Westernized AI attack and monkeys

The Philippine government has been the target of much criticisms and accusations largely from its citizens. On top of the dung heap being hurled at elected officials are their thievery, corruption, arrogance and the billions of pesos stolen through ghost flood control projects.

From corruption, part of the criticism has now shifted to criticism about “selective justice,” intimidation and imprisonment of people who have been pushing for the investigation of the ghost projects.

From there, attacks against the government are now about how the executive department has weaponized both the justice department and law enforcement, as well as interfering with the structure and function of the legislative branch of government.

On two occasions, the large and influential Iglesia Ni Cristo “manifested’ or protested the selective justice of the Marcos Jr. government by way of a protest march on EDSA and then at Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila.

If that is not enough, I have seen several foreign looking videos that criticize and expose the corruption and educate the public on how billions of pesos were stolen, as well as the illogical multimillion-peso expenditure for an impeachment trial that is simply supposed to be a “political process” and a “matter of numbers.”

What is interesting about the videos is that they “star” foreign characters, speaking “American English” and are designed to be factual instead of just being outright critical of the Marcos Jr. government.

The videos, which are clearly AI, elevate the persona of government critics as international and western and “objective,” even citing the sources of the data used or mentioned by the presenters.

My view is that the AI generated, foreign-looking and objectivized videos are effective and get people’s attention, unlike the comic or satirical anti-corruption videos we have been seeing for a whole year.

The “foreign” look is very eye-catching, looks great, sounds great, is well spaced in terms of frequency and variety and, in terms of dialogue or data, can be quite convincing. The topics are clearly curated and support succeeding episodes.

The first one I saw was a comparison between “Colonialist Imperialists” of the Spanish American era that have been replaced by the rich and political elite of today. They are both depicted as opportunists who have no love for the Philippines and Filipinos and only want all the power and wealth they can get.

The second video I saw was less political but dealt with facts, figures and process on how our taxes end up with government, are placed under the control of Congress and how Congress has spent the last decade distributing, allocating, manipulating and pocketing funds, without having to account for or document billions of pesos.

Yesterday, I watched the third or fourth of the series of the AI-westernized docu that focused on ayuda and how the President uses the system to pacify the natives.

In addition to ayuda, the AI docu also pointed out how Marcos Jr. used his power to lower LPG and kerosene but not diesel and gasoline that everybody wanted. If all that is not enough, this week forecasters warn that there will be a major price hike of P10 per liter of diesel.

If the idea behind ayuda is simply to pacify the natives, can Marcos Jr. manage to continue borrowing money from foreign lenders and for how long? The global community has its own problems because of the Iran-US conflict and if suspicions are true, President Donald Trump is in no hurry or in no position to put an end to the Gulf war.

Economists have pointed out that the long-term impact of the war is presumed to be beneficial to Trump and US business.

If all that is not bad enough, the Philippines now finds itself under attack and distracted by Chinese state media and bureaucracy. I don’t know who started it, but the “academic suggestion” made by a Chinese scholar that Batanes island historically belongs to China is preposterous and nothing more than a “suggestion” and should have been left as such.

Most Americans I know would simply have replied “Nuts!”

Unfortunately, Filipinos patriotically reacted with “sound and fury, signifying nothing” but a waste of energy. Ironically, about a week later, someone on Facebook tried to stir the tea pot by suggesting the Philippines should restudy the Sabah claim.

I don’t know if the suggestion was actually to revive the claim or if it was suggested as reference to guide current scholars and reactors who are all hepped up over the Batanes island theory.

What I do remember is that during the Marcos Sr. government, a special force was assembled, trained on Corregidor Island intending to occupy Sabah. What happened was the recruits were “starved,”robbed of their salaries and ended up with the Jabidah Massacre.

Malaysia found out and supported secessionist groups of Nur Misuari and the MILF in Mindanao to do unto Marcos what he intended to do with Sabah.

And now, some Chinese media come out with cartoons of a monkey wearing a Barong Tagalog insinuating the monkey is a Filipino. Marcos Jr. and company should simply use the various media and troll farms in their control and come up with creative rebuttals or follow the Filipino adage: “Ang pumatol sa baliw ang mas baliw.”

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