Dear Gloria en Mike

Nung kayo ay nakaupo sa palasyo,
Konstitusyon ay sinalaula, nilapastangan, ginarapal nyo,
Ngayong gusto nyong takasan ang mga kaso,
Pakiramdam nyo karapatan nyo ay inaabuso!

Batas Militar sa Ilalim ni Arroyo: Malinaw at Kasalukuyang Panganib

Batas Militar sa Ilalim ni Arroyo: Malinaw at Kasalukuyang Panganib

Nung nakalipas na 37 taon ay idineklera ni Pangulong Marcos ang batas militar. Daang daang aktibista ng inaresto at tinortyur. Ang mga organisasyong kritikal kay marcos ay idineklarang illegal. Ang mga demonstrasyon ay violently dispersed. Repression of the media became rampant.; under marcos an estimated 70, 000 became victims of extra judicial killings. Torture and enforced disappearances. More than 3,000 were executed and nearly 800 went missing. 37 years later justice still eludes the victims of the brutal regime. They have never been identified. Worse it seemed as though the marcoses never left. Today martial law activists are convinced that arroyo is worse than marcos. Karapatan, the human rights groups has documented more than 1000 victims of extra judicial killings and more than 200 victims of enforced disappearances. September 21, 2009 the first quarter storm activists joined thousands of others in calling for an end to the fascist arroyo regime.
Kahit walang pormal na deklarasyon ng Martial Law katulad noon ay nandyan naman ung ginagawa nila na yang mga lider ay kinakasuhan nila ng mga gawa-gawang kasong kriminal. Tinatakot, dinudukot, inaaresto, tinotortyur, at pinapatay. Kahit may kaluwagan pero ang pagmamalupit ay patuloy pa rin. At nandyan ang banta na anumang oras gaya ng rehimeng Arroyo ngayon na gagawin niya ang lahat manatili lang sa kapangyarihan sukdulang ipataw niya ang batas militar kung hindi na uubra yung kanyang Chacha, at iba pang maniobra para manatili sa kapangyarihan. Mas malupit ngayon ang panahon kasi nung araw ay iniimbitahan ka pa eh, ngayon hindi ka na iimbitahan, kinakasuhan ka na, kinukuha ka na. Mahirap ngayon kasi sa paglabag sa karapatang pantao, kasali yung pangkabuhayang aspeto, hindi lang naman yung pulitika. Mas maraming gutom ngayon, Mas maraming walang trabaho, mas maraming mahihirap kaysa nung panahon ni Marcos. Nag iba yung sitwasyon at mas tumitindi yung extra-judicial na mga pagpatay. Ngayon, mas garapal lang yung patayan. Si Marcos ginagamit niya yung batas pero pumapatay din. Itong kay Gloria garapalan, pupuntahan ka sa bahay at papatayin ka na lang kahit na sino o nasaan ka. Talagang desperado ang isang sistemang ito. Ang batas militar ay maaring mangyari lalo na kung lalakas ang mass movement. Ang nangyaring deklarasyon ng batas militar nung panahon ni Marcos ay nung lumakas ang mass movement na daang daang libo ang nagmamartsa sa kalye. At lingguhan ang labanan at pabigat ng pabigat hindi lamang dito sa Metro Manila kundi sa buong kapuluan. Ito ang nagtulak kay Marcos na ideklara ang batas militar. Nakataya na yung isang sistema. Pangitang pangita na naghahanda na si Gloria na magdeklara ng batas militar. Pangitang pangita na kinokonti konti nya ang pagkopya sa ginawa ni Marcos na pagdeklara ng batas militar. Nakikita sa senyales ng panahon na makakatikim na naman tayo ng batas militar sa kamay naman ni Gloria, pulitikal na pagsupil at pasistang gawi sa kanyang gobyerno.

* Ang mga pananaw sa taas ay nagmula kina: 1. Albert Abelar - First Quarter Storm President, 2. Ted Villafuerte - FQS Member, 3. Orlando Castillo - FQS Member

Palace Stinks with Scandals

By Eliza Victoria, Cyril Bonabente
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 04:59:00 07/25/2009

Filed Under: Graft & Corruption, Government, Government Contracts
MANILA, Philippines — Scandals have hounded virtually every Philippine president but only a few of them have had to deal with scandals of the same scale that hound President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to this day.
Using her awesome powers, including executive privilege that shields her Cabinet advisers and military officers from congressional investigation, Ms Arroyo has survived them all.
But the truth behind the scandals has escaped the public.
The scandals presented here are stories without endings, stories about countless hearings, witnesses who recanted, investigations that got nowhere, real issues confused and charges recommended but never filed.
* Hello Garci (2005)
Allegations that Ms Arroyo and then Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano conspired during taped conversations to rig the 2004 presidential election sparked the most dangerous political crisis to face her administration.
Ms Arroyo apologized to the nation in an “I am sorry” speech, Congress held numerous hearings, street protests erupted and senior presidential advisers resigned.
The opposition also tried to impeach her. But Ms Arroyo’s loyal House allies crushed all attempts.
* NBN-ZTE project (2007)
Businessman Joey de Venecia said a $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) contract with China’s ZTE Corp. was overpriced by $130 million to cover kickbacks.
De Venecia and former government consultant Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada claimed the President’s husband, Jose Miguel (Mike) Arroyo, and then Commission on Elections Chair Benjamin Abalos were involved in bribery to get the project approved. Both denied any wrongdoing.
Abalos resigned from the Comelec and was later charged with graft before the Ombudsman. Malacañang scrapped the deal.
* Jose Pidal (2003)
Sen. Panfilo Lacson accused Mike Arroyo of amassing more than P200 million from campaign contributions and putting the money in secret bank accounts, some under the name of “Jose Pidal.”
Mike Arroyo’s brother, Ignacio (Iggy), claimed he owned the Pidal accounts but invoked his right to privacy.
In 2004, Malacañang balked at the reopening of the Senate probe, saying it was a “dead issue.”
* Fertilizer fund scam (2004)
Weeks before the presidential election, Lacson accused Ms Arroyo of “virtual vote-buying,” saying she authorized the release of P728 million to favored officials to buy fertilizers and pesticides for their constituents even though it was harvest season.
The Senate committee on agriculture, together with the blue ribbon committee, concluded that Ms Arroyo should be “held accountable” for mismanaging the agricultural fund. The Commission on Audit said the fertilizers were overpriced by 682 percent or P128 million.
The blue ribbon committee recommended the filing of plunder and other charges against Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-joc” Bolante and nine others, who denied the charges.
* Jueteng (2005)
Two “bagmen” and an operator of the illegal numbers game “jueteng” told the Inquirer they had given protection money to Mike Arroyo and his congressman-son, Juan Miguel (“Mikey”).
Several witnesses—Sandra Cam, Richard Garcia and Demosthenes Abraham Riva—told a Senate hearing that Mike Arroyo, Mikey Arroyo and Iggy Arroyo had been receiving payola from jueteng operations in Bicol. The Arroyos rejected the accusations.
Witnesses Garcia and Riva retracted their testimony.
* Cash handouts (2007)
Ms Arroyo had breakfast at Malacañang with over 100 congressmen and around 200 local officials. They were given paper bags containing between P200,000 and P500,000.
Ms Arroyo’s Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) party and the League of Provinces of the Philippines said the money came from them to fund projects and help their members, and that Ms Arroyo knew nothing about it.
Former Speaker Jose de Venecia said the money was a bribe to quash an impeachment case against Ms Arroyo.
* World Bank loan (2007)
The World Bank put on hold a $232-million loan for national road improvement projects after bid rigging was uncovered. It blacklisted seven firms.
Lacson said witnesses in a World Bank report implicated Mike Arroyo and others in the irregularity. The bank said the report was “strictly confidential.”
* NorthRail (2003)
The $503-million NorthRail mass transit project calls for diesel-powered trains to carry passengers from Caloocan City to Malolos City in Bulacan province, or vice versa, in 30 minutes.
An expert told the Inquirer the proposed railway is simply an upgrading of the old Philippine National Railways (PNR) system and that its trains could hardly compare with the electric-powered trains of the LRT and MRT.
Former Sen. Franklin Drilon called the project “the greatest train robbery in history.” In April this year, Ms Arroyo approved a $317-million increase in the cost of the project.
* SouthRail (2007)
SouthRail is a $932-million project to link Laguna to Bicol provinces through a high-speed train service funded by a loan from China.
Lozada said SouthRail was overpriced by 22 percent, or about $70 million.
* Transco (2007)
Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp. won the right to operate the national power grid system of the National Transmission Corp. (Transco).
Alleging a “conflict of interest,” senators said the official in charge of privatization, Jose Ibazeta, was a boardroom ally of businessman Enrique Razon Jr. of Monte Oro. Razon, treasurer of the administration’s 2004 senatorial team, also heads the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI), of which Ibazeta is director.
* Venable (2005)
National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales and US lobby firm Venable LLP signed an agreement that would help the administration seek US funding for the Philippines’ shift to a parliamentary system.
Ms Arroyo scrapped the deal because it “became unnecessarily controversial.”

Why the Downfall of the United States of America’s Economy Inevitable

There is an ongoing economic crisis ongoing in the United States right now and for me the main reasons are the following:
1. overproduction
2. greed for power
3. global militarization

I. Overproduction – in order to preserve their power over the third-world countries, they mass produced things which are not really that important. Overproduction is meant as excessive production; supply beyond the demand. This leads to lower prices and/ or unsold goods. This overproduction therefore produces unrequired features that the customer does not value. This is what we call imperialism. What do we mean by imperialism? Imperialism is defined as:
a) The practice of one country extending its control over the territory, political system, or economic life of another country.
b) The complete control of a weaker nation’s social, economic, and political life by a stronger nation.
c) Economic control gained through the corporate organization of nation states.
d) The belief in empire-building; a belief that one is entitled to conquer other nations.
e) A policy in which stronger nations attempt to create empires by dominating weaker nations economically, politically, or militarily; also called expansionism.
f) The policy of forcefully extending a nation’s authority by territorial gain or by the establishment of economic and political dominance over other nations.


II. Greed - excessive desire for getting or having, esp. wealth; desire for more than one needs or deserves; avarice; cupidity. Power - The state or quality of being physically strong: brawn, might, muscle, potence, potency, powerfulness, puissance, sinew, strength, thew. They (the United States of America) supremely believed that they have the divine power (Manifest Destiny) over all the other nations. Manifest Destiny is a concept of U.S. territorial expansion westward to the Pacific Ocean. The phrase was coined in 1845 by the editor John L. O'Sullivan, who described the U.S. annexation of Texas and, by extension, the occupation of the rest of the continent as a divine right of the American people. The term was used to justify the U.S. annexation of Oregon, New Mexico, and California and later U.S. involvement in Alaska, Hawaii, and the Philippines.


III. Militarization - act of assembling and putting into readiness for war or other emergency: "mobilization of the troops".
War is defined as the following:
1. A vying with others for victory or supremacy: battle, competition, contest, corrivalry, race, rivalry, strife, striving, struggle, tug of war, warfare.
2. A state of open, prolonged fighting: belligerency, conflict, confrontation, hostility (used in plural), strife, struggle, warfare.
3. A state of disagreement and disharmony: clash, conflict, confrontation, contention, difference, difficulty, disaccord, discord, discordance, dissension, dissent, dissentience, dissidence, dissonance, faction, friction, inharmony, schism, strife, variance, warfare.

Conclusion:
The United States of America is the main arms manufacturer (weapons of mass-destruction) in the world. Where there exists conflict, the U.S. benefit from it. Where there is civil war, the U.S. always has a hand on it. They spend too much on militarization with the hope that they take control of the economic, political and cultural aspects particularly of third-world countries all over the world. They declare that they are the police of the world, the champions of democracy when in fact they are the real enemies. They are an imperialist monster masquerading as an ally and friend. Their anarchic mass productions boomeranged on them. They have wasted so much time and effort producing products which are of no value at all. They have loaned so much money to poor countries with high interests but these poor countries couldn’t pay in return. I t therefore conclude that the downfall of the United States economy is inevitable because a wrongdoing can never be right. In the end, the right shall prevail.