Health Groups Doubt New Law Would Make Medicines Cheaper

Published on Bulatlat (http://bulatlat.com)

Health groups expressed doubt that the Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008 or Republic Act no. 9502 would bring down the prices of medicines in the country. They said that this is because the law failed to dismantle foreign control over the country’s drug industry.

By RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 20, June 22-28, 2008

Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Republic Act 9502 or the Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008 on June 6.

The law aims to bring down the prices of medicines in the country. The Philippines is one of the countries where medicines are the most expensive.

According to the World Drug Situation of the World Health Organization in 2000, the Philippines is classified as among countries where less than 30 percent of the population have regular access to essential drugs. Moreover, the Department of Health, in its Rational Drug Use paper in 1999 revealed that those who cannot afford the drugs they need resort to under-medication of essential drugs (such as antibiotics) and over-medication of cheaper symptomatic preparations. Symptomatic preparations are medicines that address the symptoms of a disease, like paracetamol for headache.

Regulation?

The Council for Health and Development (CHD), a national organization of community-based health programs, cited several reasons for believing that the new law would not deliver on its promise of reducing the cost of medicines in the country.

In a statement, Eleanor Jara, medical doctor and CHD executive director, criticized the omission of a Drug Price Regulatory Board.

The Lower House version, House Bill 2844 proposed the establishment of a Drug Price Regulatory Board. Iloilo Rep. Ferjenel Biron, principal author of the Bill, asserted that state intervention in the form of a Drug Price Regulatory Board is needed to significantly reduce the prices of medicine.

However, Section 17 of the enacted law gives the President, upon the recommendation of the Secretary of the Department of Health (DoH), the power to impose maximum retail prices over drugs and medicines.

Jara said, “Failure to create a regulatory body for drug prices would only strengthen monopoly trade among big players in the drug industry and would further banish local manufacturers into oblivion. Thus, the Filipino people’s access to essential medicines is at the mercy of profit-greedy transnational drug corporations.”

She added, “We do not understand why our legislators decided to give the authority to regulate the prices of medicines to the President when Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo herself is tainted with corruption and other anomalies. Besides, she has no record of going against the profiteering acts of transnational drug corporations. She has allowed it for seven years. What can she do in the next 120 days?”

Under the new law, the health secretary is mandated to establish and initiate a price monitoring and regulation system for drugs and medicines within 120 days after enactment of the said law. The health secretary’s recommendations would later be approved by the President.

In an interview with Bulatlat, Dr. Geneve Rivera, secretary general of Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) branded the new law as a mere palliative. She said, “Walang ipinatutupad ang gobyerno na permanente at epektibong patakaran sa pagkontrol ng presyo.” (The government does not implement a permanent and effective policy of price control.)

TNC control

Rivera said that the Arroyo government does not recognize that foreign control over the country’s drug industry is the main reason for the prohibitive cost of medicines.

The CHD asserted that the Cheaper Medicine Act is silent about the control of transnational corporations (TNCs) in the marketing, distribution and pricing of medicines.

According to the CHD Primer on Cheaper Medicines, 72 percent of the country’s drug industry is controlled by TNCs. In 2006, TNCs cornered 70 percent of the P9.11-billion ($205,411,499 at an exchange rate of $1=P44.35) worth of medicines sold in the country.

In its position paper, KilosBayan Para sa Kalusugan (KBK) said, “TNCs control the pricing of essential medicine through international trade impositions like the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) of the World Trade Organization. This agreement further aggravates the escalating drug prices by granting exclusive license to TNC-dominated patent holders to produce certain drugs and dictate its price in the market.”

The Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC) said that 80 percent of toll manufacturing of drugs for multinational corporations is done by one company. About 65-70 percent of wholesale distribution is handled by a sister company. In the end, more than 60 percent of the retailing of finished products is sold through Mercury Drug, which has more than 600 outlets nationwide.

Parallel importation

Moreover, Rivera said that provisions on parallel importation would bear no significant impact on the prices of medicines. She noted that even before the passage of the law, parallel importation is utilized by the government in its Botika ng Barangay (Village Drug Strores) program.

Third World countries use parallel importation to buy cheaper medicines from other countries. The Philippines buys medicines from Pakistan and India.

CHD’s Jara said that parallel importation would only further aggravate the country’s import-dependence and stunt the development of the local drug industry. She said, “Instead of being dependent on imports, why not develop our own drug industry and grant tax holidays for local manufacturers?”

The KBK’s position paper stated that developing a national drug industry is one of the most decisive steps in lowering the prices of medicines. It cited that India and Pakistan have done this during the last ten years.

The CHD primer revealed that there are about 600 drugs in the country that are considered essential. Of these, only 200 drugs are made by local companies. The other 400 off-patent drugs do not have local generic counterparts and are thus dependent on importation.

Alternatives

The KBK and CHD proposed as an alternative the creation of a transitory drug price regulatory board composed of representatives from the academe, consumers and health professionals. The drug price board would regulate prices of essential medicines based on production costs and a reasonable profit.

The health groups said parallel importation of essential medicines should be selective and subject to extensive government testing for safety and efficacy.

They are also pushing for the implementation of the Generics Law. The CHD noted that while the law has been in effect for 19 years, many are still not aware that generic equivalents are as safe and effective as branded, expensive drugs. As of 2006, generic drugs account for a measly four to five percent of medicines being sold in the Philippines.

Long-term solutions recommended by the health groups include the development of a self-reliant national drug industry that is responsive to the medical and health needs of the people; development of the technology to refine and extract raw materials and chemicals; tapping of the medicinal potential of indigenous and herbal plants in the Philippines through government-sponsored research and development, among others.

Palliative

Jara said, “The Arroyo government is merely preoccupied with populist rhetoric. In reality, it falls short of medium-and long-term solutions to the Filipino people’s problems.”

Rivera said the Arroyo government would not implement measures that contradict its own policy framework. The deregulation of the drug industry and liberalization of imports of medicines, she said, form part of the neoliberal policies being undertaken by the Arroyo government. Bulatlat

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Ang Lihim ni Winston Garcia

Pinoy Weekly Online

Saturday, June 7, 2008
in Lathalain

Ilang-Ilang D. Quijano/ Tarik Garcia

Hindi matapat sa publiko.

Ito ang ibinibintang ni Winston Garcia, general manager ng GSIS (Government Service Insurance System), sa pamilya Lopez na namumuno ng Meralco (Manila Electric Company). Tinatangka ng GSIS na makontrol ang Meralco, pinakamalaking distribyutor ng kuryente sa bansa, para mapababa umano ang labis-labis na singil nito sa kuryente.

Pero kung inililihim man ng mga Lopez ang abusadong paniningil nito, inililihim din naman ni Winston ang kanyang posibleng tunay na interes sa Meralco.

May koneskiyon ang pamilya Garcia sa Veco (Visayan Electric Company), pangalawang pinakamalaking distribyutor ng kuryente sa bansa. Malapit na alyado ni Pangulong Arroyo si Winston na tubong Cebu ang pamilya.

Nakadikit ang prominenteng mga miyembro ng pamilya Garcia sa Veco, na pag-aari ng pamilya Aboitiz. Nakabase rin sa Cebu ang mga Aboitiz, at tulad ng mga Garcia, malapit diumano sa Palasyo.

Dating legal counsel ng Veco si Jesus Garcia Sr., tiyo ni Winston. Humalili sa tiyo ni Winston ang kanyang pinsang si Jesus Garcia Jr. Ang pamangkin ni Jesus Garcia Jr. na si Jess Anthony N. Garcia ang kasalukuyang legal counsel ng Veco.

Samantala, umupo rin ang mga Garcia sa Board of Directors ng Vivant Corporation, nakalista sa Philippine Stock Exchange na holding company ng Veco. Si Jess Anthony N. Garcia ang kasalukuyang corporate investment officer at sekretarya ng Vivant.

(May dalawang grupo ng mga Garcia sa board ng Vivant. Hindi kadugo ng pamilya ni Winston ang mga Garcia na lahing Espanyol na kumokontrol sa board ng kompanya.)

“Niloloko ni Garcia ang publiko sa pamamagitan ng pagkukunwaring panig siyang walang interes na nagnanais lamang pababain ang singil sa kuryente ng Meralco. Sa totoo, may interes ang kanyang pamilya sa Veco, na makikinabang ang mga may-ari kapag nalusaw ang prankisa ng Meralco. Ang kanyang populistang retorika ay pagtatakip sa pandarambong ng mga alyado at kroni ni Arroyo,” ayon kay Jaime Paglinawan, tagapangulo ng Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Central Visayas.

Hindi umano malayong gamitin ni Garcia ang pensiyon ng mga kawani ng gobyerno para sa kapakanan ng kanyang pamilya at mga alyado sa pulitika at negosyo. Nagawa na niya ito noon.

Noong 2004, bilyun-bilyong piso ng pondo ng GSIS ang kinuha ni Garcia mula sa Land Bank of the Philippines na pag-aari ng gobyerno at inilipat sa pribadong Union Bank.

Iginawad din ni Garcia sa Union Bank ang multi-milyong pisong kontrata sa proyektong E-Card. Idineklara ng Commission on Audit na “illegal” ang nasabing kontrata.

Pag-aari ng pamilya Aboitiz ang Union Bank.

Samantala, nagpahayag ng pagtutol ang mga kawani ng gobyerno sa umano’y tiwaling pamamalakad ni Winstyon sa GSIS at pag-abandona nito sa tungkuling pangalagaan ang kanilang interes.

Sa ika-22 anibersaryo ng Courage (Confederation for the Unity Recognition, and Advancement of Government Employees) noong Mayo 19, nagkaisa laban sa pamunuan ng GSIS ang mga empleyado ng National Food Authority, National Housing Authority, Bureau of Customs, Land Transportation Office, Department of Trade and Industry, National Broadcasting Network, Quezon City Hall, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Labor and Employment, Senado, at iba pang ahensiya ng gobyerno.

“Pinagsasamantalahan ng GSIS ang pondo ng mga manggagawa at ginagamit lamang sa pamumulitika,” ani Ferdinand Gaite, tagapangulo ng Courage.

Update sa Presidential Advisory Council (PAC) Meeting

Hiwalay na Kahilingan Para Sa UP Centennial Bonus ng mga Kawani ng PGH Isinumete Kay Pangulong Roman/BOR ng AUPWU Manila

Noong ika-21 ng Mayo 2008 ay nagkaroon meeting ang Presidential Advisory Council (PAC) kung saan tinatatalakay ang lahat na usaping pang-ehekutibo sa pamantasan at ang idudulog na pagdedesiyunan ng Board of Regents (BOR). Labas sa usapan sa ating bagong CNA, may apat (4) tayong kahilingan na pinag-usapan sa PAC meeting. Sa ulat ni Dr. Arlene Samaniego, Vice-President for Administration ng U.P. ang mga napag-usapan ng PAC ay ang sumusunod:

Una: Ang kahilingan P20,000.00 Centennial Bonus ay pag-aaralan pa kung kakayaning ibigay.
Ikalawa: Ang P1,700.00 na Rice Subsidy para sa unang isang sako ng bigas ay inirekomenda ang P1,500.00 “for Approval” ng BOR sa meeting nito ngayong ika-30 ng Mayo 2008.
Ikatlo: Ang dagdag na sampung (10) araw na sick leave para sa may malalang karamdaman ay para sa mga faculty lamang dahil ang mga admininstrative personnel ay meron nang 15 days sick leave.
At ika-apat: Ang 50-50 hatian sa budget para sa Merit Promotion ay pag-aaralan pa rin.

Maliban sa dagdag na P500.00 (mula P1,000.00 magiging P1,500.00) para sa isang sakong bigas, dama natin na hindi seryoso ang U.P. Administrasyon sa pagbibigay ng solusyon sa ating mga kahilingan at maiangat kahit papaano ang ating kabuhayan. Puro PAG-AARALAN ang kanilang mga sagot kaya’t kinakailangang magpalakas pa tayo at magparami upang higit nating maigiit ang ating mga kahilingan.

Samantala, tayo sa All UP Workers Union Manila ay nagsumite naman ng araw na iyon ng liham sa Office of the Secretary of the University para BOR sa pamamagitan ni Pangulong Roman upang hilingin na huwag ibawas ang P3,000.00 na PGH Centennial Bonus sa anumang ibibigay na UP Centennial Bonus. Mahalaga na igiit natin ang posisyung ito dahil nauna nang nagbigay ng posisyon ang UP Panel sa CNA Negotiation Meeting nitong ika-7 ng Mayo 2008 na ibabawas ang PGH Centennial Bonus sa UP Centennial Bonus.

Nasa pagkakaisa at sama-samang pagkilos pa rin natin makakamit ang ating TAGUMPAY! Suportahan ang ating Unyon para sa pagkamit ng mga dagdag benepisyo.

(Ito ang lead article sa ikalawang issue ng Pandayan Manila sa taong ito na lumabas noong ika-28 ng Mayo 2008.)

CRISPIN BELTRAN: MOST OUTSTANDING LEGISLATOR

CenPEG ISSUE ANALYSIS No. 8
May 23, 2008
Series of 2008

In session, Beltran stood tall and dignified among many, untainted by the corruption that soiled many multimillionaire- congressmen' s seats.

As the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) prepares its assessment of the first 10 years of the Party-list system this year, we deemed it apt to devote this issue analysis to the life and struggles of Crispin Bertiz Beltran, first nominee of the Party-list group Anakpawis. Beltran, a charismatic labor leader who died in a fatal accident last May 20 in Bulacan, was a central figure in the Party-list system - defending it from subversion by the powers-that- be yet tirelessly asserting the people's right to democratic representation in governance.

Crispin Beltran is an exemplary product of his times. Trained in genuine unionism, steeled in the parliament of the streets, and more defiant after Marcos imprisonment, he brought new politics in Congress. Through it all he remained at the forefront of the workers' struggle – and that struggle has produced a hero.

Beltran, known to many Filipinos as Ka (short for kasama or comrade) Bel, was adjudged Most Consistent Outstanding Congressman from 2002-2005 and was elevated to the Congressional Hall of Fame by the Congress Magazine in 2006. He filed the most number of bills in the 13th Congress among the Party-list representatives and would have achieved the same record in the present one had he not met a fatal accident on May 20. The Philippine press and the whole nation – ruled by a government seen as one of the most corrupt in the world - were astounded to find that he died a poor man and had maintained an even frugal life.

But why was Beltran tagged and imprisoned as an "enemy of the state" by two Presidents – Ferdinand Marcos in the 1980s and, for a year-and-a-half, by Gloria M. Arroyo? What kind of politics did he wage that provoked state authorities to believe that by neutralizing him – either by arrest or physical harm (he had faced countless attempts on his life) – they would put an end to his ideology as well?

Humble beginnings

Born of humble beginnings in Bikol in 1933, Beltran's life had been etched by struggles whether as a young guerilla courier fighting the Japanese imperial occupation or as a farm worker, office sweeper, gasoline attendant, messenger, bus driver and later, as a cab driver to support his education. His legacy as one of the country's outstanding labor leaders traces its roots to when, at age 20, he joined fellow drivers in a strike. From thereon, there was no looking back. He either helped organize or served as leader of pioneering labor organizations, the last as chair of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) in 1987 following the abduction and brutal murder of Rolando Olalia and his driver by military operatives. Three years earlier, he escaped Marcos torture and imprisonment and went to the countryside to organize workers and farm laborers.

For Beltran, working alongside the country's proletariat did not only mean going on strikes for bread and butter or facing company executives in tough wage negotiations. The years spent in labor leadership also produced hard-fought lessons in ideological skirmishes with "yellow" or compromising trade unionism and also linking up with organizations of farmers, youth-students, urban poor and other sectors in a nationwide cause-oriented movement. It meant taking up the cudgels of the poor through peaceful but militant engagement with state authorities in denouncing oppressive policies while advocating for genuine social, economic and political reform. He knew that any picket or street protest would be met by police truncheons, water cannons, or even bullets but Beltran never for a second vacillated in the frontline of the struggle, as colleagues in the street parliament would narrate.

Known for his solid pro-people leadership in the labor movement, Beltran was invited to join the senatorial slate of the Partido ng Bayan (PnB or people's party) in the 1987 elections – the first to be held after 14 years of Marcos dictatorship. Reminiscent of the fate suffered by the Democratic Alliance (DA) whose six representatives elected in the 1946 elections were unseated for opposing onerous economic and military agreements with the United States, the PnB came out badly bruised from the polls with many of its volunteers killed and most of its candidates for Congress and local positions victims of fraud.

Beltran and the Party-list organizations that he represented (Bayan Muna and, later, Anakpawis) garnered significant seats in elections for the House, with BM topping both the 2001 and 2004 polls. House records show that the labor leader championed the issues of the poor in privilege speeches as well as by filing bills and resolutions on their behalf. The speeches, bills and resolutions penned by Beltran, among others, called for investigations of violations of the rights of workers, farm laborers, urban poor, migrant workers, consumers, GSIS members as well as public employees and victims of human rights violations. He was most vehement in opposing the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), Arroyo's support to the U.S. war on terror and the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Vindictive Arroyo

These initiatives inevitably antagonized government agencies, big industrial and agricultural corporations, energy companies, and military authorities. Consequently, the congressman earned the vindictive ire of Mrs. Arroyo as she watched her centerpiece policies and bills sponsored subjected to condemnation one after the other by the labor leader - together with Party mates and other legislators - inside and outside the halls of Congress. Co-authoring three impeachment initiatives and denunciations against scams linking the Arroyo couple also cost Beltran's office access to the countrywide development fund, among others.

The denial of CDF funds became part of what the progressive Party-list bloc denounced as a systematic campaign to unseat them from the House through demonization, election fraud, and the use of physical violence. The campaign was integral to a national security doctrine that seeks to neutralize the underground Left's alleged political infrastructures resulting in a series of summary executions and forced disappearances. Beltran was picked up and jailed by Arroyo authorities in February 2006 in a crackdown mounted by the President's attack dogs against the progressive bloc. After nearly two years in detention, he was set free by the Supreme Court which dismissed the trumped-up charges. By then, however, Beltran had physically weakened - a result of harassment, threats, and stress he suffered under a government that considered him "a threat to national security" and only because, as workers in the labor movement said, he stood by his principles and refused to be cowed by Malacanang through bribery and other pressures.

The last public performance that he did was when as a minority member of the House energy committee he spoke against attempts by the President to place Meralco in the hands of her business cronies in the guise of state nationalization. Before that, he filed a bill calling for a genuine agrarian reform program in place of CARP which for two decades he had denounced as a hoax. Just like the P125 legislated wage increase that Beltran and the militant labor groups had been asking for nearly 10 years, the genuine agrarian reform measure that the progressive legislator filed will be shot down by Congress' dominant conservative members and Arroyo allies. Ever a leading figure in major rallies even while he was already in Congress, Beltran delivered what turned out to be his valedictory – wearing a white T-shirt and a red cap together with co-workers at the May 1 rally in Liwasang Bonifacio, Manila.

Tributes

In a tribute to the fallen labor leader, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano said Beltran is probably among the few members of Congress deserving of the title "Honorable." People who visited him while in detention to lend moral support left being inspired instead, a fellow activist leader recalls. Down with ailment, he still took pains serving food or coffee, a former KMU public information writer also says. "Don't deprive me of my wanting to serve you – no matter how small it is - if that's the only way I'll be of service," Beltran told him, quoting Golda Meir.

There are at least two lessons that can be drawn from the legacy left by Beltran. One is that his participation in the Party-list system led to the infusion of new politics in an elite-dominated Congress and with it a sterling record of legislative work for social and economic reform for the poor. A member of the legislature once noted that the entry of the progressive Party-list bloc into Congress gave the body the meaningful role that it never had. In session, Beltran stood tall and dignified among many, untainted by the corruption that soiled many multimillionaire- congressmen' s seats. But the political repression that Beltran and his colleagues endured – and continues to endure – all the more unmasks not only the state's subversion of the Party-list program that aims to represent the poor in policy making but also the continuing dominance of elitist politics that denies the poor a role in governance participation.

Beltran is vindicated for devoting his life to labor militancy alongside other marginalized classes – building power from the bowels of poverty and injustice – from where people's governance will rise. The labor and legislative record of Beltran proves that the breed of people's leaders is bound to increase – as it now appears - and that elitist rule will be a thing of the past. And that is the second lesson.

Reference:

Bobby Tuazon
Director, Policy Study, Publication and Advocacy (PSPA)
Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG)
TelFax +63-2 9299526; mobile phone: 0915-6418055
E-mail: cenpeg.info@gmail.com; info@cenpeg. org
http://www.cenpeg. org

Ka Bel’s Legacy

The accolades coming the way of Anakpawis Representative Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran, in his untimely death, salute his honesty and self-sacrifice, his courageous resistance against all forms of political repression, his unwavering commitment and service to the cause of the working class, his example of humility, good cheer and sincere concern for the lowly and downtrodden and, not the least, his being a loving and responsible family man who found time to rear ten children in the midst of his life-long struggle against exploitation and oppression.

by: CAROL PAGADUAN-ARAULLO
Streetwise
Business World

The accolades coming the way of Anakpawis Representative Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran, in his untimely death, salute his honesty and self-sacrifice, his courageous resistance against all forms of political repression, his unwavering commitment and service to the cause of the working class, his example of humility, good cheer and sincere concern for the lowly and downtrodden and, not the least, his being a loving and responsible family man who found time to rear ten children in the midst of his life-long struggle against exploitation and oppression.

It is not difficult to imagine what sorts of blandishments, bribes and outright persecutory schemes were thrown at Ka Bel by his foes who were, as far as we know, all political and ideological and not personal, adversaries. The most outrageous recent ones have been chronicled in the mass media: an attempted bribe of P2 million pesos for him to support a flawed-and-programmed-to-fail impeachment complaint against de facto President Gloria Arroyo and his 15-month detention on rebellion charges that were dismissed by the Supreme Court as baseless and a gross violation of his right to due process.

As a grizzled icon of the trade union movement in the country, the opportunities to grow rich by compromising the interests of workers were always present. As chairperson of the multisectoral alliance, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, a volte face in his leftist viewpoint and politics on many a burning issue would have been a boon to ruling regimes and the elite class interests they protect and promote.

As a bone fide member of the House of Representatives (he didn’t use public funds, military generals and corrupt members of the Commission on Elections to get elected) he acted in true form – a radical oppositionist in a reactionary institution. He spoke on and filed countless bills and resolutions addressing the urgent and most basic problems of the nation from the P125 legislated minimum wage increase to genuine agrarian reform to making the US-backed Arroyo regime accountable for its grievous crimes against the people.

But never for a moment did Ka Bel forsake the Parliament of the Streets where his familiar smiling face, firm handshake and steady stride inspired both demonstrators and onlookers alike.

Ka Bel had traveled to many places around the world but not to the United States of America. Succeeding administrations, whether Republican or Democratic, had continued to blacklist him as an unwanted alien long after the downfall of his jailer, the Dictator Ferdinand Marcos, and even when he had already attained the title of “Honorable” as an elected representative to Congress. His staunch anti-imperialist stance and his identification with progressive causes and leadership role in the International League for Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) have earned him the ire of rabid pro-imperialists while endearing him to struggling peoples and their movements worldwide.
Next to having devoted his entire life to the struggle for national and social emancipation, the most remarkable thing about Ka Bel is how he remained simple and humble despite his fame and stature. He is the best, if not the only person we know who could get away with wearing a dressy suit or barong tagalong without losing his “masang-masa” aura.

Now the secret is out, ironically revealed by his accidental death. Ka Bel looked like a man of the masses, not only because he always took up the cudgels for them and was with them in their day-to-day as well as historic struggles, but because, in truth, he lived and died a man of very modest means. His wife of more than 50 years, Ka Osang, recounted between sobs, how he had been recently occupying himself with repairs on their house, clearing a space in their cramped residence to park an old van he had been using but was badly in need of repair and sweetly promising that he would help her pull the weeds from the garden in the coming weeks so that their vegetables would grow well and help feed the hungry.

His comrades, co-workers and subordinates and even some on the opposite side of the fence in many a bruising political battle, can attest to Ka Bel’s good-heartedness and humility. He never threw his weight around in meetings nor did he demand special treatment wherever he went. He was always willing to give his time and energy to undertake risky, strenuous and even unglamorous roles so long as these were needed. He was concerned about the welfare of "kasamas", the ordinary people and his growing brood of grandchildren.

Ka Bel was never intentionally mean to anyone (of course he would get angry at oppressors and exploiters and would have willingly engaged his persecutors in the Department of Justice in a street brawl). He was generous, some say to a fault, in giving even the policemen standing ready to violently disperse demonstrators, the option to disobey unlawful orders from their superiors by addressing them as “kababayan” (countrymen) and asking them to open their eyes to what was happening in the country.

Those in the Arroyo regime who contributed in no small measure to Ka Bel’s deteriorated health condition, his economic difficulties and his unabated political persecution would now want to act as if they had, all along, only the highest regard for Ka Bel despite their disagreements with his ideology and politics. They send flowers and make sympathetic noises now that he’s dead and even wish to let it appear that as far as they are concerned, bygones are bygones.

Let us in the democratic mass movement express ourselves clearly and emphatically. Ka Bel was an uncompromising, untiring fighter for freedom, justice and fundamental reforms. He has left us a legacy that serves as an inspiration to generations of activists and the toiling, struggling masses he so loved and whom he served to his last breath.

We celebrate his life by affirming the progressive, nay revolutionary, principles and national democratic program he fought for. As the marchers who accompanied his hearse to the Iglesia Filipina Independiente Cathedral shouted resolutely, “Ka Bel, tuloy ang laban!”

Apat na Kahilingan, Tuloy na Ipaglaban! Diskriminasyon sa Unibersidad Tutulan, Labanan

Ulat sa Tugon ng President’s Advisory Council sa Apat na Kahilingan ng
ALL-UP WORKERS UNION AT ALL-UP ACADEMIC EMPLOYEES UNION

Halos walang ibinigay ang administrasyong Roman sa kahilingang inihapag natin sa President’s Advisory Council meeting ng Mayo 21, 2008.

Ganito ang ibinihagi ni UP Vice President for Administration Arlene Samaniego sa mga kawani, REPS at guro na matyagang nag-antay hanggang alas dose ng tanghali:

1. Pag-aaralan pa ang hinihingi nating P20,000 centennial bonus
2. Ibibigay ang P1,500 para sa bigas pagkatapos ng BOR meeting sa May 30, 2008.
3. Sick leave para sa mga kawani at REPS. Meron na raw nito ang mga kawani at REPS
4. 50-50 na hatian sa merit promotion. Pag-aaralan pa rin daw ito. Ayon kay VP Samaniego may mga report na hindi daw naubos ang alokasyon para sa merit promotion ng mga kawani at REPS noong 2005!!

P20,000 Centennial Bonus:

Sa Hunyo 18, 2008 na ang isang daang taon ng UP at sa Mayo 30, 2008 ay ang pulong ng Board of Regents na pusibleng mag-uusap kaugnay ng mga benepisyong matatanggap natin para sa mahalagang okasyong ito. Noon pang Enero 8, 2008, inumpisahan ang opisyal na selebrasyon ng sentenaryo ng UP. Marami nang pinaggastusan ang UP kaugnay ng sentenaryo: mga fireworks, mga centennial lectures, mga centennial professorial chairs. Pero hanggang ngayon, pag-aaralan pa nila kung ano ang maaaring tanggapin nating mga karaniwang kawani, REPS at guro para sa sentenaryo. Ano ba yan?

P1,700 para sa rice subsidy

Ang rice subsidy ay dati nang natatanggap natin. Mula P1,000 bawat sako hiniling nating gawing P1,700 bawat sako dahil P34 bawat kilo na ang relatibong maayos ayos na kalidad ng bigas. Sa P1,500 na ibibigay ng Administrasyong Roman, hindi aabot sa 50 kilong bigas ang makukuha natin bilang rice subsidy!!!

Sick leave para sa mga kawani at REPS

“Meron na raw nito ang mga kawani at REPS”. Ano ba yan? Noon pang Nobyembre 2008 ay sumulat na ang dalawang unyon natin na nagpapaliwanag kung bakit tayo humihiling ng sick leave para sa mga kawani at REPS

Ang esensya ng kahilingan natin ay ang pagbibigay suporta ng Administrasyong Roman sa mga kawani at REPS na mayroon o magkakaroon ng malalang sakit tulad ng suportang ibinibigay sa faculty na siyang pinagmulan ng extended sick leave. Ang pagsagot na meron ng leave credits ang mga kawani at REPS ay hindi tumuturol sa esensya ng usapin at nagpapakita na bingi ang Administrasyong Roman sa pangangailangan ng tulong ng mga kawani at REPS na may malalang sakit.

Bakit hindi saklawin ang mga kawani at REPS ng probisyong katulad sa ibinigay sa mga regular, full time faculty members na may naipong leave credits bunga ng paging administrador. Sa naturang probisyon, ang mga faculty na may naipong leave credits na magkakaroon ng malalang sakit ay magkakaroon ng sick leave with pay sa ilalim ng ganitong patakaran hanggang sa maksimum (10 araw sa bawat taon ng panunungkulan) bago nila gamitin ang naipong leave credits.

50-50 na Alokasyon para sa Merit Promotion ngayong 2008

Nakakainsulto ang tinuran ni VP Samaniego na “may report na hindi naubos ang alokasyon para sa mga kawani at REPS sa hatiang 80-20 noong 2005”. Alam ba ni VP Samaniego at ng mga kagawad ng PAC na sa guidelines noong 2005 promotion, isang step lamang ang pwedeng maitaas ng isang kawani o REPS sa saklaw ng limang taon (1999-2005) ? Kaya kahit na kwalipikado ang marami rami na lampas sa isang step na promotion, ay hindi nila nakuha ito. Ngayon naman, sa guidelines for promotion, kailangang OUTSTANDING ang kawani o REPS habang satisfactory ang minimum na hinihiling para sa faculty teaching. Mga kagalang-galang na mga panginoon sa Quezon Hall. Ang one step o two step promotion ng mga kawani ay magkakahalaga lamang sa karaniwan ng dagdag na P150 o P300 bawat buwan!!! At sa marami-raming opisina, nagmulti-tasking na ang mga kawani dahil sa patuloy na atrisyon sa hanay nila. At wala pang overtime pay para sa kanila!!!

Hindi namin lubos maisip kung paanong nakatutulog nang mahimbing ang mga administrador ng unibersidad gayung nagpapatupad sila ng hindi makatarungan at hindi makataong mga patakaran. Paano nila nagagawang magpatupad ng mga patakarang nagpapalaganap ng elitismo at indibidwalismo sa hanay ng iisang sektor sa halip na pagbuklurin ang lahat ng sektor.

Lahat ng kawani ng unibersidad -- administratibo, REPS o guro man -- ay may mahalagang papel, batay sa kanilang posisyon, sa pagpapaunlad at pagpapayabong ng dantaon nang unibersidad. Nakapagtataka kung bakit hindi makatarungan ang pamantayan sa pagbibigay ng merit awards. Hindi nga ba't ang pagtingin ay "to the extend that his/her position will permit"? Nangangahulugan ito na lahat ng kawani ng unibersidad ay esensyal na miyembro ng tumatakbong institusyon.

Hindi maglulubay ang All UP Workers Union at All UP Academic Employees Union sa paggigiit ng benepisyo para sa mga kawani, REPS at guro batay sa prinsipyo ng social justice at equity. Hindi maglulubay ang ating dalawang unyon sa paglantad sa parami-rami at tumitinding diskriminasyon sa pagtrato sa mga kawani at REPS sa ilalim ng Administrasyong Roman.

Apat na kahilingan, tuloy na ipaglaban!!

Diskriminasyon sa Unibersidad, tutulan, labanan!!

Environment: A major source of corruption

Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG)
ISSUE ANALYSIS No. 7
April 29, 2008
Series of 2008

The higher the level of corruption in a country, the greater the destruction of the environment.

The higher the level of corruption in a country, the greater the destruction of the environment; likewise, the lower the level of environmental sustainability. This correlation comes not from an NGO or an anti-corruption watchdog but from the World Economic Forum (WEF), the Davos annual meeting of political and corporate leaders from all over the world.

The linkage between environment and corruption is ringing alarm bells not only in the WEF but in other multilateral organizations as well. This may not necessarily out of their concern for the environment, however, but because the funds granted many developing countries including the Philippines to combat corruption have yielded no promising results, worse, are embezzled through corruption itself.

There is another correlation: Developing countries that are highly dependent on extractive industries, such as mining, logging, and the export of resources, show the highest levels of corruption. The WEF, along with Transparency International (TI), Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC), and other institutions see the Philippines as the second most corrupt country in the world and the first in Asia today.

Previously ranked as one of a few countries with the most diverse ecosystems, the Philippines is now facing an environment crisis. Only 17 percent of its forest cover is left and 50 of its 421 major river systems are biologically dead. Mining and other extractive industries threaten farm life, coastal and marine resources, access to water, and spawn epidemics and pollution of all types. Foreign mining firms have, since the 1970s, plundered as much as $30 billion worth of mineral resources from the Philippines. Moreover, some $2 billion is lost to environmental degradation every year.

The environment sector is a major source of corruption as well as political patronage. The plunder of natural wealth has been the material base of oligarchic politics that promotes and practices corruption. It is where the most coveted resources are, and it is where the money is. The mineral wealth alone that remains untapped is worth $840 billion; the first phase of the Arroyo administration' s minerals policy was expected to generate $10 billion in investments.

Teeming with corruption

The large-scale exploitation and extraction of the country's natural wealth especially timber and mineral resources teems with corruption involving bureaucrats, powerful politicians and their cronies, on the one hand, and transnational corporations and their local partners, on the other. The maze and levels of corruption begin with the TNCs themselves – in their ¬countries business gives legitimacy to bribery.

In the United States, for instance, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) does not prohibit bribing foreign officials through facilitating or expediting payment "the purpose of which is to expedite or secure the performance of a routine governmental action." On the other hand, the OECD's 1997 Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions ("OECD Convention") makes acceptable "grease payments," "speed money," "facilitating payments," or "expediting payments" that are made to ensure the timely delivery of goods and services, such as permits and licenses.

In Canada, the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act makes even more explicit about "grease" payments as legal if these are made to expedite or secure the performance by a foreign public official of any routine act that is part of the foreign public official's duties or functions, including the issuance of a permit, license, visas, and work permits.

As a result, foreign firms including mining TNCs offer bribes and allot revenues for grease money sometimes bigger than the normal 22 percent that Filipino business firms normally earmark to get government projects approved. Many TNCs whose mining operations have been banned or restricted in other countries because of pollution are willing to shell out bribe money in the Philippines allowing them to invest in mining exploration, extraction, and exportation while evading tight environment evaluation, monitoring, or even litigation. Awash with trillions of dollars in surplus capital, China's corporations including ZTE-NBN are willing to offer as much as one-third of their investment capital to corner mining, telecommunications, road development and other major projects. These projects damage the environment, demolish communities, and make the people bear more tax burdens to compensate for losses in enterprises that do not benefit them at all.

The profit objectives of business in extracting billions worth of environment resources are facilitated through the enactment of laws and onerous treaties, the issuance of policies, transactions, permits, designation of areas for operation, sham environment assessments, and other papers. This bureaucratic and policy-making process involves all layers of government including the chief executive, Congress, and even members of the judiciary.

Legal mechanisms

Thus legal mechanisms are used to legitimize and process the plunder of natural resources. But it is the invisible hand of corruption wielded by the powers-that- be which makes this development aggression more expeditious. It is this same hand that protects profitable ventures, beneficiaries of corruption, and the wanton destruction of the environment at the expense of communities, their livelihood and property, and their future. Corruption makes environment laws unenforceable and violators to get away with their crimes. It also makes accountability toothless.

A case in point: When the Supreme Court ruled in December 2004 that the Mining Act was unconstitutional, the bureaucracy' s top honchos flexed their muscle to support the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines' and the TNCs' lobby to have the ruling reversed. Millions of dollars were reportedly spent for this campaign. In less than a month, the high court did an about face. A jubilant House Speaker Jose de Venecia boasted before international mining investors in London in June 2005: "We mounted a strong campaign to get the Supreme Court to reverse itself. It was a difficult task to get 15 proud men and women of the Supreme Court to reverse themselves. But we succeeded."
Corruption is the secret agency that makes environmental destruction possible topped by civilian deaths, epidemics, and calamities. It has led to the depletion of the country's natural resources ranging from deforestation, slope destabilization, soil erosion, desertification, water resource degradation, defertilization, crop damages, siltation, alteration of terrain and sea-bottom topography, increased water turbidity and air pollution. It continues to threaten the country's food security.
Given the current propensity to reward corrupt officials while whistleblowers along with anti-corruption watchdogs are intimidated, corruption in the environment sector is here to stay and is sure to worsen. Horrifying will be day when the whole country degrades into a desert and the only life remaining is the social cockroaches – the corrupt oligarchs and crony capitalists.

Corruption breeds in a government dominated by oligarchs who craft development policies motivated by private gain and corporate greed. And yet environment constitutes public wealth and it is just for the people to make an assertion of this basic principle. In the short term, pending legislative bills that uphold transparency in government transactions such as the right to public information should be supported. Independent and impartial investigations of corruption cases and environmental plunder should take their course. In the long term, the campaign for environment conservation and the defense of patrimony should be linked to the overall struggle for land, against corruption, and toward democratic governance.

Reference:

Bobby Tuazon
Director, Policy Study, Publication and Advocacy (PSPA)
Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG)
TelFax +63-2 9299526; mobile phone: 0915-6418055
E-mail: cenpeg.info@ gmail.com; info@cenpeg. org
http://www.cenpeg. org