BAYAN stages 'jog for a cause'

Members of the militant group BAYAN and some University of the Philippines students in Diliman, Quezon City Sunday staged a "jog for a cause" inside the UP campus, urging the studentry to join the mass action in Mendiola, Manila on Monday, February 25.

Dubbed as "Jog for Truth, Justice and Accountability", the protesters called on UP students to troop to the streets and join them on Monday for the celebration of the 22nd anniversary of the EDSA People Power 1.

While jogging, the rallyists carried with them placards with phrases "The Arroyos are stealing your money" and "Lords of the Malacañang Mafia."

Arnold Padilla, BAYAN public information officer, said there will be series of protest actions to exercise their right to call for a government that will not steal from the coffers of the nation and will not lie.

Padilla said the mass actions are part of the communal action called by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

President Arroyo’s husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, has been dragged into the scrapped national broadband network (NBN) project with China’s ZTE Corp. by Senate witness Rodolfo "Jun" Lozada Jr.

Ousted House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. also implicated the First Gentleman and his son, Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo, in the smuggling activities in the country.

BAYAN and other cause-oriented groups are set to stage rallies on Monday asking President Arroyo to step down for the various allegations of anomalies in her government.

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For Immediate Release
24 February 2008 12:20 AM

Reference: Emmi de Jesus, Secretary General, 371-2302 / 0917-3221203

GABRIELA WARNS OF INTENSIFIED EVIL RULE

"The people should beware and prepare: the government's evil rule is
getting viler by the day." This was according to the militant
women's group GABRIELA on the eve of the 2nd year anniversary of
Presidential Proclamation 1017.

"Let us not forget that Presidential Proclamation 1017 was declared
at the height of controversy over the legitimacy of President Arroyo
spurred by the 'Hello, Garci' exposé with the clear intent to
suppress the growing people's protest. It is within this
government's evil character to wantonly violate the people's civic
and democratic rights in order to preserve its power," said Emmi de
Jesus, GABRIELA secretary general.

Following the declaration of PP1017 in February 24, 2006,
representatives of progressive party lists Gabriela Women's Party,
Bayan Muna and Anakpawis were issued warrants of arrests. Anakpawis
Representative Crispin Beltran was arrested and detained for more
than a year. The office of Daily Tribune, a known opposition
newspaper, was also raided.

De Jesus added that a clear indication of the government's
continuing martial rule is the presence of surveillance cameras near
St. Scholastica' s College, La Salle and in Makati and the wire-
tapping of telephone conversations of Jun Lozada. "This is a
violation of Mr. Lozada's right to privacy. It is likely that other
individuals and groups critical of the government are being
monitored as well," de Jesus added.

"Let us also remember, the most vicious forms of human rights
violations – political killing, enforced disappearance, illegal
arrest and detention - continue to this day. Soldiers are still
being deployed in urban poor communities to harass residents poised
for protest. The Macapagal-Arroyo regime's depravity is boundless,"
said de Jesus.

"But the best defence against an intensified political repression is
for the people to remain steadfast in our fight for truth and
justice. We have weathered and triumphed over the Martial Law of
Marcos dictatorship, we will triumph against the current evil in
Malacañang," de Jesus said.

De Jesus also said that the women will lend its united voice to the
mounting people's protest and on March 8, GABRIELA's nationwide
women's protest will focus on the Filipino women's rage against
PGMA's crimes and corruption. The women's group also called on
Filipinas to join the February 25 People Power I commemoration and
the February 29 Inter-faith action for truth and justice.###
 

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■   Gabriela letter to the editor on the involvement of the Mike Arroyo in projects and their kickbacks

News Release
February 20, 2008
Reference: Rafael “Ka Paeng” Mariano, chairman, KMP and president, ANAKPAWIS party list

“Gloria is evil! GARB is good!”-KMP

The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and the Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) held a protest action in front of the House of Representatives to highlight the call of farmers for Congress to immediately pass the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB) or House Bill 3059 and to call for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’ s ouster.

According to Rafael “Ka Paeng” Mariano, chairman of KMP and concurrent president of ANAKPAWIS party list, “while it is concretely evident that GARB is good because it will distribute free land to peasants, it is as evident how Gloria is evil when she steals money allotted for farmers and approves projects that displaces them from their lands,”

“The case of the P728 million fertilizer fund scam, the P3.1 billion irrigation scam, the budget of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) funds that were used to fund a Malacanang front party list named Alliance for Rural Concerns (ARC) are just the tip of the corruption iceberg. Another very clear proof of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program’s (CARP) inutility and the corruption of the Macapagal-Arroyo regime is that since 1988 more than P119 billion has been released for its implementation but still seven out of ten farmers are landless,”

Meanwhile Rene “Ka Boyet” Galang, chairman of UMA said “Gloria is evil because she is like a pest that has plagued the lives of farmers and farm workers in the countryside. Aside for projects that tries to evict us from the land we are tilling, she has also unleashed the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and their death squads against peasants fighting for genuine agrarian reform, To date more than 54% of all victims of extra-judicial killings are farmers,”

“We are supporting the GARB and calling for the junking of CARP as well as Gloria’s ouster because we believe that genuine agrarian reform can never be achieved when she is in power. If left to her; Gloria will sell the whole country to foreigners,” ended Galang. # # #

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NEWS RELEASE
February 23, 2008

Youth groups heighten call for GMA’s ouster

COTABATO CITY – Youth groups here intensify calls for the ouster of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo amidst anomalies and scandals plaguing the present regime, vehemently stress, “Enough of Corruption, Oust Gloria Now.”

The Alyansa ng Kabataan Laban sa Panghihimasok ng Amerikanong Sundalo (AKLAS) enumerates Hello Garci, National Broadband Network project with China ’s ZTE Corporation deal scam and Balikatan 2008 as major reasons among others to overthrow GMA from her post.

Yousri Usop, spokesperson of AKLAS, is heated over the deepening intervention of United States in the affairs of the Philippines ; most recent are the conduct of Balikatan 2008 all over Central Mindanao and the cover-up of Malacañang on the corruption of ZTE-NBN deal in Senate.

“GMA administration has no political will to set restrictions on the intervention of US despite the unified stand of the people and sound sentiments regarding human rights violations committed especially to Bangsamoro people. Added to this is the limbo investigation on ZTE-NBN deal in the Senate and Department of Justice (DOJ),” Usop detailed.

Liga ng Kabataang Moro spokesperson, Michael Dumamba, also an AKLAS convenor said that the recent anomalies in the ZTE-NBN deal has again proves that GMA and her cohorts has no moral ascendancy to lead the country.

“Aside from enriching themselves with public funds with immunity, GMA is continuously covering the truth to the people. The $130 million-“kickback” (or P5.2 billion in current exchange rate) from the $329-million NBN-ZTE project could have been paid for additional textbooks, classrooms, school seats and new teachers. This government is so inutile to protect our welfare and preserve our country’s patrimony and sovereignty,” Dumamba said.

The AKLAS, comprise of fraternities, student councils, student publications and youth mass organizations, will be conducting series of symposia, fora and film showings in different schools and communities all over Greater Cotabato to intensify the calls for GMA’s ouster.

“We will broaden our ranks to further heighten our call for GMA to step down. We will start in an all-youth leaders’ forum on the 23rd of February and will participate in a picket-rally lead by GMA Step Down Movement on the 25th. We will untiringly conduct education and protest actions until GMA will collapse from power,” Usop concluded.

For reference: Yousri Usop, AKLAS spokesperson, Mobile # 0926.4690.338 / Michael Dumamba, LKM spokesperson, Mobile # 0920.8805.923

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Press Statement
24 February 2008

GMA, doomed; Filipinos not tired of another people power

The Macapagal Arroyo regime, whose legitimacy remains in question after 6 years in power, is shaken with yet another anomalous project: the scuttled $329 million National Broadband Network contract with China’s ZTE Corporation. The now- scrapped NBN/ZTE deal was tainted with massive corruption being awarded to China’s telecom giant after a P200 million bribery scheme and the protection of the incredible $130 million commission demanded by former COMELEC chairman Benjamin Abalos, Jr. who was also a key player of the “Hello Garci” scandal that unveiled massive election fraud in 2004.

Shamelessly dipped in the culture of graft and corruption, GMA, with her cohorts, has doused herself from one anomalous project to another; from the grossly overpriced Diosdado Macapagal Highway to the Fertilizer Fund Scam, she has never even “moderated” her greed, that of her husband and her entire collective cabal in the palace. So greedy is GMA, that even former NEDA Secretary Romulo Neri called her “evil” though Neri did not remember christening GMA with that name. So “evil” is GMA also, to the point of sanctioning the slaughter of her critics like political activists, journalists, lawyers, and church people under her counter- insurgency operation plan Bantay Laya I and II that openly targets personalities of legitimate organizations. The victims of political killings already soared to 890. ►►►

GMA could not even mount a moro- moro investigation to project a seemingly anti-corruption image, as her crew of deceptors, are instead, busy in finding ways at destroying the credibility of Jun Lozada, who is undoubtedly, more credible compared to Chavit Singson who testified against Erap that eventually resulted to the latter’s downfall.

But no matter how many times GMA pushes her “mob” of manipulators to terrorize those who dare to expose the stinks of this administration, the truth can never be shelved. And this truth shall be the driving force to compel the people to take to the streets again. No, the people are not tired of doing even the seemingly impossible, to change the nation. Alternative is never the problem for surely, there is an alternative to GMA in this country of 85 million people.

John Ruiz III
Secretary General
 

Office Address:
#131 E.K. Inting St. Mansasa, Tagbilaran city
Bohol, PHILIPPINES
Contact # 09217456553
Email: barog_dagohoy@yahoo.com
Website:
www.bayan.ph
BAGONG ALYANSANG MAKABAYAN- Bohol Chapter
 

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To a fellow economist and former colleague, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

A statement from economists of the Ateneo de Manila University

We are outraged by the revelations made by Engr. Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. at the Philippine Senate Blue Ribbon hearings last 8 February 2008 about the overpriced Zhong Xing Telecommunication Equipment Company-National Broadband Network (ZTE-NBN) project. The project has no clear public rationale in the first place. We are dismayed by the revelations of Mr. Lozada that former Commission on Election Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr., with the alleged involvement of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, ordered the inclusion in the proposed project a large amount of kickbacks, amounting to as much as 130 million US dollars (or more than 5.2 billion pesos), enough money to remove the yearly public school classroom backlog, or purchase 5.8 million sacks of NFA rice, or alternatively secure the basic needs of about 29,000 poor families for a year. Simply put, a lot is being sacrificed for the greed of the few.

We are angered by the continuing attempt to cover up the anomalous circumstances surrounding the project, including the supposed kidnapping of Mr. Lozada to keep him from testifying in the Senate. We demand that government remove the cloak of Executive Order 464 and the invocation of executive privilege to allow public officials that have knowledge on the transaction to publicly testify on the circumstances of the deal. We demand the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to release records of the meetings that allowed the contract to be processed. Because of the nature of the work of the NEDA in national economic planning to promote national development and public welfare (and not for private or individual interests), these minutes are public records. We want Secretary Romulo Neri, an Ateneo high school alumnus and supposed staunch advocate of reforms to eradicate transactional politics and oligarchic dominance in the country, to reveal all that he knows about the matter. Efficiency and equity demand no less.

We abhor the habit of this administration of forging secret deals and engaging in non-transparent processes in developing and contracting large infrastructure projects, especially foreign donor-funded programs, contrary to the tenets of good governance. We call on friends and colleagues in the government, especially the alumni of our university, and other sectors to help ferret out the truth about other alleged irregular deals entered into by corrupt public officials, including the fertilizer scam, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority book scam and the North Rail project. ►►►►

 

We urge our fellow economist, alumna, and former Ateneo colleague, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, to fully explain and account for all the anomalies under her administration to prevent our country from plunging into another political and economic crisis. Indeed, we are dismayed that Mrs. Arroyo has not exercised the vast powers and resources available to the Presidency to ensure that large-scale corruption in the government is not only blocked but also punished, and that these irregularities have only increased political instability and uncertainty in the country. We are also offended that the Presidency has instead utilized these vast powers and resources to turn its back from servicing the public and contribute to the advancement of private greed, including the Machiavellian buying of congressmen, governors, and everybody else that get its way. And sadly, these abuses have eroded the meaning and legitimacy of the Presidency. If she fails to fully account and explain the anomalies and corrupt practices in her administration, the most honorable thing she can do is to resign from the Presidency.

Finally, we publicly pledge to heed the Catholic Bishops' call to communal action by supporting the activities that would promote transparency, accountability, and good governance, and we call on our fellow social scientists and academics to support this advocacy. We pledge to make our voices heard by committing to various ways of peaceful and non-violent political mobilization.

 

– Signatures –

Fernando T. Aldaba
Cristina M. Bautista
Germelino M. Bautista
Edsel L. Beja, Jr.
Diana U. del Rosario
Luis F. Dumlao
Cielito F. Habito
Leonardo A. Lanzona
Joseph Anthony Y. Lim
Romelia I. Neri
Ellen H. Palanca
Malou A. Perez
Joselito T. Sescon
Tara Sia-Go
Patrick Gerard C. Simon-King
Rosalina P. Tan
Philip Arnold P. Tuaño
 

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