Oxfam: Humanitarian crisis in Mindanao is real

A non-government organization has belied Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita's statement that there is no humanitarian crisis in the south arising out of collapse of the peace talks between the government and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

""The humanitarian needs in Mindanao are real. The armed conflict has caused suffering for civilians and worsened their experience of poverty," Oxfam country director Lan Mercado said in a statement.

Mercado was reacting to Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita's brushing aside of the displaced civilians' situation in areas in Mindanao that are affected by the military's pursuit operations against Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters.

"We continue to see evacuees who go hungry at shelters, contract diseases, and worry their future. Civilians live in fear for their safety and lives because of the presence of armed groups in their villages," she said, adding that hundreds of children in Mindanao, have stopped going to school because of the hostilities.

Mercado said Oxfam and other non-government organizations (NGO) have been working with the Philippine government to provide food and safety for the evacuees.

However, she said the combined food aid of several NGOs and government are still not enough to prevent mothers from risking their lives by returning to their homes to pick vegetables for their hungry children.

She added that several evacuees, mostly farmers, have been forced to sell their livestock to be able to buy food. Without their farm animals, Oxfam said the evacuees' long-term livelihood recovery is at risk.

"It is civilians who lose the most in times of conflict. Women, in particular, are hit the hardest as they take care of the well being of the family amidst uncertainty. They have to constantly worry about their husbands' and children's safety. Women have to accept odd, sometimes risky, jobs to supplement the family income because they cannot continue with their usual economic activities that get disrupted by hostilities. Many succumb to stress-related diseases," Mercado said.

'Not that bad'

The National Disaster Coordinating Council's data said 60, 042 families or 292,977 persons have been displaced by the hostilities. It said only 13,321 families are staying in 104 evacuation centers in at least three regions in Mindanao.

The agency said the government has released P92.555 million for the relief operations in Mindanao. The NGOs, meanwhile, have distributed goods worth P17.846 million for the evacuees.

Asked if there is a humanitarian crisis in Mindanao, Ermita told reporters, "There is none." He said the government can still address the needs of the thousands of evacuees in Mindanao.

The executive secretary also insisted that the humanitarian situation in Mindanao is "not that bad."

Hostilities in Mindanao heigtened after the government failed to sign a Bangsamoro homeland deal with the MILF.

Government security forces have been pursuing at least three radical commanders of the separatist group, who are responsible for civilian attacks in North Cotabato and Lanao provinces.

Government data said 83 people, including dozens of civilians, have been killed in clashes between the rebels and the military.

abs-cbnNEWS.com | 09/27/2008 9:29 AM

___________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

'Nothing mutual about RP-US mutual defense pact'

There is nothing "mutual" about the 50-year-old RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty, militant umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said Saturday.

In a statement posted on its website, the group said the MDT instead is a continuing reminder of the Philippines' mendicancy and subservience to US interests.

"Over the past 50 years, the MDT has benefited the US primarily. It has allowed the US to make the Philippines its neo-colonial outpost in Southeast Asia, having used the country during the US wars of aggression in Korea and Vietnam. It made possible the existence then of US military bases and the existence now of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement," it said.

Bayan said that after 50 years of sitting on the Mutual Defense Board, the Philippine military has not achieved modernization.

Even when there were US military bases, and after countless "joint exercises," the AFP has remained a backward armed force in the region, it added.

"This is because the US never really intended the AFP to modernize fully and become a self-reliant armed force. This is a basic condition for the US to continuously influence over the AFP and keep the latter dependent on US military aid and surplus goods," it said.

Also, Bayan noted that while the MDT's mandate is that of warding off external threats to the Philippines, it is also being used to justify American presence versus an internal threat such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) or even the Abu Sayyaf.

It added the extreme puppetry of the Arroyo regime is apparent when it allows the continuing and permanent presence of American troops in Mindanao in the guise of "joint exercises" and "civic and humanitarian missions."

Yet, it said the Balikatan exercise in Mindanao has allowed the US Special Forces under the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines to be closer than ever to the armed conflict.

"The vague provisions of the VFA allow the US forces to maintain a rotational force of 400-600 soldiers who stay for about six months and take part in so-called 'approved activities.' Through this loophole in the VFA, the US is already operating a Forward Operating Site, a new type of flexible basing arrangement, in Zamboanga," it added.

Bayan said the so-called "civic operations" and "humanitarian missions" are merely part of the over-all "communications strategy" of the US forces as pointed out in Annex A of the US Pacific Command Joint Training Strategy for 2007.

"The US is deploying US Special Forces - armed and trained fighters, not doctors and dentists - to Mindanao," it said.

It added the Visiting Forces Agreement does not set a limit on the number of US troops that can enter the Philippines, the number of activities that can be approved in a year, and the type of activities that can take place.

Also, it said the US has acquired an expanded combat role when it engages in intelligence work and is embedded in armed units of the AFP.

"Despite the apparent violations of the Philippine constitution by the US forces, the Philippine government wants to have more 'joint exercises.' This means more intervention, violations of the Constitution, and the undermining of our sovereignty," it said.

GMANews.TV 09/27/2008 | 07:49 AM

_________________________________________________________________________ 

US Troops Are Here to Stay, Concealed in Bases Within AFP Camps

Since losing a number of its major overseas bases in the 1990s, the US has had to make shifts in its basing strategy. It now increasingly relies on what its Department of Defense calls “Cooperative Security Locations” (CSLs), and there is now less emphasis on “Main Operating Bases” (MOBs). It has a number of CSLs in the Philippines, one of which is in Camp Navarro, Zamboanga City.

The US military installation within Camp Navarro was mentioned by Pacifico Agabin, dean of the Lyceum of the Philippines School of Law, during his presentation at the oral arguments against the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) before the Supreme Court on Sept. 19.

The 1987 Constitution does not allow foreign military presence on Philippine soil except through a treaty jointly recognized by both contracting parties. Art. XVIII, Sec. 25 of the Constitution provides that:

“After the expiration in 1991 of the Agreement between the Republic of the Philippines and the United States of America concerning military bases, foreign military bases, troops, or facilities shall not be allowed in the Philippines except under a treaty duly concurred in by the Senate and, when the Congress so requires, ratified by a majority of the votes cast by the people in a national referendum held for that purpose, and recognized as a treaty by the other contracting State.”

The VFA was ratified in 1999 by the Philippine Senate and signed by then President Joseph Estrada, but it was never ratified by the US Senate.

The first RP-US Balikatan military exercises under the VFA – which provides only for short stays by US troops – were conducted in 2002. There has been continuous US military presence in the Philippines since then, manifested through the CSLs.

“Visiting is quite an understatement, considering that the US forces have been with us for six years, and six years can hardly be considered a visit,” Agabin said during the Sept. 19 oral arguments. “It is really a continuous visit. It is really a kind of visit that wears out the hospitality of the host.”

Agabin then cited the presence of CSLs within Philippine military camps – specifically the one located in Camp Navarro.

The website GlobalSecurity.org defines the MOB and the CSL as follows:

A Main Operating Base (MOB) is an enduring strategic asset established in friendly territory with permanently stationed combat forces, command and control structures, and family support facilities. MOBs serve as the anchor points for throughput, training, engagement, and US commitment to NATO. MOBs have: robust infrastructure; strategic access; established Command and Control; Forward Operating Sites and Cooperative Security Location support capability; and enduring family support facilities. These are already in existence.

A Cooperative Security Location (CSL) is a host-nation facility with little or no permanent US presence. CSLs will require periodic service, contractor and/or host nation support. CSLs provide contingency access and are a focal point for security cooperation activities. They may contain propositioned equipment. CSLs are: rapidly scalable and located for tactical use, expandable to become a FOS, forward and expeditionary. They will have no family support system.

The US Department of Defense’s Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, meanwhile, defines a base as “a locality from which operations are projected or supported,” reflecting clearly the role of these installations in war posturing.

In an article in the June 2005 issue of TheAtlantic.com, Robert D. Kaplan explains how CSLs work thus:

“A cooperative security location can be a tucked-away corner of a host country’s civilian airport, or a dirt runway somewhere with fuel and mechanical help nearby, or a military airport in a friendly country with which we have no formal basing agreement but, rather, an informal arrangement with private contractors acting as go-betweens. Because the CSL concept is built on subtle relationships, it’s where the war-fighting ability of the Pentagon and the diplomacy of the State Department coincide – or should. The problem with big bases in, say, Turkey – as we learned on the eve of the invasion of Iraq – is that they are an intrusive, intimidating symbol of American power, and the only power left to a host country is the power to deny us use of such bases. In the future, therefore, we will want unobtrusive bases that benefit the host country much more obviously than they benefit us. Allowing us the use of such a base would ramp up power for a country rather than humiliating it.

“I have visited a number of CSLs in East Africa and Asia. Here is how they work. The United States provides aid to upgrade maintenance facilities, thereby helping the host country to better project its own air and naval power in the region. At the same time, we hold periodic exercises with the host country’s military, in which the base is a focus. We also offer humanitarian help to the surrounding area. Such civil-affairs projects garner positive publicity for our military in the local media – and they long preceded the response to the tsunami, which marked the first time that many in the world media paid attention to the humanitarian work done all over the world, all the time, by the US military. The result is a positive diplomatic context for getting the host country’s approval for use of the base when and if we need it.

“Often the key role in managing a CSL is played by a private contractor. In Asia, for example, the private contractor is usually a retired American noncom, either Navy or Air Force, quite likely a maintenance expert, who is living in, say, Thailand or the Philippines, speaks the language fluently, perhaps has married locally after a divorce back home, and is generally much liked by the locals. He rents his facilities at the base from the host-country military, and then charges a fee to the US Air Force pilots transiting the base. Officially he is in business for himself, which the host country likes because it can then claim it is not really working with the American military. Of course no one, including the local media, believes this. But the very fact that a relationship with the US Armed Forces is indirect rather than direct eases tensions. The private contractor also prevents unfortunate incidents by keeping the visiting pilots out of trouble—steering them to the right hotels and bars, and advising them on how to behave. (Without Dan Generette, a private contractor for years at Utapao Naval Station, in Thailand, that base could never have been ramped up to provide tsunami relief the way it was.)”

According to Roland Simbulan, a professor of development studies at the University of the Philippines (UP) in Manila and an expert on RP-US foreign and military relations, the dismantling of the US bases in the Philippines following the Senate’s rejection of a new Military Bases Agreement in 1991 was a major contributor to the US shift in basing strategy.

The Philippines was once host to the largest US overseas bases. Subic Naval Base alone had an area of 6,658 hectares, while Clark Air Base covered 4,400 hectares.

Apart from these, the US had O’Donnell Transmitter Station (1,755 hectares), San Miguel Communications Station (1,100 hectares), Capas Naval Transmitter Station (356 hectares), John Hay Air Station (227 hectares), and Wallance Air Station (202 hectares).

All these spanned a total area of 14,698 hectares of arable land. “If you combine that, it would be bigger than Singapore,” Simbulan said in an interview.

“So the dismantling of the bases in the Philippines was a hard blow to the US. The US was really shocked by the 1991 vote against the new bases treaty… They were forced to shift to a new basing strategy.

“CSLs were developed to blunt political opposition to big military bases.”

The US maintains a number of CSLs, mostly in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. US officials claim that the CSLs particularly in Africa and Latin America exist for the purpose of combating the drug trade.

But this is just a cover, according to Simbulan. “The US has not been consistent in its fight against the drug trade,” he said. He noted that the US military, for instance, had colluded with drug syndicates in fighting revolutionary guerrillas and leaders in Colombia and Cuba.

In the Philippines, there are CSLs installed in Camp Aguinaldo, the General Headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP); as well as in Camp Navarro in Zamboanga City, in Cotabato City, and in Basilan.

Camp Navarro hosts the headquarters of the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines (JSOTF-P).

The JSOTF-P was established by the US Special Operations Command Pacific (SOCPAC). It began its work when SOCPAC deployed to the Philippines Joint Task Force (JTF) 510. Based on an item on GlobalSecurity.org, JTF 510 was deployed to the Philippines “to support Operation Enduring Freedom.”

Operation Enduring Freedom is the official name given to the US government’s military response to the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001 in New York City. It entails a series of anti-“terrorism” activities in Afghanistan, the Philippines, the Horn of Africa, Trans-Sahara, and Pakinsi Gorge.

“CSLs are off-limits to AFP personnel,” Simbulan disclosed. “I was able to talk with some AFP personnel at one time, and they told me they don’t really know what the US troops are doing in their offices within AFP camps.”

“The (main) purpose for these is for them to expand their operations so that when they have missions to Malaysia and Indonesia, they would have locations that are open to them,” he said.

Saimbulan also said that the CSLs in the Philippines are also used for “technical intelligence”, or surveillance, purposes. He said that the US troops conducting surveillance operations are particularly active in strategic areas like Southwestern Mindanao.

“They go around in civilian clothes,” he said. “Some of them disguise themselves as tourists.”

The immediate goal, he said, is for the US troops to consolidate their influence in Mindanao. “It follows that when they consolidate their influence there, US companies would have easier access to the area,” he said.

The long-term consideration, however, is that the US views China as a long-term threat, Simbulan said.

Simbulan said that between 100 and 500 US troops are deployed all year in the Philippines, working from these CSLs. These, he said, are apart from those who come to the Philippines periodically for the Balikatan military exercises.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita recently said that US troops come and go but they “all look alike,” so it is as though they never leave.

“They are replaced every now and then,” Ermita said. “They leave, contrary to the critics’ impression that they have not left.”

But this is not so, said Simbulan. “It is those who join the Balikatan who come and go, but those (in the CSLs) are deployed here for prolonged periods,” he said.

He recounted his conversation with the wife of a US official on one trip to Zamboanga, during which he learned that in the Camp Navarro CSL there is now a building for housing.

There is no treaty between the Philippines and the US which allows for the presence of CSLs on Philippine soil.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat PUBLISHED ON September 21, 2008 AT 12:32 AM

________________________________________________________________________________________ 

As world stock market plunges,GSIS, SSS Funds in Danger - Courage

A group of government employees said that the funds of Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and Social Security System (SSS) are in ‘grave danger.’

The Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (Courage) said that the money invested by the GSIS and SSS in the local stock markets  will be affected by the falling world stock markets due the declaration of bankruptcy by the Lehman Brothers, one of the America’s top banking groups.

Courage National President Ferdinand Gaite said that they have warned the social security institutions about the danger of putting the members’ money in volatile investments the like of shares of stocks.

World financial analysts and stock brokers fear that the Lehman Brothers’ declaration is just one of the series of ‘bad news’ for the financial sector and the current US financial turmoil will worsen in the coming days.

“Like Manila Electric Co. shares, which dropped excessively—from the original price of P80.90 (US$1.71, based on the prevailing exchange rate) to P57 ($1.21) per share—same thing will happen to other investments made by the GSIS and SSS to the stock market,” explained Gaite.

Aside from the Meralco shares, GSIS also suffered losses in buying stocks with the former Equitable-PCI Bank, Bell Resources, Empire East, and even with San Miguel Corporation, he added.

The group said they will file formal charges against the GSIS management, particularly against GSIS President and General Manager Atty. Winston F. Garcia, for mismanagement of funds and violations of the Republic Act No. 8291 or the GSIS law. Bulatlat

BY NOEL SALES BARCELONA
Contributed to Bulatlat
September 17, 2008

________________________________________________________________________________________

66 dead, 79 hurt in Mindanao fighting--NDCC

MANILA, Philippines -- At least 66 people have died from the ongoing conflict in Mindanao, the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said.

In its latest report, the NDCC said four soldiers were killed in the fighting with the rest tallied as civilian casualties.

The report also said 79 people have been injured in the conflict, 66 civilians and 13 law enforcers.

The NDCC added that the number of affected families who have either lost their houses, displaced or have lost their livelihood have shot up from 88,243 families to 100,024 families or 479,223 persons.

The number of evacuees sheltering in evacuation centers has also shot up from 18,080 families (89,024 persons) to 22,861 families (111,133 persons), the NDCC added.

The NDCC also denied reports of a "food blockade" after a United Nations convoy of relief goods were barred to enter Poona Piagapo, Tangkal and Munai in Delabayan, Kauswagan on August 28.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines clarified that the convoy was not allowed to enter for "security reasons" and was allowed to proceed the following day with the help of the local government and Peace Advocates from Iligan City.

The NDCC also advised humanitarian aid workers to coordinate with the regional office of civil defense.

Continuous assistance to displaced civilians is being undertaken through government cluster leads, disaster coordinating councils and concerned local government units, the NDCC added in its report.

Total assistance being provided by the NDCC and partner organizations like local and international non-government organizations have reached P51.77 million.

The USAID has also provided an additional $100,000 to Save the Children under the Mindanao Emergency Response Network.

Health surveillance systems have been intensified and vaccination in evacuation centers have been conducted following a surge in reported cases of measles and mumps.

Medical consultations in Munai and Matungao are being conducted by local health personnel, the NDCC added.

Meanwhile, the Department of Social Welfare and Development has indicated that they were ready to assist displaced evacuees living with their relatives and friends so long as a signed master list would be provided by local chief executives.

The DSWD in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao has also suggested that "bunk houses" be constructed as temporary shelter for displaced families and that the Department of Public Works and Highways help in the construction of these buildings.

The Office of Civil Defense in Region 10 also recommended that displaced families in the municipalities of Poona Piagapo, Tangkal and Munai be evacuated to Delabayan, Kauswagan and other coastal areas "where they can be served better."

But evacuees refused the offer for security reasons and for fear of "possible reprisal" from Christians, the NDCC added.

The OCD Region 10 has also expressed urgency to "decongest" the evacuations centers in Lanao del Norte since an increase in acute respiratory infections has been reported.

The NDCC added that the Armed Forces of the Philippines should also help in ensuring the safe entry of workers from the Department of Health and other health sectors to provide treatment and implement other disease control mechanisms.

There is also a need for rice and medicine augmentation in evacuation centers and assistance to refugees in terms of livelihood, crops and livestock rehabilitation, the NDCC added.

The DepEd has also raised concern on the effects to students of the indefinite suspension of classes due to the damages to school buildings and the use of some buildings as evacuation centers.

Classes are still suspended in schools in Kauswagan and Lanao del Norte provinces and also in Barangay (villages) Tingin-tingin, Baraason, Dilabayan, Kayontor and Paiton.

The DepEd is still assessing and validating damages in other provinces.

First posted 17:58:16 (Mla time) September 03, 2008
Alcuin Papa Katherine Evangelista
Philippine Daily Inquirer 

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Debt Payments 48% of Proposed 2009 Budget; Allotment for Services Measly

In her message titled Standing Firm in the Midst of Economic Challenges, Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said, “A number one priority of my Administration is services to uplift the lives of the poor. No other priority encapsulates so succinctly the commitments I have made since I assumed the Presidency.”

The message is addressed to members of the House of Representatives. Congress has started its deliberations Sept. 3 on the proposed P1.415-trillion ($30.22 billion at the Sept. 5 exchange rate of $1:P46.82) national budget for next year.

At first glance, the proposed budget shows increased allocations for education, health and other social services. A closer examination, however, would prove that these allotments are measly compared to debt payments.

In the same message, Arroyo said, “Debt service’s 21.4-percent share in the national budget next year shows a conspicuous continuous decline from 31.6 percent in 2005 and 23.2 percent in 2007, in accordance with our deficit reduction strategy. This means more resources can now be used for essential spending on investments on our human and capital resources.”

Arroyo was only referring to the interest payments pegged at P302.6 billion ($6.46 billion). If principal amortization would be computed, total debt service for next year is P681.5 billion ($1.46 billion) or 48.16 percent of the proposed national budget.

Source: National Expenditure Program for 2009
Per capita is computed based on the projected population for 2009, 92.2 million

Presidential Decree No. 1177, issued by the late President Ferdinand Marcos during martial law, allows automatic appropriation for debt service and other expenditure items. Allocation for the principal amortization of national government debt is not included in the proposed national budget.

Health

Based on the proposed budget, the Department of Health (DoH) will get P27.8 billion ($593.76 million). The proposal is 36.9 percent higher than this year’s allocation.

However, the amount is still measly. With the projected 92.2-million population next year, government health spending would only be P0.83 ($0.02) per person per day.

For next year, the proposed allocation for disease prevention and control is only P4.51 billion ($96.33 million) while P161.73 million ($3.45 million) is allotted for monitoring and surveillance of diseases and outbreaks.

Subsidies for indigent patients for confinement in specialty hospitals and for the use of specialized equipment is only P6 million ($128,150.36).

The 12 specialty government hospitals have a combined budget of only P3.23 billion ($68.99 million). These include the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center, Rizal Medical Center, East Avenue Medical Center, Quirino Memorial Medical Center, Tondo Medical Center, Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital, National Children's Hospital, National Center for Mental Health, Philippine Orthopedic Center, San Lazaro Hospital, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), and Eulogio “Amang” Rodriguez Medical Center.

The RITM will receive no fund for capital outlay.

The Eulogio “Amang” Rodriguez Medical Center will get the lowest budget of P103.85 million ($2.21 million). The National Center for Mental Health will be allotted P517.94 million ($11.06 million).

The budget for the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) for this year is P1.14 billion ($24.35 million), of which P878.56 million ($18.76 million) is allotted for personnel services and only P3 million ($64,075.18) for capital outlay.

Meanwhile, the Veterans Memorial Medical Center will receive P 742.40 million ($15.86 million) and the AFP Medical Center, P850.09 million ($18,156557).

In fact, the proposed health budget is lesser by P6.62 billion ($141.39 million) than the government’s counter-insurgency funds for next year, which amounts to P34.42 billion ($735.16 million).

Moreover, the health budget is less than half of the proposed budget for the Department of National Defense pegged at P56.4 billion ($1.2 billion).

The Arroyo government will also allocate some P3.3 billion ($70.48 million) next year for the National Health Insurance Program. The amount will be used to provide health insurance to 4.7 million indigent households.

The NHIP is the main instrument of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).

Arroyo said there are 65 million Filipinos who have health insurance, including 15 million indigents.
However, in a study, the National Institute of Health maintained that the PhilHealth’s claim of coverage is overestimated by at least 20 percent.

The Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) noted that the PhilHealth coverage bloated to 80 percent during the election period in 2007. In the past years, the coverage was only 61 percent.

Another study commissioned by the European Commission regarding PhilHealth coverage in Mindanao showed that only ten percent of the poor in Tawi-Tawi, 12 percent in Davao Oriental and 15 percent in Zamboanga del Norte and Maguindanao are covered by PhilHealth.

Education

The Department of Education (DepEd) will receive P167.9 billion ($3.59 billion) including P2 billion ($42.72 million) for construction of classrooms.

With the P2 billion budget, only 3,076 classrooms can be built. Arroyo said that each classroom costs P650,000 ($13,882.96).

In a statement, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) estimated that the DepEd needs to construct an additional 41,905 classrooms in order to attain a 1:45 classroom-to- student ratio.

Antonio Tinio, ACT chaiperson noted that at the elementary level, classroom shortages are concentrated in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon). At the secondary level, there are classroom shortages nationwide, but are most acutely felt in NCR, Calabarzon, Central Luzon, and Central and Western Visayas, he added.

The proposed budget will include P2.5 billion ($53.4 million) to fund the creation of 19,553 new teaching and non-teaching personnel.

ACT’s Tinio said, “To reduce class sizes to 40 students per class at the elementary level and 45 students per class at the secondary level, DepEd needs to hire 25,240 additional teachers.”

Tinio also criticized the ‘problematic’ computation of DepEd on the teacher-student ratios. "Teacher-pupil ratios don't take factors such as class size, teacher specialization from Grade 4 onwards, and teaching load into consideration. This leads to an absurd situation where the DepEd claims that there is now a surplus of teachers just because the teacher-pupil ratio stands at 1:35 for elementary and 1:39 for high schools," he said.

The budget for 112 state universities and colleges (SUCs) is only P22.57 billion ($482.06 million).

The University of the Philippines (UP) system will get P6.7 billion ($143.1 million), the biggest budget among SUCs. The UP has a population of more than 50,000. It is comprised of seven constituent universities located in 12 campuses throughout the country.

The Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), the largest university in terms of student population will only receive P663.64 million ($14.17 million). It has six campuses, two branches and ten extension campuses serving more than 52,000 students.

The Philippine Normal University (PNU), the country’s center for teacher education, will only get P282.32 million ($6.03 million). It has four campuses in the country.

Housing, social welfare

A meager P5.3 billion ($113.2 million) will be allotted for housing.

The P300 million will be allotted for the operational requirements of regulatory agencies such as the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB).

The National Housing Authority (NHA) will get P3.5 billion ($74.75 million). Arroyo said it will be used to set up resettlement sites and build new housing units.

Meanwhile, even as the DSWD budget will increase by 116 percent, the bulk will go to donations and subsidies. These include Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino program, P5 billion ($106.79 million); and, Malusog na Simula, Yaman ng Bansa feeding program, P1.58 billion ($33.75 million).

The Pantawid Pamilya program, Arroyo said, will provide cash grants to 321,000 poorest households.

Big chunks

The Arroyo government will invest P147.5 billion ($3.15 billion) for infrastructure. Of this amount, P83.9 billion will be used to build and maintain roads and bridges.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will receive P120 billion ($2.56 billion).

Critics, however, fear that the funds for infrastructure would be vulnerable to corruption. In many surveys, the DPWH is consistently perceived to be one of the most corrupt government agencies in the country.

Another controversial item in the proposed 2009 national budget is the allocation for confidential and intelligence expenses of different government offices amounting to P1.36 billion ($29.05 million).

The Office of the President will get the biggest intelligence fund worth P650 million ($13.88 million). The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) will get P270 million ($5.77 million) for the same purpose while the DND will receive P151.64 million ($3.24 million). These funds are not subject to government audit. Bulatlat

BY RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat
Volume VIII, No. 31, September 7-13, 2008

______________________________________________________________________________________

As GRP, MILF Clash over Aborted Agreement, Peace Deals with MNLF Remain Unimplemented

While the conflict between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front has re-escalated in the wake of the aborted signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), between the two groups, there are previous peace agreements dealing with the Moro people’s struggle for self-determination that have yet to be properly implemented.

The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), which began to wage armed struggle against the GRP following the infamous Jabidah Massacre of 1967, signed in 1976 the Tripoli Agreement with the Marcos government after the latter, weighed down by the costs of the Mindanao war, negotiated for peace. The peace negotiations and the signing of the agreement were sponsored and hosted by the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).

The pact involved the grant of autonomy to Muslims. Under the said agreement, areas of autonomy for Muslims were to be established in the following areas: Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, North Cotabato, Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Davao del Sur, South Cotabato, and Palawan.

Conflicts on the issue of autonomy led to a breakdown of talks between the GRP and the MNLF in 1978, prompting a group led by Salamat Hashim to break away from the MNLF and form the MILF. Since then, the MILF has been fighting for Moro self-determination.

In 1989, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) was created through Republic Act No. 6734. The ARMM originally comprised the provinces of Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao, and Lanao del Sur.

In 1996, the MNLF signed the Final Peace Agreement with the GRP. That same year, the MILF began peace negotiations with the GRP.

The 1996 Final Peace Agreement, which is an implementing mechanism for the Tripoli Agreement, provides among other things for amendments to or the repeal of RA 6734. It was specifically provided that amendments to or the repeal of RA 6734 would be initiated within the period 1996-1997, after which the amendatory law would be submitted to a plebiscite or referendum in the original ARMM provinces as well as in the provinces of Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Davao del Sur, South Cotabato, Sarangani and Palawan and the cities of Cotabato, Dapitan, Dipolog, General Santos, lligan, Marawi, Pagadian, Zamboanga and Puerto Princesa.

The 1996 Final Peace Agreement created the Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development, with the ARMM under the MNLF, as a transitional implementing mechanism. It also placed the “areas of autonomy” provided for by the Tripoli Agreement within the coverage of a Special Zone for Peace and Development (SZOPAD). The SPCPD and the ARMM under the MNLF were to encourage the provinces within the SZOPAD to join what would be an expanded ARMM.

The agreed-upon amendments to RA 6734, which were expected to be initiated within the 1996-1997 period as provided for by the 1996 Final Peace Agreement, did not materialize. Instead, Congress, a few years later, passed RA 9054, which sought to expand the coverage of the ARMM – without consultations with the MNLF and the OIC. Under the said law, areas to be covered by the expanded ARMM were to be subjected to a plebiscite.

In the plebiscite held in August 2001 – after RA 9054 lapsed into law without Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s signature – only Marawi City and Basilan (except Isabela City) elected to be part of the expanded ARMM.

On Nov. 19, 2001, MNLF chairman and then ARMM Gov. Nur Misuari declared war on the Arroyo government for allegedly reneging on its commitments to the 1996 Final Peace Agreement. The MNLF then attacked an Army headquarters in Jolo.

Misuari was subsequently arrested in Sabah, Malaysia for illegal entry and was turned over to the Philippine government by Malaysian authorities. He is currently under house arrest in New Manila, Quezon City.

“Fait accompli solution”

In an interview, Misuari, citing a comment by an OIC representative whom he did not identify, said the non-implementation of the GRP-MNLF agreements means that the government is merely interested in a “fait accompli solution” to the conflict in Mindanao. “A fait accompli solution could only mean one thing: the pursuit of peace through military means,” he said.

The MNLF leader said, however, that it is now impossible for the government to win against the MNLF by military means. He said the MNLF now has a total strength of 150,000-200,000 and is in possession of various high-powered weapons including, he said, anti-tank weapons. “If the government thinks they can win against us, they should go to Mandaluyong,” he said, referring to the Metro Manila city where the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) is located.

“The MNLF has not yet unleashed its military potential because we don’t want to be at odds with the OIC and its member-states – 57 member-states, all sovereign states, members of the United Nations in good standing – you know, we cannot annoy them, we cannot defy their demands that we maintain the peace,” he also said. “And we continue to uphold the achievement that we made across the negotiating table.”

Adding insult to injury, Misuari said, is the government’s attempt to impose its Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) with the MILF on the GRP-MNLF peace agreements.

The MOA-AD seeks the establishment of a BJE that would also cover the Mindanao-Sulu-Palawan region – with the ARMM as the core of the new region. As regards governance, the agreement provides among other things that:

“The relationship between the Central Government and the BJE shall be associative characterized by shared authority and responsibility with a structure of governance based on executive, legislative, judicial and administrative institutions with defined powers and functions in the Comprehensive Compact. A period of transition shall be established in a Comprehensive Compact specifying the relationship between the Central Government and the BJE.”

The MNLF leader said that trying to impose the MOA-AD on their peace agreements with the GRP is an insult to his group.

“It is not good (for the Philippine government) to treat us the way they do,” Misuari said. “We have signed a formal peace agreement and now they are trying to sign a MOA which they want to impose or superimpose on our binding international agreement. This is tantamount to slapping the face...of the MNLF.”

He said that before signing the MOA-AD, the GRP would have done well to send a written communication to the MNLF and the OIC stating that it no longer feels bound by the 1996 Final Peace Agreement. “We would not have been hurt by that,” Misuari said.

The MOA-AD was to be signed by the GRP and the MILF last Aug. 5, but the Supreme Court on Aug. 4 issued a temporary restraining order on its signing following a petition by North Cotabato Vice Gov. Emmanuel Piñol, supported by another petition filed by Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat and two congressmen. The Supreme Court has since been hearing oral arguments on the MOA-AD.

Origins of the conflict

Moro historian Salah Jubair traces the roots of the present conflict in southern Philippines to the US annexation of Mindanao and Sulu into the Philippine territory in 1946. Jubair argues that the Bangsamoro is a people with a socio-political, economic, and cultural system distinct from that of the Filipino people.

The inclusion of Mindanao and Sulu in the scope of the 1946 “independence” granted to the Philippines paved the way for large-scale non-Muslim migration to the two islands. This large-scale migration, which began in the 1950s, brought with it the problem of land grabbing.

At some point the government even instituted a Mindanao Homestead Program, which involved giving land parcels seized from Moros to landless peasants from the Visayas islands and Luzon and also to former communist guerrillas who availed of amnesty. This was intended to defuse the peasant unrest and the revolutionary war that was staged in the late 1940s and early 1950s by the communist-led Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan (HMB or People’s Liberation Army), which was basically a peasant army.

The Jabidah Massacre of 1967 triggered widespread outrage among the Moros and led to the formation of the MNLF that same year. A breakdown in the GRP-MNLF peace talks in 1978 led a group led by Salamat Hashim to break away and form the MILF.

As the armed conflict between the GRP and the MILF rages in Mindanao because of an aborted agreement, another bigger conflict threatens to unfold, this time with the MNLF, because the government failed to implement a previous agreement. Bulatlat

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 29, August 24-30, 2008

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Sen Arroyo slams ‘overstaying’ US military in Mindanao

MANILA, Philippines -- Senator Joker Arroyo on Wednesday criticized what he described as “overstaying” American troops in Mindanao.

"The US-Philippines Visiting Forces Agreement…has been dubbed as the Overstaying Forces Agreement because of the continuous stay of US forces in the ARMM [Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao] border provinces," he said.

Arroyo also criticized what he called President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's “injudicious” plan to seek the help of the United Kingdom and Sweden in forging a peace settlement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

"First the Americans, then the British? The President would be better off avoiding Western participation [in] indigenously Asiatic affairs," he said.

Earlier, the senator criticized the presence of US Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney in Kuala Lumpur for the scheduled signing of the memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain between the government and MILF.

The signing was called off after the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order on petitions by officials of North Cotabato and Zamboanga City to declare the agreement unconstitutional.

The aborted signing of the agreement was followed almost immediately after by fighting between government and MILF forces, which is still ongoing in Central Mindanao.

"It [seeking British and Swedish aid] is misguided, a frying pan to the fire approach. Whoever gave the President that bum steer should be canned," Arroyo said.

Citing the National Statistics Office, which places Muslims at only five percent of the country's population, Arroyo said the problem in Mindanao is a geographical dispute between Muslims and Christians.

First posted 13:31:14 (Mla time) August 27, 2008
Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net ________________________________________________________________________ 

Padaca asks Filipinos: Replicate democratic victories

MANILA, Philippines -- Breakthroughs and victories against "oppressive political structures" need to be encouraged and supported to be replicated, said Isabela governor and Ramon Magsaysay awardee for government service Grace Magno Padaca on Sunday.

In accepting her award at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Padaca also said political victories were "fragile" and asked for continued support.

"Victories are fragile and they need to be supported and encouraged," she said. "Please continue encouraging and supporting me."

The Ramon Magsaysay Awards, recognized as Asia's Nobel Peace Prize, celebrated its 50th anniversary today with Padaca as one of the recipients.

Padaca broke the Dy family's grip on Isabela in the 2004 gubernatorial elections by raking in 55 percent of the votes, making headlines for toppling a political dynasty that spanned 30 years. Now on her second term as governor, she rose to fame for her campaign for democratic elections. Padaca also said that the "political victory" she achieved in her province must be replicated nationally.

"What we dared to do is to make democracy work especially in electing our leaders," she said. "In less than two years, we will be electing our leaders and are going to the polls. We need to continue succeeding after raining hopes on our people."

Meanwhile, Jaime Zobel de Ayala, chairman of the board of trustees of the Ramon Magsaysay Foundation, expressed hope that the Ramon Magsaysay Awards would be "Asia's solution to global problems."

Ayala also said that the future would not only connect countries and people but also problems.

"As we embark in the next 50 years, these global problems will remain unresolved without greatness of service," he added. "The world will continue to become more connected and we will become more connected with each other. Wealth and prosperity will no longer have boundaries.
In the next decade, we will be forced to face the demands of growth and development."

He said these "demands" include lack of access to resources, basic rights and accountability, among others.

Other winners of this year's Ramon Magsaysay Awards are Thailand's Therdchai Jivacate and the Philippines' Center for Agriculture and Rural Development Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (CAD MRI) for public service; India's Prakash Amte and Mandakini Amte for community leadership; Japan's Akio Ishii for journalism, literature and creative
communication arts; Indonesia's Ahmad Syafii Maarif for peace and international understanding; and Sri Lanka's Ananda Galappatti for emergent leadership.

First posted 17:54:00 (Mla time) August 31, 2008
Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net _________________________________________________________________________ 

Cheaper medicines law not the solution--health groups

MANILA, Philippines -- The recently enacted cheaper medicines is “not the solution” to the problem of expensive medicines, around a hundred members of health workers’ groups who picketed the Department of Health (DoH) office in Manila on Thursday said.

Government’s claims that Republic Act 9502 or the "Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008” will make medicines affordable are giving consumers “false hopes,” Dr. Gene Nesperos, secretary general of the Health Alliance for Democracy (Head), said in an interview.

Joining Head in at the hour-long DoH picket to express “disappointment” with the measure were the Alliance of Health Workers, Council for Health and Development, and Kilos Bayan para sa Kalusugan (People’s Movement for Health).

“It might affect the price (of medicines) but whether it will make medicines affordable is an entirely different issue… possible na mas mura, pero hindi ibig sabihin ay kaya nang bilhin ng mga mahihirap [prices may be cheaper but it does not mean that the poor can afford them],” Nesperos said.

He called the measure a “weak law” that fails to address the “highly monopolized” prices of medicine, Nesperos said.

The intellectual property code provisions of the measure also allegedly favor importers and producers of medicines in the Philippines, Nesperos said.

The protesting health groups called for “concrete and more decisive actions” by of the government to explore possible solutions, not provided in the cheaper medicines law, to lower the prices of medicines and drugs.

The DoH is still formulating the implementing rules and regulations of the new law, Nesperos said, as he urged the agency not to be limited by the provisions of the law.

The protesters suggested that government regulate and nationalize the medicine industry in order “to dismantle monopoly” and ensure that drugs and medicines will be “affordable and accessible” to the masses.

“If the government is sincere in making medicines affordable and accessible, they should regulate the medicine industry,” Nesperos said.

First posted 14:49:16 (Mla time) August 28, 2008
Katherine Evangelista
INQUIRER.net _______________________________________________________________________________________

Thousands turn out for 12-hour ‘Truth Fest’

Traffic snarled on northbound lane of Roxas Blvd

MANILA, Philippines -- Thousands of people have turned out for a 12-hour “Truth Fest” at the Rajah Sulaiman Plaza on Roxas Boulevard in Manila from 5 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Saturday.

The participants, from militant labor, youth, church and other sectoral and civil society groups, carried banners and were escorted by marching bands as they converged on the site of the activity, where they were greeted by “gigantes,” giant figures traditionally used during the fiesta in Antipolo City.

The overnight activity comes a day after the 25th death anniversary of former senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., whose murder in 1983 helped spawn the mass protest movement that would eventually oust the dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and replace him with Aquino’s widow, Corazon, the country’s first woman president.

Members of the artists’ coalition Tutok have painted the road with various derogatory images of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo against a backdrop of the American flag with bullets instead of stars.

Tutok coordinator Iggy Rodriguez said the backdrop symbolized US intervention in Philippine affairs, including the continuing conflict in Mindanao.

The images of Arroyo, on the other hand, are related to various issues raised against her.

Among these are of Arroyo dancing the cha-cha, a reference to Charter change, which is often shortened into the popular ballroom dance, and of a crucified Filipino with the President as Pontius Pilate.

As with traditional fiestas, the streets are lined with stalls selling food and various merchandise including books.

Traffic is snarled on the northbound lane of Roxas Boulevard, which has been closed from Quirino Avenue to Pedro Gil.

Among the personalities spotted at the protest are Bagong Alyansang Makabayan secretary general Renato Reyes, former social welfare secretary Corazon Soliman and Dante Madriaga.

The Truth Fest will feature a concert, art exhibits, films and a performance of the Philippine Dragonboat Team.

The activity will seek to set a new world record for a “voice choir” that will recite a “litany of untruths” allegedly committed by the Arroyo administration, Reyes said, including the “Hello Garci” scandal involving purported wiretaps of the President and a former election official allegedly discussing how to rig the 2004 elections in her favor, and the scandal-tainted national broadband network (NBN) deal, to which Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel have been implicated.

“It will be a venue for creative and innovative ways to encourage truth-telling and to search for truth,” said Sister Mary John Mananzan, OSB, of Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines (AMRSP).

Mananzan also stressed that the event would not be a venue for politicians to campaign for the 2010 elections.

“Pwede silang magsalita, pero hindi sila pwedeng mangampanya [They can talk but they can’t campaign],” she added.

Independent film makers are expected to make a documentary film on the “Truth Fest,” featuring different perspectives of the event.

Hundreds of students belonging to the League of Filipino Students (LFS), Youth Act Now, and Anakbayan walked out of their classes at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Adamson University, and Philippine Christian University Friday morning to kick off the Truth Fest.

“Arroyo's game plan and scenario-building are becoming more obvious by the minute. First, Charter change, then Arroyo and her militarist-thinking advisers are now manipulating the Mindanao conflict to sow an atmosphere of panic and chaos even in Manila and other regions,” said LFS chairman Vencer Crisostomo.

"Instead of self-serving schemes, Arroyo should address the present economic crisis burdening the people. Last we checked oil prices are still at record-high levels, the lines at NFA retail shops are not getting any shorter and the government is earning more windfalls via the VAT at the expense of our poor countrymen,” said Ken Ramos, Anakbayan national chair.

By Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 13:30:00 08/22/2008

________________________________________________________________________ 

On Ninoy’s 25th Death Anniversary,

Shadows of Marcos Seen in Gloria

On the 25th anniversary of the assassination of Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan - New Patriotic Alliance) said they see the ‘looming shadows of the Marcos dictatorship in the Macapagal-Arroyo administration.’

The group said that August 21 is ‘a landmark date in the fight against corruption, abuse of power and gross human rights violations.’ They held a protest in front of the late senator’s monument in Makati, Thursday afternoon.

Aquino, a leading critic of the Marcos dictatorship was was assassinated at the tarmac of the Manila International Airport on Aug. 21, 1983.

In a statement, Renato Reyes Jr., Bayan secretary general said, “We see a president that refuses to learn from the lessons of history; one who is intent on repeating the mistakes of the past… Arroyo also wishes to perpetuate herself in power either through charter change or some Marcosian tactic of martial rule.”

Protesters held pictures of Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Ferdinand Marcos.

Reyes said, “Ninoy’s death anniversary is a reminder of the price that was paid by those before us who fought the US-backed Marcos dictatorship…Under the US-backed Arroyo regime, many Filipinos continue to die fighting for the same causes of human rights, sovereignty and democracy.”
 
Bayan also condemned Arroyo’s all-out war in Mindanao, saying that it would ultimately fail if fundamental social problems are not addressed. Bulatlat

BY MEDZ MONTEREAL
Contributed to Bulatlat
Posted August 21, 2008 - 4:10 p.m.

_________________________________________________________________________ 

 The MoA, the Cha Cha, and the U.S. Ambassador

So much controversy has surrounded the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on ancestral domain between the Arroyo government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). In stead of engendering peace, it has led to the escalation of the conflict; in stead of bringing about unity and the community of peoples, it has led to tensions between the MILF and the affected communities of North Cotabato, no less aided by the word war between Vice Gov. Emmanuel “Manny” Piñol and ‘peace’ adviser Hermogenes Esperon.  Events became clearer when suddenly the Arroyo government began pushing for charter change purportedly to achieve peace in Mindanao; and US ambassador Kristie Kenney showed up in the aborted signing of the MoA in Malaysia.  

The controversy came to a head with the declaration of the Arroyo government that it’s “all systems go” for charter change, purportedly to initiate the shift to federalism to accommodate the demands of the MILF for autonomy.  This stirred the hornet’s nest.  

Meanwhile, Sen. Joker Arroyo raised questions regarding the presence of US Ambassador Kristie Kenney in the aborted signing of the Memorandum of Agreement with the MILF in Malaysia.  Quick to the defense was Justice Sec. Raul Gonzalez who castigated people for questioning the presence of Ambassador Kenney, which to him was normal.

Clearly, there are three interested parties in the ongoing negotiations between the government and the MILF.

First is the MILF and the Bangsamoro people.  

The struggle of the Bangsamoro people for their right to self-determination dates back to the American colonial period.  It was revived with the Jabidah massacre and the formation of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1968. The armed conflict between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the MNLF erupted upon the declaration of Martial Law. The Organization of Islamic Conference intervened and pushed for peace talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the MNLF.  

Talks between the GRP and the MNLF gained some ground with the 1976 Tripoli Agreement, which declared the ”establishment of Autonomy in the Southern Philippines within the realm of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of the Philippines.”  The “areas of autonomy for the Muslims in the Southern Philippines”, as provided for by the Tripoli agreement are Basilan, Sulu, Tawi Tawi, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, North Cotabato, Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Davao del Sur, South Cotabato, Palawan, and “all the cities and villages situated in the above-mentioned areas.” The autonomous government would have had a Legislative Assembly and an Executive Council.  Courts implementing the Islamic Shari’a laws would have been set-up.   And they should have had their own economic and financial system.  In addition, a “reasonable percentage” derived from revenues from mines and mineral resources should have been allotted “for the benefit of the areas of autonomy.”

But it was only in 1996 when the Final Peace Agreement was signed.  According to the agreement, Phase 1, lasting three years, began with the issuance of the Executive Order establishing the Special Zone of Peace and Development and the Southern Philippine Council for Peace and Development.  Phase II should have involved the amendment or repeal of the Organic Act of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) or RA 6734. In a plebiscite in November 2001 only Marawi city and Basilan (except Isabela city) elected to be part of the ARMM.

It took 20 years from the signing of the Tripoli agreement before a Final Peace Agreement was sealed.  And after more than ten years after the Final Peace Agreement was forged, seemingly the implementation has barely gone beyond Phase 1. The implementation or non-implementation of the Final Peace Agreement has been a constant source of tension between the GRP and the MNLF and has led to sporadic fighting between AFP and MNLF forces.  

Without settling the problems in the implementation of the Final Peace Agreement with the MNLF, the Arroyo government entered into a MoA with the MILF covering the same areas. The past few weeks manifested the sincerity, or rather the lack of it, of the Arroyo government in responding to the historic demand of the Bangsamoro people for self-determination.  The Arroyo government made a show of insisting on the MoA with the MILF while leaving the MNLF - which is waiting for the long overdue review of the implementation of the peace agreement - hanging in the balance, and at the same time, pushing through with the ARMM elections with its political allies in Mindanao taking control over the ARMM. By doing so it is dividing the Bangsamoro people.

Worse, it is trying to provoke a conflict between Moro and Christian communities by making the MILF believe that the MoA is a done deal while keeping the provisions of the agreement a secret thereby unsettling Christian and Lumad communities.

And for what? A lot of people think the Arroyo government is merely providing an excuse for pushing for charter change to keep itself in power beyond 2010. Obviously, the Arroyo government is the second interest group.  It claims that its only purpose in pushing for charter change is to achieve peace in Mindanao.  But its actions belie its supposed intentions.

If it genuinely wanted to achieve peace in Mindanao, it could have settled the unresolved issues with the MNLF early on.  This is not to say that the MNLF and MILF are one and the same and that solving the problems with the implementation of the MNLF peace agreement would likewise resolve the conflict with the MILF. But if the government was not able to implement the peace agreement with the MNLF, which required less concessions from it, how can it be relied on to implement the MoA with the MILF? Besides both the MNLF and the MILF are working for the benefit of the whole Bangsamoro people. Which brings us to the next point.  

Why is it that after more than 30 years of the Tripoli agreement and more than ten years after the signing of the Final Peace Agreement, the Bangsamoro people remain marginalized, oppressed and in a deteriorating state of poverty? How could things be different if the MoA and a final peace agreement is signed with the MILF?  If the government is serious in working for peace and development in Mindanao it could have addressed the problems of marginalization and poverty besetting the Bangsamoro people early on.  But it did not.  And now it is suddenly concerned with peace in Mindanao. Did it experience an epiphany of sorts that it suddenly decided to become magnanimous or is the government taking the MILF for a ride?  Why is it in a hurry to forge a deal with less than two years before it is supposed to step down? Why is there a sudden urgent need to shift to a federal system of government?

This government has never been known to uphold democratic processes or people’s rights.  On the contrary, during the last seven years of its rule, all it did was to keep itself in power at all costs through political maneuvering and through bribing, rewarding and accommodating politically its allies, and harassing, killing and abducting its critics. Perhaps that is not all it did because it has also been involved in numerous corruption scandals.  That is why, it is to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s interest to keep itself in power beyond 2010 or to at least ensure that an ally would succeed her

The third interested party is the US.  More than half of aid from the US government is pouring into Mindanao.  US troops have established a continuous presence in Mindanao since 2001 through the Balikatan joint military exercises as well as for “trainings” through the Joint Special Operations Task Force Philippines.  The US is as interested in bringing democracy and development to the Bangsamoro people as much as it does with the Iraqi and Afghan people. After all, the Philippines was declared by the US as the “second front in the war against terror.”

The positioning of the US in Mindanao is all about geopolitics, securing US interests in the region, and access to the island’s rich natural resources, including oil and natural gas. The report that Eid Kabalu of the MILF hinted that  US authorities approached them to secure their agreement to the establishment of US bases in Mindanao once a final peace agreement is forged is not surprising.  

The Bangsamoro people is dealing with forces that have oppressed it for centuries, the US and the GRP.  Worse, it is dealing with an administration that knows no bounds in its greed for power and wealth, and does not respect any institution or process in its efforts at political survival. It is also dealing with the almighty US that is deeply in crisis and is preoccupied not with spreading democracy and development but with asserting its political-military hegemony and protecting its economic interests.  The involvement of the US in Mindanao is not about development, it is about its self-proclaimed “war on terror.” The motive of the Arroyo government is not to grant genuine autonomy to the Bangsamoro people but to perpetuate itself in power.  And they have been pitting the Bangsamoro and the Filipino people against each other to achieve this. How can the Bangsamoro people then achieve genuine peace and development under this government? Bulatlat 

BY BENJIE OLIVEROS
ANALYSIS
Vol. VIII, no. 28, August 17-23, 2008

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Senate, House leaders call for ‘full force of law’ vs MILF

MANILA, Philippines -- The leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives on Monday urged the government to come down hard on the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) for attacking five towns in Lanao del Norte province.

But other lawmakers urged caution, calling on the government and Moro rebels to immediately call a truce and resume peace talks.

The attacks came a day after the rebels ambushed an Army convoy in Mulondo town, Lanao del Sur province, leaving seven soldiers killed and 12 others wounded, and a week after military offensives dislodged hundreds of rebels from North Cotabato province.

"The Armed Forces of the Philippines should undertake punitive action against the MILF forces involved and uphold the rule of law. We cannot afford renewed armed hostilities because this will only set back efforts to bring economic and social progress to Muslim Mindanao," Senate President Manuel Villar said in a statement.

He denounced the MILF for launching the attacks despite an existing ceasefire.

At the House, Speaker Prospero Nograles, in a separate statement, called the attacks on the Lanao del Norte communities acts of “terrorism” that should be condemned by everyone, including the MILF leadership.

“These acts of criminality and terrorism by rebel Muslim groups should be dealt with quickly and met frontally with the full force of the law,” he said.

“The government and our armed forces cannot afford now to deal with kid's gloves [with] this kind of situation,” Nograles said. “We want peace but when terrorism is the result of peace negotiations, the terrorists must be stopped and subdued at all cost.”

“The rampage being done by the MILF group clearly shows criminal terrorism by any definition. It’s time to throw the statute books and enforce our laws on terrorism. There is no other way to deal with this situation,” he said in a text message.

But Anak-Mindanao Representative Mujiv Hataman called for “the immediate cessation of hostilities in Lanao.”

“We condemn the death, injury, [hostage taking] and displacement of innocent civilians. The safety and security of their lives and property must not be risked at any cost. We, therefore, call for ceasefire and resumption of peace talks,” Hataman said.

Bayan Muna (People First) Representative Satur Ocampo also said he did not believe an all-out offensive against the MILF is necessary and urged government to calibrate its responses against the Moro rebels.

“If it upholds the primacy of the peace process, the government must calibrate its responses to MILF-initiated attacks. Otherwise, it would violate the ceasefire agreement,” Ocampo said.

Villar also urged President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to immediately release money from the government’s Emergency Fund so relief assistance, like food, medicine, and counsel, be provided the affected people.

"With another war in their midst, many of our brothers and sisters in Mindanao, particularly in Lanao Del Sur and Lanao Del Norte, fear for the safety of their loved ones. Immediate resolution and a return to normalcy is urged the soonest time possible," he said.

"Let's keep in mind that peace and prosperity in Mindanao will eventually result in the welfare, stability and security of the entire Philippines," he added.

At the same time, Villar appealed to government agencies, particularly the Departments of Social Work and Development and of Health, the Commission on Human Rights, and local government officials, as well as non-government organizations, to ensure the safety of residents fleeing the areas of firefight.

"Evacuation procedures should be carried out in orderly fashion. Innocent civilians should not be caught in the crossfire between the military and forces of the MILF…Massive relief must be done now," he said.

Nograles said government cannot pursue peace with the MILF if the rebel leadership could not control their own ranks on the ground.

“We really have to know first from the MILF leaders if they are still in control. Those who are out of line should be relieved from their posts and should be punished by the MILF leadership for breaking the chain-of-command,” the Speaker said.

By Veronica Uy, Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 15:58:00 08/18/2008

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Air Force planes bomb MILF lair

‘Eyeball-to-eyeball’ fighting in Cotabato

PIKIT, NORTH COTABATO—Philippine Air Force planes Sunday bombed suspected Moro rebel positions and ground troops pounded them with cannons and mortars after hundreds of guerrillas defied a government ultimatum to withdraw.

Eyewitness accounts put government casualties at three dead, while officials said one Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebel was killed in the clashes that erupted mainly in North Cotabato province.

Armed Forces Vice Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Cardozo Luna said fighting was taking place “eyeball-to-eyeball” in some areas and that the military and police were “prepared for a long drawn-out action,” Agence France-Presse reported.

Some 500 guerrillas were involved in the fighting with Army units, including those from the 602nd Brigade, the 40th Infantry Battalion, and 7th Infantry Battalion, according to Brig. Gen. Jorge Segovia, acting AFP command center chief.

Military reports mentioned no deaths among soldiers but said at least six of them were wounded in skirmishes that occurred in areas largely outside the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), where regional elections were to be held on Monday.

There was no indication that the new flare-up was directly related to the ARMM elections. But some of the fighting spilled over to two villages in Northern Kabuntalan, in Shariff Kabunsuan, where the rebels suffered one dead, according to Chief Supt. Joel Goltiao, the ARMM police director.

Thousands flee

The weeks-long tension has forced some 100,000 villagers to flee their homes, relief officials in North Cotabato said.

Guided by troops on the ground, OV-10 Broncos, SF-260 planes and MG-520 attack helicopters hammered MILF positions in North Cotabato with 260-pound bombs and rockets, a senior PAF official monitoring the military operation said.

“We already launched air operations using OV-10s, MG-520s and SF-260s. Bombs, rockets and machine gun fire were delivered to targets given by ground troops,” said the official, who asked not to be named because he was not in charge of releasing statements to the media.

The bombs were dropped in the area “of the 105th Base Command of the MILF, which is out of control already,” the official told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net).

Further air strikes were expected until MILF troops heeded the government’s demand for a pullout.

Withdrawal ordered

The government had given about 800 guerrillas until 10 a.m. on Friday to vacate several villages they had occupied supposedly in violation of a 2003 ceasefire.

Officials accused the rebels of burning houses, destroying farms, stealing cattle and driving tens of thousands of people from their homes.

The fresh conflict came at a crucial point in peace negotiations between the government and the MILF rebels, who have reached an agreement calling for the establishment of an independent Bangsamoro homeland.

The formal signing of the accord was stopped last week by the Supreme Court, acting on petitions filed by Christian politicians opposed to the inclusion of their areas in the proposed Muslim homeland.

On Saturday, the rebels were ordered by their leaders to pull back but later complained that their withdrawal was hampered by government troops and armed villagers in areas where they were to pass. The rebels said some had sporadically fired at them.

Ready for war

Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, spokesperson of the 6th Infantry Division, said the rebels under Commander Ombra Kato appeared to have become renegades for defying their leaders’ order to pull out.

Hundreds of rebels from Maguindanao are fighting government forces in Barangays Tomado, Dungguan, and Dualing in Aleosan; Barangay Tapudok and Kolambog in Pikit; and Barangay Baliki in Midsayap, all in North Cotabato.

“We are backing the local police in restoring normalcy in the area,” Ando said. “They (the rebels) refused to obey their officials, therefore they are ready for war.”

Ando added: “We do not like war but we have the mandate to enforce the rule of law. The government has given them enough time.”

‘Like New Year’

Col. Diosdado Carreon, chief of the 40th Infantry Battalion, said government forces had to fire howitzers in retaliation for rebel attacks that began at 6 a.m.

North Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel Piñol said four of the soldiers were wounded by rockets and M-203 grenades fired by the rebels.

“The firing went on without stop for an hour ... It seemed cannons were also being fired,” evacuee Severina Dumag said in Filipino.

Rex Torino, reporter of Radio dxMS, said of the exchange of gunfire: “It was like it was the New Year.”

Torino said he saw three dead soldiers but military officials refused to identify them as their families still had to be informed.

Result of miscommunication

Eid Kabalu, spokesperson for the MILF, said that “there was continuous shelling. I hope it will not escalate to other areas.”

Kabalu said that before Sunday’s clashes, a mechanism for an orderly pullout should have been in place but there was miscommunication between the two sides on the implementation of the withdrawal process.

“Our forces are moving out but still the Army and the civilian militia were running after them, so our troops fought back as it is happening now,” Kabalu said.

In Aleosan, North Cotabato, motorists driving on the national highway in Pagangan village saw soldiers firing howitzers from 9 to 11 a.m.

Heavy rains started at around 2:30 p.m. caused suspension of hostilities.

Cat and mouse

Segovia said that the military’s “surgical” strikes were confined to specific areas in Midsayap, Aleosan, Pikit, and Libungan.

“These are adjoining towns, and because they are playing cat and mouse with government forces, where they will leave one area and then return, the situation is very fluid,” Segovia said.

Segovia said the military action was not an “offensive” requiring the use of all military might but a “clearing operation” in support of the PNP. With reports from Christine O. Avendaño in Manila, Edwin Fernandez, Nash B. Maulana, Jeoffrey Maitem, Inquirer Mindanao, AP, AFP and Reuters

By Nikko Dizon, Tarra Quismundo
Philippine Daily Inquirer, Mindanao Bureau
First Posted 01:33:00 08/11/2008

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Filipinos cutting back on food due to high cost -- survey

MANILA, Philippines -- Filipino families have been cutting back on their consumption to cope with double-digit inflation, according to a recent survey by Pulse Asia, Inc.

The survey showed that two in three households (66 percent) were “consuming less of and/or spending less on” food, while about one in four (24 percent) also said they had cut back on rice consumption or spending.

Aside from food, Filipino households have also been consuming less of other items, such as electricity (53 percent), transportation and transport fuel (32 percent), and liquefied petroleum gas (31 percent).

Among households with cell phones (60 percent), about a fifth (22 percent) said they had also reduced their cell phone load expenses.

These were the latest results released by the polling firm from its July 2008 Ulat ng Bayan survey. Earlier results from the same Pulse Asia survey showed 75 percent of Filipinos saying they were worse off now than they were a year ago.

The survey, conducted from July 1 to 14, 2008, used face-to-face interviews with a multistage probability sample of 1,200 adults. It had a margin of error of plus-minus 3 percentage points.

Inflation during the survey rose to a 17-year-high of 12.2 percent. It has been at double-digits since June when it jumped to 11.4 percent.

For food items alone, inflation has been at double-digits since April (12 percent). It was 14.2 percent in May, 17.4 percent in June and 18.6 percent in July. Rice prices increased 50 percent in July and 43 percent in June, compared with a year ago.

“Even as reduced consumption has been the main strategy of about half of Filipino households in coping with high inflation, other households sought additional sources of income (19 percent), borrowed money (10 percent) or dipped into their savings (10 percent),” Pulse Asia said in a statement released Wednesday.

The high cost of living calls for prioritizing expenses, said Gerry Castillo, a barangay official in Las Piñas, told the Inquirer in an interview that the high cost of living called for prioritizing expenses.

“We only buy what is important,” Castillo said of his family. “We cut back on entertainment expenses, for example.”

Fe Marcelo, a 39-year-old mother in Cubao, Quezon City, said she found the times to hard for her family of three.

Aside from struggling to budget expenses to fit her family’s food needs, she could not “give as much” to her 15-year-old daughter as before.

“For example, this morning, I wanted to buy her some socks. I originally wanted to buy five, but because of budget constraints, I could only buy three,” she said. “I usually avoid buying wholesale. I could still use the money left to buy other important things.”

To determine which items households have consumed less of or spent less on over the past three months, the survey asked the question, “Which of the following have you consumed less or spent less on in the past three months?”

They were presented the following choices and were instructed to choose only a maximum of three: food, rice, other foods aside from rice, electricity, transportation/gasoline/diesel, LPG and cell phone load (for households with cell phones).

Households that cut back on food consumption and/or expenditures increased by 22 percentage points since March, from 44 percent to 66 percent. The cutback on consumption and spending was “more widespread” in areas outside Metro Manila and among the lower classes.

It was 75 percent in the Visayas, 70 percent in Luzon outside Metro Manila and 61 percent in Mindanao. It was 71 percent among class E and 66 percent in class D.

“Nevertheless, [Metro Manila] and class ABC households also feel the impact of double-digit inflation rates,” Pulse Asia noted. The percentage of households reducing food consumption in Metro Manila was 47 percent, while it was 48 percent among class ABC.

To determine the impact of high prices on households, the survey also asked the question, “What is the main effect of the price increases of commodities and services on your family?”

Respondents were given the following choices and were instructed to choose only one: We reduced our consumption of other products or services apart from food and education (26 percent); we reduced our food consumption (23 percent); we looked for an additional source of income (19 percent); we borrowed money to meet the family’s expenses (11 percent); our savings was reduced (10 percent); and we pawned or sold things to meet the family’s expenses (3 percent).

The survey also found some 530,000 households (3 percent) having one or more of their members going “without food for at least one whole day” during the month preceding the survey “primarily because the household had no money to buy food.”

Of those who said yes, 9 in every 10 (89 percent) said it was because “there was no money for buying food” -- the reason of 91 percent of respondents in both class D and class E.

First posted 21:46:10 (Mla time) August 06, 2008
Kate V. Pedroso
Philippine Daily Inquirer __________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Youth seek 1M signatures for wage hike, vs oil deregulation

MANILA, Philippines -- A youth group launched on Thursday a campaign to gather 1 million signatures to press their demand for a legislated P125 across-the-board wage increase and repeal the Oil Deregulation Law.

The signature drive of the Student Christian Movement of the Philippines (SCMP) is part of their “national campaign for social justice amidst poverty and crisis,” said the group’s chair, Biyaya Quizon.

The campaign was launched at Plaza Miranda in Manila, with SCMP members urging students, church goers, and pedestrians to sign the petition.

“Now more than ever, a wage increase is needed,” Quizon said. “We express our extreme disappointment with the statements of Malacañang that it cannot allow another wage increase this year while the people are suffering everyday from the crisis.”

She also said the government should scrap the Value Added Tax on oil if it really wants to help the poor.

“Junking the VAT law will relieve the poor [from] paying too much for every single commodity they buy. How dare the Arroyo [administration] boast of how the poor are provided the Katas ng [Benefits of] VAT [program] while it is the same tax that [is] squeezed out of their empty pockets,” Quizon said.

After gathering one million signatures, the petition will be forwarded to the House of Representatives and the Senate to “create pressure for the immediate passage of the P125 bill and the repeal of the VAT law,” Quizon said.

SCMP would also seek the help of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) in gathering signatures in parishes.

First posted 13:55:34 (Mla time) August 07, 2008
Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net _________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Mike Defensor mining deals stink -- green group

MANILA, Philippines—An environmental group on Friday assailed the mining contracts bagged by two Philippine companies, headed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's former chief of staff Michael Defensor, and called for a congressional inquiry into these.

“The Defensor-Chinese mining deal stinks to high heavens,” Kalikasan-People's Network for the Environment national coordinator Clemente Bautista said in a statement.

“That Michael Defensor is getting a lot of favor from the Arroyo administration is revolting.”

Nihao Mineral Resources Int'l and Geograce Philippines, both chaired by Defensor, signed a memorandum of agreement with China's Jiangxi Rare Earth and Rare Metals Tungsten Group Co. to explore nickel and put up a $150-million nickel plant in Zambales.

The President, who flew to Beijing to attend the Olympics Games opening, witnessed the MOA signing.

Kalikasan said it was baffled how a small mining firm like Geograce could forge a multi-million-dollar deal with big firms.

It said that in the first quarter, Geograce incurred a net loss of P17.18 million due to exploration costs, professional fees, salaries and rent and utilities expenses, among others.

Geograce has a claim to 142,376 hectares of mineral lands, the group said.

``It is baffling how a small mining company and without track record in the mining industry like Geograce could get multimillion mining deals with big foreign mining companies and how these mining companies of Mike Defensor were given hundreds of thousands of hectares of mineral lands by the Arroyo government,” Bautista said.

The background and operation of Defensor's companies should be investigated by the Senate and the House of Representatives, he said.

``The presence of high government officials and their relatives in these mining transactions could be a sign that the Arroyo administration and its cronies are making profit out of the country's mineral resources without being mindful if these projects would be beneficial to community or not,” he said.

Under the MOA, the three companies would form a strategic partnership to jointly explore and develop the Zambales mining holdings covering a total of 35,496.6 hectares, which are directly or indirectly held by Nihao and Geograce.

The INQUIRER tried but failed to reach Director Horacio Ramos of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau for comment.

Bautista said that Defensor's closeness to the President could explain how ``his mediocre companies were very 'lucky' in getting several mining concessions and lucrative mining deals.”

In June this year, Defensor's companies obtained small-scale mining permits from the Zambales provincial government a month after the governor canceled all ``regulatory approvals,” he said, citing news reports.

Geograce also forged mining agreements with the Brazilian-owned Vale, Masbate 13 Philippines, Nickelodeon Mines and Ophiolite Mines.

``There is something wrong with the picture of GMA (Arroyo) overseeing an agreement between a once notorious DENR Secretary currently affiliated with a small mining company and a large mining company,” Bautista said.

``It seems that the present government is selling the country's patrimony to foreign companies but not without ensuring that local allies also get a huge share of the plunder," he added.

First posted 23:04:14 (Mla time) August 08, 2008
TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer ________________________________________________________________________________________

SC stops MOA signing

MANILA, Philippines -- The Supreme Court has stopped the signing of the memorandum of Agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front over ancestral domain and set the hearing on August 15, its spokesman said.

The high tribunal also ordered the executive to provide the court and the parties that petitioned concerned a copy of the MOA not later than August 8, said lawyer Midas Marquez, information chief of the Supreme Court, Monday.

“The court issued a TRO [temporary restraining order] restraining the respondents from signing the MOA,” Marquez told reporters, hours after the high tribunal met in an en banc session to deliberate on the petition filed by officials of North Cotabato who asked for a full disclosure of the contents of the MOA ahead of its signing.

The court also discussed the allegations of bribery at the Court of Appeals involving the settlement of the dispute between the Manila Electric Co. and the Government Service Insurance System.

Shortly after the high court started its session, government, through Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera, sent its comment to the North Cotabato petition, Marquez said.

The government had tried to invoke executive privilege in its 26-page comment, saying while negotiations with the MILF did not involve any foreign power, there were military and national concerns that were raised.

“This being so, the entire process, the negotiations involving the said MOA and the drafts, documents thereof resulting from said negotiations is covered by the doctrine of executive privilege, which prevents the disclosure of information that could subvert military or diplomatic objectives,” the solicitor general said.

The government lawyers said while it recognizes the right of the petitioners to information, "they do not have an unfettered access to everything as these rights are subject to certain limitations."

"Notably, there are matters which, despite their being of public interest and concern, are considered privileged in nature," Devanadera said.

The high court also consolidated a petition filed Monday by officials of Zamboanga City with that filed by the North Cotabato executives

The petitioners from North Cotabato are Governor Jesus Sacdalan and Vice-Governor Emmanuel Piñol. Those from Zamboanga are city Mayor Celso Lobregat, and Representatives Isabelle Climaco and Erico Basilio Fabian.

The petitioners asked the high court to prevent the signing of the MoA until they are given copies of the documents.

First posted 17:51:03 (Mla time) August 04, 2008
Tetch Torres
INQUIRER.net

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Teachers’ group gives Arroyo failing mark

MANILA, Philippines -- For failing to tackle the worsening education crisis and their job concerns in her State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was given a failing grade by the country's public school teachers.

The President "has chosen to turn a blind eye to the worsening education crisis and a deaf ear to the teachers' clamor for better pay in the face of dire economic conditions," the militant Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) said on Thursday.

"Mrs. Arroyo confirmed once again that the SONA is indeed the magic portal to an enchanted kingdom. Listening to (last Monday's) speech will leave you with the impression that it's all business as usual in the education sector," ACT chair Antonio Tinio told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.

The President failed to mention "the huge decline in participation rates among school-age children," said Tinio, adding over three million children from six to 15 years old have been out of school.

Last week, the National Statistical Coordination Board said that one in six school-age children have been deprived of education and the number was rising steadily.

In a study, the NSCB also disclosed that the percentage of children enrolled in primary schools was down to 83 percent in the 2006-2007 school year from 90 percent five years earlier.

The numbers were even worse for secondary education at 59 percent, though they have been steady over five years, said the same study.

According to the NSCB, the number of Filipino children who did not have access to primary education worsened to 16.8 percent of the school-age population in the schoolyear ending 2007 from 15.6 percent the previous year because of the rising cost of living.

The NSCB said the failure of the country to send more of its school-age children to school kept it offtrack of the government's targets under the Millennium Development Goal that all Filipino kids would have access to basic education by 2015.

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said they have been "squarely addressing the situation."

But Lapus also said that the latest Department of Education survey for school year 2007-2008 showed an improvement with a participation rate of 85 percent.

"This has, in fact, prodded us to intensify our Oplan Balik Eskwela (Operation Back to School) and Brigada Eskwela (School Brigade) program to encourage parents to send their kids to school at no cost...We've also asked local government units to come up with anti-truancy ordinance so parents will ensure their children's constant presence in school," he said.

Lapus expressed hope the DepEd "can count on the support of organizations such as ACT in educating the public on key education issues."

On Thursday, Tinio said Arroyo had yet to do anything to improve school participation rates beyond giving out a few scholarships.

He referred to "numerous flaws and limitations in the government's system of vouchers and subsidies, which Mrs. Arroyo mentioned in her speech."

"But they are only available for high school. There's no equivalent for elementary. They are also limited in scale," Tinio said.

The ACT leader said that while millions needed assistance, only about 200,000 students have been benefitting from aid.

"And lower middle class students of private high schools are the main beneficiaries, not the poor who are dropping out," Tinio pointed out, referring to the subsidies given to some students who enroll in private schools with low tuition rates to ease the pressure on public schools.

Tinio also scoffed at the President's "expression of caring for the plight of public school teachers in her SONA."

"If she truly cares, then why has she totally ignored our demand for a P9,000 increase that will give teachers decent salaries and restore the status of the teaching profession? It seems that she cares more for military and police personnel to whom her administration has granted substantial hikes in pay and benefits over the years," the ACT head added.

First posted 20:06:07 (Mla time) July 31, 2008
Jerry E. Esplanada
Philippine Daily Inquirer

________________________________________________________________________________________

Protesters hold funeral march to Senate vs JPEPA

MANILA, Philippines -- Around a hundred members of environmentalist group marched on Monday from the Manila Film Center to the Senate in Pasay City to urge senators not to ratify the controversial Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).

Clad in black to express their mourning, members of the EcoWaste Coalition, braved the rains, carrying a white casket as they walked, accompanied by a band playing a dirge.

"We'd like to remind senators that they are duty-bound to protect all aspects of Philippine life from unjust treaties like JPEPA. We should not allow Japan to take us by a noose like a cow thinking it is being prepared for slaughter," said Manny Calonzo, president of the group.

“The JPEPA is an unjust and immoral treaty that spells death of the Philippine’s environment and economy,” said lawyer Richard Gutierrez, executive director of the Ban Toxics group, which is affiliated with EcoWaste.

EcoWaste and other environmentalist fear the JPEPA will turn the country into a dumping ground of toxic industrial waste from Japan, despite assurances from the Senate that Japan has signed a “side agreement” that commits it to respecting the country’s environmental laws.

The leftist Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya, National Strength of the Fishers’ Movement in the Philippines), meanwhile, said the ratification of the JPEPA would kill the local tuna industry, on which 180,000 fishermen and their families depend.

The fisherfolk group said the trade pact would also turn the country into a “dumping site” of second-hand Japanese ships, like the ill-fated MV Princess of the Stars.

Gutierrez called on the Senate to the JPEPA treaty and renegotiate for better terms that would protect the country’s social rights and environment, stressing that they are not opposing economic trade with Japan, only “immoral and bad agreements” that pose a threat to the country.

“Japan will follow its self-interest regardless of a side-agreement,” Gutierrez said, adding that their group has received reports Japan has allegedly undertaken both legal and illegal trading of toxic chemicals with India, Thailand, and other countries in Southeast Asia.

Saying the government cannot even control garbage disposal in the country, Gutierrez said there is no guarantee Japan will not import toxic wastes once the JPEPA is ratified and in effect.

He said that over the past decades, the Philippines has welcomed Japanese waste products disguised as “surplus” or recyclable items, like television sets.

He also worried that the government may not be able to summon the political will to enforce environmental laws because of the “economic clout” wielded by Japan, the Philippines’ biggest trading partner.

Beau Baconguis of Greenpeace Southeast Asia said the “majority of our senators have expressed that they have reservations about this treaty -- even they cannot deny that JPEPA is unjust, unconstitutional, and heavily biased towards Japan’s interests at the expense of Philippine sovereignty, economy, and environment.”

She added that the Senate ratification of the JPEPA, “with full knowledge of its terrible flaws,” would mean the death of the Philippines’ “dignity and aspirations as a nation.”

In a statement Monday, Pamalakaya chairman Fernando Hicap said: “With the increase in the supply of tuna produced by Japanese factory ships and their shipment to Japan and other countries, the local tuna producers and small tuna fishermen would be at their mercy by way of depressed prices.”

He said the local tuna industry generates some P18 billion.

As for used Japanese ships, Hicap said, “It is now a fact…as admitted by [the] owners of Sulpicio Lines, that [the] MV Princess of the Stars was acquired as a second-hand passenger and cargo ship for $5 million.”

The passenger ferry, with more than 800 passengers and crew, capsized and sank off Romblon province after sailing into the path of typhoon Frank (international codename: Fengshen) on June 21.

Hicap blamed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for failing to address what he called the proliferation of second-hand Japanese vessels sold to local businessmen.

First posted 14:06:49 (Mla time) August 04, 2008
Abigail Kwok Katherine Evangelista
INQUIRER.net

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Distrust hounds Arroyo on eve of SONA--Pulse Asia survey

MANILA, Philippines--President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will deliver her State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday with around one in two Filipinos critical of her performance and distrusting her, according to an independent survey.

The Pulse Asia Inc. study, conducted from July 1 to 14, showed that 48 percent "disapprove" of her performance, while 53 percent had "small or no trust" in her.

The figures "do not differ significantly" from the 51-percent disapproval rating and the 57-percent distrust rating that the President scored in its March 2008 surey, Pulse Asia said.

Moreover, 35 percent said the pro-poor programs was part of "politicking" for the 2010 elections, it said.

The survey firm polled 1,200 respondents nationwide. At around that time, the administration announced subsidies for the poor which were sourced from Value Added Tax (VAT) revenues, continued to offer cheap rice from the National Food Authority (NFA), and pushed for lower electricity rates.

Asked to rate the President's performance, 48 percent said they disapproved, 22 percent approved, while 30 percent were undecided, Pulse Asia said.

Disapproval was highest in Mindanao (62 percent), followed by Metro Manila (50 percent), Luzon (48 percent), and the Visayas (31 percent). The President registered the highest approval rating in the Visayas (35 percent), it said.

Asked if they trusted the President, 53 percent said they had "small or no trust" in her, 19 percent said they had big trust, while 28 percent were undecided. Distrust was highest in Mindanao (64 percent), followed by Metro Manila (56 percent), Luzon (53 percent), and the Visayas (37 percent). Her trust rating was highest in the Visayas (32 percent) it said.

"Disapproval for presidential performance and distrust in President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo remain the predominant public sentiment with almost one out of every two Filipinos (48%) being critical of President Arroyo's performance and a small majority (53%) distrusting her," Pulse Asia said in a statement.

While the over-all figures were "essentially unchanged," Pulse Asia noted "marked movements" in the President's performance and trust ratings across geographical regions and economic classes.

In Metro Manila, the President's approval and trust ratings rose back to levels in October 2007, before the corruption controversy over the botched ZTE-NBN deal broke last January, Pulse Asia said.

Twenty percent of respondents in the capital said they approved of the President's performance, up from 11 percent in March 2008, and close to the 21-percent approval rating in October, it said.

Another 17 percent said they trusted the President, up from six percent in March 2008, and close to the 18-percent trust rating in October, it said.

Arroyo's disapproval rating in the ABC income brackets improved by 16 percentage points to 45 percent in July, from 61 percent in March. Her distrust rating also improved by 16 percentage points, to 49 percent from 65 percent during the same period, it said.

Asked which pro-poor program of the government they have availed of, 49 percent said NFA rice, 43 percent said they did not receive any, nine percent said they received the P500 one-time power bill subsidy, six percent said they benefited from the food for school program, two percent said they received the P1,500 fertilizer subsidy for farmers.

Asked why they thought administration was helping the poor, 35 percent said this was part of "politicking" for the 2010 elections, 30 percent said it was part of government's responsibility, 24 percent said the government wanted to help the poor in difficult times, 10 percent said the government was preventing "possible conflict" that could arise from poverty.

The survey had an error margin of plus or minus three percent.

First posted 12:19:53 (Mla time) July 27, 2008
Joel Guinto
INQUIRER.net

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Opposition on real state of the nation: ‘RP a sinking ship’

MANILA, Philippines - A sinking ship and a captain who is robbing passengers on board - this was how various groups described the "real" state of the nation Wednesday, as it urged Filipinos to join protests during President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 28.

In a joint statement posted on the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) website, prominent opposition leaders criticized the administration's economic policies, including its insistence on imposing the value added tax on oil which displays the government's "insensitivity towards the plight of the people."

The group also scored the government's recent subsidy spree, saying these are "nothing more than dole-outs aimed at quelling unrest."

"For the people ... we hold a completely different version of the SONA. The real state of the nation is that of grinding poverty and hunger, repression and widespread human rights violation, massive unemployment and sky-rocketing cost of living. The real state of the nation is that of a sinking ship, whose captain robs then abandons all those on board," opposition figures said.

"Mrs. Arroyo is responsible for some of the worst economic policies that have wrought ruin on the people. Her insistence on imposing the Value Added Tax on oil smacks of gross insensitivity towards the plight of the people. Her so-called targeted subsidies are nothing more than dole-outs aimed at quelling unrest. So far Mrs. Arroyo has refused to take any responsibility for the mess her administration has created," the group added.

The group noted that President Arroyo will deliver her SONA on July 28 amid high prices of food, fuel and other basic commodities, and persistent allegations of corruption.

Also, they claimed the administration battle cry "Ramdam ang Kaunlaran (Progress is Felt)" has fallen flat on its face. Even the rallying call "Labanan and Kahirapan (Fight Poverty)" has also been discredited as nothing more than political gimmickry, they added.

"This year's SONA by Mrs. Arroyo will not bring any hope for the people. As in previous SONA