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Aquino hit for ‘favoring investors over victims of large-scale mining’

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Aquino hit for ‘favoring investors over victims of large-scale mining’
“Aquino shows no regard for the essential issue in the indigenous people’s struggle for the very life of their communities, their children, their way of life, their future,” Luis Jalandoni of the NDFP said, citing a petition filed by the Tribal Coalition of Mindanao et al before the Supreme Court on May 30 against the same mining companies, which were attacked by the NPA.

By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – The National Democratic Front of the Philippines lashed out at President Benigno S. Aquino III for acting “as if he is merely a caretaker of foreign corporations and local big compradors.”
On October 3, NPA guerrillas stormed three mining companies in Claver, Surigao del Norte, where they burned heavy equipment.

Aquino condemned the attacks and immediately ordered security officials to review operational procedures.
“No one should doubt our commitment to the safety of investors and our fellow citizens, who deserve to be able to pursue their livelihood without threats of extortion and violence to disturb them,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.

Lacierda also said the military and the police have implemented immediate actions to ensure the safety of mining companies in the country.

In reaction, Luis Jalandoni, NDFP peace panel chairman, said Aquino “thinks only in the narrow terms of favoring foreign investments, even if extremely exploitative.” “He is concerned only with providing military security for them.”

Jalandoni said Aquino completely misses the following points:

1. the extraction of nonrenewable resources such as mineral ores for export at dirt cheap prices kills Philippine prospects for industrialization,

2. the indigenous people are subjected to dispossession of land, mass dislocation and ruination of their lives and culture; and.... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/10/06/aquino-hit-for-%E2%80%98favoring-investors-over-victims-of-large-scale-mining%E2%80%99/

A question of poverty and vulnerability

By BENJIE OLIVEROS
Bulatlat.com
Learning from the impact of typhoon Ondoy, which hit the country hard two years ago, President Benigno Aquino III, upon assuming the presidency, sacked the chief of Pagasa, the country’s weather bureau, and declared a “zero casualty policy” in the government’s response to natural calamities. When relatively mild storms hit the country successively, Malacañang gloated over the “success” of its “zero casualty policy.” However, when typhoon Pedring hit the country September 27, Malacañang had to eat its words.

Typhoon Pedring had claimed the lives of 35 people (as of September 29), half of them children, injured 25 others and 33 are still missing. Now, Malacañang is singing a different tune.

Kahit may paghahanda po tayo, meron at meron pong nangyayaring ganito. Ang pwede pong gawin ng pamahalaan ay siguraduhin hanggang sa aming makakaya yung kasiguruhan ng mga taong madadaanan o maapektuhan po ng ganitong kalamidad,” Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte was quoted in an ABS-CBN news report as saying.

Valte was also quoted in a news report of Inquirer.net explaining that the Aquino government did not fall short in its response and did not fail in its “zero casualty policy”: “There are those who ask us why ‘zero casualty’ is often the policy of the Aquino government… This is really what we call force majeure. Even if there are preparations, there really would be [casualties].”.... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/09/30/benjie-oliveros-a-question-of-poverty-and-vulnerability/

What happened to Aquino’s programs addressing climate change? – solon

By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Bulatlat.com
What has happened to the Aquino administration’s commitment to address issues connected to climate change?

In the aftermath of two killer typhoons Pedringa and Quiel, a lawmaker is demanding that President Benigno Aquino III issues a report on the accomplishments of his administration’s Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Program.

Anakpawis Partylist Rep. Rafael Mariano asked Malacañang what have been the concrete accomplishments and plans under the said program in the wake of the massive damage wrought by the two typhoons that hit the country late last month one after the other.

Mariano said billions of taxpayers’ money were put into the program.

“The program has a budget of P29.7 billion ($697.67 million) for this year. We need to know where these funds went and what had the government accomplished so far in terms of climate change mitigation and adaptation,” he said..... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/10/08/what-happened-to-aquinos-programs-addressing-climate-change-%E2%80%93-solon/

Political dynasties still dominate Congress By Satur C. Ocampo

Political dynasties still dominate Congress

 By Satur C. Ocampo
At Ground Level | The Philippine Star
That political dynasties continue to dominate Congress isn’t hard news anymore. A news report on an Asian Institute of Management Policy Center study showing this has been relegated to the inside, rather than the front, page of a major daily.

Nonetheless, it’s worth looking deeper into that study, which tends to indicate that legislators belonging to political dynasties represent areas with lower per-capita incomes and higher poverty levels although this needs further validation.

More significantly, the AIMPC study reveals that an increasing number of political dynasties are gaining seats in Congress. This fact points up the glaring failure to realize the 1987 Constitution’s declared state policy “to guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.”..... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/10/07/political-dynasties-still-dominate-congress/

Luis V. Teodoro | No fear

Luis V. Teodoro | No fear

Vantage Point | BusinessWorld
In a remark that has since been condemned not only by the protesting students but also by engaged academics, thinking journalists and even half-asleep politicians, Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte ventured the opinion that students should “concentrate on their studies rather than [walk] out of their classrooms to protest supposed budget cuts for their institutions.”

Valte’s a lawyer and a graduate of that Katipunan Avenue school that fancies itself as the breeding ground of “men [it doesn’t mention women for others,” both of which facts, I suppose, make her statements no matter how repellent more excusable than most, in the same way that we used to forgive those of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s version of her, Lorelei Fajardo. Like Fajardo, Valte’s utterances have so far not been distinguished for either their civility, gravitas or even sense, although her telling protesting students to stay in their classrooms was a new low even for her..... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/10/07/political-dynasties-still-dominate-congress/

Chawwa, an indigenous farming system, may save the rice terraces

Chawwa, an indigenous farming system, may save the rice terraces


By ACE ALEGRE
Reposted by (http://bulatlat.com)
BANAUE, Ifugao – Little known but locally popular agricultural sharing and indigenous self-help system called “chawwa” is being resorted to in a bid to save the endangered rice terraces of Banaue, Ifugao.
The famed but deteriorating 2,000-year old agricultural and tourism marvel by native Ifugaos had taken further blows during the last typhoon as a huge landslide marred the terraces in Battad village, one of the more popular tourist sites.

Banaue town mayor Jerry Dalipog said that an age-old practice where another farmer-owner temporarily takes care of the farm lot of another who cannot tend his, and equally dividing the produce between them, may help save the endangered rice terraces. This practice is called chawwa.

Worsening devastation of rice terraces

In 1995, the Ifugao Rice Terraces Commission (ITC) pegged the devastation at 30 percent of the more than 1,000-hectare coverage of the rice terraces.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is considering to delist the rice terraces in Banaue, saying it is an endangered heritage site because the terraces have rapidly deteriorated in the past years..... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/09/20/chawwa-an-indigenous-farming-system-may-save-the-rice-terraces/

CAO tests bio agent on dangerous durian disease

CAO tests bio agent on dangerous durian disease

THE CITY Agriculture Office is now testing a biological agent on Phytopthora, a microorganism that attacks high-value crops like durian and slowly kills the host plants.But Jeanna Massing, field technician in Tugbok District, clarified that not all durian varieties are susceptible to Phytophthora.

The most susceptible of the 16 varieties in the city is the popular Arancillo, Massing said.

“That is the characteristic of Arancillo, very vulnerable to pests particularly Phytophthora, which  attacks the bark of the durian and slowly kills it in about a year,” she explained.

Unlike other pests that attack certain parts of the plant, Phytophthora affects the entire tree, the agriculturist said.

To address this problem, Massing said they are now on field trial using Trichoderma species for pest control in one of the durian farms in Barangay Angalan..... MORE

SourceMindanaotimes.net

URL: http://www.mindanaotimes.net/cao-tests-bio-agent-on-dangerous-durian-disease/

Armed movement still alive, says detained rebel leader

Armed movement still alive, says detained rebel leader

By | Saturday| October 8, 2011 |
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/07 October) — The daring seven-hour siege of three adjacent large-scale mining firms in Claver town, Surigao del Norte that took place in broad daylight Monday, only showed that the revolutionary movement is not “inconsequential” as government has claimed, a detained peace consultant of the National Democratic Front said.


In an interview Thursday, Wilfredo “Ka Paris” Mapano said the attack last Monday was an effective “show of force” which should make government treat the revolutionary movement with more respect as the latter had “effectively sanctioned companies that not only plundered the Filipino people’s patrimony but exploited and abused its labor force.”

“The triple attack last Monday showed that NDF has the capacity to punish corporations where the Philippine government failed to deliver,” said Mapano.

He also brushed off the allegation that the mining companies’ were attacked for their failure to pay revolutionary tax, citing a popular adage: “Do not kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.”.... MORE

SourceMindanews

URL: http://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2011/10/08/armed-movement-still-alive-says-detained-rebel-leader/

Planking at inobasyong protesta

Planking at inobasyong protesta

Ni ROLANDO B. TOLENTINO
Bulatlat.com

Matagumpay ang education strike laban sa budget cuts noong 23 Setyembre 2011. Mga isang libo raw kaming nagmartsa mula sa UP Diliman, kasama ang guro at kawani, karamihan ay estudyante. Walong libo na nang makarating sa Mendiola, kasama ng iba pang kahanay sa edukasyon mula sa SUCs (state universities and colleges). Marami ring protesta sa SUCs sa mga rehiyon.

Ang kakatwa sa martsa at rali ay ang proliferasyon ng inobasyon ng mga anyo ng protesta. Planking o ang paghiga ng patuwad (mukha sa sahig, kamay sa likod) sa iba’t ibang lugar ang tampok dito. Ang kalakaran para sa mga Afrikanong alipin para efisyenteng siksikin ibyahe sa bapor (nakakadenang pahina, patong-patong sa mga compartment), ang kapamaraan ng pagpaparusa sa kanila (padadapain na parang plank o pahabang kahoy, at tatapakan ng amo), o pagpatapon sa bapor sa kanila (palalakarin ng plank at patatalunin sa dagat)..... MORE

SourceBulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/10/07/planking-at-inobasyong-protesta/

PNoy urged to act on year-old farmer’s killing

PNoy urged to act on year-old farmer’s killing

By ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW
www.nordis.net

STA. LUCIA, Ilocos Sur — One farmer here pleads for Pres. Benigno Simeon Aquino III to render justice on the brutal death of his son in the hands of alleged members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on September 10 last year on a hill near their home.

Rizalino Valdez said that it will also be one year on October 7 when they petitioned the regional office of the Commission on Human Rights to investigate the killing of his son, Elmer, but nothing happened so far on the conduct of the said investigation.

“Awan pay ti umno a panagdur-as ti inpila mi a petisyon iti CHR Ilocos Region office. Ngarud dawatek ken Pres. Aquino a mandaren na ti napaspas a panag-imbistiga tapnu magun-od ti hustisya iti panangpatay da ti anak ko nga Elmer idi napalabas a tawen (There has been no significant development on our peition to the CHR regional office. Hence, I request the Pres. Aquino to order the immediate investigation to hasten the achievement of justice on the killing of my son Elmer one year ago),” explained the teary eyed elder Valdez in an interview..... MORE

SourceNordis.net

URL: http://www.nordis.net/?p=10720

Pulong ng Chamber of Mines, dinagsa ng protesta

Pulong ng Chamber of Mines, dinagsa ng protesta

 www.nordis.net
By DCN. LAWRENCE AMWAO/Alliance of Multi-Sectoral Group Against Mining in Nueva Viscaya
PASAY CITY — Sa pulong ng mga kinatawan ng Chamber of Mines sa magarbong Sofie Hotel sa CCP dito noong Septyembre 13, sinorpresa at dinagsa ng halos dalawandaang raliyista sa pangunguna ng Koalisyon ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (KAMP).

Kasama nila ang Katribu partylist, Kalikasan, Stewards of Creation-PCPR at ang malaking grupo ng mga katutubong Igorot na galing sa lalawigan ng Nueva Viscaya upang i-rehistro ang mahigpit na pagtutol para sa pandarambong ng dayuhang korporasyon ng pagmimina laluna sa lupain ng mga katutubo..... MORE

SourceNordis.net

URL: http://www.nordis.net/?p=10716

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