Only one reason EDITORIAL 08/18/2011

Only one reason

EDITORIAL

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08/18/2011
There can only be one reason Noynoy and his boys don’t want a Freedom of Information (FoI) bill enacted into law: The fear of their anomalous and corrupt ways being found out by the public.

Naturally, this will be denied by Noynoy and his boys, with his mouthpieces even claiming that this presidency is very transparent, which is a lie, as Noynoy and his Malacañang have been noted to be pretty opaque in their ways.

The fact is that Noynoy, as a presidential candidate on the campaign trail and even as a member of Congress, strongly called for the passage of the FoI bill. The reason then was fairly clear: With an FoI law, he believed that such a law would work against then President Gloria Arroyo, and he could then use this FoI law to dig for dirt against her.

Being such a slow learner, Noynoy at that time, failed to realize that which would work against Gloria by way of digging up dirt, would also have to work against him and his administration, by way of the public digging up their dirt..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110818com1.html

From ‘persecuted’ to persecutor FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 08/18/2011

From ‘persecuted’ to persecutor

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

08/18/2011
Sen. Ping Lacson should really be more careful when he says that Mike Arroyo’s brother, Iggy, can be charged with falsification of public documents, by way of what Lacson said were false lease contracts entered into between the Arroyo family firm, LTA Inc. and Lion Air on the lease of the contoversial five helicopters, two of which have been sold to the Philippine National Police as brand new.

The reason Lacson has to be more careful is that he is in the same spot as Iggy, in that there have been categorical statements made by the Department of Foreign Affairs of Lacson’s travel document being bogus — and who else is the authority to state what is a bogus or genuine travel document if not the DFA itself since this agency is the very body that releases such travel documents?

Lacson of course claims that his travel document is genuine, in much the same way Iggy passes off the lease agreement as genuine, but in the case of Iggy’s documents, it is Lacson, a senator, along with some of the senator-allies of Noynoy, who say this agreement is a fake, and frankly, they are hardly the authority, nor are some of them even impartial, given the fact that while they point out the many “lapses” in the lease contract, few, if any, among the senators in the chopper hearing, pointed to the fact of their witness and “whistle-blower” Archibald Po of Lion Air being caught in a big lie.

Po claimed during one Senate hearing that Lion Air couldn’t provide Mike Arroyo five choppers to be leased at that time, since then opposition presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr., had already leased all the choppers for his campaign, with Po giving a certain date Poe leased the choppers..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110818com2.html

‘Sugar Babies’: Internet ‘dating’ for money FEATURE 08/18/2011

‘Sugar Babies’: Internet ‘dating’ for money

FEATURE

08/18/2011
WASHINGTON — Pretty young women and older men of means — “sugar babies” and “sugar daddies” — are pairing up thanks to a US Web site that openly offers companionship for money, but balks at the word prostitution.

SeekingArrangement.com (SA) — which bills itself as the “premier Sugar Daddy dating site” — does not beat around the bush.

“We are a matchmaking Web site for wealthy benefactors, and attractive guys and gals,” its front page says.
It is one of dozens of Internet sites that centers around the age-old idea of a “Sugar Daddy” — an older man who pays to maintain the lifestyle for a younger, beautiful companion.

On SA, the idea is simple: a man who is “rich and successful... single or married” sets up an online profile that reveals the amount in his bank accounts and the monthly allowance he can provide to a willing woman..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110818com3.html

Between a ‘liar’ and an ex-fugitive INSIDE CONGRESS Charlie Manalo 08/18/2011

Between a ‘liar’ and an ex-fugitive

INSIDE CONGRESS

Charlie Manalo

08/18/2011
Funny thing Sen. Ping Lacson, along with colleague Sen. TG Guingona insist on having Big Mike’s brother, Rep. Iggy Arroyo testifying before the Senate to prove his claim the secondhand helicopters sold to the Philippine National Police as brand new were not owned by the former First Gentleman when Ping himself had already branded Iggy a liar.

If Ping had already prejudged Iggy to be a liar, then what would he expect from his testimonies? Nothing but lies of course! Why would he believe anything from someone whom he called a liar? That would be preposterous!

But at what point did Iggy prevaricate in his statement which prompted Ping to call him such?

For the record, Iggy said he was the president of the LTA Inc. during the time the five helicopters in question were leased from Lion Air which is owned by Ping’s star witness Archibald Po. And that is a fact. Records will show Big Mike divested his controlling shares in the LTA way back in March 15, 2001, around two months after his wife, Gloria Arroyo assumed the presidency in January that year. According to Iggy, Big Mike only reacquired his shares in LTA Inc., only toward the end of 2010 after GMA had stepped down in office June last year..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110818com5.html

‘Presumed guilty until...’ VIEWPOINTS Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz 08/18/2011

‘Presumed guilty until...’

VIEWPOINTS

Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz

08/18/2011
This is not meant to censure or absolve anybody from any past and present wrongdoings — in line with the now much claimed and loudly proclaimed jingle of “Matuwid na Daan.”

This is neither the least intended to condemn or honor those families and individuals perceived as thieves and cheats on the occasion of the previously gloriously reigning government. This is merely aimed at calling attention to voices raised here and there, about the way the principles of justice are applied during this noisy opera of avowed expurgation of bad people under the baton of the present administration.

There is consecrated norm of justice that persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty. This rule is not only based on the fundamental rule of prudence and equity but also anchored on procedural pursuit of objective truth that precisely brings about genuine justice. Oh yes, criminals should go to jail once so proven by proper judicial inquiry. This is precisely the rationale of the nature and finality of the whole justice system. Without this, there would be but the rule of the jungle in a country.

If it were really true and actually meant; if it were a principle and not merely a convenient excuse; if it were upheld and applied to foes and friends alike, treading the straight path is but the plain dictate of ethics and elementary norm of morals. But the moment there are exceptions for whatever consideration — blood, gratitude, friendship — then the right road is in effect, neither here nor there..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110818com7.html

Syrian employers keen on holding Pinoy workers despite unrest By Michaela P. del Callar 08/18/2011

Syrian employers keen on holding Pinoy workers despite unrest

By Michaela P. del Callar 08/18/2011

Philippine officials may have a hard time convincing Syrian employers to let go of their Filipino domestic helpers in Syria despite a standing government policy to repatriate Filipinos in the troubled Middle East state, Manila’s top diplomat there conceded yesterday.

Ambassador Wilfredo Cuyugan said most employers treat the security situation in Syria as an “isolated case” and bemoan the fact that they paid a certain amount, called a deployment cost, when they hired the Filipino maids.

“That is the problem we are facing now and basically we have to pay for their deployment cost (if we are to repatriate them),”

Cuyugan told dzBB radio, adding 90 to 95 percent of Filipinos there work in the household service sector..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110818hed4.html

Renegade Umbra Kato complicating peace talks By Virgilio J. Bugaoisan 08/18/2011

Renegade Umbra Kato complicating peace talks

By Virgilio J. Bugaoisan 08/18/2011

Malacañang is not satisfied with the declaration of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that the group of Commander Ameril Umbra Kato is now officially a renegade. Apart from just a public declaration that Kato is no longer associated with the MILF, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda also wants the MILF leadership to ensure that his departure will not mean another Moro secessionist group.

At a press briefing, Lacierda said Malacañang remains very concerned over the implications and possible complications of Umbra Kato’s renegade status as, in effect, this could mean that the MILF headed by Chairman Al Haj Murad simply does not have anything to do with him.

There are also concerns that this could even be a ploy to allow the MILF to negotiate peace with the government without necessarily giving tactical options utilizing the Umbra Kato’s “renegade” group.

“We remain hopeful that the MILF will be able to resolve this internal situation. And we remain hopeful that by doing so, the peace process can move forward. Everything is within the realm of hopefulness owing to the fact that we had a good goodwill meeting between Chairman Murad and the President (Aquino),” Lacierda said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110818hed3.html

Snags seen in Senate’s summons for Iggy By Angie M. Rosales, Gerry Baldo and Charlie V. Manalo 08/18/2011

Snags seen in Senate’s summons for Iggy

By Angie M. Rosales, Gerry Baldo and Charlie V. Manalo 08/18/2011

Try as it might, the Senate can hardly compel Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo, brother of former First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, to attend the Senate blue ribbon committee hearing without breaching the traditional inter-parliamentary courtesy between the two houses of Congress.
Even an invitation for the congressman to attend the hearing can be snubbed.

The Senate has tried another tack: It is now asking the congressman to submit in writing or the execution of an affidavit where Iggy will detail, under oath, his claims on his alleged involvement in the transactions of their family-owned company, LTA Inc., with businessman Archibald Po.

But even this can be ignored by the younger Arroyo.

As senators, as well as the congressmen, pressed to have the presence of Iggy, they are split on whether the Senate probers can compel Iggy to testify before the panel, should he refuse to bow to the Senate’s “jurisdiction.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110818hed1.html

DILG chief calls on local, health leaders to conduct clean-up drive 08/18/2011

DILG chief calls on local, health leaders to conduct clean-up drive

08/18/2011
In a bid to prevent the spread of dengue cases in the country, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo yesterday called on all governors, city and municipal mayors, barangay chairmen, including local health officers to conduct clean-up activities in their respective localities.

In a directive, Robredo enjoined local officials to conduct search and destroy operations of all potential breeding places of dengue-carrying mosquitoes in their areas of jurisdiction.

Local officials were also urged to enforce environmental sanitation such as dredging of clogged canals, esteros and other waterways; prune thick bushes or tree branches; remove or drain receptacles containing stagnant water; and conduct information drive on environmental control of breeding sites, especially in endemic areas.

Robredo issued the directive amid reports from the Department of Health (DoH) that dengue cases in the country, from January 1 to July 23 reached to 38,876 or 25.85% lower compared to 52,428 cases in 2010. Also, this year’s recorded number of deaths is at 226, wherein victims are mostly children..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110818nat3.html

Purchased warship from US to dock in Manila Bay on Aug. 21 By Mario J. Mallari 08/18/2011

Purchased warship from US to dock in Manila Bay on Aug. 21

By Mario J. Mallari 08/18/2011

The Philippine Navy’s first Hamilton cutter-class vessel has finally entered the country’s area of responsibility yesterday after a month-long voyage from the United States.

Navy spokesman Lt. Col. Omar Tonsay said that the Hamilton, now named BRP Gregorio del Pilar, was located 273 nautical miles east of Samar province around 1 p.m. yesterday.

Tonsay said BRP Gregorio del Pilar is expected to be anchored at the Manila Bay on Aug. 21. The ship started its voyage last July 18 from San Francisco, USA.

“It is expected to pass San Bernardino Strait off Bicol region. The ship will anchor in Manila Bay on Aug. 21 for Customs, Immigration and quarantine inspections prior to arrival and welcome ceremonies at the Manila South Harbor,” Tonsay said.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110818nat2.html

MMDA to contest TRO issued against anti-smoking campaign By Pat C. Santos 08/18/2011

MMDA to contest TRO issued against anti-smoking campaign

By Pat C. Santos 08/18/2011
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis Tolentino yesterday said they would file a motion for reconsideration before a Mandaluyong City court which earlier had issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the agency’s anti-smoking campaign.

“The TRO issued by the court is saddening because it says that we don’t have the authority (to enforce the campaign). That’s why we’ll file a motion for reconsideration,” Tolentino said.

The TRO stemmed from a complaint filed by two apprehended cigarette smokers before the sala of Mandaluyong City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 213 Judge Carlos Valenzuela questioning the agency’s authority to enforce a smoking ban along streets and sidewalks.

The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, resulting in the 20-day TRO.

Tolentino, who is a lawyer, rued the court for failing to consider their pieces of evidence on the case..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110818met3.html

Solons to DoJ, BI: Go get three foreigners who fleeced Pagcor casinos of P158 million

By Charlie Manalo and Gerry Baldo 08/18/2011
Lawmakers yesterday demanded the recapture of three foreigners behind a P158-million casino scam even as they blamed the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Bureau of Immigration (BI) for the escape of a fourth suspect.

At a joint hearing conducted by the House committees on justice and on games and amusement, lawmakers also asked officials of the two agencies to verify reports that Ben Liu, the alleged mastermind of the so-called Card Cutter Gang, died in Guandong.

Wheelchair-bound Liu has been described as a casino VIP who was later discovered to have led the gang in cheating the government’s three Metro Manila casinos of the Philippine Amusement Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) of P158 million using some hi-tech gadgets like miniature cameras and transmitters.

He, however, was able to slip out of the country on May 5, 2011 a few hours after his three cohorts were arrested by Pagcor security personnel at the Paranaque casino..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20110818met1.html

Some are smarter than others EDITORIAL 08/17/2011

Some are smarter than others

EDITORIAL

Click to enlarge

08/17/2011
In congressional hearings, allegations, and even sworn testimonies by witnesses, are more than enough for senators to proclaim whoever is the focus of the Senate panel’s investigation guilty of whatever the senators allege and many of our senators today seize on this to subject a “summoned” resource person to a trial by publicity.

Not so, in an independent court of law, even if the senators claim that a sworn testimony is enough to charge whoever is the subject, with a criminal offense.

While it is true that in this country, a mere affidavit of complaint from a complaining witness is enough for the fiscal to elevate the complaint to a court of law, which really is unfair, since more often than not, the affidavit complaint is not substantiated by evidence as yet, being merely the word of an individual, such allegations must be proved before the court hands down the verdict.

Frankly, the Senate today has focused too much on investigations that just as frankly, hardly lead to anything, much less a legislative measure..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110817com1.html

Penance for what? FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 08/17/2011

Penance for what?

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

08/17/2011
Doing penance, in the Catholic faith, is something for the sinner to do. So why should the bishops, or more specifically, Manila Archbishop Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales, order a “day of penance” in churches for the claimed “sin of sacrilege and blasphemy” involving a recent controversial art exhibit known as Kulo at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP)?

As far as the artist is concerned, he committed no sin — assuming he belongs to the Catholic faith — in either painting these and having his work exhibited at the CCP. As for many other Filipinos who don’t care one way or the other whether it is art or non-art, what do they care whether it was a sin or not? They didn’t paint the penis or Mickey Mouse or whatever else was painted over religious pictures and exhibited, and as they didn’t have a hand in these paintings, why ask them to pray to be forgiven on this “day of penance?”

The cardinal ordered that the “prayer of reparation” on the day of penance is to be recited in all Masses for a whole week, saying that “our laypeople have expressed their strong sentiments regarding this work was an affront to decent society, through protests and rallies, and even through the filing of a criminal suit. As Church, we will kneel before our loving God to pray and seek reparation for this public sin. We will do this along with this ‘prayer of reparation.’”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110817com2.html

SC decision ‘same monster as 1989, 2010 referendum’– Farmers’ group

SC decision ‘same monster as 1989, 2010 referendum’– Farmers’ group

“Hacienda Luisita farm workers cannot be fooled by the SC’s legal semantics. The SC order pretends to be democratic when, in fact, it is anti-democratic.” – Danilo Ramos, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas.
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – Reacting to a recent statement by a Supreme Court official, farmers said the high court decision issued in July provided the conditions for a rehash of “the same monstrous scheme” conducted in 1989 and in August last year.

In a report, Supreme Court administrator and spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said the high court’s July 5 ruling did not require a referendum among farm workers in the 6,453 hectare-disputed Hacienda Luisita owned by President Benigno S. Aquino III and family.

Marquez said the order allows each farm worker-beneficiary (FWB) to choose whether they wanted to own their share of the land or remain as a stockholder in Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI). “A majority vote is not required since the choice of an FWB would not affect the choice of other FWBs,” he said., adding that FWB can remain stockholders if they want to and those who want land can still get portions of land subject to the agrarian reform program of the government.

For Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), Marquez’s “clarification” does not mean anything. “Although the term referendum was not used in the SC order, it is the same monstrous scheme used in the 1989 referendum on the stock distribution option and the August 2010 referendum on the compromise agreement cooked up by the Cojuangco-Aquinos. The SC order is designed to divide, deceive, and perpetuate social injustice against the Hacienda Luisita farmworkers, and subscribes to the President’s relatives’ maneuver to evade land distribution,” KMP secretary general Danilo Ramos said.

“The Cojuangco-Aquinos are notorious for employing guns, goons, and gold inside the Hacienda just like what happened in two sham referendums in the past,” Ramos said.

In 1989, Cojuangco-Aquinos allegedly used their private army and the military to harass and intimidate the farmers into agreeing to the stock distribution option (SDO). In August 2010, the Cojuangco-Aquinos offered a deal with a section of farmers in an attempt to maintain the SDO scheme.

“Hacienda Luisita farm workers cannot be fooled by the SC’s legal semantics. The SC order pretends to be democratic when, in fact, it is anti-democratic,” Ramos said.

In its 92-page order, the court directed the DAR to “immediately schedule meetings with the farm workers and explain to them the effects, consequences and legal or practical implications of their choices.” It said the farm workers “will be asked to manifest, in secret voting, their choices in the ballot.”
“Whether through a referendum or secret voting, we still see the SC ruling as a manipulative scheme by the Cojuangcos-Aquinos to prevent genuine land distribution in Hacienda Luisita,” Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano said.
Junk SDO
Mariano reiterated the call of farmers to revoke the SDO which, he said, was conveniently used by the President’s family to evade land distribution.

Last month, the Alyansa ng mga Manggagawanag Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala) has filed their motion for reconsideration asking the high court to reverse its decision on the SDO.

The high court declared that the SDO agreement was not revoked and that it was only the Stock Distribution Plan (SDP) and Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) resolution approving it that was cancelled.

“The very reason why the farmworkers petitioned to revoke the SDO of Hacienda Luisita was the fact that instead of the envisioned better lives under the said scheme, their living conditions worsened. The farm workers were not given any dividends. They remained the minority stockholders. They have no control over the use and disposition of the assets of the corporation including the land. They have no say in the corporate business ventures. Their hours of work were dictated by the corporation. In short, they were at the mercy of HLI,” Ambala stated in their petition.

“SC Spokesperson Midas Marquez cannot make an excuse out of the fact that the SC decision perpetuated social injustice in Hacienda Luisita,” Mariano said..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/08/16/sc-decision-%E2%80%98same-monster-as-1989-2010-referendum%E2%80%99%E2%80%93-farmers%E2%80%99-group/

Proposed health budget for 2012, ‘inadequate, with wrong priorities’

Proposed health budget for 2012, ‘inadequate, with wrong priorities’

In a study of the proposed 2012 health budget conducted by the Coalition for Health Budget Increase (CHBI), it found out that the increases in the health budget only “define the Aquino Health Agenda of privatization and commercialization of public health care which will further jeopardize the health of the people.”
By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Health workers from public hospitals trooped this week to the budget hearing in Congress, holding a picket at the gates of the House of Representatives to drum up their calls for the government to reverse its “trend of abdicating on health service provision.” As a start, the health workers said, the government should increase the health budget next year to at least P90-billion ($2.09 billion).

“Health is a human right,” the members of Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD), Alliance of Health Workers, women’s group Gabriela, community organizations and other concerned health advocates who formed the Coalition for Health Budget Increase, repeatedly said in their picket in front of the House of Representatives.

For the members of the new coalition, it would not do to transform health care and services as commodities which, if you cannot pay, you cannot avail of. They argued that if the government truly recognizes health as a right, it would not allow health services to be privatized. The health groups demanded an increase in the budget for operating expenses of public hospitals and government health centers, for disease prevention and for health workers and professionals, among others.

“The country’s patients and health have been suffering a lot already, but the Aquino government is prioritizing the acquisition of battle ships and killing machines,” said Sean Vilchez, deputy secretary-general of HEAD.

Government hospitals as enterprises
In his presentation introducing the health department’s proposed budget for next year, Health Secretary Enrique T. Ona also pointed to the worsening trend in Filipinos’ total health expenditures: the large and increasing share of “out-of-pocket” spending or the spending on health care that the people themselves shelled out at the point of service. In 2007, the latest year for which the government has data, the out-of-pocket spending comprised more than half of the total, dwarfing the share of the government and social insurance.

To address this problem, the health workers in public and specialty hospitals retained by the health department have been demanding for increased budgets. These, they said, would prevent public hospitals from charging its patients especially the poor..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/08/16/sc-decision-%e2%80%98same-monster-as-1989-2010-referendum%e2%80%99%e2%80%93-farmers%e2%80%99-group/

KMP insulted by government’s measly budget for farmers: P5 support per hectare of corn

KMP insulted by government’s measly budget for farmers: P5 support per hectare of corn

 “It is the farmers, without any meaningful support from the government, who principally worked for a bountiful harvest. Even the so-called budget for irrigation cannot be claimed as government support because we’re the ones paying the exorbitant irrigation fees. Now, because the the government is giving measly funds for the national rice and corn program, we seriously doubt that high harvest yields can continue.” – KMP
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – The Department of Agrarian Reform has more funds for tarpaulin and posters, and this, farmers group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said, is downright insulting.

“The Aquino government is allotting measly appropriations for the DA’s [Department of Agrarian Reform] national rice and corn program. The DA is getting P53.7 billion ($1.248 billion) for 2012, but only P6.181 billion ($143.7 million) is being given to the national rice program. While farmers shoulder the high cost of production, the administration abandons its responsibility to subsidize rice and corn farmers across the country,” KMP secretary general Danilo Ramos said.

Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) leader Danilo Ramos said the Aquino administration cannot claim credit for the supposedly record high harvests of unmilled rice and corn in the first semester of this year. He said it was the farmers, without any meaningful support from the government, who worked for a bountiful harvest. Government is allotting only P6.181 billion for the national rice program. (Photo by Ina Alleco R. Silverio / bulatlat.com)

Ramos said of the total 2012 appropriations, only P4.533 billion (US$ 105.419 million) will go to 14 regional offices of the DA and the remaining amount will go the Office of the Secretary, the Agricultural Training Institute, Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, Bureau of Soil and Water Management, and the Bureau of Plant Industry. The P4.533 billion (US$ 105.419 million) in the meantime will be divided for the Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) with P3.31 billion (US$769.767 million) and P1.223 billion (US$ 284.418 ) for Capital Outlay (CO).

“This means that only P1.223 billion (US$ 284.418 million) was allocated for 4.35 million hectares of rice lands or a measly P281 (US$6.53) per hectare,” Ramos said. “The Aquino government is spending more for tarpaulins than for direct support to rice farmers.”

In the meantime, for the national corn program, the DA has an appropriation of P950.739 million (US$22.1 million) but only P761.46 million (US$ 17.6 million) will go to the 14 regions because the P189.279 million ( $4.4 million) will go to the aforementioned agencies of the DA. The P761.46 million ($17.6 million) will also be divided into the corn program’s MOOP748.769 million ($17.4 million) and P12.7 million (US$302,325) for CO.

“This translates to an allocation of only P5.10 (US$0.118) per hectare for the 2.49 million hectares of corn lands,” Ramos said. “Given how the oil prices, irrigation fees, and the prices other farm inputs continue to rise, the government should all the more provide for the needs of farmers and the rest of the agriculture sector. The small budget for the national rice and corn program is an insult to rice and corn farmers.”

The KMP leader also said President Aquino cannot claim credit for the supposedly record high harvests in palay (unmilled rice) and corn in the first semester of this year and attribute it to improved irrigation.
In a press briefing last Wednesday, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said palay production reached 7.57 million metric tons in the first half of the year. This was a 14.4 percent increase from 6.62 million tons in the first semester of 2010. Corn harvest hit 3.30 million tons, 37 percent more than 2.41 million tons a year ago.

The DA attributed the jump in production to the expansion of irrigated lands. It also noted that there was sufficient rainwater in the first half of the year to enable farmers in non-irrigated areas to plant rice.

“It is the farmers, without any meaningful support from the government, who principally worked for a bountiful harvest. Even the so-called budget for irrigation cannot be claimed as government support because we’re the ones paying the exorbitant irrigation fees. Now, because the the government is giving measly funds for the national rice and corn program, we seriously doubt that high harvest yields can continue,” he said.

Massive landgrabbing in Central Luzon

In a related development, the Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luson (AMGL or Peasant Alliance in Central Luzon) and its provincial chapter Amgl-Nueva Ecija announced that they will launch a comprehensive campaign of protests against land grabbing in the region.

Based on the 2010 accomplishment report of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), nearly 96,000 Nueva Ecija farmers comprised some 36 percent of the farmer-beneficiaries in Central Luzon. They cultivate more than 41 percent or 169,000-hectares of productive agricultural lands..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/08/14/kmp-insulted-by-governments-measly-budget-for-farmers-p5-support-per-hectare-of-corn/

Babies kept in Dubai jails with their OFW mothers

Babies kept in Dubai jails with their OFW mothers

 
The Philippine embassy in Dubai should coordinate with local authorities and work for the speedy release of OFW inmates and their children on humanitarian grounds.

By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — Babies are being kept in prison with their mothers in jails in Middle East, and the Philippine Embassy in Dubai should immediately go to their aid.

This was the call issued by Migrante’s chapter in the Middle East, saying that there are more or less 15 women overseas Filipino workers with their children in jail in the Muraqabat prison for women in Dubai.

Migrante-Middle East regional director John Monterona said he received information from a recently released female OFW inmate who requested anonymity that there are about 100 OFW inmates in the said jail and 15 of them have their children incarcerated with them.

“The information we just received is quite disturbing. The innocent children have been exposed to the adversities and bitter realities of prison life,” said Monterona.

Monterona’s report has been corroborated by reporter Nichola Jones of the online newsmagazine 7Days. Jones followed the lead Migrante Middle East provided and visited the Muraqabat prison. Monterona said that the 7Days reporter told him through an email that she saw little children in the jail’s courtyard.

“I assumed it was ‘family visiting day’ but when I asked the guard, she told me they live there. They don’t ever get to go out of the prison compound and receive no education,” Jones said.

In her report, Jones also said, a prison official of the Dubai Central Jail in Al Awira said that there were also another 38 young children jailed with their mothers in the prison’s women’s section.

No figures were available for police station holding cells in Port Rashid, Al Rashidiya, Al Raffa and Bur Dubai.

A report by Gulf News in May revealed that in the Al Aweer Women’s Jail, women detainees are allowed to take custody of their children under two years of age while they are serving their jail sentences. A jail official, Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, deputy chief of Dubai Police, said the Dubai Police is the first security body to allow women detainees to babysit and breastfeed without time limits.

Monterona said the children should not be in jail in the first place even though their individual mother is in prison.

He said that Migrante staff in Dubai were given legal advice which suggests children can only be kept with their mothers in jail until they finish breast feeding – a policy the central jail official said is being implemented in the female block.

“No matter what, 38 children in jail is 38 too many. Some of the women OFWs were charged of illicit affairs. Unfortunately, they became pregnant and while serving their time in jai delivered their babies,” Monterona said.

Monterona said some OFWs who were jailed claimed they were sexually abused and got pregnant. “They tried to escape their employers/abusers, but their were charged with absconding and other made-up crimes like stealing or engaging in illicit affairs,” they said.

Unmarried pregnant women breaking the law

According to human rights website on laws in Dubai, unmarried women are guilty of violating the law if and when they become pregnant. A girlfriend/boyfriend defacto relationship in Dubai is illegal.

Through the years, there have been many documented cases of unmarried mothers in Dubai ending up in jail with their babies after delivery.

After release from jail upon the completion of their sentence, they are deported..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/08/14/babies-kept-in-dubai-jails-with-their-ofw-mothers/

Respect our rights to land and life, indigenous peoples asked on World IP Day

Respect our rights to land and life, indigenous peoples asked on World IP Day

 August 9 is the international day of the world’s indigenous peoples, but the “occasion is a grim one as human rights violations and ancestral landgrabbing are rampant.” – Piya Macliing Malayao, KAMP.
By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com
Sidebar: Indigenous peoples’ groups decry use of IPRA and NCIP for development aggression
 
MANILA – “We’re not asking for money, we’re just bringing to the attention of the Aquino government our pleas—that they stop those who try to deceive us and dig up and destroy our lands. We have nowhere else to go to. Our life is tied to the land and mountains,” Lope dela Cruz, 70, a Dumagat from Tanay, Rizal, said in Filipino before members of other indigenous peoples’ group in a rally at the Mendiola Bridge last Tuesday, World’s Indigenous People’s Day.

Garbed in Dumagat attire, Mr dela Cruz had marched with fellow indigenous peoples garbed in the attire of their own tribes. Dela Cruz shared how the Dumagat in Rizal are being denied their livelihood as the mountains are “crawling with state soldiers who are barring the Dumagat from their usual farming activities there.”

“How would we survive if we could not hunt for food or do some farming in the mountains? We have no other source of livelihood,” dela Cruz said, adding that if the mountains were to be continuously denied them, they would die of hunger.

Monico Cayog, 74, regional president of Kalumaran, said Aquino’s non-reference to IPs in his SONA actually spoke a lot.(Photo by Marya Salamat / bulatlat.com)

Many of the Philippine indigenous peoples have historically lived off the country’s forests in the mountains, practicing nomadic agriculture that allows the forest to regenerate. But that practice and livelihood are now under severe threat, as leaders and representatives of various tribes recount various examples of a national phenomenon – the vicious and massive displacement of indigenous peoples everywhere to give way to giant corporations’ mining, logging and energy projects.

KAMP, the national alliance of indigenous people’s organizations in the Philippines, said, in their statement on the occasion of the international day of the world’s indigenous peoples, large-scale mining is “the largest bane to indigenous peoples.” To date, the group has tracked down nearly 600-thousand hectares of the 1.05-million hectares approved for mining as of June this year as covering ancestral territories. In the Cordilleras in the north, KAMP noted that 60-percent of the entire land area has looming mining operations.

Even the investments in the energy sector that President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III boasted about in his recent State of the Nation Address (SONA) are deemed as disastrous not only to the environment but also to the indigenous peoples, based on KAMP’s study. These energy projects include the Laiban dam in Rizal, the privatization of the Agus-Pulangi dam in Northern and Central Mindanao, and the pending coal mining operations in Surigao del Sur.

State violence vs IPs to secure foreign mining operations

To secure these large-scale mining, logging and energy projects, the government is heavily deploying military and conducting operations in its covered areas, KAMP has noted.

“Mining operations of giant companies have always been coupled with massive deployment of state soldiers,” said Johnny Sawadan, 47, spokesperson of the Cordillera People’s Alliance, in a speech before fellow indigenous peoples at a rally in Manila. Sawadan said that in their area, numerous battalions of the 501st, 502nd and 503rd Brigade of the Armed Forces of the Philippines are deployed to supposedly protect the citizens but their presence only results in rights violations of the people of Cordillera..... MORE
  
Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/08/12/respect-our-rights-to-land-and-life-indigenous-peoples-demanded-on-world-indigenous-people%e2%80%99s-day/

Nothing less than substate for peace deal, says MILF By Mario J. Mallari 08/17/2011

Nothing less than substate for peace deal, says MILF

By Mario J. Mallari 08/17/2011

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) insisted yesterday that any agreement less than its proposed Bangsamoro substate will not address the decades-long Mindanao conflict as the group indicated that the substate proposal would be the least it can offer at the bargain table in terms of autonomy when it negotiates peace with the government in Kuala Lumpur late this month.

MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal, however, maintained there is nothing definite in any negotiations just like the ongoing peace process with the government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP).

“We are not talking of non-negotiable because in any negotiation you cannot say that. What I can say is that
(Bangsamoro substate) is the least form of self-governance that can really address the problem in Mindanao,” said Iqbal..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20110817hed2.html