Progressive groups and sectoral organizations held a forum at the University of the Philippines on the anniversary of Rodrigo Duterte’s imposition of martial law in Mindanao.
Bangsamoro groups condemned the continuing imposition of martial law in the entire island of Mindanao, saying military rule is making it harder for the people to live normally.
A week after Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes PA Sereno was ousted by majority of the associate justices of the Supreme Court, students from the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University and Miriam College and other groups held another Black Friday Protest along Katipunan Avenue.
Saying the Rodrigo Duterte regime’s looming control of all branches of government does not bode well for democracy in the country, the protesters added the people must be vigilant against the possible declaration of a nationwide martial law.
The threat of a nationwide martial law remains with President Rodrigo Duterte’s constitutional reform advisers seeking ways to make it easier for its declaration, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison said.
Reacting to a news report that a series of attacks by the New People’s Army (NPA) may be grounds for the declaration of martial law under the government’s proposed federal charter, Sison said it is an indication that the threat continues to exist while Duterte is the president.
“Within the so-called Constitutional Commission, there is the drive of certain pro-Duterte elements headed by a retired general to draw up a draft federal charter that makes easier the declaration of martial law by citing ‘lawless violence’ or ‘a series of offensives by the NPA’ as the basis for the declaration of martial law,” Sison said in a statement.
Sison was referring to Ret. Lt. Gen. Ferdinand Bacobo, a charter change Consultative Committee member quoted in a Philippine Daily Inquirer report Wednesday that “lawless violence,” including NPA attacks that cause “widespread and extraordinary fear,” may be grounds for the President to declare martial law.
Saying such a move may not augur well for the resumption and success of the government’s peace negotiations with the NDFP, Sison said that instead of trying to scapegoat the NPA and make it the pretext for martial law declaration, state terrorism and fascist dictatorship, the Duterte regime should let its peace negotiations with the NDFP succeed in addressing the roots of the armed conflict and laying the ground for a just and lasting peace through comprehensive agreements on social, economic and political reforms.
The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) also said the proposal is dangerous, saying martial law should be considered as a drastic tool of last resort.
“In the first place, what is problematic is the absence of an objective standard for the conceptual meaning of what really constitutes terrorism or terrorist acts,” NUPL president Atty. Edre Olalia said.
“[L]awless violence can be addressed by the other powers like calling out the armed forces without suspending or compromising civilian rule, curtailing the exercise of basic rights, and denying legal remedies,” Olalia said.
Duterte’s Martial Law in Mindanao became a year old Wednesday, eight months after declaring it has driven the ISIS-inspired Maute group away from Marawi City. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
Despite being relatively high compared to other Asian countries, Philippine economic growth is lopsided in the interest of a few at the expense of the majority of poor Filipinos. High levels of wealth are concentrated in the hands of a few, while family incomes have stagnated in real terms, especially amid rising prices.
As they awaited for the Bureau of Immigration decision on her deportation case, various groups held a testimonial for Sr. Patricia Fox, NDS for her nearly three decades of service to poor communities in the Philippines at the Baclaran Church compound last Saturday.
The Solidarity with the Poor Network, The Redemptorist Church, Promotion of Church People’s Response and the Lets’ Organize for Democracy and Integrity held a cultural solidarity program called “Journeying with the Poor” before a Mass and a Solidarity Agape. (Video and photo by M. Montajes)
by Leon Dulce
Obando Fishport was bustling with activity at 6:00 in the morning. A colorful and tightly packed flotilla has gathered, fishing boats carefully slipping and sliding past each other to get their turn at docking.
The bustle slowly fades to an idyllic backwater as we travelled via pump boat to the coastal village of Taliptip in Bulakan town, Bulacan province. Its surrounding seas is life to some 5,000 mostly fishers and salt-makers. It is from the gentle waters and mangrove corridors where they get their bounty of fish, mussels, crabs, shrimp, and krill.
On this collection of small island communities, a 2,500-hectare reclamation project by the San Miguel Corporation is being aggressively pursued, threatening to convert everything in its wake into a an aerotropolis complex of airports, expressways, and urban expanse.
The project was a well-kept secret from Taliptip’s residents until concerned environmental advocates and church workers raised the issue among the communities—and until President Rodrigo Duterte was seen in the news already inking the project’s deal.
Residents, especially the families who have lived in the village over the past 80 years, are concerned that their life and livelihood are under threat by this project.
A fisherman tending to his nets in Taliptip. Photo by Leon Dulce/Kalikasan PNE
“So long as the sea is here, there is hope…What will we fish when all this is turned into cement?” said Arthur*, a fisherman from Sitio Kinse, an island community of Taliptip ensconced in a dense shroud of mangroves.
Arthur shared that the average fish catch for a day would net them around 500 pesos. Deductions from their gross income will be used to defray gasoline and other expenses and pay their boat consigner’s share. During the dry seasons, some fishers tend to the salt fields and get 154 to 254 pesos as payment per sack depending on the quality of the salt.
A good day’s catch is a rarity nowadays, however. Gloria*, a woman resident of Sitio Dapdap, explained that fishing families usually stock up their live catch in makeshift pens and sell these on a weekly basis. A daily trip to and from the central market in Obando is simply too expensive compared to the dwindling daily catch.
A section of the Bulakan Mangrove Eco-Park. Photo by Leon Dulce/Kalikasan PNE
The hardships push the people of Taliptip to be sustainable by necessity. Living off the grid, residents pooled their resources to set up solar panels and batteries for their simple electricity needs. The residents take care of the mangroves since the shellfish they harvest live among its roots, and serve as a natural barrier to big waves.
Aside from a 25-hectare eco-park established by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), various other stretches of mangroves are spreadt across Taliptip’s waters. A huge population of birds such as terns, egrets, kingfishers, and swallows make a home out of these trees.
A plethora of birds roosting over makeshift structures put up by fisherfolk. Photo by Leon Dulce/Kalikasan PNE
It is not hard to see the importance of these coastal greenbelts. The National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), the lead agency that approved the reclamation project, however, apparently has a diametrically-opposed view.
San Miguel has pronounced that it can payroll entirely for the P735.6-billion aerotropolis, a hefty price tag that must have been the clincher. That amount seemed enough to justify ignoring the thousands of people set to be displaced and the ecologically critical vegetation to be converted.
A portion of a stretch of mangroves allegedly cut by San Miguel personnel. Photo by Leon Dulce/Kalikasan PNE
Early this year, the Duterte government also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Dutch government to cooperate in the crafting of the Manila Bay Sustainable Development Master Plan (MBSDMP). The cart came before the horse, however, with projects such as the aerotropolis rapidly progressing without the guidance of a comprehensive sustainable development and management framework.
San Miguel personnel were reportedly behind a massive mangrove-cutting spree in Taliptip two weeks ago. Communities had no idea if the cutting had a special tree cutting permit from the DENR, as required by law.
Almost 30,000 hectares of such projects presently cover the entire length of the bay.
A fisherman off the port of Obando. Proposed reclamation projects span the entire coastline of Manila Bay. Photo by Leon Dulce/Kalikasan PNE
For Arthur, defending the only livelihood they know from the real threat of reclamation is non-negotiable. “We will not leave our homes. We will fight so long as there are people supporting us and giving us strength to fight,” he declared.
Environment groups and churches are digging in deep with the communities for the struggle to save Taliptip and various other communities across Manila Bay. Will Duterte stand with the people and stick to his rhetoric against reclamation, or will he bow once again to the oligarchs it has vowed to stand up against?#
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Leon Dulce is the national coordinator of the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE). Follow the local people’s struggle to save Taliptip on Facebook, or through the hashtag #SaveTaliptip on Twitter.
*Real names withheld for security purposes
First quarter economic growth this year did not translate to better jobs for Filipinos, research group IBON said.
This means that despite government claims that the groundwork for reforms has been laid, growth has remained essentially exclusionary, generating jobs that are insecure and low-paying, said the group.
Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia recently announced the 6.8 percent Philippine economic growth for the first quarter of 2018 to be among the fastest in Asia, second only to Vietnam’s 7.4 percent and at par with China’s.
According to Pernia, these indicate that infrastructure development is accelerating and “Build, Build, Build” is gaining ground.
NEDA even said that OFWs could thus consequently come home to more jobs.
IBON however underscored how at the same time, underemployment, part-time work and informal work swelled by over a million jobs each.
The group said that this implies how, amid supposedly growing capacity to produce goods and services, Filipinos were subjected to more insecure and low-paying jobs.
From January 2017 to January 2018, employment grew by 2.4 million especially in agriculture, services, manufacturing, and construction.
But the number of underemployed or persons looking for additional work grew from 6.4 to 7.5 million.
The number of part-time workers or those who worked below 40 hours a week increased by 1.2 million from 13.5 to 14.7 million.
Those in informal work, meanwhile, or in jobs that are uncertain or irregular with poor pay and benefits, increased by 1.4 million from 14.6 to 16 million.
According to IBON, poor quality work is growing because employers seek to peg wages at a low, minimize benefits and keep labor flexible to be able to increase their profits.
The government takes the side of employers and supports them with its policies of wage rationalization and labor flexibilization, which it justifies as needed to attract investments and drive growth, said the group.
It argued, however, that government’s vision for progress should instead include building a strong domestic economy that can generate regular, full-time and decent-paying jobs.
These can boost the Filipino working people’s purchasing power and yield higher returns for the Philippine economy, IBON said. # (IBON.org)
Lawyers held a rally in front of the Supreme Court Tuesday to protest the May 11 decision of the majority of its magistrates to oust Ma. Lourdes Sereno as chief justice.
Dissenting with the decision, lawyers led by the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers said Sereno’s ouster through the quo warranto petition is unconstitutional.
In a statement, NUPL said the “erroneous” and “shortcut” petition has far reaching effects as it slays judicial independence.
“Our democracy is in peril. Monopoly of power in the Executive without checks and balance is practically complete,” the NUPL said.
Performance artist Mae Paner dramatizes what lawyers says is the death of judicial independence with the ouster of Ma Lourdes Sereno as chief justice through a quo warranto petition. (Photo by Sarah Jane Mendoza Aguilar/Kodao)
The group earlier said Sereno should have been subjected to an impeachment trial in the Senate as an impeachable official, blaming the Rodrigo Duterte government for the chief magistrate’s ouster.
“Dissent even in traditional forms are shot down. Those who stand in the way of government policy and fancy are waylaid,” NUPL said.
The NUPL said it is its duty to protect the rule of law and has thus decided to organize the nationally coordinated protest actions.
“Our reason for being is put to question. We are being forced to relearn or unlearn what we studied or taught in law school. The Decision revolts against norms we hold dear,” it said.
Wearing court attires, the lawyers also wore black ribbons as a sign of protest and pleading. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
After being ousted via an 8-6 vote by her Supreme Court colleagues, Maria Lourdes Sereno delivers this speech.
