Shameless endorsement

By Rey O. Arcilla
MANILA – Seven former American ambassadors to the Philippines (Stephen Bosworth, Thomas Hubbard, Richard Murphy, Nicholas Platt, Francis Ricciardone, Richard Solomon, and Frank Wisner), one former assistant secretary of state (Chester A. Crocker) and the two persons responsible for the so-called Philippine Facilitation Project of the US Institute for Peace (G. Eugene Martin and Astrid Tuminez) issued last week a joint commentary on the aborted MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) creating the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity.
(The MOA was to have given the rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) full control of areas in Mindanao which are larger than that approved by the government in a plebiscite that led to the creation of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Strong opposition from all sectors of society forced President Arroyo to scrap the MOA).
The commentary smacks of a shameless endorsement of the insidious MOA. I suppose that’s to be expected considering the US was partly responsible for its crafting for reasons known only to her.
Following are excerpts from the commentary:
“The suspended agreement would have gone far in resolving longstanding disputes over the “ancestral domain” claimed by Mindanao’s competing ethno-linguistic and religious communities. The agreement would give communities in Mindanao substantially more autonomy in (the) conduct of local affairs and use of local resources while remaining part of the sovereign national entity. The Islamic minority would be better able to preserve its culture and identity in the face of the majority’s dominant culture. Manila would be able to reduce military expenditures and devote more resources to resolving poverty and social problems. Both parties would reap the rewards of increased stability in the region.
“Something very much like the recently suspended agreement would have tobe part of any future settlement. Authoritative expert negotiators on both sides believed they had crafted an agreement that all could accept.
While the agreement was a compromise, its aim was to serve as a valuable starting point for more comprehensive negotiations.”

If the foregoing is not an outright endorsement of the MOA, I don’t know what is.

Incidentally, there is no mention at all in the entire commentary of the need to protect and preserve Philippine sovereignty and territorial integrity.
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The hype and hoopla that attend the current US presidential election campaign – the surveys, the seemingly inexhaustible comments/analyses by innumerable pundits, commentators and hat-have-you – only serve to muddle something which in reality is a pretty simple decision that the American voters will have to make: Do they want four more years of George “Dumbya” Bush? If so, they should vote for Republican John McCain. If not, then they should vote for the Democrat candidate with a funny name, Barack Obama.

I personally feel there is nothing that now stands between Barack and the White House- not McCain, not Palin. (Have you noticed how shrill Palin sounds when asked a question to which she has no answer? That looks to me like she is beginning to lose the supreme confidence she displayed when she accepted the Republican nomination for the vice presidency.)

If there is anything at all that can stop Obama from becoming the next US president, it would be a bullet from the gun of an assassin.

Oh, there is also racism, which is alive and well, among the white majority in America .

***

When I think of all the bum deals we have gotten and are getting from the United States with whom we are supposed to have “special” relations, there are two that really make me bristle with anger and frustration.

The first is when the denizens in Washington rescinded some sixty years ago the legislation that was to give Filipino WWII veterans the same benefits as their American comrades-in-arms.

And now, the bill that was supposed to rectify that grave injustice done to our veterans is as good as dead. With the $700 billion bailout for failed Wall Street firms just approved by the US Congress, it is most unlikely that the veterans? bill will be revived this year. In fact, the US recession coupled with a new Congress composition by January 2009 mitigates against the bill being revived ever. Still, I hope I am wrong on both counts.

In the meantime, the 18,000 Filipino would-be beneficiaries will be dying at a rate faster than normal because of their advanced age. Tragic!

Incidentally, the Arroyo regime, through our embassy in Washington , signed a six-month contract with a lobbying firm for $500,000 for, among others, the expressed purpose of having the veterans bill passed by the US Congress. The six months are over. There goes half a million dollars of people’s money down the drain.

The second bum deal that really grates is the US refusal to clean up the toxic wastes they left behind in the former Clark and Subic bases.

People are dying in the affected areas. What is our government doing to address the problem?
(Mr. Arcilla is retired ambassador who once served at the United Nations and other top coutries.)
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GSIS spokesperson Estrella Elamparo insists that the government pension fund has minimal investments in the US, but she won?t say how much and where.
(Mr. Garcia used to be a Philippine ambassador to the United Nations and other countries.-ED)

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