The Freedom from Debt Coalition today criticized Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. for floating the idea of imposing the presidential veto power over the decision of the House of Representatives to slash by P17.8 billion the foreign debt service appropriation in the 2008 national government budget.
FDC president Ana Maria R. Nemenzo said the “signal about what action [Malacañang] might take” sent by Secretary Andaya last Thursday is not only a threat to the independence and integrity of the Congress, but also a violation of the rights of the people to enjoy the taxes they pay through better and quality social and economic services.
“The statement of Secretary Andaya is an insult to the Congress and the beneficiaries of these debt service cuts—the taxpayers,” stressed Nemenzo, adding that the budget secretary is “either playing dumb or fooling the public.”
FDC criticized Secretary Andaya for saying that the reallocation of any cuts from interest payment would translate into additional spending and calling it “unconstitutional.”
“What is he talking about? Both the Senate and the House of Representatives maintained the total 2008 national government budget of P1.227 trillion. There is no additional spending, only re-channeling of funds from bloated foreign debt service pegged at a very high exchange rate to essential services,” said Nemenzo.
The debt watchdog explained that if the government considers pegging the peso-dollar exchange rate at a more realistic level of P42 to a dollar, striking-out interest payments for proposed loans not covered by automatic appropriations law on debt servicing worth P5.1 billion, and suspending interest payments for illegitimate debts ranging from P4 to P6 billion, then there will be enough funds for basic and higher education, health care, environment and agriculture.
“We have identified more than P21-billion foreign debt service-related budget as a feasible and additional source of financing for social and economic services,” stressed Nemenzo.
Malacañang’s proposed foreign debt service budget is pegged at P46 - P48 to a dollar.
For his part, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Nene" Q. Pimentel, Jr. issued a challenge to Congress Friday “to muster its political will to repeal the moribund martial law decree on automatic appropriation for debt payments to remove legal doubts whenever the legislature decides to reduce the debt service allocation in the annual budget.”
He debunked the Palace's argument that the country's credit-worthiness will be shattered if the automatic appropriation law for debt payments, as embodied in Presidential Decree 1177 issued by the late President Ferdinand Marcos, will be rescinded. PD 117 is now part of Section 26 (b) Book 6 of the Revised Administrative Code of 1987.
"Mr. Marcos is long gone. And yet, we continue to adhere to this kind of an imposition on the theory that we cannot borrow anymore if we do away with the law on automatic repayment of our debt," he said.
"That is not necessarily correct. The capacity of the country to pay is the primary consideration why lenders would extend to us loans that we need, and we have to justify the loans from time to time," Pimentel said.
FDC’s Nemenzo agreed with Pimentel, saying that Congress should fight to reclaim its “power of the purse” from the executive branch.
“The warning issued by Secretary Andaya is an indication that the executive department does not respect the independence of both Houses of Congress. The need to reclaim that power from a perceived ‘most corrupt’ president is very urgent,” said Nemenzo.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Friday, December 21, 2007
Pimentel bats for repeal of auto-appropriation to end recurrent feud on debt-service cut
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Nene" Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today challenged Congress to muster its political will to repeal the moribund martial law decree on automatic appropriation for debt payments to remove legal doubts whenever the legislature decides to reduce the debt service allocation in the annual budget.
Pimentel issued the challenge in the face of a warning from Malacañang that the P17.8 billion slash in the P295.75 billion allocation for interest payments made by the House of Representatives would result in "illegal" increase in the 2008 national budget submitted by the executive branch. The Senate has scaled down the cut to only P5.7 billi on.
He debunked the Palace's argument that the country's credit-worthiness will be shattered if the automatic appropriation law for debt payments, as embodied in Presidential Decree 1177 issued by the late President Ferdinand Marcos, will be rescinded.
"Mr. Marcos is long gone. And yet, we continue to adhere to this kind of an imposition on the theory that we cannot borrow anymore if we do away with the law on automatic repayment of our debt," he said.
"That is not necessarily correct. The capacity of the country to pay is the primary consideration why lenders would extend to us loans that we need, and we have to justify the loans from time to time," Pimentel said.
Pimentel said he is in favor of pruning down the debt service allocation - which makes up the bulk of the 2008 national budget - to realign the funds to social and economic services, as well as research and development but not to fatten the pork barrel of lawmakers.
The Senate minority bloc has called for the beefing up by P20 billion the funding for social and economic services next year, including education, health, agriculture, environment and science and technology.
Pimentel said the government should not tolerate anymore the atrocious situation where it has to pay a gargantuan P624.09 billion in total debt payments next year - consisting of P295.75 billion for interest payments (about 24.1 percent of the national budget) and P328.34 billion (in so-called off-budget expenditures) for principal amortization.
He pointed out that PD 1177 was used by Mr. Marcos to make debt service automatic under martial law conditions when there was no Congress to speak of.
"And so for heaven's sake, we have gotten rid of Marcos in 1986. But up to now, we are still bound by such authoritarian ways. These are no longer valid and cannot be justified under present circumstances, considering not only the fact that we have a Congress but also considering the social and economic situation of the country," the minority leader said.
Pimentel manifested full support for a Senate resolution filed by Sen. Pia Cayetano calling for the reexamination loans that do not seem to have benefited the people.
Upon the recommendation of the finance committee, chaired by Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, the Senate has restored P12.1 billion of the P17.8 billion cut in the debt service (interest payments) made by the House to provide "legroom" for the payment of interest on questionable or fraudulent loans.
But Pimentel said there seems to be no basis for the apprehension that the government will renege on the repayment for tainted loans because the debt service fund is bloated.
Of the P295.75 billion budget for interest payments, P186.67 billion is for domestic debts and P109.07 billion is for foreign debts.
The P1.227 trillion budget was computed on the assumption of a P53 to $1 exchange rate although the current exchange rate is below P42 to the US dollar. Monetary and banking authorities have projected the peso will further appreciate in the coming months.
Citing data from the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC), Pimentel said the reduction of interest payments by adjusting the exchange rate to a more realistic level, and by suspending payments for proposed program project loans "would already account for as much as P18.85 billion debt service reduction, about a billion pesos more than the P17.8 billion reduction by the House of Representatives."
"Surely, this is more than enough to cover for interest payments for illegitimate debts should negotiation and/or debt condonation fail," the FDC said.
Pimentel issued the challenge in the face of a warning from Malacañang that the P17.8 billion slash in the P295.75 billion allocation for interest payments made by the House of Representatives would result in "illegal" increase in the 2008 national budget submitted by the executive branch. The Senate has scaled down the cut to only P5.7 billi on.
He debunked the Palace's argument that the country's credit-worthiness will be shattered if the automatic appropriation law for debt payments, as embodied in Presidential Decree 1177 issued by the late President Ferdinand Marcos, will be rescinded.
"Mr. Marcos is long gone. And yet, we continue to adhere to this kind of an imposition on the theory that we cannot borrow anymore if we do away with the law on automatic repayment of our debt," he said.
"That is not necessarily correct. The capacity of the country to pay is the primary consideration why lenders would extend to us loans that we need, and we have to justify the loans from time to time," Pimentel said.
Pimentel said he is in favor of pruning down the debt service allocation - which makes up the bulk of the 2008 national budget - to realign the funds to social and economic services, as well as research and development but not to fatten the pork barrel of lawmakers.
The Senate minority bloc has called for the beefing up by P20 billion the funding for social and economic services next year, including education, health, agriculture, environment and science and technology.
Pimentel said the government should not tolerate anymore the atrocious situation where it has to pay a gargantuan P624.09 billion in total debt payments next year - consisting of P295.75 billion for interest payments (about 24.1 percent of the national budget) and P328.34 billion (in so-called off-budget expenditures) for principal amortization.
He pointed out that PD 1177 was used by Mr. Marcos to make debt service automatic under martial law conditions when there was no Congress to speak of.
"And so for heaven's sake, we have gotten rid of Marcos in 1986. But up to now, we are still bound by such authoritarian ways. These are no longer valid and cannot be justified under present circumstances, considering not only the fact that we have a Congress but also considering the social and economic situation of the country," the minority leader said.
Pimentel manifested full support for a Senate resolution filed by Sen. Pia Cayetano calling for the reexamination loans that do not seem to have benefited the people.
Upon the recommendation of the finance committee, chaired by Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, the Senate has restored P12.1 billion of the P17.8 billion cut in the debt service (interest payments) made by the House to provide "legroom" for the payment of interest on questionable or fraudulent loans.
But Pimentel said there seems to be no basis for the apprehension that the government will renege on the repayment for tainted loans because the debt service fund is bloated.
Of the P295.75 billion budget for interest payments, P186.67 billion is for domestic debts and P109.07 billion is for foreign debts.
The P1.227 trillion budget was computed on the assumption of a P53 to $1 exchange rate although the current exchange rate is below P42 to the US dollar. Monetary and banking authorities have projected the peso will further appreciate in the coming months.
Citing data from the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC), Pimentel said the reduction of interest payments by adjusting the exchange rate to a more realistic level, and by suspending payments for proposed program project loans "would already account for as much as P18.85 billion debt service reduction, about a billion pesos more than the P17.8 billion reduction by the House of Representatives."
"Surely, this is more than enough to cover for interest payments for illegitimate debts should negotiation and/or debt condonation fail," the FDC said.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
US lobbied against the cheaper medicines bill
Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros revealed today that the US Trade Representative actively lobbied against the Cheaper Medicines bill, condemning in the strongest terms the intervention of the US in a purely sovereign affair. "They ought to be reminded that the Philippines is not a colony of the US," Rep. Hontiveros said.
She said that the United States, in a position paper circulated to the members of the Committee on Trade and Industry, warned that the Philippines would be going against the trend in US free trade agreements with other countries if the bill is approved.
"We obtained a copy of a position paper that was reportedly circulated to the members of the Committee on Trade and Industry. Predictably, the Office of the US Trade Representative echoed the position of multinational pharmaceutical companies. They don't want a stricter definition of patentability to protect the monopoly of big pharmaceutical companies," Rep. Hontiveros said. "They also want to limit the government use of compulsory licensing."
She also slammed the warning that the bill is contrary to the interests of the US in its FTAs with other countries. "This is a clear connivance between multinational pharmaceutical companies and the US government. They are using the US-RP FTA, which is still being negotiated under the US-RP bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), as their trump card," Rep. Hontiveros revealed.
She expressed relief that Congress stood its ground and retained the provisions amending the IPC amendments. "So far, the IP Code amendments, the clear target of the pharmaceutical companies, are intact in the version approved on 2nd Reading," Rep. Hontiveros said.
However, she cautioned that there is still a possibility that the killer amendments would be resurrected during the bi-cameral conference meeting. "They could be re-introduced again during the bi-cameral conference meeting. We should therefore be vigilant, since the pharmas could deliver a Trojan horse to the bi-cameral conference meeting," Rep. Hontiveros warned.
Replace EPIRA with a pro-people power reform law!
As the House of Representatives continues its plenary deliberation on the proposed amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), as contained in substitute House Bill 3124, members of Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) staged a picket today to demand the repeal and replacement of the 2001 power sector privatization and restructuring law with a pro-people power industry reform law.
FDC criticized the “misguided focus” of the House energy committee, chaired by Pampanga Rep. Mickey Arroyo, on lowering the privatization target for Napocor assets from 70 per cent to just 50 per cent in order to accelerate open access and retail competition, stressing that the proposed amendment does not address the basic problems besetting the power industry – high electricity rates and still increasing power-sector restructuring related debts.
The coalition also criticized the presidential son for lying when he introduced HB 3124 at the plenary on December 12, saying that his committee consulted FDC.
“We were never consulted by the Lower House Committee on Energy on this bill. In fact, we were requesting the committee that we be invited to speak before the committee to share our position on the pending bills amending EPIRA. We were told that there are five committee hearings scheduled, the fifth being the schedule for the civil society,” said FDC secretary general Milo Tanchuling.
“We were surprised when we heard that the Committee had already made its report after two hearings,” added Tanchuling.
FDC believes that accelerating open access under the present condition where the power plants are owned by few entities will still not lead to so-called competition envisioned by the government to reduce electricity rates, citing the unresolved price manipulations that happened at the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) last year.
According to FDC’s study, “accelerating privatization will not prevent price manipulation from happening again as these fail to consider the inherent design of WESM’s trading activity as the main stimulus for market collusion. The potential for implicit collusion through repeated interaction in hourly electricity auction is widely recognized among experts. The WESM practice of announcing its demand forecasts in advance of hourly auctions enables generators to bid strategically by learning the bidding strategies of other bidders. Even at 100 per cent privatization of generating capacity, trading firms in the spot market still have the incentive to coordinate their production and pricing activities to increase their collective and individual profits by restricting market output and raising the market price.”
From only about P5/kWh in 2001, power rates have now risen to about P8.50/kWh to P9/kWh for Metro Manila residential consumers, while rates have been increasing as well in other areas. Meanwhile, industrial electricity rates in the country are now the highest in Asia.
Contrary to the promises of EPIRA six years ago, consumers and taxpayers as well continue to be burdened with high power rates, rising government/NPC debts, and still inefficient, unreliable electricity service.
The power industry needs serious reforms. Unfortunately, the proposed amendments still miss to address this.
The coalition calls for democratization of access, ownership, and control in the industry such as having people-owned and managed generation and distribution utilities; complete halt to the privatization of the transmission sector and generation plants using natural resources; and prohibition of cross ownership between generation, distribution and supply.
Junk HB 3124! Repeal and Replace EPIRA with pro-people power industry reform law!
FDC criticized the “misguided focus” of the House energy committee, chaired by Pampanga Rep. Mickey Arroyo, on lowering the privatization target for Napocor assets from 70 per cent to just 50 per cent in order to accelerate open access and retail competition, stressing that the proposed amendment does not address the basic problems besetting the power industry – high electricity rates and still increasing power-sector restructuring related debts.
The coalition also criticized the presidential son for lying when he introduced HB 3124 at the plenary on December 12, saying that his committee consulted FDC.
“We were never consulted by the Lower House Committee on Energy on this bill. In fact, we were requesting the committee that we be invited to speak before the committee to share our position on the pending bills amending EPIRA. We were told that there are five committee hearings scheduled, the fifth being the schedule for the civil society,” said FDC secretary general Milo Tanchuling.
“We were surprised when we heard that the Committee had already made its report after two hearings,” added Tanchuling.
FDC believes that accelerating open access under the present condition where the power plants are owned by few entities will still not lead to so-called competition envisioned by the government to reduce electricity rates, citing the unresolved price manipulations that happened at the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) last year.
According to FDC’s study, “accelerating privatization will not prevent price manipulation from happening again as these fail to consider the inherent design of WESM’s trading activity as the main stimulus for market collusion. The potential for implicit collusion through repeated interaction in hourly electricity auction is widely recognized among experts. The WESM practice of announcing its demand forecasts in advance of hourly auctions enables generators to bid strategically by learning the bidding strategies of other bidders. Even at 100 per cent privatization of generating capacity, trading firms in the spot market still have the incentive to coordinate their production and pricing activities to increase their collective and individual profits by restricting market output and raising the market price.”
From only about P5/kWh in 2001, power rates have now risen to about P8.50/kWh to P9/kWh for Metro Manila residential consumers, while rates have been increasing as well in other areas. Meanwhile, industrial electricity rates in the country are now the highest in Asia.
Contrary to the promises of EPIRA six years ago, consumers and taxpayers as well continue to be burdened with high power rates, rising government/NPC debts, and still inefficient, unreliable electricity service.
The power industry needs serious reforms. Unfortunately, the proposed amendments still miss to address this.
The coalition calls for democratization of access, ownership, and control in the industry such as having people-owned and managed generation and distribution utilities; complete halt to the privatization of the transmission sector and generation plants using natural resources; and prohibition of cross ownership between generation, distribution and supply.
Junk HB 3124! Repeal and Replace EPIRA with pro-people power industry reform law!
Bali: A Missed Opportunity
Statement of Dr. Walden Bello*, President of the Freedom from Debt Coalition
The gap between the urgent threat of global warming and the collective will to do something about it has never been greater. The recently concluded Conference on Climate Change in Bali was a grand opportunity to act. Instead, it was another missed opportunity. Unfortunately, the United States played a very negative role, standing in the way of consensus at every turn. And unfortunately, the rest of the world thought that seducing the US into a new agreement on climate action was top priority, resulting in a Bali Roadmap that was very sketchy.
A Roadmap to Anywhere
The US was brought back to the fold, but at the cost of excising from the final document--the so-called Bali Roadmap--any reference to the need for a 25 to 40 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2020 to keep the mean global temperature increase to 2.0 to 2.4 degrees Celsius in the 21st century.
Reference to quantitative figures was reduced to a footnote referring readers to some pages in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007 Report which simply enumerate several climate stabilization scenarios. The alternative scenarios ranged from a 2.0 to 2.4 degree rise in temperature to a 4.9 to 6.1 degree increase. This prompted one civil society participant to remark that the “Bali roadmap is a roadmap to anywhere.”
A few days after the new agreement was forged, many are now having doubts whether on balance, it was positive. Would it have been better to have simply let the US walk out, allowing the rest of the world to forge a strong agreement containing deep mandatory cuts in greenhouse gas emissions on the part of the developed countries? With a new US president with a new policy on climate change at the beginning of 2009, the US would have rejoined a process that would already be moving along with strong binding targets. As it is now, having been part of the Bali consensus, Bush administration negotiators, say skeptics, will be able to continue their obstructionist tactics to further water down global action throughout the negotiations in 2008.
One wonders what would have happened had Washington remained true to its ideological propensities and decided to stomp out of the room when the delegate from Papua New Guinea, releasing the conference’s pent up collective frustration, issued his now historic challenge: “We ask for your leadership and we seek your leadership. If you are not willing to lead, please get out of the way.” As everyone now knows, after last-minute consultations with Washington, the American negotiator backed down from the US’s hard-line position on an Indian amendment seeking the conference’s understanding for the different capacities of developing countries to deal with climate change and said Washington “will go forward and join the consensus.”
Weak Institutional Outcomes
The single-minded focus on getting Washington on board resulted in the dearth of hard obligations agreed upon at the meeting except for the deadline for the negotiating body, the “Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention,” to have its work ready for adoption at the Conference of Parties in Copenhagen in 2009 (COP 15).
Many delegates also felt ambivalent about the institutional arrangements that were agreed upon after nearly two weeks of hard North-South negotiations.
o An Adaptation Fund was set up, but it was put under the administration of the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) of the US-dominated World Bank. Moreover, the seed funds from the developed countries are expected to come to only between $18.6 million to US$37.2 million--sums which are deemed severely inadequate to support the emergency efforts to address the ongoing ravages of climate change in the small island states and others on the “frontlines” of climate change. Oxfam estimates that a minimum of US$50 billion a year will be needed to assist all developing countries adapt to climate change.
o A “strategic program” for technology development and transfer was also approved, again with troubling compromises. The developing countries had initially held out for the mechanism to be a designated a “facility” but finally had to agree to the watered-down characterization of the initiative as a “program” on account of US intransigence. Moreover, the program was also placed under the GEF with no firm levels of funding stated for an enterprise that is expected to cost hundreds of billions of dollars.
o The REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) initiative pushed by host Indonesia and several other developing countries with large forests that are being cut down rapidly was adopted. The idea is to get the developed world to channel money to these countries, via aid or market mechanisms, to maintain these forests as carbon sinks. However, many climate activists fear that indigenous communities will simply be victimized by predatory private interests that will position themselves to become the main recipients of the funds raised.
Big Business Roars in
In this connection, Bali will be remembered as the climate change conference where business came in in a big way. A significant number of the side events focused on market solutions to the greenhouse gas (GHG) problem such as emissions trading arrangements. Under such schemes, GHG intensive countries can “offset” their emissions by paying non-GHG intensive countries to forego pollution-intensive activities, with the market serving as the mediator. Shell and other big-time polluters have been making the rounds touting the market as the prime solution to the climate crisis, a position that articulates well with the US position against mandatory emission cuts set by government.
Climate change activists have been appalled and stunned by the business takeover of the climate change discourse. According to them, the carbon market was originally a very minor part of the architecture of climate architecture, one that climate activists agreed to in order to get the US on board the Kyoto express. Well, the US did not get on board, and we are now stuck with carbon markets driving the process since the corporations have found that there is money to be made from climate change. Many climate activists worry that carbon trading will merely allow polluters in the North to keep on polluting while allowing private interests in the South to displace smallholders so they can set up unmonitored and unregulated tree plantations that are supposed to absorb carbon dioxide.
The Philippines at the Frontlines of Global Warming
The Philippines, we learned at Bali, is on the frontlines of climate change. In a study released at the meeting, the institute Germanwatch claimed that the Philippines was the country most negatively affected by climate-related disasters in 2006. Measured on a “climate risk index” derived from four indicators—total number of deaths, deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, absolute losses in millions of US$ purchasing power parity, and losses per unit of GDP—the Philippines topped North Korea, Indonesia, and Vietnam. When we talk about the people dying from the recent spate of supertyphoons like Millenio, let us be clear that we are talking about victims of climate change. When we talk about people being displaced or uprooted from their homes, we are talking about environmental refugees, as much refugees as people in Tuvalu and Bougainville who are forced to flee their lands on account of sea-level rise. We are no longer talking about the usual ravages of a normal typhoon season. We as a people are at the frontlines of global warming.
A National Response to Climate Change
The many dimensions of the climate crisis in the Philippines still need to be understood. We are sure, however, that many of the preemptive and adaptive measures needed to protect our people will cost billions of dollars. If what we saw in Bali is any indication, money on this scale is not likely to come from the North in the form of aid. We have to raise it from our own resources. Climate change is one more reason why we need to radically reduce the massive outflow of financial resources to our creditors and channeling it to solutions to national problems. More than ever, we must act to drastically write down the foreign debt.
Radically scaling down our debt is, however, but one aspect of a broader response. Let me conclude by saying that climate change is fast emerging as the greatest challenge to our generation, for even as we prepare for it, we must also make sure that our country develops so we can eliminate poverty. Poverty can never be a solution to the climate crisis. The ultimate solution is a pattern of development that is both sustainable and equitable. A transition to a low-growth, low-carbon economy where people’s standards of living have also risen is possible. But it will only be possible if equity is at the center of development. Thus climate change is both a crisis and an opportunity—an opportunity to overcome the structural obstacles to social equality and genuine democracy.
*Walden Bello is President of Freedom from Debt Coalition. He is also a Professor of Sociology at the University of the Philippines and senior analyst at the Bangkok-based research and advocacy institute Focus on the Global South. He attended the Bali Conference on Climate Change as a civil society participant.
The gap between the urgent threat of global warming and the collective will to do something about it has never been greater. The recently concluded Conference on Climate Change in Bali was a grand opportunity to act. Instead, it was another missed opportunity. Unfortunately, the United States played a very negative role, standing in the way of consensus at every turn. And unfortunately, the rest of the world thought that seducing the US into a new agreement on climate action was top priority, resulting in a Bali Roadmap that was very sketchy.
A Roadmap to Anywhere
The US was brought back to the fold, but at the cost of excising from the final document--the so-called Bali Roadmap--any reference to the need for a 25 to 40 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2020 to keep the mean global temperature increase to 2.0 to 2.4 degrees Celsius in the 21st century.
Reference to quantitative figures was reduced to a footnote referring readers to some pages in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007 Report which simply enumerate several climate stabilization scenarios. The alternative scenarios ranged from a 2.0 to 2.4 degree rise in temperature to a 4.9 to 6.1 degree increase. This prompted one civil society participant to remark that the “Bali roadmap is a roadmap to anywhere.”
A few days after the new agreement was forged, many are now having doubts whether on balance, it was positive. Would it have been better to have simply let the US walk out, allowing the rest of the world to forge a strong agreement containing deep mandatory cuts in greenhouse gas emissions on the part of the developed countries? With a new US president with a new policy on climate change at the beginning of 2009, the US would have rejoined a process that would already be moving along with strong binding targets. As it is now, having been part of the Bali consensus, Bush administration negotiators, say skeptics, will be able to continue their obstructionist tactics to further water down global action throughout the negotiations in 2008.
One wonders what would have happened had Washington remained true to its ideological propensities and decided to stomp out of the room when the delegate from Papua New Guinea, releasing the conference’s pent up collective frustration, issued his now historic challenge: “We ask for your leadership and we seek your leadership. If you are not willing to lead, please get out of the way.” As everyone now knows, after last-minute consultations with Washington, the American negotiator backed down from the US’s hard-line position on an Indian amendment seeking the conference’s understanding for the different capacities of developing countries to deal with climate change and said Washington “will go forward and join the consensus.”
Weak Institutional Outcomes
The single-minded focus on getting Washington on board resulted in the dearth of hard obligations agreed upon at the meeting except for the deadline for the negotiating body, the “Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention,” to have its work ready for adoption at the Conference of Parties in Copenhagen in 2009 (COP 15).
Many delegates also felt ambivalent about the institutional arrangements that were agreed upon after nearly two weeks of hard North-South negotiations.
o An Adaptation Fund was set up, but it was put under the administration of the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) of the US-dominated World Bank. Moreover, the seed funds from the developed countries are expected to come to only between $18.6 million to US$37.2 million--sums which are deemed severely inadequate to support the emergency efforts to address the ongoing ravages of climate change in the small island states and others on the “frontlines” of climate change. Oxfam estimates that a minimum of US$50 billion a year will be needed to assist all developing countries adapt to climate change.
o A “strategic program” for technology development and transfer was also approved, again with troubling compromises. The developing countries had initially held out for the mechanism to be a designated a “facility” but finally had to agree to the watered-down characterization of the initiative as a “program” on account of US intransigence. Moreover, the program was also placed under the GEF with no firm levels of funding stated for an enterprise that is expected to cost hundreds of billions of dollars.
o The REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) initiative pushed by host Indonesia and several other developing countries with large forests that are being cut down rapidly was adopted. The idea is to get the developed world to channel money to these countries, via aid or market mechanisms, to maintain these forests as carbon sinks. However, many climate activists fear that indigenous communities will simply be victimized by predatory private interests that will position themselves to become the main recipients of the funds raised.
Big Business Roars in
In this connection, Bali will be remembered as the climate change conference where business came in in a big way. A significant number of the side events focused on market solutions to the greenhouse gas (GHG) problem such as emissions trading arrangements. Under such schemes, GHG intensive countries can “offset” their emissions by paying non-GHG intensive countries to forego pollution-intensive activities, with the market serving as the mediator. Shell and other big-time polluters have been making the rounds touting the market as the prime solution to the climate crisis, a position that articulates well with the US position against mandatory emission cuts set by government.
Climate change activists have been appalled and stunned by the business takeover of the climate change discourse. According to them, the carbon market was originally a very minor part of the architecture of climate architecture, one that climate activists agreed to in order to get the US on board the Kyoto express. Well, the US did not get on board, and we are now stuck with carbon markets driving the process since the corporations have found that there is money to be made from climate change. Many climate activists worry that carbon trading will merely allow polluters in the North to keep on polluting while allowing private interests in the South to displace smallholders so they can set up unmonitored and unregulated tree plantations that are supposed to absorb carbon dioxide.
The Philippines at the Frontlines of Global Warming
The Philippines, we learned at Bali, is on the frontlines of climate change. In a study released at the meeting, the institute Germanwatch claimed that the Philippines was the country most negatively affected by climate-related disasters in 2006. Measured on a “climate risk index” derived from four indicators—total number of deaths, deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, absolute losses in millions of US$ purchasing power parity, and losses per unit of GDP—the Philippines topped North Korea, Indonesia, and Vietnam. When we talk about the people dying from the recent spate of supertyphoons like Millenio, let us be clear that we are talking about victims of climate change. When we talk about people being displaced or uprooted from their homes, we are talking about environmental refugees, as much refugees as people in Tuvalu and Bougainville who are forced to flee their lands on account of sea-level rise. We are no longer talking about the usual ravages of a normal typhoon season. We as a people are at the frontlines of global warming.
A National Response to Climate Change
The many dimensions of the climate crisis in the Philippines still need to be understood. We are sure, however, that many of the preemptive and adaptive measures needed to protect our people will cost billions of dollars. If what we saw in Bali is any indication, money on this scale is not likely to come from the North in the form of aid. We have to raise it from our own resources. Climate change is one more reason why we need to radically reduce the massive outflow of financial resources to our creditors and channeling it to solutions to national problems. More than ever, we must act to drastically write down the foreign debt.
Radically scaling down our debt is, however, but one aspect of a broader response. Let me conclude by saying that climate change is fast emerging as the greatest challenge to our generation, for even as we prepare for it, we must also make sure that our country develops so we can eliminate poverty. Poverty can never be a solution to the climate crisis. The ultimate solution is a pattern of development that is both sustainable and equitable. A transition to a low-growth, low-carbon economy where people’s standards of living have also risen is possible. But it will only be possible if equity is at the center of development. Thus climate change is both a crisis and an opportunity—an opportunity to overcome the structural obstacles to social equality and genuine democracy.
*Walden Bello is President of Freedom from Debt Coalition. He is also a Professor of Sociology at the University of the Philippines and senior analyst at the Bangkok-based research and advocacy institute Focus on the Global South. He attended the Bali Conference on Climate Change as a civil society participant.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Civil society serenades legislators, seeks P20 billion budget increase for social expenditures in Budget Bicam meet
Civil society organizations belonging to Alternative Budget Initiative (ABI) serenade today the Congressional bicameral committee to seriously consider in the deliberations of the 2008 budget the proposal to allocate P20 billion more for social expenditures and reduce debt payments.
Wearing Santa hats, the group sings their demands to the tune of Filipino Christmas songs demanding more funds for education, health, environment and agriculture while appealing for transparency on the deliberation of the General Appropriations Act of 2008.
ABI, composed of forty eight civil society groups led by Social Watch, urges the bicameral committee to tap P80 billion worth of funds as alternative sources of financing. It includes P21 billion worth of debt-related funds identified by the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) from:
· P12. 5 billion savings out of a more realistic exchange rate of P 42 to a dollar, instead of Malacanang's bloated P 48 to a dollar forecast.
· P 5.1 billion from "payments" of proposed loans for programs, projects and bonds which are not covered by Section 26 (b) book 6 of the Revised Administrative Code of 1987 which provides for the automatic appropriations on debt servicing.
· P 4 billion worth of suspended payments to illegitimate debts which are challenged to be fraudulent, wasteful and useless.
Prof. Leonor Magtolis Briones, Co-convenor of Social Watch asks Congress to use another P 60 billion worth of funds designated for the repair and purchase of helicopters and other air transportation requirement under the Office of the President and other budget items found to be vulnerable to presidential discretion and difficult to exact accountability and transparency.
"The bicameral committee also known as the "third House" should craft the budget with the interest of the people on top of their concern. The public will not have the opportunity to take part in the process but the results of their deliberation will affect the lives of millions of Filipinos," said
Briones said the meeting will be exclusive to the legislators and the outcome of the meeting should be reported to the people.
The bicameral committee starts its deliberation today to reconcile the versions of the House and Senate of the General Appropriations Act.
"Measures to reduce poverty may be dangerously sacrificed to achieve the government's projection of achieving a balanced budget. We have seen in 2007 that a balanced budget can be attained not by improved tax revenue collection but by aggressive privatization of our country's assets and under spending on social expenditures, " said Briones.
Around P7.6 B of the House of Representatives' General Appropriations Bill (GAB) can be traced to the P20B ABI budget proposal for health, education, environment and agriculture.
"The amount is still very low and the Senate's move to disregard the House version of the appropriations bill and revert back to the original proposal of the Executive was more unfortunate, " said Briones.
Social Watch earlier criticized the Senate's P4B cut in the House-approved appropriation for health and the Senate's allocation of P5 million for seedling banks to "reforest" the highways while disregarding the environment groups' proposal to provide funding for community-based forestry program.
The group also proposed to scrap the subsidy allocation for hybrid rice amounting to P450 million and use this fund to support organic agriculture. The Senators questioned the cost-efficiency of the hybrid rice program at the height of the investigation of the agriculture fund scam during the deliberation of the 2007 agriculture budget. Former Senate President Franklin Drilon advised the agriculture department that 2007 should be the last year of subsidy for hybrid rice.
The civil society group urges the Senate to remove this subsidy and instead allocate P158 million for the promotion of organic farming to cash-strapped farmers who can not afford high cost of input in chemical farming.
Wearing Santa hats, the group sings their demands to the tune of Filipino Christmas songs demanding more funds for education, health, environment and agriculture while appealing for transparency on the deliberation of the General Appropriations Act of 2008.
ABI, composed of forty eight civil society groups led by Social Watch, urges the bicameral committee to tap P80 billion worth of funds as alternative sources of financing. It includes P21 billion worth of debt-related funds identified by the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) from:
· P12. 5 billion savings out of a more realistic exchange rate of P 42 to a dollar, instead of Malacanang's bloated P 48 to a dollar forecast.
· P 5.1 billion from "payments" of proposed loans for programs, projects and bonds which are not covered by Section 26 (b) book 6 of the Revised Administrative Code of 1987 which provides for the automatic appropriations on debt servicing.
· P 4 billion worth of suspended payments to illegitimate debts which are challenged to be fraudulent, wasteful and useless.
Prof. Leonor Magtolis Briones, Co-convenor of Social Watch asks Congress to use another P 60 billion worth of funds designated for the repair and purchase of helicopters and other air transportation requirement under the Office of the President and other budget items found to be vulnerable to presidential discretion and difficult to exact accountability and transparency.
"The bicameral committee also known as the "third House" should craft the budget with the interest of the people on top of their concern. The public will not have the opportunity to take part in the process but the results of their deliberation will affect the lives of millions of Filipinos," said
Briones said the meeting will be exclusive to the legislators and the outcome of the meeting should be reported to the people.
The bicameral committee starts its deliberation today to reconcile the versions of the House and Senate of the General Appropriations Act.
"Measures to reduce poverty may be dangerously sacrificed to achieve the government's projection of achieving a balanced budget. We have seen in 2007 that a balanced budget can be attained not by improved tax revenue collection but by aggressive privatization of our country's assets and under spending on social expenditures, " said Briones.
Around P7.6 B of the House of Representatives' General Appropriations Bill (GAB) can be traced to the P20B ABI budget proposal for health, education, environment and agriculture.
"The amount is still very low and the Senate's move to disregard the House version of the appropriations bill and revert back to the original proposal of the Executive was more unfortunate, " said Briones.
Social Watch earlier criticized the Senate's P4B cut in the House-approved appropriation for health and the Senate's allocation of P5 million for seedling banks to "reforest" the highways while disregarding the environment groups' proposal to provide funding for community-based forestry program.
The group also proposed to scrap the subsidy allocation for hybrid rice amounting to P450 million and use this fund to support organic agriculture. The Senators questioned the cost-efficiency of the hybrid rice program at the height of the investigation of the agriculture fund scam during the deliberation of the 2007 agriculture budget. Former Senate President Franklin Drilon advised the agriculture department that 2007 should be the last year of subsidy for hybrid rice.
The civil society group urges the Senate to remove this subsidy and instead allocate P158 million for the promotion of organic farming to cash-strapped farmers who can not afford high cost of input in chemical farming.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Debt-watch group wants P21 billion debt service turned to social services
The Freedom from Debt Coalition today urged the members of the bicameral conference committee to reallocate P21-billion worth of foreign debt service-related budget to social services as the Senate and House of Representatives meet on Monday to thresh out their differences in their respective versions of the 2008 national government budget.
In a proposal submitted to Senate finance committee chair Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile and House appropriations committee chair Rep. Edcel Lagman, FDC has identified three feasible sources of financing that would address the proposal of civil society groups comprising the Alternative Budget Initiative consortium of P20-billion additional allocations for essential services.
FDC president Ana Maria R. Nemenzo stressed that if the legislators consider pegging the peso-dollar exchange rate at a more realistic level, striking-out interest payments for proposed loans, and suspending interest payments for illegitimate debts, then there will be enough funds for basic and higher education, health care, environment and agriculture.
"If the legislators peg the exchange rate at P42 to a dollar, instead of the Malacañang's proposal of P48 to a dollar, then we could save P12.5 billion in interest payments," said Nemenzo.
"In addition, since proposed loans for programs, projects and bonds are not covered by Section 26 (b) Book 6 of the Revised Administrative Code of 1987 or the automatic appropriations law on debt servicing (formerly PD 1177), there is P5.1 billion worth of funds the legislators can reallocate to essential services," said Nemenzo.
The debt watchdog likewise appealed to Senator Enrile and Representative Lagman to keep their promise by maintaining the special provision in the budget bill stressing that "no amount shall be used for the payment of interest payments on debts which are challenged as fraudulent, wasteful and/or useless, like but not limited" to what FDC labeled as illegitimate debts. These loans include the Austria Medical Waste Project, Small Coconut Farms Development Project (SCFDP), Telepono sa Barangay Project, among others.
"If they keep their promise, we are looking at P4 – 6 billion worth of interest payments for illegitimate debts that can be re-channeled to our people's needs," said Nemenzo.
"With P21.26-billion debt service-related budget at the minimum, we have more than enough funds to finance the P20-billion proposal of the Alternative Budget Initiative consortium in augmenting the measly allocations for social services," Nemenzo said.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Quentin Tarantino wears Filipino Barong in Golden Globe Awards nominations
It could have been great Barong marketing event only if Director Quentin Tarantino wore the Barong (Filipino formal men's wear)in the Golden Globe Awards nominations Thursday in Beverly Hilton, Los Angeles in the same manner when he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Cinemanila in the Philippines which was handed to her by Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last August in Malacañang.
Tarantino got caught by flooded Manila which he rode a pedicab just to arrive in time to receive the award. His pants all wet (no pun intended) because of heavy rains, he changed by wearing a black jogging pants because no available pants of his size then when he arrived in Malacañang Palace to receive the award.
More photos of Tarantino wearing Barong in Golden Globe Awards nominations, and of course the list of nominees.
BSP: Warning to the public against e-mail scams
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas today warned the public against e-mail messages claiming the recipient is the beneficiary of $10 million and asks the recipient to disclose personal information.
Please beware as this comes from a syndicate using the name of our central bank and our governor to gain information that could be used possibly for fraudulent activities. We request you therefore to disregard this spurious message and to warn your family and friends against this scam.
For the record, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is not in the business of safekeeping money or gold or other valuables for private individuals.
For the record, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is not in the business of safekeeping money or gold or other valuables for private individuals.
The BSP through the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) has solicited the help of several international agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States to track down, stop, and possibly prosecute its perpetrators.
If you receive e-mail messages of this nature, please report this immediately to the BSP at Tel. No. 523-4832, fax no. 523-6210 or to the AMLC at 523-4421 or 536-7358.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
TRANSCO bid winner favors close Malacanang ally
Debt watchdog Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) tagged the recently concluded bidding for the 25-year concession contract to operate the National Transmission Corporation (Transco) a “lutong macao.”
The consortium of Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp. submitted the highest offer of $3.95 billion to operate the country's power grid, outbidding San Miguel Energy which tabled a bid of $3.905 billion.
“We are not surprised that Macapagal-Razon won the bidding because of the alleged closeness to Malacañang not only of these people from Monte Oro Grid Resources, but also of the Chinese government through Monte Oro’s partner State Grid Corporation of China,” said FDC outgoing president Ana Maria R. Nemenzo.
Walter Brown of Monte Oro Grid Resources, the so-called Filipino company partner of State Grid Corporation of China, is reportedly affiliated with Diosdado “Buboy” Macapagal, the brother of Gloria Arroyo. Meanwhile, Enrique Razon, a known close ally of Gloria Arroyo, served as treasurer of the administration Team Unity in the May senatorial elections.
“We doubt that a real bidding process took place,” Nemenzo added.
FDC explained that the result is expected to be in favor of Macapagal-Razon of Monte Oro Grid Resources since it turned out that of the four “qualified” bidders only two proceeded with the bid.
The two final bidders were the consortium of State Grid Corporation of China and Monte Oro Grid Resources and the San Miguel Energy Corp. and TPG Aurora B.V.
Two Rivers Pacific Holdings Corporation and its partner Terna-Rete Electtrica Nazionale S.P.A. did not participate in the final bidding while the consortium of Citadel Holdings Inc. and Power Grid Corp of India Ltd. reportedly backed out Tuesday.
“We suspect that Two Rivers did not participate in the bidding because of the serious issues we raised that it has not met the 60 per cent Filipino ownership requirement,” said Nemenzo.
“We also understand that some quarters are raising possible violation by San Miguel Energy Corp. of the cross-ownership provision of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA). Allowing such company to participate in the bidding puts the credibility and integrity of the pre-qualification and the actual bidding in question,” Nemenzo added.
Reportedly, subsidiaries of San Miguel Energy – San Miguel Corp. Bacolod, San Miguel Mills Inc. Batangas, and San Miguel Packaging Specialists Inc., are either generation or distribution companies or customers of Transco.
The consortium of Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp. submitted the highest offer of $3.95 billion to operate the country's power grid, outbidding San Miguel Energy which tabled a bid of $3.905 billion.
“We are not surprised that Macapagal-Razon won the bidding because of the alleged closeness to Malacañang not only of these people from Monte Oro Grid Resources, but also of the Chinese government through Monte Oro’s partner State Grid Corporation of China,” said FDC outgoing president Ana Maria R. Nemenzo.
Walter Brown of Monte Oro Grid Resources, the so-called Filipino company partner of State Grid Corporation of China, is reportedly affiliated with Diosdado “Buboy” Macapagal, the brother of Gloria Arroyo. Meanwhile, Enrique Razon, a known close ally of Gloria Arroyo, served as treasurer of the administration Team Unity in the May senatorial elections.
“We doubt that a real bidding process took place,” Nemenzo added.
FDC explained that the result is expected to be in favor of Macapagal-Razon of Monte Oro Grid Resources since it turned out that of the four “qualified” bidders only two proceeded with the bid.
The two final bidders were the consortium of State Grid Corporation of China and Monte Oro Grid Resources and the San Miguel Energy Corp. and TPG Aurora B.V.
Two Rivers Pacific Holdings Corporation and its partner Terna-Rete Electtrica Nazionale S.P.A. did not participate in the final bidding while the consortium of Citadel Holdings Inc. and Power Grid Corp of India Ltd. reportedly backed out Tuesday.
“We suspect that Two Rivers did not participate in the bidding because of the serious issues we raised that it has not met the 60 per cent Filipino ownership requirement,” said Nemenzo.
“We also understand that some quarters are raising possible violation by San Miguel Energy Corp. of the cross-ownership provision of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA). Allowing such company to participate in the bidding puts the credibility and integrity of the pre-qualification and the actual bidding in question,” Nemenzo added.
Reportedly, subsidiaries of San Miguel Energy – San Miguel Corp. Bacolod, San Miguel Mills Inc. Batangas, and San Miguel Packaging Specialists Inc., are either generation or distribution companies or customers of Transco.
TRANSCO bid winner favors close Malacanang ally
Debt watchdog Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) tagged the recently concluded bidding for the 25-year concession contract to operate the National Transmission Corporation (Transco) a “lutong macao.”
The consortium of Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp. submitted the highest offer of $3.95 billion to operate the country's power grid, outbidding San Miguel Energy which tabled a bid of $3.905 billion.
“We are not surprised that Macapagal-Razon won the bidding because of the alleged closeness to Malacañang not only of these people from Monte Oro Grid Resources, but also of the Chinese government through Monte Oro’s partner State Grid Corporation of China,” said FDC outgoing president Ana Maria R. Nemenzo.
Walter Brown of Monte Oro Grid Resources, the so-called Filipino company partner of State Grid Corporation of China, is reportedly affiliated with Diosdado “Buboy” Macapagal, the brother of Gloria Arroyo. Meanwhile, Enrique Razon, a known close ally of Gloria Arroyo, served as treasurer of the administration Team Unity in the May senatorial elections.
“We doubt that a real bidding process took place,” Nemenzo added.
FDC explained that the result is expected to be in favor of Macapagal-Razon of Monte Oro Grid Resources since it turned out that of the four “qualified” bidders only two proceeded with the bid.
The two final bidders were the consortium of State Grid Corporation of China and Monte Oro Grid Resources and the San Miguel Energy Corp. and TPG Aurora B.V.
Two Rivers Pacific Holdings Corporation and its partner Terna-Rete Electtrica Nazionale S.P.A. did not participate in the final bidding while the consortium of Citadel Holdings Inc. and Power Grid Corp of India Ltd. reportedly backed out Tuesday.
“We suspect that Two Rivers did not participate in the bidding because of the serious issues we raised that it has not met the 60 per cent Filipino ownership requirement,” said Nemenzo.
“We also understand that some quarters are raising possible violation by San Miguel Energy Corp. of the cross-ownership provision of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA). Allowing such company to participate in the bidding puts the credibility and integrity of the pre-qualification and the actual bidding in question,” Nemenzo added.
Reportedly, subsidiaries of San Miguel Energy – San Miguel Corp. Bacolod, San Miguel Mills Inc. Batangas, and San Miguel Packaging Specialists Inc., are either generation or distribution companies or customers of Transco.
The consortium of Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp. submitted the highest offer of $3.95 billion to operate the country's power grid, outbidding San Miguel Energy which tabled a bid of $3.905 billion.
“We are not surprised that Macapagal-Razon won the bidding because of the alleged closeness to Malacañang not only of these people from Monte Oro Grid Resources, but also of the Chinese government through Monte Oro’s partner State Grid Corporation of China,” said FDC outgoing president Ana Maria R. Nemenzo.
Walter Brown of Monte Oro Grid Resources, the so-called Filipino company partner of State Grid Corporation of China, is reportedly affiliated with Diosdado “Buboy” Macapagal, the brother of Gloria Arroyo. Meanwhile, Enrique Razon, a known close ally of Gloria Arroyo, served as treasurer of the administration Team Unity in the May senatorial elections.
“We doubt that a real bidding process took place,” Nemenzo added.
FDC explained that the result is expected to be in favor of Macapagal-Razon of Monte Oro Grid Resources since it turned out that of the four “qualified” bidders only two proceeded with the bid.
The two final bidders were the consortium of State Grid Corporation of China and Monte Oro Grid Resources and the San Miguel Energy Corp. and TPG Aurora B.V.
Two Rivers Pacific Holdings Corporation and its partner Terna-Rete Electtrica Nazionale S.P.A. did not participate in the final bidding while the consortium of Citadel Holdings Inc. and Power Grid Corp of India Ltd. reportedly backed out Tuesday.
“We suspect that Two Rivers did not participate in the bidding because of the serious issues we raised that it has not met the 60 per cent Filipino ownership requirement,” said Nemenzo.
“We also understand that some quarters are raising possible violation by San Miguel Energy Corp. of the cross-ownership provision of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA). Allowing such company to participate in the bidding puts the credibility and integrity of the pre-qualification and the actual bidding in question,” Nemenzo added.
Reportedly, subsidiaries of San Miguel Energy – San Miguel Corp. Bacolod, San Miguel Mills Inc. Batangas, and San Miguel Packaging Specialists Inc., are either generation or distribution companies or customers of Transco.
Power consumer groups urge government to stop Transco privatization
Stressing that public interest is at stake, electricity consumer groups Freedom from Debt Coalition and EmPOWER Consumers today staged a rally in front of the Power Sector Assets & Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) office in Makati City to oppose the bidding of the operation of the country’s “crown jewel”—the National Transmission Corporation (Transco).
The groups asserted that as a natural monopoly and as the biggest public utility, Transco is imbued with public interest. Thus, it must remain in the public sphere and held by public hands.
FDC president Ana Maria R. Nemenzo said: “The Filipino people will be at the losing end if the government pushes through with the privatization of Transco. We can be held hostage by whoever will operate Transco as it will literally have the “power” and control in the flow of electricity in the country.”
“Moreover, the government could potentially lose some P123 billion to P249 billion if it relinquishes the operation of Transco to the private sector. As a monopoly and with operations covering the entire country, Transco surely rakes in handsome revenues for the government. It can earn P375 billion for 25 years with its annual income of P15 billion while it will only earn P126 billion ($1=P42) if the concession contract is bid at $3 billion or P252 billion if bid at $6 billion,” Nemenzo explained.
“It is no wonder why many big businesses and influential families, including the family of President Gloria Arroyo, are interested to acquire the 25-year concession agreement to operate and maintain the $3-billion crown jewel of the government,” she stressed.
Walter Brown of Monte Oro Grid Resources, the so-called Filipino company partner of State Grid Corporation of China, is reportedly affiliated with Diosdado “Buboy” Macapagal Arroyo, the brother of Gloria Arroyo.
“Worse, with Transco privatization, it is not just simply transferring the monopoly/control of this strategic utility from the government to private. It may be transferring the control to the switchboard from the Philippine government to the foreign government like the State Grid Corporation of China or foreign companies,” said Nemenzo.
Together with the National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms, FDC has also urged PSALM to stop the bidding as one of the “qualified” bidders, Two Rivers Pacific Corporation (“Two Rivers”), does not meet the minimum of 60 per cent Filipino ownership required by law for companies that will be operating a public utility such as Transco.
“This questions the credibility of the bidding process, particularly the due diligence conducted by PSALM,” said Nemenzo.
Based on documents secured by the two groups, Two Rivers is 99.995 per cent owned by Metro Pacific Investment Corp. (MPIC) wherein Metro Pacific Holdings, Inc. (MPHI) has an equity interest of 92.83 per cent. Further, First Pacific Company Limited (“First Pacific”), a Hong Kong-listed company, appears to have 100 per cent ownership in Metro Pacific Holdings, Inc. (MPHI). Thus, Two Rivers is more than 90 per cent foreign-owned.
The groups also found out that even another subscriber to Two Rivers, the Pilipinas First Transmission Holdings Corporation, claimed by SEC to have 60 per cent ownership in Transco appears to be also foreign-owned.
Two Rivers is supposedly the “Filipino” partner of Italy's Terna-Rete Electtrica Nazionale S.P.A. Other qualified bidders are San Miguel Energy Corp, a unit of food and drinks group San Miguel Corp. and TPG Aurora B.V. and the consortium of Citadel Holdings Inc. and Power Grid Corp of India Ltd.
Under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), Transco will be privatized by way of an outright sale or concession contract. The latter mode of privatization was the one approved by the Joint Congressional Power Commission (JCPC).
The groups asserted that as a natural monopoly and as the biggest public utility, Transco is imbued with public interest. Thus, it must remain in the public sphere and held by public hands.
FDC president Ana Maria R. Nemenzo said: “The Filipino people will be at the losing end if the government pushes through with the privatization of Transco. We can be held hostage by whoever will operate Transco as it will literally have the “power” and control in the flow of electricity in the country.”
“Moreover, the government could potentially lose some P123 billion to P249 billion if it relinquishes the operation of Transco to the private sector. As a monopoly and with operations covering the entire country, Transco surely rakes in handsome revenues for the government. It can earn P375 billion for 25 years with its annual income of P15 billion while it will only earn P126 billion ($1=P42) if the concession contract is bid at $3 billion or P252 billion if bid at $6 billion,” Nemenzo explained.
“It is no wonder why many big businesses and influential families, including the family of President Gloria Arroyo, are interested to acquire the 25-year concession agreement to operate and maintain the $3-billion crown jewel of the government,” she stressed.
Walter Brown of Monte Oro Grid Resources, the so-called Filipino company partner of State Grid Corporation of China, is reportedly affiliated with Diosdado “Buboy” Macapagal Arroyo, the brother of Gloria Arroyo.
“Worse, with Transco privatization, it is not just simply transferring the monopoly/control of this strategic utility from the government to private. It may be transferring the control to the switchboard from the Philippine government to the foreign government like the State Grid Corporation of China or foreign companies,” said Nemenzo.
Together with the National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms, FDC has also urged PSALM to stop the bidding as one of the “qualified” bidders, Two Rivers Pacific Corporation (“Two Rivers”), does not meet the minimum of 60 per cent Filipino ownership required by law for companies that will be operating a public utility such as Transco.
“This questions the credibility of the bidding process, particularly the due diligence conducted by PSALM,” said Nemenzo.
Based on documents secured by the two groups, Two Rivers is 99.995 per cent owned by Metro Pacific Investment Corp. (MPIC) wherein Metro Pacific Holdings, Inc. (MPHI) has an equity interest of 92.83 per cent. Further, First Pacific Company Limited (“First Pacific”), a Hong Kong-listed company, appears to have 100 per cent ownership in Metro Pacific Holdings, Inc. (MPHI). Thus, Two Rivers is more than 90 per cent foreign-owned.
The groups also found out that even another subscriber to Two Rivers, the Pilipinas First Transmission Holdings Corporation, claimed by SEC to have 60 per cent ownership in Transco appears to be also foreign-owned.
Two Rivers is supposedly the “Filipino” partner of Italy's Terna-Rete Electtrica Nazionale S.P.A. Other qualified bidders are San Miguel Energy Corp, a unit of food and drinks group San Miguel Corp. and TPG Aurora B.V. and the consortium of Citadel Holdings Inc. and Power Grid Corp of India Ltd.
Under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), Transco will be privatized by way of an outright sale or concession contract. The latter mode of privatization was the one approved by the Joint Congressional Power Commission (JCPC).
Water rights advocates stage protest against Manila Water’s P14/cu. m. rate hike
Members of Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) and Progresibong Alyansa ng Tagatangkilik ng Tubig sa Kamaynilaan (PATTAK) brought holiday gift packages and Christmas lanterns as symbols of their protest against Manila Water Company Inc.’s proposal to increase rates by P14/cu. m. starting January 1, 2008.
“This has always been the concessionaires’ gift to us – business driven interests, thus leading to unabated rate increases. Their ambitious service projections, and other contentious areas within their rate proposal, should not be passed on to consumers, regardless of the holiday season,” said FDC campaigner Obet Belandres.
On December 4, 2007, FDC submitted a nine-page position paper to Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage Services- Regulatory Office (MWSS-RO), stressing that the proposed rate hike is unjust and should not be imposed upon the consumers of the Metro Manila East Zone.
MWCI is currently exercising a rate rebasing which aims to review past and future expenditures and adjust water rates. This is pursuant to the Concession Agreement signed by the government and the private companies that won the bid for the East and West Zone concession—MWCI and Maynilad Water Services Inc, respectively.
The groups stressed that water, next to air, is vital for human survival and therefore, access to water is one of the most basic human rights. “It is injustice to the people to be deprived of this right because of high rate as a consequence of the full cost recovery mechanism that private water concessionaires seek and that the MWSS-RO allows,” they added.
“Aside from questionable service projections in their rate increase proposal, Manila Water has always been maximizing ways and mechanisms to profit from their service area, East Zone. One of these is the income tax holiday that they acquired until the year 2006, not to mention other collecting mechanisms such as the Extra-ordinary Price Adjustment (EPA) and Currency Exchange Rate Adjustment (CERA),” Belandres said.
FDC has vowed to continue exposing and opposing any means 0f the concessionaires to pass on unjust water rate increases to consumers and violations on the human right to water in the upcoming days, putting emphasis on popular education to expose the concessionaires’ profit-driven actions.
“This has always been the concessionaires’ gift to us – business driven interests, thus leading to unabated rate increases. Their ambitious service projections, and other contentious areas within their rate proposal, should not be passed on to consumers, regardless of the holiday season,” said FDC campaigner Obet Belandres.
On December 4, 2007, FDC submitted a nine-page position paper to Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage Services- Regulatory Office (MWSS-RO), stressing that the proposed rate hike is unjust and should not be imposed upon the consumers of the Metro Manila East Zone.
MWCI is currently exercising a rate rebasing which aims to review past and future expenditures and adjust water rates. This is pursuant to the Concession Agreement signed by the government and the private companies that won the bid for the East and West Zone concession—MWCI and Maynilad Water Services Inc, respectively.
The groups stressed that water, next to air, is vital for human survival and therefore, access to water is one of the most basic human rights. “It is injustice to the people to be deprived of this right because of high rate as a consequence of the full cost recovery mechanism that private water concessionaires seek and that the MWSS-RO allows,” they added.
“Aside from questionable service projections in their rate increase proposal, Manila Water has always been maximizing ways and mechanisms to profit from their service area, East Zone. One of these is the income tax holiday that they acquired until the year 2006, not to mention other collecting mechanisms such as the Extra-ordinary Price Adjustment (EPA) and Currency Exchange Rate Adjustment (CERA),” Belandres said.
FDC has vowed to continue exposing and opposing any means 0f the concessionaires to pass on unjust water rate increases to consumers and violations on the human right to water in the upcoming days, putting emphasis on popular education to expose the concessionaires’ profit-driven actions.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Group wants to restore House’s special provision on debt service
Stressing there is enough legroom for debt renegotiation.
The Freedom from Debt Coalition today welcomed the decision of Senate finance committee chair Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile to restore the Lower House's special provision in the 2008 national government budget suspending interest payments for questionable and fraudulent loans "pending renegotiation and/or condonation."
FDC president Ana Maria R. Nemenzo said the Senate move is a step in the right direction, but is not enough to provide more funds for essential services like education and health.
"These essential services deserve even greater attention and increases this time considering that they have been deprived of adequate support in the past years," said Nemenzo.
The special provision stipulated in the House approved budget bill stressed that "no amount shall be used for the payment of interest payments on debts which are challenged as fraudulent, wasteful and/or useless, like but not limited" to what FDC labeled as illegitimate debts. These loans include the Austria Medical Waste Project, Small Coconut Farms Development Project (SCFDP), Telepono sa Barangay Project, among others.
Earlier, FDC expressed its serious disappointment over the decision of Senator Enrile to restore P12.1-billion worth of repayments for questionable loans and slash P4.2 billion from the House approved budget for health services in the Senate version of the 2008 national government budget.
House Bill No. 2454 was praised for taking bold steps in addressing debt service payments and earmarking an additional P17.8 billion for important social services like education and health. This amount was sourced from more than P6 billion worth of savings as a consequence of a favorable US dollar exchange rate and about P11 billion worth of suspended interest payments for debts challenged by FDC as illegitimate.
The Senate, however, restored these cuts "to provide more legroom for the payment of interest on so-called tainted or fraudulent loans" and identified P5.7 billion worth of savings from favorable foreign exchange rate.
"Contrary to Senator Enrile's fear, there is enough legroom for renegotiation if both the Senate and House of Representatives peg the peso-dollar assumption at a more realistic rate and if they stop the arbitrary allocation of interest payments for proposed loans and projects. In fact, we are talking of P18.86-billion worth of legroom here, more than enough of the P17.8-billion House cut," stressed Nemenzo.
She explained that the executive branch allotted $2.27 billion as interest payments for foreign debts, pegging its assumption of the peso-dollar exchange rate at $1=P48, while the Lower House at $1=P45 resulting in P6.8 billion in reduction.
"If we peg the peso-dollar exchange rate at $1=P42, then we will have P13.8 billion in savings," Nemenzo said.
Further, the government earmarked $40.25 million as interest payments for proposed program loans and $75 million for proposed bonds next year. It also allocated $5.26 billion for proposed project loans with interest payments.
"All in all, we would be paying $120.5 million or P5.06 billion (at $1=P42) for interest payments for these proposed loans alone. These interest payments can possibly be stricken out together with interest payments for illegitimate debts because it is not covered by the automatic appropriations provision, which only mandates automatic appropriation for existing, not future or planned, obligations," said Nemenzo.
Top 10 Internet/Email Scams
Top 10 Internet Scams
1) The Nigerian scam, also known as 419
Most of you have received an email from a member of a Nigerian family with wealth. It is a desperate cry for help in getting a very large sum of money out of the country. A common variation is a woman in Africa who claimed that her husband had died, and that she wanted to leave millions of dollars of his estate to a good business.
In every variation, the scammer is promising obscenely large payments for small unskilled tasks. This scam, like most scams, is too good to be true. Yet people still fall for this money transfer con game.
They will use your emotions and willingness to help against you. They will promise you a large cut of their business or family fortune.
All you are asked to do is cover the endless legal and other fees that must be paid to the people that can release the scammer's money.
The more you are willing to pay, the more they will try to suck out of your wallet. You will never see any of the promised money, because there isn't any. And the worst thing is, this scam is not even new; its variant dates back to 1920s when it was known as 'The Spanish Prisoner' con.
2) Advanced fees paid for a guaranteed loan or credit card
If you are thinking about applying for a "pre-approved" loan or a credit card that charges an up-front fee, ask yourself: "why would a bank do that?". These scams are obvious to people who take time to scrutinize the offer.
Remember: reputable credit card companies do charge an annual fee but it is applied to the balance of the card, never at the sign-up. Furthermore, if you legitimately clear your credit balance each month, a legitimate bank will often wave the annual fee.
As for these incredible, pre-approved loans for a half-a-million dollar homes: use your common sense. These people do not know you or your credit situation, yet they are willing to offer massive credit limits.
Sadly, a percentage of all the recipients of their "amazing" offer will take the bait and pay the up-front fee.
If only one in every thousand people fall for this scam, the scammers still win several hundred dollars. Alas, far too many victims, pressured by financial problems, willingly step into this con man's trap.
3) Lottery scams
Most of us dream of hitting it big, quitting our jobs and retiring while still young enough to enjoy the fine things in life. Chances are you will receive at least one intriguing email from someone saying that you did indeed win a huge amount of money. The visions of a dream home, fabulous vacation, or other expensive goodies you could now afford with ease, could make you forget that you have never ever entered this lottery in the first place.
This scam will usually come in the form of a conventional email message. It will inform you that you won millions of dollars and congratulate you repeatedly. The catch: before you can collect your "winnings", you must pay the "processing" fee of several thousands of dollars.
Stop! The moment the bad guys cash your money order, you lose.
Once you realize you have been suckered into paying $3000 to a con man, they are long gone with your money. Do not fall for this lottery scam.
4) Phishing emails and phony web pages
This is the most widespread Internet and email scam today. It is a "sting" con game. "Phishing" is identity and password theft based on convincing emails and web pages. These emails and web pages resemble legitimate credit authorities like Citibank, eBay, or Paypal. They frighten or entice you into visiting a phony web page and entering your ID and password. Commonly, the guise is an urgent need to "confirm your identity". They will even offer you a story of how your account has been attacked by hackers to lure you into entering your confidential information.
The email message will require you to click on a link. But instead of leading you to the real login https: site, they will to a fake website. The fake website is often very convincing looking.
You then innocently enter your ID and password. This information is intercepted by the scammers, who later access your account and fleece you for several hundred dollars.
This phishing con , like all cons, depends on people believing the legitimacy or their emails and web pages. Because it was born out of hacking techniques, "fishing" is stylistically spelled "phishing" by hackers.
Tip: the beginning of the link address should have https://. Phishing fakes will just have http:// (no"s" . If still in doubt, make a phone call to the financial institution to verify if the email is legit. In the meantime, never click on the link in any suspicious email.
5) Items for sale overpayment scam
This one involves an item you might have listed for sale such as a car, truck or some other expensive item. The scammer finds your ad and sends you an email offering to pay much more than your asking price. The reason for overpayment is supposedly related to the international fees to ship the car overseas. In return, you are to send him the car and the cash for the difference.
The money order you receive looks real so you deposit it into your account. In a couple of days (or the time it takes to clear) your bank informs you the money order was fake and demands you pay that amount back immediately.
In most documented versions of this money order scam, the money order was indeed an authentic document, but it was never authorized by the bank it was stolen from.
In the case of cashier's checks, it is usually a convincing forgery. You have now lost the car, the cash you sent with the car, and you owe a hefty sum of money to your bank to cover for the bad money order or the fake cashier's check.
6) Employment scam
You have posted your resume, with at least some personal data accessible by potential employers, on a legitimate employment site. You receive a job offer to become a "financial representative" of an overseas company you have never even heard of before. The reason they want to hire you is that this company has problems accepting money from US customers and they need you to handle those payments. You will be paid 5 to 15 percent commission per transaction.
If you apply, you will provide the scammer with your personal data, such as bank account information, so you can "get paid". Instead, you will experience some, or all, of the following:
* identity theft,
* money stolen from your account, or
* may receive fake checks or money orders for payments which you deposit into your account but must send 85 â€" 95 percent of that to your "employer".
* money stolen from your account, or
* may receive fake checks or money orders for payments which you deposit into your account but must send 85 â€" 95 percent of that to your "employer".
Soon you will owe much money to your bank!
In other instance, you will receive an unsolicited e-mail message from a "multinational company" congratulating you for being selected for a specific job. The e-mail contains details about the "hiring company", the positions needed, and a very enticing compensation package.
You will be asked to send money through Western Union as processing fee or reservation fee.
7) Disaster relief scams
What do 9-11, Tsunami and Katrina have in common? These are all disasters, tragic events where people die, lose their loved ones, or everything they have. In times like these, good people pull together to help the survivors in any way they can, including online donations. Scammers set up fake charity websites and steal the money donated to the victims of disasters.
If your request for donation came via email, there is a chance of it being a phishing attempt. Do not click on the link in the email and volunteer your bank account or credit card information.
Your best bet is to contact the recognized charitable organization directly by phone or their website.
8) Travel scams
These scams are most active during the summer months. You receive an email with the offer to get amazingly low fares to some exotic destination but you must book it today or the offer expires that evening. If you call, you'll find out the travel is free but the hotel rates are highly overpriced.
Some can offer you rock-bottom prices but hide certain high fees until you 'sign on the dotted line'. Others, in order to give you the 'free' something, will make you sit through a timeshare pitch at the destination. Still others can just take your money and deliver nothing.
Also, getting your refund, should you decide to cancel, is usually a lost cause, often called a nightmare or mission-impossible.
Your best strategy is to book your trip in person, through a reputable travel agency or proven legitimate online service like Travelocity or Expedia.
9) "Make Money Fast" chain emails
A classic pyramid scheme: you get an email with a list of names, you are asked to send 5 dollars (or so) by mail to the person whose name is at the top of the list, add your own name to the bottom, and forward the updated list to a number of other people.
The author of this scam letter painstakingly explains that, if more and more people join this chain, when it's your turn to receive the money, you might even become a millionaire!
Bear in mind that, most times, the list of names is manipulated to keep the top name (the creator of the scam, or his friends) on top, permanently.
As with the previously circulating snail-mail version of this chain, the email edition is just as illegal. Should you choose to participate, you risk being charged with fraud â€" definitely not something you want on your record, or resume.
10) "Turn Your Computer Into a Money-Making Machine!"
Although not a full blown scam, this scheme works as follows: You send someone money for instructions on where to go and what to download and install on your computer to turn it into a money-making machine -- for spammers.
At sign-up, you get a unique ID and you have to give them your PayPal account information for the "big money' deposits you'll soon be receiving. The program that you are supposed to run, sometimes 24/7, opens multiple ad windows, repeatedly, thus generating per-click revenue for spammers.
In other scenario, your ID is limited to a certain number of page clicks per day. In order to make any money whatsoever from this scheme, you are pretty much forced to scam the spammers by hiding your real IP address with Internet proxy services such as "findnot", so you can make more page clicks.
"MAIL FROM JOHN" - Scam email
Scam email
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, December 10, 2007 5:35 PM
Subject: MAIL FROM JOHN
I got your contact address from Internet website.
My name is JOHN MALIK, son of late marketing chairperson of Sierra Leone diamond marketing board, who was killed by the rebel, Mr. Sigistmund Malik but late now. I am 23 yrs.
I am in Ghana as a refugee, seeking your assistance to help me, received my own inheritance, that my late father allotted to me, the sum of $15m
for investment in your country. THESE FUNDS ARE MY OWN INHERITANCE.
Upon your interest, I will provide you with THE LEGAL DOCUMENTS COVERING THE FUNDS AND TOO, MY ID. I will offer you, 20% of the total value of the funds, for your kind assistances, which you will render to me.
Thank you and God bless you, REPLY SOON.
Best regard,
JOHN
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"PLEASE ASSIST" - another scam email
Scam email
----- Original Message -----
From: MRS. ZUMA LINDIWE
Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2007 3:07 PM
Subject: PLEASE ASSIST
| ¡Tengo nueva dirección de correo! |
Ahora puedes escribirme a: zlindiwe05@yahoo.es
- Dear Friend, I am wife of sacked deputy president of South Africa Jacob Zuma. It is out of desperation that i am sending you this mail. My husband and i need your help in fronting for us as owner of funds that are his which might come under investigation soon if the fund's ownership is not changed soonest. As my husband's finances are increasingly becoming the source of investigation by our distractors. The source of these funds which my husband earnings would not validate, will further sink him into the cesspool dug by our enemies. It is because of the dire strait we find ourselves that we resolved to reach you and ask for your assistance in this matter. We are afraid to letting those we know here into this deal because we are no longer sure of who our friends are. You will be handsomely rewarded if you choose to help us in partnership in this deal. I will be expecting to hear from you and will disclose further detail to you upon your response. Please, do well not to disclose the content of this mail to anyone. Best Regards, Mrs Lindiwe Zuma.
- Dear Friend, I am wife of sacked deputy president of South Africa Jacob Zuma. It is out of desperation that i am sending you this mail. My husband and i need your help in fronting for us as owner of funds that are his which might come under investigation soon if the fund's ownership is not changed soonest. As my husband's finances are increasingly becoming the source of investigation by our distractors. The source of these funds which my husband earnings would not validate, will further sink him into the cesspool dug by our enemies. It is because of the dire strait we find ourselves that we resolved to reach you and ask for your assistance in this matter. We are afraid to letting those we know here into this deal because we are no longer sure of who our friends are. You will be handsomely rewarded if you choose to help us in partnership in this deal. I will be expecting to hear from you and will disclose further detail to you upon your response. Please, do well not to disclose the content of this mail to anyone. Best Regards, Mrs Lindiwe Zuma.
Friday, December 7, 2007
Anti-coal group urges LGUs to take action on climate change
The advocacy group Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC-Iloilo) has called the attention of the Provincial and City governments of Iloilo to take a stand on climate change as environmentalists mark December 8 as Global Day of Action Against Climate Change.
The group makes this timely call as Philippine representatives and civil society trooped to Bali, Indonesia, to join world leaders and decision-makers for a new round of negotiations for the formulation of a new framework that will follow the Kyoto Protocol – an agreement signed by nations to address climate change.
Lawyer Romeo Gerochi, FDC-Iloilo's chairperson, cited the November 17 report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which "concluded that climate change is 'unequivocal', meaning its is here and its impact is widely felt – so people and governments from the national down to the local level must take immediate action and institute efforts to counter its impact."
" This is the reason why we are urging both the Provincial and the City governments under the leadership of Mayor Jerry Treñas and Vice-Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog and Governor Niel Tupas, Sr and Vice-Governor Rolex Suplico, respectively, to take immediate action by rejecting the entry of coal-fired power plants in the City and Province of Iloilo, said Gerochi.
The group encouraged the leaders of the Provincial and City government to initiate the passage of an ordinance or resolution similar with the Renewable Energy Bill that redirects energy dependency on fossil fuels and pave way for the full utilization of the abundant renewable energy sources in Panay.
" We are aware the Regional Development Council has passed a resolution for the purpose of harnessing the full potential of indigenous and renewable energy sources in Panay. The Provincial Government through the Provincial Board also voted for the rejection of a 100-MW coal-fired power plant in 2004. These are landmark local initiatives that serve as investments towards a clean future for Panay," stressed Ted Aldwin Ong, the group's secretary-general.
O ng further emphasized, "These initiatives must not be put to waste but rather must be supplemented by more concrete actions in order to showcase that our leaders has a clear vision of the future – a future free from pollution-causing technologies like coal plants."
"The effect of climate change is alarming. In the household level alone, it has manifested through the increasing incidence of asthma attacks among children caused primarily by drastic changes of weather conditions. The stronger and deadlier typhoons each year has hampered women's ability to embark on productive endeavors and affected the smooth operations in the household." declared Joan Silva, coordinator of FDC's women's committee.
Sil va also added that "government cannot continue to neglect the phenomenon that results to climate change. Undeniably, it could kill human beings. In fact, it has caused the death of thousands of women and children in many parts of the globe proving the vulnerability of women and children to climate change."
"We join in the marking of this day in order to raise the awareness of the public on the issue of climate and we echo the calls of environment groups for the passage of the Renewable Energy Bill. The time to act on climate change is now and not tomorrow," concluded FDC.
The group makes this timely call as Philippine representatives and civil society trooped to Bali, Indonesia, to join world leaders and decision-makers for a new round of negotiations for the formulation of a new framework that will follow the Kyoto Protocol – an agreement signed by nations to address climate change.
Lawyer Romeo Gerochi, FDC-Iloilo's chairperson, cited the November 17 report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which "concluded that climate change is 'unequivocal', meaning its is here and its impact is widely felt – so people and governments from the national down to the local level must take immediate action and institute efforts to counter its impact."
" This is the reason why we are urging both the Provincial and the City governments under the leadership of Mayor Jerry Treñas and Vice-Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog and Governor Niel Tupas, Sr and Vice-Governor Rolex Suplico, respectively, to take immediate action by rejecting the entry of coal-fired power plants in the City and Province of Iloilo, said Gerochi.
The group encouraged the leaders of the Provincial and City government to initiate the passage of an ordinance or resolution similar with the Renewable Energy Bill that redirects energy dependency on fossil fuels and pave way for the full utilization of the abundant renewable energy sources in Panay.
" We are aware the Regional Development Council has passed a resolution for the purpose of harnessing the full potential of indigenous and renewable energy sources in Panay. The Provincial Government through the Provincial Board also voted for the rejection of a 100-MW coal-fired power plant in 2004. These are landmark local initiatives that serve as investments towards a clean future for Panay," stressed Ted Aldwin Ong, the group's secretary-general.
O ng further emphasized, "These initiatives must not be put to waste but rather must be supplemented by more concrete actions in order to showcase that our leaders has a clear vision of the future – a future free from pollution-causing technologies like coal plants."
"The effect of climate change is alarming. In the household level alone, it has manifested through the increasing incidence of asthma attacks among children caused primarily by drastic changes of weather conditions. The stronger and deadlier typhoons each year has hampered women's ability to embark on productive endeavors and affected the smooth operations in the household." declared Joan Silva, coordinator of FDC's women's committee.
Sil va also added that "government cannot continue to neglect the phenomenon that results to climate change. Undeniably, it could kill human beings. In fact, it has caused the death of thousands of women and children in many parts of the globe proving the vulnerability of women and children to climate change."
"We join in the marking of this day in order to raise the awareness of the public on the issue of climate and we echo the calls of environment groups for the passage of the Renewable Energy Bill. The time to act on climate change is now and not tomorrow," concluded FDC.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Jennifer Love Hewitt defends her curvy figure
"I've sat by in silence for a long time now about the way women's bodies are constantly scrutinized. To set the record straight, I'm not upset for me, but for all the girls out there that are struggling with their body image." the 28-year-old actress blogs on her Web site.
The photos show Hewitt, with a bit of cellulite, on a Hawaii beach with her new fiance, Scottish actor Ross McCall. Jennifer is defending her curves after photos of her in a bikini were ridiculed on the Internet.
One critic had a caption on her controversial photo, "I know what you ate last summer, everything". Too much publicity ain't bad, anyway what's few fat to burn with come another new movie.
Stop Manila Water’s rate hike petition
The Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) today strongly urged the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage Services- Regulatory Office (MWSS-RO) to stop the P14 per cubic meter rate increase being proposed by the Manila Water Company Inc. (MWCI) beginning January 2008.
In a nine-page position paper signed by outgoing FDC president Ana Maria R. Nemenzo which was submitted to MWSS-RO and MWCI on Tuesday, the group said that the proposed rate hike is unjust and should not be imposed upon the consumers of the Metro Manila East Zone.
"Water, next to air, is vital for human survival. Therefore, access to water is one of the most basic human rights. It is injustice to the people to be deprived of this right because of high rate as a consequence of the full cost recovery mechanism that private water concessionaires seek and that the MWSS-RO allows," FDC said in its position paper.
The rate rebasing exercise aims to review past and future expenditures and adjust water rates. This is pursuant to the Concession Agreement signed by the government and the private companies that won the bid for the East and West Zone concession—MWCI and Maynilad Water Services Inc, respectively.
Among the many points it raised against the proposed water rate hike, the FDC highlighted Manila Water's absence of due diligence and the inclusion of non-existent projects in their projections and targets.
"One of the projects included in the service targets for their first five years was the Wawa Dam project—one of the potential new sources of water at that time to be tapped to increase the volume of water produced for the East Zone. Supposedly, this would also help augment the water pressure and coverage in their concession area as well," FDC said.
"According to Manila Water's first rate rebasing proposal, this project was supposed to be completed by 2003. However, it is almost 2008 and the project has yet to materialize. If Manila Water had included this in their service projections for 2003, then they must have already collected the necessary revenues for this project alone. A comprehensive accounting report for this should have been presented," the group added.
FDC also contended another cause of the "exceedingly high, unjust water rate increase proposal of Manila Water" is the Laiban Dam, in which funds were incurred from a $1 billion Chinese official development assistance (ODA) loan.
"Since Manila Water insists on continuing this project despite the strong opposition from civil society groups and indigenous peoples because of its negative environmental, social and financial costs, we find that there is absence of any due diligence in Manila Water's actions. We also find it necessary that the Laiban Dam project should not be included in the projections because it is after all, non-existent," FDC added.
FDC expressed its concern about the project and forewarned the public and government to treat Laiban Dam with caution and suspicion, citing the country's experience with the ZTE-national broadband network deal, another Chinese-funded ODA loan.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Farmers' group urges PNP to release its leader
Farmers who are camped out in front of the Department of Agrarian Reform office since September this year urge the Philippine National Police for the immediate release of farmer leader Evangeline "Ka" Vangie" Mendoza.
Mendoza was one of the civilians detained by the PNP after Senator Antonio Trillanes and General Danilo Lim walked out of a court hearing and holed up themselves in a Makati hotel last week.
Mendoza, secretary general of Pambanasang Ugnayan ng mga Nagkakaisang Orgnasasyon sa Kanayunan (UNORKA) went with Bishop Emiritus Julio Labayen to the Makati court after learning through a newspaper report that Senator Trillanes will be brought there for hearing. Mendoza would find chance to talk briefly Bishop Labayen and with Senator Trillanes on UNORKA's advocacy in reforming the DAR bureaucracy since the senator heads the Senate Committee on Government Reorganization.
According to UNORKA leaders, they have designated Mendoza to talk with church leaders, particularly the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), House Representatives and Senators, including Trillanes, on issues directly affecting the farmers and food production in the country.
UNORKA farmers are on a deadlock with DAR officials since September this year on agrarian issues affecting its members in particular and the landless farmers in general. Many conflicting policies and inconsistent CARP implementation has angered many pro-CARP extension advocates, including UNORKA, and called for reforms in the DAR bureaucracy.
Mendoza is very much active in defending the rights and welfare of the farmers. She helped in exposing the onerous and unconstitutional terms in the RP-China agreements in agriculture and is also actively advocating against the plantation of Jathropa trees for the biofuel/agrifuel production. Mendoza is also active in the Fair Trade Alliance advocacy against the environment-hazardous Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement or JPEPA.
The PNP and Director General Avelino Razon should allow Ka Vangie Mendoza to continue her advocacy legally and represent the small and landless farmers cause by releasing her unconditionally, UNORKA reiterated.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Magdalo statement on the recent events: Gloria o Pagbabago
With the recent events happening at Manila Peninsula hotel in Makati where Sen. Antonio Trillanes and Gen. Danilo Lim holed up, the Magdalo has issued statement on their website;
Magdalo statement:
Today, we address all and decent Filipinos, to announce that NOW is the time to end the sufferings and miseries inflicted upon us by the illegitimate Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Government and start a new life and a new Philippines.
The die is cast.
Pursuant to our constitutional mandate as "protector of the people and the State," and by this act, the patriotic officers and men of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police, supported by the masses of our people and the various political forces, give substance to the constitutional provision which says, "The Philippines is a democratic and republican state. Sovereignty resides in the people, and all government authority emanates from them." Thus, we take the fateful step of removing Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from the Presidency and undertake the formation of a new government.
Mrs Arroyo had occupied the Presidency under a questionable mandate, publicly disputed by the vast majority of Filipinos. She stole the Presidency from President Joseph Ejercito Estrada through unconstitutional and deceitful means, and later, manipulated the results of the 2004 elections to perpetuate herself in power.
We have individually and collectively tried all means to resolve this legitimacy issue through the normal electoral, judicial and congressional processes. But Mrs Arroyo used naked power through the issuance of EO 464 and other executive proclamations, and the sheer weight of numbers to paralyze the impeachment process—procured at the people's great expense – to frustrate us at every turn.
After all these had failed, our people tried to air their grievances in peaceful street assemblies. They thought they were exercising a combination of constitutional rights, which no official or agency of government may legally abridge. But they were stopped and dispersed violently with water cannons from firemen and truncheons from the police.
The abuses of her government continue. The deliberate refusal or failure of the dubious leaders to investigate and prosecute the people responsible for the scandalous "Hello Garci" electoral cheating, the Jocjoc Bolante multi million peso fertilizer scam, the IMPSA bribery scandal, the "Jose Pidal" and the jueteng scandals involving billions of public funds, the Northrail Project scandal, the Venable contract scandal, the NBN scandal, wholesale bribery of congressmen and governors in Malacanang, as well as the unabated and resolved extrajudicial killings of citizens, particularly journalists and members of the judiciary, and the use of military and police officers for some unlawful missions, among others, are clear proof her failure of good and decent governance. There are numerous illegal and immoral activities and transactions conducted by this government with impunity that betray the citizens and the State of their pristine right to exist as a people with decency, dignity and integrity.
With all the avenues closed by the use of naked force, no other means remain but for the officers and men of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police to exercise their constitutional mandate take the side of the sovereign Filipino people against the illegitimate 'president'.
We beg your indulgence and apologize for any temporary disruptions attendant to fighting this righteous cause. We are confident that the will of the sovereign people will prevail. The end of the corrupt and vicious government and its bogus leaders is long overdue.
We support the political and economic reforms that will be initiated by the new government, regardless of the personal cost it may impose upon each one of us.
We, therefore, call on all our people and all the governments around the world to give the constitutional rescue initiated by our patriotic brothers in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police a chance to work.
To the task of organizing a new government, and pursuing a program of total and no-nonsense reform we commit our full support.
We shall do whatever we can do to prevent any backsliding to the corruption and abuse of power of the immediate past, and advance the cause of truth, freedom, justice, peace and progress for all Filipinos.
God bless the Filipino people, Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!
And the call for people to converge in Makati
THE PEOPLE ARE CALLED UPON TO CONVERGE IN MAKATI TRIANGLE, AYALA AND MAKATI AVENUE NOW TO BRING FORTH A NEW GOVERNMENT!
RISE UP AND BE COUNTED
We presently find in existence a dangerous concept where the armed forces now owe their primary allegiance and loyalty to those who temporarily exercise the authority of the executive branch of the government rather than to the country and the Constitution they have worn to protect.
That is a concept we defy and struggle to eradicate.
If you believe you are a man of will and courage with unselfish motives and brave enough to fight against such tyranny, RISE UP AND BE COUNTED!
Para sa Bayan
(PSB)
Related links:
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Walden Bello heads Manila's anti-debt group
ONE of the fiercest critics of international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and of the current model of economic globalization has been elected as the new president of the Freedom from Debt Coalition during its 10th National Congress held over the weekend in Quezon City.
Intellectual activist Prof. Walden Bello, who teaches sociology and public administration at the University of the Philippines, will be replacing development activist and feminist leader Ana Maria R. Nemenzo, who served six years as its president.
"I believe FDC faces an exciting period in the next three years under Walden's leadership. He brings a clear vision and principled commitment to an urgent task ahead—the need to craft an alternative national economic platform that challenges neo-liberal globalization," Nemenzo said.
In his acceptance speech, Bello stressed that the country's foreign debt today is at its highest level in history.
"We have paid our debts many times over, yet owing to the tyranny of global finance, we will never be able to leave the treadmill of debt repayment if we stick to unfair rules that mainly serve the interests of creditors," he said.
As of August 2007, the national government's foreign debt stood at P1.7 trillion (US$1=PhP46.85). This represents 44 per cent of the total P3.87-trillion national government debt.
He lamented that for the Arroyo government, debt servicing must proceed according to the terms of the creditors because, "in their view, that is the only way to continue to access international capital markets."
"But this is the bankrupt logic that has led to debt being piled on debt. We have not really escaped the infernal logic of contracting new debt to pay off old debt. Meantime, our total debt mounts dangerously and brings us closer to the edge of bankruptcy," warned Bello.
Bello explained that the relationship between debtors and creditors has been altered by several events during the last few years, and this has implications for the Philippines.
He cited the determination of Former Argentinean President Nestor Kirchner who showed the world that his government can take on a country's creditors and come out on top.
"As a result of Kirchner's successful campaign to drastically reduce debt repayments, Argentina has been growing at 10 per cent of GDP for each of the last four years, the result partly of the fact that money that would otherwise leave the country for debt servicing has been channeled into investment in the domestic economy," he said.
The former executive director of Focus on the Global South also explained how the IMF, which used to be the enforcer of the creditors, has become a severely weakened institution today as a result of the bad policies it imposed on Asian countries during the 1997 financial crisis and on Argentina in 2002.
"Some of its biggest borrowers have walked away from it, and since the Fund's budget stemmed in great part from repayments from these borrowers, the IMF is today facing both a crisis of credibility and a budgetary crisis. It is in real trouble," stressed Bello, also the former chair of the board of Greenpeace Southeast Asia.
Unfortunately, Bello said these developments have not registered with the Philippine government.
"[The government's] policies toward its creditors continue to be the old policy of being a 'model debtor' that was initiated by President Corazon Aquino in the 1980's. The conditions for a successful break with the old and the crafting of a new bold policy of unilaterally writing down the Philippine debt are better today than they have ever been," he said.
Bello stressed that in the coming three years, FDC must lead in getting our country towards the path of financial independence, and in the crafting of an alternative financial path that would truly serve the interests of the country.
Bello, who has authored 14 books, wrote Development Debacle: the World Bank in the Philippines (1982) which exposed the support given by IMF and World Bank through loans and grants to former dictator Ferdinand Marcos to remain in power during the Martial Law period. The story goes that 3,000 pages of confidential documents were "smuggled" or secretly taken out of the Bank and were used as the material for the book. The book became an underground bestseller, not only in the Philippines, but also in the development community worldwide.
In 2003, Walden Bello was given the Right Livelihood Award, also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize, "for outstanding efforts in educating civil society about the effects of corporate globalization, and how alternatives to it can be implemented."
The Belgian newspaper Le Soir has called Prof. Bello "the most respected anti-globalization thinker in Asia," while Canadian author Naomi Klein has called him the "world's leading no-nonsense revolutionary."
Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo bags major Famas awards
Kasal movie trailer
"Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo," bags top honors during the 55th Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (Famas) awards show held last Sunday.
Best Actress - Judy Ann Santos
Best Picture - Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo
Best Director - Jose Javier Reyes
Best Theme Song - Hawak Kamay by Yeng Constantino
Best Supporting Actress - Gina Pareno
Best Actor - Cesar Montano for the film Ligalig
Best Supporting Actor - Allen Dizon for the film Twilight Dancers
Tala Santos - Best Child Actress "Inang Yaya"
Christian Luis Singson - Best Child Actor "Barang"
Posthumous Award - Ramon Zamora
Jose Perez Memorial Awards - Ernie Pecho, showbiz reporter
Fernando Poe, Jr award - Rudy Fernandez
Lifetime Achievement awards - director Celso Ad Castillo and Gloria Sevilla
Grand Award - German Moreno
Vito Cajili -Best Editing Award "KKK,"
Jessie Lucas - Best Musical Score "KKK,"
Honestly though, I was short of guessing who will win among the list of nominees . Robert Arevalo and Maricel Soriano or Gina Pareño could have won the Lead actor, actress respectively. As to Joey Reyes as Best Director, ho-hum , not because Kasal was a box office means...
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