JPEPA IS EVEN WORSE THEN ZTE-NBN BEAL!

Ester Perez de Tagle, Founding Chair, Concerned Citizens Against Pollution (COCAP)

"WHILE the ZTE national broadband network (NBN) deal is rocking the nation, an even more damaging shocker is speeding past public notice towards implementation. The Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) is on its way to ratification unless more senators give it closer scrutiny.

          Just like the ZTE-NBN deal, the JPEPA was negotiated in secrecy and signed abroad, away from the glare of Philippine media. A case had to be filed in court before a copy of the contract was released to the public.

          But worse, the JPEPA is a comprehensive “mega-treaty” with serious adverse impacts on our country’s sovereignty and health, economy, environment and social well-being. The NBN involves only the loss of taxpayers’ money to corruption; the JPEPA involves the loss of our sovereignty as a people, and of our food and water security—the very sources of our people’s survival and livelihood. What was paid for this act of high treason?

          During the Senate hearings, the senators berated the JPEPA panel for incompetence in coming up with an unacceptable and indefensible bilateral agreement. Shouldn’t the JPEPA then have been rejected outright or renegotiated, instead of getting a “band-aid” called “side agreement”? If challenged before an international court, could this side agreement stand against an intact main agreement signed by two heads of state and ratified by the legislatures of both countries?

          Moreover, treaties under Philippine jurisdiction are part of Philippine law and would have the effect of overriding previous contrary legislation. Besides, the side agreement does not correct all the serious problems spawned by the one-sided agreement. The Japanese placed many reservations or exemptions to the JPEPA, to protect their interests—which our panel miserably failed to do for ours.

          For example, the Japanese could fish in our waters while we could not fish in theirs. Their factory ships, usually sailing in fleets, could, with their superior equipment, catch much more fish than our fishermen could; and they could process and pack their catch on site, ready for international export—even to compete with our fish products in our local markets. Because of the economy of scale, their products would be cheaper. So who would buy Philippine products?

          Article 93 bans the Philippines from imposing technology transfer and from hiring a given level of Filipino executives or labor—prohibitions not found in Japan’s EPAs with other countries. So why are we being herded into following these countries by ratifying our outrageous EPA with Japan? The Philippines is internationally cited as a biodiversity superstar, richer in natural resources than those other countries. Instead of investing in people development to enable our people to protect, nurture and wisely use our precious resources for the social and sustainable economic development of our country, why is the leadership selling our superstar Inang Bayan as a prostitute?

ESTER V. PEREZ DE TAGLE,
founding chair, Concerned Citizens against Pollution (COCAP)

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ISANG BUKAS NA LIHAM SA MGA SENADOR: TANGGIHAN ANG MAPAMINSALANG JPEPA!

Sanib-Lakas ng Inang Kalikasan (SALIKA)

"KUNG alam na pala ni GMA na depektibo ang ZTE-NBN deal, bakit itinuloy pa niyang mapirmahan ito?" Tanong ito ng mga senador at marami pang ibang opisyal at mamamayan, matapos aminin ng ale sa Malacanang na alam na raw niyang palpak ang kasunduang iyon bago pa siya lumipad patungong China para saksihan pa ang pirmahan.

          Ngayon, kayo naman po bang mga senador ay gagaya sa kanya? Ira-ratify po ba ninyo ang JPEPA na noong una'y pakubling pinirmahan ni GMA matapos ang nakakubli ring negosasyon? Kayo po ba ay magpapakatotoo, o tutulad sa kanya at magmamaang-maangan, magbubulag-bulagan at magbibingi-bingihan din? Dumadalangin po kaming sana po ay huwag naman!

          Lalo na't ang Ale sa Palasyo ay nagkakamali na nga sa bayan, huwag naman na sanang tularan o palalain pa ng karamihan sa inyong mga miyembro ng Senado ang malubhang kalagayan ng Pilipinas, sa pamamagitan ng pagsang-ayon sa tiyak na makapipinsalang tratadong JPEPA.

          Panahon na pong makamit ng bayan ang tunay na pagbabago tungo sa higit na makabubuti sa pangangalaga at pamamahala ng ating kalikasan at kapaligiran. Alam natin na ito ay mag-uugat sa kakayahang magsuri at katapatan sa bayan ng mga halal na pinunong nararapat kumilatis at humarang sa mga panukalang tratadong makaaagrabyado sa ating bansa.

          Malaki po ang nagagawa ninyo sa pagbunyag ng katotohanan, pagwasto sa mga pagkakamali at pagpigil sa mga katiwalaan sa pamahalaan. Subalit higit sa lahat, ang pinakamabuti ninyong magagampanan pa sa ngayon ay ang lubos na pagtatanggol sa karapatan at likas na yaman ng ating bayan, sa pamamagitan ng mahigpit na pagtutol at pagbabasura sa tratadong JPEPA!

          Kaya ngayon pa lamang, inaabangan na ng taongbayan ang gagawin ng mga bida at kontra-bidang senador. Ang mga susunod pang kabanata ng nabubuong kasaysayan ng bansa ay nasa mga kamay po ng kasalukuyang Senado ng Pilipinas.

          Kung alam na po ninyo ang mga depekto ng panukalang tratado, matatag at mariin na sana ninyong tanggihan ito. Kung hindi pa ninyo alam, sana po ay pakibasang muli nang mas maingat ang mga dokumentong noon pa ihinapag ng mga tumututol sa tratado sa mga pagdinig na idinaos ng Senado ukol dito.

          "Ano? Alam na nga nilang depektibo ay kanila pa ring...?"

          "Ano??? Hanggang ngayon pala ay di pa rin nila alam???"

          Sana po ay walang magtatanong ng alinman sa mga tanong na ganito tungkol sa iyo, tungkol sa inyong mga myembro ng Senado.

          Sa ngalan po ng buong pamunuan ng Sanib-Lakas ng Inang Kalikasan (SALIKA),

          Lubos pong gumagalang at nagpapasalamat,

          (Sgd..) George O. Dadivas
          Tagapagsalita, SALIKA

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WILL THE SENATORS GIVE IN PEACE WHAT JAPAN HAD FAILED TO WIN IN WAR?

Kaisahan sa Kamalayan sa Kasaysayan (KAMALAYSAYAN)

"Kamalaysayan offers this material for everyone who ought to know of Japan's conquering spree of past centuries using military might, as recounted by Kamalaysayan Chairperson Prof. Bernard Karganilla in his recent regular column in Malaya.  We could almost hear cries of 'Banzai!!!' when we imagine the assault scenes.

          Present-day Filipinos ought to be able to connect this with Japan's change of general tack in pursuing its dream for a bigger empire, a "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere' effectively ruled by the corporate hirohitos of contemporary Tokyo through national governments in the region acting as japanese economic agents under pro-Japan economic partnership agreements like the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (and Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement, Japan-Singapore Partnership Agreement, etcetera...)

          JPEPA will soon be subjected to a ratification vote by the Philippine Senate. Unless enough senators firmly decide to be patriots for present and future generations of Filipinos, the pro-Japan collaborators in the Senate will muster enough votes to ratify--Banzai!!!!! JPEPA as a treaty. ( Kamalaysayan has issued a statement on this threat. Please read, reread, and/or pass on to many other Filipinos here and overseas this article. (see also the major arguments against jpepa in: http://junkjpepa.blogspot.com.)

          As citizens or as citizen groups, you may also send emails to the senators, especially those you had voted for, to ask that they vote according to their consciences and the best wisdom they could muster, to vote more as statesmen than as politicians.

          Through its relevant committees, the Senate conducted public hearings on JPEPA, and officially received the well-researched and well-documented presentations of the representatives of the Magkaisa-Junk JPEPA coalition and other oppositors to JPEPA's ratification. We would soon know well if the word "hearings" have any connection to the words "listening" and "heeding." We would soon find out, and note fully well -- for posterity, for collective memory, for history -- which senators will ape a powerful lady politician in knowing well in advance the harmful consequences of this treaty and vote, anyway, to ratify-banzai!!! ...and let japan have the trophy she had ultimately failed to win in war: an empire across her long-coveted "greater east asia co-prosperity sphere."

          Prof. Ed Aurelio C. Reyes
          Lead Founder and Spokesman
          Kamalaysayan

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WHY ARE WE SELLING OUR BEAUTIFUL LAND?

GREEN CONVERGENCE for Safe Food, Healthy Environment and Sustainable Economy

ON THE EVE of the 20th anniversary of the landmark Pastoral Letter on Ecology, What is Happening to Our Beautiful Land? which was issued by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines on January 29, 1988, the GREEN CONVERGENCE for Safe Food, Healthy Environment, and Sustainable Economy sounds a clarion call for action on the deepening environmental and humanitarian crisis that our nation and the world face today. At present, poverty remains high as the economic disparity is accompanied by polluted air, unproductive land, and lack of safe drinking water. Our forest, river, coastal and marine ecosystems have been severely degraded and with them the nourishment and livelihood that they yield. The World Bank Study Philippine Environment Monitor 2004 reported that the Philippines loses some $2 billion annually due to environmental degradation — excluding social cost and diminished quality of life.     
 

The environmental crisis is worse than terrorism, for as we destroy the biosphere we bring down ourselves with it. Today our planet grapples with the reality of global warming and its attendant phenomenon, climate change. Although it is a planetary problem, we too suffer and will suffer from the effects of global warming. It is predicted that all 16 regions of the Philippines and its 20 provinces and more than 700 municipalities will be affected by the thermal expansion of the oceans and the melting of ice in the Arctic and the Antarctic.     

Although our contribution to global warming may be miniscule compared to that of the wealthy countries that emit most of the greenhouse gasses through their extravagant use of fossil fuels, our activities have resulted in extensive local problems. Deforestation which decreases the “sinks” that absorb carbon dioxide, has caused the diminution of our rich biodiversity, erosion of our topsoil needed for agriculture, destruction of aquifers and the water-holding capacity of our soils, siltation of our rivers, suffocation of coral reefs and seagrasses. Hundreds of species of flora and fauna critical for food and medical drugs have disappeared. Water sources have dried up, while floods have wiped out lives and livelihood.     

The call of our good bishops 20 years ago was based on the warning of scientists that human systems were wreaking havoc the Earth’s systems. Since then, ecological awareness has spread fast and now our understanding of the causes and effects of human greed and arrogance should guide our courses of action. Therefore, it is most frustrating that certain programs of the government ignore the lessons that nature has been teaching us. In this paper we focus on the most pressing issues --- mining, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), waste and pollution, and the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).     

Mining.  Mining, which is the government's flagship industry, has exacerbated deforestation on a grand scale. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared the Philippines open for business at an international mining conference in 2005, so soon after the Quezon-Aurora tragedy wrought by forest denudation. She intends to tap all 9 million hectares of the country's mineralized lands, almost a third of the country's total land area. Foreign investors are enticed with 100-percent repatriation of all profits, equipment, and investments; tax holidays; priority access to vital water resources; removal of all obstacles.      

Yet, mining not only destroys forests but also poisons the land, the seas and waters and the food that dwell therein. There is well-documented damage at several mining sites—mine spills, tailing spills of foreign-owned high-tech mining companies. Mining is not for archipelagic countries like the Philippines whose small size and configuration make their ecosystems very vulnerable to change. Mining indeed brings only public pain and private gain.     

We should instead develop environmentally benign activities like ecological agro-forestry, ecotourism, and pharmaceutical industries that will maximize benefits from our biodiversity but which will require the nurturance of our ecosystems. We should focus on developing our indigenous sources of renewable energy. While our country uses around 8, 000 megawatts (MW) of energy, our wind potential is 70, 000 MW. While we have developed only 5 of our 28 geothermal sites, our geothermal wells already provide around 18% of our energy needs.     

GMOs.  GMOs are the ultimate in human arrogance. It changes the DNA, the genes, the very nature of organisms. Introduction of alien genes poses grave danger to the balance of nature and again, the Philippines ’ priceless biodiversity. Our government has pushed this technology and the commercialization of GMOs even if they have not been proven safe. In fact, GMOs have been shown to cause allergies, prompting the recall of certain products in the United States . They have caused the die-off of insect populations. In test animals they have manifested toxicity to the liver and kidneys, affected immune systems and stunted growth. Since GMOs require sophisticated and expensive technology to produce, only rich countries can produce them. If they patent the seeds, our farmers will be at the mercy of transnational companies forever once these alien materials are adopted.     

Instead of this risky technology, let us support organic agriculture that will provide our food needs, while nurturing the soil for future generations.     

Waste and Pollution. Consumer assaults on nature have become the bane of the materialistic and throw-away culture that many Filipinos have adopted. Superfluous consumption devours our dwindling resource base, disfigures the earth with mines and dumps, while generating garbage, greenhouse gases, and toxins at every step of the consumption trail. As our people fall victim to crass consumerism, we see our society getting addicted to plastic bags and disposables, messing up our habitat, trashing our rivers and seas, leaving a legacy of contaminated dumpsites that threaten public health and the safety of our precious air, water and food supply. The dumps that continue to thrive despite the ban on dumping are gaping wounds of a nation stinking with litter and garbage. We must close and heal these wounds. And yet, as the dumps burst at the seams, the authorities scuttle to find new sacrificial sites. The tragic Payatas garbage slide in July 2000 and the chronic garbage disposal crisis prove that the haul-and-dump system of waste management is simply not working. Neither will the construction of so-called sanitary landfills provide the panacea to the waste crisis. They are a huge strain on the budget, a scourge on host communities and wildlife, and a curse on the climate.      

JPEPA. The Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) has been shown to be flawed constitutionally, legally, environmentally and economically. If ratified, it will allow Japan ’s municipal, toxic, and nuclear wastes to be dumped in our country with zero tariff. We would accord the Japanese rights which should be reserved only for Filipino nationals, e.g., we would allow the Japanese to fish in our waters when our fish supply has already gone down precariously. With Japanese “factory ships” that can capture and process 150 tons of frozen tuna a day, the catch could reach P43.65 billion a year-- but not for Filipinos! The JPEPA goes against our laws and would prevent us from enacting future laws to correct the treaty’s flaws. In a stroke of the senators’ pens, the ratification of this treaty would surrender our sovereignty without a single shot being fired because the government dreams of the trade and investment that Japan will pour into the country supposedly with JPEPA.      

We must remember what all wise businessmen know: that investment will come if the investment climate--peace, order, transparency--is good, with or without a treaty. We should therefore concentrate on eradicating corruption and other social ills instead of handing, on a silver platter our natural resources on which our basic survival rests. Other countries, including Japan , will respect us more if we kept our dignity as a nation.

What is happening to our beautiful land is not the act nor the desire of God. They have been caused by acts of human beings. We must therefore go back to human beings for their solution –go to ordinary citizens who have extraordinary powers when united to demand an environment that is healthy and safe. With that conviction, we echo what the late Cardinal Sin said in one of his homilies: “The intimate relationship between man and all of material creation is called the ecological system. A system whose delicate balance man, unfortunately, can disrupt. It is, therefore, imperative that we raise our consciousness to higher levels to realize the limits and opportunities of the structure and dynamics of this system. The wise management of the eco-system is possible only with technical competence grounded on a committed belief that all creation is sacred and must be accorded our highest respect.”

We reiterate the challenge which the bishops posed 20 years ago—a shift from exploitative, short-sighted economic growth towards a paradigm that nurtures and provides safe food, health environment, and sustainable economy. They said: “We ask the government not to pursue short-term economic gains at the expense of long-term ecological damage.” Let us return to our role as keepers of God’s garden, the garden that can yield the needs of all but is being wrecked by human ignorance, self-centeredness, greed, and arrogance. God has blessed us with the bounty of His creation; let us embrace our responsibility as stewards of that creation, for our own sake and of generations to come.

Dr. Angelina P. Galang
Coordinator, GREEN CONVERGENCE
( Mobile Number: 0917 8538841; Email address: agalang@mc.edu.ph)

January 28, 2008

GREEN CONVERGENCE
for Safe Food, Healthy Environment and Sustainable Economy

The GREEN CONVERGENCE includes many organizations and the following networks: Magkaisa Junk JPEPA (MJJ) Coalition, Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM), No to GMOs Coalition, Anti-Laiban Campaign, EcoWaste Coalition, Philippine Federation for Environmental Concerns (FPEC), Environmental Education Network of the Philippines (EENP), and Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation Commission (JPICC) - Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP).     

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NO VOTE TO THE  JPEPA

Senator M.A. Madrigal

The JPEPA is the first bilateral agreement that the Philippines has entered into since the 1946 Parity Right Agreement with the United States. As if history is to repeat itself, the passage of the JPEPA is being spearheaded by the scion of the former president who agreed to the parity rights in 1946.

      A treaty that will give undue favor to foreign nationals at the expense of the Filipino people does not merit senate ratification. Three issues stand out against the JPEPA: legal, economic and environmental. I shall stand to defend the rights of our people. I shall not acquiesce to a treaty that undermines the sovereignty of the republic, sponsors the plunder of foreign and local exploiters, and the abuse and destruction of the environment.

      The Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement violates the constitution and other Philippine laws. It restricts future legislation and policy space. It unilaterally eliminates tariffs, thus depriving congress of its inherent power to set tariffs as part of national policy. It restricts legislative flexibility with respect to investment and surrenders economic rights constitutionally vested exclusively to Filipino citizens.

      It has detrimental implications on the Philippine economy. It projects a Php 9 billion worth of tax revenue losses annually because of liberalization. It will only facilitate the re-exportation of electronic and industrial imports from Japan and the accrual of tariff reduction benefits to big foreign and transnational agri-business enterprises to the detriment of local peasants who will not be able to take advantage of supposed export opportunities due to lack of government support. The JPEPA prejudices the safety, health and well-being of the Filipinos. It allows the dumping of Japan’s toxic and hazardous wastes to the Philippines misrepresented as “recyclable” or “with recyclable content” at preferential 0% tariff rate.

      It is much easier to go downhill than up. But I am not up to take the easy road. I have always been unequivocal on my stance on matters I am duty-bound, as a Senator of the Republic, to decide on. I was entrusted with the position to uphold our economic sovereignty and national patrimony. I am not about to sell our countrymen by concurring to this lopsided agreement. I would rather be an anonymous face in the crowd than dishonor my clan and be judged by history as the conspirator who concurred to the plunder of the Philippines.

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‘BANZAI, BAYONG!’-- Compel JPEPA Collaborators to Hide their Heads in Shame Hereafter!

(An Urgent Sense-of-History Message)

Kamalaysayan (Kaisahan sa Kamalayan sa Kasaysayan)

"BANZAI BA ‘YON???” We overheard an anti-JPEPA campaigner expressing his disbelief at what he had just heard, a colleague had just told him that the senator he had campaigned for in the last national elections had publicly announced support for the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) now expected to be ratified soon by the Philippine Senate. Humoring his incredulous friend, who had brought back the term “Banzai!” from World War II vintage, as Japan’s battlecry, to associate it with the collaborators of Japan’s modern expansionist schemes, this time being undertaken by Japan’s economy, in the “Greater East Asia” region, the colleague blurted out, “Oo, Banzai na ‘yong!” Laughter followed. But deep down they could sense that Inang Bayan herself was weeping.

      While these two friends, very young Filipino patriots as they still are, could afford to enjoy a moment of levity over this matter, some supposed-statesmen in the Senate are planning to vote “yes” to ratify JPEPA according to Malacañang’s script and timetable. Filipino guerrillas who had lost life and limb fighting Japan’s literal and direct invasion and occupation of our country must now be turning in their graves – the Philippine Senate is now inclined to collaborate with the powerful descendants of the Kempeitai (Japan’s dreaded military police during that war) to achieve much more than what the military invasion and occupation of six decades ago souight and failed to win. Whether enough senators would refuse to help Japan in this second invasion attempt still remains to be seen and recorded in the ongoing writing of our history. We of Kamalaysayan (founded in 1991) are still hoping.

      Over six decades ago, American General Edward King carried out orders to surrender the Filipino combatants in Bataan to Lt. Gen. Homma Masaharu after Gen. Douglas MacArthur had been able to escape. MacArthur’s erstwhile human sandbags, the Filipino defenders, were subsequently “Death-Marched” to Tarlac.

      Now many of the senators are about to surrender this nation’s economy and patrimony, our sovereignty over legislation, our resources, our patrimony. They are apparently preparing to perform this sordid historical act for no logical reason other than to please their super-generous patroness at the Palace who presided over the proposed treaty’s secret negotiation phase about which the legislators, much less the people, were never consulted or even officially informed. As to why they will vote to ratify JPEPA, the current tension in the political atmosphere, especially around the proverbial can of worms called the “ZTE deal,” is perhaps providing all of us very valuable clues.

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

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

      And the Philippines can expect to be subsequently be pressured by other economic powers, who would be seeking equal treatment. They would demand to be granted the same lopsided arrangement. Therefore the consequences of JPEPA’s ratification would surely stretch well beyond the next few generations. Lawmakers should never allow themselves to be myopic or blind. Senators who are secretly wearing the “bayong” symbol of collaboration with Japan would better punch eyeholes large enough so as not to impair their historical perspective.

      We challenge all the senators, and not just the members of the Roxas and Defensor-Santiago committees of the Senate, to read and render wise judgment on the validity of the presentations made by the Magkaisa-Junk-JPEPA Coalition, No Deal, Task Force Food Security, National Economic Protectionism Association, and many other organizations through their representatives in the committee hearings. These presentations were all officially received and are therefore now part of the official committee records. These presentations now form part of the public record of the Republic. Permanently.

      The judgment of each senator, even if ill-informed and ill-advised) on each of these concerns should also be of public record. In voting for or against JPEPA, each senator must be compelled to “fully explain your vote” for the public record. The senators should be made to submit to the public, to the judgment of history, how they performed for or against the interest of the Republic of the Philippines and of the present and future generations of Filipinos. Let no senator hide both face and “honor” inside the “bayong” hood of treacherous cowardice, the way the “makapili” of old tried to do but failed anyway. Let no senator offer excuses, vagueness or equivocation and risk passing on the taint of treasonous guilt to their innocent descendants.

      The people shall surely compel all JPEPA collaborators themselves to hide their heads in shame. If this does not immediately follow a projected JPEPA ratification, it surely will in the years and generations to come.

For Prof. Bernard LM Karganilla, Kamalaysayan Chairman, and the rest of the Kamalaysayan leadership and member-organizations,

      (Sgd.) Ed Aurelio C. Reyes
      Lead Founder and Spokesman
      Kaisahan sa Kamalayan sa Kasaysayan (Kamalaysayan)
      Makati, Philippines, February 18, 2008

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Let us synergize our contributions to the collective search for the whole truth...                                Mag-ambag tayo ng sari-sariling pananaw upang mapayaman at mapasigla ang sama-sama nating paghahanap sa buong katotohanan...                                Let the force of logic prevail over the logic of force...                                Itaguyod ang Pambansang Talastasang mapagkaisa at patas!                                Magsanib-lakas, Pilipinas!