Berserkers and a breather
August 20, 2008 by mlq3
Filed under Daily Dose
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 Stateâ€. 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.â€
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,â€M-I*.â€
*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.
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Dominique on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 5:21 pm
Hi, Manolo:
Thanks for the link. I’m actually based in Davao now. Closer to where the action is
For a little more positive news, you might want to look at http://nanaynirashid.blogspot.com/social%20work,%20pikit. Up-close pictures of Pikit.
Pampangueno on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 5:26 pm
Nothing says gay more than that teddy bear you have on your table prop on the Explainer show Manolo.
But we all already know you’re homo, so may I suggest you get rid of it?
Your efforts to appear to run a professional television program (suit, LCD display, use of English, great script) is marred by a prop that his its place on a little girl’s bedroom.
arpeelazaro on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 5:37 pm
obviously our friend here is kinda off topic. nothing says hateful and homophobic more than your comment, pampangueno. the topic of the discussion here is MOA and the MILF question. take your homophobia and hate elsewhere.
BrianB on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 5:49 pm
I’ve been thinking about this BJE business. You can take it another way and call the Prez a patriot. With the pressure from the US and other countries to give the Moros a state, she did the right thing and allowed a showing of true colors over at the Moro side. Now all we have to do is keep Mindanao in tact. Let’s not drop the ball.
BrianB on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 6:04 pm
Teedy bear. I guess, Manolo is only anticipating the release of Brideshead Revisited. My guess.
Pampangueno on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 6:05 pm
Can you explain to me how’s that homophobic and hateful you idiot?
BrianB on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 6:11 pm
It’s homophobic because it’s well-known that teddy bears are the accessory du juour of gay intellectuals and hateful because you had to mention it.
Pampangueno on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 6:11 pm
Because if you can’t, may I counter that you take your idiocy elsewhere.
BrianB on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 6:21 pm
What we need is a military solution. You need to disarms the MILF, coz I for one do not believe the army or even the ilagas will kill helpless unarmed civilians. Give more money to Mindanao, not to the pols, but directly thru infrastructure work. Only the moros think of genocide, not government and not Christians. If we think this then matagal nang walang Moro, eh mga minority sila eh.
john marzan on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 6:24 pm
the teddy bear is a peace mascot.
BrianB on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 6:27 pm
John, that’s a Panda.
john marzan on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 6:30 pm
If Arroyo really believed in this MOA, she should have defended it more forcefully against all critics, including her Christian allies, and not wimp out.
even if it costs her her job.
john marzan on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 6:32 pm
oh, the kung fu panda? i’m not a regular watcher of the explaner show since we don’t have sky/home. i saw only the recent one because of djb. is the plushie a regular part of the show?
Pampangueno on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 6:45 pm
Whatever the taxonomy of the freakin’ stuffed toy, I think you’ll all agree that it’s something that would be more at home on Boy Abunda’s The Buuuzzz!!, not The Explainer.
On a slightly related note, do you Manolo have a feel for what the peeps in your community think about the possible implications of extremist Islamization to the gay community in Mindanao? (Blogs or links to gay bloggers in Mindanao would be appreciated). After all, the first casualty of Islamization is the abuse, physical and mental, of homos of both the gay and lesbian persuasion.
Contrary to popular notion, Christians won’t get abused by any possible Islamic government, as they are the “brothers of the book” as per Islamic teachings (they’ll get taxed though). But gays don’t get a pass, and as a libertarian, I am concerned about the human rights of Filipinos of all sexual persuasions.
habagatcentral on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 7:25 pm
Hello Manolo! Thanks for quoting me up.
Anyway, I have some change of sentiments with the recent developments…I’m still very unsettled and disturbed on what happened to Iligan and Lanao del Norte yesterday and last night…People are in panic.
Seems that the very fabric of harmony: trust, has been breached. It would take a long time for the peoples to trust each other once more…this is just my opinion.
I’m still hoping and praying for peace to prevail in Mindanao.
nash on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 7:29 pm
Why the fuss about GMA being mataray, apparently she is wearing Golfing outfit. You too would blow your top if the alalays are too slow, you don’t want to miss your tee off with Abalos….
Teddy Bears unprofessional??? Hmmm, I have two (but they are dogs) and they have been around. Jane Godall has one (a monkey which stays in front during every lecture)
..obviously pampangeno cares more about looks than substance…are you part of the central committee who said the 6-year old girl singer was too ugly to be the face of the olympics?
UP n student on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 7:59 pm
All the more, the MOA has to be opened up for continued discussion. The MILF has to clarify what they mean when one of their spokesperson (in their luwaran website) claims
I1) that the MILF speaks for the Moros who :
(2) but also do not want their powers and
And while the Supreme Court’s TRO may have embarassed Malacanang, the delays from the TRO has revealed the ineptitude of the pro-JBE Muslim leadership to control their military units as well as reveal how the said leadership perceives of their responsibility to the 1987 Constitution.
Imang on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 8:37 pm
@ Pampangueno,
Feeling ko inggit lang yang namamayani sayo. Gusto mo din ng sariling show, ano? Eh kaso siguro swangit ka at hindi pang TV, ganun. Kaya dinadaan mo nalng sa pagcomment anonymously. What a coward. Pakilala ka kaya ng maayos if you really feel that you have a point.
jcc on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 8:59 pm
I LOVE CRITICS ! ! !
“I AM BECAUSE WE AREâ€, – Desmond Tutu (famous Archbishop from Cape Town, South Africa). Translation: “I am corrupt, because we are corruptâ€.
“Or we deserve the kind of government we haveâ€. We keep pointing our fingers to our leaders about all our misery, but if we examine ourselves, we will find out that we have contributed to the mess we are in.
As I always say: “What would you do if you were the president to address our problem?â€
We love to spin punditry and criticism against our leaders and they deserve our criticisms, but do we have some solutions to offer?
If we don’t have any, then GMA might feel like the writer in Christopher Hampton who said:
“Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamp-post how it feels about dogsâ€.
cvj on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 9:08 pm
Charles de Gaulle was practically installed by the French military hardliners who wanted to hold on to Algeria at all costs, believing that the former would be more determined to pursue the war. However, de Gaulle himself saw that the French campaign in Algeria was ultimately futile:
In the end, it was de Gaulle himself who sidelined the French military diehards and withdrew from Algeria.
As i commented before, peace under a unified State would depend on whether the people comprising the Bangsa Moro areas buy into the idea that they are also Filipinos.
jcc on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 9:11 pm
Pampangueno,
You write: “Contrary to popular notion, Christians won’t get abused by any possible Islamic government, as they are the “brothers of the book†as per Islamic teachings (they’ll get taxed though).
Not too fast Pampangueno. You assumed wrongly that all muslims live by the Koran code. Look around you, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Bin Ladin, Abbu Sayyaf.
They kill people if you spouse a religion other than theirs. And you expect your Philippine muslims to respect the Christians?
Wake up sir or Madam! ! !
manuelbuencamino on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 9:32 pm
Pampangueno,
That distracting stuffed toy on Manolo’s table is actually the Philippine Daily Inquirer editorial mascot. The reason it’s there is because the PDI with whom Manolo has an employment contract wants it there.
Now when you start seeing gay symbols and other signs of gayness in mascots where there are actually none, it makes me wonder whether you are obsessed with gays and why.
Are you?
manuelbuencamino on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 9:38 pm
Pampangueno,
Maybe the PDI is a gay paper for picking such a mascot?
manuelbuencamino on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 9:41 pm
Pampangueno,
Do you groove to Cher while playing with your barbies?
Is “Strangers in the Night” a song about casual gay encounters?
Geisha on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 10:03 pm
Hello sire
Thanks for the link.
I was actually surprised with the homophobia out there. He might have landed on a wrong entry! Hop to mine! joke
Moving forward, i remember GMA bragging about the MOA on ancestral domain in her lastest SONA. Am sure her world turned upside down with the remarks she got from it!
Mindanao is a beautiful land. Not because I am from mindanao but because my eyes are naturally gifted at seeing natural beauty!
I strongly believe that annihilating these bandits is a very potential ang most noble action to achieve peace in mindanao ang not an agreement that would pamper them to ask for more through threat an intimidation! They didn’t pay tax yet they want to establish their own homeland out of the well establish island!
I know its sound barbaric and inhuman but they deserve and all out war!
manuelbuencamino on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 10:04 pm
cvj,
“As i commented before, peace under a unified State would depend on whether the people comprising the Bangsa Moro areas buy into the idea that they are also Filipinos.”
What I’d like to know is who those people comprising the Bangsa Moro consider as their true representatives – the MNLF? The MILF? Their local elected officials?
Is the shared religion of the Moros strong enough to surmount their tribal and political differences and loyalties?
Will the MNLF and the MILF be able to agree on how to divide up Moroland between them?
Will Maranaos allow a Tausog to run the affairs of Maguindanao and Lanao and will Tausogs allow a Maranao to run Sulu and Tawi-Tawi?
Geisha on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 10:06 pm
last na to… hehehhe
bka may madugong homo experience yang si pampangueno. share mo naman sa blog ko! heheheh
cvj on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 10:25 pm
MB (at 10:04 pm), if the Mindanao Christians form militias based on their ‘Christian’ (or non-Muslim) identity, then the Muslim identity will be forced to assert itself and override other identities based on ethnolinguistic-affiliation, at least for the duration of the conflict.
BrianB on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 10:42 pm
cvj,
Muslims are already aligned. But come to think of it, they do not have that many fighters.
BrianB on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 10:44 pm
wow:
This will change everythign, I hope.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20080820-155857/31-Moro-rebels-surrender-says-Army-brigade-commander
They should do this more often.
arpeelazaro on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 10:45 pm
di kaya muslim extremist si pampangueno? so we will stop the speculation, pakilala ka. oh and by the way, if manolo hasn’t thanked you yet, your homophobia, hatred or whatever it is that you call it is generating wonderful hits for the website. thank you. your hate has done something good after all.
BrianB on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 10:46 pm
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20080820-155852/MILF-commander-declares-all-out-war
“We are prepared to trade fire with them until we are decimated. If they cannot finish us, we will finish them,” Bravo said over the Radio Mindanao Network. “We are prepared to kill, we are prepared to be killed.”
Decimated (a tenth killed) is an often misused word. He means annihilated of course.
thegreatest on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 10:58 pm
BrianB, maybe that WAS what he meant, lol.
manuelbuencamino on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 11:09 pm
cvj,
To a certain extent what you say is true. And theoretically it makes sense. External threats have a way of uniting people.
However, you do see muslims all over the world at each other’s throats over politics and religious factions. Hamas vs Hezbollah, Sunni vs Shiite, Talibans vs moderates etc.
You also see muslim countries at war with each other like Iran-Iraq, Iraq-Kuwait. Iraqi muslims war among themselves despite the need to unify against american occupation. Saudis, Kuwaitis, Pakistanis provide basing and support for american and coalition forces who are occupying muslim Iraq and afghanistan.
Will armed christians and/or lumads threatening maranaos in mainland Mindanao motivate Tausogs to send an expeditionary force to maguindanao and lanao?
supremo on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 11:17 pm
I thought the teddy bear on the Explainer show is related to the bookstore ad that always appear on the show.
manuelbuencamino on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 11:22 pm
decimation leads to annihilation. That makes bravo a prophet.
manuelbuencamino on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 11:26 pm
Supremo,
“I thought the teddy bear on the Explainer show is related to the bookstore ad that always appear on the show.”
It’s not a teddy bear. It’s supposed to be that carabao in the PDI editorial cartoons.
cvj on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 11:33 pm
MB (at 11:09 pm), that’s a question i’m hoping we don’t have to find out the answer to. As i mentioned in my blog, i’m against militias. I’m hoping that the situation you present i.e. armed christians and/or lumads threatening the Maranaos will not happen although as per grd in the previous thread, it already is.
d0d0ng on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 11:54 pm
Good grief…. just 2 weeks on well spent vacation and the world changed in the other part of the world (gergian war), bejing olympics is ending and the milf moa-ad continue its momentum.
When the brilliant Marcos had the mighty military power at its disposal and the moros considered weak, it never wiped out the minority muslim rebellion. This is just to illustrate that history is on the side of the muslim in worst case scenario, not to mention that it has grown in size since Marcos time and undeterred even with US forces aiding the Philippine military at the backdoor.
As I said before, SC tro is useless and proven that Manila has no power to demonstrate it can enforce its will, if ever it has. It is pathetic enough to watch that the central govt is reduced to name calling “bandits” and the 5 million reward scheme for the 2 milf commander.
Unless SC and Senate pave the way for state under state, then it will make harder for the Mindanao Christians – which the moros don’t care anyway as they have been living miserably for decades.
supremo on Wed, 20th Aug 2008 11:56 pm
mb,
It’s either my eyes are really bad or that carabao looks like a teddy bear.
supremo on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 12:05 am
dOdOng,
‘not to mention that it has grown in size since Marcos time’
Take note that the Muslim population in Mindanao also grew since the time of Marcos. If you go by percentage of Muslim population, I think the MILF did not really gain anything.
manuelbuencamino on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 12:08 am
supremo,
Your eyes are good. Manolo explained it to me. He couldn’t find a stuffed toy that looks like a carabao so that’s what he’s using.
manuelbuencamino on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 12:09 am
cvj,
I don’t like militias either. And like you I don’t want the answer to my question to go beyond the theoretical.
d0d0ng on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 12:37 am
“I think the MILF did not really gain anything.”
As a matter of fact, they do – GRP initialed MOA-AD. Plus international monitors including US would be the witness of the aborted signing formality in Malaysia. It demonstrate the gains so far achieved by the MILF.
john marzan on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 12:38 am
ano ba ang percentage ng muslim sa mindanao ngayon?
sabi sa wikipedia
63% raw kristiyano. 32% Muslim, 5% lumad
pero sabi dati sa 2000 census, 20.4% lang raw ang muslim.
does anybody have the latest data from the 2007 census?
d0d0ng on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 12:46 am
“does anybody have the latest data from the 2007 census?”
Those numbers don’t mean anything. In addition, census can be understated as the muslim will not go through the normal local government channels.
john marzan on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 12:47 am
The total Islamized population of Mindanao
was estimated at 39.29 percent in 1903; but only 20.17 percent in 1975. The total Lumad population
was 22.11 percent in 1903; and only 6.86 percent in 1975…
Muslims, or as they call themselves the Moro or Bangasamoro (“Moro nationâ€), are made up
of 13 ethno-linguistic groups, including the Iranun, Jama Mapun, Palawani, Molbog, Kalagan,
Kalibugan, Maguindanao, Maranao, Sama, Sangil, Tausug, Badjao, and Yakan.
Today, Rodil estimates they comprise about 20 percent of the total Mindanao and Sulu population.
The Lumad, a generic term for the non-Muslim and non-Christian tribal groups, or “cultural
communities†in Mindanao, are also very diverse. They consist of the various ethno-linguistic groups
that are not Muslim, e.g., the Ata, Bagobo, Mamanua, Mandaya, Kamayo, Mangguwangan, Manobo,
Mansaka, Matigsalog, Subanun, Tagakaolo, Tala-andig, T’boli, Tiruray and Ubo. Many of these
groups are Christianized or partly Christianized, and some are partly Islamicized. Moreover, there is
some overlap, such as the highland Christianized Maranao. These ethnic groups make up
approximately five percent of the total Mindanao population, according to the 1990 census.
john marzan on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 12:48 am
source:
209.85.141.104/search?q=cache:aqavVwI3OiAJ:www.cseas.niu.edu/outreach/mindanaopeace.pdf+muslim+percentage+mindanao+christian+lumad&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=ph
john marzan on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 12:58 am
“Those numbers don’t mean anything.”
i think it does.
it is like the sunnis in iraq under saddam, who comprise about 20%, trying to rule over the shiite 60% majority, and the kurds 20% by force and violence
number cruncher on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 12:59 am
hmm, i wonder if pampangueno’s part of the plot to draw us away from the real issue at hand by baiting us into this whole carabao business….
since the whole MILF-going-to-war scenario isn’t panning out, will the admin take it to the next level? would they go through bombings throughout the metro so that the empress will declare martial law?
supremo on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 1:19 am
dOdOng,
‘As a matter of fact, they do..’
They did not grow in size with respect to the size of the Muslim population is my point. You’re the one who started this ‘MILF grew in size’ so stick to it. And if numbers don’t mean anything then why did you say that the ‘MILF grew size’.
PSI on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 1:27 am
In the preceding thread, a commenter mentioned that has it been FPJ who is president now, the country will not have these hostilities in Mindanao as “Muslims do listen to da King.”
However, Panday’s kumpadre ex-president Joseph Estrada ordered full military action against the MILF and Philippine troops overran two MILF camps including the big one, Camp Abubakr.
Erap is again calling for an all-out war. Today, he assumed the presidency of the Partido Masang Pilipino hoping for a political comeback or at least, be a big factor in the next presidential elections.
Erap could well be the Last Action Hero or Da King Maker.
d0d0ng on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 1:50 am
“And if numbers don’t mean anything then why did you say that the ‘MILF grew size.”
Because in the ground, the military estimate its enemies strength and commit a greater force.
I said it doesn’t mean anything because at the end of the show of force, MILF was able to win the GRP to initialed its own MOA-AD.
PSI on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 1:53 am
Ahead of the survey results, most Filipinos want tougher action against the MILF. There’s goes the MOA-AD. Expect a re-calibration of the positions of the presidential wannabees: people want to see a tougher stance.
So people maybe listening to Erap’s call.
supremo on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 2:18 am
dOdOng,
Then why did the MILF allow itself to grow in size(which I think is false as a percentage of Muslim population) if it will have it’s way anyway?
Bencard on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 2:23 am
psi, there’s nothing wrong with the government exploring every avenue of peace to save lives. the “hawks” maybe having their day because of the evident insincerity and perfidy of the rebels, and the validation of what most suspect – the separatists desire to have their cake and eat it too.
as to erap’s rather simplistic solution, he was treating the problem like one of his b-action movies. at the time of his presidency, up until the recent rampages in kolambugan, etc., i don’t believe the filipino nation was ready for a decisive “all-out war” that would have left not a vestige of armed resistance in the area, let alone a much-dreaded “ethnic cleansing”.
d0d0ng on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 2:35 am
Actually, they did not expect GRP to give them what they wanted and in fact the Malaysian observers pulled out because of no GRP solution in sight. Ibrahim Canana as posted by MLQ above articulated that it will continue to fight for its homeland as its ancestors did. Hence, number is irrelevant as long as there is one single Muslim who wanted his homeland. Either you recognize co-existence and provide his homeland under MOA-AD or you just kill him and his families – a military solution that have been proven wrong.
grd on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 2:37 am
it’s just you talking dodong. the milf is close to being tagged as bandits now. commander bravo and kato exposed the weakness of the milf leadership. if they cannot control their own people now without the official signing of MO-AD, how much more if they got the deal signed and approved by the people. they would start grabbing people’s lands and shoot those who will oppose them. but now that their true colors were exposed, they will find it hard to get that chance again. they simply blew it.
with regard to your belief that the SC tro is useless and Manila is powerless, well, you are so wrong abut it. the SC will declare the deal as unconstitutional and the GRP will comply as they already indicated. and contrary to what you’ve earlier wrote in another thread that the military will not defend those areas that are being attacked by the milf, you were proven wrong once again.
d0d0ng on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 2:39 am
Good point of Bencard on ethnic cleansing. GRP has a lot to lose when both sides start ethnic cleansing.
d0d0ng on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 2:51 am
“if they cannot control their own people now without the official signing of MO-AD”
It is calibrated. Given the MILF position, I will deny atrocities while support ground operations.
The weakling rather is of the government who cannot do anything with MILF and thrown into a weak position of name calling bandits and nothing beyond that, like sending force to seach and destroy the bandits in the MILF zone. So weak it can only entice with the candy of 5 million.
PSI on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 2:57 am
grd,
In the previous thread, you mentioned about the possibile revival of the ‘Ilagas’, the Christian militia group. I remember that in the same peiod, the Muslims responded with the ‘Blackshirts’ (?).
I could easily Google this, but my question to you as a long-time resident of Mindanao ( particularly Davao?), is there a connection between the MILF and the Blackshirts?
Salamat in advance.
PSI on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 3:05 am
dodong,
What is this? (I could have use wtf? in capital letters). Thought you said you were proud of being a poor boy in Mindanao, challenged, did your best, working-student, rose up, migrated to the U.S., rose to your present position, etc.
Now, you’re sounding what is termed in this blog as ‘victimology’.
d0d0ng on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 3:05 am
“with regard to your belief that the SC tro is useless and Manila is powerless, well, you are so wrong abut it”
I repeat again, SC tro is useless and Manila powerless. In fact, ex senator Maceda, Binay and Pimentel decried that some “commitments” of the MOA-AD are already operative despite the SC tro.
d0d0ng on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 3:08 am
“you’re sounding what is termed in this blog as ‘victimology’”
you are entitled to your opinion but i also recognize the inherent right of my muslim friends to co-exist.
PSI on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 3:20 am
Except probably for some of Pampagueno’s comments, did you see, hear, or read anyhting we said against your Muslim friends, and we referred to as brothers?
Common, you have to admit that Filipinos know its not the Muslim people that the is problem, its the MILF.
nash on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 3:24 am
mga klasmeyt, tinakot niyo naman si pampangueno…
hindi niya yata alam na ang colonel in chief ng norwegian guards ay isang penguin, si nils olav II, who was recently knighted
…hmmm, maybe nils is homo too and should have been a dame…how unprofessional naman for the Norwegian Armed Forces to have a mascot.
I wonder who the MILF’s mascot should be?
hawaiianguy on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 3:38 am
I just came back from a vacation marred by violence in Mindanao. In fact, I was pretty close to those encounters initiated by that guy Commander Bravo, whose men went on a rampage killing Christians (together with soldiers), torching their houses, shooting their farm animals and livestocks, and looting stores owned by those poor Christians who have nothing to do whatsoever with the so-called Mindanao problem mentioned by Ibrahim Canana.
The resort to lawlessness was no doubt prompted by the SC TRO, while Bravo and his likes try to apply pressure to the govt to give in and sign the MOA. This is my reading of the recent violence.
For those who are unfamiliar with this Mindanao trouble, it was the same Bravo who inflamed the Mindanao war in 2000, 2001 and 2003 that led to massive destruction there and loss of lives for both Muslims and Christians. While I sympathize with the Moros for their right to self-rule and claim to their ancestral land, I don’t think people will go with them if they use violent means to get what they want.
I believe talking is still the best option rather than shooting each other, as Bravo and his command propose. Forcing the issue of independence will only invite more violence, which Mr. Canana may probably realize. But I agree with him, dealing with the govt run by weak officials (or by those who claim to power is suspect) is gonna be a big problem not only now but also in the future.
This is a reality check that cool heads must always take rather than allow guns do the talking.
supremo on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 3:39 am
‘I wonder who the MILF’s mascot should be?’
Something short with a mole on the face.
grd on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 3:55 am
psi,
not a longtime resident of mindanao. yes, i live in davao but it was peace time already when i moved there. my recolection about ilagas and blackshirts/baraccuda tales from old folks is that these militias were formed by warring muslim and christian politcians and logging companies to counter each other.
i don’t think the black shirts/baraccudas (even led by gov ali dimaporo) has connection with the milf. they could have joined the mnlf later on when the fighting errupted between the govt and mnlf..
grd on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 3:58 am
so the military weakened from year 2000 to 2008?
oh yeah, i believe them.
UP n student on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 4:05 am
I agree with grd … That commander bravo and kato exposed the weakness of the milf leadership…. …. cannot control their own people…. and kato’s version of throwing a tantrum is village-burning, geography-cleansing, and murdering a two-year old girl to demonstrate their macho.
to d0d0ng: how would justify the murder of the two-year-old girl? because she was standing on ancestral domain?
d0d0ng on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 4:22 am
The anger of President Arroyo is understandable. Her billions of special funds that would fund her extended term ambitions is now going to the drain. She ordered several army divisions from Luzon flown into Mindanao as she has to deal with massive refugee problems.
In Estrada’s all out war in April 2000, the gov’t spent 1.8 billion in 3 months in direct cost, not including humanitarian cost, infrastructure and economic losses with 2 million people displaced.
It was estimated that 270 billions had been spent for the last 27 years in Mindanao conflict. That cost would spike with renewed hostilities in the south.
d0d0ng on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 4:26 am
“how would justify the murder of the two-year-old girl? because she was standing on ancestral domain?”
in the same way, atomic bombs are unjustifiable to kill millions…. but that is the way of conflict…. there is no difference if you one child or millions of japanese becomes collateral damage.
UP n student on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 4:42 am
d0d0ng: are you saying that the killing of the 2-year old is justifiable? Do you applaud the MILF commander responsible?
supremo on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 4:45 am
dOdOng,
‘there is no difference if you one child or millions of japanese becomes collateral damage’
The pilot of the Enola Gay dropped the the bomb on the enemy’s territory. The MILF goon killed an innocent unarmed child. Do you understand the difference?
d0d0ng on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 5:16 am
“are you saying that the killing of the 2-year old is justifiable? Do you applaud the MILF commander responsible?”
“The pilot of the Enola Gay dropped the the bomb on the enemy’s territory. The MILF goon killed an innocent unarmed child. ”
In war, the process varies but the aim is one and the same and deliver the message – we are ready to kill (innocent child or not) and be killed. War is always the last resort but it is a drawing board for peace.
d0d0ng on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 5:34 am
MILF has the momentum. It initiated a mini-war with its 2 commanders to provoke military response that will inflict larger disaster and draw international response which will can exert pressure on SC and Senators in comatose. So far, Manila is doing selective bomb droppings, hardly the MILF wanted but still enough just as Central government is going to bleed economically.
anthony scalia on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 7:20 am
Jove Francisco ended his piece with
“Lastly, we are not being arrogant and we are not saying we have all the right to cover everything and anything under the sun, but what happened inside the halls of the NEB, happened right before our eyes and we can’t just close our eyes and pretend it didn’t happen.
Because it did.”
I wanted to tell him “True, but do you have to report it? You don’t have to pretend it didn’t happen. But must you report it? Upload it to Youtube? You yourself admitted that you dont ‘have all the right to cover everything and anything under the sun..’ .”
Sabi nga ni Erap “Kayo nga ang mag-presidente”
(Why do I keep forgetting that:
a. there’s no such thing as a “detached-observer-journalist”
b. a journalist is more of a person who has to say something than a person who has something to say
c. the constitutional freedom of expression is the most cherished right of Pinoys, and the heck with self-restraint (especially if the topic is the most ‘popular’ president of all time) )
leytenian on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 7:27 am
Manolo,
with all due respect…
sorry to say… the content of all the links added in your recent blog is lacking substance. it doesn’t show passion, no opinion of solution but an opinion to create more division among our people. It is no longer educational.
The lack of civic duty and social responsibility in blogging will result to hatred and personal attack.
Professional Political blogging is neither an anti Gloria or Pro Gloria. The hope to educate and inspire thinking people to get involved in the events taking place around us is the most important.
Informing hungry people about Gloria’s temper on TV or other types of media will not result to peace…but actually adding more miseries to the very poor.
The risk of continued “rocking the boat” to sink to the bottom is now obvious.
anthony scalia on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 7:38 am
The MILF is plain and simple a rebel group. Islam is never a factor. What they’re doing is a disgrace to Islam.
Tama si Erap – all out war na dapat. Too bad gloria didnt follow through what Erap was working on
Maybe we are witnessing one unfortunate consequence of a sacred book that is available only in Arabic. Non-arabic readers are at the mercy of those who claim to read Arabic. No can can test the teaching and/or interpretation of those who can read in Arabic.
There should be a translation of the Koran into the native dialects of Muslim Pinoys.
leytenian on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 7:42 am
Jove’s Francisco is just an ordinary reporter. Nothing extraordinary… tsimis lang ang alam..
Ordinary to me is lacking experience due to immaturity of knowing what’s quality reporting.
I admire him for making me react to his blog but that’s all there is to it. It’s not educational to many especially the youth. Raise the bar for god sake and be a role model in your profession.
anthony scalia on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 8:10 am
leytenian,
it seems you’re singing a different tune now……….
leytenian on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 8:14 am
On reality check issue:
Clearly, most of Moro ancestral domain can no longer be restored. What forms of compensation can be offered instead of land? Compensation does not necessarily mean cash.
When do people recognize that violence is not accomplishing their goals? How can the government, Moros, and Christians in Mindanao be persuaded to do the right thing and fundamentally alter the narrative of Mindanao and of Moros in the Philippines?
What is at stake is not short-term interests, but the future of Moro and Christian children and the international reputation of Philippine government and society.
Solution: create a new generation with as little bias as possible. If this effort succeeds, the Moros will no longer feel like “strangers in their own homeland.” A transformed, stable, and prosperous Mindanao for all groups living in it can become reality.
Long term strategic solution has been implemented. Let’s be positive here.
Peace education to be included in public school curriculum: THURSDAY, JULY 24, 2008 | EDUCATION
http://www.gov.ph/news/?i=21625
The USAID basic education objective is focused on Mindanao, specifically the Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and neighboring conflict affected areas where educational quality is
exceptionally poor. It aims to improve access to quality education and provide livelihood skills for out-ofschool
youth by establishing community learning centers with flexible learning options.
http://www.usaid.gov/policy/budget/cbj2006/ane/pdf/ph492-011.pdf
justice league on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 8:45 am
Dodong,
Recognition of co-existence does not necessarily mean allowing the institutionalization of a class division.
If you were able to watch Manolo’s episode last week; much of his Muslim audience wanted to institutionalize a class division.
TonGuE-tWisTeD on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 8:54 am
leyteniean:
“Manolo,
with all due respect…
sorry to say… the content of all the links added in your recent blog is lacking substance. it doesn’t show passion, no opinion of solution but an opinion to create more division among our people. It is no longer educational. ”
Instead of lecturing us what an educational, “professional politcal blog” should be, why not make one yourself and educate us with these revolutionary ideas you think you can share?
Eureka, “creating a new generation with little bias” is the novel solution! So while a kid gets peace-educated, we should also brainwash him to pay no attention to his father who happens to be Eid Kabalu, or Ombra Kato, or any one among their thousands of followers, right?
That would be a good entry for your first blog post.
TonGuE-tWisTeD on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 9:05 am
anthony,
I agree, Islam is never a factor. But the opposite is what their propaganda declares. If they (MILF) really read their Koran, why then would they kill women and children including those of their own, not to forget even animals and trees! And I’ve heard it a million times – Koran is a religion of peace. Sure. But I don’t even know if there’s a Christian equivalent for “jihad”.
leytenian on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 9:08 am
tongue,
sorry tongue, I value education more than anything. the youth is the hope of our country. it’s their foundation…
for me blogging… I don’t need to. The long term solution has been implemented.
here’s the positive side of mindanao. the ripple effect of these investments will connect to my comment: “compensation does not necessarily mean cash..”
add the peace education for the youth and USaids but actually there’s more project for mindanao that most people are not aware.
here’s a positive news…
“MINDANAO investment generation kicked off strongly this year on a total of P3.1 billion worth of Board of Investment (BOI)-registered investments recorded for the first quarter, surpassing the P747-million mark during the same period last year. ”
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/zam/2008/07/24/bus/mindanao.1st.quarter.investments.reach.p3.1.b.html
for short term solution, the real men in this blog already have shared their solutions. some say, kill them all… some say… bomb the caves, some say… set up a US military base, some say, all out war….
for me…. i will leave it up to our MACHO military men …. let’s see if they are capable of implementing and negotiating peace… what’s their use anyway?
mlq3 on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 10:24 am
the plush toy is the inquirer mascot, goyito, the carabao.
KG on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 10:45 am
Leytenian,
maybe you are confusing passion with some other word, because
they do show passion.
so that peace education foundation is in florida,huh.
have you attended in any symposia or work shops?
so foreign assistance has been growing.
http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/un/pko/symposium0803/zainudin-malang.pdf.
“There is now a growing recognition especially from the international community,
of the important role that CSOs play in societal reconstruction.â€
JICA, for instance, have directly engaged the Bangsamoro Development Agency which was established
by agreement by both the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation
Front. They have also directly funded Moro NGOs. Previously, funding and assistance to communities
passed through institutions where Moros did not have an effective voice. Other agencies have also
followed suit. CIDA and USAID, have also undertaken a pro-active hiring of technocrats and
professionals from the Moro communities to occupy key responsible positions in their programs. Even
Asia Foundation, whose country chief is one of the presenters in the earlier sessions have adopted such
an approach.
The second positive development I have noticed is that those who are active in providing peace and
development aid are increasingly recognizing the fact that their economic interventions cannot be
divorced from the larger peace process. For instance, there was a concerted effort among all the aid
agencies last year to exert firm pressure on the government not to launch an all-out military offensive in
the areas where they have projects, in recognition of the fact that no peace and development assistance
can possibly succeed where there is widespread fighting. The peace process in Mindanao has a history
of 3 decades. That period was marked by frustration and false expectations. It is only recently when the
international community has taken a more direct and active participation that the peace process has
achieved substantial gains towards a sustainable resolution of the conflict. I am pleased to mention here
that Japan is one of those countries that have made substantial contributions to the peace process in
Mindanao. Let us hope the international community not only sustain but intensify its contribution to the
peace process.
for any civil war talk let me interest you with a six to seven year column of my dad:
Civil war talk
Plaridel C. Garcia
We are already a nation at war in a world at war. Since the end of the Cold War ten years ago, the world had more than 100 wars mostly intrastate. We have 3 of them, pre-dating even WWII and promising to last forever There is no active communist insurgency in the world except the Philippines and Nepal. There is hardly any Islamic separatist insurgency in the world aside from the Philippines except Indian Kashmir.
Communist insurgency did not die here as a piece dividend of the fall of Soviet Russia and the modernization of China. Ideological revisions and organizational defections even resorted in effective ambuscades of government troops by the NPA in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Its front organizations became even more effective with the democratic space that include more than equal time and space in the media and open parliamentary options. They extort for support and that is “revolutionary taxationâ€. The New Peoples Army roam the mountains and reportedly even Cavite and that is not “militarizationâ€. We are talking peace with them in a foreign country when it is not interrupted by assassinations of political leaders and charges of government violators of the peace talk terms. Jose Maria Sison spoke of protracted struggle even for a hundred years.
Mindanao separatist movements were older by centuries under Spain and America. It was energized by the Jabidah massacre, the resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism, the incorrigible excesses of Muslim and Christian leaders, and the protracted poverty. The military and the police may have their contributions to the crisis but they are the ones getting massacred by the dozens together with the innocent civilians. We managed to talk peace with the MNLF and failed with Misuari. We waged a “total war†with the MILF and overrun their “camps†but the armed formations are still talking peace when not interrupted by war incidents. In the family tree are the Abu Sayaf and Pentagon Kidnap Gangs that are on active notice by the world especially by the US/Bush administration.
Perhaps because we could not effectively agree on what to do with our armed conflicts and the rest of our “permanent wars†that we seem to be romancing a civil war. No less than the President said that at EDSA 2 the “tailspin towards civil war was avertedâ€. A tailspin is the rapid descent of an airplane nose down with tail in a spiral. At so-called EDSA 3, the “state of rebellion†is said to be by the “unwashedâ€. It was then a tailspin with the nose covered. The poor don’t a civil war make. Poverty was an essential condition but not sufficient. Neither is national disunity, disunities if you please. An effective division of the house, a civil war make. As Huntington said about revolutions, our problem is not an imminent civil war, but the capacity to wage one. The three most notable examples of a civil war may convince us that we do not belong to the league.
The American civil war was “the last war of gentlemenâ€. Ironically it was characterized by civility in its political leaders and sense of honor in its military.
The English civil war was between the monarchists and the parliamentarians. The cavalry of Cromwell praised the Lord and passed the ammunition. The cavaliers of Charles I praised the king and made passes on ladies of the court.
The Spanish civil war was between the Republicans and the Nationalists. The former included socialists, communists, Basque regionalists and anarchists. The latter included conservative Catholics and fascist Falangistas. The military was divided and General Franco won.
If we are not united behind our government in resolving our raging wars, those making war against it are not united either. That is why the outcome are not decisive either way. Too many fences make too many fence-sitters and too many walls provide targets to piss against.
Civil war soon or in the near future? Tell it to the Marines with a mouth shut wide!
Lastly a recent reasearch on the Lumads:
(unedited so ipra was mispelled as ipira)
Lumads in the ARMM/Expanded ARRM: The ancestors of the domain
Amidst the political noise and whispers on the so-called Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between GRP and MILF, a silence on the plight of the Lumads is deafening.
But there are Lumads in ARRM, particularly Maguindanao and Shariff Kabunsuan, that is home to three related etnic groups, namely the Teduray, the Dulangan Manobo, and the Lambangian Manobo. Given the possible expansion of the ARRM territory as rumored in the said MOA, there are also the Subanen in the Zamboanga Peninsula, the Higaunon on Iligan, Blaan and Tboli in the Cotabato area, and other tribes in Palawan.
For the uninitiated, “Lumad†is the Cebuano word for native or indigenous. Its equivalent in Tagalog is ‘Katutuboâ€. As such, they are the grand ancestors of the national domain.
The non-Muslim communities, at least representatives from 15 out of 18 major tribes in Mindanao, started using Lumad in 1986, as “their self-ascribed collective name as an integral part of their assertion of their right to self-determination’. (Rodil)
The history of their marginalization by colonial policy and later by government-sponsored resettlement or immigration in Mindanao was the same story among the minority groups in the rest of the Philippines where minority groups existed. (Horaldo) The great difference with other minority groups was that the Lumads were peace-loving people and did not resort to arms and violence in response to violence imposed on them.
Fast forward. From a history of marginalization ostensibly to hasten the assimilation or amalgamation of the non-Christians into the mainstream Filipino (which happen to be Christian) community, “special provinces†were formed rather than institutions to recognize the distinct cultural identity. In 1987, however, the Commission of National Integration (CNI) and the non-Christian groups were formally called National Cultural Minorities..
The operative term in government policy was national integration and continued to be so until 1971 for the Moros (through the Tripoli agreement) and 1987 for the Indigenous Peoples (IP) through the 1987 Constitution.
The 1987 Constitution seeks to recognize, promote, and protect the four basic rights of the IP, namely: Cultural integrity, self-governance and empowerment, social justice and human rights, and right to ancestral domain.
The enabling laws that embody government policies on IP and the Moro peoples respectively are: Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPIRA) in 1987 and RA 9054, the amended version of RA 6734 (ARMM organic law), as revised in 2001 as a result of the final agreement between GRP and MNLF in September 1996. Both laws set a definite direction towards self-determination, even if limited, or autonomy under the sovereignty of the state and with the integrity of the national territory.
With IPIRA, native title is recognized and the IP can now have their communal ancestral domains and lands titled. The good news is that after 10 years of implementation, the National Commission on IP has issued certificates of ancestral domain titles (CADT) and ancestral land titles (CALT) comprising 1,641,601 hectares benefiting 330,795 individuals. The Lumads are the ancestors of the national domain indeed.
But not in the ARMM. For the Moro peoples, already two of the three agenda of the peace process have been realized and the third agenda – the ancestral domain – is rumored to have been settled in the said MOA that is said to contain “the four strands of concept, territory, resources, and governance. For the IP, the case of the Teduray and the two Manobo tribes in the ARMM is very unusual and unfortunate.There is no law in the country, least of all in the ARMM (IPIRA being inoperative in the Muslim autonomous region) they can use to pursue their ancestral domain.
Likewise in the expanded ARRM. As said earlier, there are the Subanens in the Zambo peninsula; the Higaunan in Iligan; the Manobo, Blaan, and Tboli in the Cotabato area; and other tribes in Palawan.
And there is no clue that the ARRM intends to pass an organic law for the ancestral domain of the Lumads. Conflict is therefore inevitable.
In modern conflicts, Sir Rupert Smith in his book “The Utility of Force†a celebrated work in Europe in 2006, has this to say: “The unspoken but essential assumption on which democracy rests is that the minority trusts the majority not to take unreasonable advantage of their position. In many of the areas in which our modern conflicts have erupted, either the majority genuinely did not respect the rights of the minority, or else the minority perceived itself to be unfairly dealt with.â€
This is a message not only to the national Christian majority but also to the Muslim majority in the ARMM, because democracy is the rule of a majority that is concerned with the minority indeed.
cvj on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 1:02 pm
Tounge (at 9:05 am), ‘crusade’?
Karl (at 10:45 am), i see that you and your Dad have similar writing styles. He raises a good point about muddled civil war as compared to the examples he shares of the US, UK and Spanish civil wars.
Can you ask him then if we’re more related to what’s been happening in Somalia where the State disintegrated and various warlords took over?
hvrds on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 1:27 pm
The most serious of Civil Wars occurred all over Europe during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries that eventually metamorphosed into two world wars in the last century.
Even before the defeat of the British by the colonists in the U.S., the French had suffered a disastrous defeat at the hands of the British.
Putting a democratic slant on evolving tribes in the Philippines context would be a stretch since as the word implies tribes implies communal central governance around a chief or Datu.
Even the word citizen which came from the word city would be an alien construct with tribes.
Europe and other countries had hundreds of years of evolving feudal communities that had already forms of representative governments.
The tribes in Las Isla Filipinas are far removed from that stage.
More than even sociologists you would need anthropological experts for these kind of problems.
One country with part of the country integrated with the outside world, one part still in primitive agricultural conditions and the other part in primitive tribal conditions. socially.
Now try putting in national policies to fit all three….
john marzan on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 1:29 pm
i tried finding photos of the goyito plushie on google. wala.
Sonny Fernandez on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 2:09 pm
Anthony, I first heard it on the radio, then it was reported on tv but only after the tv reporters reported about the milf statement of the president. I guess it is not fair to question why jove had to air it. Unang una, ang may final say kung ano ang eere at hindi ay ang producers niya sa TV. Lets say, if he didn’t advise that story to us, malamang mapapagalitan siya o ma-reprimand ng mga boss. The next day, the papers came up with stories about the incident. I saw his actual tv report. It was, in a word, fair. He just used the outburst issue near the end of the report for added context. Nasa youtube din ang report kasama ang mga report ng dos, nadia’s I think. Also that of gma7. Interestingly they all didn’t use the outburst as the main story. And with all due respects Anthony, duon sa kwestyon na “did he have to report it?”, ang sagot ay yes. I saw the actual report on TEN over at TV5. And based on the incidents concerning the president BEFORE the outburst, the public needs to know what is happening to the president, especially if it concerns her state of mind and state of health. Ilang araw wala sa mata ng tao si Gloria bago ang outburst na iyan, we must remember that.
Now about the comment na tsismis lang ang alam ni jove. I am his former producer over at ABC5 (i’m now working for another network). That’s a sweeping statement that is totally false. We’ve (kami na nasa singko nuon at mga nanunuod na lang nayon sa singko) seen him work since the time of FVR and he never filed a “rumor†story. Nuong panahon ni Erap, siya ang nag expose ng supposed link ng kamag anak ni Erap sa book scam, among other expose stories about that admin. Sa present administration, he served as our insider in the palace, mula sa pag take over nila Gloria kapalit ni Erap, hanggang nuong Gloriagate kunsaan saksi siya duon sa mga CD ni Bunye at mga tumamang kudeta sa Pangulo. Wala pa naman siyang binalita na di supported by facts and video. Ako na magsasabi na di lulusot na umere yan sa programa ko nuon kung di suportado ng facts. Karamihan nasasaksihan talaga nila ng team niya sa palasyo. Di ko mawari kung saan nakuha ni Leytenian ang impression niya, pero sana nanunuod siya ng reports bago siya gumawa ng ganiyang nakakasirang komento.
Rocky on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 2:21 pm
Sus, ganyan naman talaga eh, laging shoot the messenger. Tatawa tawa lang ang palasyo na may sumisira sa mga palace reporters na laging nakakasaksi sa mga kabulustagang ginagawa nila. Pwede ba, old style na iyan, bistado na! Yan din naman ginagawa pag sinisira ang ibang institusyon. Para ang bumango ay ang nakaupo. Magagawa na nila lahat gusto nila. Style nyo bulok!
manuelbuencamino on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 2:21 pm
anthony scalia,
Jove’s piece on Gloria ! It made me laugh. Ot’s called infotainment and there’s nothing wrong with covering what is called the lighter side.
Besides it adds a another dimension to Gloria’s image. Now we know she’s not only a troll, she’s also a bitchy troll.
manuelbuencamino on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 2:28 pm
Anthony,
If I were Jove I would have titled the segment on Gloria’s tantrum – “Tempest in the chamberpot”
manuelbuencamino on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 2:30 pm
Amthony,
And was it not fun to watch her eunuchs scrambling around the chamberpot looking for her prompter?
Liam Tinio on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 3:57 pm
the ‘issue’ on whether or not it was appropriate to report PGMA blowing her top off is in itself a not-so-big issue..
the bigger issue is that there is an audience who finds it worth their time to listen/watch a report like that..
too bad that the people, and the reporter, is trying to get it isolated from the context of the Lanao raid..
nash on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 4:02 pm
Wow, if pampangueno is the Professional Regulatory Commission,
Leytenian is now the MTRCB “…..It’s not educational to many especially the youth.” Naks.
Si Anthony Scalia naman is lost… “But must you report it? Upload it to Youtube?”….Duh, youtube is a FREE video sharing site, no one is forcing you to go there. Turn off your computer.
cheers
PSI on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 4:10 pm
By Jove! Leytenian, you’ve touched some raw nerves there.
Anyway, to Anthony and Liam: almost all journalists are looking to scoop unguarded moments like those. The most rabid, the Americans, where serious monments could be truened into a Comedy Central: Bush-capades, the open microphones, etc.
nash on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 4:12 pm
“there is an audience who finds it worth their time to listen/watch a report like that..”
Isa pa itong Liam boy na napaka-presumptious.
Duh, in the online world, there is such a thing called “CLUSTERING”… online commentators (that’s us, look in the mirror) gravitate towards the topics that interests them
…so who is to say this is the only thing the audience finds worthy of their time…(baka nagbabasa rin sila ng FT along with pep.ph)
BrianB on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 4:41 pm
“Now try putting in national policies to fit all three….”
Failure of liberal concepts like considerations for “hundreds of years of evolving feudal communities that had already forms of representative governments” is obvious. Universal liberties of men (and women) need to be established, even if it means they’re all assumptions (Manolo;s favorite word, I’ve heard). A civil philosophy based on secular ethics should be imposed to all members and visitors of the state.
Rocky on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 4:44 pm
Liam, watch the actual report of jove (and the other palace tv reporters’ reports on youtube also) … i don’t think the reporter(s) were isolating the MILF or Lanao issue from the incident. It was even their “lead”. Hindi kaya tayo lang kasi ang nag focus sa outburst issue, tapos sila ang nakita nating mali ang ginagawa? When in all fairness, they actually touched on the more pressing issue?
J on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 5:14 pm
Leytenian, being someone with the audacity to insult a veteran malacanang reporter so bluntly, I find it hard to believe you value education over anything else when you yourself can neglect being educated with your statements.
“Create a new generation with as little bias as possible”
This seems to be a solution that has no proper measure, yes?
It is true, the future rests with the youth. Yes, educate them as much as we can about peace, love, unity, and what not, but to my opinion, we should never teach them to turn their backs on what is wrong around them.
Being educated doesn’t seem to go hand in hand with being numb…at least that’s how i feel about it.
PSI on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 7:32 pm
‘Crame sends shotguns to villagers in danger areas’ – Manila Standard
“THE government is sending 1,000 shotguns to Mindanao to arm ‘‘auxiliary police,’’ who will help defend villages against invading members of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front.”
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=news2_aug21_2008
‘National Police spokesman Chief Supt. Nicanor Bartolome said the auxiliary police, which have yet to be recruited, would be similar to militiamen that the Armed Forces arm and train.’
grd,
Thanks for the info on the Blackshirts. Are the above guns for the ‘Ilagas’?
BrianB on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 7:49 pm
Shotguns are only to scare the MILF not to kill them. It has maybe twenty feet of range. But at least with shotguns, the moros won’t find hacking innocents that tempting anymore.
BrianB on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 8:01 pm
So what do you guys think of my theory that this BJE catastrophe was a ploy to get the US and other interested countries off our backs on the Mindanao issue?
UP n student on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 8:15 pm
The Muslim leadership for the BJE states that they are for peace and that they will be capable leaders over a large geographic area that includes a large number of lumads and Christians. A sign of good-faith on their part will be to for them to immediately disarm Kato and Bravo.
I don’t think “disarm Kato and Bravo” will happen because Kabalu-and-company’s cause benefits from the deaths and village-burning that these 2 commanders inflict. Just as important, Kabalu-and-company are weak leaders unable to control these “lost commands”.
anthony scalia on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 8:40 pm
nash,
“Si Anthony Scalia naman is lost… “But must you report it? Upload it to Youtube?â€â€¦.Duh, youtube is a FREE video sharing site, no one is forcing you to go there. Turn off your computer.
cheers”
haay naku. iho, sablay ka na naman, as always.
ikaw ang lost. Should Jove have to upload it to YouTube? does a journalist have to report anything and everything? – yun ang puntirya ko
Oh yes, i dont have to go http://www.youtube.com, as i saw the clip in Jove’s web site already (and can watch it all over again there if i want to)
***yawn***
***turns off PC***
Jeers
anthony scalia on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 8:46 pm
manuelbuencamino,
“Jove’s piece on Gloria ! It made me laugh.”
actually, me too
“Ot’s called infotainment and there’s nothing wrong with covering what is called the lighter side.”
yeah, there’s nothing wrong, but the reporter is not obliged to print/air it.
“Besides it adds a another dimension to Gloria’s image. Now we know she’s not only a troll, she’s also a bitchy troll.”
agreed
“If I were Jove I would have titled the segment on Gloria’s tantrum – “Tempest in the chamberpot†”
buti na lang you’re not Jove!
“And was it not fun to watch her eunuchs scrambling around the chamberpot looking for her prompter?”
agreed
nash on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 9:25 pm
“does a journalist have to report anything and everything? – yun ang puntirya ko”
Is a journalist NOT allowed to have personal life outside of the field? Kaya nga sa youtube niya inapload at hindi sa news site ano.
the last time i checked, you tube is NOT a news site so Jove is not reporting the news! It’s a video sharing site.
pwede ba
jcc on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 10:02 pm
what a waste of digital space. as they say, if you don’t want the show, turn off your tv. but in the case of a blog where some real gems could be found, it is hard to turn of your pc off and deny yourself of those gems though you have to wade through a ton of garbage to find them… but this is democracy where everyone should not be faulted for being comic, but when GMA made a comic act we easily responded with our own infotainment and comickry, and the sad part, we do not even notice them.
case of double standard?
UP n student on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 10:05 pm
to Sonny Fernandez as you defend Jove and Manila-based newsbroadcasters (and YouTube posters)…. maybe the disenchantment of a few Pinoys is that they want are hungry for information and coverage of the MILF’s rampage — (i) what is happening to those displaced by the village burning, (ii) that Kabalu-and-company leadership protects Bravo and Kato; (iii) govt-Pinas military actions; (iv) lumads… please, show a story about what is happening to the other tribes, (v) what does the foreign diplomatic corps think of what is going on, (iv) the 2-year old murdered.
PSI on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 10:16 pm
The last ten days saw the resurgence of terrorist acts worlwide: Algeria, Afghanistan, Lebanon, today Pakistan to name a few. All have been blamed to Islamist extremists.
The timing of the MILF’s own atrocious acts was accidental, or not: in the name of the political Islam.
PSI on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 11:05 pm
“We are already a nation at war in a world at war.” Plaridel Garcia, courtesy of KG
The Philippine government will surely confront yet a big disaster: if while fighting a seccesionist war in Mindanao, an unexpected global war breaks out in the Middle East given the Filipino migrant worker disapora in that part of the world:
Saudi Arabia – 2,000,000; UAE – 450,000; Kuwait – 150,000; Qatar – 60,000; Bahrain – 40,000; Israel – 40,000
It’s a scary thought.
frombelow on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 11:35 pm
Anthony Scalia
“ikaw ang lost. Should Jove have to upload it to YouTube? does a journalist have to report anything and everything? – yun ang puntirya ko”
Hijo, journ 11. A journalist covering a public official, ,nay, a prominent figure should report anything and everything. Ano ka ba?
anthony scalia on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 12:02 am
“pwede ba”
talagang ‘pwede ba’!
you still miss my point – why does he have to report it? upload it there? (though i enjoyed it)
“Is a journalist NOT allowed to have personal life outside of the field?”
????????????????????
in case you haven’t noticed, Jove wasnt in the clip. so its not Jove’s very own ‘personal life’ that was meant to be shared with the rest of the earth with net access
further, in case you have not noticed, Jove was able to record the clip because he’s a Malacañang reporter. in other words, he got the clip while in the line of official duty
“the last time i checked, you tube is NOT a news site so Jove is not reporting the news! It’s a video sharing site.”
korek!!!!!!
however, you may want to visit “By Jove” and read the text just below the video window in the middle of his post on gloria’s antics,
“Video grab of my news report for TEN The Evening News at TV5 (10:30-11:00PM M-F)”
sa madaling sabi – pang report at naireport na nya ang clip! its an official news clip! that was later uploaded to Youtube!
kaya ‘pwede ba’ is really more suited to you my friend
anthony scalia on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 12:12 am
frombelow,
“Hijo, journ 11. A journalist covering a public official, ,nay, a prominent figure should report anything and everything. Ano ka ba?”
hello?! “anything” and “everything”?!?
its obvious “ethics in journalism” must be higher journalism (journalism 99 perhaps) and not journ 11
kaya “ano ka ba” is really more suited to you. iho
anthony scalia on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 12:40 am
Sonny Fernandez,
you are in media, so understandable yang comment mo.
self-restraint is never a trait of Pinoy journalists.
medyo understandable pa if the ‘outbursts’ were in the midst of an intense meeting of the national security council or cabinet meeting, then that qualifies sa “the public needs to know what is happening to the president, especially if it concerns her state of mind and state of health”
but ‘outbursts’ due to petty mundane things? does the public need to know that still? the only reasons for airing that is it will grab viewers and ‘we have to air it ahead of the other stations!’
PSI on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 12:49 am
So PGMA was caught ‘off-camera’ being mataray. So, what’s the big fuss???Presidents are humans too; with real emotions.
As I said above, the Bush-capades: calling a reporter a SOB, tellng off the Iranian leader, calling Hillary Clinton a bitch, etc. If you try to find out all presidential gaffes and outbursts, you will be amazed.
Common, Mr. Jove! As you claim that you have covered PGMA that long, you could have been more understanding. And these blog posts:
“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.”
Now, I realize that journalists who get official accreditation as reporters should be limited in their blogging.
Readers beware (caveat emptor): in this world, there’s so much Schadenfreude, the German word for deriving pleasure from others’ misfortunes.
UP n student on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 1:15 am
There is a lesson about Jove……… . . . If you have not learned it yet, know it now…. Jove is a voyeur… be around him at our own risk.
UP n student on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 1:16 am
Jove… a voyeur…. be around him at your own risk..
UP n student on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 1:30 am
and then, there is d0d0ng. Seek another, not d0d0ng, as babysitter….. dod0ng likely to offer your 2-year-old as sacrifice to his friends who seek ancestral domain, then explain the event to you as “…. the way his community does things…. your loss simply a cost of doing business”.
grd on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 1:31 am
it’s like a reality tv show ala pinoy big brother… nangyari sa bahay ni ate. baligtad lang ang eksena… sa halip na si ate ang kumukuha ng video, siya yung kunukunan ng bisita.
Inday on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 2:08 am
kung makapag react kayo kala nyo alam nyo ang nangyayari sa mindanao! well good for those who had first hand experience pero most of you are not. you are either on your couch or at the comforts of your home while people in mindanao are running for their lives!
cheeeeeeeeeeeeeh!@!!!!!!$@#%$^%&*
J on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 3:38 am
PSI:
I agree with you that the president is still only human…but the president of our country nonetheless. Though all the reasons for her outburst are shady, I believe integrity is a prerequisite in being the leader of a nation. And in this instance, I think our president was quite lacking.
As per Jove should’ve been more understanding, maybe…but I remember last year’s SONA when our president ended with “a president can be as strong as she wants to be” (or something to that effect) seeing her outburst, you’d have to wonder, was that a sign of weakness or exercising how strong-armed she could be?
I’m not a journalist, a reasearcher, or someone all knowing. Just an average Joe keeping myself informed of where our nation is headed. Did seeing her “vulnerability” deem informative to me? Yes it did. At least now I know that the leader of our nation can bare claws and fangs when things aren’t going as planned.
I’m just afraid that that same exhibit of anger could incite enough obedience from other people to do what she wants regardless of what it is.
Ok, I’m in danger of going off topic, but I hope you get my point.
UP n student:
Hmmm…voyeur is defined as someone taking sexual pleasure from observing naked bodies in a hidden location. Maninilip kumbaga. If you feel that showing GMA’s anger is connected to something sexual, I am astounded by your…uh….unorthodox way of thinking.
If you’re aiming for the reason that this seems like obsessive reporting, or maybe a covert operation of sorts…be reminded that Jove’s job IS to follow the president around and observe her.
Besides, the president knew that there were cameras on her, and not just Jove’s, yet she still exhibited such behavior. That alone defies the very definition of being a voyeur.
The president is a public figure. ‘nuf said.
Honestly, it’s easy to hide behind an online nickname and throw flames and sometimes the most outrageous criticisms on a person. See things as YOU see them, and don’t act like it’s already a scientific law just because that’s how you feel.
It saddens me that blogging is sometimes tainted by “omniscience” when it should be simply accounts from the points of view of people on their experiences. Yes, a person’s point of view.
Whoopie-f’ing-doo…isn’t that what these journalists are doing with their blogs?
J on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 4:06 am
anthony scalia:
Uhmm, The Evening News on tv5 airs at 10:30pm…so I doubt Jove was aiming to be the first to air it.
Does the public need to know or see the president’s outburst? Who knows? I wanted to see it for my own reasons…you saw it distasteful for your own reasons…I don’t think none of us know what the rest of the public thinks of it. I’m not saying that what the public thinks is immaterial to journalists, but you can never know or conclude what others may think about a particular report. It could be good to me, but bad for you…and vice versa.
I believe these journalists deal with this conflict with each of their stories…else, if you want to play it safe, you won’t need journalists…just a cameraman.
Petty mundane things…a missing studio prompter didn’t seem like a petty mundane thing to the president. Though it is to you…are you implying that the president is wrong to be mad that the taping of her important statement about what’s happening in Mindanao was delayed by such a petty mundane thing? Hmmmm….
Hey…the reporters did mention that her wrath came out when the taping of her important statement got delayed. I think you focused on the fact that her anger was shown on tv too much and neglect to take into consideration the other factors and details surrounding what happened.
It was an important presidential statement to tape wasn’t it?
UP n student on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 4:15 am
to BrianB: the 12-gauge shotgun is deadly effective. in fact, it was used for jungle warfare (by Brits against Malay communists and by GI’s in Vietnam).
#1-buckshot has ten 7.60mm (.30-cal) pellets — each pellet packs more energy than a 357-magnum.
Deadly for 10-meters or less…. effective even at 20- to 30-meters…. But you have to practice if you hit your target.
grd on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 4:57 am
psi,
i really don’t know if those guns are for the ilagas. i’m not an expert with guns and have not fired one actually, but i don’t think shutguns can match the high-powered weapons of the milf. maybe in a way it can deter attacks but more problem if they are used against civilians. i really hope it will not come to that… back to the 70’s.
supremo on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 5:01 am
KG,
‘“special provinces†were formed rather than institutions to recognize the distinct cultural identity’
Is your father suggesting that instead of having a Tboli territory, we should just have an office like a Tboli Development Authority and course all resources through that agency? I think that is agood idea.
jcc on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 5:23 am
everyone was putting in his five-cents worth on the way the malacanang press relations office bungled up the press con by GMA. Mostly say it was unpresidential, and some called it “Tempest in a Teapot”, whatever that means.
i would say that GMA acted more presidential. i would have fired my entire press corps and every one wearing barong tagalog in that room for their ineptness and incompetence if i were the president. imagine calling the president in the room where she has to address the media without all the sound/teleprompter in place ! ! !
leytenian on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 5:24 am
On Reality Check:
“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.”
there’s something wrong with the comparison. France is in Europe and Algeria is: there’s a huge continental barrier to use as comparison for independence. this do not apply to the moros…
To learn from other countries, the link below is a good a read: Ancestral Domain in Comparative Perspective. This may provide each one of us to understand our role as filipinos or moros.
http://doc.operationspaix.net/serv1/USIP_Ancestral_Domain_2005-09_-3.pdf
leytenian on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 5:59 am
jcc,
I agree, I would fire jove francisco first for putting almost everyone in that room at risk of losing their jobs for being so disorganize.
why upload in youtube? she is still our president. Don’t he/ they have any respect left? even to the media’s reputation? That youtube upload is embarrassing to the world. Our reputation has never been protected by the media..
That was not necessary. Reporting it on local TV maybe appropriate but people don’t believe on those biases anymore. We have a PEACE issue.
Where’s ethics, professionalism, civic duty and social responsibility. Are these skills sacrificed due to too much freedom of speech and taking it for granted? which is which? what’s left among us filipinos? who’s really representing us? the politicians? or the media owned or manipulated by elites? or it’s really just us?
maganding gabi po…
KG on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 8:10 am
John
“The total Islamized population of Mindanao
was estimated at 39.29 percent in 1903; but only 20.17 percent in 1975. The total Lumad population
was 22.11 percent in 1903; and only 6.86 percent in 1975…”
Meron akong stats nakuha sa UNDP isabit ko na din ang ibang stat. me napansin ako tungkol sa percentage of muslims.
Mukhang ang bilis naman nabawan from 1900 to 1903 ang pecentage dahil kaya ito ke pershing?
http://hdr.undp.org/docs/network/PhilHDR2005_Launch.htm
Estimated number of displaced people due to the Mindanao conflict since the 1970s: 2,000,000
Percent of people in Mindanao who were Moro in 1900: 76
Percent who were Moro in 2000: 18
Percentage of major Muslim tribes who now live in areas outside their ancestral homelands: 20-30
=============================================
CVj,
if that was a compliment, thanks.
no chance to ask him bout somalia,pero I tried .
ako me sariling opinion:
somailia has a central government, albeit weak.
if you are implying that their wars are US financed,because that is the info I got from the web.
tayo parang ganun na din because we cannot modernize using our own resoures. we have yet to implement our modernization law, but we aint got the money.
before we allocated 333 billion for modernization if I am not mistaken for fifteen years, that makes it 22 Billion a year ,again if I am not mistaken. No can Do. walang congressman o senator na papayag.
They even reduced it to 250 Billion.
That modernization law also says that we rely on Filipino technology:not feasible.
sidenote:where are the proceeds from the ft. boni sale?
So what we have left is to appreciate foreign assistance from US , Australia and the others.
for our AFP lets take the year 2002
the budget for afp/dnd was 69 B subtract 22 B taken from pension of retirees and vets that leaves you 47B
then subtact salriea and allowances of active personnel that leaves you 16 Billion
16 billion to operate afp/dnd yearly is not enough,IMHO
what is ou fallback, we say don’t worry help is on the way!
=========================================
Supremo,
thanks, as well
My own opinion.
I think by giving them provinces and bahala na sila sa buhay nila instead of an instituting them; is not giving them importance.when you institute them you recognize them.
Lalo yatang lumabo
frombelow on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 8:39 am
Anthony Scalla
“its obvious “ethics in journalism†must be higher journalism (journalism 99 perhaps) and not journ 11″
I will send you a copy of the “Ethics in Jounalism” being “practised” by local and western journalist and you will be surprised to know that a journalist is actually violating the Ethics if “he will not do” what Jove did.
Journ 11. Wala namang journ 99. Ano ka ba ?
hvrds on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 8:48 am
The whole world is treated to what Jacob Weisberg calls Bushism’s. Slate the online magazine owned by the Washington Post even has a link to a collection of the precious quotes of W.
At the bottom is one of my favorites. You will need audio to listen to it.
What Francisco did was excellent reporting and he added his personal commentary.
http://politicalhumor.about.com/cs/georgewbush/a/top10bushisms.htm
http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/blbushism-uniquelyamerican.htm
At least Bush exposes himself to the press and takes questions.
GMA is soooooo paranoid that she communicates one way in a pre-programmed manner to the people.
That is not communicating that is propaganda and consistently trying to create what they believe people should know…. Never worked and never will work…
Many here love to talk about the practice of managing government in much the same way as one would manage business.
That is an egregious error. Business has only one rationale sustaining profits.
In modern societies, governments role is mediating and arbitrating the differing conflicting selfish interests of the people within the community.
Hence the so called chief executive of the state have to be cognizant of the intended and unintended consequences of how they communicate.
Just read the interesting article on Marcos and his trusted generals in today’s Inquirer concerning Ninoy.
This MOA-AD fiasco can be traced to incompetence at the very top.
She had to backtrack as she herself did not comprehend that one of her main support groups -the LGU’s were united in their opposition to this aborted agreement when it became known to them.
cvj on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 10:00 am
Karl, you’re welcome. Yes, on Somalia, i was referring to the dominance of warlords (with a weak central authority). And no, I was not referring to US funding as i did not know that Somalia’s wars were US financed.
anthony scalia on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 10:49 am
frombelow,
“I will send you a copy of the “Ethics in Jounalism†being “practised†by local and western journalist and you will be surprised to know that a journalist is actually violating the Ethics if “he will not do†what Jove did”
please email it to jakethesnake_gregthehammer@yahoo.com
“Journ 11. Wala namang journ 99. Ano ka ba ?”
i wrote “journ 99 perhaps.” so its either wala ngang subject na ethics in journalism or the course number for it isn’t journ 99.
Ano ka ba?
UP n student on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 10:50 am
The MILF website luwaran is complaining about Nur Misuari MNLF and that Misuari . . . who is now against the inclusion of ARMM areas in the proposed Bangsamoro Juricical Entity
anthony scalia on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 11:04 am
J,
“Uhmm, The Evening News on tv5 airs at 10:30pm…so I doubt Jove was aiming to be the first to air it.”
oh really? you doubt? if Jove aired the clip the following day, an eternity has passed. obviously you’re not in media
” “Does the public need to know or see the president’s outburst? Who knows? I wanted to see it for my own reasons…you saw it distasteful for your own reasons…I don’t think none of us know what the rest of the public thinks of it. I’m not saying that what the public thinks is immaterial to journalists, but you can never know or conclude what others may think about a particular report. It could be good to me, but bad for you…and vice versa.”
Right. The ‘holy grail’ of journalism, “the right of the public to know.” Actually it really means “i think the public would want to know this and i’d be given a bonus if my outfit will be the first to air it! Imagine the number of viewership!”
“I believe these journalists deal with this conflict with each of their stories…else, if you want to play it safe, you won’t need journalists…just a cameraman.”
maybe you should tell that to Jove
“Petty mundane things…a missing studio prompter didn’t seem like a petty mundane thing to the president. Though it is to you…are you implying that the president is wrong to be mad that the taping of her important statement about what’s happening in Mindanao was delayed by such a petty mundane thing? Hmmmm….”
my friend, we are talking about the reporting/coverage the outburst of the President on mundane things. not on the right of the President to be upset and let out an outburst per se (in short, the right of the President to be human) Hmmmmmmm
“Hey…the reporters did mention that her wrath came out when the taping of her important statement got delayed. I think you focused on the fact that her anger was shown on tv too much and neglect to take into consideration the other factors and details surrounding what happened.”
in case you have not noticed, a considerable time elapsed from the ‘outbursts’ to the actual announcement of gloria. the ‘outburst’ was given a separate treatment. it would have been different if the ‘outburst’ took place during the conduct of a presscon (something which took place in the past a few times)
“It was an important presidential statement to tape wasn’t it?”
for you
UP n student on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 11:09 am
to TNT:
whoWhom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.anthony scalia on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 11:10 am
trinitrotoluene,
“Yes. its quite obvious the scalias and the UPn lakwatsa studes do not know what they’re talking about.”
it takes one to know one, my friend
“Jove is light years away in terms of accomplishments and degree of commitment…”
****falls from seat and almost chokes on frapuccino****
“.. these guys can’t even get out of their nooky corners, just probably to eat and sleep.”
speaking from experience, eh?
“Guys, before you mouth off, make sure you’re doing something worthwhile also and get out of your mothers’ house…”
speaking from experience, eh?
one unsolicited advice –
iho, don’t desecrate manolo’s blog with comments such as what you wrote. yang mga ganyang tenor, bagay na bagay sa ellentordesillas.com. doon ka na lang
leytenian on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 11:33 am
trinitrotoluene,
on randam na randam, yes randam ko na hindi lang si Gloria.. private investors too.
towards the end of your article , it says…
“Against these big negative numbers, private domestic investment growth has so far saved the day. Luckily for us, they have been large enough to more than offset the drop in government construction and FDI. Have private Filipino investors suddenly become much more confident of our economic prospects, then? I see no reason why this would be so.”
PROSPECT?
In 2006 there was RISKY BUSINESS, Crisis brewing in the Philippines ( Mindanao)
“The threat is very serious if you look at recent events, the intention of enemy forces, their collaborating with affiliates all around the region, and their technical skills, especially in bomb-making, their tradecraft skills.”
“This arbitrage was a significant factor behind the sharp appreciation of the peso, especially against the yen, in 2005. In addition to banks, foreign investors also targeted short-term domestic fixed-income securities in 2005. In the first quarter of 2006, heavy foreign portfolio and domestic bank arbitrage inflows continued.”
On your investment drought: Our constitution is not FDI friendly. ChaCha can be the answer. Amend those policies made by the old generation elites.
leytenian on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 11:34 am
sorry: here’s the link…for Risky Business
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/HH24Ae02.html
banter on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 11:36 am
suddenly, jove, the supposed unknown and common reporter from the third rate channel is worth all your time, he must really be scaring the shit out of the powers that be.
UP n student on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 11:39 am
Today, I learned something new. Who would have thought there are Jove groupies????
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.
hvrds on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 11:42 am
The Free Press, LBJ and the Tet Offensive………..
Most of the pundits in this blog were probably not yet born when the Tet Offensive occurred during the Vietnam War.
That was when the messenger became the news. Walter Cronkite and the pictures of LBJ following the offensive was all that was necessary for the public and even the enemy then to think that the war was lost. The Vietnamese lost that series of battles but that was the turning point of the war. After the battle for the citadel at Hue, the marines started calling Charlie, Mr. Charlie…
The entire swagger and demeanor of LBJ from the early times of the war to that year was gone….All in color.
He then announced that he was not running for reelection after his landslide win earlier.
The leader of the so called free world appeared defeated.
Naturally Nixon then had to come in and raise the bar, so to speak of warfare, and started bombing Hanoi, shipping into their harbor and Cambodia. All for the U.S. to withdraw with the slogan peace with honor.
In a car show GMA announced a shift in policy with the MILF. No talks without laying down arms…. What that means is simply give up your armed struggle or else……
This fiasco has seriously damaged whatever she has left in credibility.
We shall see if this could prove to be a fatal wound …
Maybe the severed heads of Kato and Bravo would satisfy the blood thirst in the short term.
Let us see.
UP n student on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 11:56 am
My understanding is that both Kato and Bravo had for many now been challenging (disrespecting????) the old-guys of the MILF leadership…. maybe an MILF-sponsored hatchet-job results in the severed heads.
leytenian on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 11:59 am
A positve perspective in addition to UP n.. comment on
http://www.quezon.ph/1957/berserkers-and-a-breather/#comment-922776
“Forty-one Muslim religious leaders among them ulama and scholars have appealed for peace and justice in Mindanao amidst the seeming escalation of the renewed fighting between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).”
http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2008/08/21/MAIN20080821133039.html
KG on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 12:12 pm
“as i did not know that Somalia’s wars were US financed.”
maybe they were ,and maybe they were not.
but washington posts says so.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/16/AR2006051601625_pf.html
one thing sticks to my mind:
The movie:Blackhawk Down
cvj on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 12:31 pm
Thanks for the link Karl, since you’re closer to military circles, it would be interesting to know the current National Security threat assessment concerning the scenario where the Philippine state dissolves into a collection of warlord enclaves. Non-confidential info of course.
PSI on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 12:33 pm
grd,
Whether by their renegade or lost commands, the MILF pushed it to the edge:
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/115456/Arming-civilians-in-Mindanao-would-be-disastrous—AI
“Local political leaders in Iligan City, Lanao del Norte and North Cotabato led efforts to form civilian militias after the MILF attacks that killed at least 30 people in Lanao del Norte alone, said Amnesty International. ”
“A militia group called “God Save Iligan City” has been set up by 300 licensed gun owners, politicians and local government officials in Iligan City, said Amnesty International.”
“Meanwhile, North Cotabato local patrons reportedly supplied guns and ammunitions to Civil Volunteer Organization (CVO) forces despite local security officials’ alleged rejection of Vice Governor Emmanuel Piñol’s request to provide ammunition for civilian militia. ”
Do you now know have similar CVOs in Davao?
UP n student on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 12:38 pm
Condoleeza Rice just gave McCain a soft push towards the White House. Obama’s big-issue (when US troops leave Iraq) has been muddled up. US State Dept and Iraqi-leadership agrees on 2011 troop withdrawal date (one year (not 7 years nor a hundred years) longer than Obama’s wiishful target).
siquijor on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 12:49 pm
the strategy is quite obvious. since the gloriagate days, we’ve embraced jove’s insider pov and his knack for reading the body language of officials. suddenly, some people here are criticizing him for continuing to do the same. when he exposed the supposed cabinet coup in his blog (doves and hawks), during the heady days of the i am sorry scandal, nobody cried foul. maybe because in a way the story benefited the queen? it is very obvious, these people just want him out of the way and irrelevant, so their queen will continue with her crimes. tsk tsk, di naman kami tanga para di iyan mahalata.
banter on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 12:51 pm
Exactly! And now they want Jove, FIRED??? Whoa! Apektado talaga sila sa supposed common reporter from a third rated network ah?
Madonna on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 1:51 pm
very obvious in the clip… way too many underlings to fix a very simple problem — a prompter and prepare the La Gloria’s media set
just one or two staff could have taken care of the glitch… but we see a dozen or so dazed and scared puppies moving hither and dither terrorized by Gloria’s tantrum
gma i think knowingly throwed a temper tantrum for effect…. and to deflect the seriousness of the problem in mindanao…
i diagreed with jove francisco.. the troll bitch was in full control of the medium and the subtle message… this is how propaganda works…
some manipulative gaslighting going on in the anger display… i.e. “not my fault on what’s going on in mindanao… it’s the fault of my underlings..”.
RE: guyito mascot… i wonder where we can buy the cute teddy carabao..
J on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 2:08 pm
anthony scalia:
“the only reasons for airing that is it will grab viewers and ‘we have to air it ahead of the other stations!”
“oh really? you doubt? if Jove aired the clip the following day, an eternity has passed. obviously you’re not in media”
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.
Obviously you’re not in media. If you are, you probably don’t deserve to be there.
“Right. The ‘holy grail’ of journalism, “the right of the public to know.†Actually it really means “i think the public would want to know this and i’d be given a bonus if my outfit will be the first to air it! Imagine the number of viewership!—
I was talking about whatever the public thinks of a story, you can never generalize. Try reading and understanding the post.
First to air it? Tapos ang tinitira mo si Jove from tv5? Hahaha. If you have so little faith in journalists…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.
“my friend, we are talking about the reporting/coverage the outburst of the President on mundane things. not on the right of the President to be upset and let out an outburst per se (in short, the right of the President to be human) Hmmmmmmm”
Don’t you think that’s what is wrong? You see it plainly as someone showing the public the president’s wrath and yet you do not interest yourself in knowing or considering why. You shoot a reporter down because you did not read between the lines? Per se…Hmmmmmmm
“in case you have not noticed, a considerable time elapsed from the ‘outbursts’ to the actual announcement of gloria. the ‘outburst’ was given a separate treatment. it would have been different if the ‘outburst’ took place during the conduct of a presscon (something which took place in the past a few times)”
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.
You know, if you were a palace official, you could’ve used her anger for her benefit. 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.
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.
J on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 2:14 pm
Madonna:
“i diagreed with jove francisco.. the troll bitch was in full control of the medium and the subtle message… this is how propaganda works…
some manipulative gaslighting going on in the anger display… i.e. “not my fault on what’s going on in mindanao… it’s the fault of my underlings..â€.”
You know what, that is a very interesting observation. If that were really the case, the whole act would become a beautiful figure of speech, a display of subtle yet passionate semiotics. I like it! Good one!
J on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 2:20 pm
UP n student:
“Today, I learned something new. Who would have thought there are Jove groupies????
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.”
Talaga bang student ka from UP? Using Ninoy to mock someone else is just wrong. You’re making UP students look bad.
nash on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 3:17 pm
GMA is HUMAN it’s OK to throw a tantrum sometimes.
Even despotic rulers suffer a burn out (Qadafi mellowed, Musharaff quit, Saddam lived in a cave).
It’s obvious naman that the alalays were incompetent. (Maybe they have Ateneo degrees)
Anyways, I hope GMA will take more time outdoors. Playing Golf while Mindanao burns is a good way to relieve the stress.
Also, it’s quite obvious that GMA isn’t getting any these days, Mike Arroyo probably read the new CBCP manual on sex and applied the withdrawal method.
nash on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 3:20 pm
Justice Scalia drinks frappucino while lecturing on journalism ethics?
Wala bang BBC sa lugar mo? This sort of footage will be all over the British media if it happened to their PM. I guess the Brits are just as unethical as Jove.
grd on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 3:22 pm
another gloria propaganda. she’s getting predictable.
Madonna on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 3:25 pm
J,
it is normal and natural for three to 6 year olds to throw temper tantrums…because they don’t know any better to get what they want…. but..
for an adult to throw a temper tantrum… whoa… it is almost always for effect… not merely an expression of anger or frustration… such adults are called bullies…
a million more whoas when a politician do a temper tantrum in full view of the cameras and the public ….like what GMA is always doing… sometimes she does it with her cabinet or her staff… same thing…
the palace spinmeisters always say that Gloria’s temper displays s due to her strong concern and passion for her work… DUH!!!!!! LOL. Eto pa si Migs Zubiri, motherly lang daw si GMA. LOL again.
Crazy eh? Glaringly bad, obnoxious behavior, but it’s suppose to reflect good on the person?
Dominique on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 3:30 pm
For John Marzan:
Goyito pic -> http://www.flickr.com/photos/flubber_meets_clara/1435370623/in/set-72157601405275031/
J on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 3:58 pm
Madonna:
“Crazy eh? Glaringly bad, obnoxious behavior, but it’s suppose to reflect good on the person?”
I think it only works in movies. Haha. But they could’ve made a good come back on the incident to the effect that she’s THAT angry at what’s happening in Mindanao. That she’s affected so. Could’ve made it seem like a betrayal of trust rather than a sign of weakness.
But, hey, that’s just how I see it. Hehe, at least masnatural ang itsura ni GMA with her statement compared dun sa “I’m sorry” one. =P
merlmd on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 5:15 pm
She must have had a really hard day…I heard she was rudely lambasted earlier in the El Shaddai rally but that’s another story, then the escalation of the mindanao conflict which was not supposed to happen…and so what happens when the big boss arrives and everything plus everyone was not ready? (I presuppose that they knew she was coming and should have been prepared) I am not a big fan of GMA but I am also a manager and based on my limited personal experience with her when she came to visit our province, she is a person of order. Her staff was there a week before to see that everything was in place…she likes to follow a schedule but surprisingly she was not rigid because when it came to her personal needs (aka bladder break), she actually proceeded to the public restroom (although an office restroom was earlier reserved for her). One of my staff had to frantically ran after her and her guards to direct her to another restroom. Looking at the video, I think she showed admirable temperance after all the flack she has been through the whole day…I would have reacted very similarly in her place, ibang cuss words lang and maybe lesser decibels…but I know the feeling, I have asked my people several times after a frustrating day tapos may dagdag pa…why are you doing this to me??? but nobody really answers…and frankly I really don’t want to know.
At least if there is one thing about her that is consistent…
KG on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 5:56 pm
CVJ,
gotta pass on the last question, all I can give you are my opinions.
First sa tingin ko tama ka,militias and arming every afffected citizen won’t help.
If what I read above were true, The Ilagas were responsible for unleashing the beast within of the moros in the seventies. If what I read is they resorted to cannibalism, and they were even responsible for the death of favali.Manero was released recently right?
Now an alleged Ilaga Pinol wants the disarming of the MILF; I think all politicians’ private armies should also disarm, well malabo mangyari yun.
as for a weak central government di sana ito mangyari kahit na dumating ang panahon na mag federalism tayo.
Buti na lang CVj, notwithstanding the goings on in Mindanao malayo pa ang Somalia scenario.
KG on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 6:32 pm
speaking of normal
dito lang yata sa pinas walang nagsusuntukan na congressman o senador
sa mga neighboring countries pati yata babae na parlimentarian di sinasanto
me naalala ako muntik na magsuntukan yung sgt at arms ng congress at isang congressman nung erap impeachment.if you watch the news halos every week me nakita ka nagsuntukan sa kanya kanyang parliament.
if nash says it is normal in the UK,sa US news kasi puro blooper ni george bush ang pinapakita,as for their congress tulad yata natin sila hanggang sigawan na lang.
manuelbuencamino on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 6:46 pm
Anrhony Scalia,
“Ot’s called infotainment and there’s nothing wrong with covering what is called the lighter side.â€
“yeah, there’s nothing wrong, but the reporter is not obliged to print/air it.”
“yeah and neither is he obligated not to print/air it.”
Agree?
KG on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 7:33 pm
Last month ko yata nadinig si Mirriam na nagsabi na walng surgical solution ang short fuse nya (matapos makipagtalo ke Escudero)
natural di kaya ng surgeon yan, electrician pwede pa siguro.
Pampangueno on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 7:50 pm
“arpeelazaro : take your homophobia and hate elsewhere.
August 20th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Stereotypical and tactless my comment might be, but it’s hardly homophobic and hateful. Typical hyperbolic comment from a Filipino with the brain capacity of an indio.
“BrianB : It’s homophobic because it’s well-known that teddy bears are the accessory du juour of gay intellectuals and hateful because you had to mention it.
August 20th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Another indio bobo. I suggest you reread your post and laugh at the absurdity of it. Gay intellectuals don’t have an “accesory du jour”, though gays may have (anything pink, teddy bears, tight fitting shirts, being dressed impeccably ala queer eye, you get the drill). And just because I mention Manolo’s sexual orientation doesn’t make me hateful. It’s you who is homo-mongering.
“nash : Teddy Bears unprofessional??? Hmmm, I have two (but they are dogs) and they have been around. ..obviously pampangeno cares more about looks than substance…are you part of the central committee who said the 6-year old girl singer was too ugly to be the face of the olympics?
August 20th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
You gives a flying F if you have a houseful of plushies? You can keep all your infantile desires as long as it’s in your freakin’ home. Don’t bring it to a professional television show, which you don’t have by the way. If I were as dumb as you I’d be bringing my toy truck and GI Joe’s on the office meeting. And why couldn’t I care for both looks AND substance? ‘Things do not pass for what they are, but for what they seem. Most things are judged by their jackets. -Baltasar Gracian’ And oh yes, I’m the headmaster of the chinese communist party who handpicked the cute girl over the ugly one. Yeah…
“Imang : @ Pampangueno, Feeling ko inggit lang yang namamayani sayo. Gusto mo din ng sariling show, ano?What a coward. Pakilala ka kaya ng maayos if you really feel that you have a point.
August 20th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
No, I admire Manolo’s show though I am not a suck-up like some of you here who kiss Manolo’s ass at every opportunity. I give constructive criticims-it’s up to Manolo if he accepts it. And no, I’d like to keep my anonymity – aren’t I just like you?
“jcc :Not too fast Pampangueno. You assumed wrongly that all muslims live by the Koran code. Look around you, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Bin Ladin, Abbu Sayyaf. They kill people if you spouse a religion other than theirs. And you expect your Philippine muslims to respect the Christians? Wake up sir or Madam! ! !
August 20th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Not so fast JCC. It’s actually slow, you’re brain that is. It’s not official government policy of Iraq, Iran, or Saudi to kill Christians. You’re lumping of terrorist organizations (Bin laden, Abu Sayaf) with nations/governments speaks of your simple-mindedness. I was talking about future potential Islaming government in Mindanao. They’ll probably go the way of homophobic legislative environment of even the most moderate Muslim government, that is, they will discriminate against homosexuals. With the exception of maybe Afghanistan (which is a terrorist state), Islamic government won’t “kill Christians” by policy.
“manuelbuencamino :Now when you start seeing gay symbols and other signs of gayness in mascots where there are actually none, it makes me wonder whether you are obsessed with gays and why.
August 20th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Do you groove to Cher while playing with your barbies? Is “Strangers in the Night†a song about casual gay encounters?
August 20th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
I only mentioned it because I knew Manolo is gay. 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.
Geisha : bka may madugong homo experience yang si pampangueno. share mo naman sa blog ko! heheheh
August 20th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Gusto mong dugo? Dugong aso lang ang mahihigop sa Kapampangan na to ‘dre. I don’t go to a blog because of the blogger’s sexual orientation. I won’t discriminate either just because the blogger is day. I’ll read a blog if it feeds my intellect, meaning I won’t be visiting your blog anytime soon.
arpeelazaro : di kaya muslim extremist si pampangueno? so we will stop the speculation, pakilala ka. oh and by the way, if manolo hasn’t thanked you yet, your homophobia, hatred or whatever it is that you call it is generating wonderful hits for the website. thank you. your hate has done something good after all.
August 20th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Manolo is gonna get hits irregardless because he writes brillian articles, though his television program needs some work.
For your benefit I’ll introduce myself – I’m the descendant of Kapampangan warriors who fought along side the Spaniards when they pacified Nueva Viscaya in 1591, Mindanao in 1596, Cagayan, Negros, Leyte and the Moluccas in the 1600’s. The same brave warriors who pacified the Chinese revolt and Koxinga invasion in 1662, Limahong in 1574, the British in 1764 and the Dutch in the 17th century. The same Kapampangans who equalled the Spanish soldiers in bravery (ever heard of the saying ‘one Spaniard and three Pampangans are the equal of four Spaniards?) and were handpicked by the Americans to pacify Mindanao (ever heard of the notorious Macabebe Scouts?).
Pakilala ka naman dudung.
number cruncher :
hmm, i wonder if pampangueno’s part of the plot to draw us away from the real issue at hand by baiting us into this whole carabao business….
August 21st, 2008 at 12:59 am
Like the government gives a flying fuc k about a few dumb conspiracy theorist on a semi-inglorious blog.
nash : mga klasmeyt, tinakot niyo naman si pampangueno…
August 21st, 2008 at 3:24 am
Just because I disappeared don’t mean I’m afraid of your Igorot ass. Unlike you I have a girlfriend and don’t have to spend most of my off-time taking snipes at random strangers in the interwebitube.
jcc on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 8:04 pm
Pampangueno;
you wrote:
Not so fast JCC. It’s actually slow, you’re brain that is. It’s not official government policy of Iraq, Iran, or Saudi to kill Christians. You’re lumping of terrorist organizations (Bin laden, Abu Sayaf) with nations/governments speaks of your simple-mindedness. I was talking about future potential Islaming government in Mindanao. They’ll probably go the way of homophobic legislative environment of even the most moderate Muslim government, that is, they will discriminate against homosexuals. With the exception of maybe Afghanistan (which is a terrorist state), Islamic government won’t “kill Christians†by policy.
It is apparent that you do not read your newspapers and history…. “not as a matter of policy, but christian persecutons are tacilty approved in these regimes”.
i won’t answer your “ad hominem argument” because the best response to a cheap shot is silence and won’t elevate the discussion of my brain to your level.
baycas on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 8:22 pm
guyito…
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v617/cyril/guyito.jpg
guyito on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 8:33 pm
@ Pampangueno,
Why don’t you like me???
UP n student on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 8:57 pm
to J: … who commented Using Ninoy to mock someone else is just wrong. You’re making UP students look bad.
So What Will J </b< Do?
UP n student on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 8:58 pm
to J: … who commented Using Ninoy to mock someone else is just wrong. You’re making UP students look bad.
So What Will J Do?
J on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 9:06 pm
UP n student:
“to J: … who commented Using Ninoy to mock someone else is just wrong. You’re making UP students look bad.
So What Will J Do?”
Think you’re dumb.
jakcast on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 9:09 pm
Whoa! The militia group think has infected the blog.
Or is it GMA taray way creep?
UP n student on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 9:27 pm
(For what it is worth depending on the sincerity and/or credibility of its reports) an entry in luwaran-dot-com states:
August 31, 2008 represents an important deadline (which luwaran-dot-com reports that the MILF leadership wants):
The IMT is the Malaysia-led International Monitoring Team.
——————–
Luwaran-dot-com itself reports that MILF commanders take civilian hostages.
supremo on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 9:58 pm
‘ever heard of the notorious Macabebe Scouts?’
The Macabebe Scouts who betrayed Aguinaldo?
I hope they’re in hell now.
Kutkkut on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 10:08 pm
Even the wicked commits bloopers that we enjoy.
supremo on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 10:22 pm
‘Using Ninoy to mock someone else is just wrong’
I agree. It’s insulting to the guy being ridiculed..
Pampangueno on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 10:40 pm
jcc :It is apparent that you do not read your newspapers and history…. “not as a matter of policy, but christian persecutons are tacilty approved in these regimesâ€. i won’t answer your “ad hominem argument†because the best response to a cheap shot is silence and won’t elevate the discussion of my brain to your level.
August 22nd, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Oh I read the newspapers. I just don’t believe everything in it, unlike some gullible twats like yourself who buy into Fox’s and Rupert Murdoch’s neo-con anti-Islamic propaganda horseshit.
UP n student on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 11:14 pm
Question : WWJD?
Answer : think you’re dumb.
—————
hey, J, which Dead Sea Scroll gospel did you get that? Let me know so I can quote it, too.
PSI on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 11:24 pm
‘Only way to peace is to sign MOA-AD’–MILF chief negotiator – INQUIRER.net
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20080822-156251/Only-way-to-peace-is-to-sign-MOA-AD–MILF-chief-negotiator
Too late the hero. Its poker talk, while themselves are preparing for war knowing that civilian militias in Lanao Del Norte, North Cotabato, and Zambonga have mobilized. Now, if the MILF leadership fail in Bravo and Cato,
Considering the other news reports,
Charter change clause in MOA ‘unconstitutional’–SC justice
Palace: No signing of MOA in present form
how can the MILF be that Banking on the doves Dureza and Esperon to save the day for them.?
It has been said that the war in Mindanao was a joint venture between the local warlords-politicians (Moro and Chrisitan), the AFP generals, and arms suplliers, (including the U.S. as well as local producer of Armalite automatic rifles). War is big business.
But its said that professional soldier, no-nonsense AFP COS Yano thinks and will act differently from his predecessor and mistah, PA Peace Adviser Esperon. While PGMA was still holding her taray presscon, the AFP started mop up operations, that’s why they have now quartered the area where the two commanders of the MILF renegade groups have retreated.
With Gen. Yano’s chairmanship , is it now time for a stockholder split ?
J on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 11:25 pm
UP n student:
“hey, J, which Dead Sea Scroll gospel did you get that? Let me know so I can quote it, too.”
Uh…that is a really weak come back. Try again.
Scratch that, I’ve decided you to be a waste of my time.
If you still feel it imperative to reply…just imagine me laughing at you. Don’t lose sleep on this.
UP n student on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 11:33 pm
….a weak
come backcomebackschadenfreude on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 11:43 pm
Pampangueno said:
“I give constructive criticims”
*Your efforts to appear to run a professional television program (suit, LCD display, use of English, great script) is marred by a prop that his its place on a little girl’s bedroom.
*Typical hyperbolic comment from a Filipino with the brain capacity of an indio.
*Another indio bobo.
*Like the government gives a flying fuc k about a few dumb conspiracy theorist on a semi-inglorious blog.
*Just because I disappeared don’t mean I’m afraid of your Igorot ass.
—
yeah! i think i’ll have what he’s smoking.
Pampangueno:
you say to-mah-toh, we say it’s a myopic, detestable, biased, thoughtless attack.
a reckless disregard for the welfare of your fellow netizens does not make you an intellectual. it makes you a creep.
suck it up.
p.s. is there any chance you’re from lubao? ‘cos it will definitely explain a lot.
manolo please rein in your blog. much like the gloria’s enchanted kingdom, we’re going nowhere fast.
jcc on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 11:45 pm
Pampangueno,
atleast I know now where you stand. you belong that group of peope who believe that the 911 incident that killed thousands of americans, jews, muslims and christians on those two towers were perpetrated by the CIA-Bush.
We can end our discussion, because apparently were are not on the same page. but i will not call you slow-put or hare-brained. we just have different outlook, and it is as simple as that. For all we know, your outlook is the best one.
jcc on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 11:51 pm
not the macabebe troopers only. observe the 2010 elections. chairman melo is a kapampangan, but the macabebe blood could still linger, hope Pampangueno does not have their blood.
Imang on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 12:04 am
Pampangueno said:
“I only mentioned it because I knew Manolo is gay. …..You’re conveniently forgetting that your idol Manolo is gay….
WTF Pampangueno? So what if he is? What’s your point?
gay-ito on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 12:15 am
This is the live-in partner of guyito, the carabao teddy mascot (August 22nd, 2008 at 8:33 pm).
Imang, its still not not WTF. Pampagueno is still on topic. Berserkers!
gay-ito on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 12:29 am
Pampagueno hates teddy guyito because he has the hots for me. Can’t blame him. He says he has a girlfriend, but we are different. Especially gay carabaos.
gay-ito on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 12:42 am
And always, intellectual snobbery equals a small dick. All proteins and amino acids went to your brain and nothing was left for what really counts in a man.
Look down and tell me, am I right Pampangueno,?
So you will just have to blabber about the conquests of your great ancestors the blue-blooded Kapampangans. What a loser!
Pilipinoparin on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 12:58 am
“ever heard of the notorious Macabebe Scouts?”….Pampangueno
Yes, all Filipinos remember the Macabebes in Tirad Pass and in Palanan, Isabela.
gay-ito on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 1:14 am
Pilipinoparin did not spell it out:
Macabebes = traydor = dugong aso.
And Pampagueno is still proud of his dugong aso. What a triple loser you are!!!
cvj on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 1:35 am
Thanks Karl (at 5:56 pm). I think as far as the local militias are concerned, the choice would either be to incorporate them to the regular armed forces chain of command or treat them like any other lost command. I agree the warlord situation in the Philippines is not yet at Somalia’s level but i think we’re nearer to them today than yesterday.
Pilipinoparin on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 1:47 am
Arming civilians will not solve the problems in Mindanao or anywhere else on earth. Better to ban all firearms, they were made to kill people, that’s the only purpose of guns. All guns should be in the hands of AFP or any government recognized security entity. Disband all local private armies, political/Muslims /Christians including MNLF and MILF. Kris, pana, balisong or tabak won’t do much damage among warring parties.
justice league on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 1:53 am
Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam
-
ARTICLE 10:
Islam is the religion of unspoiled nature. It is prohibited to exercise any form of compulsion on man or to exploit his poverty or ignorance in order to convert him to another religion or to atheism.
ARTICLE 23:
(b) Everyone shall have the right to participate, directly or indirectly in the administration of his country’s public affairs. He shall also have the right to assume public office in accordance with the provisions of Shari’ah.
ARTICLE 24:
All the rights and freedoms stipulated in this Declaration are subject to the Islamic Shari’ah.
ARTICLE 25:
The Islamic Shari’ah is the only source of reference for the explanation or clarification of any of the articles of this Declaration.
grd on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 4:01 am
<blockquote “not as a matter of policy, but christian persecutons are tacilty approved in these regimesâ€. jcc
jcc, I beg to disagree with your above statement. I don’t know what newspaper are you reading but what you’re talking must be part of history now. the killing of christians are not happening anymore much more tacitly approved in those regimes you mentioned.
grd on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 4:27 am
PSI,
as I wrote earlier, arming civilians will just exacerbate the problem but I cannot speak for those people who were directly affected by the atrocities committed by the milf. we can’t blame them if that’s what they’re clamoring right now. but it’s the job of the govt to protect them.
as for davao, it’s generally peaceful and far from those war-torn areas. no need for cvo’s. there were some vigilante groups before but they fought the npa’s not mnlf/milf.
UP n student on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 7:06 am
to grd and jcc:
UP n student on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 7:08 am
to grd and jcc:
. . . . Last weekend (March 2008) saw the first Catholic church open in Qatar. Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia, rather than facilitating similar freedoms for the large religious minorities in the country, leading Saudi clerics were busy curtailing the freedoms of Saudi writers.
In the brain-numbing intellectual environment of Saudi universities, muzzled press and censored bookshops, we rarely ever see dissent or creativity. . . . . And yet, occasional glimmers of hope shine on the horizon.
Saudi writers Yusuf Aba al-Khail and Abdullah bin Bejad al-Otaibi have started a rigorous debate inside Saudi Arabia about the right of Muslims to adopt other religions with impunity. Rather than address their strong scriptural and intellectual reasoning, a leading Saudi cleric has called for the writers’ deaths, unless they “repent”.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/mar/20/reforminriyadh
KG on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 7:39 am
More on catholics in Saudi Arabia.
sumali ako at may ilink ako,baka nalimutan natin madaming pinoy sa 800,000 catholics sa saudi.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1723715,00.html?xid=feed-cnn-topics
http://www.pewsitter.com/view_news_id_7306.php
jcc on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 8:00 am
KG,
This is what i gathered from the link you have provided:
Top Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said that a Catholic parish in this key Islamic country would be “a historic achievement” in the push to expand religious freedom and foster a positive interfaith rapport. Under Benedict, the Catholic hierarchy has stepped up calls from its Muslim counterparts for “reciprocity,” demanding that the same religious freedom enjoyed by Muslims in the West should be granted to Christian minorities in the Islamic world. They note that Europe’s biggest mosque, built with Saudi funds, was opened in 1995 in Rome, just across the river from the Vatican.
It is only now that the Saudis are trying to liberalize its approach towards other faiths. Which confirms my previous post that in the past, christians faith are being tacitly discouraged by the Saudis. Iran has an intorelant about christians faith.
jcc on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 8:04 am
grd,
christians persecutions does not always mean killing the christians. there are more subtle ways of persecution like not allowing you to pray in public like the muslims do, dsitribute christians literature and disallowing gatherings for worship. some muslims countries are relaxing their policy towards inter-faiths, but up to what extent, that remains to be seen.
hvrds on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 8:55 am
“”christians persecutions does not always mean killing the christians. there are more subtle ways of persecution like not allowing you to pray in public like the muslims do, dsitribute christians literature and disallowing gatherings for worship. some muslims countries are relaxing their policy towards inter-faiths, but up to what extent, that remains to be seen.” How a subjective becomes the objective criterion of reality. ”
Firstly, the Wahabists in Saudi Arabia are the most crazy of the crazies. The royal family had always been either captured or used this most crazy sect to assist them in their almost absolute rule in Saudi Arabia.
Almost like the shamans and or witch doctors.
Simply taking a cultural sect (that was politicized) that is predominant in one area of the Muslim world and making a general statement about them is wrong.
Another aspect recently that has come to the fore is the reversion of many of the pundits on this blog to revert to the tribal psyche that is still deeply embedded in the pinoy.
hvrds on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 9:28 am
Another amazing thing is the fact that GMA was about to sign (through her DFA secretary) that MOA-AD in front of the world and now says that the same document that she was about to sign is flawed!!!!!!
She even tried to push it along by mentioning her stand on federalism (euphemism for shift to unicameral parliamentary system)
Yet some would argue that a certain journalist did a disservice to the pinoy nation internationally by exposing the Queen losing it…
Today we see her showing the world the pinoy version of “shock and awe” and we have they say 200K displaced persons from the intensified fighting.
That is twice the number in Georgia that the world is responding to.
So finally cha-cha is dead till after 2010.
Someone had better educate the government the difference between strategy and policy….and the military brass the difference between strategy and operations.
The policy was to allow armed men certain autonomy as a strategy to work towards peace. That was a given. The state even knows and describes certain factions of the MILF as “base commands”
Coordinated attacks have occurred from some of these commands. Now the state is responding versus the respective base commands with the largest shock and awe tactics for a long time.
It wants the heads of the two base commands. Is this a police action or a declaration of war?????
The criticism of the Russian response was disproportionate force.
Is GMA trying to counter her incompetence by unsheathing her sword???
Now the state has declared that no talks will continue unless those responsible be given up to face charges……
Wow, if the British demanded from Sinn Fein that they give up the bombers so peace talks would continue would there have been peace talks at all?????
Is there a brain at the top???????
These tribal mindset is still so predominant and thus the ideals of communities and nation is still so alien….
The people of Manila could not care less about those 200K people now forced to become internal refugees.
UP n student on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 10:00 am
hvrds: How can use the term “… declaration of war” when the Govt-Pinas military action is against only two MILF commands — Commander Bravo’s MILF 102nd Base Command and Comm Kato’s MILF 105th Base Command. The two commanders Bravo and Kato assaulted civilian populations — village-burning, murder, use of civilian shields — without authorization from the MILF-BIAF General Staff Command.
The govt-Pinas is not taking action against the rest of the MILF/BIAF commanders.
jcc on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 10:12 am
if no one believes that the christians are being persecuted one way or another by the muslim worlds, you can click these links to find out:
http://www.christianpersecution.info/news/saudi-arabia-muslim-father-kills-daughter-for-converting-to-christianity-14592/
http://www.christianpersecution.info/news/iran-jailed-christian-in-critical-condition/
http://www.christianpersecution.info/news/iran-tortured-christian-flees/
this one you should read if you do not believe that christians are treated fairly in Muslim countries.
http://judeo-christianalliance.org/materials/ChristianPersecutedThroughoutTheMiddleEast.pdf
UP n student on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 10:23 am
to grd: click here for “stuff” happening in Saudi Arabia…. has mention of Filipinos under threat of execution.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/middle-east-and-north-africa/west-gulf/saudi-arabia
hvrds on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 10:53 am
http://www.islamicweb.com/begin/population.htm
Please note the number of Muslims around the world and the number in Saudi Arabia.
hvrds on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 11:03 am
For followers of Christ and Mohammed
“My opinion is that there would never have been an infidel, if there had never been a priest. The artificial structures they have built on the purest of all moral systems, for the purpose of deriving from it pence and power, revolts those who think for themselves, and who read in that system only what is really there.”
-Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Mrs. Samuel H. Smith, August, 6, 1816
“In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.”
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Horatio G. Spafford, March 17, 1814
“History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes.”
-Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, Dec. 6, 1813.
For the Koran as with the Bible
“The whole history of these books [the Gospels] is so defective and doubtful that it seems vain to attempt minute enquiry into it: and such tricks have been played with their text, and with the texts of other books relating to them, that we have a right, from that cause, to entertain much doubt what parts of them are genuine. In the New Testament there is internal evidence that parts of it have proceeded from an extraordinary man; and that other parts are of the fabric of very inferior minds. It is as easy to separate those parts, as to pick out diamonds from dunghills.”
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, January 24, 1814
UP n student on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 11:04 am
But of course, I have made the assumption that you — grd — consider Amnesty International a reasonably-unbiased organization…. I mention this because I have encountered a couple of internet sites that assault the credibility of Amnesty International — “AmInternational is a puppet of the United Kingdom or of the CIA or of the Vatican”… or the worst insult — a French site!!!!.
I mean…. even reports by Russia, Japan, the UNICEF, Organization of American States or the United Nations Special Rapporteurs do not get 100% approval rating.
leytenian on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 11:26 am
The Life of Women in War torn Mindanao:
A woman said, she did not know exactly why the war ensues but she has seen the war from her childhood until she left Mindanao only three years ago. She hears about the war that affects her family up to now. Although she does not know the root causes of the war, she know very well the effects of the consistent military operations in Mindanao. She sharply pointed out that the war hindered their livelihood and the development of Mindanao in general, especially in the outskirts where they live. She also symphatizes with her fellow civilian muslims who are harassed and arbitrarily arrested by the military.
Lastly, most children in war zones in Mindanao do not finish schooling because to the distraction caused by constant military operations in their place. Children in war zones do not experience normal schooling. They had to evacuate every time the war ensues. Most of the time, classes are suspended.
War on terrorism worsens the condition of women:
The women did not cite any sexual abuse experiences that went along the war on terrorism. However, it is striking that most women in war-torn Mindanao have opted to work abroad as domestic helpers for the survival of their families. This heightens the co modification of women doing such dirty jobs abroad.
http://untoldterritories.wordpress.com/2007/10/28/women-from-war-torn-mindanao/
The Philippines has had two female Presidents, and there are many more examples where Filipino women and let me say also, women from Mindanao have made contributions to national leadership.
Of course these achievements have come at too slow a pace. But we should not downplay or forget the crucial role that women have played over many years of commitment and hard work – often behind the scenes and unrecognized – to bring about change. Let Gloria do her Chacha…
hvrds on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 11:38 am
Let us make believe
Memo to DILG Chief Puno and Gen Razon PNP Head.
The last few weeks we have seen men in uniform raising what appears to be high powered firearms and rocket propelled grenade launchers on prime time TV…
They were all screaming in Arabic God is Great!!!!! I do not know if the TV reporter and cameramen were actually conducting the shouting exercises to make their report more menacing.
My question is this? Can any group also acquire these type of weapons and display them before Korina and Karen to make a point???
What about licensing???? Are Philippines laws being enforced on every inch of Philippine territory or not???
Would it best simply to remove any regulation on the right to bear arms in this country since there is a different rule for certain groups??
They even have their own camps…..
Would the MILF be more like Hamas, Hezbollah and the PLO???? They all have de facto sovereign control over certain territory.
The NPA, IRA is and was an underground movement.
You seem to be confused and we are also all so so confused.
There are crazies on both sides that would like to dress this up as a holy war…. You know jihad…. One side has already started to call their armed component mujahadeen.
The other side apparently would like to organize along tribal lines…..
The Americans down there are most probably assisting you in targeting these so called mujahadeen.
You are also well aware that the Americans armed the Sunni tribes in occupied Iraq to counter Al Qaeda. Iraq is now effectively partitioned into three sections.
Are you moving to annihilate the problem or simply wait out your terms for the next year and so many months??
Your boss has given the so called mujahadeen notice that they have to disarm and demobilize first before talking.
Does this mean that no more talking with armed groups???? What if the other side refuses?
hvrds on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 12:31 pm
“The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.” T. Jefferson
We say we are a constitutional republic (Magno says we are).
The Supreme Court is in effect tied down by the chains of the constitution in theory.
The Queen recently declared that the peace process must conform to the chains of the constitution.
She probably knows that the SC will pointedly remind the executive that everything it does must conform to those chains.
The intent to break those chains (cha-cha) not withstanding.
There is no question that the state of constitutionalism in the country is at its weakest since Ferdinand and Imelda.
Come on Big Mike, GMA and the rest – make our day by pushing the breaking of the chains of the constitution.
The MILF started it with GMA’s approval. She was supposed to sign that agreement in our name.
miggy arroyo on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 12:32 pm
HAHAHAHAHA. Obvious na obvious. Si Pampagueno is a HOMO!!! Haha. Why can’t you admit it? Tinira mo pa si Manolo e wala namang problema yung tao sa kanyang sexuality.
Libertarian ka? E talo mo pa si George Bush sa pagka-A–Hole!
UP n student on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 12:49 pm
a 105mm howitzer is NOT a 105caliber piece.
Makes sense that GovtPinas uses 105mm artillery using HE shells to provide fire-support for infantry against Kato or Bravo’s soldiers (who, when in camps, will be massed in fixed positions.) And Kato and Bravo have soldiers, not girlie cheerleaders. Kato and Bravo’s soldiers use deadly-effective weapons, not tiradors.
PSI on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 1:08 pm
MILF camp falls; 30 killed – Inquirer
- Biggest air strike launched in a decade
- MILF: no renegotiation: ready for war
- Palace MOA stand: more clarifications
- Cebu Muslim community to help flush out rebels, terrorists
- 220,000 displaced by Mindanao conflict — WFP
“SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao, Philippines — Backed by the biggest aerial bombardment in nearly a decade, government forces Friday drove out Moro rebels from one of their camps in Maguindanao province,”
From taray show to Rambo. “Defend every inch of Philippine terrritory. “
UP n student on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 1:13 pm
However, if the MILF BIAF (Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces) headquarters central strips Kato and Bravo of their commands (and puts new commanders to head the MILF 102nd Base Command and 105th Base Command) my thinking is that the Malaysian monitoring team should arrange an immediate ceasefire.
UP n student on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 1:56 pm
to M14: no declaration of war….. Govt-Pinas has not sent out any military force against the MILF Darapanan camp in Shariff Kabunsuan province.
—————
to windage knob: YES, the fighting has to stop. If only the clock can be turned back and Kato and Bravo did not throw a berserk-stupid tantrum.
justice league on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 2:18 pm
Constitution
Article VI
Section 23. (1) The Congress, by a vote of two-thirds of both Houses in joint session assembled, voting separately, shall have the sole power to declare the existence of a state of war.
Article VII
Section 18. The President shall be the Commander-in-Chief of all armed forces of the Philippines and whenever it becomes necessary, he may call out such armed forces to prevent or suppress lawless violence, invasion or rebellion…
UP n student on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 2:21 pm
but here is food for thought : that this time around, it is Govt-Pinas that is militarily stronger.
— The MILFcan still be a lethal force (as a terrorist organization, as Kato and Bravo demonstrated) but the many years of negotiations has led to a decline in its battlefield readiness, training, and clandestine weapons acquisitions. The MILF have never had a steady supply of
weaponry, a situation that is all the more acute today.
— the training and intelligence provided by the detachment of some 200 U.S. Special Forces has improved the Govt-Pinas military overall capabilities.
—The AFP is a more disciplined and restrained force as well, unlikely to engage in the scorched-earth policies and human rights abuses of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Recall the MILF-ASG beheading of ten Marines in July 2007. The Marines not only did not do scorched-earth retaliattions; they stepped up their civic action in the community.
BrianB on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 2:54 pm
Effective ata artillery nang military ngayon. Siguro wala nang bayaran.
BrianB on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 2:57 pm
For disarmament, we need a military solution in Mindanao. Bases should be put up and police personnel recruited. Mahirap dito eh maski taasan nang gobyerno sweldo nang pulis sa mindanao kukupitan pa rin sila.
PSI on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 3:23 pm
In the early stages, capture all MILF camps and reclaim as much territory. When they’re ready to talk ceasefire, create buffer or security zones where AFP troops will remain. Don’t accept any terms about returning to original positions. That’s how Russia pummeled Georgia.
Jaxius on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 5:20 pm
PSI,
You’re talking like a real armchair general. In the first place, you’re equating the AFP to the Russian juggernaut. The AFP does not have the resources available to the Russian armed forces. Second, why create buffer zones? Are we ready to recognize the MILF as a belligerent?
PSI on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 5:34 pm
Jaxius,
No, I’m not an ‘armchair ganeral’. I’m an online war freak. Duh!
Jaxius on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 5:54 pm
PSI,
It figures.
PSI on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 6:07 pm
@ Jaxius,
War is never good. But we must be prepared to fight a just war. I believe this is the situation with the MILF.
Humankind was never the same since a Genesis man murdered his brother. The oldest professions are prostitutes and soldiers.
But you and and peacenik cvj have the same sound bites . I may be war freak, but I I’m for real. Double duh!!
Jaxius on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 6:36 pm
PSI,
What soundbite?
There is a rebellion. There is no war. Do you know the difference?
The MILF are not belligerents. They are criminals. Again, do you know the difference? Belligerents are treated under the laws of war. Criminals, under our laws.
As such, what is required is not war but police action. Not everything that the AFP does is warfighting.
Capisce?
PSI on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 7:06 pm
Jaxius,
OMG! Such naivette!
In the real world , first you fight, conquer, and then talk peace. Then, we classify whether its war, just war, belligerency, police action, etc. Are you the adviser of the peace panel that got us into this trouble in the first place?
Such textbook approach will win now war. Triple capisce!!!
Bert on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 8:49 pm
“So finally cha-cha is dead till after 2010.”-hvrds
How naive! Those people will never stop their evil scheme until their last breath.
UP n student on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 8:58 pm
I still have the opinion that the MILF chain-of-command is badly splintered. This splinter has resulted in the current carnage (Kato and Bravo disrespected the MILF central leadership when Kato and Bravo on their attacked).
Kato and Bravo also acted as bandits and not as military men. Had Kato and Bravo attacked ONLY a Govt-of-Pinas military base — had it been only Govt-of-Pinas soldiers (and Cafgus) that Kato and Bravo murdered — they could have a claim to “…soldier-against-soldier” and the Malaysian monitoring team would have reason to suggest to Malacanang to desist from escalation. But Kato and Bravo attacked civilian villages and killed civilians in their act of berserk-stupid tantrum. Kato and Bravo are terrorist BANDITS. As luwaran-dot-com (MILF central command website) reports, The MILF leadership had already ordered the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) commanders and forces, particularly Commander Umbra Kato and Commander Bravo, to restraint from further engaging the government forces, in words and actions, which would adversely affect the peace process between the MILF and the government..
The hopes for a ceasefire is still there because the MILF center is holding. Kato and Bravo are being isolated even by the BIAF-central-headquarters who asks other MILF commanders to not engage govt-Pinas troops.
———————-
As one reads the news coming out of Mindanao, one should differentiate between Kato and Bravo and the actions of MILF-central headquarters.
Kato and Bravo need to be separated from their commands and from being able to give orders to hundreds of MILF soldiers (who may not understand that following Kato and Bravo’s orders results in damage to the Mindanawans’ dream for peace and prosperity.)
UP n student on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 9:06 pm
Kato and Bravo need to be separated from their commands. Whether they go directly to a Govt-of-Pinas jail, an MILF-central-headquarters jail, to a European hospital for a medical check-up or even to a fact-finding mission in Ethiopia —- it will help Kabalu and MILF chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim if Kato and Bravo are separated from their commands.
UP n student on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 9:12 pm
this is a good time for an ambitious MILF-captain or light-colonel to stage a mini-coup and depose Kato and Bravo , not for the money reward, but to further the cause of peace. It is not insubordination because deposing Kato and Bravo is consistent with the orders from MILF Chairman Murad Ebrahim. .
UP n student on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 9:13 pm
My loyalty to my battallion commander ends where my loyalty to my chain-of-command begins.
My loyalty to my battalion commander ends where my loyalty to peace for my people begins.
The EQualizer on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 9:26 pm
“Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee. Watch the first Obama-Biden rally live at 3pm ET on http://www.BarackObama.com. Spread the word!†The famous text message .
nash on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 10:00 pm
ay talo na si Obama.
Biden who? Which part of the demographics does this pander to?
Republican on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 10:01 pm
The equalizer,
i don’t care about Muslim Obama. His foundation cannot be ignored. US will be heading in the wrong direction with Obama. Obama if elected will not last long and Joe Biden will become President…
Republican on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 10:03 pm
I can tell that HVRDS is a brainwasher.
UP n student on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 10:07 pm
Biden is an over-50 white male — Roman Catholic but pro-choice with the seniority and foreign relations credentials that Obama lacks. He is the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in the 110th Congress. Biden has served in that position in the past, and he has served as Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
nash on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 10:08 pm
@pampangueno
“If I were as dumb as you I’d be bringing my toy truck and GI Joe’s on the office meeting.”
I’m happy to be called dumb by you. I guess you are a genius.
And if you should know, I DO bring my plushies to the office meeting.
nash on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 10:09 pm
hahahaha!
pampangueno claims he is a LIBERTARIAN and yet he notices Guyito???
Wow, talk about not knowing what libertarian means.
UP n student on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 10:10 pm
to The Equalizer: I did not know that you will vote for Barack Obama. Are you a California voter?
BrianB on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 10:29 pm
Jaxius, do you agree with me that a special police force with higher salary should be recruited for Mindanao? They may even be given investigative powers like the ATF in the US.
BrianB on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 10:31 pm
Libertarian politics doesn’t work for the Philippines. Take the rich Kastilas for example. They are libertarians, even if they do not know it. Gusto mong gayahin?
leytenian on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 10:39 pm
Military is accused of human rights violation.
The number of senior military officers convicted either for direct involvement or under command responsibility remains zero. The doctrine of command responsibility in international law means that superior officers can be held criminally liable for the actions of their subordinates, and also if a superior had reason to know that subordinates under his command committed an offence and failed to use all feasible means under his command to prevent and punish it, he too may be found guilty for the offence.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0WDQ/is_2002_April_1/ai_84531916
Investigation, protection, legal measures, etc are under the responsibility of Commission on Human rights.
http://www.chanrobles.com/article13humanrights.htm
anthony diamos on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 10:57 pm
Committee on International Relations
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515-0128
“The State of Jemaah Islamiya and US Counter-Terror Efforts in Southeast Asia”
Dr. Zachary Abuza
Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations
Simmons College
Testimony for the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific,
House International Relations Committee
29 October 2003
This testimony will first describe the current state of Jemaah Islamiya and 12 reasons that are of concern as to why this organization will pose a long-term threat to the United States and her allies. The second part will address 9 aspects of US counter-terror policy strategies and the ongoing challenges of counter-terrorism in Southeast Asia.
A. The State of Jemaah Islamiya
The war on terror has continued apace in Southeast Asia, and the governments in the region and their Western counterparts deserve credit for the arrests of some 200 Jemaah Islamiya (JI) members through September 2003, including more than 30 in Singapore, 80 in Malaysia, approximately one dozen in the Philippines, 8 in Thailand and Cambodia, and some 100 in Indonesia. Several of the members of JI’s regional shura, its leadership body, were arrested, including Hambali, its operational chief. Hambali has revealed more names of JI members throughout the region. The spiritual leader of the group, Abu Bakar Ba’asyir, will be incarcerated for an additional three years. Although Hambali may have been leading his interrogators astray he has stated that the JI organization has been devastated.
The Bali investigations, in particular, have led to a far greater understanding of how the network operates and their command and control structure leading to subsequent arrests. These arrests were significant, especially as the JI is not a large organization, between 500 and 1,500 people. Those who have been arrested have been forthcoming in their interrogations, which have greatly assisted on-going investigations. Many of the detainees have cooperated and revealed a significant amount of information about the scope and modus operendi of the organization. The quality of new members may decline as they have not been as thoroughly trained. They are less able to plan and execute terrorist attacks than they were a year ago, especially against hardened targets, such as US embassies, though they still maintain their capacity to attack soft targets, such as the 5 August 2003 bombing of the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, or other venues such as nightclubs or malls. One cannot forget that since the 11 September attacks on the United States, Jemaah Islamiya has been one of the most active Al Qaeda affiliates, and Southeast Asia one of the most important theaters of operation. Although Al Qaeda has suffered severe setbacks and the arrest of two-thirds of its known senior leadership, the organization will continue to rely more on regional affiliates. One would be foolish to underestimate JI’s capabilities or goals. As many of the key operatives are still at large, the organization retains the capacity and will to launch devastating terror attacks throughout the region. In particular, there are 12 causes for alarm that this paper will address.
1. The Psychology of Terror: There is no single psychological makeup of terrorists, yet there are traits, that have emerged in the vast literature of the psychology and sociology of terrorism: Terrorists are violent, stimulus seeking, zealots. They are true believers who tend not to waiver from the cause. For example, although one of the Bali bombers, Ali Imron, expressed guilt for the bombings, he disagreed with the means, not the ends. More cynically, one could also argue that he was simply trying to escape the firing squad, which he did, unlike his two brothers and Imam Samudra. Terrorists are rational and engage in cost-benefit analysis; they are not psychopaths. (Mentally unstable individuals pose a great security risk for terrorist groups and can jeopardize entire operations.) They are driven by small-group dynamics, which tend to create in and out groups and engage in “group-think behavior,” alienating members who do not conform ideologically.
Finally, they are often driven be a desire for revenge. When the Bali bombers were arrested in the fall of 2002, they expressed confusion that most of the victims were Australians and not Americans; which they only rationalized by stating that Australians were allied to the United States and their prominent role in East Timor. Yet, Australians have become targets of JI in their own right. For example, Hambali has already admitted that because of the prominent role of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in the Bali investigation (in addition to their role in East Timor), Australians are targets, not simply seen as an extension of the Americans. As such, Australian Federal Police are now preparing for time-delayed bombs that would specifically target them; they believe that JI clearly has the technical capability to do this.
An arrest and seizure of a stockpile in Semerang, Indonesia in July 2003, revealed a huge cache of not just explosives, chemical precursors and detonators, but of light arms and sniper rifles. This raised alarm that JI was adopting a new tactic: politically-motivated assassinations. As the intended targets, noted on a JI list found in the safe house, were all members of President Megawati’s PDI-P, clearly indicates a desire for revenge against the leadership that authorized the crackdown on JI.
2. Lying Low: Jemaah Islamiya, like Al Qaeda, is not event driven. Terrorism is asymmetric warfare and terrorist groups tend to strike when they have a high probability of success; they cannot afford failure. JI has suffered setbacks in the past year and a half and will have to patiently rebuild its ranks in order to remain a viable organization. On the one hand, an attack is important for morale and to reassure their constituency that they are still a viable fighting force. Many members may simply want to lash out and cause as much pain as possible. On the other hand, JI must give priority to rebuilding their network, recruiting and training. Hambali seems to have confirmed that there was a debate within the organization whether to continue the pace of attacks or lie low and rebuild in the wake of the post-Bali arrests. Hambali, himself, seemed to support the latter course.
These principles are long-standing. The PUPJI, a 1996 document that codified the authority structure and ordering principles and philosophy of JI, also includes the General Manual for Operations, which is a vague and somewhat philosophical document, and a far cry from the Al Qaeda training manual that was found in the Manchester house. It does however talk about how operations should be conducted. The document calls for four-stages of operations: 1) Planning, 2) Execution, 3) Reporting, 4) Evaluation. Emphasis is placed on education, meticulous planning, and learning from past acts (including mistakes). Later the document discusses how members should focus on Intelligence Operations, Strength Building Operations, Strength Utilization Operations and Fighting Operations. Almost all emphasis is placed on Strength Building Operations, which is defined as a lengthy process that includes spiritual and physical strengthening. The goals of this educational period, include enlightenment, discipline, instilling a sense of loyalty, physical readiness and skills to use weapons, tactical and strategic thinking, and leadership development.
One of the lasting legacies of Hambali is the importance placed on maintaining the integrity of the organization. Press reports indicate that he has confessed that Dr. Azahari and Zulkarnaen have replaced him, indicating that they had contingency plans in place. Although the Mantiqi structure – the middle level of the organization that was based on geographical commands – seems to be in disarray, there seems to be more direct interaction between the top leaders and the fiah- the individual cells that have more operational autonomy.
JI leaders have always placed a premium on maintaining the integrity of the organization, and in particular, its command and control. When leaders are arrested, they are quickly replaced. JI, like Al Qaeda has an ability to quickly tap new leaders to maintain the organization’s command and control network. On the one hand, the new leaders may not have as much experience or authority; yet the organization is still able to hold meetings and maintain some degree of command and control. On the one hand there was a conscious decision to make sure that the organizational command and control system remained in tact. There was an authority system, and there were rituals, such as pledging bayat or an oath of duty. There was always an attempt made to have a reasonable quorum of leaders when important decisions were made.
There is also a philosophical point to the idea of lying low. In the philosophy of Al Qaeda, a strategic retreat is not demoralizing or anything to be ashamed of. If one looks at the works of Abdullah Azzam, especially Join the Caravan, who created the ideological model for Al Qaeda, the organization is based on the life of the Prophet. After god spoke to the Prophet Mohammed, and he tried to convert people, he was driven from Mecca. Mohammed had to retreat (hijra) to Medina to regroup, recruit, and train (tarbiyyah) so that he could defeat the enemies of Islam (qital) and impose Islamic law (sharia). Lying low and regrouping is nothing to be ashamed of or become demoralized over in the thinking of Islamic militants. Both organizations, Jemaah Islamiya and Al Qaeda, have always placed a high premium on education, training and meticulous planning. There is no evidence that they are trying to lash out with ill-timed and conceived attacks to take the pressure off themselves.
JI is in full recruitment mode. One aspect of JI that is so impressive is their ability to recruit across the board, irrespective of education or class. Their recruits are not just students from the madrasa of the region, but young technical students and disenfranchised youth with little prospects. They are younger, angrier, and they are technically savvy. JI members also include many technical faculty members, including architects, engineers, geo-physicists, chemists, and robotics engineers. So much of the JI motivation is driven by extreme anti-Westernism that is simply cloaked in simplistic interpretations of Islam.
One of the prime motivating factors and recruitment mechanisms is often a charismatic spiritual leader who can inspire people to jihad. Since the arrest of Ba’asyir and his successor Rusdan, there is no apparent amir, or spiritual leader. It is of course possible that Ba’asyir has remained the spiritual leader of the organization. From behind the porous walls of his Jakarta prison, his speeches and writings are still available to his audience, and his jail sentence makes him a martyr for the JI cause. It is clear that in the near future no one will be willing to take on as high a profile as Ba’asyir did. One interesting thing to look at in trying to ascertain where future JI religious leaders will emerge from is which madrassas JI members are educating their own children and which clerics they entrust the spiritual upbringing to. There is a lot of concern on the part of regional intelligence officials regarding the Thai Wahhabi leader and anti-western firebrand Ismail Lufti, whom they suspect s a member of JI. Although there is no evidence that he is a leader of JI, he is a very prominent and respected cleric with a similar world view.
In short, we must be concerned about the current counter-terror strategy of simply trying to decapitate the organization. Leaders are replaceable and there is an endless pool of recruits. The failure of counter-terrorism in Southeast Asia is that it has not necessarily targeted the institutionalized aspect of JI.
3. Motivation for Jihad: The underlying conditions that drove these people to terror have not diminished. The economies of Southeast Asia have not fully recovered from the Asian Economic Crisis, nor are they likely to in the face of intense economic competition over trade and investment now posed by China. Mass unemployment, especially in Indonesia, is very destabilizing. Diminished expectations and frustration-aggression, especially amongst educated youth, will provide fertile recruitment grounds for years to come. Although President Bush announced $157 million in educational aid to sure-up Indonesia’s secular and non-secular schools (much of the aid had already been pledged and committed) during his two-hour and thirty-six minute stopover in Bali following the APEC summit in Bali, such aid will do little to diminish anti-American sentiment unless there are concurrent steps to increase trade, investment, lower tariffs, and import quotas on Southeast Asian goods. A key component of our counter-terrorism strategy must be job creation.
But there are other important motivating forces and factors at work. When one analyzes the motivation for suicide bombing and terrorism in the Middle East, and especially amongst Palestinians, it is clear that one of the most important factors is a deep seeded sense of humiliation. This is quite easy to understand in the context of the daily lives Palestinians live and across the Arab world, there is a deep seeded sense of humiliation on the part of Muslims by the West. It is obvious that Southeast Asian extremists also feel humiliated to be driven also to terrorism. What is causing this sense of humiliation?
First, there is a desire to identify the Southeast Asian jihad with the global Islamist jihad. Simply, militants in Southeast Asia want to identify themselves with the Muslim core, and no longer want Southeast Asians to be considered the Islamic periphery. They are seeking to inculcate Southeast Asians in Islamic values; and they are clearly tapping into the rapid growth of Islamic consciousness that has transpired across the region. Southeast Asians, through greater media coverage and the so-called Al Jazeera effect are identifying more with the plights of their co-religionists around the Islamic world especially the Iraqis and Palestinians. The Palestinians have become a metaphor for injustice around the region. The Pew Charity’s Global Attitudes poll found that the number of Muslims in Indonesia who believed that Islam was under siege almost doubled: from 33 percent in 2002 to 59 percent in 2003. Moreover, 80 percent of the respondents felt more solidarity with the Islamic world then they did in the past; and we must also worry about the glorification of martyrdom.
A second way that Southeast Asians are feeling humiliated, again ties in with their changing attitudes towards their co-religionists. The same poll found that with regards to Iraq, 82 percent of the Indonesian respondents were upset that the Iraqi regime did not put up a stronger fight against US forces, and that the cost of victory for the Americans was not higher; the third highest rate behind Moroccans (93 percent) and Jordan (91 percent) and ties with Lebanon and Turkey. (P4) In simple terms, they didn’t want the west to humiliate the Muslim world by defeating one of its stronger states so easily. Southeast Asians in general see the US occupation of Indonesian as the paramount of hegemonic arrogance and some are starting to rally around the jihadist campaign.
The West tends to be too focused on the madrasa education; both Al Qaeda and JI were able to recruit across the spectrum- and successfully at the technical schools. Does Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia or the Philippines, in the current economic conditions, need another 22 year-old computer science graduate? Simply, no. They sit around, blame the West and globalization for their predicament, hack, create malicious computer viruses and worms, and learn their jihad on-line. This jihad is as much about anti-Western-ism (especially anti-Americanism) as it is about Islam. The Pew Global Attitudes Project reported one of the most precipitous drops in support for the United States in the past three years among Indonesians. Whereas 75 and 61 percent of Indonesians had positive images of the United States in 2000 and 2002 respectively, only 15 percent did in 2003. Whereas 31 percent of Indonesians supported the global war of on terror in 2002, only 23 percent supported it in 2003, despite the deadly terrorist attacks in Indonesia in October 2002.
The war on terror is as much a war within Islam; and to that end, the United States needs the support of moderate Muslim leaders throughout the war to attack terrorism and intolerant radicals and to provide an ideological counter to them. Yet, we seem to undermine them at every chance with our policies. Moderate Indonesian clerics who supported the war on terror were often leading demonstrations against the war. And even those that did not have a hard time assuaging popular anger against the United States and her policies.
Such sentiments have only increased with the Iraq war. For Muslims of the world, there is only one lesson to be learnt from Iraq: no state can confront the United States and her allies; the only way that they can be made to pay and “taste” the humiliation that Muslims feel every day is through terror. States in the Islamic world have failed to stand up to the United States and defend fellow Muslims; only Al Qaeda and its affiliates have the will and capacity.
4. The Colonels: Although a number of shura members were arrested, the majority of the 2000 arrests to date have been of foot soldiers with no knowledge of operations or the organization. These individuals performed specific functions (running safe houses, meet and greeters, surveillance, procurement). Very few “operatives” have been arrested; i.e. people with technical proficiency and who are able to plan, coordinate and execute attacks. They have the rank and stature to command foot soldiers. Most of these individuals were trained either in Al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan or Camp Abu Bakar in Mindanao. These include Zulkaraenen, Syawal, Dulmatin, Dr. Azahari Husin, Noordin Mohammed Mop Top, Abu al-Furkan, Abdul Jabar, and others. These individuals have technical and bomb-making expertise, a knowledge of secure communications, where to go for funding, how to communicate with the diversified Al Qaeda center, and finally the clout to bark orders at their underlings.
One of the key variables is who these people are training to serve as their own lieutenants as well as the question as to how well new members are being trained. What counter-terrorist operations hope to achieve is the “degrading” of JI members. As one American CT official said to me recently, “Yes they’re actively recruiting, but they’re not as good.”
We have all seen the Al Qaeda training video-tapes that give bomb-making lessons. Likewise, Dr. Azahari’s bomb “cook books” were written in a way that nearly anyone, even someone with only a limited Koranic education, could understand. Indonesian and Australian police have found pre-weighed bags of chemicals in some quarter-master dens allowing for quick construction of bombs with little technical expertise. Moreover, the Bali and Jakarta bombs indicate a sharp learning curve over the 2000 bombings, in terms of the complexity and lethality of the bombs. Has that knowledge been effectively transmitted? How are JI recruits being trained? Can the training be as effective while they are on the run, and spending most of their resources on trying to ensure their own survival? The September arrests of 19 JI members in Karachi, Pakistan, may indicate that JI is moving further afield to conduct its training in a more secure environment. But the issue of training also brings into question the next variable, the role of the MILF.
5. The MILF: The MILF has been fighting for a homeland since the 1970s, and began to receive significant amounts of funding (lethal and non-lethal) from Al Qaeda beginning in the early-1990s. In return for the aid, the MILF opened its doors to Al Qaeda trainers, who instructed not just MILF cadres in terrorism but also local JI operatives who were unable to get to Pakistan and Afghanistan in significant numbers.
Until the MILF cuts its ties to JI, there will be a terrorist problem in the region as without the MILF camps and secure base area JI cannot train effectively. Yet, to date there have been no incentives for the MILF to cut ties or cooperate. Although they strenuously deny it, the MILF resorts to terror when it suffers battlefield losses, such as this past spring when it bombed the Davao airport or after the 1999 offensive when it bombed the LRT in Manila. It has become standard operating procedure for them. They deny every act of terror – or when confronted with overwhelming evidence that implicates them, blame the attack on “lost commands.”
Although peace talks are set to resume again at the time of writing (there have been preliminary talks and negotiations since early August though they have come to nothing), there seems to be no willingness on the part of either side to compromise on the three issues that led to the breakdown of talks in late-2001. First, the MILF has given no indication whatsoever that that they have abandoned their quest for an independent state or would accept the government’s offer of autonomy. The MILF rejected the 1996 peace treaty between the government and their rival Moro National Liberation Front which created the nominally self governing Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The MILF believes (not without reason) that the ARMM has been a failure, and refuse to accept a similar proposal.
Second, the MILF is unlikely to accept “joint development projects” that the Philippine government hopes to use to legitimize their position; despite the $30 million that was put on the table by the Americans, or the $130 million offered by the Philippine government. The MILF has demanded that the government simply give them the funds to use for development projects, through the Bangsamoro Development Agency. The government obviously refuses as they want the money to legitimize their position, not to buy political support for the MILF.
Third, the MILF sees cantonment, disarmament and demobilization as tantamount to surrender.
On top of the three issues that led to the talks breaking down in 2001, are four additional concerns: The first is the very palpable sense of mistrust on the part of the warring parties. It will take a long time to get back to the level of trust that was reached in the fall of 2001. Both sides blame each other for violating cease fires, seizing land, or perpetrating terrorist attacks.
The second concern is the apparent unwillingness of each side to implement the ceasefire, or alternatively, the inability to exert command and control over their troops. Third, the death of Hashim Salamat, the MILF’s founder and leader, also calls into question the ability of the MILF Central Committee to cut deals with the government. The fact is, we know very little about generational and factional differences and how this will play out in the peace process. The new MILF leader, Ebrahim al Haj Murad is known to be a pragmatic individual and a more moderate leader than Hashim Salamat, but we do not know how well he is holding the organization together or his ability to make significant compromises. He has been a vice-chairman for political and military affairs for over a decade and is well respected amongst the rank and file, yet the senior ranks of the MILF have been monopolized by the same individuals for a long time, thus limiting opportunities for a new generation of leaders to emerge. Fourth, the Philippine government, in the midst of a presidential election, is unlikely to yield much at the negotiating table. Although President Arroyo’s poll numbers are substantially up, depite breaking her December 2002 vow not to run for re-election, the best indications are that she will win. Certainly she has the backing of Lakas, former President Fidel Ramos and the recently retired and politically powerful prelate, Cardinal Jamie Sin. Her appeal is not based on her policies, but on the fact that none of the current crop of presidential aspirants has yet captured the imagination of Filipino voters or has national stature or integrity.
Perhaps the only tangible difference is that the United States is more involved in the peace process. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matt Daley secretly met with members of the MILF leadership in Kuala Lumpur and warned them to cut their ties to JI, and tried to indicate the seriousness the US attaches to this issue. Daley offered $30 million to the MILF as an incentive to signing a peace accord. Yet the MILF is insistent that this revolution is about principles and they cannot be bought off.
The outbreak of hostilities between government forces and the MILF is likely, and to that end, terror will remain part of their arsenal, thus necessitating ties to JI and Al Qaeda. There is now significant evidence that there are two new camps in operation deep in MILF territory where Indonesians are being trained. There are other reasons to be concerned about the MILF:
First, the growing closeness of the MILF and the Abu Sayyaf is also going to complicate matters. Although there have been talks between the two organizations in the past, they have never consummated an alliance due to differences over strategy, ideology and jealousy over foreign money. Yet recent reports of the MILF shipping an arms cache to the recently reconstituted Abu Sayyaf is very alarming. Although differences between the groups remain, clearly like their terrorist strategy, the MILF views the Abu Sayyaf as an effective way to keep the Philippine armed forces spread thin.
Likewise, there is now evidence of cooperation at the unit level between NPA and MILF units. Again, there is little ideological affinity, but there is a shared enemy. One also has to look at the evidence of collusion between the two with regards to arms shipments. For example, when Philippine troops over-ran the Buliok Complex they found evidence that the MILF was purchasing weapons from North Korea; a tie that was likely facilitated by the NPA.
6. Countries of Convenience: Terrorism differs from transnational crime in that it has no profit motive; but the underlying conditions that benefit one, benefit the other. Thus effective counter-terrorism must be based on rigorous law enforcement that targets gun-running, people smuggling, anti-corruption, money-laundering, and document forging. All of these are endemic in Southeast Asia; indeed that is a reason Al Qaeda was first attracted to the region. The will of states to crack down on these activities- especially in concert with one another is sorely lacking. The states of the region have not addressed the issue of terrorist-transnational crime convergence.
7. Range of Vulnerabilities: Although JI has lost the capacity to target a hard-target such as a well defended standing US embassy, there is an enormous range of targets to defend against. In one of his last major recorded statements, in October 2002, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al Qaeda’s number two leader, warned that “We will strike at the nodes of your economy.” We must take him very seriously. The goal of Al Qaeda is to rock the economic foundations of the west and its allies. Mass unemployment leads to frustration which leads to aggression. Although I refuse to accept the proposition that poverty causes terror, poverty does create the underlying conditions that allow terrorism to prosper. The west and its policies of globalization are convenient scapegoats.
Likely targets include less-guarded Western embassies (in particular Australia and the United Kingdom), especially those in office towers; symbols of US economic power, such as office towers with corporate logos; critical infrastructure such as refineries or pipelines and power-grids (that the MILF has started targeting with ease and effectiveness). JI cell members arrested in conjunction with the Semerang raid stated that US gas and mining firms were being specifically targeted (Unocal, Halliburton, ExxonMobil, Caltex, Conoco-Philipp, and Union Texas) while footage of Freeport McMoRan appears to be on a video produced by an Al Qaeda suspect detained in Indonesia. These firms represent the core of the Indonesian economy.
In addition, there is a huge range of soft targets: hotels, shopping malls, bars-nightclubs, housing complexes, and international schools. Airport security is abysmal in smaller regional airports and thus suicide-hijackings remain a distinct possibility. The potential for a plane taking off from Riau or Batam and being crashed anywhere in Singapore is not an unreasonable scenario; and it is an attack that would devastate the Singaporean economy.
The Mombasa attack and the apparent Al Qaeda attempt to procure surface to air missiles are significant in Southeast Asia as the two most prominent corporate symbols of Australia and Singapore are their airlines. An attack on airliners would be economically devastating in this region that is so dependent on foreign investment and tourism. Hambali has admitted that he and a colleague were planning to purchase shoulder-launched SAMs (MANPADS) to attack jetliners in Thailand. Indicating the concern that the US government places on the threat of such attacks, the single most important agreement that came out of the October 2003 APEC summit in Bangkok was an agreement that pledged states to control the sale and transfer of these weapons; though it fell short of a complete ban.
Although there is still no consensus on this amongst law enforcement officials regarding whether Iqbal was a suicide bomber at Paddy’s Bar in Bali, the psychological threshold for suicide bombings has been crossed in Southeast Asia. A former Darul Islam member, which in many ways was a ore-cursor organization to JI, stated “Suicide bombings are a new development in Jemaah Islamiya activities. When I was in the movement, we never had the concept. But what we did have is the understanding that we will face death in our struggle.” Interrogations in Malaysia revealed that Hambali had recruited some six individuals for martyrdom missions. Sydney Jones of the International Crisis Group contends that a JI leader, Zulkarnaen established a suicide cell of the JI, known as the Laskar Khos, which has approximately 15 members. Martyrdom missions are not going to become a regular occurrence in Southeast Asia, but they are now part of the arsenal and cannot be discounted.
Two recent arrests portend the future of JI attacks. Malaysian authorities arrested one person with 10kg of Bali-like chemicals, as well as sodium azide which can be used to make poison gas. This fits into a pattern of Al Qaeda activity indicating a strong desire to operationalize WMD. He confessed that he was in a 6 person cell, of which each member was charged with the procurement of similar chemicals; none of whom have been arrested. In a 2003 raid on a JI safe house in the southern Philippines, a manual on bio-weapons was found.
8. Independent Al Qaeda Cells: Much of the focus of the war on terror in Southeast Asia has been on Jemaah Islamiya, yet there has been little attention paid to independent Al Qaeda cells and operatives. States in the region feel threatened by JI, yet not by Al Qaeda. This is a dangerous attitude. First, if we begin with the premise that Al Qaeda seeks to expand its war, to spread American and Western resources too thin, than we should expect that Southeast Asia will only increase in its importance as a theater of operations. Indeed Southeast Asia has emerged as one of the key theaters of operation. Second, we cannot forget that Al Qaeda first came to Southeast Asia in the early 1990s, years before JI was founded. It developed its network slowly and deliberately without attracting the suspicion of the region’s security services.
There is no way to ascertain the number of operatives in the region, yet Al Qaeda has been a more dispersed organization. One should not forget that when Abdullah al-Rahim al-Nishiri was arrested in Yemen in early-October 2002, the senior Al Qaeda operative was reportedly on his way to Malaysia. It is a more dispersed and decentralized organization, with multiple nodes of power, and thus operations.
Obviously states in the region have become more vigilant about the inflow of Middle Easterners. Yet, the economic costs of heightened vigilance, over time, will be too great. This was already seen in Malaysia, which following 9/11 no longer had visa-free entry requirements for members of OIC states. Yet, as Malaysia poised itself as a center of Islamic banking and business and an important tourist destination for Middle Easterners, it lifted most of those visa requirements. The porousness of Southeast Asia’s borders and its tourist-friendly lax visa requirements will continue to attract operatives.
9. Lands of Jihad: From 1999-2000, JI leaders were actively engaged in leading sectarian conflict in the Malukus and Central Sulawesi, and to that end, established two paramilitary arms. The logic was simple: if Al Qaeda’s first generation of members were veterans of the anti-Soviet Mujiheddin, than new generations of recruits to Al Qaeda and affiliates, had to have their own holy war to radicalize them. Although the Indonesian government finally stepped in, restored order and negotiated fragile peace accords, since this summer, there have been a number of deadly attacks in Poso, both bombings and assassinations, to wreck the peace process and rekindle sectarian violence. The outbreaks of sectarian violence will play into the hands of militants who will manipulate these conflicts and use them to propagandize against the state, recruit and fundraise.
10. The Money Trail: The financial war on terror has failed in Southeast Asia and to date almost no assets have been frozen although the region has become more financially important to Al Qaeda. Much of the fundraising is impossible to stop: hawala, cash being brought in on person, and petty crime. Hambali has revealed that JI was increasingly dependent on cash infusions for terrorist acts. But even the money that we should be able to curtail, we have not. Although the US Department of the Treasury identified 300 individuals, corporations and charities, the list was winnowed down to 28 individuals and corporations, many of which are already arrested or defunct. The designations that were finally announced on 5 September 2003 were a diplomatic compromise and really belied the scope of the problem. The US government designated 14 individuals while Malaysia submitted a list of 10 terrorist funders directly to the United Nations. Yet, of those 24 individuals, 9 had already been arrested, while none of the others are expected to have significant assets. The list included none of the charities and known front companies.
Saudi charities remain very active in the region, despite considerable evidence that they have directed funds to JI and its paramilitary arms. They, like their domestic counterparts, are maintaining a lower profile, but in part that is due to the fact that there is less overt sectarian conflict. The banking sectors remain weak and under-regulated, especially the Islamic banking sectors. Even states that are threatened by terrorism either question the utility of going after terrorist funding, or fear the adverse effect that such measures will have on their economy.
The Arabization and spread of Wahhabism in the region is deeply troubling. Although there is no centralized body or over-arching plan, the fact is the charities are the primary vehicle for the spread of Wahhabism throughout the region.
11. JI Reaches Out: Between 1999 and 2000 JI held a series of three meetings that included members of other small and radical Muslim groups from around the region, including Thai and Bangladeshi organizations. This was known as the Rabitatul Mujiheddin. There is significant evidence that JI cadres are using southeastern Bangladesh to regroup and there are close ties between Fazlul Rahman’s HUJI – Rohinga Solidarity Organizatio and JI. Bangladesh has been off most people’s radar screen and there has been an appalling lack of transparency on the part of the Bangladeshi government, whose mantra eerily sounds like the one that emanated from Jakarta pre-Bali.
The May-August 2003 arrests in Thailand-Cambodia further highlight the penetration of societies that were thought to be fairly immune to Islamic radicalism. Thailand and Cambodia became important staging grounds, but also very important financial conduits.
The 19 arrests in Pakistan, a group led by Hambali’s brother, in September 2003 are also indicative of how JI has developed its network overseas and how it uses foreign territory to regroup and rebuild.
12. Political Will: 2003-04 is a seminal year in the politics of the region that will see parliamentary and a presidential election in Indonesia; a presidential election in Philippines; the first leadership transition in Malaysia in 23 years, as well as a parliamentary election and a parliamentary election in Thailand. The war on terror will be a major campaign issue in all of these countries. Secular nationalists are all vulnerable to charges of being lackeys of the Americans.
Second, the underlying economic conditions are beneficial to the Islamic parties who can argue that globalization has led to the impoverishment of their country and especially the bumiputera/pribumi community.
Third, there is a lack of political will to take on the Islamists or expend the political capital to challenge them on small issues. For example, in Malaysia UMNO has become increasingly Islamic to court the Muslim electorate and win them back from the Islamic opposition party PAS. In Indonesia, although the Jakarta Charta failed, there is an Islamic component to more than 20 bills in parliament; to which no party is willing to stand up to. The Islamist vice president Hamzah Haz was to open the MMI congress, despite the fact that many MMI leaders have either been arrested for terrorist activities or linked to JI. It was only the Jakarta bombing that forced him to not attend.
In Indonesia, JI still has not been designated a terrorist organization and under the Indonesian legal system, there are no conspiracy laws. Despite the arrest of one JI suspect in conjunction with the arrests in Semerang, he was released for “lack of evidence.” Indonesian officials fear a political backlash if they designate JI as a terrorist organization as proponents also want the MMI designated as well. One must also consider what effect the acquittal of Ba’asyir on terrorism charges will have on the Islamists in Indonesia. If anything, it will motivate them and vindicate their position that Ba’asyir was arrested on politically motivated charges under intense pressure from the United States. The Pew poll found that there is considerable support for Islam’s political role in Indonesia: 86 percent of respondents agree that currently Islam plays a large role in Indonesian politics, while 82 percent agreed that Islam should play a role in politics.
We have to be prepared that some states no longer have the incentive in continuing the war on terror. Thailand seems to already be in “denial mode” following the arrest of Hambali. This is our war on terror, not necessarily theirs. In some cases they do not have the resources to maintain the current pace in the fight against militants, in other cases they are being hampered by intense bureaucratic competition.
I should briefly mention some of the key electoral issues as they pertain to the war on terror. In Thailand, although Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s Thai Rak Thai Party is almost guaranteed to be returned to power, it wants to deal the Democratic Party a crushing defeat. The Democrat Party’s regional stronghold is in the Muslim dominated south, which limits the degree to which Thaksin will allow the war on terror to be conducted.
In the Philippines, President Arroyo broke her 30 December 2002 vow to not run for re-election, despite her eligibility to run for her own full 6 year term. She made the decision for a number of reasons, but most importantly she stated that she wanted to focus on making hard choices that though politically unpopular would benefit the economy. Her popularity ratings were also quite low at the time. Hovering around 15 percent, though which not unprecedented in Philippine politics, it was enough to give her pause. She has a lot of pride and could not countenance an election in which she would be humiliated. Yet since then, her position in the polls has risen steadily, while no other candidate has yet captured the imagination of Filipino voters. The party system in the Philippines is quite week; parties are more vehicles for personalities, and thus it is hard to have nationwide appeal. Regardless, it will be difficult for Arroyo to make concessions with the MILF and a durable peace is unlikely. There are concerns that now resigned Secretary of National Defense Angelo Reyes is a potential presidential candidate. There are also attempts by the opposition parties to form a broad coalition, though that seems unlikely to succeed as the parties will likely clash regarding the presidential nominee.
In Malaysia, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed and UMNO milked 9/11 for all it was worth, linking Malaysians in Afghanistan and those detained under the ISA to the Islamic opposition party PAS, which did much to discredit the party. The PAS party paper Herakah afterwards complained that Mahathir was “fear mongering.” Mahathir clearly hoped to increase the 60 percent of the Malay population who support UMNO. There are a few key issues: first, in the 1999 election, PAS had substantial gains at the expense of UMNO- winning 20 seats. For the first time, UMNO did not win the majority of Bumiputera community. The ruling coalition Barisan Nasional held 148 of 193 seats, but only won 56.3 percent of the votes cast, down 7 percent. To what degree was the 1999 election a protest vote? Has PAS been able to hold onto those UMNO voters that it captured in 1999? Following the death of Fadzil Noor, the spiritual leader of PAS, UMNO was only able to win the by-election by 283 votes- in Prime Minister Mahathir’s home state of Kedah. PAS is poised to not only retain control of Kelantan and Terengganu in the 2003 elections, but to make substantial inroads and possibly gain control of the BN-controlled states of Perlis, Perak and Kedah. Due to the considerable gerrymandering on the part of the Barisan Nasional, PAS will not win in any of those three states, but it looks as though they will win more votes absolutely. If PAS makes significant gains in the election, the ability and willingness of the government to maintain its high degree of cooperation in the war on terror will be constrained. With the retirement of Prime Minister Mahathir on 31October 2003, Malaysia will experience its first leadership transition in over 30 years. His heir-apparent Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi is a much less charismatic figure, and has a much weaker political base. Although Badawi is a capable man who will continue to maintain the hard line on militants that he has shown while Home Minister, he will be a weaker leader who will have to bargain more with political rivals. There will be more dissent and factionalism in the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition. Although the deputy prime ministers have pledged to support Badawi, this is not a certainty and this is the first time in 23 years that there has been an opening at the top. Although Badawi has Islamic credentials, as the current Home Minister, he ordered the detainment of all JI and KMM suspects.
In Indonesia it is really too early to make any predictions. The new constitutional reforms allow for a direct election of the president, some 3 months after the parliamentary (DPR) elections in April. Parties that win at least 3 percent of vote will be allowed to field candidates. Over the summer, Jakarta was filled with rumors regarding backroom negotiations between the heads of parties and mass-based organizations over potential coalitions. Golkar is clearly in a much stronger position and is fielding a number of candidates; it also has the strongest grass-roots network across the archipelago. Their decision not to nominate their candidate until after the April 2004 parliamentary election is a smart one, as it allows 4-5 candidates to constantly tour the archipelago and drum up grass-roots support. The fact that Bambang Yudhono Susilo, the current Coordinating Minister for Politics and Security Affairs, has emerged as one of the strongest Golkar candidates must be troubling to Megawati; and has grave implications for how the war on terror is being conducted. Megawati no longer has the cache of being an outsider, and her party the PDI-P is riddled with allegations of egregious corruption and factionalism. This is her election to lose, which she will, unless she can form a durable coalition with the PKB/NU. It is telling that Megawati did not meet with Australian Prime Minister John Howard who came to Bali to commemorate the first anniversary of the Bali attacks.
Of immediate concern is the question of how well the Islamic-based parties will fare in 2004. There is no consensus at present. While some people see a natural and inevitable swing to the Muslims, a slight majority expect that they will poll roughly at the same rates they did in 1999. However, this has more to do with their inherent weaknesses than their ideological appeal. There are pockets where Islamic parties are strong, but not across the nation. The Islamic parties are riddled with factionalism and rivalries and have trouble working together. The Crescent and Star Party has a very weak organizational structure and has more or less split into two factions. The only Muslim party that stands to gain from the election is the Justice Party, which is a very un-Indonesian party. Although they were courted by the government, they have turned down ministerships, preferring to remain in opposition, to maintain their integrity. The Justice Party is by far the cleanest party in Indonesia and ministers have a good reputation for eschewing graft. Moreover, it has a strong party organization and can assemble huge numbers of people. Most importantly, there are no discernable factions within the party.
B. Ongoing Counter-Terrorism Challenges and Policy Recommendations
Intelligence sharing and cooperation is essential. However, the criticism one hears from across the region is that intelligence sharing is a one way street to Langley, Virginia; that the United States gives little to these states on terms of what they need. The issue of access to Hambali is a case in point. Whereas I understand that it is critical to the long-term interrogation process to control the environment, it is insulting to the Southeast Asians, as well as the Australians, to not have direct access to him and other leaders. We must put in place a mechanism that would allow our allies to have access to these suspects. Our intelligence presence around the world is smaller than one thinks, and we rely on our counterparts to provide the “boots on the ground.” Therefore we must build up trust and a close working relationship with them. Adding irritants such as this will set us back in the long-run.
Inter-state cooperation has improved dramatically, though it began from a very low level. The instances of joint operations are no longer the exceptions. States are cooperating with one another more regarding the handing-over of suspects (recently Hambali’s wife was turned over by Thai officials to Malaysia, while Malaysia turned over Abu Jibril to Indonesia). There seems to be consensus that if tele-conferencing is to be used in the future, there should be universal ground rules and procedures. There is some momentum regarding getting each state to amend their existing laws to bring them into line with other states. There still, however, has been no interest in developing an ASEAN extradition treaty. The United States should facilitate inter-state cooperation, and assist states in developing courses at the Regional Counter-Terrorism Centre in Kuala Lumpur.
The United States must get involved in the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Front (MILF) peace process. Yet financial incentives are not enough to buy off the MILF. The MILF must understand how important the United States Government takes their ongoing relationship with JI and Al Qaeda, and they must understand that there will be costs entailed if they maintain such relationships. To that end, the United States must reach an agreement as soon as possible to get troops back into the Philippines for “robust training exercises.” We must be sensitive to Philippine law and political sensitivities. We cannot afford the fiasco of stating that the troops will be there in a combat capacity for as long as it takes. But we do need troops on the ground in the Philippines providing training and equipment; and also, keeping the Philippine armed forces honest. Most importantly it will send a strong signal to the MILF. The MILF never believed that the US troops that were stationed in the Philippines in the first half of 2002 were there for the Abu Sayyaf. They believed the US presence was directed at them. That is a feeling thatwe should maintain.
Terrorist Financing in Southeast Asia must be addressed. First, we must continue to pressure the Government of Saudi Arabia to control its charities that are very active in Southeast Asia. Many of these charities have been implicated in financing terrorism and militant activities. Second, we should pressure governments to shut down domestic charities, such as KOMPAK, that have been involved in fomenting sectarian violence. Third, whereas the governments of the region have expressed willingness to freeze individual bank accounts, none has been frozen. Moreover, they have resisted shutting down front companies for fear of any commercial backlash against their economies. This is particularly true with regard to Malaysia. Fourth, the US government must continue assisting governments in the region who have limited capacities to regulate their banking systems, to establish and or train financial intelligence units in these states, and to strengthen regulations and put into place laws and regulations that criminalize terrorist financing.
Counter-terror policies and assistance programs must be developed and implemented that focus on overcoming bureaucratic competition amongst the Southeast Asian security services. One of the most critical issues should be getting tactical level cooperation between the police and intelligence services, which seem to be more concerned with discrediting one another and competing for foreign assistance programs.
Whereas US investment in Southeast Asian education is important, especially in the Philippines and Indonesia, it alone is not enough. $157 billion in educational assistance to Indonesia is important, but unless we create jobs, we are sowing the seeds of more unrest. Policy-makers cannot remain transfixed on madrassas. JI recruits across the socio-economic spectrum. We need to put in place economic policies and incentives that will facilitate job creation. For example, increasing the amount of Philippine tuna or other agricultural products or Indonesian textiles and shoes.
Our visa policy is insulting and has little efficacy and must be changed for Southeast Asia. It is bad for our economy, universities and counter-terrorism efforts as it breeds ill-will and resentment.
The Middle East peace process is a metaphor for injustice throughout the region. The plight of the Palestinians resonates widely amongst the vast majority of the population, while members of the elites believe that America is doing nothing to facilitate a return to the negotiating table. Islamic militancy and the threat of terrorism will grow around the world unless America uses its political and economic clout to restore the peace process. There can be no progress in the war on terrorism until a durable political solution that necessarily entails Palestinian statehood is reached. The war in Iraq, likewise, was universally unpopular in Southeast Asia. Southeast Asians now view the war on terror as patently anti-Muslim. Until there is a quick transition in Iraq to self rule, there will be strong-anti-American sentiment. Radicals in Southeast Asia are actively trying to identify with their radical co-religionists in the Middle East, thus we must take the wind out of their sails.
The hypocrisy of US policies must be ended. Americans often ask themselves “why do they hate us?” The fact is most people in Southeast Asia do not. They admire us for our economic and technological success, for our entrepreneurial spirit, hard work and determination, for our cultural values and freedoms. What people hate is the hypocrisy of our policy: demanding others to do one thing why we do otherwise. Because of that we alienate even our allies. There are two good examples of this. First, the United States was very unhappy that the alleged spiritual leader Abu Bakar Ba’asyir was acquitted of the terrorism charge, and received 4 years, rather than the 15 years Americans had hoped for. While we pressured the Singaporeans to make a JI suspect, Faiz Bin Abu Bakar Bafana, available for video testimony, the United States refused to give the Indonesian prosecutors access to Omar al Faruq, one of the most senior Al Qaeda operatives caught in Southeast Asia. The second case has to do with America’s condemnation of the Internal Security Acts that are used in Singapore and Malaysia, which allow the state to hold people without charge indefinitely. Yet while we routinely criticize the ISA, we are doing the same thing in Guantanamo.
anthony diamos on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 11:04 pm
What is Loyalty without Integrity?
PSI on Sun, 24th Aug 2008 12:22 am
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.
nash on Sun, 24th Aug 2008 12:51 am
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.)
leytenian on Sun, 24th Aug 2008 1:27 am
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 countries—including EU members Poland and Romania—have even opened torture centers in their territories on behalf of U.S. executioners. Others such as Britain, Austria, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Denmark, Spain and—irony of the fates!—Italy and Sweden—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.
PSI on Sun, 24th Aug 2008 3:25 am
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.
KG on Sun, 24th Aug 2008 8:56 am
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
KG on Sun, 24th Aug 2008 9:11 am
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.
anthony diamos on Sun, 24th Aug 2008 9:22 am
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.
anthony diamos on Sun, 24th Aug 2008 9:32 am
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…
hvrds on Sun, 24th Aug 2008 10:22 am
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
Zulu88 on Sun, 24th Aug 2008 10:41 am
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!!!
KG on Sun, 24th Aug 2008 11:15 am
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.
KG on Sun, 24th Aug 2008 3:23 pm
I was referring to Thomas Barnett’s
entagon’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:
http://www.quezon.ph/1955/greater-malaysia/
http://blogs.inquirer.net/current/2008/08/15/greater-malaysia/
manuelbuencamino on Sun, 24th Aug 2008 5:33 pm
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.
anthony scalia on Sun, 24th Aug 2008 6:54 pm
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
anthony scalia on Sun, 24th Aug 2008 7:09 pm
“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 ***
anthony scalia on Sun, 24th Aug 2008 7:13 pm
manuelbuencamino,
“Agree?”
spin a win!
anthony scalia on Sun, 24th Aug 2008 7:37 pm
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!!!!
anthony scalia on Sun, 24th Aug 2008 7:48 pm
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!”!!!!
PSI on Sun, 24th Aug 2008 10:28 pm
“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.
PSI on Sun, 24th Aug 2008 10:59 pm
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.
UP n student on Sun, 24th Aug 2008 11:46 pm
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.]
grd on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 2:23 am
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.
grd on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 3:30 am
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
UP n student on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 4:17 am
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.
UP n student on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 4:23 am
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.
jcc on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 7:45 am
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”.
grd on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 3:03 pm
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.
grd on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 3:09 pm
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€free worldâ€, 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.
grd on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 3:16 pm
anthony, did you ask your uncle why he preferred living in that aquarium? was it a bad experience for him?
Tax Joven on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 3:19 pm
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?
grd on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 4:05 pm
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€
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…
grd on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 4:23 pm
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:
LuvinC on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 5:55 pm
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.
leytenian on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 8:10 pm
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
leytenian on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 8:24 pm
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…
PSI on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 8:49 pm
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!!!
jcc on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 9:13 pm
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.
supremo on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 9:16 pm
‘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.
PSI on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 9:18 pm
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.
jcc on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 9:34 pm
grd,
You wrote:
“my point is, let’s not view it only on our side, theâ€free worldâ€, 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.
jcc on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 9:39 pm
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.
PSI on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 9:44 pm
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.
grd on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 9:52 pm
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.
PSI on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 9:54 pm
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?
grd on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 9:56 pm
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.
UP n student on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 10:33 pm
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?
mindanaoan on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 10:54 pm
UP n student,
“Where does the money come from to fund the MILF?”
shabu, pirated dvd’s, extortion, KFR
Geo on Tue, 26th Aug 2008 12:07 am
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.
jcc on Tue, 26th Aug 2008 1:52 am
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.
jcc on Tue, 26th Aug 2008 2:14 am
It is all about bias and perception. Pamatong’s platform for the inclusion of P.I as one of the US states may be funny from some people’s view, but not for one who had been in America and found that no American state has hit rock bottom as deep as the Philippines’.
If you think of Pamatong’s desire for the inclusion of P.I. as one of the States is for the upliftment of P.I economy, you could see some patriotic flavor in such posture unlike the posturing of most nationalists in us who see only our capability to run our own government even if we continue to ditch our economy to the ground just to serve our own selfish interest and ego that we are independent and sovereign.
If you go by the countryside and ask people if they would want economic security rather than political sovereignty, they would, to my mind opt for the former because political sovereignty is a concept that could not feed their stomach but more grains and bread will.
But we are still missing the point. We are not even sure that America will embrace us as one of their States. So wake, gentlemen and ladies.
jcc on Tue, 26th Aug 2008 6:16 am
I MEAN, WAKE UP ! ! ! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.
leytenian on Tue, 26th Aug 2008 8:57 am
globalization and the war of terror….are they really connected.
it has been a central task, in the post 9-11 era, for activists to demonstrate how the war against terror and the drive for corporate globalization are one and the same–how peace and global justice movements share vital common ground.
Finally, activists have seen a connection between war and corporate globalization in the privatization of Iraq’s economy.
Following what The Economist magazine called a “wish-list that foreign investors and donor agencies dream of for developing markets,” Washington instituted measures providing for the privatization of 200 Iraqi state firms, for 100% foreign ownership in Iraqi companies outside the oil production and refinement sectors, for full repatriation of profits, and for a 15% cap on corporate taxes.
Particularly since September 11, 2001, Bush’s globalization policy has been quite different from what characterized the Clinton years. Actually, much of the business elite would prefer Clinton’s multilateralist globalization to Bush’s imperial version.”When Colin Powell gave the speech of his life, trying to win over the non-American delegates, the sharpest attack on his comments came not from Amnesty International or some Islamic representative–it came from the head of the largest bank in the Netherlands !”
the Washington Post reported on March 23, 2003, that: “Discord over the Iraq War is putting uncomfortable strains on economic links between the United States and Europe, a relationship that many view as a cornerstone of global prosperity. Guardians of transatlantic harmony are scrambling to keep the diplomatic rift from poisoning economic ties.” The article continued, “the animosity that has flared of late appears almost certain to seep into transatlantic trade and investment issues.”
In recent months, President Bush has scrambled to internationalize the occupation of Iraq and to temper his nationalism in trade talks, bringing institutions like the UN and IMF back onto center stage in his foreign policy.
what’s Bush Policy now for corporate globalization?
leytenian on Tue, 26th Aug 2008 9:06 am
Threats and Challenges of Globalization to the Lumad People of Mindanao.
The case in point now is globalization’s assault to nature and the country-sides in Mindanao. To the Lumads, this is an attack to their lives and livelihood while others see this as opportunities for job placement and employment.
http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article3058
Education is perhaps one of the most important social institutions in the world because it plays a major role in the development of man as an essential factor of the society. However, education has become complex, costly, and coveted over the years. Only the rich and advanced nations provide for it an array of institutions, while poor and underdeveloped nations spend little and provide few of no formal institutions. Although the Philippines, as a Third World country, adopts a utilitarian value of education, the rise of globalization has made it difficult for the government to focus on education. Globalization shows a very unique phenomenon, in which simultaneous with the increase in wealth is, the increase in poverty worldwide. Its adverse effects is seen in the progressive deterioration of the quality of life of the Filipinos as manifested in such symptoms as the poor quality of education and health services. Mindanao shows the unmistakable signs of underdevelopment and abject poverty, instead of development and progress. The government may have formulated a pro-poor agenda for the depressed regions of Mindanao, but it is unlikely for it to be implemented. A focus on education by the government is suggested.
UP n student on Tue, 26th Aug 2008 9:18 am
to leytenian: Bush’s actions over past weeks give good indications of Bush’s most current policies —- go sightseeing, watch fireworks, eat great Chinese food and watch live basketball games. RETIREMENT!!!!
And the world breathes easier with each day that brings the Bush-Cheney combo closer to changing-of-the-guards January 2009.
leytenian on Tue, 26th Aug 2008 9:24 am
UP N
true, enjoy life to the fullest.
it would be the McCain and his VP on changing of the guards?
UP n student on Tue, 26th Aug 2008 9:49 am
With Abe Margallo’s vote for Obama getting nulled by the Bencard’s vote for McCain, it may again be someone from Florida causing things to happen.
Liam Tinio on Tue, 26th Aug 2008 9:49 am
although i like the idea of PSI that first you have to fight, then you conquer, then you talk peace, and then you define whether it was a police action or war.
I believe that giving the MILF room to condemn the lanao & saranggani perpetrators themselves is something that will hopefully be better for peace.
if there is anything that we would like to prevent in this conflict, it is that we refrain from hitting emotional chords this time.
if we declare an all out war, it would make the entire milf on the defensive. at least for now, there are people in the milf whose condemning the actions of the said commanders. that is a victory for the government right there. so i believe that puno et al should proceed with the POLICE ACTION stance.
war should not be an option, well, at least not yet.
grd on Tue, 26th Aug 2008 1:57 pm
Jcc,
of course , you’re right, we should not kill noble ideas outright (no matter how absurd they may sound) specially patriotic ones and not the kind of posturing done by most nationalists in us.
if you find the intension of Pamatong patriotic, I think the Comelec viewed Eddie Gil’s intension more patriotic the reason why they disqualified the former and upheld the latter’s candidacy.
while Pamatong is espousing for the inclusion of P.I as one of the US states, Eddie Gil is offering to pay all the debts of the filipino people. these two have the answer to P.I. economic woes. their great ideas even escaped the minds of our posturing politicians.
anyway, whom would you have chosen if you were the Comelec, Pamatong or Eddie Gil?
The Ca t on Tue, 26th Aug 2008 7:47 pm
Pamatong is a laughing stock in SF. I heard that he is in the Phils. for good. His crusade of making the Phils as one of the states had long been trashed by the US government.
to people in the countryside and people who do not know what he did in the US, this promise made them become loyalists to Pamatong since they are assured of citizenship the moment the Phils become a state of US.
Nababaliw na lang ang taong maniwala sa kaniya.
Patriotic? Sheesh.
trisha on Tue, 26th Aug 2008 7:54 pm
yung anthony scalia, parang may kung anong galit dun sa reporter ng singko. nawala na ang isyu ng gloria eh, naging anti jove na lahat ng comment ah. hmmmm bakit kaya? oooops natanong ko pa, malamang may sagot na naman yan na hiding in the guise of whatever true journalism is. hahahaha. pero promise, anuman ang sagot nyan, ililiko at ililiko sa galit niya kay jove. hahahahahahaha. pustahan? pustahan promise, yan ang mangyayari… sasagot yan na ang point ng sagot, dagdag tira dun kay francisco. hahahahaha. mga sarcasm na the likes of: “kaibigan ka nga ni jove!” hahahahaha pustahan? pustahannnnnnnn!
glu gun on Tue, 26th Aug 2008 8:03 pm
much as they are reviving cha-cha, let us also not forget the hello garci scandal. Actually before, the scandal came to fore people actaully believed that GMA cheated in the elections.
Then the joc-joc bolante fertilizer scam, the cover up ups, zte-nbn etc etc. GLORIA RESIGN.
baycas on Tue, 26th Aug 2008 9:21 pm
smear or not?
hello garci-a naman…
http://midfield.wordpress.com/2008/08/26/purported-audio-of-gsis-head-leaked-exploitation-of-corrupt-courts-in-gsis-meralco-row-mentioned/
—–
sabio caper getting juicier “every minute…”
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20080826-156864/UPDATE-2-PCGG-chief-links-Mike-Arroyo-lawyer-to-CA-row
jcc on Tue, 26th Aug 2008 11:48 pm
Judicial prostitution predates the prostitution of Mary Magdalene. Supreme Court included. Please read my blog.
http://jcc34.wordpress.com
nash on Wed, 27th Aug 2008 4:07 am
oo nga, unethical-unethical si jove sigaw ng mga tao pero yung GARCI telephone call kalimutan nalang natin???
alin at sino ang mas UNETHICAL???
leytenian on Wed, 27th Aug 2008 6:01 am
CEBU CITY – The Provincial Women’s Council (PWC), an umbrella organization of women’s group in Cebu, has sent its resolution to stations GMA and ABS-CBN urging the two networks to “dress up†the dancers in the noon time shows Eat Bulaga and Wowowee in order not to “poison the minds†of the youth.
Gestopa said the dancers in the said shows “wear indecent and inappropriate†outfits that could trigger an impulse in the minds of the youth. She said these dancers should wear appropriate outfits considering that many teens and children watch their shows.
http://www.cebuonlinenews.com/20080506/99233-women%e2%80%99s-group-petitions-tv-stations-vs-sexy-dancers/
MANILA, Philippines — A day after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo delivered her eighth congressional speech in front of lawmakers, women and lawyer groups expressed dismay over the alleged exclusion of the protection of women and children’s rights in her speech, saying Arroyo has “DISRESPECTED†these groups in society.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20080729-151417/Neglect-of-women-childrens-rights-in-SONA-slammed
Renato Pacifico on Wed, 3rd Sep 2008 6:21 am
“wear and indecent and inappropriate” outfits” … HA!HA!HA!
Filipinos are fakking indecent …. look we are 99 million Flips … If Filipinos didn’t have indecent thoughts and minds we’d still be 20 million Flips.
It takes pornographic mind to make 99 million Flips.
GET REAL FILIPINOS!!!! GET REAL!!!! HA!HA!HA!