(2nd in a series of 3: DENR in mock Battle for Manila Bay rehab?)

BULATLAT
By Marya Salamat  March 1, 2019 

What is common in the stories of the residents in various coastal sitios of Bulacan is that the “news” about their impending displacement is coming to them in trickles of information packaged in a threat.

MANILA — Until April of last year, the fisherfolk communities in coastal Bulacan were hearing only unconfirmed talk about the San Miguel Corporation’s 2,500-hectare aerotropolis and new city project. The news about the proposed reclamation affecting the island-communities along Manila Bay in Bulacan formally broke out in April 2018, when the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board approved the San Miguel Corporation’s proposal. But the buying spree of former salt farms along the rivers and mangroves has been happening for years already, the residents said. Some said they have been told they have to leave the area soon.

“Hindi kami hinaharap ni Mayor. ‘Hindi namin alam yan.’” (The town mayor of Bulakan, Bulacan) won’t talk to us. If asked about the SMC project, he’d reply, ‘We don’t know about that.’) For one and a half years this is how the Bulacan fisherfolk say they have been treated, until they mounted protest actions, said a UP professor who conducted a series of research among the Bulakan fisherfolk since last year.

In the village of Capol, the residents have been seeing land surveyors taking measurements of the shallow pool. Asked who sent them, some surveyors replied their company is just a contractor in charge of titling the land, among others.

In another sitio called Camansi, Flor Salvador, 77, said she first heard about some developers’ plans for Taliptip three years ago. They have been told also they will have to go.

She said that in her heart she refuses to believe that someday, as they were being told informally, they will be forced to leave the place to give way to these “developments.” When Bulatlat interviewed her, she was still tending to her small yard. Her house faces hectares of former saltbeds turned into fishponds.   At the time the fish had just been harvested and the water drained out to the Manila Bay.

She arrived here in 1969, Salvador said. Like many here, she worked at the salt farms before her family turned to full-time fishing. In her old age, she has found work watching over someone else’s fishponds and planting stringbeans on the soil embankment.

But she hasn’t heard yet of relocation for “fishpond caretakers.”

What sounded common in the stories of the residents in various sitios is that the “news” about their impending displacement is coming to them in trickles of information packaged in a threat. Other residents told Bulatlat, on condition of anonymity, that they were being castigated by the mayor, some by the village captain, if they were seen joining meetings with supporters from “outside.”

Though they have lived and worked as tenants in Bulakan salt farms for decades until most of it stopped operating and were sold off to developers, they remained deprived of land tenure for lack of land reform or other tenurial support from the government. Now, the resulting poverty and landlessness is being used against them to speed up their forcible displacement.

Even the BFAR (Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources) told the fisherfolk representatives in a dialogue late last year there were only two registered leaseholders in Taliptip.

Without tenurial rights over the land or the fishing grounds, the communities of fisherfolk have been automatically denied a say in land use and planning concerning their river-and-bay-based livelihood.

It took the residents various pickets, requests for dialogue with the local government and agencies, with representatives of San Miguel Corporation, with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, among others, before they were told bits and pieces about the reclamation project. And before some vague “relocation” was floated. Even when the local government executives in Bulacan had already welcomed the plan of SMC, confirming what they had long avoided saying to their enquiring constituents, the residents were still kept blind as to who and where the project will directly hit.

Some residents interviewed by Bulatlat said they were getting warnings against joining protest actions or meetings. They were told they will receive no aid or no chance at this unnamed relocation.

When two representatives of San Miguel Corporation (SMC) met with church people and women leaders of Bulacan fisherfolk in Malolos City November last year, they avoided mentioning “reclamation”. They refused to answer questions regarding where or how their proposed aerotropolis will be built, considering there are fishing communities in the (then) rumored proposed site.

“You are not likely to build a hanging airport over rivers and mangroves, right?” a woman from Taliptip asked.

On February 4, the fisherfolk finally heard the first concrete plans through an SMC contractor. In a “public hearing” held at an evacuation center in Bulakan, Bulacan, representatives of SMC contractor, Silvertides Holdings Corporation, confirmed the company had acquired a total of 2,375 hectares of titled “fishponds” in the coastal villages of Bambang and Taliptip in Bulakan, Bulacan. This contractor’s job is to perform the reclamation.

The Feb 4 hearing is second to the last requirement for the SMC contractor to get an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) that would pave the way to reclamation.

The report Silvertides presented to the fisherfolk bears also the mark of the Environment Management Bureau (EMB) in Region 3.

Silvertides confirmed that the fisherfolk in Taliptip and Bambang are at the “direct hit areas” while the villages two to three kilometers surrounding it are the “indirect hit” of the reclamation project.

The SMC contractor said they will “backfill” the 2,375 hectares of fishponds by at least 3 meters. This is estimated to require 205 million cubic meters of fill materials that they may source from Pampanga.

“Why did the government just approve such a proposal without even thinking of us?” asked Taliptip fisherwoman Monica Anastacio, 63, one of the spokespersons of the Network Opposed to Reclamation and Aerotropolis in Bulacan.

The “public hearing” last February 4 centered on the contractor stressing the mechanics of the reclamation and mitigating measures for those who would be adversely affected. It was not about the communities having a say in whether the reclamation will push through or not. Rather, it was about notifying those who will be affected and informing them there are other livelihood opportunities. It mentioned there will likely be aid for those qualified to receive it.

To compile the report they presented to the “public hearing,” Silvertides said they held scoping and fieldwork from October to November last year. That’s the same period some fisherfolk in the villages of Bulakan and Obando convened the Network Opposed to Reclamation and Aerotropolis in Bulacan.

The SMC contractor submitted their draft Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to EMB Region 3 in December last year. They held the “public hearing” as part of a “review process” from which they will submit an assessment report to the EMB Region 3. The EMB Region 3 will then decide on their application for ECC.

An estimated 5,000 fisherfolk stand to lose livelihood and homes in SMC’s $14-million plus airport project. Others more stand to lose their fishing grounds given the volume of backfilling that will be carried by barges and heavy machineries to the coastline.

To questions whether the fisherfolk could maintain their livelihood, the SMC representatives, in a dialogue facilitated by the Bulacan Ecumenical Forum in Malolos, replied the fisherfolk can avail of retraining, livelihood opportunities and priority employment instead. In a different forum, Silvertide’s presentation mentions relocation for “fishpond caretakers”.

But in the same way that not everyone in the “direct hit areas” are considered “fishpond caretakers” and thus qualified for relocation, not all of the mangroves in the direct hit areas seem safe.

Silvertide’s presentation pointed to just two “patches of mangroves” closest to the Manila Bay that they will “incorporate in the design.”  They leave out the patches of mangroves along the river of Taliptip and Bambang.

Planned reclamation contrary to calls for rehabilitation

As early as January this year the group Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment has warned against the dangerous haste of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in ordering the removal of informal settlers as if doing so is the main answer to Manila Bay pollution. In reality, the government has much to answer for, not the poor.  Kalikasan and Pamalakaya have both cited as bigger culprit the government failure in providing sufficient waste management facilities, including its support to problematic positioning of waste diversion facilities themselves.

Kalikasan cited the data from National Solid Waste Management Commission that says only 32 percent of villages across the country are serviced by a Materials Recovery Facility, and only 24 percent of local government units have access to Sanitary Landfills as of September 2018.

PAMALAKAYA cited as example the Obando sanitary landfill located in Obando, Bulacan owned by Ecoshield Development Corp. (EDC) and supported by the government. It has polluted not only the waters of Obando but brought its stench to residents of nearby Navotas City and Malabon City in Manila. Other waste disposal facilities operated in Manila Bay, Pamalakaya said. This includes the landfill in Pier 18 in Tondo, Manila that had been reported before for dumping toxic wastes in Manila Bay.

The destruction of mangrove, seagrass, and other coastal and marine ecosystems that serve as the natural pollution filters of Manila Bay is also a major culprit in its worsening pollution, Kalikasan said in a statement. Not only this, the environmentalists and urban poor in Manila Bay have long noted the disastrous effects of reclamation not just on fish catch but also in helping to break the fury of storms.

Various independent and scientific studies on reclamation in Panglao, Bohol, Cordova (of Cebu) and in the Manila Bay have extensively demonstrated how it resulted in reduced productivity and biodiversity, disrupted vital ecosystem functions, increased vulnerability to floods, and displaced and dislocated thousands of families dependent on the affected environments for their livelihood.

At least 28,647 hectares of currently approved reclamation projects are clearly overlapped on the remaining mangrove expanses and seagrass beds along the whole stretch of Manila. A part of it is in Bulacan, 2,500- hectares as announced by the San Miguel Corporation, but the contractor set to conduct the reclamation says the areas two to three kilometers surrounding the 2,500 hectares will also be affected.

The fisherfolk interviewed by Bulatlat cannot imagine life away from their banca and fishing. “Every move we make is on the river,” a fisherman who grew up in Taliptip said. His sentiment is echoed by his neighbors.

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(1st in a series of 3: DENR in Mock Battle for Manila Bay rehab?)

Bulatlat.com
Marya Salamat  February 27, 2019 

By MARYA SALAMAT

This is one of the reports in a series produced by Bulatlat.com with the Asia-Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) Media Fellowship. The series aims to report on linkages between gender, ecological conflicts and climate change.

MANILA – If there are groups of Filipinos whose daily life confronts the most immediate impact of climate change, the fisherfolk are among those at the forefront. Their families live by the sea, on the banks of rivers and on islets that shrink or expand with the tide.

They are the first to face the consequences of sea levels rising more than usual, when the typhoons that brew from the seas are more disastrous, or when currents are hitting the land more brutally after some natural guards or breaks had been defaced. For example, after 600-plus old-growth mangroves were cut in April last year, there were changes in the water and they felt it immediately in their reduced catch.

How the poor fisherfolk cope with changing climate

In the coastal communities fronting Manila Bay in Bulacan, “climate change” is not a household word but they grapple with coping solutions in their daily life. One ready example, they have to more frequently repair and raise their embankment or their “waterwalk”.

Project Walkway

Living on narrow strips of land above water, dry space is scarce and to extend the living areas they build houses on stilts, connected by walkways fashioned from strung-together poles of bamboos. Less than a meter in width, the walkway loops around their island-homes, their collectively-built adjustment to the fact that the island is not wide enough.

From another sitio or sub-village, in a separate interview, an elderly woman recalled how, years earlier, they had more earthen embankments. The sitios were connected by more levees unlike today. “We could walk from one sitio to another in those days,” said Flor P. Salvador, 77, a resident of Taliptip since 1969. Now they have to ride a banca just to visit neighboring sitios.

In the bigger island-village of Binuangan, Obando, the walkway is more easily worn out not just by the trudging feet but by the higher water levels and stronger currents. Similar to what they have to do with their houses, they have to raise it by piling more wood or bamboo on top of the old parts.

Some families rebuilt their home using concrete and cement. It protects them better during storms. “Our houses don’t just get swept away or destroyed,” an old fisherman told Bulatlat.

But such a house on islands barely above water can also sink faster if the ground underneath it is liquefying faster than its neighbors.’

In the coasts of Bulakan, Bulacan, the communities are scattered over rivers and shallow loam soil narrower than Salambao or Binuangan of Obando.

Despite all these, the people here have adjusted to living with the river and the bay. They are proud to say they are feeding themselves and their families, sending their children to school without asking much from the government. They contribute to the country’s need for relatively affordable fresh fish, shells and crabs.

They are in position to raise the alarm when the precarious balance of this ecosystem of rivers, islets and the bay was tinkered with, like when about a hectare of mangroves was felled in April last year. In the following visits of typhoons, they reported its worrisome results. Various sitios of Bulakan, Bulacan suffered unprecedented flooding and soil erosion.

Compounding problems

Years before, these fisherfolk had fought to stop the privately owned but government-backed “sanitary landfill” from operating by the coasts of Manila Bay in Obando. It was a fierce struggle that older residents now say only the reign of terror of former army major Jovito Palparan under the former Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration enabled its forced operation. Some fisherfolk leaders and organizers in the area had been reportedly abducted, tortured and killed. The residents petitioned against it in court but in 2014 the Court of Appeals junked their petition and allowed the dumpsite to continue.

Kimberley Lazaro, 31, a resident of coastal Obando since birth, said that since the dumpsite was allowed, their fish catch has dwindled. They lost the mussels and crabs that used to abound at the muddy banks of the river. For a fisherwoman like her, it means spending more to go farther out on the river or the bay itself to catch fish.

 “If you didn’t start out living around here, you could not endure the stench and the flies. You will eat under a mosquito netting,” she told her fellow fisherfolk as they convened the network opposed to the planned reclamation in Bulakan.

A lesson they have learned through years of forced landfills and reclamation along Manila Bay: this exacts a price and some are not as predictable as worsening pollution and dwindling fish catch. Their part of the coast in Obando now stinks, the river is more polluted, their communities are more vulnerable to flooding, erosion, and subsidence. Worse, these same poor fisherfolk are frequently the government’s scapegoat whenever they seek to push their brand of development of the bay.

Now the coastal communities’ initial efforts to cope, by themselves, with direct impact of climate change and worsening pollution while they shore up their communities and sources of livelihood are coming into conflict with government thrusts concerning the bay.

Ironically, while the government is riding on the popular call for cleanup of Manila Bay and harnessing free labor of volunteers for fishing out thrash that washed up in Manila Bay, it is, on the other hand, disproportionately blaming the poor and seeking their demolition in favor of reclamation plans and other real estate development.

Environmentalists Kalikasan PNE and national fisherfolk group Pamalakaya cited the study of Ocean Conservancy in 2015 that 74 percent of plastics that ended up in the sea came from previously collected garbage. Another cause of pollution in Manila Bay, they said, is the failure of government itself to provide a significant water and solid waste treatment and management.

Environmentalists and fisherfolk decry the seeming duplicity of dubbing the battle for Manila Bay as for rehabilitation when the government is pushing for projects such as massive reclamation and commercial developments of the Manila Bay. Toward this, the government seems to be facilitating the rapid, forced displacement of the fisherfolk settlers in the Manila Bay.

In the coastal areas and rivers in Bulacan, there are 23,051 “informal settler families (ISF),” said the Manila Bay Coordinating Office (MBCO) of DENR in Central Luzon during a scheduled Manila Bay cleanup held in Obando.

But the DENR has been silent about the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA)-approved proposal of diversifying giant, San Miguel Corporation, to build an international airport on rivers, fishponds and mangroves in Bulacan along Manila Bay. This is more massive than the trash or the presence of ISF. It means burying the coast under million cubic meters of engineered soil and rock-cement. It means bringing in machinery for mega-construction and reclamation after the fisherfolk communities have been driven away.

It is not clear if the fisherfolk targeted for displacement by SMC’s reclamation project are also among the ISF complained by the MBCO in Region 3. What is clear is that since the locals began hearing about the San Miguel Corporation projects, the government and SMC have all but ignored their demands for information and a say in the future of the fishing grounds and the bay.

The locals say they would hear warnings that the SMC has a deep pocket and that they couldn’t win their demand to retain the fishing grounds as such. From October to November last year, a contractor company of SMC called Silvertides conducted surveys and interviews in coastal villages of Taliptip and Bambang. Around the same period, the locals were being told by this or that local government executive that they shouldn’t join groups criticizing the project.

The locals would only learn this February that the surveys and interviews of 30 “fishpond caretakers” Silvertides said they conducted were requirements for the SMC contractor to get the DENR nod for reclamation.

Despite the fact that the fisherfolk were receiving news affecting their future only in trickles, in October some of them braved it out to establish the Network Opposed to Reclamation/Aerotropolis.

In November, fisherfolk, church workers, and environmental activists from Bulacan to Cavite gathered at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to file a Manila Bay-wide complaint calling on the Duterte government. They asked the DENR to deny erring land reclamation projects their environmental compliance certificates (ECC) and area clearance permits.

In a statement, Leon Dulce, national coordinator of the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE), said, “not one of these reclamation projects have passed key international human rights guidelines such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines.”

These guidelines for businesses include compliance to civil, political, and socio-economic rights policies in the Philippines, adopting internal human rights policies and contributing to the implementation and development of State policies, conducting due diligence in assessing and addressing rights concerns, and cooperating with legal remedy mechanisms.

Gauging from reports of affected locals from Cavite to Manila to Bulacan, the reclamation projects, said Dulce, have apparently grossly bastardized the public participation mechanisms and environmental regulations of the Environmental Impact Assessment process. The group also blasted the reports that critics of reclamation were being harassed.

Asking the DENR to side with the fisherfolk against reclamation, they reiterated that “There is no reason not to respect democratic procedures, even for the aerotropolis that is an unsolicited proposal not yet governed by the formal regulatory process of the State.” 

CFC International Council Statement Ref. No. 19-014 March 6, 2019

On May 13, 2019, we Filipinos will exercise our sovereign right to elect national and local officials. It is an awesome responsibility. For us Couples for Christ, it is an opportune time to fulfill our duty to be “responsible members of society and patriotic citizens” of our country.

As CFC, we are non-partisan, and so CFC as an institution will not be endorsing any particular candidate for any office.

However, our Philippine Church, through the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has issued a pastoral letter (Seek the Common Good, January 28, 2019). We urge everyone to read and reflect on it. The letter urges Catholics “to engage in principled partisan politics.” This means that we, in our individual capacities, can actually “campaign for good candidates as an exercise of their Christian faith.”

In discerning who is a good candidate, we need to rekindle our CFC core values, to seize this chance to uphold and promote those same values. We should thus be reminded of the following:

We are PRO-GOD. We need to look for candidates who are pro-God as well, who believe in God and, in their personal and professional life, manifest that they are God-fearing, with Godly character and integrity.

We are PRO-FAMILY. Who among the candidates values family and rises to its defense? A pro-family candidate is against legislations or advocacies that pursue divorce, same-sex marriage and other initiatives that diminish the dignity of marriage and family.

We are PRO-POOR. A pro-poor candidate is one with genuine heart and compassion for the poor. He is therefore not corrupt because the corrupt deprive families, especially the poor, of what is necessary to live a dignified life, worthy of one created in the image and likeness of God.

We are PRO-LIFE. Does the candidate value and respect the sanctity of life? A good candidate is therefore one who is against abortion, extrajudicial killings and the death penalty.

In engaging in “principled partisan politics,” we shall do so “by sincere dialogue in a spirit of mutual charity and with anxious interest above all in the common good”. (Compendium of the Social Doctrine 574) Let this election not destroy our unity as CFC. Let us remain above the fray and noise and preserve and maintain the moral ascendancy we as CFC are constantly striving for.

This May election is a perfect opportunity to live out our continuing theme for 2019 – Rekindle the Gift. Fulfill Your Ministry. Live as Children of Light. This theme is best expressed in our battle cry for 2019: AWAKE! ARISE! FULFILL! BE THE LIGHT!

Let us AWAKE to the reality of where our society is at today. Let us acknowledge that real change needs to happen. Let us recognize that this change can only happen if we are convinced that we are part of the solution.

Let us ARISE and defend the values we hold dear, especially the values that define and nurture our marriages and families.

Let us FULFILL our sacred mission to be indeed Families in the Holy Spirit Renewing the Face of the Earth. We can only renew the earth if we begin with ourselves and with our own families. In this May election, let us fulfill our duty to vote according to our consciences.

Let us BE THE LIGHT! As a light dispels the darkness, let our convictions and our actions shine the light on what is wrong in our country today. Let us consider that our single vote, taken collectively, can be a shining beacon for all to see.

We urge everyone to reflect on these and, with deep prayer, discern what would truly be good for our country.

Together, as CFC, let us indeed BE THE LIGHT IN THE LORD that shines in the darkness.

May God be glorified!

One in four women between 15 and 49 experiences physical, sexual, or emotional violence

UCANews | Mark Saludes, Tuguegarao City, Philippines
March 8, 2019

There seems to be no escaping violence, physical or otherwise, for many poor Filipino women, especially in rural areas.

At the age of 12, Excel Buqueg escaped from an abusive and violent stepfather who had been hurting her since she was six.

The young girl, now 19, was forced to live with a man much older than her who later fathered her two children.

“I was lucky to find a man who saved me from suffering,” she said.

She might have escaped the violence at home, but not the viciousness of poverty and lack of access to social and economic opportunities.

Her partner, an Aeta tribesman, belongs to the poorest tribal community in the mountains of the northern Philippine province of Cagayan.

The couple live deep in the forest far from a village center and without a permanent shelter. They forage for food in the jungle to survive.

There is no private space where she can attend to herself as a woman.

“That’s the hard part,” she said in the local language.

“I can sleep under a makeshift shelter but it took me some time to adjust to having no toilet,” said Excel who comes from the lowlands.

There have been times the couple have quarreled over how to get resources for them to survive.

“He’s never raised a fist to me,” she said. But the supposed shared responsibility of raising the family was passed to her.

“He does not want to work and only relies on whatever we find around us,” said the young woman.

To make ends meet, Excel works on nearby farms during planting and harvest seasons, slinging her children in a blanket that she ties across her back.

She never went to school and claimed that she has already forgotten how it feels to be a child.

“How can women defend their rights if they do not experience the full range of economic, social and cultural opportunities?” she said.

Violence against women and children has become a pervasive social problem in the Philippines.

A National Demographic and Health Survey by the Philippine Statistics Authority in 2017 revealed that one in four Filipino women aged between 15 and 49 experienced physical, sexual, or emotional violence committed by their husband or partner.

Lawyer Patricia Miranda, policy advisor of the international aid agency Oxfam in the Philippines, said “structural violence deepens the system of violence against women and children.”

She said social structures and institutions, including the community, “harm women by preventing them from meeting basic needs and rights.”

“It becomes a cycle,” said Miranda. “A girl might have escaped violence at home but she would still experience violence in some other form because of gender stereotypes,” she said.

Violence against women is manifested in different ways, including early marriage, lack of access to education and reproductive health.

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Directions to Venue

4 March 2019

Dear Fellow Missionary-Disciples,

Warm greetings!

October 2019 has been declared by Pope Francis as Extraordinary Missionary Month on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the promulgation of Pope Benedict XV’s Apostolic Letter Maximum Illud (November 30, 1919).

I am happy to inform you that a lot of solid and inspiring materials are available at the website http://www.october2019.va to help everyone prepare, celebrate, implement and live the Extraordinary Missionary Month — even beyond 2019.

One with you in renewing “Our Yes to Mission”, I remain

Sincerely yours,

When: 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. Friday, March 8, 2019, assembly time
Where:  Saint Joseph Parish Church, National Highway, Sagay City, Negros Occidental; to march at 8:30 a.m. to Balay Kauswagan beside the Sagay City Hall where President Duterte will distribute CLOAs
What: President Du30: DO 30K hectares for Negros farmers; start fulfilling your CARP promise of getting rid of oligarchic hacienderos

Three thousand Task Force Mapalad (TFM) landless farmers carrying bundles of sugarcane — ala “karga-tapas” — will gather in Sagay City, Negros Occidental in time for President Rodrigo Duterte’s visit to the area, and urge him to fulfill his 2016 promise of getting rid of oligarchic landlords who “get the fat of the land” and pursue his 2018 plan of declaring “the entire (Negros) island as a land reform area.”

As TFM farmers welcome the chief executive’s arrival in Negros for a CLOA-awarding ceremony on Friday, March 8, they will also appeal to President Duterte to sustain the distribution of lands and not make his CARP promise a mere lip service.

They will likewise urge the President to fast-track and complete land distribution nationwide and start the ball rolling in Negros Occidental, where the bulk of the CARP balance can be found.

TFM says the President can immediately distribute 30,000 hectares of Negros farms that have long been placed under agrarian reform.

Many of these landholdings are already in the last stages of CARP processing before they are finally awarded to landless farmers. However, these farms, although already acquired by the government for landless tillers, ironically remain under the control of Negros hacienderos still profiting from the landholdings even though these are no longer theirs.

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04 March 2019

Dear friends and colleagues,

Greetings of solidarity!

Resistance and Solidarity Against Transnational Corporation (RESIST), in collaboration with AGHAM Youth, and Philippine Network of Food Security Programmes (PNFSP) invite you in the event, Rise to the Occasion: How Safe Are Rice Imports? A forum on the effects of RA 11203 on food safety, on the 6th of March, 8:30 to 11:30 AM, at the UP Diliman College of Science Administration Auditorium.

The Rice Tariffication Law that was recently signed into a law by President Duterte, has stirred various responses from stakeholders of the local rice industry that includes producers, millers, traders and even consumers. The said law fully liberalized the rice industry opening the local market for the unbridled entry of imports that will be tariffied as a commitment to an agreement under the World Trade Organization.

On the issue of food safety under the Rice Tariffication Law, a clear and rigorous protocol as previously mandated to the NFA must be ensured so that the rice for the consumers are safe. This is aligned with the law, the Food Safety Act of 2013, that implements the food safety regulatory system in the country. In the Rice Tariffication Law, the food safety regulation will be undertaken by the Bureau of Plant Industry through the issuance of the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Import Clearance (SPSIC).

For the consuming public, food safety is a foremost consideration taking into account that the rice imports may contain contaminants that are hazardous to human health. The government should prepare the policy protocol, the manpower and the facilities prior to the full implementation of the Rice Tariffication.

In this context, a public forum will be held to bring into public discussion the current status of the food safety regulatory function of the government, the sufficiency and efficiency of the protocols and standards on food safety of the country and how the public can participate in the assurance of food safety. The public forum will be participated by farmers, people’s organizations and consumers groups.

We hope for your positive response to this important event.

Sincerely,

Rafael Mariano
Co-Convenor
RESIST Network

The Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP)*, is alarmed over the harassment of two of our Core Group members, Bishop Felixberto Calang and Fr. Christopher Ablon of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI). Their names were listed, along with other members of the clergy, peace advocates and human rights defenders, as “terrorist members of the New People’s Army and Communist Party of the Philippines” in two sets of flyers that were anonymously distributed last February 22 in Cagayan de Oro City. We have reason to be alarmed for such accusation is baseless, malicious and dangerous.

As modern-day prophets, Bp. Calang and Fr. Ablon have dedicated their lives and ministry to continuously preach and pursue just and lasting peace so the love of God – richly deserved by our people, especially the least of our brothers and sisters – may reign. Bp. Calang is also the spokesperson of Sowing the Seeds of Peace in Mindanao, a network of civil society groups in the said island, that was recently awarded with the 1st Gawad AKAP Award by the Rotary Club of Fort Bonifacio Global City in behalf of the Rotary International District 3830. Others who were recognized and honored for their active pursuit of peace include such distinguished peacemakers like Bp. Fernando Capalla, former OPAPP Sec. Jesus Dureza, DOLE Sec. Silvestre Bello, head of the Peace Panel of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP), Mr. Mohagher Igbal of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and peace panel consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), Mr. Rey Claro Casambre of the Philippine Peace Center and Mr. Randy Malayao. Mr. Casambre sadly remains incarcerated based on trumped up charges while Mr. Malayao was recently killed by an assassin.

Since the cancellation of the peace talks last year, violent encounters between the parties have increased, the arrests and even killing of peace advocates are rising; the language of punishing student scholars for their activism is disturbing; new raids and the burning of equipment have surfaced; vandalizing of church property and the circulating of lists that falsely accuse church leaders/workers of supporting terrorists are a new and  dangerous development.

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