Back to Reality

It’s probably like the euphoria the US felt when John F. Kennedy won the presidency in 1961. Great speeches from a great orator, tears welling up from his triumphant voters, and great economic stimulus plans in the “Man on the Moon” project. But the reality of the Vietnam War immediately confronted JFK and led both him and the US to eventual disaster.

Obama’s people stopped the elections from being stolen by the corporatocracy and neoconservatives for a third time, but can they stop the latter’s power to continue their wars for profit, oil and global hegemony? Obama’s era has barely started, yet the internal, national debates have already begun. Let’s listen to some US voices who are providing timely counsel, admonition, and forewarning. The first comes from one whom I consider the best campaigner of Obama, film producer-director Michael Moore:

“There was another important ‘first’ last night. Never before in our history has an avowed anti-war candidate been elected president during a time of war. I hope President-elect Obama remembers that as he considers expanding the war in Afghanistan . The faith we now have will be lost if he forgets the main issue on which he beat his fellow Dems in the primaries and then a great war hero in the general election: The people of America are tired of war. Sick and tired. And their voice was loud and clear yesterday.”

Lest Moore’s appeal may not be enough, let me add that the people of the world are also tired of war as they gain nothing from it and are impeded from their aspirations to hold dominion over the cosmos. Barack can only gain the respect of all of us if and when he stands up against the warmongers of his country. Otherwise, we, together with Moore, will bring him down too.

Let us remember that the people of the world helped bring down the Bush regime and its lies. We must acknowledge our gratitude to the countless Iraqi fighters and their families who have undergone unimaginable suffering to stand up to the US ’ own bloodthirsty bullies -- without which their countrymen might not have awakened from the illusion of their country’s invincibility and condescension.

Let us remember the defiance of Venezuelans under Hugo Chavez, Bolivians under Evo Morales, Ecuadoreans under Rafael Correa, Argentineans under Kirchner, and most of all, Cubans under Fidel, as well as, other South American and Asian leaders, like Kim Jong Il and Ahmadinejad, who have served to humble the US down. The Cuban welfare system, for one thing, has also inspired Michael Moore to urge his people to demand equally just health care from their government.

Only mendicant and sycophantic Filipinos would look to Obama to bring about changes in the Philippines and the rest of the world. Nationalist Filipinos understand that any change for the better in the world and in their own country comes not from the outside but from their efforts.

Obama may change some policies internal to the US , but it is clear that if the world puts up with his desire to expand the war in Afghanistan , a fact that does not escape the concern of his most ardent campaigner Michael Moore, then there will be no change.

We, the world, must stop the US ’ continuing war crusade and force Obama to conform to the will of the human race.

Michael Moore is understandably polite to Obama, so let us also hear from the most radical defenders of the US people, like our ally against the global corporatocracy, Webster Tarpley:

“NO HUNDRED DAYS’ HONEYMOON FOR THE FASCIST CORPORATE STATE. NO SUPPRESSION OF FREE SPEECH WITH FAIRNESS DOCTRINE CENSORSHIP. NO TO OBAMA’S PLANS FOR GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED FASCIST MILITIAS. NO BAILOUTS FOR WALL STREET DERIVATIVES. NO CAP AND TRADE SYSTEM IN THE SERVICE OF THE GLOBAL WARMING HOAX. NO FREE TRADE SELLOUTS. NO LOOTING OF SOCIAL SECURITY TO PROP UP WALL STREET . NO CONFRONTATIONS WITH RUSSIA , CHINA , SUDAN , PAKISTAN .”

For those who bother to study Obama more than skin deep, the controversy is not over skin color but over his policies that support the present system with its countless deceptions, which Tarpley exposes here:

“With Obama’s win, the tasks of justice in the US of A has just begun. As Brasscheck TV on the Internet, a regular source of social critical and insightful videos, said: ‘…it’s not ‘completely over’ until Karl Rove (Bush brains and blamed for leaking CIA agent identities) and George Bush are in jail.’ Ralph Nader says it all with literary flourish in an interview over Fox News, ‘To put it very simply, he (Obama) is our first African American president; or he will be. And we wish him well. But his choice, basically, is whether he’s going to be Uncle Sam for the people of this country, or Uncle Tom (slave) for the giant corporations,’ for which Fox News lambasted him very unfairly – (the same) pre-election anti-Obama…corporatocracy mouthpiece Fox News (that is) now sucking up to Obama.”

Don’t be fooled by Obama’s anti-Wall Street diatribes; McCain did the same. The US corporatocracy gives funds to both the GOP and Dems every time. Obama got lots of small contributions because he received lots of initial assurance of seed money from the likes of George Soros who openly backed him. But as we said in our previous column, because of his multi-cultural and socially-oriented upbringing, Obama can spring a surprise -- just like John Kennedy did, but who got blasted by assassins not long after. Such is the reality; only fools of history will choose not to see this.

By the way, the US presidential election’s tipping point was race: 55 percent of Whites voted McCain while 96 percent of Blacks and 66 percent of Latinos voted Obama. Will there be secessionist White states soon? We should stoke this so they’ll stop cajoling the MILF in our southern backyard.

In the Philippines , let’s get back to reality too. Big Business continues with its many abuses: Meralco’s PR people are sowing intrigue among consumer NGOs, quoting me on things I never said against Pete Ilagan; GMA’s intelligence gooks are circulating a text of alleged coup plotters (including Cory and Noynoy Aquino), which shows they are stalemated -- otherwise they should have made arrests; and Manny Pangilinan keeps raising my DSL bill but I can’t connect to the Internet 80 percent of the time even as my WiFi works perfectly.

So then, it’s back to our struggle -- REGIME CHANGE, SYSTEMS CHANGE!

(Tune in to 1098AM, Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m.; Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.; Destiny Cable, Channel 3, Tuesday, 8:45 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.; and visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)

US’ers Elections and Our Global Crisis

I’ve had to look for a new way to call those people of the United States of America ever since Cuban Ambassador Jorge Rey Jimenez and Venezuelan Chargé d’Affaires Manuel Perez Iturbe educated me about the general sentiment of South (or Latin) American peoples on the exclusive use of “American” for US citizens who represent only 30 percent of the population of the entire Americas—of which North, Central and South America have around 950 million people.

While some would call the people of the USA “Norte Americano,” this is just as unfair to the Canadians and Mexicans. One alternative, “Yankee,” which one etymology traces to the Cherokee word for coward, eankke, was later used derogatively by the Confederates on their enemies to the North. On the other hand, whenever South Americans express their real feeling toward US citizens, they use “Gringos,” with a connotation of ill-mannered, rude drunkenness.

So as I grappled with the problem over several articles I had written, it came to me that the term, “US’ers”—which I coined instead of say, “US’ians” that hews too closely to “Russians”—really sounds more appropriate. It’s very specific. No mistaking Canadians that a “Norte Americano” name can cause; and it doesn’t have any derogatory connotation of “Yankee” or “Gringo” either. So it’s simply, US’ers, or the people of the United States of America . Just make sure the apostrophe is used or it may read like the Webster definition of an unethical person or an addict of some sort.

Surely, there are countless good people among the US population; but if McCain still wins the US elections, the derogatory connotation would become most apt. If, however, Obama wins despite the last minute “surge” planned by the US political-economic Establishment (which is momentarily split), it doesn’t automatically mean that US’ers will no longer be the “users” of old, creating wars for oil and their own economic and geostrategic security, and using depleted uranium and other weapons from their arsenal a la the “Gringos” of Italian Westerns. But there’s hope—and a chance—that Obama may only be faking his imperial expressions.

To be fair, Obama‘s platform of socio-economic change may still save the US from itself—from the divisive situation today out of three decades of neoconservative rule, to the greed of the finance and special interest (defense, oil, food cartels) corporatocracy, to its abandonment of its people and real economy. And despite suffering from the greatest financial collapse to date, the $1 trillion bailouts are still being hoarded by bankers as its industry and population financially starves. US’ers are thus seething over this and would want to make Obama win—that is, if the elections are left alone to reflect the people’s will. But that’s not how the Republicans, the Bushes and Cheneys, operate after heady continuous power for three decades.

For sure, Clinton was never in control as the Republican Congress was giving constant pressure. Plus, he too was in the clutches of the US financial and defense mafia, which made him bomb Iraq and repeal the vintage FDR Great Depression Glass-Steagall Act that fast-tracked today’s financial Armageddon.

Obama has the rare chance of ruling the US with control of both the executive and legislative branches under one party, making the neocons cringe. Hence, the Democrats’ consolidation could make Obama a great thing for the US , but will that translate to some good for the rest of the world? Reading Obama’s lips—“Invade Pakistan ; Escalate the War in Afghanistan ”—I begin to doubt; and while he’s against oil-drilling in Alaska , I read all that to mean he’ll drill in Mindanao with the US visiting forces and the MILF guarding for him instead.

Filipinos shouldn’t expect much from Obama or the US elections since there is little promise of any change in policy toward the world and the Philippines . And since Obama promises to stop outsourcing, this is bad news for RP call centers.

If change for the better is to happen, it has to be from us all—from each nation on earth. We must then stop this insane hype of the US elections, like the Philippine Star’s “Obama-McCain race enters final stretch” inane and obeisant headline since this only amounts to a genuflection to the master’s ritualistic change of clothes. Indeed, there will only be a change of clothes but no change in imperial face, unless the world gives it a slap—the way Putin did in Georgia, or Hugo Chavez in inviting Russian naval ships to visit his waters, south of the US .

But, as the US neocons believe, Obama could really be hiding some surprises, in response, they may be ready to pull off a “Garci” too. For instance, Italian paper Corriere, which interviewed US writer Erica Jong, headlined: “Obama Loss Will Spark the Second American Civil War…Blood Will Run in the Streets.” In it, she said: “The record shows that voting machines in America are rigged… My friends Ken Follett and Susan Cheever are extremely worried. Naomi Wolf calls me every day. Yesterday, Jane Fonda sent me an email to tell me that she cried all night and can’t cure her ailing back for all the stress… After having stolen the last two elections, the Republican Mafia (seems at it again)… And it’s not a coincidence that President Bush recalled soldiers from Iraq for Dick Cheney to lead against American citizens in the streets.”

It’s doubtful that Bush would risk what Jong and Fonda fear, but a real McCain upset cannot be discounted. That ironically would neither be believed nor accepted, and should trigger the chaos. But it’s ironic too since Obama is not a full-fledged threat to the Right-wing Establishment the way Presidents Abraham Lincoln and John “Jack” Kennedy were when they challenged the US Federal Reserve (which few understand is a private bank) and its control of money. To refresh our readers, Abe printed government “greenbacks” while Jack signed EO11110, restoring US government silver-backed money printing, both against borrowing from the Fed. Sadly, there’s no John Wilkes Booth or Lee Harvey Oswald yet for Obama, so should he continue the “Anti-terror” War, he’ll be the darling of the Establishment there in no time.

While US’ers expect much from Obama’s promise of change, these are likely to be limited or cosmetic. For the world tired of the US bringing perennial oil, finance and war crises, Obama has only promised a shift in the theater of US aggression. But could he still surprise us? Yes. But the surprise could go either way—more war or more overtures toward peace.

Regime and ‘Systems’ Change

It is not enough to call for regime change; it needs to be accompanied by a much-needed “systems” change -- both implemented at the same time. Otherwise, such a change will only come to naught, to be followed by an even more difficult period of continuing deterioration. I trust that the group of religious leaders that made a strong pitch for changing Gloria Arroyo has done so only because it is a sine qua non for systems change, i.e. opening the way for essential changes in policies, institutions and leading personalities upon Mrs. Arroyo’s removal. I bring this up because the systemic changes required mainly involve: The change of the ruling elite from self-serving oligarchs and cronies to visionary Filipinos and public servants like President Estrada, Gen. Danilo Lim, Senator Trillanes, the Bagong Katipuneros and their allies.

Since any discussion on new leadership personalities to lead the charge towards systemic change is unavoidable, we must stress that this leadership’s character is best defined by its leaders’ ideology, whether expressed or implicit. Moreover, these leaders must have a track record that is the reverse of the prevailing but dying “leadership” of Gloria Arroyo, the oligarchs, and their foreign backers. In other words, in order to be truly responsive to the needs of the nation and the times, this new leadership must be: (a) Filipinist and nationalist through and through against the globalists of the decaying order; (b) altruistic in stark contrast to the present regime of political and corporate greed; and (c) a unifier instead of a divisive force, which is what the ruling class is today.

Sadly, our society’s present rulers have exacerbated the class divide, creating more and more impoverished Filipinos, which the surveys incessantly remind us of. At the same time, they have rapidly decimated the ranks of the middle class and narrowed this segment down to an endangered species. Worse, it seems that they have adopted the same attitude expressed by Warren Buffet in the US , as narrated in a November 26, 2006 article in The New York Times by Ben Stein:

“It turned out that Mr. Buffett, with immense income from dividends and capital gains, paid far, far less as a fraction of his income than the secretaries or the clerks or anyone else in his office. ‘How can this be fair?’ he (Buffett) asked of how little he pays relative to his employees. ‘How can this be right?’ Even though I agreed with him, I warned that whenever someone tried to raise the issue, he or she was accused of fomenting class warfare. ‘There’s class warfare, all right,’ Mr. Buffett said, ‘but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.’ Unlike Michael Moore, the film director who’s been waging a crusade for middle class America for a just US of A, Buffett just took pleasure in ‘winning the class war;’ but now the US elections may soon take revenge on Buffett’s class.”

In the Philippines too, the victimized classes consisting of the 3.3 million severely hunger-stricken families (or around 17 million Filipino men, women and children), and the other 50 million who are just plain hungry, as with the dwindling middle class -- who are bracing for the impending hunger that may strike as the global financial tsunami hits in the next few months, are all suffering from this horrendous inflationary effect of Gloria and the Makati Business Club’s neo-liberal, pro-oligarch policies of ever increasing taxes, ever increasing privatized public utilities (power, water, energy, port services) profits, ever increasing food prices, ever increasing corporate profits, ever shrinking peso purchasing power, ever dwindling public services, ever increasing corruption, ad nausea.

Speaking of Arroyo’s business allies, we read this news about Donald Dee’s impertinent tirade against Archbishop Lagdameo’s call for Gloria’s early expulsion, and this reminded us of the vile history of his family’s predatory business lineage that started with his brother, Dewey Dee, absconding with billions of pesos stolen from the Philippine financial system a few decades back, to this Duck’s plots with Gloria Arroyo from her days in the Garments and Textile Board up to the present. Someday, there’ll be enough time for this Duck to be cooked for the Filipino people’s savoring. And while we are reckoning the sins of Gloria’s cronies, I hasten to add this challenge to Si-Raul-o Gonzales’ charge of “sedition” against Lagdameo: Why don’t you arrest him?

Just the same, it was a encouraging to hear General Yano’s name openly mentioned in the Church leaders’ press conference. Although Yano responded later by repeating the official mantra of following the chain of command, the archbishop’s mention of his possible role for regime change triggers uncontrollable chain of events in several directions. For some, it means the “handwriting on the wall” for Yano; for others, the writing is for the Arroyo regime to heed and tremble at. Another name mentioned in the bishops’ open forum was Chief Justice Puno, who a day later, was reported by ANC to have said that he openly supports the call of the bishops -- which is yet another “handwriting on the wall,” but in this case, clearly calls the attention of Gloria.

Whoever leads the charge to change the corrupt and oppressive Gloria Arroyo regime now will get tremendous support from the people of this nation. On top of the heavy burden of growing hunger, poverty, taxes, job losses, peso devaluations, and a government in perpetual drift weighing down on the Filipinos’ shoulders, all the arrogance and incessant lies of this regime and Malacañang-squatting family have amounted to daily slaps and insults against the people’s dignity and intelligence. Thus, to unburden this nation, a swift move -- with the help of our soldiers faithful to the principles of genuine democracy -- is ideal to unblock the road toward national unity, conciliation, cleansing and reform, and prosperity.

If called, we will rally in the streets to support such move and defend the patriotic soldiers for change. Millions of Filipinos will cheer and join.

“New Deal” vs. Raw Deal for Filipinos

The “New Deal” was Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s response to the last Great Depression in 1929. It used state intervention to rein in Big Business and bankers’ greed and stimulate the production side of the economy. It instituted such measure as the Glass-Steagall Act barring banks from investment functions, a law and a regulatory policy eroded during the 1970s when “universal banking”( banking with investment services) was forced on the rest of the world, as well as the Philippines. The US formally repealed the Glass-Steagall Act under Clinton, although Reagan had already begun to erode its application with his deregulation of the US economy. Now the world discovers this deregulation as a “raw deal” and victimized it.

The “raw deal” espouses the diminution of the role of the state and removal of affirmative action for the nation-state in economic activity. It ushered in the rule of the Western financial class which imposed on the world the removal of the state’s tariff protection (globalization); transfer of public utilities and assets to private corporations, removing profit limits and transparency requirements; gave license to speculative and predatory capital flow and speculation on exchange rates. The Philippines is one of the most damaged victims of the “raw deal” of the economic regime of liberalization, deregulation and privatization, thanks to the Cory Aquino-FVR-Arroyo triad’s eager-beaver embrace of the “globalization” of the economy.

It took 125 years in the Philippines for the grave inequities embedded in “raw deal” to surface. Now, the evil of that deal is painfully evident. Even much maligned and autocratic Myanmar has much lower hunger indicators compared to the Philippines, ranking 66 to the Philippines’ 67 in the 2007 Global Hunger Index, while nationalistic Indonesia fares even better at number 56 with a hunger rating of 11.57 compared to 15.8 and 16.23 of Myanmar and the Philippines. Under Arroyo, the height of globalization in the Philippines’ UN Human Development Index rank fell from No. 77 in 2000 to 90 in 2007. Only the obfuscation of Arroyo and her business, academic and government conspirators manage to hide these facts from the people.

The worse from the “raw deal” will come in early 2009, aggravating every month from thereon. The DoLE has admitted it is expecting 50,000 OFWs to lose their jobs and come back home, but we know the government cannot help but understate the figures to stall the outpouring of public rage. With the contracting economies in the OFW hiring economies in the West and the richer countries of Asia, we can definitely expect hundreds of thousands of OFWs to be let go by their employers for the rest of next year. We hate to be the bearer of such bad news, but it is better to know the truth now and prepare for the inevitable than to bury our head in the sand like Gloria Arroyo is doing. This column has consistently been correct in its political-economic projections.

We have been short only in our estimate of the Arroyo regime’s capacity for corrupting the system for survival. She’s exchanged every national treasure, including territory, for clinging to power. For this, the US has preferred to keep the regime on despite its increasing corruption and unpopularity - more averse to the idea of changing horses midstream and accepting some splatter of Arroyo’s scum on Uncle Sam’s shirt sleeves.

The year 2010 is fast approaching and the window for Charter change (Cha-Cha) and the Constituent options is closing. On foreign influence, the US is receding as an economic-political power and its tentacles in the Philippines are growing weak and weary.

One of the pillars of US influence in the Philippines, the AIG, has collapsed; its associated financial organizations and personalities on Ayala Avenue are also waning in power. The time to move against the corrupt regime is soon, but maybe the holiday months would not be conducive. The 2010 elections are also too close and some prefer to wait until then when victory is a forgone conclusion. The 2010 elections are less than two years away and it’s almost certain Gloria can’t pull her Cha-cha off or even the Con-Ass. Besides, a Con-Ass would bring the extra-constitutional action closer to reality and sooner, otherwise it is the 2010 elections.

In 2010, the only real prospect of uniting anti-Gloria forces and winning against the regime’s surrogates will be former President Joseph Estrada - if he decides to run. Whichever the final option for the opposition will be, it is definite that regime change is forthcoming and we better prepare to implement of a new financial-economic paradigm for the country. This is how we should implement the “New Deal for Filipinos”:

Restore political power to the people, rein in the greed of oligarchs and the corporatocracy; review and cut the national debt; re-nationalize the public utilities and strategic state corporations such as Petron and the National Power Corp. generating assets, particularly those from natural sources such as geothermal and hydro; prioritize indigenous energy, as well as rice and milk development and production; impose CEC (currency and exchange control a la Mahathir and Chavez); return to import-substitution and self-reliance economics; quash the foreign subversion in Mindanao and expose the leftist tools of Western imperialism. These would put on this nation on course towards stability, growth and prosperity - a new deal for a new Philippines.

Nationalization

There is a huge battle over Philex and its shares today. That gold mining company’s Board even took out an ad denouncing one of the directors representing government’s shares for demanding pre-emptive rights over its latest impending sale. Gold, as solid as its weight, has become the most prized commodity these days. Alert to global financial and economic trends, and seeking shelter from the turbulent winds that are blowing paper assets like autumn leaves, keen investors are now seeking to convert their soon-to-be completely worthless cash into solid and safe havens of value -- the safest of which is gold. And the only thing that comes close to matching gold in desirability as an investment are shares in gold mining companies that are expected to boom in the near future.

While gold still has a few ups and downs, as major gold hoarders try to coax small holders to release their little stash, the medium- to long-term trend is simply the inverse of how other stocks will be heading south for some time. Just recently, the name of Manny Pangilinan popped up as a quiet, creeping buyer of Philex stocks, paying an attractive premium for its loose shares. The word going around is that the group behind Pangilinan, the Indonesian Salim group, aims to gain over 40 percent of the mining company. Upon hearing this, the new CEO of the Social Security System (SSS), Romulo Neri, protested the sale of that block of Philex shares in view of his agency’s pre-emptive rights as a major stakeholder, owning 19 percent of the company. Not surprisingly, however, other Philex board members didn’t like this.

To ease their woes, they’ve begun to call for Neri’s sacking from the SSS. Yet from every aspect of this controversy, Neri is merely doing the right thing. As he was quoted in newspapers: “According to the country’s corporate law, this preemptive right would be waived only if it is stipulated in the company’s by-laws and ratified by shareholders… This did not happen in this case. If the SSS does not assert this right, then this would set a bad precedent that would put all Philex shareholders at a disadvantage in the future.” He added, “As we have said, we (only) aim to protect the interest of Philex shareholders and SSS members.”

While this controversy could be left to the Philex board and Neri to resolve, it must be stressed that the interest of all SSS members’ in this case is paramount. This early, though, rumor has it that ZTE-point man Jun Lozada will be drafted by “civil society” in the anti-Neri campaign.

As I started to study this, I called ACCESSS, the Alert and Concerned Employees of the SSS and talked to Jun San Andres over the phone Friday morning. Even as its board has yet to convene on the issue, the initial reaction I got was not averse to the actions taken by Neri thus far.

First, the SSS does have pre-emptive rights and Neri’s assertion of that right is only appropriate. Second, my view of the trend for gold finds support with Jun San Andres. Thus, selling or buying at this time can be both profitable for the SSS and its membership. Jun added that this may be the best time to invest since Neri’s predecessor simply didn’t have the acumen for investing and kept the SSS’ growth stymied.

Jun, though, raised only one concern: That the allowable limit to SSS’ investment in stocks -- already set by law -- not be breached. I checked that one out and I was told by one investment analyst that the SSS still has P15 billion pesos in investible funds. While conservatism in investing these funds, especially in highly volatile foreign markets, is imperative, local opportunities for supporting vital growth industries are as important and form part of the funds’ responsibility to society and its members.

Few can disagree that gold is a safe and very promising sector now, and that is why the oligarchs are also moving in to corner Philex today. But should we let these oligarchs reap the boon from gold or should be keep it for the people of this Republic?

My answer is obvious: We should have the whole nation of 90 million Filipinos benefit from this country’s patrimony, and any opportune investment by the SSS in getting this for its members is most welcome. However, latest reports say that Neri is not really considering buying the Philex shares at stake today. I, nonetheless, don’t think the country should give up the idea of taking for the people this natural wealth that forms part of our heritage.

Exploiters of this country’s gold throughout the decades, be they in the Mountain provinces or in Bicol or in Mindanao, have not improved the lives of people in these localities, much less the country as a whole -- despite having dug up hundreds of billions of dollars worth of mineral riches.

The world today is seeing a flurry of Western governments nationalizing private banks and corporations that have salted away wealth by swindling the general populations in their countries. The top shareholders and CEOs of these corporations exploited the companies to the hilt and have deliberately run these companies to the ground. While cohorts from the corporate cabal like Henry Paulson (formerly of Goldman Sachs) designed a “rescue” package, it nevertheless drowns the taxpayers in future debt, leaving the needy people out to hang.

In Philex, the oligarchs are quickly moving in to corner the huge bonanza for themselves and leave the people out, despite the leading role of public institutions such as the SSS in sustaining that company through the lean years.

Thus, in order to save this country’s future, we must push for the nationalization of these assets and much, much more -- such as the Malampaya natural gas and the Galoc oil fields, just as Latin American countries have done, from Bolivia to Ecuador , Venezuela to Argentina , spreading throughout that southern continent. We must not limit the discussion of the fate of Philex to SSS shares and its pre-emptive rights alone, for we must expand the debate to the issue of the nationalization of our nation’s increasingly valuable patrimony -- and one that we will pay for only at a fair, discounted value.

SC’s betrayal of the people.

The Supreme Court’s denial of the Motion for Reconsideration (MR) of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV to attend Senate sessions and serve his mandate as senator of the Republic is an unashamed, blatant betrayal of the principles of democracy and the people’s will. The Supreme Court based its decision on its claimed risk of “flight” of the senator, even though the latter has never attempted to escape or evade his duties to the Constitution or the Law. In fact, he has dutifully fulfilled everything that he pledged to do as a citizen and soldier, which are to expose inequities and corruption, and defend the nation. We cannot say the same of the members of the SC today as they are heirs to the desecration of Davide, being handpicked by this corrupt Arroyo regime. While the revolution waits, there will be no law or justice in this land.

Adding the final insult and injury to Trillanes’ eleven million voters, the SC even denied Senator Trillanes the right to have his Senate staff visit him in his place of detention, which encumbers him from carrying out his duties. In the first place, Senator Trillanes is innocent of the crimes the Arroyo regime charged him with because voters have already absolved him through their expression of their democratic judgment in entrusting him with a Senate mandate. Secondly, even Arroyo’s court has yet to prove him guilty, which means Trillanes should be presumed innocent and no obstacle to his service to the nation can be justified. Thus, the SC has become criminal in doing this; though I doubt if Trillanes can be fully prevented from finding ways to serve the people.

In all, Senator Trillanes has continued to serve with distinction despite the severely constricted conditions imposed on him. He has filed 138 bills (making him the fifth most prolific in the Senate), nine resolutions, and one joint resolution. Of these, he is co-author of RA 9502, the Quality & Affordable Medicines Act of 2007, and RA 9500, the University of the Philippines Charter of 2007, which have been passed into law. Among my favorites of his legislative work are: SB 1448 - An Act Repealing the eVAT Law (which would reduce the burdens on the people); SB 2058 - An Act Providing Post-harvest Facilities to Rice Farmers; and SB 1591 - An Act Amending the Automatic Appropriations Law [PD 1177] to Augment IRAs of LGUs (to be taken away from the bankers for distribution to the people).

Here’s more: SB 2254 - An Act Providing for a Ceiling on All Public Debts of the Republic of the Philippines and for Other Purposes; SB 2273 - An Act That Seeks to Trim Down the Areas of Investments of GSIS (to only those that assure predictability in order to protect the mass of members from the vagaries of trade and commerce, and from enterprises with false pretensions of track record of profitability to stop speculative investments such as the GSIS’ foreign placements now being covered up); SB 2302 - An Act Setting Limits on the Power of the President to Reappoint By-passed Nominees; and SB 1467 – An Act Defining the Archipelagic Baselines of the Philippine Archipelago, Amending for the Purpose RA 3046 as Amended by RA 5446 (expanding RP’s economic zone).

Therefore, there’s no telling what greater contributions Senator Trillanes can make if he is allowed to fully serve in the Senate; but that is exactly what the Arroyo regime and its corrupt instrumentalities fear. In the face of such a dedicated, principled and creative young leader as Trillanes, all the appointees of Gloria in all branches of government, including the Supreme Court, would be exposed as the corrupt dead beats that they are.

Strange as it may sound to those oppressing Senator Trillanes today, the young soldier-senator actually believed that there is decency and integrity in the judicial system; hence, his faith in keeping with the processes of law. One can even accuse Faeldon of “danger of flight” for he escaped twice, yet Trillanes has always abided by the terms of his incarceration.

So the SC has become absolutely ridiculous in claiming the Manila Peninsula incident as an attempt at “flight” or escape. If that were Trillanes’ intention, he would have long been gone, taking the numerous transports available at that moment on Makati Avenue and the many hours available to whisk off to destinations unknown. He could have been free to roam around the country indefinitely, just as Faeldon is now, but Trillanes has chosen to keep the dignified stance of a prisoner of conscience and an active dissenter, and never once hid from the consequences of his actions. Even during the last hours of Manila Pen, Trillanes could have escaped; but a leader chooses not to do that. A leader stays with his people, as Trillanes correctly does up to this day.

The plain truth about that SC denial of Trillanes’ MR is that right from the start, the justices of Gloria were dead set on denying Trillanes’ eleven million voters their right to be represented by their chosen senator and preventing him from leading this broad following.

Consider this: The counsels of Trillanes received the first SC denial on July 10, 2008. They then had 15 days to file their answer, which they did on July 25, a Friday, at around 4:30 in the afternoon. Their answer would only have been distributed to SC members on a Monday, the 28th, since it was immediately calendared on the 29th, the following day, but this was the same date in which a decision was made -- which means the SC justices did not even read and consider the arguments or evidences raised in the motion!

To further illustrate the SC’s malice on Trillanes’ motion, consider that it took the court eight months to act on the MR on Neri’s “Executive Privilege” case, whereas it had kept quiet about its decision on the Trillanes case only until several Senators initiated moves to intervene, at which time media accidentally discovered the SC denial of Trillanes’ MR, thereby rendering the Senate’s interest on the issue moot and academic.

Here, the SC’s spite toward Trillanes’ petition is clear and incontrovertible, but should we still be surprised? Even as Puno tries to window-dress the SC’s record, his court has still been dismal in all crucial cases. However, in this Trillanes case, the political and corrupt Supreme Court has further upped the ante as it exposed its canine subservience to Gloria and its betrayal of the people -- a corruption worse than the Sabio episode in the Court of Appeals.

A brewing US Revolution

I cannot help but think that before Obama ends his first four years in office, a social revolution will take place in the US of A. This assumes that McCain will lose the election after two weeks of financial and economic ruin thanks to his party of deregulation and his inability to shake off this onus despite Palin’s Dionne Warwick-like debating skills -- Betcha by golly wow! Of course, this too discounts the possibility that Bush and company will pull off another 9/11 incident to “shock and awe” US citizens into embracing a new ultra-hawk mentality propagated by their party of war. Just the same, some US Americans already fear of a looming martial law as Bush deployed the 1st BCT from Iraq to the NorthCom on federal call for emergencies, including terrorist attacks.

Frankly, the US ’ ruling plutocracy is just like any ruling class of any society -- it will not give up its power willingly. We have seen evidence of this immovable licentiousness to exploit the US population by the second round approval of the $700-billion bailout in favor of predatory financial and banking interests over the objections of the majority there.

US Intellectuals like Michel Chossudovsky, activists like Alex Jones and reporters like Gina Cavallaro have reported the unprecedented assignment of active units to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities. Yes, even US lawyers say they were told to pass the bailout or face martial law.

Brad Sherman of California’s 27th congressional district in a speech said he personally knew of several congressmen who said they were threatened with the prospect of all-out martial law should they oppose the $700-billion bailout: “Many of us were told in private conversations that if we voted against this bill on Monday that the sky would fall, the market would drop two or three thousand points the first day, another couple of thousand the second day, and a few members were even told that there would be martial law in America if we voted no.”

For skeptics of such planned grim scenarios who’ll dismiss such as a “conspiracy theory,” they should sober up by looking at the financial conspiracy among hedge fund managers and Reaganite politicians who have produced this global financial crisis today.

In the near future, Obama could be the instrument of a social revolution in the US just as the patrician Franklin Delano Roosevelt was despite being a Boston Brahmin, a member of the financial and power aristocracy in that country. FDR turned against his own class by instituting laws that regulated the power of the financial class which had caused the Great Depression and pump-primed the economy through social and public works programs.

While I do not have that much faith in the opportunistic Obama who has somersaulted on key policies on Iraq and showed his hawkish tendency in advocating violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty, I have faith in the working class base of the Democratic Party with the likes of Michael Moore who’ll certainly keep pressuring Obama to help Main Street and stop the wars.

Main Street USA has been forced to swallow the bitter abuse of that country’s financial oligarchs and they’re not about to forget this. Last week, Fannie Mae felt compelled to lift the foreclosure on the home of 90-year old Addie Polk of Akron , Ohio , who shot herself in the chest as deputies were knocking on her door with eviction papers. Coupled with the growing evidence against Bush, Cheney, the neo-cons and the financial oligarchy’s complicity in the 9/11 terror attack, the growing movement against the Iraq War, the strengthening anti-war organizations and the widening audience on the Internet of intellectuals and activists for truth and change, the potential of social revolution is very real.

For the peoples of the world, this potential of changing the US from a power and war-mongering country to one based on justice and humanity can make it primus inter pares in the emerging multi-polar world for peace and genuine global prosperity. Benjamin Fulford write a piece on the Internet entitled, “US Crisis: An Historic Opportunity for World Peace,” calling on Asian governments with the money to demand the US to cooperate in building a peaceful world. The troubles ailing America should cut it down to size, create a humbler government that could still be the primus inter pares among peace-building, technology-sharing and prosperity growing multi-polar powers leading the rest of the 180 or so nations on Earth. Yes, the dream is possible.

Besides, the US has no choice as other regions are awakening to their destinies as part of the global destiny. South America, for example, under Chavez and Lula, will no longer submit to the old Monroe Doctrine of the South as a backyard of the US . I just watched an Al Jazeera special report of the US-backed coup against Chavez and how he was returned to power, and it reminded me of the crisis in Philippine leadership created by the US-backed Arroyo power grab because the injustice to Estrada’s voters have not yet been set aright and thus the nation remains subjugated; but still, it left me convinced justice will be done in the Philippines as our “Last Revolution” awaits. Only then can Asean be truly complete, when all its members are genuinely legitimate.

A revolution such as this is also apt for the US of A. Their 1776 Revolution and Constitution, which guarantee “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” for all their people, has been, for the past three decades since Reagan, only true for Wall Street moguls, oil powers and defense industries. The uncared for victims of Katrina and people like Addie Polk belie this US promise. For the rest of the world too, it seems the US has appropriated these riches and glories for itself. The presence of hunger, war, and disease -- wherever US corporate and political power sets foot -- is proof. The day the people of the US will be at peace with its own governance is the day the world will be at peace with the US of A.

Main Street vs Wall Street

Many Filipinos are still perplexed by the US Congress’ delay of the $700-billion bailout of finance companies and banks that went down in the latest financial collapse. Philippine media headlines, like those of the Inquirer (owned by oligarchic families) and Malaya (of our pro-business friend Jake Macasaet), reflect the anxiety the business sector is projecting over the delay as well. Why the delay if the world’s financial system depended on it? Why too, if people’s businesses, paychecks, pensions and consumer power depended on it? The answer is simple: The US public is already enraged that Bush’s plan will bail out the finance speculators and banks that created the collapse in the first place while making them -- the victims and taxpayers -- shell out for this bailout.

While media frantically focused on the actions of Bush, Obama and McCain, I watched instead film director Michael Moore, whose blockbuster social commentaries such as Fahrenheit 9/11 and Sicko have had far more impact on the US population than any of these politicians. On September 29, Day One of the US Congressional debate on Paulson’s bailout plan, Moore circulated an Internet letter opening thus: “The Rich are Staging a Coup This Morning… The biggest robbery in the history of this country is taking place as you read this… Make no mistake about it: After stealing a half trillion dollars to line the pockets of their war-profiteering backers for the past five years, after lining the pockets of their fellow oilmen to the tune of over a hundred billion dollars in just the last two years, Bush and his cronies are looting the US Treasury of every dollar they can grab.”

There is a financial and economic civil war now raging in the US , triggered by the subprime crisis -- a war between “ Main Street ” or the small business and working or middle class US citizens against “Wall Street” of Big Business, finance speculators and bankers.

Understandably, Main Street is against channeling more future taxpayer money to bail out Wall Street as Main Street folks have had their homes foreclosed and their businesses drained of credit and capital after Wall Street swindled them. What Main Street demands is that government bail out the people directly -- restore homeowners who’ve lost their mortgaged homes to these banks, and use these government bailout funds to refinance their homes while giving them affordable rent-to-own rates.

After Paulson was defeated, Moore sent another e-mail to his millions of supporters, congratulating them as “corporate crime fighters,” for stopping the Congressional approval of the plan. He followed up with his latest one entitled, “Here’s How to Fix the Wall Street Mess,” with his ten-point agenda as follows:

1. APPOINT A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR TO CRIMINALLY INDICT ANYONE ON WALL STREET WHO KNOWINGLY CONTRIBUTED TO THIS COLLAPSE. Before any new money is expended…criminally prosecute anyone who had anything to do with the attempted sacking of our economy.

2. THE RICH MUST PAY FOR THEIR OWN BAILOUT. They may have to live in 5 houses instead of 7…(and) there is no way in hell, after forcing family incomes to go down more than 2,000 dollars during the Bush years, that working people and the middle class are going to fork over one dime to underwrite the next yacht purchase. (Instead…)

a. Every couple who makes over a million dollars a year and every single taxpayer who makes over $500,000 a year will pay a 10 percent surcharge tax for five years.

b. Charge a 0.25 percent tax on every stock transaction…(and) raise more than $200 billion in a year.

c. (Have) stockholders…forgo receiving a dividend check for one quarter and instead, this money will go the Treasury to help pay for the bailout.

d. Raise the corporate income tax back to the level of the 1950s…(and get) an extra $500 billion.

3. BAIL OUT THE PEOPLE LOSING THEIR HOMES, NOT THE PEOPLE WHO WILL BUILD AN EIGHTH HOME.

4. IF YOUR BANK OR COMPANY GETS ANY OF OUR MONEY IN A “BAILOUT,” THEN WE OWN YOU.

5. ALL REGULATIONS MUST BE RESTORED. THE REAGAN REVOLUTION IS DEAD.

6. IF IT’S TOO BIG TO FAIL, THEN THAT MEANS IT’S TOO BIG TO EXIST. Allowing the creation of these mega-mergers and not enforcing the monopoly and anti-trust laws has allowed a number of financial institutions and corporations to become so large, the very thought of their collapse means an even bigger collapse across the entire economy… Laws must be enacted to prevent companies from being so large… And no institution should be allowed to set up money schemes that no one can understand. If you can’t explain it in two sentences, you shouldn’t be taking anyone’s money.

7. NO EXECUTIVE SHOULD BE PAID MORE THAN 40 TIMES THEIR AVERAGE EMPLOYEE, AND NO EXECUTIVE SHOULD RECEIVE ANY KIND OF “PARACHUTE” OTHER THAN THE VERY GENEROUS SALARY HE OR SHE MADE WHILE WORKING FOR THE COMPANY.

8. STRENGTHEN THE FDIC (Federal Deposit and Insurance Company) AND MAKE IT A MODEL FOR PROTECTING NOT ONLY PEOPLE’S SAVINGS, BUT ALSO THEIR PENSIONS AND THEIR HOMES.

9. EVERYBODY NEEDS TO TAKE A DEEP BREATH, CALM DOWN, AND NOT LET FEAR RULE THE DAY… Pundits and politicians are lying to us so fast and furious it’s hard not to be affected by all the fear mongering…the most amazing thing is that the American public hasn’t bought the scare campaign. The citizens didn’t blink, and instead told Congress to take that bailout and shove it.

10. CREATE A NATIONAL BANK, A “PEOPLE’S BANK.” If we really are itching to print up a trillion dollars, instead of giving it to a few rich people, why don’t we give it to ourselves? Now that we own Freddie and Fannie, why not set up a people’s bank? One that can provide low-interest loans for all sorts of people who want to own a home, start a small business, go to school, come up with the cure for cancer or create the next great invention. And now that we own AIG, the country’s largest insurance company, let’s take the next step and provide health insurance for everyone. Medicare for all…

Indeed, Michael Moore’s prescriptions apply to the world’s major capitalist economies -- London, Paris, Zurich, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Seoul and others; and particularly to pitiful Philippines where elite oppression and exploitation have gone on too long now.

From financial awakening to revolution

In just a week’s time, many Filipinos have transitioned from financial innocence to maturity, finally gaining considerable insight into the vitriol this column has heaped on “free market” economics. Many of them had previously held on to the authority of Western financial institutions, particularly “ratings agencies,” in judging our country’s financial performance -- institutions which have now had their credibility shattered for not having warned the world about the impending collapse of Lehman Bros. and a score of US and British financial houses.

So as bad as their once almighty dollar and economy have become, the commanding prestige of US financial authorities is now in tatters -- just as there are many red faces among Filipino “economists” here who have parroted the Chicago school of economics “free market” ideology.

I am writing this column for the new national leaders of this country who will find themselves at the helm of government sooner than expected. I am referring to detained General Danilo Lim, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, and the Bagong Katipuneros, and those in opposition political circles preparing to take over from the neo-colonially enslaved and corrupt Gloria Arroyo regime -- the most viable of which include PMP’s President Joseph E. Estrada, as well as, UNO stalwarts Mayor Jejomar Binay and Senator Ernesto Maceda.

The looming economic tsunami will precipitate calls for change even before the 2010 election as the severity of the crunch is already felt -- and growing -- even though the holiday season may distract us for a while.

Other countries are already changing gears. Bloomberg, in a report entitled “ China Shuns Paulson’s Free Market Push as Meltdown Burns U.S. ,” quotes former adviser to China ’s Central Bank Yu Yongding: “The U.S. financial system was regarded as a model… Suddenly we find our teacher is not that excellent, so the next time when we’re designing our financial system we will use our own mind more.”

Over a year ago, US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said to the Shanghai Futures Exchange, “An open, competitive, and liberalized financial market can effectively allocate scarce resources in a manner that promotes stability and prosperity far better than governmental intervention…”

Yet now Paulson is using $700 billion in US funds to save “the markets.”

As a former chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Paulson contradicts what the US prescribed Asian governments like Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia and the Philippines during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis (which was seconded by Solita Monsod et al.) to let unviable banks and their countries’ respective currencies fall.

Shanghai-based Andy Zie, formerly with Morgan Stanley, now has this to say:

“It’s the end of an era… In 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell, socialism was discredited and the whole world turned right. Now financial capital has been discredited and the whole world, including the U.S., is turning left.”

Although China has selectively liberalized since joining the WTO, it had never allowed “margin and derivatives trading” -- something that the likes of our Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) Tetangco approved last year.

Slowly but surely, Filipinos are learning. In the new, post-Gloria Philippine government, the first financial and economic action must be the removal of the Chicago Boys in the finance and economics offices of government.

Government financial policy-making must be freed from AIG’s Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, Philamlife, Citibank, Royal-Dutch Shell and other local subsidiaries under the Ayala umbrella. Of course, Gloria’s “Board of Economic Advisers” including Greenberg (again), Sycip, CIA men Wisner and Bosworth, and other corpo-rats must be junked as well.

It will have to recruit from socially-oriented and nationalist economists and finance experts, such as former national treasurer Norma Lasala, SOLAIR academics, patriotic businessmen and religious comrades from Katapat, KME, et al.

Pro-people, pro-nation state financial and economic policies will naturally flow from this fundamental change.

To visualize this reversal of financial and economic direction, think of: (a) Putting in place what Norma Lasala has long advocated -- that so-called dollar reserves be put into active use in the economy; (b) Nationalist economists paving the way for the re-nationalization of public utilities, resulting in the reduction of power, water and road toll rates to revive the economy and consumer confidence; (c) Patriotic businessmen and Church leaders reviving import-substitution industries and the “Buy Filipino” movement; (d) Jumpstarting the Freedom from Debt Coalition’s special mission of debt audit and renegotiation; and (e) Assigning Laban ng Masa, which has close ties with South American leftwing governments, to negotiate for low priced oil from countries like Venezuela.

For sure, there will be enormous resistance from foreign financial exploiters, making efforts to foment instability inevitable. But this is where the Bagong Katipuneros (a.k.a. Magdalos) will step in, tasked with the special mission of securing the nation from the “enemies within,” i.e. the US-British agents within the military and police establishment.

Of course, barring the total wipe out of any residual treasonous colonial mentality from incessant calls for patriotism and nationalism, the threat to be reckoned with can only be subversion from within as none of our neighbors will prefer to threaten us frontally.

Given this, top foreign agents in the Arroyo government should naturally be arrested posthaste like Norberto Gonzales, Archie Intengan, et al. Traitors in the military, meanwhile, who are known to military nationalists, are best left to the latter to dispose of in their own manner.

After securing the nation and stabilizing its financial and economic direction, the next step is establishing energy independence through immediate tapping of geothermal resources, which are more than sufficient for the country’s needs for the next decades. With the country’s improving negotiating position from the initiatives of the new government, optimal deals for the opening up of natural gas and oil reserves from the Liguasan Marsh and the Sulu Sea will make the Philippines one of the newest “rich boys” in the Asean neighborhood.

Filipino per capita income in 2007 ranked 15th at HK$16,675 (ADB, 2007), compared to China at 10th place with HK$23,267 and Malaysia at 6th with HK$65,217. But with financial and national revolution, we can move up to the top six too.

Then, the Philippines can dream of building the “PetroPhil” towers rivaling Malaysia ’s own Petronas. Our OFWs can come home and be with their families again. US- and European-based OFWs can likewise retire in our shores and contribute even more to the growth and strengthening of this nation. These are all possible today as the Filipino nation awakens from the collapse of the US economic and, consequently, geopolitical myth. The time to be free is NOW!

Lim, Trillanes: Our hope in these crisis times

Gloria Arroyo goes off to New York after rumblings in the military caused her to postpone her earlier scheduled trip. While there, she consults with Citibank and other investment top brass on the financial crisis spawned by the “Subprime Collapse” of Wall Street. Others, meanwhile, suspect she’s just updating herself on the damage to her own and FG Mike’s nest eggs in these failed funds.

But whatever her reasons are, she might as well call in one of the top members of her original “Board of Economic Advisers,” Maurice “Hank” Greenberg -- godfather of the now bankrupt AIG -- to ask for more advice on how to wriggle out of this one as the Philippines will be among the hardest hit by the financial tsunami now swiftly gaining inexorable momentum across the Pacific.

Already, Gloria’s business cronies are disavowing her denials of the staggering economic damage this US financial collapse will do to our country.

Here are excerpts from Irma Isip on reports by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) and the Philippine Exporters Federation Inc. (PEFI): “Edgardo Lacson and Donald Dee, president and chairman emeritus of the PCCI said they are more concerned now on how the crisis in the US and the subsequent slowdown in the demand of Americans for consumer products would impact on Philippine exports… As it is, Dee said, the electronics and semiconductors industry is already bracing for a zero growth. The electronics industry accounts for 70 percent of the country’s total exports…”

In the housing and construction sector, Sergio Luis-Ortiz said, “…overseas Filipino workers in the US , the biggest buyers of condo units and single-detached homes, might be behind payments or choose not to buy at all… Prince Cruz… of the Global Property Guide said based on the feedback of real estate developers the share of foreign-based buyers to total home purchases has been declining. He said that last year, some developers are reporting that 70 to 80 percent of their buyers are foreign based, some as high as 9 out of 10. Now the share has dropped to about 30 percent...”

And as Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) chief Armando Tetangco says there are no takers for BSP emergency loans, Lacson (of PCCI) said, “…providing cash relief to those hit by the collapse…has had a calming effect on consumers.”

So why does Tetangco lie?

In the Great Depression of the 1930’s, the US was hit with a 30 percent unemployment rate. But the Philippines back then was not as integrated to the US financial sector as it is today.

So as Filipino banks get severely hit, there arises an issue of financial ethics and philosophy attached to these bank investments abroad: Is it moral and pragmatic to invest outside such huge money profited from the Philippines , and in such speculative “casino” investments, instead of lending to “hard industries” in the home country to build up the productive economic infrastructure?

With their little less than $400 million in Lehman, it is certain that Filipino banks have also placed more in other troubled US financial institutions. Yet, come to think of it, these billions could have funded a lot of domestic oil, gas, and geothermal energy development!

There is a certain naiveté among Philippine officials, going to as high up as Gloria and her finance managers, to those at the helm of Philippine banks, that expects the US and the West to profit in a clean-cut way from their financial system. This is why an understanding of the history of financial booms and busts in the US and Western countries is in order, which will clearly show the manipulation of the “markets” by their core power elite.

In the last twenty years, there have been 3 trillion dollars worth of financial meltdowns in the US -- from the “Junk Bonds” and the “Savings and Loans Crisis” in the 1980’s, to the “Dot.com Bubble” at the turn of the millennium, to today’s “Subprime Mortgage Collapse.”

Add to these the 1997 “Asian Financial Crisis,” which was engineered by George Soros who “shorted” the Thai Baht just before Western banks pulled out their loans and “hot money” simultaneously.

By traditional standards, these “junk bonds,” dot.com start ups and subprime mortgage scams are by their very names already shaky and considered garbage assets -- which is why these are prohibited by law from being traded by banks or declared as assets.

However, “Reaganomics” changed all that through deregulation, which gave banks free rein to use such “funds” as assets for leveraging, and to buy and sell these amongst themselves to bloat values and create bandwagons to entice the public -- thereby “pyramiding” them -- until the impending collapse.

Even the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has played this game. Just the other day, Ding Lichauco discovered a very small report on the BSP’s investment of $10 billion in JP Morgan and $4 billion in Deutsch Bank in 2007, which he expects to have increased to $20 billion by now -- a figure which he believes the BSP is concealing to cover up its actual loss.

In another small item, the GSIS said it is holding foreign stock investments like its $1 billion early this year. Although claiming it has not invested in Lehman’s, it cannot also deny it had invested in other funds. Since we know that all Western financial institutions have lost tremendous amounts, how much have the GSIS investments lost?

Again, the same moral and practical questions arise: Why invest outside? For kickbacks’ sake?

By and large, Filipino “leaders,” the BSP, and the banks have all been willing victims of the Western financial frauds and scams. For this reason alone, this nation cannot entrust its money and its future to these people, counterparts of whom Franklin D. Roosevelt called “self-seeking” and “without vision” in his own country.

Truly, the Philippines ’ collapsing socio-economic condition is there for all to see. Aside from the standard poverty and hunger statistics, Gabriela’s recent report on Philippine child prostitution already moves the Philippines up to No. 4 in the world amid the backdrop of domestic prostitution now being the fourth largest contributor to our GNP.

Given these staggering realities, plus the truth that no one in the political establishment offers hope, it is timely to recall the nationalist and self-sacrificing leaders incarcerated for exposing corruption and calling for social change: General Danilo Lim, whom we should launch into public office, and Senator Trillanes who continues to expose transgressions by the Arroyo government, i.e. Executive Secretary Ermita’s chairing of the Senate Baseline Committee meetings that mocks the separation of powers and advances the sellout of Philippine territory vis-à-vis Miriam Santiago’s bill.

Without doubt, only the Bagong Katipuneros, President Estrada (who sacrificed seven years in jail), and our nationalist economists and social activists offer real hope to our land in these difficult times.