Abu Sayyaf Is a Myth

By Erick San Juan

There’s an old saying that a lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth. It seems that even few of our media practitioners and veteran journalist romanticized the myth of the Abu Sayyaf. The Abu Sayyaf group became popular when some of their original leaders were recruited by foreign intelligence agents through their usual conduits in the local force to join the proxy fight of the U.S. against the Russians in Afghanistan. The Russians lost the battle through the mighty strength of several alliances of Asian and Middle Eastern Mujahedeen headed by Osama Bin Laden.

After the Afghan War, some of these Mujahedeen returned home to their native land. The group of Abdurajak Janjalani returned to Mindanao and were recruited by an intelligence unit to penetrate the Muslim Secessionists movements in MINSUPALA (Mindanao-Sulu-Palawan). You can read the complete story in my book “Conspiracies and Controversies.”

What went wrong? Kidnap for ransom became a lucrative business and a cottage industry down south. The problem with those “assets” came when their project was aborted. They were forced to join the elements of “Scalawags” in uniform and politicians who are actually warlords in their provinces. Few of them became bodyguards of these politicians. Just like the late “Robot” who was just a “yayo” or babysitter of the children of Sulu Governor Sakur Tan, he then metamorphosed into becoming one of the most deadly bandits who joined the Abu Sayyaf group.

After the Sipadan and Dos Palmas hostage taking incident, most of the Abu Sayyaf leaders were wiped out by our AFP and the PNP except for some of the lesser evil ”assets” like Radulan Sahiron whose name was used to justify the Ces Drilon snafu.

Up to now the Interpol, FBI and European police agencies are still tracing the $20 Million ransom paid by the European hostages given through the help of Moammar Khaddafy.

The group of Ces Drilon might have gotten the Stockholm syndrome by making them believe that the “negotiators” are really helping them. They were shown youngsters in the ages 12 to 15 armed with long firearms.

I was told by our conscientious friends who are respected Muslim leaders in Sulu that most teenagers used in the abductions are not Abu Sayyafs anymore but petty gangsters, drug users and uneducated bully youngsters.

Without the support of these Muslim leaders we will not see the big picture of what’s really going on there. I would like to congratulate the terrorist expert, Gen. Sonny Razon, the PNP Chief, DILG Sec. Ronnie Puno and their units who used the law of common sense and their political will to ferret out the truth about who’s the real brain in the abduction.

Its now high time real civic leaders manage our local government units. Political patronage must be stopped. Sulu is a paradise and could be the next tourist destination if given the chance. It’s local needs such an opportunity so that their people will not be manipulated by gangsters disguising as politicians.

ARE CORPORATIONS & GOVERNMENTS SIMILAR?

By: Erick San Juan

An American friend of mine, emailed me a very interesting information about the similarities of a corporation and a government. It came from a compilation of news stories called Unfiltered News by G. Edward Griffin.

It was believed that corporation was the essential flaw of the U.S. government which resulted in a collectivist government and political favoritism giving corporations unfair advantages over individuals and competitions (small businesses).

Griffin said that a government is very similar to corporatism and there’s a merger of the two, because they are the same “snakes under the skin”. He explained that everyone of the obnoxious effects of corporatism can be found in big government, and it is most naïve to think that it can ever be otherwise.

Griffin affirmed that governments and corporations are neither good nor evil by themselves. They can serve man well or be a huge disservice depending entirely on the terms of their charters or by the character of those who direct them. Corporations allegedly become evil when they acquire political favoritism giving them unfair advantages over competitors and legal immunity from crimes and the same thing exactly happens with politically connected individuals, partnerships or associations.

The corporations and governments have reportedly the same characteristic that led to widespread corruption and injustice. The fact that their officers and managers are usually protected from suits and personal liability for their official acts.

When crimes are committed by corporations and government agencies, the real perpetrators get off scot free because the culprits are the people behind and not the organizations. These are the political leaders or managers who make the decisions and execute the criminal acts. There’s no command responsibility. When crimes are committed by the people in government, the penalties are passed on to the tax payers. While crimes committed by people in corporations, the fines are passed on to stockholders. In both cases, the innocent are punished and the guilty are spared.

In both situations if only the culprits will be held personally responsible for their actions, most abuses will be stopped. Present laws enable people within those structures to escape liability for their actions.

Everything sounds familiar in the Philippine setting. There’s no more “delicadeza” nowadays. Government officials involved in grand scams have the nerve to tell tales and usually get away with crimes committed. The usual scenario is not only to “get rich quick” but to do big-time corruption and solve the problem later. What else is new?

BEWARE OF GREEKS, BEARING GIFTS, JAPANESE STYLE

By Erick San Juan, D.Litt.

I read the article of Antonio M. Claparols, a fellow columnist at the Newsmaker, a popular newspaper in General Santos City. He quoted the Ecological Society of the Philippines exposing a report that the Philippines is importing rice from the United States containing GMO (genetically modified organisms).

Tony Claparols, the ESP president, commented that even the Americans themselves are vigilant with regards to GMO danger. He added that the U.S. Center for Disease Control recently launched an investigation on “morgellonos disease” after receiving thousands of complaints from people with unexplained skin condition. Some suffers skin manifestations, fatigue, mental confusion, memory loss, joint pain and changes in visions. Claparols confirmed the findings that there’s a link between morgellonos disease and agrobacterium, a soil bacteria extensively manipulated and used in making GM crops.

Even the Europeans opted for a moratorium on the further use of GMO. Here comes the Japanese government suddenly offering their rice surplus to the Philippines. Many activists – environmentalists believe that the offer of rice support from Japan is a quid pro quo for the approval of JPEPA.

Despite a denial from the Department of Agriculture, I was told that the rice surplus was rejected by the Japanese government reportedly because these were actually U.S. rice with GMO.

We hope that if it's true,our government will be wary of this scheme or are we accepting it to cover our inefficiencies?

Just asking!!!