…Fastforward 2010: North and South Philippines…

 

 

“Moro to get Own State” read the Inquirer headline yesterday… No, I wasn’t able to read it… but my dad was reading it out loud for me… it’s no big deal, thinking we have ARMM or the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao... the big deal, however is that  it’s part of the Philippines, they’re under the same systems… the difference with what’s going to happen to the “Moro’s own state” is completely different, as it will have it’s own educational systems, financial institutions, OWN representation in the UN, and whatever… from what I understood, it’s a going to operate completely separate from the Philippines, although it will remain as part of the Republic… think Korea… it’s a whole country, but there’s the communist North, and the somewhat democratic South…

 

anyway, yesterday was the first time in a while that I decided to hear mass… and it was at La Salle… and it was also the first time in a while (probably a couple of months, time flies you know) since I last seen or actually talked to Uncle Jun… and how appropriate was it that I came to him at a time when the news of GMA selling out came as the headline… so after mass, we had lunch, I tried to open the topic up... which was a welcome topic with a couple of brothers as well, because they didn’t even know… Uncle Jun had his two cents on it… apparently, the Treaty of Paris, that treaty wherein the country was sold by Spain to America, included some territories of the Philippines that was not actually part of the Philippines, most of it in Mindanao, I remember Sulu being one of them, he said a couple more, I forgot… anyway, those non-Philippine territory lands learned about this and approached the then owners of our land via the Treaty of Paris, the Americans… they entered into an agreement that have them agreeing to be part of national governance, but if and when the time comes that they feel that the government is incapable of governing them, they could seek a “protectorate” from the US, much like what the US did with the country through the Commonwealth government: a “transition government” under the guidance of the US prior to becoming declared as an independent state…

 

fast forward to present time… Uncle Jun mentioned the VFA… from what I understood (again, not in any means saying that Uncle Jun said it EXACTLY) the VFA was meant for the government to push for that separation… but the funding for that was just pocketed by “The Family” (Pamilya, as Uncle Jun would call them) and they really didn’t do much to push for it… eventually, the Americans gradually withdrew their support to GMA, and even until now, they don’t support her government that much, even as we all know that she’s doing everything she can to suck up to them… what the Americans did, as Uncle Jun said, was to instill in the minds of the Moros that they should not settle for anything less but a separate state, because of that agreement they entered into long before… hence, the treaty… and to gain face with the Americans, GMA approves it… all in a matter of 2 days…

 

what we lost? Well, he said, among others, the SECOND LARGEST NICKEL MINE IN THE WORLD which is located in Palawan (which is included in the separated state for some reason), and is included in that “separate Moro state”…

 

why were the Americans so bent on that separate state? Same reason why they bought the country from the Spaniards in the first place: our rich natural resources. Our country has been exploited for the longest time. And with the departure of the Americans from Subic (what was it, after 95 years? I forgot), Filipinos actually thought that we’re totally free from Americans… and it was always an unpopular move by the president to endorse stuff such as the VFA… so with no American presence in the country, how do they take advantage of our natural resources? Get the country to separate and exploit the newly separated state, since they would be its “guardians”… how do they do that considering any deal made by the government with the Americans could damage her reputation? Have some other people lay down the idea… and who better to lay that idea down than those who have long fought for autonomy? Yes, it damages the reputation of the president somehow, but at least the Americans wouldn’t be blamed for it… after all they were the ones who “were sought help from” in honor of the contract… the president, on the other hand, won’t complain that much if she would lose face among Filipinos, because she would gain face with the Americans and the newly separated Moros…

 

oh, by the way, Supreme Court can actually deny it… but last time I checked, since installing that new justice (I was informed there was a lady installed recently, but I’m talking about that guy installed during the heat of Uncle Jun’s issue), all rulings were in favor of “The Family”… so, it’s actually a done deal, more or less…

 

and to think, some people hated Ramos because silently, he privatized most government properties… I want to hear what those people think now that GMA is slowly selling our country… first Spratlys, now the south?

 

What happens to the Eat Bulaga theme song?

 

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I want Musketeer… you know, the chocolate coated chocolate? The one which is packaged like Baby Ruth? Musketeer and Baby Ruth may look the same package-wise, but it’s not the same chocolate… my sister got me a pack for my birthday, and she bought it in Subic… I’m just hoping to find some nearby… or if any of you are going to Subic and would be shopping, please buy me one (or 6)… I’ll pay…=P