Bukid Apo: September 2013

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Preservation of Cebu’s heritage city pressed

House Assistant Majority Leader Gerald Anthony Gullas Jr. has filed a bill seeking to proclaim Cebu province’s Carcar City, home to numerous historical structures and artifacts, a national cultural heritage zone. “We have to move fast to protect the integrity of Carcar’s historical and cultural structures, including various works of art, which now form part of the national treasure,” Gullas said in House Bill 1340. Located some 40 kilometers southwest of Cebu City, Carcar boasts an assortment of artistic creations, including architecturally distinctive Spanish to American vintage houses. The city’s classical Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria is likewise admired for its Byzantine design, Greco-Roman altar, and twin bell towers with a minaret, a distinctive architectural feature of mosques. Carcar’s rotunda, a principal landmark, is also unique and remarkable for its shape and scope. “Carcar’s preservation will give more meaning to the mandate of the 1987 Constitution for the State to safeguard and popularize our historical resources for the purpose of enriching the national culture,” Gullas said. Carcar was established as a municipality 414 years ago, in 1599. The modern-day Carcar forms part of Metro Cebu, and belongs to Cebu province’s first district, which Gullas represents in Congress. With a population of more than 107,000, Carcar was upgraded into a city only in 2007 through the efforts of then Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas, the younger Gullas’s grandfather. Famous for producing ampao, or rice puffs, a native delicacy, and pork chicharon, Carcar is also reputed to be the shoe capital of the Visayas. A heritage zone refers to historical, anthropological, archaeological and artistic geographical areas and settings that are culturally important to the country. Once declared a heritage zone, Carcar’s streets, parks, monuments, buildings and even natural bodies of water shall be kept as close as possible to their form when the area was of greatest importance to Philippine history, as determined by the National Historical Institute. The Department of Tourism, in coordination with the Cebu provincial government and the Carcar city government, shall also be required to preserve, restore and maintain the appropriate structures and facilities that would help foster tourism.

Mindanao lawmaker lambasts AFP for buying AMERICAN junk

Bayan Muna Representative Carlos Isagani Zarate strongly criticized the defense department and the armed forces for acquiring "very expensive junk military equipment" from the US as part of the country’s external defense. “We are now becoming laughing stock of other countries. We bought two very expensive 46-year old decommissioned cutters that defense experts say can be destroyed even by a single torpedo fired by a Chinese warship. It seems that the AFP is not modernizing at all, but, it's engaged in collecting expensive American junk,” said Zarate. Zarate is referring to the country’s recent acquisition of BRP Ramon Alcaraz, a $15.6 million worth Hamilton-class cutter decommissioned by the US Coast Guard and bought by the Department of National Defense (DND) as part of the modernization program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The AFP admitted during Thursday's budget deliberation of the proposed defense department's 2014 budget that the purchased price was taken from the now controversial Malampaya Fund, an off-budget special account under the sole discretion of the Office of the President. In the same budget hearing, the AFP justified its expensive acquisition as an “immediate short-term solution” for the country’s external defense, particularly with the current volatile situation in the West Philippine Sea that is also being claimed by other countries, including China and Vietnam. As part of its extended modernization program, the AFP acquired for $9 Million from the US its first Hamilton Class cutter in 2012.

Bayan Muna urges Congress to regulate ATM transaction fees

Even as the Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) yesterday announced that it will soon issue a order stopping banks from hiking interbank ATM transaction fees, Bayan Muna Representatives Carlos Zarate and Neri Colmenares filed House Bill 2105 calling on Congress to provide for a standard rate of transaction fees and charges on automated teller machines (ATMs) and require the posting of a notice of said fees and charges on ATMs’ screens and monitors prior to the completion of any transaction. The Board's action is pending a review on disclosure requirements to consumers and the actual costs incurred by banks, the BSP reported. This developed as banks like Banco De Oro, Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. and sister firm Philippine Savings Bank announced that they will hike ATM fees starting Oct. 1. The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) implemented its own fee hike late last year. “Mukhang pataas ng pataas ang sinisingil mula sa atin sa paggamit ng ATM pero ang mga bangko naman talaga ang kumikita dito mula pa dati at pera natin ang ginagamit nila. Ngayon e tataasan pa nila ang kinukuha sa atin. Dapat talaga ay tignan na agad ito ng Kongreso para makita kung totoo ang sinasabi ng mga bangko,” said Rep. Zarate. “We want the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to explain even last year’s ATM increase, particularly by the BPI,” Rep.Zarate added. BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. earlier said that banks are free to impose whatever transaction fee they believe compensates them for the delivery of service but stressed such fees should always be transparent. The BSP also issued an earlier regulatory adjustment discontinuing the practice of compensating the banks with interest income for holding in reserve a portion of their deposits heightened the need to hike the ATM transactions. “Banks already earn profits when the salaries and wages of workers are coursed through them by employers, they should not further extract profit from the workers who need every peso of their earnings,” ended Rep. Zarate. # # #

Solons support inclusive peace process pushed by OPAPP

Manila – Rep. Rodolfo Biazon and Rep. Celso Lobregat on Thursday expressed their support to the pursuit of an inclusive peace process during the deliberation of the House of Representatives on the budget of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process (OPAPP). “We want to make sure that peace in Mindanao will be long lasting and it will be an inclusive peace, not just with one sector,” Lobregat, Zamboanga City representative, said during his interpellation on the OPAPP budget. Rep. Ben P. Evardone of Eastern Samar, House Committee on Appropriations Vice-chairman, sponsor of OPAPP in the budget hearing, responded that it is certainly “the aspiration of the Government of the Philippines (GPH) to pursue an inclusive and just peace.” Lobregat also expressed support for achieving peace and development in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) as it is important for the whole of Mindanao. According to the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) signed last year, the Bangsamoro will be established to replace the ARMM through the passage by Congress of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, drafted by a Transition Commission (TC), and its popular ratification through a plebiscite in the Bangsamoro envisioned territory. On his part, Biazon underscored the importance of having enough time and sufficient monitoring during the transition towards the establishment of the Bangsamoro and its first election in 2016. Evardone said that the “TC is cognizant of timeframe. Hopefully, early next year the basic law will be submitted to Congress.” Saying that the GPH Peace Panel and OPAPP recognize the legislative power of Congress, Evardone said “It will be up to this chamber (the Congress) to decide on the basic law. The government panel recognizes the inherent power of Congress to enact laws that includes amendment or additions (to proposed bills).” #

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News Archieve

From The Times November 28, 2009 Philippines massacre: women thought they were safe. They were wrong Romy Elusfa in Ampatuan and Richard Lloyd Parry, Asia Editor He knew that powerful and ruthless people wanted him dead and that he was risking everything by standing for election — but to one practical challenge at least, Ismael Mangudadatu thought he had a solution. If he went in person to register as a candidate he would be inviting an attack by his enemies — the Ampatuan clan who have a near-monopoly on elected posts in the region. Instead, after consultation with his family and advisers, Mr Mangudadatu decided to send his wife and two sisters. The local police refused to provide an escort and the Philippines Army declined a request for protection. But how much harm could befall a group of women? For good measure, the two family lawyers who were women and Mr Mangudadatu’s aunt — who was pregnant, like one of his sisters — went along for the ride with other supporters and relatives. As a further safeguard, 27 journalists were invited. “Under our tradition, Muslim women are respected,” Mr Mangudadatu said. “They should not be harmed, just like innocent children and the elders. They will not harm us if journalists are watching.” Related Links Philippines leader 'shot massacre victims' Philippines massacre suspect arrested At 9.30am on Monday six minibuses began the drive from the town of Buluan to the provincial capital of Shariff Aguak. “This is women power in action,” Eden, Mr Mangudadatu’s sister, was heard to say. “Let’s help our men chart a better future for the province.” Within hours, she and her companions were dead. They had been bound, macheted, shot and buried in a mass grave. It is believed that some were raped. Political killings have been a part of life for centuries in the Philippines, and the southern island of Mindanao is the most violent of all. The attack, in which 57 people were killed, has raised questions about the relationship between the gangster clans such as the Ampatuan family and the highest levels of the Philippines metropolitan elite. Yesterday Andal Ampatuan Jr, the son of one of the most powerful men in Mindanao, was charged with seven counts of murder. “He was the one who gave the instructions,” Agnes Devanadera, the Justice Minister, said. “He was among those ... who killed the victims.” Until they were expelled this week, Mr Ampatuan and his father were important members of the ruling party of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the President. Her Government has also moved against members of its security forces suspected of being complicit in the violence. According to the national police chief, Jesus Verzosa, six senior officers, including the provincial chief and his deputy, twenty officers of the Ampatuan police station and about four hunded members of a militia loyal to the Ampatuan family are in custody. Many Filipinos remain sceptical about the prospects for improvement. “He [Ampatuan Jr] can be a sacrificial mouse to spare the leopards behind the crime,” one Maguindanao man told The Times. “The most powerful people among the Ampatuans are still in government.” Three journalists survived the attack because they stopped at their hotel when the convoy was setting out. “The lady at the front desk told us that a motorcycle-riding man armed with a pistol came to ask for the names of journalists who checked in at the hotel,” said Aquiles Zonio, of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. They tried calling colleagues, but the hold-up had already taken place. The convoy was stopped about an hour into its journey, near the town that bears the Ampatuan family name. Some victims were able to send texts reporting that they had been stopped by about a hundred armed men. Police Chief Superintendent Felicisimo Khu said: “Twenty-four corpses were all killed by a firing squad. They were buried in six layers. Every layer is covered with earth, making it more difficult for the retrieval operations. I have asked myself why one of them has no underwear.” Ms Devanadera said: “Even the private parts of the women were shot at. It was done practically to all the women. All the women had their zippers undone. The pants of some were pulled down. We have yet to determine whether they were raped.” According to Mr Khu, the gunmen intercepted two vehicles with six people who happened to be travelling on the same road at the same time, and killed them too. “Some sustained multiple gunshot wounds — as many as eight,” said Benito Molina, a forensic examiner at the scene. “To judge from the blood, some of the corpses may have been buried while still alive.” Cooking pots belonging to the killers were found at the scene and they had taken with them a mechanical digger bearing the name of the local government. Its engine was still running when soldiers arrived. The brutality appears to have backfired on the Ampatuan clan: the intensity of public anger will ensure that no politician in Manila will court their friendship publicly in the election in May. It is little compensation for the loss of his family, but Mr Mangudadatu’s election prospects have been strengthened. “Only death can stop me from running,” he said yesterday when he filed his candidature for the regional governorship of Maguindanao, which is held by the brother of Mr Ampatuan Jr. “This symbolises our freedom. I hope this will be the start of our liberation.” The scale of the massacre may be unique, but its story — of violence, clans and corruption — is repeated across the Philippines. Father Eduardo Vasquez, a priest in Shariff Aguak, said: “If powerful and equally armed families like the Mangudadatus were killed in such a barbaric manner, how much more for the ordinary civilians who have already been traumatised by the war?” Clan power Andal Ampatuan Sr has four wives and thirty children. He has a private army of several hundred, permitted under a presidential executive order His extended family dominates the region’s politics. One son, Zaldy, is governor of the Muslim Mindanao The provincial capital Maganoy was renamed Shariff Aguak after Mr Ampatuan’s late father One of his sons and a nephew are its mayor and vice-mayor

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