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Maza resigns; last NDFP-nominated member leaves Duterte Cabinet

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The last of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP)-nominated members to the Rodrigo Duterte Cabinet has tendered her irrevocable resignation today, August 20

National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) Lead Convenor Liza Maza announced she is leaving the Duterte government after deeper reflection on the events of the past weeks, including the double murder charges she faced with three other former Makabayan bloc representatives like herself.

“I am announcing that I have tendered this morning my irrevocable resignation as Secretary and Lead Convenor of the National Anti-Poverty Commission,” Maza said in a pres conference.

She said that while the fabricated and baseless murder charges were eventually dismissed, the revival of these cases and the issuance of warrants of arrest under a seeming crackdown on activists like her took its toll on her work at the NAPC.

“I realized that similar attacks by the anti-reform, rightist, and militarist forces in our society will continue to undermine my leadership of this agency. As such, I simply can no longer work under these circumstances,” she said.

Along with Maza, former social work and development secretary Judy Taguiwalo and agrarian reform secretary Rafael Mariano were nominated to the Duterte Cabinet by the NDFP.

Taguiwalo and Mariano were no longer re-appointed by President Duterte after they were rejected by the Commission on Appointments.

Maza explained that Duterte’s total cancellation of its peace talks with the NDFP last August 14 was her biggest reason for resigning.

“The decision killed my remaining hopes that the peace talks would result to substantive social and economic reforms that would end widespred poverty in the country as well as the ongoing civil war,” she said.

She added that the cancellation of the talks signals that policies that are counter to reforms for the poor as well as militaristic mindset and attitude are primary to the government.

Maza said that her resignation is not a surrender of the pursuit of meaningful reforms that she has embarked on in her two years of leading the NAPC, which she said has always been her life’s work as an activist and legislator.

“[N]or am I succumbing to the reactionary forces who have long wanted me out of this post. Rather, it has become clear to me that this pursuit will be better served with me working outside of government,” she said.

Among Maza’s biggest achievements as NAPC lead convenor was the publication of the 100-page “Reforming Philippine Anti-Poverty Policy – Going Beyond, Moving Forward” roadmap that sought “meaningful debates on poverty eradication instead of mere poverty alleviation.”

Maza said during its launch in January that among the book’s proposals are the development of Philippine industries, review of international economic deals, regulation of foreign investments for development, state-directed financing for development, and more progressive taxation.

She said then she hoped that President Duterte would support their proposals.

Maza, in her statement today, said that poverty eradication may no longer be possible under the Duterte administration.

“I joined the Cabinet more than two years ago with high hopes of helping to facilitate meaningful socioeconomic and political reforms from within the government, when the President was initially engaged in the peace negotiations that can potentially bring these about,” she explained.

“His latest pronouncement, however, on finally terminating the talks brings me to the conclusion that these reforms may no longer be possible under the current administration,” she said, adding she believes “genuine change cannot happen when the old forces of fascism and corruption, and the defenders of elite and foreign interests, are consolidating their position in government.”

“I have found it best to resume fighting from among the masses for this genuine change, which, as ever, has been the only real way to make sure that it will happen,” Maza concluded. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Scholars hold National Day of Action

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Nagtipon ang mga estudyante mula sa iba’t ibang kolehiyo ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas, Diliman noong Agosto 16, 2018 para sa National Day of Action na tinawag nilang Laban Iskolar para sa Karapatan sa Edukasyon.

Mariin na kinundena ng mga Iskolar ng bayan ang mga atake ni Duterte sa kanilang sektor sa porma ng iba’t ibang iskema tulad ng Socialized Tuition System (STS), Return Service System, Mandatory ROTC, Budget Cuts, at K-12 program.

Ayon sa kanila, ang mga iskemang ito ay paraan ng gubyerno upang pagkakitaan ang bawat kabataang pilipino.

Patuloy na ipinanawagan ng mga kabataan ang kanilang mga demokratikong karapatan, at ang pagpapatalsik kay Duterte. (Aug 16, 2018 / Palma Hall / UP Diliman)–Maricon Montajes

Activists condemn persecution in rally

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Days after trumped-up charges against four leading activists were dismissed by the Regional Trial Court of Palayan City, activists marched to Mendiola, Manila to condemn the Rodrigo Duterte government for its political persecution of dissenters.

Saying the government has revived Gloria Arroyo-era mechanisms to quell dissent on top of its own bloody record on human rights, the protesters recalled that their rally Thursday, August 16, also coincided with the first anniversary of the killing of 17-year old high school student Kian de los Santos in Caloocan City that who was widely believed to be killed extrajudicially by the Philippine National Police. (Video by Joseph Cuevas)

Continuous war against the poor

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

August 14, 2018

As the Congress approves House Bill 7735 or the Rice Tariffication Bill on third and final hearing, the Philippine Network of Food Security Programmes, Inc. (PNFSP) expresses its strong indignation as it will definitely not address the root cause of continuous food insecurity, rice shortage and worsening poverty in the country. The bill is systematically, mechanically and logically favorable to domestic and international rice cartel operators. It will further exploit the already exploited Filipino farmers and fishermen by forcing them to produce big bulk of rice, meat and fish just to meet global dictum and for importation which are all within the mechanism of HB 7735.

The House Bill 7735 has an intention to put safety nets for Filipino rice producers by imposing tariffs in lieu of quantitative restrictions on rice imports including fish and meat. It was pursued in line with President Duterte’s order to the Congress last July 23 to immediately pass the measure which targets to arrest inflation for at least 1% thus, minimally affecting the reduction of commodity prices. Though the bill mandates the National Food Authority as the sole authority to undertake the direct importation of rice for the purpose of ensuring food security and maintaining sufficient national buffer stocks, there’s no big assurance for common Filipinos to have food security due to neo-liberal agreements signed by the past administration.

The Rice Tariffication Bill will remove tough government control in all agricultural commodities and will oblige our domestic market to join and spend unnecessary resources to global rice market and competition. It will be a burden to all Filipinos especially the 60 million poorest of the poor families because of the high possibility of price increase on all basic commodities like rice, fish, meat, canned goods, vegetables, bread, etc. due to bloating rice import and unstable status of the global market which was further intensified and legalized by the TRAIN Law. In a country where landlessness, joblessness and homelessness are proliferating, the bill will not be of help to the majority of Filipinos. It will lead to farmer’s bankruptcy, drowning in debt and displacement from their lands. It will put farmers at a disadvantage situation especially that the government have minimal support to our rice producers.

In order to address poverty, food shortage and inflation, it is very timely to pass the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill for it has the capacity to uplift the lives of the poor majority Filipinos. Rural aid like free water irrigation, free calamity subsidy, post-harvest facility, agrarian mechanization and boosting of local market. Land conversion must stop because it contributes to the unceasing decrease of tillable land which affects the annual productivity rate of agriculture including aquaculture that shakes our food security.

Lastly, we want to reiterate that the right to safe, healthy and sustainable food system is a basic and universal human right which the Philippine government must abide with. There is no need to pass the Rice Tariffication Bill including the TRABAHO Bill for it is not favorable to all common Filipinos both in public and private sector. We must act and pray that the Senate will hear and consider our intention.

 

RENMIN VIZCONDE

Executive Director, Philippine Network of Food Security Programmes, Inc.

Duterte’s latest announcement of talks termination ‘nonnews’–Joma

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National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison dismissed government’s latest declaration terminating the peace talks, saying President Rodrigo Duterte has already done so last year.

“It is a nonnews,” Sison said when asked to react to Duterte’s speech Tuesday saying peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the NDFP are terminated.

“This is not the first time that Duterte terminates the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations. Duterte terminated the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations on November 23, 2017 with his Proclamation 360, and then he followed it up with Proclamation 374 designating the CPP and NPA as ‘terrorist’ organizations with the malicious intent of making it doubly sure that he had killed the peace negotiations,” Sison told Kodao.

In his speech launching the Pilipinas Angat Lahat Alliance in Malacañan Tuesday, Duterte said has terminated the talks with the Reds, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and Sison, accusing them of only wanting a coalition with his government.

“We summed it all and it would really appear that it was a coalition government [they wanted] and I said, ‘I cannot give you an inch of that even. I cannot give you what is not mine,’” Duterte said.

The NDFP and the CPP has, however, repeatedly denied asking to form a coalition government with the GRP.

Sison added that it was Duterte who is being insincere in pursuing genuine peace with the NDFP and is in fact “hell-bent on establishing a fascist dictatorship, with him monopolizing political power and plunder.”

“He was in fact demanding all along the surrender and political suicide of the revolutionary movement of the people before any comprehensive agreement on social, economic and political reforms,” Sison said.

Sison said Duterte will go down in history as a mass murderer and terminator of the peace negotiations who is only succeeding in becoming the chief recruiter of the New People’s Army (NPA) by oppressing the people and goading them to join the NPA.

“He has also become the chief transport and supply officer of the NPA by sending his troops and police to the hinterlands for ambush by the NPA,” Sison said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Crisis of PH agriculture drives high inflation and economic slowdown

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Research group IBON said that the recently released second quarter 2018 growth figures confirm the fundamental reason for rising food prices: underdeveloped agriculture from government neglect.

IBON said that while the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law is the most proximate driver of inflation within the Duterte administration’s control, the agricultural sector’s underdevelopment is the long-term reason for rising food prices.

The sector is in deep crisis with slowing growth, massive job losses, and domestic food supply insufficient for the growing population, the group added.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported drastically slowing growth in agriculture to 0.2 percent in the second quarter of 2018 from 6.3 percent in the same period last year.

First semester growth has correspondingly been dragged down to just 0.7 percent in 2018 from 5.6 percent in the first semester last year.

IBON noted that agricultural growth today falls far behind estimated population growth of 1.6 percent in 2018 and is well below the seven-decade historical average of 3.0 percent since 1948.

The agricultural slowdown is also reflected in massive job losses in the sector.

Agricultural employment collapsed by a huge 723,000 to just 9.8 million in April 2018 from 10.5 million in the same period in 2017, the group observed.

“The Duterte administration only gives lip service to improving agricultural productivity amid this severe crisis of agriculture in the countryside,” IBON executive director Sonny Africa said.

He said that the 2019 budget for Department of Agriculture (DA), for instance, is even proposed to be cut by Php862.3 million or a 1.7 percent decline to Php49.8 billion from Php50.7 billion in 2018.

These are comparable figures using the cash-based equivalent for 2018 with the cash-based budget for 2019.

“The administration also continues long-standing government neglect of the sector,” Africa added.

“The combined agriculture and agrarian reform budget is only 3.7 percent of the total proposed cash-based budget for 2019. This is less than the 3.8 percent share under the obligation-based budget for 2018 and even lower than the historical range of about 4 to 6 percent since the mid-1980s,” he explained.

According to Africa, proposals to increase food imports may be necessary but should only be a short-term emergency measure used with restraint if it has been established that there is a shortage.

It is possible for more food imports to lower prices but only if traders do not exploit tariff cuts just to increase their profits, he said.

“With importation, uncompetitive domestic producers not given enough support by the government will be displaced if trade protection for them is removed. Importation could also tend to worsen the trade deficit and add to pressures for the peso to depreciate,” Africa warned. # (IBON.org)

 

Australian lawyer says reason for deportation ‘preposterous’

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Australian lawyer and human rights advocate Gill Boehringer said he has instructed his Philippine lawyers to contest allegations cited by the Bureau of Immigration in planning to deport him.

Boehringer, tagged as having associated himself with communist groups in the Philippines, is being prevented from entering the country since August 8 upon arrival from Sydney.

“I have instructed my lawyers to contest all allegations against me, and to seek the lifting of the ‘blacklist’, the ‘watchlist’ and the exclusion order,” he said.

The former Macquerie University law school dean and professor in a statement said the allegation by the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency that he is associated with underground groups in the country is “preposterous”.

“It seems that in the Philippines today almost anyone can be labelled a terrorist or in association with terrorists. I deny the accusation. I certainly am not a supporter of terrorism from whatever source,” he said.

Boehringer said he did not attend the anti-Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation rally in the Philippines in November 2015 and there was no rally in February 2018 when he observes Lumad schools activities in Mindanao.

He explained that his participation in Lumad school activities was based only on his special interests in teaching and research.

“I believe there is no basis for my exclusion from the Philippines in what was an educational experience for myself, the others who travelled with me into the mountain district, and also, I like to think, for those we met with there,” he said.

Boehringer admitted he had been critical of policies of successive governments since he became an international observer of the 2007 and 2010 elections but denied these as activities of a terrorist.

“Rather, they might more appropriately be considered an attempt to make a rational contribution within the vibrant national discourse about how democracy can be strengthened, the rule of law protected and social justice ensured,” he said.

“I would ask the government to recognize me as a person who has visited the country over many years with no subversive intent. I have sought in an intellectual way, through public dialogue, to aid in the maintenance of the rule of law and the structures and processes of democracy,” he added.

Boehringer thanked his lawyers and his doctors for taking care of him throughout his ordeal at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, as well as the individuals and supporters who called on the Rodrigo Duterte government to allow him entry to the Philippines on medical and humanitarian grounds, to no avail.

Boehringer travelled to the Philippines to visit his Filipino wife.

Meanwhile, Boehringer’s physician, Dr. Geneve Rivera-Reyes, slammed the BI on its decision to deport the 84-year old lawyer.

“The Bureau of Immigration is being heartless in pursuing the deportation of Prof. Gill Boehringer, Rivera-Reyes of the Health Action for Human Rights said.

She said Boehringer “has a history of an almost fatal pulmonary embolism. Aside from his risk of having deep vein thrombosis, he is currently suffering from cellulitis on both legs,” she explained.

Human rights group Action for Peace and Development in the Philippines, which counts Boehringer as a member, also said it condemned his detention and planned deportation. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Gunmen kill Cebu human rights worker in broad daylight

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A Cebu City human rights worker who was organizing families of victims of the government’s so-called war on drugs was himself killed in a brazen daytime attack on board a jeepney Wednesday, August 8.

Human rights defender and Rise Up-Cebu volunteer Butch Rosales, 45, was shot in broad daylight was on his way to Mandaue, Punta Engaño, Lapu-Lapu City.

He boarded a multicab jeepney and sat at the front passenger seat while the assailant sat at the back.

The gunman shot Rosales at the head several times and took off on a waiting getaway motorcycle driven by another man. The unidentified perpetrators did not bother to wear masks.

A veteran activist, Rosales worked as an urban poor and labor organizer before he became a volunteer of Rise Up for Life and for Rights.

Rise Up is a network of volunteers and rights defenders committed to work in the defense of life and protection of human rights against drug-related extrajudicial killings and violations under the Rodrigo Duterte government.

Karapatan Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights condemned Rosales’ killing, blaming the culture of impunity under the Duterte government for the widespread killing of suspected drug users as well as human rights defenders.

“With the rising number of killings conducted with impunity in Cebu, Rosales was killed in the same manner that suspected drug users have been killed in the conduct of the Duterte regime’s drug war, Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said in a statement.

“This case reveals the brazenness of perpetrators – a result of the assurances given by the regime to these killers and the prevailing impunity that lingers after the killings,” Palabay noted.

Fellow activist Dyan Gumanao of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan – Cebu said Rosales was “cool and kind” who always asked how his colleagues and friends were doing.

“He was like an elder brother to me. He makes it a point to share with us his experiences in organizing urban poor communities,” Gumano said.

Rosales’ former colleague Yoyong Suarez said his long-time friend was always in the frontline defending urban poor communities against demolition and development aggression in Cebu.

“In the Philippines, individuals who assert their right to live will [themselves] be deprived of their right to life,” Suarez said.

“The Duterte regime’s witch-hunt against government critics and the continuing culture of impunity are blatant rights violation against the people. Justice for Butch Rosales and all victims of Duterte’s war against the poor!,” he added. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Gov’t bars ailing Australian human rights lawyer from entering country

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The government set its sights on another Australian human rights lawyer, this time preventing him from entering the Philippines.

Former Macquerie University law professor and long-time advocate for human rights in the Philippines Gill Boehringer is being held by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 since midnight of August 8 upon his arrival from Sydney.

The professor is set to be deported after being told he was blacklisted for allegedly joining protest actions and fact-finding missions in the Philippines, Karapatan reported in an alert.

Boehringer is the second Australian lawyer and human rights campaigner who ran afoul with the Rodrigo Duterte government after Australian Notre Dame de Sion missionary Sr Patricia Anne Fox who is also in danger of being deported after staying for 27 years in the Philippines.

Boehringer, 84 years old, with dual citizenship in the Australia and US, is returning to the country to be with his Filipino wife.

Sources told Kodao that the BI originally wanted to deport Boehringer on the earliest flight back to Australia Wednesday but the lawyer was sick, even throwing up at the airport.

Dr. Geneve Rivera-Reyes of the Health Alliance for Democracy rushed to Boehringer’s aid, accompanied by Gabriela Representative Emmi De Jesus and fellow lawyer Ma. Sol Taule yesterday.

The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers also reportedly requested Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra to defer Boehringers deportation to allow the professor to physically recover before boarding a flight back to Sydney.

The Karapatan Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights condemned government for blacklisting the elderly lawyer and refusing him entry back to the Philippines.

“The Duterte regime is unsettled by the international clamor against its anti-Filipino policies. It works tirelessly to prevent individuals from exposing the gross rights violations happening in the country, cowardly hiding behind the rhetoric of exercising the country’s sovereign will,” Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay said.

Karapatan said Boehringer has been actively campaigning for human rights issues in the Philippines since the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo presidency, including the plight of the Lumad in resource-rich areas in Mindanao and militarization of their communities which has intensified with the martial law declaration.

“It is deeply alarming how foreign nationals who express international solidarity with the Filipino people are barred from the country. The real crooks, on the other hand, are given a free pass in and out of the country,” noted Palabay, adding that BI’s  Operations Order SBM 2015-025 against foreign nationals be immediately repealed.

“This is the Duterte regime’s paranoia. The regime is showing its cracks, (being) defensive and scared to be buried under the weight of its own crimes against the Filipino people,” Palabay concluded. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

UP holds Black Friday Protest vs NutriAsia violence

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Students of the University of the Philippines denounced the violent dispersal of striking workers by condiment manufacturer NutriAsia in a Black Friday Protest last August 3.

The students said the Rodrigo Duterte government is equally liable for the violence on the workers and their supporters as the incident is symptomatic of intensifying state fascism all over the country. (Video by Mark Kenneth Solanoy)