FORMER US Air Force Colonel Raymond Powell, the frontman for the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation (GKC) of the US Office of Naval Research (read: US military intelligence), under the guise of a “nonprofit maritime transparency organization” called ‘Sealight,’ started spinning another tall tale last year on the purported ‘united front’ activities of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in the Philippines that concluded with the absurd claim that Chinese language volunteer teachers are actually “spies” of the CPC.
Philippine Secretary of Defense Gilberto ‘Gibo’ Teodoro doubled down on Powell’s lies by calling for “increase scrutiny of Chinese-language teachers and cultural exchange programs” between Philippine and Chinese organizations arguing that such programs and exchanges could be exploited for information gathering or misinformation campaigns.
Coming from a man of dubious patriotism after admitting to acquiring Maltese citizenship for him and his family and where his claim of abandoning this foreign citizenship left many wondering if he actually did so for lack of convincing evidence, it is no wonder that instead of support, a public backlash ensued.
In China, families of the mostly young female Chinese volunteer Mandarin language teachers were alarmed by what they sensed from news reports as a growing “hostile environment” in the Philippines against the Chinese volunteers and called for their children to return home.
150 teachers were abruptly arranged to leave two religious schools, the Immaculate Conception Academy (ICA) and Jubilee Christian Academy—to the detriment of their students in particular and the Philippine academic schools in general.
Typifying the public’s reaction, former National Security Adviser and University of the Philippines Professor Clarita Carlos described the double-barrel assault of Powell and Teodoro for what it is: BIGOTRY.
“When some consider academic exchanges as security threats, then, we really have gone to the deep end of BIGOTRY in our politics,” Carlos riposted.
Indeed, what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander and following their argument, US-sponsored programs—Fulbright Scholarship, USAID, etc., military scholarships at West Point and Annapolis Naval Academy and those from Europe too such as the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, should likewise be under investigation on the same accusation that they are being exploited by Western Imperialism for gathering information or in launching misinformation campaign to advance their own subversive activities here.
But let us zero-in on Powell’s allegations, published in the pro-US and Bongbong Marcos Inquirer, against Fil-Chinese civic organizations, such as the Federation of Filipino Chinese Associations of the Philippines (FFCAP) and the Philippine Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China (PCPPRC).
Powell, clearly a foreign subversive agent freely promoting American interests here and freely allow to sow division among us, has linked these organizations to the CPC’s united front work by quoting the CPC’s internal rules as “evidence” of their alleged nefarious activities.
“’The main tasks of overseas-Chinese affairs work are to … strengthen work with representatives of overseas Chinese, returned overseas Chinese and their relatives … cultivate resources for overseas-Chinese affairs [and] guide overseas Chinese … to devote themselves to the modernization of the motherland, safeguard and promote China’s reunification…”
Is there anything wrong about China’s call for reunification, especially with its province of Taiwan, I asked several fellow Fil-Chinese and all said they see none.
For Powell, the “peaceful reunification” of Taiwan with China is a “bad” thing as among others, the US military industrial complex stands to lose its multi-billion dollars regular sales of antiquated arms and missiles not only to Taiwan but also, to South Korea, Japan and the Philippines.
For a growing number of Filipinos, these unceasing manufactured attacks against China are all about “business as usual” and the consolidation of the power and influence of a dying global hegemon who insists on using the Philippines as its frontline in its warmongering activities in this side of Asia.