Under Aquino III: Promoting Ties of Dependency with the U.S.?

Under Aquino III: Promoting Ties of Dependency with the U.S.?
By the Policy Study, Publication, and Advocacy
Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG)
August 14, 2010

Those who are watching the first 100 days of the new administration can now start focusing their lens on President Benigno S. Aquino III’s coming visit to the United States in September - his first major official foreign trip. The decision to make the U.S. as his maiden foreign destination is not only symbolic but will have far-reaching implications not only on foreign policy but also on the so-called special relationship between a former colony and a superpower. In the long run, it will have broad implications on the Filipino people.



Of course, the presidential spokesperson says Aquino III, together with other heads of state, is going to address the United Nations General Assembly when it convenes next month. The more important agenda, however, pertains to the event that will happen at the White House and other meetings with high U.S. officials. The new president will make a courtesy call to the world’s most powerful leader – a traditional ritual performed by the Philippines’ past presidents from Manuel Quezon to Ferdinand Marcos and until recently, Gloria M. Arroyo who made several visits to Washington, DC.

A meeting with the U.S. president will underscore the importance given by the Philippine government to “special ties” with a former colonial master. But these “special ties” have nothing to do with people-to-people friendly relations. These ties have been shaped largely by economic and military considerations that were proven to be inimical to the Filipino people’s sovereign and territorial rights even if being friendly with Uncle Sam guaranteed support for any sitting Philippine president.

In the post-World War II era official visits by Philippine presidents to the U.S. embodied the country’s commitments to onerous economic and defense agreements that laid the foundations of an unequal neo-colonial relationship between the two countries. Time was when the Philippines had to undergo economic reconstruction as a result of the destruction wrought by the war between the U.S. and Japan yet American rehabilitation funds were tied to extending parity rights to Americans, allowing the stay of U.S. military bases and supporting wars of aggression in Korea, Indochina, and elsewhere. Ferdinand E. Marcos was propped up by the U.S. as America’s spokesman in Southeast Asia when the U.S. needed a coalition of forces from the region to support its wars of aggression in Indochina. Marcos played the role of America’s mouthpiece so well that his dictatorship lasted long enough thanks to continued U.S. support. The Americans dumped him when he became a liability and built up Corazon C. Aquino as the “third force” for succession. As a president, Aquino backed the renewal of the U.S. military bases and unleashed a U.S.-inspired “total war” policy against rebels leading to more human rights violations.

Bush regime

During the Bush regime, Mrs. Arroyo paid several visits to Washington, DC where she also met Pentagon and Congress leaders. The numerous agreements that she forged – most of them confidential – led to the Philippines playing the role as America’s “second front” against terrorism thus paving the entry of U.S. forces and military installations in the guise of war exercises and special trainings. Since 2001 the increase of U.S. military aid and intervention led to the escalation of extra-judicial killings and other war crimes amid the intensification of Arroyo’s counter-insurgency campaign against the Left, whether armed or unarmed. Yet, despite the financial commitments made by the U.S. government Arroyo’s nine-year presidency saw the highest unemployment rate in 50 years, widening income disparities, corruption, election fraud, plunder, and political repression.

In late May this year when the results of the presidential race had yet to be completed the U.S. ambassador to Manila, Harry Thomas, Jr., was the first foreign envoy to congratulate Aquino III. Their talks at Times Street touched on continued U.S. support, special ties between the two countries, and an invitation for an early state visit by the president-apparent. The Times Street talks have been followed by high-level meetings with U.S. state department officials led by Secretary Hillary Clinton, a new military assistance package, an offer of a missiles and war aircraft sale, and port calls by warships from the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM). This week, the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) announced the release of $434 million to fund three projects in the Philippines for five years. The MCC board is chaired also by Clinton.

In reciprocity, Aquino III said he is looking forward to the U.S. visit with an upbeat expectation of bringing “gifts” back to the country.

America’s current interest

Begging an immediate answer is what America’s current interest is in the Aquino III presidency and what possible “commitments” are on the table to emphasize the two countries’ “historic ties.” The lingering economic recession, increasing unemployment, and budget cuts or streamlining in the U.S. raise questions how much economic or military assistance is left that can be given to the Philippines and other countries - and in exchange for what.

The recent visits of high U.S. officials in the Philippines signal a continuing interest in the country in the context of America’s geo-strategic interests in the region and the rest of the world. The underlying framework of these objectives is chiseled in U.S. President Barack Obama’s National Security Strategy (NSS, May 2010) and the U.S. military’s new counter-insurgency (COIN) guide of January 2009. Although both doctrines reiterate the need to maintain the superpower’s access to world resources especially oil and other energy materials, they also stress America’s right to pre-emptive and unilateral strikes against “terrorism,” rogue regimes, and emerging powers, such as China, seeking to challenge the U.S.’ global power.

Recently, Obama secretly deployed new special operations forces (SOFs) to the Philippines and 69 other countries. The deployment is in line with the NSS and the new COIN which essentially continues U.S. counter-insurgency programs in as many countries especially in “failed (or weak) states” and in partnership with host governments and their armies. COIN, however, gives equal emphasis on the use of civilian components such as humanitarian missions; engaging NGOs, civil society, and diaspora communities; and an increasing role of the USAID and other agencies to promote “governance, transparency, the rule of law, and anti-corruption”. Not that both papers believe in democracy per se but they see the imperative of maintaining political stability and the elimination of “rogue enemies” as vital to U.S. imperial global interests.

Under Arroyo, the U.S. succeeded in inserting its forces and military outposts in the Philippines particularly in Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, and Zamboanga. The U.S. claims that the Philippines, particularly Mindanao, is part of the “arch of instability” in Southeast Asia and the rest of East Asia where America’s strategic oil and other commodities pass through the South China Sea. China’s irredentist claim over the sea is now being contested by the U.S. which considers it as an “open territory”.

Consistent

There is no question that Aquino III will remain consistent with the traditional support for U.S. military presence in the country and the whole region. Likewise, he has made it clear that he supports the controversial Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and has continued the Mrs. Arroyo’s U.S.-backed counter-insurgency campaign despite the fact that it has led to the killing of activists and other atrocities.

Influential rightist think tanks in the U.S., particularly the Heritage Foundation, are pressing Obama to continue supporting the AFP’s modernization program with bigger funds. The modernization assistance is being geared toward upgrading the Philippines’ territorial defense especially over the Spratly islands which are claimed by China and other countries.

An increased defense alliance with the U.S. leading to a quiet escalation of its military presence will make the Philippines a pawn in the Pentagon’s plan of containment and encirclement of China. If Aquino III makes the mistake of succumbing to this pressure, he runs the risk of antagonizing Beijing’s trade ties with Manila and its growing investments in mining, electronics, and other industries. It could provoke retaliation from China in the disputed Spratly islands.

The U.S. government’s strategic military operations in the Philippines in the guise of fighting terrorism are driven by America’s war industries that are supported by big defense spending in the midst of recession. In the U.S. recession the only prospects of recovery and employment are provided by Boeing, and other corporations involved in the war industry. The presence of U.S. forces in the Philippines and elsewhere in the world has been profitable to engineering, construction, electronics, aircraft, shipping, and other war manufacturing corporations in the U.S. Globally, U.S. forces and installations along with wars of intervention that are raging in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other flashpoints help sustain the powerful military-industrial complex in the U.S.

When Aquino III goes to Washington, DC his commitment of support for continued U.S. military operations in the Philippines will also be a tacit promotion of the war industries that market weapons of mass destruction and wars of intervention in the world. Such pledge of support is expected to reap financial and military assistance for the new administration but it will also bind Aquino III – like past Philippine presidents - to a master-slave relationship.

The Philippine government’s exclusivist ties with America have continually jeopardized not only potentially productive ties with other countries but also deepened the country’s neo-colonial, superior-subordinate bondage to its former colonial master. In fact, the continued U.S. influence in the Philippine presidency has deprived the Filipino people of their sovereign right to self-determination, to non-intervention by a foreign country, while bitter economic pills are imposed by U.S.-influenced multilateral agencies. This relationship also helps sustain U.S. meddling in counter-insurgency operations turning the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) into a surrogate army of the Pentagon and a power broker of sorts insofar as the Philippine presidency is concerned.

Aquino III the presidential contender had promised change in the system of governance. What is unfolding as far as dealing with the U.S. is concerned may exactly be the opposite.

There is thus a compelling reason for patriotic forces in the Philippines, including progressive elements in Congress, to call for the abrogation of the VFA and other onerous agreements with the U.S. and an end to U.S. military presence. The overarching imperative is to work for an independent Philippine foreign policy as an important element of governance.

DOLE affirms commitment to promote gender equality in workplace

Responding to the ever changing need for gender equality in the workplace, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) today said it will continue to evolve its policies and align itself to the demands of the Filipino workforce, especially on the need to address issues concerning gender and discrimination against women, lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBTs)



In a statement, Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda D. Baldoz said that “although much has been achieved in the country’s struggle for gender equality and fairness over the years, much, still has to be done. The pressing issue of discrimination against women and LGBTs has to be remedied.”

“This is in line with the 22-point labor and employment agenda of President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III that highlights the promotion and protection of workers’ rights,” the Labor Chief said, adding the Labor Department will continue to develop and find new ways to bring forth solutions in addressing the gender issues in the workplace.”

“This has led us to delve deeper to find lasting solution to the issue,” Baldoz said, as she referred to the recently concluded Working World Trialogue held at the Bayview Park Hotel in Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City.

“The inputs from the discussions will be taken into account by the ILS and will be used in research to formulate solutions surrounding the gender issue,” Baldoz said.

Meantime, the DOLE Chief called on employers to provide for a policy on “meritocracy,” where job applicants and employees are hired and promoted on the basis of their qualifications, abilities and merits relating to the performance of their jobs, and not on the basis of gender, sex, creed, beliefs and nationality.

“This effort is the first step in promoting equal rights for women, LGBTs and other workers affected by discrimination in the Philippines,” Baldoz said.

The forum, dubbed “Working World Trialogue Series 10.10 Discrimination in the Workplace: Beyond the Stereotypes,” has achieved considerable success in bringing together a unique mix of gender experts, workers’ groups, employers and civil society to discuss issues confronting the workplace on rights at work, employment opportunities, social protection and social dialogue.

Speakers from diverse range of stakeholders, from government, trade unions and employer groups, including representatives from the International Labor Organization (ILO), Philippine Commission on Women, UP-Manila Center for Gender and Women’s Studies, Rainbow Rights Alliance, People Management Association of the Philippines, Center for Migrant Advocacy, PS-Link, Akbayan, and Ang Ladlad participated and shed light to the burning issue of gender-based discrimination in the workplace.

Baldoz said that the Labor Department is now in the process of organizing other fora of this type to help bridge the gap between the genders and bring about gender equality in the workplace.

Among the DOLE officials who participated in the event are Assistant Secretary Ma. Joji V. Aragon, ILS Executive Director Cynthia R. Cruz, representatives from the ILS, Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Labor Communications Office (LCO).

DOLE affirms commitment to promote gender equality in workplace

KMU to Lucio Tan: heed PAL workers’ demands

Amidst a brewing strike by the Philippine Airlines’ ground employees and cabin crew, labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno called on PAL owner Lucio Tan today to immediately heed the PAL workers’ demands, saying Tan has clearly gone overboard in implementing his anti-worker policies.



“PAL’s workers are sending a clear message to Lucio Tan: stop implementing your anti-worker policies. PAL workers can never take so much. They are only demanding the upholding of their basic rights as workers – to have a decent job, job security and proper compensation, and the right to collectively bargain,” said Elmer “Bong” Labog, KMU chairperson.

“To maintain huge profits throughout the years, Lucio Tan has pressed down workers’ wages and benefits. He has contractualized huge segments of PAL’s workforce through outsourcing and spin-off schemes. He has imposed a 10-year moratorium on CBA negotiations and de facto extended this. The workers want an end to all these,” he added.

PAL’s employees, led by the PAL Employees’ Association or Palea, warned the PAL management of launching a strike, citing PAL’s plan to outsource or spin-off segments of its operations which threaten to displace 2,600 workers. Palea also decried the PAL Management’s refusal, for two years now, to start negotiations with the union for a collective bargaining agreement.

Despite a much-publicized P80-Million package offer to PAL’s flight attendants, the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines or Fasap has expressed its willingness to go on strike. The group cited the PAL management’s refusal to budge on the attendants’ main demand of raising the retirement age of 40 and scrapping PAL’s “no-motherhood” policy.

“Tan, through his spokespersons in the PAL management, is citing profit losses to make PAL workers, and the public as well, accept the present state of affairs in PAL and management moves that do little to address workers’ demands. This is hogwash. The PAL workers are the first people to know if the company is losing or gaining,” Labog said.

“Tan is still the second richest man in the country today, whose net worth continues to grow. And a huge reason for this is his exploitative and anti-worker policies in PAL. There is a limit to his greed, as the recent statements and actions of PAL workers show. While he has been fighting for his superprofits, workers are fighting for social justice,” Labog added.

KMU cited a Forbes Asia Magazine report showing Tan to be the second wealthiest person in the country today, with a net worth of P1.9 Billion. PAL workers also cite PAL’s recent payment of previous debts and buy new aircrafts.

Reposted from: KMU to Lucio Tan: heed PAL workers’ demands

Global youth unemployment rate at all-time high, UN labour agency reports

The global youth unemployment rate is at a record high and is expected to climb even higher as the year progresses, the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO) announced today. According to a new report, of the world’s 620 million economically active youth between the ages of 15 and 24, 81 million were out of work at the end of 2009, the highest number ever.


The youth unemployment rate climbed from 11.9 per cent in 2007 to 13 per cent in 2009.
Such trends, the report noted, will have “significant consequences for young people as upcoming cohorts of new entrants join the ranks of the already unemployed.”
ILO warned of a possible ‘lost generation’ of young people dropping out of the labour market, “having lost all hope of being able to work for a decent living.”
The agency forecasts that the youth unemployment will reach 13.1 per cent this year before declining to 12.7 per cent, cautioning that youth unemployment rates have been more sensitive to the global economic downturn than those of adults.
Further, it said, the recovery of the job market for young men and women will probably lag behind that of adults.
In developing economies, home to 90 per cent of the world’s young people, youth are more vulnerable to unemployment and poverty. In 2008, nearly 30 per cent of all of the world’s young workers were employed but remained mired in extreme poverty in households surviving on less than $1.25 per day.
“In developing economies, crisis pervades the daily life of the poor,” said ILO Director-General Juan Somavia.
“The effects of the economic and financial crisis threaten to exacerbate the pre-existing decent work deficits among youth,” he added. “The result is that the number of young people stuck in working poverty grows and the cycle of working poverty persists through at least another generation.”
The new report found that unemployment, underemployment and discouragement can have a negative impact on young people in the long-term, compromising their future work prospects.
The cost of idleness among youth, it said, is that societies lost their investment in the education of young people, while governments receive fewer contributions to social security systems and must boost spending on remedial services.
“Young people are the drivers of economic development,” Mr. Somavia stressed. “Forgoing this potential is an economic waste and can undermine social stability.”
The current recession, he said, provides an opportunity to reconsider how to tackle the serious obstacles young people face when they enter the labour market. “It is important to focus on comprehensive and integrated strategies that combine education and training policies with targeted employment policies for youth.”
The report was launched to coincide with the start of the UN International Year of Youth, under the theme “Dialogue and Mutual Understanding.” The Year seeks to further the ideals of peace, respect for human rights and solidarity across generations, cultures, religions and civilizations.
Reposted from:
Global youth unemployment rate at all-time high, UN labour agency reports

Cojuangco-Aquinos Denounced for Using Millions to Lure, Deceive Luisita Farm Workers

Ulwu chairman Lito Bais said the financial package from Hacienda Luisita management was meant to lure farm workers into the compromise-agreement bait. “They exploited the poverty of the farm workers and used money to deceive them,” he said. Bais also accused the Cojuangco-Aquinos of “hoodwinking” farm workers of hundreds of millions from earlier land deals.

By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — A leader of the United Luisita Workers Union (Ulwu) has denounced Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) for using the initial P20-million cash package to lure and deceive the farm workers of the hacienda into agreeing to the controversial compromise agreement.

The P20 million is part of the P150-million financial package stated in the so-called compromise agreement between the HLI management and individuals who claim to represent farm workers.
The HLI management said it is a “sign of goodwill” and that the remaining P130 million will be given to the farmers once the deal is approved by the Supreme Court.
Ulwu chairman Lito Bais, however, said that the financial package was meant to lure farm workers into the bait of the Cojuangco-Aquinos, owner of the Hacienda Luisita estate.
“They exploited the poverty of the farm workers and used money to deceive them,” Bais said, adding that the HLI management spent much money for the referendum, in which farm workers were given two options: land or shares of stocks.
Hacienda Luisita management has defended the financial package. (Click here to read more of their side.)
To evade land distribution, the Cojuangco-Aquinos implemented the stock distribution option (SDO) in 1989 as one of the non-land transfer schemes indicated in the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL).
Jobert Ilarde Pahilga, executive trustee of the Sentro Para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (Sentra) and lawyer of the farmers’ group Ambala, said the P150 million is “miniscule” amount compared to what the Cojuangco-Aquinos actually owe the farm workers.
Pahilga cited the sale of the 500-hectare land in 1995 to be used for medium-cost and low-cost housing and an industrial estate. He said that as shareholders under the SDO, farm workers are entitled to 33 percent of the P2.5 billion, or valued at P750,000 per hectare. “The farm workers were supposed to receive P666 million but they were only given three percent of the sale amounting to only P33 million.” “Meanwhile, the HLI management got 97 percent.”
Pahilga argued that the Cojuangco-Aquinos manipulated the determination of shares of stocks of the farm workers, saying that what remains of the agricultural land have been undervalued while the HLI management’s assets were overvalued.
“Even based on an unfair computation, the farm workers were shortchanged,” Pahilga said. (Related video: Economist Winnie Monsod Shows How Cojuangco-Aquinos Deceived Luisita Farmers All These Years)
Bais, meanwhile, related that from the P84 billion paid to the HLI for the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX), the 10,000 farm workers were only given P2.4 million.
“Some of us got 50 centavos, others 25 centavos,” Bais said, adding that that the Cojuangco-Aquinos gave them were “mumo,” or discarded rice.
Under the compromise agreement, farm workers will waive and agree to withdraw any and all claims, including those arising from employer-employee relationship, complaints, petitions filed, or to be filed, with the DAR [Department of Agrarian Reform], PARC [Presidential Agrarian Reform Council], administrative, quasi-judicial and/or judicial bodies, or any other matter arising from or incidental to the MOA [memorandum of agreement], or any dispute between HLI and the farm workers, and hereby release and hold harmless each other from any and all other liabilities or claims, of any form and kind, which one may have against the other and its officers, or which may arise now or in the future between HLI and the farm workers, or as a result of or incidental to the implementation of the MOA.
Pahilga said this is a violation of the law as it insulates the HLI from any future cases.
“This provision makes the farm workers virtual slaves, as they were and are already regarded as such by the Cojuangcos,” Pahilga said. It strips the farm workers the right to question any criminal, illegal and unjust acts of HLI management, he pointed out.
  Cojuangco-Aquinos Denounced for Using Millions to Lure, Deceive Luisita Farm Workers
(Bulatlat.com)

KMU to Aquino: Investigate Lucio Tan’s Profits, Anti-labor Schemes

KMU to Aquino: Investigate Lucio Tan’s Profits, Anti-labor Schemes

As the controversy over the mass resignation of Philippine Airlines’ pilots since last Saturday rages on, labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno called on President Aquino to investigate PAL owner Lucio Tan’s profits and anti-labor schemes, saying labor issues are behind the recent imbroglio in the national flag carrier.

KMU made the call in a picket in front of PAL’s corporate office in Ayala Avenue this morning, where the labor center condemned the business tycoon for “intensifying the exploitation and causing the lay-off of workers” in the airline company.

Attending the picket were members of the PAL Employees’ Union or Palea, the union of PAL’s ground employees, the Laban ng Bagong Palea, KMU, and Anakpawis partylist.



“The PAL management continues to bombard us with Lucio Tan’s canard that the pilots who resigned were merely motivated by personal interests. If there is a party to this issue that has consistently advanced nothing but his personal interests, that is Lucio Tan,” said Roger Soluta, KMU general secretary.

“We are therefore calling on the Aquino regime: investigate and expose Tan’s profiteering and anti-labor schemes. Not only will this get us to the bottom of the pilots’ resignation, more importantly, this will be a first step in improving the worsening lot of PAL workers,” Soluta added.

The labor center said the investigation that it is calling for will force open “no less than a can of worms” that will expose the PAL management’s statements “for what they really are – lies in the service of superprofits.”

“Accusations that the pilots were thinking only of their own interests when they resigned will be refuted by no less than a can of worms of anti-labor schemes: increases in workloads and decreases in wages, illegal termination, moratorium in CBA negotiations, promotion of contractualization, use of dummy corporations, among others,” Soluta added.

“In various venues, and especially during negotiations for collective bargaining agreements, the PAL management is often heard whining about decreasing profits and the possibility of closing down. How could that be, when Lucio Tan continues to be the second richest Filipino with a net profit of P90 billion? When PAL continues to be the top carrier in the country, handling 35% of international flights?”

Soluta said investigating Tan’s profits and labor practices will yield “instructive insights” into the country’s labor laws and policies.

“We will definitely be shocked by how much of what Tan does in PAL and his other companies are illegal. But we will also be shocked by how much of his profiteering and anti-labor schemes are made legal, sanctioned by the country’s anti-worker labor laws and policies,” Soluta concluded.

http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/08/05/kmu-to-aquino-investigate-lucio-tan’s-profits-anti-labor-schemes/