By Gonzalo Duque

 

WE just celebrated our 126th Independence Day last June 12. Every year since we were under Martial Law, our government leaders were always barking the same line that before we became independent “we need to work for it and if necessary, die for it.”

Such a beautiful phrase, indeed! Always repeated and celebrated every year.

But are we really independent?

I am afraid that the answer is “no”.

Since the Spanish, Americans and Japanese times we were always vassals of foreign powers.

And even after the declaration of our independence on June 12, 1898, our treaty-making power was always dictated by the United States, disguised as independent foreign policy.

But as it stands today, we are caught between two major and conflicting interests, namely the U.S. and China.

If war breaks out, our country will become a victim because of the West Philippine Sea.

Already, China established its presence through the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), through the acquisition of some lands and through its control of some of our industries.

Same with the U.S. They have since established more military bases near the Taiwan Strait, like those located in Cagayan and the Batanes area.

The ideal situation for us is not to participate in any conflict between the two superpowers—China and the U.S. vis-a-vis Taiwan.

I could just imagine what will happen to us if two nuclear bombs will scorch Northern Luzon.

Sabagay, yong mga seven oppositipn councilors at si Mayor Belen Fernandez ay hindi na mag-away-away. Kasi matutunaw na tayong lahat!

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 China, learning her lessons from the past, prohibits gambling and opium. 

 Recall that in the past, the Chinese were victims of the opium trade with England. An opium war broke out between the two nations that cost many lives

 They (Chinese) are now exporting gambling through the POGOs and shabu here in our country to destroy our moral fiber, so that if our population are affected with these malaise, we could have already been destroyed as a nation.

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By the way, all these non-sense about the presence of POGOs in our country is all sound and fury signifying nothing!

Remember that the existence of the POGOs has a legislative authority and they can only be abolished if the law is repealed.

It is within the regulatory function of the executive to strengthen the law.

We all know that for every law that is passed, there will always be violators who will take advantage of the same.  The e-sabong was a typical example.

When our authorities found out that the social cost outweighed the benefit, the executive branch disallowed e-sabong.

Another example is our overseas employment program.

We all know that sending out women to places like Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other middle eastern countries that do not respect our women, has been going on for a long time and we could not even do anything about it.

Abuses are still rampant in the recruitment of domestic helpers in the Middle East  but we have to kowtow to the pressure applied by middle eastern countries. Why? Does that make overseas employment that bad?

In the same manner, POGO exists because of the law enacted by Congress.

So, let’s see  if our congressmen and senators will repeal the law on POGOs.

I doubt that very much.

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