It’s more ‘creeping’ in the Philippines!

Remember all that nasty talk about what’s happening to our country under President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, when we discovered that he was virtually “sleeping with the enemy” when he allowed known supporters of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) to be included in his administration? Some pundits called it “creeping communism.” Frankly speaking, that’s not a too farfetch scenario given the fact that today the CPP is in their strongest position in decades! I know that the CPP agenda is for total control of the Philippines by the year 2013… that’s just six months from now, so you can really say… that there’s a lot of creeping going on inside Malacañang.

Speaking of the communists, for decades, the Philippines and China were never at odds with each other and lived peacefully… until that infamous, albeit embarrassing Hong Kong hostage incident at the Quirino Grandstand where 8 Hong Kong tourists were killed by a deranged, although highly decorated police officer. But since PNoy refused to apologize for that incident it resulted in a crack between Chinese and Philippine relations.

This crack between China and the Philippines has now widened into a chasm called Scarborough Shoal or as we call it the Panatag Shoal or Huangyan Island as the Chinese would call it. Although the Philippine Navy has already retreated from that disputed isle, the Chinese vessels are still there. Hence we have already lost that part of the Philippines to China. Now can we call it a “creeping invasion” by the Chinese? Might as well call it that!

Now if you looked at recent historical events more seriously when the Senate impeachment court convicted Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Renato Corona for an article that many pundits still insist was not an impeachable offense, this situation has now resulted in a “creeping dictatorship.” We’ve been warning you about this possibility if and when CJ Corona would be ousted and it is already happening in this country.

Whether we like it or not, P-Noy who heads the Executive branch of the government now has in his pockets the Legislative branch where both Senate and Congress delivered on a silver platter the ousted head of CJ Corona and now he controls the Judiciary. No Filipino politician since the Marcos Dictatorship had such full control of all three branches of the Philippine government.

That’s not all! Last May 23rd, there was that one-page manifesto entitled “Unite to Defend Democracy and Build the Nation!” that was printed in The

Philippine STAR, which we wrote in this corner a couple of weeks before it was published. I gathered that many religious leaders, not just from the Catholic Church, but also from the other Christian sects have already signed this manifesto. What then should we call this… a “Creeping Revolution?”

Mind you, the message of that Manifesto is crystal clear… it is a call for the preservation of our democratic ideals, where the separate, but co- equal branches of the government must be truly independent of each other. This is no longer the situation in the Philippines with all branches of the government under the full control of the President.

That manifesto seeks to change our system of governance… not just a change of leaders. Hence, it is no doubt

seeking constitutional reforms hopefully through a constitutional convention (con-con), but unfortunately that is not happening soon. So how can they push for those changes? Perhaps it could be through a People’s Initiative… if that is still possible. Other than that, there is nothing else on the table except… through a revolution.

Hence one can suspect that this kind of revolt is a revolt against the well-entrenched dictatorship of 24 politicians. Mind you, in February 1986, an anguished Filipino people led by our church leaders marched to EDSA to remove the Marcos dictatorship and divine providence made it happen. But instead of coming up with a system of governance that would finally free the Filipino people from the slavery of poverty, the Cory government came up with a Constitution that perpetuates ugly dynastic politicians. Hence from one man rule, we ended with 24 mini-dictators in the Senate.

Finally the hot issue of the day is once again about the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) where US military forces would now be able to use their old military bases in Clark and Subic. We already saw that a few weeks ago when the nuclear submarine USS North Carolina docked in Subic Bay. Is this the reason why P-Noy is being “summoned” by US President Barack Obama to the White House? But we thought that the “Magnificent 12” Senators already booted out the US military from their bases on Sept. 16, 1991? Should we call this a “Creeping return of America to our shores?” Call it what you want but it is definitely more “creeping” in the Philippines!