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CNN WILL INTERVIEW PNoy AQUINO FOR 6
DAYS STARTING TODAY (FRIDAY)
MANILA, MAY 4,
2012 (TIMES) Popular cable channel CNN
will interview President Benigno Aquino 3rd for six days starting today.
Mr. Aquino will be interviewed by correspondent Anna Coren at 5:30 p.m.
today, 8 p.m. on Saturday, 6:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, 8:30 a.m. on
Monday, 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday and 12:30 p.m. on Thursday.
The interviews are part of the P61-million advertising package showcasing the
"It's More Fun in the Philippines" campaign slogan to attract tourists.
CNN's special program "Eye on the Philippines" will show President Aquino
discussing the opportunities and challenges facing the country, as well as some
of the experiences that have shaped the bachelor Chief Executive on a personal
level.
Strategic Communications Secretary Ramon Carandang said that the reason why
the Aquino administration is spending to promote the Philippines over a popular
cable channel is the belief that tourism is a big part of the country's economic
growth.
"When we try to attract tourists, who are our competitions? Countries like
Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia whose advertising budgets are much bigger than
ours. So, we have to find ways to use what little funds we have in the most
efficient way that will create the most impact," he said.
Slapped in the face Published : Friday, May 04,
2012 00:00
[PHOTO - CHINA SENDS MORE SHIPS TO SCARBOROUGH SHOAL]
President Benigno Aquino, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and Defense
Secretary Voltaire Gazmin have been criticized for doing what they have done in
the face of China's virtual invasion of our sovereign territory.
They have asked China to take the issue to the international tribunals so
that the dispute is solved according to the rule of law. China refuses.
China insists that it is us Filipinos who have illegally taken over Chinese
territory in our Panatag or Masinloc (Scarborough) Shoal. A Chinese general and
the most important of China's newspapers for the military urge that some
military action be taken against us.
So our President, in vain, calls on our fellow Asean members to come to our
aid against China's aggression. There has been no response from them, except
some veiled noises from Vietnam.
Our President has also wailed for help to the UN and anyone in the whole wide
world.
S.O.S call to America
And of course our President sent our Foreign and Defense secretaries to
remind their American counterparts that their country should act as required of
them by the covenant called the Mutual Defense Treaty. The first ever meeting—to
discuss a definite critical issue—of the USA's foreign and defense secretaries
with their Philippine counterparts took place in Washington D.C. on Monday.
They discussed of course China's show of force in Panatag, our sovereign
territory, against our fishermen, our Coast Guard and our Navy. Messrs. Del
Rosario and Gazmin asked our Mutual Defense Treaty partner to come to our aid.
We don't exactly know what kind of initial moves Messrs. Del Rosario and Gazmin
asked for to show that the United States is sincerely ready and willing to honor
its commitment under the Mutual Defense Treaty.
If we were President Aquino, Sec. del Rosario and Sec, Gazmin, we would have
asked that two USS gunboats be dispatched to the waters of Masinloc—where there
are now 13 Chinese ships and two of ours. And of course we would also ask for a
drastic increase, up to 10 times, in military aid and loans to quickly make our
defense capability credible.
Whatever Messrs. Del Rosario and Gazmin did ask for, they were rebuffed. They
were told the same thing that American officials had said in reply to reporters
asking questions about the Spratly Islands and the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal
situations: That the United States does not take sides in territorial disputes.
This was a blow to the morale and pride of the two Cabinet members, the
President who sent them to Washington and most of the Filipino people.
But only most—not all—of the Filipino people were hurt, humiliated and shamed
by the US refusal to side with us in the face of China's virtual invasion of
that part of our sovereign territory called the Panatag Shoal—also called, in
16th-century maps dated 1734, the Shallows or Shoals of Masinloc (Bajo de
Masinloc).
We are sure that instead of being hurt some people who number among the
two-legged creatures called Filipinos rejoiced when US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton and the US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta slapped the
Philippine government, the Philippine Republic, the Filipino president and
Secretaries del Rosario and Gazmin.
Aside from Muslim separatist rebels (who don't call themselves Filipino
anyway), the Communists and the people they lead in the National Democratic
Front, we are sure that an unknown number of Chinese-Filipinos whose loyalty has
always been to "China" whether in the form of the People's Republic or the
Taiwan-based Republic of China and not to the Republic of the Philippines, had a
big laugh when they learned that while the United States reaffirmed its
adherence to the PH-US Mutual Defense it suspending the power of the treaty when
the aggressor was claiming Philippine territory.
This is can only mean that one sunny day, when the powers that be in China's
Military Commission decide to support action by Chinese Marine Surveillance
ships at an islet of our Batanes province, China's armed vessels and their men,
supporting Chinese fishermen, can merrily take over any shoal or islet. They
will claim that part of the Philippine as Chinese territory—and the United
States will not lift a finger in our defense under the Mutual Defense Treaty
because that is a territorial dispute.
Then the People's Republic can just take over pieces of our country and claim
them to be Chinese territory. And America will not fight beside us.
What's the use of the MDT then? If that is the case then what's the use of
having a Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States?
Of course, after being slapped in the face the USA is giving us some
lollipops. It is doubling its Foreign Military Financing (FMF) to our country
for this fiscal year to $30 million from the original $15 million. And it also
promised to give (or sell?) us another Hamilton class gunboat similar to the BRP
Gregorio del Pilar.
This is what we get for having been seduced by the ideals of democracy and
Divine-Providence-given sense of justice that the USA's founding fathers wrote
so movingly about in the American Declaration of Independence and other tracts.
Americans today are not even taking their Founding Fathers' teachings
seriously—how can they honor a Mutual Defense Treaty with a former colony so
badly organized that most of its people would sell their souls to get a US visa?
We Filipinos have to shape up and do something about becoming a nation of
patriots. And we should rethink our ties with the United States. If America will
not defend us against the real threat that China has become—precisely because of
our ties with America—then why not decide to eliminate that threat by being
China's ally?
That decision would please some 90 percent of the richest Filipinos.
Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE
NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS
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