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NDFP to Duterte on talks resumption: ‘We have always been open’

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The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Negotiating Panel said it remains open to resume formal peace negotiations with the Rodrigo Duterte government.

Reacting to Duterte’s statement Friday he still has to talk to the New People’s Army (NPA), NDFP chief negotiator Fidel Agcaoili told Kodao the revolutionary movement is also open to reviving formal talks with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP).

The NPA is an allied organization of the NDFP.

“The NDFP has always been open to continue with the fifth round of the formal talks, which he scuttled in May 2017,” Agcaoili said.

Duterte hinted peace talks with the NDFP might soon be revived in a speech at Cagayan de Oro City’s Laguindingan International Airport Friday.

“Ideology ‘to. So I’m facing that. I have to talk to the NPA still,” Duterte said after ticking off a list of problems he said he is facing.

The Duterte GRP cancelled the fifth round of formal negotiations last May after failing to secure an open-ended bilateral ceasefire agreement with the NDFP.

The NDFP said the GRP demand was a precondition violating The Hague Joint Declaration that says cessation of hostilities shall come after social and economic as well as political and constitutional reforms agreements have already been agreed and signed by both parties.

Negotiators from both the NDFP and GRP said they are ready to sign agrarian reform and rural development agreements, including free distribution of at least one million hectares of land to poor farmers, when the fifth round of formal negotiations are finally held. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Lift martial law in Mindanao now, Moro groups urge Duterte

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Moro groups called for the immediate lifting of martial law in Mindanao and the pull-out of both Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and United States troops following President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of the liberation of Marawi City after five months of fighting.

In a statement Thursday, Tindeg Ranao and Suara Bangsamoro said they find it ironic that Duterte has already declared the city’s liberation from the Isis-inspired Maute group earlier this week

“Their (AFP and US military) continued presence, legitimized by the imposition of martial law in Mindanao and their so-called role as architects of Marawi’s rehabilitation, conveniently glosses over the myriad of violations that the military itself has perpetrated,” the groups said.

Duterte announced Marawi’s liberation on his seventh visit to the besieged city October 17, three days shy of five months of brutal fighting and aerial bombing.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby declare Marawi City liberated from the terrorist influence that marks the beginning of rehabilitation,” Duterte told AFP troops Wednesday.

The AFP however said Marawi has yet to be completely cleared of Maute fighters centered on an area less than a hectare in size near Lake Lanao.

National Defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana also preempted Duterte Monday, saying there is still no decision on the lifting of martial law.

“We are going to assess the entire situation in Mindanao, and we will make our recommendation to the President in due time,” Lorenzana told reporters.

Tindeg Ranao and Suara Bangsamoro urged for the establishment of an independent body to probe reports of human rights violations in line with the conduct of military operations in Marawi.

The groups said the government should be held responsible for the death and displacement of Marawi residents and the destruction of their communities due to the intensive aerial bombardment.

They added that the rampant divestment and destruction of properties in Marawi, alongside the grave humanitarian situation in evacuation centers should not be dismissed following Duterte’s announcement.

“Tindeg Ranao and Suara Bangsamoro stressed the Duterte regime’s accountability in the destruction of Marawi and the displacement of thousands of its residents,” they said.

The groups said that the policies and actions undertaken by the government have undermined efforts to resolve conflict in Moro areas, and have instead aggravated abuses.

They also warned about further resistance from the Moro people amid Marawi’s destruction and prevailing humanitarian crisis in evacuation centers around the city and in neighboring provinces.

“The Moro people are further pushed to fight against [Duterte’s] fascist policies,” the groups said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Duterte an ‘arrogant fake’–CPP

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The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) called President Rodrigo Duterte an “arrogant fake” for cussing the drivers and small operators who recently held a two-day nationwide transport strike against the government’s planned phase out of the iconic jeepney.

“Nagpupuputok ang butse mo sa ibinubugang usok ng mga jeep, pero tameme ka naman sa napakakapal na usok ng mga coal-fired power plant na lumalason sa kapaligiran sa buong bansa,” the CPP said in a statement. [You are angry at the smoke belched by the jeepney but you are silent about the thick smoke from coal-fired power plants that poison the entire country’s environment.]

“The truth is, you just want drivers and small operators to die in hardship and poverty in order to serve your true masters,” the group added.

In his speech at the Federalism Summit in Naga City Tuesday, Duterte unleashed another cuss-filled tirade against the protesters,

“Mahirap kayo? P*******a, magtiis kayo sa hirap at gutom. Wala akong pakialam!” Duterte told the protesters. [You say you are poor? You sons of bitches, put up with hardship and hunger. I don’t have a care!]

The CPP said Duterte again showed his true color.

“[G]alit sa mga gutom at mahirap, laluna ang mga marunong manindigan at lumaban para sa kanilang interes,” the CPP said. [He is against the hungry and the poor, especially those who know how to stand up and struggle for their interests.]

In his speech, Duterte also branded transport group Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide, human rights group Karapatan and Kilusang Mayo Uno as CPP fronts.

Dictator’s mindset

Other groups also condemned Duterte’s statements against the protesters.

“We say to Mr. Duterte: please stick to the issue! His self-indulged blabbing over the national television, refuses to address the real threat to the livelihood of the country’s jeepney drivers being posed by the Jeepney Phaseout Scheme,” KMU said.

KMU said Duterte refuses to listen to the jeepney drivers and operators’ legitimate demand and logical reasoning to junk the jeepney phaseout scheme.

“Duterte is proving he himself is a front of the oligarchs, such as the Ayalas, Pangilinan, and Cojuangco, who will be raking super profits from this scheme. The same oligarchs whom he handed control over MRT/LRT, express ways, telecommunication, power, and water,” KMU said.

“Duterte has the mindset of a dictator! When the poor exercise their right to speak up against threats to their livelihood, he brands their actions as ‘conspiracy’ and ‘rebellion’,” the group added.

Anakbayan Metro Manila burns an image of Duterte following the President’s cuss-filled tirade against striking jeepney drivers. (Photo by Kathy Yamzon)

Meanwhile, youth group Anakbayan-Metro Manila slipped through heavily-guarded Mendiola Street to hold a lightning rally at Malacañan Palace Thursday and condemn “Duterte’s inhumane and anti-poor statement” on the recently concluded transport strike.

The group burned Duterte’s image depicting him as “anti-poor, anti-people, and subservient to foreign masters” at the Palace’s Gate 7.

Anakbayan said it also holds Duterte accountable for the extrajudicial killings as well as the violent demolition and harassment of residents in Floodway, Pasig. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Why not ‘palit jeepney’ and driver-managed cooperatives?

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By Glenis Balangue

The Duterte administration has suspended classes on October 16-17, anticipating that the transport strike of jeepney drivers and operators to protest the phaseout of jeepneys may paralyze transportation nationwide. Yet, the government has been sweeping under the rug concerns not only of small drivers and operators but also of the riding public: displacement, lost livelihoods and impending fare increase. The replacement of jeepneys is referred to as transport modernization and those against it as anti-modernization. But behind the seeming noble objectives are big business interests that the government refuses to compromise.

Half-step forward

The government has laid down the groundwork for the eradication of existing jeepneys by 2020 through a series of issuances. The Department of Transportation (DOTr) issued the Omnibus Guidelines on the Planning and Identification of Public Road Transportation Services and Franchise Issuances or Department Order 2017-011 (Omnibus Franchising Guidelines) on June 19, 2017. This order concretizes the planned phaseout of public utility vehicles (PUVs) that are considered not roadworthy. It also lays down new franchising rules that only allow corporations or cooperatives with a fleet of 15 vehicles and up to apply for new routes. It restricts jeepneys and other small-capacity vehicles on major roads.

Local government units (LGUs) have to come up with local transport plans, which will detail the route network, modes, and required number of PUVs for each mode to deliver services. This will be the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB)’s basis for establishing the PUV route in the locality, the mode of transport and the number of franchises that will be issued. A new route rationalization plan that aims to limit the routes that small-capacity PUVs like jeepneys ply will also be based on the Omnibus Franchising Guidelines.

Aiming to have less emissions and more efficient mass transport is laudable. The transport sector accounts for 70-80% of air pollution in Metro Manila. But the government is doing this without regard to hundreds of thousands of drivers and small operators who will be displaced for as long as it is able to usher in a new arena for big business. Ironically, the government is once again making the poor pay for the cost of government neglect of mass transport.

Two steps backward

The government targets to replace some 250,000 jeepneys nationwide. The jeepney phaseout will impact drivers and small operators and the riding public in three major ways: 1) unaffordability of allowed substitutes despite the loan offered by the government; 2) corporate capture; and, 3) higher fares.

The Omnibus Franchising Guidelines requires a certain make of PUVs in order to qualify for a franchise. Pending unit specifications to be issued by the LTFRB, public utility jeepneys (PUJ) should be “below seven meters in length with door locations that allow boarding and alighting only from curbside, not from the rear”. Other features include a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver, free Wi-Fi, closed circuit television (CCTV) with continuous recording of past 72 hours of operation, automatic fare collection system for units within highly urbanized independent cities, a speed limiter, and dashboard camera. The LTFRB has yet to provide for the age limit of PUVs based on the year of the oldest major component such as chassis and engine/motor of the vehicle.

The Omnibus Franchising Guidelines also mandates the LTFRB to give priority to brand new and “environmentally-friendly” units in the allocation of certificates of public convenience (CPCs), the franchise needed to be qualified as a public utility vehicle, and deployment, based on route categories. The requirements are: a) units with electric drive and/or combustion engine that complies with Euro IV or better emission standards, b) units that comply with LTFRB-set age limit of oldest vehicle part, and c) refurbished/rebuilt vehicles that pass the type approval system test and issued a Certificate of Compliance with Emission Standards (initial registration) and roadworthiness test (renewal) of the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

There is a glaring lack of high capacity transport modes at present. Yet, the Omnibus Franchising Guidelines also restricts jeepneys on major roads, only allowing them as feeder services, operating in arterial and local roads to link neighborhoods and communities to other higher capacity modes such as rail and bus. PUJs are designated to serve routes with passenger demands of 1,000 passengers per hour per direction (pphpd). In cities, they will operate on a maximum length of 15 kilometers while in others, 35 kilometers.

Expensive units, insufficient financing scheme

Drivers and small operators have repeatedly decried the phaseout because they cannot afford electric or e-jeepneys (airconditioned: Php1.4 to Php1.6 million; non-airconditioned: Php1.1. to Php1.4 million), jeepneys with Euro IV engines (Php1 – 1.5 million), solar-powered vehicles (up to Php1.6 million). According to transport group Piston (Pinagkaisang Samahan ng Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide), most of the jeepney operators only have Php200,000-400,000 as capital per jeepney and most are single operator (operator is also the driver or driver is a family member) units.

The government approved a jeepney loan program through the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) worth Php1 billion. Borrowers can avail of a loan package of Php1.2 million to Php1.6 million to buy either an air-conditioned electric, hybrid or Euro-IV jeepney. The LBP estimated that it could finance 650 to 700 units of e-jeepneys. Those who will avail of the loan would pay a downpayment and pay the rest using a “boundary” (the amount a jeepney driver needs to turn over to the operator per day, net of fuel expenses) payment scheme of Php800 a day for seven years at 6% interest. After seven years, the borrower will own the jeepney. The LBP will finance up to 95% of the acquisition cost of the jeepney, while the borrower will pay the remaining amount as equity. The Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) has also set up a loan portfolio of Php1.5 billion to fund the acquisition of some 700 to 900 PUV units.

The government meanwhile approved a subsidy of Php2.2 billion to subsidize the equity of the jeepney loan of around 28,000 drivers/operators in the next three years starting with 250 borrowers in 2018. This is equivalent to a subsidy of Php80,000 per borrower, which will be coursed through the LBP.

Even then, drivers and small operators will find it hard to pay for the Php800 loan amortization daily for seven years as they already have difficulties paying the current Php450 boundary. Even the prospect of owning the jeepney after seven years is not enough for them to accept a scheme that will compel them to cough up such high payment conditions.

Impending fare hikes

Fare hikes are inevitable. One of the reasons why PUJ fares remain affordable is the relatively low capitalization, operation and maintenance expenses. Global Electric Transportation Ltd. (GET), the operator of COMET (Community Optimized Managed Electric Transport – a fleet of around 30 lithium battery-powered vehicles), admitted that because they are competing for the market of PUJs, they have to base their fare rates on that of PUJs.

Filipino commuters have been burdened by fare hikes with the government’s policy of putting mass transport in the hands of private corporations. The government’s turnover of the LRT 1 operations and maintenance to a private corporation resulted in the assurance of fare hikes for the private operator. The government also increased rail fares by as much as 87% in 2015 in order to make mass transport projects attractive to private investors.

Corporate capture

The Omnibus Franchising Guidelines basically mandates the LTFRB to consolidate operators and favor the establishment of “bigger coordinated” fleets of PUVs, including giving incentives and higher priority to operators with larger fleet sizes. The LTFRB will determine and implement the rule of “least possible number of operators” in a given route.

As part of the route rationalization policy, the government will require a minimum of 15 units per PUV fleet to be granted a franchise on new and development routes. Effectively, with the implementation of the Omnibus Franchising Guidelines, the government will close or shorten traditional PUV routes to reserve these for high capacity transport such as light rail transit and rapid bus transit, therefore displacing PUVs on these routes altogether.

These provisions will assure that current jeepneys will be replaced and new types of PUVs will be introduced. Hence, the scale of operation will also shift from single-operator or small fleet operator to corporations that have the capitalization to provide and maintain a big fleet of PUVs.

The government argues that drivers, instead of being subjected to the “boundary” system, can be salaried workers of these corporate fleet managers, with benefits as workers. However, transport group Piston claims that, in their experience fleet management still practices a quota system, which, like the boundary system, subjects drivers to high quotas, and therefore longer work hours, before they can receive their wages. Piston also decries that older drivers may have lesser chances of meeting education and age requirement of fleet managers, hence losing their source of livelihood completely.

Facilitating foreign interests

Finally, while drivers and small operators find e-jeepneys or jeepneys with Euro IV engines to be unaffordable, replacing some 250,000 jeepneys in the country would mean big business not only for foreign manufacturers of parts and assemblers of vehicles. Based on the minimum cost of Php1.2 million per unit, the replacement of 250,000 jeepneys is a market of Php300 billion.

The government is planning to use public money to subsidize foreign car manufacturers to facilitate their entry to this big, new market of PUV assembly. Under the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) Program, the government will fund assemblers of so-called eco-friendly PUVs. The CARS program has a Php27-billion subsidy for six years for assemblers to be given fixed investment support (FIS) and/or Production Volume Incentive to revive the car assembly industry in the Philippines beginning 2016. The Board of Investments has closed the third slot of CARS (the two being Mitsubishi and Toyota) in order to focus on PUV assemblers. For 2018, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is asking Php1.64 billion to fund the incentive promised to carmakers.

This faulty version of jeepney modernization underscores the fundamental weaknesses of our economy. The government’s replacement for jeepneys will again be largely assembled from imported components by local assemblers or imported already built. Even PUVs assembled in the Philippines under the CARS program will still be primarily imported as the main platform and rolling chassis will still be built abroad by foreign companies such as Hino, Isuzu, Fuso and Foton while Euro IV engines will be sourced from India, China and Japan.  Even the COMET was designed and manufactured by US company, Pangea Motors, LLC. Likewise, one of the largest makers of the e-jeepney at present is a Taiwanese company and member of the Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines (EVAP), Teco Electric and Machinery Co. Ltd. It has exported e-jeepneys from its factories in Taiwan to fleet managers in Metro Manila such as the Ejeepney Transport Corp. plying the business district of Makati.

 Why not palit jeepney and driver-managed cooperatives?

If indeed the government wants to usher in clean transportation, it should ensure that the burden is not on the shoulders of drivers and operators who only try to eke out a living. Instead of prioritizing subsidies for foreign car manufacturers, the government can use the CARS fund to initially subsidize jeepney drivers/operators so as not to displace them by the mere cost of new units. It is a noteworthy investment for the government to do so, given that the proliferation of this mode of transport has been a result of the chronic lack of livelihood opportunities and neglect of mass transportation in the first place.

The palit jeepney program can be complemented by an assured regular maintenance program at no or minimal cost to the operator/driver. This should address the added burden of having to be subjected to expensive maintenance for a technology that is still concentrated on a few big businesses.

This palit jeepney program, which can occur in phases, can be done through a program for government procurement of jeepneys based on a scaled-down price through volume. It can be complemented by a program of technology transfer to ensure that a genuine domestic PUV manufacturing sector, not only of body parts but primarily of the main components, is being developed.

The government should also maintain the option of single operators/drivers for franchising. At the minimum, it can restrict corporate fleet managers in cities to only one route. It can also limit franchises to genuine cooperatives or associations composed of small operators/drivers that are already operating. The government should set a fare-setting policy that is not market-based but founded on the principle that public transportation is a service that has to be reliable, safe and affordable for commuters. This rests on the recognition that public transport is a public utility and should not be left to the profit-seeking interest of the market. #

 

Transport strike: Palace ignores LTFRB recommendation, suspends work and classes anew

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Malacañan Palace suspended government work and classes on all levels today on the second day of the massive protests against the planned phase-out of jeepneys despite claims by transport agencies the strike failed.

Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea announced the nationwide suspension before midnight Monday after the Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (PISTON) claimed a 90 per cent paralysis of major jeepney transport routes on the first day of the strike.

”Obviously, PISTON’s transport strike had no effect. So we are not recommending class and work cancellation tomorrow,” Land Transport Franchising and Regulatory Board spokesperson Atty. Aileen Lizada said yesterday.

In a partial field report of transport paralysis midday Monday however, PISTON said 100 per cent of Parañaque and Makati jeepneys participated yesterday while Caloocan-Malabon-Navotas-Valenzuela routes registered 97 per cent participation.

Sta. Mesa, Manila routes registered 95 per cent while Novaliches, Zapote, Anda Circle, Litex, Marikina and the rest of Manila registered 90 per cent respectively, the group said.

Cubao routes registered 80 per cent participation, PISTON added.

In the regions, Nueva Vizcaya, Bulacan, Butuan and General Maria Alvarez (Cavite) registered 100 per cent, PISTON said.

Laguna (95%), Baguio (75%), Davao (95%), Pampanga (98%), Rizal (95%), Albay (95%), Camarines Sur (90%), Masbate (80%), Surigao City (60%) and Cebu (50%) also participated in the strike, the group added.

PISTON and other transport groups are protesting against the phase out of the iconic public transport vehicle and their replacement with brand new units costing from PhP1 to PhP1.8 million each.

“Adjusted for [six %] interest, the government subsidy [of PhP80,000] and payment terms of, the PhP1.6 million can balloon to a payable of almost PhP 2.2 million in seven year,” PISTON said.

“Which means that a jeep has to be paid PhP313,142.86 per year or Php869.84 per day excluding fuel, boundary and other indirect expenses,” the group added.

PISTON sought a dialogue with President Rodrigo Duterte last July to present their counter proposals for the modernization of the mass transport system but were dismissed.

“’Saka na yan! Magwelga muna kayo, dalawang buwan. Bigyan ko pa kayo permit,’ Duterte told us,” PISTON said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Duterte has never been an ally–Sison

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Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison denied the revolutionary movement in the Philippines has ever been in an alliance or in a united front with President Rodrigo Duterte.

According to a report published on the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) website, Sison said in a speech last September 15 in Utrecht, The Netherlands his former student has never been the movement’s ally despite his claim there is a “Duterte faction” among revolutionaries in southern Mindanao.

Sison said their southern Mindanao comrades described Duterte a bureaucrat capitalist or “a politician who creates private wealth for himself using his public office.”

Duterte is capable of saying and doing anything that is left, middle or right, depending on what serves him from moment to moment, Sison said.

In a speech at the reopening of the NDFP’s International Office in the Dutch city, Sison said some people misunderstood their efforts to promote the peace negotiations between the Duterte regime and the Left already involves a working alliance.

Sison added that while Duterte publicly offered as many as four cabinet posts to the CPP, it cannot accept any government position while there are talks.

The NDFP instead nominated Judy Taguiwalo to the Department of Social Work and Development, Rafael Mariano to the Department of Agrarian Reform and Liza Maza to the National Anti-Poverty Commission.

The NDFP said their nominees are “patriotic and progressive individuals who are highly qualified, honest and diligent.”

Taguiwalo and Mariano, however, were rejected by the Commission on Appointments (CA). Both said they felt no support from Duterte during their CA ordeal.

“There was never a united front deal. As a matter of fact, Duterte doesn’t want a coalition government but only an inclusive government under his leadership. It is by way of undertaking goodwill measure that the NDFP recommended meritorious individuals,” Sison said.

Sison admitted there was a recommendation to the NDFP to entertain Duterte as a possible ally. But he explained the recommendation is conditional to the peace negotiations.

Duterte cancelled the fifth round of formal negotiations in The Netherlands last May after failing to secure an open-ended bilateral ceasefire agreement with the CPP and the New People’s Army.

The report said Sison “assailed some reactionary political forces who claim that the revolutionary movement has been in alliance with Duterte and trying to blame the movement for the human rights violations committed by Duterte.”

Sison said the revolutionary movement is ready to work with a broad united front of various political forces, including reactionaries who are against the Duterte regime it now considers the enemy.

Sison also warned the military and police who would turn against Duterte are the President’s biggest threat that can result in his quick ouster. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Duterte has no one to blame but himself on rating fall, groups say

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President Rodrigo Duterte has no one else to blame but himself on his recent Social Weather Station (SWS) approval rating slide, a farmers’ group and a human rights organization said.

Saying the big decrease in Duterte’s trust rating is a reflection of his political isolation from the masses, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) added the latest SWS survey further exposes the President as an enemy of the people.

“There is no genuine land reform [under Duterte]. Land monopoly persists and vast tracts of lands remain in the control of a few landed families. Agricultural lands are being converted, further threatening our food security. Tens of thousands of hectares of lands are devoted to foreign-owned plantations. Estimates peg that more than seven in every 10 farmers nationwide have no land to till,” the KMP said.

Human rights organization Karapatan for its part said the people are starting to see through “Duterte’s lies.”

“The Filipino people see through the government’s lies, fake news, deception and repression, as evidenced by the unrelenting campaigns and struggles for justice of victims of State-sponsored violence, that even recent surveys have to reflect the people’s sentiments,” Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said.

“Though surveys are not the end-all, be-all of political opinion, it runs consistent with swelling protests and clamor for an end to [Duterte’s] repressive and fascist policies,” Karapatan added.

In a survey conducted last September 23 to 27, the SWS said Duterte’s gross satisfaction rating fell by 11 per cent from 78 to 67 percent.

Compared with SWS’s June 2017 survey, gross satisfaction with Pres. Duterte fell by 11 points from 78 per cent, gross undecided rose by four points from 10 per cent, and gross dissatisfaction rose by 7 points from 12 per cent, the SWS report said.

This gives a net satisfaction rating of plus 48 (percentage of satisfied minus the percentage of dissatisfied), SWS added classifying the latest rating as “good” from the previous “very good.”

“Whatever popular support he garnered during the 2016 presidential elections would swiftly fade as more and more sectors become disillusioned with his false promises of change,” the KMP said.

Karapatan said no amount of lies can cover up the growing dissatisfaction with Duterte.

“The mad scramble of Duterte’s sycophants to spread lies in international platforms on the non-existence of extrajudicial killings in the country, the recent launch of a group that is posing as a new paramilitary force in defense of the Duterte regime, and the unrelenting moves to suppress civil liberties and exercise of people’s rights are all desperate attempts by Duterte to project acceptability of its anti-people programs and to quell opposition to his fascist regime,” Karapatan said.

Karapatan added “government officials like Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Cayetano and Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella, and the Philippine National Police are on defensive mode, employing the most laughable excuses, semantics and word plays denying the existence and prevalence of EJKs.” # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Army units harass Lumad mentors on World Teachers’ Day

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Two teachers of Lumad schools in far south Mindanao were harassed by Philippine Army Units last October 5, World Teachers’ Day, an indigenous peoples’ rights group reported.

In a statement, the Center for Lumad Advocacy, Networking and Services Inc. (CLANS) said volunteer teacher Aubrey Masalon was arrested Thursday by the 73rd Infantry Battalion (IB) in Sitio Lamsalo, Brgy. Upper Suyan, Malapatan, Sarangani Province, along with husband Nestor and another community leader.

On the same day, 27th IB soldiers swooped down on Purok Tadluga, Sitio Salaubon, Brgy. Upper Sepaka, Surallah, South Cotabato to look for volunteer teacher Famela Taplan they reportedly accused of being a supporter of the New People’s Army (NPA).

“We vehemently condemn these ongoing harassment by the 73rd and 27th Infantry Battalions against the two volunteer teachers of the CLANS Community Schools on World Teachers Day last October 5 no less,” the group said.

Earlier, on October 4, the 73rd IB allegedly illegally arrested and detained four community leaders  in Sitio Datal Kampong, Malapatan town.

Also last October 2, Taplan was summoned by Brgy. Upper Sepaka chairperson Pudi Ambalgan for a supposed meeting on the CLANS school’s permit.

She failed to attend but was later informed her school was accused of being an NPA front and that she had to “clear her name” at the local police station on October 4.

Taplan chose to proceed to the CLANS headquarters in General Santos City instead after a local official failed to accompany her to the police station as promised.

CLANS said Taplan’s sitio leader Romeo A. Queliste is willing to attest to her work as a volunteer teacher in their community.

“After the forcible closure of 33 CLANS schools, the escalating attacks against Lumad teachers and students are direct results of President Rodrigo Duterte’s martial law in Mindanao,” CLANS said.

“These incidents show that the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Duterte himself are bent on suppressing the Lumads’ struggle to defend their ancestral domain,” the group added.

CLANS called on the Duterte government to lift martial law in Mindanao and resume formal peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines “for the Lumad and the Filipino people to achieve just and lasting peace.” # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Groups deny conspiracy vs Duterte

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The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) denied having a formal alliance with the Liberal Party (LP) to overthrow the Rodrigo Duterte regime.

In a statement, the CPP denied Duterte’s allegation there is a conspiracy between the Left and the “yellow” (LP) to oust the President, even as it praised initiatives against “Duterte’s tyranny.”

“The CPP and other Left political forces may have no formal alliance with the Liberal Party and its affiliates but can recognize their initiatives and action as serving the same purpose of resisting Duterte’s tyranny,” the CPP said.

In a speech Wednesday, Duterte alleged that the Left, including Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), had joined forces because “gusto nila ako paalisin dito sa Malacañan,” a move the CPP fears stages attacks on the political opposition.

“It appears that such claims aim to set the stage to clampdown on the political opposition and all other forces standing up against moves to establishing Duterte’s authoritarian rule,” the CPP said.

What Duterte claims to be a “conspiracy” is the broad community of various political and social groups have been roused against rampant extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations by the Duterte regime, the revolutionary party added.

Creating his own ghosts

Bayan for its part flatly denied the existence of a Left-Yellow conspiracy against Duterte.

“The President is the one creating his own ghosts. There is no Left-Yellow conspiracy,” Bayan said in a statement, adding it has always been transparent with its activities including the September 21 rally it helped organize.

“The broad movement involves different groups and personalities with different political affiliations. Church groups, students and artists are also part of the growing movement,” the group said.

“Instead of complaining about an imagined Left-Yellow conspiracy, Duterte should explain why the DOJ (Department of Justice) is backing what appears to be a pro-Duterte vigilante group in the form of the Citizens National Guard. Also, more alarming than the imagined Left-Yellow conspiracy is the proliferation of disinformation using government resources,” it added.

Senator and LP President Francis Pangilinan for his part described Duterte’s allegation as a “fake ouster plot.”

“They’re (administration) just looking for something to divert attention of media and the public from the controversies of corruption, drug smuggling of the Davao group, and the ineffective war on drugs that only resulted in killings every day,” Pangilinan said.

Strong arm tactics

The CPP said Duterte is intolerant of all opposition and dissent, intent on monopolizing political power.

“Duterte wants to clampdown and silence all who disagree with his policies and methods. He has threatened to impose martial law. His officials and loyalists have openly declared plans to use all means to have all those who dissent to be imprisoned,’ the Party said.

The CPP said the so-called Citizen National Guard, a group endorsed by Duterte’s justice secretary, is more brazen in encouraging attacks against declared dissenters whom they declared as “enemies of the state.”

“Duterte’s resort to such strong-armed tactics show desperation and underscores his political isolation. His triple war of death and destruction, his fascist and bureaucrat capitalist rule, corruption and US subservience have roused widespread people’s resistance,” the CPP said.

Calls for Duterte’s ouster continue to mount, the group added. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Duterte postpones barangays, SK polls

/in /by

President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law last Monday the bill postponing the scheduled Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections from October 23 to the second Monday of May 2018.

Making good on earlier statements he will postpone the elections while his government struggles to rid barangays of narco-politicians, Duterte signed Republic Act 10952 amending earlier laws setting the elections on the fourth Monday of this month.

“When can we expect to have clean elections, free of the corrupting influence of the money from drugs? This year? I told Senate President (Aquilino Pimentel III) and (House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez) to tell legislators that if we hold the barangay elections now…patay (we’re dead),” the President told members of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines last March.

“Since six or seven years ago, we were already a narco-politics state,” Duterte explained.

The law allows incumbent barangays and youth officials to stay in office in a holdover capacity.

The Commission on Elections for its part issued a memorandum Wednesday to all department directors and heads and election directors in Luzon and Visayas to suspend ongoing preparations for the elections.

“All activities in connection with the October 2017 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections are suspended,” the memorandum, signed by Chairperson J. Andres Bautista said.

Mindanao, which is under Duterte’s martial law, was not mentioned in the Comelec memorandum.

Earlier, Liberal Party senators urged Duterte to rethink his plan to postpone the elections, to no avail.

“To further postpone barangay elections and opt to instead appoint the barangay officials means to impinge on the people’s right to vote and choose their leaders,” Senator Francis Pangilinan said in a statement last March.

Duterte, however, rejected the idea of appointing new officials for the 42,029 (as of June 2015) barangays in the entire country, opting to ask Congress for a law to postpone the elections instead.

“”It’s important that people are given that choice (of choosing their officials). And, palagay ko naman, ang taumbayan natin, may kakayahan na piliin kung sino ang mabuti at masama,” Senator Bam Aquino for his part said.

Aquino added he wanted both the SK and barangay elections to “push through,” saying it is the electorate who can remove officials who might be involved in illegal drugs from their posts and replace them with better candidates. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)