Wednesday, September 05, 2007

American Protectorate

Uniffors features a column by Billy Esposo who speculates on the United States' intentions in Mindanao, his thesis being that "the US stands much to gain in being the Protector of an independent Moroland". As support, Esposo recounts a personal correspondence with members of a Think Tank:
"A Think Tank I meet with regularly (whose members are also consulted by top local leaders and important foreign policy advisers of many countries, including the US ) reported to me that since the term of George Bush Sr., the idea of reviving the idea of creating an independent Moroland was already seriously considered."
His views and those of the Think Tank's are in line with a belief i've had for some time now. In a comment over at Sassy Lawyer's (in the context of the VFA) early last year, i told her:
"Allow me a bit of ‘tin foil hat’ speculation. The VFA needs to be abrogated because for the USA, it is just a stepping stone to the establishment of new military bases. In a few years or decades, rivalry with China will escalate. Taiwan will probably be lost and Luzon and the Visayas will be subject to Finlandization. An independent Mindanao will allow US Bases to be established in General Santos, which will be the new US firebreak in South East Asia. As early as now, we must play no part in these dangerous games." - cvj 10. February 2006 at 10:58 PM
Later that year, over at Manolo's, i also told fellow commenter JM that
"JM, call me paranoid but my worry is that the United States, when faced with a Philippine government unfriendly to forward military bases, will then encourage secession in Mindanao so a friendlier government over there will agree to establish a US Base in General Santos. That is partly the reason why i am allergic all this talk of federalization as our disunity can easily be exploited by the big players. (I don’t think the forward base will be driven by confrontation with North Korea, i think it will be needed because of confrontation with China over Taiwan.)" - cvj October 10th, 2006 at 12:21 am
In contrast, blogger Dean Jorge Bocobo, a strong advocate of American presence in Mindanao, dismissed such speculation and is of the opinion that "the people who are loudly saying the US is building a secret base on Mindanao are really pitiable". However, less than an hour later in the same thread, in what appears to be a tounge-in-cheek endorsement for such an arrangement said that, "I think, like Cuba once did with Guantanamo, we ought to give Basilan to the US...". DJB is a Fil-Am so it is not surprising for him to uphold America's interests. It is up to us Filipinos (without hyphens) to make up our minds on which course of action best serves our own Nation's interest.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amen.

(Wait. I am an hyphenated Filipino. Ugh.)

cvj said...

Arbet, you're a dual citizen?

Anonymous said...

No. But I am Filipino-Chinese.

cvj said...

Then that makes you Filipino as long as the '-Chinese' part refers to ethnicity, not to national allegiance. That's unlike Fil-ams, Fil-canucks or similar combinations where conflict of national interests is always possible. In the way that you use it, everyone is Filipino-[something] with the hyphen being extraneous. Apologies for not being clear. BTW, Manolo's entry for today is a timely one concerning Filipinos of Chinese origin.

Anonymous said...

I describe myself as Filipino because I hold that passport and don't consider myself American even if I have a US passport so does that enable me to belong to the group that denounces boldly and loudly America's shenanigans in Pinas?

If so, let me say that the establishment of a US base, military or whatever (a foreign base as such need not be openly military) has been in the works since 1998 when a planeload of Americans (747) was spotted in Cebu bringing in airstrip making paraphernalia for Gen San City.

The PAF at the time couldn't do anything when the jumbo jet landed in Cebu. Twas Benjie Defensor, who was then PAF western command chief himself who reported this to Max Soliven.

One of the reasons why French biggies withdrew from Manila immediately after Erap was toppled because they knew that the Americans meant business. The so-called US base in the South has been at the forefront of circulated French embassy reports since 1997.

cvj said...

I suppose that means that in a crunch, you would choose your Filipino passport over and above your American one, which to me is what matters. I'm not sure other Fil-Ams could say the same thing.

Thanks for sharing the information about reported American activities in the South since 1998.

Anonymous said...

Definitely, cvj, definitely!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous: As ChessMaster Fisher had found out, huffing and puffing and swearing off allegiance to US citizenship is not enough. Needed is formality. An American citizen is an American citizen is an American citizen unless that person has reported to the nearest US Embassy and filled up some paperwork.