Gerry Albert Corpuz presents

This is Gerry Albert Corpuz and this is my life and political journey to the world of class struggle and class emancipation

Presidential son called ugly parrot talking in pale moonlight
Militants told Arroyo son: Blame your Monster Mom on VAT, economic crisis

Instead of accusing critics of confusing the Filipino people about the Expanded Value Added Tax (EVAT), the left-leaning fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Wednesday said presidential son and Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo should blame the President over the extreme economic crisis felt by majority of 88 million Filipinos courtesy of oil price hikes and the controversial tax measure.

“This congressman is not doing his homework that’s why he is talking like an ugly parrot in pale moonlight. This guy is nothing, really nothing,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a press statement.

“Rep. Arroyo should blame her Monster Mom for this across-the-nation economic fiasco. How stupid of him to blame his mother’s critics and accuse them of misleading the people. The people have decided, 87 percent of the Filipino people want VAT on oil scrapped, period, period, period,” Hicap added.

The Pamalakaya leader made the harsh remarks against Rep. Arroyo, after the latter challenged politicians and critics of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to refrain from misleading the people by portraying the EVAT as evil and the main cause of poverty in the country.

On the other hand, the militant group likewise challenged Press Secretary and Palace spokesman Jesus Dureza to a stirring debate on VAT before a crowd of hungry, starving, homeless and jobless people in Plaza Miranda.

“Let’s have a debate in Plaza Miranda and let us see if he could convince the people that VAT is for the poor. Like Arroyo, her son Mikey, the President’s spokesperson is nothing but an aging and pathetic mouthpiece of the administration on VAT,” Pamalakaya said.

Dureza yesterday said there is a need for massive info campaign on the importance of VAT to poor and vulnerable sectors of the society. The Press Secretary said some sectors are manipulating and misleading the poor to reject VAT.

“So the political chorus line of Malacañang nowadays is manipulation. The attack dogs of President Arroyo in and out of Presidential Palace are singing the same tune,” Pamalakaya added.

Earlier Pamalakaya accused oil companies of raking an automatic P 4.7 million daily in total gross profits from small fisherfolk consumers of gasoline and diesel everytime they jack up the price of petroleum products by an average of P 1.50 per liter.

Using the 2002 based figure obtained from the National Statistics Office, there are about 313,985 small fish boat operators in the country that employ at least an average of 10 liters of gasoline per fishing trip, or roughly P 600 per fishing nowadays, compared to the daily average of P 180 for fuel consumption in 2001.

Every week, with the predictable hike in the prices of petroleum products at an average of P 1.50 per liter, oil companies rake in at least P 28.2 million on the first week, P 56.4 million on the second week, P 169.2 million on the third week, and P 676.8 million on the fourth week. On the other hand, fuel consumption eats up almost 80 percent of the total cost of production per fishing trip among fishermen with motorized bancas.

The expanded value added tax (EVAT) and other taxes levied on oil further pushed up the prices of petroleum products like gasoline. Since, the VAT on oil represents 12 percent of the price per liter, removing the controversial tax measure on oil would automatically reduce cost of petroleum products by an average of P 6 to P 6.50 per liter.

The weekly and unbearable increases in the prices of petroleum products have pushed small fishermen operating small motorized boats to reduce fishing hours from the normal 8 to 12 hours to 4 to 8 hours because of the high prices of gasoline and other oil products.

Because of the weekly increases in the prices of petroleum products, and further compounded by the VAT on oil and other taxes charged to oil products, small fishermen have started to reduce fishing hours and devote a significant part of their time to sideline either as tricycle drivers or construction workers in and out of their respective fishing villages.

Even paddle using fishermen who are relying mainly on their fish nets and backward fishing gears are also affected by the unstoppable increases in the prices of petroleum products since they use an average of 1 to 2 liters of kerosene per fishing trip.

Using the same data obtained from NSO, there are about 653,000 paddle using fishermen which employ a liter of gasoline per fishing trip and that cost poor fisherfolk an additional P 9 to P18 per week, and on the one hand, an additional P 5.7 to P 11.4 million gross profits for oil companies per week. The country’s commercial fishers have also admitted fuel cost eats up 65 percent of their total cost of production per fishing trip.

Since the deregulation of the oil industry, prices of diesel went up by 738 percent, gasoline by 572% and liquefied petroleum gas by 499%. A study conducted by Ibon Data bank reveals that 47 percent to 52 percent of the current prices of petroleum products represent profits of oil companies in the Philippines, and the present prices of petroleum products are overpriced by an average of P 12 per liter, due to speculative acts of oil cartel’s mother companies abroad like Chevron and Shell. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 07:18 | link | comments |
mindboggling people

National Security Council behind detention of KMP leader, relatives, supporters insist
Detained KMP leader transferred from Leyte to Camp Crame

Relatives and supporters of detained Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) deputy secretary general for internal affairs Randall Echanis insisted that the National Security Council (NSC) headed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is behind the continued detention of the peasant leader.

At around 7 a.m, some 30 peasant activists, including Echanis wife Erlinda, son Ranmill and daughter Amanda and other relatives and friends of the detained KMP leader belonging to Free Randall Echanis Movement (Freedom) trooped to the main headquarters of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Camp Crame, Quezon City to greet the arrival of Echanis who was transferred from Palo Provincial Jail in Leyte to PNP Detention Center.

The relatives and supporters of the 60-year old peasant leader carried placards bearing his face with the slogan ‘Free Randal Echanis’. Among those groups who joined the early morning well wishers of the KMP leader were Anakpawis party list, Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya), Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA), Amihan-National Federation of Peasant Women and the student activists group Nnara-Youth.

Anakpawis party list. Rep. and KMP national chairperson Rafael Mariano and Echanis legal counsel Atty. Jobert Pahilga accompanied the peasant leader in his transfer from Leyte to Camp Crame early this morning. Atty. Pahilga said Echanis along with his escorts took the 7:45 a.m Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight from Tacloban City to Centennial II Airport.

“The National Security Council headed by Mrs. Arroyo and National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzalez are the lead actors in this perpetual persecution of Echanis. They are responsible for the illegal and unjust imprisonment of our colleague on the basis of trumped up charges created by Palace spin doctors in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Department of Justice,” said Willy Marbella, KMP deputy secretary general for external affairs.

Marbella said all members of the Palace security council that includes Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez and former AFP Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr. were all obsessed in keeping Echanis behind bar. “Echanis is imprisoned by the ruling national security council which is guided by the national security doctrine to preserve the illegitimate, immoral and evil reign of President Arroyo,” the KMP leader added.

On January 28, Echanis was arrested in Bago City, Negros Occidental while attending a national conference called by the agricultural worker group Unyon ng Mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) regarding the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB) or House Bill 3059 authored by the late Anakpawis party list Rep. Crispin Beltran.

Echanis, who acted as resource person of KMP on GARB, was also sharing the participation of the peasant group in the 2nd National Rural Congress (NRC) spearheaded by the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), when military and police agents arrested the peasant leader on the basis of a warrant issued by the Leyte RTC. Echanis, according to his relatives and supporters were falsely charged for 15 counts of murder in connection with the discovered mass graves in Hilongos, Leyte.

Even government and AFP records, including court proceedings revealed that Echanis was held in solitary confinement by the military at the time the alleged crimes were committed in the early and mid 80s. The Manila Regional Trial Court had also dismissed all criminal charges filed by the Marcos government in the 80s against Echanis. In 1992, the case of illegal possession of firearms was again dismissed by the Manila RTC for lack of merit. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 10:13 | link | comments |
human rights

Fishers response to GMA Sona: Fish
strikes beginning today till Friday

In response to what it called “fishy and stinking” 8th State of the Nation Address (Sona) by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the leftwing fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) officially begins its’ week long nationally coordinated fish strike by staging a two-day fish strike in four of the six provinces of Bicol Region.

Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap its regional chapter in the region-Lakas ng Mga Maliliit na Mangingisda ng Bicol (Lambat-Bicol) will spearhead a two-day fish strike beginning today until tomorrow in the provinces of Albay, Sorsogon, Catanduanes and Masbate that will coincide with the two-day transport strike to be staged by militant drivers group Piston all in the region.

The Pamalakaya leader said more or less 5,000 small fishermen will join the two-day fish strike, which he said was an expression of outrage against President Arroyo’s outright refusal to remove the 12-percent Expanded Value Added Tax (EVAT) on oil.

“Mrs. Arroyo used her 8th Sona as a launching pad to defend her regressive and exploitative tax measure, and our answer to her political stubbornness is more protest actions, more agitating and more daring actions against her VAT-obsessed and puppet of oil cartel regime,” Hicap said.

Hicap said small fishermen in Navotas, Cavite, Batangas, Laguna, Rizal, Quezon, Negros Occidental, Cebu, Bohol, Iloilo, Sarangani and General Santos City have expressed their intention to join the scheduled fish strike on Friday to denounce Mrs. Arroyo’s Sona, her insistence to keep the 12 percent VAT on oil and her complete disregard on the people’s demand to repeal the Oil Deregulation Law.

The Pamalakaya leader said their chapters in Quezon, Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur, La Union, Samar, Leyte and other parts of Mindanao have started talking with other groups of small fisherfolk and commercial fishing operators to join the fish strike this week or at any given time they wish to conduct the protest.

Hicap said the Iloilo City based commercial fishing company- the Jumbo Fishing Company although not connected or does not have any working collaboration with his group staged fish strike on the day President Arroyo delivered her Sona.

According to Hicap, the company and their employees displayed large protest streamers on the fishing firm’s 30 fishing carriers, catchers and escorts that were all grounded for the President’s Sona to denounce EVAT and the weekly increases in the prices of petroleum products. He said Jumbo Fishing Company protested the collection of EVAT, and added its voice against high prices of petroleum products that halted its operations for 2 months.

“There’s a snowballing support for the fish strike. It is turning into a political bandwagon because more and more fishermen, including the commercial fishing sector are adding their voice against this regime of greed, and against Mrs. Arroyo’s 12 percent VAT on oil and against the unstoppable increases in the prices of petroleum products,” Hicap said.

Aside from her obsession to the 12-percent EVAT, Pamalakaya accused President Arroyo of covering up the day-to-day crimes and exploitation of the Big Three oil companies- Shell, Chevron and Caltex. The group said the President did not mention in her Sona that these oil companies are raking an automatic P 4.7 million daily in total gross profits from small fisherfolk consumers of gasoline everytime they jack up the price of gasoline to P 1.50 per liter.

Using the 2002 based figure obtained from the National Statistics Office, the militant group said there are about 313,985 small fish boat operators in the country that employ at least an average of 10 liters of gasoline per fishing trip.

“Every week, with the predictable hike in the prices of petroleum products at an average of P 1.50/ liter, oil companies rake in at least P 28.2 million on the first week, P 56.4 million on the second week,
P 169.2 million on the third week, and P 676.8 million on the fourth week,” Pamalakaya said.

Pamalakaya said the weekly and unbearable increases in the prices of petroleum products have pushed small fishermen operating small motorized boats to reduce fishing hours from the usual 8 to 12 hours, to 4 to 8 hours. Others, he said, sidelined either as tricycle drivers or construction workers outside their fishing villages.

Pamalakaya said even fisherfolk with no motorized bancas and are only using paddle to sail away to the sea are also affected by the unstoppable increases in the prices of petroleum products since they use an average of 1 to 2 liters of kerosene per fishing trip.

Hicap said based on the same data obtained from NSO, there are about 653,000 paddle using fishermen which employ a liter of gasoline per fishing trip and that cost an additional P 9-P18 per week or P 5.7 to P 11.4 million in total additional profits for oil companies per week.

Based on Pamalakaya studies, the weekly increases in the prices of petroleum products have eaten up 65 percent to 80 percent of their cost of production. In 2001, the group said they only spend around P 180 for gasoline, but today, fisherfolk operating small fishing boats spend P 600 for gasoline alone. Prices of diesel went up by 738 percent, gasoline by 572% and liquefied petroleum gas by 499% since the implementation of the oil deregulation law. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 10:11 | link | comments |
economic slavery

Oil firms rake P 4.7 million daily from fishers for every P 1.50 per liter hike in gasoline, Pamalakaya study shows

Oil companies in the Philippines are raking an automatic P 4.7 million daily in total gross profits from small fisherfolk consumers of gasoline everytime they jack up the price of gasoline to P 1.50 per liter, according to the study made by the left-leaning fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya).

Using the 2002 based figure obtained from the National Statistics Office, the militant group said there are about 313,985 small fish boat operators in the country that employ at least an average of 10 liters of gasoline per fishing trip.

“Every week, with the predictable hike in the prices of petroleum products at an average of P 1.50/ liter, oil companies rake in at least P 28.2 million on the first week, P 56.4 million on the second week, P 169.2 million on the third week, and P 676.8 million on the fourth week. We are talking here of just a span of one month,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a press statement.

“How about the succeeding months? How more much oil companies will further rob us in broad daylight courtesy of the oil cartel, the 12 percent VAT on oil and the oil deregulation law?,” Hicap added.

Hicap said the weekly and unbearable increases in the prices of petroleum products have pushed small fishermen operating small motorized boats to reduce fishing hours from the usual 8 to 12 hours, to 4 to 8 hours. Others, he said, sidelined either as tricycle drivers or construction workers outside their fishing villages.

The fight against the unstoppable exploitation of the oil cartel courtesy of the government of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the Oil Deregulation Law and the 12 percent Expanded Value Added Tax (EVAT) levied on oil is one of the major issues Pamalakaya will raise in tomorrow’s anti-Arroyo big rallies organized by umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) all over the country in connection with the President’s 8th Sona (State of the Nation Address).

“The real People’s Sona against the bogus Sona of President Arroyo is one main event the people should not miss, that’s why we are here. It is time to make the oil cartel and Mrs. Arroyo’s regime of greed pay for their crimes against the people,” Hicap said.

Pamalakaya said even fisherfolk with no motorized bancas and are only using paddle to sail away to the sea are also affected by the unstoppable increases in the prices of petroleum products since they use an average of 1 to 2 liters of kerosene per fishing trip.

Hicap said based on the same data obtained from NSO, there are about 653,000 paddle using fishermen which employ a liter of gasoline per fishing trip and that cost an additional P 9-P18 per week or P 5.7 to P 11.4 million in total additional profits for oil companies per week.

Based on Pamalakaya studies, the weekly increases in the prices of petroleum products have eaten up 65 percent to 80 percent of their cost of production. In 2001, the group said they only spend around P 180 for gasoline, but today, fisherfolk operating small fishing boats spend P 600 for gasoline alone. Prices of diesel went up by 738 percent, gasoline by 572% and liquefied petroleum gas by 499% since the implementation of the oil deregulation law

The militant group said the fisherfolk are among the sectors that belonged to extremely poor people. Based on the recent survey conducted by the Social Weather Station poor people suffering extreme hunger grew by 3.8 million from 2003 to 2006 or from 23.8 million Filipinos to 27.6 million Filipinos. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 03:01 | link | comments |
oil and power

Pamalakaya slams PNP spokesman for calling public not join anti-SONA rally
It is now the turn of PNP spokesperson to be called stupid boy

The left-leaning fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Saturday assailed Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesperson Chief Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome for calling the Filipino public to stay away from the anti-government rallies on Monday when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo delivers her 8th SONA (State of the Nation Address).

“That boy is stupid. The grandfather of all stupid police officials in the PNP,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap in a press statement. The fisherfolk leader heard Bartolome over the radio urging the people to shun rallies and stay home to watch President Arroyo delivers her address.

“Bartolome is the male counterpart of Palace deputy spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo who was recently called stupid girl by Senator Joker Arroyo for invoking executive privilege against the Senate plan to take up the controversial Northrail Project next month,” Hicap added.

The PNP spokesman said instead of joining rallies, the people should set watch President Arroyo deliver her 8th SONA to avoid congesting roads and give headaches to motorists and commuters. But Pamalakaya’s Hicap said Bartolome statement was outrageous and a complete violation of people’s rights to assembly and freedom of expression.

“This swashbuckling and mind boggling police officer has no respect for basic human rights guaranteed by his own reactionary constitution. He is so obsessed with Malacañang’s national security doctrine and the doctrine of Mrs. Arroyo’s political survival,” Pamalakaya said.

The militant group said it planned to ask PNP Chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr. to reprimand Bartolome, but Pamalakaya decided not to pursue its request, saying there’s no big difference between Razon and Bartolome. “It is just a waste of time to ask Razon to correct his spokesman because they think, speak and act the same way like Mrs. Arroyo,” Pamalakaya added.

Pamalakaya listed the following bullet points so that PNP spokesperson understands why thousands are coming to join the anti-Arroyo protest, instead of listening to Arroyo’s fairy tale economics on Monday.

• The number of extremely poor people grew by 3.8 million from 2003 to 2006 or from 23.8 million Filipinos to 27.6 million Filipinos during the period according to the National Statistics Census Board (NSCB)
• 16 million Filipino workers or 28 percent of the entire Filipino labor force are jobless or lack adequate jobs
• Every Filipino worker with a family of six members needs P 894 in order to survive, but regular minimum wage earners take home pay is only between P 345-P 382, which is short of more than 500 pesos
• Prices of diesel went up by 738 percent, gasoline by 572% and liquefied petroleum gas by 499% since the implementation of the oil deregulation law
• Prices of regular well milled rice in the National Capital Region went up by 50 percent and 46 percent across the country and premium rice by 43 percent.
• Inflation rate went up to 11.4 percent, the biggest in history courtesy of the average 17.4 percent increase in the prices of food and other basic food stuff.

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 06:33 | link | comments |
mindboggling people

Jpepa OK would allow Japan to dump Jurassic ships like those owned by Sulpicio Lines, says militant group

As Senate President Manuel Villar last week announced that the ratification of the controversial Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa) will be one of the Upper Chamber’s top priorities beginning next month, an anti-Jpepa group warned that the ratification of the bilateral trade agreement will lead to the mass flooding of Jurassic Japanese ships similar to MV Princess of the Stars that sank last month at the height of typhoon Frank.

The fearless forecast came from the left-leaning fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya), which said that Jpepa will provide the widest latitude of business opportunity for Japanese manufacturing ships to dump more their second hand ships in the Philippines and still rake windfalls and huge returns to their investments.

“It is now a fact and a public knowledge as admitted by owners of Sulpicio Lines that MV Princess of the Stars was acquired as a second hand passenger and cargo ship for $ 5 million, and that the 23,800 ton vessel was only insured for 350 million pesos,” said Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a press statement.

Hicap said: “This practice has been going on since time immemorial and the past administrations including the present government of President Arroyo failed to address this very disturbing issue on the proliferation of second hand and unworthy Japanese vessels sold to local Filipino businessmen.”

Hicap added:” The Philippine has been accommodating Japan’s passenger, cargo and commercial fishing vessels since the Marcos dictatorship under the Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation, even if the seaworthiness and the performance background of these vessels are highly questionable. The ratification of Jpepa will further worsen this nearly half-a century problem.”

The Pamalakaya leader reminded that MV Solar 1 that sank on August 11, 2006 off Guimaras, spilling 21, liters of bunker fuel that was chartered by Petron Philippines from Sunshine Maritime Development Corporation was acquired from Japan.


Hicap said suggested to lawmaker senators the check the background of 45 sea mishaps involving vessels owned by Sulpicio over the last 28 years and where these ships came from including MV Doña Paz, Doña Marilyn and Princess of the Orient that sank in 1987, 1988 and 1998.

“Are these ships come all the way from Japan as second hand ships? One thing is for sure, Jpepa if ratified will give Japan the full license to dump their old ships under the mantle of bilateral trade pact,” the Pamalakaya leader added.

Hicap recalled that six years ago at the Tuna Congress held in General Santos City on September 9, 2002, Japan announced to sell its commercial fishing vessels to the Philippine government to help it increase its commercial tuna production beginning 2003.

Pamalakaya said there are 10,860 commercial fishing vessels operating in the Philippines in 2002, of which 4,444 commercial fishing vessels weighing 9 gross tons to 1,000 gross tons could be probably imported from Japan and other foreign sources as second hand commercial fishing vessels.

The militant group said leading ocean and coastal commercial fishing corporations like Mar Fishing Corp., RBL Fishing Corp., Frabelle Fishing Corp., Irma Fishing Corp., San Andres Fishing, Unity and Development Fishing, Belen and Sons Commodities, Zamboanga Universal Fishing. RD Tuna Ventures and RD Fishing Industries can shed light as to where they import their second hand commercial fishing vessels.

Pamalakaya previously argued that Jpepa will allow Japanese factory ships to exploit the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) for its vast tuna reserves. The group asserted that aside from tuna, under Jpepa, Japanese transnational fishing companies will also gobble up other marine resources that are reserved for Filipino consumption.

It had said that a 3,000 single factory ship could catch not less than 50,000 metric tons of tuna that is equivalent to $ 242.4 million in total gross earnings per year. “The gains the Philippine government would derive like in the form of taxes and profit sharing would be minimal compared to what Japan will get from Jpepa as far as the fishing aspect of the agreement is concerned,” Pamalakaya added.

The group said the fishing aspect of Jpepa is meant for the benefit and survival of Japan’s commercial fishing to the detriment of Filipino tuna producers.

With the increase in the supply of tuna produced by Japanese factory ships and their shipment to Japan and other countries, the local tuna producers and small tuna fishermen would be at their mercy by way of depressed prices, or worst when tuna stocks in Philippine EEZ are depleted it could lead to supply constraints and closure of local tuna producers’ processing plants, the murder of the P 18-B local tuna industry and the massacre of jobs and source of livelihood of some 180,000 tuna fishermen and fish workers. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 06:32 | link | comments |
economic slavery

Pamalakaya rebuked 73 CBCP bishops on CARP extension

The left-leaning fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Saturday slammed the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) for pushing the extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) despite the fact that the 20-year land reform law failed to deliver social justice to millions of landless farmers all over the country.

Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said the 73 bishops of the CBCP are misinformed, misled and misguided by some elements with real state mentality that see farmers later on selling their lands to real state speculator once they could not longer till the land.

Hicap’s group and other allied peasant organizations are instead pushing for the passage of House Bill 3059 or the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB) authored by the late Anakpawis party list Rep. Crispin Beltran. The bill seeks to distribute all agricultural lands to landless farmers for free.

The fisherfolk leader cited four major reasons why the bishops should stop their pro-CARP gospel and go back to reality that the government land reform program is nothing but a long-running nightmare.

“First, CARP promoted social injustice instead of justice in the last 20 years, that is why it is bogus. Second because of its built in fatal flaws, it is impossible to reform CARP and it will only promote day-to-day illusions among the peasantry. Third, politically and legally speaking CARP is dead and its extension is a political and moral misnomer. Fourth, there is a new bill in Congress known as House Bill 3059 or GARB that is being pushed for legislative action and it deserves the full support of CBCP and the Filipino farmers across the country,” Hicap added.

“While we recognize the bishops concern for the worsening landlessness and poverty among the farmers and rural people, it is pro-CARP extension position is nothing but a Gospel of false hopes. The bishops should take a closer look of GARB and discover for themselves why it is politically and morally correct and above part compared to the CARP extension bill with reforms being pushed by pseudo farmer groups and institutions,” the Pamalakaya leader added.

Hicap asserted that the so-called clamor for CARP extension is just a hype courtesy of groups known for misleading the fight of farmers for thoroughgoing land reform program, and sad to say the prelates have become the victims of this well organized publicity hype and campaign of make-believe for the 20-year old land reform program.

Barely four days ahead of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s 8th State of the Nation Address (SONA), 73 bishops of the CBCP signed a petition calling lawmakers to mark as urgent the bill that would extend CARP and institute progressive reforms that would truly benefit poor farmers who remain landless. Among those who signed the petition were Manila Archbishop Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales, Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Vidal, Jaro Archbishop and CBCP President Angel Lagdameo, Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz.

A report said copies of the petition were given to President Arroyo, Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno, Senate President Manuel Villar and House Speaker Prospero Nograles. The bishops asserted that the implementation of CARP with reforms would address the worsening landlessness and poverty all over the country.

In Southern Tagalog, Pamalakaya said 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. The group 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, 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.

The groups 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. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 06:31 | link | comments |
garb vs carp

Pamalakaya tells 73 pro-CARP bishops: Reforms impossible with CARP

The left-leaning fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Friday slammed the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) for pushing the extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) despite the fact that the 20-year land reform law failed to deliver social justice to millions of landless farmers all over the country.

Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said the 73 bishops of the CBCP are either misinformed or misguided about the real score on CARP. The fisherfolk leader cited four major reasons why the bishops should stop their pro-CARP gospel and go back to reality that the government land reform program is nothing but a long-running nightmare.

“First, CARP promoted social injustice instead of justice in the last 20 years, that is why it is bogus. Second because of its built in fatal flaws, it is impossible to reform CARP and it will only promote day-to-day illusions among the peasantry. Third, politically and legally speaking CARP is dead and its extension is a political and moral misnomer. Fourth, there is a new bill in Congress known as House Bill 3059 or Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB) that is being pushed for legislative action and that deserves the full support of CBCP and the Filipino farmers across the country,” Hicap added.

“While we recognize the bishops concern for the worsening landlessness and poverty among the farmers and rural people, it is pro-CARP extension position is nothing but a Gospel of false hopes,” the Pamalakaya leader added.

Hicap asserted that the so-called clamor for CARP extension is just a hype courtesy of groups known for misleading the fight of farmers for thoroughgoing land reform program, and sad to say the prelates have become the victims of this publicity hype and campaign of make-believe.

Barely four days ahead of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s 8th State of the Nation Address (SONA), 73 bishops of the CBCP signed a petition calling lawmakers to mark as urgent the bill that would extend CARP and institute progressive reforms that would truly benefit poor farmers who remain landless.

Among those who signed the petition were Manila Archbishop Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales, Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Vidal, Jaro Archbishop and CBCP President Angel Lagdameo, Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz.

A report said copies of the petition were given to President Arroyo, Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno, Senate President Manuel Villar and House Speaker Prospero Nograles. The bishops asserted that the implementation of CARP with reforms would address the worsening landlessness and poverty all over the country.

In Southern Tagalog, Pamalakaya said 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. The group 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, 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.

The groups 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. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 08:13 | link | comments |
garb vs carp

Atienza told: Laguna fishermen are not wild pigs, they are people

Fishermen in Laguna Lake are protesting the plan of the Department of Environment (DENR) and the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) to evict more than 30,000 families of small fisherfolk and urban poor around the lake to pave way for national government projects funded by foreign financial agencies.

“Gusto namin paalalahanan sina Environment Secretary Atienza at LLDA General Manager Edgar Manda na ang mga mangingisda at maralita sa Laguna Lake ay hindi mga baboy ramo. Sila ay mga tao! (We would like to me remind environment secretary Joselito Atienza and LLDA General Manager Edgar Manda that our fisherfolk and urban poor brothers in Laguna Lake are not pigs. They are people!”), Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a press statement.

Hicap issued the statement after reports reached Pamalakaya’s national headquarters that the DENR and the LLDA will seek the help of Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chair Bayani Fernando to demolish 30,000 fisherfolk and urban poor families in a number of towns of Rizal, National Capital Region and Laguna that surround the lake to pave way for construction of dikes and new roads.

“The Office of the President in cooperation with the three stooges of President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo—Atienza, Manda and Fernando will designate MMDA’s army of goons to demolish fishing and urban poor communities to fast track the grand sell out of Laguna Lake. In the next few weeks or months, MMDA hired goons will soon attack lake people like wild boars in the jungle,” the Pamalakaya leader said.

“The designation of MMDA goons headed by the gangster like Fernando as the lead army in demolishing fishing communities in Laguna Lake is a political certification that government has declared an all-out war against the people of the lake. So it is going to be a triple platinum murder courtesy of the military, the police and tested goons of MMDA,” Hicap added.

Last week Pamalakaya and the broad environmental group Save Laguna Lake Movement (SLMM) dumped some 50 kilos of janitor fish in the LLDA office in Pasig City to protest the looming demolition of fisherfolk and urban communities in the lake.

Pamalakaya said Malacañang and President Arroyo, through their main point persons in DENR and LLDA are selling the country’s largest lake to the highest bidders and preferred investor clients courtesy of the ambitious Laguna Lake 2000 development program. The first phase of the lakewide development program involves reclamation and construction of road dikes that will initially displace 32,000 fisherfolk and urban poor families in Pasig, Cainta, Taytay and Muntinlupa, all in National Capital Region.

To facilitate the entry of foreign investments, the government will first execute the North Laguna Lakeshore Flood and Drainage System that will involve construction of road and dikes from Taguig to Taytay (9.8 kilometers), Bicutan to Taguig (9.5 kilometers), Sta. Rosa to Calamba City section (28 kilometers) Bay to Sta.Cruz in Laguna (32 kilometers), Siniloan to Kalayaan section (28 kilometers) and Tanay section (10 kilometers).

The group said aside from road and dike construction, the DENR and the LLDA will proceed with the reclamation of lake waters in Taguig (3,000 hectares), Muntinlupa (5,000 hectares) and Los Baños in Laguna (500 hectares). Pamalakaya also said the government plans to reclaim thousands of hectares of lake waters from Taytay to Binangonan.

“The LLDA said it wants to save the lake from biological destruction. But the government projects facilitated by the lake authority has further exposed the falsity of President Arroyo’s long running claims that it is really after protection of Laguna Lake and the welfare of the people,” the group added. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 10:18 | link | comments |
mindboggling people

Pre-SONA protest
Fishers staged 10-kilometer swim protest against oil price hikes

Leftwing activists belonging to the fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) braved the murky waters of Manila Bay for the fourth time around this year to protest what they called the uncontrollable increases in the prices of petroleum products since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed the presidency in 2001.

Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap led the three-fisherfolk contingent that crossed the 10-kilometer Manila Bay channel from Barangay Maliksi 3, a fishing village in Bacoor, Cavite to Philippine Senate in Pasay City to denounce Malacañang and oil cartel’s across-the-nation exploitation of the 1.8 million fishermen and the 90 million Filipinos through weekly oil price increases.

The swim protest was done in two stages. The first part was the 9-kilometer coast-to-coast swim in Bacoor Bay, while the second part was the 1-km protest swim from Manila Bay to the Philippine Senate building in Pasay City.

“We are not bound for the Olympic Games in Beijing, China. We are bound to make Mrs. Arroyo and the oil cartel pay for their economic crimes against the people. This is the message of our 10-kilomter swim protest to Malacañang, to Chevron, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Petron Philippines,” Hicap said in a statement minutes before the swim protest took off the shallow waters off Bacoor in Cavite.

Hicap said the 10-kilomoter swim protest is part of the nationwide fish strike Pamalakaya and its 43 provincial and regional chapters will launch next month. He said it is also part of the weeklong protest action set this week by the umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) prior to the big protest slated on July 28 State of the Nation Address of President Arroyo.

In the Senate, Senate President Manuel Villar took a break and went down to meet the Pamalakaya leaders. The third official of the land personally received the letter of appeal outlining the urgent demands of the small fisherfolk in connection with the weekly oil price increases.

Among the demands of Pamalakaya are the scrapping of the Oil Deregulation Law, the removal of the 12 percent expanded value added tax on oil, the nationalization of oil industry, the P 7,500 monthly oil subsidy for small fisherfolk owners of small fishing boats, P 3,000 monthly economic assistance to boatless and gearless fishermen and distribution of National Food Authority (NFA) rice for free to victims of typhoon Frank last month.

Villar said, as Senate President he will study the proposals of Pamalakaya and promised to do his best to address the issues raised by the militant fisherfolk alliance. Earlier, the Senate President suggested a P 2-per liter discount and the granting of soft loans to fishermen affected by typhoon Frank.

The Pamalakaya leader said fisherfolk employ at least 5 liters to 10 liters of regular gasoline per fishing trip that eats up 65 percent of the operation cost on the average basis. Hicap said the uncontrollable increases in the prices of petroleum products have forced small fishermen to reduce fishing hours from 8 to 12 hours to 4 to 8 hours as a result of weekly hikes in the prices of regular gasoline.

“Prior to Ms. Arroyo’s assumption of the presidency in 2001, our fishermen spend roughly P 180 per fishing trip, nowadays, each fisherfolk has to shell a little over P 600 per fishing trip for 10 liters of gasoline, excluding kerosene. Mrs. Arroyo and the oil cartel have perpetually scored windfalls from our oil consumers in the backward fisheries sector,” Hicap added.

Pamalakaya said the same applies to operator-owners of commercial fishing vessels. It said 60 to 65 percent of their total operating costs go to fuel consumption. Pamalakaya said if a medium-scale commercial fishing operator spends P 20,000 per fishing trip, P 12,000 to P 13,000 of the operating costs goes to fuel.

In its own study, Pamalakaya said smalls-scale commercial fishing operators usually employ at least 30 liters of regular gasoline per fishing trip that merely last for two days, and that will cost them at least P 6,000, which is 60 percent of average P 10,000 operating cost per fishing trip.

Pamalakaya said in General Santos City, the fishing port authority reported that the volume of catch landed went down from 256 metric tons of fish from January to June last year to 96 metric tons of fish during the same period this year. It said one of the major causes of the decrease is the weekly increases in the prices of oil that shortened the fishing hours of small and medium scale commercial fishing operations. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 10:47 | link | comments |
economic slavery

Fishers group slams QC prosecutor’s junking of libel case against Palparan: Where’s justice in this world”—Pamalakaya

“Where is justice in this world?”

This was the initial reaction of the militant fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) upon learning this early afternoon that the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office dismissed the P 20-million libel case filed by the fisherfolk group against retired Army Major Gen. Jovito Palparan.

“The issue of proper venue or lack of jurisdiction is one absurd legal technicality that is often used to score a perpetual denial of justice against truth and justice seeking people. Something is really, really wrong here. The prosecutor should have go beyond the issue of technicality and correctly address the issue that is a matter of life and death to victims of Palparan’s raging campaign of terror,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a press statement.

In a one page-letter, Assistant Prosecutor Corazon Romano ruled that the complaint filed by Pamalakaya against Palparan is dismissed on the ground of improver venue. “A perusal of the complaint and its allegations disclosed the alleged defamatory and libelous statements were committed at the time where the respondent was indeed holding office in Tarlac City,” Romano said in the resolution.

The P 20-million libel case filed by Pamalakaya against Palparan stemmed from the controversial Army officer’s statement that the fisherfolk group and its allied party list group Anakpawis were creating troubles in the coastal villages of Bulacan province.

Palparan had accused Pamalakaya and Anakpawis in an Inquirer interview of creating trouble along the coastal areas of the province through intimidation and recruitment of civilians to the outlawed New People’s Army (NPA) and extorting P50,000 monthly from fishpond operators in the province. In the same interview, Palparan said it was necessary to single out Pamalakaya and Anakpawis in the counter-insurgency campaign of the government to eliminate communist guerillas.

Pamalakaya interpreted Palparan’s statement as an open endorsement of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in the province. In their nine-page complaint, Pamalakaya said that aside from tarnishing its image, stature and reputation, Palparan’s statements indirectly threatened its officials, organizers and members with “grave dangers” to their lives, security and safety.

In asserting its legitimacy as a people’s organization engaged in various advocacy work, Pamalakaya said it was a legal organization registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As a federation, Pamalakaya said it had 43 provincial chapters all over the country and individual members numbering not less than 80,000 as of July 2006.

As a fisherfolk organization, Pamalakaya has been invited to various gatherings abroad, including the United Nations, which made Pamalakaya a resource group in the early 1990s for the crafting of the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas (Unclos). In the last 20 years, Pamalakaya leaders and representatives have gone to the United States, Italy, Denmark, India, Sri Lanka, France, South Africa, Indonesia, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Nepal, Hong Kong, Cambodia, France, Kenya and the Netherlands to attend various international conferences and gatherings of fisherfolk across the globe, it said.

“We are still consulting our legal counsel on what to do to this latest legal tragedy and setback courtesy of the government’s prosecutor’s office in Quezon City. Do we appeal this case in the Department of Justice under the unjust secretary of justice? Do we have to file a separate complaint or case against Assistant Prosecutor Romano for denying us the justice we deserve? Or do we have to re-file the same case against Palparan this time as a private citizen having been retired from public office? These are the considerations we are contemplating right now,” Hicap said. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 08:33 | link | comments |
human rights

Yap told to disclose what he knew about RP-US trade pact

The militant fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Monday asked Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Arthur Yap to disclose the content of the RP-US Free Trade Pact.

Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap recalled that sometime in December last year, Secretary Yap announced the country’s need to forge a bilateral trade agreement with Washington to enhance the Philippines’ current economic and trade relationships with US.

“If my memory serves me right, Mr. Yap issued a statement stating that the Philippines would like to move forward in all aspects of its trade relations with the United States, either bilaterally, such as pursuing an FTA or working within the confines of the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), or multilaterally, like working towards a successful conclusion of the Doha Development Agenda,” the fisherfolk leader added.

Hicap said Secretary Yap was acting that time as the local town crier of the White House regarding the proposed RP-US free trade pact. He said Yap’s pitch for the free trade pact was a follow up and a reminder to Malacañang that President Arroyo should push through with the agreement.

“The US is dictating upon the Arroyo government the need to come up with a free trade agreement that is bigger, earth shaking and extremely evil than Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement, which secrecy was recently upheld by the Supreme Court,” he said.

But Pamalakaya’s Hicap said he is expecting Secretary Yap to turn down the request for him to disclose the content of the RP-US trade pact, adding that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s agriculture secretary is expected to invoke the much abused executive privilege which was used by the SC for the second time around in denying the petition for the government to disclose the contents of Jpepa in the name of people’s constitutional right to information.

“Secretary Yap is expected to deny our request for him to inform the Filipino public on the content of RP-US free trade agreement. But there is a saying that says if there’s a will, there’s a way and we will find that way to keep our people inform about this upcoming and predictable lopsided and anti-Filipino treaty,” Hicap added.

The Pamalakaya said the RP-US Free Trade Agreement is a done the way the controversial Jpepa is authored and clinched by the parties to the agreement. The fisherfolk group said the Philippine government already has come up with the proposals for a three-stage RP-US FTA. Under Phase 1 of the package, the two parties must agree on common products like garments and textile and possibly, electronics. Phase 2 would cover the granting of additional concessions on more sensitive products, while Phase 3 would delve on a comprehensive coverage of products and services.”

Pamalakaya said the decision of the Supreme Court upholding the secrecy of the negotiations for the Jpepa has given Malacañang the go signal to rush pending economic treaties with the United States, European Union, Australia, New Zealand and China.

Pamalakaya said at least five more bilateral economic treaties are ready for Malacañang’s official including the installed RP-China Agreement, and the upcoming RP-US Free Trade Agreement, the RP-Australia Free Trade Agreement, the RP-European Union Free Trade Agreement and the RP-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement.

“The RP-US Free Trade Agreement, and four other bilateral trade pacts are done deals. But Malacañang is keeping it a sacred and secret , denying the public their right to know what this trade pact is all about and its’ super destructive impact and effect to 90 million Filipinos. This is a national crime against people done by Malacañang in collusion with the high tribunal,” the group said.

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 03:08 | link | comments |
economic slavery

Militants to lawmakers: Probe M/V Ocean Papa too

Leftwing militants belonging to the fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Monday asked lawmakers to conduct a separate or joint congressional inquiry on the incident involving M/V Ocean Papa, a cargo ship that carried 16 metric tons of toluene-di-isocyanate (TDI) placed in 80 drums, which sank at the height of typhoon Frank.

The cargo ship sank near Mararison Island, some 5.6 kilometer fro the coast Culasi in Antique province. Culasi, located northwest of Panay Island is 86 kilometer north of the capital of San Jose, Antique and 88 kilometer south of Kalibo, the provincial capital of Aklan. Report said, MV Ocean Papa was en route to Iloilo City from Manila when it sank due to strong winds and rough seas.

“Like MV Princess of the Stars, M/V Ocean Papa is also a star of the hour of this long-running sea tragedy engineered by insatiable greed for super profits, bureaucratic corruption and state neglect,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a press statement.

Hicap added: “MV Ocean Papa was journeying toward the center of the storm that’s why it met the disaster, but no one is giving it the much needed investigation to determine those who are accountable to this particular case of tragedy.”

The Pamalakaya leader wondered by only there is no investigation undertaken on the incident involving the cargo ship that contained toxic and poisonous chemicals which was allowed by the government to sail despite the heavy typhoon last month.

“Let me remind our lawmakers that the case of MV Ocean Papa is as explosive as that of MV Princess of the Stars in terms of devastating impact of fisherfolk livelihood, marine environment and public health. But the sad part of the tale, is that nobody is taking this matter seriously,” Hicap lamented.

Last week, Lomalyn Claudio, director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Western Visayas sounded the alarm bells for possible contamination from MV Ocean Papa that sank at the same time with MV Princes of the Stars at the height of typhoon Frank.

Reports reaching Pamalakaya national office in Manila said the provincial government and the Philippine Coast Guard imposed a fishing ban in Culasi town, likewise swimming has also been banned due to government’s fear of chemical leak, although initial tests turned negative.

“So what’s next? The fish ban has already caused fish scare among the people. What will the government do to help the people, especially the affected fishermen. Who are accountable to this marine disaster in Culasi? These issues are ranged to the attention of the national government and the lawmaker probers for quick and effective resolutions,” the militant group said.

The Technology Transfer Network Air Toxics Website of the US Environmental Protection Agency described TDI as extremely toxic from acute and chronic exposure. It said, acute exposure through inhalation from the chemical causes severe irritation of the skin and eyes and affects the respiratory, gastrointestinal and central nervous systems.

The site also bared that chronic inhalation exposure from TDI results in decrease lung function and asthma-like reaction, characterized by wheezing, dyspnea and bronchial constriction. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 03:07 | link | comments |
bitch n pieces

DoE-DoJ task force on oil price hike: Toothless tiger, says fishers group

The government task force formed to look into the round of oil price hikes is nothing but a toothless tiger, according to the left-leaning fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya).

Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said the formation of task force headed by Department of Energy (DoE) Secretary Angelo Reyes and Department of Justice (DoJ) Secretary Raul Gonzalez was not even a welcome news.

The Malacañang established task force will meet executives of the oil companies on Monday, and will ask officials of oil companies to justify the recent increase in the prices of petroleum products. Over the weekend, oil companies led by Chevron Philippines and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. hiked prices of diesel by P 3 per liter, kerosene by P 1.50 per liter and gasoline by P 1 per liter.

“Do secretaries Reyes and Gonzalez have the balls to tell the oil cartel to stop squeezing super profits from the people and stop exploiting the current economic crisis for their extreme fetish and insatiable greed for monopoly profits?” said Hicap. “We were not born yesterday. This task force will just turn up into another favorite past time of the Macapagal-Arroyo government and the oil cartel. It is President Arroyo’s way of deceiving the people,” the Pamalakaya leader added.

Hicap said the energy secretary and the justice secretary like President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo are either closet or self-confessed puppets of the oil cartel and the Filipino people should not expect this task force to carry the task in the name of people’s economic rights and collective interest.

Meanwhile, the group reiterated its’ call to all commercial fishing operators to join the planned one day fish strike next month against the weekly oil price increases. Pamalakaya said commercial fishing operators in France, Spain and last week in Japan have already staged an across-the-nation fish strike to protest the high cost of fuels.

“The commercial fishing operators and fish workers in France, Spain and Japan made their successful fish strikes to pressure their respective governments to lower the price of oil and remove the Value Added Tax on oil. We can do it here, but in order to make it a success, they must join the fish strike,” said Pamalakaya.

The militant group reminded operators of commercial fishing vessels that about 60 to 65 percent of their total operating costs go to fuel consumption. Pamalakaya said if a medium-scale commercial fishing operator spends P 20,000 per fishing trip, P 12,000 to P 13,000 of the operating costs goes to fuel.

In its own study, Pamalakaya said smalls-scale commercial fishing operators usually employ at least 30 liters of regular gasoline per fishing trip that merely last for two days, and that will cost them at least P 6,000, which is 60 percent of average P 10,000 operating cost per fishing trip.

Pamalakaya said in General Santos City, the fishing port authority reported that the volume of catch landed went down from 256 metric tons of fish from January to June last year to 96 metric tons of fish during the same period this year. It said one of the major causes of the decrease is the weekly increases in the prices of oil that shortened the fishing hours of small and medium scale commercial fishing operations.

The militant group also agreed with the study made by the militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) and Kontra-KulimVAT that in July 2001, small fishermen only spend a little over
P 170 per fishing trip, but now they spend between P 580 to P 600 per fishing trip because of oil price hikes and the VAT imposed on regular gasoline. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 09:03 | link | comments |
mindboggling people

For comparing RP diesel price with US: GMA is reincarnation of Alice in Wonderland, says militant fishers group

Leftwing militants belonging to Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Saturday slammed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for comparing the price of diesel in the country with the United States to convince the people that local diesel price is still cheaper compared to the petroleum product sold in the US.

“She is acting like a modern day reincarnation of Alice in Wonderland who was last seen in the company of illusion makers, false promise givers and escape artists. We declare the Philippine President is in complete state of mental dysfunction,” Pamalakaya information officer Gerry Albert Corpuz said in a press statement.

Corpuz added: “No one in his or her sane state of mind will declare such super stupid statement. The President is highly delusional. Somebody must advise her to leave and undergo a thorough psychiatric treatment.”

At the signing of declaration of merger between her political parties, the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democracts (Lakas-CMD) and the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi), President Arroyo said the local prices of petroleum products are still cheaper compare to US and other Asian neighbors. She said the current price of diesel at P 55.90 per liter is still cheaper than the US which is currently sold at P 60 per liter, Thailand ( P 60 per liter), New Zealand (P 67 per liter) and Hong Kong (P 71 per liter).

President Arroyo also said that P 8 billion from VAT on oil is used to subsidized rice sold by the National Food Authority (NFA) all over the country at P 18.25 per kilo, which is lower compared to India (P 95 per kilo), Thailand (P 56 per kilo), Vietnam (P 67 per kilo) and Singapore ( P 45 per kilo).

The Pamalakaya information chief reminded that it is super illogical and super absurd to compare Filipino consumers and workers with their American counterparts, although it also a fact, that like ordinary Filipinos, the American workers and consumers are also hurt by the collapse of the US economy.

“In the US, low paid workers receive an annual income between $ USD 16,000 to $ USD 30,000 or between P 720,000 to P 1.35 million per year. On the other hand, minimum wage earners in the Philippines receive an annual income of P 105,000 a year. Yet Mrs. Arroyo has the nerve to put them on equal footing by measuring their financial capacity to withstand the devastating impact of high diesel price. No economist will make such kind of lop-sided and brutally obscured interpretation,” Corpuz added.

Malacañang continued to reject calls to scrap or suspend the 12-percent expanded value added tax (EVAT) on petroleum products, asserting that the controversial tax measure helps the government in maintaining oil products and rice in the country among the cheapest in the region.

But Pamalakaya said President Arroyo is rejecting the proposal to immediately remove the VAT on oil because it is her bread and butter, and a major source of bureaucratic corruption in the government. The militant group said at least P 40-billion in tax payers’ money is lost to corruption every year, and big chunk of the budget for corruption comes from the VAT collected from petroleum products.

‘Mrs. Arroyo will be reduced to nothing, and her evil empire will collapse if she fails to satisfy the greed of her close political associates in and out of Malacañang. The VAT on oil is the one that keeps her to cling to power, because she uses it to perpetually buy political patronage and political loyalty in the name of her survival,” the group added. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 05:50 | link | comments |
bitch n pieces

Leftists advised GMA: Step down before negative ratings reach 50 percent

Leftwing militants belonging to Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Saturday advised President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to step down before her public support ratings plunges further to negative 50 percent in the next one to the two months.

“She has to take a permanent leave of absence or quit the presidency. The people have spoken and they don’t want her to finish her term. That’s the political sentiment of the 90 million Filipino people against Mrs. Arroyo and the ruling mafia in Malacañang,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a press statement.

The Pamalakaya leader predicted that by the time President Arroyo delivers

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 05:50 | link | comments |
gma sona

Leftists advised GMA: Step down before negative ratings reach 50 percent

Leftwing militants belonging to Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Saturday advised President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to step down before her public support ratings plunges further to negative 50 percent in the next one to the two months.

“She has to take a permanent leave of absence or quit the presidency. The people have spoken and they don’t want her to finish her term. That’s the political sentiment of the 90 million Filipino people against Mrs. Arroyo and the ruling mafia in Malacañang,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a press statement.

The Pamalakaya leader predicted that by the time President Arroyo delivers her 8th State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 28, her approval ratings could further take a nose dive to negative 50 percent or more than that, adding that the current extreme economic crisis is igniting the people to stage another popular uprising against the bankrupt and corrupt regime.

“President Arroyo is biologically alive but politically dead. Her regime of greed is already in the Intensive Care Unit and it could die anytime from now. The P 80-billion she collects from the expanded value added tax oil is only her support system which she uses to buy political support of corrupt military and police officials, as well as bureaucrat capitalists in the government,” Hicap added.

The Social Weather Station (SWS) said the net satisfaction rating—the difference between those satisfied and dissatisfied went down further to negative 38 points in the second quarter from negative 26 points in the first quarter.

The SWS found that only 22 percent of the Filipinos were satisfied with the President’s performance while 60 percent were dissatisfied in a poll conducted in the last week of June. The survey group said the dissatisfaction was at majority levels in all areas—62 percent in Metro Manila, 60 percent in Luzon outside Metro Manila, 62 percent in Mindanao and 56 percent in the Visayas.

“The survey said Mrs. Arroyo is both unpopular and hated by the people across the country because of her anti-people economic policies, extreme oppression and wholesale violations of people’s rights. It is very outrageous to reduce the SWS poll into a mere popularity contest as if Mrs. Arroyo is running for Ms. Universe, and this kind of thinking is as cheap and as corrupt like Arroyo,” Pamalakaya said.

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 05:48 | link | comments |
gma sona

SC verdict on Jpepa gave Palace go signal to rush pacts with US, 4 other economic pacts

The decision of the Supreme Court upholding the secrecy of the negotiations for the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa) has given President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo the go signal to rush pending economic treaties with the United States, European Union, Australia, New Zealand and China.

According to the leftwing fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas at least five more bilateral economic treaties are ready for Malacañang’s official signature, and these are the installed RP-China Agreement, the RP-US Free Trade Agreement, the RP-Australia Free Trade Agreement, the RP-European Union Free Trade Agreement and the RP-Australia Free Trade Agreement.

Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said the high tribunal ruling will prevent the people from knowing the contents of the RP-US Free Trade Agreement and four other economic treaties the government are currently negotiating with the governments of the US, China, European Union, Australia and New Zealand.

“The Supreme Court does not care even if President Arroyo sells our soul, dignity, sovereignty and patrimony to foreign exploiters and oppressors. The majority of the SC justices who are allied with the present ruling syndicate in Malacañang merely expressed their loyalty to their benefactors in Malacañang and renege their political, moral and constitutional responsibilities and obligations to the people and doctrine of national and collective interest of not less than 90 million Filipinos,” the Pamalakaya leader said in a press statement.

Hicap said President Arroyo is expected to invoke executive privilege and the favorable Supreme Court ruling on this once the Filipino public, including truth advocates invoke their constitutional right to information on the RP-US free trade pact, the RP-China Agreement, the RP-EU Free Trade Agreement, the RP-Australia Free Trade Agreement and the RP-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement currently in the drawing board of the Macapagal-Arroyo government.

“The RP-US Free Trade Agreement, and four other bilateral trade pacts are done deals. But Malacañang is keeping it a sacred and secret , denying the public their right to know what this trade pact is all about and its’ super destructive impact and effect to 90 million Filipinos. This is a national crime against people done by Malacañang in collusion with the high tribunal,” Hicap said.

The Pamalakaya leader said the RP-US Free Trade Agreement is done the way the controversial
Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa) is authored and clinched by the parties to the agreement.

“To set the record straight, the Philippine government already has come up with the proposals for a
three-stage RP-US FTA. Under Phase 1 of the package, the two parties must agree on common products like garments and textile and possibly, electronics. Phase 2 would cover the granting of additional concessions on more sensitive products, while Phase 3 would delve on a comprehensive coverage of products and services,” Hicap said.

Hicap recalled that sometime in December last year, Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Arthur Yap also announced the need for a new RP-US Free Trade Agreement. The Pamalakaya leader said: “If my memory serves me right, Mr. Yap issued a statement stating that the Philippines would like to move forward in all aspects of its trade relations with the United States, either bilaterally, such as pursuing an FTA or working within the confines of the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), or multilaterally, like working towards a successful conclusion of the Doha Development Agenda.”

“Secretary Yap was acting that time as the local town crier of the White House regarding the proposed RP-US free trade pact. It was a follow up and a reminder to Malacañang that President Arroyo should push through with the agreement. The US is dictating upon the Arroyo government the need to come up with a free trade agreement that is bigger, earth shaking and extremely evil than Jpepa,” Hicap said.

Earlier, Pamalakaya said the approval of the ambitious $ 110-million oil and gas exploration in the Sulu Sea to be conducted by the US oil and gas firm ExxonMobil was a preview of the forthcoming RP-US Free Trade Agreement. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 02:59 | link | comments |
economic slavery

Secretary Yap pressed to stop government from selling NFA rice at P 35 per kilo in Mindanao

Four of the biggest rural organizations in the country—the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), the fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya), the agricultural labor union Unyon ng Mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) and the peasant women federation Amihan today asked Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Arthur Yap to stop the state-owned National Food Authority (NFA) from selling government subsidized rice at P 35 per kilo in Mindanao.

In a joint press statement, KMP secretary general Danilo Ramos, Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap, UMA President Rene Galang and Amihan national chairperson Carmen Buena said the P 35 per kilo price of NFA is almost doubled to the current P 18.25 per kilo of NFA rice sold in various NFA outlets nationwide.

The leaders of the various rural groups issued the call a day after chapters of KMP and Pamalakaya in South Cotabato, Sarangani and General Santos City reported that the NFA is flooding the local market with its stocks of rice sold at P 35 per kilo. They said the price of NFA rice is even higher to the price of commercial rice sold between P 28 to P 36 per kilo.

“We would to remind Secretary Yap that the move of the NFA region 11 is not to provide the people with enough and affordable cheap rice, but to force people to buy commercial rice supplied by commercial rice traders and rice cartel in the region, that is why it raised the price of NFA at par with commercial rice” KMP’s Ramos stressed.

“This is terrible because the government is taking advantage of the situation. If the NFA wants to reduce the prices of rice in the market, it should increase its procurement capacity of locally produced palay and flood and sell rice at affordable price to influence the price of rice in the market favorable to the majority but poor consuming public,” Ramos added.

Hicap of Pamalakaya fisherfolk group shared Ramos view why the government through NFA decided to trade rice equivalent to the market price of commercially sold rice. “That’s the game plan. To push, coerce or compel the people to buy commercial rice, and in order to do that, the NFA has to level its selling price with the prevailing market price of commercial rice, and at the same time rake profits for the rice authority. Something must be done to stop this collusion between the rice cartel and the NFA,” the Pamalakaya leader added.

Hicap added: “Secretary Yap must stop the government from further taking advantage of the rice crisis by making NFA rice accessible and affordable to the people. The agriculture department must end this day-to-day robbery in broad daylight.”

But NFA officials in Region 11 which is compose of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos City said they supplied rice retailers with premium grade rice imported from Vietnam at P 35 per kilo, and their intention, they said, is to pull down prices of commercial rice across the region.

The NFA said aside from selling P 35 per kilo of rice, it will continue to supply the local market with P 25 per kilo of NFA rice, while its P 18.25 per kilo of rice will be sold in depressed areas.

Rice retailers, however, complained they have difficulty in selling premium grade rice supplied by NFA because of its high cost. The retailers said the price of commercial rice in the region went down because farmers have started to harvest and sell their palay at P 12 to P 13 per kilo.

Meanwhile, the groups reiterated their demand to Secretary Yap to distribute NFA rice for free to areas ravaged by super typhoon Frank last month. They said the Yap should prioritize the free distribution of NFA rice to fishing and farming villages affected by the typhoon in Aklan, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Masbate, Sorsogon, Albay, Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Romblon, Mindoro Occidental, Mindoro Oriental and Quezon provinces. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 02:11 | link | comments |
rice crisis

Fishers group accused Philippine Army of targeting militants in Negros

THE MILITANT FISHERFOLK ALLIANCE Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Thursday accused the Philippine Army in Negros of planning to liquidate leaders and members of their group and other cause oriented organizations branded as fronts or supporters of the New People’s Army in the island.

Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said their provincial chapter in Negros dispatched a report that members of the Philippine Army in Negros are telling the people that our leaders and members are supporters of NPAs and therefore legitimate targets of military counter-insurgency because they work with the Communist Party of the Philippines, the communist rebels and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

“The strong anti-Arroyo currents in Negros compelled the de facto Martial Law regime of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to re-unleash the sword of war and campaign of terror in the province in the name of political doctrine known as Arroyo’s political survival,” Hicap added.

The Pamalakaya-Negros chapter’s report prompted Hicap to ask Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chairperson Leila de Lima to dispatch an investigating team to look into an alleged plan of Philippine Army to neutralize leaders and members of activist organizations in Negros, that include the fisherfolk group and other member organizations of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) and militant party lists Bayan Muna, Gabriela and Anakpawis.

Last month Manila-based pastors from the Roman Catholic and protestant churches went to Guihulngan City in Negros Occidental to check reported human rights abuses there allegedly perpetrated by the military.

The religious-led fact finding mission was conducted after reports reached Manila that a village resolution was allegedly passed last May 28 preventing leaders and members of human rights watchdog Karapatan from entering Barangay Linantuyan in Guihulngan City.

The fisherfolk leader said military officials of the 11th Infantry Batallion of the Philippine Army, including Major Nathaniel Villasor, chief of the 303rd Infantry Brigade Civil Military Operations and Philippine National Police (PNP) Senior Supt. Rosendo Franco are the front runners in the alleged campaign against leaders and members of progressive groups, which according to Philippine Army are closely being watched for their connection with the communist guerillas in the island.

“President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and league of extrajudicial killers in Negros are setting the stage for another round of extrajudicial killings and campaign of state terror in the province. We strongly ask the CHR chair, including the Senate and House Committees on Human Rights to look into this gameplan of the military to eliminate political activists in the province,” Hicap said.

Pamalakaya said they will write Senate Majority Leader Senator Francis Pangilinan, chair of the Senate Committee on Human Rights, and Quezon Rep. Lorenzo Tañada III to conduct either a joint or separate congressional inquiry on the alleged plot to liquidate Negros based activists.

“This looming orgy of political killings and enforced disappearances must be stopped not only in Negros, but in the entire Philippines. The government is banking on its election as Vice President of the United Nations Human Rights Council to pu