Tag Archives: Corazon Aquino

[In the Web] Hacienda Luisita: Pres. Cory Aquino’s unfinished business

Posted on by dars0357

The Aquino Legacy: Unfinished Business. Photo from araphoenix.com.

 

By Raissa Robles

In May 1987, the independent polling organizationSocial Weather Stations gave then President Corazon Aquino the findings of a “preliminary and confidential [and] non-commissioned” survey showing most Filipinos wanted her to distribute Hacienda Luisita to the tenants.

The timing of the survey release was important. Mrs Aquino could still do something about the survey results since she still wielded law-making powers under the Freedom Constitution.

The survey response showed Filipinos were overwhelmingly for Mrs Aquino using her vast powers to effect  land redistribution:

SWS 1985 survey on land reform. Photo from http://raissarobles.com.

Why Pres. Cory did not follow survey

One of the Palace insiders I have talked to since, told me why President Cory Aquino never used her vast revolutionary powers to implement a sweeping and genuine land reform program that covered huge landed estates like that of her family. I was told she was pressured by her oldest brother, the clan patriarch Pedro Cojuangco – the man who died recently – and by her own brother Peping Cojuangco, not to distribute the land to the farmers.

Fernando Cojuangco has actually told listeners – “Over my dead body”

A separate source also told me about hearing Pedro Cojuangco’s son, Fernando, say something aloud during a gathering when the conversation wandered to land reform and Hacienda Luisita.

Fernando Cojuangco told his listeners: “Over my dead body.”

Perhaps his remark showed how passionately he felt about the land. He is after all the administrator of Hacienda Luisita.

The Cojuangco lawyer’s recent statement, though, seems to show a kind of softening.

Why do I write about such a divisive issue at this time?

Because it is one of the unfinished business of President Cory Aquino and the entire Filipino nation. We cannot move forward as a nation because of this. The energies of many Filipinos are devoted to blocking land reform or trying to ram it through.

The communist rebellion continues to feed on this issue.

Landlords like Congresswoman Hortencia-Starke threatened to revolt in order to keep their vast haciendas. Here's what she gave reporters. Photo from http://raissarobles.com.

Read more at http://raissarobles.com/2011/11/25/hacienda-luisita-pres-cory-aquinos-unfinished-business/

 

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[In the Web] Aquino vs. Arroyo: This time it’s personal

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Manila Standard Today - In this Tuesday Nov. 8, 2011 photo, former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, wearing a head and neck brace, sits down for an interview with a local reporter at her residence in suburban Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines.

By Edwin Espejo

The pathetic standoff at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) involving former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Philippine immigration officials Tuesday evening only highlighted how far contradiction among the country’s privileged elite can go – a bitter clash that could plunge the country into a constitutional crisis.

And both camps – the Arroyos and President Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino – have only themselves to blame.

Legally, there is nothing that would and should bar the besieged former president from leaving the country in the absence of a proper court order.

There is an executive order, ironically issued by the former president herself, however, that places a person under a watch list and whose flight outside the country may be stopped by the immigration officials.  It is an executive edict that is now being questioned before the highest court of the land by the Arroyos.

The Arroyos have sought and were granted a temporary restraining order by the Supreme Court that, in effect, barred the Aquino government from preventing Arroyo to travel abroad.

The Aquino government, however, believes it has a case against the former President and is morally obliged to perform its duty of preventing a potential fugitive from justice from leaving the country.

As it now appears, the Aquino government is taking the risk of being cited in direct contempt by the Supreme Court for what the current president believes is his moral obligation.

The NAIA standoff however is not just mere legal and political issues between two of the country’s powerful political clans, it also has personal undertones to it.

During several attempts to impeach President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo when she was still the president, the Aquinos – at least the Cojuangco side of the president’s family – were among the leaders of the movement that sought her resignation.  President Nonoy Aquino’s late mother Corazon, also a former president, went to great lengths to apologize to former President Joseph Estrada for joining the protest movement that led to the ouster of the latter.

Corazon Aquino played a major role in the installation of Arroyo as president of the republic in the aftermath of Estarda’s impeachment.

Ironically, it is Corazon Aquino, and to some extent her son, who also were among the first to drop Arroyo as an ally and called for her resignation due to corruption and widespread electoral fraud in 2004.

It is a falling out that left Arroyo enraged.  Under her watch, the vast Hacienda Luisita property of the Cojuangcos was declared subject to the coverage of the land reform program.

Aquino in turn has not gotten over the fact that the Arroyos pulled all the plugs during the 2010 presidential elections in which the current president won convincingly on an anti-corruption platform.

Both the former and current presidents share the same place in the history of Philippine politics.

 

Read full story at http://asiancorrespondent.com/69673/between-aquino-and-arroyo-it%E2%80%99s-personal-now/

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[In the Web] We’re on it, Malacanang on killings

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MALACANANG presidential office on Saturday reassured the United States the Aquino administration is acting to solve extra-legal killings, especially of journalists.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda stressed this after US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas Jr. said the US will still withhold a part of assistance to the military over the matter.

Lacierda said on radio this weekend government has been addressing the killings in the country, especially with regard to reporters.

He said President Benigno Aquino III himself would call the attention of Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima when he hears of an extra-legal killing.

Earlier, Thomas said the US Congress will continue to withhold a part of US assistance to the Armed Forces of the Philippines until the government meets conditions on solving and prosecuting cases of unexplained killings.

News reports said Thomas informed human rights advocates in the country about the withholding of such US aid to the Philippines during a roundtable discussion at the US Embassy last Oct. 21.

 

Read full article at http://www.cathnewsphil.com/2011/11/07/were-on-it-malacanang-on-killings/.

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[In the Web] Fr. Fausto Tentorio, a martyr for indigenous peoples

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Fr Tentorio in happier times: Photos courtesy of Davao City based human rights group Barug Katungod Mindanao.http://www.balitapinoy.net/journal/736031/Eight_Bullets_Blasted_Life_Out_Of_Human_Rights_Priest

By NARDY SABINO,

General secretary,

Promotion of Church People’s Response

 

 

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. ”(Luke 13:34)

“We express our deepest grief and indignation over the killing of Fr. Fausto “Pops” Tentorio, an Italian priest and missionary to the Lumad tribes of Arakan Valley, North Cotabato. There are not enough words to express our sorrow. Father Tentorio served the indigenous people in Mindanao since 1978 and was the head of the Tribal Filipinos Apostolate of the Diocese of Kidapawan until his death. He was gunned down in the morning of Oct. 17, 2011 by helmet-wearing, motorcycle-riding gunmen.”

“We mourn with the members of his religious congregation and share with them their grief. Father Tentorio’s ministry was a great testimony of how the Church can always be in the service of those who have been marginalized and made poor by the system.”

“We are greatly disturbed that such crimes continue to be committed with impunity under the current Aquino administration. Father Tenorio’s murder brings to mind the activists, rights defenders and church people killed during the presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. This recent killing alarms us. Father Tentorio is the third of church people killed under present government—after Benjie Bayles, a member of Iglesia Filipina Independiente, and Abe Sungit of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. All of them were advocates of justice, peace and the integrity of creation. Father Tentorio is the 31st church people and second Roman Catholic killed in such manner since 2001. We have but one call: Justice for Father Tentorio!”

“We demand that the Aquino administration hasten the investigation into his murder and make sure that justice is served. Stop the killing of our prophets!”

 

Read full story at http://opinion.inquirer.net/15623/fr-fausto-tentorio-a-martyr-for-indigenous-peoples

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[Reflection] The Lesson of History

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Defying the dictator. Photo from bulatlat.com

There is a saying that says “those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.” But I believe that those who learn from the lesson of history can create their own.

Yesterday was the commemoration of the 39th anniversary of Martial Law. For the younger generation, it maybe just one of the blurred pages in our history books, but for those who have witnessed these dark moments, it is certainly unforgettable.

Others might think that Martial law was not bad as it seemed but it is no doubt remains the symbol of oppression and repression in the country. It was the deathbed of our country’s freedom and democracy.

But after almost three decades, nothing seems to change.

Human rights violations are still rampant. Political beliefs and activities may appear to be tolerated but these are still the main reasons why activists are still put under surveillance, arrested, detained, forcibly disappeared or even killed. Although, there are now judicial remedies and human rights legislation that are supposed to provide better human rights protection but prosecution and conviction of human rights cases are still almost nil. Many if not all of the perpetrators of the past and recent violations remain scot-free while the victims and their families continue to suffer the consequences of their traumatic experiences.

We may now have the freedom of the press but many journalists have to spill their own blood for exposing the truth.

Many are still poor because the inequitable distribution of wealth is just getting wider. Development is meant to put people deeper in the mire of poverty. Our natural resources are no longer the country’s wealth but commodities for international capital and market.

Congress is now back in business but most of the time, it is still subservient to the interest of those who hold the nation’s coffer.  In fact, the Marcoses who are still enjoying the fruits of their ill-gotten wealth are back in the corridor of power.

We may have another Aquino in Malacanang but he is keen of preserving his name than preserving democracy.

Martial Law may be synonymous to a nightmare. But it made the Filipinos dream for a just, humane and free society. It made them value themselves, their dignity, their freedom and their rights. It ignited within themselves the fire of revolution that paved the road to EDSA and the downfall of the Marcos dictatorship.

Martial law may still be a painful memory. But it serves as a reminder for all of us that the real power lies in us.

The only way to ensure that Martial Law will not happen again nor by any chance it will rear its ugly face once more is for us to know our rights, to stand and defend these rights through individual and collective actions.

History is said to be unfolding.

But we should not let it move by itself.

We have to create it.

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[Reflection] 9/11 and Human Rights in the Philippines

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9-11 attacks at the World Trade Center. Photo from dailymail.co.uk

The 9/11 terrorist attacks which stunned the world ten years ago had opened a floodgate of human rights issues and concerns globally with the subsequent declaration of a “global war on terror,” and the development of more stringent counter-terrorism efforts in many countries.

Indeed following 9/11, a number of countries which have joined in a global coalition against terrorism, have found a convenient excuse to continuously violate the human rights of their own people and justify their repressive practices in the guise of national security.

What was unleashed as an aftermath of 9/11 is “state-sponsored terror” throughout the world by having more restrictive internal policies and unbridled military power by governments. Everywhere, clandestine combat operations, setting up of secret detention facilities like the Guantanamo Bay and the “black listings’ of individual and groups including those legitimate civil society organizations have become an order of the day.

While everyone recognizes that acts of terrorism are violations of the basic right to live in peace and security but countering terrorism should not be done at the expense of the rule of law and human rights protection. Even those who are suspected ‘terrorists” also have the rights as members of the society which includes among others, the right not to be subject to torture or other degrading treatment, the right to be presumed innocent until they are deemed guilty of the crime and the right to public trial.

The Philippine government’s involvement in “the global fight against terrorism” has led to the enactment of Republic Act 9372, otherwise known as “Human Security Act,” which entered into force on 15 July 2007. It was also during this period that the Philippine government intensified its counterinsurgency campaign called “Oplan Bantay Laya” (Operation Freedom Watch) which led the military to deliberately target and systematically hunt down leaders of leftist organizations, resulting in hundreds of cases of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in the country in the past years. This situation was noted with great concern by the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions Philip Alston, following his 10-day visit to the country in February 2007.

The Human Security Act on 2007 is viewed by human rights groups as a direct affront to civil liberties and fundamental freedom. The apprehension on the possible excesses in the implementation of the anti-terror law is also shared by Ambassador Alistair MacDonald, head of delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines who said that “the anti-terrorism law is not an excuse to go out and shoot people… to target people for matters not provided in the law.

It permits police or law enforcement officers to detain for a maximum number of three days, a person who was previously arrested without a warrant. By changing the duration of custody, the law has prejudiced the accused as it allows the police or the military unwarranted access to the suspects thereby increasing their exposure to torture and intimidation during the course of the investigation. Moreover, during the mentioned period of time, the person deprived of his or her liberty is placed outside the protection of the law.

It is well-known fact that the period between arrest and presentation of the arrested person before a judicial authority is a period conducive to torture and ill-treatment on the person arrested. It is most common that the persons arrested are subjected to torture and ill-treatment before they were brought to a judicial authority. Individuals ending up as tortured, disappeared or murdered victims were the ones initially arrested without warrant or merely “invited” for questioning and taken to detention centers, safe houses, and military camps. We can take the Basilan torture case as a proof. Abdul Khan Ajid was tortured and burned alive while being forced to confess membership in the Abu Sayyaf.

Unfortunately, the Aquino administration has just continued the security plan of his predecessor. He has not only uncritically allowed the permanent stationing of US troops in the country but his directive to the military to have a paradigm shift from the combat-focused approach it used in the past to a human security or “people-centered” approach through its Internal Peace and Security Plan Bayanihan is nothing more than just another name for Oplan Bantay Laya.

In fact, Pres. Aquino (PNoy) has just recently certified as urgent, a legislation that will give the “anti-terror law” more teeth by removing whatever remaining human rights safeguards that the law has provided. This clearly shows where human rights are placed under the Aquino administration. As a son of a human rights victim himself, we are expecting him to do better and to take human rights issues as personal the same way that he takes the fight against corruption in government.

PNoy should understand that security and human rights are not in themselves, contradictory. They actually go hand in hand. The respect for human rights is the only road to security, not an obstacle to it. The guarantee of national security of a State can only be achieved through respect for human rights and not their violation.

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[In the Web] Budget for education falls far short of Unesco standard

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Opinion: Budget for education falls far short of Unesco standard

from Philippine Daily Inquirer

 

UNESCO logo

 

Education is a human right and a tool for attaining not only academic excellence but also social justice and social progress. Through education, our citizens achieve not only personal growth, they also develop civic and political consciousness.

While we welcome the marked increase in the budget for elementary and secondary education in the proposed 2012 national budget, we believe that tertiary education should be allocated no less. The 1987 Constitution mandates the State to “protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels.”

In the case of the University of the Philippines, its budget reflects the government’s policy toward tertiary education. Of the P17.07-billion budget proposed by the university administration for 2012, the government, through the Department of Budget and Management, only approved P5.54-billion, or a measly 34 percent.

We reiterate our call for an increase in the budget for UP. We implore the members of Congress to assist UP in fulfilling its most important functions, namely, committing itself to national development and serving the Filipino nation and humanity.

In searching for new sources of funding for UP and the whole education sector, we ask Congress to carefully scrutinize and reduce discretionary spending, re-channel debt-servicing allocation to education, and legislate measures that will increase the tax effort of the government.

Finally, we re-echo the call of our national partner, the Youth Against Debt Coalition, to invest more in education by enacting a law that will automatically appropriate at least 6 percent of the Gross National Product (GNP) to the whole education sector—an international standard set by Unesco. The proposed 2012 education budget, despite the increase, only amounts to 2.5 percent of our 2010 GNP—less than half of—and a far cry from—our ideal budget.

As the House of Representatives takes up the proposed budgets for UP, the Commission on Higher Education and Department of Education, we join every Iskolar Para Sa Bayan in demanding that both chambers of Congress and the Aquino administration guarantee that every Filipino will have  quality, relevant and accessible education.

—ADRIAN AUDREY L. BACCAY,

for the Alyansa ng mga Mag-aaral para sa Panlipunang Katwiran

at Kaunlaran (UP Alyansa),

University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City;

upd.alyansa@gmail.com

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[Reflection] Pnoy’s 2nd SONA, So what’s new?

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PNoy's 2nd SONA, what is there to say? Photo from pinoygigs.com

President Benigno S. Aquino III’s first State of the Nation Address (SONA) for many of his critics was nothing but a mouthful of litany without a substance.

Will his second SONA be different?

I bet to the last cents that PNoy’s second SONA will not be any dissimilar from his first.

If I sense it right, it is just about two things: those that he will say with conviction and those that he will not dare to say in order not to bite his own tongue.

There is nothing in his first SONA that showed any forward-looking solutions that his government is proposing to address the country’s endemic problems.

In fact, PNOy has become strangely passive in office for his first year, acting as if his only task is to discredit the Arroyos and to let the government do its work in a business as usual manner.

But he can’t keep dodging the bullet when there are many critical issues that posed great challenges to his administration.

On corruption

PNOY will surely throw out the baby with the bath water. To show that he is keen in moving his campaign slogan, “kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap”, he will not miss this chance to expose new anomalies and irregularities of the previous administration that his government has unearthed. He will brandish that his war on corruption is gaining ground.

It is no longer new and surprising to know the extent and magnitude of PGMA’s misdeeds but what is good in barking without biting. It will best serve the interest of the public if this will lead to prosecution and punishment of Arroyo and cohorts and not just mere public exposition.

On economy

Pnoy will certainly blow his own horn by announcing that his economic blueprint, known as “Social Contract with the Filipino people” is on the right track as the economy is fast growing. The Philippine Development Plan or the six-year economic blueprint sums up the administration’s economic direction with its defined strategies and goals for the next six years.

The economists believed that PDP is straightforward. It means – keeping the economy afloat in the globalized free trade while intensifying privatization through Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), and implementing social support programs like conditional cash transfers (CCTs) and fuel subsidies.

If economy is indeed improving, do we feel better off? Pnoy’s second SONA may play with figures. But translating it to poverty alleviation will be the biggest question that Pnoy needs to answer.

On peace and security

Pnoy will definitely claim that his peace efforts are now in place in the resumption of the peace talks with Muslim and communist rebels.

But human rights groups have repeatedly recommended to the Philippine government to fully observe its legal obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law. The continuing attack against the perceived legal fronts of the communist rebels through harassment, intimidation and criminalization of political offense will only squander the opportunity to address the root causes of insurgency.

On human rights

PNoy’s first SONA never said anything about human rights and his government’s commitment for its promotion and better protection except perhaps a passing mention of his administration’s effort to solve the six extrajudicial killings that happened during the first few months after assuming office.

The lack of a clear human rights agenda is believed to be the reason why human rights violations continue unabated.

On land reform

Despite having been the centerpiece program of her mother, the late President Corazon Aquino the agrarian reform program was completely left out from his first SONA. Although, Pnoy mentioned his plan to build grains terminals, refrigeration facilities, road networks and post-harvest facilities for agriculture. But the highly controversial Hacienda Luisita is one issue that he will not dare dip his finger in.

The uneven ownership of land continues to magnifies the uneven social gaps in the society. The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Programs despite claims of its success has not able significantly to redistribute wealth and liberate the vast majority of agricultural lands under the principle of “land to the tillers”.

On OFW, labor and employment

Despite assurance that wage hike is imminent, PNoy will not go far in his second SONA to commit his government in complying with its constitutional mandate to provide workers a family living wage.

The labor sector has been assailing ever since the big mismatch between the actual needs of workers and their level of income as the wage system is based more on the ‘capacity to pay’ of an employer rather than the ‘capacity to buy’ of a worker.

While a small wage increase will only benefit a reducing number of regular workers due to outsourcing, retrenchment and contractualization, at least three million Filipinos are expected to be completely out of work due to the exodus of returning OFWs. PNoy has no other way but focus on local job generation rather than extending the “labor export policy.”

So what’s new?

Whatever are the hypes and promises that Pnoy will say in his second SONA, what we are expecting more to hear is for PNoy to declare that his government will work not only to improve governance but also to make the economy a foundation for humane and decent living with a guarantee of respect and protection of our fundamental human rights.

That will be music to our ears.

[Book] From Marcos to Another Aquino: Impunity, Accountability and Transitional Justice in the Philippines

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[Reflection] Pnoy’s first year not a straight path for people’s rights and welfare

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Pnoy delivers speech during his first year celebration at Ultra. Photo from talakayanatkalusugan.com

The first year of President Aquino in office for many is quite a disappointment as it falls short of the expectation to improve people’s welfare and the human rights situation in the country. The people’s welfare and human rights are obviously not part of the new government’s top priorities in the past 12 months.

How P Noy fared during his first year mirrors that of the real state of the nation. While I recognize that the new administration has just inherited from its predecessor the heavy burden of a huge budget deficit, but after a year in office, change appears far from reality.

As the economy is slowly declining, joblessness remains high, and poverty continues to deepen, President Aquino seems to avoid facing the critical issue of land reform and agricultural modernization. These are fundamental reforms which the basic sector, the small farmers in particular, have been demanding from every sitting president. Instead, he is prioritizing mining — just like his predecessor did – which is not only said to be destructive to the environment but also infringes the basic human rights of the indigenous communities inhabiting the areas near the mining sites.

While the Filipino people’s living condition did not only change, those who are asserting their rights are also continuously being violated. Anti- mining groups claimed that anyone who opposes mining companies is quite likely to end up missing or dead. It is seen as a pattern that whenever there is mining operation, there would be extensive military deployment and escalation of human rights violations in the mining affected areas. It is like silencing a dog by poking it with sharp end of the stick.

Human rights violations continue to happen with impunity under the Pnoy administration. While efforts to improve and professionalize the investigation and prosecutorial system are said to be underway, police investigations remain fraught with delays and impediments. Until now, no single perpetrator is yet to be held accountable for human rights violations, and the government has done little to discipline the erring members of its security forces.

The Oplan Bayanihan which adopted a paradigm shift by the military from the combat-focused approach it used in the past to a human security or “people-centered” approach aims at least in paper to give greater attention to the needs of the citizens and the effects of military operations in the communities instead of pursuing armed rebels. But the continuing military presence and abuses on the ground in many provinces make it quite difficult to ascertain when Oplan Bantay Laya ends and Oplan Bayanihan begins. One can only think that this new security plan is no different from the other, except perhaps for a different name.

I believe that the promised change of daang matuwid (straight path) of the Aquino administration can’t be achieved without the guarantee of respect to human rights and dignity and ending impunity.

It is about time for President Aquino to walk the talk.

The straight path where he envisions of leading the nation should be a road that guarantees human rights for all.

But if it is a path where there are people who are only extra-legally killed or forcibly disappeared, subjugated by repressive laws, mired by poverty and ignorance, it will surely lead the nation to nowhere but doom.

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