500 years of foreign power domination

By：Reynaldo O. Arcilla

DEFENSE Secretary Delfin Lorenzana met with Charge d’Affaires John Law of the United States Embassy soon after the further extension of the suspension of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) for another six months was decided upon by President Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte. The extension will now last until Aug. 9, 2021.

Law said the meeting focused on robust and deep-rooted military cooperation between the two countries.

Lorenzana, on the other hand, said Law gave an assurance that there would be no change in the US-Philippine defense alliance, regardless of who the US president is.

Exactly what I said in an earlier column. The status quo will remain… But only if the US had its way.

We can change that…

Get rid of the inutile 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (“mutual,” my foot!), along with the VFA and the much worse Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, as promised by Digong even before he was elected president in 2016.

Can one think of a better reason to seize this golden opportunity to be truly an independent nation after nearly 500 years of foreign power domination?!

US Democrats on human rights
Our ambassador to the US, Jose Romualdez, reported that “a bill was filed recently by a Democrat in the US House of Representatives “seeking to suspend military and police aid to the Philippines ‘on the issue of human rights.’”

That comes as no surprise. Those bleeding heart Democrats have always considered themselves the world’s champions of human rights.

One only has to recall that during the Marawi siege, three or four incumbent Democrat senators stopped the delivery to us of some 16,000 M16 rifles that had reportedly been paid for due to our alleged human rights violations in the campaign against illegal drugs.

Had it not been through the generosity of China that provided us for free some 6,000 assault and sniper rifles and 2 million bullets and Russia giving us, also for free, 5,000 AK-47M Kalashnikov rifles, 20 multi-purpose vehicles, 1 million pieces of ammunition and 5,000 steel helmets, the Marawi siege led by the Maute group could have lasted longer than it did at the cost of more lives of our people.

Accounting of foreign contributions to Ulysses victims
According to news reports, the following have decided to give aid to the victims of Typhoon “Ulysses”: China, P22 million; European Union, P60 million; Taiwan, P10 million.

The United Nations, on the other hand, announced that Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden and the US also extended assistance to some 260,000 Filipinos affected by the disastrous typhoon.

Japan will also reportedly make a contribution.

It is hoped that the various agencies concerned will render a thorough accounting of how the donations were spent to avoid a repetition of what happened to the foreign contributions to the victims of Super Typhoon “Ondoy” in November 2013.

No accounting has allegedly ever been made on the contributions from various sources to the victims of Ondoy — something that should have been done as a matter of common courtesy or decency. Nakakahiya tayo!

A monitoring official for probes and task forces
Last week, I suggested the need for President Duterte to appoint someone who will be solely responsible for maintaining a list of all the directives issued by him, including probes of this and that official or agency. Said official will monitor the progress, or lack of it, of such directives or probes and report accordingly to Digong.

For instance, Digong recently ordered the destruction of all illegal drugs seized by the authorities concerned in one week. Ten days later, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency destroyed what seemed like a very small amount of illegal drugs seized in the past four years.

There has been no news of seized drugs being destroyed ever since. Nagkalimutan na naman?!

Ideally, the Office of the Executive Secretary should designate such an official to do the task, speaking of which, the 15-odd task forces that have so far been created by Digong should also be included in his terms of reference. The task forces have been identified by the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives.

Smart’s abuse and bullying
Earlier this year, I subscribed to a Smart cellphone plan of about P400 a month.

After a while, I found out to my dismay the frequent absence of a signal at my place.

Then the coronavirus came and the hard copy of my bill stopped coming for some months. As a result, I couldn’t pay my bill. I pay my bills online through the BPI.

Then one day, I received a text message from Smart saying that they have stopped rendering services to me for non-payment of my bills. That was some months ago.

Last week, I received an email from a law firm obviously retained by Smart demanding that I pay a measly amount that I allegedly owe them or else they will file a complaint against me. Just like that? They didn’t even give an accounting of the amount I allegedly owe them. I also stopped using their services long before I received the email and bought a prepaid SIM card from another company.

File a complaint against me? For what?! What about the times when I got lousy service from Smart or no service at all? Should I file a complaint against them for that?

I guess not. That wouldn’t be a smart thing to do. Then again, I might, if only to prove a point and on behalf of others who may have experienced similar abuse and bullying from Smart.

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Reminders (for Digong)
1. Is the US coming back to Subic? — Two months ago, this newspaper reported that Maritime Industry Authority Administrator Robert Empedrad, former Philippine Navy Chief, said that a contract has already been finalized between Australian shipbuilder Austal and US private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management and will reportedly soon take over the Subic Bay yard from Hanjin Shipping, a South Korean firm that went bankrupt in 2016.

Empedrad also reportedly said the US and Australia were eyeing the yard as a possible ship repair and maintenance facility (read, naval base). He added that US and Australian naval presence at Subic Bay could bolster national security.

That would directly run counter to what President Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte said in his fifth state of the nation address in July:

“Kaya ‘yang maglagay lagay ka ng base at this time, this will ensure, if war breaks out because there would be atomic arsenal brought in, this will ensure the extinction of the Filipino race,” he said.

For the sake of transparency, Digong should inform the Filipino people what the actual lowdown is on the report, bearing in mind his promise to rid the country of foreign troops and military bases.

2. The notorious Smartmatic – In June last year, Digong directed the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to search for a replacement for poll technology provider Smartmatic.

Has Digong changed his mind? If not, shouldn’t he order the DICT to come up with its recommendation forthwith?

With the Comelec now virtually composed of his appointees, it should be a cinch to “convince” them to get rid of Smartmatic pronto.

Already, people are talking about the next elections, including Digong himself. Shouldn’t he now make good on his word, that is, if he hasn’t changed his mind.

3. Fugitive Andres Bautista – In November last year, Senate President Vicente Sotto 3rd urged the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to serve the arrest warrant issued by the Senate on former Comelec Chairman Bautista for contempt for ignoring the Senate hearings into his alleged ill-gotten wealth. It was his wife who blew the whistle on him.

Bautista was earlier impeached by the House of Representatives but resigned and left the country before he could stand trial in the Senate. It was later found that he had fled to the US.

What, if any, is Sotto and/or the government doing about seeking his extradition from the US to face the charges against him? Isn’t flight a sign of guilt? Maybe his passport should be canceled to force his return?

Methinks the government should do something to effect the return of Bautista to dispel rumors that he holds by the b…lls certain powerful politicians who allegedly benefited from the use of Smartmatic.

Shouldn’t we at least ask the US government to have him extradited? Let’s see how it will react to such a request.

What, if any, is Foreign Secretary Teodoro “Tweeterboy” Locsin Jr. doing about this?

Source： Manila Times 24-11-2020