Category: america

cowards all

it’s not only manny villar, who has been called a coward for refusing to answer questions re the c-5 extensions that allegedly benefitted his real estate empire in the millions, billions.   i don’t even think that snubbing the senate is as much a matter of cowardice as of some kinda guilt, or why won’t he take questions in the proper forum?   “is manny villar blameless? is the pope protestant?”

by cowards all i mean all five leading presidential candidates noynoy villar erap gibo and gordon, for not having the audacity, the daring, to think big and brave and to talk the radical changes that are implied in the promise of good governance.

this is not just a failure of the candidates though but a failure too of the electorate for not demanding more of these guys, which in turn is a failure of the media for inadequately informing and inspiring themselves, and the people, to ask demand clamor shout-out for changes beyond an end to corruption.   particularly changes in a system that was designed, in the first place, to benefit the few elite and NOT the manymanymanymanymany poor, as we should all see by now if only we hadn’t become too lazy to read and think and be critical, and  if only we would stop trusting in these candidates’ motherhood statements na kunyari they have the best interests of the poor at heart, because they don’t; rather they’re quite willing to play along with the same forces, inside and outside, that gloria arroyo (not to speak of past administrations, including erap, all the way back to the commonwealth) has been playing along with, to the detriment and degradation of our land and our economy, our people and our sovereignty.

they are cowards all, these leaders who don’t have the courage to stand up to the catholic church on the RH bill and sex education, never mind that 7 out of 10 filipinos want need deserve it.   cowards all who won’t stand up to the U.S. of A. on the chauvinist imperialist VFA and the IMF-WB-imposed “development plans” that over the decades have rendered the country nowhere near “developed”, rather turned us into the basket case of the ASEAN, basket-case meaning no legs of our own to stand on, no arms to work and feed ourselves with, how humiliating, how depressing.

they are cowards all.   afraid, not of going to hell if they defy the church’s stand on RH and sex education, just afraid of losing votes that the church allegedly commands.   cowards all.   afraid of espousing any kind of deep-seated change not because it’s undoable but out of fear and disinclination to defy and displease uncle sam, paano na ang campaign contributions, aray, paano na ang “special” fil-am relations, lol, how colonial the mentality pa rin.

it bears repeating what the journalist tony abaya of manilastandardtoday wrote back in august 2009 in response to rumors that noynoy might run: that what the country needs is a forward-looking president, a truly revolutionary president, someone with the attributes and visions of lee kwan yew, mahathir mohamad and gen. park chung hee:

… it is someone who has the qualities of these three foreign leaders that the Philippines badly needs in order to overcome decades of consistently poor governance, restore our badly battered self esteem, and draw for us a credible vision of what we want our country to be.

We need someone like Lee Kwan Yew who was/is personally incorruptible and at the same time was/is so conversant with economics and international relations that he could speak ex-tempore and defend his policies before an assembly of multinational CEOs and diplomats and made/make solid sense, whether they agreed/agree with him or not.

In addition we need the strong sense of nationalism of Mahathir Mohamad who in the 1980s drew a vision – Malaysia Vision 2020, that sought and seeks to transform Malaysia into a fully industrialized country by the year 2020 – that he was able to convince the multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and multi-religious people of Malaysia to embrace as worthy of their national loyalty, beyond the narrow appeals of their tribes and ethnic groups. No mean feat, considering the catastrophic demise of equally multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religious federal Yugoslavia in the 1990s that cost hundreds of thousands of lives.

Mahathir’s nationalism also expressed itself in his readiness to fearlessly fire back at other countries, other world leaders, as well as international agencies whenever he felt they were trampling on the national self-interests of Malaysia.

We also need the single-minded determination of Gen. Park Chung Hee to transform his impoverished, resource-poor and inconsequential Republic of Korea from 1961 to 1979 (when he was assassinated) into a fully industrialized country that is now one of the ten biggest economies in the world.

… this is what the Philippines needs, a leader who can start and lead a revolution, a peaceful one, as much as possible; a violent one, if necessary.

anything less is just not good enough.  hindi na lang ako boboto.

oh and what’s this BS about villar NOT belonging to the elite just because he started out poor, unlike noynoy and gibo?   c’mon, rene azurin, you can do better than that.   by any reckoning, villar and the tsinoy taipans who all started out poor are very much a part of today’s elite, the irresponsible filipino elite, that wittingly or unwittingly collaborates with foreign powers, keeping the masses poor and marginalized.

miriam eyeballs, gloria blinks, ermita fumbles

interesting, the sudden lifting of martial law in maguindanao effective saturday 9pm.   what a relief, yes, but also what a surprise.   with hostage situations erupting in basilan and agusan del sur while congress was holding that joint session to vote on proc1959, all the signs pointed to a set-up to systematically desensitize first the people of mindanao, then maybe of the visayas and luzon, to military rule for the sake of peace and order in the run-up to the may 2010 elections.   and with gloria checking into st. luke’s for a check-up over the weekend, no one was expecting any kind of change in the new status quo.

so what are we to think?   are we to believe gma’s cohorts that suddenly it came to pass that the objectives of military rule were attained, mission accomplished, time to lift martial law, everybody happy?   parang fairy tale, if you ask me.    just yesterday, friday, press secretary cerge remonde was being nasty, accusing anti-martial law people in congress and in the streets of sympathizing with andal ampatuan jr. and warning that if the supreme court listened to them and ruled proc1959 unconstitutional, it would make the ampatuans very happy indeed.

UNFORTUNATELY, a vocal minority in the combined chambers of Congress have joined agitators outside the Batasang Pambansa Complex, in condemnation of the President. The crisis in Maguindanao, for them, has become fresh fodder for their political agenda.

Are they now shedding copious tears in sympathy with Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., others in the clan, and some 160 individuals who have been arrested or are about to be arrested for planning or for participating in the gruesome massacre?

It is understandable that the Ampatuan clan should petition the Supreme Court to declare the Maguindanao martial law unconstitutional. Their awesome power to defy lawful authority is slipping away, and their ability to evade criminal responsibility is in jeopardy. But what are we to make of the politicians who have taken the side of this powerful family?

They do not say it out loud, but a Supreme Court decision favorable to their cause could nullify the arrest of the suspects and may render the evidence against them inadmissible.

i wonder what it was like for gloria, having to leave st. luke’s for a couple of hours or so just to preside over that national security council meeting and act upon the recommendation to lift martial law.   she must have asked (if i were president i would have asked), why can’t it wait til monday?

why not indeed.   i think because the order came from obama on high, no less.   i think that miriam’s conspiracy theory, involving the notorious CIA, hit too close to home.

“This is part of a script. Who are orchestrating the events? It is obvious there is a conspiracy, a meeting of the minds. I have reason to believe that this (conspiracy) is not a random development. They’re not just happening. One, the timing is suspicious, second, there is no such pattern of one after the other in the history of this province,’’ she said.

…In a briefing for Senate reporters after attending the budget hearing of the Upper Chamber, Santiago said the conspiracy could consist of the beleaguered Ampatuan clan; the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); a cabal of a criminal group that would benefit the secretaries of the Department of National Defense (DND) or Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG); and the military establishment.

… Santiago said the Ampatuans, one of the two strong tribal clans fighting for supremacy in Maguindanao, could be working out a deal where in they would prefer to be charged with the crime of rebellion rather than multiple murder. Rebellion is difficult to prove and carries a lighter penalty. In case of conviction on rebellion charges, Santiago said the Ampatuans could be given parole or pardon.

She said the CIA could become a plain pawn in the Mindanao game “so they could do what the Philippine government is preventing them from doing so.”

and i’m not alone in thinking that obama had something to do with the lifting of martial law.   just saw this tweet by manolo:

mlq3 Billy Esposo thinks Madame had votes in SC and Congress to OK martial law, it’s Washington that made her revoke it.

and no doubt secretary ermita wasn’t too happy about it ’cause, well, he fumbled the announcement.    after his pasakalye, that things were returning to normal in maguindanao, the criminal justice system is now working, local government in place, armm governor replaced, he asked na for questions from the press, haha, someone had to remind him that he had forgotten “the most important item”: that gloria had agreed to lift martial law.   ano ‘yon, senior moment?   lol.    more like a freudian slip of the tongue, but in reverse, like selective forgetting?   a sign of subconscious, if fleeting, resistance, at the very least.

just goes to show what puppets gloria and her gang are, dancing to the beat of washington, ora mismo, like it or not.

animals!

‘WHAT KIND OF ANIMALS ARE THESE KILLERS?’

MANILA, Philippines—Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Chair Leila de Lima Tuesday said the perpetrators of the mass murder in Maguindanao were “not human.”

Saying she had been shaking with rage since Monday night, De Lima let loose a mouthful on the killings, the Ampatuan family, and the national government.

“What kind of animals are these killers?” she told reporters at her office. “We are so shocked and enraged. This is beyond words. It is most despicable. This is the work of someone who is not human. It is a bestial act of the highest order. I have never seen anything like it. It’s brutal ruthlessness all in the name of power. It’s an affront to all forms of civility.”

…She wondered aloud where the 100 armed men who had carried out the killings came from.

“This only confirms that [the Ampatuans] maintain a private army. Why is this allowed? I would understand that the local police and military fall within their sphere of influence. But the national government? They know. What have the police and military been doing all this time?”

She also noted reports that the killings were carried out near a military detachment, and that policemen were among the 100 armed men.

and from jarius bondoc:

Ampatuan dynasty grew under Arroyo

From survivors’ accounts, Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., namesake-son of the Maguindanao governor, led the massacrers. A hundred riflemen reportedly shot the 43 political rivals and journalists, mostly female, in broad daylight. The provincial police chief, now in custody, was alleged to have joined in the killing spr ee. Some of the victims were raped, beheaded and mutilated. They were on their way to file the certificate of candidacy of Toto Mangudadatu for governor in May, against Andal’s dad. Their convoy was waylaid at a checkpoint of the Ampatuan private army. Andal slapped Mangudadatu’s wife in the face with the poll papers, provoking a sister-in-law to stab him. He ordered his men to fire at will, then had the backhoe of the provincial capitol brought in to hurriedly dig a mass grave.

How could Andal and his heavily armed band have acted with such impunity? No less than a Malacañang  source answered: “He already had horns; Gloria Arroyo let them grow longer.”

Warlords rise because abetted by the President, with shortsighted army and crooked police generals. The Ampatuans came to control Maguindanao, Muslim Mindanao’s largest province, ever since Arroyo became Commander-in-Chief in 2001. A good number of town mayors are sons of Andal Sr. by different marriages, sons-in-law, and grandsons. Zaldy, a son, is governor of the Autonomous Muslim Region. The Mangudadatus are related by blood and affinity.

Arroyo owes the Maguindanao political dynasty. In her 2004 run for a full presidential term, the Ampatuans delivered to her nearly 200,000 votes. Closest rival Fernando Poe Jr., a matinee idol vastly popular in Muslim Mindanao, got only less than 60,000, and incredibly zero in three towns. In the 2007 senatorial election Arroyo’s ticket won 12-0 against the opposition. Again unbelievably, the opposition did not get a single vote in 20 of the 22 towns.

Arroyo returns the favors by letting them rule Maguindanao like a fiefdom. All economic initiatives need the Ampatuans’ assent; state funds are released through them. Even the posting of police and military generals are cleared with them. All the Ampatuans are with the admin party. Zaldy was Malacañang’s choice for ARMM governor in 2005.

The elder Ampatuan is said to have gained political clout in the ’80s when, as a mayor, he took the military’s side against Moro separatists. He so pleased the generals that they took his followers into the paid militia and lent them light armor. The arrangement goes on to this day with the sons. In 2006 the Ampatuans’ might was enhanced when the interior department approved the arming with rifles of civilian volunteers against separatists. That practically allowed their supporters to stage checkpoints and patrols, and made the police a mere adjunct.

so.   the united nations and the european union have been quick to condemn this atrocity.   but we have yet to hear from the u.s. of a., our mighty ally with troops in mindanao, no less.   what’s going on???

Dear Hillary

Conrado de Quiros

Not that you are likely to read this, though it can’t hurt to read something a little more intelligent than the usual crap given you that passes for intelligence. I write to reiterate some of the points I made in a previous letter I wrote your boss a couple of months ago. I wrote it in the hope that people who have the audacity to hope would also have the audacity to listen.

I was one of those who rejoiced at your party’s victory a year ago (has it been that long?), a victory that had “We shall overcome” written all over it. I was one of those who believed that victory did not just represent a victory for Americans but a victory for the world. The first world president, the signs blared in neon, and I thrilled to see it. What a difference a year makes. The lights have not gone out completely but how so much dimmer they’ve become.

I personally rooted for Barack Obama over you in the primaries, even if it meant nothing to you or your country. Not leastbecause of your endorsement of the Iraq invasion—let’s call a spade a spade, although occupation, seizure or grabbing is a lot more accurate—which your rival, who eventually became your country’s first black president, had a field day twitting you with. Your excuse that it was a bipartisan vote and that you got the wrong intelligence from George W. and his bunch of cutthroats just doesn’t cut it. All it proves is that your intelligence is crap, and you would be better off reading more intelligent things like this.

Still, I had hoped that your becoming state secretary would add fuel to a US government that seemed to want to go boldly where no US government had gone before. I had hoped you would help present the other face of America to the world, the face of Thomas Jefferson, Mark Twain and Martin Luther King and not the faces of Randolph Hearst, Richard Nixon and Fox News. At the very least I had hoped you, upon the frenzied instigation of your boss, would do no less, if not much more, than Jimmy Carter in pressing the cause of liberty before the world.

I hoped wrong.

Your coming to the Philippines does not press that cause before the Filipinos, it suppresses it. It cannot help that you pass off your trip here—trumpeted loudly by your ambassador—as a desire to personally see the devastation wrought by the recent typhoons. I know we are a country that has earned worldwide renown only for boxing and stealing, but we have not entirely lost our wits. When two top American officials visit this country one on top of the other—the other one was CIA director Leon Panetta who visited last June—we have to ask what we have done to deserve the honor.

Being flattened by howling wind and raging flood is not the first thing that comes to mind. The American capacity for solicitousness has nowhere been in evidence in this country. What has been in evidence throughout the years is a “special relations” that gives whole new meanings to the word “special.” It improves on Sun-Tzu’s famous aphorism, “Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer,” by proposing, “Make your enemies pay dear and your friends even dearer.”

To suggest that you are coming here out of concern for our ravaged state only makes you out to be afflicted by the same disease as your host, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The activists are right: You want to see a spectacle of devastation, look elsewhere. The burying of whole villages in water and the ruining of whole crops at harvest time are nothing compared to the wasteland this country has been turned into by two things.

The first is your host. It cannot speak very highly of a transformational government that you want only to transform someone who has been the greatest bane her countrymen has known after Ferdinand Marcos into a blessing for democracy. The last by saying, as Obama did when she visited, and as various US officials like yourself have said when she has complied, or gone overboard, with the American wishes, that she is a mighty ally in the fight against terrorism.

Mighty ally, my foot. No one has wreaked more terror upon this land than she, though that is clearly of little concernto you. Sort of reminds us of how George’s father, Bush Senior, toasted Marcos for his adherence to democracy during his time. The only transformation that seems to have happened is the superficial one of color in the American leadership, from white to black. For us at least, it remains as black (-and-white) as before.

And for what? Just so you can continue to have your will with us. Spare us the nurturing posture, it merely adds insult to the injury. And it makes you look like Kristie Kenney, your one ambassador who has learned the art of humoring the natives. You are here, as Panetta was here, as all sorts of American officials high and low will be here, because you are anxious to remain here. Or because you are anxious to have your bases remain here. Yes, bases. They may be mobile, they may be itinerant, they may be floating, crawling, or traipsing, but they are bases nonetheless. Before the storms became permanent visitors in this country, you already were.

You want to see devastation, gaze upon the devastation you have wrought. Upon a people who have done you no harm, who came to your side, notwithstanding that you enslaved them at the very time of their lives they were near to being free, when you lay prostrate at the hands of the Japanese. Gaze upon the way you repaid them by propping up their oppressors in the name of fighting communism and now of terrorism. The point of fighting communism and terrorism is to protect democracy. It is not to create more communists and terrorists by the sheer hellishness of it.

You shall overcome?

Right now, the only thing you need to overcome is yourselves.