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

JPEPA Highlights Gov’t Insensitivity to Nurses

Apologists for the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) continue to claim that the treaty’s ratification will mean more employment and foreign remittances for Filipinos. But JPEPA highlights the Philippine government’s insensitivity to nurses and caregivers.

BY IBON FOUNDATION
Posted by Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 12, April 27-May 3, 2008

IBON research head Sonny Africa says that government is trying to portray that the JPEPA is a clear-cut benefit for a few hundred of the country’s health professionals. “In reality government is using them as fodder to cover up for its severe failure in generating jobs for Filipinos,” he said.

The Japanese government is facing the challenge of dealing with its aging population, and it is now state policy to reduce the costs of nursing and caregiving, said Africa. This situation has resulted in low wages and poor working conditions that even Japanese health professionals find intolerable.

The average annual income of nurses in Japan was just US$40,000 in 2004 compared for instance to US$54,000 in the United States. Caregivers’ annual income in Japan is much lower at US$25,200 for females and US$40,000 for males.

In May 2007, a survey conducted by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry found that 40 percent of Japanese nursing care license holders have turned down work in the industry because of low wages and poor working conditions. An earlier survey in 2006 found that 70 percent of Japanese nurses feel that they could quit their jobs at anytime due to chronic fatigue and professional disappointment.

The JPEPA and other similar deals lets Japan hire nurses and caregivers, for instance, from the Philippines and Indonesia, even more cheaply. After six months of language training, applicants can already have on-the-job training for up to 3-4 years while they try to pass the relevant national exams. Although they are already working during this time they will be receiving pay only as non-licensed workers or trainees or candidates-- or as nurse’s aides and caregiver’s assistants.

This goes far in terms of cheapening the cost of Japan’s health care, but at the clear expense of Filipino and other trained health professionals, said Africa.

“Using the so-called gains for nurses and caregivers to make acceptable a patently unequal deal like the JPEPA only shows an uncaring government that treats its labor force as mere commodities for export,” he said. IBON Foundation/posted by Bulatlat

HEAD Slams DOH Doublespeak on Kidney Transplants and Medical Tourism

Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD

2/F Doña Anita Bldg, 284 E. Rodriguez Ave., Quezon City Telefax: (02) 725 4760 Email: headphil@gmail.com

Media Release

07 April 2008

Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) today condemned the doublespeak of the Department of Health, which declared in its recent administrative order that "kidney transplantation is not part of medical tourism".

HEAD warned that such statements are meant to mislead the public and belie government's sincerity in putting an end to the illegal trade of kidneys and other human organs.

"Declaring that kidney transplantation is not part of medical tourism does not mean that the gov't will not partake of this very lucrative practice. It does not mean that gov't will stop promoting this or stop bringing in foreign medical tourists for kidney transplants." according to Dr. Gene Alzona Nisperos, HEAD secretary-general.

"This kind of duplicity has made the proliferation of the illegal kidney trade almost synonymous with the boom in kidney transplantation in the country. Once again, gov't is saying something but is doing the exact opposite."

HEAD notes that some measures being adopted by the DOH on kidney transplantation involving foreigners have been previously articulated by Health Undersecretary Jade del Mundo as recommendations made by groups that are actually bringing in foreigner medical tourists.

This includes the proposal where a foreign medical tourist who wants to undergo kidney transplant here will have to subsidize the transplant of an indigent Filipino. Another proposal is the increase in the cap of kidney transplantations allocated to foreigners, from 10% to 20%. Not surprisingly, Usec. del Mundo is the health department's lead promoter of medical tourism.

HEAD also questioned the central role of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) in the promotion of medical tourism. NKTI accounts for around 50% of all kidney transplantations in the country, which has made it one of the most profitable state-run hospitals in the last few years.

In the grand launch of Philippine medical tourism at the Philippine International Convention Center last November 2006, NKTI was a sponsor. "If kidney transplantation is really outside the purview of medical tourism, then why is NKTI playing a very active and prominent role in medical tourism?" asked Dr. Nisperos. Gov't already earned some $350M from medical tourism, meriting it the moniker of "the country's quiet moneymaker", and hopes to get at least $1B in the next 5 years.

There has been a marked rise in kidney transplantations done in the country, from 307 in 2002 to 470 in 2004 and to 690 in 2006 (data from the Philippine Renal Disease Registry). There has also been a steady rise in living, non-related donors (LNRDs), from 12% in 2002 to 68% in 2006, with a concomitant rise in foreign recipients. This has been going on under the nose of the DOH amid the various exposés of outright kidney sales.

Now, because of growing national and international condemnation of the thriving illegal kidney trade in the country, the DOH hopes to distance kidney transplantation from medical tourism. Dr. Nisperos calls this "official gov't schizophrenia" that is "characteristic of the Arroyo administration".

"The Arroyo gov't will always remain tentative as to how it will solve or stop the illegal trafficking of kidneys and other organs, even as it involves public, state-run hospitals like NKTI, in medical tourism. Its overarching health policy is to make health care a profitable business venture, at the expense of basic health services for ordinary Filipinos."

"The DOH will not do anything that will contradict this policy. So for as long as kidney transplantation is in demand and very lucrative, it will be offered to foreign medical tourist, officially or unofficially." ####

REFERENCES:

Dr. Gene Alzona Nisperos

Secretary-General, 0916 214 5724

Dr. Geneve E. Rivera

Deputy Secretary-General, 0920 460 3712

NERI: A DISHONOR TO THE UNIVERSITY

Statement of Concerned UP Faculty, REPS, Staff and Students 

March 27, 2008

The controversial and narrow decision of the Supreme Court to block
the Senate from arresting and demanding Romulo Neri to disclose details
on the President's involvement in the anomalous National Broadband Network (NBN)
deal is a massive blow against the people's clamor for truth and justice.

This decision is nothing but a blanket license from the Supreme Court itself
to cover up a crime against the people. It is nothing if not a license for
the unscrupulous, corrupt and dishonest to blatantly obstruct
the wheels of justice.

The strong objections of the six justices and the 120-page dissenting opinion
of Chief Justice Reynato Puno himself against the nine who voted to uphold
Neri's right to invoke executive privilege  shows just how contentious
and illegitimate this decision is. All the signs once again show the hand
of Malacanang in ensuring that the majority of justices it had appointed
would produce a decision favorable to it.

This has not been the first time that Malacanang has exerted its utmost
to prevent the truth from seeing the light of day. It sends out its
death squads to assassinate,make disappear and imprison those who speak
the truth while it coddles barefaced liars and accomplices like Neri.

This decision, far from being a vindication of Romulo Neri, is but
a further blot on his miserable and execrable record as one of the nation's
most mistrusted public "disservants." Neri lacks all moral high-ground
and does not possess even the barest minimum of personal integrity
necessary to lead an institution such as
the University of the Philippines.

We support and reiterate the call of the UP Diliman University Council
for Neri to resign as Chair of the Board of Regents (BOR) of
the University of the Philippines .

NERI RESIGN NOW!

Post-GMA TRANSITION

CenPEG
ISSUE ANALYSIS No. 5
March 5, 2008
Series of 2008

The "critical mass" that can lead to the forced resignation of Gloria M. Arroyo can only rise from the spectrum of diverse groups and personalities agreeing who or what will replace the widely-discredited president.

Options and scenarios

The "critical mass" that can lead to the forced resignation of Gloria M. Arroyo can only rise from the spectrum of diverse groups and personalities agreeing who or what will replace the widely-discredited president.

Most of the 80,000 people who converged at the interfaith prayer-rally in Ayala, Makati City on February 29 supported the call for Arroyo's resignation or removal. The call was echoed by tens of thousands other rallyers who held similar protest actions during the same week in several cities throughout the country as well as in Hong Kong, the United States, Europe, and other countries.

The Arroyo regime is in red alert - in panic mode, if you will - since the February 29 rallies. The events showed the confluence of major advocacy groups, opinion leaders, and a big number of students in just two weeks following whistleblower Rodolfo "Jun" Lozada's corruption exposes' with their resounding call for the president's resignation.[1] It was like the thunderbolt that sent waves of masses taking to Edsa 1 and Edsa 2 – a political combustion that could electrify more mass actions increasing in frequency and in bigger numbers until the final day of reckoning for Gloria M. Arroyo.

Unprecedented

In many respects, the resign call is giving birth to a progressive plank even among the moderate groups as well as interfaith, lawyers, and youth sectors that see Arroyo's resignation or removal as a step toward a deep-going reform in government and in the state's political institutions. Outside the militant groups, this nuance was never seen before in Edsa 1 and Edsa 2. Seven years of the Arroyo regime have exposed alarmingly the fragility of the country's institutions on account of the subversion of the electoral system to prolong the president's rule, the manipulation of the legislature through bribery and tyranny of numbers to block impeachment moves, and military supremacy over the justice system particularly on so-called national security cases. What are claimed to be constitutional processes have succumbed to the use of force, threats, and corruption through bribery as a means of protecting the questionable rule of Arroyo.

Thus, the ground for starting a movement for democratic reform in governance by the people is already present.[2] Having said that, in the short-term, what should be the post-Arroyo replacement? This crucial question remains unresolved among the various and eclectic anti-Arroyo forces at this point. Almost everyone agrees however that some unity should be reached on this matter if the momentum for the resignation of Arroyo is to be sustained and pushed to its desired conclusion. There are various scenarios being floated:

1) Constitutional succession, with Vice President Noli de Castro assuming the presidency. This option is being pushed by the so-called "La Salle 60" which is composed of the Hyatt 10++ - the resigned members of the Arroyo cabinet – and other past cabinet members.

Except for its constitutionality, this option has drawn no serious appeal not only because De Castro is a lame duck but also because with Noli – an Arroyo protégé - at the helm it will not address the immediate demand to hold the beleaguered president accountable for the various charges of fraud, corruption, and killings thrown against her. Besides, whether De Castro can lead the initiative to reform the government system let alone its electoral process – an increasing demand from the parliament of the streets – also remains a question.

A variation to this option, which De Castro is expected to refuse, is for the provisional president to call for snap presidential elections even before 2010. The unanimous requisite for holding another election is the revamp of Comelec to ensure its independence and instituting effective mechanisms to safeguard the right to vote.

Revolutionary transition

2) A revolutionary transition government, which has been endorsed by groups aligned with a former university president and some military rebels. This can be the result of a successful ouster move against the seating president with the possibility that it will be backed by military elements. This option, which can result in a civilian-military junta, has no mass appeal as proven in recent opinion surveys, and does not sit well with both moderate and other militant forces in the anti-Arroyo regime struggle. It will face stiff resistance from Congress once the transition government moves to abolish it.

An extreme version of this option, which a few individuals seem to be entertaining, amounts to a virtual anarchy – anything to replace the regime "including chaos and revolution." What kind of "revolution" they mean is quite murky at this point.

3) A citizens' transition council to be headed by a Supreme Court justice. This imminent citizens-led council can also be the result of Arroyo's forced resignation. The emergence of this caretaker body is essentially a political act done under an extraordinary situation – reminiscent of the revolutionary transition in 1986 under Corazon Aquino – with enough powers while retaining the element of constitutional succession. The trailblazing transition council will be composed of – and staffed by - representatives of people's organizations, NGOs, and sectors that are struggling for the resignation or removal of Arroyo and are united by a concrete program of genuine social, economic, and political reform. These are the groups and sectors generally left out in Edsa 1 and Edsa 2 where the victories of people's struggles were hijacked by members of the elite and ruled the country in the old tyrannical and corrupt ways that people power had precisely struggled to demolish.

The citizens' transition council will address the public clamor for a non-traditional, pro-people political leadership that may likely draw support from other key players such as influential members of the interfaith, business, and the military. For this option to become feasible, however, the pressure that will force Arroyo to resign should be strong and insurmountable in a supreme act of sovereign power by the people allowing them - extra-constitutiona lly - to entrust powers to this caretaker body.

The short-term and minimum agenda of the proposed citizens' council is to initiate immediate reforms starting with the electoral system to ensure a clean and democratic election in 2010. So long as this is made clear – alongside with the fact that the council will exist only for a specific duration – then it will likely draw the support not only from the disparate political forces arrayed against the regime but also significant segments of the broad public. Elite and traditional politicians should admit that they have already lost their self-proclaimed right to dominate leadership while the people have begun to realize they should assert their sovereign power if comprehensive reform in governance is to be instituted.

Status quo

Still others – some presidentiables included - would rather see Arroyo finishing her term until June 2010 or roughly for about 800 more days. If this is ruled out, presidential aspirants would scream to high heavens on the day Noli de Castro is sworn into office in place of Arroyo because with government resources at his disposal that would ensure his election in 2010. Some political readers point out, however, that if Arroyo is allowed to stay in office until 2010, what will prevent her from hanging unto power beyond that?

As far as anti-Arroyo forces are concerned, either of these two scenarios would plunge the country deeper into a political turmoil. Better have a minor incision now than be forced to take a major surgery within the next two years.

The search for a political alternative is a communal work in progress. Its shape and configuration will evolve in the process of widening and increasing the momentum for replacing a widely-perceived corrupt and most despicable regime. But the answer for an alternative leadership must soon be cobbled together by all democratic and patriotic forces as it will serve as the bridge toward building the "critical mass" needed to put an end to a regime of greed and fear. The arduous and contentious process of political reconstruction should begin with the first step.

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _______

[1] See CenPEG Issue Analysis No. 04, "People Power," February 26, 2008 at www.cenpeg.org

[2] This should be distinguished from the dynamics of the Marxist-led people's democratic revolution which seeks the restructuring of the society with a socialist perspective, and with the foundations of a revolutionary government already underway in the rural countryside. Other ideological groups envisage peaceful reform using the parliamentary mode while others are pushing for urban insurrections.

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

Pangkalahatang Asembleya, Itinakda

6th Chapter Assembly sa ika-6 ng Marso 2008

Ang ika-6 na Pambansang (Pangkalahatang) Asembleya ay itinakda ng National Executive Board (NEB) sa ika-3-4 ng Abril 2008 na gaganapin sa UP SOLAIR Auditorium. Ito ay inaasahang dadaluhan ng mahigit kumulang 150 delegado mula sa lahat na mga Campus ng UP System sa buong bansa. Ang UP Manila/PGH ay bubuuin ng 50 delegado.

Kasabay ng Pambansang Asembleya ay ang pagpili (eleksiyon) ng panibagong mga kasapi ng Pambansang Lupong Tagapagpaganap (NEB) at Pambansang Konseho (5 at-large representatives). Ang Konseho at Lupon ang pangalawa at pangatlong pinakamataas na istruktura ng union (pagkatapos ng Pambansang (Pangkalahatang) Asembleya. Ang Asembleya at Eleksiyon ay ginaganap tuwing ikatlong taon mula noong unang Asembleya ng 1988.

Samantala ang Asembleya at Eleksiyon ng tsapter ay itinakda ng Chapter Executive Board (CEB) sa Huwebes, ika-6 ng Marso 2008, mula 9:00 ng umaga hanggang 1:00 ng hapon. Ito ay gaganapin sa UP Manila Social Hall (8/F PGH Central Block Building). Ang NEB ay itinalaga si Francisca Vera Cruz, kasapi ng CEB Diliman na siyang mamuno sa Election Committee para sa Manila Chapter.

Hinihikayat ang lahat na mga kasapi na lumahok sa nasabing Chapter Assembly upang nakalahok sa talakayan at pagdedesisyon ng tsapter sa isasamang mga probisyon sa bagong CNA, panukalang pagtataas ng buwanang butaw (monthly dues), pagdadagdag ng benepisyo sa mga kasapi at posisyon ng tsapter hinggil sa malawakang korupsiyon at paglabag sa karapatang pantao ng pamahalaang Arroyo.

Protesta ng ONAPUP, Ibinasura ng Bureau of Labor Relations (BLR)

All U.P. Workers Union Proklamado at Sertipikado Na Bilang Bukod Tangi at Eksklusibong Kinatawan ng mga Administratibong Kawani ng U.P.

Pagkatapos ng mahigit apat (4) na buwan, lumabas na ang desisyon ng Bureau of Labor Relations (BLR) noong ika 14 ng Pebrero 2008 kaugnay sa protesta na inihain ng ONAPUP sa resulta ng Certification Election (CE) noong ika 24 ng Oktubre 2007. Batay sa nasabing desisyon, ibinasura ng BLR ang protesta dahil sa kakulangan o kawalan ng batayan, kayat opisyal ng idineklara at sinisertipikahan nito ang All U.P. Workers Union bilang bukod tangi at eksklusibong kinatawan ng mga administratibong kawani ng buong U.P. System.

Pangalawang sunod na sertipikasyon ito ng ating unyon.

Matatandaang sa CE noong ika-24 ng Oktubre 2007 nakakuha ang ating unyon ng 3,155 boto samantalang 1,668 boto lang ang nakuha ng ONAPUP sa buong UP.

Dahil sa sertipikasyong ito inaasahan natin ang agarang pagpapatuloy sa renegosasyon para sa panibagong Collective Negotiation Agreement (CNA) kung saan kasama sa ating mga panukala ang P20,000.00 na signing bonus o CNA Incentive.

Sa konsultasyon kay Dr. Arlene Samaniego, VP for Administration ng UP, noong ika-3 ng Marso 2008 - sa meeting ng System PERC, ang muling pag-uusap ng mga negotiating panel ng unyon at UP Administration ay maaring mangyari pagkatapos ng labinlimang (15) araw na reglementary period sa pagsakatuparan ng nasabing Order ng BLR. Sa pagtaya ng unyon, dahil natanggap natin ang Order noong ika-20 ng Pebrero 2008, magiging epektibo ito simula sa ika-6 ng Marso 2008.