was 2:1 to the US dollar, the increase in the value of the property could not exceed P200 million by 1968.
More so that a decision has been rendered on December 2, 1985 by then Judge Bernardo Pardo of the Manila Regional Trial Court, Branch XLII, who that early decided in favor of subdividing the hacienda to the farmers. It would not only be unconscionable, but another round of injustice to the farmer-beneficiaries, who by that arrangement, would have to pay the amortization to the government financial institution that will advance the payment of compensation to the Cojuangcos.
Besides, the Cojuangcos have not even accounted for a centavo of the P1.3 billion they earned for the disposition of a portion of the hacienda into industrial estates and the exorbitant payment made by the government for the construction of a right-of-way that cut deep into their manor, nor has presented a record indicating full payment of taxes for the property.
Nonetheless, if it could no longer be distributed to the beneficiaries, at least it should be reverted to those who will be deprived of the land or distributed as dividend to the holders of those worthless SDO who were made to rely on them as supplement to their meager income. In the final analysis, it should be the farmers who should be compensated because of the number of years they were deprived of income from the land which could have been used for their amortization.
For the farmer-beneficiaries, it is not the value of the land that matters, but on its productivity much that they cannot sell that. This notwithstanding that a great portion of the land has become a veritable talahiban after the owners almost abandoned planting sugar. After the Laurel-Langley Agreement expired on July 3, 1974, the so-called sugar barons then lost their preferential sugar quota allocation, which was their main source of income.
In addition, the Cojuangcos cannot for long make Marcos their “whipping boy” for their economic debacle, but on their selfish tenacity to hold on to the property. Presidential Decree Nos. 27 issued on October 12, 1972 and 1066 issued on December 31, 1976 clearly exempted from land reform sugar lands, and Marcos did that to precisely protect the sugar industry.
f there is somebody the Cojuangcos could blame, they should blame Mrs. Aquino herself. In her eagerness to make pasikat that her version of land reform would be much better than that of the “dictator” she denounced, the 1987 Constitution drafted by her appointed minions declared in no uncertain terms that all agricultural lands shall be subject to land reform. That was bolstered by the approval of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program. When she realized her blunder, she backpedaled by ordering the circumvention of her own laws. Instead of a piece of land, the farmers were given a piece of paper cleverly dubbed as “stock distribution option” (SDO).
Death finally came to their family’s business after her anointed successor, Fidel Ramos, in his usual grand hallucination opened wide the country’s economic door to globalization. Our sugar industry was mercilessly battered by competition because of our inherently high cost of production. Despite that, the Cojuangcos continued to cling on to their property, while converting the choice cuts into industrial estates, thereby gaining more from the business of real estate than in producing sugar.
As usual, the farmers were made to wait, unaware their landlords were already engaged in the speculative selling of lands, and the final trophy was the decision of the Supreme Court for possibly their prayer for just compensation might end up in them becoming the richest family in the country. At the same time, PNoy would appear pro-poor not knowing that the amortization would be equivalent to the proverbial saying of “giving the farmers the rope for them to hang themselves”.
(rodkap@yahoo.com)
Rod Kapunan
12/3-4/2011
Now that the Supreme Court has decided last November 23 to distribute the remaining 4,915 hectares of the sprawling Hacienda Luisita —the property which historically has been laced with murders and assassinations—to the farmers, the next question is whether the landlord clan of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III would insist on payment for compensation.
Once this question ripens to actual court litigation it could mean another setback to the farmers who since 1968 have been waiting for their share of the land they tilled. For 43 long years or ten years after the purchase by Don Jose Cojuangco on March 31, 1958 from Tabacalera, the distribution of the original 6,400-hectare hacienda was made part of the condition to secure loan from the Government Service Insurance System and from the then Central Bank of the Philippines.
Specifically, the Monetary Board of the CB, by virtue of Resolution No. 1240, granted to Jose Cojuangco the loan of $2,128,480 for the purchase of the sugar mill. Finding interest in buying the plantation, he secured a second loan of P5.9 million from the GSIS, which was approved by the board of trustees in Resolution No. 3202. Part of the deal was to distribute the land after ten years pursuant to the land reform program of the government.
On its face, the decision is a judicial landmark to the estimated 6,296 farmer-beneficiaries considering that the person who will be affected is no less than the President. They have every reason to rejoice for that would mean their emancipation from the bondage of the soil. But taking a second look at the decision, one could not help suspect that the highly polarized magistrates, with one abstention, coalesced in voting to have the hacienda subdivided.
Maybe the Arroyo-appointed loyalists were out to embarrass what they see as a good-for-nothing administration. For the Aquino-appointed justices, their concurrence has been interpreted as a consciously sorted-out strategy; that possibly, Malacañang had given them the “go” signal. One cannot discount that for in no time the Secretary of Agrarian Reforms, Gil de los Reyes, came out with a statement saying he would immediately seek the enforcement of the decision once it becomes final, while PNoy expressed no objection provided they are paid their just compensation.
To give in to this possible clever scheme of being paid based on the present fair value of the property would amount to another round of swindling. Any right-minded appraiser would say that if ever the owners of the hacienda are to be paid the value for their property, appraisal should be based in the 1968 valuation. The land cannot be assessed beyond that period because the owners stand in default on their loan agreement. So, if they got it say for a total of P10 million, considering that the exchange rate at that time of the peso was 2:1 to the US dollar, the increase in the value of the property could not exceed P200 million by 1968.
More so that a decision has been rendered on December 2, 1985 by then Judge Bernardo Pardo of the Manila Regional Trial Court, Branch XLII, who that early decided in favor of subdividing the hacienda to the farmers. It would not only be unconscionable, but another round of injustice to the farmer-beneficiaries, who by that arrangement, would have to pay the amortization to the government financial institution that will advance the payment of compensation to the Cojuangcos.
Besides, the Cojuangcos have not even accounted for a centavo of the P1.3 billion they earned for the disposition of a portion of the hacienda into industrial estates and the exorbitant payment made by the government for the construction of a right-of-way that cut deep into their manor, nor has presented a record indicating full payment of taxes for the property.
Nonetheless, if it could no longer be distributed to the beneficiaries, at least it should be reverted to those who will be deprived of the land or distributed as dividend to the holders of those worthless SDO who were made to rely on them as supplement to their meager income. In the final analysis, it should be the farmers who should be compensated because of the number of years they were deprived of income from the land which could have been used for their amortization.
For the farmer-beneficiaries, it is not the value of the land that matters, but on its productivity much that they cannot sell that. This notwithstanding that a great portion of the land has become a veritable talahiban after the owners almost abandoned planting sugar. After the Laurel-Langley Agreement expired on July 3, 1974, the so-called sugar barons then lost their preferential sugar quota allocation, which was their main source of income.
In addition, the Cojuangcos cannot for long make Marcos their “whipping boy” for their economic debacle, but on their selfish tenacity to hold on to the property. Presidential Decree Nos. 27 issued on October 12, 1972 and 1066 issued on December 31, 1976 clearly exempted from land reform sugar lands, and Marcos did that to precisely protect the sugar industry.
f there is somebody the Cojuangcos could blame, they should blame Mrs. Aquino herself. In her eagerness to make pasikat that her version of land reform would be much better than that of the “dictator” she denounced, the 1987 Constitution drafted by her appointed minions declared in no uncertain terms that all agricultural lands shall be subject to land reform. That was bolstered by the approval of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program. When she realized her blunder, she backpedaled by ordering the circumvention of her own laws. Instead of a piece of land, the farmers were given a piece of paper cleverly dubbed as “stock distribution option” (SDO).
Death finally came to their family’s business after her anointed successor, Fidel Ramos, in his usual grand hallucination opened wide the country’s economic door to globalization. Our sugar industry was mercilessly battered by competition because of our inherently high cost of production. Despite that, the Cojuangcos continued to cling on to their property, while converting the choice cuts into industrial estates, thereby gaining more from the business of real estate than in producing sugar.
As usual, the farmers were made to wait, unaware their landlords were already engaged in the speculative selling of lands, and the final trophy was the decision of the Supreme Court for possibly their prayer for just compensation might end up in them becoming the richest family in the country. At the same time, PNoy would appear pro-poor not knowing that the amortization would be equivalent to the proverbial saying of “giving the farmers the rope for them to hang themselves”.
(rodkap@yahoo.com)
Friday, December 2, 2011
A creeping World War III
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
12/2/2011
While the people of the Philippines are led like little children by the different Pied Pipers of media chasing after their latest political bogeyman or boxing spectacle, the nation and its economy continue to systemically collapse. As it is, economic growth has plunged to 3.2 percent, well below the universal standstill threshold of 4 percent. Worse, there are no internal programs to lift our economy out of this tailspin, just as our foreign host economies deteriorate equally fast.
To say that the nation is stumbling into disaster because no one is carrying the torch to light the way is bad enough. But for a country to be blindly and merrily engrossed in political and other gladiator sports while unmindful of the dark shadows of past “wars to end all wars” looming above us again, this could only mean the worst for the future of all countries of the world, including the Philippines.
As we recount memories of the Philippines being one of the most devastated countries in World War II (WWII), a flashback to the past is necessary in order to make a moral and ethical stand in connection with that war. Despite ritualistic paeans to the triumph of the will of survival of Filipinos, the simple fact is that WWII resulted in much graver and still uncompensated damage to the country.
Manila was the second most devastated city in that war, second only to Prague. Eighty percent of our farm animals were slaughtered, giving rise to the hunger and poverty that have never left us since. That’s not even counting the many other debacles this country has yet to recover from.
But, the irony of it all is that the supposed enemy was the one resurrected by the victor while the Philippines, its supposed ally, was compelled to remain underdeveloped as other nations achieved First World status.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a deadened sense of history even among those who are expected to help map out the course of the Filipino nation’s march to its destiny. Instead of pointing us toward greater prosperity and security, we are routinely treated to flashbacks of defeats masqueraded as victories such as the “Fall of Tirad Pass,” “The Fall of Bataan,” or the almost comic adoration of the “Death March.”
Oh, I’m not even talking of any great victories hoped for, just “a great escape” from catastrophes that are never of our own making. Suffice it to say, there are such great but glorious, nimble footed diplomacies as that of Thailand (also during WWII) that enabled it to avoid the fate of the Philippines, which we can draw many lessons from.
But as Filipinos high and low continue to go about their little parochial ways, a repeat of the tragedy of the last global war is being set once more. Although there are already a number of perilous global security developments that should be in the headlines, this never happens. Hence, we have a country of ignoramuses — especially on events that are vital to our present and future, as well as our children and grandchildren’s welfare and security.
The recent US-Australia agreement for forward positioning of 2,500 US Marines in Northern Australia is a shot-across-the-bow not only for China, as many wrongly think, but against all of Asean and Asia. Few are aware that Indonesia protested this US deployment as vigorously as, or even more than, China, which only shows its correct understanding of this move as a prelude to creating chaos in our region.
All over the globe, Western powers — now revealed for their true imperialistic nature, which they tried to hide during the infancy of economic globalization — are spreading their war preparations. Just look at such revealed documents as “Project for a New American Century” and “Rebuilding America’s Defenses,” or listen to the operational plans spilled by Gen. Wesley Clark (commander of the invasion of Yugoslavia), who in 2006 identified seven countries to be attacked (Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran), and you’ll get the picture.
Whether Afghanistan was merely a side trip or part of another operational plan, no one can say. But the constancy of the “regime change” campaigns alone is absolute confirmation of the inexorable schedule of conquest in the times ahead. These are conquests needed by the West for, among other things, the loot — as we are seeing in Iraq and Libya.
Last week, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev traveled far to his country’s western frontier in a much publicized activation of its massive radar facility in Kaliningrad, announcing that it is Russia’s response to the US missile shield being established in former Eastern Soviet states. At the same time, Russia has warned that it may leave the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty or START, which it had previously signed with the US. Mind you, after tolerating insolent US provocations with this latest missile defense deployment, made under the pretext of defending against Iranian missiles — which is an insult to everyone’s intelligence, this is not a mere tit-for-tat.
China, on the other hand, is conducting its first naval exercise in the Pacific with submarines, missile ships, frigates and supply ships. Its first of several aircraft carriers in the pipeline, meanwhile, is already on sea trials.
Certainly, this US-Australia military alliance is nothing new. Remember where Gen. Douglas MacArthur fled to during WWII? Now, the US is merely preparing early, with its key strategy to control the route to the Philippine Deep — a place so deep that submarines cannot be detected by satellites.
The Philippines will be a key arena as the next world war creeps into full bloom. When it comes, the country will be a magnet for nuclear warfare and all its dire consequences (just picture Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster, which is still ongoing with nary a solution in sight). Our children face bleak prospects unless we distance ourselves from all the war parties — beginning now.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Saturday, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
Herman Tiu Laurel
12/2/2011
While the people of the Philippines are led like little children by the different Pied Pipers of media chasing after their latest political bogeyman or boxing spectacle, the nation and its economy continue to systemically collapse. As it is, economic growth has plunged to 3.2 percent, well below the universal standstill threshold of 4 percent. Worse, there are no internal programs to lift our economy out of this tailspin, just as our foreign host economies deteriorate equally fast.
To say that the nation is stumbling into disaster because no one is carrying the torch to light the way is bad enough. But for a country to be blindly and merrily engrossed in political and other gladiator sports while unmindful of the dark shadows of past “wars to end all wars” looming above us again, this could only mean the worst for the future of all countries of the world, including the Philippines.
As we recount memories of the Philippines being one of the most devastated countries in World War II (WWII), a flashback to the past is necessary in order to make a moral and ethical stand in connection with that war. Despite ritualistic paeans to the triumph of the will of survival of Filipinos, the simple fact is that WWII resulted in much graver and still uncompensated damage to the country.
Manila was the second most devastated city in that war, second only to Prague. Eighty percent of our farm animals were slaughtered, giving rise to the hunger and poverty that have never left us since. That’s not even counting the many other debacles this country has yet to recover from.
But, the irony of it all is that the supposed enemy was the one resurrected by the victor while the Philippines, its supposed ally, was compelled to remain underdeveloped as other nations achieved First World status.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a deadened sense of history even among those who are expected to help map out the course of the Filipino nation’s march to its destiny. Instead of pointing us toward greater prosperity and security, we are routinely treated to flashbacks of defeats masqueraded as victories such as the “Fall of Tirad Pass,” “The Fall of Bataan,” or the almost comic adoration of the “Death March.”
Oh, I’m not even talking of any great victories hoped for, just “a great escape” from catastrophes that are never of our own making. Suffice it to say, there are such great but glorious, nimble footed diplomacies as that of Thailand (also during WWII) that enabled it to avoid the fate of the Philippines, which we can draw many lessons from.
But as Filipinos high and low continue to go about their little parochial ways, a repeat of the tragedy of the last global war is being set once more. Although there are already a number of perilous global security developments that should be in the headlines, this never happens. Hence, we have a country of ignoramuses — especially on events that are vital to our present and future, as well as our children and grandchildren’s welfare and security.
The recent US-Australia agreement for forward positioning of 2,500 US Marines in Northern Australia is a shot-across-the-bow not only for China, as many wrongly think, but against all of Asean and Asia. Few are aware that Indonesia protested this US deployment as vigorously as, or even more than, China, which only shows its correct understanding of this move as a prelude to creating chaos in our region.
All over the globe, Western powers — now revealed for their true imperialistic nature, which they tried to hide during the infancy of economic globalization — are spreading their war preparations. Just look at such revealed documents as “Project for a New American Century” and “Rebuilding America’s Defenses,” or listen to the operational plans spilled by Gen. Wesley Clark (commander of the invasion of Yugoslavia), who in 2006 identified seven countries to be attacked (Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran), and you’ll get the picture.
Whether Afghanistan was merely a side trip or part of another operational plan, no one can say. But the constancy of the “regime change” campaigns alone is absolute confirmation of the inexorable schedule of conquest in the times ahead. These are conquests needed by the West for, among other things, the loot — as we are seeing in Iraq and Libya.
Last week, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev traveled far to his country’s western frontier in a much publicized activation of its massive radar facility in Kaliningrad, announcing that it is Russia’s response to the US missile shield being established in former Eastern Soviet states. At the same time, Russia has warned that it may leave the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty or START, which it had previously signed with the US. Mind you, after tolerating insolent US provocations with this latest missile defense deployment, made under the pretext of defending against Iranian missiles — which is an insult to everyone’s intelligence, this is not a mere tit-for-tat.
China, on the other hand, is conducting its first naval exercise in the Pacific with submarines, missile ships, frigates and supply ships. Its first of several aircraft carriers in the pipeline, meanwhile, is already on sea trials.
Certainly, this US-Australia military alliance is nothing new. Remember where Gen. Douglas MacArthur fled to during WWII? Now, the US is merely preparing early, with its key strategy to control the route to the Philippine Deep — a place so deep that submarines cannot be detected by satellites.
The Philippines will be a key arena as the next world war creeps into full bloom. When it comes, the country will be a magnet for nuclear warfare and all its dire consequences (just picture Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster, which is still ongoing with nary a solution in sight). Our children face bleak prospects unless we distance ourselves from all the war parties — beginning now.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Saturday, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
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