Philippines LaRouche Society Leads Chamber of Commerce Nuclear Conference

July 6, 2007 --The Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Foundation held a major conference today in Manila on the future of nuclear power in the Philippines. One of the invited speakers was Antonio "Butch" Valdes, head of the Philippines LaRouche Society. Valdes' presentation and his role in the Q&A dominated the event, and set the tone and direction for the Foundation's future policies.

With the exception of a token (and pathetic) anti-nuke spokesman, the speakers were serious about how to return the Philippines to the leadership position it had enjoyed under President Marcos, when Southeast Asia's first nuclear power plant was constructed by Westinghouse - only to be dismantled after the George Shultz-orchestrated coup against Marcos in 1986. Other speakers included the head of the Department of Energy, and Ronny Velasco, the Energy Minister under Marcos.

Valdes began his presentation, called "Nuclear Power - the Beneficial Use of Fire," with the story of Prometheus, followed by a slide with quotes from Lyndon LaRouche on Prometheus and the role of nuclear power today. He then located the nuclear issue in the sweep of history, both refuting the lies of the anti-nuclear crowd, and presenting the development perspective for the next 50 years required to prevent the descent into a new dark age. He insisted that a crash development program required a courageous change not only in energy policies, but in education and economic policies as well, referring to the leadership of President Nestor Kirchner of Argentina, who successfully dealt with a crisis much like that of the Philippines today.