LEARNING LESSONS

LEARNING LESSONS

by Erick San Juan

Living in this highly manipulated geopolitical arena is not a joking matter. Leaders who emerge from nations that are trying to barge into the ranks of the developed nations necessarily have to contend with the big boys who are the known bullies of the world. Necessarily, these new leaders have to see to it that what they say and what they do should always be pleasing to whoever brokers for them peace and political stability. Otherwise, a leader who does not tow the line of his benefactor will have to learn the stark reality that he has to roll on his mat and soon make a dash to safety.

What we are trying to drive at is: With the disgraced Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan sitting his ass and watching from the sidelines the political and economic developments that will unfold in the state whose leadership he grabbed earlier on, Pakistan’s new leaders should be able to prove that beyond conducting his nation towards the path of plenty, they must be able to satisfy the wants of the world’s policeman.

Certainly, delivering a fiery inaugural speech is not the right way to please a leader’s benefactors. More so, if he is to tell his crowd that no way shall Pakistan’s new leadership allow itself to be a stooge or a puppet of any foreign powers once again. And this is especially so, when the new leader has yet to recover from the stigma of a public perception that he was nothing but an emblem of corruption during the watch of then Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, his wife, who was assassinated.

In his inaugural speech, hours before the hotel bombing,the new president, Asif Ali Zardari,made a fiery conclusion that his administration will not allow terrorists to launch attacks on it's neighbors from Pakistan's soil and neither will he tolerate U.S. military incursions this time.

Killing more than 50 persons including an envoy during a suicide bombing attack on Pakistan’s Marriott Hotel, should serve as a strong warning to not just to the leaders of that nation, but other Asian leaders as well. The fact that Al Qaida and the Taliban denied responsibility for that suicide attack, should serve as a fair warning to everybody.

Learning lessons from domestic historical events and the ramifications of geopolitical movement and developments is absolutely necessary for leaders and even those who pretend to be people worth they're salt. The lessons they learn are seen as a guide to their future demeanor and utterances, in such a way that may no longer commit similar blunders, if not the same as those slips that tripped many world leaders into the dust bins of history.

By the way, we are checking the reports that the reason why President Gloria Arroyo is talking to the heads of state of several small nations who are now in the Big Apple, is to explore the prospects of an asylum for her friends and whatever they might be carrying.

Certainly, a lot of suspicions would come to fore because suddenly, there was a trip to New York City and Seattle , Washington , which, for some reason or another had to be cancelled. Then suddenly, here comes new expose – all involving large sum of dirty money and new political developments that puts to question the stability of her administration. As a result, what had earlier been cancelled had to be resurrected.

Let us all pray that our nation will not be affected by political and global financial turbulence.

As the saying goes, "Full speed ahead, damn the torpedoes!"

STOP EXPLOITING US

STOP EXPLOITING US

By Erick San Juan

It makes many learned Filipinos wonder no end if the government of United States of America is really the Filipinos’ big brother, or, are they our masters – the bullies - who arrogated unto themselves the image and the role of being the world’s policemen.

The Philippines’ affair with the US dates back to 1898 or, shortly after the Spanish crown made a commodity out of every Filipino and the mother land, along with other colonies of the Spain crown, including Puerto Rico and Guam. This situation is the aftermath of the Treaty of Paris, which was signed by the two military powers of those times. The treaty stipulates that the US will pay the Crown of Spain the sum of US$ 20 millions in exchange for the colonies which the Iberians will cede to the US .

When they signed the pact, the Katipuneros led by then President Emilio F. Aguinaldo, thinking that the Americans were their allies – because they were given money to buy arms and bullets in Hongkong.

As the US armada showed up at Manila Bay , the Filipinos were already in the verge of achieving for themselves self-rule. Then, the guardia civil who were holed in behind the walled city were running out of gunpowder and ammunitions. The Spanish guards were already starving, because in fact, Aguinaldo’s columns had effectively sealed off most, if not all of the cuarteles and the conventos in Manila – at least. They were practically knocking at the gates of the walled city of Intramuros and were ready to deliver the final blow that could have subjugated the conquestadores who, using the cross and the sword three centuries earlier, hoodwinked our forebears into allowing the friars to build churches and thus influence our culture from Batanes to Zamboanga.

As fate would have it, President Aguinaldo and his flag officers never knew that right after money changed hands between the Americans and the Iberians, the Filipinos’ outlook would drastically change, because the high military officials of Spain and the US had hatched a scheme to effect the latter’s assumption of the colonizer’s role. They made it appear that the US forces were after the ass of the guardias civil who they rained with a few artillery shots. But as soon as the more experienced US Cavalry troops set foot on the shores of Manila , they started pointing their guns towards the Filipino freedom fighters. This forced President Aguinaldo and his men scampering to safety by dashing towards the north until they got to Palanan, Isabela where he was captured by the pursuing American troops, but not until after he lost several of his flag officers, including Heneral Gregorio del Pilar in their attempt to uphold the republic which the Filipinos established earlier in Malolos and at the Biak na Bato caves in the Sierra Madre mountains.

Now, with trouble plaguing Georgia , the Bush administration is seen to roll out a US$ 1-B economic aid package to help rebuild the pro-west former soviet state. Fact is: the US have already given a lot of assistance not only to Georgia , but to their other favorites as well, including Israel , Pakistan and a host of other states, but the Philippines from whom their troops learn a lot.

No doubt, Filipinos are short-changed. Through the Balikatan military exercises, the US troops get to learn how to adopt and fight a war in tropical settings. With our primitive culture, the US troops are able to acquire effective jungle survival skills. In return, the Filipinos are supposed to be entitled to aids in modernizing our weaponry.

The sad part is: after they acquire all the skills they set out to learn from us, they never even bother to leave some of their modern weapons for the elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to learn and use in addressing threats to its national security. By their actuations, the US seems like trying to keep the AFP as primitive as it is.

At the turn of the century, US forces tried to contain, but failed to subdue the fierce fighting Moro in Southern Philippines . Because of the series of encounters they had with the determined mujahideens, the US invented the .45 caliber pistol, which is popular for its knockdown power. This handgun became the Americans’ antidote to the rushing up tactics being employed against their troops by the determined fighters in Sulu.

Does that in anyway tell us that up to now, the US is still fearful of the ingenuity, the innovation and determination of Filipino fighters, such that they can not allow the AFP to grow? What kind of an ally is the US ? Is the US out to just exploit the Filipinos to the end? Most Filipinos like the American people but it seems that the US government's foreign policy is being manipulated by vested interests ,thus destroying its good relationship even from allies like they're so called "brown" brothers who now see some of them as perceived enemies.

Americans wake up, Pinoys are pliant like a bamboo but we are not dumb.

LET’S TRY CHAVIT

LET’S TRY CHAVIT

By Erick San Juan

Eye brows went up, while President Gloria Macapagal – Arroyo got not just a mouthful from all kinds of doubting Thomas’s but spite as well, almost as soon as Malacanang announced the appointment of former Ilocos Sur Governor Luis Chavit Singson as Deputy National Security Adviser.

But unlike the bigots, we can say with certainty that the tongue-wagging spree by people, who, we think do not even know Chavit inside-out, never surprised Malacanang – and us too - at all. We think Chavit ought to be given a chance to show his worth. He deserves no less than our support, to start with.

We love to witness once again, an era of peace and political stability similar to what we had during the regime of President Fidel V. Ramos. Political stability is one thing every Filipino has been craving for since July 1, 1998.

We can only recall with fondness the days when talks of what could be an impending coup was taboo during the watch of PFVR – from start to finish. For that, we credit the highly competent and hardworking National Security Adviser Jose Almonte, who, like Chavit never bragged about his travails and fete.

There is no doubt in our minds that political stability is a luxury which Cory Aquino and Joseph "Erap" Estrada never enjoyed, while President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, banking on the gains of her administration and her grip over security forces, is still struggling to achieve.

Both Almonte and Singson believe that where there is smoke, there is fire. For his part, Chavit has time and again demonstrated his efficiency and effectiveness in handling state affairs. In fact, the governors of Ilocos Sur who came after Chavit continue to carry out the various policies he has adopted in his quest for a meaningful life for his constituents.

Like many of you, we view Chavit’s advent to the National Security Council and the National Intelligence Coordinating Authority (NICA) in a positive light. We have enough reasons to believe that Undersecretary Singson can help determine, provide and implement a policy direction that could mend the broken pieces currently plaguing the NSC, where its personnel are so demoralized to a point that what is perceived as the most secure compound in the Philippines recently fell victim to larceny.

In fact, we dare say that the tenants of that historic palace along the Pasig have been expecting a hail of innuendoes at the onset, but they have always been ready, willing and able to defend their actions on Chavit’s appointment. They are fully convinced that posting Chavit near the V. Luna Medical Center in Quezon City , they are not putting a square peg in a round hole.

Like many of our fellow Filipinos, particularly his constituents in Northern Luzon, we may also be counted among those who are aware of the legacy that Chavit left in Ilocos Sur, where he is acknowledged not just as a peacemaker, but a builder, an environmentalist, an animal lover, a lover of beauty and above all, its political kingpin for several decades now. No wonder, most of the Ilocanos are economically empowered. None of his constituents go hungry, because they have been taught to stay productive all the time.

Chavit is a man of many talents. He has always been everybody’s friend. The highly principled government official in him sometimes pushes the former governor into some conflicts, which he dutifully addresses with dispatch. Above all, we have no doubt that Chavit is endowed with executive ability.Kudos to you!

WHAT ANCESTRAL DOMAIN?

WHAT ANCESTRAL DOMAIN?

By Erick San Juan

We are bothered no end why Filipinos kill their compatriots over the so-called Bangsamoro ancestral domain, which, in reality, encompasses the entire North Borneo and the Malay Peninsula. Being so, the people who, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) claims they represent, are non-natives and are not entitled to an ancestral domain.

History books, including a photocopy given to me by my favorite historian and big sister, Chitang Nakpil which she got from "The Reading in Philippine History by Horacio de la Costa,historian and a good Jesuit, tell us that only the Aetas deserve an ancestral domain. They are the original Filipinos. In Mindanao, the only remaining real natives are the kinky-haired and thick-lipped Mamanwas of Surigao and and a few other non-Moslem hill-tribes. Most history books suggest that all Filipino Moslems are not truly natives. Most of them are descendants of Arab and Malay migrants who inter-married. In reality, they are descendants of Abu Bakr, an adventurous Arab (Islamic) scholar who, for some reasons, came from the Madjapahit empire; and other migrants from Malaya, who immigrated to Mindanao between 200 and 300 AD. In fact, there was a big wave of Malayan immigrants, who landed on the shores of Mindanao just some 20 years or so ahead of the coming of Spanish conquistadores headed by Fernando de Magallanes.

Safe to say, the Tagalogs, Capampangan, Ilocano, Sugbuanon, Bol-anons, Hilonggo, Bicol and the so-called Lumads of Mindanao, came from the same Malayan stock, but their ancestors came to the Philippines, via the Celebes and South China seas. These migrants inter-married with Chinese traders and later on, with people of the different race, thereby begetting what would later on become the Filipinos.

Moro scholars, including the shrewd and sly leaders of trouble-makers in Mindanao are familiar with these bits of history. It is, in fact, the reason why, in their quest to hoodwink the Filipinos, they are trying to bluff their way into acquiring ancestral domain even in territories that they know are not really theirs. In so many ways, the MILF’s claim of an ancestral domain is just a means of pulling the rug under every peace-loving Filipinos’ feet. They are dragging the Lumads into a conflict they have been sowing in Mindanao - not long ago, but just a few decades hence.

No doubt, the coming days would be very exciting. Amir Ombra Kato and Abdullah Macapaar a.k.a. Commander Bravo are said to be on their way back to Mindanao. They are sailing back through the Philippines’ southern backdoor after cooling their heels in a secret base provided to them by their Malaysian benefactors in Sabah. Reliable sources say these crooked psychopaths, who are known to be among the die-hard fundamentalists among the band of pirates, pillagers and marauders, are coming back with lots of funds, a horde of relatively new armaments, uniforms and other war materials which have striking resemblance with the basic issues of the Malaysia’s military and commando units. Certainly, they are determined to mount a more aggressive semi-conventional struggle for the “secession of Mindanao,” along with Islamic elements whose fingers are crossed that the conflict would evolve into a civil war ala Vietnam in the next few days.

The war that Kato and Bravo will be mounting would be sporadic yet sweeping, bloody and extremely cruel. And if tens of thousands had been killed and unquantifiable miseries have been experienced by legions upon legions of Mindanaonon families in the more than three decades of clashes between government forces and the bandits who conveniently label themselves as mujahideens or freedom fighters, thousands more are bound to get slain and more houses would be torched in the ensuing skirmishes. Hunger and crimes would be the order of the day as deprivations on and by either side is going to be rampant.

Notwithstanding the observance of the Holy month of Ramadan, heavy three-sided clashes between government forces, the blasphemous secessionist guerillas and Christian vigilante groups are expected to erupt in just a few days from today. And if the non-Moslem hill-tribes start pursuing their quest for their own claim for an ancestral domain, we just can’t imagine how riotous the scenario is bound to be.

The government’s recent disclosure of a doubled bounty for any the capture of MILF Commanders Kato, Bravo and Pangalian is viewed more as a veiled invitation to every passive Christian to take part in eliminating the military’s perceived trouble-makers. In fact, several local government units in Mindanao have been purchasing guns to arm their chosen wards in the pretext of defending their villages from the marauding bands. And no less than high-profile local officials are known to be organizing newly formed vigilante squads and reactivating the remnants of the Marcos-era ILAGA, barracuda, Sagrado Corazon Senor (SCS) and other tadtad groups of armed non-Moslems, who believe in their perceived invincibility. What amaze me is the sudden entry of another muslim freedom fighter (kuno),The Moro Resistance and Liberation Organization which according to my "mole" is patterned to the Palestinian Liberation Organization of the late Yasser Arafat. All hell break loose!

RP, DISASTER-BOUND

RP, DISASTER-BOUND
By Erick San Juan


When President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo dissolved the GRP Peace Panel yesterday, she may have done just what was right, given the fact that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is nothing but a bunch of smart, slimy and venomous crooks, who either do not wield control over the band of heavily armed renegades marauding the south, or are actually in cahoots with them. Certainly, she is right. There isn’t a logical point talking to them.

However, intelligent that she may be, Gloria may have failed to realize that but by doing what she did, the President merely played out the role designed for her by the so-called owners of the world – the Anglo-American economic conspirators, who from the very beginning, never had anything foremost in their minds than appropriating for themselves, most if not all of what remains of the billions of the Marcos regime Ang Bagong Lipunan currency bills, which is secured by gold bullions, unlike the present US dollar-based Philippine legal tender. Their ill-motives on the Philippines could be akin to the slimy intent they have for the balkanized Yugoslavia’s money. In brief, the eyes Globalist bankers, mainly British and the US carpetbaggers, are focused to the weak and struggling nations as possible source of “super-funds” and other resources.

Certainly, the bid for control over the Philippines’ GOD (Gas, Oil and Deuterium) is the British-American operators’ primordial motive. Hence, orchestrating civil war in Mindanao, would not limit the conductors’ loot to just GOD, but would also deliver to them some kind of a bonus in the form of strategic control over the Strait of Malacca, the gateway to the Pacific Ocean, because this sea lane is used heavily by China, Japan, Korea and even Russia for commerce and defense. It could also be used as a choke point against the minions of state sponsored terrorists like Al Qaeda.

While the US operates by driving and maintaining a wedge between the Philippine government and the Al Haj Murad – led bandits, the Britain works on Malaysia, its erstwhile colony, whose main concern is keeping a buffer against any possible attempt by the Philippines to seize control over the State of Sabah (North Borneo, historically a territory belonging to the Sultanate of Sulu), over which the Philippines never even filed any claim before any forum anywhere in the world.

To back-track, the spat between the Philippines and Malaysia started when the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu asked then President Marcos to help them recover North Borneo, which their ancestors leased to the British crown decades ago, but which was included in the list of territories handed over by the Great Britain to Malaysia, when the former granted independence to the latter. On that basis, Marcos formed a top secret mission to regain control over Sabah, in the thought that it would be an additional resource for natural and human wealth. But the over-zealous and over ambitious, the late Senator Benigno S. Aquino Jr. who, at that time was in a frenzy to become the next President of the Philippines, blew the lid off, by his “Operation Plan Merdeka” expose, which resulted in the massacre of several young Pinoy Moslems, whose were subjects of the Sultan of Sulu, who were being trained in a jungle base at the historic Corregidor island, for that mission.

As a strategy, Malaysia thought that lionizing the MILF would be enough to keep the hands of Philippine authorities full. This accounts for their hosting the GRP-MILF peace talks. This also accounts for the new and modern armaments now used by the bandits in the pursuit of their bid to coerce the GRP into just handing over to them ownership of a portion of Philippine territory and to gain a status similar to, short of having their own currency, but all the perks enjoyed by independent states, which have their own armed and defense forces and the power to enter into diplomatic agreement with other states.

So, there is no more doubt that the phony and disastrous memorandum of agreement (MoA) on ancestral domain, was prepared for the GRP and the MILF by a clique of Jesuits and reportedly assisted by United States Institute for Peace (USIP), with its failure and an offing civil war in Mindanao foremost in their minds. Playing a key role in this grand design to generate civil war, are those subversive “Project Democracy” apparatus in the US, which works hand-in-hand with George Soros-linked non-government organizations (NGO) in running targeted nations for destabilization.

The re-emergence of the ILAGA vigilantes in Mindanao is the barometer of what is going to happen in the next few days.

The Filipinos are not that dumb to just accept such novice scripts despite the corruption on the go. God bless us more.