Thank You!!!

I would like to thank the readers of this blog for a month of frequent visits to this site and for taking time to read my posts here. It has been a tough month since most of the articles that I have written here are controversial in nature. They contained expose's of the Philippines society's weaknesses. It is not my goal to criticize but instead to make everyone aware about the realities happening inside our homeland.

I am not here to criticize people nor their actions. I just write about those things that would "enlighten" and probably help us get rid of the "Apathy" that has been eating up our society.

I hope that you enjoyed reading and I also wish that you would be able to get some lessons in life that oftentimes are just like a bitter pill to swallow. For me it is simply this "Veritas Vos Liberabit" - The Truth Will Set Us Free.

Again, thank you so much! God Bless the Philippines!!!

Illegal Drugs - Cover Up by Biggies?...

In the Philippines, there are cities that boast that they are drug-free meaning drug peddling, drug addictions are not happening in their areas. That is what most city government tells the public about illegal drugs. Decades ago, drugs (which is the so called "shabu" or poor man's cocaine) are coming in from China, Taiwan, and other nearby countries. Its effects to a drug user is tremendous - unable to sleep for a week or so, hyper activity, hyper emotions, paranoia and extreme reactivism to their environment, people and events and worst are crime related acts and behaviors.

Certain politicians in various cities, towns and municipalities claim that they have already "cleaned up" illegal drugs from their turfs. But in reality, there are still "shabu" being peddled, sold and used by illegal players in the Great Metro Manila Cities.

Some drug dependents that I talked to said that the effects of "shabu" to them is already different than before. Comparatively for those who have been addicted to these stuffs for more than a decade, they claim that the "shabu" being distributed now makes them "slowdown" and makes them crave for more. Unlike what they use to take a decade or two ago, wherein just a single session would already give them the "effect" that they need, the "shabu" now makes them fall asleep more often than usual specially if the effect to their bodies are already going down which usually just last for a couple of hours. Since the effect is not as long term (days) as before, they tend to buy again hoping to find that particular "item" that would give them the "effect" that would satisfy their cravings. No matter how much amount of money they put in to buy this "shabu," they never got enough.

I also found out that nowadays the main reason why foreign drug laboratories are unable to set their grounds is because "shabu" is already "Made in the Philippines." These drugs are now made and distributed locally by a local "pseudo chemist." This is the reason why whenever there is an intelligence report that there is a foreign laboratory that exists or about to exist, the Drug Czar's inside these cities are quite very quick to act and respond to cut off these foreign traders. They are very vigilant to protect and to ensure that there would be no competitors that would spring out specially from outside this land.

There was even a well-known city in Great Metro Manila that boasts that their city is drug free and that their city never peddle drugs. But in reality, that city is the "transit point" for drugs coming from the Southern Tagalog region being delivered via local municipality ambulances, police cars and even politicians' vehicles. The transit point is a local baranggay and the couriers of the illegal drug items are the baranggay tanods in their tricycles. They are the ones delivering these goods to the "drug dens/drug session houses" inside a neighboring city which have gained notoriety for illegal drugs.

Are the authorities unaware of these? I talked to a retired police captain (my compare) who had been the chief of that particular (transit point) baranggay that I am pertaining to. He said that they are unable to do anything about drugs since this particular thing is "hands-off" to them. Illegal drug trade or "shabu business" nowadays is somewhat "federal" in nature - meaning individual municipality, town or city takes care of its own when it comes to this business. He implied that policemen are powerless when they are up against the "Biggies" - the politicians. These policemen whether they like it or not are just puppets of these "Biggies." It is also these same "Biggies" who handpick and appoint Drug Czars to show the public that they are doing their best to eliminate illegal drugs from their areas. However, it is a reversed truth since these Drug Czars are the ones who run, protect and maintain these businesses. They are even the ones who are tasked to negotiate with their neighboring city on how to effectively transport and distribute illegal drugs.

This is a bitter reality that faces this land. No matter how we dream of a drug free society, "drug money funds governments" Silently on the background, the illegal drug industry in the Philippines is getting bigger. Bigger than what other people might think it is. Even in rural areas wherein electricities are still unavailable, shabu has already deeply penetrated their communities.

There are still a lot of drug peddlers or drug pushers proliferating in certain cities that are being cuddled and harnessed by these "Biggies." However, after "Biggies" term of office, these drug peddlers are silenced and/or incarcerated since their protections are coterminous with their protectors' tenure in office. Then the new "Biggies" through their Drug Czars would appoint another set of drug peddlers who they know would give them the loyalty that they need. It is a continuous cycle wherein each and every denizen of the communities to where these drug traders are operating are secretly aware about. These citizens are just fearful about their existence that they just chose to stay silent about these matters.

On a separate note, if you check out the local police's statistical reports on drug arrests, you'd be surprised to find out that the number of arrested individuals are quite "very few" specially in the drug city.

I witnessed one instance wherein a person was forced to come up with a certain sum of money or else he would be charged with illegal possession of drugs even there were no drugs found from him. However, I was already too late. When I talked to him, I asked him if he was really taking drugs, he said no and that he was just flagged down and searched in his car and the authorities said that they found drugs inside his car's compartment. I told him that he should have taken the drug test instead and should have filed a counter complaint. He feared that he might be incarcerated so he called his wife to come up with the agreed amount of money which is less than the Php200,000 bail if ever he would be sent to court. He feared that the test results would be "concocted" so he just relented and paid the amount of Php 10,000. He also feared the rejection and humiliation that he would get if he chose to complain. He feared that "his truth" might not be heard.

There have been several incidences like this happening all over. My question is who are they going to turn to in instances such as this one? Should they run to the "Biggies" who runs the show for this illegal trade? Should the Justice System be able to protect these people or is this plot similar to the Bigger Conspiracy Theory that was spreading across the World's government? That I don't know and I just leave the answer to this question to you.

Two Filipinos in Japan Caught Without Working Visas

18th July, 2008: This is an incident wherein two Filipinos were arrested by the Japan Immigration Bureau for working without proper working visas. Their employers are the ones who should be blamed for this incident.

They were arrested for working without visas at a warehouse next door to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau. Apparently the two Filipino workers had been told by their Japanese boss to be careful about going outside of the warehouse because of its proximity to the immigration office.

Nikkeijin Papers For Sale! Do You Want To Buy?!!!

There are lots of Nikkeijins here in the Philippines specially in the areas where the Japanese Imperial Armies habitated during the war. One notable place where I was able to meet a lot of "Nikkeijins" are in Davao.

When I accompanied a friend in Davao when they ventured into Nikkeijin processing to check the documentations of these Nikkeijins, I was astonished to find out that there are a lot of "Nikkeijins" in Davao than probably anywhere else in the Philippines.

They are literally thousands; from the Second Generations to the 6th Generations! That is what they claim. I was able to talk to a lot of them and conducted interviews to ascertain the validity of their claims. There are several things that I found out;

1. Some of the "Original Nikkeijins" who are mostly farmers from the rural places of the Davao Oriental and Davao Del Sur have sold their documents to a group of persons who have the money to pay for the processing. The amount involved sometimes just ranges from Php 50,000 to P150,000. They had no choice since they are really quite "illiterate" and they won't be able to take care of the process themselves.

2. Some of the "Original Nikkeijins" were victimized by unscrupulous brokers who have collected all their original documents which would serve as proof of their descendancy. These brokers have either collected their land titles as collaterals with the promise that they would get them back once they are already in Japan.

3. Since the 70's, "selling of Kosekitohon" or other documental proofs have been ongoing in Davao. I was also surprised to learn that most of the "Nikkeijins" I have talked to and met were "FAKES!"

With my experiences in the Philippine Army before I went out, my notable specialties are psychological profiling, interrogation and interviews. Some of the "Nikkeijins" I talked to have admitted through a series of interviews that they are indeed fakes. They were just sold certain names and birth certificates by another "Nikkeijin" for a fee. The fees vary though they could go as low as Php 10,000 to Php 300,000 depending on the status of the person(s) the documents are being sold to. Who sold them these documents? Another "fake nikkeijin" posing as an original.

Some of these people have prominent positions in the local government units in Davao; Among them are (just to mention a few); an elementary principal who opted to have another birth certificate, marriage certificate with another name and applied for the NBI clearance, they even have a "fake group marriage celebration" which is of course funded by the money that they paid the "fake family;" there is this personnel from the local civil registrar from a rural area in Davao Oriental who decided to venture into this "Nikkeijin" opportunity who also paid and invited others to join the venture; there is this wife of a known College Professor, who sold most of their lands without her husband knowing it and assumed another name from "Remedios" to "Maria" just to be able to take advantage of the opportunity to go to Japan as Nikkeijins. However, due to the nature of their transactions, they were all denied by the Japanese Embassy in Manila. There are several similar stories of this kind personally narrated to me when I was in Davao.

This is happening because some were able to get away with it. Some of the "Fake Nikkeijins" already have stable jobs in Japan with Permanent Resident statuses and have already embraced their "fake identities." Some of them are even prominent people in that area in Davao and the people around them have just kept silent about it. Some of them have been in Japan as "real nikkeijins" at the expense of the "original nikkeijins" who are still tending to their farms somewhere in Davao who have resigned their luck to fate that they won't be able to go to Japan.

I was also able to talk to an original Nikkeijin family in Tagum, their surname is Konishi. They are a family of peasant farmers who are really descendants of the Japanese named Konishi. It was undeniable because the living daughter of the Japanese really looks like him. They had proofs of their descendancy but the problems are most of the brokers that they talked to just swindled them. Some took their passports, some made fun of their Birth Certificates through corrections and alterations, some asked for money and some even gave them loans which up to now they were not able to pay, some even sold their family documents to interested "fake nikkeijins." I just don't know if any of these fakes were already able to land a spot in Japan.

Their case is very simple if someone would just have the big heart to really help their plight. The daughter of the Japanese who is now on her late 70's just have to be invited to Japan and process her documentation with the Ministry of Justice. I am really very much interested to help them but when I checked their documents. Most of their documents were "manipulated" by the brokers and/or foundations that used to process them. For one, I was even able to talk to "Tony," a third generation descendant who is a fireman. He even gathered too much loan from the foundation that processed them for the documentations and processing of their descendancy. When he was interviewed in Manila with his mother (2nd Generation Nikkeijin), the foundation helping them turned their backs on them when the interview results were negative. They were stranded in Manila for a couple of weeks. They didn't have the plane ticket to get back to Davao. Knowing their plight, I helped them return to their home and for Tony to resume his work with the local fire department in Tagum. I never heard of them after that time.

It seems that there are several crimes being committed by people just to be able to go to Japan at the expense of innocent and ignorant victims. Among them are; falsification of public documents - fake "on-time(ly) registered" birth certificates, marriage certificates, baptismal certificates, DepEd records, postal IDs, NBI clearances and etc.

"I pity the plight of those original Japanese descendants who have no way of fighting back with the sad plight that they encountered. I just wish that there would be measures to correct the upsurge of "Fake Nikkeijins" usurping the identities of those poor original Japanese descendants."