In recent years many homegrown terrorists have launched attacks in European cities like Paris, Barcelona, Brussels, London, for example, the 2015 January assaults at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and at a kosher supermarket. Several of the terrorists who killed more than 160 people that year had common criminal backgrounds but had become radicalized in congested prisons. Most Philippine prisons are overcrowded too having been built in ad hoc style buildings and now contain overcrowded cells. When inmates who represent a certain ideology are housed in the heart of a prison, surrounded by more than 3,000 inmates, there is a huge risk that they will contaminate the thinking of others.Prison is not a nice place; inmates can only survive if they are a part of a certain group or ideology. It is easier to be recruited inside a jail than outside one because conditions in the interior favor radical recruitment of newcomers. Since most of the inmates are desperate and hopeless, radicals with an ideology can easily befriend new detainees and give them what they need. It is easy for radicals to convince inmates that society has rejected them, that it is their destiny, and that God or a charismatic leader has a mission for them, little by little brainwashing them, especially if inmates belong to certain minority groups such as Muslims or IPs. By persuading the detainees that society has scorned them, that they cannot get a job, particularly because of their religious background or ethnicity, that no good school in their neighborhood will accept them, the indoctrinator opens the inmates up to his or her ideology.  Continue reading →

The US has come a long way since the days of slavery, and huge steps were made towards granting equal rights on the basis of race in the 1960s. But still it is not enough. Racism is not only a big problem in the US but around the world. I wish other countries could have done what America did toward minority rights. It is always easy to pity a minority, but what if one minority does not want to obey the rules and instead provokes the government to take strong measure against its members? When comparing America to other countries in terms of treatment of minorities, America treats theirs better. When we look at Europe’s treatment of its minorities, China’s treatment of its minorities, Myanmar’s treatment of its minorities, or how the Middle Eastern countries treat their own minorities, we see their lack of progress. Friday evening in Charlottesville, Virginia, a group of white supremacists marched through the University of Virginia campus holding torches, shouting “White lives matter,” and setting the stage for the 2017 United the Right rally, which protested the removal of Confederate monuments and sculptures within the city, and caused white racists from different groups and leaders of all right movements to congregate. Despite President Donald Trump’s condemnation of all forms of racism, still the leftist mainstream media blames Donald Trump for the rise of racism in the USA. Many even claim that Donald Trump won the election because white supremacists voted for him. The same liberal left media blamed President Bush for the rise of terrorism. Yet, we saw what their favorite candidate, President Obama, did for eight years that fermented hate and gave rise to ISIS and other forms of violence. Continue reading →

Posted on August 4, 2017 by Vic Sumalinog

Continue reading →

We strongly believe drugs have taken away freedom in our streets, jobs, numerous lives of people we love, and even our children. This has been a problem for entirely too long, and we are glad finally someone is determined to put an end to the drug menace in our country that seems impossible to eradicate in the perspective of men. We want to help overcome the drug problem through education because we believe that the drug epidemic is everyone’s responsibility since it is such a huge social issue that the government alone cannot solve. The Social Entrepreneurship, Technology, and Business Institute, Inc. (SETBI), by partnering with the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) and with the University of Southeastern Philippines (USEP) has initiated a “College Education Behind Bars” project at the Ma-a City Jail, Davao City. This program aims to provide the inmates, both male and female, who are mostly drug offenders, the means to advance their education in prison. It is a higher education program whose mission is to assist incarcerated students in identifying and achieving their educational goals. By partnering with the university to engage faculty and students in the vital issue of the country’s burgeoning incarceration population, SETBI hopes to help inmate students build meaningful lives inside the jail and to reduce recidivism by offering them a recovery program with their college diplomas, so that when they are released, they are fully equipped to go back into society as a contributor to nation building and not remain a burden to their family and community. Continue reading →

It has been one year since Turkish citizens poured into the streets for national unity marches across the country. This occasion marks the first anniversary of the foiled coup by Fethullah Gulen’s cult religious group to topple the democratically elected government, which left 249 people dead and nearly 2,200 injured. On July 15^th, 2016, the Turkish people remembered their brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, friends and colleagues lost year ago. Since 2010, Gulen and his followers had already declared war against the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and President Erdogan. The Turkish state has been fighting a running battle against the cult and trying to cleanse the elements nested inside the state apparatus a couple of years before the coup attempt. If the Turkish people had not been quick to intervene, thousands of civilians would have been killed and imprisoned, and Gulen and his cult followers would be in charge of Turkey. Imagine that one of the most trusted government institutions, the one relied on for safety and protection, turned on the country and bombed its citizens, its own parliament, its own capital, and its own police headquarters, and tried to assassin its own President. Continue reading →

The war in the Middle East began much earlier than today. The Middle East is the epicenter of world politics. Today nothing has changed in real politics in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Yemen, Egypt, and Libya cut all their ties with Qatar and suspended all flights to and from that country. Saudi Arabia and its allies charge that Qatar has been serving Iranian interests in the region, has been critical of the Egyptian and Saudi regimes, and has supported the Muslims Brothers and Hamas. But what was shocking to me was the Maldives’ move to join the Gulf countries against Qatar. What pushed the Maldives to blockade Qatar by air, land, and sea? Presumably the Maldives will not allow all those Qatari royal families to escape from Ramadan to go to the Maldives to enjoy the beaches and to avoid fasting. Further, each of these same Gulf countries asked Qatari citizens to leave its country. This current crisis did not happen just last week, but is a problem that has been going on for years. Saudi Arabia might be right in accusing Qatar of supporting or letting all the dark organizations operate in Qatar because Qatar is in close contact with Hamas, Hezbollah, the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Qaida, the Taliban, and other terrorist organizations. Why would Qatar open its doors to these groups? Actually, those who have been to Qatar know that it like a little U.K. Nevertheless, all the Western countries are aware that these contacts have been going on for years, but why did they not say anything until now. Also, all of these organizations have somehow connected with the U.K., too. But no one raises questions or says anything to the UK. It is also unclear who will benefit from the outcome. Many things could go wrong or may not go as planned in the socio- political arena in a similar way that they went with the Arab Spring. Continue reading →

Religion has played an increasing role in U.S foreign policy and diplomacy for more than a decade. During the Bush Presidency, the United States government focused on building capacity within federal agencies to involve religious leaders and faith based communities to reach domestic and international policy goals. By an executive order, Bush established the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnership in 2001.  In 2013, the State Department set up the Office of Religion and Global Affairs (RGA), with a Special Envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (0IC) and Special Representatives to Muslim Communities. Before the creation of these agencies, the State Department worked solely on the basis of the International Religious Freedom Act, established in 1998.President Trump has indicated that dealing with radical Islamic terror groups is a top foreign policy, saying, “Defeating ISIS and other radical Islamic terror groups will be our highest priority.” This policy sees religious ideology as the root of the problem and recommends comprehensive efforts to defeat the ideology. President Donald Trump’s first foreign trip to Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the Vatican acts on this underpinning since these sites host some of the holiest places in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. The question is can President Trump use religious diplomacy to bring peace and unite people of all faiths around the common vision of peace and prosperity? Could he focus on what a united America would look like? Can President Trump turn a new page for Middle Eastern ties with the U.S to repair relations that were strained during the Obama administration? Can Donald Trump make leaders in the Middle East believe his message? Using his negotiation skills, President Trump is trying to unite conflicting parties. Continue reading →