Duterte to Defensor: Federalism on my mind

"Federalism should be able to maintain unity among all. But this does not mean that we should boycott regional voices and the voices of ethnic groups." -- Khil Raj Regmi

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW JERSEY -- We were not surprised to learn that President Rudy Duterte admired Iloilo Governor Art Defensor as mentioned in a Philippine regional newspaper recently.
In 2015 when Duterte visited Defensor in the Iloilo Capitol, the future Philippine president sent former Cotabato governor and now agriculture Secretary Manny Pinol as his advance party.
Duterte was aware he would be late in his appointment with Defensor because of tight schedules in his Iloilo sorties. 
Duterte knew Pinol was in good speaking terms with Defensor, a fellow Ilonggo, thus the former Davao city mayor was confident Pinol would be a perfect emissary. 
"Diin na si Mayor Duterte?" Defensor asked Pinol as he entered the Office of the Governor. "Manong Art, on the way na sila na traffic lang. Nag press con pa sila didto sa Diversion Road."
While waiting for Duterte, Defensor signed some papers on his table.
Pinol was entertained by prominent capitol officials led by Board Member Demy Sonza and Provincial Administrator Raul Banias.
"Mayor Digong (Rudy Duterte) has so much respect for Manog Art (Gov. Defensor). He believes that Manong Art, being a seasoned public servant, can understand the depth of his advocacy about federalism," Pinol told Sonza and Defensor's subalterns who surrounded him and took photos with him.

WELCOME

When Duterte arrived about 45 minutes later, Defensor accorded Duterte, who belonged to another political party, with a warm welcome.
They did not talk about politics. Duterte made known his intention why he was there and why he had been going around the country: to promote federalism.
Duterte did not seek Defensor's support for his presidential bid (Duterte had repeatedly rejected calls from supporters to run for president saying he was only interested to promote federalism).
He enumerated the reasons why there is a need for the country to shift to federal form of government. Defensor, a veteran lawmaker and expert in political science, lent his ears to Duterte.
Duterte knew that Defensor was one of the only few public officials in the country today who have not been tainted with corruption. 
At the back of Duterte's mind, whether federalism will snowball, Defensor can survive because he believes that the Iloilo governor is clean and untarnished as a public servant. 
Duterte knew his visit wasn't a waste of time because he was explaining his platform to the right person.

'Duterte hard to predict than Trump'

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- Describing Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte as "an emotional person", the director of New York University Center for U.S.-China Relations considers the Filipino leader as "more difficult to predict" than US President-elect Donald J. Trump on the issue in the South China Sea.
"If it’s difficult to try to predict Mr. Trump, it’s even more difficult to predict Mr. Duterte.  So I really don’t want to be in the position of trying to predict how he would behave," David B. H. Denoon, also professor of politics and economics, told foreign journalists in a briefing for the 2016 presidential race hosted by the New York Foreign Press Center (NYFPC) at The Westin New York Grand Central, November 8.
Denoon said there are some people who think that Mr. Duterte "is clever and that he is essentially just trying to negotiate and play China against the United States, and that he thinks he can keep the United States as the Philippines’ most important ally while insulting the American President and saying a number of very rash things."  

MINISTRY

According to Denoon, "the foreign ministry in the Philippines has tried to back down from some of the things Mr. Duterte said in Beijing, when he said he wanted to break off the relationship with the U.S."
He added: "I don’t think we know what he’s going to do.  I think he’s very, very hard to predict.  I would say the Philippines would be an absolutely critical country for anyone who believed in the original concept that Secretary Clinton put forth in terms of rebalancing towards Asia.  Because if the Philippines turns out to be pro-China or hostile to the U.S., given its location close to Taiwan and given its location close to Malaysia and Indonesia, that would change the strategic balance." 
"The same thing is true of Malaysia, however.  Malaysia is much smaller, but if you look at its location, the eastern provinces of Malaysia are next to Indonesia and next to the Philippines.  If Malaysia becomes pro-China, then it’s going to have a dramatic effect within the region.  

DIRECTION

"The only country that has moved in the other direction and become more critical of China in the last few years is Indonesia, where the president has become extremely antagonistic to the Chinese role in Indonesian waters.  In fact, Indonesians are the only people in Asia who have sunk Chinese fishing boats and have captured Chinese civilians.
"So I would say the problem with trying to predict Duterte is that we don’t know whether he’s just bargaining or whether this is his true set of views.  But certainly the mainstream public in the Philippines is very positive towards the United States, and they’re all scratching their heads over what he’s trying to do."

Retired Ilonggo navyman: Filipinos need America

"America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand."     -- Harry S. Truman

By Alex P. Vidal

GROTON, Connecticut -- America can afford to lose us, but we can't afford to lose America.
This was the assertion made by an 82-year-old Filipino-American retired US navy officer, who sharply reacted to reports that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has severed the country's ties with the United States to side with China and Russia.
Reynaldo Adrias Amuan, born and raised in Divinagracia, La Paz, Iloilo City, Philippines, insisted that only the United States can protect the Filipinos in the event of a world nuclear war.

AMUAN younger in the frame and at 82 today.

"No country in the world today can match the military force of the United States," he disclosed. "Even if China and Russia will combine their forces, they can't match the army, naval and air power of America." 
Aside from economic benefits, Filipinos can always rely on the United States in terms of security and protection from bullies like China in the Asia Pacific, he said.
"The Philippines can't afford to lose the United States. Millions of Filipinos are currently enjoying good life because of the United States, something that no other countries around the world can provide," said Amuan, who was assigned in six submarines that carried nuclear missiles stationed in the Asia Pacific, Scotland, Haiti, Korea, Japan, Taipei, and Spain from 1957 to 1976.

DREAM

Amuan said if not for the US, he and many other Filipino immigrants would not have attained their so-called "American Dream" or the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative.
While studying radio operator at Central Radio Electronic School (CRES) in 1953, Amuan worked as casual employee at Iloilo city hall under Mayor Rodolfo T. Ganzon. 
After his graduation in 1956, he applied and passed the examination for the US Navy held at the Naval Station Sangley Point in Cavite, Philippines.
"If I did not make it here, I would be driving a trisikad today in the Philippines. I would not have enjoyed my retirement and would be living as isang kahig isang tuka," added Amuan, who is married to Aida Castro-Amuan, 80, of Ajuy, Iloilo.
They have two children and six grandchildren all born and raised in the US: Pearl Boivin, 55, married to an executive of a multi-national firm in Massachusetts, and Sean, 53, a pilot at American Airlines.
Pearl is an engineer while Sean graduated in the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs in 1985.
Amuan, who can still drive a car and maintains a Facebook account, thanked America for "my medical benefits that I could not have enjoyed if I did not become a navy man."

BENEFITS

Aside from his retirement benefits in the US Navy, Amuan also receives additional pension in the US Social Security, among other monthly benefits. "Life is good to me. I am now enjoying my retirement because of Uncle Sam," he stressed.
His parents, Jose Amuan and Conchita Adrias, were natives of Divinagracia, La Paz district in Iloilo City. Of the three Amuan sons, only Reynaldo and younger brother Rodolfo, 80, are alive. The youngest, Reynaldo, 78, died in Guam two years ago.
The Filipino American community is the second largest Asian American group in the US at four million.
Filipinos started to arrive in the US in 1898 as laborers, mostly in agriculture and domestic service, and as students. 
The Filipino American population numbered 45,026 by 1930. Since 1970, the Filipino population has grown nearly seven times, from 336,731 to 2,364,815, making up almost one percent of the national population. 
This includes hapas of part-Filipino ancestry, who make up 22 percent of the Filipino American population--the third-highest rate among major APA groups (behind Native Hawaiians and Japanese), according to the Asian American History, Demographics and Issues. 

INTEGRATION

It is believed that the integration of the Philippines by the U.S. into the world market as an export economy resulted in the loss of small family-owned farms. 
Amid promises of monetary success, young displaced male Filipinos with minimal educations and bleak economic futures readily chose to immigrate to the United States-- especially since their status as American nationals after the Spanish-American War made it easy to do so. 
The first wave of Filipinos to enter and remain in significant numbers immigrated to Hawaii from 1906 to 1935, working in sugar and pineapple plantations and later the farms of California as migrant laborers.
In his arrival speech after a recent state visit in China, Duterte, 72, clarified that he did not cut the Philippines' diplomatic relations with Uncle Sam saying "I can not do that."

We stop killing people if we embrace Janism

“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.”―Voltaire

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- I learned from my 70-year-old Indian-American chess rival here in Queens that in order for the EJK or extra-judicial killings in the Philippines to end, Filipinos may embrace the religion of Janism.
"Master Sam" said followers of this ancient religion wouldn't even hurt a fly--literally. 
He was saddened by reports that more than 2,000 suspected Filipino drug addicts and traffickers of illegal substance "have been murdered like animals" in the streets and in their houses in raids since the Duterte administration launched a "no-nonsense" battle against illegal drugs in the Philippines.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) boss, Chief Supt. Ronald "Bato" De la Rosa, handpicked by President Duterte to "cleanse the country with criminal elements," denied the PNP had initiated the mass killings saying "they adhere to the due process and respect the human rights of the suspects."
Janism is one of India's three ancient religions, along with Buddhism and Hinduism.

MAD

"Master Sam" said because of this religion, he could not even get mad at chess hustlers in the park who bilked him.
"I'm a peaceful person. When I beat you in a chess match once, I felt I humiliated you in front of your friends. When it was your turn to beat me (eight times in another meeting), I felt it was necessary to compliment you and tell people around that you are a better chess player," enthused "Master Sam," who once lost $1,500 to Filipino chess hustlers at Elmhurst Park in Queens.
Despite the fact that it has only a few million adherents and is confined almost entirely in Southern India, Janism's philosophy of non-violence has spread through the world, according to "Master Sam."
To Janists, he said, the world is divided into the living (or the soul) and the non-living.
They believe that the soul is invaded by karmic matter, or negative passions, that can dominate people's lives.  These include violence, greed, anger, and self-indulgence.
This karma reportedly bonds to the soul and impedes the search for perfect understanding and peace.

STAGE

To reach the heavenly stage, "Master Sam" said Janists must stop the inflow of bad karma and shed the karmic matter that has already bonded to their souls.
Once this has been accomplished, he explained, they reach moksha or a level of pure understanding where the soul is liberated from all earthly matter.
Master Sam said achieving this heavenly stage is quite an ordeal. An individual must spend 12 years as a Janist monk and go through eight reincarnations in order to get there.
Along the way, each must also adhere to the Three Jewels of Right Faith, Right Knowledge, and Right Conduct. More extreme worshippers deny themselves even the most basic of life's pleasures by fasting and wearing only the simplest clothing.