By Darius Galang
Isang bangkay ng binatang lalaki ang natagpuang lulutang-lutang sa Pasig River noong Marso 18, 2001. Balot na nga ang kanyang katawan ng isang karpet, binalutan pa ng packing tape ang kanyang mukha. Nakagapos pa ang kanyang mga paa at kamay.
Ang binata ay si Mark Welson Chua, isang estudyante ng University of Sto. Tomas. Ayon sa mga imbestigasyon, biktima si Mark ng pamamaslang matapos isiwalat niya sa pahayagang pangkampus na The Varsitarian ang mga anomalya at pangungurakot sa loob ng programang Reserved Officers Training Corps (ROTC) sa kanyang pamantasan.
Ito ang nagbunsod sa sunud-sunod na mga pagkilos ng kabataan upang lansagin ang ROTC sa kani-kanilang mga paaralan at maging mismo sa legal na balangkas ng Konstitusyon ng bansa.
Ngunit nitong nakaraang mga linggo, tila ibinubuhay pa ng administrasyong Aquino ang naturang programa. Iminungkahi ni Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas sa Kamara ang revival ng mandatory na ROTC, habang aktibo namang itinutulak ni Defense Sec. Voltaire Gazmin kay Pang. Benigno Aquino III ang panukalang ito.
“Palagay namin, panahon na para hilingin muli natin sa mga kaibigan sa Kongreso na iisponsor ang panukalang batas na gawing mandatory muli (ang ROTC)…Palagay namin, wala namang dapat ipag-alala rito,” ani Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr., tagapagsalita ng Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Depensa naman ni Gazmin, kailangang buhayin ang ROTC dahil nagiging mas makabayan ang kabataang napapasailalim sa naturang programa. Siyempre, maraming organisasyon ng kabataan ang umangal. Ayon kay Kabataan Rep. Raymond Palatino, isang kultura ng panunupil at militarismo lamang ang pinalalaganap ng ROTC, bukod pa sa matagal nang naisiwalat na mga kaso ng korupsiyon at pagmamalupit sa pagitan ng mga kadete at opisyal ng programa.
Balik-tanaw
Taong 1862 nang unang itinatag ang ROTC sa US bilang isang college elective na nakatuon sa pagsasanay at disiplinang militar. Lahat ng alyadong bansa ng US ay sumunod sa programa. Kasama rito ang Pilipinas, na kolonya ng US, noong 1912. Kauna-unahang yunit ng ROTC ang itinatag sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas.
Matapos ang direktang kolonisasyon ng US sa bansa, nagpatuloy ang ROTC bilang college elective sa lahat ng lalaking estudyante ng Pilipinas. Nakasaad sa Saligang Batas ang mandato ng ROTC bilang isang malaking haligi ng defense structure ng bansa. Dito kukuha ng lakas-pantao ang armadong puwersa sa lahat ng sangay nito – ang army, navy at air force – sa panahon ng giyera.
Dalawang taon noon na mandatory sa mga estudyante upang tapusin ang Military Science. Sa mga gustong magkaroon ng reserbadong mataas na ranggo sa serbisyong militar, apat na taon silang mapapasailalim sa naturang programa.
Biktima ng ROTC
Ngunit sa pagdaloy ng panahon, nakita ang ilang mga anomalya hanggang sa korupsiyon sa loob ng programa nito, hanggang humantong pa ng pagkamatay ng isang estudyante at kadete na sumasailalim sa pagsasanay ng programang ROTC.
Ayon sa ama ni Mark Welson Chua, “mahal na mahal (ng kanyang anak) ang programa kaya gusto niyang iwasto ang kamalian nito, at maghain ng reporma.”
Isang paglalathala ukol sa mga katiwalian ng mga opisyal ng ROTC hanggang sa kultura nito ang kanyang inilabas sa The Varsitarian, ang pahayagan ng mga mag-aaral ng UST, noong Marso 2001. Tinanggal sa puwesto ang commandant ng UST kasama ang kanyang staff. Nakatanggap rin ng death threats si Chua matapos ang mailathala ang artikulo. Ilang araw bago natagpuan ang kanyang bangkay, asignatura niya ang isang security training sa Fort Bonifacio.
Sa awtopsiya, buhay pa siya nang itapon siya sa ilog. Isa sa akusado ay nahatulan na ng kamatayan, habang nagtatago pa rin ang tatlo pa.
Balik-tanaw sa muling binubuhay na patay: Kasaysayan ng ROTC sa bansa
Showing posts with label QC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label QC. Show all posts
Monday, August 23, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The Strength of the PCS: COMMUNITY SERVICE PROGRAMS
by Dr. Jeanette Silao, FPCS
Congratulations to the Philippine College of Surgeons on its 75th Anniversary! In human years, one is usually thankful to God for having been given a long life. These twilight years are usually spent reminiscing the highlights of a fruitful life. The highlights of one's life, as everyone will agree, are what you have done for others.
In institution years, 75 years of existence is just a few decades from inception. Each year is seen as a milestone of growth and further strength, the development of newer programs and reaching greater heights. An institution’s growth is derived from good governance, while its strength is equivalent to the breath of the foundation it has laid down. A solid foundation is as solid as its programs. The PCS' foundation is nothing less than solid as its programs are directed to benefit the community.
SURE PROGRAM
Since its inception, surgical missions were the main fodder of every surgical organization. Organized and large-scale community service programs have only been recently documented at the start of the millennium. In the 1980s, then PCS president Dr. Alfredo T. Ramirez organized the SURE program, short for Surgery in Underserved Regions for Education. Each year six to seven underserved regions nationwide are targeted by PCS chapters and affiliated societies. Wet clinics, surgical missions and a surgical forum are organized for them. Continuing Medical Education is provided for the local doctors. Health education is provided for the lay people and surgical services are provided for the poor.
More recently in September 15-22, 2005, as part of the SURE program, a memorandum of agreement was signed with the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) for a nationwide Surgical Mission. Signatories were PCS Vice President, Dr. Eduardo Gatchalian; President of the Philippine Society of Anesthesiologists, Dr. Ernie Nagtalon; Chairman of the Committee of Services Dr. Beda R. Espineda; Coordinator of LPP Special Concerns, Dr. Nathan Magpantay; and National President of the LMP, Mayor Ramon N. Guico Jr. In a nutshell, PCS will provide the surgical manpower while PSA provides the anesthesia manpower for surgical missions conducted nationwide. And LPP will provide the logistical support necessary for its success. This project was also in collaboration with the GMA Kapuso Foundation and the ABS-CBN Foundation.
STOP DEATH PROGRAM
In 1994, the Department of Health and PCS, under the guidance of then president, Dr. Modesto Llamas, organized the STOP DEATH PROGRAM, which is short for Strategic and Tactical Options for the Prevention of Disasters, Epidemics and Trauma for Health. The Options centered mainly on preventive education on accidents and man-made disasters. A disaster response team was organized as one of the strategies. Some of the advocacies allied with this program were the WEAR THE SEATBELT campaign and the STOP SMOKING campaign. BLOOD LETTING activities were held to beef up the blood bank supply in each training institution. Currently, this latter activity is being held every September during PCS Foundation week.
BANTAY KALIKASAN-PCS PROGRAM
In September 8, 2001, as part of the PCS Foundation Celebration, then President Alberto B. Roxas and ABS-CBN Kalikasan Foundation joined forces to organize the “Adopt –a-Tree” program and sponsor a Tree-planting activity. Our PCS President, PCS External Committee Chairman and committee members, their family, friends, and invited guests spent a day at the La Mesa Dam. That day started with a lecture on the current status of our environment and Bantay Kalikasan on-going projects and accomplishment at the La Mesa Dam Area. Attendees were lectured on how to properly plant a tree. Each one planted his own tree at a designated portion of the La Mesa Dam. Arrangements were made for future site visits and to adopt a larger area to nurture and tend the trees. This project went on for four years until its maintenance was deemed too expensive. Other tree planting activities were conducted at the Quezon Circle as well as in various regions nationwide care-of the various PCS Chapter organizations. In the various chapter regions, this project is going on in strong, nurturing larger stretches of reclaimed “green” land. The trees to this day remain standing as a testament to our concern for the environment.
“ANG GALING MO DOC”
A catchy title adopted from Dr. Eduardo Gathchalian’s constant email sign out greeting to the PCS regents is now the title of a famous nationwide radio program of DZRH that delivers correct and scientifically based health education on prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of surgical diseases to the people every Sunday just before noon. Since its inception on the 68th PCS Foundation Day celebration on September 12,2004, 200 radio stations of DZRH has been broadcasting health information on four major topics each month: trauma or geriatric health, children’s diseases, women’s diseases and health concerns and cancer. This brainchild of Dr. Edgar do Cortez, Dr Art De La Pena, Dr. Armand Crisostomo, Dr. Eduardo Gatchalian, in conjunction with MBS Management and Production, to this day, enjoys favorable reviews from the Nielsen Media Radio Audience Measurement.
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY-PCS PROGRAM
As Dr. Jose A. Solomon covers this project in the 2005 PCS Newsletter vol.25 no. 3, he writes, “ A new activity of the PCS was launched on Saturday, September 10,2005 as part of the 69th PCS foundation week-long celebration. Through the PCS-MMC, more than 60 Fellows, residents, medical interns and clerks, as well as the PCS Secretariat, painted houses in Baseco, Tondo, Manila through a tie-up with Habitat for Humanity, a non-profit organization providing affordable housing for our less fortunate brethren. Dr. Eduardo Gatchalian led the group painting the units orange and blue in the Dutch-sponsored ING Village. This initial venture may just be a stepping-stone of the College in the realization of a future PCS Village as part of its community service. ” This project was spearheaded by then president Dr. Art de la Pena.
SAFE KIDS PROJECT
This PCS project, in collaboration with Safety Kids International and the Department of Health, has the objective of decreasing child death due to trauma and accidents through proper preventive education.
VOLUNTARY STERILIZATION PROGRAM
PCS president, Dr. Art de la Pena and Vice-president, Dr Eduardo Gatchalian in conjunction with Dr. Juan Flavier of the Department of Health and USAID, spearheaded voluntary sterilization for males by providing free vasectomy and ligation services for women. The project was successfully initiated in Marikina under the auspices of Mayor Marides Fernando. However, the project had to be terminated upon advice of the Board of Regents.
KLINIKA NG BAYAN AT KAMIRIN, KALOOCAN
In 2007, PCS, under the stewardship of then president, Dr. Rey Melchor Santos, donated a self-supporting clinic for the recipients of habitat for humanity in Kamirin, Kaloocan. The clinic provides free prenatal care and midwife services, minor surgeries, and medical consultations. Medical services are provided for free by the Department of Family Medicine of FEU-NRMF. Health education is given by PCS Fellows on a regular basis to the members of the community. Non-medical projects such as rag-making, selling of used clothes, soap making, and the making of party favors such as balloon designs help keep the clinic a self-supporting entity and teach community members of other sources of income.
PCS has always been actively engaging in community service and strengthening its role and credibility in the community as the bearer of goodwill and good health. As long as the college goes full steam in this direction, we will be celebrating for more decades to come.
The Strength of the PCS: COMMUNITY SERVICE PROGRAMS
Congratulations to the Philippine College of Surgeons on its 75th Anniversary! In human years, one is usually thankful to God for having been given a long life. These twilight years are usually spent reminiscing the highlights of a fruitful life. The highlights of one's life, as everyone will agree, are what you have done for others.
In institution years, 75 years of existence is just a few decades from inception. Each year is seen as a milestone of growth and further strength, the development of newer programs and reaching greater heights. An institution’s growth is derived from good governance, while its strength is equivalent to the breath of the foundation it has laid down. A solid foundation is as solid as its programs. The PCS' foundation is nothing less than solid as its programs are directed to benefit the community.
SURE PROGRAM
Since its inception, surgical missions were the main fodder of every surgical organization. Organized and large-scale community service programs have only been recently documented at the start of the millennium. In the 1980s, then PCS president Dr. Alfredo T. Ramirez organized the SURE program, short for Surgery in Underserved Regions for Education. Each year six to seven underserved regions nationwide are targeted by PCS chapters and affiliated societies. Wet clinics, surgical missions and a surgical forum are organized for them. Continuing Medical Education is provided for the local doctors. Health education is provided for the lay people and surgical services are provided for the poor.
More recently in September 15-22, 2005, as part of the SURE program, a memorandum of agreement was signed with the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) for a nationwide Surgical Mission. Signatories were PCS Vice President, Dr. Eduardo Gatchalian; President of the Philippine Society of Anesthesiologists, Dr. Ernie Nagtalon; Chairman of the Committee of Services Dr. Beda R. Espineda; Coordinator of LPP Special Concerns, Dr. Nathan Magpantay; and National President of the LMP, Mayor Ramon N. Guico Jr. In a nutshell, PCS will provide the surgical manpower while PSA provides the anesthesia manpower for surgical missions conducted nationwide. And LPP will provide the logistical support necessary for its success. This project was also in collaboration with the GMA Kapuso Foundation and the ABS-CBN Foundation.
STOP DEATH PROGRAM
In 1994, the Department of Health and PCS, under the guidance of then president, Dr. Modesto Llamas, organized the STOP DEATH PROGRAM, which is short for Strategic and Tactical Options for the Prevention of Disasters, Epidemics and Trauma for Health. The Options centered mainly on preventive education on accidents and man-made disasters. A disaster response team was organized as one of the strategies. Some of the advocacies allied with this program were the WEAR THE SEATBELT campaign and the STOP SMOKING campaign. BLOOD LETTING activities were held to beef up the blood bank supply in each training institution. Currently, this latter activity is being held every September during PCS Foundation week.
BANTAY KALIKASAN-PCS PROGRAM
In September 8, 2001, as part of the PCS Foundation Celebration, then President Alberto B. Roxas and ABS-CBN Kalikasan Foundation joined forces to organize the “Adopt –a-Tree” program and sponsor a Tree-planting activity. Our PCS President, PCS External Committee Chairman and committee members, their family, friends, and invited guests spent a day at the La Mesa Dam. That day started with a lecture on the current status of our environment and Bantay Kalikasan on-going projects and accomplishment at the La Mesa Dam Area. Attendees were lectured on how to properly plant a tree. Each one planted his own tree at a designated portion of the La Mesa Dam. Arrangements were made for future site visits and to adopt a larger area to nurture and tend the trees. This project went on for four years until its maintenance was deemed too expensive. Other tree planting activities were conducted at the Quezon Circle as well as in various regions nationwide care-of the various PCS Chapter organizations. In the various chapter regions, this project is going on in strong, nurturing larger stretches of reclaimed “green” land. The trees to this day remain standing as a testament to our concern for the environment.
“ANG GALING MO DOC”
A catchy title adopted from Dr. Eduardo Gathchalian’s constant email sign out greeting to the PCS regents is now the title of a famous nationwide radio program of DZRH that delivers correct and scientifically based health education on prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of surgical diseases to the people every Sunday just before noon. Since its inception on the 68th PCS Foundation Day celebration on September 12,2004, 200 radio stations of DZRH has been broadcasting health information on four major topics each month: trauma or geriatric health, children’s diseases, women’s diseases and health concerns and cancer. This brainchild of Dr. Edgar do Cortez, Dr Art De La Pena, Dr. Armand Crisostomo, Dr. Eduardo Gatchalian, in conjunction with MBS Management and Production, to this day, enjoys favorable reviews from the Nielsen Media Radio Audience Measurement.
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY-PCS PROGRAM
As Dr. Jose A. Solomon covers this project in the 2005 PCS Newsletter vol.25 no. 3, he writes, “ A new activity of the PCS was launched on Saturday, September 10,2005 as part of the 69th PCS foundation week-long celebration. Through the PCS-MMC, more than 60 Fellows, residents, medical interns and clerks, as well as the PCS Secretariat, painted houses in Baseco, Tondo, Manila through a tie-up with Habitat for Humanity, a non-profit organization providing affordable housing for our less fortunate brethren. Dr. Eduardo Gatchalian led the group painting the units orange and blue in the Dutch-sponsored ING Village. This initial venture may just be a stepping-stone of the College in the realization of a future PCS Village as part of its community service. ” This project was spearheaded by then president Dr. Art de la Pena.
SAFE KIDS PROJECT
This PCS project, in collaboration with Safety Kids International and the Department of Health, has the objective of decreasing child death due to trauma and accidents through proper preventive education.
VOLUNTARY STERILIZATION PROGRAM
PCS president, Dr. Art de la Pena and Vice-president, Dr Eduardo Gatchalian in conjunction with Dr. Juan Flavier of the Department of Health and USAID, spearheaded voluntary sterilization for males by providing free vasectomy and ligation services for women. The project was successfully initiated in Marikina under the auspices of Mayor Marides Fernando. However, the project had to be terminated upon advice of the Board of Regents.
KLINIKA NG BAYAN AT KAMIRIN, KALOOCAN
In 2007, PCS, under the stewardship of then president, Dr. Rey Melchor Santos, donated a self-supporting clinic for the recipients of habitat for humanity in Kamirin, Kaloocan. The clinic provides free prenatal care and midwife services, minor surgeries, and medical consultations. Medical services are provided for free by the Department of Family Medicine of FEU-NRMF. Health education is given by PCS Fellows on a regular basis to the members of the community. Non-medical projects such as rag-making, selling of used clothes, soap making, and the making of party favors such as balloon designs help keep the clinic a self-supporting entity and teach community members of other sources of income.
PCS has always been actively engaging in community service and strengthening its role and credibility in the community as the bearer of goodwill and good health. As long as the college goes full steam in this direction, we will be celebrating for more decades to come.
The Strength of the PCS: COMMUNITY SERVICE PROGRAMS
Sunday, August 8, 2010
She-Who-Cannot-Be-Named-in-the-Plenary
She-Who-Cannot-Be-Named-in-the-Plenary
Privilege Speech of Kabataan Partylist Rep. Raymond Palatino
August 4, 2010
Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues.
I wish to speak about the events this week which I think might affect my duties as a member of this House. We are all adjusting to the new situation: a former president is now a member of Congress.
Sabi ng marami, we are now at the crossroad of history. In the President’s own words, narito tayo ngayon sa isang punto kung saan pipili tayo kung alin ang tatahakin nating landas—ang daang baluktot o ang daang matuwid.
Cliché as it may sound, it is imperative that we assess the previous roads we have taken in order to properly determine the best route towards national progress. It is required that we deliver a post mortem to the previous administration. We should not entirely abandon this duty to the Truth Commission. As the representatives of the people, we have to articulate the sentiments of our constituents. It may not be good news for some, but there are people in this country who do not echo the sentiments of the previous government, who do not equate infrastructure with performance, GDP growth with genuine progress, people who do not live in delusion.
Sa proseso ng paglalagom sa nakaraang administrasyon, it is inevitable that something unpleasant will be delivered on the floor about the previous government. Because the truth Mr. Speaker and fellow representatives, outside this confined space of bright lights and grandeur is a world of darkness, of glaring poverty, of suppressed freedoms.
This is the dilemma, and this is I ask to all of you: How do we perform our duty without offending “She-Who-Cannot-Be-Named” in the plenary? Which should we value more: the sensibilities of House members or the right of the people to hear the truth about the past government?
I fear that 50 years from now, when historians will review our journals, they will only find glowing remarks about You-Know-Who or She-Who-Cannot-Be-Named-In-the-Plenary? Why? Because all the remarks that deal with the unpleasant, the ugly realities of the past government have been removed from the records under the guise of upholding decency and decorum. Sadly, this was backed by the House leadership which is affiliated with the new government that promises an era of change. The same government which proclaims, “there can no reconciliation without justice.”
This week, Representatives Walden Bello and Teddy Casino were accused of disrespecting a fellow member by delivering allegedly “unparliamentary” remarks in their speeches. Parts of their speeches were removed from the records particularly those referring to the corruption and human rights violations of the past administration. Your honor, this sets a bad precedent.
I have been here only for one year, 16 months to be exact, but long enough for me to hear speeches of fellow members criticizing fellow members.
Let me cite a few examples:
June 1, 2009: Former ANAD partylist Representative Jun Alcover blatantly and without basis named progressive partylist representatives as a “scourge of deceit and brutality.” He accused Representatives Maza and Ocampo as adherents of an inhuman ideology.
December 4, 2009: Former Bantay Partylist Representative Jovito Palparan accused Samar Representative Reynaldo Uy of having a private army.
Last day of session of the 14th Congress. Former A Teacher Partylist Representative Piamonte accused Representative Sarmiento of the same partylist of corruption and told him to “resign and shut up.”
In these instances, no one objected. No one moved to strike from the record such accusations that reek of malice and fallacy. The leadership allowed the speech to be included in the records.
My point is this: striking off the perceived unparliamentary remarks is not the only option. The body, the leadership, can tolerate to hear negative remarks. It is not encouraged but we have a practice of allowing members to stand on the floor and criticize, sometimes viciously criticize, a fellow member.
Today, there seems to be this worrisome obsession to find “unparliamentary” words in our speeches. It might send a bad signal to other members, especially to new members, that privilege speeches about the past government is ok, as long as they are not unpleasant in the ears of the supporters of “She-Who-Cannot-Be-Named-In-The-Plenary.”
I listened to the speeches of Bello and Casino, and I didn’t find any shocking expose, no new revelation. To use the words of Minority Representative Lagman, “bitin nga ako.” What they merely delivered was the sentiment of the people. Believe it or not, we have fellow Filipinos who believe that the previous government is guilty of spectacular crimes against the people. And maybe Representatives Bello and Casino think that the use of strong words to drive a point is needed. And the political situation today is such that colorful language must be used to remind us that “She-Who-Cannot-Be-Named-In-The-Plenary.” must be held accountable.
I understnd where Bello and Casino are coming from, especially Representative Casino who was holed up here in Batasan for several months in 2005. They are both part of the movement which attempted year after year to force the Congress to probe the alleged wrongdoings of the past government. The problem is wala kasi tayong closure. Now that the “She-Who-Cannot-Be-Named-In-The-Plenary.” is part of congress, would you expect the two to sing praises for her?
Lahat na lang ba ng negative remarks about “She-Who-Cannot-Be-Named-In-The-Plenary.” ay dapat tanggalin? Should I expect to hear only pro-You-Know-Who speeches in the next 3 years? What if a supporter of She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named stand on the floor and begin to enumerate the so-called achievements of the previous government? What if I also stand on the floor and move for the removal for what is to me offensive words? Would that be allowed by the leadership?
I hope the recent mania to scrutinize the speeches of anti-“She-Who-Cannot-Be-Named-In-The-Plenary.” solons is not a symptom of the reflection of our unwillingness to accept the truth about what happened in the past government.
It is tragic that we are more offended by the use of words that speak to truth, words that refer to acts of crime, rather than with the crimes itself.
My proposal is to give House members, especially members of the former opposition the freedom to speak and speak without fear of being censured about the past government. If it is founded on lies, it will not hold water. No one will believe them. Trust fellow members that they are capable of substantiating these allegations. Do not censor our speeches. Let the people judge. Let history be the judge. Do not purify and cleanse the records in the name of decorum.
Privilege Speech of Kabataan Partylist Rep. Raymond Palatino
August 4, 2010
Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues.
I wish to speak about the events this week which I think might affect my duties as a member of this House. We are all adjusting to the new situation: a former president is now a member of Congress.
Sabi ng marami, we are now at the crossroad of history. In the President’s own words, narito tayo ngayon sa isang punto kung saan pipili tayo kung alin ang tatahakin nating landas—ang daang baluktot o ang daang matuwid.
Cliché as it may sound, it is imperative that we assess the previous roads we have taken in order to properly determine the best route towards national progress. It is required that we deliver a post mortem to the previous administration. We should not entirely abandon this duty to the Truth Commission. As the representatives of the people, we have to articulate the sentiments of our constituents. It may not be good news for some, but there are people in this country who do not echo the sentiments of the previous government, who do not equate infrastructure with performance, GDP growth with genuine progress, people who do not live in delusion.
Sa proseso ng paglalagom sa nakaraang administrasyon, it is inevitable that something unpleasant will be delivered on the floor about the previous government. Because the truth Mr. Speaker and fellow representatives, outside this confined space of bright lights and grandeur is a world of darkness, of glaring poverty, of suppressed freedoms.
This is the dilemma, and this is I ask to all of you: How do we perform our duty without offending “She-Who-Cannot-Be-Named” in the plenary? Which should we value more: the sensibilities of House members or the right of the people to hear the truth about the past government?
I fear that 50 years from now, when historians will review our journals, they will only find glowing remarks about You-Know-Who or She-Who-Cannot-Be-Named-In-the-Plenary? Why? Because all the remarks that deal with the unpleasant, the ugly realities of the past government have been removed from the records under the guise of upholding decency and decorum. Sadly, this was backed by the House leadership which is affiliated with the new government that promises an era of change. The same government which proclaims, “there can no reconciliation without justice.”
This week, Representatives Walden Bello and Teddy Casino were accused of disrespecting a fellow member by delivering allegedly “unparliamentary” remarks in their speeches. Parts of their speeches were removed from the records particularly those referring to the corruption and human rights violations of the past administration. Your honor, this sets a bad precedent.
I have been here only for one year, 16 months to be exact, but long enough for me to hear speeches of fellow members criticizing fellow members.
Let me cite a few examples:
June 1, 2009: Former ANAD partylist Representative Jun Alcover blatantly and without basis named progressive partylist representatives as a “scourge of deceit and brutality.” He accused Representatives Maza and Ocampo as adherents of an inhuman ideology.
December 4, 2009: Former Bantay Partylist Representative Jovito Palparan accused Samar Representative Reynaldo Uy of having a private army.
Last day of session of the 14th Congress. Former A Teacher Partylist Representative Piamonte accused Representative Sarmiento of the same partylist of corruption and told him to “resign and shut up.”
In these instances, no one objected. No one moved to strike from the record such accusations that reek of malice and fallacy. The leadership allowed the speech to be included in the records.
My point is this: striking off the perceived unparliamentary remarks is not the only option. The body, the leadership, can tolerate to hear negative remarks. It is not encouraged but we have a practice of allowing members to stand on the floor and criticize, sometimes viciously criticize, a fellow member.
Today, there seems to be this worrisome obsession to find “unparliamentary” words in our speeches. It might send a bad signal to other members, especially to new members, that privilege speeches about the past government is ok, as long as they are not unpleasant in the ears of the supporters of “She-Who-Cannot-Be-Named-In-The-Plenary.”
I listened to the speeches of Bello and Casino, and I didn’t find any shocking expose, no new revelation. To use the words of Minority Representative Lagman, “bitin nga ako.” What they merely delivered was the sentiment of the people. Believe it or not, we have fellow Filipinos who believe that the previous government is guilty of spectacular crimes against the people. And maybe Representatives Bello and Casino think that the use of strong words to drive a point is needed. And the political situation today is such that colorful language must be used to remind us that “She-Who-Cannot-Be-Named-In-The-Plenary.” must be held accountable.
I understnd where Bello and Casino are coming from, especially Representative Casino who was holed up here in Batasan for several months in 2005. They are both part of the movement which attempted year after year to force the Congress to probe the alleged wrongdoings of the past government. The problem is wala kasi tayong closure. Now that the “She-Who-Cannot-Be-Named-In-The-Plenary.” is part of congress, would you expect the two to sing praises for her?
Lahat na lang ba ng negative remarks about “She-Who-Cannot-Be-Named-In-The-Plenary.” ay dapat tanggalin? Should I expect to hear only pro-You-Know-Who speeches in the next 3 years? What if a supporter of She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named stand on the floor and begin to enumerate the so-called achievements of the previous government? What if I also stand on the floor and move for the removal for what is to me offensive words? Would that be allowed by the leadership?
I hope the recent mania to scrutinize the speeches of anti-“She-Who-Cannot-Be-Named-In-The-Plenary.” solons is not a symptom of the reflection of our unwillingness to accept the truth about what happened in the past government.
It is tragic that we are more offended by the use of words that speak to truth, words that refer to acts of crime, rather than with the crimes itself.
My proposal is to give House members, especially members of the former opposition the freedom to speak and speak without fear of being censured about the past government. If it is founded on lies, it will not hold water. No one will believe them. Trust fellow members that they are capable of substantiating these allegations. Do not censor our speeches. Let the people judge. Let history be the judge. Do not purify and cleanse the records in the name of decorum.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
The role of the progressive party list bloc in the 15th Congress
The role of the progressive party list bloc in the 15th Congress
Privilege speech delivered by Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño
August 3, 2010
Mr. Speaker, my distinguished colleagues.
At the opening session of the 15th Congress last week, Bayan Muna and the other partylist organizations comprising the progressive party list bloc – Gabriela Women's Party, Anakpawis, Kabataan, and Act Teachers Party – voted with the majority in electing Congressman Feliciano Belmonte as Speaker of the House.
Marami ho ang nagtatanong. Ngayong nasa mayorya kami, kami ba daw ay mananahimik na? Pipigilan ba daw namin ang sarili sa pag-kwestyon sa mga disisyon at legislative agenda ng administrasyon at ng liderato ng Kamara? Magbabago na daw ba ang aming papel bilang mga kritiko ng status quo at ng gobyernong nagtataguyod nito?
Mr. Speaker, ang mga tanong na ito'y nagpapakita ng kalituhan sa papel ng mga progresibong kinatawan ng party list sa Kamara. Nakadagdag ang nakaraang eleksyon sa kalituhang ito. Ang pag-domina ng mga party list group na sinuportahan ng mga makapangyarihang political dynasty at malalaking interes sa negosyo ay nagsasalaula sa sistema ng party list at nagbibigay duda sa kakayanan nitong kumatawan sa mga dehado at walang boses sa Kongreso.
Indeed, what is the role of the partylist representatives? To answer the question, may I first quote the Supreme Court in its landmark 2001 decision in Bayan Muna vs. the Solicitor General.
“It is ironic” the High Court said, “that the marginalized and underrepresented in our midst are the majority who wallow in poverty, destitution and infirmity. It was for them that the party-list system was enacted – to give them not only genuine hope, but genuine power; to give them the opportunity to be elected and to represent the specific concerns of their constituencies; and simply to give them a direct voice in Congress and in the larger affairs of the State.
“In its noblest sense,” the Court further said, “the party-list system truly empowers the masses and ushers a new hope for genuine change. Verily, it invites those marginalized and underrepresented in the past – the farm hands, the fisher folk, the urban poor, even those in the underground movement – to come out and participate, as indeed many of them came out and participated during the last elections. The State cannot now disappoint and frustrate them by disabling and desecrating this social justice vehicle.”
Ayun po, Mr. Speaker, my distinguished colleagues. Malinaw na malinaw. The party lists are in Congress to represent and fight for the oppressed and downtrodden. To be a powerful voice to those whose voices are hardly heard in the corridors of power. We are here to use every opportunity for social change and the betterment of the marginalized masses. To be the genuine opposition to the oppressive and bankrupt social system that has afflicted our nation for so long.
We are at our best as a conscience bloc, as proponents of progressive and alternative policies, as champions of social reform and the politics of change. For us in the progressive party list bloc, our work in Congress is a mere extension of the people's movement for justice, freedom and national democracy.
It is in this context that we join the Majority in the 15th Congress.
Hindi ito ang unang beses na kami'y makikipagtulungan sa ruling coalition. In 2001 until 2005, we sided with the majority while retaining our independence and initiative within this working relationship, taking positions on important issues and legislative measures pushed by the majority consistent with our principles.
In 2001 as in today, we had a new administration claiming to be a product of People Power. On that premise of change and the promise of reform, we joined the Majority and expressed our readiness to overcome our historic and well-grounded skepticism of the ruling elite, provided the new leadership deliver on its promises. Alas, our skepticism turned out correct. By 2005, we quit the Majority and initiated the first of four impeachment proceedings against the former President.
Mr. Speaker, naging isang bangungot sa amin at sa mamamayang Pilipino ang rehimen ni Pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Nabiktima tayo ng isang pangulong tinaguriang sinungaling, magnanakaw, mandaraya at mamamatay tao. Isang pangulong tila hindi nagdalawang-isip na baluktutin ang ating mga batas; suhulan ang ating mga mambabatas; takutin, dukutin at patayin ang kanyang mga kritiko; upang manatili sa poder at magpayaman sa pwesto. Hindi ko na po iisa-isahin pa ang mga krimen at pagkakasala ng dating pangulo at kanyang mga alipores, at baka umabot tayo hanggang bukas. Ang importante, kailangan nilang managot. At sisiguraduhin naming sila ay mananagot.
The question now, Mr. Speaker, is will the incumbent President be any better?
Curiously, President Noynoy Aquino's innaugural speech and SONA expressed much the same things as Mrs. Arroyo's in 2001 although in more mundane but populist terms. Sabi niya: “Kayo ang boss ko. Walang wangwang, walang counterflow, walang kotong. Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap.”
Magagandang salita, Mr. Speaker. Noon at ngayon, magagandang pangako. Ngunit ang tanong, nasaan ang pagbabago ng sistema na matagal na nating inaasam-asam?
Mr. Speaker, we are an underdeveloped country still dominated by the colonial powers led by the United States and continually being exploited and plundered by their big banks, corporations and multilateral financial and trade institutions.
In the countryside, our farmers are mired in chronic poverty, shackled by age-old feudal and semi-feudal structures and oppressed by big landed families that comprise the political dynasties in their areas.
Genuine democracy remains a pipe dream, with the political system dominated and systematically corrupted by the ruling elite. The civilian bureaucracy and military forces are mere adjuncts of whoever is in power, and government is treated as one big business meant to be plundered for the benefit of oneself and one's relatives and friends.
We need change and we need it badly. But will the new administration deliver?
We in the progressive party list bloc can not help but be more skeptical this time around. Nowhere in the President's pronouncements did we hear any policy change or proposal addressing these root problems. Mga lumang problema ang hinaharap ng bagong administrasyon. Mga luma ring solusyon ang hinahapag. Nasaan ang pagbabago?
It was no surprise, Mr. Speaker, that the Minority Leader, Congressman Edcel Lagman, in his contra-SONA last week, boasted that the Aquino government is actually adopting many of the programs and policies of the previous administration. It seems that under President Aquino, we will see even more liberalization of the economy, more deregulation of strategic sectors, and more privatization via public-private partnerships. I am particularly apprehensive about such partnerships considering the key government posts now occupied by former executives of big companies involved in electricity generation and distribution, water distribution, infrastructure, real estate and telecommunications. From being service oriented, our utilities will now be profit oriented.
Ang sabi ng Pangulo, maling pulitika daw ang pagpigil sa pagtaas ng presyo ng tubig, kuryente at pasahe sa MRT. Ano ho ang ibig sabihin nito, itataas na ang presyo ng tubig, kuryente, pamasahe at iba pang batayang serbisyo? Siguradong pumapalakpak ang mga bangko at mga negosyanteng may interes sa mga proyektong ito.
When the President spoke to us, there was no mention of agrarian reform. No mention of the plight of our workers and their demand for just wages and better working conditions.
We hoped that the efforts to hold the Arroyo regime accountable for its crimes would include not only cases of plunder, graft and corruption but human rights violations as well, which is a bigger concern even in the international community. To our dismay, it seems the more than one thousand victims of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and other human rights atrocities under Arroyo will not find justice under Aquino. Cases of human rights violations were left out of the Truth Commission's mandate. The Alston report continues to gather dust, its recommendations ignored. The state of denial continues, the killings have not stopped.
It also seems that under the new administration, the prospects for peace are dim with the President's insistence on various preconditions, like a ceasefire, for the talks to resume. It was inappropriate for President Aquino to dare the NDF to give concrete proposals because in fact, the various agreements and talking points since the 1992 Hague Agreement, including the 1996 agreement on human rights and international law and the proposed agreement on social and economic reforms in 1998, show so many concrete proposals from the NDF that were never reciprocated by the Philippine government.
I can go on, Mr. Speaker, but I think the point is clear. Ang tanong ng bayan, nasaan ang pagbabago? Hanggang wangwang na lang ba? May makabuluhang pagbabago ba para sa mahihirap at inaaping mamamayan na aming kinakatawan?
Ang sabi ng iba, bigyan natin ng pagkakataon ang Pangulo na patunayan ang kanyang mga sinasabi. Kailangan daw ng panahon para madama ang pagbabago. Sana nga. Sana nga. Subalit sa aming nakikita at naririnig, mukhang malabo.
Sa ganitong kalagayan, Mr. Speaker, ang papel namin ay hindi lang tiyaking tinutupad ng administrasyon ang kanyang mga pangako, subalit itulak at palawakin pa ito para maging tunay na makabuluhan para sa masang Pilipino. Sa ganitong balangkas kami'y nakahandang makipagtulungan.
Sa kabilang banda, hindi kami mangingiming ilantad at tutulan ang anumang kontra-mamamayang patakaran o batas na itinutulak sa Kongreso o kahit na anong ahensya ng gobyerno, maging ito'y galing sa administrasyon o oposisyon. Sa ganitong balangkas kami'y nakahandang makipagtunggalian.
Sa ganang akin, may isang dosenang kagyat na kahingian ang sambayanan na dapat matugunan ng administrasyong Aquino:
1. Panagutin at parusahan ang dating pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at mga kasabwat niya sa kanilang mga krimen sa bayan.
2. Bigyan ng hustisya ang mga biktima ng human rights violations, ipatupad ang mga rekomendasyon ng Alston report kaugnay ng Oplan Bantay Laya at iba pa.
3. Ipamahagi ang lupa ng Hacienda Luisita sa mga magsasaka at ipatupad ang tunay na reporma sa lupa.
4. Ipasa ang isang legislated, across the board wage hike, itigil ang kontraktwalisasyon sa paggawa.
5. Ibaba ang presyo ng mga bilihin, tanggalin ang VAT sa langis, kuryente, tubig at mga batayang serbisyo't produkto.
6. I-repeal ang PD 1177 at ire-channel ang badyet ng debt service patungo sa edukasyon, kalusugan, pabagay at ibang batayang serbisyo.
7. Bigyan ng subsidyo ang mga magsasaka at protektahan ang mga manggagawa at negosyong Pilipino laban sa mga dayuhang produkto at kapital.
8. Baliktarin ang liberalisasyon sa mga produktong may lokal na katumbas, i-atras ang deregulasyon at pribatisasyon sa power generation, distribusyon ng tubig, industriya ng langis at pagmimina, at paggamit ng ating likas yaman.
9. Ibasura at bumaklas sa mga kontra-mamamayang kundisyon ng mga free trade agreements at iba pang dikta ng IMF, WB at WTO.
10. Paigtingin pa ang laban sa korapsyon. Lansagin ang sistema ng pork barrel, ipasa ang mga batas para sa pagpapalakas ng papel ng mamamayan sa pagsugpo ng korapsyon.
11. Ibalik ang peace talks ng walang kundisyon.
12. Itigil ang Balikatan exercises at ibasura ang MDT, VFA, MLSA at iba pang di-makatwirang kasunduang pang-militar.
Ginoong Speaker, mga kagalang-galang na kasama, asahan ninyong sa ika-15 Kongreso, isusulong namin ang mga ito upang higit pang mapaglingkuran ang masang Pilipino.
Maraming salamat po.
Privilege speech delivered by Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño
August 3, 2010
Mr. Speaker, my distinguished colleagues.
At the opening session of the 15th Congress last week, Bayan Muna and the other partylist organizations comprising the progressive party list bloc – Gabriela Women's Party, Anakpawis, Kabataan, and Act Teachers Party – voted with the majority in electing Congressman Feliciano Belmonte as Speaker of the House.
Marami ho ang nagtatanong. Ngayong nasa mayorya kami, kami ba daw ay mananahimik na? Pipigilan ba daw namin ang sarili sa pag-kwestyon sa mga disisyon at legislative agenda ng administrasyon at ng liderato ng Kamara? Magbabago na daw ba ang aming papel bilang mga kritiko ng status quo at ng gobyernong nagtataguyod nito?
Mr. Speaker, ang mga tanong na ito'y nagpapakita ng kalituhan sa papel ng mga progresibong kinatawan ng party list sa Kamara. Nakadagdag ang nakaraang eleksyon sa kalituhang ito. Ang pag-domina ng mga party list group na sinuportahan ng mga makapangyarihang political dynasty at malalaking interes sa negosyo ay nagsasalaula sa sistema ng party list at nagbibigay duda sa kakayanan nitong kumatawan sa mga dehado at walang boses sa Kongreso.
Indeed, what is the role of the partylist representatives? To answer the question, may I first quote the Supreme Court in its landmark 2001 decision in Bayan Muna vs. the Solicitor General.
“It is ironic” the High Court said, “that the marginalized and underrepresented in our midst are the majority who wallow in poverty, destitution and infirmity. It was for them that the party-list system was enacted – to give them not only genuine hope, but genuine power; to give them the opportunity to be elected and to represent the specific concerns of their constituencies; and simply to give them a direct voice in Congress and in the larger affairs of the State.
“In its noblest sense,” the Court further said, “the party-list system truly empowers the masses and ushers a new hope for genuine change. Verily, it invites those marginalized and underrepresented in the past – the farm hands, the fisher folk, the urban poor, even those in the underground movement – to come out and participate, as indeed many of them came out and participated during the last elections. The State cannot now disappoint and frustrate them by disabling and desecrating this social justice vehicle.”
Ayun po, Mr. Speaker, my distinguished colleagues. Malinaw na malinaw. The party lists are in Congress to represent and fight for the oppressed and downtrodden. To be a powerful voice to those whose voices are hardly heard in the corridors of power. We are here to use every opportunity for social change and the betterment of the marginalized masses. To be the genuine opposition to the oppressive and bankrupt social system that has afflicted our nation for so long.
We are at our best as a conscience bloc, as proponents of progressive and alternative policies, as champions of social reform and the politics of change. For us in the progressive party list bloc, our work in Congress is a mere extension of the people's movement for justice, freedom and national democracy.
It is in this context that we join the Majority in the 15th Congress.
Hindi ito ang unang beses na kami'y makikipagtulungan sa ruling coalition. In 2001 until 2005, we sided with the majority while retaining our independence and initiative within this working relationship, taking positions on important issues and legislative measures pushed by the majority consistent with our principles.
In 2001 as in today, we had a new administration claiming to be a product of People Power. On that premise of change and the promise of reform, we joined the Majority and expressed our readiness to overcome our historic and well-grounded skepticism of the ruling elite, provided the new leadership deliver on its promises. Alas, our skepticism turned out correct. By 2005, we quit the Majority and initiated the first of four impeachment proceedings against the former President.
Mr. Speaker, naging isang bangungot sa amin at sa mamamayang Pilipino ang rehimen ni Pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Nabiktima tayo ng isang pangulong tinaguriang sinungaling, magnanakaw, mandaraya at mamamatay tao. Isang pangulong tila hindi nagdalawang-isip na baluktutin ang ating mga batas; suhulan ang ating mga mambabatas; takutin, dukutin at patayin ang kanyang mga kritiko; upang manatili sa poder at magpayaman sa pwesto. Hindi ko na po iisa-isahin pa ang mga krimen at pagkakasala ng dating pangulo at kanyang mga alipores, at baka umabot tayo hanggang bukas. Ang importante, kailangan nilang managot. At sisiguraduhin naming sila ay mananagot.
The question now, Mr. Speaker, is will the incumbent President be any better?
Curiously, President Noynoy Aquino's innaugural speech and SONA expressed much the same things as Mrs. Arroyo's in 2001 although in more mundane but populist terms. Sabi niya: “Kayo ang boss ko. Walang wangwang, walang counterflow, walang kotong. Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap.”
Magagandang salita, Mr. Speaker. Noon at ngayon, magagandang pangako. Ngunit ang tanong, nasaan ang pagbabago ng sistema na matagal na nating inaasam-asam?
Mr. Speaker, we are an underdeveloped country still dominated by the colonial powers led by the United States and continually being exploited and plundered by their big banks, corporations and multilateral financial and trade institutions.
In the countryside, our farmers are mired in chronic poverty, shackled by age-old feudal and semi-feudal structures and oppressed by big landed families that comprise the political dynasties in their areas.
Genuine democracy remains a pipe dream, with the political system dominated and systematically corrupted by the ruling elite. The civilian bureaucracy and military forces are mere adjuncts of whoever is in power, and government is treated as one big business meant to be plundered for the benefit of oneself and one's relatives and friends.
We need change and we need it badly. But will the new administration deliver?
We in the progressive party list bloc can not help but be more skeptical this time around. Nowhere in the President's pronouncements did we hear any policy change or proposal addressing these root problems. Mga lumang problema ang hinaharap ng bagong administrasyon. Mga luma ring solusyon ang hinahapag. Nasaan ang pagbabago?
It was no surprise, Mr. Speaker, that the Minority Leader, Congressman Edcel Lagman, in his contra-SONA last week, boasted that the Aquino government is actually adopting many of the programs and policies of the previous administration. It seems that under President Aquino, we will see even more liberalization of the economy, more deregulation of strategic sectors, and more privatization via public-private partnerships. I am particularly apprehensive about such partnerships considering the key government posts now occupied by former executives of big companies involved in electricity generation and distribution, water distribution, infrastructure, real estate and telecommunications. From being service oriented, our utilities will now be profit oriented.
Ang sabi ng Pangulo, maling pulitika daw ang pagpigil sa pagtaas ng presyo ng tubig, kuryente at pasahe sa MRT. Ano ho ang ibig sabihin nito, itataas na ang presyo ng tubig, kuryente, pamasahe at iba pang batayang serbisyo? Siguradong pumapalakpak ang mga bangko at mga negosyanteng may interes sa mga proyektong ito.
When the President spoke to us, there was no mention of agrarian reform. No mention of the plight of our workers and their demand for just wages and better working conditions.
We hoped that the efforts to hold the Arroyo regime accountable for its crimes would include not only cases of plunder, graft and corruption but human rights violations as well, which is a bigger concern even in the international community. To our dismay, it seems the more than one thousand victims of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and other human rights atrocities under Arroyo will not find justice under Aquino. Cases of human rights violations were left out of the Truth Commission's mandate. The Alston report continues to gather dust, its recommendations ignored. The state of denial continues, the killings have not stopped.
It also seems that under the new administration, the prospects for peace are dim with the President's insistence on various preconditions, like a ceasefire, for the talks to resume. It was inappropriate for President Aquino to dare the NDF to give concrete proposals because in fact, the various agreements and talking points since the 1992 Hague Agreement, including the 1996 agreement on human rights and international law and the proposed agreement on social and economic reforms in 1998, show so many concrete proposals from the NDF that were never reciprocated by the Philippine government.
I can go on, Mr. Speaker, but I think the point is clear. Ang tanong ng bayan, nasaan ang pagbabago? Hanggang wangwang na lang ba? May makabuluhang pagbabago ba para sa mahihirap at inaaping mamamayan na aming kinakatawan?
Ang sabi ng iba, bigyan natin ng pagkakataon ang Pangulo na patunayan ang kanyang mga sinasabi. Kailangan daw ng panahon para madama ang pagbabago. Sana nga. Sana nga. Subalit sa aming nakikita at naririnig, mukhang malabo.
Sa ganitong kalagayan, Mr. Speaker, ang papel namin ay hindi lang tiyaking tinutupad ng administrasyon ang kanyang mga pangako, subalit itulak at palawakin pa ito para maging tunay na makabuluhan para sa masang Pilipino. Sa ganitong balangkas kami'y nakahandang makipagtulungan.
Sa kabilang banda, hindi kami mangingiming ilantad at tutulan ang anumang kontra-mamamayang patakaran o batas na itinutulak sa Kongreso o kahit na anong ahensya ng gobyerno, maging ito'y galing sa administrasyon o oposisyon. Sa ganitong balangkas kami'y nakahandang makipagtunggalian.
Sa ganang akin, may isang dosenang kagyat na kahingian ang sambayanan na dapat matugunan ng administrasyong Aquino:
1. Panagutin at parusahan ang dating pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at mga kasabwat niya sa kanilang mga krimen sa bayan.
2. Bigyan ng hustisya ang mga biktima ng human rights violations, ipatupad ang mga rekomendasyon ng Alston report kaugnay ng Oplan Bantay Laya at iba pa.
3. Ipamahagi ang lupa ng Hacienda Luisita sa mga magsasaka at ipatupad ang tunay na reporma sa lupa.
4. Ipasa ang isang legislated, across the board wage hike, itigil ang kontraktwalisasyon sa paggawa.
5. Ibaba ang presyo ng mga bilihin, tanggalin ang VAT sa langis, kuryente, tubig at mga batayang serbisyo't produkto.
6. I-repeal ang PD 1177 at ire-channel ang badyet ng debt service patungo sa edukasyon, kalusugan, pabagay at ibang batayang serbisyo.
7. Bigyan ng subsidyo ang mga magsasaka at protektahan ang mga manggagawa at negosyong Pilipino laban sa mga dayuhang produkto at kapital.
8. Baliktarin ang liberalisasyon sa mga produktong may lokal na katumbas, i-atras ang deregulasyon at pribatisasyon sa power generation, distribusyon ng tubig, industriya ng langis at pagmimina, at paggamit ng ating likas yaman.
9. Ibasura at bumaklas sa mga kontra-mamamayang kundisyon ng mga free trade agreements at iba pang dikta ng IMF, WB at WTO.
10. Paigtingin pa ang laban sa korapsyon. Lansagin ang sistema ng pork barrel, ipasa ang mga batas para sa pagpapalakas ng papel ng mamamayan sa pagsugpo ng korapsyon.
11. Ibalik ang peace talks ng walang kundisyon.
12. Itigil ang Balikatan exercises at ibasura ang MDT, VFA, MLSA at iba pang di-makatwirang kasunduang pang-militar.
Ginoong Speaker, mga kagalang-galang na kasama, asahan ninyong sa ika-15 Kongreso, isusulong namin ang mga ito upang higit pang mapaglingkuran ang masang Pilipino.
Maraming salamat po.
Privilege speech delivered by Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño
August 3, 2010
New Economics for a New Administration
PRIVILEGE SPEECH OF REP. BELLO
Mr. Speaker, the title of my speech is New Economics for a New Administration.
Corruption was the signature of the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. This is why this Representation shares the public disgust with a record of orgiastic compensation, brazen manipulation of government agencies and funds for political purposes and massive waste of the people’s money, detailed by President Benigno Aquino III during his State of the Nation Address on Monday, July 26, 2010. The public is still reeling from the presidential revelations about the rotting of millions of sacks of imported rice in the warehouses of the National Food Authority, the way that the National Power Corporation (NPC) was commanded to sell electricity at a low price for electoral gain and the amazing privileges which the board and top executives of the MWSS gave themselves. However, I fully agree with my friend from Cavite, Hon. Elpidio Barzaga, when he said that President Aquino should not stop at that issue of MWSS because there are other government-owned and -controlled corporations and government financial institutions that have arrogated more exorbitant rewards for
their directors.
In this regard, let me just mention the astronomical P500,000 monthly salary that the former head of the GSIS gave himself, and the only less celestial salaries of the 48 vice presidents, 48 that made up his court—a fact revealed a few days ago by Ferdinand Gaite, the head of a major public employees’ union.
If the subordinates of the GMA administration behaved like pigs, kung ang mga galamay ng nakaraang administrasyon ay kumilos ng parang buwaya, ito ay dahil meron silang magandang halimbawa sa pangungurakot sa itaas. They have a good model at the top. This was a model not only in corruption and plunder but a model on how to behave with impunity and subvert democratic institutions. The channeling of P105 million of the calamity fund to the Second District of Pampanga while starving other districts and provinces of these resources, the P329 million NBN-ZTE scandal, the P728 million fertilizer scam, the stealing of the 2004 presidential elections, the glorification of butcher Palparan as hundreds of activists and journalists were killed or made to disappear, the coddling of warlords like the Ampatuans in return for political favors—for these deeds, the Representative of the Second District of Pampanga awaits prosecution and hopefully this process gets underway soon so that she can be transported from this august Chamber to the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa where she belongs.
On this occasion, let me quote the words that Cicero flung at the great subverter of Rome’s institution, Catiline, which says: “Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra?” How much longer will you abuse the people’s patience, Gloria?
Let me proceed with my main intent in giving this privilege speech which is the need for the administration to articulate the policy paradigm to compliment its anti-corruption thrust.
We, in Akbayan, support the passage of a National Land Use Bill and some of the other measures mentioned by President Aquino two days ago, but there is a need for a more strategic approach and detailed policy package and I hope the majority and the minority can cooperate in filling out a positive policy agenda for the administration to follow over the next six years.
The dominant feature of the Aquino administration was, as we said, pervasive corruption, but its most destructive legacy in the long term will probably be its policy failure. The ascent to power of a new President, backed by a new Congress, provides the opportunity for a fundamental shift in policy in order to end poverty and re-launch the Philippines on the road to development.
The policy paradigm of the administration was one it inherited from previous administrations. This was a pro-market, neo-liberal approach, the keys or prongs of which were accelerated trade and financial liberalization, deregulation and privatization. In addition, President Arroyo continued her predecessor’s policy of fully servicing the foreign debt, dealt with the ever-widening budget deficit by imposing a 12 percent value-added tax that hit mainly the middle class and the poor, and left it to the market to address poverty and income inequality.
With its pro-market orientation, the Arroyo presidency followed the lead of previous administrations in refusing to pursue an industrial policy, reducing budget support for agriculture to a minimum, and radically bringing down tariffs on both agricultural and manufacturing imports. Abandoned to global market forces as the administration embraced the ideology of globalization, the economy was channeled to the massive export of labor, export-oriented low-value-added manufacturing, particularly of electronic products, and providing personnel for the outsourced operations of transnational corporations like call centers.
Not surprisingly, dear colleagues, the country’s GDP growth rate was consistently significantly below those of its Asian neighbors, the radical reduction of tariffs decimated manufacturing, the country was turned from a net food exporter into a net food importer, the poverty rates stubbornly refused to go below 30 percent of the population, and income distribution worsened. In addition, the ecological crisis intensified, owing to desultory environmental management and failure to promote a reproductive health policy for fear of offending the Catholic Church hierarchy.
Let me just say in this regard that Congress’ continuing tolerance of the idiotic obstruction of population planning by benighted forces amounts to criminal negligence. We, in Akbayan, agree with Minority Floor Leader Edcel Lagman that we must immediately pass the Reproductive Health Bill.
The country’s plight under the lash of wrong policies over the last four administrations becomes clearer in a comparative perspective. According to the United Nations Human Development Report, the Philippines registered the second lowest average yearly growth rate, 1.6 percent, in Southeast Asia in the period 1990-2005—lower than Vietnam (5.9 percent), Cambodia (5.5 percent), and Burma (6.6 percent). The only country registering above average growth below that of the Philippines was Brunei which, being an oil-rich,
high-income country, could afford not to grow.
The partisans of the past administration say that its big achievement is that the Philippines grew by 4.4 percent a year over the last decade. This is nothing to be proud of since most economists say the economy needs to grow by at least 7.0 percent just to counteract its high birthrate and thus contain poverty. Can we really boast of a 4.5 percent growth rate when the second tier ASEAN countries, with none of the advantages of our country, sprinted ahead of us, with Vietnam growing by an average of 7.5 percent a year last decade; Laos by 7.5 percent and even conflict ridden Cambodia by 6.5 percent.
In the last two years, the seemingly unending crisis of the domestic economy has been exacerbated by the worst global economic crisis since the great depression—a development that is a product of the same principles of deregulation and trade and financial liberalization. This dual crisis coincides with the arrival of a new President and provides an unparalleled opportunity to break with the paradigm that has condemned this country to stagnation for nearly three decades.
First and foremost, among the necessary changes is the transformation of the Philippine State or government from a passive actor hijacked by corrupt private interests and corrupt officials into a proactive agent of development. The role of the State is not simply to regulate or discipline the market in the private sector though this is an important function. More important, the State must lead in developing and implementing a strategic program for Philippine development—one that harnesses the energies of the public sector, civil society and the market to achieve development targets. Planning, which has become a dirty word in recent years, must again take pride of place among the instruments of economic development, with the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) ceasing to be simply a statistical collection agency and becoming the planning agency it was originally meant to be.
In this regard, my esteemed colleagues, we do not understand why the President has appointed a man, Dr. Cayetano Paderanga, who does not believe in planning, to be the head of the country’s planning agency.
The revival of an economy with a solid industrial and agricultural base must be among the key aims of the activist state since industry and agriculture are the main sources of solid growth in the economy.
So, this means engaging in the national policy or the strategic deployment of tariffs and other mechanisms, not only to protect domestic manufacturing from unfair competition, but more importantly, to give it depth, diversity, coherence and complementarity. It also means making agriculture, again, a centerpiece of the economy through the strategic management of tariffs, quotas, subsidies for farmers and sustainable agro-technology. The long-awaited completion of agrarian reform is, of course, a central element in the agricultural policy package, and the President’s electoral campaign promise to distribute Hacienda Luisita to its tenants would give the green light for this. We must confess some disappointment that that green light did not flash last Monday, but we remain confident that the President will live up to his promise to distribute the lands of Hacienda Luisita to its tenants.
Market-driven, export-oriented industrialization and export-oriented agriculture were the main prongs of the old discredited paradigm. It is time to make the domestic market again the driver of growth. This can only be done, however, by increasing the purchasing power of Filipinos in lower income groups. This will involve income and asset redistribution, including a deepening of the land reform program. Higher wages for workers, income subsidies for the poor and strengthened support services for peasant farmers are also mechanisms to achieve this goal of activating a vibrant domestic market that will be the locomotive of growth. In the current global economic crisis, the Philippines and other countries, via stimulus programs, have fallen back on the domestic market to make up for the shortfall in foreign market. This reorientation must be made permanent, a prescription that is underlined by the poor prospects of recovery by export markets in the next few years.
Asserting the role of an activist developmental state does not mean a return to the old developmental paradigm of the 1960s and 1970s. The old paradigm focused on achieving high growth rates, prioritized industrial development, made equity a secondary consideration, and paid little attention to environmental damage. The new economic policy, in contrast, stresses the quality of development with a strong emphasis on equity and ecological stability. A lower rate of growth that would meet the needs of development and poverty reduction without destabilizing the environment is not a Utopian dream, but it can only be brought about on the basis of a more equitable sharing of the fruits of growth. Thus, equity in the distribution of income, assets and resources fulfills simultaneously the needs of demand-driven growth, environmental sustainability and social justice.
The new economic policy must acknowledge the value of women’s work. For too long, women’s central role in the production of the economy has not been acknowledged, leading to the devaluation of women’s work and generating systemic inequality in income distribution between the sexes. That the majority of the poor are women is not an accident. Addressing the inequality created by gender will involve coming up with a set of complementary mechanisms, including income support, affirmative action employment and the promotion of women-friendly methods of family planning.
Production, consumption, equity and ownership of the means of production are closely linked. In contrast to a system where one form of property subjugates others, an equity-oriented system of production combines various forms of ownership, including stake ownership, private property, cooperatives and ancestral domain or communal property. Full recognition and protection of ancestral domain or communal forms of ownership, as enshrined in the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997, is the best guarantee for enhancing the economic welfare of indigenous peoples. Their well-being can also be promoted through the establishment of an effective maintenance of protected areas where environmental management will be in the hands of indigenous communities. Such sanctuaries must be created not only in forest and mountain areas, but also in the seas and lakes. Fishing in waters at a designated distance from the shore must be preserved for artisanal or small-scale fishing communities.
Mining for natural resources is an important economic activity, yet government policies have supported foreign corporations that brought little of their profits to the country and left mainly environmental disasters, like the Marinduque mining disaster in 1992. Constitutional restrictions on the nationality of owners of mining firms must be fully respected, mining policy must favor mainly small operators, tight environmental restrictions must be instituted, and profits of mining operations must flow mainly to mining communities. The repeal of the 1995 Mining Act, whose provision on financial and/or technical assistance agreements allowing 100 percent foreign ownership was judged unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, will be necessary to bring about a pro-people mining regime.
In all areas of the economy, there must be a concerted shift to green technology. In agriculture, for instance, land reform and a reversal of the destructive trade liberalization are not enough. To be sustainable, agricultural technology must be made less dependent on the chemical-intensive technology that has proven so ruinous to environment and public health. At the same time, it must avoid the illusion of a new green revolution based on genetically-engineered seeds that are owned by transnational corporations. Organic agricultural methods suitable to small-scale farming must be developed and promoted with the aid of the government and our local scientific community. In this regard, the appointment of one of our former colleagues, Proceso Alcala, as head of the Department of Agriculture gives us heart for he is one of the country’s leading practitioners of organic agriculture, as is our colleague Congressman Villafuerte from Camarines Sur.
The last three decades have witnessed a disastrous experiment in the privatization of power, water and other public goods. Privatization has resulted in higher profits for the private sector but it has not brought about more efficient management.
Privatization has not brought about more efficient management and lower costs of power and water. Water rates have skyrocketed to P33.00 per cubic meter since Maynilad took over the distribution of water of a large part of Metro Manila in 1997. Then, the rate was only P8.49. In April, this year, MERALCO raised the price and charged customers by a hefty P1.20 per kilowatt hour, citing a rise in the cost of power it bought from suppliers that were owned by the Lopez family, who has a huge stake in the firm itself. Just last week, Manny Pangilinan, the chairman of this obnoxious monopoly that has five million residents of Metro Manila in its grip announced that it enjoyed a profit surge of 50 percent in the first half of 2010. This is what privatization has brought, Mr. Speaker.
People have a basic right to power, to water and production, and the delivery of these goods by public or cooperative enterprises is the best guarantee that their price remains within the range of all citizens. Making public goods affordable will sometimes involve some form of subsidization in which the richer classes and organizations assist through transfer payments, the poorer sectors of the community.
Mr. Speaker, taxation is an indispensable mechanism for government to raise the resources to spend for the public welfare. The problem in the Philippines is a system that is regressive where, owing to reliance on the value-added tax and other forms of indirect tax, the burden of taxation falls principally on the poor and middle classes. The key to raising resources is to shift the burden of taxation to the rich through higher tax rates for those in upper income brackets, more efficient collection of income taxes and corporate taxes, and increasing taxes on socially unhealthy activities such as gambling, drinking, smoking, and carbon emissions. This mix of measures will yield a significant part of the resources to cover the now gargantuan budget deficit.
Fiscal balance will not, however, be achieved without addressing the debt problem. A key reason for our national debt of P4.4 trillion is the massive borrowing by the former administration which contracted credit that was more than thrice the amount borrowed by the Aquino, Ramos, and Estrada Administrations combined. This year, automatic appropriations for paying of interest comes to two percent of the budget or P341 billion of P1.5 trillion. If you factor in amortization of the principal, the total for debt service comes to P746 billion or 48 percent of the national budget . No wonder our colleagues, the Honorables Rufus Rodriguez and Maximo Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City, have filed a bill to revoke the Automatic Appropriations Act for Debt Servicing. The burden grows more onerous each year. Last year, the government shelled out $4.3 billion to service the foreign debt. This year, the figure is $5.2 billion. Next year, it will be $5.8 billion. Debt servicing has become the single most important item contributing to the government deficit, especially since the government is now borrowing at higher and higher rates of interest mainly to repay debt coming due. Servicing the debt has become the top national priority and this has had not only fiscal consequences, but also developmental ones. This practice has contributed to the massive reduction in public expenditures, capital expenditures, which has in turn caused a decline in the rate of investment since the government is the biggest investor in the economy and government investments crowds in or attracts private investment. This in turn has translated into a depressed rate of economic growth. With funds going to service debt instead of being invested in the economy, we will never catch up with our neighbors.
As pointed out by Dr. Raul Fabella of the University of the Philippines School of Economics, the country’s investment rate measured as the ratio of gross domestic capital formation to GDP comes to only 15 percent, well below Indonesia’s 25 percent, Singapore’s 22 percent, Thailand’s 28 percent and Vietnam’s 38 percent. Devoting the largest part of the budget to debt service, the Rodriguez brothers also remind us that it is a violation of the Constitution which says that education must have the top budget allocation. Without a radical change in our debt management policy, along the lines of our debt moratorium or a negotiated or unilateral reduction of the government’s debt burden, successfully implementing a new economic policy that will launch the Philippines anew on the road to development will not be possible. A fundamental change in debt management similar to Argentina’s decision in 2002 to pay only 25 cents for every dollar it owed to foreign creditors is the sine quanon or necessary condition for a change in the direction of economic policy.
The President himself recognizes the need for bold action in this area when he spoke about the need for debt repudiation during the electoral campaign. Let me repeat, the President during the campaign favored radical action on the foreign debt, and with the aid of Congress, he is now in a position to implement this. In sum, a golden opportunity awaits the administration of President Benigno Aquino III. A break with past policy, however, is necessary. The contours of a new strategy that will re-launch the country on an ecologically and socially benign development path are discernible. An active State, industrial policy, reinvigorating agriculture through a reversal of trade liberalization, domestic market-driven growth made possible by equitable income distribution, environmentally benign production processes in industry and agriculture, affirmative action for women and indigenous peoples, a mixed property regime instituting such an alternative comprehensive program will take a great deal of courage and determination especially at the beginning.
A Chinese proverb says, “Every journey of a thousand miles begins with a first step.” That first step is to take the bold measure necessary to tackle the biggest problem weighing down the country, the foreign debt.
Mr. Speaker, esteemed colleagues, thank you very much for your patience in listening to some of these thoughts for a new economic policy.
Mr. Speaker, the title of my speech is New Economics for a New Administration.
Corruption was the signature of the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. This is why this Representation shares the public disgust with a record of orgiastic compensation, brazen manipulation of government agencies and funds for political purposes and massive waste of the people’s money, detailed by President Benigno Aquino III during his State of the Nation Address on Monday, July 26, 2010. The public is still reeling from the presidential revelations about the rotting of millions of sacks of imported rice in the warehouses of the National Food Authority, the way that the National Power Corporation (NPC) was commanded to sell electricity at a low price for electoral gain and the amazing privileges which the board and top executives of the MWSS gave themselves. However, I fully agree with my friend from Cavite, Hon. Elpidio Barzaga, when he said that President Aquino should not stop at that issue of MWSS because there are other government-owned and -controlled corporations and government financial institutions that have arrogated more exorbitant rewards for
their directors.
In this regard, let me just mention the astronomical P500,000 monthly salary that the former head of the GSIS gave himself, and the only less celestial salaries of the 48 vice presidents, 48 that made up his court—a fact revealed a few days ago by Ferdinand Gaite, the head of a major public employees’ union.
If the subordinates of the GMA administration behaved like pigs, kung ang mga galamay ng nakaraang administrasyon ay kumilos ng parang buwaya, ito ay dahil meron silang magandang halimbawa sa pangungurakot sa itaas. They have a good model at the top. This was a model not only in corruption and plunder but a model on how to behave with impunity and subvert democratic institutions. The channeling of P105 million of the calamity fund to the Second District of Pampanga while starving other districts and provinces of these resources, the P329 million NBN-ZTE scandal, the P728 million fertilizer scam, the stealing of the 2004 presidential elections, the glorification of butcher Palparan as hundreds of activists and journalists were killed or made to disappear, the coddling of warlords like the Ampatuans in return for political favors—for these deeds, the Representative of the Second District of Pampanga awaits prosecution and hopefully this process gets underway soon so that she can be transported from this august Chamber to the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa where she belongs.
On this occasion, let me quote the words that Cicero flung at the great subverter of Rome’s institution, Catiline, which says: “Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra?” How much longer will you abuse the people’s patience, Gloria?
Let me proceed with my main intent in giving this privilege speech which is the need for the administration to articulate the policy paradigm to compliment its anti-corruption thrust.
We, in Akbayan, support the passage of a National Land Use Bill and some of the other measures mentioned by President Aquino two days ago, but there is a need for a more strategic approach and detailed policy package and I hope the majority and the minority can cooperate in filling out a positive policy agenda for the administration to follow over the next six years.
The dominant feature of the Aquino administration was, as we said, pervasive corruption, but its most destructive legacy in the long term will probably be its policy failure. The ascent to power of a new President, backed by a new Congress, provides the opportunity for a fundamental shift in policy in order to end poverty and re-launch the Philippines on the road to development.
The policy paradigm of the administration was one it inherited from previous administrations. This was a pro-market, neo-liberal approach, the keys or prongs of which were accelerated trade and financial liberalization, deregulation and privatization. In addition, President Arroyo continued her predecessor’s policy of fully servicing the foreign debt, dealt with the ever-widening budget deficit by imposing a 12 percent value-added tax that hit mainly the middle class and the poor, and left it to the market to address poverty and income inequality.
With its pro-market orientation, the Arroyo presidency followed the lead of previous administrations in refusing to pursue an industrial policy, reducing budget support for agriculture to a minimum, and radically bringing down tariffs on both agricultural and manufacturing imports. Abandoned to global market forces as the administration embraced the ideology of globalization, the economy was channeled to the massive export of labor, export-oriented low-value-added manufacturing, particularly of electronic products, and providing personnel for the outsourced operations of transnational corporations like call centers.
Not surprisingly, dear colleagues, the country’s GDP growth rate was consistently significantly below those of its Asian neighbors, the radical reduction of tariffs decimated manufacturing, the country was turned from a net food exporter into a net food importer, the poverty rates stubbornly refused to go below 30 percent of the population, and income distribution worsened. In addition, the ecological crisis intensified, owing to desultory environmental management and failure to promote a reproductive health policy for fear of offending the Catholic Church hierarchy.
Let me just say in this regard that Congress’ continuing tolerance of the idiotic obstruction of population planning by benighted forces amounts to criminal negligence. We, in Akbayan, agree with Minority Floor Leader Edcel Lagman that we must immediately pass the Reproductive Health Bill.
The country’s plight under the lash of wrong policies over the last four administrations becomes clearer in a comparative perspective. According to the United Nations Human Development Report, the Philippines registered the second lowest average yearly growth rate, 1.6 percent, in Southeast Asia in the period 1990-2005—lower than Vietnam (5.9 percent), Cambodia (5.5 percent), and Burma (6.6 percent). The only country registering above average growth below that of the Philippines was Brunei which, being an oil-rich,
high-income country, could afford not to grow.
The partisans of the past administration say that its big achievement is that the Philippines grew by 4.4 percent a year over the last decade. This is nothing to be proud of since most economists say the economy needs to grow by at least 7.0 percent just to counteract its high birthrate and thus contain poverty. Can we really boast of a 4.5 percent growth rate when the second tier ASEAN countries, with none of the advantages of our country, sprinted ahead of us, with Vietnam growing by an average of 7.5 percent a year last decade; Laos by 7.5 percent and even conflict ridden Cambodia by 6.5 percent.
In the last two years, the seemingly unending crisis of the domestic economy has been exacerbated by the worst global economic crisis since the great depression—a development that is a product of the same principles of deregulation and trade and financial liberalization. This dual crisis coincides with the arrival of a new President and provides an unparalleled opportunity to break with the paradigm that has condemned this country to stagnation for nearly three decades.
First and foremost, among the necessary changes is the transformation of the Philippine State or government from a passive actor hijacked by corrupt private interests and corrupt officials into a proactive agent of development. The role of the State is not simply to regulate or discipline the market in the private sector though this is an important function. More important, the State must lead in developing and implementing a strategic program for Philippine development—one that harnesses the energies of the public sector, civil society and the market to achieve development targets. Planning, which has become a dirty word in recent years, must again take pride of place among the instruments of economic development, with the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) ceasing to be simply a statistical collection agency and becoming the planning agency it was originally meant to be.
In this regard, my esteemed colleagues, we do not understand why the President has appointed a man, Dr. Cayetano Paderanga, who does not believe in planning, to be the head of the country’s planning agency.
The revival of an economy with a solid industrial and agricultural base must be among the key aims of the activist state since industry and agriculture are the main sources of solid growth in the economy.
So, this means engaging in the national policy or the strategic deployment of tariffs and other mechanisms, not only to protect domestic manufacturing from unfair competition, but more importantly, to give it depth, diversity, coherence and complementarity. It also means making agriculture, again, a centerpiece of the economy through the strategic management of tariffs, quotas, subsidies for farmers and sustainable agro-technology. The long-awaited completion of agrarian reform is, of course, a central element in the agricultural policy package, and the President’s electoral campaign promise to distribute Hacienda Luisita to its tenants would give the green light for this. We must confess some disappointment that that green light did not flash last Monday, but we remain confident that the President will live up to his promise to distribute the lands of Hacienda Luisita to its tenants.
Market-driven, export-oriented industrialization and export-oriented agriculture were the main prongs of the old discredited paradigm. It is time to make the domestic market again the driver of growth. This can only be done, however, by increasing the purchasing power of Filipinos in lower income groups. This will involve income and asset redistribution, including a deepening of the land reform program. Higher wages for workers, income subsidies for the poor and strengthened support services for peasant farmers are also mechanisms to achieve this goal of activating a vibrant domestic market that will be the locomotive of growth. In the current global economic crisis, the Philippines and other countries, via stimulus programs, have fallen back on the domestic market to make up for the shortfall in foreign market. This reorientation must be made permanent, a prescription that is underlined by the poor prospects of recovery by export markets in the next few years.
Asserting the role of an activist developmental state does not mean a return to the old developmental paradigm of the 1960s and 1970s. The old paradigm focused on achieving high growth rates, prioritized industrial development, made equity a secondary consideration, and paid little attention to environmental damage. The new economic policy, in contrast, stresses the quality of development with a strong emphasis on equity and ecological stability. A lower rate of growth that would meet the needs of development and poverty reduction without destabilizing the environment is not a Utopian dream, but it can only be brought about on the basis of a more equitable sharing of the fruits of growth. Thus, equity in the distribution of income, assets and resources fulfills simultaneously the needs of demand-driven growth, environmental sustainability and social justice.
The new economic policy must acknowledge the value of women’s work. For too long, women’s central role in the production of the economy has not been acknowledged, leading to the devaluation of women’s work and generating systemic inequality in income distribution between the sexes. That the majority of the poor are women is not an accident. Addressing the inequality created by gender will involve coming up with a set of complementary mechanisms, including income support, affirmative action employment and the promotion of women-friendly methods of family planning.
Production, consumption, equity and ownership of the means of production are closely linked. In contrast to a system where one form of property subjugates others, an equity-oriented system of production combines various forms of ownership, including stake ownership, private property, cooperatives and ancestral domain or communal property. Full recognition and protection of ancestral domain or communal forms of ownership, as enshrined in the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997, is the best guarantee for enhancing the economic welfare of indigenous peoples. Their well-being can also be promoted through the establishment of an effective maintenance of protected areas where environmental management will be in the hands of indigenous communities. Such sanctuaries must be created not only in forest and mountain areas, but also in the seas and lakes. Fishing in waters at a designated distance from the shore must be preserved for artisanal or small-scale fishing communities.
Mining for natural resources is an important economic activity, yet government policies have supported foreign corporations that brought little of their profits to the country and left mainly environmental disasters, like the Marinduque mining disaster in 1992. Constitutional restrictions on the nationality of owners of mining firms must be fully respected, mining policy must favor mainly small operators, tight environmental restrictions must be instituted, and profits of mining operations must flow mainly to mining communities. The repeal of the 1995 Mining Act, whose provision on financial and/or technical assistance agreements allowing 100 percent foreign ownership was judged unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, will be necessary to bring about a pro-people mining regime.
In all areas of the economy, there must be a concerted shift to green technology. In agriculture, for instance, land reform and a reversal of the destructive trade liberalization are not enough. To be sustainable, agricultural technology must be made less dependent on the chemical-intensive technology that has proven so ruinous to environment and public health. At the same time, it must avoid the illusion of a new green revolution based on genetically-engineered seeds that are owned by transnational corporations. Organic agricultural methods suitable to small-scale farming must be developed and promoted with the aid of the government and our local scientific community. In this regard, the appointment of one of our former colleagues, Proceso Alcala, as head of the Department of Agriculture gives us heart for he is one of the country’s leading practitioners of organic agriculture, as is our colleague Congressman Villafuerte from Camarines Sur.
The last three decades have witnessed a disastrous experiment in the privatization of power, water and other public goods. Privatization has resulted in higher profits for the private sector but it has not brought about more efficient management.
Privatization has not brought about more efficient management and lower costs of power and water. Water rates have skyrocketed to P33.00 per cubic meter since Maynilad took over the distribution of water of a large part of Metro Manila in 1997. Then, the rate was only P8.49. In April, this year, MERALCO raised the price and charged customers by a hefty P1.20 per kilowatt hour, citing a rise in the cost of power it bought from suppliers that were owned by the Lopez family, who has a huge stake in the firm itself. Just last week, Manny Pangilinan, the chairman of this obnoxious monopoly that has five million residents of Metro Manila in its grip announced that it enjoyed a profit surge of 50 percent in the first half of 2010. This is what privatization has brought, Mr. Speaker.
People have a basic right to power, to water and production, and the delivery of these goods by public or cooperative enterprises is the best guarantee that their price remains within the range of all citizens. Making public goods affordable will sometimes involve some form of subsidization in which the richer classes and organizations assist through transfer payments, the poorer sectors of the community.
Mr. Speaker, taxation is an indispensable mechanism for government to raise the resources to spend for the public welfare. The problem in the Philippines is a system that is regressive where, owing to reliance on the value-added tax and other forms of indirect tax, the burden of taxation falls principally on the poor and middle classes. The key to raising resources is to shift the burden of taxation to the rich through higher tax rates for those in upper income brackets, more efficient collection of income taxes and corporate taxes, and increasing taxes on socially unhealthy activities such as gambling, drinking, smoking, and carbon emissions. This mix of measures will yield a significant part of the resources to cover the now gargantuan budget deficit.
Fiscal balance will not, however, be achieved without addressing the debt problem. A key reason for our national debt of P4.4 trillion is the massive borrowing by the former administration which contracted credit that was more than thrice the amount borrowed by the Aquino, Ramos, and Estrada Administrations combined. This year, automatic appropriations for paying of interest comes to two percent of the budget or P341 billion of P1.5 trillion. If you factor in amortization of the principal, the total for debt service comes to P746 billion or 48 percent of the national budget . No wonder our colleagues, the Honorables Rufus Rodriguez and Maximo Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City, have filed a bill to revoke the Automatic Appropriations Act for Debt Servicing. The burden grows more onerous each year. Last year, the government shelled out $4.3 billion to service the foreign debt. This year, the figure is $5.2 billion. Next year, it will be $5.8 billion. Debt servicing has become the single most important item contributing to the government deficit, especially since the government is now borrowing at higher and higher rates of interest mainly to repay debt coming due. Servicing the debt has become the top national priority and this has had not only fiscal consequences, but also developmental ones. This practice has contributed to the massive reduction in public expenditures, capital expenditures, which has in turn caused a decline in the rate of investment since the government is the biggest investor in the economy and government investments crowds in or attracts private investment. This in turn has translated into a depressed rate of economic growth. With funds going to service debt instead of being invested in the economy, we will never catch up with our neighbors.
As pointed out by Dr. Raul Fabella of the University of the Philippines School of Economics, the country’s investment rate measured as the ratio of gross domestic capital formation to GDP comes to only 15 percent, well below Indonesia’s 25 percent, Singapore’s 22 percent, Thailand’s 28 percent and Vietnam’s 38 percent. Devoting the largest part of the budget to debt service, the Rodriguez brothers also remind us that it is a violation of the Constitution which says that education must have the top budget allocation. Without a radical change in our debt management policy, along the lines of our debt moratorium or a negotiated or unilateral reduction of the government’s debt burden, successfully implementing a new economic policy that will launch the Philippines anew on the road to development will not be possible. A fundamental change in debt management similar to Argentina’s decision in 2002 to pay only 25 cents for every dollar it owed to foreign creditors is the sine quanon or necessary condition for a change in the direction of economic policy.
The President himself recognizes the need for bold action in this area when he spoke about the need for debt repudiation during the electoral campaign. Let me repeat, the President during the campaign favored radical action on the foreign debt, and with the aid of Congress, he is now in a position to implement this. In sum, a golden opportunity awaits the administration of President Benigno Aquino III. A break with past policy, however, is necessary. The contours of a new strategy that will re-launch the country on an ecologically and socially benign development path are discernible. An active State, industrial policy, reinvigorating agriculture through a reversal of trade liberalization, domestic market-driven growth made possible by equitable income distribution, environmentally benign production processes in industry and agriculture, affirmative action for women and indigenous peoples, a mixed property regime instituting such an alternative comprehensive program will take a great deal of courage and determination especially at the beginning.
A Chinese proverb says, “Every journey of a thousand miles begins with a first step.” That first step is to take the bold measure necessary to tackle the biggest problem weighing down the country, the foreign debt.
Mr. Speaker, esteemed colleagues, thank you very much for your patience in listening to some of these thoughts for a new economic policy.
Source:
PLENARY PROCEEDINGS OF THE 15th CONGRESS, FIRST REGULAR SESSION
Monday, August 2, 2010
Marcoses make political comeback
Three prominent Marcoses duly elected as senator, governor and congresswoman respectively, will be working under the 2nd Aquino presidency. This year marks a comeback for the Marcoses despite past animosity between the two political families.
Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., son of former president Ferdinand Marcos, won a seat in the Senate last May 10 polls. He has earlier expressed willingness to work with President Noynoy Aquino and his administration.
Imee Marcos, daughter of the late strongman Marcos and three-term Congresswoman of the 2nd District of Ilocos Norte, is now governor of Ilocos Norte. She won by a landslide victory against former Gov. Michael Marcos Keon.
Imelda Marcos, the mother of Bongbong and Imee, widow of Pres. Marcos, former first lady, and herself a legendary political figure, is now Representative of the 2nd District of Ilocos Norte.
The political rivalry between the Aquino and Marcos families could be traced back to the days when former senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr., the father of PNoy, led the opposition against former dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Ninoy was jailed, tortured then assassinated under the Marcos presidency. Ninoy's widow and PNoy's mother, Corazon Aquino, ascended to the presidency which ended Marcos' 20-year rule.
Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., son of former president Ferdinand Marcos, won a seat in the Senate last May 10 polls. He has earlier expressed willingness to work with President Noynoy Aquino and his administration.
Imee Marcos, daughter of the late strongman Marcos and three-term Congresswoman of the 2nd District of Ilocos Norte, is now governor of Ilocos Norte. She won by a landslide victory against former Gov. Michael Marcos Keon.
Imelda Marcos, the mother of Bongbong and Imee, widow of Pres. Marcos, former first lady, and herself a legendary political figure, is now Representative of the 2nd District of Ilocos Norte.
The political rivalry between the Aquino and Marcos families could be traced back to the days when former senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr., the father of PNoy, led the opposition against former dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Ninoy was jailed, tortured then assassinated under the Marcos presidency. Ninoy's widow and PNoy's mother, Corazon Aquino, ascended to the presidency which ended Marcos' 20-year rule.
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