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Vice President Jejomar Binay’s dream to occupy Malacañang will be over and done way before the start of the official campaign for the 2016 presidential elections. Observers see Binay quitting the derby should he fail to get the endorsement of President Benigno S. Aquino III. Page 2
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By Tonypet J. Rosales Vice President Jejomar Binay’s dream to occupy Malacañang will be over and done way before the start of the official campaign for the 2016 presidential elections. Observers see Binay quitting the derby should he fail to get the endorsement of President Benigno S. Aquino III. The wise money is against Binay and it will probably dawn on the Vice President—if he has not seen it yet—that a 2016 victory is impossible without the blessing of PNoy and the Liberal Party. Destiny
To be President is a destiny and many before Binay had planned and invested heavily for the bout only to lose badly in the race. Senate President Manny Villar is one big lesson, and the most recent in our political history, about a pre-race favorite failing to make a quick jump out of the starting gates. Binay, minus PNoy, will definitely remain the dark horse (pardon the pun) to win it all in 2016. But that Binay has already accepted the futility of his quest is better understood in his latest brush with the Liberal Party and his original political partners and backers in the opposition. His claims of being the LP’s secret choice for the presidency surprised almost everyone including Binay’s hotel coffee shop boys. His next claim that Presidential siters Kris and Ballsy favor him over Mar Roxas bordered on the presumptuous. This bit of news did not contain information about the opinion of Viel and Pinky, but it clearly shows that even here Binay’s chances are 50-50. Worst of all, Binay’s pronouncements created confusion even among his supporters and distanced himself farther from those who already had doubts on his true intentions and character.
Nene’s Ward
It is no secret that Binay—a longtime Mayor of the City of Makati-- is a creation of former Senator Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr., father of Sen. Koko Pimentel. After People Power I, the elder Pimentel appointed the vice president OfficerIn-Charge of Makati City. The Binay-
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Pimentel partnership goes back to their days as street parliamentarians of the emerging PDP-Laban. This partnership blossomed and was the envy of many— up until Binay announced his ambitions of becoming the President of the Philippines. The route to Malacañang meant political horse trading that in one case, the son of his partner, Koko Pimentel, became a victim. Then the Pimental-Binay partnership soured. To Binay, losing the Pimentels could be a necessary sacrifice for a family in Mindanao who has proven political muscle. The elder Pimentel was already too old to matter while the younger Pimentel does not have political machinery and was merely piggy-backing on his financial muscle. Binay enjoyed the leadership of the much talked about political troika of seasoned and very organized political families. Former President Joseph Ejercito “Erap” Estrada and then Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile were with him, until again Binay probably realized the two aging political icons are no longer needed to secure a win in 2016 so he decided to drop them.
Doubts
After the Pimentel family falling out, many were already expressing doubts on the character of the Vice President. And a falling out in the poliltical alliance with Erap and Enrile will confirm suspicions about his moral character. He has revealed himself to be a political cha-
DILG Secretary Mar Roxas will win only by “hocus PCOS”. Right now almost everybody, even our company driver, takes his shot for the Presidency a big joke. But should he push it, he has the billions of government budget to back him up, so he is a serious candidate. But then Mar should pause and remember what happened to Gibo Teodoro.
meleon—one that could easily shift color to suit his personal ambition: orange one day and blue the next. Binay will surely lose the support of Enrile and Estrada. There are already noises in the opposition about how Binay has abandoned his words to lead a legitimate opposition. He has turned his back on people who believed in him and fate has not been kind to political turncoats in this neck of the woods. But don’t blame Binay. He knows that even if to be President is a destiny, it still takes lots of hard work and wheeling and dealing. Only he can tell the needed mix and push. And without the support of PNoy a 2016 victory is not guaranteed. The courts could simply stop all his plans to move into Malacañang. A string of graft cases would surely drain him if not land him in jail like senators Enrile, Bong Revilla and Jinggoy Estrada who have all jumped the gun. Already he has succeeded to lose the trust of many in the middle class. Abandoning his patrons and partners in the name of an ambition does not sit well with most Filipinos. He is today’s biggest political butterfly and he is earning distrust for this. When he realizes that even the billions in his political war chest will not work, he will definitely abandon his dream and quit before he gets beaten black and blue.
Marcos
With Binay out, who are the serious contenders? Senator Bongbong Marcos will surprise everybody. The young senator’s mother wants to take back Malacanang. She wants retribution and redemption and the Marcos campaign is very intelligent and deliberate. Right now his campaign is heavy in the social media. He is banking on the youth vote and building their trust. He could succeed to get the young vote to his side. The young today have no idea what happened in the 60’s and the 70’s. They do not have even an iota of suspicion that our economic miseries and the confused political systems we have today are products of the Martial Law, authored by Marcos’ father Ferdinand. DILG Secretary Mar Roxas will win only by “hocus PCOS”. Right now almost everybody, even our company driver, takes his shot for the Presidency a big joke. But should he push it, he has the billions of government budget to back him up, so he is a serious candidate. But then Mar should pause and remember what happened happened to Gibo Teodoro. Yes, Mar still enjoys Liberal Party support, but it is a shaky deal. Party insiders say if Mar fails to make a miraculous comeback in the polls, he might as well kiss his presidential ambitions goodbye.
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8/16/14 12:22 AM
Nation
News from Where You Stand
Bongbong vs. Noynoy
THE presidential elections of 2016 will mark the 30th anniversary of the assumption into power of one of the most popular Presidents in Filipino history: Corazon C. Aquino. Widow of the martyred Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., Cory— through the People Power Revolution (EDSA I)—succeeded the charismatic Ferdinand E. Marcos whose 20-year rule was by the 1980s already tainted with corruption. Come 2016, the national elections will feature the children of these two revered leaders: President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III as outgoing president and Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. as presidential aspirant. But with talks of Charter Change being floated recently, it is possible that the 2016 race might end up as a showdown between Noynoy and Bongbong. An online poll initiated by Rankopedia, shows Bongbong Marcos ahead of eight other presidential aspirants. And with the PNoy leadership straddled with issues involving the alleged embezzlement of public funds—via the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and the Disbursement Acceleration Fund (DAP)—the stage is set for the return of Marcos into power through Ferdinand Jr. And Bongbong’s motives could be more personal than political. It’s the perfect opportunity for retribution and redemption. On another site, this question is posed: “Who is better, Noynoy or Bongbong?” The reactions and opinions raised by netizens ranged from the downright inane to the totally ridiculous and absurd. One online comment offered to settle the dispute by comparing the education and work and legislative experience of PNoy and Bongbong.
EDUCATION Noynoy– Bachelor of Arts, Ateneo de Manila University Oxford (with honors)
Bongbong – Bachelor of Arts, Oxford University (with honors); Masters in Business Administration, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania (with honors). EXECUTIVE EXPERIENCE Noynoy—Sales Supervisor, Nike Philippines; Vice-President
Intra-Strata Insurance Corp. (family-owned company); VicePresident Central Azucarera De Tarlac (family-owned company)
Bongbong—No employment record LEGISLATIVE EXPERIENCE Noynoy--9 years as Congressman and 3 years as Senator. Bills passed into law - none Bongbong–Three-term Governor of Ilocos Norte, 6 years as Congressman. Bills passed into law - 11
In the final analysis, Bongbong has nothing to do with the greatness and notoriety of his parents in the same manner that Noynoy has nothing to do with the heroism of Ninoy and Cory. The only difference is—as another online post suggests—is that Bongbong was able to accomplish a lot of things despite his Marcos roots, while Noynoy has nothing to show as a CojuangcoAquino. Bongbong has managed to become his own man while Noynoy looks destined to forever remain his mama’s boy. –TJR
LP Shopping for 2016 Bet ... But it’s not Binay By ElCid Benedicto FUNNY how a simple statement of Vice President Jejomar Binay disclosing alleged talks in having him adopted by the ruling party as possible “guest candidate” and standard bearer can go haywire. First earning him a resolution in the Senate and subjected to a full investigation over an alleged overpriced “parking building” of Makati City Hall and a possible forfeiture of a chance to seek the presidency in 2016 due to Charter change (Cha-cha). Whether his claim of talks in the Liberal Party (LP) on him being considered as an adopted standard bearer for 2016 was true or not, an administration senator disclosed of receiving the same information.
Not Binay
“All I can say is it’s not Binay’s name that cropped up but another—someone who is not identified with the LP. It’s a nonLP personality,” the senator said, refusing to disclose the name of the said politician being eyed to carry the banner of the party. Binay’s revelations came weeks after a Pulse Asia survey showing him in a lead, with almost 30% difference with his closest potential rival from the administration, Sen. Grace Poe who received 12% while the presumed presidential bet of the administration, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Sec. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, coming in a poor fourth in place and even tied up with Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero. The matter on Binay being called to be investigated in the Senate for the alleged overpriced structure-project of Makati City, did not come as a surprise to upper chamber observers especially since it came from potential vice presidential bet Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.
Trillanes happens to be the party mate in the Nacionalista Party (NP) of Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano who has been quite vocal in his ambition to seek the presidency in 2016 while the former, of late, has been giving strong hints of throwing his hat in the ring as well as possible vice presidential candidate.
Political Motives
It can’t be helped but for observers to take note of the possibility that Trillanes’ fi ling of Senate resolution No. 826 was nothing but prompted by political motivations. Incidentally, at the time of Trillanes’ fi ling of the said resolution, it was quite convenient for Cayetano to be “out of the country” and not be made to assume any responsibility or participation in it. Trillanes had immediately dismissed any participation of the NP on the issue he’s raising against Binay as he reiterated a couple of times that the issue is imbued with public interest, adding that “it is high time that the Filipino people will get to know more about this person who is aspiring to be the next president of this country.” Binay’s camp, however, is claiming that one of those who fi led the plunder complaint against the Vice President on the same issue before the Ombudsman, Atty. Renato Bondal, happens to be aligned with NP. Bondal, a defeated mayoralty candidate in Makati City in 2013 is alleged to be now doing the rounds in the Visayas, even WE taKE a staND
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holding press conferences to “discuss” Binay’s case to local officials. One would immediately wonder how could Bondal cover his expenses in these alleged “visits” in the Visayas?
Dirty Tricks
Makati City Mayor Junjun Binay said it can’t be helped but raise suspicions that some influential and well-oiled personalities or group is backing up and fi nancing Bondal’s expenses. Sources said the NP allegedly “maintains” a dirty tricks department, the specialty of which allegedly is that of yarning false information against political rivals. “They can really come up with good stories or allegations against certain personalities who are subjects of their demolition job and they could make it appear to be a ‘legit’ (legitimate) issue when in fact, there’s really no truth to it,” sources said. The same source noted the issue that the NP camp brought out against President Benigno Aquino, when Chief Executive was still campaigning for the presidency in 2010 elections, that of having alleged mental problems and floated his purported psycho test. Incidentally sources point to Cayetano as the alleged brains behind this issue on Aquino during the campaign. The Senate majority leader has yet to comment on the issue on Binay but this early, observers said that Cayetano will likely help in grilling Binay or the incumbent Makati City mayor when the hearing starts at the upper chamber.
OpinYon
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OPINION
Commentary China to Shun PH Push for International Arbitration E
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Welcome to Act 2 2016 is still a long ways out, but already the jockeying for the post of Philippine president is already in full gear. In his penultimate State of the Nation Address a melancholic President Noynoy Aquino ended with the words “Hanggang dito na lamang po ako. Maraming salamat sa inyong lahat.” All that drama served to be the perfect stage for the next program. This one involving Vice President Jojo Binay leaking word of his possible run for the 2016 presidency under the banner of the Liberal Party. Like the SONA, which provided cutaway shots of the presidential sister Kris moved to tears by his brother’s speech, the presidential sisters also appeared in Mr. Binay’s episode. Welcome to Act 2. Kris and Ballsy is said to have expressed their support of Binay should the long-time Makati City mayor get the invite to become the administration’s standard bearer for 2016. Binay’s surprise announcement received mixed reactions from the opposition and administration camps. If Binay runs with the boys of PNoy in 2016, then we might as well scrap the 2016 elections altogether, save money and just hand the presidency over to him. Binay jumping the fence leaves the opposition—the United Nationalist Alliance--without a bankable bet in 2016. Joseph Estrada declared he will suit up again in 2016 if Binay bolts UNA and runs under the colors of the LP. And then again, Binay like PNoy could just be playing mind games with the public. Neighborhood barber shops and hotel coffee shops are abuzz with talk and speculations about the truth behind the latest series of political events. Binay’s claim comes at a time when the PNoy administration is at a low point. The economy is in a mess, the country is on the threshold of a power crisis and the cost of basic utilities and commodities continue to rise. With hope dimming, the average Juan still manages to search for the light at the end of the tunnel. Mar Roxas, at this point in time, does not paint a pretty picture for Juan in 2016. Both the LP and Binay want a sure win in 2016, but both parties could just be baiting the other waiting for the opportunity to move in for the kill. Or we are all being played. Again.
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CHINA will neither accept nor participate in international arbitration unilaterally pushed forward by the Philippines on the South China Sea disputes, said a commentary published by People’s Daily. The act of the Philippine side is against the international law and the historical truth as well as against morality and basic rules of international relations, said the commentary. On January 22, 2013, the Philippines presented a note to China, saying it would submit the South China Sea dispute to the compulsory dispute settlement mechanism under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The Philippines fi led a formal plea to an international tribunal on the dispute. The Chinese government had reiterated on several occasions that the core of South China Sea dispute between China and the Philippines is about the sovereignty over part of the isles of the Nansha Islands and overlapping claims of jurisdiction of waters in the South China Sea, said the commentary. The dispute over territory sovereignty does not apply to the UNCLOS, the commentary said. In addition, China had made a statement in accordance with the UNCLOS in 2006, noting that such disputes as ocean boundary and historical rights are not subject to UNCLOS compulsory dispute settlement mechanism. As is widely known, the South China Sea Islands, including the Nansha Islands, have long been China’s territory since ancient times, a fact that has been accepted or acquiesced in by many countries including the Philippines. In the 1970s, the Philippines sent troops and invaded some of these islands, severely violating the Charter of the United Nations and the international norms. Instead of withdrawing from the invaded
Chinese territory, as China had been requesting, the Philippines further provoked China and pushed forward the so-called international arbitration, a move that is both illegal and unreasonable. China has consistently contended that the disputes surrounding the South China Sea should be solved through consultations and negotiations of directly involved parties, a consensus also agreed on by the Philippine side. The attempt to push forward the dispute to the arbitration by the Philippines is an act lacking credibility, the commentary added. By doing so, the Philippines attempted to solicit international sympathy through disguising itself as a small and weak country, it said. Meanwhile, the Philippines tried to defame China by allegedly safeguarding the international rule of law, and attempted to legalize its invasion of Chinese islands through the arbitration. The Chinese government has fi rm resolution to safeguard its sovereignty, and it is in accordance with the international law that China refuses to accept the arbitration. While the Philippine side tried to shut the door of bilateral talks by unilaterally pushing forward the arbitration, China has kept its door of negotiations open all the time. China urges the Philippine side to correct its mistake, adhere to its promises, and come back to the right track of bilateral negotiations, said the commentary. The arbitration move pushed by the Philippines will not impair China’s determination and willpower to safeguard national sovereignty and maritime interests and rights, nor will it change China’s constant stand and policy in dealing with the South China Sea issue. -Xinhua
Obama has Painted Himself into a Foreign Policy Corner THE Arab Spring is over. Welcome to the Jihadi Spring. Across a huge swath of what, up until recently, had been known as Iraq and Syria, a transnational movement of Sunni Islamic extremists has taken control. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has conquered -- without much effort -- Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, along with most of the province of Nineveh. It also took Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s hometown. Along the way it has ransacked banks (to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars), pillaged weapon stockpiles (including the stuff we left behind for the Iraqi army) and recruited ever more fighters from Iraq, Syria and abroad. Late Thursday, the Iranians fi nally sent troops to support the teetering government and managed to reclaim most of Tikrit. So either the regional war just got bigger, or Iraq is poised to become even more of an Iranian vassal. ISIS started out as an al-Qaida franchise, but in 2011 it broke off to become an independent dealer of Islamist mayhem. If anything, it is more extreme than al-Qaida—though that fi ne distinction probably means little to the Shiites and Christians it slaughters. A week ago Sunday in Pakistan, Taliban militants attacked the airport in Karachi, the country’s busiest and most important travel hub. They followed up with an attack on an airport securitytraining facility, showing that there was no area of Pakistan it could not threaten. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif came into office seeking an accord with the Taliban. But the Taliban won’t abandon its key objective: a total Islamist state. After the attacks, most observers think Sharif will have little choice but to unleash the army on the insurgents. Late last month, President Obama announced at West Point that we are definitely leaving Afghanistan, period. That period took the form of a prisoner swap in which we essentially gave back five top Taliban commanders. Meanwhile, al-Qaida linked and inspired groups are on the rise in Nigeria, Yemen, the Philippines, Libya and elsewhere. The good news is that the administration has a policy to deal with the Jihadi Spring. The bad news is that it looks to be the same policy it had for the Arab Spring: nothing.
Nothing, that is, beyond casting lots of words and Twitter hashtags into the air like so many magic beans that will sprout into peace and security wherever they fi nd purchase. That’s the hitch. This administration’s words don’t have much traction around the world, or at least where it matters. (He’s still popular in Belgium!) Often, when critics call attention to these and numerous other foreign-policy failures, the president and his defenders will argue that the critics want war. Indeed, in his West Point speech, Obama took a fi rm and forthright stand against an argument pretty much nobody is making: Military action “cannot be the only—or even primary— component of our leadership in every instance.” Even the most rabid hawks (though technically, I don’t think birds can get rabies) would never dream of arguing that the military should be the only or primary component of leadership in “every instance.” But this is a clever, albeit grotesquely cynical, ploy. If you give the American people a choice between, on the one hand, doing nothing beyond tweeting slogans and lecturing the “international community” and, on the other, sending American troops into harm’s way in the Middle East (or Ukraine or the South China Sea), Americans are going to choose option A, and understandably so. A better option would be a time machine. That way today’s President Obama could go back and give fi rst-term Obama the benefit of his experience. He could tell him that foreign policy should defi ne his talking points, not the other way around. With that foresight, maybe he would have done more to help democracy in Iran when the streets were full of protestors. Perhaps he wouldn’t have wasted so much time harassing Israel if it were the cause of a centuries-old Sunni-Shia civil war. Or maybe he would have kept U.S. troops in Iraq to deter the rise of ISIS. Or maybe he would have followed through on his “red line” threats to Syria. Today’s Obama could tell fi rst-term Obama that Mitt Romney was right about Russia, and that “Bin Laden is dead” isn’t a foreign policy, it’s a bumper sticker. -June 16, 2014|By Jonah Goldberg
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8/16/14 12:22 AM
Opinion
The Viewpoints and outlook of the well-informed
Stools
I
’m now totally convinced that the end-all in presentday Philippine politics is power in its rawest form, not money, not electricity or under-arm redolence, but the mindlessness to destroy an entire race of Filipinos, as if it were a hydrogen bomb left in the hands of a gun-crazy punk. It’s a sad commentary, but let’s face it: it’s not entirely the punk’s fault, nor that of past punks. People now generally run for public office in order to acquire that kind of power that destroys rather than builds, steals rather than gives, and seeks to be served rather than serve. This is likewise true with respect to most government appointees and private individuals behaving like power brokers. It is also a sad commentary that Pres. Benigno S. Aquino lll’s Tuwid na Daan (righteous path) policy has become such fatuous propaganda (owing to his ineptness, deceptiveness, arrogance, hypocrisy and pagka-pikon) that such people now walk the corridors of his ego-inflating power. For lack of a term, let us call these opportunists “stools”. Yes, stools, but not those three or four-legged contrivances to sit on, or decoy birds for hunting, or those roots or stumps of trees and plants, but appropriately those foul-smelling substances that medics are sometimes concerned with. Alas, the president’s government is crawling with stools in overwhelming numbers never
seen in previous administrations! And with intensifying ferocity, these stools are charging the air with the guessing game of who should be paired for the top two posts in the 2016 elections! But fi rst, how about a second presidential term for P-Noy?? Why not, even if the notion --- which comes from a “presidentiable” rich man like DILG Sec. Mar “Padyak” Roxas --- is asinine? After all, is not P-Noy invincible, given the legend that his parents were a saint and a martyr? Is P-Noy not the object of a public clamor to continue his good performance for his socalled bosses --- a clamor heard only by the dwindling yellow cult and the proliferating stools, and a good performance proclaimed by foreign lenders who only want us to borrow more from them? I really hate to say uncomplimentary things about Mar because his mother, Judy, is a childhood friend and a kumadre who once stood as a sponsor at my son’s wedding. But I cannot in conscience allow a bias to stifle the ventilation of matters that are inimical to good government. Parenthetically, it saddens that “power politics” in this country has a way of spoiling friendships, let alone kinships. And when personal ties snap, so also will the binding strands between the governors and the governed and, before we know it, the tipping point will have been reached by the sovereign
MUSINGS Ronald Roy body politic to bear arms for a revolt --- that legitimate solution nobody wants!! Today, instead of addressing, say, basic food and crime issues, stools are busy conjuring up election tandems, among which is the so-called “dream team” of Jojo Binay and Mar Roxas --- What??? --- who are seen as a seasoned crook and an honest man, respectively. This team-up is the closest to what I would call bizarre, apart from its being an indication that our electorate is centered on quantity of votes rather than quality of candidates. In effect, the “dream team” in question, like other “dream teams”, validates the long-held belief that in a poor country like ours, vote-buying is the recognized formula for bagging a public office, and vote-selling the special-meal recipe for impoverished families. The other “dream teams” are those labeled as Bong Bong-Chiz, JojoKris, Bong Bong-Grace, ChizGrace, Jojo-Vice Ganda, and other combinations entertaining enough to camouflage ongoing
plots geared to prolonging the President’s hold on power, like the devious chacha. I’ve once written about one such insidious plot that contradicts the esteemed columnist, Amando Doronila, who says that ongoing coup rumors are baseless because the AFP and PNP are much too contented to go against their Commander-inChief. However, these generals will be guaranteed additional benefits if P-Noy serves beyond 2016. A term-extension “oplan” would then have P-Noy’s loyal generals fi rst staging a coup against him purportedly to save the republic or whatever, then after some time will request him to chair the military junta to run government until, in his judgment, normalcy may be restored thru regular elections. With America’s support and a simple script, the “oplan” becomes credible. The other “oplan” is buttressed by the recent discovery of a “smoking gun” linking P-Noy to lump sums from his presidential pork being diverted from legitimate recipients to lawmakers’ private pockets. With impeachment and criminal cases staring him in his face, the Nixon-Ford “private deal” will be adopted in a scenario that will see P-Noy resigning and Pres. Jojo Binay pardoning him. Ingenious, these stools!!!
Instead of addressing, say, basic food and crime issues, stools are busy conjuring up election tandems, among which is the so-called “dream team” of Jojo Binay and Mar Roxas —What???— who are seen as a seasoned crook and an honest man, respectively.
For feedback: 09186449517 / rqonald8roy@gmail.com
News They Want Us to Believe
I
got curious when an American like Sen. Ron Paul attack the mistakes of his government. Its more amazing when a British patriot like Ken Fuller of Daily Tribune exposed the wrong doing of his nation’s most popular TV network, BBC. He kidded that a joke has been circulated on the internet regarding BBC›s TV newsreader saying, «Here is what we want you to believe.» He said the reality is, it gives rise to anger and not laughter. He cited the media bias of British Broadcasting Corporation which he called the ‹Biased Broadcasting Corporation› in reporting the alleged Israel›s systematic murder of Palestinians in Gaza and the downing of the Malaysian Airlines MH17 over the eastern Ukraine. (Daily Tribune 8//12/14) There are several confl icting stories and blame game emanating from both sides of the fence. Western media pinpointed the Russians and proRussian rebels as the culprit while most international reports suggest that Kiev forces were responsible for the crush of MH17. Fuller cited the conservative Manila Times July 18 story where two Ukrainian fighter jets were seen trailing the Malaysian commercial jet before it was brought down. He reiterat-
ed the query of Russian Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov as to why did the Ukraine air traffic controllers allow MH17 to deviate from the regular route to the north towards the confl ict zone and what happened to the observation of a Spanish air traffic controller? “On July 23, the BBC›s Russian service ran a video also showing that eyewitnesses on the ground confi rmed the presence of Ukrainian military aircraft when MH17 was hit. The BBC›s Olga Ivshina told viewers that the Ukrainian Security Service had produced a video and photos purporting to prove that a BUK missile had been used.» Fuller debunked Ivshina›s allegation. He commented that Ivshina and her crew were unable to fi nd any evidence of a missile launch in the area. «The local militia told the BBC that it did not have weaponry capable of hitting aircraft at high altitude.» He stated that the video is viral and still accessible via globalresearch.com. Citing another internet report, international experts perceived the confluence of events connected with the disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines MH370 last March (I have written about it. Read it at www.ericksanjuan.blogspot.com) and the plane crash in Ukraine last
WHISTLE BLOWER Erick San Juan month as the west’s desire to mislead the international community and create a situation with their version of events. According to a well-known journalist Nigel Cawthorne, almost a similar incident happened this year when a plane flying to Beijing was hit by a missile mistakenly unleashed in the course of secret military exercises conducted by the US and Thailand in South China Sea. Cawthorne explained that an emergency situation happened during the military maneuvers which resulted in an incident where a commercial jet became an unwitting target and was shot down. In this kind of scenario, no one will admit a mistake because for sure, it will complicate relations with several nations especially China where hundreds of its nationals were the passengers and casualties. To avoid similarities of another incident in 1988, when an American cruiser ship shot
down an Iranian passenger plane in the Persian Gulf, the western media quickly made a report about the error in the calculated search area and black boxes found off the coast of Australia. Cawthorne analyzed the said military exercises which was carried out simultaneously at the time of the disappearance of MH370. Eyewitness testimonies published an account of a burning plane falling in the Gulf of Siam. Cawthorne argued that such military ‘mistakes’ happen quite often. However, aviation experts assured him that the plane cannot disappear without a trace. Former Malaysian Prime Minister Muhamad Mahathir had a similar position and analysis as to the MH370 incident. In his blog, he called the search operation as a waste of time and money. He stated that given the fact that during the fi rst hours after the tragedy, experts from CIA, FBI, and MI6 were engaged on searching for the missing aircraft. He claimed that the west’s intelligence community could be hiding the information about the circumstances of the plane’s disappearance. He also noted that the ‘Boeing’ company was able to remote control over the devices of the aircraft. But the absence of the data indicated the
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closure of access to information by concerned parties. Mahathir believed that there was a cover up somewhere. Uncovered intelligence reports showed a pattern of past incidents as a pretext. One of them was in the memoir of former US Defense Secretary Robert McNamara who in March 1962 considered the CIA proposal on how to use a large scale provocation to organize an invasion of Cuba. The plan was to create an incident that would convincingly demonstrate that a Cuban fighter jet can shot down a chartered aircraft with students on board. The scenario would push the US to attack Cuba with the support of the media and the international community. This could be the reason why pundits always give a second thought when such dastardly act happens. In the book, “Why Are We at War? By Norman Mailer, he explained that some American leaders pursue war not in the name of security or anti-terrorism or human rights but in an undeclared yet fully realized ambition of global empire. Thanks to the patriotic Americans and westerners who leaked to the world this kind of plans by some arms dealer controlling governments to make profit out of chaos.
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5 8/16/14 12:22 AM
OPINION Changing... From page 16
“The hardest part is recruiting the right people because they are not convinced that you are going to survive. And usually, the best people have stable jobs and now you’re asking them to take a leap,” Mendiola said.
Marketing tool
Mendiola and company did not originally intend Chikka to be a messenger service. “We called it e-regalo. Chikka was supposed to be a marketing tool for it; a venue to advertise the gifts,” Mendiola, who stood as company CEO until 2008, said in an interview.
‘We are in a unique set of situation –the Philippines, where people are not as wealthy, they don’t have credit cards and the majority of internet is still accessed through internet cafes and through laptops being shared. We created a product for Filipinos’ Mendiola said that Filipinos were already fond of texting at that time, but could not yet send messages from abroad prompting Mendiola to think of a way to integrate an SMS service into their site. In 1999, Mendiola and his partners began developing Chikka Messenger which combined instant messaging and SMS technology. “We found out that people were more excited with the ability to text from the internet than they are with sending gifts. It was also more profitable than sending gifts because we’re selling a service in which we don’t really have to spend on but only to share sales or revenues with the telcos,” Mendiola said. Chikka beat world players in creating an effective mobile in-
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stant messaging application, one that would marry SMS. Chikka’s solution and subsequent hold on the market was such that prevented many more global players from gaining ground in the “SMS Capital.” “It was really a customer service feature that turned into an actual product. Chikka was born out of a need; and that is to connect the “internet” and “mobile” Filipinos – to draw Filipinos around the world closer together. It was supposed to be done via gifts, but it ended up being via messages,” Mendiola—a former investment banker—said.
Market Leader
By the third quarter of 2002, Chikka Asia, Inc. had already launched multiple services that allowed it to seize market leadership in the local Value Added Service (VAS) SMS market in the Philippines, especially on various corporate promo applications and SMS-based games. In 2008, Mendiola handed down CEO duties to Bustamante to become Chikka’s Chief Imagination Officer. According to Mendiola the success of Chikka lies with its ability to adapt to its target market. “We are in a unique set of situation –the Philippines, where people are not as wealthy, they don’t have credit cards and the majority of internet is still accessed through internet cafes and through laptops being shared. We created a product for Filipinos,” Mendiola stressed. Soon, the company began taking steps toward an IPO, but apparent shareholder strife was revealed when a white paper was leaked containing information about unliquidated cash advancement made by the company management. Vindication came in 2009 when leading Philippine Smart Communications wholly acquired the company, keeping management intact and with Mendiola taking the appointment of Chief Web and Internet adviser to Smart’s Wireless Consumer Division.
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The company’s services are currently available to over 45 mobile carriers in fourteen countries including the Philippines, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Entrepreneur
Even with his success, Mendiola says he still enjoys the challenges of being an entrepreneur. His advice to up and comers: “Let me paraphrase a quote from Steve Jobs. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that an idea is the most important thing of a business when a good idea is only 20% of the success. 80% of it comes from craftsmanship or, in our lingo, execution — the way you turn that idea into a reality,” Mendiola said. “Just because something ex-
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ists out there, doesn’t mean that you cannot do it any better. Just because it is being done by the industry juggernauts, doesn’t mean a new entrant or smalltime player cannot compete with the bigger guy.” Mendiola also cited lessons from recent history. “Facebook couldn’t compete with Instagram on mobile photo-sharing, so they had to buy it. Yahoo and Microsoft tried to buy Facebook because at that point in time they knew that they would not be able to compete. Facebook went up against MySpace and Friendster when these guys were clearly years ahead. Google happened several years later after Yahoo, even though Yahoo was clearly the leader in terms of web indexing.”
Web and apps
Mendiola believes that being
a technology entrepreneur is not just about the web and apps. There is more to technology than just web and apps and the internet. If you have to get into the web business, think of the Philippine situation because it is very different from the American and the developed country situation. Then you will fi nd your niche.
What’s next for Chikka?
Mendiola said the mission of Chikka is to make internet access available to every single Filipino, not just to the privileged. And using internet access at the great equalizer has always been consistent with Chikka’s original mission of bridging the great internet divide between the haves and the have-nots, the connected, the always connected and the sachet-connected masa.
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Politics
The Voices of Change
Breeding Ground for Dictators
P
Noy: Hit him with your best shot!! There has never been and there will never be a perfect president but in my lifetime which has spanned nine presidents, six of them in my adult years, in my opinion, there has never been a president better than President Noynoy Aquino. Three of the past six presidents were the worst in our country’s history – a motley crew of criminals and plunderers – killing their rivals and critics, looting the national treasury & pillaging our national patrimony. We should now realize that without a doubt, Malacanang is the perfect place to breed dictators, despots and megalomaniacs. It is the natural environment for the most avid sychophants, confreres and minions of its non-permanent resident president. They rise when he walks into the room. They laugh when he
smiles. They frown when he gets serious. They even weep when he is depressed. Before long, this can easily become a heady brew that will intoxicate even the most upright and sober president – as it has done to several presidents in the past. While there is nothing or little we can do to undo the horrible governance of our worst presidents – it is within our power now to make sure that history does not repeat itself. The presidency needs to be constantly opposed if it is to remain strong and sober. The president needs the most virulent critics to deny him the satisfaction of sitting on his laurels after a job well done. The president has to be always made aware that even his admittedly best efforts can have the worst effect on others. He must be forced to realize that with a population of 100 million Filipinos, even if he serves the majority of our people, there could very well be 30 million or
GERRYMANDERING Gerry Cornejo more Filipinos who will not feel the benefits – and even in that situation, he would still have fulfi lled the ideals of a true democracy. The most effective way to achieve this lies in the hands of his political opponents. We need a strong and vibrant opposition to make sure that President Noynoy Aquino and the powerful executive department that he heads will walk the straight and narrow path – the “daangmatuwid”. It is so easy to veer and sway from the straight and
narrow - to the wide and winding road - when every step of the way is paved with hurrahs and hosannas from the president’s ubiquitous allies. So to President Noynoy Aquino’s critics – if you want him to succeed over and beyond our expectations – hit him with your best shot. Try your utmost best to fi nd fault in everything he thinks, says and does or does not do. Go ahead and try to impeach him, to get him out of his comfort zone and to kick him out from his office in Malacanang. Your never-ending criticisms will keep him sober and focused. Your perpetual opposition will make him more creative in solving our country’s problems. Your annoying but necessary presence will counter the ubiquitous sychopants surrounding him. You will surprise yourselves by making him the best Philippine president we have ever had. Mabuhay ang Pilipino! Mabuhay angPilipinas!
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The presidency needs to be constantly opposed if it is to remain strong and sober. The president needs the most virulent critics to deny him the satisfaction of sitting on his laurels after a job well done
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GameChanger
SECTIONS NATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 OPINION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 BUSINESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 HEALTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 AGRICULTURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 FOREIGN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
DENNIS MENDIOLA
Changing the World with SMS
Chikka, short for Chikka Text Messenger, is an Internet-based instant messaging application that supports free SMS or text messaging between online users and offline mobile subscribers. Released in the Philippines in early 2000 and establishing its connections with the country’s largest telecommunication companies, Chikka is probably the world’s first commercially successful integration of web and mobile utilities. Originally headquartered in Pasig City, the company was founded by Dennis Mendiola (along with Dennis Bustamante and Junie Agcaoili) and was originally intended as a website for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who wanted to buy gifts for their relatives here in the Philippines. At the outset, the company went through the birth pains of a start-up company. Turn to page 14
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