Gerry Albert Corpuz presents

This is Gerry Albert Corpuz and this is my life and political journey to the world of class struggle and class emancipation

Two groups slam gov’t plan to hand out Philhealth cards to Sacadas
Another moneymaking scheme, leftwing militants say

Two militant groups on Monday assailed the plan of Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to enroll at least 30,000 sacadas or seasoned employed migratory sugar workers in the government’s Philhealth Indigent Program.

The Philhealth program for seasonal sugar workers will be piloted in Central Luzon, Western Visayas and the Calabarzon areas covering at least 2,250 sacadas.

In a joint press statement, leaders of leftwing groups Unyon ng Mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) and allied group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) lambasted the program as another money making scheme intended to raise funds for the 2007 national elections.

Rene Galang, UMA national chairperson and president of the United Luisita Workers Union (ULWU) said the government wants to make a box-office killing from the compulsory issuance of Philhealth cards to seasonal sugar workers across the country.

“This is a national racket of the regime. Another super scam and crime of corruption in the making,” Galang said.

According to UMA, based on DOLE target of 30,000 enrollees to the Philhealth card program, the government will collect at least P 1,500 at the average from each seasonal sugar worker and that would amount to P 45 million per year. The agricultural workers group said there are 500,000 sugar workers across the country, and if the government strictly imposes this policy then Malacañang and DOLE would earn P 75 B a year from exploited sugar workers across the country.

Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said the 500,000 regular and seasonal sugar workers across the country should expose and oppose the newest syndicate program of Malacañang and the labor department, saying that the Macapagal-Arroyo administration is exploiting the further depressed situation of sugar workers in the country by compelling them to enroll in Philhealth card program and shell out their hard-earned pesos for this grand project of corruption.

“ If the government imposes the Philhealth card program to all seasonal sugar and agricultural workers all over the country the government will stand to gain more or less P 120 billion pesos in total cash from all enrollees and that is a big fortune for the corrupt regime,” Hicap said.

Hicap said in the fisheries sector, there are 250,000 regular and seasonal workers in aquaculture sub-sector and 50,000 seasonal and regular workers in commercial sub-sector. If the government will impose the same kind of policy, the government will collect not less than P 45 B in total Philhealth card fees.

“ The government is supposed to deliver basic primary health care and basic services to the downtrodden people of this country. But here is Mrs. Arroyo going for a giant kill to siphon the last remaining pesos in the pockets of poor people. This is grandslam corruption,” Pamalakaya said.

UMA and Pamalakaya will conduct a massive national campaign on the implications of the Philhealth program of the national government and DOLE. The groups said, they would urge their members all over the country to launch a boycott campaign on the plan of Malacañang to enlist all seasonal agricultural workers across in the Philhealth card program. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 09:21 | link | comments |

Something fishy going on
GMA to hand out fingerlings for 2007 campaign

The fisherfolk activist group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Monday said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will allocate P 887 million for her fisheries program under the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) program in 2007, as part of the P 4.21 B seed fund for agriculture and fisheries projects, representing 22 percent of the proposed DA budget in 2007.

Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said President Arroyo will hand out 170 million tilapia and 150 million milkfish fingerlings and broodstock next year. Part of the package will include the establishment of 137 seaweed nurseries, 39 central and satellite hatcheries nationwide.

“We will contest this unthinkable and mind-boggling allocations of taxpayers money. It seems to us that this part of the preparations for the 2007 polls. The allocations are equally divided for this old boys club, for the boys fund campaign of Mrs. Arroyo,” Hicap added.

The 887 million from the P 4.2 B seed fund next year is 21 percent of the total allocation for GMA program. The other banner programs and their allocations: rice program (P 1.788 B or 42.4%), corn ( P 658 M or 15.6%), high variety seeds ( P 459 M or 10.7%), livestock ( P 430 M or P 10.2%)

The fisheries program under the GMA project in 2007 will also lead the construction and rehabilitation of 8 regional and 7 municipal fish ports, 2 ice plants and cold storages and establishment of new mariculture parks in addition to 28 existing sites across the country.

“Something fishy is going on. It seems to us that the government is up for a fingerling scam in next year’s poll to able to support the candidacy of Mrs. Arroyo’s most favored bets in the May 2007 national elections from senatorial down to municipal mayors,” Hicap said.

Pamalakaya said the release of P 887 million will be timed at least one to two-months ahead of the campaign period, which will start on February 13, 2007 up to May 14, 2007. “ The amount for GMA fisheries program is more than the P 728 million fertilizer scam engineered by the ruling syndicate in Malacañang. Another scam which is bigger the fertilizer scam is in the offing,” the group predicted.

The militant group said aside from fingerlings, the government next year planned to handout 26, 700 bags of hybrid corn, 407,000 bags of hybrid rice and 225,000 bags of certified rice seeds, 32, 500 kilograms of assorted seeds and 4.78 million pieces of planting materials.

“Mrs. Arroyo is planning to keep the political loyalty of opportunist politicians allied with her two parties in Congress in order to control Congress and local government units across the country by showering them with billions of pesos for kick backs and fat commissions that would come from the disbursement of the P 4.21 B next year,” Pamalakaya said.

The militant group said it is supporting the proposal of militant lawmaker Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano for President Arroyo and Malacañang to keep their hands off on the P 4.21 B GMA fund. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 09:20 | link | comments |

Critics call P 31-B defense budget “ death servicing”
Resumption of peace talks with NDF can save P 30-B in tax payers’ money

Leftwing activists belonging to Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Friday slammed the proposed P 31-B in line with the military’s campaign to crush communist insurgency by 2010.

“ It was nothing but a multi-billion peso budget for death servicing. The total war budget proposed by
military generals loyal to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is a budget for political killings and liquidation stunts of the repressive regime.” Pamalakaya information officer Gerry Albert Corpuz said in a press statement.

Defense secretary Atty. Avelino Cruz, during the hearing of the House appropriations committee said the AFP needs P 30.9 B to attain a strategic victory against communist guerillas by year 2010. The amount represents the bulk of the P 49.3 B proposed by the defense department in 2007. This is P 2.45 B or 8.61 percent higher compared to the 2006 budget.

The DND said the increase reflects the AFP’s heightened focus on internal security operations that
would address the need for additional ammunitions, aircraft, armored vehicles and vessel repair and
maintenance.

“Aside from debt servicing, the government’s three-year program beginning 2007 is death servicing,
where taxpayers money would be used in killing people through carpet bombings, political assassinations and across-the-nation intensified campaign of state terror,” Pamalakaya’s Corpuz stressed.

Pamalakaya said the government could spend less than P 1 B in pursuing the peace talks with the communist guerillas and save P 30 billion in tax payers money next year or re-channel the
P 30-B for social services rather than pursue all out war against the communist guerillas. “If the government will resume the peace talks with NDF it would save P 30-B, since it would not buy war materials for one year .All Malacañang has to do is to reactivate the GRP panel, give them jobs, and send them to Norway or The Netherlands to talk peace with Reds,” the militant group said.

Pamalakaya said the corrupt generals in the AFP does not want the peace talks to resume because the P 31-B anti-insurgency budget provides them the opportunity to continue unjust and senseless war and enjoy access to multi-million dollar military contracts with Washington D.C.

“Based on existing 10 percent to 20 percent commission basis on government contracts, the corrupt generals of Mrs. Arroyo in the AFP and defense department are stand to gain at least P 3 billion to P 6 billion pesos in fat commission or kickbacks from military contracts. That’s why Mrs. Arroyo and generals loyal to her prefer to make war rather talk peace,” the militant group.

Pamalakaya said it is illogical for the military establishment to ask for more budget, while at the
same time was asking Congress to pass a legislation setting aside two-thirds of its total budget to
military operations and increasing the defense budget by more than 2 billion pesos.

“They said the military is winning the war and the insurgents are suffering major setbacks over the last
five years. How come they are asking for more? What kind of logic is this? Only criminals and corrupt
people will propose such corruption-driven suggestion,” the group added.

The DND said the strategic victory against the NPA will be achieved over the next three years because communist insurgency’s armed regulars now numbered just fewer than 7,000, down from a high of 12,500 in 2000. The defense department said from 2001 to the present, there has been a decline in the NPA armed strength by about 14 percent a year. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 08:54 | link | comments |

Leftwing group says proposed sale of military camps is a DND blackmail for Congress to approve P 31-B anti-Red fund

The leftwing fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Saturday rejected the proposal Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz Jr. to sell or lease sixteen military camps including the general headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo to raise funds for the AFP Modernization Program.

“It was plain and outrageous blackmail. The Defense chief floated this idea to compel Congress to pass a higher budget for the defense portfolio of Malacañang and approve the proposed P 31-B fund for counter-insurgency in the next three years beginning 2010,” Pamalakaya information officer Gerry Albert Corpuz said in a press statement.

“ Lawmakers should not bite the bait and end up as victims of military drive for corruption and obsession for all-out and senseless war,” Corpuz said.

“ Congress should consider the proposed AFP budget for 2007 a deal proposal and stop the military establishment from selling properties that do not belong to them or the ruling clique in Malacañang. There are many ways how the people could utilize these concentration camps for their well-being and welfare,” he added.

Secretary Cruz on Friday said, defense officials are eyeing on the sale or lease of 16 military camps across the country to enable the armed forces to finance the ambitious AFP Modernization Program. The defense chief had asked Congress to give him the authority to dispose military properties as required under the National Defense Act.

“This is part of the over-all blackmail process. The proposal to sale or lease military properties including the general headquarters was part of the psy war tactics being employed by the national defense syndicate to coerce lawmakers in approving gigantic budgetary requests from the AFP,” Corpuz said.

Pamalakaya said Malacañang and military generals loyal to President Arroyo cannot sell or lease Camp Aguinaldo because this could spark widespread protest from the rank-and-file of AFP, however, the group said the idea was brought out to compel lawmakers from enacting the proposed budget to pressure both chambers of Congress to pass the P 49.3 B budget for DND and AFP in 2007.

The group’s information chief said he does not believe that the defense department was serious in bringing out the idea that sixteen military camps would be sold or leased to private groups to earn money for AFP modernization program, adding that the military will not offer their concentration camps for money making, at least not for the moment.

AFP Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said the 178-hectare Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City could be sold for billions of pesos if the proposal is good. The other military properties up for auction include Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija.

The government had earned billions of pesos from the sale of military properties through the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA), which was responsible for the sale and lease of Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City, Camp John Hay in Baguio City and the former US military bases in Subic and Clark, in Zambales and Pampanga respectively. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 08:53 | link | comments |

CL governors pressed to file human rights violations before UN
Pamalakaya said Army in Hagonoy forcing residents to sign petition requesting troops to stay

The leftwing fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Friday urged Bulacan governor Josie dela Cruz and Nueva Ecija Gov. Thomas Joson III to file cases of human rights violations against military troops before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.

Pamalakaya information officer Gerry Albert Corpuz made the suggestion, a day after parents of 20 teenage boys complained that their sons were manhandled by Army troops belonging to 56th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army in San Miguel, Bulacan and another reported case of bogus mass surrender of 568 people who claimed to be members of the barangay revolutionary committees in at least 11 villages in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija.

“The governors job is to protect people’s rights. We strongly oblige Gov. dela Cruz and Joson to bring the people’s case against the military before the UNHRC to show to their constituents that they are doing their primordial task of upholding their basic human rights and civil liberties and check left-and-right military abuses in their respective area of political jurisdiction and governance,” Corpuz said.

Army soldiers supposedly helping in the anti-illegal drugs campaign allegedly beat up 20 boys in San Miguel, Bulacan. The latest victims, four boys were battered and taken to the hospital for treatment, according to relatives.

In San Jose City, the military rounded up 568 people in 11 villages and presented them as rebel surrenderees or returnees. The mass surrender was facilitated by the police, according to Lt. Col. Joselito Kakilala, commander of the 48th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army.

Corpuz also learned that military troops belonging to Task Force Bulacan are forcing fishermen and residents to sign a petition paper urging troops under Lt. Col. Rogelio Boac to stay in the coastal areas of Hagonoy and nearby municipal fishing areas.

He said the fake petition campaign was launched in at least three coastal barangays of Hagonoy namely San Roque, Mercado and Sagrada, and not less than 500 have already signed the military petition because of fear of military reprisal if they refuse to sign and cooperate.

“ The military is using local barangay officials to compel the people to sign the petition sheet requesting government troops to keep basing and hold military detachments in nursery schools and barangay offices. This is de facto Martial Law, nothing more, nothing else,” the Pamalakaya information officer said.

The militant group said Palparan’s cedula campaign is also being implemented in the coastal areas of Bulacan namely Obando, Bulacan, Malolos, Paombong and Hagonoy. But Pamalakaya said the main concentration of cedula campaign are the coastal city of Malolos and fishing municipalities of Paombong and Hagonoy.

Earlier, Pamalakaya staunch ally Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) filed cases of human rights violations before UNHRC in Geneva, Switzerland against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr. and retired Army Major General Jovito Palparan.

Pamalakaya for its part went on embassy hopping last Monday and distributed primers on political killings to embassy offices of The Netherlands, Norway, Italy, United Kingdom, China, Japan, Australia, Canada, Belgium, Iceland, Denmark, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 08:52 | link | comments |

GMA resignation necessary to avoid military-like Thai coup
Pamalakaya urges lawmakers to sign covenant-telling President to step down

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should step down to avoid any military coup similar to the military takeover staged by military officials opposed to the rule of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the left-leaning fisherfolk alliance and rabid anti-Arroyo group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said in a press statement.

“The resignation of GMA is necessary to prevent a possible military takeover similar to Thai situation or frustrate her from declaring Martial Law with the Thai crisis as political reference in placing this country under an Arroyo authoritarian rule,” said Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap.

Hicap said President Arroyo remains a political magnet for various interests in the military to stage coup attempts. He said the failure of the Arroyo presidency to come clean on charges of widespread corruption, abuse of power, political killings and massive persecution of critics continue to fuel political unrest within the military.

“ The Thai coup might further embolden or inspire the restive military to stage coup against Mrs. Arroyo and establish its own rule if the President continues to ignore calls for her to step down. This is the right time for Mrs. Arroyo to say goodbye to the presidency,” he said.

Pamalakaya said the only way where the Filipino people could allow the military to act is the declaration of the withdrawal of support to President and not the staging of coup and the setting up of military junta, like what happened in Thailand.

“ The military can support the Filipino outrage against Mrs. Arroyo not through military takeover but by massive withdrawal of support in case the people decided to stage another popular revolt against Mrs. Arroyo,” the militant group said.

Early breaking news said the military chief of Thai’s army led the coup against Thaksin and announced it was imposing Martial Law all over the country. All Thai government television and radio stations appeared to be out of government’s control, although the camp of ousted Thai prime minister insisted that Thaksin was still in control of the government.

“We call on President Arroyo to step down to discourage any attempt of military takeover. We don’t want a military junta and the only way to stop it is to compel Mrs. Arroyo to give up her illegally acquired post in the name of national and collective interest of the 86 million Filipinos,” Hicap said.

Pamalakaya urged senators and congressmen to cross party lines and sign a covenant urging Mrs. Arroyo to step down following the military takeover of the Thaksin government and the imposition of Martial Law in Thailand, as the group warned that Senate and the House of Representatives could be abolished if military takeover in the country happens due to Mrs. Arroyo’s refusal to resign.

“ If lawmakers don’t want the two chambers of Congress abolished as a result of a possible military takeover, the lawmakers have no other option but to tell Mrs. Arroyo to step down and pave way for new elections within the next six months,” the militant group said. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 07:58 | link | comments |

Militants fight back: “ANAD is front organization of GMA death squads”
Pamalakaya says anti-communist group capitalizing on red baiting in fresh bid for party list seat

The left-leaning fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya), one of the organizations named by the anti-communist group Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (ANAD) as communist fronts masquerading either as human rights groups or cause oriented groups said the group headed by Pastor Alcover was a front organization of Palace-backed death squads.

ANAD yesterday assailed “ communist front groups” Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), Bayan Muna, Karapatan and other militant organizations for snubbing the hearings of Melo Commission, an investigating body created by Malacañang to look into the spate of political killings and for filing cases of human rights violations before the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

But in a scathing statement, Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said the ringleaders of ANAD, who were enlisted in the payroll of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and National Security Council as psy war auxiliaries and red-bating town criers of the ruling criminal regime in Malacañang, were performing their usual assignments in defense of Mrs. Arroyo, currently the subject of wholesale condemnation on political killings.

“Alcover and his parasite group known as ANAD are intensifying their anti-Left campaign as part of their strategy to help the national security collective in Malacañang in demonizing militant groups and gain publicity mileage in preparation for the party list elections in May 2007 electoral derby,” Hicap said.

“This death-squad front group, which is receiving command from the top brass of AFP and PNP is hitting two birds with one stone to accomplish its work in the name of Mrs. Arroyo’s political survival,” the Pamalakaya leader added.

Hicap said the anti-communist group has no right to criticize militant groups and relatives of victims of political killings for filing cases of human rights violations against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and top officials of the military and the National Security Council.

“ Alcover, the swashbuckling and incorrigible anti-Red puppet of the national security syndicate in Malacañang is doing the publicity work for the grossly discredited and highly questionable Melo Commission, which for us, is now in the Intensive Care Unit and just waiting for the Palace issuance of death certificate because nobody is giving it try for obvious reasons,” Pamalakaya said.

Hicap said Pamalakaya will join KMP in filing a libel case against Alcover for issuing a life-threatening statement against militant groups. “ It is high time to bring this ANAD self proclaim messiah to the bars of justice and stop him from going berserk and spreading poison and litany of lies to the public. We will see him in court in the nearest future time, “ he added.

The militant group said the libel case, which they will file against Alcover, is very strong, since all the elements of libel are present, namely, the statement is defamatory, it was published and the person who made the statement was identified.

“ We will see to it that Alcover and the ring leaders of ANAD will go to jail for six years, aside from millions of pesos that we will ask for damage. It could be P 20 million, P 30 million or more. We will discuss this case immediately with our lawyers. What is important is justice, which is non-negotiable to us,” Pamalakaya said. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 07:56 | link | comments |

Fish production to decrease 240,000 metric tons yearly if ban is imposed
Fish ban in Guimaras might
trigger fish crisis, says Pamalakaya report

The leftwing fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Saturday said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s declaration of total fish ban in Guimaras and nearby fishing grounds in Western Visayas region might trigger a national fish crisis in the immediate future.

Based on Pamalakaya estimates the country’s production in commercial and municipal fisheries will decrease by 240,000 metric tons yearly or 20 percent of the annual gross production in fisheries. About one third or 33 percent of the gross fisheries production in municipal and commercial fisheries in Western Visayas come from Guimaras Strait.

Heeding to the proposal of the British marine conservation group Coral Cay, President Arroyo in London declared no-fish zones covering fishing waters around Guimaras and nearby islands to prepare for the rehabilitation of Guimaras Strait and other bodies of water affected by the recent oil spill.

The President also accepted an offer by the Duke of Gloucester, Prince Richard, to visit the Philippines in February to make an environmental assessment of Guimaras Island recently devastated by the worst oil spill. But Pamalakaya dismissed President Arroyo’s London stint as nothing but a super roadshow presentation aimed at gaining publicity points for her sagging political career here and abroad.

Pamalakaya warned President Arroyo of the devastating impacts and life-threatening effects of her order declaring all fishing activities in Guimaras and Western Visayas, saying the President has openly declared war against fishermen, their families and the fish-eating population of the region and the country.

“ The declaration of no-fish zone in Guimaras Strait and nearby fishing grounds in Region 6 or Western Visayas will kill the livelihood of more than 50,000 fishing families and will endanger the food security of more than 6 million people in the region and 17 million people of the 86 million Filipinos through out the country. This is national massacre to the highest level, decried Fernando Hicap, Pamalakaya national chair in a press statement.

Hicap added: This is the worst economic catastrophe that would hit Guimaras and Western Visayas in the new millennium. Its catastrophic impact will be felt immediately by at least 20 percent of the fish eating population courtesy of the anti-fisherfolk, anti-people regime in Malacañang.”

“ Mrs. Arroyo, by her irresponsible and dictatorship like statement has placed all the fishermen in Guimaras and Western Visayas under his slaughterhouse republic,” Hicap added.

Hicap said President Arroyo’s order to ban fishing activities in Guimaras Strait and nearby islands affected by the massive oil spill will cover 84 coastal municipalities, eight major fishing grounds, inland bodies and 43,050 hectares of fishponds that would directly affect over 50,000 fisherfolk in Guimaras, Iloilo, Capiz, Aklan and Western part of Negros Occidental and Cebu.

The militant leader said in Guimaras alone, over 4,000 fishing families or roughly 26,000 individuals hardly affected by the massive oil spill would be denied of their fishing rights for virtual lifetime.

“The banning of all fishing activities in Guimaras and nearby fishing grounds affected by the oil spill is not the answer to the present ecological catastrophe. That is an insane solution to the problem and would only trigger massive poverty, wholesale outrage and across-the-nation condemnation. President Arroyo is sowing social unrest in Guimaras and Western Visayas, and if that is the case, then she better brace herself to a region wide fisherfolk revolt,” Hicap added. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 06:20 | link | comments |

Goes on one-day embassy hopping to distribute primer on extra-judicial killings
Pamalakaya flies in “15 countries” today to air political killings of activists and journalists

Leaders of the leftwing fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) today will the first leg of their three-leg embassy tour against political killings that would cover 15 countries, mostly European countries, including Japan, Australia and China to inform diplomats about spate of the political killings of leftists and journalists across the country.

Beginning today, Pamalakaya leaders will embark on embassy hopping and are set to hand out eight-page primers on summary executions of political activists and journalists prepared by its staunch ally Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) to foreign embassies in Manila.

“ As ambassadors and ambassadress of truth, justice and accountability, it is our duty and obligations to inform the people of the world about President Arroyo and her generals unbridled crimes of political killings and crimes against humanity. We will call the attention of the international community through their diplomats here in Manila on the unabated disregard of the national security syndicate in Malacañang on people’s basic human rights, their rights to life and civil liberties,” said Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap in a press statement.

Hicap said his group is set to handout primers on political killings to embassies of Australia, Canada, People’s Republic of China, Czech Republic, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Belgium

“The purpose of our embassy hopping is to inform the diplomats of each country about the worsening human rights situation and the left-and-right extra-judicial killings of leftwing activists and journalists by alleged armed agents of the state across the country. The eight-page primer would help them assess the present situation in the Philippines,” Corpuz said.

Pamalakaya’s Hicap said the eight-page Bayan primer on political killings said it beyond question that there is indeed a trend of killing of activists. From January to 2001 to May 30, 2006, human rights watchdog Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of Human Rights) said there have been 607 victims of documented extra-judicial killings, the bulk came from Eastern Visayas, Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog and Bicol regions.

Pamalakaya said the primer presented a honest to goodness and straightforward presentation of facts and held President Arroyo and the ruling National Security Council in Malacañang as the ringleaders of the ongoing campaign of political liquidation among the ranks of leftist activists and journalists critical of the presidency and the military establishment.

As of this month, the number of victims of summary executions swelled to more than 700, more than half of which belonged to members of militant groups like Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, Pamalakaya, Kilusang Mayo Uno, the urban poor group Kadamay and student groups.

Pamalakaya said the second leg of Pamalakaya’s “Embassy Tour Against Political Killings” will cover the embassies of Germany, France, South Korea, Taiwan, the United States of America, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei, South Africa, India, Cuba, Venezuela, Mexico, New Zealand, Ireland, Luxembourg, Russia, Turkey, Austria and Argentina.

The third leg of the embassy hopping against extra-judicial killings will include the embassies of Cyprus, Greece, Finland, Jamaica, Israel, Croatia, Palau, Kenya, Qatar, Jordan, Portugal, Uruguay and Slovak Republic and other Third World countries. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 06:19 | link | comments |

Militants raged by DENR’s move to extend Lafayette test run for 60 days
Secretary Reyes told to step down

Anti-mining activists on Thursday asked environment and natural resources Secretary Angelo Reyes to step down, a day after the DENR allowed the Australian mining firm Lafayette Philippines Inc. (LPI) to extend the test run of its Rapu-Rapu mine by another sixty days.

The Pollution Adjudication Board (PAB) said the recommendations of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau and the Enviromental Management Bureau paved way for the extension of Lafayette test run.

Raged by the decision, the activist fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) urged Reyes to quit his post, saying the DENR chief had already accomplished his work for LPI as the mining firm’s main point person in the department.

“This is unfair. The environment and the welfare of the people are sacrificed once more at the altar of transnational groups’ endless fetish for super profits and corporate survival,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said, adding that Secretary Reyes was the principal party in allowing the Australian mining firm to operate despite the damage it brought to the people of Rapu-Rapu in Albay.

Hicap said Secretary Reyes was applying his psy war experience and skills in addressing the issue of Lafayette by passing himself off as pro-environment and pro-business, while it is obvious that the DENR secretary was only after the narrow corporate interest of LPI and the Macapagal-Arroyo administration.

Pamalakaya said a class suit and a permanent injunction case was filed against Lafayette before the Makati Regional Trial Court and the DENR should have first waited at least for the decision of the regional court before making any decision.

On July 19, Pamalakaya, Defend Patrimony, Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment, the people of Rapu-Rapu and movie stars like Chin-Chin Gutierrez and Miriam Quiambao filed a class suit against Lafayette before the Makati RTC and urged the court to strike a permanent court injunction against Lafayette test run activities.

“There’s a case against Lafayette pending before the Makati RTC, but Reyes did not consider this matter in making his decision, that is totally disadvantageous to the collective interest of Rapu-Rapu people. The DENR Chief has further exposed himself as puppet of LPI,” the militant group said.

The PAB required Lafayette to submit within five days an updated schedule of activities within the 60-day test run, including the projected efficiency of the mill recovery and the pollution and environmental management measures, and an internal audit system of its environmental management system. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 04:16 | link | comments |

Palparan told: Don’t snub hearing on P 20 million libel case on Sept. 19

The leftwing fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) urged retired Army Major Gen. Jovito Palparan, former chief of the 7th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army not to snub the first hearing scheduled Tuesday next week regarding the P 20-million libel case filed by the militant group against the controversial general last July 20.

“We are ready for our first legal encounter with Palparan. We hope “The Butcher” will take time out from his political killing sprees and attend the first hearing set on Tuesday, September 19 at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court,” said Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap, the complainant in the multi-million-libel complaint.

Hicap said Palparan had been snubbing all the hearings since this month in connection with this role in the left-and-right killings of leftwing militants in Central Luzon. He failed twice to attend the hearing on the writ of habeas corpus at the Court of Appeals regarding the forced abduction of two UP activists Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan, and also rejected twice the invitation of the House Committee on Human Rights to shed light on the series of political murders in Central Luzon.

“He should stop playing like God. He must face his accusers in court and answer charges linking him to unabated crimes of political killings and unstoppable crimes against humanity. He can’t be forever a Palace-military protected fugitive from justice,” Hicap stressed.

The Quezon City Office of the City Prosecutor this week issued a subpoena to Hicap and Palparan in connection with the P 20-million libel case filed by Pamalakaya against the retired Army General . The hearing will be held on September 19 at 1:30 pm at room 406 for preliminary investigation. The prosecutor’s office said it will not admit any motion to dismiss; only counter-affidavits will be accepted in the preliminary investigation, according to Raymond B. Lledo, assistant city prosecutor.

The multi-million peso libel case filed by Pamalakaya stemmed from the retired statements against the militant fisherfolk federation last July 1 accusing leaders and members of the fisherfolk group and party list Anakpawis in Bulacan were creating troubles in the province through intimidation and recruitment of civilians to New People's Army and seizing or extorting P 50,000.00 monthly from fishpond owners.

Palparan, who was interviewed by Inquirer Central Luzon reporter Tonette Orejas, and whose statements were published in the July 2 edition of the Philippine Daily Inquirer said it was necessary to single out leftist groups Pamalakaya and party list Anakpawis in the counter-insurgency campaign of the military.

But in their nine-page libel complaint against Palparan, Pamalakaya asserted that its' image and
stature was tarnished, its' reputation defamed, and its honor discredited, when the "Butcher of Mindoro" made his assault against the group before the Filipino public. "Aside from the fact that there is no truth to the statement of respondent Palparan, the same constitutes the crime of libel. It is a public and malicious imputation of a crime, or an act, condition, status and circumstance that caused the dishonor, discredit, and contempt of Pamalakaya," the complaint said.

The complainant further said," Moreover, it exposes the officials, organizers, and members of Pamalakaya into grave dangers of their lives, security, and safety. It exposes them into the dangers of extra-judicial killings, abductions, threats and harassment, which were unabated to date and where the perpetrators thereof, commonly believed to be the military or their agents, have not been brought into the bars of justice,". Moreover, said Pamalakaya in their libel complaint against Palparan further asserted the Palparan's libelous escapade " had in fact destroyed the honor, prestige, reputation, and advocacy works of the largest fisherfolk alliance in the country.

The militant group will also ask the City Prosecutor to ban agents of the AFP Civilian Relations Service and Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (Isafp) from covering and documenting the proceedings, referring to the recent incident in the House of Representatives when the AFP sent two of the CRS officers to document the proceedings during the House committee on human rights hearing on political killings. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 04:14 | link | comments |

Leftists urged Melo Commission to televise probe to public

Although highly skeptical and still maintaining a non-participative mode, the leftwing fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Tuesday urged retired Supreme Court justice Jose Melo to open his commission’s investigation to the public instead of holding close-door sessions in investigating top military officials regarding their alleged role in the political killings of leftist critics of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Instead of conducting closed-door sessions, the Melo Commission should allow the live telecast of its proceedings so that the Filipino public will know how the body will perform its task to get at the bottom of an issue that warrants public participation and public opinion.

“The Melo Commission is off to a bad start when it decided to conceal the session to the public. The issue warrants at least public viewership on a national TV, but the Palace-established investigating body prefers the discreet mode for obvious reason- it is protecting somebody who is somebody to the Office of the President,” said Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap in a press statement.

“Justice Mello and other members of the commission must sense right now that Malacañang are all taking them for a roller-coaster ride when it ordered the Melo Commission to keep the investigation away from the public and limit its task to mere recommendatory body. If that is the case, they better resign and tell President Arroyo to quit playing with truth and justice,” Hicap added.

The Melo Commission yesterday started a close-door session when the panel questioned Philippine National Police (PNP) Deputy Director Avelino Razon, chair of Task Force Usig, the special unit tasked by Malacañang to investigate the spate of political killings. The panel asked Razon to submit reports on the government efforts to solve at least 100 murders of journalists and activists.

“The Filipino people angered and agitated by this unbridled killings and wholesale massacre of leftwing critics of Mrs. Arroyo want to know through national television how Melo Commission will perform its’ assignment, if it is doing a fine job in accordance with national interest and in the interest of truth, justice and accountability or it is doing a dirty work in the name of Mrs. Arroyo’s political survival,” Hicap added.

On Thursday, the Melo Commission plans to call Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and retired Army Major General Jovito Palparan, former head of the 7th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army in Central Luzon, who was largely blamed by militant groups to most of the killings.

Pamalakaya said surviving victims, relatives of victims and witnesses on political killings were not keen to attend and present testimonies and evidence to Melo Commission, saying the probe body initiated by Malacañang lacks credibility and a toothless tiger. The group said the presence of staunch anti-Left personalities in Melo Commission like National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Nestor Mantaring and Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño makes the probe body a mere tool of Malacañang to cover up its heinous crimes and crimes against humanity.

Pamalakaya said as far as the group is concerned, it will submit its cases against the government and military before the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and any other appropriate and credible body rather than participate in the Melo Commission or the PNP’s Task Force Usig investigation.

The human rights watchdog Karapatan list some 700 cases of extra-judicial killings more than half of the victims belong to militant party list groups and left-leaning organizations and over 200 cases of forced disappearances since 2001. The London-based Amnesty International, which condemned the appointment of Palparan as deputy chief for counter-insurgency operations at the National Security Council, said soldiers and police could be involved in the mass murder of activists and journalists across the country. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 05:40 | link | comments |

Japan-RP trade pact, an agreement between Japanese’
Yakuza and Filipino mafia, says Pamalakaya

Critics of the newly signed trade pact between the Philippine and Japanese government on Wednesday stepped up their attacks against the concealed agreement by dismissing the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) as an agreement between a Japanese Yakuza and Filipino mafia.

“This partnership belongs to a powerful Japanese Yakuza in cooperation with a ruling Filipino mafia,” the leftwing fishermen alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said in a press statement.

Pamalakaya national chair assailed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for signing an illegal, immoral and corrupt agreement at the expense of the country’s national sovereignty and general public’s welfare.

The two top leaders signed the new bilateral trade pact at the Asia-Europe Meeting of Leaders held in Helsinki, Finland last week. But the content and full-text of the new trade pact was not disclosed raising suspicion that that the treaty merely favored Japan’s transnational giants.

Pamalakaya’s Hicap asserted that the government committed a high crime of treason when it signed the trade agreement with Japan, saying as an economic treaty, JPEPA should have been subjected to close public scrutiny, intense national debates and concurrence of the Philippine Senate.

Earlier, Pamalakaya had asked the Philippine Senate to pass a resolution calling for the nullification of JPEPA signed by President Arroyo in behalf of the Philippine government, on the context that the Upper House is the sole approving authority and that Mrs. Arroyo has no jurisdiction on any treaty, and she usurped the powers of Senate as bestowed by the 1987 Constitution.

“ President Arroyo and PM Koizumi bypassed the authority of the Filipino people and the approval and constitutional mandate of the Philippine Senate on such economic treaty, and they conspired like overseas syndicates in clinching a diabolical and evil pact that would sell the hearts and souls of 86 million Filipinos to the Japanese puppet masters,” Hicap stressed.

Pamalakaya said the Filipino people should honor the bilateral trade and investment agreement signed by President Arroyo and PM Koizumi, saying the trade pact has no legal and constitutional mandate.

“ The Filipino people have all the reasons to junk and disobey what the treaty says. An illegitimate and illegal president clandestinely signed an illegal, obnoxious and one-sided trade and investment affair. Practically, everything about JPEPA is demonic, nothing more, nothing less,” the group said.

Although the full content of JPEPA was not disclosed to the public, critics said the new economic agreement will further escalate liberalization of the local economy to Japanese trade and investments to the gross disadvantage of the Philippine economy.

Pamalakaya said the economy under the new Japan-RP trade agreement will be left at the mercy of Japanese transnational corporations, with Japanese corporations given cross-boundary powers to exploit the country’s natural resources, human and mental labor and make the Philippines, one of the biggest dumping nations for Japanese surplus products and idle capitals.

The group said under JPEPA, Japanese business groups will be allowed to penetrate and control even small and medium enterprises currently held by average Filipino businessmen. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 05:39 | link | comments |

Leftists blast TUCP’s petition for SC to order poll body to
conduct plebiscite on Charter Change
“Disgusting, detestable, dishonorable”- Pamalakaya

Anti-Charter Change group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) has three words to the moderate labor center Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) petition before the Supreme Court asking the high tribunal to order the Commission on Election (Comelec) to hold plebiscite on proposed revisions to the 1987 Constitution- disgusting, detestable and dishonorable.

“ TUCP is selling the hearts and souls of the Filipino working class to the devil,” said Pamalakaya information officer Gerry Albert Corpuz in a press statement.

“ The Supreme Court should throw the syndicated petition of TUCP-Union of Local Authorities-Sigaw ng Bayan to the dustbin of history. The high tribunal should not allow this alliance of political devils to score a giant kill for the sake of Mrs. Arroyo’s political survival and outright puppetry to transnational exploiters,” Corpuz added.

TUCP deputy secretary general Alexander Aguilar said the Comelec committed grave abuse of discretion when the poll body issued a resolution last August 31 that dismissed the petition of Sigaw ng Bayan for people’s initiative despite the group’s compliance with the constitutional requirements to put the legal process in motion.

“ The pro-business and pro-US imperialist labor group is back in business of betraying the collective interest of the Filipino working people. Anyway, what can we expect from TUCP? Nothing, but across-the-nation disloyalty to national interest,” Corpuz said.

The TUCP said the 6,327,952 signatures of registered voters gathered by pro-Chacha groups complied fully with the Article XVII, Section 2 of the constitution requiring at least 12 percent of the registered voters in each of the 213 legislative districts.

But Pamalakaya maintained that the signatures collected by pro-Chacha groups were clinched through round-the-clock campaign of fraud, lies and deception. The group said hundreds of millions of taxpayers money were used to finance the signature campaign through the assistance of local government officials allied with Mrs. Arroyo and big business groups identified with the ruling Macapagal-Arroyo clique.

Pamalakaya has been opposing Charter Change since time of former President Fidel Ramos saying the plot to massacre the 19-year old charter will allow the incumbent President to stay in power through the shift in the form of government from presidential to parliamentary.

The militant group said Chacha will also worsen the labor situation in the country through intensified policy of cheap and docile labor and 100 percent foreign ownership of land and other profitable sections of the economy.

Pamalakaya said the revision of the 1987 Constitution will pave way for the return of the US military bases in the country and the elimination of the entire provision of the Bill of Rights, making it further easy for the present administration to violate civil liberties and basic human rights and legalize military dictatorship all over the country.

“ The ring leaders of TUCP either are ignorant of history or they want to be part of the oppressing system and set of rulers who would benefit from Charter Change. This labor group is not really a labor group, but an instrument of class betrayal and deception,” Pamalakaya added. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 03:00 | link | comments |

Army accused of looting fisherfolk cooperative in Bulacan
Farewell gift to Palparan, welcome gesture to his replacement in 7th ID, says Pamalakaya

Government troops yesterday looted grocery items and liquefied petroleum gas owned by a fisherfolk cooperative set up by the local chapter of the leftwing fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) in a fishing village in Bulacan, coinciding with the retirement of Army Major Gen. Jovito Palparan and the turned over of leadership of the 7th Infantry Division to Major General Juanito Gomez.

Pamalakaya national chairperson Fernando Hicap said Army troops belonging to Task Force Bulacan, under Lt. Col Rogelio Boac, a Palparan loyalist yesterday confiscated consumer goods of the fisherfolk cooperative Tanglaw ng Dagat Multipurpose Cooperative worth P 10,000 and its service fiberglass boat worth P 125,000.

“This is extremely diabolical, super evil and undeniably gruesome. They did it as a farewell gift to Palparan and a welcome gesture to Gomez, another face of state terror,” Hicap asserted. The militant leader asserted that there was nothing illegal about the cooperative, saying it was accredited by the Hagonoy municipal government and was a member of the Hagonoy Municipal Cooperative Council.

The cooperative is located in Barangay San Roque, Hagonoy, Bulacan, where the latest victim of political killing Napoleon Bautista, a member of Samahang Bantay Palaisdaan, a local chapter of Pamalakaya resides. Pamalakaya provincial chapter established the multipurpose cooperative in 2001 to sell consumer goods to fisherfolk members and residents at affordable prices.

Last week, Bautista’s body was found after having been abducted by the military together with his wife Ofelia. His wife was severely beaten before their captors released her, while Napoleon had been missing for less than a week, before his dead body was found in Calumpit, Bulacan boring marks of torture.

“The robbery in broad daylight was done by Army troops as a gift to the retiring Palparan and a welcome gesture to incoming chief of the 7th Infantry Division that the campaign of state terror and mass murder of people in the region will continue and escalate based on the national security program of Malacañang and the United States of America,” Hicap said.

Hicap said after looting the fisherfolk cooperative, the Army told residents to surface Rolando dela Cruz, caretaker of the cooperative, saying that the military threatened to abduct dela Cruz’ father in-law Maximo Torribio if they fail to present the caretaker.

Pamalakaya also learned that the military threatened to confiscate the cellphones of residents to prevent them from reporting the incident to their neighbors, to human rights groups and media, because the military was angry that the incident were being reported to the press.

The militant group called on the attention of Bulacan governor Josie dela Cruz and Hagonoy Mayor Toti Ople to rise above the occasion and protect their constituents battered by military atrocities and abuses.

Pamalakaya said Gov. dela Cruz and other officials of Bulacan have no right to seek fresh mandate in the next 2007 elections if they can’t protect their people from sheer terror campaign waged by Malacañang and generals loyal to President Arroyo.

“People are butchered like pigs and chickens by the national security group and pro-Arroyo generals like Palparan and it is high time for politicians to rise above the occasion, confront Mrs. Arroyo and her criminal syndicate to stop this unabated festival of killings not only in Central Luzon, but across the nation,” the group said. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 02:58 | link | comments |

Critics urged GMA husband to drop First Gentleman title

Rabid critics of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Tuesday urged her husband Atty. Jose Miguel “ Mike” Arroyo to drop the First Gentleman title in his name, saying it was not politically correct for the presidential husband to bear the title because of cases of corruption attributed against his person since his wife assumed the presidency in 2001.

“ A real gentleman should allow his opponents to present their case against him in a proper forum. We don’t see any shade of objectivity on the part of Atty. Arroyo when filed scores of libel cases against Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano on the controversial German account. That is political assassination and extreme act of political harassment,” said Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap in a press statement.

Hicap said his group is supporting Cayetano’s anti-corruption crusade against the Arroyo family, particularly the alleged $ 550 million dollar account in Germany, saying public interest is at stake here and that the First Family should allow the presentation of evidence to take place.

Atty. Arroyo has filed 13 libel cases against Rep. Cayetano and had demanded P 30 million in total damages from Rep. Cayetano and another P 2 million in attorney’s fee for claiming that the Arroyo family was keeping over 550 million US dollars in a bank account in Germany.

“ For that sheer act of political arrogance and Jurassic bullying, Atty. Arroyo has no option but to drop the First Gentleman credit to his name and allow to be billed as the husband of the cheating, puppet, corrupt and criminal president in Malacañang,” Hicap added.

“ His wife is a bogus president, therefore Atty. Arroyo is an illegal First Gentleman, and he is Mrs. Arroyo’s legal husband by marriage. This simple logic is enough to convince him to stop passing himself off to the general public as the First Gentleman of this country,” the militant leader added.

Pamalakaya issued the statement, after President Macapagal-Arroyo broke her silence on the corruption issue raised against her and her husband and blasted Rep. Cayetano for the “ injustice” done to her family by the solon’s assertions about a bank account her family supposedly kept in Munich, Germany amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.

“ Injustice to Arroyo family? What injustice Mrs. Arroyo was talking about? Common we are in the 21st century, give us a break,” the militant group said.

In a press conference yesterday, President Arroyo said Rep. Cayetano has shamelessly peddled the lie that her family is maintaining a bank account in Munich, Germany amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.

Pamalakaya also lambasted Presidential Chief of Staff Michael Defensor for bringing up the issue concerning the last May 2004 elections where Cayetano’s sister Senator Pia Cayetano was included in administration’s senatorial slate in 2004, despite her low ranking surveys in recognition of their father, the late Senator Renato Cayetano.

“ Senator Cayetano’s vote is even bigger than Mrs. Arroyo’s total number of votes despite of the fact that Malacañang through Comelec commissioner Virgilio Garcillano rigged the election results in favor of the cheating presidency in Malacañang,” the group said.

“ Sec. Defensor should better explain his role as “padrino” in a nursing job mess rather joining the fray between Mr. and Mrs. Arroyo and the Cayetanos,” Pamalakaya said, referring to a recruitment agency that duped 28 Filipino nurses in New York City. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 04:17 | link | comments (1) |

Palparan’s men tried to seize merchandize, fishing
boat of fisherfolk coop, Pamalakaya reports says

The military in Bulacan under the command of controversial Army Major General Jovito Palparan yesterday tried to seize merchandize and properties of a fisherfolk cooperative Tanglaw Sa Dagat Multipurpose Cooperative (Tadaco), reports reaching the national headquarters of the activist fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas
(Pamalakaya) revealed.

“May heaven curse and punish this league of hardened criminals trained and paid by the national security gang of Malacañang and the ruling Macapagal-Arroyo syndicate,” the group said in a press statement.

Pamalakaya local chapter in Brgy established the fisherfolk cooperative. San Roque, in
Hagonoy, Bulacan in 2001. As a fisherfolk cooperative, Tadaco used to sell cooking gas, grocery items and simple nets and fishing gears to members and residents of the local fishing village.

Yesterday afternoon, members of the Philippine Army belonging to Task Force Bulacan, under the command of Army official Allan de la Cruz threatened to confiscate the cooperative’s merchandize and other properties, including a fiber glass banca worth P 100,000 from the caretaker of the fisherfolk cooperative.

Pamalakaya’s Hicap said based on the latest inventory of Tadaco, the total worth of merchandize and other properties of the cooperative amount to P 135,000 including the fiber glass fishing boat. The militant leader said the military wanted to confiscate the cooperative’s merchandize and properties, because the Army believed that the cooperative was owned, ran and managed by front groups of the New People’s Army operating in San Roque, Hagonoy, Bulacan.

Hicap denied the Army’s accusations that the cooperative was established to finance the activities of NPA. “The fisherfolk cooperative was put up to raise economic productivity of small fishermen and fishpond workers, combat usurious practices of merchants and usurers in the community, sell consumer goods, rice, and simple fishing tools at very, very low prices and also in many cases, provide economic relief to members and community residents in times of disaster or calamity,” he said.

Pamalakaya said the cooperative was temporarily shutdown because the military had been calling its’ caretaker everyday to report to the detachment. “ Hindi na makapamili ng mga paninda, tapos araw-araw pang tinatakot ang caretaker. Ngayon gusto na nilang kumpiskahin ang paninda at gamit ng kooperatiba,” the group said quoting a text message sent by one of the
cooperative members.

The militant group said the Army’s latest act involving the seizure of the cooperative’s merchandize and properties was part of the counter-insurgency campaign being carried by Palparan and his top protégée in Bulacan, Lt. Col. Rogelio Boac.

Pamalakaya said it is an open book to the public that Palparan, outgoing chief of the 7th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army, had singled out Pamalakaya and party list group Anakpawis in his campaign in the coastal areas of Obando, Bulacan, Malolos, Paombong and Hagonoy towns in his counter-insurgency campaign.

Last week, Army men believed to be members of Task Force Bulacan abducted couple Napoleon Bautista and wife Ofelia Bautista, fishpond caretakers, and members of Samahan ng Bantay Palaisdaan, a local chapter of Pamalakaya and Anakpawis in Barangay San Roque. The husband was still missing, while his wife was severely beaten and brought to Hagonoy District Hospital. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 04:16 | link | comments |

Militants cry foul over DoJ suggestion to
charge Petron with lighter offense

“It was tantamount to whitewash.”

This was the initial reaction of the leftwing fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) upon learning today that that the panel created by the Department of Justice (DoJ) to look into the Guimaras oil spill had recommended the filing of light charges against Petron Corp. in connection with the worst oil spill in the nation’s history.

“ This is a preview of a forthcoming biggest whitewash in nation’s history. The plan and corresponding plot of DoJ to exonerate Petron Corp. deserved wholesale condemnation,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a press statement.

The DoJ Task Force on Guimaras concluded that there was criminal negligence on the part the captain, Norberto Aguro, and crewmembers, criminal and civil liability for officers of Sunshine Maritime Development Corp and civil liability for the officers of Petron.

“ A national foul play was committed by DoJ when it absolved owners and executives of Petron Corp. from any possible criminal offenses. The DoJ panel had set the stage for Petron’s walk-in-the park escape,” Hicap said.

In DoJ panel’s report, undersecretaries Macabangkit Lanto and Ernesto Pineda said those to charged included Petron distribution manager Rolando B. Salonga, Sunshine Maritime President Clemente Cancio and the ship captain of MT Solar 1.

Undersecretary Pineda said Petron Corp. was getting off with a lighter offense because it had simply chartered Solar 1, which sank on August 11 in rough seas off Guimaras Island, spilling bunker fuel oil and destroying over 200 coastline and the marine environment in Guimaras Strait and nearby provinces in Western Visayas.

“It seems to us that the DoJ panel on Guimaras oil spill was created to save Petron Corp. from any criminal and civil liability and pin down powerless people like the captain and crewmembers of MT Solar 1,” Pamalakaya said.

The group called on the Philippine Stock Exchange to deny Petron Corp. from joining the stock trading if the oil company still refuses to honor its’ obligations in the clean up and rehabilitation of Guimaras Strait.

"The PSE is legally obliged to reprimand and even punish one of its' arrogant and irresponsible clients. If Petron insists it has nothing to do with the ecological disaster off Guimaras Island, the stock exchange group has no recourse but to dismember Petron Corp and block all its business activities in the trading center," Pamalakaya said.

The group said one of way of teaching Petron Corp. a lesson of a lifetime is to deny Petron Corp. of its corporate right to participate in the stock trading until such time, the largest oil company has fulfilled its obligations to the public and environment by finishing the clean up operations, as well the needed actions for rehabilitation of destroyed ecology and livelihood of small fishermen and other affected sectors.

" It is about time to get merciless with Petron Corp. We will not allow this exploiting giant to keep us hostage forever," Pamalakaya said. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 04:15 | link | comments |

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