Distilling muddled waters

“Good water cannot come from a muddled pond.” – Rizal

Last Friday was a good occasion to clear up a lot of muddled waters from the wellspring of Philippine history. August 21 was the anniversary of two very significant but very muddled events: The 1971 Plaza Miranda bombing and the 1983 Ninoy Aquino assassination. The muddle consists of erroneous conclusions still repeated by local and foreign media, pundits and ignorant peoples alike, all enshrined in many pseudo-historical resource materials. Although the two grizzly incidents both occurred on August 21, only 12 years apart, these still spook the minds of many Filipinos. Today, the post-Edsa I, II and III generations think of these only as stories and, thus, take the wrong conclusions as gospel.

Too many have used disinformation to serve their own purposes. Certain media networks and political parties have deliberately kept established facts under the rug to keep them out of public consciousness.

The only existing documentary of the bombing that has since been put on YouTube depicts a host of personages being interviewed from their hospital beds or wheelchairs. Among them, including the late Sen. Gerardo Roxas, John Osmeña, Eva Estrada-Kalaw, plus a dozen others, it was only then senatorial candidate Eddie Ilarde who had a correct assessment of who might have perpetrated the bombing.

Ilarde, who had almost lost his foot in the blast, was then being interviewed at the nearest medical facility to Plaza Miranda, the Singian Clinic near Malacañang. Speaking to the foreign press, he pointed to certain “ideologues” as behind the bombing, which deviated from his party mates’ “script.” Quite naturally, he got immediately chastised for not pinning the blame on Marcos as the whole world seemed to be doing at that time.

Another important guest alongside Ilarde in my upcoming Tuesday TV program is columnist Eric Espina. Based on the research he did and the various evidences he culled--books by two bombing victims, former Senators Jovito Salonga and Eva Estrada-Kalaw, and a third one by former AFP-then-communist turncoat Victor Corpus, all these point to Jose Ma. Sison and the New People’s Army (NPA) as the supposed “brains.”

I already had an inkling of this 10 years after Plaza Miranda when I, as secretary to the opposition coalition UNIDO, often overheard discussions among Liberal Party (LP) stalwarts who were convinced that Ninoy Aquino had prior knowledge of this event. Ninoy, as we know, was late for the LP’s miting de avance so he was spared from the fate of his colleagues in that blast. In later years, of course, more testimonies came from former NPA leaders like Fluellen Ortigas to support this.

So, after 38 years, Ilarde and all those who held a contrary view have been proven right.

Yet to this day, what many fail to ask about the Plaza Miranda bombing is: Cui bono? Or, who stood to benefit? Sen. Ilarde certainly knew Marcos was not stupid to have made something that would generate sympathy for his rivals. Even though the LP claimed that Marcos had wanted a stop to the so-called Haruta case scandal, on hindsight, it wasn’t at all very significant compared to his regime’s other controversies.

Still, the “Marcos as the Plaza Miranda bombing mastermind” tale, no matter how implausible to sober analysts, continues to be a myth. And as John F. Kennedy said: “The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie--deliberate, contrived and dishonest--but the myth--persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.”

The late President Ferdinand Marcos was certainly a big loser in the Plaza Miranda bombing incident as sympathy poured onto the LP senatorial bandwagon that swept it to power. At the same time, the stigma that became attached to him from it would also haunt him throughout his political and biological life.

On the flip side, the biggest gainer from that gruesome but brilliant “false flag” project was Sison and his Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), who intensified the contradictions within the ruling class’ two-party system, radicalized the youth into the arms of the CPP, and left the rest of society in a daze against Marcos. Sison would have probably gotten away with it had internal conflicts within the CPP, including the execution of Danny Cordero, the identified grenade thrower, not eventually caused defections that allowed the true story to leak out.

Sadly, however, all the befuddling tales on the Plaza Miranda Bombing as told by mainstream media, particularly ABS-CBN, never give us a hint of the real culprits. Even institutions like the Catholic Church and the intelligentsia, who help shape our school curricula, share the same blindness. For vested interests like ABS-CBN, the anti-Marcos groups, the CPP-linked organizations, in tandem with the Church plus the economic oligarchs, this is understandable. The legitimacy of what they’ve been doing for almost 40 years now squarely depends on this continuing demonization of Marcos. The same is true for the US and foreign Big Business in their desire to open up the Philippines for liberalization and globalization. Marcos’ demonization only beclouded the benefits of the late leader’s protectionist and development-driven economic policies. But, in all, the country has become the biggest loser in this Plaza Miranda bombing myth.

With all that have transpired after Marcos, the perpetuators of this myth thus owe the nation an apology for waylaying us for so long. Now that truth is at hand, we are another step closer to setting ourselves free. This, along with another truth we will uncover next, the mystery behind the brains of Ninoy Aquino’s assassination, will surely help us achieve victory in this cause.

(Tune in to 1098AM, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m; Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 7, Tuesday, 8:15 p.m. to 9 p.m. and on the TVU Internet Channel 61713 with former Sen. Eddie Ilarde and Bulletin columnist Eric Espina on “The August 21 Mysteries;” also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)

Exploiting a death

I had been waiting impatiently for the 40th day when the period of mourning would be over to discuss the issues pertaining to Cory’s death. But obviously, some are just too eager to take advantage of this period to pursue their self-serving agenda. Take, for instance, those who are pushing for the presidential run of someone whom they hope to be the heir apparent to their fallen “icons.” Never mind if this mediocre politician’s mental and leadership capabilities are in doubt. All they seem to care about is to strike fast and hard while things are still warm and fresh. Alas, the more they exploit the public’s sympathy, the more they appear to be clutching at straws--like Mar Roxas, who, even with Korina Sanchez, just couldn’t make the grade, and Villar, who’s now falling like a rock despite spending billions for his early campaign.

Columnists of other newspapers, too, are egging on their straw man. Apparently, the death of their yellow “icon” and the sea of condoling Metro Manila crowds seemed a good opportunity to take advantage of the people’s sympathies. PhilStar’s Billy Esposo used to be a Villar rah-rah boy until his bet’s declining survey fortunes made him look around in desperation. The yellow columnists of the Inquirer also joined in, like Jose Ma. Montelibano, who started writing that Noynoy has what it takes to lead and Conrado de Quiros, who asked who can better “carry on the fight” than the heir, whose parents died as heroes of the yellow crowd--a crowd that had seen better times two decades ago.

There was indeed a wave of sympathy for the former president (who, by the way, was never elected). No one would be so insensitive as not to be deferential; but shouldn’t those bereaved be as respectful? What is emerging among the yellow crowd, however, is nothing but blatant exploitation.

The scion of the dead tells everyone to “emulate” his parents. If indeed there is such great universal admiration deserved, it would be better heard from others paying tribute than from the family, so it would not come across as self-serving, coming as it does after an announcement of being open to “seek higher office.” If they in the yellow crowd think the Filipino people are as shallow as they make them out to be, then they should have their straw man declare his candidacy posthaste--and get themselves chastised in the surveys.

This matter of declaring the two yellow icons as heroes has pestered this country long enough. I wouldn’t mind emulating Rizal for his life and legend are a universal, moral, intellectual, and patriotic beacon. Rizal, unlike one of the earlier deceased yellow icons, was completely devoid of chicanery; whereas the other, who left his team to be blasted and maimed on August 21, 1971 in Plaza Miranda, appeared to have had advanced information on what would happen and deliberately arrived late to avoid the disaster. Whereas Rizal sacrificed himself, this late politician sacrificed his party mates. And irony of ironies, this politician’s death was later exploited to the hilt, enabling his family, which rose to power, to stonewall investigations to cast the blame wrongfully on the innocent.

Another demi-hero of Edsa I, Jovito Salonga, delayed admission of his knowledge of the true culprits behind this bombing for 20 years, apparently to perpetrate the myth of Marcos’ culpability. It turns out that the “hero” of the radical Left was the mastermind, a fact that their apologists such as De Quiros still deny, despite the admission of former CPP-NPA leaders Fluellen Ortigas (who confided this to me decades ago), Peter Mutuc, Ariel Almendral, and other victims whom Salonga had openly affirmed.

Since heroes must be as universal in acclamation as possible, no one other than Rizal fits this pedestal in the context of Philippine history. None of Rizal’s heirs, too, ever had to claim anything for their patriarch or their heroic family name. They simply continued on with their quiet dignified lives as teachers, writers, artists, and patriots.

If the Filipino people were to need another hero, Apolinario Mabini, acclaimed to be the brain of the Filipino Republican Revolution, should be it. There’s no need for anymore superfluous add-ons.

My bosom friend and comrade, former Mayor Jun Simon suggests that yellow be our color of national unity. But from the very onset, this color had already been appropriated for the elite-led social movements that reinforced plutocracy, enriched the already rich, and expanded the impoverishment of the vast majority of Filipinos. Borrowed from an American convict’s song, the symbolism of the yellow ribbon is moreover convoluted and concocted by foreign and elite-controlled mainstream media. Lastly, the color of this nation isn’t just yellow; it’s also red, blue, white, and dare I add, orange and green.

Like the round little golden pocket watch of the hypnotist, the yellow ribbon has been imbued with all the subliminal images from 1983 of that bloodied face framed by a coffin window; the large crowds that lined the streets; and the fall of an alleged “dictator” who couldn’t have avoided the use of force to quell the conspiracies of the Left and the Right. Yet, even more decidedly, the deepening darkness and misery in the impoverished lives of a great many Filipinos will awaken this nation from its trance to again see the massive oppression perpetuated by the powerful heirs of Edsa I.

(Tune in to 1098AM, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m; Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 7, Tuesday, 8:15 p.m. to 9 p.m. and on the TVU Internet Channel 61713 on “The August 21, 1971 and 1983 Mysteries;” also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)

End the folly, start the action

What are the endless follies? Consider everything that has happened in Mindanao under Gloria Arroyo. Her “resuscitation” of the MILF; her annual ritualistic threats of “crushing” the Abu Sayyaf serial killers going pfft; the pointless peace talks with the MILF, enabling it to regroup, thereby keeping its Abu Sayyaf comrades alive and kicking repeatedly; the comedy of these talks allowing Malaysian and US interference to stoke further conflict, with the view of dismembering from our Republic our most treasured resource-rich territories; and, not to forget, our continued toleration of US troop presence in the whole of Mindanao. All these occur as we sacrifice hundreds of our soldiers’ lives yearly for a war directed at the wrong enemies, and these even after President Estrada had already clobbered the MILF at Mt. Buldon .

This folly in Mindanao isn’t new. Veteran Mindanao war generals narrate how, even during the time of Marcos, orders would come from Manila to desist from finishing off the rebels whenever they would be close to annihilating Nur Misuari’s forces. Thus, it wasn’t at all surprising that in 2001, when scores of fleeing Abu Sayyaf extremists were surrounded by government troops at the Jose Torres Memorial Hospital compound in Lamitan, Basilan, a reinforcement order by the brigade commander to finish them off was countermanded by higher authorities. Thus, all the cornered rebels managed to escape with their hostages, rendering several hours of heavy fighting, which had killed a number of soldiers, all for naught.

Only when the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) desists from being used as pawns in this game against the surrogates of Malaysia and the US, and once it truly becomes a nationalist army against foreign subversion in all corners of the country, will the follies ever stop.

On the political front, we, too, are witness to this spectacle of a demonstrably corrupt and uncouth lady senator who openly admits to joining her colleague’s election slate only if the real estate trickster can donate oodles of money to her campaign chest. This, after she’s had a field day of berating executive officials who’ve aired costly infomercials using their offices’ budgets. It seems when it comes to her self-serving ends, she would have no qualms in selling her political loyalty to the highest bidder, even from someone whose funds also come from dubious means. So whenever mainstream media regale the public with her lies and manic laughter, they, too, share in this folly.

Speaking of mainstream media, another folly of theirs in being captive to the oligarchs has just been exposed. Reeling from the nitpicking of top mainstream newspapers of her Marie Antoinette dinners in New York and Washington, Gloria has recently ordered her Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera to sue the Inquirer’s owners for P630 million as unpaid lease payments due the government. The accused supposedly leased the huge property from the Ministry of Human Settlements in the time of Imelda Marcos and, after Edsa I, arranged for the extension of the lease for a song with the aid of Joker Arroyo through concocted documents, which someday will also see the light of day. Just like Gloria, these Inquirer oligarchs also live like Marie Antoinettes, using their media clout as a shield for their economic ventures.

Ditto for the other major newspaper’s owner, an erstwhile customs broker’s pal who is now a Metro Manila city mayor. Arguably, scandals in his city government are muted because of some quid pro quo, as evidenced by the deafening silence of media over the fire that gutted his city’s accounting records, which insiders say would expose shenanigans of high city hall officials. Still, the largest con game played on the Filipino people this decade was the power privatization law this politician “shepherded” through Congress, with incentives allegedly provided by key players, including Gloria, to the tune of P10 million per congressman. This, most significantly, has been played down by the Edsa II media because the Epira was one of the centerpieces of their elite conspiracy to loot the people.

The Filipino people and the AFP should thus wake up to the follies and start doing something serious about them. Begin with the refusal to tolerate or humor the politician-fools who perpetrate these follies; start shouting out loud against atrocities which the government politicians permit the secessionist rebels to inflict on our soldiers; condemn the policy of “appeasement” which the US Embassy, through its Trojan Horse the United States Institute for Peace (USIP), imposes on our nation through the treasonous “peace talks” in Kuala Lumpur; curse the business elite and their controlled media for their political-economic leveraging; condemn media stalwarts who prostitute themselves by aligning with the USAid and its other media fronts. Let’s start a passive resistance campaign, a boycott and non-cooperation, with all this foolishness.

Let us likewise support leaders who have stood up to denounce such follies: President Estrada who’s always led the crusade for the final stabilization of Mindanao (which cost him his first presidency); Gen. Danilo Lim who is a prisoner today because of refusing to play along with the follies any longer; and Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and the Bagong Katipuneros who’ve exposed the follies in Mindanao, the AFP, and the Arroyo regime without let-up.

Finally, let us devote time to work with truly concerned citizens in circumventing the foolish political system. Find socio-economic groups to work with: The Philippine Virgin Coconut Oil Producers’ Association, to boost awareness for the great economic and health boons in developing coconut products and consumption; former Senator Shahani on local dairy development; former Mayor Jun Simon with the Advocates for Servant Leadership; and many other such activities we will list in our next columns.

(Tune in to 1098AM, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m; Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 7, Tuesday, 8:15 p.m. to 9 p.m. and on the TVU Internet Channel 61713 with former SBMA Chairman and Administrator Felicito “Tong” Payumo on “SBMA: The True Story;” also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)

A corrupt and profligate social elite

At last, the news media has regained its sense of balance and perspective. News of the typhoon casualties could be read and heard again. For a while, the real storm that stretched over hundreds of kilometers darkening the Philippine skies was drowned out by the yellow squall. The whirlwinds of spin whipped up “Kris for President” then shifted to “Noynoy for VP or President,” and then the sainthood proposal; but these are all part of the passing emotional surge triggered by that hyped up event. As Edsa I and II proved to be ephemeral sensations in the light of history, reality and truth will catch up and put things in their proper places. The fact is, after Edsa I, the nation is poorer and in deeper trouble, with the threat of dismemberment more imminent than ever.

Edsa I’s luster tarnishes even more in light of the “death” of the National Artist Award. Cecille Guidote-Alvarez, wife of the Edsa I “steak commando” Heherson Alvarez, was quoted as saying, “Before you make a judgment, read my achievements first as an artist. Was I an idiot before I became a national artist?” Now I confess; I am no aficionado of Philippine arts and culture but in the few times I was compelled to watch Cecille perform, I have never detected a hint of talent in her “forced through” performances. From what I know, her recognition as an artist has only stemmed from her political connections. But it is still the voice of the artists’ community that counts; and a community of this caliber can’t be wrong about Cecille’s lack of merit as any layman like me can see.

The headlines today are about the P1-million wining and dining soiree of Gloria Arroyo’s entourage on the eve of her return for Cory Aquino’s wake. But for all of them atop of Philippine society and politics, I do believe this is standard fare. I remember one Metro Manila city vice-mayor identified with the opposition buying 49 tickets to the last Pacquiao fight in the US for his friends, costing P50,000 a piece. But let’s not stop only the politicos. What about the top 1 percent upper class of Filipinos who travel around the world regularly; the oligarchs of the land who would think nothing of spending that amount from the hundreds of millions they have bilked from the people in paying for power and water rates that are among the highest in the world; or lawyers like that partner of the now defunct “The Firm” who easily spent a fortune in one day for his daughter’s wedding in a Palawan resort? Gloria’s callous spending is just more open to scrutiny than the rest.

It’s good that Gloria and her entourage are being put under the spotlight for this. I just want to expand its focus to all the rest who are similarly exploiting the Philippines. In fact, most are working in tandem with Gloria, but unlike her, they enjoy immunity by virtue of being from “the private or corporate sector.” Just look at those “respectable” corporate pals (or cronies) of Gloria who are actually her bagmen, like the Kastilaloy banking clan that took Land Bank of the Philippines deposits to their own bank and bought a building at San Miguel Avenue posthaste, or the other one that charges the highest harbor rates in the world and flies off to the US to catch his favorite NBA games, or the power magnate’s children who give Hummers as gifts. Others don’t even care about public knowledge of their profligacy, like that “notoriously corrupt” Ilocos politician who piles up millions in loses in just one night in Las Vegas.

What we have is a class of corrupt and profligate people in this endemically corrupt and exploitative society, comprising a substantial part of what the National Statistical Coordination Board classifies as the Upper Class--the 1 in 100 families that control 80 percent of the nation’s wealth, whether earned by merit or other means. Unfortunately, wealth earned the hard way by entrepreneurs who set up genuine factories, catch fish, grow food, or export goods, is getting rare in the Philippines while that from exploitative activities is growing. One example of this is the Camp Crame parking lot. Before Edsa II, you’ll hardly find a third of the number of cars there today. Today, police officers are getting awfully rich; same with military generals whose addresses are now at Corinthian’s or Green Meadows.

The corrupt and profligate Gloria Arroyo may soon be out of power if she sticks to what many speculate to be Obama’s advice to her. But would that mean that once she’s out, the corruption will subside to more tolerable levels? It could, if the next president will not be under the thumb of not only the corrupt bureaucrats but, more importantly, the corrupt corporatocracy and criminal mafias that are invariably giving funds to each candidate in the field. It would be just as bad, if not worse, if the next president simply filled up his campaign chest from swindling government. We’ll just get a repeat of Gloria Arroyo who’ll steal as much to bribe his way out of the fixes he’ll find himself in when in power. It seems there’s no escaping the worsening corruption and profligacy in Philippine society while this class of greedy and extravagant spenders stays in place. To change things, we would need a revolution, installing a parsimonious and industrious social elite to restore the nation’s vitality.

(Tune to 1098AM, M-W-F, 6-7pm; Global News Network, Destiny, Cable Channel 7, Tuesday 8:15-9pm, “Talk News TV” with FDC on “Presidential, Parliamentary or Authoritarian?” [also seen on Internet, TVU Channel 61713]; visit www.http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)

Reflections in an unexpected holiday

While the great outpouring of solidarity for Cory Aquino was being covered nonstop in Metro Manila, a great outpouring of torrential rains devastated Mindanao . With the great suffering brought about by the deluge, I wonder how many felt as deeply about this tragedy. The floods, destroyed farms, and bald mountains are all a testament to the continuing failure of government to control the greed of logging companies, the ignorance of “kaingineros,” and the incompetence or complete lack of concern of government to protect our forests and reforest them where desperately needed.

On the economic front, Gloria’s much ballyhooed Sona boast of a Moody’s ratings upgrade for the Philippines, said to be a sign that the country has escaped the worst of the recession, which is also based on earlier data that are invariably fudged, was belied by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ assessment of our 2009 second quarter prospects. But even as this sobering view was tempered by some optimism, my friends in the Divisoria retail and food distribution trade narrate the drastic 20-percent decline in their sales. And when you add the rampant extortion by anti-smuggling authorities that shake down and padlock retailers instead of stop the release of smuggled goods from the source, then you have a perfect storm.

Retailers have no defense against these predatory “enforcers.” Even when they show proper documentation, they are still made to undergo verification, with inventory checks delayed by authorities for months on end, leading to the release of goods only after the customary payoffs.

And with 70 percent of tax collections going to debt amortization to the IMF-WB, and some more going to corruption, it would be better for Filipino consumers to save themselves from being bilked through the best tax revolt strategy, which is to look for goods and services from the underground economy. Better still, they can go into the underground economy and avoid paying taxes altogether--like the extortionist ones in Belmonte’s Quezon City where there is even an “employment tax” that treats work not as a constitutional right but a privilege.

Speaking of Belmonte’s thirst for funds, I caught a few portions of his self-serving eulogy and immediately remembered the Marcos buildings which he was in charge of recovering but did not earn for the government any substantial amount due to what he claimed were “lawyers’ fees” that gobbled up their worth upon liquidation. And can he answer why he was banned from the customs bureau during Marcos’ time for being “notoriously undesirable?” Moreover, who was the payroll master that got the Epira fast-tracked through Congress five months after Edsa II? And who got Meralco without reimbursing the state, given Belmonte’s added claim that there were no cronies after Marcos?

Cronyism has always been part of politics; it exists even in much admired economic powerhouses like Japan and South Korea . In the US , Bush has the Halliburton and Carlyle groups while Obama has Goldman Sachs et al. Truth is, the issue is not cronyism but economic policy. What is clear is that after Edsa II, the country became poorer in terms of expanding development and ownership of state resources to more people. Since Marcos’ development plans were aborted by the economic sabotage between 1983 and 1986, and since the misdirection of national economic policy after Edsa I, we have essentially been re-colonized economically, with public assets and our national patrimony turned over to foreign and local corporations that extract profit and leave very little behind for the people.

Fortunately, two good things came up during the week of mourning. The railroading of the Comelec’s automated system made me fear that the 2010 elections would be totally lost, with cheating virtually undetectable and proclamation so swift that there will be no more time to zero in on the sources of fraud. But after consulting with several top-notch lawyers, which view Archbishop Oscar Cruz shares, I became convinced that Atty. Harry Roque’s arguments before the Supreme Court will succeed due to the automation deal’s many violations. If they are proven right, this would move the filing of candidacy back to the original February date and pave the way for true elections with verifiable ballots.

The other good news is the “passing of the torch” to the new Aquino generation. Hopefully, Kris will supersede Noynoy in carrying this since she is more in touch with the masses and owes much to them. She could, like Erap, finally learn to be “para sa masa,” utterly convinced that raising the masses from poverty would also raise all the boats on our lake.

(Tune in to 1098AM, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m; Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 7, Tuesday, August 11, 8:15 p.m. to 9 p.m. and on the TVU Internet Channel 61713 on “Presidential, Parliamentary or Authoritarianism” with Bono Adaza and Eric Espina; also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)

Learning from CCA

“Mark how fleeting and paltry is the estate of man — yesterday in embryo, tomorrow a mummy or ashes. So for the hairsbreadth of time assigned to thee, live rationally, and part with life cheerfully, as drops the ripe olive, extolling the season that bore it and the tree that matured it.” — Marcus Aurelius

“When I pass, speak freely of my shortcomings and my flaws. Learn from them, for I’ll have no ego to injure.” — Aaron McGruder, Boondocks

This phrase is what Corazon Aquino put on view when she expressed her contrition to President Joseph Estrada in December 2008, in front of a huge audience and the national and international media. She apologized for her role in the 2001 ouster of the legitimately-elected President and showed her capacity for discerning the historic truth objectively. And her intellectual honesty on this score earned her the ire of the deceitful, resentful and hypocritical among the “civil society.” That apology was really not only to Joseph Estrada but to an entire nation symbolized by the Edsa III masses of the poor and not-so-poor who stood for the truth but were beaten down to the ground by a rule of force that followed Gloria Arroyo’s power grab, backed by the “corporatocracy” and the fascist elements of the military, police, and Catholic Church hierarchy.

Other disharmonious matters should be left to later times, but one is urged to speak in response to praises for the life of the Edsa I icon that are infused with self-serving interests. Corazon Aquino delighted the US Congress in her speech before it on Dec. 18, 1986 where she announced she would pay even unjust debts incurred over the decades from the exploitative US international bankers, which we’ve been paying ever since. Paeans from local Big Business, particularly the bankers, are understandable as this sector benefited immensely when Edsa I financial mis-managers incurred P400 billion in domestic debt in seven years, amounting to 80 percent of Marcos’ 21-year debt! Foreign and local Big Business further raked it in from Edsa I’s deregulation, liberalization and privatization, thereby impoverishing the State and its people.

As satirist Aaron McGruder advices, let us learn. As Corazon Aquino learned and apologized for her shortcomings and flaws, she found out about herself eight years after her role in Edsa II. She saw the disaster that period brought upon the nation and shared in the guilt of helping install the most corrupt and evil regime this country has ever seen to date — a regime that we are not going to see the last of even after the 2010 electoral exercise, it seems. US President Barack Obama is giving Gloria Arroyo (the foremost example of “...those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent” and who are “...on the wrong side of history”) a seat at the side of the US ; for what? To parrot White House propaganda against sovereign North Korea and to fight in the phony “anti-terror” war intended to sow perpetual war in Asean, Asia and the world?

But Obama adopted Arroyo to be bosom buddy for a more atrocious deed, a bit of which she showed to the horror of those who can see what lies beneath. Just before Arroyo left Manila to step into Obama’s parlor in Washington , the “peace process” with the MILF was restarted and set in Kuala Lumpur again, a clear internationalization of the issue that goes against the national interest to keep it a domestic matter. And after Gloria’s tête-à-tête at the White House, Obama has since been full of praise for the “peace process” and Arroyo’s pursuit of the deal with the MILF. So as Gloria is now on the side of Obama and, it seems, on the best side of the butcher of Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and father of the Latin American “death squads:” John Negroponte — what does this augur for Philippine dissenters?

There is some consolation in reading that the late Corazon Aquino’s son has expressed his lack of enthusiasm for a Gloria Arroyo visit to the wake of his mother. That’s a visit nobody needs. Everyone believes that nothing Gloria does is ever without devious self-serving motives. It’s better that the public not be pushed into such speculation, for it would cloud the somber mood. Thus, the “ban” on Gloria’s visit seems a fitting measure of retribution for the heaps of insults she has directed toward the Aquino family and the nation. I imagine the public enjoying that little punishment Gloria is being meted. She may have gotten Obama but she has lost the entire nation. (Anyway, Obama is already negative 12 in the latest Rasmussen poll survey of Americans; just a little better than the negative 25 of Arroyo here.)

Corazon Aquino finally embraced Edsa III when she showed her humility and apologized in front of the people for the error of Edsa II. President Estrada has returned the kindness with an effusive love for the late President; and to show this, he held a mass for her with the masa at the Payatas community with Fr. Larry Faraon. Estrada wanted to show the sympathy and admiration that comes specifically from the poor people of this nation, and that Corazon Aquino is no longer just the icon of Edsa I and the “elite” but also of Edsa III and the teeming poor of this country. I was told that Corazon Aquino, at her hospital bed, tacked up at her headboard a newspaper snapshot of herself with Joseph Estrada in the background. Was it just coincidence or did it have any meaning in the deepest recesses of the Edsa I icon’s subconscious? But what is clear is that a historical link between Edsa I and Edsa III could now be formed to advance the revolution that every Filipino yearns for — the emancipation of this nation.

(Tune in to 1098AM, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m; Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 7, Talk News TV, Tuesday, 8:15 p.m. to 9 p.m. and on the TVU Internet Channel 61713, on “Power, Water Sona;” also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)

Last words on that useless Sona day

Obama was asked to press Arroyo on human rights. But why should Filipinos expect this when he had already broken his inaugural promise to oppose the corrupt who continually hold on to power through violence and deceit by meeting the most traitorous of them all? What Obama should have done was to actively rein in on his envoy’s continuing subversion of the sovereignty and economic security of this nation. Instead, he has allowed Ambassador Kristie Kenney’s PR work for Mrs. Arroyo, in setting up a “Fifth Column” in this country, to buttress the political stock of the most hated US puppet of the Filipino people to date. Indeed, pinning false hopes on the American factor, thus deceiving the nation, is most abominable and self-defeating. Any genuine opposition must perforce expose Obama as the real employer of Gloria.

In doing so, the nation should similarly deepen its understanding of the real corruption that plagues this country. The overlords using Arroyo to impoverish the people, despite our rich patrimony in land, sea, and human resources, are the financial institutions she proudly proclaimed at her Sona as having raised her fiscal ratings. Looking deeper, one will see the scandalous truth about these ratings agencies. Moody’s (nothing but an institutionalized Madoff), Standard and Poor’s, and Fitch’s were all sued by one of the largest, if not the largest, pension fund, Calpers, or the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, for ratings that “ultimately proved to be wildly inaccurate and unreasonably high” for subprime mortgage investments that caused it billions of dollars in losses.

Meanwhile, Gloria says she is not president to be popular. But she never was president to begin with! And we all know that she only craves for popularity with the likes of Amb. Kenney, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and previously, Bush and Condy Rice, and, of course, with King Juan Carlos, whom she so desperately wanted to engage in her Spanish to gain acceptance despite her lowly pedigree.

Gloria has had to lie, cheat, and steal, among many other things, just to get to her present status. But she has also run scared from the eventual jail that awaits her. Unlike Estrada, who was vindicated by apologies from a bishop and a former president who saw a man wronged, who lived in no “glass house,” Gloria, after losing power, will be condemned by millions and caged in a Petri dish for generations to gawk at as a specimen of Dipylidium Caninum.

Gloria has incurred more debt than three of her predecessors combined, so much so that every man, woman and child in RP now owes P57,000! But fewer still are aware of the fantabulous privatization Gloria has wrought on this nation--around P105 billion from 2001 to 2007--and boy, she ain’t finished yet. Compare that to FVR’s two-year 1996-1998 record of around P12 billion (since we couldn’t find 1992-1995 figures at the time of this writing) and Estrada’s two years of around P10 billion, and easily, Gloria has sold off so much more of the state’s most profitable assets, including PNOC-EDC, which was earning billions--with the figure of P105 billion even excluding the (underpriced by P100 billion) P200-billion crown jewel Transco sold just recently, which was in fact earning P17 billion annually. No wonder Gloria can’t shore up enough revenues to keep the deficit on target; she’s given her oligarch-cronies almost all the state assets that are earning profits for the nation’s coffers!

Gloria Arroyo has been a national disaster and 75 percent of the people know this as surveys show. But as much a calamity as she is are congressmen, senators and some opposition politicians. Noli de Castro on radio touted his arithmetical “prowess” with how many applause for Gloria he observed, counting 125 which he said didn’t tally with someone else’s 126; and he repeated this observation three times as if trying to impress listeners on how “bright” he is. Then, there was the battle of the backless and kabuki faces, involving even so-called “leftist” party-list congresswomen, who’ve all become distractions in this bizarre zarzuela.

At the Iglesia ni Cristo-Rizal Memorial gathering, only a few of the major presidential timbers were invited. As they were introduced, Binay got much more applause than Villar. And since this was a microcosm of the masa sentiment, we should ask how Villar could be number one in the SWS and Ibon surveys, especially since Jinggoy Estrada got even more applause than Binay, and Erap brought the house down.

It seems SWS is doing what it did in 2004, which Mahar Mangahas eventually apologized for, while Ibon is parroting Bayan Muna in parlaying its service to whoever can finance its own candidates for the senate. And, by the way, why is it that despite showing outright political ads, as against the other bets’ product endorsements, Villar is not being cited for this patent violation?

Finally, the cat has been let out of the bag. Mikey says that Chiz has been asking for Gloria’s endorsement while Malacañang says four candidates have already approached it for 2010. As noted by many, Gloria’s speech hit neither Villar nor Chiz; so why are we not surprised? Clearly, the only serious candidates that are beyond suspicion are President Estrada and Mayor Binay.

But for all the uselessness which that Sona day brought, one signal event that became a worthwhile hit was the Bagong Katipunan motorcade from Taguig organized by Lt. James Layug’s congressional campaign picked up by media--a sign, perhaps, of a new grassroots opposition movement a-brewing?

(Tune in to 1098AM, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m; Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 7, Talk News TV, Tuesday, 8:15 p.m. to 9 p.m. and on the TVU Internet Channel 61713, on “Power, Water Sona;” also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)

A celebration of the struggle

July 27 is a day of significance and celebration in our nation’s history, not because it is Sona day in Congress. That is the least of things to celebrate and is even less of an occasion of significance as the Sona has become a meaningless drivel of half-truths and pompous delusions of an unelected politician, among others who are best at selling the virtues of their once august body. July 27 only becomes a day of celebration because, six years ago, a group of 321 young officers and men of the AFP courageously marched to Oakwood Premier at the Ayala Center to echo their call for the cleansing of the corruption in the Armed Forces and the investigation of high defense and AFP officials in “false flag” activities dubbed “Operation Greenbase.” The charges hurled by the group, correctly named by Wikipedia as the “Bagong Katipuneros,” have been proven true but continue to remain unsolved.

The Arroyo government created the Feliciano Commission with former Supreme Court Justice Florentino Feliciano as head; joined by Jesuit Joaquin Bernas, UP Prof. Carolina Hernandez, Capt. Roland Narciso and Commodore Rex Robles (ret.) as commissioners. Retired Supreme Court justices are regularly appointed to head such investigations to offer a veneer of impartiality and probity; but invariably, from the time of the Agrava Commission that investigated the Ninoy Aquino assassination down to the Melo Commission on the “extra-judicial killings,” they’ve never been impartial nor imbued with probity. Instead, the heads and some members of each one of those commissions reported regularly to the appointing power. In fact, one of the Feliciano Commission members was even said to have attested that Feliciano himself reported to Gloria Arroyo everyday.

Good thing the conscientious Oakwood protestors have been vindicated time and again by the corruption scandals that have rocked the AFP and the PNP since July 27, 2003, such as the “Gen. Carlos F. Garcia & Sons” graft case, the RSBS’ missing billions, and many others. While the Feliciano Commission did recommend some steps to stem the tide of AFP corruption, the problem has, except for a few years when it laid low, since reemerged with a vengeance, reaching new heights with every challenge to the corrupt regime, such as the military protests of Feb. 2006 and other such occasions. Now that the last election under Gloria Arroyo is about to transpire, AFP and PNP corruption is, as usual, on the rise again. But quite apart from the corruption issue, Chairman Feliciano also apparently skimmed over, with deliberate lack of interest, the investigation of “Operation Greenbase.”

Operation Greenbase is the title of a document outlining instructions and events that included the bombing of mosques to trigger a mass evacuation of Muslim populations from certain areas in Mindanao . The document proved to be very accurate as almost 100 percent of the incidents listed thereat eventually happened. It was in this connection that three young officers who joined the Oakwood protest executed an affidavit, claiming they were given instructions to bomb a mosque, purportedly intended to stir up or exacerbate Muslim-Christian tensions. That being the case, Justice Feliciano is squarely responsible for not having seriously investigated the allegations because Operation Greenbase implied not only mayhem and murder but more grievously, treason. And like the beheading of the ten Marines on July 2007 in Basilan and the recent Mindanao bombings, it seems many Operation Greenbases still abound.

The Oakwood soldiers and officers should be given accolades for their courageous exposés of these evils in the AFP and Philippine society; but instead of being offered “amnesty,” as the bloody Abu Sayyaf brigands even had occasion to be given, they’ve been kept under detention for the past six years, denied rightful bail even after already reverting to civilian status, with Senator Trillanes, elected by 11 million Filipinos, still blocked from attending Senate sessions to carry out his duties as a legitimate senator of the republic, having a mandate that even Gloria Arroyo and her minions cannot deny, much as they want to. Albeit often dramatic, the Oakwood soldiers have persistently used peaceful means of protest to capture the world’s attention, and have always been proven true. Yet they and their families are made to suffer while the corrupt and vile continue to ride high in Gloria’s government.

The July 27 Oakwood anniversary is an occasion to celebrate the struggle that began on May 1, 2001, when hundreds of thousands of poor Filipinos marched from the Edsa Shrine to Malacañang to protest the power grab of Gloria Arroyo and her cronies from big business (who’ve lost no time in accumulating hundreds of billions in profits and privatized state assets), the corrupt trapos, “civil society,” the corrupt clerics in the Catholic hierarchy (who seem to have increased in numbers), and the massively corrupt PNP and AFP top brass—all sponsored by discredited US corporate behemoths like AIG, Mirant et al. Oakwood is also a celebration of President Joseph Estrada’s struggle, the first protestor against the injustice of Edsa Dos, which unleashed Gloria Arroyo and company’s power- and wealth-grabbing frenzy.

Oakwood was a watershed in the anti-Gloria Arroyo movement that now, six years hence, it dominates every facet of the yearning for change and progress of the Filipino people. There should be no doubt that the Oakwood protest was in no small measure inspired by the struggle of President Estrada who has set the example of courage in the face of all odds. In late 2003, there were no apologies yet from Bishop Tobias or Corazon Aquino; no beeline of opposition wannabes toward Estrada’s home for any sort of mea culpa. It was lonely then and I was there.

But then, I was at Oakwood too, only blocked from getting close by a police phalanx. And in the years that followed, I visited the young officers consistently, as I did Estrada. Today, there are more visitors than I can recognize; and it’s good to remember those years when there were only a few of us in the struggle.

(Tune in to 1098AM, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m; Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 7, Tuesday, 8:15 p.m. to 9 p.m. and on the TVU Internet Channel 61713 with the FDC on “Sona: Financing Gloria’s Failures;” also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)

The plots of the parasites

On Wednesday morning, the Internet news edition of a major network highlighted one of the “Three Stooges” of the now defunct Pancho, Villaraza, Cruz law firm, or “The Firm” as it was once called. This stubby fellow was quoted as urging the AFP to defy illegitimate orders and uphold the law, which are things he obviously forgot when he supported Gloria from the 2001 coup down to his last years in her Cabinet.

Without a doubt, “The Firm” has played beyond respectable bounds in the past two decades under every regime, except President Estrada’s, that yielded it untold power and pelf. So it isn’t anymore surprising to hear that this rotund fellow had the ultra-luxurious Amanpulo Resort, costing $3,000/room, all to himself for the exclusive use of his daughter’s wedding, with guests planed in from around the world.

Among political activists, there are plenty of such characters too. There’s even this prominent family that has attempted to ride every wave of “people power” to rake the benefits of each new regime in Malacañang, by fanning out to all Establishment factions while posturing as “change agents.” One ties up with Makati’s oligarch-patriarchs; another gets appointed to the civil service body; while another postures himself as consigliore of a major political opposition figure--all of them converging lately for the “Tindignation,” a thinly veiled front for Mar Roxas’ candidacy. And because of the shift in strategy of the true opposition figure as anti-Arroyo rallies wane, they had to drag some disparate groups of the Left to scrounge for political funds. But then, yet another member of this family sticks to this true opposition figure by using the Far Left as leverage to remain relevant.

These days, as the anti-Arroyo campaign reaches its crescendo, our Filipino version of “carpetbaggers”--opportunists ready to take advantage of the political dislocations to be appointed to positions in the bureaucracy (numbering at least 5,000)—start to re-surface as well.

“Carpetbagger” is a term used for US Northerners who rushed with their things in bags made out of carpet cloth to take over businesses and political positions in the Confederate South when the Northern “Yankees” won. Sadly, the Philippines has its own parasitic class of perennial carpetbaggers waiting for the latest “coup” sponsored by the Establishment class or the US .

The Edsa II cabal is a case in point. While it took advantage of the abrupt regime change in 2001 to get their just rewards from Gloria, a number of them bolted, as typified by the “Hyatt 10,” after the drastic plunge in her standing in the eyes of the people.

It is thus the continuing tragedy of the Filipino nation that these carpetbaggers keep being restored to prominence after taking part in massive perfidy, corruption and treason. Take this plump former Defense chief: After having possibly committed all the possible transgressions for Gloria, he still remains in good standing--nay, even lionized by the legal community--because of his so-called “abilidad.” But another lawyer of the best caliber and integrity, Alan Paguia, continues to suffer for standing up to the Supreme Court’s (SC) “constructive resignation” travesty in 2001.

This tragic injustice is further entrenched, in the case of Paguia, by the fact that the SC even dilly-dallies, requiring him to seek endorsement from the IBP and other institutions to lift his suspension when it was the SC alone that decided on it. And so, as any principled man would, Paguia has rejected these conditions flat-out.

The Philippine Establishment is both at odds and in collaboration with Mrs. Arroyo at this point. Even as Gloria is already too much of a PR liability for them, there are still some who are making use of her to the hilt, such as in the Laiban Dam project or in the transfer of the tollways operations (which we just discovered cost more per kilometer than the Diosdado Macapagal Avenue). At the same time, the local oligarchy and the US are letting their dogs of war loose on Gloria Arroyo, with the carpetbaggers tagging along. These parasites of fellow parasites within the Arroyo regime are also on the move, trying to pass off options to ease Arroyo out peacefully while restructuring the political milieu, by promising that elections will be held and that Gloria will go. This last group has tried to ensnare genuine movements for change in the vain hope of attaining a modicum of credibility.

Such was the occasion of Norberto Gonzales and Jesuit Archie Intengan’s visit to Bishop Tobias to broach their “transition government” trap. Tobias fortunately arranged for another meeting where other witnesses unknown to the duo would be present, paving the way for the exposé last Wednesday of the Kilusang Makabansang Ekonomista (KME) on this, as carried by the Tribune.

Separately, the Gonzales-Intengan duo also “encountered” Chief Justice Reynato Puno on a plane to broach the idea, to which the CJ was said to be unflappable. In short, this, along with their other plots, have amounted to nothing so far. The only plotting that would matter for 2010 is that of Obama and Gloria’s on July 30 or, hopefully for the rest of us, a final consolidation of nationalist civilian-military forces made possible by the chaos that the parasites will stir up.

(Tune in to 1098AM, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m; Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 7, Tuesday, 8:15 p.m. to 9 p.m. and on the TVU Internet Channel 61713 with the FDC on “Sona 2001-2009;” also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)

Right questions for the “presidentiables”

There have been several “presidential debates” in the past few months but no question or answer seemed outstanding enough for most people to remember. What only struck as noteworthy was the surprising enthusiasm UP students had for President Estrada, contrary to what many had expected. Call it his charm or wit, but that phenomenon was replicated later on, leaving one with a clear impression that the youth now have an open mind about Estrada. It seems none of the demonization of “civil society” has taken root, thanks in large part to “evil society” pet Gloria Arroyo’s dreadfully miserable performance the past nine years.

When I asked people to weigh in on these debates, everyone agreed that since discussions often involved motherhood questions, what could be elicited were only motherhood statements. Worse, pertinent questions on more pressing concerns were apparently being omitted.

In the ANC debates, for example, moderators didn’t ask at all what the presidentiables will do about RP electricity rates being the highest in Asia and among the highest in the world. Is it because it’s still taboo in the media network owned by those who continue to have a stake in the biggest Luzon power monopoly, Meralco? Is it similar to why, in the FVR-sponsored debate, the issue of the onerous independent power producers’ contracts was also skirted--obviously because Ramos is the biggest culprit?

Although in the PPCRV debate, slightly more insightful questions from several sectors were raised, all of these merely boiled down to issues of job availability and security, housing, price and tuition control, fuel price control, etc., with each sector wanting its respective problems solved but without tying everything together into a coherent, national response to the overall problem of economic backwardness and mis-distribution of resources.

Some would say that this is too “high level” an expectation, but isn’t that what debates are supposed to lead to--a level of discourse that will illuminate the road toward progress and prosperity? If we continue to treat each problem as a sectoral problem, then there will be no national solution and the sectors will just quarrel over the same-sized pie that’s always too small.

Other than asking the right questions, quite a number of issues that have recently cropped up also merit attention in successive debates. One such thing involves a new sweetheart deal between the Arroyo regime and one of its mega conglomerate-owning super-cronies (who many say is really fronting for Big Mike). This conglomerate, which took a huge bite out of Meralco recently and has entered the wireless broadband, as well as, infrastructure and mining industries, has reportedly bagged, in its latest foray into water utilities, the highly suspicious contract to build and run the P52 billion Laiban dam without the benefit of public bidding.

It is so fast-tracked and lopsidedly arranged for this conglomerate by the government water authority that proposals from other bidders were given only five days for submission--an impossibility, considering the enormity and complexity of the project.

Sure, the question about this deal was raised by an organization known to be supported by another conglomerate that’s also into water utilities, leaving one to wonder if this is just about competing oligarchic interests. But the bottom line is that this Laiban Dam deal would cost us an additional P20/cu. m. in water charges on top of the already horrendous P33 to P55/cu. m. already being charged by Manila Water and the DMCI-run Maynilad.

Checking on the Internet, I found that water rates in Bangkok are only $0.29/cu. m. or around P15/cu. m., and the ones in Kuala Lumpur are even cheaper at $0.22/cu. m. or just around P10/cu. m. Thus, Philippine power, as well as, water rates are now among the highest in the region!

Going into the future debates, it should be asked: Who among the presidential wannabes will stand against this onerous deal? And what would Chiz and Loren say when they are running under this conglomerate-potentate’s political party? Honestly, who among them will stand up to the oligarchs who have been exploiting the Filipino people for so long, with the highest cost in all the basic utilities--not only in water and electricity but also in tool ways, telecommunications, port handling and power transmission fees?

Let’s see if Villar and Roxas can answer these when they are themselves part of the oligarchic class. Let’s see if Noli de Castro can when he’s beholden to his puppet masters’ media mileage and doesn’t have much else between his ears, much less ask questions about public utility rates.

And then, here’s the final clincher: What will each wannabe do about the MILF problem? If the answer is the usual “peace talks,” then that’s no different from what has been done in the past decades, in keeping with the United States Institute for Peace’s veiled impositions. Verily, peace talks are only an ap-“peace”-ment that will end up with a capitulationist and treasonous Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain-type deal.

A country goes into peace talks only when the State gets the upper hand, the way President Estrada did by launching a strong-willed reassertion of our sovereignty in MILF-claimed areas--territories and riches which the group has since offered to partake with their new-found ally, the US .

Now who among Chiz, Loren, Villar, Roxas or Noli has ever shown any will for an honest-to-goodness fight?

It was only Erap who stood his ground in reclaiming all MILF-held territories back to the nation’s fold. It was also Erap who said “No” to the oligarchs when they sought a water rate hike during his term, leading them to get into the Edsa II coup. Let’s all ask the right questions to get to the right kind of leader. And with the proper leadership next time around, these oligarchs and traitors should be put in their proper places for good.

(Tune in to 1098AM, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m; Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 7, Tuesday, 8:15 p.m. to 9 p.m. and on the TVU Internet Channel 61713 with ret. Comm. Rex Robles on “Oakwood, Meiring and False Flags;” also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)

Obama blues

“To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist,” declared Obama in his inaugural address to rousing cheers from people across the globe. Later on, when the incorrigibly corrupt, deceitful and oppressive Gloria Arroyo couldn’t get as much as a phone conversation with him, Pinoys cheered even more. Some opposition politicians, in hopes of being anointed by the US someday, also showed their obeisance by effusing over the new US leader’s statement. All that enthusiasm was, of course, only the height of naiveté, if not downright delusion, for what I had long expected of Obama is now coming to fore: He’s more of Bush--just more beguiling.

On July 30, 2009, Gloria will get to wear a magic halo on her head simply by being received at Obama’s White House. Speculation is rife over how she got that long coveted encounter finally calendared. Is it because of Gloria’s cozy relations with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton? Or is it the threat of the growing influence of China in our region? For one, I don’t think the US conducts business on the basis of personal ties; although it is important. On the other hand, the US-China rivalry is no longer new and nothing drastic has changed that would suddenly require a personal meeting between the US and Philippine presidents.

Both China and the US already have a modus vivendi in that it’s economic fair game for them in the Philippines , with the US having a slight edge due to its military presence. A prime example is the Transco privatization packaged by the Carlyle group, which the China State Grid took over courtesy of the Razon and FVR-linked Monte Oro Corp., with all parties merrily raking in, using the nation’s power transmission lines. In other instances where competition can be fierce, the US will simply scuttle, through its various assets in local media and the academe, Chinese “advancements” like the ZTE-NBN and NorthRail projects or the Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking between China and the Philippines .

Since none of these cases ever necessitated the US president to receive Gloria who, on the other hand, had to run to China frequently to explain her gouging up on “down payments” without delivering anything, what could be behind this latest caper?

Despite presidential candidate Jojo Binay’s reported warning about an attempt to re-establish US military bases in the Philippines, more specifically in Mindanao, I seriously doubt if the US still needs any formal arrangement since there is already an existing chain of its radar and monitoring facilities dotting Southern Mindanao, along with thousands of its troops, whose pictures pop up regularly on our papers’ front pages, ostensibly giving medical assistance or building school houses, but actually conducting military operations.

The truth is, there are still a few things the US covets here, which it has yet to get its hands on: The Liguasan Marsh natural gas and Sulu Sea oil.

During his time, George W. Bush tried to overtly obtain these via the highly treasonous Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MoA-AD) that sought to carve out the BangsaMoro Juridical Entity (BJE). Through it, the MILF was to be granted its own territory, plus control of all its resources, including the seas with its own navy. Such a deal, which almost came into effect, was signed and sealed last year until an overwhelming tsunami of popular and military opposition compelled Arroyo to allow the Supreme Court to strike it down for lack of public consultation.

But since the MoA-AD’s freezing last year, the MILF and its “rogue” elements have been on the warpath with over 40 attacks, causing numerous deaths and displacing well over 200,000 Filipino Muslims and Christians--which the US has never condemned. Recently, as terror bombings began spreading anew, calls for a resumption of “peace talks,” egged on by US Ambassador Kristie Kenney, have also re-emerged.

When Obama agreed to receive Arroyo, he and his people knew the political significance this tacit seal of approval brought. They also knew that given Obama’s inaugural address, there will be a great dent on his reputation once his renowned smile beams down on the diminutive tyrant. Gloria, meanwhile, sees this as an ecstatic moment to blunt the continuing crash in her approval and trust ratings, now at below -30. Why, it could even be construed as an approval of her Charter change (Cha-cha) efforts so long as elections are held, with Cha-cha going for federalism to unblock the road toward the MoA-AD’s BJE.

Of course, Kenney says the US expects “free and fair elections” in 2010. But why doesn’t she mention “presidential elections” nor does she say anything about a “proclamation,” both of which are expected loopholes for Mrs. Arroyo? But then again, she might be thinking: Why go through that fuss when Gloria has already ushered in an era of massive election cheating, to be made worse by Melo and Rafanan’s automation foray unless an insider squeals again?

Gloria Arroyo is definitely the US’ kind of leader--infinitely “buyable,” “blackmail-able,” and “coup-able”; a perfect cheat who has moreover killed (in the Edsa III massacre) and is willing to kill more of her own people to stay in power, to continue her entire cabal’s plunderous reign.

No one in the opposition can be that kind of perfect minion just yet. So with that invitation, Obama has undoubtedly given Filipinos a slap in the face. And since all we can say is, “Thanks, we needed that,” let’s now get on with the business of tirelessly exposing Obama, Kenney, Gloria et al. till the final revolution comes!

(Tune in to 1098AM, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m; Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 7, Tuesday, 8:15 p.m. to 9 p.m., and on the TVU Internet Channel 61713; also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)