Territorial baselines: Be quick but careful

Territorial baselines: Be quick but careful

God must really be keeping close watch over the Philippines and the Filipinos. Territorial baselines bills are pending in Congress—consolidated and passed in the House on second reading last December. But, as revealed by Rep. Antonio Cuenco, head of the House foreign relation committee, action on the bill has been stopped because the Department of Foreign Affairs had told Congress of China’s objections to the proposed law. He also recounted that a Chinese embassy official had informed him passage of the bill would be considered an unfriendly act by the People’s Republic of China.

If the law had been enacted and not frozen for fear that China would take offense, we would have given up “an almost colossal” part of our territory. This is according to Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, who takes pride in being an expert in, among other things, international law, and is the Senate foreign relations committee chairwoman.

Santiago has warned that if the Philippines declares itself an archipelagic state, as the pending House bill does, the declaration would contradict the Treaty of Paris which sets the boundaries of our country. The national territory defined in the 1898 Treaty of Paris, she said, is vaster than what would end up as our territory under the archipelagic definition allowed by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Under the 1898 Treaty of Paris, Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States. The Philippine baseline law – in Republic Act 3046 and RA 5446 – is based on the boundaries defined under that treaty. Senator Santiago contends that “the Treaty of Paris sets out the International Treaty Baselines of the Philippine territorial sea.” But “the bills pending in Congress will eliminate such limits and thus, the Philippines would lose its boundaries.”

Declaring the Philippines as an “archipelagic state” would be a grave error because under the UNCLOS, the Philippines would end up being entitled to only 12 nautical miles of the territorial sea. This is “an almost colossal reduction from the wider boundaries of the International Treaty Limits under the Treaty of Paris.”

As an “archipelagic state,” Santiago warned, “our zone of sovereignty would collapse. Our internal waters would become archipelagic waters where the ships of all states will enjoy the right of innocent passage. In addition, foreign states would have the right of so-called archipelagic sea lane passage. Ships of all states would have the right of passage and their aircraft would have the right of overflight.”

The Philippines must submit its UNCLOS claims before the UN’s May 2009 deadline—otherwise we lose any claim we have on the Spratlys. But Senator Santiago warns that wrong wordings in any new law could also undermine the established claim of the Philippines on Sabah.

What should the Philippines do now?

The consolidated bill passed in the House in December 2007 would redefine the baselines of the Philippine territory to include the Freedom (Kalayaan) Group and the Scarborough Shoal off Zambales, and extend its exclusive economic zone by 240 kilometers.

Sen. Santiago also warned that a Philippines that is self-declared to be an archipelagic state would suffer environmental and marine pollution from ships freely entering its archipelagic waters.

The Philippines would then have less powers to discipline foreign vessels polluting our seas than we have now as a nonarchipelagic state dealing with ships in its territory.

The Kalayaan Island Group could actually wind up being defined as another archipelago different from the main Philippine islands. Santiago said that under international law the Spratlys could be termed “other islands” (not a separate archipelago) that falls under Philippine sovereignty. Under the UNCLOS, the Philippines as an “archipelagic state” would have to be defined as having two archipelagos—the Kalayaan Group and the main Philippine group of islands.

The bills now in Congress that would include the Scarborough Shoal in Philippine territory could pose problems because international law does not recognize the drawing of archipelagic baselines as a method of claiming territorial sovereignty.”

How should we prove our claim to Scarborough Shoal then?

Use the principle of “effective occupation under international law,” the senator recommends. The military exercises, the construction and use of a lighthouse, enforcement of laws against foreign vessels and nationals that have illegally entered the area, and many other political and administrative acts are proofs that the Republic of the Philippines has been effectively exercising sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal.

Chinese objection means RP is right

Chinese objection means RP is right

That China is objecting to the baselines bill in Congress is a helpful sign for RP. It means the House of Reps is on the right track in defining once and for all RP’s western archipelagic boundary facing the South China Sea. Rep. Antonio Cuenco has all the reasons to bellow, “Full steam ahead and damn the torpedoes,” in pushing for his bill’s passage. Weak-kneed foreign affairs officials, shaking in their booties from China’s protests, must stand aside.

The bill would set 135 base points to draw RP’s outermost limits. The primary data are the same base points in the Treaty of Paris by which Spain ceded the archipelago in 1898 to the rising US naval power. It dumps the old RP claim to Sabah, now Malaysia’s state of North Borneo. But added are Scarborough Shoal off Zambales, and the Kalayaan Isles at the edge of the Spratlys west of Palawan.

Long occupation of Scarborough and the seven islets of Kalayaan, now a municipality of Palawan, is RP’s basis for territorial claim. Since the American Regime, Luzon fishermen have been using Scarborough, 135 miles west, for rest and repairs. As for Kalayaan, Filipino mariner Tomas Cloma discovered and laid claim to the isles in the early ’50s. RP in the ’70s dispatched soldiers to inhabit the islets. Civilians from Palawan and Luzon soon populated the biggest one, Pag-asa.

More than that, RP’s claim is geological. Earth science is the requisite, under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, for a coastal or archipelagic state to declare its borders. Specifically, UNCLOS entitles such a state to a continental shelf that geologically exists as an extension, albeit submerged, of its land territory. A shelf is officially defined as “the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond its territorial sea throughout the natural prolongation of its land territory to the outer edge of the continental margin, or to a distance of 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured where the outer edge of the continental margin does not extend up to that distance.” The area 200 miles from its baselines is that state’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Dr. Jose Antonio Socrates, Palawan’s provincial health officer, has been explaining for two decades the geological basis to claim Kalayaan. Also a geologist, Socrates cites studies by the University of London on how Earth’s land formations evolved. Based on limestone and other evidence, it appears that Palawan once was a part of mainland Asia. Just that, a mighty earthquake, millions of years ago before man, flung the elongated island onto the Pacific Ocean. The split created between Palawan and Asia a water channel now called the South China Sea. And with Palawan pushing the ocean floor eastward along with volcanic eruptions, islands of the RP and Indonesian archipelagoes later sprouted.

The cited study goes on: as it drifted farther from Asia, Palawan grew its own continental shelf, stretching all the way to Kalayaan Isles near what is now the Spratlys. That shelf ends where it begins to slope steeply into the sea bottom, 50 miles west of Pag-asa.

From the evidence, Cuenco’s baselines bill draws RP’s 200-mile EEZ to commence westward from Scarborough and Kalayaan. Once enacted, RP must submit the baselines for UNCLOS verification. Thence, only RP may fish or mine its EEZ, and can enjoy UN shield against poaching or illegal passage of, say, vessels laden with nuke waste.

China protests because RP’s baselines bill goes against its own claims. Invoking false “historic rights”, China in 1992 arbitrarily drew baselines to cover not just Kalayaan and Scarborough but more. Roped in were Mischief Reef, Commodore Reef and Sabina Shoal, all closer to Palawan, in defiance of scientific evidence required by UNCLOS. On this basis, China built in 1995 “fishermen’s shelters” on Mischief that actually are naval and air force facilities. During monsoons when RP’s puny naval craft can hardly patrol the coast, China attempts to plant buoys on Commodore and Sabina. If China’s baselines were to be accepted, its 200-mile EEZ would encompass Palawan and RP’s internal Sulu Sea. China routinely barges into territories it dreams to own. Breaching international treaties in the ’90s, Chinese navy ships docked on Antarctica and machine-gunned penguins.

Lesson of Erap case lost on officialdom

Lesson of Erap case lost on officialdom

There’s a big lesson in the Joseph Estrada verdict. If a President can be prosecuted and convicted for graft, so too may lower bureaucrats. And so too other Presidents.

Will that sink into their minds and strike fear in their hearts? They don’t show it.

Red tape and petty sleaze have declined of late due to stricter civil service rules. Anti-graft watchdog Transparency & Accountability Network gave that good news last month. But TAN hastened to add that the secrecy that shrouds high-level government deals has given rise to grander, more lucrative corrupt practices.

TAN executive director Vincent Lazatin pointed out the irony during a workshop on dishonesty. Malacañang’s issuance last year of an anti-red tape executive order dramatically reduced under-the-table transacting and undue delays. But it is also Malacañang that prevents the scrutiny of major deals decried as onerous or overpriced.

Lazatin’s observation came amid cries to reveal the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement and the broadband supply from China’s ZTE Corp. Malacañang has since relented to prior ratification of the pact by the Senate before enforcing, as the Constitution requires. But contrary to constitutional rule for transparency, it still refuses to show the ZTE contract to aggrieved competitors, telecoms experts, businessmen, legislators and the media. And it’s been five months since the contract was signed on April 21 in Boao, Hainan, China, with President Gloria Arroyo no less witnessing.

Last Wednesday Trade Sec. Peter Favila snubbed the Question Hour on ZTE at the House of Reps because he didn’t get presidential clearance to talk. Transport and Communication Sec. Larry Mendoza declined, although he is the contract signatory and thus accountable officer. Expect the same to happen on Thursday at the Senate, where Finance Sec. Gary Teves, former economic czar Romy Neri, and seconds have been invited. A Malacañang factotum yelled to them to secure Arroyo’s assent to go, or else. Teves has gone anew on medical leave.

Opacity marked many recent government acts, among them the sale of sequestered assets. All run to hundreds of millions or billions of pesos. All are being questioned in Congress, the courts, or coffeeshop murmurs. But the worst embodiment of government contracting is the ZTE deal. It not only is being hidden from the public, but also is overpriced, based on the ignored offers of two rivals. An exclusive government broadband setup is even needless and would end up a white elephant, economists aver. Yet it would force Filipinos to repay a loan of $330 million (P16 billion) for 20 years at 3-4 percent interest.

Early this year the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy asked businessmen to rate government corruption from 0 as best possible score, to 10 as worst. They graded the Philippines 9. A Social Weather Station poll in March also found high disenchantment due to graft. Lazatin said it was becoming tougher for anti-graft groups like TAN to wring information and access documents from the Arroyo administration. Among such papers are the supposedly public statements of assets and liabilities of government men.

The situation is not about to improve. Last week five major business groups denounced “a growing culture of impunity” in the government. They wondered how Comelec chief Benjamin Abalos could travel at least four times to Shenzhen last year courtesy of ZTE executives, when he was supposed to be busy preparing for clean and orderly elections. They also warned Mendoza against belittling the outcry against secrecy in the deal.

The middle-class Black-and-White Movement also decried the officials’ “acquired narcissism.” People in high places, it noted, find it easy to behave in bizarre ways, as if election or appointment entitles them to do as they please, and operate under different rules because of stature.

Mendoza’s refusal alone to divulge the contract should be grounds for censure. The Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards requires officials to reply to requests within 15 days. The Red Tape Law further makes them produce complex papers within ten days. Yet Malacañang is silent about his silence.

Abalos’ admission of free travels also breaches the Code of Conduct. Yet the Comelec refuses to investigate him.

Estrada’s apologists maintain that if ever he took jueteng payola, he never stole from the public till. That may be hair-splitting. But the Arroyo administration has yet to explain fully the fertilizer scam that presaged the Garci tapes of the 2004 elections. More than a billion pesos were misspent on that. And now it has to explain the ZTE scam that presaged the Bedol affair of the 2007 balloting. About $70 million (P3.5 billion) reportedly was illegally raised for the campaign this time around.

Truly, the lesson of the Erap verdict is lost on officialdom.

A new purpose for APEC

A new purpose for APEC

It’s as good as it gets considering this is APEC.”

That was how a foreign newswire quoted President Arroyo’s view of the just-concluded summit of 21 leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. It is at once a positive assessment of the new initiatives drawn up during the Sydney meet, as well as a subtle indictment of its lack of progress on the key issue of jump-starting global trade negotiations under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The President is no rabid supporter of the WTO. After all, she pushed for delays in the implementation of certain trade commitments early in her term in response to appeals from local industries for import relief.

But as observers have said since its founding, the APEC remains four adjectives in search of a noun, to underline the group’s failure to come up with binding agreements to move forward the global trade agenda.

Frustration has emboldened not a few members to push for the conversion of the consultative body into a free-trade area, much like the growing number of regional and bilateral accords that have risen in the wake of the WTO’s Seattle impasse.

Cynicism over the global trading regime has grown, as the promises of free trade have yet to bear fruit. Instead of more jobs and higher incomes, free trade destroyed homegrown industries and wiped out jobs, especially in the developing world.

This is because the developed world has yet to dismantle barriers that have prevented their poor counterparts from shipping more of their produce. As unemployment and poverty push more of the developing world’s population to seek jobs abroad, the developed world responded by further raising barriers to the movement of labor, especially after the 9/11 terror attack.

In contrast, footloose capital mostly from the developed world lay waste developing markets in what a number of experts is calling “toxic finance,” an apparent swipe at the developed world’s failure to rein in its hedge funds and greedy money-men.

This is exactly how the polemic on substandard exports, triggered by China’s poor safety record, is shaping up: Beijing, as the self-appointed spokesman of the developing world, is trading barbs with the United States and other developed countries that issued recalls of the mainland’s products.

This word war, conveniently framed as a battle between the developed and the developing world, however masks the tensions among members of each bloc. Among the rich countries, the US and the European Union remain miles apart on farm subsidies.

With regard to China’s safety record, other developing countries, mostly in Southeast Asia, have their issues with Beijing. China’s refusal to acknowledge its substandard shipments risks a trade spate not only with developed countries, but also with its developing Asian neighbors.

What used to be an argument between the developed and developing worlds has degenerated to shouting matches and bickering between and among the rich and the poor members of the WTO. In short, the global trading order is in disarray, which is exactly what free traders had warned about years ago if the WTO wasn’t organized soon.

Amid this chaos, we however believe that the APEC may have found a new purpose. It however has to rise to the challenge and help the WTO police its ranks. Standards must be imposed, but the consensus-building approach the APEC is known for can soften increasingly hard positions.

If it were to persist in its role as an informal consensus-building mechanism for the global trading regime, then APEC should be allowed to smooth the trading order’s rough edges. Barring that, then the time to wind down the group is long overdue.

Hot news

Hot news

The Sydney declaration is not a breakthrough; it is not a milestone in the long march to find what the joint statement called “an enduring global solution to climate change.” But it is a step forward.

The statement by the leaders attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Sydney, Australia, declared their resolve to lower greenhouse gas emissions. “We are committed to the global objective of stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere ... The world needs to slow, stop and then reverse the growth of global greenhouse gas emissions.”

To be sure, the Sydney Apec Leaders’ Declaration on Climate Change, Energy Security and Clean Development, to give it its complete name, speaks only of the need to work together to achieve a “long-term aspirational global emissions reduction goal,” in preparation for “an effective post-2012 international arrangement.” In other words, the consensus-driven APEC regional grouping did not call for binding commitments on the part of each member-economy to lower greenhouse gas emissions. That makes the Sydney Declaration decidedly unlike the 10-year-old Kyoto Protocol, which binds its signatories to specific reduction targets. Commitments under that controversial agreement, which took effect in 2005, end in 2012.

The principal supporters of the Sydney initiative are Australia, this year’s host of the annual summit, and the United States: staunch allies, robust business partners—and stubborn non-signatories to the Kyoto Protocol.

Essentially, what the Sydney Declaration does for the two economies is to give them the breathing room they need to flex the necessary political muscle at home. By cutting a high profile in their support for this new APEC initiative to counter global warming (the declaration was issued a day before the end of the summit, to coincide with US President George W. Bush’s accelerated schedule), both Australia and the United States can say they are doing something on the climate change front, without actually committing to specific emission reduction targets until at least 2012.

But consensus diplomacy being what it is, the Sydney Declaration also offers something for developing economies, especially China. The very concept of a long-term goal meets Chinese (as well as Canadian) preferences.

While the language of diversity in unity—”The future international climate change arrangement needs to reflect differences in economic and social conditions among economies and be consistent with our common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities”—can be said to favor both developed and developing economies, the latter found the statement’s unequivocal commitment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to their advantage.

“That’s fine,” President Macapagal-Arroyo told reporters the night the statement was released, “because at least they all recognized that the UN is the real forum for decision-making.”

“The important thing is not to undermine the UN,” she added.

As we said, a little something for everyone. But because consensus groupings like APEC and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations operate on the fundamental principle of precedents, the Sydney Declaration can be considered a real step forward. Even without formal formulas about binding goals, the joint statement already commits all APEC members to the general idea of emission reduction targets for both developed and developing economies by the next decade.

The collective decision to pursue “an effective post-2012 international arrangement,” therefore, can be understood to mean some progress forward.

One small step at a time

One small step at a time

A non-binding agreement is better than no agreement at all, and is easier to adopt by leaders of 21 politically diverse countries at different stages of economic development. The Sydney Declaration of Climate Change, Energy Security and Clean Development was signed last week in the Australian city by leaders of the Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. Together, APEC member countries consume 60 percent of the world’s energy resources and account for roughly the same percentage of greenhouse gas emissions.

Among other things, the Sydney Declaration promises to increase forest cover in the Pacific Rim by at least 20 million hectares by 2020. By 2030, APEC leaders also hope to cut by one-fourth the amount of energy needed per unit of economic growth – called energy intensity.

Rock stars and the movie industry are promoting public awareness of climate change, and the problem has become an election issue in certain countries. Freakish, destructive weather is forcing people around the world to confront the consequences of climate change. There is greater pressure on governments to deal with global warming. But the task is complicated by many factors that are not to the liking of environmental advocates.

Developing countries such as China, for example, cannot easily wean themselves away from dirty forms of fuel such as coal that abound locally and greatly reduce the cost of energy needed for industrial growth. In tropical regions, governments are realizing that saving rainforests becomes easier through sustainable agroforestry, where communities dependent on forest products become stakeholders, rather than through a total ban on logging that many developing countries find impossible to enforce. Rich countries themselves cannot easily kick their gas-guzzling habits; the United States is one of the world’s largest consumers of fossil fuels.

Yet every country must do its part, even if it’s just one small step at a time. Rising ocean temperatures are endangering the world’s marine resources. Melting polar ice caps are raising sea levels, which are threatening coastal areas. Weather patterns are changing, bringing devastating droughts, floods and hurricanes even off-season. Though the APEC declaration is non-binding, the forum members will increasingly find that they have no choice but to comply with their commitments.

World War Two matters

World War Two matters

Jovito R. Salonga, president of the Senate of the Republic of the Philippines from 1987 to 1991, is the 2007 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Government Service. He is recognized for the exemplary substance of his long public career "in service to democracy and good government."

Salonga, Chairman Emeritus of Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation, fought the fascist Japanese who invaded his homeland in 1941, for which he was arrested, jailed and tortured. In his autobiography, the founder of Bantay Katarungan revealed: "I decided to counteract Japanese propaganda in Pasig by circulating news about the war, based on short-wave broadcasts from Australia (BBC) and from San Francisco, California. I made use of my typewriter and added my own comments." [A Journey of Struggle and Hope. Quezon City: UP Center for Leadership, Citizenship and Democracy, 2001, p. 14]

In April 1942, Salonga was arrested by Japanese military police at the instigation of pro-Japanese elements in his hometown. "I was detained in the Pasig municipal jail and investigated day and night at the nearby Kempeitai headquarters (house of well-known contractor Fortunato Concepcion) in the presence of my father. I was slapped, beaten up, and made to carry a heavy load of water atop my head while under interrogation."

A few days after the Fall of Bataan, Salonga was transferred to Fort Santiago, then to the City Jail in San Marcelino (Manila) where he met other Filipinos ("men of breeding and dignity") who had also been circulating war news from Allied sources. He was already in the Old Bilibid in Manila when he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.

It was June 11, 1942. After his trial and sentencing, Salonga was brought to the New Bilibid in Muntinlupa. Eight months of incarceration. He was lucky to be released due to Kigensetsu, Japan’s foundation day, February 11, 1943.

Salonga went back to his law studies, took and topped the Philippine Bar Examinations in 1944. While he was taking the tests for admittance to the practice of law, his fellow Evangelicals were being oppressed by the imperialist Japanese. On August 24, 1944, Tito Dans, Agustin Ortega, Serafin Aquino, Col. Jose Moran and Severino Araos, who were members of Rev. Mary Boyd Stagg’s Anti-Japanese Propaganda and Espionage Movement based in Cosmopolitan Church, were court-martialed and sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment in Muntinlupa. He himself had narrowly evaded the round of arrests and guerrilla suppression. Salonga was listed as a captain in the ROTC-Hunters Guerrillas.

In the aftermath of the Japanese Occupation, Salonga testified in the war crimes trial of Colonel Nagahama, Kempeitai chief and Fort Santiago commander.

In addition to the Shintoist war criminals, native collaborators of the fascist invaders were also being held to account for their treasonous behavior. Who victimized Salonga’s fellow Protestants? "I was to be told later that a certain Franco Vera Reyes, a double agent, who had probably been in Cosmopolitan a number of times, was the one who squealed on Mother Stagg and her co-workers." (p. 27)

What about the fanatical follower of Benigno Ramos who caused the arrest and torture of Salonga? The name is found in page 38 of his memoirs.

Be that as it may, the matter of Filipino wartime collaboration with the murderous followers of the Japanese emperor was also tackled in the 16th National Conference of the UP Lipunang Pangkasaysayan.

The collaborators were native inhabitants and residents of the Philippines who allowed themselves to be tools of the Nipponese war machine. They were Hitler’s Oriental imitators, spies, snitches and stool pigeons, puppet politicians and bureaucrats, pro-Japanese propagandists and opportunistic profiteers.

The label most synonymous with collaborator is "Makapili," which the Supreme Court defined as "the "Makabayan Katipunan ng mga Pilipino (Makapili), an organization of military character, founded and organized for the purpose of giving material support and physical or moral assistance and aid to the Empire of Japan and Imperial Japanese Forces in the Philippines." [People of the Philippines vs. Domingo Capacete]

In this case, the High Court affirmed the conviction of the appellant for murder, for which he was sentenced to reclusion perpetua and ordered to pay a 10,000-peso fine and costs for treason. [G.R. No. L-943 November 22, 1947]

In another case, a collaborator was convicted of treason, sentenced to life imprisonment and fined 10,000 pesos and the costs of treason for the following acts: "In the month of February, 1945, adhered and given aid and comfort to the enemy by joining the Makapili organization in the City of San Pablo, Laguna, and cooperating with the Japanese Army in the apprehension of guerrilla suspects, in particular, in the rounding up, on February 24, 1945, of over six hundred civilians in the said city and the identification and segregation out of that group of a number of guerrilla suspects, who were on that same day massacred by the Japanese soldiers." [People of the Phil. vs. Ismael Aquivido]

Military collaboration, that is, assisting the Japanese armed forces in its operations, made the Makapili and similar bands accessories and accomplices in homicide and genocide.

How about political collaboration, that is, accepting Nippon’s imperial ambitions and using the political and policy process to facilitate fascist and elitist intentions?

Prime mechanism of this political crime was the puppet regime – an illegitimate agency whose "Constitution was never submitted to the people for approval, and whose President was not elected by popular suffrage." [Arturo M. Tolentino. Voice Of Dissent. Quezon City: Phoenix Publishing House, Inc., 1990, p. 51]

The puppet regime invited "the (Japanese) Army to administer the coal mines and their properties which belong to the National Development Company located in Uling, Naga, Cebu; Danao, Cebu; and Malangas, Zamboanga." [The Tribune, July 12, 1944]

The puppet regime was also a vehicle for the Nipponization of Philippine society. A unit in the Ministry of Education was created for the "function of spreading Oriental culture principally among school children." The Bureau of Oriental Culture was charged with the preparation of textbooks for both public and private schools, and "in its studies and researches on other East Asian cultures, special emphasis will be laid on the culture of Japan." To carry out its non-Filipino mandate, "a separate section will be created to conduct studies and investigations Japanese culture." [The Tribune, February 3, 1944, p. 1]

These Nipponese indoctrination units, ostensibly civilian, became military in intent when push came to shove. The New Philippine Cultural Institute, an educational institution created by the Japanese military, turned "later into a volunteer army which showed determination to fight against the returning US forces." [Motoe Terami-wada, "Lt. Shigenobu Mochizuki and the New Philippine Culture Institute," Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, March 1996]

At present, to be branded a "bagong makapili" for, say, supporting the onerous provisions of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA is harsh indeed).

World War Two matters

World War Two matters

Jovito R. Salonga, president of the Senate of the Republic of the Philippines from 1987 to 1991, is the 2007 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Government Service. He is recognized for the exemplary substance of his long public career "in service to democracy and good government."

Salonga, Chairman Emeritus of Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation, fought the fascist Japanese who invaded his homeland in 1941, for which he was arrested, jailed and tortured. In his autobiography, the founder of Bantay Katarungan revealed: "I decided to counteract Japanese propaganda in Pasig by circulating news about the war, based on short-wave broadcasts from Australia (BBC) and from San Francisco, California. I made use of my typewriter and added my own comments." [A Journey of Struggle and Hope. Quezon City: UP Center for Leadership, Citizenship and Democracy, 2001, p. 14]

In April 1942, Salonga was arrested by Japanese military police at the instigation of pro-Japanese elements in his hometown. "I was detained in the Pasig municipal jail and investigated day and night at the nearby Kempeitai headquarters (house of well-known contractor Fortunato Concepcion) in the presence of my father. I was slapped, beaten up, and made to carry a heavy load of water atop my head while under interrogation."

A few days after the Fall of Bataan, Salonga was transferred to Fort Santiago, then to the City Jail in San Marcelino (Manila) where he met other Filipinos ("men of breeding and dignity") who had also been circulating war news from Allied sources. He was already in the Old Bilibid in Manila when he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.

It was June 11, 1942. After his trial and sentencing, Salonga was brought to the New Bilibid in Muntinlupa. Eight months of incarceration. He was lucky to be released due to Kigensetsu, Japan’s foundation day, February 11, 1943.

Salonga went back to his law studies, took and topped the Philippine Bar Examinations in 1944. While he was taking the tests for admittance to the practice of law, his fellow Evangelicals were being oppressed by the imperialist Japanese. On August 24, 1944, Tito Dans, Agustin Ortega, Serafin Aquino, Col. Jose Moran and Severino Araos, who were members of Rev. Mary Boyd Stagg’s Anti-Japanese Propaganda and Espionage Movement based in Cosmopolitan Church, were court-martialed and sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment in Muntinlupa. He himself had narrowly evaded the round of arrests and guerrilla suppression. Salonga was listed as a captain in the ROTC-Hunters Guerrillas.

In the aftermath of the Japanese Occupation, Salonga testified in the war crimes trial of Colonel Nagahama, Kempeitai chief and Fort Santiago commander.

In addition to the Shintoist war criminals, native collaborators of the fascist invaders were also being held to account for their treasonous behavior. Who victimized Salonga’s fellow Protestants? "I was to be told later that a certain Franco Vera Reyes, a double agent, who had probably been in Cosmopolitan a number of times, was the one who squealed on Mother Stagg and her co-workers." (p. 27)

What about the fanatical follower of Benigno Ramos who caused the arrest and torture of Salonga? The name is found in page 38 of his memoirs.

Be that as it may, the matter of Filipino wartime collaboration with the murderous followers of the Japanese emperor was also tackled in the 16th National Conference of the UP Lipunang Pangkasaysayan.

The collaborators were native inhabitants and residents of the Philippines who allowed themselves to be tools of the Nipponese war machine. They were Hitler’s Oriental imitators, spies, snitches and stool pigeons, puppet politicians and bureaucrats, pro-Japanese propagandists and opportunistic profiteers.

The label most synonymous with collaborator is "Makapili," which the Supreme Court defined as "the "Makabayan Katipunan ng mga Pilipino (Makapili), an organization of military character, founded and organized for the purpose of giving material support and physical or moral assistance and aid to the Empire of Japan and Imperial Japanese Forces in the Philippines." [People of the Philippines vs. Domingo Capacete]

In this case, the High Court affirmed the conviction of the appellant for murder, for which he was sentenced to reclusion perpetua and ordered to pay a 10,000-peso fine and costs for treason. [G.R. No. L-943 November 22, 1947]

In another case, a collaborator was convicted of treason, sentenced to life imprisonment and fined 10,000 pesos and the costs of treason for the following acts: "In the month of February, 1945, adhered and given aid and comfort to the enemy by joining the Makapili organization in the City of San Pablo, Laguna, and cooperating with the Japanese Army in the apprehension of guerrilla suspects, in particular, in the rounding up, on February 24, 1945, of over six hundred civilians in the said city and the identification and segregation out of that group of a number of guerrilla suspects, who were on that same day massacred by the Japanese soldiers." [People of the Phil. vs. Ismael Aquivido]

Military collaboration, that is, assisting the Japanese armed forces in its operations, made the Makapili and similar bands accessories and accomplices in homicide and genocide.

How about political collaboration, that is, accepting Nippon’s imperial ambitions and using the political and policy process to facilitate fascist and elitist intentions?

Prime mechanism of this political crime was the puppet regime – an illegitimate agency whose "Constitution was never submitted to the people for approval, and whose President was not elected by popular suffrage." [Arturo M. Tolentino. Voice Of Dissent. Quezon City: Phoenix Publishing House, Inc., 1990, p. 51]

The puppet regime invited "the (Japanese) Army to administer the coal mines and their properties which belong to the National Development Company located in Uling, Naga, Cebu; Danao, Cebu; and Malangas, Zamboanga." [The Tribune, July 12, 1944]

The puppet regime was also a vehicle for the Nipponization of Philippine society. A unit in the Ministry of Education was created for the "function of spreading Oriental culture principally among school children." The Bureau of Oriental Culture was charged with the preparation of textbooks for both public and private schools, and "in its studies and researches on other East Asian cultures, special emphasis will be laid on the culture of Japan." To carry out its non-Filipino mandate, "a separate section will be created to conduct studies and investigations Japanese culture." [The Tribune, February 3, 1944, p. 1]

These Nipponese indoctrination units, ostensibly civilian, became military in intent when push came to shove. The New Philippine Cultural Institute, an educational institution created by the Japanese military, turned "later into a volunteer army which showed determination to fight against the returning US forces." [Motoe Terami-wada, "Lt. Shigenobu Mochizuki and the New Philippine Culture Institute," Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, March 1996]

At present, to be branded a "bagong makapili" for, say, supporting the onerous provisions of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA is harsh indeed).

Leadership and integrity

Leadership and integrity

When lawmakers are likened to clowns and crocodiles and all it takes to land a Senate seat is a public denunciation of any member of the First Family, it is good to remember that not too long ago, Filipinos voted into high office deserving statesmen like Jovito Salonga. His body weakened by shrapnel from the bombing of Plaza Miranda on Aug. 21, 1971, Salonga went on to fight Ferdinand Marcos’ oppressive regime. After democracy was restored, he steered the Senate with wisdom, responsibility and integrity — traits that are now sorely missed in the chamber.

Salonga will be honored today with the Ramon Magsaysay Award for government service. Sharing honors with him are six other people from all over Asia who have dedicated their lives to the service of others and to making the world a better place to live. Their stories reflect the life of the late President Ramon Magsaysay, who left behind a legacy of leadership and integrity, and who showed Filipinos the virtues of hard work, education and determination.

The honor roll:

• Kim Sun-tae, awardee for public service, for providing assistance and hope to his fellow blind Koreans and other visually impaired people through his ministry.

• Mahabir Pun of Nepal, for connecting his mountain village to the world through wireless computer technology, bringing progress to mountain communities. He is being honored for community leadership.

• Tang Xiyang, awardee for peace and international understanding, for contributing to China’s awareness of its environmental crisis.

• Chen Guangcheng and Chung To, both also from China, for emergent leadership, for baring ugly truths about their country at great risk to their personal safety, to compel Beijing to address the problems squarely.

• Palagummi Sainath of India, awardee for journalism, literature and creative communication arts. He is being honored, the Magsaysay foundation announced, for “his passionate commitment as a journalist to restore the rural poor to India’s national consciousness.”

Like Magsaysay, the life stories of all the awardees can lift people out of despair and cynicism. They are sources of inspiration as the nation marks the centenary of Ramon Magsaysay’s birth today.

What Sison’s arrest means

What Sison’s arrest means

Manila newspapers head­lined yesterday the arrest of Mr. Jose Ma. Sison, political consultant of the National Democratic Front, in the peace talks with government. He is more known as the founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines which is engaged in armed struggle with the government.

He was reportedly arrested in the city of Utrecht in The Netherlands which also hosts the foreign chapter of the NDF rebel coalition.

It is a significant development in the history of the insurgency, almost similar to the time Mr. Sison was arrested sometime in 1977 in the Philippines while he was in the underground. After his release in 1986 by the Cory government, he went on exile in The Netherlands.

The report said that Mr. Sison would be tried in Dutch courts on the ground that he violated Dutch laws. One of that crime is he reportedly ordered the killing of some people in the Philippines while staying in The Netherlands.

The previous arrangement in Mr. Sison’s exile was that he could stay as a political refugee in The Netherlands provided he did not violate local laws. The legal question now is whether the state prosecutors of The Netherlands could prove that Sison indeed ordered the killing while staying in the European country.

That would be matter of a presentation of evidence. Remember that the Dutch courts and government are under pressure to show fairness in their trials because many elements in the Dutch Parliament are human rights-oriented. Public opinion also won’t allow unfair trial for political refugees or their eventual extradition to their native countries, even for a suspected communist like Sison.

From 1986, Joma could stay in The Netherlands since he was supported by many members of the Dutch Parliament who thought that no political refugee should be expelled if he is in danger of being persecuted at home. Even before his arrest, Joma could travel to the Benelux countries: Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg.

For the Philippine audience, the more important question on the Joma arrest is its implication on the peace process. Would this development lead to resumption of peace negotiations between the government and the communist rebels? Or will this lead to more violence in the insurgent areas?

The peace talks that started in 1992 have been canceled several times because of the many contentious issues that cropped up during the talks. After the initial agreement on human rights, the other three topics held vital to a final peace accord had been put on the backburner. One obstacle is the disagreement on truce, a foolish attitude since ceasefire is supposed to benefit both sides.

Just a recollection: The arrest and incarceration of Joma during the Marcos years did not check the insurgency. As a matter of fact, it even increased the number of rebels and their arms to the point of threatening the government in 1986. At that time, the rebels were already proclaiming the entry of strategic offensive, which means readiness to enter Manila. What we are saying is that the arrest of a leader did not mean the end of the insurgency.

The Philippine government should take advantage of the situation by proposing a resumption of peace talks with the NDF, with no conditions. And in that effort, The Netherlands and members of the European Union would fully support the peace initiative.

Remembering del Pilar

We remember today, August 30, Marcelo H. del Pilar, the chief propagandist of the Philippine Revolution. Like Rizal and Bonifacio, we honor his memory because of his role in building our race and nation.

Samahang Plaridel will honor this Bulakeño with flowers at his tomb in the Children’s Park (in front of Manila Zoo). Journalists and city officials will be there to pay tribute to the man who set the standards of Filipino journalism.

BRIEF NOTES. General Avelino “Sonny” Razon will be our guest at the Kapihan sa Sulo on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sulo Hotel in Quezon City . . . Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn is angry at the proliferation of mining claims in his city. Local government cannot sit idly while the environment is being destroyed by profit-oriented firms. . . . The same is happening in Sibuyan Island in Romblon. Heard that some mining firms are out to destroy the beautiful Mt. Guiting-Guiting just to mine iron ore and nickel in San Fernando. . . . Good that Congressman Carlos Padilla has filed charges against the ZTE and the DOTC for the national broadband contract.

The case for JPEPA

The case for JPEPA

Perceptive observers believe the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement, or JPEPA, notwithstanding the objections raised against it, will be able to pass muster in the Senate. Individual senators, they predict, will find it in their collective wisdom to ratify the treaty, of course after going through it with a fine-tooth comb. The accord, after all, is necessary to hasten the country’s economic development.

Sure, Japan expects to derive benefits from JPEPA as well, along with similar deals struck with other countries. That is the primary reason it signed the agreement in the first place. But only the paranoid would describe it as lopsided, skewed in favor of the other side. Despite its economic clout, Japan cannot dictate—or hope to dictate—on the Philippines, or any other country for that matter, as if it were a client state. This is no longer the age of colonialism.

As explained by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), JPEPA will result in the expansion of the country’s market in Japan, not only for its agricultural products but also for its industrial output, with close to 95 percent of its exports granted zero duties. Of course, Japan’s exports to the Philippines will also enjoy the same preferences. It is this particular trade-off that draws the ire of leftist groups. They claim that the Philippines will be flooded with manufactured products. Well, we already import cars and television sets from Japan, but no country can force consumers to increase their purchase of these items, treaty or no treaty.

Detractors train their guns on the supposed entry of toxic wastes as a result of the treaty.

There is nothing in the treaty that remotely suggests that the Philippines will allow itself to be a dumping ground for hazardous substances. Moreover, the exchange of notes between the two countries expressly prohibits it. Still, those who choose to oppose the treaty claim the assurance is not nearly enough. If so, will it help if the two governments renounce the pledge to protect people and the environment?

In any case, we are not a nation of half-wits, who will accept things that threaten to poison us and our children.

The provision on nurses and caregivers is another argument used by those who oppose ratification. As the Philippine Nurses Association tells it, Japan dangled the entry of workers as a bargaining chip to win concessions without giving something substantial in return. It looks great at first glance, but requiring the nurses to pass the licensure examination in Nihongo practically makes the provision unenforceable, or so says the group.

To the protesters, it’s like a case of the left hand taking back what the right hand gives away. But Japanese hospitals and health-care institutions really need the services of foreign nurses. The language requirement is insisted upon to ensure that the nurses, who will be working under Japanese doctors, understand the orders given them, particularly in life-and-death situations. No doubt, the nurses cannot pass the examination without prior language training. And Japanese officials are aware of that fact. That is why training is made part and parcel of the agreement, and the Japanese are footing the bill, proof of their honest intentions to hire the nurses as full-fledged professionals.

About the only valid concern raised against the treaty is the loss of customs revenue, projected at P16.1 billion in the next few years. But DTI says the additional taxes derived from an expanded export volume will more than offset the loss. If that is true, then the Senate must put its stamp of approval on the treaty at the earliest possible time.

We have not much time left. Barely a week ago, Indonesia approved a similar economic partnership agreement with Japan. And it is only the latest of the countries to have done so, after Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. If we fail to ratify JPEPA, these countries will reap all the benefits—to our detriment.

Deeper in debt

Deeper in debt

The 1987 Constitution requires the government to give “the highest budgetary priority” to education. Like the constitutional provision on the separation of church and state, however, the provision on budget priorities has never been followed. Debt servicing, not education, has always eaten up the biggest chunk of the annual national budget. The strong peso has shaven off a substantial chunk of the country’s foreign debt, but the amount is still in the trillions, saddling generations of Filipinos with debt.

Yet the government continues adding to that mountain of debt, the latest of which is a whopping $1.8-billion loan from China. That’s approximately P84 billion at yester-day’s exchange rates; the amount could balloon if the peso weakens. Government officials have pointed out that the loan from the Chinese Export-Import Bank will have easy repayment terms. The cash-strapped government can use foreign assistance especially for badly needed infrastructure. But because what is involved here is not a grant but a loan, the repayment of which will be shouldered by taxpayers, with interest, the government must give a full accounting to the public about the purpose of the loan.

A big part of the loan — $330 million — will be used to finance a broadband network for the government. The deal has been awarded to Chinese company ZTE. The $1.8-billion loan was signed a few days ago by Philippine and Chinese government officials. It is not clear whether awarding the contract to a Chinese company is part of the loan agreement. Too many things, in fact, are not clear about the broadband deal, starting with the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the original document that was signed in the presence of President Arroyo in China last April by ZTE executives and Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza. The lost document is supposed to have been reconstituted, but this new version also has not been made public.

A big question is whether the country needs the broadband service at all. Another question is why this service is double the price of the offer for a similar service by another interested party. The nation is already up to its neck in debt. The least that the government can do is convince the public that any new indebtedness is justified.

New Englishes

New Englishes

FILIPINOS have long learned to read, speak and write En-glish. Call it what you will, "American English, Philippine style" or "Philippine English" or whatever, it is still English language. And it is one of many new Englishes spoken and written in many countries of the world, from the Philippines to Singapore and Malaysia, from India, Ceylon to Pakistan, from North America, Australia, New Zealand, to South Africa.

Unlike Filipinos who learned American English, in those other countries the peoples there learned English from the British. And today, as I wrote in this column last Thursday, English is being learned by millions and millions of young students in China, South Korea, Vietnam, Japan, Germany, Austria and Greece. In these nations, with strong national identities, they are aggressively promoting bilingualism. And their citizens, young and old alike, are remarkably becoming proficient in English.

And here in the Philippines, our people have learned English long, long ago. As a matter of fact there was a time when English and Filipino were considered both as official languages, until some language nationalists succeeded in making Filipino as the national language in the 1987 Constitution.

And, very recently, a group of educators, savants, writers and two National Artists in Literature went to the Supreme Court to stop a Department of Education order implementing a presidential directive mandating that English be used as the medium of instruction for math and science in public schools, beginning with the third grade and for all subjects in secondary schools.

This is strange, indeed. They are prominent persons who are what they are today because they read, speak and write in English! And they want to deprive our young students of learning a second language? They don’t want our youth to acquire English skills which would surely be useful to and help them compete in a globalize world where English is growing rapidly as an international language.

Instead, they insisted that Filipino and the regional languages should be used as the primary media of instruction. They said that the government’s failure to do it has, "led to serious difficulties in learning among elementary and high school students, such as ineffective communication in the classrooms, low academic achievement and a high dropout rate."

They continued, "the harmful effects of using a foreign language for learning are not just limited to low academic achievement and cognitive growth, it impairs the emotional security and sense of self-worth and the ability to participate meaningfully in the educational process by lower class children who develop an inferiority complex as they are stigmatized by their use of the native tongue."

Furthermore, they added, "the use of Filipino would enable them to learn to read and write since it is easy for them to understand… This change will make students stay in school longer, learn better, quicker and more permanently, and will in fact be a bridge to more effective learning in English and Filipino."

These are quotations from their petition filed with the Supreme Court. If you, the ordinary citizens, have become breathless or moved to mirth or irritation by just reading their long-winded, boring, unbearable, run-on and hard to read sentences, and getting lost in the thick verbiage, what more of the fifteen magistrates of the land?

Wouldn’t those learned justices, who write their decisions well, vividly, and wisely in plain English that every one can understand, throw that petition (of those savants, linguists and writers), which smacks of pedantry, into the garbage heap?

Already, according to the Social Weather Stations, our national proficiency in English has declined by 10% over the last 30 years. And, sad to say, we are being left behind, particularly by China where some 175 million people are now studying English, in the global march to English proficiency.

Indeed, English has become the lingua franca of the world.

Speed and stealth in Sulu

Speed and stealth in Sulu

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The Malaysians are coming!

The Malaysians are coming!

WE must state immediately that we are not mounting a hate campaign against Malaysia which is our brother in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. As a matter of fact, we should be grateful about their help in the ongoing peace talks in Mindanao, not to mention our cordial ties despite Sabah.

But we should be wary about a few Malaysian investors in the Philippines who may not be as good as the rest of their countrymen on the matter of corporate governance. We are referring to some Malaysians imbedded in the board of the Philippine Racing Club, Inc., (PRCI) which owns and manages the famous racing club bordering the cities of Makati and Manila.

These Malaysians were OK until they thought of setting up a firm, supposedly owned by the PRCI, with a plan to attach the 21-hectare racing club on the basis of sheer majority vote. Ordinarily, that would have been all right, except for one glaring fact seen by the lawyer of the minority and Makati Regional Trial Court: The capitalization of the new firm was only 25 million pesos, compared to the price of the land which now valued in their billions.

The argument of the majority members of the board was that they could do anything—and their act would be pro­per—because they were the majority. What kind of argument is that? It was just good that a lawyer of the minority, Mr. Brigido Dulay, asked for a temporary restraining order to allow for further discussions on the matter.

It is good that the case has been elevated to the Court of Appeals which will look into the jurisprudence of the case. But I think that on the matter of propriety, we ask the question why cannot the old board handle the development of the racing club if that was the original purpose of creating a new company to modernize the racing club.

We cannot blame the minority for suspecting that this move to create a new firm is a subterfuge by the majority to completely dominate the development of the racing club.

Gusto lang mawala ang minority. Already, there are reports going around the business community that the racing club is another example of a project by an unethical group of Asean businessmen to make profit at the expense of the minority.

We hope that is not true, otherwise the public would suspect that some Malaysians are abusing our hospitality which started at the time we dropped our historical claim to Sabah.

DAR employees against transfer

The employees of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) are against the transfer of its central office to Min­danao. Speaking at the Ka­pihan sa SulÙ last Saturday, Antonio Pascual said that the transfer would cause untold suffering to the employees.

They have asked the President to reconsider her decision to transfer, made during the last sona speech. It seems that the President wants to focus on Mindanao as far as land distribution and providing of inputs was concerned.

But the employees said that such focus could still happen even without transferring the central office. Pascual said that most of the agencies involved in land transfer and support for land beneficiaries are all based in Manila. DAREA intends to go to the Senate and the House for support.

Gordon against two-party system

If Senate President Manny Villar and Sen. Mar Roxas want to revive the two-party system, possible presidential candidate Sen. Richad Gordon believes in creating a coalition of his own.

Sen. Richard Gordon was viable as a presidential candidate about 15 years ago. In a recent interview, he said: “I will try to mold a popular party coalition for national modernization and renewal from the many parties that have emerged over the past decade…”

Popular party coalition? Sounds like a third party!

Who will be the next Jonas Burgos?

Who will be the next Jonas Burgos?

Monday this week marked the 100th day of the disappearance of Jonas Burgos, the most recent victim of a year-long wave of disappearances that the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings and the Arroyo-created Melo Commission have documented.

Other troubled governments have recognized the limits of domestic remedies, and would be smart enough to know that the “desaparecido” [disappeared person] problem has crossed the continents since it emerged in Latin America in the 1970s. It is time we realized that Jonas, his brave mother Edita, and his family are not the only victims here. We are all stakeholders now, and there is a post-Nuremberg world out there ready and willing to help. We must enlist international help to stop the killings.

We have begun to exhaust our domestic remedies. Jonas’ family has sued before the courts for a writ of habeas corpus, and the military is poised, as expected, to deny that they ever had him in their custody, thus hoping to freeze the petition. But as I have written many times before, it is not enough for government merely to wash its hands. In the words of Otto Triffterer, a professor at the University of Salzburg and director of International Criminal Law, Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law: “Silent toleration may amount to conclusive and therefore active participation” because it has material effects simply “by the impression that it makes.” It is not some passive sin of omission for which government is held answerable only when there is a specific pre-established legal duty, in this case, to protect life.

A state prosecutor has been sacked by his boss, the secretary of justice, for investigating why the van into which Jonas was taken bore military plates. The Supreme Court is drafting new rules to expand the remedies available to grieving families and enable the courts to seek out the victims more actively, conduct quick searches in military camps and detention houses, and ensure that the soldiers manning the camp gates honor the courts’ orders.

But other governments have done much more and have voluntarily opened themselves to international inquiries. A similar move will boost public confidence in President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address condemning the unrelenting murders of leftwing activists. It will at least neutralize her open praise and adulation for Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, the officer most closely linked to the killings, during last year’s State of the Nation Address.

By way of example, the United Nations has created a Special Tribunal to investigate the murder of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was killed in downtown Beirut by a car bomb with a charge equivalent to 1,800 kilograms of TNT. The attack was committed on Valentine’s Day 2005, and by March 29, the Lebanese government itself supported the UN Security Council’s decision to create an international independent commission “to assist the Lebanese authorities in their investigation of all aspects of this terrorist act.” No need to worry about the emotionally charged issue of sovereignty; the international commission worked “within the framework of Lebanese sovereignty and of its legal system.” Indeed, if we take this path, we take an intermediate step between a wholly internationalized arena unsettling for governments and a wholly domestic arena uncongenial to the victims.

There are distinct advantages in enlisting foreign assistance. To start with, perhaps it might actually produce concrete results. Remember that no Philippine court, not even the Philippine Human Rights Commission, has ever held Ferdinand Marcos or his estate responsible for any human rights violation from the time martial law was declared on Sept. 21, 1972 to his ouster during the February uprising in 1986. Indeed, the only courts that have dared to do so were those of Honolulu and of Seattle, and the larger award from Honolulu remains unenforced due to internal maneuverings before Philippine courts.

As a nation, we have had no closure on that dark chapter in our history. It continues to haunt present-day debates, and those with short memories openly seek the Filipino Lee Kuan Yew or Park Chung Hee. With regard to the “desaparecidos,” without an authoritative fact-finding, their bereaved families are denied one element essential to their claim of justice, namely, the right to know what happened to their loved ones.

Finally, the strongest endorsement comes from a speech delivered before the UN Security Council and voting for the investigative commission for the Beirut bombing. One diplomat stated: “We have also learned that justice is a powerful force for peace.” Political assassinations could lead to strife, conflict and war. “The creation of an investigative commission is a good and powerful message. It is a practical step towards ensuring international awareness and support for all efforts to see that justice is done.” The UN press quoted him as saying that “today, the Council not only cast a vote for peace and justice, but also struck a blow against those who used political assassination to sow fear and terror.”

That statement was made by Foreign Secretary Alberto G. Romulo at the 5,297th Meeting of the UN Security Council. Should it come to pass that the same body is called upon to take the same measures for Manila, we must remind the Philippine government of Romulo’s wise counsel, and get the Arroyo administration to welcome, if not invite, foreign assistance in vindicating the fundamental human liberties that it has failed, time and again, to protect.

RP-Japan treaty imperiled in Senate

RP-Japan treaty imperiled in Senate

It looks like the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement, JPEPA for short, will face a rough sailing in the Senate. Sen. Chiz Escudero has threatened to block its passage, a move, I was told, would be supported by a bipartisan group.

If a konfrontasi between the executive and the legislative comes, I am sure that we will be back to the prolonged debate during the bases regime. At that time, we didn’t know what kind of international agreement required Senate ratification. As for Chiz, he thinks JPEPA needs to be looked into by the upper chamber.

Political Adviser Gabriel Claudio believes that the RP-Japan accord “has a very good chance of ratification by the Senate… for its relevance and urgency.” Note that JPEPA was one of the bills last Tuesday at the first Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac). Claudio believes senators will decide on the basis of the national interest.

Although Chiz has substantial suggestions, the Sorsogon lawmaker appears more agitated by the form and timing of JPEPA. For instance, he says, “JPEPA cannot breeze through the Senate principally because of the manner by which this treaty was conceived. The entire deal was shrouded in secrecy.” He also thought the government did not consult the public on the treaty.

Consult the public on the contents of treaty? That must be difficult to do because at the time of the bases, some NGOs wanted to have a referendum on the future of the US facilities before calling for negotiations. But the government, then headed by President Aquino, did not agree with consulting the public.

At the Ledac meeting, the President said that the JPEPA is an accomplished fact, as far as the Japanese Parliament is concerned. Apparently, they have a single ratification process there: The Japanese negotiator is automatically armed with legislative support when he signs a treaty with a foreign country.

JPEPA is important to Japan, especially since it wants to secure Manila as a market ahead of its rival, China. It is also important for us because we are a trade partner and aid receiver. More often than not, we are at a psychological disadvantage when it comes to our ties with Japan because we are beholden to the Japanese.

A weak Senate in the making

This Senate will be a weak all throughout its term up to 2010, hobbled as it is by ambitions and self-interest. You can see that the Villar presidency cannot move without being criticized by those affected by his decisions.

The ability of Senate President Manny Villar to manage the conflicts in the Senate is being tested by the intransigence of his critics—Sens. Ping Lacson and Jamby Madrigal. These two believe that the opposition, being the majority, should get the plum committee posts.

In the premartial law days, it was easier to manage the Philippine Senate because what existed then was a two-party system. Today, there is chaos because senators come from various parties, not to mention that some of them have presidential ambitions.

The important question is whether the Senate could be a potent instrument to exercise oversight functions over the executive. My answer is no. Unless the senators agree to unite—today.

Challenge to Sec. Gilbert Teodoro

In his role as defense chief, Secretary Gilbert Teodoro faces the challenges of a job that requires solving extra-judicial killings, the insurgency, the secessionist movement, a politicized officer corps and probably the mood in some sectors in Washington to reduce military aid to RP.

But there is one problem he could easily handle without controversy: Preparing the ways and means for disaster-preparedness that periodically engulfs the archipelago. Good luck!

No approval needed

No approval needed

THE Philippine government is about to make the tourist visa—a very important travel document and official authorization for entry and stay—obsolete.

The Bureau of Immigration has announced that foreigners with temporary visitor’s visas may extend their stay in the Philippines every two months and up to 16 months without prior approval from the immigration office.

This rule is fraught with danger. The government must authorize every extension of visa. An extension must be requested and applied for. Without this safeguard, it could lose count of foreigners who have extended their stay. A responsible government must keep accurate figures on arriving, overstaying and departing foreigners.

A visa is a contract between a government and a foreigner that defines the conditions of his stay. It is the government’s duty to check on compliance and determine if violations were made.

At a minimum, the government could give each tourist a six-month stay, after which official extension must be granted by the state.

After 16 months, according to Commissioner Marcelino Libanan, a foreigner may extend his stay by another eight months, up to 24 months if his application is approved by the chief of the bureau’s immigration regulation division.

Libanan’s order takes effective immediately. It directs the visa extension office to expedite the processing of pending applications for extension of stay.

What prompted Libanan to issue the new order? Well, he said he was heartened by the 21-percent rise in the number of tourists who extended their stay in the country during the first semester of the year.

Data from the bureau visa extension office showed that from January to June this year, a total of 196,172 applications for extension of stay were approved, compared to 161,984 approved in the same period last year.

It also showed that total tourist arrivals for the six-month period increased by 38,755 to 468,281 arrivals. There were only 439,526 arrivals in the same period last year.

“These statistics indicate that our country is fast emerging as one of Asia’s most favored tourist destinations,” Libanan said.

We don’t think numbers alone could justify the new extension-without-authorization policy. Extensions of stay and increasing arrivals are fine, but an important national program such as immigration and tourism needs safeguards before we throw away the keys to the door.

The immigration regulation division chief, lawyer Gary Mendoza, said the new policy on visa extensions applies to all foreign tourists regardless of nationality.

Previously, foreigners, such as Indians or Chinese, who must secure entry visas to the Philippines, were allowed to extend their stay every month up to a total of only six months.

“Now, any foreigner, whether he is a visa-required national or not, may extend his stay every two months up to a total of 16 months without getting prior approval from the bureau’s management,” Mendoza added.

How did this new immigration rule come about? Did the immigration office consult with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the police and military, or the committees on immigration in the Senate and the House of Representatives?

We doubt that the BI consulted with Filipino and foreign chambers of commerce and business organizations.

We urge a review of the new immigration rule. There are more important elements to a tourism program than warm bodies and dollars. These include national security, the threat to Filipino businesses, dangers to public health and the stay of unwanted aliens who are probably considered undesirable by their own governments.

The visa-waiver program

WE should have an active tourism program to bring in more visitors and catch up with the world in this important economic and nation-building activity.

The tourist visa rules, however, must be respected. Requests for extensions should be required and properly documented.

The Philippines, of course, is a participant in the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) visa-waiver program. As courtesy to fellow members, Asean countries waive the visa requirement for citizens of the 10 countries that comprise the group.

We have also begun, at the initiative of the Bureau of Immigration, a visa-upon-entry program for tourists coming from Mainland China. The bureau owes us a report on the program, especially on the number of Chinese who have visited and have left the Philippines since the undertaking started.

The United States runs a visa-waiver program with 27 other countries, including Japan, whose citizens can visit the US without a visa for up to 90 days.

In July, a new homeland-security bill expanded eligibility for the program by allowing 12 more countries to apply: Taiwan, South Korea, Argentina, Brazil, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Israel, Malta, Slovakia and Uruguay.

The Philippines is light-years away from qualifying because of the US “refusal rates” rule. This is the annual percentage of visa applications from a country that are denied for any reason. US law requires a refusal rate of 3 percent before a country can qualify. The refusal rate for Filipinos must be 40 percent.

Shanghaied to Baghdad

Shanghaied to Baghdad

SCARY was the testimony of Rory Mayberry before a US congressional committee on July 26. He told the story about how, in this age, foreign workers could be tricked by a contractor for the US government to work on a project they knew nothing about, for which they were not prepared and, when they were on the project, worked under bad conditions.

Mayberry, an emergency medical technician contracted to First Kuwaiti International—the construction company building the US Embassy inside the Green Zone in Baghdad—testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that he was ordered to shepherd 51 Filipinos. First Kuwaiti has denied the claim.

He told the committee that the Filipinos thought they were bound for Dubai for hotel work, and had no idea that they were being brought to the Iraqi capital.

When the Filipinos protested on the plane upon learning they were being brought to the wrong place, a security officer threatened them by waving an MP-5 machine gun.

Eventually, the Filipinos were “smuggled into the Green Zone,” past US security forces.

Mayberry testified that the Filipinos, among other laborers forced to work on the embassy site, worked without safety equipment. Many were injured at work.

The medical technician testified under oath. He must be telling the truth. This prompted Sen. Mar Roxas, whose staff uncovered the testimony on YouTube, to call the attention of Philippine authorities and the US Embassy in Manila about a modern case of piracy.

He called on the Departments of Foreign Affairs and of Labor and Employment to verify the information. He urged the Philippine Embassy in Iraq to conduct an inspection, get in touch with US officials, verify the presence of the Filipinos and help them get out.

Foreign affairs and labor officials must immediately check all recruitment agencies to see who have sent Filipino workers to the Kuwaiti company, he added.

What has been the response to the senator’s representation? The US Embassy has remained silent on the issue.

President Arroyo has extended the term of the Presidential Middle East Preparedness Committee, a group to oversee the safety and evacuation of Filipinos in that region, until the end of 2007. The committee chief, former Gen. Roy Cimatu, is traveling to Iraq to investigate the case.

Vice President Noli de Castro, presidential adviser on migrant labor, has identified two recruitment agencies among those supplying workers to First Kuwaiti Trading, which has denied Mayberry’s claim.

The government had banned Filipinos from travel and work in Iraq since 2004, after Angelo de la Cruz, a truck driver, was abducted by Iraqi militants. He was released only after Manila pulled-out its peacekeeping troops from Iraq. Records show 6,000 to 10,000 Filipinos are in Iraq. They were smuggled into the war-torn country.

“This is not just a violation of our travel ban, this is forced labor. Unless we have officially accepted that the days of slavery are back, the government must act,” Roxas stressed.

It is also more than a labor issue. It is a violation of human rights on US soil, apparently with the help of American officials and contractors.

The Green Zone

THE Green Zone is often touted as Fortress Iraq, the part of Baghdad that is invulnerable to enemy attack because of tight security. It is surrounded by high concrete blast walls and barbed wire. All entry points are controlled by coalition troops.

But in 2004, the zone was hit by two suicide bombings, which destroyed the bazaar and café. On April 12, 2007, a bomb tore through the Iraqi Parliament cafeteria, killing one person and injuring 22, including the vice president.

The attacks have shattered the Green Zone’s myth of impregnability although efforts to make it the capital within the capital continue. One major activity is the construction of the US embassy building which,in size and staff, will make it the biggest US mission in the world.

Fifty-one Filipinos, according to a testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, were recruited to work on the site although the workers were promised they would be working in Dubai, one of the states in the United Arab Emirates.

Stretching 10 kilometers in central Baghdad, the zone is the center of the Coalition Provisional Authority. It remains the hub of the international presence in the city. It is the headquarters for private military contractors, and home to the British embassy, America’s closest ally on the war on terror.

The area was originally home to the villas of Iraqi government officials, cabinet ministries, and a number of palaces owned by former President Saddam Hussein.

Since the handover of sovereignty to Iraqis, many of the properties have been turned over to the Iraqi government. Some 5,000 homeless Iraqis also live in the zone with American forbearance.

The Green Zone is expected to house more international organizations and private businesses in keeping with its status and its promised security. Our embassy hopes to find a home there but that could come only when peace has returned to Iraq.

Blasting the corrupt

Blasting the corrupt

Here’s something refreshing from China—and it’s not about the trade war.

The British Broadcasting Co. has reported that an online game called “Incorruptible Fighter” has become so popular that its Web site has crashed. Since its launch nine days ago, the game has been downloaded more than 100,000 times. It is currently being updated to meet the unprecedented demand.

Players get ahead by killing and torturing corrupt officials and assisting honest ones.

“Along the way, they are led through a series of moral challenges before entering a corruption-free paradise,” the BBC said.

The game was designed by a regional government in east China to highlight the problem of corruption among public officials.

China has become aggressive in its crackdown on corrupt officials. In recent weeks, high-profile cases have been exposed. A former food and drug watchdog head was executed after being convicted of taking bribes, and the former leader of Communist Party in Shanghai was expelled from the party after being linked to a pension find scandal.

Gamers say they feel a “great sense of achievement when [they] punish lots of evil officials.”

This sentiment could well be uttered by anybody from the Philippines, equally plagued with corruption—in the event, and we hope it’s not remote, that some form of justice against corrupt officials is served.

The Chinese definitely have no qualms using this violent approach. We don’t always agree with them, but we do here, as far as the attitude against the crime is concerned. Corruption is never to be taken lightly or accepted as a given.