Tuesday, July 13, 2004
I don’t know how many times I have started and re-started this entry for Laila’s contest. It’s hard for me as an American to fully understand fully the politics of the Philippines. My access to particulars has been limited to talking to a few friends that are now American Citizens, some folks that currently live there, what I have been able to find on the internet, which consists of news articles and blogs, and what I have seen on the news here in the states, which is also very limited.
Anyway, here is my understanding of the Filipino situation, from what sources I have been able to find, and I would like to remind you that I am no expert on this topic. This is an opinion piece that I have made from what I have been able to find.
Early in my career I was stationed aboard the only supply ship home-ported in the Western Pacific. Though we were stationed out of Yokosuka, Japan we spent most of our in port time in Subic Bay, Republic of the Philippines, as that was the site of the Navy’s largest supply depot in Westpac.
I first went to the Philippines in 1976 when the Marcos imposed Martial Law was in full swing. Most of the Filipino’s I knew were very unhappy with the Marcos regime but were very hesitant to speak out about it as folks the did not tow the government line had a habit of either being arrested or disappearing.
One thing I had a hard time with was the poverty that the Filipino’s suffered. You have to remember that I was a young sailor in my late teens early twenties at the time and I had never left the United States before, so my knowledge of world affairs was pretty limited.
The people all seemed to be hard working, that ports were full of ship’s picking things up for export, and the United States was paying some pretty high rent for the use of Subic Bay Naval Base and Clark Air Force Base. Additionally there was a lot of money coming in from the servicemen and tourism so there was no excuse for some of the poverty I saw.
Martial law was a little strange to me as I had never been any place up to that time where armed troops were guarding street corners and where you had to be off the streets before curfew. It was some strange times for me. It was great back in the mid to late eighties when Martial Law was lifted, though many of the Filipino’s I knew were very distrusting of their government under Marcos.
Upon the election of Corazon Aquino, many of my Filipino friends were elated as they felt that she, being a simple honest person would be able to correct the corrupt government and the Philippines would be on the road to recovery. The only problem was that when Marcos left the Philippines, so did the Treasury. Under the Presidencies of Aquino and later Fidel Ramos the country was making a slight recovery though money was always a problem. A lot of folks were making money off the backs of the Filipino’s but it was all foreign businesses and the money as well as manpower was leaving the country.
Also in the southern Philippines the government was having problems fighting radical Communist Groups as well as Muslim extremists.
The Filipino’s then elected Joseph Estrada as President who returned to the Marcos ways of accepting bribes and corruption and he was removed from power in 2001 and replaced with his Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, a political rival.
Under Arroyo, the Philippines has remained a troubled country with the Muslim extremists and Radical Communists still making waves, with money and people still leaving in droves for financial stability overseas, and the people continuing to live in poverty in their home country. As I traveled throughout Westpac in the last few years of my career, I ran into more and more Filipino’s working in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Japan. It seems like the Philippines is supplying the maid service and manual labor force for Asia, though there were also many Indian’s and Pakistani’s also working in these countries.
Along comes the 2004 Philippines election. Fernando Poe Jr. (An actor friend of Estrada’s) decided to run against Arroyo and after the election the government was unable to come up with a clear-cut winner, as accusations of election fraud and voting irregularities surfaced. Depending on whose side tells the tale, Poe won or Arroyo won. They decided to have the election solved by recounting the votes under supervision of representatives from both camps, however with the ballot box stuffing, disappearance of poll workers, and a few other problems this was probably not the best way to do things.
Finally on June 23 they proclaimed Arroyo the winner amid protests from a good portion of the Filipinos. Talking to different Filipino’s you get pretty much a split of opinions. Basically Arroyo supporters say it’s great she was elected and non-supporters feel robbed of their vote through a bogus recount process that was unconstitutional.
From what I see as an outsider, the Philippines will continue to see their wealth deteriorate. As long as businesses see turmoil in the Philippines (the people rose up and ousted Marcos and Estrada, will they do it with Arroyo?) they will be hesitant to invest there. As lack of investment trickles down the Filipino people will suffer, as the government coffers will continue to run dry.
The imposing of an “under the radar” Martial Law, which I understand from a few folks, (can’t find any reports on it) will fuel the outrage that the Poe supporters have over the election results. Depending on how far this outrage goes, Arroyo’s days, like Marcos and Estrada before her may be numbered if the Filipino people keep the protests up.
One thing I find really interesting is that she is going to build a palace in Cebu to thank the folks there for putting her in office. To move the capital like that would be a pretty costly proposal in a country struggling to make ends meet.
For the near future Arroyo will pretty much get her way as her party has the majority in the Philippine Congress. I see two things that could result in her downfall. The first one is, if the people who continue the protests over the unfair elections oust her. I see this as the more likely of the two, especially if Poe doesn’t let the issue die. The second is if the status quo remains in effect, meaning she continues to do nothing about the poverty. People with no hope tend to reach a breaking point, and as the regular guy sits out there with unreliable electricity, weak job prospects, among other things, he will reach that breaking point.
I see an even bigger problem looming for the Philippines though. That is the fact, that as the Filipino people remain divided over this election they still have problems with the Muslim extremists. They will get bolder and bolder. As that happens the Philippines can say goodbye to foreign investment as the returns for that investment would be questionable and there are plenty of safe places to invest. If that happens the Philippines will continue to go backward in the world economy.
While my government has expressed congratulations to President Arroyo, they did make it a point to mention that the election results were questionable. Also whether you agree or disagree with the US’s war on terrorism and Iraq in particular, if the Filipino’s cut and run, it would be a bad thing for the Philippines as the current US administration would consider it a slap in the face. In dealing with the Abu Sayyraf terrorists in the Philippines, the Philippine Government doesn’t deal, however they will pull up stakes over this hostage in Iraq? Angelo dela Cruz has been getting a lot of press here in the States, as is the Philippine government considering pulling their humanitarian workers out. While we all hope and pray that Mr. dela Cruz will be released, if the government of the Philippines caves, their relationship here will suffer.
While most of the world sees the American Press and treats it as gospel, what people from other countries don’t know is, our press is very biased to the left, controlling what the people see and hear. There is a silent majority here in the states that have awoken since the attack on the World Trade Center, and that awakening will prevent the liberals from being elected to office here. Additionally conservative talk radio, a few conservative newspapers, and the Fox News Network are thriving here as more and more people have all of a sudden wondered, how did something like that happen in our country? They then see how Christianity is under attack here, people pushing to legalize drugs and homosexual marriage, and political action groups equating the President of the United States with Adolph Hitler. This kind of stuff is waking up the mainly silent majority of people here, and these people are a huge voting base.
That will not sit well for the Philippines, if they do not remain allies of this administration and that would also be unfortunate. This administration has been extremely helpful in training the Philippine military and helping with Muslim extremists. I doubt if future requests for assistance would be freely granted if the Philippines pulls their support. If Kerry were elected it would be even worse for the Philippines, as he would do nothing without direction from the United Nations and we see what a fantastic job they are doing in Africa.
In summary, until the Philippines can hold an election that is fair and accepted by all, they will not advance. They need to get rid of the folks currently in power, who will do anything to hold on to that power. They need to let the world know of their plight, so the world takes more of an interest in what is going on there and takes an interest in their political system. This is difficult, as much of what is going on is not released outside of the Philippines, since the government there suppresses free speech to a certain extent (from Filipino’s I know). They haven’t suppressed the Internet yet, as China has done, so the Philippine people must use this medium to let the world know how they feel.
While it is great that many Filipinos are finding work, it is work outside of their country. This means a great influx of cash for the economy, but is breaking up the family unit. Jobs for Filipinos must be created in the Philippines for family stability. I see a lot of hope in that several American countries have been outsourcing work to the Philippines with effective results. That will not continue if there is continued turmoil.
Again, I have to say I am not an expert on the Philippines, just a friend of several Filipino’s. Also Politics is such a hard subject to address without ruffling a few feathers. If I ruffled your feathers a bit I apologize. I make my opinion on what sources I found, personal experience, and talking to friends. No doubt, some of the info I got from friends is most likely biased, as anyone talking to me about US politics would bet my biased view.
In closing I hope and pray that a good solution presents itself to the Philippine people, as they deserve to live in peace and prosperity, rather than oppression and poverty.
Posted at 11:15 am by RWO
 | | | RWO
July 13, 2004 06:00 PM PDT
OK, I'll give you that pulling the , I believe 51 people out a month early isn't that big a deal, but the news media is blowing it up to be a big deal here in the States and possibly the BBC. What you need to take into consideration is that it is an election year here in the States. If the Philippines pull out early it is considered a policy failure by the left, so more adverse news against the Bush administration. As far as the right see it, this demonstrates a reluctance of the Philippines to stand up to terrorism. Normally I would say, PI take your 51 people and go home, but since this is now part of the world media, getting much more attention than even your elections, it's PI under the looking glass time and over the next couple of days, this will be fought out over the US airwaves by CNN, MSNBC, Fox and others with everything brought out in the open. Al Quaeda is located in Afganistan and you will find I never made any references to who is holding Mr. dela Cruz. I do know that the folds raising all of the cain in Iraq are the out of work Saddam loyalists that are a little bent that they are unemployed now. While everything is not rosy there, at least they are in control of thier own country, and if you ignore the news and talk directly to the troop and civilian contractors returning from Iraq, you are presented with a totally different picture of what is happening there. As a recently retired military member who still has contact with numerous active duty personnel, from all services including Special Forces I have known from the start of the war on terrorism to ignore 90 percent of what is being thrown about, on news programs and the print media. I know for a fact, by Gulf War One and Somalia duty that the press can not be trusted. Like I said, I am not an expert on current Philippine affairs, and to correct you we do not need the Philippines as a strategic base as we have Guam, Singapore, Diego Garcia, Bahrain, and Japan that more than adequately covers our needs, though having the Philippines as a base of operations is convenient. the only promises I am aware of that the US made was to assist with the troubles with terrorism down south, which the US met by training the Philippine Military. As afr as I know very few of the contracts have been awarded for the rebuilding process as they are waiting for it to get a little more stable over there before having all kinds of foreign civilians running around. The American Contractors that are over there are all ex-military (now contractors) and security personnel. Most of the infastructure that has been built so far has been by the military, as we have construction battalions and all as part of our military. Well, while I do hope that Mr. dela Cruz is released, I can only hope that things settle down. These terrorists only want to be in the headlines to get themselves press and popularity. As long as these folks keep getting publicity this type of thing will continue and give terrorists worldwide, the incentive to continue these bad acts. The press will not drop any of this because the majority of the liberal press wants to bring down the Bush Administration. The right wing news agencies must keep up to counter the leftist press. You didn't see any of this press when Clinton unilaterally went to Yogoslavia. I was personally involved in the attack on Afganistan and Libya during the Monica Lewinski testimony during the Clinton sex scandal. The press didn't push that either. If you'll not I asked several times before I posted my opinion if your press was baised. That is because I have an extreme distrust of the press since experiencing the previous lies and biases. I've rambled enough. | |
| | | Laila*
July 13, 2004 05:14 PM PDT
Great post, Randy! But, the contest is still on so, I wouldn't talk about my opinion yet. All I can say is, good luck...
RE the Filipino hostage, Dela Cruz represents the entire Filipino people and it is the obligation of the government to protect his life. We already did our part when we showed our support for the invasion of Iraq (by sending humanitarian peace corps to rebuild Iraq; not to kill Iraqis and innocent lives) and Angelo being hostage of Iraqi militants serves as an icon (not necessarily they're Al Qaeda, as Al Qaeda is probably a ghost created by intelligence men).
I believe the decision of the government to pull out of Iraq is acceptable (and will not affect our relationship with America) since they're scheduled to pull out by August 20 (just a month ahead of scheduled pull out) if we can save a person's life who is a father of 8 children? The USA had pledges to the Philippines that didn't materialize, so, what is pulling out early of Philippine troops from Iraq will do with the USA?
The USA obviously need the PHILIPPINES whether we pull out our troops from Iraq or not. Our country is located in a strategic location which is benificial to the USA if we remain an ally. I never have any doubts that our relationship with America will be tainted simply because the government will pull out our troops, it just happened they have to pull out earlier by a month...
Lastly, the jobs and contracts in rebuilding Iraq as Bush people promised the Philippine government REMAINS A FANTASY... what do we get, anyway, by being an ally? Arms and military second hand flying coffins were surplus given to us by the USA with the intention to kill... what we need is economic assistance.
Abu Sayyaf is ironically a military partner in the Philippines in maintaining their budget. If there is no insurgencies in the Philippines, the military budget will be reduced. Our local terrorists were created by our own military, it's all about business. So, I won't buy that Al Qaeda is in Iraq (who held Dela Cruz as captive), that's B***S***!
Get what I mean? | |
| | | RWO
July 13, 2004 04:35 PM PDT
I agree, I just watched a fox news interview with some retired general and I hadn't thought about that point. they are trying to do in the Philippines what they managed to do in Spain. A lot of Filipino's feel it is right for these troops to be pulled. If that indeed happens, then they are going to have all kinds of trouble with Abu Sayyraf in the future as they will see that the government has lost the desire to stand up to their terrorist ways. | |
| | | skh
July 13, 2004 01:34 PM PDT
Add to all of your great points the fact that the appeasers in control of the Phillipines will now pull their troops out of Iraq because Al Qaeda demands that they do so. As you point out, they <b>already</b> have a history of problems with the Religion of Peace [smirk!] and this action on their part will do nothing but encourage these stone-age morons on to more violence.
Steve | |
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