Bishop blames Gov't for Itogon Disasters

The recent mining tragedy in Northern Luzon must become a launching pad for the Church to further strengthen its campaign against mining, a Catholic bishop has said.

Bayombong Bishop Ramon Villena said what happened to 14 trapped miners inside a collapsed mining tunnel in Itogon, Benguet must not happen again.

“This particular incident proves strongly our conviction and contention that mining, particularly in upland areas, should not be done because mining in the country, are still irresponsible,” he said.

The bishop is known for his advocacy against a mining operation in Kasibu town in Nueva Viscaya that resulted to a violent conflict between a tribal group and an Australian mining firm.

He said tragedy in Itogon must be blamed on the Benguet Corporation’s socially and environmentally destructive mining operations since 1903 and the government for allowing it.

Villena claimed that “irresponsible mining” in the uplands are doubly hazardous as it is more prone to flashfloods and landslides thus endangering the inhabitants in the lower grounds.

“They always claim responsible mining is already there but that is not a reality based on our experience here (in Nueva Vizcaya),” Villena added. “As you can see, those miners in there are already trapped because of flooding”.

Last week, 14 miners got trapped inside a gold mine in Itogon, Benguet after water rose inside the underground tunnel at the height of typhoon Niña.

As of Tuesday, a total of four survivors were already rescued and were immediately sent to Baguio General Hospital for immediate treatment.

The prelate appealed to both the mining companies and the government to prioritize first development of the environment and the populace in their conduct of mining operations.

“For mining companies, what is important is development, which centers on environment and people. When it is centered on economic, it will be worse as it will be the cause of destruction,” Villena said.

“The Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Mines and Geosciences Bureau and local authorities should be very strict and, if possible, not relax about this matter and not allow themselves be bribed in releasing permits lest be called contributory to incidents such as these,” he said.

CBCP News October 1, 2008

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Church wants laity to lead fight vs graft

Catholic Church officials exhorted lay people to take the lead in fighting graft and corruption, especially with the 2010 elections just around the corner.

Online news site The News Today reported that the call was made at the national convention of the Council of the Laity of the Philippines that ended Wednesday.

"The convention is very practical because this is a good preparation for the forthcoming national elections," said Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo.

Lagdameo said graft and corruption remains one of the most pressing problems of the country.

"The Church encourages the vigorous participation of the laity in governance not only in the Church but also of society. The laity must be at the forefront in solving our social problems," he said.

Bishop Gabriel Reyes, who chairs the CBCP's Episcopal Commission on the Laity, said lay people can help minimize if not eradicate corruption.

"Bishops and priests can only exhort them to do it and to provide spiritual formation, but they should be at the forefront," Reyes said.

He said that based on reports and stories of lay people, graft and corruption in government is worsening.

"The challenge to all government officials in all levels of governance is to live the faith," said Reyes.

In his homily during a Mass, Reyes acknowledged that corruption in government has been institutionalized in the country.

"It must be hard to be a good, to be a Christian politician in the Philippines," he said.

Reyes admitted that corruption exists even in the Church.

"There is corruption in the Church… but not as much as in government," he said drawing laughter and applause from the audience.

Reyes said the practice of giving an "SOP," or standard operating procedure, which involves an automatic kickback to officials in government projects, purchases or transactions, should be stopped.

He said it seems that the practice has already become acceptable to the people and they have stopped opposing it.

"There must be a change in mindset. It is not acceptable. It is wrong," he said.

Also, the Council of the Laity of the Philippines threw its support for Pampanga Gov. Eddie "Ed" Panlilio against a recall campaign to oust him from office.

In the statement issued at the culmination of the three-day national convention, the national organization of lay people said they are supporting Panlilio's campaign to "promote integrity and honesty in government."

"We are backing him in his fight for good governance and his battle against the proposed recall, which will bring to naught his noble and difficult work against graft and corruption," the group said in a statement.

Panlilio, who is on leave from his duties as priest, was one of the speakers in the convention.

But he is facing a recall bid initiated by a non-government organization led by a former election campaigner of Lilia Pineda.

GMANews.TV 10/03/2008 | 06:58 AM

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Youth groups sign unity statement for peace in Mindanao

Youth coming from different organizations, including two (2) university student councils, signed an interfaith unity statement seeking peace based on justice in Mindanao.

Signatories include the Christian lay organization, Student Christian Movement of the Philippines (SCMP), Liga ng Kabataang Moro (Moro Youth League or LKM), St. Andrew’s Theological Seminary-Student Body Organization, Kabataan para sa Katutubong Pilipino (Katribu), University of the Philippines Muslim Students’ Association (UP MSA), UP Student Catholic Action (UPSCA), Kalipunan ng Kristiyanong Kabataan sa Pilipinas (Philippine Christian Youth Federation), Tignayan Dagiti Agtutubo ti Kordilyera para iti Demokrasya (TAKDER), UP Student Regent Shahana Abdulwahid, Polytechnic University of the Philippines SR Sophia Prado, and TANGGULAN Youth Network for Human Rights and Civil Liberties.

“In unity for peace based on justice, we, Christians, Muslims and indigenous youth, call to stop the total war in Mindanao,” reads the introductory part of the Youth Interfaith Unity Statement, sent to CBCP News.

Current conflict not simple

The signatories said that they believe the current conflict is not a simple conflict between Christians or Muslims or indigenous peoples.

“We learn, even as it is often concealed in our history books, that this is a struggle on the right of the Bangsamoro (Moro Nation or peoples) to self-determination and the right to their ancestral lands. The rights taken away from them have become a historical neglect that has been passed on from one generation to another,” said the statement.

They say, many thought that the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) will address the problems in Mindanao and of the Bangsamoro people but as events unfold, they’ve witnessed how the Macapagal-Arroyo government used the MOA-AD to push its agenda for Charter Change.

“Revived and scrapped for a number of times throughout Arroyo’s presidency, a Charter Change at present is seen to grant Arroyo a term extension beyond 2010 and the inclusion of anti-people provisions, such as allowing foreign investors to own and acquire 100 percent of our country’s natural resources—including the ancestral lands claimed by the Moro and indigenous peoples,” the unity statement said.

Saddened by the peace negotiations stop

“We are saddened that the peace negotiations have been stalled. We are even more dismayed that the government dismantled its peace panel. We continuously urge both parties, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) to resume the Peace Negotiations and address the centuries-old roots of dissidence in Mindanao,” say the signatories adding, as government offensives have developed into a total war, the casualties, hungry and internally displaced evacuees grow every day.

They’ve also stated that the halt in the signing of the MOA then provoked the escalation of hostilities.

War hurt, kill people especially children

“Media reports account that the conflict in North Cotabato, Lanao del Norte and Maguindanao has brought the death toll to more than 70 individuals, majority of them due to indiscriminate firing and shelling, and the forced displacement of more than 500,000 people to crowded and evacuation centers,” the statement furthered.

This statement was supported by the reports from the Children’s Rehabilitation Center, a non-governmental organization which helps war-shocked and abused children to recover.

As of their last count, more than 10,000 children have been affected by the war. The CRC said that the “myth” of the MILF child soldiers has escalated the human rights violations against children, ages 14 and below.

Due to this, the signatories said, “We express our deepest concern towards our brothers and sisters in Mindanao, especially the young people. We share the sufferings that our Muslim brothers and sisters have to endure while observing the holy month of Ramadhan (which ends up tomorrow, October 1).

“We call the attention of fellow youth organizations, churches, non-governmental organizations and volunteer citizens to extend assistance in whatever way to our internally displaced brothers and sisters in Mindanao.”

Urging the government to stop total war

On the other hand, they have urged the Macapagal-Arroyo government to stop using the MILF’s alleged attacks against civilians to justify its total war, saying that they’ve witnessed in the past weeks how the recent offensives by military forces have brought more civilian casualties.

“We appeal for an immediate Independent Mission to investigate and take into account the human rights violations committed in the course of this conflict, whether by the MILF or the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). We also call to dismantle paramilitary groups such as the notorious Ilaga vigilante group. We stand firm that the alleged attacks against civilians should not be used to open the doors for wider confrontation, and push for a full-blown war,” it stated further.

Furthermore, the said organizations believe that the Arroyo government’s total war stance towards the Mindanao conflict is contrary to the achievement of genuine peace based on justice, especially for the Bangsamoro. Its strategy of “disarmament” and “neutralization” towards the MILF defeats the much-aspired resolution of the conflict. It downplays the legitimacy of the struggle of the Bangsamoro people, further reads the statement.

“As youth, we must understand that peace does not only mean silence amidst injustice. It is one that recognizes the right to life and human dignity, a peace that is based on the common aspirations for a free and just society—which include the right for self-determination of the Bangsamoro and indigenous peoples, the bone of contention of this centuries-old conflict in Mindanao,” it added.

Still no to Cha-Cha

“We continue to support the calls of various sectors of society in opposing Charter Change. The Bangsamoro struggle should not be used and made as a ploy to pursue the interests of the current administration, including the few foreign and local businesses and landlords who have vested interests in the rich blessed land of Mindanao.

The groups also called for the ending of the alleged intervention by the United States government in an internal affair such as the conflict in Mindanao.

“We call on the Filipino youth to pray together for genuine peace based on justice in Mindanao . Let us not get into the trap of anti-Muslim prejudice and hatred that causes division among our people. Let us work together in love, hope, peace and justice to be able to understand the roots of this conflict, and be able to present long-term solutions for the present generation, and the future generations to come. As freedom-loving people, let us link arms and call to stop the total war and recognize the Bangsamoro’s right to self-determination and right to ancestral homeland, so that genuine justice may be genuinely achieved,” the statement ended.

Noel Sales Barcelona; http://www.cbcpnews.com/?q=node/4935

September 30, 2008

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CBCP head blasts granting of ECC to coal power plant

A coal-power plant in an area earmarked for eco-tourism is yet to get-off the ground but already it is stoking up anger among several groups.

The most vocal opponents to the approved 164-megawatt coal plant at the heart of Iloilo City are groups of environmentalists and influential leaders of the Catholic Church.

They fear the plant will do more harm than good for them and the environment stretching from inside a 4-hectare property of the Panay Power Corp. in Barangay Ingore in Lapaz District to other nearby towns.

The plant would be completed in 2010.

Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo admitted fear among them that the power plant owned by the PPC and a Metrobank subsidiary, Global Business Power Corp. will soon operate in the area.

“It’s really saddening because people here (in Iloilo) are really against it,” he said.

Lagdameo, also the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said they want power but a “clean power.”

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has recently granted an environment certificate of compliance to the proposed project.

The Jaro archdiocese has yet to see any detailed ECC for the project but is embarking on a public campaign to make local people aware of the dangers of coal fuel toxins.

Lagdameo said it’s hardly complicated for them to understand why the government is pushing such project that has long been proven to be environmentally risky.

He said it is also contrary to a government campaign for renewable energy.

“There is no such thing as clean coal fired power plant especially here (in our country) where the process of giving approval (by the authorities) is often questionable,” the archbishop said.

The international environmental group Greenpeace also lashed at the DENR for approving the project.

In a statement, Greenpeace Southeast Asian campaign manager Beau Baconguis said that in granting permit, DENR secretary Lito Atienza “has revealed his monumental hypocrisy, pretending to talk about climate change” while approving coal plant projects.

“By approving the ECC of the Iloilo City coal plant project, Secretary Atienza has shown his true colors—it’s as black and dirty as the coal plants he promotes,” he said.

Roy Lagarde http://www.cbcpnews.com/?q=node/4743

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Peace Advocates Hold Dialogue with NDFP Panel

A delegation of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP) held a dialogue with the negotiating panel and consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), Sept. 2, in Utrecht, The Netherlands.

The PEPP delegation was composed of co-convenors Archbishop Antonio Ledesma and Sharon Rose Joy Ruiz-Duremdes, and members Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez, Bishop Efren Tendero, Sister Cres Lucero and Ofelia Cantor. Fr. Michel Beckers of the Norwegian Ecumenical Peace Platform joined the PEPP delegation.

They met with Luis Jalandoni, chairperson of the NDFP negotiating panel, and panel members Fidel Agcaoili, Julieta de Lima and Coni Ledesma, Chief Political Consultant Prof. Jose Maria Sison, member of the NDFP Monitoring Committee Danilo Borjal and Ruth de Leon, head of the NDFP panel secretariat.

The PEPP and the NDFP agreed that there is an urgent need to resume the formal talks in the peace negotiations and such resumption must be based on prior agreements between the two parties. They also agreed that ‘a just and lasting peace in the Philippines could only be attained by addressing the root causes of the armed conflict.’

Jalandoni said that the NDFP is willing to hold informal talks in order to prepare the resumption of formal talks as soon as possible in accordance with the existing agreements between the GRP and NDFP.

Jalandoni informed the PEPP delegation that the NDFP had proposed to the GRP a10-point concise agreement on the principles for immediate peace, but unfortunately, the GRP did not respond.

Sison said that the basic problem in pushing the resumption of formal talks is the lack of interest of Ms. Gloria Arroyo in the peace negotiations, and the heavy hand of militarists like Eduardo Ermita and Norberto Gonzales in the GRP Negotiating Panel. He observed that Arroyo had apparently closed the door to peace negotiations by demanding demobilization, disarmament and rehabilitation as preconditions. He noted that this latest of the GRP preconditions aggravated the previous precondition of prolonged ceasefire, which was already a gross violation of The Hague Joint Declaration.

Sison pointed out that all impediments to the peace negotiations can be resolved by complying with existing agreements. He said that the GRP and NDFP can overcome the terrorist blacklisting of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), New People's Army (NPA) and the NDFP Chief Political Consultant, in accordance with the Oslo Statements I and II, by simply making a joint declaration that no foreign government should breach Philippine sovereignty and territorial integrity by interfering with legal and political matters that are strictly internal to the Philippines.

The NDFP panel requested the PEPP to call on the GRP to comply with the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and release NDFP consultants Angie Ipong, Elizabeth Principe and Randall Echanis. The NDFP also urged the PEPP to call for the surfacing of consultants who have been involuntarily disappeared and the lifting of false charges against Sison and consultants like Vicente Ladlad and Rafael Baylosis.

BY BULATLAT
September 8, 2008 – 1:53 p.m.

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Detained Pastor Ordered Released by CA

Detained Pastor Berlin Guerrero was ordered released to the custody of his lawyers this morning by the Court of Appeals (CA).

A United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) pastor, Guerrero was abducted May 27, 2007 by elements of the Naval Intelligence Security Forces. He was allegedly tortured before being turned over to the Philippine National Police (PNP). Only then was he shown a copy of a warrant of arrest for murder charges.

The Court of Appeals began hearing petitions filed by Guerrero's lawyers former Sen.Jovito Salonga and Emilio Capulong after the case was remanded to the appelate court by the Supreme Court. Court of Appeals Associate Justice Martin Villarama granted a temporary restraining order barring the Cavite Regional Court Branch 19 from proceeding with the hearings on the murder case and directed government lawyers to submit more evidence to justify the trial of Guerrero.

Capulong said that while they were hoping for the dismissal of the case, he deemed that the court's decision is already favorable. "Bagamat hindi pa tapos, lumiliwanag na ang ating ipinaglalaban para sa katarungan." (Although the case is not yet over, we are seeing light in our struggle for justice.)

In an interview, Guerrero said, "Bagamat naghihintay pa ng final resolution, magandang patunay na talagang walang batayan ang kaso." (Although we are still awaiting for the final resolution, today's decision is proof that the charges filed against me have no basis at all.)

Guerrero was detained for one year, three months and 15 days. Bulatlat

BY BULATLAT
September 11, 2008 - 1:47 p.m.

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Muslim, Christian students

do Sandugo for Bangsamoro struggle

QUEZON CITY, August 23, 2008—Islamic and Christian students of the University of the Philippines-Diliman (UPD) held a Sandugo or blood compact to show their unity and support to the legitimate struggles of the Bangsamoro (Moro nation) for self-determination and their quest for true and lasting peace, as well as to show their unity against the proposed charter change (Cha-Cha) by the Arroyo government.

In a protest action held in UPD last August 19, headed by the Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights in UP (Stand-UP), the Muslim Students Association (MSA) and the Student Christian Movement of the Philippines (SCMP) held a Sandugo to express their unity as a people and vow to work together for the true and lasting peace in Mindanao, now in the middle of a war.

Fudge Tajar, Stand-UP’s deputy secretary-general, said in a statement that since Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s assumption to power in 2001 through the peaceful uprising in Edsa and her reelection in 2004, the lumads, Christians and Muslim in Mindanao have long been suffering due to the administration’s schemes to perpetuate in power.

She lambasted the attempts of the Arroyo government to use the Memorandum of Agreement for Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) and the current intensified armed conflict between the elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Islamic revolutionary forces under the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to push for Cha-Cha.

In earlier reports, Malacañang expressed the willingness to support the Senate Resolution No. 10, or the establishment of 11 federal states in the Philippines, including the Federal State of Bangsamoro.

It fired up a debate in the Senate and has resulted to withdrawal of support of some senators who have signed the said Resolution. Lately, the counterpart bill in the House of Representatives was withdrawn by its author himself, former San Sebastian-Recoletos College of Law dean and now Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, stating that he doesn’t want his bill to be used by Malacañang for its selfish intentions.

Bangsamoro will won’ t have peace under the Arroyo

“Cha-Cha shall ostensibly commence the shift to federalism to accommodate the demands of the Bangsamoro people's call for autonomy, but it shall only help perpetuate the Arroyo regime in power further than 2010,” explains Tajar,

She added that the tally of human violations committed by government forces against the Bangsamoro people and Arroyo's manipulation of anti-Moro hysteria are but testaments to the government's insincerity in granting the Muslims the community they envision.”

Furthermore, the students also lambasted the regime for pitting the Bangsamoro and Christian peoples against one another and consider it as another diversionary tactic to obscure the intensifying cries for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's ouster.

“We, mga Iskolar ng Bayan, will never condone the atrocities Arroyo and her cohorts have committed against the people. While we unite with the Bangsamoro people's quest for genuine autonomy and peace, we also seek Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's ouster as instrumental to ending both the Bangsamoro people and the Filipino people's plight,” the youth leader stressed.

Continued protest by youths vs. Cha-Cha, martial rule
Meanwhile, youth groups vowed to launch series of protest to spoil Mrs. Arroyo’s Cha-Cha.

On Friday member organizations of Youth ACT Now! (Youth for Accountability and Truth Now!) led simultaneous class walkouts in different schools and universities to mark the youth's protest against Arroyo's moves to perpetuate herself in power.

Students from the University of the Philippines, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, De La Salle University, College of St. Benilde, St. Scholastica, Ateneo, University of the East, University of Sto. Tomas, Far Eastern University, Adamson, Philippine Christian University, Lyceum, Letran, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, Philippine Normal University, Jose Rizal University, Technological Institute of the Philippines and some public high schools around Metro Manila held simultaneous programs in their respective schools before converging in Plaza Salamanca in Taft by 12:00 noon for a centralized youth program.

The said walkouts were organized by local chapters of National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), Student Christian Movement (SCM), Kabataang Pinoy, Anakbayan, League of Filipino Students (LFS), KARATULA, Liga ng Kabataang Moro, Youth Revolt and Kristiyanong Kabataan para sa Bayan, all were conveners of the Youth ACT Now!

After the series of programs, the youth protesters are expected to proceed to Roxas Boulevard to merge with other sectors for the broad Truth Festival rally, which was organized by different cause-oriented groups, including the Association of Women Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines (AWMRSP), headed by Mo. Mary John Mananzan, OSB.

Youth ACT Now! Spokesperson and NUSP national president Alvin Peters said in a statement that they oppose Mrs. Arroyo’s Cha-Cha and any moves of the government to put the country under martial rule for these would allow the extension of a corrupt, treacherous and unrepentant regime.

On the other hand, SCMP chairperson Biyaya Quizon condemned the Arroyo administration's posturing for peace when clearly it has more sinister and divisive tactics in mind.

“We strongly condemn the Arroyo administration for intensifying the conflict with our Moro brothers as a result of its double-speak and ulterior motives,” the lay leader said.

Meanwhile, CEGP national president Vijae Alquisola warned Mrs. Arroyo against using the present Mindanao conflict as a pretext for martial rule and calls “on our fellow youth to be ever vigilant against attempts to attack our freedoms and civil liberties." Metro Manila has been reportedly placed under 'red alert' and the military has been justifying the deployment of checkpoints around the city.”

Furthermore, LFS chairperson Vencer Crisostomo said that 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."

"Either way you look at it, cha-cha or martial rule, both serve Arroyo's motives to prolong power and evade accountability for the numerous unresolved cases of corruption and human rights violations," said Kabataang Pinoy president Dion Cerrafon.

Anakbayan chairperson Ken Ramos said, "Instead of self-serving schemes, Mrs. 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."

Noel Sales Barcelona

www.cbcpnews.com

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NCCP: Cha-cha won’t bring peace in Mindanao

MANILA, August 16, 2008—A conciliar body of various Christian churches said extending the term of President Arroyo through Charter change is “not that the way to lasting peace” in Mindanao.

In a statement, the National Council of Churches in the Philippines said such move will only exacerbate the crisis the country is facing at present.

The organization claimed amending the Constitution under the present administration is “wrought mainly with the motive for political survival.”

“Charter Change threatens seriously the remaining nationalist provisions of the Constitution especially with respect to national patrimony,” the statement read.

“It will further liberalize the economy and exacerbate the plunder of the remaining natural wealth in Mindanao and elsewhere in the archipelago to advance foreign business interests at the people's expense,” it added.

President Arroyo recently said she is supporting a shift to federal form of government to ensure lasting peace in Mindanao —a process perceived by her critics as her way to stay in power beyond 2010.

The NCCP said they full supports the peace process between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front provided such course should only be through a “principled negotiations”.

They said the issues on the Bangsamoro struggle for self-determination are “complex” and the issue on ancestral domain is one of them.

The religious organization said the memorandum of agreement (MoA) between the two parties is a positive step towards resolving the conflict.

“But the MoA has raised many serious and legitimate questions and doubts are now cast on the sincerity of Malacañang in the light of the simultaneous resurgence of the moves for Charter Change,” the statement said.

“Principled negotiations start in facing squarely the issues that gave rise to the long festering conflict. Grounded on this, we must continue to push for genuine peace talks even as we pray that wars may cease and all people will enjoy divine providence more abundantly,” it added. (CBCPNews)

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Bishop nixes resumption of mining in Rapu-Rapu

A Catholic bishop continues to strongly oppose the resumption of mining operations by Lafayette Philippines Inc. in Rapu-rapu Island, Albay.

Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes said the mining company brought environmental destruction than the perceived economic boom.

He said the catastrophic havoc is very evident in the island after years of operations by the LPI.

“No. I repeat our position that (mining in) Rapu-rapu should not be opened because it has no benefit to the community,” Bastes said.

He claimed that majority of people not only in Rapu-rapu but in the entire Bicol region are against mining.

Bastes said the government is being imprudent again for allowing the said mining firm to operate despite its bad track record.

“It’s not wise for the government to allow them,” he said.

The religious leader said he already warned Environment Secretary Lito Atienza of the “terrible things” that are about to happen for allowing the LPI to operate again.

“I will blame him for that. That’s what I told him,” he said.

The LPI pulled out its copper and zinc mining operation last March over environmental issues.

The bishop claimed the mining firm got “bankrupt” after its investors backed off due to public clamor against the LPI.

“They (LPI) have no more investors. They can’t even pay their personnel anymore. It’s no longer financially viable,” he added.

According to Bastes the mining in Rapu-rapu was supposed to be the government’s “flagship” project in its revitalized mining industry program but it turned out to be a “fiasco.”

Bastes also said the Lafayette still has over P130 million pesos balance of taxes payable to the government.

“The government should impose total closure of the mining there. It has ruined not only the environment but also our economy,” he Bastes said.

Under new management, LPI will resume in its controversial polymetallic mining site this month with an assurance that the repeat of a toxic tailings spill is avoided so that its operations are not jeopardized.

The operations will be under the Malaysia Smelting Corp. Berhad (MSC), a Malaysian industrial firm that has acquired 30 per cent share in the Australian-owned mining venture.

MSC director Dr. Mohammed Ajib Anuar said the new operations will be targeting an output of 50,000 ounces of gold, 600,000 ounces of silver, 14,000 tons of zinc and 10,000 tons of copper per year that would be marketed in China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and other international markets.

Roy Lagarde cbcpnews.com  MANILA, August 9, 2008 __________________________________________________________________________________________

Muslims, Christians to stage protests vs gov't-MILF deal

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines--Muslims and Christians in the Southern Philippines have assailed the "landmark deal" between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that seeks to expand Moro autonomy in Mindanao.

None other than Sultan Esmail Kiram, the heir of Sultanate of Sulu, expressed disgust over what he called government's insensitive action of offering the areas which have been part of the ancestral domain of Sultanate of Sulu, to the MILF without prior consultation.

"I feel really very bad. What we know prior to the agreement, the MILF was claiming ancestral land somewhere in Central Mindanao. The government committed a very drastic move by offering areas, including our ancestral domain which, unfortunately, the MILF approved," Kiram said in an interview.

"Ano ba talaga ang aim ng Philippine government, papag-awayin ang mga Muslim at Kristyano dito sa Mindanao? [What is the true aim of the Philippine government? Get the Muslims and Christians to fight each other?] Do they want us here to fight each other over ancestral domain?" Kiram said.

Kiram said he had nothing against the MILF. "We support them, but for Allah's sake, no one has full authority to seek historical rights or encroaching over it," Kiram said about the impending agreement on ancestral domain.

In a press conference on Saturday night, Sheikh Abdul Wakil Tanjil, deputy mufti for Western Mindanao and executive director of Salamat Islamic Institute, also questioned the memorandum of agreement (MOA).

Tanjil said even the Sultanate of Sulu, which "has all the rights for Ancestral Domain claim, respected certain territories."

"People have the right to be consulted before agreeing and signing any deal," he said.

Datu Albi Julkarnain, chair of the Council of Royal Datus, said the MOA on ancestral domain would "encroach in areas supposedly under the Sultanate."

Kiram and the other Muslim leaders said they would support the protest action in Zamboanga City on Monday, a day before the signing of the MOA in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat said he was expecting thousands of residents, not just from this city but as well as from neighboring towns and provinces, to join the protest action to "dramatize our opposition to the inclusion in the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (JBE)."

Spearheaded by Lobregat, the protest rally will coincide with the city's formal filing of a case before the Supreme Court.

The case seeks for a stop to the signing of the proposed memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain.

The rally will be the first since the mass protest in 2001 when residents, then led by Celso's mother, the late Mayor Maria Clara Lobregat, also marched on the streets expressing their opposition to the proposal to include Zamboanga City in the Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development (SPCPD), the transition government for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

"We, Christians and Muslims alike, have spoken and resoundingly voted against this," Lobregat said.

Idjirani likened the MOA to modern colonization.

"Before Mindanao or the Philippines was colonized by foreigners. Now Muslim counterparts, not foreigners, are colonizing our own people," he said.

Ustadz Shariff Mohsin Julabbi, chairman of the MILF in Western Mindanao, objected to the idea of giving parts of Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-tawi to the MILF.

"I am an official of Moro Islamic Liberation Front. I am a spiritual leader. Now I can say that those agreeing to the territories given by the government are not MILF like me, they are Maguindanaoan Iranon Liberation Front," Julabbi said.

Julabbi was referring to the MILF leaders who belong to the Maguindanao and Iranon Muslim tribes.

Citing the Quran, Julabbi said no one had the sole right to own a place except to take care of the resources.

In Zamboanga City, at least eight villages are included in the proposed BJE. There are Barangays (Villages) Zone 3, Zone 4, Landang Gua, Busay, Landang Laum, Manalipa, Pasilmanta and Tigtabon.

Covered by the BJE are Lobregat's ancestral home, the Fort Pilar shrine, the Ateneo de Zamboanga University, the City Hall and the entire city center.

Teresita Sebastian, vice chair of the Mindanao Business Conference and regional governor of the Zamboanga Peninsula Philippine Chamber of Commerce, said the BJE would be "divisive and only sow confusion among the people."

"When we were young, we did not highlight the differences in us. We looked at the commonalities and appreciated it. With this ongoing development, we are now seeing differently. The government should have done something to make people meet and see on common ground, not further divide them," Sebastian said.

Sebastian said the business community did not deal with people based on differences. "We engage actively in business not because they are Muslims, Christians or Lumads [indigenous peoples]. In fact, our co-existence is not just mere toleration, but appreciation."

But Eid Kabalu, MILF civil military affairs chief, assured that they would uphold the rights of people, particularly Christians, upon signing a deal with government.

"We are not barbaric. We guarantee that we will respect their rights. While we are in Islamic State, we will still follow a democratic form of government," Kabalu said.

"We are asking the people of Mindanao to widen their thinking and not to entertain selfish desires. The past administrations tried but failed to address the Bangsamoro problem. Now, the agreement we will sign in Malaysia on August 5 will not benefit the people of Mindanao but the entire nation," he added.

Despite Kabalu's appeal for an open mind, protests will be held in various parts of Mindanao, including Iligan City on Monday.

Iligan City Mayor Lawrence Cruz said the protest action would be their way of expressing their opposition to the inclusion of eight upland villages in the proposed BJE.

The Iligan City villages that were included in the proposed BJE are Rogongon, Panoroganan, Mainit, Dulag, Lanipao, Kalilangan, Hindang and Diigkilaan.

Cruz said these villages have been engaged in agricultural food production.

"Why should we be included again in another referendum when Iligan City twice rejected the move to include the city in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM)?" Cruz asked.

"We are not against the peace process nor are we against the expansion of the ARMM. However, we cannot allow divisions to destroy the harmonious relationship among Muslims, Christians and lumad," Cruz added.

In North Cotabato, Vice Governor Manny Piñol said they would stage protests on Tuesday, the day of the MOA signing.

First posted 18:23:49 (Mla time) August 03, 2008
Mindanao Bureau

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Protestant, Catholic bishops call for peace talks with Reds

MANILA, Philippines - Catholic and Protestant bishops on Wednesday urged government to work to resume talks with communist rebels.

The Ecumenical Bishops Forum (EBF), an alliance of bishops coming from different Christian denominations in the country, said that it was high time that government resume pending peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

"We join our people's calls… To resume the GRP-NDFP formal peace talks aimed at attaining a just and lasting peace by addressing the social, economic and political roots of the armed conflict, reconvening of the Joint Monitoring Committee and the full implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Laws (CARHRIHL)," read the EBF statement.

The joint pastoral statement was released after the three-day peace conference held in Cebu City last July 24-26.

Excerpts of the statement were posted on the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) website.

Reading the statement were Caloocan bishop and CBCP public affairs unit head Deogracias Iñiguez Jr.; and bishop Solito Toquero of the United Methodist Church (UMC).

The group also called for the scrapping of the value-added tax, especially on oil products; and the oil deregulation law.

It also called for a stop to militarization of the countryside as it makes the people victims of state power, especially women and children.

Also, it sought the approval and implementation of the proposed P125 across-the-board wage increase nationwide.

Likewise, it demanded an effective and genuine land reform program that will address the long-standing problem of landlessness of poor and marginalized Filipino farmers.

"With the vision of a Philippine society enjoying the fruits of genuine democracy and freedom from dehumanizing poverty, we add our voices to all peace-loving Filipinos in demanding Economic Justice for the sake of Peace!," the EBF statement said. - GMANews.TV

All Rights Reserved. 2006 © GMA Network Inc.

Article posted July 30, 2008 - 05:02 PM

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Bishops Say Neoliberal Policies Have Worsened, ‘Institutionalized’ Plunder of Nation’s Resources

The neoliberal economic policies implemented by the Philippine government over the last 20 years have “aggravated and institutionalized the plunder by foreign corporations” of the country’s human and natural resources,” the leaders of an ecumenical forum of Catholic, Protestant and Aglipayan bishops have said.

The neoliberal economic policies implemented by the Philippine government over the last 20 years have “aggravated and institutionalized the plunder by foreign corporations” of the country’s human and natural resources,” the leaders of an ecumenical forum of Catholic, Protestant and Aglipayan bishops have said.

In a statement, Roman Catholic Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez and Methodist Bishop Solito Toquero, co-chairmen of the Ecumenical Bishops Forum (EBF), the plunder of the Philippines, also decried the “poverty and want” afflicting the Filipino people.

“We are very much saddened that while our nation is richly endowed with vast natural resources and hard working and resilient human resources, most of our farmers are landless and hungry, our sisters and brothers in workplaces are denied of their right to just wages, our indigenous peoples are denied of their rights to ancestral domain and self-determination, our fisherfolk are left without enjoying God-given marine resources, our women and children are subject to commodification and abuse and many of our young workers and professionals are forced to earn a living abroad away from their homes and families,” the EBF co-chairmen said.

Inequality and poverty

Based on the United Nations’ (UN) Human Development Report 2007/2008, the Philippines has a Gini coefficient of 44.5 – with 0 representing absolute equality and 100 representing absolute inequality.

Among the 177 countries ranked in the Human Development Report 2007/2008, there are only 37 countries with higher Gini coefficients, meaning having more inequality, than the Philippines: Argentina, Panama, Chile, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, Malaysia, Venezuela, Colombia, Dominican Republic, China, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Jamaica, Honduras, Bolivia, Guatemala, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland, Nepal, Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, Haiti, Zimbabwe, Togo, Uganda, Cote d'loivre, Central African Republic, Mozambique, Niger, Guinea-Bissau, and Sierra Leone.

Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has made much of the economic growth posted by the country under her administration. In a speech on Jan. 11, she said:

“Today, the Philippines is on a path to permanent economic growth and stability. We’ve created seven million new jobs in seven years... We’ve achieved 28 consecutive quarters of economic growth in the last seven years. And that’s something that even our neighbors cannot say. There were times during this 28 quarters that the… Singapore for instance, experienced negative growth and many of our neighbors and even the United States, there were quarters when they experienced negative growth.

“And in the last, in the three quarters of 2007 for which we have had our accounting completed, our economy rose 7.3 percent and this is the fastest growth in more than a decade, in a very, very long time.”

This economic growth, however, has been criticized by no less than the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as “among the most inequitable” in Southeast Asia. The ADB also noted that the Philippines has one of the highest Gini coefficients in Southeast Asia.

The ADB’s findings on inequality of income distribution are bolstered by data recently released by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), which show that the number of poor Filipinos increased by 3.8 million from 2003 to 2006. Even with its low poverty threshold of P41.25 ($0.94 at the July 2 5exchange rate of $1:P44.07) for each individual Filipino – which is much lower than the living wage estimates of the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) – the rise in poverty rates from 2003 to 2006 is visible.

Corruption and neglect

They also assailed the rampant corruption and political horse-trading in the Arroyo administration, as well as the government’s “collusion” with big foreign and local corporations engaged in profiteering.

“We are outraged that in the midst of serious socio-economic and political crisis besetting the country, the highest government officials are engaged in corruption, self-aggrandizement, and political maneuvering,” Iñiguez and Toquero said. “Furthermore, they collude with big foreign and local businesses such as oil companies, mining corporations, rice cartel and pharmaceutical firms in acquiring bigger profits at the expense of and in gross disregard for the welfare and interest of the people.”

The Philippines has been enduring unabated jumps in the prices of petroleum products. Prices of diesel and gasoline have gone up by more than 20 times since last January alone.

Oil price hikes severely affect the prices of commodities, as petroleum products are used in the production and transportation of goods.

Data from the Center for Women’s Resources (CWR) shows that from April 2007 to April 2008, prices of prime commodities have increased by a range of 7.33-88.89 percent.

These price increases took place even as the peso is supposed to have grown stronger against the dollar from April 2007 to April 2008. Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP or Central Bank of the Philippines) shows that from $1:P47.82 in April 2007, the peso registered at $1:P41.82 in April 2008.

Last May alone, food prices soared by 14 percent, according to the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance), with commercial rice now costing no less than P32 ($0.73 as of July 25) a kilo.

The inflation rate nearly doubled from December 2007 to March this year. From 3.9 percent in December 2007, the inflation rate shot up in the succeeding three months to 6.4 percent. Last May, the inflation rate reached a nine-year high. Inflation in June reached 11.4 percent.

Oil firms have claimed that the frequent spikes in the prices of their products are offshoots of their supposed need to recover losses from the jumps in world oil prices. They have recently implemented weekly price hikes of P1.50.

But frequent oil price hikes are nothing new in the Philippines. The Philippines has been suffering from increasingly frequent oil price hikes since the deregulation of the downstream oil industry.

The downstream oil industry was deregulated in April 1996, upon the passage of Republic Act No. 8180. Two years later, RA 8180 would be replaced with RA 8479, which eliminated the first law’s provisions on tariff differential, stocking of inventories, and predatory pricing.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who was a senator in 1995-1998, authored RA 8479 among other laws paving the way for the Philippines’ entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework.

Human rights

The two bishops also condemned the human rights violations under the Arroyo regime.

“We are disturbed that our people’s collective action to express peacefully their discontentment and desire for meaningful social change are subject to repression by government resulting in various human rights violations such as, coercion, intimidation, political persecution, forced disappearances and extra-judicial killings against those who voice dissent, including peace advocates and church people,” they said.

“We are further disturbed that the armed conflict continues to intensify due to the worsening social, economic and political crisis. This is all the more aggravated by the growing militarization of the countryside in the name of development aggression resulting in displacement of entire communities, with thousands of families denied of their rights to land, livelihood and life.”

Data from Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) show that from January 2001 to June 30, 2008, there have been 910 victims of extrajudicial killings and 193 victims of enforced disappearances.

From 2001 to 2008, the three regions with the most victims of extrajudicial killings are Southern Tagalog with 165, Central Luzon with 137, and the Bicol Region with 128. Most of the victims are peasants (numbering 424) and indigenous people (85). Among political organizations, the party-list group Bayan Muna (People First) and the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or Peasant Movement of the Philippines) have the highest number of victims, with 132 and 106, respectively.

Meanwhile, the three regions with the victims of enforced disappearances are Central Luzon with 62, Southern Tagalog with 28, and Eastern Visayas with 24.

Southern Tagalog, Central Luzon, the Bicol Region, and Eastern Visayas are all marked as “priority areas” in the government’s counter-insurgency operations dubbed as Oplan Bantay Laya (OBL or Operation Freedom Watch).

UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions Philip Alston went on a mission to the Philippines in 2007 to investigate the spate of extrajudicial killings and came up with a report specifically pointing to the military’s involvement in these. “In some parts of the country, the armed forces have followed a deliberate strategy of systematically hunting down the leaders of leftist organizations,” Alston, who is also a professor at New York University (NYU), said.

Demands

The two bishops, in their statement, put forward the following demands:

·    Resumption the GRP-NDFP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines-National Democratic Front of the Philippines) formal peace talks aimed at “attaining a just and lasting peace by addressing the social, economic and political roots of the armed conflict,” reconvening of the Joint Monitoring Committee and the full implementation of CARHRIHL (Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law);

·    Scrapping of the VAT (value-added tax), especially the VAT on oil products, being “unjust and onerous impositions by the IMF (International Monetary Fund) designed to ascertain capacity to service foreign debts, and resulting in increasingly unbearable tax burden on the Filipino people”;

·    Repeal the Oil Deregulation Law, since this law makes the government “fully supportive of the transnational corporations’ unstoppable profiteering on oil prices that puts our people in abject poverty”;

·    A stop to the militarization of the countryside as it “makes the people victims of state power, especially women and children,” and has resulted in numerous human rights violations;

·    Hastening the approval and implementation of the proposed P125 across-the-board wage increase nationwide; and

·    An effective and genuine land reform program that will address the long-standing problem of landlessness of poor and marginalized Filipino farmers.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat Vol. VIII, No. 25, July 27-August 2, 2008

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Bishop Asks DAR: Where Did CARP Funds Go?

MAKATI CITY — Manila Auxiliary Bishop and Episcopal Commission on Social Action, Justice and Peace , Broderick Pabillo, D.D., grilled a Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) official during a press conference held at the San Carlos Seminary here by asking him where the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) funds went.

The press conference is part of the two-day National Rural Congess II spearheaded by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

“I want to ask Usec. (Gerundio) Madueño here, about the statement of Sen. Gringo Honasan when we went to the Senate to dialogue about the extension of CARP with reforms, that your office did not submit any report of how the money for the agrarian reform program is used” Pabillo said. “For he (Honasan) said that the program as been there for so long but there is no transparency of how the money allocated for it was used.”

Madueño, the undersecretary for policy, planning and external affairs, categorically denied  Honasan’s allegations that they have never submitted a report, explaining how the money for CARP has been used.

However, Pabillo said, maybe Honasan’s committee in the Senate — the Committee on Agrarian Reform — is not satisfied with the report submitted by the DAR.

Peasant organizations and farmer-support groups like the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or Peasant Movement of the Philippines), Sentro para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (SENTRA or Center for Genuine Agrarian Reform), and Amihan (National Federation of Peasant Women) have criticized the DAR for misuse or misappropriation of funds.

KMP vice-chairperson Imelda Lacandazo, one of the delegates to the two-day congress, said that CARP extension will only give corrupt officials, who are involved in the implementation of the program, more opportunities to “steal the people’s money.”

Her group is batting for the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB), principally authored by the late Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) Rep. Crispin Beltran, which is now pending at the House of Representatives. The law, which activist groups are promoting as a replacement for the CARP, seeks to expand land reform coverage and distribute lands to peasants for free.

BY NOEL SALES BARCELONA
Contributed to Bulatlat
Posted 6:28 p.m., July 8, 2008

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Graft causes hunger--bishop

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Philippines -- Graft and corruption in government, not a growing population, is among the reasons why poor Filipinos cannot buy enough rice and other food to eat, San Fernando Archbishop Paciano Aniceto said in a homily here on Sunday.

"It is graft and corruption ... that is causing hunger in many of our families, not the growing population," Aniceto, 71, said in Kapampangan during the Mass for the Feast of the Blessed Trinity.

Aniceto, chair of the family life committee of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, tackled what he called the "crisis" of Filipino families as policymakers and legislators renew calls to arrest the country's population growth in order to avert a rice shortage.

The bishop did not cite specific corruption issues in the Arroyo administration, but said government leaders "must instead exert more institutional policies and political will" to deliver basic social services, ensure the land tenure of farmers, spend more public resources on agricultural production and raise wages.

He called House Bill No. 17 "disastrous," lamenting that it was following the "wrong stand" of the United Nations.

The bill, called the "Reproductive Health, Responsible Parenthood and Population Development Act of 2007," has been pending in the House committee on health since July 2007. Its principal author is Albay Representative Edcel Lagman.

"The proponents say it is for reproductive health and for the freedom of women. When substances poison [the] body of a woman or kill a baby, that is not healthy, that is not freedom. That is death," Aniceto said.

He cited a recent encounter with a woman who confided to him that she bled when she took pills.

"Families should not be told to resort to artificial contraceptives to stop population growth and have lesser mouths to feed. They don't understand that the poor have more children because they help in the farm and they will take care of their parents in old age," Aniceto said.

He said the government's food security program "must not kill families but should focus on giving lands and support for farmers and workers."

A "culture of life" should be the policy adopted amid the tight rice supply and high prices of food, he said.

Lagman had recently said the population growth rate of 2.36 percent "outpaces" the annual growth in rice production of 1.9 percent recorded from 1990 to 2000.

"The country's inordinately huge population growth rate threatens food security and aggravates the looming rice shortage," Lagman said in a statement.

"The politics of rice is a numbers' game -- the number of mouths to feed and the number on the price tag," he said.

The Philippines' population in 2007 was pegged at 88.7 million, and is projected to reach 90.4 million in 2008.

Rafael Mariano, chair of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP, Peasant Movement of the Philippines) and president of the Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) party-list, said the "rice crisis cannot be solved easily by increased rice importation and by pouring money on agriculture."

In a statement, Mariano warned that the "second wave of the rice crisis will be felt by July and will last for three years" because palay prices are still low and government funds are lost to graft.

First posted 17:23:08 (Mla time) May 19, 2008
Tonette Orejas
Central Luzon Desk

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CBCP asked to invite Pope to RP to see state of human rights

MANILA, Philippines - The fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) appealed to the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to invite Pope Benedict XVI to the country to discover the “true state of human rights and civil liberties" in the Philippines.

The humanitarian appeal stemmed from the landmark address of 81-year old German pontiff to the United Nation General Assembly who said that human rights are the common language and ethical substratum of international relations and promoting these rights is the best way to eliminate inequalities.

“We strongly appeal to archbishops and bishops of CBCP and to CBCP President and Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo to invite and convince Pope Benedict XVI to come to the country so he could listen to the voices of the grassroots people and their defenders who are suffering from state-sponsored terrorism, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and political persecution," Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a statement.

“We will officially write the CBCP and the Vatican to formalize our request for Pope Benedict XVI about our request for the latter to have an audience with the surviving victims, relatives of victims and persecuted defenders of human rights, civil liberties and
people’s interests in the country," the Pamalakaya leader added.

CBCP should know about the recommendations of the United Nations Human Rights Council to the Philippine government during the Universal Periodic Review to completely eliminate tortures and enforced disappearances, intensity efforts at investigating, prosecuting and punishing perpetrators of extrajudicial killings, he said.

“For CBCP and Pope Benedict’s information, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, tortures, political persecution and other forms of human rights violations are part of the government’s counter-insurgency program and policy known as Bantay
Laya 1 and 2," Hicap added.

Citing the date provided by the human rights watchdog Karapatan from 2001 up to present, there are about 902 victims of summary executions and 180 enforced disappearance during the last seven years.

Pamalakaya said Bayan Muna Party list Representatives Satur Ocampo and Teodoro Casiño, Gabriela party list lawmaker Liza Maza and former Anakpawis party list Rep. Rafael Mariano are facing possible arrests within this week for the alleged three cases of murder cases committed in Nueva Ecija province. –

GMANews.TV

04/20/2008 | 12:04 PM

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CBCP to Pagcor: ‘Find other ways to aid the poor’

MANILA, Philippines—The head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, yesterday reiterated the Church’s stand against gambling and challenged the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) to find other alternatives to directly help the poor.

“We stand against all forms of gambling, legal or illegal,” Lagdameo told the Inquirer in a phone interview, two days after Pagcor broke ground for a multibillion-dollar Las Vegas-style gaming and entertainment center on reclaimed land on Manila Bay.

Lagdameo stressed the CBCP was not completely opposed to the Bagong Nayong Pilipino-Manila Bay Integrated City but only the “element of gambling” in the planned tourism complex.

Pagcor Chair Efraim Genuino had said the project would bring in as much as $15 billion in investments from partners, casino operators and tourism firms from Japan, Malaysia and the British Virgin Islands. It would create thousands of new jobs, he added.

In an interview aired yesterday over church-run Radio Veritas, Lagdameo said the project was both “good and not so good.”

He said the project was impressive in that it is anticipated to house hotels, residential villages, a cultural center, a museum, a sports arena and a park, and is expected to create “a thousand jobs.”

“But we know that one of the intentions, gambling, will also be there—something we are trying to discourage because gambling is a very great temptation for both rich and poor and therefore it will contribute to the development of a culture of gambling,” Lagdameo said.

Pagcor channels its earnings to various government charities, including the President’s social fund.

Bishops found it difficult

But Lagdameo said Pagcor should find other means to help the poor rather than encourage gambling.

“Pagcor and the rich should directly channel the money to the needy instead of giving it through gambling, if they really want to help,” Lagdameo said, adding, “If they want, they can just give the money to the poor to enable them to buy rice, which is expensive now.”

Referring to the three Catholic bishops who had graced the gambling complex’s ground-breaking rites, Lagdameo said, “They may have found it difficult to make a distinction as to whether the project was good or bad because there were no buildings yet.”

Bishops Maximiano Cruz of Calbayog, Cirilo Almario of Malolos and Manuel Sobreviñas of Imus blessed the project’s corner stones.

Another objector to the Pagcor complex, the militant fisherfolk group Pamalakaya, complained the project led to the demolition of some 3,500 shanties in Pasay and Parañaque.

Meanwhile, Navotas City Mayor Toby Tiangco revealed that Pagcor had sought his approval to set up a casino-hotel at the fish port.

Tiangco told the Inquirer that Pagcor president and chief operating officer Rafael Francisco wrote him a letter asking for his approval to operate a casino-hotel in right inside Navotas Fish Port Complex (NFPC).

Navotas eyed, says mayor

“(The letter) only asked for my expressed approval so they could start the process of acquiring permits to build a hotel inside the complex,” Tiangco said.

He said he had reservations on the project, although it would surely generate additional income for the city.

“We would consider their proposal to build a hotel casino in the city, but definitely not inside the fish port,” Tiangco replied when asked if he would approve the proposal.

He said that with the daily cash transactions at the fish port, a casino nearby would leave fish brokers and vendors vulnerable.

“It’s like tempting them to gamble their hard earned money,” Tiangco said.

He said they were still in the process of weighing the benefits and disadvantages of Pagcor’s proposal.

Tiangco explained that although the NFPC is under the control and supervision of the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA), the city has the final say on the use of the 47.5 hectares of reclaimed land where the complex is located.

He said portions of the complex which were not being used for fish landing and trading purposes were currently leased to private companies. Approximately 20 hectares are now being leased to various fisheries and fisheries-related industries.

NFPC, is the largest fish port in the country and one of the largest in Asia. With reports by Nancy Carvajal, Jerome Aning and Dax Lucas.

By Jeannette Andrade
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:21:00 04/06/2008

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Church Concern on Mining 'Ignored'

When it comes to mining issues, the Catholic bishops' formidable foes are not the mining firms, but the deaf ears in the government.

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines lamented Wednesday the government's continuing promotion of mining, despite a growing chorus of those who are against it.

Laoag Bishop Sergio Utleg, CBCP Episcopal Commission on Indigenous Peoples chairman, said the government never cared to listen despite strong concerns from the locals and the Church.

"It has been a decade since the CBCP first released a statement of concern regarding mining, and yet through these years, the government has been unwavering in implementing 'development aggression,'" he said.

Utleg said mining, in the Philippine experience, not only destroys the environment but has become the vehicle for the violation of human rights, "ethnocide" of IP communities, "and even deaths."

He criticized the government for adhering to business interests over the welfare of the people who suffer much from the ill effects of mining operations.

"Here, we see the effects of pressure from business companies and foreign money over the government that nothing is happening to our request even if we've made it known long ago," he said.

The unceasing invitation for foreigners and local governments to enter into or accept mining ventures, he said, is against the Constitution.

The law of the land, Utleg noted, explicitly states that the environmental and human rights should be nurtured in communities, especially in those of the IPs.

Thus, the prelate reiterated an earlier appeal of the CBCP for the government to repeal the Mining Act of 1995.

"We are calling for the cancellation of all types of mining applications and the revocation of approved mining agreements," he said.

He also called on for the "stoppage of all mining operations" especially those in ancestral lands.

BY ROY LAGARDE
CBCP News
Posted by Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 7, March 16-29, 2008

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Bishops, youth to take rallies for truth to the provinces

MANILA, Philippines - After the Holy Week, bishops and youth groups will bring their campaign for truth and accountability to the provinces, according to Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz.

Cruz on Saturday belied text messages that the bishops had already abandoned calls for the government to expose truth behind alleged anomalies, particularly in the botched $329.48-million National Broadband Network project with China's Zhong Xing Telecommunications Equipment (ZTE) Corp.

"Yong nangyari ngayon, ayaw namin sa Metro Manila lang ang rally. Ang rally gusto namin sa mga probinsya dumami rin ... Sa summer na ito ang kabataan ra-rally sa kanilang probinsyang inuuwian (We cannot limit our rallies to Metro Manila. We have to bring it to the provinces too. Some youth groups already told us they were going to bring their rallies to the provinces during the summer vacation)," Cruz said in an interview on dzXL radio.

He said ZTE scandal whistleblower Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr was able to disprove Malacañang's claim that people in provinces were not keen on rallies, after Lozada got a warm welcome wherever he went.

Lozada received a warm welcome in Iloilo province when he went there Friday, amid Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez's claim that Lozada was not welcome there.

Cruz also said Catholic bishops would actively participate in provincial rallies for truth and accountability led by Lozada.

"Sasama ang mga bishops, sigurado 'yan (Yes the bishops will join. That's for sure)," he said when asked if bishops will join future rallies.

He said Angel Lagdameo, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) missed Friday's rally at the Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila because of his bad health condition at the time.

He also belied text messages claiming Lagdameo was pressured or bribed into not attending Friday's rally.

"Tungkol kay Archbishop Lagdameo, ako naninindigan ang taong 'yan matuwid, di pwedeng takutin at lalo nang di pwedeng lagyan (I will vouch for Lagdameo's integrity. He is straight and cannot be pressured, much less bought)," he added.

According to Cruz, Lagdameo was already feeling bad when the CBCP held an emergency meeting last February 26 and came out with a pastoral letter calling for the repeal of Executive Order 464.

The participation of the bishops in mass assemblies for truth and accountability is in line with their pastoral statement calling for a stop to the culture of corruption, according to Cruz.

He said bishops were particularly against the insatiable greed of some government officials.

"Ang greed di nabubusog 'yan, hanggang nagkakaroon ng pera sa bulsa lumalalim ang bulsa. Walang katapusan ang greed (Greed is never-ending. The more money one steals, the deeper his or her pockets go. Greed does not become satisfied)," he said.

"Tayo rin ay nagpapasan ng mabigat na krus at nagdurusa ... May katapusan ang ating pinapasan na krus at pasyon (This Holy Week we should just bear our crosses, but we must remember this is not the end. Even Christ was resurrected)," he added. - GMANews.TV