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| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| Uncle Dick and Lolo Abat By Antonio C. Abaya Written Dec. 20, 2005 For the Standard Today, December 22 issue When former general, former defense secretary and former ambassador Fortunato U. Abat proclaimed a �revolutionary transition government� last Dec. 13 and declared himself its president, with Club Filipino as the seat of his government and an unnamed group of 15 as members of his Cabinet, there was a lot of snickering from all points of the political compass. The Arroyo Government, especially, found this new challenge to its authority an amusing footnote in the ongoing political crisis. The government�s most eminent legal authority, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez dismissed the Abat caper as a manifestation of �senility� and �second childhood.� This was even after the 81-year old Abat defended his proclamation as �in exercise of the sovereign right of the people to act and do the necessary to save the country from a governance which is morally bankrupt, distrusted by over two-thirds of the citizenry and which is in paralysis, unable to provide effective and competent leadership that will produce results for the people.� Abat was, perhaps, expecting rogue elements of the military and the police to withdraw support from the Arroyo Government and for thousands of the middle class to mass outside the Club Filipino to support his alternative government, in a hoped-for repeat of EDSA 1. But, except for one Oakwood military officer-mutineer who escaped from detention and surreptitiously joined the alternative �government,� Abat�s proclamation has not caused any perceptible ripple, either among the middle class or among the mainstream military and police organizations. Within 48 hours, however, of belittling the efforts of Abat in revolutionary politics, the Arroyo Government seems to have had a change of mind and has decided to take Abat more seriously. On Dec. 15, the government sent plainclothes police officers to pick up Abat and his three lieutenants, without an arrest warrant, to �invite� them for questioning at police headquarters and to file a complaint against them for �inciting to sedition.� Abat et al. have since posted bail (P12,000 each) and have been released from detention, while the lawyers of both sides prepare for a legal battle on what constitutes the weightier element of �incitement to sedition,� the �dangerous tendency rule� or the �clear and present danger rule.� He has also taken out a full-page ad in the Philippine Daily Inquirer (which cost about P150,000) to explain what he was doing and to express his lament that younger leaders have not taken up the cudgels for him. I do not know what caused the government to suddenly change its mind about Abat, but I suspect it has something to do with the contents of an email which I received around noon of Dec. 15, from someone with a German-sounding name but who, as far as I know, is not even in our email distribution list. The sender passed the information for comments by me as �the very astute observer and insightful commentator on these precarious times we live in� (Thank you. ACA). The contents of that email may also have been sent to someone in the Arroyo inner circle, but apparently not to anyone in the opposition (otherwise they would have already made a big to-do about it). The essence of the email is that US Vice-President Dick Cheney � Uncle Dick to American editorial cartoonists � is or may be behind the plots to remove President Arroyo from Malacanang, including this latest challenge from Gen. Abat, Lolo Abat. The email included links to two articles from www.rense.com, which turned out to be the website of American talk radio host Jeff Rense, who seems to be hospitable to any and all shades of political opinions. The two articles were actually written by one Wayne Madsen, an investigative journalist in the mold of Jack Anderson (who, by coincidence, died last week at age 83). Madsen has his own website, www.waynemadsenreport.com, where his bias against the neo-conservative cabal (headed by Dick Cheney) that rules Washington is very evident. Nevertheless, Madsen has some interesting information. In the article �All Roads Lead Back to Cheney,� dated Dec. 14, 2005, Madsen asserts that Cheney�s oil company, Halliburton, and its subsidiary operating in Iraq � Kellogg, Brown and Root or KBR � have a business link with an airline, Aerocom/Air Mero, based in Moldova and owned by one Viktor Lout. A search engine that I consulted says Viktor Lout has at least five aliases and holds several Liberian diplomatic passports, plus two Russian and one Ukrainian. According to Madsen, Cheney�s KBR and the Lout airline fly �low wage earners from East Asia in to Dubai and on to Iraq where they work for paltry salaries in sub-standard living conditions.� KBR has �sub-contracted to a shadowy Dubai-based firm, Prime Projects International Trading LLC or PPI which �trades� mainly in workers from Thailand, the Philippines, Nepal, India, Pakistan, and other poor Asian nations.� (Recall that about two weeks ago, 88 Filipino workers were stranded in the Dubai international airport and could not proceed to Iraq, but refused to come back to the Philippines. They may have been part of the KBR-PPI involvement in what Madsen calls �low wage slave trading in the Middle East.�) Madsen says that the Arroyo Government banned PPI � which operates from P. O. Box 42252, in Dubai � from further recruiting Filipino OFWs for the Middle East, after a Filipino was killed during a terrorist attack on Camp Anaconda in 2004. PPI also supplied Cheney�s Halliburton with Filipino OFWs for the construction of the detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. �Inside sources report that PPI has some high-level financial partners, including the Nahayan royal family of the UAE and Cheney.� Madsen claims there is a connection between PGMA�s �ordering the repatriation of Filipino workers home from Iraq and Kuwait and the discovery that US Marine Corps and FBI spy Leandro Aragoncillo, a Filipino-American who worked as a Marine security aide inside Cheney�s office�.who was arrested by the FBI last October, had stolen dossiers from Cheney�s office that were considered damaging to Mrs. Arroyo.� �Aragoncillo passed Cheney�s reports on Macapagal-Arroyo, some of which were obtained from National Security Agency intercepts (which means wire-tapping of landline conversations and electronic eavesdropping on cell phone conversations. ACA) , to (Joseph) Estrada, a political opponent of Macapagal-Arroyo�.Estrada was planning a coup against Macapagal-Arroyo with US support.� (Emphasis mine. ACA) That last paragraph is significant because it confirms what I have written several times, that the neo-cons in Washington, who are led by Cheney, want to see Arroyo removed from office, for a) withdrawing the Filipino contingent from Iraq; b) signing an oil exploration agreement with the Chinese on the Spratlys; and c) failing to dismantle the Jemaah Islamiyah training camps in Mindanao. See my article �Replacing GMA� (June 14, 2005). For more on Cheney and the neo-cons, see my �Uncle Dick and the PNAC� (Sept. 7, 2004). That last paragraph also confirmed what I wrote when the Hello Garci scandal first broke out in June, that �the Americans here certainly have the capability for eavesdropping on President Arroyo�s cell phone or landline conversations and recording whatever incriminating statements they can find for future use, when she is no longer useful to them. And she, apparently, is no longer useful to them�.� (�Junta? Maybe. Erap? No,.� June 07, 2005). So even if the AFP and the ISAFP refuse to divulge who ordered the wiretaps or electronic eavesdropping, we now have a good idea who did and we now understand why. And we also understand why the one who first broke the Garci tape was Alan Paguia, one of the lawyers of Erap. Everything is falling into place. Finally, that last paragraph from Madsen also confirmed my belief that the neo-cons favored Joseph Estrada to replace Ms. Arroyo, because of the �total war� that he waged against the Muslims in Mindanao when he was president. See my article �US Loves Erap?� (Sept, 25, 2005). In that article I mentioned that Estrada�s chief political lieutenant, Boy Morales, was summoned at least twice to Washington, once in November 2004, the next time in March 2005, in both times meeting with the staff of Cheney. But, unfortunately for Morales as well as for the other luminaries whom he had enticed into his Solidarity �caretaker transition government,� Uncle Dick�s neo-cons no longer love Erap. And they may have found their man instead in the group of Abat, though not necessarily in Lolo Abat himself. This will be explained and discussed in a later article, in January, as I will be taking a Christmas break. A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all. ***** Reactions to [email protected] or fax 824-7642. Other articles in www.tapatt.org OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |
| Reactions to �Uncle Dick and Lolo Abat� Isn't it about time we turned the table around on the Americans? They really want to play around with us, why not ask them to revisit the 14th Amendment and follow the grammar rules taught to us by the Thomasites? See http://rpweb.ph/ampoy/ Tet Gambito, [email protected] Cebu City, December 23, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww You are the greatest! MERRY CHRISTMAS Impy Pilapil, [email protected] December 23, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi Tony, What an eye opener this is. But enough of that. Let me wish you and your family a Safe, Healthy and Happy Christmas and New Year. Art Montesa, [email protected] December 23, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww This is a very illuminating report....and also has the most probability to be true. God bless and have a very Merry Christmas and a (hopepully) Prosperous New Year.. Gil Mateo, [email protected] Daly City, California, December 25, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (Sent to five egroups) A flippant title that disguises the gravity of its implications Judge for yourself what Mr. Abaya is saying. Even at the height of our national pride and sovereignty, we were the playthings of the superpowers. [Were we ever a sovereign nation at all? I remember President Ramos sorrowfully expressing just after a Filipino diplomat was brutalized somewhere that we could not do anything. Small Singapore had more wallop in international relations than the 80 million Filipinos who speak English and a former colony of America.] I don't know if this was ever said at all after 1492 in Granada: "Cry for the loss of a kingdom which you did not defend like a man!" I don't know if our suffering veterans in San Francisco will agree with this that the bravest soldiers in World War II -- braver than the Americans, the Japanese, the Chinese, the Malays, the English -- were the Filipino soldiers in Corregidor and Bataan. What happened to all our heroism, martyrdom, and bravery that goes back to those innumerable revolts against Spain and climaxing during the revolution and the war against the Americans? Cesar Torres, [email protected] December 26, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Spellbinding, Sir Abaya... Joyful Christmas and New Year too! Levy Lanaria, [email protected] December 26, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Reaction to �Missing Out in Tourism� (Dec. 11, 2005) In the spirit of the blessed season of Christmas a paragraph from a piece by Bill Moyers on the price of democracy- eternal vigilance and why listening to false Gods can be downright dangerous. "In his recent book, The Gospel According to America, David Dark reminds us again of a lesson we seem always to be forgetting, that "as learners of freedom, we might come to understand that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance." He might well have been directly addressing the press when he wrote, "Keeping one's head safe for democracy (or avoiding the worship of false gods) will require a diligent questioning of any and all tribal storytellers. In an age of information technology, we will have to look especially hard at the forces that shape discourse and the various high-powered attempts, new every morning, to invent public reality." So be it. Bill Moyers Achtung, Achtung!!!! (Und was ist los, Schweinhund? ACA) In your piece you used the word I five times. (And what is wrong with that? Have you bothered to check how many times your favorite columnist, Conrado de Quiros, uses that same word in any of his columns? Or how many columns a month he starts with that very same word? Or do you have a morbid fixation only on me? ACA) Somehow you believe that you can have a chicken without the egg. On your past pieces, You believe that there is a dichotomy between agriculture and industry. How can you have life without both the heart and the lungs a a body. The service industry is the hands and legs but that you can do without. But the lungs without the heart or vice versa. (The dichotomy is only in your warped imagination. I asked for one hectare of land for manufacturing and, say, 999 hectares for agriculture, in a typical Philippine lowland town. You say that is heart without lungs, or vice versa. Where did you get your sense of proportion or your idea of anatomy? From a gorilla? ACA) Where (sic) you conceived immaculately also? (No, were you? ACA) Merry Christmas if you believe that Yesu was trully the Man God. (And if I don�t? ACA) R. Hiro Vaswani, [email protected] December 22, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww The Philippine Society of Rational Humanist wishes you a happy Winter Solstice and New Year The earth has spent more time orbiting the sun than all the religions, all superstitions, all of humanity, and even of all life itself. The Winter Solstice represents an actual astronomical event unlike superstition driven celebrations that occur only in religious imagination. The exact day of the winter solstice marks the end of autumn, just one point along the orbital path of earth. The energy of the sun and the fertile earth, along with the over 4.5 billion winter solstices that have occurred, allowed enough time for all of earth's evolution to happen (and to continue to happen). This puts the Winter Solstice in a far more humbling position than anything invented by humans. Considering that the earth also comes closest* to the sun during the winter, what better time to honor the sun than during the Winter Solstice. The festivals of the Winter Solstice celebrate the start of the new solar year and the beginning of winter. The fantasies of superstition have also used this astronomical event to celebrate Saturnalia, Yule, Christmas, and many other superstitious events. The unknown builders of Stonehenge (see photo above) in southern England constructed the megaliths at around 2000 B.C.E. which makes it at least twice as old as Christianity. It accurately predicts both the summer and winter solstices. In astronomy, a solstice occurs two times a year. During the Winter Solstice the sun appears at its greatest distance from the celestial equator, the great circle on the celestial sphere that occurs on the same plane as the earth's equator. In the northern hemisphere, the winter solstice occurs either December 21 or 22, when the sun shines directly over the tropic of Capricorn. The winter solstice marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year. The sun appears at its lowest point in the sky, and its noontime elevation appears the same for several days before and after the solstice. The summer solstice occurs either June 21 or 22, when the sun shines directly over the tropic of Cancer. In the southern hemisphere, the winter and summer solstices appear reversed. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dick Cheney and the Neo-Cons Dear Mr. Abaya; This is for your info in case you are fond of the subject. It is not edited and polished for external publication as it was sent only to my former grade and high school classmates. Blue and Gold are the colors of Ateneo de Naga. If you ever use it, there would be no need to acknowledge my authorship. Tony Anciano, [email protected] December 27, 2005 MY REPLY. Of course, I am interested in the subject. I have written several articles alluding to Dick Cheney and the PNAC, including this present one. You article follows below, with your authorship duly acknowledged.: US Geopolitics: The Plane of Grand Strategy By Antonio Anciano The purpose of this essay, hopefully a brief one, is to provide readers with a background framework against which current news and events can be evaluated. This would prevent the reader from being misled by the daily media spins and propaganda being generated in the airwaves. The reader would then have a valid appreciation of what is actually happening in the world around us. PRIME OBJECTIVE OF US POLICY There is only one overriding aim of US foreign policy: to restore, maintain, and enhance US pre-eminence, domination, and raw power in the world. This aim, when sufficiently accomplished, would make the American economy prosperous, it is believed. It would mean unequaled wealth for the US elite and a satisfactory standard of living for its citizens (to maintain their support and keep them from complaining). THE GRAND STRATEGY TO ATTAIN THE OBJECTIVE The ruling US group, the neo-conservatives, headed by Vice-President Dick Cheney, and who uses George Bush's public profile as the attracting lightning rod, have already told us in broad strokes how they intend to accomplish their objective. That can be read in the following documents which the neo-cons themselves authored. A) Project New American Century--Statement of Principles http://www.newamericancentury.org/ This statement is clothed in fairly elegant and even "noble" language but it does little to cover the arrogant and ideological presumptions of the neo-con mindset. The neo-cons claim American superiority in both moral standing and military instruments. Therefore, America should rule the world and make it conform to its ideals. Furthermore, the neo-cons have openly espoused the use of arms and pre-emptive attacks to prevent any other power from challenging its dominance. B) Rebuilding America's Defenses (RAD)---A more detailed statement This document is 90 pages long. It provides more details on how the neocons plan to shape the world. The link below is a summary of the long document which can be accessed by googling the title. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3249.htm RAD is a semi-polite document that goes into rough specifics but not explicit enough to reveal what the neo-cons really intend to do. I found quite a number of major flaws in the document; defects that would cause the effort to fail. I do not have the time and space to discuss them. I also have to keep the reader interested. Hopefully the last part of this essay would shed some light on the issue. C) The link below is an editorial on the RAD and PNAC by a group that claims: "News you won't find on CNN" http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article1665.htm THE UNPRINTED STRATEGY OF PNAC AND RAD It would be impolitic and undiplomatic for the neo-cons to publish in advance the "real branches of their strategy" to remain pre-eminent. I have deduced these for the reader based on my understanding of the "in-between the lines" messages of "Rebuilding America's Defenses" and my accumulated knowledge on the subject. It does help considerably that my professional background is about the oil and energy industries. Oil and energy are the FULCRUM that could lever the strategy into a more successful conclusion. The Unmentioned Grand strategy: 1) Bring under US direct or indirect control, through allies and puppet governments, the oil/natural gas exporting countries in the Middle East and Central Asia. Included are access to the logistics infrastructure of oil and gas exports like pipelines. loading ports, and vital sea lanes. 2) Outside of the Middle East and Central Asia, the much greater target of US policy would be the huge EURASIAN landmass. Eurasia houses the following powers and countries that could challenge US hegemony: Russia, Western Europe, and China. India is an afterthought for now. This is an extremely complicated web of a target that could unravel in a number of directions but the US planners seem to be hoping for the following outcome: --a) Contain Russia by cutting it off from the rest thereby preventing it from growing further economic and political muscle. Russia is the only nuclear power that effectively stops the US from a more aggressive military stance. --b) Hold China, Western Europe, and India hostage as far as oil and energy supplies are concerned. If the US and its puppets/allies have effective control of oil/gas fields and their logistics systems, the policies and behavior of the US rivals can be modified to suit US objectives. These two branches of strategy are what are behind most of the US military and diplomatic thrusts since year 2000. The invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, the rush to establish military bases in Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan, Eastern Europe, Iraq, Qatar etc.., and the pressures being exerted on Iran and Syria. The US grand strategy is doomed to fail IF it cannot bring IRAN AND KAZAKHS TAN under US control. Of the two, Iran is more crucial because of the a)country's geographical reach and b) the size of its oil and natural gas reserves. Iran has the second largest reserves of gas next to Russia, some 19% of world reserves. Both Iran and Kazakhstan have access to the growing Chinese energy market as well as to Europe. With Russian oil (8.5 million bbls perday), Iranian, and Kazakh oil (6 million bbls per day) and enormous Russian/ Iranian oil gas production, the US would be ignored and expelled from the region in due time. The US could even lose Japan as an old reliable ally. Japan would continue to need oil and gas and if the US cannot guarantee the supply, it could warm up towards Russia and China. Europe would be difficult to keep under the US umbrella because the bulk of its future energy supplies would come from Russia, Libya, Algeria, and the North Sea. The US cards are weak here. This is the reason French and Germ an leaders are silently hostile to US overtures while Britain is put in a spot. Should Britain move closer to Europe or to the US? I think that question has been answered. The vaunted US military machine, the ground forces at least, is bogged down in Iraq. It is stalemated. I do not know how the US can effectively control IRAN and KAZAKHSTAN. With stakes so high, Russia and China are not likely to stand by while US tentacles operate in their backyards. To my mind, the only reason China and Russia have not interfered against the US in any significant way in the Middle East and Central Asia is BECAUSE THE US IS LOSING GROUND BY ITSELF. There is no need to intervene. Yes, the US empire is retreating on all fronts in the world. Latin America is turning socialist and leftist; the recent East Asia Summit did not invite the US; and almost no one in non-Mediterranean Africa listens to the US. And George Bush is the laughing stock of the world. ***** wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (The following article first appeared in the South China Morning Post, of Hong Kong, and was emailed to us by the author) History re-edited By: ALAN ROBLES December 08, 2005 Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, is under fire for falsely identifying an American journalist as a suspect in the murders of former president John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert. Any visitor to the Wikipedia site could, until very recently, freely create and edit entries in a spirit of community scholarship. I have used the site as a technical source, but realized its limitations recently when I saw its article on Ferdinand Marcos. I nearly swallowed my vocal chords. You may have heard of Casper, the Friendly Ghost. How about Ferdie, the Cuddly Despot? The dictator, the entry said, was "controversial" but "his term was characterized by economic prosperity ... as well as peace and political stability". The article omitted all the good parts: the murderous military dictatorship, the looting of billions of dollars, the destruction of national institutions. It did not say that Switzerland has so far returned more than US$680 million of Marcos' loot. Zipping through "alleged human-rights violations", "allegedly fraudulent" elections, "alleged systematic vote tampering" and "supposed" looting of billions, the entry rhapsodized that "perhaps [Marcos'] greatest feat was restraint in unleashing the military's force at the masses during the Edsa [people-power] revolution, thus sacrificing his post and averting bloodshed". I could almost hear soft violin music. Actually, reports say Marcos put on a show of gentleness for the Americans, who weren't fooled: they overheard him secretly radioing his generals to pound Edsa. The Wiki contributor provided two links, one to a site providing straightforward biographical data, the other to the "Marcos Presidential Centre" - which mentions no terror or torture. I exercised my right as a Wiki user and edited the entry. But when I inspected the site a few hours later, I found my corrections had been deleted and the original restored. This started a two-day war that saw me and the mysterious contributor editing each other. Anybody who read the entry during that time would have blinked at how paragraphs appeared, disappeared and reappeared within minutes. I finally had an acerbic message exchange with the poster, who seems to have based his "facts" on what he read in two books. For now, my corrections have stayed but I'm bothered that, for at least two years, the entry was read by people who used it as a reference. The same contributor has also written about Marcos' children and some cronies, so I've broken out a stack of books, documents and newsclips. There's some Wiki whitewash that needs removing. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Sequel to the Sequel on �An Expat's Lament� (Dec 06, 2005) Hi Tony, Hope you and your family had a safe and very Merry Christmas.. OK on the sequel. I had already checked out that site and frankly was very impressed by the credentials of your associates. To be honest with you, it gave me a feeling of hope.. Hope that there are more than just a few present and former public servants/officials who may not have lined their pockets at the expense of the general public. But I noticed too you are mostly seniors and with all respect please, I sure hope current public officials pay you the respect you have coming to you and pay more than lip service to your concerns and counsel. I try not to be cynical about the state of the nation but it takes effort. In the Star there was an article about the hijacking and apparently the mastermind of this event has a � get out of jail card � that does not expire.. What is really damaging is the implication this person has such high level protection he can get away with serious crime with impunity. This is what drives people to cynicism I think. It�s hopeless is the first thought to mind.. The second is that GMA must be really impotent for this to go on.. I can�t help but ask myself, why can�t she just look into this and if it is true this guy has gotten inside help deal with it and do so publicly and swiftly.. Or get one of her senior staff to do it and keep the effort in the public eye. Her failure to do this further implies the protection may be all the way to the palace or pretty close to it.. She has to regain credibility somehow.. I have been a supporter of her administration but maybe it is time for a change.. My company is also in the semiconductor business.. How can we promote this country as a �better� investment location than our neighbors when just to get your product to the airport you need an armored vehicle and security escort ( this is what Intel does btw.. according to Fed-X staff I met with on Friday last week ) Mine is not the only company deliberately limiting investment here and security is just one of the many reasons for this. But here again, the irony, and contrary to what I sometimes hear is the expectation, ( mostly from Filipinos ), the quality of our products is exceptional based on any world class metric. Sadly, people here are pretty cynical about their own capability.. The expertise is so good that I am trying to groom some managers for more regional roles.. and, identify certain individuals for greater responsibility as the more senior of us ( at the director level ) retire. The negative image of the country works against that effort in subtle ways� BTW, there are many Filipino OCWs in the electronics industry in Asia.. There is a 30 year history of electronics in the Philippines so the experience and the ability to communicate in English has opened the door of foreign employment to many people here. Re earlier letter.. In conversations with one of my local Filipino friends and another American expat the letter came up. They had not guessed it was me but mentioned that the story sounded familiar. After their comments about it I told them who wrote it. The feedback I got was good. Apparently it was picked up on by the American Chamber of Commerce too and there was a lot of agreement about the content. There is a lot of frustration over the lack of discipline and unfriendly investment climate here.. Anyway.. wishing you and your family a Happy New Year too and lastly, thanks for reading this.. I won�t be an email pest I assure you.. Oh, one correction to the sequel. It�s not Price Smart anymore.. it�s Home Depot.. The robbers had followed us from NAIA and knew, thanks to the village stickers, where we were going and waited till we were on a dimly lit and relatively quiet section of highway. (Name and email address withheld) December 27, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww A Christmas Tale � in Chabacano I thought it would be fun to remind ourselves how Christmas was celebrated in the Philippines before the war. We had a more joyful time indeed, didn't we? To add more relish to the tale, I picked one out ... in Chabacano, a fast fading dialect which I am certain you will still understand. God bless! Ben Sanchez, [email protected] December 27, 2005 El Pascua Antes Por Librada C. Llamado Este el Pascua antes del guerra de 1941, como qui ta recolda yo. Todo niso na familia tiene parte na preparacion para na Pascua. Mi mayores, mi Tia, mi hermana, mi seis hermano y yo. Noviembre pa numa, ta anda ya mi dos hermano mayor na Irasan para busca pono de api-api para haci Christmas tree. Na segunda semana de Deciembre ta anda otra vez este mi dos hermano para culta el pono qui ya gusta ilos. Al llegar na casa ta quita ilos el mga ojas y ta culta el cuanto rama chiquito para quida mas bonito el corte del pono. Despues di dija este na sol para seca. A catorse de Deciembre ta haci levanta el pono na un paso grande lleno de piedra chiquitito y ta involvi ya mi Tia y mi hermana mayor el mga rama y tronco di este con verde "crepe paper". Almidon espeso el qui ta usa para piga el papel na pono. Ta cubri din el paso cun "crepe paper". Despues ta puni un grande estrellas de palara na mas alto punta del pono y ta culga mga decoracion na mga rama. Nisos tres mas joven na familia el qui ta puni manga decoracion na manga rama qui ta pudi niso alcansa. Ultimo ta puni el manga luz de otro-otro color entre el mga rama. Todo el a�o, aquel qui aquel decoracion y luz el qui ta usa niso pero para niso bonito pa rin el niso Christmas tree, mas pa cuando sindido el mga luz. Un Tio de nisos tiene manga pono de ca�a, Alla ta pidi ca�a mi otro dos hermano para haci parol. Talda rin para midi, culta y haci liso el mga pidaso de ca�a y despues amarra este na corte de estrellas y cubri con papel de japon. Ta puni pa decoracion na dos punta del parol qui hecho del mismo papel. Antes de culga el parol na afuera del ventana del sala, ta puni adentro di este un bombilla chiquito. A dieciseis de Deciembre, el primer dia del Misa de Gallo, ta sindi el parol na manga casa, se�ales qui ya umpisa ya el tiempo del celebracion del Pascua. Todo el casa, grande o chiquito, tiene parol. Simple numa el mga parol y todo corte de estrellas, simbolo del estrellas qui ya diriji con el tres Mago para encontra con el Ni�o Jesus. Antes y despues del misa, ta camina el musico bumbong, un banda qui ta toca mga instrumento hecho de ca�a. Dos o tres miembro del banda ta toca cilindro. Este el qui ta lliva melodia o tono del piesa. Na Noche Buena, ta haci el misa de aguinaldo para celebra el nacimiento de Jesus. Despues del misa, ta reuni el familia y mga pariente o amigo. Na niso casa, frutas, casta�as y suman (qui ta cusi mi Nana todo el a�o) el qui ta ofreci con el mga visita. Visperas del A�o Nuevo, ta reuni el familia para el comida de media-noche. Jamon china, queso de bola y pan el qui ta prepara niso todo el a�o. A�o Nuevo numa niso ta tini jamon y queso de bola, por eso con todo gusto niso ta cumi. A las doce, ta sindi ya el manga rebentador, cohetes, lucis y ca�on de ca�a. Alboroto y alegre todo y nuay qui ta desgracia na rebentador por ser chiquitito este - nuuy pa manga "super lolo," "watusi" y "sinturon ni Hudas." Nuay rin manga pleito o matansa por ser no ta tini mga tomada el mga hombre. Todo ta na casa con el familia. A seis de Enero el dia del tres rey. Aqui ta termina el tiempo del Pascua. Ta recoji ya el mga decoracion y ta haci le�a ya el Christmas tree qui no mas di pudi usa el siguiente a�o. Para mi, mas alegre el Pascua antes. Como? Juntu-junto el familia na preparacion y na celebracion del Pascua y a�o Nuevo. No ta gasta tanto para na mga decoracion y para na comida. El musico bumbong ta tuca para dale alegria, no para pidi sen con el gente. El mga "Christmas carols" ta canta o ta tuca numa durante el tiempo de Pascua por eso ta sinti niso bueno mensaje del mga canto. Nuay desgracia qui ta resulta na celebracion del Pascua. Alegre y contento todo por ser ta na corazon el espiritu del Pascua, no na manga cosa material. ***** wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony on TV (9) Dear Mr. Abaya, Congratulations on a great and very informative TV interview (on Dec. 30) by Mr. Carandang. You are indeed an astute political analyst and the talents of Mr. Carandang did you justice. Ces Drillon would have ruined the whole interview with her irrelevant questions and her penchant for interrupting you in the middle of your answers. Yours truly, James Litton, [email protected] December 30, 2005 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Reaction to Sen. Gordon and the Tourism Act In the Sponsorship Speech of Senator Richard J. Gordon, he said "The tourism agencies of government must be able to advertise competitively on CNN and BBC. Not only there, but in national TVs, TV channels in other countries, on their trains, on their aircraft, on their radio and TV stations, in their newspapers, and other international channels, so that the world can know of the beauty of the Philippines." It would seem that Sen. Gordon may not be aware of the internet alternative as a way to promote tourism. More than 20 years ago, advertising on CNN and BBC would be the best way of attracting foreign tourists. At that time, direct personalized advertising to foreigners was impractical and possibly more expensive because mail communication was very slow and an international phone call was quite expensive. But with the advent of the internet, the picture had changed. E-mails can be sent and received regardless of distance in a matter of seconds. Internet phone calls are quite cheap. I've heard that one is offering it for free. One can email a digitized movie attachment to another and view it on a PC. Hence, what can be shown on a TV can also be sent and shown on a PC. Note that advertisements on TV or radio are similar to spam on the internet (thousands of copies of same unwanted e-mail sent to individual e-mail accounts or Usenet newsgroups). The only difference is that ads on TV, etc. are paid for. Although spam is free, it is not a good way to advertise our country. Some Phil. companies like PAL have websites that advertises some Phil. tourist spots. This is useful but only to a limited extent because only Filipinos and foreigner tourists who have already decided to tour the Philippines will be most likely the only ones who will view them. I think the best tourism use of the internet is the hiring/training of tourist 'salesmen' who will do personalized selling of our country to foreigners. This idea is just an improved version of Sen. Gordon's idea when he was secretary of Tourism: ask each overseas Pinoy to convince at least 1 foreigner each year to come and visit the Phil. Note that some individuals/companies are currently doing personalized selling of their products in the internet. When my friend was doing a research on 'novena to st. joseph', he saw an ad re 'Effective Prayer'. Out of curiosity, he went to its site. Now, they are doing personalized selling by asking him questions like 'prayer for what', etc. he is interested in then e-mailing him details about his interests. Comparing the car and real estate industries with tourism, the former can do well with advertisements alone with lesser need for salesmen than that of 'foreign' tourism for the following reasons; 1. A prospective buyer of a a. car can not only actually look at the car, its engine, etc., he can also test drive the car and easily consult a mechanic and/or owner of that car model b. house or lot can readily make an actual house or site inspection and ask around people who are owners of adjoining houses or lots. In the case of a prospective 'foreign' tourist to a place, he won't usually have the money and time to have an actual look at the place before he tours it. Different tourists have also different likes, dislikes and interests. It would be hard to show all of them in one ad. Hence, a salesman would have served his needs better by showing in detail only the things that interests him. Note that many viewers would not watch the TV when ads are played. Some men may continue watching the Malaysian ad on BBC just to look at the lady in bikini. The agent also gives the interaction some personal touch by answering any question the prospect might have. In view of the foregoing, I believe that this strategy is better than just advertising the Phil. on TV, radio and newspapers. Note that most of the commission expense will plow back to Phil economy. Advertising on CNN and BBC may still be done but it need not be a big expense. I think the car and real estate industries have salesmen because they have learned from experience that their salesmen helped them have bigger sales volumes. Note that salesmen are often known to increase the overall sales of the whole industry because a few customers who have no plan of buying a product are convinced by them to buy it. In 1977, Manila Bankers Life Insurance sold 2 insurance plans. The first plan had a lower rate of return but higher agent�s commission compared to the second which had a higher rate of return but lower commission. Though the second was advertised in newspapers, its sales were much lower compared to the second. The main reason for the big difference most likely was the agents who exerted effort to sell the first plan over the second. My idea about tourism promotion would include the following: 1. Experts in sales to design and prepare all training and promotion materials (video, text and audio) including optimal approaching and selling strategies and procedures. 2. Recruit and train as many interested Filipinos to sell our country to foreigners. The only requirements are that one should have an e-mail account + access to internet and CD/DVD Writer so training and promotion materials including video, text and audio ads can readily be sent to them and they can do their job through e-mail or direct personal contact. Although it is good to be overseas where one can interact with foreigners directly, it does not have to be so. Since it is easy for one to devote only an hour or so a day, it is ok for one to have another full-time job. Since most communications with the agents will be done through e-mail, there is no problem if there are more than a million agents. 3. The first/opening message/approach might be a general one describing 'paradise' (beautiful things our country can offer). It may be e-mailed to a relative, friend, officemate, neighbor or e-mail group where he is a member or discussed directly with them. For a prospect who shows interest, agent finds out things he would like to see/experience then present in detail only those things. Agent should encourage him to ask questions. For questions the agent can not answer, he refers them to tourism help desk then get back to his prospect. 4. It would be good if the agents are provided with names/phone no./email address of persons living near the prospect and who toured our country and are willing to give a good word about us. Their testimonies can help a lot in removing doubts or worries about the Phil. security. 5. Commission may not necessarily be in cash. It may be hotel accommodation, plane ticket, etc. which may be encashed by selling it to another. 6. The tourism e-mail group can discuss problems, questions of agents and corresponding answers, success stories of agents, suggestions, etc. Your comments, suggestions and criticism on the above would be highly appreciated. Nars Silverio, [email protected] December 29, 2005 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |
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