Double talk

CREATING imagined mountains out of fake molehills is a standard practice of the local communists in getting attention from the country's uncritical media. They can do this because of the obvious confluence of interests between the two parties: for the former, to advance the cold war mindset of perpetually engaging democratic institutions, expose their shortcomings, and make their movement relevant to changing times; and for the latter, always looking for sensational issues in order to bolster the sales of their product.

Local communist fronts like Bayan (Bayan Muna partylist), KMU, Pamalakaya, Gabriela, League of Filipino Students (LFS) and National Union of Students (NUSP) are again at the forefront of looking for an issue --- especially an emotional one --- to rationalize their now almost hysterical anti-American stand. At the moment, their concern is focused on the proposed Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA), a document the communists have not even seen or read as it is still being firmed up between appropriate officials and agencies of the US and our government. While the proposed agreement remains fluid and has yet to undergo critical negotiations between the parties, the communists already concluded that its signing is a "subtle attempt to pave the way for a return of US military basing rights in the country" --- a development prohibited by the Constitution.

Clearly, such scenario is not only a case of putting the cart before the horse --- the usual style of creating ghosts and goblins to enthrall the gullible --- but also to project themselves as patriots and constitutionalists, in the same league as true and genuine nationalists.

This, however, is far from the truth. When Bayan Muna representatives Satur Ocampo and Liza Masa went to Zamboanga City early this week (as of this writing) in time for the closing ceremonies of Balikatan 02-1, they were there not as "honorable" members of Congress legitimately spending taxpayers money and their CDF, but to advance their group's communist agenda. With their local partisan supporters, they then raised the bogey of an "innocent" resident (earlier reported as a lumad), allegedly murdered by an American soldier in the course of the Balikatan exercises. It turned out that the alleged victim is a hardened criminal, with a string of arrest warrants issued by various courts, who is still alive and well, and now in the custody of authorities. In short, there was no murder committed and there was no GI who allegedly killed the poor criminal.

The whole drama, concocted by the two communist representatives in Congress, is a clear case of fiction and propaganda. They even had the gall to claim that such "death" is a violation of the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the Balikatan exercises, thus projecting themselves like true patriots, with hearts bleeding for the aggrieved and the downtrodden. How could they suddenly become staunch defenders of the ToR when from the very start, they were opposed to the exercises, the ToR and the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) --- the latter being the legal document that made the former possible? If this is not communist double talk, we do not know what they are crawling about.

While attempting to enflame the Zamboanga residents and hale them against US soldiers who, for the past six months helped our armed forces neutralize the hated Abu Sayyaf bandits, fixed roads, bridges and airstrips in record time, these congressional liars would like us to believe that they were pro-people when in fact they were flaunting ghoulish lies that only Hitler and Geobbels are capable of doing.

Let us then be off with double talks, especially from professional agitators who think they can fool our people with their evil deeds. Patriotism need not necessarily be expressed through anti-Americanism such as what Vice President Teofisto Guingona and his friends in the communist movement are prone to make us believe. We are not born today. *

Reprinted with permission from the Manila Times.

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You may email the author at ernie@philippinestoday.net.