Phl UN abstention vote vs. Syria is a shame!

The question of the month is, “Has Communist Party of the Philippines Chairman Jose Maria “Joma” Sison really returned to the country under an assumed name, Renato Maglaya?” Reports swirling in the social networking circles pinpointed even the exact date that this certain Renato Maglaya arrived at Clark Airport, Jan. 20. Call it a rumor if you wish, but so far, we have not seen Joma in the flesh. But then I find it quite strange that Malacañang has kept its deafening silence on this.

According to Rep. Pastor Alcover, Jr. of ANAD Partylist, Joma is a Maoist terrorist icon who wants to return to the country under the guise of a National Reunification program with the Aquino Regime. In all my readings about these Marxist-Leninists ideologues, never in their history have they sat down in a negotiating table and sued for peace. These ideologues always use the peace talks to further their cause or at best stall the government.

I don’t believe in that yarn called National Reunification for the simple reason that the CPP wants to oust our established democratic form of government and establish a Maoist-Marxist style of government similar to what they have in North Korea with Joma as “Der Leader.” Just ask yourself, how long has Joma ruled the CPP? Did they ever hold any free and democratic elections within the CPP?

In truth, Joma, as the leader of the CPP, has stayed longer than Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos when he ruled as a dictator. Hence, he is the CPP’s dictator no different from Cuba’s Fidel Castro or North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. This is why it boils my blood when I learned that Pres. PNoy Aquino got Ronald Llamas as his political adviser. The CPP through the New People’s Army (NPA) has been ravaging many provinces sowing terror and killing innocent civilians who do not support their cause. It insults my intelligence that we can negotiate peace with these blood thirsty ideologues.

Meanwhile, I got this text from a good friend. “I saw on CNN a diplomatic story about Syria and as the UN Human Rights Council votes were being tallied on the leader board, I was shocked by the vote of the Philippines, which abstained together with China and Russia.” I checked and verified that this text message was for real. It’s really true that the Philippines abstained from voting against Syria. This negative vote is a shame for our people!

We know that Russia and China did not vote to sanction Syria despite the massive violations of human rights there because these nations are also notorious in suppressing the human rights of its own citizens. According to the news reports, the Philippines abstained on voting against Syria for fear of reprisals against Filipino workers. What was wrong with giving an affirmative vote on this? After all, the UN Resolution was only asking Syria for an immediate halt to all human rights violations and attacks against civilians?

I reckon that the PNoy Regime is using our OFWs as an excuse not to sign that UN resolution, but in my book, this is a political question and given the reality that PNoy’s political adviser Ronald Llamas has very close ties with the CPP, who are also infamous for their human rights violations, they found a not-so-clever excuse not to sign that resolution against Syria. But if you ask me, the Philippine’s position is indefensible. We should have voted together with the rest of the world because whether we like it or not, Syria’s military is attacking its own people and those bullets might get Filipino OFWs killed anyway.

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We learned about that Cessna 172 plane that crashed off Camiguin Island last Sunday killing its pilot and its Norwegian female passenger, while her husband and child survived together with the Indian co-pilot. Why this crashed happened could be the result of either pilot error or circumstances that the pilot had no control of, like wind shear. The weather last Sunday wasn’t exactly sunny; in fact it even rained hard early morning.

Again this incident reminds us once more of the need for Congress to enact a National Transportation Safety Board (NSTB) because right now, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) is the government’s agency to regulate the aviation industry. By this, it is the role of the CAAP to check the airworthiness of all aircraft registered in this country. Its role is similar to the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) of the United States.

But when it comes to air crash investigation, this role should be taken off the hands of the CAAP and entrusted only to a body that is mandated to investigate air crashes. We have been writing about the need for an NTSB in the past 10 years now and we have become a solitary voice in the wilderness. Someday, when a bigger crash occurs, they will be reminded of the need for an NTSB, but then it might be too late.

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