Two Filipino Fools

Today let's take a look at two Filipino Fools.  

First up is Kyle Jennermann.

He's not a Filipino at all.  He is a Canadian. But he loves the Philippines so much that he has a television showed called "Becoming Filipino."  He has chosen to live in Mindanao and he LOVES it. 

But living in Mindanao comes with a price and that price is the very real and constant threat of Islamic terrorism.  From Abu Sayyaf to the Maute Group and the MILF and BIFF, Muslims are wreaking havoc in Mindanao and throughout the Philippines and they are aligned with ISIS.  This real danger has caused his home country of Canada to issue warnings against traveling to the Philippines and specifically to Mindanao.

His reaction to these warnings was one of pure disbelief.  He made statements to the effect that Mindanao is not as terrible as all that and the whole terrorism thing is just a stereotype.  You can read about those comments in a previous post.  http://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2017/05/canadian-blogger-dismisses-terrorism-in.html

Yesterday terrorists attacked Mirawi City in Mindanao.  

http://www.philstar.com/nation/2017/05/23/1702840/troops-maute-group-clash-marawi-city

Subsequently the whole island was placed under martial law in order to get the threat under control and eliminated.

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/157248/ml-declaration-davao-virtual-lockdown

And what was Kyle Jennermann's response?

https://www.facebook.com/becomingfilipino/photos/a.1390947454503789.1073741828.1381220285476506/1881591842106012/?type=3&comment_id=1881766162088580&force_theater=true&notif_t=photo_comment&notif_id=1495572849473719

A city is under siege, people are dead, the island of Mindanao is under martial law, the evil flag of ISIS is being paraded around the streets, and this guy STILL cannot face the fact that the threat of terrorism is a real and present danger.  No. He says, "See guys not everyone from Marawi is bad cause I met this one guy from there who was nice."

http://www.rappler.com/nation/170729-marawi-city-black-flag-maute

No doubt he thinks he is being positive and is sending good vibes and looking on the bright side of life. He's not.  He is being a naive fool and not even considering the reality of what is happening right in the very place he lives. 

He just doesn't get it and probably never will even if he ends up like his two fellow Canadians who were kidnapped and beheaded by Abu Sayyaf.

That brings us to fool number two.

Because of the terrorist activity President Duterte had to cut short his trip to Russia. 

This is a real shame because it means he won't be formally receiving the honorary degree that he Russians have decided to bestow upon him and which he has decided to accept despite rejecting the same degree when offered by the University of the Philippines out of principle because he does not accept awards.

https://globalnation.inquirer.net/157087/duterte-receive-honorary-doctorate-top-moscow-institute

Luckily he was still able to meet Putin only hours before he left the country.

https://globalnation.inquirer.net/157263/duterte-meets-putin-kremlin-heading-ph

He offered friendship to Putin and assured the Russian President that the Philippines has gone beyond the ambit of western influence. 

He asked for a soft loan as well, saying the United States had cancelled the Philippines’ arms purchase from it.

Now hold on just a minute!  Duterte offers friendship to Putin but then lies to his face and asks to borrow some money to buy weapons!!!!  (His assurance that the Philippines is now beyond western influence is completely laughable but I'm not going to delve into that now.)

The United States never cancelled the arms deal.  DUTERTE CANCELLED THE ARMS DEAL!!

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/842010/duterte-cancels-us-firearms-deal

Duterte cancels arms deals from the USA and interest free grants from the EU and then wants to burden the Philippines with crippling debt from China and Russia so he can develop the country and buy arms to fight ISIS.

Duterte is a fool of the highest magnitude.

He knows that terrorism is huge problem in the Philippines and that he needs weapons to fight the terrorists but he cancels an arms deal. He knows that the Chinese are not playing nice and insists on doing business with them.  He knows the score. So maybe Duterte really isn't a fool.

Maybe he is a traitor.

Garbage Flavoured Ice Cream

It's Summertime and it's hot outside.  So we are selling cheap ice cream for 5 pesos.

All the neighbourhood children stop by for the refreshing and cool treat.

The problem is that these children throw their garbage all over the road in front of our house.

How hard is it to take your trash with you back to your house and put it in the wastebasket?

Apparently very hard.  

Littering is simply a part of the culture in the Philippines.  Children are not taught to throw their trash in the proper place.  Adults sure don't have any qualms with littering.  Just the other day I was walking behind a guy and I watched as he threw an empty plastic wrapper he was eating from onto the ground.  He could have held on to it until he got back to his house but he chose to drop it in the street and litter our neighbourhood.

Filipinos throw their trash wherever they can.  Take a look at this spot.  This is an abandoned business area and it has conveniently become a landfill even though it is on a main thoroughfare in town.

Is that pride?  Is throwing your garbage wherever you can a manifestation of national pride?

It's no wonder the children throw their trash in the street.  They are simply imitating their parents.

Duterte the Race Realist

In a recent speech Duterte inadvertently outlined the reasons the Philippines is a failed nation.

http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/05/19/17/duterte-america-will-collapse-one-day

President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday said the United States would collapse one day because of conflicting values and agenda resulting from its "multi-racial" character.  

In a speech in Davao City, Duterte again lambasted the US State Department for criticizing him and his controversial war on drugs. 

“Ang problema sa Amerika minsan hindi ang President, it’s the State Department, which is really multi-colored. Saksakan sila dyan. That’s why America will really collapse one of these days, maybe in 50 to 100 years, because of its multi-racial thing. Kanya-kanyang insert ng values eh,” Duterte said.

The Philippines is a nation of 7000 islands, 120 to 175 languages and dialects, 175 ethnic groups, and each one of those groups is concerned with it's own problems. How can the Philippines expect to be unified when everyone is speaking their own language?  

There are millions of people in the Philippines who trace their lineage to China, Malaysia, or are half-breeds of native Filipinos and Europeans or other ethnicities. The Chinese-Filipinos have their own distinct culture within the Philippines and have had a long history of interaction with the Philippines with full assimilation only happening in recent years.

Angeles city is populated with half-breed children which are a result of the sex tourism industry. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3164917/The-red-light-city-Philippines-filled-children-fathered-Australian-sex-trade-tourists-women-pregnant-abandoning-nothing.html

Who knows how many other cites are filled with half-breed children sex tourists leave behind? How can the Philippines hope to be united when it is so ethnically diverse and each ethnicity is concerned with it's own problems and fosters it's own culture?

The Philippines is also deeply divided in other ways. Politically with the Yellows vs the PDP-Laban, economically with the huge and ever-widening gap between rich and poor, and religiously with most Filipinos being at least nominal Roman Catholics but millions more being Protestants or involved in the Iglesia ni Cristo cult which seeks to impose it's political will on the nation through influencing elections by telling their members for whom to vote.

There is no unity within the Philippine society.  Everyone is looking out for themselves and/or their tribe.  That is why corruption is endemic at every level from the Barangay to Malacañang Palace. From the lowly official to the President himself.

Even though we hear much about Pinoy Pride and Philippines nationalism it is a failure of nationalism that has rent this country apart and kept it divided.

If the problem in the Philippines does not lie in the people themselves or, it would seem, in their choice between capitalism and socialism, what is the problem? I think it is cultural, and that it should be thought of as a failure of nationalism. 

It may seem perverse to wish for more nationalism in any part of the Third World. Americans have come to identify the term with the tiny-country excesses of the United Nations. Nationalism can of course be divisive, when it sets people of one country against another. But its absence can be even worse, if that leaves people in the grip of loyalties that are even narrower and more fragmented. When a country with extreme geographic, tribal, and social-class differences, like the Philippines, has only a weak offsetting sense of national unity, its public life does become the war of every man against every man.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1987/11/a-damaged-culture/505178/

There is no unified Filipino people or culture but rather a forced conglomeration of peoples and cultures into an artificial unity. This is the exact reason Duterte gave when he said the USA would collapse: multiracialism and multiculturalism. Why would the USA collapse but the Philippines be immune from collapse when they both have the same symptoms?

This multiracial make-up is one reason, I think, that there is a push for federalism.  This country is  politically unified into one but there are some who want to break it down into regions that reflect the reality of the diversity that is the Philippines. But this breaking down of the Philippines into smaller federal territories would be disastrous. Federalism would create a patchwork of ethnocentric districts seeking their own interests in even more forceful and insidious ways. Corruption would increase a hundredfold. You cannot strengthen a nation by ripping it apart.

Divided We Fall

Duterte and others may think his speech is shocking or racist or outlandish but it's not.  It is simply a statement of fact that modern society has forgot: unity is stronger then diversity. 

The founders of the USA recognised and praised the nation's homogeneity in both ethnic and territorial make-up as being the cause of its success and warned against diversity as being its downfall.

It has often given me pleasure to observe, that independent America was not composed of detached and distant territories, but that one connected, fertile, wide spreading country, was the portion of our western sons of liberty. Providence has in a particular manner blessed it with a variety of soils and productions, and watered it with innumerable streams, for the delight and accommodation of its inhabitants. A succession of navigable waters forms a kind of chain round its borders, as if to bind it together; while the most noble rivers in the world, running at convenient distances, present them with highways for the easy communication of friendly aids, and the mutual transportation and exchange of their various commodities. 

With equal pleasure I have as often taken notice, that Providence has been pleased to give this one connected country, to one united people; a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in their manners and customs, and who, by their joint counsels, arms and efforts, fighting side by side throughout a long and bloody war, have nobly established their general liberty and independence. 

This country and this people seem to have been made for each other, and it appears as if it was the design of Providence, that an inheritance so proper and convenient for a band of brethren, united to each other by the strongest ties, should never be split into a number of unsocial, jealous and alien sovereignties. 

Federalist Papers No.2 

Every nation would do good to take heed to those sound words of wisdom.

Vin Diesel Visits the Philippines

Apparently Hollywood action star Vin Diesel loves visiting the Philippines.

Here he is all happy and smiley in the City of Smiles, Bacolod City after getting a massage at Sabai Rak Thai Massage Spa.

Who would have thought he would know about or desire to visit this beautiful city deep in the Western Visayas?

Mabuhay, XXX!

Duterte Capitulates to China's War Threat

Looks like the mystery has been solved as to why Duterte has been so easy on China.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/19/world/asia/philippines-south-china-sea-duterte-war.html

China’s president warned the Philippines that it would go to war if Manila insisted on enforcing an international arbitration decision rejecting China’s claims over disputed areas of the South China Sea, the Philippine president said in a televised speech on Friday. 

In a landmark ruling last July, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, based in The Hague, delivered a sweeping rebuke of China’s behavior in the South China Sea, including the creation of islands that could be used for military purposes, and found that its claim of sovereignty over the waters had no legal basis. However, there is no legal mechanism for enforcing the decision, and Beijing has refused to abide by it. 

In a speech on Friday to the Philippine coast guard, in the southern city of Davao, Mr. Duterte claimed that President Xi Jinping of China had cautioned him against trying to enforce the ruling. Mr. Xi said the two countries could eventually discuss it, “but it cannot be done now,” Mr. Duterte said.Continue reading the main story“We intend to drill oil there, if it’s yours, well, that’s your view, but my view is I can drill the oil, if there is some inside the bowels of the earth, because it is ours,” Mr. Duterte quoted Mr. Xi as telling him.
Mr. Duterte described Mr. Xi’s position as, “We’re friends, we don’t want to quarrel with you,” but “if you force the issue, we’ll go to war.”
Both sides affirmed the importance of “maintaining and promotion of peace and stability, freedom of navigation in and overflight above the South China Sea, addressing their territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means,” the ministry said.
Mr. Duterte has played down the conflict since assuming office last year, taking a much less confrontational stance toward the disputed waters than his predecessor, Benigno S. Aquino III. He has drawn closer to China, in the hopes of attracting more Chinese investment, and has also distanced itself from a traditional ally, the United States.
On Friday, however, he warned that a war with China would “result in massacre” and “destroy everything.”

“We intend to drill oil there, if it’s yours, well, that’s your view, but my view is I can drill the oil, if there is some inside the bowels of the earth, because it is ours,” Mr. Duterte quoted Mr. Xi as telling him. 

Mr. Duterte described Mr. Xi’s position as, “We’re friends, we don’t want to quarrel with you,” but “if you force the issue, we’ll go to war.” 

Both sides affirmed the importance of “maintaining and promotion of peace and stability, freedom of navigation in and overflight above the South China Sea, addressing their territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means,” the ministry said. 

Mr. Duterte has played down the conflict since assuming office last year, taking a much less confrontational stance toward the disputed waters than his predecessor, Benigno S. Aquino III. He has drawn closer to China, in the hopes of attracting more Chinese investment, and has also distanced itself from a traditional ally, the United States. 

On Friday, however, he warned that a war with China would “result in massacre” and “destroy everything.”

No doubt Duterte does not wish to engage China in war.  He has his own battles to fight at home including both the drug war and the on-going decades long war against Muslim and communist terrorists.  The Armed Forces of the Philippines also lack the numbers and the firepower required to face down a well-equipped and well-staffed enemy like China.

But this begs the question why would Duterte offer to send troops to defend Qatar and not use those same troops to stand up for the sovereign land and sea rights of the Philippines.

http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/04/18/we-will-die-them-philippines-duterte-offers-deploy-troops-middle-east/

Remember one of Duterte's campaign promises was that he would stand up to China and claim the Spratly  Islands for the Philippines (to whom they already belong) by jet skiing across the ocean to plant a flag in the sand.

From day one of his campaign his lips have been dripping with nationalistic and jingoistic slogans. What is going on here with his capitulation to China? Why does he tell the USA, a long-time ally, goodbye but welcomes China, who threatens the country with war over a few islands, with arms wide open?

One need not send in troops to fight a war.  There is always economic cold war. The easiest way to fight China would be to do it economically and yet Duterte does not even want to do that.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/business/2017/05/18/china-loans-philippines-raise-fears-542484

THE $6-billion official development assistance (ODA) obtained by the Duterte administration from the Chinese government has raised fears among some, who believe this might turn out to be disadvantageous to the Philippines rather than beneficial.

http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/05/15/1700181/china-offers-500-m-arms-loan-philippines

The Chinese government has offered a $500-million loan to the Philippines, which can be used to procure defense equipment, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana revealed Sunday. 

On the sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, Lorenzana said that the Philippines might procure defense equipment from China. 

This announcement comes after representatives of Chinese arms manufacturer Poly Technologies Inc. paid a courtesy call to President Rodrigo Duterte in Beijing. 

"We are not saying that we will buy from them or we will not buy from them but if we need anything from the Chinese defense industry, we are going to procure using the loan that they are going to offer to us," Lorenzana said. 

Lorenzana noted that the loan from the Chinese government will be on standby as the Philippines will only use it once the military's modernization fund has been used up. 

On Monday, the Philippine government will sign a letter of intent to deal with the Chinese arms company.

6 billion dollars to develop infrastructure?  500 million dollars to purchase arms??  Why would Duterte continue to do business that puts the Philippines in massive debt to China when China is belligerently threatening war if the Philippines drills for oil in it's own territory??  

This is madness!  Or is it?  

You know what they say: "Cui bono?"  Who benefits? So, aside from China, who benefits from these loans? 

Duterte and his cronies.  That's who.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2093566/dutertes-dilapidated-hometown-get-makeover-chinas-belt

A flurry of Chinese-invested projects is poised to turn Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s dilapidated hometown of Davao into a Southeast Asian springboard for Beijing’s grand “Belt and Road Initiative”. 

The projects, ranging from an expressway to port development and railway construction, mark an improvement in Sino-Philippine relations following prolonged tension over competing territorial claims in the South China Sea.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/anderscorr/2017/05/13/new-philippine-debt-of-167-billion-could-balloon-to-452-billion-china-will-benefit/

Dutertenomics, fueled by expensive loans from China, will put the Philippines into virtual debt bondage if allowed to proceed.

Duterte and his influential friends and business associates could each benefit with hundreds of millions of dollars in finders fees, of 2-7%, for such deals. Duterte reportedly sought to fast track some deals, and has publicly mooted the possibility of declaring martial law for a wide range of issues, including drugs, traffic, and the situation on Mindanao. Debt imposed on the public through corruption, fast-tracking or under martial law should be considered odious debt, and not repayable. The only way to stop such unjust debt is for the terms to be entirely transparent to the Philippine public in advance, for full cost-benefit analyses to be done by an independent authority on each deal, and for the Philippine Congress to vote on whether each deal proceeds. Failing that will lead to virtual Philippine debt bondage to China.

So much for Duterte's plan to end corruption in the Philippines.  It's the same system that's been going on since the beginning: make and fast-track unscrupulous financial deals and skim off the top.

If Duterte's nationalism meant any thing he would not be doing business with China at all. Placing the Philippines "into virtual debt bondage" with China will not help the country one bit.  It won't give people jobs and it won't transform the country into a middle level economy.

Why not just take the grants the EU offered?  Despite allegations of EJK's they are still offered interest free and without conditions to the Philippines.

http://www.rappler.com/nation/170183-philippines-refuses-european-union-grants

The European Union on Wednesday evening, May 17, confirmed that the Philippines has decided to no longer accept new EU grants, pegged at around 250 million euros or P13.85 billion. 

"The Philippine government has informed us that they no longer accept new EU grants," the EU delegation to the Philippines said when sought by Rappler for confirmation Wednesday. 

Jessen stressed that the EU was not "imposing" human rights conditions on the Philippines, and it was the Philippines that signed 27 labor and human rights conventions under the United Nations system.  

The EU, in any case, is one of the Philippines' biggest donors.

That's  a lot of money to give up.  So why do it?  What's the official explanation?

http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2017/05/18/ph-only-refusing-eu-aid-that-affects-internal-affairs.html

The Philippines will only reject aid from the European Union (EU) that meddles with the country's internal affairs, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said Thursday.  

"When (the aid) begins to impose certain conditionalities that will interfere with the way we handle things, then we consider that objectionable," Abella said in a Malacañang press briefing. 

His statement comes after the European Delegation to the Philippines confirmed that the Philippines will be refusing aid from the EU.  

"They have conditions, but there are certain items, for example, that we cannot totally accept," Abella said. 

These conditions involve grants that entail a review of the Philippines' adherence to the rule of law, officials said.

But the EU isn't imposing any conditions: "Jessen stressed that the EU was not "imposing" human rights conditions on the Philippines."

Abella added that the move is part of the Duterte administration's "independent foreign policy."

If that was true then Duterte would not be so casually placing the Philippines into "virtual debt bondage" to China.

But  finally we hear from a man who really knows Duterte and how childish he can be.

Before the Palace briefing, National Economic and Development Authority head Ernesto Pernia dismissed the decision – which he said was made before a Philippine delegation went to the United Nations in Geneva on May 8 to defend the country's human rights record – as a mere response to criticism. 

"We have to parse this carefully because our President has a style of doing something and then taking it back later," Pernia said Thursday.  

"He is very sensitive and he usually takes it back later on," he added, speaking to reporters after a briefing on the Philippine economic growth figures for the first quarter of 2017.

If only Duterte would take back his decision to work with China and repudiate all ties with China until they cease threatening war because of the Philippines actions in the Spratly Islands which is it's own sovereign territory.

Jeepney Art

The jeepney is the cheapest and quickest form of public transportation in the Philippines.  Some drivers take real pride in their vehicle and install loud sound systems, glow lights, and decorate it in a way that stands out.  Here are some examples of jeepney art.

Dutertenomics Won't Cause OFWs to Return En Masse

"Dutertenomics" is president Duterte's "5-year plan" to turn around the economy of the Philippines and bring the nation up to a middle level income.  It is an ambitious plan.  Perhaps TOO ambitious.

https://twitter.com/ANCALERTS/status/864053998235594752

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Monday said the Duterte government’s ‘Build, Build, Build’ infrastructure campaign will generate no less than 12 million new jobs over the next 5 years. 

"They call it golden age Build, Build, Build means golden age of Jobs, Jobs and Jobs," he said. 

National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Chief Ernesto Pernia, however, clarified the infrastructure boost will add more than 1 million new jobs to the usual 1 million jobs created per year, resulting in 12 million jobs for the 6 years of the Duterte administration.  

Bello shared, most of the new jobs will be in the field of manufacturing and construction, including carpenters, welders, plumbers, and electricians.  

"This will also address the final goal of the President, to repatriate Filipinos who are now in different parts of the world…. The President wants to provide jobs with decent pay so eventually, all Filipino workers will come back,” he said.  

There are an estimated 10 to 12-million Filipinos overseas, a tenth of the Philippines' total population. 

http://news.abs-cbn.com/business/05/15/17/dutertenomics-seen-to-create-12-million-jobs-make-ofws-come-home

12 million jobs!

Bringing all OFW's home!

But wait a second:

Bello shared, most of the new jobs will be in the field of manufacturing and construction, including carpenters, welders, plumbers, and electricians.  

Those sound like very specialised jobs. Are these the kind of jobs most OFWs have?

https://psa.gov.ph/sites/default/files/attachments/hsd/article/TABLE%20%202.4%20Distribution%20of%20Overseas%20Contract%20Workers%20by%20Major%20Occupation%20Group%2C%20Sex%20and%20Area%20%202015.pdf

This statical table from the 2015 OFW survey tells us that the majority of OFW's are female unskilled labourers. Are these unskilled ladies going to rush home to take part in the promised construction  boom which needs "carpenters, welders, plumbers, and electricians?"

How about all the professionals, service workers, farmers, technicians, nurses, and white-collar government workers? Will they be rushing back to the Philippines to take part in the construction boom?

Will anyone be rushing home to the Philippines so they can work long days earning a currency that is worth less than what they are currently earning elsewhere?

Will anyone be rushing back from the comforts of the first world to deal with the corrupt third world that is the Philippines?

And for those that do return to take part in the construction boom, what happens after the construction is over?  The jobs will be no more and they will be forced to go back to being an OFW or to being idle and broke.

OFW's send BILLIONS of pesos to the Philippines each year.  Is that something Duterte really wants to stop?  Does any family member want to see an end to the regular flow of cash and "pasalubongs?" Plenty of sons and daughters are working hard to support their sick parents or to help their family in some way. And many of those people have their own families to support in their new country. "Utang na loob" is a way of life in the Philippines.

The statistical table shows that there are 2,377,000 OFWs so where does ABS-CBN pull the 10 - 12 million figure? And even if there were 12 million OFWs to fill 12 million jobs what about all the unemployed workers here already?  Having OFWs come home to fill jobs Filipinos already in the country can fill is like robbing Peter to pay Paul.

What about Dutere's plan to build hospitals for OFWs in the Middle East?  How can he be said to desire the repatriation of all OFWs when he wants to build OFWs in the Middle East a hospital to cater to their needs?

http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2017/04/17/Duterte-hospital-OFWs-Middle-East.html

Dutertenomics' plan to save the economy is ambitious. With the right planning and with an honest bureaucracy that will not plunder the funds it could work. Anything is possible.

But the Duterte administration needs to be realistic. Whatever the amount of jobs a construction boom will create they will all be temporary and they will all need highly skilled workers.

And most importantly these jobs will not bring all the OFWs home.