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THE FIRST ARCHIVES WEBPAGE OF
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Earlier Dispatches are Presented in the Reverse-Chronological Order (click at blue dot link to choose)
HEADLINERS... (click at blue dot to read story)
ASSERTING
the mining firm's decision to go under 'voluntary administration' to
be just a euphemism for declaration of bankruptcy, Bishop Arturo
Bastes of Sorsogon issued a statement last week saying urging
Malacañang
to immediately stop the operations of Lafayertte on Rapu-Rapu island
off t "The Lafayette mine is more than a financial mess," Bishop Bastes said, obviously referring to the Australian firm's current US$268-million indebtedness to a bank group composed of to ABN AMro Bank NV, Australia and New Zealan Banking Group Limited, Investec Bank (Mauritius) Limited, and Standard Chartered Bank Korea Limited. "It is an environmental and social failure. How many of us forewarned the (Arroyo) Administration and the DENR that the project is not socially, technically, environmentally and financially feasible but, still, they allowed it to proceed. Should they not be held accountable along with Lafayette to rehabilitate the island and compensate the local residents for the damages done by the mine? They also must ensure that enough rehabilitation funds are available for the affected people in the Island." Bastes further said: " With regard to the long-term environmental risks, beyond the spills, DENR also agreed with our Commission that: “Two major issues concerning the implementation of the Project remained pending: the integrity of the tailings dam structure and the Acid Mine Drainage, or AMD , problem.” And DENR explicitly said: “On the acid mine drainage, or AMD , problem, Lafayette still has to submit a viable solution. In fact, an important ECC (environment clearance) conditionality for the project is the adequacy and effectiveness of its strategy to control AMD .” In short, our Commission’s findings on Lafayette ’s serious violations of environmental and legal safety standards for responsible mining were not negated by the DENR Review. "The government through the DENR should really just have followed the rule of law rather than the culture of privilege and impunity. In accordance with the spirit and letter of the law, DENR should just have cancelled the Environment Clearance Certificate (ECC) of a recidivist firm, and if allowed to re-apply, let it undertake the drawing up of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and propose an Environmental Management System ( EMS ), precisely as the law requires, and then let an awakened citizenry watch a reformed D ENR do its job. That is what our Commission logically recommended which the DENR so illogically ignored – even as we argued from and agreed on the same major and minor premises. "In addition, we said we were frankly quite dubious about the honesty and financial integrity of the mining firm. The Commission found strong indications to believe that the firm underreported its production of ores and of processed gold and silver to the MGB or Mines and Geosciences Bureau thereby reducing the basis, and ultimately, the value of the excise tax they would have to pay the government. The details are in our formal report. "Lafayette wanted to have DENR hostage in their threat that if their mining permit or ECC were cancelled, they’d just walk away and leave DENR with the mine tailings and the pollution and the crisis. And DENR was just too weak to defend the environment and people’s health and welfare. It surrendered, in the name of attracting more investments – of the credit card variety. This is the type that brags, “Have permit and there will be banks to give you a credit line.” During the term of Secretary Reyes, the state was clearly captive. He could not withhold the mining permit that Lafayette did not deserve, and which clearly constituted a continuing threat to both local people’s health and livelihood and the small island’s fragile ecosystem." The bishop recalled that the people were joined by Albay Governor Joey Salceda in asking a new DENR, if “new” it can be called since Reyes is no longer there, and Atienza has taken his place, to finally stop the mining operation of Lafayette Mining Corp. in Rapu-Rapu following the firm's move to go under voluntary administration – a euphemism for declaration of bankruptcy. DENR should immediately suspend the permits to mine, mill and transport chemicals granted to Lafayette . The firm’s financial distress is absolute proof of bad management and could sacrifice or compromise environmental standards.
He asked in his statement: "We and the Albay Governor are asking:
who will maintain the mines tailing pond once the mining firm seizes
to operate? Who will pay the people of Rapu-Rapu the P16 million
arrears in social development programs? "
-- SLISH Network News [The office of Bishop Bastes may be reached via tel. no. (056) 421-5825/211-4878.] back to top.
FORMER SEN. Wigberto Tañada,
convenor of the Fair Trade Alliance, and prominent lawyer Tanya Lat,
one of the leaders of the Junk-JPEPA coalition of civil society
organizations, politely Tañada was quoted by GMA News saying what the Filipinos wanted “is a win-win situation," and not a tablo-talo or tie-lose scenario, which Roxas said would be the likely effect of nodding to JPEPA. Tañada observed that after being critical of government inadequacy in explaining the supposed merits of the draft treaty during Senate hearings Roxas had been presiding as chairman of the trade committee, he (Roxas) has recently veered sharply towards supporting the draft for Senate ratification, 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.
From the Georgetown University in Washigton D.C. where she is a
fellow in international economic law, Atty. Lat wrote Roxas a
letter saying "It
distresses me to hear that you are now
Lat reminded Roxas: "You may recall that back in November-December 2006, together with other environmentalists, I testified before your committee that the JPEPA posed very real dangers of facilitating the importation of toxic and other wastes from Japan and making the Philippines a dumping ground for Japan's waste. The government panel has been attempting to discredit us on this point, saying that our concerns are alarmist, even imaginary." She further said that "During these past few months at Georgetown University, (she has) been privileged to learn international trade law at the feet of eminent trade experts, led by no less than Prof. John Jackson. I wrote a paper entitled "Testing the Limits of GATT Art. XX(b): Toxic Waste Trade, Japan's Economic Partnership Agreements, and the WTO" which (she) submitted for Prof. Jackson's seminar in Law and Policy of International Economic Relations. "The paper - which expounds on the earlier arguments that we made before the Philippine Tariff Commission and later the Philippine Senate – generated a lot of interest and thought on the part of Prof. Jackson and his colleagues Prof. Jane Bradley (deputy director of the Georgetown Institute for International Economic Law and nominee to the WTO Appellate Body) and Prof. Christopher Parlin (partner at Miller & Chevalier, a Washington, D.C. law firm that has litigated trade law cases at the WTO for US industries and foreign governments). Prof. Jackson, Prof. Bradley, and Prof. Parlin – who gave me an A on that paper - all agreed that the concerns that we had initially raised on the toxic waste issue were right on target and very real." She sent Roxas a copy of that paper along with the letter. Meanwhile, the Task Force Food Sovereignty (TFFS), a national coalition of farmer federations, rural development NGOs, women, urban poor and labor groups advocating food sovereignty through reforms in the country’s trade and agriculture policies, also took exception to Roxas' position and laid down areas of serious concern about JPEPA, particularly the poor Filipino farmers a fishers, who comprise the bulk of our agriculture producers. Apealing to the senators to "to heed the call of the people, particularly those have been unduly disadvantaged by our external trade policies and our continued kowtowing to foreign interests. Besides the impact on rural livelihoods, small and medium-sized enterprises and the environment. The five areas of concern are the following: 1. The miniscule market access gained in agriculture, if any, is found in the high value export crop sector which is dominated by large firms affiliated to Japanese multinationals such as those in banana, pineapple, mango, asparagus, etc. This means drawing away limited government support in agriculture to these crops, again depriving the millions of rice, corn and coconut farmers many of whom are into subsistence farming the needed financial, technical and infrastructure support. 2. Filipino artisanal fishers as well as small handliners will face undue competition if and when cheapened marine and fishery imports from Japan come in as a result of the reduction and elimination of tariffs on such products like yellow fin tuna, mackerel, milkfish or lapu-lapu fry, squid, shrimp that will come in at zero duty upon JPEPA’s enforcement. Japan is highly competitive in marine and fishery sector, owing to its modern fishing fleets and advanced technology. 3. JPEPA allows unrestricted Japanese investments including equal rights with Filipino nationals in owning agricultural lands and in exploiting the country’s natural resources particularly marine resources and those found under the continental shelf. It will not not only violate the Philippine Constitution but it will also exacerbate landlessness, inequality and poverty in the country. 4. Rural industrialization will be stunted as Japanese processed agricultural and semi-agricultural products will enter the domestic market with zero or reduced tariffs, thereby creating disincentives for small and medium-scale enterprises. Moreover, Japanese investments in this area are already competing with domestic firms with limited capital and relying on backward technology. 5. Since JPEPA is a template for free trade agreements, there is no stopping other developed countries such as the US and the EU, whose agricultural exports are several times bigger than that of Japan, to negotiate the same trade preferences that the Philippine government inked out with Japan, invoking the most favored nation treatment. Since all Philippine agriculture tariffs are already committed to zero, except for rice and salt, what then is left to protect our small-scale producers from these heavy agriculture subsidizers?
In the light of the dismal failure of globalization to lift the
Filipino poor from poverty and hunger and in the light of an
impending global economic recession, blind reliance on free trade
and the global market is certainly not the answer to our domestic
problems. We urge our honorable Senators to instead hear out the
sentiments of our small farmers, municipal fishers, indigenous
peoples, and other rural poor sectors whose livelihoods, land, and
water resources may be put into peril by this agreement.
-- SLISH Network News End-game scenarios around JPEPA's likely ratification will be the topic focused on at the February 15 session (No. 216) of the monthly Kamayan para sa Kalikasan forum, 10:30am-2pm at Kamayan-EDSA, Mandaluyong City To view earlier SLiSH news item on JPEPA, please click .here. back to top.
AFTER being led on many times by Palace promises and repeatedly told to wait for justice that was supposed to be coming quite soon, the Sumilao farmers who had marched all the way from Mindanao expressed extreme frustration and announced that they were now going to start marching again to bring their cause directly to the people.In a long statement issued last January 17, they narrated their experience as a long chronology of broken promises, the latest ones of which directly involved President Arroyo. Their statement reached the SLISH newsdesk and we share it with our readers in full: "Last December 17, 2007, exactly one month ago today, we sat face to face with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, her Department of Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman, our Governor Jose Zubiri, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye and several other high ranking official of our government. Exactly one month ago today, our government, in front of the leaders of the Church made a solemn promise – they will return us to the land we continue to claim, the land that was once ours, the land that is rightly ours. One month ago today, they said they will begin by revoking the conversion order that denied us our land 10 years ago and that it was the first step to returning the land to us.
"The following day, Sec. Ignacio Bunye delivered to us the Order from
the Office of the President, signed by Executive Sec.
Eduardo Ermita declaring the conversion order that took our
lands from us was revoked. The order said that Quisumbing, the
former owner and San Miguel Foods, Inc., the present owner violated
the conversion order so it was revoked. The Order was supposed to
give us hope, it was supposed to make us clap, dance and jump at our
'victory.' "The order reminded us of another order issued by another President in October 1997, that was supposed to grant us 100 hectares of the 144 that was titled to us. They called that order a "win-win" resolution, we stopped our hunger strike and broke bread with the President. Two years after we were told we lost. We lost everything. "Despite our doubts and reservations, we gave this government, this President the space to fulfill her promise. On December 21, 2007, we declared our 1,700-kilometer walk over and that we are going home. The land was declared agricultural once again, no hog farm can be built on our land legally. We had the word of the highest and the most powerful government official of the land – the President. We had the support of the Church – the Cardinal, the bishops, the religious and even the ordinary parishioners. We had the support of the public who were incensed at the injustice that was committed against us. One December 23, 2007, we went home to our families, we went home doubtful yet hopeful. "The DAR and the Office of the President told us to wait for fifteen days. We patiently waited. By our counting, the fifteen days ended last January 2, 2008. We went to the regional office of the DAR last January 3, we were told to wait. And we waited and we never left the DAR regional office, we waited right outside their gates. The government asked us to wait even though SMFI boldly announced to the public that it was business as usual, they are not stopping their construction and their hog farm will be operational by January 2008. They told us to wait and the government did not raise even a whimper at such a brazen affront at the Order of the President.
"In its paid advertisement, SMFI enumerated the economic benefits
that it will bring to the people of Sumilao. It said that the
144-hectares is not raw land but a developed complex that ready to
go operational. It boasted of the millions it will pay in taxes, the
thousands of workers that it will employ and the millions that it
pay in terms of wages. To these we ask: Is it right and just for
them to illegally convert the land because of their promised
economic benefits? Didn’t the Quisumbings say the same empty
promises when they applied for conversion? Does the 2.9B pesos they
claim to have "SMFI also questioned the legality of our being qualified beneficiaries to the land citing the fact that we were never tenants to the land and that some of us are beneficiaries to the 66-hectare Carlos estate and are therefore no longer qualified to become beneficiaries. "Don’t their lawyers know their law? Don’t they know that under the Comprehensive agrarian reform law landless farmers need not be tenants to become beneficiaries? Indeed, there are some of us who are beneficiaries of the Carlos Estate. We never hid that fact. But does their receiving between 0.2 and 0.9 make them no longer landless? Don’t they know that the law defines a family size farm enough to sustain a family is 3 hectares? Of course they know all these, they just want to cast doubt about the legality of our claim and their accusations do not hold any water. "Yet despite these, the government told us to wait patiently while the 15 days extended from January 2 to January 17 just because Secretary Bunye reneged on his promise to personally deliver the order of the Office of the President to SMFI the very day it was issued. He did not even bother to explain why it took them more that two weeks to deliver. They made us wait while they took their time studying our petition for the issuance of a cease and desist order, yet the studying never ends. Until today they are still studying. Or are they? While we waited, and the government was busy with their study of the cease and desist order, SMFI continued building its hog farm, depriving us more and more of our land every day. Yet the government waited. "The waiting ends today. We have waited for a month. The government did nothing for a month. How many hectares did we lose after a month? How much more do we wait. Today we stop waiting. Today, we begin our walk anew. The last time we walked from our homes to the halls of power in Malañang to knock at the hearts and conscience of the powerful. It appears they will not use even an ounce of their power to make good of their promise of returning us to our land. Today, we begin walking the opposite direction. We will walk to the homes of the people beginning with the young in theirs schools, then to the faithful in their Churches. We will knock at the hearts and conscience of the ordinary people as we continue to knock those of the powerful. We will walk on and on until our steps will lead us back to our homes to till the land that is rightly and justly ours. "We will walk with our faith intact. We will continue to walk the way of peace with the Church, its leaders, clergy and the faithful beside us. We continue to walk to soften the hearts of the rich and powerful, we will walk to strengthen the will of the just and the faithful.
"Today we begin the Walk for Land, and Walk for Justice again. We
will not stop until our land is
returned to us. We will continue walking until justice is ours.
-- SLISH Network News back to top.
The 73-year-old National Economic Protectionism Association (NEPA) held its successful assembly last Wednesday, January 23, the 109th anniversary of the inauguration of the Republic of the Philippines in Malolos. Along the current efforts of the organization in the present historical context of the Philippine economy, especially of the devastating effects of neo-liberal government policies under Globalization, NEPA was able to consolidate the attending members, which included the incumbent and two former presidents of the association, a majority of its incumbent Board, and a number of members and applicant members. To cap their assembly, the attendees discussed and individually signed a declaration of individual and collective stakeholdership in the status and future of the Philippine economy that should be based on the capabilities and should redound to the benefit of the communities and citizens of the Philippines. Written entirely in Pilipino, the declaration is titled Pahayag ng mga Aktibong Maytaya sa Ekonomiya ng Ating Bansa." Part of the commitments being made in that declaration is for each signatory to keep himself or herself strong mentally, spiritually (in terms of will power and creativity) and physically to be able to perform well and ever better all the tasks of the "AkMa" (short for "aktibong may-taya"), including self-replication many times over. The NEPA education committee has been tasked to prepare education kits for use by the signatories in the coming months.
The assembly acclaimed their
approval of NEPA President Jun Mendoza's proposal for Dr. Ernesto R.
Gonzales, the organization's official spokesperson and lead
economist, as "president-elect" scheduled to succeed him at the helm
of the organization this coming November, its 74th anniversary.
-- SLISH Network News [For essential info about the Pahayag click here .] [To view earlier SLiSH news item about NEPA, click here .] [For essential info about NEPA, click here .] back to top.
The 96,000- hectare Tubbataha Reef, Asia's best marine park, has been nominated as one of the seven new Wonders of the World. GoodNews, Pilipinas!, citing the Philippine News Agency (PNA), reported that Tubbataha, a reef ecosystem in the middle of the Sulu Sea, along with around a hundred other natural attractions across the continents have been selected and officially recognized last July 2007. Alex Marcaida, an environmental advocate in the area, urged Filipinos to vote and give chances for Tubbaataha to make it to the top 21 finalist in the prestigious search for new world wonders. He said Tubbataha's "underwater world of wonders" is one of best few places on earth and it's worth voting for. Seven nominees like Chichen Itza of Mexico, Christ Redeemer of Brazil, Colosseum of Italy, Taj Mahal of India, Great Wall of China, Petra of Jordan and Machu Picchue of Peru already garnered one million votes to represent global heritage throughout history. Tubbataha declared as World Heritage Site by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1993 and it has consistently generated P4 million pesos from dive tourism from January to December this year. The reef, located some 182 kilometers (113 miles) southeast from this city, is home to 10, 000 coral reefs, 483 species of fish, two nesting species of marine turtles, nine species of marine mammals. The reef's islets are among the last breeding strongholds of seabirds in Southeast Asia. Angelique Songco, park manager, said tourism income will be used for conservation, research and monioring and other park-related management job which pegged at P10 million annually. Personnel of Philippine Navy, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and other uniformed men in Western Command have also contributed to the conservation of Tubbataha through manpower and logistics support. Tubbataha is reportedly contributed ecological value of P840 million every year in the country's economy in terms of fisheries and tourism.
GoodNews, Pilipinas! also reported that
Palawan island and Boracay in Aklan have been cited by international
publications, like the Wall Street Journal, as two of the best
destinations of the world. -- SLISH Network News back to top.
THE FAR Eastern University (FEU) is 80 years old this month. It was built by “a Filipino (Nicanor Reyes) for Filipinos,” according to its current President, Dr. Lydia Echauz, its logo, the tamaraw, being “a symbol that captures the founder’s hope for its graduates—strength of character, uniqueness, a source of national pride and truly Filipino.” FEU empowers its students to be the best they can be, not only in their chosen profession but also in community service. Hear some of FEU’s programs for environmental protection & sustainable development (e.g., Save the Tamaraws Program, Pasig River Study, Campus Conservation & Beautification, & Nicanor Reyes Stakeholders’ Initiative) in Kalikasan, Kaunlaran! (KK!) on Jan. 30, 2008 (Wed., 6:30 - 7:30 PM, DZRH-AM radio). FEU officials Atty. Gianna R. Montinola (FEU Trustee), Arch. Annabelle Verdote (Dir., FEU Center for Studies on the Urban Environment), and John Paul Uminga (President ofthe FEU Tamaraw Volunteers Program) will join KK! Dir/Host Dr. Cora Claudio (President of the EARTH Institute Asia ) in the talakayan in conversational Tagalog, Advocates of environmental conservation and sustainable development have been invited to join KK!’s projects, contests, and campaigns. Registered KK! listener may join all these activities. (To register, one will have to text 2299: earth<space>REG < name, age, sex, address, email address, & name of person who had invited the registrant to tune in KK! >. Anchorperson Claudio tells listeners: "You will also hear more about the Malunggay Para sa Kalikasan & other projects that EARTH/KK! is implementing in partnership with Secura Int’l. Corp., Manila Jaycees, Carica, GREEN Army, DENR, MAP & others. The contests offer cash prizes & the projects provide livelihood while protecting & enhancing the environment. " KK! is co-produced by EARTH Institute Asia, Inc. and radio station DZRH, with the cooperation of MAP, GREEN Army, PFST, TOWNS, PBE, AIJC, PEIA, DENR, & others. It is at 666 khz in Metro Manila & at various other khz in most areas nationwide. It is also globally accessible thru www.eradioportal.com or www.mabuhayradio.com.
Listeners are also
invited to join KK!’s partners-sponsors. For this quarter,
they are Unilever, Shell, Unilab, Petron, Manila Water, & Toby's
Sports. Providing in-kind support this quarter are Del Bros Supply
Chain Solutions, Superferry, The Bowler/TOWNS Awardee Bong Coo,
MAP, Brahma Kumaris/Deanie Lyn Ocampo, & PFST/Science Centrum.
-- SLISH Network News Inquiries: 671-3266, 0917-829-1718, or email earthinstitute@gmail.com.
Dispatch No. 3 January 20, 2008
HEADLINERS... (click at blue dot to read story)
....and now, the
DETAILS....
JPEPA: Senate nod may bank
on side
agreement on toxic waste issue
Groups opposing the JPEPA yesterday vowed to campaign against the
presidential bid of Sen. Manuel Roxas because of his expressed
support for the controversial treaty, even as several senators are
looking at introducing a side agreement for the Japan-Philippines
Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) to correct the issue on the
importation of toxic waste shipments from Japan. This issue has
delayed the approval of the accord, despite President Arroyo’s
repeated calls to hasten the Senate’s ratification of the accord.
National broadsheet dailies reported last week that civil society
groups within the “Magkaisa Junk JPEPA Coalition” even called Roxas
a “new age collaborator” who, they said, sold the country’s national
patrimony, health of the Filipinos, and the interests of local
laborers and agricultural workers in favor of Japanese corporations.
Environmental groups have been attacking the provision on the trade
of toxic and hazardous recyclable materials from Japan. According to
lawyer Golda Benjamin of the Initiatives for Dialogue and
Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services Inc., JPEPA is the
only one among Japan’s economic partnership agreements with
Southeast Asian countries that does not have the “performance
requirement” and even opens up its seas and lands to Japanese
investors. “The Philippines is the only one that gave up the
concession that only local workers should be hired by Japanese
firms,” Benjamin said at a press conference.
Josua Mata of the group Alliance of Progressive Labor called Roxas’
recent pronouncement in favor of JPEPA as “economic treason.”
“Finally he has admitted who he really is. JPEPA will consign
Filipino workers to the dustbin of economic history,” he said.
“Anyone aspiring for the top post of the land cannot play with the
future of the Filipinos and use inaccurate data to support their
decisions. It’s not only unfair; it is an unforgivable offense to
the Filipino people,” Mata said.
Meanwhile, Senate President Manuel Villar, who attended the annual
vin d’honneur for the diplomatic community held in Malacañang
recently, said the present state of the agreement would not be
acceptable to his colleagues but with the a side agreement, the
JPEPA could still be salvaged.
“Without any side agreement, I don’t see how we can pass the JPEPA,”
Villar said. “Ever since that has been the concern,” he said, adding
that his colleagues are demanding for the side agreement. Villar
said the JPEPA would be taken up when sessions resume on Jan. 28.
Villar’s statement came as President Arroyo reiterated her appeal
for the Senate to ratify the JPEPA yesterday, a week before Congress
resumes session after a month-long break.
Since the treaty has already been signed by the leaders of both
countries and the Japanese legislature has ratified it, the
Philippine Senate can only ratify or reject the treaty.
Villar said that the Japanese government has given the Senate their
assurance that toxic waste would not be shipped to the Philippines
but his colleagues remain unconvinced. “Of course because of the
fact that these substances are included in the treaty, you cannot
avoid having everyone concerned,” he said.
“Unless the Senators are assured that no toxic waste would come into
the country, we cannot pass that,” he said.
The groups have long revealed and explained that the treaty would
allow Japanese investors to own private lands in the country for
real estate and agribusiness purposes to the prejudice of Filipino
farmers. “These written unconstitutional commitments to give away
our lands, our seas, our right to ensure decent jobs for the
Filipino people – these are calculable losses if JPEPA is approved.
How can Filipinos seriously consider Sen. Roxas to lead us in 2010,
when he accepts these calculable losses to Filipinos?” Mata said.
The Magkaisa Junk JPEPA Coalition, a network of civil society
groups, described Roxas' advocacy for JPEPA as "treacherous" and a
"clear sell-out" of the country's sovereignty only to the interest
of Japan
government and business groups. Roxas should junk JPEPA or else
forget his presidential ambitions in 2010, they said.
Roxas, who has strongly indicated his intention to run for president
in the coming elections, had stated that the Philippines has not
much to gain from the treaty but stands to "lose much more if it
failed to open
up." His statements sparked an uproar among environmentalist and
nationalist groups which Friday questioned Roxas' credibility to
seek the highest position in the land.
According to Josua Mata, secretary general of the Alliance of
Progressive Labor, ratifying the treaty was tantamount to economic
treason as JPEPA would not only worsen the economy's "lackluster
performance" in jobs generation but would also lead to massive job
losses especially in the automotive and related industries.
"How can Filipinos seriously consider Senator Roxas to lead us in
2010, when he accepts these calculable losses to Filipinos?" he
asked during a press conference Friday. The coalition estimated that
at least 100,000 workers would be displaced if the Senate would
ratify the agreement.
"Anyone aspiring for the top post of the land cannot play with the
future of the Filipinos and use inaccurate data to support their
decisions. It’s not only unfair; it is an unforgivable offense to
the Filipino people," Mata stressed.
The groups opposed to JPEPA also claim that the treaty would allow
Japanese investors to own private lands in the country for real
estate and agribusiness purposes to the prejudice of Filipino
farmers.
"These written unconstitutional commitments to give away our lands,
our seas, our right to ensure decent jobs for the Filipino people –
these are calculable losses if JPEPA is approved. How can Filipinos
seriously consider Sen. Roxas to lead us in 2010, when he accepts
these calculable losses to Filipinos?" Mata said.
-- SLISH Network News
To view earlier SLiSH news item
on JPEPA, please click
.here.
For essential info on JPEPA, please open the Magkaisa-Junk JPEPA blogspot by clicking
here
.
back to top.
Invitation
to Feb. 4-5 National Mining Conference
“The present
national government has outlined the mining industry as the key
investment package to the international market especially to augment
the already thinning sources of national revenues. The Mining
Revitalization program poses a long term serious threat to the
Philippine Economy, Environment and the Human Rights of the rural
poor especially among the Indigenous Peoples.” This assessment was
expressed last Monday by the Justice, Peace and Integrity of
Creation Commission of the Association of Major Religious Superiors
of the Philippines (JPICC-AMRSP) in a letter inviting concerned
citizens within and outside the religious orders to attend a two-day
National Conference on Mining slated on February 4. The conference,
to be held at the Claret School in Quezon City, is co-convened with
JPICC by the Alyansa Tigil Mina.
Signed by Fr.
Victor Dioleta, SSS, Co-Executive Secretary of the AMRSP, the
January 14 letter also stated: “With the on-going mining
explorations and operations among 20 plus identified Sites of
Struggles all-over the country, there is a foreseen irreversible
depletion and destruction of the country's biodiversity if no
principled opposition sustained, by the church and civil society
players in the country.
The adverse
effects of this will be abandoned-mine sites, contaminated lands and
unbalanced ecosystems, depleted biodiversity, and less to nothing
sustainability with our daily economy. To top it all, Global Warming
and Climate Change are gradually taking its toll.
Despite this
bleak picture, we are not totally hopeless. Many church and
ecological groups and individuals instead remained steadfast in
opposing the said mining activities in the country.
“Networks have
been formed to do long-term campaigns against the Mining Act of
1995. The Alyansa Tigil Mina and Defend Patrimony are two of the
biggest coalitions in the country dedicated to the advocacy against
mining activities. The AMRSP continues to support this advocacy and
compliment the efforts of the CBCP along this same light.”
With such as
background, Fr. Dioleta said the Association of the Major Religious
Superiors in the Philippines- Justice, Peace and Integrity of
Creation Commission (AMRSP-JPICC) in coordination with Alyansa Tigil
Mina (ATM) will hold a two-day National Conference on Mining slated
on February 4-5, 2008 at the Claret School of Quezon City Auditorium
with the theme "The Philippine Mining Revitalization Program: Its
impact to the Integrity of Creation and the Indigenous Peoples in
the Philippines."
The conference
will be held seek to inform and update the participants on the
status of the Philippine Bio-Diversity/Environment vis a vis the
on-going Mining Revitalization Program and its impact to Indigenous
peoples, provide venue for dialogue among the Religious and IPs,
explore possible networking and partnerships in the local and
national level, and come up with AMRSP-IPs Mining Conference
Statement addressed to the 14th Congress and Church leadership.
-- SLISH Network News
For more info,
please contact AMRSP office @ (02)724-4434/448-5644 / JPICC office
at (02)436-2561/09178612227 or send an e-mail to amrspsec@pldtdls.net
or to jpicc_amrsp@yahoo.com
back to top.
‘Joblessness, family incomes worst in last 7 years’ --IBON
President Gloria
Arroyo's seven years in office has brought record levels of
joblessness as well as falling family incomes, according to
independent think-tank IBON Foundation.
According to IBON
research head Sonny Africa, historical levels of joblessness were
registered under the Arroyo administration since 2001. In 2007,
there were 4.1 million jobless Filipinos and an annual average
unemployment rate of 10.8 percent. Although 2007 figures were a
slight improvement from 2006, the average annual unemployment rate
of 11.3% over the 2001-2007 period remains the worst such period
recorded in the country's history, Africa said.
Moreover, most
jobs created in 2007 were in domestic household help, followed by
the transport, storage and communication sector, wholesale and
retail trade, real estate, rental and business activities (which
include business process outsourcing) and construction. Africa
pointed out that in general, these are the lowest-paying and most
insecure jobs in the country. For example, household help would be
lucky to earn P3,000 to P3,500 a month, he said.
Since 2001
Filipinos' incomes have also continued to fall throughout the Arroyo
administration. Figures from the 2006 Family Income and Expenditure
Survey show that average family income for all families in real
terms (at base year 2000) fell by P20,400 between 2000 and 2006. For
the poorest 10% of the country's families, this meant a decline in
annual income to P23,000 in 2006 from P25,000 in 2000. Since incomes
were insufficient to meet their expenses, there was an annual debt
of P1,700 per household in 2006.
Inequality also
remained high in 2006, as the richest 20% of the country's richest
families account for nearly 53% of total family income, while the
poorest 20% share less than 5% of total family incomes.
IBON Foundation,
Inc. is an independent development institution established in 1978
that provides research, education, publications, information work
and advocacy support on socioeconomic issues.
-- SLISH Network News
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Sympo on
Bishops’ ‘Beautiful Land’
Letter
in
1988:
‘Vision to Praxis’
Twenty years ago,
the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) issued a
pastoral letter, titled, “What Is Happening to Our Beautiful Land?”
In that letter, the prelates gave the dominantly-Catholic
population a description of the state then of environmental
destruction in the archipelago, a situation that has by now
disastrously worsened. And this worsening, along with the matter of
public accountability, will be discussed in depth in a symposium,
with the theme, “Vision to Praxis,” to be held on Monday, January
28, at the Miriam College Environmental Studies Institute (ESI).
The landmark
document of the CBCP was issued on January 29, 1988. It addressed
the environmental crisis being faced by the peoples in the
Philippines and around the world. The symposium will hear sharings
on the needed march from “a vision of an environmentally sound and
sustainable culture of life” to its praxis (theory and practice).
This symposium will offer an opportunity to learn more about
GeoChris Foundation and the Great Work Movement and their ways of
moving from the vision of an environmentally sound and sustainable
culture of life to its praxis by drawing on our Christian
liturgical, theological, and spiritual resources, on the wisdom of
traditional knowledge and of modern science.
The main
speakers of the symposium are Fr. John Leydon, SSC who will give his
reflections on “What Is Happening to Our Beautiful Land?”; Fr. Georg
Ziselsberger, SVD, who will talk about Celebrating Creation Day and
Creation Time; and Mrs. Marcelina Ramos, who will present sample
creation liturgies. Dr. Donna Paz Reyes, ESI executive director,
will give the welcome remarks. Registration is free, but people are
asked to confirm their attendance in advance.
-- SLISH Network News
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Northern
Hemisphere in 2007
warmest in
since 1880!
“WITH THE RECORD for 2007 now complete, it is clear that
temperatures around the world are continuing their upward climb. The
global average in 2007 was 14.73 degrees Celsius (58.5 degrees
Fahrenheit)-- the second warmest year on record, only 0.03 degrees
Celsius behind the 2005 maximum. January 2007 was the hottest
January ever measured, a full 0.23 degrees Celsius warmer than the
previous record. August was also a record for that month and
September was the second warmest September recorded.”
Thus began the
article issued last week by the Washington-based Earth Policy
News, as written by Frances C. Moore, and forwarded to global
warming-focused organizations worldwide. “Looking at the northern
hemisphere alone,” the report continued “2007 temperatures averaged
15.04 degrees Celsius (59.1 degrees Fahrenheit) -- easily the
hottest year in the northern half of the globe since the record
began in 1880, and more than a degree warmer than the 1951–80
average. Paleo-temperature records from ancient tree rings suggest
that the northern hemisphere is now warmer than at any time in at
least the last 1,200 years.”
The rest of
report, which was sent by local advocates of climate change
mitigation to the editor of SLiSH Network News, is here in
full:
The year 2007 fits into a pattern of steadily increasing global
average temperature, with the eight warmest years on record all
occurring in the last decade. According to the dataset maintained by
NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, global average
temperature rose from 14.02 degrees Celsius in the 1970s to 14.26
degrees in the 1980s and then to 14.40 degrees in the 1990s. In the
first eight years of the twenty-first century, the world averaged
14.64 degrees Celsius. Since 1990, mean global temperature has risen
by 0.33 degrees, a rate of increase faster than climate models had
predicted.
Although 2007 did not post a new record high, the year stands out as
being extremely warm despite several natural factors that usually
cool the planet. El Niño conditions in the southern Pacific tend to
increase the global average temperature, and yet the second half of
2007 saw the opposite develop -- a La Niña, which would usually
depress global temperature. This is in stark contrast to conditions
in 1998, the third warmest year, when temperatures were boosted
around 0.2 degrees Celsius by the strongest El Niño of the century.
In addition to the moderate La Niña, solar intensity in 2007 was
slightly lower than average because the year was a minimum in the
11-year solar sunspot cycle. The combination of these factors would
normally produce cooler temperatures, yet 2007 was still one of the
warmest years in human history. This strongly suggests that the
warming effect of increased greenhouse gas concentrations is now
dwarfing other influences on the Earth’s climate.
The impact of the exceptional warmth in 2007 was especially apparent
in the Arctic, where several feedback mechanisms amplify the effect
of increasing greenhouse gas concentrations. Summer sea-ice extent
in the Arctic Ocean shrank dramatically to a new low, 23 percent
below the previous 2005 record. This opened the Northwest Passage
for the first time in recorded history and prompted a scramble to
claim large swaths of the newly exposed Arctic.
Regionally, several areas saw record-setting temperatures in 2007.
Southeastern Europe suffered through temperatures as high as 45
degrees Celsius in a heat wave that killed up to 500 people. In
Japan, thermometers in August reached 40.9 degrees Celsius, the
highest temperature ever recorded in that country. Chart-topping
temperatures and severe drought conditions proved a lethal
combination, as extensive wildfires spread in both Greece and the
American West in July and August.
While some areas baked under intensive heat or drought conditions,
others were inundated by record amounts of rain. England and Wales
experienced widespread flooding and damage estimated at £3 billion
($6 billion) during the wettest May to July period since records
began in 1766. In South Asia, some of the worst flooding in decades
occurred during the monsoon season, affecting at least 25 million
people and killing more than 2,500. Fifteen countries across Africa
-- from Ghana to Ethiopia -- were affected by severe floods in the
summer of 2007. These displaced hundreds of thousands of people and
washed away crops and farmland, seriously damaging food security in
the region. Other countries that saw exceptional or record flooding
in 2007 include China, Indonesia, Mexico, and Uruguay. Intense
rainfall events and flooding will only become more common in the
future, as climate models show that warmer temperatures will cause a
greater share of total precipitation to fall in extreme events. This
means that there will be more heavy rainstorms but also more dry
periods, producing both more severe droughts and more frequent, more
intense floods. Rainfall data from the twentieth century show
precipitation intensity increasing over the last two decades,
suggesting this trend is already beginning.
In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the
Nobel prize–winning body of more than 1,250 scientists, released its
Fourth Assessment Report, which detailed the likely climatic
consequences if human beings continue to pump greenhouse gases into
the atmosphere. It reported that unabated emissions would result in
a temperature rise of between 1.1 and 6.4 degrees Celsius (2 to 12
degrees Fahrenheit) during the twenty-first century.
To put this in perspective, temperatures over the last 100 years
rose by a comparably small 0.74 degrees Celsius, and yet this
appears to have already contributed to trends of more heat waves,
longer and more intense droughts, higher sea level, more frequent
heavy rain events, and stronger hurricanes. Future warming on the
scale projected by the IPCC will bring with it a multitude of
outcomes that can only be described as disastrous. These include
hundreds of millions of people exposed to increased water stress, a
third of species at increasing risk of extinction, widespread coral
mortality, grain yield declines at low latitudes, the loss of 30
percent of remaining coastal wetlands, and the disappearance of
glaciers feed some of the world’s major rivers.
The temperature
record for 2007 shows that we have now fully entered into what some
are calling a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, in which human
activities are the main driver of the global climate system. The
many effects of warmer temperature, which we are already beginning
to see, will only become more severe and more costly to society if
greenhouse gas emissions are not cut quickly and dramatically. Our
future now depends on what we do to limit warming by moving away
from climate-disrupting fossil fuels and toward renewable energy and
energy-efficient technologies.
-- SLISH Network News
http://www.earthpolicy.org/Indicators/Temp/2008_data.htm
Research Contact: Janet Larsen <jlarsen@earthpolicy.org>
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Ask US
‘Presidentiables’ about Global Warming,
reporters
urged
“IN THE last year,
with your support, thousands of volunteers in the early voting
states have asked the presidential candidates hundreds of questions
on global warming -- and many of the candidates have responded by
making the issue a top priority. But most of us don't get the chance
to ask the presidential candidates about their commitment to solving
global warming or their plan to push bold new energy policies. We
have to rely on the media to ask these important questions. But what
if reporters ignore the issue?”
This concern was
aired in an open letter widely-circulated in the United States,
urging media reporters to serve the American voters well on this
matter. The letter was e-mailcast by Julie Waterman, campaign
director of the private Save Our Environment network, last January
10. “In 2007, the top five TV reporters have asked the presidential
candidates nearly 2,500 questions. Of all of these questions, only
three mentioned global warming! Three. All year. They asked the same
number of questions about UFOs,” Waterman said.
The rest of the
letter follows:
That's why we've
launched a new effort to call these reporters to task. We need
your help in putting pressure on these reporters for ignoring the
most important challenge of our generation.
In the more than
140 presidential debates and interviews these hosts have moderated,
they have spent more time talking about baseball, UFOs, and Chuck
Norris, while the most urgent threat facing us is ignored.
That's why we've
pulled together a funny video highlighting the absurd questions that
have been asked. We've also launched a petition urging these
reporters to get serious about climate change.
The head of the UN
Panel on Climate Change recently stated that "if we wait until 2012
it will be too late. What we do in the next two or three years will
determine our future." The decisions made by our next president will
make all the difference. So what are these reporters waiting for?
Tell them to focus on the human race not the horse race!
-- SLISH Network News
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Canadians’
Anti-Nuclear stance seeks support
The new provincial
government of Saskatchewan in Canada is already talking about plans
to expand the nuclear industry in the province, and this is
considered a “very bad news” by the people, especially of the local
area of Regina. Saskatchewan is one of the major uranium producers
in the world, and the prime exporter to the U.S. “This is a
front-line battle that must be waged by Saskatchewan residents, with
international support,” said Pat Vogt of the "Citizens for a
Nuclear-Free Society" is a local (Regina) grass-roots group which is
working towards urgently needed changes in our provincial
government's policies and plans as regards the uranium industry.
Among the leaders
of the environmental conservation advocates in the Philippines who
have echoed their call here in the country are Javier Claparols of
the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and
Dr. Angelina Galang, lead organizer of the Green Convergence for
Safe Food, Healthy Environment and Sustainable Economics (Green
Convergence). The message was sent to Claparols by André Larivière
of the French Network for Nuclear Phase-Out.
“The (Philippine)
government is talking about the (mothballed) Bataan Nuclear Plant
being reactivated or the use of Nuclear Power to solve Climate
Change. All Nuclear Plants globally are either owned by government
or subsidized by governments,” Claparols said in his own e-mail
endorsing the Canadians’ petition for signature support from
Filipino and Philippine-based environmentalists. His message was
forwarded by Galang to the member-organizations of the Green
Convergence, including the Sanib-lakas ng Inang Kalikasan (SALIKA).
"Citizens for a
Nuclear-Free Society" is a local (Regina) grass-roots group which is
working towards urgently needed changes in our provincial
government's policies and plans as regards the uranium industry”
wrote Vogt, adding that “We firmly believe that the government must
abandon proposed plans for nuclear expansion that have been in the
works for some years now.”
With the recent
change in the provincial government, there has already been talk of
building a nuclear reactor in the northern part of the province, as
well as possibly fuelling the Alberta Tar Sands oil extraction
project, an environmental disaster in its own right. “We believe
that there are a multitude of very strong reasons to oppose further
uranium mining, export and refinement, as well as nuclear
development. These arguments, which are environmental, economical
and ethical, clearly prove that this industry must not continue to
grow, but rather, should be phased out.” Vogt said.
Seeking support of anti-nuclear
stakeholders worldwide, the Vogt letter is asking everyone to sign
their petition carried in the Internet, through the link:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/nonuc1sk/petition.html and send
an e-mail to
nonukesregina@gmail.com, to express their support.
-- SLISH Network News
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Pamayanang
SanibLakas issues
‘Basic
Messages’ mini-poster ad
THE NEWLY
Carried as the
back-page ad of the latest issue of the Kamayan Forum Journal,
the black and white poster text emphasizes in Filipino that all
active stakeholders should strengthen themselves and other active
stakeholders in mind
The ad also said that if Rizal were alive today, he would probably say declare active stakeholders are the “Hope of the Fatherland,” replacing the youth in the hero’s original quote. “Members of entire communities, entire sections of the population, and even the entire nation, are de facto stakeholders, but the overwhelming majority in each grouping or scope are unconscious stakeholders,” explained Ding Reyes, Pamayanang SanibLakas secretary-general. “Advocacy communications have not effectively reached them to effectively inform and enlighten them adequately about how the issues and demands being raised by the civil society organizations really relate to them. Worse yet, among those who do get to understand this, a smaller number decide to mobilize themselves to be active, to be part of the problem-solvers in our society. Most of them have preferred to behave as neutral spectators,” Reyes added. “Civil society groups have been seeking to lead the entire nation, or at least certain communities, along the histrorical path of empowerment, emancipation and full well-being, but such attempt cannot succeed if most of the people refuse to make liberative history by mobilizing themselves to overcome difficulties and become determined patriots, active stakeholders.” Paraphrasing Rizal, he concluded, “There are no tyrants where there are no majorities allowing the perpetuation of slavery.”
The poster lists
the member-organizations of the Pamayanang SanibLakas, but the
full-color version includes other
organizations and institutions who would seek to be co-signatories. A full-color interactive electronic version of the poster has been uploaded in the pamayanang saniblakas website. To view this and seek explanations on various parts of the poster, please click . here..Organizations and institutions interested to get a soft copy of the original poster in black and white may request via the sanib.info@yahoo.com. Those who wish to be listed among co-signatory organizations and institutions in the colored full-size version of the poster may send their request(s) to the same e-mail address before Friday, January 25. For a list of Pamayanang SanibLakas member-groups and –institutions, open <http://saniblakas.8m.net>. -- SLISH Network News back to top.
A SEMI-FREEWHEELING sharing session on romance will be held on Sunday, February 10, four days before Valentine's Day, with the empowering paradigm 'Gender Awareness, Equality and Harmony,' as the main discussion input. This is being organized by the Lambat-Liwanag Network for Empowering Paradigms, a member-organization of Pamayanang SanibLakas ng Pilipinas and the Human Development and Harmony (H.D.H.) Family, in partnership with the LightShare e-mail list group. Romantic couples and 'temporary loners' are invited to come over to Merced Bakehouse to share, over some 'kanya-kanya' snacks, the delicious learnings they have had, with emphasis on what has been keeping their own relationships strong and growing. "This will not be a venue for debate or the airing of complaints," Lambat-Liwanag executive convenor Ding Reyes told SLiSH Network News. "What we will do is enjoy our commonalities and be enriched by our diversity, and we will remember well the line from Desiderata that says, 'Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others' because that line has always guided our 'sanib-sinag' sharing aessions in the past." The LightShare e-mail list group's moderator will immediately post this subject and gather all responses that will all be read during the face-to-face sharing session.
Lambat-Liwanag was established by
representatives of major Universities in the city of Manila on
February 14, 2001. The "starting five" (Pamantasan ng Lunsod ng
Maynila, Philippine Normal University, Polytechnic University of the
Philippines, University of the Philippines Manila and University of
Sto. Tomas). The number jumped to a dozen after the "First
Lambat-Liwanag General Conference on the Empowering Paradigms" was
held in UST in October that year. Paradigm-specific conferences were
held afterwards, with Gender Harmony (paradigm 8) held in June 2002
at PNU. Current officers of this network are Dr. Ernie Gonzales of
UST, chairman; Bernard Karganilla of UPM, vice chairman; and Gerald
Abergos of the International Academy of Management and Economics (IAME),
secretary-general.
to know more about the empowering
paradigms, click at this link:
-- SLISH Network News back to top.
Dispatch No. 2 January 13, 2008
HEADLINERS... (click at blue dot to read story)
“RECONNECT NEPA to Grassroots-based Stakeholders in the Economy!” This will be the theme of the special general assembly scheduled by the 73-year-old National Economic Protectionism Association (NEPA) to be held in Quezon City on January 23, 109th anniversity of the inauguration of the Philippine republic in Malolos, Bulacan.
“NEPA traces its roots in the Katipunan especially in its grassroots-oriented character, but the historic lineage got shifted along the way and became a narrow “industrializing elite” formation especially in the last few decades. NEPA has embarked on a transition process to
Incumbent NEPA President Faustino G. Mendoza, Jr., author of “Progress and Protection from Within,” (click here to read full text) will give an overview of NEPA’s efforts the past few years. In his article, Mendoza emphasized that the Philippine economy can be protected much more effectively by internal strength of conscious and active stakeholders than by external fences, like the tariff system, that are now getting dismantled by externally-dictated liberalization within the context of globalization. NEPA’s spokesperson and lead economist, Dr. Ernesto R. Gonzales, will expound on the appropriate application, at the Philippine grassroots, of the “C-N-E Tripod for Sustainable Development” building and fully utilizing the potent synergy of cultural, natural and economic (C-N-E) resources. This was the subject of his doctoral dissertation which has been published by both the Asian Social Institute and the London School of Economics.
Dr. Jorge Sibal, NEPA Secretary-General will talk on the imperative the raising of quality standards for Philippine products and the Former Senator Wigbeto E. Tañada, lead convenor of the broad Fair Trade Alliance (FTA) has been invited to give the inspirational remarks to the assembly. The alliance, also known as FairTrade, includes NEPA as an active member, and pursues the broad adoption of the Tangkilikan ethics that NEPA has consistently championed over the decades as an inseparable component of economic nationalism. Ding Reyes, secretary-general of the Katipunang DakiLahi para sa Pambansang Pagsasanib-lakas, by way of delivering a message of greeting, will expound on the organization’s current thrust to develop and synergize active stakeholders. NEPA was among the three founding organizations of DakiLahi in 2002, along with Kamalaysayan and Galing Pilipino Movement. These and the other DakiLahi member-organizations, including Sanib-lakas ng Inang Kalikasan (SALIKA), Consumers’ Coalition for Truthful Information (CCTI), Advocates of Cooperative Education on Synergism (ACES), and Kilusang Lakas-Pamayanan (KLP), along with fraternal groups like Lambat-Liwanag Network for Empowering Paradigms, Kabalai, Focus on Global South, Ang Bagong Pinoy, Dakila Ka, and the Overseas Filipino Council, Inc., have been invited to send delegations to join discussions where joint efforts between NEPA and their respective organizations can be pursued especially in localities nationwide. Velasquez told SLISH Network News that the ranks of NEPA members have started to get boosted by active stakeholders in sustainable Philippine economic progress who are based in local communities within and outside the national capital region. The January 23 assembly is also scheduled to choose a president-elect who will take over the helm of the organization this coming November. The January 23 assembly is also scheduled to choose a president-elect who will take over the helm of the organization this coming November.
The ongoing transition process is envisioned to reach its culmination and completion in November 2009, NEPA’s Diamond Anniversary.
-- SLISH Network News to view earlier SLiSH news item on NEPA, please click .here. for more information about NEPA please click here . for information on NEPA history, please click here . back to top.
ACTIVE opponents of the government’s policy to honor all debts, including onerous and downright illegitimate ones, held a “people’s petition” for the creation of a citizen’s independent commission that would undertake a thorough audit all these debts, including the identities of the creditors, the terms of the loans extended, what they were actually spent on, and the planned and actual schedules of repayment. The People Against Illegitimate Debt (PAID!) conducted a press briefing and sent out invitations to various member groups and affiliate organizations and individuals. SLISH Network News received one such invitation through the e-mail. The event was to have been over by the time we upload this SLISH Network News dispatch but we are yet unable to report on its results. The assembly was set feature speakers from these member-organizations and also debt campaigns from abroad to share their experiences and recent developments in the international debt scene. In the press briefing, Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) vice president Lidy Nacpil said they had warned about a full-blown fiscal and debt crisis many years ago, but “the government failed to do what is right for the country.” She said that the indicators of the debt and fiscal crisis include the huge deficit of the Philippines since 1999; huge increases in interest payments on the national government debt; and government borrowings reaching record levels. FDC has been campaigning for an official Congressional Audit of Public Debt and Contingent Liabilities. “We believe that an independent citizens debt audit is also crucial. Hence, together with the PAID, we are starting the process this new year,” she added.
PAID! leaders explained that a citizen's debt would conduct a critical, comprehensive, participatory and transparent examination of the Philippine public debt and contingent liabilities based on: data and existing studies by resource persons and organizations; studies prepared by working groups and technical teams; and, testimonies and inputs from affected communities, sectors and people's organizations.
-- SLISH Network News
For inquiries call 924-6399 at 921-1985. or call Katrina Cularat ng Jubilee South sa 925-3036.
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Local community actions for Sus-Devt Jan. 21-25
“ANOTHER PHILIPPINES is possible! On with the struggle: Jobs and Justice, Land and Freedom Now!” This is the theme of the Philippines of the
Global Day of Action, actually a full week from the 21st to the 26th of this month, as organized by the World Social Forum (WSF), a global process among civil society entities to highlight our common critique on the neo-liberal economic framework and to show a viable alternative towards sustainable development.
On January 25, simultaneous "Community Actions for Environmental Justice" are set to be mounted jointly and individually by local Partido Kalikasan formations and the grassroots-based groups among the WSF participating groups in the country. A People’s Camp is also scheduled for this day to be held at the North Triangle in Barangay Bagong Pag-asa, Quezon City. During this Camp, Green groups may want to organize focused public forum, conferences, trainings and dialogues on our various issues. Already, the ATM (Alyansa Tigil Mina) has committed to organize a forum on mining while Partido Kalikasan will organize a peoples' forum on justice and climate change.
The series of events will culminate in a “Global Day of Action and Mobilization March” to Mendiola in Manila. This will be a huge mass action of various social movements. Partido Kalikasan calls on the greens; just like how we have done it in the past to come together in a common delegation.
Participating groups have been encouraged to organize their own events and activities during this week of action, and have them registered as early as possible with the event secretariat. A registration form for those who wish to join us organize events has been prepared and may be requested for from this organization by sending an e-mailed request to josephp@focusweb.org. Inquiries related to the Global Day of Action may also be sent to this same address.
The lead organizers now include: Alab Katipunan, Alliance of Progressive Labor, Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM), Assalam, Action and Solidarity for the Empowerment of Teachers (Assert), Bisig, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino, Freedom from Debt Coalition, Focus on the Global South, Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP)-Philippines, Jubilee South, Kalayaan!, Kilusan para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (KTRA), Kilusang Mangingisda, Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya, KaisaKa (Pagkakaisa ng Kababaihan para sa Kalayaan), KPML, International Gender & Trade Network, LUPA (League of Urban Poor for Action), Manggagawa para sa Kalayaan ng Bayan (Makabayan), Partido ng Manggagawa, Partido Kalikasan, Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA), Sanlakas, Stop the New Round – Philippines, Stop the War Coalition – Philippines, Teachers Dignity Coalition, Partido Kalikasan (Metro Manila AirShed).
An e-mailed announcement forwarded by Partido Kalikasan Institute to SLISH Network News underscored reasons why the entire green movement in the country should be involved: “Destruction of the environment and human communities and other members of the ecosystem that depend on natural resources are often times attributed to a wrong form of development and human greed. Environmental problems and the destruction where our various advocacies among the greens focuses on are clear examples of the ill effects and consequences of neo-liberal economics. It is in this context that the Greens share the same fundamental concerns and struggles as that of the other social movements; many of which have found the WSF as a platform for solidarity. It is therefore imperative that the greens play a major role in the WSF process now and in the future.”
More detailed information may also be accessed from www.wsf.partidokalikasan.org, and will be carried in the next dispatch of SLISH Network News. They will also be announced at the Kamayan para sa Kalikasan forum’s 215th monthly session on Third Friday January 18, focused on a post-event assessment of the recent International Conference on Climate Change in Bali, Indonesia.
-- SLISH Network News
For more
information about the WSF, please visit
http://www.wsf2008.net
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Partido Kalikasan backs
Organic Alliance efforts
THE PARTIDO Kalikasan, has decided to support fully the efforts of the Organic Alliance in pursuing organic agriculture and opposing the entry of organic agricultural products into the Filipino diet. In a recent general communication issued to all members of the green party’s formation in Metro Manila, PK-NCR Interim Convenor Roy J. Cabonegro, who is also the secretary-general of the Partido Kalikasan Institute, gave updates on latest developments, including the holding of coordination meetings with the NO to GMO Coalition of which PK-Metro Manila and OA are members.
“Part of the agreement for immediate follow through is a whole day session for NO to GMO advocates on the results and findings of the recently concluded study on the biosafety regulatory and legal framework in the country which was a joint effort of the Third World Network, Lingkod-Tao Kalikasan, and Southeast Asia Regional Institute for Community Education (SEARICE), among others. The result of this research will definitely provide us good insight on how to look at our various campaigns given our current situation and opportunities,” Cabonegro said, adding that the meeting will be held the whole day of January 30 at SIBAT office. In Quezon City.
Partido Kalikasan, he said, is still in the process of consolidating its nine local party organizations. “We are keenly interested in the developments of our common campaigns and will try our best to mobilize our respective local groups to work with the coalition at every opportunity possible.”
The other Partido Kalikasan local groups in Tanauan, Batangas and Victoria, Oriental Mindoro through their respective local political alliances dominates their respective city/town councils and in fact in the other relatively mature PK local groups in the cities of Palawan, and Cagayan de Oro.
Partido Kalikasan Metro Manila has been holding group discussions focused on supporting the idea of building a strong consumer movement on organic agriculture that will be supportive both of sustainable agriculture as a viable alternative to the currently dominant modes dependent on chemical inputs, and the NO to GMO campaign, Cabonegro said.
PK is now in the process of promoting and directly supporting the initiative of Dr. Raffy Barrozo in forming the Organic Alliance (OA) , a movement linking small organic producers, marketers, processors and consumer in a knowledge management mechanism and internal organic certification process to promote business and political linkages among groups and individuals in the organic community towards mutual support and synergy.
This month, it will set-up its showroom and campaign center at the organic center in the AANI Herbal Garden at the Quezon Memorial Circle.
As mentioned earlier, the alliance already has its own internal organic certification mechanism. A free training for organic field inspector is being organized by the alliance on Feb 9-10 in Los Baños, Laguna. Interested participants are asked to provide counterpart resources for their transportation and meals
Cabonegro told SLiSH Network News how PK will be supporting the movement for organics:
1) Integrating in our monthly party caucuses (3rd Saturday of every month 2 p.m. at the National Ecology Center East Avenue) promotions of the organic alliance's products, services to encourage all our members to be active stakeholders in the alliance.
2) PK Metro Manila will be launching one local city/municipality chapters every month as part of our expansion efforts. For this quarter, chapters in Pateros (January), Paranaque (February), and Manila (March) will be launched.
Monthly local chapter caucuses thereof, we will be encouraging them to host as part of their party meetings an organic fair so as consumers and entrepreneurs they can be active stakeholder in the organic alliance.
We envision by the end of the year that 12 monthly local organic fairs are organized regularly as a distribution and business linkages and of course advocacy platform for the Organic Alliance and the NO to GMO coalition are set-up to reach a broader public.
3) The youth groups affiliated with the PK Metro Manila is convening every month a Green Lifestyle Festival focus among youth people at the Organic Center in AANI Herbal Garden. In all these thematic festivals, a mainstay topic will be on organic and NO to GMO issues.
Finally, PK formations also co-organizing this year's national event for the World Social Forum (WSF) where there is a peoples' camp where the sustainable agriculture and No to GMO networks can also have venues to promote to the public their respective campaigns. The global week of action for the WSF runs from January 22 to 26, with The Peoples' Camp on the last day.
The Organic Alliance utilizes as its information sharing mechanism the following radio programs: a)
Pinoy Agri Kalikasan Kalusugan, 2-3 p.m. Sundays at DZRB Radio ng Bayan 738 kHz AM, b)
Bagong Agrikultura: Agrikulturang Kay Ganda 4-5 a.m. Sundays at DZME 1530 kHz AM, c)
Mag-Organic Tayo! School on the Air every Sunday 5-6 a.m. at DZME, and d)
Kabalikat sa Kalikasan every Sunday, 5-6 a.m., also over DZME.
-- SLISH Network News
Email:
roy@partidokalikasan.org back to top.
THE STRENGTHENING peso has resulted in a sharp cut in overseas Filipino workers’ (OFWs) incomes, costing them over P700 per $100 remitted, the independent think-tank IBON Foundation revealed recently. This will be one of the issues that will be discussed at the IBON Yearend Birdtalk on January 14 at the Balay Kalinaw in the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman, Quezon City. (The media is cordially invited to attend the press briefing on January 15 at the IBON Bookshop.) In an emailed bulletin received by SLISH Network News, the 30-year-old IBON revealed that from January to December 2007, the exchange rate of the peso to the dollar has strengthened by almost fifteen percent. This means that over the period, the family of an OFW who remitted $100 in January was able to exchange it for P4,891. By December this had fallen to P4,174 or a decline of P717. Such a reduction is especially painful given the increasing prices of basic goods and services in the country, IBON said. For example, from January to November 2007 the cost of an 11-kg liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder increased by P76.94 to almost P600. Manila Water also recently implemented a rate hike that will cost consumers who consume 30 cubic meters per month an additional P60 on their bills. “Overseas workers were forced to tighten their belts and remit more of their income to make up for the lost value,” said IBON research head Sonny Africa. Monthly remittances grew 26% from P1.1 billion in January to P1.4 billion in October.
The strengthening peso, with its effect on OFWs’
incomes, reveals the folly of the
government’s labor export policy and
its continuing reliance on migrant workers’
remittances. -- SLISH Network News For details, please call IBON at tel. (02) 927-7059 or 927-6986. back to top.
COMING SOON in 2008 is a world-class animated film produced, directed and voiced by Filipinos – Urduja. The trailer of Urduja was shown in theaters in the recent Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) is an animated feature film produced by Tony Tuviera's APT Entertainment with actor-producer Vic Sotto. According to GoodNews Pilipinas, this trendsetting film boasts a star-studded voice cast that includes Asia’s songbird Regine Velasquez who lends her voice to the title role of Urduja, with Cesar Montano as the male lead Limhong. Also in the top flight cast are Eddie Garcia, Jay Manalo, Michael V, Allan K, Ruby Rodriguez and Johnny Delgado. Movie columnists and viewers who saw the teaser said the animation of Urduja is very impressive and can be compared to foreign animated films of Disney or Dreamworks. It only goes to show that we are no longer behind when it comes to Hollywood animated features because we have brilliant Filipino animators who can deliver work that is comparable, if not better, than Hollywood productions. This proves that we are no longer behind foreign studios when it comes to CGI animation as we have brilliant Filipino animators who can rival the work of Hollywood productions. We have had local animated films before like Isko and Panday, but the animation work there were definitely not as good compared to the kind of animation employed in Urduja, in which the producer obviously left no stone unturned to make sure it gets the best local resources without consideration of the budget. (Actually, SLISH Network News sources within the National Economic Protectionism Association or NEPA have informed us that Filipino animators have long been working in big numbers with Disney and Dreamworks and Filipino illustrators have long been behind the superb artistry of American comic books produced by both Marvel and DC! -- Editor) What’s nice about Urduja is it’s about a homegrown character, a local heroine who is one of the originators of woman empowerment in our rich historical past. The legendary Princess Urduja ancient accounts say, was a 14th century woman ruler of the dynastic Kingdom of Tawalisi in Pangasinan, a vast area lying by the shores of the Lingayen Gulf and the China Sea. Known far and wide, Princess Urduja was famous for leading a retinue of woman warriors who were skilled fighters and equestrians. They developed a high art of warfare to preserve their political state. "These womenfolk took to the battlefields because the male population was depleted by the series of wars which came with the rise and prominence of the Shri-Visayan Empire in the sixth to the 13th centuries," the accounts said. Strong and masculine physique, they were called kinalakian or Amazons. Good News Pilipinas also reported that Filipino performer Vincent Bueno is in the grand finals of a major TV musical competition in Austria titled Musical! Die Show (Musical! The Show). Bueno, a 21-year-old Filipino performer, has made headlines of major dailies and magazines in Austria, as the winner of the finals in this Broadway-inspired musical competition will be known this weekend. Bueno is a crowd favorite in the contest. Having to contend with 400 other aspirants, the had to crawl himself out of the equally talented crowd through talent, sheer determination, and loads of luck. His first appearance took place during the first round of the elimination last November 23, 2007. Vincent impressed the televiewers with his version of the Broadway opus, Hair. The winner is determined through text votes or phone-ins.
Compared to its Western and Asian talent show counterparts,
Musical! Die Show, is considered more strenuous and challenging owing to its theater leanings. To qualify and compete, contestants are required to act and sing a la Broadway. A contestant, however, is still very much required to blend his or her own style and innovation to break the stereotyped theatrics of stage performance without sacrificing quality.
to know more about Good News Pilipinas, open http://www.goodnewspilipinas.com -- SLISH Network News back to top.
THE SANIBLAKAS Infoshare team of SanibLakas-Pilipinas is refining and finalizing plans for the expansion of the SLiSH News network beginning immediately. “We are now currently expanding the network’s reach in terms of the number of e-mail addresses we are regularly sending our dispatches to, as well as the core team for editing and reportage,” according to Ed Aurelio C. Reyes, SanibLakas executive director and SLiSH acting editor and overall coordinator. Reyes added that the entire system will be in place and working by the time he transfers his personal base to a medium-sized municipality outside Metro Manila after the midyear. The teamworking system of the editorial desk will be operational by Ferbruary, and the screening, training and actual work of volunteer contributors from various advocacy networks and institutions as well as the various areas of the archipelago will start by early March. A system of accrediting information officers of certain POs and NGOs as dependable information contributors will also be started shortly. As for output, the weekly dispatches will soon include an issue editorial, a rotational column and a weekly satirical column in "Taglish." Arrangements are now ongoing for a newscast version to be carried by advocacy radio programs. The monthly Kamayan para sa Kalikasan forum will also carry as a "live newscast" the environment-related items of the previous weekly dispatches. The SLiSH Network News orientational document, including its mandate, principles and editorial policies, will be submitted for approval by the SanibLakas Board of Trustees on January 19. The SL BOT will be convened by newly-elected President Jun Mendoza in its first-quarter meeting on that day.
Press releases have started to be received, as well as some feedback
and inquiries, via
the e-mail address
sanib.info@yahoo.com.
back to top.
Dispatch No. 1 Saturday, January 5, 2008
HEADLINERS... (click at blue dot to read story)
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THE National Economic Protectionism Association (NEPA) issued two days ago its New Year message on the prospects of the Philippine economy in 2008. The message was issued by NEPA's lead economist, Dr. Ernesto R. Gonzales, Ph.D., who was recently designated NEPA spokesperson by the organization's incumbent president, Faustino 'Jun' Mendoza, Jr., Meanwhile, Mendoza is leading the other incumbent officers of the nationalist organization in preparing for its General Assembly on Wednesday, January 23, the 109th anniversary of the inauguration of the Malolos Republic.
In a one-page statement uploaded in the NEPA
website and also circulated among
many e-mail groups, Dr. Gonzales said the people have no reason to
expect an economic
Dr Gonzales, who was a Fellow of the London School of Economics (LSE) during AY 2004-05; Chairman of the Economics Section of the National Research Council of the Philippines (NCRP) in 2003-04; a member of the Governing Council, Philippine Social Science Council (PSSC) in 2003-04; Director of the Social Research Center of the Pontifical University of Sto. Tomas, in 2000-2007; and chairman (earlier the founding secretary-general) of the Lambat-Liwanag Network of Centers for Empowering Paradigms, also said that "If no drastic economic changes will be effected outside the walls of both the Neo-classicals and the Marxian social analysis, then, we will now have to take the place of Bangladesh as the poorest nation in Asia today." In the NEPA statement, he listed four items as necessary changes in the economic policy in this country to make an upturn possible," namely: · Transition of policy of the Government from level of survival and sustenance to that of living wages, including the eradication of labor contractualization. · Passage and implementation of pro-environment economic policies to protect the ecology based communities in the Philippines, like fishing villages, upland tribal societies, and so forth. · Repeal of the consumption-based value added tax law in favor of the production- and wealth-based system of taxation. · Repeal of the anti-Filipino economics policies of the Republic of the Philippines. The statement concluded that: "We have no reason to expect any which clique within the power elite to pursue or even willingly allow these changes. In this context, really sincere and able leadership has still to emerge from the ranks of the citizenry in grassroots communities and organizations all over the country to galvanize the people to undertake all the necessary constructive activities and fiscalizing functions to revive the noble bayanihan-type interlinkages, cushion the effects of the above-explained policies, and eventually push the Philippine to real recovery and progress. Such prospects stand to be only reason for us to celebrate the coming of the New Year."
Meanwhile, incumbent NEPA Jun Mendoza, who was recently elected
as new SanibLakas president
(see
related story elsewhere in this dispatch),
is currently leading the other officers in preparing
for the 73-year-old organization's General Assembly on January
23, from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Merced Bakehouse in Quezon City. He announced that elections will be held for the
leadership team that would usher in NEPA's Diamond Anniversary in
November 2009.
To read the full statement in the NEPA website, please click here . Visit also the NEPA website. Please click here . back to top.
A WHOLE-DAY Conference on Education for Sustainable Development will be held on Tuesday, January 8, at the Miriam College in Loyola Heights, Quezon City, "The world celebrates the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) and since the formal education sector serves as an important implementer, it is important that educators gain more awareness and appreciation of their role in spreading its principles," said Dr. Donna Paz Reyes, Ph.D., Executive Director of Miriam's Environment Studies Institute (ESI) in an e-mailed invitation received by SanibLakas InfoShare News. The conference will be held at the Paz Adriano Hall, Miriam College campus along Katipunan Rd.
Among the invited
speakers and presentors listed for the 8-5 affair are: Prof. John
Fien of the Royal Melbourne (Australia) Institute of Technology (RMIT),
who will deliver the keynote address ; Sen. Pia Cayetano,
Chairperson of the Senate Committee on the Environment; Dr. Donna
Reyes and Dr. Grace Aguiling-Dalisay of Miriam College; Cathy Wagg,
Mary Johnson, Dr. Ian Thomas, Kate Pears, J.
Roberto Guevara, Ph.D.
and Katelyn Samson of RMIT; Ms. Aurora de Dios of Women and Gender Institute; Marlea P. Munez of WISE Inc.; Mae Lamorena of Center for Peace Education; Dr. Olga Nunera of Mindanao State University, Iligan City; Fay Lea Patria Larraya of Bicol University; Elizabeth Roxas of International Association of Women in Radio and Television,
Philippines; Mr. Carlo Garcia of INSA; By Dr. Cely S.
Binoya of Camarines Sur State Agricultural College; Ms. Elen Basug of the Environment Management Bureau of the DENR; Dr. Ruth Guzman of
the Philippine Association of Tertiary Level Educational Institutions in
Environmental Protection and Management; and Dr. Angelina Galang of the Miriam ESI,
Environmental Education Network of the Philippines, and the Green
Convergence for Safe Food, Healthy Environment and Sustainable
Economy. For further details please contact Mathel Valencia, SWARRM project assistant, at 0906-3578002back to top.
THE RECENT International Conference on Climate Change held in Bali, Indonesia last December will be given a rear-view-mirror look by Filipino delegates and the heavy workload up ahead for mitigating and adapting to the effects of global warming will be the focus of discussions during the 215th monthly session of Kamayan para sa Kalikasan on Third Friday, January 18 at its regular venue, Kamayan-EDSA. Invited to be resource speakers at the forum is Marie Marciano, president of Mother Earth Foundation and president-on-leave of Sanib-lakas ng Inang Kalikasan (SALIKA), and other government and civil society participants from Bali who came from the Philippines. Forum organizers have started inviting the panel speakers even as they are still seeking suggestions from the environment conservation networks on who else ought to be invited. Kamayan para sa Kalikasan is a monthly midday forum co-convened by Clear Communicators for the Environment (CLEAR) and SALIKA, with full sponsorship from Kamayan all throughout the almost 18 years since it started in March 1990. It is regularly held on the third Friday of every month from 10:30am to 2 pm. It runs through three portions: in the first portion the panel speakers and the moderators are the ones who make presentations and exchange views; during the second portion, the cordless mikes make the round to get the views and questions of the forum participants; and the last portion is the time for the panel members to answer questions, comment on opinions, engage one another in argumentations and affirmations, and closing remarks, before the moderators make their syntheses and close the session. With Marciano in the panel, the function of lead moderator will be taken over by forum lead organizer Ding Reyes of CLEAR, Pamayanang SanibLakas ng Pilipinas and World Environment Day-Philippines.
The forum project is scheduled to celebrate its
18th anniversary during the March session, which will be held on
March 28, the fourth Friday, because the third Friday, March 21,
falls on Good Friday.
back to top.
Malacañang on Wednesday brimmed with confidence that the
Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) would
eventually be ratified by the Senate even if it would cost the
government up to P4.75 billion in the first year of the accord’s
implementation alone. Source: GMANews.TV, as shared via e-mail by Manny Calonzo of the Eco-Waste Coalition. [For essential info on JPEPA, please open the Magkaisa-Junk JPEPA blogspot by clicking here .]
A LIVINGLibrary-Museum
in every barangay. This is the 'Aklatang Buháy' dream
project about to be launched by the Kaisahan sa Kamalayan sa
Kasaysayan (Kamalaysayan) which is currently preparing the final
details on the nationwide project it decided on in its Annual
Assembly last July. The concept was proposed in that meeting by
Kamalaysayan's executive vice president Jose Eduardo D. Velasquez,
who underscored the need for the information technology to be
employed at the grassroots with the active participation of the
players who create a people's history. back to top.
THE SanibLakas
Foundation's general assembly held last November elected a half the
members of its new Board of Trustees, and the Board subsequently
elected Faustino G. Mendoza of the National Economic Protectionism
Association as its new President. He was earlier the vice
president. Five trustees were elected to serve for two years (CYs 2008 and 2009). Elected as newcomers were Francis Comendador (who was subsequently voted Vice President) and Jocelyn Manzo (Treasurer). Three were reelected: Mila R. Garcia; Joel Tapia (who became Auditor), and Jose Eduardo D. Velasquez. Mendoza succeeds Leandro 'Roy' Alvarez, who has automatically remained in the Board as immediate past President. The other Board members who still have one more year to serve in their two-year term are Marie R. Marciano; Sylvia de Guzman, Fernando 'Nanding' Josef, Joel Tapia (auditor). Voted alternate Board members for a one-year term were Candelario Verzosa, Jr., and Orlan Tiu de Guzman. Pamayanang SanibLakas members Norma M. Geronimo (ACES), Gregorio V. Bituin, Jr., (SALIKA) and Jollie Lais (NEPA) served as election facilitators.
Ed Aurelio 'Ding' Reyes remains
as executive director of the foundation and secretary-general of Pamayanang SanibLakas.
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he
coast of Albay province in the Bicol region. The bishop, who
had earlier appointed chairman of the fact-finding commission
formed to study fully the mine tailings spill from Lafayette's
operations, said the new Environment and Natural Resources Sec.
Joselito Atienza should now be ordered to promptly correct the
"terrible Reyes negligence" on the issue of disastrous pollution by
LaFfayette of the waters around Rapu-rapu. The prelate was referring
to Atienza's predecessor at DENR, Angelo Reyes, who has since been
transferred to the energy department.
but sharply criticized the recent
pronouncements of Senator Manuel "Mar" Roxas III that have
favored a Senate ratification of the Japan-Philippines Economic
Partnership Agreement (JPEPA). 
pushing
for Senate approval of the agreement, despite the compelling
evidence and legal, constitutional, and policy arguments presented
against it, and the utter inability of the government panel to
defend it. I am particularly concerned about the toxic waste issue,
which sparked the entire controversy in the first place, but which
appears to have been all but addressed."
and will power, constantly increase their
numbers as active stakeholders, and keep closely interlinked and
synergized among themselves. This calls for enough concern for
themselves and their fellowmen, and enough political will to carry
out commitments and plans made, despite the various limitations and
difficulties. “Bayanihan requires individual strengths willingly
applied and synergized.”
reestablish its roots among community-based stakeholders,” NEPA Board of Directors member Jose Eduardo Velasquez told
SLiSH
Network News in an interview. “A review of NEPA’s history would reeveal unmistakable signs of lineage from Katipunan ethics of tangkilikan and some of Bonifacio’s writings, notably his ‘Katungkulang Gagawin ng mga Anak ng Bayan’ and ‘Ang Dapat Mabatid ng mga Tagalog,’ said Velasquez, who is also the evecutive vice chairman of the Kaisahan sa Kamalayan sa Kasaysayan (Kamalaysayan). He is scheduled to speak on this and related topics during the forthcoming assembly.
stakeholdership of the labor sector in a progressive economy effectively controlled by Filipinos. Dr. Sibal is the current dean of the University of the Philippines School of Labor and Industrial Relations (UP-SOLAIR).
upturn that could be really felt by the people. "
At the same event, the
first-ever assembly the foundation held jointly with its offspring
organization called Pamayanang SanibLakas ng Pilipinas, the torch of
pursuing what used to be the foundation's own program thrusts and
programs was passed on to the larger organization, a community of
groups that were earlier created, or else embraced in, by the SanibLakas Foundation as active partners for advancing those efforts. (see listing
of these groups in the opening page of
