The President’s fury at inept underlings made the evening news and was blogged extensively (one of the first to do so was Ang sa Wari Ko; while A Filipina Mom Blogger used it as a take off point for a discussion on stress management).
But it was Palace reporter Jove Francisco who put the exhibition of presidential temper in its proper context:
She’s naturally stern and “mataray” and I believe she’s been using this trait so that she’ll get things running and will make her officials more responsible and quick moving. Sabi nga nung sassy reporter di ba, being mataray isn’t really a bad thing.
But seeing her actions this noon.
The outburst?
The overflow of emotions?
I couldn’t help but compare it with past incidents.
Before, her taray ways surfaced for a reason, for an aim.
Today?
What happened, sadly, showed that she wasn’t able to control her emotions.
Sure, the outburst was borne out of frustration because of the inefficiency of her staff. (Pareho lang kapag pinapagalitan ang mga opisyales niya nuon di ba?)
BUT, it can’t be denied that this time, she looked like she was whining.
She knew that the media was there to see and cover the whole thing, but she continued with the histrionics. The drama escalated, it didn’t taper down.
She didn’t appear like she was in control.
I can even dare say that she appeared like she’s gone ROCK BOTTOM. (Just look at her resigned but angry look when she finally emerged to deliver her statement.)
And that is quite telling.
I agree with him. A president with a temper is nothing new, and it could even be argued that Filipino-style management seems to require a volcanic fury to get underlings to get things done. In itself, it is neither unpresidential or unseemly. She’s displayed her temper before. But what was different was that the President displayed a different kind of anger altogether.
Tempers are flaring. See The Geisha Diaries, and in Dumaguete, see village idiot savant. Though mercifully, the initial heat has given way to more sober reflection (see Techniquement, c’est art who responds to a previous entry of his).
One blogger, the cat is out, simply puts forward her grim personal experience in the past:
years back – as i kid i had witnessed and live through the horror of war in mindanao. i have been a refugee in my own country. not everyone is lucky enough to live through it . but there will always be the scar: physical and emotional that will keep on reminding me/us..of the pain we have suffered.
mindanao – the land of promise..or should i say broken promises..we are the bread basket of the phillipines, yet our people are hungry.. we are the only contiguous island the philippines has.. yet within, we are so divided in hearts and minds..year after year of conlficts have only produced military generals but not concrete resolutions to peace and development. not even a signed moa can end this violence i tell you..
i did not know how the war started back then…i do not know how it will end.
Today’s Inquirer editorial looks at the recent conduct of MILF troops and raises a question: if the violence in Mindanao was perpetrated by rogue or lost commands of the MILF, how, then, can it be deemed capable of administering the proposed BJE?
The editorial also points to this press statement by the MILF, while over at The PCIJ blog, Soliman Santos suggests the further radicalization of Moros if hostilities continue. He points to this commentary (“Reality Check” by Ibrahim Canana) that appeared on the MILF website (incidentally also validating my opinion concerning the importance of signing the agreement in the presence of representatives of foreign powers, including the OIC representative): it is a concise and lucid articulation of the Moro interpretation of their history and of the MILF position vis a vis the Philippine state. And it is uncompromising in its conclusion:
The political opposition to the MOA-AD that spurred the nationwide reaction against the MILF and the Bangsamoro people has dangerously transformed a peace process that is supposed to bring reconciliation to two peoples at war with each other into a grim scenario that allows no space for the Moros to have a breathing spell.
Through the MNLF, the Moros asked for a meaningful political autonomy in 1976. Instead they were granted a fake one by the GRP under the Marcos regime using the 1976 Tripoli Agreement which allowed constitutional processes to shortchange the Moros. In 1996, the Moros again under the MNLF demanded for meaningful political autonomy; and again what they were given in the so-called MNLF-GRP Final Peace Agreement (FPA) was the ARMM, which was created before the FPA and whose autonomy was clipped by the Philippine constitution. Inevitably, the ARMM ended up reduced to merely being an extension of the Office of the Philippine President. Later, it was even taken out of MNLF hands and became a political prize awarded to the Moro warlord most loyal and subservient to the sitting regime.
Now, under the MILF, the Moros want to recover whatever little is left of their ancestral domain and be given the chance to govern themselves as a sub-state entity within the larger Philippine nation-state. Peace on the basis of justice is about to be achieved under this formula. But even this does not sit well with the Filipino elite, the politicians, the Church and the Filipino colons in Mindanao. They have sabotaged the efforts of their own government. All, including those who claimed to be sympathetic to the plight of the Bangsamoro people like Senator Aquilino ‘Nene’ Pimentel, Jr., have ganged up against the Bangsamoro people to prevent them from even reclaiming areas which they now actually occupy and where they are the majority. The result: back to square one. Mindanao again is on the edge of an all-out war.The selfishness of the Filipino ruling elite in general and the Filipino politicians in particular is dumbfounding. Their lack of sense of justice is appalling. They and their drumbeaters in the Philippine media can lie through their teeth and still have a nice sleep at night. Imagine telling the public the fantastic spin that Malaysia is arming the MILF and the Americans are behind the Moros’ desire to be an “independent Islamic State”. Why, they can’t even make sense of their allegations and lies! You can never find any mention of an “independent Islamic state” in the MOA-AD even if the pages were turned upside down. To even say that the Americans are behind the attempt by the MILF to create a “Bangsamoro Islamic State” is absurd. What fantasy! What ignorance! Hollywood hogwash has taken grip of the Filipino mind that it no longer knows what is real and what is imaginary. No wonder why the Philippine nation-state is moribund.
No wonder why tens of thousands of Filipinos are leaving this country for good. Now I can better appreciate the context of what Ustadz Salamat Hashim, the late MILF Amir, said when he stated that we should not believe the Filipino unbelievers even when they say that the crow is black!
What needs to be stated here for the record is that we Moros are not inclined to abandon our homeland to these vultures. We will fight for it as our ancestors fought for it. The mestizo leftovers of the Spaniards such as the likes of Teddy Locsin and Lobregat, and Filipino colons in Mindanao like Piñol as well as their capitalist patrons ensconced in Makati can go hang themselves from nearest lamp post for all we care. The Moros will fight. MILF Base Commander Ustadz Amirul Ombra Cato will not be alone. A war in Mindanao will drag down this pathetic, artificial country and its government to perdition. Perhaps this time we will no longer settle for a sub-state or a federative arrangement with the Filipinos. It’s useless anyway because they would never grant it. They would always insist this is ‘secession’ even if we do not have the intention to secede. So let’s give them a dose of their own medicine. Let’s aim for independence this time. For real. Like what the Algerians did when their clamor for autonomous rule was repeatedly and violently denied by the French colons. Given the Filipinos’ hostile attitude to anything Moro and Muslim, there is no other option left. This is now the reality facing us.
The mention of Algeria is signficant. It had been considered an integral part of France; de Gaulle, faced with a nationalist uprising, decided to abandon the French settlers and recognize Algeria’s independence; at one point, the French armed forces tried to mount a coup against de Gaulle. Yet independence hasn’t prevented the rise of Islamic extremism in Algeria. The problem is Arroyo is no de Gaulle.
The frustration of the writer quoted above with suggestions the Americans are in league with the MILF (or that the MILF is being armed by the Malaysians, when obviously political and even financial support is plenty of help and there are many AFP members willing to sell arms to the MILF anyway) isn’t about to change the mind of say, Tony Abaya (who says it boils down to the MILF being, in American eyes, more dependable than Christian leaders) or blogger Philippine Politics 04.
And the thing is, if one presents a narrative, even a counter-narrative, it will never end (if Moros can assert they achieved a “higher plane” of political existence with the sultanates, then by any measure a republic trumps any hereditary principality in terms of political evolution) and be trumped, always by what wars always end up being about: real estate.
In his column today, Manuel Buencamino points to the problem on focusing too much on the past as a justification for the present:
Why did the Arroyo administration agree to the MILF’s self-serving historical timeline?
Islam is no more indigenous than Christianity. The Spaniards were not our first colonizers. Luwaran, the MILF web site, does not deny that Moros are products of an earlier colonization:
“Ameen [secretary general of the MILF Central Committee] recalled that the history of the Moros and IPs [indigenous peoples] is one and inseparable, but noted that the former were always the ‘bigger brother’ while the latter [was] the ‘younger brother.’ ” Moros “have developed a higher plane of political existence” than lumads because they converted to Islam and adopted the sultanate system.
In that same Sona, Gloria Arroyo lamented that although Mindanao was a food basket, “it has some of the highest hunger in our nation.” For this sad state of affairs, she blamed “the endless Mindanao conflict.” Her solution to ending the endless conflict was to capitulate to the MILF.
Arroyo knows the BJE does not fit into the 1987 Constitution, so she asked Congress “to act on the legislative and political reforms that will lead to a just and lasting peace during our term of office.”
Unfortunately, a “just and lasting peace” through a refitting of the BJE into our Constitution won’t be possible during or after her term of office.
There will be conflicts between the lumads and the MILF, between Christians and the MILF, between Manila and the MILF over jurisdiction, ownership of lands, mineral rights, natural resources and a host of other irritants that come from drawing lines on a map without regard for its inhabitants.
There will be power struggles among self-appointed Moro leaders – the Maranao-dominated MILF, the Tausog-dominated MNLF and the traditional politicians of Mindanao – over control of the BJE.
“Better talk than fight, if nothing of sovereign value is anyway lost,” counseled Gloria Arroyo in her Sona.
Unfortunately, talking nonsense will lead to loss not only of sovereign value but also, and more important, of property. And for that, most people will fight to the death.
For the Christian (Ilonggo) side, HabagatCentral Republic offers up a personal reflection buttressing Buencamino’s insight:
There were cases of outright land grabbing from the ancestral domains of the Moros and Lumads who were then ignorant about the Western concept of “private property” as the lands were considered “communal” and for all people to share. Land grabbing that lead to land conflicts. Land conflicts that lead to bloodshed, my grandfather himself was a victim of this trechery.
I have relatives in Mindanao who have hated the Moros. They are backward, backstabbers and barbarian. Di daw dapat sila pagkakatiwalaan. Di ko rin sila masisisi. They’ve seen their love ones slaughtered by the Moro raids of the towns especially during the 1970’s. The very foundation of Ilaga, a vigilante group composed of mostly Kristyanos and some Lumads, was borne out of reaction against the Moros. They sow terrorism in the hearts of the Moros as they kill them with reported cannibal activities. As a reaction, the Moros established their own vigilante group known as the Blackshirts/Barracudas. So the question, is terrorism a Moro problem?
MNLF/MILF & AFP has instigated a somewhat revolutionary violence. The former is for the seperation of the Mindanao that they claim is rightfully theirs, and I understand them. They weren’t subjugated by the Spaniards and was never converted to Christianity as what they define as “Filipino.” They are fiercely independent and will fight for what is right. The latter on the other hand defends the Philippines and its sovereignity. Their causes are noble yet the effects to ordinary civilians were catastrophic. Casualties have reached over a hundred thousand for years of war with each other in Mindanao. No matter how noble their causes are, it is still somewhat politically-culturaly motivated. In the end, the civilians still suffer.
In my opinion, I would still uphold MILF as a revolutionary movement still. Abu Sayyaff on the other hand is just pure banditry using Islam as an excuse to their savagery. The latter in my belief is the salot. The former on the other hand has still a handful of options to sit and talk what is necessary. For the betterment of their own peoples.
Ewan ko lang pero parang hindi ko maiwasan na ibuntong ang sisi sa Pamahalaang Arroyo sa mga pangyayaring ito ngayon na muling gumigimbala sa kapayapaan ng Mindanao at Pilipinas. I went there several years ago and I was seeing optimism that finally, Mindanao can move on towards peace and progress. That the government is seating alongside with the rebels. But because of the sudden declaration of the signing of the Memo of Agreement for the Bangsamoro Judirical Entity, Mindanao was thrown into state of panic, may it be the Kristyanos, the Moros and even the Lumads.
I’ve restrained myself from looking into other blogs of the Kristyanos and even of the Moros… Its really frustrating. Parang sumulpot muli ang inate hatred towards each other. I got frustrated with this notion but I couldn’t blame them why. I understand them. But is violence or war really the solution to ever-lasting peace in this island or in this country? Care to look at Palestine perhaps? You may have crushed the rebels but you haven’t ceased yet the root of struggle. Hanggang dahon at sanga lang… pero yung ugat di pa napapatay. Purging Moro ideals to the point of genocide is of murder, that is outright savagery! So what do we do then? How can we help to stop the vicious cycle.
I was thinking then that this animosity of ours will be brought towards the end of human civilization.
Ano kaya ang tamang solusyon sa Mindanao/Bangsamoro Problem? Ridu rin ba kaya o ubusan ng lahi?
As far as making sense of events, As blogger smoke asks what many are asking: was the President even thinking?
The thing is this – the President’s men (and therefore the President herself) dangled the idea of the BJE in front of the bandits and sold themselves on the idea that it would work. This played them right into the bandit’s hands: by putting all their eggs in the BJE basket, the President’s men gave the bandits the opportunity to set up an ultimatum – give us the BJE or we start shooting again.
When the BJE was scuttled the bandits got their casus belli. Now admittedly its a flimsy rationale for the resumption of hostilities, but it is just solid enough to rile up the cannon-fodder and convince them that they’ve been shafted and therefore need to avenge their slighted pride. It’s Moro psychology 101, if anyone had bothered to check.
And that’s the point: the Commander-in-Chief is supposed to be able to take in the whole picture; to understand how various factors all contribute to the outcome. In this case, because the President’s men were allowed – perhaps even encouraged – to formulate a do-or-die solution, it is clear that there were critical factors that were ignored, not the least of which is the very well known tendency of Moros to exaggerate insults to their pride.
In hostage negotiation, one of the most basic lessons is to never say no to the hostage taker. But then again, this also covers situations where saying ‘yes’ sets you up to say ‘no’ later. Let me clarify: by saying yes to the idea of a BJE, the President’s men were committing to an outcome that was not in their control. It was stupid for them to imagine that the BJE would slip through unnoticed. More to the point, the President’s men simply failed to anticipate a negative outcome, i.e., the BJE would be challenged and stopped. So, by saying yes, to the BJE, they were blindly rushing into a future where – when the Supreme Court invalidates the MOA for instance – they would have no choice but to say no to the BJE. And there you go, they said NO to the hostage taker.
This turn of events led the hostage taker – the bandits – to now feel backed into a corner. The only way out of that corner would have been a MOA for the BJE. But with no MOA forthcoming, and the additional insult of the ARMM elections being conducted, the bandits embraced the belief that there would be no other solution than to come out with their guns blazing. No solutions. War.
But using Occam’s razon, blogger Tongue In, Anew returns to the blogosphere and puts forward this thought-provoking analysis of the situation: it was all, and remains, simple, really. According to the blogger (who, while anonymous, has had very interesting entries in the past, suggesting an individual who is plugged-in), it’s all a charade:
Assperon’s appointment to the Peace portfolio was suspect way back… Not to mention the Ass was then joiningGen. Boogie Mendoza, a former Razon protege, and an “acclaimed anti-terrorist expert”…
On the other side of the fence, a separatist front of freedom fighters on Mondays, Abu Sayyaf kidnappers on Tuesdays, Jemaah Islamiya trainees on Wednesdays, lost command on Thursdays, devout Muslims on Fridays, and plain farmers and merchants on weekends. Overseen by their provisions suppliers from Malaysia.
Now what do we have? A highly volatile cocktail made up of an administration struggling for perpetual survival, high-profile GWOT freaks looking for an opportunity to expand their military control and a wayward army of bandits all of them intelligent enough to know that peace was doomed in the first place but insist that they might just be able to pull it through.
No, Gloria didn’t plan to dismember the country via the MOA-AD, she knows it’s unconstitutional, luckily, the legit opposition saw through her, she even had to use her allies to petition for a TRO which her SC appointees readily obliged to. She was expecting widespread retaliation but the MILF hierarchy surprisingly held back, her emergency rule cannot be imposed! No martial law, no chacha either. Doom! The Ass’ loyal generals immediately had to scramble for the “Lost Commanders” Kato and Bravo who have been burning villages left and right in the past yet no sincere effort to bring them to justice was ever taken (You now have an idea why Kabalu insists these commanders were not ordered by MILF to do so). They needed them to jump start this stage of the war to put Plan B into action. Funny but Eid Kabalu hasn’t announced an all-out offensive yet. Nor has Puno and Teodoro. Who wants to really finish the war after all? Even Misuari’s MNLF are now wearing their old uniforms to defend their own territory. Against whom? The gov’t? MILF? Or the Lost Command?
Gloria’s “Defend every inch of the territory” spiel was predictably looking for just the right moment to be announced so she blew her top after finding out her staff had not even prepared the teleprompter.
This view puts forward the possibility that the administration wanted to maneuver the country into a situation permitting a state of emergency, while others in the military hierarchy quite possibly, refrained from cooperating fully, and the MILF command declined to do the government any favors. Offering a reward, accompanied by statements that only individuals, and not the entire MILF movement, will be deemed outlaws, provides an opening for tensions to subside. And all the while, the jitters continue. Blogging from Iligan City, preMEDitated recounted, yesterday:
Panic struck the city center earlier this night. People flocked to the City Hall for protection by military forces stationed there. Text messages soon followed warning of imminent MILF attacks.
Much of the rest of the populace is now in anticipatory mood.
General Luna of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has issued his statement for the populace to remain calm and to trust in them. He has also appealed to the citizens not to forward these messages as they only bring more harm than good.PS I just heard this piece of news. It seems that this incident was sparked by a drunk who shouted,”M-I*.”
*A word used around here for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) terrorists.
See also My Life, also writing on Tuesday:
Early tonight many people got panic because of that rumors that there were sightings of MILF in Iligan City. My family and neighbors freak out because they said that MILF are already in the near barangay Abuno and a lot of jeepneys from the City went back when they reached Tubod Bridge, going to south because they said that MILF is on the way. Many people were on the city streets because they wanted to evacuate. And this is confirm as a false alarm by our city mayor Lawrence Lluch Cruz, that is was just the soldiers that was seen and they thought that they are MILF. He said that there are many soldiers around the city that some mistaken them as MILF already maybe its because of the happenings in Lanao del Norte. He just stated on a news break at ABS – CBN that Iligan City is still safe from MILF and asking those who left their homes to go back already. I hope all this conflict will stop soon.
From Dipolog City, jOnAviE’s Site writes (today),
M.I.L.F or Moro Islamic Liberation Front is on war against Arm Forces of Philippines..As a girl who lives Mindanao (a place where there are many Muslim, but I am not one of them) it’s usual to hear news that Mindanao was that, was this, but you know August 2008 War was the only war that makes my province Zamboanga del Norte and my City, Dipolog to be afraid… Afraid because the whole Mindanao was really involve, the MILF want all the regions in Mindanao to be included in MOA or ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) to expand their teritory… Everybody was really panicking.. Even in my city, we receive Bomb Treats and War Rumors, and what did we did..? We packed up our things then really really get ready for what would happen. Last night we sleep at 1 a.m. because of it..
Returning to Tongue in Anew’s suggestion that the Palace was operating on simple assumptions -that it’s hands would be tied by predictable behavior on the part of the opposition and the MILF, which didn’t pan out as the former was caught napping and the latter more subtle and cunning than expected.
So it strikes me as possible there was a clumsy effort to promote war jitters to try to get the country to rally around the President: because it explains why the Palace proved so tolerant of the demagoguery of Pinol, etc. who, considering the administration’s intolerance for dissent, could easily have been slapped down, taken aside, or simply bribed to pipe down at a delicate time when the administration was claiming to be seriously behind the RP-MILF agreement.
What complicates the situation is that the public, unaware of the plots-within-plots on both sides, or the factions that exist within the ranks of the leadership of both sides, or that the leaders either do not believe their own propaganda, or worse, believe it- has its passions inflamed by the increasingly martial rhetoric of leaders who know the game of posturing quite well and who can therefore discount it.
Certainly this seems too quick a surrender: MOA deal off, SolGen tells high tribunal.
And it may be that this time, the MILF leadership, beholden to Malaysia, etc., is being more responsible and trying to defuse the situation while saber-rattling, than the government: we forget that the MILF command had a choice to fully endorse the attacks but it did not, equivocating its official response might have been (but even equivocation is understandable in terms of the factional dynamics of any revolutionary organization). And other groups are trying to restore the momentum to reestablish at least the semblance of a brittle peace.
At the heart of these efforts are three simple ideas:
1. That if one side will insist that it is negotiating sincerely for peace, there must be a corresponding assumption the other side is also negotiating sincerely. That furthermore, national interests aside, it is in the regional interest of foreign countries to help foster peace in Mindanao.
2. That all lose when fighting resumes and all sides gain so long as discussions are ongoing, which provides a venue for differences to be threshed out, compromises arrived at, and a consensus reached.
3. That both sides have extremists who not only do not represent the majority view, but who have also figured out how their constituencies can be agitated by withholding information and an overall lack of confidence in the authorities.
As Earthly Explorations puts it (who is not for a separate Moro homeland),
The government is trying to make it appear as it was the Moro rebels fault that they hit the first strike but if you hear other sources especially the locals they were just protecting their properties. Who was taking what from whom? Or someone is maneuvering into something to make it appear as a religious war diverting the people’s attention?
Mon Casiple warned of the administration “playing the emergency card”:
The scenario is one where a justification for a state of emergency happens. Violent incidents increasingly happen and spread. The AFP is increasingly forced to defend towns and villages. The MILF, in turn, increasingly turn to its own offensives in order to defend Moro communities. In no time at all, we are into a deepened conflict until the military is convinced to agree to a declaration of a state of emergency.
For a national state of emergency to happen, there has to be demonstrated to exist a credible threat to the national seat of power in the National Capital Region, a nationwide state of war or terror, or attacks on national political leaders. The level of the resurgent conflict in Mindanao — even if it spreads to other areas in Mindanao — cannot yet justify this drastic option.
However, the next days or weeks bear watching because of the political scenario of charter change that requires neutralizing the opposition and terrorizing the people. With the recent show of widespread opposition to Malacañang’s charter change plans, only the emergency card is left to play.
Let us hope that desperate people do not cross the line of sanity.
Beyond hoping, this is a time to add your voice, not in endorsement of one particular proposal or another, but to voices opposed to conflict. Charo Logarta, a military wife, puts it this way:
Whatever it is, there’s gotta be a better option to this. The majority must be allowed peace and harmony. We have to end decades of strife and conflict. We, the majority, deserve better. Military wives and kids do not have to endure loss. Soldiers don’t have to die for causes that don’t even matter to many average Filipinos who simply want a better life.
Just think how optimistic most people were in Mindanao a year ago. And how, now, plans involving Mindanao are all on hold. See Stacy Nelson.
What is Loyalty without Integrity?
grd,
TY for your reply. I suppose Davao is fortunate to be without MILF infiltration.
But just the same, be safe and keep us informed.
Pagkahaba haba man yang report ni Zachary Abuza, puro naman fire-fighting methods at definition of terms.
walang root cause analysis.
typical of the rah-rah boys on the war on terrah…interventionist ek-ek that works selectively an ineffectively (as in Georgia…asan na si Dubya with his standing shoulder to shoulder with his Harvard boy Saakashvili…pfft.)
anthony diamos,
it’s not only US hypocrisy… European Unions as well… Hypocrisy will not apply to governance or policies. In management, it is a strategy….
“The complicity of the European Union in the secret CIA flights and disappearances”
According to the report, the CIA airplanes, which illegally carried people suspected of links to terrorism to torture centers in Guantanamo, Africa and Europe, made at least 1,245 stopovers in European airports. No government was unaware of the criminal character of these secret flights. Some countriesâ€â€including EU members Poland and Romaniaâ€â€have even opened torture centers in their territories on behalf of U.S. executioners. Others such as Britain, Austria, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Denmark, Spain andâ€â€irony of the fates!â€â€Italy and Swedenâ€â€participated in the kidnapping of suspects in their territories..
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=5639
In the Philippines…. Commission on Human rights is an independent investigative body that must have its policies and regulations implemented to the advantage and protection of human rights. Although , it may abide the rules of international law but it has also the capacity to recommend and present such justice.
Jaxius,
BTW, you talk of police action when the whole military have been mobilized : air force, marines, navy. Nowhere do you hear the PNP except for providing shotguns to the militias.
Yes, I’m your five-star online war freak.
PSI,Jaxius
War or police action.
nang inembento yang PNP law inaalis ang counter insurgency sa AFP at binigay sa PNP.tapos wa epek.
the iSO or internal security operations went back to AFP.
Jaxius please clarify on police action; is it simply the counter insurgency measures done by the AFP?
That is the way I understand it
MR. Daimos
The framework for the war on terror was partly credited to the current US ambassador to the UN,.Zalmay Khalilzad.
Before,he was an OIL man from UNOCAL asssigned in the middle east ans south ASIA, where he was declared that the Taliban are peaceful people.(how correct)he even escorted a group of them to the US for talks.
then from an oil man he suddenly became a strategist, he worked for Wolfowitz for quite some time.
While he was out of government, he worked for RAND.
he edited a trilogy compiled from all the military analysts around (after the cold war); the triliogy was acalled Strategic Appraisal it was intended for Project AirForce.
After that he became ambassador to Afghanistan,then the amabssador of Iraq replacing Negroponte.
Then suddenly Bush suddenly revamped his Security Team, he got “demoted” to the UN.
His critics has a cartoonish label for him. US domination or nothing.
pS
paki summarize nga yung pinost mo kanina,title lang ang binasa ko eh.
What we have here is the proverbial “blind men asked what an elephant looks like,” of course it will depend on which part each blind man is holding at the time.
To Jaxius, Arroyo, and Teodoro, its a police action.
To the soldiers (even PNP) who are actually fighting it out with the MILF, its “GUBAT NA NI BAY” or giyera in the local dialect. This is true especially with the people running for for their lives, diving for cover, dodging bullets, carrying the wounded, carrying children, old people, away from the battleground or “police action area off limits.”
Its easy for use to trivialize when we are not directly affected by it.
But are we more interested in sounding more “politically correct?” Obviously, whatever we say, or type here, will not have any impact on the situation now in Mindanao. The forces at play here are beyond even our powers of speed browsing…but we are not totally helpless?
I appeal to everyones’ creativity and initiative – do whatever you can.
KG,
Please read.
I am not a fan of the US, though it was nice being a temporary guest there. I just posted that literature which was directly lifted from “Homeland Security” by the way to show that there are forces at play here that are too big for us, too out of our league.
Bottomline, we will only have each other…
I am a Filipino and always will be…
From one of the gurus of U.S. hegemony. (euphemism for imperialism which is not a 21st century politicalspeak.)
I am more convinced that the Philippines should move to a more nuanced form of representative government where popular elections are no longer practiced. Only people of means that means voters must have means to qualify to participate in politics. Since the Philippines is more run by the competition between families rather than anything else. A feudal form of representative government. Let the likes of Danding compete with the likes of Lucio Tan, Gonkongwei, Lopez, Abotiz, Razon and other families for political power. Get them out of the shadows and backrooms into the light of day. Allow the agents of the foreign corporations also space in the competition. The Philippine military are divided also by loyalties to the moneyed classes. They essentially run the country anyway.
Look at the mess in the CA… look at the whole issue of family connections between the judiciary, corporations and GOCC’s. Letting these guys compete for political power in the open would be better than this present form of popular suffrage for all.
Bottom line is this is about the survival of the most important race on the planet – the human race.
There is no such thing as national interest in the pinoy consciousness. Revert to the reality.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/22/AR2008082202395.html?hpid%3Dopinionsbox1&sub=AR
“We should also not let the speculations about an authoritarian resurgence distract us from a critical issue that will truly shape the next era in world politics: whether gains in economic productivity will keep up with global demand for such basic commodities as oil, food and water. If they do not, we will enter a much more zero-sum, Malthusian world in which one country’s gain will be another country’s loss. A peaceful, democratic global order will be much more difficult to achieve under these circumstances: Growth will depend more on raw power and accidents of geography than on good institutions. And rising global inflation suggests that we have already moved a good way toward such a world.”
“The totalitarian dictatorships of the 20th century induced us to draw a sharp distinction between democratic and authoritarian states, a habit of mind that is still with us. But democracies don’t automatically all have the same interests (just look at the clashing U.S. and European views on Iraq), and neither do autocracies. Nor does the fact that a country is authoritarian determine the way it will behave internationally. We need a much more nuanced conceptual framework for understanding the non-democratic world if we are not to become prisoners of an imagined past. And we shouldn’t get excessively discouraged about the strength of our own ideas, even in a “post-American” world. ” Francis Fukuyama
Anthony Scalia,
I was out of my mother’s house by age 17, put myself through school and eventually bought her a house. You were out of college say 23, and still you’re in her house, aminin…
Do not be afraid of tenors, are you castratti?
I just came in defence of my good friend Jove who’s just doing his job, and doing it well at that.
elen who?
In short and simple language (as we say here in the south) – PAKENSHIT!!!
Anthony Daimos,
If that is the case,then I agree!(di naman nila ikikaila eh,look at the map posted by Manolo in the previous blog re;Map of realm of US influence(?) crafted by the homeland security.
even with the 8 blindmen and the elephant, i agree.
I was referring to Thomas Barnett’s :Pentagon’s new strategy for the gwot.
sorry taga DOD pala sya, not homeland security.
http://www.thomaspmbarnett.com/images/pentagons_new_map.jpg
found in this blog:
https://www.quezon.ph/1955/greater-malaysia/
http://blogs.inquirer.net/current/2008/08/15/greater-malaysia/
Pampangueno,
“Nice work, on your gay-baiting diatribes – trying to lump me with homosexuals like it would be an insult if I were, like it’s a disease or something. You’re conveniently forgetting that your idol Manolo is gay. Imagine how he feels right now reading you’re homophobic comments”
Sweetie, you misunderstood me. I was not gay baiting. I was trying to open your closet door. Come out, it’s okay. Manolo did and he’s okay.
If you come out of the closet, I promise my opinion of you won’t change. I’ll still see you as an idiot, gay or otherwise.
J :
“Uh, you do know that other stations have an earlier newscast than tv5 right? So the point being, regardless of how much Jove wanted to air his story first, he’ll never be able to do so since their news is at 10:30pm. Get your mind out of the gutter and review your statements because you are starting to lose all sense in what you’re saying.”
my goodness iho. the event that was captured by that clip took place a few hours earlier, and the earliest that clip can be reported/aired is the 10:30 pm news!
so your statement
“Get your mind out of the gutter and review your statements because you are starting to lose all sense in what you’re saying”
is really for you!!!
“Obviously you’re not in media. If you are, you probably don’t deserve to be there”
oh my goodness. with the current state of Pinoy media, I would even pay not to be there!!!!!!
“I was talking about whatever the public thinks of a story, you can never generalize. Try reading and understanding the post.”
My whole point was – where was Jove’s self restraint? Take note, you’re the one reacting.
“First to air it? Tapos ang tinitira mo si Jove from tv5? Hahaha. If you have so little faith in journalists…”
nakupo! you have!!!????!!!
“why bother argue? If you’re losing sleep over this, then go and make a “Jove Resign!†poster and do a rally in front of their station. Sheeesh.”
noted. sheeesh
“Yes, it would have been different, but she was taping a statement to the public. The only difference is that it was not made live. If you’re thinking this is an issue of personal space…this isn’t like the media not allowed to go into FG’s room in St. Luke’s. The president was there on official business, thus, the reporters and their teams did their jobs.”
noted
“You know, if you were a palace official, you could’ve used her anger for her benefit.”
speculation. I won’t
“Strategic lang na angulo and it would seem that the president was that passionate and concerned about what’s happening in Mindanao. Being overzealous in shooting reporters down with doing their jobs won’t get you anywhere.”
yikes! reporting that clip is “doing their jobs”????? no wonder Pinoy media is in a very sorry state
“I applaud those teams who were still at the president’s face amidst her wrath. Imagine if journalists/reporters simply cowered and played it safe.”
noted
“Justice Scalia drinks frappucino while lecturing on journalism ethics?”
tsk tsk tsk tsk poor soul
“Wala bang BBC sa lugar mo?”
Wait, here somewhere near Corpus Christi College………yes! There is! Meron po!
“This sort of footage will be all over the British media if it happened to their PM.”
too bad for you it has yet to happen
“I guess the Brits are just as unethical as Jove”
wait till it happens first, my friend
Eh ikaw ata ang di nanunuod ng BBC! Hilig mong mag-speculate!
sablay ka talaga!
*** “Hari ng Sablay” plays in the background ***
manuelbuencamino,
“Agree?”
spin a win!
Zulu88,
“I was out of my mother’s house by age 17…”
bakeet?
“…put myself through school…”
hats off to you
“…and eventually bought her a house.”
same
“You were out of college say 23, and still you’re in her house, aminin…”
we don’t have the same mother, so I was never in her house
pero wait, i can be in a different house and we can still have the same mother……
how did you know i was out of college by 23?
let me guess, you have yet to enter college
“Do not be afraid of tenors, are you castratti?”
no. why are you looking for someone to be like you?
“I just came in defence of my good friend Jove who’s just doing his job, and doing it well at that.”
oh no!!!!??? thats ‘doing his job’ and ‘doing it well at that’? ill say it again – no wonder Pinoy media is in a very sorry state
“elen who?”
to all bloggers here: hey people!!!! di nya kilala si elen!!!!!!
ha ha!!! either you came from the past or from another dimension!
“In short and simple language (as we say here in the south) – PAKENSHIT!!! ”
I know you hate yourself and you have a constitutional right of free speech, but why do you have to announce to the whole world how you describe yourself?
kaibigan mo nga so Jove!!!!
UP n student,
“So will TNT do a Ninoy on Jove and start selling tShirts? I’ll donate the expression By Jove, I got it!!! to the business-idea.”
Bilis!!!! Apply for a trademark on “By Jove I got it!”!!!!
“I noticed some of you are experiencing the same thing. Calm down, its not that you’re directly affected, …” – anthony diamos2
Good advice. But do you even live in the Philippines right now? Because if you don’t, then don’t be calming us down. It’s nice to be observing from afar, California or New York, is it?
People in thecountry have been hit lately with strong typhoons,oil price spike, rice shortage, etc. And with this MILF trouble makers, you can’t blame the people for being sore.
anthony diamos2 ,
No problem, man!
Its really that you can’t also blame people from feeling frustrated. I live and work in Manila but we feel the effects of the Mindanao war.
The moon may bring a temporary stop to the fighting in Mindanao. Ramadan 2008 starts 1-Sep-08 and lasts 30 days to 30-Sep-08.
[Ramadan 2007 was 13-Sep-07 to 12-Oct-07.]
atty jcc, I understand that but I was referring not just on your aug 22 8:04pm post but also your aug 20 9:11pm post to pampagueno, clearly you’re not talking about the past here.
you lumped those 3 regimes together w/ those terrorist groups which is quite unjust. it cannot be denied there’s discrimination against non-muslims in those countries but to generalize that their govts condone the killings, pardon me but I think that’s bordering to bigotry. your other links about christian persecutions could be considered as hearsay coming from such an organization and in the absence of any collaborated reports from a reliable and reputed source about those stories. someone unbiased would readily say it’s a black propaganda specially that story of the saudi woman converting to christianity after reading about Jesus in the internet. it’s an incredible story.
UPn,
I have no reason to doubt about the truthfulness of the report in the links you provided, but I did not read anything mentioning those planned executions were due to any religious persecution. in fact, most of the people mentioned are muslims. the death penalty in Saudi Arabia only means 1 thing. those people killed somebody (including those filipinos). the country’s law is clear on that whether you’re a saudi, a muslim or non-muslim. you kill someone then you die too. unless the family member (usually the son or daughter(?) at a certain age) of the deceased pardons the offender. and if you’re talking about torture due to flogging. well that’s part of their laws also. nothing we can do about it. but even the american govt employs torture re guantanamo.
here’s the interesting part, did you know that in Saudi Arabia. there is this Saudi Aramco Residential Camp which is home to Saudi Aramco American employees and other nationals? inside the camp, the people’s movement are not restricted. they can do basically anything they like and they’re not subjected to Saudi basic laws (of course other than murder)? the people attend to mass, the women can wear anything, they can drive, people can eat pork and drink alcohol as well. how did the bloody americans manage to do that?… in Saudi Arabia!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Aramco_Residential_Camp_in_Dhahran
to grd: I suppose you find it something that other countries should copy, but I don’t think Saudi Arabia will be happy if Japan or Thailand were to make it a law where Muslims have to go ……. inside the camp…. in order for them to listen to their imams.
Different folks…… different strokes.
to grd: I am arriving at the conclusion that you will ignore evidences that I consider of value. To me, what you just described is indicative of state-sponsored religious persecution —- a government and a culture where those of a different religion have to go “…. inside a camp…” to practice their faith.
grd,
if you consider some info i have gathered online are propaganda, i am just wondering whether your info that christians are not being persecuted in muslim countries could be the propaganda of the other side also.
if you consider also that some muslims have the unabashed desire to convert the entire world to islam and consider other faiths inconsequential, it is easy to understand the info that they can persecute christians, whether on official basis or by tacit approval from their “imams”.
Upn,
of value in what sense? those evidences you’ve given you didn’t even know the reasons why those people are facing the death sentence. saudi just like singapore and other states uses capital punishment for the crime of murder (of course only when the offender is convicted by the court). even in the phils we still have capital punishment under our justice system and I am aware also that some states in the USA still employ capital punishment, right? I just read lately g. w. bush upheld the death sentence of one convicted crime offender, a military man.
as for your August 23rd, 2008 at 10:23 am link, I’ll give you the detail of one familiar case I know. that canadian Kohail who’s been sentence to death, he is a muslim. a canadian immigrant of palestinian descent. he and his friends came to the aide of his younger brother who was involved in a school brawl resulting to the stabbing and killing of one syrian student also a muslim. he’s younger brother (18 years old now) being a minor, was initially sentence to 1 year in jail plus flogging in public. but lately, the court reversed it’s previous decision and ordered a retrial of the case. this time he will be tried as an adult and may face the death sentence also. the death sentence of the older brother just like the others including our countrymen are still on appeal.
as for that Aramco camp, I don’t consider it a state-sponsored religious persecution. it’s preferential treatment given to Aramco’s american employees being not subjected to saudi laws. why other expatriates are not given the same privileges? those amaricans and other nationals are not being forced to stay inside that “aquarium†(as anthony diamos described it). as far as I know, they went there on their own free will.
jcc, upn,
I can also give you a lot of “evidences†or links on-line wherein muslims around the world are being religiously persecuted with “tacit†approval by the state. infact, those stories will surely outnumber those given by jcc. even in the USA after 9/11, you read a lot of stories about state-sponsored muslim persecution. are those info just propaganda of the other side?
my point is, let’s not view it only on our side, theâ€Âfree worldâ€Â, and make such outright conclusions. try to see their side also, consider those factors why they don’t want to convert or resisting pressure from the “free world†(although they are slowly loosening up). but while there are bigots on their side, we cannot proudly say there’s none on our side.
anthony, did you ask your uncle why he preferred living in that aquarium? was it a bad experience for him?
Ninoy Aquino begat hope and courage. Hope and courage begat EDSA 1. EDSA 1 begat Cory, FVR, ERAP and EDSA 2. EDSA 2 begat Gloria. Gloria begat unprecedented corruption and poverty, then a MOA that led to war: Filipinos against Filipinos. The combination of these events begat the loss of Ninoy’s legacy.
The absence of his legacy begat poverty in mind and spirit as well. We dare not move against Gloria because of fear, not for life and limb, but for the uncertain scenario of an early PGMA exit. Even 2010 is viewed with much skepticism. Embedded in our hearts are the lessons of experience: no change in leadership ever brought any relief.
Senator Nene Pimentel correctly diagnosed the problem: too much wealth and power in the Presidency or Imperial Manila. Unfortunately the prescription he gave is seriously flawed. Federalism won’t solve the problem. It will only aggravate it. He is just complicating a simple solution: decentralization through legislation. This is allowed by the present Constitution.
Clip the powers of the presidency; distribute it to the local government units. This is the good Senator’s forte. He must have overlooked it in his haste to post another date in history: from the father of local autonomy to the champion of federalism! Unfortunately, it promises to be his undoing. Cha-cha is dead for now. And even if it reaches a plebiscite, a provision adding more people to the unpopular bodies would spell its doom. People would rather vote for the abolition of one of the two Chambers, or both!
Fortunately, it is not too late for Mr. Local Autonomy to be true to himself. Instead of gunning for federalism he may rally the local government officials to persuade Congress to approve a legislation that incorporates his 20/80 formula in an invigorated Local Government Code. Who knows that, under intense pressure, its members might even come to their senses, get real and go for impeachment instead?
UPn,
are you familiar with the story of dr. afia saddiqui or prisoner no. 650? how is her story fared with the link you gave me?
http://www.amperspective.com/html/dr__afia_siddiqui.html
The twisted story of Dr. Afia’s arrest is one of the strangest since the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Pakistan’s leading newspaper The Nation may be right when it says: “If a PhD from Brandeis (Harvard) in behavioral neuroscience needs to keep documents in front of her to make explosives, it must be a very poor standard of education. And if GIs can pass on guns to ‘dangerous criminals’ in custody, the superpower needs to have better trained, tougher soldiers to keep its global overlordship. It seems secret agents everywhere are adept at fabricating charges that cannot bear scrutiny.â€Â
It will not be too much to say that the insinuation, that she had been hiding herself since 2003, is a travesty of the truth and an affront to people’s common sense. Dr Aafia’s case is a reminder of the grave injustice done to many people in the US detention facilities in Bagram in Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and elsewhere.
great US justice system. state sponsored terr…
anthony,
i think the moslems when they are in another country, they follow the rules of that country as well. it’s simple really, quoting what St. Ambrose said:
Who is Soliman Santos? A peace advocate?
He wrote the moros sentiments well, and it showed that he is disparate.
It is tempting to engage, but then from morophobic the discussion turned to homophobic, but it somehow regained posture as it became academic.
It is engaging, just thesame.
a more meaningful discussion is the role of mothers, non muslim or muslim women to children of torn mindanao…
“Teaching Tolerance in Mindanao
In deeply rooted conflicts like that in Mindanao, there are few role models for religious tolerance among the older generation. In the conflict zones, students are often torn between what they are taught in peace education classes, on one hand, and their own family and community values, on the other. In a culture where family and community values take precedence over all others, it is wishful thinking to believe that the young can change or even question their elders’ strong abhorrence to those whose faith are different from theirs. We can only hope that, once these students get on with their own life, they will be able to live by the peace values they learned in school.
In that session, the young gave our generation an important insight: While we claim to teach tolerance and respect for diversity, we continue to allow our fears, biases and prejudices to rule our relations with those who do not share our own beliefs. How much of the fears and biases of this generation are transmitted to the next is a question that begs an answer in this era where intolerance that breeds religious extremism disturbs the peace in pluralistic societies.
I am unwavering in my belief that effectively addressing grievances that push people to fundamentalism and building more tolerant societies through education are the long-term solutions to terrorism”
http://www.usip.org/muslimworld/bulletin/2005/april.html#feature1
if we have to apply the concept of older generation’s idea and style of management to govern our country….it simply means… out with the old oligarchy , elitism, monolopy and hvrds brainswashing….
and in with the new generations of filipinos…
kapoy na ang mga tigulang… the very poor result of their overall governance, performance and the lack of implementation process are no longer attractive and advantageous to majority.
loon na jud…
Democracy at its funniest !!!
Nuisance presidential candidate, Atty Ely Pamatong and his fatigue-clad army burned the Malaysian flag in front of the American embassy. The fez-hatted joker passes himself off as a Muslim.
Why Pamatong’s group burned the wrong (?) flag in front of the right (?) embassy is unclear. The Malaysian federation’s flag looks like its American counterpart. Or maybe, Pamatong who lived in the U.S. for a long time, is an American citizen and he’s afraid that the G.I. Joes will revoke his citizenship.
Only in the Pilippins!!!
PSI,
We do not call someone a joker simply because he happened to have different views than we have and you do no have to do some positive acts to assure you of your American status.
Naturalized American citizens in U.S. continue to protest against the war in Iraq, Mexican Americans continue to protests on the streets the tightening of the US borders and yet their citizenships have not been revoked.
‘The combination of these events begat the loss of Ninoy’s legacy.’
Count the number of people killed in the ongoing communist insurgency and that is Ninoy’s legacy.
jcc,
But then again, if you look back at what Pamatong has done before, he really is a clown!!! C’mon, don’t be too serious.
Cheers.
grd,
You wrote:
“my point is, let’s not view it only on our side, theâ€Âfree worldâ€Â, and make such outright conclusions. try to see their side also, consider those factors why they don’t want to convert or resisting pressure from the “free world†(although they are slowly loosening up). but while there are bigots on their side, we cannot proudly say there’s none on our side”.
now i can sleep in peace that you admitted that there are bigots in the countries i have mentioned that do not tolerate christianity.
incidentally, i do not deny that there are christians who are bigotted against the muslim faith also.
BTW, there is no such thing as the “free world” side. Only your side and my side. There is hardly an objective truth. One’s view is always colored by his upbringing, education, faith and exposure or experience.
If you are a zealot muslim, christianity is an abomination and vice versa. But I think there are more christians who look at muslim faith with great tolerance. You do not have much tolerance in the muslim world, and only now that you see some relaxation of their attitude towards christians while christians nations have been tolerant on muslim faith all along, if you exclude the earlier period of Christian Religous persecution.
psi,
this is what democracy all about.. Ely Pamatong is free to exercise his civil rights the same way we can express our own. but we do not resort to name calling because he does not subscribe to our standpoint.
grd,
The Economist’s anlaysis is that Al Qaeda, in a way, succeeded in its grand design of hitting the U.S. of A, really big time.
Consider this:
1. 9-11 created the biggest insecurity in the U.S. (we are not safe after all!) most especially in the business sector.
2. The Fed had to keep lowering the Federal funds rate to prevent an economic downturn.
3. The very low rates spurred too much speculation in the housing and debt markets.
4. The hedge funds bet against Wall Street.
5. The U.S. attacked Iraq justifying WMD and 9-11 resulting in the depletion of its budget surplus.
6. Because of 3, 4, tand 5 , the U.S. is in an economic tailspin with Dubai, Korean, Singapore, etc. money rescuing its economy.
7. With the U.S.’ unfinished business in Afghanistan in Iraq , they can’t do anything while the Russians reclaim its empire.
No wonder, as you say, the interrogators in Guantanamo are so pissed.
psi,
pamatong is a leader of a pro-US group. included on his platform of govt when he ran for president last time (but declared nuisance) is to work for the inclusion of the phils becoming a member state of the USA. he wanted all filipinos to become american citizens.
he and his group always matches up the anti-US rallyist in front of the US embassy.
is he a clown or a joker? let the people decide based on his actions.
jcc,
Didn’t I say mention democracy at its funniest in my post? If as you say its Pamatong’s democratic right to burn another country’s flag, I’m free to call him a joker or a clown. Am I right?
Don’t take your views too seriously, this is just a blog. We are free to say anything we want subject to our host’s permission. Am I right Manolo?
jcc,
of course, it cannot be denied and I agree with you that there could be more christians who look at muslim faith with great tolerance.
my concern only is that we don’t fall into islamophobia. while there are bad muslims, there are also good muslims just like there are good and bad christians.
to Anthony: You raise a good point — independence from foreign interests — because armies are expensive!!!!
We know what funds the soldiers of Govt-Republic-Pinas — answer is VAT.
Where does the money come from to fund the MILF?
UP n student,
“Where does the money come from to fund the MILF?”
shabu, pirated dvd’s, extortion, KFR
Psi,
The 911 chain reaction theory is very convincing. However the conclusion about the Guantanamo interrogators is wrong. Those people are sadists. They know that torture only elicits the kind of info that the victim thinks his tormentor wants to hear so that the torture will stop. So It’s not about info gathering, it’s about getting a hard on.
psi,
You wrote:
“5. The U.S. attacked Iraq justifying WMD and 9-11 resulting in the depletion of its budget surplus.”
You must have gotten that info from the Anti-War Media.
What is the other side?
War makes more money for the war industries in America. War funnels thousands of dollars to U.S. Homes, because soldiers enlisting for the war got bonuses plus college fund from the Army after their tour of duty.
It spurs economic growth in the US. But if you are a democrat, you see the war funds as a waste of money, but from the Republican side, you see economic sparks brought about by wars.
America can take everyone else in this world including Russia. But it will eggage only Russia in her own time and at her own best interest, not because Russia invaded Georgia. 🙂