Globalization in Retreat

2006-12-31
By Walden Bello*

(This column appeared in Foreign Policy in Focus on Dec. 27, 2006: http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3826.)

When it first became part of the English vocabulary in the early 1990s, globalization was supposed to be the wave of the future. Fifteen years ago, the writings of globalist thinkers such as Kenichi Ohmae and Robert Reich celebrated the advent of the emergence of the so-called borderless world. The process by which relatively autonomous national economies become functionally integrated into one global economy was touted as “irreversible. ” And the people who opposed globalization were disdainfully dismissed as modern day incarnations of the Luddites that destroyed machines during the Industrial Revolution.

Fifteen years later, despite runaway shops and outsourcing, what passes for an international economy remains a collection of national economies. These economies are interdependent no doubt, but domestic factors still largely determine their dynamics.

Globalization, in fact, has reached its high water mark and is receding.

Bright Predictions, Dismal Outcomes

During globalization’s heyday, we were told that state policies no longer mattered and that corporations would soon dwarf states. In fact, states still do matter. The European Union, the U.S. government, and the Chinese state are stronger economic actors today than they were a decade ago. In China, for instance, transnational corporations (TNCs) march to the tune of the state rather than the other way around.

Moreover, state policies that interfere with the market in order to build up industrial structures or protect employment still make a difference. Indeed, over the last ten years, interventionist government policies have spelled the difference between development and underdevelopment, prosperity and poverty. Malaysia’s imposition of capital controls during the Asian financial crisis in 1997-98 prevented it from unraveling like Thailand or Indonesia. Strict capital controls also insulated China from the economic collapse engulfing its neighbors.

Fifteen years ago, we were told to expect the emergence of a transnational capitalist elite that would manage the world economy. Indeed, globalization became the “grand strategy” of the Clinton administration, which envisioned the U.S. elite being the primus inter pares -- first among equals -- of a global coalition leading the way to the new, benign world order. Today, this project lies in shambles. During the reign of George W. Bush, the nationalist faction has overwhelmed the transnational faction of the economic elite. Nationalism-inflected states are now competing sharply with one another, seeking to beggar one another’s economies.

A decade ago, the World Trade Organization (WTO) was born, joining the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the pillars of the system of international economic governance in the era of globalization. With a triumphalist air, officials of the three organizations meeting in Singapore during the first ministerial gathering of the WTO in December 1996 saw the remaining task of “global governance” as the achievement of “coherence,” that is, the coordination of the neoliberal policies of the three institutions in order to ensure the smooth, technocratic integration of the global economy.

But now Sebastian Mallaby, the influential pro-globalization commentator of the Washington Post, complains that “trade liberalization has stalled, aid is less coherent than it should be, and the next financial conflagration will be managed by an injured fireman.” In fact, the situation is worse than he describes. The IMF is practically defunct. Knowing how the Fund precipitated and worsened the Asian financial crisis, more and more of the advanced developing countries are refusing to borrow from it or are paying ahead of schedule, with some declaring their intention never to borrow again. These include Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil, and Argentina. Since the Fund’s budget greatly depends on debt repayments from these big borrowers, this boycott is translating into what one expert describes as “a huge squeeze on the budget of the organization.”

The World Bank may seem to be in better health than the Fund. But having been central to the debacle of structural adjustment policies that left most developing and transitional economies that implemented them in greater poverty, with greater inequality, and in a state of stagnation, the Bank is also suffering a crisis of legitimacy. This can only be worsened by the recent finding of an official high-level expert panel headed by former IMF chief economist Kenneth Rogoff that the Bank has been systematically manipulating its data to advance its pro-globalization position and conceal globalization’s adverse effects.

But the crisis of multilateralism is perhaps most acute at the WTO. Last July, the Doha Round of global negotiations for more trade liberalization unraveled abruptly when talks among the so-called Group of Six broke down in acrimony over the U.S. refusal to budge on its enormous subsidies for agriculture. The pro-free trade American economist Fred Bergsten once compared trade liberalization and the WTO to a bicycle: they collapse when they are not moving forward. The collapse of an organization that one of its director generals once described as the “jewel in the crown of multilateralism” may be nearer than it seems.

Why Globalization Stalled

Why did globalization run aground?

First of all, the case for globalization was oversold. The bulk of the production and sales of most TNCs continues to take place within the country or region of origin. There are only a handful of truly global corporations whose production and sales are dispersed relatively equally across regions.

Second, rather than forge a common, cooperative response to the global crises of overproduction, stagnation, and environmental ruin, national capitalist elites have competed with each other to shift the burden of adjustment. The Bush administration, for instance, has pushed a weak-dollar policy to promote U.S. economic recovery and growth at the expense of Europe and Japan. It has also refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol in order to push Europe and Japan to absorb most of the costs of global environmental adjustment and thus make U.S. industry comparatively more competitive. While cooperation may be the rational strategic choice from the point of view of the global capitalist system, national capitalist interests are mainly concerned with not losing out to their rivals in the short term.

A third factor has been the corrosive effect of the double standards brazenly displayed by the hegemonic power, the United States. While the Clinton administration did try to move the United States toward free trade, the Bush administration has hypocritically preached free trade while practicing protectionism. Indeed, the trade policy of the Bush administration seems to be free trade for the rest of the world and protectionism for the United States.

Fourth, there has been too much dissonance between the promise of globalization and free trade and the actual results of neoliberal policies, which have been more poverty, inequality, and stagnation. One of the very few places where poverty diminished over the last 15 years is China. But interventionist state policies that managed market forces, not neoliberal prescriptions, were responsible for lifting 120 million Chinese out of poverty. Moreover, the advocates of eliminating capital controls have had to face the actual collapse of the economies that took this policy to heart. The globalization of finance proceeded much faster than the globalization of production. But it proved to be the cutting edge not of prosperity but of chaos. The Asian financial crisis and the collapse of the economy of Argentina, which had been among the most doctrinaire practitioners of capital account liberalization, were two decisive moments in reality’s revolt against theory.

Another factor unraveling the globalist project derives from its obsession with economic growth. Indeed, unending growth is the centerpiece of globalization, the mainspring of its legitimacy. While a recent World Bank report continues—amazingly--to extol rapid growth as the key to expanding the global middle class, global warming, peak oil, and other environmental events are making it clear to people that the rates and patterns of growth that come with globalization are a surefire prescription for an ecological Armageddon.

The final factor, not to be underestimated, has been popular resistance to globalization. The battles of Seattle in 1999, Prague in 2000, and Genoa in 2001; the massive global anti-war march on Feb. 15, 2003, when the anti-globalization movement morphed into the global anti-war movement; the collapse of the WTO ministerial meeting in Cancun in 2003 and its near collapse in Hong Kong in 2005; the French and Dutch peoples’ rejection of the neoliberal, pro-globalization European Constitution in 2005 -- these were all critical junctures in a decade-long global struggle that has rolled back the neoliberal project. But these high-profile events were merely the tip of the iceberg, the summation of thousands of anti-neoliberal, anti-globalization struggles in thousands of communities throughout the world involving millions of peasants, workers, students, indigenous people, and many sectors of the middle class.

Down but not out

While corporate-driven globalization may be down, it is not out. Though discredited, many pro-globalization neoliberal policies remain in place in many economies, for lack of credible alternative policies in the eyes of technocrats. With things not moving at the WTO, the big trading powers are emphasizing free trade agreements (FTAs) and economic partnership agreements (EPAs) with developing countries. These agreements are in many ways more dangerous than the multilateral negotiations at the WTO since they often require greater concessions in terms of market access and tighter enforcement of intellectual property rights.

However, things are no longer that easy for the corporations and trading powers and the corporations. Doctrinaire neoliberals are being eased out of key positions, giving way to pragmatic technocrats that often subvert neoliberal policies in practice owing to popular pressure. When it comes to FTAs, the global south is becoming aware of the dangers and is beginning to resist. Key South American governments under pressure from their citizenries derailed the Free Trade of the Americas (FTAA) -- the grand plan of George W. Bush for the Western hemisphere -- during the Mar del Plata conference in November 2005.

Also, one of the reasons many people resisted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in the months before the recent coup in Thailand was his rush to conclude a free trade agreement with the United States. Indeed, in January this year, some 10,000 protesters tried to storm the building in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where U.S. and Thai officials were negotiating. The government that succeeded Thaksin’s has put the U.S.-Thai FTA on hold, and movements seeking to stop FTAs elsewhere have been inspired by the success of the Thai efforts.

The retreat from neoliberal globalization is most marked in Latin America. Long exploited by foreign energy giants, Bolivia under President Evo Morales has nationalized its energy resources. Nestor Kirchner of Argentina gave an example of how developing country governments can face down finance capital when he forced northern bondholders to accept only 25 cents of every dollar Argentina owed them. Hugo Chavez has launched an ambitious plan for regional integration, the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), based on genuine economic cooperation instead of free trade, with little or no participation by northern TNCs, and driven by what Chavez himself describes as a “logic beyond capitalism.”

Globalization in Perspective

From today’s vantage point, globalization appears to have been not a new, higher phase in the development of capitalism but a response to the underlying structural crisis of this system of production. Fifteen years since it was trumpeted as the wave of the future, globalization seems to have been less a “brave new phase” of the capitalist adventure than a desperate effort by global capital to escape the stagnation and disequilibria overtaking the global economy in the 1970s and 1980s. The collapse of the centralized socialist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe deflected people’s attention from this reality in the early 1990s.

Many in progressive circles still think that the task at hand is to “humanize” globalization. Globalization, however, is a spent force. Today’s multiplying economic and political conflicts resemble, if anything, the period following the end of what historians refer to as the first era of globalization, which extended from 1815 to the eruption of World War I in 1914. The urgent task is not to steer corporate-driven globalization in a “social democratic” direction but to manage its retreat so that it does not bring about the same chaos and runaway conflicts that marked its demise in that earlier era.

Walden Bello is professor of sociology at the University of the Philippines and executive director of the Bangkok-based research and advocacy institute Focus on the Global South. An extended version of this piece titled “The Capitalist Conjuncture: Overaccumulation, Financial Crises, and the Retreat from Globalization,” appears in the latest number of Third World Quarterly (Vol. 27, No. 8, 2006).

Smith's illegal transfer to the US embassy: A case of multiple rape

Like serial rapists who stalked the streets of Metro Manila in the dead of night not too long ago, Philippine government forces at 11 pm last night barged into the Makati City Jail and illegally pulled out rape convict Lance Corporal Daniel Smith of the US Marines for transfer to US Embassy custody in complete defiance of Philippine courts and judicial system.

This shameful and detestable act was deliberately timed with the three-day holiday from December 30 to January 1 of the new year obviously to frustrate any possible counter-action by the courts. It was also intended to avoid outbreaks of protests in the streets because people are busy preparing for the coming of the New Year. The timing is also outrageous in another sense—it was the eve of the annual commemoration of the martyrdom of the national hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal.

The illegal and forcible transfer to US government custody of the US Marine rape convict is tantamount to multiple rape committed by both the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) regime and the US government. It is a rape of the Philippine judicial system and its courts. It is a rape of the Philippine government's own Constitution. It is a rape of Nicole once again. Above all, it is a rape of the nation's dignity and sovereignty.

Nothing like this could ever happen without the knowledge and approval of Malacanang, the Departments of Justice and Foreign Affairs, and the Philippine Police. US Embassy spokesperson Matthew Lussenhop confirmed this when he told media last night that Smith's transfer was upon "orders of the Philippine government" and "in cooperation with the Philippine police".

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her entire regime must be held fully accountable for betraying our nation's sovereignty and making a mockery of the constitution under which she holds office.

LABAN NG MASA (Struggle of the Masses) calls on the entire Filipino people, including those in government, in particular those in the judiciary, the legal professions and law enforcement agencies, to rise in collective indignation and demand the ouster of a President and a regime that has demeaned our national dignity and broken the very laws which they are sworn to uphold, on top of such other high crimes as electoral fraud, plunder, widespread political killings, and pro-globalization policies which pauperized the majority of our people.

www.labanngmasa.org

Smith Transfer : Erosion of the Independence of the Philippine Judiciary and of the Justice System

The Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) condemns the illegal transfer of convicted rapist American serviceman Lance Corporal Daniel Smith from the Makati City Jail to the U.S. embassy around 11 p.m. last night. This act perpetrated with intended impunity erodes the independence of the Philippine judiciary and of the justice system.

The decision to by-pass the judicial process was done in connivance with both the Philippine Executive and the U.S. government and the implementation, according to U.S. Embassy spokesperson Matthew Lussenhop, "was in cooperation with the Philippine police." Bereft of any court order, the "transfer" can only be a legalized "break-out" of Makati jail. Smith is essentially a "fugitive" of the law.

Makati regional trial court Judge Benjamin Pozon has already ruled against the insistence of Smith's lawyers, the US embassy and the Philippine Executive with the Departments of Justice and of Foreign Affairs that Smith's detention violates the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). The latter cite a provision in the said agreement that says any accused American serviceman shall remain in US custody until all judicial proceedings are exhausted. Judge Pozon said the provision applies only during "the judicial proceedings in the trial court" and expires upon a defendant's conviction, regardless of a pending appeal.

PAHRA perceives that the "transfer" and perhaps eventual "freedom" of Smith is an "exchange of gifts" between Ms. Gloria M. Arroyo and the U.S. government for the latter to keep the Balikatan schedule in February, as well as an extension of support to the former despite the questioned legitimacy of her presidency. The exchange was a repeated rape of Philippine dignity – the independence of the Philippine judiciary and of the judicial system for a convicted rapist.

It is doubly ironic that for a while, Ms. Arroyo and other defenders of the VFA protested that violation of the VFA would cast doubt on the Philippine government's sincerity to honor its international commitments or treatises, the Philippine government has not drawn from the full force of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), particularly on the independence of the judiciary and on due process.

By giving in to the arm-twisting of the U.S. government, this administration is becoming an obstacle to the Philippine State's compliance of its obligations to respect, protect and fulfill human rights of the peoples of the Philippine Archipelago.

UPHOLD INDEPENDENCE OF THE JUDICIARY. RETURN SMITH TO MAKATI JAIL.

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 09 January 2007 )
http://philippinehumanrights.org

Enough politicking! Pass the wage hike and other pro-worker laws!

Release: 2006-12-21

The House leadership adopted HB 345 providing for a legislated, nationwide and across-the-board wage hike of P125 for the wrong reasons. Nevertheless, we welcome this as a positive development.

HB 345 was passed by the House leadership not because they believe it is an overdue and much deserved relief for workers everywhere, but as part of its intramurals with the Senate and its efforts to prop up its image after the ConAss fiasco.

P125 will not suffice, much less alleviate workers' plight caused by policies pursued by government, but it is a welcome change in policy direction. It is after all a step, albeit a very small step, towards ensuring a "living wage" for the working class.

The National Wages and Productivity Commission estimated that as of October this year, a family of six in the National Capital Region would require a living wage amounting to P764 a day.
The challenge now is for the Senate to prioritize the bill for urgent passage.

We warn both chambers from diluting the spirit of the bill by turning it into another political chip for propaganda points, and instead do the right thing and give workers some semblance of hope for a better life.

We do not want the P125 wage hike bill to suffer the same fate as the public sector pay hike bill which was tossed around in an ego game between the Senate on the one hand and the House and the Executive on the other.

We also demand that Congress do overtime work to ensure the passage of the public sector wage hike bill and other measures that would strengthen workers' and trade union rights. This includes bills on the right to organize, particularly SN2466, the right to collectively bargain and the right to hold concerted actions. These bills have gathered dust due to inaction and disinterest!

After all, any wage hike can never be fully implemented if workers do not have unions that can enforce their collective interests.

NGOs urge bicam to spare education budget; support Senate version

Various non-governmental organizations today asked the House Panel to the Bicameral Conference Committee to spare the Senate's version of the education sector in the proposed 2007 national government budget from deletion or decreases. They also asked both Houses of Congress for a bigger budget in education, as their "gift for the Filipino youth" this Christmas.

"Instead of asking the Senate to let go of their increases in various agencies under the education sector, the House panel should instead consider the idea of increasing the education budget. That would be a very thoughtful Christmas gift for the Filipino youth," said Aaron Pedrosa, spokesperson of Youth Against Debt.

Pedrosa aired this in reaction to reports that the Lower House is pushing their Senate counterparts to let go of the increases they made for the Department of Education, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and the State Universities and Colleges (SUCs).

Prof. Leonor Magtolis Briones, Social Watch Philippines' Co-Convenor and Former National Treasurer, said that their group finds the Senate version as "laudable as it supports the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) especially in basic education."

Briones explained that the Senate version provided an increased of P4 billion for the construction of school buildings to erase classroom shortage; increased the funding for the hiring of new teachers by P873 million to erase shortage in teachers; increased GASTE by P700 million to support greater access to free secondary education." The Senate version also provided P30 million funding for Technical-Vocational High School Program, and increased the funding for the School Health and Nutrition Program to P250 million to addressed malnutrition and improve attendance and participation rate.

The Senate version, however, deleted the controversial and graft-prone Food for School Program, and replaced it with the Malusog na Simula, Yaman ng Bansa Program with sufficient guiding provisions on how it would be implemented to prevent abuse.

Briones added that the Senate version also increased the scholarship fund of the CHED to improve access and completion rate in tertiary education, and provided more funding for SUCs to improve the quality of tertiary education.

"These increases in education budget are necessary and urgent if we are to move forward as a country," Briones explained, adding: "If we are to address poverty, we must improve access to education, and enhance employability of our graduates by providing them with responsive and quality education -- and these are the things which the Senate version provides for, so we urge the Bicam to support these items instead of having them deleted or decreased."

Briones' group (22 NGOs) was the partner of 10 congressmen from the minority and the progressive bloc of the majority which came up with the NGO-Legislators alternative budget entitled, "Imperatives of Real and Equitable Growth: An Alternative Proposal for Financing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the 2007 Budget" which the Senate adopted.

- www.freedomfromdebtcoalition.org

The road to Cha-Cha leads to Gloria

Release: 2006-12-17

Joining hundreds of thousands of anti-charter change protestors in Luneta Park today, AKBAYAN reminded the public that unresolved allegations on the legitimacy of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo are at the core of the derailed charter change. The group warned that insidious attempts to tinker with the constitution shall be made again and again by the administration in order to survive the ‘Hello Garci’ controversy.

AKBAYAN Rep. Etta Rosales said that GMA was the main target beneficiary of the thwarted moves to amend the Constitution through the people’s initiative and the Constituent Assembly. “It was mainly for her political survival, and Cha-cha was designed so that the unholy interests of Malacañang, local politicians and members of the House of Representatives are achieved in one political project,” said Rosales.

Despite the scrapping of the proposed Constituent Assembly, AKBAYAN Rep. Mayong Aguja warned the public to be consistently vigilant. He said Cha-Cha is not yet dead, and it will not be buried six feet under by the administration as long as the political survival of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is in doubt. “As far as Malacañang is concerned, charter change is still an option,” AKBAYAN Rep. Aguja said. “It ditched the idea temporarily to appease the public, but it is still an odious trump card that they are willing to use. But the infrastructure to revive it is very much present, as evidenced by the House majority’s decision to archive Resolution 197, which merely freezes the Con Ass. Section 105 of the House Rules is still enforced, which means that the same questionable process can be deployed by the House majority to force the approval of Con Ass or a Con Con.”

For her part, AKBAYAN Rep. Risa Hontiveros urged the public to channel their moral outrage against the convening of a Constituent Assembly to revive righteous indignation over Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s illegitimacy. “What should be realized is that this administration is using a range of alarming strategies, from extrajudicial killings to undeniably illegal moves to amend the constitution, to evade the ‘Hello Garci’ controversy. Democratic constitutional reforms can only happen when this administration is no longer in power. Thus, inside or outside Congress, or even during the 2007 elections, the voice of the people should resonate with the loudest repudiation of traditional politics and corruption,” said Rep. Hontiveros.

Militant group twits Justice Secretary's colonial mentality, Lauds Pozon for Integrity

Release: 2006-12-14

Youth Members from AKBAYAN Partylist trooped to the Department of Justice today to denounce Secretary Raul Gonzales' 'Amboy' stance on Judge Pozon's refusal to turn over an American soldier convicted of rape to the US embassy. The group said that it was outraged by Gonzales' attack against the integrity of Judge Pozon.

"Secretary Gonzales is behaving as if he is under the payroll of the US embassy. He seems to have forgotten his mandate as the Secretary of the Justice Department. He has subsumed his duty to ensure the fair administration of justice to this government's colonial obligations to the US ," AKBAYAN President Ronald Llamas said.

Llamas added that no one would believe Gonzales' claim that Judge Pozon is biased and is simply courting attention and popularity from certain groups. "Judge Pozon stood up and ruled according to the merits of the case, while it was very clear from the start whose interests Secretary Gonzales was defending. He just seems bitter that despite the state prosecutors' attempt to bungle the case, Judge Pozon still ruled in favor of Nicole," said Llamas.

"This is not really surprising, since as the alter-ego of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Secretary Gonzales should simply mirror the sentiments of Malacañang. In other words, only a tuta can effectively represent another tuta," he added.

While the group lauded the recent order of Judge Pozon on the custody issue, it stressed that the ultimate goal should lead to the scrapping of the Visiting Forces Agreement. "The Senate must act immediately to rescind the treaty, since it is clearly favors the Americans. Although we are generally happy with Judge Pozon's ruling on Nicole's case, there will be other incidents and cases that may not be as positive. Ultimately, the Senate must follow what Judge Pozon did: break away from the clutch of American interests and stand up for the nation," said Llamas.

...and hails Judge Pozon as Defender of Philippine Sovereignty

A delegation of AKBAYAN members led by Rep. Etta Rosales is set to pay tribute to Judge Benjamin Pozon at the Makati RTC this afternoon. AKBAYAN will honor Judge Pozon with a “People’s Medal of Valor” for standing up to defend the sovereignty of the nation amidst the pressures from Malacanang and the US government.

“His integrity and steadfast determination to deliver justice in the Subic Rape Case deserve the admiration and gratitude of the nation,” declared the AKBAYAN solon. According to Rep. Rosales, “our tribute to Judge Pozon is aimed at showing the public’s appreciation of his efforts to defend the honor of the nation especially now that he is being criticized by Justice Secretary Raul Gozales and the US embassy.”

AKBAYAN will give flowers to the Subic Rape Case judge and will hold a short program for the man whom they call as “Tagapagtanggol ng Dangal ng Pilipino.”

Group serves warrant for JoeDeV and allies' illegal conass and waste of taxpayers' money

Release: 2006-12-12

Akbayan party-list today trooped to the House of Representatives to categorically reject charter change under the Arroyo administration, despite the House's offer of elections for a constitutional convention by next year.

"The House leadership under JDV is using a carrot and stick method to lure the public and the Senate to push through with ChaCha at all costs," said Akbayan Rep. Etta Rosales. "but it is not the method of charter change that is the sticky issue but the fact that it is being pushed for all the wrong reasons."

"Charter change under this administration is only clear in forging a no-elections scenario next year to keep the same administration allies in power," explained the lady solon, "aware very well that the Arroyo administration is sinking deeper and deeper into irrelevance and infamy."

"So the House should desist from bullying the Senate, a co-equal branch of government, into acceding to charter change within 72 hours," added Rosales, "that is not only a slap to the principle of checks and balances, but a self-defeating exercise."

"The Constitution provides for a bicameral system, precisely because in a situation similar to the conundrum we found ourselves in last week, the House by its lonesome in a unicameral system would have gone on its own," said Rosales "and left everyone behind and we now would be stuck with a new, albeit probably mangled, Constitution nobody wants and nobody needs."

"We in Akbayan have been clear from the beginning; charter change must come with the requisite reforms before the idea is even entertained," Rosales added, "including legislation that would protect workers from union-busting and slave wages; laws that would facilitate the installation of farmers in landlord-held lands; laws that will empower more women and protect them from the clutches of violence and abuse; laws that will penalize acts of discrimination against persons on the basis of sexual orientation, laws that will serve justice for victims of unjust incarceration, torture, abuses and other rights violations, etc."

Rosales advised, "The House should work on those proposed laws instead of wasting more valuable taxpayers' money deliberating on a dead issue."

The State has become the very obstacle to its obligations to human rights

Release: 2006-12-09

The recent approval of House Bill 1450 which gives the House of Representatives the right to convene themselves into a constituent assembly even without the approval of the Senate smacks of political skullduggery and muddles the real reason behind House Speaker Jose De Venecia's and other legislators' intent of railroading the plan to change the charter.

It is political skullduggery because of the apparent conspiracy between De Venecia and majority members of the House to take advantage of a vague provision in Article XVII, Section 1 (1) of the 1987 Constitution which fails to clarify whether the three fourth votes needed to amend or revise the Constitution should come from the two houses of Congress voting as one body or as separate entities.

Because of the vagueness of this provision the majority ushered a semblance of "substance" to their arguments for the passing of HB 1450. Arguments that from the onset were proven correct not by its logic or by legality but by a sheer command of numbers that De Venecia and the majority played to a hilt.

Such blatant display of the "tyranny of the majority" supplants the very essence of democracy and the rule of law. Democracy should not only be based on the caprices of the majority but by a society dictated by laws and reason. What we have in Congress is no different from mob rule.

De Venecia and the majority, in spite of all their avowal that they are merely fulfilling their duty to the people, is a total disregard of the utmost reflection of the people's sovereign will.

Herein lies the crux of the matter. What we have in our country is not a government that is guided by laws, but a government that is controlled by politicians who twist and change laws to further their own vested interests. What we have is a government that is cloaked by the mantle of legality but in reality operates with impunity.

The culture of impunity is seen not only in the actions of De Venecia and the legislators who voted in favor of H.B. 1450 in spite of its unconstitutionality; it is also laid bare in Malacanang's decision to remand custody for Lance Corporal Daniel Smith to the U.S. government in spite of the decision of our court which found him guilty of the crime of rape. Impunity is the very reason why our government has failed to provide justice for victims of political killings, involuntary disappearances, and other human rights violations.

Under this context, the State has become the very obstacle to its obligations to human rights. The culture of impunity has permeated every aspect of the Arroyo government such that it has become a license for the wanton commission of violations and omission of State obligations.

As a response to this situation the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) enjoins all human rights defenders and peace loving-people of the land to consolidate our ranks, be more critical of the current condition and mobilize the broadest possible number of communities and people into a united movement that will address the different aspects of impunity and state repression. To this end PAHRA shall devote its efforts to realizing its rallying call amidst these troubled times - Resist State Repression; Defy a Coercive Environment and Break the Culture of Impunity!

Reference: http://philippinehumanrights.org

November 30 would mark the hundred and forty-third year of Bonifacio’s birth

Release: 2006-11-29

Like Rizal who symbolized the First Propaganda movement, Andres Bonifacio's involvement was the catalyst for a new movement that radicalized the Philippine political landscape at the time in a bid for genuine freedom and democracy. He symbolized a people awakened and ready to fight against tyranny, repression and exploitation.

Now, various social movements, people's organizations and sectors are coming together to renew the challenge made by Bonifacio to all those who have love for country or 'pagmamahal sa bayan'.

Led by Solidarity of Unions for a New Government (SULONG), Kilusang Mangingisda (KM), Magkaisa Junk JPEPA, Citizens' Council for Human Rights (CCHR), Stop the New Round Coalition (SNR), Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) and Laban ng Masa (LnM), thousands of workers, peasants, fisherfolks, women, youth and other sectors would troop to Mehan Garden tomorrow, Bonifacio Day, to protest the worsening economic and political repression and call for social change rather than charter change.

The country remains in the hands of a corrupt, fake and rabidly fascist regime who continues to sell the future of every man, woman and child in this country out to imperialist globalization—deregulation, privatization and liberalization.

Her regime has shown no signs of departing from the path of decades of mendicancy and subservience to US interests and policies. Measures like the Visiting Forces Agreement and the Mutual Logistic Support Arrangement undermines our sovereignty and makes a mockery of our national patrimony.

No wonder that justice for the Subic Rape victim, Nicole, is nonexistent if left in the hands of a pro-US lackey like DOJ Secretary Raul Gonzales.

GMA is the epitome of a scourge. Her policies exacerbate poverty resulting in oil hikes, privatized utilities while sources of employment are few and unable to feed one's family. Like previous elite governments, the GMA regime is a traitor, a MAKAPILI.

This regime has no qualms in selling en masse our countrymen to the world, regardless of the risk to life and limb, as long as the Dollars, Yen, Euros, Pounds keep on coming to breathe a semblance of life into a fundamentally flawed economy.

The Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement or JPEPA is classic example. Hastily negotiated under complete secrecy, the treaty, when ratified, will turn the country into Japan's dumping ground for hazardous and toxic wastes in exchange for the entry of a small number of nurses and caregivers, who would be paid lower rates while they are learning the Japanese language. Worst, the Philippines stand to lose its policy space in using trade and investment for development purposes. In short, it will consign the country to underdevelopment.

Keenly aware of the people's discontent, the GMA regime launched a class war to systematically neutralize any form of dissent. Its perceived enemies are harassed, jailed, rendered missing or are killed. Rule of law is no longer the case, but impunity and lawlessness.

This state of affairs can no longer be resolved by reforms or rhetoric perpetuated by the elite such as moves to amend the Charter. What is needed is to completely overhaul the system that is rotten, flawed and spells misery for the majority.

Let us continue the path towards freedom and democracy join us on November 30.
--------------

Solidarity of Unions for a New Government (SULONG), Kilusang Mangingisda (KM), Magkaisa Junk JPEPA, Citizens' Council for Human Rights (CCHR), Stop the New Round Coalition (SNR), Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) and Laban ng Masa (LnM)

Environmentalist group urge Senate not to concur with JPEPA

Release: 2006-11-27

Concerned citizens, environmentalists, labor groups, peasants, fisherfolk, nationalist economists, social movements, and political parties who collectively form the MAGKAISA JUNK JPEPA coalition trooped to the Senate today to ask the Senate not to concur with the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).

"The JPEPA directly assaults our environment, jeopardizes the job security of our workers, and, by eliminating tariffs on almost all goods and services, hampers our ability to pursue national development", said MAGKAISA JUNK JPEPA

"Moreover, the process of negotiating JPEPA is diametrically opposed to basic principles of good governance where the Filipino people, including members of Congress have been denied access to the full text of the agreement during the negotiations thus denying them meaningful participation in crafting this agreement", said the coalition

"By eliminating tariffs on toxic wastes, the JPEPA will make the Filipino people subsidize Japan's export of its waste and garbage to the Philippines, making it cheaper for the Japanese to export their waste to us and make the Japanese environment cleaner, but at the expense of our own environment.", according to the coalition.

MAGKAISA JUNK JPEPA added, "The JPEPA will likewise make the Filipino people subsidize the cost of health care of the Japanese people by allowing them to pay less for the labor of our nurses and caregivers, but not without passing a needle's eye with the strict requirements for language proficiency and licensure exams in addition to the fact that we do not have enough nurses and caregivers to attend to the needs of our own people."

"The JPEPA also compels the Philippines to give equal or better treatment for Japanese investors, Japanese goods, and Japanese services – all contrary to the provisions in the Constitution providing for preference for Filipino capital, labor, goods, and services", maintained the coalition

"Moreover, the JPEPA will ultimately undermine government commitments to reduce poverty as it will effectively prevent the government from providing much-needed support to Filipino micro, small and medium-scale enterprises all pointing out the absence of a sound Filipino economic development policy and environmental policy"

MAGKAISA JUNK JPEPA calls on the Senate to reject the JPEPA. The group likewise calls on all local government units (LGUs) to pass ordinances and resolutions banning the entry and transport of imported toxic and hazardous wastes in their respective jurisdictions, as well as for LGUs, sectors, and civil society organizations to demand prior consultation, as provided in the Constitution and in the Local Government Code, before any national government agency or government-owned and controlled corporation implements any project
that could potentially pollute and harm our environment, and destroy the future of our economy.

"Let us reclaim our dignity as a people, assert our national sovereignty, and claim our right to a future for succeeding generations of Filipinos." said the coalition.

'ASEAN Peoples' Camp' to push through despite warnings from Gonzalez

Release: 2006-11-26

Civil society groups strongly condemned today the statement issued by Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez that the Philippine government will follow the lead of the Singapore government, prevent international and local groups from holding protests, ban the entry of foreign 'troublemakers' into the country, and make special target of Indians, Pakistanis and Afghans. They vowed to continue their planned activities in time for the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Cebu next month.

"Secretary Gonzales is overreacting, misdirected, without regard for basic civil liberties and guilty of racial discrimination. His statements are an embarrassment not only to the Filipino people, but also to the international community. We will continue with our planned activities despite these pronouncements," said Lidy Nacpil, international coordinator of Jubilee South and vice president of Freedom from Debt Coalition.

"This brazenness of Secretary Gonzalez makes a mockery of the ASEAN theme this summit, which is to foster 'a caring and sharing community,'" stressed FDC president Ana Maria R. Nemenzo, adding that Gonzalez's remark exemplified the perception that the ASEAN is an "elite club of insecure dictators."
Nacpil also revealed that many local and international non-governmental organizations have already signified their intention to participate in "ASEAN Peoples' Camp" on December 12-13 in Cebu as part of their "Week of Action Challenging the ASEAN."

Nacpil said that social movements and NGOs from various Southeast Asian countries would be traveling to Cebu to ensure their voices are heard during the ASEAN Summit. The Summit on December 10 to 14 will be deciding, among other concerns, the framework of the ASEAN Charter.

"Millions of people will be affected by the outcome of this ASEAN Summit and yet this despotic government intimidates us with outrageous threats," said Nemenzo, adding: "Go ahead. We are not intimidated. I dare him (Secretary Gonzalez) to do that." Gonzalez reportedly said that the government would impose an 'iron curtain' during the summit and would "throw them ('troublemakers') into the Mactan Straits and let the sharks eat them there."

He also said the government would emulate what Singapore did in ensuring the security of an international conference of foreign leaders in its territory when it banned all the "trouble makers" from entering the city-state during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) - World Bank Group meetings last September.

Nacpil said at least 54 people representing 17 organizations from 17 nationalities were either banned, interrogated or deported during the IMF-WB meet in Singapore. Their various areas of expertise include development, debt, and trade, among others. Nacpil and Nemenzo were two of those banned activists.

Women group calls for a just decision

Release: 2006-11-23

The Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) women trooped to the DOJ this morning to press for a just and favorable resolution to the Subic rape case which is scheduled for promulgation on November 25.

"We hope that Nicole will be served justice, despite the incompetent handling of the DOJ of the case," said Fatima Cabanag, spokesperson of the APL-women.

"But our fear is that the merits of the case has been sold out in exchange for dollars," added Cabanag, as can be seen in the DOJ's less than passionate fervor and handling of the case. "The Subic rape case is a litmus test for US-RP relations and for a beleaguered Arroyo, losing US support in case of a conviction is unthinkable."

"It would mean substantially decreased military aid," added Cabanag, "which the Philippine government desperately needs in its crackdown on militants and activists in the countrysides."

"And yet we believe that the Subic rape case is very solid and hard to repudiate," she said. "Nicole's plight is an inspiration in fact, to other similarly-situated women who have been forced to stay silent because of stigma and shame from society's prejudices."

"Her character has been attacked time and again and yet the story holds," added the labor leader. "It is clear Nicole was taken advantage of, and the guilty parties should pay for it," said Cabanag.

"At the same time it should be taken as a cue to revisit and redefine RP-US relations because clearly the country is on the losing end from this VFA," said Cabanag. "Only then can we really avoid another Nicole form happening."

Civil Society calls boycott of IMF/World Bank Meetings

Release: 2006-09-15

163 Organizations from Around the World in Solidarity with Those Banned &
Deported

Civil society organizations today announced a boycott of all official
events at the IMF-World Bank Meetings in Singapore. The boycott has been
endorsed by 163 organizations from all parts of the world, and includes
many organizations that have long assumed prominent roles in civil society
interactions with the international financial institutions.

This call comes in response to news that the Singapore government has
barred entry to a number of civil society representatives, including many
who had already been accredited to attend the meetings by the IMF and
World Bank. About 20 people have been deported or "refused entry" to
Singapore. The Singapore government also pressured the Riau Province
(Indonesia) government to cancel alternative events on the neighboring
island of Batam, but the Indonesian government has allowed them to
proceed.

"Our boycott is a response to egregious hypocrisy," said Ana Maria Nemenzo,
President of the Freedom from Debt Coalition, Philippines, and one of those
informed in advance that she would not be allowed into Singapore despite
receiving accreditation to the meetings. "While World Bank President Paul
Wolfowitz prepares to launch his new good governance and anti-corruption
initiative, he fails to promote those very principles for his own
institution as it meets in Singapore. Civil society has long been
unsatisfied with their marginalization by these institutions, but this
takes that problem to a new low. The events of the last week, including
the
blacklisting of 28 pre-accredited civil society representatives and an
unknown number of others from around the globe, expose the Bank's failed
commitment to transparency, accountability and basic civil rights. "

Both Wolfowitz and IMF Managing Director Rodrigo Rato have said they are
unhappy with the Singapore government's actions, but the civil society
organizations, which had planned on using the space in Singapore to
advocate for reduced IMF/World Bank involvement in economic policy-making
and in dubious infrastructure development projects, have been far from
satisfied with the response.

"These institutions are most comfortable in countries without respect for
civil liberties and human rights," said Sameer Dossani of 50 Years Is
Enough: U.S. Network for Global Economic Justice. "They came under fire the
last time they held the meetings outside Washington - in Dubai in 2003 -
and could not have been in the dark about Singapore's track record when
they chose it. Certainly the announcement in January that protesters would
be caned made clear the sort of atmosphere that would surround these
meetings."

While 163 organizations have formally endorsed the boycott, a number of
other organizations are supporting the effort in different ways. Many civil
society groups not on the list of endorsers, for example, have cancelled
meetings that had been scheduled with the IMF and World Bank.

"The World Bank and IMF cannot escape their complicity in this draconian
crackdown," said Shalmali Guttal of the pan-Asian organization Focus on the
Global South. "Not only did they knowingly choose Singapore, but
Singapore's attitudes perfectly reflect the global economic system they
impose and oversee -- one that benefits a few elites while condemning
millions to the everyday structural violence of poverty. Dissent and civil
rights threaten elite control. Indeed, World Bank and IMF support for
despotic regimes has a long, sordid history, and includes massive aid to
Marcos in the Philippines, Soeharto in Indonesia and Mobutu in Zaire (now
Democratic Republic of Congo)."

Despite the Singapore government's efforts to cancel it, the International
People's Forum Against the World Bank and IMF opens today at the Asrama
Haji Center in Batam, Indonesia and continues through the 17th.

Pass SB1406 now

Release: 2006-08-03

We support moves to enact into law SB1406 as it would bring workers one-step closer to the full realization of their right to self-organize enshrined in the Philippine Constitution.

As the percentage of the labor force enjoying the safety and protection of being unionized continuously declining, the urgency of enacting this bill into law becomes even more apparent.

"There should be no opposition to the bill as it would not cost a single cent for the government nor for the employers," Daniel L. Edralin, APL Chairperson said. "But its passage would go a long way in helping workers help themselves," he added.

Aside from speeding up the process of certification elections and protecting union members and leaders struggling for union recognition, SB1406 would also allow rank and file workers and supervisory-level unions in one enterprise to join the same federation.

"At a time when workers' economic, political and social rights are under attack, it is imperative that workers' capacity to advance and defend their rights and welfare be fully recognized. This bill is a step in that direction," Edralin added.

During the 12th Congress, the Lower House already passed the proposed measure only to be defeated by the Senate's inaction. Now, under the 13th Congress, the bill's counterpart measure was once again approved by the House as early as 15 November 2005 and was transmitted to and received by the Senate last 23 November 2005. It has languished in the committee level since then.

SB1406 or an Act Strengthening The Workers' Constitutional Right To Self-Organization, Amending For The Purpose Presidential Decree No. 442, As Amended, Otherwise Known As The Labor Code Of The Philippines, was filled by Senator Francis Pangilinan. It is the counterpart bill for HB01351 filled by Rep. Del de Guzman (Marikina) and Akbayan Party List Representative Mario Aguja.

Union joins call for end to Israel actions in Lebanon

Release: 2006-07-27

"We add our voice to the STOP the War coalition's call on Israel to immediately stop the carnage it unleashed upon Lebanon its defenseless people," said APL Secretary-General Josua Mata. "Israel's arrogant stance is not only laying waste to hundreds of innocent lives but also pushing the precarious situation in the Middle East further to the edge."

"The current crisis is not an act of 'self-defense' as Israel and its supporters claim. Rather, it is an Israeli war for domination, a regional war aimed at reshaping the map of contemporary Middle East," Mata said.

"At the core of the Middle East conflict is the unflinching US support for Israel's aggressions," explained Mata. "For vetoing a UN ceasefire resolution and for providing the Israel with the military wherewithal to devastate its neighbors, we hold the US jointly liable for this atrocity," Mata added.

"The region is a powder keg and Israel's actions are needlessly putting Filipinos in the line of fire," Mata said. "We call on the Philippine government to denounce the Israeli action and to take all necessary steps to ensure the continued safety of our OFWs in Lebanon and the Middle East in general," added the labor leader.

The now common storyline that the war was initiated by Hezbolla's July 12 raid across the Israeli border - which led to the capture of 2 Israeli soldiers - fails to emphasize that such action was limited to a military target. Israel's response - a full-scale attack on civilian targets - is hugely disproportionate and stands in total disregard of the Geneva Conventions which prohibits collective punishment, targeting of civilians, destruction of civilian infrastructure and more. It is, in short, a war crime.

Actually, the immediate trigger has its roots in Israel's murderous policy in Gaza and the extraordinarily hypocritical US-led boycott and international sanctions against the Palestinians that started after Hamas democratically won the Palestinian Authority government in January 2006.

More importantly, beyond the immediate trigger, the current crisis is rooted Israel's continued occupation of Palestine and confiscation of land and water sources. Without this conflict, Hezbollah, Hamas and other similar groups would not be in today's news.

Jobs deficit to bring GMA down

Release: 2006-07-24

The Alliance of Progressive Labor today joined in mass demonstrations to challenge GMA's version of the State of the Nation Adress, denouncing the Arroyo administration's inability to create jobs.

"With a growing labor force population now at 35.2 million, this administration is still in denial as to just how grave the jobs deficit is," said APL Secretary-General Josua Mata. "Instead of protecting our industries, it is trading them away through the WTO and continued adherence to liberalization and deregulation."

"As a matter of fact, the latest Labor Force Survey of January 2006 revealed that of the country's workforce, 8.1% is unemployed and 21.3% is underemployed," explained Mata. "The underemployed rate is up dramatically from 16.1% a year ago -- workers aren't picky when it comes to jobs, they are stuck with what little jobs there are around!"

"To augment the havoc wreaked by her free trade doctrines, GMA would rather promote industries that have no value-added in terms of national industrialization, such as call-centers and other outsourcing work," added the labor leader, "and job fairs that offer contractual work in which turn-overs are obscenely quick and pay is disgustingly low."

Also from the LF participation survey, it was noted that the agriculture, fishery and forestry sector posted the highest increase in employment at 475 thousand. Employment in this sector grew by 4.2%, from 11.4 million in January 2005 to 11.8 million in January this year.

"It is in this sector that government should focus its efforts. Only in an adequately protected and supported domestic economy can a better future be provided for Filipino workers," said Mata, "instead of driving them out as OFWs and putting them in harm's way."

"But this administration cannot adequately respond to workers' concerns, as evidenced in particular by the NCR wage board decision to grant a measly P25 wage increase," added Mata, "because it is deeply mired in one controversy after another with its very legitimacy continuing to be in doubt."

For the labor leader, the jobs deficit will nto be solved under GMA. "Under an administration whose overriding concern is staying in power, the pressure is there to rely more on big business and capitalists for concessions, instead of upholding the Constitutional clauses on social justice and labor rights."

According to Mata, "GMA has swept these fundamental principles in the highest law of the land under the rug, and seemed to have chosen to rely heavily on her military lapdogs instead to go out and hunt, threaten and kill any ang all who oppose her."

"It is this deadly concoction of violence perpetrated against activists and civilians, the pathetic programs in place attempting jobs creation, and continued pursuit of neoliberal economics that makes the GMA administration stink to high heavens," he added, "and it is past the time to end it!"

Do Not Trade Away Our Rights: WTO negotiations further eroding workers' welfare

Release: 2006-07-22

The Philippine government is failing in its target of creating more jobs because its economic policies are misaligned from the interests of the majority of Filipinos. Upon the prodding of neoliberals like GMA who subscribe to the false promises of "free" trade through deregulation and liberalization, the country drastically lowered tariff levels on a whole range of products without careful study of its repercussions.

The effect has been the entry of cheap imported products, which may have had short-term gains for consumers, but had proved poverty-inducing in the end, because as more workers lost their fragile jobs, more families ended up below the poverty line, and now contribute to an already distressed economy hard pressed by political turmoil caused by the very same people eroding further our economy.

The Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) again calls attention to the dire consequences awaiting the country's economy if the government rushes headlong into the deceptive text of negotiations for the Non-Agricultural Products Market Access (NAMA) agreement from the Doha round of WTO negotiations.

The NAMA covers just about everything that does not fall under the WTO Agreement on Agriculture: from raw materials to manufactured products, minerals, lumber and notably fish and fish products. The demand of the NAMA agreement is for the eventual elimination of tariffs on all these products to allow for the entry of foreign products into the Philippines, to the detriment of workers everywhere, from shoe workers in Marikina to steel workers in Calabarzon, to tuna fisherfolks in General Santos City. For a country that hasn't even industrialized, we cannot afford to abandon our industry lines without a fight! In short, it will put millions of workers out into the streets with an anger which this illegal administration will not be able to contain!

The GATS, on the other hand, centers on services, threatening to open up vital areas, such as education, health and utilities, to the profiteering of dubious multinational corporations out to make a quick profit at the expense of our people. The only reason why these services are being targetted under the GATS is because these are the most lucrative at present. But as in the case of the MWSS privatization, this will not result into an efficient nor cheaper service.

In a country where universal access is a right that hasn''t even been realized, attaching a dollar sign to such services will only further keep them away from the reach of poor households. The GATS wil also effectviely take away control of regulation from government on sensitive areas such as tourism, retail, telecommunications and broadcasting, which are sensitive due to their impact on either our natural resources or our national sovereignty.

The APL demands that these WTO agreements be brought down and that the Philippine government craft policies that will truly pave the way for national industrialization and people-centered development! These agreements are not beneficial to the general public and workers who stand to lose what few jobs are available to us locally. It will only further enrich private entities and their cohorts who are only too willing to sell out Filipino workers for an uncertain and disastrous future.

Tanggalin ang VAT sa langis at kuryente!

Release: 2006-07-17

"Trabaho, Tahanan, Edukasyon, Pagkain sa Bawat Mesa." Ito ang tema ng State of the Nation Address ni Gloria noong 2001. Lahat patungkol sa gyera laban sa kahirapan - para sa mga batang Payatas na sina Jomar, Jason at Erwin.

Isa sa apat na komponent ng estratehiya ni Gloria para makamit ang mga layuning ito ay ang pangmatagalang istruktural na reporma sa sektor ng enerhiya (kabilang rito ang langis at kuryente) – para dumami ang investment na siyang lilikha ng maraming trabaho, at mapagaan ang pasang hirap ng masa sa harap ng mataas na presyo ng mga bilihin. Dala ni Gloria ang pangakong ito hanggang sa kanyang SONA ng 2005.

Sa 2003 SONA ni Gloria, binigyan niya ng sariling grado ang kanyang performance sa ipinangako niya noong 2001. Sabi niya ang 100kwh noong 2001 na nagkakahalaga ng P596 noong 2001 ay naging P423 na lang. Hindi rin daw tumaas ang pamasahe mula noon. Mula din daw ng siya'y maging Pangulo, nanatiling P8.50 ang halaga ng pangmasang sardinas, P11 ang mantikang lapad, P23 ang mantikang long neck, P28 ang puting asukal, P23 ang pula, P28 ang kondensada, P115 ang baboy, P90 ang manok at P160 ang baka.

Noon iyon. Paano na ngayon? Ang P5/kwh na presyo ng kuryente noong 2001, P9/kwh na ngayon! Ang dating P423 na presyo ng 100 kwh noong 2003, P900 na ngayong Mayo 2006! Ang P8.50 na sardinas noon, mahigit P11 na ngayon! Ang P115 na baboy noon, P140 na ngayon. Ang P5 pasahe noon, P7.50 na ngayon! Lahat ng presyo ng bilihin ay tumaas, kabaligtaran ng lahat ng pangako ni Gloria mula 2001 hanggang 2005!

Sa totoo lang, wala talagang intensyon si Gloria na ibaba ang presyo ng langis at kuryente. Napilitan lang siyang ibaba ang presyo ng kuryente dahil sa malakas na protesta natin laban sa PPA at sa P30-B iniutos na refund ng Korte Suprema sa Meralco. Ni wala siyang magawa para pigilin ang pagtaas ng presyo ng gasolina kundi'y gawin lang itong hulugan. Hindi pa nagkasya sa pagpapahirap sa masa, pinatawan pa ito ng 12% na VAT!

Dahil sa VAT, tumaas ng halos P3 kada litro ng produktong petrolyo at halos P1 naman kada kilowatthour sa kuryente. Noong March 2001, ang presyo ng diesel ay P18 lang, ngayon ito ay umaabot na sa P37 kada litro at posible pang madagdagan ng P8 kada litro hanggang Setyembre!

Sa halip na madagdagan ang pangmatrikula ni Jomar, Jayson at Erwin, napunta lang ito sa itinaas na presyo ng mga bilihin. Sa halip pagkain na sa mesa, inagaw pa ito sa kanila ni Gloria dahil sa VAT. Sa halip na madagdagdagan na badyet sa pamilya, nabawasan pa ito dahil sa mga huwad na pangako at palpak na patakaran ni Gloria.

Ang mga ito ang dahilan kung bakit tuloy ang mga protesta ng masa sa kalsada. Si Gloria ang dahilan ng patuloy na paghihirap ng mamamayan. Makatwiran lamang na hilingin ng mamamayan ang pag-aalis ng VAT sa langis at kuryente. Mayorya ng masa ay naghihirap at nagugutom, kailangan nila ng kagyat na pagkalinga mula sa pamahalaan.

Alin lang sa dalawa ang pwedeng pagpilian ng mamayan sa ilalim ng ganitong sitwasyon: Ang patuloy na maghirap sa loob ng State of the Nation ng panloloko, katiwalian, represyon, at political killings sa ilalim ni Gloria; o tumindig at lumaban para sa isang alternatibang kapalit ng kasalukuyang pamahalaan. - Freedom from Debt Coalition

Group calls for ouster of gov't officials pushing for Masinloc privatization

Release: 2006-07-07

Anti-power privatization group Freedom from Debt Coalition today condemned and sought the immediate removal from office of government executives for still giving YNN Pacific Consortium the chance to acquire the efficient and profitable 600-MW Masinloc plant despite the Corporation's repeated failure to deliver its $227.54-million upfront payment for the plant.

"We want the immediate removal of government officials involved in Masinloc privatization deal. It is very obvious that the government still wants to save YNN Pacific in this privatization deal despite obvious financial incapability of the corporation to acquire Masinloc," said FDC Secretary General Milo Tanchuling.

Yesterday, Department of Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, also Chairman of the Board of Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM), said the government is open to giving YNN until July 31 to give its down payment. He retracted later his statement, saying the government will issue termination notice for Masinloc contract on or before 10 July.

"This means that the government only forfeited YNN Pacific's performance bond, but did not terminate the contract. The government, in essence, is giving more time for YNN Pacific to fulfill its commitment in complying with the submission of upfront payment as another 30 days, beginning with the issuance of such termination notice," Tanchuling stressed.

FDC likewise denounced the government's role in negotiating a power supply deal between YNN Pacific and Meralco.

"What is more condemnable is that even before the termination takes effect, the government is also acting as the negotiator of YNN Pacific to enter into a power supply deal with Meralco for Masinloc's power," said Tanchuling, adding that such act is "a clear betrayal of public trust."

Tanchuling explained that there was no power supply contract with a distribution utility attached to the sale of Masinloc before and until the time of the bidding. But after the bid was won and YNN could not get investors' support in the deal, the government through PSALM which bid the plant out has been negotiating with Meralco to seal a power supply deal for Masinloc's power.

The Meralco-Masinloc power deal is reportedly a condition of Malaysian company Ranhill Berhad for it to buy-in YNN Pacific before it delivers the initial payment for Masinloc plant.

"Worse, not only PSALM is involved in this obvious conspiracy, but also the Department of Energy, DoF, and Malacañang," said Tanchuling, adding that DoE Secretary Rafael Lotilla himself blamed the breakdown of negotiations for a power supply deal with Meralco for Masinloc's power for the failure of Masinloc's privatization.

"Those cabinet officials involved in Masinloc sale are alter egos of the President. Therefore, Mrs. Gloria Arroyo is knowledgeable of the deals. In effect, she is tolerating this insidious deal against the people," Tanchuling said.

"Everybody now knows that on the day of the deadline, Presidential chief of staff Mike Defensor said that the Office of the President is studying a possible extension of the deadline on the Masinloc buyer after it received a request from Malaysian Prime Minister Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for the extension in behalf of Ranhill. Why is the President protecting the interest of foreign investors, instead of that of the Filipino people?" asked Tanchuling.

FDC said that should the Meralco-YNN deal becomes successful, higher power rates are in the offing as YNN will recover through the contract its $561-million bid of Masinloc including the 12 percent interest it will have to pay for the balance after the $227-million initial payment is made and the $14-million performance bond that was forfeited. ###

__._,_.___

Freedom from Debt Coalition
Reference: Milo Tanchuling, FDC Secretary General @ +63-2-9211985

Government told to stop pushing for Masinloc privatization, entertaining YNN

Release: 2006-07-06

An anti-power privatization group reiterated its call today for the government to stop privatization deals with Masinloc and the privatization of Napocor altogether, in reaction to reports that the government is still giving time for YNN Pacific to make its initial payments for the 600-MW power plant.

The Freedom from Debt Coalition said that the government must realize by now that the privatization of NPC assets has failed as evidenced by the unsuccessful sale of Masinloc.

"It is despicable that the government has to resort to some sort of conspiracy and even going to the extent of betraying public trust just to save the privatization of Masinloc and, in effect, the YNN Pacific," said FDC Secretary General Milo Tanchuling.

The group criticized government's pronouncement made by Department of Finance Secretary Margarito Teves that it is open to giving YNN Corporation until July 31 to deliver the $227-million down payment for Masinloc.

"As the DoF Secretary is the alter ego of the President, his statement also implies that the President is knowledgeable of the deals. In effect, the President tolerates this insidious deal against the people," said Tanchuling.

Tanchuling said that too much time has been given YNN Pacific to make its upfront payment and that its consistent failure to meet the two deadlines is a very clear indication that it cannot pay even less than half of its bid price of $561-million for Masinloc.

Tanchuling pointed out that the conspiracy of government officials, PSALM, NPC, and even the Department of Energy, just to accommodate YNN Pacific and its new would-be majority owner Ranhill Berhad, only correspond their removal from office.

FDC said that contrary to PSALM's earlier pronouncement that there would be no supply contracts attached to the sale of NPC generation assets, its actions, after the bid was won by YNN Pacific, speak otherwise.

FDC emphasized that no less than DoE Secretary Rafael Lotilla admitted that there has been negotiations going on between the government and Meralco for a power supply deal with the distribution utility and Masinloc plant. It was also reported that PSALM Vice President Noni Bernardo represented PSALM in these negotiations.

"Ironically, it appears that the government is negotiating for YNN Pacific. The statement of Secretary Teves also shows that the government again is giving YNN Pacific until July 31 this year anticipating that a supply deal will with Meralco will be forged," Tanchuling noted.

Ranhill Berhad, the Malaysian firm that would infuse additional equity to YNN Pacific, has until July 31, 2006 to finalize ownership of YNN Pacific. But said equity infusion depends on a power supply deal with Meralco.

Since the past months, government through PSALM and NPC has been negotiating with Meralco to seal a power supply contract with YNN Pacific for Masinloc's power. ###

PNU Students held vigil protest against Prexy Barbo

Students, along with professors of Philippine Normal University (PNU) adhering with their call not to put their 'President-elect' in position held a vigil in front of the PNU gates, saying that the selection process was "marred with controversies and should be considered null and void."

According to Joseph Invierno, currently the chairperson of Samahang Demokratiko ng Kabataan (SDK)- PNU Chapter, the selection process, which was done through straw voting, did not even manifest that PNU President-elect Lutgardo Barbo was included in the three finalists.

"Atty. Barbo, as per the results of the selection process, only placed number five. This means that he is not qualified to pass through the final 3 selection," Invierno said.

He added that Barbo, in the technical aspect of the selection, is also not qualified because he did not incur a master's and doctoral degree, and neither became an instructor nor a professor in his lifetime.

"This means that he lacks all the needed background in the academe, not to mention the fact that he made politics his profession. He served three terms as an Eastern Samar governor and served as a secretary-general of the Senate during deposed president Joseph Estrada's impeachment period. We believe that neither of these political backgrounds would be healthy for the entire PNU community," Invierno said.
It will be remembered that PNU students have been posing calls such as "No to politics, Yes to Merits!" since June 27, when Atty. Barbo was declared as PNU President. SDK, meanwhile, also challenged the PNU Board of Regents to consider themselves accountable for what took place in the selection process.

Students from neighboring universities such as the Technological University of the Philippines, University of the Philippines-Manila, Adamson University, Arellano University and Far Eastern University joined the vigil and expressed solidarity towards the said struggle.

"We will be continually calling for the immediate replacement of Barbo with someone who is dignified on his/her thorough experience in the academe and serving the interests of the studentry. We don't need a politician in PNU, just a true servant of the academic community," Invierno concluded.

- Samahang Demokratiko ng Kabataan(SDK)

Government urged to reverse privatization program

The government should reverse its privatization program of public utilities as it does not guarantee the consumers of lower rates and quality service, an advocacy group today said, in reaction to the failure of a "mere broker" to deliver its $227.54-million down payment for the 600-MW Masinloc power plant.

The Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) said the decision of Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) to finally forfeit the $14 million performance bond of YNN consortium "was actually long overdue."

"This government has to stop this privatization effort. It cannot even sell one of its best plants without under-the-table arrangements, without unethical acts. Even PSALM itself admits that the government continues to earn from the income generated by Masinloc these days. Then why should it sell one of its most profitable plants and make the consumers suffer in the process?" asked FDC vice president Wilson Fortaleza.

"What PSALM and this government have only attracted so far in the privatization of the power industry are dubious investors and not really companies or participants experienced to run the power industry and are those that can make a better industry where service and not profit is of utmost importance," stressed Fortaleza.

The government had already given two extensions ? March and June 30, 2006 ? for YNN to deliver its initial payment for Masinloc. This, according to FDC, is already too much leeway for the corporation, yet it still failed to make it.

"This only proves that YNN has no financial capability at all to acquire Masinloc power plant," Fortaleza said.
Ranhill Berhad, the would-be partner in YNN consortium, wants a power sales agreement between YNN and Meralco. It reportedly sets the power supply contract with Meralco as a condition for the release of its first tranche for its acquisition of YNN. Fortaleza lamented that such deal will be at the expense of the consumers.

"This will in effect bind the consumers to a new power contract which could lead to higher power rates in the offing as YNN will recover through the contract its $561-million bid of Masinloc including the 12 percent interest it will have to pay for the balance after the $227-million initial payment is made.

Also to be recovered is the $14-million performance bond that was forfeited. This is a clear manifestation of the obvious interest of Berhad in coming in as a partner of YNN. It sees buying Masinloc as an investment opportunity. As expected, Berhad has not shown any indication of interest of running the plant as it has no track record in the power industry," Fortaleza said.