Affording to abrogate the U.S. VFA

In an Inquirer article http://services.inquirer.net/mobile/10/11/24/html_output/xmlhtml/20101124-304979-xml.html, Manong Johnny said "We can’t afford to abrogate VFA".

As the Senate President and as an old Ilocano Tangken Mangubat (Hardy Warrior), Laki Juan should now be one of the primary leaders to provide the Pilipino nation the affordability of abrogating the U.S. VFA.

It is now the ripe time to abrogate the U.S. VFA. to prevent the tragedy of our country again being the war zone of the U.S. military as in

1. the U.S.-Spanish War in the end of the 19th century,
   
2. the Pilipino-U.S. War at the start of the 20th century, and the
   
3. U.S.-Japan War in the 1940's.

The U.S.-China conflict is heating up and we will be devastated if we become a war zone in this gargantuan conflict between these two behemoths.

Abrogating the U.S. VFA. will also eliminate the possible escalation to participation in U.S. led wars like in

1. the Korean War in the 1950's,
   
2. the Vietnam War in the 1960's, and
   
3. the supposedly War on Terror of today.
   

This War on Terror has become the cover that has led to the permanent basing of U.S. troops in our country in stealth camps within our own military camps.

How can we afford to abrogate the U.S. VFA?

It will first, take a paradigm shift in the mindset of our leaders and fellow Pilipinos who have been educated by a U.S.-designed educational system.

It will second, take a lot of money that I think we have, and that will be more cost effective if done the thrifty and no-corrupt way. It will even develop the local economy, technology and industry.

A short initial shopping list will be:

1. Stand-up even just 5 fighters from more reliable suppliers like France and Russia. Their Mirage2000 or Sukhoi 30 would be great.
2. Fit the best patrol boats of the navy with SSM and SAM systems, also from reliable suppliers.
3. Start a subnarine force with a second-hand coastal unit that can then be locally manufactured in the future.
4. Revive the self-reliance program of the AFP specially in rockets/missiles, small arms, armor, patrol boats, light aircraft
5. Air and surface radar system
   

Contrary to what some legal luminaries say that the U.S. VFA is a treaty, based on our Constitution it is not as it was not ratified by the U.S. Congress as required for by our Constitution.

Thus we can legally unilaterally abrogate the U.S. VFA, though the question is will the U.S. let us without a coup d'etat. And do we have the ukel?

Lessons from the Luneta hostage incident

Lessons from the Luneta hostage incident

First off, let me offer my condolences to the families of the hostages that died at the incident. It’s very sad as they were guests in our country.

I will not engage in fault finding here but rather provide possible solutions that will lower the probability of a similar outcome in the future. My source of data is basically what were shown on television.

1. Our policemen showed dedication to duty but were ill-trained, ill-equipped and with no proper standard operating procedures. I have read in the past that there are units that are specially trained in this kind of situation but it seems they were not used here. Maybe turf conflicts? The proper standard operating procedures or protocol, training, and equipment must now be implemented immediately.
2. The media, egged on by their seal to produce news and maybe even ratings, inadvertantly provided the hostage-taker with situational awareness that he should not have. A protocol for media coverage must now be implemented for these kinds of situations. But I am sure the media will try to use all its powers to oppose and circumvent this.
3. The bus was not properly isolated from people and communications. Thus the need for proper crowd control, cellphone signal blocker, TV signal jammer, etc. for situations like this.
4. The negotiator did a good job initially and was able to secure the release of hostages. Our negotiators must be well-versed with Pilipino behavioral patterns, as their negotiator training came from Western training that is based on Western behavior.
5. The handling of the hostage-taker’s family backfired. Assuming that the brother was feeding information to the hostage-taker, he was already isolated and effectively neutralized. No need already for the dramatics that angered the hostage-taker.
6. Assuming that the Office of the Ombudsman was lax in responding to the letters of the hostage-taker, this may be due to the inordinate time that government employees spend on the Internet doing personal unofficial tasks during official office hours. The government must now manage this waste both in time and money spent on inappropriate and unneeded ICT systems.
7. The Office of the Ombudsman should be investigated on how it handled the hostage-taker’s case that ignited this incident. I hope it is not similar to the way it handled the Aroyo cases.

Moving forward, let us extend all the courtesies to the victims and their families. Tourism inflow will surely dip on the short term but with genuine reforms in the management of this kind of situation, that I hope the news media will cover, tourism will surely recover. And our people will have renewed confidence on our police to properly handle such situations in the future.

Anti Poor - Proposed 12 year Basic Education

The proposed 12 year Basic Education program of the Department of Education is anti poor. It is anti poor because:

1. It adds two years expenses for parents before their children can graduate - at least 20% more expenses that could have been used for other basic needs such as food, clothing, housing, health, etc.
2. It adds at least 20% more costs to the government that could have been used for more important productive uses such as irrigation systems, roads, agricultural production facilities, health, reforestation, Exclusive Economic Zone protection, water systems, waterway rehabilitation, housing, etc., etc.
3. 20% more students are in the non-productive mode in the education system, rather than in the productive employment mode.

The only sectors that I can see who will benefit from the proposed 12 year Basic Education program, and who will naturally support this are:

1. School owners - it will mean 20% more students resulting to higher revenues and profits
2. Book publishers - it will mean 20% more books resulting to higher revenues and profits
3. School supplies businesses - it will mean 20% more school supplies resulting to higher revenues and profits
4. Construction companies - it will mean a one time 20% more buildings and facilities resulting to higher revenues and profits
5. School bus operators - it will mean 20% more students to transport resulting to higher revenues and profits

As we can see, it´s the rich business owners who will benefit from the proposed 12 year Basic Education program. And the poor who will suffer the consequences.

The rationale for the proposed 12 year Basic Education program is that our graduates pale in comparison to the graduates of those countries that have 12 year Basic Education program, like the U.S. I beg to disagree with this as our high school graduates are as competitive in the entrance examinations to U.S. colleges and Universities. Our college graduates are also in high demand by foreign employers.

It is accepted that the Basic Education program needs to be improved. But it should not be anti poor that will lead to the situation where more of the poor will become Out Of School Youth, thus continuing and exacerbating the poverty cycle.

Instead, what must be done is to make the present Basic Education program more affordable to the poor and universally available. The money for the additional 2 year levels should be spent on this, instead of spending it to benefit the richer sectors of the society.

The main things that should be done are:

1. Maintain 1:30 teacher to student ratio in every class
2. Maintain 1:1 class to classroom ratio in every school
3. Concentrate on Reading, Writing, and Values on the first two years
4. Stop the textbook churn where textbooks are constantly changed, benefiting only the book publishers and corrupt officials while producing error-prone books
5. Standardize school building designs that can be used as calamity evacuation areas, to reduce cost and corruption
6. Provide all teachers access to computers to ease their work load and research
7. Stop all demolition of school buildings until no. 2 above is reached, and require repairs instead
8. Increase the basic salary of teachers to P25,000 per month
9. Use Information and Communications Technology such as the computer, Internet, cell phone, radio, television, to make education accessible to all

The primary objective of the Basic Education program is to graduate productive and nationalistic Pilipinos.

ANGAT PILIPINO

The Angat Pilipino is a large helium balloon tethered to the ground that shall be utilized as a ride and observing platform for 50 people at a time. It uses Manila hemp as tether with a carabao-and-cart design as ground connection. Thrusters are installed to auto stabilize the whole structure. Pilipino symbols are used as design inspirations for balloon and gondola – Pilipino eagle, duyan, jeepney.

The site grounds are modeled after the Ifugao rice terraces, an often overlooked Pilipino accomplishment that surpasses the Great Wall of China. Buildings on the ground will be based on the bahay kubo, bahay na bato, bahay sa kahoy, Mindanaoan house, Cordillera house and other Pilipino architectural designs.

An option for thrill-seekers is the ability to slide down as a thrill ride. There will be 20 minutes per ride to maximum altitude. Binoculars will be provided on board together with video cameras connected to wide screen T. V.’s inside and in the buildings on the ground.

It follows the London and Singapore wheels concept of an attention getting-structure expressing a Pilipino art and inspiration to greater Pilipino accomplishments.


© Sulong Pilipino
18 April 2009

Why we Pilipinos lost in the 2010 Electronic Elections, Or How to build a more Pro Pilipino Election System

Even assuming that the 2010 Electronic Elections is implemented flawlessly, we Pilipinos already lost. We lost at least P7 billion leasing a system that can only be used once, and that will remain the property of Smartmatic. Oh they can do a PR by donating these machines to the COMELEC since the money they were paid surely have covered the cost plus of the machines. But in 3 years time in the next elections most of these will already be faulty.

We lost because most of the money will go out of the Philippines.

We lost because instead of employing mostly local experts in the hardware and software, we did not.

We lost because instead of assembling the hardware here, it was done in China.

We lost because, as Jun Lozada said, it was again vendor-driven instead of user-driven.

In the next elections, we have to implement a more pro Pilipino Election system.

Where after the election the hardware can be used for educational purposes

Where local experts are employed in the design and manufacture

Where assembly happens in the Philippines

Where the software is open source and open to everyone to assess its security

Where there are no ballots to transport

Where additional communications facilities built for it can be used later for public interest use

The concept design of Appropriate Systems is

PC–based with open source software using a cellphone to transmit and printing out a receipt

It is GUI touchscreen with 2 panels, the candidates on the left and the selected ones on the right

Receipt will be deposited on the ballot box for audit purposes

02 May 2010 23:15

13 Legacies of the Aroyo Misadministration

I will not run in the 2004 Elections

I am sorry in Garci tape 2004 Elections scandal

US military bases hidden in Philippine military camps under the cover of VFA

ZTE, Northrail and other anti-Pilipino deals

Wholesale leasing of large agricultural lands to foreigners

Opening up of the economy to foreigners at the expense of Pilipinos, specially in mining

Sale of government assets to foreigners, specially sure profit utilities – water, electric, toll roads

Standing down Philippine external defenses

Electric brownouts

Massive agricultural products importation and smuggling instead of local production

Massive foreign borrowings

No ready access for Overseas and in-country Pilipinos to high yield government investment instruments

Billions spent on foreign trips

ETC ETC ETC ……………………………………



Sagot nila

Infrastructure – maraming galing utang, at negosyo ng dayuhan

Financial reforms – na lalong nagbukas ng ekonomiya para mas makinabang ang dayuhan

War on Terror – na nagbigay ng cover sa pagbabalik ng permanenteng foreign military forces



Matalino at masipag nga, sa mga nailahad sa itaas.

Talo ang Pilipino!

Will the Philippines become China's southernmost province in 2050?