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

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'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

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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

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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

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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 

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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 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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 SONAs, this year's speech will be marked by motherhood statements and a firm denial of the gravity of the crisis under her watch," the group said.

Among those who signed the statement were former vice president Teofisto Guingona Jr., United Opposition spokesman Adel Tamano, and national artist Bienvenido Lumbrera, Maita Gomez, Fr. Rex Reyes of the National Council of Churches of the Philippines, Fr. Jose Dizon of Solidarity Philippines, Fr. Rudy Abao, Sr. Mary John Mananzan, and professors Fidel Nemenzo and Connie Paz.

Other signatories include Renato Constantino, former transportation undersecretary and Concerned Citizens Movement head Josefina Lichauco, lawyer Nasser Marohomsalic of the Union of Muslims for Morality and Truth, Gat Inciong of the Movement of Concerned Citizens for Civil Liberties.

Also: Virgilio Eustaquio of the Kilusang EDSA Tres; actor Rez Cortez, party list representatives Satur Ocampo, Rafael Mariano and Liza Maza; Ferdinand Gaite of the Confederation for the Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Workers (Courage); professors Roland Tolentino (UP Aware), Danton Remoto (Ateneo de Manila University), and Maria Lourdes Agustin (White Ribbon Movement).

GMANews.TV

07/23/2008 | 01:54 PM

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Arroyo son hit for inaction on bill vs oil deregulation law

MANILA, Philippines -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s son, Pampanga Representative Juan Miguel Arroyo, is being criticized for allegedly sitting down on the proposed measure to scrap the oil deregulation law.

Anakpawis Representative Rafael Mariano said the younger Arroyo has not acted on House Bill 1724 since he assumed chairmanship of the committee on energy.

“It’s been a year since the President’s son took over the helm of the committee on energy and House Bill 1724 has not even touched first base. Not even including it in the committee’s agenda,” Mariano said in a statement on Tuesday.

The lawmaker insisted that regulating the oil industry once again was “an absolute necessity to immediately arrest the overpricing of oil monopolies which is bleeding dry all sectors of society.”

He cited figures from the independent think-tank Ibon Foundation, which showed that since the start of deregulation in 1996, pump prices of unleaded gas have increased by 492 percent while prices of diesel by 607 percent.

In the year 2007 alone, Ibon said, Pilipinas Shell recorded profits of P4.12 billion, P2.75 billion for Chevron Philippines (formerly Caltex) , and P5.95 billion for Petron, which is co-owned by Saudi Aramco.

“This clearly shows that despite claims by the ‘Big Three’ of so-called under recoveries, they are raking in billions of super-profits,” Mariano said.

But Mariano said that the so-called “Big Three” has desperately tried to justify their “overpricing and price manipulation” under the guise of under recoveries and increased speculation.

Mariano then called on the people to intensify protest actions against the unabated rise in oil prices.

First posted 15:22:18 (Mla time) July 22, 2008
Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net

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MANILA, Philippines -- An "awareness campaign" for public and private transport drivers on the issue of oil price increases was staged by a militant labor group Friday.

The Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU, May 1st Movement) distributed stickers bearing the words, "No to VAT" along España Avenue.

Nita Gonzaga, KMU vice president for women's affairs, said since they could not force President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to step down, they would just "educate" the people instead.

"Ito ay isang awareness campaign para sa mga driver na hindi maganda ang nagiging resulta ng pagtaas ng gasoline [This is an awareness campaign for the drivers on the ill effects of the rising prices of gasoline]," she said.

Gonzaga added that today's protest was the start of weekly protests against VAT on oil and the need to implement the P125 across the board wage increase.

"Magkakabit kasi ang dalawang iyon. Dinadagdagan nila ang pasahe pero ang sahod namin ganoon pa rin [The two are connected. They implemented a fare increase but our wages are still the same]," she said.

The group was also not in favor of the recent fare increase, saying the workers were most affected by it.

"Nag-trickle down kasi yan sa mga manggagawa eh [That trickled down to the workers]," Gonzaga said.

The group also scoffed at the P4 billion subsidy for the poor that the President would provide, saying Arroyo was using the "blood and sweat" of workers to boost her image.

"Itong mga doleouts na ito ay hindi talaga paglilingkod sa mamamayan [These doleouts are not really service to the people]," Gonzaga said.

First posted 11:40:15 (Mla time) July 17, 2008
Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net

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Low education budget blamed for high drop-out rate

MANILA, Philippines -- A youth activist group blamed dropping enrollment rates on what it called the “ridiculously” education low budget, saying the government should increase the allocation to prevent school officials from charging “unnecessary fees.”

In a statement on Tuesday, League of Filipino Students (LFS) national president Vencer Crisostomo said the government’s spending for education has been “consistently on the drop…the reason why various fees are being collected in schools despite the government policy prohibiting such.”

The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) said on Monday that one in six school-age children are deprived of education while the enrollment rate went down to 83 percent in the 2006-2007school year.

Crisostomo said the P138-billion education budget would only be good for P12 a day for every student.

The LFS president also said the budget for education has dropped from 17.4 percent in 2001 to only 12 percent in 2008.

“The Arroyo government has been ignoring the education sector since it came to power in 2001. It is no surprise that many students who are now feeling the brunt are joining protests and walking out from their classes against this government,” said Crisostomo.

The group is expected to hold a nationwide campus walk-out on Friday, July 18, which will be participated by out-of-school youths.

First posted 16:52:57 (Mla time) July 15, 2008
Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net

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High food prices may force RP ration cut--UN agency

MANILA, Philippines -- A UN agency may be forced to cut rations feeding more than a million people in the troubled southern Philippines because of soaring world food prices, it warned Tuesday.

The World Food Program has just 4,000 tonnes of rice left in its warehouse in conflict-hit Mindanao, a supply which will only last about two months, said Alghassim Wurie, the agency's deputy country director.

If the WFP fails to get more funds it may be forced to "cut rations and the most affected would be women and children," Wurie said.

"We are appealing for the donor community, the governments and the private sector companies to help us raise enough money to enable us to deliver support," Wurie told AFP.

He said the World Food Program (WFP) will need $500 million in extra worldwide funds this year due to rising food prices, with $19 million needed in immediate "operational funding" for Mindanao.

The WFP fed some 1.6 million people in Mindanao last year, most of them women and children in five central Mindanao provinces wracked by a decades-old Muslim separatist insurgency.

WFP runs a novel food-for-education program in Mindanao, where children are enticed to return to schools in exchange for rice rations to their families, and also helps feed families displaced by the insurgency.

First posted 10:40:45 (Mla time) April 15, 2008
Agence France-Presse

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Groups, employees to picket for P125 wage hike

MANILA, Philippines - Demonstrations by militant organizations demanding for a P125 wage hike and the removal of value-added tax from petroleum products will greet Congress when it resumes session Monday.

The Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) and Confederation for the Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (Courage) will lead the picket at the Lower House in Quezon City.

"On April 21, we will rattle Congress to act and immediately pass into law the bills for P125 wage hike and P3,000 increase for government employees. They will also be called upon to enact the bill for the repeal of the Oil Deregulation Law that spurred the unending oil price increases," KMU secretary general Wilson Baldonaza said.

He said they will push for the passage of the P125 wage hike for all workers in the private sector and P3,000 for government employees.

Baldonaza said this is aside from the KMU's challenge to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to prioritize pending House bills for a P125 wage hike and the removal of VAT on fuel products.

Citing the reported food crisis looming ahead, KMU chairman Elmer Labog said there is now basis for a wage hike.

"Sa pagbubukas ng Kongreso ang tindig namin i-certify as urgent ito (When Congress opens we will insist that the P125 wage hike bill be prioritized)," he said in an interview on dzRH radio.

The wage hike and lower prices resulting from the lifting of VAT on fuel products will keep the Philippines from going the way of riot-torn Haiti in the face of a food crisis, he said.

"President Arroyo should not wait for the Filipinos to run riot just because they can no longer afford to buy even the cheaper National Food Authority rice, noodles and sardines. She should compel the Congress to prioritize House Bill 1722 or the proposal for P125 wage hike for the workers. If (she) has political will she must also remove the VAT on petroleum products because this will reduce, even minimal, the spiraling daily cost of living of the Filipino family," Baldonaza said.

He said the P125 wage hike bill, once passed into law, would provide immediate economic relief, even if temporary, against rising prices of basic commodities.

On the other hand, he said lifting VAT from petroleum products will have several benefits for the masses.

These include some P59 in savings for all users of 11-kg liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and will benefit 5.9 million households or up to 51.7 million people.

Also, this would mean an added income of P123 per working day that would benefit 426,572 jeepney drivers; or added income of P19 per day for 581,578 tricycle drivers.

GMANews.TV

04/20/2008 | 08:21 AM

High rice prices to last for some time -- experts

MANILA, Philippines -- Rice prices are likely to keep rising for some time as production of the staple fails to keep up with soaring demand, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) said Friday.

The Philippines-based institute earlier warned of potential civil unrest as governments struggle to provide cheap rice amid a sustained rise in prices over the past two years to near-record levels.

"Longer term demand-supply imbalance is clearly indicated by depletion of stock that has been going on for years,” the latest edition of the IRRI publication Rice Today quoted IRRI economist Sushil Pandey as saying.

"We have been consuming more than what we have been producing and research to increase rice productivity is needed to address this imbalance," Pandey added.

Just 7.0 percent of the annual global production of the grain, a staple food of more than three billion people mostly living in the developing world, is traded in the international market.

This was because rice was seen as a political commodity and governments strive to maintain large stocks to guard against large price swings, IRRI said.

The institute said it had convened a group of experts to draw up a list of what could be done to solve the crisis and they agreed that raising yields was the only long-term solution.

IRRI said the crisis was affecting both the urban poor as well as rice farmers who farm small plots that cannot produce enough even for their own family's use.

"Although the current rising rice price was seen as beneficial for farmers who grow a reasonable surplus that they can sell on the market, poor farmers with small or no surplus and poor urban consumers will continue to lose out if the price continues to rise," it said.

Philippine Rice Research Institute head Leo Sebastian urged governments to increase investment in agricultural research.

"(The) impact of technologies is a driver of increased rice production, whether a country exports or imports," he said.

"But everybody is saying that investment in agricultural research is small or limited -- and something needs to be done about this."

First posted 12:26:43 (Mla time) April 11, 2008
Agence France-Presse

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'Corruptionary' - a dictionary of corruption-related terms in the Philippines

MANILA: Rampant corruption is a major problem in the Philippines. So one group has come up with a unique dictionary called ‘Corruptionary’ to help people make sense of the language of corruption in the country.

Volunteer students and researchers from the Center for People Empowerment in Governance, interviewed various government agencies, businessmen, media personalities, as well as victims of corruption.

And after two years of conducting these interviews, they were able to put together about 400 corruption-related terms and jargons.

Bobby Tuazon, Director, Center for People Empowerment in Governance, said: "It is sad that we are coming out with this book but we realise how deep really corruption is. There's a glaring subculture of corruption hidden by people who cover it. If we want to solve the problem, we need to realise the depth and magnitude of how serious it is."

In a recent regional poll conducted by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy, the Philippines was perceived by foreign businessmen to be Asia's most corrupt.

The people behind ‘Corruptionary’ hope that by exposing the terminologies used by corruptors, it would be easier to expose corruption in the country. They believe that corruption robs not only public money but also whatever hopes Filipinos may have for a better future.

More than a just a specialised dictionary, ‘Corruptionary’ serves as an academic textbook for young Filipinos.

Mr Tuazon continued: "It is an educational tool for them to become more aware of how corruption has become systemic in the Philippines. (It’s) not just a glossary. In educating the children on the prevalence of corruption, the youth can play their part in combating this menace of corruption."

'Corruptionary' is being sold for US$6. An English version of the book is also in the works. - CNA/vm

By Channel NewsAsia's Christine Ong 

Posted: 11 April 2008 2053 hrs

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Higher rice prices to hurt UN food aid in Mindanao

The impending rice crisis is going to hit children in Mindanao the hardest.

This was the warning raised by World Food Program (WFP) country director Valerie Guarnieri, as costs for food purchases of the United Nations agency almost doubled because of the successive increases in rice prices.

"The price increases are straining our budget," Guarnieri told Newsbreak. "We may be able to reach less people as a result."

The UN-WFP is extending food assistance to about 1.1 million people in Mindanao as part of its "Food for Education" program in the war-torn island. Under the program, 187,000 children in Grades 1 to 6 are provided with 12.5 kilos of rice each month to encourage parents to send their children to school.

The intervention was initiated after studies showed that 40 percent of parents there cite lack of food as a contributing factor in not sending their children to school. The program covers 800 schools located in conflict-affected areas.

Guarnieri said the WFP’s budget for food purchases (to include rice, corn, and cooking oil) now account for 60 percent of the agency’s total budget, from 45 percent last year.

Emergency Appeal

The WFP is suffering from a US$500-million gap in its budget for its worldwide operation as a result of skyrocketing prices of grains. If donations do not arrive by April, the agency would be forced to reduce food rations in countries where they operate.

If the trend continues, the WFP may cut down on the number of beneficiaries for its "Food for Education" program, Guarnieri said. Based on the latest prices of rice, the WPF is spending $11 million for 23,000 metric tons of rice. With the same amount last year, the agency was able to purchase 40,000 metric tons of rice.

Guarnieri has launched an emergency appeal to donor countries to pour in at least $500 million dollars by April, representing the budget gap caused by the spikes in prices of rice. If the money won't be forthcoming, she warned that the WFP would have to reduce its food rations because of rapidly increasing commodity prices.

A crunch in rice supply and fears of shortage are putting pressure on the world market, hitting heavy rice importing countries like the Philippines. The Arroyo government has been allaying fears that the crisis could lead to rationing, but admitted that prices of commercial rice could further inflate.

Average prices of rice have soared between P5 to P7 since the start of the year and there is no sign that prices are going to stabilize soon, as prices in the world market continue to soar.

The skyrocketing price of the staple food could further hurt millions of Filipinos living below poverty line.

Based on the 2006 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) conducted by the National Statistics Office, out of 90 million Filipinos, 68 million live on or under P80 ($2) a day. The same survey shows that for every P100 earnings, P41.40 or over a third goes for food expenses. The rest are spent on medicines, clothing, education expenses, and other bills. This story is part of Newsbreak's Mindanao Online Reporting Project funded by the Australian Embassy.
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Rising rice prices spark concerns in RP, across Asia

MANILA, Philippines -- Philippine activists warn about possible riots. Aid agencies across Asia worry how they will feed the hungry. Governments dig deeper every day to fund subsidies.

A sharp rise in the price of rice is hitting consumer pocketbooks and raising fears of public turmoil in the many parts of Asia where rice is a staple.

Part of a surge in global food costs, rice prices on world markets have jumped 50 percent in the past two months and at least doubled since 2004. Experts blame rising fuel and fertilizer expenses as well as crops curtailed by disease, pests and climate change. There are concerns prices could rise a further 40 percent in coming months.

The higher prices have already sparked protests in the Philippines, where a government official has asked the public to save leftover rice. In Cambodia, Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered a ban on rice exports Wednesday to curb rising prices at home. Vietnamese exporters and farmers are stockpiling rice in expectation of further price increases.

Prestoline Suyat of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU, May First Movement), a left-wing workers group, warned that "hunger and poverty may eventually lead to riots."

The neediest are hit hardest.

Rodolfo de Lima, a 42-year-old parking lot attendant in Manila, said "my family will go hungry" if prices continue to rise.

"If your family misses a meal, you really don't know what you can do, but I won't do anything bad," said de Lima, whose right foot was amputated after he was shot during a 1985 gang war.

Others might not be so restrained, said Domingo Casarte, 41, a street vendor.

"There are people who are hotheaded," he said. "When people get trapped, I can't say what they will do."

The US Department of Agriculture forecasts global rice stocks for 2007-08 at 72 million tons, the lowest since 1983-84 and about half of the peak in 2000-01.

The higher prices are stretching the budgets of aid agencies providing rice to North Korea and other countries, particularly with donations already falling.

Jack Dunford, head of a consortium in Thailand helping more than 140,000 refugees from military-ruled Myanmar, said soaring rice prices and a slumping US dollar are forcing cuts in already meager food aid.

"This rice price is just killing us," he said. "This is a very vulnerable group of people under threat."

China is among several countries in the region that subsidize rice prices, an increasingly expensive proposition.

Rice prices have almost doubled in Bangladesh in just a year, sparking resentment but no unrest yet. Repeated floods and a severe cyclone last year have cut production, forcing the government to increase imports.

In Vietnam, a major rice exporter, the crop has been hit by a virus called tungro and infestations of the brown planthopper insect.

Farmers there say they are not benefiting from the higher prices.

"The rice price has gone up 50 percent over the past three months, but I'm not making any more money because I have to pay double for fertilizer, insecticides and labor costs," said Nguyen Thi Thu, 46, a farmer in Ha Tay province, just outside Hanoi.

Another farmer, Cao Thi Thuy, 37, in Nam Dinh province, 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of Hanoi, said exporters have actually been paying less for rice over the last week.

"If the world prices are going up still, then Vietnamese rice-exporting companies are benefiting, not us," she said. "They tell us that now weather is better, and rice can grow more easily, so we should not expect higher prices."

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, worried about anything that could spark a "people power" revolt against her, is assuring the public that rice won't run out or skyrocket in price during the traditionally lean months of July to September.

This week, she arranged the purchase of up to 1.5 million tons from Vietnam. She also has ordered a crackdown on price manipulation, hoarding and profiteering on subsidized rice, and will hold a food summit April 4.

Things are so tight that Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap has asked people not to throw away leftover rice and urged fast-food restaurants, which normally give customers a cup of rice with meals, to offer a half-cup option to cut waste.

The Philippines is facing "a perfect storm," said Senator Mar Roxas, president of the Liberal Party. Problems coping with rising rice prices are compounded by higher oil prices and a US economic downturn, which could reduce the money sent home to families by Filipinos working in the United States. Such remittances underpin the economy.

Philippine farmers say the country, which has become the world's largest importer of rice after being an exporter in the early 1970s, has shot itself in the foot by developing some former rice paddies for housing and golf courses and planting more lucrative crops on others.

One Asian country, Japan, is encouraging cuts in rice production. Rice prices there have been falling in recent months as people eat less rice and more bread.

By Paul Alexander
Associated Press
First Posted 14:03:00 03/28/2008

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 1 in 2 Pinoys disapprove of Arroyo - Pulse Asia

MANILA, Philippines - President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's approval ratings have dropped amid a corruption scandal that sparked calls for her resignation, with about one in two Filipinos critical of her performance, according to a survey released Monday.

Pulse Asia, an independent pollster, said 51 percent of 1,200 respondents disapproved of Arroyo's performance in the Feb. 21-March 8 survey, compared with 39 percent in October.

Arroyo's approval ratings plunged to 23 percent from 30 percent in October, the pollster said. The survey has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Almost nine in 10 Filipinos — or 87 percent of those polled — said they were aware of allegations of corruption surrounding an aborted $330 million (€214 million) telecommunications deal that has been the subject of a Senate investigation.

Witnesses have testified that Mrs Arroyo's husband and a former elections chief allegedly benefited from huge kickbacks linked to the deal. Both men have denied the accusations. One witness also linked Arroyo to the scandal but offered no evidence.

Pulse Asia said the survey was conducted at the same time as protests by tens of thousands of people calling for her resignation over the scandal.

Mrs Arroyo, who still enjoys the support of the powerful military and some influential Roman Catholic bishops, has vowed to fight corruption and finish her term, which ends in 2010.

In her seven years in power, she has survived four attempted power grabs and three opposition impeachment bids over alleged corruption and vote-rigging. – AP

GMANews.TV

03/24/2008 | 02:56 PM

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 Memo to Arroyo forecasts rice crisis: KMP

An activist peasant group suggested that the Arroyo administration may not be telling all that it knows of a "rice crisis" as it disclosed on Saturday the contents of two internal memoranda to President Arroyo which cited rising local and global demand for rice combined with tight grains supply, plus abnormal weather, as among the factors for higher rice prices this year.

The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said the factors cited in the two documents, one from the Department of Agriculture (DA) and another from the National Food Authority (NFA), showed that a "rice crisis" is "imminent", particularly by the second half of 2008.

The KMP said Saturday a projected "rice crisis" this year can be gleaned from the two government memoranda it had obtained:

1) "Update on the Rice Situation and Outlook for 2008 and Request for Authority to Import Additional 500,000 MT of Rice and the Corresponding Budget Support for 2008", dated February 11, 2008, and signed by Jessup P. Navarro, National Food Authority (NFA) Administrator;

2) A February 27, 2008 DA memorandum of Secretary Arthur Yap to President Arroyo on the "World Rice Situation and Expectations for 2008"

Rafael Mariano, chairman of KMP and concurrent president of Anakpawis party-list, said "these memos outline the reasons for the impending rice crisis".

"As can be seen from the memos Gloria and her regime knows that a rice crisis is imminent but it is still fooling the people because she is afraid of her political future, but by doing so she is toying with the lives of at least 68 million Filipinos who earn less than $2 a day," said Mariano.

Production can't meet demand

While the Philippines registered a 6% growth in palay production in 2007 and will likely continue to see this repeated in the first half of 2008, these are insufficient to meet the increase in demand and the need to keep adequate supply during the lean months in the third quarter of 2008.

"The registered growth in palay production is not enough to meet the combined effect of an increase in demand and the need to maintain the required buffer stock by July 1, the start of the traditional lean supply months of July to September of each year," the NFA memo said.

The memo said palay production in 2007 was 16.237 thousand metric tons (TMT) or nearly 6% higher than the 15.327 TMT in 2006. The increase is due to a 2.7% increase in area planted to palay plus a 3.16% increase in yield.

The NFA said the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics has projected production in the first half of 2008 at 7.154 TMT or 6.33% higher than 2007.

These gains are not enough to meet the per capita consumption of rice in 2008, which is estimated to increase by 2 kilos from 118 to 120 kilos per capita, the NFA said.

"Rice supply-use estimates for crop year 2007-08 considering three (3) scenario (high, medium, low) showed that despite projected gains in productivity, the country will still require an import level of 1.6 to 2.2 MMT, to fully meet demand and buffer stock requirement good for 90-day by end of June 30, this year," the NFA memo said.

Tight global supply

The NFA said the "tight global rice situation" worsened with China’s reported purchase of 1 million metric tons (MMT) from Vietnam.

Vietnam has informed the Philippines of its supply limitations.

"Vietnam was reported to have already suspended its rice export activities for 2008 due to limited supply. Also Vietnam wrote DA they will only assure 1 MMT rice exports to the Philippines," it said.

The NFA memo also said "world market price of rice remains volatile, increasing at significant levels," which has thus affected NFA’s rice procurements.

From December 21, 2007 to end of January 2008, the NFA memo said it "has procured a total of only 1,658 MT palay (1,077 MT in rice equivalent) or 88% less than the volume procured same month last year."

The NFA memo said "prevailing ex-farm price of palay in major palay producing areas in Luzon (Region 2, 3, 4 & 5) ranged from a low of P11.00/kg (Isabela & Quirino) to a high of P14.50 in Nueva Ecija. In the Visayas, prices averaged at P11.50-P12.00/kg while in Mindanao, prices were higher at P11.00-P14.00/kg."

Abnormal weather

The NFA memo also cited Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration’s (PAGASA) forecast of "abnormal weather" conditions this year as a factor for the projected rice shortage.

"The abnormal weather condition will more likely result to stress the standing palay crop, more especially during its booting stage which would result to low yields," the NFA said.

Based on the other memo, from Secretary Arthur Yap to Pres. Arroyo, it noted the supply constraints of rice-exporting countries.

"In Thailand, palay harvest will be on March – April but the volume is only very limited estimated at 6 MMT (roughly 30% of their annual production) since their main harvest will still be on November where harvest is estimated at 20 MMT," the memo said. "Bulk of their palay inventory is still in the hands of the farmers as they are awaiting for higher prices."

"The Thai government is still holding around 1.5 MMT two-year old rice but the new government is still adamant to touch the volume," it added.

The DA memo also noted that Vietnam and China have "now imposed volume limitations on their rice exports."

It said world rice prices are expected to continue its upward trend especially since "some governments are rushing to build up their inventories."

Long-term measures

Mariano said the information from the two memoranda means that "rice is now a sellers market."

Mariano said rice importation is only a "band-aid" solution, which makes the Philippines "more dependent on other countries."

To help alleviate the rice shortage, the KMP proposed the following long-term measures:

- Increase rice production through "genuine agrarian reform";

- Break-up the local rice cartel;

- Stop conversion of rice/crop farms to non-agricultural uses;

- Scrap deals that give land rights to foreigners.

ABS-CBN NEWS ONLINE

National (as of 3/23/2008 9:20 AM )

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Youth lead Manila protest as politicians take back seat

MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATE 5) Politicians took a back seat as thousands of students and left-wing activists led in pressing their call for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's resignation Friday in the third mass protest in a month over corruption allegations implicating her and her husband.

Several Roman Catholic bishops and dozens of priests and nuns critical of Arroyo joined the rally at the Liwasang Bonifacio in central Manila. Some released doves and green balloons to signify peace and the search for truth.

Rally organizers estimated the protesters reached a peak of 10,000 but police placed the number at 6,000, much smaller than the tens of thousands who rallied in Makati City two weeks ago in the biggest protest since the opposition-dominated Senate opened hearings into the Internet broadband scandal last year.

Former vice president Teofisto Guingona, Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo, and Gabriela Representative Liza Maza joined the protest, but were not allowed to go up the stage. Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim briefly spoke on stage but later told reporters his presence was only to ensure peace and order and not to join calls for Arroyo to step down.

The protesters peacefully dispersed after about four hours of impassioned speeches, songs and chants of “Oust Gloria!”

Among the more notable events on the program was a time-travel skit on the alleged scams of the Arroyo administration had the crowd in stitches.

The fast-paced role-play performed by the University of the Philippines Repertory, which had a lone narrator doing all the voices and two actresses exaggerating their moves, was about a curious girl from the future who traveled magically to the past, witnessing one scam after another in her quest to find Arroyo's "mole."

The crowd laughed heartily when the girl realized that she did not need "magic shoes" to get to the end of the Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard, which was "so short for its overprice."

Renato Reyes, secretary general of leftwing alliance Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (New Patriotic Alliance, Bayan) said mass actions would continue even during the Lenten week, as long as Arroyo refused to resign.

"The fight is definitely far from over," said Reyes. "There will be a resurrection of sorts in protest movements right after the Lenten break. People will not forget easily the sins of this administration.”

The Senate has been investigating allegations that Arroyo, her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo and former elections chief Benjamin Abalos Sr. benefited from huge kickbacks in the aborted US$330 million deal with China's ZTE Corp. to set up a nationwide broadband network.

Malacañang has dismissed the charges as hearsay and opposition "grandstanding." The First Gentleman and Abalos -- who resigned last year after he was implicated -- have both denied any wrongdoing. ZTE has said it did not bribe anyone.

Arroyo canceled the contract in September because of the controversy.

Jose "Joey" De Venecia III, the first to blow the whistle on the alleged bribes and overpricing in the broadband deal, urged the public never to give up in their search for truth behind the scandal.

Reyes said the issues of "corruption, human rights abuses and abuse of power" remain, "so the protests will continue."

Scores of marchers from urban poor communities carried bamboo crosses with placards saying "Stop the Suffering" as they chanted "Oust Gloria!"

Local artists, including rapper Peter Park Her, whose song tackles allegations of corruption in the Arroyo government, performed before the crowd.

Rock bands like Datu's Tribe, Republika de Lata and rapper Gloc9 were also among the performers.

Pinoy punk group Music Front fronted by Arnold Morales (formerly of the Urban Bandits) played two Pinoy punk classics from the '80s, "Nagpapapansin" and "No Future sa Pader."

The Jerks also performed two of its popular songs--"Sayaw sa Bubog" and "Rage," which echoed Dylan Thomas' raging "against the dying of the light."

UP's Kontra Gapi also made its presence felt.

"Panahon na para magalit tayong lahat [It's time to be angry]!" vocalist Chikoy Pura told the audience.

Later Pura told the Philippine Daily Inquirer: "We are here not just to perform. At least, we are four more warm bodies. This is the best way to contribute to the movement. We all have a part to play."

Earlier in the day, an interfaith mass officiated by Catholic Bishop Teodoro Bacani, Lingayen Archbishop Oscar Cruz, and Protestant pastors from the National Council of Churches was held.

Students from University of the Philippines, Dela Salle University, Ateneo De Manila, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Philippine School of Business Administration, University of Sto. Tomas, University of Asia and the Pacific, among others were present in the rally.

Youth Act Now also hit Arroyo for her "unity walk" with students, saying the real voice of the youth belonged to those present in the protest actions.

"Even if we have examinations, we are here to search for the truth," said Alvin Peters, the group’s spokesman.

Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines head Angel Lagdameo could not make it due to health reasons, said Cruz.

"He was really looking forward to coming over," said Archbishop Cruz. "He's in the hospital receiving intense medication for a pulmonary ailment. He was very sorry that he could not come. I said he need not go since there were other opportunities to do so. He's sending us his blessing."

Cruz, a staunch critic of Arroyo, called anew for the President to resign.

"This is just to show the administration that it has begun and it also has not ended," said Cruz, adding that protests were not futile.

Bacani repeated a call by the CBCP for Arroyo to "remove all obstructions to the discovery of the truth" behind the broadband deal.

He said Arroyo hasn't yet directed her officials to speak out "no matter who gets hurt, no matter who is involved."

"We are waiting for that," Bacani said.

Deputy Presidential Spokeswoman Lorelei Fajardo welcomed the rally as an "exercise of the democratic freedom we all enjoy" but urged the protesters to be responsible "and express themselves in a civilized manner and not resort to name calling." With The Associated Press

By Abigail Kwok, Thea Alberto, Allison Lopez, Alcuin Papa, Tina Santos
INQUIRER.net, Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 15:58:00 03/14/2008

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Ombudsman doing lifestyle check on Lozada--lawyer

MANILA, Philippines--The Office of the Ombudsman ordered a lifestyle check on whistleblower Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. right after he testified at the Senate last February, a lawyer who filed graft cases against those involved in the allegedly anomalous National Broadband Network-ZTE deal said.

Lawyer Ernesto Francisco Jr. revealed on Monday that inquiries he made at the Senate revealed that Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez herself asked for copies of stenographic notes covered by Lozada's testimony.

He said these documents, requested by Gutierrez on Feb. 11 -- the day she announced the creation of an investigative panel that would look into the allegations that Malacañang was involved in the alleged overpricing of the NBN deal -- were picked up on Feb. 20 by a certain Rodney Henson, whom he traced to the anti-graft body's assets investigation bureau.

The lawyer added that if the requested documents were for the purpose of investigating the anomalous deal, the panel would have informed the parties that the Ombudsman had obtained Senate records of Lozada's testimonies.

"It only debunks her impartiality to the case and shows that she prioritized an investigation of Lozada rather than [acting] on the complaints related to the ZTE filed before her office," Francisco told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net) by phone on Monday.

It took the Ombudsman roughly five months before it conducted a preliminary investigation on the seven ZTE-related cases filed as early as last September which involved key personalities including President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo.

In an urgent omnibus motion he filed on Monday, Francisco asked Gutierrez to explain her dubious acts, noting that as the Ombudsman, she was not allowed to write letters to government agencies and bodies to request for records as provided for under the rules of procedures of the anti-graft body.

Under the rules, he said, the chairman of the fact-finding panel assigned to conduct fact-finding on a particular case, or any of its authorized investigators, should be the one to make such requests.

Last Sept. 24, Francisco requested that the anti-graft body conduct an investigation on the President’s husband and former Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr., who were linked to alleged kickbacks and overpricing in the deal and to secure all records of the Senate investigation.

But up to now, the investigative panel had yet to make a request to the Senate, Francisco said.

He noted that this was contrary to what Assistant Ombudsman for the Military Emilio Gonzalez III, head of the panel, said during the public hearing last March 4.

Gonzalez announced that the panel was merely waiting for the Senate to act on its request.

For lying and making misrepresentations on its investigation on the anomalous deal, Francisco asked the present investigative panel to be disbanded and constitute a new and impartial body to take over the case.

First posted 18:11:43 (Mla time) March 10, 2008
Jocelyn Uy
Philippine Daily Inquirer

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Govt forecast: Food crisis unlikely, but higher prices, yes

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap and Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes face newsmen at the Philippine Embassy on the eve of the International Renewable Energy Conference at the Washington Convention Center in Washington D.C.

WASHINGTON D.C. - Top Philippine officials allayed fears of a looming food crisis but warned of rising prices caused largely by the spiraling cost of imported crude oil.

The plus side of a La Niña phenomenon experienced by the Philippines in the latter half of 2007, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap explained, is that rice farms will have enough water this crop season.

"A lot of our rain-fed areas for rice have water today, whereas last year, when we had a dry spell, walang tubig ang sakahan natin," he said.

"I have been e-mailed the latest planting intentions and the report I’m getting initially for the first and second quarters of 2008, we are going to hit our targets, and it will be higher than 2007," Yap added.

They also plan to import 1.7 million metric tons of rice to further buttress the country’s grain reserves.

So if the Department of Agriculture projects that Filipinos will have enough food this year, why is Albay Governor Joey Salceda warning of a food crisis?

"It does not mean na kung walang food crisis or shortage hindi tayo mabibigla sa pricing. Baka yun ang sinasabi ni Gov. Salceda," Yap surmised.

"What we’re trying to tell our countrymen right now is that all over the world, there is really a constriction of supply of commodities, it’s driving up the local price of grains," he said. "Since it’s driving up the price of grains, we somehow have to pay because that is the correct price."

With the cost of crude rising well above $100 a barrel, Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes suggested the country should get used to a regime of higher prices.

It’s a simple question of supply and demand, he said. Most of the world’s deposits of fossil fuels are projected to be depleted or will become uneconomical to extract in 30 to 50 years.

"The demand for fuel will go up, the supply is going down, so the price of oil and coal will go up. The only way out is to find alternative energy sources," Reyes said.

Yap and Reyes delivered their reports to the International Renewable Energy Conference at the Washington Convention Center.

The impending shift to renewable sources of energy has prompted these two diverse fields – agriculture and energy – to join forces in search of viable alternatives to the current reliance of fossil fuels.

By 2010, after all the best-effort at developing renewable fuels, Reyes said the Philippines will still be 40 percent reliant on fossil-based fuel and energy sources.

Reyes stressed the Philippines, just like the rest of the world, has no choice but to develop renewable energy. And it has to do this fast.

"Last year," he said, "Philippine economic growth breached the 7 percent mark, and we expect the country to sustain growth in the 5 percent range over the next two years. We need energy to support that growth".

Clean fuels boon to environment
He also underscored the benefits of renewable fuels on the environment.

Fossil-based "dirty fuel" has triggered protests wherever a new coal or bunker power plants is being built.

In contrast, renewable energy taps existing natural resources, ranging from volcanic steam to sea currents to sunlight.

"Our country can be a virtual laboratory for developing solar, biomass, hydro and ocean-based energy," Reyes said.

The energy chief said the challenge is formidable. "Right now in government, I don’t think there is anybody there with a degree in renewable energy, because this is a new area."

He pointed to current initiatives to enable the shift to renewable energy.

"This will have to be done in a very integrated manner. You need planning, people who can work in this field. We hope to get more inputs in the medium-term development plan so it will be there in the planning and the budgeting," Reyes explained.

The Department of Energy wants to make the Philippines the largest producer of geothermal energy in the world, and the largest wind energy producer in Southeast Asia.

It also wants to double hydroelectric capacity by 2013, and produce up to 131 megawatts from biomass, solar and ocean energy.

Reyes said they have not yet computed the price tag for this ambitious plan.

At the moment, they have no choice but to pursue the dream of energy self-sufficiency piecemeal.

Yap, for instance, disclosed that they are developing 16 ethanol plants in Negros, tapping into the island’s chief produce – cane sugar.

US help to push shift to renewable energy
With capital in short supply, the Philippines is working with foreign partners to develop the country’s renewable energy sector.

US oil giant Chevron, Reyes disclosed, is actively developing geothermal energy in Bicol. Another company, Sunpower, has built the world’s biggest factory of solar cells in Laguna.

The government is also working with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to energize about 1,000 barangays, mostly in Mindanao, using a mix of solar and mini-hydro technologies.

The USAID-sponsored Alliance for Multi-Regional Off-grid Renewable Energy (AMORE), Reyes said, "opened fresh paths for peace, partnership and social services" in 400 remote, strife-torn Mindanao villages."

Reyes stressed that the "challenge is in the transition", which could be a painful process.

With lower oil prices nowhere in sight, Reyes said this may give added impetus to efforts at weaning away from oil and coal.

He refused to say if the Arroyo administration is considering rationing oil if prices continue to climb rapidly.

But with a growing number of poor Filipinos, Yap assured the government is ready to take appropriate steps to cushion the effects of higher food prices.

UN: More Pinoys could go hungry due to rising food prices

More Filipinos could go hungry this year as the market price of rice soars out of reach of ordinary households, a country director of the United Nations World Food Program revealed Friday.

Valerie Guarnieri, WFP Country Director for the Philippines, said the Philippine government could end up spending more to subsidize prices of rice as world food prices go up.  

"Rice sales in the Philippines are traditionally subsidized. The question will be whether the government will be able to maintain the current levels the lowest grade rice is sold at and/or increase it only marginally and at what cost because that would mean incurring further debt in order to maintain those low prices," she told ABS-CBN News Channel.

"I think it's a very difficult situation but one which the government is looking at and has the means, if it can control the prices, of addressing at least in the short to medium term. If the prices continue to rise then all bets are off," she added.

She said food prices globally have risen by at least 40 percent, which translates to a $500 million increase in WFP costs to support an average of 90 million people around the world per year. The UN agency now provides food aid to about 1.1 million of the Philippines' 90 million people.

Guarnieri warned that the increase in food prices could lead to more hunger incidence in the country, particularly in Mindanao island where some of the country's poorest provinces are located.

She said that according to WFP research, 70 percent of total expenditures of a poor household in Mindanao goes to food. "When you think of being poor and spending 70 percent of your money on food, you're really not in the position to accommodate any price increase and that is something that has to be watched very carefully," she added.

Lower priority

Guarnieri said the UN was unlikely to ramp up its food aid to the Philippines immediately since it is considered a "middle-income country" with lower priority.

She said rising oil prices and climate change are contributing to food scarcity and a rise in prices of basic commodities globally. Other factors that affect food prices are increased food demand from nations such as China and India and a trend towards biofuel production, which affects crops normally used for food.

She said the Philippines is relatively safe from the increase in world food prices since most of its food products is sourced locally. She added, however, that the government could have a problem in sourcing 15 percent of the country's total rice consumption requirement for the year, which is usually imported.

Earlier this year, President Arroyo went outside normal commercial channels to ask Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung about securing rice, an exceptional move that highlighted growing global anxiety over how nations will feed their people as commodity prices climb.

The Vietnamese government, however, said it will ship only one million tons of rice to the Philippines this year, which is more than a quarter less than last year.

"This is a wake-up call," Robert Zeigler, director general of the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), told Reuters. "We have a crisis brewing in terms of rice supply."

Because of the expected shortfall, the IRRI has pushed for a repeat of the Green Revolution - a 13-year Philippine government program which introduced high yield varieties of rice to increase yearly output by 42 percent.

Nearly half the planet's 6.6 billion people depend on rice to survive but rising populations and economic growth mean that the world is already eating more of the grain than is harvested.

World stocks of the grain are currently around 72 million tons, their lowest levels since the early- to mid-1970s when food shortages triggered a devastating famine in Bangladesh.

Zeigler said other importing nations in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia could also be at risk and as soon as this year.

"When you have a president calling a prime minister asking them to guarantee rice supplies it’s a possibility, that's for sure," said Zeigler.

No increase in food prices yet

The Philippine government on Friday assured that prices of basic commodities would remain at their current levels as costs of rice, cooking oil and pork increased over the past weeks.

“What consumers can expect within the coming weeks is to see the prices at its levels today. After what I’ve heard from the very sector, for instance supply-wise, there should be no problem. Sa rice, the harvest will start next month. Between now and April, we don’t see any reason why the prices will further move up. We will watch it very, very closely with the Department of Agriculture," said Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila.

The Department of Agriculture said prices of commercial rice would no longer move beyond the P26-per-kilo level, noting that the harvest season in the country has begun. The price of pork, meanwhile, would also remain at P170 per kilo until April when supply is expected to normalize.

The department said chicken should cost P100 to P110 per kilo as it urged consumers not patronize vendors who are selling beyond this level.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said it will publish in the next two days on major broadsheets the suggested retail price of consumer goods.

The DTI also announced that it is planning to conduct inspections on dry and wet supermarkets to monitor the prices.

The Department of Energy, meanwhile, said it does not discount the possibility that fuel prices will go up over the weekend due to high oil prices in the international market. With Reuters, AFP

ABS-CBN News

National (as of 3/7/2008 7:08 PM)
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