Random thoughts on the world today

Today, instead of one topic, I want to share a few random thoughts with my readers.

In two weeks’ time, Xi Jinping and Donald Trump will be the two most powerful men on Planet Earth. Xi has unilaterally claimed that the entire South China Sea and the West Philippine Sea are territories of China and is backing his claim with military and naval forces. This claim violates international law and the territorial sovereignty of several countries, including the Philippines.

Xi has also publicly said that he intends to use military force to claim the island of Taiwan, even though the overwhelming majority of the Taiwanese people have elected national leaders who have openly said that they will oppose this violation of Taiwan’s independence.

Donald Trump, the American president-elect, has already said that he wants to annex Greenland, a territory of Denmark, and the Panama Canal, which belongs to the Republic of Panama. In a recent interview, Trump was asked if he was willing to take the military option of acquiring these territories “off the table.” This means that he is not willing to renounce the use of military force in the acquisition of these territories as an option.

Trump has also declared interest, whether seriously or not, in making Canada the 51st state of the United States. He has also said that he intends to rename the Gulf of Mexico into the Gulf of America because, according to him, “We own it.”

Both Xi and Trump have clearly shown that their objective is territorial expansion, using force if necessary. I repeat that these two will be the most powerful leaders in the world.

In the Philippines, the headlines and newscasters are overly concerned with all the political maneuverings between the Marcoses and the Dutertes, the most powerful political clans in the country today. The central issue is the impending impeachment of Sara Duterte as vice president of the Philippines. Political pundits seem to agree that the necessary two-thirds vote in the Senate necessary to convict Sara Duterte does not exist. The speculation, therefore, is that the move for impeachment will wait until the midterm elections in May this year. The hope is that the senators like Bong Go and Bato de la Rosa and other Duterte allies will either lose their positions or at least have their numbers reduced.

Once there are 16 senators, which is the required number to convict the Vice President, then it is assumed that the impeachment process will start. There is now a sufficient majority the House willing to impeach Sara Duterte.

For those who may not be aware of the process, the impeachment process is initially done by the House of Representatives and needs the consent of a simple majority for approval. From there, it goes to the Senate, which is responsible for the actual trial and the conviction needs a two-thirds vote from the Senate.

In the meantime, the Filipino people continue to be burdened by the inflation in consumer prices, especially in food items. Recently, there was news that the price of tomatoes has increased to P300 per kilo, which has made this product a luxury item.

The price of rice continues to remain high in spite of the fact that the global price of rice has actually gone down.

Reducing the price of rice does not need any reform in agricultural practices. Political leaders like Kiko Pangilinan have constantly said that the Philippine price of rice is being manipulated by rice hoarders and smugglers of commodities.

The dramatic increase in food prices has not led to the increase in income for the ordinary farmers and fishermen. The beneficiaries of this price manipulation of these food commodities are the unsavory hoarders and middlemen, together with corrupt officials who obviously have no conscience at all. They are willing to get rich at the expense of the poor.

In the meantime, the rich do not seem to care because they can afford P300/kilo of tomatoes and expensive rice.

A study by professors at the University of the Philippines found that those with “income advantage” have a higher chance of getting admitted to the premier state university than those who are underprivileged.

One proposed solution has been to improve the quality of public school education to allow poorer students to compete with graduates from the more expensive private schools that cater to the upper class.

I find it hard to take this solution as serious since this proposal will take decades, if not forever, before it can be realized. The students of UP are called “Iskolar ng Bayan” because their tuition is heavily subsidized by the government and paid for by taxpayers’ money. I find it impossible to justify why taxpayers are paying for the tuition of these graduates of expensive private schools like Xavier, Ateneo and La Salle and other similar high schools.

There was a time when the UP studentry produced activist leaders who were willing to lead marches to put an end to corruption and exploitation of the poor because they grew up in lower middle class and lower class households. Now, one of UP’s problems is that the parking lots are overcrowded because of so many students bringing their own cars. UP should return to its former role of being the educational institution only for the crème de la crème of the lower class and the lower middle class.