Approved 2012 budget skewed vs peoples’ needs

Approved 2012 budget skewed vs peoples’ needs

Meager spending for social services show that the 2012 budget is anti-people and far from being a ‘reform budget’.” – Vencer Crisostomo, national chairman of Anakbayan.
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL

Bulatlat.com
Sidebar: Filipinos get P1.25 for health, P6.55 for education per day
MANILA – Regina Decangchon, 18, failed to enroll for the second semester in the University of the Philippines-Manila because of previous unpaid tuition. Sadly, she may no longer go back to studying. “My parents can no longer afford to send me to school,” Decangchon told Bulatlat.com.

There are more than 8,000 out-of-school youths like Decangchon who expressed fears that more and more students will be forced to abandon their studies due to high tuition. “State universities and colleges are increasing tuition fees to survive because the government is continually reducing the budget for social services like education.”

On Nov. 29, Decangchon and other students, teachers, health workers and health professionals, migrants and women linked up to show their rage at the swiftly approved 2012 national budget. Calling the said budget as “anti-people,” peoples’ organizations under Kilos na Laban sa Budget Cut and Coalition for Health Budget Increase marched from España avenue to Chino Roces Bridge (former Mendiola Bridge) carrying banners condemning the “anti-people national budget.”

“It is sad that teachers and students have to take a leave from work and be absent from their classes; that they have to march under the scorching sun all because the President is not listening to the call of the Filipino people,” said Prof. Ferdinand Bondami of Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP).

On Nov. 22, the Philippine Senate approved the P1.816 trillion ($41 billion) proposed national budget for next year. It was greeted by “Days of Rage” protest actions held Nov. 24 to 25 reportedly to show disgust over the railroading of 2012 budget in the Senate.

But a week later, on Nov. 29, the national budget for 2012 was ratified by the Bicameral Committee. It is now expected to be signed two weeks later, or by Dec. 15, by President Benigno S. Aquino III. If that happens, it would be just the second time in 11 years that the succeeding year’s national budget was approved before the current year ended.

In the approved 2012 budget, P30 million ($687 thousand) was heaped additionally to the budget of the Department of National Defense (DND), as payment for a property of the Philippine Navy in Puerto Princesa and another P25 million ($572,715) for reconstructing and renovating the General Headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and buildings of the Philippine Military Academy..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/12/02/approved-2012-budget-skewed-vs-peoples%E2%80%99-needs/

Iran shoots down US drone – state TV

Iran shoots down US drone – state TV

Iran's military says it has shot down a US reconnaissance drone aircraft in eastern Iran, Reuters news agency reports, citing state television.

­"Iran's military has shot down an intruding RQ-170 American drone in eastern Iran," an unnamed source has reportedly told Iran's Arabic-language television network. 

According to Press TV reports, Iranian authorities managed to seize the unmanned aircraft upon being downed, which they claim received "minimum damage.".... MORE
Source:  RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/iran-us-drone-shot-001/

Google, Facebook, Twitter worried over ‘rogue websites’ bill

Google, Facebook, Twitter worried over ‘rogue websites’ bill

 The giants of the digital economy, among them Google, Facebook and Twitter, have voiced their concerns over a proposed US anti-piracy bill. Rights groups are also worried as the law could limit free speech gagging sites like WikiLeaks.

Web companies have written a letter to the US government showing their opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), saying that it poses risks to the internet.

"Unfortunately, the bills as drafted would expose law-abiding US internet and technology companies to new uncertain liabilities, private rights of action, and technology mandates that would require monitoring of websites," they wrote in a letter to the House of Representatives and Senate Judiciary committee..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/google-facebook-anti-piracy-507/

Occupational hazard: Brutal arrests in Re-Occupy Portland

Occupational hazard: Brutal arrests in Re-Occupy Portland

 At least one protester has been injured as riot police were clearing an OWS encampment in a downtown Portland park area in Oregon, USA, on Saturday night. The teenager was hit in the face with a police baton. Several others were arrested.

­Police say officers began detaining demonstrators at South Park blocks around 8:30pm after the park was closed 30 minutes early, AP reports.

Protesters are posting photographic evidence of police brutality during their raids. One of them shows 15-year-old Walker Prettyman, who was injured during the Occupy Portland protest in Shemanski Park. According to the young man, a police officer hit him in the face with his baton..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/occupy-portland-arrests-park-985/

Latin America unites in new bloc, US not invited

 Latin America unites in new bloc, US not invited

Thirty-three Latin American leaders have come together and formed a new regional bloc, pledging closer economic and political ties. The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) pointedly excludes the US and Canada.

­On the second day of a summit in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, all Latin American leaders, both right and left, officially signed into effect the formation of the CELAC bloc. The foundation of the bloc has been praised as the realization of the two-centuries-old idea of Latin American “independence” envisioned by Simon Bolivar.

Analysts view CELAC as an alternative to the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS) and as an attempt by Latin American countries to reduce US influence in the region..... MORE

Source: RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/latin-america-celac-bloc-975/

PAL lied BLURBAL THRUSTS Louie Logarta 12/04/2011

PAL lied

BLURBAL THRUSTS

Louie Logarta

12/04/2011
A Philippine Airlines (PAL) Boeing 747-400 jetliner carrying hundreds of balikbayans who were coming home to spend the Christmas holidays with their loved ones almost figured in a horrendous fiery accident with an Australian Qantas Airbus some two weeks ago at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

The PR 103 bound for Manila was reportedly taxiing and about to access the airport’s main runway when the Qantas jet suddenly appeared in front of it, probably executing a landing, thus forcing the pilot to slam on the airbrakes which caused six of its tires to blow out simultaneously.

Fortunately, none of the 385 passengers was seriously injured..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20111204com4.html

Palace to oppose Arroyo plea for gadgets at VMMC By Danessa O. Rivera and Gina Peralta-Elorde 12/04/2011

Palace to oppose Arroyo plea for gadgets at VMMC

By Danessa O. Rivera and Gina Peralta-Elorde 12/04/2011

The Palace will oppose the appeal of former President Arroyo’s camp to bring in communications gadgets at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) suite where she will be transferred anytime next week under a hospital arrest, as presidential deputy spokesman Abigail Valte said detention prisoners are curtailed of rights in having such “amenities.”

“This is an ordinary procedure on a prisoner, when you’re arrested and placed in jail, these devices are not allowed,” Valte insisted.

“Whether she is a detention prisoner or a convict serving time, these are not allowed in detention facilities,” she added..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20111204hed3.html

HLI to seek SC clarification on Luisita distribution 12/04/2011

HLI to seek SC clarification on Luisita distribution

12/04/2011
Owners of the disputed Hacienda Luisita sugar plantation in Tarlac province will raise before the Supreme Court (SC) next week two concerns related to the high tribunal’s unanimous November 22 decision for the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to distribute the huge sugar estate to 6,296 qualified farm worker-beneficiaries (FWBs).

The owners will seek SC’s clarification on the date when valuation for the land will be reckoned, Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) spokesman Tony Ligon yesterday told a forum in Quezon City.

“We’ll also request clarification on the number of FWBs who’ll be covered by the land distribution,” he added..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20111204hed4.html

SC absolves GMA in torture, abduction of activist 12/04/2011

SC absolves GMA in torture, abduction of activist

12/04/2011
The Supreme Court (SC) has cleared former President Arroyo in the disappearance and torture harges of an activist two years ago.

In a full court resolution by Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, the SC upheld with modification the decision of the Court of Appeals (CA) on the alleged torture of Noriel Rodriguez, a member of a farmers’ organization and the youth group Anakbayan, in 2009.

“Rodriguez failed to prove through substantial evidence that former President Arroyo was responsible or accountable for the violation of his rights to life, liberty and property,” the high court stressed..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20111204hed6.html

S. Korean dogfighting racket busted in RP 12/04/2011

S. Korean dogfighting racket busted in RP

12/04/2011
Police have arrested six South Koreans suspected of running a massive, high-tech dogfighting operation where matches in the Philippines were shown online to overseas bettors, police said yesterday.

About 240 pitbulls were confiscated in the raid late Friday from a secluded compound where the dogs were kept and the matches held, the local police intelligence chief said.

“They had an arena enclosed with mirrors. They had videocams, computers and they would show live fights of the pitbulls and it could be seen on their Web site in Korea,” chief Insp. Romeo Valero said..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20111204nat1.html

Deles: Civil society group supports AFPs Bayanihan strategy 12/04/2011

Deles: Civil society group supports AFPs Bayanihan strategy

12/04/2011
The Internal Peace and Security Plan (IPSP), the military’s newest counter-insurgency strategy of winning the peace sans bullets, has been given a big boost with the support of civil society led by the Bantay Bayanihan group.

“Bantay Bayanihan is an affirmation that we are crafting a peace shared by all,” said Presidential adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos-Deles in a speech read for her by Undersecretary Gettie Sandoval at the launching of the project at Richmonde Hotel in Ortigas Center, Pasig City early this week.

Deles said Bantay Bayanihan is aimed at institutionalizing the participation of civil society and relevant agencies in the implementation of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ IPSP, otherwise known as “Oplan Bayanihan.”.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20111204nat4.html

SSC sports exec wants Lim, some Lions banned By Arman Carandang 12/04/2011

FRIDAY FRACAS AFTERMATH

SSC sports exec wants Lim, some Lions banned

By Arman Carandang 12/04/2011

San Sebastian College yesterday pleaded to have San Beda coach Frankie Lim and some of his players involved in last Friday’s melee banned from playing in the next basketball season of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

SSC athletic moderator Frank Gusi issued the statement in the aftermath of the latest fracas to hit the country’s oldest collegiate athletic meet in years.

“We will recommend (the banning) to the (policy) board,” said Gusi in a message to The Tribune yesterday..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/sports/20111204spo1.html

BI tells foreign athletes, entertainers: Better secure special work permits, or else By Conrado Ching 12/04/2011

BI tells foreign athletes, entertainers: Better secure special work permits, or else

By Conrado Ching 12/04/2011

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) yesterday warned professional foreign athletes and entertainers that they have to secure a special work permit (SWP) from the bureau before they could play or perform in the Philippines, or they will be sanctioned for violating the country’s immigration laws.

Immigration Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. reminded the professional foreign athletes and entertainers that they cannot engage in gainful activity in the country unless they obtain a work permit from the BI as required by the agency’s rules and regulations.

David said the BI has been enforcing the SWP requirement on foreign athletes and entertainers since 1999 when the bureau launched a crackdown on imports playing in the Philippine Basketball Association..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20111204met2.html

MMDA opens more Xmas lanes for motorists 12/04/2011

MMDA opens more Xmas lanes for motorists

12/04/2011
In anticipation of heavy traffic along major thoroughfares of Metro Manila as the Christmas season nears, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) yesterday said it is opening more Christmas lanes for motorists.

“It is a part of an improved traffic plan for the holidays, but give us 10 more days because we are still in the process of clearing the roads of obstructions,” MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino said, adding the agency has yet to identify the alternate routes that would be opened.

The Christmas lanes, also known as Mabuhay lanes, were introduced by the MMDA last year in line with its continuous efforts to decongest Edsa, particularly during the Christmas season when traffic is usually heavy..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/metro/20111204met4.html

Labor, business back measures vs. high electricity rates

Labor, business back measures vs. high electricity rates
Small Filipino businessmen reportedly concede that it is not wage which is eating up a huge chunk of their profits, but energy costs.

By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Labor and business found an issue to agree on when they discussed last Monday the high electricity rates in the country and how it burdens both sectors. In a forum held at the University of the Philippines–Diliman, leaders from labor and business groups called on the government of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III to immediately take action to reduce electricity rates in the country.

Participants to the forum dubbed as “Highest Power Rates in Asia: A Labor-Business Consultation on Electricity,” urged Aquino to reject petitions for rate hikes, stop hearings for such petitions, terminate onerous contracts with independent power producers, and investigate the PSALM Corporation and Napocor to determine the government’s true financial obligations.

(Photo by Pia Arellano / bulatlat.com)

Members of labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) and its federations, the Independent Philippine Petroleum Companies Association (IPPCA), Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FFCCII) and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), stood united and with blown-up images of electric currents they took swipes at the “Highest Electricity Rates in Asia.”

“High electricity rates are a huge burden to Filipino workers already suffering from meager wages and the increasing prices of basic goods and services,” said Roger Soluta, KMU secretary general. The labor center has twice rallied in front of the head office of Manila Electric Company (Meralco) last month to protest the latest price hikes it had imposed.

Price hikes in utilities reportedly dig deep into the pockets of the Filipino working class, considering that their wages have not improved much over the past decade. In fact, in a research with the title “Prices and Earnings” released last August 2011 by UBS (formerly Union Bank of Switzerland), where they compared price levels, wage levels and purchasing power in 72 cities, they found out that Manila ranks second lowest in price levels, second lowest in wage levels, and third lowest in purchasing power..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/12/02/labor-business-back-measures-vs-high-electricity-rates%E2%80%A8/

Luisita farm workers hold assembly, call for immediate land distribution

Luisita farm workers hold assembly, call for immediate land distribution
 
“Somehow, we see justice for our martyrs who struggled hard for this day to come.” – Lito Bais, Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura

By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com
HACIENDA LUISITA, Tarlac – “This is an early Christmas gift from the Lord,” Mila Gonzales, 58, said, referring to the Supreme Court decision ordering the land distribution of Hacienda Luisita. “We can now afford to buy a carabao to be used for farming. Now, we can eat regularly,” she said.

Gonzales is one of the hundreds of farm workers who trooped to the nipa hut at the 11th street in Balete village, past lunch of Nov. 29. All smiles, members of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala) listened intently to their leaders and representatives of the Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (Uma) and the Sentro para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (Sentra).

The Ambala’s general assembly was held a few days after the high court, voting 14-0, ordered the distribution of 4,916 hectares of land, owned by the family of President Benigno S. Aquino III, to the original 4,296 original farmworker beneficiaries (FWBs).

“When we heard the news, many shed tears of joy. We won the first round of the battle but there is still a long way to go,” Lito Bais, Uma chairman, told Bulatlat.com in an interview shortly after the assembly. “What we want is genuine agrarian reform.”

“If only the Cojuangco-Aquinos returned our land to us much earlier, we would not have suffered so much,” Gonzales said. Her six children finished only Grade 6. “How could I send them to high school with a meager P9.50 ($0.22) salary per week? I could not even finish my laundry with that amount.”

The P9.50 ($0.22) was the payment received by farm workers before they staged a strike in November 2006. Under the stock distribution option (SDO) scheme implemented in the hacienda, farm workers were entitled to only one day of work per week at the sugar plantation.

Now, like the rest of the farm workers, Gonzales is dreaming of a better life ahead.

Genuine agrarian reform

The farm workers are preparing for their next move. First, Bais said they will assert zero compensation for the Cojuangco-Aquinos.

Bais said the Cojuangco-Aquinos have long benefited from the land. “This is where their wealth came from. This has also been the source of their political power. The land is ours, they just took it from us,” Bais said.
Reacting to the SC decision, Aquino was quoted as saying, “Let us not forget that under existing agrarian reform policies, we are pushing for two objectives: first is the empowerment of the farmers, and then enough capital should be left such that there is also just compensation for the landowners.”.... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/11/30/luisita-farm-workers-hold-assembly-call-for-immediate-land-distribution/

US sabotaging UN climate talks in South Africa – environmental groups

US sabotaging UN climate talks in South Africa – environmental groups

“In Durban, it’s time for governments to listen to the people, not the polluting corporations.” – Greenpeace
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Bulatlat.com

MANILA — Filipino climate activists are pushing for a binding climate agreement, but at the same time insist that the United States is also sabotaging the ongoing climate talks.

As the Conference of Parties (COP) 17 to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) continues in Durban, South Africa to discuss and find solutions to global warming, Filipino climate activists from the Philippines warn of unpleasant results from the climate conference. The Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment and the International League of Peoples Struggle (ILPS) said that even before of the start of the COP 17, top polluting countries signified their unwillingness to cut their carbon emissions.

The UN gathering brings together representatives of the world’s governments, international organizations and civil society organizations. Discussions are focused on developments in the implementation of the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol, as well as the Bali Action Plan, agreed at COP 13 in 2007, and the Cancun Agreements, reached at COP 16 last December.

Kalikasan, however, pointed out that the United States, Japan, Canada and the European Union already positioned themselves that there would be no climate agreement, which will bind them to significantly reduce their carbon emissions, in Durban.

“In the first day of the COP last November 28, US climate envoy and lead negotiator Todd Stern reiterated this position when he indicated that there will likely be no binding climate agreement in force before 2020,” said Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of Kalikasan-PNE.

Bautista explained that the US continues to be the world’s “number one carbon polluter,” and that it continues to refuse to commit to the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol is the only international agreement that commits countries to reduce their carbon emissions. It targets to reduce global carbon emissions by 5.2 percent from 1990 levels by 2012..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/12/01/us-sabotaging-un-climate-talks-in-south-africa-%E2%80%93-environmental-groups/

Egypt: Between Sharia law and anarchy (w/ Video)

Egypt: Between Sharia law and anarchy

Egyptian officials say voter turnout for the opening round of parliamentary elections has been the highest-ever in the country "since the pharaohs". Exit polls suggest that the Muslim Brotherhood have secured some 40-45 per cent of the votes.

Voter turnout was 62 per cent as announced by the head of the election committee. The announcement follows a two-day delay in publishing the outcome and the result still failed to paint a full picture, with the vast majority of candidates now set to contest a run-off.

Abdel-Mooaez Ibrahim did not announce the full results but welcomed the turnout as “the highest since the time of pharaohs.” More than 8 million voters of some 14 million have cast their ballots in the first round of parliamentary elections..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/egypt-vote-results-islamists-835/

Stallman: Facebook IS Mass Surveillance (w/ Video)

Stallman: Facebook IS Mass Surveillance (w/Video)


The father of free software philosophy spoke to RT on evil developers, spying social networks, the almost-legitimacy of Anonymous hacks and the condition under which he would take a proprietary program and a million dollars.

Stallman is the man behind the concept that every computer program must be free for users to study and modify as they want. This is the only way to ensure that by using the software users do not compromise their human rights, he says.

“Free software literally gives you freedom in the area of computing. It means that you can control your computing. It means that the users individually and collectively have control over their computing. And in particular it means they can protect themselves from the malicious features that are likely to be in proprietary software,” he told RT.


Source:  RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/news/richard-stallman-free-software-875/

Senate approves indefinite detention and torture of Americans

Senate approves indefinite detention and torture of Americans

The terrifying legislation that allows for Americans to be arrested, detained indefinitely, tortured and interrogated — without charge or trial — passed through the Senate on Thursday with an overwhelming support from 93 percent of lawmakers.

Only seven members of the US Senate voted against the National Defense Authorization Act on Thursday, despite urging from the ACLU and concerned citizens across the country that the affects of the legislation would be detrimental to the civil rights and liberties of everyone in America. Under the bill, Americans can be held by the US military for terrorism-related charges and detained without trial indefinitely.

Additionally, another amendment within the text of the legislation reapproved waterboarding and other “advanced interrogation techniques” that are currently outlawed..... MORE

Source:  RT.com

URL: http://rt.com/usa/news/detention-legislation-torture-senate-891/