Who won?

Ninety years from now, when the centennial of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 are assessed, the conclusions might be dramatically different from those drawn today.

When a duke was assassinated in Sarajevo a century ago, no one foresaw the great war that would ensue. On the day an armistice was signed in 1918, no one fully understood that an even larger global process was underway: the erosion and, eventually, death of the colonial world order. No one foresaw, through all the triumphant speeches about peace finally winning, that only a generation later an even bloodier world war would happen.

History, especially modern history, had its way of weaving out of conventional expectations.

When the Berlin Wall came down just over two decades ago, there was much triumphalist writing: liberal democracies will now become hegemonic, human civilization will now be homogenous. That did not happen, as we now know. Islamist fundamentalism reared its horrific face. Multiculturalism became the rule.

As we commemorated the tenth anniversary of 9/11 last weekend, unconventional ideas floated to the surface. We are not talking about those strange conspiracy theories about the events that day that continue to persist in the margins. We are talking about a provocative idea now posed by respectable thinkers: 9/11 marks the definitive end of the American century.

We are all familiar with the mainstream discourse. It deals with dollars and body counts. Al Qaeda is now a crippled network. Osama Bin Laden is dead and so is a host of his cohorts. Superior military technology won the day. Drones circle the air and precision-bomb terrorist targets. Every terrorist personality rising up the ranks of this invisible network ends up in hell or in Guantanamo.

Al Qaeda, however, is not the force that will shape the course of our civilization — just as the duke killed in Sarajevo was not the guarantor of the 19th century world order. Al Qaeda is a passing malevolence rooted in a twisted ideology. It cannot possibly redefine the future according to its own obscene creed. It is doomed to be crushed.

But the cost of crushing an international terrorist network was massive. The US spent hundreds of billions of dollars suppressing the Taliban in Afghanistan and ousting the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq. Hundreds of billions more was spent on “hardening” soft targets like airports to deter terrorists. Untold billions more was spent on enhancing counter-terrorist institutions.

A decade after 9/11, the US does seem like an exhausted power. The country is deep in debt and mired in obsolescence. When popular revolts broke out in the Arab world, Washington pleaded with the Europeans to deal with the situation. The world’s last superpower still possesses military supremacy over everybody else, but it has lost the economic clout to even make that supremacy worthwhile.

This century will be shaped by many complex forces. Unlike the last century, it will not be predominantly defined by American might.

Utility worker

When government went hammer and tongs against Globe Asiatique, a trial court judge exasperated prosecutors by issuing an injunction in favor of the accused. In Quezon City last week, a group claiming a surprisingly large swath of prime land won a court order that encouraged the claimants to send in a small army of security guards to forcefully control contested properties.

The following incident, however, threatens to take the cake.

A utility worker at the Court of Appeals, Quirino Olit Jr. of the Mailing and Delivery Section, managed to get hold of a court resolution enjoining the lower court to withhold execution of the latter’s decision on a corporate case. Olit then arrogated the role of sheriff, writing the PNP for police assistance in taking over the Meisic Mall in Divisoria. Violence nearly broke out between two contending groups of security guards, one side reinforced by the policemen requested by Olit.

The incident arose out of a civil case involving Majestic Plus International and Bullion Investment and Development Corporation. Last July 28, 2011, Branch 46 of the Manila RTC ruled in favor of Majestic and awarded the company possession and control of Meisic Mall. Armed with a Writ of Execution Pending Appeal issued by the Manila RTC on September 2, 2011, Majestic took control of the mall and began conducting an inventory.

Bullion appealed the decision. The CA then issued a TRO, enjoining the sheriff and the PNP from further proceeding with the mall takeover. Bullion, aided by Olit, moved quickly to install their own little army of security guards to retake control of the facility.

It turns out that the CA resolution never ordered the replacement of the security detail at the premises. This was simply the unwarranted interpretation of a mere utility worker who misrepresented himself as process server. That nearly precipitated a gun battle at the mall.

Joel T. Go, president of Majestic Plus International is now asking the Supreme Court to investigate the “anomalous and highly irregular circumstances” that allowed a utility worker to hijack due process and misrepresent not only himself but the CA resolution as well. Go is convinced this is not just stray action on the part of a lowly CA employee but the outcome of an entrenched syndicate embedded in that part of the judiciary.

We do hope the requested inquiry will be prompt and decisive. Beginning from the attempted takeover of Stradcom offices at the LTO compound last year, there seems to be a disturbing frequency of situations where groups of security guards from rival corporate factions nearly come to blows over control of contested premises.