A “traitor class”

The act of treason in the so-called “peace” agreement on “ancestral domain” initialed by emissaries of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in Kuala Lumpur did not happen overnight.

It was the culmination of over two decades of build-up of treasonous acts by the ruling class that runs the power structure of Philippine society today, which began unfettered with the triumph of Edsa I. That turnover of power from the increasingly independent Marcos regime (that opened ties with China and Russia ahead of many Asean countries) to the plutocracy of the “traitor class” of pro-US elite doomed the country to serial economic rape and now, the blatant Balkanization of its resource-rich Mindanao.

When Cory Aquino took power, one of her first deeds with Butz Aquino, Nene Pimentel and Norberto Gonzales was the return of the vanquished Nur Misuari from exile and the restoration of the MNLF. This, despite the fact that thousands of Filipino soldiers had died to stop the MNLF from dismembering the Republic during Marcos’ time. And so, it got rehabilitated in just a matter of months, effectively reviving the conflict in Mindanao .

Aquino then went on to remove all projects and programs aimed at economic independence -- the scuttling of energy projects like the BNPP and hydro-electric plants, the downgrading of irrigation and agricultural productivity programs, and the privatization of public utilities, which Fidel V. Ramos accelerated while helping the Carlyle group broker many privatization schemes.

Sadly, the only moment in the past 22 years since Edsa I that there was an unambiguous re-assertion of the country’s sovereignty was the victory of the “one country, one flag” principle over the insurgents and secessionist movements that have plagued this nation. This was when President Estrada led the Armed Forces of the Philippines to crush the MILF and took over its headquarter, Camp Abubakar, and raised the Philippine flag there in July 2000, with its sun and three stars, including the one for Mindanao, and the color red that spoke of valor.

But when Edsa II deposed Estrada eight months later, the process of restoring the MILF began anew. Gloria Arroyo returned all its camps, including Abubakar and then, the US even changed its rhetoric versus the group.

From all angles, Edsa II was a pale version of Edsa I, with no more that a hundred thousand or so gathered by Cardinal Sin and “civil society” to demonstrate before the Edsa Shrine. That stage-managed “people power” gathering was already frittering away when then chief of Staff Gen. Angelo Reyes herded the major service generals into a waiting van. He explained, only when the van started running, that they were joining the oust Estrada move and “withdrawing support” from their duly- and popularly-elected commander-in-chief.

In doing so, Gen. Reyes even blurted, as narrated by Air Force Gen. Benjie Defensor, “Gentlemen, we are committing treason.” Even with the full knowledge that they were being traitors to their country and their oath, all still silently acquiesced. Just what are these supposed men of valor made of?

Among these Edsa II military personalities, you have a certain Victor Corpus, a lieutenant from the Philippine Military academy who betrayed his AFP institution by joining the NPA and aided in the killing of fellow AFP soldiers. After being caught, he rejoined the AFP, only to later join a coup d’etat against a duly-elected president of the Republic, which then led to his promotion as general and the country’s top intelligence post!

Once out of government, Corpus then subverts his erstwhile boss by prodding a subaltern under his DENR office, Jun Lozada, to bear witness against her while holding on to office -- the workings of a consummate traitor?

Aside from these men in uniform, equally confusing is another Edsa II partner, the National Democratic Front. Its leader, Satur Ocampo, has not for one second condemned the MILF land grab, which is on top of the fact that its self-proclaimed “nationalist” leader, Luis Jalandoni, is a Dutch citizen.

But then again, Gloria Arroyo herself is no stranger to treason. When she was President Estrada’s VP and social welfare secretary, she plotted -- by her own taped admission at a COPA awards night after Edsa II -- with five generals to overthrow Erap. Sitting and listening to Gloria Arroyo boast of her treachery were the “alta sociedad,” business and government officials, religious leaders and more military and police officials -- all reveling in the treason and treachery against the Republic, the people and the principles of democracy and popular sovereignty.

Of course, when Gloria proceeded to parcel out the economy, our energy and water resources, as well as, our roads and mines to foreign companies, they all rejoiced even more.

Going on eight years now since Edsa II, the country has slid in the United Nations Human Development Index, from No. 77 to No. 90. Surely, there is no better measure of the negative consequences of Edsa II’s subversion of the democratic will than this. Throughout these eight years, we all know that the US has been pumping dollars in Mindanao to win “hearts and minds” for a “peace” that will further impoverish the Republic and immensely enrich it and its allies, the British and EU’s oil and gas firms.

Our Friday column last week reported the estimated 1.3-trillion cubic feet of gas reserves in the Liguasan Marsh valued for at least $570 billion and the yet un-estimated oil deposits in the Sulu Sea .

When the US finished off the Katipunan revolution in the Fil-American War, butchering an estimated 1.2 million Filipinos, it wiped out an entire class of brave and nationalistic leaders as well.

Like in Iraq today, they had established a “traitor class,” which in turn, continues to spawn a “traitor culture.” Prof. Alan Paguia’s research reveals that while the Americans co-opted Aguinaldo with 1,058 hectares of land, with his generals netting 800 hectares each, they have taken trillions of dollars out of the country since then -- a fact Professors Serafin Quiazon and Emmanuel Yap remind us of.

Inasmuch as they took billions away from the Philippines in stealing Sabah , they’ll even take hundreds of billions of dollars away if they succeed in this “ancestral domain” fraud.

Fortunately, the adverse reaction to the barefaced land grab in the MILF “peace settlement” seems to have evoked revulsion and rekindled patriotism among many Filipinos, even among some in the “traitor class.” It has certainly inflamed nationalism all over the country. Let us seize this opportunity to forge ahead with the nationalist “Last Revolution,” and forgive the repentant ones from this “traitor class” should they join this patriotic struggle now.