Rogue Generals: A Different Post-EDSA Uno Philippines TL

[kyuzoaoi]

I am thinking of a darker Chris-chan TL where Chris-chan migrates to the Philippines with his parents who might help fix the Philippine electricity grid, and enrolls in a Tadiar school for those who are autistic (Maybe Tadiar would encourage schooling of people with disabilities, if only for propaganda purposes "We are not bad as you think and we don't treat people with disabilities like crap"), only for them to be indocrtinated.

[TheRomanSlayer]

Aug 7, 2021 10:45:30 GMT simeon said:

Pray tell though, with Tadiar and those ones in the national up in their high horse of nationalistic virtue, how much graft and corruption are there in the prefectural level? How about patronage? I doubt even those ones in the Bakufu would put themselves above the last one especially with their increasing differences in opinion.

Oh wait, the government can be likened so much to a Shogunate, daimyos and all, with communists belonging to the untouchable class.

For all that talk of emergency though, has Artemio Tadiar assumed the presidency himself?

I don't think Tadiar has assumed the Presidency, although it could be hinted that in TTL's 2016, he's priming for Palparan to be elected as President (though he would be a puppet in the hands of an ailing Tadiar in this case). 

The communists in Tadiar's Philippines would be worse than being the untouchable class. They're also that despised minority that is targeted of frequent attacks.

Corruption on the prefectural level, I think it could get a lot worse. Remember that infamous IED incident where people died from mishandling the cargo of IEDs? That can be traced to corruption and collusion with organized crime groups. It's also why we will later see a potential coup within a coup, only it would be the so-called Young Turks of the Filipino military that would try to depose Tadiar, only to fail. 

[TheRomanSlayer]

Chapter Seventy-Two: When Money No Longer Made the World Go Round

Excerpts from "A Dangerous Experiment: How Public Money Creation Nearly Destroyed the Concept of Banking"
by: Herschel Silverstein
King's College London Printing Press, published 2019

Case Study #4: The Philippines Under Artemio Tadiar

The 1997 Asian Financial Crisis had its origins with the Tadiar led junta that ruled the Philippines, which arose in 1989, after a bloody civil war in which the aforementioned dictator first gained fame as one of the few unaligned rebel figures who fought against the restoration of the first dictator. With numerous reports of the Tadiar regime's human rights violations being broadcasted almost constantly in the world press, the UN had imposed economic sanctions on the poverty-stricken republic, and it took a Chinese aerial bombing campaign to lead it towards the edge of economic collapse, as the bombing raids had damaged much of the Philippines's food supplies. Although volunteer organizations have arrived to give aid to the internally displaced persons within the country, the years of economic sanctions, along with the declining value of the Philippine peso, had a ripple effect on the rest of Southeast Asia. The effects of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis on the entire Asian continent, plus nearby Australia meant that much of global trade had declined by 2%, and the Philippine military's method of naval piracy in the West Philippine Sea had also affected much of China's maritime shipping traffic, since both the Tadiar regime and the Vietnamese communist regime have collaborated in targeting Chinese commerce through irregular warfare.

It was assumed that the economic malaise in the Philippines would have encouraged the local population to rise up against the Tadiar regime, and to replace him with the previous administration of Corazon Aquino, who ruled the Philippines before Artemio Tadiar's seizure of power. However, through psychological manipulation of the hungry masses, along with a growing anti-Chinese sentiment that boiled over to levels that had any Western nation displayed it openly, they would be accused of overt racism and neo-Nazism, had resulted in the entire population willing to rally behind the military junta chief. Economic nationalism also became a factor, for the Tadiar regime had to resort to radical solutions and reforms in order to address the chronic weaknesses that the Philippines had faced. Yet, it was this one radical solution that was echoed with such appraisal that another country had done it as well. It is not an accident when the Kemp administration after 2000, began to treat the reunified states of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus as a dangerous threat to the international order. Mantras like 'Russian aggression', the 'Azarov regime', and even 'Russian collusion', were made into international headlines. However, for this case study, we will explore more on the Philippines's reckless gamble with the idea of Public Money Creation, through the introduction of the Labour Treasury Certificate. For those of you who might be familiar with this phrase, it was the certificate that Hitler and the Nazis had used to rebuild Germany before switching over to rearmament, and the rest, as the common folk would say, is history.

The Council for National Sovereignty, which was the official name of the Tadiar-led junta, had a different approach to the usage of the Public Money Creation process. Instead of involving the Central Bank of the Philippines in this process, the Tadiar regime would instead bestow the authority to issue currency to the Philippine government itself, bypassing the CBP. Moreover, the Tadiar regime in the 1998 political reforms, ordered the abolition of the Central Bank of the Philippines, and thus assuming the sole authority to issue its own currency. The economic experiment of the Tadiar regime had garnered a large amount of approval from the more traditionally minded fundamentalist faction of the Catholic Church, namely the Traditionalists, Sedevacantists, and the ultraconservative group, Opus Dei. In the speech made by the first Archbishop of the Philippine Independent Traditionalist Catholic Church, Daniel Dolan said that the concept of a new 'Catholic Economy' relies on the strict adherence to the Catholic teachings on usury, as in imposing a total ban. Instead of usury, as Dolan proposed, the borrower would offer a collateral as an insurance in case he or she would not be able to pay back their debts to the loaner. In the midst of the rise of the so-called Catholic Economy, Credit Unions were formed to help the debtor pay their debts in a timely manner.

Christian Labour parties arose in the majority of the Catholic nations, and in an extreme rarity, an Orthodox Christian version of a Christian Labour Party arose in Russia called the Party for Spiritual Renewal arose. It was this party that current Russian President Olga Bohomolets belonged to, and they were instrumental in handing the dominant Liberal Democratic Party of Russia their first electoral defeat ever. Loren Legarda on the other hand, had formed the Lakas-National Democratic Party in 2015 for the sole purpose of defeating Artemio Tadiar in the 2016 election that saw him step down willingly. Her policy of melding both Christian and Muslim democratic policies had been popular with the more federalist-minded politicians who have benefited from Tadiar's equally radical experiment with the Tricameral legislature system. Unfortunately, Christian democratic parties had been influenced by a resurgence of anti-Semitism, largely as a result of the influence that the SSPX and Opus Dei had exercised on Latin America, and while anti-Semitism was surprisingly absent during the Tadiar regime (as its diplomatic isolation meant that it did not get involved in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict), it was merely replaced with unhinged Sinophobia whose rhetoric is similar to that of the anti-Semitic rhetoric seen in the West. As Evelyn de Rothschild had once said, 'a nation that resorts to the most extreme solutions to dig themselves out of the economic malaise they find themselves in, would eventually become a major threat to the international order'. This was true in Hitler's Germany, where economic nationalism was mixed with anti-Semitism, and today likewise in many Middle Eastern nations whose growing reliance on the political goodwill of the Latin American nations and the Philippines after 2006, have emerged to challenge the current economic order.

---

"In 1994, 1 US Dollar had been worth almost 106.45 Philippine pesos, and after 1996, it gradually suffered from intense hyperinflation when 1 million Philippine pesos was worth only 42 US cents. We were starving, and if it wasn't for the humanitarian aid that we received from Japan and other nations that helped us, we would have died out a long time ago. I honestly think that China's policies towards the Philippines after the infamous Shanghai Oriental Pearl and Radio Tower attack became more sinister, as they fully intended to starve us all into economic submission through mass famines. It was not surprising that there were calls in the American Congress to charge Wang Dongxing with crimes against humanity, stemming from his actions in the Spratlys conflict. Thank goodness that General Tadiar's extreme solution to fixing the economy had somewhat managed to get half of the surviving population back to work. Many jobs that were created were related to infrastructure, and even they had a military purpose in it. Moreover, to help with the labour shortage, they used political prisoners to help rebuild the Philippines, although the way they treated the political prisoners reminded me too well of how the Japanese treated the Allied POWs in their camps. Environmental reconstruction was left to members of both Nicanor Faledon's Fatherland Freedom Party and the so-called Tadiar Youth, which was basically the students of the various Goyo Academies that sprung up throughout the country. Luckily for us, we knew one of the soldiers who got in trouble because of the AWOLGate, had landed a job with the Special Security Service Group as a freelance mercenary. The soldiers who were discharged from the Philippine military due to disgrace were allowed to join these PMCs, and many of them had been stunned when they received their first paycheques. Over $2,000 USD a month, and to an impoverished Filipino family, that was essentially worth over 5 year's worth of savings. The ex-AFP soldiers who joined the SSSG, had not only started to earn far more than what they were earning while they were in the military, but had also been offered a chance to attend the Clausewitz Academies in sub-Saharan Africa. These PMCs who were now being taught by former East German officers emerged as one of the most vocal critics of the Tadiar regime from within. Soon, the Tadiar regime was forced to put down a mutiny over a delay in pay in 2001, and a coup attempt was made in the same year, this time led by former Philippine Air Force Commander Danilo Atienza, over collusion between senior members of the Council for National Sovereignty, and various Asian and Latin American organized crime groups. We were too scared to come out and protest at that time, and because Tadiar could easily blacklist us if we went out to protest. Although the economic reforms were beneficial, we were still not free." From an anonymous Filipino citizen who lived throughout the Tadiar dictatorship, 2018.

---

{TRIGGER WARNING: This passage contains references to human trafficking, abuse of all kinds, and other kinds of traumatic events.}

Excerpts from "Cue for Conspiracy: The Rise and Fall of Senator Alex Jones"
By: Isaac Feldman
University of California Berkley Press

Chapter Twelve: Of Traumas and Hidden Conspiracies

Although months had gone by since the US had embarked on an invasion of Cuba and resumed its war against Nicaragua, there were mixed reactions to the American military action. The so-called red blooded patriots supported the war effort, because they saw Cuban perfidy as the cause of Bill Clinton's death. On the other hand, there were the anti-war activists who saw the US military adventure as yet another one of those 'false flag events' that they often talked about. The truth is, it was definitely not a false flag event, but a careless move on the part of those pilots who were stupid enough to play truth or dare during their flight. People like me and Alex on the other hand, didn't side with anyone. While we knew that the motives for the war seemed to be credible, the way they engineered it was almost like what happened in the Gulf of Tonkin once again. In addition, while Monica and Linda Tripp also joined the Texas Libertarian Party, I can feel that Tripp was going for the whole conspiracy angle. In fact, she borrowed the book 'None Dare Call it Conspiracy from Alex' and was absorbed into the book.

Speaking of which, Alex and I were summoned by the Texas Libertarian Party authorities in Austin that one day. We drove down to their headquarters on Congress Avenue, and by the time we got there, we saw a couple of other Libertarians clapping at us. Some of them eagerly welcomed us into the fold, and to Alex's surprise, he shook hands with one of his former college schoolmates that he once helped around. Suddenly, the head of the Texas Libertarian Party arrived with a couple of bodyguards, and everyone clapped once again. This time, all of us in the crowd gave our shout of approval.

"Howdy, folks! I daresay that we're getting a fine group of young people here to hear what I'm about to say," Geoff Neale told the crowd as we quieted down. "Although I am pleased to see Governor Perot doing a great job in reviving our declining economy in Texas, there is still a lot to do left. Corporate fat cats are still getting wealthier at the expense of the middle and working class, while the poverty stricken citizens of this great state have unfortunately turned to crime to survive. I don't want to sound like one of those champagne socialists that no one wants to talk to, but I think that we Libertarians need to see more class cooperation between various classes, while maintaining the Non-Aggression Principle."

One of the guys from the crowd clapped his hand as Neale held up his hand to pause him. "Of course, we can't blame the corporate fat cats for the conditions of the poor, as laissez-faire is the bedrock of our party. However, we should stress the necessity of keeping the government out of social issues, since they have done a lot more harm to society than individuals. Yet, we should not be blind to any kind of political corruption that has become a daily occurrence around the world, including our own nation. The Cuban communist regime has violated basic human rights, but the American military invasion also constituted an act of naked aggression. The reason why I am here today, is because we have a lot to prepare for the upcoming election. Yes, we could elect a couple of potential candidates for the House of Representatives and the Senate, but that is by a long shot."

Everyone continued to listen to the rest of the speech, which I found rather interesting, albeit a bit tedious in its tone. Only after did he finish with his speech, did we went inside the headquarters to talk to him. When the receptionist beckoned for us to follow her into Neale's office, it didn't take long until the man himself arrived.

"Gentlemen, it's nice to see you both today. How can I help you?" Neale asked us.

I spoke off first. "Mr. Neale, we were wondering as to how the Libertarian Party will gain even one seat in the Senate, let alone the House of Representatives. The current system does not allow any significant gains for third parties."

Neale nodded in agreement, but his facial expression darkened. "That is the sad truth about our government today. Even more so, if the current Establishment allowed us to gain a couple more seats in the House of Representatives and the Senate, that might disrupt the whole Republican-Democrat tandem that they got going on, and we don't know how long have they maintained the system."

"A parliamentary system might be feasible in the short term, but like you said, there are too many politicians who benefit from the current system. The Republicans would say that a parliamentary system would dilute a lot of support for their party from the voters, who are now gaining more choices to the parties that they would want to vote for," Alex added. Neale suddenly turned his gaze towards him. "That's the thing with American politics: it's always gotta be two-sided."

"I agree. Hold on, aren't you the guy who's making the documentary on Corporate America?" Neale suddenly asked him. Alex and I nodded in response. "You know, the American Cause does have some significant influence with some of our policies, but they are a bit too hardline for our taste."

Neale had a point about the American Cause. Some of their ideas may have worked in another era, but in this day and age, it seemed so old fashioned. The hatred for such newer ideas have rankled within the old guard of the American Cause, but at the same time the old guard were beneficial in that they can pass their experience on to the younger generation. At the same time, I doubt that Neale would have approved of certain foreign adventures that our government is engaged in, and he certainly would have backed James Traficant's failed attempt to impeach former President Jackson for his negligence in the Spratlys conflict.

Speaking of the man himself, he opened a drawer beside his desk, and handed us some forms that we needed to fill out. To our surprise, it was the form for the role of campaign volunteer on behalf of Mary J. Ruwart, which meant that we were about to enter into the realm of politics.

"You gentlemen are far too young to be in politics, as American law dictates that the candidate should be 35 years old and older before he or she can run for political office. I knew I sensed something in the both of you the moment you've both joined the Libertarian Party here in Texas. Well, you need a taste of what federal politics is like, and soon you'll need to get a taste of what stateside politics is like as well," Neale explained. We nodded in agreement and shook hands with him as we left his office.

---

By the time we arrived back in Alex's house, we were surprised to see Linda Tripp and Monica engaged in a hushed conversation. Monica by now, became our close friend, although she started to harbor a bit of a crush on Alex, while I started seeing a young lady named Erica Wulff. We knew that our documentary will take around 2 years to complete, by which time everything will have changed by then. Linda suddenly got up from her chair and turned to us.

"Issac, Alex. I just finished talking to Monica, and she said something that I think you two need to hear," Linda told us.

Alex frowned. "Please don't tell us that we're being watched by the government."

"Nothing of the sort, Alex," Monica added as she stood up. She went over to the table, where the copy of the Texas Tribune lay. "Do you know about the murder of former Governor Clinton and Jeff Epstein over Cuban airspace that triggered this whole military adventure? Well, it seems that it has taken another turn for the worst."

She handed the copy of the Texas Tribune to me, and I started to read its contents. I gave the copy to Alex after reading the front page headline that caught our attention.

"US Marines relocate to Little Saint James Island in the US Virgin Islands, finds the home of Jeffrey Epstein, and stumbles across....what!?" Alex exclaimed. He turned to Linda and Monica, who simply nodded. "A bunch of teenaged girls who are locked up in that house, with no food or water, and are not told that both Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were killed. Plus three girls had died from neglect as well?"

Linda looked at us with shock on her face. Although she did not know much about Epstein and his ilk, she had some experience interviewing survivors of human trafficking. The tragic tidbit about the three teens who died from neglect was horrifying, but when they're added on top of reports about finding one or two surviving teenage girls who were abused so badly that they resorted to self-harm, it started to dawn on us what Epstein was capable of.

"What a tragedy. Plus General van Riper, according to the Texas Tribune, has called for a temporary ceasefire with the Cuban authorities in order to coordinate efforts with the rescue mission, and to reunite those abducted girls with their families." Monica placed the newspaper on the table. She then looked at Alex, who nodded. "Finally, President Kemp has announced his approval of the temporary ceasefire with the Cuban resistance movement to facilitate the reunification process."

I smiled in relief. "Maybe we should approach Mr. Neale for advice on this kind of humanitarian crisis."

"We must, and in the meantime, I'm thinking of setting up a new kind of news channel. Since you two are busy with the documentary, I'll invite Monica to build it with me," Linda told us. Monica nodded in agreement, but she held up her hand.

"You know, we might be able to squeeze in an influential figure for our project," Monica suggested.

"Who do you have in mind?" Alex asked curiously. Monica gave us a mischievous grin.

"Hillary Clinton."

---

"When the UN imposed its economic sanctions on the Philippines back in the 1990s, the significance of this act meant that the Filipino migrant workers overseas could no longer send some of their salary back to their families, as they themselves are seeking political asylum in the nations that they're currently employed in. For example, a Filipino domestic helper who worked in Saudi Arabia could no longer send money back to her family in Urdaneta, Pangasinan, because part of the sanctions included the ban on sending foreign currency to the Tadiar dictatorship. When you also add the runaway inflation on the Philippine peso, and a looming Filipino refugee crisis, it became impractical for the Filipino migrant workers to continue working. Therefore, their employers would often assist them in filing for political refugee status, and also led them to the embassy of their choice. While the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom were their preferred destinations, Spain became the next popular destination for some of the Filipino migrant workers. However, for those who worked in the Middle East, the only nation that was willing to take them in was the former communist regime in Yugoslavia. Many Filipino migrant workers in the Middle East feared going to a communist nation, but once it became clear that returning to the Philippines was not only impossible, but that their meager resources would make it more difficult for them to travel to places like Italy and Malta, they reluctantly accepted the offer to relocate to Yugoslavia. At that time, the Balkan counterpart to Tadiar in General Veljko Kadijevic, who was more of a Fabian Ver figure than a Tadiar figure, had launched his coup that cracked down on the hardline elements of the Serbian nationalist movement, forcing the extremists to relocate to the former Soviet Union, where they took part in the Second Russian Civil War. Although within nine years of the MidEast Filipino migrant workers' relocation to Yugoslavia, they had surprisingly settled in a bit easier. Yet, while the locals were tolerant towards them, the hardline racists within Yugoslav society (regardless of the ethnicities) had distrusted them. Once Yugoslavia began to give some of its republics independence, the Filipino refugee community also followed suit. Until the resignation of Artemio Tadiar, Rijeka held the largest Filipino refugee population in the entire Balkan region, with Mostar holding the second largest refugee population. What was surprising though, was that more Filipino refugees had opted to settle in Bosnia and Hercegovina, and Croatia, instead of the rump Yugoslav Republic, mainly because they could freely practice their Catholic religion there, helping them integrate into the local Catholic community, of which the Croats were more welcoming than the Bosniaks. Once the Tadiar regime had collapsed in 2016, many of these refugees began to return to the Philippines, but by then their children have been integrated into the Croatian and Bosnian societies. Of course, we could not forget that the Filipino refugee community in the rump Yugoslav republic had mostly settled in Vojvodina, due to its multicultural character, as well as the capital of Belgrade. However, the Filipino refugees inside the rump Yugoslav republic were pressured to convert to Orthodoxy, mostly because of their antipathy towards Catholicism. Only a few of them agreed to convert, while the rest who kept their Catholic faith moved to Croatia.

What did the Filipino refugee community do with the money they've earned from their jobs, now that they didn't have to send it back as remittances to a military dictatorship? Well, they've built their new lives in their communities, and became more influential. Most of the refugees went into the private sector, since their fluency in English allowed them to acquire jobs in the service industry, as well as tourism. From the 1990s until 2016, one could find any Filipino working in the tourism industry throughout Europe. Of course, these refugees also had to learn the local language as well, which would have made their lives easier. Some of them also became famous in the arts, as well as in music. One notable example of a Balkan Filipino star is Karylle, who became famous in Bulgaria for her singing ability, and her network of connections to various Bulgarian and Macedonian celebrities. Another example is the famous twin football players in Filip and Jovan Mladenovic-Agsalud, who opted to play for their adopted homeland in the rump Yugoslavia. Although their influence among the Filipino diaspora has continued to rise, the old anti-migrant rhetoric coming from the locals has caused a turmoil within the Filipino diaspora in the whole of Europe. Of course, there were some Filipinos within the diaspora who became philanthropists, building their foundations and charities towards helping their fellow countrymen, as well as giving back to the communities that helped them to integrate. Overall, the perception of the Filipino in Europe slowly began to change, as the years went by and it appeared that Tadiar was simply not going anywhere. No one predicted that one day, Tadiar would simply step down from his position as junta leader, and hand over the reins of power to Loren Legarda. In fact, there were various far-right politicians in Europe who openly praised Artemio Tadiar for his anti-communist rhetoric, and has promised to deport the Filipinos living inside their nations to where they truly belonged. For all the Filipinos living in Europe, that was tantamount to being sent to a death camp that Tadiar's Philippines has become. Surprisingly, it was the more extremist political party in the Netherlands under the Dutch People's Union, or the Nederlandse Volks-Unie as they called it, whose leader Joop Glimmerveen, had started the lionizing of Tadiar. Jean Marie Le Pen also followed suit, as well as Pia Kjaersgaard of the Danish People's Party. In other parts of the world where Sinophobia was rampant, Artemio Tadiar became the symbol of anti-Chinese sentiment, as they often boasted that he was the only leader who refused to negotiate anything with the Chinese government. It has become both a great source of joy and embarassment for Filipinos worldwide when one can easily express their anti-Chinese hatred with their open admiration for Tadiar. This would also create a turmoil within the Filipino diaspora, who began to re-examine some of their political beliefs and slowly began to accept the Tadiar regime as they returned to the Philippines before 2007." Teddy Casino, on "The Filipino Diaspora and their Influence on Global Politics", presented on August 18, 2016, in Seattle, Washington State.

---

Timeline of the Hyperinflation of the Philippine Peso:

1990: $1 USD = 95.11 PHP

1994: $1 USD = 506.45 PHP

1995: $1 USD = 773,782.12 PHP

1996: $1 USD = 5,672,231.59 PHP

1997: $1 USD = 147,901,838.23 PHP

1998: (Central Bank of the Philippines Abolished under the Monetary Reform and Fiscal Reset Act)

[gillan1220]

I'm curious about this 2003 coup by Danilo Atienza.

[TheRomanSlayer]

That will be covered in a few future updates, but I would think that Danilo Atienza's attempted coup would fail since it will be in the 2000s. However, that might also have an effect on Tadiar's gradual acceptance of certain condition that leads to the end of the travel bans on the Philippines.

[simeon]

Aug 7, 2021 18:45:22 GMT TheRomanSlayer said:

I don't think Tadiar has assumed the Presidency, although it could be hinted that in TTL's 2016, he's priming for Palparan to be elected as President (though he would be a puppet in the hands of an ailing Tadiar in this case). 

Yeah, that only shores up my Bakufu-Presidency assumption.

So, does that mean that the office of the President was left unfilled for a decade already?

[TheRomanSlayer]

Aug 8, 2021 4:35:30 GMT simeon said:

Aug 7, 2021 18:45:22 GMT TheRomanSlayer said:

I don't think Tadiar has assumed the Presidency, although it could be hinted that in TTL's 2016, he's priming for Palparan to be elected as President (though he would be a puppet in the hands of an ailing Tadiar in this case). 

Yeah, that only shores up my Bakufu-Presidency assumption.

So, does that mean that the office of the President was left unfilled for a decade already?

Most likely, and since Tadiar is practically a Shogun in all but name, he would have wielded absolute power. So yes, there is no one to fill the role of President, although the role of Prime Minister would have either been filled by Nicanor Faeldon or Elly Pamatong.

[simeon]

Aug 8, 2021 4:49:33 GMT TheRomanSlayer said:

Most likely, and since Tadiar is practically a Shogun in all but name, he would have wielded absolute power. So yes, there is no one to fill the role of President, although the role of Prime Minister would have either been filled by Nicanor Faeldon or Elly Pamatong.

I'll just thank you for not writing Gen. Tadiar convincing himself that Arturo Tolentino was somehow still alive. The Filipino-Chinese being considered as untermenschen was bad enough (though I'll likewise thank you for retconning it, too).

[TheRomanSlayer]

No, even Tadiar would think that Tolentino was killed. He did receive the confirmed reports after all.

[simeon]

Aug 8, 2021 18:10:27 GMT TheRomanSlayer said:

No, even Tadiar would think that Tolentino was killed. He did receive the confirmed reports after all.

Yeah, but then I can't resist doing that HRE reference.

I mean, Taboritsky's Regency.

[TheRomanSlayer]

The HRE reference. I get the feeling that Filipinos would have mixed feelings about federalism ITTL, as opposed to OTL. Then, there's the cringe pop culture that still has uses ITTL that we wish it didn't live long IOTL. In one of the previous updates, we get to see how the build up to the 'Barkada Revolution' would see the hypebeasts and alt-jejemons would ultimately play a role in Tadiar's downfall.

[kyuzoaoi]

Do you have the names of the Exiled Barkada group?

[TheRomanSlayer]

Aug 9, 2021 17:35:59 GMT kyuzoaoi said:

Do you have the names of the Exiled Barkada group?

At the moment, not yet. I would say though, they would be obscure figures that you wouldn't know in OTL.

[TheRomanSlayer]

Chapter Seventy-Three: When Humanity Almost Met its Demise

"The shocking discovery made by both the 24th and 26th Marine Expeditionary Units when they landed in the island of Little Saint James in the US Virgin Islands had captured every single news outlet around the world. Upon arrival at the home of the late Jeffrey Epstein, US Marine Corps General Robert B. Johnston and his immediate superior, the head of the American invasion force that captured Cuba and Nicaragua, Paul van Riper, were notified by three Marines of a basement where they found several girls who were revealed to have been trafficked by organized crime groups. All of the girls, it seemed, came from diverse backgrounds, but the one thing that they had in common was that they were kidnapped and abused by several perpetrators. When it became apparent that there were a few girls who had died from neglect, as a result of a lack of news of Epstein's death, medical teams within the MEUs were deployed to give them a medical assessment. In addition, General Van Riper called for a temporary ceasefire with the Cuban resistance movement, in order to help reunite the kidnapped girls with their families. When the Kemp administration found out about the gruesome discovery, the President immediately approved of the temporary ceasefire and the US military leadership coordinated with the NSA on locating the families of the kidnapped girls. Unlike with the CIA, the NSA under VADM John M. McConnell did not want any involvement from them, especially the Corsairs, due to their reputation. The NSA agents had also coordinated their efforts with the FBI on finding any surviving perpetrators who were responsible for the abduction of hundreds of girls for the purpose of a variety of abuses. What's more, the NSA and the FBI had rang their alarm bells when it was revealed that a disturbing number of girls from the Philippines who were captured in anti-terrorist operations, most of whom were in various communist militant groups, were also sold to human traffickers for a large sum of money. The source of the information on the human trafficking connection between the Tadiar dictatorship and various organized crime groups came from within the increasingly disillusioned military officers of the Philippine military who were aghast at the growing criminality of certain senior officers. Many of these same senior officers would eventually be arrested and tried at the Hague for crimes against humanity, as well as other charges levied against them. The only saving grace out of this horrific discovery was that none of the Philippine military officers had any dealings with Jeffrey Epstein, or their reputation would have been stained by their association with a known criminal." Linda Tripp, from "The Geopolitical Tripwire of Jeffrey Epstein", sponsored by "The American Cause".

---

SUMMARY OF THE TV SERIES "V FOR VENDETTA: CHAOS AND ORDER":

Synopsis: 'Chaos and Order' is a sequel to the popular tv series V for Vendetta, which covers the aftermath of the oppressive Norsefire regime that have taken power in the British Isles. While the original plot for the comic of V for Vendetta lay with the nuclear war between the US and the former USSR, the plot for the TV version of V for Vendetta started with a more brutal Spratlys conflict that ends in China using 33 nuclear bombs against the Philippines in an attempt to bring down the Tadiar regime. While the Chinese were successful in forcing the Philippine government to recognize their takeover of the Spratly Islands, the effects of the nuclear exchange led to the outbreak of the Balangiga Virus, which would eventually ravage most of Asia, Australia, and even parts of Europe, North and South America, and Africa. The Balangiga Virus became a catalyst for Europe's turn towards the radical far-right, as the Norsefire Party would rise in popularity in response to China's nuclear aggression. Anti-Asian sentiment would rise as a result, but anti-Chinese revanchism would arise in the Philippines when the fictional version of both Nicanor Faeldon and Elly Pamatong in Andres Pasahol would rise. Ironically, the racist Norsefire regime would recognize the Filipinos, not as another 'mongrelized inferiors' according to their propaganda, but 'victims of Oriental savagery'. As a result, the more aggressive elements of Norsefire would openly call for a Great Reconquest of the United States, which Norsefire saw as the ultimate enemy of what they see as a revived Greater British Empire. With the monarch as a mere figurehead, power would lay with a military man called Adam Sumter (in this case, Sumter would combine the worse aspects of both Hideki Tojo and Adolf Hitler), who would launch the purge against the Norsefire regime's perceived opponents. Europe would eventually succeed in pushing towards the far-right, with even former Eastern bloc nations falling under nationalist regimes, including the former Soviet Union itself. The main story of V for Vendetta focuses on Evey Hammond and her role as an employee of a prominent British arms manufacturing company, before she is caught up in a wrongful arrest by the Fingermen, only to be saved by the anarchist simply called V.

Chaos and Order's plotline deals with the aftermath of the fall of the Norsefire regime, with the domino effect of Europe's nationalist regimes falling apart, creating a chaotic situation. Out of the chaos, comes several new characters: Ian Somerset (played by Aidan Gillen), who works as the Minister of Finance under a post-Sumter regime that is led by Harold Sorkin (played by Alan Rickman), and the main villain of 'Chaos and Order', the Norsefire sympathizer turned new security chief Michael Warwick (played by Ian McDiarmid), who secretly plots to reinstate the Norsefire regime amidst the outbreak of several wars around the world. The main problem of the post-Sumter regime is their struggle to deal with the survivors of the former Sumter regime, while dealing with the geopolitical effects, namely the ongoing civil war in the collapsing United States and an Islamist uprising in the former Russian nationalist regime. All of that, the only Norsefire ally left outside Europe in the Filipino dictatorship of General Pasahol, faces an uprising from within. With V being a slowly fading memory, Evey works in the shadows to stop Warwick from realizing his cherished dream of restoring the Norsefire regime. Subequently, another theme of Chaos and Order covers more government corruption, as well as the collusion between the state and various multinational business giants, in a reference to the previous administration of Jack Kemp and his ties to defense contractors and other financial giants.

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ANTI-GLOBALIZATION PROTESTS HIT SEATTLE AS UNUSUAL UNITY OF FAR-LEFT AND FAR-RIGHT GROUPS DEMONSTRATE AMIDST WTO MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Vancouver Sun
December 1, 1999


Activists held a rally against the World Trade Organization during the anti-globalization protest in Seattle. 

(Seattle, WASHINGTON STATE) - Various protesters of all kinds have converged on the city of Seattle as they held demonstrations against what they see as 'creeping globalism'. From within the far-left groups, various black bloc members have held rallies and teach ins in an attempt to educate the public on what they are fighting for, while far-right groups have used the protests as an opportunity to demonstrate their strength and unity in the face of outright hostility towards them. At the same time, the protesters themselves have also started to fight amongst themselves due to political differences.

"This is supposed to be a peaceful protest in solidarity with those who suffered under the boot of globalism and cutthroat capitalism," says noted progressive activist Erica Yates, whose displeasure was displayed when she saw twenty skinheads with swastikas on their shoulders. "The fact that we're seeing literal neo-Nazis marching in this same protest will compromise our goal of exposing the reality of global corporatism."

Another issue that both factions of the protesters are raising is the ongoing American military occupation of Cuba and Nicaragua. The increasing amount of money and resources spent on the war in the two Latin American nations have also contributed to the increased numbers of hospitalizations among military veterans, and in some cases, some of the veterans have joined the protesters as well. Many of the veterans had recently returned from their tour in Cuba and Nicaragua, although some of them had to be carried around in wheelchairs and wheeled around by their fellow veteran buddies who also joined in the protests.

"We want to tell President Kemp that while our intentions towards those two nations were good in that we were trying to depose their governments and to replace them with those who are friendly to our interests, many of our buddies have committed suicide out of trauma because of it," says recently discharged veteran Peter Kewell, who suffered from PTSD after being caught in a grenade blast caused by the Cuban resistance. "I knew a friend who was a Marine Corps officer who led the platoon into Little Saint James and took part in the greatest humanitarian mission involving the military and our enemies."

The Great Reunification, as the US military authorities called the humanitarian mission to help reunite the women and young girls that were found by Marine Corps soldiers when they relocated to Little Saint James in the US Virgin Islands, was launched by General Paul van Riper, at his own initiative. Apparently, the Kemp administration had been notified of the Marine Corps' discovery of the girls and are now coordinating their efforts with the FBI and the NSA. When General Van Riper personally told the rescued girls of Little Saint James of the deaths of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell onboard his private plane that former Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton was on when they were on their way to Mexico, many of the girls cried tears of joy. Still, the shocking discovery of the girls had also fed into the paranoia of the veterans who are returning from their Caribbean tour.

As for the protests that are now occurring, many of Seattle's police force were deployed to stop any potential riots from happening. Yet, the presence of radical factions within the protesters would also spark fears of a violent crackdown, as many delegates from within the World Trade Organization had called on the local authorities to ensure that their safety is top priority. Already, the Washington Army National Guard has been deployed to aid their colleagues in local law enforcement, but the presence of the veterans might complicate things.

"We hope to resolve any potential disputes between the parties involved without the use of force," says Seattle PD Chief Norm Stamper, who addressed the ongoing protests. "At the same time, we encourage the demonstrators to refrain from using violence while exercising the 4th Amendment."

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Op-Ed: The Far-Right's Bizarre Obsession with Artemio Tadiar
By: Huang Qing
August 31, 2016

It is not surprising that various far-right figures in Europe, North America, and Australia have often displayed their admiration of some of the worst dictators in human history, with Adolf Hitler being their preferred 'idol'. Yet, at the same time, these very same far-right figures had also praised Cold War era dictators, such as Augusto Pinochet and even the Apartheid era figures. However, we were not prepared for the biggest irony of them all: their bizarre love affair with recently deposed Philippine dictator Artemio Tadiar. Now, why would fascists and white nationalists admire someone who they would normally see as racially inferior? What's the far-right's obsession with the reviled military dictator of a Third World country like the Philippines?

Another irony of this obsession came from its origins in the growing Filipino Refugee Crisis that had occurred in th early 1990s, when Filipino migrant labourers felt that returning to a country now ruled by a second dictator is not in their best interest, and that it would be necessary to seek political asylum in any nation that is willing to take them in. Although the wealthier areas of Western Europe opened their doors to them, the former Eastern Bloc was more hesitant to take them in, mostly because of their own economic malaise. However, Yugoslavia was one of the few communist nations that took the exiled Filipino migrant labourers into its home, the other being Poland (although Poland only took in 25,000 Filipino exiles). Yet, the exiled communities flourished wherever they settled, especially in Anglophone countries, where more Filipino exiles choose to settle. Within the Anglosphere, the United States took in approximately 130,000 Filipinos, Canada taking in 97,000 of them, Australia taking in 45,300 of them, and both Great Britain and New Zealand only taking around 20,000 Filipinos each.

Although the locals' reaction to the large presence of the Filipino exile community was rather mixed, the negative reactions often came from racist groups that existed within the West. In Eastern and Southern Europe however, the presence of the Filipino exiles had triggered a hostile reaction from the already marginalized Roma community, who started to witness more Filipino exiles settle into houses that have been targeted for gentrification. In some cases, the local Roma community had witnessed the newly arrived Filipinos take some of the available homes that could have gone to them. As for the neo-Nazi groups, their love affair with Tadiar didn't arise overnight. Many of the Filipino exiles have become politically aware of their situation, and would often vote for progressive parties. In some cases, a few Filipino exiles even joined left-wing groups, which aroused a hostile reaction from the far-right. The most popular, albeit infamous chant, that white nationalists would often say towards the Filipino exiles is 'we'll Flip you back to Tadiar'. 'Like monkeys, we'll swing you from the trees' is another incendiary slogan used by the far-right against the Filipino exiles, which is primarily used in the Anglosphere, but 'we gave you bombs then, we'll give you nukes today' is often heard by Chinese ultranationalists whenever there is a dispute between the Chinese and the Filipinos. Some of the exiled Filipinos who were on the receiving end of the racist abuse had began to contemplate on defecting back to the Tadiar regime, where they would feel most welcome, despite the Tadiar regime's atrocious human rights record.

In contemporary circles, the icon of Artemio Tadiar if often used by the far-right in any anti-progressive protests, as well as the usage of the Tadiar-era Philippine flag. As many of the activists recall, the Tadiar-era estelada style Filipino flag had been reviled by both pro-Aquino and pro-Marcos factions of the Philippine political exile community. During a far-right rally in Stockholm, Sweden on July 31, 2015, Swedish ultranationalists waved not only the Swedish variant of the Gray Legion flag used during the Second Russian Civil War, but the Tadiar-era Philippine flag when they demonstrated in solidarity with the perceived 'victims of globalist greed', referencing the UN sanctions imposed on the Philippines that were lifted back in 2007. Another protest where the Tadiar-era Philippine flag was flown was during a football match between China and the Philippines only three weeks ago, in which the Chinese and Filipino spectators were involved in one of the most infamous football fights of the post-Tadiar era. In a tragic twist of irony, some of the Tadiar loyalists who have grown up only knowing of Artemio Tadiar would eventually found the first Filipino Neo-Nazi group in the Philippines. We have seen how Artemio Tadiar became a polarizing figure, both within Filipino politics, and global politics as a whole. We are living in a world influenced by the rise of Artemio Tadiar to this day, and no one knows if the world will ever cleanse itself of the Tadiar legacy.

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Excerpts from "An American Family in Tadiar's Philippines"
by: Kimberly and Beatrice Ramsey
Published by University of California Los Angeles Printing Press

Chapter Four: Creeping Fanaticism (Kimberly's Entry)

Nothing much went on since we saw the punishment given to the parent who was caught gambling, apart from when our brother joined our school. Tommy was still the emerging athlete that everyone looked up to, and in fact, the Philippine military is establishing its own Athletic Corps. From what Dad told us when he came to visit the school, it was meant for active military personnel who are serving their military service that are involved in various sports. Since Tommy and Harold are not Filipino citizens, they are exempt from having to serve, but they also volunteered to at least get some rudimentary military training done, as to increase their fitness. By the time 1999 had dawned on us, we realized that the country started to quiet down. Other than reports of Chinese vessels being hijacked by the Philippine Navy and Marine Corps and killing the crew onboard, the Tadiar regime was rather quiet. Until one day, when the so-called Tadiar Youth came to our school to give some lectures that we started to sense something different is going on. Our suspicions proved to be correct when Nicanor Faeldon himself arrived on the school grounds, accompanied by uniformed Tadiar Youth members carrying flags. Beatrice and I winced at the sight of the Tadiar Youth members, since it reminded us all too well of the Hitler Youth.

"Good afternoon, young national comrades," Faeldon started to say, in which we responded:

"Good afternoon, Comrade Lieutenant Commander Faeldon."

The usage of the term 'comrade' stunned us for a bit. Didn't the communists call each other comrades? Then again, in the history lessons we were given at Goyo Academy, Spanish Falangists also called each other comrades, so it wasn't far fetched. Still, now that we took a closer look at the Tadiar Youth members, they looked more like the Falangists who are marching around in their blue and black uniforms.

"That's better. You've all known a little as to why we have decided to make a surprise visit to this fine academy. It's because we have come to give a lecture on the dangers of globalism, and the success of our ideological adversaries and allies in the fight against corporate capitalism, with the successful Seattle struggle against the World Trade Organization. We will tell you more about them, or your teachers will," Faeldon continued to tell us. We simply kept quiet as he continued to speak. "We are always on the front line against international communism, but the path to a national renewal lies with the desire to build a new society that is free from both the exploiters and globalist agitators who seek to tear down our national sovereignty for the multinational corporations to exploit us."

One student raised her hand up. "What will our role be in this new struggle?"

Faeldom smiled. "I'm glad you asked that question. You see, the entire students of the various branches of Goyo Academy have a role to play in our national revival. The youth must learn from an early age, how to love their nation and how to love their fellow countrymen. Yet, we must love our people who share their national conviction in reviving our fallen nation, and to cast aside those who would seek to destroy it."

The other students remained silent, but we felt a bit nervous about the rhetoric. Of course, we kept our feelings to ourselves. We knew too well what happens to those who dared to speak out in this kind of dictatorship; they would end up in either a labor camp, or they end up dead. Once after Faeldon finished speaking, the rest of the Tadiar Youth handed out some application papers to join the group. Despite being foreign nationals, they also handed us the papers as well. After the speech was finished, we proceeded to return to our dormitories. We looked at the application paper that we received from the Tadiar Youth members, and noticed at how thick the paperwork was.

Beatrice approached me an hour later, feeling a bit down. I can tell that she wasn't comfortable with the idea of joining such a group. We understood what it meant for us, if we ever returned home to the US, we'd be denounced by some of the people who have been on the receiving end of Tadiar's abuse. Moreover, we're also worried about our prospects in the US if they ever found out about our membership with the Tadiar Youth. Of course, we might be well aware of Faeldon's uncomfortable idea of including us into the organization, namely because we are not Filipino citizens. However, our classmate Tommy was born in the Philippines, but doesn't have Filipino citizenship.

Speaking of Tommy, he came by our dormitory by four o'clock in the afternoon with Harold accompanying him. For some odd reason, they looked a bit nervous when we came out to see them, Tommy being the most nervous.

"There was a priest from that new church who came by our dormitory," Tommy spoke first. He looked at us sheepishly before relaxing his posture. "Says he represents the new Philippine Independent Traditionalist Catholic Church, and that he wants to spread the Catholic doctrine."

Beatrice frowned. "Aren't your parents Baptist preachers?"

Tommy nodded. "Yes, but lately they've been under pressure from the PITCC clergy to convert. They complained to General Tadiar about the priest, and he said that he's willing to acknowledge Protestantism as a recognized faith here in the Philippines.

Harold sighed sadly, even though we didn't notice his behavior. "I'm not sure if Mom and Dad know about it. Ever since Mr. Faeldon came to our school, there has been an increase in our classmates embracing the PITCC version of the Catholic faith. We've been raised as Protestants."

"Don't worry about it, Harry. General Tadiar will sort everything out in the end, and he knows that our dad's ties to him is important," I told Harold as I patted him in the shoulder. "I'm wondering as to what kind of Protestant faith will he recognize, or if he will help organize an official Protestant Church here."

"Why not ask your mom and dad if they can contribute to the idea of building an official Protestant Church to General Tadiar?" Harold asked Tommy. He looked at us as if we were crazy, before nodding in agreement.

"I definitely will." Tommy and Harold left our dormitory and went outside as we followed them suit.

---

At night, the entire academy was invited to a Tadiar Youth rally, just in the football field. We recognized some of our classmates who were also at the rally, but there were a few of our classmates who have accepted the invitation to join the Tadiar Youth. We noticed the dark blue shirt and the black pants that was worn by the active members. From the pictures that Mr. Faeldon showed us of the original members of the Spanish Falange Youth members, the uniforms closely resemble what they wore before. The only difference though, was that instead of a red beret or a black garrison cap, they wore a khaki colored kepi hat, with the Tadiar Youth's insignia on it. The insignia in question had the new Philippine coat of arms on it, emblazoned in two curvy looking straight swords that our classmates called the kris blades. The active members also carried flags of the movement, as well as the current Philippine flag, which looked almost like the flag of one of Spain's autonomous provinces that Beatrice told me later on was Catalonia.

"Wow, they looked sharp out there," Beatrice whispered to me as the members started to march. Mr. Faeldon himself went to the podium, accompanied by several adult staff who ran the Tadiar Youth and gestured for the members to start marching.

"A bit too sharp," I whispered back, to which Beatrice nodded silently.

The marching ceremony lasted for twenty minutes, but within that time frame we noticed that the Tadiar Youth members made sure that our eyes were glued on the members marching past the podium. Sure, the music was festive, but it was accompanied by a loud drumbeat that made our insides squirm. What we noticed next, was that around 50 to a hundred other Tadiar Youth members were carrying torches as the followed the flag bearers. Now we felt like we've traveled back in time to the days of Hitler's regime, and the reincarnation of the Hitler Youth is terrifying. As if it wasn't enough, we were surprised to see General Tadiar appear on the podium as Mr. Faeldon stepped aside to let him in, followed by the other two generals that Dad was close friends with.

"My young warriors of the nation," Tadiar said as he addressed the youth. "Many of you are asking yourselves as to why we've come to display a sense of patriotism tonight. We have come a long way since the war against the communist dragon in the north, and though we have suffered collectively as a nation, we have overcome the trials and adversities to rise once gain from the ashes. All of you have experienced significant losses in your lives, because we have given you a new home and a new family after those communist criminals have ruthlessly taken away your families, your siblings, and your friends. We rose from the ashes, a new nation that swept away the decrepit edifices of the old regime. Your parents fought against the old dictator who is already dying by the time the people summoned the courage to demand change. We, the soldiers, pilots, and sailors of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, have faced enemies from within and without. Through our fanatical struggle, we have succeeded in defeating them. At the same time, we have learned from the mistakes that the previous regime have made. We learned that prestigious families have held the nation back from its true potential. We have also emphasized the dangers of relying on oligarchial families for political power, and through our repeated warnings, we have wiped out the family oligarchies from our nation once more."

We saw the eyes of the members who stood at attention when they were listening to him speak, and to our tiny horror, the looks of their eyes were rather frightening.

"Yet, even as we continue to rebuild our nation, there will be those who will try to subvert the order that we've built, and there will be rebels who are diametrically opposed to our movement. I say, we shall show no mercy towards our enemies who conspire with foreign powers to undermine our nation. The wounded Chinese dragon will still try to wipe us out for good, mainly because we have defied them, and despoiled their ambitions. Then, there are the Americans." We gulped at that mention. To our relief, General Tadiar didn't get angry right away. "The Americans remain our allies. I don't mean to curse America in particular, just the useless government of that little fool Jesse Jackson, who used his religious mindset to try and 'bridge the gap' between us and the Chinese communist regime. He sold us out to China, even when we endured the bombings that they caused. Thankfully, Jack Kemp replaced that naive fool and sought to punish China. Yet, who saved us when Jesse Jackson forced America to turn its back on us? Japan. They saved us when no one else would, and in return, we invited them to come and settle in the Philippines. And the cowardly exiles compared me to the one man who sought to 'bridge the gap' between us and the Japanese in Jose P. Laurel? Yes, we did resist the Japanese occupation of our country and waited for our American overlords to liberate us. Yes, we know that there were some mistakes that the Japanese themselves made during the war, but in the long run, they provided the rest of Asia with an inspiration to throw off the shackles of colonialism. However, we only saw that Western colonialism was replaced with Chinese neo-colonialism. Their attempts to colonize the world with their money, and their political influence, has unfortunately attracted the very same Asian nations that fought off Western colonialism. We were once wealthy and powerful, but the fool Ferdinand Marcos squandered it all on his cronies, but thankfully a few of them saw the light and joined our cause."

"Thank the heroes for seeing the light!" One of the members shouted, to which they shouted. "Mabuhay!"

"Mabuhay!" the response from the rest of the members shouted in unision.

Tadiar held up his hand to quiet them down. "Of course, the other oligarchs who cowardly fled out of the country have taken their ill-gotten wealth with them, but we have found a way to strike back at these very same greedy fools. It is why we had to resort to such acts that might seem barbaric to other nations, but necessary for us. However, the fight for our national revival is not yet finished, for you all have a role to play. You, my children, are the future of the Filipino nation. You and your generation will inherit the world that we have so far built and the world that you yourselves will contribute to. We will always be on the front lines against international communism, but we have now added a new enemy on the ranks: unbridled, cutthroat capitalism. We can build our own kind of capitalism, one without exploitation. Yet, these same agitating fools insist that capitalism without exploitation does not exist. They're wrong. Only through our labor, sweat, blood, and tears, can we complete the national reconstruction of our nation. Para sa buhay!"

"Higit sa lahat!" the Tadiar Youth members shouted.

"Para sa bansa!" Tadiar shouted again.

"Higit sa lahat!"

We continued to watch the rally as it unfolded, but by now, we are seeing the real Artemio Tadiar. Yes, he is not fast approaching the same level as Adolf Hitler, but he has reached the level of both Benito Mussolini and Francisco Franco in terms of infamy. I honestly felt scared for our classmates, because they are now getting the impression that they need to fight for their right to secure a good childhood, not only for themselves, but for those who will come after them. Yes, our dad is still good friends with the Philippine military leadership, but what happens when a new President thinks that men like our dad are more of a liability than an asset. What then?

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FAR-RIGHT RALLIES BREAK OUT THROUGHOUT PARTS OF EUROPE OVER INCREASED INTAKE OF FILIPINO REFUGEES, PORTRAITS OF TADIAR SPOTTED AT SOME RALLIES
Sydney Herald
September 9, 1999

(Athens, GREECE) - For the seventh day in a row, various anti-refugee rallies have been launched throughout Europe, with Southern and Central Europe being the most prominent. As the number of Filipino refugees continue to arrive in Europe, primarily Spain, the United Kingdom, and Italy, far-right organizations have sprung up to protest the refugee flow. However, what truly shocked both counter-protesters and the Filipino refugees themselves who fled from their overseas employment in the Middle East because of their situation that made it impossible to return to the Philippines, was the usage and display of the portraits of the widely reviled Filipino dictator, Artemio Tadiar. In the predominantly Balkan Orthodox nations where anti-Catholic sentiment remains high, the presence of the Filipino Catholic population within their territory had raised the fears of Catholicization, which contributed to the attacks on various Catholic churches within its territory.

"The Orthodox Church is under attack by the Papists from the Orient, who have come to Europe in droves. While they are considered Christian, their presence is a dangerous factor in the potential destruction of Orthodoxy," comments Greek Orthodox activist Konstantinos Laskaris, who leads the local activist group that advocates for the total assimilation or expulsion of the Filipino Catholic population. "Unless the Filipino refugees agree to convert to the true Christian Church, we will never accept them as part of our society."

Already, the Filipino exile community has come under attack by far-right movements within Europe, North America, and Australia. However, far-left organizations have also attacked the same Filipino exile community they claimed to support, on ideological grounds. The later batch of Filipino refugees who escaped from the Philippines through Indonesia, had arrived in Europe by early 1997, but came under attack from Europe's other Asian immigrant communities. Incensed by what they saw as a living reminder of why the Spratlys conflict escalated close to WWIII, some of the other Asian minorities have launched attacks on the Filipino exile community, forcing them to retaliate in kind, leading to riots. At the same time, there are tensions within the Filipino exile community over their ordeal and suffering at the hands of their perpetrators. In addition, the pressure exerted on the Filipino exile community from within the Balkan Orthodox nations have so far resulted in them moving to the Catholic parts of the Balkans, namely Croatia and Slovenia.

"We understand the situation that our brothers and sisters in Christ face when they're pressured to join the schismatic church in those nations that continue to defy Papal authority," says prominent exiled Catholic bishop Fernando Capalla, from his residence in Maribor, Slovenia. "A third of the Filipino population in nations like Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece, have accepted the Orthodox faith. While they are free to choose what to do with their faith, I must say that they're making a mistake in that they are choosing to assimilate into the local population instead of keeping with their Filipino identity and their Catholic faith."

Yugoslavia, which had seen its Filipino exile community population increase to around 45,000, was the community most affected by the growth of what they saw as Serbian Orthodox fundamentalist rhetoric. Serbian nationalists had insisted that they welcome the Filipino refugees into the country, but had also emphasized on understanding their vehement opposition to Catholicism in the first place. As it stands, Yugoslavia was the only nation in the world where the Pope is legally barred from entering, as the powerful Serbian Orthodox Church had insisted that the Pope visit the infamous Jasenovac concentration camp, run by the wartime Independent State of Croatia, before visiting Yugoslavia, plus a formal apology.

[kyuzoaoi]

By the way, is there any update on the Shining Path in Peru?