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| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| Gringo in Guinness
By Antonio C. Abaya Written Nov. 19, 2006 For the Standard Today, November 21 issue Except for the suspicion that Malacanan is into Delphic oracles and the examination of bird entrails to divine what the future holds, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita is correct in saying that the recent capture of Gregorio �Gringo� Honasan and the extradition of Charlie �Atong� Ang from the US are �good omens� for the Arroyo administration�s chances in the 2007 local elections, assuming those elections will actually take place. As they gaze into their crystal balls and watch the tea leaves swirl and rearrange themselves in their cups, the Palace political gurus may have come to the conclusion that the biggest spoilers in 2007 will be deposed President Joseph Estrada and Senator Panfilo �Ping� Lacson. My sense is that the Arroyo administration will use the captured Honasan and the extradited Ang to do a demolition job on both Erap and Ping. Lacson has announced his plan to run for mayor of Manila in 2007. If they can help it, the administration will not allow the country�s premier electoral district to fall into the hands of the opposition as it could become a major rallying focus and locus for those who will oppose President Arroyo�s plans to stay in power beyond 2010. Estrada is not running for any office in 2007, but he is considered THE key player in the opposition�s continuing efforts to unseat President Arroyo, by fair means or foul. Erap was apparently the financier of the Oakwood Mutiny in July 2003. The use of one his concubines� Mandaluyong townhouse, as well as the Dasmarinas house of one of his former Cabinet members, as safe houses for the mutineers are damning pieces of evidence. Three vans registered in the name of one or another of Erap�s family members were also apparently used by the mutineers in their comings and goings.. The admission of one of the Oakwood mutineers that their tactical goal was to restore Erap to the presidency for at least three days, after which a junta, led by their Kuya, would take over the governing of this ungovernable country, reveals Erap�s interest in the success of the mutiny. Three days back in power would have been adequate time for Erap to unilaterally clear himself of the plunder charge pending against him, after which he couldn�t care less about the future of this country as he and his concubines leave for luxurious exile abroad. It was no coincidence that at the height of the Oakwood Mutiny, a civilian mob-for-hire was waiting a few blocks away, with pre-fabricated streamers at the ready, and led by Erap�s chief political lieutenant Horacio �Boy� Morales and chief rabble rouser Ronald Lumbao of the Pwet ng Masa, in a shameless and thinly disguised attempt to duplicate the People Power uprising of February 1986. The police effectively blocked them from marching to Oakwood. Erap was apparently also the financier of the attempted coup last Feb. 24-26. He admitted giving P8 million to certain military groups from his Saludo sa Kawal Pilipino Foundation in December 2005 through his son-in-law, Beaver Lopez.. The donation was not to fund a coup, he claimed, but to add to the soldiers� Christmas cheer. But as I wrote in my article Marching with the Communists (March 07, 2006), Erap did not give a single peso �to the military contingents assigned to the lonely outposts in the Spratly Islands, nor to units locked in mortal combat with the MILF and the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan and Sulu, nor to the army and police detachments being ambushed by the NPA on a weekly basis in Quezon, Samar, Negros, Bicol and a dozen other places�.� Instead Erap gave P8 million, and conceivably much more, �only to the Scout Rangers and Marines and Magdalo warriors, all based in the relative comfort and safety of Bulacan and Metro Manila, who, by an astounding coincidence, turned out to be, with the PNP Special Forces, the only military and police units implicated in the Feb. 24-26� coup attempt. And what kind of Christmas cheer was this P8 million that it remained untouched by the soldiers even as late as the following February? Was Erap using a Buddhist Tet calendar? Or was the donation contingent on the success of the coup attempt? And what was the role of Gringo in all this? In the August 1987 coup attempt against President Cory Aquino, Gringo and the RAM were out to install a military junta to be headed by his mentor, Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile, who would then have been elected president later in an open election. Gringo was arrested in December 1987 for his role in that failed coup, but he escaped from detention, aboard a Navy ship in the middle of Manila Bay , in April 1988 with the security detail assigned to guard him. In his December 1989 coup attempt, which came close to toppling President Aquino from power, the main benefactor seems to have been Marcos crony Danding Cojuangco, who had had ambitions to succeed the dying Ferdinand Marcos and who had gone into exile abroad with the Marcoses as a result of EDSA I.. Cojuangco sneaked back into the country in early November 1989 through the back door ( Sabah to Davao ) without going through Philippine Immigration formalities, but the Aquino Government was so terrified of Cory�s estranged cousin that it could not gather enough nerve to book him for illegal entry, which he clearly was guilty of. Barely three weeks later, Gringo launched his second major coup attempt against Cory�s government. Only the intervention of two unmarked US Navy F-4 Phantom jets from Subic saved Cory from being toppled, by preventing the rebel air force, based in Sangley Point, from taking off and supporting the rebel ground troops (led by then Maj. Danny Lim) who had occupied parts of the Makati business district.. In 1989, the Philippine economy grew at 6.95%, the highest rate in more than a decade. But as a direct result of the coup, GDP shrank to 3% in 1990, and zero in 1991. Yet, incredibly, Gringo was never tried nor convicted for mutiny, sedition, rebellion, coup d�etat or economic sabotage. On the contrary, Gringo and his co-conspirators were granted unconditional amnesty by President Fidel Ramos, who, as AFP chief-of-staff in 1986, also �punished� the ring leaders of the first mutiny, in July 1986, by making them do 30 push-ups. Onli in da Pilipins. Not only that. In 1995, Gringo was allowed to run for senator, and won. Onli in da istupid Pilipins, where hardly anyone of any prominence is ever found guilty of anything despite overwhelming evidence, and even convicted criminals � including child rapists and swindlers - are allowed to run for public office. The Philippines is the biggest argument against liberal democracy. Gringo was accused of involvement in the July 2003 Oakwood Mutiny and went into hiding shortly after the Feb. 24-26 coup attempt, when a warrant for his arrest was issued. If flight is proof of guilt, then he has proven his guilt in the Oakwood putsch. The government, however, still has to build a strong case against him for his involvement, if any, in the Feb. 24-26 putsch. He was captured and arrested early morning of Nov. 15 while trying to escape from the townhouse of his lover. This being the Philippines , his lover will likely not be charged with coddling a fugitive from justice, even if she clearly was. Gringo has established a record of sorts for having plotted and executed so many failed coups. He deserves a paragraph or two in the Guinness Book of World Records. ***** Reactions to [email protected]. Other articles since 2001 in www.tapatt.org OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Reactions to �Gringo in Guinness� Dear Mr. Abaya, I couldn't agree with you more. Re your article "Gringo in Guinness", you articulated everything that I can only seethe about. More power to you! Joyce Rigoroso, [email protected], Nov. 21, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Great column and good reading on Gringo-- as usual, Tony. Corky, [email protected],, Nov. 21, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww What happened with the case re " Fertilizer billions" where the suspect is now in the US ? He is asking thru his lawyer for "political asylum", asylum from whom? Why is he not extradited back to the Philippines ? Do you have any feedback on this? Thanks, Gil Mateo, [email protected], Nov. 22, 2006 Matthew 6:24, 31-33, Gracia Y Caridad Foundation MY REPLY. Probably because his partners in crime do not want him here spilling the beans about the �fertilizer billions.� wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Once again...a crystalline analysis,. tocayo. Bravo. This for instance could be (a) printed for high school seniors to read and discuss with a lucid teacher as moderator (b) be in websites of those who want to monitor Philippine affairs and mean it (c) part of the book of columns for study in political science classes in the Philippines. Glad to have read it, Tony. Tony Joaquin, [email protected], Daly City, California, Nov. 22, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Thank you for your honest opinion in this issue. In my honest opinion, I�d rather have Gloria Macapagal Arroyo the president of the Philippines for the rest of the history, probably until one day we find another young and intelligent person who would replace her. Genny Ferrer, [email protected], Nov. 22, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony, For the reasons you mention in your article, we should be putting Gringo in front of a firing squad. Most probably the Philippines would be in a better position now if not for his selfishness and his thirst for power. Alex Yalung, [email protected], Taiwan, Nov. 22, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Thanks. I can only offer my prayers for a miracle to save Pinas and its people.... Tessie Centeno, [email protected], Nov.22, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Mr. Abaya, I am saddened to say that this is one of the blights on the decision record of Fidel Ramos, whom I greatly admire. On Gringo, Lupita Concio would have said, �Aba, magandang sine yan, ah!�. Certainly some enterprising producer would make a killing with a �Catch me if you can� type of script. Let�s save the ending for what the Arroyos have in mind. Yes indeed, that would be romanticizing the life of a plotter, fugitive mutineer saboteur and frustrated self glorified adventurer. But this is the Philippines. You make your own story � Any story � and the public will buy it. Ayayaaay! Rica Cortes Rentzing, [email protected], Nov. 22, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony, To restore political and economic stability, those identified with Erap,and Enrile must be charged in court. Whether the charges will stick or not is irrelevant. These people will never stop trying to regain power at the expense of the country. Gringo Honasan and other soldiers are mere pawns and surrogates. Dr. Nestor P. Baylan, [email protected], New York City, Nov. 22, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Regarding your article, what we have here is a mercenary. Fuck the semantics of reforming the system. Only in the Philippines . Thanks for enlightening about so many things, especially your erudite knowledge on ancient history. However, perhaps to reveal on what is the master plan of the powers that be. I know you are too knowledgeable to restrict yourself to the mainline media. Teodoro (teddyboy) Tagle Jr., [email protected], Nov. 22, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya, In the Philippines, the prayer of the Lady of All Nations should be truly appropriate, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Father, send now your Spirit over the earth. Let the Holy Spirit live in the hearts of all nations that they may be preserved from degeneration, disaster and war..." Clearly, our nation has degenerated, with so many disasters, and war within with the NPA, Abu Sayyaf and many others, and contest of power among leaders. We need to pray more for this. In true leadership, we can always gauge what kind of people we have by looking at what kind of leaders we have. Our leaders are always at odds with each other. I, for one, am tired. Why? I know what real leadership is, and I cannot see it in our government. It really shows that we are an underdeveloped country. I belong to a group which is really into formation of people for true leadership, one that we hope could help our country become great. We have so many potentials but it cannot be developed unless there is an attitude change in us and all our countrymen. I just hope that before it is too late, God will give us a solution to save this Christian country from degeneration, disaster and war. Thank you for giving your readers a chance to react. Sincerely, Ma. Eleanor T. Lerio, [email protected], Nov. 22, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww SAF are outstanding troopers. They don't know how to fire their rifles. We could have saved millions of pesos in the incoming legal battles. Eduardo Davalan, [email protected], Nov. 23, 2006.... wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Indeed, onli in da pilipins... And another onli in di plipins is the election run like a popularity contest. Movie stars and more movie stars running for office in 2007. Thanks to the legacy of Erap who seems intent on filling up the Senate with his family members and friends. If that is not the height of arrogance.... I'm sorry but I think the SW survey is a paid-for job. I don't agree that the 1200 respondents can be representative of the 40M or so voters. My goodness. What enlightened Manila residents is Senator Lim bragging about as more discerning than the people of Visayas and Mindanao (in Viewpoints with Dong Puno)? More power to you, Mr. Abaya. Angie Diaz, [email protected], Nov. 23, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, You forgot to mention that Gringo would be running for the Senate again and he will most likely win, again! Most possibly, Trillanes will also run and win. Another record. . Cesar Sarino, [email protected], Nov. 24, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww I have to agree. I voted for that guy as a senator, thinking that he could legislate laws to improve the benefits of the soldiers and the police. Di ba yun naman talaga ang goal nya with RAM? However, wala rin pala. I�m so disappointed with him. Wala naman sya nagawa na concrete to help these brave soldiers. Kala ko ba he is sick and tired with the system of politics within the military. As a senator, he may not have direct authority over the AFP but I believe he can influence the AFP leadership into UNDOING the horrible things there. Pero, wala rin, eh. I always believe, if you want to change the world, you have to begin it with yourself. Clearly, he was not able to be the best "soldier" during his stint in the senate. Sayang, if he did something big for the soldiers, I tell you, his winning the presidency would be a cinch. Pero, wala rin, eh. Mike Delgado, [email protected], Nov. 25, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Reaction to �Iraq and Vietnam� ( Nov. 05, 2006 ) Hi! Tony I've caught a portion of a BBC interview in which the guest has reiterated an observation made in a book by a respected author that the US is now the most dangerous state in the world. The observation is based on a chronicle of US interventions in the affairs of other states since after the American revolution. I fully agree with this observation based on our own experience here in Davao City. Shortly after the bombing of a crowded waiting shed at the airport and another crowded waiting shed at a pier here in Davao City, an American was injured by a mysterious explosion in his own room at a downtown hotel. Subsequent investigation by the police has discovered that the explosion had been caused by a dynamite that the American had been tinkering with. More dynamite was found stashed in his room. The injured American was brought to a hospital and confined for treatment. Two policemen were placed on guard outside the room. Shortly, thereafter, late in the evening, official-looking Americans appeared at the hospital and demanded custody of the injured American. The official-looking Americans were accompanied by women claiming to be relatives of the injured American. Intimidated and perhaps harboring a colonial mentality, the two policemen on guard and hospital officials relented without seeking clarification from their bosses. The injured American was hastily whisked into a car and brought to the airport. There an executive jet was waiting to fly everyone out. Up to this date, the car and the executive jet could not be traced. Mayor Rody Duterte has sought an explanation from US embassy officials who've claimed no knowledge of the incident. They've simply reiterated the theory that the injured American may have simply been smuggled out by relatives. Considering the circumstances of the escape, could anyone believe this? The Incident occurred at the time when the US government was seeking permission to conduct Balikatan exercises in Davao City. Mayor Duterte was reluctant to allow it. It might invite terrorist acts and disturb the peace that he has painstakingly maintained in the city. Perhaps US officials wanted to scare the Mayor into allowing the Balikatan exercise. If this has been the motive, it has certainly backfired. No one scares Mayor Rody Duterte, especially, in his own turf. In a fit of anger, the Mayor has immediately declared that no Balikatan exercise will be allowed in the city for as long as he is Mayor and for as long as the injured American is not brought back to the city to face trial for illegal possession of explosives. Because of the incident, Mayor Duterte and all Dabawenyos are convinced that the US government masterminded the two bombings in Davao City. The injured American could've been the operator. His family name, I think, is Meiring, which I'm sure is a convenient alias. Reports have it that he has been roaming the conflict areas of Mindanao claiming to be a treasure hunter. In a recent ASEAN tourism summit, Mayor Duterte chastised the US government for their travel advisories which always includes Davao City. Citing statistics, the Mayor pointed out that there's a much greater chance for a traveler to get hurt on US streets than in Davao City. Americans attending the summit could only squirm in their seats. After a brief and guarded rejoinder to the press, the Americans have left town in a huf, fearing a lynch mob. Foreign visitors, including Americans, have of course been ignoring these US travel advisories. They've been coming to Davao City in droves, not only to visit, but to spend their retirement. They can walk the city streets without fear for their safety day or night. Their pensions go a long way because of the low cost of living. Retirement villages for Europeans, Koreans, and Japanese nationals are now being established. Davao City is safe, as in really safe. In addition to the ubiquitous PNP and Task Force Davao foot and mobile patrols, every barangay has its own foot and tricycle patrols. They volunteer to take you home if you can't find a ride at night. There's a 911 emergency response service that's guaranteed to be on site anywhere in the city proper within eight minutes of a call to a computerized control center. Overall, it's a highly coordinated security blanket over the city. Prospective muggers, juvenile delinquents, and other petty criminals, such as cellphone snatchers and those who break into cars, are carted off to the police stations even before they can make trouble. The crime solution rate is 97%. There's no feeling of a police state. The patrols are highly trained and they go out of their way to be friendly. The people of Davao City and foreign and local visitors appreciate them. As a result, not only foreigners but also families from other provinces in Mindanao, especially in conflict areas, are migrating to the city. They're establishing homes and putting their children to school here. Housing projects, shopping malls, restaurants, and entertainment places are sprouting up everywhere for these quality internal refugees with a lot of money to spend. It's not only security. You see government at work everyday: filling potholes, clearing garbage, unclogging drainage, relocating the homeless, putting ambulant vendors in designated places, sweeping the streets, and managing traffic with an innovative UP-designed traffic routing scheme and an army of traffic enforcers. It's governance that's really seen and felt on a daily basis. Taxi drivers are polite and honest, especially, those servicing the airport. There's a hotline for reporting abusive ones. But the Mayor's method of disciplining abusive taxi drivers is rather unconventional. He presents and humiliates them on his Sunday morning TV show. As a consequence, there's no need to report abusive taxi drivers. Just mention the Mayor's name and an abusive taxi driver will be begging to drive you to your destination for free. I've personally experienced this. Kidnappers, druglords, and pushers avoid the city. Those who don't, disappear without a trace. There's a barangay level intelligence network that reports the presence of unsavory characters in the barangay. They're promptly tailed and their origins traced. Once established that they're either a kidnapper, a drug lord, or a pusher, motorcycle riding men go to work. The Catholic Church has campaigned against the "elimination" of kidnappers, drug lords, and pushers but to no avail. The people of Davao City are well aware that the justice system is terribly flawed. They're putting their trust in Mayor Duterte and he has yet to fail them. No innocent victim has yet been "dispatched" by these hardworking motorcycle riding men. I understand that there's a multi-layered verification system that ensures that the target is really hot. I've also heard that the system has been borrowed from the Sparrow units of old of the NPA and improved. I don't know if this is right, but it's certainly working. Kidnapping is a thing of the past in Davao City. Drug lords and pushers have become really scarce. Anyway, setting aside these debatable methods of disciplining taxi drivers and putting away kidnappers, drug lords, and pushers, Asiaweek has ranked the city as the most livable in the country for four consecutive years. Mayor Duterte has also recently been named by Newsbreak to be among the six outstanding local executives in the country. Investments have grown from P62 billion in 2002 to P118.5 billion in 2004. Eat your heart ou,t Americans! Gico Dayanghirang, [email protected], Davao City, Nov 17, 2006 Wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Reaction to �Trapos� Initiative� ( Oct. 30, 2006) Dear Tony, You seem to have enjoyed your vacation to Cambodia. I've been following your account. Glad you're back and in fresh fighting form, it seems. The sham People's Initiative depicts the character of our self-serving political elite. State policies almost always favor the few at the expense of the many. This is why our country hasn't gone far since independence. Exclusive state policies have effectively restrained the overall potential of the country from being realized. This in fact is the basis of the communist rebellion. But history has shown that their prescription to the problem is even more restrictive to human development. Now what else can be done? I've recently come across a proposal to do away with our unitary form of government in favor of a federal form of government with a unicameral parliament. Fifty percent of its members are to be directly elected in the existing political districts and the other fifty percent to be proportionately elected by sectoral formations. I find this proposal to be the best so far in correcting our highly exclusive political institutions. A federal form of government decentralizes governance and makes it difficult for narrow interests to prevail. Narrow interests at the local level may still attempt to influence governance but the proximity of government makes it easier for the people to safeguard their interests. Moreover, it would be impossible for narrow interests to influence sectoral representatives in parliament because they're accountable to their sectors. They can be yanked out of parliament anytime should they betray the cause of their sectors. Narrow interests would've to deal with the sectors represented in parliament and the task becomes impossible. It's so easy to influence our present political system. Narrow interests only have to deal with one president and 24 senators. The 200 plus congressmen and congresswomen, except for a handful of sectoral and principled district representatives, just say aye when the president says so. A case in point is the recently enacted expanded VAT law. While we ordinary consumers now have to bear an additional 2% VAT, the wine and tobacco industries have only been imposed an additional 1%. You know of course who're behind the tobacco and wine industries. They're known to be the most generous political contributors in the country. Giving a winnable presidential candidate one billion pesos and 24 winnable senatorial candidates 50 million pesos each wouldn't even make a dent in the representation expense of these industries. Gico Dayanghirang, [email protected], Davao City, Nov. 17, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Reaction to �McCarthyists� ( June 26, 2006) Dear Antonio, For some reason, I read your email just now, very delayed. Still, I would like to respond. First, yes my original language is German. But writing something, I use MS Word and I let the English text being checked and corrected to a level that is understandable not only to college graduates but also to people with more common education. This about peculiar English. (Sorry, but your English is still �peculiar.� ACA) Regarding McCarthyism, I think that fighting insurgency and terrorism should not go out of control and just make anyone with a bit different thinking immediately a suspect and as a suspect eligible for jail, without first to prove his or her being guilty. What happens now in RP is near the same, whoever is critical or opposing the ruling government is already a destabilizer, with destabilizing practically a heinous crime. Is the incumbent regime really so easy to destabilize? Not even Marcos during Martial Law has been so restrictive. I remember well News Headlines, calling Imelda an ugly frog and Fidel Ramos the butcher of Mindanao . It was displayed open at the streets and nobody has been arrested or charged with libel. Here, even during the Hitler regime, very offending jokes have been made unchallenged, as a 'steam valve' where people can show opposition. Compare now FG who wants to sue anyone who touches him. Sure, much of all alleged misdeeds of FG are not proven because there are no cases and any investigation in the House or Senate is immediately thrown out. But we have a saying thet 'where is smoke, there is also fire' which would mean why there are so many stories about a person if nothing of all has a real basis. I also read some of your quotations and there, you have been very wrong about Erap. He did not make a gimmik about his knee surgery and he did not try to escape, very contrary. And that he wanted his operation abroad? Always it is told how many excellent clinics an doctors RP has, in abundance. But why then every rich, famous people and politicians go to the USA for even much simpler problems? Remember Mike A. who went to USA for treatment of just a discus hernia, caused by overweight? Very surprising, after just three days he was able to play golf and no philippine doctor would have been able to do the same cure? Let people go for treatment where they want to go, but let Erap also choose treatment from his long time foreign surgeon. Whaatever he is chargedm up to now he has to be treated as innocent since there is no proof or sentence yet. Five years jailed withoutany case in court does not look like verydemocratis justice, the same during Martial Law has been branded as des potic suppression. Be sure I am not linked in any way with the Erap camp, anyway I could not do anything for being a foreigner. But McCarthy and the rules of Malaysia and Singapore are also rather dictatorial than democratic. And not every oppositionist is a communist terrorist as well as not every communist ios a terrorist. Best regards, [email protected], Germany , Nov. 21, 2006 MY REPLY. But why are you bothering yourself with Philippine problems? Don�t you have enough to worry about with Angela Merkel, Muslim immigrants, money-losing Volkswagen, and high unemployment? And why don�t you give your full and real name? wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi! Tony After being dumped in the 2001 senatorial election for refusing to have the second envelope opened during Erap Estrada's impeachment trial, Gringo Honasan is now in the list of most probable winners in the coming 2007 senatorial election. I think Filipinos are simply grasping at straws for a solution to their perennial problems. This is because of the lack of a real alternative to a self-serving elite rule that has lorded it over our political institutions since independence. Having been failed by the best and the brightest of society, Filipinos are now looking at folk heroes, real or imagined, to save them from their desperate situation. Filipinos have yet to appreciate ideological formations as possible alternatives to their predicament. This is because of the slow growth of these formations. The only ideological formation that has presented itself quite strongly to the Filipino people as an alternative is the CPP. But its outdated ideology is now being rejected even by its original constituency, the suffering masses. Democratic socialist formations are now attempting to fill the gap with a modernized version of socialism following the example of highly successful socialist parties in Europe . They're slowly gaining a constituency but still have to see the light of day as a mainstream alternative. Most amazing of all is the failure of the elite to institutionalize and modernize its ideological framework in the same manner as conservative political parties in developed countries have done successfully. The elite in our society is just too greedy to let go of their privileges and to suggest a more inclusive economic, social, and political order. Regards, Gico Dayanghirang, [email protected], Davao City , Nov. 27, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, One small point in your otherwise as usual fascinating and insightful discourse. As I remember it, Monching Mitra and I were standing on the roof of a building in Ayala Ave. when two PAF planes flew fairly low overhead, heading for the Palace. Two US jets came barrelling out of the sky, swooped down on the slow-moving PAF planes, circled and did it again. The message was clear: get out of the sky or you're a goner. They went back to Sangley. You're right, the US saved the day. Cheers, Peter (Wallace), [email protected], Nov. 28, 2006 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |