The current global economic crisis is a chain of events, primarily blamed on man’s dependency on foreign oil and the manufacturing companies’ dependency on petroleum for food production. Couple it with the mismanagement of creditors to lend money to people and businesses living beyond their means, which leads to more debts and not making enough money to pay the debts. In the end, all these contribute to foreclosures, bankruptcies, unemployment, high oil prices, high food prices, world wide inflation, and global crash or recession not necessarily in that order.

The United States regarded as a superpower based on its ability to influence the world in all respects, is the most hurt among nations. We wake up with the realization that there is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow…

This sense of hopelessness and fear isn’t only felt domestically. What it means for the rest of the world is that they will most likely be in an even deeper mess if a superpower like America can in fact suffer the way it has. For most anti-US countries, it is a cause for rejoicing but whether other nations favor the United States or not, sooner or later what is happening to the US will have a domino effect to the rest of the world. it is only a matter of time.

Already, in a surprising twist of event, Iceland- a highly-developed country in Western Europe has announced national bankruptcy. How can that be? People declare bankruptcy, companies file for bankruptcy but a country? an entire country?!

For those who think China is the new superpower, think again. They are a Socialist Republic run by communists. They have strong censorship dictating people what they can and can’t read or know. No freedom of expression at all. They even ban certain websites from being accessed. Can you imagine that if you live in China, you can’t even access Youtube or Wikipedia?! They practically control how people live there. Despite its huge economy, it’s not as strong as some might believe. They are as vulnerable as the next country especially when part of their economy is based on US manufacturing companies, outsourcing jobs in their country. These US companies have declining funds and they are shutting down plants abroad and closing stores domestically. China workers are suffering.

For the Philippines who rely hugely on overseas remittances, what is happening to the world around it most especially to the United States is utterly disconcerting. Last year, the 11 million strong overseas workers (that’s about 11% of the Philippine population!) sent $14 billion to pump the economy. There are 4 million expatriates from the US alone and about 2 million from the Middle East sending remittances, buying properties and creating businesses (=jobs) in the Philippines. This year while it is expected to remain the same, it is already forecasting a decline in 2009. Who knows how many of these 11 million overseas workers will be sent back home or will lose their jobs in the coming months?

While the US dependency on foreign oil is believed to be the major culprit of its economic fall, the Philippines’ major dependency on its biggest export- its human resources doesn’t seem to be a cause for concern at all for the government. In fact they even brag to the whole world that the overseas Filipino workers (OFW) are the lifeblood of the economy pumping those dollars to support the country’s stability and economy.

In short, thanking the overseas workers for NOT having have to lift a hand, for NOT having have to do their own laundry or wash their own dishes, for NOT getting their hands dirty, for NOT having have to sweat blood and tears because the overseas workers are doing it for them! They can be lazy on their jobs because they are getting huge financial support from overseas workers. They can continue with graft and corruption, the things they do best!

Oh as a consolation, they get to call us “modern-day heroes.” Did you hear about Pres. Gloria’s recent announcement that “From now on, call them Expats not OFWs!” She says further that “we should begin to call our overseas Filipinos expatriates because the nature of their job is increasingly more on skilled professions, and they should be called expatriates because expatriates usually get higher pay.” Huh, say that again Madam president?! Are you high?! OFW, Overseas workers, expatriates, slaves, servants- just semantics.

Seriously, that is not something to be proud about! It is a shame to say that your own countrymen are leaving the country of birth for greener pastures and opportunity. That is blatantly admitting that you the government, failed to protect your own people from poverty and unemployment and lack of better paying jobs! I would go back to the Philippines in a heart beat if I know I could survive there and live comfortably the way I can! The Philippines for all its inadequacy and destitution is a paradise to live in.

Does the government actually think we’re here abroad to enjoy the Grand Canyon or Disneyland or just enjoy the view at the Petronas towers where we can relish in the beaches of Boracay or Palawan or explore the rest of the 7,001 islands? We would not have to go to other nations and suffer if you the government can offer more decent jobs for us “expatriates.” This article shows how delusional President Arroyo is!

This article originally appears at Sinigang For the Soul. Pages 2 and 3 are on that site. Continue to read and be directed to the site…

At these trying times, we can’t help but call on divine intervention. There seems to be no way to resolve this. Only He can lead the way. We need a miracle! We need it now…

By Herman Tiu Laurel / Infowars / Tribune column for 8-18-2008 MON

It is now popular knowledge that the US has struck a deal with Gloria to sell out Philippine sovereignty in exchange for its silence over her bid for term extension.  At stake here are: 1) control of at least $570 billion in gas and oil reserves, and 2) the Filipino people’s right to choose its leaders and periodically vote on issues of national concern.  Specifically, the oil and gas wealth alone means P273,888 for each Filipino man, woman and child — the value of which will increase in the future.  Such a scheme will likewise perpetuate the kleptocracy and plutocracy of Gloria Arroyo’s ilk and US-backed oligarchs for years and years to come.

For over a decade now, the US has pursued a program of setting up physical and social infrastructure in key cities and provinces in Mindanao — a process which has accelerated the past five years.  Filipinos often wondered and joked about these huge US projects in places like General Santos.  Highways were built so wide and thick that engineers say they can accommodate the landing of the largest air transport vehicles.

It’s been a puzzle, really, why such an area known more for its tuna and sardines would need a highway that could land a Lockheed C-5 Galaxy.  Clearly, the US has been making very strategic, long term investments in Mindanao for purposes that have never been fully revealed.

In the cloak-and-dagger of international geopolitics, few things are really what they seem.  The motives for “magnanimity” of US physical and social investments in Mindanao, as well as, those of other parties, however, have begun to be revealed — thanks to the national blowback on the Arroyo-MILF Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MoA-AD).

It began with Hashim Salamat’s 2003 letter to the war-monger Bush which marked the change in the MILF’s standing from a mere rebel group to a front for US imperial and economic hegemony.

The US dangled the “terrorist” tag on the MILF until that pleading letter gave the two common cause in the “ancestral domain” supposition, which in effect cedes a third of Mindanao of over twenty-million people to the MILF, which does not even have any basis for claiming to represent over two million Muslims in the country’s third major island.

While some official Muslim population estimates reach four million, doubts are raised by the likes of former QC Mayor Jun Simon, whose experienced reckoning halves the bloated Comelec voters’ list, which gives a more accurate real figure.  But then, a nation-state is still not a cake to be cut up for each party to own; for if it were so, there would be no nation and republic to speak of.

Also, given that modern society favors meritocracy in social standing and stewardship in land use, the concept of inherited “ancestral domain” is most repugnant because it is, in essence, archaic and feudal.  The historical fact is that Philippine “ancestral domain” was long demolished by the arrival of the conquistadores and the prayles.

Incidentally, the United States Institute for Peace (USIP) is at the forefront of pushing the “peace process” on the basis of the MILF’s “ancestral domain” and is headed by former Ambassador to the Philippines, Richard Solomon, who also heads the Political Science Department of the RAND Corporation — an institution branded as “America’s University of Imperialism” by Chalmer Johnsons, University of California professor and CIA analyst.

Thus, the MILF forces have become mere mercenaries of the most oppressive force in the world.

Aside from exposing its own paucity and losing whatever respect is left of it, the MILF, along with its tactical allies like the NDF and some groups of the “rejectionist” mold have been caught in their own web of contradictions.

Many have wondered why Satur Ocampo graced the Arroyo-MILF signing ceremony in Kuala Lumpur and his subsequent tepid responses as the nation raged in anger.

Last Saturday, too, a picture of a certain Sister Arnold with placards signed KPML and SNLK came out in a newspaper front page reporting their support for the MoA-AD.   When I called Prof. Dodong Nemenzo to clarify, he attributed this to the groups’ “tactical alliances” with the MILF.

From its end, the NDF has always pursued a “destroy the national government and AFP at all cost” policy as it allies with the MILF and gets trapped by the US’ global divide and rule ploy.  As a result, the NDF and some “rejectionists” have been caught in the dilemma of supporting the dismemberment of Mindanao and the nation, and unwittingly supporting the real US interest of sustaining military bases and exploiting the rich resources in Mindanao.

Mindanao can only be saved if the AFP leadership, the Muslims and Christians of Mindanao, and the entire Filipino people unite to drive off the almost fully entrenched talons of the foreign predator in Mindanao.

My position is to win over the AFP and government rank-and-file to act as one against US hegemony and corrupt domestic instruments such as Gloria Arroyo, and liberate the wealth of this country from foreign hands, earmarking them for nation building and people’s prosperity.

Arguably, this is the only window in our history where this is possible as the US is at its weakest.

The appeasement of the likes of Jose Montelibano’ s “peace at all cost” column is deceptive because the MILF peace pact will just be the root of a wider perpetual war, in the same way that the good works of Billy Esposo in exposing US imperialism are being negated by his continuing bigotry against the national leader who had already solved the MILF problem in his re-claiming of Camp Abubakar in 2000.

Let us draw inspiration from the recent South American victories over US imperialism, like the electoral win in Paraguay of the anti-US former bishop Fernando Lugo, that country’s newly-inaugurated El Presidente.  Let us all realize that unity — among our people and the AFP — is what it takes to save Mindanao and the rest of our nation!

Photo lifted from thepinoy.net

This article was forwarded by email just yesterday and we felt compelled to republish it because it concerns us, the Mindanaoans. We didn’t want to discuss Politics on this blog but from time to time, we see the need to and this write-up must be read by as many people as possible…

A somewhat difficult and long read, Mindano Blackmail is an eye-opener and refresher to what has been happening to Mindanao of late, specifically with the Bangsamoro (Moroland) led by the Muslim separatist rebel group, Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

In gist, the Philippine government just concluded the six-year old dialogue with the MILF on July 18, 2008; And again, reaching an agreement with the group by according them the power and control of an additional 712 villages in the island of Mindanao! As if their existing coverage in Mindanao isn’t big enough!! This furthers MILF’s political and economic powers even more!

How did this happen? You have to read the article…

On the other hand, is there really anything the Philippine government can do now but wait for the worst case scenario that in time (and it will most likely happen!), a Bangsamoro Federal State will be established in Mindanao? Yes a Federal State, separate from the Philipppines, having their own set of laws (don’t they have this already?!), governance, money and whatever else…

We’re publishing this with full credit to the author, Antonio C. Abaya.

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Mindanao Blackmail

By Antonio C. Abaya, founder and chairman of Transparency and Public Accountability Today and Tomorrow, Inc. (TAPATT) Foundation

O n the belief that nothing happens in the politics of this country without someone or some organization manipulating events towards a pre-determined outcome, I would like to consider the following developments in Mindanao. Sometime last April, Malaysia announced that it was withdrawing its contingent from the international team that has been monitoring the “peace” between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP)) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Mindanao.

There was no explanation given by Malaysia on why it was withdrawing from the monitoring team. Just before this, the MILF announced that it was demanding that part of Palawan Island be included in the ancestral domain that it wants to be officially recognized by the GRP. My interpretation of this turn of event is that the Malaysians knew that the MILF would make some demands on the GRP that the GRP would not be able to meet. In negotiations such as this, when one side makes demands that it knows the other party cannot meet, it is a sign that that party (the MILF) wants to break off the talks, but wants to put the blame on the other party (the GRP) for the termination of the talks.

Hence, the announced withdrawal of the Malaysians, programmed to be complete by middle or end of August. The prolonged withdrawal of such a small contingent (about 25 men) means they want to give the parties, especially the GRP, time to reconsider its inflexible position of not giving in to the territorial demands of the MILF.

The implied threat here is that if the GRP does not give in to the territorial demands of the MILF, hostilities would be resumed. It is really blackmail.

Last July 16, the Arroyo administration, in “peace talks” being held in, agreed with the MILF that the current area covered by the present Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao ARMM will be expanded to include 712 additional barangays or villages in five other provinces that are not part of the present ARMM. (July 23 update: Not surprisingly, Malaysia agreed to remain in the monitoring team for another year, after the GRP agreed to the MILF demands. (And, after an initial, pro-forma refusal, the Arroyo administration, as the negotiating party representing the GRP, has given in to this blackmail, on condition that the expansion would be subject to a plebiscite in the areas affected.)

(But shouldn’t this be the other way around? Shouldn’t the people in those areas be polled first on whether they want to be handed over to the MILF, instead of being presented with a fait accompli?)

The present ARMM is composed of the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi Tawi and Shariff Kabunsuan.

The stage is obviously being set for a Bangsamoro Federal State to be proclaimed at more or less the same time that the Philippine Republic formally shifts to a federal union, before June 2010.

The additional 712 villages that would be added to the present ARMM territory are in the provinces of Lanao del Norte, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Zamboanga-Sibugay and Palawan. After this annexation, the resulting territory will be known as the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity or BJE. The GRP also agreed with the MILF that jurisdiction and control of resources found within 15 kilometers from the shoreline would be with the BJE, and any resources found in the BJE territory – such as oil and gas – would be shared as follows: 75 percent to the BJE, 25 percent to the GRP.

The MILF is also demanding, and President Arroyo has eagerly accepted, that the elections for a new set of local officials – governors, mayors, etc – for ARMM, long set for August 11, 2008, be postponed. The Arroyo administration is talking of timing the ARMM elections simultaneously with the presidential elections in May 2010. This in spite of the protest of Comelec chair, former Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo, that the Comelec was ready for the August 11 elections, which would have inaugurated –finally – the long-postponed computerization of elections.

In the meantime, the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, former AFP CoS Gen. Hermogenes Esperon – he of ‘Hello Garci’ tape fame – without anyone asking him for his opinion, has come out openly for a shift to the federal form of government.

By a strange coincidence, Sen. Nene Pimentel’s Senate Resolution no. 10 calls for a shift to the federal form of government, and he wants this to happen before the end of President Arroyo’s term in June 2010. And Sen. Pimentel wants this shift to be engineered by a constituent assembly (ConAss) in which the Lakas/Kampi dominated- Lower House will overwhelm the 24 Senators, even though six or seven of them are eyeing the presidency and vice-presidency in 2010.

The stage is obviously being set for a Bangsamoro Federal State to be proclaimed at more or less the same time that the Philippine Republic formally shifts to a federal union, before June 2010.

In this orchestrated scenario, there is nothing to prevent the Lakas-Kampi juggernaut from inserting the parliamentary issue into the constituent assembly and thus engineer a simultaneous shift to parliamentary, thus giving President Arroyo the constitutional right to remain in power as prime minister.

It should be kept in mind that the MILF spun off from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) led by Nur Misuari in the 1990s. The MNLF was fighting for greater autonomy within the Philippine Republic and was secular in orientation. On the other hand, the MILF faction wanted separation and total independence from the Philippine Republic, and wanted/wants to establish an Islamic state under Sharia law.

(Neither side is talking about holding a plebiscite in the present ARMM to ask the Christian majorities in the ARMM cities if they want to live in an Islamic state under Sharia law. This could trigger a Christian backlash.)

When it broke away from the MNLF, the MILF had an estimated strength of about 300 armed fighters. But because of the consensual leadership style of President Fidel V. Ramos – he signed “peace agreements” with all malcontents except the Communists, who refused: military rightists, Moro autonomists and Muslim separatists – the MILF was allowed to keep its base, Camp Abubakar in Northern Cotabato.

That one base became two, three, four, etc until it became 20. Before he became Ramos’ press secretary, Rigoberto Tiglao was a correspondent for the Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER).

He was allowed to visit Camp Abubakar and he wrote a series of articles for the FEER in which he reported that Camp Abubakar had become a sophisticated military base, with anti-aircraft guns, anti-tank artillery, sophisticated radio equipment, a munitions factory as well as a to train its (then), 20,000 fighters.

Tiglao reported that the MILF had set a Zero-Hour, at which time MILF fighters in all 20 camps would simultaneously rise up in revolt. Tiglao also reported that the MILF was planning to acquire jet planes from sympathetic Muslim countries.

Since the MILF was separatist right from the start of its organizational life, it is safe to assume that it remains separatist to this day. Its “peace talks” with the PG are merely to dribble the ball until it gains sufficient strength in territory, armed fighters and political status, hence the additional 712 villages, the transitory Bangsamoro Juridical Entity, the postponement of the ARMM elections, and the Bangsamoro Federal State in a Philippine federal union.

I would not be surprised if the Bangsamoro, at this point, were to declare itself an independent country and secede from the federal union – like from federal Pakistan, like Biafra from federal Nigeria- and there would be nothing that a Prime Minister or President-for-Life Gloria Arroyo or Gen. Esperon’s poorly equipped and poorly motivated Philippine military would be able to do about it.

Other article in www.tapatt.org and in acabaya.blogspot. com.

If you really are interested to learn more, we found a more recent article regarding the issue here.
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