Without Erap, lose Mindanao

While Alan Cayetano was triggering a political circus to save Manny Villar, critical problems are forgotten, such as North Cotabato Vice Gov. Manny Piñol issuing a very powerful warning this week: “We may have put a stop to the MoA-AD (Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain), but with five months left in the Arroyo administration, we may not be as successful this time around.”

The country is facing the loss of control of a great part of Mindanao while many Filipinos in the areas to be ceded are facing an oppressive imposition. Christians, Lumads and even Muslim groups such as the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) oppose the Bangso Moro Juridical Entity, a concept imposed by the British, US powers and their ally Malaysia to install their puppet Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in an area covering North Cotabato, Zamboanga and many provinces not in the present Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), plus the fossil fuel rich Liguasan Marsh and Sulu Sea.

Piñol added during the North Cotabato gathering, “This is why I hope the next president will be Erap. I pray it would be Erap… President Erap understands that Mindanao needs security above all. And it is on record that of all presidents, it was Erap who achieved the freedom from terror in Mindanao when he won the war against the MILF…” 

Last year when the Yellow candidate announced his candidacy and some Edsa II recidivists (sorry for 2001 but balik-dilaw for 2010) rejoined the Yellows, I texted them: “I am absolutely certain the Philippines will lose Mindanao if your candidate makes it.” 

I am now reaffirmed by Piñol’s statements. Truth to tell, the Yellow candidate went to Mindanao to “pray” before announcing his candidacy but actually consulted confidants like Chito Ayala on how Mindanaons would take the MoA-AD if he promised the same to the US in exchange for their support.

It is not surprising therefore that Ambassador Kristie Kenney was widely reported by Philippine media to have quipped in one TV show that she “wears yellow.” No wonder then that all the traditional institutions associated with western hegemony in the Philippines, particularly the Makati Business Club and the Catholic hierarchy, the “civil society” such as the Hyatt 10 (11 because lawyer Nonong Cruz was the real engineer of that attempted putsch in 2005), openly endorse or have joined the campaign of the Yellow candidate. 

Also, the Yellow media which have been working to implant subliminal pro-Yellow candidate messages in their news reporting such as the full front page treatment of the “Cory Swatch” designed by Edsa people power crony Jaime Zobel de Ayala that didn’t do anything but attach a yellow strap which my watch repair man at the Edsa Central market could do better.

The real issue in the elections of 2010 is still the Filipino national interest versus the regime of neo-colonial slavery reigning since Edsa I and aggravated by Edsa II. The 1986 Cory led coup d’etat brought back Nur Misuari from political limbo and revived the MNLF that the Marcos government had already marginalized with the hard earned victories of the AFP. The 2001 Edsa II as well gave a return ticket to the already self-exiled MILF leader Hashim Salamat whom President Estrada had already vanquished in 2000. There is no doubt that the Edsa II was partly motivated by the US and British-Malaysian interests to restore their leverage in Mindanao and eventually Balkanize that part of the country to control its fossil fuel resources just as they have done in so many parts of the world, such as East Timor from Indonesia, Kuwait from Iraq, and have been attempting in Bolivia.

I don’t know if we can save Mindanao from Uncle Sam’s cake knife: With the charlatans in the Senate and the House, I see very little hope unless drastic change in leadership quality transpires. On the C-5 scam for example, Joker Arroyo is correct in saying that the entire Senate is guilty because they all approved the 2009 budget which included the insertions of Villar. We expect Joker Arroyo to lead the rest of the Senate in resigning their positions posthaste because of this admission on his part. The biggest loser in the current imbroglio are Villar and Alan Cayetano because they simply can’t stand on the argument that it’s all just politics and numbers. It was Villar’s chance to show that he could stand above politics and numbers and carry the day with a stirring defense of his innocence to win the nation’s heart — but obviously he could not and chose to hide behind his political surrogate.

Pimentel showed the nadir of his capabilities in his intervention about “insertions” and Jamby Madrigal should have just kept her piece because history records the facts about their family wealth:

From “Policing America’s Empire: The United States, the Philippines, and the Rise of the Surveillance State” by Alfred McCoy: “In a clear example of crony capitalism, Quezon, working through Governor Harrison, appointed the well-connected mestizo merchant Ramon Fernandez to the PNB Board in 1916. Three years later Fernandez and another PNB director, Vicente Madrigal, voted themselves interest-free personal loans for an ill-fated attempt to corner Manila’s hemp supply. The market collapsed, leaving the bank with 53,000 worthless bales of hemp and P2.2 million in bad loans that the PNB directors illegally wiped from the books.” They all seem hopelessly hypocritical and inane.

It’s time we return power to the people, keep Mindanao for the nation: “Ibalik ang Pwersa sa Masa.” 

(Tune to 1098AM, Sulo ng Pilipino, M-W-F, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.; Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21, Talk News TV, Tuesday, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.; visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)

Triumph of the people

Talk of Erap Estrada being disqualified, as well as rumors spread by both the Liberal Party (LP) and the Nacionalista Party (NP) camps that he is withdrawing from the presidential race and will be endorsing either party’s standard bearer can now be laid to rest, after the Commission on Elections

(Comelec)’s second division junked the three disqualification cases against the former President, on grounds that he is not the incumbent president seeking reelection, and the belief that the decision on who is to be elected president is best left to the sovereign people.

From the start, the anti-Erap media and the anti-Erap elite groups tried to demolish his candidacy by stressing that Estrada would be disqualified, giving out all arguments about his being banned from running for the same seat, in a bid to weaken his candidacy.

Even when Estrada officially announced his candidacy and that of his vice president and senatorial bets in Tondo, the anti-Erap media, even as they covered the proclamation rally, ensured that their guest panelists would all be anti-Erap individuals. Thus, as there was live video coverage in a box on the TV screen, there were the anchors and the panelists all saying that Erap will be disqualified anyway since he is constitutionally banned from running for the top post again.

Then too, came the day Estrada filed his certificate of candidacy at the Comelec, and again the same mode was adopted by the anti-Erap TV network. There again went the guest invited to comment, but one who was also clearly anti-Erap, saying that Estrada has no chance of making it to the race since he faces sure disqualification.

Arguments on whether he could run or not went on, with the added spiel that Estrada was going to withdraw in favor of LP bet Noynoy Aquino, simultaneously with the spread of rumor by the Villar camp that Estrada will be withdrawing from the race and be endorsing Villar.

There were reports from the field that the Villar camp even had a tabloid issue saying that Erap was ready to withdraw in favor of Villar.

All that didn’t even stop as the same anti-Erap groups and media, in reporting survey ratings, dropped Estrada altogether, making it appear that the race was just between Aquino and Villar.

Not surprisingly either, they came up with “analyses” of Estrada losing his touch with the masses and was being rejected by his constituents.

At every chance they got, they always excluded him in reports such as the trips of presidential bets to commiserate with the evacuees from the Mayon ash falls, even when he also went to these places.

Today, the issue on the disqualification of Estrada’s presidential bid should be a dead issue, but that hasn’t stopped the same anti-Erap groups from saying that the Comelec’s decision may still be overturned, despite the fact that the Comelec spokesman said that while a motion for reconsideration is allowed, a strong legal and constitutional argument has to be made for the commission to reverse its decision. But what could be a strong argument against the fact that it is the sovereign people, and not the unelected, who should decide whom they want to elect as president?

The Comelec’s promulgation junking the three disqualification cases also came on the exact date that the anti-Erap civil society staged a coup d’etat against Estrada, exactly nine years ago.

The junking of the disqualification cases against Estrada is not just a triumph of the former President. It is the triumph of the Filipino people, whose sovereign right to elect a president of their choice has been upheld.

There must be a moral lesson in all this, for the power-grabbing elite anti-Erap groups to learn.