Why can't PNoy get rid of Mr. Domingo Lee?

First off, allow me to greet an old pal of mine, Mr. Boging Velez Palacios, who is celebrating his birthday today. Boging and I have been riding motorcycles when we were still young, restless and reckless with our big bikes, which had small engines (350cc) and today…we’ve gone past our reckless years, though we are still restless for that long nice ride on the good roads of either Leyte or Negros as the roads in Cebu aren’t really great for riding. So many happy returns of the day Boging and may God always bless and keep you.

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While we cannot yet publish what Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona said during his testimony as we columnists have a very early deadline, let’s discuss a matter of equal importance when we read that GMA/BusinessWorld report entitled, “SWS: Unemployment hits record-high 34.4% 13.8 Million jobless.” SWS got this information collated from March 10 t0 13 and pointed out that this figure was 10 points more than the 24 percent or 9.7 million Filipinos who were jobless since December 2011.

What can we say… but these are figures that the Aquino Regime can no longer blame on the previous administration. What is scary in this latest survey is that it has the highest rate among the younger segments with 55.9% of jobless respondents aged 18-24 from 49.1% in December 2011, and 45.4% among those aged 24-34 from 29.9%. This is a very high figure of our able-bodied youth who once had jobs and lost them. All this is happening because clearly, the Aquino Regime has lost its focus on the most basic need for our people… jobs, jobs and more jobs.

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There is no doubt that our relations with China has been in tatters since the Hongkong tourist debacle early in the term of Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, III because first, he did not apologize for that incident nor has he cut the heads of those who was responsible for turning what would have been an easy negotiation into a bloodbath.

Another ugly issue which I’m sure has offended the Chinese was Pres. PNoy’s insistence to name his Chinese friend, Domingo Lee as the Philippine Ambassador to China. If you only watched the Commission on Appointments hearing of Domingo Lee in YouTube, where he was literally grilled by Sen. Serge Osmeña, a staunch ally of Pres. Aquino, then you will completely understand why Mr. Lee failed to get the nod of Congress to be our man in China. I suggest you go to YouTube and see that comedy for yourself.

But apparently this is not the end for Mr. Lee. Call it now a classic PNoy move where he would defend his friends even if those people can no longer be defended. The latest we heard about Mr. Lee is that, PNoy has named him “Special Envoy” to Beijing together with a Cesar Zalamea, whose task is to get more tourists. Hmmm… get more tourists? Surely by now, PNoy already knows that China has already stopped its citizens from coming to the Philippines. What else can Mr. Lee do? I have no doubt that Mr. Lee must have given PNoy a huge favor that he could not drop him from his administration. Daang Matuwid?

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If there is some good news coming from the Aquino Regime, it is that finally, no less than Pres. Benigno “PNoy” Aquino, III has announced that we now have the financial capability to purchase new fighter jets. By new, the President means brand new, not second or third hand planes that we always got in the past. What surprises me though is that, we are not getting these military jets from the United States. I always thought that with our close ties to the US, it was a logical move to acquire these planes from them.

I submit that the US may have the best fighter jet in the planet that can demolish anything that flies in the air with its F-35 Lightning II, which is supersonic, super stealth and super expensive. But then they’re not selling that to anyone except perhaps the Saudis. So anything less than an F-16 Fighting Falcon or a Rafael is good enough anyway we are allied with the US.

As for fighting ships, perhaps PNoy should look at our own capabilities to build fast craft type of vessels for the Philippine Navy. I know that the problem with the Navy’s top brass is that when they see plans for a new naval vessel, every high-ranking officer wants to put in his own thing and eventually, the vessel could no longer float.

I suggested long ago that we should just build hulls for the Navy and it’s up to the Top Brass to do what they want with these hulls. It can be for a command craft or an attack craft. But instead, we are getting 10 new patrol boats from Japan. At least on the plus side, we’re getting new military equipment, which should strengthen our AFP.

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