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ISSUE 11: February-March 2008
ISSUE 11 News, Views and Analysis from Migrante Melbourne
BATINGAW; BELL; HERALD; The New Voice of Filipino Migrants in Australia
Oust Gloria! In this Edition
Photo by www.arkibongbayan.org
ISSUE 11 February-March‘08
Oust Gloria! Oust GMA Rally and Urging all Overseas Filipinos: Zero Remittance Day on March 8! OFW’s - the Philippines modern day heroes People of the Diaspora Migrante raises fund for maintenance of Shelter Tawag sa Pagbabago The real face of Australian mining activities in the Philippines
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ISSUE 11: February-March 2008
Editorial
Oust Gloria!
the Filipino people’s battle cry resounding all over the world.
E
xpatriate Filipinos and overseas workers have joined the homeland’s clarion call for a most corrupt, human rights violator and neglecter of OFW rights and welfare to step down. This rolling civil disobedience movement is rapidly building to a crescendo that may as well be called people power III. Enough is enough cries the common folk, not another one! Any just and people based government like Australia should back-out of supporting a supposedly democratically elected government which is very much riddled with rampant corruption, flagrant human rights violation and massive electoral cheating and fraud. Arroyo does not have the guts to resign with all the corruption scandals and anomalies that had characterized her administration. She began office with the “Hello Garci” affair which revealed massive cheating and fraud at the 2004 presidential election that put her to office.
The OWWA fund, which is supposed to help Filipino overseas workers in distress, have allegedly been diverted in 2004 to an electoral campaign chest for her to spend in any way she wished. The Arroyo government has continually fed hundreds of thousands of Filipinos as labour commodities to the world. It pays lip service to the care it reserves for our OFWs by calling them our modern-day heroes, while at the same time denying them much needed help – an assistance which are funds (nay insurance) that were exacted from them in the first place. Why OFWs experiencing dislocation and emergencies in foreign lands, undergo so much bureaucratic red tape, is a reflection of this bankrupt administration. Why must our new heroes suffer the indignities and insults from the very government people and bodies that are duty
Her government is quite known for conducting “an all out war” against anyone and everyone who she deemed were attempting to destabilize her administration and threaten her reign of power. Gross human rights violation is common under her watch. To date there are more than 850 political killings she has to answer for. New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clarke’s blistering concern of the Arroyo regime’s dismal human rights record has caught the world’s attention. The United Nation Special Rapporteur Philip Alston has held her largely responsible for the extrajudicial deaths and disappearances. The prestigious Amnesty International had castigated her about the abhorrent loss of human lives whether she had a direct hand or not. The Permanent Peoples Tribunal had found her administration guilty for the crime of gross violation of human rights. Culpability for all these, points the finger to her. The myriad scandals, the Macapagal Highway, the fertilizer scam, the bribery of the Solons for their silence and obedience, the silencing of her administrative officials and cabinet by an executive order from public scrutiny, is but a small portion of litany of her corruption and mismanagement of the country’s resources. “Evil” and a “Lucky Bitch” is common parlance in the streets and hovels of Manila nowadays. Photos by www.arkibongbayan.org
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Editorial
ISSUE 11: February-March 2008
bound to protect and nurture them. So callous was the treatment by these officials of the 111 stranded OFWs in Saudi Arabia that it is an understatement to say these officials deserve to be incarcerated. Philippine Government neglect and heartless disregard of its economic milking cows has led many to join those involved in the people’s movement to force its leading administrator – Gloria Arroyo – to resign. Migrante Melbourne’s courageous open letter to the President denouncing the maltreatment of the stranded OFWs is circulating around the world. We can only hope there will be a decent response from the Philippine government. This “Lozada expose” is the most recent saga of corruption. Could this latest scandal be the straw that will break the camel’s back? One can only imagine. GMA is still standing her ground. She is unfazed by the indignation swelling up in both the home and international fronts. Other countries would probably by now launched people’s movement, a coup or a rebellion to stop this growing madness. In Australia, even a mere whiff or hint of corruption drives government officials and ministers to resign.
Filipinos seem to have a short memory. Or, are they so compliant and defeated that they can bear all these national tragedies and scandals and still carry on with their life in misery and insecurities accepting more insults and bullying? There is a simple solution to deeply-rooted problem. Filipinos should stand up and claim their rightful place in society. We were once viewed as a rising tiger in Asia but we let it slip because of our colonial baggage. It is high time to cut all the puppet strings and enslavements imposed on us by our present-day US colonial masters. To begin this journey to genuine freedom and independence, if our Gloria will not find the decency to resign, then we must, as patriotic Filipinos, remove her through popular protests and people’s movements. She must not continue to lead us to the brink of destruction. We must begin somewhere in blazing the path to genuine economic development and political democracy. Gloria is currently the biggest barrier to the Filipino people’s national and democratic goals.
There is no other choice but to
—— Oust Gloria!
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ISSUE 11: February-March 2008
News Oust GMA Rally and Urging all Overseas Filipinos: Zero Remittance Day on March 8!
I
n Sydney, on 29 February 2008, at the Philippine Consulate, Lingap Migrante members (Association of Filipinos and Filipino-Australians in Western Sydney) held a rally calling for the ouster of the President of the Philippines Mrs Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and to show their support for Migrante International’s Babay Gloria (Bagong Bayani Ayaw kay Gloria) campaign calling for Zero Remittance Day on March 8. They were joined by other cause – oriented groups and human rights organisations: Couples for Christ, Australian Student Christian Movement (ASCM), Ph Gen (Philippine Generation for Justice and Peace – Youth Group), Philippines-Australia Women’s Association (PAWA), Action for Peace and Development in the Philippines – Solidarity Group (APDP), PhilippinesAustralia Union Link (PAUL) and the Migrante Sydney Neigbourhood (Inner West and East Sydney). Total attendance at the rally was 38 people. Media people from ABS-CBN (TFC) and Bayanihan Times covered the rally. Radio interviews by SBS National Radio (English) and SBS Filipino language program (National) were aired on Saturday. Speakers from various organisations and groups expressed a common message - they support the call of the Filipino people: OUST GMA! Down with the US-Arroyo regime! Down with 7 years of unbridled corruption! Nick Cacapit of Couples for Christ in Rooty Hill, Western Sydney prayed for genuine democracy in the Philippines and said that the truth will set us free and God always bless all Filipinos. He urged all Filipinos in Sydney to join in calling for GMA to resign. Later he sang a love song for all Filipinos saying that love prevails. Mr Cacapit made a plea to all Filipinos to love our country and it is time to
Get Involved!
OFWs in Australia and Hongkong hold anti-GMA rallies and call for zero remittance on March 2 & 8, 2008
stand up for truth and that GMA must not obstruct justice and should step down. Other speakers included Peter Murphy [PhilippineAustralia Union Links], Annabel Dulhunty [Australian Student Christian Movement], Juster Rozz Paterno – Ph Gen, Gill Boehringer – Sydney Human Rights Lawyer, Annie Thomson-Migrante Sydney Neighbourhood and Edwin Subijano, Lingap Migrante. Speakers condemned the endemic corruption of the Arroyo regime, but also condemned the pattern of extra-judicial killings and human rights abuses attributed to the regime and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the wholesale exploitation of the Philippine environment by Philippine and foreign mining corporations. Murphy and Brock called for the Australian government to end Australian Military aid and cooperation with the Arroyo regime as a clear message against corruption, electoral fraud and human rights abuse. Onofre Andres Jr, Vice-President of Lingap Migrante handed to one of the staff of the Philippine Consulate an Open Letter to the Mrs Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo:
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Migrante Melbourne is a voluntary community organisation of Filipino and Filipino-Australian migrants and workers promoting and upholding their welfare, human rights and workers’ rights. It also deepens members’ awareness of the root reasons of the Filipino hegira to over 180 countries and settlement issues in their adopted homelands. Visit us on the web at www.migrante.org.au
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Solidarity Message
ISSUE 11: February-March 2008
W
e, Filipino migrants, workers and friends in Sydney, join the Philippine nation in calling for the immediate resignation of President Arroyo.
We encourage our relatives and friends in the Philippines to join people’s actions and movements such as those led by Bayan, Bayan Muna and Migrante demanding justice and the call for the president to step down. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s government is widely implicated in gross corruption, flagrant human rights violations such as extrajudicial killings and disappearances, and extreme neglect of overseas Filipino workers. The latest of these corrupt practices was revealed by Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. in the now infamous ZTE-NTN broadband deal. Lozada Jr, who was due to testify before a Senate hearing, was abducted presumably by presidential guards and released only because of a combination of popular protests, family, media and Senate queries. The story unravelled to show that a planned Chinese companybacked national broadband project originally costing US$130 million ballooned to US$329.48 million to accommodate kickbacks to various government officials and allegedly the President’s husband ‘Mike’ Arroyo. This is not the first time that the Arroyo government was stuck in corruption allegations. During the 2004 presidential elections, millions of pesos were claimed to have been transferred from Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) money to PhilHealth to fund Arroyo’s campaign. The OWWA kitty comes from the innumerable fees slapped on overseas contract workers. Since Arroyo’s rule commenced in 2001, over a thousand churchpeople, lawyers, journalists, Bayan Muna and other party-list organisers and campaigners, social activists, workers, farmers and ordinary people have been extra judicially murdered and/or disappeared implicating in many instances military and government operatives. This utmost of human rights violations – the taking of lives - has raised
Glo Must Go! - says Sydney Migrante Neighbourhood
an international outcry ranging from the United Nations Rapporteur Phil Alston to the Permanent People’s Tribunal hearing held over a year ago in the Den Hague, Netherlands. We also call attention to the hapless plight of 111 stranded Filipino workers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, including 10 women and 2 children, who have been reduced to living under a bridge and begging for food as they fled abusive employers and dismal working conditions such as unpaid wages and sexual harassment. A number of them were eventually escorted by the police back to their abusive employers while some were handcuffed like criminals. The Arroyo government and government officials has responded with inaction and neglect of these stranded workers in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. Many of us in Australia have friends and relatives in the Middle East and Asia with telltale stories of abuse and neglect. This is just the tip of the dirty iceberg of governmental neglect. We believe that while various fees and exactions are imposed on millions of overseas contract workers, and funnelled to such agencies as OWWA, and the consequent government neglect and lack of adequate and prompt service to OFWs is also a form of corruption. We demand that this anomaly be investigated. We call on our ‘kababayan’ and friends in Australia to join us in throwing out a corrupt, human rights abuser and OFW neglecter. Photo by www.arkibongbayan.org
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ISSUE 11: February-March 2008
Analysis
By Dinggin Dalisay
OFW’s - the Philippines modern day heroes
H
eroes of the past are often killed in battle, killed by foreign invaders, by illnesses or wounds inflicted by enemies. Their memories are revered and honored. In many ways, the Philippines as a nation is indebted to these heroes. Today, among our living heroes are the ten million Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), who keep the Philippine economy afloat with their US$12 billion dollar remittances annually. Presidents from Marcos to Arroyo have hypocritically hauled them as the country’s “modern day heroes”. All these governments also owe these OFWs a lot in keeping their administrations afloat. . Like our historical heroes, OFWs also encounter wars not of their own making. The enemies in this global war are the harsh conditions of their employment, the continuous neglect of their government and the loneliness and hardship of their separation from families and friends. Past heroes went into battle provided by the government with ammunitions, weapons, support and sanctuary in the most difficult of times. The Philippine heroes of the present are provided by the government with massive fees, various exactions, unregulated employment agencies, lack of or no protection at all from abusive employers and no sanctuary in times of difficulties and troubles. Heroes of previous wars were readily evacuated when they fell ill or wounded while the heroes of the present are abandoned under a bridge, beside a building sleeping on a newspaper, eating left-over and sometimes spoiled food, scavenging for a living, treated with indifference by the government agencies such as the Philippine embassies and consulates and sometimes are shunted back to the authorities of a foreign country where they were abused in the first place.. Recent events are shocking stark evidence of how these heroes are treated by the very institutions charged with their care, institutions which benefit enormously from OFW dollar remittances. The Philippine government’s neglect of the almost 200 Filipinos stranded in Jeddah, the 50 Filipinos stranded in Kuwait, the more than 2,000 Filipinos in various jails and
about 50 on death row in other countries around the world are some of the glaring examples of the neglect these heroes suffer. On the 18th of February, a Filipina was raped by a US soldier in Okinawa, Japan. To date, there is no news of a formal investigation being initiated by either the US or Philippine government. The case filed in the Philippines by 31 Filipino nurses against Sentosa Recruitment Agency and several New York care facilities for violating their employment contracts was dismissed in February by the Philippines National Labor Relations Commission. This decision clearly shows that government punishes the victims —the OFWs— and not the perpetrators of abuse committed against them. Late last year, there was a crackdown on undocumented foreign workers in Korea affecting many Filipinos working in Korea. Many of them are already double victims – by the arresting host government and by unscrupulous hiring agencies which the Philippine government tolerates and abets in their exploitative operations. Early this year, overseas Filipino workers were almost kinghit with the planned implementation of Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) guidelines called the MC-04. This new guidelines require foreign employers to pay a repatriation bond of US$5000 and a performance bond of US$3000 before an OFW is deployed. As in previous cases, many charges paid by the employers are deducted from the wages of the OFWs. This new memorandum circular threatened to pass on more dollar burdens on our OFWs already suffering from numerous government fees and the decline of the US dollar’s value. OFWs live their heroic lives daily. They fought and launched a massive campaign against MC-04 which forced the government to suspend its implementation. There is no end to the struggle of these modern day heroes. But they will continue to fight and they can rely on the solidarity and support of many friends and supporters in many countries around the world. After all, they are not just the Philippines’ modern day heroes but everyone’s heroes as well.
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Open Letter
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ISSUE 11: February-March 2008
Bukas na liham mula sa mga “bagong bayani”, para sa isang Bagong Bayani: Jun Lozada
K
aming mga migranteng Pinoy sa Perth West Australia ay bumabati at sumusuporta sa iyo at sa iyong pamilya sa paninindigan na mailahad sa sambayangnang Pilipino at sa buong daigdig ang kurapsyon kaugnay ng overpricing ng proyektong ZTE-National Broadband Network na kinasasangkutan ng mga matataas na pinuno sa gobyernong Arroyo.
Tuwa kaming nabatid na milyong Pilipino ang patuloy na naglulunsad ng mga organisadong kilos-protesta upang managot ang mga kurakot sa gobyerno. Ang mga pagkilos na ito ay nakakapagbukas ng saradong kaisipan at nakakabuhay ng pag-asa na makamit ang tunay na pagbabago at pag-unlad ng ating bansa sa pamamagitan ng sama-samang pagkilos.
Dama namin ang kahirapan at kaapihan bunga ng kurapsyon sa ating bansa. Ang katotohanang ito ay dinaranas namin sa araw-araw na paggawa at pamumuhay ng Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), at maging sa hanay ng mga permanenteng migrante.
Hangad namin ang tagumpay ng iyong paninindigan Jun. Ipaglaban natin ang ating mga karapatan. Sama-sama nating itaguyod ang kagalingan ng ating bayan.
Sa pagsusuri kami ay lumabas ng bansa dahil sa matinding pangangailangan na buhayin ang aming mga pamilya, mabigyan ng magandang kinabukasan ang mga anak, iangat ang kabuhayan, at takasan ang malawak na kurapsyon at karahasan sa ating bansa. Marami sa amin ang nawalan ng tiwala at pag-asa sa ating gobyerno. May ilan na ibig na lang ilibing sa limot ang laganap na katiwalian at ipaubaya na lang sa Poong Maykapal ang solusyon sa ating mga problema. Jun, ang pagtindig mo sa katotohanan ay nagsisilbing inspirasyon ngayon sa milyong Pilipino sa loob at labas ng bansa na manindigan at suportahan ang kilusan na panagutin ang gobyernong Arroyo sa katiwalian at krimen nito laban sa sambayanang Pilipino.
Migrante Melbourne Inc Publisher of ABN: 77 394 429 368
Maglulunsad kami dito sa Australia ng mga pulong sa komunidad at pagkilos para lumawak ang kaalaman at pagkakaisa ng mga migranteng Pinoy at matugunan ang pormasyon ng alyansang magsasagawa ng mga kilos-protesta at suporta sa kampanya sa Pilipinas, halimbawa ang “BABAY GLORIA” (BAgong BAyani Ayaw Kay Gloria). Magsasagawa din ng mga “solidarity meetings” sa hanay ng mga kaalyadong grupong internasyonal upang suportahan ang kampanyang ito. Mabuhay ka kabayang Jun. Mabuhay ang mga bagong bayani ng bayan. Mabuhay ang sambayanang Pilipino. Mula sa komunidad ng migranteng Pinoy – Perth West Australia. 27 Pebrero, 2008
A member of Migrante International PO Box 606, Laverton, VIC 3028 Local Call: 1300 3666 74 Email: melbourne@migrante.org.au Internet: www.migrante.org.au
About Batingaw Batingaw is a bi-monthly newsletter expressing views, news and analysis from Migrante Melbourne. An important aspect of developing this newsletter is an intimate knowledge of and close involvement in all aspects of the Philippine and Australian struggles for justice, democracy and fair-go.
Contributing to Batingaw: Articles, photographs, cartoons, clippings, comments or a few lines are all very welcome. All material should be sent electronically to: melbourne@migrante.org.au. Readers are encouraged to contribute whatever they can by sending donations to the above address.
Editorial Team: George Kotsakis Labrador Cojuanco Dinggin Dalisay Reyvi Marinas Contributors: Charo Pompa Stephanie Rabusa Shiela Galacio Katrina Kotsakis Dinggin Dalisay Malen Ang Malou Logan Gino Lopez Fe Nina Reyes Caesar Barona A. Reyes Lualhati Acda
Circulation and Advertising: Jun Cabanos. For membership, advertising and subscription please call Migrante Melbourne on 1300 3666 74
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ISSUE 11: February-March 2008
People of the Diaspora L
ina cried for a long time. She had found out the truth. Her employer had tricked her into coming to Australia from Hongkong by telling her she would be working on an S457 visa. In fact, she is on an S427 visa as a 24-hour servant and domestic worker tied to her employer who is on an S457 visa working as an executive in Australia. Lina would be unable to find any other job except with another executive on an S457visa in Australia and it was going to be very hard to find another employer like this. Now, Lina’s employer was talking of halving her wages. Recently of her monthly wage of just over $1500 Aust., she only received $200. She has two sons in the Philippines and her family to support, what was she going to do? I go to Immigration with Lina, to TAFE, to my place, to the union, trying to find a way out for her. Sam on the other hand is on an S457visa as a carpenter. Sure. But his boss recently made him return the $6000 he’d paid him (several months’wages) after two days. His boss said the Immigration Department had been questioning why there were so many deductions from Sam’s wages so the boss had put in $6000 into Sam’s bank account to make it look like Sam was getting the right wages. After Immigration had seen the receipt for Sam’s account from his boss, the boss then made Sam withdraw the $6000 and took it back. Sam told me he had $100 left to live on. He didn’t know where to get the money to send to the Philippines for his sons and parents, which he had regularly done in the past. I take Sam to the union, ring around for a whole day people I know who might be able to help him with a new employer, borrow books for him to study English, advise him on the phone in a seemingly never-ending week (and months) of S457 visa workers in trouble. Sam’s case is compounded by the number of business names under which his boss operates – a different business name under which Sam signed his original work contract while in the Philippines, another business name under which he was then made to sign a new contract once he arrived in Australia, another business name under which Sam is paid his once-in-a-blue-moon heavily-deducted wages and still another business name under which Sam’s superannuation had been lodged. Lina and Sam – two people of the diaspora, 10 million overseas Filipino workers worldwide, hauling in $US13 to $15 billion dollars a year keeping the Philippine economy afloat while fanning out to far-flung worksites to survive the mindless poverty of their own country where a heavily-militarised government pays millions of dollars in bribes to itself and its friends…. Like Lina and Sam, I too was a child of the diaspora once, escaping the Molotov cocktails and bullets of Marcos’ Manila streets, hauled by my scholar mum to Sydney where I faced drunken, drugged kids at the local public school whose past time was to throw every conceivable object at my History teacher writing on the board.
Article
By Anibeth Desierto
But fortunately, I didn’t starve. I didn’t have to work for an abusive employer, didn’t have to work like a slave on an S457 or S427 visa. I just had to survive the endless references to my inferior origins, not being sports-minded and white enough; and survive the stupefying alienation, dumbing-down and cultural emptiness. One of my boyfriends berates me. “Why do you do it? You don’t get paid for helping these people, it’s not worth it ! Go back to your paid job….and anyway, nothing’s going to change in the Philippines, ganuon nang ganuon pa rin ‘yan, wala ka namang mababago (you won’t be able to change anything) – walang mangyayari diyan sa tulong mo (nothing will come out of your help)”. Kindly advice from an ultra-rich, eateries entrepreneur. Did he mean that the landed elite in the Philippines – fostered by Spanish colonizers for three centuries and then by the Americans when they took over after having paid the Spanish for the Filipinos as war booty for a peso a head – would fight against the ‘unlanded’ getting a fair share of resources and owning their own piece of paradise? Did he mean the endemic, unbelievable corruption, violence, repression and brutal human rights violations under Marcos – enabled by a highly-financed, American-trained military – all of which under Arroyo have been made even so much more worse? Did he mean: it’s useless to fight the system and to help those suffering from the system because in the end, those who do fight and those who do refuse to join the system will die anyway? He might have meant all of these. I didn’t get a chance to ask him: if I don’t help Lina and Sam, who will? If I don’t in my own very tiny way, offer an alternative to the greed, the corruption, the abuse and use of others for one’s enrichment, to the slavery – who will? If all that is good, honest and true are vanquished, what will be left of us? What will be left for my children? Maybe it’s corny, it’s passé, it’s not cool enough – to believe in Camelot, or the Last Supper, or Elias Canete, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King or Gabriela Silang. Honestly, I don’t care. I don’t care to look trendy and in. I care that there are real-life alternatives to what is evil and wrong, to what is corrosive and destructive, to what kills and maims. I care that the forces which attack the stability and security of Lina and Sam’s existence and that of their families seem to have no countervailing forces against them to return their world – the world of people of the diaspora - to some semblance of sanity and equilibrium. Like that world of hope and joy which the innocence of children create. I care that what is good, honest and true survive in the despair and anguish of this diaspora.
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Article
ISSUE 11: February-March 2008
Migrante raises fund for maintenance of Shelter
M
embers, friends and supporters of Migrante Melbourne took part on its family and social fun night activity, “Tipanan”, held on 26th of January at Laverton Community Centre.
The event was celebrated on Australia Day, intended to provide an opportunity for the whole family to relax, have fun and enjoy together and strengthen the bond of Filipinos in the region.
On the opening remarks, Migrante Melbourne Chairperson, George Kotsakis mentioned the current political situations in the Philippines and the human rights violations under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo regime where most victims were from progressive movements. He said that we all gather to support and help our compatriots in the Philippines. He thanked all the supporters and friends for attending the event.
It also aimed to raise fund for the maintenance of Migrante Shelter in the Philippines for distressed Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW’s) and their families.
The fun night was full of activities. Katrina Kotsakis sing a song while playing a guitar. There were games, karaoke contest raffle draw, and singing and dancing. The participants became active in answering the questions correctly and promptly. In karaoke contest, contestants showed their interest and love in singing. The first place winners were sisters Kathy and Kathleen Salem who sang Filipino song ‘Sa Iyo’ by Sarah Geronimo.
Almost 3, 000 Filipinos leave the country each day to seek employment overseas due to lack of job opportunities back home. These Filipinos spread out in over 180 countries around the world. The remittances of Overseas Filipino Workers keep the Philippines economy afloat yet they receive very minimal assistance and protection from their own government.
Raffle draw was the most awaited part of the night. Acknowledgement was rendered to the donors. Among them were Tactical Designs, Abante and other sponsors.
ST
P
The maintenance of Migrante Shelter continuously provides the distressed OFW’s and their families a crisis intervention, awareness building, legal support, temporary accommodation and advocacy.
Raising fund is among the regular assistance and support that Migrante Melbourne share to the OFW’s.
STOP THE KILLINGS IN THE PHILIPPINES
From 2001 when Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed the Philippine presidency, Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) has documented more than 858 political killings and 198 disappeared.
Join Us in Demanding Justice for the victims and the end of killings, abduction and harassment of human rights and community activists in the Philippines
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ISSUE 11: February-March 2008
Column
By Lualhati Acda
Tawag sa Pagbabago
S
imula nang ibunyag ang kasunduan sa pagitan ng pamahalaan ng Pilipinas at ng ZTE corporation ng China ay nagsimula ng dumalas ang mga kilos protesta, ang ilan ay humihingi ng pagbibitiw sa tungkulin ng pangulo at ang iba naman ay humihiling ng mas makatotohanan at responsableng gobyerno. Lumantad si Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada, dating presidente ng Philippine Forest Corporation, na nagsilbing consultant sa National Broadband Deal (NBN) at ibinunyag na ang nasabing proyekto ay diumano (ay) “overpriced” ($130) at hindi dumaan sa tamang proseso ng “bidding”. Ang pagsisiwalat na ito ang pagkakasangkot ng pangalan ng mga prominenteng politico at pamilya ng pangulo ay nagpagalit sa sambayanan. Ang pag-amin ng ilang gobernador at kinatawan ng kongreso na nakatanggap ng suhol na P200,000-P500,000 upang harangin umano ang “impeachment” laban sa pangulo ay nagpalala sa mga alegasyon ng panunuhol at korapsyon sa gobyerno. Ito naganap habang iniuulat ng Transparency International na ang Pilipinas ay isa pa rin sa may pinakamataas na insidente ng katiwalian sa lahat ng antas ng pamahalaan. Ito ay sa kabila ng pagdanas ng Pilipinas ng malaking agwat sa kita, ari-arian at oportunidad na kung saan ang pinakamayaman na limang porsyento ay kumita ng mahigit-kumulang tatlumpung porsyento ng national income samantalang and pinakamahirap na dalawamput limang porsyento ay kumikita lamang ng anim na porsyento ng national income. Ang mga pagbubunyag na ito di umano’y hinaharangan ng gobyerno sa pamamagitan ng pagpapatupad sa Executive order 464 na humaharang sa mga opisyal ng gobyerno na tumestigo sa mga pagsusuri ng Senado kahit na itinaguyod ng Korte Suprema ang “right to public information”. Ilan lamang ang mga ito sa mga bagay na patuloy na nagpapahirap sa kalagayan ng Pilipinas at ng mga Pilipino sa loob at labas ng bansa. Iba’t-iba pang isyu ang patuloy na lumalantad sa mga balita. Isa pa dito and isyu ng di pagtulong ng mga konsulado ng Pilipinas sa mga OFWs sa Kuwait at Saudi Arabia. Kamakailan lamang ay labing-isang OFWs sa Kuwait ang lumapit sa Philippine Labor Office sa Kuwait upang isumbong ang kompanyang kanilang pinagtatrabahuhan dahil sa umanong maliit na pasahod, mahahabang oras sa trabaho at pagtitiis sa “contractsubstitution”. Ngunit sila ay nabigo at di nabigyan ng tulong ng konsulada. Sa kabilang dako naman halos isang daan na OFWs naman ang napilitang tumira sa ilalim ng tulay sa Al-Khandara district sa Suadi Arabia matapos nilang tumakas sa mga
“We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of race, religion or political views, that place must at that moment, become the centre of the universe.” …. Elie Wiesel … Nobel Peace Prize winner & holocaust survivor
mapang-abusong amo. Ilan sa kanila ay mga biktima ng sexual harassment at maliit na pasueldo. Ang kapabayaang ito ng konsulada ng Pilipinas sa Saudi Arabia ay nakaririmarim at dapat na iwasto. Libo-libong mamamayan na ng Pilipinas ang tumatawag upang tanggalin ang mga katiwalian at kapabayaang ito ng gobyerno. Maging ang Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) ay tumatawag para sa “Communal Action” at pagkakaisa ng pagkilos laban sa katiwalian. Ang mga bagong bayani o mga OFW na nagtitiis sa ibang bansa upang makapagpadala ng perang tutukod sa ekonomiya ng Pilipinas ay tumutugon sa tawag ng panahon. Kasabay ng “Interfaith Rally” noong ika-29 ng Pebrebro na dinaluhan ng 80,000 katao ay naglunsad din ang Overseas Filipinos (OFs) ng iba’t-ibang uri ng kilos protesta tulad ng forums, petition-signing at piket sa harapan ng mga embahada ng Pilipinas ng iba’t-ibang bansa.
Ang tawag ngayon, tawag sa pagbabago! Sources: www.bulatlat.com ; www.transparency.org
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Column
ISSUE 11: February-March 2008
By Reyvi Mariñas
The real face of Australian mining activities in the Philippines The issue of Australian mining activities in the Philippines has attracted considerable attention in the mainstream newspaper (‘Living in the shadow of the resource boom’, The Saturday Age, 2 February, and Opinion, The Age, 6 February).
The Rapu-Rapu Mining Project indeed is but one of the manifestations of this utterly flawed, anti-people policy on mining. It shows the ‘dark side’ of mining liberalisation on the Philippine economy, particularly the violation of the country’s sovereignty and national patrimony.
It is about time that the Australian public is informed on how big Australian mining companies, such as Lafayette, OceanaGold, Climax Mining, to name a few, have exploited the people in developing countries and has ripped huge amounts of profits at the expense of community livelihood and welfare.
In the name of the so-called ‘neo-liberal’ globalisation, the current regime has encouraged free entry of foreign private corporations without due consideration of the social, environmental and economic impacts on the community.
The Age’s boldness of revealing the exploitative activities of Australian mining in the Philippines is to be commended. But the analysis fails to capture the real essence of Australian mining issue in light of the present economic and political situation in the country and the state of the current administration’s liberalisation policies in this area. Under the banner of ‘responsible mining’ and ‘corporate accountability’, national governments of developing countries and their foreign supporters alike have come to believe that foreign investment and aid development can bring about sustained economic development and poverty alleviation of millions of poor people particularly in the countryside. This view is deeply flawed and short-sighted. How can a responsible mining industry contribute in the national development of a country whereby people’s lives and natural habitat of the local community are being disregarded? Late last year, I met Manoy Tony, an elder from the island of Rapu-Rapu in Bicol region, and Frances Quimpo, from the Centre for Environmental Concerns in the Philippines (CEC), in a public forum held in Melbourne. Manoy Tony, in particular, has expressed his deepest sorrow and regret about how the community’s “livelihood and environments are being destroyed” by Lafayette’s devastating mining operations on the island. The 2007 Report on the Rapu-Rapu Mining Project published by CEC actually reveals that a number of cyanide spills, pollution, and depletion of water resources are amongst the many destructive effects of Lafayette’s mining operations on people’s livelihood in the community. There were also reports of human rights violations and military harassment, which has become common practices to scare-off people from doing various campaigns against mining (pp. 11-18).
Since the passage of the Mining Act of 1995, the Philippine government has been actively pursuing the implementation of a revitalised program for the mining industry, under which twenty-five percent of the country’s land area becomes potentially devoted to mining (section 5 of the Act). More so, huge incentives are given to mining firms by way of tax-free operations for the first five years and the relaxation of mining permit applications and the implementation of environmental regulations, assessment and its impact. As IBON Foundation, an independent research group in the Philippines, has recently indicated: “In stark contrast to the poverty of the affected communities, wherein 60% of the families are forced to live on less than P100 (US$2) a day, the Lafayette Group expects to earn US$350 million a year over the entire duration of the mine. But the local government in 2005 received only P2.1 million (US$42,857) in excise tax collections from Lafayette’s gross revenues of P134.4 million”. It is ironic, but sad, to see that the country’s wealth has not been benefiting the Philippine economy, nor has it been able to stir sustained economic growth and development that could help-out millions of ordinary Filipinos out of dire poverty. Yet people like Manoy Tony and Frances Quimpo are relentlessly fighting against mining liberalisation in the hope to preserve the country’s environment and its natural resources for future generations to come. In raising this issue, Filipinos in Australia can learn more from the experience of the people of Rapu-Rapu and other communities in the Philippines that have been affected by aggressive mining activities, and support efforts to stop it.
Page 12
Events Calendar - Mark Diary 2008 ISSUEyour 11: February-March 06 March 2008 – Migrante Perth joins the Vigil for Peace and Justice for Columbia, 5.00pm Wesley Church, Perth. 07 March 2008 – Migrante Perth celebrates IWD with UnionsWA Sundowner from 4.30,
Solidarity Park, East Perth
08 March 2008 – Migante Perth participates in the IWD event hosted by Ethnic Communities Council WA. The program will be from 11.00am-3.00pm, Hillarys, WA. 08 March 2008 – Gabriela Australia’s 12th year anniversary with a Picnic at the Beach 11.00 am at the Williamstown Beach along Esplanade, Williamstown 08 – 09 March 2008 – Migrante Melbourne & Gabriela Australia Participates in the Bayside Festival, Cherry Lake, Altona Migrante Melbourne and Gabriela Australia will have a Stall at the Festival. Migrante Melbourne will also participate in the Parade at 11.00 am Sunday, March 9. The Parade will start at the North of Queen Street, then parade along Pier Street. Free Entry – Parade, games, rides, demonstrations, food stall. A nice day to spend with families, friends and acquaintances 08 March 2008 – Ugnay Kabayan, Filipino Fiesta 11.00 am onwards, Mingarra Sports Club,Wyong Road, Tumbi-umbi Central Coast, NSW 14 March 2008 – Migrante Perth Protest, Candle Vigil to raise issues of concern to OFW’s globally and call for the resignation of Pres. Arroyo, 5.00-8.00pm, Wesley Church, Perth. 16 March 2008 – Palm Sunday Rally 1.30 pm Parramatta Park, NSW 17 March 2008 – Peaceful Protest Rally to raise concerns on the Anomaly, Corruption and Neglect of the Philippine’s Arroyo government and call for the resignation of Philippine President Gloria Arroyo. 5.30 pm in front of the State Library, corner Swanston and Latrobe Street, Melbourne 01 May 2008 – Multicultural Event and entertainment 7.30 pm (venue will be announced later) Organised by various groups as part of the MayDay activities 04 May 2008 – MayDay march, family activities and concert Annual Worker’s Day event organised by the MayDay committee and the Victorian TradesHall Council with participation from various organisations and unions including Migrante Melbourne, PASA, Gabriela Australia, etc.
Affix Stamp
To:
Migrante Melbourne : : PO Box 606, Laverton, VIC 3028