Senator hits Arroyo inaction on defective deal

Bishop speaks for JPEPA rejection,
Senators Madrigal, Cayetano hailed

Author on Rizal writings issues
'New Letter' to Malolos women

     Before the morning ended, Prof. Ed Aurelio C. Reyes of the International Academy of Management and Economics (IAME) was circulating signed copies of his pamphlet titled "Isang Bagong Liham sa Kababaihan ng Malolos." (click here to read full text).

Reyes said the bravery of the Women of Malolos in non-combat struggle for empowerment ought to be celebrated not only by the present-day women of Malolos, not even just by the whole population of the that town or of the entire province of Bulacan, but by the entirety of the Filipino people within and outside our homeland. He said Kamalaysayan (Kaisahan sa Kamalayan sa Kasaysayan) is planning to team up with women organizations, history-oriented groups and all other kinds of associations to prepare in the next months for an appropriate widescale commemoration this coming December 12 of the 120th anniversary of that heroic act.

Environmental groups seek to cancel
Austrian loan for buying incinerators

2000 signatories back plea 
for UN 'Day for World Unity'

 MagSanib-Lakas, Pilipinas!      Patatagin, paramihin, mahigpit na pag-ugnayin ang mga Aktibong May-taya (AkMa) sa kapakanan ng ating bansa!

Dispatch No. 7    February 18, 2008

HEADLINERS...

(click at blue dot to read story)

 7-a: People find a reluctant champion in demand for full disclosures

7-b:  Workers and poor hold "Lakbayan" against corruption and for change

7-c:  AMRSP Starts Special ‘Sanctuary’ Funds

7-d:  ‘Jamby’ junks JPEPA; History advocates warn of ‘Collaborator’ stigma

7-e:  Organic farmers' group hits CA order on aerial spray

 ....and now, the DETAILS....

People find a reluctant champion 

in demand for full disclosures 

THE CLAMOR has been for full disclosure on  all government actions and transactions, as Constitutionally mandated. But the current historic phenomenon is the breadth of outpouring of the passion for truth, with the people rediscovering their collective strength for a grand “bayanihan para sa katotohanan.” Like the sound of water about to boil, Filipinos have indeed started humming with various expressions of the unified demand for no less than the truth and for the guilty parties in the series of scandalous scams in government to be booted out of power and made to pay adequately for their crimes. The hum is expected to turn into a defeaning drone if and when the idea to call for a noise barrage, as suggested by some groups, gains support.

Gatherings at the Aquino monument at the Ayala area in Makati from late afternoon to early evening last Friday and at a mass at La Salle Greenhills in Mandaluyong City last Sunday, people came in droves. Conservative estimates place the Makati crowd at 15,000 and the Greenhills turnout at about 5,000. More mass actions are being planned, including various other forms of demonstrating popular vigilance on the issue.

Separate but parallel statements were issued by, among others, Caucus of Development NGO Networks (CODE-NGO), Simbahang Lingkod-Bayan (SLB), Makati Business Club (MBC), Consumers’ Coalition for Truthful Information (CCTI), Action for Economic Reforms (AER), University of the Philippines faculty members, Environmental and Natural Resource Advocates for GMA's Expulsion (ENRAGED), KALIKASAN-People’s Network for the Environment (K-PNE), and the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP) with its mission partners (Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Commission, Women and Gender Commission, Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, Task Force for the Orientation of Church Personnel, Task Force Urban Conscientization, Urban Missionaries of the Philippines, Mission Society of the Philippines-JP, Asian Theological Seminary Professors, Penuel School of Theology, KAALAGAD Katipunang Kristiyano). Even the CBCP leadership issued a statement, militant enough for its own standards, to call upon the people to take “communal action” against government corruption and support the current crusade for truth. "Only the truth, not lies and deceits, will set our country free. This truth challenges us now to communal action,” Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, CBCP president, said in a statement.

[These are now carried in the special “VOICES” section which is launched in this dispatch of SLiSH Network News (click here).]

These were produced and reproduced, and circulated in reams of copies, and/or sent out and relayed via e-mail and blog postings, and even passed on and on as e-mail forwards, faxes and cell phone “text” messages. The print and broadcast media were also maximized. A text-voting survey held during a television special over the weekend showed an overwhelming vote of confidence for Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada, a middle-level government functionary who witnessed talks where some of the bribe offers being clearly made in connection with the subsequently scrapped multi-million-dollar deal on the NBN-ZTE Broadband mega-project.

CODE-NGO issued its statement as early as February 8, to “thank Mr. Rodolfo (Lozada) for his courage to tell the public what he knows about the ZTE deal.”

“We are committed to support and protect Mr. Lozada and his family, who have now accepted the risks involved in further shedding light on the ZTE corruption controversy,” the organization said, adding that it condemns “the evil motives and actions of people who have been attempting to suppress the truth and warn them of the consequences of their actions.”

The SLB reiterated in its statement “what we have time and again demanded of the current government of the Republic of the Philippines: TRUTH, ACCOUNTABILITY and REFORM.” The group demanded that the Arroyo administration “ensure that the facts of all cases of corruption and anomalous dealings be brought to light, that those found and proven to be involved in such be prosecuted and punished, and that every effort shall be made to reform a system so ridden by this cancer.”

In a move that surprised many, and elicited threats of having the Bureau of Internal Revenue subject its members to harassment, the Makati Business Club called for “Accountability and the Pursuit of Truth” in a widely welcomed statement. “(Lozada) claims that his life was threatened, that he was enticed with assurances of his personal safety and promises of other considerations, and that he was abducted by persons belonging to the state security apparatus. Mr. Lozada chose to walk away from the "dark side" ”the lies and cover-up regarding the NBN project being peddled by persons connected to this Administration.”

The MBC statement continued: “If he had been a lesser person, he could have continued to acquiesce and cower in the dark. But having come into the light, he has become a credible witness to the truth. Now that he is being unjustly maligned by government officials and by senators identified with the Administration in their continuing effort to suppress the truth, we express our support for Mr. Lozada and let him know, ‘Hindi ka nag-iisa!’”

The MBC called upon “DENR Secretary Joselito Atienza and CHED (Commission on Higher Education) Chairman Romulo Neri to save themselves from further shame by resigning from their positions in government for their respective roles in the attempt to prevent Mr. Lozada from testifying on the ZTE deal at the Senate. Their protection at any cost of the interests of those in power render them unworthy of the people’s trust.”

As far as the AER group is concerned, “criminal justice will come, but now is the time to take political action.” The group said the testimony of Rodolfo Lozada, Jr., made under oath before the Senate, gives us the “moral certainty to condemn the massive corruption in the ZTE-NBN deal, with the suggestion that a similar anomaly most likely attended the South Rail project, along with other previous scandals, the ZTE-NBN is not an isolated case of unbridled corruption.”

AER marvels, “at what scale!” adding that for the ordinary Filipino families, 50% of whom earn a meager income of less than Php 300 per day, the kickback amounting to US$130 million--which Lozada said "Commission" Chairman Benjamin Abalos asked him to protect--is mind boggling. “Very revolting, too, was the abduction of Mr. Lozada abduction, upon the order of Malacañang. Here is an instance in which the Palace micromanaged, and mangled, a kidnapping to silence a whistleblower.”

Over 60 UP faculty members from the Diliman, Manila, Los Banos, Baguio, Visayas and Mindanao focused their attention on Neri, who chairs not only CHEd but also the UP Board of Regents, and demands that he resign both posts. “Malacañang did everything in its power to help both Neri and ex-NEDA consultant Engr. Rodolfo Lozada, Jr. to evade the Senate arrest warrants which were issued against them for having snubbed a scheduled Senate hearing on the tainted National Broadband Network – Zhong Xing Telecom Equipment (NBN-ZTE) deal,” the academicians recalled, in contrast to “Mrs. Macapagal-Arroyo’s ‘good boy’ Neri (who) flaunted his success at ‘hiding out’” until he secured a TRO from the Supreme Court. “Lozada, though kidnapped and intimidated, chose to follow the dictates of his own conscience and come clean on the NBN-ZTE scandal.”

The UP professors further noted: “Neri may perhaps be seen as a striking example of a cowardly bureaucrat who cannot stand up for the truth when faced with the ‘dark side of the state,’ but, in truth, he has become much more than that. He has also become both a functionary and a beneficiary of a hopelessly corrupt system. That he went to such great lengths to evade the truth in order to protect his patrons implicates him directly in the latter’s crimes. Due to Lozada's testimony, the word ‘Commission’ in ‘Commission on Higher Education’ now takes on a more insidious meaning.”

For their part, environment activists announced a “massive clean-up drive vs corruption in the Philippine government should start with the resignation of the Number One dirty politician President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her top honcho Environment Secretary Lito Atienza.”

"President Gloria Arroyo should step down from office before her administration does more damage to the people and the environment. The people cannot afford to have her as President until 2010 or beyond," ENRAGED spokesperson Ester Perez de Tagle said. "The NBN-ZTE deal is just one among the many, many corruption scandals of the Arroyo administration which should be exposed. This corrupt administration continues to sell off our natural resources to foreign interests by opening up our industries through laws such as the Mining Act of 1995 or bilateral trade agreements, such as the Japan Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA)," she stressed.

"We environmentalists urge a clean-up drive against corruption, plunder and political repression. This should start with cleaning up the Palace and throwing out its Number One polluter, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, into the trashbin of history," K-PNE national coordinator Clemente Bautista said.

A “love letter” to Lozada was written to the whistle-blower by the AMRSP and its mission partners. In their “Dear Mr. Lozada” letter, they said “What could be better news than the gospel itself! That God empowers people to uphold the truth, seek justness and offer their talents and resources to bless others, that is good news. Amidst the darkness and opportunism, social inequalities, discrimination, sectarianism, partisan politics and debilitating indifference, thank you for preaching the good news in earnest, in candor, and indeed even in wit and humor.

Having found himself at the center of a popular crusade, Lozada said after a mass held by some 4,000 at La Salle Greenhills Sunday to support him: “I was trying to save my soul, I didn’t know that it would save this country’s soul.”

Over the television program television special Harapan: The Jun Lozada Exposé, he faced a battery of government officials apparently arrayed to refute his declarations. It was then when a real-time survey was trying to ascertain his credibility among the televiewers showed overwhelming support for the whistle-blower. Answering one comment, Lozada said “I am not the one defending the truth, it is the truth that is defending me.”

This point, specifically, may be connected to “saving the country’s soul” and to the sense of what CCTI Spokesman Walter Caancan had stated in part: “Thus, CCTI urges opinion leaders to help the people attain a general fidelity to truth, a CULTURE OF TRUTH, founded on the successful rebuilding of a general disapproval of, even revulsion over, day-to-day habits of "white lies,” half-truths, and broken promises among the people's own ranks. Let's make "sa totoo lang...!" the nation's challenge to itself. In the pursuit of this challenge, we enjoin every Filipino to ostracize all liars in our midst, especially our employees in government posts! “Let us all live what…Emilio Jacinto once said: ‘sa taong may hiya, salita'y panunumpa.’ ... Seek to banish all untruths and all tendencies to countenance lies in our public, social and personal lives. Let us make all official statements, denials, claims and even promises sacred acts carrying the weight of responsibility of an oath to the Alimighty and the sanctions meted out on the crime of perjury.”  

 -- SLISH Network News

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IN RESPONSE to the expose on corruption in the GMA government and the attempt to cover-up the evidence, workers and urban poor today held a "Lakbayan Laban sa Katiwalian at Para sa Trabaho, Pabahay at Serbisyo." Several hundred participated in the "Lakbayan" that started at the boundary of Bacoor and Las Pinas, made a stopover for lunch at Baclaran and then proceeded to Makati in the afternoon.

"Jun Lozada, hindi ka nag-iisa. This Lakbayan is not just to support the fight of Jun Lozada against corruption but to advance the struggle of the workers and poor for social services and social change," explained Renato Magtubo, chairperson of Partido ng Manggagawa. He added "Noli de Castro says he supports the search for truth in the ZTE deal but the truth must also be revealed about the Northrail and Southrail contracts of which he is involved as housing czar in providing for relocation and livelihood for the urban poor displaced from the railroad tracks."

The Lakbayan participants came from Samahang Nagkakaisa ng Cavite (SANAGCA), Alyansa ng Maralita ng Bacoor (ALMABAC), Alyansa ng Mamamayan ng Paranaque (AMP), Zone One Tondo Organization (ZOTO) and Partido ng Manggagawa. "The collection of withholding taxes and VAT came up to P270 billion in 2006 or 42% of total taxes and yet the World Bank estimates that up to 40% of government funds are lost to corruption. This means that the taxes that workers and poor pay are all stolen by thieves in government," asserted Tonet Fajanilan of SANAGCA.

Contingents from the towns of Cavite arrived at the boundary of Bacoor and Las Pinas by 6am and after a short program the Lakbayan proceeded around 7 a.m. to Baclaran using the Quirino Ave. route. At Baclaran, the Cavite contigent was met by groups from Paranaque, Tondo, Caloocan and San Jose del Monte and together with Baclaran vendors partook of a "tanghalian ng tuyo't kanin."

Robert Labrador of AMP exclaimed that "The trapos are fighting over multibillion kickbacks while the people are fighting for their lives with the poor starving in their millions, their houses demolished in the name of fake progress and workers thrown out of work and their wage depressed." In the afternoon the Cavite and NCR delegations held a joint march to Makati to link up with other groups.

Maning Olbina of ZOTO appealed to the people, "Igiit ang katotohanan at ilaban natin ang ating kabuhayan at karapatan. Let us organize different forms of communal actions and protest actions in our communities, factories, offices and schools to uphold our demands against systemic corruption and for decent jobs, affordable housing, social services and social change."  

 -- SLISH Network News

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CONTRIBUTIONS for the legal defense and protection of Senate star witness Rodolfo Noel "Jun" Lozada Jr. have reached P186,253.75 in just two days, according to Sr. Estrella Castalone of the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines (AMRSP), the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported Sunday.

Castalone told PDI’s Cynthia Balana that the collection, called the AMRSP Sanctuary Fund, was presented to Lozada on Friday night but he said he did not want any of it, at least not for his personal use.

"But we are reserving it for his legal expenses. We initiated this in response to the many requests from people, in advertisements and text messages, who wanted to help Lozada," Castalone said.

Castalone said the money generated from this fund-raising activity will also be used to help other witnesses on corrupt government transactions.

"It's not just for Jun Lozada but he will be the first beneficiary," she said. She said the fund was an extension of the Church's sanctuary program which offers shelter and assistance with health services for those whose lives are under threat.

She said that a similar fund drive, called "Piso Para Kay Lozada," was earlier initiated by a concerned citizens movement and that the proceeds from that drive have been turned over to the AMRSP Sanctuary Fund.

Castalone said that with the "horror and extent of corruption in government," the fund-raising campaign could last a long time.

She said the idea to raise funds for Lozada's legal expenses came from Sen. Francis Pangilinan who suggested it during one of the Senate hearings. Pangilinan noted that Lozada would be powerless to defend himself once his testimony at the Senate was over.

Pangilinan said the Senate could not simply drop Lozada and his family and leave them to fend for themselves once the Senate hearings are over. "We have a moral obligation to secure support for his security even after the hearings have been concluded," he said.

"After all, he would not have been placed in such a situation had it not been for the warrant of arrest that compelled him to testify before the Senate," he said.

Pangilinan said the government's Witness Protection Program has its problems since it is being administered by the Department of Justice, whose head, the justice secretary, is the alter ego of the President.

"How can a witness who has identified the First Gentleman as being involved in the transaction be secured in a program administered by the alter ego of the President?" he said.

Pangilinan has filed Senate Bill 2081 which seeks to remove from the DOJ the authority and jurisdiction over witnesses testifying in legislative hearings. He wants the responsibility placed with the Senate or House of Representatives.

Donations to the AMRSP Sanctuary Fund may be sent to the AMRSP Secretariat, 28 Acacia St. New Manila, Quezon City, telephone numbers 7244434 and 4485644, or deposited directly to MBTC Account No. 3259-07445-3, under the account name AMRSP Special Funds (Sanctuary Fund).  

 -- SLISH Network News

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SENATOR M. A. Madrigal called the Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) “a treaty that will give undue favor to foreign nationals at the expense of the Filipino people” and therefore it “does not merit senate ratification.”

In a message written for last Friday’s session of Kamayan para sa Kalikasan about the end-game moves of pro-JPEPA senators to breeze through a vote to ratify JPEPA, Senator “Jamby,” as she is more known, brought up three issues that "stand out against the JPEPA: legal, economic and environmental." She declared: “I shall not acquiesce to a treaty that undermines the sovereignty of the republic, sponsors the plunder of foreign and local exploiters, and the abuse and destruction of the environment.” (click here for full text of message)

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, in a text message sent to one of the moderators before the forum started, also raised three areas of concern: toxic wastes, the treatment of Filipino nurses in Japan, and the matter of allowing Japanese fishing boats in Philippine inland waters.

Meanwhile, a 17-year-old organization advocating a keen sense of history among Filipinos, especially the decision-makers and opinion leaders, warned that the senators who would vote for JPEPA’s ratification will carry the stigma that was suffered by “collaborators” with the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in the early 1940s, and might even have to pass such a stain of disgrace on to their innocent descendants.

Kamalaysayan, which started as a campaign network for history consciousness in 1991 and was most active in commemorating the revolutionary centennials of that decade, said all senators should be made to explain their vote and this would show how they took into serious consideration, if at all, the arguments of Mangkaisa-Junk-JPEPA and other oppositors of the agreement saying the document grossly favors the side of Japan and would seriously compromise the health, safety, welfare and sovereignty of the present and future generations of the Filipinos.

In its statement (click here for the full text) signed by its lead founder and spokesperson, Ed Aurelio C. Reyes, which was e-mailed to each senator before it was released to the media and the public, Kamalaysayan further told the senators:

“Ratification of JPEPA will be a treasonous surrender of our beloved Inang Bayan to near-total Japanese economic and political control. The commitment to ignore or amend our Constitution and other laws just to conform to JPEPA is actually provided for in the proposed treaty itself: it permanently circumscribes the police powers of the state to enforce existing laws, and it limits the power of our legislature, now and forever, to enact new ones about our food security, about our environmental resources conservation and utilization in our own country; about investment, operation, management, and even ownership, of businesses within our own territory.

“A mere side agreement between incumbent executives of the two countries (even if both of such incumbencies were sustainable or even clearly legitimate) cannot be validly invoked to countermand the provisions of a treaty, once ratified. Not even an official ruling of our Supreme Court can do that, much less any wishful personal interpretations of any Philippine lawmaker of whatever academic credentials.

“And the Philippines can expect to be subsequently be pressured by other economic powers, who would be seeking equal treatment. They would demand to be granted the same lopsided arrangement. Therefore the consequences of JPEPA’s ratification would surely stretch well beyond the next few generations. Lawmakers should never allow themselves to be myopic or blind. Senators who are secretly wearing the “bayong” symbol of collaboration with Japan would better punch eyeholes large enough so as not to impair their historical perspective.” Many of the senators would readily acknowledge to be defective, to say the least, but would vote to ratify anyway, and seek to make adjustments and corrections later, assuming they still can.  .

 -- SLISH Network News

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A GROUP promoting organic farming and sustainable agriculture has criticized the Court of Appeals for issuing a writ of preliminary injunction against a Davao City ordinance banning aerial spraying, according to a MindaNews report from Kidapawan dated February 8.

Aerial spraying, said the Magsasaka at Siyentipiko para sa Pag-unlad ng Agrikultura (MASIPAG), is an attack against farmers' rights to practice sustainable agriculture. The Jan. 28 order of the court's Branch 22 based in Cagayan de Oro City immediately suspended the effect of the ordinance passed by Davao 's Sangguniang Panlungsod last year. 

Associate justices Mario Lopez, Romulo Borja, and Elihu Ybanez signed the order. The writ came after the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the court on aerial spraying has expired. "Many of our organic farmers have been complaining over the contamination of their farms and surroundings by poisonous mists coming from the aerial spraying," Diego dela Cruz, chair of MASIPAG's regional project management team, said in a statement.

MASIPAG is a network of more than 400 organizations -- including farmers', scientists' and non-government organizations -- promoting sustainable agriculture and organic farming all over the country.

The group said a number of their farmers in Davao del Norte, Compostela Valley , Davao del Sur and Davao City have been affected by aerial spraying.  MASIPAG asked the CA to lift the writ and "let the Davao City local government protect its people."

The group also urged the CA to "take side with the poor and not the rich banana growers who profit at our expense."  Dela Cruz stressed that aerial spraying is actually an attack against small farmers who want to have healthy lives by growing chemical-free crops because they do not have money to spend for medicines.

"We can no longer drink the waters from the spring. Our vegetables, especially the leafy ones, cannot be eaten anymore by our families and animals," lamented Ma. Consolacion Baylosis, chair of the Nagkahiusang Kababaehan ug Kalalakin-an nga Mag-uuma sa Kauswagan (United Women and Men Farmers in Kauswagan, or NAKASAKA) in Panabo, Davao del Norte.

Her organic farm was reportedly among those contaminated by aerial spraying, with airplanes dropping chemicals in a plantation near her farm several times a week.  "We want to produce and eat food free from poison even if we are poor. This is our way of asserting our right to health," she said. (MindaNews)

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Dispatch No. 6    February 10, 2008

HEADLINERS...

(click at blue dot to read story)

 6-a:  JPEPA economic invasion: People to see Patriots & Collaborators in Senate soon

6-b:  Consumers; watchdog for Truth supports media people's plaint

6-c:  'Governance by Arrogance' scored by analyst group

6-d:  Resource mapping urged for mining-affected areas

6-e:  Global Warming threatens world's farming, food supplies

A COALITION of organizations and individuals opposing the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), said that the treaty symbolizes the “second invasion” of the country by Japan, and that senators may choose to be patriots or collaborators in this invasion when they vote on the controversial agreement. “This invasion could prove to be even more destructive on the economy and people’s livelihood than the Japanese assault during World War II,” No Deal! spokesperson Arnold Padilla said, in a February 8 press statement carried by the IBON e-mail list serve .

“So we ask our senators, will they collaborate with the aggressors and participate in the rape of our economic sovereignty and patrimony? Or will they choose to be patriots and fight till the end to defend the national interest?”

The anti-JPEPA coalition noted that the treaty is part of Japan’s grand design to establish a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement in East Asia (CEPEA). Japan’s motives in the JPEPA are still essentially the same with its agenda when it invaded countries, including the Philippines, more than six decades ago. Before, they wanted to set up the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere, said the group.

More recently, the National Economic Protectionism Association (NEPA) took to task pro-JPEPA columnist Alex Magno for calling the environmentalist oppositors of JPEPA “economic morons.”  NEPA spokesman Dr. Ernesto R. Gonzales, himself a noted economist and a staunch environmentalist, said in a statement uploaded yesterday to the 73-year-old organization’s website (full text in http://nepa1934.8m.net/statements.htm):

“As an economist, I am amazed to note that he is not even aware that the projected impact on Gross Domestic Product of JPEPA is only a fraction of one percent (Medalla, E.2006,  Philippine Institute for Development Studies).  Who is the real moron?  The anti-JPEPA environmentalist who refuses to accept a fraction of one percent cannot be called a moron because he knows his economics.  But Mr. Magno is willing to accept it to counterbalance its threat to the sanctity of our country’s ecology and economic patrimony and he still had the guts to point a finger that the other sensible guy is an economic moron.” 

Traitors and Collaborators

No Deal! warned senators that history has not been kind to traitors and collaborators. It cited Jose P. Laurel, who chose to collaborate with the Japanese during World War II, and is known in history as the puppet president of Japan. On the other hand, Jose Abad Santos is regarded in history as a true patriot for choosing to be executed by the Japanese imperial army instead of pledging allegiance to the invaders. “We celebrate and build monuments for our heroes and only have scorn for traitors,” Padilla said.

Senate insiders told No Deal! that the committee report on the JPEPA, prepared by the committees on foreign relations and the trade and commerce, is “almost done” and might be circulated next week. Senator Miriam Santiago, chair of the foreign relations committee, is expected to endorse the report and call for the ratification of the treaty.

“We have been holding bilateral talks with senators through various channels to convince them to say ‘no deal’ to the JPEPA. Our latest count is that five to six senators will likely vote against the treaty,” said Padilla. They include Senators Jamby Madrigal, Nene Pimentel, Manny Villar, Pia Cayetano, Noynoy Aquino, and Chiz Escudero. “We will closely monitor the senators’ position and public statements regarding the deal, as well as report the results of our dialogue with them to the public so that the people will know who will betray the country and who will defend it,” he added.

‘Irresponsible Statement’

Dr. Gonzales, who took his post-doctoral studies as a fellow of the London School of Economics and headed the economic section of the National Research Council of the Philippines, pointed out what he said was Mr. Magno’s worse assertion:

“What is even worse is his contention that the international agreements on the flow of toxic substances are already an assurance that there will be no culprits in the process.  Before making a responsible statement affecting the economic life of the country, he should check his data.  Go over the files of the Senatorial Inquiry last November 2006 about this issue on toxic waste.  The DENR representative who was present in the meeting accepted that TCE 113, the computer hardware descaler and deflusher have continuously entered the country.  One of the reasons is that we do not have yet the facilities and capabilities to identify this highly toxic substance which is considered to be phased out already by 1996.  Sen. Mar Roxas, in front of his audience, had publicly acknowledge together with Sens. Jamby Madrigal and Pia Cayetano, that they should look into this matter.  Have they done this very important commitment? Only God knows where their heart is."  

 -- SLISH Network News

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THE CONSUMERS’ Coalition for Truthful Information (CCTI) has thrown its support behind the media organizations’ protest on the Arroyo administration’s harassment of reporters during and after the Manila Peninsula incident in Makati City late last year.

In a statement issued by Walter C. Caancan, CCTI national spokesman, the five-year old watchdog organization expressed concern “that amid many politically-exciting subsequent events the citizenry, and even many media people themselves, would let their guard down on the continuing, even escalating, threats to the freedom of the press and the people’s Constitutionally-guaranteed to be accurately and adequately informed about all matters of public concern (like how the people’s money is routinely treated and haggled about, or what kind of treaties the government is secretly negotiating in their name, etc. etc.).”

Because of these events CCTI has observed that “public interest about the harassment of mediapersons … has gradually waned.”

SLiSH Network News was furnished a copy of the February 9 statement, which reminded the public of what its Basic Declaration (“Quest for a Culture of Truth”) issued on its founding in October 2003 stated:

“It is universally held in democratic societies that sovereignty resides in the people and all governmental authority emanates from them. Adequate accurate information should therefore flow between the people and the government, among groupings of people and among individual citizens, in order to forge and certify the people’s sovereign democratic will on general and specific policy matters and in order to make possible their mobilization and synergy.  The Culture of Truth is a crucial requisite in democratic governance, in the sustainable preservation of law and order, and even in living collectively with a modicum of human decency, human dignity and human harmony.”

That Declaration also quoted a section of the Constitution:  “The right of the people to information on matters of public concern shall be recognized” (Section 7, Art. III of Bill of Rights). 

The rest of the CCTI statement follows:

“We therefore reiterate our condemnation in strongest terms of the illegal detention and overall harassment of journalists during the incident at the Manila Peninsula Hotel on November 29, 2008. While we closely monitor media’s performance with regards to their duty to keep the public informed with accurate and timely news, and be the very first to remind and censure them, too, if this basic duty is being not met adequately due to any form of self-censorship, we support and stand by them when their right to cover important events are trampled and suppressed, or even just curtailed in any way by the state, without a formal and valid declaration of a state of emergency or martial law! 

“The warrantless arrest and handcuffing of reporters came as a big surprise indeed since this administration has consistently claimed to be stably in control and has even belittled the Manila Peninsula incident to be a minor nuisance. Then why the apparent panic and paranoia?

“Every Filipino has the right to know historical events as they unfold and the media are the ones that can best deliver this service. This basic right is threatened under an administration whose knee-jerk reaction to dissent is the urge to suppress it.

We truly salute and thank the press people for their conviction, courage and vigilance, although risky, in assuring the public’s right to know the truth and nothing but the truth as timely and accurately as possible. Meanwhile, every Filipino must be equally vigilant and keep a watchful eye on this alarming and dangerous trend against what has remained of our freedoms.”  

 -- SLISH Network News

for more information on CCTI please see http://consumers4truth.4t.com

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NEXT TO the Marcos dictatorship, the Arroyo presidency will likely go down in history as the government most vilified apparently due to its use of coercion and intimidation to silence its critics and its presumed enemies. This is the analysis put forward last February 8 by the University of the Philippines-based Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) through Bobby Tuazon, its director for policy study, publication and advocacy. Following, in full, is CenPEG’s analysis:

The Arroyo administration’s eighth year in power began in January with a threat against reporters that they will be haled to jail if they covered so-called "destabilizers" and also a bigger threat on cause-oriented organizations against holding rallies to commemorate Edsa Dos.

On Feb. 4, Jose de Venecia, Jr., a staunch Arroyo ally, was unceremoniously unseated as House speaker in a coup plotted by the president's husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, her two congressmen-sons, and a business crony. De Venecia's ouster – where government funds were reportedly used to marshal the yes votes - was described as a family vendetta over De Venecia's refusal to stop his son, Joey III, from testifying in the Senate about the $330-million telecommunications project scam.

The son's testimony on the tainted project implicated the president's husband, former Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos, and some generals in the Arroyo Cabinet. In a privilege speech on the night of the coup, De Venecia lambasted the chief executive for failing to stop assassination attempts by her own men against himself and his son.

De Venecia, 71, who had served as Speaker for five terms beginning 1992 in the 9th Congress, was instrumental in throwing out three impeachment complaints filed against Arroyo in connection with the fraudulent 2004 presidential elections and other constitutional violations. Like a true praetorian guard, he thus saved the president – who was once his vice-presidential mate in 1998 - from certain imprisonment. Now stripped of power and betrayed by Arroyo along with 56 members of his own Lakas-CMD, which he leads as party president, the ousted Speaker has promised to tell all of what he knows about the president and hinted he may likely join the opposition.

Lozada

Then on Feb. 5, Rodolfo Noel Lozada, Jr., a key witness in the controversial national broadband network (NBN) telecommunications deal, went missing after arriving at the international airport from Hong Kong. Quick intercession by his family, senators, and religious groups coupled with media vigilance probably saved his life. In an early dawn news conference Feb. 7, the young Lozada anguished over death threats he said he received from Abalos for refusing to endorse the shady deal on account of the former Comelec chief's demand for a $130 million commission. He withdrew from the project deliberations as a consultant and has also resigned as president of the state-owned Philippine Forest Corporation. Lozada, who had a brother killed by the police for "mistaken identity," said he was just a professional doing his job and wanted no part in the scam. The deal has since been scrapped by Arroyo.

Arroyo's claims of giving the country an unprecedented economic growth have failed to lower the president's rating as the most corrupt in decades, with a culture of cronyism that equals the Marcos years, and a record of extra-judicial killings that has raised alarm in the international community.

Continuing to hound Arroyo are allegations of illegitimacy as a result of which it suffers a lack of trust and credibility among the people. In response to impeachment complaints and incessant calls for her resignation, the president, in an arrogant display of power, has resorted to gangland-style coercion, authoritarian measures, and military repression including threats of arrest and, as condemned by human rights groups, the summary execution and abduction of her most effective critics from the Left.

Under Arroyo, rule of law and due process are followed in the breach. Complaints against the president in the House are shot down through a tyranny of numbers and bribery while in the Senate investigations of the wrongdoings of the president, her family, and cronies are stymied by executive orders preventing Cabinet officials and generals from cooperating. Ever protective of their commander-in-chief, military authorities defy judicial authority on cases of missing persons, despite a long-delayed legal intervention by the Supreme Court.

Arroyo has thus tainted the office of the presidency and the electoral process, violated the independence of Congress, deepened the people's lack of trust in the justice system, and made the AFP her own private army.

Patronage

Patronage, maintained through the control and disbursement of pork barrel, preferential treatment in multi-million projects, as well as high salaries, promotions, and other perks has also helped ensure Arroyo's stay in power. Bribery knows no bounds so that even key members of the Catholic hierarchy have been effectively "neutralized" from criticizing the president.

The last time the people saw the scourge of conjugal dictatorship was during the Marcos years. Today the Arroyo family is not only the fastest-growing ruling dynasty in the country but it is also embroiled in monumental cases of corruption and abuse of political power. The last of such cases is of course the NBN scam where the fixation to defend dynastic interests comes first even at the expense of long-time allies and presidential appointees, like Lozada.

The unseating of De Venecia and the abduction of Lozada has stirred calls anew for the president to quit – or at least to take a leave of absence - to give investigators of alleged presidential wrongdoings a free hand. For such a clamor to prosper, the people may have to transcend the reign of fear that has been sown under seven years of the Arroyo presidency and save the country from further harm.

The CenPEG Board of Directors is composed of Dr. Bienvenido Lumbera, Prof. Luis Trodoro, Prof. Ben Lim, Dr. Temario Rivera, Dr. Eleanor Jara, Bishop Gabriel Garol, Prof. Melanie Abad, Atty. Cleto Villacorta, Evita Jimenez, Dr. Emmanuel Luna, and Dr. Edgardo Clemente.  

 -- SLISH Network News

for more information on CenPEG, call TelFax 02 9299526; mobile phone: 0915-6418055
E-mail: cenpeg.info@gmail.com; info@cenpeg.org; its website: http://www.cenpeg.org

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FILI A Strategic Resource Mapping Project aimed to assist communities affected by expanding mining interests in protecting important natural resources that support life and  livelihoods. This has been announced to be sponsored by the Working Group on Mining in the Philippines (WGMP) chaired by British member of Parliament, the Honorable Clare Short MP, , according to the groups’ coordinator in Manila.

The In a recent e-mailcast, Lodel Magbanua relayed the information from London-based WGMP coordinator Frank Nally, SSC, this project was initiated in response to requests by an ever growing number of Philippine communities affected by an overwhelming flood of exploration and mining applications in recent years in part due to increasing global demand for minerals. The initiative is a follow-through of requests made during a UK Fact Finding Mission on Mining in the Philippines in July/August 2006. The subsequent Report, is Mining in the Philippines: Concerns and Conflicts, published in January 2007.

The Strategic Resource Mapping Project entails a field trip to Mindoro, Midsalip, Libay in Sibutad, Tampakan, Macambol and a meeting wtih the Sibuyan representatives, planned on February 11-28. The trip will involve visiting areas where forests, agricultural, fishing and tribal communities are being affected by exploration and mining activities. They will meet with local experts, government officials, mining companies and especially those concerned for their livelihoods and food security in fragile biodiverse environments.

The group has scheduled a public forum in the afternoon of February 26 at the University Hotel, University of the Philippines campus in Diliman, Quezon City. 

The specialists for the field trip are Mr. Clive Wicks, one of Fact Finding Team members, environmental consultant to the FFT and a co author the report, Mining in the Philippines. He is Vice-chair of CEESP, the IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy.  He was head of the WWF UK International Programme covering Africa, Asia/Pacific and Latin America for 13 years. He supervised the WWF Publication “To Dig or not to Dig” which set out criteria for mining in areas of high biodiversity. He is based in the UK .

The other specialist is Dr. Robert Goodland, formerly senior environmental adviser of the World Bank, and author of many publications including the World Bank’s paper on SEAs. He was also the technical director, under H.E. Emil Salim, of the independent Extractive Industry Review ( EIR ) on mining (2004). Dr Goodland is based in the USA .

 -- SLISH Network News

for more information

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CLIMATE CHANGE may be global in its sweep, but not all of the globe's citizens will share equally in its woes. And nowhere is that truth more evident, or more worrisome, than in it's projected effects on agriculture, Rick Weiss reported in The Washington Post last December, as relayed to SLiSH Network News more recently by SEARCA Biotecnology Information Center.. Several recent analyses have concluded that the higher temperatures expected in coming years-along with seepage into groundwater as sea levels rise and anticipated increases in flooding and droughts, will disproportionately affect agriculture in the planet's lower latitudes, where most of the world's poor live.

India, on track to be the world's most populous country, could experience a 40-percent decline in agricultural productivity by the 2080s as record heat waves bake its wheat-growing region, placing hundreds of millions of people at the brink of chronic hunger.

Africa -where four out of five people make their living directly from the land-could experience agricultural downturns of 30 percent, forcing farmers to abandon traditional crops in favor of more heat-resistant and flood-tolerant ones, such as rice. Worse, some African countries, including Senegal and war-torn Sudan , are on track to suffer what amounts to complete agricultural collapse, with productivity declines of more than 50 percent.

Even the emerging agricultural powerhouse of Latin America is poised to suffer reductions of 20 percent or more, which could return thriving exporters such as Brazil to the subsistence-oriented nations they were a few decades ago.

And those estimates do not count the effects of new plant pests and diseases, which are widely expected to come with climate change and could cancel out the positive "fertilizing" effects that higher carbon dioxide levels may offer some plants.

Scenarios like these-and the recognition that even less-affected countries such as the United States will experience significant regional shifts in growing seasons, forcing new and sometimes disruptive changes in crop choices-are providing the impetus for a new "green revolution." It is aimed not simply in boosting production, as the first revolution did with fertilizers, but also at creating crops that can handle the heat, suck up the salt, not desiccate in a drought and even grow swimmingly while submerged.

The work involves conventional breeding of new varieties, as well as genetic engineering to transfer specific traits from more resilient species. As part of those efforts, scientist are busily preserving seeds from thousands of varieties of the 150 crops that make up most of the world's agricultural diversity, as well as wild relatives of those crops that may harbor useful but still unidentified genes.

"For agriculture to adapt, crops must adapt" said Ren Wang, director of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, a network for agricultural research centers. "It's important that we have a wide pool of genetic diversity from which to develop crops with these unique traits."

At the same time, scientist are finding that agricultural and related land issues, which today account for about one-third of all greenhouse gases emitted by human activities, can be conducted in much more climate-friendly ways.

But time is of the essence if a worldwide crisis in food security is to be avoided, said William Cline, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development and the Peterson Institute for International Economics, which are Washington-based nonpartisan economic think tanks.

"You'll have a tripling of world food demand by 2085 because of higher population and bigger economies, and I would not be surprised to see as much as one-third of today's agricultural land devoted to plants for ethanol," Cline said.

" So it's going to be a tight race between food supply and demand."

The work of developing adaptive plants has begun to pay off. Researchers have discovered ancient varieties of Persian grasses, for example, that have a remarkable tolerance for saltwater. The scientists are breeding the grasses with commercial varieties of wheat and have found they are growing well in Australia 's increasingly salty soils.

Other research is building on the recent discovery of a gene that helps plants survive prolonged periods underwater.

Even rice, which grows in wet paddies, will die if it is fully submerged for more than three or four days, said Robert Zeigler, director general of the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. But recent tests on farms in Bangladesh show that a new line of rice containing the flood-resistance gene can live underwater for two weeks.

That's going to be important, Zeigler said, because 70 percent of the world's poor live in Asia -most of them in South Asia -where rice is the staple. Yet 50 million acres of that region are already subject to seasonal flooding that can temporarily submerged plants under 10 to 12 feet of water. The problem is predicted to worsen as climate change brings more intense rainfall there.

"Crops grow in weather not in climate," Zeigler said, meaning they must be able to survive not only anticipated average rises in temperature but also the day-to-day extremes that come with climate change.

Corn is another staple that is getting gussied up to party with the hardy-in this case, in preparation for dry spells which are predicted to increase in Latin America and other corn-growing regions, with a potential 20-percent drop in production over the next 25 years.

Recent tests in South Africa showed that drought-resistant maize plants, created by breeding, produced 30 percent to 50 percent more corn than traditional varieties under arid conditions. But the real test, scientist say, will be to splice in potent drought-resistance genes from plants such as sorghum and millet, which are famously productive even in parched, Sub-Saharan Africa. That assumes consumers and regulators will accept such engineered crops, which have been shunned in many countries because of economic and environmental concerns.

To the extent that plants cannot adapt to change, farmers will have to. In Uganda , where coffee is an important cash crop but where temperature increases expected to devastate the plants, researchers are hoping that by planting shade trees, growers can preserve the industry while perhaps even increasing biodiversity.

In other parts of Africa , farmers are being taught to add fruit trees to their subsistence farms. The trees can survive droughts and water logging better than crops planted annually, and so can serve as an economic bridge across hard times.

Farmers in developed countries must also prepare, experts say.

A recent study by researchers at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico concluded that wheat growers in North America will have to give up some of their southernmost fields in the next few decades. But they will be able to farm a full 10 degrees north of their current limit, which extends from Ketchikan, Alaska, to Cape Harrison, Labrador.

That means amber waves of grain will be growing less than two degrees south of the Arctic Circle, and Siberia will become a major notch in the wheat belt.

By changing their practices and not just their crops farmers can also temper the buildup of greenhouse gases. New technologies that measure soil nutrient levels are allowing farmers to add only as much fertilizer as needed-important because the excess nitrogen in those chemicals gets converted in the soil into nitrous oxide, which has 300 times the greenhouse activity of carbon dioxide.

Studies also show that by plowing or tilling less frequently-planting seeds in stubble of a previous crop, for example-farmers can significantly reduce evaporation in dry areas and cut the amount of carbon dioxide released from the soil (and from the exhaust of their tractors, if they have them).
Crops grown this way also trap carbon more effectively, becoming part of the solution instead of adding to the problem.

For the truly pessimistic, there is always the "doomsday vault," a seed bank being constructed in Norwegian mountainside that nations around the world are stocking with every kind of seed imaginable.

After all, you never know what kind of plant is going to save humanity if the climate makes an unexpected turn, said Cary Fowler, executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, which is leading the effort and who has boasted that the vault will be protected in part by the region's polar bears.

That is assuming, of course, that rising temperatures or the newly arrived wheat farmers will not have driven   

 -- SLISH Network News

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 MagSanib-Lakas, Pilipinas!      Patatagin, paramihin, mahigpit na pag-ugnayin ang mga Aktibong May-taya (AkMa) sa kapakanan ng ating bansa!

Dispatch No. 5    February 3, 2008

HEADLINERS...

(click at blue dot to read story)

 5-a:  People know gov’t has been inutile on serious water pollution;

            Citizens’ network asks it to enforce laws on waste management

5-b:  Green Convergence issues ‘current equivalent’ of CBCP’s ’88

            Letter on Ecology; SALIKA prays for prelates’ enlightenment

5-c:  Journalists seek court protection;

            Consumer group expresses support

5-d:  JPEPA bad for Filipinos, Japanese pastor warns;

              Sens. Villar, Aquino join Sen. Madrigal for a ‘No!’

5-e:  Green group slams 'guns for hire' by mining firms

5-f:   BT cotton causes allergy in India, remedies sought

FILIPINOS BELIEVE that water pollution is a serious threat but pertinent laws rarely enforced. This was revealed to the public recently by Greenpeace on the basis of a nationwide opinion poll the active environment conservation organization that commissioned the study. Also recently, the Eco-Waste Coalition, a waste and pollution watchdog group, sounded the warning bell against unchecked violations and pointed out that its poor enforcement is not only a national embarrassment but a serious threat to public health and the climate. That a citizens’ organization had to beg government to enforce some of the laws of the land that are more broadly-consequential to the welfare of the citizenry corroborates the views of the respondents of the survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS) during the last quarter of 2007.

The poll results, presented by Greenpeace in a press conference in Quezon City. SLISH Network News received an emailed copy of the Greenpeace press release.

“The poll should jolt the government into taking more aggressive action to combat the growing threats to the country's water resources and to the environment in general,” said Greenpeace Southeast Asia Toxics Campaigner Beau Baconguis. “The fact that majority of Filipinos nationwide perceive the government to be almost inutile in protecting their health and the environment, is a stinging indictment of the government's overall performance in this department. Only eight percent of Filipinos think that environment laws are almost always enforced. That's a pathetic statistic for a government trying hard to project itself as pro-environment," she said. 

Results of the poll reveal that 72% of Filipinos believe that the dangers of water pollution to human health, as well as to the environment, are serious, with half of the total respondents saying it is 'very serious,' and 22% saying it is 'somewhat serious.'

Meanwhile 69% of Filipinos nationwide think environmental laws are, at best, only occasionally enforced: 29% said these laws were only 'occasionally enforced,' while a plurality of 40% said the laws were 'rarely enforced.'

Greenpeace said Filipinos should abandon the dangerous misconception that pollution is an unavoidable consequence of economic development, warning that this notion is itself responsible for the grave environmental threats now confronting the nation, and which have begun to seriously undermine the people's aspirations for health, clean livelihoods and lasting economic progress.

The SWS poll asked respondents their opinion on the statement "pollution is an acceptable trade-off for economic development." Only 42% disagree with the statement. Thirty-six percent of those asked agree (36%), while 20% are undecided.

"We cannot as a nation believe that pollution is an acceptable trade-off for economic development and expect progress that is just and lasting," said Baconguis. "Profiting from environmental destruction is the wrong path to development. The government must be the first to prevent such a thing from happening, beginning with the effective enforcement of environmental laws."
Greenpeace believes this is also a challenge for the newly-established environmental courts. The speedy resolution of cases of environmental abuse and destruction will be one indication that the government is serious about protecting the environment.

As the country’s waste law entered its eighth year last week, Eco-Waste Coalition sounded the warning bell against unchecked violations, saying in a statement said that Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed into law on 26 January 2001 few days after she assumed the presidency, has “dismally failed” in resolving the garbage crisis.

The Coalition cited the prevalence of littering, open dumping, open burning, mixed waste disposal, the proliferation of non-environmentally acceptable packaging materials and other acts prohibited under the law as visible evidence to the failure of the multi-agency National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC) to curb wasting and promote ecological solutions to the waste crisis.

“R.A. 9003 visibly suffers from the same lethargic implementation that we see in other poorly enforced environmental laws,” said Rei Panaligan, the Coalition’s coordinator, adding that the Commission, now headed by Environment Secretary Lito Atienza, has dismally failed in its duty and has to “wake up from a deep slumber and get the law working for the people and the environment.”
The citizens’ watchdog further stated: “We urge the NSWMC and all local government units and sectors of society to pursue ecological solutions to the waste crisis and progress towards Zero Waste to rid our communities of stinking dumps and bring in green jobs and livelihood opportunities from clean recycling for our people, especially the waste pickers."

Figures obtained from the Commission’s website show that over a thousand dumpsites continue to operate in the country despite the explicit ban on dumping. The data, the Coalition clarifies, do not include “guerilla” dumps often seen in street corners and vacant lots. As for the required barangay-based Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs) or Ecology Centers, government statistics show that only 1,714 MRFs serving 1,921 barangays of the country’s 41,994 barangays have been set up to date.

The EcoWaste Coalition warned that dumping, illegal and punishable under the law, presents grave threats to the health of residents and to the air, water and food supply as dumps yield toxic garbage juices called leachate and discharge huge quantities of methane gas and other pollutants that contribute to global warming and ill health.

The group lamented that some of these dirty disposal facilities are located near or within water systems, watersheds, and protected areas such as those in Pier 18 in Tondo, Manila; Payatas, Quezon City; Tanza, Navotas City; and in Rodriguez, Rizal. They also criticized the siting of new dumps in environmentally-critical areas such as those being constructed or proposed in Norzagaray, Bulacan; Ternate, Cavite; and Alburquerque, Bohol.
“We decry the Commissions’ promotion of so-called sanitary landfills, which are justifiably unwanted by communities, as solutions to the garbage disposal crisis,” complained Romy Hidalgo, coordinator of the EcoWaste Coalition’s Task Force on Dumps/Landfills, adding that until now sustained steps to promote and implement waste prevention, reduction, segregation at source, reuse, recycling and composting are disappointingly lacking.
The SWS survey was conducted from November 30 to December 3, 2007 using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults divided into random samples of 300 each in Metro Manila, the balance of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao (sampling error margins of ±3% for national percentages and ±6% for area percentages). The area estimates were weighted by the National Statistics Office medium-population projections for 2007 to obtain the national estimates.

The survey questions discussed above were commissioned by Greenpeace Southeast Asia. Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organization that acts to change attitudes and behavior, to protect and conserve the environment, and to promote peace.

At EcoWaste Coalition’s recent assessment and planning meeting held on 23-24 January 2008 in Antipolo City, the Steering Committee resolved to strengthen its campaign for Zero Waste to clean the environment and prevent climate change, including the closure of dumps and the pursuit of pollution-reducing solutions such as eco-friendly lifestyle changes, sustainable consumption and clean production.

 -- SLISH Network News

for more information on the survey, contact Ms. Baconguis via

      beau.baconguis@greenpeace.org or Lea Guerrero at 4347034 loc. 121 or 0917 871 5257

for more information on the EcoWaste Coalition appeal, contact Mr. Panaligan at (02) 9290376

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IT WAS prepared and issued to mark the 20th anniversary of the landmark pastoral letter of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on the Ecology, titled, “What is Happening to Our Beautiful Land?” It was even similarly titled. As it turns out, the  the statement issued by the Green Convergence for Safe Food, Healthy Environment and Sustainable Economy has become to current historical equivalent of the prelates’ 1988 original.  (Click .here. for full text.)

Disappointment among environmental groups has been observed over the CBCP’s complete silence on environmental concerns in its new Pastoral Letter issued on January 27, 2008 the, even as a mere concretization of the lack of concern over matters that it does mention, like the “patent subordination of the common good to private good” that one can patently see in all environmentally-destructive undertakings.

George Dadivas, the spokesman of SALIKA (Sanib-lakas ng Inang Kalikasan), for example wrote in the letters section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, praying for the bishops’ enlightenment. This represented the view of leaders and members of many environment groups aside from SALIKA.

One even told SLiSH Network News, “Congratulations to George Dadivas for writing and getting this beautiful and timely prayer published as a gentle nudge to the CBCP.  I hope the bishops will be stricken by divine light and finally put out their much-awaited pastoral letter on ecology.”

In its statement, released by its overall coordinator Dr. Angelina P. Galang of Miriam College, QC, the Green Convergence said it is now sounding a “clarion call for action on the deepening environmental and humanitarian crisis that our nation and the world face today.”  The statement further said “At present, poverty remains high as the economic disparity is accompanied by polluted air, unproductive land, and lack of safe drinking water. Our forest, river, coastal and marine ecosystems have been severely degraded and with them the nourishment and livelihood that they yield.  The World Bank Study Philippine Environment Monitor 2004 reported that the Philippines loses some $2 billion annually due to environmental degradation — excluding  social cost and diminished quality of life.”

The landmark declaration discussed worsening environmental destruction and further threats under four headings: Mining; GMOs (or Genetically Modified Organisms); Waste and Pollution; and JPEPA (Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement).

“At present, poverty remains high as the economic disparity is accompanied by polluted air, unproductive land, and lack of safe drinking water,” Green Convergence lamented, adding that: “Our forest, river, coastal and marine ecosystems have been severely degraded and with them the nourishment and livelihood that they yield.”

It also made a dire prediction that directly relates to the much-worsened global blight that is an unprecedented rate of planetary warming. “Today our planet grapples with the reality of global warming and its attendant phenomenon, climate change.  Although it is a planetary problem, we too suffer and will suffer from the effects of global warming. It is predicted that all 16 regions of the Philippines and its 20 provinces and more than 700 municipalities will be affected by the thermal expansion of the oceans and the melting of ice in the Arctic and the Antartic.”

The statement ends with a solemn but sharp challenge: “Let us return to our role as keepers of God’s garden, the garden that can yield the needs of all but is being wrecked by human ignorance, self-centeredness, greed, and arrogance. God has blessed us with the bounty of His creation; let us embrace our responsibility as stewards of that creation, for our own sake and of generations to come.”   

In his “prayer for the bishops’ enlightenment,” Dadivas wrote:

“Warm greetings of green peace! We had hoped that our Catholic bishops would realize and consider the importance and priority of our environment in their recent conference. Still we pray:

“Almighty God, we the humble stewards of Your creation seek Your divine guidance and help for the eternal protection and conservation of our country’s environment and natural resources.

“Send us the Holy Spirit that we may be blessed with spiritual wisdom in taking great care of our natural wealth which You have lovingly provided us since the beginning of time, in this beautiful, coveted land.

“We beseech Your special blessing to enlighten our beloved bishops. Please touch them to give more concern over the Filipino people’s just desires and urgent needs for safe food, healthy environment and a sustainable economic development.

“We pray to You, Great Father in the name of your dear Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.”

-- SLISH Network News

Click .here. for full text of Green Convergence statement.

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A MEMBER of the National Christian Churches of Japan (NCCJ), Rev. Isamo  Koshiishi, warned that the Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) now undergoing Senate processing for a ratification, is actually bad for Filipinos. He described as “kitani, kitanai and kiken (hard, dirty and dangerous).”the kinds of jobs offered by Japan to Filipino workers in exchange for major fishing rights and trade concessions under JPEPA. This developed as two senators, Senate President Manuel Villar and Sen. Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III, have reportedy declared that they would vote against the proposed treaty that Malacanang has already approved jointly with its counterpart in Tokyo. The first senator to make such a declaration was Sen. Ma. Consuelo ‘Jamby’ Madrigal.

The People's Journal Tonight reported last Saturday, February 2, that  environmental groups welcomed the position of Senate President Manny Villar to reject the controversial Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) over the inclusion of toxic wastes in the mega-treaty.

SLiSH Network News also learned from Senate insiders that Sen. Aquino, a Liberal Party (LP) member, will not follow the lead of LP President Manuel ‘Mar’ Roxas, who recently made pro-JPEPA pronouncements, saying that “while the Philippines would have little or no gain in ratifying JPEPA, the country would be left behind  if it won’t approve the agreement.”

“We are heartened by Sen. Villar's public commitment that he won't vote for the ratification of the JPEPA because of its toxic waste trade provisions.  He is right in pointing out that there is no reason at all for these objectionable conditions to be in the treaty, if indeed Japan does not intend to dump their waste on us and the country won't allow their importation, as both the Japanese and Philippine governments  claim,” said Marie Marciano, President of the Mother Earth Foundation, a member-organization of the Magkaisa Junk JPEPA Coalition. “The spectre of becoming the ‘toxic waste bin’ of Asia should be enough to wake up all right-minded senators from the stupor induced by the ‘let's not miss the boat’ song.  If they would only do their homework and take a real look at this boat, they will without a doubt realize that it's headed towards an environmental and economic nightmare for the country and our people,” Marciano emphasized.

Rev. Koshiishi said that there was no reason for Filipinos to be happy about the job prospects offered by JPEPA, describing it as a “kind of slavery.”

Koshiishi, who was one of 10 Japanese pastors who attended a five-day bilateral conference with the activist National Council of Churches of the Philippines (NCCP) in Davao City. He and other conference participants have been lending their voices to the church-led campaign to stop the Senate from ratifying the JPEPA.

Facing the press at the end of the conference, Koshiishi and Fr. John  Yuji Kanzaki, chair of the NCCJ Philippine committee, said they were worried that JPEPA -- already ratified by the Japanese parliament -- “might take away what little is left for small fisherfolk and farmers to live on.”

After a visit to banana plantations in Compostela Valley province and tuna packing plants and fishing villages in General Santos City and Sarangani, the Japanese pastors said they agreed with their Philippine colleagues that JPEPA was one-sided.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has urged the Senate to ratify the trade pact, which she said will facilitate and promote the free flow of goods, persons, services and capital between the Philippines and Japan by reducing or eliminating tariffs on almost all industrial goods. A provision which would allow Filipino nurses and caregivers to work in Japan was another benefit trumpeted by government negotiators. The Japanese pastor also said allowing Japanese big business to enter Philippine fishing and packing, for instance, may wipe out the livelihood of small Filipino fishermen.

For instance, in General Santos City, fishermen may still be using “hardliners,” a primitive way of fishing, but which still is a “sufficient way for them to survive,” Koshiishi said. “Once the Japanese vessels start coming in with their very big nets, the [Filipino] fishermen may no longer be able to lay their hands on the fish, they will have to buy the fish in cans.”

“It’s a kind of joke but it’s not a joke,” he said. “It’s a very serious story. I don’t know exactly what will happen after the agreement comes  but I know the story of other countries in the South Pacific.”

Other leaders of the environment groups also expressed their respective responses.

“Sen. Villar once said that ‘the Senate’s vote on the treaty will be based on the larger national interest.’ With the failure of the pro-JPEPA lobbyists to defend the benefits of JPEPA to our economy, environment and people, we expect Sen. Villar to keep his word and lead the Senate in upholding the national interest by junking JPEPA,” said Manny Calonzo, Secretary, EcoWaste Coalition.

On the issue of side agreement on toxic waste trade, Beau Baconguis, Toxics campaigner of Greenpeace Southeast Asia, commented that “any side agreement on toxic waste trade will not work because neither Japan nor the Philippines has ratified the Basel Ban Amendment,” which prohibits the export of toxic wastes for disposal or recycling from rich to poor countries. “We urge the Senate to work for and prioritize the ratification of the Basel Ban amendment as this will give our country added protection from the trade in toxic wastes disguised as recyclables that is currently allowed in the Basel Convention on hazardous wastes and in Republic Act 6969,” Baconguis stated. R.A. 6969 prohibits the entry, even in  transit, of hazardous and nuclear wastes and their disposal into the Philippines.

The Basel Action Network, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives and the EcoWaste Coalition, in a briefing paper given to Senators, warned that JPEPA establishes a robust incentive for waste merchants with the elimination of tariffs on a long list of toxic wastes, including globally controlled and banned substances.

-- SLISH Network News

   at the February 1% cessaon (No. 216) of the monthly Kamayan para sa Kalikasan <'p>

   forum, 10:30am-2pm at Kamayan-EDSA, Mandaluyong City (See ITAKDA! calendar)

[For essential info on JPEPA, please open the Magkaisa-Junk JPEPA blogspot by clicking  here .]

To view earlier SLiSH news item on JPEPA, please click .here.back to top4/a>.