Smile as inflight magazine

By admin | September 15, 2012

Review of Smile, inflight magazine of Cebu Pacific Air
April 2010
Ink Publishing Singapore

To read CebuPac’s Smile magazine is to consume a buffet of consumer ads. Passengers must be forewarned that the magazine is loaded with articles, images, and so-called travel tips which seduce readers into buying things they don’t need in life.

For example, the magazine copy dated April 2010 contained 370 direct and indirect ad placements which featured the following: 170 bars and restaurants, 94 hotel resorts and malls, 20 personal gadgets and home appliances, 31 travel accessories, 12 health and beauty products, 12 real estate subdivisions and condominiums, 9 media and entertainment shows, 3 cars, 2 business schemes, 2 government programs, 2 schools, and 1 jewelry.

Perhaps the most effective ads are those which had been embedded in the supposedly objective write-ups of experienced travelers and tourism journalists. Sarong and shoes, according to Smile, are vacation essentials. Agree. But readers are also reminded that these products are sold at SM and Gibi boutiques. Smart advertising at its sneakiest.

Smile, like all inflight magazines, features celebrated tourism destinations or remote countryside paradise resorts because it intends to sell a travel experience to readers. It seeks to cultivate a false desire among the passengers in the service of the corporate tourism sector. It is the authoritative accomplice in the rebranding of a particular place desperately in need of tourism dollars. From the same Smile issue, we are told to visit Macau because of its comedy shows, Seoul is described as a kid-friendly city, and apparently cosmopolitan Makati is home to a senakulo tradition.

Travel magazines like Smile transport readers to some exotic place without mentioning the latter’s geopolitical ugly truths. For instance, Smile published an ad which described Bicol as home to the world’s best whale shark experience, home to the most perfect volcano cone (and the best and biggest fried chicken courtesy of Bigg’s restaurant). Obviously, Smile has no interest or motivation to explain the staggering poverty incidences, the huge equality gap, and the mining disasters in Bicol as it chose to highlight the feel-good Disney features of the region.

But Smile is also capable of dishing out some really interesting tidbits of historical and cultural facts about our towns. Curacha crab is found only in the waters of Zamboanga, Dipolog is the country’s orchid and sardines capital, a trip around the city of Ozamis costs only six pesos, and Tacloban comes from the word taklub which is a local word for a cage basket used by fishermen.

Unfortunately, the readers are also bombarded with unnecessary silly assertions. Siargao was ‘discovered’ by an American and Australian in the 1980s (Really? Tanga naman ng mga Pilipino). A hotel ad claims to be the ‘Mediterranean jewel’ in Boracay (As if it’s important and even possible for Boracay to offer a Mediterranean experience). The Laoag travel advisor is identified as an ‘all around bum’ (We have a shortage of tourist guides in Ilocos?). The bloody Lenten Rite in Pampanga is suited for tourists with a ‘taste for the bizarre’ (the ‘other’ as a specimen of ridicule and pity for the visiting civilized Westerners).

To its credit, Smile encouraged ‘planet-conscious’ readers to celebrate the Earth Day by performing little acts of eco-consciousness.’ There are several articles in the summer issue on how to save planet Earth like supporting eco-tourism. Alas, readers are also advised to be responsible consumers by buying only green products. Again, it’s the same lame but popular corporate solution to environment degradation. Interestingly and quite funny too, Smile has an article about environmental hypocrisy wherein the author lambasted the fake and insincere green initiatives of individuals and companies. The author even argued that it’s better to fly than to drive and leave lass carbon footprint. Wait, what is the business of CebuPac again?

As the official publication of a commercial airline, it’s understandable if Smile declares non-partisanship in politics. Its sole political agenda after all is to espouse and support politics that would yield more profits for its mother company. It’s unwilling to tackle dangerous causes and rebellious ideas that would rip the happy status quo apart. Its glossy pages are reserved for topics that hypnotize the readers to feel attached and alienated at the same time.

But surprisingly, there are half-innocent hints in the magazine that offer a glimpse of the real political situation in the archipelago. They could be unintended slips which Filipino residents and foreign tourists alike can use to seriously deepen their understanding of Philippine society.

Example, here is how General Santos City in Mindanao was described in the magazine: “In 1968 the municipality of General Santos was converted into a city with Antonio Acharon as the first city mayor. The current mayor is also an Acharon.” A seemingly naïve statement but at the same time a subtle allusion on political dynasties.

Some factual notes about CebuPac’s destinations refer to the country’s turbulent political and economic history. Cauayan City in Isabela was ‘once known for its tobacco industry.’ Colon Street in Cebu is ‘less plush than it used to be.’ In Manila, ‘there’s much more than malls and shopping.’ Catanduanes which faces the Pacific Ocean is a former radar site of the Japanese Imperial Navy during the Second World War. The St Augustine Cathedral in Cagayan de Oro, built in 1845, was destroyed by the bombings made by American liberation forces in 1945. Clark Airbase was the largest overseas US military base in the world. Davao is said to be typhoon-free all year round. The Gloria Arroyo government proclaims that ‘together, we can beat the odds.’

Trivial information at first glance but hopefully quite enough to stir the curiosity of citizens and visitors about the country’s colonial history, maldevelopment in the past century, misgovernance in the past decade, ideas for military tactics, and the negative impact of climate change. Not bad for an inflight magazine whose primary traditional objective is to complement the “class consciousness of frequent travelers.”

Still, Smile is a poor alternative to a decent book which passengers are advised to bring during the shorthaul flights of CebuPac. That said, Smile is the country’s only domestic inflight magazine which passengers can easily smuggle out of planes.

Related artices:

Travelogue
Travel tips, habits
Go Green?
Shortage of runways?

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The Budget is still not enough

By admin | September 11, 2012

Manifestation delivered in the plenary of the House of Representatives on September 11, 2012. Thanks to Marjo and @kabataanpl

In the past two years, the Aquino administration has imposed drastic cuts in the budget of state universities and colleges. It didn’t even allot capital outlay funds to SUCs which are needed to upgrade and modernize our school facilities.

But in the past two years, we also witnessed the dramatic and unprecedented show of unity of SUCs in demanding higher funding for public tertiary schools. For the first time, students joined their teachers and school officials in staging various forms of protests and lobbying actions to force the Aquino government to reverse its policy of gradually reducing subsidies for SUCs.

Schools organized campus assemblies, lectures, rallies, and even concerts to demand more funds for the education sector. Some students and teachers wore white ribbons while others conducted campus strikes and camp-outs near DBM and the Malacanang Palace.

And because of this solidarity which exposed the anti-poor, anti-education, and anti-development features of the Aquino budget, the government relented by agreeing to release more funds for SUCs this year through the so-called Disbursement Acceleration Program. And in the proposed 2013 budget, there is a reported increase in the budget of all SUCs.

At nagbunga po ang ating pagkakaisa at ngayon ako po ay nagpapasalamat at nagbibigay ng mataas na saludo sa lahat ng mga mag-aaral, guro at pamunuan ng SUCs na hindi natinag at tuluy-tuloy na lumaban para sa mataas na pondo sa edukasyon.

However, Malacanang and DBM should not brag the reported increase in the SUCs budget. The P37.1 billion proposed budget is still grossly insufficient if we consider the total proposal of SUCs for 2013, which adds up to P54.6 billion.

The DBM-proposed budget for SUCs is only 67.98 percent of the total requirement of 110 SUCs. DBM data also reveal that the P37.1 billion DBM-approved budget for SUCs next year is actually P17.5 billion less than the actual need of SUCs.

Also note the low percentage approved for capital outlay (CO), the fund for the construction of new infrastructure, approving only 22.5 percent or P3.37 billion of the P14.96 billion originally proposed, despite the fact that DBM has not been giving CO to SUCs in the past two years.

The Commission on Higher Education itself admitted that the budget for SUCs is still insufficient. In a statement released on August 17, CHED Chair Patricia Licuanan said, “The 2013 SUCs budget may not be enough. But it is a substantial increase and is good for now.”

I am urging CHED and DBM to review the criteria in determining the budget for SUCs, including the categorization of SUCs based on the Roadmap for Public Higher Education Reform.

Under this system, the government puts higher funding for top-performing schools, despite the fact that many schools are ‘underperforming’ precisely because of lack of ample government support.

Padding the budget in a manner which does not address the needs of state schools is not what the youth demanded. The youth will not accept this cover-up budget. We will continue the fight for sufficient state subsidy – from the august halls of Congress up to our schools and communities.

Related article: 2011 speech on the budget of state schools

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Crimes Against Rohingya

By admin | August 30, 2012

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once described the atrocities committed against the Russian people by German soldiers during the Second World War as a “crime without a name.” But would Churchill use the same words if he lived long enough to witness the numerous “killing fields” of the second half of the 20th century?

True, these are not the total state wars that consumed the first half of the 20th century. Still, the unspeakable crimes endured by our elders are still present today in one form or another.

A case in point is the continuing suffering of the Rohingya community in western Burma. The United Nations has in fact called them the most persecuted ethnic group in Asia because no country is willing to grant them citizenship. In fact, Burma refuses to recognize the Rohingya ethnic community even though the latter have been living in the country for many decades.

Using Churchill’s words to describe the plight of the Rohingya, one might say that we too are in the presence of a crime; but it’s a crime with many names. There are crimes against humanity; and there are crimes against Rohingya. Already stateless, landless, and homeless, Rohingya people are faced with daily doses of various forms of discrimination. As unwanted residents, they are deprived of basic human rights and welfare services. Regarded as outsiders, they are collectively accused of inciting violence in Burma every time a member of their community is found guilty of committing a crime.

But the Rohingya are not merely battling the racism of the junta-backed ruling party in Burma. Unfortunately, they are also victimized by the supposedly pro-democracy opposition parties, many of whom have echoed the government’s position that the Rohingya are illegal residents of Burma.

Further inflaming the tension and hatred in Burma is the irresponsible action of some groups which have posted false images on the internet to draw attention to the suffering of the Rohingya. Naturally, it angered many Burmese who suspect that Western groups and foreign governments are conspiring to isolate Burma in the international community.

Foreign groups may have exploited Rohingya issue to further their sinister agenda, but this doesn’t excuse the continued marginalization of the ethnic group. Nor does it invalidate human rights groups’ criticism about the deteriorating situation in Rohingya refugee camps. It also doesn’t make the global petition to support the Rohingya on humanitarian grounds any less valid.

It isn’t helpful to perpetuate the Rohingya-Rakhine dichotomy. A stand in favor of Rohingya doesn’t mean we are condemning the Rakhine. Both groups are victims of violence who must learn to coexist peacefully.

The first step towards that goal would be the Burmese government recognizing that its policy towards the Rohingya is causing further division and conflict in the country. It could also ensure that the often invoked “rule of law” should apply to the parties perpetrating the horrendous crimes against the group. If Burma is hesitant to listen to Western institutions about the need to rethink its policies concerning the Rohingya, then maybe the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) can intervene by listing the Rohingya issue as part of its agenda in the next caucus of the regional grouping.

Written for The Diplomat

Sectarian Threat to ASEAN

Last Monday, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III reiterated his endorsement for ‘responsible parenthood’ as a solution to curb the country’s high birth rate. This irked some Catholic bishops who immediately accused the president of launching an all-out war against the church.

Early this month, officials of Singapore’s City Harvest Church were arrested and charged with breach of trust. Investigators alleged that the church had used US$19.2 million of charitable donation to finance the church founder’s wife’s pop music career.

Last May, Malaysian police raided a printing house and detained its director over the publication of a banned book by a liberal Muslim activist.

These separate incidents highlight the special role of organized religion in several Southeast Asian societies. They reflect the political power of churches and the popularity of church leaders among the masses.

In the case of the Philippines, critics are blaming the obstinate opposition of the church for the repeated failure of Congress to pass legislative measures on reproductive health and divorce. The Catholic-dominated Philippines is the only country in the world without a divorce law.

Meanwhile, the scandal involving Singapore’s largest congregation sparked debate about the practice of tithing. It also led many people to question the moral fitness of church leaders who were reported to be living in luxury.

On the other hand, the raid in Malaysia became controversial because it exposed the lack of religious freedom in the country. The raid came as no surprise to many analysts and observers, however, who have been raising concerns about the growing religious intolerance in the country. Despite being a Muslim majority nation, Malaysia is known for promoting religious harmony. Today, there is a demand from many sectors, especially the academy, for an interfaith dialogue to defuse religious tension, end religious discrimination, and revive the spirit of multiculturalism.

Indonesia too could benefit from interfaith dialogues given the rising number of cases of religious violence in the archipelago. At the minimum, it should revisit its law granting legal protection to only six major religions. Scholars believe the non-recognition of minority religious sects has given impetus to hardliners to attack small churches and their followers.

Cases of religious persecution have been reported too in Vietnam where several Christian groups have taken the lead in organizing resistance to development aggression projects. Rohingya, the stateless people of Southeast Asia, are facing religious discrimination too in west Myanmar.

Religious conflicts can sometimes lead to protracted wars. Since the 1970s, for example, the Philippines has been facing a separatist movement in the Muslim-dominated areas of Mindanao Island. Similarly, Thailand continues to battle an Islamic insurgency in the south part of the country.

Religion is not often discussed in the meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. It’s understandable since there is no dominant religion in the region. But if religious bigotry leads to the repression of minorities and the killings of innocent civilians, then it’s necessary to put this matter in the mainstream agenda of the grouping. There’s no point talking about democracy and regional solidarity if discrimination based on religion is allowed to flourish in many Southeast Asian countries

Written for The Diplomat

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You do not self-demolish yourself. Please.

By admin | August 20, 2012

You do not self-demolish yourself. You do not self-exile yourself. Urban poor communities are not depressed. There are no undocumented human beings. Low skilled workers don’t exist.

Self-demolish. To self-demolish is to voluntarily destroy a house or home and relocate to a safer place. But there seems to be no other usage for self-demolish other than to refer to the decision of urban poor dwellers to tear down their own houses. Self-destruct is different from self-demolish. Self-destruct is a negative idea but self-demolish is curiously presented by news reporters as a positive story. To self-demolish seems to be a responsible act: The poor removing their makeshift homes in private lots and danger areas; the poor finally agreeing to relocate to a less wretched village where they can’t be seen by tourists and credit rating analysts.

But self-demolish is an act of violence. It represents the victory of the oppressor over the oppressed. The true crime is the lack of decent housing and welfare services for low-income groups but what gets highlighted or sensationalized is the existence of ‘opportunistic, stubborn, and unthinking’ ogre families in private property zones.

But the poor are forced to self-demolish. They are constantly subjected to various types of harassment, intimidation, and abuse. Legal and extralegal means are used to expel them from their homes. Bulldozers and armed goons are always on standby. The aim is to weaken the fighting spirit of the desperate and angry poor. Self-demolition is actually the symbolic surrender of the poor to the violent machinations of land developers, speculators and the armed hirelings deployed by the State.

The alternative is to fight for housing rights, to resist demolition, to demand social justice. Anti-demolition not self-demolition.

Self-exile. Can you really self-exile yourself? For example, is Joma Sison living in self-exile in Utrecht? If he is in self-exile, it means he can return to the homeland anytime. A person in self-exile like Joma is perceived to be faking his misery. He is seen to have voluntarily exiled himself to live comfortably in a foreign country. But an exile is different from a fugitive. An exile is not a willing migrant. An exile is someone who faced political persecution and was overwhelmed by the coercive and unjust elements of the state. In the case of Joma, his passport was cancelled by the government which continues to equate his communist beliefs with terrorism, immorality, and criminality.

An exile can’t easily and instantly decide to end his separation from the homeland. He can’t simply declare that he is already rejecting his exile status. It’s either he abandons his political work or he waits for political reforms to happen first. Another option is that he contributes to the furtherance of the cause through letters, lectures, and other means. Jose Rizal did a lot of political and creative tasks during his exile in Dapitan but interestingly, and fortunately, the national hero was not accused of living in self-exile in Zamboanga.

The term self-exile is both inaccurate and inappropriate since it obscures the nefarious acts of terror unleashed by the state against exiled individuals. To write that Myrna Reblando went into self-exile in Hong Kong is to ignore the suffering she endured after losing her journalist husband in the Maguindanao massacre in 2009. She didn’t self-exile herself; she sought asylum in another country because she felt the government was not taking decisive action to protect her. She once complained that her official security used to work as personal bodyguard of the Ampatuan patriarch.

The church hierarchy excommunicates recidivist sinners. A sinner doesn’t self-excommunicate himself. Similarly, the state, not the self, decides who to exile in a society. Banishing someone from the community is an exercise of power relations.

Depressed. Perhaps poor people are really depressed which explains why their communities are called depressed communities. Should we name the enclave of the rich as happy communities? Perhaps ‘depressed’ is a derivation from the name ‘Great Depression’ in order to emphasize the economic difficulties experienced by the people living in poor villages. But the word depressed is still misleading. It has the effect of reducing poverty as a state of emotion and mind; and it explains nothing about the systemic roots of deprivation and marginalization in society.

Besides, rich people are also depressed. They in fact consume large doses of anti-depressants which means they could be probably living in depressant communities.

Repressed villages resist. Oppressed towns revolt. Resistance and revolution are natural and proper reactions of people who are repressed and oppressed. But what should be the correct action of people living in depressed communities? Why should they wage a fierce struggle if the medication for depression is mere behavior modification and some bitter (neoliberal) pills to swallow? In short, there’s nothing innocent and funny in the seemingly naïve use of the phrase depressed communities.

Undocumented. There are more than three million Filipinos in the United States, about 300,000 of which are said to be undocumented. Undocumented? Surely they must have passports, birth certificates, plane tickets, temporary visas, and other registration papers from the Philippines. They have baby pictures, ID photos, and family portraits. They must have at least one photo taken or their faces tagged in numerous birthday celebrations, wedding events, school field trips, office parties, and town fiestas. What they don’t possess is the precious green card to confirm their status as a legal resident of the U.S. But why should this single piece of paper override other proofs that a person has the right to exist in the community? To elevate the green card as the supreme document that determines if a person is documented or undocumented is to devalue other life-affirming activities and human interactions. How can a person live as an undocumented outcast when he is loved somewhere as a child, parent, spouse, brother, sister, and friend? The humanity and identity of a person must not be decided by the green card alone. A person’s self-worth must not be affected by 20th century categories like undocumented persons, unauthorized immigrants, or unregistered aliens. There can never be real equality as long as we perpetuate the racist and elitist mentality that some human beings deserve to be ostracized because they are supposedly undocumented. What needs to be amply documented is not just the residency and citizenship papers of immigrants. In the time of reckoning, what will be measured is a person’s contribution to the cause of humanity.

Low-skilled. A worker can never be low-skilled. Politicians and their apologists may be low-skilled but not workers. Even routine functions in an assembly line require specialized skills. Minimum wage earners are categorized as low-skilled yet their collective labor generates surplus profits for capitalists. In order to drive down wages, workers must be taught to accept that they possess low skills. Low pay for low skills. They are conditioned to believe through the schooling process that physical labor is done with little thinking and mental ability. Low-skilled workers merely follow orders from high-skilled superiors. The immediate effect is the downgrading of the real value that workers contribute to the economy while high premium is placed for the so-called intellectual labor. It is as if a manual worker survives the day without using his cognitive skills and creative abilities. The institutionalized impact is the sorting of individuals into low-skilled, middle-skilled, and high-skilled categories. Each segment is offered a set of opportunities based on the skills that individuals are supposed to possess. Low-skilled parents are most likely to produce low-skilled children. It’s the intergenerational curse. Beware: the unlucky low-skilled workers are high-skilled survivors, fighters, warriors, and revolutionists

Related articles:

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Balik Probinsiya

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From Bad to Worse

By admin | August 15, 2012

Written for The Diplomat

The high global demand for mineral resources in the past decade has led to a rapid expansion of mining exploration in the Philippines. Suddenly, mining became a major economic priority for the government because of its huge potential in generating jobs and tax revenues. But public opinion towards mining turned negative due to the associated environmental disasters, displacement of local villagers, and the militarization of communities where mining operations exist.

Even local officials, many of whom are part owners of some of the mining concessions, have to publicly criticize the destructive impact of mining. In fact, 14 of the country’s 85 provinces have passed local ordinances imposing a moratorium on mining activities.

Recognizing the need to reform the mining law which is seen by many as pro-foreign; and in response to the growing grassroots opposition against mining, President Benigno Simeon Aquino III formed a study group last year which was tasked with formulating a new mining policy.

After several months of consulting various stakeholders in the mining sector, but most especially the mining companies, the committee submitted its recommendations to the president who later on signed Executive Order No.79. According to the government, the new mining policy seeks to harmonize the conflicting interests between big business and local communities in order to maximize the proper use of mineral resources for national development.

What are the key points of the measure? First, the government expanded the areas closed to mining operations by including tourism development areas and prime agricultural lands in the designated “no mining” zones. The government also declared a moratorium on new mining agreements until a revised law on revenue sharing scheme is passed. Furthermore, the granting of mining rights will be subject to competitive public bidding.

To develop downstream industries for strategic metallic ores, a national industrialization plan will be drafted in the next six months. To facilitate dialogue between all stakeholders and to oversee the implementation of government directives, a Mining Industry Coordinating Council will be established.

A controversial provision in the new mining policy is the explicit prohibition for local provincial and municipal councils to pass anti-mining laws.

Green groups immediately denounced the new mining policy, which they claim is still biased in favor of mining liberalization and foreign plunder of the country’s finite mineral resources. They pointed out that despite the purported expansion of “no mining” areas, the new policy would still allow the government to honor existing mining agreements. They also belittled the mining moratorium provision since the government can still give mining exploration permits.

The Catholic Church, which has long been a vocal critic of the mining sector, was also not impressed with the “token reforms” in the new mining order. They insisted that the policy framework of the government with regard to mining is still contrary to the principle of rational “stewardship” of natural resources.

Meanwhile, small scale miners are complaining that the government is unduly favoring foreign large scale miners despite the fact that the latter are mostly responsible for the huge mining disasters in the recent past. Local government officials are frustrated as well because the national government is trying to curtail the right of communities to express opposition to mining activities.

Curiously, the Chamber of Mines instantly praised the new mining law which they think would encourage more mining investments in the country. They also affirmed their commitment to promote responsible mining and contribute to the country’s economic growth.

The debate over the new mining policy is expected to intensify given the negative response of many groups and institutions. The support expressed by the business sector can’t easily erase the negative public perception towards mining activities. If the intent of the government is to ease the simmering tension between miners and villagers, then it has clearly failed for now. In fact, there’s already a clamor for the passage of an alternative mining legislation that would address the specific demands of communities affected by mining operations.

In sum, the government has squandered the opportunity to enact a mining policy that would unite all sectors in support of a sustainable and pro-people mining industry. Instead, it drafted a document that seemed acceptable to only one sector. Because of this, the option of resorting to ‘resource nationalism’ has become more popular today.

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Beyond Legislation: Ending Torture in the Philippines

By admin | August 4, 2012

Speech delivered in Hong Kong last July 21 during the Meeting of Parliamentarians of the Asian Alliance against Torture and ill-treatment organized by the Asian Human Rights Commission.

Good afternoon dear friends and fellow human rights advocates. Mabuhay!

On May 19, 2009 Filipino-American Melissa Roxas was abducted by suspected members of the military in a remote village in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines, located north of Manila. Roxas was accused of being a communist rebel. After several days, Roxas was eventually released. She was able to recount her ordeal, including the torture she suffered in the hands of her captors. This is an excerpt of what Roxas mentioned in her affidavit:

“…throughout my abduction, I was always blindfolded and handcuffed even in my sleep except for those few times when I was made to take a bath.”

“…they held my feet and my hands down and doubled up plastic bags were pulled down on my head and face and closed on my neck and I started to suffocate and I could not breath anymore.”

“…the interrogation continued non-stop with one interrogator replaced by another after every hour and I was not given lunch although, there was a brief respite from the questions during lunch but it continued after lunch.”

The case of Melissa Roxas received national and international attention because she is a citizen of the United States. Fortunately for us, Roxas refused to remain silent about what she endured, and she was able to summon enough courage to share her story with the rest of the world. Last April, Roxas testified in Geneva to highlight the state of human rights in the Philippines.

Roxas gave face to victims of torture and other human rights violations during the administration of Gloria Arroyo who was president from 2001 to 2010. By the time Arroyo stepped down from power last June 2010, the documented cases of torture in the country have already reached 1,099. Roxas was one of the 1,099.

The surge in human rights abuses in the past decade was one of the reasons for the strong lobby, renewed interest, and political commitment which forced the government to enact an anti-torture law. We succeeded in our legislative advocacy when President Arroyo signed Republic Act 9745 or An Act Penalizing Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment on November 10, 2009. I’m proud to say before this body that I’m one of the legislators who actively supported and voted in favor of this law.

What are the pertinent provisions of the law?

Section 4 identifies the specific acts of physical and mental/psychological torture

Section 6 states that a threat of war or state of war ‘shall not and can never be invoked as a justification for torture.’

Section 8 states that ‘Any confession, admission or statement obtained as a result of torture shall be inadmissible in evidence in any proceedings.’

Section 11 identifies the institutions (CHR, PAO, Barangay, NGOs) which are empowered to provide legal assistance to torture victims

Section 12 mandates that torture victims shall be provided with medical treatment and assistance

Section 13 clarifies that military superiors and public officers can be charged in the courts if they directly and indirectly participated, supported, or tolerated torture

Section 21 orders educational institutions to integrate human rights topics in the curriculum

Unfortunately, the passage of the anti-torture law in 2009 didn’t prevent the continued use of torture by armed personnel of the state. On February 6, 2010, just a few months after the enactment of the anti-torture law, the army arrested 43 health workers suspected of being members of the communist New People’s Army in a suburban town east of Manila. After almost a year of being placed in detention, the health workers were set free after the case against them was dismissed by the Court. The health workers complained that they were subjected to physical and mental torture by their captors.

During one of their court appearances, I was able to listen to their testimonies exposing the daily rituals of torture inflicted against them. A doctor testified that “Whenever they needed to urinate, a guard had to pull their shorts and underpants down and females had their genitals washed by their guards as they were blindfolded. Electrocution and other forms of torture were also reported.”

Human rights under Aquino

The backlash against human rights atrocities committed by state forces contributed to the unpopularity of the Arroyo government. The administration party lost badly in the 2010 elections. The overwhelming victory of the opposition raised expectations that the new leadership will review the security policies and programs of the government which directly and indirectly encouraged the military and police to commit human rights abuses against suspected supporters and sympathizers of communist rebels.

After two years, can we say that there has been qualitative change in governance in terms of protecting human rights? Sadly, I have to answer in the negative. Human rights violations have continued even under the supposedly reformist leadership of President Benigno Aquino III. Impunity, a word which recently became known to many people because of the government failure to punish human rights violators, persists. A few days ago, the chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) complained that not a single human rights violator has been sent to jail during the term of President Aquino.

The Karapatan NGO reported 67 cases of torture in the past two years. Meanwhile, the CHR received more than 360 cases of human rights abuses involving the military and police. Based on available data, human rights violations have intensified in the poorest regions of the country. Incidentally, the local communist insurgency and the Muslim separatist movement are strongest in these areas.

National security doctrine

Mandated to crush the rebellion at all cost, state forces failed to distinguish combatants from non-combatants in conducting their operations. Their aggressiveness can be attributed to the unrealistic deadline imposed by the national government to quell the armed movements in the country.

National security policymakers have advanced a doctrine that the number of NPA rebels will dwindle if members of the legal left are prevented from doing their political and propaganda work. Because of this theory, they made no distinction between communists who bear arms and those who chose to work in the legal arena.

This new doctrine has resulted in the brutal assassination, massacre, torture and kidnapping of non-combatant leftists and even innocent individuals. Hundreds of peasant communities suspected of being influenced by communists are subjected to food blockades and hamletting. Extrajudicial killings became so acute and widespread that the UN was forced to send a special rapporteur in 2007 to investigate the alleged human rights violations perpetrated by state forces.

Longest insurgency

The Philippines is facing the longest communist insurgency in the world. Since 1969, the Moaist-influenced NPA has been waging a protracted people’s war and the group is still considered the country’s top security threat. Why has it survived this long?

The NPA is composed mainly of poor farmers who probably got attracted by the radical land reform program offered by the Communist Party or CPP, which involves, at the minimum, the reduction of land rent and abolition of usury, and at the maximum, the confiscation of landlord property and its equitable distribution to the peasants.

The issue of inequitable land distribution in the provinces has fueled countless peasant uprisings across the country’s seven thousand islands. Such uprisings have also forced past and present administrations to enact land reform laws many of which have been rejected by farmer groups, and especially the CPP, for being excessively in favor of landlord interest through inserted loopholes and tricks for the landlords to prevent or evade land distribution. Aquino’s family, for instance, owns the biggest family-owned farming estate in Southeast Asia and it still remains largely intact despite the passage of a land reform law in 1987 because the Aquinos refused to distribute their vast landholdings to small farmers.

The CPP credits its longevity to the direct and indirect support given by hundreds of thousands or perhaps millions of farmers who sympathize with the communist cause, especially with its land reform program.

Based on official documents on its website, the CPP is not yet on the threshold of clinching victory in the country. It claims to be operating at the strategic defensive phase of the protracted people’s war. Its armed forces, though much smaller than the military, are strategically scattered throughout the archipelago. In short, the armed rebellion led by the CPP is neither winning nor losing at the moment.

Despite its failure to capture state power, the CPP wields a little, and sometimes significant, influence on Philippine politics. During the Marcos dictatorship from 1972 to 1986, the CPP played a key role in sustaining the pro-democracy movement. The CPP was the most consistent and formidable political force that opposed martial law during the Marcos years. It gained prestige and strength as it persevered in undermining the autocratic Marcos rule.

After the downfall of Marcos, the CPP did not renounce its armed struggle. Peace talks were initiated between the government and the communist rebels, but they soon broke down after disagreements on the framework of the negotiations. An amnesty program was offered but it was ineffective in encouraging the rebels to surrender their arms.

A turning point in the history of the CPP was the rectification movement it launched during the early 1990s. The CPP affirmed its adherence to the Maoist line of encircling the cities from the countryside but there were a number of cadres who disagreed with this theory and proposed an urban insurrection as a model for advancing the Philippine revolution. There were also members of the party who wanted to embrace a peaceful transition to socialism. Furthermore, the CPP apologized for the brutal killing of some its own members wrongly accused of being double agents of the government. Those who disagreed with the basic principles of the movement broke away from the CPP.

According to the military, the rectification movement diminished the strength of the CPP and permanently affected the winning chances of the revolution. The CPP reached the peak of its military and political strength in 1986 but the internal disputes which led to a split in the 1990s have fundamentally weakened its influence in Philippine politics.

For the government, the CPP is the major stumbling block preventing the Philippines from achieving sustained economic growth like its more prosperous Asian neighbours. The government insists that poverty will not be eradicated and foreign investors will shy away from the country as long as communist rebels are lurking in the provinces. It accuses the CPP of extortion through the taxes it collects from local businessmen and politicians.

Peace Talks

Since the Marcos era, the principal approach of the government in dealing with the CPP was to use violent and repressive tools against the armed and even the unarmed members of the left.

The secondary approach is to enter into peace negotiations in order to persuade the rebels to declare an indefinite ceasefire.

Arroyo renewed the peace talks with the rebels in 2001 but her attitude changed after the 9/11 terrorist attack in the United States. She started accusing CPP leaders of being terrorists which practically nixed previous attempts to end the insurgency through peace negotiations. Arroyo turned the counterinsurgency drive as part of the US-led “War on Terror” which led again to the escalation of hostilities between rebels and soldiers.

New counterinsurgency program

When Aquino became president in 2010, he unveiled his so-called innovative approach in resolving the country’s long running insurgency problem. Patterned after military models in the United States, the new program dubbed as Oplan Bayanihan provides a new framework and strategy in ending the insurgency threat. Officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) claim that it is a counterinsurgency program that will no longer cost the lives of thousands of civilians, a program that focuses on ‘winning the peace’ instead of simply defeating the enemy.

The program banks on two strategies: the whole of nation approach, which entails a “multi-faceted and multi-pronged approach” in solving the insurgency problem and the people-centered security or human security approach that “puts people’s welfare at the center of operations.” Such concepts were largely based on the US Interagency COIN Initiative, which uses the “whole of government, whole of society” concept in carrying out its counterinsurgency operations. The said US document also distinguishes between an “enemy-centric approach” and a “people-centered approach.”

In other words, Oplan Bayanihan aims to end the rebellion by redirecting the energies of the army from engaging the rebels in the battlefield to participation in the delivery of basic social services in the communities. The primary concern now of the army is to win back the trust of the people, especially the poor, and restore public confidence in government institutions. Soldiers are required to undergo human rights seminars and keep a human rights handbook while performing their duties.

While Oplan Bayanihan admits that a purely military solution is insufficient to put an end to the insurgency, peace advocates and left-leaning groups are not convinced that it addresses the roots of armed conflict in the country. Basic issues at the root of the armed conflict such as land reform, national sovereignty, social justice, national industrialization and genuine democracy, according to leftist groups, remain unaddressed under the Aquino administration.

Human rights groups have also expressed doubts whether the paradigm shift would address the problem of rampant human rights violations committed by the Philippine military. They cite, for instance, the continuing practice of army officials of branding legal progressive organizations as communist fronts.

These human rights abuses may be the handiwork of isolated elements inside the army who want to sabotage the ongoing peace talks between the government and the communists. But some analysts fear that it could be an indication of the real strategy of the state: one hand promotes peace while the other still enforces terror.

Lessons from Philippine experience

The Philippine experience with regard to human rights protection underscores the following: 1) Human rights legislation must be accompanied by sustained, coordinated, and multisectoral efforts to guarantee effective implementation, documentation, and monitoring of the law; 2) Awareness, information, education initiatives must begin within the bureaucracy; 3) Legislation is inadequate, in fact it would be rendered meaningless, if not supported by substantial judicial, social and political reforms.

Before I left Manila to attend this forum, the Commission on Human Rights informed this representation about their proposed interventions to further promote human rights, and in particular, prevent abuses like torture:

1. The Commission, as the lead agency of the Oversight Committee stipulated in the anti-torture law, has already drafted its rules of procedure

2. The Commission is also pushing for the approval by other involved stakeholders, particularly the Executive branch, to approve the MOA for the National Monitoring Mechanism, a platform through which civil society, government institutions and the CHR can, in a real-time manner discuss urgent cases of human rights violations and even launch quick response actions to prevent arbitrary acts by state security forces as well as by identifying risks that give rise to grave excesses.

3. In the light of the Philippine adhesion to the optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degarading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) last 17 April 2012, the Commission, in partnership with civil society groups will be filing a bill which will establish a National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) in the Philippines. The NPM is the OPCAT’s domestic arm and main engine of this system of regular visits to places of deprivation of liberty (not just traditional places of detention but also confines such as juvenile centers, drug rehabilitation facilities, and migrant holding centers) for the prevention of torture and other forms of ill-treatment. The CHRP and civil society have been working on drafting this bill since 2010.

Additionally, we are pushing for an efficient witness protection system, the reform of the criminal justice system, the prosecution of human rights violators, and the continuing human rights education among our people.

But for people’s organizations and human rights groups working in the grassroots, the long term solution to end torture and human rights atrocities cannot be realized through simple bureaucratic and administrative reforms. The laws are actually in place already, legal remedies are available; and even politicians and state forces are publicly and openly embracing human rights concepts and their deep respect for rule of law, freedom, and democracy. Yet abuses continue. Why? Because it’s impossible to mainstream human rights without adopting structural reforms in governance and the inequitable political-economic system that supports it. Therefore, as we continue to enhance the legal framework in our human rights advocacy, people’s organizations are also actively demanding key political measures which they think would address the roots of conflict in our country.

For example, they are asking the government to resume the peace talks with rebels. The talks are stalled because of the refusal of the government to release more than 300 political prisoners. The peace talks would allow the continuation of discussion of economic and social issues that drive many people to take up arms.

The government is also urged to scrap its counterinsurgency plan which has caused tremendous suffering in poor villages and victimized thousands of innocent civilians. Instead of militarization and deployment of soldiers in communities, the government should concentrate on the delivery of basic social services in the countryside.

Torture is a taboo which is secretly endorsed and practiced by coercive elements of the state because they think it is essential to weaken their enemies. Unfortunately, in the context of a Third World Society like the Philippines, the enemies are the people who resist government programs and development projects. This makes it more imperative for the government to rethink its policies that breed tension, hate, division and suffering.

Furthermore, we can’t emphasize enough the importance of expanding the human rights constituency so that it can be strong enough to push for the sincere and resolute implementation of human rights laws like the anti-torture law.

Lesson from the Philippines: Our work doesn’t end with mere enactment of laws. The bigger challenge is to implement these laws. And the more difficult question is if political leaders have the political will to adhere to the highest standards of democracy and rule of law. The best approach is to encourage the rise of a citizen movement which would articulate the issues we in Parliament often try to ignore or refuse to tackle.

*Thank you JM Ragaza for the input on the anti-insurgency program of the government. Thank you Karapatan and Commission on Human Rights for the additional information.

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K-12: TESDA in High School

By admin | July 30, 2012

Part 1: K-12: Education reform for whom?
Part 2: K-12: Miseducation in the 21st century

Under K-12, Technology and Livelihood Education (TLE) courses will be introduced in the junior and senior high school levels. Students are required to learn exploratory concepts of TESDA courses in Grades 7 and 8. More details below:

“…the Grade 7and 8 learner is given the opportunity to explore from a maximum of 4 TLE mini courses in Grade 7 and another 4 in Grade 8 which the school offers depending on community needs and school resources.

“In the exploratory courses, the learner is taught 5 basic competencies common to all TLE courses. The basic competencies are 1) mensuration and calculation, 2) use of tools and equipment, 3) interpretation of plans/drawing, 4) occupational health and safety in the workplace, and 5) maintenance of tools and equipment.”

There are more than 20 TLE electives based on the training regulations of TESDA:

1. Aquaculture
2. Agricultural Crop Production
3. Animal Crop Production
4. Automative Servicing
5. Bread and Pastry Production
6. Caregiving
7. Carpentry
8. Commercial Cooking
9. Electrical Installation and Maintenance
10. Consumer Electronics Servicing
11. Fish processing
12. Horticulture
13. Household services
14. Masonry
15. Mechanical drafting
16. Nail care
17. Computer Hardware Servicing
18. RAC Servicing
19. Shielded Metal Arc Welding
20. Tailoring/Dressmaking
21. Tiles Setting

In Grade 9, the student chooses one TESDA course to specialize and the learner is given a Certificate of Competency. In Grade 10, the student pursues the TLE specialization course and after the end of the school year he would be given a National Certificate (NC) Level I or Level II.

According to DepEd, the new curriculum is “geared towards the development of a holistically developed Filipino with 21st century skills.” One of the outcome goals of the program is to improve Philippine education standards “to be at par with international standards.”

But I couldn’t reconcile these exemplary pedagogic objectives with TESDA’s definition of an NC 1 graduate. Under K-12, a Grade 10 student (or fourth year high school student today) can obtain an NC I if he “performs a routine and predictable tasks; has little judgment; and, works under supervision.” While an NC II holder “performs prescribe range of functions involving known routines and procedures; has limited choice and complexity of functions, and has little accountability.”

K-12 is supposed to enhance the global competitiveness of the youth by introducing world-class teaching methods, ICT literacy, and 21st century skills in schools. DepEd is even boasting the use of a progressive spiral curriculum which would facilitate the holistic development of individuals. But after hurdling all these innovative learning challenges from Kindergarten to Grade 10, and after taking and passing several standardized examinations and assessment tools, the student is simply expected to “perform a routine and predictable task, has little judgment, has limited choice and complexity of functions, and has little accountability”?

K-12 is a fancy but misleading name for a program that merely requires the teaching of TESDA subjects to all students in the high school level. Apparently, the government idea of a global learner is an individual who has middle level skills while possessing the right attitude and behavior in the workplace. In short, K-12 seeks to transform all schools into a big assembly line of factories breeding a new generation of docile and semi-skilled laborers who are ready for export to other countries.

K-12 will not solve the alleged mismatch between schools and local industries. It’s more of a creative reform that will boost the colonial imprimatur of Philippine education. For example, why offer caregiving and household services to high school students? Are these emerging industries? Is it really necessary to integrate these courses in the national curriculum? Does the local market require the specialized training of future caregivers and kasambahays?

Under the household service TLE subject, children will learn about the professional code of conduct or ethics of a household worker. They will be taught how to ‘maintain a professional image’ as household workers. Other topics include ‘Desirable Traits of a Household Worker’ and ‘Duties and Responsibilities of a Household Worker.’ At the end of the semester, students will be able to identify and operate a vacuum cleaner, floor polisher, and other cleaning materials. The teaching module also gives valuable tips to K-12 students and future supermaids:

“Household workers should not sexually harass clients. Sexual harassment includes sexual advances, sexual solicitation, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.

“Household workers should not use derogatory language in their written or verbal communications to or about clients

“When setting fees, Household workers should receive fee that are fair, reasonable, and commensurate with the services performed. Consideration should be given to clients’ ability to pay.

“Household workers should make reasonable efforts to ensure continuity of services in the event that services are interrupted by factors such as unavailability, relocation, illness, disability, or death.

“They should take reasonable steps to avoid abandoning clients who are still in need of services.”

Global excellence my foot! K-12 was designed to raise the global appeal of Filipino minimum wage earners.

TLE as conceptualized by DepEd will not lead to intense and productive collaboration between schools and emerging local industries in the country because the framework leans in favor of the objective of supplying the manpower needs of other countries and big foreign corporations.

TLE is the central component of K-12. It’s a mandatory TESDA program for all students in the country. Other reforms like mother tongue-based education and new teaching strategies can be adopted even without restructuring the whole education set-up. It means we don’t need the present K-12 to implement reforms in the core learning disciplines.

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Geopolitics of Southeast Asia

By admin | July 29, 2012

Written for The Diplomat

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is the largest, and the official, political organization in Southeast Asia. But given where it sits—south of China and Japan, east of India, and north of Australia—the political landscape in this part of the world is not exclusively dictated by ASEAN dynamics.

The Indochina Peninsula, which shares land borders with China, is mainland Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, Indonesia and the Philippines are big archipelagic nations in the Pacific. Borneo is the third biggest island in the world.

The region’s global cities are Singapore, Bangkok, and Kuala Lumpur. Third World spectacles are highly visible in the cities of Jakarta, Manila and Ho Chi Minh (Saigon). World-famous exotic destinations are to be found in Phuket, Bali, and Boracay.

The region is also a major international assembly and manufacturing hub. China may have been the preferred investment choice of multinational companies in recent years but it didn’t lead to the closure of Southeast Asia’s free trade and export zones. Last year’s ‘Great Flood’ in Bangkok revealed that 40 percent of the world’s computer hard drives are manufactured in Thailand.

But the region is a place of contradictions. It is home to glitzy skyscrapers like Malaysia’s Petronas Towers that also bred infamous sweatshops which became a target of boycott campaigns by consumer groups in the United States and other developed countries. This embarrassing issue actually forced governments to upgrade the work standards in their factories. However, there are still disturbing reports about fainting workers in Cambodia and child laborers in Vietnam and the Philippines.

Southeast Asia’s uneven development is also reflected with the rise of rich countries like Singapore and Brunei while poor countries like Laos continue to search for appropriate economic models. Because of the reforms it recently implemented, which have caught the attention of a lot of business and political leaders, Burma could be the next emerging market. Cambodia, another late player in the globalization club, has just opened a stock market this year.

The movement of people across borders in the region has generated some intense complications in the relationships between ASEAN members. Inter-government cooperation is urgently needed to address the problems faced by refugees living near the borders of Burma and Thailand. The human and sex trafficking corridor which spans the entire region must be replaced with a new trail of human development, peace, and grassroots empowerment. ASEAN has recently drafted a human rights declaration yet it refused to tackle the dilemma of the Burma-based Rohingyas who are probably the world’s most persecuted minority group since no country wants to call them its citizens. Another big challenge is how to stop the spread of terror cells in the region.

Labor migration is also an important issue which Southeast Asian governments must seriously discuss. Malaysia and Indonesia have been exchanging notes on how to protect the welfare of domestic workers. Human rights groups have been pressuring Thailand to improve its policies concerning the growing Burmese migrant community in the country. Singapore is facing a strong local opposition with regard to its aggressive hiring of foreign workers.

Southeast Asia has one of the most productive agriculture sectors in the world. But the region became notorious because of the so-called Golden Triangle which at one point in the past century became the top opium-producing field in the world. Despite the aggressive campaign of various governments to destroy the opium fields, cultivation is still practiced in several provinces of Burma.

The Strait of Malacca and South China Sea are among the busiest shipping lanes in the world. They are also said to be sitting on top of vast oil and mineral deposits which partly explain the naval clashes, border disputes, and competing sovereignty claims of several countries with regard to the islets, reefs, shoals, and small islands found in the area.

At least Singapore and Malaysia already resolved their dispute over some rocky formations which often disappear during high tide in the Singapore Strait. But tensions are still high in the Spratlys, Scarborough Shoal, and Paracels.

China is accused of being a bully by insisting that it historically owns many islands in the region’s open seas. But not all conflicts in the region bear the ‘Made in China’ trademark. Many disputes are actually between supposedly friendly neighbors within the ASEAN grouping. For example, Thailand and Cambodia are feuding over the ownership of Preah Vihear temple and the four square kilometers of territory around it. Elsewhere, Indonesia is accusing Malaysia of stealing its cultural heritage.

The infighting between ASEAN members calls into question the feasibility of forming a single ASEAN market which could pave the way for the creation of a regional currency, visa, and even the sending of a unified team to the Olympics.

Regional solidarity is also necessary to confront the harsh impact of climate change in the region. Disaster risk is high in several countries because they are located in the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’ which means tropical storms, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions frequently occur. Scientists in the region should intensify and share research on how weather disturbances are affecting crop production.

Environment protection should be a regional initiative as well. Forest burning in Indonesia generates deadly haze in Malaysia and Singapore almost every year. Deforestation in Malaysia and Indonesia brought about by expanding rubber plantation and palm oil production are wiping out the region’s endemic species.

Southeast Asia is home to varying shades of democracy. Old democratic states like the Philippines are often compared with young and vibrant democracies like East Timor which recently held a relatively peaceful parliamentary and presidential election. Papua is burning today because of the independence struggle there. They should learn from the six-decade struggle of Karen rebels who are waging the world’s longest continuing civil war in Burma.

Admittedly, the region is a complicated mess. But it’s a chaos that can be easily put into order. Today, global powers are actively providing solutions, models, and all forms of assistance to extend their sphere of influence in the region. But Southeast Asia should realize that as a regional bloc, it can stand on its own.

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The Arrogant Obscurantist

By admin | July 24, 2012

SONA 2010: Notes from the Plenary
SONA 2011: Utak Haciendero

I gave my strongest applause when President Noynoy Aquino mentioned in his state of the nation address that he will step down in 2016. Better if the ‘noynoying’ years will be cut short but at least we are assured that Pnoy has no plan (yet) to remain in power beyond 2016.

There was really no surprise in the SONA speech aside from being insufferably long. Pnoy’s messaging experts, trained in the brutal ways of information warfare, employed traditional speech deception devices to obscure the real state of the nation.

Admittedly, the use of everyday idioms was effective: tongpats, kayod kalabaw, unlimited, energizer, bangkang papel, anting-anting. Pnoy would have received a passing grade if only the SONA were an event to highlight the importance of the national language. But the form shouldn’t be equated with substance. A false statement doesn’t become truthful even if delivered in a language used by the common tao. Lies can’t be hidden too by elegant infographics, creative videos, and sugar-coated promises.

The SONA 2012 show is a repeat performance of a president who believes he can trick the audience (the boss) by using feel-good statistics, motherhood statements, and provocative rhetoric against his enemies and critics. The speech is actually peppered with superfluous claims and contradictory statements. For example, Pnoy vouched for the long term benefits of cash transfers but he also said that a comprehensive evaluation of the program has yet to be finalized.

The absurd boast that the Philippines is already a creditor nation is no longer funny. It’s not something worth repeating especially in an important occasion like the SONA. Even Indonesia, the other ‘Philippines’ in the region, has nonchalantly agreed to contribute funds in the IMF bailout initiative.

Like his predecessor, Pnoy was ecstatic over the glowing reviews given by international business magazines. But how could these ‘pornofinancial’ papers remain credible after years of worshipping the mad schemes of Wall Street which led to the global financial crisis in 2008?

The president proudly proclaimed the expansion of universal health coverage yet he failed to mention the sinister plan to privatize (or corporatize) government hospitals and the recent proposal to remove charity wards in health centers. We were told that we are winning the war against dengue but Pnoy only provided us with safe statistics from select local areas.

Why cheer Pnoy’s endorsement of the so-called ‘responsible parenthood’ when there’s no RP bill in Congress? Assuming that it’s a euphemism for Reproductive Health, it’s scary that he linked it with the perceived problem of overpopulation in schools. But reproductive health should not be about population control. Bad governance, not population, is the cause of our many problems.

Pnoy exposed the quality of his administration’s disaster preparedness program when he reduced it to efficient relief distribution and accurate weather reports. Is this the reason why he vetoed the use of calamity funds for pre-disaster activities and projects in last year’s budget?

Pnoy invoked the specter of Chinese aggression in Philippine territories and he was right to rouse the patriotic sentiments of the people. It’s hoped, though, that the same nationalist fervor will be applied against visiting foreign troops (Balikatan), overstaying military stations (in Zamboanga), and the sophisticated (read: systemic) meddling of United States officials in our domestic affairs. Unfortunately, the Chinese ‘phantom menace’ is being exaggerated to conceal the heightened US political intervention and military presence in the country. We were so much threatened by the sighting of oversized quasi-military fishing boats from China in our territorial waters that we hardly gave notice to a New York Times report about the use of American drones and spy planes in Mindanao.

Pnoy merely copied the social and economic policies of his much maligned predecessor and then rebranded them as his own. He expanded the cash transfers, adopted the infrastructure blueprint of Arroyo’s super regions, and appointed neoliberal dogmatists in his economic team.

In his speech, Pnoy confidently cited the gains in the BPO sector. He also salivated over the profits that the government (and politicians) will earn from the mining industry. Alas, the economic roadmap continues to be heavily dependent on foreign-directed speculative investments. Tragic that Pnoy has no clear plan on how to stimulate local industries, revive the manufacturing sector, boost productivity in the agriculture sector, and pursue the path of national industrialization. If he does have a vision for the country, it didn’t merit any discussion in the SONA. Obviously, the government is still obsessed with labor export and the booming service sector (we are number one in hospitality services) which explains the hasty implementation of the TESDA curriculum in high school.

In short, Pnoy is a plagiarist and bad student of economics. He needs remedial lessons.

On education

Pnoy should not brag the additional funds for the education sector. No president has reduced the nominal budget of education. Furthermore, the Department of Education has always received the highest allocation among all government agencies because it has the biggest bureaucracy. The reported increase in the DepEd budget should be compared with the agency’s budget plan (P338 billion) for the successful implementation of K-12 next school year. If we use this as an indicator, then the government’s proposed budget for DepEd (P297 billion) would still be inadequate to address the needs of the sector.

The P37 billion fund for state colleges is also insufficient to meet the basic needs of public higher education. It is clearly not a modernization budget and it will hardly improve the competitiveness of local universities. It is significant to note that state colleges proposed a budget of P53 billion for next school year.

The reported budget hike won’t easily reverse the decline of tertiary education in the country. Years of underinvestment in the education sector have weakened the capacity of many colleges and a ‘cover up budget’ in 2013 won’t lead to overnight transformations in schools.

Pnoy’s rant against student protesters was unnecessary. The self-declared heir of People Power shouldn’t belittle student opposition to government policies as mere ‘cutting of classes.’ Pnoy, a Martial Law victim and self-professed activist, should know that student activists are informed and educated individuals who sometimes go to the streets because it is effective in raising political issues. Besides, protests against education budget cuts in the past two years were co-organized by teachers, school officials, and other education stakeholders.

It was actually Pnoy, not students, who first revealed the cuts in the budget of state colleges. Below is an excerpt from Pnoy’s 2010 budget message which included a brief explanation as to why he reduced the funds of state colleges:

“We allocated P23.4 billion to 112 State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) in 2011. This is 1.7 percent lower than the P23.8 billion budget for 2010. We are gradually reducing the subsidy to SUCs to push them toward becoming self-sufficient and financially independent.”

Curiously, in his SONA, Pnoy presented a figure of P21.8 billion for the 2010 budget of state universities. It clearly contradicted his budget message. Is Pnoy fudging data? Students should tutor Pnoy on simple mathematics and honesty in presenting government statistics.

But Pnoy’s real intent was not to simply ridicule student activists and discourage iskolars ng bayan from joining activist groups. His devious desire was to prevent the formation of stronger and broader solidarities in schools between students, teachers, and school officials since campus protests in the past two years have been effective in unmasking the reformist posturing of his administration. The special bashing which students received in the SONA exposed Pnoy’s deep hatred and irrational fear of collectives in action.

The budget hike, if true, is therefore the positive outcome of the unity of all stakeholders in public universities. The solidarity must continue until the government is forced to permanently abandon its policy of gradually reducing its role in the delivery of higher education in the country.

Conclusion

Pnoy’s recent SONA was a declaration of war against the Filipino people. He gave too much emphasis on credit rating, stock market index, and other abstract numbers but ignored to mention the plight of overseas workers, the rise of human rights violations, oil price hikes, and even the very reasonable demand for the passage of a Freedom of Information legislation.

He indulged in self-praise by presenting himself as the anti Arroyo. He grabbed credit for the positive achievements of government agencies then blamed Arroyo for all the visible and embarrassing problems of the country. He tried to conceal his arrogance by using false modesty at the end of his speech when he paid tribute to his bosses.

The situation outside Batasan was reported to be violent because of the confrontation between police and activists. But the most violent act that day took place inside Batasan. It lasted for more than an hour, broadcast live by the media, and livetweeted by netizens. Violence is the only appropriate word to describe Pnoy’s disregard for truth, reason, and democracy. Violence is the only consequence of Pnoy’s anti-poor policies. There is injustice, inequality, and oppression in the archipelago where a few oligarchs wield political and economic control. Violence is the real state of the nation.

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Southeast Asia: Half-Year of Protests

By admin | July 23, 2012

Malaysia’s electoral reform movement, known as Bersih (clean), succeeded in mobilizing tens of thousands of people in the streets last April. According to organizers, this year’s Bersih was the biggest political rally in the modern history of Malaysia. The government has disputed this claim, but the political impact of Bersih in terms of reinvigorating the ranks of the opposition can’t be denied.

Bersih proved that it’s more than just a coalition pushing for electoral reforms. Its popularity among the masses, and its brave assertion of its politics through rallies, made it into an important political force in Malaysia. Among the participants of the recent Bersih were opposition personalities, students demanding free tertiary education, civil libertarians, free press advocates, and community activists.

Bersih continues to be Southeast Asia’s shining example of a grassroots initiative, one that has made a huge impact on national politics. In many aspects, it has the potential to spark the region’s “Arab Spring.”

Meanwhile, Indonesia’s debate over fuel subsidies triggered widespread citizen condemnation across the country. Protests turned into riots in some cities, and at one point some analysts feared that the situation might degenerate into a full-blown political crisis similar to the 1998 riots that led to the downfall of the government.

Earlier this year, a “sandal protest” became a popular citizen movement in Indonesia after many people reacted to the arrest of a minor accused of stealing a pair of slippers. Thousands of people “donated” sandals to police stations across the country as a form of protest over the harsh penalty handed the young sandal thief.

Some protests received limited public support, such as the religious riots that erupted several times this year. Sectarian violence has damaged Indonesia’s image as a Muslim-dominated nation that still promotes interfaith harmony and tolerance.

Recently, street protests sprouted up after Indonesians objected to Malaysia’s “stealing” of their country’s cultural heritage.

But the most surprising citizen protest of the past half year took place in Burma. Residents who had grown weary of daily blackouts went out in the streets last month to protest the ineptitude of their local officials. Candle lighting events spread to big urban centers where young protesters demanded the resignation of energy officials. The spontaneous gathering of Burmese in the streets showed that a growing number of citizens are prepared to defy the iron grip of the military-backed government.

On the other hand, the communal violence in western Burma that displaced thousands of poor villagers was a big blow to the country’s democratic transition. The riots between the Rohingyas and Arakanese exposed the lingering ethnic tension in the country. But peace assemblies and interfaith dialogues in Rangoon and other cities rose up in response to the violence in Arakan State.

Cambodia’s recent election was relatively peaceful, but it shouldn’t overshadow the continuing eviction of residents from their homes because of the land concessions given by the government to local and foreign companies. In many towns, residents have successfully barricaded their homes. Sadly, the defense of the people’s right to protect their land has led to the rise of killings and arrests of land rights activists in the past six months.

Vietnam’s development projects also generated intense resistance from local residents and anti-mining activists. But the protests against China’s “invasion” of Vietnamese islands received more global attention. Another prominent protest, although online, is related to the continuing detention and persecution of the country’s democracy bloggers.

Thailand’s Red Shirts also went back to the streets last month. The rally highlighted the division in the country and the unresolved bickering of various political forces. But the rise of protests against the Lèse Majesté law gave hope that citizens are more inspired to fight for democratic reforms.

Malaysia’s Bersih, Indonesia’s fuel protests, Burma’s “power revolt,” Indochina’s resistance to development aggression – more and more people in Southeast Asia are starting to express their sentiments by organizing and participating in street demonstrations. This is a positive development that should be encouraged by democracy advocates. But it should be sustained by a more definite plan of action and agenda on how citizen engagement can effectively lead to substantial reforms in governance and policymaking.

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