This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 33, September 25-October 1, 2005
Analysis The
United States’ role in the Political Crisis BY THE CENTER FOR PEOPLE’S
EMPOWERMENT IN GOVERNANCE Two major, recent developments reveal, more
than anything else, who and what are the real powers in this country. No, they
are not Arroyo, her family, cronies and friends; and no, they are not
bureaucrats like Norberto Gonzales. The first event is the confirmation that the
United States is closely monitoring political events in the Philippines. The
second is the Arroyo government’s entering into a contract with the U.S. lobby
group Venable for it to raise money for the Armed Forces of the Philippines
modernization and the constitutional amendments to which Arroyo and company are,
mostly for political convenience, committed. Every country with the means to do so spies
on others, including its own allies. But U.S. spying on the Philippines is
qualitatively different. It is first of all being done by this country’s former
and continuing colonizer, whose influence remains deeply rooted in vast sections
of the population especially among this country’s current political leadership. But the United States looms large in the
Philippine political equation not only because its interests-- and therefore its
premises, values, ideas and sentiments-- are regarded among much of the
Philippine population as its own. It is also because U.S. power has always been
a critical factor in determining the outcome of major political events, among
them the elections in which the U.S. has meddled for decades, as well as EDSAs 1
and 2. Implicit in U.S. analyses of the current
crisis in the Philippines, for example, is the assumption of U.S. involvement in
determining its outcome. When the U.S. describes Noli de Castro as unfit for
the Presidency, for example, it is also saying that it will not support de
Castro’s ascension to the Presidency. This is a preference already evident in
the explicit support that former U.S. Embassy Charges d’Affaires Joseph
Mussomeli gave to Mrs. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in July, and in the Embassy’s
continuous harping on “the constitutional process” (i.e., Arroyo’s impeachment)
as the solution to the crisis. Unlike those of other countries, U.S.
analyses are the bases not solely for interpreting the meaning of political
events in the Philippines. They are also the bases for managing them. The Arroyo government contract with the U.S.
law firm Venable, on the other hand (a contract Mrs. Arroyo said she has
rescinded but which in the same breath she said the government would “go back
to” later), demonstrates that it takes two to run and keep a neocolony. These
two are (1) the imperial power, and (2) its willing lackeys in the neocolonial
state. In the minds of these lackeys U.S. interests
are the same as the country’s. This explains why they’re more than willing to
accept money from the U.S. government on a critical matter like amending the
country’s basic law despite the distinct possibility that whatever support the
U.S. gives will be premised on the Constitution’s being amended to, among
others, allow foreign ownership of land, public utilities, and the mass media.
Beyond this puerile assumption, however, is
also these lackeys’s looking after nothing more than self-interest. For them the
country’s future and its people’s interests are less than secondary; they are
concerned with neither people nor country, but with themselves, whose prosperity
depends on, among other factors, how well they serve US power through the
neocolonial state. If these two events reveal how sadly
accurate is the description of the Philippines as a neocolony rather than a
sovereign state, they also reveal how this country’s so-called leadership works
hand in glove with the United States in keeping the country that less than
independent and sovereign, as well as poor, undeveloped and weak, and as no more
than an appendage of another state. Posted by Bulatlat Contact Person:
Luis V. Teodoro © 2005 Bulatlat
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Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
A Neocolony, Not a Sovereign State
Posted by Bulatlat
Executive Director
Telefax No. 929-9526