Pull them out! Now! / Bishops probe massive cheating

The life of Filipino truck driver Angelo de la Cruz continues to hang on a thin thread. Despite local headlines yesterday announcing he had been released by his kidnapers, CNN till this minute of writing says no, his hostage deadline has been extended till July 20. If by that time the Philippines’ armed contingent of 51 troops has not been pulled out of Iraq, Angelo dela Cruz will be beheaded.

This means the insurgents have rejected the Philippine government’s request that its troops evacuate Iraq only August 30, the scheduled official pullout. Oh no, the hostage-takers are virtually saying, you can’t get off that easy.We’ll give y ou another chance, July 20. Either that, or Angelo de la Cruz’s head rolls off. Angelo de la Cruz’s captors would have beheaded him 2 a.m. today at the end of a 72-hour deadline for the contingent to withderw.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo shouldn’t play the game of blind man’s buff with Angelo de la Cruz’s captors. These Arabs are tough, remorseless and ruthless. <She should pull our troops out presto, immediately. If she doesn’t and the poor Filipino truck-driver dies, GMA will be just as equally guilty of murder.> And I can just imagine the roar of outrage against her if she remains that loyal to the US government of George W. Bush.

The whole thing is sheer drama pitting the Philippines against an impossible situation.

Now we realize how puny we are as a nation and as a people, dangling on the strings of an imperial America that got us into the war with Iraq. We had absolutely no business getting into that war.

Even the American people now realize they were fooled by their leadership. President Bush damned Iraq as "evil" brimming with weapons of mass destruction intended for the destruction of the United States. No such weapons were ever found. The alleged partnership between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaida that led to 9-ll never existed. Not even the thin shell of a nuclear arsenal was found in Iraq, nor Iraqi plans to wreak physical havoc on America. All of this was a lie.

But the greater, perhaps the greatest folly, was committed by our leadership, principally President Glria Macapagal Arroyo. It’s time she takes full blame for flippantly committing the Philippines to America’s war on international terrorism.

After September 9, 2001, when international terrorists rammed three aircraft into New York’s Twin Towers and the Pentagon, and President George W. Bush declared all-out war on terror, GMA was the first leader to rise in Asia and embrace the cause of the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon. This was sheer bravado. This was the foolish stunt of a Gunga Din pounding the drums of a war that was not his or hers to wage.

Small nation that we were, weak, militarily impotent, adrift and powerless in the Pacific, what could we the Philippines really do?

Nada. Nothing. In effect, what did we demonstrate?

That we had no foreign policy, except that of political subservience to Uncle Sam. Okay, so we did throw out America’s two largest overseas military bases in Clark and Subic towards the end of President Cory Aquino’s term in 1991. But in a 90-degree turn, President Fidel Ramos launched the Visitiing Forces Agreement which was ratified by the Senate under the presidency of Joseph Estrada.

When time came to push the envelope, the US easily got a pliant GMA to open the nation’s doors wide to the re-entry of American combat troops. The excuse was joint Philippine-US military exercises. The real reason was the US government sought and got stronger operational command in the South China Sea region with the Philippines as a transit and staging area. The only resistance came from then Vice Pesident Teofisto Guingona. He was forthwith junked as Foreign Affairs secretary.

I have puposely resorted to this brief background to depict the master- vassal relations between the US and the Philippines. This should and must end.

This is what got us into Iraq. And if we don’t wake up, there will be more Angelo de la Cruz kidnap-hostage situations in the future. We must get out of America’s geo-political embrace.. Now that we know what the US government’s real interests are, its agenda for hegemony in Asia, for world dominance, we Filipinos should know what our interests are.

The truth is that 58 years after America’s grant of independence , we don’t know.

Our honeymoon period with the US ended a long time ago. We came out of our defeats in Bataan and Corregidor proud and starry-eyed. When Gen. Douglas Macarthur vowed "I shall return", we were rapt with idolatry as though he were a god. When indeed he returned on his way to vanquish Japan with the largest naval fleet ever assembled, we plied the GIs with cheers and huzzahs, unlike the Iraqis now hollering their hate of America and shouting that they leave Iraq alone.

How come the Iraqis and Pinoys inhabit different planets?

The first vilifies and demonizes America. The second welcomes and embraces the GI everytime he steps ashore. How come virtually the rest of the world has banded into a hate-America crusade? How come GMA goes into a swoon in the presence of George W. Bush, while many world leaders swear at him? Even many of America’s European allies, principally France and Britain, believe the US has gone bonkers. And would very much like to strangle George W. Bush.

As we emphasized earlier, President Gloria Macpagal Arroyo should on the instant pull out all Filipinos from Iraq except, of course, our embassy. What can the Americans do to us anyway? As far as I can see, they have not rewarded the Pinoy for his obseqiouness, his canine loyalty. As a country, we remain as poor as before. If indeed American bounty has settled on our country because of our involvement in Iraq, I don’t see it.

Washington offered Turkey about $30 billion for the use by American troops of Turkey’s southern region as a cross-over point to Iraq. And can you believe? The government of Turkey spurned the offer.

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The latest news is that the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines will launch a thorough inquiry into the alleged massive cheating by the government in the recent elections. If that is true and the bishops are dead serious, then the Church can redeem itself from charges it has joined GMA lock, stock and barrel, the rich and super-rich in blasting Fernando Poe Jr. to kingdom come.

I stick to my contention there was massive cheating.

The Congressional Canvas stopped short of opening a goodly number of Certificates of Canvas, and peering into elections returns which could have revealed the extent of electoral fraud. And the opposition did not, could not insist too much because the revelation of extensive electoral fraud would have blown both the party in power and the opposition alike.It was possible the corruption was massive and could have destroyed the moorings of our democratic sysstem, the pretensions of our politicians they were there to serve the poor.

So the opposition caved in. They were not about to destroy the system that poured the bounty of pork barrel by the billions, one-third of which the politicians probably shoved into their private pockets or bank accounts. The munificent teats of the Golden Cow were always there for the sucking and the squishing – so why kill the Cow?

I just wonder what will happen if the bishops uncover the major role played by Mephistopheles in the elections?

I know they are very uneasy. Prematurely, they blessed the triumph of GMA in the May 10 elections, and argued cases of cheating or fraud were "isolated" and far between. As the days and weeks passed, they realized they had spoken too soon. Evidence emerged by the gross that masssive cheating indeed occurred, although it was too late. GMA had alsready been declared the victor and proclaimed. She took her oath, and the whole thing became fait acompli.

I know, I know. Filipinos have a very short memory. Political plunder is now very much a part of the national culture, as are graft and corruption.Hardly anybody today brings up the topic of massive cheating in the May 10 elections. That is passé. Our acceptance of sin and evil has reached unbelievable heights.

Maybe, just maybe our bishops can do something about this. Or can they? Isn’t the Church part of the problem, too?