The Balangiga bells and other unfulfilled Duterte campaign inanities

There was so much media frency on the return of the Balangiga bells that my ears and my eyes hurt. Don't misinterpret me-- I am not undermining this event. This means a lot to many people. 

It means metaphorically, the "normalization" of RP-US relations, according to the Inquirer. What to me is significant in this is the recognition of the US of the Philippines as standing toe to toe before its previous colonial master. The return of these bells just shows respect, respect to a long-standing ally whose sons and daughters sacrificed even their own lives fighting wars not of their own.

Some quarters however, are trumpeting this as a triumph of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. Yes, Duterte's rants may have contributed towards the return of the Balangiga bells. However, it was not Duterte who first raised the issue of the return of these bells to the Philippines. This issue has been festering in the public sphere since 2010. And Mr. Duterte just assumed it as his own "crusade."

But, how many more of Mr. Duterte's electoral promises are still unfulfilled? His anti-drugs war is right now a tattered one, gored by several sectors who questioned the morality and the efficacy of such a campaign. Fifteen thousand people dead and rising, yet, shabu is still being sold in the streets, millions are still living like zombies and many tons more of the white powdery stuff being smuggled out of our ports. Those largely responsible for that 6.3 billion peso smuggling controversy at the Bureau of Customs came out of it unscathed.

His campaign against ENDO went awry, with Mr. Duterte succumbing to the wiles of the oligarchs whom he promised to tame during this administration. Instead of being tamed, these oligarchs are currently on a rampage, with each carving his own image at Mr. Duterte's administration. The fact is, Mr. Duterte has his own set of oligarchs, now squezing every juice that they can get from their affinity with the mayor of Davao.

Prices of commodities, goods, and services went up as Mr. Duterte ordered his budget secretary to get trillions from our incomes to fund his massive infrastructure dream. What is now happening, if we are to believe Senator Panfilo Lacson and Majority Floor Leader and former budget secretary himself Andaya, favored contractors managed to get billions from the trillion peso budget.

Andaya and several other congressmen alleged that Duterte's budget secretary Benjamin Diokno himself inserted several millions worth of projects into the budget and assigned it to one favored contractor--- C Leoncio Trading and Construction which according to Andaya is a single proprietorship.

If this is happening today, think of what would happen the minute the budget is now at the hands of bureacrat capitalists managing the affairs of a federated region. As usual, public funds will simply be siphoned off to the joy of favored contractors of every federated region. Graft and corruption will simply be decentralized to these political sub-units, and it will surely affect the lives of millions.

Think of the monumental political mess a Federalist setup would bring to this country. UNfortunately blinded by her still lofty political ambition, Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo wants nothing more than shove the proposal to our throats, a bitter pill filled with explosive poisonous bile that would surely place the very future of our sons and daughters into extreme jeopardy.

Why do we want such a Federated regional setup? Because China has the very same legislative setup. Why is there so much effort to develop Pampanga, Zambales and Bataan areas? You guessed right--it is near Chinese mainland. Am I alluding to the possibility of that area being carved out as a province of China in the near future? Yes. 

And while we are at it, our group of islands off Zambales are now being developed into massive military installations for the defense of China, and to the detriment of the Philippines. China's intrusions and its continued building effort are being seen as actual threats already by the United States. Expectedly, we are doing absolutely nothing, a sign that we might lose the victory we had at the UNCLOS when an arbitral decision was made in our favor. Associate Justice Antonio Carpio says our continued silence is a form of acquiesce to the wiles of China.

China is really pushing the envelope and I guess China knows how the US sees their efforts--nothing more than violations of the unwritten code of conduct at that side of the world. The West Philippine sea anomaly remains a major flashpoint and the possibility of this leading to a naval clash in the future looms.

IN all of these, let's recognize that we have that responsibility of correcting these monumental errors in decision-making of our political elites. We might, eventually, resort to the fullest expression of our democratic power thru a civilian revolt or try to go to our precincts come May and express our frustration there.

Whatever may be the choice of the broad Filipino masses, one thing is surely clear--- we are again under a regime whose policies and actions betray the constitutional guarantees of freedoms, rights and liberties and the continued corruption without adequate prosecution of people close to Mr. Duterte betrays tons-ful of shit which came from Mr. Duterte's mouth assuring us of preventing such corruptions from happening.