Crucial time for immigrants – both legal and illegals

(Note: Today, January 21, 2011, Yahoo! News reported that several states are considering introducing legislation similar to Arizona's immigration law that allows local police authorities to arrest and detain undocumented immigrants, which  U.S. federal judge said was illegal. Below is an article I wrote on March 23, 2006, when the immigration issue was one of the most talked after President George W. Bush proposed a sweeping immigration reform that would allow for illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship.) 

STARTING Monday, March 27, 2006, the Senate is expected to debate and eventually vote on what might be the most controversial immigration reform bill since the 1986 amnesty that allowed illegal aliens in the U.S. become permanent residents. With both pros and cons battling it out, this week will be a telling event if the Senate chooses to make undocumented immigrants stay here and become legal residents or define them as criminals just like what House members in December of 2005 in their own version.

The action by the House of Representatives is the most severe legislation yet in as far as treatment of both illegals and those “harboring” them is concerned. The bill crafted by Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis, will classify the estimated 12 million undocumented aliens as “criminals,” and would also penalize those hiring them or those extending services to them – a measure described as “inhumane” by the Catholic Church which has vowed to defy it if it becomes law.  In the Senate, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa, in his sponsored bill, went Bush’s way of strengthening border control but at the same time paving the way to make undocumented workers legalized thru a guest worker program good for six years. It also includes a way for earned adjustment that would allow illegal aliens to become permanent residents provided they depart the United States before they can become green card holders.

A decent proposal but still shy of the other bill by offered by (the late) Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Ma and Sen. John McCain (R-Az), which will allow illegals to become permanent residents and may even become citizens without going back to their home countries. A third measure, this one by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tx) and Sen.  Jon Kyle (R-Az), is harsher in that it provides for the construction of a border fence from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico and denying automatic citizenship to babies born in the U.S. by nonresidents. One more bill, this time by Majority Leader Sen. Bill Frist, also calls for reinforcing border control but doesn’t allow for any relief for illegal aliens.

Many Republicans are against earned adjustment for illegal aliens. They term this as amnesty – “plain and simple.” They say any measure that allows for anyone who has violated the law and may become legal, gets pardoned, is an amnesty.  What’s encouraging however is that Pres. Bush is in favor a guest worker program because he understands that many companies are run by workers whose jobs Americans don’t want to do for themselves. Making them go home will also result in disruption of business which America cannot afford at a time when some businesses are already sending jobs abroad for cheaper labor and compete globally.

It is no secret that many of our kababayans are praying for a comprehensive immigration reform that would allow illegals become legal. We recite the same prayer too.  Along with all other immigrants, we believe that our kababayans are hard workers, intelligent and possess many talents whose economic contributions to our adopted country are enormous. They are not criminals, and those who hire them never intended to violate the law just because no Americans would want to work for them.

While most of the pending bills differ from each other, almost all provide for increasing the number of work visas, which only means that the U.S. needs more workers even if anti-immigrant forces claim that such program impacts salaries, health care and education. Perhaps they should be reminded that health care and education are paid for by taxes – both by these individuals who work here and by the companies that hire them, legally or not. 

We would also like to pacify those in the legal pipeline, who are concerned that such measure would clog the already backlogged immigration quotas, that they should not worry as their jobs are secured because those who are already here perform the jobs that they are “overqualified to do.” And just like you and me, these people work to earn a living, to feed their families. They’re not here to become criminals as some of our congressmen think they have become.(Rhony Laigo)

Does freedom mean leaving the Philippines?

(Note: I first wrote this on June 2, 2006, but for some reason, this article seems to be relevant every single year. You be the judge...)
 
In 2005, when I wrote something about our “Independence Day,” I began with a stanza of a song that I learned from the streets during the martial law days entitled, “Huwad Na Kalayaan.” That paragraph asked if there really was freedom in our country when it continues to suffer from economic hardship, where the people, especially the peasants, are at the mercy of what each day brings to them.

Another year has passed. But instead of reaching the goal of escaping from the bondage of poverty, our nation seems to be going further south. Not to mention that the country continues to deal with corruption that saw charges being filed against some of its leaders, and the unending threats of a coup.

The past year also highlighted the mass exodus of our highly-skilled workers and professionals, including nurses and doctors, and when we learned that the latter were also regressing – for the lack of a better word – to become nurses by undergoing another round of medical studies (say, what?) that will enable them to work in the U.S. We all know that Uncle Sam is the number one destination for nurses, but doesn’t readily accept doctors from abroad unless they undergo a series of residency medical studies, or meet a certain criteria, such as working in remote areas where doctors are scarce. So, Filipino doctors do what to many was unthinkable.

Speaking of doctors, the latest survey said they are the number one breadwinners in the U.S., with salaries as much as $181,000 per year or about $15,000 a month. Compare that to about $300 to $800 wage of government doctors in the Philippines, and perhaps double or even triple that amount for doctors in private hospitals. What lures them to become nurses and work in the U.S.? Well, nurses here earn from $6,000 to as much as $10,000 a month. They may have taken an oath to serve the sick and injured, but charity begins at home – not in their homeland but in their own being. They didn’t become doctors to suffer the same fate as the rest of the other Filipino professionals now face.

While the nurses’ salary may not buy them maid service like what they might enjoy in the Philippines, the environment alone forces them to leave for the U.S. Even my colleagues who were supposed to be having a fun time working in the media (journalists enjoy or used to enjoy what the privileged people are accorded with), they also try to use all the means to go and work abroad, and even stay there permanently if allowed (and this author is one of the many who have left the country...for good).

Can we blame them (us)? Or, those who are on the forefront who are supposed to be the vanguard of truth behind the political, social and economic issues? Those who talk directly to the sources who know what’s the real score, what the economic indices portray, and what these same sources are about to launch in the case of destabilizing the government? Sometimes, they know too much that they end up not in a different country, but six feet under the ground as journalists are being gunned down for speaking or writing too much so politicians can maintain status quo – where the wealth of the nation is in the control of chosen few.  

For someone who saw the transition from a dictatorship and the post Marcos period, many, myself included, had hoped that civil liberties will be restored in the Philippines. Newspapers sprouted, radio columnists grew in number and were bolder, and radio stations expanded and established more stations, hence, more journalists were born overnight.

Then came the reality of a transitory government. There have been more political upheavals that followed suit coupled by natural calamities that at first excited most of us in the media. But then covering news became a difficult chore, even for the objective reporters who had to bear endless events of reporting on people’s suffering. It was news all right, but most of the time at the expense of the poor, the hungry and the uneducated.  Freedom is won, I once read...it’s taken, not to be given on a silver platter. 

The “bloodless uprising” of the 1986 EDSA seemed unbelievable at that time as the Marcos period was characterized as a fascist regime, where summary executions were abound, and detention of political enemies were the order of the day. But I have seen more people getting killed in a single event like in the Honasan-led coup in 1987. Many civilians were shot to death because they were snooping (uzi-sero) to find out what the commotion was all about.

And while we try to celebrate the “spirit of EDSA” every February, albeit in dwindling numbers with some of the role players perennially absent, more EDSAs had come and went. Which EDSA would be historical will only be known in the years to come. Hopefully, that year will not be too far away. Not during the time when most of our nurses, doctors, highly-skilled workers and professionals have already gone.(RFL)

Congressman Tañada and RP’s new breed of leaders

(Note: In November 2010, Deputy House Speaker Erin Tañada visited 11 Filipinos who were supposed to work for Aramark, a Fortune 500 company, but who became victims of human trafficking. He has since delivered a privilege speech in Congress, which has put the human trafficking issue among the most important in Philippine politics).
(July 14, 2006) HIS NAME is as old as Philippine politics.  Thanks to the Grand Old Man, the late Senator Lorenzo Tañada. But Quezon Province Rep. Lorenzo “Erin” Tañada III, son of former Sen.  Wigberto Tañada, is not the traditional politician that has characterized many of our leaders who, despite their age or their political callousness and sometimes their lack of sensibilities, still want to cling to power. 

Being a Tañada, however, carries a tradition that is known for nationalism, patriotism and subservience to the interest of the poor, the peasants and the workers whose struggles span years of feudalism in the countryside and low-paying jobs in the factories.  And although a first-termer, Erin has shown that he now bears the torch of continuing the fight to help these marginalized folks who comprise Philippines’ majority.

Early this week, the congressman from Quezon Province’s 4^th District, met with the Filipino-American media at the Philippine Consulate. He discussed, among others, the issues of charter change, and the possibility of losing the right to vote for registered Filipino-Americans and overseas Filipino workers once the form of government in the country changes from a presidential to a parliamentary system. Personally, I am not in favor of us voting in RP elections because of my philosophy (actually Confucius’) of teaching the people how to fish for themselves. For me, Filipinos should govern themselves.

According to Cong. Tañada, since the Absentee Voting Law allows only for the election of presidents, vice presidents, senators and party-list members, a parliamentary system would make this provision moot and academic. So all that effort, including a Senate hearing conducted by Sen. Edgardo Angara and his committee members at the Philippine Consulate a few years ago, will turn into a complete waste if and when the system of government becomes unicameral. 

I’m all for that, but surely not for the “leaders” who attended and testified at the hearing, and who want to participate in Philippine electoral exercises. By the way, here in the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles, whose jurisdiction includes that of Texas, New Mexico, the whole of Southland and lower Nevada – home to about a million Filipinos – only about 300 voted in the last presidential elections, who incidentally are supposed to go home to the Philippines after that exercise because of an affidavit they had to sign requiring them to do so. 

Blame Rep. Teddy “Boy” Locsin, who put in that provision because, he said, if you are going to vote for someone, you have to make sure that someone would work for you, meaning you have to become a responsible citizen, and not just a person from outside looking in and meddling in local affairs.  

During our “Kapihan,” Tañada reported on the state of the country, where political activists and journalists are being executed, while those responsible for the killings remain scot-free. He said he believes rightwing elements of the military are the ones perpetrating these crimes, a valid reason since no police nor any military intelligence have been able to make any arrest. 

Meanwhile, he also lamented the fact that after a trip to The Netherlands to meet with Jose Ma.  Sison and after convincing the National Democratic Front leaders to forego demanding removal of their “terrorist” tag, the peace talks again were stalled because the House leadership wants a ceasefire first before any negotiations can take place. And so, the communist insurgency drags on. Oh, before I forget, the speaker of the House is Pangasinan Rep. Jose de Venecia, one of RP’s trapos (traditional politician).

Speaking of trapos, Tañada and his contemporaries may be looking at 2010, when the next presidential elections are held, that is of course, if the system remains the same. The Liberal Party, to which he belongs, is looking at Senator Mar Roxas (dubbed as Mr. Palengke who makes sure that commodities are priced right and in proper weights) as its presidential standard bearer, with the possibility of either Cong.  Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino or Sen. Kiko Pangilinan (majority leader) as vice president (Update: the other way around happened of course and Aquino is elected president). All young and vibrant, who are proponents of reforms as in Moving Ahead with Reforms. (One thing that bugs me though, is the thought of having colleague Korina Sanchez as First Lady and Second Lady? Noynoy, help me out, please!)

Since the dismantling of the dictatorship, or so they say, the country has had a housewife, a military man, an actor, and now an economist (who could’ve been another actor if not for alleged poll cheating).  All administrations failed miserably, except perhaps for Mr. Fidel Ramos who led the Philippines in a positive growth despite an Asian contagion that plagued Asia’s tigers in the 90s. Which brings to mind Tañada’s argument, that it’s not a question of a government system, it’s a question of leadership and who can best steer the country to greater heights.(RFL)

Pound for pound, he’s the best

(November 11, 2006) A WEEK before the best night in Philippine boxing 2006, the trainer responsible for making Manny Pacquiao a “killing machine” has said that Erik “El Terible” Morales didn’t know what he was getting into. I wasn’t surprised by Freddie Roach’s bold statement. Not only because he knew how vastly improved Paquiao has become prior to demolishing Morales in the third of their scheduled 12-round bout on Saturday, Nov.  18, but it was because of his experience training many fighters, including Mike Tyson. He has seen it all, until Pacquiao came along, his student who is “very hungry” for boxing knowledge. It was foolish of the Morales camp not to have heeded Roach’s warning. With all due respect, but I only have to blame them.

Now, with all “great” Mexican fighters tasting the canvas in the hands of Pacquiao, they are resigned to the fact that perhaps no Mexican fighter can climb up to the ring and challenge the southpaw from General Santos city (update: but who has moved to Sarangani, which he now 2010 represents in the House of Representatives.)

It is up to Marco Antonio Barrera, who holds the title in the super featherweight division, to face Pacquiao or vacate the post he’s precariously enjoying right now. However, I advise Barrera to train real hard, harder that he had ever trained. But then again, I think he will also be dealt with the same fate as Morales had, the way Pacquiao knocked Barrera out in their first meeting.

Roach told us during the post-fight conference that they want Barrera as the next opponent. He said Pacquiao only needs 3-4 months to prepare, as he warned that Pacquiao is only “gonna get better.”

For all intents and purposes, all the accolades also go to Roach who describes Pacquiao as “like a son to me. He listens and is always willing to learn.”

In the last two years, we have witnessed how Pacquiao morphed into a one-punch knockout artist with his iron-fisted left straight to become a left straight-devastating right-hook combination fighter who can end your professional career in an instant.

Couple this with his lightning speed and what he himself described as a punch powered by the whole Filipino nation, Pacquiao seemed almost surreal.

What makes it worse is that Pacquiao seems to be having fun. Before he climbed onto the ring during the fight, he jogged his way with his own song (though the words were inaudible as far as I was concerned) blaring. His own CD!, from Pacquiao, who this early already has a movie that retold his young life – a true Cinderella Man who once peddled on the streets of General Santos City when he was a young boy – to become a multi-millionaire a Filipino hero.

In Saturday’s fight, I asked Bob Arum how much Pacquiao earned that night. His response: The base pay was $3 million, $1 million more than his previous fight against Morales, not including pay per view orders from HBO, which could be at least 350,000 buys.

So far, I’ve seen all the fights of Pacquiao and Morales and always admired the El Terible’s courage and counter-punching style. Besides beating Pacquiao in their first match, he always had telling blows that obviously hurt Pacquiao, even in the grand finale. But while Morales remained as who he was – fierce, cocky, and at times scary – Pacquiao was a different fighter in all three bouts, always better than the last one. It should be noted that his only loss to Morales was hastily done since he had to go up from 127 lbs. – his former fighting weight – to 130 lbs. because Manuel Marquez suddenly backed out from his anticipated rematch with Pacquiao.

This early, many boxing pundits and even the fighters themselves are trying to say that Pacquiao must meet some unknown fighters in the super featherweight and junior lightweight divisions for obvious reasons. They claim to want a piece of Pacquiao and because they are unbeaten. They think that they have worked their way to also earn a shot at a multi-million dollar fight with Pacquiao. Hmmm…

Bob Arum has declared that Pacquiao is so far the best pound-for-pound fighter of today. Not just in his division but in any weight class. Because of the way he demolished Morales and his stellar career, and his past bouts with Marquez and Barrera. And because none has shown as much as what Pacquiao have done in today’s boxing – the continuing development of a champion fighter to a great boxer who has learned the science of delivering devastating blows in his tiny but solid frame. How Pacquiao, whom we used to know had difficulty speaking the language – and now speaks it though sometimes mangled – is able to understand Roach and his instructions and to put into action his trainer’s direction is simply marvelous. It is like a full-length well-edited action movie shown in director’s cut.
Said Roach of Pacquiao, “He’s my pride and joy.” (RFL)

The Philippine Dream

Nais kong sumapit ang gintong panahon sa mahal kong bayan

Nais kong bumukad ang mga bulaklak sa bayang sinilangan

Nais kong masilayan na bughaw ang langit, luntian ang parang

Nais kong manariwa ang yumaong bukal, at sawing kagubatan…

Awit sa Bayan – Ibong Malaya, Volume I,

Tambisan sa Sining

(June 9, 2006) IT WAS probably during my late elementary days when I heard the phrase “American Dream.” During those days, Amerika was more described as the land of milk and honey, not much of an opportunity, as the Philippines was still enjoying a P7-$1 exchange.

Where I grew up, in a small Novaliches barrio, I was one of the more “privileged” ones as I enjoyed playing with “Made in USA” toys, courtesy of my mother, who left us (almost for good) for the United States in search, I guess, of the so-called greener pastures.  My t-shirts were “stateside,” so were some of the canned goods that were proudly displayed in our China cabinet, which was tailor-made by carpenters to match the aesthetics of our two-storey house, along with “imported” chocolate powdered drink, juice, Baby Ruths, etc. 

A set of Hot Wheels cars and a complete three-yard long and two-feet wide race track made me the most popular kid in the subdivision where I used lived, if not in the whole barrio whose parents grew old seeing only rice paddies, cows, carabaos and horses then.

That was in the 70s, when the country was in a “New Society,” back when, in my haste to showcase what we’ve got, I had to wear my Hush Puppies even if they were two sizes bigger than the actual size of my feet. We had pens that had water and things that went up and down, a small gold statue of Liberty, state banners on our walls and, how could I forget, tons of Avon products – from Topaze, Charisma to Jasmine – we had it all. I was only in second grade when without permission, I brought our English Leather perfume, with the wood top cover. I was a show off in class. 

With all these stateside products, you wouldn’t miss your very own mother. American-made toys, chocolates and things to wear from Uncle Sam were enough to bribe our emotions.  As more and more Filipinos left for the U.S., I found out later that more and more kids had things of the same, if not better products. At the University of the East Manila where I finished high school, the students sported Ray-Ban sunglasses, wore Adidas shoes and smoked cigarettes packed in colors I’ve never seen before, and with brands I’ve never heard before. 

The more imported goods I get to see and know, the more I craved for such things, and even requested, if not outright demanded, that I’d get the same things. Colonial mentality had set in, causing a deep gorge into my very young brain, and that all things American tasted better, looked better, made better and envied by everyone.  And we proudly claim to any of our friends that my mom, dad, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, or any relative, was in the U.S. Not only do we get U.S products, we saw the chance of being actually moving to the U.S., courtesy of immigration petitions filed by our relatives on our behalf.   

Young as I was, we were advised not to get married early, lest we lose our petition, our very hope of immigrating to the place where Disneyland was not just a fantasy. Or, should I say, our parent’s wishes.  Moving thirty years later, here I am, reunited with my family, except one sister whose petition is tied up in a very long backlog because she married early (how dare you, sister!). Now all of us are “living” the American Dream. Or, are we, really?

If we gauge things materially, majority, if not all, would say yes, can’t argue with that. Since we like things American, it goes without saying, that hey, what more can you ask for? We are living it.  This Saturday, on June 10, community leaders will gather to celebrate our 108^th Philippine Independence Day at the Westin Bonaventure in downtown Los Angeles, donning Barong Filipino wardrobe and feasting on beef or chicken a la carte and will be hearing the speech of Senate Majority Floor Leader Juan Flavier. I expect that he would be reporting on what the country has achieved or trying to achieve, where the country is heading and what we can do to help.   

Help, the most abused word each time a Filipino congressman, senator, or government official comes for a visit and dialogues with the Filipino-American community. Well, some of us do, while we are always recognized for the dollars we remit to our home country, because if we don’t, the visitors may not have something to talk about except beg.

We give because we toil. We help because we can.  It is all because of the American Dream. If only I could be the guest speaker, then I would tell the Filipino-American community that, today, we will no longer wish of leaving for the United States, we will begin our quest and live the Philippine Dream.(RFL)

For more local, national and international news, visit Balita.com  – your premiere source for Filipino news.

No nukes

(October 5, 2006) EVEN if the Philippines has been able to kick out all American military installations from its shores, the country is still allied with the U.S. and will abide by the latter’s foreign policy.

Like when President Bush launched its “terror war” against Iraq, we initially sent a contingent support group there until we realized that we are not up to the task and subsequently withdrew our troops after  “agreeing” to the ransom that we remove our soldiers when a Filipino worker was kidnapped by Iraqi insurgents.

It was for safety reasons that we evacuated Filipino workers, mostly domestic helpers, from Lebanon meantime, when the country suffered a barrage of bombings from Israel, which also endured rocket attacks from Hezbollah just recently. Although the Filipino families who were relying on dollar remittances from their beloved OFWs must have cringed at the idea, their departure had to occur.

Now, we can only surmise if the OFWs were able to come back and work for their Lebanese employers, some of whom got mad at their abandoning workers at a time when they were reeling from hardship caused by the Jewish incursions, which by the way was supported by the U.S. “Israel has the right to defend itself,” President Bush said that.

Now, comes North Korea. There are probably no Filipino contract workers in the communist Korean peninsula. But with Filipinos being able to enter and work even in the most remotest of places on earth, I won’t be surprised if there is at least one or one thousand Filipinos working there. The Philippines has its own communist party, though it may be remote that there are tie-ups between the CPP and the government of North Korea. But, who knows?

With the threat of Kim Jung-Il to test a nuclear weapon despite warnings from the world community that it might upset peace in the region, the Arroyo government cannot help but urge North Korea to stop this impending threat. We may not have a clout in the region, but a vocal opposition would encourage others to do the same. And with a new prime minister in Japan, who critics say, may be leaning towards a military build-up in response to North Korea’s posturing, it would be best if we all just remain calm and have more rationale leaders talk it on the table.

Not only a war in Korea will make it more difficult for the Philippines, we will again see an exodus of OFWs from South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and since Korean missiles can reach far-away shores (perhaps even the U.S.), Filipinos in the Northern Marianas (Saipan) may also have to depart  the U.S. territory. It was, by the way, in the island of Tinian in the Marianas where the atomic bomb that ended World War II with Japan was assembled.

North Korea’s threat was a wrong move. It could use nuclear energy in providing power to all of the communist state, which is shown as a dark spot when a satellite photo was once taken at night time over the peninsula because the country cannot provide power to the homes of its people. Using it as a weapon will only further isolate it from the rest of peace-loving nations. Though nuclear waste is deadly when mishandled, nuclear energy emits no toxic carbon emissions while other fossil fuels hurt the environment more. Be that as it may, it is not advisable to use atomic energy because of its potential of being used as a weapon of mass destruction, particularly by rouge countries such as North Korea, whose people unfortunately, were once featured as more than willing to fight the Americans, and even defended their leader’s willingness to use nuclear weapons if and when they’re invaded.

The North Korean impasse is the biggest test yet for both China and Russia, which have been aiding their communist ally. They have so far failed in convincing Mr. Jung-Il to go back to the negotiating table. We have seen Pyongyang test its missiles,  albeit unsuccessfully for its long range rocket,  and without a whimper from both countries.

We may never see an actual nuclear attack from Nokor because the superpowers will not allow that to happen. However, we would rather not see another invasion in the region, which would definitely involve the Philippines (no thanks to the Visiting Forces Agreement with the U.S., which allows station of U.S. soldiers in RP) and a military buildup of yet another country in Asia that was once our occupiers.(RFL)

For more local, national and international news, visit Balita.com  – your premiere source for Filipino news.

Korean peninsula: It can only get worse

(October 13, 2006) CONGRATULATIONS is in order…not to Pyongyang, but to the people of North Korea who, because of their leader, maybe are looking at a better future ahead of them as countries around the world unite to force Kim Jong-Il to the negotiating table or force him out for good. I have nothing against countries asserting themselves, but the situation in North Korea only worsens the conditions in the region, making everyone fear that another Korean war may erupt – this time, much worse, as it could involve Japan, whose military was once the mightiest in Asia.

Unless Kim stands down, we could expect retaliatory moves that could hurt the North Koreans more, who are already suffering from famine judging from the secret video footages smuggled into China as shown recently by CNN. We have heard of a naval blockade, as intimated by President Bush, who wants that all means of transport going out and into North Korea be inspected. The Bush administration fears that North Korea could proliferate the use of nuclear weapons more by selling the technology to other countries that are against the U.S. foreign policy.

Korea must learn from its main ally China, once a nation detached from the rest of the world, which has become the fastest growing economy after opening its doors to capitalism, foreign investment and global trade. All other countries in the former Soviet Union are also trying their best to strengthen their democracies; they have since been competing with the rest of the world, not in arms race, but in arts, sports, technology, and are promoting cultural exchange. It only has to look at South Korea, the 10th biggest economy in the world, as it competes with Japan in technology and manufacturing.

By keeping itself isolated from the rest of Asia, it deprives itself of the immense human prowess Asians are known for. Surrounded by tigers, North Korea has chosen a path that only results to backwardness, stagnation, disease and ignorance to most of its people. Alas, even Vietnam, which has also suffered the same fate as North Korea, is now a destination for tourists and a target of opportunity by Fortune 500 CEOs, whose end result are jobs and economic advancement.

Why Kim would rather compete in arms race is beyond me. Any normal person would say that

nuclear weapons only annihilate people. It’s a waste of time, energy and effort since it is just a means to destroy the human being, while putting its scientists at risk with the threat of getting exposed to radiation. It only hurts the environment, especially when a leak occurs as what happened in Chernobyl.

With its claim that it has indeed “successfully” tested a nuclear bomb, even if it pales in comparison to the size that obliterated Hiroshima in the Second World War, North Korea boasts of being one of the elite countries that have nuclear weapons in its arsenal. They’re years away on technology as far as arming a warhead and launching it on a missile, U.S. said, but with atomic bomb as a threat, an invasion may not be as likely as what the U.S. did to Iraq that “had weapons of mass destruction.” This leaves the U.S. in a quandary on how to deal with Kim.

Indeed, the latest threat to world peace has put President Bush in a very awkward position, who used the military in bringing down Saddam because he had “ties to terrorists that attacked America, and because he was developing and amassing WMD.” It may not be the same case with North Korea, however. Not only is Bush not using these same reasons as a way to deal with Kim in order to justify another invasion, Pyongyang even issued a warning against the U.S.

Many Americans think the war in Iraq was a mistake. Simply because apparently there were no WMDs after all. More than 2,000 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq that is now facing a de facto civil war. We cannot afford another conflict– in billions of dollars and human toll. And while North Korea may be on its way to perfecting its nuclear armament, others like Iran could use it as a tool – become another nuclear armed nation – so that the U.S will leave it alone. If that happens, I guess the whole world will become a ticking bomb.(RFL)

For more local, national and international news, visit Balita.com  – your premiere source for Filipino news.