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| Credits to ITF for sharing this flyer/campaign banner |
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Save PAL's jobs - fight for security of tenure
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Aktibismo sa panahon ng administrasyong Aquino | Rising Sun
Kahit wala pang isang taon si Pangulong Aquino, sapat na ang unang 100 araw niya mula Hulyo 1 hanggang Oktubre 8 para magkaroon ng ideya sa pangkabuuang direksiyon ng kanyang pamamahala. Ang sinasabing “daang matuwid” ay tungo sa globalistang hangarin.
Oo, walang masama sa globalisasyon, kung ikaw ay nabibilang sa nakatataas na uri ng ating lipunan. Pero malinaw sa napakaraming pag-aaral ang negatibong epekto ng globalisasyon sa mahihirap – kawalan ng subsidyo mula sa gobyerno, maliit na suweldo, kawalan ng kaseguruhan sa trabaho, pagbaha ng mga imported na produkto, pagpatay sa agrikultural na produksyon. Napakahaba ng listahan ng masamang kahihinatnan, pero pilit na sinasagot ito ng mga nasa kapangyarihan sa pamamagitan ng isang teknikal na termino – safety nets.
Simple lang naman ang lohika ng safety nets sa konteksto ng globalisasyon. Maaaring masagasaan ang interes ng mga manggagawa, magsasaka at iba pang sektor basta’t siguraduhin lang na mabibigyan sila ng alternatibong kabuhayan. Sa unang tingin, walang masama rito. Pero katulad ng relokasyon sa mga maralitang tagalungsod na biktima ng demolisyon, hindi isinasaalang-alang ang kalagayan ng mga nasagasaan dahil sila ay napupunta sa sitwasyon ng kawalan. - Danny Arao
Aktibismo sa panahon ng administrasyong Aquino | Rising Sun
Oo, walang masama sa globalisasyon, kung ikaw ay nabibilang sa nakatataas na uri ng ating lipunan. Pero malinaw sa napakaraming pag-aaral ang negatibong epekto ng globalisasyon sa mahihirap – kawalan ng subsidyo mula sa gobyerno, maliit na suweldo, kawalan ng kaseguruhan sa trabaho, pagbaha ng mga imported na produkto, pagpatay sa agrikultural na produksyon. Napakahaba ng listahan ng masamang kahihinatnan, pero pilit na sinasagot ito ng mga nasa kapangyarihan sa pamamagitan ng isang teknikal na termino – safety nets.
Simple lang naman ang lohika ng safety nets sa konteksto ng globalisasyon. Maaaring masagasaan ang interes ng mga manggagawa, magsasaka at iba pang sektor basta’t siguraduhin lang na mabibigyan sila ng alternatibong kabuhayan. Sa unang tingin, walang masama rito. Pero katulad ng relokasyon sa mga maralitang tagalungsod na biktima ng demolisyon, hindi isinasaalang-alang ang kalagayan ng mga nasagasaan dahil sila ay napupunta sa sitwasyon ng kawalan. - Danny Arao
Aktibismo sa panahon ng administrasyong Aquino | Rising Sun
Saturday, October 02, 2010
Aquino Asked, Prioritize Public Health Instead of Fraudulent Loans and War vs Filipinos - Bulatlat
“Whether the Aquino government admits it or not, the massive cases of dengue mirrors a government that puts its people’s health behind debt servicing and military spending. ” – Council for Health and Development.
Aquino Asked, Prioritize Public Health Instead of Fraudulent Loans and War vs Filipinos - Bulatlat
Aquino Asked, Prioritize Public Health Instead of Fraudulent Loans and War vs Filipinos - Bulatlat
Friday, October 01, 2010
Pagbubukas ng FMAB, Pagbagsak ng Kalidad ng Serbisyo sa PGH
Nitong unang linggo ng Setyembre, dalawang “opening ceremony” ang naganap sa atin sa PGH. Una ay ang pagbubukas ng gate sa harap ng UP Manila Oblation Plaza na agad din namang isinara nitong huling linggo ng buwan dahil sa kakulangan ng kahandaan sa mga implikasyon nito sa pasyente, mga kawani at mismong serbisyong ipinagkakaloob ng ospital. At ang ikalawa, ay ang pormal na pagbubukas ng FMAB kasabay ang pagpapakalat ng mga anunsyo sa paglalako ng kanilang mga pribadong serbisyong medical.
Mapapansin natin na hindi pa bukas ang mga klinika para sa mga doktor. Mistulang pyesta sa dami ng tarpulin na halos mismong PGH na ang nagbebenta ng kanilang serbisyo.
Sa mga nagdaang mga araw, napag- alaman natin na malaki ang ibinaba ng kita ng ating Main Pharmacy bunga na rin ng biglaang paglipat ng main gate sa harap ng Oblation para sa pedestrian. Sa Laboratory, diumano ay marami ng procedures ang hindi nagagawa dahil sa kawalan ng reagent. Pati ang ating CT Scan ay normal procedures na lang ang kayang gawin at ang mga special procedures ay sa ibang clinic o ospital na inire-refer ng ilan nating mga doctor, ang ilan ay direktang sinasabi sa mga pasyente na sa FMAB ipagawa ang kanilang diagnostic procedure.
Nagkataon lang ba ito sa pagbubukas ng FMAB o ito na ang sitwasyon ng PGH sa mga susunod na mga araw?
Sa simple nating pagsusuri,malinaw na ang pagpasok ng isang pribadong ospital (FMAB) sa loob ng compound ng PGH gamit ang mga klinika ng PGH Consultants bilang pantakip sa kanilang pagkamal ng kita. At sa pakipagkutsabahan na rin ng ilang administrador ng PGH at UP Manila ay unti-unting papatayin o papahinain ang mga serbisyo ng PGH katulad ng pharmacy, laboratory, radiology at iba pang diagnostic/treatment units. Maliban dito malaki ang posibilidad na ang mga sumusunod ay mangyayari pa sa darating na panahon bunga ng kasalukuyang sitwasyon.
a) Pagbabawas ng Job Order/ Casual/Contractual na mga kawani (lalo na sa Pharmacy) at pagbabawas o pagkawala ng sabsidyo ng libreng antibiotic para sa mga pasyente sa charity dahil sa kakulangan ng kita sa PGH Pharmacy.
b) Kakulangan ng pondo para sa mga dagdag benepisyo ng mga kawani
k) Paglalagay ng bayad sa mga dating libre at pagdaragdag ng bayarin sa mga dati ng may bayad na mga serbisyong ibinibigay ng PGH
d) Tuluyang pagpasok ng pribatisasyon bilang negosyo imbes na libreng serbisyo sa mga pampublikong ospital katulad ng PGH.
Kami sa All UP Workers Union ay kinukondena ang mga administrador ng PGH at UP Manila na tahasang nakikipagsabwatan sa mga pribadong mamumuhunan tulad ng sa FMAB upang gawing negosyo ang serbisyong dapat sana ay libreng ibinibigay sa mamamayan sa abot ng kanilang kakayanan. Nakakalungkot at nakakagalit isiping kita at tubo na ang motibasyon ng ilan sa ating mga administrador sa kanilang paglilingkod sa PGH at UP.
ANG ATING MGA PANAWAGAN:
• BENEPISYO AT KASEGURUHAN SA TRABAHO, IPAGLABAN!
• SERBISYO SA TAO, WAG GAWING NEGOSYO !
• BADYET PANGKALUSUGAN, DAGDAGAN WAG BAWASAN!
• MGA ABUSADONG OPISYAL, TANGGALIN SA PUWESTO!
• DE KALIDAD at ABOT KAYANG SERBISYONG PANGKALUSUGAN, IALAY SA MAMAMAYAN!
All U.P. Workers Union – Manila
Ika-1 ng Oktubre 2010
Mapapansin natin na hindi pa bukas ang mga klinika para sa mga doktor. Mistulang pyesta sa dami ng tarpulin na halos mismong PGH na ang nagbebenta ng kanilang serbisyo.
Sa mga nagdaang mga araw, napag- alaman natin na malaki ang ibinaba ng kita ng ating Main Pharmacy bunga na rin ng biglaang paglipat ng main gate sa harap ng Oblation para sa pedestrian. Sa Laboratory, diumano ay marami ng procedures ang hindi nagagawa dahil sa kawalan ng reagent. Pati ang ating CT Scan ay normal procedures na lang ang kayang gawin at ang mga special procedures ay sa ibang clinic o ospital na inire-refer ng ilan nating mga doctor, ang ilan ay direktang sinasabi sa mga pasyente na sa FMAB ipagawa ang kanilang diagnostic procedure.
Nagkataon lang ba ito sa pagbubukas ng FMAB o ito na ang sitwasyon ng PGH sa mga susunod na mga araw?
Sa simple nating pagsusuri,malinaw na ang pagpasok ng isang pribadong ospital (FMAB) sa loob ng compound ng PGH gamit ang mga klinika ng PGH Consultants bilang pantakip sa kanilang pagkamal ng kita. At sa pakipagkutsabahan na rin ng ilang administrador ng PGH at UP Manila ay unti-unting papatayin o papahinain ang mga serbisyo ng PGH katulad ng pharmacy, laboratory, radiology at iba pang diagnostic/treatment units. Maliban dito malaki ang posibilidad na ang mga sumusunod ay mangyayari pa sa darating na panahon bunga ng kasalukuyang sitwasyon.
a) Pagbabawas ng Job Order/ Casual/Contractual na mga kawani (lalo na sa Pharmacy) at pagbabawas o pagkawala ng sabsidyo ng libreng antibiotic para sa mga pasyente sa charity dahil sa kakulangan ng kita sa PGH Pharmacy.
b) Kakulangan ng pondo para sa mga dagdag benepisyo ng mga kawani
k) Paglalagay ng bayad sa mga dating libre at pagdaragdag ng bayarin sa mga dati ng may bayad na mga serbisyong ibinibigay ng PGH
d) Tuluyang pagpasok ng pribatisasyon bilang negosyo imbes na libreng serbisyo sa mga pampublikong ospital katulad ng PGH.
Kami sa All UP Workers Union ay kinukondena ang mga administrador ng PGH at UP Manila na tahasang nakikipagsabwatan sa mga pribadong mamumuhunan tulad ng sa FMAB upang gawing negosyo ang serbisyong dapat sana ay libreng ibinibigay sa mamamayan sa abot ng kanilang kakayanan. Nakakalungkot at nakakagalit isiping kita at tubo na ang motibasyon ng ilan sa ating mga administrador sa kanilang paglilingkod sa PGH at UP.
ANG ATING MGA PANAWAGAN:
• BENEPISYO AT KASEGURUHAN SA TRABAHO, IPAGLABAN!
• SERBISYO SA TAO, WAG GAWING NEGOSYO !
• BADYET PANGKALUSUGAN, DAGDAGAN WAG BAWASAN!
• MGA ABUSADONG OPISYAL, TANGGALIN SA PUWESTO!
• DE KALIDAD at ABOT KAYANG SERBISYONG PANGKALUSUGAN, IALAY SA MAMAMAYAN!
All U.P. Workers Union – Manila
Ika-1 ng Oktubre 2010
Justice for Nurse-rape victim, Justice for All Nurses & Health Workers
Alliance of Health Workers
PRESS STATEMENT
October 1, 2010
Reference: Mr. Jossel I. Ebesate, RN
Secretary-General
Mobile No: 09189276381
We, nurses and health workers from different hospitals and health institutions nationwide, condemn the rape of Florence, a nurse in South Upi, Maguindanao. We call for immediate and swift justice for the nurse rape victim. We call for justice for all nurses and health workers.
It is indeed commendable that she chose to serve in rural area where nurses are needed most. In taking the road less taken, she became a victim of a crime and injustice.
Like Florence, many nurses and health workers endure injustice under the present situation. After painstaking years of studying nursing and passing the licensure examination, many nurses end up as job-orders or contractual, without benefits and with pay below that of a nurse with plantilla. Worse many nurses become volunteers, without salaries and even paying the hospital for the supposed “training” and “experience”. This is not what a licensed nurse should endure.
Nurses and other health workers employed as regular employees receive low salaries, inadequate benefits, if any at all, and suffer from understaffing, inhumane conditions at work, and repression.
Those health workers who chose to stay to serve the people are even illegally arrested for trumped-up charges, just like the case of Morong 43.
This is not what should happen to those who serve the people.
Because of these, nurses and other health workers are not encouraged to stay in the country, much more work in the rural areas.
We see that the government is remiss in two counts. First it failed to ensure the safety of nurses and other health care providers, be in rural or urban areas. Second, and more importantly, the government lends deaf ear to calls to provide adequate jobs, salaries, benefits and better working conditions to all health workers. The Department of Labor’s Nurses Assigned to Rural Areas (NARS) program, which Florence participated in, did not give permanent job and adequate remuneration for nurses. Six months of work, with allowance below that received by a plantilla- holder nurse in a government hospital, is not fair and just.
The Filipino patients in the end suffer from inadequate staff and health services.
We call for swift justice for the nurse rape victim. We hope that impartial investigation and trial will convict the wrong-doers.
We call for justice for all nurses and health workers. We call for adequate jobs, salaries, benefits and better working conditions for all health workers who have heroically decided to stay in the country and serve the Filipino people. We call on the government to release the 43 health workers and protect the welfare, rights and safety of all health care providers. This will redound to better services to the people. #
PRESS STATEMENT
October 1, 2010
Reference: Mr. Jossel I. Ebesate, RN
Secretary-General
Mobile No: 09189276381
We, nurses and health workers from different hospitals and health institutions nationwide, condemn the rape of Florence, a nurse in South Upi, Maguindanao. We call for immediate and swift justice for the nurse rape victim. We call for justice for all nurses and health workers.
It is indeed commendable that she chose to serve in rural area where nurses are needed most. In taking the road less taken, she became a victim of a crime and injustice.
Like Florence, many nurses and health workers endure injustice under the present situation. After painstaking years of studying nursing and passing the licensure examination, many nurses end up as job-orders or contractual, without benefits and with pay below that of a nurse with plantilla. Worse many nurses become volunteers, without salaries and even paying the hospital for the supposed “training” and “experience”. This is not what a licensed nurse should endure.
Nurses and other health workers employed as regular employees receive low salaries, inadequate benefits, if any at all, and suffer from understaffing, inhumane conditions at work, and repression.
Those health workers who chose to stay to serve the people are even illegally arrested for trumped-up charges, just like the case of Morong 43.
This is not what should happen to those who serve the people.
Because of these, nurses and other health workers are not encouraged to stay in the country, much more work in the rural areas.
We see that the government is remiss in two counts. First it failed to ensure the safety of nurses and other health care providers, be in rural or urban areas. Second, and more importantly, the government lends deaf ear to calls to provide adequate jobs, salaries, benefits and better working conditions to all health workers. The Department of Labor’s Nurses Assigned to Rural Areas (NARS) program, which Florence participated in, did not give permanent job and adequate remuneration for nurses. Six months of work, with allowance below that received by a plantilla- holder nurse in a government hospital, is not fair and just.
The Filipino patients in the end suffer from inadequate staff and health services.
We call for swift justice for the nurse rape victim. We hope that impartial investigation and trial will convict the wrong-doers.
We call for justice for all nurses and health workers. We call for adequate jobs, salaries, benefits and better working conditions for all health workers who have heroically decided to stay in the country and serve the Filipino people. We call on the government to release the 43 health workers and protect the welfare, rights and safety of all health care providers. This will redound to better services to the people. #
Friday, July 30, 2010
Smoke and Mirrors
Streetwise
By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo
“Pnoy the Magician” in bright yellow. This was how activists depicted President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino in effigy in last Monday’s annual State-of-the-Nation street demonstration. They were proven prescient in more ways than one as soon as Mr. Aquino started delivering his SONA that turned out to be vintage smoke-and-mirrors demagoguery.
Rather than lead the people to an understanding of the true state of the nation, his seemingly straightforward rhetoric was used instead to conjure illusions and deceive not unlike the way a magician uses optical illusions to create believability while actually performing tricks.
The main trick is to continue to appear as the harbinger of the “change that people can believe in” that worked well enough to get Mr. Aquino elected.
However, despite the effort to make the Aquino regime appear poised to undertake far-reaching reforms in government, in the economy, in resolving armed conflicts and even in turning around public sentiment from pessimism to hopefulness, cynicism to unity and cooperation, Mr. Aquino’s SONA only confirms that there is nothing new, innovative, not to mention any attempt at a radical break from the past, in his prescriptions.
Rather, what we heard are more of the same policies and programs of old dressed up to dazzle and give false hopes.
Once more corruption is presented as the overarching problem. Mr. Aquino’s speech used simple and folksy language to whip up the public’s hatred for corrupt politicians and other government officials by laying out more horror stories from the previous regime: Mrs. Arroyo’s pampering her province with government funds to boost her congressional bid; the over-procurement of imported rice at the cost of billions of pesos which was then left to rot in government warehouses; MWSS top officials wallowing in pelf and privilege while the country suffers a water crisis.
Salacious new details these but nothing surprising. Why not tell us the progress in case build-up on the biggest corruption scandals that plagued the Arroyo administration? Why is the Truth Commission still nowhere in sight, much less near to having Mrs. Arroyo and her partners in crime brought to the bar of justice?
Mr. Aquino stated categorically that his administration would not tolerate murderers and plunderers. He crowed about solving “50% of the cases of extralegal killings” that occurred soon after his assuming office or three out of six reported cases with the identification of suspects.
Assuming this to be true, however, his complete silence on government’s current counterinsurgency or COIN program as the underlying cause of most of the killings as pointed out by independent international human rights bodies places in serious doubt Mr. Aquino’s earnestness in putting a stop to and solving these murders by state security forces.
More specifically, the lack of immediate action to disband the legalized private armies called “civilian volunteer organizations” that the military uses to augment its COIN operations, renders Mr. Aquino’s boast inconsequential in ending criminal impunity. Such a reign of impunity gave rise to the still unresolved Maguindanao massacre on top of the more than a thousand unsolved extrajudicial killings in almost a decade of Oplan Bantay Laya.
It is not surprising that Mr. Aquino’s take on the peace talks reveals his apparently shallow and short-sighted view about armed conflicts and how to resolve them. His insistence on a permanent ceasefire as a precondition to the resumption of the talks with the CPP/NPA/NDF and his insinuation that the NDF has not made any worthwhile proposal on the matter indicates either ignorance of what has previously transpired or a dangerously militarist mindset intent on throwing a monkey wrench on the talks rather than in undertaking the fundamental reforms needed to attain a just and lasting peace.
Stopping corrupt practices, judicious use of government resources, and so-called private-public partnership are touted as the strategy to lift up the economy and miraculously solve all other related problems such as massive unemployment and underemployment, the budget deficit, decrepit social services as well as crumbling public infrastructure.
Mr. Aquino completely and conveniently overlooks genuine land reform not just as a basic social justice measure but a question of breaking free from a backward, semi-feudal agricultural economy.
He is completely mum about neoliberal policies that destroyed whatever was left of manufacturing, further undermined agricultural development and food self-sufficiency and rendered the domestic economy more than ever vulnerable to the vagaries of the international market as shown in the recent regional and global financial crises.
We can safely presume that his macro-economic policy framework will not depart from those of all his predecessors including Mrs. Arroyo.
So much ado about how Mrs. Arroyo wasted public funds for narrow political ends leaving the Aquino government with little left to undertake vital programs and services. But he says not a word about the P300 billion pesos automatically set aside for debt payments considering many of these are onerous debts that date back to the Marcos dictatorship as well as to graft-ridden Arroyo regime.
Ibon Data Bank puts forward concrete doable measures to address the fiscal deficit but apparently Mr. Aquino does not countenance any of them.
These include implementing increases in tariffs and withdrawing huge incentives given to foreign investors. IBON estimates government losses of around P200 billion in potential revenues each year because of tariff reduction. Fiscal incentives to foreign investors have in turn led to huge tax losses estimated by the Finance Department to be around P43 billion.
Mr. Aquino has a fondness for using the metaphor of crossroads to describe his administration’s core values and trajectory. He likens a leader’s choice to taking the straight path of “good governance” or the crooked one so dishonorably exemplified by the Arroyo regime. What all this clever use of metaphors has been concealing all along is the truth that corruption is not the root cause of our nation's poverty and hardship.
It is the wanton exploitation and oppression of our people by foreign powers, mainly the US, with the collaboration of the local ruling elite. Together they appropriate the social wealth produced by our people's labor. Together they impose and implement socio-economic and political programs and policies that deliberately favor foreign capital and their local agents while relegating our economy -- our local industries and agriculture -- to backwardness and dependency.
All this magic may serve to deceive and even entertain our hungry and suffering masses. But they will not forever drive away the pangs of hunger, the homelessness and the scourge of disease. No matter how many SONAs repeat the same deceptive tricks and clever lies, more and more in the streets, in homes, factories, fields and mountains, will see the through the smoke and mirrors, see the truth and find the real path to freedom, democracy, progress and peace. #
By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo
“Pnoy the Magician” in bright yellow. This was how activists depicted President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino in effigy in last Monday’s annual State-of-the-Nation street demonstration. They were proven prescient in more ways than one as soon as Mr. Aquino started delivering his SONA that turned out to be vintage smoke-and-mirrors demagoguery.
Rather than lead the people to an understanding of the true state of the nation, his seemingly straightforward rhetoric was used instead to conjure illusions and deceive not unlike the way a magician uses optical illusions to create believability while actually performing tricks.
The main trick is to continue to appear as the harbinger of the “change that people can believe in” that worked well enough to get Mr. Aquino elected.
However, despite the effort to make the Aquino regime appear poised to undertake far-reaching reforms in government, in the economy, in resolving armed conflicts and even in turning around public sentiment from pessimism to hopefulness, cynicism to unity and cooperation, Mr. Aquino’s SONA only confirms that there is nothing new, innovative, not to mention any attempt at a radical break from the past, in his prescriptions.
Rather, what we heard are more of the same policies and programs of old dressed up to dazzle and give false hopes.
Once more corruption is presented as the overarching problem. Mr. Aquino’s speech used simple and folksy language to whip up the public’s hatred for corrupt politicians and other government officials by laying out more horror stories from the previous regime: Mrs. Arroyo’s pampering her province with government funds to boost her congressional bid; the over-procurement of imported rice at the cost of billions of pesos which was then left to rot in government warehouses; MWSS top officials wallowing in pelf and privilege while the country suffers a water crisis.
Salacious new details these but nothing surprising. Why not tell us the progress in case build-up on the biggest corruption scandals that plagued the Arroyo administration? Why is the Truth Commission still nowhere in sight, much less near to having Mrs. Arroyo and her partners in crime brought to the bar of justice?
Mr. Aquino stated categorically that his administration would not tolerate murderers and plunderers. He crowed about solving “50% of the cases of extralegal killings” that occurred soon after his assuming office or three out of six reported cases with the identification of suspects.
Assuming this to be true, however, his complete silence on government’s current counterinsurgency or COIN program as the underlying cause of most of the killings as pointed out by independent international human rights bodies places in serious doubt Mr. Aquino’s earnestness in putting a stop to and solving these murders by state security forces.
More specifically, the lack of immediate action to disband the legalized private armies called “civilian volunteer organizations” that the military uses to augment its COIN operations, renders Mr. Aquino’s boast inconsequential in ending criminal impunity. Such a reign of impunity gave rise to the still unresolved Maguindanao massacre on top of the more than a thousand unsolved extrajudicial killings in almost a decade of Oplan Bantay Laya.
It is not surprising that Mr. Aquino’s take on the peace talks reveals his apparently shallow and short-sighted view about armed conflicts and how to resolve them. His insistence on a permanent ceasefire as a precondition to the resumption of the talks with the CPP/NPA/NDF and his insinuation that the NDF has not made any worthwhile proposal on the matter indicates either ignorance of what has previously transpired or a dangerously militarist mindset intent on throwing a monkey wrench on the talks rather than in undertaking the fundamental reforms needed to attain a just and lasting peace.
Stopping corrupt practices, judicious use of government resources, and so-called private-public partnership are touted as the strategy to lift up the economy and miraculously solve all other related problems such as massive unemployment and underemployment, the budget deficit, decrepit social services as well as crumbling public infrastructure.
Mr. Aquino completely and conveniently overlooks genuine land reform not just as a basic social justice measure but a question of breaking free from a backward, semi-feudal agricultural economy.
He is completely mum about neoliberal policies that destroyed whatever was left of manufacturing, further undermined agricultural development and food self-sufficiency and rendered the domestic economy more than ever vulnerable to the vagaries of the international market as shown in the recent regional and global financial crises.
We can safely presume that his macro-economic policy framework will not depart from those of all his predecessors including Mrs. Arroyo.
So much ado about how Mrs. Arroyo wasted public funds for narrow political ends leaving the Aquino government with little left to undertake vital programs and services. But he says not a word about the P300 billion pesos automatically set aside for debt payments considering many of these are onerous debts that date back to the Marcos dictatorship as well as to graft-ridden Arroyo regime.
Ibon Data Bank puts forward concrete doable measures to address the fiscal deficit but apparently Mr. Aquino does not countenance any of them.
These include implementing increases in tariffs and withdrawing huge incentives given to foreign investors. IBON estimates government losses of around P200 billion in potential revenues each year because of tariff reduction. Fiscal incentives to foreign investors have in turn led to huge tax losses estimated by the Finance Department to be around P43 billion.
Mr. Aquino has a fondness for using the metaphor of crossroads to describe his administration’s core values and trajectory. He likens a leader’s choice to taking the straight path of “good governance” or the crooked one so dishonorably exemplified by the Arroyo regime. What all this clever use of metaphors has been concealing all along is the truth that corruption is not the root cause of our nation's poverty and hardship.
It is the wanton exploitation and oppression of our people by foreign powers, mainly the US, with the collaboration of the local ruling elite. Together they appropriate the social wealth produced by our people's labor. Together they impose and implement socio-economic and political programs and policies that deliberately favor foreign capital and their local agents while relegating our economy -- our local industries and agriculture -- to backwardness and dependency.
All this magic may serve to deceive and even entertain our hungry and suffering masses. But they will not forever drive away the pangs of hunger, the homelessness and the scourge of disease. No matter how many SONAs repeat the same deceptive tricks and clever lies, more and more in the streets, in homes, factories, fields and mountains, will see the through the smoke and mirrors, see the truth and find the real path to freedom, democracy, progress and peace. #
Monday, July 05, 2010
HEAD to Noynoy: “What is your health agenda?”
Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD)
Telefax: (02) 725 4760 Email: headphil@gmail. com
Media Release
05 July 2010
References:
Dr. Geneve E. Rivera
Secretary-General, 0920 460 3712
Dr. Darby S. Santiago
Chair, 0927 473 7700
What message is President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III sending by his appointment of Dr. Enrique Ona as health secretary? Perhaps the wrong one.
This concern was raised by Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) as it continued to question the controversial appointment.
“Most of what Dr. Ona has pushed for as Director of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) are the same things he is articulating now as health secretary - the corporatization of government hospitals and medical tourism. Yet these are the exact opposite of what the Filipino people urgently need in terms of health care,” said Dr. Geneve Rivera, HEAD secretary-general.
According to Dr. Rivera, long-standing problems in health - the worsening state of public hospitals and health centers, the exodus of health professionals abroad, the lack of public funds for health services - are rooted in prevailing social inequities that are making the Filipino people suffer.
“Even Noynoy recognized this when he campaigned under a health agenda that included improved health infrastructure, benefits to government health personnel, and a national health budget that will be at least 5% of the national budget.”
“But what is Dr. Ona focusing on? The privatization of public hospitals and the opening up of the Philippine healthcare system to foreigners, even as this very healthcare system cannot even meet the most basic health needs of Filipinos.”
“The message now is: if you have money, we have health care for you; if not, sorry for you. Is this the kind of message that President Noynoy wants to deliver?”
The health group believes that the choice of health secretary, a socially sensitive post because of its direct effect on the lives of Filipinos, was not well thought-out by the Aquino administration.
“You do not have to choose the wrong if only to be different. This is the message we want to send to President Aquino,” concluded Dr. Rivera. “There is much to be done. We are hoping for change that will move forward, not backward, in terms of providing health for all.” ###
Telefax: (02) 725 4760 Email: headphil@gmail. com
Media Release
05 July 2010
References:
Dr. Geneve E. Rivera
Secretary-General, 0920 460 3712
Dr. Darby S. Santiago
Chair, 0927 473 7700
What message is President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III sending by his appointment of Dr. Enrique Ona as health secretary? Perhaps the wrong one.
This concern was raised by Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) as it continued to question the controversial appointment.
“Most of what Dr. Ona has pushed for as Director of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) are the same things he is articulating now as health secretary - the corporatization of government hospitals and medical tourism. Yet these are the exact opposite of what the Filipino people urgently need in terms of health care,” said Dr. Geneve Rivera, HEAD secretary-general.
According to Dr. Rivera, long-standing problems in health - the worsening state of public hospitals and health centers, the exodus of health professionals abroad, the lack of public funds for health services - are rooted in prevailing social inequities that are making the Filipino people suffer.
“Even Noynoy recognized this when he campaigned under a health agenda that included improved health infrastructure, benefits to government health personnel, and a national health budget that will be at least 5% of the national budget.”
“But what is Dr. Ona focusing on? The privatization of public hospitals and the opening up of the Philippine healthcare system to foreigners, even as this very healthcare system cannot even meet the most basic health needs of Filipinos.”
“The message now is: if you have money, we have health care for you; if not, sorry for you. Is this the kind of message that President Noynoy wants to deliver?”
The health group believes that the choice of health secretary, a socially sensitive post because of its direct effect on the lives of Filipinos, was not well thought-out by the Aquino administration.
“You do not have to choose the wrong if only to be different. This is the message we want to send to President Aquino,” concluded Dr. Rivera. “There is much to be done. We are hoping for change that will move forward, not backward, in terms of providing health for all.” ###
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