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The traitor class DIE HARD III Herman Tiu Laurel 08/08/2011

Monday, August 8, 2011

The traitor class

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
08/08/2011
Early last week, I predicted the creation of a “substate” in Mindanao this September under the auspices of the present government to accommodate the US’ little surrogates in that part of the country, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). I explained to my three friends, noted “sons of Mindanao,” the oft-repeated pattern of attacks on government military units preceding all attempts at a US-imposed solution to the Mindanao territorial problem. At the same time, I informed them that rumors of a September substate implementation in fact emanate from circles within the government “peace panel.”

Since few still understand what a “substate” really means, I explained by way of a statement from the Independent International Commission on Kosovo (IICK): “The classic 19th century concept of sovereignty, even if it rarely pertained in practice, was a concept of absolute territorial sovereignty. In the 21st century, sovereignty is necessarily shared and dependent on agreements with a range of international actors.”

In that report, the concept of “earned sovereignty” was mentioned as integral to the substate, which unambiguously means eventual independence. It said, “Earned sovereignty is achieved… (whereby) the state and substate entity may both exercise sovereign authority and functions over a defined territory.” Moreover, “international institutions may also exercise sovereign authority and functions in addition to or in lieu of the parent state.”

Then, it gets more interesting: “The second core element is institution-building… Here the substate entity, frequently with the assistance of the international community, undertakes to construct institutions for self-government (while)… The third… is the eventual determination of the final status of the substate entity.”

And here’s the clincher: “In many instances the status will be determined by a referendum, while in others it may involve a negotiated settlement… Invariably, the determination of final status for the substate entity involves the consent of The International community … (emphasis mine)”

Since Kosovo is a prime example, then we should know that such a framework is no solution to the problem, given what we can see happening there today.

Kosovo, which is 92 percent Albanian and 8 percent other minorities (including ethnic Serbs), was radically destabilized in the early 1990s when it was still under Serbia’s moderate autonomous Rugova government. Back then, the US sponsored the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which led a campaign of terror against the Serbs; thus, provoking the ultra-nationalists. The resulting internal strife subsequently provided the US the perfect excuse for a UN peacekeeping force.

Kosovo was thereafter pried apart from Serbia in 1999 after three months of the US’ bombing of Belgrade. The KLA eventually assumed leadership in Kosovo government, but is today under investigation by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for many atrocities.

In early January, PACE voted to support a report by Swiss MP Dick Marty that alleged “a criminal network tied to the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA (which) executed prisoners and harvested their kidneys to sell for illicit organ transplant” (with) Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci as head of the operation.

Former International Criminal Court (ICC) Milosevic prosecutor Carla del Ponte at that time was also investigating Thaci until the US pressured for her removal.

However, despite the sordid background of the US’ allies in Kosovo, it declared independence in 2008, over the objections of Serbia, Russia, China, Spain and many other countries.

That will also be the eventual fate of the MILF substate. And the promise of a long-lasting peace is nothing but an illusion.

Just two weeks ago, July 26, BBC reported: “Kosovo police forces of the ‘substate’ of Serbia, Kosovo, made a ‘bid to take over two border crossing in the ethnic Serb north’… Kosovo police units, who came under fire, pulled back after Serbs refusing to recognize their authority took up arms and mounted roadblocks. Nato-led peacekeepers moved into the area to calm the situation. The US and EU criticized the Kosovan government for acting without consulting international bodies. The whole episode shows just how problematic the north of Kosovo remains.”

The UN peacekeepers intervened to keep the two sides apart and both economies continue to suffer. The end result of the substate concept and political arrangement is that where there was once a relatively genuine sovereign state, two puppet states emerge. As with Serbia and Kosovo, both puppet states today, the Republic of the Philippines will be diminished and the MILF will rise as a rival in the area so that both will be kept by foreign powers in constant conflict.

The new diminished Philippine Republic and the new substate of the MILF are all thanks to the “great patriotic peacemaking efforts” of the Cojuangco-Aquino clan, which has always led in creating “better conditions” for national dignity and sovereignty — from the oath of allegiance of Benigno S. Aquino Sr. and Aurora Aquino, grandparents of BSA III, to the Japanese conquerors; to Ninoy Aquino’s exposé of the Jabidah project to retake Sabah; to Corazon Aquino’s ceding of Sabah to Malaysia; and now, the new MILF substate.

We owe all these to the Cojuangco-Aquinos who are now riding the bandwagon of oil and natural gas having attended the MILF-PeNoy Tokyo talks, sharing the bonanza with J. Robinson West, chairman of PFC Energy and US Institute for Peace.

Such is the traitor class that the US has entrenched into power through various means, such as Hocus PCOS—the reason BSA III is only too willing to oblige lest he find himself soon in the same position as Gloria Arroyo today.

While this is happening, other treasonous rats also play — from the CodeNGO et al. gobbling up the P4-billion administrative cost of the Conditional Cash Transfer; to Purisima, Tentangco et al. wallowing in the fruits of RP surplus investments in their foreign investement partners. Truly, for as long as this traitor class remains in power, there is no hope for this nation.

(Tune in to Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m., and Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, on “Mis-Rule of Law: From Edsa Dos to MILF Substate,” with Atty. Alan Paguia and Sen. Koko Pimentel, Saturday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)

(Reprinted with permission from Mr. Herman Tiu-Laurel)

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110808com5.html

Noy gets a new umbrella EDITORIAL Click to enlarge 08/08/2011

Noy gets a new umbrella

EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
08/08/2011
Worried questions were raised over the likely ripple effects of the unprecedented credit rating downgrade on the United States by Standard and Poor’s (S&P) the other day, one of three globally-recognized credit watchdogs, the other two being Moody’s and Fitch.

Even in the United States, the anticipation is high on how Asia, the first region in the world that will translate the US ratings cut into actual market movements, will react today.

Calls were also made, including that of Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima for the financial world to consider an alternative international currency to the US dollar, which has lost its stability as a result of the current financial and now political turmoil, as a result of the vicious debate on debt ceilings, in the world’s biggest economy.

Noynoy, in turn, was immediately in the news supposedly “scrambling” his economic officials to prepare for the impact of the credit downgrade. S&P’s downgrade, while unprecedented, has been a long time in coming. The US economy appears to have yet to rise from the 2007 financial turmoil and its consequent effect of a global crisis that hit most of the big European economies..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110808com1.html

Giving the MILF what it wants FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 08/08/2011

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Impact of US downgrade uncertain FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 08/08/2011

Impact of US downgrade uncertain

FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
08/08/2011
WASHINGTON — Given the size of the US economy and the preeminent role of the dollar worldwide, the cut to Washington’s credit rating ought to spill over throughout the global economy.

But for the same reason — that the dollar and US debt are so widely held and relied on in finance and trade — many analysts think the impact will not be too heavy, at least in the short run.

Standard & Poor’s cut the US’s top-rank triple-A rating down a notch, to AA+, for the first time ever on Friday, technically signaling that the country’s reliability for paying its debts had decreased.

S&P rejected Washington’s efforts to demonstrate it had embarked on a clear path to slash the country’s deficit and reduce its debt load..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110808com3.html

Treason C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S Jonathan De la Cruz 08/08/2011

Treason

C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S
Jonathan De la Cruz
08/08/2011
So, what negotiations, peace or otherwise, did Marvic Leonen “plagiarize” this time around? This was the question asked of the legal experts in our regular Saturday Forum at Annabel’s after our media friends decried what they thought was the treasonous act of GRP Negotiating Panel Chief Leonen of bringing P-Noy to a face-to-face “unofficial” meeting with MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad in Tokyo last Thursday. They were particularly incensed by Leonen’s confused and tangled pronouncements about this so-called “out-of-the-box” move as he triumphantly announced to one and all that the “secret trip” was a success. To most experts this move was not only ill advised but out and out treason and Leonen and his immediate boss, OPAPP Chief Ging Deles should be raked over the coals for it.

It is putting the cart before the horse. And no matter how good or noble the intentions are, the implications for the country, here and abroad, are certainly dire and risky. Taken in the context of international diplomacy and developments, it is just like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting with the Hamas chief before any peace deal is finalized and the latter officially presents documents abrogating their group’s vow to “extinguish” the State of Israel. Or, the Irish Republic’s President meeting with the Sinn Fein central committee even before the signing of the “Black Friday’” agreement. That’s a no-no under any circumstance especially since the MILF remains an armed political group determined in setting up its own state out the predominantly Muslim provinces in Mindanao and Palawan..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110808com4.html

Ongpin blames lawyer’s suicide on DBP head 08/08/2011

FORMER TRADE CHIEF SAYS CASE FILED BY NUñEZ A DIVERSION

Ongpin blames lawyer’s suicide on DBP head

08/08/2011
Former Trade Minister Roberto Ongpin broke his silence yesterday over the criminal complaint the state-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) filed against him and 25 bank officials as he placed squarely on newly appointed DBP chairman Jose Nuñez the responsibility on the suicide of DBP lawyer Benjamin Pinpin who he said took his life due to pressures applied on him by Nuñez. Pinpin was laid to rest Saturday and a high-ranking DBP official asked the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to step into the supposed suicide case.

Pinpin was among DBP officials tasked to investigate the DBP transactions that tooke place during the Arroyo administration.

DBP chief legal counsel Benilda Tejada personally went to the office of the NBI last Friday to submit documents which were left by Pinpin who supposedly commited suicide on Aug. 2 in a comfort room of a hotel in Las Piñas City.

According to Tejada, they are requesting the help of the NBI in investigating the death of Pinpin despite the existence of a suicide note..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110808hed1.html

Fate of abducted Surigao mayor still uncertain; one more soldier dies in NPA ambush 08/08/2011

Fate of abducted Surigao mayor still uncertain; one more soldier dies in NPA ambush

08/08/2011
Government authorities have not heard from the communist-abductors of a Surigao del Sur town mayor even as intensified pursuit and rescue operations by the military are continuing.

Surigao del Sur Gov. Johnny Pimentel, who also heads the provincial crisis management committee, said while they have suspects on what particular group of the New People’s Army (NPA) was responsible in the kidnapping of Lingig Mayor Henry Dano, no contact has been made yet with the kidnappers or the town executive himself.

“Up to this moment, we have no contact yet with the kidnappers of Mayor Henry Dano and himself,” he added.

Pimentel, however, said pursuit operations by the military are now ongoing..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110808hed4.html

Binay welcomes Koko as addition to Senate 08/08/2011

Binay welcomes Koko as addition to Senate

08/08/2011
Vice President Jejomar Binay yesterday said his party-mate Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III would be a welcome addition to the Senate once he is allowed to formally assume as senator.

Contrary to the Aquino administration’s recent pronouncement that it is not counting on Pimentel’s support, Binay believes the government can rely on the incoming senator to advance the interest of Ooverseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and in addressing the country’s housing concerns.

Binay said he intends to sit down with Pimentel “to discuss with him the future directions” of their political party, PDP-Laban, and other key issues like overseas Filipino workers, human trafficking and housing.

The Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) may proclaim Pimentel as the duly elected senator within the next two weeks..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110808nat2.html

None hurt as bomb explodes in Cotabato City By Mario J. Mallari 08/08/2011

None hurt as bomb explodes in Cotabato City

By Mario J. Mallari 08/08/2011

Another blast rocked Cotabato City last Saturday evening, hitting similar establishment that was exploded with an improvised explosive device (IED) last Tuesday.

Military Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) spokesman Col. Leopoldo Galon said that a grenade was exploded by still unidentified men at the Savior Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Security Agency, owned by JV Martinez, along Quezon Avenue around 7 p.m.

Initial report showed that no one was hurt during the blast.

Last Tuesday, an IED was also exploded at the SWAT office resulting in the killing of two civilians while nine others were wounded..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110808nat1.html

‘JV’ exposes plan of Arroyos to seek asylum in Portugal By Gerry Baldo 08/08/2011

‘JV’ exposes plan of Arroyos to seek asylum in Portugal

By Gerry Baldo 08/08/2011

The Lonely Planet says that Portugal is home to medieval castles and picture-perfect villages scattered over meandering coastlines and flower-covered hillsides, but if reports are true, it will also be home for former President now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo and her family who, according to reports, are planning to seek asylum in the Iberian Peninsula’s “best kept secret.”

According to San Juan Rep. Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito, he has heard of the Arroyos exit plan.

“I have heard that they already have an exit plan to Portugal which does not have an extradition treaty with the Philippines. This only shows guilt, as they have a plan to flee,” Ejercito said.

The Arroyos are facing a string of plunder, graft and tax evasion charges in connection with the P728-million fertilizer scam, the NBN-ZTE deal and other funds-related cases in the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110808met1.html

Law students want ‘specifics’ on smoking ban in metropolis 08/08/2011

Law students want ‘specifics’ on smoking ban in metropolis

08/08/2011
A group of law students have urged the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to specifically define the implementation of no-smoking ban in the metropolis to protect the civil liberties of the people.

The Association of Law Students of the Philippines (ALSP) said Republic Act 9211 or the Tobacco Regulation Act enumerates areas where smoking is prohibited.

“Thus, if an area is not included in the list of prohibited areas, such as streets and highways, one can smoke there,” Dino Austria of San Beda College and president of the ALSP, said.

Austria was reacting to the arrest of some persons who were caught smoking on sidewalks in Metro Manila.
.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110808met3.html

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