Thursday, September 29, 2016

The First Clinton-Trump Debate


The Clinton-Trump debate the other night reminds me of our debating
days in San Beda College (Mendiola) Manila, Philippines. Lessons on
Principles of Logic and Argumentation and Debate were very helpful
tools as I faced the challenges of professional life - be it as a lawyer,
business executive, or other fields of endeavor.

Argumentum Contra Factum Non Valet Illatio. (Arguing against facts is an invalid inference).

This does not require further explanation. The objective is to search
for the Truth. Once the facts are determined and asserted, no party
should be able to argue against it. Contradicting the facts would be a
falsehood defying the rules of Logic.

Americans are currently witnessing a widespread array of “untruths” or
“lies” mostly perpetrated by the Republican Presidential Nominee
Donald Trump. Getting away with it during the primaries, he is now
expecting to succeed in spreading the same lies in the general
election against Clinton.

The application of this principle is reinforced by the use of FACT-CHECKING.

Ab esse ad posse valet illatio. (From existence to possibility is a
valid inference).

Clinton applied this principle effectively at her first debate with Trump.

Many (Democrats and Republicans) have been exerting efforts for the
release of Trump’s Tax Returns. But the latter refused to allow its
release because he is supposedly being audited.

In the debate, Clinton asserted that Trump is hiding something. She
asserted the following:

          “First, maybe he's not as rich as he says he is.” (Is he
really worth 10 billion dollars?)

          “Second, maybe he’s not as charitable as he claims to
be.” (Did he really donate to the poor, hungry and disabled?)

         “Third, we don't know all of his business dealings, but
we have been told through investigative reporting that he owes about
$650 million to Wall Street and foreign banks. Or maybe he doesn't
want the American people, all of you watching tonight, to know that
he's paid nothing in federal taxes, because the only years that
anybody's ever seen were a couple of years when he had to turn them
over to state authorities when he was trying to get a casino license,
and they showed he didn't pay any federal income tax.”

For this Trump commented, “That makes me smart.”

Again, as Clinton stated,  “So if he's paid zero, that means zero for
troops, zero for vets, zero for schools or health. And I think
probably he's not all that enthusiastic about having the rest of our
country see what the real reasons are, because it must be something
really important, even terrible, that he's trying to hide.

And the financial disclosure statements, they don't give you the tax
rate. They don't give you all the details that tax returns would. And
it just seems to me that this is something that the American people
deserve to see. And I have no reason to believe that he's ever going
to release his tax returns, because there's something he's hiding.”

For tax returns that Trump filed and were discovered, they showed that
he did not pay any federal income tax implying that it was a smart
move. For tax returns that are still unreleased, it is very possible
that no or very little taxes were also paid.

“From Existence to Possibility is a valid inference.”



Thursday, September 15, 2016

MARCOS ‘ War Time Activities


 Marcos’s wartime activities during World War II can be divided into the following:

1.                  Alleged Heroic Exploits in Bataan (Period Covering January – April, 1942);
2.                  Non-Heroic Exploits around the Philippines (Period Covering May, 1942-December, 1944); and
3.                  Alleged Heroic Exploits in Kiangan, Mt. Province (Period covering January – April, 1945).

Notice that the first period covers only about four months; the last one covers also four months while the middle period where no heroic exploits or no medals awarded to Marcos covers about two and a half years which is most of the wartime period.

Analyzing the events, if you center on MacArthur’s presence, the wartime activities of Marcos can also be divided into the following:

1.                  Alleged Heroic Exploits while MacArthur was around;
2.                  Non-Heroic Exploits in the absence of MacArthur; and
3.                  Alleged Heroic Exploits after the return of MacArthur.

This article focuses on the first period.

The Alleged Heroic Exploits in Bataan while MacArthur was still around.

It was in Bataan where he allegedly earned his first medals. As his drumbeaters led by his hagiographer Hartzell Spence wrote, “Marcos single-handedly delayed the Fall of Bataan temporarily”. In another instance, it was proclaimed that “Marcos delayed the Fall of Bataan by three months”. Later on, the apologists declared that he “considerably” delayed it, and during his 1982 US State Visit, his Ministry of Information settled on the delay as “weeks”.

It was also alleged that MacArthur called him a one-man Army. He allegedly received among others not only a Distinguished Service Cross, a Silver Star and a Purple Heart but he was also recommended for a US Congressional Medal of Honor.

When World War II broke out, the Philippines was still a colony of the United States. The Philippine Army and the fighting guerillas were all under the command of the United States Military. Awards, decorations, back pay benefits, reparation and other claims were reviewed and granted by US military authorities. Any of the former involving World War II is kept in the US military archives. All documents and files supporting any claim or award are stored in pre-designated archives. Decisions on any application for reparations or recognition for back pay benefits are also found in the same archives.

The reporters of the Washington Post and the New York Times, researchers and historians have scoured and meticulously examined the Philippine War records. They found no documentary evidence supporting any of the awards allegedly given to Marcos. John Sharkey of the Washington Post interviewed Philippine and American survivors of the war and looked into the personal files of Marcos at the U.S. military records center in St. Louis, Missouri. He found no evidence to substantiate the claims of Marcos. He also could not find “any independent, outside corroboration” to buttress the claim that Marcos was recommended for the Congressional Medal of Honor.

According to US Army rules and as recorded in the files, awardees usually receive a letter from the GHQ of the appropriate command such as USIP, USAFFEE, SWAP, AFWESPAC, etc; and general orders that contain the details of the citation.

When asked about the absence of any authentic documentation, then Marcos’ Minister of Information Cendana came up with a very convenient excuse; “the fire that burned a portion of the military archives in St. Louis, Missouri.”

Colonel Boni Gillego who also did extensive research on the issue came up with this response to Cendana’s lame excuse; “It seems that this fire was so selective and discriminating as to destroy only the documents among others that would substantiate Marcos’ claims. Actually, most of the documents in the St. Louis archives had been previously duplicated and dispersed to other archives. In effect, it is not difficult to reconstruct a veteran’s record once certain details such as date of birth and serial number are furnished.”

Gillego went further by citing some examples. One is the case of Sgt. Ambrosio Lappay of Angadena, Isabela - an unsung but genuine, not counterfeit, war hero. There exists on record G.O., dated March 13, 1942, issued by USAFFE Headquarters awarding him for “extraordinary heroism in action in the vicinity of Trail No. 7 and the Pilar-Bagac Road, Bataan, Philippines on 17 February 1942.” He also noted that the order was issued less than a month after the performance.

Another example mentioned by Gillego is the case of our ace Captain Jesus Villamor (after whom the Villamor Air Base was named). He received his Distinguish Service Cross Medal per G.O. No. 48, USAFFE Headquarters, dated 21 December 1942 for engaging Japanese zero fighters in aerial combat on the 10th and 12th of December 1941. It was General MacArthur himself who pinned the DSC Medal on Villamor.

Marcos allegedly received a letter from Major J.A. Marshall, Assistant Adjutant General, USFIP acknowledging the validity of his claim. To verify the assertion in the letter, Sharkey requested the Department of the Army for confirmation. The reply to Sharkey was that “search of USFIP special and general orders has found nothing conveying an award to Marcos.”

As Sharkey was doing his research, he also found two official lists of some 120 Americans and Filipinos who were awarded the DSC during the Bataan campaign. One list was transmitted to the War Department in Washington, D.C. by General Jonathan M. Wainwright on April 12 shortly before his surrender. The other, “List of Recipients of Awards and Decorations issued between December 7, 1941 through June 30, 1945,” was compiled by General Douglas MacArthur’s headquarters in Tokyo after the end of the war.

The name of Ambrosio Lappay appears in both lists. The name of Ferdinand E. Marcos does not. Strange!

Marcos’ Foreign Affairs Secretary Carlos P. Romulo authored the books, “I Saw the Fall of the Philippines” (Garden City, Double Day, 1946) and “I Walked With Heroes” (Holt, Rinehart and Winston of Canada, 1961). There was no mention of Marcos in either of the books. The heroes that Romulo walked with did not include Marcos.

In Romulo’s broadcast, “The Voice of Freedom”, the exploits of heroes in Corregidor and Bataan were told. Survivors said Marcos was never mentioned. Yet this man was depicted by his hagiographers as one who singlehandedly delayed the fall of Bataan by three months.

William Manchester, author of “American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur, 1880-1964 (New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1978) never mentioned Marcos despite citing Romulo as one of his sources.

Paraphrasing Boni Gillego; “To borrow Churchill’s felicitous phrase, Marcos’ award for his Bataan exploits is a mystery wrapped in an enigma.”

Regarding the alleged statement of MacArthur that “Marcos was a one man Army”, no confirmation could be found in the General’s own “Reminiscences” (New York: McGraw Hill, 1964).

Lastly, Marcos claimed that he was recommended for a U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor ala Sergeant York of World War I and Audie Murphy of World War II. General Wainwright allegedly gave instructions by phone to General Capinpin to write the letter of recommendation. The letter was supposedly lost during the confusing transfer from Bataan to Corregidor.


Like the others no authentic document supporting the claim could be found. Marcos had the chance to confirm the instructions and recommendation from General Wainwright and General Capinpin, respectively when they were still alive. As Gillego asserted, it was not done because it was untrue. Expectedly, no U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor was ever awarded.

MESSAGE – LNMB vs. MARCOS


(Read at the Philippine Embassy Rally on September 7, 2016)
by
Tina M. Maynigo

We speak as former refugees from the Marcos dictatorship. My father, Raul Manglapus, founded the Movement for a Free Philippines (MFP) to influence the US government to withdraw support for the Marcos dictatorship.  Manglapus found it hard to change the US policy toward Marcos because the prevailing political, military, industrial, complex were hesitant to disappoint a supposed war hero.  Because of this perception, Manglapus organized a committee led by Colonel Bonifacio Gillego and Dr. Gaston Ortigas to research the truth about Marcos.

They discovered the following:
1. his medals were fake;
2. he was a fake hero, his war exploits were all fabricated;
3. his  Maharlika claims were adjudged to be false and criminal;
4. his regime committed human rights violations and atrocities; and
5. Marcos and his cronies plundered the country.

During this same period, both the New York Times and the Washington Post conducted the same investigation of Marcos and his fake medals and reached the same conclusion.

The 1986 Edsa people power revolution ousted Marcos from office.  He was removed as President and Commander in Chief by a sovereign act of the people.  This sovereign act is a higher act than an act by a military tribunal or a civilian tribunal.  It cannot be questioned because once a revolution succeeds, then it becomes legitimate and valid.  The 1987 constitution is based on the edsa revolt.

You cannot change that act without invalidating the constitution.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) regulation states that if you are a medal of valor awardee while you are in the military and after you retire you join the government and while in government you are dishonorably discharged for an offense, you are no longer qualified to be buried in the Libingan ny mga Bayani (LNMB)

Marcos was not a medal of valor awardee.  His medals were fake.  He is not a hero,  And he was ousted from office by a sovereign act of the people.  AFP regulations clearly disqualify him from being buried in LNMB. 


Our stand is based on facts not emotion.  We oppose the Marcos Burial at LIbingan ng mga Bayani!