Another example of Philippine Daily Idiocy!
August 16th, 2009 by blackshamaToday’s editorial in the Philippine Daily Inquirer I believe is the most silly and idiotic one ever to see print in that blurb.
“Ominous Offensive” takes the anti Arroyo spin to its most ridiculous conclusions with non sequiturs worse that what Dan Brown can dish. The editorial link the service call of an American warship on the way to exercises with the Indonesian navy, the fact that MILF insurgents can never be expected to hold to on a ceasefire, the wisdom of offensives against a single insurgent group, fear of upsetting Malaysia with (drumrollls…..), the President’s supposed plan to declare a national state of emergency just because a group of bandits waylaid a marine platoon in order to remove the public’s bad taste of a Frenchy and Yankee dinners in Washington DC.
Read this
“What haunts the imagination of the public is the mutilation of some of the slain soldiers – this desecration of the dead is forbidden under Islam and has horrified pious Muslims and angered public opinion; it is an atrocity that both Muslims and Christians abhor. In the face of rising emotions, we counsel sobriety: a resumption of hostilities in Mindanao could endanger our democratic project.
Considering that formal agreements and peace talks can instantly dissolve the moment fighting begins – with the distinction between MILF and Abu Sayyaf, civilian and guerrilla vanishing the moment the military appears on the scene – it is imperative that our armed forces ponder whether there is such a thing as an isolated offensive versus any single group. The collision of an ancient martial culture, tribal loyalties and the security of the state has been proven, time and again, to be costly to all concerned.”
The Inquirer even in its editorial silliness at least has got one thing right. A solution to the Mindanao conflict involves a grand strategy which includes political and increasingly a military solution unless the insurgents realize the futility of their position. This is something like the total destruction of Nazi Germany and Militarist Japan by the allies in World War II. While political solutions and peace talks may be attractive, a Commander-in-Chief should know when such are futile. A Commander-in-Chief should not hesitate to use the appropriate response and firepower to secure the peace and Harry Truman did it in 1945 and nuked Japan. Similarly this Republic should not hesitate to destroy its enemies in order to secure the Philippines peace. Who is the Inquirer trying to scare? The Republic’s democracy while may be fragile as some people contend, I believe is strong enough that its democracy can prevail over a band of bandits and those who want to exploit these for political gain. If the Inquirer is in shivers over “endangering our democratic project” this is extremely premature. The greatest danger to our democratic project happened 20 years ago when some misguided mistahs decided to overthrow the government of Mrs Corazon Aquino. Subsequent attempts have been laughable, especially the last one and Mrs Arroyo knows that.
Securing the peace is costly and we know that. Peace is never cheap and requires vigilance over messianic military officers, the terrorists, petrified Maoist ideologues who all of them demand peace talks for political mileage . The problem with the Arroyo administration is that it is a lame duck and it is too late in the day to do a Mahindra Rajapaksa. No one talks peace with a lame duck. Mrs Arroyo could have done that early in her second term but then her legitimacy was much in question. President Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka knew when peace talks were futile and pushed the Tamil Tigers (with artillery) with their backs to the sea and an India that would rather see them dead. Rajapaksa however had a fresh unquestionable mandate. In contrast, Arroyo’s mandate is about to end.
Filipinos however can’t imagine an insurgency crushed. I keep on wondering why.
A clouded 2010 scenario is what the insurgents want and may be a temptation for Mrs Arroyo to hold on to power. If she really can do a Mahindra Rajapaksa however unlikely, she can be PM forever and ever! But emergency rule?…… unlikely. Our PhD prez isn’t that dumb to realize that this isn’t 1972. Our democracy can prosecute the war to victory if our leaders have the stomach for it. And probably that needs a rewrite of the 1987 Constitution which I believe has limited the powers of the President to deal with our democracy’s internal enemies.
August 17, 2009 at 2:11 am
I think you give the PDI way too much credit by even paying any attention to that…whatever it was. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense, did it? It would be an amusing experiment to count, starting with this editorial, how many different signs of impending martial law the media (esp. the PDI) can think of in one week.
August 17, 2009 at 3:17 am
The warship is a part of the U.S. Seventh Fleet guarding the Trade
Route of Asia. It is not a cause of concern.
Gloria Arroyo was busy devising plans with the Military for a power
grab of the government. To extend her term. She forgot, she was
fighting a war on four (4) fronts. The New People’s Army front,
the MILF front, the Abu Sayaff front and the political opposition
front. A stupid war strategist will fight a war on many fronts. I
wonder who his political and military strategist. He or she is dumb and stupid. He should fire him or her. “You shall fight your wars with guile.”, is the motto of the Israeli Defense Force. This is the
reason its army surrounded by enemies on all fronts, can win victories.
August 17, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Bobo lang talaga ang mga kalaban ng Israel!
August 17, 2009 at 8:43 pm
““You shall fight your wars with guile.”, is the motto of the Israeli Defense Force. This is the
reason its army surrounded by enemies on all fronts, can win victories.”-Hyden Toro
Gloria Arroyo’s war strategist is full of guile as his/her boss. He or she should be commended by the president for winning her wars on all fronts, heheh.
August 17, 2009 at 11:33 pm
Not guile, but deceit and duplicity. Guile is different.
It is for good. Not for evil.
August 17, 2009 at 7:58 am
Adventurism by military officers has almost overthrown Cory, who is a product of EDSA 1 on the one hand and Gloria, who is a product of EDSA 2 on the other.
In short, military elites represented by graduates of the Philippine Military Academy have always the capacity to overthrow both legitimate or illegitimate governments.
Perhaps the difference between Marcos booted out and Erap booted out lies in the fact that in the former, it is the handiwork of the Central Intelligence Agency of US whereas in the latter, it is entirely a ‘local project’.
Again, it must have been the US that saved Cory from being overthrown by military adventurism at the height of the last major coup launched against her administration in 1989. Whereas, it must have been again a ‘local agent’ who saved GMA from the last major coup launched against her administration.
It seems that there will not be another EDSA 3 as would boot out an incumbent president nor can any major coup even succeed with or without CIA in the centerpiece.
Bottomline, coups as they are being perpetrated by the military elites become staging grounds for those who aspire to be elected into the Senate.
August 17, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Gloria pays the price for unsophisticated ideologues from the PMA. If Mrs Aquino was really ruthless, the PMA should have been shut down and all its traditions cashiered. This is similar to what General Macarthur did to the Imperial Military Academy and what the Allied powers did to the Prussian Wehrmacht academies. The military academies that replaced them support the constitutional rule of the civil authorities over the army. They live up the maxim “cedant arma togae” No serious attempt against the civil power has been done in democratic Japan and Germany since 1945.
August 18, 2009 at 9:35 am
Inn her last 3 years as president, Cory Aquino was just weary of the responsibilities.
August 18, 2009 at 11:13 am
Maybe that is what we need; civil authorities. May I ask the wordsmiths to give me the difference between civil authority from civilian authority?
August 17, 2009 at 8:37 am
somehow the editorial makes sense. it is not idiotic at all. maybe prophetic even.
August 17, 2009 at 10:13 am
Our democracy I believe is strong enough to foil and even destroy 1) Mrs Arroyo’s unconstitutional plans, 2) Joma Sison’s Maoist fantasies, 3)the Abu Sayaff and MILF, 4)Messianic Mistahs and 5) Erap’s Part II fantasies.
You see with the MILF, Mindanao people expressing their democratic powers torpedoed the ancestral homeland plan.
August 17, 2009 at 9:10 pm
not really:
the philippines behavior in mindanao is like china’s behavior in tibet
August 17, 2009 at 9:46 am
Well, well, well…what was it that uncle Barack designated on our midget president?
Regional coordinator of hostilities in Mindanao?
Go Ate Glow go….show them some muscle…!
(duck muscle)
August 17, 2009 at 10:39 am
If we see the escalation of conflict in Mindanao in a wider context, not just another run-of-the-mill skirmish between the armed forces and Muslim separatists, then the editorial will make sense.
Times likes these, you send the Marines as far away from the capital as possible. See what the PNP does in the mean time.
August 17, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Blackshama if the Philippine government would like to destroy the isurgencies then they would have to switch allegiances from the kano to the Chinese. Sri lanka got all the military aid they needed to crush the Tigers in an all out offensive against the Tamils. It was total warfare. The Sri Lankan government did not stop until there as total victory. The civilian toll was high and they mostly Tamils.
China does not care how you use the military supplies it sells you on cheap credit. Their navy needs friendly bases in the Indian ocean. Their lifeline to the oil of the M.E. and Central Asia is critical to having friendly ports along the way.
The same goes for Sudan and the probelm in Darfur. Chinese arms for oil in that case.
Hindi kaya nang Pilipinas yung total warfare.
August 17, 2009 at 3:37 pm
China already has historical claims to Binondo, Greenhills, Mall of Asia, SM North EDSA etc. What else is new? We have to defeat the insurgencies. The Americans have hindered our capabilities to do so so maybe why not the Chinese who can sell the hardware at cheaper prices.
August 17, 2009 at 8:06 pm
Hindi ba ang may kasalanan ay noong tinanggal ni Cory ang ROTC-training? Tapos, gala ng gala sa Mindanao iyong mga pari na Italyano at Malaysian observers (neutral daw) kaya hindi puwede all-out dikdikan. Ang daming nakikialam.
August 17, 2009 at 8:10 pm
At ano ang ginagawa ng iba nating militar? Ayun, sinusubaybayan si Villar at Roxas.
http://manilatimes.net/national/2009/aug/17/yehey/metro/20090817met1.html
August 17, 2009 at 8:15 pm
GMA should simply disregard the Americans declare martial law in Mindanao and appoint Washington Sycip as Senior Minister Mentor and declare parity rights for Singaporeans. Let those mongoloid sinics take over the country formally. Wash Sycip has been calling for an authoritarian form of government. The major surplus countries of the world are all in Asia. The Jesuits in Xavier would love it.
Salim, Kuok, Cojuangco, Lucio, Henry, John and the rest of the country’s premier businessman are sinics. Why waste time.
Give Gen. Palparan a new commission and immediately declare martial law in Mindanao and ask the Chinese to build up all the ports there so their ships can call. Send Donald Dee to negotiate all the trade agreements. The deleveraging process of the U.S. financial system will go on for the next 10-20 years.
What the planet is witnessing is the start of the decoupling process from the advanced economies of the West. China needs to have access for their navy to protect the important shipping lanes for the oil and gas from Central Asia and the M.E. The left in the Philippines are history but they still do not know it.
America will shoot itself in the foot as their medical costs are rising at a compounded rate of 25% per anum. They are facing horrendous budget deficits as far as the eye can see. The predominant Pashtun tribes that comprise the Taliban have been fighting invaders in their country since Alexander the Great. The British divided Pashtunistan between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Obama will leave office in defeat.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/srilanka/5345370/China-emerges-as-key-player-in-Sri-Lanka-victory.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/weekinreview/09sengupta.html?_r=1
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6295258.ece
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6207487.ece
Sorry Joe the empire has too many problems at home. Too many crazies and wackos in America getting the limelight. Can you imagine they are castigating government for attempting to interfere in Medicare when it is a government program…
August 17, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Si Gloria ang pumatay sa ROTC! Hindi si Cory. Cory understood the importance of a citizen army. Gloria killed it for political gain for which the AFP is now paying the price.
August 18, 2009 at 5:51 pm
J_ag,
Oh, no need to say “sorry”. I think your general tendencies are correct, but the extreme conclusions have some “maybe” attached to them. heh
And I agree that the Philippines should be focused intently upon building a strong relationship with China, but need not play it overtly against the US. Do it subtly. Two rich friends are better than one, especially if they are competing against one another for the “market”.
Joe
August 19, 2009 at 3:32 am
An aside: Speaking of a stronger relationship with China, I came across this article from the Anvil Business Club website that has at least one parallel with J_AG’s scenario. It’s entitled “NOT ENOUGH CHINESE” or “NOT CHINESE ENOUGH.”
http://www.anvil.org.ph/content/view/68/44/
I’m not so sure I agree, but the ideas floating around seem to converge.
August 17, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Sri Lanka:
does not have Malaysia and Indonesia as neighboring countries – if you think the Muslim ummah will watch idly – you forget your geopolitics :)
August 18, 2009 at 7:24 am
Yup that is true but Sri Lanka has a giant neighbor just across the strait dividing them in a part of India known as Tamil Nadu.
The Indian government is greatly worried about the Chinese incursion.
Look at the treatment of Muslim Uighurs in China. The Arabs need oil revenue and are diversifying from the West. Indonesia did not raise a stink about the mailed fist approach versus the Uighurs in China. They even signed a currency swap agreement with China…
The New Cold War is about control of resources and markets. It is not about religion.
August 18, 2009 at 10:46 am
There’s a little cold war in the ASEAN – brought about by the Philippines attempt to sow chaos in Sabah, stir secessionist rhetoric so that Sabah will be returned to the Sultanate of Sulu.
Talk about the Philippines getting a dose of its own medicine … LOL
August 17, 2009 at 5:24 pm
“Americans have hindered our capabilities . . . ” What capabilities did they hinder, exactly, and what responsibility did the Philippines have in allowing themselves to be so hindered?
The blame game is a quirk of weak national self-esteem. I’d suggest going for the complex, the deep, the thoughtful, the flexible. Get right with humor, with perspective, with understanding that no one commands ownership of God’s truth, and no state is perfect. Blaming is easy. Armchair quarterbacking is simple. Seeing wisdom after the fact is a piece of cake.
Independence means never having to blame someone else.
Do something hard for a change. Accept responsibility.
As for Mindanao and the Inquirer, either the Philippines is a secular nation of laws and freedoms, or it is a Muslim state. There is no in between, no half-way, nothing to negotiate. That said, the secular nation of laws and freedoms should be more compassionate rational and provide an ECONOMY on Sulu and adjacent lands. Peace is to be found in jobs.
Joe
August 17, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Joe. The US won’t sell the PAF F16s but sold them to jihadist coddling Pakistan. The USA won’t sell us the needed firepower. No wonder FVR had to invite the Russians and the Israelis. What did Uncle Sam do? Threaten to cut military junk aid to the Philippines if it buys arms from Putin’s first prime ministership.
I should know from beyond the armchair. I am an army brat and have been to the field!
August 17, 2009 at 9:13 pm
that’s because the Pakistanis are fighting a real war – not an ocho ocho designed to promote generals and put more taxpayers money in generals bank account.
August 17, 2009 at 9:28 pm
I didn’t hear it…. did Pinas buy more APC’s, helicopters and COIN-aircraft with the money it had intended to use for the F16’s?
August 17, 2009 at 11:52 pm
blackshama: Has any of your co-army brats even think that it is Mainland China that insists that Pinas not get the F16? Similar to where it is Mainland China’s objections that is why USA has not sold any F16’s to Taiwan, even if Taiwan is kayang kayang bayaran the aircraft and the avionics.
And, in fact, I agree. Pinas should buy more COIN-aircraft like the Pilatus (and maybe 3 frigates with Exocets or similar plus “normal” 30MM guns). Much more appropriate for Pinas needs.
August 18, 2009 at 12:55 am
Mike H,
Taiwan has about 150 F-16s since the late 80s.
Most armed forces are now going for the 40mm guns.
August 18, 2009 at 1:14 am
the insurgencies in Mindanao has been in ages…and the people behind these things have acquired so much wealth…as far as i know…Mindanaons are not only Muslims and there are more Christians/other sect were born and living in Mindanao…the ancestral domain that MILF’s used for claiming a one nation within a nation is totally absurd for it will not be allowed by our constitution…when i was working in Makati, my company sent me to Iligan City to spearhead the Procurement Management team in rehabilitation of the conveyor system for the cement dock and the cement silos which we finished for nearly 8 mos….based on the stories from different local people that I befriend with…generally, muslims are slothful, for they believe that their God feeds the bird, and so the man too…that the land they were living is the Gift of God to them…there were instances that after they collected money from their harvested rice fields…they will stop working on their field and they will wait for next year planting season…and there were instances that they will buy guns or they will sell their rice fields ( to non-muslims) to acquire a new wife…and at the end of the day, they complain that non-muslim invades their mother land (kumita sa binenta nila, tapos aangal)…there’s a lot of stories that i dont want to share for I know not all muslims are the same…generally, my observation during my stay there…the basic services of our Government does not reach these people 100% and to my dismay…the fund for those services were not properly distributed nor used, instead…it goes to the pocket of the few…for me…the Philippine Govt should add more military camps, and increase police visibility…provide health education/information and services, education, safe roads/market place, Government agencies should have offices, and so on…the Government should win the hearts and the mind of the people, how come they win the hearts and the mind of the people if those basic services that the Govt should provide does not reach to the people.
August 18, 2009 at 6:09 am
well… apparently the non-muslim ripped him off.
so.. if you’ve been ripped off, what are you supposed to do – kneel and bow? you gotta be kidding me
August 19, 2009 at 11:28 am
BongV whom you referring to of him and you…you used him as masculine objective singular pronoun, and you as singular/plural pronouns…anyways.
The Government, as mentioned by Joe,that the Govt did not made any concrete framework in aligning the people (specially the relatives/neighbors/friends of the extremists Abu’s or MILF)to Government’s authority. To them the authority is their beliefs and culture,and the MILF’s, the Abu Sayaff..or Nur Misuari, Eid Kabalu…The Philippine Government has Armed Forces of the Philippines…the only armed group authorized by our constitution to defend the country and the sovereignty of the Filipino people. But why MILF has their own army? why the Government allowed this to happen? and MILF for me, functioned as a private army who protects the Abu Sayaf members and their objectives. I remember when Ces Drilon was kidnapped in Mindanao, she said that one of her guards was merely a teenager. The boy get paid of PhP20,000 just to guard her but not knowing why Ces were kept seized and be watched. At para sa binatilyong iyon, ang perang ibibigay sa kanya ay napakalaki kahit na hindi niya alam kung anong panganib ang maaring maganap sa kanya doon….Ibig sabihin ganun kahirap ang buhay sa Southern Mindanao…ang mga tao ay mangmang sa kaayusan at sa batas ng Pilipinas sanhi ng kakulangan ng serbisyo ng ating Pamahalaan.
August 18, 2009 at 5:46 pm
nosibalasi,
You are very good at overall perspectives. The other thing that I think needs to occur is that moderate Muslims need to get aboard the “we are responsible” train, for what we have now and can have in the future, and make a choice: violence and chaos versus harmony and constructive building. The national Philippine government must, as you point out, establish the framework for such responsibility to produce good results. So far, they have not.
Joe
August 19, 2009 at 10:36 am
You hit it Joe, and thanks.
August 19, 2009 at 3:26 am
The Philippine can’t even produce good results for its very own indios, there is no reason to convince moros that the Philippine government will produce good results for the moros, too.
There are frameworks which can provide a lasting solution – but the indios are too wrapped up in their inutile 1987 constitution – oblivious that the local economic elite is frying ‘em in their own lard. The indio’s Ignorance is bliss – but this same ignorance is the moro’s misfortune – to be lumped with the indios.
It is high time for a new social contract – dump the 1987 Constitution and start anew.
August 19, 2009 at 3:41 pm
BongV,
Makes sense to me, but a profound constitution, please, so that people can “feel” the simple goodness of being a patriot and abiding by the rules. Not written by legislators, but by elders and scholars. Not a pile of legal mishmash that blinds everyone with blather.
Joe
August 20, 2009 at 6:53 am
When the U.S. was formed they were know as United States are America. After the Civil War almost a hundred years later they became the United States of America.
It was not planned… Then the idea that was the U.S.A. was born. What started out as an exclusive country for the WASP slowly evolved along the tracks set out by their founding fathers who based their trust in a belief system ruled by reason and faith in the human spirit. That belief system nurtured over centuries of reasoning and free thought.
That then became their national purpose. So far it is holding in spite of wackos and crazies…. You can see some of those types here in this blog… There is a new type of Macharthyism afoot. A new form of facism even in the Philippines. Stupid rules…
August 19, 2009 at 11:07 pm
the philippine daily inquisition is evidently going the way of the leftist looney tabloid (in broadsheet), the new york times. in utter desperation to stay in circulation due to dwindling readership, both have to resort to using fantastic witch brew of partisan “editorials”. the people behind pdi, and tabloids like it, have short memories. the licentious abuse of the generic “freedom of expression” was one of the driving force behind marcos’ institution of martial law in 1972. among the first to be rounded up and eradicated was the “irresponsible” press. in every country that succumbed to totalitarianism, an abusive media is among the top target.
August 27, 2009 at 10:22 pm
I read the whole editorial. The editor was implying, with a question mark, that the conflict was probably just a show for the political benefit of President Gloria.
I think it was good, insightful and intelligent commentary. That attacks of Guerilla could be just excuses for media attention. The criticized president goes in the scene, then cleanses her image of her recent debauchery in the U.S. Sensible. A “created” conflict/enemy to “create” an image of a hero/leader. to unite the people with the President. If you are looking bad in front of the people, you would want to create a conflict (or enemy who would look worse) that would remold your image as a hero rather than an enemy. In 1984 by George Orwell, dictators used this strategy to manipulate public opinion and stay in power.
That’s probably why he titled it “Ominous Offensive”. He was suspicious of these offensives popping up at “the right time”. Will this be the pattern of the future conflicts in Mindanao? Could the president be in cahoots with the Military to create these conflicts? were some implied questions that popped in my mind.