06/18/2010
The 2010 elections had always been about the battle between the forces of 21st century neo-colonial exploitation and oppression — the Yellow movement and the corporatocracy behind it — against the forces striving for national economic development for self-sufficiency and self-sustainability — composed of the nationalistic leadership of President Joseph Estrada and, as in my case, the ideology of “Filipinism.” (I put the term in quotes as I’d rather have the country’s name changed to a more “Rizalian” or “Bonifacian” stature.)
But as fate — together with the powerful manipulation of both global and local oligarchs — would have it, the extension of the neo-colonial regime has been effected once again (but hopefully, not for the next six years).
The proof is in the Cabinet appointments of this new-yet-old hybrid regime, which the mouthpiece of the neo-colonial foreign chambers of commerce Peter Wallace has lauded in his First 100 Days Bulletin No. 1, which reads:
“A Cabinet would appear to be coming together. Some of the names mentioned (but not yet confirmed): Executive Secretary — Paquito “Jojo” Ochoa Jr.; Finance — Cesar Purisima; Customs — Guillermo Parayno; DPWH — Jose “Ping” de Jesus; Health — Esperanza “Espie” Cabral; Budget and Management — Alberto “Bertie” Lim; Agrarian Reform — Jejomar Binay (or DILG) or Angel Alcala; Energy — Jose “Nonong” Ibazeta; Department of Social Welfare and Development — Corazon “Dinky” Soliman; Defense — Voltaire Gazmin; Education — Florencio “Butch” Abad or Bro. Armin Luistro of De La Salle Manila; Justice — Avelino “Nonong” Cruz; PMS — Herminio “Sonny” Coloma; Peace Process — Teresita (Ging) Deles; Neda — Cayetano “Don Don” Paderanga… If these are confirmed they are good choices and will be a good start to the Aquino presidency.”
“Good choices for whom?” one might ask. It will certainly be good for the foreign and local Big Business. Wallace speaks for as the continuation of the pro-globalization and corporatization policies that began with Edsa I then expanded with Edsa II will remain. If the record of the past 24 years were to be the basis, then this kind of governance will spell the continuation of the economic and social disaster of this nation that started with globalization, wiping out almost all import tariff revenues; then the privatization of profitable government assets, which transferred more debts to the people; followed by the systematic dumping (smuggling) of agricultural products that have severely damaged our local production (leading to our being the world’s biggest rice importer in 2008). All these have forced the country into more deficits and debt, resulting in an ever-increasing demand for expanding the VAT and the poverty of Filipinos.
All the projected appointees in Wallace’s bulletin are nothing but willing and ruthless tools of these foreign exploiters. It was during Paderanga’s Neda stint under Cory Aquino that many of the economic liberalization and globalization policies were initiated. FVR’s Parayno, meanwhile, expanded the powers and revenues of the SGS, an IMF-backed Swiss Customs inspector whose services Erap terminated to save us hundreds of millions of dollars.
Bertie Lim, as we know, is the executive director of the Makati Business Club while former Aboitiz executive Ibazeta was appointed to privatize the nation’s power assets to the favored oligarchs. Butch Abad, on the other hand, is infamous for his sponsorship of the Omnibus Power Bill which became the Epira that gave RP one of the highest electricity rates in the world.
Of course, we have written more than enough about Jose “Ping” de Jesus as a gofer of a family of oligarchs while Dinky Soliman admitted to paying “hakot” crowds to fill GMA’s rallies.
The apparent surprise is the retention of Cabral at the DoH because the early contender for the Health portfolio was Dr. Jimmie Tan, a well-known natural health and herbal medicine advocate. Speculation was rife that Tan was a shoo-in because he supported the Yellow cause; but in the past month or so, the GMA-appointed Cabral had gone on a PR blitz against herbal supplements, requiring producers to label them in Filipino: “Ito ay hindi gamot, at hindi dapat gamitin sa panggagamot.” Such an aggressive attempt to curtail reliance on very affordable herbal supplements that have dramatically eaten away at Big Pharma’s bottom line has no doubt pleased a number of Big Pharma bigwigs who have always had close ties with the Yellows, including the likes of Zuellig’s Roberto Romulo. As for Nonong Cruz, formerly of The Firm, he is said to be going to the Justice department this time. But when he was still Gloria’s Defense secretary, wasn’t he better known for his alleged surreptitious connivance with the Hyatt 10 to destabilize GMA under the US State Department’s instigation?
Lastly, Gazmin, who has never shown any capacity for patriotic imagination like, for instance, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV or Gen. Danny Lim, will merely become a personal bodyguard to his late master’s son when he gets to be Defense chief.
In all, the prospective Cabinet of the incoming regime is really an Aquinorroyo II, nothing but a continuation of the governance of the past nine and a half years. There will be no change; just more profits for Big Business and more misery for the people.
Can we live with this slavery for another six years?
(Tune in to 1098AM, Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.; Destiny Cable Channel 21, Talk News TV — Infowars Edition, Tuesday, 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.; also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
(Reprinted with permission from Mr. Herman Tiu-Laurel)
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100618com5.html
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