How NOT to Engineer A Revolution
-Thinking Like A Dog
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
It was the oddest feeling I have ever experienced . There I was in this tiny furnished living room enough to fit five people of Asian stature lying down side by side. There were already five adults with three kids scampering in the place. Then there was this dog Family,with Father Dog weaving in and out beneath our seated legs. With a plate of freshly cooked fried chicken in my hand, I stared at the Father dog who stood at hand’s length before me staring back at my fried chicken. With the eyes of my hosts waiting for me to take my first bite , I feigned an unconcerted facies although aghast at the sight of three children taking turns skipping and stimulating three pups who were then breastfeeding from Mother dog just beside. I had heard of actual rabies cases in the neighborhood and although the dogs didn’t look rabid, I knew that rabies shots for dogs were really not the practice. I also knew they knew how to cook dogs to make it taste good enough to go with a drinking spree .Just one false move or one step on the dog’s tail in that small space and the unfortunate child would probably have to endure a series of rabies shots. So, where was I…what was I thinking then…Avian flu..? ..Rabies..?.feed the dog ?..fried dog?.. and of course, the children. I knew I was trying to look happy and unaffected with that plate of fried chicken in my hand, but , jeez, my peripheral views were on the lookout for the instance I would have to grab hold of a child or two to keep them from being bitten by a protective Mother dog – which was exactly what I found myself doing when I heard Mama dog growl at the kids . Actually, I just wanted to step outside the door and show my hosts that I could savor the meal standing up, but since outside meant a series of dimly lit narrow and slippery alleys ( they really built their shanties close together ) , that was out of the question. I managed to place the kid in my lap and offered a bite of the fried chicken, biting the chicken leg afterwards with gusto as I smiled with a thumbs up sign at my hosts, happy in the thought of surviving the occasion.
Surviving isn’t the first verb that comes to your mind when you’re invited for a birthday party, but sometimes to be able to confirm information you think was important in solving a political puzzle thrown before you, you tend to think of the discomfort as secondary. And so it was with Sonny’s invitation.
Sonny was gay and a former band member I had known some years back who was now hitting his forties. Although talented, hard times and tough luck threw him in desperate straits and he was now a self-confessed shabu user. (shabu is poor man’s cocaine – crude and less refined but nevertheless with similar methamphetamine potency). He says he wants out and he had this story to tell.
From hoping to land a lucrative contract arranging music with the church ministry to being left by his boyfriend and finding emotional solace in drugs, Sonny moved from music to odd jobs – really odd jobs ,finally landing as a courier for the New People’s Army in the hinterlands of the Bicol peninsula where he described certain AM radio stations which served as the NPA propaganda vehicle when turned on at certain periods of the day. Some cottage industries marked “Kaibigan”(Friend) were solely for NPA fund – raising activities. He partook in dismantling delivered furniture from abroad which contained rifle or gun parts. They came in “chop-chop” (in separate pieces), he says and the weapons would be assembled as the parts came along. Sometimes the weapon parts were hidden as part of the crate containing innocent merchandise. He said they knew the customs inspectors would focus on the content more than the crate. And they were all coming in through the International Airport. The furniture and crates would be reassembled again and shipped or flown out and returned to them again with the gun parts. Why the gun parts failed to elicit alarms from metal detectors when covered with thick hardwood puzzled him too, but he claims it does not since they check them with metal detectors before they are shipped out.
Sonny longed for the comforts of Manila and he befriended a Muslim drug pusher from Manila who traveled along with the furniture truck to NPA territory. Sonny’s upper class upbringing made him an asset in establishing contacts among Manila’s upper crust.
As a backgrounder, the Philippine National Police still have files on Abu Bakr, A Muslim drug Lord ( yes, they do exist) who made Maharlika Village, located in Taguig, a suburb in the Metro Manila environs, his base of operations .Maharlika Village was a Metro Manila sanctuary for Muslim immigrants from the south who were fleeing the war. A member of the raiding team that apprehended Abu Bakr several years ago confessed that they had to let him go since they were given very little choice : Abu Bakr’s freedom or their lives. And the feared voice that gave those choices – none other than opposition senator Panfilo Lacson.
Lacson was a daunting political figure in Philippine politics. From his checkered past as one of the three henchmen (all Phil. Military Academy graduates) of the late Dictator Marcos who were licensed to kill, and the only surviving one at that, he became the deposed former President Estrada’s close confidante and erstwhile Chief of the Phil. National Police. Estrada is currently under house arrest pending the court’s decision on charges of graft and plunder. Despite charges of involvement in drug trafficking, Lacson landed himself a seat in the Philippine Senate.
If one goes through the milestones of recent Philippine politics , it would headline the following events like a TV mini-series in chronological order:
1) Former Phil. President Estrada deposed through People Power II. Vice-President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo(GMA) sworn in by Chief Justice as President.
2) Estrada placed under house arrest. Estrada followers launches People Power but
fails.
3) Estrada’s wife and son runs for the Senate and wins election along with Panfilo
Lacson.
4) Estrada followers fields movie star Fernando Poe Jr.(FPJ) against GMA for
Presidency.GMA wins election
5) FPJ files electoral protest but succumbs to a stroke.
6.) GMA starts anti-corruption campaign. Armed Forces Comptroller convicted of
graft charges.
7) controversial tapes taken from wiretapping done by the Intelligence Services of
the Armed Forces (ISAFP) reveals voice of the President calling Commission on
Election official.
8) GMA delivers public apology for impropriety of calling election official but denies wrongdoing
9) Leftists mount protests. Opposition traditional politicians join
10) Senate President Drilon meets secretly with Vice-President de Castro in Hong Kong to ensure that Senate President is named
Vice-President in case of Presidential impeachment .
11) Analysis of tapes by audio experts reveal evidence of “ abnormalities”.
12) Impeachment proceedings dismiss charges on form and content.
13) Senate charges National Security Adviser with contempt after refusal to answer investigative questions regarding government
contracts.
14) Senate Inquiry on Malacanang Palace-endorsed contracts continues unabated
15) Senator Biazon warns on possibility of Martial Law. Senator points to alleged arms smuggling in the North and alludes to previous
US Charge d' Affaires Mussomelli’s comments of “armed civilians defending GMA”
With regards to the last headline (No. 15) , it’s worth noting that Senator Biazon was the former Marine Commandant who joined People Power I. A number of his officers who now hold important positions in the Phil. Marines were actually on the side of the Dictator and were involved in subsequent coup attempts. Why would the Senator point north when the gun smuggling is going on in the south ? Retiring officers of this unit have been the only ones to volunteer testimony before the Senate regarding damaging information on the President during the last election.
The events , together with the attempts in drawing in US involvement actively or passively, reeks of a scripted scenario of a few in the opposition to bring down the present Philippine government before resolution of the Estrada plunder case. The October 15 deadline set by the opposition for GMA to step down or be forced down has come and gone, but there are still a lot of destabilization tricks that the opposition could come up with, assassination nothwithstanding.
Very much like the dog, the fried chicken and the romping children near a dog litter, the political equation comes to a draw with an unprecedented rightist-leftist collusion with their own power agenda, yet still Filipinos remain wary with good reason. Despite the feverish media war and street protests by the opposition ,the critical mass attainable during the First People Power Revolution has still not been reached. Slowly, a cookbook recipe application for a 3rd People Power Revolution is being unmasked and the players are not exactly the heroes most would want to follow.
Surviving isn’t the first verb that comes to your mind when you’re invited for a birthday party, but sometimes to be able to confirm information you think was important in solving a political puzzle thrown before you, you tend to think of the discomfort as secondary. And so it was with Sonny’s invitation.
Sonny was gay and a former band member I had known some years back who was now hitting his forties. Although talented, hard times and tough luck threw him in desperate straits and he was now a self-confessed shabu user. (shabu is poor man’s cocaine – crude and less refined but nevertheless with similar methamphetamine potency). He says he wants out and he had this story to tell.
From hoping to land a lucrative contract arranging music with the church ministry to being left by his boyfriend and finding emotional solace in drugs, Sonny moved from music to odd jobs – really odd jobs ,finally landing as a courier for the New People’s Army in the hinterlands of the Bicol peninsula where he described certain AM radio stations which served as the NPA propaganda vehicle when turned on at certain periods of the day. Some cottage industries marked “Kaibigan”(Friend) were solely for NPA fund – raising activities. He partook in dismantling delivered furniture from abroad which contained rifle or gun parts. They came in “chop-chop” (in separate pieces), he says and the weapons would be assembled as the parts came along. Sometimes the weapon parts were hidden as part of the crate containing innocent merchandise. He said they knew the customs inspectors would focus on the content more than the crate. And they were all coming in through the International Airport. The furniture and crates would be reassembled again and shipped or flown out and returned to them again with the gun parts. Why the gun parts failed to elicit alarms from metal detectors when covered with thick hardwood puzzled him too, but he claims it does not since they check them with metal detectors before they are shipped out.
Sonny longed for the comforts of Manila and he befriended a Muslim drug pusher from Manila who traveled along with the furniture truck to NPA territory. Sonny’s upper class upbringing made him an asset in establishing contacts among Manila’s upper crust.
As a backgrounder, the Philippine National Police still have files on Abu Bakr, A Muslim drug Lord ( yes, they do exist) who made Maharlika Village, located in Taguig, a suburb in the Metro Manila environs, his base of operations .Maharlika Village was a Metro Manila sanctuary for Muslim immigrants from the south who were fleeing the war. A member of the raiding team that apprehended Abu Bakr several years ago confessed that they had to let him go since they were given very little choice : Abu Bakr’s freedom or their lives. And the feared voice that gave those choices – none other than opposition senator Panfilo Lacson.
Lacson was a daunting political figure in Philippine politics. From his checkered past as one of the three henchmen (all Phil. Military Academy graduates) of the late Dictator Marcos who were licensed to kill, and the only surviving one at that, he became the deposed former President Estrada’s close confidante and erstwhile Chief of the Phil. National Police. Estrada is currently under house arrest pending the court’s decision on charges of graft and plunder. Despite charges of involvement in drug trafficking, Lacson landed himself a seat in the Philippine Senate.
If one goes through the milestones of recent Philippine politics , it would headline the following events like a TV mini-series in chronological order:
1) Former Phil. President Estrada deposed through People Power II. Vice-President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo(GMA) sworn in by Chief Justice as President.
2) Estrada placed under house arrest. Estrada followers launches People Power but
fails.
3) Estrada’s wife and son runs for the Senate and wins election along with Panfilo
Lacson.
4) Estrada followers fields movie star Fernando Poe Jr.(FPJ) against GMA for
Presidency.GMA wins election
5) FPJ files electoral protest but succumbs to a stroke.
6.) GMA starts anti-corruption campaign. Armed Forces Comptroller convicted of
graft charges.
7) controversial tapes taken from wiretapping done by the Intelligence Services of
the Armed Forces (ISAFP) reveals voice of the President calling Commission on
Election official.
8) GMA delivers public apology for impropriety of calling election official but denies wrongdoing
9) Leftists mount protests. Opposition traditional politicians join
10) Senate President Drilon meets secretly with Vice-President de Castro in Hong Kong to ensure that Senate President is named
Vice-President in case of Presidential impeachment .
11) Analysis of tapes by audio experts reveal evidence of “ abnormalities”.
12) Impeachment proceedings dismiss charges on form and content.
13) Senate charges National Security Adviser with contempt after refusal to answer investigative questions regarding government
contracts.
14) Senate Inquiry on Malacanang Palace-endorsed contracts continues unabated
15) Senator Biazon warns on possibility of Martial Law. Senator points to alleged arms smuggling in the North and alludes to previous
US Charge d' Affaires Mussomelli’s comments of “armed civilians defending GMA”
With regards to the last headline (No. 15) , it’s worth noting that Senator Biazon was the former Marine Commandant who joined People Power I. A number of his officers who now hold important positions in the Phil. Marines were actually on the side of the Dictator and were involved in subsequent coup attempts. Why would the Senator point north when the gun smuggling is going on in the south ? Retiring officers of this unit have been the only ones to volunteer testimony before the Senate regarding damaging information on the President during the last election.
The events , together with the attempts in drawing in US involvement actively or passively, reeks of a scripted scenario of a few in the opposition to bring down the present Philippine government before resolution of the Estrada plunder case. The October 15 deadline set by the opposition for GMA to step down or be forced down has come and gone, but there are still a lot of destabilization tricks that the opposition could come up with, assassination nothwithstanding.
Very much like the dog, the fried chicken and the romping children near a dog litter, the political equation comes to a draw with an unprecedented rightist-leftist collusion with their own power agenda, yet still Filipinos remain wary with good reason. Despite the feverish media war and street protests by the opposition ,the critical mass attainable during the First People Power Revolution has still not been reached. Slowly, a cookbook recipe application for a 3rd People Power Revolution is being unmasked and the players are not exactly the heroes most would want to follow.
