(Part One of the "OF Shadow-Government" Series) -- As Updated on Nov. 18, 2013:

Here is a real scoop. A group of Overseas-Filipino Workers (OFWs) is accelerating its plans of setting up a United States-based "Philippine Shadow Government" (PSG). The original plan was to set up the PSG in 2005 but the proponents -- as led by Dr. Eddie "Ka Edong" del Rosario of Guam (now deceased) -- could not generate the right support at that time. The proponents say that they now have the mandate of many Overseas-Filipino organizations. Ultimately, the PSG will bill itself as the "real political opposition" in the Philippines. The www.mabuhayradio.com has agreed to host a temporary section to house the PSG and all its announcements.

H ere is the initial communiqué issued by the PSG proponents. The proponents will present themselves in a press conference in a Washington, DC, venue if and when The Imperial Manila-led national government and its lackeys in the House of Representatives decide to call a Constitutional Assembly to change the form of government to a parliamentary system and allow the traditional politicians (Trapos) to remain in control of the country.

1.0 Basic Premises.

      1.1 Nothing has really changed for the better in Philippine politics. As some pundits have said, politics in the Philippines, with some notable exceptions of course, has nothing to do with platforms of government and of socioeconomic matters and worse, with ideology. Philippine political science is not a branch of knowledge at all but a question of knowing the right political lords provided the office seeker can contribute to the party’s proverbial hoard of "gold, guns and goons."

      1.2 There is a need to accelerate the formation of a "real political opposition" in view of the deteriorating political climate in the Philippines and the possibility that the next presidential election scheduled on May 10, 2010, may be canceled if the Philippines were to adopt the parliamentary system.

2.0 Concept of a Shadow Government.

      2.1 There is an innovation for Philippine politics that can be done – like following the example of the political opposition in Great Britain and announcing the composition of a "kitchen cabinet."

      2.2 The Philippine Shadow Government (PSG) will actually become the political opposition, considering that nearly all Philippine political parties are indistinguishable from each other. The PSG will organize in due time a new political party as the real opposition alliance in the Philippines.

      2.3 For purposes of this position paper and for the understanding of Overseas Filipinos and the Filipino people, the term "Shadow Government" refers to the practice in some countries by the political opposition of forming a stand-by government (in case the opposition wins the next election). The "Shadow Government" being referred to in this presentation is not the post Sept. 11, 2001, connotation. It does not refer to the emerging parallel government like that set up in the United States to try to ensure that federal rule could continue in the event of a catastrophic attack on the nation’s capital.

      2.4 To read more of the concept and history in Great Britain of the "Shadow Government," please go to these links:

· http://www.sweetliberty.org/issues/shadow/cfrintro.htm

· http://www.ukrweekly.com/Archive/1997/459702.shtml

3.0 The PSG Concept Is Not New.

      3.1 The idea of forming a PSG is not really new. In the 1930s after the Philippine Commonwealth government was formed in Manila, a group of Filipino nationals in California headed by Hilarion Moncado was reported to have tried to form their version of the PSG.

      3.2 Some historians even say that Mr. Moncado wanted really to organize a government in exile. He organized also a Filipino-American National Association, which was said to be the model after which the Filipino-American National Council (NFAC) and its splinter group, the National Federation of Filipino-American Associations (NaFFAA), were patterned.

      3.3 In essence, the concept of a PSG is not only doable but it is also necessary in pushing the Reform Agenda for the Philippines. It can probably unite the Overseas Filipinos and ultimately the Filipinos in the homeland.

4.0 The PSG Organizational Structure.

      4.1 Aside from naming a PSG’s Kitchen Cabinet and an Economic Advisory Council, committees can be formed to handle special issues.

      4.2 To provide a new lobbying vehicle for the Filipino-American veterans and taking care of their needs, such as burial expenses when they die, especially if their last will expresses the wish to be buried in the Philippines.

            4.2.1 To handle the lobbying in Washington, DC, and in state capitals, the PSG will register a Philippine-American Political Action Committee and/or an American-Filipino Public-Affairs Council.

      4.3 To set up a well-organized calamity fund for the Philippines.

      4.4 Another activity may be the fielding of Filipino and Overseas-Filipino talents and exhibitors in American county fairs and Asian-American festivals and fiestas, where membership drives for the PSG may be launched. Participation in these fairs and festivals may also jump-start Philippine tourism, trade and commerce.

5.0 The PSG’s Other Goals and Objectives.

      5.1 To provide part of the many things that need to be done in the Philippines and in the Overseas-Filipino communities that the Philippine government has been unable to perform at all.

      5.2 To provide a mechanism to undertake the defense of Filipinos accused abroad of committing crimes, especially capital offenses. Editor’s Notes: The PSG proponents cite the example of a Filipino citizen was executed in Nevada in the late 1990s for the crimes of manslaughter and robbery. Only a public defender handled his legal defense. This Filipino defendant had a low IQ, bordering on mental incapacity or at least diminished capacity. The Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles, California, was called only by the court authorities of Nevada on the sentencing phase of the trial. If the PSG were in place at that time, perhaps a more-spirited defense could have been put up that could have saved the life of a Filipino citizen. The Philippine diplomatic posts do not have a budget for the legal defense of Filipino citizens in foreign courts.

      5.3 To help the Filipino Fourth Estate by establishing an Alternative Philippine Press. It can help journalists in the Philippines by establishing a legal-defense fund that will help the writers fight in court libel cases, which are criminal in nature in the country. It can set up the "Support for the Orphans of Slain (SOS) Journalists" that will provide educational and other benefits for the children of the writers that are killed while in active duty for newspapers or broadcasting companies.

      5.4 To organize an honest-to-goodness peace panel that will negotiate with the Muslim and communist rebels in the Philippines. This panel can be a credible team of peace negotiators.

      5.5 To provide the leadership for the Overseas Filipinos to solve the growing foreign indebtedness of the Philippines and start the "reinvention" of the Philippine economy, so that the financial system in the homeland becomes a collective enterprise for the people, by the people and of the people.

(To be continued . . .)