Cry Wolf?

Cry Wolf?
By Erick San Juan


The world is in the wait and see mode (again) as the new ‘bully’ in the Asia-Pacific region has announced its string of threats against Washington through its allies in the region. Assessments and analysis of the possible next move of North Korean young leader Kim Jong-un in striking its twin nation-state also varies according to Korean watchers.                                                                                 

According to pundits, signs of a hard-headed bully or a ghoul in the region is what the west need as pretext to justify their presence.

From the point of view of Hannes Hanso (researcher at the International Centre for Defense Studies in Tallinn, Estonia) – “North Korea is in an awkward way a necessary evil that holds regional powers in balance and helps to maintain a functioning status quo. When this delicate balance crumbles, a whole new security structure will need to be found. Nobody appears willing to take the first step into the unknown. North Korea's leaders seem well aware of the situation and are trying to exploit this to their own advantage; that is, trying to ensure regime survival and international acceptance as a nuclear power.” This could also lead to the final unification of the two Koreas.

South Korea seems to under estimate the capability of the North. SK defense minister Kim Kwan-jin said that chances are not high that the situation will lead to a full-scale war. But David Chase Taylor, the editor-in-chief of Truther.org, an American journalist living in Zurich, Switzerland, in his book, The Bio-Terror Bible, explained that various islands may be used as the initial staging ground in the genesis of a global pandemic.  After a short time, the pandemic will "spread" thus giving the impression that the virus was airborne, had mutated and found its way on to the  mainland. Even China  is now accusing the US of spreading H7N9 virus. According to Taylor, there are several bio terror plan and a possible false-flag terror attack on South Korea and the most likely scenario is that Japan, Guam and the Philippines may be 'accidentally' targeted by North Korea. Is this the reason why the joint military exercises between the US and South Korean soldiers wear anti- biological and anti-chemical suits? At the Jeff Rense talk show last April 10,2013. Tim Rifat was Rense's guest and he exposed that the US despite it's policy of preemptive strike wouldn't dare to attack North Korea because of their intelligence info that Kim Jong-un is prepared to use Cobalt60 weaponry, a weapon of mass destruction that can exterminate a lot of people in days. If the US will allegedly use their bunker buster, the hit will surely explode the Cobalt60 then it will sprinkle like ash fall and mutually assured destruction follows. This is possibly the reason why US Secretary of State John Kerry went to Beijing to seek  China's support to neutralize Pyongyang.

This could also be the reason why Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario was very quick in offering the use of ‘our military bases’ to Uncle Sam if ever NoKor will attack us or the US. But the question is – do we (still) have military bases in Subic and Clark? Or they were conveniently set up for Uncle Sam’s use and in the process our very own people will be used as cannon fodders and the whole country as US military base? We really never learn…

Actually, as the drums of war are getting louder and the Balikatan military exercises will end on Wednesday, we can’t help worrying that any miscalculation or stupid provocations might start a shooting war in our own backyard.
                                             
At the Balitaan sa Hotel Rembrandt last week, as reported by Sammy Martin of PNA, former Foreign Affairs secretary Domingo Siazon warned the public that North Korea's threat to launch ballistic missile is for real. He added that the date that should be watched is April 15, the birthday of the late NK leader Kim il Sung. This could be the day of no return.                                      

Bad memories of the past world wars should be a reminder to world leaders not to repeat these bad parts of the world’s history. This time, it will be costly and precious lives and properties will be easily destroyed as humanity is in the brink of a possible thermonuclear war and fast slipping into a situation where a possible 70 percent (or more) of the world’s population may be affected by such stupidity and careless war.

The predicate has been laid, with the current visit of Washington’s high officials together with NATO’s people in South Korea and then in China, possibilities of conflict is in the offing.

Did we ask ourselves if ever war breaks, are we prepared for its repercussions, the bloody results and the atrocities, etc? Even Jim Walsh, an international security expert and research associate at MIT said that 'the whole system is set up like a deck of cards right now and a accidental war could spiral into an all-out conflict.' (Fox news)
                                            
We have to be wary and let us pray harder as we enter a very troubled times.

Troubled Times by Erick San Juan

 Troubled Times by Erick San Juan

In these troubled times, aside from a possible regional conflict that will probably start in the Korean Peninsula, there is also an impending possibility of people repeating history as in the case of the Nanjing Massacre that happened 75 years ago.

In an article written by Manfred Henningsen (professor of political science at the University of Hawaii) – ‘Opportunity to break the silence’, he wanted the world to know especially in Asia where the Japanese army had savagely terrorized and killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians alike that started in 1937 in Nanking, China. Japan never gave any official apology since then.
“The refusal of the Japanese political class to officially recognize the imperial record of terror in China and other parts of Asia was illustrated in a remarkable way by Shinzo Abe when he was selected to lead the Liberal Democratic Party in October. He immediately visited the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. The shrine has become a permanent monument to the horrors of Japan’s militarism since 1978 when war criminals of World War II were enshrined there.” (Ibid)
Like any traditional politicians, Abe has made a promise that he did not keep. Many pundits believe that it only prove that the Japanese government wanted the world to forget the terrorism they did during the Second World War in countries like China and the Philippines.

“Abe also announced last year that he would, if elected prime minister, revise the so-called Kono Statement, an official apology that Tokyo made in 1993 for the military’s sexual enslavement of women during World War II. And since he became prime minister, he has not said that he accepts the Judgment of Tokyo, which confirmed the historical record of imperial violence, including the figures of the estimated 300,000 dead and 60,000 women raped in Nanjing in December 1937.” (Ibid)

Like Germany, Japan had also the ambition to conquer the world and build their empires by raping city after city of sovereign nations. But after the dust and smoke has subsided, they became oblivious of the reparations that they should grant to countries they ravaged into nothingness.

Although from the article of Prof. Henningsen, he said that “Unlike the Japanese, the Germans have come to terms with their past. They were able to break out of their silence and amnesia they shared with the Japanese and face their record of evil and made peace with their neighbors whom they had invaded, occupied and, in some cases, violently terrorized. Most importantly, they were willing to recognize 60 years ago the claims of the large number of non-state victims and are still accepting compensation claims today, having already paid roughly $89 billion.”

Accepting ones mistakes and atrocities in the past against people of another country, especially a neighbor, coupled with the granting of reparations due them, are the right thing to do in order to give justice and to restore the dignity of the victims of war: the survivors and their families.

Like what I kept saying in my daily radio program, in times of war and peace, collaborators are made and conspiracies are woven to fool the rest of the world. Just what happened to Japan’s Hirohito, as what Prof. Henningsen wrote – “General Douglas MacArthur (then the US Army chief) kept the imperial system and its head, Hirohito, in place, as the US wanted to retain a semblance of legitimate national authority in order to facilitate the administration of the country. Hirohito had, by US decree, became untouchable, and he presided until his death in 1989 over collective Japanese amnesia. By protecting Hirohito from prosecution as a war criminal, the US laid the foundation for Japan’s refusal to acknowledge its war guilt and war crimes.”

The facts are in the open now, like what I have been saying all these years. With Uncle Sam’s blessings, not all war criminals are prosecuted and worse, war crimes are completely forgotten by diverting historical facts into oblivion that has left the victims including their own citizenry into a terrible case of amnesia.

Now the silence has been broken. Humanity should learn from this and must always on the lookout for a possibility that such incident will happen again.

In these dangerous times when the drums of war are getting louder - will people repeat a bad part of the world’s history?  Or history will repeat itself? The signature of a global conflict is already here. The actual confrontation and shooting war is in the offing that might lead to another world war. If this scenario will happen in the Korean Peninsula, and the possible reunification of the two Koreas will commence, Uncle Sam (and the globalists) will now be free from the burden of supporting North Korea and the heavy task will now be given to the people of South Korea. Remember the chopping of the 'Berlin wall'?

"Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it." Edmund Burke (1729-1797)

Modus Vivendi by Erick San Juan

Modus Vivendi by Erick San Juan

I was advised several times by some pundits that we in Asia must strive towards a modus vivendi with Red China. I reiterate this need, which is becoming more urgent each day. Before long, Communist China will have increased its striking power a thousand folds with a sophisticated delivery system for its nuclear weapons.

I was told that we must prepare for that day. We must allegedly prepare to co-exist peaceably with Communist China. For our part, this means relentless work towards full self-development, so that we can live beside our powerful neighbor with confidence and dignity. For her own part, Communist China must accept the fact that superior military strength cannot justify aggression.

Methinks that the faith and goodwill, as well as the competence, for peaceable co-existence exist in the heart and mind of all Asians.

An excerpt from the speech given by the late President Ferdinand Marcos at the Manila Overseas Press Club in November 1968 (taken from his 1969 SONA) - a foresight then, a reality now. If government leaders after him heeded his caution, maybe some of the problems we are facing now with our neighbors are lesser and the country will be far better than today.

It is not mere co-existence, former President Marcos emphasized the need for our country to ‘work relentlessly towards full self-development’ in order to gain dignity and confidence.

Unfortunately, we didn’t gain any confidence because we are still under the wings of the 'big brother' and actually manipulated by our chinese neighbors. And dignity? It goes without saying that the current state of the nation is worse than the previous ones when it comes to corruption. Just because the same people(corruptors) from the previous administrations are still in the present government’s loop.

Our dream for a full self-development will remain a dream if we will not unite and change the system that has enslaved us for so many years now. What we need is an honest to goodness Filipino ideology that will guide us towards self-fulfillment as a sovereign nation- free from the dictates of some perceived master.

China’s present status in world geopolitics did not happen overnight, Marcos felt that this day will come when China will lead the rest of the Asia-Pacific region when it comes to economic and military power. Marcos knew his history. He has chinese blood. In a document written by Julie A. Baeyens entitled "Once Upon a Red Star" which circulated through the Worldwide Filipino Alliance, she cited how the Chinese Secret Service infiltrated the Philippines. To quote-"Through the years, the Chinese Secret Service has constantly kept a keen eye on the Philippines, being strategically located in the South China Sea, long considered by China as a Chinese lake. Control of early Philippine operation was handled directly from Yan'an, Mao Zedong's stronghold. Yan'an was then the seat of the Central Committee of the CPC-Communist Party of China. As early as January 1930, Mao asserted that a spark can set fire to the whole plain. That plain was the whole of Asia including the Philippines. Spearheading the conflagration was the Department of Special Affairs, the TEWU, first led by Zhou EnLai and later by Kang Sheng. The Philippines became a special zone in the red chinese international intelligence and espionage activities. They infiltrated all sectors of Philippine society including the leftist front, PKP-Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas and the AFP- Armed Forces of the Philippines through Pedro de la Pena,an intelligence officer of the Army G2 as army assistant chief of staff for intelligence. In the 1950's, so many were recruited through a CPC's satellite organization named Philippine Committee of Overseas Chinese under the care of TEWU. De la Pena was a good asset due his being a fierce anti-communist. His friend, Antonio Chua Cruz, a millionaire-owner of the anti-Huk and anti-Soviet newspaper, Free Asia, was also employed by TEWU. These two were unmasked in 1952 when Philippine authorities arrested William Pomeroy and Celia Mariano from Rizal. Pomeroy was an ex-US Air Force, a journalist and later a student at UP. In UP, he met and married Celia who was a member of the PKP central committee. Seized from them were documents and detailed notes running of de la Pena and Cruz."
 
 It is now 2013, how many de la Pena's and Cruz's  are now embedded in our society, in the government service, in politics, in our law enforcement and in our military today? And the way some of our politicians saber rattled "na akala mo me ikakaya tayo?" Or is it a deliberate way of provoking, to justify a take over by the awakened dragon?

The world’s perception, especially its neighbors, of the continuous bullying of China does not affect China in the process because it insisted on its historical claim in the contested areas in the SCS and Beijing believe that it can only be settled through bilateral talks between each claimant country and China – no more, no less. A bully? To some but because China has proven its power and cannot be a pushover anymore, even from the mighty Uncle Sam, claimant nations will have to abide by what Beijing wants.

Sadly, our country has no other choice but to run to Uncle Sam, but on second thought, it is Uncle Sam who is perceived  creating the situation that will destabilize this region. And in the process creating proxy wars by dragging its allies in a war only Uncle Sam and possibly China want.

China’s silent army.

In my article dated August 13, 2012 – Fear China From Within, I cited the possibility of the growing presence of China’s citizens in the country through the so-called fifth column. But there is another explanation here cited in the book by Juan Pablo Cardenal and Heriberto Araujo - China's Silent Army: The Pioneers, Traders, Fixers and Workers Who Are Remaking the World in Beijing's Image, to wit: “The growth of China's global economic influence is the obvious lead story of the 21st century so far. As China's Silent Army convincingly demonstrates, no corner of the world is immune from China's reach, whether as a tireless hawker of goods from baby clothes to hydroelectric dams or as a consumer of natural and human resources, often as both a major buyer and seller in the same market.” (From the review written by Muhammad Cohen - Searching the globe for China Inc)

Several questions were given by Cohen in analyzing China’s ‘silent army’ - to what extent is the Chinese government controlling Chinese commercial initiatives as part of a broader strategic plan? In other words, from the copper fields of Chile and Zambia to the forests of Siberia, are Chinese companies doing Beijing's dirty work? How and how much do Chinese diplomacy and business cooperate to serve Beijing's geopolitical goals? Can nations trust a Chinese provider with its telecommunication network, ports, or other vital infrastructure? Is business with a Chinese company overseas ever strictly business?

I myself been asking some of these questions as I discussed these things in my daily radio program (@DWSS 1494khz 5:30 to 6p.m.) that Chinese companies are running vital and strategic utilities here like in the area of telecommunications, our national electric grid and several mining companies to name a few. I have been warning the present administration to be wary and revisit the contracts made between our government and China from the previous administrations. The utilities I mentioned are vital and can be a security threat in the long run. Like what Cohen asked, can we trust a Chinese company to run our own electric grid – the backbone of our power supply?

There is nothing to fear if we have aspire and done something to acquire the status of a developed nation as how we aspired us to be – a full self-developed sovereign nation with dignity and confidence to live beside our powerful neighbors.

"But the Greeks already delivered the gift." What's next? An ongoing surrender of our beloved nation without firing a single shot!

The Arms Race Deceit! By Erick San Juan

The Arms Race Deceit! By Erick San Juan


There are so many things to watch out for in these exciting times, may it be religious or in the field of geopolitics and political economy – worldwide.

There is no doubt that in this age of high technology, humanity is very much aware of what is happening around him and with this access, one can help prevent the sinister plan of some evil-minded and selfish individuals. But on the other hand, this same technology can be used to annihilate a large part of the world’s population.

The scramble for the latest state-of-the-art weaponry is the trend set in order to sustain the war machine that will support the ailing economy of the owners of this MIC – military industrial complex.  The mere fact that Pentagon has been posting reports of their latest war materiel, of course countries that are not in Uncle Sam’s “circle of friends” will make sure that they can have (at least almost) the same weaponry or maybe better.

In his article ‘U.S. Building “Global First Strike Capacity” Against Russia and China’, Hu Yumin has cited that the “US aims to combine PGS [Prompt Global Strike] with its space and anti-missile technologies to form an integrated defense system, which could render other countries’ strategic weapons, including nuclear arms, almost useless. This could put other countries in a dilemma: they either lose the capability to launch a strategic nuclear counterattack or use nuclear weapons first to avoid devastation.

In fact, the US has allocated more funds for the development of Prompt Global Strike, a system that can deliver a precision non-nuclear weapon strike anywhere in the world within 1 hour. The number of such weapons in the US armory will continue to grow, with the Russian Defense Ministry estimating that Washington will have 1,500 to 1,800 sea- and air-based first-strike cruise missiles by 2015 and 2,500 to 3,000 by 2020.”

Despite the US defense budget cuts known as the 'sequester' went into effect last March 1, the sequester will neither cripple America’s geopolitical strategy nor its ability to project its hard power abroad. (http://m.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/20/us-military-budget-cuts-not-doomsday)

Actually the Pentagon already assured its various defense contractors last August that missile defense would still remain a priority with funds possibly coming from the so called 'black budget'. We can see this with Obama’s (part two) assurance of the installation of the second X-band radar in Japan last month.

Remember the article I wrote last August 27, 2012 – The Shield that Will Endanger Us (archived @ ericksanjuan.blogspot.com), aside from Japan, our country is also the not so secret recipient of this powerful X-band radar from Uncle Sam. So what else is new?

Like what I kept on saying like a broken record, the country’s leadership has been wittingly adhering to the wishes of a perceived master and putting the whole country in the cross-hairs of Washington’s enemies. And in the process, dragging us all to a war never of our liking.

With North Korea’s nuclear testing since its latest launch and the increase in the defense budget of China for 2013-14, and Russia’s readiness to face Washington’s Prompt Global Strike (PGS), and of course Japan’s planned military upgrades, where does Philippines fit into this scenario?

Our so-called military modernization ended up with buying spree of museum-grade military hardware, and worst they will reach our shores when the country is already wiped out from a nuclear strike. How pathetic!

The arms race is very real and with the so-called high-tech-controlled armaments, we can never tell when and where such nuclear weapon will be launch especially when access to such controls will be hacked by some evil minded person. God forbid.

Blunders!

Blunders!
By Erick San Juan


So much has been said and written on what has happened on the Sabah crisis. Nothing can bring back the lives lost in this tragic incidents and If only the government has listened to some unsolicited but sound advice from concerned citizens, such waste of precious lives could have been avoided.

The president's famous campaign slogan (and is continuously in effect) ‘patungo sa matuwid na daan’ has provided the country with a kind of standard if only the quality of his leadership holds true with this slogan. But so far as corruption vis-à-vis poverty is concerned, nothing's changed since he took office. Why is this so?

In his another famous line ‘kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap’ – the fact that poverty is still very much obvious among Filipinos and the middle class is slowly sliding to the lower class, ergo, corruption is still prevalent. The sad part is, it is some of the people in the PNoy’s loop that is doing such mischief that is reflected upon the President’s performance as the supposedly ‘better leader’ than the previous one which turned out to be ‘just the same dog with a different collar’.

Some government agencies has committed blunder after blunder that has created mistrust than faith and confidence towards the government. I have consistently reminding the voters in the last presidential elections (through my radio broadcast) that if the voting populace will not be wise enough to choose the next leaders of the land, we will end up being run by a mafia-like government. Look what's happening?

The line - ‘matuwid na daan’ will remain a campaign slogan if the government will not take the much needed extra effort of cleaning up some of his NPAs (non-performing assets) in his loop. Needless mistakes have no room in this country especially if lives are at stake. We have witnessed some mistakes that has put the country in the limelight in a very negative way and we just let them passed.

One example - the (very basic and simple) issuance of stickers for car registration (renewal or not) at the LTO, up to this time there is still no available stickers and we have been informed that the unavailability of the said stickers is already a problem since last year. That is why the media is always the last resort of our poor countrymen if the government fails to address their concerns. And in the long run, the government even has the guts to blame the media for not reporting the ‘good news’ and always the bad news.  Can they blame the media if there are no good news worth reporting at all?

Containing the mistakes domestically if the government doesn’t have the willpower to remove undesirable people within his circle should be taken seriously. Globally, our country is surrounded with flashpoints that any false move or decision could bring this country into a war not of our liking.

The mistake committed in the Sabah crisis is just a test of how far this government can handle expertise in diplomacy and geopolitics. The age old territorial disputes involving some royal families is smaller compared to another age old territorial disputes in the South China Sea with China. We hope that by this time, the present leadership has learned its lessons in dealing with such complicated issues as to finding a peaceful solutions to territorial rows.

Be wary of the lull before the storm that is brewing in the SCS. We might be caught unaware if any conflict will arise without firing a single shot from our neighbor.

Biological Weapons Vs. MAD

Biological Weapons Vs. MAD
by Erick San Juan


Who could have thought that pathogens (or germs) such as virus, fungus or bacterium can be used as weapons? Back when the time that experiments on pathogens are done to cure diseases brought about by disease-causing germs to save hundreds of thousands of both human and animal lives. Nobody knows that virus and bacteria can be a good weapon for depopulation. Now through advanced technology, the same pathogens are being experimented on against humanity. It seems that the agenda of the evil geniuses funded by the globalists will no longer need a nuclear war to wipe out the so-called ‘useless eaters’ of this planet. Biological weapons are the thing these days to eradicate a large number of the earth’s populace and avoid a mutually assured destruction (MAD) through a nuclear war.

From the paper written by Mark Wheelis and Malcolm Dando, New Technology and Future Developments in Biological Warfare states that “A number of European countries, as well as Japan, developed bioweapons during the 1930s and 1940s, fuelled in part by inflated intelligence estimates of the biological warfare capabilities of others.

Japan went on to use biological weapons extensively against China in the Second World War, causing substantial mortality. In the post-war period at least three countries the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union are known to have had large, ambitious programmes of biological weapons development.

The offensive programmes of the United States and the United Kingdom were discontinued in the 1960s; that of the Soviet Union lasted at least until its break-up. More recently, Iraq is known to have had a small, but mature, biological weapons programme. The facilities and munitions were largely destroyed by UNSCOM, but concerns about its resurgence in the absence of UN monitoring remain.”

But the question is, the line between offensive and defensive use of bio-weapons is hard to distinguish, most especially if the countries developing such weapons are doing it with utmost secrecy. Even the 1972 UN Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) which prohibits all offensive biological weapons research, production and stockpiling programs, has several weak points especially if the reasons of countries developing such research always hide in the guise of ‘for medical and/or other peaceful purposes’. Such practice and lame excuses hold true with the enrichment of uranium that may be interchange (wittingly or unwittingly) between nuclear arms to simple ‘for medical use’, all in the name of peace. Simply put, the convention does not protect against militarized biological and toxic weapons research, development and production. (Source: Biological Weapons: Bargaining With the Devil by H Patricia Hynes)

If ever, in the near future that countries will start developing bio-weapons for possible bio-war, a biological weapons arms race is not farfetched. Actually the extensive funding for such technology in the US prospered during the time of US President George Bush Jr., right after the September 11, 2001 terrorists attack on the World Trade Center. The possible attack of bio-terrorists was given top priority of the Bush era and his synthetic terrorism produced more laboratories through the big pharmaceutical companies engaged in the research and development of bio-weapons in extreme secrecy.

As Jackie Cabasso (Western States Legal Foundation) has put it - "With biological weapons, the line between offense and defense is exceedingly difficult to draw ... Secrecy is the greatest enemy of safety." Given the massive US bio-weapons research buildup, secrecy will raise the suspicion of other countries. "This bodes badly for the future of biological weapons control."

The scariest part of all is that biological weaponry involves the use of microscopic germs/pathogens that cannot be seen by the naked eyes, therefore any given population can be attacked and they will never know what hit them.

Some parts of the world has experienced this through disease like the SARS, swine and bird flu, the Ebola virus, etc. and quite obviously, they had targeted populous and developing (and underdeveloped) countries worldwide. And in order to cure these diseases, they have to buy vaccines (also from the same people who produced these viruses), and guess what, these same vaccines will produce other ailments instead of curing them.
                                            
Last week, there was a report by the ABS-CBN-Southern Tagalog  that a suspected 'Chikungunya' outbreak hits the coastal town of Batangas. More than 50 people were rushed to the hospitals and health centers. According to WHO (World Health Organization) Chikungunya is a mosquito borne viral disease first described during an outbreak in Southern Tanzania in Africa in 1952. It is characterized by an abrupt onset of fever frequently accompanied by joint pain, headache, nausea, fatigue and rash. WHO said there are NO specific drugs to cure the disease. In 2007, there was an outbreak in Europe especially in Northeastern Italy. Several other countries in South East Asia were now affected.
                                          
There is no escape except for more vigilance and concerted effort by patriotic people all over the world to stop it by exposing these globalists-funded R&D of pathogens that will produce bio-warfare for a possible bio-war.

Remember the myth of the flu virus that mutate and the vaccines? Beware!

Tit for Tat!

Tit for Tat! By Erick San Juan

Despite the death of 12 Filipinos and two Malaysians in Sabah, Malaysia, the Sultanate of Sulu refused to accept the announcements of both the Philippine and Malaysian government that the matter was over. “This issue is far from over. Sabah is ours,” said the sultanate’s spokesman, Abraham Idjarani… (Source: Manila Standard Today 3-1-2013)

The Sabah issue has gone too far as precious lives were taken, an incident that could have been avoided if only the present administration has listened to my warning.

Taken from my article - Choosing Which Side of History (April 25, 2012) that can be seen at ericksanjuan.blogspot.com : One perennial problem that has come to our attention as an observer of events unfolding in our country is the issue in Mindanao, particularly our relationship with Malaysia. The government should sit down with Kuala Lumpur and talk not only about the GRP and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) peace agreement but also the issue of the heirs of Kiram. This age old problem has created a rift between the Philippines and Malaysia and must be addressed as soon as possible.

Methinks that the underlying event that should have been prioritized before or parallel to the Bangsamoro peace framework agreement that was signed in October 2012 was the Sabah issue. This is the reason why I wrote the abovementioned article in April last year, I am not an expert but as I observe the confluence of events, the urgency to resolve the Sabah issue is much more important.

And now, the matter went out of hand and it blew right in front of us and the nagging question (as the title of Ellen Tordesillas' article) who is Aquino’s adviser on the Sabah issue?

This standoff came about because the heirs of the Sultan of Sulu decided to do it their way after Malacañang snubbed Kiram’s request for a meeting.

Aquino revealed this in his statement: “Let me say to Sultan Jamalul Kiram III: I have just been made aware that a letter to me, from you, was sent through OPAPP (Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process) in the very first weeks of my term, when we were organizing the government. Unfortunately, this letter was lost in the bureaucratic maze. Let me make it clear that there was no intention to ignore your letter. (Ibid)

The Kiram’s letter of request for a meeting with the President is important and urgent, so why the hell it got lost in the ‘bureaucratic maze’ at the OPAPP?

Same is true for the urgency of my advice to Malacañang last April 2012 that the Sabah issue must be resolved with extreme diplomacy because back then I have been getting feed-backs that there were already ‘personalities’ meddling on the matter that has made things more complicated. Could it be that such complication might have caused the recent conflict?  Just asking.
                                                                                
Sometimes it doesn't pay to ignore combatants like the MILF and the MNLF. It's a tit for tat. 'Great minds' among the advisers of the sultanate believed that if the MILF has the capacity for violence and will be granted an Islamic state, they can do better. Now that the Sultanate and other stakeholders felt that they are taken for granted, it's "show time" to occupy what they believe is their property. The mere fact that the Bangsamoro peace framework agreement is already an ongoing process, the speculations of some observers of a sabotage through the Sabah incident is possible. There are other speculations that can be half-truth but the truth of the matter is, bloodshed could have been avoided if PNoy and the people in his loop took heed of  my unsolicited advice.

The PNoy administration has been in the Palace for quite some time now and lame excuses are not acceptable especially when it comes to diplomacy in dealing with other government.

Another lesson learned? But for how long will the Filipinos’ patience and tolerance will last as the government solve issues perceive as based on trial and error?  Let us pray harder and help the present leadership before it will lead us to what the Rankopedia has predicted would happen. Hidden hands are moving quickly which could destroy both the Razak and Aquino administration if the situation will not be handled properly. God forbid!