Open Letter of Filipino Patriots to Obama.

P.S. Don't boost her 'wrong side of history'

by Jesusa Bernardo
(First published at Newsvine on Thu Jul 30, 2009 6:48 AM GMT+12)

In anticipation of the scheduled

July 30, 2009 visit of Philippine
"President" Gloria Arroyo to the
White House, a group of Filipino
patriots wrote an open letter to
United States President Barack
Obama urging him to look into
the genuine state of the Philippine
nation. The communication
reminds the US leader of his
inaugural address that warned
world leaders "who cling to
power through corruption and
deceit and the silencing of
dissent… [as being] on the wrong
side of history."
The signatories, which include
two former Senate Presidents,
former senators and cabinet
secretaries, activist religious
leaders, and the NBN-ZTE
bribery scandal whistle-blower,
urge the American leader to be
well "mindful of Ms Arroyo's
legacy of corruption, extra-
judicial killings, enforced
disappearances, torture, bribery,
election cheating, among others."
The meat of the letter implores
Obama "to inspire hope and be an
instrument of change for the
common good of the long
suffering Filipino people."

P.S.
US President Obama, this humble brown column asks you not to boost RP "President"
Arroyo's "wrong side of history" position by letting your office be used to sanitize and
legitimize her vile and mandate-less regime. Let me remind you of your Inaugural Address
here at:

• Obama's inaugural speech

...To those who cling to
power through corruption
and deceit and the silencing
of dissent, know that you
are on the wrong side of
history; but that we will
extend a hand if you are
willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor

nations, we pledge to work
alongside you to make your
farms flourish and let clean
waters flow; to nourish
starved bodies and feed
hungry minds. And to those
nations like ours that enjoy
relative plenty, we say we
can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our
borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without
regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must
change with it....

May I also kindly ask you to read an interesting account of the history of your relations
with Arroyo here:
 • Obama's 'strategic interests' call to SE Asia's notoriously corrupt leader

Arroyo had gone on an aggressive seeking of the

opportunity to meet up and try forging close relations with
(translation 2: stalking) Obama as early as June 2008 when
he was yet the presumed Democratic presidential
nominee--apparently to ensure the political support of
Bush's successor to her precarious presidency.

Her first attempt came via an expensive, 10-day, non-state visit to the US in
the midst of the American presidential electoral process, but which failed to
obtain even a glimpse of his charismatic presence....

But beware, half of the letter's signatories were responsible for installing the bogus
"President" Arroyo. Allow me:
• The conspiracy of Edsa 2: how Gloria Arroyo managed not to let President Joseph
Estrada finish his term
The Edsa II "People Power" coup d d’état was hatched
through the coalesced leadership of elements of political
opportunists galvanizing under then Vice-President Arroyo,
rebel military influenced by ex-President Fidel Ramos,
Catholic bishops led by Jaime Cardinal Sin, and Philippine
leftists such as former communist rebel Satur Ocampo.
Undoubtedly, there were other groups behind the
unconstitutional "fiesta" mob rule of the 2001 Edsa. There
were the influential business elites, of course, and as well,
the Protestant Jesus is Lord Movement by Bro. Eddie
Villanueva. These groups could be said to be the plotters,
 each of which
falls into the
category of
either being
devious,
vengeful, or
well-meaning
but misguided.
Estrada was,
after all, far
from perfect. It
was easy for
those with poor
democratic
values to seek
the
Machiavellian way out of a President who acted like, and
preferred to identify himself with the masses, perhaps
much too much.

Then again, Arroyo fraudulently sought her own "mandate." Kindly read all about it here:
• The Wiretapped Case of the Bogus Presidency of Philippines' Gloria Arroyo ("Hello
Garci" in English)

On June 24, 2004, a stealth operation of grave national

impact was conducted by the Congress of the Philippines.
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the controversial sitting
President who took power after the popularly elected
 Joseph Estrada was deposed in the undemocratic EDSA II
conspiracy in January 2001, was proclaimed as the victor of
the 2004 May 11 elections in a manner that defied the
spirit of electoral victory and the essence of a
"proclamation." At around 3:30 am--yes, Virginia, at such a
still-dusky morning hour when most Filipinos are generally
still tucked in their beds--Senate President Franklin Drilon
and House Speaker Jose de Venecia raised the hands of
Arroyo and proclaimed her "President-elect."

What explains the surreptitious proclamation that ensured

the people who were supposed to have given the petite
Arroyo the mandate of electoral victory (over "1 M" lead
over opposition bet Fernando Poe Jr.) would not be able to
share in a supposedly glorious moment is the conspiratorial
story of cheating and cover-up sealed at the very halls of
the Philippine Congress.

Arroyo's 2009 SONA are full of lies, as usual, actually. Historically, the majority of the
Filipinos have taken her SONAs with considerable skepticism, as illustrated here:
• Arroyo's 2008 SONA as pack of lies, again
Only 14 out of every 100 Filipinos believe there will be any
truth in the scheduled July 28, 2008 SONA, compared to the
86% percent who either disbelieve or remain undecided...
An earlier Pulse Asia survey study held in October 2007 has
shown that Filipinos regard Gloria Arroyo as the Most
Corrupt President in Philippine History, even beating
former dictator Ferdinand Marcos for the ignominious title.
Ironically, Joseph Estrada, her predecessor whom she
deposed in the 2001 Edsa revolt, is ranked number two as
the Least Corrupt President, next to Corazon Aquino,
during the post-Martial Law era.
The economic figures she presented in what should be her last SONA are as apparently
doctored as the 2004 Congress' tally of her supposedly winning votes vs. Fernando Poe Jr.
Your American Excellency, kindly take note of the point-by-point exploration of her
fantasy "Arroyonomics:"
• Arroyo's 2009 SONA Fiction- Estrada
Former President Joseph Estrada, reacting point by point to
the achievements claimed by President Arroyo in her State
of the Nation Address (Sona), yesterday said the speech
was a work of fiction, pointing out that this is due to
"Arroyonomics" which he described as a "kind of economics
out of touch with reality and real facts."

He also charged the Arroyo administration with

implementing anti-poor policies in education, health,
housing, agrarian reform and other areas over the past
eight years.

Mr. Obama, know what the Filipino people are truly experiencing under their incumbent
"President" based on nationwide surveys and not government figures of dubious
authenticity. I implore you and your office to check these out:
• Philippine Unemployment at Record High

The First Quarter 2009 Social Weather Survey, fielded over

February 20-23, 2009, found adult unemployment rising to
record-high 34.2%, or an estimated 14 million, from 27.9%
or estimated 11 million from the previous quarter...
Unemployment has been over 20% since 2005.
• Philippine Hunger Rises to Near-Record Level: 1 out of 5 Families Affected

The Second Quarter 2009 Social Weather Survey, fielded

over June 19-22, 2009, found the proportion of families
experiencing involuntary hunger at least once in the past
three months rising to 20.3% or an estimated 3.7 million
families, from 15.5% or an estimated 2.9 million families in
the previous quarter.

The new Hunger figure is just 3 points lower than the

record-high 23.7% (or estimated 4.3 million families) in
December 2008, and is 8 points above the ten-year average
of 12.8% [Chart 1, Table 1]... Hunger has consistently been
in double-digits for five years, since June 2004.
 Great President Obama,
you've successfully
campaigned on a mantra
of "Change." Some

8,600miles away, the present-day people of the Southeast Asian country that your early
predecessor, the 25th US President William McKinley, decided to colonize--the poor
Philippines—now earnestly count on you to keep your word in their struggle against a most
conspiratorial, most power grabbing, most fraudulent, and most repudiated "leader" in the
islands' history. Can Filipinos count on you?

________________________________________
Postscript
After playing hard-to-get for several months, Obama ultimately invited, and met with, his
Filipino stalker of rather midget proportions. The scene reminds this column of two historical
entities circa turn-of-the-past-century: two groups of traitors during the Philippine American
War--a group of "Macabebes", traitors to the Filipino side; and deserter black American
soldiers, traitors to the American side. The "Macabebes" were some local mercenaries from
the Philippine province of Pampanga--where Arroyo partly hails--who were paid by the US
forces tracking down the revolutionary leader Emilio Aguinaldo; on the other, the 29 black
American deserters of the first US imperialistic war of conquest deplored their ironic role in
"an unjust racial war," leading them to abandon their American posts.
Arroyo can be likened to one of the Macabebes who betrayed Aguinaldo, while Obama, being
one dark-skinned biracial, looks like Col. David Fagen of the 24th Infantry's Company I who
even became a captain on the side of the Filipino revolutionaries. Of course, Obama is no
traitor to the American side. During the two presidents' meeting, the 44th US President
actually behaved more like a white-skinned, trimmed-down McKinley as he asked his
counterpart to serve as the "chief coordinator in Asean (Association of Southeast Asian
Nations)" for the US! The 14th RP "President" gleefully accepted that role of servitude but
surely not without a payment of sorts, just like the Macabebes of old.
________
References:
Dizon, Lino. Macabebes 1571-1901: More than a footnote in history.
http://www.geocities.com/kapampanganx/s4_1.html
Dumindin, Arnaldo. Philippine-American War, 1899-1902.
http://www.freewebs.com/philippineamericanwar/thewarin19001901.htm
Ellen Tordesillas. http://www.ellentordesillas.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/letter-to-pres-
obama-72909.pdf
Gloria propaganda gone wrong. 4 August 2009.
http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20090804com1.html
Pelorina, Renato. "Ang Mga Macabebe sa Digmaang Pilipino-Amerikano (1899-1902)."
Philippine Social Sciences Review, 58-59.1-2 (Jan 2006-Dec 2007). Abstract.
http://journals.upd.edu.ph/index.php/pssr/article/view/1270
San Juan, E. African American Soldiers in the Philippine Revolution.
http://philcsc.wordpress.com/2009/06/27/african-american-soldiers-in-the-philippine-revolution/
________
Photo Credits:
Social Weather Stations. http://www.sws.org.ph
Pulse Asia. http://pulseasia.com.ph/
http://cm1.theinsider.com/
AllPosters.com
http://www.ellentordesillas.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/letter-to-pres-obama-72909.pdf