One opinion maker is beginning to notice things...

He must be getting some of his ideas from this PEx thread.

Anyways, here's the article:

Think on this: How did the strange adventures of Carlos, Clarita and Ian Garcia hit the front pages? Who leaked the information about them? The information was first sent by the Americans to the military in January, Nothing happened. The military says that they could not for the life of them unearth any evidence against the general. This month, the Americans sent the same information to the Ombudsman. This time, the information was appropriately leaked to the press.

We also have the strange case of a Transportation undersecretary which has caused DOTC Secretary Leandro Mendoza to inquire with the Americans to try to ferret out what information the US gave our Ombudsman on the Usec's hidden wealth in banks in the United States.

Mendoza is inquiring with the US Embassy what information Washington gave the Ombudsman on Undersecretary Cecilio Penilla, who was Mendoza's comptroller when Mendoza was PNP chief. Penilla was also Mendoza's classmate in the Philippine Military Academy. He is obviously Mendoza's close friend, trusted aide and possible crony.

Mendoza is making the wrong play. It is obvious that the Americans do not trust him and will tell him nothing. If they trusted him, wouldn't they have told him about Penilla and allow him to clean his own backyard as well as filling the role of the hero who caught the dirty bastard? The fact that Mendoza was kept out of the picture tells me that Mendoza could be on the American hit list.

Is it possible that all this is not just happenstance but that the Americans have a set play in motion? It could be that the play still in the beginning stages which is why the pattern is still not apparent. But, wait a few more days. Things might begin to jell.

Ambassador Francis Ricciardone called the Congress investigation into the shenanigans of Major General Carlos Flores Garcia and his family a "historic moment of opportunity for Filipinos to get things right and come out stronger."

The American Ambassador says that he hopes the Filipino people will not be content with mere investigations conducted by Congress. He has complete faith in the Pinoy and Pinoy democracy but "the people must make a choice whether to let up or pursue the issue to the end."

The tingle I am getting up from the Ricciardone statement is the same one that I used to get whenever Cardinal Sin used to make his pronouncements on governance and politics.

The Ambassador continues: "Are you going to let this die after a week of headlines and hearing? Are you all going to press on this until you get to the bottom of it and you carry out and go as far as it goes, to expose the networks and bring the people to justice who have been stealing from the soldiers and the Filipino people? I think you can. I have faith."

Francis Ricciardone may have his faith. What I have are my dark suspicions.

One might ask why our former partners in the coalition of the Willing would shaft us. There. That could well be the answer.

I don't think the US is trying to "shaft" the Philippines or Filipinos as a whole.

Only GMA and her corrupt Generals and Police Backers.