Thursday, May 26, 2022

Coronavirus Lockdown: High Demand for Illegal Drugs, Wall of Immunity, and More!

More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government. 

As the pandemic wanes restrictions are being relaxed. Of course that means more illegal drugs on the streets.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1599165/high-demand-for-illegal-drug-seen-with-relaxed-restrictions-dilg-exec

Demand for illegal drugs is seen to increase as pandemic mobility restrictions are relaxed, an official of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said Wednesday.

“Yeah, I do make that anticipation,” said DILG Undersecretary Epimaco Densing over ANC when asked if the agency expects the drug demands to go up with relaxed pandemic restrictions.

“Unfortunately, as people make money, and people are losing jobs, they would like to look at alternative ways of making money and illegal drugs is really just, unfortunately, one of them,” he added.

Because of this, Densing said the government will continue to be aggressive in its war against drugs.

“But as long as the government continues to be aggressive against, and as I have mentioned, resilient, in the anti illegal drug program, while we say we wouldn’t be able to bring down illegal drugs a hundred percent, at least we put them at a minimal level,” he added.

People who are losing jobs and might just look to selling illegal drugs? Gee, perhaps the government should not have shut down the  economy like they did for a whole year. Not that it's necessarily going to happen. This appears to be fear mongering for the violent war on drugs.

There is a lot of speculation going on in the name of fear mongering. So far no spike has been monitored but that's not stopping the prognosticators.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/news/05/19/22/covid-cases-spike-expected-in-areas-with-low-vaxx-rate-expert

COVID-19 cases in areas with low vaccination rate are expected to rise following the detection of more omicron BA.2.12.1 cases in the country, an infectious disease expert said Thursday.

The government recently announced there are three additional patients with the highly transmissible sublineage of BA.2 in Western Visayas, bringing the total number nationwide to 17. 

The unvaccinated and vulnerable sectors such as the elderly, immunocompromised, and health workers are more susceptible to the respiratory disease, said Dr. Rontgene Solante, a member of the government's vaccine expert panel.

"Ang expectation natin, tataas ang kaso especially (in) those areas na mababa ang vaccination rate. Importante dito, alam natin ang variant or sublineage na 'to ay napakataas ang transmissibility," he said in a televised press briefing.

(We expect cases will increase especially in those areas with low vaccination rate. It's important we know this variant or siblineage has a high transmissibility.)

"There’s a possibility, malaki ang possibility na tumaas ang kaso (there's a big possibility cases will increase), but I don't think it will be enough to affect our hospitalization rate."

Note how there is no mention of an increased death rate but only increased transmission. They aren't even worried about hospitalization rates changing. That's because the death rate remains low. As of this writing out of a population of 109.6 million there have been 3.69 million cases and 60,452 deaths. That means 3.3% of the total population has been infected while only .00005515% of the population has died. Out of those infected .00163826% have died. That as incredibly low rate. It is much lower than the incidence of adverse effects from the vaccine.

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/831961/only-0-07-experienced-mild-effects-after-covid-19-vaccination-doh/story/

Only 0.07% of individuals vaccinated against COVID-19 have experienced adverse events following immunization, according to the Department of Health.

At a press briefing Tuesday, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said 99.93% did not experience any AEFIs while the 0.07% experienced only mild side effects.

Vergeire said the top reactions were pain on the injection side, headaches or dizziness, rashes, body pain, and a temporary increase in heartbeat.

(These all disappeared quickly. So what are we waiting for? Let us get vaccinated to get protection against COVID-19.)

"These all disappeared quickly?" So what! The fact is that every COVID vaccine is an experimental drug of which the long term effects are not known. Some people have developed heart troubles while others have miscarried and others have died after being injected. But see how they make light of this number which is much higher than the actual death rate? 

The reopening of the world after the pandemic means more Filipino nurses will be going abroad.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1600023/as-more-countries-reopen-pgh-braces-for-exodus-of-healthcare-workers

The Philippine General Hospital (PGH) expects more of its “skilled” healthcare professionals to quit their jobs to work as overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) as more countries are now reopening, PGH spokesperson Dr. Jose Jonas Del Rosario said Friday.

(Many countries have opened opportunities for healthcare workers. We’re seeing a lot of resignations and some of them are really skilled. Some are operating room nurses, while some work in the ICU — Intensive Care Unit.)

To brace for the expected vacancies, Del Rosario said that the state-owned hospital has been actively recruiting, stressing the willingness of PGH to train nurses with little to no professional experience.

(That’s our problem. In fact, PGH is pleading for nurses to apply. We have a lot of vacancies, not just in the ICU or operating room but also in the wards. They’re actively recruiting so we hope to hire more workers while there’s some peace before a possible [COVID-19] surge…Even if they’re new, we’re willing to train them as long as they apply to PGH.)

It's the calm before the storm right? Wrong. It appears that storm will be staved by the Philippines' wall of immunity.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/05/23/22/new-subvariants-finding-it-hard-to-get-through-wall-of-immunity-octa

The Philippines' COVID-19 cases are not expected to rise beyond 10,000 new infections daily, independent research group OCTA said Monday. 

The new omicron subvariants are finding it difficult to get through the country's "wall of immunity," according to Prof. Guido David.

The country has so far detected 17 cases of the BA.2.12.1, a sublineage of the dominant BA.2, and one case of the more transmissible BA.4.

    (The BA.4 in Africa caused an increase in cases of up to 10,000 per day. We don't think we will go beyond 10,000. Of course, we're monitoring 2 variants now.)

    (We hope the increase in cases won't reach that high. So far, we can see these variants are finding it difficult to get through our wall of immunity.)

    According to the OCTA this wall of immunity is due to the nation's improved vaccination program which has made the COVID-19 pandemic manageable 
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1175097

The Covid-19 situation in the country has become manageable due to the government’s intensified and more improved vaccination program, OCTA Research fellow, Dr. Guido David said Monday.

David, speaking at the Laging Handa public briefing, cited the country has a "successful" vaccination program.

“Malaking tulong nito (vaccination) sa pagpapabuti ng kalagayan natin sa bansa. Kung hindi dahil dito baka nagla-lockdown pa din tayo (This has contributed to improving the situation in our country. Without this, we might be imposing lockdowns until now),” he said.

The country’s "wall of immunity" has also been improved by the government’s massive vaccination program, he added.

(Even if there’s an uptick or spike of cases, I think , it would be mostly mild cases),” David said, urging the remaining unvaccinated population to avail of the Covid-19 vaccine for protection against dreaded disease.

Will the government now stop scaring the public about possible surges and lockdowns? The answer of course is no.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1602323/resurgence-of-virus-is-major-threat-to-domestic-economy-neda-chief

The resurgence of a virus is a major threat to the country’s domestic economy, National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua said Wednesday.

“I think right now, on the domestic economy, the only major threat is a possible resurgence of the virus, whether COVID or something else, but we have learned from our experience that we can manage both the economy and health together,” he said during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum.

“The most important thing for me right now is to continue the vaccination program. Our booster vaccination rate is still, I think, one-fourth of the population. So, that is the most important to fast-track,” he shared.

Why would a resurgence of COVID-19 be a major threat to the economy? They have already said they would not resort to nationwide lockdowns. It seems to be more fear mongering to scare people into being injected with an experimental drug.

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

The God Culture: Ancient Prophecy of the Philippines: MARCOS Prophesied! The Life of Lam-Ang

Timothy Jay Schwab of The God Culture claims that an ancient Illocano epic poem, The Life of Lam-Ang, is a prophecy about the Philippines. In this epic the Philippines dies and an old man named Marcos brings him back to life. According to Tim that story is most certainly a prophecy about the most corrupt political dynasty in the nation, the Marcoses.

Ancient Prophecy Philippines: MARCOS Prophesied! The Life of Lam-Ang. Solomon's Gold Series 15B

Before Tim even begins to break down the prophetic significance of The Life of Lam-Ang he gives this disclaimer:

1:43 Sure we can't prove it. Not like we do, uh, geography this is prophecy and in a veiled form in fact as they were likely hiding it from the Spanish, uh, but ancient Filipinos likely knew the meaning of this poem.

Well, if he can't prove it then why should anyone care? Everything he is going to say will be conjecture and rest on the assumption that Lam-Ang is not just a singular man but represents the Philippines. This can be seen from a map from 1154 where the Philippines is labeled Al Namang (Lamang.)

13:27 This map is from 1151 AD. Wow! 400 years or so before the Spanish whoa! And what was the Philippines called on this map? Lamang. Wow! I mean that is incredible. So this is not an individual's name folks this is a nation. The life of Lam-Ang is the life of the Philippines and let's review what happened and what happens prophetically to the Philippines. Let's be clear we already proved the location in history and this restores prophecy in which messiah in Matthew 12:42 and Luke 11:30 tells us the Philippines will rise in the last days. Oh this is going to go there too, imagine that. Ezekiel 38 and Isaiah 60 verse 9 tell us the same and these appear the basis of this prophetic story for the ancient Filipino knew far more than we even realize.

This is a portion of a much larger map drawn up by Konrad Miller in 1929. It is based on a description of the known world "compiled by the Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi in 1154."

The Nuzhat al-mushtāq fī ikhtirāq al-āfāq (Arabicنزهة المشتاق في اختراق الآفاق, lit. "The Excursion of One Eager to Penetrate the Horizons"), commonly known in the West as the Tabula Rogeriana (lit. "The Map of Roger" in Latin), is a description of the world and world map compiled by the Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi in 1154. Al-Idrisi worked on the commentaries and illustrations of the map for fifteen years at the court of the Norman King Roger II of Sicily, who commissioned the work around 1138.

To produce the work, al-Idrisi interviewed experienced travelers individually and in groups on their knowledge of the world and compiled "only that part... on which there was complete agreement and seemed credible, excluding what was contradictory."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabula_Rogeriana

This map in full looks like this.

The map is oriented with south at the top so I have flipped it to make it readable. What Tim alleges is the Philippines is to the far right of the map. It does not look so different from Pompoinus Mela's map which also features two island, Chryse and Argyre, close to the Ganges river delta.

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-god-culture-finding-chryse-dont.html 

Once again we have two islands, or in this case just one island, representing all 7,000 islands of the Philippine archipelago. It's just more mendacious nonsense from a man who has proved again and again he either cannot read maps or he willfully misinterprets them. He makes no mention of the island named Al Sabara and he offers no proof that Al Namang is the Philippines or what that name means in Arabic. In the 11th video in his Enoch series he also discusses this map but fails to give the actual Arabic meaning of this word instead focusing on what Lamang means in Tagalog.  That is completely disingenuous and does not take this map seriously. It was written in Arabic and not Tagalog. But Tim does not care. He does not care about accurate linguistics nor does he care about truth. And why bother? He has already informed us he cannot prove anything he is going to say in this video. He might as well make it up as he goes. So, let's move on to the text of the poem itself.

According to Timothy Jay Schwab the Bible tells us that in the end times the Philippines will rise again. Specifically in the books of Ezekiel and Isaiah. Tim posits that those books appear to be the sources for this epic poem.

14:19 Ezekiel 38 and Isaiah 60 verse 9 tell us the same and these appear the basis of this prophetic story for the ancient Filipino knew far more than we even realize.

Again, he offers no proof for this. Not a single shred of evidence is offered. How exactly does this narrative poem have its roots in ancient Hebrew prophecy? How would ancient Filipinos have access to the Bible? Tim does not say. He also does not tell us how this epic survived the burning of the books.

3:19 But this writing has been retained. However, the Jesuits likely did not even notice that this may very well be prophecy slipped right under their noses. 

Yeah sure. The Spanish were so sneaky and crafty but did not realize The Life of Lam-Ang was actually a prophecy. Again, this is all ad hoc conjecture which can by no means be proven. 

Tim spends a great deal explaining that Lam-Ang represents the Philippines. Never mind the fact there was no unified Philippines until the arrival of the Spanish. Before that the islands were divided into various tribal groups.


Even then the Spanish never conquered Mindanao. That was left for the Americans to do and is the reason why it remains such a problematic area. The inhabitants of the BARMM do not consider themselves Filipinos.
Drilon successfully moved for the inclusion of a provision reiterating “that the Bangsamoro people are citizens of the Republic of the Philippines.” Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, the bill sponsor, said this was opposed by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission.
It is simply not possible for Lam-Ang to represent the entire Philippine archipelago when these islands were never united.

The end of the epic is where the alleged prophecy about Marcos comes in. Lam-Ang had a dream that he would be eaten by a shark while hunting for shells. Indeed he was eaten and he died. His wife called the old diver Marcos who brought up his bones, put them together, and God brought him back to life. Prophetically interpreted Lam-Ang is the Philippines, the shark is the Spanish, and Marcos is a member of the Marcos family who will resurrect the Philippines. Marcos is even given a reward of gold by Lam-Ang. 

Keeping in line with Tim's interpretation that would mean the Philippines gave Marcos all the gold he has as a reward for resurrecting the nation! But Tim says otherwise. He claims Marcos had billions in gold before he even became president because he was a lawyer working on the case of the Vatican returning gold to the Philippines. When did this happen? Tim offers no proof. There are many, many stories about Marcos' gold but there are no confirmed stories about the Vatican returning gold to the Philippines and Tim offers no proof that it ever happened.

I wrote a review of Marcos Legacy Revisited: Raiders of the Lost Gold which discusses all the stories about Marcos' alleged gold stash. It is a book worth reading. 

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2022/02/book-review-marcos-legacy-revisited.html 
What this book ultimately reveals is that no one knows the truth about Marcos' gold. There are too many conflicting reports, eyewitness accounts, and documents. The majority of the stories in this book are based on unproven and unprovable speculation.
Again, Tim's theory rests on the interpretation of Lam-Ang as not a singular man but as the nation of the Philippines. So, let's go through the poem and see if such an interpretation is sustainable. It should first be noted that the translation Tim uses is rather bare bones and lacking in the detail of the translation compiled by Leopolodo Yabes. Compare these two stanzas near the end:

“The old man, the diver.

My wife Cannoyan,

Give him a pile of coins taller than he is.”

https://cupdf.com/document/life-of-lam-ang-translated-by-angelito-santos.html

And when they arrived
Lam-ang said:
We should reward
This old skilled man
Load him with money,
My wife Cannoyan.
We should love
The yellow-legged hen
Also the rooster
And the hairy dog
Because if not for them
I would be lost forever.

https://www.kapitbisig.com/philippines/english-version-of-epics-mga-epiko-complete-text-of-lam-ang-an-iloko-epic-english-version_1177.html/page/0/15

See how much more detail there is in this version? Yabes' translation is a compilation of all known versions of this poem.

The edition of the poem used here from which the English translation was made, is based primarily on the Parayno Hermance version, 1927 edition, with the three other existing versions diligently compared. The Parayno Hermanos version was used, and not the Medina or the Isabelo de los Reyes version, which are much older, because copies of the latter versions secured by the writer were not legible in some portions. Since the four versions, like the four Gospels, contain, as we have said in the previous chapter, not exactly similar accounts of the story, one version, for example, recording an incident which the others do not record, the writer thought it best to include all the different incidents in the four versions in one composite edition to make the story more complete. So, although each of the four versions contains not more than 294 stanzas, the present edition contains 305 stanzas because of the writer's attempt for completeness. There are, as we shall see in the next chapter, many incidents of the story not recorded in any of the four versions, but since such incidents are embodied only in legend, the writer decided not to include them in the present edition. 

The Illocano Epic: A Critical Study of the "Life of Lam-Ang," Leopoldo Yabes

If Tim had been using Yabes' translation he would have seen that it was not Marcos or God who brought Lam-Ang back to life. It was his pet rooster, hen, and dog who used their magic to resurrect their master.

The rooster crowed
The hen flapped its wings
The bones moved.
Then the spotted dog
Took its turn
It barked twice
Then pawed
All the bones.
And as the rooster foretold
The bones of Lam-ang
Surely came back to life
And he arose!

The character of the diver Marcos does not appear only at the end of this poem. He also appears at the beginning as one who was called to assist in the birth of Lam-Ang.

Meanwhile Namongan lay
to give birth
Nobody within call
To help her deliver
Neither old Marcos, the driver
Nor Alisot nor Pas-ho the rich
Were able to succeed.
Then they thought
Of the old bent woman
She whose fingers were strong.

Marcos here is called the driver but checking with the original this is a mispelling.


If Tim is correct that Lam-Ang represents the Philippines and Marcos represents a prophetic Marcos that will save the nation then why is Marcos unable to help give birth to the Philippines? How does this make any sense? What prophetic role exactly Marcos plays in the beginning Tim does not say but in order for his interpretation to be coherent he must be the same character and play the same role throught the poem. But here we see he is inutile. And what about Alisot and Pasho the rich man? Of what prophetic significance are they? Tim does not say. 

Lam-Ang is born with the gift of speech and immediately speaks of being baptized telling his mother to name him Lam-Ang.

When she succeeded in helping
The woman Namongan
The boy was born
And the baby then started to talk:
Ay mother Namongan
When you have me baptized
Please name me Lam-ang
And have as my godfather the old Gibuan.

Right away we see the Catholic elements in this poem. If Lam-Ang represents the Philippines and wishes to be baptized then that would mean the Philippines willingly accepted the Roman Catholic faith. This would destroy Tim's teaching that the Philippines was actually held captive by Roman Catholicism. The marriage of Lam-Ang's mother and father is referred to as a sacrament in the second stanza. Later on his marriage to Cannoyan will take place in a church and a mass will be said. Of what prophetic significance can that be except that Filipinos willingly accepted the mass? These elements do not necessarily prove the epic is not ancient but shows its syncretic nature.

At only nine months old Lam-Ang goes looking for his father in the mountains where he went to fight the Igorots. Finding his father's skull on a pike he challenges the Igorots and kills all of them except one with one fell swoop. He is able to do this through the aid of three magic stones he placed in his pocket.

He went to the forest
To the Igorot country
He went searching
For his father beholden.
He pocketed a stone of sagang
Also that of tangraban
A stone too of lawlawigan
And a stone of musang. 

He went through thick foliage
Also through bamboo clumps
He went through with such speed
Because of the centipede stone.

The footnote here says the following:

Magic stones endowing Lam-ang with magic powers from these particular birds and animals.

Of what prophetic significance are these stones? How is the use of magic stones consistent with a prophecy from the Hebrew God? Tim does not say and when he discusses this event he makes no mention of these magic stones which endowed Lam-Ang with the power of animals.

The sole survivor of Lam-Ang's vengeance was shown no pity.

He made fun of him
And took hold
Of the tattoed Igorot
And told him:
Now is your end!
He removed his teeth
And then his eyes
Next he cut off his ears
And also his hands.
Then he let go
The tattoed Igorot
And did not show any pity
Making sport of him.

What is this prophesying? That Filipinos are very cruel? Tim does not say. But the many news stories of people of all kinds being assassinated by unknown gunmen shows just how cruel and unforgiving Filipinos can be.

https://mb.com.ph/2022/05/21/minor-shot-several-times-his-neck-slashed-too-by-unidentified-assailants/

Afterwards Lam-Ang bathes with either 18 or 81 young maidens who wash his hair from all the dirt and blood of the Igorots. Instantly all the life in the river is killed. 

Ay dear mother Namongan,
Now please sound the gong
To inform
My young lady friends
Numbering twice nine
And nine times nine
That they can go and wash
In Amburayan River
My long, thick hair
Dirtied in the battle
All day long yesterday.

Then Lam-ang said:
Ay my young friends,
Please take 
The coconut dipper
And fetch water
Then wash my hair
In the middle of the river.

And when they had washed the hair
Of the man Lam-ang
Small shrimps died
Lobsters went ashore
Also small crabs
And small fishes floated
Also many eels.

How is that exactly a prophecy of the Philippines? Is it because Filipinos litter and many of the waterways in this nation are polluted? And what do the women symbolize? Perhaps the licentiousness of Filipinos? Duterte said his only job now is to look at pretty women. And remember when he said as long as there are beautiful women there will always be rape?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2018/08/31/philippine-president-says-so-long-women-are-beautiful-there-will-be-cases-rape/

Lam-Ang next goes to seek the hand of Cannoyan with the help of his hairy dog and talking rooster who speaks for him.

This is what
The yellow-legged cock
The white rooster
The rooster of Lam-ang said:
We came, apo, to pay our respects
To your daughter Cannoyan.
Apo, with your permission
We came to pay court.
This is what 
The yellow-legged cock said.
Tim pretty much covers everything from here on out. Lam-Ang is shown lots of gold and given tasks to perform which he does and is given the hand of Cannoyan in return. Then he dies and is resurrected.

But how is any of this a prophecy of the Philippines? In what consistent way can it be shown that Lam-Ang represents the Philippines? And how exactly is this based on Ezekiel and Isaiah? To call this epic poem a prophecy is to say it was inspired by God. What proof is there that this poem was inspired by God the same way Isaiah was who saw God face to face?

There is only one part at the end about Lam-Ang being restored by Marcos and Tim does not take into consideration that it is actually his pets who bring him back to life. The rest is a common fantasy. A young man endowed with superhuman strength avenges his father and wins the hand of the most beautiful woman in the land along with the help of enchanted objects in this case a talking rooster and magic stones. This is typical Hero's Journey stuff.

Let's not forget that before he even began Tim admitted he cannot prove any of this. I agree wholeheartedly. He absolutely cannot prove it, not because it's prophecy which is open to interpretation, but because it's not a prophecy at all. The role of Lam-Ang as representing the Philippines does not fit especially in the world view Tim paints because here we have Lam-Ang fully accepting Roman Catholicism. Not to mention there was no unified Philippines from Luzon to Mindanao until the Americans came. 

Thankfully not all of Tim's audience is buying his wares. The following response to a comment on this video is quite telling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIWsgUPuwUQ&lc=UgwbXcbdRaX7N4OzYGd4AaABAg

Melaine TacudBut they Steal 10 Billion dollars from Philippine Government and the late President Marcos declare Martial Law that put many people in jail, torture, kill, many people who oppose to his rule... He has many Cronies rich family who becomes much richer during his Dictatorship and Presidency for 20 years. Philippines was not in Golden Age but in Bankruptcy, Peso currency to Dollar from 3 pesos it became 28 pesos and he lend millions dollars when he step down during EDSA PEOPLE POWER they doesn't admit it and say sorry for all of that and return the money they steal...

The God CultureWe don't care about politics and control lines. The Philippines is rising. Get ready or be left behind. Yah Bless.

Timothy Jay Schwab of The God Culture does not care about the truth. What a disingenuous piece of filth and rot. And he has no right to spew that, "We don't care about politics," line when clearly he is teaching that all truth about Marcos which can be found in news articles, books, and most important of all court documents is a CIA fabrication.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIWsgUPuwUQ&lc=UgyIjP51Z4pMZYcahSJ4AaABAg

Spidey Speaksprobably the funniest video TGC ever uploaded. Sir Tim you never lived in the Philippines during the time of Marcos, never felt the fear the police and military arouse among who sees them. cannot sing those funny songs which are critical to Marcos in fear your neighbors might snitch on you and you disappear -- forever. 

Maybe you got your info from a former IMF whistle-blower who says Marcos was the lawyer of a certain unknown, physically handicapped relative of British Queen Elizabeth who paid Marcos with gold shares. Marcos, along with a priest who supposedly was Jose Rizal in hiding his identity, were hired as caretakers of this British royalty's wealth. That is why Marcos was rich before becoming president. Am I right? 

Regardless I do believe that this Marcos family is one of God's curses upon the Philippines.

The God CultureFirst that is false as some on the team most certainly did live during the time of Marcos and they do not agree with that sorted CIA-written narrative at all. However, The Life of Lam-Ang says what it says and we could care less about politics. You seem very jaded and uninformed and don't ever try to pull us into politics which we don't cover here. Yah Bless.

This video from The God Culture is not unexpected but it is troubling. Timothy Jay Schwab remains fully entrenched in his ignorance. He repeats many times in this video, and with a loud voice, that he has never been disproven despite I having done just that many times. The fact that he continues to spout off like a cry-baby wailing, "Nu-uh you didn't disprove me you illiterate blogger," at the top of his lungs rather than deal with the arguments I have presented is evidence of how bereft Tim is of both intelligence and honesty. No matter how loud he shouts his books and videos will never be true. Everything he has to say about the Philippines is a lie which makes him a liar par excellence. And now we have him condoning the evils of Ferdinand Marcos and his family because Marcos is allegedly prophesied as a savior in an ancient Filipino epic. What a crock! 

Tuesday, May 24, 2022

Insurgency: The Evils of Communism

With only a month to go before Duterte leaves office it's a race to the finish line as the AFP attempts to complete their mandate of defeating the NPA before the end of his term. Despite all the odds against them they are confident it will be done.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1174930

The Philippine Army is optimistic to clear by the end of May some 81 remote villages in Northern Samar from the infiltration of the New People’s Army (NPA), an official said on Friday.

Lt. Col. Joemar Buban, commander of the Philippine Army’s 20th Infantry Battalion, said hundreds of NPA supporters have surrendered to government forces this year and joined the peace and development efforts.

“We are on track in our clearing efforts since the communist terrorist group has been losing support from these communities. We still have to further validate before issuing the declaration,” Buban said in a phone interview.

These far-flung villages are in the towns of Las Navas, Catubig, Mapanas, Gamay, Lapinig, Palapag, and Laoang.

“Cleared means that all supporters in a village have already surrendered. Sightings are still expected since they will attempt to return, but we have soldiers and trained Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit in the area to neutralize them,” Buban told the Philippine News Agency.

Citing accounts of former rebels who recently surrendered, the official said there are only 30 active NPA fighters roaming around in these seven Northern Samar towns.

With only 30 active NPA fighters roaming about in Northern Samar surely the AFP can reign them in by June 30th if not sooner. The AFP certainly has the backing of the local citizens.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1174843

About 400 residents in Las Navas, Northern Samar joined a condemnation rally on Thursday triggered by the fatal shooting of a soldier, who was the team leader of the community support program (CSP) of the military in the area.

Residents from different villages trooped to the town plaza, carrying placards as they condemned the communist terrorist group for attacking government forces deployed to facilitate development in poor communities.

This is initiated by locals of Las Navas. Prior to this, there were rallies in their communities since the shooting of one of our soldiers. Some of them walked to the town center to join the peace rally today,” Lt. Col. Joemar Buban, commander of the Philippine Army’s 20th Infantry Battalion, said in a phone interview.

The protests were triggered by the death of Sgt. Marlon Baysa, who was fatally shot in front of the residents of San Francisco village in Las Navas town on the night of May 11.

A bullet hit the back of Baysa’s head, resulting in his instantaneous death. He was the designated team leader of the CSP group deployed in the remote village infiltrated by the NPA.

The community invited the CSP team members to join the Flores de Mayo celebration, a popular religious festival in the country every month of May.

CSP is a flagship program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to clear communities of NPA infestation and involves immersion of personnel in the identified barangays and the conduct of various community engagements geared towards addressing the needs of the people.

The attack is believed to be a retaliation since most of the NPA’s underground mass organization members in the area have voluntarily surrendered, according to the official.

A rally condemning the NPA not staged by the AFP along with burning of the CPP flag? That's quite unusual.

The AFP is already proclaiming success in Northern Luzon.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1174729

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief-of-staff Gen. Andres Centino said the successful campaign of the 5th Infantry Division against the communist terrorist groups (CTGs) has brought progress and peace to communities in Ilocos, Cagayan Valley and the Cordillera.

"With the active participation of the Star Division in our whole of nation approach, the people of Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, and Cordillera Administrative Region felt significant economic progress, as well as peace and security in their communities," he said in a statement Wednesday.

Centino also recognized the 5th Infantry Division (Star Troopers) for their recent achievements, particularly the employment of game changer assets against CTGs in Cagayan.

"The 5th Infantry Division's conduct of focused military operations and effective coordination with other law enforcement agencies resulted in significant gains against the enemy," the AFP chief added.

It also liberated 117 areas from the influence of communist terrorists; dismantled four guerrilla fronts; and neutralized 950 personalities, 18 of which were high-value individuals.

It would seem that all this success means the NPA is unpopular in Northern Luzon. That is the case in Davao Oriental and it's all because of cooperation between the public and the government.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1174612

The unpopularity of the communist New People's Army (NPA) in Davao Oriental could be attributed to the cooperation of the public and barangay officials with government security forces, the provincial governor said Tuesday.

Davao Oriental Governor Nelson Dayanghirang, speaking over the "Tagged Debunking Lies By Telling the Truth" program aired at SMNI, said the NPA's rejection in the province was also due to good governance.

"The people realized that we have a working government providing good services to them," he said.

In addition, the outgoing governor said the sustained presence of the military and police units in Davao Oriental has also led to the complete dismantling of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)-NPA in many parts of the province.

In fact, Dayanghirang noted that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has not recorded any extortion case from the NPA during the elections.

"This means that we are closer to the dismantling of the CPP-NPA in the country. I hope the next admin will continue its fight against them to stop their atrocities," he said.

Dayanghirang vowed to continue supporting the peace efforts of the government to ensure that NPA can no longer recover and conduct grassroots influence campaign.

According to National Security Advisor Hermogenes Esperon Jr. the reason the NPA is becoming less popular and losing their hold on the nation is because Filipinos are now aware of the CPP's deceitful tactics.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1174496

Filipinos are aware and continue to be watchful of the deceptive tactics of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), National Security Adviser (NSA) Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said.

In a statement posted on his Facebook page Sunday night, Esperon said any move by the CPP and its allies to instigate anarchy after the elections has failed.

"Our countrymen are aware and watchful of every move it makes to divide our people. THEY WILL SURELY FAIL AGAIN," he added.

Earlier reports claimed that the CPP and its allies are planning to infiltrate electoral protest actions of the supporters of losing presidential aspirant Vice President Robredo and other militant groups.

"We can expect the CPP to hatch another agitation, organization and mobilization plan again, maybe in June, August and September this year but it is on its own," Esperon said.

He added that these plans have been neutralized after Robredo called on her supporters to respect the will of the majority.

"(We cannot allow ourselves to be the reason for the divisiveness in our country). This was the message of Vice President Leni Robredo after she encouraged her supporters to respect the will of the majority. With all certainty, I can declare that the insidious plan of the CPP to foment anarchy, the very intent of the 'Black Friday' movement, has failed," he said.

Esperon says the CPP has plans to foment anarchy sometime between June and September and then he says this plan has been neutralized because Robredo called on her supporters to respect the election of convicted felon Bongbong Marcos as President. First of all how does he know the CPP won't try something in the next few months. Second of all this is a backhanded way of linking Robredo to the CPP as if they abide by her words. Why do these people continue to malign Robredo with baseless claims that she is linked with the CPP?

It might be that there will be no NPA mass actions anytime soon or ever again. Recent surrenderees say the struggle is going nowhere.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1174824

Some five more communist New people’s Army (NPA) rebels operating in Sultan Kudarat province have surrendered to military authorities, saying they have been fighting for a futile cause.

“It is better to live with their loved ones than fighting a lost cause,” said one of the surrenderers, who identified himself only as “Ka Abel,” in a statement Thursday.

The rebels turned over their rifles to the Army’s 57th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Mirab, Upi, Maguindanao, Wednesday afternoon.

The group’s firearms consisted of a sniper rifle, a Garand rifle, and a 12-gauge shotgun.

They also helped the Army in locating and retrieving other NPA firearms -- an M60 machine gun and three M16 rifles – kept in the hinterlands of Lebak town.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Pondanera, the 57IB commander, said the surrenderers used to operate under the NPA's Far South Mindanao Region.

Major General Juvymax Uy, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division and concurrent head of Joint Task Force Central, hailed the rebels' surrender.

“The decision of the NPA group to return to the folds of the law will surely bring happiness to their families and loved ones and the people of Lebak,” Uy told reporters here.

He urged other NPA guerrillas to follow the footsteps of their comrades who are now back in the mainstream society to live normal lives.

Since January this year, more than 60 NPA combatants have availed of various livelihood packages after they decided to surrender to the government.

NPA fighters continue to surrender but they also continue to recruit which is why the AFP has stepped up anti-recruitment efforts via seminars educating the people, especially the youth, about the evils of communism.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1174440

Aside from fighting insurgency on the ground, government troops halt communism even before it starts through information dissemination.

The Philippine Army’s 91st Infantry “Sinagtala” Battalion (91IB) includes youth awareness programs in its continuous fight against the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).

In an interview on Saturday, Lt. Col. Julito Recto Jr., acting 91IB commanding officer, said they conduct lectures in different schools in this province to warn young people about the danger of recruitment into the armed movement.

One hundred senior high school students of Mariano D. Marquez Memorial National High School and their parents in Barangay  Simbahan, Dinalungan town listened to talks on Friday.

“Our youth are very vulnerable to false ideologies since they are innocent and easy targets for manipulation. They must be educated enough to avoid being recruited by communist terrorist groups which have disguised tactics for development and reform. But their real agenda is to destroy the government and the future of the youth, especially those residing in depressed and isolated areas,” he said.

The "evils of Communism?" "False ideologies?" If I attended one of those seminars I would ask, "If Communism iso so evil and false why is the Philippines allied with China which is a communist nation? Why fight the Communist Party of the Philippines but be friends with the Chinese Communist party which has been in power since 1949?" I don't think the AFP could answer that question because there is no coherent or logical answer.

Monday, May 23, 2022

FQ Fry Queen

No originality. That is how it is in the Philippines. The latest business to mock an existing business is  FQ Fry Queen.


This is obviously a play on Dairy Queen but there is no dairy here just fried stuff. Look at that menu. What is the difference between a burger and a hamburger?


It appears that the hamburger has no meat! 

Honestly this place looks rather boring. It does not appear much different from any of the roadside "restaurants" I have seen and eaten at. They just happened to rip off the name of an American institution, Dairy Queen.