An earlier related paper will be Pilipinas Forum 3: Is Marxism Still Relevant?, August 30, 2011. It's 11 pages long. Enjoy.
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I cautiously welcome the GMA decision to redeploy forces to fight against NPA cadres throughout the Philippines. While I fully support the fight against criminal elements and include among these any revolutionary group who resorts to armed violence against the public or the Government, I also hope that corresponding efforts will be made to protect the human rights of peaceful political opposition.
I continue to believe that economic development and respect for human rights is the best way to counter various guerilla groups. But, when any group resorts to violence in a democratic system I feel the full force of law should be applied against them. If this requires the support and direct involvement of the AFP and even funds provided bythe USA, then so be it. I would far prefer to see funds spend for economic and infrastructure development, but such expenditures also require a peaceful environment to do any good. If businesses are being extorted by NPA groups and infrastructure is being destroyed in the name of countering the 'oppression' of the people, the other improvements do little good.
I strongly believe in the right of self defense. While I understand that the members of the NPA, CCP, NDF and others feel that their revolutionary cause is a legitimate self defense against oppression, I believe the overall right of the people of a democratic society have a greater right to defend themselves from those forces who seek to impose their belief structure upon them by violence. If the CCP, NDF or even the Mickey Mouse Club for that matter, manage to go out and get themselves elected into a position of majority in a barangay, municipality, or province, then that is the will of the people and they have just cause to defend that. Short of that, however, the use of armed violence against the people's legitimately elected government is no different that criminality and that government elected by the people should treat it as such.
While I would prefer disputes to be settled peacefully, to tell the truth, I welcome Jose Ma. Maria Sison's call for the NPA to launch attacks. Let them come out in the open, let them show the common people how they are 'defending' them against oppression by cutting off their electricity and by destroying the infrastructure that has been built by their hard earned tax money. Hopefully when they come out into the light of day and show clearly who they are and what they believe they can be dealt with effectively once and for all.
I have no disagreement with legitimate opposition to the existing government, hey, I probably even agree with a lot of their charges of corruption and waste of the people's resources. But, let that opposition be heard through the electoral process. Let that opposition be felt through the right to vote. As soon as one group decides to let their opposition be expressed by armed violence they have left the side of legitimacy and have no right to decry the acts of society to defend themselves.
–Cynthia Diaz
Cynthia, I do agree with you. Sison and his brood (not only armed communist rebels) are out of mind and touch of time. I also believe that force have to be met with force, but calibrated and selective of targets because of the Bill of Rights.
However, the real enemy is within, within the mainstream. These are those who give a bad name to democracy, freedom of enterpise -- businessmen retaining a feudal state of mind towards their employees; those at home who mistreat their household help, corrupt gov't officials, demo-crazy protesters, politicking clergy, greedy and power hungry politicians, indifferent citizenry, flying voters, ....
–Roy Picart
The CPP-NPA thinks they hold the solution to the country's problems. Yet, they are the biggest obstacle to progress. Sison's call for the destruction of public utilities-which as Cynthia mentioned are built with the Pinoy's pawis-at-dugo-is a clear sign that their real target is the country's progress, however small they claim these to be. Kapirangot na nga lang-sisirain pa nila! Who do they think will pay to rebuild all these again?!! Certainly not Sison! The fail ure of Filipinos to achieve progress under the current system is the NPA's success.
Bayan Muna's "New Vietnam" scare is ridiculous. In the first place, the existence of the NPA is the cause of the very arrangement they are opposing. The NPA-and the armed violence they have continually brought society-is the root problem, then (maybe) the Americans. Before the American issue was even raised had they condemned the NPA's first (along with other terrorist groups) then maybe we won't ever need American "meddling".
Why do we need communism? Capitalism, though far from perfect, has evolved considerably from the 18th century capitalism of the industrial revolution. Even in the very countries that have adopted and spread communism, the ideology has proven to be more oppressive than capitalism. In so many years, it did not make the lives of their people better if not make them even worse. Now, China is relying on capitalism to compete in the global economy (ex., state-ownership of industries is being replaced by IPOs). As neo-capitalists, they may yet become the biggest threat to the Filipino worker and farmer... perhaps even more than the Americans ever did.
–Gilbert Cunanan
I still think though that the Abu Sayyaff problem has to be resolved with finality. The President should assign it to a point man and special unit to deal with it unrelentlessly. Perhaps this is being done without much funfare. If so,it should be like wise with the NPA. The President should not be rubbing it in the media. It goes against the grain of "focus on your enemy and don't add or multiply more."
With the communist insurgents, it's still and will be for decades to come a strategy/policy of "Talk while fighting, and fight while talking" -- until economic progress or prosperity renders the conflict moot.
But terrorism is quite a different matter. Economic progress may not render it extinct, perhaps due to its global linkages. This seems to be the "war of the new millenium." A war that does not necessary pit one country against another, but between law abiding citizens against renegades and international lawless elements. This is perhaps excepting the likes of Iraq, Iran which are havens for such terrorists.
Inevitably, terrorists ally themselves or also double as crime syndicates to finance their "war." There are a lot of old, traditional law and order problems that the counry hasn't resolved. Now comes this new formidable one.
-Roy
When I read yesterday Sison's "order" for NPAs to blow up NPC power and transmission lines, I just shrugged my shoulder. 3 reasons:
1) Sison approaching political insignificance, trying to slam big-banner stories, pang-headline ng Inquirer, para sikat sya.
2) Most likely, the local NPA commanders will not follow Sison's "order" or "analysis" or what have you. If they do follow, then they're showing to the people that "this is where your revolutionary taxes go".
3) I'm waiting for Bayan Muna Congressmen Satur Ocampo, Crispin Beltran, & Liza Masa, plus Sonny Africa, Tonyo Cruz, Teddy Casino, other above-ground ND leaders to distance themselves from the thinking of the nat-dem thinker from the Netherlands. If they don't, then that explains why the ND ideals can only thrive in the streets and the Inquirer, but not in fora, conferences and other public discussions where brains, not guns or streamers, are the primary weapon.
True that the 3 BM legislators sometimes join congressional committee and plenary debates, but I don't see them winning debates by convincing their fellow legislators or the general public that nat-dem, not markets & pol. democracy, is a superior set up for this country.
–Nonoy Oplas
I belong to the very very small-scale entrepeneur group. i am curious what the essentials of your national industrialization program are all about. could you kindly elaborate more on this aspect of your national-democratic program and how it affects very very small-scale entrepreneurs like me if the national-democrats succeed in residing in malacañang with presumably da professor in da nederlands as the head of state?
i hope you can oblige all of us in this forum with a cut and dried answer which we have been trying to ellicit from you several months back. i look forward in earnest to your reply
-Sam Aherrera
About Joma Sison's and Bayan's statements, I'd just like to quote Voltaire: I disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it. But I wonder -- if ever they assume power, nay, absolute power, will the sentiment be mutual?
-RoyP.
The answer is yes.
-Tonyo Cruz
Roy, The leftist creed is one that brooks no opposition. They demand a tollerant society to allow their message to be heard, but in one they control would allow absolutely no dissent. I believe this is one of the reasons communist regimes never succeed over the long term – they have a great difficulty evolving and dissent is a part of that evolution. So, in answer to your question ... no way!
-Cynthia
Disrupting powelines and the resulting brownout ".will certainly demonstrate the inability of Ms Macapagal to govern"??? But he says "outages may be fixed within a day or so"? Won't disrupting powerlines in almost any country result in the same scenario???
Does Sison think our concern is just the lights in our offices? Sison's twisted "analysis" gives no value to the collective effort of government, ordinary employess, taxpayers, workers and farmers in rebuilding this country. Regardless of how small they portray our gains to be, such actions will only leave a monument to the CPP-NPA's long-time role as destroyers of whatever progress Filipinos have gained (big or small). Clearly, the failure of Filipinos to achieve progress under the current system is the NPA's success.
I wonder how many NPA fighters even know under what banner they're throwing their lives at risk? Many of the recruits are not even old enough to understand what's going on in other parts of the country or for that matter in other parts of the world, including the former Soviet Union, China and Vietnam. The CPP-NPA capitalizes on desperation (and unfortunately on ignorance) to gain combatants and not on clear minds-free from hunger and oppression. Many children are being sent to their deaths without even knowing why, by people who call themselves "comrades"-only consolation is that they won't ever live with the disillusionment of unmet promises of their propagandists.
–Gilbert Cunanan
The NPA is an active armed force that seeks to overthrow the government. It is involved in a violent struggle which includes the murder of government officials and is bent in establishing an economic and social order which has proven historically to fail.
In any democratic country, there should be no room for an armed struggle. Basically speaking it just goes against the grain.
However I cannot but fathom how crudely and simplistically you view the call of Joma for the NPA to launch attacks. I just could not see how we could welcome such a threat. In fact, this might be a signal to us that the Joma is viewing the Philippine social cauldron as vulnerable sympathizing with a cause identified with violence. It is a wake up call for the GMA administration that bluster is not the way to manage a presidency. It is a wake-up call for the corrupt bureacracy that cadres in the mountains and provinces are starting to feel a re-awakening of rebellious feelings which died down in the wake of the EDSA 1 revolution.
In short, my dear Cynthia, the NPA will never come out in the open and neither can they be dealt with in the open. You have misread the meaning of Joma's wake-up call. No, it is not a welcome development but a warning to us all that the GMA government has reached the zenith of apathy and self-idolization that it has forgotten its own weakness. Perhaps it has come to believe on its own propaganda. hahahahahaha now that would be the day.
What is sorry now is that Joma and his evil band may now look upon the social millieu in the Philippines as ripe for social unrest, so much ripe that it has the capability for them to re-invigorate their forces and somehow re-claim the lossess they suffered the past few years. Now this is a sorry state, because this means that the GMA has digressed into a pigstye of corrupt bureaucrats and presidential relatives, intent merely on snaking its way back to malacanan on 2004. I use to think that GMA would be wise enough to take some risks, an experiment or 2 in social engineering, putting money back into a lot of socialist measures. Re-charging the economy. But you know, there might be just too many problems for the Philippines to think about that GMA just doesnt know which way is up or down. A clear example is the way they handled the communist insurgency. We all know what kind of person, Joma is. C'mon, he could be bought for the right price. However, GMA and his cohorts just do not know that. At least JDV, if he were president would have attempted to co-opt everybody through sheer bribery, but GMA just does not know what she wants.
So my dear cyn, I am sorry to tell you that there is nothing to welcome with Joma's bluster, it just an experimental balloon. Anyway, on a personal note, how have you been and I hope to hear more tales from your adventures abroad. cheerio. Take note of my new e-mail and get hold of me soon. Till then.
-Mel Velasco
Hi Mel, PFers,
I completely agree with you and am well aware that the NPA will never really come out into the open. In reality Sison's call is nothing new, as there has been a continued low level campaign of murder, extortion, kidnapping and violence by the NPA all along. In my own province they try to hide behind calling ir "removing corrupt officials" (and I have to admit that some of their targets really have been corrupt), but at other times it has been apparent that NPA "hits" have been economically motivated or even done on behalf of some other criminal groups.
Sison's plea is an empty one, devoid of moral justification as well as any political rationale and I hope that all Filipinos see through it. True, the redeployment of AFP forces from the South will put greater pressure on the NPA cadres, but their response by simultaneously going on the offensive would make absolutely no sense in terms of guerilla warfare. Perhaps Sison is beginning to believe that he knows more than Chairman Mao about this, but now would be the time to disappear into the 'sea' of the masses, consolidate where possible, and prepare to strike back when the pressure is withdrawn. If the NPA would follow Sison's call, it would in fact cause an increase in near term violence, but would lead to the long term detriment of their cause.
-Cynthia
1. Who declared an "all-out war" policy in the first place? Is it Mrs. Arroyo's original idea or a rehash and imposition by militarists like Gen. Angelo Reyes?
2. What happened after successive operation-plans (Katatagan, Mamamayan, Makabayan, etc.) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines? What has happened to the past "promises" and "pledges" about "AFP strategic victory over the NPA"? (Even Marcos' martial law failed to deter the communist movement; instead, Marcos became the single biggest NPA recruiter.)
3. Which party in the armed conflict recalled its negotiating panel in formal peace negotiations with the communist rebels? Who trashed agreements like the The Hague Agreement and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL)?
4. Do you honestly think that the 14 AFP batallions ould defeat a 34-year old armed revolutionary movement when it has failed to crush a bandit group of a few hundreds in the tiny island of Basilan even with the help of US troops?
-Tonyo
It doesn't matter who it came from--the CPP-NPA and communism in general are just as "militarist" as (if not more than) any Gen. Reyes. Was there ever a communist regime that isn't?
I recall that during the time of Reyes' appointment, his lack of battle record were among the issues raised against him. If there were no NPAs, that record would have continued and I'm sure the good general would have been happier. But duty calls.
–Gilbert Cunanan
Roy Picart asked,
"if ever they (nat-dems) assume power, nay, absolute power, will the sentiment (right to speak) be mutual?"
Tonyo Cruz replied,
"The answer is yes."
Nonoy says,
"Tonyo is wrong."
Why? Several instances that the nat-dems - CPP-NPA underground, BAYAN, Bayan Muna, KMU, KMP, etc. aboveground - are allergic to real political pluralism. The most recent is the KMU's refusal to have a united front with fellow radical left but rival labor group, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP).
Just a background:
(a) KMU - then the biggest militant labor group in the country, mouths "national democracy" but secretly calls for socialism.
(b) BMP - splinter of KMU in 1993; leaders were also ex-CPP officials (Popoy Lagman, et. al.) mainly of Manila-Rizal group; openly calls for socialism.
(c) Bayan Muna - the party-list of the nat-dems; now have 3 legislators in Congress.
(d) Sanlakas - party-list of BMP; has one legislator in the 11th Congress ('98-01), but failed to win a seat in the present Congress, partly because they split their forces into 2 political parties, Sanlakas and Partido Manggagawa.
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August 7, 2002
Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP)
Rival labor group offers "alliance" with KMU
The militant Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) extended an "open hand" today to its rival Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) in an attempt to "forge a historic alliance to defend trade union rights and labor standards" in the face of President Arroyo's declaration of war against the leftist rebels including leftist trade union movements…
Instead of accepting the offer, however, KMU scored its rivals and called its members "opportunists".
BMP, a KMU breakaway group, was formed in 1993, following a split in the leftist movement due to "ideological and political differences".
KMU spokesperson Joel Maglungsod said his group remained firm against forming any alliance with the BMP.
-Nonoy
My reply stays as it was. Its an unequivocal, unconditional yes.
Are we allergic to political pluralism? Its yet another case of sala-sa-init, sala-sa-lamig. When we coalesce and set up a broad united front with all the anti-Estrada forces, some call us opportunist. When we espouse our own program within or without these alliances, we're pariahs or sensitive pricks.
Anyway, Nonoy, I hope you have read enough about the principle of setting up a broad united front for the national democratic struggle, including forming and co-sponsoring various forms of alliances with different political forces on the basis of issues. Its an important ingredient in the movement, so much so that Bayan is here and is actively interacting with other political forces, including the segments of the ruling elite disgusted with the dive their businesses are taking.
As to the tiff between KMU and BMP, the political debate between the two groups is rooted a marked difference in the appreciation of the current situation, tactics and strategies for organizing workers and other issues.
Lastly, we do not hide our aspirations for a socialist future after the national democratic program is essentially implemented. The socialist course begins once the national democrats seize political power and the ruling system crumbles under the weight of the crisis and a revolutionary upsurge.
-Tonyo
Tonyo, Democratic government and a strong military presence aren't necessarily mutually exclusive of each other. The world's most stable democracies like the United States, UK, and certain Western European nations are protected by strong militaries. Even Israel which is continually beset with grave threats to its existence has managed to remain a democracy even though it has every justification to becoming a garrison state. The reason Israel has survived all these threats is that it has a formidable and disciplined military force that guards the country and preserves its democracy -- the only democratic state in the Middle East.
Thus, when General Angelo Reyes recommends to GMA that all-out-war be declared on enemies of the state like your comrades in the NPA, that doesn't necessarily mean that Reyes is now calling the shots and is imposing his will on the President or that the Philippines is now turning into a military dictatorship. Reyes is merely doing his job as the guardian of the Republic. That's what Filipino taxpayers have paid him to do. Did you really think the GMA administration would just lay down and play dead while the CPP-NPA-NDF and the Muslim secessionists run around kidnapping and beheading people, extorting businessmen, blowing up public utilities, etc etc?
The AFP is not a perfect organization but it is far more credible than your NPA can ever hope to be. Reason? The AFP at least can be held accountable for its actions while the NPA can not. The concept of civilian oversight still applies to the AFP. The AFP brass answers to the politicians in Congress who in turn answer to the Filipino voters. Perfect system? Of course not, but a lot better – because more transparent - than the byzantine system that governs the New People's Army which answers to "Professor" Joma Sison who was elected by no one.
–Noel Flores
The so-called insurgency problem is not an issue of terrorism as some quarters specifically the military, would like the public to believe. The CPP-NPA-NDF, as can be gleaned from its history and documents available to everyone, is pursuing latently political aims - that is the eradication of the three basic problems of foreign domination, feudal monopoly in the countryside and bureaucratic corruption.
Tagging the CPP-NPA-NDF and their alleged fronts as "terrorists" just to attain a pretext for a US-backed all-out war is a lousy excuse for the continued failure of the government and the prevailing system to correct structural problems. Whether the government and its rah-rah boys and girls (paid or unpaid, hired or unwittingly helping them) would have to hand it to the communists that it maintained a consistently militant and principled stand on national sovereignty, peace, national industrialization, land reform and other concerns.
Unfortunately, the very system that some so assiduously defend has in many respects failed the people, including those who keep faith in it. It has produced more hopelessness as has been reflected in surveys showing public discontent on the elite democracy and backward economy that we have. For instance, it is the problem of this rotten system that a Purchased Power Adjustment continue to exploit consumers each month, that an Erap Estrada became president and that our hundreds of thousands of graduates each year join not the labor force but a burgeoning army of unemployed.
Mrs. Arroyo's beating of the war drums cannot drown out the fact that the national-democratic movement is no terrorist group but a political movement carrying an avowed political program that has captured the hearts and minds of a growing number of people as evidenced both by the flowering of people's organizations and the wide spread of areas in the countryside that serve as base for guerilla fighters.
The national-democratic program is toxic to the crumbling system and government that Mrs. Arroyo and her militarist friends try hard to keep together. The program include genuine land reform; national industrialization; a national, scientific and mass culture and education; an independent foreign policy; a form of government that is truly democratic (involving the majority of peasants, workers, women, youth, churchpeople, professionals, small- and medium-scale entrepreneurs); a social insurance program (free public health and shelter); genuine autonomy for the Bangsamoro and other national minorities; the preservation of the the national patrimony and the environment; and others.
(As long as the system and government refuse to implement such measures, there would be mass organizations or revolutionary movements sprouting to issue such legitimate demands.)
I say toxic because the program highlight the huge flaws that have failed to be corrected by the prevailing system. In fact, the ruling classes that oversee the system refuse these radical reforms for fear of losing their wealth and power. So desperate is the ruling elites in defending their privileged position that they make use of the coercive apparatuses of the state to derail the revolution and even the mass movement in urban areas that fight for the people's welfare. Thus, the all-out war and other militarist measures against dissenting voices.
History is replete with lessons that ruling classes in societies do not pass on political power on a silver platter to the ruled classes. The ruling classes would fight for the defense of political power till the end and would continue to do so and even more fiercely when they are defeated. That is why there is a people's army. Without this army, the peasants would have nothing to defend themselves with and the movement would not have a way of seizing political power just like how the current ruling classes did when they were the ascendant social forces daring to lead the country.
It is no simple feat that the NPA grew from a few heads to tens of thousands since when it was formed in 1969. NPA growth is relative to the heightening of political consciousness and activism among the people. No such army would survive if unsupported by the people. Otherwise, it would be a spoon-fed and puppet army like the AFP or a band of bandits like the Abu Sayyaf.
True, every Filipino, especially intellectuals, should reject the most backward and jurassic ideas and systems. But these adjectives describe more the current setup that we have and the "solutions" forwarded like the "working within the system" (ala Dinky Soliman and Ging Deles? Or Code-NGO and Kompil II?), challenging the rulers to implement reforms (ala other social-democrats), and by pointing a finger at our people (oh, its the common people who must change) who have known nothing but to tirelessly work each and every day just to survive. Parang sirang plaka na ito eh. These have been tried and retried but results are wanting. Indeed, if there is anything that is out-of-sync, it's the current system that is widely-viewed and felt as an intolerable burden.
National democrats repose full confidence on the people that they can decide on their own to seize every opportunity to rebuild the country - a concept and principle that we hold dear because without the people's support, no movement for social transformation would succeed.
The untenability of the current system in the Philippines, the crisis of confidence (shades of Enron and WorldCom scandals) and overproduction (the dive taken by the globalized world [dis]order), the lessons learned from former socialist countries and those that attained national liberation, and the practical program and rich experience of the national democratic movement provide us a preview to the country's socialist future.
An underlying message is: there is hope beyond this rotten system we continue endure.
P.S. How about elections. Look at how they treat Bayan Muna's leaders and members. To date, over 23 have been killed on the pretext that they are "communists". Look at how the elite makes a circus out of it each time we go to the polls. The failure of electoral processes and two People Power uprisings just shows that the system as we know it can no longer be administered by the elite in the old way.
-Tonyo
Hello Mr. Tonyo;
As a JoMa loyalist, you obviously cannot see how hopelessly out of touch your cult of Mao is with reality. Maoism--national democracy if you wish--failed in China. Deng Hsiao Peng's ascendancy quietly killed it and China is now well on its way to becoming a superpower. North Korea where Stalinist economics rules is on the verge of collapse.
Your vision of national democratic economic reconstruction is based on the primitive accumulation of capital. In other words, as was the case in Russia during Stalin's series of five year plans. As was the case with Mao during his Great Leap Forward.
Millions of people died in the two countries as a result of these programs. I'm sure hundreds of thousands will die here too should you Maoist cultists win your so-called People's Democratic Revolution. Aha, but I doubt if you ever will win. Any attempt at a Strategic Offensive will easily be crushed with air power.
The fact that the nat-dems went far from the early 1970s to the mid 1980s is because certain segments of the middle class were somehow won over. A good number of middle class intellectuals were won over to your side because Cuba, China, and the Soviet Union then appeared to be viable alternatives. The failures of these totalitarian societies in the face of the advent of the Information Age have caused Marxism to utterly have no appeal to the thinking class today.
There are no original thinkers among the Nat-Dems today. Only party apparatchiks who mindlessly take their orders from that Aging Disco Dancer in Utrecht. Until now, you insist that the Philippines is a feudal nation. It never was. Spain was never a feudal society. Hence, it could never have brought that social system into the Philippines as you nat dems allege. What they brought over was the latifundia system. But that is another story. Nevertheless, even at the start, JoMa's analysis of Philippine society was already muddled.
True, the United States may have condescendingly tried to treat the Philippines as a colony even after July 4, 1946. Nevertheless, the clientilist relations also were the case with Korea and Taiwan. Both countries today are developed nations and among the world's most prosperous. Hence, your thesis that the US imperialism insists on keeping the 3rd World impoverished does not stand. Indeed, it is hogwash.
You natdems are now part of the barriers to the Philippines becoming a prosperous country this 21st century. To begin with, you insist on imposing on hapless Filipinos an industrial society that is now obsolete with the advent of the Information Age. Worse, the variant you offer is the most cruel of them all. It involves a one-party state, a secret police,a command economy that kills all individual initiative and enterprise, a hopelessly bureaucratic and unaccountable government of corrupt apparatchiks, a regimented media speaking in Orwellian language, a closed and totalitarian state.
Today, no progress can take place in areas where you operate. Businessmen cannot invest in startup enterprises that can give people there jobs. Whatever businesses existing there, you extort from them. And like the Mafia and all criminal gangs, you harm the enterprises that refuse to pay. Mr Tonyo, before you glorify the bandits known as the NPA, explain the following: the Stalinist murders of millions in the 1930s, the deaths of millions of Chinese during the Great Leap Forward, the massacres of millions of Cambodians during the mid-1970s until the late 1970s.
The track records of the societies you hold as role models indicates that you nat-dems will most likely do the same should you win. National Democracy---Phooey.
-Ike Suarez
Ike,
I wish everything you said were true but even the military admits that the NPA is growing in terms of armed regulars and in the number of guerilla fronts where they operate. The problems compelling armed revolution remain.
But perhaps you are barking on the wrong tree in claiming that national democrats are the stumbling blocks to progress. The real burden to national progress is the utter lack of genuine industrialization brought about by efforts of big multinationals and foreign financial institutions to keep our economy backward and incapable of producing jobs and livelihood for the people.
Pray tell, how can we compete in the New World [Dis]-Order under globalization when all that the prevailing system keeps the basic pattern of heavy importation of finished goods and exportation of raw materials and labor? This pattern will continue to make the national coffers bleed and will continue to be dependent on foreign debt.
Our current economic conditions point out the correctness of the view that the Philippines is semi-feudal. Its a backward, basically agrarian economy that imports heavily from the international capitalist market. (Incidentally, even this export-orientation is under attack. Remember the tuna incident between Powell and GMA?)
Businesses cannot sprout because, as businesspersons themselves admit, of bureaucratic corruption and unfair competition from big foreign and local monopolies, the high interest rates and the high incidence of crimes perpetrated by syndicates colluding with military officials.
-Tonyo
JoMa Sison Online
Opening his mailbox one morning early this August, this writer chanced upon a press statement from Jose Ma. Sison, the world's last Maoist and proponent of classical guerrilla warfare to overthrow US Imperialism, Feudalism, and Bureaucrat Capitalism. His bombastic outpourings--vintage late 1960s and early 1970s--urging overthrow of the allegedly American puppet regime of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo elicited no more than a big yawn. But it had been forwarded from a newsgroup with subscribers mostly Fil-Ams in the United States. The newsgroup's purpose is allegedly to promote studies of Philippine culture. It had been sent there by the US chapter of AnakBayan, yet another front group established by JoMa's functionaries to ideologically seduce the Filipino youth.
True, this Maoist outburst once more proved that online political garbage in also means online political garbage out. Yet, the medium by which the aging revolutionary based in Utrecht sent his diatribe caused this writer to do some reflecting afterwards. He mused that while JoMa Sison may be an ideological dinosaur, he now uses ICT to propagate his obsolete social-political-economic philosophy. That it had been forwarded to various newsgroups meant that he still does have followers. And because they were sent online, this meant his followers are scattered all over the world. These followers are also his loyalists--men and women fanatically dedicated to him and refusing to acknowledge the truth about their ideological idol. Their being Maoists also means that they are Marxist fundamentalists.
This fact again set this writer thinking. He then remembered that Iranian Shiite Muslims--Islamic fundamentalists basically—used stereo tape cassette recorders in the late 1970s to agitate against the Shah as they gathered in their places of worship. Today, Al Queada and other Islamist terrorists who wish to impose a medieval theocracy throughout the world make skill use of computers and the Internet to propagate their cause
It seems that fundamentalists have a knack for using state of the art technologies for communicating among themselves with the rest of the world. This in spite their world views that insist on a steadfast adherence to ways of the past.
And so, what really is there to be surprised about JoMa and his loyalists using ICT to propagate their cause wherever they may be? And why should one be surprised that he has followers worldwide? The Filipino now belongs to one of the world's global tribes, does not he or she? And so, why should not this last Maoist have a few disciples here and there scattered in all contients, including the US in North America? Nevertheless, another interesting fact. JoMa's propagandists have met hostile responses in a few other newsgroups. When this happens quite frequently, they retreat and become mere lurkers. This deserves further study.
-Ike
Hi Tonyo,
You wrote, "Businesses cannot sprout because... of bureaucratic corruption ... crimes perpetrated by syndicates colluding with military officials."
Have you ever thought that the CPP-NPA benefits from corruption in the military? Some generals who make fat kick-backs from military procurement actually don't want the NPA insurgency be fully licked. They might lose one milking cow. Hence, the CPP may consider incorporating a sub-section in the NDF, "AFP-NPA united front to prolong the armed conflict."
> Pray tell, how can we compete in the New World [Dis]-Order under
> globalization when all that the prevailing system keeps the basic
> pattern of heavy importation of finished goods and exportation of raw
> materials and labor?
Sige, let's look at RP-US trade and see if we really "lose". Trade balance (RP exports to US, minus RP imports from the US, merchandise goods), or simply export - import:
1985, $345 million
1990, $729 million
1995, $1.145 billion
2000, $6.042 billion
2001, $3.986 billion
2002 (Jan-May), $799 million
Uuyyyy, kabait naman ng imperialist America. They bleed their own coffers and allow ex-colony RP to have persistent trade surplus over them, year after year until today.
> Bayan is here and is actively interacting with other political forces, including the
> segments of the ruling elite disgusted with the dive their businesses are taking.
Pare naman, sino ba sa Philippine ruling elite are seriously uniting with a nat-dem-turning-to-socialism Bayan, with shadowy CPP-NPA at the background? Sila Peping Cojuangco? Sila Tito Guingona? Sila Raul Concepcion? Wala naman eh. They only ally with you on very short-term concerns, like the downfall of Erap. But beyond that, they know that you are their enemy. If they think their businesses are diving under Erap or Gloria administrations, their businesses will evaporate under the CPP-NPA.
-Nonoy
> The real burden to national progress is the utter lack of genuine
> industrialization brought about by efforts of big multinationals and
> foreign financial institutions to keep our economy backward and
> incapable of producing jobs and livelihood for the people.
And who could these big multinationals be? Certainly not Philips, Texas Intruments, Amkor Anam or Intel.
If I might just add a little bit of trivia to the discussion...
Our company, a multinational, has recently closed our Pasadena office in favor of the Philippine office. In fact, our COO who is currently visiting for a week has asked us to be a little sensitive when we talk to our american counterparts because the general feeling in our US offices is that all the jobs will eventually go here in the Philippines. That, of course, is not accurate but we are finding that our local office is being assigned more and more responsibilities.
We might not be a big multinational, in fact, we are very small as compared to others but the point still is - what you are saying is certainly Not True, not by a long shot.
–Eric Tiongson
Tonyo,
I am afraid that history shows that Nonoy is correct. None of the far left regimes which have ever come to power in any country have been tollerant of dissent or differences of opinion. All quickly label and opposition as reactionary and seek to eliminate these elements. I have always felt that communism was a great theory, as long as it remains no more than that. As soon as it goes into the realm of a practicing government its faults begin to show. There is no doubt that it is a great means of holding together a revolutionary force, but it makes for a poor form of government.
The main thing that bothers me is the number of young, intelligent, idealistic and impressionable young men and women who will inevitably lose their lives in the name of the leftist cause while trying to overthrow our elected government. I surely agree that our Government is far from perfect and there are so many areas where we need change. If these people were focused on providing real and meningful change through the existing system I believe we would have far greater future benefit.
Regards,
-Cynthia Diaz
Hello Mr. Tonyo:
Genuine industrialization. That is the magic word.Hmmm. Like I said, it's the Information Age. But dinosaurs that you nat-dems are, you still insist on heavy industrialization. What you would want are inefficient Stalinist relics--as those state industries in China. No, Mr. Tonyo. I won't buy that. This is primarily the reason why the horrors of 1930s Stalinist Russia and the 1950s Great Leap Forward took place. Listen people: the natdems want 19th century steel mills, petrochemical factories, rubber factories. Sanamagan.
If you were truly progressive as you insist you are, you would envision the following: high tech semiconductor plants, mew materials manufacturing centers, bio tech industries,software developer houses.But you can't build this through primitive accumulation of capital. In other words confiscating the grain harvests of Kulaks, starving the entire country, shipping the grains abroad, and buying industrial plants. Unfortunately also, the KMU types don't have a place in these kinds of Information Age economic sectors. People who work here are knowledge workers--symbolic analysts whose value propositions are their intellectual capital.
You also insist on central planning. Mwahahahaha. You really are obsolete.A command economy never worked in the Industrial Age. In the chaotic environment of the New Economy, this would be a recipe for societal disaster. Think North Korea.
Oh BTW: What is JoMa's track record in management or economics? That guy never even ran a sari-sari store in his entire life. The botched MV Karagatan landing in 1972 is testament to his strategic and planning skills. That guy couldn't even pay for his food bills while still aboveground. Although already married, his mother still had to subsidize him monthly with a cavan of rice each month. That guy even had to mooch cigarretes from friends to support his smoking habit. And many times, he also had to borrow a few coins to finance his bus trips from UP Diliman to Quiapo.
I simply cannot entrust the nation's economy and political system to this kind of guy. In Utrecht, the ultra-liberal Dutch government has been subsidizing him with a monthly stipend. This way, he can continue to issue all those revolutionary directives without having to worry where his next meal will come from. What a bum.
As for the NPA's growth? Well, majority of them are infiltrated. Others are influenced. None are controlled. In other words, they can be won back. Most likely, the villagers smile and pretend to support them, since these so-called revolutionaries have firearms. Besides, anyone who publicly opposes them gets killed. Do they have a choice, then?
The NPAs are criminals, Mr. Tonyo. They are such, because they want to impose upon the Philippines a backward society--a totalitarian relic of the Industrial Age and a failure everywhere it has been tried. Like I said, you are JoMa loyalists and followers of a Maoist cult.
Anyway, I salute you for bravely trying to tangle with us at Pilipinas Forum where you are tolerated, but have no following. It's difficult indeed to be a spin doctor. Most epecially so for a political fossil who refuses to acknowledge reality. As today's youth would say, C'ya.
BTW: You have never answered my questions on the massacres in Stalinist Russia, Maoist China, and Pol Potist Kampuchea. You're in a state of denial...obviously.
-Ike
Tonyo,
If the "organs" (internal, musical or sexual) in da pilipins decide and make da call for action, why on earth does he have to mouth his all-out war against electric power lines? ano naman ang kasalanan ng mga power lines sa CPP-NPA-NDF? nakuryente ba sila? sinong gulpi sarado? taong bayan lang naman. di ba?
the bastions of communism & socialism are now THE centers of that terrible scourge you call capitalism.
further affiant sayeth naught.
i surmise that da "professor" must remain in da limelight. he must come accross as bombastic, bold and brave. thus, the headlines. The inquirer must remain true to its calling as the no. 1 newspaper. da "professor" will merit that every now & then para maiba and potahe sa inquirer.
ask the man on the street pare ko and most of them will even ask, "sino si sison?" mostly kung kapanahunan ni nonoy at kori just say, "laos na yon, humihirit pa".
mga welder po namin sa shop ang hirit ay simple, "kung talagang gustong niyang tulungan kami at talagang type niya ang kapayapaan at paunlarin ang buhay ng manggagawa, e di uwi siya tulad ni ninoy. Dito niya isulong hindi duon sa malamig."
-Sam
Tonyo, Ever heard of the term competitive advantage? The term is competitive advantage today, not comparative advantage? Ever heard of the term. Core competencies? Ever heard of chaos theory? Ever heard of mass customization? Ever heard of the Fifth Discipline and the Learning Organization? Ever heard of knowledge industries?
Sad to say, Mr Tonyo you nat-dems are trapped in a different historical age. But then again, the New Economy threatens the fundamental core of your belief system. This is the fact that the proletariat are allegedly the vanguard of the revolution.
MacDonald's cannot compete against Jollibee. So, Filipinos are not competitive?
Filipino professionals--ICT workers included are highly valued abroad.We Filipinos seem to have a knack for services. This strength we must build on.
As for you guys in the national democratic movement? It would be best if you built yourself a political theme park. Anyway, that was the original idea of the financiers who backed the scientist who brought the dinosaurs back to life in "jurassic park." BTW, did you ever read this book or watch the movie? Or does your cult leader,UP English department lecturer--not Professor JoMa-- forbid you from reading such "decadent and reactionary tales."
Ka Tonyo, my friendly advice to you and your Maoist brethren: Go get a life.
-Ike
hi all,
foreign domination is only how we perceive our position in the world, either as an individual or society. why do we say there is foreign domination? because we use english, watch american movies, or rely on cnn for global news?
consider this: u.s. politicians are wooing the latino and asian voters because, according to census, these 2 blocs are increasingly becoming influential. This is so because of a steady influx of migrants and producing more highly educated and successful populace. so if there is fear of foreign domination in some filipno's minds, there is also such fear in some american minds. and you better believe it! parang reverse foreign domination, di ba?
but we can and we must look beyond this perception and build something good around it. in the town where we live, for instance, there is a cultural performing arts that is being planned to be put up. mind you, this town is predominantly white, a whopping 75%, 13% latino, 5% asian, 2% black, 5% other races. but recognizing the increasing cultural diversity, the arts council and the economic tdevelopment council are pushing for this project. i got a call 2 days ago inviting me to participate in the workshop to address this and the bigger picture of multicultural direction of our downtown. this mixture of foreign elements (domination is a cry for self pity in my opinion) is not all that bad.
furthermore, i agree that the industrial age is over. it served its purpose and now we are in the thick of technological advancements. let us immerse ourselves in finding out how we can use technology to better our lives and that of others. blowing up the power plants will set us back in time. as it is, we need some catching up with building infrastructure.
–Mel Chiong
Mr. Tonyo Cruz,
I admire your courage for speaking out in this forum and being the lightning rod for so much criticism and vitriol. May I ask, how old are you? Were you around during the First Quarter Storm? (I was.)
I spent some time during those pre- and post-Martial Law days studying Mao's united front idea. And you know what it really comes down to? Plain old base treachery. Form a united front kuno, i.e. the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and when you win you turn against your erstwhile allies. All part of the plan. Who ya guys fooling?
During my days in grad school in the US I lived for 3 years in a halfway house for ex-convicts. (It was a job; I was night manager.) Talking with them gave me an insight as to what kind of people are commonly perceived by society's lowest (convicted criminals) as the lowest of the low. Bottom two: child molesters, and squealers/snitches/traitors.
That's why people who really understand where you guys are coming from, and heading towards, understand that you nat-dems and Communists belong right there with child molesters. And you know what's done with this kind? Up Yo' A.. !!
What's your class background? Are you bourgeois petty intellectual, or anak-pawis? If the former, know that someday your colleagues will come after you too, because ultimately you don't belong. If you're anak-pawis, why don't you spend more time really listening to your class compatriots tell you what they really want, instead of listening to another bourgeois petty intellectual in Holland penning diatribes over his Stella Artois about what's best for the anak-pawis.
-Noel Lim
Hi Noel!
The united front comes in various levels and based on various issues. The challenge is to range the broadest number of allies against the narrowest target.
In the recent past, we saw huge coalitions or alliances that forced governments to retreat or crumble:
1. Against Fidel Ramos' Charter Change
2. Against Erap's Compact (His version of Charter Change)
3. Against Ramos' ACSA and SOFA (precursors of the VFA)
4. Against Erap's attacks on press freedom
5. Against Erap's regime
There are still others but I have no time to remember all of them at the moment. There are many issues that deserve to be answered.
Everyone that enters into an alliance ought to: respect each other and help each other towards a common goal. Victories on tactical issues reward all alliance or coalition partners. Bad faith poisons alliances and none of the above would have been successful had a party or two violated the basic tenets of alliance-building.
I'm just swiftly reaching the age of 30... My mother is a college professor while my father hails from a peasant family. I have no regrets joining the movement or being a lightning rod of criticism because I find debates healthy to body and soul.
I may not convince those who have fixed positions but I just wanna reach those who are interested to know where we stand on issues facing the nation.
-Tonyo
Tonyo, I'm turning 50 this year and you're 20 years younger. That explains quite a bit. I have faith that someday you also will see the light, as I and many of my contemporaries did. (Unfortunately, some of them were killed by minions of Macoy and never got to here.)
There are 3 key reasons why your system will inevitably fail:
1) It's a product of 19th century hubris about the ability of "scientific" systems to solve human problems. Hegel had a great influence on Marx, and he was the same guy who set about the task of sytematizing ALL human thinking and philosophy! I notice your criticism of today's Philippines as a "rotten system" and your naïve faith in your alternative "system" to do good. My hunch is, just about any well-thought-out political system (Lee Kuan Yew's statism, Swedish welfare state, US capitalism, Taiwanese pukpok-nang-pukpok-at-trabaho, Iranian Islamic fundamentalism, etc) will do, IF the human behavior inside it - the management, the good will, the cooperation, the initiative, the productive effort, etc. - are top-notch. The best "system" is one that's fluid, dynamic, changeable, very quickly, so that the human behavior inside can be enabled to be at its best. The paradigm that should be in your mind is the past 10 years' incredible growth and change in information and communications systems - self-cannibalizing, Moore's Law, capable of throwing out quickly what doesn't work and changing to something else (e.g. Windows 3.1 vs. Windows 95), etc. The paradigm you and your contemporaries have is clunky 19th century industrialization and British class dynamics then. Which Mao Zedong took and applied very intelligently to Chinese peasant society. But which none of your colleagues have been able to apply to our Roman Catholic / Muslim archipelago with people who love basketball kahit na pandak tayo. Ewan ko bakit sa inyo walang matinik na marunong talagang mag-analyze ng Pilipinas, siguro kasi puro kayo bourgeois petty intellectuals. Wrong class background, in your own terms.
2) "People with the best intentions do the most evil." The paradox of perverse consequences. (In macroeconomics, the Paradox of Thrift.) This I quote from my friend Gary Olivar, former chairman of Samahan ng Demokratikong Kabataan (friendly karibal ng Kabataang Makabayan noon), now top exec at Bayantel.
Pope Paul VI had the best intentions with Humanae Vitae. He's done quite a bit of evil with it.
You have the best intentions. You will do the most evil.
3) The cards are stacked against you. Even if you succed in seizing political power, and then succeed in instituting your changes, the Philippines will end up isolated in the international community, with little trade and financial support. We'll become like Cuba, which I grant would have done great if not for the US embargo. (Think of their athletes, their biotechnology - despite their poverty.) Sorry, ganyan talaga ang buhay, maliit tayo. My hunch is, out of sheer necessity you people will end up steering the Philippines into the orbit of your leaders' old idols (the Chinese) and we'll become again a neo-colony, this time of the great big neo-capitalist giant of the northwest. Simply put - wa tayo laban. Peru under Garcia (before Fujimoto) tried to do it by repudiating its loans: bagsak ang economy, gutom ang tao, na-denggoy ng IMF. Yeah, yeah, evil ang IMF. But they're the boss, so deal with it.
Sige pards,
-Noel Flores
Hello Mr. Tonyo,
This for now is my initial reply to you. Obviously, you have brought out your heavy artillery. But once again, it shows how hopelessly antedelluvian you nat-dems are now. Even the style in which your analysis is written is First Quarter Storm Vintage. It is turgid, bombastic, and cliche ridden. In other words, "Stereotyped Party Writing," as Mao Ze Dong said in one of his works.Pare naman, Satur Ocampo is with you. When still practising his journalistic craft, he was a first rate desk editor. Just a comment: Fix up your writing style. No wonder the thinking class nowadays no longer pays any attention to you.
It's still the same tired Marxist analysis trying to interpret the Information Age from the point of view of the Industrial Age. I believe Nonoy Oplas,Noel Lim, and other professional economists are in better position to shoot this piece of doggerel into pieces.
–Ike Suarez
Tonyo, Thank you for sharing with us part of NDF's CASER. What it says is not surprising though. For many of us in the forum, I believe, this only confirms what we think about your initiatives. There's nothing new and your plans are not well thought out.
I will not (for now) comment on the articles one by one (though I'm tempted to), instead I will comment first on the ones that are closer to home, i.e. technology. From there I will expound on why I think your ideas and programs will not work.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: tonyocruz
> Sent: Saturday, August 10, 2002 1:17 AM
> To: pilipinasforum@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [pilipinasforum] NDF on Social and Economic Reform
> ECONOMIC SOVEREIGNTY AND NATIONAL PATRIMONY
> Article 8. Filipino scientists, technologists and workers shall have
> first priority of employment in all enterprises; however, where no
> Filipino experts are qualified, foreign experts may be hired on
> contract for no more than five years within which they shall transfer
> full and complete knowledge and skills to Filipinos.
After the five year term, the transferred technology and knowledge would have been obsolete. It would be like getting foreign expertise to tell us how to properly rub stones to produce fire after which the others would have already been using matches or even lighters. The key to obsolescene, rather the avoidance of such, is the continuous involvement in global technological processes like the drafting of standards and other technology-based programs that puts us on a par with the rest of the world.
But then again, such a policy, activities and its implications could be classified by your group as another form of "foreign domination." If I might borrow a term you often use, "sala sa init sala sa lamig."
Another thing, have you gauged our current national level of technological expertise? Among the experts that we have, how many would tolerate a system such as yours? How many would stay and how many would opt to escape, este leave? Chances are, with the little that we have you'll end up with an even smaller group of people. So you'll end up needing more "foreign experts", aka Consultants, and you say you want to eliminate "foreign domination"?
> Part IV.
> AGRARIAN REFORM AND AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
> Article 16. The lease and leaseback arrangements with foreign
> corporations involving vast tracts of land or plantations such as
> Dole (Philippines) and Del Monte (Philippines) in Mindanao, shall be
> immediately terminated and the contracts rescinded. These plantations
> shall be nationalized and run by the workers and peasants under
> cooperative or national corporate management.
Going back to the expertise issue that I raised in Article 8, how many of these "workers and peasants" would be capable of running the Dole and Del Monte plantations? Wouldn't you, again, need to hire "foreign experts" to teach the "workers and peasants" the knowhow. And since we haven't invented Vulcan mindshare technology/capability yet, you'd have to train only a selected few initially.... after which, wouldn't you be creating your own kind of "elite"? i.e. those with the "original" knowledge-holders versus the others?
What you are saying sounds good in paper but I wonder if ever you have thought about the implementation yet. Come to think of it, how many of you have direct experience in doing these kind of things? You don't expect me to gamble my child's future to a bunch of neophytes, do you?
It also seems that you have failed to consider one very important aspect in these plans of yours - dynamic human behaviour. As a project management methodologist puts it - People are non-linear first-order components (as opposed to being a predictable, pluggable and replaceable part). Well, he was referring to software development but his observations touches on basic human nature. Let me share you the conclusions based on his 19-year study (1980-1999):
1. People are sensitive to communication timing and modalities.
My comment: People like to talk (communicate) and the more they communicate, the faster they gain knowledge. The faster they gain knowledge the more of this contributes to number 2.
2. People tend to inconsistency. The prediction is that practices requiring disciplined consistency are fragile in nature.
My comment: One very wrong assumption that people or any group of people could have is that they could capture a set of "requirements" and these requirements would remain constant over an extended period of time. Though this might be true in a few cases that would be the exception rather than the rule. As a general rule, change and dynamism should be a primary consideration, consistency is only a bonus.
3. People vary, not just daily, but from group to group.
My comment: This is true not only on a global scale but on a national scale as well. Think about our Ilocanos, Pampangueños, Tagalogs, Cebuanos, Davaoeños, Muslims, etc. Don't even think for a awhile that the NDF could predict (worse, dictate) everybody's behavior at any point in time.
4. People like to be good citizens, are good at looking around and taking initiative. These combine to form that common success factor, "a few good people stepped in at key moments."
My comment: The current system rewards the people who take initiatives, in your system they would just be another person like everybody else. Hence, the more reason for these people to escape, este leave if you ever you come into power. There is no initiative for them to stay, and if you do give them a privilege then the NDF simply be creating its own brand of elitism.
More comments: I know I said I won't comment on other areas, but sorry, couldn't resist. My evil OC twin has taken over. ;)
> Article 20. Non-owner-operated privately-owned fishing areas,
> including those in marine and inland waters, shall be expropriated
> and all private leases of the same shall be immediately terminated.
Are we dismantling fishpens? The fisherfolks in our province wouldn't be too happy about this. And to think we funded your existence during a certain point in time.
> Article 30. To increase productivity in the agricultural sector,
> financial assistance in the form of subsidies for the purchase or
> rent of farm machinery and equipment shall be extended to
> cooperatives and collectives. Low interest or interest-free credit
> within definite periods of time shall likewise be offered to peasant
> associations to enable them to expand their production and raise
> productivity
Low interest or interest-free credit sounds good, in fact, it sounds like the deals being paraded by several car dealers. ;) May I ask though, how do you plan to fund these?
> Article 31. The provision of more farm technicians, agricultural
> credit to the tillers, post-harvest facilities, marketing agencies,
> irrigation systems and farm-to-market roads shall be an integral part
> of the agrarian reform program.
I'm beginning to think you have an unlimited supply of materials and/or money stashed somewhere. Don't tell me, it's really Joma who found the Yamashita treasure, right??? ;)
> Part V.
> NATIONAL INDUSTRIALIZATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
> Article 1. The Parties agree to break the dominance of foreign
> monopoly capitalists and the comprador big bourgeoisie over the means
> of production and the economy, mainly through expropriation of
> foreign-monopoly and big-comprador assets.
> Article 2. The Parties agree to undertake the expropriation and
> nationalization of the direct investments and other profit-making
> assets of US, Japanese and other foreign monopoly capitalists in
> vital and strategic industries. Where necessary, the manner of
> compensation as well as exceptions to this policy shall be subject to
> negotiation.
I almost choked when I read the ones above. Man, you are asking for a lot of trouble here. This is another form of "kidnapping" if you think about it. You are not really expropriating a foreign country's asset if you do these. You would be expropriating investments of _individuals_ who live in a foreign country. And you were talking about human rights? What would you say if I sent out a police squad to confiscate your home so I could turn it into a public toilet?
> Exemptions shall be made only in cases of exceptional
> record with respect to contributions to the national economy, in
> terms of technology transfer, worker policy and access to products or
> markets as defined by a specific economic plan.
Uy! May escape clause pala. In other words, somebody will decide on who will be exempted or not. Sounds like a big potential source of corruption.
> Article 3. Assets of big compradors and bureaucrat capitalists shall
> be expropriated. Their cartels and big monopoly commercial
> operations shall be dismantled. However, the disposition of their
> productive assets or enterprises used as base for their commercial
> operations shall be subject to negotiation based on national
> interest. Ill-gotten assets of bureaucrat capitalists shall be
> subject to immediate confiscation.
Tsk! Tsk! Aside from the fisherfolks in our province you now have potentially 10 million more who would oppose your plans. Just thinking about our SMS users, telco (PLDT and Globe) customers. Sure, some of us are not that happy with their service. But, heck, I'll be damned if I let you guys run the service. But, of course, you can exempt them.... But then, wala ding nagbago di ba?
> Article 5. The Parties agree that the public sector shall assume
> ownership and operation of vital and strategic enterprises, the main
> sources of raw materials, and the main lines of distribution. The
> public sector shall be wholly responsible for all utilities (power,
> water and sanitation, communications-telecommunications and postal
> services, and mass transport) and social services (housing, health,
> education, social security). Comprehensive plans shall be drawn up
> and implemented to improve the provision of public utilities and
> services to all the people and to preclude profit-determined
> allocations.
The "public sector" would run all these? Definitely you don't mean everybody would have a say on how the MRT, PLDT, Globe, Napocor and Meralco should operate. I would say that you guys definitely don't have management and people skills if you think you could do that. The only way you can enforce so called "people's will" on these companies is to have your people run these companies, i.e. power grab. Of course you think your people are better than the rest of the world, so their directives would benefit the masses, the peasants and the whole country in general and they would do this in a very altruistic manner with utter disregard to themselves, their family, friends, relatives and neighbors. Ahuh... riiiight.....
If I were in your shoes though, I'll stick with consumer activism. That's what we sorely lack in this country.
> Article 11. Savings for industrial development shall be generated by
> setting definite limits on the allocation of public funds for the
> military and police, imported equipment for the use of offices and
> infrastructure projects that are not directly related to industrial
> and agricultural development.
Limited funds on the military and police? What? You assume that everybody will be jumping with joy if the NDF takes over? IF you take over, expect to spend several years (decades even) fighting fires that you have started. Not to mention the usual criminal activities, kidnapping, drugs, etc. etc. If you don't believe that then I'd suggest that you guys start looking for a cure on messianic complex.
> Article 12. Foreign investments and loans shall be availed of only
> in cases of clearly unreplicable advantages in terms of technology
> transfer or access to capital, products or markets as defined by
> specific economic plans.
Hehehe. After you have closed the Del Monte and Dole plants, after you have expropriated all foreign investments in the country then you expect to get a loan from Foreign Investors?
So who are you planning to get this from? China? North Korea? Cuba? "Foreign domination" anyone? ;)
> Article 13. Foreign corporations and entities in manufacturing
> enterprises may be allowed a minority equity share. Safeguards shall
> be adopted against such devices or schemes as the use of dummies,
> interlocking directorates and shell corporations.
Have you heard of BPO (Business Process Outsourcing)? Of course you have. This kind of business is a big potential earner for the Philippines. In this model, the rich first-world countries would set up a local office to do part of their business processes (simply because it is cheaper). It would be cheaper for them but it is not necessarily cheaper for us. The expenses for a Philippine-based BPO office could be 5 times lower than what it would cost if that office were in the US BUT in terms of Philippine standards it could be 5 times more than what the worker could earn if he worked for a local firm. Best of all, since the local BPO offices would normally be cost centers, the dollar stream would be one-way only - from the US to the Philippines. A company I know remits more than $1M annually from the US to their Phil. office, and this is just a company of less than 50 people. Heck, a friend's (local) company finds it difficult to generate even 10% of that amount.
Point is, since the local office would be processing confidential information, parent companies would normally prefer majority control of that local office. What the Philippine could impose though is that a certain percentage of officers the local BPO office would be Filipinos. It makes sense too since Filipino managers could better influence the local staff.
Oh! Silly me, I forgot, you guys don't want foreign domination in our country. ;)
> Article 30. The Parties shall take measures to augment the domestic
> stock of technological knowledge by selectively tapping personnel and
> equipment from abroad, by entering into technology-sharing and
> technology-development agreements with other countries and by
> actually sending Filipinos overseas to learn technological advances
> with a view to adapting these to our needs and capacities.
Teka teka teka teka. Akala ko ba e galit kayo sa "foreign domination"? E bakit ngayon naghahanap kayo ng tulong galing sa ibang bansa? O baka naman US lang ang ayaw ng NDF? Don't tell me, you're looking at technology-sharing agreements with... Gasp! China?!?!
> Article 31. The Parties shall ensure that delivery mechanisms for
> science and technology research outputs are set up to encourage
> economic enterprises to utilize the results of research and translate
> these into greater opportunities for economic development genuinely
> aimed at improving the general well-being of the people. The active
> participation of productive enterprises and mass organizations in
> science and technology development, as users and themselves as
> sources of innovation, shall be encouraged and stimulated.
So how do you "stimulate" this? Have you not realized that as far as technology is concerned there is one and only one country that we could look up to? And that is the U.S. of A!
Ang gulo nyo ha! The more I read this the more I'm tempted to shout - Pwede ba! Mag-isip naman Kayo! I'd love to go on, but I'll just stop now and do something more productive. After going through your CASER though all I can say is - it's full of Holes.
–Eric Tiongson
HOWEVER, we should collectively start to think more critically and independently for the real good of our country.
While many of what the left says may be hard to swallow, but the fact remains that we have a lot to gain if we can just have even just a little bit more social justice and equality in our country.
-Emil Suntay
It's all on the front pages: "US declares CPP-NPA a terrorist organization."
It's about bloody time! And it's just what the Philippines needs from its ally.
If a political pressure group uses armed violence to promote its political aims, engages in criminal activities to acquire operating funds (extortion, kidnap-for-ransom, smuggling, drug running, etc.), and scares the people to death with ambuscades, raids, assassinations, wholesale murders, and associated banditry, hmmm, it must be a terrorist organization, right? The USA finally realizes what the Filipino people have known all along: the Communists are die- hard fanatics who will fight against any Philippine government and steal the economic benefits for themselves.
So after all those hundreds of leftist demonstrations in front of the US Embassy, the Americans finally got fed up, eh? So now I guess Joma Sison and the leftists will blame the Arroyo administration for that. Well, I blame the Reds for holding back a large portion of the Philippines' economic growth for the past thirty years.
After engaging in all those crimes and political assaults on Philippine democracy, as well as all those anti-American rhetoric, the NPA finally got some attention from the US government. If the CPP-NPA didn't want to be targeted by the USA, then why did they call attention to themselves during Colin Powell's visit? Duh, stupid. Perhaps they forgot that he used to be the Chief of Staff of the US Armed Forces. Joma and the other Reds must be squirming now that they're reminded who the main architect for Operation Desert Storm was, eh?
Oh, I can now hear Joma Sison and the NatDem/Communist sympathizers wail and whine against the US government. Then why did they pick America as one of their enemies in the first place? After nearly forty years of existence, the CPP-NPA finally gets lumped with Al- Queda, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Abu Nidal, etc., in those Green Berets' gunsights. They're in the limelight now.
All I can say to the NPA is: Beh buti nga! Magdusa kayo. Pagkatapos nyong pumatay at nagpahirap sa napakaraming kapwa ninyong Pilipino, oras niyo nang mag-hangulngul at mag-ngitngit sa galit. Iyak na!
Oh, how I'd love to have those American satellites and surveillance gear pick out those NPA training cadres in the boondocks! All it would take is a few night-vision-gear-and-GPS-equipped Scout Rangers to infiltrate those camps and drive the ones with "No Permanent Address" into the clutches of the police. The NPA survivors will eventually become a Stone-Age primitive tribe. They could become the 21st Century Tasadays!
Joma Sison's headquarters communications and operating funds will soon be targeted by the FBI, CIA, Secret Service (Department of the Treasury), DEA, DIA, NSA, and all those other high-tech super-spy agencies. Perhaps the US can even send in the Men In Black to hunt down all those CPP-NPA sympathizers in the US who are hiding out as illegal aliens within the USA. No more sanctuary for them.
To the AFP: Go get 'em, boys! Hunt the Communist Terrorists down with extreme prejudice and let them rot in jail. Magtatago na rin yung mga trapo at corrupt generals na pumuprotekta sa NPA ngayon. Wipe them out as soon as possible so that our country's economy can grow much faster. Your reward will be come in the form of better gear and better training for yourselves, and a better livelihood for your families and neighbors.
Real soon now, the Americans are going to send in their cowboys to help round up them yella-bellied Reds in them thar hills. Yup, and we long-suffering Filipinos (masa, middle-class, and elite) are going to cheer and kick Joma first in the teeth and then in the balls.
And the NPA sympathizers will be scuttling away with their tail between their legs... unless they want to argue against a Colt .45 and pair of handcuffs. However, a better weapon in today's information age is to put them on video footage on primetime and onthe Internet. We all want to know who they are, right?
-Selwyn Alojipan
What can we do but to scream at the top of our heads, DO YOU HAVE ANY INTELLIGENT ALTERNATIVES AND ARGUMENTS to offer this forum. All your electronic documents that you have posted show that you people live in a time warp. The economics analysis is Victorian. The solutions date back to the Great Leap Forward (5 steops forward and 10 steps back). I suggest that you people look at the New Institutional Economics school for useful analytic tools. The predator State concept of Douglas North may be relevant.
I went to UP in 1976 and I see Alex Magno offering the same arguments. We know where Alex went. He is now a rj. No wonder.
You want to turn the Philippines into another Cuba or North Korea. I think that is just as the bad as the true communist state where everything is evenly divided among everybody and the state is suppose to wither away because greed is eradicated and everybody is now equal.
–Ricky Sunico
once upon a time somewhere in the south pacific is a beautiful land called Perlas. it is a democratic republic inhabited by 80 million people called Perlasians.
Perlasians are a rambunctious lot. they have this uncanny habit of deposing tyrants, thieves & termagants in a peculiar & peaceful way by showing up in their favorite corner of robintigas (robinson's in ortigas) where you can catch them in the millions singing, dancing, praying, talking, clapping, crapping, shouting, eating, partying like crazy & littering until all & everyone converge for about 4 straight days and demand whoever is sitting in the Perlas Palace to vacate as they have practically millions in attendance aside from all the existing cabinet secretaries & their personal secretaries, military & police generals & their privates and the throng of unemployed rascals and hangers-on that will invade the Perlas Palace and become the new bosses when the creep in the Perlas Palace steps down. twice they did this and installed female Perlasians as presidents. the first was a cory anino who gave us lots & lots of shadows. dilim talaga.
quite recently, they did it again. they installed a fiery, ferocious & stubborn female derivative of pandaca pantera called gloma. She inherited a lot of shit. her government has no moolah. graft & corruption is a multi-billion industry. peace & order is a pipe dream and unemployment & poverty indices are the envy of wall street. Gloma also has headaches galore not only from the previous tenant in the Perlas Palace but from her supposed allies as well. some of them who didn't get juicy & choice spots in government have become her biggest critics & gadflies. she just grinned, beared it and plodded on to make sure that Perlasians do not lose step with the fast-changing and highly inter-connected globalized world economy. but hey, it’s a democracy and every waking day of her life she finds opposition.
one day, a bespectacled leader jose merlin d' magician of the ancient cult called Ma-mao-rin (derived from the names of their jurassic gods marx, mao & lenin) whom they affectionately call da propesor residing in the netherworld este nederlands pala, declared that he will order the blowing up of power lines in Perlas. this declaration was met with swift & stinging criticism from the rambunctious Perlasians. Da propesor was furious. to him, the democratic republic of Perlas must be saved from the ills of that terrible scourge he called capitalism. he wanted to shield Perlas from this malignancy and decided to close Perlas to the outside world. he reached for his magic wand and in an instant converted the beautiful country of Perlas into a hermit kingdom which he now called Talaba and its inhabitants heretofore to be known as Talabans.
not to be outdone, Ma-mao-rin's knight in shining armor and defender of the hermit kingdom, Sir Anthony Ian, rose from his round table and unsheathed his palm pilot and laptop to do battle. he unleashed in one salvo the electrical jolt equivalent of two-1.5 volt penlight batteries on the unsuspecting Talabans with his CASER. Sir Anthony Ian's CASER would transport the entire Talaban population back to the age of our ancestors who were a hard-working lot.
"the CASER will do these Talabans good", mused Sir Anthony Ian. They will learn of the great movement called industrialization. they will discover iron, tin and other metals by digging with their hands the great mountainsides as capitalist machines will be outlawed. This will be good for them and make them strong.
they will learn of the great science of aquaculture and they will learn to fish using advanced spearing techniques as sonar & radar will be banned forever. hordes & hordes of Talabans shall stand side-by-side in fishing boats and launch their spears into the depths of the Talaban Sea to feed the increasing population. they too shall learn of modern agriculture to feed the rabbit-like population. They will plant crops in their own small backyards as corporate farming will be closed down. to hasten the growth of their crops, Talabans will use an important natural resource. they will be using urine technology.
from their wonderful produce, the Talabans will become gourmands and they will cook this nouvelle cuisine using the latest in firewood science. homes for Talabans will be light & airy using top-of-the-line cogon material and pre-fab bamboo poles as logging the forest will be banned and unlawful to buy wood from elsewhere. Since everyone will be given land expropriated from former big companies & aliens, each Talaban will venture into real estate and will be building high-rise condo-tels on the lots given by the Ma-mao-rin government where they will employ the ultimate in swaying bamboo technology. this will be good for the Talabans as it will give them a sense of balance.
clothing will be strictly two-piece for ladies and one-piece for the gents fashioned out from the best abaca fiber in modern looms powered by millions of Talaban legs to turn them as machines from foreigners & aliens will be banned. this way they save on electricity which the Ma-Mao-rin government described as evil. fashion accessories will be radical using wild boar tusks and deer horns. footwear will be chic. it will be made from the latest in banana leaf technology.
Talabans mode of transport will adhere only to the strictest levels of the Clean Air Act as everyone would ride high-speed 4-wheel drive carriages powered by brown horses from selected stud farms for fast transport. mass transport & cargo systems will be employed using powerful carabaos pulling long rigs on racy wooden spoke wheels. inter-island sea vessels will be using state-of-the-art wind systems for main power and one thousand oars men as auxialliary power on sleek biodegradable wooden hulls and of course specially prepared bamboo stabilizers for rough weather sailing.
telecommunications will be a breeze. there will be no phone tapping & cloning and more importantly be affordable for every single household by employing the use of string fiber for lines & ligo cans for phone units. this industry will employ millions in ensuring the continued supply of fiber string that will criss-cross the entire archipelago. demand for ligo cans will increase and put pressure on the miners in the mountains to produce more with their hands. aahhh, gross domestic product will increase a thousand fold because of these wonderful insights from the Ma-Mao-rin government.
I wait with baited breath the transformation of Perlas into the powerhouse called Talaba. thank you Sir Anthony Ian for enlightening us with your CASER.
- sam aherrera
Hi Tonyo,
Hataw lang pre. Get the support of your best researchers and writers in the nat-dem movement to help you answer the questions raised by a number of PF kids. I suspect you have a thin bench of good researchers. I don't see any of your people in big sympos and conferences, like those sponsored by the Phil. Econ. Society (PES), Phil. Institute for Devt Studies (PIDS), AIM Policy Center, UPSE PDE, UA&P, etc.
If you can't defend your ideas coherently, your nat-dem philosophy, better spare the lives of poor souls to carry guns to advance your indefensible programs. Unless you can categorically say that you feel better if your NPAs have killed soldiers, or some of your NPAs and their above-ground cadres are killed by soldiers, so you have more alibis to recruit new, gullible fighters.
Kung di kaya idaan sa rason at pag-iisip pre, TAMA NA GYERA! Pakisabi kena Ka Roger Rosal, Cong. Satur Ocampo, at iba nyo pang leaders. Joma is hopeless; he'd rather have people die violently in this country so long as his cult remains.
Otherwise, you and your above-ground leaders are indirectly responsible for all those senseless ambushes and killings, bus burnings, etc. perpetrated by your underground comrades. True that the AFP-PNP-militias also have their own share of human rights violations, but your continued armed revolution and ambushes of soldiers & harassment of businesses & civilians gives them reason to be more paranoid & cruel in NPA-influenced areas.
-Nonoy
1 comment:
CPP NPA Jose Maria Sison and the Mil;itants are just simply gthe Parasite of the Country Indoctrinating and telling lies to get the peoples support to be in the Seat of Power.While China is taking our Islands and US is protecting us But they do all march agaisnt US embassy but never rallied against China MNLF MILF Abusayaf and North Korea who are sending drugs etc to Philippines Why how much is China paying to do this rallies what are the ZCPP NPA doing to the aaroant Chinese military and fishermen bullying us and our Fisherman why cant you move.Because you are a puppet of China.We rather be guarded by US police than Chinas Godless communistic military rule.For We belive in GOD.and GOD Bless the Philippines not Mao Se Dung.
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