The norm is that a needy nation asks for help in whatever form and the donor country, after due reflection, agrees to extend the help.
What is happening is the reverse. The Philippines never asked for US "civic action" troops. But America, generous and compassionate to the extreme, offers them. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes are beside themselves with gratitude. The Great White Father is back, they say, he will take care of us, benevolent and magnanimous America. Hooray! What I can say, contemplating all this with wide-eyed wonder, is to remember a Tagalog expression I learned as a young boy: "Hoy, nadididal tayo." Meaning, we are being suckered and taken for fools. Didal is a game of "Now you see it, now you don’t" as a pea-like object is cleverly switched from container to container. The game is stopped and you are asked to point to where the object is contained. You guess wrong. And so you are set up, na didal ka.
So what is the truth?
The truth is that America has not taken a sudden generous fancy to the Philippines a former ward and protectorate. The truth is that the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) is just the innocent-looking Trojan Horse for the return of US military power in the Philippines. The truth is that America now concentrates on Asia as the focus of its world geo-political strategy because Pax Americana must never be jeopardized or endangered by a rival power or powers. The truth is that Asia today is the only continent whose culture and civilization – not to mention economic and military strength – has the Gothic measure to stop America in its tracks. The truth is that America wants to create the world in its image, and that is exactly what George W. Bush is up to with his "all-out war against international terrorism." The world must bend to America’s will.
The truth is that the Philippines occupies a key role in this US strategy since we straddle great seas and oceans in the Pacific – particularly the South China Sea – through which America projects its superpower strength. The truth is China looms as possibly the 21st century’s superpower and China must be tamed and, if possible, lured into the mighty geo-political loop of America. The truth is that no other country in the Asia-Pacific region, except the Philippines, remains the cultural dependency of the US – lambent clay to Uncle Sam’s imperial touch. Puppet is too strong a word.
With GMA in Malacañang and Secretary Reyes manning defense, we have AmGirl and AmBoy – or so it seems – ready to do America’s bidding.
If you ask me, I’d prefer the US to any other nation to plant their flag here, if we have no choice at all. But I would like their presence to be clear and transparent, precise and concise, not under the guise and pretence of anti-terrorism. Not under the phoney, illicit flag of Balikatan 02-1. As it is, we are being gulled and jobbed. Who really believes an additional 300-400 US troops will come over to engage in civic work in Mindanao? Bridges, road-building, varied construction works. Our engineers and technicians can very well do that. All they need is funding. Santa banana! The Americans engage in "civic work" and every day of their lives in Mindanao, they will be set upon by Muslim guerrillas out to disrupt and disable their presence.
It seems Washington and the Pentagon have already listed the CPP-NPA communist guerrillas as a "terrorist" organization to be decimated by an expanded version of Balikatan 02-1. I have no love lost for the CPP-NPA. They represent a failed, miserable and godless ideology, torn from the Christian bible without rhyme or reason. But their insurgency, no matter how silly and irrelevant today, how incapable of success, is an internal affair and not the business of America. Remove poverty from the Philippines, and the NPA will disappear. The same thing in Muslim Mindanao. Remove poverty and the Moro will very presumably will yield his rebel rifle.
This is what I have against George W. Bush’s "war against terror." Almost everything is reduced to military terms. When communism threatened to take over Europe after the Second World War, Europe pleaded and America superbly crafted the Marshall Plan. The best of America – not troops, not fighter-bombers, not the atomic bomb that reduced Hiroshima and Nagasaki to cinders – engineers, economists, construction brigades, social scientists swarmed all over the Old World, and breathed life back to Europe.
The prolonged Estrada trial has turned out to be costly, what with his nine lawyers (now "resigned") spooking the proceedings with about 150 motions to delay, delay and again delay.
The private prosecutors remain unfazed however. I met some of them quite recently, their morale still up, their certainty unshaken the prosecution had all the evidence in the world to convict Erap Estrada. That appears obvious. The fallen president blundered by admitting he was indeed Jose Velarde. Not only that. He had previously sought court permission (which was preliminarily denied) to leave for the US and there undergo knee surgery. Then he sublimally sought exile. When this too misfired, Mr. Estrada bludgeoned the justice system in the Philippines, said he had already been condemned and crucified by the Sandiganbayan. His dwindling condotierre announced there would be mass demonstrations to prove Erap could still exact thunder from the masses. Only about one-hundred followers showed up last Friday.
Anyway. First on the line is a P10,000 cheque, the donor of which must remain anonymous. Another P10,000 cheque follows (initials MSML) who writes: "All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to sit back and do nothing… I have been an avid reader of your column for many, many years and I thank the Lord for having blessed you with the journalistic talent you have so fearlessly utilized in the interest of truth and justice… Hopefully snaring the biggest fish of all will establish a new norm of conduct in public office," Ma’m, thank you ever so much.
A first P5,000 cheque is sent by former Foreign Affairs Undersecretary and Ambassador Tomas Padilla who sent in a note and "A Prayer for My Country" which ends: "Help us to remain free and build a truly new and just society… Firmly structured by justice and held together by brotherly love. Amen." Tommy, merci beaucoup.
A P5,000 cheque comes from Atty. Corazon T. Tirol of Iloilo City sent through my younger sister Pilar, very close friends both. Thank you too and God bless. From "ordinary factory workers from three manufacturing companies in Metro Manila" comes a P4,565 cheque. Yes, we’ll mentioned as many workers’ names as we can: Glenda Aquino, Angel Bautista, Annabel Bautista, Dindy Cardenas, Jay Castro, Myra Catama, Co Loren, Arturo Cocadiz, Ade Custodio, Bernard Darbin, Imee de la Cruz, Carol Enaje, Malou Formalejo, Sabino Gilo Jr., Marithy Hernandez, Pol Isuga, Cenon Lalogo, Ann Lardizabal, Odi Manuel, Maria Nieto, Jonalyn Pacia, Raquel Rivera, Eden Sauler, Sheryl Sese, Samuel Bayo, Ramiro Casas, Roger Cipriano, Alfredo Domingo, Angelito Gadin, Raul Lacaya, Joselito Luzano, Ruben Melendrez, Eric Perilla, Dennis Rufo, Edgar Vina. There you are! And thanks!
A cash contribution of P2,250 comes from Rafael Llana Saipan. No note. Thanks just the same. Nonoy Belleza has forked over a P2,000 cheque with the missive: "Allow me to salute you for putting your life on the line again by spearheading this crusade for justice. Our (my wife included) contribution is hard earned money but a small price to pay for truth and justice." Salamat po. A P2,000 cheque with the initials EST is next with the message: "if all the money plundered by our corrupt officials, starting with the Marcos family and the Estrada family and their cronies remain in the country, then we should not be ‘The Sick Man of Asia.’" Right you are. A last $50 cheque comes from Gloria P. Earl, who, if I remember right, has been writing us since time immemorial from her US eyerie.
Again, our apologies. My only excuse, I suppose, is that the aging process has finally crept up on me. But better late than never.