Millions of Filipinos are not entertained by the Marcos Jr.-Sara Duterte political circus, including their deceptive surveys (it is not funny when you consider that Pulse Asia was organized precisely to share the research market with Social Weather Stations), their keyboard warriors engaged in mutually-destructive disinformation campaigns (many of them from the Duterte camp also moonlighting to be China’s fifth column in the Philippines) and their footmen in the broadsheets and the tabloids promoting the candidacies of such clowns as Bong Go and Bato de la Rosa.
These millions must perforce stop patronizing the song-and-dance kitsch of candidates and coddle their ignorant prattle that masquerades as legislative work. To be honest with them, senators like Bong Revilla, Francis Tolentino, Lito Lapid, Ping Lacson, Tito Sotto and others should be subjected to strict cost-benefit analysis to determine if the taxpayers got their money’s worth from their sorry skits during Senate sessions. Both the Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipino (ABP) and Duterte slate are talking nonsense, with Tolentino, armed with a glut of masteral law degrees, finally getting his pound of flesh from those who read about his “expose” on the Chinese Embassy’s stupidly cutting a deal with a Makati PR outfit to organize a troll farm for an indecent P930,000.
Tolentino is the least likely fellow to convince the entire planet about the facticity of his claims but he could have invoked some law somewhere in the Senate’s cabinets that requires Filipinos working for foreign governments or entities to register as foreign agents. By the same token, the Tulfo family members should have registered as foreign agents as they represent Chinese corporations and other alien entities based on their public statements. Instead of promoting the national interest, they are pushing the interest of a country that has been grabbing maritime features within the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Surely, the country’s continuing contest with China over the Panatag Shoal and the Spratlys is a serious matter and it is strange for the Philippine government not to know the deal between the Chinese Embassy and InfinitUS Marketing Solutions represented by Myka Poynton in August 2023. The payment was covered by a Bank of China check presumably encashed at the Salcedo branch of the bank. The Chinese are supposed to be meticulous in handling their affairs so why would the mission deal directly with InfinitUS, an advertising and PR outfit, when it has hundreds of other operators under its command? The Chinese are not clumsy operators and they invented the word “perseverance.” They have PR agents with Philippine passports operating daily using layers of covers, first as bakers, then as coffee shop habitues, columnists and “hosts” of sparsely-attended press briefings. Tinapay lang ang katapat to promote the China line. They operate cabbage-style stick-and-carrot schemes, at first introducing themselves as agents working for Filipino-Chinese amity and cooperation, then later on promoting the line pushed by the Chinese foreign ministry.
As May 12 draws near, both the Marcos Jr. and Duterte candidates have not said a word about pressuring China to lay off Panatag Shoal and other maritime features within the Philippine EEZ. Some top bananas in offices charged with protecting national security are even said to be “namamangka sa dalawang ilog,” spreading lies about progressive organizations while also promoting rumors against Marcos officials, an indication that they are still loyal to the Dutertes. If you have friends like them, who needs enemies? While openly attacking China, they are also in cahoots with politicians funded by Beijing.
On May 12, voters should take cognizance of the demand by All Workers Unity (AWU) for the government to implement a P1,200 family living wage for workers nationwide, from the agricultural, public, BPO, health, education, informal and migrant sectors. On May 1, AWU will mobilize thousands to call for P1,200 daily minimum wage for private sector workers, P33,000 monthly minimum salary for Salary Grade 1 (SG1) employees in the public sector, P36,000 entry-level salary for BPO workers and P50,000 entry-level pay for teachers, nurses, and allied health professionals. “We who create wealth for our economy, provide services to our fellow Filipinos, keep government agencies running, treat our sick countrymen, and educate the next generation of our country must be fairly compensated for our labor. In reality, P1,200 is just enough for us to provide our families with the bare necessities,” AWU argued.
Voters should understand that both the ABP and the Duterte partisans are not even interested in issues like the continuing reduction of palay prices, the low wages of Filipino workers, the near-monopoly of local water districts by the Villar political dynasty, the misuse of the tobacco excise that caused a congressional investigation of Imee Marcos and officials of her provincial government, aside from the continuing injustice to the family of Archimedes Trajano, the college student who said in a forum that Imee Marcos was elected head of the Kabataang Barangay (KB) only because she was the daughter of the dictator. Trajano was abducted, tortured and his badly-battered remains thrown into a morgue. The Trajano family could not collect from the fancied Marcos wealth based on the US court ruling since US sovereignty does not extend to the Philippines.
Farmers, too, are grumbling, and the recent promise to sell palay at P20 per kilo means huge losses for the government. Farm gate prices of palay are down, said Cathy Estavillo, secretary general of AMIHAN (National Federation of Peasant Women) and 2nd Nominee of Gabriela Partylist. Farmers now sell at a huge loss, she added. The latest figures on palay prices per kilo are as follows: P10 – Aurora; P12 – Bulacan; P12–P13 – Palo, Leyte; P12–14 – San Mateo, Isabela; P14 – Cagayan Valley; P14 -Laguna; P14–15 – Nueva Ecija; P14–P15 – Nueva Vizcaya; P14–P15 – Camarines Norte; P14 – Camarines Sur; P16 – Ilocos Norte; P16 – Iloilo; P18 – Western Samar; P19 – Abuyog, Leyte; P19 – Mindoro Occidental, and; P20 – Northern Samar. Filipino workers and farmers must be adequately compensated but a system dominated by political dynasties, traditional politicians and landlords and compradors will never share the bounty with those who feed them and those who create their wealth. It is high time to overhaul this iniquitous system through the ballot and people’s collective actions. (DIEGO MORRA)
