"I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE ..."

The Comelec should not accept the candidacies of candidates who are U.S. Green Card holders, a.k.a. resident aliens. There are many of them. I will be furnished a list of these candidates soon and I am sure most if not all of our presidentiables are in that list. Check your candidates of choice, especially the more popular ones. I bet they're doing a disservice to the country by concealing their green cards. I suspect that quite a number must be US citizens too, and have not really bothered to give up their foreign citizenship. So young, and so traitorous. They should not be allowed by the Comelec to file their candidacies. The list should also include candidates who have acquired Canadian immigrant status or citizenship - and other countries for that matter.

Take the classic case of former Sorsogon Governor Juan Frivaldo and Baguio City Mayor Jun Labo who were both disqualified from public office even after they had been elected. Frivaldo fought the citizenship issue for many years when he was accused of being a US citizen, while Labo was accused of being an Australian citizen. There were at least three other provincial and municipal executives who were charged with non-eligibility to possess Philippine elective positions due to their holding foreign passports. One problem here is that some other countries like Spain, Australia, the UK and of course the US allow dual citizenship, a fact which several Filipinos, notably those in the upper echelons of society, have taken advantage of for prestige and convenience.

And one of the reasons why many of our prominent state officials and business leaders go regularly to the US is to renew their green cards while visiting family members abroad. Methinks even most appointive officials including the cabinet, the judiciary and the executive department are all green card holders, while some are 'dual citizens.'

We can determine which of these officials have family members, notably spouses and children, who are green card holders and who have latched on to their foreign papers as some sort of "insurance" in case of trouble in the Philippines. This way, these family members could easily fly to the US and to other countries in case of civil strife here or even economic crises such as a financial crunch or meltdown.

As one cabinet member recently said when asked what he would do in case of trouble here, "no sweat, my family can easily fly to the US," and that he would eventually follow if things grow worse here.

The time is ripe for these people to be exposed for who they truly are, and their much-proclaimed patriotism and so-called love for this country be put to the test.

(Image from http://www.bibingka.com/)

FILIPINO FIRST

The Filipino must be supreme in his own country. He must define his national destiny. A people's participation and predominance is vital in defining the national agenda. It should emphasize the primacy of the Filipino in the pursuit of all national goals.

We are a nation divided. The divisions are beginning to develop into fragments, and before long, nothing willl be left but ruins. In the past as in the present, the wealth of the country has been parcelled out among the country's elites. Elites who are greedy and who are without a conscience. Elites without a vision and without competence to manage the affairs of the country for our people. Elites who mouth democracy but practice despotism. In defining our national destiny, the Filipino must be master in his own land. There must be just and democratic allocation of the national wealth among our people. There must be just sharing in the exercise of political and economic power among ethnic groups and various regions of the country.

The Filipino must always be first in his own country. If he comes next to that as in second only, he really never wins the silver. He simpy loses the gold.

Image above is Dr. Jose Rizal, the First Filipino.

(Image from http://www.ac.wwu.edu/)

MAHARLIKA

Would you support the idea of renaming the Philippines to Maharlika, in the hope of bringing international recognition and to assert national pride and self-respect?

For more than 400 years, we have carried a name imposed on us by foreign colonialists while our Asian neighbors have reclaimed their noble past and changed their names as follows: Formosa to Taiwan, Dutch East Indies to Indonesia, Siam to Thailand, French Indo-China to Vietnam, Burma to Myanmar, Cambodia to Kampuchea, East Pakistan to Bangladesh, and Ceylon to Sri Lanka.

Observe the following reasons why the country should refuse to be named after King Philip II of Spain:

- He was only 1/4 Spaniard and the son of first cousins forbidden and condemned by the (Catholic) Church.

- His grandmother died of insanity.

- He had several wives and mistresses.

- He was the instigator and the administrator of the dreaded Inquisition which murdered countless victims of oppression and colonial cruelty all over the New World including our country.

- Among his first acts when crowned king was to order the burning of Andalucia at the stake of thousands of Moors who inhabited the place which was a province of Spain.

- He died a disgraceful death caused by venereal disease, and by the time he died, his body was covered with foul-smelling ulcers festered by thousands of insects.

Why Maharlika?

Some say the name Philippines carries a shameful stigma and what is referred to as "karmic affliction," Maharlika is of "mantric significance" and spiritual meaning. It breaks down into Maja or great as in Taj Majal, Mahatma Gandhi, Mahayana, Mahabharata, and other noble names, and Likha which means to be born or created. It, therefore, means "nobly created" or "born great."

During the Majapahit and Sri Vijaya empires' golden age which covered all of East and South Asia with the Sulu Archipelago as center, Maharlika was revered by the rajahs and sultans as the name of "noble and free warriors" who won not only fierce battles and wars, but in particular the affection and admiration of all peoples. It also breaks down into Maha which in Sanskrit means good. La meaning a cup or a container, Lik meaning small and a which is a feminine gender suffix. Together they mean a "small place of great people," or a "small container filled with great things."

I'm fence-sitting on this in the meantime.

(Image from http://en.wikipinas.org/)