After a long and hot Thursday in Kapangan, I
rushed to the wake of Baboo Mondonedo (1947-2015), who left for another journey
to a better plain somewhere. We are sure that she now rests in peace after a
tiring but very pleasant life with the people in these mountains that she
learned to love. For the family, relatives and friends, I am certain that she
wishes everyone to move on. Such is life.
In her wake, I came
upon her old friends Fiscal Benny Carantes, lawyers Pablito Sanidad and Rene
Cortes, Baguio mayoralty bet Jose “Jomol” Molintas, Benguet Congressman Ronald
M. Cosalan and Baboo’s son-in-law Senator Sonny Angara.
Of course in a crowd
of lawyers, politics and the 2016 elections are hot topics. Then came the
million question for the night: Will Duterte win the presidency? But the better
question should have been “Will Duterte file his COC for the position of
president?”
********
The past few days that
saw chaos and the killing of more than 100 persons in Paris, France may be
blamed on one thing, according to a retired Army intelligence officer in the
United States – the failure to properly utilize intelligence networks. In
short, there was intelligence failure.
This observation
elicited wild reactions from the intelligence community in the US and Europe. A
majority of them agreed, saying, it is time to seriously contemplate and assess
the role of the intelligence community before things blow out of proportions
and become uncontrollable.
As an example,
political analysts said there was intelligence failure with the unforeseen
disintegration or fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 into fifteen separate
countries. Unexpectedly, US leaders were happy because this ended the Cold War
that gripped the two superpowers since the end of World War II. The fall of
USSR shaped new political, economic and military alliances all over.
Another intelligence
failure was the terrorist attacks on the twin towers of New York on September
11, 2001. To the extent, critics questioned how intelligence funds were being
spent by the concerned government agencies that are supposed to provide warning
to policymakers.
This also gave rise to
suspicions that intelligence personnel were falsifying intelligence facts and
figures to suit politicians – an information that Senator Ping Lacson mentioned
in one of his interviews many years ago.
Intelligence failure
was also blamed on the absence of diplomatic relations that has led to the
inability to gather and share with other outfits intelligence information.
Simply put, this is inadequacy and incompetence of the persons within the
circle.
Detractors of country
leaders also blamed this on militarization of the intelligence community,
saying, retired military men assigned to head intelligence agencies were more
concerned about their positions and the satisfaction of the appointing official. Typical Philippines. As such,
they would rather withhold information rather than share them with their
counterparts.
This could be blamed
on the Paris attacks that caused the US and Russia to scramble for excuses and
become defensive even as they are drawn together in between disagreements on
how to fight ISIS.
Hopefully, such a
failure in intelligence will not escalate the crisis into a shooting world war.
But news reports from the ground are saying that streets in Brussels, are
patrolled by heavily armed soldiers and armored military vehicles, as the Paris
attacks have placed the Belgian region in a state of lockdown with schools,
government offices, public transportation and markets closed.
Uneasiness about a
possible terrorist attack has spread to the Netherlands, so that leaders in The
Hague urged the European Union to put the border between Turkey and Greece
under control and stop terrorists posing as refugees from getting through. The
Paris attackers were reported to have entered Greece by posing as Syrian migrants.
Lately, a video
apparently posted in the internet by Muslim extremists gave out information
that the Islamic State terrorists were planning to attack New York City. This
has caused repercussions against innocent New York Muslims who are being
criticized and harassed.
To stop a world war,
intelligence agencies might as well hire the services of the famous Sherlock
Holmes and Dr. Watson who have extra-sharp powers of observation that they use
in stopping crimes and probable mysteries before they happen.
Or better yet, locate
The Pink Panther or Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau, the incompetent police
detective in France who solves his cases and arrests criminals by accident.
No comments:
Post a Comment