We already know the answer to that question. Back in 1991, Philippine Congress voted to boot Uncle Sam’s boys out of her shores for good. Since then, the Philippines had undergone a steep decline to irrelevance in the world stage. Along with that came tumbling her ability to defend herself. Indeed, one would have thought that the exit of America from its prime military bases in the Philippines would see the dawn of a self-sufficient and credible indigenous military capability in the former American colony. Unfortunately that never materialised.
Madre de Cacao: What would these people know about what’s good for the Philippines?
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Instead, the Philippines is being crushed. Its territories in the West Philippine Sea are being encroached upon with impunity by the People’s Liberation Army. Communists now not only infest the Philippines’ jungles, but also its criminal Congress. Worst of all, the Philippine government had been suckered by a terrorist group and the Malaysian government into palming off an enormous chunk of Mindanao, its second biggest island and agricultural and mining heartland, to “autonomous” Islamic rule.
The Philippine government insists that it is “for the sake of peace” that it applied a consistent limpdicked approach to negotiating with China, its communist insugents, a domestic jihad group, and its ASEAN “friend”.
Including the words “for the sake of peace” in doctrine that underpins negotiations with belligerent — much more, unabashedly hostile — entities is politicodiplomaticspeak for I-don’t-have-enough-guns-to-blow-your-heads-off-if-you-don’t-agree-to-my-terms.
Nobody is under any illusion that the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) is anything more than an imperfect rickety workaround solution cobbled together by previous governments to the shortsighted mistake made by Philippine Congress in 1991. Commie “activists”, however make it out to be an evil document. Their Maoist doctrine imprisons their minds to that frankly tiring Cold War era rallying cry that makes their approach to thinking no different to that of religious cultists and mass murderers.
But between the propaganda of old discredited communist nuts (“down with the evil imperialist [bla bla]”) and the propaganda of Uncle Sam’s jingoists (“truth, justice, and the American way”) which one gives you the warmest fuzziest feeling of all?
The choice is clear.
So what’s the real deal here when it comes to choosing who to go to bed with before the bar closes? It comes down to the two current big bad boys that most closely present themselves as options to the hapless Pinoy today — the People’s Republic of China or the United States of America.
If we open our eyes a bit wider, the Philippine government had already made that choice for us — Uncle Sam. But that does not mean that choice can still walk away if it decides that it is dealing with a psychotic nation. When it does, Filipinos may have no other choice but to open its doors to the real global psychos — China and the Islamic State.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Us Filipinos are good at singing & dancing. Other than that it’s a shit poor country full of corrupt citizens & politicians, religious hypocrites, littering-shit-and-pee-anywhere nasty morons, light-skin-loving racists (There has got to be over a thousand skin whitening products in this shit country. And these are uttered often by kids & adults: “Ayy, mas maputi ako sa iyo.” and “Ayy, ang itim mo.” and “Negro! Negra! Nognog! Baluga! Uling! Sunog!”), immoral fuckers, polygamists, alcoholics, drug addicts, rapists, thieves, murderers, etc. The country & all of its citizens are better off getting hit with at least a hundred nuclear missiles from north to south to end its pathetic existence.
I would have respected them if they at least admitted it to themselves that they’re far from being a righteous bunch. But they pretend to be righteous and think they’re better than everyone else. They’re unwilling to change, too proud or too lazy to change and that’s what makes them so fracking annoying.
Self-deluded and complacent – a deadly self-destructive combination in any nation, ripe for decay. The decay of this society is so pervasive that one of its own cultural icons, the actor Robin Padilla considers it full of liars and worth leaving behind.
Reading this just gave me an orgasm. This is so weird.
I came too like a mother F. That post about how garbage-like Filipinos are is so accurate & so good!!
Do not agree China and Islam are psychos. Our leaders are just as psychotic but have failed to equip our country to press its own agenda in the global stage and marketplace.
What a bunch of fools.
“But the VFA was ratified before 1991–”
“Shut up — we’re still gonna spin this shit, y’read?”
In the U.S., and much of the Western World. If your son or daughter reaches the age of 21 years old. You have to kick him/her out of your house. And,make him/her live on his/her own. In our culture, we see sons and daughters, with families; living with their parents; still depend on their parents. Or make their parents as “Yayas” of their children.
We , as a nation must learn to live on our own. We must learn to defend ourselves. Learn to have good relations with other nations, by ourselves.
If we can just kick out these Feudal Oligarchs leaders; and political family dynasties. Rely on our own. Have self dignities. Vote for TRUE LEADERS, who are capable…we can improve, as a nation…we have not yet matured, from our colonization…
… welcome to India, where attitudes on extended families are comparable.
And look where they are right now.
Actually they’re doing relatively well on the economic stage with BOP and other tech industries growing there. The country just has huge issues with economic inequality. Same goes for China.
Hyden Toro’s point was that our attitudes on familial ties has produced a dysfunctional Filipino society, which to me is almost on the same level of bullshit as some idiot’s thoughts about our dependence on maids having the same ill effect on us (because apparently the poor can afford maids.
I just pointed out to him a country that reveres extended family ties as well as we do, just so he knows that he is wrong.
They don’t do that in Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, etc.
Cambodia (khmer rouge) had it right (up to wiping out the political landsape [dynasties, officials,etc]).
@ 007, YES THEY DID, but they took it too far, way to far !
A purging of the elites and a redistribution of the wealth ala Henry VIII would be a better idea and may just work.
A ‘righteous’ type of ‘Protestant’ revolt, not Islamic, could be imitated and could actually work.Developing an industrial sector and making sure the wealth doesn’t make its way back to the elites would be a start in the direction the country should have gone circa 1950…..BUT, it will not happen and anyone who can get out of the hell-hole that the country is, should do so NOW !
Yep, enslaving and murdering the educated people so that they’re on level with the “masa” is just what the country needs.
/sarcasm
@ ANON: that is not what was stated, ur just another idiot making a typical FLIP retard statement. NOT SARCASM.
What were the aims of the Khmer Rouge? How can those aims be divorced from the blood they shed in the name of those aims? How is the Cambodian situation circa 1975-1979 relevant to the Philippine predicament?
Answer all those questions, then you can afford to be flippant, endorse bloody zealot solutions, and be an ass about it in sum.
That was mainly towards Colbey’s idiotic proposal to the country’s direction, not to you. Please avoid wearing your heart on your sleeve so you don’t look foolish.
@ Pallalalacercus. its not my job to inform you what the Khemer Rouge did, read a history book.In any decent text about the reign of the Khmer you will get your answer to your second question.
I Know the answers to your questions and that is EXACTLY why I can say what I said.
For whatever reason YOU do not know the answers to your own questions and I will not do your homework for you Sonny.
Feigning ignorance where there is actually ignorance in abundance is what you do/did here….and in the process made an ASS-HAT out of yourself, not me Sonny.LOL @ U,PFFF…
@ ANON, I wear what I like, wherever I like to wear it(and you’ll certinly NEVER have a role in telling me how to ‘WEAR” anything, HBWAH HA HA!)…and Ihappen to look good doin it too. How much a ‘HOTTIE’ is ur GF/Wife/Partner, huh ? not so much, huh? IDTS….
@Gerry
Now you’re not making any sense. Consider this “conversation” over.
@Gerry
Way to tackle a series of rhetorical questions, hotshot — but let that pass, for another question has occurred to me: since you say (or at least imply) that you know what colbey said and indeed understood what he was trying to say, would you be so kind as to restate it in terms I could understand? For it seems to me a carte blanche for genocide, the prospect of a utopia justifying the bloody means to reach it.
The answer to the question….they will be just a little more fucked than they were before the USA walked away.
@FB – Just like in Iraq & Afghanistan. Oops…my bad. In these cases, they are more fucked than they were before the USA walked in.
…US has been active in pushing for the peace talk with MNLF. This was quite evident during the time of US Amb Kristie Kenny who visited ARMM almost once a month. Her effort did pay off; Gloria signed a peace deal with MNLF. That agreement was subsequently thrown out by the SC for being unconstitutional. SC made it evident that the peace deal was a dangerous step that could pave a way for a Bangsamoro independence in the long run. It also exposed something of what ulterior motive US had in mind — to split PHL into two nations. Kenny caught flak from few thinking media guys, though that news was only buried in the inside of one or two dailies.
The new peace deal signed by PNoy with MNLF is no different. It can be deemed equally unconstitutional if we are to listen to former SC justices and other constitutional experts. Was US active in pushing for this new deal as well? Knowing what Kenny did, there is no reason to think otherwise. It is just that they have learned to be subtle this time.
The parameters why US remains engaged with PHL are no secret. Briefly, they are, among others, as follows: (1) US is keen on maintaining a powerful influence in Asia Pacific and is not shy in saying this is one of their top priorities; (2) PHL is in a geographical vantage point where one of the most important sea lanes could be controlled (or choked), and PHL completes the semi circle around China that starts north with the US base in Yongsam, South Korea, to those ones in Okinawa and Guam, and ends south with PHL; and (3) the West PHL Sea is said to have one of the biggest oil reserves.
With several sectors in PHL wanting to totally rid themselves of any US influence, we could only surmise US must have already thought of a number of “Plan B” in the event said sectors would have their way. We have been offered a hint of this Plan B through the peace deal with MNLF mentioned earlier. I will speculate here that US might have been looking at the following options:
(A) If PHL continues to be an unpredictable and an unreliable partner, then the independence of Bangsamoro might as well be encouraged since a new nation, and a smaller one at that, offers the possibility of a situation where negotiations could be made easier, and Mindanao, afterall, would be a better location for a new US base.
(B) On the other hand, if the new Bangsamoro nation turns out to be a pain in the neck like those Muslim nations in the Middle-East, then, with an ever present threat from the South, PHL might turn out to be more amenable to becoming a partner. PHL might even mature as a nation or she might be overtaken by the Bangsamoro nation. PHL might even overcome her propensity to negotiate on a win-lose, or even lose-lose, basis — arrangements which of course do not offer any stable or long term prospects to any negotiating party. (If there is one thing about Pinoys, they can be very creative under adverse and severe conditions — other than that, they are lazy with their brains and take the easy way out.)
(C) if above (A) and (B) do not work out, then US would have to accept an incomplete circle around China or a lesser influence in Asia. US would continue to encourage US oil companies to be in partnerships with their Chinese counterparts even at a weak position, because a small share or participation in the exploitation of the West PHL Sea would be better than nothing. That would also mean that US would have no incentive in including PHL in any such direct transaction.with China.
(D) Etc etc etc… a thousand and one possibilities/ models where PHL could be excluded from the big geopolitical and economic decisions ……..
From the foregoing, are the Lefties therefore right, PHL should totally disengage the US? Or, would that only be viable if China engages PHL as a partner, i.e. PHL finds an incentive to make China see things our way? Unfortunately, China retains its Marxist thinking, and it may be a long time before she could shed her state sponsored monopolistic tendencies. (They are like Pacman now gobbling all the resources they find from Africa to Central Asia and beyond). They loathe anything they cannot control. (Just look at what’s happening in Hong Kong today.) That means we have no choice but engage the US and others. In a shrunken global village, no country could afford to close its borders and survive. Each country has to find niche under the sun that would make it competitive.
Thus, the current posturing in PHL vs US is puerile. It is also hilarious; it reflects a xenophobic mind that longs for some isolated island, disengaged from what’s occurring internationally. It is also schizophrenic in the sense that it magnifies that which is small and ignores that which are big. How can we equate the current cell of Pemberton as an assault on our sovereignty when there are much, much bigger consideration in the game of geopolitics? More to it, It is not clear whether they want to get rid of VFA or are just trying to extract a maximum of whatever could be squeezed out of Laude’s tragedy. Any way you look at it, we look cheap.
It is unfortunate that we still have people who like playing a small boy in games played by big boys. If indeed our choice is to become a respectable member of the international community, then I hope we can forget aiming for independence based on misplaced and twisted nationalism, or exposing our dependence by parading our mendicant way of thinking. The name of the game is geopolitics, and there is only one strategy, one playbook, available these days: INTERDEPENDENCE.
Since then, the Philippines had undergone a steep decline to irrelevance in the world stage.
Philippines has always been irrelevant, just another fucked up 3rd world country.
@ YANW< YES, that is true…but it could have been a powerhouse. Just like Jaoan and now Singapore or even South Korea BUT NO, the politicians decided to steal everything and just call the USA when the country needs something.
A dependent nation is a nation of cowards. Partner? You can only be said to be a partner of strong countries if you’re not their underdog. US-Japan, Singapore-US, S.Korean-US are partners but Philippines-US? Partners on what? What can the country offer without the shield or assistance from these first world countries?
…Independence cannot be just about Dollars, Pesos, Net Worth, GDP’s and GNP’s. Many of the well-known companies started with partners of unequal net-worths — one had the know-how, but no money; the other, the financial capability. In the same manner, the respective partnerships with the US of Japan, S Korea, and Singapore didn’t start because these three Asian countries were always tiger economies. There was a time, as a matter of fact, that PHL was wealthier than Singapore and Korea combined. (We just quickly squandered all the opportunities that came our way in the last two or three decades…….and if we are a basketcase today, we have nobody to blame but ourselves.)
Maybe, it is time to impress again into the national psyche that dependence is a state of the mind. Of course, that will not be easy — “it is easier to slide into a vice than to pick-up the broken pieces after the vice.” But, we have to start somewhere even when all the optimists seem to have gone on vacation.
For sure, the prevailing mood of defeatism is not the place to start any recovery. This mood has been, and continues to be, feeding on itself, metastisizing into known and unknown malignancies. In 2016, for example, we know that n-percentage of voters, having already surrendered that, anyway, 99% of politicians are either retards or genetically and dynastically corrupted animals , will again go to the polls with eyes closed and palms openned. …..If anything, it is, of course, the youth, and the not so youthful, who have been seeking arenas where the sad mood could somehow be modified, changed, or mitigated…. they have been giving all sorts of moral supports, albeit ranging from ridiculous to sublime, to every Pinoy/Pinay sensational singers and dazzling athletes found in international stages — subconsciously trying to convince themselves that maybe, we as a people are not afterall that bad. They may have a point. Pinoys had major contributions to urban planning in Singapore, agriculture in Thailand, banking in Hong Kong and Indonesia, academe in Japan, medicine in the US, etc, …..except that these are of days long gone by. So to the youth, we say: “nice try and please don’t give up.”
Unfortunately, and fortunately, singing, dancing and sports may not be the arena to focus on. To policymakers, planners, think-tanks, venture capitalists, investors, bankers, economists, military strategists, demographers, etc, , such don’t count, obviously.
Now, don’t ask me where to start specifically. All I know at this point is that we as a people have lost our bearing. We no longer know, or never knew, who we were, don’t understand who we are today, and thus, don’t even have a concensus, let alone an inkling, of what and where we want to be in 10, 20, 30.. 50 years. So maybe, in general terms, this is where to start.
“There was a time, as a matter of fact, that PHL was wealthier than Singapore and Korea combined.”
Yes. As far as I know, seeing how progressive the Philippines then give the people/leaders from these two countries the inspiration to focus on working towards the position they want to see themselves in the future.
Present day Filipinos are always looking back and continuing the wrong traditions this is why it’s hard to turn the wheel to the right direction.
Filipinos respect Chinese people and her culture. Most Filipinos already working for Chinese own businesses and they are not complaining about exploitation. Kanos on the other hand are under microscope all the time. You Filipinos give a pass to the Chinese but very critical of the Kanos. I say You and the Chinese are compatible therefore the USA should walk away. The Americans will be better off without you and you will do better with a culture and it’s people that you are close to and acceptive of. Let it be. Amen.
…..Hahaha, exactly.
They have gotten so used to the onus per se. Instead of preferring the onus of responsibility which could someday unburden them…..no, they just let things be. They will quietly queue for an hour, or two, just to get a ticket to the MRT and will not riot against the system…. and yet, at the drop of a hat, will riot in front of the US Embassy with the flimsiest reason. Traffic has gotten so terrible, and more often than not, all you hear are jokes about it. Servility has evolved into a masochist….. It is a madhouse alright.
“The madman is not the man who has lost his reason. The madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason.” – GK Chesterton. …..This explains why it is hard to distinguish university faculties from mental wards, save for the latter being kept under lock and keys. Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, and the idol of our Lefties, Chairman Mao, were intelligent men who vandalized the attics of culture because they absorbed some vestige of that culture and thought that it was rational to hate it.”
“Thus, it is to a lesser degree with those who advertise themselves as our political and social elite. That can be a noxious conceit, made worse by the perfume of popularity…. … Public thinkers today such as our politicians and members of the media who comment on them are a generation of our society to have been badly schooled without being aware of the fact. We cannot deny that many of them are very intelligent, but their mental acuity is the end result, and the subsequent cause as well, of a madhouse that is the PHL. The state of affairs is allowed to perpetuate by ignorance of history, or the twisted and insulting interpretation of the same, so that greed and lust for power can be made socially and culturally acceptable traits. Napoleon had the same problem, which is why Talleyrand lamented that a man so highly intelligent had been so poorly educated.” ( edited excerpt from George Rutler’s essay on Mad Intelligence)
My previous comment was kind of harsh and mean-spirited… Let me take a breath and try again… What will they do? They will cheer the departure of US Forces and proclaim themselves (the Philippines) as a Nation who can stand on its own until… The Chinese encroaches on the disputed islands (again), another typhoon or natural disaster strikes, or when they wake up and realize they can not defend or provide safety to the Philippines without US Military Aid. As a US citizen, I sometimes wish we (the US) would get underway and leave this crazy place but, I also know the strategic value of the sea lanes. Understand this. Its not the US that needs the Philippines. The base in Guam is more than enough to suit our needs along with the several partnerships with other South East Asian Countries. However, the Philippines DOES need the US. Without us, you will have no immediate disaster relief. No military aid. Nothing stopping China from taking whatever island they want whether disputed or not.
Fair enough — but our need for military assistance and humanitarian aid whenever the wind blows (heh, heh) does not mean that your soldiers can do as they wish and get off scot-free. If the Chinese taking over the Spratlys and claiming it as their own is one form of exploitation, then so should consequential transgressions by American military personnel.
What I’m saying in effect is: we’re your hosts. Treat us fairly and decently and we will repay you whichever way we can.
@Pallacertus – Agree. American soldiers kill more Filipinos than Chinese ones by a wide margin.
The End of the American Era..
Since the US is not able to take back the occupied islands from China and not willing to go to war to take them back it makes sense to ask the Americans to leave the Philippines for good. The US Ambassador realized that hate against Americans is deep seated in the hearts of many Filipinos that’s why he decided that it makes no sense for the visiting American troops to set foot on Filipino soil. I hope it will stay that way so there will be no more blaming of the Americans. I really hope that America will walk away. One more note: I personally know a couple of Filipinas who married US Navy personnels and live in the USA having families. There is a large community of them in North Carolina. I guess that era is now over so there will be no more new couples like them anymore. I wonder what countries the future navy wifes will come from. That would be interesting to know.
You guys are talking like Pemberton is NOT in custody. You’re talking like it WASN’T CIS who supplied the name of the suspect and (USMC) witnesses to the local authorities. You’re talking like I have insinuated overlooking criminal activity by US Military Personnel in order to ensure the integrity of the VFA. On all points you are WRONG… @Atilla: The US (and every other UN member Nation) will not and can not intervene in “DISPUTED” territories. Try reading the Mutual Defense Treaty. @PT: How’s the Maguindanao Massacre trial going? What’s up with the muder of the US Marine Officer outside of Rockwell? What’s up with all the crimes committed by FILIPINOS against FILIPINOS that folks like you choose to ignore?
The point is NOT allowing criminality. The point is allowing the system to work and not dam an entire group over the bad deeds of one! The case of Pemberton is moving (and will move) swiftly and the defendant will be tried, convicted (murder or homicide)and sentenced BEFORE the Maguindanao Massacre trial and the Akinow cases are even completed so what’s the problem here?
That is the way it should be, YES ! BUT letting one incident, as bad as it MAY ACTUALLY BE (and MAYBE NOT TOO, wait till all evidence is in and where is the 3rd person that was present and why is he/she not a suspect ?), BUT BUT BUT WHY ruin the entire VFA and the benfits that could be derived from this fleet of ships with USA Soldiers eager to spend their money at the ports of call in Subic and Manila that would pump into these local economies badly needed CA$H at a crucial time of the year, it makes no economic sense and people are being hurt by all these idiptic protests. The trial has already been decided and letting it go to its conclusion would have been better than cancelling all revenue’s from landing in the country. The USA Soldiers lookin for a good time want to have a good time and do not mind paying for it, but they do not like getting ripped off either.
BUT NO, FILIPINO’s cut off the nose to spite their face, like idiots !!!! DDDDUUUHHHH!!!!!!!
Wow Benigno you just shown your true Westaboo colors by demonizing China and Muslims while practically worshipping the good ol’ Stars and Stripes. Trying to sound like a paranoid GOP politician has lost you some credibility points.
Its obvious what will happen when the Americans leave.
-Filipinos everywhere will proclaim “PINOY PRIDE” and that they don’t need Uncle Sam to run things.
-China will begin annexing Philippine islands without care because US has abandoned them.
-Then China will look for any excuse to invade and take over the Philippines. Takeover will be quick but bloody.
-Meanwhile, down in Mindanao, the Muslims will try and find excuses to annex more territory in that state. Seeing the Philippine Military as more of a nuisance than a threat.
-When the Chinese finish their takeover, they’ll butt heads with the Islamic state down south and will find yet another excuse to invade and takeover.
These events might happen considering how much of a joke the Philippine government is.
I don’t see anything wrong with that scenario. I think China is going to be accepted by most Filipinos.
IDK, WW3 won’t happen because of the FAIL-IPPINES though, that is for sure. Alot of people think that China and the USA are at odds with each other but the fact is that USA corporations are all doing their manufacturing in China and so any battles fought between the two countries will be for show and thinning out of the populations of each country involved.
No country wants to take responsibility for 100 million poor people and that is why the disputed territories have already been carved up and what is going to happen there has already been decided.
The only way a major conflict will occur is if China double-crosses the USA or if Russia gets sick of the NATO countries killing Russian people in Eastern Europe and decides to roll on Ukraine and keeps going into Europe all the way to the Atlantic Ocean….not very likely.