Presidential talk and Why We should not treat the 2016 Presidential election as a trifling thing

One idiot congratulating another idiot

I am totally disappointed and in fact, enraged on how this discussion about the next president is turning out. Frankly, most of us are choosing our candidates based on perceived popularity and party affiliation, not on skills or performance or even intelligence.

President Aquino and his allies are choosing who to support based on one faulty assumption--that person should toe the "Tuwid na Daan" line as if it is the state ideology. This tuwid na daan is a propaganda line, nothing more. It says nothing about how do we deal with external and internal threats to our survival as a nation.

Grace Poe's name is cropping up because she is right now the star of the show. Political parties, even the United Nationalist Alliance are jacking up, trying to get her into their stable. Idiots.

No one among them even asked her about her position or stand in issues, her management approach or even the things that she'll be bringing into the table once elected as either president or vice president. Since she's figuring quite well in the ratings department, we might as well elect her inspite of her inexperience or her total ignorance on governance.

Her surname carries weight, but aside from that, what other things will she offer for us? How will she engage China and the United States? What will she do with terrorist groups? How about gut issues? What is her stand on privatization, agrarian reform, women's rights, gay rights, abortion, FOI, and peace and order?

Will she declare martial law when the times call for it? Will she decide to push the button for the execution of a known criminal when the times warrant it? What role will her husband play in government?

Davao City mayor Duterte's name is also showing up in surveys purposely being pushed by Lakas NUCD men. Reason why? The basis is a survey which shows that majority of Filipinos will vote for the person perceived to exercise strong political will. Everyone knows Duterte's name is legendary when it comes to this department, but no one actually thought that Duterte's methods border on the extreme and you can't do that when you're president. The mayor's hordes of supporters will just be disappointed once Duterte succeeds in the election because his tough guy talk will amount to absolutely nothing once he realises how things work in Malacanan.

Can Duterte stand toe-to-toe with the Big Boys here in Luzon and the Visayas? Will he be tough with smugglers? How about China? His supporters expect him to issue incendiary statements against this Global superpower and will he then, do it just to play with them?

Two gentlemen: Mar Roxas and Vice president Jejomar Binay are likewise asking us to consider one of them as our President come 2010. Even the son of a dead strongman Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr is joining the fray, positioning himself as a viable candidate, and so do Senators Alan Peter Cayetano, Chiz Escudero and Antonio Trillianes IV.

Think, think, my fellow Filipinos---who among them can stand toe-to-toe with other leaders in the Asian region? Who among them will have the guts to do the necessary things and stand by decisions and laws which are not exactly popular but laws which we sorely need for our survival as a nation?

Just assume that all of them are intelligent, but who among them has the experience, the strong political will and the character of a good president? What we have now are people who think they can do the job but if we analyse them one by one, we'll arrive at a very sore conclusion---as what Christopher de Leon said in that iconic Lino Brocka movie--Tinimbang ka Ngunit Kulang?

FRankly, our presidential elections in 2016 is VERY CRITICAL and VERY important because it will affect the balance of power in Asia six years down the line.

2016 is a very important watershed in Philippine history for three things: first, the next six years will surely bring tremendous economic growth in our country but without an effective and clean bureaucracy, such growth will only benefit a few and not a majority of our people. Second, the Philippines is at the very centre of a potential serious regional conflict that may involve two of the world's superpowers: China and the United States. This early, the Pentagon itself has said that it intends to assist the Philippines in developing a naval base 22 kilometres away from the Spratlys Group of Islands, the potential conflict area. Japan has started its joint naval exercises with the Philippines and other allies in the SouthEast Asian region have intimated their collective desire to assist the Philippines in its potential engagement with China.

This Spratlys issue not just affects the sovereignty of our country but likewise is becoming a potential threat to all other countries in the region.The US has already declared that the area is a very important strategic trade route used by countries around the world. IN building that humongous facility in one of the islands of the Spratlys, China is exploiting the weakness of the Philippines and other claimant countries for its own military advantage.

The potential of a shooting war looms bigger and larger today than say five years ago. Or, even if this does not lead to an armed conflict, such Chinese moves are now being interpreted in a very bad light by several countries. Fact is, many Asian countries are worried that China's moves are wrong and can actually drag the entire region into a very serious naval conflict.

The Philippines is very important in the resolution or because if we elect a populist president come 2016, we might find ourselves in a bigger and deeper mess than two years ago. If we elect someone with extremist tendencies or as soft as a baby in the person of Mar Roxas, things would either turn for us or against us.

If our next President swings towards the East, then, the direction of our economy will be different Same goes if we decide to go to the West.

Lastly, Mindanao is still a big threat to us. For one, international terror groups roam throughout this region in wanton abandon. Will the Bangsamoro Basic Law provide the necessary mechanisms effective in arresting the development or rise of militancy?

I am sure other rival countries would try and is probably in contact with rebel groups or their leaders in Mindanao just to assure themselves that this experiment fails in its face. It is in the interests of other groups to try and fan the flames of conflict in that side of our country so that our government remains unresponsive to other issues of the State.

If we fail to elect a suitable leader come 2016, and we decide to choose like how we did during these past few years, then, we all need to accept one inevitable consequence of our foolishness--our continued underdevelopment as a Nation.

Patriotic Navy to engage any Chinese ship that will fire against them

Diplomacy is still the way to go, says the Philippine Navy when it operated recently at the Spratlys. However, Navy chief Juancho Sabban says Philippine forces will fire upon any Chinese ship that will fire at them.


The Navy just went to the Spratlys and dismantled the markers set by the Chinese. Sabban said that despite being ill-equipped, the Philippine military will do everything in its power to repulse any foreign power that will exert their might against our sovereignty.


We salute the patriotic forces of the Philippine Navy.


HOwever, we note the almost trapo way former Speaker Jose de Venecia treats the Spratlys. De Venecia wants joint exploration.


Why give this kind of proposal? That would allow China to claim those islands as theirs. Or that would lead to a recognition of those islands as equally theirs.


China has no concrete evidence to back their claims. Proximity dictates that those islands are ours because they are very near us and are included in our territorial claims. 

Salute our Patriotic Naval Force

I salute the Philippine Naval Force for doing what they did yesterday--they went to the Spratlys and dismantled those markers set up by the Chinese at the Douglas reef. That was very bold and very symbolic. The Naval force has redeemed our glory. 


China has no right to claim islets more than 500 nautical miles from their nearest point of land. China has been bullying its neighbours about Spratlys, a group of shadowy islands which are hundreds of miles away from the mainland. Such claims should be scrapped and thrown into the wastebasket by China.


It was a shame seeing those installations and markers in areas where we claim sovereignty. The Aquino administration should consider beefing up our aerial and naval forces so that we can properly surveil and protect what are ours.


With the action of the Philippine Navy, we now can proudly say despite our "smallness" we are now big in the eyes of the freedom-loving world.

Spratlys as Kalayaan Group of Islands and South China Sea as Luzon Sea

From now on, I urge my readers and friends to use the term Luzon Sea to refer to the South China Sea and the Kalayaan Group of Islands as Spratlys.


So what the hell if the Chinese government protest against it? They are not our masters, and we are not their slaves. We are free men. We can do what we want, and we can definitely say that WE OWN THOSE ISLANDS simply because we do: For one, proximity alone tells us that it is ours and second, look at the map and obviously those islands and islets and reefs are ours.


I urge Immigration to tighten security against Chinese migrants who enter our territory and reside here. It is time to restrict their movements.


I also urge government to show its disgusts with the way the Chinese government is treating this issue by severing all projects with Chinese interests in them. It is no good doing business with these people who assert several things which are beyond their comprehension.


Let us all boycott Chinese made products. Let's see who's boss now.

Philippines surrenders early on to China: While Vietnam prepares for war against the Chinamen

While our neighbor, Vietnam prepares for a live fire drill following its recent spat with China, here we are calling for a truce. Why are we calling for such? Are we the ones who started this verbal war in the first place? No, it was China. 


Who sent their warships in the Spratlys? Who built illegal structures there? Its those Chinamen. And we, who are aggrieved, we whose rights were violated, are the ones calling for a truce? Have we no shame left?


Who's the aggrieved party in this spat against these stupid Chinamen? We are. Six of our seven islands have been occupied. We have aerial photos to prove it. Even the Chinese government already admitted that it did, built structures in those six islands. 


Who threatened country-claimants involved in the Spratlys Islands to "move away" from there and not claim those islands anymore? Its China.


Who said that those islands, even those reefs and banks in the Palawan sea as theirs? Its China.


The verbal tussle has not even started yet, and here is our Presidential spokesperson calling for a truce? Kumbaga sa away, hindi pa nga umiinit eh, umurong na tayo?


Have we no shame as a people?


Senate president Juan Ponce-Enrile is right. We should show our anger. We should show our protest. 


Why are we so afraid of these yellow-colored bullies? Are we afraid that these Chinese will bomb us with their nuclear weapons? ARe we afraid of their army?


Of course not! Maliit man tayong bansa, pero, we need to fight for our rights by expressing our disgusts and not let other countries bully us.


Have we no shame left? And why is our president so concerned with China losing face? They are the aggressors. They started this. Have we lost our self-respect as a people that we now allow a bully to occupy part of our sovereignty?


I fear that our government, especially our President, is mishandling this situation. I am afraid that if push comes to shove, we will lose this early in the game, simply because we have a president that does not know what to do with this issue.


Yes, we are the weakest force in the Pacific. We probably would last an hour in a modern war.


Even though, I would prefer to go to war and prove to the world that I love my country and I'm willing to defend it against such bullies as China, than surrender what I think is mine. 


Eh, so what if they have a million armed men? So what if they have many airplanes, warships, subs and the like?


It is better to die fighting than surrender the Motherland.


Puro dakdak lang itong pangulong ito pero wala talagang pagpapahalaga sa Inang Bayan.