(Paraphrasing Clinton’s 1992 Campaign Slogan v/s George Bush – the father)

The next President should have one thing foremost in mind – the economy. In the Philippines, succession to power also means destruction or watering down of prior policies from the previous administration. Whether they are good or bad, everything goes down the drain; the baby along with the bath water.

The country does not know this yet but Mindanao could be engulfed in a conflagration, if Pnoy does not address the one question that will make or break his legacy.

Charter Change

I was introduced to the Comics Strips by my father in the early 50s when I started to read. I love the daily newspapers that carry them although during those years, they were mostly in black and white. I still read the comic strips even today. I simply love them. They are a good diversion from the daily fare we get from the news – what with the PDAF scams and the DAP.

Last week, we made a case of Pnoy’s blatant transgressions on the uses of DAP, which the Supreme Court decided as unconstitutional. We opened the debate on the impeachability of the acts of the President. But impeachment of a President is a ‘political process’ and commences with a bill of specifics that must emanate from the ‘lower house’. And here, numbers prevail as Pnoy has his minions in that chamber.

Now, it’s in the open and blatantly so. The President used the enormous power of the purse in order to impeach the former Chief Justice Renato Corona.The poor fellow never had a chance. And to put the last nail on the coffin – Corona faces cases of tax evasion filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and possibly disbarment which are in the hands of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) and the Supreme Court.

From a Political Movement to a Political Party

In 2009 together with a partner in TACDRUP ⃰ an NGO, supported by Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) we conceptualized the SUCCESSOR GENERATION Program. This was to be a vanguard of the youth and young professionals who will take over from us, the older generation, the responsibility of forging ahead and initiate changes in the political firmament to bring about good governance and eventually the progress of our society.

Short History of the Philippines

The Philippines by any measure of antiquity is much younger than the nations, states or political entities in Indo-China. We are an archipelago isolated from the mainland by bodies of water, the West Philippine and the South China seas. We are splintered into 7,107 Islands roughly grouped in 3 main landmasses, but none dominant and all flourishing with diverse ethnicities and languages. Our conflicts were mostly internal confined within the archipelago and characterized by the usurpation of the encroaching cultures from the south across the seas in a wave of migrations over the eons driving the low-landers to the mountains.

This is because the Philippine President controls Congress and the Judiciary!

The Executive Department, headed by Pnoy, which by our Constitution is co-equal with the other two branches of Government – the Congress and Judiciary,is in fact the ‘primus inter-pares’.

When Rey Teves, my partner was alive, we used to entertain a lot of our friends and colleagues witha duet of songs of the 60’s. Even up to the time just before his demise in November of 2009, we performed impromptu mini-concerts whenever we have small gatherings. Our repertoire contained the songs of Elvis Presley, our idol – Everly Brothers, Cliff Richard and others. According to some friends from the Student Catholic Action (SCA) days, they have heard our songs maybe a million times. Ok, so this is an exaggeration, but at least – a few thousand times – to be safe.

Status of Philippine Stab at Diplomacy

Since we started calling our fishing grounds in the West Philippine Sea as ‘PANATAG SHOALS’ and China naming it ‘HUANYANG ISLAND’ – our relationship with China began to be defined in an altogether different terms.

Centuries have passed and we never had this problem. Until possible oil fields can be extracted underneath.With China’s voracious appetite for ‘black gold’ to fuel its economy, trouble began.

On January 2013, the legal battle was ignited as the Philippines filed legal claims to U.N. Convention Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to invalidate the “Nine-dash” line of China. The complaint was rejected by the latter for they do not adhere to the policies of UNCLOS. . China is of course flexing its muscles and wants to show to the world big time that history and indeed the whole of the Pacific is hers for the taking!

China wants one-on-one talk with the Philippines. We want a multilateral one.

Where things stand now

1. A bully of a country decided to ease a weakling from the playground – as it were.
2. We have initiated talks with neighboring countries that has likewise been bullied by China; Vietnam for one.
3. We decided to come up with another agreement with the US - ‘EDCA’ – The Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. Outgoing AFP Chief General Emmanuel Bautista minced no words: “EDCA is a creative way for the Philippine Government to improve deterrence and face challenges to national security with the help of an ally, the United States...” In short, we sought out a much ‘bigger bully’ to be on our side. However, EDCA’s constitutionality remains questionable.
4. Meantime China increased military presence by putting up several structures and reportedly preparing to put up an air strip.
5. The Philippines show bluster by grounding an old unusable warship at the Ayongin Shoal since 1999, the BRP Sierra Madre, now using it to house our troops – supplying it recently with Jollibee and KFC.

Considerations as China is concerned

1. China obviously believes in ‘Might is Right’ while the Philippines sticks to the Arthurian principle embodied in Knights of the Round Table ‘Right is Might’.
2. China can impact negatively on our economy as she showed several years back when she banned our banana, pineapples and other agricultural exports.
3. China can suspend their tourist from coming to the Philippines as shown after the botched Rizal Park hostage rescue. This also showed how incompetent are uniformed personnel are.
4. It has a 1.4million standing army with modern equipment.

What do we have

1. We have God on our side since we are predominantly a Catholic Country; and Allah is on our side too for the 10% of our Muslim brothers.
2. We have 120,000 thousand soldiers for a ratio of only 1:12. Kayang-Kaya yan plus we have ‘anting-antings’. These are the bravest and courageous soldiers in the world – except we value and honor our defeats (Bataan march, etc) than our victories.
3. We have the WWII vintage BRP Gregorio del Pilar Warship and Vietnam war antiques, but Filipinos are good at repairs.
4. We have the best Coast Guards in the world – in fact 3 of them climbed Mount Everest (although we can’t count on how this will impact on Chinese fishermen raids).
5. Now presumably, we have the Americans ‘on our side’. But the problem with recruiting a bully to our side fighting another bully is – what if both agree that for their mutual economic benefits, they don’t need the Philippines after all.

Possible solutions

1. Let’s start a movement for the Philippines to be the 51st State of the USA. Thus we truly can be part of America.
2. Or, we just simply declare war against China.

The problem is – what if we win?

(Readers of this Blog are encourage to present solutions)