Philippine Government Morally Must Crush New People’s Army

First published in The Objective Standard Blog, September 13, 2012.

The communist insurgency known as the New People’s Army has admitted to bombing a carnival in the Philippines and injuring scores of civilians, including many children. The NPA has apologized for the civilian casualties, as if such a thing were unforeseeable when attacking a carnival.

In their effort to establish a dictatorship in the Philippines, the NPA has inflicted brutality after brutality upon the Filipino people—from perpetrating massacres, to “recruiting” children as soldiers in their cause, to destroying the property of those who refuse to bow to their collective will.

Filipinos who care about their lives and liberties must demand that the Philippine government summarily destroy the New People’s Army, and, to do so, Filipinos will have to recognize and embrace the moral rightness in taking such action. As I wrote in “Around the World: ‘The Communist War against the Philippines and Why It Rages On’”:

The Philippine armed forces clearly have the means to destroy the communist threat; what Filipinos and their government need is the moral resolve to allow the military do so.

If Filipinos want peace, security, and prosperity, they must come to recognize that the communist ideal of “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need” is morally wrong, politically wrong, and thus economically disastrous. Filipinos must demand that their government end the peace talks with the Communist Party, destroy the New People’s Army, and demand that all communist groups terminate their activities immediately or face retribution.

The NPA’s latest atrocity further underscores the urgent need for the Philippine government to destroy the communist menace.

Commented on a Story on Mysticism and Rain

I commented on a report that tribesmen in northern Mindanao are doing mystical rituals to “appease nature” and prevent rainstorms.

My comment: “It is better drainage systems, stronger structures, and effective communication, that the provinces need to better deal with rainstorms. These tribesmen should throw away their mystic beliefs, and instead embrace reason, science and capitalism.”

Besides my writing for TOS and other publications, I’ve been doing a lot of commenting lately on websites. I think more pro-freedom people should go out of their way—within the context of their life (time, priorities, etc)—to firmly and politely advocate for reason and capitalism.

Teddy Locsin: “Pray Tell What Might That Lesson Be”

The following is an excellent video editorial by former statesman, Teddy Locsin Jr. regarding the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s war on the Philippines. If you could only watch one video about this war, make it this one.

Watch the video. The excerpt below and the transcript does not do justice to the video.

400 MILF ambushed 100 of our soldiers. 19 of our boys were killed, 6 killed in captivity, like the Marines captured and castrated two years ago, screaming their suffering into microphones held by the MILF to their mouths so their agony would carry. Their commander-in-chief, our president, castigated the survivors and the dead. “Hadn’t they learned from the past?” He said.

Pray tell what lesson was it our fallen soldiers failed to learn? That we have been at peace with those who are at war? That our soldiers are ambushed, tortured and killed in a time of truce against the laws of war? That our enemies can amass to outnumber our troops because we cannot look if they are making ready for trouble?

We tell our troops to stand easy; do nothing to upset the negotiations. Our soldiers are not standing easy. They are sitting ducks… 

Thank you Mr. Locsin. This needed to be said.

See also my reports on the issue:

• Islamists Kill 13 Filipino Soldiers
• Islamist terror a big political issue in the Philippines

Oil Companies Have a Right to Their Profits

This is an excellent LTE by David Holcberg.

“Oil companies have a right to their record profits.

The oil companies earned their profits honestly, and have a right to keep them. Their profits are a just reward for decades of investment and production.

If politicians are really concerned with the effect on the public of high oil and gas prices, they could do many things about it. They could cut gasoline taxes, eliminate regulations mandating gasoline blends, and free energy companies to drill at will. These measures would increase the supply of gasoline and reduce its cost–without violating the property rights of oil companies.

Oil companies, in pursuing their own profit, provide us with an invaluable product, without which our modern civilization would suffer immensely. We should be grateful for their good work, and our government should protect–not expropriate–their well-deserved profits.”

Copyright © by the Ayn Rand Institute. Reprinted with permission.

My First Article in The Objective Standard

I am honored to say that I have been published in my favorite magazine: The Objective Standard. 

My article’s title is “The Communist War against the Philippines and Why It Rages On.” Alan Germani and Craig Biddle were integral to the high quality result of the article. I thank them both for all their assistance in its creation.

Here’s an excerpt from my article:

“Prosperity is the result of production, and because communism destroys those who produce by stealing what they produce, communism is at odds with prosperity. Communism denies man’s right to live for himself and profit from his own labor. It severs him from what keeps him alive. And when a man’s right to live for himself is denied, only slavery or death can follow.”

Here’s the link: Around the World: “The Communist War against the Philippines and Why It Rages On”

The entire thing is only available for The Objective Standard subscribers. So, subscribe!

While you’re at it check out this excellent article by Gretchen Thomas about Walt Disney: Walt Disney’s EPCOT: The City of Tomorrow that Might Have Been