(Photos) The 4th Impechment Vs Philippine President Gloria Arroyo

Filing of the 4th Impeachment Complaint

against Pres. Macapagal-Arroyo

Batasan

The fourth impeachment complaint against Pres. Macapagal-Arroyo was filed at 7:40 am today, Oct. 13,  and was received by Dr. Ricardo Roque, OIC of the House Secretary General fffice.

Posted here are the Summary of the Impeachment Complaint against Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the Final 97-page complaint that House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casino and Gabriela Rep. Liza Maza endorsed.

The complaint, including annexes is more than 1000 pages.

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NEWS RELEASE
October 14, 2008

Anakpawis on the impeachment case: “Let it be on official record, but more importantly on the collective memory of our people.”

THE ANAKPAWIS party list knew that the case is more than just a numbers game.

“It may not prosper as a formal proceeding, but it has been put on official record. Moreover, it will be etched in the collective memory of our people. War crimes have always been paid for after the war is long over,” Anakpawis secretary-general Cherry Clemente said.

The complaint’s main causes of actions against Macapagal-Arroyo include human rights violations, graft, bribery and betrayal of public trust.

Anakpawis was specifically cited in the following cases:

Extrajudicial killing of Agnes Abelon and her 5 year old son Amante Abelon, Jr. and the Frustrated Killing of Amante Abelon, Sr.

Amante Abelon, Sr. and his wife are active members of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or Farmers’ Movement in the Philippines) and the progressive party-list organization Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) in Zambales, an area within the jurisdiction of the 7th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army then under the command of General Jovito Palparan.

Extrajudicial killing of Diosdado Fortuna

Diosdado Fortuna or “Ka Fort” was the chairperson of PAMANTIK-KMU, the regional formation of trade unions based in Southern Tagalog; and the chairperson of Anakpawis Party-list in the same region.

Attacks on Progressive Party-List Organizations

Since 2001, one hundred and twenty-eight (128) members and leaders of Bayan Muna have been summarily killed. Since 2004, thirty-two (32) Anakpawis, two (2) Suara, and one (1) Gabriela party list members and leaders were killed. A still undetermined but considerable number have survived assassination attempts, while fourteen (14) party list members and leaders have forcibly disappeared.

Proclamation No. 1017

On February 25, 2006, Anakpawis Representative Crispin Beltran was arrested in Del Monte City, Bulacan by an armed team of PNP-Criminal and Investigation Group (CIDG) operatives led by a certain Police Chief Inspector Rino Corpuz. The arrest was made without a warrant of arrest in violation of his constitutional rights, and while the Congress was in regular session in contravention of his parliamentary immunity. He was later charged with inciting to sedition and rebellion and was held under custody of the PNP for more than a year.

Bribery

In the morning of 5 October 2007, the day the impeachment complaint of Robert Pulido was filed, respondent, through her agent, Atty. Francis Ver, approached and offered former Rep. Crispin Beltran of the ANAKPAWIS party list, bribe money in the amount of One Million Pesos (P 1,000,000) for the puspose of endorsing a yet to be filed impeachment complaint. The endorsement of Rep. Beltran would supposedly add “legitimacy” to the Pulido complaint. ###

BAYAN MUNA

Arkibong Bayan

October 13, 2008

New CPAs of 2008 (P)

Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008

1720 PABLO, ALLAN OBISPO 1721 PACIS, KATRINA GUIMMAYEN 1722 PACLAR, CHRIS PAULO TEGA 1723 PACULBA, MARIE KRISTIANSEN ALMUETE 1724 PADIERNOS, EVITA DELA CRUZ 1725 PADILLA, JAIME JR FABRO 1726 PADILLA, RHEA ANN ABERIN 1727 PADILLA, RICHIE JACKSON TAGUINOD 1728 PADILLA, SHARON PONCE 1729 PADIO, PHOEBE SEGUNDO 1730 PADRE, KATRINA MAY ROXAS 1731 PADRE, SARAH GRACE GREGORIO 1732 PADRE, WILLIAM JR TELAN 1733 PAGARAN, JOCELYN LADRA 1734 PAGAYANAN, RENZ JAMORALIN 1735 PAGUILA, FLORENCE MANDAWE 1736 PAGUITAL, JOY REIHANNAH ULANGKAYA 1737 PAGULAYAN, LORENA CANO 1738 PAHILANGA, EFRYLL JEREZ 1739 PAHUTAN, MYRON OBNIAS 1740 PAINANDOS, EDMOND REBOLDAD 1741 PAJINAG, EDUARDO GAEILO JR FALLER 1742 PALABRICA, ROSHELA AIRA SAMBAJON 1743 PALAD, NIKKI ROSE FLORES 1744 PALADIN, DIANNE FAITH PINDOG 1745 PALALON, CRISTITA SAYCON 1746 PALAMEÑA, JORAM SEBALLE 1747 PALERMO, JOANA LUNASCO 1748 PALIT, KATHERINE POTICAR 1749 PALMA, MIA CORAZON PASCUAL 1750 PAMALOY, AISA HERICO Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 37 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 1751 PAMPLONA, FRANCIS MILLAPRE 1752 PANALIGAN, MARELIZA HERNANDEZ 1753 PANCHO, MARY EBITHA CAMPAÑANO 1754 PANDATO, KATHRINA MICHELLE ODEVILAS 1755 PANELO, JOEL CASTRONUEVO 1756 PANGADER, ABDUL NAJIB PANGCATAN 1757 PANGAN, AIREEN FRANCIS 1758 PANGAN, JAY-AR BUAN 1759 PANGAN, ROCHELLE NUNAG 1760 PANGANIBAN, JENIFER BADAYOS 1761 PANGANIBAN, MARIA ANIKA QUINIA 1762 PANGANIBAN, MICHELLE ELVIN MADRINICO 1763 PANGCOGA, FATIMA ALIAH GURO 1764 PANGILINAN, JUDY ORIEL 1765 PANIO, MARITES CARESOSA 1766 PANOPIO, ANTHONY 1767 PANOPIO, EZRA LITA 1768 PANOY, RON JOSEPH BATILO 1769 PANUGAN, GRETCHEN DRAGON 1770 PAPASIN, ROXANNE MARIE PULUMBARIT 1771 PARAFINA, MELANIE ALEJANDRO 1772 PARAGAS, BEVERLY DELA CRUZ 1773 PARAJES, ROSLYN ASIDO 1774 PARANA, ANA MARIE RIO 1775 PARANTAR, IRES GLADYS SIBUCAO 1776 PARAS, KRISTINA LAMBANICIO 1777 PARCIA, EDMEL PALACPAC 1778 PARCIA, LEANDRO OLAYTA 1779 PARIN, RHEVIE MAE ABELEDA 1780 PARTOSA, RHEA DEBBIELOU ADA 1781 PARUNGAO, ZENY ROSE CUARESMA 1782 PASCUA, DARICE ANDREA LUCERO 1783 PASCUAL, ALIANA MARIE TUBIO 1784 PASCUAL, HANNAH ROSELLE GUMSAT 1785 PASCUAL, VENUS SAET 1786 PASION, KARLO JOSEPH CALANO 1787 PASTERA, PHOEBE LOU BAIS 1788 PASTOR, CECEL ESPERANZA OMEGA 1789 PASTRANA, ALDRIN IVAN CASTAÑEDA 1790 PATACSIL, GEORGE DESCALZO 1791 PATACSIL, LUCELLE ESTIGOY 1792 PATAG, ARVIN MACULANGAN 1793 PATANGAN, CLARENCE BADIANG 1794 PAULE, ROSE ANN SANTOS 1795 PAWINGI, JASMIN TORRES 1796 PAY, CARISSA MAY MAGALLANES 1797 PAYUMO, MELY JANE AGPOON 1798 PE BENITO, DAVID SHELDON CABALLES 1799 PEBOJOT, JOED DAGA-ANG 1800 PEDERI, JOMARIE ARANCES Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 38 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 1801 PEDREGOSA, MARY SOLIDARIOS 1802 PEDRO, KRISHA ANGELI SAJOR 1803 PEDRO, MILAGROS SAVADOR 1804 PEDROSA, CATHERINE PO 1805 PEJE, MARY JOY BALAIS 1806 PELAGIO, IVY CHRISTINE MAYE ESPAÑOL 1807 PELAYO, GILBERT RESPONSO 1808 PELINGON, KRISTINE EDINNE CAMPOSANO 1809 PELINGON, MARY JOYCE BUHAT 1810 PELLICER, EDWIN MAPINDAN 1811 PENEZA, GIL FRANCIS REYES 1812 PENSOTES, RENIE VALEZA 1813 PEPITO, AUBREY MILLADO 1814 PEPITO, RACHEL POGOY 1815 PEPITO, RICHARD PEREZ 1816 PERADILLA, DAHLIA PEREZ 1817 PERALTA, ERICCA DAVID 1818 PERALTA, KEVIN RALF CENTENO 1819 PERALTA, LOVELIZA MAGSILANG 1820 PERDIGUEZ, VINCENT CALIMOT 1821 PERETE, MARINELLE LUNA 1822 PEREYRA, ERICKA IGLOPAS 1823 PEREZ, CARLA THERESA RATIO 1824 PEROCHO, RYAN BESERIL 1825 PEROCILLO, MADELEIN BLANCO 1826 PESTILLOS, RAIZA MIRA BALMORI 1827 PETILOS, KRISTINE ALMONTERO 1828 PETTEN, EVELYN ANDOGAN 1829 PEÑA, JUAN CARLOS CATAMPATAN 1830 PEÑARROYO, MA KRISTINA PASTRANA 1831 PEÑAVERDE, LEIZEL DE ROXAS 1832 PICARDAL, ALLAN JAY TANGALIN 1833 PIGAO, LEEZA MILCAHSARAI GUNAY 1834 PILANGA, ROANNA MARIE IBAÑEZ 1835 PILARIZA, CRONIN ASEJO 1836 PILI, JOIE ANNE TIONG 1837 PILI, SHIRLEY GALLENO 1838 PIMENTEL, JOEL MARBELLA 1839 PINAT, MARICAR LAGAZO 1840 PINEDA, LORIANNE MARIE TALABUCON 1841 PINEDA, MARY ANN DELA TORRE 1842 PINEDA, RICA BALTAZAR 1843 PINES, JESU CHRISTIE MATU-OD 1844 PINGOL, JEFFERSON MIRANDA 1845 PINLAC, CHARMAINE MANGANTI 1846 PINLAC, RODOLFO JR MAURICIO 1847 PINLAC, RUTH MACARANAS 1848 PINPIN, ANGEL OTHNIELA MARTINEZ 1849 PITERO, ADRIAN MANZA 1850 PIZAÑA, MARK JOSEPH POLINAR Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 39 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 1851 PLATA, JIMWELL CASAS 1852 PLATON, SUZETTE LIRIO 1853 PLAZA, FLORA MIÑOZA 1854 POBLETE, AINY ZARAH VERAR 1855 POBLETE, JENNYROSE MACABAYAN 1856 POCERAN, BABY JEAN RAYTON 1857 POJOL, MARK ANTHONY VELASCO 1858 POLICARPIO, MA JOANNA CARMELA DELA CRUZ 1859 POLINAS, KATHERINE VILLACORTES 1860 POLINTAN, JANN NATALIE CRUZ 1861 POLIQUIT, ANELEN REFUERZO 1862 POLOG, YUSOPH II DATU-RAMOS 1863 PONTILA, FRANCIS LUIS CHIN 1864 PORRAS, DEVZON UY 1865 PORTUGALISA, CHRIS GECIL ALICAWAY 1866 POYOS, MARIA LUZETTE JAVELLANA 1867 PRADO, CHARMONIFE MONSERATE 1868 PREJAN, RICHARD 1869 PRENDOL, RONALD JEFFREY VASQUEZ 1870 PRESTO, NINA JOAN FAITH SUNICO 1871 PREZA, CHRISTEL EVERT NOLASCO 1872 PRIANES, MARY ANN PRIEL 1873 PROVIDO, MA LINDA ABERIN 1874 PUATU, RONALYN VENTURINA 1875 PUDAY, JINKEE FAITH CUDIAM 1876 PUGUON, DOROTHY JANE GOLTIAO 1877 PULAY, JASON CLINT SAD-ANG 1878 PULIDO, BABY JEAN TANZA 1879 PULIDO, FRANZ GERARD CLAMOR 1880 PULOHANAN, MARK JERSON RODRIGUEZ 1881 PUNSALAN, MA DOLORES JIMENEZ 1882 PURI, GLADYS ARRA SUAREZ 1883 PURIFICACION, MARVIN GARCIA 1884 PURISIMA, MICHAEL DIATA

Financial meltdown and the madness of imperialism

Written by Raymond Lotta

Tuesday, 14 October 2008

“The past 10 days will be remembered as the time the US government discarded a half-century of rules to save American financial capitalism from collapse.”

—David Wessel, economics editor, Wall Street Journal, March 27, 2008

“Be greedy when others are fearful.”

—Warren Buffet, leading investment capitalist, quoted by The Economist, April 5, 2008

[To the possessor of money capital] “the process of production appears merely as an unavoidable intermediate link, as a necessary evil for the sake of money-making. All nations with a capitalist mode of production are therefore seized periodically by a feverish attempt to make money without the intervention of the process of production.”

—Karl Marx, Capital, Volume II, “The Circuit of Money Capital”

The US economy is experiencing the most wrenching financial turmoil since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Global markets have been reeling — as massive loans have turned bad, speculative bubbles have popped, and giant financial institutions have tottered.

Financial turbulence originating in the US has slowly expanded and worsened. There is now a global credit crisis. Banks and financial institutions are weighed down by huge losses caused by “non-performing loans.” Lending channels are choked up, as lenders are being called to pay back their loans, to clean up their balance sheets, and fearful that they are “throwing good money after bad” and won’t be paid back. There is real danger of a breakdown of the financial system. The new president of the International Monetary Fund has stated that the current turmoil poses the greatest financial crisis since the 1930s.[1]

The US has been at the center of what is now a global financial storm. Bear Stearns, one of the largest and oldest investment banks in the US, collapsed in mid-March. The Federal Reserve Bank — which regulates and lubricates the US banking system, and which also plays a special role in the world capitalist economy — has stepped in on an unprecedented scale.

The Federal Reserve took responsibility for $30 billion of basically worthless assets held by Bear Stearns. This paved the way for another financial titan, JP Morgan Chase, to take over the firm. In addition, the Federal Reserve has injected huge amounts of funds into the financial system to ward off additional bank failures and to restore international confidence in the US economy and to prevent the financial crisis from becoming a total financial breakdown.

Fortune magazine in its April 14 issue analyzes the stakes this way:

“The fear — a justifiable one — is that if one big financial firm fails, it will lead to cascading failures throughout the world. Big firms are so interlinked with one another and with other market players that the failure of one large counterparty, as they’re called, can drag down counterparties all over the globe. And if the counterparties fail, it could down the counterparties’ counterparties, and so on.” [2]

PART I. A FIRST CUT: UNFOLDING OF THE CRISIS

The financial tornado gathered force in the spring of 2007, starting in the housing sector. The housing boom of the last few years was a boom in mortgage finance. Lenders, and these were not neighborhood finance companies or street-corner usurers but big corporate financial giants, were seeking to make big profits from their ability to tap into foreign capital flooding into the US over the last decade. The Federal Reserve accommodated and encouraged this by keeping interest rates low.

A. Subprime Lending

Enter the world of subprime lending. Subprime loans are loans made to borrowers who would not qualify for a prime mortgage — because they might have “bad credit histories,” etc. And these loans were aggressively marketed, pushed on people through all kinds of deceitful means, with Black and Latino households disproportionately targeted and victimized (see Revolution, “Subprime Mortgage Crisis,” April 13, 2008).

The originators of these subprime loans, along with various financial middle-men, then “securitized” these loans. This means they combined these loans into larger groups of loans, turned them into complex financial products, and then sold them on financial markets. They sought to maximize fees and to “transfer risk” by quickly selling off these loans to other banks and institutional investors (like mutual and pension funds, university endowments, etc.).

But as housing prices turned down and as interest rates went up, homeowners (or those who thought they were homeowners) found themselves strapped with adjustable mortgages requiring larger payments. And many could not afford payments. This triggered a wave of defaults. Investors and institutions that had purchased these mortgage securities (loans that had been grouped into bonds returning interest) found themselves with billions of dollars of near worthless assets. The financial insurers of these loans, yet another layer of “financial middle-men,” could not cover the risks and damage.

B. Global Financial Shocks

In the summer of 2007, fears of big financial losses caused stock market indexes around the world to plummet, including those in the rapidly growing regions of the Third World.

A financial contagion was taking hold.

Over a trillion dollars of funds from around the globe — with much of this from Asia and oil-exporting countries — were invested in the US subprime market. The collapse in the value of mortgage and credit instruments originating in the US weakened the financial balance sheets of banks and other overseas holders of these investments and set off tremors. For instance, in Great Britain, there was a run on the Northern Rock bank; a German bank required a bailout; and a leading French bank was hit hard.

At the same time, financial institutions in the US and elsewhere holding securities of crumbling or dubious value sought to strengthen their overall financial positions. They not only had to “write down,” that is, greatly reduce the value of the bad (“nonperforming”) loans they held. They also had to sell off “healthier” holdings in other parts of the world (investments unrelated to the subprime activities) in order to meet immediate financial commitments. And these sell-offs have had their own destabilizing global repercussions. This was especially the case last year in the stock markets of the Third World.

C. New Dangers and New Risks

By March 2008, the prices of stock of the big Wall Street players involved in this investment activity, firms like Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch, had fallen by some 40 percent. And since the onset of the credit crisis, financial institutions in the US have “written down” more than $230 billion in mortgage loans and other assets.[3]

The Federal Reserve has moved to head off financial panic and to stimulate growth. But these moves have aroused new fears in the still unsettled world financial markets. Why?

There are concerns about the Federal Reserve’s and US Treasury’s ability to absorb what might amount to be hundreds of billions of dollars in bad investments. There are concerns about the ability of the Federal Reserve to pump huge amounts of funds into the US financial system to keep it afloat. There are concerns that short-term and ad hoc efforts to slash interest rates and bail out financial firms may stoke inflation and further weaken the dollar.

This dimension of the crisis, the fragility of the dollar, looms large. It has everything to do with empire. The international role of the dollar — as the world’s leading currency for settling transactions, clearing debts, and holding foreign exchange reserves — is a linchpin of US global supremacy. It is also a linchpin of the whole current global economic order.

But the dollar has been battered in international currency markets. In the last few months, it has sunk to new lows against the euro (the currency used in most of Western Europe), against the Japanese yen, and against the Swiss franc.

Now the dollar has declined considerably in value relative to other major currencies since 2000. But this has been cushioned, managed, and kept functional by the ability of the US economy to attract huge amounts of foreign exchange and foreign capital into financial markets, especially to finance US Treasury debt.

And one of the “disaster scenarios” most worrisome to US imperialist policy makers is the danger of a global run on the dollar: private investors and central banks of other countries unloading their dollar holdings for stronger currencies.

D. A Reflection: Transparency and Anarchy

In early April, on the eve of a gathering of the world’s finance ministers and treasury officials, the International Monetary Fund issued a report on the financial damage caused by the collapse of the housing and credit markets. It warned that financial institutions worldwide might face losses approaching $1 trillion over the next two years. [4] This calculation is far above what had been previously estimated. And according to some financial analysts, even this is a gross understatement.

The free market is extolled by bourgeois ideologues for its “transparency.” This is the idea that markets, prices, and interest rates convey all necessary information: about supply, efficiency, choice, and reward.

But one of the distinguishing features of this crisis is the incredible and pervasive lack of knowledge among lenders, borrowers, traders, and insurers about the quality and backing of what they borrow from others… and even of what they lend to others! Things are obscured, covered up, and very opaque.

• There is the anarchy of capitalism, as giant agglomerations of capital battle others for market share and profits, and pursue competitive strategies that have unforeseen effects on the larger system.
• There is the emergence of a newer banking system operating parallel to the older commercial banks. These are the so-called hedge funds, private equity firms, and investment banks. They move huge amounts of capital in and out of financial markets to take advantage of momentary and slight changes in bond prices, interest rates, and currency exchange rates. They borrow against assets that have a shadow existence, far removed from the actual production of value. They have led in creating new financial instruments, in which all kinds of loans of varying risk are bundled together into interest-yielding bonds and the like. And this newer banking system operates in a more unregulated environment than do the commercial banks.
• This is a highly competitive, turbo-charged financial world, where huge blocks of capital seek quick gains at the expense of others. In this setting, speculation, fraud, and deception become part of survival strategies. One example of this in the unfolding of the financial crisis: financial agencies that rate the risk of things like mortgage-backed securities earn higher fees for providing favorable ratings on these new “financial products.” So they lied and deceived investors about real risk. This led to mis-pricing and to baseless expectations of return on investments.

E. A Reflection: A House … Is Not Always a House

As we descend from the skyscrapers of finance to ground level, the human toll comes into clearer view. At the start of 2008, nearly 1.3 million homes in the US were in some phase of foreclosure. That works out to more than one in every 100 US households. According to Moody’s Economy.com: “not since the Depression has a larger share of Americans owed more on their homes than they are worth.” [5]

Think about it. Something as basic and essential as shelter is commodified. A house becomes an investment; its purchase underwritten by tradable financial instruments; and the lure of homeownership then engulfed by the devastating trade winds of the market. And what happens? People’s savings are wiped out. Their creditworthiness is damaged if not destroyed. And many face the prospect of homelessness.

The problem is not that people don’t need houses. Nor is it that society doesn’t have the resources or knowledge to build houses. The problem is that capital stands as a barrier to meeting human need.

PART II: A SECOND CUT: DEEPER CAUSES AND IMPLICATIONS

Where all this financial turmoil might lead cannot be predicted. A gigantic, speculative credit bubble has burst. Problems in US lending markets and the US banking system have brought on an economic slowdown in the US This in turn is triggering a global slowdown. Consumer goods exporters of Asia that have relied heavily on trade with the US are especially vulnerable. And so too are countries in Eastern Europe that have borrowed heavily to finance growth.

Here is one tiny snapshot of the fallout and pain from the financial crisis. The US housing slump has led to the loss of some 100,000 construction jobs, many that had been filled by undocumented immigrants. That has dramatically slowed the growth of money sent back home by these workers. After nearly quadrupling to $24 billion in 2006 from $6.6 billion in 2000, these earnings sent home grew only 3 percent in 2007, the slowest rate of growth in 20 years. [6] Families in Mexico have come to depend on these remittances for food and clothing and other basic essentials.

The buildup and collapse of this latest speculative bubble, and intensifying financial fragility that could lead to massive breakdown, are in fact outward expressions of deeper processes and transformations at work in the world capitalist economy.

We need to take a step back.

A. Globalization and Financialization

For the last 15 years, world capitalist expansion has pivoted on a particular international dynamic and structure. This has involved heightened financialization and parasitism in the advanced capitalist countries — with the United States at the epicenter of this process; and the fuller integration of low-cost, export-producing countries of the Third World into the world capitalist market — with China at the epicenter of this process.

The turning point in this process was the collapse of the social-imperialist Soviet Union in 1990-91. With the implosion of the Soviet bloc, the main geopolitical obstacle to US imperialist freedom of action was removed. At the same time, and very much in connection with this, imperialist globalization accelerated. (This is analyzed in considerable depth in Notes on Political Economy: Our Analysis of the 1980s, Issues of Methodology, and the Current World Situation, 2000, RCP Publications.)

Over the last 15 years, a globally integrated cheap-labor manufacturing economy, with huge labor reserves from China, India, and other parts of the Third World, along with labor from the former Soviet bloc, has been forged. The globalization of production has had enormous effects on world accumulation: raising profitability for imperialist capital, acting to compress wages, and lowering inflationary pressures. The integration of cheap-labor manufacturing into world production is now so deep that in the US, fully half of imports (mostly consumer goods) come from the Third World.

A revealing statistic: a University of California study looked into who gains when an iPod manufactured by national firms in China is sold in America for $299. Only $4 stays in China with the firms that assemble the devices, while $160 goes to American companies that design, transport, and retail iPods. [7]

When we speak of capitalist accumulation, we are referring to the competitive production of surplus value (the source of profit) based on the exploitation of wage labor; and the investment and reinvestment of profit on an expanding, cost-cheapening, and technologically more productive basis.

When we speak of “financialization,” we are referring to three particular features of the larger structure of capitalist accumulation in this period of imperialist globalization: a) the growing political and economic power of the financial layers of the capitalist class; b) the vast expansion of financial activities and of financial services, like organizing and financing corporate takeovers, insuring investments against risk, creating new financial instruments, etc.—activities in which profit-making involves the siphoning, centralization, and reinvestment of surplus value through financial channels; and c) the increasing separation of finance from production.

This process of financialization has gone the furthest in the United States, and it is a major factor in US imperialism’s ability to preserve and extend its dominance in international financial markets. [8]

Financialization is also a means through which wealth, and effective control over productive forces, is centralized by the imperialist countries — even as production has grown more geographically dispersed and increasingly carried out within subcontractural networks in the Third World.

Financialization involves efforts to squeeze out more “value” from already created value. One measure of this is that in 2006, the daily volume of trading in foreign exchange markets and in derivatives (financial instruments) added up to $11.4 trillion — which almost equals the annual value of global merchandise exports that year. In terms of the shifts in the structure of the US economy, the financial sector’s share of total corporate profits has risen from 8 percent in 1950 to 31 percent last year. [9]

B. Financialization and Production

As far removed as finance may be from processes of production, and as elaborate and multi-layered as its operations have become, finance cannot break free of the sphere of production. Even as it objectively seeks to do so — and even as the disjuncture between the two spheres (production and finance) grows — it is the underlying conditions and profitability of production that set the overall conditions for the accumulation of capital.

Imperialism is a worldwide system of production and exchange. It is the structure of social production —it is the global production of surplus value based on exploitation of people — that is at the foundation of this whole system. And in relation to the production of surplus value, “financialization” is both parasitic and functional. It is parasitic in the sense that financialization drains value from production.

But financialization is functional to the workings of global capitalism in the sense that it facilitates the gathering of money capital into ever-larger agglomerations of capital and finds new profit-yielding channels in which to rapidly invest it … and just as quickly to withdraw it! Global capital faces all kinds of financial uncertainties and risks on its competitive global playing field as it moves through different channels, or circuits, of production. And the “risk-management” techniques provided by the global financial system are actually vital to the accumulation of capital, to the success of “risk-taking,” in the turbo-charged globalized economy. [10] That’s why, for example, money jumps into Thai real estate markets one day, and pulls out and goes into ethanol production in Brazil the nex t…  and then back to mortgage securities.

And there is something else: the inflows and outflows of short-term and speculative capital also act as a perverse means of imposing discipline on and restructuring capitals — a major manufacturing firm can be starved of credit or threatened with a leveraged buyout. And this kind of “financial discipline” has been imposed on whole countries in the Third World—aided, abetted, and orchestrated by the US-dominated International Monetary Fund.

All this is part of the reason that financial instability is a constant feature of capitalism in its more globalized and financialized forms of existence.

Financialization and the globalization of production have been tightly bound up with each other. It can be put this way: there is a relationship between sweatshop labor in Guangdong province in China, the recycling of China’s export earnings into the US Treasury and US financial markets, and the credit-financed expansion in the US of the last decade. Or, to put it more graphically, there is a link between the agony of superexploited labor in the bowels of the new industrial zones of the Third World, the feverish search for high and quick returns at the top of the financial pyramids, and the chaos of the housing markets with people losing their homes in the US.

This is an extreme concentration of the nature of world capitalism. This world is highly bound together by production, trade, and finance. The requirements of life (consumer goods) and the requirements of production (machines and raw materials, etc.) are socially produced, that is, they involve the collective and interconnected efforts of wage-laborers in factories, warehouses, and so forth. But this wealth, the technology and means of producing it, and knowledge itself—all this is privately controlled and deployed by a small capitalist class.

C. Barriers, Contradictions, and Shifting Tectonic Plates

What we are witnessing now is that a particular dynamic of growth, marked by intensified financialization, is generating new contradictions and new barriers to sustained accumulation.

The level of debt to economic output in the US is at an all-time high. The financing of the trade and government deficits of US imperialism (that is, providing credit for purchases of imports and having investors buy Treasury debt) depends on a steady and growing inflow of capital from abroad. But the weakening of the dollar and the emergence of competitor currencies, like the euro, increasingly threatens these mechanisms. And very crucial to this has been the process where dollars earned by countries like China through trade with the US, are then recycled back into the US economy through purchase of Treasury bonds and other investments.

In the US, the financial sector is seriously strained and is a flashpoint of heightened global financial instability, if not breakdown, leading to a major economic slump.

Here we come to a basic point of this analysis: A financial crisis has broken out because of the severe imbalances built up between the financial system — and its expectations of future profits — and the accumulation of capital, that is, the structures and actual production of profit based on exploitation of wage-labor.

The imperialist state is intervening to head off further damage and to discipline and restructure the financial system. But the very complexity of the “financial packages” created during the speculative boom — with their bundled-up loans and long strings of finance — are producing new challenges for policy-makers. As one Yale economist put it, perhaps unintentionally echoing a phrase from Marx: “like the sorcerer’s apprentice, we have created things we do not understand and cannot easily control.”11

This explosive uncertainty is developing against a larger international canvas. Major shifts are taking place in the world capitalist economy. The European market recently eclipsed the US market in size. China’s growing demand for raw materials to fuel its export economy is making it a new player in the scramble for resources and control over them. And China’s increasing importance as a supplier of capital to the US is giving it new leverage. Russia is reemerging as a world imperialist player, owing in part to its vast energy reserves and rising oil and gas prices.

At the same time, and at this very moment of financial crisis, US imperialism’s freedom of maneuver is severely hobbled — and this includes its ability to stimulate the economy through fiscal and monetary policy. The United States has never run such large current account deficits and no single country’s deficit has ever bulked as large relative to the global economy.

D. The Military Fix

Which brings us to one of the “dirty little secrets” of the financial crisis: the military needs and the military costs of empire…and “greater empire.”

There is a brute fact of imperialist accumulation. The whole imperialist system rests on the domination of vast swaths of the globe through savage force, with the US military colossus playing a special role. The US military helps “create the conditions” for US domination, pro-US client regimes in the Third World, and conditions for investment by US corporations.

In the Bush era, US imperialism has been attempting to parlay its military might into a new world order. This involves a restructuring of global political and production relations that will enable it to resolve or mitigate some of the problems and tensions it faces — and to lock in its global supremacy over rivals and potential rivals for decades to come.

The US share of world production has declined to about 20 percent, down from 30 percent forty years ago. But US imperialism is compensating for this by pressing its military advantage as sole imperialist “superpower” (since the collapse of the Soviet Union).

In a recent study, Chalmers Johnson has calculated that defense-related spending for fiscal 2008 will exceed $1 trillion for the first time in history. Leaving out the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, defense spending has doubled since the mid-1990s. [12]

Militarization is also embedded in the US economy. It is a key structural component of growth, scientific research, and technological prowess of US imperialism. And because of its sheer size, it also plays a role in the attempts of the US imperialist state to “manage” and stimulate the economy.

But the recent wave of militarization has put enormous financial strains on US imperialism. It has produced huge deficits that cannot be sustained without the inflow of capital into the US And the wars for “greater empire” are incurring astronomically greater costs than military and government planners had anticipated. Not least because of the setbacks and difficulties US imperialism has encountered in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This is a sharp contradiction for US imperialism — because in many ways it is staking the future of empire on these wars; but these wars have become more costly to wage. And it is the height of hypocrisy for Democrats to now blame the Iraq war for financial crisis — as they consistently voted for war-spending authorizations, to the tune of $500 billion.

PART III: CONCLUSION

This is a financial crisis of historic proportions. And like many other events in the world, this crisis points to the fundamental irrationality and cruelty of the system. It also shows the vulnerability of imperialism to sharp turns that could open up new possibilities for revolutionary advance.

But things unfold in complex, unpredictable, and historically conditioned ways. And as serious and potentially destabilizing as this crisis may become, it is also possible that US imperialism could turn this crisis to its advantage.

We live in an age of “endless war” and environmental devastation. We live in an ever-more globalized capitalist system that thrives on the toil and agony of the great bulk of humanity but that cannot escape the anarchy that lies at its very foundations.

There is necessity and freedom for the imperialists. And so too for the people.

---

Footnotes

[1] Quoted in Steven R. Weisman, “Financial Regulators Suggest Tighter Controls,” The New York Times, April 12, 2008.

[2] Allan Sloan, “On the Brink of Disaster,” Fortune, April 14, 2008, p. 82. A useful discussion of derivatives, hedge funds, and the like is found in “The Predators’ Ball Resumes: Financial Mania and Systemic Risk,” Interview with Damon Silvers, Multinational Monitor, May-June 2007.

[3] S. Tully, “What’s Wrong With Wall St. and How to Fix It,” Fortune, April 14, 2008, p. 72; Reed Abelson and Louise Story, “G.E. Earnings Drop, Raising Broader Fears,” The New York Times, April 12, 2008.

[4] Sean Farrell, “Financial turmoil could cost $1trn, warns IMF as global growth comes under threat,” Independent.co.uk, April 9, 2008.

[5] Data from RealityTrac.com, January 29, 2008; Moody’s Economy.com, Feb. 21, 2008.

[6] The New York Times, Jan. 24, 2008.

[7] Cited in Charlemagne, “Winners and losers,” The Economist, March 1, 2008, p. 56.

[8] Among informative studies of financialization, neoliberalism, and dollar hegemony are David Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism (London: Oxford, 2005); Andrew Glyn, Capitalism Unleashed (London: Oxford, 2006); Kevin Phillips, American Theocracy (New York: Viking, 2006); Ramaa Vasudevan, “Finance, Imperialism, and the Hegemony of the Dollar,” Monthly Review, April 2008; and C.P. Chandrasekhar, “Continuity or Change? Finance Capital in Developing Countries a Decade after the Asian Crisis,” Economic and Political Weekly, Dec. 15, 2007.

[9] See Chandrasekhar, “Continuity or Change,” pp. 37-38; The New York Times, Dec. 11, 2007.

[10] On financialization as a means to contain financial disorder and to impose neoliberal discipline, see Christopher Rude, “The Role of Financial Discipline in Imperial Strategy,” in Leo Panitch and Colin Leys, eds., Socialist Register 2005: The Empire Reloaded (London: Merlin Press, 2004). [back]

[11] David Dapice, “Bad Spell on Wall Street,” Policyinnovations.org, January 24, 2008. [back]

12. Chalmers Johnson, “Why the US has really gone broke,” mondediplo.com (English edition), February 5, 2008.

[This articles was also published (on April 18, 2008) on countercurrents.org. Raymond Lotta is author of the books, America in Decline and Maoist Economics and the Road to Revolutionary Communism.]

Censored news stories highlighted by academic research group

Written by Peter Phillips

Friday, 10 October 2008

var sburl5849 = window.location.href; var sbtitle5849 = document.title;var sbtitle5849=encodeURIComponent(“Censored news stories highlighted by academic research group”); var sburl5849=decodeURI(“http://zumel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=542″); sburl5849=sburl5849.replace(/amp;/g, “”);sburl5849=encodeURIComponent(sburl5849);Media Accountability Day, Oct. 1, is the annual release of the news stories that were not covered by the corporate-mainstream media in the US. The list, just announced by Project Censored at Sonoma State University in California, includes the twenty-five most important uncovered news stories of the year selected by over 200 academics. Stories about the Iraq occupation lead the list. Unreported in the US corporate media is how over one million Iraqis have met violent deaths resulting from the 2003 US led invasion. According to a study conducted by the British polling group Opinion Research Business the human toll exceeded 900,000 as of August 2007. In addition, a United Nations Refugee Agency study found that five million Iraqis had been displaced by violence in their country. Also ignored by mainstream media was the report of how three hundred Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans came forward in March of 2008 to recount the brutal impact of the ongoing occupations. The Winter Soldier hearings in Silver Spring, Maryland, organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War, presented multiple testimonies by veterans who witnessed or participated in atrocities against Iraqis or Afghans. Independent media reported that the United States Federal Reserve shipped $12 billion in US currency to Iraq at the beginning of the war of which at least $9 billion went missing, but this story never saw the light of day in the US mainstream. Additionally, many anti-war activists will be surprised to learn that President Bush has signed two executive orders that would allow the US Treasury Department to seize the property of any person perceived to, directly or indirectly, pose a threat to US operations in the Middle East. Also not reported in the US news is how the leaders of Canada, the US, and Mexico have been secretly meeting to expand the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) to form a militarized tri-national Homeland Security force and how more than 23,000 representatives of US private industry are working with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to collect information on fellow Americans. Coverage of how massive new US-backed military funding threatens peace and democracy in Latin America and that Nato officials are considering a first strike nuclear option was also missing from the corporate press. Unreported news also includes the stories that the Justice Department believes it is legal for the president to secretly ignore previous executive orders anytime he wants, and the FDA is complicit in allowing drug companies to make false, unsubstantiated, and misleading advertising claims. Censored news stories also included why the No Child Left Behind program is a huge success for corporate profits, but have had little positive impact on public education. Children in juvenile detention centers in the US face conditions that involve sexual and physical abuse, and even death. And radioactive materials from nuclear weapons production sites are being dumped into public landfills, and being used as recycled metals. Untold news includes Care announcing last year that it was turning down $45 million in food aid from the United States government because the procedures the US demands for handling the food actually increases starvation instead of relieving it. Rounding out the Project Censored list is the news that the guest worker program in the United States victimizes immigrant workers and creates a new form of indentured servitude and that twenty-seven million slaves exist in the world today. Censorship is a harsh term, but the shocking fact is that the corporate-mainstream media in the US was so busy entertaining us that these and many other important news stories became lost in a news system run amuck. [Censored 2009 was released Oct. 1, 2008 by Seven Stories Press. Daily independent news and a full on-line review of the most censored stories are available at: www.projectcensored.org.]

New CPAs of 2008 (O)

Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008

1670 OAMIL, RINA JEAN RAZA 1671 OBERIO, MARK RAMOS 1672 OBESO, EDDIE JR TE 1673 OBILLO, JAYSON LAMPA 1674 OBINA, MARK JOEL CABANGON 1675 OCAMPO, IVY MALATE 1676 OCAMPO-TAN, NICOLE AIMEE COYIUTO 1677 OCHOTORENA, GEOFER ROSALES 1678 OCLARIT, NECEL JONE CATUBIG 1679 OCO, ARDEN JEROME PATAWARAN 1680 OCOT, JENUS ADOLFO 1681 OCUPE, RAYMUND LIGAN 1682 ODULIO, ROSETTE SICAT 1683 ODULIO, ROWENA JEAN POMEDA 1684 OFICIAR, GENEVIEVE MARIANO 1685 OFTANA, MIA HELEN GRACE AGUCOY 1686 OGOC, KASHMIR FREULAND LORENZO 1687 OJENDRAS, ROGELYN GASCO 1688 OLAYON, SHEILA LORRAINE CABALAN 1689 OLAYTA, CHER PINCARO 1690 OLBAN, JUDILYN SINANO 1691 OLEGARIO, BRIAN MANALO 1692 OLGADO, MARICRIS MUYOT 1693 OLITA, MA THERESA FE DURIAS 1694 OLOROSISIMO, NOVELYN ACABA 1695 OLOWAN, MAUREEN ALIBCAG 1696 OMILLO, IRENE CASTAÑARES 1697 OMPOC, MARICEL NACUA 1698 ONDOY, GLAIZA SUGABO 1699 ONG, LESLEY ANNE GONZALES 1700 ONG ABRANTES, RAYMUND CHRISTIAN SAYCO Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 36 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 1701 OPONDA, APRILLE GUILARAN 1702 OR, ROSALIN LIM 1703 ORALLO, ABIGAIL NARAG 1704 ORALLO, JOANA MARIE CAYAT 1705 ORBON, MARIELLE DIAZ 1706 ORIARTE, MA CRISELDA RAMIREZ 1707 ORIBELLO, JEFFREY LABADOR 1708 ORILLA, JULIE MAR SANICO 1709 ORLINO, JACQUELINE PAMPOLINO 1710 ORPIA, ARMAN ARGAYOSA 1711 ORPIA, REBECCA OPEÑANO 1712 ORPILLA, MARVILYN LAOENG 1713 ORTEGA, ARNEL BOTE 1714 ORTIGUERRA, MARIA LINDA DIUCO 1715 ORTIZ, BERNADETTE CABABAN 1716 ORTIZ, MARICRIS RUDICA 1717 OSOL, JOYCEL COSTILLAS 1718 OSUNA, KRISTEL DORADO 1719 OYOG, MERRY GEN BETONIO

DOJ CHIEF ON BRAVO INTERVIEW ‘ABS-CBN violated broadcast code’ Network: ‘It was a legitimate story’

By Tetch Torres
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 19:11:00 10/22/2008

MANILA, Philippines — Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez is considering a complaint against broadcast network ABS-CBN for airing on television an interview with wanted Moro rebel commander Abdullah Macapaar, alias Commander Bravo.

Gonzalez accused the network of violating provisions of the Broadcast of the Philippines, particularly Sections 2 and 4, which state that “criminals shall not be glorified” and that “crime should always be condemned.”

However, reacting to the justice chief’s charges, the network, in a statement from news and current affairs head Maria Ressa, said the interview with Macapaar was “a legitimate story, and our interview with him aired October 20 and 21 adhere to ethical standards of journalism.”

Gonzalez said he might file the complaint against ABS-CBN before the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP, Association of Broadcaster of the Philippines).

He also accused ABS-CBN reporter Jorge Cariño of asking “loaded” questions and claimed that it was not enough for the network to get the side of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

“The interview created an impact that he [Macapaar] is greater than life with his followers cheering at his back,” Gonzalez said.

He also claimed the interview terrorized people by the impression that MILF might launch attacks.

Gonzalez said ABS-CBN should have coordinated with authorities to help catch Macapaar instead of allegedly allowing itself to be used for the Moro rebel leaders’ propaganda.

However, Ressa said it was ABS-CBN’s “responsibility as journalists to report on people and events that affect public interest.”

She also stressed that “the public has the right to know” about Macapaar, who “is one of the country’s most wanted men, a key figure in the collapse of the peace process in Mindanao.”

Ressa pointed out that ABS-CBN has been covering Macapaar “for many years now — even during peacetime. We will continue to report on what he says and does with the same zeal and professionalism that we would use when covering his arrest — if and when that happens.”

==========

My Take:

Now, now.

Is the DOJ chief aware that Commander Bravo is not yet being tried and found guilty by a legitimate court?  If so, then he can never call Bravo  criminal at this point of time.

But if he would insist, then we might as well call the DOJ chief an anti-press freedom advocate.

Just thinking…

BFAD CONFIRMS Melamine in 2 more ‘Lotte’ products

22 other food brands safe

By Dona Pazzibugan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 15:22:00 10/22/2008

MANILA, Philippines — Two more biscuit products of the popular Japanese brand Lotte have been found to contain the industrial chemical melamine, the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) announced Wednesday.

Lotte B+W Koala Biscuit and Lotte Chocolate Snack Koala Biscuit tested positive for melamine, which has been blamed for killing at least four babies and sickening some 54,000 others who drank tainted infant formula in China.

Last week, BFAD said Lotte Strawberry Snack Koala Biscuit tested positive for melamine contamination.

BFAD on Wednesday also declared 22 milk-related products free of melamine, namely:

Angels First Love Barquillos Fresh Milk Wafer Sticks
Barbecue Candy (MM)
Darrys Milk Choco Candy
Golden Fuji Crisp Tomato Flavor Cracker
Golden Fuji Vegetable Flavor Cracker
Houshuang Winter Mint Candy (MM)
KZ Gundam Long Candy
Lipton Milk Tea (Original Flavour) — product of Indonesia
Lipton Milk Tea (Vanilla Flavour) — product of Indonesia
Nice Choice Pineapple Cake
OO Chocolate Bean Candy
Sandwich Biscuits (green wrapper, in Chinese characters)
Sandwich Biscuits (purple wrapper, in Chinese characters)
Sandwich Biscuits (yellow wrapper, in Chinese characters)
Sour Lollipop 2 in 1 (Strawberry, Orange, Pineapple)
Sweet Dart 8.8 Butter Bali Candy
The New Zoland Company Omilk Bonbon Yogurt Milk Soft Drops (grape flavour)
W.L. Sweet Dart Pines Milk Candy
W.L. Sweet Dart Royal Orange Candy
W.L. Yaahoo Cheese Biscuit
Zhongshan Meihua Galletas De Chocola Te Butter with Filling Cake
Zhongshan Meihua Good Taste Sweet-Smelling and Crisp Biscuits (Nutrition Health Foods)

Three other China-made milk products were earlier found to contain high levels of melamine and were banned from the market: Jolly Cow Slender High Calcium Low Fat Milk (1 liter), Greenfood Yili Fresh Milk and Mengniu Drink.

With the latest results, BFAD has so far cleared 166 dairy products for sale.

Statements: Another Cordillera son missing

By TEODORO B. BAGUILAT, JR.
GOVERNOR, PROVINCE OF IFUGAO

Yet another son of the Cordillera, another activist for our rights, has disappeared.

I do not know James Balao personally, but I know his kind. There are only a few of us who have the courage to devote one’s life to pursuing difficult causes. Yet he craves no praise or gratification. Just a desire that the coming generations of Cordillerans will live in a region of genuine peace, sustainable development and self-determination.

Thus, I join all those who have manifested their indignation over his disappearance. I condemn forces of political intolerance and brute force who have sought to silence Balao’s crusades with an act of terror.

For whatever ideology, political belief or religious persuasion that propels our actions, the value of non-violence and human rights must be upheld.

True, we live in a world of conflict, a war of attrition. But Cordillerans have for centuries resolved their conflicts respecting the rule of traditional law and human rights. The casualties of our wars were slain in acts of honor, not with treachery. The battles waged by our forefathers were for freedom, not for fascism.

These were the things James fought for. Despite the fears and the solitude, he struggled. We owe him this much to pray and demand that he be returned to the family and community he so loved. #

New CPAs of 2008 (N)

Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008

1623 NABAYRA, MARIA ANGELICA DELOS SANTOS 1624 NABUNA, HANSEL JOEY EBRADO 1625 NACARIO, MARK BUBAN 1626 NACIONAL, SHERLINE BALLESTEROS 1627 NACORDA, MICHELLE MELENDRES 1628 NADALA, KENNETH LUBANG 1629 NADAYAG, LIEZL AGUSTIN 1630 NAHOY, MADELYN AGINAO 1631 NALAZA, FAITH LUSTRO 1632 NAMUCO, JUSTO JESUS SALOSA 1633 NAPALA, JENNIFFER RYNN PUERTULLANO 1634 NAPAY, LENNY NAVAS 1635 NAPI, JAMES STEPHEN DE LEON 1636 NAPUTO, FRANCIS GIDEON GRAZA 1637 NARAG, RONNIE DULDULAO 1638 NARCE, KATHY LOSANTAS 1639 NARIO, JAY AR HELERA 1640 NAVAJA, JAMES PAUL TAGARAO 1641 NAVAJA, JOHNAS BAGUIO 1642 NAVARES, MARY LOUIE DELFIN 1643 NAVARRA, CHRISTINE MAE PASCUAL 1644 NAVARRO, BRIAN CHRISTOPHER MANES 1645 NAVARRO, KRISCEL SHEEN CUERPO 1646 NAVARRO, NOVA LYN GALIT 1647 NAVARRO, PAULO SALABSABIN 1648 NEBRIDA, ARLYNN PAULA PAGCALIWAGAN 1649 NEBRIJA, CHARI VILLE NOROÑA 1650 NEPOMUCENO, J RUSSEL ELA Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 35 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 1651 NEPOMUCENO, MARK ANTHONY MORALES 1652 NGO, JO ANN DELOS SANTOS 1653 NGO, MOONYEEN SO 1654 NICASIO, MICHELLE ANNE PURA 1655 NICDAO, CAMILLE DELA CRLUZ 1656 NICOLAS, KRISTINE ANNE MARIE CARPIO 1657 NICOLAS, MARICOR DIONISIO 1658 NIEVA, JOY LATAG 1659 NIEVA, MARIA KRISTINE BULAN 1660 NILLAMA, MAE GRACE JUNE CASIÑO 1661 NILO, JOHN ALDRIN PADILLA 1662 NOBLE, ALEXIS JOSEPH REMATE 1663 NOCHE, MELVIN GUTIERREZ 1664 NOLEAL, CHRISTINE BOTOR 1665 NOLLEDO, EUGENE VENTURA 1666 NOMBREFIA, VIVIAN GUERRA 1667 NOPIA, VIRGINIA THERESA HILAB 1668 NOROMBABA, ROSELYN LOBINA 1669 NUEVA, DAVITH PECHARDO

Women’s Front: We fight hunger, we fight poverty! We assert our survival!

By INNABUYOG-GABRIELA

The government says you live with P46 a day or P16,810 in a year (US358). This is the poverty threshold in the Cordillera according to the National Statistics Coordinating Board (NSCB). This is half the poverty threshold, which is US$2 a day as prescribed by the World Bank and International Labor Organization.

Rural and urban poor women say this is not even enough for one person’s square meals. On the other hand, the government also says, the daily family living wage in the Cordillera is P834 (US$17.7) and 20% of this is allocated for food.

Women say, with their current income of P50-250 (US$1-5.3) a day, 80-100% of their family income is spent on food. Oftentimes, the income is not even enough to buy the family’s food of rice and viand.

The current level of poverty in the Cordillera region and in the country gives women an added burden of stretching the measly resources of their families.

According to indigenous peasant women in Conner, Apayao, what used to be food for the family is now brought to market in order to get additional cash for the family. Before, it was easy to share rice, vegetables, fruits and other food products to neighbors and relatives. With the economic crisis now, women find it hard to share any food item.

What little produce that the family may spare, are sold to buy other food needs. The produce is not even enough for the family with production getting costlier, the attack of pests, irrigation problems and change in climate pattern. What used to be part of the meal like meat, fish and milk for the children, are reduced if not stricken out from the list. This situation is echoed by other women in other parts of the region, in the interior villages, in town and urban centers.

The face of hunger and poverty in the Cordillera may not have reached starvation levels but obviously, families are forced to adjust in the volume and quality of food for their families. Women say what cannot be absent in their kitchen is rice thus all means to provide and seek is done by them and their husbands. This usually means separation of family members as one parent, even women, go to other places for wage labor or overseas as domestic workers.

All remedies to ensure food for the family are sought by women — vending, wage labor, loans and availing of small government livelihood projects which hardly help in alleviating the rural women’s economic conditions. Indeed this situation creates the vulnerability of women to deception, patronage and even to engagement in anti-social activities, like prostitution.

Today, we observe the 13th year of the World Rural Women’s Day and the 29th year of World Food Day. As rural indigenous women, we no longer enjoy abundance of food in our farms and kitchens. As toiling women in town and urban centers, we do not have just wages and secured livelihood to feed our children with the right volume and quality of food.

Families living under the poverty threshold in the Cordillera increased to 28.8% as compared to 25.8% in 2003 (NSCB). Cordillera provinces except for Benguet are part of the top 20 poorest provinces in the country. Apayao and Abra top the poverty incidence of 57.5% and 50% respectively.

The real poverty situation among rural and urban poor women is more downright than these government indicators.

Hunger and poverty is worsened by the inflation rate of 11.4%, the highest in the last 14 years. Rice price rose by 60%, other food commodities followed suit, aggravated by the non-stop oil price hikes of more than P20 per liter.

Hunger and poverty is also worsened by the continuing militarization of the countrysides and the government’s national mineral liberalization program that offered more than 60% of the Cordillera land to foreign mining corporations.

Hunger and poverty has been acknowledged by the Department of Education as the cause for the increased drop-outs among children. The malnutrition rate remains high among rural children in the region despite government’s Food-for- School Program.

National governments and international economic institutions speak about solving the global hunger and poverty problem targeting to reduce global poverty by one half in 2015 through the Millennium Development Plan. It is alarming that 1.4 billion people or almost a quarter of the world’s population, live below the international poverty line, or earning below US$1.25 a day (World Bank). Each year, 5.6 million children aged 5 years and below die as a result of malnutrition. The hunger and poverty situation is aggravated by the soaring of food prices which became particularly steep in the 1st months of 2008(report of the UNSR on Food). Overall, the price of food commodities rose by 83% over the last 36 months.

However, the current global food crisis should not be used by the GMA government as its excuse for the country’s food and economic crisis. It only shows the vulnerability of the Philippine economy being export-oriented and import dependent and driven by neo-liberal globalization. While the GMA government has earmarked P366 billion for it’s Anti-poverty Program which is distributed to National Social Welfare program amounting to P45 billion, the Noah’s Ark Framework amounting to P316 billion and Hunger Mitigation Program amounting to P5 billion, the results of these programs have yet to be seen in the quality of life of poor indigenous women and their communities.

The indigenous peasant women’s organizations in the Cordillera and Innabuyog join rural women and the peasant organizations in the country and the whole world in their actions to decry the hunger and poverty situation and assert their food sovereignty. At the international level, Innabuyog links with the efforts of the People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS), Pesticide Action Network-Asia Pacific (PAN-AP), the Don’t Globalize Hunger campaign of the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD), Asia Peasant Coalition and the Asia Rural Women’s Coalition.

Innabuyog asserts that food can only be secured with a healthy economic condition where the government has the political will to address the age-old problem of land reform, enable the development of national industries that truly develops national economy, support for domestic food production, respect for indigenous peoples’ rights to their ancestral lands and of their resources and get rid of liberalization policies which kill the development of agriculture and domestic food production.

As we assert our survival and the survival of future generations, we will not allow ourselves to be defeated by dole-outs, state terrorism and never will we bow down to the capitalist greed on our land and food resources. We will continue to assert our right to our land , and defend our food resources and harvest. #

From Under This Hat: It has been 32 days

By KATHLEEN T. OKUBO

It has been 32 days now since James M. Balao fell victim of enforced diasappearance.

Last Friday in a rally organized by colleagues, family and friends a mabtad was re-echoed. It is fetad against enforced disappearances.

One speaker in the rally from central Bontoc who found it in her heart to pitch in her much valued help, seemed scared to be among angry militant organizations and their red banners. Apparently her rage at the violent abduction and more so that it can only be an enforced disappearance made her speak strongly against the act and the enforcers.

She made it clear that she was no member of any of the organizations in the rally but nevertheless she called on her townmates and fellow Cordillerans to cooperate, help find and surface James for it is the right thing to do.

She believed this abduction could not be done by a Cordilleran (“saan tayo nga aramid dayta”), she expressed this taboo was respected by the people of these mountains. She illustrated this as she narrated a community mobilization in Bontoc she had participated in to express her vehement condemnation of what was done to James.

She said, there was one time when the New People’s Army had captured seven soldiers of the Philippine military in the Mt. Province, the elders of the community with her among them called a mabtad to bring these soldiers back safe and alive.

For a few emotionally tensed and fired-up days, they negotiated, stood vigil through the night and pleaded for their release. The “prisoners of war” were safely handed over to them. They even had to make sure the military command will not maltreat them or count them as casualties when the community handed them over to the local command.

The people’s concern and value for life was very high and clearly expressed in this community action. The people together, in the face of a vengeful military and the NPA revolutionaries, showed no fear just the overwhelming concern for the lives and safety of the prisoners.

She strongly pleaded publicly to those who took James to surface him. And, as other speakers also expressed “for the abductors to find courage in themselves to surface him and if he had committed any crime together let us deal with it in the proper and legal process.”

• * * * * *

Milestones: My family, colleagues and I would like to express through this column our deepest sympathies to the family of the late Bishop Richard Abellon Sr. who passed away October 16.

The grandfather, father, mentor, Bishop and my, along with others, refuge when my young son and I were abducted by the military some sixteen years ago. May his lifework be an inspiration to all of us whose lives he has, in one way or many other ways, touched. To his children and grand children, his good service and life experience is the weight of the Cordillera on our shoulders that we can generously share among others to continue guiding us thru strife and peace. #

Economics and Society 101: Keynesian and Marxist perspectives on the US crisis

By ARTHUR BOQUIREN

The United States economic crisis of 2008 illustrates that while the US prescribes laissez faire or free trade, the US actually implement a corrupted or bastardized version of Keynesian economics in its homeland. Adam Smith originally formally prescribed laissez faire or free market economics in his book, The Wealth of Nations.

However, throwing aside the flowery words or capitalist niceties, it is not through laissez faire but through arms that the US and many capitalist countries accumulated the wealth that they enjoy today. Colonialism and neo-colonialism are actually monopolies or oligopolies on trade and economies of colonies and semi-colonies. In the colonies and semi-colonies, the economies dominated by monopolies and oligopolies are misrepresented by capitalism as free markets.

Monopolies refer to markets dominated by a single firm or entity while oligopolies refer to markets dominated by a few. The single firm or the few firms are actually a firm or firms of the colonizers enjoying privileges from the elite of developed countries. On the other hand, free markets are supposedly economies in which no firm exercise effective monopoly or influence on prices. In economic parlance, all economic agents in a free market are supposedly “price-takers.”

Leading analysts believe that today’s US economic crisis will become a difficulty, worse than the US great depression of the 1930s. In the 1930s, real US gross national product (GDP) at their 2000 values went from $865.2 billion in 1929 to $790.7 billion in 1930, to US$739.9 billion in 1931, to US$643.7 billion in 1932, and to US$635.5 billion in 1933.

As a US government response, US President Hoover created the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to boost economic activity by lending money in 1932. In 1935, US President Roosevelt created the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation to buy $3 billion in bad mortgages from the banks. Many believe the actions were instrumental in arresting the downward slide of the US GDP such that GDP in 2000 value increased to US$704.2 billion in 1934, and US$766.9 billion in 1935.

GDP increased to their 1929 value only in 1936. Thus, it can be said that in spite of the US government bailouts in 1932 and 1933, the crisis took at least seven years to be arrested (here we are not even talking of GDP per capita). We can infer therefore that even if the US$700 bailout really materialize, US recovery from today’s crisis may take seven years because the current US crisis is described as a crisis worse than the Great Depression.

The dominant paradigm in today’s theoretical economics has been the New Classical perspective also known as the “rational expectations” economics. However, what is implemented during times of crises is a corrupted version of Keynesian economics. John Maynard Keynes, in his 1930 book, prescribed that state action to promote economic growth can range from the use of fiscal policy, organization of investment, and policies that alter the distribution of income.

The original Keynesian prescriptions has been bastardized or corrupted: modern economists twisted the teachings of Keynes on state action into something limited only to the use of fiscal and monetary policies. In short, government actions are only limited to policies involving government spending and interest rates and do not cover the organization of investments or improving the distribution of incomes which are also Keynesian prescriptions.

Many of the early Keynesians were even mistaken as communists. T he early Keynesians were not communists, of course, as they were staunch defenders of private property. Keynesians believe that private business is inherently not stable because business outlook can be affected by self-fulfilling prophecies. For example, if private businesses have a bleak outlook on the future, the future can actually be bleak as businessmen become afraid to invest. For Keynesians, governments must lead and wake up the “animal spirit” among investors so economic activity can be propped up. For the early Keynesians, the government can organize and lead private business but business must remain private.

On the other hand, a Marxist perspective to the crisis holds that the US crisis emerged because of the inherent nature of capitalism to overproduce or oversupply. Competition leads capitalism to a situation where goods and services are way beyond that can be absorbed by the market. Marxists hold that crises in capitalism are systemic and recurring because of the concentration of wealth and production in the hands of a few. For Marxists, crises of capitalism are actually crises of overproduction even if the immediate origin can be self-fulfilling prophecies. Further, the root of crises is politico-economic rather than purely economic.

Meanwhile, although the country’s financial system may be insulated from the crisis because only less than 1% of the banking system has been exposed to the crisis (but the US crisis can also escalate and its effect on the Philippines can likewise escalate), the country will be significantly by the crisis as more than 23% of Philippine exports are marketed to the US and a significant client of call centers are US firms. Further, a large part of overseas contract workers are employed in the US. This being the case, the expectation is that the Philippines will be hardly hit by the crisis even if Philippine economic growth will be at 3.9% for 2008 (expected earlier at 6%) and 3.4% for 2009 (expected earlier at 6.2%). The economic growth rates, however, will not mean that millions of people will not be hard up. Millions of people in the country will continue to suffer from extreme poverty.

The author maintains a blog at http://www.geocities.com/arturoboquiren and can be contacted through artboquiren2040@yahoo.com and +63927-536-8431. #

New CPAs of 2008 (M)

Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008

1389 MAAMBONG, JENNEFFIR ANNE SUN 1390 MABANTA, RONALD BARUEL 1391 MABAO, SHERLYN ARCADIO 1392 MABELIN, MAY ANN ALVIZO 1393 MABOLO, ELIZABETH ANNE CATIENZA 1394 MABULAC, EULALIO III PACANAN 1395 MACADANGDANG, JEANY VILLAMOR 1396 MACAHIG, NOEL ANGELO SARMIENTO 1397 MACAIRAN, KYBEE ISMAEL MIGUEL BALANQUIT 1398 MACALALAD, FLORIDEL MANALO 1399 MACALINGA, VENUS ONA 1400 MACALINTAL, DANILO JR TANIG Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 30 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 1401 MACANILAO, SHIELA ANNE MEDINA 1402 MACAPAGAL, THERESE CAY VASQUEZ 1403 MACARAT, RAMIR BALIBREA 1404 MACARIO, LOVELY MELCHITA CORRALES 1405 MACASAET, MARIA GAY VILLANUEVA 1406 MACATANGAY, DEXTER SALAMATIN 1407 MACATI-OG, MERALONA PEREZ 1408 MACATO, JENNIFER KO 1409 MACATUMPAG, CORAZON LAGUITAN 1410 MACHATE, MARC LENNON CAYABYAB 1411 MACHON, CAREEN ALEA LABONGRAY 1412 MACOTE, JOHN REI FERNANDO 1413 MACROHON, JENIELYN ACEBUQUE 1414 MACROHON, STEPHANIE TRICIA SANCHEZ 1415 MACUHA, JENNELYN UMALI 1416 MADDAWIN, IVY JOY MADRIAGA 1417 MADDIUL, SITTIMAZUIN HJ MOHAMMAD NUR 1418 MADELO, MEPILUZ VEGA 1419 MADERADA, MA NOVE YABUT 1420 MADLANGBAYAN, MHAY TENORIO 1421 MADRIAGA, JOSE MARIA HONORATO BRINGAS 1422 MADRIDEO, ALDRIN RAMOS 1423 MADRIGAL, JENNIFER BROÑOLA 1424 MADRILEJO, CHRISTINE GEL CLACIO 1425 MADRONERO, MARY JEAN MACASINAG 1426 MADRONIO, RUBY JOAN VILLAR 1427 MAGADAN, JOYCE APRIL BORJA 1428 MAGALE, ARBIE MAE ROJAS 1429 MAGALGALIT, DYNNA ROSS DONGALEN 1430 MAGALONA, JASON SANTOS 1431 MAGAMPON, MA JENICE SOMBON 1432 MAGAT, LESLIE ANNE ROM 1433 MAGLASANG, MICHELLE ALTARES 1434 MAGLINAO, JENNEVIEVE JANE RECONALLA 1435 MAGNO, CHRISTINE CALUGAY 1436 MAGNO, DAVID ALEJO 1437 MAGNO, JENALYN GRACE LAGMAN 1438 MAGOS, KAREN MONTEBON 1439 MAGPANTAY, JULIUS ESTEVEZ 1440 MAGPANTAY, ROXANNE HERNANDEZ 1441 MAGSALIN, CHEZCA ALBERT PARAISO 1442 MAGSINO, JOVIE TIDON 1443 MAGSINO, MARLON CAPULOY 1444 MAGSUMBOL, ALEXIS CARLO GUERRERO 1445 MAICO, ANTONIO JR VALIDA 1446 MAJOMOT, ANALIZA BANANAL 1447 MAKALINGGAN, SARAH MAE EGAGAMAO 1448 MALACA, ANGELO EGANA 1449 MALANG, ANN PAULETTE SURLA 1450 MALASIQUE, JOYCE ROSE FRANCISCO Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 31 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 1451 MALAYLAY, KATHERINE LA ARNIE BUERA 1452 MALCO, DENNIS MANTAL 1453 MALECDAN, NOREEN SOLANG 1454 MALIHAN, MAY MARIFLOR BABISTA 1455 MALLA, JAYSON BECTA 1456 MALLARI, DERICK TURLA 1457 MALLARI, JEFFREY FLORES 1458 MALLARI, LEA ANDREA ARELLANO 1459 MALLARI, MA KATHLEEN OCAMPO 1460 MALONG, CAMILO JR DAJAY 1461 MALONZO, GLAIZA DIZON 1462 MALONZO, LEAN CUATRIZ 1463 MALTO, GLAIZA PE BENITO 1464 MAMADES, RHEZA MAE GENTEROLA 1465 MAMAED, LOVELY GRACE VELASCO 1466 MAMONONG, CHRISTIAN SANTOS 1467 MANA-AY, ROSELYN PUEBLO 1468 MANACHO, MARJE MENORCA 1469 MANAIG, JOMEL NAVARRO 1470 MANALANG, MARY ANN DAYRIT 1471 MANALANG, ROSVE BALUYUT 1472 MANALASTAS, MARK ANTHONY CANIMO 1473 MANALASTAS, RAY MICHAEL SUBA 1474 MANALILI, JOHN ARIS MEDINA 1475 MANALON, ALMA YARA 1476 MANALOTO, ERIC NUIZ 1477 MANANGAN, JAMILAH PUNZAL 1478 MANARANG, KAREN TIQUI 1479 MANAYAO, REYMARIE FERNANDEZ 1480 MANCE, CARL JOHN FERNANDEZ 1481 MANDAP, WILSON YABUT 1482 MANDING, JONALYN CABANSAG 1483 MANECLANG, JOEL PANTIG 1484 MANGOLINCHAO, FE EGUE 1485 MANGSAT, JOSE FABRICANTE 1486 MANGUBAT, RICO REY GREGORIO 1487 MANIABLE, JOHN RAYMOND ABAN 1488 MANICAP, JOYCE MARIE MARTINEZ 1489 MANINANG, KATHRINE MAE SANTOS 1490 MANINGAS, HASADIAH BAUTISTA 1491 MANLUPIG, ETHEL MAE SOLIVA 1492 MANLUSOC, NYZEL ANN MANALANG 1493 MANOBA, ANGELITA LU 1494 MANUEL, GREGORY ALEC ESPINA 1495 MANUEL, MARY GRACE ONG 1496 MANUEL, RICHSHYLL TABOSO 1497 MANUEL, THEODORE AMAGA 1498 MANUNTAG, MARK JOSEPH BANGAYAN 1499 MANZANARES, BENIE BUSCADO 1500 MANZANO, RHEALYN RAMONES Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 32 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 1501 MAPADA, RODOLFO JR CABALLERO 1502 MAPANAO, JAN ABRIL CACATIAN 1503 MAPILI, GLENN CAÑADA 1504 MAPUTI, DONNA KRIS ZAMORA 1505 MARABABOL, JEREMEH CANDELADA 1506 MARABILLO, ZIFF CALVIN RIGOR 1507 MARANAN, JILLIAN CANDICE SANCHEZ 1508 MARBIDA, ARNEL MADEJA 1509 MARDO, FRANCIS ANDREI ROGACION 1510 MARIANO, ROSE ANN RACHO 1511 MARIAZETA, JOANNE CLARE MADRIÑAN 1512 MARIBBAY, VISITACION PAGULAYAN 1513 MARIÑAS, KAREN BERNARDO 1514 MARQUESES, ANTHONY LUMBERIO 1515 MARQUEZ, RUBY JEAN BAUTISTA 1516 MARSANGCA, AMERA NIZRAN MACKNO 1517 MARTE, ELIZABETH BACALTOS 1518 MARTIN, ERICA DELOS SANTOS 1519 MARTIN, KEYSEE JARATA 1520 MARTIN, MARVILOU CHERRY PERALTA 1521 MARTINEZ, JZELLE BUMAGAT 1522 MARTINEZ, MA NONABELLE RAMOS 1523 MARTINEZ, PAOLO ANTONIO ABELLO 1524 MARTINEZ, VINCENT DIOCAMPO 1525 MARZAN, DIOSDADO FONACIER 1526 MASAOAY, PRINCESS BANAAG 1527 MASONGSONG, JULIUS CORNEJO 1528 MATA, ANN CLARIS DAYRIT 1529 MATELA, DENISE XANDERA RICARTE 1530 MATEO, MICHELLE IGNACIO 1531 MATI, RODOLFO III BULLAN 1532 MATIAS, CRISTEL JOY PANO 1533 MATIBAG, MARIA HAZEL ALDOVINO 1534 MATIENZO, JONATHAN PAPANGO 1535 MATILDO, MARY JEAN PANGANURON 1536 MATUGUINAS, HONEYLET RAYPAN 1537 MAYO, RONAWYN DE LEON 1538 MAYUGA, RONNA BOBADILLA 1539 MAZO, JENNY FE CURITANA 1540 MAÑAGO, MARK RAIMUN BAHILLO 1541 MAÑALAC, ROCEL RAMOS 1542 MAÑAUL, MARY CLAIRE DE LUNA 1543 MEDES, JANICE BATACAN 1544 MEDILLO, SHEILA MARIE RICALDO 1545 MEDINA, FRIENDSIS REYES 1546 MEDINA, MELISSA HO 1547 MEDINA, PETE RANDY ESGUERRA 1548 MEJIA, CARMINA EGIPTO 1549 MEJICO, ROSE ANNE SALAZAR 1550 MELO, KRISTINE GRACE BACANI Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 33 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 1551 MELOCOTON, RAMON MIGUEL SIAN 1552 MEMBROT, MELANIE MARQUEZ 1553 MENDIOLA, LOVELY ANN MAGNO 1554 MENDIOLA, MICHAEL DELA CRUZ 1555 MENDOZA, CAMILLE CASANDRA MAGSUMBOL 1556 MENDOZA, CLYDE ERICSON BALDOVINO 1557 MENDOZA, JAY LOREÑO 1558 MENDOZA, JENNIFER ARAÑEZ 1559 MENDOZA, JOYCE ANN GARADO 1560 MENDOZA, MARJOLYN ZAMORA 1561 MENDOZA, MARQUIUS DE GUZMAN 1562 MENDOZA, RAFAEL LABATA 1563 MENDOZA, RANDY SABIDO 1564 MENDOZA, RICHARD ANTHONY MORENO 1565 MENDOZA, ROSE ANDREA SAHAGUN 1566 MENESES, JUAN SALVADOR MARTIN 1567 MENESES, MARK GIL PANGANIBAN 1568 MERAPTAN, RICHARD CORDOVA 1569 MERCADAL, KERSTELLEY NAHINE 1570 MERCADER, ELVIN NAVARRO 1571 MERCADER, FRANCIS GERARD DE CASTRO 1572 MERCADO, JONATHAN CARL ACULA 1573 MERCADO, MARK ANTHONY LUNAR 1574 MERCADO, OPALYN ABRASALDO 1575 MERCULIO, KARL MARC NAPILA 1576 MERCULLO, QUINLENE LEGARDA 1577 MERQUITA, MARLEY ESPAÑOL 1578 MICIANO, GERALD JILES MADRIGAL 1579 MIEDES, MARIA DANISSA JEAN CABITE 1580 MIER, MARIA JENELY LOVITOS 1581 MIGUEL, MARY ROSE ALOVERA 1582 MIGULLAS, LADY LIGHT MARIMON 1583 MIJARES, JOANNE BONDAD 1584 MILA, KRISTINE GAIL BAWA 1585 MILLA, MELODY CERAFICA 1586 MILO, DOROTHY JANE DONDRIANO 1587 MINAS, ANNIELITA PUNO 1588 MINGI, DEBIE ROJO 1589 MINGOA, DARRA RIPA 1590 MIRALPEZ, MARILYN LOSANDI 1591 MIRANDA, RYAN KENNETH VERGARA 1592 MISON, HEIDEE JOI MELENDEZ 1593 MITRA, FAYE ROSE QUESADA 1594 MITRA, JOY VALENCIANO 1595 MOJICA, DON DON TUAZON 1596 MOJICA, JOSEL ANN AGNIS 1597 MOJICA, MIA CHRISTINE DE CHAVEZ 1598 MOJICA, RETCHEL VALENCIA 1599 MONES, CATHERINE PASCUA 1600 MONIS, MARIA CRISTINA ABULENCIA Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 34 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 1601 MONTEROYO, EMELYN MINGOY 1602 MONTESA, ANA GRACIA WAJE 1603 MONTOYA, RONAH MAY MANLUBATAN 1604 MORALES, MARIA REINALEZA BUMOLO 1605 MORALES, MARY JOY SANDOVAL 1606 MORALES, MARY ROSELLE PADOLINA 1607 MORALES, RAY ANNALYN VIÑAS 1608 MORALES, REIL NIÑO 1609 MORTABA, MOHAMMAD AHMEEN SAID 1610 MOULIC, JEANETTE LUMAGUE 1611 MOY, JAYSON EIMAR 1612 MUA, NASRUDIN MAMA 1613 MUJERES, GERLIE VITERBO 1614 MULI, JOHANNA MARIE MERCADO 1615 MUNDA, MICHAEL PHILIP PETALLANA 1616 MUNDIGUING, ETHYL LYNE CARBONEL 1617 MUNLAWIN, AIZEL SILVA 1618 MUNSAYAC, RENELYN CANLAS 1619 MUSICO, ZAINAH ABIS 1620 MUTIA, ANTONIO JR QUILICOT 1621 MUTIA, IRNIL JOSEPH ORBITA 1622 MUYALDE, JENNY CO

(NorDis Editorial) The officers and Cruella De Vil

On the national front pages this passed week was a high ranking military officer stopped from departing at a Russian international airport in possession of P6.9 million in cold cash. Did that money come from the Philippines?

An ordinary Filipino is not allowed to bring more than P3,000 out of the country. Even if the inspector for humanitarian reasons would allow P4,000, but not P6.9 million, in the present Philippine economic situation. That is gross, obscene and inhuman, especially that one is a government official – unexplained wealth, or on a world tour? Is it not everyone equal in the face of the law?

Also on the national papers, the government has urged companies in critical mining areas to put up “civilian auxiliary groups” to further strengthen security forces and “take legitimate steps to protect their claims.

Equally in the application and implementation of the law, are indigenous peoples communities in their own traditional form of a company also equally entitled to put up their own “civilian auxiliary groups” and “take legitimate steps to protect their ancestral domain claims?”

“On top of such initiative, the Armed Forces of the Philippines is likewise studying the creation of an investment defense force (IDF) to address security concerns on a wider scope, where mining activities are conducted,” said defense Secretary Gilbert C. Teodoro, Jr. Among the initial areas identified for IDF is Cordillera, especially the Abra area.

In the prospective mine areas in the Cordillera, communities feel and talk of the growing presence and violence of government military forces. In Abra, some two weeks ago, it is the second time this year the military bombed Tubtuba and Beew. People from the area have not complained or told of harrassment or gross infringement on rights to their farms, forest, their village, private properties and their lives perpetuated by anyone or even by what the government call ‘rebel forces.’

Complaints and community outrage was only expressed when mining and logging companies and government military troops came to their home. During martial law and then again now their villages are bombed, restricted and occupied by military troops.

Most people ordinarily know and respect the uniform – police or armed forces – as created to protect them and to maintain the peace. With that news in the national papers are widespread experience of real people like the Burgos, Cadapan, Empeño, the Manalo brothers and Balao families and people of Tubo, Abra.

Piling up are documentations on officers getting away with peoples’ taxes, murder, rape, enforced disappearance, bombing, torture, land grabbing, even extra-judicial killings.

The uniform can very well be the face of Cruela deVil or the Demon himself. Beautiful or handsome with pit dark intentions.#

World church gathering to strengthen IP partnership

BAGUIO CITY — World churches will gather in an international conference on social and ecclesiastical visions of indigenous peoples at the Club John Hay here on October 21 to 26.

Sponsored by the World Council of Churches (WCC), a worldwide fellowship of non-Roman Catholic Churches whose headquarters is based in Geneva, Switzerland, the gathering will share and draw the experiences, spirituality and visions of indigenous peoples worldwide.

Thirty theologians from indigenous peoples in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Australia are expected in the conference, said Rev. Rex Reyes, National Council of Churches of the Philippines (NCCP) secretary-general in an interview.

This consultation will highlight the major issues affecting the indigenous peoples all over the world and appreciate how indigenous peoples confront these issues. The Consultation will also listen to a Philippine Panel who will deliver presentations on three specific issues of indigenous peoples in the Philippines: a) Stewardship and natural resources, b) Identity and social justice, and c) Community, church and the world.

“The project endeavors to challenge and enrich the traditional understanding of unity, mission, evangelical and spirituality,” added Reyes.

The indigenous peoples have rich experiences from which the churches can learn, which include among others, broad dimension of social justice, the exercise of self-determination, despite efforts to subsume them into the colonial-inspired state systems, and their concept of stewardship in protecting the land and environment for future generations, Reyes explained.

Church commitment

Reyes added the activity is a response to encourage the WCC and its constituency to be informed by the theological and spiritual resources of the indigenous peoples.

WCC was able to observe the situation of indigenous peoples worldwide where they are excluded by the mainstream society. As such, the IPs, due to their distinctness are discriminated and “excluded” by mainstream society where they live and manifested by discriminations, like in the absence of social services to them.

Their distinctness however had continuously made them adopt a vision of community peace and a safe earth, the NCCP document explained.

Cordillera, Philippines

Reyes said he activity is important in the country, particularly on the Cordillera, as the Filipino indigenous peoples have a powerful projection of politically and socio-culturally.

Approximately one-tenth of the total population nationwide, the indigenous peoples have in-depth spirituality and experiences.

“On one hand, they (IPs) live in isolated areas where access to basic services and opportunities for economic growth is lacking and on the other hand, natural resources abound in these areas making the indigenous peoples vulnerable to development aggression,” the NCCP document stated.

Reyes added that the Cordillera experiences as stewards of the land are very rich. He cited the Kalingas and Bontoks opposition of the World Bank-funded Chico dam that could have submerged thousands of hectares of rice lands and villages; the Tingguians opposition of the Cellophil Resources Company that would destroy hectares of forest lands in the tri-boundaries of Abra, Mountain Province and Kalinga; and the Ibalois struggle against the open pit mining in Itogon, Benguet.

NCCP added, “The struggle of the indigenous peoples in the Philippines for self-determination and the preservation of natural resources continue along with their struggle against the onslaught of foreign investments, mining, and confrontation with the state forces.”

Partners

Although, initially the indigenous peoples were seen as targets of conversion and the means by which churches manifested their charity work, churches in recent times have begun to stand alongside indigenous peoples in their struggles, the NCCP document added, which has revived its indigenous peoples program to support them in their journey towards a just and lasting peace.

Stories of their resistance to marginalization and development aggression, engagement with international bodies like the United Nations, and their partnerships elsewhere in their march towards a free and fair society will hopefully inspire similar story telling from other parts of the world, added the NCCP document.

Reyes said the activity would further deepen and expand the social and ecclesiastical vision of the ecumenical community vis-à-vis the sinned against and the excluded.

As part of the activity, the participants are also scheduled to visit mining and vegetable areas in Benguet, Reyes shared.

The NCCP and Regional Ecumenical Council in the Cordillera (Reccord) co-sponsor the activity. # Arthur L. Allad-iw(NorDis)

New CPAs of 2008 (L)

<< Back Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008

1257 LA VALLE, OLINAD GOMEZ 1258 LA VICTORIA, SHELMAR KITCH TURA 1259 LABAN, REYNALDO BANGKILE 1260 LABINDAO, IRIS BASID 1261 LABISTE, MIRZA LEA ANTONIO 1262 LABITAD, AILAINE AGAWIN 1263 LACANDOLA, MARITES YAO 1264 LACEA, MARIA JANETH LUAYON 1265 LACON, EULA ZARINA CASTILLO 1266 LACWASAN, EILLEN AMON 1267 LAGAZO, CARLO EZEKIEL ANTONIO 1268 LAGRADA, JIMMY ESPINOSA 1269 LAGROSAS, SHERYL CHRISTINE VALDEZ 1270 LAGTO, ERIKA WEE 1271 LAGUINDAM, NOEMIE ESCANDOR 1272 LALA, PRINCE BUENAVENTE 1273 LALOG, LYCHED ANN CONTRERAS 1274 LAMAC, RODWIL LAMBOLOTO 1275 LAMBINO, MELODY POCLAN 1276 LAMBONAO, CHERYL MATAFLORIDA 1277 LAMERA, BENNIE ARANETA 1278 LAMOJER, JULIE ANNE PANTINOS 1279 LANDICHO, FLORAVEL SUMAYLO 1280 LANDICHO, GENELYN NAVARRO 1281 LANDICHO, WILLIAM BALA 1282 LANGCAON, CHERRY TARRANCO 1283 LANIP, HERBERT MENDOZA 1284 LANOY, JUVIELYN SALUBRE 1285 LANUZA, DARREN KARLO CAJIGAL 1286 LAO, SHARLEEN DYANE PEÑALOZA 1287 LAOAGAN, MA NYMPHA MONTOYA 1288 LAPUZ, JUDITH ANNE PEÑARANDA 1289 LARGA, RODELITO II CELLE 1290 LAROCO, ARACELI SISON 1291 LAROYA, MARK ROLAND TROFEO 1292 LASALA, ANGELO SESBREÑO 1293 LASTIMOSO, JAY ASTER LACATAN 1294 LAVADIA, DIANNE ARIANE CEDRO 1295 LAVITORIA, GERRY LYN CASERIA 1296 LAXAMANA, JAYNE KARLA SANTIANO 1297 LAYLAY, CHRISTIAN GABRIEL 1298 LAYNO, IVAN GENE PUNSALAN 1299 LAYSON, ANDRO BACULI 1300 LAZAGA, ELLERY JANE FLORES Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 28 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 1301 LAZO, JOSE MARI AVERIA 1302 LEABRES, RONALD SARILI 1303 LEBRIA, LILIANNE DANO 1304 LEE, JENNIFER CHAN 1305 LEE, MARY JAMES GARCIA 1306 LEGADA, HARLEY JULAGTING 1307 LEGASPI, FRITZ GERALD ROXAS 1308 LEGASPI, JOVY LYNN ROBOSA 1309 LEGASPI, JULIUS OCAMPO 1310 LEGASPI, LADY ANN MONROID 1311 LEGASPI, PROPAULO MENDIOLA 1312 LENON, RICHELLOU JAMAICA ORTEGA 1313 LEONA, KATHERINE CASTILLO 1314 LERIO, DAVID JR TA-ASAN 1315 LETADA, MA CASSANDRA GUETA 1316 LEYNES, CHRISTINE JOY OCAMPO 1317 LI, DICKSON YU 1318 LIBAN, SHERRYL AGRAAN 1319 LIBERTINO, CAROL CULBENGAN 1320 LICAROS, RALPH MICHAEL HERNANDEZ 1321 LICAYAN, JOVER AUGUIS 1322 LICHENGYAO, PAMELA PO 1323 LICUP, MAE ANNE DOLOIRAS 1324 LIGLIGEN, DEBBY AKILIT 1325 LIM, AILEEN 1326 LIM, CHRISTIAN LOUIE USTARES 1327 LIM, GERALD GAZZINGAN 1328 LIM, GRETCHEL NGOTIANHE 1329 LIM, JAN MICHAEL SOLIMAN 1330 LIM, JAYSON PEDROSA 1331 LIM, JOAN HERNANDEZ 1332 LIM, MA ELIZA ALCANTARA 1333 LIM, RHEYNAND ESCUDERO 1334 LIM, SHEILA MARIE LUNASIN 1335 LIM BOK, JENNIFER JEANNE SIA 1336 LINATOC, RICHARD ESCAMILLAS 1337 LINGAN, BERENICE ANGELIQUE SY 1338 LIONG, ERNEST VINCENT BAYLON 1339 LIONG, NOEMI ESPERANZA 1340 LIONG, STACY LYN YANG 1341 LIRIO, APRIL ILAGAN 1342 LIRIO, CHRISTOPHER TATEL 1343 LISING, JHEZSANA FAYE ANNE BANAAG 1344 LIWANAG, CARLOS DE GUZMAN 1345 LIWANAG, ROSE ANN PASCUA 1346 LIYAO, JABELLE PALACIO 1347 LIZA, SHEANE MARIE BABA 1348 LLANERA, RONNEL NIDEA 1349 LLANETA, JOANNE BARRAZA 1350 LOGATOC, MARY JANE JUSTINIANO Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 29 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 1351 LOJA, MARY JOY DIAMANTE 1352 LOMEDA, SUZETTE CORTEZ 1353 LOMIBAO, MARY GRACE DIESTRO 1354 LOMUGDANG, DAISY TABUÑAR 1355 LOPERA, JOSEPH GARY ANTHONY LORAYES 1356 LOPEZ, ADA ANGELA PASCUAL 1357 LOPEZ, AIMEE KRISTEL RIVERA 1358 LOPEZ, ALFRED BERMUDEZ 1359 LOPEZ, JANSON RALPH RALLOS 1360 LOPEZ, KIMMY ALEGRE 1361 LOPEZ, MISCHELLE ALFONSO 1362 LORCA, MARIA CATHERINE DIALA 1363 LORENZO, CATHERINE GAYLE INFANTE 1364 LORENZO, JUDY ANN CAPIRAL 1365 LORENZO, TRACIE MAE RIVERA 1366 LOSA, GENE PATRICK LUGTU 1367 LOSANTAS, MARIA PAMELA VERAR 1368 LOYOLA, EMERSON DAYDAY 1369 LOYOLA, MELANIE BAUTISTA 1370 LOZANO, MIKHAEL OPELAC 1371 LU, DAVIE VINCENT DOMINGO 1372 LU, QUENIELYN LAUSA 1373 LUALHATI, JOY ASHLIY PUNZALAN 1374 LUAREZ, MICHAEL PASCUA 1375 LUBO, NALDY SIMBULAN 1376 LUBON, CLIFF KIRL FLORES 1377 LUCAS, MARJORIE TAMPE 1378 LUCENA, DOMINGO II PONTANIEL 1379 LUCENA, FIDEN ALONZO 1380 LUGTU, KRISTEL MAGLALANG 1381 LUISON, LEONARDO SOTO 1382 LUMAGUE, CITADEL BUELO 1383 LUMANCAS, ARON ALAAN 1384 LUMBAO, IRIS NICOR 1385 LUMBAO, LINO JR TOMAGAN 1386 LUPO, TRISHA JANE BETITA 1387 LUY, ALLAN CAGAS 1388 LUZON, DESTREZA CASIA

Hybrid rice hit, farmers air complaints

TABUK CITY — A farmer’s group here Wednesday criticized the government’s Food Security Program that heavily endorses the planting of hybrid rice, saying it did not consider the real situation on the ground.

HYBRID AND INBRED RICE ON THE RAMP. Rice took center stage at the Kalinga rice summit that coincided with the World Food Day rites. Photo by Lyn V. Ramo/NORDIS

Timpuyog dagiti Mannalon ti Kalinga (Kalinga farmers’ forum) Secretary-general Gerry Bulaat said the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) rice program which heavily encourages the planting and propagation of hybrid rice varieties failed to see the actual conditions of farms in the country.

Bulaat said this top-down planning strategy results from government planners favoring big business interests, instead of looking into the sorry plight of farmers, especially the small tiller-owners.

Criticizing the food security program packaged as FIELDS, Bulaat said the government keeps on promoting the production of hybrid seeds that do not easily acculturate with local conditions.

“Local farmers do not patronize hybrid seeds because it requires certain amount of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, a definite climate and weather conditions, enough irrigation and a planting technology that is still alien to most rice producers,” Bulaat told Nordis.

High technology farming, he said, is not applicable to farms in the countryside. He added most farmers in Kalinga do not appreciate the technology behind the cultivation of hybrids and are comfortable with the application of fertilizers and other input they are used to.

The production of seeds and other inputs is heavily left for big business to manipulate, he said. He added, although government has been spending millions on seed production, the technology heavily relies on imported commercial inputs.

Bulaat also mentioned local groups and families who control the production and sale of hybrid seeds, fertilizers and pesticides. “They take the profit from the labor of farmers,” he said.

Bulaat added, the rice productivity program is prone to graft and corruption, like any other government program. He said the fertilizer and seed subsidy intended for poor farmers did not reach most Kalinga farmers.

During the forum at the city gym here Wednesday, where some 1,500 farmers gathered for the rice information caravan and World Food Day rites, complaints on availing the fertilizer subsidy confronted Department of Agriculture (DA) officials.

National Rice Coordinator Frisco Malabanan said the government subsidizes the hybrid rice seeds at P1,500 per bag, while the inbred gets P1,200 per bag. The farmer, however, has to be in the list of farmers to be provided by the concerned local government unit.

For the fertilizer subsidy, DA handles two discount coupons worth P250 each, while the LGUs are supposed to take care of four coupons per farmer. Malabanan admitted some lapses in implementing the subsidy scheme in the local level.

A woman farmer who spoke before the forum said only those who are favored received discount coupons.

Another irrigation association officer said accredited fertilizer dealers charge P100 more on the discounted fertilizers because they still have to wait long before the government could pay them.

Kalinga is considered the rice granary of the Cordillera. It has more than 32,000 hectares of the region’s 90,000 has. irrigated rice lands. It is also a pilot province of PhilRice technology that has contributed largely to its rice production, according to government sources.

DA Cordillera Director Cesar Rodriguez said Kalinga’s rice production continue to increase citing the naturally fertile farms and the use of organic fertilizers, the continuing partnership with state universities to improve technology and the irrigations system as among the factors.

Bureau of Agricultural Statistics estimated that of the 191,000 metric tons (MT) rice produced in the region in January to June this year, Kalinga produced some 95,000 MT, or 49% of the region’s total rice production. In the same period last year the province had 87,000 MT. # Lyn V. Ramo (NorDis)

Kalinga farmers prefer inbred to hybrid rice

TABUK CITY, Kalinga — Despite government intervention to promote hybrid rice in the country, most Kalinga farmers plant inbred rice varieties, aside from the traditional rice they now export to the USA.

Without mentioning figures, a rice farmer here said most prefer to plant the inbred rice because of the high volume of inputs and attention required by the hybrid seed varieties.

“A hectare of hybrid rice requires at least eight cavans of fertilizers while the inbred needs only six for the same land area,” our informant who opted for anonymity said.

A bag of fertilizer costs P1,800 to P1,900, according to agriculture technical officials. Hybrid seeds range from P3,500 to P4,000 per 20-kilo bag, while inbreds costs only around P1,200 or even lesser. Traditional rice growers, however, maintain their own seed banks.

Grace, in her 30’s, a farmer from Pasil town, said she tried planting hybrid rice varieties but reverted to inbreds after she lost a fortune when a typhoon did not spare her rice paddies. She said, hybrid rice stalks tend to bend at the slightest wind, unlike the inbreds and the traditional rice that proved to be sturdier.

“Diay apitek a 150 cavans ket nagbalin a 20 laeng kalpasan a nabagyo daytoy,” (I expected 150 cavans but only got 20 after a typhoon hit the crops) Grace said. She said the hybrids are so sensitive to climatic changes, unlike the inbreds.

Tabuk City now boasts of being the hybrid capital of the Cordillera, but its farmers find woes with the newest seed technology.

Assistant Provincial Agriculturist Juliana B. Aclam said there are farmers who have tested the hybrid but plant inbred rice.  She confirmed reports that Kalinga farmers prefer the inbred to hybrid rice.

Top-down planning

“Kasla baby a maaywanan dagiti hybrid,” (Hybrids are like babies that need care) Gerry Bulaat, secretary-general of the Timpuyog ti Mannalon ti Kalinga (TMK) told Nordis in a separate interview.

Bulaat said the government did not consider the local situation in its planning resulting in wrong priorities.

Jessie Fernandez, Philrice supervising science specialist, based in Isabela said inbred rice yields an average of 120 cavans per hectare, while the hybrids could bring out 150 per hectare.

Both Philrice and private seed companies produce hybrid seeds.  Inbred rice was first introduced in the 70’s by the Masagana 99 program of then Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos. Philrice first developed these seeds to produce hybrid. Later, private companies followed suit, according to Fernandez.

DA Sec. Arthur Yap, in press release, stressed that while DA recognizes the potentials of hybrids at increasing farmers’ income, it also emphasizes on the extensive use of certified high-yielding varieties or inbreds, which are responsive to irrigated, rain-fed and upland rice ecosystems; unique or sub-optimal rice environs; specific seasons and climatic conditions; and commercial markets.

Cost of seed, production

Farmers, however, could not produce their own seeds because of decreasing production.  This is reportedly due to degeneration of the seed variety, that farmers have to buy seeds.

“Pinadas mi nga inmula manen diay bin-i ket saan a bumagas a kas idi damo daytoy nga imula, uray isu met laeng ti ikabil nga abono,” (We tried replanting the seeds and found out these do not yield as much as when these are first planted, even if we applied the same amount of fertilizers) said Ricardo Sad-ang, 52, of Tinglayan town.

Alyansa dagiti Pesante iti Taeng Kordilyera’s (Apit Tako) Fernando Bagyan once said in an earlier interview, these are terminator seeds. These could not produce their own seeds for later propagation, thus, compelling farmers to procure their planting materials from seed-producing companies like Syngenta, Monsanto, Asian Hybrid, Bio-seed and the like.

Sad-ang has been planting his two-hectare rice land to hybrid varieties. He said he had tried different types of hybrid seed varieties, but still get only around 90 cavans per hectare.

Philrice has reportedly produced Mestizo varieties M1, M3 and M7.  Private seed companies produce other hybrid varieties.

According to Aclam, many inbred varieties are cultivated in Kalinga. “Farmers have asserted for the certified inbred seeds. Their experience have taught them,” she told Nordis.

Unoy remains a favorite

Meanwhile, the traditional unoy is still being cultivated in most Kalinga towns.  Aclam said only the lower Tabuk barangays and the town of Rizal do not produce unoy rice.

Upper Tabuk, Tanudan, Balbalan, Upper Pinukpuk. Pasil and Tinglayan produce unoy.

Unoy rice varieties prefer the upland conditions, according to Aclam, noting that the taste and yield differ when these are planted in the lowland farms.

A negligible portion of unoy is now being exported to Montana, USA.

According to Apit Tako Spokesperson Virgie Dammay, unoy is now being produced in commercial quantities, with the provincial government trying too hard to meet the export quota for organically produced rice.

“This export program led farmers to devote more rice lands to the production of unoy. Even traditional vegetable swidden farms are now being planted to unoy,” said Mila Lingbawan of Innabuyog-Gabriela. She said, unoy was originally a paddy rice.

With more and more farmers encouraged to produce unoy for commercial purposes, TMK fears environmental degradation.

“It commands a higher price, farmers tend to produce it for sale amid food shortage and hunger,” said Bulaat.

Rice took center stage here Wednesday as the agriculture department gathered more than a thousand rice farmers, seed producers, local government officials and agriculture employees.

The rice info caravan featured a one-day stakeholders’ forum at the city gym.

Neither Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo nor Yap came to the dismay of the contingent. The duo was invited as main guests.

The forum focused on Arroyo’s center piece agriculture program FIELDS as government agencies focused on improving its organic fertilizer program; restoring irrigation systems, extension services; loans; dryers and post-harvest facilities;  and production and promotion of hybrid seeds. # Lyn V. Ramo(NorDis)

Rights violations continue despite CHR — Coun. Cariño

BAGUIO CITY — Joining advocates on their call to surface Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) founding member James Balao, a city councilor here noted that present human rights violations have not changed from records of past administrations.

Councilor Richard Cariño pointed out that despite the existence of the constitutionally-created Commission on Human Rights (CHR), human rights violations continue as the incidents (HRVs) have not declined.

In a show of their condemnation to enforced disappearances, Cariño and members of the city council passed a resolution that condemns enforced disappearances, regardless of who the victims are.

“Our position against enforced disappearances is institutionalized under such resolution,” he said in an interview, after his talk in the gathering at the People’s Park here Friday, October 17, where participants urged the GMA administration and its security troops to surface Balao.

Balao was abducted by suspected elements of the intelligence units of the military and police on September 17 in Lower Tomay, La Trinidad, a few meters away from the PNP regional office of Camp Dangwa, the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance said.

Remembering abduction

Carino is reminded him of his clients known as Baguio 14 because of the abduction of Balao.

In 1988, 14 peasant leaders from Nueva Ecija were having a meeting at the Legarda Road here when they were abducted by military.

Together with human rights advocates, they went searching military camps but failed to locate the 14 peasants.

They learned afterwards that the 14 were at the Camp Allen, a military camp, in front the city hall.

Since the military were holding them without legal basis, they (military) under the leadership of a certain Major Garcia of the Philippine Army turned over the 14 to the Baguio City jail but after they were charged of subversion and illegal possession of firearms by their captors, said Cariño, who was an active member of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) during that period.

The cases filed against the then known Baguio 14 were dismissed, after six years that they had been jailed.

Meanwhile, elders from Bontoc, Mountain Province joined the gathering at the People’s Park.

Petra Macliing urged the people to unite and join the search for missing Balao. Her call is a support for CPA’s Mabtad Kaigorotan or campaign to search James Balao.

A veteran against the Chico dam project and anti-mining in their home village of Mainit, Macliing famous line for the military is to turn their gun into productive plow where they can produce food for the people.

Evelyn Miranda of the Am-Amung di Ifontok (Gathering of the Ifontok tribe) pointed out among the participants that the case of Balao is a case of a resident abducted in his own land.

She condemned the military for the abduction and urged residents to search for Balao as “he is our own blood.” The mother of James Balao has ascendants from Bontoc, pointed Miranda, who is also a council member of the Cordillera Elders Assembly, an alliance of elders groups from various tribes of the Cordillera.

Today is already the 30th day since James was abducted, CHRA said. # Arthur L. Allad-iw(NorDis)

New CPAs of 2008 (K)

Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008

1247 KABIGTING, MARICEL PANGILINAN 1248 KALALO, EMMYR JOSEPH CULTURA 1249 KAMSAWEN, ANN MALOGDOS 1250 KARIÑGAL, ENRICO JR DE LA CRUZ Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 27 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 1251 KENG, ANNE MARGARET SY 1252 KIMAYONG, ROMEO JR GUINANOY 1253 KING, MARIA DALISAY REYES 1254 KING, RAPHAEL DERAYUNAN 1255 KO, WINNY VELOSO 1256 KOON, LEVIN LIM

Human rights group sneers at TF 211

BAGUIO CITY — The Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) sneered at the sincerity of the government efforts in investigating cases of extra-judicial killings under Task Force 211, a task force against political violence.

According to Jude Baggo, CHRA secretary general, the creation of this task force is just a scheme of the government to whitewash results of the investigations on extra-judicial killings and to make Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo seem to be doing something about human rights violations in the country.

“The fact that there are still killings all over the country and cases of enforced disappearances like that of James Balao, only shows how inutile the state is in prosecuting and putting the perpetrators to justice,” said Baggo.

TF 211 was formed November of 2007 through Administrative Order No. 211. Its mandate is to investigate political violence with focus on killings of militants, media practitioners and members of the trade unions.

At present, the task force is handling 251 cases with 12 resolved cases and 12 dismissals due to lack of sufficient evidence.

Department of Justice (DOJ) Under-secretary Ricardo Blancaflor, head of TF 211, said in a forum here Monday, cases of extra-judicial killings decreased 82-84% since the formation of the task force.

“The decrease is due to higher level of awareness of the people on the situation and the influence and pressure from all sectors,” said Blancaflor.

Blancaflor also cleared the involvement of the military in the killings saying that the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) should be the one investigated.

“More likely the killings are done by CPP-NPA and blamed on the military or police forces,” said Blancaflor referring to the alleged killings in Mindanao due to communist purges.

Human rights advocates attribute human rights violations to state forces since these are mandated to protect the citizens. Killings by other forces than those in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) or the Philippine National Police (PNP) fall under the category of criminal offense such as murder or kidnapping, according to the CHRA and its umbrella organization, Karapatan.

“Although we still welcome the creation of TF 211, we continue to challenge the administration to genuinely investigate the cases especially those cases involving high military officials like Gen. Jovito Palparan,” ended Baggo. # Cye Reyes (NorDis)

Similarities noted in the enforced disappearance of Jonas and James

BAGUIO CITY — A forum at the University of the Philippines Baguio Tuesday gathered the family and supporters of two missing JB’s, who took turns telling of harrowing experience searching for their abducted kin.

A THOUSAND CRANES FOR A WISH. Arturo Balao and Editha Burgos add their origami crane to complete the 1,000 cranes to carry the wish for the surface of James and Jonas. Photo by Cye Reyes/NORDIS

In the said forum, the participants and the families talked on similarities in the two cases of enforced disappearance and how they could join forces to end human rights violations.

The Jonas rice

Jonas Burgos’ decision to take up agriculture in the Benguet State University (BSU) in La Trinidad, Benguet was influenced by his family’s decision to go into farming as a way of leading a simple life. Jonas helped the family manage a 12-hectare farm in Bulacan.

According to Editha Burgos, Jonas’ mother, he really loves to be among the farmers. “He makes it a point to help other farmers and expects nothing in return,” said Burgos adding he used to come home with farmers’ produce in exchange for a day’s work.

Burgos proudly said Jonas as an agriculturist developed a rice variety that withstands the strongest of typhoons. It is still being propagated to get more seeds for dispersal to other farmers.

“This is how dedicated Jonas is in terms of sacrifice for the sake of others,” said Burgos.

Jonas is a member of the Alyansa ng Magsasaka sa Bulacan (AMB), an affiliate of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), tagged by the military as an “enemy of the state.”

Jonas was abducted April 28, 2007 while having lunch in Quezon City. Burgos recalled they were able to talk to Jonas the day after the abduction but he was sounding drugged or drunk and was talking non-sense.

According to a fact sheet about Jonas’ abduction, witnesses surfaced after the Burgos family had a press conference two days after the abduction. They recounted Jonas was forcibly taken by four to eight plain-clothed men who forced him into a waiting Toyota Revo. One of the abductors reportedly identified himself as a police officer.

Later the vehicle was reportedly seen at a military camp in Bulacan.

In Burgos’ account, the witnesses also said that while Jonas was being dragged, he kept on shouting, “Aktibista lang po ako,” (I am just an activist).

The other missing JB

James Balao’s activism started when he was still at the University of the Philippines Baguio, where he was the editor-in-chief of the student publication Outcrop. He then wrote several articles criticizing the Marcos dictatorship.

He is one of the founding members of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) in 1984 and worked in its Research and Education Commission, extending his services and expertise in the Cordillera provinces.

CPA, the local chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), is also tagged by the military as an “enemy of the state.”

James was abducted September 17.

According to the October 13 press release of CPA, witnesses came out after they had seen a public announcement on James’ disappearance in a local paper and a tarpaulin along Bokawkan Road.

According to witness’ accounts, at around 8:00 A.M. of September 17 in Lower Tomay, La Trinidad, five unidentified men swooped on James and forcibly took him and put him in what looks like a Mitsubishi Adventure or a Toyota Revo.

While James was cuffed he cried “Saludsuden yo man dagitoy nu ania ti basol ko” (Please ask them what wrong have I done). One of the abductors then shouted at the witnesses, “Pulis kami! Huwag kayong maki-alam! Drug pusher ito” (We are the police! Do not interfere! He is a drug pusher!) and clamped his neck to silence him.

James was subjected to a heavy surveillance since April until his abduction. One of the vehicles on his list of suveillance cars was seen parked at the premises of the Intelligence Security Unit at Navy Base here.

A thousand cranes for a wish

According to a Japanese belief, a thousand folded paper cranes makes a wish come true.

The Balao family and Editha Burgos with the help of friends made a thousand origami cranes and placed them on a giant crane made out from bamboo, in the said forum, with one wish — for James and Jonas to be surfaced alive and well.

“Ang hirap maghanap kung hindi mo alam saan hahanapin,” (It is hard to look for someone when you do not know where to look) lamented Burgos. “We just want our loved ones to be unconditionally surfaced,” she added.

“I can imagine the torture James Balao’s family is undergoing right now, not knowing the whereabouts and condition of their loved one,” said Burgos as she vowed to be one with the Balao family in condemning the abduction of James and in saying that the military is behind all enforced disappearances.

“Mas madaling maghanap kung may kasama ka,” (It is easier to do the search with supporters) said Burgos adding she could not have been strong enough to handle his son’s disappearance without the help and support of others.

Jonilyn Balao-Strugar, the youngest sibling of missing activist James Balao, said the enforced disappearance of her brother has heavily affected the whole Balao clan.

“We have already stopped counting the days. We cannot even look at the calendar anymore,” Strugar said. “So much has been said and done already but my brother is still missing,” she said adding there is still a lot of push needed to find her brother.

She also said if Jonas has been gone missing for more than a year already, she fears it could happen to her brother.

Winston Balao, another sibling of James, said “We can only imagine the stories of the witnesses we have talked to on how our brother was brutally taken by unidentified men.” He also said it is painful to think why people like James and Jonas who help other people are the ones targeted by our own government and subjected to unthinkable torture.

The Burgos case was denied a writ of habeas corpus and was granted a partial writ of amparo.

Writ if amparo

Meanwhile, the Balao case has just filed for a writ of amparo October 9. The first hearing set by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Benigno Galacgac 16th of October was postponed when the judge was hospitalized and the executive judge who is supposed to take over in case of emergencies like this, also reportedly called in sick.

In her experience, Burgos said the hearings for a writ of amparo dragged a very long time. She has expressed hope that it will not be for the Balao family and prays they get a better legal chance in their search for James.

Burgos is one of the signatories of the impeachment case against Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo filed Monday in congress. # Cye Reyes (Nordis)

Ilocos court drops rebellion charges vs peace consultant

CANDON CITY — The Ilocos Sur provincial prosecutor’s office  dismissed rebellion charges against National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Peace Consultant Elizabeth Prinsipe as an end result of the preliminary investigation ordered by the court in July.

The three-page resolution signed by Fiscal Redentor Cardenas stated “the participation of the accused Elizabeth Prinsipe was not actual but only presumed. Under the basic tenets of criminal law, any doubt should always be interpreted in favor of the innocence of the accused.”

As an end result of the preliminary investigation ordered by Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 23 Judge Gabino Balbin Jr., the provincial prosecutors office found no probable cause of the crime rebellion. It was resolved that her name be dropped from the rebellion charge in Criminal Case No. 1260 in Candon City, Ilocos Sur RTC Branch 23 and that her case be dismissed.

Principe, through her lawyers in the Public Interest Law Center (PILC) and the Cordillera Indigenous People’s Legal Center (Dinteg) submitted her counter-affidavit August 5, after the court gave her 15 days to submit her statement.

‘Never set foot in Ilocos Sur’

Principe stated in her counter-affidavit she worked as a paramedic in Cagayan Valley until she was arrested in November 28, 2007 by virtue of the case filed in Branch 23 RTC Candon City, Ilocos Sur. She noted the evidence against her was based on hearsay particularly of those witnesses Gaspar Bagsingit, CIC Orlando Maguinsay and SSgt. Victoriano Jallorina who accused her of being a high- ranking officer of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).

Principe denied such accusations and claimed she never set foot in Ilocos Sur except during her arraignment in January this year, where she was secretly transferred by the PNP on the night of January 22, although during the time of the attack of the house of Jallorina, she was in Cagayan Valley.

Her counter-affidavit concluded nobody was able to prove that she was part or participated in the pursuit of rebellion against the government or any of its instrumentality.

‘Ka Memay’

The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG)-Ilocos Sur however, countered the statement of Prinsipe questioning her profession as a paramedic.

“She had no reason as to why she was in the place of the camps of the rebels and she never gave any reason why she had to render medical services and educate people in the said places as she was never employed by the Government,” the CIDG counter to the counter-affidavit said.

The CIDG also claimed Prinsipe was a member of the CPP-NPA-NDFP and that her nom-de-guerre is Ka Memay. The statement also accused Leo Velasco, Prinsipe’s missing husband, as the CPP-NPA’s highest organ cadre.

Based on the allegations and counter allegations, the resolution noted it went over the pieces of evidence to determine its probable cause. Statements of Maguinsay, Basingit and Jallorina were reviewed to which the resolution stated that it was “presumed” and not “actual” evidence.  Such became the basis of the dismissal of the rebellion charge against Prinsipe.

Prinsipe, 58, a peace process consultant of the NDFP and a paramedic in profession, was abducted last year by military intelligence personnel while on her way to a medical check-up. The military and police also implicated her in the Manila Peninsula stand off last November 2007 and alleged her of multiple charges in Cagayan Valley and Ilocos Region where she was implicated in the strafing of the house of Jallorina in 1991.

Hope for release

Lorena Santos, daughter of Elizabeth Prinsipe and Leo Velasco and currently the spokesperson of Free Elizabeth Principe and Surface Leo Velasco Task Force welcome the decision of the provincial prosecutor’s office.

“I am deeply relieved to know that my mother’s rebellion case in Candon is finally dismissed,” Santos said in a text message.

Santos said this dismissal is a first step for her mother’s release. “This gives my family hope that my mother will be set free and so as other political prisoners,” she said in a text message.

Prinsipe and her lawyers from PILC and Dinteg is set to attend a hearing on October 22 at Candon City. # Rod Tajon(NorDis)

New CPAs of 2008 (J)

Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008

1206 JABINES, TWILIGHT JEDIDIAH ROA 1207 JACOB, ALEXIS JR RASCO 1208 JAEN, ALVIN REY DOCEJO 1209 JALECO, CARMELA ANNE ALGAS 1210 JALOP, GLACELY LAURINO 1211 JAMODIONG, ELLEN AÑASCO 1212 JANABAJAL, EARL RAUL GONZALES 1213 JANGAD, NOWYN-HOPE ABRIOL 1214 JAO, JENNIFER VILLACATER 1215 JARAMILLO, CLARICE CARPIO 1216 JARAPAN, RYALPH VINCENT HERNANDEZ 1217 JARMONA, JULIE MAE MONGAYA 1218 JAVIER, CARLITA URBANO 1219 JAVIER, DULCE ANN SISON 1220 JAVIER, JONATHAN BIGAY 1221 JAVIER, RACHEL REYES 1222 JIMENA, FRANCO ALLAN PERALTA 1223 JOCOY, KIMBERLYNN SOCO 1224 JOMUAD, MICHAEL BECBEC 1225 JORBINA, JEANELLE DELGADO 1226 JORDA, MIGUEL QUINTAO 1227 JOSE, CINDY GRACE MANUEL 1228 JOSE, FORTUNE ERNEST SIBAYAN 1229 JOSE, MERGIELOU RABAL 1230 JOSE, SHEILA SAULOG 1231 JOVE, ROBINSON GEPILA 1232 JOVELLANOS, MARIA IVY BERNARDINO 1233 JOVEN, FRANCIS ANGELO DIZON 1234 JOVENES, JEANNIE ROSE GANI 1235 JUAN, ANNE CAROLINE MEJORADA 1236 JUAN, CECILIA BARRIAS 1237 JUAN, JUDITH OCAMPO 1238 JUAÑO, RONNIE JR ESTRELLA 1239 JUCO, KAYE MARIE SORIO 1240 JUELAR, MA JENELYN COGUIMBAL 1241 JULIA, JANE KATHLEEN HERNANDEZ 1242 JULIAN, JAMIE LORRAINE MOSO 1243 JUNI, NOEL SULTAN 1244 JUNIO, CHRISTINE PASCUA 1245 JUNIO, RACHELLE ANN ESTRADA 1246 JUNSAY, GEEZELLE VILLAVERDE

Welgang bukid sa Calabarzon ikakasa

Ilang-Ilang Quijano

MAGWEWELGA ang mga magsasaka sa iba’t ibang asyenda at plantasyon sa Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, at Quezon mula Oktubre 12 hanggang 21 laban sa “kagutuman, militarisasyon, at globalisasyon.”

Ipinanawagan din ng mga magsasaka ang pagbabasura sa CARP (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program) at pagsasabatas ng House Bill 3059 o GARB (Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill).

Patuloy na nakokonsentra ang lupa sa kamay ng iilan sa kabila ng 20 taon implementasyon ng CARP, ayon kay Imelda Lacandazo, tagapagsalita ng Katipunan ng mga Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan o Kasama-TK.

Pito sa 10 magsasaka ang walang sariling lupa, ayon sa pananaliksik ng grupo.

“Halimbawa, sa Batangas na lamang, kontrolado ng 91 panginoong maylupa ang 71,813 ektarya ng lupain. Sa Quezon, pag-aari ng 211 panginoong maylupa ang 561,626 ektarya ng lupain,” ani Lacandazo.

Binatikos din ng Kasama-TK ang kriminalisasyon sa lehitimong paglaban ng mga magsasaka para sa kanilang mga karapatan sa lupa. Pinakahuli ang pagsampa ng kasong arson at conspiracy to commit rebellion sa 27 lider-aktibista sa Timog Katagalugan, kabilang ang mula sa progresibong mga grupong magsasaka.

“Hinaharas at tinatakot ng militar ang mga magsasaka, lalo na sa mga lugar na may laban sa lupa,” dagdag ni Lacandazo.

Ayon sa grupo, nananatiling mahirap ang mga magsasaka dahil sa “atrasadong sistema sa agrikultura na nakadepende sa mga import at nakatuon sa mga export.”

Sa Oktubre 12, itatayo ang rehiyunal na kampo ng mga magsasaka sa Crossing sa Calamba, Laguna.

Ikakasa rin ang mga welgang bukid sa Bacoor at Silang sa Cavite; Balayan, Alaminos (Hacienda Fule), Canlubang (Hacienda Yulo), Calatagan, Nasugbu, at Lemery sa Batangas; Tanay, Morong, at Montalban sa Rizal; Gumaca, Candelaria, Catanauan, at Infanta sa Quezon.(PinoyWeekly)

2 mamamahayag sa Davao binabantaan

BINABANTAAN ang dalawang mamamahayag sa Davao na nagsiwalat ng katiwalian sa lokal na gobyerno, ulat ng NUJP (National Union of Journalists of the Philippines).

Isang linggo matapos isiwalat ni Erin Lumosbog, anchor ng “Radyo Ronda”, isang programa ng RPN-9-dxKT ang umano’y tangkang pangingikil ng P1.2 Milyon ng anim na konsehal sa isang negosyante para bigyan ng permit sa quarrying, nakatanggap siya ng death threats sa text.

Nang ibatikos din ni James Pala ng “Radyo Rapido” ang nasabing mga konsehal, nakatanggap din siya ng tatlong death threats, ayon sa NUJP.

Umano’y inimbitahan ng mga mamamahayag ang mga konsehal na ibigay ang kanilang panig sa istorya pero tumanggi ang mga ito.

“Ipinapakita ng panghaharas sa dalawang mamamahayag ng Davao ang kultura ng karahasan at korupsiyon, at ang kawalang respeto sa balanse at matapat na mamamahayag, na mamamayagpag sa corridors of power ng bansa,” ayon sa NUJP.

Pinapurihan ng grupo sina Lumosbog at Pala para sa kanilang paninindigan sa kabila ng mga pagbabanta.(PinoyWeekly)

New CPAs of 2008 (I)

Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008

1171 IBARDALOZA, GINA BERNARDO 1172 IBASCO, DAREL DECENA 1173 IBAÑES, LLOYD ARISTOTELLE DOMINGO 1174 IBAÑEZ, JUDITH DOLAUTA 1175 IBRAHIM, AZNIA AZINETH MILLENDEZ 1176 IBRAHIM, QUR’ATUAYNE BASMAN 1177 ICARANUM, RAYLI JOHN VILLASANA 1178 ICBAN, JERGEN MENDOZA 1179 IFURUNG, ANGELINE STA CRUZ 1180 IGLESIAS, ROEL JOSEPH MAYO 1181 IGNACIO, CATHERINE DALMACIO 1182 IGNACIO, MELISSA PADILLA 1183 IGTANLOC, SHERYLL GORGONIO 1184 ILAGAN, ADRIANO ARIAS 1185 ILAO, LOIVELLE PATRICK CELLO 1186 ILIGAN, LOUIE MARK DUMAS 1187 IMBAT, CLAUDE MARK APIADO 1188 IMBAT, WINEFREDA FALLORIN 1189 IMLAT, RHEA RITA MOMLA 1190 IMMOTNA, MYLEEN GAYAMAN 1191 IMPERIAL, CHRISTINE LEGASPI 1192 IMPERIAL, KRISTEL CONTANTE 1193 IMPERIAL, MARIA FE FAITH ESCALONA 1194 INFANTADO, JESILEE PAGUIA 1195 INFANTADO, MA CRISTINA TIOPENGCO 1196 INFANTADO, ROY HERNANDEZ 1197 INGAT, EMILYN PIDAMATO 1198 INOCENCIO, CHRISTINE ERIKA MALDO 1199 INOCENO, JANET ROXAS 1200 ISIO, RHOSEL ATIENZA Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 26 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 1201 ISLA, ARTHUR LUCERO 1202 ISLA, ROLANDO JR ASIS 1203 ISLA, SHARLYN GRACE NG 1204 ISSAKA, MARIANE JAY VELASQUEZ 1205 IT-IT, SHEREE MAE BENDANILLO

Bilanggong pulitikal nadismaya sa pagpapalaya kay Teehankee

MULA sa Camp Crame Custodial Center, inihayag ng bilanggong pulitikal na si Elizabeth Principe ang pagkadismaya sa pagbigay ng executive clemency ni Pangulong Arroyo kay Claudio Teehankee Jr.

“Baligtad talaga ang gobyerno. Ang mga taong inialay ang kanilang buhay sa masa, nabubulok sa piitan habang ang mayayamang kriminal ay pinalalaya,” (This is an upside down government. Those people who offer their lives to the masses are suffering to rot in jail yet the wealthy criminals can walk as free men) ani Principe, konsultant ng NDFP (National Democratic Front of the Philippines).

Hinatulan ng habambuhay na pagkakabilanggo dahil sa pagpatay ng 16-anyos na si Maureen Hultman, nakalaya si Teehankee ngayong linggo matapos lamang ang 14 taon sa National Bilibid Prison.

Hinamon naman ni Donato Continente, tagapagsalita ng Selda (Society of Ex-Detainees against Detention and for Amnesty), si Arroyo na palayain din ang 225 bilanggong pulitikal.

Binilanggo sa ilalim ng gobyernong Arroyo ang 198 sa mga ito.

Siningil din ni Continente si Arroyo sa kabiguan nitong palayain ang mga bilanggong pulitikal sa ilalim ng Second Oslo joint statement na pinirmahan ng gobyerno at ng NDFP noong Abril 3, 2004.

Ayon sa Karapatan, sa 31 bilanggong pulitikal na inaprubahan para palayain, pito lamang ang pinakawalan ng gobyerno sa bisa ng usapang pangkapayapaan sa NDFP.(PinoyWeekly)

Mula US hanggang RP: Krisis sa balikat ng bayan

Ilang-Ilang D. Quijano

KAHIT ipinasa ng Kongreso ng US ang $700 Bilyong piyansa para sa nagbagsakang higanteng mga bangko at institusyong pampinansiya sa US, naniniwala ang mga eksperto sa ekonomiya na magtatagal ang pandaigdigang krisis pang-ekonomiya. Isinalba, pansamantala, ang mga “haligi ng kapitalismo.” Pero pinangangambahang magdurusa – sa kagyat at pangmatagalan – ang mga mamamayan hindi lamang ng US kundi ng mundo, kabilang ng Pilipinas.

Pinuri ni Pang. Arroyo ang bailout o Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 na pinirmahan ni US Pres. George W. Bush noong Oktubre 3. Aniya’y unang hakbang ito sa “mahabang daan” patungo sa pagnormalisa ng mga merkadong pinansiyal. Inudyok niya ang mga mamamayan na “manatili sa landas” habang inaasikaso ng kanyang administrasyon ang mga hakbang para mapangalagaan ang ekonomiya ng bansa.

Pero hindi nagiging matapat ang administrasyong Arroyo sa mga epekto sa mga mamamayan ng tinataguriang “pinakamatinding krisis ng sistemang kapitalismo” sa loob ng 80 taon. Ang inilatag ding mga plano ng kanyang pangkat pang-ekonomiya ay hindi batayang mga repormang pang-ekonomiya, kundi “mala-Bush” na mga solusyong ikalulugi ng mga mamamayan para sa ganansiya ng mga dati nang nakikinabang sa sistema.

Nawala ‘na parang bula’

Positibo si Sek. Margarito Teves ng DoF (Department of Finance) na makatutulong ang bailout para maiwasan ang pandaigdigang resesyon na pinangangambahan maging ng IMF (International Monetary Fund). Ayon sa IMF, may 25 porsiyentong tsansa na bumaba sa tatlong porsiyento ang tantos ng paglago (growth rate) ng pandaigdigang ekonomiya sa 2008 at 2009 o katumbas ng resesyon.

Gayunpaman, ayon kay Paul Quintos, ekonomista at executive director ng Eiler (Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research), pumasok man sa pandaigdigang resesyon o hindi, tiyak ang “pagbagal ng produksiyon, paglaki ng disempleyo, pagtumal ng pamilihan, at pagtindi ng kahirapan ng mga mamamayan.”

Dulot ang pagkabangkarote ng tatlo sa limang pinakamalaking bangko sa pamumuhunan – Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, at Merrill Lynch – ng pagputok ng artipisyal na bula sa real estate. Para lumobo ang halaga ng pag-aaring pampinansiya ng US at makapag-engganyo ng pagkonsumo, nag-alok ang malalaking bangko ng US ng mababang interes sa mga pautang sa pabahay. Inengganyong mangutang maging ang maliliit lamang ang kita batay sa pinalobong halaga ng isinanglang mga bahay nila (tinatawag na subprime mortgages). Pero nakapako naman ang sahod kaya’t nabigong makapagbayad ang karamihan simula noong 2006.

Unti-unting nalugi ang mga bangko at institusyong pampinansiya di lamang sa US kundi sa buong daigdig na sumugal sa di-kontroladong ispekulasyon. Noong Setyembre 30, naganap sa 30 bansa ang pinakamatarik na pagbagsak ng stock market sa kasaysayan. Sa tantiya ng IMF, aabot sa US$ 945-B ang halaga ng pagkalugi at pagbagsak ng halaga ng mga pag-aari sa US (asset write-downs). Sa iba pang pagtantiya, ayon kay Quintos, maaaring umabot sa $30 Trilyon ang kabuuang halagang “mawawala nang parang bula” sa buong daigdig dahil sa yumanig na krisis.

Malawakang tanggalan

Pagyayabang noong una ni Nestor Espenilla, deputy governor ng Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, di-gaanong apektado sa krisis ang lokal na merkadong pinansiyal. Umano’y isang porsiyento lamang ng buong sistema ng pagbabangko sa Pilipinas ang US$ 386 Milyon na exposure sa Lehman Brothers ng pitong bangko at kaya ng mga itong tumindig sa sariling mga paa.

Pero sa press briefing sa Malakanyang kamakailan, sinabi ni Sek. Ralph Recto ng National Economic Development Authority na magiging mas matumal kaysa inaasahan ang buong takbo ng ekonomiya. Mula sa growth target sa GDP na 5.5 hanggang 6.4 porsiyento ngayong taon, naging 4.4 hanggang 4.9 porsiyento na lamang. Ibig sabihin, mas malalim at malawak ang mga epekto sa lokal na ekonomiya ng pandaigdigang krisis pampinansiya kaysa nais aminin ng administrasyong Arroyo.

Noong Agosto 2007 nang unang pumutok ang krisis sa subprime ng US, nawala ang P2-T na halaga-sa-papel ng sapi sa Philippine Stock Exchange, ayon kay Quintos. Sinabi rin niyang bumaba nang 12.3 porsiyento ang lakas ng piso laban sa dolyar ngayong taon at posibleng sumadsad muli sa P50 kada dolyar.

Higit pa sa negatibong epekto sa stock exchange at exchange rate ang inaasahang pagtumal sa pagpasok sa bansa ng dayuhang kapital at pagliit ng merkado para sa iniluluwas na mga produkto at serbisyo sa US. Paliwanag ni Quintos, “pinakamalalang maaapektuhan ng krisis ang mga bansang atrasado [gaya ng Pilipinas] na mahigpit na nakatali sa neokolonyal na relasyong pangkalakalan sa US.”

May 16 porsiyento ng kabuuang eksport ng Pilipinas ang napupunta sa US habang 70 porsiyento ang di-direktang napupunta dito sa pamamagitan ng ibang mga bansang Asya kung saan binubuo (ina-assemble) ang mga kasangkapan bago i-eksport din sa US, ayon sa datos ng Ibon Foundation. Dahil sa mas mahigpit na pagkokonsumo doon, inaasahang liliit ang US$ 9.4-B na direktang kinita mula sa mga eksport sa US noong 2007.

Inaasahan ding tutumal ang mga dayuhang pamumuhunan mula sa US sa pagmamanupaktura, BPO (Business Process Outsourcing), at serbisyong pampinansiya. May 20 porsiyento ito ng kabuuang FDI (foreign direct investment). Mula sa mga merkado sa US ang halos 90 porsiyento ng kita ng BPO na nakasentro sa mga call center.

Ipinagmamalaki pa naman ng administrasyong Arroyo na numero unong tagalikha ng trabaho ang mga Export Processing Zones at BPO. Pero pagsasara ng maliliit na negosyo at malawakang tanggalan ang nakaamba sa mga ito at iba pang apektadong industriya. Mula Hulyo 2007 (hudyat ng krisis sa subprime sa US) hanggang Hulyo 2008 na lamang, 125,000 manggagawa sa pagmamanupaktura ang tinanggal sa trabaho—inaasahang tataas ang bilang nila. Inaasahang apektado rin ang mga ahente ng call center na karamiha’y nasa National Capital Region.

Maging ang pagluwas ng mga OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker), inaasahang babagal. Sa buong mundo, ayon sa International Labor Organization, tinatayang limang milyong manggagawa ang mawawalan ng trabaho dahil sa pagtumal ng pandaigdigang ekonomiya. Noong nakaraang buwan, 159,000 manggagawa ang natanggal sa trabaho sa US—na ngayo’y makikipag-agawan pa ng oportunidad sa mga OFW at iba pang migrante doon.

“Malilimitahan ang bilang ng mga Pilipinong makakahanap ng trabaho sa ibang bansa, ” ani Quintos. Mangangahulugan umano ito ng mas kaunting remitans at mas matamlay ding konsumo sa Pilipinas dahil sa laki ng papel ng remitans sa lokal na ekonomiya.

Solusyon nga ba?

Umaasa ang administrasyong Bush na sasapat ang mahigit US$ 1.3-T inilaan nito para maisalba ang ekonomiya ng US mula sa pagkabangkarote ng malalaking institusyong pampinansiya. Bukod sa US$700-B bailout, naglagak ito ng US$ 29-B para bilhin ang Bear Stearns, US$ 200-B para isalba ang dalawang pinakamalaking nagpapautang sa pabahay na Freddie Mac at Fannie Mae, US$ 85-B para bilhin ang mayoryang kontrol ng papalubog na American Investment Group, at US$ 180-B para pasiglahin ang merkadong pinansiyal.

Umaani ng batikos ang administrasyong Bush dahil sa halip na parusahan ang “kasakiman” (greed) ng mga ispekulador, ginamit pa ang buwis ng mga mamamamayan para sagipin ang mga ito. Gaya ng kung paano, ayon sa Bayan (Bagong Alyansang Makabayan), ginamit ni Pangulong Arroyo ang VAT (Value-Added Tax) para pagtakpan ang palpak na mga polisyang pang-ekonomiya na nagdulot ng piskal na krisis noon. Ngayon, dagdag-buwis at iba pang pampasigla sa ekonomiya (fiscal stimulus) pa rin ang panukala ng administrasyong Arroyo para manatiling nakalutang ang ekonomiya ng bansa sa gitna ng pandaigdigang krisis pampinansiya.

Nanawagan si Teves sa Kongreso na ipasa ng Kongreso ang P1.4-T pambansang badyet na may nakalaang P147.5-B para sa imprastruktura. Ayon kay Recto, “Ang mantra ng Neda ay infra, infra, infra para mapaunlad ang growth rate ng ekonomiya.”

Gayunpaman, nasa depensiba ang gobyernong Arroyo sa paggastos ng pondo para sa imprastruktura na kilalang napupunta lamang sa korupsiyon. Kaya napilitan si House Espiker Prospero Nograles kamakailan na ihayag na hindi gagamitin ang pondo ng mga pulitiko para sa 2010 halalan, kasabay ng pagtatayo ng komite na magmomonitor nito. Tinitingnan naman ni Quintos na “pansamantala” ang epekto ng ganitong pampasigla sa ekonomiya.

Tinutulak din ng DoF ang mga panukalang batas para sa rasyunalisasyon ng insentibo sa buwis ng mga kompanya (fiscal incentives) at buwis sa sigarilyo at alkohol (sin taxes). Inaasahang kikita ng P10-B ang gobyerno sa una, at P12-B hanggang P25-B sa huli. Para pa rin sa dagdag-kita, agresibo nang ibinebenta ng gobyerno ang Petron Corp. at Philippine National Oil Corp. sa minimithing halagang P41-B.

Pero ayon kay Quintos, pabibilisin lamang nito ang pribatisasyon ng pinakamahahalagang asset ng gobyerno na ikadurusa rin ng mga mamamayan sa anyo ng mas mataas na presyo ng langis. Ibig sabihin din ng desididong tutok ng administrasyong Arroyo na pataasin ang kita ng gobyerno, malayong alisin nito ang VAT.

Repormang kailangan

Ngunit ayon sa Ibon Foundation, mas lalong nagiging makabuluhan ang panawagan at paglaban ng mga mamamayan para sa kagyat na lunas mula sa hagupit ng pandaigdigang krisis pampinansiya. Kabilang dito ang pag-alis sa VAT at P125 dagdag-na-sahod ng mga manggagawa.

Lalo pa at inaasahan umanong lumipat ang ispekulatibong kapital sa pangangalakal ng mga komoditi (commodities futures trading) gaya ng langis, mineral, at produktong pang-agrikultura na magtutulak pataas ng presyo ng pagkain at enerhiya. Ngayon pa lamang, dalawang-katlo (2/3) ng populasyon ng mundo ang dumaranas ng double-digit inflation at nasasadlak lalo sa kahirapan. Sa Pilipinas, 2.3 milyon ang nadaragdag sa mahihirap tuwing tataas nang 10 porsiyento ang presyo ng pagkain, ayon sa Asian Development Bank.

Sa halip na sa imprastruktura, bayad-utang, at sa militar mapunta ang kalakhan ng pambansang badyet sa susunod na taon, inirekomenda rin ng Ibon Foundation na ilagak ito sa kritikal na mga serbisyong sosyal na nakakatanggap lamang ng maliit na porsiyento gaya ng kalusugan (2.5 porsiyento), edukasyon (14.5 porsiyento), at pabahay (0.4 porsiyento).

Sinabi naman ni Quintos na ang pangmatagalang mga solusyon sa krisis ay ang “pagbasura sa mga patakarang neo-liberal,” “pagpapatupad ng tunay na repormang agraryo,” at “komprehensibong pambansang industriyalisasyon” na magpoprotekta sa Pilipinas mula sa mga kombulsyon sa sistemang kapitalista na pinaghaharian ng US.

Hanggang mailugar ang mga ito, babalikatin ng mga Pilipino, kasama ng iba pang mamamayan ng mundo, ang krisis ng kapitalismo na nagpapatuloy at tumitindi.(PinoyWeekly)

Imposibleng paratang sa kilusang paggawa

Ilang-Ilang D. Quijano

Atty. Remigio Saladero, batikang labor lawyer na kinasuhan ng arson at conspiracy to commit rebellion

HALOS 700 kaso ang hinahawakan ngayon ng Pro-Labor Legal Assistance Center o Place, opisina ng beteranong labor lawyer na si Atty. Remigio Saladero Jr. Para matugunan ang pangangailangan ng mga kliyenteng manggagawa, araw-araw dumadalo ang 50-anyos na abogado sa mga pagdinig sa korte at gabi-gabing gumagawa ng pleadings. Laking gulat na lamang niya nang biglang mapabilang sa 27 na akusado sa umano’y pambobomba ng NPA (New People’s Army) sa isang cell site ng Globe Telecom sa Lemery, Batangas noong Agosto 2.

Ayon sa testigong si Arvin Leviste, nagpakilalang Deep Penetration Agent ng Philippine Air Force, kabilang si Saladero sa mga nagbantay sa labas ng bakod ng cell site habang nagtatanim ng dinamita at nagsasaboy ng gasolina ang kanyang mga kasamahan. Sinalaysay ni Leviste ang pinagbatayan ng kasong arson at conspiracy to commit rebellion na isinampa sa Batangas City ng Globe Telecom noong Agosto 12.

Nagkakaisa ang progresibong mga grupo sa Timog Katagalugan na ang mga lider ay dinadawit sa nasabing akto ng rebelyon, bahagi ang kaso ng panghaharas ng gobyernong Arroyo sa mga aktibista sa ilalim ng programang kontra-insurhensiyang Oplan Bantay Laya. (Basahin ang balita rito)

Kung NPA ako…

“Kung NPA ako, dapat kumander ako at hindi simpleng tagabantay,” ani Saladero. Gradweyt ng abogasya sa San Beda College noong 1983, ika-17 siya sa mga pumasa sa bar exams sa sumunod na taon. Nagtapos din siya ng master’s degree sa Industrial Relations at Public Administration sa University of the Philippines Diliman. Miyembro rin siya ng Free Legal Assistance Group o FLAG mula noong 1990.

Noong nakabase pa siya sa Rizal, humawak si Saladero ng maraming kaso ng mga sibilyan, karamiha’y magsasaka, na pinagsususpetsiyahan ng militar na NPA. Kabilang dito ang lider-Dumagat na si Nicanor de los Santos, na binaril noong 2001 ng pinaghihinalaang mga miyembro ng Task Force Panther ng 2nd Infantry Division ng PA (Philippine Army). Ayon kay Saladero, ang pagtatanggol niya sa mga biktima ng mga paglabag sa karapatang pantao marahil ang dahilan kung bakit nagsimula siyang pag-initan ng militar. Bilang dating tagapangulo ng Bayan Muna-Rizal, aktibo rin ang abogado sa mga kilos-protesta na bitbit ang iba’t ibang isyu ng mga mamamayan.

Mula 1992 hanggang 1997, nagturo si Saladero ng Political Science, Business Law, at Labor Law sa Dominican College of San Juan at Lyceum College of Law. Kabilang siya sa mga nagtatag noong 2007 ng National Union of People’s Lawyers, pambansang alyansa ng progresibong mga abogado. Kasalukuyang legal consultant siya ng KMU (Kilusang Mayo Uno), militanteng sentro ng paggawa. Regular din siyang nagsusulat sa Pinoy Weekly ng kolum na pinamagatang “Husgahan Natin,” hinggil sa mga isyung legal sa paggawa.

Bukod sa marami niyang mga komitment, may sakit na diabetes at hypertension si Saladero. Umiinom siya ng anim na klase ng gamot araw-araw. Kabilang ito sa mga dahilan, aniya, kung bakit “imposibleng” maging kasapi siya sa pangkat ng NPA na nagpasabog sa cell site ng Globe Telecom.

Simula 2006, tiniktikan at hinaharas na ng pinaghihinalaang mga ahente ng militar si Saladero at iba pang abogado ng Place, ayon sa Center for Trade Union and Human Rights o CTUHR. Oktubre ng taong iyon, inamin ni Pfc. Rommel Felipe Santiago, nahuli ng pulisya matapos habulin ang mga unyonista ng Food Terminal Inc. sa Taguig City, na nagkokondukta sila ng surveillance sa Place. Noong Oktubre 2007, napansin ng mga istap ng Place na may di-kilalang kalalakihan na nagkokondukta ng 24 oras na pagbabantay sa opisina. Ito ay matapos hawakan ng law office ang kasong isinampa ng KMU sa Korte Suprema laban sa Human Security Act. Tumagal ang paniniktik nang ilang buwan.

Atake at paninira

Ayon kay Saladero, nakababahala ang lumalalang panliligalig ng Estado sa kilusang paggawa: “Pati abogado ng manggagawa hinaharas na. Para siguro wala nang magtanggol sa mga manggagawa at humina ang kilusang paggawa sa bansa. Kaliwa’t kanan pa naman ngayon ang mga atake at paninira rito.”

Noong Oktubre 7 bandang alas-tres ng umaga, isang di-nakilalang kalalakihan ang nagtangkang akyatin ang bakod ng Balai Obrero, opisina ng KMU sa Narra St., Project 3, Quezon City. Ayon sa isang saksi, may hawak itong kutsilyo. Nang sitahin ay bumaba ito at sumakay sa isang traysikel na lulan ang tatlo pa niyang kasamahan.

“Kung sila ay magnanakaw lamang, alam dapat nila na kami ay isang people’s organization na laging naghahanap ng rekurso…Marahil ang totoong motibo ay tiktikan kami, mag-iwan ng surveillance equipment, o magtanim ng ebidensiya na kami ay rebelde gaya ng iniimbento ng gobyernong Arroyo,” sabi ni Joselito Ustarez, executive vice-president ng KMU.

Naunang natuklasan ng KMU na inilista sila bilang “rebeldeng grupo” sa isang libro na inindorso ng Department of Education para sa mga estudyante ng hayskul. Sa pahina 27 ng librong Filipino I: Wika at Panitikan sa Makabagong Henerasyon, isinama ang KMU sa listahan ng mga rebeldeng grupo gaya ng Moro Islamic Liberation Front at NPA. Itinakdang aralin sa mga estudyante na magsaliksik hinggil sa mga “prinsipyong kanilang pinaniniwalaan” at magbigay ng mga paraan para makumbinsi silang “mapabalik sa pamahalaan.”

Binansagan ding “destabilisador” at “terorista” ang 30 opisyal ng Anita’s Home Bakehop Workers Union ng manedsment ng nagsusuplay ng tinapay para sa McDonald’s sa rehiyon ng Visayas. Iniulat pa ng mga manggagawa na binibisita sila ng mga pulis ng Mobolo, Cebu City habang sila ay nasa night shift para alamin ang kanilang mga aktibidad at kumbinsihin na huwag sumali sa unyon.

Samantala, ang mga unyonista ng International Wiring System sa Special Export Processing Zone ng Hacienda Luisita, diumano’y binibisita sa bahay, iniinteroga, at tinatakot ng mga miyembro ng 71st Infantry Batallion ng Northern Luzon Command at 7th Infantry Division ng PA. Pinadadalo ng militar ang mga manggagawa sa mga porum kung saan hinihikayat silang huwag makibahagi sa paggigiit ng mga hiling sa Collective Bargaining Agreement. Inaakusahan ding binibigyan ng unyon ng pondo ang Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA.

Kailangang organisado

Sa tugon ng gobyerno sa Petition to Review the Generalized System of Preferences Program Status na inihain ng International Labor Rights Fund, may binitiwang kontrobersiyal na mga salita si Arturo Brion, dating kalihim ng Department of Labor and Employment at ngayo’y Associate Justice ng Korte Suprema. “Ang kasalukuyang giyera laban sa mga rebeldeng komunista ay inilulunsad sa maraming mga prente. Sa kilusang paggawa ang pinakaprominente rito dahil naka-ugat ang kilusang komunista sa kilusang paggawa,” aniya.

Kinukumpirma nito na “sistematiko” ang tangka ng Estado na durugin ang militanteng kilusang paggawa sa pamamagitan ng malisyosong pag-uugnay nito sa kilusang komunista, ayon sa CTUHR.

Para kay Ustarez, nanganganib ang trabaho at buhay ng kanilang mga miyembro dahil maaaring gamitin ng manedsment ng iba’t ibang mga kompanya ang “rebelde” o “teroristang” bansag sa KMU para iharas at sibakin sila. Tangka rin umano itong pahinain ang lehitimong mga laban ng grupo para sa tunay na interes ng mga mangagawa gaya ng pagsasabatas sa P125 dagdag-na sahod at pagtatayo ng mga unyon.

Iginigiit ng KMU na ngayon higit kailanman, kailangan ng mga manggagawang Pilipino ang malakas at militanteng kilusang paggawa. May pitong porsiyento lamang (o 2.4 milyon ng 33.5 milyong manggagawa) ng buong puwersang paggawa ang organisado. Malayung-malayo pa ang minimum na sahod sa kinakailangan ng pamilyang Pilipino para mabuhay—34 porsiyento lamang ito ng Family Living Wage, ayon sa National Wages and Productivity Commission.

“Masamang pangitain ang mga pangyayari,” sabi ni Saladero. Gayunpaman, nangako siyang patuloy na ipagtatanggol ang karapatan ng mga manggagawa na ipinagkaloob ng batas pero niyuyurak naman mismo ng Estado.(PinoyWeekly)

New CPAs of 2008 (H)

Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008

1149 HABANA, KIRCHY CLEDERA 1150 HABEL, MARK ANTHONY BABAS Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 25 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 1151 HADUCA, JERALD CLACIO 1152 HAJIM, AL-ZHOHEIR HASSAN 1153 HERMOGENES, ANGELA BALIAR 1154 HERNANDEZ, CYPRES MAE ARANAS 1155 HERNANDEZ, JOEL ALVAREZ 1156 HERNANDEZ, KENT MORRIS ALCOS 1157 HERNANDEZ, LENNIE MERCADO 1158 HERNANDEZ, MELVIN ESTERON 1159 HERNANDEZ, ROXANNE AMOR BARZA 1160 HERNANDEZ, VERNICE LEE BUENA 1161 HIDALGO, CARLA MAE GUANZON 1162 HINALAO, KENN ALICANTE 1163 HINALOC, IRENE MANIBOG 1164 HINAMPAS, ISABEL PEROS 1165 HIPOLITO, SARAH BAGSIC 1166 HOLGADO, HERRAND EDORA 1167 HONCULADA, JAN ALBERT UGSOD 1168 HONOFRE, ROSELLE ADANO 1169 HONOR, JAN HANSELL LAGAO 1170 HORDISTA, CHERRY MAE CEBALLOS

Dambuhalang kompanya ng mina, mas tuso na ngayon

Kenneth Roland A. Guda

Operasyon ng pagmimina sa Rapu-rapu, Albay

ABALANG abala si Mike Defensor ngayon.

Sa kabila ng nakakahiyang pagkatalo niya sa eleksiyong pagkasendor noong 2007, hindi tumigil ang pakikipag-ugnayan niya sa pamahalaang Arroyo. Hindi pa lumipas ang isang taong ban sa kanya na humawak ng posisyon sa gobyerno, naging abala siya sa tangkang pagharang sa testimonya ni Jun Lozada sa Senado noong Pebrero 2008. Nitong Hunyo, agad siyang itinalaga bilang pinuno ng task force para sa pagbubukas ng Terminal 3 ng Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Pagkatapos, naging abala rin siya sa pangangasiwa sa implementasyon ng proyektong Northrail.

Kamakailan, napapadalas ang bisita ni Defensor sa Zambales. Dalawang kompanyang nagsasagawa ng pagmimina ang pinamumunuan ng dating sekretaryo ng Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR): Chairman si Defensor ng NiHAO Mineral Resources Inc. at direktor naman ng Geograce Resources Philippines.

Pareho itong naaprubahang magsagawa ng ekplorasyon sa Zambales – matapos iutos ni Zambales Gov. Amor Deloso ang kanselasyon ng “regulatory approvals” sa lahat ng pagmimina roon. Kasosyo ni Defensor sa dalawang proyektong ito ang kompanyang Jiangxi Rare Earth and Rare Metals Tungsten Group ng Tsina sa halagang US$150 Milyon. Si Arroyo pa mismo ang nangasiwa sa lagdaan ng dalawang kampo sa Chengdu, probinsiya ng Sichuan sa Tsina.

Dahil malaking banta ito sa kanyang komunidad, sinaliksik ni Nelson Mallari, lider-Aeta ng PROJECT Zambales, isang probinsiyal na alyansa kontra sa mapanirang pagmimina, kung anong klaseng mga kompanya ang NiHAO at Geograce. Ikinagulat niya ang kanyang napag-alaman.

“Kamangha-mangha kung paano naka-akses sa napakalalaking lupain sa maiksing panahon ang mga kompanyang ito na walang track record sa industriya ng pagmimina!” buladas ni Mallari.

Ito kasi ang napag-alaman ni Mallari: noong unang kuwarto ng 2008, umabot sa P17.18-M ang ikinalugi ng Geograce sa mga negosyo nito. Wala namang rekord ang NiHAO ng anumang proyektong pagmimina bago ang nalagdaang mga kasunduan nito ngayong taon.

Naintindihan lamang niya kung bakit ito nangyari nang malaman niyang pinamumunuan ang dalawang kompanya ni Defensor. Kasosyo rin daw dito ni Defensor ang ilang kamag-anak ng matataas na opisyal ng gobyerno.

Labag sa Saligang Batas

Noong Hunyo, nabalitang nakipagtambalan ang Geograce sa kompanyang Brazilian na Vale do Rio Doce, ang pangalawang pinakamalaking kompanya ng pagmimina sa mundo. Pinayagan silang magsagawa ng eksplorasyon para sa copper at gold sa isla ng Masbate.

Sa kabuuan, ayon sa Kalikasan – People’s Network for the Environment, aabot sa 240,000 ektarya ang inaareglo ng Geograce na eksklusibong mapagminahan ng nickel, gold, copper at chromite, sa buong Pilipinas.

Noong Agosto, dinepensahan ng Malakanyang ang pag-apruba sa pagmimina ng mga kompanyang pinamumunuan ng dating miyembro ng gabinete. “Hindi ba dapat tingnan natin ang kabilang bahagi ng larawan? Negatibong pagtingin iyan (pagtingin ng Kalikasan) na nagbubukas ng ispekulasyon na pinaboran si Defensor. Pero pribadong pamumuhunan ito, at pag-aari man ito ni Mike Defensor o ni Jesus Dureza, dapat tanggapin ito,” ayon kay Jesus Dureza, tagapagsalita ng Pangulo.

Ang hindi nabanggit ni Dureza, maaaring labag sa Saligang Batas ang proyektong pagmiminang ito. Samantalang lokal na kompanya diumano ang NiHAO at Geograce, masasabing dayuhang proyekto na rin ang isasagawa nito sa Zambales matapos makipagkasundo sa Tsinong kompanyang Jiangxi. Sa mga proyektong ito, kinakailangan ng isang Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) na inaprubahan ng Pangulo.

Sa suri ng Kalikasan, lumalabas na lantarang ginagamit na umano ng malalaking dayuhang korporasyon ng mina ang lokal at mas maliliit na kompanya para makapagmina sa Pilipinas. Ayon sa grupo, kabilang sa malalaking kompanya ng mina na gumagamit ng maliliit, pati ­­small-scalle mining companies, para maiwasan ang kasunduang FTAA ang: Platinum Group of Metals Corp. (PGMC); Citinickel Mines and Development Corp.; Sibuyan Nickel Properties Development Corporations (SNPDC); A3 UNA; Mindoro Resources Ltd.; at marami pang iba.

Ayon kay Rene Pineda ng Concerned Citizens Against Pollution (Cocap), marami sa mga kompanyang ito ang pag-aari ng mga dayuhan. Binigay niyang halimbawa ang MBMI Resources Inc., isang kompanyang Canadian at nag-oopereyt sa likod ng maraming kompanyang Pilipino, kabilang ang ilang small-scale mines sa Palawan.

“Kinumpirma ng aming pananaliksik na major stakeholder nga ng small-scale mining permits tulad ng sa Narra Nickel Mining & Development Inc., Patricia Louise Mining & Development Corp., Sara Marie Mining Inc., at Madridejos Mining Corporation, ang MBMI Presources Inc.,” paliwanag ni Pineda.

Ang masama pa, matagal na umanong isinumbong ito sa DENR, pero hindi pa rin ito iniimbestigahan ng ahensiya.

Inilulusot sa maliliit na proyekto

Marami sa mga mayor na proyektong pagmimina sa bansa – iyong itinuring ni Pangulong Arroyo bilang priority projects – ay nakaranas ng matinding paglaban ng taumbayang apektado ng kanilang mga proyekto.

Halimbawa na nito ang pagmimina sa Rapu-rapu, Albay ng Lafayette Mining Corp., kompanyang Australyano, na nagdeklara ng pagkabangkarote noong Disyembre 2007 matapos ang matinding pagtutol ng taumbayang Albayano. Napuwersa ang Lafayette na ibenta ang pagmimina nito sa Rapu-rapu sa mga kompanyang Koreano at Malaysian nitong Abril 2008.

Isa pang halimbawa ang suspensiyon sa pagmimina ng OceanaGold ng New Zealand, sa Didipio, Nueva Vizcaya noong Abril 2008, matapos kuwestiyunin ni Nueva Vizcaya Gov. Luisa Cuaresma ang hindi pagbayad ng kompanya ng lokal na mga buwis.

Kahit ang pagmimina ng Swiss na kompanyang Xstrata sa Tampakan, South Cotabato, ay nakatanggap ng matinding pagtutol. Sa pagkakataong ito, mga rebeldeng NPA (New People’s Army) naman ang nag-atake. Ayon sa NPA, pinarusahan umano nila ang kompanya dahil sa pang-aagaw nito ng lupa sa mga magsasaka at katutubo, gayundin ang banta ng pagkasira ng kalikasan.

Sa totoo lang, sa lagay na ito’y maluwag na ang gobyernong Arroyo sa mga dayuhang kompanya ng mina. Sa bilang ng Kalikasan noong Enero 2008, aabot na sa 294 kasunduan sa pagmimina ang inaprubahan ng Pangulo, kabilang ang dalawang FTAA, 262 Mineral Production Sharing Agreements (MPSA), mas maliit na kasunduan kumpara sa FTAA), at 30 Exploration Permits (EP).

Aabot na sa 600,000 ektarya ng Pilipinas ang pinagmiminahan ng dayuhang mga korporasyong ito at ng mga kasabuwat nilang lokal na kompanya.

Pero dahil marahil sa matitinding pagtutol sa mga komunidad, napuwersa ang mga kompanyang ito na gumawa ng paraan para mas madulas na makapagsamantala ng mga yamang-lupa ng Pilipinas. Kabilang na nga rito ang paggamit sa small-scale mining na dating ginagawa ng maliliit na kompanya at ordinaryong minero na walang malalaking kagamitang pangmina.

Inamin ng DENR

Inamin maging ng Marine and Geosciences Bureau ng DENR na dumarami ang inaaprubahang small-scale mining permits sa bansa. Imbes na pambansang gobyerno kasi ang mag-aapruba, mga lokal na pamahalaan lamang ang kailangang sumang-ayon sa proyekto. Sa tala ng MGB, noong 2004 ay may 70 small-scale mining permits lamang. Pero nitong 2007, umabot na sa 173.

“Sa mga nakaraang taon, small-scale mining ang paraan ng mga dayuhan at lokal na junior mining companies para mapabilis ang pagpasok ng kanilang mga operasyon sa mga komunidad,” ayon sa Kalikasan. “Mayorya sa mga komunidad ay nagugulat sa mabilis na pagproseso ng mga aplikasyon. Nakakapagprotesta lang sila kapag nandiyan na ang kompanya ng mina o nasa operasyon na.”

“Lumalabas na dummy o prente lamang ang mga korporasyong (tulad ng kay Defensor) ng mga dayuhang kompanya,” sabi ni Clemente Bautista ng Kalikasan.

Pero lumalaban pa rin ang mga komunidad. Lantad na sa mga lider ng komunidad tulad ni Mallari ang pakikipagsabuwatan umano ni Defensor at ng gobyerno sa pagsasamantala ng dayuhang mga kompanya sa yamang-lupa ng bansa. Sa ngayon, iniikot umano nila ang mga komunidad na apektado ng mga proyekto ni Defensor.

Abalang-abala na rin sila sa paglaban.(PinoyWeekly)

Kuwentong Halaw*: Pinoy deportees sa Sabah

Soliman A. Santos

Moro ang karamihan sa mga pinadeport na Pinoy sa Sabah (Soliman A. Santos)

PATULOY pa rin ang mala-impiyernong nararanasan ng di-dokumentadong mga migranteng Pilipino sa gitna ng crackdown na isinasagawa ng gobyerno ng Malaysia. Sa kabila ito ng pagkakaroon ng RP-Malaysia Working Group on Migrant Workers na itinatag noon pang 2005 para pangalagaan ang karapatan ng mga migranteng ito.

Ito ang natuklasan ng Migrante International sa isinagawa nilang Fact Finding Mission kasama ng Gabriela Women’s Party, EnGendeRights at Association for the Rights of Children in Southeast Asia noong Oktubre 2 hanggang Oktubre 5.

Ayon kay Connie Bragas-Regalado, tagapangulo ng Migrante, “palabas” lamang ang itinayong grupo ng mga gobyerno ng Pilipinas at Malaysia dahil sa patuloy na pagpapabaya ng mga awtoridad sa kalagayan ng mga halaw o mga deportee.

Kasaysayan ng pagtaboy

Noong Agosto 2002, umabot sa 8,838 Pilipino ang dumating mula sa Sabah. Isang linggo bago ang malawakang deportasyon, nireyd ng pulis-Malaysia ang 300 kabahayan ng mahihirap na Pilipino sa Kampong Karansangan. Dinala ang di-dokumentadong mga Pilipino sa kulungan. Walang sapat na pagkain at tubig, natutulog sila nang walang sapin sa malamig na semento.

Sumunod na naglunsad ng crackdown ang gobyerno ng Malaysia noong 2005. Pagkatapos ng ilang buwang pang-aaresto, napuno ng halos 30,000 di-dokumentadong migrante ang mga kulungan sa Sabah.

Nabalita sa buong mundo ang malupit na pagtrato ng mga awtoridad ng Malaysia sa di-dokumentadong mga migrante. Nagpahayag ng pagkondena ang internasyunal na mga kinatawan tulad ng United Nations High Commission on Refugees, UN Commission on Human Rights, Amnesty International, International Committee of the Red Cross, at iba pa. Binatikos ng mga ito ang gobyerno ng Pilipinas dahil sa pagpapabaya at kabiguang solusyonan ang malawakang pangingibang-bayan ng mga Pilipino sa Mindanao.

Para mapahupa ang internasyunal na pagngangalit, itinayo ng mga gobyerno ng Pilipinas at Malaysia ang RP-Malaysia Working Group on Migrant Workers noong 2005. Pero kahit pa rito sa Pilipinas isinagawa noong Hulyo ngayong taon ang ikalimang pulong ng working group, hindi nito napigilan ang mga pang-aabuso sa mga Pilipinong migrante.

Noong Agosto, muling inianunsiyo ng gobyerno ng Malaysia ang crackdown sa mga di-dokumentadong migrante. Sa tala ng Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) sa Zamboanga City, mayroon nang 35,000 halaw galing sa Sabah sa unang walong buwan ng taong ito. Inaasahang aabot ito sa mahigit 200,000 sa katapusan ng taon.

Buhay-bilanggo

Sa panayam sa mga halaw sa Bahay-Silungan, ang pansamantalang tirahan ng mga deportee sa Zamboanga City, nakapagtala ng iba’t ibang kaso ng paglabag sa karapatang pantao ang ang mga delegado ng FFM. Naganap ang mga ito mula sa pag-aresto sa Sabah, sa pagbilanggo sa kanila, hanggang sa pagdadala sa kanila sa piyer para tuluyang pabalikin sa Pilipinas.

Halimbawa na lamang ang pag-aresto kay Saidah Amautara, 57, kasama ng kanyang tatlong anak. Ayon kay Saidah, nireyd ng mga opsiyal ng imigrasyon ng Malaysia ang kanilang bahay noong 2006. Hinuli sila at isinakay sa isang trak kasama ang tinatayang 100 pang nadakip at dinala sa kulungan sa Prasi, Kota Kinabalu. Samantala’y naiwan ang kanyang asawa at tatlo pang anak.

Sa kulungan, tinatayang 500 silang ibilanggo doon na pawang mga babae at mga bata. Hiwalay na nakakulong ang mga lalaki.

Bagama’t pinakakain sila tatlong beses isang araw, ayon kay Saidah, parang pagkain ng pusa ang ibinibigay sa kanila. Nirarasyunan din lang sila ng kaunting tubig para sa kanilang inumin. Himutok niya, wala man lamang opisyal ng emabahada ng Pilipinas na bumisita sa kanila habang sila’y nakakulong.

Inabot sila ng isang buwan sa Prasi bago inilipat sa Sandakan at tuluyang pauwiin sa Pilipinas. Isang linggo rin silang nanatili sa kulungan sa Sandakan. Ayon kay Saidah, binibigyan sila doon ng 15 minuto para maligo, kumain at gawin ang iba pang personal na ritwal. Kapag sumobra sa oras, sinisipa sila o tinatadyakan ng bantay sa bilangguan. At minsan, nakatanggap nito si Saidah.

Natutulog din sila sa semento nang walang kahit anong sapin. Sa isang pagkakataon, may nakita pa si Saidah ng isang babaing nagsisilang ng sanggol sa loob ng kulungan. Walang doktor na tumitingin sa kanilang kalusugan.

Pagdating nila sa piyer ng Zamboanga, dumating ang mga opisyal ng pamahalaan. Inanunsiyo nila na bibigyan nila ng pasaporte ang sinumang gustong bumalik sa Sabah. Bibigyan naman ng libreng sakay pauwi sa kanilang bahay ang sinumang nais manatili sa Pilipinas.

Pagpapabaya sa Bahay Silungan

Mula sa piyer, dinala sila sa Bahay Silungan kung nasaan ang One Stop Processing Center (OSPC) na pinatatakbo ng Department of Foreign Affairs. Pinakain sila doon. Ininterbyu at tinanong kung gusto pa nilang bumalik sa Sabah. Kung hindi, bibigyan sila ng pamasahe pauwi.

Gustong bumalik ni Saidah sa Sabah dahil nandoon pa ang kanyang asawa at tatlong anak. Agad niyang inihanda ang mga kailangang dokumento. Sa OSPC, nagbayad siya ng P200 para sa kanyang birth certificate, P150 para sa NBI clearance, P100 para sa passport ID, at P30 para sa sertipikasyon mula sa Office of Muslim Affairs. Buong akala niya, libre ang mga iyon batay sa inianunsiyo ng mga opisyal ng pamahalaan.

Dahil naubusan ng pambayad sa mga dokumento ng dalawa pa niyang anak, napilitan siyang bumalik na lamang sa kanyang tahanan. Wala rin palang libreng pamasahe. Naglakad siya pauwi mula sa Bahay Silungan.

Sa kasalukuyan, walang pinagkakakitaan ang pamilya ni Saidah maliban sa kaunting kinikita ng mga anak na nagtitinda ng supot sa palengke. Hindi rin regular ang pagpapadala ng pera ng kanyang asawa mula sa Sabah. Naibenta na ang kanilang bahay at ilang kagamitan sa Sabah. Hindi naman makapagtrabaho ang dalawa niyang anak na babaing na-deport ngayong taon dahil naninibago pa ang mga ito sa bago nilang tinitirhan. (Tingnan ang kaugnay na istorya)

Inutil na kasunduan?

Ayon kay Regalado, inutil ang kasunduang pinirmahan ng mga gobyerno ng Malaysia at Pilipinas. Nilikha lamang umano ang RP-Malaysia Working Group on Migrant Workers para mapahupa ang galit ng mga tao. Sa aktuwal, wala itong nagawa para protektahan ang mga migrante habang sila’y dinadakip o nasa kulungan sa Sabah. Natuklasan ng FFM na ni walang dokumentasyon ang DSWD ng mga paglabag sa mga karapatang pantao ng deportees.

“Ang totoo, ginagamit pa nga ng gobyernong Arroyo ang working group para patuloy na ipatupad ang programa sa labor export. Isipin na lang na ang unang itinatanong ng mga opisyal ng pamahalaan ay kung babalik ba ang mga deportee sa Sabah para muling magtrabaho,” ani Regalado.

Hindi rin umano sinisiguro ng gobyerno na may uuwian at trabahong naghihintay sa kanila. “Tandaan natin na ang kalakhan ng mga lumilikas papunta sa Sabah ay nagmula sa Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao kung saan nagpapatuloy ang giyera,” sabi ng lider-migrante.

Ihahapag ng Migrante International sa Kongreso ang resulta ng FFM para agarang aksiyunan ng pamahalaan ang kalagayan ng mga halaw. Magsasampa rin ang grupo ng reklamo kay United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrant Workers Jorge Bustamante na darating sa bansa ngayong buwan, gayundin sa UN Human Rights Council sa Geneva, Switzerland.

Dadalhin din ng Migrante ang mga kaso sa International Assembly of Migrants and Refugees (IAMR), isang pagtitipon ng mga migrante at bakwit na gaganapin sa Maynila sa Oktubre 28 hanggang 30. Ito ang pantapat na porum ng mga migrante bilang protesta sa sa Global Forum on Migration and Development na pangangasiwaan ng gobyerno ng Pilipinas.

*Salitang Tausug para sa deportee. Literal na nangangahulugang itinaboy o itinapon.

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Kapag pinarurusahan maging ang paglalaro

MAGKASAMANG nagtatrabaho sa Yusup Kare-Kare House sa Sabah, Malaysia ang magkapatid na Nuhrin, 18, at Nurhida, 16.

Noong Agosto 21, habang may nagkakapeng mga pulis sa pinapasukang karinderya nina Nurin at Nurhida, nagwalis ang isang kasama nila sa trabaho. Sinita siya ng mga pulis. Kinabukasan, bandang 3:30 ng madaling araw, bumalik ang mga pulis at ininteroga ang mga Pilipinong nagtatrabaho sa naturang karinderya. Hinanapan sila ng pass. Walang naipakita sina Nurin at Nurhida dahil naiwan nila ito sa bahay. Dahil dito, isinama sila ng mga pulis sa Balay-KK, isang bilangguan.

Kinabukasan, dinala naman sila Gumamera, ang kulungan ng mga Pilipinong ide-deport pabalik sa Pilipinas.

Ayon sa magkapatid, ikinulong sila sa isang selda na parang isang malaking bahay. Tinatayang 190 silang kabataan na nakakulong sa seldang iyon na binabantayan ng dalawang pulis. Siksikan silang nahihiga sa gabi nang walang sapin. Dalawang beses silang pinapakain ng isda at kanin – isa tuwing alas-dose ng tanghali at isa tuwing alas-sais ng gabi. Ayon sa magkapatid, kakarampot ang ibinibigay sa kanila at kadalasa’y parang panis at nilalangaw pa. Nirarasyunan naman sila ng dalawang balde ng inuming tubig sa bawat araw. Tubig-ulan ang kanilang ginagamit na panligo at panglaba.

Mahigpit ang mga bantay sa kanilang selda. Pinarurusahan ang sinumang di sumunod sa mga alituntunin. Nang mahuli si Nurin ng guwardiya na naglalaro ng baseball, pinag-pumping siya ng 20 beses.

Noong Setyembre 9, dinala sila sa Sandakan kasama ng iba pang halaw o deportees. Dalawampu’t isa silang babae, 44 naman ang lalaki. May posas ang mga lalaki dahil baka tumakas umano ang mga ito habang nasa byahe. Mula sa Sandakan, isinakay na sila sa isang ferry papunta ng Bongao, Tawi-Tawi. Ibinaba ang mga halaw na taga-roon at dinala ang mga natira sa Zamboanga City. Pagdating sa Zamboanga, dinala sila sa DSWD center. Ininterbyu sila at kinuhaan ng litrato, saka pinauwi sa kani-kanilang bahay.

Sa kasalukuyan, umuupa sila ng bahay kasama ng kanilang ina na isang halaw din. Wala silang makuhang trabaho sa Zamboanga. Ang dalawa nilang nakababatang kapatid na lalaki ay nagtitinda ng plastik sa piyer at palenke para sila may makain. Ang kanilang ama ay naiwan sa Sabah at nagtatrabaho sa konstruksiyon.

Soliman A. Santos

Buto at ilan pang palatandaan ng malagim na kaganapan sa Limay

Raymund B. Villanueva

Si Raymond Manalo (kaliwa) sa harap ng tinakpang hukay na posibleng pinaglibingan kay Manuel Merino. (Raymund Villanueva)

NAGHIHINTAY sa dalang pananghalian ng kanyang tatay sa kanilang paaralan sa Subic, Zambales si Shara Hizarsa noong Marso 22, 2007. Pagdating nito magsasalo silang mag-ama sa pagkaing araw-araw niluluto at inihahatid ni Abner. Ito na ang kanilang regular na gawain simula noong tumigil ang kanyang ama sa pagiging kasapi ng kilusang lihim dahil sa sakit.

Pero walang Tatay Abner na dumating para sa pananghalian ng bata noong araw na iyon.

Labingsiyam na buwan na ang nakalipas, wala pa ring tatay na naghahatid ng pananghalian kay Shara.

Noong nakaraang Lunes, Oktubre 13, ginunita ni Shara ang kanyang ika-labindalawang kaarawan. Noong araw na iyon, hindi niya kasama kahit ang kanyang nanay na si Criz. Sumama si Nanay Cris sa mga kamag-anak ng mga dinukot at nawawala sa ilalim ng gobyernong Arroyo sa isang fact-finding mission sa Barangay Bliss, Limay, Bataan.

Kampo ng kalupitan

Sa araw na iyon 50 kasapi ng Karapatan at Desaperacidos, kamag-anak ng mga biktima, kagawad ng Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and mga anthropologist ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas (sa pangunguna ni Dr Francisco Datar) ay nagsadya sa isang abandonadong kampo ng militar malapit sa makasaysayang monumento ng Bundok Samat.

Naghukay sila ng maraming beses sa pag-asang makakakita sila ng labi ng mga pinatay ng Philippine Army. Pinangunahan sila ni Raymond Manalo, isa sa dalawang magkapatid na nakatakas sa mga kagawad ng 24^th Infantry Battalion ng 7^th Infantry Division ng Philippine Army. Ayon kay Raymond, dinala sila ng mga sundalo sa naturang kampo noong ika-21 o 22 ng Nubyembre 2006.

Matapos ang isang lingo, nakita nila ang nawawalang mag-aaral ng UP na si Karen Empeño at ang magsasakang si Manuel Merino. Matapos pa ang isang linggo, nakita naman nilang dinala sa kampo si Sherlyn Cadapan, isa pang dinukot na estudyante ng UP. Marami pang ibang biktima ang dinala sa kampo na kung hindi man pinahirapan ay patay na ng dumating.

Pinilit sina Raymond na magtayo ng mga kubo, magluto, maglinis, mag-igib at maglaba para sa mga sundalo sa pangunguna ng isang Major Donald “alyas Allan” Caigas. Nakita rin niya kung paano ibitin ng patiwarik ang mga estudyante sa tig-isang paa lamang samantalang sinasaksak ng kahoy ang maseselang bahagi ng kanilang katawan.

Tuwing pansamantalang matatapos ang pagpapahirap, inutusan si Raymond na linisin ang dugo at dumi ng mga biktima at labhan ang kanilang duguang mga damit. Ayon kay Raymond, maraming beses siyang natutulog na umaalingawngaw ang mga hiyaw at pagmamakaawa ng mga babae sa kanyang tenga.

Sa kanyang sinumpaang salaysay, sinabi ni Raymond na makailang beses silang dinala ng kanyang kapatid na si Reynaldo at Merino ng mga sundalo sa pangangalabaw at pagpatay ng mga magsasaka sa mga kapaligid na barangay. Layon ng mga operasyon na maibintang sa New People’s Army ang mga pagnanakaw at pandarambong at upang magalit ang taumbayan sa mga rebelde. “’Operasyon Lubog’ ang tawag nila rito,” ayon kay Raymond.

Isang madilim na gabi noong Hunyo 2007 kinuha si Merino ng mga sundalo mula sa kanilang selda. Sinabi sa matanda na kakausapin daw siya ni Major General Jovito S Palparan (ngayo’y retirado). Makalipas ang ilang minuto nakita ni Raymond na dinadala ang nakaposas na si Merino sa isang madawag na lugar 50 metro ang layo mula sa bakod ng kampo. Mula sa kanyang kinatatayuan narinig ni Raymond ang isang pagulat na hiyaw, na sinundan ng dalawang putok ng baril.

“Siguro hindi nadale sa saksak, kaya binaril,” ani Raymond. Pagkatapos ay nakita ni Raymond na may sinusunog sa lugar ng ilang oras. Kinaumagahan sinabihan si Raymond na huwag nang hanapin ang matanda dahil pinagsama-sama na silang tatlo nina Cadapan at Empeno. “Pinatay si ‘Tay Manuel dahil sabi ng militar matanda na siya,” ani Raymond.

Sa sumunod na buwan ng Hulyo ang magkapatid ay dinala sa Bolinao, Pangasinan para higit pang alipinin sa bukid na pag-aari ni Caigas. Dito sila nakatakas sa gabi ng Agosto 12.

‘Malinaw at kapani-paniwalang testimonya’

Nagpapalit-palit ang matataas na opisyal at gubyerno sa pagpapasinungaling sa salaysay ni Raymond. Sinabi nilang walang kampo ng militar sa Barangay Bliss, Limay, Bataan. Ayon kay Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro at dating Armed Forces Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr. na “walang basehan” ang testimonya ni Raymond.

Sinabi ni Lt. Gen. Isagani Cachuela, kumander ng Northern Luzon Command ng Army na wala siyang nalalaman sa kampo ng military sa Brgy. Bliss. Ito rin ang pahayag ni Maj. Gen Ralph Villanueva, kumander ng 7^th ID na siyang mga hurisdiksiyon sa 24^th IB. Noong nakaraang Setyembre 20 sinabi ng tagapagsalita ng Army na si Lt Col Romeo Brawner na walang Cadapan, Empeño at Merino ang natagpuan sa anumang kampo ng militar kung saan sila pinaniniwalaang dinala.

Pero nagkakaisa ang mga residente ng Barangay Bliss na dating may kampo nga ng militar sa kanilang lugar. Mismong ang dating bise gobernador ng Bataan na si Rogelio Roque pa ang nagkumpirma sa dating kampo dahil pagmamay-ari niya ang loteng katabi ng kampo.

Nakumbinsi naman ang Court of Appeals (CA) at Korte Suprema na sa kabila ng paulit-ulit na pagtanggi ng militar ay “makatotohanan,” “kahindik-hindik” at “malinaw” ang testimonya ni Raymond.

Noong Oktubre 6 sinangayunan ng Korte ang desisyon ng CA na bigyan ng pribilehiyo ng writ of amparo ang magkapatid na Manalo bilang proteksiyon laban sa mga puwersa ng Estado. Sinang-ayunan din ng Korte ang maaaring pagkakasala ni Palparan sa pagdukot sa magkapatid, gayundin kina Cadapan, Empeno, Merino at iba pa. Ibinasura rin ng Korte ang isinagawang imbestigasyon ng 7^th ID na “napakalimitado, minadali at maka-isang panig.”

Sinabi naman ng tagapangulo ng CHR na si Atty. Leila de Lima na “Ang magkapatid na Manalo ang siyang mayroong pinaka-signipikanteng testimonya sa mga pagpatay at pagdukot.”

‘Patutunayan ko sa kanila na tama ako’

Isang linggo matapos ang pagbibigay ng pribilehiyo ng writ of amparo pinangunahan ni Raymond ang fact-finding mission sa kampo ng military sa Barangay Bliss. Bago pa sumikat ang araw naituro na ni Raymond sa mga taga-Karapatan ang eksaktong lugar kung saan dating nakatirik ang mga kubo ng mga sundalo at kung saan maaring ibinaon ang mga biktima.

Ang iba naman ay nagsipagtayo ng mga toldang tutulugan ng mga kasapi ng misyon. Kitang-kitang pinagsumikapang itago ang lahat ng bakas ng kampo. Ang mga semento ay binakbak at itinapon sa kawayanan isang daang metro ang layo sa sentro ng dating kampo. Wala nang hukay ang mga banyo at hinugot na rin ang mga tubo ng tubig. Subalit, sa gitna ng mga ligaw na bulaklak at sa ilalim ng nagtatayugang puno ng mangga, malinaw na naituro ng saksi ang lahat ng istraktura ng kampo.

“Hindi ko aakalaing babalik pa ako rito. Takot ako, nanginginig, giniginaw. Noong una kaming dinala rito, akala namin ay isa-salvage na kami,” ani Raymond.

Pagdating ng mga taga-CHR ng alas-10 ng umaga, handa na ang Karapatan na maghukay at magdokumento ng anumang matatagpuan sa lugar.

Pagkapananghali, dumating si de Lima mula sa Maynila. Naglibot ito sa kampo, gayundin sa mga inakalang hukay ng mga pinatay na biktima. Nag-utos din siya sa mga kawani ng ahensiya na maghanap ng mga dagdag na tagahukay dahil sa nakitang hirap ng mga taga-Karapatan. Mabato at matigas ang lupa lagpas ng isang piye’t kalahati.

Negatibo ang resulta ng unang apat na hukay subalit nagkalat sa lugar ang maliliit na ebidensiyang naiwanan ng tao – mga sunog na mantel, sapatos, kahoy, at iba pa. Ang isang piraso ng damit na nakita ay maaring kay Cadapan, ayon kay Raymond. Kinumpirma naman ng mga eksperto ng UP na naistorbo ng kakaibang aktibidad ng tao ang natural na kaayusan ng lugar.

Sa takipsilim ng unang araw ng misyon, isa pang hukay ang sinubukan ng pangkat. Tinaya ng mga eksperto na ito ay may pag-asa dahil malambot pa ang lupa matapos ang dalawang piye ng paghuhukay. Saka nag-utos ang mga eksperto na ihinto na muna ang paghuhukay dahil madilim na.

Gabi sa kampo

Pagkagat ng dilim, nagsindi ng mga makalumang “petromax.”

Sa ilalim ng mapusyaw na ilaw ng mga ito, naghapunan ang mga tatlumpung natitirang kasapi ng misyon samantalang nagbantay sa gilid ng kampo ang isang iskuwad ng Philippine National Police-Regional Mobile Group. Bago pa man natapos ang hapunan bumuhos ang napakalakas na ulan na nagsalya ng mga tolda at bumasa ng mga damit at kagamitan. Ang ilang kamag-anak ng mga biktima ay bumalik muna sa Maynila para sa kanilang seguridad, gayundin ang ilang mga mamamahayag. Saka lamang dumating ang ipinangakong generator mula sa CHR-Gitnang Luson.

Pagdating ng alas-siyete ng gabi, habang sumisilip ang buwan sa numinipis nang mga ulap, sinubukan nang matulog ng kampo. Paglaon, tanging mga huni na lamang ng mga insekto’t ibon ang maririnig na panaka-nakang binabasag ng hilik ng mga pagod na kasapi ng misyon. Kahit ang mga pulis ay natulog na rin sa kanilang mga tolda at sasakyan.

‘Breakthrough’

Nag-usap muna ang CHR, mga eksperto at ang Karapatan sa pag-uumpisa ng ikalawang araw ng misyon. Nagpahayag ng kumpiyansa si Dr Datar na nagsasabi ng totoo ang saksi. Makakahanap daw sila ng kahit maliliit na buto basta matukoy lamang ang eksaktong pinaglibingan ng mga biktima. “Ito ang mga bagay na magkakanulo sa mga salarin,” ika ni Datar.

Subalit walang nakitang matibay na ebidensiya buong umaga. Inabandona ng misyon ang ikatlong lugar na itinuro ng saksi samantalang nagbukas pa sila ng isa pang posibleng lugar ng pinagbaunan ng mga biktima. Muli’t muling kinokonsulta ni Datar si Raymond sa direksiyon kung saan dinala ang matandang Merino noong gabing sinasabi nitong pinatay ang biktima. Pinalakad-lakad nito ang saksi mula sa gilid ng kampo patungo sa lugar ng hukay.

Dito sinabi ni Raymond na natatandaan niyang suot ni Merino ang luma, kulay-dilaw at tatak na “Beach Walk” nitong tsinelas noong huli niya itong makita. Base sa mga sagot ng saksi inutos ng doktor na lawakan pa ng mga tagahukay ang paghahawan nang lugar.

Samantalang nakatayo sa gilid ng dating kampo nakita ni Raymond ang isang shorts na halos natatabunan na ng putik. Dinampot niya ito at sinabing “Shorts ito ni Caigas. ‘Basic Wear’ and tatak. Siya lang ang mayroon nito. Pantulog niya.” Sinabi rin niyang sigurado siya dahil ipinaglalaba niya rin dati ang mga sundalong dumukot sa kanila.Nabuhayan ng loob ang mga naghuhukay ng eksaktong 12:30 ng hapon. Ang inakala nilang sunog na kahoy lamang ay nagluwal ng isang sunog na buto. Agad na sinabi ni Datar na ito ay buto ng tao, kaiba sa maraming buto ng baka at kambing na nagkalat sa lugar.

Bago pa siya nag-utos na itigil muna ang paghuhukay para sa pananghaliaan labinlima pang piraso ng mga buto ang nakita mula sa hukay.

Mas marami pang buto ang nadiskubre nung nagsimula na uli ang paghuhukay. Pagsapit ng 3:45, nakita ang isang dilaw na lumang tsinelas na may tatak na “Beach Walk.” “’Yan ‘yun! Kay ‘Tay Manuel! ‘Yan ‘yun!” sigaw ni Raymond. “Positibo na tayo,” sabi ni Datar. Makalipas ang ilan pang minuto, nakadiskubre rin ng isang singsing at isang buto ng gulugod.

Natagpuan na ang gilid ng hukay pagsapit ng alas-singko. Batay sa mga ebidensiyang nakalap, sinabi ni Datar na sinunog ang bangkay na nakabalot sa kutson ng kama at inilagay sa ibabaw ng gulong at kahoy. Pagkalipas ng mahaba-habang panahon tinanggal ang mga buto at saka tinakpan ng sariwang lupa ang hukay upang itago ang krimen. “Naka-talungko ang porma ng katawan, kaya maliit lang ang hukay,” paliwanag ng eksperto.

Subalit nilinaw ni Datar na wala nang makukuhang DNA mula sa mga buto, Ang mga buto ay pag-aaralan pa sa UP upang makakuha ng dagdag na impormasyon.

Malakas na ebidensiya

Pinuri ni Datar ang katatagan ni Raymond. “May lakas siya ng loob na sabihin (ang nalalaman),” ani Datar.

“Nabuhayan ako ng loob,” ika naman ni Raymond. “Kung wala tayong nakita e di lalo na nilang (militar) sasabihing sinungaling ako,” dagdag nito.

Kumpiyansa rin ang abugado ni Raymond na si Rex Fernandez sa resulta ng misyon.

“Napatunayan ang mga sinabi ni Raymond hinggil sa pagdukot at pagpatay ngayon. Dagdag pa, sinadyang linisin ang lugar para itago ang krimen. Kung titingnang mabuti, malaki ang kampo. Hindi ito hinimpilan pansamantala kundi sa matagal na panahon. Na may kinalaman dito si Palparan ay napatunayan din sa lahat ng mga kaso. Inaasahan naming susubukan ng militar na balewalain ang resulta nitong misyon subalit kapani-paniwalang testigo si Raymond,” ayon kay Fernandez.

Nais ni Fernandez na ideklarang lugar ng krimen ang lugar para ipagpatuloy ang paghuhukay at imbestigasyon. “Dapat ding tanungin din ang mga taga-rito,” dagdag nito.

Natapos ang misyon, nagpapatuloy ang paghahanap sa katarungan

Bago pa dumilim sa ikalawang araw ng misyon, muling natabunan na ang mga hukay. Naligpit na rin ang mga tolda at kagamitan. Nagtanim ng krus ang mga kamag-anak ng mga biktima yari sa mga sangang galing sa lugar. Namitas sila ng mga ligaw na bulaklak na inalay sa biktima. Nagsindi rin sila ng mga puting kandila sa paligid ng mga batong ginamit upang takpan ang mga hukay.

Nakakalitong lungkot at pag-asa ang naramdaman ng mga kamag-anak ng mga biktima, tulad ni Cris Hizarsa. “Katulad ng ibang mga pamilyang naghahanap, umaasa akong hindi kasama ang asawa ko sa mga pinatay dito. Yun ang pag-asa ko at ng mga anak ko. Sana, yun ang regalong maiuuwi ko sa kaarawan ni Shara.”

Tinungo ni Raymond sa huling pagkakataon ang pinaglibingan ni ‘Tay Manuel. Sinamahan siya ng mga taga-Karapatan at ni Dr Datar. Pinili ng mga taga-CHR na huwag sumama. Pinangunahan ni Fr. Diony Caballes ang pag-aalay ng panalangin na sinundan ng mga sigaw ng “Katarungan!”

Saka umiyak ang lahat. Masaganang luha ang tumulo sa mga mata ni Raymond samantalang nakahukot ang balikat nito sa pisikal at emosyonal na sakit na dinaranas. Kahit ang ekspertong si Datar ay naluha at nakatungo sa nasaksihan.

Habang lumulubog ang araw sa likod ng Bundok Samat naglakad palayo ang mga kasapi ng misyon. Nagmistulang higit na ulila ang libingan, kasalo lamang ang ilang nakasinding kandila sa gitna ng lumulukob na kadiliman. Si Raymond ang huling tumalikod sa puntod upang iwanang mamukadkad ang mga ligaw na bulaklak na saksi sa mga kalupitang ngayon lamang masisilayan ng liwanag.

(Mga larawan ni Raymund Villanueva)

Si Raymund Villanueva ay mamamahayag mula sa Kodao Productions Inc.

Tanging hiling

Darius R. Galang

SA GITNA ng tumitinding krisis pang-ekonomiya na lumalaganap sa buong mundo, patuloy pa rin na hindi naibigyang ng karampatang umento sa sahod ang mga manggagawang Pilipino.

Sa halip, aamyendahan pa ang batas na nangangasiwa sa antas ng sahod ng mga kawani ng pamahalaan. At sa ganitong senaryo, tatamaan din ang mga kawani at manggagawang pangkalusugan na naglilingkod sa publikong mga pagamutan.

Kamakailan, nagsagawa ng pagkilos ang iba’t ibang grupo ng mga manggagawang pangkalusugan, kasama ang Alliance of Health Workers (AHW), Philippine Nurses Association (PNA), at ilang grupo mula sa iba’t ibang ospital tulad ng RITM upang tutulan ang pagpapasa ng Joint Resolution number 24.

Matagal nang hiling, nakabinbin pa rin

Kasama sa hinihiling ng mga manggagawang pangkalusugan ang pagbabasura sa Kamara ng Joint Resolution Number 24 na naglalayon na amyendahan ang kasalukuyang sahod at benepisyo ng mga kawani ng gobyerno.

Ayon kay Jossel Ebesate, pangkalahatang kalihim ng AHW, mapanghati ang naturang iskema dahil papalakhin pa lalo ang pagkakaiba ng mga sahod lalo na sa antas ng ordinaryong mga kawani ng pamahalaan.

“Bukod pa sa mapanghati nito, mapanlinlang rin dahil wala talagang magiging increase sa sahod, bagkus liliit pa lalo ang tatanggapin ng mga kawani dahil babawasan ang mga benepisyong tinatamasa ng ating mga health worker,” ani Ebesate.

Sa tala, may P20 Bilyon ang nakatalaga sa Joint Resolution, kahit hindi pa ito naaaprubahan. Kuwestiyunable rin sa ilan pang sektor ang pagtatalaga ng ganitong halaga. Para kay Lea Pacuiz, national president ng PNA, malaking katanungan ito dahil hanggang sa ngayon ay hindi pa naibibigay ang karampatang sahod ng mga nars kahit sa kasalukuyang paghahanay ng antas ng sahod.

Sa implementasyon ng Salary Grade 15 na nakasaad sa RA 9173 o Nursing Act of 2002 para sa mga nars, ipinaliwanag ni Pacquiz ang katagalan ng pagbibigay ng karampatang sahod ng mga nars. “The starting salary of nurses should start at SG 15 which is equivalent to P16, 003. 2002 pa na-approve, 2008 na ngayon, 6 years after, [it is] not yet implemented,” sabi ni Pacuiz.

Lahat apektado

Kahit ang karaniwang empleyado sa pagamutan ay apektado ng iskema na ipapatupad sa loob ng apat na taon.

Para kay Remedios Maltu, nursing attendant sa isang pampublikong ospital, “Kawalang-pag-asa lalo para sa mga health worker” ang iskema. “Ang hinihingi ng mga health worker ay dagdag sahod, pero ano ang sinagot ng gobyerno? Dagdag nga sa basic salary, pero ang kakaltasin na benepisyo namin [sa ilalim ng RA7305 ng magna carta] ay mas malaki kaysa sa idadagdag.”

Kuwestiyonable umano ang lohika ng Joint Resolution 24. Isinaad ni Maltu na kayang makakuha ng tatlo, apat, hanggang limang libong piso sa halaga ng benepisyo ang isang karaniwang manggagawa.

“Pero ang idaragdag lamang sa amin ay P600 sa isang buwan. So ano ang logic nung JR24 na ang effectiveness naman ay four years. Nakikita namin na itong ipinanukala ni Cong Prospero Nograles ay hindi niya napag-aralan ito,” sabi ni Maltu.

Pangingibang bansa?

Matagal nang laganap ang pangingibang-bansa ng manggagawang pangkalusugan sa bansa. Itinuturing ng karamihan maging sa mga manggagawang pangkalusugan na ang ganitong senaryo ay dulot ng kakulangan rin ng wastong pagbibigay ng pansin sa kalagayan ng gobyerno sa kanila.

Simple lamang ang hiling kahit ng karaniwang health worker: Itaas ang suweldo.

“Kung kami ay bigyan ng mataas na suweldo, hindi na kami aalis ng bansa dahil mas gusto naming maglingkod sa aming mga kababayan kaysa magpunta pa sa ibang bansa at maghirap doon,” ang pahayag ni Maltu.

At kung maipapatupad ang lahat ng hinihiling ng mga manggagawang-pangkalusugan?

“Mas bubuti ang kanilang kalagayan, baka mas gugustuhin na nilang manatili rito sa bansa. Hangga’t maaari, ang produksiyon ng mga nars, para dito sa ating bansa. Kailangan ang dapat mag-alaga ng mga Pilipino, mga Filipino nurse din,” dagdag ni Pacquiz.(PinoyWeekly)

Kiliting Diwa: Pagkakaalam ni Pacquiao kay Jose Rizal atbp. text jokes

Reporter: Anong similarity nina Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, at Ninoy Aquino?

Pacquiao: Pagkaalam ko lahat sila ay namatay ng holiday! Pagkakaalam ko lang ha…

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Sermon ng pari: Ang kayamanan at pera, maiiwan natin kapag tayo ay namatay. Walang may pera sa langit!

Bata: Narinig mo yun, nay? Nasa langit na pala tayo!

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GF: (texting) Ayoko na sayo! Leche ka! Break na tayo!

BF: (replied immediately) Ha? Bakit? Ano ba problema? Ano ba kasalanan ko?

GF: Ay sorry honey. Wrong send! Love you!

BF: Kala ko naman kung ano na…Love you too!

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Pedro: Niloko ko yung tindera kanina.

Juan: Paano?

Pedro: Nagpa-load ako eh wala naman akong cellphone.

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2 babies nag-uusap:

Baby 1: Nakakalakad na ko! Yehey!

Baby 2: Wow! Nakakalakad ka na…Pa-Gerber ka naman! Gerber! Gerber! Gerber!

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Wife: Ninakawan tayo ng katulong ng towel nung umalis siya.

Husband: Mga tao ngayon walang values. Anong towel ang kinuha niya?

Wife: Yung sa Manila Hotel…

* * *

A girl was in love with an ugly man, her friend asked her:

“Why him?”

Then the girl replied immediately:

“Haler? Di ka ba nanood ng Beauty and the Beast? Po-pogi din siya!

The guy heard this and he said:

“Tungek! Napanood mo ba yung Shrek? Papanget ka din noh.”(PinoyWeekly)

New CPAs of 2008 (G)

Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008

1007 GAASIC, DELVEE BALIAT 1008 GABAYERON, JELLY MAE BAQUILAR 1009 GABONADA, LEIZL BATAUSA 1010 GABUTIN, VANESSA ANN CRISTIN CONDALOR 1011 GACHALIAN, ANTHONY LOUIS ORDOÑA 1012 GACUSAN, CATHERINE MERCURIO 1013 GAJO, CHARINA LACRA 1014 GAJUDO, RICHMOND CHARLES GACUS 1015 GALACIO, ANNALOU LAMUNDA 1016 GALAMITON, MICHAEL PABLO 1017 GALAN, JEROME TIGRAN GEPAYO 1018 GALANG, CARL LOU DEAN BAUTISTA 1019 GALANG, JOHN PAUL MAGBANUA 1020 GALANG, RALPH DANILO BASCO 1021 GALICIA, MARI SHIRLYNE SARMIENTO 1022 GALISA, MARVILL SALVADOR 1023 GALLA, ARNOLD GLENN ENIVA 1024 GALLANOSA, AARON ADAM BALMAS 1025 GALLONIGA, GERDA GRACE CAPITO 1026 GALON, JERIC ANGELO BABIERA 1027 GALPITO, ARNOLD CARIAGA 1028 GALUEGO, LENI SANTOS 1029 GALURA, RONALD PAUL CAYANAN 1030 GALVEZ, CRISTELA MARIS VELILLA 1031 GALVEZ, MAYBELLE ANN BAYOT 1032 GAMAO, ALJUVER REGANON 1033 GAMAT, ANGELO DACEAN 1034 GAMBET, ELYNUR HAMISAIN 1035 GAMBOA, GILDA ANDREA DE LEON 1036 GAMBOA, MARLON PASCUAL 1037 GAMIL, JESUS ROGELIO GUTIERREZ 1038 GAMMAG, RENDON PEREGIL 1039 GAN, AUDIMORFE BALAIS 1040 GAN, KATHLEEN GUINEVERE CO 1041 GANANCIAL, JEN ROSELLE BUGAYONG 1042 GANDAMRA, JOHARA LIMGAS 1043 GANIBO, MARY ROSE AGUILA 1044 GANILA, MARY ANN ORO 1045 GANO, JOEANNE BACARON 1046 GAOIRAN, MELDRICK COLOMA 1047 GAPUSAN, DEXTER TADEO 1048 GARA, JIMMY JR PEÑA 1049 GARADO, MA RHUBIE GELL BAGALAY 1050 GARBANZOS, KRISTILYN JOY CHUA Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 23 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 1051 GARCES, JAMES PETER EVANGELISTA 1052 GARCIA, CATHERINE BATAG 1053 GARCIA, DIANA ROSE CRISTOBAL 1054 GARCIA, ERWIN MEDINA 1055 GARCIA, GIL II EDAR 1056 GARCIA, JANICE CANTOS 1057 GARCIA, LOVELY AUSTRIA 1058 GARCIA, MARIA LOURDES MILAN 1059 GARCIA, RODA CARDOZA 1060 GARCIA, RONICA ANNE ROMERO 1061 GARCIANO, RODELIO JAN PASCUAL 1062 GARCIANO, SUZANNE LORENZO 1063 GARING, LESTER JAKE MANALO 1064 GARRIDO, JOSSIE MAE MACANDA 1065 GARRO, TEDDY JOHN PALASPAS 1066 GARZO, KIMBERLY QUINTO 1067 GATBONTON, JAIMEE RIA RASCO 1068 GATCHALIAN, RODRIGO ELESEO JR CASTILLO 1069 GATDULA, CHERYL RONARIO 1070 GATLABAYAN, HAZIEL MAGDAONG 1071 GAYTOS, NATTHA CHIONG 1072 GAZO, ANDREA ROSE ALCALDE 1073 GEBILAGUIN, MA FLORNILDA ALMODIEL 1074 GEDANG, MARIA VERONNE ESTRELLANES 1075 GEGANTONI, SHEILA MAE EHASTRO 1076 GENILZA, JOSILDA GENTOLEA 1077 GEORGE, MARIA LOURDES INTAC 1078 GERON, ADRIAN BJ ALMERO 1079 GERONA, SUZETTE VICELLE CAGARA 1080 GERONIMO, CARINESS ROBLES 1081 GERONIMO, CONRADO JR CRUZ 1082 GERONIMO, JOSELITO SANTOS 1083 GERONIMO, JUNO VILELA 1084 GERSABALINO, KENNETH GELONGA 1085 GERVACIO, ERWIN LEJANO 1086 GERVACIO, MARIENELL FELIZARDO 1087 GEVEROLA, MARIA LOURDES SALAS 1088 GILLERA, RIZHEL GLORIANE 1089 GINES, JUAN CARLOS CABALLES 1090 GINES, RHODIN BALENIA 1091 GINES, SATURNINO SANTIAGO 1092 GIRON, MARIEL ANGELI GILBUENA 1093 GLORIA, NIÑA VALENCIA 1094 GNILO, DIANA BODONAL 1095 GO, DIANNE CHU 1096 GO, JANICE TANTANO 1097 GO, KORISTINE PAR 1098 GO, THERESA FORTICH 1099 GOBWAY, JILL NABEJET 1100 GOCE, VIENNA CECILIA ESPAÑA Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 24 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 1101 GOMEZ, GINA LYN PINZON 1102 GOMEZ, MARICIEL GERTRUDES DITCHING 1103 GOMEZ, RACHELLE LORRAINE ALVERO 1104 GOMEZ, REINA MAE SAGARAL 1105 GOMEZ, VIRGIE ROXAS 1106 GONZAGA, KRISTINE LEONA 1107 GONZAGA, MABEL BLAZA 1108 GONZAGA, NEPHTALI DACUBA 1109 GONZAGA, RESTY SADIO 1110 GONZALES, HEIDI BONDOC 1111 GONZALES, JOANNAH MARIE LUCENI 1112 GONZALES, NIÑO JOSE BECHAYDA 1113 GONZALES, ROSE ANN RANCE 1114 GONZALES, ROSE-ANN LAGUARTILLA 1115 GONZALES, ROSEMARIE RONQUILLO 1116 GORDONCILLO, PETER JR DAGANI 1117 GOROSPE, DIANE PAMPLONA 1118 GRAMA, GLADYS JAPON 1119 GRATUITO, ROBERT MARALIT 1120 GREGORIO, JEREMY JOHN LIM 1121 GREGORIO, RONALIE CUSTODIO 1122 GRENGIA, ETHEL SORDILLA 1123 GRIÑE, SHEINA SANDOVAL 1124 GRUSPE, BRIAN BASCO 1125 GUADILLA, JOEMAR COLUMNA 1126 GUANCO, WELLA MAE MUZONES 1127 GUARINO, VON RYAN SUMBILLA 1128 GUECO, ARLENE MEJIA 1129 GUERRA, MARIVIC ADREMESIN 1130 GUERTA, BRIAN ALBERTO 1131 GUEVARRA, JEANNY ANN DESTACAMENTO 1132 GUILING, AYESHA HANIA BONSALAGAN 1133 GUILING, JHAHIDAH LAWI 1134 GUILLERMO, ANA ROSA BANATICLA 1135 GUILLERMO, MARYLET OPILAN 1136 GUINAYON, KAREEN JANE SUSCANO 1137 GUINGAB, ERASMO JR RANJO 1138 GULINAO, JENNY LYN LAPIG 1139 GUMASING, JAROLD CACAYURAN 1140 GUMBAN, MINA GRACIA DELA CRUZ 1141 GUNAY, JOY ANN VELASCO 1142 GUNDRAN, FRANCES ANNE OCAMPO 1143 GURANGO, ROMEL AZCARRAGA 1144 GUSTILO, JONAVI BONA CRUZ 1145 GUTIERREZ, MA ROSE INEZ CASTILLO 1146 GUTIERREZ, MICHELLE AQUINO 1147 GUTIERREZ, MILDRED LUMANLAN 1148 GUY-AB, CHARL KEN LAURONAL

Laban ng batang Kabute

Ilang-Ilang D. Quijano

SA UNANG bahagi ng maikling bidyo ng Southern Tagalog Exposure na pinamagatang “Batang Kabute,” masayang naglalaro ang isang kulumpon ng mga bata sa isang pawang maliit na subdibisyon. Ilang minuto rin ang silip sa espesyal na mundo ng yaong mga hindi pa pinatatanda ng mga reyalidad ng panahon. Nga lamang, biglaang mapuputol ang eksenang ito. Ang kasunod, natutulog na ang isang hilera ng mga bata sa isang abalang bansa.

“Ang bawat bata ay may karapatan sa disenteng tahanan,” (Every child deserves the right to a decent home) sabi sa katapusan ng bidyo.

Ito ang mensaheng ipinaaabot sa madla ng halos 300 bata na naninirahan sa Sityo Kabute, Brgy. Real, Calamba City, Laguna. Nanganganib na mapalayas ang 150 pamilya sa tatlong ektaryang lupain na inookupahan na nila ng tatlong dekada.

Banta ng demolisyon

Enero ngayong taon, bila na lamang dumating ang mga tauhan ng Metrobank na nag-aangkin sa lupain. Sinamahan sila ng mga miyembro at Swat ng pulisya at kahit walang mga dokumento, inutusan ang mga residente na baklasin ang kanilang mga tahanan. Walang kaalam-alam noon hinggil sa kanilang mga karapatan, napilitang sumunod ang mga ito.

“Siyempre, matatakot ka sa oras na tuktukin ng baril ang bahay mo,” sabi ni Melecia Almario, board of director ng Samahan ng Sityo Kabute.

Isang linggong mala-impiyernong pamumuhay sa basketball court ang dinanas ng mga residente. Lumapit sila sa bise-alkalde ng siyudad, na nagturo naman sa kanila sa party-list na Bayan Muna. Hinikayat ng Bayan Muna ang mga ito na bumalik at igiit ang paninirahan sa sityo.

Ngunit noong Setyembre 11, naglabas ng demolition order si Calamba Regional Trial Court Judge Alberto Serrano. Ligalig muli ang komunidad.

Sa ngayon, kalunos-lunos na ang kalagayan doon, ani Almario. Pinagtagpi-tagping sako, karton, at tolda na lamang ang kisame at dingding ng ginibang mga bahay na bato. “Kapag umulan, tumutulo ang tubig,” aniya, dahilan kung bakit nagkakasakit ang maraming bata. Noong Oktubre 8 lamang, namatay sa bronchopneumonia ang limang buwang sanggol ng residenteng si Myrna dela Cruz.

Di makapag-aral

Noong Oktubre 11, nagsagawa ng benefit concert sa Ten02 Bar sa Quezon City ang STExposure at Bayan Muna- Southern Tagalog para sa tinaguriang “Batang Kabute.”

Pinangalanan ang sityo dahil nagsulputan dito nang parang kabute ang mga maralitang walang masilungan. Sila na ang nagpaayos sa lupaing dating talahiban at imbakan ng basura. Para sana ito sa matiwasay na paglalakihan ng kanilang mga anak.

Ngayon, karamihan sa mga Batang Kabute ang nagtitinda na lamang ng sampaguita. Napilitan silang tumigil sa pag-aaral nang mawalan ng trabaho ang kanilang mga magulang noong maganap ang demolisyon. “Ngayon, di pa rin kami makapagtrabaho. Laging may balitang bukas magdedemolis kaya di pumapasok ang karamihan para mag-abang,” ani Almario.

Bukod sa pangunguna sa pagtatayo ng samahang magtatanggol sa kanilang mga karapatan, kinupkop ng progresibong mga organisasyon ang mga batang edad anim hanggang sampu. Tinuruan silang magsulat ng mga tula, kumanta ng mga awit, at lumikha ng mga dibuhong nagsasalamin sa kanilang tunay na kalagayan.

Pagtatanghal

Sa benefit concert, tinanghal ng mga bata ang shadow play na produkto ng workshop nila sa ilalim ng Anino Shadowplay Collective. Iba’t ibang dibuho at cut-outs na pangbata ang nilangkapan ng ilaw at galaw sa saliw ng awit ng mga Batang Kabute.

Binigkas nila ang isang tulang may mga linyang: “O Inang Gloria/ Kami ay nagdurusa/ Sa kasakiman ng iyong pamilya/ O Inang Gloria/ Sinungaling Ka/ Sa aming mga bata ikaw ay masama.” Kinanta nila ang sariling awit na may mga linyang: “Nang dahil sa demolisyon/ Hindi kami makapag-aral/ Nang dahil sa Metrobank/ Nawala ang aming mga tahanan.”

Bilang pakikiisa, nagtanghal ang mga dramatista ng UP Repertory, mga makata ng grupong Kilometer 64, progresibong mang-aawit na si Danny Fabella, at mga bandang The Wuds, Republika de Lata, Anak ni Aling Juana, at The Outlaws.

Ayon nga kay Bayani Cambronero, regional coordinator ng Bayan Muna-ST, “Ang mga kabute na dati-rating tinatapakan, ibang klaseng kabute na ngayon—mga kabuteng lumalaban.”(PinoyWeekly)

(Pasintabi) Melamine

Pasintabi | Rolando B. Tolentino

ITO ang lasong kasama sa gatas, karamihan ay angkat mula China. Apat na sanggol na ang namatay, at 54,000 sanggol sa China ang nagkasakit dahil sa melamine sa gatas.

Ayon kay Dr. Romeo Quijano, ang melamine ay isang sintetikong kemikal na gamit sa maraming produkto, tulad ng panghugas sa kusina, utensil, panlinis sa bahay at furniture, glue, fertilizer at iba pang gamit. Ito ay byproduct ng cyromazine, isang trianzine na pestisidyo na gamit sa gulayan at manukan.

Lason ang melamine, at maaaring maging dahilan ng “adverse reproductive effects, may affect genetic material and may cause bladder cancer, based on animal data. It may also cause skin, eye and respiratory tract irritation and irritation of the digestive tract with nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, and may damage the urinary system.”

Ang lason na hinayaang makapasok sa bansa sa gatas at ice cream ay ngayo’y ginagamit ng mga pulitiko para “mag-cleansing” sa dalawang antas: una, ang pagba-ban sa mga produkto – gatas lamang – na may halo nito; at ikalawa, ang pagpapakuha ng pogi at ganda points sa peryodikong inspeksiyon ng mga gatas sa groseriya at pagpapa-press conference ng findings hinggil sa lason sa mga gatas.

Ang pulitiko ay nagkakaroon ng kakatwang papel sa labas ng mundo ng pulitika: ang pagiging syentista. Seryosong blangko ang mga mukha, nagpapahiwatig ng detachment sa media gayong uma-acting naman talaga ang mukha at katawan para sa bitbit na media. Tulad ng Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, kahit pamali-mali ang pagtukoy ng mga produkto sa groseriya, maski hindi galing sa China, ay nagmamarunong lang naman.

Si Gloria Arroyo ay hindi rin nakatiis, nag-media mileage rin sa pag-inspeksiyon ng gatas sa groseriya kahit hindi naman alam kung ano ang gagawin sa mga dinadampot na karton. Tunay na “melamine moment” ang media-op (opportunity) na ito dahil ang melamine ay resin ng plastic. Hindi ba’t tunay na orocan-tupperware ang ganitong nagdidispley ng dunong at ganda sa mga bagay na hindi naman nila sakop?

Sinasabing gumamit ng melamine sa gatas para malusutan ang inspeksiyon ng pamahalaan ng China. Sa pamamagitan ng pagdagdag ng tubig, napapataas ng melamine ang protein content ng gatas. Tinatayang 20 porsyento ng mga dairy companies na tinest sa China ay nagbebenta ng produktong may halong melamine.

Kung gayon, ang melamine ay produkto ng pagiging gahaman ng negosyo, at ng pagmamaganda ng gobyernong nagsasaad ng kapangyarihang regulasyon ng mga lampasang ambisyon ng negosyo. May usap-usapan pang hihingi ang gobyerno ni Arroyo ng kompensasyon sa ngalan ng lokal na negosyo para sa damage na nalikha ng “melamine scare.”

Ang hindi isinasaad ni Arroyo ay ang nagiging puwang ng puso nito sa mga mas malalaking negosyo ng China. Hindi ba’t ang naunsyaming NBN-ZTE Broadband deal ay tinungo pa ni Arroyo sa Mainland China mula sa opisyal na biyahe sa Hong Kong para mag-golfing at makikain kasama ng negosyanteng nag-alok sa kanyang gobyerno? At ang nagmomodernisa sa sistema ng tren sa Luzon ay isa ring korporasyong China?

“Made in China” na tunay na may halaga kay Arroyo – una, bilang balon ng pangungurakot at sistema ng partihan para sa kanyang naghaharing paksiyon; at ikalawa, bilang kahalintulad na balon na pinagtatapunan ng bahong maididiskarga sa kanyang administrasyon. Win-win situation ang China para kay Arroyo, kahit pa ito rin ang nagdidirekta ng pambansang pagturing at chauvinismo sa China at mga Tsino, maging ang Tsinoy sa bansa.

Kung makakamura – at kung gayon, mapapahalagahan ang pera – ang China at ang nasyonal nito, na hindi hiwalay ang turing sa mga Tsinoy, ay ang balon ng pinagmumulan ng pinansyal na kapital. Sila ang mga Taipan na positibong role-model ng entrepreneurship na pinapangarap ng maraming kumukuha ng komersiyo sa kolehiyo.

Pero ang China, Tsino at Tsinoy ang tampulan din ng pukol ng pagiging hindi matuwid sa negosyo, ng pagiging gahaman at walang pagsasaalang-alang sa buhay, lalo na ng “lokal na nasyonal.” Kaya sila ang dine-demonyo sa pagkakataong tulad ng melamine scare, kahit sa nakaraang alaala ng pantabulosong opening at closing ceremonies ng 2008 Olympic Games, sila na ang bagong superpower ng mundo.

Gobyerno ni Arroyo ang namumukol sa hitik na bunga ng China. At ang epekto nito ang nagbibigay ng pambansang direksiyon sa pang-araw-araw na turing sa China at nasyonal nito. Sino at ano ang tunay na lason? Ang negosyo ng China na nagpakalat ng melamine para palabnawin ang gatas o ang goberyno ni Arroyo na nagpapalaganap ng tasitong rasismo at kultural na chauvinismo, kung mapapakinabangan, para maibsan ang kanyang administrasyong hitik sa pagmamaniobrang kitilin ang kalidad ng pambansang buhay ng kanyang mismong mamamayan?

Tulad ng isang na-shipwreck na nagdedeliryo sa karagatan dahil sa pagkauhaw, kay daming gatas pero walang ligtas na mainom na gatas.(PinoyWeekly)

Etsa-puwera sa siyudad

Jeffrey Ocampo

Rebyu ng City for Sale
Bidyo-Dokumentaryo
Produksiyon ng Sine Patriyotiko (Sipat), Confederation for the Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (Courage) at Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay)
Direksiyon ng Sipat

KARANIWAN na itong kontradiksiyon sa kontemporaryong imahen ng lungsod: ang pagtatagpo ng nagtatayugang mga establisimyento at nanlilimahid na mga barung-barong na kung titingnan sa malayo at nang maigi ay larawan ng malupit na kabalintunaan. Kadalasan, di lamang yumuyuko ang abang mga kabahayan sa pagtindig ng bagong mga istruktura – ginigiba pa ang mga ito kasama ng pag-asa ng mga taong naninirahan dito. Sa dokumentaryong City for Sale na dinirehe ng Sine Patriyotiko (Sipat), ipinapakita ang nagbabadya at nagaganap nang pananalanta sa tahanan at kabuhayan ng libu-libong mamamayan sa pagtatayo ng Quezon City Central Business District (QCCBD).

Paglikha ng pinakamagarbong sentro ng komersiyo ng bansa ang ideya sa likod ng QCCBD. Sa laki ng sasaklawin at bilyun-bilyong pisong gagastusin para sa proyekto, hindi nga malayong maungusan nito ang nakatayo nang mga business district sa Makati at Ortigas. Ito ang magiging “sentro de grabidad” ng Kamaynilaan, banggit ng World Bank (WB) na nagpautang ng US $3 Bilyon sa pamahalaan upang kagyat na masimulan ang proyekto. Ayon sa dokumentaryo, si Pangulong Arroyo at si Sonny Belmonte, ang alkalde ng lungsod, ang masusugid na nagtutulak nito. Ipinapatupad ito sa ilalim ng Executive Order (EO) 620 na may titulong Rationalizing and Speeding-up the Development of the East and North Triangles and the Veteran’s Memorial Area of Quezon City as a Well-Planned, Integrated and Environmentally Balanced Mixed-use Development Model. Binuo naman ang Urban Triangle Development Commission upang mangangasiwa sa pagpapatupad ng plano para sa QCCBD. Bahagi ang proyekto ng infrastructure program ng pamahalaan na ayon sa dokumentaryo ay pagbibigay daan para sa negosyo ng dayuhang mga mamumuhunan.

Sa dokyumentaryo, tinatakalay ang magiging epekto ng pagtatayo nito sa mga mamamayan. Tinutukoy nito ang mga maralitang tagalungsod at mga kawani ng pamahalaan bilang pangunahing maaapektuhan ng nasabing proyekto. Ayon sa tagapagsalita ng Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) na si Carmen “Nanay Mameng” Deunida, hihigit sa 15,000 pamilya ang mapapaalis mula sa kanilang mga tahanan upang bigyang daan ang pagtatayo nito. Ayon naman kay Ferdinand Gaite ng Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (Courage), maraming kawani ng pamahalaan ang maaaring matanggal sa trabaho sa sandaling alisin ang mga tanggapan nito sa sasaklawin ng QCCBB.

Sa pagsisimula pa lamang, malinaw ang tindig ng dokumentaryo. Ayon dito, “Ang sukatan ng kaunlaran ng isang lipunan ay ang kalidad ng kabuhayan ng [mga] mamamayan [at] hindi ang pagkakaroon ng nagtatayugang mga gusali, magagarang tulay o malalamig na pamilihan.” Gusto nitong iparating na kailangan munang unahin ng pamahalaan ang batayang mga pangangailangan ng mga mamamayan. Dagdag pa, sinasabi nitong kailangan ng mga mamamayan ng “angkop na sahod” upang makapamuhay nang marangal.

Relokasyon/Dislokasyon

Kabilang ang Sitio San Roque, San Isidro, Brgy. Central at Pinyahan sa mga lugar na maapektuhan ng proyekto. Sa mga salaysay ng kinapanayam na mga residente para sa dokumentaryo, mababatid ang pangamba ng karaniwang mga tao sa napipintong pagkawala ng kanilang tahanan at kabuhayan. Sa kabilang banda, mababatid naman ang kanilang galit at kahandaang ipaglaban ang kanilang karapatan.

Isa sa mga tinalakay ng dokumentaryo ay ang relokasyon para sa mga residenteng mapapaalis sa kanilang tirahan. Sa mga salaysay at footage na nagpapakita ng hitsura ng mga relocation site, hindi nga kataka-taka na pagsisisi ang nadadama ngayon ng mga taong piniling magpalipat sa ibang lugar.

Kinapanayam ang dating mga residente ng tabing-riles sa Camanava na ilinipat sa Northville sa Balagtas, Bulacan. Inilarawan ng bawat isa ang hirap na kanilang dinadanas sa binigay sa kanilang bagong “tahanan.” “Mas masahol,” anila, ang buhay nila ngayon kumpara noong sila’y nasa riles pa. May “amoy ang tubig,” walang kuryente, “tumataas ang tubig sa konting ulan” at maipambibili na ng isang kilong bigas ang pamasahe mula sa loob hanggang sa trabaho ng mga linipat dito.

Ang di makataong kalagayan sa mga relocation sites ay isang reyalidad. Karaniwan nang itinatapon ang mga dine-demolish sa “malalayo at liblib” na mga lugar pagkatapos pangakuan ng maayos na pabahay. Kaya naman karamihan sa kanila ay bumabalik kung saan sila dating naninirahan o kaya’y naghahanap ng bagong lugar na maaaring pagtayuan ng kanilang mga kabahayan. Kadalasan, naninindigan ang mga residente na manatili at ipaglaban ang kanilang tirahan bago pa man sila maitapon sa mga katulad na lugar.

Larawan ng pagsisisi ang mga residenteng nagsasalaysay ng kanilang paghihirap. Tila nagsasalita din at sumasang-ayon sa kanila ang walang palitadang dingding sa kanilang likuran at nakausling mga bakal sa paligid. Wala silang maipakitang tahanan; kalansay ng pinangakong maayos na pabahay lamang. Kung makakain nga lamang ang buhangin at batong pinagawa ng di tapos na pabahay, himutok ni Aling Juanita, isang residente ng Northville.

Pananalanta

Hunyo pa lamang ng nakaraan taon nagsimula ang pananalanta ng proyekto. Una nang pinalayas ang mga nakatira at “maliliit na negosyante” sa kahabaan ng North Avenue. Ang Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) ang nagsagawa ng pagpapaalis na ayon sa dokumentaryo ay isang porma ng demolisyon na nakakubli sa ngalan ng “sidewalk cleaning operation.” Aabot umano sa 400 tauhan ng MMDA ang nagsagawa ng operasyon. Ayon kay Ricky Tomotorgo, dating residente sa North Avenue, magsisilbi itong “testing” na tatantiya kung kaya nang gibain nang tuluyan ang mga kabahayan sa kahabaan ng nasabing daan. Sa Sitio San Isidro naman, ikinatwiran sa mga residente na gagamitin bilang parking lot ng Office of the Ombudsman ang kinatitirikan ng kanilang mga kabahayan. Sa footage, ipinakita naganap na demolisyon: Isa-isang tinitibag ang mga hollow block at dinadala palayo ang mga materyales ng bahay ng mga residente. Isa sa kanila ang nagsabing pinili na lamang niyang lumayo habang ginigiba ang kanyang bahay dahil “parang ako ang minamaso.”

Kung sa usapin ng ahensiya ng pamahalaan at mga empleyado nito, nangangamba ang Courage sa mangangahulugan ang napipintong paglilipat ng mga ito sa ibang lugar ng tanggalan sa trabaho sa mga kawani ng pamahalaan. Sa kasalukuyan, isa nang ahensiya ng pamahalaan ang nalipat ng lugar. Nagulat na lamang ang mga kawani ng Department of Agriculture sa biglaang paglipat ng tanggapan nito sa Iligan City sa probinsiya ng Isabela.

Hindi ramdam ang pag-unlad

Aabot sa mahigit 250 ektarya ang “pauunlarin” para sa proyekto. Sa pamamagitan ng pagpapakita ng aerial view ng lungsod, naipakita kung gaano kalaki sa aktuwal ang saklaw nito. Sa dokumentaryo, iginigiit na ang sinasabing “hakbang sa pag-unlad” na ito ay pakikinabangan lamang ng iilan. Ayon kay Gaite, “ang pokus [ng proyekto] ay sa malalaking negosyo’t kapital [habang] isasantabi ang interes ng [mga] mamamayan.” Ito ang dahilan kung bakit maraming tumutol sa QCCBD.

Kapalit ng tahanan ng nakararami ay mga “gusaling komersiyal, residential condominium, call center at pasyalan ” na ang makikinabang ay ang mga “dayuhang mamumuhunan at higanteng negosyante.”

Sa bawat panayam sa mga maapektuhan ng proyekto, napapabatid ang kanilang abang kalagayan. Ayon sa isang pedicab driver sa Sitio San Roque, ang kanilang “kinikita ay kulang pa sa aming pangangailangan.” Dagdag ni Aling Juanita, kinakailangan na nilang mag 5/6 upang matustusan ang kanilang pang-araw-araw na gastusin. Malinaw din, anila, na walang pag-unlad na nagaganap dahil sa pagtaas ng presyo bilihin.

Patudsada naman ng isang residente ng Brgy. San Roque, habang gumagawa basahan mula sa mga retaso ng tela, “karpintero ang asawa ko pero tingnan mo ang bahay ko.”

Sa kabilang banda, naipakita rin ang kahandaaan nilang labanan ang proyekto. Ipinakita ang pagtatayo at pulong ng mga organisasyon na pinagtulungang itayo ng mga residente na magsagawa ng kolektibong mga pagkilos upang hadlangan ang pagpapatupad nito.

Bidyo-dokumentaryo bilang lunsaran ng protesta

Testimonya ng maralitang mga mamamayan ang pangunahing laman ng dokumentaryo. Binuo ito upang sa ganitong paraan ay makapagpahayag ang karaniwang mga tao tungkol sa pangamba sa kanilang kalagayan at galit sa mga nagiging dahilan ng kanilang paghihirap. Ang bawat piraso ng imahen – gusgusing mga bata, di mapanatag na mga mukha, pader na tinitibag, kalawanging yero at karitong gumugulong –bumubuo sa larawan ng busabos na pamumuhay ng mga mamamayan. Inililibot ng mata ng bidyo-kamera sa pamamagitan ng pedicab ng maralita ang mahabang naratibo ng kahirapan.

Sa kabilang banda, bagamat di gaanong ipinakita ang mga nasa likod ng mapaminsalang proyekto, sinimbolo naman sila ng bulldozer – na instrumento ng pananalanta – na paulit-ulit na pinakita sa dokumentaryo.

Masasabing tagumpay ang dokumentaryo sa layunin nitong ipakita ang kalagayan ng mga mamamayan na maapektuhan ng proyekto. Pinagkunutan ng noo ng mga manunulat, videographer, editor at iba pang kasapi ng Sipat ang dokumentaryo sa loob ng anim na buwan. Ginamit para dito ang musikang kabilang sa rap genre ni Eric Tandoc, isang klase ng musika na masasabing malapit, sumasalamin at tumutulong na makamit ang mga adhikain ng maralitang mga mamamayan. Gayundin, pinagtulungan din ng iba’t ibang organisasyon, sa pangunguna ng Courage at Kadamay, at mga residente ng apektadong mga lugar ang pagbubuo nito mula sa konsepto hanggang sa pagluluwal at pagsasalang ng dokumentaryo sa mga manunuod.

Para sa Sipat, maaaring gawing lunsaran ng protesta ang bidyo. Sa katunayan, naniniwala ito na dapat gamitin ang midya bilang espasyo para sa “demokratikong pagpapahayag” at paglalantad ng mga tunay nagyayari sa lipunan. Higit, naniniwala ang grupo na kailangang manghikayat ito ng “kritikal na pagtugon” sa mga isyung kinakaharap ng lipunan. Nakapagpalabas na rin ang grupo ng iba pang katulad na bidyo-dokumentaryo tulad ng Mula 3rd Avenue Hanggang Dulo.

Sa huli, ito ang nais iparating ang dokumentaryo: “Ang kahulugan ng QCCBD ay lalong pagpapayaman ng iilan samantalang gutom [at] kamatayan sa mga maralita at kawani ng gubyerno.” Ngunit hindi ito ang kongklusyon ng naratibo nito. Sa halip, sinasabi nito na ang “kolektibong pagkilos” at kapasyahang lumaban ng mga mamamayan ang magiging mapagpasya sa labang ito.(PinoyWeekly)

Gobyernong Arroyo makupad sa pagsaklolo sa binitay na Pinoy sa KSA – Migrante

DAPAT sisihin ang pamahalaang Arroyo sa “makupad” na pagsaklolo nito sa binitay na Pinoy sa Saudi Arabia na si Jenifer Bidoya.

Binatikos ng Migrante sa Middle East ang anila’y “kakarampot at mabagal” na pagtugon sa kaso ni Bidoya at ng iba pang Pilipino na nasa death row ngayon sa Saudi.

“Hindi nakausap ng administrasyong Arroyo sa pamamagitan ng DFA [Department of Foreign Affairs] at Philippine Consulat sa Jeddah ang pamilya ng biktima sa pamamagitan ng paghingi ng tulong sa kilalang mga lider-Muslim para kumbinsihin ang pamilya na patawarin si Bidoya at tanggapin ang blood money,” ayon kay John Monterona, regional coordinator ng Migrante sa Middle East.

Binatikos pa ni Monterona si Pangulong Arroyo na, aniya’y nagkasya na lamang sa pagsulat sa hari ng Saudi hinggil sa kaso ni Bidoya sa halip na aktibong ikampanya ang buhay ng naturang OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker).

Kakatwa umanong pangangasiwaan ng gobyernong Arroyo ang ikalawang Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) sa Manila samantalang hindi nga nito magawang pangalagaan ang kapakanan ng mga tulad ni Bidoya.

Nanawagan ang Migrante-Middle East sa mga kapwa OFW na gawing araw ng pagluluksa ang Oktubre 17 para sa alaala ng binitay na kapwa migrante.

“Hinihimok namin ang mga kapwa OFW at mga kaanak namin sa Saudi at sa buong Middle East na makiisa sa pagsuot ng itim na mga damit o itim na ribbon sa Biyernes, Oktubre 17 laban sa pabayang administrasyong Arroyo,” deklara ni Monterona.

Inanunsiyo ni DFA Undersecretary Esteban Conejos ang pagkabitay kay Bidoya alas-10 ng umaga noong Oktubre 14 sa Jeddah.

Ayon kay Conejos, sinentensiyahan ng kamatayan si Bidoya noong Abril 2007 sa pagpatay sa isang national guard ng Saudi sa Mecca. (PinoyWeekly)

New CPAs of 2008 (F)

Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008

938 FABELLA, CHARMAINE REYES 939 FABELLA, FRANKLIN OCAMPO 940 FACIOL, RHOSIENA GIMENA 941 FACISTOL, JUDY ANN ALCARAZ 942 FACTOR, ORLY PADUL 943 FADER, REDENCIO JR SANTOS 944 FAJARDO, JAYESA PACQUIAO 945 FAMATIGAN, AUBREY LIM 946 FAMERO, JEISA FAITH MADULA 947 FANCUBIT, IRISH SEÑORIN 948 FARIOLAN, NHEMARLYN PADILLA 949 FAUSTINO, CHERYLL JAYNE JAVILLONAR 950 FEDERICO, COREE MODESSA SALE Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 21 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 951 FELICIANO, JOANNE MARCELO 952 FELIPE, HANNAH ALVAREZ 953 FELIZARTE, ALLAN BACOSA 954 FERAER, RHENAMARIE NAPAO 955 FERNANDEZ, CHARINA VERGARA 956 FERNANDEZ, IAN REY ABIOG 957 FERNANDEZ, JESS LUCHING 958 FERNANDEZ, MARICRIS PASCUA 959 FERNANDEZ, MARY GRACE IBARDOLAZA 960 FERNANDEZ, ROSELL DEL ROSARIO 961 FERNANDO, AIZA ENCONADO 962 FEROLIN, ZETA EMILY NACARIO 963 FERRER, AILEN RAMIREZ 964 FERRER, EDUARD CARBAJOSA 965 FERRER, ROMMEL AQUINO 966 FERRER, SARAH JEAN PERALTA 967 FERRERA, MARIA LERISSA BALDERA 968 FERRERIA, MYLENE GUTAY 969 FIECAS, KRISTINE SHAYNE FEUDO 970 FILLAR, STELLA MARIE CAONES 971 FINO, TIMOTHY LEYVA 972 FLAUTA, ALLAN ROY GUERRERO 973 FLOR MATA, SHERRYL MOLANO 974 FLORENDO, DANA ARNAIZ 975 FLORENDO, SHEILA CORPUZ 976 FLORENTIN, JAN BRYAN GINEZ 977 FLORES, CASIANO III VICEDO 978 FLORES, FLORENCE GAY CASTILLO 979 FLORES, JAYSON JUNIO 980 FLORES, MARIA THESSA ROA 981 FLORES, ROLIREY HERICO 982 FLORES, ROSEMARIE GARCIA 983 FLORES, RYANN ALERA 984 FLORES, VENETIA CLAIRE DELA CRUZ 985 FLORES, VIRGILIO JR MIGUE 986 FLOTILDES, ERENZ CLAIRE CASTRO 987 FOJAS, ADRIAN JAYMALIN 988 FONTANARES, MERYL MAE MANZANO 989 FONTE, CAMILLE JANE DUMON 990 FORONES, JAQUELINE CAGA 991 FORTALEZA, KAREN FADERUGAO 992 FORTIN, DOM ANTONOINE BANGALANDO 993 FORTIN, JERIC FERNANDO 994 FORTUNA, MIRASOL DANA 995 FRAGANTE, JAY REBOLLIDO 996 FRAGINAL, MA DIA LOU VILLARICO 997 FRANCIA, JEFFER REPARIP 998 FRANCIA, JOVELYN TAAY 999 FRANCISCO, HARRIET LLAGAS 1000 FRANCISCO, KRISTOFER CASTRO Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 22 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 1001 FRANCISCO, RANDY BILOGOLO 1002 FRANCO, DESIREE AMOR JAVIER 1003 FRANCO, JESSAMYN PORTE 1004 FRANCO, JOSEPH ROBERT SANTOS 1005 FRANCO, REGIE ABELLERA 1006 FRIAS, KRISTINA PAOLA PABILLORE

(Radical Pinoy) Baguhin ang talakayan: Makiisa sa laban ng bayan

Vencer Crisostomo

BINABATI ko ang mga kasamahan sa Bloggers’ Kapihan sa matagumpay na pangunguna sa Blog Action Day 08 sa Pilipinas at pangunguna sa panawagan na manindigan laban sa kahirapan.

Para sa mga progresibo, kakaibang kapangahasan ang kinailangan para pangunahan ang pagpapanawagan ng aktibidad, na magsasalang ng kanilang paninindigan sa kahirapan, – isang usaping masasabing malapit sa puso ng mga progresibo – laban sa mga namamayaning pagtingin dito ng blogosphere.

Kung tatawirin ang blogactionday.org, at babasahin ang ilang tampok na blogs na lumahok, siguro mauunawaan kung ano ang tinutukoy ko sa ”namamayaning pagtingin.” Sa mga mabilis makaamoy, medyo pamilyar na ang eksena na dati nang sinubukang ibenta. May bakas ito ng mga kampanyang pa-cool na gumamit pa ng mga artista at banda sa pangunguna ng mga institusyong pinopondohan ng malalaking kumpanya.

Sa madaling sabi, something’s fishy. Subukan nating unawain saglit.

Hindi magbablog ang mahirap

Hindi na siguro kailangan sabihin, pero sa araw na ito, hindi mga mahihirap ang magkukuwento. Wala namang nagsabi na araw ito para magblog ang mahihirap. Sa madaling sabi, tungkol sa mga mahihirap at sa kahirapan ang istorya, pero hindi mula sa perspektiba ng mga dumadanas. O at least, hindi sa mga aminadong dumadanas nito.

Kung gayon, ang kahirapan ay ineeksamin ng mga hindi dumadanas nito, o at least ng hindi mulat na dumadanas. Parang ”others” na pinag-uusapan ang mahihirap at iba sa mga nag-uusap ang kahirapan. Hindi naman masyadong importante kung anong epekto noon sa mahihirap mismo, dahil hindi naman sila nagbablog at wala ring internet. Pero mas mahalagang tignan, na pinatitigas nito ang posisyon at ilusyon ng middle-class bloggers na hindi sila mahirap, wala silang kinalaman sa mga naghihirap (bukos sa ”concerned” sila sa kanila), at iba sila sa kanila.

Kahirapan sa pag-unawa

Kaya hindi na nakapagtataka kung maliitin ng blogosphere ang usapin ng kahirapan na tila isa lang sa mga topic na isusulat nila sa kanilang entry, kapantay siguro ng usaping pangkalikasan, kultura, TV show, o web design. Tinitignan ang problema ng kahirapan bilang isa lamang sa maraming mga prublema, walang mas matimbang at mas magaan, at hindi ang pangunahing prublemang bumabagabag sa sandaigdigan. Hindi na baleng higit kalahati ng daigdig ang dumadanas nito.

Sa marami, para lamang kakaibang pangyayari ang kahirapan na maaring solusyunan sa balangkas ng kasalukuyang set-up na panlipunan. Kailangan lang natin, halimbawa, magblog, magdonate, bumili ng kape na may flavor of the month na tumutulong sa mahihirap sa Aprika, at iba pa.

Para bagang iilang tao lang ang naghihirap at ”abnormal” ito sa lipunan, gayong sa totoo’y ito ang kalakaran. Dumadami pa nga ang naghihirap habang tumatagal. Para bagang lahat ng tao ay may ”pantay na oportunidad” at may kakayanang yumaman basta mag-sikap-at-tiyaga lang.

Pero malaking kalokohan ang mga pagtinging ito. Sinusubukan nitong burahin ang katotohanan na nabubuhay ang sistema sa kasalukuyan sa pagsasamantala sa nakararaming mamamayan. Ang kahirapan ay hindi exception to the rule, kundi ang rule mismo. Sa ilalim ng sistema na nakokonsentra lamang sa iilan ang yaman at pinipiga ang todo-todong pagsasamantala sa mga manggagawa at mamamayan, natural ang kahirapan. At kahirapan ito na hindi dulot ng kung anupaman, kundi ng pagsasamantala ng naghaharing iilan. At hangga’t hindi nagbabago ang lipunan, hindi matatapos ang kahirapan.

Eto ang ilan sa mga makikita sa mga listahang lumabas sa malalaking sites hinggil sa mga ”pwedeng gawin” laban sa kahirapan: magpayaman (oo, meron nito), magbawas ng pagkain ng karne, mag-ampon ng mga bata, magdonate sa mga institusyon, bumili ng mga produkto na may ”malasakit”, at iba pa. Ito ang hindi matatagpuan: kumilos para sa panlipunang pagbabago, mag-organisa para wakasan ang imperyalismo, ipaglaban ang mga batayang interes at kapakanan ng mamamayan sa sahod, trabaho at karapatan.

Baguhin ang talakayan, patindihin ang pagkilos

Kaya tunay lamang na dapat ”baguhin ang talakayan.” At para sa mga progresibong blogger, hindi lamang ito retorika kundi seryosong usapan.

Layon nating ipakita sa bloggers na kung tunay na gusto nilang gapiin ang kahirapan, dapat na magsimula ng pagbabagong panlipunan. Kung sa estudyante, ang sigaw nati’y “wag makulong sa apat na sulok ng paaralan”, pwede sa bloggers: “wag makulong sa apat na sulok ng computer screens.” Ang rebolusyong kailangan ay hindi virtual.

Sa Blog Action Day ’08, magaganda ang posts ng mga progresibo. Si Anton, nagyaya sa piketlayn ng mga manggagawa ng Kowloon. Si Bikoy at si Prof. Danny Arao, naglinaw hinggil sa mga maling pag-unawa sa kahirapan. Si Tonyo, pinagpugayan ang mga bayani ng mahihirap na nakikibaka at inilantad ang ugat ng kahirapan. Si Nato, pinakita kung paano pinahihirapan na nga, niloloko pa ng mga kinatawan ng mga naghahari ang mamamayan.

Sana pagkatapos ng Blog Action Day, marami pa ang magsimula ng tunay na talakayan. Hindi lang sa blogosphere, kundi sa mga pabrika, komunidad, sakahan at lansangan. Hindi lang para magsalaysay at maglahad, kundi para makisangkot sa pagbabagong panlipunan na tunay na siyang magwawakas sa kahirapan.

(Konteksto) Personal kong listahan ng kahilingan

Danilo Araña Arao

MAY personal na bagay na kailangang ibahagi dahil mahalagang gawin mo rin ito.

Mainam na pagplanuhan ang kinabukasan, pero paano kung ang hinaharap ay walang kaseguruhan? Makokontento ka na lang ba sa kung anong mayroon ka, at hindi na nanaisin pang makuha ang mga bagay na wala ka?

Ayon kasi sa isang kasabihan, ang naghahangad ng kagitna ay isang salop ang maaaring mawala. Pero hindi masama ang mangarap. Sa huli kong pananaliksik, libre pa ito’t hindi pa binubuwisan ng gobyerno!

Sa isang lipunang ang pakikipaglaban ay tinatapatan ng karahasan ng mga walang pakundangan, hindi sapat ang simpleng mangarap lang. Sa halip na tumunganga sa isang sulok at mag-isang isipin kung ano ang magandang bukas para sa iyo, mainam na ibahagi sa iyong mga kakilala’t kaibigan kung ano ang mga gusto mo sa buhay.

Ang pag-alam sa mga nais mo sa malapit o malayong hinaharap ay magiging batayan ng iyong pagkilos ngayon. Isang bagay na natutuhan ko noon sa elementarya ay ang pagsusulat ng mga kahilingan ko.

Malinaw na sa ating pagtanda, nagbabago ang mga listahan natin: Kung noon ay puro personal lang ang gusto ko, halimbawa, ngayon ay may kaugnayan nang pulitikal ang marami.

Walang mababaw o malalim sa mga kahilingan, dahil kinabukasan mo naman ang pinag-uusapan. Siguro’y gusto mo ring magkaroon ng sariling listahan. Madali lang naman gawin ito, pero kung naiintriga ka sa mga personal at pulitikal na kahilingan ko, basahin mo ang labinlimang bagay na ito:

1. Magkaroon kami ni Joy ng kahit isang anak;

2. Magtagal ang aming pagsasama ni Joy bilang mag-asawa;

3. Matutong magluto ng mga paboritong ulam ni Joy para hindi lang kanin ang parati kong sinasaing;

4. Isiping “baboy at manok” (mga paborito ko!) ang kinakain ko tuwing hinahainan ng isda;

5. Mabago ang hindi-magandang panlasa sa mga prutas at gulay (lalo na ang ampalaya!);

6. Mabawasan (kung hindi man tuluyang mawala) ang pagkahumaling sa pizza at hamburger, bukod pa sa iba’t ibang putaheng may baboy at manok;

7. Makapagtapos ng doktorado sa peryodismo o komunikasyon, kung hindi sa Pilipinas ay sa ibang bansa (wala kasing doktorado sa peryodismo rito);

8. Maging epektibong guro ng peryodismo at komunikasyon;

9. Makapaglaan ng sapat na panahon para sa press work sa Bulatlat.com;

10. Paramihin pa ang mga sinusulat na artikulo sa wikang Filipino;

11. Matapos sa takdang panahon ang mga ginagawang pananaliksik sa midya at lipunan;

12. Magkaroon ng sapat na pondo sa mga susunod na taon para regular na bilhin ang mahahalagang sanggunian sa larangan ng midya, pulitika at ekonomiks;

13. Panatilihin ang progresibong pananaw sa pagsusuri sa mga nangyayari sa ating lipunan;

14. Makapagbahagi ng nalalaman sa mas marami pang tao sa pamamagitan ng mga artikulong sinusulat at mga pagsasanay na isinasagawa;

15. Makapagretiro nang may masaganang buhay sa probinsiya, kasama siyempre ang asawa at iba pang mahal sa buhay;

Para makipag-ugnayan sa awtor, pumunta sa www.dannyarao.com.

New CPAs of 2008 (E)

Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008

852 EBALLES, NICODEMUS JR SEBUCO 853 EBRADA, JOSE MARLON DE VILLA 854 EBRADO, REGIEL CABALUNA 855 ECHALAS, LESLEY SADIE 856 ECHANO, DIAN CARLA LAUDES 857 ECHENIQUE, SHERRY MAE VEDAR 858 ECIJA, NORIE LISA CABACABA 859 ECLEO, MARIA GENEVIEVE SALAMIDA 860 EDRA, KATRINA CORAZON BAETIONG 861 EDRALIN, HAROLD BACUD 862 EGUIA, RODNA GRACE PENIONES 863 EJE, ALBERT RAMOS 864 ELCULLADA, ROMEO JR JAVELLANA 865 ELLA, SHERRI ANNE SAMSON 866 ELLE, JANICE LABELLA 867 ELTAGONDE, DARLJE MAE TATOY 868 ELUMBARING, APRIL REMAR ADRIATICO 869 ELVAMBUENA, GLIEZEL PAAT 870 EMAN, GREMON JAY RAMOS 871 EMPALMADO, BENSON LUKE DELARAMA 872 ENANO, DOREEN FRUGALIDAD 873 ENCLUNA, VINCENT NIEGO 874 ENDAYA, JENILYN LLANES 875 ENRIQUEZ, EDNA ALTAREJOS 876 ENRIQUEZ, JOHN LAURENCE AGELLON 877 ENRIQUEZ, JOSEPH CAPENA 878 ENRIQUEZ, WILLIAM ROSS BAL 879 ENSOMO, MARGIE ANN PASAGAD 880 ERAMIS, KARA LOUISSE BIANGCO 881 ERFE, JESUSA CHARRISE ARZADON 882 ERULIN, AMELIA ANDES 883 ESCABILLAS, LEAH SIERAS 884 ESCABUSA, ELAINE MENDEZ 885 ESCABUSA, GISELLE JEAN NAMOCATCAT 886 ESCALA, JULIUS DIMAYUGA 887 ESCANER, EDNA BALDEVIA 888 ESCASINAS, CRISTEL TORRES 889 ESCAÑO, MA PRECILA ARIENE DEYAG 890 ESCOMES, TAWNY ALBAY 891 ESCOTE, ARIEL SIQUIJOR 892 ESCOTO, JAMIE PAYAD 893 ESCUSA, STEPHANIE GRACE URMENETA 894 ESGANA, DIVINA GRACIA MIRANDA 895 ESGUERRA, ANGELA CHRISTINE BULAON 896 ESGUERRA, KAROLL ANNE PEREZ 897 ESMEJARDA, ROSALYN LUCIDO 898 ESPAÑA, AISA GUTIERREZ 899 ESPAÑO, ABEGAIL GILE 900 ESPAÑOL, JAYPEE LETADA Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 20 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 901 ESPERANZA, NOVY SANDY FORTEZA 902 ESPERE, APRILYN CAMILING 903 ESPINOSA, HEINTJE RAZONABLE 904 ESPINOSA, MARY ROSE MISTERIO 905 ESPINOZA, FEBBY PACIS 906 ESPIRITU, GLENAH RITZIE CRUZ 907 ESPIRITU, VANESSA MOLINA 908 ESQUIDA, CATHERINE NACAR 909 ESTABILLO, MARY ROSE OFIAZA 910 ESTABILLO, RICHARD ALLAN LINIS 911 ESTAL, ALVIN ANGELO DULAY 912 ESTALAR, DOREEN PLATON 913 ESTANDIAN, MARIA THERESA DALIT 914 ESTAREJA, AIZA MELANIOS 915 ESTAVILLO, DENNIS TABERNA 916 ESTAVILLO, TONI-MAY RIVERA 917 ESTAÑERO, PAUL DAYOC 918 ESTEBAN, ELIZABETH SAGRA 919 ESTEBAN, MARIE CLAIRE FRANCISCO 920 ESTEBAN, PRINCESS SAN PEDRO 921 ESTILLORE, ADELFA REYES 922 ESTILO, CHRISTA ANGELA CABALI 923 ESTOLAS, ARIAN GRACE REYES 924 ESTOLAS, MAJORIE REYES 925 ESTOR, DOREENE LORENZA PUCIO 926 ESTORNINOS, JASMIN THERESE MARMONEJO 927 ESTORQUE, JOSIE MAY CABUENAS 928 ESTRADA, ERICK JOHN GEROLA 929 ESTRADA, MA DANESSA PORTIA VINLUAN 930 ESTRELLA, ANNE JEMILLE NICOLAS 931 EUBINA, ELAINE RAZEL UY 932 EUGENIO, EMMA MELLIZA CABUHAT 933 EUGENIO, NOLICARTE JR VILLANUEVA 934 EUSTAQUIO, NIKKO ALEN JAN ABAYON 935 EVA, MARK ANDREW LUZON 936 EVANGELISTA, CLAIRE YAOTO 937 EVANGELISTA, DERRICK FLORES

(Pinoy Weekly Editorial) Migrante ang bulnerable

KAKAIBANG takot ang kumakabog sa dibdib ng bawat migranteng Pilipino na nagtatrabaho nang parang mga alipin sa halos lahat ng sulok ng daigdig. Ngayong unti-unting lumalatag ang pang-ekonomiyang resesyon sa bawat bansa, maunlad man o atrasado, na apektado ng pagbagsak ng malalaking bangko at pampinansiyang institusyon sa US, ibayong panghihigpit at kahirapan ang nakaamba sa lahat ng mga mamamayan lalo ang nasa pinakamabababang saray ng lipunan.

Sa kategoryang ito ang ating mga kababayang OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker). Kahit pa hikayatin ni Pangulong Arroyo, sa talumpati sa paglulunsad ng kampanya para sa Global Forum on Migration and Development o GFMD, na tawaging expatriate ang mga OFW na may magiginhawa diumanong buhay sa ibang bansa, maisasampal sa kanyang mukha ang baliktad na reyalidad.

Isa sa bawat tatlong Pilipino ang unskilled worker, ayon sa 2007 Survey on Overseas Filipinos ng National Statistics Office. Nakatatanggap lamang sila ng average na sahod na $200 hanggang $300 o maliit pa sa P10,000 hanggang P15,000 kada buwan. Milyun-milyong OFW pa ang di-dokumentado – patagu-tago, walang kaseguruhan sa trabaho at mga benepisyo, at bulnerable sa pang-aabuso.

Sa kabila ng kaliwa’t kanang horror story ng pagsasamantala at pang-aabuso sa mga OFW na lumalabas sa midya (at ginawa na ngang salalayan ng kampanya ng isang senador na may ambisyon para sa 2010), hanggang ngayon pilit pa ring niloloko ni Arroyo ang bayan na mabuti ang ani ng polisiyang labor-export ng gobyerno. Na masaya ang mga migranteng “bayani” na isinasalba ang naghihingalong ekonomiya ng bansa sa pamamagitan ng pagpapadala ng bilyun-bilyong remitans. Ito’y dahil simula’t sapul, kalakal lamang, at hindi tao, ang turing sa kanila.

Pampakalma ni Diwa Gunigundo, deputy governor ng Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, makakatulong ang mga OFW remitans na mabawasan ang tindi ng hagupit ng pandaigdigang krisis pampinansiya sa ekonomiya ng bansa. Pag-aalala naman ni Press Secretary Jesus Dureza, kapag natuloy ang resesyon, babagsak maging ang mga remitans na ipinapadala ng mga migranteng Pilipino. Pero positibo pa rin si Dureza. “Patuloy ang pag-eempleyo sa Gitnang Silangan at hindi ito apektado ng krisis sa US. Kahit papaano magpapatuloy ito; ito ang magiging salalayan natin kahit may pandaigdigang krisis. Maaasahan ang ating mga OFW. Sila ang ating mga bayani,” aniya.

Anu’t anuman, ipinakikita ng mga pahayag ng nasabing mga opisyal kung saan nakatingin ang gobyerno – sa remitans, at hindi sa kapakanan ng mga OFW at ng lipunang Pilipino. Tanda itong magpapatuloy ang palpak na neoliberal na mga polisiya ng liberalisasyon, deregulasyon, at pribatisasyon na nagbansot sa lokal na ekonomiya at kakayahan nitong lumikha ng disenteng mga trabaho. Tanda itong magpapatuloy ang pang-eenganyo ng pagluluwas ng paggawa, kalimutan na ang mga kabayaran gaya ng pagkawasak ng mga pamilya at paghuthot ng lakas at talino ng bayan.

Ayon sa International Migrants Alliance o IMA, tiyak ang paglala ng sitwasyon ng mga OFW. Gagamitin ng mga employer ang krisis at kaakibat nitong desperasyon ng mga migrante na makapagtrabaho para tapyasin ang mga sahod, ipagkait ang mga benepisyo, at maging mapang-abuso. Ibayong diskriminasyon at rasismo ang daranasin ng ating mga kababayan na aakusahang “nagnanakaw” ng trabaho, lalo’t tataas ang disempleyo sa ibang bansa. Para protektahan ang sariling merkado sa lakas-paggawa, maghihigpit ang mga bansa sa mga patakaran sa migrante at titindi ang pagtugis sa mga di-dokumentado.

Ano ang tugon ni Pangulong Arroyo? Safety nets umano at programa sa alternatibong kabuhayan na wala pang hugis. Magkahugis man, hindi pa rin nito napapawi ang uhaw ng ating mga kababayan para sa disenteng trabaho sa sariling bansa. Pero mas malamang, nagwiwika lamang siya ng pagkabahala sa mga OFW para magpapogi sa nalalapit na GFMD, isang porum na inisponsor ng United Nations. Dito inaasahang ibibida ni Arroyo ang polisiyang labor-export para tularan ng ibang bansa (na tutuusi’y wala nang ibang matutularan sa gobyernong itong walang kredibilidad sa pandaigdigang komunidad). Dito inaasahang pagtitibayin ang tiwaling konsepto na nagdudulot ang migrasyon ng pag-unlad.

Kokontrahin ang GFMD ng International Assembly of Migrants and Refugees o IAMR. Ang IAMR ang “tunay na boses” ng mga migrante, ayon sa IMA na organisador nito. Kaiba sa GFMD na kasangkapan ng kanilang pagsasamantala’t pagpapakaalipin, malayang maipapahayag ng mga OFW sa IAMR ang takot na kumakabog sa kanilang dibdib dahil sila ang pinakabulnerable sa lumalalang sitwasyong pang-ekonomiya saanmang panig ng daigdig. Malaya rin silang makapagpapahayag ng galit sa isang pangulong may kapal-ng-mukhang magsalita sa kanilang pangalan, gayong matagal nang umaakto laban sa kanilang tunay na interes. (IDQ)

(Husghan Natin) Lilipat dahil kailangan

Atty. Remigio Saladero Jr.

MAY katapatan bang ilipat ng kompanya ang kanyang pabrika? Paano kung ayaw ng mga manggagawa? Ang kasong Bisig ng Manggagawa sa Tryco , et. al. vs. National Labor Relations Commission , Tryco Pharma Corporation et. al. (G.R. No. 151309) na hinatulan ng Korte Suprema nitong Oktobre 15, 2008 ay mapagkukunan natin ng aral sa bagay na ito.

Sa nasabing kaso, manggagawa sa isang kompanya ng gamot sina Simplicio. Natapos ang kanilang collective bargaining agreement kaya’t nagsimulang mag-usap ang unyon nina Simplicio at ang manedsment. Sa masamang palad, hindi sila nagkasundo at nauwi sa deadlock ang pag-uusap.

Samantalang sila’y naka-deadlock, nakatanggap ng sulat mula sa Bureau of Animal Industry ang kompanya. Pinapalipat nito ang pabrika ng kompanya mula sa Caloocan City tungo sa San Rafael, Bulacan. Ito ay dahil sa ang license to operate na nakuha ng kompanya ay para sa San Rafael, Bulacan at hindi sa Caloocan. Dahil sa nasabing sulat, agad na tumalima ang kompanya. Nilipat nito ang kanyang pabrika sa San Rafael, Bulacan. Dahil sa nakatalaga sa pabrika sina Simplicio, inutusan sila ng kompanya na doon na magreport sa Bulacan.

Tumanggi sina Simplicio. Naghain sila ng notice of strike sa National Conciliation ang Mediation Board (NCMB). Kalaunan. Inurong nila ito at pinalitan na lamang ng demandang constructive dismissal at union busting sa tanggapan ng Labor Arbiter.

Hindi naniwala ang Labor Arbiter na may kasalanan ang kompanya at ibinsura niya ang kaso nina Simplicio. Nag-apela ang mga manggagawa pero natalo sila sa National Labor Relations Commission at maging sa Court of Appeals. Dinala nila ang kaso sa Korte Suprema bilang pinakamataas na husgado.

Ang paglilipat ng negosyo, sabi ng Korte Suprema, ay bahagi ng tinatawag natin na management prerogative. Bahagi ito ng karapatan ng may-ari na patakbuhin ang kanyang negosyo sa pamamaraang sa kanyang tingin ay nararapat.

Maaari lamang pakialaman ng batas ang kanyang gagawing paglilipat sa kanyang negosyo kung malinaw na ginawa ito para apihin ang kanyang mga manggagawa at bababa aang kanilang ranggo o sahod dahil dito.

Ngunit walang pruweba na ginawa ito ng manedsment upang apihin ang mga manggagawa. Ang malinaw ay sususunod lamang ito sa utos ng Bureau of Animal Industry na ilipat ang kanyang pabrika sa San Rafael, Bulacan mula sa Calolocan City. Ito ay sang-ayon sa patakaran ng pamahalaan na ilipat ang mga pabrika sa labas ng Metro Manila upang mabawasan ang kasikipan at pulusyon sa nasabing lugar. Kaya, malinaw na ginawa ang paglilipat upang sang-ayunan ang utos ng pamahalaan, hindi upang apihin ang mga manggagawa ng kompanya.

Wala ring pagbabawas sa sahod o ranggo nina Simplicio. Sa pagllipat ng kompanya, mananatili pa rin ang kanilang mga sahod at ranggo. Hindi rin kalayuan ang Bulacan sa Metro Manila, sabi ng Korte Suprema.

Wala ring indikasyon na ginawa ng manedsment aang paglilipat upang mapaparalisa ang unyon. Ganoon pa rin ang unyon, magpapatuloy itong kinikilala ng manesment. Nasa manggagawa na ang pagtalima sa utos ng paglilipat ng pabrika upang manatiling buo ang kanilang bilang. Kung nais nilang hindi sila mababawasan, wala silang gagawin kundi sundin ang kauutusan ng manedsment dahil legal naman ang ginawa nitong paglilipat ng pabrika.

Binalewala ng Korte Suprema ang kaso nina Simplicio at kinatigan ang paglilipat ng pabrika na gustong mangyari ng kompanya.

Itinutulak sa kanilang kamatayan

Ilang-Ilang D. Quijano

SA pamumuno ng Indones na lider-migranteng si Eni Lestari (harap, nakaputing damit) ng International Migrants Alliance (IMA), nanawagan ang mga migranteng Pilipino at iba pang lahi sa mga kapwa migrante sa mundo na huwag munang magpadala ng remitans sa kanilang mga kaanak sa Oktubre 29 bilang protesta sa Global Forum on Migration and Development. (KR Guda)

“NAKAKATAKOT para sa mga OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker),” ayon sa grupong Migrante International, ang tila pagiging bulag ng mga opisyal ng DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) sa nangyayari sa mga migranteng nakahanay sa death row.

Gaya na lamang ng magkapatid na sina Rolando at Edison Gonzales at Eduardo Arcilla na sinentensiyahan ng kamatayan sa Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) noong 2007 dahil sa pagpatay umano sa kapwa-Pilipino.

Noong Oktubre 10, itinanggi ni Cresencio Relacion, executive director ng Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs (OUMWA) sa kaanak nina Gonzales na ipinagtibay na ng Court of Appeals ang hatol sa tatlo. Sa isang press conference kinabukasan, ibinulgar ng Migrante na kinumpirma ni DFA undersecretary Esteban Conejos Jr., sa isang sulat noon pang Setyembre 24, ang nasabing desisyon ng korte.

“Ayusin nila ang trabaho nila. Iisa lang ang departamento nila pero magkakaiba sila ng statement. Buhay ng mga kababayan natin ang nakataya rito…Baka magulat na lang tayo sa darating na mga araw may pinatay na sa ating mga OFW,” sabi ni Garry Martinez, tagapagsalita ng Migrante International.

Pagkaraan ng dalawang araw, noong Okt. 13, pinugutan ng ulo sa Jeddah, KSA ang 27-taong-gulang na si Jenifer Bidoya a.k.a. Venancio Ladion.

Pinatahimik

“Sorpresa ang ginawa sa amin. Walang impormasyong dumating. Nalaman na lang namin, napugutan na ng ulo,” mangiyak-ngiyak na kuwento sa PINOY WEEKLY ni Dennis Torejas, tiyo ni Bidoya.

Masama ang loob ng mga kaanak ni Bidoya dahil nang una silang lumapit sa DFA, sinabihan sila ng mga opisyal ng ahensiya na “sila na ang bahala” sa kaso. Hinatulan ng kamatayan si Bidoya, waiter sa isang restawran, para sa pagpatay sa isang Saudi national noong Disyembre 6, 2005.

Kapalit ng pag-aasikaso ng kaso, pinapirma ni Atty. Ruel Garcia, legal counsel ng DFA, ang pamilya ng isang katunayan na hindi ito dudulog sa midya o sa mga organisasyong pangmigrante.

Ayon sa dokumentong may petsang Dis. 9, 2005, ipinangako ni Leila Catalina, tiya ni Bidoya na kumatawan sa pamilya, ang mga sumusunod: “1. Not divulge the confidential information provided to me by the DFA; 2. To keep in strict confidentiality the information I received from the DFA; 3. To coordinate any information I may receive from other sources with the DFA; at 3. Be accountable to whatever acts I may do in violation with the strict confidentiality of the case.”

“Buo ang tiwala at respeto namin sa DFA. ‘Yumpala magsasawalang-bahala lang sila. Sana noon pa kami lumapit sa midya o sa Migrante,” himutok ni Torejas.

Sinasabi ng Malakanyang na ginawa ng gobyerno ang lahat ng makakaya nito para sagipin ang buhay ni Bidoya. Dalawang beses humingi si Pangulong Arroyo kay King Abdullah ibn Abdulaziz Al-Saud ng clemency para sa nahatulang OFW, noong Dis. 6, 2007 at Hulyo 7, 2008. Ayon kay Conejos, tumanggi ang pamilya ng umano’y biktima ni Bidoya na tanggapin ang blood money o danyos kapalit ng pagpapababa ng sentensiya nito.

Pero ayon kay Martinez, malinaw na nagpabaya ang DFA sa kaso. Inamin mismo ni Philippine Consul General Ezzedin Tago na sa mga pagdinig sa mababang korte, walang abogado si Bidoya at sinasamahan lamang ng isang translator. Umano’y nakapagbigay lamang ang konsulado ng abogado nang dinidinig na ang kaso sa Court of Appeals.

Tubong Zamboanga, 17 taong gulang pa lamang ang hayskul gradweyt na si Bidoya nang mangibang-bansa. Ayon sa kanyang kaanak, sa gabi ng insidente, dinala siya ng kanyang kaibigang guwardiya sa isang lugar at doon tinangkang pagsamantalahan.

Batay sa mga ulat, sinaksak ni Bidoya ang biktimang lalaki sa leeg, sinakal, at kinagat ang ari nito.

Naninindigan ang kaanak ni Bidoya na nakapatay lamang siya para sagipin ang sarili (self-defense). Pero tila iba ang paniniwala ni Bise-Presidente Noli de Castro, tagapamahala ng Malakanyang sa mga usaping OFW. Sa isang panayam sa radyo, nagbigay pa ito ng babala sa mga migranteng Pilipino na “mag-ingat” dahil ipinagbabawal ang mga aktong homosexual sa Gitnang Silangan.

Si Bidoya ang ika-72 na ginawaran ng parusang kamatayan sa KSA, na tinanggihan ang hiling ng United Nations na moratorium sa death penalty noong nakaraang taon.

Ayon sa ulat ng grupong pangkarapatang pantao na Amnesty International (AI), karamihan ng mga pinarusahan ay migranteng mga manggagawa mula sa mahihirap na bansa at hindi nakatatanggap ng tulong ligal. Sinabi ni Malcolm Smart, direktor para sa Middle East ng AI, na “sikreto” at “di-makatarungan” ang mga pagdinig. Nakakabahala, ayon pa sa AI, na pinapayagan ng hudikatura na gamitin ang mga pag-amin (confession) na nakuha sa pamamagitan ng tortyur.

Umano’y tinortyur ang magkapatid na Gonzales at si Arcilla, mga OFW na tubong Pampanga, para aminin ang pagpatay sa tatlong kapwa-Pilipino, ayon sa Migrante. Wala ring abogado ang mga akusado sa mga pagdinig at noong una silang hinatulan ng kamatayan noong Hulyo 23, 2007.

Iba pang nasa death row

Pangamba ng Migrante, pinalala ng pagpugot ng ulo ni Bidoya ang depresyon at takot ng kaanak ng 29 pang OFW na nasa death row. May pitong OFW na ang pinarusahan ng kamatayan sa ilalim ng gobyernong Arroyo.

“Bakit po nangyayari ang ganito? Di na namin alam kung saan lalapit. Nahihirapan na ang loob namin,” sabi ni Norie Gonzales, kapatid nina Rolando, 47, at Edison, 29.

Sa isang press conference, nanawagan din ng hustisya ang kaanak ng 47-anyos na si Cecilia Armia-Alcaraz a.k.a. Nemencia Armia, OFW sa Taiwan na hinatulan ng Kaohsiung District Court ng parusang kamatayan sa pamamagitan ng firing squad noong Setyembre 30, 2008 para sa kasong murder at robbery.

Hindi umamin si Alcaraz sa krimen, umano’y idinawit lamang siya. Itinuturo niya ang dalawang Taiwanese national na siya umanong pumatay noong nakaraang taon sa isang broker na sinaksak bago ilagay sa garbage bag ang katawan.

“Hindi niya ho iyon magagawa. Mabait ho iyan at takot na gumawa ng anumang kasalanan lalo na at nandoon pa siya sa ibang bansa,” ayon kay Rosalinda Armia Pisueña, kapatid ni Alcaraz, sa isang press conference ng Migrante noong Okt. 18.

Hinanakit ni Pisueña, nakatanggap lamang sila ng text message mula sa Manila Economic Cultural Office (Meco) sa Taipei, Taiwan na nahatulan na si Alcaraz. Hindi pa rin nabibigyan ang pamilya ng kahit anong opisyal na dokumento hinggil sa kaso. Aniya pa, nang idinulog niya ang kaso kay de Castro, binigyan lamang siya ng form, at nang i-follow up ito ay wala nang sumasagot sa opisina.

May tatlong anak si Alcaraz na naiwan sa Liliw, Laguna. Ayon sa ibinigay niyang card para sa kaarawan ng 14-anyos na anak na si Jerome, “Wag niyo akong ikahiya, wala akong ginawang masama. Hindi ko ginawa yung ibinintang sa akin.”

Abala sa GFMD

Binatikos ng Migrante ang DFA na umano’y “mas abala” sa paghahanda para sa nalalapit na Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) kaysa sa pag-aasikaso sa mga kaso ng mga OFW sa death row.

Sa isang diyalogo sa Pampanga noong nakaraang linggo, inamin ni Atty. Junaib Ali ng OUMWA na 40 empleyado ng DFA ang itinalaga para mag-pokus sa GFMD, isang multilateral na diyalogo mula Okt. 29 hanggang 30. Tinututulan ng Migrante at International Migrants Alliance, pinakamalaking alyansa ng 112 organisasyong pang-migrante sa daigdig, ang GFMD.

Ayon kay Martinez, “Hindi dapat magyabang si Conejos na host ang Pilipinas ng GFMD. Ibig sabihin, host tayo ng mga bansang nagsasagawa ng crackdown laban sa di-dokumentadong migranteng Pilipino, di-makataong deportasyon ng mga refugee, pagtortyur sa kanila para aminin ang mga krimeng hindi nila ginawa, at iba pang paglabag sa karapatang pantao ng mga OFW.”

Ibinulgar pa ng grupo na gagastos ang porum ng P15.9-M kada araw para lamang sa accommodation sa hotel ng mga dadalo sa GFMD. “Habang gagastos ang GFMD ng P150-M sa kabuuan, walang natatanggap na tulong pinansiyal ang mga kapamilya ng mga OFW sa death row, na wala nang natatanggap na mga remitans. Nananawagan kami sa gobyerno na ipangtustos na pagtulong sa mga pamilya ng mga OFW ang gagastusin para sa GFMD,” dagdag pa niya.

Pangamba ng Migrante, mas maraming mga OFW ang uuwi nang bangkay dahil sa pagpapatindi sa labor-export policy ng gobyernong Arroyo na isinusulong ng GFMD. Sa Okt. 24 ang susunod na pagdinig ng kaso ni Alcaraz. Ang magkapatid na Gonzales at si Arcilla, maaaring mapugutan ng ulo anumang oras.

Ani Martinez, hindi malayong mangyari na habang ipinagmamalaki ni Pangulong Arroyo sa internasyunal na komunidad ang Pilipinas bilang modelo ng migrasyon, isa na namang OFW ang makikitlan ng buhay at magpamumukha ng madugong kabayaran ng polisiyang ito.

New CPAs of 2008 (A-D)

Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008

1 ABAD, FRANK ERROL BADUEL 2 ABAD, REMEL VINNE VALENZUELA 3 ABAD, RYAN BUTAC 4 ABAGAT, MARIA KATHRINA TORRES 5 ABALOS, REAN GASPAR 6 ABANAG, JESSA JULIAN 7 ABANDO, REMELINE PEREZ 8 ABANILLA, RAYMOND CATUBIG 9 ABANSI, LANI MARIE PAHICNION 10 ABARQUEZ, KRISTINA DACANAY 11 ABAS, GRAZELL PALERO 12 ABASTA, RICHMOND MACADAAN 13 ABDULLAH, NISHAR FATIMAH OLINOR 14 ABELLA, HAZEL JERUSALEM 15 ABELLA, SHEENA 16 ABELLAR, GLORIDEL VILSES 17 ABENOJA, CHERRY LOU WAN CHUAN 18 ABENOJA, HAZEL ANGELINE QUIAPOS 19 ABENOJA, MICHELLE OSORIO 20 ABERGOS, PAMELA SEGUMALIAN 21 ABOCADO, MARRA KRISTINE AZORES 22 ABOLAIS, NURHAINIE SULOG 23 ABRENICA, CONRAD GALON 24 ABRUGAR, BOY BERNIE SAN PEDRO 25 ABUAN, MA RUBY AMOR BERNADINE FLORES 26 ABUAN, MAVIN ROSE MAAGMA 27 ACACIO, MARGIE DAGDAG 28 ACAR, MONENA GEMANG 29 ACEDERA, MABELLE COROCOTO 30 ACEDILLO, FRANCIS FLOYD JUMALON 31 ACENAS, JESSE FERDINAND DAMO 32 ACERA, RAY MADONNA ZAMORA 33 ACIBRON, LESLEY URAY 34 ACOB, KAYE LINA RAE DURAN 35 ACOSTA, SHERWIN “BONG” CALAOAGAN 36 ADARO, ROMINA FRANCES LAMEYRA 37 ADAYO, JANE CYRELL TUPLANO 38 ADDEB, CAMILLE BENITO 39 ADDUG, ROMER HUMIN 40 ADELINO, RALPH RODOLPH SANTOS 41 ADOC, JENNELYN POSTRADO 42 ADONA, RUBY KRIS NUQUI 43 ADORNADO, MANUEL JR NUARIN 44 ADRADOS, JOHN ALFRED CAPUYON 45 ADVINCULA, APRIL JOY LONTOC 46 ADVINCULA, CHERRYLENE JOY MANIEGO 47 AGAD, LOVELY CARISSA MAY PASCUA 48 AGATON, RHEA JANE GALIA 49 AGGARAO, MARION SAUL VILLANO 50 AGNES, CHRISTIAN FABROS Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 3 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 51 AGNO, MICHELLA MERCED SANTUA 52 AGPAD, CHERYL JUAN 53 AGRANO, JO ANNE MAE MADRIAGA 54 AGUANTIA, ROSE MAE SANCHEZ 55 AGUILA, ANNIE LIBOON 56 AGUILA, WINSTON DIMAUNAHAN 57 AGUILAR, EMMA CHRISTINA ALARCON 58 AGUILAR, GWYNE YUZON 59 AGUILAR, IVY ARIANNE CRUZ 60 AGUILAR, JOYCEL NUIQUE 61 AGUINALDO, JEFFERSON DOMINGO 62 AGUSTIN, DAISYREE RIVERA 63 AGUSTIN, FAITH LIWAG 64 AGUSTIN, KARYL QUINDO 65 ALANSIGAN, CHRISTIAN DALU 66 ALAPAG, JASMINDA BRIONES 67 ALBANO, KRISTINE MIRAFLOR 68 ALBRECHT, REINHARD DIETRICH ANTONIO 69 ALCANTARA, ELEXIS SALVADOR 70 ALCANTARA, ERLYNE KATHRINA CAJAYON 71 ALCANTARA, FLORIS ANN TALAVERA 72 ALCANTARA, JENNYLYN TAWAO 73 ALCANTARA, RAVIRLYN LASTIMADO 74 ALCARAZ, MANUEL CRISOSTOMO PERVERA 75 ALCAZAR, CATHERINE CORNEJO 76 ALCOMENDAS, ROSE ANNE ARUTA 77 ALCORDO, CLARENCE DOMINGO 78 ALCOS, LESLIE CALAGUIAN 79 ALDAY, ALELI ROSE LUMBERA 80 ALEJO, RYAN NANIT 81 ALFAD, NEFERTITI OSIAL 82 ALFARO, MIGUEL ANGELO DAGOHOY 83 ALFEREZ, ANGELINE MANANAY 84 ALFEROS, JULIE ANN ROBBY ESPIRITU 85 ALFONSO, ALEJARA MACAPAGAL 86 ALFUERTE, GLAIZA MAPALO 87 ALGAS, ROBBY AGUADO 88 ALIH, LESTER JANN HUELAR 89 ALIMES, SHANILEE ANO 90 ALIPIN, SHARON SININING 91 ALIS, ANNE MARIE RUFIN 92 ALLERA, ARIL JAY ESPIRITU 93 ALMELOR, MARIA FEDIS CASTROVERDE 94 ALMENDO, RAIZA UBALDE 95 ALMERO, GRACE CONTANTE 96 ALMOITE, DOLLYN JEAN UBAY-UBAY 97 ALMONTE, JHOANNA MARIE CASTRO 98 ALMONTE, REY BERJA 99 ALOMBRO, JESSAMINE GARCIA 100 ALONZO, BADEN FRANCIS YAMON Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 4 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 101 ALUMIA, REINA OESMER 102 ALVAREZ, RONALD FLORES 103 ALVIS, EDWARD JOSEPH SAN MIGUEL 104 ALZUL, CHRISTOPHER YAO 105 AMASCUAL, MARIBEL ARGUILLES 106 AME, FARAH JANE BENAWE 107 AMORTE, CRISALDA MAE CAPISIN 108 AMPANAS, SERIZA MAGUINDRA 109 AMPATUAN, SAMRIAH APRIL ESTRECHO 110 ANACAY, CHRISTINE BEDRUZ 111 ANARNA, ALLEN KRISTOPHER AMUTAN 112 ANDASAN, ERWIN DUMLAN 113 ANDES, RAYMOND MAPUSAO 114 ANDRES, CARLSBERG SERVO 115 ANDRES, JOAN CHRISTINE GARCIA 116 ANG, EDRINAL BRYAN BOJO 117 ANG, HAZEL ANN PACHECO 118 ANG, RALPH KARLO 119 ANGELES, MARY ANNE SERIBAN 120 ANGELO, KERRY ANNE ES-ISA 121 ANGOT, HANNILOU MEDIANA 122 ANGUE, ROLDAN GLORIANI 123 ANSANO, REYJO OBENIA 124 ANTARAN, KIM TAMPOS 125 ANTAZO, SANDRA BERNARDO 126 ANTONIO, DEMPSEY ROXAS 127 ANTONIO, KINNO ROGER DIAZ 128 ANTONIO, MARIAN REYNOSO 129 ANTONIO, VANESSA TRISHA MAE STA ROSA 130 ANYAYAHAN, ANNILETH CARANDANG 131 AOAY, FIDELA BROSAS 132 APAGA, HILORIE MACARAEG 133 APAS, ROMEL PEPITO 134 APILADO, MARICEL ESTALILLA 135 APOLINARIO, JANET IPAC 136 AQUIATAN, MAEBELLE DACULLA 137 AQUINO, BILLY RAY MANALO 138 AQUINO, JOANNA MARIE JIMENEZ 139 AQUINO, MARJOCRIST FRUTAS 140 AQUINO, RAYMON VALDEZ 141 AQUINO, RHONALYN SANTOS 142 AQUINO, VAN ALLEN CRISTOBAL 143 ARABE, MARY JOY DIMATATAC 144 ARAO, ARLENE CARLA FLORES 145 ARBOLADO, ANNIE ROY TORRES 146 ARCEGA, JAN JOSEPH DE LEON 147 ARCEO, JAYNARD BONDOC 148 ARCEÑO, NIMFA ESTACIO 149 ARCIEGA, IRIS ANN RODRIGUEZ 150 ARDALES, MANNYLENE DE LA TORRE Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 5 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 151 ARDIENTE, GLORIBEL VILLA 152 ARDOSA, SUALINE FORTICH 153 ARELLANO, CHARLENE REI PEREZ 154 ARELLANO, MAY BADIVAL 155 ARELLANO, NIKKI MAALAT 156 ARENASA, MEDARDO JR SALVE 157 ARENDELA, MYLENE SAMPANG 158 ARENGO, KRISTINA RAE CUERQUIS 159 ARGALLON, KRISTINNE ONGCOY 160 ARGAWANON, MARICHU MUÑEZ 161 ARGEL, RAIZA ALEXIS DACANAY 162 ARIATE, EUNICE CARMELA MARCIAL 163 ARIATE, KRISTINE IZA AQUINO 164 ARICHETA, IAN VERN UY 165 ARIMADO, RAYCHELLE RECTO 166 ARIOLA, GEOVANNIE CRUZ 167 ARIOLA, MARY SHERYLYN JAVIER 168 ARIZ, BEVERLY BACANI 169 ARMA, FLORO JR CASTILLO 170 ARONGAT, ARTHUR JOHN ESGUERRA 171 ARPILLEDA, PRISCILA QUINTELA 172 ARPON, TALITHA THEA BARONDA 173 ARRAZ, SHARVEY SALCEDO 174 ARTIENDA, MARIBELLE OLBINADO 175 ASANIN, HUSNIDA MUSLIMIN 176 ASEJO, NEIZER JOHN DIANGKINAY 177 ASINAS, DARA LUTO 178 ASIRIT, ALDIE MIERE LEONILLO 179 ASIS, JOVENAL VIDAL 180 ASOY, EDEN TINAJA 181 ASUZANO, KRISTOFFER CARL MARAVILLAS 182 ATAYDE, PRINCESS ERNA CLARITO 183 ATIENZA, ANGELICO MARION DEE 184 ATIENZA, LOUIS ANGELICO CONSUELO 185 ATIENZA, MA CRISELDA OCAMPO 186 AUDE, PEARL LYN JOIE LIGAYA 187 AUMENTADO, RACHELLE DOLORES PANIS 188 AURE, JOANNA LYN TOLENTINO 189 AURELIA, OLIVER JOHN PEDROSA 190 AUSTRIA, CAREN WAGAN 191 AWEN, DELMA MAY DIAMANTE 192 AYALA, FERDINAND GABRIEL 193 AYING, SHARA JANE LIM 194 AYLES, MA MELISSA SHYR CINCO 195 AYOCHOK, ALLYSA CATTE 196 AZARCON, LUCKY ERWIN SAYNO 197 AZIS, ANISAH CAMPOS Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008   198 BABAS, JOHANNA KAY PUJOL 199 BABOR, CARL JOSEPH CABALLEDA 200 BACALAN, ROGEN YAMOT Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 6 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 201 BACALANDO, MAILYN DAVID 202 BACANI, MA MELISSA TIMAN 203 BACON, ARCHIE TUZON 204 BACON, SHEENA ROZ VALENZUELA 205 BACUGAN, MARY JOYCE TERSOL 206 BADAGUAS, MARICRIS PONCE 207 BADIDOY, ROSE ANN LUNA 208 BADILLA, EDA MAE AMANTE 209 BADION, LEIZYL MAURILLO 210 BAE, MARY GRACE ROXAS 211 BAEZ, MARVEL CUSTODIO 212 BAG-O, ROGER MAGDULA 213 BAGALOYOS, APRIL PASQUIN 214 BAGUIEN, KAREN HYDIE LAGGUI 215 BAJADO, MARDEN CARATAY 216 BAJADOR, ADRIAN HIZON 217 BALABIS, CARREN PIOGO 218 BALACANO, REXZON MADDELA 219 BALAGOT, VERALY SAN DIEGO 220 BALANA, DON BARBA 221 BALANGUE, DEXTER DELOS SANTOS 222 BALAYONG, KAREN KRISTINE ESTILLERO 223 BALBADORES, MARIA KRIS AYON 224 BALBAS, KRISTHEL ANNE VENTURA 225 BALBASTRO, FRITZIE INVINA 226 BALBIN, JEFFREY AGUSTIN 227 BALDA, EDUARDO JR SAGUM 228 BALDEDOMAR, EMERITA GUTIERREZ 229 BALDELOMAR, MARY GRACE BURGUILLOS 230 BALDOMAR, AMIE NAPUTO 231 BALDOS, LOVELEEN HERNANDO 232 BALGOS, HERBERT MARALLAG 233 BALHAG, ROSALIE ESTOLE 234 BALIAO, CHRISTINA EDARAD 235 BALIGNASAY, MARIA CARMEN YANGCO 236 BALILA, MARIE AGNES RICHIELLE VERGARA 237 BALILU, AARON PINEDA 238 BALINANG, ROSHELLE DACUS 239 BALINGIT, CARLOS ARLEEN JR BERNARDINO 240 BALINTEC, KARL NICK DEPAYSO 241 BALITSA, FELICISIMO JR MOYA 242 BALLEBER, ALVIN LABAY 243 BALLOGAN, KIETH PALAGHICON 244 BALMORIA, RONEL CRIS BACLAYO 245 BALOS, REYNALDO BARANDA 246 BALSITA, ARIS BLANCAFLOR 247 BALTAZAR, ELSIE LAZARTE 248 BALTAZAR, JONATHANY ROXAS 249 BALTAZAR, NICETHOR DULA 250 BAMUYA, REYNAN GABI Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. 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No. N a m e 251 BANAL, TEEJAY TAMAYO 252 BANAUAG, NOELLE CHARMAINE PALMARES 253 BANDAL, ADONIS JOSE ENTANTO 254 BANDELARIA, JAMAICA SALUD 255 BANDOLA, JESSA ANGELOU MONDARES 256 BANGLOS, JASON STEVE AQUE 257 BANIHIT, KRISGIEN ANN SAN PABLO 258 BANTILAN, JOVELYN OLIVERA 259 BARACHINA, MICHAEL POLEÑO 260 BARBA, MARISSA TUMBALI 261 BARBA, RAQUEL DATUL 262 BARBOSA, DONNA JANE MENDOZA 263 BARBOSA, MA APRYL SALVACION 264 BARBUDO, ODETTE BANZUELA 265 BARDON, SHEENA AIZA BATALLA 266 BARDOQUILLO, EVA JOY SABASAJE 267 BARDOQUILLO, LEAH LARA MIRAS 268 BARGOLA, ARGENIS JURADO 269 BARILLO, FREDERICK REBOCA 270 BARIZO, GLENN CARLO BAUTISTA 271 BARLUADO, FAITH THERESE SARABIA 272 BAROLO, MAVI KEROLL SAYNO 273 BAROMA, WILSON JR JARDINICO 274 BARREDO, MARRIETTE ANDREY CORDOVA 275 BARRERA, APRIL ROSE ANTONIO 276 BARRERA, CHARLYN BILOTINDOS 277 BARRETTO, HONEY ROSE ANN GARDUQUE 278 BARRIENTOS, RAZEL CABAG 279 BARROS, MARIANNE FEGALQUIN 280 BARSANA, KAREN GERMONES 281 BARTOLOME, PAMELA NUÑEZ 282 BASA, FERMINA CORAZON LACBU 283 BASA, ROWENA TOPAO-I 284 BASALO, CRYSTAL PABUSTAN 285 BASARTE, IAN GUMAPO 286 BASBAS, MARIA JOYCE VILLARDA 287 BASCO, KENT DEGAMO 288 BASCO, KIRBY TATOY 289 BASCO, LADY ANNE SIGUA 290 BASCUG, RYAN SANTOS 291 BASILIO, MARK TONGOL 292 BASMAYOR, JO ANNE RONDA 293 BATALLA, MARIANNE RENCIO 294 BATALON, FRANK ROSS GENE AQUINO 295 BATERINA, LEAH MYRTH TAVAS 296 BATINO, GAYLAN ROCILLO 297 BATION, SHERRYL WYNNE BARORO 298 BATLE, ROLANDO JR CATUNGAL 299 BATOMALAQUE, SIDNEY CABANTUGAN 300 BATOON, MARIVIC CALO Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. 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No. N a m e 301 BATULAY, MARYCHELLE ESPADILLA 302 BAUGBOG, CRISELLE VALEROSO 303 BAUTISTA, ALFRED JAVIER 304 BAUTISTA, CHARIS EMMELYNN MADERA 305 BAUTISTA, CLARISSE DONNA FAYE ESPEÑO 306 BAUTISTA, CORA ARELLANO 307 BAUTISTA, EDISON RAMIREZ 308 BAUTISTA, GLADYS FAJARDO 309 BAUTISTA, JOHN DACULLO 310 BAUTISTA, JONAS DE JESUS 311 BAUTISTA, RIOLITA ALARCON 312 BAUYON, LAARNI DE JESUS 313 BAWA, CARLA ABAY 314 BAYANG, LOUIE ANDREW MORENO 315 BAYANI, ANA MARIA DE CASTRO 316 BAYANI, ARCHIE GOJO CRUZ 317 BAYANI, NANCY SAPE 318 BAYATO, LIONEL JR YAP 319 BAYBAY, ROXY MOSQUETES 320 BAYLON, MARICAR VALENTINO 321 BAYUDAN, KIMBERLY TATUNAY 322 BAÑAS, MARIANE SINGSON 323 BEA, PAULA MARIE CONCEPCION 324 BEGOTA, ANNIE GRACE GUIMARAY 325 BEJASA, REGINA SABLAYAN 326 BELA, KYM BRYAN RELLEVE 327 BELANDRES, ART KRISTOFFER PEREZ 328 BELASOTO, JOREM EGNARIO 329 BELEN, BERNADETH MARASIGAN 330 BELEY, MARY ROSELIE BERNAL 331 BELLO, MANILYN PINTO 332 BELTRAN, JANE LOMEDA 333 BELTRAN, JANE ANIELYN PANUELOS 334 BENEDICTO, SHELLA ARRIOLA 335 BENITEZ, BERBO JINNO PURUGGANAN 336 BENITEZ, MELANIE JUDILLA 337 BENITEZ, NANCY ESCUADRO 338 BENITEZ, SARAH DEJETO 339 BENITO, MARIA CATHERINE BOLINAS 340 BENOLIRAO, AILEEN RONE 341 BERCASIO, LOU RENNIER CRUZ 342 BERDAL, ISKRA ATHENA LACANILAO 343 BERGANTE, REN KAISER OCIEL 344 BERGANTIN, ESTER BAGACINA 345 BERMISA, ALEXIS VICTORIANO 346 BERNALDEZ, MARY ANN GAMALE 347 BERNARDINO, ABIGAIL FERRER 348 BERSAMIRA, MIKE DARYELL GRAMATA 349 BERTOLDO, DONALD ARBIZ 350 BESORIO, YASMIN KAY SAMPILO Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. 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No. N a m e 351 BETE, BETTY ZAMORAS 352 BETOS, MARIA ELLA TIAMSIN 353 BIAY, ELLERY VON REVILLEZA 354 BIDAJA, ELIZABETH IDAGO 355 BIGORNIA, RUTH PEDREGOSA 356 BILASANO, MARCO LINGAT 357 BILGERA, MARK KENNETH SANTELLA 358 BILOY, GLECERIO ALELUYA 359 BITAMUG, JEFFERSON DELA TORRE 360 BITUIN, MICHAEL ANGELO SISON 361 BIÑAS, FAITH THERESE ALORSABES 362 BLAS, MARK GLENN VENZON 363 BOADO, JULIUS CAESAR JR VILLAR 364 BOBADILLA, AILEEN MENDOZA 365 BOFITIADO, LAARNIE SALAOSAO 366 BOHOL, LIELA MAE BALINAS 367 BOLAÑOS, GRACE MACALALAO 368 BOLIVAR, JOY BERNABELA 369 BOLO, JENALYN CABUDOY 370 BOMBITA, EFREN JR BORILLO 371 BONALOS, KRISTEN MAYE LEONEN 372 BONGALONTA, MICHAEL BESMONTE 373 BONSUCAN, ARJAM BELOCURA 374 BORANSING, MARVIN KHABER PURGANAN 375 BORDADOR, GABRIEL VICTOR VISTAN 376 BORJA, RYAN JJ MIRANDA 377 BORRA, GRETA PAJARITO 378 BOÑGOLAN, MARVIN LESTER LABAGNOY 379 BRACIA, ARIANE VILLOTA 380 BRANDES, CHARLO VOLANTE 381 BRAZA, CAMILLE KRYSTAL GAN 382 BRAZAL, MARIA VIVIAN RICAFORT 383 BRILLANTES, LILY BELLE ALCORAN 384 BRIONES, LEAH ANNE MANAIG 385 BRIOSO, ORI FABRE 386 BRUAN, MARC IRVIN YUZON 387 BRUÑA, GEORGE PAREJA 388 BUAT, DESSAMIE HAYAHAY 389 BUCOL, CHARMAINE ANN REBUSA 390 BUCU, DIANA JEAN LAYUPAN 391 BUENAFE, SAPHIRE BAUTISTA 392 BUENAOBRA, CHARLOW ANN KOBAYASHI 393 BUENCONSEJO, JONALYN EVANGELISTA 394 BUENO, AGERICO III AGUSTIN 395 BULAN, GRACE PRANE 396 BULOS, SHAYNE ROSE REYES 397 BUNAGAN, MARK BRYAN TAMAYAO 398 BUNAYOG, DONNA MARIE JURADO 399 BUNAYOG, JOY ROMANA 400 BUNDOC, JONAS JOAQUIN Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 10 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 401 BUNDOC, KAREN VIR SALONGA 402 BUQUID, MARY GEM FRITZIE BIARES 403 BURAO, JAHLEEL-AN AGUARAS 404 BUSTILLO, CHARLITO LAURON 405 BUTALID, KATHERINE CAINGLET Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008   406 CAALIM, AILEEN CABABAN 407 CABANG, ERICA JOY PASCUA 408 CABANILLA, JAY TINTERO 409 CABATIC, LORRAINE NIEVES CAUTON 410 CABATIN, EUGENE JR LAURETA 411 CABIDOG, ANGEL DAN GELLANGARIN 412 CABIGTING, MA TERESA SAN PEDRO 413 CABILI, KARL TAN 414 CABILOGAN, LEA ZOLETA 415 CABLAO, JOY ANN ALDAY 416 CABRAL, RACHELLE RAMOS 417 CABUG, MARIA AURORA IBE SEMERA 418 CABUGUAS, JINO GETARUELAS 419 CABUNAGAN, GERJANE JOY FERNANDEZ 420 CACAP, CINDY CLAUDIO 421 CADACIO, ROCHELLE MAGDAE 422 CADAMPOG, IAN BOY INOCANDO 423 CAGAMPAN, JUANITO MICQUIELLO MAGALONG 424 CAINDAY, KATHLYN JANE BALBIN 425 CAINGLES, INIELE DAVE GAMAO 426 CAJAN, LIEZEL LINTAG 427 CAJAYON, GAYCEL ABARINTOS 428 CAJES, ANNA LYN UBAS 429 CAJUELAN, JOHN RYAN JAKOSALEM 430 CALAGUIAN, ANGEL DY 431 CALALANG, JOSEPH IVAN VIALA 432 CALAM, KAREN MAE LUMAJANG 433 CALANGI, MARK BUENO 434 CALAPATE, DANTE ROY ANDEA 435 CALDA, MARICAR BALOLOY 436 CALIBOSO, MARJORIE ANN FULGADO 437 CALIBOSO, PRUDENCIO JR TABUNO 438 CALIMAG, ALAN PASCUAL DAYAG 439 CALIMLIM, SAMUEL MARTINEZ 440 CALISON, CHRISTIAN RELADOR 441 CALLOS, BRYAN JOSEPH TANAY 442 CALMA, SHERYL ANTONIO 443 CALO, JACQUELINE YAP 444 CALO, POL MARC BUSA 445 CALULUT, ZANDRA MONALOUISE DEL ROSARIO 446 CALUMAG, VANESSA ANNE PASION 447 CALUMPIANO, DYMPHNA ANN CAPITO 448 CAMACHO, LEO CUISON 449 CAMATA, SHARON FERNANDEZ 450 CAMAYA, JENERSON PAOLO SAN JOSE Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. 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No. N a m e 451 CAMBRI, ROEL BARREO 452 CAMO, JENNIFER JIMENEZ 453 CAMONIAS, SHIRLEE MAE VILLA 454 CAMPAÑANO, LIRA JOY BAYLA 455 CAMSOL, HARYETH MALIONES 456 CANABE, CARLOU ALMELOR 457 CANAO, ELVIRA PINANGGA 458 CANASA, BRANDON RIVERA 459 CANAYA, APPLE AMATORIO 460 CANCINO, STEPHANY DELA CRUZ 461 CANCIO, BRIAN CHRISTOPHER MENDIOLA 462 CANILLO, JOAN LIM 463 CANO, KRISTINE ANN CORTEZ 464 CANSANCIO, CRYSTAL ANGELIE AMOGUIS 465 CANTOJA, LORENA ESTRERA 466 CAO, SHERRYL LUTERO 467 CAPINDING, JHOANNA MARJORIE VIJIGA 468 CAPINPUYAN, LEAN RANDO CAILING 469 CAPINPUYAN, RON LORENZO CAILING 470 CARAGAY, RACHEL MARY ANGELA REMOROZA 471 CARANDANG, AIRA ZEA DELA MAR 472 CARANDANG, LESLIE ANN ALBIS 473 CARANDANG, ROXANNE THERESE LAZO 474 CARANTES, VERA MAE DOMANSI 475 CARATO, DYESEBEL CALANUGA 476 CARDEL, CARLA SABATER 477 CARDENAS, IRISH DYAN BAUTISTA 478 CARDINES, LORENA MAY BRAZIL 479 CARIDA, JEORGE RAPANANG 480 CARIGABA, MA VICTORIA KASILAG 481 CARINGAL, PAOLO JOSE CAISIP 482 CARLOS, MARIE ROSE CHAVEZ 483 CARPIO, RHIAMAR RIVERA 484 CARREON, REIZA LEE FELICIANO 485 CASAPAO, GIELLIAN PANALIGAN 486 CASASOS, EDGAR COSTALES 487 CASAY, FLORENCIO VILLACARLOS 488 CASAÑA, ALEXCEL GO 489 CASES, ROLAND CANTONES 490 CASIBANG, MERLYN JR MANUEL 491 CASILI, HANNA MARIE TRABASAS 492 CASTILLANO, ROUZELYN PALMARES 493 CASTILLO, BELSY MARASIGAN 494 CASTILLO, JOHN CONSTANTINE SANDOVAL 495 CASTILLO, JOYCE ANN DELOS SANTOS 496 CASTILLO, LILY GRACE GAMAYON 497 CASTILLO, MARIA BERNADETTE ARRIBE 498 CASTILLO, MARIA ROJANNA TERUNEZ 499 CASTILLO, MERCEDITO DELOS REYES 500 CASTILLO, VICTORIA SANTA DE QUIROS Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. 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No. N a m e 501 CASTRO, ANNA RODESSA HERNANDEZ 502 CASTRO, CATHERINE FAITH LAPIRA 503 CASTRO, ELIZABETH CARREON 504 CASTRO, JERICO CASPE 505 CASTRO, KAREEN FAITH COMIA 506 CASTRO, LOREVI PICARDAL 507 CASTRO, MERLA 508 CASTRO, ZION MAY YNGSON 509 CASTUERA, CATHERINE MADRIDEO 510 CASUBUAN, TEODYMEL ZAPATA 511 CATABAY, MELVIN PATAGUE 512 CATABAY, MILARD NACAR 513 CATABUI, RAYMOND VILLETA 514 CATAHUM, GIAN CARLO NAVARRO 515 CATALAN, JONATHAN IMPERIAL 516 CATALON, LEONARD ANGELO ANIGAN 517 CATAPANG, CHARMAINE GRACE CABAGAY 518 CATIGBE, MARY ANN PANIMDIM 519 CATIMBANG, JOANNE ALVAREZ 520 CATUBIG, MARY ANN MELITANTE 521 CAYABA, APRIL JOY MENDOZA 522 CAYABAT, JENNY MAGPANTAY 523 CAYANAN, DANILIE JALBUENA 524 CAYANAN, REMEDIOS MIRANDA 525 CAYAT, ARLENE DAMITAN 526 CAYOBIT, ROSANNA OMPOD 527 CAÑESO, GRACIA GUERRERO 528 CAÑETE, EIREEN AIMEE DEMEGILLO 529 CEA, ERIC WINSON FRANCISCO 530 CENABRE, DIWA ESTACIO 531 CENSON, DARYL BIOLENA 532 CERBAS, MA CHLOE GUBATANGA 533 CERVERA, MARY ANNE GRACE REQUINTINA 534 CESAR, JUNE EVITA CABANSAG 535 CESARIO, MARVIN OLIVEROS 536 CHAKAS, WILLIAM JR ALIWENGWENG 537 CHAN, CLARIZA GALAM 538 CHAN, FRANCIS MANUEL 539 CHANCO, HAZEL GRACE KADANO 540 CHAO, CHERRY-AMOR ONG 541 CHATO, JOSISA RONQUILLO 542 CHAVEZ, ADAH MAY PAL-ING 543 CHAVEZ, ALLAN WILSON MENDOZA 544 CHAVEZ, EMILY BALCE 545 CHENG, LIZA MAE ABROGUEÑA 546 CHENG, PETERSON ABROGUEÑA 547 CHEU, CATHERINE MAE VIRAY 548 CHICO, MA THERESA FE BARCELINO 549 CHINAMAN, SAMUEL CHILAGAN 550 CHING, NELSON RAMEL Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. 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No. N a m e 551 CHIONG, WILLIAM BRYAN LORENZO 552 CHIU, PETER JOHN UY 553 CHIVA, IRENE BONA 554 CHOKOWEN, NOEL AMKIKID 555 CHOU, JESSICA (KIM WEE) FRANCIA 556 CHOY, GRACIE KRIS ESPAÑOLA 557 CHU, ALAN HUBERT PADERANGA 558 CHU, LORENZ JOSE MORENO 559 CHUA, AMAYLOU LUAGUE 560 CHUA, ANDREA CLARICE SIY 561 CHUA, ANNIE FRIDA KHO 562 CHUA, ERNESTINE TAN 563 CHUA, GLYNNYS TAN 564 CHUA, JEMICA DIANNE LIM 565 CHUA, KATE FUSCHIA PORTUGALEZA 566 CHUA, KRISTINE JENNIFER DISCAYA 567 CHUA, LEANNA LYNN DY 568 CHUA, MARY GRACE SY 569 CHUA, RACHEL BERNADETTE BALAGTAS 570 CHUA, RACHELLE JANELLE TIU SANTOS 571 CHUA, SHERYL SUZANNE TAN 572 CHUA, ZOE REGINA DOMANTAY 573 CHULIPA, HARIETTE JADE DINAMLING 574 CIELO, MARICEL ORDINARIO 575 CIRINEO, CHIARETTA MARIA CLAVO 576 CLEMENTE, JAY POLICARPIO 577 CO, LARA KATRINA CRUZ 578 COBARRUBIAS, JUSTO OBINIANA 579 COCHING, JOHN TIMON LAGNAS 580 COLASITO, DENNIS GODFREY ZACARIAS 581 COLE, JOAN TRAVEÑO 582 COLINA, DANNA ROSE VILLEZA 583 COLLADO, SALDY CODINA 584 COLLANTO, REVELIO BERDIN 585 COLUMNA, LORELEI REYES 586 COMANDANTE, CRISTY MAE MANTALA 587 COMPANIADOS, CLEA GALAGAR 588 COMPUESTO, JUMEL LYN BANZUELA 589 CONALES, MADELLE PATIS 590 CONCEJERO, RAMONAH FRANCIAH DAOS 591 CONCEPCION, CECIL SUAREZ 592 CONCEPCION, CHERRY ANN NEPOMUCENO 593 CONCEPCION, LEAH ESTORNINOS 594 CONCEPCION, MARIA LENINA REQUILLAS 595 CONCHADA, EDUARD JAYSON MARASIGAN 596 CONSERVA, NESSA MARIE UMAHAG 597 CONSOLACION, JOSEPH RABARA 598 CONSTANTINO, THOMAS JEFF PERNIA 599 CONTAPAY, ROBIN KAYE ALBA 600 COPINGCO, MARIANNE YVITTE PALANAS Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. 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No. N a m e 601 CORADO, ANTHONY JUNE ALURA 602 CORAN, ROBY ANN RAGRAG 603 CORBILLA, IAN BASTIDA 604 CORDERO, BERNA RICA ALLANIGUE 605 CORDERO, JOHN PETER DELA PEÑA 606 CORNEJO, JOHN ADRIAN MACARILAY 607 CORNEJO, LORRAIZA FLOR GUMBA 608 CORPUS, DARYL LIMGUAN 609 CORPUZ, DIANNE ACOSTA 610 CORPUZ, METHYL ANILINE BUCCAT 611 CORRAL, JENELYN LEBARIO 612 CORRALES, AISSA JANE TORRES 613 CORRALES, LESTER BERNAT 614 CORRIENTE, KRISTINE JOY BESA 615 CORROS, RHONA CONCEJO 616 CORSAME, GALE JUNETTE BORJA 617 CORTES, AARON DANIEL FAMISAN 618 CORTEZ, ALYNE JOYCE REATE 619 CORTEZ, APRIL MAGBITANG 620 CORTEZ, IDA MARIE MONTELIBANO 621 CORTEZ, JENNELYN CRUZ 622 CORTEZ, LEA ANTONETTE VILLAREJO 623 CORTEZA, JOSELITA GEMENTERA 624 CRISOLOGO, LORA NAMBATAC 625 CRISOSTOMO, KENNETH DESANO 626 CRISTOBAL, JULIET GUANTERO 627 CRISTOBAL, MELANIE VINARAO 628 CRISTOBAL, RUBY ANNE CAMILLE DEOPANTE 629 CRUEL, KEN GIE ANTHONY GEPITULAN 630 CRUZ, ANN MARGARETT ALDABA 631 CRUZ, APRIL PESIMO 632 CRUZ, AYRIL SYRA YAP 633 CRUZ, CARLO CADO 634 CRUZ, DANAE YAP 635 CRUZ, GAIUS MOISES DE VERA 636 CRUZ, JERBY AVENDAÑO 637 CRUZ, JOAN MARIE MANESE 638 CRUZ, JOHN RANDOLF MANALANSAN 639 CRUZ, KHEEVAN LIPTON 640 CRUZ, MA CHERRYL ANN BURGOS 641 CRUZ, MA CHRISTINA JAMLANG 642 CRUZ, RONALDO MATUNDAN 643 CRUZ, VANESSA BAUN 644 CRUZ, ZERNICE MAE REYES 645 CUASAY, MARY GRACE HERNANDEZ 646 CUENCO, RHEA DELA ROSA 647 CUETO, ARMIE ARTIGO 648 CUEVAS, AILEEN AGUSTIN 649 CUEVAS, HAROLD RAMIREZ 650 CUEVAS, JUAN PAOLO BUÑAG Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 15 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 651 CUEVO, JEMIMA ROSE ANNE LITUANIA 652 CULALA, MARY ANN RAZON 653 CULI, MARIA KATRINA CASSANDRA SALAVERIA 654 CULLADO, LALAINE DE TORRES 655 CUNAN, MA ANGELICA UMILA 656 CUNANAN, IAN ROSE MAGABO 657 CUNANAN, JENNY ROSE DUNGCA 658 CUNANAN, MERYLLE PICAR 659 CUNANAN, PAUL VINCENT TRONO 660 CUNANAN, REINIER MANDAP 661 CUNANAN, SEVERINO JR DELA ROSA 662 CUNTAPAY, KHRISTINE MILLARE 663 CUREG, ANGIENETTE GAMAL 664 CUSTODIO, MARICRIS METRILLO Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008   665 DAGA, JOHN KRISTOFFER DEL ROSARIO 666 DAGALANGIT, RAHABANSA LAMPING 667 DAGATAN, JENELYN CASULOCAN 668 DAGDAG, LLOYD ALDRIN VINCE CRUZ 669 DAHILOG, CATHERINE LEI ABAN 670 DALAN, STEFANIE JOYCE FRONDARINA 671 DALANGIN, KRISTINE JOYCE ARELLANO 672 DALANGPAN, CECILLE SIDLAO 673 DALAO, JOSEPH ANDREW BANIQUED 674 DALAY, RODELLE PEREZ 675 DALISAY, ARMANDO JR DE LOS REYES 676 DALLORAN, DECEMBER GRACE CALAYAG 677 DALMACIO, DENVER PALACPAC 678 DALMAN, PATRICK BAQUIRAN 679 DAMALERIO, JOYCE LOBETAÑA 680 DAMASCO, ANGELINA TORRES 681 DANGALAN, JEMMIKA HERRERA 682 DANGPASON, VEVERLIE ANGALAO 683 DANTE, FLORO JR RELAO 684 DANTE, GERON AGAMAO 685 DAPAT, RONELO VERANDA 686 DAPOL, ROWENA MOTAS 687 DAQUER, RAYANZEN CODERIS 688 DARANG, RAY CAESAR ADONA 689 DAROY, TIMOTHY JOHN MERCADO 690 DARUNDAY, JOAN ESCABA 691 DARUNDAY, KHARIS ANN YU 692 DATOL, JENNYLYN DELA CRUZ 693 DATUKON, NORMAN FARRISH ALA 694 DAULO, REVA AYSON 695 DAVID, CHARMAINE LUMANLAN 696 DAVID, JASMIN AINA ZAPATA 697 DAVID, JESUS JR CALAYAG 698 DAVID, KIMBERLY MANARANG 699 DAYANGHIRANG, TIFFANY ANN RESTOR 700 DAYRIT, REBECCA MANUEL Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 16 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 701 DAÑO, SHEENA MARIE DIEZ 702 DE CHAVEZ, KENETTE TIEMSEM 703 DE DIOS, JENNIELYN TORRES 704 DE GALA, JEROME TRINIDAD 705 DE GUZMAN, GLADYS BETH VERUASA 706 DE GUZMAN, JOANNE RAISSA AQUINO 707 DE GUZMAN, KARL KEVIN VELASCO 708 DE GUZMAN, RACHELLE ANN VALENZUELA 709 DE GUZMAN, ROLFE JEROME CRUZ 710 DE GUZMAN, SHEILA OCASION 711 DE JESUS, ALLISON VIRAY 712 DE JESUS, ANABELLE MAURICIO 713 DE JESUS, CRIZA PUNO 714 DE JESUS, TRACY ANN DE JESUS 715 DE LA CRUZ, BRIGETTE ANNE ELLA 716 DE LA CRUZ, FLLOYD PEREZ 717 DE LA PEÑA, CECILIA HERNANDEZ 718 DE LA ROSA, ANNE JOYCE CHUA 719 DE LA VEGA, SHERWIN LANDICHO 720 DE LARA, DARYLL CARMELO FRANCO 721 DE LAS ALAS, GIAN PESIC 722 DE LEON, MA CHIARA DUNGCA 723 DE LEON, MARIA CRISTINA CABBAT 724 DE LEON, MARY ZENDIE RODRIGUEZ 725 DE LEON, RONALD MATIBAG 726 DE LEON, VANESSA MAE DE ASIS 727 DE LOS REYES, RAANNE GREALOU FLORES 728 DE LOS SANTOS, FEDA CARTALLA 729 DE MESA, DIANA ROSE ARIOLA 730 DE SILVA, LEONILO ORENSE 731 DE SILVA, NERI ANNE SARNO 732 DE SILVA, REDENTOR LATORRE 733 DE VERA, JOANES ALBERT BATALLA 734 DE VILLA, MARY JOY CASANOVA 735 DEANON, MAYERS GLEN CAÑETE 736 DECENA, MARK ANTHONY BALOYO 737 DECIO, EROLL DITALO 738 DEIPARINE, QUEENIE SHEILA QUERO 739 DEITA, KRISTEL MAE ESPONILLA 740 DEL CAMPO, LOURDES PANOPIO 741 DEL MONTE, ALBERT LOUIS DEL MONTE 742 DEL ROSARIO, BLESSY ANN GALIMA 743 DEL ROSARIO, JEMAR JAY CALAYAN 744 DEL ROSARIO, LLUBEL ANGELI CRUZ 745 DEL ROSARIO, MARY GRACE FARIÑAS 746 DEL ROSARIO, MARY KRISTINE DE CASTRO 747 DEL ROSARIO, MICHAEL MIGUEL 748 DELA CRUZ, ARJAY JIMENEZ 749 DELA CRUZ, BLESSIE MAGTOTO 750 DELA CRUZ, CECILE PARDO Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 17 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 751 DELA CRUZ, GERALD EDUARD BAYLON 752 DELA CRUZ, HANSELLE SALVADOR 753 DELA CRUZ, JELLY ANN ORTEGA 754 DELA CRUZ, JHENNY LYN TORRECAMPO 755 DELA CRUZ, KRISTEEN SHANE ANDO 756 DELA CRUZ, LAARNI BELLO 757 DELA CRUZ, LIZEL ZAMORA 758 DELA CRUZ, LOVELY MEI RESPICIO 759 DELA CRUZ, MARILOU CARMONA 760 DELA CRUZ, MARY JOY ESTARES 761 DELA CRUZ, MICHELLET DE LEON 762 DELA CRUZ, RONALD PAYOPAY 763 DELA CRUZ, SHEILA ANDRADE 764 DELA CRUZ, VANESSA CERO 765 DELA VEGA, ELLIZER JOHN ACUB 766 DELGADO, GIOVANNI GUPANA 767 DELIN, MARCOS CENA 768 DELLAMAS, GINA SARMIENTO 769 DELLOSA, CATHERINE MALIAO 770 DELOS REYES, ESTELLA MARIA LAPUZ 771 DELOS REYES, JEROME SOBRITCHEA 772 DELOS REYES, JESSICA MADRIAGA 773 DELOS REYES, WARREN BUGARIN 774 DELOS SANTOS, ANN SHERROL DELA PEÑA 775 DELOS SANTOS, CHRISTINE LLAGAS 776 DELOS SANTOS, MARGIE MAGO 777 DELOS SANTOS, REXIE MAGTIBAY 778 DELOS SANTOS, SHIELA RUIZ 779 DELOS SANTOS, UDESSA MALAZZAB 780 DENOSTA, MARY GRACE GARIN 781 DEODOR, ELPED NERCUIT 782 DERPO, ERIKA BIANCA SUNGA 783 DERPO, MA CRISTINA FERNANDEZ 784 DESCALLAR, MARY JANE MEJARO 785 DESCALZO, MABEL BRAZAS 786 DESCARTIN, ANNA LIZZINA LIJAUCO 787 DESEPIDA, MARIA CRISTINA ULAT 788 DETABLAN, BRYAN JAKE CHAN 789 DIAMANTE, KRISTINE TALAVERA 790 DIAZ, JENNA MAE VALERIO 791 DICDICAN, ALFRED AMPARADO 792 DIDAL, JACKIELOU OPONDA 793 DIEGO, ALJALIL ENANOD 794 DIESTRO, KRISTINE ANN EMBOLTURA 795 DIEZ, MICHELLE LOYOLA 796 DILAO, ALLAN JAMES CARIDO 797 DILAO, JUVILYN LIBA 798 DILO, MARIA FRANCESCA MERCEDES CALLANTA 799 DIMAANO, JAY-R CATIBOG 800 DIMACULANGAN, KATLEYA CALINGASAN Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 18 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 801 DIMAL, JOY KATHERINE OCAMPO 802 DIMLA, ABIGAIL JOY QUIZON 803 DINOPOL, SHIELLA MAE GALILA 804 DIONISIO, ROXANNE IBASCO 805 DIONISIO, WINNIE MILAGROSO 806 DISAGON, JENNIFER ROSE ARANILLA 807 DITOL, FRANCIS CASTULO 808 DIU, KAREN AMIDAO 809 DIZA, DANIELLE KIRSTIE ALLYSON CUNANAN 810 DIZON, ANNA MERYLL QUIAMBAO 811 DIZON, ARMANDO JR ATOC 812 DIZON, BONNA SALEM 813 DIZON, FARRAH ALMAZAR 814 DIZON, JESSE CARLO MERCADO 815 DIZON, JOZETTE ISSEL GARCIA 816 DIZON, LEILANIE CO 817 DIZON, MADELYN CLAUDIO 818 DOLAR, SEAN ACEDILLA 819 DOLO, RONA SHAFERA BADO 820 DOLOT, MADELAINE JAN RAMOS 821 DOMANTAY, MARY JANE SERVANIA 822 DOMATO, SALADIN BENITO 823 DOMEYEG, CARLA OLONGAN 824 DOMINGO, JACQUE LYN BUENO 825 DOMINGO, KRISTINA CABUNGCAL 826 DOMINGO, NIKITA FIGUEROA 827 DOMINGO, RINA RAMILO 828 DONADILLO, MARIO REY BERNALES 829 DONATO, ELFHRAIM CONSIGNA 830 DONATO, NIÑA-MAE PASCUAL 831 DORADO, JOSE HERMAN JR RILE 832 DORIA, MARY JOYCE GUNGON 833 DORMILE, PETER PAUL SUÑIGA 834 DOROTEO, ANNALIZA ABIERA 835 DRES, MARVIN DE LEON 836 DUERO, MARY GRACE TEJANO 837 DUEÑAS, SHERYL GABALDON 838 DUHAYLONGSOD, JAY MAÑOSCA 839 DUKHA, MARIA TERESA PUNTA 840 DULAY, PRECIOSA MARIELLE ROLLUQUI 841 DULNUAN, NUVE KYLE BELINGON 842 DUMALAG, APRIL ANTOINETTE FERRER 843 DUMALAON, REY ALBERT ESCASINAS 844 DUMANGCAS, ELLA CECELIA CAPOY 845 DUNGCA, JOHN EARVIN PAJO 846 DURAN, ALEJANDRO JR BERGANIA 847 DURAN, MARIA THERESA MALLARI 848 DUY, KAREN KEITH CAMARILLO 849 DUYANGO, VINA COSO 850 DY, AILENE TEPASE Roll of Successful Examinees in the C.P.A. LICENSURE EXAMINATION Held in OCTOBER 2008 Page: 19 of 50 Released on OCTOBER 20, 2008 Seq. No. N a m e 851 DYCHAUCO, EVE SHERLYN PHUA

Farmers hurl paint bombs at Camp Crame

By Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 22:08:00 10/20/2008

MANILA, Philippines—Leftwing farmers stormed the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters Monday afternoon and hurled red paint bombs at its gate to protest the rebellion charges filed by Batangas provincial police against 27 farmers.

“It may be true that the incidents of extrajudicial killings have lessened in the past months, but the Arroyo regime hasn’t changed its policy of political repression. The regime still aims to neutralize militant progressive organizations, only this time by fabricating criminal cases against leaders and members of these organizations,” said Imelda Lacandazo, Kasama-TK spokesperson.

Carrying protest banners, about 50 members of the farmer’s group Katipunan ng Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan (Kasama-TK) condemned the PNP’s alleged move to “actively persecute” farmer activists.

The group held a short program outside Camp Crame. As they were about to leave, some activists suddenly threw paint bombs at the walls of the PNP headquarters, prompting policemen to confiscate their placards and other protest paraphernalia.

No one was hurt nor arrested in the incident.

“Arroyo’s administration’s policy to liquidate and criminalize activists is evident in the numerous words she tags activists and members of the opposition. She has gone from calling us terrorists to destabilizers, a term she has again called those who recently filed a new impeachment complaint against her,” Lacandazo said.

“Aside from problems of landlessness, the corruption in government agricultural agencies, farmers are dealt with political repression if they voice-out their grievances,” she said.

Police in Batangas have filed charges against the 27 farmers for the September 7 attack on a cell site of Globe Telecom in Taysan town, Batangas.