Sunday, October 11, 2009

BAYAN MUNA ABANDONING MANILA STREETS

As floodgates opened and murky water started to sink in across Greater Manila, streets’ avid “borders” like militant activist- Satur Ocampo of Bayan Muna (BM) was nowhere to be found. Not that the flood water pushed him on the seaboard but the distinguished statesman is just not that visible whenever people need his help. The recent calamity weathered by Juan dela Cruz that includes dozens still stuck on their roofs and facing hunger is ironically not a matter to be concerned about for militant activists inside Bayan Muna. However, political stunts that have everything to do with ousting President Arroyo draw them almost every day in the busy city corners screaming their lungs-out for what they claim as “public’s welfare”.

Obviously, typhoon Ondoy kept Ocampo off the streets but was it really of the heavy rain and flooding? Or, was it because Ocampo is not that interested with incidents that have nothing to do with building up his political ambitions? Arguably, state at natural crisis does not push militancy but people clinging on their very lives should stir the “humanity” in him. People who had been parading their raised money for the flood victims are way better than people who curl-up on their comfy homes and do nothing but extend their sympathies.

The issue of pump boat shortage or else the contention on the government’s turtle-pacing rescue operations “disturbingly” interest BM solons. They dwell on the issue long enough to simply agitate the distressed victims of Ondoy and box our viewpoints again on politicking that includes the ever worn-out alibi of “crucifying” GMA.

If this calamity asks Filipinos to look back on their complete disregard of mother earth’s preservation, this also put a stop at bombarding political caboodles that stormed the front pages. We are too fascinated about the nearing elections or to whose campaign jingle would reign superior than others that we have complacently claimed that the then nearing tropical depression would not do the metropolis much damage.

The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Service Association (PAGASA) or even the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) were both innocent on serious allegations of failure to provide substantive and timely forecast of Ondoy turning into a massively destructive typhoon. Storm signals were raised yet and again and they were all flashed on nationwide tv reports. Sad to admit, the victims are just as guilty as those they blame. But the fault remains among those like Ocampo who “whitewashed” the populace on the delusion that their lives hang at a balance with the elections nearing.

I surely hope that after the metropolis is cleared with the clutter of Ondoy, it remains free from the shadowy outcry of deceptive “reformists”. Ocampo chose to stay distant during this country’s trying times of predicament; he surely deserves to be delisted on my ballot.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

REBELS’ EERIE SILENCE IN ONDOY’S MIDST

The normally boisterous activists whom we often see on our streets holding crimson banners and shouting until hoarse anti-government slogans magically disappeared because of a tropical storm like Ondoy. This was the general observation of some residents near rally sites like the House of Representatives along Commonwealth (Batasang Pambansa) on Monday, days after the storm struck majority of Luzon provinces and a big portion of the metro which left more than a hundred dead and caused millions of damages to infrastructure and properties.

Linda Zapanta, a metro-aid cleaner stationed along Commonwealth Avenue admitted to her great disappointment over Bayan Muna and Karapatan’s noticeable absences during search and rescue operations launched in areas heavily affected by Ondoy. In Barangay Bagong Silangan in Quezon City alone which is a mere stone-throw away from Batasang Pambansa, a site often utilized by said groups during their anti-government rallies, 28 people from Bagong Silangan have been confirmed by the National Disaster Coordinating Council as among the hundreds of fatalities of Ondoy.

Bayan Muna which has three incumbent representatives in Congress with each of them receiving more than 50 million in Priority Development Assistance Funds per year has apparently opted to take a back-seat role and relegate all of the hard work to their self-proclaimed nemesis, the AFP and PNP, whose personnel visibly risked their lives to readily jumped into neck-deep murky flood waters in order to save stranded residents from their rooftops. The heroism of the AFP was further proven by the death of two soldiers and five members of the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit during the conduct of search and rescue operations in the municipality of Famy in Laguna.

Also worth mentioning was the lack of any news report stating that local rebels operating in Tarlac, Bulacan, Pampanga, Bataan and Nueva Ecija have launched even a small kind of assistance to any of our less fortunate kababayans who have fallen victims to Ondoy’s wrath. Their posturing as defenders of the people would have been greatly appreciated by the very people they claim to be champions of if they gave even a small portion of the reported 1 billion peso campaign fund they have amassed since early last year specifically for the upcoming elections. Surely, even ten percent of their collected extortion money that they obtained by force from targeted multi-national companies like Globe Telecom would already be of great assistance to the thousands of victims on Ondoy.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

NPA’s PRE-MEDITATED EXTORT SCHEME FOR MAKABAYAN

Shortly after Jose Maria Sison’s all-out support to the so-called newbie Political Party by 2010- Mamamayang Koalisyon ng Makabayan (MAKABAYAN), his co-founded Communist Party of Philippines readily guaranteed a total of one billion pesos to pump-up its fund machinery. Interestingly, in a month’s time, NPA”s protection rackets against local industrial firms in the provinces had also skyrocketed. Last Saturday (August 30), DOLE-Stanfilco’s hired ten-wheeled trucks were burned in Alamada by around forty heavily armed Communist insurgents under its Southern Mindanao Regional Committee (SMRC). The incident occurred periodical just as the management continually refuse to pay-up Reds’ forced revolutionary tax. As expected this was also coupled with the random harassments of Globe Telecom Cellsites around the Bicol region and mining firms across Negros Occidental.

Schematically, the NPAs are trying to shift their resource build-up and recruitment for MAKABAYAN’s campaign drives. Other than the one billion pesos, that had been causing stirs amongst the CPP-NPA hierarchy particularly between the opposing camps of Sison and Benito Tiamzon, a fail-safe ratio of voters are also funneled-down by the Communist army to MAKABAYAN senatoriables. Obviously, these would also include gun-pointing and vote-selling within Reds’ threatened localities nationwide.

Other than condemning the act, Sison prided himself of the heinous act and even asserted that it was the people’s mandate. That is, as how he defended the NPA’s continued offensives.

Fueling MAKABAYAN’s senatoriables that in return cost indiscriminate violence is what Sison proposes. The armed militia is doing all the dirty works for Sison. And sadly, they have been doing this while they continually starve after having been listed last on the CPP’s priorities. So far, the Davao area based Reds had been suffering depleting recruits out of starvation. That is, despite their contributions to the CPP-NPA’s heightened extortion schemes. Even the Bicol Regional Party Committee (BRPC), which had been heading the militia army in Region 5, was also losing its armed strength due to exhausting logistics. All thanks to MAKABAYAN political ambitions, the CPP is drained from the inside. Mutineers, just like the rejectionist faction led by Romulo Kintanar before, are again an inevitable menace that would be crippling Sison’s Maoist armies.

Is this what MAKABAYAN’s patriotic banner is all about? That they feed on insurgents to win seats for 2010? Or else, is this all part of the Communist Party’s move to gain grounds on mainstream politics using their moles in the likes of Satur Ocampo? Besides, this scenario runs parallel to Sison’s former declarations of having their primary Maoist strategy complemented with their far non-violent moves in the legal arena. Which undeniably, is the main reason why until now the left-leaning MAKABAYAN had not denounced NPA’s atrocious initiatives nationwide despite their willingness to participate this coming election? Democratic processes incessantly abused by the CPP-NPA-NDF. Unfortunately, instead of hammering them down, our government is bending all laws possible to amicably settle the decades-long dispute. Extorts will continue to prevail and it is deemed to rise. MAKABAYAN will get richer enough to assure them wins for 2010. CPP would live-on and its harassments will balloon. The Filipino people are the ones on the losing end.