REPOST: Statement Against Attacks on Women's Dignity

In a low-handed attempt to derail investigations into the killing of suspected drug peddlers and dependents in the country, President Duterte has accused Senator Leila de Lima of being immoral, an adulterer, with links to the illegal drugs trade. The President is especially scathing in his attacks on women critics. Not only does he hurl accusations left and right as if there are no laws on evidence governing this country, accusations against women are also painted with personal malice—something you don’t hear against male critics. Demonstrating a conduct unbecoming of a head of state, indeed, strutting like a common brute, a bully, the President resorts to name calling when he should be presenting legal arguments and facts to support his policies.
Why does he find it necessary to readily label critics before giving proof? He does it to put opposition figures in a box where he could render them not human- when labeling critics as immoral or adulterous or drug suspects, it removes their dignity, their humanity. In the eyes of society, they become a social disease that needs to be eradicated. So follows soon after, critics also become victims of the heinous crime of murder. We know too well from the labeling of Jews by the Nazis, Tutsis as “cockroaches” in Rwanda, even activists as communists by the late dictator Marcos, results the familiar massacres and other crimes against humanity. Duterte starts with unsubstantiated accusations that end in cardboard signs. We are thus gravely alarmed that if this accusations are the kind of intelligence dirty data requested and used by the President to malign and destroy his critics, what sort of harmful information is gathered and passed on regarding drug suspects to the rank and file of the PNP and/or to the local government officials and personnel to justify EJKs, as well as intensify a coercive environment and a culture of fear.
As more people begin to question his methods we expect more tirades and threats from this man. But what will go down in history are the courageous women and men that speak out against this administration’s excesses-- at the frontline are Senator de Lima and Chief Justice Sereno. iDEFEND extols their example and stand with them amidst overwhelming adversity, amidst attacks by no less than the President himself. We stand with them in the deafening silence of the rest of society. We dedicate to them these words that gave meaning to the struggle of a generation against Martial Law, by the late Lean Alejandro: “In the line of fire is a place of honor”. Mabuhay po kayo at maraming salamat po.
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In Defense of Human Rights and Dignity Movement (iDEFEND) is a growing broad coalition of non-government organizations (NGOs), people’s organizations (POs), individual HRDs, human rights lawyers, religious sector and members of the academe which came together to defend and assert human rights for all.

http://www.philippinehumanrights.org/news/11-statements/8-statement-against-attacks-on-women-s-dignity

Bahagi ba ang Drug War sa adyenda ng Usapang Pangkapayapaan?

Magsisimula ulit ngayong linggo ang usapang pangkapayapaan sa pagitan ng gobyerno at ng Communist Party of the Philippines -- ang Leftist na grupo na may pinakamalakas na organisasyon sa Pilipinas. Ito'y dahil matapos ang maiksing panahon ng bangayan ni Joma Sison at ni Duterte, pinalaya ng pangulo ang mga bilanggong pulitikal na mga kasama ng CPP. Malapit sa CPP ang isyung ito, lalo pa't sinasabing may ilang matataas na lider ng grupo ang kabilang sa mga dating nakakulong.

Ayon sa isang praymer na inilabas ng Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), ang usapang pangkapayapaan (peace talks) umano ay "naglalayong tapusin ang armadong tunggalian na nagaganap sa buong Pilipinas sa pagitan ng [gobyerno] at NDFP." Sa bahagi umano ng NDF, "ang pangunahing hakbang para sa pagtigil ng armadong labanan ay paglutas ng mga batayang suliranin ng mamamayan upang magkaroon ng tunay na pagbabago sa lipunan."

Sa puntong ito, kabilang sa mga pag-uusapan ngayong linggo ay ang "socio-economic reforms" at "political and constitutional reforms." Ang pinaka-layunin nito ay ang matapos na sa wakas ang laganap na kahirapan sa bansa.

Ngunit ang "social and economic reforms" ay isang masaklaw na usapin. Bahagi nito ang mga isyung pumapatungkol sa kahirapan, kagutuman, trabaho, kawalan ng lupa at tirahan, militarisasyon at iba pa. At bahagi rin nito ang usapin ng Karapatang Pantao -- isang isyu na kailanman ay hindi kinilala ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte.

Ang centerpiece ng programang pang-goberyno ni Duterte ay ang Gyera Kontra Droga. Sa mga nakaraang buwan ng malawakang paglulunsad ng kampanyang ito, tila ang mga pinaka napuruhan ay ang libo-libong mahihirap na Pilipino. Daan-daan na sa kanila ang namatay -- marami rito sa mga hindi malamang sirkumstansya.

Magiging bahagi kaya ng usapang pangkayapaan sa pagitan ng gobyerno ni Duterte at ng CPP-NDF ang isyu ng Drug War? Igigiit kaya ng NDF na kailangang maghinay-hinay ang kapulisan sa pamamaslang? At kung igiit nila ito, papayag kaya si Duterte? Sa ngayon ay may ilang posibleng scenario:

• Hinding-hindi papayag dito si Duterte. At dahil sa prinsipyadong pananaw ng NDF sa usapin ng Human Rights, hindi tulad ni Duterte, ikatitigil nito ang peace talks.

• Hindi papayag si Duterte, ngunit ipagpapatuloy pa rin ng NDF ang alyansa sa kanya at tutuloy-tuloy lamang ang peace talks, basta't hindi na muling pag-uusapan ang droga. Maaaring isipin ng NDF na tutal, mukhang aprubado naman ng masa ang Gyera Kontra Droga, kahit na marami na ang nalalabag ang pantaong karapatan, kahit ang ilan pa rito'y napagkamalan lang.

Matatapos ang unang bahagi ng muling pagbubukas ng peace talks matapos ang sampung araw. Abangan ang susunod na kabanata.

REPOST: 2nd quarter growth weakest in five election years: Bold new economic policies needed

Research group IBON said that the 7.0% growth in the second quarter of 2016 and 6.9% growth in the first semester are the weakest in the past five election years and challenge the Duterte administration. Bold changes in economic policies are needed to achieve sustained higher growth, said the group.
According to IBON, the growth rates in gross domestic product (GDP) so far this year compare poorly with previous election years. Second quarter growth this year is lower than in 2013 (7.9%), 2010 (8.9%), 2007 (7.6%), and 2004 (7.7%). First semester is also lower than in 2013 (7.7%), 2010 (8.7%), 2007 (6.9%), and 2004 (7.5%). This indicates weaker economic fundamentals that weakened the overall impact of the election spending stimulus.
IBON added that the second quarter growth results virtually confirm the country’s economic slowdown and whole year 2016 growth is likely to be slower than the recent peak of 6.9% growth in 2013. The economy has to grow by at least 7% until the end of the year to even just match its performance in 2013. But post-election quarterly growth is usually markedly slower and there have only been two election years in the post-Marcos period, in 1995 and 2001, when growth accelerated rather than slowed, the group noted.
Recent relatively rapid economic growth has not made much of a dent n the country’s high joblessness and chronic poverty. The prospects for the majority of Filipinos can only worsen with slowing growth, IBON warned.
Farmers and fisherfolk have it worst off, the group observed. The agriculture sector has already been losing some 73,000 jobs yearly over the course of the Aquino administration and this is down to just 11.3 million. Comparable employment data for the year so far is not available but the negative 3.3% agricultural growth in the first semester could mean over a hundred thousand jobs more lost, according to IBON.
The group stressed that the Duterte administration and its economic team needs to take the long view. Beyond mere quarter on quarter or even year on year figures, the economy remains on a trajectory of exclusionary growth and underdevelopment. The administration has a convincing electoral mandate and has often expressed its bias for the poor and being unafraid of foreign and domestic elites.
These need to be reflected in a bold economic program that breaks land monopolies, gives substantial support to agriculture and rural development, and unleashes farmer productivity, said IBON. It also needs national industrialization. This means actively building and supporting Filipino industry even if this unsettles domestic oligarchs and will be opposed by foreign investors preventing the rise of Filipino industrial competition. These are needed for sustained higher growth that improves the lives of millions of Filipinos, the group said. ###

http://ibon.org/2016/08/2nd-quarter-growth-weakest-in-five-election-years-bold-new-economic-policies-needed/

Akbayan supports de Lima

Akbayan yesterday came up with a statement supporting Senator Leila de Lima against the bullying of President Duterte. Any support going De Lima's way at this juncture is more than needed.

Akbayan is, according to its website, a socialist organization or party. They call their concept "Participatory Socialism," putting huge emphasis on the democratic ideal for socialist movements. This would be one opposed to "state-ist" projects that confine socialism only within the question of state formation being led by a vanguard, super-hierarchical party having an official ideology.

The party's overall model is hegemonic in the Gramscian sense -- visualizing a scenario where the movement is able challenge the prevailing conservative ideology in arenas that society does allow some space for contention, such as the political and cultural spheres.

Did Akbayan succeed? Is it succeeding? At this historical period, the party appears to be in a low point, at least ideologically. The party stuck closely with the Aquino Administration -- a move which led it in the end to losing its best members, notably its founder Walden Bello (or at least his leadership as party list representative in Congress).

Akbayan is currently in an Opposition role to the Duterte administration, not least because it supported Duterte's opponent and bourgeois (Neo)Liberal Party bet Mar Roxas, even going to the extent of one of its more brilliant members, Barry Gutierrez, becoming the former's defender in the media.

This link leads to former Akbayan member Ric Reyes' speech explaining his decision to leave the party. The speech contains history, and a nice summary of the Aquino administration of which Akbayan was too much in awe.

Update on Meralco meter readers strike

Duterte's first budget

The Budget department has submitted to Congress its proposed national budget for 2017. This is the first budget proposal under the Duterte government, which came to power without any coherent economic platform (apart from references to improving Philippine agriculture).

As far as agrarian reform is concerned, this has quietly disappeared based on the government's 10-point economic agenda released less than a month ago.

What's in store for Filipinos out of all the blood-and-sweat taxes the government takes from them? 

• A lot of Police Power. The PNP budget planned for next year is P110.4 billion. This figure is 24.6% higher than last year's budget, as the administration proudly announced. This acceleration is second only to the 32% planned budget growth intended for the DENR which is only getting P29.4 billion anyway.

• Militarization. The Armed Forces of the Philippines still corners a significant portion of the budget at P130.6 billion. The budget for the AFP is still higher than areas such as agriculture and agrarian reform (P120.5 billion) and the DSWD (P129.9 billion less the P78.7 billion expense for the conditional cash transfer or the "Pantawid" of the previous administration).

• Token funding for relevant areas. While the AFP will get to keep its militarization perks, areas such as science and housing will get a measly P20.8 billion and P12.6 billion respectively.

• Meanwhile, according to the Freedom from Debt Coalition, due to a Marcos-era-derived law, the Philippines for 30 years has been spending 27.21% of its national budget automatically to fraudulent and useless debts -- or rather, interests to these debts. Scheduled debt servicing for foreign liabilities amounted to P214.5 billion in 2016, a figure higher than the combined proposed budgets for health and calamity funding next year.

Summary:

Infrastructure  P860.7 billion
Education  P699.95 billion
Health   P151.5 billion
 PhilHealth P50.2 b
 RH Law  P4.3 b
AFP   P130.6 billion
DSWD   P129.9 billion
 CCT P78.7 b
 rice allowance P23.4 b
Agri/AR   P120.5 billion
PNP   P110.4 billion
NDRRMF  P37.3 billion
DENR   P29.4 billion
DOST   P20.8 billion
DOLE   P13.5 billion
NHA   P12.6 billion
DoT   P7.3 billion
Energy   P5.6 billion

Nothing is fundamentally different with these numbers. They basically affirm status-quo neoliberal economic policies -- the same policies that during the Arroyo and Aquino administrations (total of 15 years) have resulted in self-rated poverty hovering at the 50% territory.

Data sources:

http://www.dbm.gov.ph/?p=16394
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/570703/money/economy/duterte-s-economic-team-reveals-10-point-socioeconomic-agenda

Thousands protest planned Marcos burial in the Libingan ng mga Bayani

Around 5,000 people (not "hundreds" as the network GMA reported) under a rainy Sunday morning attended a protest gathering against the planned burial of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes' Cemetery) next month.

The mobilization, which organizers called a "Citizens' Assembly," is the first major protest act against a decision being pushed by President Rodrigo Duterte. However, the event did not tackle human rights issues, but stuck with the Marcos burial problem.

The protesters, mostly wearing white, did not leave their places in front of the giant Lapu-Lapu monument despite brief moments of heavy downpour. The program began at around 9:30 and lasted for two hours.

The protesters listened as guest speakers narrated first-hand stories of torture they experienced under the Marcos regime. The speakers -- artists, economists, activists, academics, politicians -- debunked common misconceptions such as the supposed "Golden Years" experienced during the Marcos era, which they said is not supported by the facts. They said burying Marcos at the Libingan would send the "wrong message" about what the Marcos era was all about.

The atmosphere was marked by simplicity as people listened to speeches, with the occasional cheering and jeering as speakers asked the crowd whether they thought Marcos was indeed a "hero." Older folks also relived their times as activists during the Martial Law years.

Some of the speakers were Walden Bello, Joel Lamangan, Riza Hontiveros-Baraquel, Teddy Baguilat, Aida Santos, Leila de Lima and former Senator Wigberto Tanada.

Among the leftist organizations present that brought contingents were Sanlakas and Partido Lakas ng Masa. The mobilization was initiated by the Coalition Against the Marcos Burial in Libingan Ng Mga Bayani.