By Darius Galang
Isang bangkay ng binatang lalaki ang natagpuang lulutang-lutang sa Pasig River noong Marso 18, 2001. Balot na nga ang kanyang katawan ng isang karpet, binalutan pa ng packing tape ang kanyang mukha. Nakagapos pa ang kanyang mga paa at kamay.
Ang binata ay si Mark Welson Chua, isang estudyante ng University of Sto. Tomas. Ayon sa mga imbestigasyon, biktima si Mark ng pamamaslang matapos isiwalat niya sa pahayagang pangkampus na The Varsitarian ang mga anomalya at pangungurakot sa loob ng programang Reserved Officers Training Corps (ROTC) sa kanyang pamantasan.
Ito ang nagbunsod sa sunud-sunod na mga pagkilos ng kabataan upang lansagin ang ROTC sa kani-kanilang mga paaralan at maging mismo sa legal na balangkas ng Konstitusyon ng bansa.
Ngunit nitong nakaraang mga linggo, tila ibinubuhay pa ng administrasyong Aquino ang naturang programa. Iminungkahi ni Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas sa Kamara ang revival ng mandatory na ROTC, habang aktibo namang itinutulak ni Defense Sec. Voltaire Gazmin kay Pang. Benigno Aquino III ang panukalang ito.
“Palagay namin, panahon na para hilingin muli natin sa mga kaibigan sa Kongreso na iisponsor ang panukalang batas na gawing mandatory muli (ang ROTC)…Palagay namin, wala namang dapat ipag-alala rito,” ani Brig. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr., tagapagsalita ng Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Depensa naman ni Gazmin, kailangang buhayin ang ROTC dahil nagiging mas makabayan ang kabataang napapasailalim sa naturang programa. Siyempre, maraming organisasyon ng kabataan ang umangal. Ayon kay Kabataan Rep. Raymond Palatino, isang kultura ng panunupil at militarismo lamang ang pinalalaganap ng ROTC, bukod pa sa matagal nang naisiwalat na mga kaso ng korupsiyon at pagmamalupit sa pagitan ng mga kadete at opisyal ng programa.
Balik-tanaw
Taong 1862 nang unang itinatag ang ROTC sa US bilang isang college elective na nakatuon sa pagsasanay at disiplinang militar. Lahat ng alyadong bansa ng US ay sumunod sa programa. Kasama rito ang Pilipinas, na kolonya ng US, noong 1912. Kauna-unahang yunit ng ROTC ang itinatag sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas.
Matapos ang direktang kolonisasyon ng US sa bansa, nagpatuloy ang ROTC bilang college elective sa lahat ng lalaking estudyante ng Pilipinas. Nakasaad sa Saligang Batas ang mandato ng ROTC bilang isang malaking haligi ng defense structure ng bansa. Dito kukuha ng lakas-pantao ang armadong puwersa sa lahat ng sangay nito – ang army, navy at air force – sa panahon ng giyera.
Dalawang taon noon na mandatory sa mga estudyante upang tapusin ang Military Science. Sa mga gustong magkaroon ng reserbadong mataas na ranggo sa serbisyong militar, apat na taon silang mapapasailalim sa naturang programa.
Biktima ng ROTC
Ngunit sa pagdaloy ng panahon, nakita ang ilang mga anomalya hanggang sa korupsiyon sa loob ng programa nito, hanggang humantong pa ng pagkamatay ng isang estudyante at kadete na sumasailalim sa pagsasanay ng programang ROTC.
Ayon sa ama ni Mark Welson Chua, “mahal na mahal (ng kanyang anak) ang programa kaya gusto niyang iwasto ang kamalian nito, at maghain ng reporma.”
Isang paglalathala ukol sa mga katiwalian ng mga opisyal ng ROTC hanggang sa kultura nito ang kanyang inilabas sa The Varsitarian, ang pahayagan ng mga mag-aaral ng UST, noong Marso 2001. Tinanggal sa puwesto ang commandant ng UST kasama ang kanyang staff. Nakatanggap rin ng death threats si Chua matapos ang mailathala ang artikulo. Ilang araw bago natagpuan ang kanyang bangkay, asignatura niya ang isang security training sa Fort Bonifacio.
Sa awtopsiya, buhay pa siya nang itapon siya sa ilog. Isa sa akusado ay nahatulan na ng kamatayan, habang nagtatago pa rin ang tatlo pa.
Balik-tanaw sa muling binubuhay na patay: Kasaysayan ng ROTC sa bansa
Monday, August 23, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Friday the 13th ‘Massacre’ at ABS-CBN as Media Giant Axes 37 More Workers
The ABS-CBN IJM Workers Union asks President Aquino to stop the illegal dismissals, contractualization and union-busting at his “favorite” media network.
By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Thirty-seven more workers at the country’s largest media network, ABS-CBN, have been dismissed, bringing to 92 the number of employees fired from the company’s “Internal Job Market,” the ABS-CBN IJM Workers Union said.
The firings, which occurred nine months after the workers were first officially disowned as employees by the Lopez-owned ABS-CBN, occurred in the same week that the network announced a staggering 179-percent increase in earnings for the first half of 2010.
In a report by Business Mirror, ABS-CBN said last Tuesday that its net income in the first six months hit a record P2.27 billion, higher than the P813 million it earned in the same period last year and also higher than its full-year net income of P1.7 billion in 2009.
The 37 workers of the broadcasting company’s news and current affairs department were reportedly invited into “private talks” by human resources managers of ABS-CBN last Friday the 13th, only to be told they had lost their jobs, said the labor center KMU (May First Movement) in a statement.
The mass termination swells the number of employees set to file cases of illegal dismissal tomorrow at the National Labor Relations Commission, while the first batch of terminated employees and fellow unionists will attend the hearing on their illegal dismissal cases.
Last June, Gabby Lopez, the company’s CEO, threatened to fire employees who refuse to waive their demands for regularization as well as those who persisted in forming a union.
The ABS-CBN IJM Workers’ Union, an independent union, was denied certification by the labor department last November, when the labor department took the word of ABS-CBN that the union’s members are not employees of ABS-CBN. The unionists have since appealed the decision, citing their payroll, identification cards and years of service in ABS-CBN as proofs of their employment here. The employees also pointed to the fact that the IJM is an integral part of ABS-CBN.
The union’s appeal, said its vice president Alain Cadag, is still up for review and approval by labor secretary Rosalinda Baldoz. But in the meantime, their union is being busted while their members are compelled to agree to “bogus” or “discriminatory” regularizations that are also packaged with “waivers” such as the unionists turning their back on their union and on their assertion that they are indeed employees of ABS-CBN.
The most recent employment offers refused by the newest batch of terminated employees will have them as short-term contractual employees or employed on per program basis, the KMU said.
Bong Osorio, head of corporate communication of ABS-CBN, had denied last month that they were “dismissing or retrenching employees.” Instead, Osorio described what is happening with ABS-CBN personnel as an “ongoing process” that is “not a mass termination or dismissal.”
Government Intercession Only “Favored” ABS-CBN
With President Benigno Aquino’s promised change still ringing in their ears — the ABS-CBN was perceived to have helped a great deal in broadcasting Aquino’s presidential campaign — the unionists said they had trooped to his residence last June to seek Aquino’s intercession in the “unjust dismissals, contractualization and union-busting at ABS-CBN.”
Their case was reportedly referred to the labor department, who called on the union a few days later. But instead of their complaints being acted upon, the union-busting and mass firing seemed to have worsened with the latest biggest number of terminated employees.
“Despite the talks called upon by the DOLE with the ABS-CBN workers, bigger retrenchments attacked them afterward. Instead of the situation getting better after talks with government officials, things got even worse,” KMU’s Elmer Labog said. He asked if letting ABS-CBN “get away with its anti-worker schemes” is Aquino’s way of thanking the network for “being instrumental in keeping up a good image of President Aquino.”
“We remind the Lopezes that they will never be able to build the biggest media firms today if not for their workers. So the right to regularization and to organize a union are basic rights long due the Kapamilya workers; it is the Lopezes who have no right to deny them that, and much more to terminate them just like that,” Labog said.
He added that President Aquino should intervene not for the Lopezes but to “bring back the dismissed workers, and grant them their due regularization and right to form a union.” (Bulatlat.com)
Friday the 13th ‘Massacre’ at ABS-CBN as Media Giant Axes 37 More Workers
By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Thirty-seven more workers at the country’s largest media network, ABS-CBN, have been dismissed, bringing to 92 the number of employees fired from the company’s “Internal Job Market,” the ABS-CBN IJM Workers Union said.
The firings, which occurred nine months after the workers were first officially disowned as employees by the Lopez-owned ABS-CBN, occurred in the same week that the network announced a staggering 179-percent increase in earnings for the first half of 2010.
In a report by Business Mirror, ABS-CBN said last Tuesday that its net income in the first six months hit a record P2.27 billion, higher than the P813 million it earned in the same period last year and also higher than its full-year net income of P1.7 billion in 2009.
The 37 workers of the broadcasting company’s news and current affairs department were reportedly invited into “private talks” by human resources managers of ABS-CBN last Friday the 13th, only to be told they had lost their jobs, said the labor center KMU (May First Movement) in a statement.
The mass termination swells the number of employees set to file cases of illegal dismissal tomorrow at the National Labor Relations Commission, while the first batch of terminated employees and fellow unionists will attend the hearing on their illegal dismissal cases.
Last June, Gabby Lopez, the company’s CEO, threatened to fire employees who refuse to waive their demands for regularization as well as those who persisted in forming a union.
The ABS-CBN IJM Workers’ Union, an independent union, was denied certification by the labor department last November, when the labor department took the word of ABS-CBN that the union’s members are not employees of ABS-CBN. The unionists have since appealed the decision, citing their payroll, identification cards and years of service in ABS-CBN as proofs of their employment here. The employees also pointed to the fact that the IJM is an integral part of ABS-CBN.
The union’s appeal, said its vice president Alain Cadag, is still up for review and approval by labor secretary Rosalinda Baldoz. But in the meantime, their union is being busted while their members are compelled to agree to “bogus” or “discriminatory” regularizations that are also packaged with “waivers” such as the unionists turning their back on their union and on their assertion that they are indeed employees of ABS-CBN.
The most recent employment offers refused by the newest batch of terminated employees will have them as short-term contractual employees or employed on per program basis, the KMU said.
Bong Osorio, head of corporate communication of ABS-CBN, had denied last month that they were “dismissing or retrenching employees.” Instead, Osorio described what is happening with ABS-CBN personnel as an “ongoing process” that is “not a mass termination or dismissal.”
Government Intercession Only “Favored” ABS-CBN
With President Benigno Aquino’s promised change still ringing in their ears — the ABS-CBN was perceived to have helped a great deal in broadcasting Aquino’s presidential campaign — the unionists said they had trooped to his residence last June to seek Aquino’s intercession in the “unjust dismissals, contractualization and union-busting at ABS-CBN.”
Their case was reportedly referred to the labor department, who called on the union a few days later. But instead of their complaints being acted upon, the union-busting and mass firing seemed to have worsened with the latest biggest number of terminated employees.
“Despite the talks called upon by the DOLE with the ABS-CBN workers, bigger retrenchments attacked them afterward. Instead of the situation getting better after talks with government officials, things got even worse,” KMU’s Elmer Labog said. He asked if letting ABS-CBN “get away with its anti-worker schemes” is Aquino’s way of thanking the network for “being instrumental in keeping up a good image of President Aquino.”
“We remind the Lopezes that they will never be able to build the biggest media firms today if not for their workers. So the right to regularization and to organize a union are basic rights long due the Kapamilya workers; it is the Lopezes who have no right to deny them that, and much more to terminate them just like that,” Labog said.
He added that President Aquino should intervene not for the Lopezes but to “bring back the dismissed workers, and grant them their due regularization and right to form a union.” (Bulatlat.com)
Friday the 13th ‘Massacre’ at ABS-CBN as Media Giant Axes 37 More Workers
All Eyes Today on SC as Farm Workers, Cojuangco-Aquinos Battle Over Luisita
Lawmaker says Supreme Court itself will be on trial. “The Hacienda Luisita land dispute is the first acid test of the Supreme Court under the Aquino administration. The Cojuangco-Aquinos have put the Supreme Court on trial here,” says Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano.
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — Farm workers belonging to Alyansa ng Manggagawang Bukid sa Hacienda Luisita (Ambala) will troop today to the Supreme Court to reiterate their demand to revoke the stock distribution option (SDO) and distribute Hacienda Luisita, the sugar estate owned by President Benigno S. Aquino III and his family.
The SC will hold today oral arguments on the petition for certiorari filed by the Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) management against the 2005 resolution of the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) and Department of Agrarian Reform revoking the SDO and ordering the distribution of land to the farm workers.
Today’s oral arguments is the “first agrarian dispute to be heard by justices in open court and involves the President’s landlord clan,” said Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano. “We call on the Supreme Court justices to put an end to the historical injustice suffered by landless farmers and farm workers of Hacienda Luisita at the hands of the Cojuangcos.”
To evade land distribution, HLI in 1989 implemented the SDO as one of the non-land transfer schemes stated in the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL).
In its resolution, the PARC said that the policy of “no-work no-shares” – workers who supposedly co-own the hacienda do not earn shares if they do not work — is contrary to law and public policy. It also said the setup under the 1989 memorandum of agreement is one-sided in favor of the HLI and that the farm workers remain ordinary farmers and the land remain under the full ownership and control HLI. It concluded that the farm workers’ economic conditions become onerous, their lives becoming more miserable.
According to the guidelines released by the high court, the oral arguments will focus on the following:
* Whether or not PARC has jurisdiction, power and/or authority to revoke the 1989 SDO agreement, and whether the council, in 2006, followed due process in ordering the revocation of the agreement;
* Whether or not there is a legal basis to revoke the SDO agreement;
* Whether the DAR and PARC are the real parties-in-interest in the case;
* “Whether or not the rights, obligations, and remedies of the parties to the SDOA are now governed by the Corporation Code and not by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law;” and
* “Whether Luisita Industrial Park Corporation (LIPCO) and Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC), as transferees of a portion of Hacienda Luisita, may invoke the doctrine of innocent purchaser for value in the instant case.”
But Gleoresty Guerra, assistant chief of the Supreme Court public information office, said the oral arguments may also discuss the controversial compromise deal hatched by HLI management on Aug. 6. The HLI management and persons claiming to be representatives of the farm workers signed a compromise agreement. The so-called deal purportedly offers two options: SDO or land, and the HLI management claimed that the farm workers voted for SDO, the same scheme that led to the death of seven striking farm workers in the 2004 massacre.
“Even if it (compromise agreement) is not mentioned in the guidelines, there is no prohibition (against it being tackled),” Guerra told reporters on Tuesday.
Mariano said the Supreme Court will also be put “on trial” on the controversial agrarian dispute involving the HLI.
“The Hacienda Luisita land dispute is the first acid test of the Supreme Court under the Aquino administration. The Cojuangco-Aquinos have put the Supreme Court on trial here,” Mariano said.
“The world is watching how the Supreme Court will handle the Luisita case,” Mariano added. “Will it allow itself to be an accessory to the crime of the Cojuangco-Aquinos, circumvention of the law, and foul play? Or will it act as the people’s sentinel over rights and welfare, and the very essence of social justice?”
Mariano, also chairman of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), said that the “strongest argument of farmers against the SDO is that it was used by the Cojuangco-Aquinos to evade land distribution.” With the sham deal, the President’s relatives are deceiving the farmers for the second time around,” Mariano said.
“The Cojuangco-Aquinos’ aim is to prevent our big chance of winning at the Supreme Court. The agreement is a desperate measure to preempt or influence the Supreme Court in its decision,” Lito Bais, acting president of the United Luisita Workers Union (Ulwu), said in an open letter addressed to his colleagues.
“It is scandalous how the Cojuangco-Aquinos lord over on the land that should have been ours since 1967 and again in 1985. They pocketed billions of profit from land use conversion which is prohibited under CARL,” Bais said.
In 1985, a Manila trial court ordered the distribution of Hacienda Luisita land to the farm workers. When Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino became president, the case was dismissed by the Court of Appeals (CA).
Jobert Ilarde Pahilga, Ambala legal counsel and executive trustee of the Sentro Para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (Sentra), said that the SDO is unconstitutional. “The law states that land, not pieces of paper, must be distributed to the farmers,” he said in an earlier interview with Bulatlat.
“The Cojuangco-Aquinos will not succeed in their schemes. No matter how long it takes, we will never give up the fight because we are the legal and legitimate owners of the Hacienda Luisita land,” Bais told his co-farm workers.
Aquino’s “hands-off policy” was also criticized by Bais. “Those who voted for Noynoy [Aquino] are disgusted for he has not shown any semblance of good will and fulfill his promise. Now, the true colors of a president raised from the sweat of the toiling farm workers are exposed. He is mum and just waiting, hoping that the scheme of his relatives would succeed.” (Bulatlat.com)
By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — Farm workers belonging to Alyansa ng Manggagawang Bukid sa Hacienda Luisita (Ambala) will troop today to the Supreme Court to reiterate their demand to revoke the stock distribution option (SDO) and distribute Hacienda Luisita, the sugar estate owned by President Benigno S. Aquino III and his family.
The SC will hold today oral arguments on the petition for certiorari filed by the Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) management against the 2005 resolution of the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) and Department of Agrarian Reform revoking the SDO and ordering the distribution of land to the farm workers.
Today’s oral arguments is the “first agrarian dispute to be heard by justices in open court and involves the President’s landlord clan,” said Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano. “We call on the Supreme Court justices to put an end to the historical injustice suffered by landless farmers and farm workers of Hacienda Luisita at the hands of the Cojuangcos.”
To evade land distribution, HLI in 1989 implemented the SDO as one of the non-land transfer schemes stated in the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL).
In its resolution, the PARC said that the policy of “no-work no-shares” – workers who supposedly co-own the hacienda do not earn shares if they do not work — is contrary to law and public policy. It also said the setup under the 1989 memorandum of agreement is one-sided in favor of the HLI and that the farm workers remain ordinary farmers and the land remain under the full ownership and control HLI. It concluded that the farm workers’ economic conditions become onerous, their lives becoming more miserable.
According to the guidelines released by the high court, the oral arguments will focus on the following:
* Whether or not PARC has jurisdiction, power and/or authority to revoke the 1989 SDO agreement, and whether the council, in 2006, followed due process in ordering the revocation of the agreement;
* Whether or not there is a legal basis to revoke the SDO agreement;
* Whether the DAR and PARC are the real parties-in-interest in the case;
* “Whether or not the rights, obligations, and remedies of the parties to the SDOA are now governed by the Corporation Code and not by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law;” and
* “Whether Luisita Industrial Park Corporation (LIPCO) and Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC), as transferees of a portion of Hacienda Luisita, may invoke the doctrine of innocent purchaser for value in the instant case.”
But Gleoresty Guerra, assistant chief of the Supreme Court public information office, said the oral arguments may also discuss the controversial compromise deal hatched by HLI management on Aug. 6. The HLI management and persons claiming to be representatives of the farm workers signed a compromise agreement. The so-called deal purportedly offers two options: SDO or land, and the HLI management claimed that the farm workers voted for SDO, the same scheme that led to the death of seven striking farm workers in the 2004 massacre.
“Even if it (compromise agreement) is not mentioned in the guidelines, there is no prohibition (against it being tackled),” Guerra told reporters on Tuesday.
Mariano said the Supreme Court will also be put “on trial” on the controversial agrarian dispute involving the HLI.
“The Hacienda Luisita land dispute is the first acid test of the Supreme Court under the Aquino administration. The Cojuangco-Aquinos have put the Supreme Court on trial here,” Mariano said.
“The world is watching how the Supreme Court will handle the Luisita case,” Mariano added. “Will it allow itself to be an accessory to the crime of the Cojuangco-Aquinos, circumvention of the law, and foul play? Or will it act as the people’s sentinel over rights and welfare, and the very essence of social justice?”
Mariano, also chairman of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), said that the “strongest argument of farmers against the SDO is that it was used by the Cojuangco-Aquinos to evade land distribution.” With the sham deal, the President’s relatives are deceiving the farmers for the second time around,” Mariano said.
“The Cojuangco-Aquinos’ aim is to prevent our big chance of winning at the Supreme Court. The agreement is a desperate measure to preempt or influence the Supreme Court in its decision,” Lito Bais, acting president of the United Luisita Workers Union (Ulwu), said in an open letter addressed to his colleagues.
“It is scandalous how the Cojuangco-Aquinos lord over on the land that should have been ours since 1967 and again in 1985. They pocketed billions of profit from land use conversion which is prohibited under CARL,” Bais said.
In 1985, a Manila trial court ordered the distribution of Hacienda Luisita land to the farm workers. When Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino became president, the case was dismissed by the Court of Appeals (CA).
Jobert Ilarde Pahilga, Ambala legal counsel and executive trustee of the Sentro Para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (Sentra), said that the SDO is unconstitutional. “The law states that land, not pieces of paper, must be distributed to the farmers,” he said in an earlier interview with Bulatlat.
“The Cojuangco-Aquinos will not succeed in their schemes. No matter how long it takes, we will never give up the fight because we are the legal and legitimate owners of the Hacienda Luisita land,” Bais told his co-farm workers.
Aquino’s “hands-off policy” was also criticized by Bais. “Those who voted for Noynoy [Aquino] are disgusted for he has not shown any semblance of good will and fulfill his promise. Now, the true colors of a president raised from the sweat of the toiling farm workers are exposed. He is mum and just waiting, hoping that the scheme of his relatives would succeed.” (Bulatlat.com)
Teachers to PNoy: Justice for farmers and farm workers of Hacienda Luisita!
“The thorny issue of land distribution is once again awaiting a decisive action by PNoy. He should remember, that it was hailed then as a landmark law during her mother’s term as president of this land. So what are you waiting for Pnoy?”, said Ms.France Castro, Secretary-general of Alliance of Concerned Teachers. “Those farmers have waited for more than twenty years and so justice must be served,” she added.
It is now the fundamental challenge for Pnoy’s political leadership. He must be decisive on the Hacienda Luisita case. Will he take the road to genuine development or turn a blind eye on the centuries –old bondage and exploitation of peasant and farm workers on the hands of big landlords of haciendas like Hacienda Luisita?”asked Ms. France Castro.
“Go , for social justice!” Ms. France Castro said . “ Our agriculture has long been backward and battered by trade and investments liberalization, privatization of agricultural extension services, and deregulation of government’ s role including its default on the implementation of a genuinely redistributive agrarian reform program.”
At the same time, agricultural production is small scale and technology is backward. The corporate firms such as those for export crops such as fruits and sugarcane, are concentrated in the hands of few families and transnational corporations.” Prominent families such as PNoy’s have made fortune out of these export crops and yet,’ kapit-tuko’ pa rin sila sa Hacienda Luisita,” Ms. Castro exlaimed.
The exacerbation of landlessness is most telling in regions designated as growth areas for foreign investments and export production resulting to new norms of exploitation, especially the increasing number of farmers becoming farm workers to augment their incomes.
Inhumane and deplorable working conditions of work and slave wages for land and agricultural workers such as in Hacienda Luisita is prevalent. We heard enough how globalization has intensified the destruction of the agricultural productive forces and landlessness and sunk millions of Filipino peasant families deeper into poverty.
By infusing profit-driven market oriented schemes and measures relying on foreign funding, the government has defaulted on its responsibility to implement a genuine land reform program.
“If PNoy wants to move forward to genuine development of our Motherland, then he must start fixing the problem in his own backyard. He must break the land monopoly which breed various exploitative relations in agriculture like rent and usury. He better set a good example, or else gain the wrath of the people including teachers who are closely watching this issue.” added Ms. Castro.
Teachers to PNoy: Justice for farmers and farm workers of Hacienda Luisita!
It is now the fundamental challenge for Pnoy’s political leadership. He must be decisive on the Hacienda Luisita case. Will he take the road to genuine development or turn a blind eye on the centuries –old bondage and exploitation of peasant and farm workers on the hands of big landlords of haciendas like Hacienda Luisita?”asked Ms. France Castro.
“Go , for social justice!” Ms. France Castro said . “ Our agriculture has long been backward and battered by trade and investments liberalization, privatization of agricultural extension services, and deregulation of government’ s role including its default on the implementation of a genuinely redistributive agrarian reform program.”
At the same time, agricultural production is small scale and technology is backward. The corporate firms such as those for export crops such as fruits and sugarcane, are concentrated in the hands of few families and transnational corporations.” Prominent families such as PNoy’s have made fortune out of these export crops and yet,’ kapit-tuko’ pa rin sila sa Hacienda Luisita,” Ms. Castro exlaimed.
The exacerbation of landlessness is most telling in regions designated as growth areas for foreign investments and export production resulting to new norms of exploitation, especially the increasing number of farmers becoming farm workers to augment their incomes.
Inhumane and deplorable working conditions of work and slave wages for land and agricultural workers such as in Hacienda Luisita is prevalent. We heard enough how globalization has intensified the destruction of the agricultural productive forces and landlessness and sunk millions of Filipino peasant families deeper into poverty.
By infusing profit-driven market oriented schemes and measures relying on foreign funding, the government has defaulted on its responsibility to implement a genuine land reform program.
“If PNoy wants to move forward to genuine development of our Motherland, then he must start fixing the problem in his own backyard. He must break the land monopoly which breed various exploitative relations in agriculture like rent and usury. He better set a good example, or else gain the wrath of the people including teachers who are closely watching this issue.” added Ms. Castro.
Teachers to PNoy: Justice for farmers and farm workers of Hacienda Luisita!
Monday, August 16, 2010
Bukas na ang Interactive Website ng Pangulo sa Taong-bayan
Bukas na ang Interactive Website ng Pangulo sa Taong-bayan
Binuksan na ng Malakanyang ang isang bagong interactive website na magbibigay ng pagka-kataon sa taong bayan na malaman ang official events ng Pangulong Benigno S. Aquino III at upang magsilbi ring makabuluhang feedback mechanism na gamit ang digital media.
Inilunsad ni Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio “Sonny” Coloma ang opisyal na website ng Palasyo na “www.president.gov.ph” sa media briefing sa Malakanyang noong Lunes, ika-16 ng Agosto.
Sa paglulunsad na ito, sinabi ni Coloma na ang Phase I ng bagong media communications ng Malakanyang ay nagtatampok ng tatlong mahalagang pahayag: “Piliin Natin ang Daang Matuwid; “Kayo ang BOSS Ko,” at “Iba na tayo ngayon BAGONG Pilipinas.
Ayon kay Coloma, ang unang pahayag ay kumakatawan sa pangako ng sambayanan na susundin ang bagong daang itinakda ng Pangulo, samantalang ang ikalawa naman ay naglala-rawan ng pansariling pangako ng Pangulo na kanyang inihayag sa kauna-unahan niyang Ulat sa Bayan o SONA noong Hulyo 26.
Ang ikatlong pahayag na “Iba na tayo ngayon, Bagong Piliipinas” ang kumakatawan sa pangako ng pambansang liderato tungo sa pagbabalik ng tiwala sa gobyerno, pagsugpo sa katiwalian at pagpasok sa isang bagong panahon ng isang bagong kultura ng pamamahala.
Bukod sa matutunghayang mga pinakabagong balita, larawan at video releases, sinabi ni Coloma na maaari ring ihayag ng taong bayan ang kanilang kuru-kuro at hinakdal sa tulong ng social media links na gaya ng Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Friendster at Multiply na madaling masasagot o magagawaan ng karampatang hakbang ng kinauukulang mga ahensiya ng gobyerno.
Idinagdag ni Coloma na ang Phase II ay sa Oktubre ng taong ito bubuksan at ito ay ang Citizen’s Concern Website na para naman sa messaging, electronic mail (email), telepono at Snail Mail para magkaroon ng iba’t-ibang paraan ang publiko sa pakikipag-ugnayan sa pamahalaan.
Idinagdag ni Coloma na ang Phase II ay magiging isang malawakang pag-alam ng damda-ming bayan, pagsusuri sa hinaing at mga isyu at maging pagsubaybay sa ginagawang hakbang ng iba-ibang tanggapan at ahensiya ng pamahalaan.
Hiningan pa ng tulong ni Coloma ang mga kompanya ng telekomunikasyon (TelCos) bilang bahagi ng kanilang saguting panlipunan ukol sa higit na makatuwirang halaga sa paggamit nito upang higit na maraming mamamayan ang mahimok makiisa sa feedback mechanism na gaya ng SMS o text messaging.
Ang Phase III naman, ayon kay Coloma, ay sa Enero 2011 pa bubuksan at siyang magpapa-tupad ng e-serbisyo na digitally-enabled frontline services na ginagawa sa iba-ibang transak-siyon ng gobyerno upang madaling makakuha ang taong bayan ng clearances, sertipiko, pasaporte at iba pang kauri nitong mga bagay.
Ang Digital Volunteerism ay makabayang grupo o digitally empowered advocates.
Umaasa ang Kalihim na sa Phase III ay maaaring magrehistro at makiisa ang mga volunteer groups sa website upang makita ang kaibahan ng karaniwang grupong boluntaryo at digital volunteers groups.
Idinagdag ni Coloma na sa ika-2 SONA ng Pangulo sa Hulyo 2011, maibubukas na sa publiko ang Phase IV o Open Government portal kung saan ang taong bayan ay maaaring tumingin at umalam kung ano na ang nagawa ng gobyerno at kung ano pa ang ginagawa ng bawa’t kaga-waran na gaya ng paglalabas ng badyet, ilang porsiyento na ang tapos ng mga proyekto at mga programa at iba pang bagay na ibubukas sa madla para matiyak na nasa ayos ang lahat ng transaksiyon ng pamahalaan.
Binuksan na ng Malakanyang ang isang bagong interactive website na magbibigay ng pagka-kataon sa taong bayan na malaman ang official events ng Pangulong Benigno S. Aquino III at upang magsilbi ring makabuluhang feedback mechanism na gamit ang digital media.
Inilunsad ni Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio “Sonny” Coloma ang opisyal na website ng Palasyo na “www.president.gov.ph” sa media briefing sa Malakanyang noong Lunes, ika-16 ng Agosto.
Sa paglulunsad na ito, sinabi ni Coloma na ang Phase I ng bagong media communications ng Malakanyang ay nagtatampok ng tatlong mahalagang pahayag: “Piliin Natin ang Daang Matuwid; “Kayo ang BOSS Ko,” at “Iba na tayo ngayon BAGONG Pilipinas.
Ayon kay Coloma, ang unang pahayag ay kumakatawan sa pangako ng sambayanan na susundin ang bagong daang itinakda ng Pangulo, samantalang ang ikalawa naman ay naglala-rawan ng pansariling pangako ng Pangulo na kanyang inihayag sa kauna-unahan niyang Ulat sa Bayan o SONA noong Hulyo 26.
Ang ikatlong pahayag na “Iba na tayo ngayon, Bagong Piliipinas” ang kumakatawan sa pangako ng pambansang liderato tungo sa pagbabalik ng tiwala sa gobyerno, pagsugpo sa katiwalian at pagpasok sa isang bagong panahon ng isang bagong kultura ng pamamahala.
Bukod sa matutunghayang mga pinakabagong balita, larawan at video releases, sinabi ni Coloma na maaari ring ihayag ng taong bayan ang kanilang kuru-kuro at hinakdal sa tulong ng social media links na gaya ng Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Friendster at Multiply na madaling masasagot o magagawaan ng karampatang hakbang ng kinauukulang mga ahensiya ng gobyerno.
Idinagdag ni Coloma na ang Phase II ay sa Oktubre ng taong ito bubuksan at ito ay ang Citizen’s Concern Website na para naman sa messaging, electronic mail (email), telepono at Snail Mail para magkaroon ng iba’t-ibang paraan ang publiko sa pakikipag-ugnayan sa pamahalaan.
Idinagdag ni Coloma na ang Phase II ay magiging isang malawakang pag-alam ng damda-ming bayan, pagsusuri sa hinaing at mga isyu at maging pagsubaybay sa ginagawang hakbang ng iba-ibang tanggapan at ahensiya ng pamahalaan.
Hiningan pa ng tulong ni Coloma ang mga kompanya ng telekomunikasyon (TelCos) bilang bahagi ng kanilang saguting panlipunan ukol sa higit na makatuwirang halaga sa paggamit nito upang higit na maraming mamamayan ang mahimok makiisa sa feedback mechanism na gaya ng SMS o text messaging.
Ang Phase III naman, ayon kay Coloma, ay sa Enero 2011 pa bubuksan at siyang magpapa-tupad ng e-serbisyo na digitally-enabled frontline services na ginagawa sa iba-ibang transak-siyon ng gobyerno upang madaling makakuha ang taong bayan ng clearances, sertipiko, pasaporte at iba pang kauri nitong mga bagay.
Ang Digital Volunteerism ay makabayang grupo o digitally empowered advocates.
Umaasa ang Kalihim na sa Phase III ay maaaring magrehistro at makiisa ang mga volunteer groups sa website upang makita ang kaibahan ng karaniwang grupong boluntaryo at digital volunteers groups.
Idinagdag ni Coloma na sa ika-2 SONA ng Pangulo sa Hulyo 2011, maibubukas na sa publiko ang Phase IV o Open Government portal kung saan ang taong bayan ay maaaring tumingin at umalam kung ano na ang nagawa ng gobyerno at kung ano pa ang ginagawa ng bawa’t kaga-waran na gaya ng paglalabas ng badyet, ilang porsiyento na ang tapos ng mga proyekto at mga programa at iba pang bagay na ibubukas sa madla para matiyak na nasa ayos ang lahat ng transaksiyon ng pamahalaan.
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