ellen tordesillas Posts

Today, while more than 30,000 Filipinos who tried to escape the grinding poverty in the Philippines are scampering for their lives in war-torn Lebanon, 16,000 Filipino troops are making sure that Gloria Arroyo will be able to deliver her State of the Nation address telling us that life has been great in her Enchanted Kingdom.

To stress her point, she will present boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, Miss International Lara Quigaman, the gold medalists of Southeast Asian games and the Filipinos who made it to Mt. Everest.

While those Filipinos trapped in Lebanon have to endure the endless firepower of Israel pounding Hizbollah targets, Filipinos here will have to endure a different kind visual assault.

More than 30,000 Filipinos in Lebanon are caught in a war, most of them have no idea what it’s all about.

The Israeli attack on Lebanon, which is on its 10th day, was precipitated by the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hizbollah fighters in a cross-border raid last July 12 which was immediately answered by Israel with a bombing of Beirut airport. From then on, the destruction of Lebanon has not stopped.

Two weeks earlier, Hizbollah kidnapped an Israeli in the Gaza strip. That makes three soldiers in the hands of Hizbollah, whose recovery is the primary objective of this latest war in Lebanon which has caused mass evacuations of innocent civilians of all nationalities, the likes of which the world community has not witnessed in recent years.

What is Hizbollah and why is Israel out to crush them?

But even here in the Philippines, Filipinos are not safe. Look at what happened to Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan, UP students who remain missing after they were abducted, together with a farmer, Manuel Merino, in Bulacan by unidentified men believed to be soldiers last June 26.

Karen will turn 23 on July 22 and Sherlyn is pregnant.

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It’s ironic that the Filipinos in Lebanon, who now are scampering for safety amidst the Israeli bombing of Hezbollah places in the war-torn country, went there because they were escaping poverty in the Philippines.

The Department of Foreign Affairs places the number of Filipinos in Lebanon at 34,000. Majority, some 25,000, are domestic helpers while the rest are employees in hotels, UN organizations or married to Lebanese nationals.

Other countries, mainly the Americans,Australians, and Europeans are evacuating their nationals. Yet Philippine officials are still talking of moving Filipinos to “pre-designated safe areas.” It’s pathetic.

What happened to one of Mike Arroyo’s best friends, former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc Joc” Bolante, should worry other members of Gloria Arroyo’s crime syndicate.

It’s just a preview of things to come. When truth and justice finally catch up with them, Gloria and Mike Arroyo, even with all their stolen power and resources, would not be able to protect them.

Bolante has been in detention at the San Pedro Processing Center in California since July 7, when he arrived in Los Angeles from Seoul, Korea not knowing that his business and tourist visa had been cancelled.

While former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-Joc” Bolante, who has been held at the San Pedro Processing Center in Los Angeles since Friday, refused the assistance of the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles, our sources said his son, Anthony, has requested Mike Arroyo’s help.

Anthony, our source said, left Manila immediately after news of his father’s detention. It was a lucky coincidence that Mike Arroyo arrived in San Francisco July 10 from Europe.

Lack of information on Bolante’s detention has given rise to speculations. Foreign Affairs spokesman Bert Asuque said they respect the request of Bolante’s family to refer all queries to Atty. Antonio Zulueta.”