Dumating na kahapon sa Maynila ang mga kinatawan ng mga magsasaka, kabataan at kababaihan mula sa Eastern Visayas. Ito ay bahagi ng kanilang kampanya laban sa kagutuman at mlitarisasyon na kanilang kinakaharap sa Samar at Leyte. Mainit silang sinalubog ng iba’t ibang sektor at nagdaos sila ng maikling programa sa Mendiola. Inaasahang magtatagal sila ng […]
Sa pagitan ng buhay at kamatayan
Pinaghinalaan. Pinagbintangan. Sa hukay ang hantungan.
Iyan ang kwento ng isang kapatid na nawalan ng kapatid sa North Cotabato. Ayon sa salaysay ni Jennilyn Baguio ng North Cotabato, isa sa mga lider ng Tinanaon Kulamanon Lumadnong Panaghiusa (TIKULPA) sa North Cotabato, isang organisasyon ng mga magsasaka, ang kanyang kapatid ay napagbintangan na kasapi ng New People’s Army.
Enero 12 ngayong taon nang kausapin ng kanilang barangay chairman ang kapatid ni Jennilyn at pinapasama sa batalyon upang sumuko at para matanggal ang pangalan sa mga inakusahang mayroong itinatagong baril.
Pagkatapos nito ay bumalik si Jennilyn sa barangay hall noong Enero 16 upang kumuha ng cedula at barangay clearance. Ngunit nagulat ito nang sabihing hindi siya bibigyan nito dahil utos ng military.
“Kasi sabi ng military na ayaw kaming bigyan ng cedula at barangay clearance kasi subjected kami na patayin.”
Inabisuhan siya ng isang barangay kagawad na umalis na dahil may mga military na pupunta kinagabihan para damputin siya. Samantalang ang kanyang kapatid naman ay nakatanggap ng isang text message na nagsasabing papatayin sila dahil sila daw ay mga tagasuporta ng New People’s Army.
Sumapit ang Enero 28. Tumawag ang kanyang kapatid sa ganap na alas otso ng umaga at sinabing magtungo sa isang barangay upang makapagbigay ito ng konting pera pambili ng bigas ng kanilang mga magulang. Nang tawagan niya ito noong alas diyes ng umaga ay hindi na ito sumasagot.
Nabalitaan na lamang niya na namatay na pala ito. Nagtamo siya ng 13 tama ng baril sa katawan at sa ulo.
“ ‘Yun pagka 10 am tumawag ako sa kanya. Hindi na sumagot kasi ‘yun na pala nangyari. Patay na siya. Sinundan siya ng dalawang nakamotorsiklo d’un malapit na sa barangay. D’un na siya binaril at thirteen na ano sa katawan niya at sa ulo. Gan’un ang nangyari sa kanya.”
Hindi pa dito natatapos ang pagpapasakit na naranansan ng pamilya nila Jennilyn. Maging ang kanyang ama na nai-stroke at nakahiga na lamang ay tinatanong nila tungkol sa mga armas na di-umano’y itinatago nila bilang mga pinaghihinalaang tagasuporta ng New People’s Army.
“Tinatanong nila ‘yung papa ko kaya kahit nakahiga na tinatanong kung saan ‘yung mga baril, saan nakalagay ‘yung baril, saan inilibing ‘yung baril kasi d’un sila nakatira sa bahay.”
Ang mga bahay na iniiwan ng mga tao ay tinitirhan ng mga sundalo. At iniipit nila ang mga taong natira pa sa bahay na tinutuluyan nila.
“Kasi ‘yun nga n’ung nangyari ‘yung August nangyari ‘yung nag-operasyon ‘yung Third IB (Infantry Batallion). D’un pa nga sila tumira sa bahay.”
“Kaya ‘yung mga kapatid ko tumawag ng ano, tumawag siya naghingi sa barangay captain namin na puntahan niyo naman kami dito kasi hindi kami makalabas dito. Kahit magpunta lang d’un sa tindahan magbili ng asin. Kasi sabi nila pumunta kayo d’un kasi magsumbong kayo sa mga NPA na nandito kami ganun ‘yung nangyari. “
Maging ang mga bata ay hindi ligtas sa panggigipit ng mga sundalo sa magsasaka. Ang mga anak ni Jennilyn ay isang buwan nang hindi pumapasok sa eskwelahan dahil sa martial law at tinatanong din ukol sa mga itinagong armas.
“Kahit ‘yun ngang ano eight years old atsaka five years old, three years old. Tinatanong nila saan nilibing ng mama niyo ‘yung baril kaya nga ‘yung mga bata akala nila ‘yung mga laruan. ‘Yung mga baril barilan ganun. Inilibing nila. “
Hindi nagtangkang magsumbong sa mga pulis sina Jennilyn dahil mismong ang mga pulis ay takot din.
“ Walang pulis na pumunta d’un kasi natakot din sila. Sabi nila natatakot din sila.”
Maging ang kabuhayan nina Jennilyn ay naapektuhan na. Hindi sila nakakapagtanim ng mga pananim dahil sa takot sa mga sundalo at takot na mapagbintangan na kasapi ng New People’s Army.
“Kasi kapag magpunta ka d’un talaga, nakita ka ng mga military, pinagsasabihan ka na. Pagbibintangan ka na NPA so ganun ang nangyari. Hindi talaga nakabubuti ‘yung martial law na nangyayari ngayon dito sa Mindanao. “
“Kahit nga ‘yung mga ano mga kabayo namin naiwan d’un, wala nang nag-aalaga. Ang sabi ko sa kapatid ko pumunta na lang kayo dito kasi ang buhay isa lang. ‘Yung mga pananim hindi naman makatulong sa atin lalo na ‘yung mga kalabaw kahit iwan niyo na lang d’un basta ‘yung mga buhay natin ma-safe lang. “
Sino ba ang tunay na kakampi? Sino na ang ating kaaway? Habang tumatagal ang martial law sa Mindanao ay mas lumalala ang mga pasakit na nararanasan ng mga tao rito. Ito ba ang pagbabago na sinasabi ni Duterte? Ito ba ang pagbabago na inihanda niya para sa atin?
Pinatay ang kapatid ni Jennilyn Baguio nang pinaghinalaan silang kasapi o tagasuporta ng New People’s Army. Larawan ni Sarah de Leon
The post Sa pagitan ng buhay at kamatayan appeared first on Manila Today.
UP Fine Arts students’ mural, a creative response vs Duterte administration
If walls could speak, then the huge painted edifice at the UP College of Fine Arts is a wall that shouts with righteous fury.
Painted on the its surface is that of an iron-gloved President Rodrigo Duterte, offering the Philippines to America and China on a silver platter. However, America doesn’t want to share the plate with China. On its sides are ubiquitous issues that confront our society: the bomb-ravaged city of Marawi, jeepney phase-out and Duterte’s tax reform law.
The wall is known as a Freedom Wall. Students of the college are free to express their
sentiments, and this very freedom is being threatened by no other than the Duterte
administration itself, with its authoritarian tendencies looming over society.
The mural was initiated by organizations UGATLahi Artist Collective, Artists Circle Fraternity and Alay Sining with the support of the UP College of Fine Arts Student Council. Faculty members of the college also donated materials for the mural.
The mural’s title is Pulutan ng Dayuhan. Roughly translated, it means Foreigner’s Appetizer. Pulutan is served traditionally served as appetizer during Filipino drinking sessions.
According to UGATLahi- UP Chairman Luigi Almuena, the painting was a response to Duterte’s true character.
“Pasista at papet si Duterte, lumabas ang kanyang tunay na ugali. Hindi na siya nagkukunwaring maka-kaliwa. Mas pinapaburan niya ang mga dayuhang makapangyarihan kaysa mga mamamayan, ” said Almuena.
[Duterte is a fascist and a puppet. He has exposed his true character. He no longer pretends to be leftist. He favors foreign powers over his own people].
“Bilang mga iskolar ng bayan at mga artists ng kolehiyo, nagkaisa ang student council
katuwang ang ibang mga organisasyon sa lokal na magpinta bilang porma ng dissent sa
administrasyon ni Duterte,” said UP College of Fine Arts Vice-Chairperson Jeune Aramburo.
[As scholars of the people and artists of the college, the student council and various local
organizations have united to paint as form of dissent against the Duterte administration.]
The Freedom Wall is a strategic spot because it could be seen by a wide range of people: UP students and faculty, jeepney passengers traveling along the UP-Ikot route and residents of nearby communities such as Krus na Ligas and Village A.
UP activists earned the ire of President Duterte when students walked out of their classes and held protests on February 1. He threatened to give the rallying UP students’ slots to indigenous people.
However, artists such as Luigi Almuena remain unfazed by such threats.
“Hangga’t may mali sa lipunan, hangga’t naririyan ang banta ng diktadurya, hangga’t tuta si Duterte sa mga imperyalista, hindi kami titigil sa paglikha ng sining na pupukaw at nagmumulat sa mamamayan,” said Almuena.
[For as long as there is wrong in society, as long as the threat of dictatorship looms, as long as Duterte remains a lapdog of imperialism, we will not stop creating art that enlightens the people.]
Long recognized as a bastion of student activism, the University of the Philippines has always been associated with the protest movement. After all, it is the birthplace of radical student organizations Student Cultural Association of the Philippines, which later on evolved into Kabataang Makabayan. The activists of UP Diliman stood against dictatorship during the reign of Marcos’ Martial Law, and not a few have offered their lives.
With Duterte’s rising dictatorship, the artists of UP Diliman remain true to their militant roots, and the mural is but one response of a series of artworks already created by its students.
Last year alone, the members of UGATLahi in UP Diliman were involved with the creation of the “Rody’s Cube” the and “Trump Fidget Spinner” effigy.
The group plans to create more art in different forms. In the near future, UGATLahi will launch a zine with anti-fascism as its central theme.
Photos by Max Santiago
The post UP Fine Arts students’ mural, a creative response vs Duterte administration appeared first on Manila Today.
“Rebel ‘returnees’ presented by gov’t is fake news” – Eastern Visayas farmers
Members of Samahan han Gudti nga Parag-uma—Sinirangan Bisayas (SAGUPA-SB), Bayan Eastern Visayas, Northern Samar Small Farmers Association (NSSFA) and People Surge stormed the head office of the Department of Interior and Local Government in Quezon City today to slam the agency’s Comprehensive Local Integration Program (CLIP) which seeks to provide monetary compensation to members of the New People’s Army (NPA) who will submit to the folds of the government.
Farmers from Eastern Visayas storm the DILG to slam the Comprehensive Local Integration Program (CLIP) aiming to compensate NPA surrenderees. Photos by Kathy Yamzon.
The groups exposed that under CLIP, a sum of P140,000 were being collected by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and other State forces for every rebel returnee that they can present.
The 50-farmer delegation displayed mock “WANTED: FAKE NPA SURRENDEREE” posters with their faces shown on it that also included monetary amounts indicating how much money is on top of their heads.
Protesters also aired suspicions that the military are falsely accusing farmers as members of the NPA and luring them to sign blank documents. According to them, “CLIP is being used as a milking a cow of military officials and a huge source of corruption and a bogus reintegration program.”
“Voluntary surrender under CLIP is fake news. We, innocent farmers, are either forced to surrender, bribed with Php140,000, or lured into signing blank documents. CLIP is nothing but a huge chunk of fund used to harass farmers for propaganda posturing, a huge source of corruption, a fascist reintegration program,” said Jun Berino of SAGUPA-SB.
Horrors of CLIP exposed
During the rally, Maricris Rosco of the NSSFA recounted her actual experience and encounter with the military in their barrio in Barangay San Francisco in Las Navas town, Northern Samar where each household was asked by the military to get bamboo stalks for the camp they are building close to their barrio.
They were also asked to write their names and signatures in a sheet of paper only for them to find out that the back page indicates that it was a surrenderree form.
Meanwhile, Mila Quimbo, also a member of the NSSFA was threatened by officials from the 20th Infantry Battalion when she declined the P140,000 bribe for her to sign forms indicating that she was a surrenderee of the New People’s Army.
“I can still vividly recall when they said that if I will be consistent in refusing to do as they say, I will be next on the hit list since Tokhang will be their new tool against us farmers,” Quimbo narrated.
In Palapag, Northern Samar, three farmers named Teny Gerbon, Richard Avino and Arnel Aquino were abducted by elements of the 20th Infantry Batallion last November 24, 2017 while they were attending to their farms. The groups said that the 20th IB declared them as NPA surrenderees to justify their detention.
“My 20-year old son did not voluntarily surrender. He was taken by elements of the AFP and was asked to sign sheets of paper. We visited him and he has been interrogated inside the camp,” Jocelyn Aquino, mother of one of the detained farmers said.
DILG urged to junk CLIP
Berino said that CLIP should be junked as it is used as a tool for harassment, interrogation and other human rights violations against innocent farmers by falsely charging them as members of the NPA. He stressed-out, “CLIP is a concrete example how AFP works in cahoots with civilian government in the pursuit of ending insurgency.”
“But that poses a problem-solution mismatch. If the Duterte government truly intends to end the decades-long insurgency, it should resume talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and resolve the root causes of the armed conflict,” Berino said.
The groups also called for the realignment of CLIP budget to basic social services and be given as Emergency Production Assistance to farmers who have been struck with calamities and widespread infestation such as the farmers in Eastern Visayas.
The post “Rebel ‘returnees’ presented by gov’t is fake news” – Eastern Visayas farmers appeared first on Manila Today.
Unsolicited projects for favored business interests to rise under Pres. Duterte?
By Arnold Padilla
When President Duterte said last month that “all projects of the Philippines would be something like a Swiss Challenge”, media attention has focused on the Swiss Challenge and its implications. But what the presidential statement implied was that in order to supposedly fast track his ambitious Build Build Build program, the administration may encourage more unsolicited proposals and negotiated contracts.
And there lies the real and bigger problem. Unsolicited proposals and negotiated contracts are the worst form of public procurement of infrastructure under the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme. These negotiated deals are the most prone to bureaucratic corruption and to patronage for favored business interests.
Close ties
San Miguel Corporation (SMC) president Ramon Ang, for instance, is among the closest to Malacañang. He is publicly known as one of the (unofficial) major campaign contributors of Pres. Duterte and patron of the Chief Executive’s controversial anti-drug campaign. SMC, a Php255-billion diversified conglomerate and known to cultivate close ties with whoever is in power, is currently implementing the unsolicited Php62.7-billion MRT-7 while awaiting government approval of two more unsolicited mega infrastructure projects.
Based on the revised (2012) Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Law, unsolicited proposals are “project proposals submitted by the private sector, not in response to a formal solicitation or request issued by an Agency/LGU (local government unit) and not part of the list of priority projects as identified by Agency/LGU, to undertake Infrastructure or Development projects.”
A third party could challenge the offer of the original proponent of an unsolicited proposal through what is called the “Swiss Challenge”. In order to bag the contract, the original proponent should match the counter-offer of the third party. In practice, however, all unsolicited projects concluded in the Philippines since the 1990s were clinched by the original proponent except in the case of the controversial NAIA Terminal 3 where the challenger (Philippine International Terminals Co. Inc. or PIATCO) won but the contract was declared null and void by the Supreme Court (SC) due to irregularities.
At the start of its term, the Duterte administration’s economic managers already announced that the government is open to unsolicited proposals aside from its so-called hybrid PPP – i.e. mobilizing official development assistance (ODA) to build infrastructure and later bidding out its operation and maintenance (O&M) to the private sector. Ang, however, called hybrid PPP as “complicated” and expressed preference for unsolicited proposals for supposedly faster delivery of projects.
Following the President’s pronouncement of openness to unsolicited projects, the latter flooded the government, with project proposals reaching a total of as much as Php3 trillion in the first year of the Duterte administration according to a news report last year. But most of these are just concepts or ideas, with actual proposals under evaluation by the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) reaching only three as of the latest (January 2018) projects status report from the PPP Center.
But these three unsolicited proposals are among the just five PPP projects that the PPP Center said could probably be rolled out this year. Two of these unsolicited proposals have SMC as the original proponent – the Php700-billion New Manila International Airport and the Php338.8-billion Manila Bay Integrated Flood Control, Coastal Defense and Expressway Project. The third one is the Php51.17-billion East-West Rail Project of Megawide Construction Corp.
A separate news report said that SMC has an unsolicited proposal to the state-run Philippine National Construction Corp. (PNCC) to expand the Metro Manila Skyway and the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) for Php554 billion.
Combined, the indicative cost of SMC’s reported unsolicited proposals (Php1.59 trillion) already account for 53% of the cost of all unsolicited proposals (Php3 trillion) reportedly being pitched to the Duterte administration. To get a better grasp of how huge these two projects are, note that the total amount of all (16) PPP projects that have been awarded since the Aquino administration is “just” Php323.06 billion.
Beyond transparency and corruption
Even PPP advocates while recognizing that the presence of unsolicited proposals is on the rise warn governments to use them with caution and within a strict regulatory framework. In a review of unsolicited projects worldwide, a study commissioned by the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF) of the World Bank noted that among the common concerns on unsolicited proposals are: (1) lack of transparency in selection and implementation of projects; (2) avoidance of competition; (3) avoidance of due diligence processes; (4) opportunities for corruption and political patronage; and (5) acceptance of poor quality projects (design and/or execution) that do not even meet minimum requirements of any sort, in the name of expediency. The World Bank reportedly prohibits the use of unsolicited proposals in projects that they fund.
Beyond transparency and corruption issues, however, the greater impact of unsolicited proposals involve how such procurement method further weakens the mandate and capacity of the state to design and implement a rational infrastructure program that is responsive to the long-term needs of the people and the economy. Unsolicited proposals also represent how corporate interests that are mainly driven by profit motivation take over infrastructure development and operation, often at the expense of the country’s overall development and social agenda.
Ideally, infrastructure projects are determined by and consistent with the development plan of a country, meaning projects are initiated and prioritized (including in terms of resource allocation) by government based on such plan. Government’s role goes beyond identification, resource mobilization and construction, and extends to operation and maintenance of the infrastructure.
This has been the practice in many countries including the Philippines until the advent of neoliberalism in the 1980s and its rapid expansion in the 1990s. Government’s role has been reduced to listing down of infrastructure projects and soliciting private investors to build and operate them through bidding or direct negotiation. This is already problematic by itself as it essentially privatizes the infrastructure and distorts its economic and social purpose as commercial viability becomes the primary consideration.
Tailor-made public infra for private interests
Unsolicited proposals thus further detach infrastructure development from specific public needs and interests. With the private proponent initiating the process of identification and conceptualization, unsolicited projects are often not reflective of priority infrastructure needs. In addition, unsolicited proposals reinforce the undue concentration of infrastructure development in urban centers and more developed regions at the expense of poorer regions or areas that need more infrastructure, but where commercial prospects or interests are less for private sector proponents.
There are cases where big business proposes infrastructure projects that are not just meant to supply public needs (and directly profit from it) but are also tailor-made to bolster its other private commercial interests. One example is the unsolicited proposal jointly submitted by SM and Ayala groups to build a Php25-billion 8.6-kilometer elevated toll road that will supposedly help decongest traffic along EDSA. But the project will actually benefit the two conglomerates’ property development interests as the proposed toll road would also increase access to the SM Mall of Asia complex and Ayala’s Makati business district. SMC is questioning the SM-Ayala proposal because it will allegedly duplicate the existing SMC-operated NAIA Expressway and affect traffic volume (and profits).
But while SMC is questioning the need for the SM-Ayala’s unsolicited toll road, the wisdom of its own unsolicited New Manila International Airport is also questionable. Under its proposal, SMC will build a massive Php700-billion airport spanning thousands of hectares along Manila Bay in Bulakan, Bulacan with six parallel runways and an initial 100-million passenger capacity (thrice of NAIA’s). But it will also just duplicate the recently awarded Clark International Airport Expansion Project (a solicited PPP deal bagged by Megawide) whose further expansion has lower social (as a new infrastructure, the Bulacan airport could potentially displace more communities) and financial costs (e.g. there are three separate unsolicited proposals to develop Clark airport from JG Summit, Megawide, and Manny Pangilinan’s group with costs ranging from Php187 billion to Php337 billion).
For SMC, the agenda is not just to build and operate an airport that would be an alternative to the highly congested and inefficient NAIA. What SMC wants to build is an “aerotropolis” or a metropolis revolving around an airport. Aside from the 1,168-hectare airport, the plan includes a 2,500-hectare city complex which gives the giant conglomerate additional potential profits from property development as well as a toll road that will link with NLEX, on top of running the airport.
No guarantees
According to the BOT Law and its IRR, unsolicited projects are not entitled to direct government guarantee, subsidy or equity. Nonetheless, like solicited PPP projects, they are still eligible for other perks including investment incentives under the Omnibus Investment Code and performance undertaking (i.e., a government guarantee that it will assume responsibility for the performance of an agency’s obligations under the contractual arrangement including the payment of monetary obligations, in case of default) such as what SMC’s unsolicited MRT-7 project enjoys. They even enjoy “security assistance”, or the deployment of police or military forces in the vicinity of the project site to provide security during the implementation of the project up to completion.
The BOT Law requires as well that proposals be innovative and offer a new concept or technology. But it is unclear what is particularly innovative in an airport in Bulacan or an MRT along Commonwealth Avenue to pass as unsolicited projects. Indeed, a 2012 assessment of unsolicited projects prepared for the PPP Center (with support from the Asian Development Bank or ADB) concluded that “most (unsolicited) proposals did not really offer new technology”.
What is clear is that there are no guarantees that the country’s chronic infrastructure crisis, which is being used to justify more unsolicited proposals and negotiated deals, would be solved with more unsolicited projects. On the contrary, undue public burden could increase as numerous but disjointed or impractical networks of roads, airports, and other infrastructure are built through self-serving unsolicited projects by big business interest.
ALAB Analysis: Isang Taon ng Okupasyon ng Maralita sa Pandi
Tinawag silang magnanakaw, tamad, abusado dahil sa pag-okupa sa tiwangwang na pabahay sa Pandi, Bulacan. Pero ayon sa Kadamay, iginiggiit lang nila ang karapatan ng maralita sa tirahan. Panoorin ang ALAB Analysis kasama si Inday Espina-Varona!
The post ALAB Analysis: Isang Taon ng Okupasyon ng Maralita sa Pandi appeared first on Altermidya.
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