Category: vfa

“We are here to stay.”

that’s U.S. president barack obama telling asia  that the U.S. military would expand its role in the Asia-Pacific region, despite budget cuts, declaring America was “here to stay” as a Pacific power which would help shape the region’s future.

he said it in australia, in a pre-ASEAN summit visit, but he might as well have said it here, where U.S. forces continue to be based (“visiting” kuno) and where hillary clinton happened to be celebrating the mutual (so-called) defense treaty with the prez and shrugging off anti-America demonstrations by the militant left.

not that it needed saying.  alam naman natin, the history is indisputable, they never meant to leave.

fil-am relations: harsh truths, reality check

at last, one who tells it like it is.   in The golden rule in foreign relations business world‘s greg b. macabenta doesn’t mince words re travel advisories, the vfa, philippine tourism, and our “special” relations with the u.s. of a.

What’s the bottom line here?

Will the US retract its advisory? Will tourist traffic be any worse than it now is? Will the VFA be negotiated with more equitable terms, like respecting Philippine jurisdiction over crimes committed by US military personnel?

The harsh truth? None of the above.

Between the noises made in media and the actual discussions backstage, there is always a world of difference. The protests are for the benefit of the masses. But what eventually carries the day is based on the Golden Rule.

He who has the gold, makes the rule. In this case, America. It has the gold. It makes the rules.

Be assured that the VFA will be discussed, but the terms will be no more equitable than the balance of power between the Philippines and America. US interests will come first, and the Philippines will agree.

With a war on its hands in the Middle East, an economic and military juggernaut looming from China, sabre rattling in North Korea, and terrorist threats everywhere it turns, America has to be assured that it is in a position to protect its interests.

No matter what the treaties say, America’s interests come first and foremost. Anything that gets in the way of these interests is either shot down, bought out or given an offer that can’t be refused.

That’s how the VFA “renegotiation” will eventually turn out.

Of course, loud noises will be made by the publicity hounds, but P-Noy and the foreign office will find a way to justify the agreement with appropriate euphemisms about the interests of the Philippines being upheld.

Meanwhile, the travel advisory will not be recalled. There will simply be no follow-up advisory — at least, until there is another need to crack the whip on naughty, uncooperative Philippines.

But, will there be a negative effect on Philippine tourism? I doubt it. In the first place, few people in the Western world think about the Philippines as a tourist destination. There are no promotional activities, no efforts to generate awareness, no campaigns to persuade.

When the US State Department issues a travel advisory on the Philippines, that hardly creates a ripple in US media. Americans don’t hear about it. If they’ve heard about the Philippines, it’s most likely the fact that it is the country of this super boxer named Manny Pacquiao.

Will the travel advisory affect US Pinoys and discourage us from visiting the homeland? Not at all. What else is new, anyway?

In other words, the travel advisory is just a feeble bark with no bite.

But the president of the Philippines would be remiss if he did not protest. So, he dutifully protests.

If there’s anything worth discussing about this continuing drama on US-Philippine relations, it is the fact that this needs a reality check.

Do we really believe that America will protect Philippine interests over its own interests?

Do we really believe that America will give foreign aid without demanding something in return?

Do we really think that cuddling up to China will worry America enough to make it want to give us special concessions?

Do we really think that the US will easily give up its strategic position in our part of the world in the face of international threats, both economic and military?

Do we really think China will treat us better than the US?

Do we really think that the Philippines, at this point in its national life, is in a position to chart its own independent course, whether its Western patrons like it or not?

Do we really believe that our ASEAN allies will come to our aid if either China or America decides to bully us?

Finally, do we, the Filipino people, really think that the Department of Foreign Affairs and President Benigno Aquino III know how to deal with the harsh realities of the Golden Rule?

We all know the answer to that.

Reminds me of what the late former Secretary of Foreign Affairs Raul Manglapus was supposed to have suggested about what to do in case of rape.

“Lie back and enjoy it.”

WTF are US troops up to in Marawi?

THE MYSTERIOUS DEATHS OF GREGAN CARDENO AND CAPT. JAVIER IGNACIO
via Renato Reyes Jr.

Gregan Cardeño was recruited by a private military contractor to work as an interpreter for U.S. soldiers last February 1. On February 2, he was found dead, a day after he started work in a military facility in Marawi City. He was working with an elite unit of US Special Forces called Liaison Coordination Elements (LCE).

Less than two months later, Capt. Javier Ignacio of the Philippine Army – a friend who helped recruit Cardeño and was helping the family shed light on his death – was gunned down while he was on his way to a meeting with a human rights group conducting an independent investigation on the case.

These two deaths have been a cause of great concern among human rights groups for more than four months now, mostly due to apparent cover up and the continued silence and seeming disinterest of the Philippine government to investigate the case and seek justice for the untimely demise of Cardeño and Capt. Ignacio. Adding to the frustration of the family are the Philippine government’s and the U.S. military’s failure to disclose the real circumstances that may have been the reason for Cardeño’s death.

A simple case of suicide was how the Philippine police treated Cardeño’s death, but the distress calls his wife has received before his body was found raised doubts as to the true nature and manner of his death. Even the Commission on Human Rights’ independent investigation report was inconclusive.

The untimely death of Capt. Ignacio (and the death threats he has been receiving and attempts to bribe him prior to his death) fuels speculation that a cover-up was being done.

These incidents have also led to the discovery of questionable U.S. military facility in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur. Its presence, which heretofore was unknown, leads to questions on the United States’ plans to reestablish bases in the southern Philippines. What is the purpose of the military facility in Marawi City and why was it hidden from public knowledge? Why did the U.S. troops need the services of a translator who could speak Bahasa? What was Cardeño doing that caused him so much distress?

Beyond the need to take a more active role in the full and impartial investigation of the deaths of Cardeño and Capt. Ignacio, the next administration will ultimately have to deal with the question of expanded and continuing presence of U.S. troops in Mindanao and their costs.

I. Narrative of events

Thirty-three-year-old Gregan Cardeño signed on Jan. 30, 2010 a contract with Skylink Security and General Services, stating he would work as a security guard with the agency from Feb. 1 to April 30, 2010. The real nature of his employment, however, was as interpreter for US troops, subcontracted by the US manpower-providing firm Dyn Corporation.

Dyn Corporation

The Philippines is just one of the numerous countries in which DynCorp International has a presence. In an article for the March 2004 issue of Esquire, in which he described DynCorp as “an American firm that specializes in high-risk contract work for the Pentagon and the State Department,” conservative American journalist Tucker Carlson enumerated the other countries where DynCorp is present. Wrote Carlson:

“Pick an unsafe country and DynCorp is likely to be there. In Afghanistan, DynCorp bodyguards protect Hamid Karzai, the most imperiled president on earth. In Colombia, DynCorp pilots fly coca-killing crop dusters slow and low over drug plantations, an integral part of Washington’s Plan Colombia. DynCorp is in Kosovo, Israel (three of its employees were blown up and killed in Gaza last year), East Timor, Sarajevo, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, Liberia, and many other sketchy places. Last spring, DynCorp – along with Kroll Inc. and as many as twenty other large private security companies, and perhaps dozens of smaller ones, employing tens of thousands of individual contractors – came to Iraq.”

In 2007, DynCorp was the subject of the Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT) Session on Colombia. The indictment, prepared by the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective, cites DynCorp for its role in the commission of human-rights violations and crimes in Colombia, as well as other offenses in Nicaragua, Bosnia, Haiti, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Part of the indictment reads:

“Its presence in countries receiving US military assistance (either in low-intensity situations or in settings involving open US intervention) have produced important scandals, directly implicating the enterprise in the commission of crimes and human rights violations.

“For instance, in the 1980s the enterprise was implicated in the Iran-Contra scandal. In the 1990s, the enterprise became a fundamental component for the US intervention of Haiti. Lastly, DynCorp members in Bosnia were involved in the sexual trafficking of minors, but due to their immunity no one was ever tried before any court in the world.”

In Iraq, DynCorp has won several contracts amounting to $750 million for training police forces.

“Available information stresses that the Iraqi police, trained by private security enterprises like DynCorp, have become a key component in the current dirty war, rather than a foundation for democracy proclaimed by US authorities,” the indictment continues. “In fact, US federal investigators are examining reports of criminal fraud by DynCorp employees, including the sale of ammunition earmarked for the Iraqi police.”

In Afghanistan, aside from providing personal security for Karzai, it has trained police forces and has deployed 337 police advisers. In October 2004, one of Karzai’s security personnel from DynCorp aroused controversy after slapping the Afghan transport minister.

– from “What’s a Notorious US Military Contractor Doing Inside the AFP’s Camp in Zamboanga?” by Alexander Martin Remollino, Bulatlat.com, 12 September 2009

Cardeno was said to be fluent in several languages: aside from the national language, he also knew Tausug, Visayan, and Bahasa Indonesia.

He had learned about the job opening from his friend, Capt. Javier Ignacio of the Philippine Army.

Two days later, at about 6:45 am, his wife Myrna accompanied Cardeno to Edwin Andrews Air Base in Zamboanga City, from where he was to be flown to Cotabato City en route to Camp Sionco in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao.

At around 7:48 am on Feb. 2, Cardeno’s sister Carivel received a message from his mobile phone saying he had instead been brought to Marawi City. When asked whether he was fine, he replied in the affirmative.

At 2:00 pm that same day, his tone had changed. “This is not the job I expected, this is so hard,” Cardeno told Carivel during a call. He sounded as though he was crying, and when asked what his actual job was, he could not reply. He asked Carivel to contact Skylink, ask for his salary, and request that he be pulled out of the US military facility where he had been assigned. He also said the only Filipinos working in the US military facility were himself and the cook, who goes home every afternoon. The call was then cut off.

Two hours later, he called Myrna and said, “I’m in Marawi, they brought me here… I’m in a very difficult situation.” She advised him to return home anytime the following day to Zamboanga Sibugay, where they live. After that the call was cut.

Later that day Cardeno called Myrna again, asking, “If ever I go home, would you still accept me?”

“Why?” Myrna replied. “Did you do anything wrong?”

The line went dead.

At around 2:00 pm the next day, Carivel received a call from Cardeno’s mobile phone and was surprised to hear a different voice from the other end. It was an SPO3 Ali Guibon Rangiris of the Marawi City Police Station, informing her that Gregan had hung himself with a bed sheet at the barracks of the Philippine Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade at Camp Ranao, Brgy. Datu Saber, Marawi City. SPO3 Rangiris also told Carivel the US troops were preparing to transport Gregan’s body to Zamboanga.

The helicopter carrying the corpse arrived at Edwin Andrews Air Base at around 4:00 pm that same day. His relatives, however, were barred from claiming the body there, and were instead advised to later view it at the La Merced Memorial Homes in Zamboanga City.

The cadaver was brought to La Merced without the required certificate of clearance from the appropriate government agency and death certificate from the Office of the Civil Registrar. Instead, a physician from the Philippine National Police (PNP) Regional Office in Zamboanga City, Dr. Rodolfo Valmoria, conducted a post-mortem examination.

As the family observed, the body was not yet in rigor mortis though they had been informed Cardeno had been dead for 16 hours. They also noticed that the area around his upper body was filled with ice.

That same day, the Marawi City Police Station reported on the incident, by radio, to the Lanao del Sur Provincial Police Office. The report identified Gregan’s assignment as a unit of the US military known as Liaison Coordination Elements (LCEs) based in Camp Ranao.

LCEs

In an article for the November-December 2006 issue of Military Review, “Anatomy of a Successful COIN Operation: OEF-Philippines and the Indirect Approach,” then-Col. Gregory Wilson of the US Army explained the work of LCEs as follows:

“Deployed at the tactical level, SF advisory teams called liaison coordination elements (LCE) are small, tailored, autonomous teams of special operations personnel from all services. They advise and assist select AFP units in planning and fusing all sources of intelligence in support of operations directed at insurgent-terrorist organizations. LCEs conduct decentralized planning and execution using a robust reachback capability to the JSOTF-P to leverage additional assets in support of AFP operations. These assets range from intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets such as tactical unmanned aerial vehicles to humanitarian assistance to tailored information products.”

In one of his footnotes to the article, Wilson said LCEs “generally consist of 4 to 12 SF adviserswho are embedded with select AFP ground, naval, and air forces down to the battalion level.”

At around 8:00 pm on Feb. 5, Carivel called SPO3 Rangiris, who this time contradicted his earlier statement saying Cardeno was actually found lying on the floor and when his body was found, the area was already contaminated.

Four days later, Cardeno’s sister Grace called Capt. Mike Kay, team leader of the US troops in Camp Ranao, and inquired about his death. Captain Kay replied that his colleagues had contributed money and asked how they can send it, saying further that they intended to send it the next day.

On Feb. 11, at around 3:00 pm, Cardeno’s relatives went to the headquarters of the Western Command at Upper Calarian, Zamboanga City and had a dialogue with US officers identified only as Captain Boyer and Master Sergeant Gines regarding his employment status with the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines. Captain Boyer said Skylink should open dialogue with them after Gregan’s burial.

On Feb. 13, Dr. Atanasius Rufon of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) did an autopsy on Gregan’s body as the family requested.

That same day, Commission on Human Rights (CHR) investigators Raul Quiboyen and Reymundo Ituralde arrived in Ipil and asked Gregorio Cardeño, a relative of Gregan, to sign a complaint form.

Gregan was buried on Feb. 15 at the Ipil Public Cemetery.

On March 4, Gregan’s relatives received the autopsy results.

Two days later, they approached CHR Chairwoman Leila de Lima for help and asked for a re-autopsy, which request was approved.

That same day, Judge Advocate General Office (JAGO) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) personnel went to the NBI-Zamboanga office. The JAGO personnel ordered the latter to investigate the case.

According to Faruk Batara of CHR-Iligan City, FBI personnel went to Marawi City and conducted investigation on the case.

The CHR, through Dr. Joseph Jimenez, conducted the re-autopsy on March 25.

On that same day he was expected to join the Cardeno family and a delegation from Karapatan, Cardeño family friend Captain Javier Ignacio was shot dead by four men riding on separate motorcycles. Before that, Captain Ignacio had been talking to the Cardeños and helping in the investigation. He had also met with representatives of Karapatan. He had been receiving death threats and was also subjected to an attempt to bribe him into silence. Captain Ignacio appeared to have information on the movement and activities of the US troops and how this was related to the death of Gregan.

II. Analysis

The autopsies conducted on Gregan’s body affirm asphyxia as the cause of death, but are inconclusive as to the manner of death.

There are several circumstances that point to possible attempts at a cover-up: the inconsistencies in SPO3 Rangiris’s statements, the refusal of Edwin Andrews Air Base personnel to let the relatives claim the cadaver there, and the refusals of Captains Kay and Boyer and Master Sergeant Gines to answer questions pertaining to Cardeno’s employment and demise.

The killing of Captain Ignacio further fuels suspicions that a cover-up is being perpetrated. Having been an officer of the AFP’s Military Police, he appeared to have relevant information on the circumstances behind Gregan’s death. Ignacio was personally helping in the investigation and had been talking to Cardeno’s relatives and to representatives of Karapatan before he was killed. Who would benefit from his silence?

Arousing more suspicion is the fact that the US FBI has stepped into the investigation of the case. Is the Philippine government aware of the FBI’s involvement in the probe? Why is the FBI even involved in a supposedly domestic incident, unless there may have been involvement of US troops in Cardeno’s death?

Based on the calls Cardeno made and the text messages he sent to his wife and relatives during his two days on the job, he clearly wanted out of his work. It is also interesting to note that all messages contained in Cardeno’s phone were mysteriously erased before the family arrived to retrieve the body, according to their account.

It was already public knowledge that US troops had facilities located within Camp Navarro, Edwin Andrews Air Base, and Camp Malagutay, all in Zamboanga City; Camp Bautista in Jolo Island, Sulu; Camp Sionco in Maguindanao; and the Philippine Naval Station in Panglima Sugala, Tawi-Tawi. The deployment of the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines (JSOTF-P) can also be seen in their official website. Former Navy Lt. Senior Grade Nancy Gadian also revealed in her testimony the extent of operations of the US forces in Mindanao.

It was only through Cardeno’s death that we learned of the existence of a unit of the US military based in Marawi. From what we know of the nature of this unit, the LCE, we fear that it may be a combat unit operating outside the purview of the VFA and in violation of the Constitution. It is important that the public be made aware of the possible clandestine operations US forces are conducting in our country, in violation of our laws.

There are also questions as to the US forces’ engagement of Filipinos for undisclosed operations or work, via private military contractors and local sub-contractors, to avoid any public accountability. What does Dyn Corporation really do in the country? What about their sub-contractors like Skylink? What kind of operations do they run? How are they aiding the US military presence in the country?

There are also questions as to whether there was adequate response of the Philippine government to the death of a Filipino inside an American military facility, and employed though indirectly, by the US military. Could a deeper probe have been conducted, instead of declaring the case closed by simply ruling it a suicide? Did the Philippine government even inquire what Cardeno was doing in Marawi? Or is there a presumption of regularity because those involved are US troops? Is not the Philippine government duty-bound to investigate on the circumstances of Cardeno’s death?

The deaths of Cardeno and Ignacio should spur the Philippine government to review the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) that allows US military presence on Philippine soil. This is just the latest of many incidents involving the US forces in Mindanao. The mysterious and possibly related deaths of Cardeno and Ignacio prompt us to ask these questions to the outgoing and incoming administrations.

SC ASKED TO AID PROBE ON PINOY’S DEATH IN US FACILITY
By Edmer F. Panesa
May 2, 2010

A petition for the issuance of writs of Amparo and habeas data has been filed with the Supreme Court (SC) to compel authorities to do a more thorough and comprehensive investigation into the mysterious death of a Filipino in a United States military facility inside a Philippine Army camp in Mindanao.

The victim was Gregan Cardeño, who died just two days after being hired as an interpreter for American troops under the Joint Special Operations Task Force (JSOTF)-Balikatan in Camp Ranao, Marawi City, the home of the 103rd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army.

The Marawi City police and US troops reported that Gregan committed suicide by hanging himself, midnight of Feb. 2, 2010.

But the Cardeño family believes he was a victim of heinous crime inside the barracks of the US troops.

In their petition before the SC, the Cardeños, assisted by a lawyer from the human rights alliance Karapatan, also sought the issuance of a protective order in their favor and to place them in a sanctuary of their choice.

Named as respondents in the petition were President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo; the Visiting Forces Agreement Commission (VFAC); the Zamboanga City-based JSOTF; Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino, chief of the Western Mindanao Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines; Dir. Gen. Jesus Verzosa of the Philippine National Police (PNP); Brig. Gen. Rey Aldo, commanding general of the 103rd Infantry Brigade; Marawi City PNP; contracting company Skylink; and members of the US troops based in Marawi City, namely, Capt. Boyer, MSgt. Gines, Capt. Michael Kay and Lt. Theresa Donnelly.

The petitioners said they have been receiving threats and are under military surveillance.

They also asked the High Court to order authorities to include in their investigation the murder of Army Maj. Javier Ignacio, who was helping the family find out the cause of Gregan’s death.

Last March 25, Ignacio was shot nine times in front of the GSIS Building in Zamboanga City by motorcycle-riding men. He succumbed to bullet wounds in the head and other parts of the body.

The Cardeños claimed the assassination of Ignacio was “part and parcel of the cover-up of the killing of Gregan Cardeño by respondents.”

The petitioners asked the SC to order the respondents “to produce any report submitted to them regarding the matter of Cardeño and Ignacio, including but not limited to intelligence reports correspondence, operation reports and sundry subsequent to Feb. 2, 2010 relative to the death of Cardeño and Ignacio.”

They also sought the inspection of the US Army barracks within Camp Ranao where Gregan spent his last day.

The Cardeños said they found the report of the Marawi City police and US troops dubious, because of the wounds they saw on Gregan’s remains during autopsy.

This prompted them to seek the help of Karapatan and other human rights groups, which conducted a fact-finding mission from March 2 to 5, 2010.

Based on their findings, the groups were prompted to conclude that there was foul play that led to the death of Gregan.

The groups noted the lack of investigation, and the immediate recognition of the US troops on the motive as suicide despite the fact that they have been trained with the basic and may even have experience in more sophisticated forms of investigation.

The US troops did not even secure the crime scene and allowed contamination of the place where Gregan’s body was found, they added.

the dacer whodunit

i had just typed in the title of this post and was making buwelo to share my thoughts on the lacson-estrada senate showdow in the context of the dacer-corbito murders nang nabulaga ako kay senador miriam defensor santiago looking good in a yellow suit (!) and in fighting form, taking on the u.s. of a. no less, president obama no less, and calling for the abrogation and renegotiation of the visiting forces agreement, yey, ang saya, it’s about time, mabuhay si miriam!   that was a good speech, covered all the bases, a must-read for every thinking filipino who truly wants change.   america is part of our problem.   america is the elephant, the gorilla, the dambuhala in the room that we don’t talk about.

it is even said that you have to be amboy (amgirl) to win the presidency of the philippines.   someone correct me if i’m wrong that estrada was the exception; he won even if america didn’t want him to win.   and now that he’s bent on running for president again, i wouldn’t be surprised if america is helping either the administration or the opposition, or both, to harass him into dropping out of the race.   which brings me back to the dacer case.

back in march, herman tiu laurel asked:

Why has the US opened the way for the return of Mancao and Dumlao at this time? Of course, we know that the US has always meddled in our affairs. But why this particular case?

Reliablemilitary intelligence sources we talked to insist that the affidavits of Mancao and Dumlao will implicate Estrada, as what Michael Ray Aquino’s will later do. They are convinced that this campaign, which involves the US, vividly betrays Uncle Sam’s fear of Estrada as being the only serious obstacle to its 2010 plan of installing a new Gloria Arroyo puppet in the guise of someone invited to Obama’s National Prayer Breakfast no less?

but, if so, it would seem that gma isn’t playing along with america, not the way the dept of justice is rather assiduously trying to pin the murders on lacson instead.   so wazzup wazzup?   what’s the deal between gma and erap?   bati na ba sila?   bakit nila pinagtutulungan si ping?   even fvr’s joe almonte has jumped in, also making diin ping lacson based on dacer’s letters daw, and dacer allegedly having told a daughter that if anything were to happen to him, ping would be to blame.

and yet there are these very intriguing stories about fvr and almonte.   check out politicaljunkie’s A few things you might find interesting about the Bubby Dacer case, which includes sol vanzi’s newsflash report about general almonte . . .

DACERS ASKED TO COMMENT ON PRIEST’S EXPOSE

Manila, April 9, 2001 – The family of public relations man Salvador “Bubby” Dacer was asked yesterday to comment on the statements of a Parañaque priest over the possible knowledge of former President Ramos and his national security adviser Jose Almonte in Dacer’s disappearance.

The opposition Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino said yesterday: “We appeal to the Dacer family to come out and confirm or deny Fr. (Gabriel) Baldostamon’s statement. We understand the pain they must feel at the continued disappearance of their father, but they must come out in order to help shed light on this matter. Don’t be afraid of Ramos and Almonte.”

Fr. Baldostamon is the parish priest of the Our Lady of the Holy Rosary church in Sun Valley Subd. where the Dacer family lives.

He claimed to have heard Almonte “consoling” the Dacer family that should they recover or “arrange” for Dacer’s release, they would spirit him out to the United States and make it appear that he was still missing.

Baldostamon said Almonte made the statement in a breakfast meeting with the Dacer family about 10 days after his disappearance.

“Did Almonte really say that?” the LDP asked. “If he did, he must explain his intentions for doing so and why did he sound as if he had contact with Dacer’s abductors?”

. . . and also herman tiu laurel’s Investigate Almonte, about president ramos.

The story is now told to close friends by the Dacer children, Ampy and Sabina, that the Ramos visit to Dacer’s office on that fateful day of the disappearance was very uncharacteristic. In the many years of Dacer and Ramos’ professional dealings, never once did Ramos visit Dacer’s office. But on the day of Dacer’s kidnapping Ramos did, and after only an hour of waiting he started making it too obvious he was concerned—by calling media about his alarm over Dacer’s disappearance.

It could have just been traffic, a flat tire or engine trouble, a sudden family emergency, a bum stomach, an extended breakfast meeting, or a hundred other small possibilities that delayed Dacer for an hour. With cell phone service the way it is today, and service providers undermining each other by delaying interconnections or with cell sites jammed or down, an hour’s wait to get a cell phone connection happens quite frequently. So, delayed cell phone contact is not sufficient reason to panic and call media . . .

so why haven’t the media been following up on these?   takot ba sila kay almonte?    takot ba sila kay fvr?   what if ping and erap are innocent pala?   and we’re just being taken for a ride?   to what end?

of course it doesn’t make sense that dumlao and mancao are involved if it were an fvr-almonte operation.   but we don’t know enough to rule anything out.   even dumlao and mancao keep changing their statements daw.   involved ba talaga sila, o nagpapanggap lang.

“Not known to many who are following this case, Cezar Mancao and Glen Dumlao, to date have executed three sworn statements each. In this case, the contents of the affidavits are modified at each turn, and it would take some patience and perhaps extra-professional expertise to separate the grains of truth from the specks of dirt in the testimonies given by both affiants,” Lacson said.

as for dacer himself, i have no idea how he operated or who his clients were, only that he was the top public-relations guy in political manila with awesome access to the media, and he could make anyone smell good and look good.

but i do have an idea what public relations work is like.   you have to take your client’s side, with conviction, and you try not to take on clients with opposing positions para walang conflict of interest.   that is, if you want to stay sane and whole and credible.   easier said than done, i know, especially if you’re dealing with, and handling, presidents with huge egos.   how do you say no to a president (former or incumbent) without incurring his royal ire.    read fel maragay’s Man in White.

. . . Dacer, a handsome, bemoustached Spanish-looking mestizo, could hardly write journalistic pieces. But the glib-tongued Bicolano was gifted with exceptional social skills, a knack for befriending fellowmen—perhaps his most important asset that enabled him to climb to the top in his chosen profession. When big-time businessmen were locked in make-or-break competition or feud with rivals over a major project and they needed an expert in crisis PR, the name of Dacer would usually crop up. Crisis PR was his forte.

The flamboyant PR practitioner was often described as “the man in white” because he was always clad in an all-white attire. But his detractors snickered that he was the “devil in white” because of the devious scheme that he purportedly employed to attack the targets of some of his covert PR operations.

In the early 1990s, Dacer held office in a small corner at the ground floor of the Manila Hotel. But his enterprise started to ride high after Fidel Ramos assumed the presidency. He became the private publicist of Ramos and of Ramos’ most trusted Cabinet member, then National Security Adviser Jose Almonte. Not long after, Dacer transferred to a spacious room on the second floor of the hotel. He handled the PR work for the Swiss firm, Societe General de Surveillance, which had a P4-billion annual contract with the Bureau of Customs for the valuation of imported goods. He became a point man or liaison between the Philippines and Taiwan, a chore which he handled with gusto. His services were also tapped by several public officials and private individuals, as well as prominent business firms.

During the 1998 presidential elections, Ramos tried to persuade Dacer to help in the campaign of a principal ally, then House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. the Lakas standard-bearer. But Dacer begged off, opting to stay neutral because the strongest candidate, Joseph Estrada, was his kumpadre.

When Estrada became president, Dacer maintained cordial relations with him. He was occasionally asked by the then President to do some PR assignments for his administration. Dacer enjoyed easy access to the Palace, from time to time accompanying foreign businessmen during courtesy calls to the President in which investments plans were usually discussed. Dacer loved to tell people that his friendship with Estrada dated back to the days when he was a multi-awarded movie actor. Estrada played godfather when Dacer’s daughter Ampy was baptized. And when Ampy got married, Estrada was one of the wedding sponsors.

Despite his association with Estrada, the kind of political influence Dacer wielded at that time paled in comparison with the one he enjoyed during the Ramos presidency. Estrada somewhat kept him at a distance, perhaps because he was not sure of Dacer’s loyalty, due to his long association with Ramos and Almonte. When the Estrada government unleashed a persecution campaign against Ramos over the so-called multi-billion pesos Expo scam and other anomalies, Dacer clumsily watched from the sidelines, cautiously steering clear of the raging conflict between two men dear to him.

Dacer’s troubles began when he was dragged into the rift between then National Police director general Roberto Lastimoso and then Chief Supt. (now senator) Panfilo Lacson, who was at that time head of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force. Lastimoso’s hold on the top PNP post turned shaky amid allegation that he was remiss in his duty in going after a suspected drug lord. He sought Dacer’s help in the media war and the PR man came to his rescue. But Lastimoso lost the fight and was eventually replaced by Lacson as PNP chief . . .

in the end, minalas si dacer.   maybe he knew too much.   maybe he had become a threat.   maybe he couldn’t be trusted anymore.

but what if the demolition job on ping lacson is more of the same, because he knows too much, because he has become a threat, the way he keeps shooting his mouth off in the senate.

in that case, i’d say he’s doing the right thing.   i suggest a pahabol privilege speech on the bentain case,  the fvr-almonte connection, even the american connection, and anything else relevant that he knows of.   so if anything should happen to him (cross our fingers, knock on wood)  we’d have a better idea whom (or whom-whom) to blame.