Strange Behaviour
We need not repeat the details of how President Arroyo collaborated with the Chinese in the ZTE Broadband deal, the Spratly Islands occupation[1], and the leasing by GMA of 1 Million Hectares of our agricultural land to a Chinese firm in a vague contract. This covers about a tenth of our agricultural land. Where will the farmers among us now go for our livelihood and food production function? How can we have food security? After it was discovered by us Filipinos, Agriculture Sec. Yap made a statement that the deal will be on hold pending consultation.[2]
The Poro Point controversy boils down to the question: Why did the Macapagal-Arroyo administration continue to give Manny Tan, owner of Poro Point Industrial Corp. (PPIC), the privilege of running the free port until she let Chavit Singson took over? Tan, who was given the privilege by President Erap in 1999, is a well-known importer of rice and fertilizer. People in the know say Tan was Erap’s crony. GMA retained him to run the free port.[3]
The GMA government through it´s Department of Justice promptly dismissed in 2005, a P151-million tax evasion case against suspected Chinese smuggler Samuel Lee. He was charged with non-payment of taxes despite his income. He also allegedly ordered the diversion of three container vans of plastic resin from a customs bonded warehouse to a company in Valenzuela City upon his arrival at the airport upon his return from Hong Kong. The lawyer running after tax evaders contested the DoJ resolution on the case through a motion for reconsideration (MR) but the justice department appeared to have been dragging its feet. The Gloria Macapagal Arroyo government through the DoJ cited a legal technicality for dismissing the case. Lee was among the suspected smugglers named at a recent Senate hearing along with Vicky Toh and Lucio Lao Co, who were purportedly close to First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo. This deprived us Filipinos of another P151 million in taxes which could have been used for badly needed capital for rice farming.[4]
Dividing the Spoils with the Enemy
In the 1930’s, the Chinese almost entirely carried on the retail lumber throughout our entire islands. They cut and mill nearly 40% of the timber annually put in the market.[5] Former DENR Secretary Gozun suspended the logging operations in Aurora of Toplite Lumber Corporation, owned by the Chua family, in 2003. Investigation revealed that it had been cutting trees beyond its designated area. But former DENR Secretary Mike Defensor ordered their resumption when he came into office.[6]
The 25-year license to cut trees, covering 36,660 hectares in the Quezon province part of Sierra Madre, was granted to Wilson Ng on November 12, 2002, during the term of former Environment Secretary Heherson Alvarez. Alvarez's successor, Elisea Gozun, revoked the IFMA on January 13, 2004, saying "fraud, misrepresentation, and omission of material facts" surrounded the process by which the DENR granted the IFMA contract. Ng appealed to Malacañan. On March 4, 2005, four months after the tragic 2004 flash floods and landslides in the three Quezon towns, Wilson Ng was provided the license to cut trees again in the over-logged Sierra Madre mountain range by the Office of the President.[7]
President Arroyo agreed to allow Chinese intruders, disguised as “fishermen” to go into the Philippine-claimed part of the disputed Spratlys archipelago. In effect, the Philippine military can no longer drive away the Chinese when they show up near the Kalayaan reef. The Chinese have built a garrison nearby.[8]
Under the Cover of Economic and Legal Issues
There was a report which came out sometime 2005 about a Chinese invasion of Clark. Filipinos among us in Pampanga, experienced losing grip of economy with the recent establishment of a chinese owned retailing mall—SM in San Fernando. This time, the same chinese businessman, Henry Sy has established another of his retailing mall—SM in Clark and with it economic dislocation of our brother filipino businessmen there in Angeles City, Mabalacat and other nearby towns. We resisted as they were approaching. But they were too economically, politically and legally entrenched in our country for us to even slow down their movements. Again, with their establishment in Clark and with the tax exemption given them by the Philippine government, are the loss of our decades-old hold of our economic resources not to mention the 12% EVAT squeezed from us by the same government. With the establishment of SM goes loss of employment. It is also a gain of personnel for SM which have been traditionally exploiting them with 3 to 5 months contractual and no security of employment. The entry of the mall was facilitated by the Philippine Government thru the former CDC President Emmanuel Y. Angeles, now chairman of the Consultative Commission or Concom created by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to conduct consultations with people on the proposed amendments in the 1987 Constitution and the then Pampanga Vice Gov. Juan Miguel Arroyo, the President's son. With the facilitation, all obstacles such as: the site being within the aviation zone; public consultation; publication of the Memorandum of Agreement; were all done away with expeditiously. In 2003, the Angeles lost one multimillion-peso investment when Ayala Land Inc. backed out of a planned 8.7-hectare commercial center after a legal opinion of the Department of Justice sustained the Philippine government thru the CDC position of locating the SM-Clark Mall at the Clark main gate.[9] [10] [11] [12]
Is this foreign invasion or not? If not, then what is this, politics? If indeed for the sake of argument this is politics, who will then protect us filipinos who are continuously being displaced from our source of livelihood when all institutions in our country today have been functioning to protect these foreigners?
If this is politics and therefore Filipino Soldiers among us should indeed not lift a finger to defend the oppressed brother Filipino among us, which institution will protect us? How many years have this been going on? Have we Filipinos been protected against them?
Opportunistic Invasion After Our Weakened Resistance Against the Americans
Around November of 1924, we tried to setup a legal channel of check points for identifying and assessing foreigners entering our country as part of our defense system of checking further foreign infiltration.[13] However, while our legal check points where still in the setting up stage, the north americans, with their military might providing cover to the chinese, quickly dismantled them.[14] An editorial appeared on June 5, 1926 in The Tribune. It made a comment regarding: the chinese making a plaything of our exclusion laws; their out maneouvering us from the start of our border checking operations, making a fool out of us.[15]
We tried strategies based on our present condition to gain control as much area of our nation as we could against the foreigners. The start of our series of manoeuvres thru legal operations with the Retail Trade Nationalization Law in 1954 however, was out-manoeuvred by the Chinese. After we implemented this law, some 8700 of the 10,000 chinese who rushed to get hold of certificate of filipino citizenship papers after 1946, did so after 1954. We filipinos theoretically overrun previously chinese-controlled areas the strategic value of which where at most, of low significance. Thus in paper, the number of chinese registered as engaged in the retail trade was reduced and the number of us filipinos engaged in the same business was increased. In reality however, there was no physical difference. The difference was only in paper.[16] [17] [18]
Many of these chinese were able to aquire legal documents of being Filipino Citizens in order to make their control of our resources resulting to displacement of us original Filipinos constitutional. It is they who applied what the famous Chinese General Sun Tzu said something like, “Therefore, the skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field.” They conquered our cities without the use of traditional combat weapons. Our presidents were more than willing to be their puppet government. They have been protected by the laws of the land. They have been protected by the law enforcers of the land. They displaced us filipinos from our source of livelihood and we have no big brother to protect us!
Is this a constitutional, or economic issue? Or is this a filipino national well-being and sovereignty issue?
We tried strategies based on our present condition to gain control as much area of our nation as we could against the foreigners. The start of our series of manoeuvres thru legal operations with the Retail Trade Nationalization Law in 1954 however, was out-manoeuvred by the Chinese. After we implemented this law, some 8700 of the 10,000 chinese who rushed to get hold of certificate of filipino citizenship papers after 1946, did so after 1954. We filipinos theoretically overrun previously chinese-controlled areas the strategic value of which where at most, of low significance. Thus in paper, the number of chinese registered as engaged in the retail trade was reduced and the number of us filipinos engaged in the same business was increased. In reality however, there was no physical difference. The difference was only in paper.[16] [17] [18]
Many of these chinese were able to aquire legal documents of being Filipino Citizens in order to make their control of our resources resulting to displacement of us original Filipinos constitutional. It is they who applied what the famous Chinese General Sun Tzu said something like, “Therefore, the skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field.” They conquered our cities without the use of traditional combat weapons. Our presidents were more than willing to be their puppet government. They have been protected by the laws of the land. They have been protected by the law enforcers of the land. They displaced us filipinos from our source of livelihood and we have no big brother to protect us!
Is this a constitutional, or economic issue? Or is this a filipino national well-being and sovereignty issue?
[4] This was first posted 03:07am (Mla time) Mar 10, 2006 By Armand N. Nocum, Michael Lim Ubac. It was published on page A1 of the
Mar. 10, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
[6] Luz Rimban, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, GOING SOFT, PLAYING SAFE, Major players elude campaign vs illegal
logging in Aurora, First posted 02:34am (Mla time) Jan 31, 2005, Inquirer News Service, Editor's Note: Published on page A1 of the
Jan. 31, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
[8] Lopez, Tony. “Why President Arroyo warms up to China, Sun Life vs Philamlife”, Virtual Business for Monday. April 25, 2005 posted
by Biznews Asia
[10] (November 5, 2005 issue), Saturday, November 05, 2005 Builders say SM Clark will not open by Christmas
By Dante M. Fabian,
By Dante M. Fabian,
[11] Postscript/PhilSTAR/April 14, 2005/Thursday Why there should not be another SM mall at Clark By Federico D. Pascual Jr.
[12] http://www.manilamail.com/archive/apr2005/05apr14.htm
[13] Tan, Antonio, The Chinese in the Philippines, A Study of National Awakenings 1898-1935. pp. 182-183
[15] Editorial, The Tribune, June 5, 1926.
[16] Filipinas Foundation, Inc., Philippine Majority-Minority Relations and Ethnic attitudes, An In-Depth Study, 1975, pp. 89,
96
[18] Agpalo, Remegio E., The Political Process and the Nationalization of Retail Trade in the Philippines, pp. 103, 131, 193-218
José Miguel Garcia
1 comment:
Bonifacio was of Spanish blood. Does that make him our enemy? On the contrary, he is our national hero.
In the same manner, people like David Fagen, Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie and many others were Americans. Do these make them our enemies? It does not make sense. It is they, who defected on our side or have fought for the rights of nations which their own nation have abused? They are our friends.
It is the same with Alejandro Lichauco, Gen Danilo Lim and many others of Chinese blood who have come to the Philippines with love and having given so much of themselves for our nation. They are our treasures because they have contributed so much to our cause in fighting against the very people who are destroying our nation.
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