#MalalangEkonomiya #MayMagagawa #PeopleEconomics #BeyondElections2019
Malacañang’s enthusiasm on credit rating upgrade unwarranted-IBON
IBON executive director Sonny Africa said that the recent credit rating upgrade is not a sign of economic progress and that Malacañang’s enthusiasm is greatly unwarranted. The credit rating upgrade is most of all an assessment of the government’s ability to repay debt and not of economic development. There would be no such upgrade if development were a concern, he said, because the economic conditions of the people are getting worse.
Big Three credit-rating agency Standard & Poor’s recently gave the Philippines a BBB+ credit rating upgrade, which is only one step away from a single “A” grade. Palace spokesperson Salvador Panelo reacted by praising the economic team for “a splendid job in putting the economic house in order and spearheading bold economic reforms [and] bolstering the domestic economy”.
The Palace’s enthusiasm is however unwarranted, Africa said, because the economy cannot be said to be doing well. The country has been getting credit upgrades for over a decade since March 2009 and has been receiving investment upgrades for over six years since March 2013, yet the economy cannot be said to be in good shape.
If anything, he pointed out, the Duterte watch so far is seeing the worst job creation in nine administrations and six decades. “This looks to get even worse after four straight quarters now of falling employment creation including two quarters of job losses,” said Africa. “As it is, the PSA’s latest January 2019 labor force survey shows 387,000 less employed Filipinos now than in the same period last year.”
The upgrade is then not from any economic progress, Africa pointed out, but largely on the back of the regressive TRAIN law, which since last year has disproportionately burdened the majority poorest Filipinos.
Africa stressed that the importance of the upgrade in stimulating capital inflows shouldn’t be exaggerated as indicating economic progress either already in place or yet to come. The economy is clearly not progressing because jobs are being lost rather than created, he said. This is so because the agricultural and industrial foundations the economy so desperately needs are being neglected for short-term Build, Build, Build infrastructure illusions, Africa explained.
Africa went on to say that more capital flows will also not mean progress if much of this will just go to financial and speculative sectors rather than the real economy. “The supposed easier availability of capital from abroad will be really only be meaningful if the country had solid industrial policy and an agricultural development plan in place, which unfortunately it does not,” he concluded.
SC Issues Writ of Amparo and Habeas Data in Favor of NUPL
The Supreme Court, in a special En Banc session held on Friday, issued a writ of amparo and habeas data in favor of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL).
The Court also referred the petition of NUPL, et al. to the Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeals, who was directed to cause the immediate raffle of the said case among the appellate justices. The CA was further directed to hear the petition on May 14, 2019 and to decide the case within 10 days after submission of the case for decision.
The Court also ordered respondents President Rodrigo Duterte, who was impleaded in his capacity as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, National Security Adviser (Ret.) Gen. Hermogenes C. Esperon, Jr., et al. to make a verified return of the writ of amparo and habeas data on or before May 8, 2019, and to comment on NUPL, et al.’s petition before the said date.
In its petition, NUPL, et al. sought for the issuance of the writ of amparo and habeas data for their protection, claiming that their rights to life, liberty and security have been violated and continue to be violated through the persistent threats and harassment and red tagging allegedly done to vilify and intimidate them and prevent them from pursuing their profession as members of the Bar and from practicing their advocacy as peoples’ lawyers serving the poor and the marginalized. They claimed that some NUPL members have died in the line of duty.
The petitioners are likewise asking the Court to compel the respondents, under the writ of habeas data, to provide them with copies of all the facts, information, statements, records, photographs, and other evidence, documentary or otherwise, pertaining to each of them in the respondents’ files and records.
In particular, NUPL alleged that it was branded as an “enemy” by the Philippine Army in 2013. In 2014, NUPL-Vice President Atty. Catherine Salucon allegedly experienced heavy surveillance and harassment and that her paralegal, William Bugatti, was killed hours after they had parted ways after a court hearing. In 2018, NUPL-Negros Secretary General Atty. Benjamin Ramos was killed in Kabankalan, Negros Occidental. They cited other several incidents of threats, harassment and intimidation due to their work and advocacy.
Also named as respondents were National Defense Secretary (Ret.) Gen. Delfin N. Lorenzana, AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Benjamin R. Madrigal, Jr., AFP Deputy Commander for Intelligence Brig. Gen. Fernando T. Trinidad, AFP Intelligence Service of the Philippines (ISAFP) Chief Maj. Gen. Erwin Bernard Neri, Philippine Army Commanding General Lt. Gen. Macairog S. Alberto, and AFP Deputy Chief of Staff for Civil Military Operations Maj. Gen. Antonio G. Parlade, Jr.
We are certainly pleased and somewhat relieved that the High Court has favorably acted upon our petition for protection of the life, liberty and security of NUPL members who are after all, officers of the court.
Edre Olalia NUPL President Co-Petitioner
It came at a propitious time when the 2018 Bar results came out today welcoming our new colleagues in the profession. It gives our new lawyers a veritable food for thought while they rightfully celebrate.
It also sends a strong and clear signal to the military and government officials alike, as well as their proxies or agents, that there are certain well-defined rules of evidence not incompatible with basic fairness, decency, common sense and logic that must be observed.
While this is just a start of an intense judicial battle and tedious procedure, we are grateful that the Court heeded our supplication to be given judicial shield and a potential relief from reckless accusations, malicious labelling and vicious attacks in different forms and guises.
Its subtext is as unequivocal – incessant redtagging, personal mudslinging and contrived narratives will be subjected to judicial restraint and accountability.
3 May 2019
Statement | The Duterte regime will pay for its crimes against press freedom and human rights
The Rodrigo Duterte regime is the biggest threat to the people’s right to press freedom, freedom of expression and other human rights. It uses the entire coercive power of the State to attack and quell the independent press and these attacks are instigated and led by the madman in Malacañang Palace himself.
Today, May 3, as the country observes World Press Freedom Day, members of the alternative media condemn the nightmarish Duterte regime for its crimes against our ranks and against the Filipino people.
Since December last year, sustained distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks have been unleashed against Bulatlat, Kodao, Pinoy Weekly, Altermidya, and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, as well as websites of activist organizations Anakpawis Party, Arkibong Bayan, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Bayan Muna, Gabriela Women’s Party, Human Rights Online, Ibon Foundation, Karapatan, and the National Democratic Front. Sweden-based digital rights group Quirium has identified two information technology companies, IP Converge and Suniway, as the source of the ongoing cyberattacks aimed at taking down our websites. We have filed cases against these two entities and we expect this to go to trial very soon. We believe that these entities are acting in behalf of masterminds (the real cyber-assassins) who are probably state forces.
Earlier, Altermidya journalists have been arrested for covering the NutriAsia labor strike in Bulacan. Journalists from Altermidya-member outfits have also been red-tagged and, like many other independent journalists, have been vilified online by paid trolls using social media accounts created to defend this rotten government.
Other independent media outfits and journalists suffer all forms of attacks from this regime. Recently, the Office of the President admitted that the so-called matrix of destabilizers, including Vera Files, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, Rappler, and Bulatlat associate editor and PW columnist Danilo Arao as well as the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers came from Pres. Duterte himself. Earlier, ABS-CBN and the Philippine Daily Inquirer have been threatened by Duterte, who said that his attacks will only stop if these outfits would agree to be his regime’s federalism drive mouthpieces.
We accuse Duterte for instigating these attacks against press freedom and the people’s right to know. Even before he assumed power, he has already justified the killing of journalists. After ranting madly in his speeches, worsening attacks, harassments and vilification are then launched against the independent press. These attacks go hand-in-hand against the killings of activists, farmers, indigenous peoples, lawyers, church people and many others on top of the unjust arrests and filing of trumped up charges in a grand scheme called the Whole of Nation approach to quell legitimate dissent.
Today, Altermidya and the Filipino people picketed the general headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to indict it and the Duterte regime as enemies of press freedom and human rights. The AFP is one of Duterte’s leading peddlers of lies and fake news. It red-tags journalists and activists, many of whom are later unjustly arrested or, worse, summarily killed.
We are here to prove that we are neither afraid or unbowed of their sinister deeds and plans. We come to warn them that a day of reckoning will soon come and that they will be made to pay for all their crimes against our ranks and the people’s.
No tyrant has ever succeeded in completely silencing legitimate dissent and independent voices. In the Philippines, the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship and the immoral Joseph Estrada presidency—both of which has attacked the Philippine press—were in fact ousted from office. Soon, the nightmare who is Rodrigo Roa Duterte and his bloody tentacles—lieutenants in the government, his online troll army, and the military and police—will end. We vow to make them pay for their crimes against the people.
#WorldPressFreedomDay | Journalists, rights defenders slam Duterte, military for attacks
MANILA — On World Press Freedom Day, journalists and human rights defenders staged a protest in front of Camp Aquinaldo, headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), denouncing the state-perpetrated attacks against the Philippine press.
In a statement, the Altermidya People’s Media Network, a network of alternative media outfits, maintained that the Rodrigo Duterte regime is the biggest threat to the people’s right to press freedom, freedom of expression and other human rights. “It uses the entire coercive power of the State to attack and quell the independent press and these attacks are instigated and led by the madman in Malacañang Palace himself,” the group said.
The group tagged the AFP as one of Duterte’s leading peddlers of lies and fake news. “It red-tags journalists and activists, many of whom are later unjustly arrested or, worse, summarily killed,” the group said.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) as well as journalists based in Panay, Cagayan de Oro City, and Cordillera have been labeled as “communist fronts” by military agents. Sherwin de Vera, a columnist of Northern Dispatch, was charged and detained on trumped-up charges after the military accused him of being a communist. He was released on bail.
Since December last year, sustained distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks have been unleashed against Bulatlat, Kodao, Pinoy Weekly, Altermidya, and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, as well as websites of activist organizations Anakpawis Party, Arkibong Bayan, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Bayan Muna, Gabriela Women’s Party, Human Rights Online, Ibon Foundation, Karapatan, and the National Democratic Front. Sweden-based digital rights group Quirium has identified two information technology companies, IP Converge and Suniway, as the source of the ongoing cyberattacks aimed at taking down our websites. Alternative media outfits have filed a civil case against the said companies. “We believe that these entities are acting in behalf of masterminds (the real cyber-assassins) who are probably state forces,” the Altermidya said.
“We accuse Duterte for instigating these attacks against press freedom and the people’s right to know. Even before he assumed power, he has already justified the killing of journalists. After ranting madly in his speeches, worsening attacks, harassments and vilification are then launched against the independent press. These attacks go hand-in-hand against the killings of activists, farmers, indigenous peoples, lawyers, church people and many others on top of the unjust arrests and filing of trumped up charges in a grand scheme called the Whole of Nation approach to quell legitimate dissent,” the group said.
Earlier, Altermidya journalists have been arrested for covering the NutriAsia labor strike in Bulacan.
Other independent media outfits and journalists suffer all forms of attacks from this regime. Recently, the Office of the President admitted that the so-called matrix of destabilizers, including Vera Files, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, Rappler, and Bulatlat columnist Danilo Arao as well as the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers came from President Duterte himself. Earlier, ABS-CBN and the Philippine Daily Inquirer have been threatened by Duterte, who said that his attacks will only stop if these outfits would agree to be his regime’s federalism drive mouthpieces.
Meanwhile, human rights alliance Karapatan said the dangerous tagging of human rights defenders and journalists as terrorists is “part of a convoluted and orchestrated effort to discredit groups and individuals and evade any form of investigation and accountability processes.”
“Duterte, his minions at PCOO [Presidential Communications and Operations Office] and officials of the PNP [Philippine National Police] and AFP are further engendering a climate of impunity in the Philippines, perpetrating unabated human rights violations amid a growing opposition to the government’s crimes and anti-people policies,” Cristina Palabay, Karapatan secretary general, said.
Altermidya warned that Duterte and his agents would be made to pay for their crimes against the people.
The post #WorldPressFreedomDay | Journalists, rights defenders slam Duterte, military for attacks appeared first on Bulatlat.
The Duterte gov’t will pay for its crimes against press freedom and human rights
THE DUTERTE government is the biggest threat to the people’s right to press freedom, freedom of expression and other human rights. It uses the entire coercive power of the state to attack and quell the independent press and these attacks are instigated and led by the madman in Malacañang Palace himself.
Today, May 3, as the country observes World Press Freedom Day, members of the alternative media condemn the nightmarish Duterte government for its crimes against our ranks and against the Filipino people.
Since December last year, sustained distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks have been unleashed against Bulatlat, Kodao, Pinoy Weekly, Altermidya, and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, as well as websites of activist organizations Anakpawis Party, Arkibong Bayan, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Bayan Muna, Gabriela Women’s Party, Human Rights Online, IBON Foundation, Karapatan, and the National Democratic Front. Sweden-based digital rights group Quirium has identified two information technology companies, IP Converge and Suniway, as the source of the ongoing cyberattacks aimed at taking down our websites. We have filed cases against these two entities and we expect this to go to trial very soon. We believe that these entities are acting in behalf of masterminds (the real cyber-assassins) who are probably state forces.
Earlier, Altermidya journalists have been arrested for covering the NutriAsia labor strike in Bulacan. Journalists from Altermidya-member outfits have also been red-tagged and, like many other independent journalists, have been vilified online by paid trolls using social media accounts created to defend this rotten government.
Other independent media outfits and journalists suffer all forms of attacks from this regime. Recently, the Office of the President admitted that the so-called matrix of destabilizers, including Vera Files, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, Rappler, and Bulatlat columnist Danilo Arao as well as the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers came from Pres. Duterte himself. Earlier, ABS-CBN and the Philippine Daily Inquirer have been threatened by Duterte, who said also said that these outfits should agree to be his government’s federalism drive mouthpieces.
We accuse Duterte for instigating these attacks against press freedom and the people’s right to know. Even before he assumed power, he has already justified the killing of journalists. After ranting madly in his speeches, worsening attacks, harassments and vilification are then launched against the independent press. These attacks go hand-in-hand against the killings of activists, farmers, indigenous peoples, lawyers, church people and many others on top of the unjust arrests and filing of trumped up charges in a grand scheme called the whole-of-nation approach to quell legitimate dissent.
Today, Altermidya and the Filipino people are here before the general headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to indict it and the Duterte regime as enemies of press freedom and human rights. The AFP is one of Duterte’s leading peddlers of lies and fake news. It red-tags journalists and activists, many of whom are later unjustly arrested or, worse, summarily killed.
No tyrant has ever succeeded in completely silencing legitimate dissent and independent voices. In the Philippines, the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship and the immoral Joseph Estrada presidency — both of which has attacked the Philippine press — were in fact ousted from office. Soon, the nightmare who is Rodrigo Roa Duterte and his bloody tentacles—lieutenants in the government, his online troll army, and the military and police — will end.
The post The Duterte gov’t will pay for its crimes against press freedom and human rights appeared first on Altermidya.
Group sees looming crisis in education as gov’t plans to send teachers to China
Sending more teachers to China will bring about greater effect on the country’s education system with the possible shortage of educators, the ACT Teachers Party-list said in a statement.
Protesta at kawalan ng trabaho
Inuulit lang niya ang matagal nang sinasabi ng mga nasa gobyerno, lalo na ng mga nasa pulisya at militar, hinggil sa lumalabang mga manggagawa.
“Paano nila masasabing kontra-manggagawa kami (mga pulis)? Baka sila ang kontra-manggagawa,” sabi ni Philippine National Police Chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde, sa isang press conference sa Kampo Crame noong Abril 29.
Sabi ni Albayalde, mga miyembro ng Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) ang dahilan ng kakulangan ng trabaho sa bansa. “Bakit po ba umaalis ang mga investors sa atin? Papasukin ng KMU, i-i-instigate ’yung unyon, at magrarali sila ’Yung investor mawawalan ng gana, uuwi sa kanila,” sabi ng heneral.
Nagreresulta umano ang mga protesta ng KMU sa pagkawala ng libu-libong trabaho.
Reaksiyon ang naturang press conference ni Albayalde sa inilabas ng KMU na “Anti-Worker Matrix” noong nakaraang Sabado, Abril 27. Dito, makikita si Pangulong Duterte bilang sentro ng paglala ng kalagayan sa paggawa sa bansa. Kasama rin sa matrix ang mga miyembro ng gabinete tulad ni Budget Sec. Benjamin Diokno, ang tagapagsalita ng pangulo na si Salvador Panelo, ang mga kandidato ng administrasyon sa pagkasenador na sina Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa at Christopher “Bong” Go, at iba pa.
Kasama rin sa naturang matrix ang mga opisyal ng PNP at Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Pati si Albayalde mismo.
Kober ng Mayo 3 isyu ng Pinoy Weekly.
Dati nang paninira
Sa totoo lang, inuulit lang ni Albayalde ang matagal nang sinasabi ng mga opisyal ng gobyerno, lalo na ng mga opisyal ng PNP at AFP: na kung walang protesta ang organisadong sektor ng mga manggagawa, lalo na ang mga militante, umaasenso na sana ang bansa.
Sa esensiya, isinisisi nila sa kolektibong pagkilos at paggiit ng karapatan ng mga manggagawa ang kawalan ng kaunlaran sa bansa.
Pero makikita mismo sa datos ng gobyerno na sa kabila ng mga polisiyang neoliberal ng administrasyong Duterte, tumitindi ang kawalan ng trabaho o unemployment sa bansa.
“Makikita mismo ito sa datos ng gobyerno. Makikita sa datos ng Philippine Statistice Authority (PSA) na bumagsak ang bilang ng nakaempleyong Pilipino mula 41.8 milyon noong Enero 2018 tungong 41.4 milyon noong Enero 2019,” sabi ni Elmer “Ka Bong” Labog, tagapangulo ng KMU.
Ito umano ang ikalimang taon lang na bumaba ang bilang ng nakaempleyong manggagawa sa Pilipinas matapos ang diktadurang Marcos. Ayon sa Ibon Foundation, bumaba ang employment ng bansa nang 529,000 noong 1997. Noong 2005, bumaba ito nang 270,000. Noong 2014, bumaba nang 1.5 milyon. Noong 2017, bumaba nang 13 milyon, at nitong 2019, bumaba nang 387,000.
Sa kabila umano ito ng di-napuputol na pag-akit ng iba’t ibang administrasyon ng dayuhang mamumuhunan para magnegosyo sa Pilipinas. Sa ilalim ng rehimeng Duterte, kung kailan naganap ang dalawang pagbaba ng empleyo, naging masugid at agresibo pa ang gobyerno sa pag-akit ng mga mamumuhunang Tsino.
Ipinapakita ng datos na ito, ayon sa KMU, na hindi nagreresulta sa pagkakaroon ng dagdag na trabaho sa bansa ang dayuhang pamumuhunan. Hindi rin dahilan ng pagbaba ng empleyo sa bansa ang sama-samang mga pagkilos ng KMU.
Ang salarin, ayon sa Ibon Foundation, ay ang kawalan ng kaunlaran sa agrikultura. Noong 2018, tumala lang ng 0.8 porsiyentong pag-unlad ang sektor ng agrikultura sa bansa, ayon kay Sonny Africa, executive director ng Ibon. Samantala, kalakhan ng foreign investments, lalo na sa panahon ng Build, Build, Build na programa ni Duterte, ay nakatuon sa imprastraktura sa mayayaman o mauunlad nang mga sentrong bayan at lungsod.
At kalakhan ng mga imprastrakturang ito ay nakatuon din para sa mas madulas na daloy ng dayuhang negosyo sa bansa.
Mga militar, nakatanaw sa mga nagpoprotesta, Mayo 1, 2019. KR Guda
Walang interes lutasin
“Mukhang halos walang interes ang administrasyong ito na baligtarin ang trend (sa agrikultura),” sabi ni Africa. “Halimbawa, Ang P49.3-Bilyong badyet sa departamento ng agrikultura na panukala ng Kongreso ay mas maliit nang P1.4-B sa P50.7-B badyet noong 2018.”
Sa kabilang banda, matagal nang ipinapanukala ng KMU ang paglilikha ng sapat na trabaho sa mga mamamayang Pilipino sa pamamagitan ng malakas na suporta ng gobyerno sa agrikultura, gayundin sa pagpapatupad ng tunay na repormang agraryo at pambansang industriyalisasyon.
“Nagresulta ang matinding paggiging palaasa natin sa dayuhang pamumuhunan sa pandarambong ng ating mga rekurso at pagsasamantala ng ating lakas-paggawa,” sabi pa ni Labog. “Ang gusto ng mga manggagawa ay paglikha ng trabaho na tutugon sa pangangailangan ng mga mamamayang Pilipino sa halip na malalaking dayuhang negosyo.”
Hindi lang ang mga militante at KMU ang nagsasabi nito. Maging ang mga tradisyunal o burges na ekonomista, halimbawa, ng World Bank, ay may pag-amin na na sa pamamagitan lang ng masusing distribusyon ng lupaing agrikultural at pagtatatag ng sariling batayang mga industriya malulutas ang kahirapan at kawalan ng trabaho sa iba’t ibang bansa.
“Iniluwal ng 39 taon ng militanteng pakikiaka ng KMU ang di-mabilang na mga tagumpay sa dagdag sahod, regularisasyon at pagtataguyod ng demokratikong mga karapatan (ng mga manggagawa at mamamayan),” sabi pa ni Labog.