Troublemaker

By REY O. ARCILLA
MALAYA

‘China’s aggressiveness in dealing with her smaller neighbors is plain to see. And it’s quite different from the image she has been trying to project, i.e., that of a country on a “peaceful rise.’

IS China losing her cool that she now resorts to name-calling? Imagine her calling us a “troublemaker”! If memory serves, we were quietly guarding our Panatag Shoal over a year ago when a flotilla of Chinese warships came barging in and claiming it as her own. And now she wants to take over our Ayungin Shoal too?! That makes us a “troublemaker”?! Please…!

Worse, she now threatens us with the use of force by issuing a warning that a “counterstrike” against us was “inevitable” if we continued to provoke her. How? By continuing to occupy what is ours? Please…!

Or is she just being carried away by the apparent supreme self-confidence she now seems to possess by virtue of her immense wealth? Could it also be due to a growing sense of invincibility? That’s dangerous.

Her aggressiveness in dealing with her smaller neighbors is plain to see. And it’s quite different from the image she has been trying to project, i.e., that of a country on a “peaceful rise”. Her actions are also inconsistent with her responsibility as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council which is charged with the promotion and maintenance of international peace and security under the UN Charter.

Even the condescending manner with which her foreign minister Wang Yi treats some of his Asean counterparts is unbecoming. For instance, he was reported to have facetiously offered to Foreign Secretary Albert “Amboy” del Rosario China’s help to extricate the Philippine Navy’s grounded ship on Ayungin Shoal now used by our troops as their shelter. That was uncalled for.

In this regard, I applaud Del Rosario for standing up to his Chinese counterpart by debunking what the latter claims as Philippine acts of provocation in the disputed isles during one of the restricted sessions in Brunei.

Someone also asked, is China going berserk? I don’t think so. I think what she is doing is telling the world that no one messes with China anymore, that she is no longer the pushover abused by past imperial powers. Fair enough… but surely she must know that those same erstwhile abusive powers are no longer the powerful countries they once were. There’s a lesson to be learned there.

And so, I ask, who is the real troublemaker?

***

With the report confirmed by Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin that there are no more Chinese ships in Panatag, I believe we should forthwith send back ours ships to “re-possess” what is ours. Let us see how China will react. If she turns back and shoots at us, we shoot back. Hopefully, no one dies. But isn’t that what protecting our national interest ultimately means? It entails what our troops themselves say is the supreme sacrifice.

If that happens which, again, hopefully won’t, then we would once and for all know where those who claim to be our friends stand. It’s about time they showed us if they are truly friends in need and in deed.

After all, hadn’t Noynoy just approved the giving of access to US, Japan and other allies’ forces to our military bases saying we need all the help we can get “in enhancing our defense capabilities and in dealing specifically with China’s growing military presence in the West Philippine Sea”?

“If we don’t get in touch with them (allies) in putting order to our system in cases of conflict, then I think that is the kind of wrong preparation. So, they also need someone who knows our terrain, and we also need inter-operability with them,” was his rather convoluted explanation of his decision.

Noynoy said that the access arrangement will only be temporary. On this, his nephew, the newly-elected senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV said he wants to find out just what a temporary access to the bases would mean especially in the context of the Constitution and the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the Philippines and the US.

“Temporary is a complicated word. ‘Temporary’ could be one year, three, 10 or 25 years,” Aquino said. I wonder what his uncle would say to that.

***

I find it absolutely strange that Malacañang, as of this writing (July 8), has not said anything about the allegation that water concessionaires Maynilad (Manny Pangilinan, et.al) and Manila Water (Ayala) have been passing on to water consumers their corporate income taxes amounting to P15.5 billion from 2008 to 2012 or P3.1 billion a year. They allegedly even charge to the consumers expenses on travel, foreign exchange differential, project costs, cost of arbitration in court, donations, contributions and promotions! Ano ba ‘yan?! Grabe!

The MWSS Regulatory Office allowed the private concessionaires to do so in a resolution adopted in 2008. Under their Concession Agreements (CAs) with the MWSS, consumers will shoulder their income taxes up to P64.1 billon for Maynilad and P68.7 billion for Manila Water till 2037, the year their CAs expire.

How could something as detestable, unconscionable and condemnable as this be overlooked by President Noynoy Aquino, especially as it affects the vast majority of his bosses? Is he losing his touch?

I would not be surprised if something akin to what happened at the National Irrigation Administration is happening at the MWSS in terms of inefficiency or mismanagement. Or even bad practices which could include graft and corruption.

******

The Komisyon ng Wikang (F)Pilipino proposes to rename the country from “Pilipinas” to “Filipinas”. (Do we now have an “F” in our alphabet?).

The Komisyon said the proposal “would promote the official and modern name of the country and could unite Filipinos with a better sense of history”. I sense that the Komisyon also had in mind distancing ourselves from our colonial past.

If that is the case, why not find another name that would be truly our own? But certainly “Philippines”, “Pilipinas” and “Filipinas” will not do since they were all derived from the name of King Philip II of Spain. What we can do is to follow the examples of Myanmar (Burma), Benin (Dahomey), Burkina Faso (Upper Volta) or Zimbabwe (Rhodesia). Their previous names were given by their former colonial masters as well.

Since we have a penchant for being overly generous and hospitable to foreigners and having an inexplicable tendency to readily surrender our sovereignty to other powers, why not “Republic of Suckeroo”?

Seriously now, I would urge the Komisyon to look for a more appropriate name than the colonial “Filipinas”.

***

Reminders (for Noynoy’s action):

1) Filing of charges against officials of the National Food Authority (NFA) during Arroyo’s illegitimate regime. Noynoy himself said on several occasions that there is documentary evidence to prove the venalities in the past in that agency.

2) Investigation of reported anomalies in the GSIS during the watch of Winston Garcia and ordering his successor, Robert Vergara, to file the proper charges, if warranted, against the former.

Noynoy should also order Vergara to report to him on COA’s findings that:

(a) He received the obscenely excessive compensation of p16.36 million last year making him the highest paid government servant and;

(b) That at least 4.13 billion in contributions and loan payments made by 12 government offices to the GSIS had not been credited to the offices as of Dec. 31, 2011.

COA also said the amount of unrecorded remittances could go much higher because only 36 agencies have so far responded out of the 186 that were sent confirmation requests by government auditors. Of the 36, 27 confirmed “discrepancies” in their premium and loan payments ledgers when compared with those of the GSIS.

There are three questions being raised when remittances, or parts thereof, of government agencies are not recorded by the GSIS on time: a) Where are these huge sums “parked” in the meantime?; b) Do they earn interest?; and c) To where (whom?) does the interest, if any, go?

3) Facilitating the investigation of rampant corruption in the military and police establishments.

4) Expeditious action by the AFP on the case of Jonas Burgos.

***

Today is the 72nd day of the seventh year of Jonas Burgos’ disappearance.

Whatever happened to Noynoy’s directive to the NBI to conduct a “focused, dedicated and exhaustive” probe of what really happened to Jonas?! Your bosses want to know, Mr. President.

***

From an internet friend:

WHY DID GOD MAKE MOTHERS?

Answers given by 2nd grade school children:

1) She’s the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.

2) Mostly to clean the house.

3) To help us out of there when we were getting born.

***

Email: roacrosshairs@outlook.com