BBM ENGAGES IN ‘DEEP FAKE’ TO WIN IN 2022

 By Ba Ipe

IT is no coincidence that 95% of the photographs, news and feature articles, and other texts that were checked and declared “fake” in big bold letters by fact check agencies have come from the BBM camp. It could be said it is the policy of the BBM camp to engage in lies, deception and what could be described as “deep fake.” No buts and if about it.

BBM is an underachiever. He has no sterling record to show off. He is lazy and, except for the public offices he occupied, he did not work in his entire life. Being the mediocre son of the infamous dictator bearing the same name, this underperformer wants to be the next president when the truth is he is unqualified.

Meanwhile, modern digital technology has improved dramatically, i.e. by leaps and bounds. Where before pictures don’t lie, now, they lie instead. They can be altered and manipulated to deceive people. Smartphones and other modern gadgets have modern applications that allow every conceivable fakery. The age of deception and big lies has dawned on us.

This is the era of the so-called “deep fake.”

Before the onset of digital technology, news and information usually come at specific hours of the day. Now, they come on the 24/7 cycle. The Information Revolution is churning fast, giving all kinds of information at any time of the day. There is hardly time for respite to examine closely the information that come before us. There is no time for reflection.

 We are all victims of the Information Revolution and its negative effects.

The BBM camp takes advantage of this negative side of the Information Revolution. Because it has wherewithal, largely stolen from the Filipino people, to spend and finance these insidious underground operations, it has come to engage in the deep fake mainly to deodorize the stinking  image of the late strongman and improve the his underachieving son’s.

His camp has photoshopped old and new pictures to present they have popular support. Public gatherings that have thin crowds have been altered to show big crowds instead. In instances, where the lazy BBM could not attend and was not around, they have changes to show BBM materializing from nowhere. What they know is to engage in despicable big-time deception of the most wicked kind. The BBM camp has no moral compunction to deceive and mislead the Filipino people. There is no nothing new about their operations.

Lately, the BBM camp has been floating the so–called "Tallano gold," which the Marcoses intend to give to the Filipino people. The reason the Marcoses are filthy rich is because they allegedly "found" the Tallano gold. This is fraud and fiction combined because the actual reason is that they stole between $5 billion to $10 billion in people’s money.

There is no end to the strings of deep fakes they have resorted and engaged. The BBM camp is a factory of fake news and everything fake. There is absolutely no basis to support his presidential bid unless we’re masochists and engaged in national and collective suicide.   

ANYBODY BUT BONGBONG MOVEMENT

 By Ba Ipe

IN the run-up for the 1995 midterm elections, intrepid political forces joined hand to launch what it was known the ABB Movement. No, it did not stand for the Alex Boncayao Brigade, a band of urban guerillas of the New People’s Army (NPA), the military arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). This group of guerillas was formed to honor Alex Boncayao, the labor leader who joined the New People’s Army (NPA) to pursue armed struggle.

The ABB in the 1995 elections was the Anybody But Bongbong Movement, or ABB for short, which was launch to derail the senatorial candidacy of BBM. It launched several negative campaigns against BBM and they were largely successful. BBM lost miserably in 1995, forcing him to go local for a while.

It was easy to derail his bid. The 1995 elections was only nine years away from the 1986 “snap” presidential elections, where the Marcoses did all tricks in the book to defeat Cory Aquino in the Comelec official count. Those days, many voters still remembered the fraudulent ways of dictator Ferdinand Marcos like ballot box snatching and switching, massive vote-buying, delisting of many voters in the official list of voters, triggering disenfranchisement of more than three million voters, and the presence of goons and guns that resulted in intimidation, fear, and failure to vote of many voters in areas where the opposition was strong.

Of course, nobody forgot the fateful 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution, where the people revolted to protest the election fraud and topple the misrule of the Marcos dictatorship. BBM learned that many people knew and understood the misdeeds of the Marcos dictatorship, resulting in their misfortune.

 The Marcos dictatorship was characterized by three major points:

1.     Centralized corruption, where fat under-the-table commissions were given directly to Marcos in exchange for big state projects and it has been estimated officially that Marcos earned between $5 billion to $10 billion, an amount that was stashed mostly abroad by his trusted lieutenants;

2.    Crony capitalism, where Marcos and his stable of cronies and friends cornered a big chunk of the Philippine economy by creating agricultural monopolies in sugar and coconut and waterfront services, among others, and fat contracts with the government; and

3.    Massive human rights violations, where tens of thousands of student activists, labor leaders, Church and civil society workers, peasant leaders, among others were arrested and jailed without charges, tortured, and fell victims to involuntary disappearances, making Marcos a global name in human rights violation.     

BBM was closely associated with these abuses in power. He did nothing to counteract those unsavory recollections on what his father's martial law did to the Filipino people. He did nothing to explain the Marcos’s side of the overall misery, suffering, and difficulties the people  experienced under his father’s infamous regime. He did not have the heart to face those political realities.

Instead, BBM focused on local politics in the home province of his father-dictator in Ilocos Norte. Even though BBM is notorious for his poor command of the Ilocano dialect,he did not lose. He run again for senator in 2010 and he won as landed 8th. His six-year term in the Senate was described as mediocre and uneventful. He did not have a single enacted bill to be proud. His Senate seat was almost vacant.

He won in 2010 senatorial elections because the nation’s demographics had changed drastically. The voters’ profile showed an increased number of young voters, who hardly knew and understood what took place in 1986. The BBM camp merely took advantage of the overall ignorance of many voters of the Marcos dictatorship.

Knowing the voters’ profile would further change due to the influx of many young voters, who either possess do not have recollections of the  martial law years, or distorted views for those who have knowledge (some young people even think we had our “golden era” under Marcos, which is just bull), BBM took his chances in 2016 by running for vice president.

BBM lost to Leni Robredo, who was a political newcomer those days. He lodged at least two electoral protests before Presidential Electoral Tribunal but lost miserably, as Leni was declared the true winner.

This mediocre underachiever son of the infamous dictator, with nothing to show except the Marcos loot, is running for president in 2022. He is seeking the country’s top political post even though has no coherent political platform or program of government, no political ideology or belief system , or any alternative to offer to the Filipino people.

He has nothing but motherhood statements to which nobody would deny or oppose. He has nothing but his exaggerated estimate of himself and limited understanding of the many global and local issues which a president has to address.

(More to follow tomorrow, including details of the campaign of the ABB Movement)

THE MARCOSES HAVEN'T CHANGED; THEY ALWAYS GO FOR AN OVERKILL

WHAT happened yesterday at Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City showed that the Marcoses have not changed a bit and are still basically the same. They like to go for the dramatic or even for an overkill just to stress a point even if it violates basic human decency and reveals nothing but their callousness and insensitivity.

The huge traffic jam created by their callous supporters, who occupied the entire 10-lane “killer highway” on the one side, reminds me of what the Marcoses did during the political campaign of the 1986 “snap” presidential elections that pitted dictator Ferdinand Marcos against Cory Aquino, widow of the martyr Ninoy Aquino Jr.

We took the early morning flight of the PAL plane to go to San Jose City in Occidental Mindoro. I was employed in a Japanese news agency; it was job to cover either candidates on any given day of the political campaign. It was normal for me to swing from part of the country to another to cover their campaign sorties in different parts of the country.

On that day sometime in January, 1986, I was assigned to cover the KBL rally in San Jose City, Occidental Mindoro. It took place in the morning and lasted until noontime. I was in a group of journalists happily taking our lunch in a restaurant there when somebody from the KBL campaign team told us that we could not possibly go back to Manila on the same day because Imelda Marcos diverted the PAL plane for her use. There was no further explanation on the diversion.

What compounded the injury was that we were told that the next flight would be three days after the political event. In brief, we had to stay for three more days to go back to Manila. This was unacceptable because we did not want to get marooned in Mindoro doing nothing. Moreover, ours was a paid trip. We booked officially our flight to go to San Jose City and return trip on the same day. The diversion was a violation of our contracted flight. But the KBL people would not care of any contractual obligation.

We talked to the people there, who told that if we wanted to go back to Manila on the same day, we could take the late afternoon flight in Mamburao, the capital town of Occidental Mindoro. Going there was a problem, they told us because San Jose City is about 80 kilometers away from Mamburao. To make the long story short, our group composed of the late Mark Finemann of the Philadelphia Inquirer, JP Fenix of the nascent Phil. Daily Inquirer, Cecil Morella of Agence France Press and me, decided to take the matter on our hands. We hirer a jeepney for a special trip to Mamburao. We all shared the cost.

We caught the late afternoon and returned to Manila but the experience was worth recalling. During those days, the road between San Jose City and Mamburao was not well developed. It was dirt road, plain and simple. The road was hardly passable and dusty too. Because it was special trip, we reached our destination.

Imelda Marcos did not care if the diversion of the PAL plane to its return flight to Manila would have terrible consequences. Since it was the era of Marcos dictatorship, the conjugal couple could just do what pleased them. Never mind the people.

Yesterday, we saw how unmindful, insensitive, and callous were the Marcoses to the people. The 12.5-kilometer Commonwealth Avenue is the major thoroughfare that serves millions of people in Quezon City, North Caloocan, and even the southern part of Bulacan. They use that stretch to go to their places of work in the Makati City, Manila, or elsewhere and return home.

The horrendous traffic jam caused by the insensitive and callous followers of that mediocre son of the infamous dictator was something very revolting because it reminded us of their unmindful ways and abuses of the Marcoses. They have not changed a bit. They are all irresponsible, callous, and insensitive after all those years they are out of power.  

PIPITSUGIN SI BBM

 Ni Ba Ipe

SPOILED brat si BBM. Lumaki na may kutsarang pilak sa bibig. Isang batang paslit si BBM nang nahalal ang ama na si Ferdinand noong 1965. Nang nagbinata, isang diktador ang ama na nagpahirap sa bansa. Walang pakialam si BBM sa mga ginawang pahirap sa bansa ng ama. Hindi niya alintana kung anuman ang sapitin na bansa sa kamay ng abusadong ama.

Dahil sa labis na kapangyarihan ng amang diktador, hindi naging isang responsableng tao si BBM. Hindi siya nagbayad ng buwis mula 1982 hanggang 1985. Ito ang mga panahon na pabagsak na ang diktadura ng kanyang ama. Hinabol siya ng sumunod na gobyerno at kinasuhan ng tax evasion. Napatunayan siyang nagkasala sa batas at inobliga na byaran ang back taxes kasama ang interes.

Ipinangalandakan kamakailan ng kanyang kampo na binayaran ni BBM ang buwis kasama ang interes. Ito ang tangi nilang ganting katwiran sa mga batikos at puna.

Pinilit niyang linisin ang kanyang pangalan. Sa kanyang apela sa Court of Tax Appeals (CTA), hindi pinagbigyan si BBM. Kabaligtaran ang nangyari. Kinumpirma ng CTA ang kasong tax evasion na unang ibinaba ng mababang hukuman. May presidential decree ang kanyang ama na dahilan ng diskuwalipikasyon ang hindi pagbabayad ng buwis ng mga kandidato sa anumang puwesto sa gobyerno.

Pinipilit ng kanyang kampo na walang ginawang krimen si BBM dahil binayaran niya umano ang buwis na naging dahilan upang kasuhan siya ng tax evasion. Ngunit hindi nila napigil ang mga petisyon na kanselahin ang kanyang inihain na certificate of candidacy (CoC) sa panguluhan sa  Commission Elections. May nagpeyisyon na tuluyan ng diskuwalipikahin ng Comelec si BBM.

Kapag nangyari ang kanselasyon o diskuwalipikasyon, tuluyang hindi makakatakbo si BBM sa panguluhan. Buburahin ang kanyang pangalan sa balota. Hindi siya magiging pangulo ng bansa na may populasyon na 110 milyon.

Ipinangangalandakan ng kampo ni BBM na hindi crime on moral turpitude ang kasong tax evasion ni BBM. Imposibl sapagkat paano niya pamumunuan ang mahigit 110 milyon na Filipino kung hindi siya huwaran sa pagbabayad ng buwis?

Buwis ang buhay ng kahit anong bansa. Hindi mapapatakbo ng maayos ang bansa kung walang sapat na nakolektang buwis.

Hindi susunod ang mga tao sa pangulo kung ang pangulo ay iresponsable, lumalabag sa batas, at hindi nagbabayad ng buwis. Isa itong problema ni BBM dahi hindi niya naipaliwanag sa sambayanan ang pagiging iresponsable. Hindi marunong magsalita si BBM sa harap ng madla.

Mahihirapan si BBM na lusuta ang mga petisyon na inihain laban sa kanya sa Comelec. Mabigat ang paratang at hindi nasasagot ni BBM ng maayos ang mga bintang na hindi siya karapat-dapat na maging pangulo dahil iresponsable siya.     

Maari siyang lumaban hanggang gusto niya ngunit hindi nangangahulugan na basta mawawala na lang ang bntang na hindi siya nagbabayad ng buwis. Minsan siyang nagkasala sa lipunan sa hindi pagbabyad ng buwis at pagtalikod sa bansa. #

DID BBM COMMIT CRIME OF MORAL TURPITUDE BY NOT PAYING HIS TAXES?

ACCORDING to Google, moral turpitude is “a phrase that describes wicked, deviant behavior constituting an immoral, unethical, or unjust departure from ordinary social standards such that it would shock a community. In criminal law, the law sorts criminal activity into categories of crime either involving or not involving moral turpitude.”

Google says: “Crimes involving moral turpitude have an inherent quality of baseness, vileness, or depravity with respect to a person's duty to another or to society in general.  Examples: rape, forgery, robbery, and solicitation by prostitutes.”

Although crimes of moral turpitude are non-specific in character since they do not involve black and white definition, they possess a criteria of classification involving fraud, or base, vile, and depraved conduct that shocks the conscience.

It could be said that seeking to become the next president of a nation of 110 million people on the basis of the submitted certificate of candidacy (CoC) containing material misrepresentation, or false information, is something that could shock the conscience for its vileness and inherent evil character.

This is now being raised against BBM, who has filed his CoC for president although it was alleged to contain material misrepresentation. BBM did not disclose he was convicted in 1997 by  the Court of Tax Appeals for tax evasion covering the 1982-1985 and that he was asked to pay the deficiency taxes and their surcharges. This CA decision has made him ineligible to hold any public office.

At least two petitions have been filed seeking cancellation of his CoC because he allegedly failed to disclose his conviction of tax evasion. Another petition is asking Comelec to declare him a nuisance candidate, while another petition wants Comelec to disqualify him.

Artemio Panganiban, a magistrate, who rose to become the chief justice of the Supreme Court, aptly raised the main issues to oust BBMs from the 2022  presidential race : first issue, did BBM commit false material representations in his COC; second issue, did his conviction by the Court of Tax Appeals (CA) involve moral turpitude?

BBM’s lawyer Estelito Mendoza, in his seven-page answer to the Comelec said the petitions either to cancel his CoC or disqualify him did not have specific allegation of false material representation. Besides, BBM is qualified to become president, as the Court of Tax Appeals did not convict of a crime of moral turpitude and that the Comelec allowed him to run for senator in 1995  and vice president in 2016.

Meanwhile, the BBM camp has flooded social media with photographs of the alleged receipts to show he had paid his back taxes. There were no issues to settle – this seemed to be their message to the public.

Under the 1987 Constitution, Comelec is not just the watchog that conducts elections on specific period, but also a quasi-judicial body that hears and decides elections issues brought to its attention for adjudication.

Panganiban did not answer the questions he earlier raised because he obviously did not want to preempt Comelec from deciding those petitions.

But in his column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper, Panganiban mentioned the  precedent-setting decision in the Ty-Delgado v HRET case, where the Supreme Court reversed in 2015 an earlier decision of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) that allowed Philip Pichay to sit as the elected representative of the first district of Surigao del Sur. It High Court declared the petitioner Mary Elizabeth as winner over Pichay in the 2013 congressional elections.

The Supreme Court rules that the HRET committed a grave abuse of discretion by failing to see that Pichay committed libel, which is one of the crimes on moral turpitude. It said: “In the present case, Pichay misrepresented his eligibility in his certificate of candidacy because he knew that he had been convicted by final judgment for a crime involving moral turpitude. Thus, his representation that he was eligible for elective public office constitutes false material representation as to his qualification or eligibility for the office.”#

THREE CRISES FACE THE PHL

 By Philip M. Lustre Jr.

THREE crises face the Philippines. The first is the crisis caused by the pandemic; the second, the crisis caused by China's incursions into our territory; and third, the crisis of confidence caused by the two other crises. They leave a big question on our capacity to survive as a nation. We begin to ask where our nation will go. Shall we float of sink. We're like a piece of driftwood, floating on water and we don't know where to go. This is probably the worst crisis of confidence we face since the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution.

Allow me to discuss the crisis brought by the Covid-19 pandemic

WE’RE IN FOR A TOUGH RIDE

BRACE up guys! We’re in for a tough ride in the coming days. This pandemic situation could last until next year, when we will have to go to the polling precincts to vote in the 2022 presidential elections.

Rodrigo Duterte and his ilk have not come out until now with any workable solution on the pandemic. They are lost. They are basically defeated dogs, who could no longer sustain a battle. They are confused and don’t know what to do.

This situation is being compounded by Duterte’s unwanted admission the pandemic will persist, as more people will get sick and die in the process. He had tried to assuage our ruffled feelings by saying defensively that “hindi tayo nagkulang (we didn’t lack anything).” This was a statement that was met with guffaws and social ridicule.

On the contrary, they have failed. Their failure has led to the pandemic's second wave, which continues to hit us with an unprecedented number of victims and deaths, said to be a record breaker in Southeast Asia.

The Covid-19 virus and its variants continue to ravage the nation in the most unexpected ways. They are peaking in number of victims and deaths as indicated by official data from the DoH.

The daily average of infection cases is around 10,000 persons over the last ten days, while the daily number of deaths is around 150 to 200 persons. DoH data also showed the number of active cases has increased to over 193,000 as of yesterday. It would likely hit the 200,000 by today.

The overall number of infection cases has breached the 900,000 mark and is expected to reach over one million by end-April. DoH data also places the positive rate at 20%, which means that for every 100 persons who underwent testing, 20 were positive.

As indicated by his TV appearances, no immediate solution appeared in sight. Duterte and his acolytes have not adopted what could be described the “best practices” among countries, which, although they don’t have sufficient vaccines, have come out solutions to stop its spread among their people.

On the contrary, Duterte and his ilk had the temerity to discuss the vaccine self reliance program, which will lead to the establishment of a vaccine manufacturing plant here. They naively believe it would take six months to build it, when experience shows it takes five to six years to construct one. This was definitely off the mark.

The pandemic requires immediate solutions to arrest its spread among Filipinos. This plan could wait. But where are the vaccines earlier promised by the vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, Jr., a retired military general, to flood the country within this year?

Vaccines are not coming. Even developed countries like the United States and Great Britain, which manufacture them, are having issues with their supplies. What they have earlier promised to give to the Philippines may not come at all because those supplies would have to go first to their people.

To make the long story short, we, the Filipino people, are on our own. We can’t expect much from our government. We shouldn’t let Duterte to lead our lives. We can’t expect much from them. They are useless.

What we have to do is to make clear to the presidential candidates to come forward with solutions for the pandemic. We have to make sure that we will only vote for the candidate that would come out with a spate of solutions

‘DEFEATIST’ FOREIGN POLICY

WHILE the pandemic has grown into crisis proportions, another crisis has erupted with neither indication nor provocation on the part of the Philippines. It is the crisis that is being brought by China right on our doorstep.

This is the crisis that is threatening our territorial integrity, as scores of Chinese vessels have swarmed our exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the West Philippine (WPS) and the reefs there. The WPS is part of the South China Sea, almost the whole of which is being claimed by China, the predatory power in the region.

Those Chinese vessels, the number of which range from 200 to 220, are not essentially after the rich natural resources in the Philippine EEZ. No, these vessels are not after the fishes, seaweeds, giant clams, coral reefs, and other marine flora and fauna, the total value of which could reach hundreds of billions of pesos.

Their presence indicates they want to establish China’s ownership of the South China Sea under the much maligned and rejected Nine-Dash Line Theory being espoused by China. This is the same theory, which the five-man Permanent Arbitration Commission of the United Nations Conference of the Law of Sea has dismissed as non-existent in the historic 2016 decision that reaffirms the Philippine maritime entitlements.

China's hegemony as shown by the unabashed presence of those Chinese vessels in PHL territory stems mainly from our foreign policy. No, it’s not that we don’t have a foreign policy on China. It’s not that we don’t know how to deal with China. But our foreign policy under the much detested Rodrigo Duterte has drastically changed since he became president in 2016.

From a policy of mutual understanding and treatment, it has degenerated into a policy of servitude. No, China and the Philippines are no longer on the same plane. Their relations are no longer based on equal terms. Duterte is the local running dog of Xi Jin-ping and the China Communist Party. He is their lackey, plain and simple.

Although the 1987 Constitution does not say that the incumbent president is the “chief architect” of PHL foreign policy, subsequent decisions establishes the power of the incumbent president to chart PHL foreign policy. But is does not mean the president could dictate what he wishes. They are usually subject to interaction and the constitutional precept of “checks and balance” by the three branches of government. This judicial doctrine is being thoroughly followed and adhered to in the previous administrations.

***

THAT Duterte is a Chinese lackey is not a matter of perception. Facts support this assertion. In 2018, Duterte was said to have prohibited the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Coast Guard from conducting routine patrols of the West Philippine Sea. Then Magdalo Party List Rep. Gary Alejano revealed the prohibition, the information of which coming from his former colleagues in the Philippine Navy, and that has led China to establish military bases on those tiny specks of rock islands in the West Philippine Sea.

Duterte has agreed unilaterally to Xi’s suggestion for the Philippines to go slow in our assertion of the decision of the 2016 UNCLOS Permanent Arbitration Commission. Duterte cowardly agreed to Xi’s suggestion for the Philippines to resort to bilateral negotiations instead of asserting the UNCLOS decision. Incidentally, Duterte does not feel offended whenever he is described a “traitor” or a “quisling” in PHL-China relations.

China has been claiming ownership of a big part of South China Sea, citing as bases what it alleged as “historical presence” and the Nine-Dash Line theory. Over $5.3 trillion worth of commodities pass through the South China Sea to propel world commerce. China’s claim of ownership would restrict free passage of those goods along traditional sealanes, constricting free flow of world trade.

China’s claim of ownership of South China Sea on the basis of historic right and presence is being laughed at and ridiculed. China did not establish any foothold in South China Sea. What it had in the past were Chinese pirates, who marauded our villages, killed our men, raped our women, and snatched children for sale as slaves in some parts unknown.

The Nine-Dash Line theory, a modern-day invention, was an abomination because it was introduced in 2009 without mentioning the coordinates on the map to establish boundaries. It was laughed at and treated as merely a Chinese fiction.

In 2012, about 80-100 Chinese vessels swarmed the Panatag Shoal to form a phalanx as Chine’s way to establish ownership of that part of the West Philippine Sea. Some backchannel negotiations led by then Se. Sonny Trillanes happened and it prompted China to withdraw its maritime militia. In 2013, the PNOY government filed a case before the UNCLOS.

The Philippines won its case before the Permanent Arbitration Commission based in The Hague by dismissing China’s claim of ownership of South China Sea on the basis of the Nine-Dash Line theory. The 2016 decision is regarded historic because it forms part of the international law. This is their basis why the United States has brought its naval force in South China Sea.

Incidentally, the Philippines is not thoroughly pro-China. It government is divided into two factions: the pro-China faction led by Rodrigo Duterte, Bong Go, Jose Calida, or the so-called “Inferior Davao”; and the anti-China faction by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and DFA Secretary Teodoro Locsin. Duterte could not fire Lorenzana and Locsin because they are perceived to have the support of the United States.

The U.S., under Jose Biden, has changed its foreign policy to compete with China. Holding the 2016 UNCLOS decision, it has deployed its forces in the South China Sea to ensure freedom of navigation in that part of the world. China could not do anything. It is only Duterte and his ilk who have remained a lackey. His attitude has always been described as “defeatist,” as he kept on saying the PHL could not say no to China because it has weak maritime power.

The third crisis leaves us with the big question: Quo vadis, Philippines?

EFFECTS OF U.S. FOREIGN POLICY SHIFT ON ASIA

By Philip M. Lustre Jr.

DROWN in the flurry of news on the Jan. 20 inauguration of Joe Biden as new U.S. president is the U.S. foreign policy shift to focus on China. In their lengthy but separate Jan. 19 confirmation hearings at the U.S. Senate, State Secretary Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the American lawmakers the U.S. is giving first priority attention to China to keep peace and stability in East Asia.

 

The U.S. and its multinational allies have defeated ISIS in Syria, Iraq, and Iran. It has come out with a ceasefire agreement with the Taliban in Afghanistan, prompting to alter foreign policy focus. The U.S. wants to keep open the sea lanes of the South China Sea because over P5.3 trillion worth of commerce pass annually through it.

 

Blinken and Austin explained they wanted to keep the freedom of navigation in that part of the world. Moreover, they have perceived China as the new predatory hegemon, as it has been claiming without sufficient basis almost the entire South China Sea. It wants to become a world power, Blinken said, as he pointed out that China has opened more consulates than the U.S. around the world.

 

Initially, the U.S. wants to embark on a five-year shipbuilding program for 2022-2026 to construct 82 warships at a total cost of P147 billion. It could be surmised the new vessels would be fielded in areas that require the U.S. forward power projection, particularly in areas with potential or actual conflicts.

 

Also, the U.S. wants to help Taiwan, which is being threatened by invasion and occupation by China. According to Blinken and Austin, the U.S. has no qualms to give Taiwan, China’s renegade province, the military assistance and war resources, even as they claimed Washington was also prepared to protect the pro-democracy movement and activists in Hong Kong.

 

The two officials were short of saying the U.S. would abandon the “one-China” policy, or the policy that recognizes Peking as the only legitimate government of China. But they strongly hinted that the U.S. is not averse to the idea of Taiwan proclaiming its independence.

 

Blinken and Austin did not discuss the Philippines, which has taken a pro-China stance over the last four or five years mainly because of the support China gave to Rodrigo Duterte in his 2016 rise to power. But Blinken and Austin’s statements have dwelt on the need to promote the gospel of democracy. They somehow reflected concern for the Philippines, which is being threatened by authoritarian tendencies by the Davao Group.

 

Their separate statements at the U.S. Senate however indicated the U.S. is not in any way fond of Duterte and his “Inferior Davao,” or the cabal of criminal overlords in that southern part of the Philippines. The U.S. is not in any way ready to embrace him even if he turns supportive of the U.S. overnight, or a so-called “born again democrat.” The U.S. has its democratic allies in the Philippines.

 

Incidentally, the U.S., through its roving emissaries, has conveyed to Duterte three things: first, he has to release Leila de Lima, which is still imprisoned of trumped up charges; second, he has to yield political power gracefully when his term of office ends on June 30, 2022; and third, he should not field either daughter Sara and aide Bong Go as his successor in 2022.  

 

The U.S. has remained quiet over the last four or five years, but it has remained watchful of Duterte and his ilk. It won’t abandon the Philippines as it has shifted to a new but higher gear to oppose autocracy.

MALAKING TRABAHO

 Ni Ba Ipe 

HINDI biro ang ilatag ang isang matinong programa para bakunahan ang 70 milyon na Filipino sa buong 2021. Ito ang target ng gobyernong Duterte ngunit hindi namin alam kung may nailatag na programa. Napakahirap na trabaho ito para sa isang lingkod bayan.

Likas na batugan si Duterte. Hindi siya masipag; hindi siya nakikisangkot. Iniwan niya ang lahat ng trabaho sa kanyang mga alalay. Hindi kaya ng mga ayudante ang paglalatag ng isang malaki ngunit mabisang programa sa bansa. Problema iyan sa ngayon.

Inamin ng mga ayudante noong Lunes ng gabi sa harap ng telebisyon na wala silang naisarang vaccine supply contract sa mga gumagawa ng bakuna kontra pandemya. Bagaman nagpilit na magkaroon, hindi sila nagtagumpay.

Tagumpay naman ang kanilang mga simulation exercises. Wala nga lang ang mga bakuna. Hanggang exercises lang ba ang programa?

Dahil walang maiulat na maganda ang kanyang mga ayudante sa pumapalpak na gobyerno, hindi maalis sa isip kung may pupuntahan ang kanyang administrasyon sa pagpapatupad ng anumang programa sa bakuna. Mukhang wala.

Upang pagtakpan ang kapalpakan, inupakan ni Duterte si Bise Presidente Leni Robredo upang ipagkaila na nangingikil sa Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) sa pagitan ng Estados Unidos at Filipinas. Ipinagmagaling niya na bilang pangulo, siya ang tanging may karapatan pagdating sa usapin ng foreign policy (o polisyang panabas).

Maling-mali; hindi niya naiintindihan ang Saligang Batas. Ayon sa Konstitusyon, ang pangulo ang arkitekto ng foreign policy. Ngunit hindi ito nangangahulugan na walang partisipasyon ang mga sektor ng lipunan sa paghubog ng foreign policy. Hindi ito monopolyo ng pangulo dahil kabilang ang maraming tao sa paghubog.

Kailangan ang input ng ibang sektor – mambabatas, politico, akademiko, think tank, negosyo, taong relihiyoso, at kahit mga pangkaraniwang mamamayan – sa paggawa ng foreign policy. Hindi ito kontrolado at dumating sa punto na dinidiktahan ng pangulo. Mukhang hindi niya alam ang kanyang constitutional law.

 Biglang luminaw tuloy na kinakatawan ni Robredo ang totoong oposisyon, o ang maraming demokratikong organisasyon at kilusan sa bansa. Ang puwersang tumututol sa awtoryanismo ay ang totoong oposisyon sa bansa. Si Duterte na ang nagbigay linaw sa isyung ito.

***

ISANG taon na ang pandemya sa bansa ngunit hanggang ngayon, walang linaw kung ano ang direksyon ng bansa. Bagaman sinabi ni Duterte na umaaasa ang kanyang gobyerno sa bakuna, hindi malinaw kung may darating na bakuna kahit na maraming bansa ang may sariling rollout at nagkakagulo sa pagpapatupad ng kanilang programa. Hanggang nganga lang daw tayo.

Walang malinaw na istratehiya kung paano babakunan ang 70 milyon Filipino sa taong ito. Pulong lang sila ng pulong kahit na walang malinaw na paraan kung paano dadalhin ang mga bakuna. Hindi rin malinaw kung dadating ang mga bakuna.

May kumukutya na malaki ng papel ni Sonny Dominguez, kalihim ng pananalapi, sa programa. Siya ang kumikilos upang mangutang sa ibang bansa. Siya ang lumalapit upang magkaroon ng pondo ang programa sa bakuna (kung may programa nga). Siya ang kumakausap sa mga kinatawan ng World Bank, Asian Development Bank, at Asian Investment Infrastructure Bank.

Si Dominguez ay ang pangunahing economic manager sa bansa. Bahagi siya ng Davao Group, o ang binansagang “Inferior Davao,” ang pangkat ng mga taong gobyerno na galing sa Katimugan. Hindi sila kilala sa kagalingan. Marami sa kanila ang matulis ang dila ngunit hindi kailanman ang diwa.

Hanggang saan ang control si Dominguez sa naghaharing uri ay isang bagay na hindi malinaw. Siya na yata ang Cesar Virata ni Duterte na kung wala si Domingez, hindi na makagalaw ang gobyerno. Totoo ba ito?

'MAKAPILI'

 Ni Ba Ipe

MGA HULING BUWAN ng pananakop ng nga Japones noong Pangalawang Digmaang Pandaigdig ng nagsulputan sa publiko ang mga kasapi ng Makabayang Kalipunan ng mga Pilipino. Tinawag sila na mga MAKAPILI.

Marami sa kanila ang mga dating kasapi ng Ganap Party, o mga Sakdalista ni Benigno Ramos, isang manunulat sa wikang Filipino. Auxiliary worker (katulong) sila ng Japanese Imperial Army kahit nakahingi sila ng karapatan na mabayaran tulad ng mga sundalong Japones (teka, marami sa kanila ang mga Koreano at Taiwanese na binigyan ng mga pangalang Japon).

Malalim ang mga alaala na iniwan ng mga kasapi ng Makapili. Sa mga pagkakataon na lumabas sila sa publiko, sila ang mga taong may suot na bayong sa ulo upang hindi makilala. Sila ang mga nagturo sa mga sundalong Japones ng mga gerilya at kriminal noong panahon ng Japon.

Hindi dumadaan sa proseso ng katarungan ang mga itinuro. Walang sakda; hindi sila dumadaan sa proseso ng hukuman noon. Kinukuha sila ng sundalong Japones sa kanilang tahanan upang ikulong at patayin. Maraming pagkakataon na pinapatay ang mga itinuro ng mga Makapili. 

Masidhi ang operasyon ng mga kasapi ng Makapili sa mga huling buwan ng 1944 at unang buwan ng 1945, ang panahon na nangyari ang tinawag na “Battle of Manila.” Base ng operasyon ng mga Makapili ang Maynila at kanugnog lugar tulad ng Makati at maging sa ilang bayan ng Laguna at Rizal kung saan malakas ang Sakdalista.

Lingid sa kaalaman ng mga Japones, maraming kasapi ng Makapili ang nakilala ng mga pamilya na kanilang itinuro. Sa pagwawakas ng digmaan, nagkaroon ng gantihan. Maraming Makapili ang pinatay ng mga taong hindi nakilala hanggang ngayon. Napilitan ang liderato ng mga Japon na dalhin ang mga Makapili nang umurong sila sa Cordillera sa pagwawakas ng digmaan nong 1945.

Marami sa Makapili ang hindi na lumutang. Pinaniniwalaan ng pinatay sila ng mga puwersang Japones na naging desperado sa pag-uro.  Iyong mga Makapili na hindi nakilala, nagbagong buhay at nakabalik sa daloy ng lipunan.

Ikinuwento ng aking ina ang isang konsehal sa Maynila na pinaniniwalaan niya na kasapi ng Makapili. Matagal siyang konsehal at umiwas sa mga kontrobersiya noong panahon niya sa pulitika. Pero ibang usapan na ito.

 Ngayon, ginagami ang salitang MAKAPILI sa mga taong pinaniniwalaan na naging traydor sa bayan.  Kasama na diyan ang mga taong makiling sa China. Hindi mawawala ang MAKAPILI sa ating talasalitaan (dictionary).