| DIE HARD III |
 |
| Herman Tiu Laurel |
03/12/2012
The global “Occupy Movement” opened the
struggle of the 99 percent disposed peoples of the world against the
miniscule but powerful one percent that monopolize the globe’s wealth.
That one percent is, of course, the oligarchy. Like the rest of the
world, the Philippines has had its own share of oligarchs who mimic and
implement the same paradigm of greed and exploitation that has dominated
the world these past two and a half decades — since the time of
Thatcherism and Reaganomics.
Even though the Philippines’ own
oligarchs may have spats — real or make-believe — with one another once
in a while, all of them will always stand united when it comes to
exploiting and exhausting the wealth and resources of this nation for
their fat bank accounts and megalomaniac egos.
At their core,
these oligarchs are the centurions of the global oligarchy in the
country, the local gatekeepers of finance capital holding rein through
money politics and mass media control. And because of this, the people
must recognize the need to oust this oligarchy in order to free this
nation from the global masters determined to extract every bit of wealth
and anima from us.
Just the other day, the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) again had called for new taxes on the Filipino people. IMF
mission leader to the Philippines Vivek Arora reasoned that it is
required for “growth to be sustained over the medium term.” However,
what they won’t say is that while the oligarchy revels at the government
assets to be privatized for their benefit, as well as the taxes from
the people that finance the bureaucracy implementing the global and
domestic oligarchy’s will, the people suffer from over-taxation just so
that both public and private sector debts can be financed.
As I
picked up a copy of the credo of a giant bank’s training manual which
says, “We believe in the central role that private enterprise plays in
economic development,” it is pretty clear that minions are being
brainwashed to execute an ideology of servitude to the oligarchy.
But
pray tell us, is the United States of America, the Mecca of capitalism
that allows Wall Street to be the central power in its economy, a
shining example of economic development today? We have seen the US of A
become an economic wasteland as neoliberal economists of the Reagan
period transferred all power to private capital, which went on to seek
profit for profit’s sake and against continuous development of that
nation’s physical or “hard” industries, which then led private
enterprises to shift to Third World labor to further increase their
profits.
So, should the Third World celebrate this? Are people too
naive to realize that the Philippine oligarchy has also tapped into the
much bruited about business process outsourcing (BPO) sector?
Though
prone to window dressing, there are times when correct views emanate
from multilateral agencies, like that Asian Development Bank (ADB) study
by F. Tech Tschang, Associate Professor of Strategic Management,
stating that “the (Philippine) government should not rely on the (BPO)
industry in dealing with the poverty situation in the country.”
Further,
Norio Usui, ADB Philippines senior country economist, said the economy
must “walk on two legs,” one being the services sector and the other,
the industrial sector (particularly manufacturing) in order to achieve
growth. Of course, we should add the all-important factor: Agricultural
development toward food self-sufficiency.
Yet the Philippine
oligarchy will have none of these since they are averse to investing in
long gestation projects with substantial original capital (as opposed to
borrowed capital using government “sovereign guarantees”).
Hence,
private enterprise can never be the central engine in economic
development. As the state (i.e. the people and their territory) is the
genuine agent of the people’s aspirations and will, it is the ultimate
source of all capital.
Witness several state-led economies (such
as China, India, Venezuela, Brazil, Vietnam and Argentina) that have
shown the way since the advent of the 21st Century: Have they not
successfully established their own nation-state leadership paradigms,
which the Philippines can learn from? So then, how do we make this work
given the local oligarchy’s control of all institutions of state and
government, not to mention its control of all mainstream tri-media
instruments, as well as the educational system that shapes the minds of
our youth?
Ironically, the greatest ally of the people and the
nation-state centered leadership will be the oligarchs themselves. As
their ideology of greed inflicts greater and greater suffering on the
population, intra-oligarchy rivalries will soon arise.
In the
interim, the challenge to the genuine leadership agents of the people is
to maintain the audibility and visibility of their nationalist ideology
and its promise of genuine change and benefit to the general welfare.
The
first priority, therefore, is to consolidate the diverse forces that
represent the nationalist ideology into an alliance. From there, a
consistent message, image and leadership must find constant projection
in all forms of national media.
Those alleged “retired military
officers” plotting a supposed ouster of PeNoy would do well to consider
not just booting out a single trapo but the entire oligarchy. They must
also ensure that in the ensuing vacuum, all their efforts are in support
of a nationalist leadership. Otherwise, the same domination from PeNoy
and the oligarchy will remain. But no matter the great effort and
sacrifice needed for this, we must remember that the time is now ripe.
As the global and domestic situation mature toward an explosion of the
people’s rage, we will hear more and more exclaim, “Patria o muerte,
venceremos!”
(Tune in to 1098AM, dwAD, Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo
OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m.; watch Destiny Cable GNN’s HTL
edition of Talk News TV, Saturdays, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11:15
p.m., on “Anti-large scale mining is pro-people;” visit
http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio
archives)
(Reprinted with permission from Mr. Herman Tiu-Laurel)
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL:
http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120312com5.html
