Larry Henares gives the history of “independence” in 1946 from Uncle Sam. We basically got raped as a nation. We were blackmailed into submission. None of our leaders then stood up to Uncle Sam, most notably Manuel Roxas, the founder of the Liberal Party, the grandfather of Mar, the ally of Benigno Aquino Sr. and the man who became President by the anointment of Douglas MacArthur, the American Caesar.
In large part, most of the problems we face today are the offshoot of our past; our history which most educated Filipinos never bother to learn from. Why?
It is because the system eventually eats up the individual who has a vision of what needs to be done but ends up with the system eating the individual whole because of the power and money. It does not distinguish from the intelligent or the idiot because both can make it to the top depending on how one plays the game.
Independence in 1946 was largely a sham. It was still Uncle Sam who had his hands up whoever was elected President and that was not possible without America’s anointment.
Our intellectual elite conveniently blames everything on Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and martial law but bear in mind that America plays both sides and it is only America who wins in the end. Where do you think Ninoy Aquino found the courage with his expose’s against Marcos and his part in organizing the communists under Jose Maria Sison? Sison is definitely not similar to Luis Taruc or any of the original Huks who fought against the Japanese.
Think of how Rodrigo Duterte played the game with the NPA in Davao City with his goal of removing them from the base they established in Agdao.
The US is sending a delegation to Marcos’ inaugural. That speaks volumes about how the official in-charge in the US Embassy reported about their perception of Marcos. Definitely, he is nowhere similar to Duterte and the US knows it.
Unlike Duterte whose inaugural was a simple affair at Malacanan, Marcos’ is going to be a grand celebration with pomp and pageantry because that is how they have been accustomed to the trappings of power.
Filipinos may find it hard to believe that Marcos is tone-deaf. The country is in the midst of a serious economic crisis brought about by the pandemic and mitigated by the US’ actions against Russia by way of Ukraine.
But the Marcos’ love to put on a show. Those who were not born yet during the time of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. would not have an idea of what they are capable of.
Inevitably, the comparison will be made between Duterte and Marcos. Duterte will end his term as the most popular and most loved President in the post-Marcos era. This speaks volumes about his EQ when it comes to the pulse of the Filipino.
There is also much to be said about his political acumen or his IQ. He has played off China and the US against each other superbly even if he definitely leans more towards China. And why not? The Philippines is in the heart of Asia, straddlling the divide between Asia and North America.
The Duterte’s are the epitome of the typical Filipino middle-class provincial family. The Marcos’ are of the belief that they are Filipino royalty. Therein lies the difference.
Fools in 1946; idiots, traitors in 1991 DEJA VU is a French expression that is best exemplified in the words of an old song, “It seems we stood and talked like this before./ We looked at each other the same way then,/ But I can’t remember where or when…/ Some things that happen for the first time, seems to be happening again./ And so it seems that we have met before…/ But who knows where or when?” It is uncanny, this feeling of deja vu, welling up from within our subconscious and our racial memory, that we have negotiated the Bases Question before with the Americans under the same circumstances and with the same catastrophic results. In 1946, they promised us so much Aid and Trade on a best efforts and free market basis, in exchange for long term occupation of our Baselands, and promised us foreign investment in exchange for parity rights and national treatment for American citizens. We were inveigled to extend to them a period of Free Trade, just like our Import Liberalization policy today. We were given $3 billion in Aid, worth $30 billion in today’s currency, but not really. This consisted of: War Damage Payments equal to five percent of what we actually lost in fighting their war. War Surplus goods priced new at three times their peacetime value, and already used in four years of war, worth only two cents on the dollar. Back Pay and Veteran’s Benefits at one peso for every dollar paid to Poles, Chinese and Japanese Nisei serving in the same army. Today this means that our poor veterans get only one-thirtieth of what US veterans get. That was in 1946 on the eve of our independence. We fell for the bases and foreign investment ploy of the United States with Aid and payments considerably more than we are receiving now, and under the same conditionalities: free trade, import and currency liberalization. What did we get out of it? We got $3 billion in 1946 and with it American control of our economy. In 1949, only three years later, we were so bankrupt, so bereft of dollars even to buy the barest of our necessities, that we had no choice but to impose Import and Exchange Controls!! When, oh when we ever learn to beware of Honkies bearing gifts, and controlling us as part of their White Man’s Burden! In 1946, let it be said of our Congress that they were not all beguiled by American “altruism.” Three senators including the father of Pepe Diokno had to be expelled from the chamber to insure that the Parity Amendment may squeak through by ONE VOTE.
And likewise seven congressmen, including Ka Luis Taruc, had to be expelled from the House in order to insure that the Americans will have their way. This triggered off a peasant revolt that lasted for almost fifty years that shows no signs of abating, and will blight our nation for as long as these whiteys are around. God damn it all, at least in 1946 we can claim we were naive and have been conned into this betrayal of our sovereignty and national interest. In 1946 we were fools and knew no better. God damn it, in 1991 we have no such excuse. Our leaders who want to give in on the bases and on the foreign investment law that gives foreigners parity rights and national treatment outside a “negative list” of investment areas, have no excuse after the national experience of 1946. God damn it, in 1991 they are either idiots or traitors, and they cannot even claim to be fools. Hired hacks and paid pipers of the CIA, tired of the nationalists’ arguments, have been trumpeting that what Uncle Sam wants, Uncle Sam gets, even over our objections. And that anyway majority of the Filipino people want the Americans to stay. That may be true, but it is just as true that majority of drug addicts are in favor of drug abuse. Colonials and drug addicts are sick. Colonials are worse because they abuse not only themselves and all the rest of us, but also future generations. Poverty of mind, bankruptcy of will, putrescence of heart! Breathes there a man with soul so dead that he does not love his country? In colonial America, they were the Tories. In Mexico, they are called Malinches in memory of the Indian mistress of Hernando Cortes the Conquistador. In ancient Rome he was Cassius, in revolutionary America he was Benedict Arnold, in the Philippines they were Macabebe Scouts who were mercenaries of Spain and the United States, and in biblical times he was Judas Iscariot who betrayed Christ with a kiss. Deja vu. With the end of the Cold War and the American victory in the Gulf, we see the re-emergence of the United States as the unchallenged Policeman of the World, as it was during the postwar years. Then as now, the World Order is one where the USA leads and everyone follows; where the USA is also accuser, judge, jury and executioner, and the only villains are those so designated by the Americans. It is, as Time Magazine says, “the multilateralism of NATO, the IMF and the World Bank, where the United States paid the bills and called the shots. It’s the model of the Korean War, which took place under UN auspices and included 16 nations but was always an American production.” In 1946 the Americans had our duly elected officials ejected, caused the Huk rebellion and blighted our nation with the scourge of McCarthyism, just to secure their bases and parity rights. In 1991, it is possible that in the face of the refusal of patriotic senators to ratify the proposed treaty according to the Constitution, Americans are setting the stage for either a Constituent Assembly to amend the constitution, for a premature referendum to force the Senate’s hand, or failing all that, for a coup d’etat or an Edsa II to install a government that will give them the bases they want. What Uncle Sam wants, Uncle Sam gets. When such rape is inevitable, we should not, as our chief negotiator suggests, relax and enjoy it.
We should at least utter a cry of pain.
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