Entries Tagged 'Philippines' ↓

It seems like the good old boys with the Armed Forces of the Philippines(AFP) have done it again. See they are in a battle with the evil communist insurgency conspiracy. It seems like everyone opposed to the current administration of Gloria Arroyo is a member of this conspiracy, or so the AFP tells the public. As if they could do anything more heinous, the AFP has decided to kill a 9 year old girl.

Never mind, the AFP was protecting Filipinos everywhere because 9 year old Grecil Galacio was a soldier for the Communist Party of the Philippines. Yeah right, little Grecil was on her way to a creek to take a bath and the soldiers ambushed here. Makes ya kind of wonder about the soldiers, what are they doing looking at 9 year old girls taking baths?

Supposedly she was carrying an M-16 rifle, the same one used by the AFP. Which solider gave his gun to the girl? Oh but she was going to kill the AFP soldiers, she was good at holding a rifle, the AFP rifle. They neglect to say that the M-16 rifle is bigger than she is. What a laughable excuse. Well it would be laughable if the AFP goons didn’t kill an innocent 9 year old girl.

FYI, the AFP helped to rig the disputed 2004 presidential election. What goons they are…..

The economy of the Philippines continues to suffer. It is funny to hear GMA continue talking about how the economy is improving in the Philippines. Can she not read the newspapers? I found this interesting fact in an article on INQ7 Money.

Here is the interesting quote:
“According to data from the Department of Energy, fuel sales in 2005 dropped to 109 million barrels from 118 million barrels in 2004. Sales of liquefied petroleum gas, used mainly for cooking, were down 25 percent.”

Well, we all know that the population of the Philippines is increasing so demand should be going up every year. Now demand is falling, this isn’t a big problem for fuel, it can mean that people are conserving more fuel. The disheartening fact is that LP Gas for cooking has recorded a 25% drop. This means either one thing, people are not cooking as much anymore or they have resorted to alternative fuels like charcoal. I think it is a combination of the two. This doesn’t bode well for Philippine consumers.

But never fear, Pilipinas Shell has seen another banner year of profits:
“Pilipinas Shell had net income of 5.7 billion pesos (108 million dollars) last year, nearly double the 2.98 billion pesos it recorded in 2004.”

The Philippine government is refusing to issue travel documents for 65 illegal Filipino children being held in immigration detention centers in Malaysia according to Bernama. These children were picked up for immigration violations and put in detention centers pending deportation. It looks like the Philippines is trying to avoid the problem of taking care of these 645 children by this delaying tactic.

Both sides do share blame in this matter. The children being held are street children and should be taken care of by the host government, outside of an immigration detention center. This is cruel punishment for children whose only crime was to have irresponsible parents, parents who left them to fend for themselves on the streets. These children have no home and most likely don’t even have a home back in the Philippines. Malaysia should be doing more to take care of these children.

The Philippines is definitely at fault. Citizens should always be protected by their embassies when they are abroad. These children are languishing in an immigration detention center when very easily the government could issue the travel documents and repatriate the children back to the Philippines. Of course this would cost the Philippines money, better to let Malaysia feed and clothe them in an immigration detention center than have to pay to do that in the Philippines. Remember it is all about the benjamins or should I say the rizales.

The best course of action would be to declare these children to be abandoned. This would clear the way for these children to be cared for as orphans in Malaysia, give these children Malaysian residency. This would allow them to contribute to the betterment of Malaysia and allow them to break off all ties to the evil regime in Manila. In my opinion, the GMA regime in Manila should suffer a huge PR disaster because of this, but it won’t. Everyone already knows how corrupt and uncaring it is.

Several years ago, the Philippine government protested the mistreatment of Filipino illegals in Malaysia. They were herded into immigration detention centers throughout Sabah and deported as soon possible to the Philippines. In little sidebar articles in Malaysia newspapers running up to the action, the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur was reported as doing what it could to help out the Malaysia Immigration Department. After the action, many allegations were made against the Malaysian government holding Filipinos in immigration detention centers for excessive time, well that argument doesn’t hold water anymore. The Philippine government is doing what it can to delay and keep Filipino citizens incarcerated.

What good is a government that can longer protect its citizens?

It looks like trouble galore in the Philippines. The de-facto President, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, has just instituted something akin to martial law called a state of emergency, whatever that means. Well, she can take control of the public utilities and she can take control of the media. She has already taken control of one newspaper, the Daily Tribune. Officials of the government are promising even more acts against the media. All of this bodes very bad for the future of the Philippines.

Economically, things have been going very badly in the last few years, as if things couldn’t get any worse. The most recent assault on the people was the recent e-vat measure which provides for a new 12% tax on food and medicines as well as most goods and services in the Philippines. It is a quite high tax and it is a tax that falls disproportionally the poor rather than the rich. See the rich and the middle class has been derelict in paying their taxes, even though the Philippines has some of the highest tax rates in Asia, tax collection is another story. The ruling oligarchy chooses who has to and doesn’t have to pay tax. The evat measure was a way to raise government revenues and the poor had no choice but to accept it.

Things have become so bad in the Philippines as of late that many families, unable to purchase cooking gas(also hit by the 12% tax) are now using charcoal to cook food. These are not out of work squatters, these are families with working parents just trying hard to make ends meet. What next is a feeling that many Filipinos have. Escape is a feeling many Filipinos are feeling, escape from a sinking ship.

I remember watching the movie Titanic and seeing everyone getting into lifeboats then seeing everyone trying to jump on the ship in cold waters, and still a few decided just to give and accept fate. This reminds me of what I see in the Philippines today. First people left legally, legal immigrants to other countries, good job contracts and the like, then came the desperation that boils over, young girls knowingly leaving to be prostitutes, those unable to leave working in dimly lit internet chat businesses, performing sex acts on the internet for chump change, school teachers abandoning their schools to teach in China and Thailand. Things are bad and are getting worse. GMA’s actions will only perpetrate more of this, but before feeling sorry for Filipinos, remember this is what Filipinos prayed for.

Christians and Catholics gathered in January 2001 and rallied to remove Joseph Estrada from office. They feared God’s judgement on the Philippines if they allowed someone with his vices to remain in office. They prayed for deliverance and prayed to have Gloria Arroyo put into the Presidency. They obviously got what they wanted, someone more corrupt, more power hungry, and more evil than the one they wanted to illegally remove from office.

A hint for the future: Pray that the people will turn to God and pray that a leader can arise who humbly accepts that true power comes from God and that they are to be a guardian of the people and do His will.

Real change in the Philippines is what many protestors are clamoring for or so they say. Problem is that the leader of many of these protests are members of the ruling oligarchy, manipulating the public’s outrage while at the same time working towards their own selfish goals. This is a problem that has been hounding Philippine politics for decades. The only true change can come for a bottom to top revolution, not a top to bottom change that the Philippines normally experiences.

When someone decides to clean their house, you know a real spring cleaning type of cleaning job, they don’t start by mopping the floor and then dust the furniture, it is ludicrious but that is what many times happen in government changes. The best way to clean house is to move the furniture, clean under the furniture, clean the floors, gather all the trash and bag it, clean the bathrooms, really clean everything in the house. When you are almost done, you will mop the floor and have a very clean house from top to bottom. Politics should be the same way.

Protesting in Manila will not change anything in a positive way. Ah, you might get a new rules, but the dirtiness will always remain. Instead, protests need to be on a local basis, remove the corrupt local officials from power while at the same time targeting the national leaders. This is the only way to affect positive change in the Philippines.

Argentines had a great idea, the people finally had had enough of corruption and self serving politicians. The people took to the streets with pots and pans, pounding them as loud as they could in front of banks, local government offices and national government offices, banging and making a noise demanding change. This could work in the Philippines and I am here to show you how.

The lolas and the children(under 12) of the Philippines need to start the revolution and it is simple. Take pots, pans, woks, anything that will a lot of noise and go from their barangay to the nearest large post office or other appropriate government office they choose. The lolas should go with their grandchildren and just start pounding and yelling. Demanding change. If this happened in every city of the Philippines, change would happen.

Soldiers and policeman who have no problem arresting working people, would not be able to arrest large numbers of grandmothers and young children. They couldn’t and they wouldn’t. The international outcry would be deafening and any action against these protestors would be met with a quick challenge from the working class.

One more thing, I don’t GMA will ever read this blog, but I sure hope she does. My advice is plain and simple: Remove yourself from office, admit your mistakes, and institute a fair form of government for the people.