By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo

 

WATCHING Pulang Araw (Red Sun) makes me juxtapose the Japanese occupation of the Philippines (1942-1945) and the insidious, creeping occupation that is happening, being peeled layer after layer, during the hearings on Philippine Offshore Going Operators (POGOs), through the relentless efforts of the Senate and House of Representatives through the QUAD COMM. In this Philippine television drama series of 100 episodes, it becomes evident that the Japanese pre-occupied the Philippines in 1941 or earlier, through its various economic activities and social relations with the locals and stockpiling of arms.

This same strategy has been going on, with the influx of Chinese-owned small chain stores, purchase of real property and condominiums along seashores and strategic areas, through dummies (individual and corporate), intermarriages, control of telecommunications, granting of huge loans and financial agreements that put the country in eternal debt and disadvantageous position, where in some, details of the contracts are sacrosanct and kept from public scrutiny, only known  between the contractors and the President.

Complicating this situation is the fact that the Philippines is now host to illegal Chinese nationals (by design?) now holding Filipino citizenship involved in human trafficking, kidnapping, hacking and surveillance of government websites and scamming in the guise of POGOs. This is a very dangerous occupation as it endangers the institutions involved in governing our country, and erodes the very foundation of our citizenship.

The Philippines welcomed the proliferation of POGOs under President Duterte, as they fled China, when the Chinese government cracked down on Chinese citizens engaged in overseas gambling businesses. It was the Senate, with its own intelligence networks, mainly through Senators Sherwin Gatchalian and Risa Hontiveros, that unmasked the POGOs leading to the action of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. to eventually issue a ban on all POGOs during his 2024 State of the Nation Address (SONA).

Intensifying the probe on POGOs, The House of Representatives formed the QUAD COMM which“has been authorized to conduct a comprehensive joint investigation into possible connection between illegal Philippine offshore gambling operators (POGOs), illegal drugs, extrajudicial killings (EJKs) and human rights violations in the course of former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s bloody drug war.” It is composed of four Committees: Dangerous Drugs (Chair, Rep. Robert Ace Barbers), Public Accounts (Chair, Rep. Joseph Stephen “Caraps” Paduano), Public Order and Safety (Chair, Rep. Dan Fernandez, and Human Rights (Chair, Rep. Bienvenido Abante, Jr.) The QUAD COMM is presided over by Robert Ace Barbers.

Occupations, militarily or through pro-democracy movements (as in the Arab Spring), by powerful nations happen in territories where there are strategic geo-political interests. It is happening through proxy countries as in the current occupation of Palestine, or providing direct military support in Ukraine. Other strategies are less noticeable, happening very slowly, like the story of the frog that refused to leap from the slow heating of the frying pan, until it eventually got toasted. Are we now toast?

Atektek (Toast)

“Atektek la may inlutom!”
inyengal nen bai to
“Ah, ta tetekteken kon talaga!”
inyebat to, “awiten ko’d dragon
ta gabay ton akmunen,
tambal na panta-tae to!”

 Translation: “your cooking got burned!”/ her grandmother shouted/ “Ah, I really want it toasted!”, he answered, “I’m bringing it to the dragon/ so he can swallow/ and relieve his loose bowel movement!”

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