THE STATE AND PRACTICE OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM IN THE PHILIPPINES
Alexander Martin Remollino

(Delivered at “An Eye for I: The State and Practice of Investigative Reporting in the Philippines,” a forum organized by the UP Department of Journalism and the UP Communicators for Good Governance and held Dec. 5, 2007 at the College of Mass Communications Auditorium, University of the Philippines)

How best describe the state and practice of investigative journalism in the Philippines?

This is a question for which there are no easy and clear answers. It is a lot easier to try to answer the question of where those who disappear in the Bermuda Triangle end up, or of what happened before the Big Bang.

This is because the very mention of the term “investigative journalism” summons a whole wealth of other thoughts or observations.

First things first: just what in the world is investigative journalism?

The Collin-COBUILD Dictionary of the English Language defines investigation thus: “If you investigate an event or situation, you examine all the details, in order to find out what has happened or is happening.”

This is certainly the method which anyone who can be called an investigative journalist uses to come up with those in-depth reports that are characteristic of the branch of journalism they chose to specialize in.

But with that, should not all journalism, in thrust if not in methodology, be investigative — since the task of any journalist at any time and place is to ferret out and expose the truth about what is happening in the world, that people may be accordingly guided to respond to the challenges of the times? The existence anywhere of a journalistic category described as “investigative” (as distinct from the other branches of journalism) thus sheds light not only on the state of investigative journalism, but on the state of journalism itself.

Jaime B. Ramirez, author of the Philippine Journalism Handbook among other works, defines investigative reporting as “the disclosure of information that is of public value where the subjects would prefer not to be disclosed.” He further observes that

Every reporter should be an investigative reporter — by his or her own instincts and by leave of the publisher. If a reporter is on the trail of a good story, the necessary time should be made available. A serious commitment to investigative reporting is one of the best investments a publisher can make. This will surely and simultaneously benefit a newspaper’s prestige and its readers’ interest as well…

With that, how fares investigative journalism in the Philippines, and how has it been practiced here thus far?

The reports of the PCIJ do not always get to be published in all of the major periodicals. On the small screen, investigative programs like I-Witness, Reporter’s Notebook, and The Correspondents are usually shown in the most ungodly hours, when for the most part the nation is in such deep sleep that a comet could pass by largely unnoticed.

And yet investigative reports always have considerable impact in the country’s public discourse. Though not everyone gets to read investigative articles or view episodes of investigative programs, the revelations made and the questions raised by these get talked about for days — sometimes weeks — on end.

Take for instance the ruckus provoked by PCIJ’s exposes on former President Joseph Estrada’s “Boracay Mansions,” or Bernadette Sembrano’s report on Pagcor chief Ephraim Genuino’s unexplained assets.

The same goes for other publications or outlets in the Philippines that have been identified as placing emphasis on investigative journalism — like Newsbreak or, I could say, the publication I write for — the online magazine Bulatlat.

That investigative journalism exerts such impact on the Philippines, even with its limited exposure here, takes us to one of the glaring characteristics of what poet and literary scholar Gelacio Guillermo has called “our basket case of a society”: that this is a society with a whole universe of secrets waiting — nay, clamoring — to be revealed. It is a society where there are a few who wield vast power — both in the public sphere and in the private sector — who use this power to perpetrate excesses and with the resources at their command strive mightily to keep these from the knowledge of the people.

In any such society, there will always be a considerable portion of the reading and viewing public eager to read or view in-depth reports on the latest scams and scandals, and an even bigger public discussing the contents of these with prolonged interest.

Former UP Mass Communication Dean Luis V. Teodoro describes thus the importance of investigative journalism in the Philippines:

The investigative report is the most logical form for the need to demonstrate and document in all its painstaking detail and sordidness the political and social realities that still define Filipino existence today, towards the historic end of arming the people with the consciousness that will mobilize them. It is also the one form that can repudiate the martial law legacy of secrecy that still haunts us all. Of all the journalistic forms it is the investigative report — with its demand for consummate research and precise attribution — that lends itself to the deepening of public understanding of the way the political, economic and social systems work for the benefit of a handful and to the detriment of the many.

Thus far, the practice of investigative journalism in the Philippines has for the most part limited itself to exposing the scams involving government officials. Because of this, investigative journalism has come to be commonly understood in the Philippines as that branch of journalism that uncovers corruption and other government scams, and seeks to make government accountable to the public.

The Philippine journalistic landscape is thus not wanting in investigative reports on such topics as the fate of the sequestered Marcos billions, or of Corazon Aquino’s so-called “Kamag-anak, Inc.,” or of the anomalous infrastructure projects during the Ramos administration, or of Estrada’s involvement in illegal gambling, or the numerous onerous contracts entered into by the Arroyo regime.

To be sure, corruption is not the only issue for which high government officials should be held accountable to the people.

The nefarious dealings that the Philippine government goes into with its former colonial and now neocolonial string-puller, the U.S., also deserve to be pried into by the investigative journalist.

How complicit, for instance, was the Arroyo administration in the influence-peddling of the U.S.-based and USAID-funded lobby group AGILE (Accelerating Growth, Investment and Liberalization with Equity) on Philippine policy-makers in 2003?

Or where in hell now is L/Cpl. Daniel Smith, who was convicted last year of raping “Nicole” two years ago? Is he still in the custody of the U.S. Embassy in Manila, as Amb. Kristie Kenney claims, or has he been spirited out of the country like many a U.S. serviceman who committed similarly heinous crimes against Filipinos in the heyday of Subic Naval Base and Clark Air Base?

While at that, is it true that the U.S. presently maintains secret basing facilities in Subic, Angeles City, Mactan City, and General Santos City — even with constitutional provisions expressly prohibiting foreign military presence on Philippine soil?

These deserve to be looked into, as does government policy on recognizing — or the refusal to recognize — human rights, which are protected by no less than the Constitution and the various international instruments which the government is constitutionally bound to recognize as “part of the law of the land.”

Beyond that, there are not so many investigative reports, for instance, on the 2001 allegations that the owners of what is now the Power Plant Mall at Rockwell Center buried toxic waste from what was a real power plant under land forming part of Brgy. San Joaquin, Pasig City.

I also do not remember seeing any investigative report on the allegations a few years back that then Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas went on an all expense-paid trip to Nestle’s main office in Geneva, Switzerland at the height of the strike by the unionized workers of its branch in Cabuyao, Laguna in protest against CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) violations. The trip, it is alleged, was for the purpose of striking a deal between Sto. Tomas and the company’s top-level management to ensure that the company’s local branch would be favored over the striking workers in Cabuyao.

Without passing any judgment on whether the allegations were true or not, I still say that these nevertheless deserved to be probed.

The issue of how big landholders in the country have gone around the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988 — taking advantage of its many loopholes to evade having their lands subjected to agrarian reform — is another one that has yet to be probed deeply enough by investigative journalism. Investigative reports on such a topic would be timely today, considering that the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program’s second 10-year extension ends next year.

While it is very much laudable to use investigative journalism to help in disclosing corruption and other government scandals, we must never for a moment construe this as the only task of the investigative journalist.

I cannot stress too much my premise that it is power-wielders from both the public and private sectors who typically have skeletons in the closet which investigative journalism may and should unearth.

It is not just high government officials who have those dark secrets that are crying out to be brought into the open; but also, for instance, the big bosses of corporate giants and the landed aristocracy. Investigative journalism in the Philippines has made some attempts at probing the skeletons hidden by entities other than high government, but the secrets of big business and the landed aristocracy are still uncharted territory for most Filipino investigative journalists.

The big bosses of corporate giants and the landed aristocracy, as much as high government officials, deserve to be subject to the intense scrutiny of investigative journalism — since they, like high government officials, affect to a great deal the life of the general public — who are, in the final analysis, the ultimate beneficiaries of the successes of any investigative journalist.

Any issues involving them and how they impact on the lives of the people are necessary subjects of investigative journalism. As Teodoro said:

Whether at the community or national level, all issues that touch upon the way people live are people’s issues. These issues range from the need for day care centers for working mothers to the undeclared martial law in Jolo. Whether by documenting corruption or environmental degradation, child labor or the manipulation of the stock market, the investigative report can help put an end to both the ignorance as well as the legacy of secrecy that are among the instruments that help keep Philippine society what it is for the overwhelming majority of the people — a society of vast injustice and even greater misery…

That having been said, high government, big business and the landed aristocracy are but part of a larger organism which goes by the name Philippine society.

Investigative journalism, therefore, should go beyond uncovering their dark secrets and must also probe into the dynamics of the social forces that make the power-wielders what they are, and that keep them as such. Investigative journalism, in the words of former Bulatlat executive editor Bobby Tuazon, “should be honed and advanced as a tool for social transformation,” and “(should) not confine itself to reporting about corruption and other scandals but (should delve) into the bigger, more socially-relevant issues of the poor and the oppressed.”

To summarize: Investigative journalism is needed in any society like the Philippines. It has to some extent been responsive to the social conditions that make it a necessity in this country, but its practitioners here can and would do well to do more.

MGA SALIN SA INGLES NG ILANG TULA NI AXEL PINPIN
Alexander Martin Remollino

Matagal na mula nang maimungkahi sa amin ng kaibigan naming si Axel Pinpin na maisalin namin sa Ingles ang ilang tula niya, lalo na ang mga nasulat sa bilangguan. Ngunit nito lamang naituloy, sa panig namin, ang pagsasagawa sa naturang mungkahi.

Narito ang isang munting koleksiyon ng mga salin ng ilan sa kanyang mga tula. Ang paglalabas nito sa Internet ay nagsisilbi ring ambag namin sa komemorasyon ng International Human Rights Day (Disyembre 10) sa taong ito.

Bago mabilanggo at mahabla sa diumano'y salang rebelyon, nagkapangalan na rin naman si Axel sa larangan ng pagtula. Naging fellow siya para sa tula ng UP National Writers' Workshop noong 1999; at nakapaglabas na rin ng isang libro ng mga tula, ang Tugmaang Walang Tugma.

Habang nagsusulat, aktibo rin si Axel sa aktibismo bilang isang mananaliksik at konsultant para sa Kalipunan ng mga Magsasaka sa Kabite (Kamagsasaka-Ka). Sa ganitong kapasidad ay naging masikhay siya sa mga kampanya laban sa imperyalistang globalisasyon at para sa tunay na repormang agraryo.

Noong Abril 28, 2006 ay dinukot siya ng mga pulis at militar -- kasama ng mga aktibista ring sina Riel Custodio at Aristedes Sarmiento, ng dating seaman na si Rico Ybañez, at ng kristo sa sabungan na si Michael Masayes -- sa Tagaytay City. Silang lima'y patungo sa Maynila para sa paglahok nina Axel, Riel at Aris sa rali ng Mayo 1: napakiusapang magmaneho para sa kanila si Rico, na sinamahan naman ng kapitbahay nitong si Michael.

Ilang araw silang hindi malaman kung nasaan at pinaghanap nang husto ng mga kamag-anak at kasamahan at kaibigan. Di nagtagal ay napilitan ang Philippine National Police (PNP) na ilitaw sila't iharap sa midya -- bilang mga "rebeldeng komunista." Ang paratang sa kanila: sila raw ang nag-ayos ng kanlungan ni 1Lt. Lawrence San Juan, pinuno ng rebeldeng Makabayang Kawal Pilipino, sa Padre Burgos, Batangas at sila raw ang nag-ugnay sa kanya sa pamunuan ng Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPP-NPA).

Bago mahuli ang lima, abala sina Axel at Riel sa kampanya para ipagtanggol ang mga magsasaka sa Cabangaan, Cavite na inaagawan ng lupa ng mga Revilla.

Mahigit nang isang taon ngayong nakakulong ang tinatawag nang Tagaytay 5 sa Camp Vicente Lim sa Calamba City, Laguna.

Marami-rami na ang tulang nasulat doon ni Axel, at sa koleksiyong ito -- na ang disenyo'y kagagawan ni Jason Valenzuela -- ay nilalaman ang mga salin sa Ingles ng ilan sa mga iyon.

Ilan kaming nagsalin ng mga tula -- bukod sa akin, "idinamay" ko ang aking kapatid na si Aris (Carlo Aristotle, hindi Aristedes); samantalang dumating naman sa akin ang ilang salin mula kina Gang Badoy at Melflorence Aguilar. Si Axel mismo'y may salin ng tula niyang isinalin ni Gang, at ang dalawang salin ay isinama sa koleksiyong ito.

Ang mga tula sa partikular na koleksiyong ito ay naglalarawan ng buhay sa bilangguan.

Download: verses.pdf

From Inquirer.net:
WRITER-PROFESSORS ATIENZA, VILLANUEVA DEAD

By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 08:31pm (Mla time) 12/05/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- Philippine arts and letters lost two stalwarts on Wednesday with the deaths of Rene Villanueva and Monico Atienza, both writers and professors.

Villanueva, a professor at the University of the Philippines (UP) and an award-winning writer of poems, children's stories, and essays, died at around 2 p.m. at the Philippine Heart Center after suffering a stroke on Tuesday. He was 53.

Atienza, who also taught at the UP, was also known as an activist. He died in his home at UP at 5:20 p.m. after being comatose for almost year. More known as “Ka” (Comrade) Nic, Atienza was president of the First Quarter Storm (FQS) Movement, an organization of activists from the 1960s and 1970s.

Bonifacio Ilagan, FQS Movement chairman and one of Atienza's closest friends, confirmed his death to INQUIRER.net.

Friends sponsored a mass for Atienza Tuesday in what Ilagan sensed could be the last for his friend. He said Atienza's health had been deteriorating very fast over the past two weeks.

Ilagan said they are still making arrangements for the venue of the wake which could either be at the UP chapel or at the faculty center.

Atienza has been comatose since December 23, 2006 after an undetected mass in his throat gradually blocked his air passage, leading to successive heart seizures, according to an entry by Ilagan in the website tinig.com.

"His friends and relatives described Monico Atienza's stubborn will to live, in the face of a most life-threatening debilitation, as very characteristic of the man. This kind of courage, they say -- together with the man's extraordinary conviction and abilities -- enabled him to live the kind of life he has chosen, unmindful of the obstacles that came his way," wrote bulatlat.com writer Alexander Martin Remollino in his blog ourthoughtsarefree.blogspot.com.

The UPAlumni.net had this entry on Villanueva:

“…Villanueva, a playwright, was among the leading figures in children's literature in the Philippines. He was in the hall of fame list of the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature. He graduated with a degree in history at the Lyceum of the Philippines in 1975.”

According to his profile on Panitikan.com.ph Villanueva was awarded the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining (Literature) in 2004 and the Gawad Chanselor sa UP in 2005.

OF CALLUSED SOULS
Alexander Martin Remollino

For Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV

There are those who would salute your failed attempts
at leading a changing of the guard,
and there are those who would thumb them down.

But that is beside the point --
the point being that you definitely had a point
in those instances you wondered aloud why people
have repeatedly failed to rise to the occasion
at crucial points
in our recent history of benightedness.
Have their souls become so thoroughly callused
by repeated dehumanization
that they now think like beasts of burden?

HARDLINE MILITARISTS, RIIGHTS VIOLATIONS, CORRUPTION, OBSTACLES TO PEACE TALKS -- NDFP

"The NDFP remains open to the resumption of formal peace talks... But the current anti-national and anti-people policies, the gross human rights violations, the scandals of corruption, do not provide grounds for optimism." -- Luis Jalandoni, chairman, NDFP Negotiating Panel.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 42, November 25-December 1, 2007

National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales’ recent pronouncement that the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) should agree to a “mutual ceasefire” as a precondition for the resumption of peace negotiations does not sit well with the leadership of the revolutionary organization, which has been waging an armed struggle against the government for more than three decades.

In an interview with Bulatlat, NDFP Negotiating Panel chairman Luis Jalandoni said Gonzales’ ceasefire demand betrays what he described as the Arroyo regime’s thrust of “securing the capitulation or pacification of the revolutionary movement.”

Gonzales’ pronouncement was reported in the news just as the NDFP and Sen. Maria Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal had come to an agreement that the NDFP would provide the Philippine Senate with information on the peace talks, for the purpose of inquiries in aid of legislation. Madrigal met with the NDFP Negotiating Panel in the wake of the recent arrest of NDFP Chief Political Consultant Jose Maria Sison on trumped-up criminal charges.

Following this meeting, Jalandoni and Sison both issued follow-up statements expressing the NDFP’s willingness to work with the Philippine Senate in pursuing the peace talks.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., one of the legislators noted for interest in seeing the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations move forward, has however urged the NDFP to agree to the ceasefire “proposal” as a way of building an “atmosphere of trust and goodwill.”

Meanwhile, the Council of Europe recently proposed to the European Union that it revise its guidelines for listing personalities and organizations as “terrorists.”

The GRP-NDFP peace negotiations have been stalled for the last five years, following the listing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) as “terrorist organizations,” and of Sison as a “terrorist.”

The NDFP’s observations on these developments, and on the prospects for the peace talks in the remaining three years of the Arroyo administration, are articulated in Jalandoni’s interview with Bulatlat.

Following is the full text of the interview:

What can you say about Sec. Norberto Gonzales’ demand that the GRP and the NDFP agree to a “mutual ceasefire” before peace negotiations could resume?

Sec. Norberto Gonzales’ demand for “mutual ceasefire” as a precondition to the resumption of formal peace talks grossly violates The Hague Joint Declaration of 1992 and the Agreement on the Formation, Sequence and Operationalization of the Reciprocal Working Committees (RWCs) of the GRP and the NDFP Negotiating Panels of 1995 and the Supplemental Agreement thereto of 1997. In these agreements, the end of hostilities or ceasefire is the fourth and last item in the substantive agenda, after the roots of the armed conflict have been adequately dealt with in agreements on socio-economic and political reforms.

Gonzales’ demand for a ceasefire blurs the need to address the roots of the armed conflict through social, economic and political reforms. It reflects the objective of the Arroyo regime of securing the capitulation or pacification of the revolutionary movement.

This precondition of Gonzales is unacceptable to the NDFP. Moreover, Secretary Gonzales is not really for genuine peace talks. In fact, he is a saboteur of the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations. As head of the Inter-Agency Legal Action Group (IALAG), he has fabricated numerous trumped-up charges against Prof. Jose Maria Sison, the NDFP Chief Political Consultant, the NDFP Negotiating Panel members, consultants and staff, in gross violation of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG).

In late 2004, at a top level GRP national security meeting, he made the outrageous proposal, in order to solve all of GRP’s problems, to just assassinate Professor Sison. Secretary Gonzales has publicly admitted that he is responsible for the false and politically motivated charge which has been used by the Dutch authorities to persecute Professor Sison. The viciousness of Gonzales is a real obstacle to the peace negotiations.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. appears to be supportive of the GRP’s ceasefire “proposal,” saying it would create an “atmosphere of trust and goodwill,” which he described as “the key to any negotiation.” What is your view on this?

Unlike Sec. Norberto Gonzales who acts in bad faith, Senator Pimentel’s progressive stand for the people on various issues is appreciated by the NDFP. In this case, however, we would suggest a deep-going exchange of views with Sen. Pimentel regarding the necessity of making sure that the roots of the armed conflict are not set aside and a review of the experience in the 1986-87 GRP-NDFP talks which got bogged down on ceasefire talks without being able to go to the substantive agenda on social, economic and political reforms.

It is important to look into the major agreements mentioned above, the history of past talks, and also the motive of Secretary Gonzales, Gen. (Eduardo) Ermita and other GRP officials. We would also suggest taking up the NDFP’s Proposal for an Immediate Just Peace of August 2005, which brings up the possibility of a truce while both sides sign an agreement on the fundamental demands of the people.

What were the immediate factors that brought about Sen. Jamby Madrigal's meeting last month with the NDFP Negotiating Panel, in which the NDFP agreed to provide the Philippine Senate with information on the peace talks for the purpose of inquiry?

Sen. Maria Ana Consuelo Madrigal, as a very patriotic and intelligent person committed to the well-being of the people and to work for a just and lasting peace, saw the possibilities of the Senate Committee on Peace, Unification and Reconciliation, which she chairs, to cooperate with the NDFP in effectively pushing forward the resumption of GRP-NDFP peace negotiations, either with the current administration or the next one. She also wanted to get from the NDFP what was the impact of the arrest and persecution of Professor Sison and the police raids on the NDFP office and residences of NDFP panelists, consultants and staff on the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations. She wanted the views of those affected by the raids for the hearing of her Senate Committee on Peace.

She creatively proposed the setting up by the aforementioned Senate Committee of a Technical Working Group which would work with the NDFP Committees of Experts to forge tentative agreements on socio-economic reforms, political and constitutional reforms and end of hostilities and disposition of forces. The NDFP proposed the setting up of Committees of Experts comprising five persons each to work with the Technical Working Group to forge the tentative agreements within one year.

The successful drafting of such agreements will serve to strengthen the political will of the GRP, particularly the executive branch, to go into serious peace negotiations aimed at addressing the roots of the armed conflict and not just aim for capitulation. This initiative taken jointly by Senator Madrigal and the NDFP has the great potential to get the enthusiastic support of other peace advocates from the church, human rights organizations, the people’s organizations and various sectors.

During the meetings with Senator Madrigal, prior to and after the signing of the Joint Statement on Oct.14, the NDFP presented the list of impediments that the GRP has put up to the peace negotiations. The senator has pledged to work for the removal of these impediments during and after the Arroyo regime.

What does the NDFP hope will come out of the inquiries that may be conducted by the Senate, in aid of legislation, on the peace negotiations?

The NDFP hopes that the Senate will undertake legislation that will help to remove the impediments to the peace talks and for it to take a more active role in the peace negotiations. For example, the Senate can help in pushing for a stop in the spate of extra-judicial killings and disappearances and stop the GRP’s military operations which uproot millions of civilians in the countryside. The Senate can find ways and means for assisting in the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL).

The Senate and the Technical Working Group of the Senate Committee on Peace can help in the research that will facilitate the forging of agreements on social and economic reforms, political and constitutional reforms, and end of hostilities and disposition of forces.

How would the Council of Europe's recent proposals to the European Union to overhaul its current rules on blacklisting "terrorist" suspects affect the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations?

The proposals contained in the draft resolution presented by Swiss parliament member, Dick Marty, can certainly help the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations. These would show that the “terrorist” listing of the CPP, the NPA, and Prof. Jose Maria Sison is a violation of their fundamental right to due process and their right to defense and such listing is unjust and must be done away with. These proposals will also recognize the right of Professor Sison and the CPP and NPA to claim compensation for moral and material damages.

How optimistic is the NDFP that the stalled peace talks could be revived under the present administration?

It is difficult to be optimistic, because hardline militarists like Gen. Eduardo Ermita and rabid anti-communists like Norberto Gonzales, and Mrs. Arroyo herself, want the complete destruction of the revolutionary movement through capitulation, prolonged ceasefire, and an all-out war policy. They do not wish to address the root causes of the armed conflict.

The NDFP remains open to the resumption of formal peace talks, if the regime shows it has the political will to address the root causes of the armed conflict and seriously negotiate with the NDFP on the fundamental socio-economic and political reforms. But the current anti-national and anti-people policies, the gross human rights violations, the scandals of corruption, do not provide grounds for optimism. But if we cannot have serious peace talks now, we can prepare for the possibility of such peace talks with the next administration. Bulatlat

2007 PEOPLE’S IMPEACH RAP REJECTED, MILITANTS GEAR FOR BATTLE ON TWO FRONTS -- THE SC AND THE PARLIAMENT OF THE STREETS

This is the second year a People’s Impeachment Complaint was filed against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Although the first impeachment complaint against President Arroyo was filed in 2005, the first filed by individuals and organizations identified with the “parliament of the streets” was submitted last year. But the two People’s Impeachment Complaints suffered a similar fate: junked by the president’s men.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 41, November 18-24, 2007

The People’s Impeachment Complaint against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, filed Nov. 12 by former Vice President Teofisto Guingona, Jr. and the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance), was returned by House Deputy Secretary-General Artemio Adaza to the complainants just two days after it was filed. It did not even reach the House Committee on Justice.

In returning it to the complainants, Adaza, citing the constitutional ban on the initiation of more than one impeachment complaint against the same official within the same year, said that the impeachment complaint filed by lawyer Roel Pulido was already deliberated on by the House Committee on Justice..

Art. XI, Sec. 3 (5) provides that: “No impeachment proceedings shall be initiated against the same official more than once within a period of one year.”

The Pulido complaint

Pulido had filed on Oct. 5 an impeachment complaint against Arroyo, citing her for betrayal of public trust in relation to the controversial National Broadband Network (NBN) deal.

The NBN project is a $329-million contract that aims to connect government agencies throughout the Philippines through the Internet.

The deal was signed in Boao, China on April 21 –- when the government was not allowed to sign contracts because of the then-upcoming senatorial and local elections. It has become controversial for allegedly being overpriced and for supposedly having been signed without going through the proper bidding process.

Jose de Venecia III, son of House Speaker Jose de Venecia and co-founder of Amsterdam Holdings, Inc. which is one of the losing bidders in the NBN deal, accused former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos of offering him $10 million in exchange for backing out of the NBN deal –- an accusation the former Comelec chief has denied.

In a privilege speech on Aug. 29, Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla said it was Abalos who brokered the deal between the Philippine government and ZTE Corp. Padilla also said Abalos was seen playing golf with ZTE officials in Manila and Shenzen. He also accused Abalos of receiving money and women in exchange for brokering the NBN deal.

In his three-page complaint, of which Bulatlat received a copy courtesy of Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) Rep. Crispin Beltran’s office, Pulido said:

“During her incumbency as President of the Republic, the Secretary of the Department of Transportation and Communications, Sec. Leandro Mendoza, on April 21, 2007 entered into an agreement with the ZTE for the latter to provide equipments, construct and install the same for the National Broadband Network Project under terms and conditions apparently disadvantageous to the Filipino people.

“It appears that entering into such contract was actually dictated by the illegal and corrupt machinations undertaken by high government officials, including but not limited to Chairman Benjamin Abalos of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), House Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. and the Speaker’s son, Jose de Venecia III. In fact, in an affidavit executed by Jose de Venecia III, he admits that a breakfast meeting was organized by House Speaker Jose de Venecia to allow the two proponents of the National Broadband Network Project, ZTE and AHI, to consolidate their proposals and corner the broadband project...

“That these corrupt and illegal negotiations were being undertaken was not unknown to the Respondent. In fact, in his testimony before the Senate, Jose de Venecia III claimed under oath that his father, House Speaker Jose de Venecia told him that the Respondent President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, House Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr., and Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos discussed the respective proposals of AHI and ZTE during a golf game in China.

“Worse, Sec. Romulo Neri, in his Sept. 26, 2007 testimony before the Senate, admitted under oath that he was offered a P200-million bribe by Comelec Chairman Abalos, and that he reported the matter to the Respondent President. Despite being told of the bribe offer, the Respondent did nothing.”

On Nov. 5, lawyer and United Opposition (UNO) spokesman Adel Tamano filed a supplement to the Pulido complaint. It was tossed out on Nov. 13 by the House Committee on Justice –- which found the original Pulido complaint sufficient in form. The committee’s decision provoked a walkout by minority members, led by Deputy House Minority Leader and Parañanque City Rep. Roilo Golez.

The original Pulido complaint was thrown out on Nov. 14 –- just a day after the blast at the Batasang Pambansa which has so far claimed four lives –- by the House Committee on Justice, which deemed it insufficient in substance.

“Verily, in all respects, the Pulido complaint is destitute of substance,” said Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, vice chairman of the House Committee on Justice during the Nov. 14 hearing. “To reiterate, it is so bare that it is akin to a centerfold which may excite but does not excel.”

Later that same day, the People’s Impeachment Complaint was returned to the complainants by Adaza, who cited Art. XI, Sec. 3 (5) of the Constitution.

Initiating complaints

However, Neri Javier Colmenares -– who is one of the counsels for those who filed the People’s Impeachment Complaint -– took issue with Adaza’s arguments. “It is correct that only one complaint may be initiated (against the same official) within a year, but the issue is, when is a complaint initiated?” Colmenares told Bulatlat in an interview.

“The Constitution says only the House can initiate a complaint,” Colmenares said. “The House is the sole authority to initiate a complaint.”

Art. XI, Sec. 3 (1) of the Constitution provides that: “The House of Representatives shall have the exclusive power to initiate all cases of impeachment.”

“When does the House act as an institution?” Colmenares said. “Is it when somebody files a complaint? Of course not, it’s just the complainant filing. Is it when the Speaker refers it to the Justice Committee? Of course not also. Is it when the Justice Committee finds (it sufficient in form and substance)? The correct interpretation is that the House initiates a complaint when it impeaches the President, meaning when they decide –- as a House of Representatives –- to impeach the President. And when does that happen? When a complaint has the required minimum vote of one-third of the House membership, and that can only happen in the plenary.”

The People’s Impeachment Complaint

Before Arroyo, the Philippine presidents who faced impeachment complaints were Elpidio Quirino, Diosdado Macapagal (Arroyo’s father), Ferdinand Marcos, and Joseph Estrada. The complaints against Quirino, Macapagal, and Marcos all failed to get the minimum required number of votes at the House of Representatives; while the complaint against Estrada was initiated, but was not completed due to maneuvers by the Estrada camp which resulted in what is now known as the People Power II uprising.

Arroyo faced her first impeachment complaint in 2005. This was when the Macapagal-Arroyo administration first used the tactic of preempting the filing of a complaint by having one of its minions, in the person of lawyer Oliver Lozano, file a weak complaint which, in turn, was summarily dismissed by Arroyo’s allies in Congress.

Anticipating that a similar tactic would be used in 2006, anti-Arroyo individuals and groups, who are mostly identified with the “parliament of the streets,” filed a series of complaints to block another effort by the administration to use the same maneuver. Thus, the concept of a People’s Impeachment Complaint was born. It is, as described by militant organizations, an impeachment complaint filed directly by the people for adoption by the Minority in the Lower House. It is a novel concept as it is initiated and followed through by private citizens and is complementary to the “parliament of the streets.”

However, the Arroyo administration once again used its dominance in the Lower House to reject the first People’s Impeachment Complaint. The initiators of the People’s Impeachment Complaint then held a Citizen’s Congress for Truth and Accountability (CCTA) which subsequently found Arroyo guilty of the charges contained in the complaint.

“Strongest, so far”

Colmenares believes that the complaint filed by Guingona and Bayan November 12 is the strongest so far of all impeachment complaints lodged against Arroyo. “The evidence is very strong,” Colmenares said.

The People’s Impeachment Complaint of 2007 cites Arroyo for the following offenses:

· culpable violations of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust and other high crimes by explicitly and implicitly conspiring, directing, abetting, tolerating with impunity as a state policy and rewarding extrajudicial executions, involuntary disappearances, torture, massacre, illegal arrest and arbitrary detention, forced dislocation of communities and other gross and systematic violations of civil and political rights and engaging in a systematic campaign to cover-up or white-wash these crimes by suppressing and obliterating the evidence, blaming the victims, terrorizing, intimidating and physically attacking witnesses, their relatives, lawyers and supporters, and human rights workers;

· culpable violations of the Constitution and graft and corruption, and betrayal of public trust by (i) abetting and/or tolerated the commission of a crime in regard to the anomalous “ZTE National Broadband contract”, (ii) knowingly and willfully obstructing, impeding or delaying the apprehension of suspects and the investigation of criminal cases arising from the same, and (iii) participating and giving support to or approving the ZTE broadband contract despite her knowledge that the same is tainted with graft and corruption;

· bribery, graft and corruption and betrayal of public trust by authorizing, abetting, allowing, and countenancing the distribution of bribe money to members of Congress in exchange for the hasty referral of the Pulido complaint to the Justice Committee in an attempt to prevent the filing of a more substantive and genuine impeachment complaint and eventually dismissing the Pulido complaint;

· culpable violations of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust by abusing her authority to suppress lawful exercise of the people’s rights to free speech, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, the freedom of the press and the people’s right to information and curtailing the legislative power to inquire on matters relating to the said electoral fraud committed in the 2004 presidential elections and other matters affecting the legitimacy of her presidency; and

· graft and corruption, by entering into illegal government contracts and “criminally” concealing her conjugal assets.

“For the ZTE alone, we have strong evidence: this is the first time when even allies of the President, by their own admission, put her on the chopping block,” Colmenares pointed out. “Although Romulo Neri’s testimony is not complete, it’s damaging to her. Add to that the statements of the De Venecias on bribery, which are very, very strong.

“Even the charges lifted from the 2006 complaint (which focused) on human rights violations have become stronger now. Now you have witnesses who survived abductions and torture, and point to the military. You have the Manalo brothers –- direct testimony, direct eyewitness accounts. Now you have the Jonas Burgos case... Now you have the Rev. Berlin Guerrero case, where it is clear as day that the government security forces took him and tortured him, and he survived. We even have a Bayan Muna (People First) coordinator, Jing Cardeño of General Santos City, who also survived (abduction and torture) and pointed to the military as the perpetrators.

“Rev. Isaias Sta. Rosa –- there was a dead sergeant beside him -– I mean, what more evidence do you want? The soldier not only had an Army ID, he had a mission order!”

These evidences, Colmenares said, make the People’s Impeachment Complaint of 2007 an “extremely strong” case. “Whichever court you bring it to, Arroyo would be convicted,” he said.

“That is why they didn’t even let it be touched by the Justice Committee,” he added. “It had to be returned to the complainants by the House Deputy Secretary-General -– who holds an administrative position -– without even being referred to the Justice Committee.”

Supreme Court

Colmenares said the complainants would be elevating the issue to the Supreme Court. He said they will ask the High Tribunal to rule on the issue of when an impeachment complaint is deemed initiated – an issue on which there is as yet no known jurisprudence in the Philippines.

He said they are confident the Supreme Court would rule favorably on their petition. Bulatlat

ANG MAHIGIT SA SANSIGLO AY WARING WALANG ANUMAN
Alexander Martin Remollino

I
Ang mahigit sa sansiglo ay waring walang anuman.

Naririto pa rin
ang mga maharlikang nagnanais na maging alipin
na humiklas sa iyong hininga.
(Magugunitang matapos ang kanilang kataksilan
sa Bundok Buntis, Maragondon
ay pinilas-pilas nila ang "Katapusang Hibik ng Pilipinas"
at pinalitan ito ng Kasunduan ng Biak na Bato.)

Sila'y naririto pa rin, Bonifacio:
naghahari pa rin sa ating lupaing
nakasanla pa rin pati kaluluwa.

II
Sa Biak na Bato,
apatnaraang libong piso ang naging kabayaran
upang ideklara ni Aguinaldo
na bandera ng mga bandolero, bandido't ladron
ang watawat ng mga Anak ng Bayan
at kanyang saluduhan
ang bandila ng Espanya.
Tumalilis siya patungong Hong Kong
bitbit ang magkapatid na Paterno
at iba pang "kapatid ni Cain."

Subalit sinuyo sila ng Estados Unidos
na noo'y kaaway na mortal ng Espanya
at inalok ng tulong sa pakikidigma,
at sila'y bumalik sa Pilipinas
upang muling magtimon sa Himagsikang
ipinagbili nila pati dangal sa Biak na Bato.
Sa Kawit, kanila pang
ipinagsigawan ang "kasarinlan" ng Pilipinas
na nasa mapagkandili diumanong kamay
ng "Dakila't Makataong Bansang
Hilagang Amerikano."

Ngunit ang kasarinlang natamo
ay "tanikalang ginto" lamang pala
at doon sa mga larangan,
muling umalingawngaw ang mga putok ng baril.

Sa muling nagbangong Himagsikan,
dumanak ang dugo ni Luna --
sa kamay ng sariling mga kababayan,
mga tauhan ni Aguinaldo --
matapos ang kanyang pagsigaw ng:
"Mabuhay ang kasarinlan!
Kamatayan sa awtonomiya!"

Samantala,
sa hanay ng Rebolusyonaryong Pamahalaan,
ikinalat ang kamandag ng kabulaanan
laban kay Mabini.
At siya'y nagbitiw sa tungkulin.

Bonifacio, batid nating si Mabini
ay mortal na kalaban ng pananakop --
kagaya ni Luna.

Habang tinutugis palang parang daga
ng mga puwersa ni Funston si Aguinaldo,
naglalaro na sa kanyang isip
ang muling pakikipagsapakat
sa mga kaaway ng kasarinlang
dinilig ng dugo ng ating mga tunay na kapatid.
Matapos na madakip ni Funston,
agad na sumaludo si Aguinaldo
sa bandila ng Estados Unidos
at muli niyang dinurhan sa mukha
ang mga manghihimagsik na Anak ng Bayan --
kabilang na si Sakay,
na sa malao't madali'y ipagkakanulo sa bitayan
ng mga pumatid sa iyong paghinga.

III
At hindi matatapos doon
ang kanilang pang-aagaw ng tagumpay
at pagkakanulo sa pakikibaka.

IV
Sa Pambansang Asambleyang natayo,
nagputakang parang mga manok
ang mga Quezon at Roxas
at sila'y nag-unahang parang mga daga pa-Washington
gayong ang hangad lamang nila kapwa
ay kasarinlang gumagapang
at inaalalayan ng Amerika.

Bonifacio, ang mga kapatid din ni Aguinaldo
ang kumilala sa "karapatan" ng Hapon
na gapusin ang Pilipinas
at paulit-ulit na bayuhin ng puluhan ng baril
ang humpak na tiyan ng ating mga kapatid.

Sila rin ang yumakap nang buong higpit
sa "kasarinlang" nagbigay ng pagkakataon sa Amerika
na lamuning tuloy-tuloy ang ginto't bulaklak
ng lupaing Pilipinas --
kasarinlang "lukob ng dayong bandila,"
kung saan ang Pilipinas
ay patuloy na nakasanla pati kaluluwa.
At ito'y pagyakap na kasama pati mga hita't binti.

V
Sila ang unang pumalakpak
nang iladlad ni Marcos ang tabing ng karimlang marahas
at sa EDSA,
nang masunog sa poot ng taumbayan ang tabing,
mabilis pa sa kidlat
na hinablot nila ang watawat ng pakikitalad
na taumbayan ang siya namang talagang tumatangan
at walang kahihiyang sila ang nagwagayway nito.

Gayundin ang ginawa nila
nang sa pangalawang pagkakataon --
labing-apat na taon matapos mapalayas si Marcos --
ay maging tagpuan ng poot at pag-asa ang EDSA.
Kalaunan,
nalaglag kapwa ang mga maskara nina Estrada't Arroyo
at napatunayang iisa lang pala ang kanilang mga mukha.

Ginawa nila ang lahat nito
habang nagpupugay sa dayong bandilang
nakalukob pa rin sa ating watawat.

VI
Ganito ang ginawa nila, Bonifacio --
sapagkat ang tunay na hangad nila
ay hindi ang kalayaan, hindi ang dangal
kundi ang mga susi, ang mga susi
sa mga bastiyon ng kanilang pinapanginoong mga dayo.

VII
Huwag munang humimlay, Bonifacio
sapagkat ang "Katapusang Hibik ng Pilipinas"
ay hindi siyang naging katapusang hibik.
Hindi natatapos ang hibik ng Pilipinas,
hindi matatapos ang hibik ng Pilipinas
hanggang sa hindi nalalagot ng punlo
ang matandang tanikala
at hanggang sa hindi napaluluhod at napahahalik sa lupa
ang mga nagkanulo't patuloy na nagkakanulo
sa ating Himagsikan.

Pasasalamat na walang hanggan, Dr. Renato Constantino -- Ang May-akda

BAGONG MULTIPLY SITE NG KILOMETER 64

REVIEW OF 1996 PEACE PACT A LONG-STANDING MNLF DEMAND

The 1996 Final Peace Agreement between the GRP and the MNLF is set to be reviewed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in the next few days. The MNLF said it has been demanding such review of the said pact for several years.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 40, November 11-17, 2007

The 1996 Final Peace Agreement between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) is set to be reviewed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in the next few days as announced by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita in a press conference last week. The MNLF said it has been demanding such review of the said pact for several years.

“Even before the establishment of the Expanded ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao), which (was) established by virtue of Republic Act No. 9054, the MNLF and the Bangsamoro people asked the government to consider a thorough review of the Peace Agreement, especially in its implementation,” said Ustadz Morshid Ibrahim, MNLF secretary-general, in a phone interview with Bulatlat. “When we were still in the (original) ARMM, we had asked the GRP to conduct a comprehensive and honest review of the proposed bill submitted by the government before Congress.”

Created on Aug. 1, 1989 through RA 6734, the original ARMM covered the provinces of Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Lanao del Sur, and Maguindanao. The ARMM was officially inaugurated on Nov. 6, 1990 in Cotabato City, which was designated as its capital.

The GRP-MNLF Final Peace Agreement provides among other things for amendments to or the repeal of RA 6734. It was specifically provided that amendments to or the repeal of RA 6734 would be initiated within the period 1996-1997, after which the amendatory law would be submitted to a plebiscite or referendum in the original ARMM provinces as well as in the provinces of Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Davao del Sur, South Cotabato, Sarangani and Palawan and the cities of Cotabato, Dapitan, Dipolog, General Santos, lligan, Marawi, Pagadian, Zamboanga and Puerto Princesa.

In the plebiscite held in November 2001 –- less than eight months after RA 9054 lapsed into law without President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s signature, in accordance with the Constitution –- only Marawi City and Basilan (except Isabela City) elected to be part of the expanded ARMM.

“We wanted that the bill would actually reflect the entirety of the Peace Agreement,” Ibrahim added. “But unfortunately the voice of the Bangsamoro people was not heard instead the government came up with a unilateral and arbitrary act, without consulting the parties concerned like the OIC (Organization of Islamic Conference) and the MNLF.”

Issues related to the implementation of the GRP-MNLF Final Peace Agreement had been a source of tension between the two camps.

Earlier this year, MNLF fighters led by Ustadz Habier Malik “detained” a group led by Muslim convert Marine Maj. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino in Jolo, Sulu.

Dolorfino, who also uses the name Ben Muhammad, went with Undersecretary for Peace Ramon Santos and 13 others to the MNLF’s Camp Jabal Ubod in Panamao, Sulu in the morning of Feb. 2 to talk with MNLF representatives headed by Malik. The group included two colonels, a junior officer, nine enlisted men, and several members of Santos’ staff.

The talks were to tackle the holding of a tripartite meeting, proposed late last year by the MNLF, with the GRP and the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).

The tripartite meeting was to address issues related to the implementation of the Final Peace Agreement, and Malik’s group was protesting its repeated postponement by the GRP.

In the afternoon of that same day, Dolorfino and his group were prevented from leaving the camp, and were only released after agreeing with Malik and his men on a schedule for the tripartite meeting.

The tripartite meeting scheduled for March 17 this year was yet again postponed, and to make matters worse two grandsons of MNLF state chairman Khaid Ajibon were fired upon by soldiers while on an errand in the market of Indanan, Sulu on Feb. 17. This was followed by a bombardment of Ajibon’s headquarters, also in Indanan, and a massacre in Patikul.

The MNLF retaliated and in the wave of fighting that took place, more than 80,000 were displaced.

1996 Peace Agreement, Phase I

“Most of the controversies and differences of opinion between the government and the MNLF are with respect to Phase I of the Agreement,” Ibrahim explained to Bulatlat.

Signed on Sept. 2, 1996, the GRP-MNLF Final Peace Agreement provides among other things for the organization of MNLF forces to be integrated into the AFP into separate units. This is covered in Phase I of the Final Peace Agreement, which provides that:

“a. Five thousand seven hundred fifty (5,750) MNLF members shall be integrated into the Armed forces of the Philippines (AFP), 250 of whom shall be absorbed into the auxiliary services. The government shall exert utmost efforts to establish the necessary conditions that would ensure the eventual integration of the maximum number of the remaining MNLP forces into the Special Regional Security Force (SRSF) and other agencies and instrumentalities of the government There shall be a special socio-economic, cultural and educational program to cater to MNLF forces not absorbed into the AFP PNP and the SRSF to prepare them and their families for productive endeavors, provide for educational, technical skills and livelihood training and give them priority for hiring in development projects.

“b. In the beginning, the MNLF forces will join as units distinct from AFP units. They will be initially organized into separate units within a transition period, until such time that mutual confidence is developed as the members of these separate-units will be gradually integrated into regular AFP units deployed in the area of autonomy. Subjects to existing laws, policies, rules and regulations, and approbate authorities shall waive the requirements and qualifications for entry of MNLF forces into the AFP.

“c. One from among the MNLF will assume the functions and responsibilities of a Deputy Commander of the Southern Command AFP, for separate units that will be organized out of the MNLF forces joining the AFP. The Deputy Commander will assist the Commander of the Southern Command AFP in the command, administration and control of such separate units throughout the aforementioned transition period. The Deputy Commander will he given an appointment commensurate to his position and shall be addressed as such.”

The organization of the MNLF forces joining the AFP into separate units, which was specifically agreed upon, never took place.

“The Agreement actually calls for the establishment of separate military units,” Ibrahim said. “But what the government did is the opposite.”

Worse, the AFP has over the past six years engaged in what MNLF vice chairman Jimmy Labawan described as “provocative actions” that have forced the MNLF to retaliate.

In October 2001, the military was then in hot pursuit of Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) bandits who had abducted tourists in Sipadan, Malaysia. At one point they announced the defeat of an “Abu Sayyaf contingent” in Talipao, Sulu.

The massacre in Talipao led the MNLF, just five years after signing a peace agreement with the government, to once more take up arms. According to MNLF leader Nur Misuari, a former political science professor at UP who was then ARMM governor, the Talipao massacre was a “violation” of the 1996 peace agreement.

Misuari, who was then in Malaysia, ended up being arrested and subsequently detained in a military camp in Sta. Rosa, Laguna (38 kms south of Manila). He is presently under house arrest in New Manila, Quezon City.

Since October 2001, there has been sporadic fighting between the AFP and the MNLF.

MNLF

The MNLF traces its origins to a massacre of between 28 and 64 Moro fighters recruited by the government in 1968 for a scheme to occupy Sabah, an island near Mindanao to which the Philippines has a historic claim.

Sabah ended up in the hands of the Malaysian government during the presidency of Diosdado Macapagal (1961-1965). His successor Ferdinand Marcos conceived a scheme involving the recruitment of Moro fighters to occupy the island.

The recruits were summarily executed by their military superiors in 1968, in what is now known as the infamous Jabidah Massacre.

The Jabidah Massacre triggered widespread outrage among the Moros and led to the formation of the MNLF that same year. The MNLF waged an armed revolutionary struggle against the GRP for an independent Muslim state in Mindanao.

The Marcos government, weighed down by the costs of the Mindanao war, negotiated for peace and signed an agreement with the MNLF in Tripoli, Libya in the mid-1970s. The pact involved the grant of autonomy to the Moro peoples.

The Marcos government insisted on a plebiscite to settle the coverage of the autonomous government that would be established. The MNLF refused to recognize the results of the plebiscite and peace negotiations bogged down.

GRP-MNLF peace negotiations went on and off until 1996, when the two parties signed a Final Peace Agreement. This same Agreement is slated for review in Jeddah in the next few days.

“Hopefully (the review) would be a good step toward a better understanding and knowledge on the implementation of the Peace Agreement,” Ibrahim said. “Because there is no other effective means to solve the problem than for the contending parties to meet across the negotiating table.” Bulatlat

MARIANNET
Alexander Martin Remollino

DAVAO CITY, Philippines -- A 12-year-old girl, who became despondent over her family’s poverty, hanged herself inside their makeshift house a day after her father told her he could not give her the P100 she needed for a school project.

Using a thin nylon rope, 12-year-old Mariannet Amper hanged herself in the afternoon of November 2. She was a sixth grader at the Maa Central Elementary School.

Her father, Isabelo, 49, who was out of job as a construction worker, said Mariannet asked him for P100 which she needed for school projects, on the night of November 1. He told his daughter that he did not have the money yet but he would ask his wife if she could get some money for her. The morning after, however, he was able to get a P1,000 cash advance for a construction work on a downtown chapel.

By the time he got home, Mariannet already lay dead...

-- Nico Alconaba, "Girl Who Killed Self Lamented Family's Poverty in Diary," Philippine Daily Inquirer, 7 November 2007

Ang mga pahina ng talaarawan niya
ang nagsasalita para sa kanya:

Mga pangarap lamang ang bumuhay sa kanya
sa loob ng ilang taong nagdaan.
Ngunit payak man ang mga pangarap na iyon
ay mistulang mga suntok sa buwan:
patay na bago pa man maisilang.

Isang araw, natagpuan siyang nakabigti.

======

Ilan na ang sa kanya'y nauna
at tiyak na hindi siya ang huli.
Para sa marami,
matagal nang nakabigti ang mga pangarap
sa "bansang ito ng ating mga kalungkutan."

Kaninong mga kamay ang pumaslang sa pag-asa
ng kayraming nawalan ng pag-asa?

Mga kamay na walang hinawakan buong buhay
kundi ang salapi nilang hindi kanila.
Mga kamay na sumenyas na ayos lang ang lahat
habang kayrami ng mga taong
sinasawi ng dalita.

Salaring lahat silang nasanay nang mabuhay
na parang mga patay --
silang mga patay na buhay, mga buhay na patay
na maiging magpatiwakal na lahat
upang mabuhay na muli ang pumanaw na pag-asa
ng napakaraming tao,
lalo na ng mga batang hindi pa man isinisilang
ay tiyak nang walang bukas na haharapin.

======

Humimlay na si Mariannet Amper:
sinamahan na niya sa paghimlay nang walang hanggan
ang mga pangarap niyang isinilang nang walang buhay.
Sa ating mga diwa, sa ating mga puso --
hayaang magsaya si Mariannet sa kanyang kamusmusan,
hayaang ang kanyang mga pangarap
ay mabuhay nang walang katapusan.

http://www.emanilapoetry.com/writersgroup/index.php/2007/11/09/mariannet/
http://www.tinig.com/mariannet/
Kasama rin sa http://www.bulatlat.com/2007/11/apat-na-tula-kay-mariannet-amper-12-taong-gulang

U.S. SOLDIER DEAD IN SULU: A ‘NON-COMBAT RELATED INCIDENT’?

The recovery of a dead U.S. soldier in Panamao, Sulu and reports of U.S. troops in counter-“terrorist” operations in Basilan raise questions on their role in Mindanao.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 39, November 4-10, 2007

The recent recovery of a dead U.S. serviceman in Panamao, Sulu as well as previous reports that U.S. soldiers are involved in counter-“terrorist” operations in Basilan raise questions on the role of U.S. troops in strife-torn Mindanao.

Earlier news reports said that the U.S. serviceman had gone swimming with fellow soldiers in a lake in Panamao a little over a week ago. His body was recovered on Oct. 27. According to Rebecca Thompson, spokesperson of the U.S. Embassy in Manila, the U.S. serviceman had died the day before.

Sulu police director S/Supt. Ahirum Ajirim gave media no details on the U.S. serviceman’s death except that his body was recovered from the lake in Panamao at around 8 a.m., Oct. 27.

U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Fred Kuebler confirmed the U.S. serviceman’s death to media. He said the U.S. serviceman had perished in a “non-combat related incident.”

Government spokespersons have always said the presence of U.S. troops in Sulu is for training Philippine troops in counter-“terrorism” operations, and for “civic” or “humanitarian” missions.

But as Concerned Citizens of Sulu convener and former Jolo councilor Temogen “Cocoy” Tulawie told Bulatlat in an interview earlier this year, U.S. troop movements have always been seen in areas where the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) engaged or figured in clashes with either the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) or the bandit Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG).

“Military operations always take place not far from where U.S. troops are,” said Tulawie. “The presence of U.S. troops has been visible in areas where military operations have taken place.”

While Tulawie said there is yet no evidence that U.S. troops have actually participated in combat operations, their visibility in areas where AFP operations have been conducted raises questions on the real reasons behind their presence in the country’s southernmost province.

Such questions again come to the fore with the recent recovery of a U.S. serviceman’s remains in a lake in Panamao, Sulu.

But it is not only in Sulu that U.S. troops are present. In mid-September, Army officials announced that a small number of U.S. troops had been deployed to Basilan to support the AFP’s Task Force Thunder in its operations against the ASG.

“This support includes the sharing of information as well as the planning and execution of Civil Military Operations,” said Maj. Eugene Batara, an Army spokesperson in Basilan. “U.S. troops have commonly supported AFP operations in Basilan going back to 2002, and have worked with the AFP most recently to conduct medical clinics and participate in engineering projects. They are helping us defeat terrorism and at the same time help carry out humanitarian activities.”

Task Force Thunder was created by the AFP to combat what is described as the “growing” ASG presence in Basilan, where Marines purportedly in search of the kidnappers of Italian priest Fr. Giancarlo Bossi were beheaded following an encounter last July.

JSOTF-P and Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines

The U.S. troops in Sulu and Basilan are part of the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines (JSOTF-P), which is reportedly based in Zamboanga City. Based on several news items from the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), the JSOTF-P are in Mindanao to train the AFP’s Southern Command (Southcom) and to conduct civic actions.

However, an article recently written by Command Sgt. Maj. William Eckert of the JSOTF-P, “Defeating the Idea: Unconventional Warfare in Southern Philippines,” hints that there is more to the task force’s work than training AFP troops and embarking on “humanitarian actions.” Wrote Eckert:

“Working in close coordination with the U.S. Embassy, JSOTF-P uses Special Forces, Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations forces to conduct deliberate intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance in very focused areas, and based on collection plans, to perform tasks to prepare the environment and obtain critical information requirements. The information is used to determine the capabilities, intentions and activities of threat groups that exist within the local population and to focus U.S. forces –- and the AFP –- on providing security to the local populace. It is truly a joint operation, in which Navy SEALs (Sea, Air, and Land forces) and SOF (Special Operations Forces) aviators work with their AFP counterparts to enhance the AFP’s capacities.”

The JSOTF-P was established by the U.S. Special Operations Command Pacific (SOCPAC). It began its work when SOCPAC deployed to the Philippines Joint Task Force (JTF) 510. Based on an item on the website GlobalSecurity.org, JTF 510 was deployed to the Philippines “to support Operation Enduring Freedom.”

Operation Enduring Freedom is the official name given to the U.S. government’s military response to the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001 in New York City. It entails a series of anti-“terrorism” activities in Afghanistan, the Philippines, the Horn of Africa, Trans-Sahara, and Pakinsi Gorge.

JTF 510 was deployed to Basilan in January 2002 purportedly to help in uprooting the ASG. Its mission was carried out under the auspices of Balikatan 02-1, supposedly a series of joint military exercises between U.S. and Philippine troops.

Its mission ended in July 2002 and the task force has since transitioned into what is now the JSOTF-P, with its base located in Zamboanga City.

In 2004, the JSOTF-P deployed to Sulu and U.S. military presence in the island-province has been continuous since then.

U.S. troops would have entered Sulu as early as February 2003. The AFP and the U.S. Armed Forces had both announced that the Balikatan military exercises for that year would be held in Sulu.

This provoked a wave of protest from the people of Sulu, who had not yet forgotten what has come to be known as the Bud Dajo Massacre, in which more than 700 Moro fighters wielding meleé weapons were crushed by U.S. troops with naval cannons in 1906. The announcement in February 2003 that the year’s Balikatan military exercises would be held in Sulu summoned bitter memories of the Bud Dajo Massacre and led to protest actions where thousands of Sulu residents participated.

But by coming in small groups bringing relief goods, U.S. troops were able to win the hearts of a large number of Sulu residents and resistance to U.S. military entry into the island-province was neutralized.

And now, aside from being in Sulu, JSOTF-P troops are again in Basilan, if we go by the military’s own statements, to help in counter-“terrorism” operations there.

Sulu and Basilan

Sulu and Basilan are both part of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which was created as a concession to the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1996.

During the presidency of Diosdado Macapagal (1961-1965), Sabah, an island near Mindanao to which the Philippines has a historic claim, ended up in the hands of the Malaysian government. His successor Ferdinand Marcos later conceived a scheme which involved the recruitment of between 28 and 64 Moro fighters to occupy Sabah.

The reported summary execution of these recruits in 1968 by their superiors, which Moro historian Salah Jubair says was due to their refusal to follow orders, led to widespread outrage among Moros and led to the formation of the MNLF that same year.

The MNLF, which fought for an independent state in Muslim Mindanao, entered into a series of negotiations with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP), beginning in the 1970s under the Marcos government. Conflicts on the issue of autonomy led to a breakdown of talks between the GRP and the MNLF in 1978, prompting a group led by Dr. Salamat Hashim to break away from the MNLF and form the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Since then, the MILF has been fighting for an Islamic state in Mindanao.

In 1996, the MNLF signed a Final Peace Agreement with the GRP which created the ARMM as a concession to the group. That same year, the MILF began peace negotiations with the GRP.

Sulu is also currently the site of oil exploration operations involving several foreign companies including a U.S. corporation.

In 2005, the Department of Energy awarded Service Contract 56 to Australia’s BHP Billiton Petroleum PTY Ltd., Amerada Hess Ltd., Unocal Sulu Ltd., and Sandakan Oil II, LCC. Amerada Hess Ltd. is a unit of Hess Ltd., a U.S.-based oil and gas exploration company.

Based on a 2005 news item published by the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), Service Contract 56 covers some 8,620 hectares offshore Sulu Sea, an area described as “one of the most prospective areas for oil and gas exploration as indicated by the previous drilling activities conducted in the area.”

Basilan, meanwhile, is presently a known stronghold of the MILF, whose peace talks with the GRP have repeatedly hit a snag on the issue of ancestral domain. Bulatlat

SILANG IILA’Y IISA ANG MUKHA
Alexander Martin Remollino

Sa masang tagasuporta ng dating Pangulong Joseph “Erap” Estrada

========

“I believe I can best continue to repay our people the blessings that God has so graciously given me by supporting from hereon the programs of Mrs. Arroyo that are intended to attack generational poverty and hunger.”

–- Joseph “Erap” Estrada, 26 Oktubre 2007, matapos mapalaya sa bisa ng executive clemency

I
Kaytagal ninyong sinubaybayan ang pelikulang-seryeng iyon:
ang walang-katapusang duruan
ng isang gustong makalaya’t isang ayaw makulong.
Kaytagal na kayo’y nakingitngit, nakidalamhati
sa tauhang nakakulong
sapagkat sa tabing ng inyong mga panaginip,
siya na sana ang maghuhudyat ng inyong itinakdang araw –-
dangan nga lamang at inagaw ng iilan sa kanya,
wika ninyo,
ang luklukang inyong sa kanya’y pinaghatiran.

Sa wakas ng palabas,
umugong at dumagundong ang inyong mga hiyaw
nang ang bida’y humarap sa inyo
na wala nang posas ang mga galanggalangan –-

at aywan kung rumehistrong malinaw sa tabing
ang nabunyag na katotohanang
’sindilim ng bulwagan kung patay ang mga ilaw:
na yaong bidang kaylaong ipinagrosaryo’t ipinag-orasyon
at kontrabidang kaylaong gustong ipakulam

ay iisa lamang pala ang tunay na mukha.

II
At dito’y walang dapat ikapanlaki ng mga mata
sapagkat sa pelikula ng ating kasaysayan,
tayong mamamayan ay lagi nang mga hamak na ekstra
at may iilan lamang na bida’t kontrabida
na iisa ang hilatsa ng mga mukha.
At magpapatuloy ang nakapahaba nang palabas na ito
hanggang tayong mamamaya’y hindi nakapagpapasya
na maging direktor ng sariling kapalaran.

THE WRIT OF AMPARO AND AO 197

As NUPL secretary-general and CODAL spokesperson Neri Javier Colmenares put it in an Oct. 18 forum at UP, the writ of amparo is a legal remedy that “could pierce the veil of impunity” shrouding human rights violators in the Philippines. Its effectivity as a legal recourse, however, faces a challenge from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s recent issuance of AO 197.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 37, October 21-27, 2007

As National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) secretary-general and Counsels for the Defense of Liberties (CODAL) spokesperson Neri Javier Colmenares put it in an Oct. 17 forum at the University of the Philippines (UP), the writ of amparo is a legal remedy that “could pierce the veil of impunity” shrouding the perpetrators of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in the Philippines.

Its effectivity as a legal recourse, however, faces a challenge from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s recent issuance of Administrative Order No. 197. The said administrative order, which was implemented on the same day that the Rule on the Writ of Amparo was approved, provides among other things that:

“1. The Department of National Defense (DND) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) shall work closely with Presidential Human Rights Committee (PHRC) subcommittee on killings and disappearances for speedy action on cases and effective reforms to avoid abuses with regular reports to the Commander-in-Chief through the Executive Secretary as PHRC chair, and in consultation with the Court administrator, invited as PHRC subcommittee observer.

“2. The DND/AFP (Department of National Defense/Armed Forces of the Philippines) shall draft legislation in consultation with the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office and Congress allies for safeguards against disclosure of military secrets and undue interference in military operations inimical to national security…”

A.M. No. 07-9-12-SC, approved by the Supreme Court on Sept. 25 and set to take effect on Oct. 24, provides that the writ of amparo shall cover threats or actual cases of “extralegal killings” and enforced disappearances.

Its reach extends beyond that of the writs of habeas corpus and habeas data, as it expressly disallows “general denials” of allegations in petitions for the writ.

The writ of habeas corpus requires the military to physically produce missing persons suspected to be in its custody. The writ of habeas data, meanwhile, requires that the military produce evidence or items containing evidence on the whereabouts of missing persons believed to be in its custody.

In habeas corpus or habeas data petitions, the courts have no power against the military’s denials of allegations.

Amparo petitioners and interim reliefs

Under the Rule of the Writ of Amparo, aggrieved parties or qualified persons may file petitions for the writ in the following order: any member of the immediate family, namely: the spouse, children and parents of the aggrieved party; any ascendant, descendant or collateral relative of the aggrieved party within the fourth civil degree of consanguinity or affinity, in default of members of the immediate family; or any concerned citizen, organization, association or institution, if there is no known member of the immediate family or relative of the aggrieved party.

The Rule provides that both public officials or employees and private persons may be named as respondents to petitions for the writ of amparo.

Under the Rule on the Writ of Amparo, the following interim reliefs are available to petitioners: temporary protection order, inspection order, production order, and witness protection order.

The temporary protection requires that the petitioner or aggrieved party or any member of the immediate family be extended protection by a government agency or any accredited person or private institution capable of ensuring their safety. The protection may be extended to the officers involved if the petitioner is an organization.

The Supreme Court is to accredit the persons or institutions that would extend temporary protection to the petitioners, aggrieved parties, or members of the immediate family.

The inspection order requires that persons in possession of any designated land or other property allow entry “for the purpose of inspecting, measuring, surveying, or photographing the property or any relevant object or operation thereon.”

The production order requires that persons in possession, custody or control of designated “documents, papers, books, accounts, letters, photographs, objects or tangible things, or objects in digitized or electronic form, which constitute or contain evidence relevant to the petition” to produce these and allow their inspection.

A.M. No. 07-9-12-SC provides that if either the inspection order or the production order is opposed on grounds of “national security or of the privileged nature of the information,” the court, judge or justices issuing the writ shall conduct hearings on the merits of the opposition.

Meanwhile, under the witness protection order, witnesses are to be referred to the Department of Justice (DoJ) for admission to the Witness Protection Program provided for by Republic Act No. 6981.

AO 197 and impunity

The writ of amparo faces a challenge to its effectivity as a legal recourse for victims of “extralegal killings” or enforced disappearances and their relatives with Arroyo’s issuance of AO 197 last Sept. 25.

As Colmenares told reporters who interviewed him on the sidelines of the Oct. 17 forum at UP, there is something problematic in AO 197’s requirement that matters involving killings and disappearances be reported by the DND/AFP to the Commander-in-Chief.

“It paves the way for military officers summoned by the courts (on issues regarding killings and disappearances) to claim executive privilege,” Colmenares said. “The military officer can just say, ‘Well, I cannot answer the question because that forms part of my report to the President, and since it’s part of the report it’s already covered by executive privilege.’ So all investigations, all suspicions, all updates, leads are to be reported to the Commander-in-Chief. That may be interpreted as covered by executive privilege. So that will not only defeat the writ of amparo, but that will also undermine the judicial power of the Supreme Court.”

He also sees a problem in AO 197’s instruction for the drafting of legislation to protect military secrets.

“(With that) how can the judge now issue inspection orders?” Colmenares said.

Any legislation to protect military secrets pursuant to AO 197 may also include ways to get around production orders. The items which constitute or contain evidence relevant to petitions for the writ of amparo may also be classified as part of “military secrets” to be protected.

“Whatever openings may have been created (by the writ of amparo) in fighting impunity may close again,” Colmenares said. Bulatlat

FRANCIS VER AND THE PULIDO IMPEACH RAP

The existence of lawyer Francis Ver was practically unknown until last Oct. 9, when Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran delivered a privilege speech at the House of Representatives accusing him of having offered a P2-million bribe three days before in exchange for supporting what was described as a “fake impeachment complaint” against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 6, October 14-20, 2007

The existence of lawyer Francis Ver was practically unknown until last Oct. 9, when Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) Rep. Crispin Beltran delivered a privilege speech at the House of Representatives accusing him of having offered a P2-million bribe three days before in exchange for supporting what was described as a “fake impeachment complaint” against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Beltran’s disclosure has not only brought public attention to Ver; it has also uncovered what appears to be a rift within the administration coalition in the House of Representatives – not only between Arroyo’s party, Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi or Partner of the Free Filipino), and House Speaker Jose de Venecia’s party, Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) –- but also within Kampi itself.

Filed Oct. 5 by Roel Pulido, who was until last September known as the lawyer of the dissident soldiers who have come to be called the Magdalo Group, the impeachment complaint cites Arroyo for betrayal of public trust in relation to the National Broadband Network (NBN) scam.

The NBN project is a $329-million contract that aims to connect government agencies throughout the Philippines through the Internet.

The deal was signed in Boao, China on April 21 – when the government was not allowed to sign contracts because of the then-upcoming senatorial and local elections. It has become controversial for allegedly being overpriced and for supposedly having been signed without going through the proper bidding process.

Jose de Venecia III, son of House Speaker Jose de Venecia and co-founder of Amsterdam Holdings, Inc. which is one of the losing bidders in the NBN deal, has accused former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos of offering him $10 million in exchange for backing out of the NBN deal –- an accusation the former Comelec chief has denied.

In a privilege speech on Aug. 29, Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla said it was Abalos who brokered the deal between the Philippine government and ZTE Corp. Padilla also said Abalos was seen playing golf with ZTE officials in Manila and Shenzen. He also accused Abalos of receiving money and women in exchange for brokering the NBN deal.

In his three-page complaint, of which Bulatlat received a copy courtesy of Beltran’s office, Pulido said:

“During her incumbency as President of the Republic, the Secretary of the Department of Transportation and Communications, Sec. Leandro Mendoza, on April 21, 2007 entered into an agreement with the ZTE for the latter to provide equipments, construct and install the same for the National Broadband Network Project under terms and conditions apparently disadvantageous to the Filipino people.

“It appears that entering into such contract was actually dictated by the illegal and corrupt machinations undertaken by high government officials, including but not limited to Chairman Benjamin Abalos of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), House Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. and the Speaker’s son, Jose de Venecia III. In fact, in an affidavit executed by Jose de Venecia III, he admits that a breakfast meeting was organized by House Speaker Jose de Venecia to allow the two proponents of the National Broadband Network Project, ZTE and AHI, to consolidate their proposals and corner the broadband project...

“That these corrupt and illegal negotiations were being undertaken was not unknown to the Respondent. In fact, in his testimony before the Senate, Jose de Venecia III claimed under oath that his father, House Speaker Jose de Venecia told him that the Respondent President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, House Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr., and Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos discussed the respective proposals of AHI and ZTE during a golf game in China.

“Worse, Sec. Romulo Neri, in his Sept. 26, 2007 testimony before the Senate, admitted under oath that he was offered a P200-million bribe by Comelec Chairman Abalos, and that he reported the matter to the Respondent President. Despite being told of the bribe offer, the Respondent did nothing.”

His complaint was endorsed by Laguna Rep. Edgar San Luis –- who is identified with the administration coalition.

Bribery allegations

On Oct. 8, Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez –- who ran under the Genuine Opposition in last May’s senatorial and local elections -– hinted in a TV interview that an “ally of Malacañang” had approached and asked him a few days back to endorse an impeachment complaint against Arroyo. “Since I know him to be from Malacañang, I immediately got the impression that this is a ploy to prevent a more substantive complaint,” Rodriguez told ANC.

Under House rules, only one complaint can be initiated against any single impeachable official in a single year.

The next day, Beltran stunned the public with his privilege speech in which he said that Ver –- then Kampi’s deputy secretary-general -– had approached him twice on Oct. 5, offering a bribe in exchange for endorsing an impeachment complaint against Arroyo. This, Beltran said, was a few hours before Pulido filed his complaint.

“For all we know, this impeachment complaint could be a sinister plot concocted by Malacañang to save President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from a substantial, just and genuine impeachment complaint,” Beltran said.

Beltran’s allegation of a bribery attempt by Ver has triggered a string of denials, accusations and counter-accusations.

Ver has denied offering bribes to Beltran, Rodriguez, and Fernandez –- although he admitted talking to them. Malacañang has denied having anything to do with Pulido.

Pulido has denied alleged links with Ver and Malacañang. A former lawyer of the Magdalo Group, he is reportedly working in the staff of Sen. Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan, who was implicated in the “Oakwood Mutiny” of 2003 as well as last year’s alleged “Left-Right conspiracy” to topple the Arroyo regime.

A few months before last May’s elections, Honasan –- who is identified with the opposition –- was reported to have gone into negotiations with Malacañang in relation to the rebellion charges against him. He ran as an independent senatorial candidate and won in last May’s elections.

Meanwhile, Cebu Rep. Pablo Garcia –- who is a Kampi member –- has pointed to Kampi chairman and Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno as the mastermind of the impeachment complaint. Puno has denied Garcia’s accusation.

Puno has subsequently declared that Ver had been fired as Kampi deputy secretary-general.

On Oct. 11, Malacañang called House members aligned with Kampi and Lakas-CMD to a breakfast meeting. No less than De Venecia admitted that the “stability of the administration coalition” in the House of Representatives was discussed in the meeting, although he denied reports that Malacañang was conducting a loyalty check. But after the meeting, De Venecia inhibited himself from the referral of the impeachment complaint and gave the go signal to the Deputy Speaker to refer it to the justice committee which would start the process of killing the “weak” impeachment complaint.

Ver

Who is this Francis Ver, whose alleged bribery attempts on a number of opposition congressmen has provoked finger-pointing left and right?

A relative of Gen. Fabian Ver, a distant cousin of the deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos who served as Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff during Martial Law, Francis Ver graduated from the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law in 1981. He was supposed to have graduated the year before, but had been turned back for a year.

According to Puno, Ver worked for a long time as a lawyer at the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG). Puno said Ver resigned from DILG in the late 1990s. “I don’t know where he went after that,” Puno told reporters in an Oct. 9 press briefing.

Rodriguez said he knew Ver as the chief of staff of one of the high government officials during the administration of ousted President Joseph Estrada (1998-2001).

During the 12th Congress (2001-2004), Ver served as a congressional staff member for then Manila Rep. Mark Jimenez, who was for a long time an Estrada ally.

In 2004, Puno -– who was then already with Kampi – was elected as representative of Antipolo City, a post to which he had also been elected during Estrada’s presidency.

Puno was allied with Estrada during the latter’s presidency. He disappeared from the limelight following Estrada’s ouster through a popular uprising in 2001 –- but resurfaced three years later as a representative of Antipolo City under the banner of Kampi.

Ver, he says, volunteered to join his staff when he was elected Antipolo City representative in 2004, and he decided to take the man in as consultant.

“In Kampi, he was designated as one of the deputy secretary-generals,” Puno also said. Puno said Ver served as the liaison between Kampi and Lakas-CMD during the run-up to the May 2007 elections.

Less than five months after the May 2007 elections, Ver was accused of bribing a number of opposition congressmen to support what has been described as a “fake impeachment complaint” against Arroyo. Bulatlat

IN THESE TIMES THAT TEST US
Alexander Martin Remollino

It is tempting quite to be thankful for this day’s dawning,
even as we should not be so, by any means.

For these times, which test the mettle of men and women,
afford us this unusually rare opportunity
to see –- in all their uncovered ignominy –-
the sunshine patriots and the summer soldiers among us:
they who, like the weeds,
would kiss the soil at the slightest huff of the wind.
It is not difficult in times like these
to recognize the genuine warriors –-
who would stand proud amidst the fiercest storms,
like the narra and the molave,
and refuse to settle for anything less
than the most glorious of triumphs.

SISON: ACTIONS VS NDFP PANELISTS COULD DESTROY PEACE TALKS

Even as he is still elated over his latest victory in the Dutch courts, NDFP chief political consultant and ILPS chairman Jose Maria Sison is calling on all supporters of the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations to protest what he described as the “unjust actions” by the U.S., Philippine and Dutch governments.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 35, October 7-13, 2007

Even as he is still elated over his latest victory in the Dutch courts, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) chief political consultant and International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) chairman Jose Maria Sison is calling on all supporters of the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the NDFP to protest what he described as the “unjust actions” by the U.S., Philippine and Dutch governments.

“The unjust actions already taken against me and the panelists, other consultants and staffers of the NDFP negotiating panel are meant by the U.S., Philippine and Dutch governments to put the NDFP Negotiating Panel under duress for the purpose of pressuring it or scuttling the entire peace negotiations,” Sison said in an e-mail interview with Bulatlat over the weekend. “The advocates of a just peace must take a stand and denounce the unjust actions and the malicious calculations behind these.”

Sison was referring to his arrest in Utrecht, the Netherlands on Aug. 28 for allegedly ordering the murders of former Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) leaders Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara in the Philippines in 2003 and 2004, respectively, and the raids on the NDFP International Office and the houses of several NDFP consultants and staff.

Sison had reported to the Utrecht police station on Aug. 28 after receiving an invitation supposedly regarding new information on a complaint he filed way back in 2001. He was asked to go to a room where he was supposedly going to be asked a few questions.

But he was whisked away without the knowledge of the lawyer who was accompanying him at that time, and was subsequently hauled off to the Dutch National Penitentiary in Scheveningen, Den Haag where he was left to languish in solitary confinement for 17 days.

On the same day that Sison was arrested, the NDFP International Office was raided and its computers were taken. Dutch police also raided the homes of several NDFP consultants.

Sison was released last month from detention after the Rechtbank of Den Haag ruled, citing lack of evidence against him in the case on the Kintanar-Tabara deaths, that there was no cause to keep him further in pre-trial detention.

The Dutch Prosecutor’s Office promptly filed a petition before the Dutch Court of Appeals to have Sison placed back in pre-trial detention. On Oct. 3, the Dutch Court of Appeals threw out the appeal.

“The wording of the Decision is very interesting, even better than the Rechtbank’s,” said Michiel Pestman, Sison’s lawyer, in an e-mail message received by Bulatlat.

In its decision, a copy of which was also received by Bulatlat, the Dutch Court of Appeals stated that there is no direct evidence linking Sison to Kintanar and Tabara’s killings. It also questioned the reliability of the witnesses’ statements against Sison, stating that their declarations “contain a high degree of indefiniteness in time.”

The Dutch Court of Appeals likewise described the witnesses’ statements against Sison as “perhaps” having a “political context.” It stated that these declarations “cannot just simply be taken as reliable” considering the present “political constellation” in the Philippines.

“On top of that the Court expresses its doubt about Sison’s ability to fully exercise his right to cross-examine the Prosecution witnesses, which is an implicit reference to the human rights situation in the Philippines and the dangers faced there by Sison’s defense lawyers,” Pestman said.

Sison has repeatedly denied allegations that he had a hand in the killings of Kintanar and Tabara. The CPP-NPA leadership in the Philippines owned up to both killings, citing what it described as Kintanar and Tabara’s “crimes against the revolution.” He has in a statement described the Dutch Court of Appeals decision on his case as “a triumph of justice.”

He is optimistic that the charges against him in connection with the Kintanar-Tabara deaths will eventually dismissed.

“The charge cannot prosper because I have nothing to do with the deaths of the military and police agents Kintanar and Tabara as well as with the independent judicial process of the People’s Court in the Philippines,” Sison told Bulatlat. “Therefore there can never be any direct and sufficient evidence against me. Moreover the Kintanar and Tabara incidents are acts of rebellion according to the Philippine prosecution and acts of revolution according to the revolutionary forces.”

The killings of Kintanar and Tabara are included in the rebellion case filed by the Department of Justice (DoJ) last year against Sison and more than 50 other personalities –- including Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) Rep. Crispin Beltran –- in connection with an alleged “Left-Right conspiracy” to topple the Arroyo regime. This case was dismissed by the Supreme Court.

The CPP-NPA leadership in the Philippines, in a number of statements, described the killings of Kintanar and Tabara as “acts of revolution.”

His next legal move, Sison said, would be to build up his legal defense by cross-examining the witnesses against him through his counsel.

Sison is known as the founding chairman of the CPP. In 1968 he led a group that broke away from the leadership of the Lava brothers in the old Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP) and re-established the CPP.

Under Sison’s leadership, the CPP rapidly gained strength and together with the NPA, its armed component, it developed into one of the strongest organized forces opposed to the U.S.-Marcos regime during the martial law years.

He was the CPP’s highest-ranking leader from its reestablishment until he was arrested by the Marcos dictatorship in 1977.

Released in 1986 by virtue of then President Corazon Aquino’s general amnesty proclamation for political prisoners, Sison got involved in a number of legal political activities and even delivered a series of lectures at his alma mater, the University of the Philippines (UP).

In 1987, he found himself having to apply for political asylum after the Aquino government cancelled his passport while he was in Europe on a speaking tour. He has since lived in the Netherlands as an asylum seeker.

In 2002, the CPP-NPA was included by the U.S. Department of State in its list of “foreign terrorist organizations.” Sison was likewise listed as a “foreign terrorist.” The Council of the European Union followed suit later that year.

On May 29 this year, the Council of the European Union decided to retain Sison in its “terrorist” list. This decision was annulled by a July 11 verdict of the Luxembourg-based European Court of First Instance (ECFI). Bulatlat