RP: In chaos and darkness DIE HARD III Herman Tiu Laurel 03/05/2010

RP: In chaos and darkness DIE HARD III Herman Tiu Laurel 03/05/2010 I am pounding away at my laptop here at the UP Pulungang Claro M. Recto’s Bulwagang Rizal as the Third World Studies Center is staging its “2010 Public Forum Series” entitled, “En Masse: Social Forces and the 2010 Philippine National Elections.” The subject for the day, “The Military and Social Change,” will have Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr., Dr. Clarita Carlos, Dr. Francisco Nemenzo, and detained PMP senatorial candidate B/Gen. Danny Lim as speakers. I came to listen to Nemenzo and Lim, who are the only two intellectuals of note. The forum was scheduled to start at 10 in the morning but at 9:20, the organizers are still on pins and needles because the PNP reportedly filed a motion to reverse the court’s permission for General Lim’s leave, aside from a possible 10 o’clock scheduled brownout. Now what is this country coming to when electricity supply in the metropolis can no longer be assured and free discussion cannot proceed inside its premier academic institution without any police disruption? This column has been telling Filipinos who have not yet been made into mindless Yellow and mainstream media zombies that the Edsa I and Edsa II counter-revolys cum oligarchic coups d’etat are programmed demolitions of a modern, industrial, and civilized Filipino way of life. The same ruling cliques that have held the reins of power despite our so-called elections (four presidential and four senatorial since 1986) and have made the industrial, economic, and social decay the norm in their brand of retrogressive governance show that this dire situation is clearly not an accident due to mere incompetence or corruption but a design to impoverish the nation into prostration and engineered poverty. As I write, a text comes in from one of our electricity research monitors: “NGCP (National Grid Corp. of the Philippines) is now complaining that the (transmission) grid was not properly maintained. Huh?” The NGCP took over state management of the country’s vast transmission system or TransCo, which connects all generating plants to direct power where needed. The NGCP, a consortium of China State Grid and Monte Oro, packaged with the help of the Carlyle Group, won a $3.95-billion bid for what was valued at $7 billion by other bidders (who inexplicably all backed out). In light of the ongoing rolling brownouts all just 13 months after NGCP took over, it is surprising that all blame is being heaped on TransCo. Didn’t NGCP conduct due diligence before taking over? Plus, is it still acceptable to blame the predecessor after a whole year of operating the system? It is now 10:11 in the morning and the forum has started. Electricity is still on but the brownout could come at anytime. Dr. Nemenzo has just murmured into my ear that General Lim was not allowed to leave his Camp Crame detention facility. This just shows civilian supremacy to be as much a farce as Lt. Col. Brawner’s declaration that the military is about “protecting the people and defending the national territory” and “providing a strong Army, Navy and Air Force.” This is especially so when the only protecting it is doing, is of the elite and the oligarchy, and their properties; while its “Italian” (Itale iyan or tied to the pier) Navy and Air Force — that’s all air and no force — can’t even protect the country’s shores from foreign poaching vessels and smugglers. I pitied Brawner, an idealistic young officer put into the ridiculous position of having to peddle illusions about the AFP while its inutility to the nation and servility to the elite and foreign powers are so obvious to one and all. The next speaker, widely believed to be a US State department spokesman on military affairs disguised as a Filipina scholar, compelled me to step out for some air. When Dodong Nemenzo’s turn came, I returned but had to listen from the lobby as the entrance was already jam-packed. Then he made the truly significant point: Historically, there has been no regime change without a military component and the AFP is not homogenous; so there is hope that patriots like Gen. Danny Lim can spell the difference. I hope the young Colonel Brawner picked up a few insights from Nemenzo, that the idealism there may be fired up as such ideas fired up Gen. Danny Lim, the Magdalos, Capts. Jason Aquino, Nick Faeldon, et al. While the chaos of the blackouts ensues, the comedy of the elections and the inanity of the political campaigns rage on. In the midst of our oppression, highlighted by the suppression of General Lim’s voice, let’s hope some order in the minds of our young soldiers and civilian patriots would emerge toward an orderly ideology of change — of transition from the Yellow-induced Dark Ages to a bright future. (Reprinted with permission from Mr. Herman Tiu-Laurel) Source:  The Daily Tribune ALTERNATE URL: http://www.tribune.net.ph/commentary/20100305com6.html

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