‘Give this peace process a chance’ – GPH panel
Manila, Apr. 19 – The Government of the Philippines (GPH) peace panel negotiating with the National Democratic Front (NDF) is calling for support of the peace process with the communist group despite issues of insincerity clouding the talks.
“Give this peace process a chance,” said GPH peace panel member Ednar Dayanghirang during a recent forum with around 40 masteral students in National Security Administration (MNSA) at the National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP) in Camp Aguinaldo.
Some MNSA students raised doubts on the negotiations because of alleged sincerity issues of the NDF in completing a political settlement with the government.
Dayanghirang, however, encouraged them to trust the peace process and stated that the political climate is favorable for the peace talks, adding that negotiations with the NDF “is not just dribbling the ball.”
“We are on track,” he said referring to current progress of talks with the NDF.
Meanwhile, government peace panel Senior Military Adviser BGen. Reynaldo Ordoñez likewise called for support for the negotiations saying “Maraming agam-agam sa peace process (there are many doubts on the peace process), but let’s give it a chance.”
“Let us pursue the peace process regardless of the sincerity of the other party. Dialogues open up opportunities which were not there,” continued Ordoñez.
Ordoñez further called for confidence in the government panel and its ability to achieve a political settlement with the NDF.
After seven years of impasse, peace talks between the GPH and the CPP-NPA-NDF formally resumed last February in Oslo, Norway where both parties agreed to establish an 18-month timeframe for the negotiations.
Currently, the GPH panel seeks inputs from stakeholders in drafting the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms (CASER), one of three key agreements that the panel seeks to complete with the National Democratic Front (NDF). The first CASER consultation is tentatively set on April 26 in Lacub, Abra. #
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan’s Holy Week Reflections for PNoy : “Behold the cross of the Filipino people and end their calvary ...”
April 19, 2011
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan’s Holy Week Reflections for PNoy :
“Behold the cross of the Filipino people and end their calvary ...”
The patriotic alliance of progressive forces Bagong Alyansang Makabayan in Southern Mindanao Region (Bayan-SMR) joins the entire Christendom in the observance of Lent.
The conditions faced by Filipino people are akin to Christ’s sufferings on the cross.
Runaway inflation, incessant oil price hikes, joblessness and lack of economic opportunities have nailed our people leaving them bereft in helpless agony. The yoke is passed from generation, and borne by majority of the Filipinos, the working class, the peasantry, the urban poor, the exploited professionals, youths and students, the national minorities, the women.
More of our countrymen are driven to find work abroad. They enter all sorts of jobs where they are most vulnerable. They are supposed to be contributing to the country’s productivity but they are out and away from home and their families because their country could not provide jobs and better opportunities.
Injustices abound. The disparity between the rich and the poor remained. The 20 richest earn the combined income of 52 million families in a year of work, while top corporations’ profits increase by many hundredfold.
Wages are oppressive while social services are left at the exploit of private hands. Budget for education, health and housing are very low compared to military spending and debt payment. The economy is falling. We have been ever dependent on export of cheap labor and raw materials, as all these benefit a few who get richer.
Filipino workers are overworked and underpaid without due benefits. Their tenure is largely unprotected and while they struggle to form unions so they can collectively bargain for their rights, they are instead met with repression.
The peasants slave themselves to work in lands they do not usually own and yet are ironically, most vulnerable to hunger. They find that the money they make could not keep pace with the steady increases in the price of goods and basic commodities. They can hardly buy their own tools and farm inputs that have been overpriced. As always, they live in danger of being driven out from their lands, by landlords, if not, by the large mining companies and plantations that lay claims on the land they till.
The urban poor lack employment, and if they are lucky, they work in jobs whose incomes are wanting and irregular. They squeeze themselves along the city’s sewers and slums. The toll of incessant oil price increases fall heavily on them, and they are mostly hungry, and homeless and in perpetual danger of cruel eviction.
The women are in oppressed economic conditions and have yet to break free from discrimination of their gender wrought by society’s male-dominated outlook. They suffer much from the crisis being the ones at the center of running the household. They have health needs specific to their gender that remain neglected by the government. They are not free and safe.
Our professionals are poorly paid and hit most by corruption and neglect in the bureaucracy while our youths and students, largely uncared for, are not given better chances of developing into becoming productive citizens. Many of them could not go to school because education is unaffordable. Poverty has pushed most of them to misery instead of growing healthy, productive and supposedly become the country’s reliable productive human resource.
The widening and deepening crisis manifested in the way people’s suffering have worsened behooves reflection, especially on the part of the President upon whom the greater responsibility to govern the nation’s life greatly rests.
We are asking Pnoy to heed the people’s call for meaningful change, and not to take the path of short-term, temporary solution that only waste people’s money.
We are tired of an economy tied to imperialist domination. We bear the burden of a country subjected to the role as providers of cheap raw materials and cheap labor to the economies of superpowers. We are tired of the fact that our people are overworked and exploited, that land and capital are in the monopoly of a few who benefit from the existing social order, and that government is run by them who comprised the few who own much of the wealth.
We urge Pnoy at this time of reflection to start lifting the cross of its people borne by reconsidering changes: the choice to carve the path of the country to national industrialization where government controls and develops our economy to serve the needs its own people rather than the dictates of the outside; the choice to uphold national sovereignty instead of supporting foreign control; the choice to ally yourself with the poor who voted for you instead of the ruling class and exacting accountability on them who committed crimes against the nation; the choice to uphold your people’s rights instead of intensifying repression of their political and human rights.
To decisively end the Filipinos’ calvary is your good chance of redemption.
BAYAN SOUTHERN MINDANAO REGION (BAYAN-SMR)
For Reference:
FRANCHIE BUHAYAN
Secretary General
Mobile Number: 09106671009
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan’s Holy Week Reflections for PNoy :
“Behold the cross of the Filipino people and end their calvary ...”
The patriotic alliance of progressive forces Bagong Alyansang Makabayan in Southern Mindanao Region (Bayan-SMR) joins the entire Christendom in the observance of Lent.
The conditions faced by Filipino people are akin to Christ’s sufferings on the cross.
Runaway inflation, incessant oil price hikes, joblessness and lack of economic opportunities have nailed our people leaving them bereft in helpless agony. The yoke is passed from generation, and borne by majority of the Filipinos, the working class, the peasantry, the urban poor, the exploited professionals, youths and students, the national minorities, the women.
More of our countrymen are driven to find work abroad. They enter all sorts of jobs where they are most vulnerable. They are supposed to be contributing to the country’s productivity but they are out and away from home and their families because their country could not provide jobs and better opportunities.
Injustices abound. The disparity between the rich and the poor remained. The 20 richest earn the combined income of 52 million families in a year of work, while top corporations’ profits increase by many hundredfold.
Wages are oppressive while social services are left at the exploit of private hands. Budget for education, health and housing are very low compared to military spending and debt payment. The economy is falling. We have been ever dependent on export of cheap labor and raw materials, as all these benefit a few who get richer.
Filipino workers are overworked and underpaid without due benefits. Their tenure is largely unprotected and while they struggle to form unions so they can collectively bargain for their rights, they are instead met with repression.
The peasants slave themselves to work in lands they do not usually own and yet are ironically, most vulnerable to hunger. They find that the money they make could not keep pace with the steady increases in the price of goods and basic commodities. They can hardly buy their own tools and farm inputs that have been overpriced. As always, they live in danger of being driven out from their lands, by landlords, if not, by the large mining companies and plantations that lay claims on the land they till.
The urban poor lack employment, and if they are lucky, they work in jobs whose incomes are wanting and irregular. They squeeze themselves along the city’s sewers and slums. The toll of incessant oil price increases fall heavily on them, and they are mostly hungry, and homeless and in perpetual danger of cruel eviction.
The women are in oppressed economic conditions and have yet to break free from discrimination of their gender wrought by society’s male-dominated outlook. They suffer much from the crisis being the ones at the center of running the household. They have health needs specific to their gender that remain neglected by the government. They are not free and safe.
Our professionals are poorly paid and hit most by corruption and neglect in the bureaucracy while our youths and students, largely uncared for, are not given better chances of developing into becoming productive citizens. Many of them could not go to school because education is unaffordable. Poverty has pushed most of them to misery instead of growing healthy, productive and supposedly become the country’s reliable productive human resource.
The widening and deepening crisis manifested in the way people’s suffering have worsened behooves reflection, especially on the part of the President upon whom the greater responsibility to govern the nation’s life greatly rests.
We are asking Pnoy to heed the people’s call for meaningful change, and not to take the path of short-term, temporary solution that only waste people’s money.
We are tired of an economy tied to imperialist domination. We bear the burden of a country subjected to the role as providers of cheap raw materials and cheap labor to the economies of superpowers. We are tired of the fact that our people are overworked and exploited, that land and capital are in the monopoly of a few who benefit from the existing social order, and that government is run by them who comprised the few who own much of the wealth.
We urge Pnoy at this time of reflection to start lifting the cross of its people borne by reconsidering changes: the choice to carve the path of the country to national industrialization where government controls and develops our economy to serve the needs its own people rather than the dictates of the outside; the choice to uphold national sovereignty instead of supporting foreign control; the choice to ally yourself with the poor who voted for you instead of the ruling class and exacting accountability on them who committed crimes against the nation; the choice to uphold your people’s rights instead of intensifying repression of their political and human rights.
To decisively end the Filipinos’ calvary is your good chance of redemption.
BAYAN SOUTHERN MINDANAO REGION (BAYAN-SMR)
For Reference:
FRANCHIE BUHAYAN
Secretary General
Mobile Number: 09106671009
Bayan to Aquino: “Stop playing Pontius Pilate in the oil price increases!”
April 20, 2011
PRESS RELEASE
Bayan to Aquino: “Stop playing Pontius Pilate in the oil price increases!”
DAVAO CITY – “Stop playing Pontius Pilate in the oil price increases! The people have suffered enough!” This was Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Southern Mindanao Region (Bayan-SMR)’s lenten message to President Benigno Aquino III in the wake of another round of oil price increase.
Pump price of gasoline in Davao City last January was at P49. Now, it is closed to P59, or an increase by P10 in the last four months after it spiked anew, for the 13th time, yesterday.The mark up for diesel pump prices yesterday was 25 cents, and for gasoline, 60 cents.
Energy officials have put the blame on the changes of prices of oil in the global market amid talks of a possible shortage. “But, we all know, and even the President knows, that these are mere speculations. His act of condoning these increases is a betrayal to the Filipino people, betrayal to his messianic promise of bringing change in the lives of the Filipino people,” Franchie Buhayan, secretary general of Bayan-SMR said.
Buhayan cited that there is also no reason to believe that the unrest in Libya, as energy officials of the Aquino administration would like Filipinos to believe, will impair the Philippine’s oil supply since Libya accounts only 2% of the Philippines’ oil requirements.
She said, even Saudi Arabia, where much of the country’s oil is sourced, has assured enough supply of oil. Even the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) have declared adequate spare capacity and inventory.
Speculations, Buhayan pointed out, are what these big oil companies in the country, like Petron, Shell and Chevron, feed on to amass big profits, a thing they were able to easily do since the Oil Deregulation Law was passed in 1996.
“Such speculations always precede overpricing schemes by these companies which gobble up millions of additional revenues every day, such as the P124.49 million that Petron, which controls 38% of the supply of oil in the Philippine market, gets as additional profits in a day; Shell, which holds 28% of the market share at an additional P91.41 million per day, and Chevron, which controls 12%, an additional P40.66 million each day,” she added.
On top of these overpricing schemes, Buhayan said the government also exacts 12% on the prices of petroleum products that consumers pay through Value Added Tax (VAT). VAT on petroleum products bleeds P44 million from Filipinos every day.
Buhayan said Aquino has choices to stop these oil companies from bleeding more Filipinos. One is by scrapping the 12% VAT; by invoking the Price Control Act, or junking of the Oil Deregulation Law. “But apparently, President Aquino chose to side with these profit-driven beasts,” Buhayan said.
Adding fury to the fire, she added, is Aquino’s responses to the people’s growing clamor against continuing price hikes and calls for substantial wages.
On the day oil prices increased the 12th time last April 12, Aquino warned drivers of being punished if they conduct protests.
Buhayan said at the rate the prices are increasing, a public utility jeepney (PUJ) driver which requires an average of 15-20 liters a day will need P150-P200 more to cope with the increase.
“This means that the fuel subsidy for every PUJ and tricycle driver announced by President Aquino on the day of the transport strike end of March which amounts only to P1,050 will last for only a week,” she said
The government has announced distribution of the subsidy through the so-called smart cards starting May 1. “But even then, there is no assurance that PUJ and tricycle drivers will get their share of the insignificant subsidy since beneficiaries will have to be determined yet by the franchise owners,” she said.
“It is also suspicious why the Aquino government required smart card holders to refuel only at Petron, Caltex or Shell pump stations. If this is true, then, the subsidy is not really meant to help the drivers, but to keep money coming in for the Big 3 oil cartel,” added Buhayan.###
FOR REFERENCE:
FRANCHIE BUHAYAN
Secretary General
BAYAN-SMR
Mobile Number: 09106671009
PRESS RELEASE
Bayan to Aquino: “Stop playing Pontius Pilate in the oil price increases!”
DAVAO CITY – “Stop playing Pontius Pilate in the oil price increases! The people have suffered enough!” This was Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Southern Mindanao Region (Bayan-SMR)’s lenten message to President Benigno Aquino III in the wake of another round of oil price increase.
Pump price of gasoline in Davao City last January was at P49. Now, it is closed to P59, or an increase by P10 in the last four months after it spiked anew, for the 13th time, yesterday.The mark up for diesel pump prices yesterday was 25 cents, and for gasoline, 60 cents.
Energy officials have put the blame on the changes of prices of oil in the global market amid talks of a possible shortage. “But, we all know, and even the President knows, that these are mere speculations. His act of condoning these increases is a betrayal to the Filipino people, betrayal to his messianic promise of bringing change in the lives of the Filipino people,” Franchie Buhayan, secretary general of Bayan-SMR said.
Buhayan cited that there is also no reason to believe that the unrest in Libya, as energy officials of the Aquino administration would like Filipinos to believe, will impair the Philippine’s oil supply since Libya accounts only 2% of the Philippines’ oil requirements.
She said, even Saudi Arabia, where much of the country’s oil is sourced, has assured enough supply of oil. Even the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) have declared adequate spare capacity and inventory.
Speculations, Buhayan pointed out, are what these big oil companies in the country, like Petron, Shell and Chevron, feed on to amass big profits, a thing they were able to easily do since the Oil Deregulation Law was passed in 1996.
“Such speculations always precede overpricing schemes by these companies which gobble up millions of additional revenues every day, such as the P124.49 million that Petron, which controls 38% of the supply of oil in the Philippine market, gets as additional profits in a day; Shell, which holds 28% of the market share at an additional P91.41 million per day, and Chevron, which controls 12%, an additional P40.66 million each day,” she added.
On top of these overpricing schemes, Buhayan said the government also exacts 12% on the prices of petroleum products that consumers pay through Value Added Tax (VAT). VAT on petroleum products bleeds P44 million from Filipinos every day.
Buhayan said Aquino has choices to stop these oil companies from bleeding more Filipinos. One is by scrapping the 12% VAT; by invoking the Price Control Act, or junking of the Oil Deregulation Law. “But apparently, President Aquino chose to side with these profit-driven beasts,” Buhayan said.
Adding fury to the fire, she added, is Aquino’s responses to the people’s growing clamor against continuing price hikes and calls for substantial wages.
On the day oil prices increased the 12th time last April 12, Aquino warned drivers of being punished if they conduct protests.
Buhayan said at the rate the prices are increasing, a public utility jeepney (PUJ) driver which requires an average of 15-20 liters a day will need P150-P200 more to cope with the increase.
“This means that the fuel subsidy for every PUJ and tricycle driver announced by President Aquino on the day of the transport strike end of March which amounts only to P1,050 will last for only a week,” she said
The government has announced distribution of the subsidy through the so-called smart cards starting May 1. “But even then, there is no assurance that PUJ and tricycle drivers will get their share of the insignificant subsidy since beneficiaries will have to be determined yet by the franchise owners,” she said.
“It is also suspicious why the Aquino government required smart card holders to refuel only at Petron, Caltex or Shell pump stations. If this is true, then, the subsidy is not really meant to help the drivers, but to keep money coming in for the Big 3 oil cartel,” added Buhayan.###
FOR REFERENCE:
FRANCHIE BUHAYAN
Secretary General
BAYAN-SMR
Mobile Number: 09106671009
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Photos of Majestic Mt. Apo
Mount Apo , active volcano, 9,690 ft (2,953 m) high, on S Mindanao island, the Philippines. It is the highest peak of the islands. Mt. Apo has a snowcapped appearance but is actually covered with white sulfur. Mt. Apo National Park (281 sq mi/728 sq km; est. 1936) is there.
Mountaineering, or mountain hiking, is a popular choice for adventure tourism. The challenging climb, the view of trees and wildlife, the fresh mountain air - all of these contribute to the fun and relaxation that mountaineering has to offer. However, the most important part of any mountaineering adventure tourism experience is the experience of seeing the world from the top, a feeling that gives one a pervading sense of success, and some realizations that may not occur anywhere else.
Welcome to Mount Apo, the tallest peak in the Philippine Islands, resting in the middle of the Mindanao, the land of promise. Rising for thousands of feet from sea level, it is widely known as the main natural structure that shields Davao City from otherwise life-threatening typhoons.
Amid a cloud-covered canopy, Apo has the richness of flora and fauna that is unique from all other mountains in the world. It shelters the world-famous Philippine Eagle, formerly known as the Monkey-Eating Eagle, now endangered and has found its fitting sanctuary is one of the most unreachable places in the world.
Unlike other barren, snow-covered mountains which have little else to show, Mount Apo has wonders that make it the perfect getaway not just for seasoned mountaineers but also those who are new to the sport. While on the way up and on the way down, one will also encounter the Malasita Falls and Kisinte Hot Springs, which can relieve any weary adventurer and make him appreciate not just the beauty of nature, but also realize the beauty life itself.
All does not end when one reaches the peak. With a legendary view of the Island of Mindanao, the hiker will see the magnificence in its utmost form. With a little knowledge of local history, seeing that this beautiful place is in the middle of an economically-depressed land, one will realize his blessedness in the grand scheme of things. One will better appreciate what he has in life, after seeing a snapshot of reality, on top of Mount Apo.
Mt Apo
Mount Apo is a large solfataric potentially active stratovolcano on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines, at altitude 2,954 metres (9,692 ft). It is the highest mountain in the country and overlooks Davao City-40 km northeast, Digos City-25 km southeast, and Kidapawan City-20 kilometres (12 mi) west. Its name means "grandchild". Apo is flat-topped, with three peaks, and is capped by a 500-metre-wide (1,600 ft) volcanic crater containing a small crater lake. It is a source of geothermal energy, but the date of its most recent eruption is unknown, and none are verified in historical times.
Mount Apo is one of the most popular climbing destinations in the Philippines, and the summit is easy to reach. The first recorded climb was on October 10, 1880, by a party led by Don Joaquin Rajal.
On May 9, 1936, Mount Apo was declared a national park by President Manuel L. Quezon. The mountain is home to over 270 bird species, with more than a hundred which are endemic.
Although a declared National Park, the current climbing trails are littered with rubbish, opening paths for soil erosion across the already denuded mountain sides. Some mountain and social climbing groups conduct climbs after the main Easter climbing season to clean the affected areas.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has submitted Mount Apo for inclusion in the UNESCO world heritage list. Mount Apo is considered, by DENR, as the center of endemism in Mindanao. It has one of the highest land-based biological diversity in terms of flora and fauna per unit area. It has three distinct forest formations, from lowland tropical rainforest, to mid-mountain forests, and finally to high mountain forests.
A portion of the eastern slopes are also within the scope of the UNESCO Hydrology Environment Life and Policy (HELP) Network. The Davao HELP Network is focused on building collaboration among watershed stakeholders.
Arguably the easiest route to Mt. Apo National Park is through Kidapawan City. One can register in the city's Summer Climb or the Annual October Trek / Climb. At the foot of Mt Apo is Lake Agco Resort, where tourists can dip in to the hot and warm pools sourced from the local hot springs. The completion of PNOC Geothermal Plants in Kidapawan City supplies electricity to Kidapawan and its neighboring provinces and also boosts the city's economy.
At 2,954 meters (9,692 ft), Mount Apo is the highest mountain in the Philippines. This majestic peak is one of the country's most popular climbing destinations.
Several trails lead to the summit, coming from North Cotabato and Davao provinces. An average hike requires 2–4 days. Various sights include Lake Venado, one of the highest lakes in the Philippines, and the old crater of Mt. Apo near its summit. In the classification system used by local popular mountaineering website PinoyMountaineer.com, the difficulty of the hike is 7 out of 9. The mountain may be climbed year-round.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Photo by Romy Elusfa
Forensic Investigation? PDF Print E-mail
Posted Tuesday, 01 December 2009
Commentary by Alan Davis
Photo by Romy Elusfa
Photo by Romy Elusfa
B
elieve it or not, this photograph (right) does not capture the Maguindanao crime scene. No, this picture actually shows the official recovery of bodies. This is forensic investigation SOCO-style. The photojournalist who took this, Romy Elusfa, a human rights reporting colleague has confirmed to us that this picture was taken during the actual and official recovery process.
It simply beggars belief.
2,000-year-old Romans buried in Pompeii who are nobody’s relations were afforded far more respectful treatment by archeologists than the victims of last week’s massacre.
Perhaps no SOCO (Scene of the Crime Operatives) official at the site has ever seen an episode of CSI – but whatever happened to basic training --or even simple basic humanity?
The duty of SOCO is to secure the scene and recover and document evidence. It is not a race against the clock. And when we are talking about such an atrocity, a mass killing such as this, you cannot exaggerate the duty and level of care and attention needed.
The person captured in Romy’s photo is a victim twice over: First when he was killed and secondly when the authorities used a backhoe to recover his remains.
As well as being an affront to common decency, such a blunt way of ‘recovery’ will inevitably destroy evidence and therefore quite possibly impact on the future legal cases.
How stupid and unthinking can some people be?
Last Friday in Southern Mindanao – and before coming across this photo - I met with a forensic consultant who works for several human rights and legal groups and who was in Maguindanao as an observer. He told me that he had offered his advice as well as some expert equipment he had arranged to be lent by colleagues in Cotabato City. The authorities turned him down. They didn’t need his help.
Obviously: Who needs expert equipment and advice when you have a backhoe handy.
Let’s at least hope it was not the same digger used by the killers – but then who knows? After seeing Romy’s photo I think I can believe anything. Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project
(The author is the director of the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project and the Head of Asia of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.)
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