Will Donald Duck save Hong Kong?

HONG KONG – As expected by all cynics like this writer, Maj. Gen. Efren Abu has been named Commanding General of the Philippine Army to take over from Lt. Gen. Gregorio Camiling, who retired yesterday.

Sad to admit, though, yesterday’s headline on page one was completely wrong when it announced: "Oakwood negotiator named new army chief."

It was sloppy reporting for our staffers to have said, in the accompanying story that "Abu had figured prominently as one of the military officials who successfully negotiated the peaceful ‘return to barracks’ of military officers and men who staged a mutiny last July 27." Our editors should have caught that gaffe, but instead, sorry to say, they even amplified it in the streamer. Since I read the newspaper at the same time you do, as readers, I now have to spank them – uh, scold them – in my role as publisher of this great and usually accurate tag.

General Abu entered the Oakwood with his chief, General Camiling, only AFTER the government panel, headed by retired General Roy Cimatu, by that time Ambassador Cimatu (and former AFP Chief of Staff), had secured the surrender and "return to barracks" agreement of the Oakwood mutineers.

The would-be putschists were already defusing and disconnecting the explosives and booby-traps they had laid and were forming up to march out to the waiting vehicles which whisked them off to Fort Bonifacio when General Abu got into the lobby.

I should know this because I was one of the "negotiators" myself. During the five hours in which our group listened to the gripes and complaints of the rebel group, including their vow to fight to the death (until Cimatu offered them an honorable "way out" of the stand-off) General Abu and his troops, armored cars, cannon, rockets, and other lethal equipment were outside the building complex, and surrounding structures, which included the Glorietta, Rustan’s, Shoe Mart, and the Inter-Continental Hotel – waiting to attack Oakwood and perhaps reduce the entire area to rubble if our negotiations failed.

Indeed, Cimatu said later than one of his concerns had been that the "rebels" might take us hostage, then we might be obliterated along with them when government forces attacked the barricaded mutineers following the expiration of the President’s "extended" deadline. We had half an eye on the clock, it’s true, as we dickered with the Magdalo leaders way past that deadline, which GMA wisely kept open-ended.

Do you wonder whether the Army, Marines, and police SWAT units would have attacked with Cimatu, this demented writer and the rest of us impromptu "panelists" still trapped inside? Just consider what occurred at the NAIA Airport Tower to the unfortunate mutineer, Col. Panfilo Villaruel and his Navy lieutenant comrade who had "holed up" inside. They were SWAT-ted to pieces.

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General Abu, who was in command of the formidable phalanx of "Task Force Libra", which ringed the Oakwood, was poised to assault the building and Glorietta to "do the necessary," we learned afterwards.

Army Chief Camiling and Vice chief Abu were incensed at the fact that the "rebels" were being led by Army Scout Rangers.

Also in an angry mood were the Commandant of the Marines, also ready and frothing at the bit, eager to assault the building, along with his Navy counterparts. This is because the top mutineers included Marine officers and, even more prominently, Navy officers like Lt. s.g. Sonny Trillanes, and Navy Lt. s.g. James Layug of the SWAG (Special Warfare Group).

When General Camiling entered the lobby, he accosted Ambassador Cimatu and me, inquiring: "You fellows had better brief me on what you agreed with these guys, so when the President asks us we’ll be cued into the picture."

Camiling, at least, looked vastly relieved he didn’t have to wipe out the putschists or wreck the surrounding area, – or lose any of his own men – but other officers who came in appeared quite disappointed they didn’t get to "punish" the insurgents whose antics had embarrassed them.

Is it true that one Cabinet Secretary (not resembling Angie Reyes, surely?) had been fuming that the order to attack should be given without delay, and that the mutineers ought to be taught a lesson which would not be lost on the rest of the military? Yep – but such a "lesson" would have created a massacre (with scores of dead on both sides) and ruins as daunting to passers-by and future tourists, if any, as the ruins of Intramuros. Alikabok and other Palace insiders recalled that this angry Cabinet minister had been urging the Chief Executive to give the "go" signal to Abu and his Task Force frontliners, preceded by a heavy barrage. Susmariosep! Cimatu and our bunch would have been reduced to hamburger and ketchup along with the poor, young mutineers.

We were not amused when we learned of this fulminating after the crisis was over.

In any event, General Abu – now Army boss – is Ambassador-in-Charge of Counter-terrorism Angelo T. Reyes’ protégé. (Will he deal with all "threats" to the regime like the government forces did with the "terrorists" inside the airport control tower?) He was also backed, certainly, by Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita, his fellow Batangueño and former Batangas congressman.

The Philippine Military Academy "Old Boys" club and their Mistahs are still, obviously, firmly in command of the top echelons of the Armed Forces. Since Abu moves up from 2nd Infantry Division commander and Task Force Libra (NCR anti-coup unit) commander to PA commanding general, GMA now has her anti-Coup Praetorian Guard in full array.

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By the way, this gives me the opportunity anew to point out that the Government has not lived up to the honorable promises given the Magdalo "coup" leaders and their men. Most of the junior officers and men have, true enough, been remanded to Court Martial, as we agreed upon. The Oakwood Five and the top leaders of the July 27 mutiny, however, are now rightly saying they were "betrayed". Yes, they were.

What Cimatu and our negotiators had pledged them was that ALL the mutineers would be subject to the Articles of War – meaning, all would be tried in military court, not civilian, and face court martial. The insistence of throwing the leadership of the mutineers, like Trillanes, Maestrecampo, Gambala, Layug, etc., to the Regional Trial Court, under the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors is a complete double-cross.

Having been party to the negotiations and the final "return to barracks" agreement, which prevented bloodshed and carnage, I feel both ashamed and embarrassed.

I think the President should tell Interior and Local Go-vernment Secretary Joey Lina, Reyes, Roy Golez, and their minions, to respect the original agreement, placed the Oakwood Five under the Articles of War exclusively (for appropriate punishment, under Court Martial) and put a leash on their legal bloodhounds. For, in the end, it is the President’s honor which is at stake. Does she honor the word of her government negotiators and her government’s promises?

Well – promises.

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Here in Hong Kong it is positively balmy. While a storm lashed Metro Manila and Luzon, it was warm and dry over here. When I arrived for a meeting last Thursday, it was quite cold – about 16 degrees Celsius. Friday and Saturday, however, were both hot (27 degrees) and sunny.

There are very few tourists in once-bustling Hong Kong these days – apparently, very few gweilos (white, Caucasian tourists) can be observed in the usual places, from restaurants to shopping malls. Those we spotted were local residents and businessmen.

Friday, there was an influx of Americans, plainly military judging from their "jarhead" and white-sidewall haircuts. They were the ones visiting the shops, plodding the streets in groups, and going to the pubs – like Marines and sailors on shore leave. We didn’t see any US warships in the sparkling harbor, but they might have been moored out of sight. There were a number of US Secret Servicemen in our hotel, easily recognizable by their give-away (wanna-be Clint Eastwood) manner: Is Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld coming to town? He’s everywhere at the moment, trying to explain in the region that America’s winning, but plans an earlier pull-out from Iraq and turn-over of security and control to the Iraqis. To accomplish this would be neater than the Mexican hat-trick.

Hong Kong, in effect, is so bereft of tourists – even the previous horde of Pinoy and Pinay high-society and lowlife bureaucratic big-spenders – that the shopgirls and store clerks are fantastically friendly and helpful. I believe that such a new approach makes the Hong Kong people more pleasant and attractive – so, adversity is sometimes a useful, if painful, teacher. (In our case, alas, adversity sometimes makes us more surly).

It’s true that most of the ranking hotels are fully booked this week – but the foreign individual travellers (FITs) and arrivals seem to be businessmen headed for China, or else sports aficionados enroute to the Macau Grand Prix "Golden Jubilee" (50th anniversary) Formula One races, plus these famous motorcycle races, climaxing a month-long Golden Jubilee Carnival. So, if you’re one of those Grand Prix groupies, zip over there fast, for racing excitement, gaming, and bacalao.

As for me, since the Macau authorities at immigration treat Filipinos like shit, I’m staying away from there. We’re getting enough . . . mérde (sounds more delicate in French) from our own authorities.

I guess it was SARS that contributed mightily to bringing Hong Kong down. When the SARS outbreak, the contagion spreading from nearby Guandong in the People’s Republic of China, hit this formerly bustling metropolis a year ago, Hong Kong was already reeling from recession. Now, SARS seems to have disappeared almost entirely, but "fear of SARS" remains worldwide.

It may take Hong Kong a long time to recover from that bad image.

Already, in fact, even Hong Kong’s newspapers hint at the fear that with the advent of winter and cold weather, the SARS virus might rear, once again, its ugly head. Mind you, it’s the Hong Kong and Chinese press that are sending out that cautionary message.

I still find Hong Kong both exciting and gorgeous. Its bay remains one of the most beautiful in the world, and from my 25th- floor window the magnificent view of a white cruise liner entering or leaving the harbor, with its entourage of tugboats guiding it along, stirs me still. The streets are clean and smooth, the services efficient; the marvelous skyline soars, as of old, to give the impression that Hong Kong is a beehive whose 6.7 million diligent residents and workers pulsate with energy.

Sadly, the energy level is low. There have been many suicides – the latest phenomenon among depressed teenagers and students. Bankruptcy petitions, The Standard bannered yesterday, have risen 13 percent in October. The big credit card holders have reduced their spending drastically.

Now, rival Shanghai is threatening to build a Disneyland in competition with the Disneyland scheduled to open in Hong Kong in year 2005! The prospect of a Disney-type theme park in Shanghai’s Pudong district, beginning with its possible construction in 2010, doesn’t daunt the HK secretary of economic development and labor, by his own announcement. "China has a total population of 1.3 billion people," he said, in possibly consuelo de bobo mood, and therefore can have two Disneylands without either losing out.

Shanghai, when it lost the earlier Disneyland bid, struck a deal with Universal Studios in 2002 for a Universal theme park, but now, greedy Disney is locked in final negotiations with the Shanghai gang for the park to be Mickey Mouse instead of Universal. (Or a merger?)

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In any event, Hong Kong is forging ahead with its HK$22.62 billion project, on a 126-hectare site near the airport. The park, 67 percent owned by the Special Autonomous Region (HK) government, is expected to attract 10 million visitors a year and generate US$19 billion in revenues annually.

It will include two hotels, with 1,000 rooms, and the usual dining and entertainment complex.

Donald Duck, Mickey, Minnie Mouse, and Finding Nemo (in the harbor?) may yet save Hong Kong. Who knows?

I hope that if "prosperity" returns, they’ll keep their new smiling faces, improved manners, and friendly demeanor, and not revert to the damn-you-tourist-suckers attitude they had before.

They’ve got pluck enough. I wish them luck.