To the compelling arguments for the welcoming back of American GIs back to the Philippine Islands, the usual suspects can only hark back to the “bad” old days of boom boom town Olongapo City for a counterargument. Never mind the simple truth that Filipinas flocking to GIs in droves merely highlights the dismal failure of the Filipino male to provide. Nonetheless, how can Filipinos not welcome the United States back into its military facility in Subic Bay port? Filipinos pretty much are Americans. Only politics and geography get in the way of that simple reality.
Geography is not something we can do much about, although our supposedly “strategically important” location in the region makes our islands prime real estate for house-hunting global superpowers. Politics, on the other hand, is under full control of the Filipino people if we are to take the position of emos who insist that democracy does, indeed, “empower” the citizenry. But then if we check out how Filipinos, in their infinite wisdom as the custodians of true “political power” in this sad nation, wielded their influence on politics, what we might find may surely disappoint.
If it weren’t for the emo sentiments of Philippine Commonwealth President Manuel L Quezon, something about Pinoys preferring to be “run like hell” by their compatriots than be subject to the warm embrace of Uncle Sam, the country would still be a tropical paradise of sunshine and leafy breezy islands and not the Pinoy-managed wasteland it is today. If it weren’t for the pa-macho stance of a bunch of Philippine Senators back in 1991, the “sovereign” posturing of Filipinos with regard to its claims on the Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal would come across as a bit more convincing. And if it weren’t for the Constitutionally-embedded limitations on hosting foreign military forces within Philippine territory implemented by our so-called “constitutionalists”, we’d have more diplomatic leverage and political latitude to apply in negotiating joint national security deals with our well-armed allies.
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Consistent to being the proud reigning top emo country of the world, Filipinos have consistently exhibited an aversion to rational thought. Instead, Filipinos have allowed their misguided pride, perverse nationalism, and over-estimated sense of importance to rule their country’s destiny.
The hallmark of the pathologically emotional is regret. Where there is no foresight, there is only hindsight.
Filipinos can only grasp at past historical glories — how they were once the handsome and prosperous posterboy of American democracy in the 1950s, how they “won” (but then lost) their “independence” in 1898, how folk hero Lapu Lapu killed in battle big bad conquistador Magellan. But as far as laying the groundwork for an equally-glorious future, Filipinos score a big fat zero.
Indeed, in all ironies the elephant in the room when it comes to an accounting of these glories that the Pinoy ego so desperately craves is the massive military presence of the United States in the Philippines that ended so unceremoniously in 1991. That presence is, by far, the single biggest (if not the only) aspect of Philippine history that gave us any semblance of significance in the overall global scheme of things. Since that ended in 1991, the Pearl of the Orient had seen its relevance to the world reduced to a mere footnote.
The Philippines? Oh yeah, the former home of the US Seventh Fleet.
By the way it’s Thanksgiving Day today daw. Considering the lengths to which marketers go to import this otherwise irrelevant (to the majority of Filipinos) American holiday, perhaps we should think and appreciate what we can truly be thankful for. One of the things to be thankful for is that the originators of this holiday still consider the Philippines a part of its overall military roadmap in the region despite the daft nationalist hubris our politicians had exhibited in the past.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Thank Uncle Sam for great military topics to model, like the F14 shown here, although the plane itself has been out of military service since 2006.
Another thing about Thanksgiving is that the local malls merely ride on it to hold “sales.” Commercialism at its finest.
We should have Thanksgiving so it would be breaking news like Christmas and 15th/30th-of-every-month even galore.
What does a president do on thanksgiving
– pardon a turkey
– pardon an ex-president
– conduct a turkey shoot
– stuff a ‘turkey’ (no puno intended)
The philippines is to democracy what mcdonalds is to michelin
i give thanks to being able to eat in singapore, and for clean toilets.
Speaking of Magellan, Filipinos are often fed the idea that Lapu-Lapu was the first Filipino hero. He’s not. For one thing, the Philippines didn’t exist during that time. Secondly, Magellan wasn’t a war-hungry Spanish conquistador: he was a Portuguese merchant/explorer looking for resources via a less-popular route.
Back on topic, Thanksgiving is an EXCLUSIVELY American holiday, and why a lot of Filipinos who want to import it to this country due to its being “fashionable” bothers me to no end. Just another example of how poorly Pinoys copy American culture.
Magellan was the first foreigner to get caught between the front lines in a political conflict typical for what was later to be called the Philippines. Humabon and Lapu-Lapu were enemies but also connected by kinship lines, and anyone who knows todays Philippine politics knows that alliances can shift very quickly. Legazpi was smarter, he used the ambition of Solimans nephew Sikatuna to conquer Manila – by that time the Spanish knew how to play Filipino politics.
I do not know what to make of this article.The USA military does not need to protect the Philippines as the Philippines has nothing to fear.The outlying islands have already been carved up and are awaiting the West’s drill bits to start drilling,everything was decided long ago,and guess what?Not a single ordinary Filipino will benefit from whatever comes out of what lies under the sea anyway,so who exactly should care?Not anyone I know.The USA TOLD,yes TOLD, the top Chinese leaders that they would make them all filthy rich if they would enslave their population so the West’s corporations could get rid of over-paid Americans/Europeans/Japanese workers and so,case closed! The rest is just posturing/pure horse-shit to keep the military industrialists in the USA raking in the tax-payers dollars so the tax-payers will get nothing,certainly not a job making anything but a burger,or MAYBE a turkey sandwhich.
I do not eat turkey,it is almost as gross a species to eat as a pig is.Nasty.
I live and work in the United States. So, I celebrate Thanksgiving day , today. I cook turkey, and some other foods. We have a lot to be thankful for: our health; our jobs; our family; our home; our food; good friends;etc…Everyday is a Thanksgiving Day for me.
The Philippines will always be dependent on the U.S. , for its defense. We cannot produce the military technology and weapons, to fight a modern war.If you observe the war between the :Israeli and Palestinian – Hamas. This is a modern war. Fought with Guided Missiles and Rockets.Ground war is still needed. With tanks, artillery, infantry, etc…Tactics and strategy are different now.
Horses and bayonets, like Obama said to Romney during one of their debates.
Hyden Toro,
Why do you assume the Philippines cannot produce military hardware that can compare with the weaponry from the United States and Europe? Is your definition so narrow in scope it only counts ballistic missile technology, stealth fighters and aircraft carriers as “modern” weapons? Is it because we are a smaller country?
Singapore is smaller and has fewer resources than the Philippines and yet it has a robust defense manufacturing industry. It is precisely because of a smaller population that Singaporeans developed military technology to overcome their limits. Singapore’s defense industries were established in the late 1960’s because the government believed that the country should not become too dependent on foreign countries to resupply the armed forces during wartime. The Singapore Armed Forces themselves were a creation of the Israeli Defense Forces who were responsible for the initial support after the British left in 1971. By 1975 three government-owned corporations were involved in assembling, rebuilding, overhauling, and designing small arms, artillery, armor, military aircraft, and naval vessels. Today Singapore produces armored vehicles, howitzers, assault rifles and is responsible for the design and development of stealth craft for export.
If a country like Singapore with virtually no resources can compete in the international arms market, there is really no reason the Philippines cannot do the same. At the very least we have the human resources to produce superior firearms technology.
The mistake our country made was to accept reliance on the United States for our defense requirements. However, we already have the foundations in place for a viable arms manufacturing industry. All it really takes is for someone within that industry to exercise a little entrepreneurial vision to elevate the business to a world-class level.
Perhaps the Philippines should care because there is reason to believe this country could become a proxy in a cold war between China and the US. If you need an example one is provided via Syria which is caught between Russia and the US.
another media hype for the masses to munch on. China and the USA are best friends,no matter what they say in public.
REMEMBER,you only see what they show you! Trillions of Western Corps. $$$ invested in manufacturing facilities etc. and anyone who thinks a COLD,or any other war, is gonna happen just believes the BS that the media churns out.The USA can obliterate any country in less than 15 minutes,but won’t.Any war that happens will be well planned,with acceptable losses on all sides(its good for appearances).
The sad part is:just as much money could be made advancing medical standards,research and improving peoples lives as is spent on killing people in “wars”.
thanks for americans as a friend, but not as a saviour. why not build a formidable defense forces for the motherland and create a strong mutual alliance with the US and NATO….and no I will not celebrate thanksgiving day by thanking the US for their military support, i would rather believe that they are here because of the commercial value of the WPS and taiwan, rather than us…
I lol at comments here. Little brown brothers who don’t have a fucking clue.