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Pamalakaya rejects plan of 3 oil firms to relocate depots along Manila Bay

THE LEFT WING FISHERFOLK alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Wednesday slammed the plan of Chevron, Pilipinas Shell and Caltex to relocate their oil depots from Pandacan in Manila to Manila Bay, along the coastal areas of Manila, Parañaque and Navotas.

“The idea of the Big Three is absurd, incorrigible and extremely dangerous. The people should score a giant kill against this stupid plan of the oil cartel,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a press statement.

The Pamalakaya leader added: “Chevron, Pilipinas Shell and Petron will gamble the lives of over 2 million urban poor and fishermen in the Manila, Parañaque and Navotas just to accommodate their oil depots. This will be done in the name of their eternal thirst for super monopoly profits.”

Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said his group will ask Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, Navotas Mayor Toby Tiangco and Parañaque mayor Florencio Bernabe Jr. to oppose the grand plan of the oil cartel to transfer their depots in their respective localities.

“In the name of public interest, the mayors of Manila, Parañaque and Pasay must say no to oil cartel’s grand plan to use the coastal shores of Manila Bay for their blood sucking operations. The oil cartel must be banned from relocating their destructive and dangerous depots in the metropolis,” Hicap said.

The proposed seaside relocation was mentioned in the 20-page joint Comprehensive Relocation Plan submitted by the three oil companies before the Manila Regional Trial Court branch 39 yesterday in compliance with a Supreme Court order for Chevron, Pilipinas Shell and Petron to move out of the 36-hectare Pandacan oil depot in Manila.

According to the relocation plan, the three oil companies are targeting coastal areas due to its strategic access to and from the sea. It said the ideal site for coastal depot should have adequate depth of harbor, protection from the elements and sufficient maneuvering area for safe and efficient handling of marine vessels.

The Big Three said actual construction of new facilities would take three and half-years, but securing permits, licenses and other clearances might take longer.

The oil cartel has another option that would utilize its refinery depots and secondary depots like Petron oil terminals in Limay, Bataan, Shell’s Tabangao depot in Batangas, Chevron’s San Pascual depot in Batangas, ans secondary sites such as Petron’s depot in Rosario, Cavite and Navotas depots. But they warned that prices of petroleum products might go up because of the distance of these oil terminals and secondary depots are farther compared to the location of the markets demanding for oil supply.

But Pamalakaya said the presence of oil depots in coastal shores, aside from putting the lives of residents and fishermen in great risk, will also fast track the death of Manila Bay, which is currently in the brink of ecological destruction due to rapid commercialization, privatization and conversion of once, the most productive fishing area in the country.

“The mere presence of oil depots along Manila Bay is already a major cause of alarm due to possible major accidents emanating from oil leak and possible chemical combustion and explosion. We are not also discounting the possibility of frequent oil spill and other environmental crimes such as dumping of industrial wastes onto the waters of Manila Bay,” the militant group said. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 02:06 | link | comments |

Batangas farmers, fishers embark on a 15 kilometer walk against CARP

Batangas farmers and fishermen on Wednesday embarked on a 15-kilometer walk against the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) and the current proposal to extend the government’s land reform program, which they said was another exercise in futility.

Some 40 farmers and fishermen belonging to Samahan ng Magbubukid ng Batangas (Sambat) and Haligi ng Batangueñong Anak Dagat (Habagat), affiliates of the activist peasant alliance Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) respectively started their 15-kilometer walk from the national office of the Department of Environment of Natural Resources (DENR) at around 10:00 a.m and are expected to reach the House of Representatives in Batasan Road by past 12 noon.

The 40 marchers clad in sacks with slogans Junk the Bogus CARP and Enact Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill or House Bill 3059 were led by Romeo Cayao, Sambat chairperson, Isabelo Alicaya chair of Habagat, KMP leader Antonio Flores, Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap and Pamalakaya vice chair for Luzon Salvador France.

“This is the peasant march against CARP and CARP extension. We cannot get social justice under a bogus and anti-farmer land reform program. To reform CARP is like bringing the dead back from the grave. We want the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill or GARB nothing more, nothing else,” Sambat and Habagat said in a joint statement.

The two-Batangas based farmers and fisherfolk groups said majority of the peasants and fishermen in the province are certified victims of CARP’s perpetual denial of justice. “We lost our farmlands and foreshore land areas because of this fake land reform program. CARP is used as a tool to concentrate and monopolize more lands in the name of big landed estates in Batangas,” both groups added.

Sambat and Habagat the family of Jaime Zobel de Ayala managed to keep their 10,000 hectare land holdings in Calatagan, Batangas, depriving tens of thousands of families of their legitimate rights to former sugar lands, which was converted into pasteur lands, commercial farms and livestock farms which was allowed under CARP, and such paved way for its exemption from land distribution.

Not contended with what they have, the groups said, the Ayalas also annexed 2,000 hectares of foreshore land areas in Calatagan to their 10,000 prime agricultural estate, and later sold these areas of public domain to real estate clients and beach resort developers, despite an existing Supreme Court decision, asking the Ayalas to leave the 2,000 hectare foreshore area and allow the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to resurvey the area.

Sambat and Habagat also said CARP was reduced into a mere piece of paper when the national government upon the recommendation of the Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA) asked Malacañang to declare the entire town of Nasugbu into a special tourism zone.

On August 7 ,2007, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita in behalf of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Executive Order 647 placing 21 farming and fishing barangays of Nasugbu under special tourist zone.

EO 647 will facilitate the conversion of 14,000 hectares of rice lands and sugar farms currently covered by CARP for eco-tourism development. They project will displace 63,000 farmers and fishermen, according to Sambat and Habagat. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 02:05 | link | comments |

Militants wild guess: Esperon either as new security
adviser or member of NSC

Critics of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and retired Armed Forces Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr. on Tuesday made a wild guess regarding what government position Malacañang would offer to the ex-AFP chief after his short vacation.

In a press statement, the leftwing fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said President Arroyo would most likely
give the National Security Adviser post to Esperon currently occupied by Arroyo's favorite attack dog secretary Norberto Gonzalez.

"Mrs. Arroyo wants Esperon for her political survival and vice versa, that's why they are inseparable political animals," Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a press statement.

The Pamalakaya leader added:” The other position which Malacañang could offer to Esperon is the membership to the National Security Council, the national security syndicate of the Palace." Hicap said the integration of Esperon to Arroyo’s official Cabinet will complete the militarization of bureaucracy headed by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.

“Human rights watchdogs and defenders of civil liberties must prepare their battle plan against Esperon, ahead of the retired general’s big comeback in the political scene. His appointment to any appointive post must be challenged in the parliament of the streets, in the court of public opinion and aggressively questioned and fought before the powerful Commission on Appointment,” Hicap added.

At the occasion of the turn over ceremony of the AFP chief of staff post to Lieutenant General Alexander Yano in Camp Aguinaldo, President Arroyo told Esperon to hurry back so he could still continue serving the people.

Esperon said Mrs. Arroyo's hint for a possible new position to him was a pleasant surprise, adding he will accept whatever position the President would offer to him,

"Mrs. Arroyo is politically compelled to keep Esperon to keep their best kept secrets of a lifetime which happened in May 2004 presidential elections," Hicap said referring to the controversial Hello Garci tape which suggested that President Arroyo committed serious election fraud in the May 2004 polls.

The militant group shared the same observations and sentiments raised by fugitive rebel leader Captain Nicanor Faeldon, who wrote an open letter to President Arroyo, saying Esperon is willing to prostitute his own uniform and his institution to keep a fake president.

Pamalakaya believed Esperon will not be tapped to replace Presidential spokesperson and Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye or join the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as one of its commissioners.

"His expertise is more on senseless and unjust war like Oplan Bantay Laya 1 and Oplan Bantay Laya 2. President Arroyo will continue to benefit from his war mongering and outdated logic on counter-insurgency," the militant group added.

Esperon is largely blamed for the extrajudicial killings of nearly 900 leftwing activists, and the
enforced disappearances of not less than 200 leftwing activists since President Arroyo assumed the presidency in 2001. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 02:48 | link | comments |

Top tourism officials asked to recall EO placing Nasugbu
under eco-tourism zone

Batangas farmers and fishermen on Tuesday asked top tourism officials to recall the implementation of Executive Order 647 placing 21 farming and fishing barangays of Nasugbu under special tourist zone.

Some 35 farmers and fishermen staged a picket at the national office of the Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA) in Manila this morning to press PTA chief Robert Dean Barbers and Department of Tourism Secretary Robert Ace Durano to recall the implementation of EO 647, which they said would facilitate the conversion of 14,000 hectares of rice lands, sugar farms and coastal areas out of 27, 750 hectares total land area of Nasugbu in Batangas province.

Armando Limeta, secretary general of Haligi ng Batangueñong Anak Dagat (Habagat), an affiliate of the left-leaning fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said 63,000 farmers and fishermen in Nasugbu will be displaced from their main source of livelihood once Barbers and Durano start all government tourism projects in Nasugbu.

“There would be a grand massacre of livelihood and environment. We ask Secretary Durano and PTA chair Barbers to heed to the legitimate and moral demands of the people to spare their farmlands and foreshore land areas from government’s eco-tourism projects,” the Habagat leader said in a press statement.

Limeta said EO 647 was signed on August 3, 2007 by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita on behalf of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Under said EO, the 41 farming and fishing villages of Nasugbu which include barangays Kaylaway, Aga, Banilad, Tumalim, Bilaran, Riparo, Katandaan, Cogonan, Wawa, Bucana, Natipoan, Balaitigue, Latag, Mataas na Pulo, Lumbangan and Bulihan will be converted to projects catering to eco-tourism industry.

Prior to the signing of EO 647, Malacañang through the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) had previously cancelled awarded Certificate of Land Ownership Awards (CLOAs) in Hacienda Looc also in Nasugbu, Batangas, covering 8,650 hectares of rice lands and sugar lands to pave way for the grand eco-tourism projects being developed by Fil-Estate, the Manila South Coast Development Corp. and SM Investment Corp.

For his part, Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said the declaration of Nasugbu as a special tourism zone under EO 647 could be the brainchild of Executive Secretary Ermita, the most powerful politician in the entire Batangas province. “Secretary Ermita is the key political animal behind this project. This is part of the political agreement between him and President Arroyo. This is a reward for his continued loyalty to the Chief Executive and that includes the Ermita fiefdom in Nasugbu and other parts of Batangas province,” Hicap said.

The Pamalakaya leader said Secretary Ermita could be one of the five eminent persons identified by EO 647 to implement government tourism projects in Nasugbu. Hicap said, Nasugbu, which is part of the first congressional district of Batangas has Ermita’s daughter Eileen Ermita-Buhain as representative.

“We have to see the connection in order to identify the main players and actors that would stand to benefit from this ambitious project that seeks to convert Nasugbu into a major special tourism zone. Secretary Ermita is the little president of Malacañang and her daughter the congressional district representative, and that best explains why the Ermitas are poised to control Nasugbu,” Hicap added. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 02:47 | link | comments |

Leftists thank Bacolod bishop for urging people to join transport strike
It is politically and morally correct divine intervention, says Pamalakaya

Leftwing activists belonging to the militant fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Sunday praised Bishop Vicente Navarra of the Bacolod Diocese for urging the people to join the scheduled nationwide transport strike against the unstoppable increases in the prices of petroleum products.

“We express our deepest gratitude to Bishop Navarra for his politically and morally correct divine intervention. The Gospel for truth, justice and emancipation is well served to the people with this call for the public to join the people’s strike against unjust and exploitative oil price hikes,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a press statement.

In response to Bishop Navarra’s call, Hicap called its leaders and mass members in Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental to join the island wide transport strike led by Pinagisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide-Negros Chapter (Piston-Chapter) and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan-Negros) to join the strike on Monday and Tuesday.

Hicap said Pamalakaya has also asked its chapters in Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog, Bicol, Eastern Visayas, Central Visayas, Panay Island and in Mindanao Island to join the nationwide strike called by the militant transport group Piston. The militant fisherfolk federation has 43 provincial organizations all over the country and commands a mass membership of not less than 80,000 members.

The Bacolod bishop called on the people to show their indignation over what he called were haphazard oil price increases by joining rally centers in Libertad, Magsaysay, Ramos and Burgos streets in Bacolod City and in other parts of Negros Occidental. Navarra issued a pastoral statement over the weekend against the unjust measures of the government that oppress the people.

“We hope more archbishops and bishops will follow Bishop Navarra’s crusade against the exploiting regime of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and its no.1 business client- the oil cartel which is taking advantage of the crisis by bleeding the people more in the name of super monopoly profits,” the Pamalakaya leader said.

Meanwhile, Pamalakaya pressed Secretary Angelo Reyes, whom the fisherfolk group called, the second biggest white elephant in the country next to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and a certified puppet of the oil cartel to step down for failing to stop oil price increases.

“Secretary Reyes should leave the energy department and apply as spokesperson either for Shell, Caltex or Petron. He has been doing that since he assumed the energy post and it is about time to make it public. He is useless to the Filipino public but a triple platinum goldmine to the oil cartel,” the group said.

Pamalakaya said Malacañang and Secretary Reyes have been rejecting sound solutions called by different concerned groups to address the issue like the repeal of Oil Deregulation Law, the scrapping of Expanded Value Added Tax and other regressive tax measures levied on petroleum products, the buy back of Petron and the nationalization of oil industry.

“Malacañang and the DoE have become the extended agencies of the oil cartel in justifying and collecting super profits from the people by acting as the support arm of Shell, Caltex and Petron. The President and the energy secretary are partners in crime of the oil cartel, which has been gobbling up the remaining centavos left in the pockets of every ordinary Filipinos,” the group said.

“The perpetual hikes in the prices of petroleum products courtesy of the oil deregulation law, the puppetry of Mrs. Arroyo to oil cartel and compounded by the 12 % Expanded Value Added Tax and other forms of regressive taxation imposed on oil and fuels has become an across-the-nation nightmare to small fishermen, who are also significant bloc of oil petroleum products all over the country,” the militant group said.

Pamalakaya said around 710,000 out of 1.3 million small fisherfolk or nearly 55 percent of Filipino fisherfolk population is severely affected by soaring prices of petroleum products. Each fisherfolk use an average of 5 liters to 10 liters of regular gasoline currently priced at P 47.26 per liter. The group said that is equivalent to P 235 to P 470 per day, and the fishermen have to catch at least 10 kilos of fish only to make a break even.

Based on Pamalakaya study said fisherfolk owners of 177, 627 motorized small fishing boats across who employ 2-3 small fishermen could no longer bear the brunt of rising prices of petroleum products, and such scenario may soon compel small boat owners either to reduce hours of fishing from an average of 8 to 12 hours to 4 to 8 hours or abandon their 4 to 16 horsepower motors, and go back to paddles because of high and unaffordable prices of petroleum products.

"That's because they could no longer afford the cost of fuel, particularly regular gasoline now pegged at more than P 47 per liter," the group said. At present, there are 292,180 non-motorized boats out of 469,807 registered bancas in all the country's municipalities or 62% of all registered municipal bancas all over the country. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 10:27 | link | comments (1) |

CARP spared 30,000-hectare Cojuangco estate from land distribution

Vast tracts of land owned by big landlords like businessman tycoon Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco were exempted from distribution under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), according to the leftwing fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya), one of the groups opposing the extension of the 19-year land reform program.

“In reality, the CARP was made as a convenient excuse to spare Cojuangco’s 30,000 hectares of agricultural lands found in Negros Occidental, Isabela, Cagayan, Davao del Sur, Cotabato, Palawan and other provinces,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap in a press statement.

“CARP served as an instrument for this century old running denial of justice to landless farmers and fishermen,” Hicap added.

The Pamalakaya leader said Cojuangco used a number of schemes provided by CARP to evade land distribution like the stock distribution option (SDO), leaseback arrangement and land use conversion as provided with legal clout under the 19-year old program.

“The truth is CARP made Cojuangco and his sprawling hectares of agricultural lands in several provinces extremely untouchable. The bogus land reform program further institutionalizes the power of fiefdom over peasant land rights,” Hicap added.

Pamalakaya said aside from Cojuangco big landowning families were made untouchables under CARP. The group said the family of Cojuangco, Senator Juan Ponce Enrile and for Former Isabela Gov. Faustino Dy remains the top landowning families in Cagayan Valley region with a combined estate of 13, 085 hectares of prime agricultural lands.

The militant group said Nestle Philippines, a transnational corporation is controlling over 10,000 hectares of prime agricultural lands spread in the provinces of Isabela, Cagayan Valley, Compostela Valley, Agusan del Sur and other provinces under the leasehold agreement with the national government.

Pamalakaya said the Floirendo family in Davao del Norte still occupies 11,048 hectares of prime agricultural lands which are devoted to production of bananas for export. The other big landowning families which managed to keep their lands from distribution courtesy of CARP are the Almagro family in Dalaguete Cebu (10,000 hectares), the Dimaporo clan in Lanao provinces (10,000 hectares), the Hacienda de Santos (9,700 hectares) in Nueva Ecija, the Roxas family in Batangas (8,500 hectares), the Yulo family (7,100 hectares) in Laguna, the Tinio family ( 7,000 hectares) in Nueva Ecija, the Cojuangco-Aquino clan in Tarlac ( over 6,000 hectares in Hacienda Luisita), Guanzon family (2,945 hectares) in Pampanga, Reyes family (2,257 hectares) in Southern Tagalog region, the Sanggalang family ( 1,600 hectares) also in Southern Tagalog region, the Uy family (1,500 hectares) in Southern Tagalog and Palmares and Co. Inc. (1,027 hectares) in Iloilo province.

The other big landlords whose agricultural lands were spared by CARP from distribution are the Lobregat family in Zamboanga, the family of Jesus Ayala in Davao and Compostela Valley, Alcantara family in Davao City, Davao del Norte and Cotabato), the Lorenzo family in Davao, the family of Roberto Sebastian in Compostela Valley, the Zubiri and Fortich families in Bukidnon, Soriano family in Davao del Sur and Cotabato, the Plaza family in Agusan, the Rabat family in Davao Oriental, Almario family in Davao Oriental, Barbers family in Surigao Norte, the Dizon family in Compostela Valley, the Roa family in Misamis Oriental, the Tan family in Misamis Occidental and Dominguez family in Davao.

In the Visayas the big landlords include the Lopez family (Iloilo), Araneta ( Negros Occidental), Roxas (Capiz), Larrazabal family (Leyte), Romualdez ( Leyte), Roño (Samar), Franco (Cebu) and Montano (Negros Oriental).

In Luzon the most notable landlords include Angara (Aurora), Marcos (Ilocos Norte), Singson (Ilocos Sur), Agbayani (Pangasinan), Ramos (Pangasinan), Villafuerte (Camarines Norte), Imperial (Albay), Espinosa (Masbate), Araneta (Central Luzon), Puyat, Bernardino, San Victor and Bacani families to mention a few.

Pamalakaya said the government’s agrarian reform program was used to facilitate land grabbing, instead of land distribution. Pamalakaya cited the following cases of land reform reversals in Southern Tagalog

• 10,000 farmers and fisherfolk beneficiaries, all CARP beneficiaries are still in landlocked battle against Fil-Estate, the Manila South Coast Development Corporation and SM of Henry Sy over 8,650 hectares of prime agricultural lands, which private developers intend to develop into a major eco-tourism hub in Hacienda Looc, Nasugbu in Batangas. The Department of Agrarian Reform cancelled their Certificate of Land Ownership Awards (CLOAs) and Emancipation Patents (EPs) to pave way for land use conversion.
• The CLOAs of CARP beneficiaries were revoked by DAR in Hacienda Roxas in Nasugbu, Batangas covering 7,183 hectares of sugar lands to give way to eco-tourism, residential and commercial projects to be funded by foreign and local investors.
• In Hacienda Puyat in Batangas, some 1,800 hectares of land were denied to supposed CARP beneficiaries to pave way for the construction of golf courses and other eco-tourism projects.
• The DAR allowed the exemption and conversion of 10,000 hectares of sugar lands to livestock farms, poultry farms, fishponds in Hacienda Zobel in Calatagan, Batangas, and also gave the right to the Ayala clan to landgrab an additional 2,000 hectares of foreshore land to deny agrarian claims of farmers and fishermen in 19 out of Calatagan’s 24 barangays.
• In Carmen and Silang towns, DAR approved the conversion of 2,500 hectares of land into golf courses and residential areas by the Ayala land group of companies, denying farmer beneficiaries of their rights to utilize prime agricultural lands which they tilled for generations.
• In Aguinaldo Estate, Tartaria, Silang in Cavite, 2,000 farming families were displaced from their farmlands, after DAR gave the go signal for investors to convert the 197-hectare estate to commercial subdivision and a high-end golf course.
• The DAR also facilitated the conversion of 7,100 hectare Hacienda Yulo in Canluibang, Laguna into an array of subdivisions and golf courses, and victimized 457 families, whose CLOAs were cancelled by the agrarian reform agency.

Pamalakaya said based on Kasama-TK’s report collated from 1994 up to 2007, about 1,302,375 hectares of prime agricultural lands have been placed by DAR under conversion and such terrible act led to the massive land reform reversals with the cancellation of land titles all over the region.

Hicap said around 173,000 hectares of prime agricultural lands in the region have been already converted for commercial purposes; leaving tens of thousands of supposed to be CARP beneficiaries landless.

In 1993, Pamalakaya, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and the Sentro Para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (Sentra) held a preliminary assessment of CARP from 1988 to 1993, and one of the striking results of program was revealed--- a total of 10,958 certificate of land transfers (CLTs), 9,133 EPs and 2,303 CLOAs were cancelled by DAR covering 32, 041 hectares of prime agricultural lands affecting over 22,000 CARP beneficiaries.

Pamalakaya said while farmlands belonging to farmers are perpetually targeted for landgrabbing and conversion under CARP, lands leased to foreign corporations like Dole and Del Monte Philippines remained untouched. It said foreign corporations managed to keep 220,000 hectares of agricultural lands because these lands were devoted to production of export crops.

Pamalakaya, like the KMP and other militant peasant organizations are in favor of the passage and enactment of House Bill 3059 otherwise known as the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill or GARB.

“GARB or HB 3059 is a million times superior compared to CARP. The 20-year old sad and exploitative experience of the Filipino peasantry under this bankrupt land reform program is a strong basis why CARP and its extension must be buried six feet below ground, and have it replaced by GARB which is politically and morally correct,” the militant group added. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 10:26 | link | comments |

CARP crimes a long running nightmare says Southern Tagalog groups

As far as farmers and fisherfolk organizations in Southern Tagalog are concerned the said the 19-year old Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) is a long running nightmare, even among its supposed beneficiaries.

Citing the date of land reform reversals in the region collated by the Katipunan ng mga Samahang Magbubukid ng Timog Katagalugan (Kasama-TK) and its affiliate Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Timog Katagalugan (Pamalakaya-TK), the left-leaning fisherfolk alliance Pamalakaya said the government’s agrarian reform program was used to facilitate land grabbing, instead of land distribution.

Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap presented at least 7 big cases where CARP beneficiaries including fishermen were eased out from their farmlands to give way to land use conversion projects undertaken by big landlords, private developers and the government. The cases are:

• 10,000 farmers and fisherfolk beneficiaries, all CARP beneficiaries are still in landlocked battle against Fil-Estate, the Manila South Coast Development Corporation and SM of Henry Sy over 8,650 hectares of prime agricultural lands, which private developers intend to develop into a major eco-tourism hub in Hacienda Looc, Nasugbu in Batangas. The Department of Agrarian Reform cancelled their Certificate of Land Ownership Awards (CLOAs) and Emancipation Patents (EPs) to pave way for land use conversion.
• The CLOAs of CARP beneficiaries were revoked by DAR in Hacienda Roxas in Nasugbu, Batangas covering 7,183 hectares of sugar lands to give way to eco-tourism, residential and commercial projects to be funded by foreign and local investors.
• In Hacienda Puyat in Batangas, some 1,800 hectares of land were denied to supposed CARP beneficiaries to pave way for the construction of golf courses and other eco-tourism projects.
• The DAR allowed the exemption and conversion of 10,000 hectares of sugar lands to livestock farms, poultry farms, fishponds in Hacienda Zobel in Calatagan, Batangas, and also gave the right to the Ayala clan to landgrab an additional 2,000 hectares of foreshore land to deny agrarian claims of farmers and fishermen in 19 out of Calatagan’s 24 barangays.
• In Carmen and Silang towns, DAR approved the conversion of 2,500 hectares of land into golf courses and residential areas by the Ayala land group of companies, denying farmer beneficiaries of their rights to utilize prime agricultural lands which they tilled for generations.
• In Aguinaldo Estate, Tartaria, Silang in Cavite, 2,000 farming families were displaced from their farmlands, after DAR gave the go signal for investors to convert the 197-hectare estate to commercial subdivision and a high-end golf course.
• The DAR also facilitated the conversion of 7,100 hectare Hacienda Yulo in Canluibang, Laguna into an array of subdivisions and golf courses, and victimized 457 families, whose CLOAs were cancelled by the agrarian reform agency.

“CARP crimes against the Filipino farmers and fisherfolk are unpardonable. We cannot stomach any proposed extension law that would give life to a bogus and anti-rural people land reform program,” Hicap said.

The Pamalakaya leader said based on Kasama-TK’s report collated from 1994 up to 2007, about 1,302,375 hectares of prime agricultural lands have been placed by DAR under conversion and such terrible act led to the massive land reform reversals with the cancellation of land titles all over the region.

Hicap said around 173,000 hectares of prime agricultural lands in the region have been already converted for commercial purposes; leaving tens of thousands of supposed to be CARP beneficiaries landless.

In 1993, Pamalakaya, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and the Sentro Para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (Sentra) held a preliminary assessment of CARP from 1988 to 1993, and one of the striking results of program was revealed--- a total of 10,958 certificate of land transfers (CLTs), 9,133 EPs and 2,303 CLOAs were cancelled by DAR covering 32, 041 hectares of prime agricultural lands affecting over 22,000 CARP beneficiaries.

Pamalakaya said while farmlands belonging to farmers are perpetually targeted for landgrabbing and conversion under CARP, lands leased to foreign corporations like Dole and Del Monte Philippines remained untouched. It said foreign corporations managed to keep 220,000 hectares of agricultural lands because these lands were devoted to production of export crops.

Pamalakaya, like the KMP and other militant peasant organizations are in favor of the passage and enactment of House Bill 3059 otherwise known as the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill or GARB.

“GARB or HB 3059 is a million times superior compared to CARP. The 20-year old sad and exploitative experience of the Filipino peasantry under this bankrupt land reform program is a strong basis why CARP and its extension must be buried six feet below ground, and have it replaced by GARB which is politically and morally correct,” the militant group added. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 10:25 | link | comments |

Militants want Napocor books examined

Asserting the principle of transparency and fairness, the leftwing fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) also dared Malacañang to open the books of accounts of the state-owned National Power Corporation (Napocor) to determine how much the government-run power corporation benefited from the excessive electricity rates imposed on the consumers.

Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in 2005, Napocor posted a net income of P 86 billion and in 2006 it went up to P 90 billion. The billions in profits realized by the national government from Napocor proceeds reflect that it is into an across-the-nation profiteering escapade through imposition of high power rates.

“In the name of public interest, the books of accounts of Napocor, together with Manila Electric Company and all the independent power producers must be opened and examined. The scrutiny must be done by an independent body, and definitely not by the Government Service Insurance System which has no credibility and remains battered with allegations of high crimes of corruption,” Hicap said.

The militant leader said while he agreed with observations that the Lopez-owned Manila Electric Company (Meralco) is raking profits from the consuming public, Hicap still believes that the biggest money maker and largest exploiting entity in the power industry remains the Macapagal-Arroyo government and its client IPPs through Napocor.

“In 2006, Meralco posted a P 13.37 B in net profits as compared to Napocor which earned P 90 billion in net profits, a clear indication that it is Napocor which still setting the pace and stage for all kinds of crimes against the consuming public,” the Pamalakaya leader added.

Hicap said Meralco remains a second fiddle to the government’s perennial practice of overcharging and manipulating prices in connivance with the independent power producers IPPs producing power with or for Napocor.

Pamalakaya said Napocor remains no.1 in top 1,000 corporations in 2005 and 2006 courtesy of high power rates generated by its IPPs in the country. The government run power generation firm still has 15 IPP power plants, the largest of which are the 1,200-MW Ilijan natural gas-fired power plant, the 700-MW Pagbilao coal-fired power plant, the 1,000-MW Sual coal-fired power plant, and the 345-MW San Roque hydroelectric power plant.

The militant group said the national government is also imposing 12% on the Meralco’s systems loss that further contributed to the high prices of electricity rates in Metro Manila and nearby provinces serviced by Meralco. Pamalakaya said in a way, the government is using Meralco and Meralco is using the government to justify exorbitant power rates.

“If Malacañang is really sincere in its objective to lower electricity rates, it would first ask Napocor to substantially lower its rates, and compel Meralco to do the same, eliminate the 12% EVAT on electricity rates, scrap the EPIRA law and prepare the power industry to nationalization,” Pamalakaya said.

The militant group said the problem right now is that President Arroyo is exploiting the populist line to wrest control of Meralco, and later offer the Lopez owned power utility firm to cronies or to any one that would offer the highest bid for Meralco’s takeover. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 10:24 | link | comments |

TWO DAYS BEFORE THE MAY 12 TRANSPORT STRIKE
Pamalakaya asks Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes to step down

Calling Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, the second biggest white elephant in the country next to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and a certified puppet of the oil cartel, the left-leaning fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) asked the controversial member of the Arroyo cabinet to step down on or before Monday for his failure to stop oil price increases.

“Secretary Reyes should leave the energy department and apply as spokesperson either for Shell, Caltex or Petron. He has been doing that since he assumed the energy post and it is about time to make it public. He is useless to the Filipino public but a triple platinum goldmine to the oil cartel,” Pamalakaya vice chair Salvador France said in a press statement.

The Pamalakaya leader said Malacañang and Secretary Reyes have been rejecting sound solutions called by different concerned groups to address the issue like the repeal of Oil Deregulation Law, the scrapping of Expanded Value Added Tax and other regressive tax measures levied on petroleum products, the buy back of Petron and the nationalization of oil industry.

France issued the call in response to Reyes’ statement over the weekend urging the people to brace themselves for much higher oil prices, cautioning the public that the current prices of petroleum products might double in the next two years.

“Malacañang and the DoE have become the extended agencies of the oil cartel in justifying and collecting super profits from the people by acting as the support arm of Shell, Caltex and Petron. The President and the energy secretary are partners in crime of the oil cartel, which has been gobbling up the remaining centavos left in the pockets of every ordinary Filipinos,” the Pamalakaya leader added.

Pamalakaya today sent a urgent memorandum to all its 43 provincial chapters in the country to join the nationally coordinated transport strikes on Monday to be led by the activist transport group Pinagisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (Piston) and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan).

“The perpetual hikes in the prices of petroleum products courtesy of the oil deregulation law, the puppetry of Mrs. Arroyo to oil cartel and compounded by the 12 % Expanded Value Added Tax and other forms of regressive taxation imposed on oil and fuels has become an across-the-nation nightmare to small fishermen, who are also significant bloc of oil petroleum products all over the country,” the militant group said.

Pamalakaya said around 710,000 out of 1.3 million small fisherfolk or nearly 55 percent of Filipino fisherfolk population is severely affected by soaring prices of petroleum products. Each fisherfolk use an average of 5 liters to 10 liters of regular gasoline currently priced at P 47.26 per liter. The group said that is equivalent to P 235 to P 470 per day, and the fishermen have to catch at least 10 kilos of fish only to make a break even.

Based on Pamalakaya study said fisherfolk owners of 177, 627 motorized small fishing boats across who employ 2-3 small fishermen could no longer bear the brunt of rising prices of petroleum products, and such scenario may soon compel small boat owners either to reduce hours of fishing from an average of 8 to 12 hours to 4 to 8 hours or abandon their 4 to 16 horsepower motors, and go back to paddles because of high and unaffordable prices of petroleum products.

"That's because they could no longer afford the cost of fuel, particularly regular gasoline now pegged at more than P 47 per liter," the group said. At present, there are 292,180 non-motorized boats out of 469,807 registered bancas in all the country's municipalities or 62% of all registered municipal bancas all over the country. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 10:23 | link | comments |

Militants seek P 10 billion refund from Napocor

The left-leaning fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Saturday pressed the state-owned National Power Corporation (Napocor) to return some P 10-B in overcharged fees from customers nationwide.

Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has found out Napocor to have deferred its accounting adjustment of P 10-B which translates to 20 centavos per kilowatt hour (kWh) over recovery from July 2006 to March 2008.

“The Napocor should be compelled by the ERC to refund the P 10-B over recovery charges from July 2006 to March 2008. P 10-B is P 10-B. It is charged by Napocor from the taxpaying yet starving public,” Hicap said in a press statement.

The ERC on Friday directed Napocor to explain its failure under the Generation Rate Adjustment Mechanism (GRAM) and the Incremental Currency Exchange Rate (ICERA) for the period covering July 2006 to March 2008.

The energy regulatory agency said Napocor’s non-filing of their GRAM and ICERA applications is a violation of Section 5 of both the Implementing Rules for the GRAM and ICERA. Section 5 of the Implementing Rules for the GRAM requires a utility to file a deferred generation cost accounting application setting forth its calculations of the generation rate.

Section 5 of the Implementing Rules for ICERA directs a utility to file a currency exchange accounting application setting for its calculations of the ICERA.

“This is the trouble with the EPIRA law. It sets the deregulation of the industry and at the same time profit starved utilities like Napocor and the Manila Electric Company all the mechanisms like GRAM and ICERA to further jack up or manipulate costs of electricity at the expense of consuming public. This law must be repealed by Congress at the soonest possible time,” Pamalakaya’s Hicap said.

“If Meralco is a nest of syndicates, Napocor is the bailiwick of super corrupt high bureaucrats,” Pamalakaya added.

The militant group agreed that Meralco is just part of the problem, and that 80 percent of the problem concerning high power rates is created by the government policies like deregulation and multiple taxation.

“Under the deregulated power industry, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has transformed Meralco into a government tax collection agency. The Lopez power utility is tasked to collect the 12 percent expanded value added tax which is levied on franchise tax levied on distribution and subsidies, that all go to the regressive taxing republic of Mrs. Arroyo,” Hicap added.

Pamalakaya said Napocor should also be investigated for overpricing and other kinds of irregularities including corruption. The militant group said Napocor as main distributor of electricity, where Meralco buys its power, the government-run power corporation buys coal from Australia at a grossly overpriced rate of $ 54 per ton when the going rate in Australia is only $ 30 dollar per ton last year. The group said the government lost $ 17.55 million or P 877.5 million in taxpayers’ money last year.

Pamalakaya said in 2005, Napocor posted a net income of P 86 billion and in 2006 it went up to P 90 billion. The billions in profits realized by the national government from Napocor proceeds reflect that it is into an across-the-nation profiteering escapade through imposition of high power rates.

“In the name of public interest, the books of accounts of Napocor, together with Manila Electric Company and all the independent power producers must be opened and examined. The scrutiny must be done by an independent body, and definitely not by the Government Service Insurance System which has no credibility and remains battered with allegations of high crimes of corruption., “ the group added.

Pamalakaya said Napocor remains no.1 in top 1,000 corporations in 2005 and 2006 courtesy of high power rates generated by its IPPs in the country. The government run power generation firm still has 15 IPP power plants, the largest of which are the 1,200-MW Ilijan natural gas-fired power plant, the 700-MW Pagbilao coal-fired power plant, the 1,000-MW Sual coal-fired power plant, and the 345-MW San Roque hydroelectric power plant. @

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 10:23 | link | comments |

Lawmakers asked to probe
US troops involvement in Sulu bombing last April 30

A group opposed to the presence US troops in the country today asked lawmakers to investigate the alleged involvement of American soldiers in the bombing of several barangays in Sulu last April 30 based on reports of filed by Concerned Citizens of Sulu last week.

Quoting the report of the Moro citizens’ human rights group, the militant fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said the suspicion that US military personnel are involved in the “red carpet bombings” stemmed from reports that the bombs used in aerial bombings appeared to be smart bombs, which were used by the US military in hunting down members of the Al-Qaeda group in Afghanistan in 2002.

Pamalakaya said smart bombs which cost around $ 20,000 per piece were also used in US troops’ bombings of Baghdad during the US war on Iraq. These bombs were used to destroy palaces and office buildings built by former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein.

Smart bombs are essentially ordinary dumb bombs with few modifications like electronic sensor system, a built-in control system, a set of adjustable flight fins and battery. When the plane drops smart bombs, the bombs become heavy gliders with forward velocity and the flight fins operate to lift and stabilize flight path towards the subjects.

“We call on the lawmakers from Mindanao led by Senators Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Jose Miguel Zubiri, and congressmen led by House Speaker Prospero Nograles and opposition Rep. Rufus Rodriguez to rally both houses of Congress to probe the red carpet bombings in Sulu and the use of US-made smart bombs that is tantamount to crimes against the humanity,” Pamalakaya said in a press statement.

“The Moro island in Sulu is being used as laboratory for the staging of US war on terror, with the Moro people being subjected to red carpet bombings of smart bombs in the name of US-RP senseless war and collaborative acts of terror,” the militant group said.

Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said Concerned Citizens of Sulu and former Jolo councilor Temogen “Cocoy” Tulawie who was interviewed by Bulatlat.com, an alternative online news magazine narrated that civilians who were in the area at the time of the bombing witnessed that bombs which were used first produced light before exploding, a character identified with smart bombs.

“Those are smart bombs. The same bombs used by US military in bombing Afghanistan to flush out Osama Bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda warriors. The Armed Forces of the Philippines does not have smart bombs here. Definitely it came from US troops stationed in Sulu,” Hicap said.

The bombing of barangays Buansa and Cagay in Indanan, Sulu last April 30 forced some 360 families to evacuate to nearby barangays. The bombing took place at around 1 a.m and lasted until 6 p.m on April 30, according to reports filed by the Moro citizens’ group.

Reports said the 360 families evacuated from Barangay Cagay to sub-villages of Talatak and Jariya in Barangay Andihi, Indanan. This is not the first time that US troops have been suspected of involvement in military operations in the island province.

The Concerned Citizens of Sulu said US troops were present during the military’s attack on Feb.4 that killed eight non-combatant civilians- including a soldier on vacation. The group said government troops from the Army’s Light Reaction Company (LRC) - a unit composed of US trained AFP troops during the RP-US joint military exercises and the Navy’s Special Weapons Group attacked Brgy. Ipil on that day against members of the Abu Sayaff kidnap-for-ransom group.

Killed in the attack were Marisa Payian, 4; Wedme Lahim, 9; Alnalyn Lahim, 15; Sulayman Hakob, 17; Kirah Lahim; 45, Narcia Abon, 24- all civilians, including Pfc. Ibnul Wahid of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, who was then on vacation.

The report said, the slain Army’s wife, Sandrawina who witnessed the attack said she saw four US soldiers when she was taken into a Navy boat, in the aftermath of the attack in Barangay Ipil. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 10:07 | link | comments |

CBCP bishops told: GARB is superior,
moral than CARP extension law

The militant fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Tuesday urged the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to listen to the proponents of the House Bill 3059 or the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB) authored by militant progressive party lists.

Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap reminded the bishops that in all consultations called by the CBCP-led National Rural Congress, two opposing views were presented regarding what alternative is viable to address landlessness and poverty in the countryside.

“There are groups which are calling for the extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, while there are other groups calling for the scrapping of CARP and the passage of HB 3059 or GARB,” he said.

Hicap added: “ Since enough time has been given to the proponents of the pro-extension bill, it also moral and objective to give ample time for GARB authors and supporters to present their alternative and let the rural people and the public in general decide which bill is superior, moral and genuinely address the call of social justice.”

Pamalakaya’s Hicap lamented that HB 3059 authored by Anakpawis party list Rep. Crispin Beltran, Bayan Muna party list Reps. Satur Ocampo and Teodoro Casiño and Gabriela Party list lawmakers Liza Maza and Luzviminda Ilagan were subjected to smear and hate campaign and black propaganda activities of pro-CARP extension groups, which are led by Palace top officials and by DAR Secretary Nasser Pangandaman.

“Pro-CARP and CARP extension elements in and out of the government are conscious to vilify HB 3059, dismissing it as confiscatory, lacking in due process and communist-inspired bill that has scared the bishops and other advocates of genuine land reform program,” the militant leader said.

Pamalakaya urged critics of HB 3059, including congressmen and senators to first read and study the entire bill, including its provisions on scope and coverage, manner of distribution and just compensation to be enlightened on the social, economic and political character of the progressive bill on land reform.

“HB 3059 deserves the benefit of national discussion and debates. But the Committee on Agrarian Reform in the House of Representatives failed to give importance to this landmark piece of legislation and instead refocus its energy and resources on the promotion of CARP and CARP extension setting aside the need to discuss HB 3059,” the militant group said.

Pamalakaya lambasted DAR Secretary Pangandaman for calling HB 3059 a communist bill because it wants to confiscate lands from landowners without proper compensation.

The DAR chief said the move to confiscate lands from landowners is also unconstitutional because under the constitution, there has to be just compensation. But Pamalakaya’s Hicap rebuked Pangandaman’s claims, saying HB 3059 has enough provisions to ensure due process and just compensation for the landlords provided that their lands are acquired through legitimate and moral means, and not through sheer fraud and terror.

“Did he read HB 3059? If he has read HB 3059 did he analyze what the proposed bill wants to accomplish and achieve? We don’t know what kind or level of comprehension this bureaucrat capitalist need to understand the noble cause of GARB, which is to distribute lands to farmers for free. He is really ignorant of the true meaning of social justice and incorrigible person passing himself off as secretary of agrarian reform,” Pamalakaya said.

Pamalakaya said Article 12 Sections 44 and 45 of the GARB deal mainly on the issue of just compensations. In Section 44, the lands subject for expropriation shall be paid just compensation to be determined in accordance with the following:

• In all landholdings above 15 hectares, the just compensation shall be based on; whichever is lower, the purchase price of the land or the average tax assessment on the land for the immediate last three years prior to the effectivity of the act.
• In case of landowners who own land not exceeding 15 hectares, and landowners with landholdings below 5 hectares, and who are given the option to sell their lands, the just compensation for their lands shall be the price agreed after negotiations with DAR, the tenants or farmers, the farmers organizations and the landowner concerned.

The group said in Section 45, the manner or modes of payment for just compensation shall be done through a combination of the following: cash payment, shares of investment in industrial or commercial enterprise and tax credits which can be used to offset against tax liability and set off any unpaid loans from any financial institution.

HB 3059 intends to cover all agricultural lands of the country, including all private agricultural lands, regardless of crops planted and tenancy relations, lands occupied by transnational corporations and big agribusiness including those utilize for commercial farming, livestock, aquaculture and fishponds and other lands presently under various schemes.

The progressive land reform bill will also cover for distribution all agricultural lands which were previously awarded under previous agrarian reform programs but were passed into the ownership or possession or control of persons or corporations which are not qualified beneficiaries.

HB 3059 also covers all government lands that are agricultural in dominant use or presently occupied and tilled by farmers or have remained undeveloped, including portions of in excess of their use as penal colonies, and all public agricultural lands and alienable and disposable lands of the public domain that have remained undistributed, including settlement areas and foreshore lands presently occupied by farmers, settlers and fishermen for the last five years.

HB 3059 also covers all private and agricultural lands that have remained idle and abandoned and with potential for agricultural use except necessary to maintain ecological balance.

The proposed progressive land reform law asserts that expropriated lands shall be distributed to the tillers for free, with preference given to those who have been occupying their lands as tenants and leaseholders.

The proposed law asserts that sale, mortgage or any mode of transfer of all expropriated land shall be prohibited, except to the peasant associations or political authority constituted under the initiative of parties concerned in cases where the owner-tillers can no longer till the land for one reason or another. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 10:07 | link | comments |

Palace, oil cartel courting social volcano with P 6 to P 7 fuel price hike
It is like a declaration of war against the people- Pamalakaya

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the oil cartel are courting a social volcano with the plan of oil firms to hike prices of petroleum products between P 6 per liter to P 7 per liter, according to the left-leaning fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya).

“It is like a declaration of war against the people. Malacañang and the reigning oil cartel in the country are provoking the public to go on massive upheaval and all-out social unrest”, said Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap in a press statement.

Last week oil companies led by Shell, Caltex and Petron enforced a surprise P 1 average increase in the prices of petroleum products prompting Department of Energy (DoE) Secretary Angelo Reyes to call a meeting yesterday to demand explanation from oil companies why they resorted to a surprise P 1 average per liter increase in the prices of oil products.

The oil companies told Secretary Reyes that the average P 6 to P 7 per liter increase in the prices of oil products is part of the under-recovery measure being implemented to cope with the still rising prices of petroleum products in the world market.

“Malacanang and the constellation of profiteering oil companies led by the oil cartel are setting the stage for left and right and across-the-nation protests. The nationwide outrage is highly predictable at this very tension filled moment,” Pamalakaya’s Hicap warned.

The Pamalakaya leader said Secretary Reyes’ meeting with officials of Shell, Caltex and Petron was nothing but political grandstanding and cheap publicity stunt which is meant to achieve nothing but to just to convince the public that the government is doing all its best to stop the series of oil price hikes in the coming weeks.

“Secretary Reyes’ face off with the oil cartel is just a pictorial event and a well-staged drama to convince 88.5 million Filipinos that the President Arroyo is in control of the situation and working ahead of time to find resolutions to perpetual increases in the prices of petroleum products,” Hicap added.

Pamalakaya said Malacañang’s rejection to remove the 12% Expanded Value Added Tax (EVAT) imposed on petroleum products is an indication that the government is not sincere in pulling down the prices of oil products.

The militant group said sound solutions have been offered to President Arroyo including but not limited to the repeal of the Oil Deregulation Law and the re-acquisition of Petron, but Malacañang is hostile against these concrete solutions, because it does not want to offend Shell, Caltex and Petron.

“The taxes paid by the cartel to the national government provides bigger opportunity for the bureaucratic loot of the ruling Mafia in Malacañang,” Pamalakaya added. The militant group also scored Secretary Reyes for rejecting a proposal to open and publish the books of accounts of the oil cartel

Pamalakaya said Secretary Reyes said his office had hired the services of an independent private auditing firm to check the financial operations and standing of Shell, Caltex and Petron, but until now, the DoE has yet to publish the findings of the report of the commissioned audit firm. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 10:06 | link | comments |

Batangas farmers, fishers hopeful Chief Justice
will enforce 20-year old ruling on land row

Farmers and fisherfolk of Calatagan town in Batangas are hopeful Chief Justice Reynato Puno will enforce a 20-year old ruling granting them 2,000 hectares of foreshore lands encompassing 19 out of 24 coastal barangays.

“We are counting on Chief Justice Reynato Puno to execute the 20-year old decision giving us the foreshore lands privately appropriated by the family of Don Jaime Zobel de Ayala. The high tribunal must enforce its decision and hold private and public parties involved and responsible for this perpetual denial of justice,” said Isabelo Alicaya, chairperson of the fisherfolk alliance Haligi ng Batangueñong Anak Dagat (Habagat).

Habagat, the provincial chapter of the militant fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) along with other Batangas based organizations such as Samahan at Ugnayan ng Magsasaka at Mamamayan sa Calatagan (SUMAMACA) went to Supreme Court yesterday to deliver a letter addressed to the Chief Justice to urgently intervene on the case.

On March 25, 1988, the Supreme Court, then under Chief Justice Claudio Teehankee decided to give the 2,000 hectare foreshore land area to farmers and fisherfolk residents of the 19 barangays, which were being claimed by the Zobel de Ayala family.

Habagat said the case Republic of the Philippines as lessor, Zoila de Chavez, assisted by her husband Isaac Chavez, Diogracias Mercado, Rosendo Ibañez and Guillermo Mercado vs. Hon. Judge Jaime delos Angeles et al contained the following dispositive position.

- annulling the questioned mandatory injunction of October 1, 1968 issued by respondent judge and making permanent the restraining orders issued by the court
- declaring as null and void the questioned decision of December 15, 1981 ,as well as the corresponding writ of execution therefore, having been issued by the respondent judge with grave abuse of discretion and without jurisdiction and for being in contravention of the final 1965 decision in Civil Case 373 as affirmed in G.R No. L-20950
- declaring the resurvey plan duly approved by the Director of Lands as sufficient basis for the execution of final judgment in the aforesaid Civil Case No.373 as affirmed in G.R No. L-20950
- directing the clerk of this court to forthwith issue the corresponding writ of execution in the case at bar for Civil Case No. 373 of the Regional Trial Court of Batangas (Balayan Branch) reverting to public domain and delivering to the duly authorized representatives of the Republic all lands and lots, fishponds, territorial bay waters, rivers, manglares, foreshores and beaches etc. as delineated in the aforesaid duly approved Resurvey Plan and any supplemental Resurvey Plan as may be found necessary and duly approved by the Secretary of Agriculture.

For his part Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap blamed Environment Secretary Joselito Atienza and immediate DENR secretaries before him like Michael Defensor and Angelo Reyes for not looking into the demand of farmers and fisherfolk for Resurvey Plan, saying the three Arroyo secretaries of environment were not doing their homework, and for not following the decision of the Supreme Court.

“Arroyo’s past and present secretaries of environment since 2001 have the opportunity to execute the Supreme Court decision yet they did not do their assignment. 25 years is 25 years and that is equivalent to one-fourth of a lifetime, and government’s gross negligence and abandonment allowed private firms and big landlords to score a major land grabbing frenzy of coastal shores and convert the coastal stretch of Calatagan into a colony of beaches and golf courses,” Hicap lamented.

Pamalakaya’s Hicap said the contested 2,000 hectare foreshore land is not part of the property claimed by Zobel de Ayala family in Calatagan, Batangas. The Ayala family managed to exempt its 10,000 hectare land property from CARP distribution when it converted the former sugar land into livestock, pasture and commercial farms.

“The foreshore area is part of the public domain and therefore the public property of the people and the state. The Zobel de Ayala family and their real estate clients are private firms and not the government nor the state. The process by which they were able to annex the coastal areas and its relation to the failure of the DENR to perform the resurvey plan is something that must be subjected to full-blown investigation,” Hicap added. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 11:41 | link | comments |

Militants fear whitewash on DND’s probe on Palparan

The leftwing fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said it is not discounting the possibility that the criminal cases filed against retired Army Major General Jovito Palparan will come to a whitewash, because the controversial ex-military officer still exacts political influence in the Macapagal-Arroyo government.

“It is public knowledge that Palparan is President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s favorite counter-insurgency military general. He has been praised to high heavens by the ruling national security syndicate for his role in Oplan Bantay Laya 1 and Oplan Bantay Laya II that resulted to nearly 900 cases of extrajudicial killings all over the country,” said Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap.

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro on Thursday has ordered an investigation of the reported involvement of Palparan and security personnel of his security agency, together with members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in the takeover of a mine site in Bulacan and a seaport in Zambales this month.

‘The cases against Palparan are already in court. Let the court decide on the case, but it should be free from any possible harassment, state-military coercion and influence peddling from Malacañang and top brasses of the AFP. Let the truth, justice and fair play reign on this case involving Arroyo’s fair-haired military general,” Pamalakaya’s Hicap said.

Lt. Gen. Rodrigo Maclang, chief of the military’s Northern Luzon Command confirmed the Teodoro’s order which came on Wednesday.

“What if President Arroyo and National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzalez tell the defense secretary to get Palparan out of this mess, what would Secretary Gilbert Teodoro do? Follow Palace instructions or gamble his executive career by pursuing the case against the retired army general and his men?” asked Hicap.

“Will President Arroyo, outgoing Armed Forces Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr. and the national security gang of Malacañang sacrifice their most prized killing machine over the last six years in the name of truth, justice and fair play? Or they will just let Palparan go and punish him with 30 push ups,” The Pamalakaya leader said.

Pamalakaya said the order of Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro to investigate Palparan on the reported authorized use of military troops in the takeover of a mine site in Bulacan on April 12 and a seaport in Zambales on April 29 is not an assurance that this notorious Bantay Laya Army general will pay for his crimes.”

The group said on the contrary, the entry of DND to the crime scene is perceived as part of the looming whitewash process, unless Secretary Teodoro personally files another criminal case against Palparan and work out for his immediate arrest.

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 05:16 | link | comments |

Militants proposed 9-point Rice Marshall plan
to assure adequate rice supply

Leftwing activists belonging to fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Friday proposed the creation of Rice Marshall plan to be implemented beginning the second half of 2008 up to 2015 to enable the country to produce adequate supply of rice to meet the demands of 88.5 million Filipinos in the next five to seven years.

The militant group said instead of relying mainly to massive rice importation to fill the gap between domestic supply and domestic need, which will be heavily affected by the formation of the rice cartel among Southeast Asia’s top rice producing nations, the government must pursue a self-rice sufficiency program that would serve the present and strategic interests of the nearly 90 million rice eating Filipinos.

In a press statement Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap proposed the following measures that should be undertaken to combat the current rice security of the country:

1. Increase hectares of agricultural lands devoted to rice production from the present 3, 922,522 hectares to at least 5 million hectares, and ensure increase in production from the present 2.5 to 3 metric ton per hectare per year to 6 metric ton per year.
2. The additional required 1 million hectares should come from the 1.2 million hectares of agricultural lands promised by the Philippine government to China under the RP-China Agreement , and from huge tracts of lands controlled by big landlords, big agribusiness corporations or public lands which are part of public domain which the government intends to lease or sell to highest bidders among foreign and local monopolies.
3. The national government should encourage rice farmers to plant and harvest palay at least three cropping per season to ensure production of palay between 60 million to 90 million metric tons of palay or 35 million to 60 million metric tons of rice per year, enough to meet the rising demand for rice food all over the country.
4. The government must put a stop to all kinds of conversions of agricultural lands to other purposes. Congress should be discouraged from passing House Bill 453 and House Bill 1109 which allow conversion of farmlands to eco-tourism projects.
5. The government should reclaim hundreds of thousands of hectares of lands leased to transnational corporations, which are currently used for production of export crops and have these lands planted with rice, corn, vegetables and other basic food stuffs with farmers and agricultural workers as principal actors and beneficiaries.

If national interest dictates that these plantations are still needed for production of such crops for local market need and for other pro-people purposes, the agricultural workers through their associations, collectives, cooperatives or workers management council should take control and administer of the land and its operations.

6. Instead of extending the already mangled Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), the government should put premium to the passage of House Bill 3059 or the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB) the emphasizes the need for thoroughgoing agrarian reform program and the need to address the strategic interest of the people for food security and self-food reliance.
7. The government must ensure that agricultural lands devoted to production of rice and other basic food needs are totally and comprehensively irrigated, and the farmers get enough subsidies, and that these subsidies are corruption free or free from manipulation of top government officials.
8. The government must put an end to its rice importation and rice trade liberalization policy.
9. The government must break the existence of rice cartel, and empower the National Food Authority to increase its procurement power of local palay from the current average of 1 to 3 percent to 20-25% to dictate the rice prices at the local market.

“Secretary Arthur Yap will not have to beg for Mekong producers to ease their export restrictions to the country, only if he and his bosses in Malacañang will do their assignment. But the trouble is Yap and his President want to keep the crisis at their chronic and intensifying levels to further exploit the people in the name of their clients in and out of the country,” Hicap said.

“The proposed solutions are sound, doable, legitimate, and politically and morally correct. But President Arroyo and Secretary Yap reject these solutions for obvious reasons, they don’t want to offend their corproate clients, the landlord class, the rice cartel and the controlling lords of the World Trade Organization,” the Pamalakaya leader added.

Pamalakaya said the funding for the Rice Marshall Plan would come from funds to be saved from non-payment or moratorium of debt payment and significant reductions of budgets of the Department of National Defense, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police, as well as from the audit free funds under the Office of the President. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 05:15 | link | comments |

Militants praised CBCP's call for wage hike

The leftwing fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Friday lauded Jaro Archbishop and Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) President Angel Lagdameo for supporting the workers' call for just
wage increase.

In a press statement, Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said the position taken by Lagdameo as head of the CBCP in favor just hike in the daily take home pay of Filipino workers will put extra moral premium to the legitimate call of the Filipino working class for wage increase.

"To Archbishop Lagdameo, we thank you for rallying the church people and the Roman Catholic community to the cause of labor for wage increase. We hope the apologists of big business in Malacañang and in Congress will listen and pay attention to this divine intervention," Pamalakaya's Hicap said.

Lagdameo on Labor Day urged President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to grant a just wage for the workers, stressing that the dignity of labor from the church's point of view is respecting workers' rights and part of it is giving workers just wage so they could support their families.

Lagdameo said the workers deserve to be given the proper compensation especially now that all prices of basic goods and services are rising.

“Some of the problems of our laborers may have been given solution before but the situation then is different now especially in view of the rising prices. That’s why the increase in their wage before is no longer appropriate now,” the CBCP President added.

Pamalakaya asked CBCP President Lagdameo to support the legislated P 125- across the board wage increase pressed by the militant labor alliance Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU).

Pamalakaya appealed to Archbishop Lagdameo to issue a pastoral statement on this Sunday urging President Arroyo to certify the P 125- across the board wage increase bill authored by Anakpawis party list Rep. Crispin Beltran, Bayan Muna Reps. Satur Ocampo and
Teddy Casiño, and Gabriela party list lawmakers Liza Maza and Luzviminda Ilagan.

"We appeal once more to the archbishops and bishops of the CBCP to make the fight for just wage hike a continuing moral fight to achieve dignity and respect for labor and for the Filipino workers, which are perpetually denied by Malacañang and Mrs. Arroyo's clients in the business sectors," the militant group added.

Pamalakaya on Labor Day tagged President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as the no.1 class enemy of the working class for refusing to heed the legitimate workers' call for a P 125 across-the-board pay hike. "There's no doubt, President Arroyo is the no.1 class enemy of working class, and the most rabid puppet of the capitalists in this country," the group's statement issued yesterday said.

Pamalakaya said President Arroyo's rejection of the legislated P 125 pay hike in the take home pay of Filipino workers is a monumental blunder and a colossal treason.

The group added: “The decision of Malacañang to kill the proposed P 125 across-the-board legislated pay hike further exposed the falsity of President Arroyo’s long-running claims that she wants to alleviate the present poor economic condition of the working people. She is indeed the no.1 enemy of the labor sector in this country.” #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 05:14 | link | comments |

Pamalakaya wants Secretary Arthur Yap held accountable for signing 36 agreements
Senate asked to probe RP-China fisheries accord, 35 other deals

Leftwing militants belonging to Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Wednesday urged senators to cross party lines and conduct a parallel investigation on the RP-China fisheries accord, and 35 other agriculture and fisheries agreements signed by top agriculture officials in behalf of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“Malacañang and the Department of Agriculture merely put the RP-China fisheries accord and 35 other deals on hold to pacify the outraged Filipino farmers and fisherfolk and other patriotic sectors of the society. This strategy of Malacañang should not prevent the Senate from probing these 36 rural agreements which are 1,000 times explosive than the ZTE scam and the RP-Spratly offshore mining deal,’ Pamalakaya said in a press statement.

The militant group has recently filed diplomatic protests against the RP-China fisheries accord and the Joint Marine Seismic Understanding (JMSU) before the Chinese Consular Office in Makati.

The House of Representatives yesterday conducted a hearing on the controversial RP-China fisheries, and was told that the accord will allow Chinese fishermen to fish even in municipal waters which are currently reserved for 1.8 million small fishermen and their 8 million dependents.

The congressmen in yesterday’s hearing of the House Committee on Agriculture chaired by Palawan Rep. Abraham Mitra were told that the fisheries agreement and 35 other deals in agriculture and fisheries were suspended while consultations are being held with the affected sectors.

Mitra said he is supporting the position of Malacañang to suspend the agreements in view of food crisis. But Pamalakaya said the outright scrapping of these agreements is the best political solution and not just its suspension.

“We appeal to the Senate presidency of Senator Manuel Villar to immediately calendar the investigation of RP-China fisheries agreement and 35 other deals in agriculture and fisheries Malacañang had signed with Beijing government. The 36 agreements are 100 times bigger and scandalous compared to the $ 329 million National Broadband Network deal,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a press statement.

“Secretary Arthur Yap said the Philippine-China fisheries accord was only suspended, along with other 35 one-sided agricultural and fisheries deal courtesy of the controversies created by the ZTE scandal. Therefore, Malacañang is just waiting for an opportune time to let go these agreements. It is still an all systems go for President Arroyo as far as the China deals are concerned,” Hicap added.

The Pamalakaya leader said they want the RP-China fisheries and other agreements scrapped because these will allow Chinese fishing corporations to engage in commercial and aquaculture production all over the country, as well as the corporate takeover of 1.2 million hectares of prime agricultural lands for hybrid rice and corn production, 40,000 hectares for sugar cane and cassava for bio fuels and 5,000 hectares for tropical fruits.

Hicap since the RP-China fisheries accord is so abroad. He said it would allow China’s top fishing and aquaculture corporations to explore the country’s 266,000 square kilometer coastal areas and 1,934,000 square kilometer oceanic waters to the detriment of Filipino fishermen in fish capture sector.

Pamalakaya’s Hicap also said, China, a known as “fishing giant” in aquaculture sector will be entitled to utilize whatever is left in the country’s inland resources.

Hicap said China’s top aquaculture corporations could conduct fishpond and aquaculture production in freshwater swamplands (106,328 hectares), brackish water swamplands (139,735 hectares), and existing fishponds (253,854 hectares) and in lakes (200,000 hectares), rivers (31,000 hectares) and reservoirs (19,000 hectares). #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 04:34 | link | comments |

Pamalakaya sees Esperon transfer to defense department as game plan for Arroyo survival
Looming cabinet revamp meant to accommodate Esperon, says critics

The looming shake-up in the Cabinet of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was meant to accommodate outgoing Armed Forces Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr. which unconfirmed reports says will be named Secretary of national defense upon his retirement on May 9, 2008.

“It is part of the political game plan. Mrs. Arroyo can’t live without Esperon. They need each other in the name of their respective political survival,” the leftwing fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said in a press statement.

In a dinner with reporters hosted by Palace officials in Malacañang sa Sugbo, the Chief Executive confirmed her plans to revamp her Cabinet next but kept mum on who among her present members of her official cabinet would be affected.

“Mrs. Arroyo should stop this endless and senseless guessing game. Her plans and decisions were already known to the public. She will name Esperon as the next defense chief, and DND Secretary Gilbert Teodoro will take over the position of retiring Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez. The Filipino people are not born yesterday, they are well informed about this political circus going on in the Macapagal-Arroyo administration,” said Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap.

The Pamalakaya leader also said President Arroyo will most likely re-appoint former environment secretary and Presidential Management Chief of Staff Michael Defensor and other pro-administration senators who lost in the May 2007 elections to new cabinet posts. The one year prohibition for the appointment to government posts of losing candidates in the May 12 national elections will end on May 14.

“President Arroyo wants the militarist mindset of Esperon to rule in the defense department for the next two and half-years. Her political survival is the main agenda why she will appoint the outgoing AFP chief to the defense portfolio,” Pamalakaya’s Hicap added.

The militant group predicted that Esperon as DND chief will surely face major political obstacles once President Arroyo officially names him as the new defense secretary. Pamalakaya said it is now preparing a position paper against his Esperon’s appointment to defense department and will challenge his appointment before the Commission on Appointment.

“Esperon should prepare for another battle royale. Anti-Arroyo forces from left to right will surely deluge CA with position papers opposing Esperon’s appointment to DND. The AFP chief knows everybody hates him and does not trust him, including the idealistic young officers and decent thinking personnel of the AFP and the Philippine National Police,” Pamalakaya said.

As for Teodoro, the militant group said Malacañang said President Arroyo and the National Security Council will use his legal expertise to build up criminal cases against critics and political foes of the Arroyo administration. “That’s the purpose why he is being eyed to be the next justice secretary. To follow the legal prescriptions of Malacañang against critics of Mrs. Arroyo who want her out of the presidential palace. Again, that is part of the political game plan for survival,” the group added. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 03:19 | link | comments |

Japanese Diet accused of pressuring RP senators to OK Jpepa

Anti-Jpepa (Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement) activists on Tuesday accused the Japanese Diet of pressuring the Senate to concur the controversial RP-Japan economic pact.

In a press statement, the left-leaning fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said the Japanese Diet, the lawmaking body of Japan consist of 480 members of the House of Representatives and 242 members of the House of Councilors is “discreetly pressuring” the Upper Chamber of the Congress to act in favor of Jpepa.

To prove his group’s point, Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap cited a recent event where Senator Richard Gordon, who was two weeks ago in Japan for an official visit, was deluged with questions from Diet members as to why up to now, the Senate has still not ratified Jpepa, despite the fact that it was signed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in Helsinki on September 9, 2006.

The Pamalakaya leader quoted Senator Gordon as saying “they (Japanese lawmakers) are curious why we still have not ratified the treaty, when all other economic partnership agreements with other Asian countries have gone into force.”

“Senator Gordon was told by Japanese lawmakers to have the Senate ratification of Jpepa at the most earliest possible time. It is an indication that the imperial government of Japan will use political and diplomatic pressure to have the economic partnership agreement ratified at all cost,” said Hicap, also the con