Voice Unheard

After delivering a speech that supposedly described to the world the serious need for aid of the people in Mindanao, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s speech before the United Nations (UN) General Assembly was met with massive discontent and was even ignored by some delegates. Now, we have to think if whether they ignored the country or they ignored the speaker.

President Arroyo speaks before the General Assembly.

Most recently, the President of the Philippines Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo spoke before the United Nations (UN) General Assembly. Her speech came after UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon, General Assembly President Miguel Brockmann, Brazilian President Luiz Da Silva and American President George Bush whose speech focused mainly on terrorism and French President Nicolas Sarkozy whose speech that focused on moral responsibility and worldwide peace was given a standing ovation before the Assembly. President Arroyo’s speech however was the time when most diplomats stood from their seats and began leaving the room. Clearly her speech was ignored. Although some may have heard it but they may not have taken it seriously. It seemed as if no one noticed her enter the podium, having met with no applause at all.

Surely it wasn’t because they didn’t care about the people in the Philippines. I mean this is an international body that is suppose to safeguard human rights. These people were diplomats. Surely that wasn’t the case. What seems possible though is that they didn’t have trust in the speaker, Gloria Arroyo. They have heard of the recent irregularities and atrocities happening in the Philippines. They knew the situation in the country was getting worse and that millions of people need international “intervention”. They all knew what was happening, they didn’t need someone to speak before them tell them that “everything is okay” and receive credit for it even if it wasn’t true. The world is ready to help, but not when the country is not going to help itself. The government, at least. The country has been given the opportunity to help itself so many times but thanks to the government the needy failed to take advantage of its benefits. So many times international firms have approved loans for Philippine projects but were often redirected into the wrong pockets. Today, the country has many fields which need rehabilitating such as healthcare, education and sanitation. These fields need spending. And not fields like a national broadband network or a big-ticket mining deal. We have to start with the basics, on what is practical rather than what is ambitious.

During that assembly, the world may have turned their backs on President Arroyo but not to the millions of Filipinos who are victims of greed, lust and corruption. Nor to the millions more pleading for help in other parts of the world. They know who needs help. They are ready to help, but at the right time. Yes, our President’s voice was unheard, but not the Filipino’s.

Legal Defense

After a US airstrike-gone-wrong kills 12 innocent civilians in a tribal village in the Afghan-Pakistani border, the Pakistanis wanted no more of American help in their territory. Leading them into shooting two US military choppers which were suppose to hunting for insurgents. America calls the attack “uncalled for”, but we have to analyze that what the Pakistanis were doing was just legal defense.

An American attack chopper goes on patrol near the Afghan-Paki border in this undated Yahoo.com photo.

It was two weeks ago when an American missile hit a house in North Waziristan, a tribal region in Pakistan near the Afghan border. Apparently, the Americans were pursuing rebels fleeing from Afghanistan. They can get in, apparently, into Pakistan at any time they want without Pakistani approval. Well, technically that was the case until the unfruitful incident last September 12. Musharaff had to not give a damn, or else the US would tighten a noose around his neck for his nuclear ambitions. Now there’s a new top dog, Asif Ali Zardari, who has a tough stance on terrorism since he blames for the death of his wife, Benazir Bhutto.

He was frustrated about the US attacks though. Sending a protest straight to the American embassy. And he had every right to, he was only doing what he was assigned to do, protect the people. And the US can’t say that they were also protecting the people by pursuing the rebels because mind you Pakistan has its own defense forces. Even has nuclear weapons in its arsenal. It is very capable of defending itself against terrorists.

Pakistan has already made a threat, that if the US doesn’t stay out of its borders it would attack. An attack of legal defense. America has to know that it is not free to do anything it wants, and it must also understand this.

First Comes First In the Philippines

After a weak air force (PAF) became even more helpless after one of its main cargo planes crashed, the issue of armed forces modernization was brought up again. The issue of acquiring new fighter planes for the air force that would replace retired F-5 Freedom Fighters, more helicopter gunships for anti-terrorist operations and more fast craft vessels for anti-smuggling and border patrol. But the Department of National Defense (DND) quickly said that it would be too “expensive” to completely modernize the armed forces and doubling the budget wouldnt even do the job.

The DND currently (2008) has a budget of Php52 billion. The government soldies fight with a white t-shirt with the sign, “AFP” emprinted on it. Well most of the times anyways. And most provincial army bases have one or two howitzers and several trucks on them. They are greatly surpassed by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (M.I.L.F.) whose soldiers are dressed in full camouflage regalia, complete with CB radios, grenades and back-up handguns. Not to mention, they have a full set of howitzers and mortars in each of their bases. And come to think the group only relies on private donors for financing. Which means either two things, one: the donations the group receives totals to or more than Php52 billion or the generals and defense officials are getting a huge chunk of the budget.

Our weak military is one of the things that tarnishes the image of our country. Imagine, being one of two South-East Asian countries not having a fixed-wing fighter jet. The other one being East Timor, one of the poorest nations in the world. The Philippines however, is not, we are a middle class country. So why can’t we have fighter planes? Even our neighbor countries that we are economically ahead of such as Vietnam and Indonesia have complete squads of fighters and bombers.

But the one thing that really ticks me off is the fact that the DND finds it too “expensive” to buy a brand new C-130 Hercules cargo plane worth P800 million (which I am sure we can even get at a lower price since we are a major US-ally) when just recently, the Office of the President (OP) have made a P1.4 billion procurement of two eight-seater bell choppers for the President’s travel. Each chopper costing Php700 Million. So we don’t have the funds to benefit our own soldiers but we have a lot of funds to benefit the President? Whose tax remmitances contribute the greatest percentage of the national budget anyways? The people or the president? The DND have said before that it could “ask” surplus C-130 stocks from their American counterparts. A bad idea. Surplus stocks are either: decades old or are under repair. Acquiring such would cause another crash.

This scenario is similar to countries like North Korea or Saddam Hussein Iraq where the military was virtually “owned” by the head-of-state. Where the defense forces would defend the “beloved leader”. Those are autoritarian states. We here in the Philippines, we cherish a democracy. And in a democracy, the people should always come first. The President is the people’s servant, he or she should come last. Not in our country’ case however. The “First Family” should always come first. This is the sad truth.