gardenflies

barcelona and madrid in 10 days (part 7): VIVA MADRID!

2011-05-12T02:43:00.000+08:00

we only spent two days in madrid, much less than the eight days we spent in barcelona. it was therefore a hurried visit, and we didn't have friends to give us tips and suggestions.

our first outing in the mid-afternoon, after checking-in at the hostal, was to locate the el rastro, the city's popular flea market. we were expecting european-style flea markets with quaint displays of antiques, curios, oddities, and interesting spreads of delicacies.

it took us a while to locate it -- we had to go through a maze of streets and some seedy corners -- so we got there a bit late (the market was open only until 4pm). what we found were rows of stalls/tents of mostly asian (and mostly chinese) goods, and not very good ones at that. the area itself was also quite dirty. we were disappointed.

it must have been the too-short a stay that made madrid seem like a less friendly city compared to barcelona. we had a long list of places to see, so it was a constant race for time. the temperature had also gone up a couple of degrees, and the sun was fierce, making the days hotter, a bit inconvenient because we were all in our spring clothes.

looking at the photos we took made us realize that we did find madrid beautiful too, and that we also had a grand time in the city.

after the el rastro caper, we walked and walked, stopped for a late lunch, and then proceeded to parque el retiro, the park that was supposedly jose rizal's favorite.

from the park we walked some more...

...then visited the museo del prado (admission is free on sundays, 6-9 p.m.)

there we feasted our eyes on the works of the spanish and other european masters...

we stopped by interesting buildings (including the parliament building) and statues (including that of miguel cervantes; bianca and i took photos of each other mimicking his pose)...

we had glimpses of madrid at night...

on day 2 (our only full day in madrid), we did the history bits, photos of which we already posted earlier on this blog.

we also went to the reina sofia musuem (free admission on mondays, 6-8 p.m.)

we had to use the metro more often in madrid, as places we visited were far from each other. we found the city harder to navigate, but part of it was due to lack of time to familiarize ourselves with it.

generally, we think we did well; and as these photos would indicate, madrid has a certain charm. no wonder rizal was in love with the city!

barcelona and madrid in 10 days (part 6): two's

2011-05-12T02:02:00.000+08:00

back to spain photos...this time with nepo, myself and bianca, in two's. :)

bianca and nepo

no doubt my favorite shot of the two --

look at bianca's priceless expression!

plaza espana

early morning at the metro station,

on our way to the airport to go to madrid

madrid: palacio real grounds

parque guell

parque guell - 2

against the montserrat backdrop

montserrat anew

glorious day at montserrat

montjuic

one of gaudi's buildings in central barcelona

the marina in barcelona

nepo and joy

in the parque retiro

in parque guell

madrid at night

resting after a long day's walk, near the marina (barcelona)

couple shot in montjuic

bianca and joy

in montserrat

glamor shot in parque guell

chapel in montserrat

yet another montserrat photo

keeping warm

on the way back to las ramblas

plaza espana

barcelona and madrid in 10 days (part 5): food

2011-04-26T00:01:00.006+08:00

food...food...and more food!

ah, we had lots of them...more than the few pictures we took (we were too busy with the food).

but here's a mouth-watering sampling:

spanish fastfood: pans and company

sangria

our welcome

quaint, charming place

iberian pork ribs...or what very little was left of it

(two seconds after this photo was taken, it was all gone!)

hake fish bake

calcot spring onions with dip: interestingly yummy

simple but packed menu

paella

jamon y queso

rosquillo galician

black pudding (a.k.a. dinuguan) omelet

the day's menu

heavenly: super-thick hot chocolate drink from the museu xocolat

bianca's favorite: ensaymada

empanadas

crepes, crepes everywhere

we also cooked in barcelona. prepared three dinners.

dinner 1: pan-grilled herbed chicken and asupara maki

dinner 2: seafood vongole pasta and beef pot roast

dinner 3: lamb caldereta, blackened salmon and potatoes with peppers and onion

and we got treated to home-cooked spanish tortilla on our first night, and to tajik rice with beef (similar to paella but with so much more spices, esp. garlic and onions). really good!

we got so inspired by the paella we had in madrid, we couldn't wait to try our hands on making it back home. we did on maundy thursday -- we made mixed paella -- and it was a resounding success, yay!

barcelona and madrid in 10 days (part 4): early visita iglesia

2011-04-25T22:12:00.009+08:00

spanish churches figured prominently in our list of places to visit. these churches had mostly tourists in them, and no, we have not seen women wearing spanish veils. but we still did look for veils, but that's a different story.

sagrada familia

one of the most famous barcelona landmarks, the sagrada familia is a cathedral

that has been under construction for more than 100 years!

the sagrada familia is considered the magnum opus of antoni gaudi,

the best known representative of spanish modernism

details: sagrada familia

the sagrada familia viewed from across the lake

imposing and intricate

less than two weeks after our visit, we heard from the news that fire broke out in the sagrada familia,

apparently started by some tourist; luckily, the fire was easily put out

parroquia dela cuidadela

nepo and bianca

the shell for holy water

afternoon light

the facade

mass announcement

basilica of montserrat

montserrat was one hour by train from barcelona city, but it was well worth the trip. it has breath-taking views and a nice overall ambience. we'll post photos of the mountains and the terrain separately. here, we feature only the basilica...

the altar

details: i took this shot for Mom (Cecil)

la moreneta, the black virgin with the child jesus on her lap

every 1:00 p.m., the montserrat boys' choir performs in the basilica

here, the choir was exiting the basilica; we caught only parts of their last song

details: basilica of montserrat, seen from above (we were at visitingthe altar of la moreneta then)

the crypt in madrid

the madrid cathedral was closed for some function when we tried to go there. we only managed to visit the crypt.

i wonder what it requires to be buried in this opulent crypt

altar of the chapel

this is claimed to be the oldest known image of the virgin mary

the article about the oldest image of the virgin

oh, to be remembered and loved in death as one had been in life

on our way to the barcelona cathedral, we stumbled upon this small church. we didn't get its name, but we stayed a bit to listen to a choir rehearsal

bianca at the threshold

the choir rehearsing their set for the concert later that night

father and daughter enjoying the silence

concert announcement

the threshold

saint eulalia, the barcelona cathedral

some lenten-related ritual was going on when we got there

cathedral ceiling

details: barcelona cathedral

more details: barcelona cathedral

view of the cathedral from the plaza

barcelona and madrid in 10 days (part 3): history

2011-04-20T02:53:00.008+08:00

bianca's assignment was to search for places relevant to philippine history, particularly to rizal. here, we document our attempts to locate some of them:

BARCELONA

fonda (hotel) espana:

supposedly the first place where his compatriots welcomed rizal in barcelona

according to bianca's research, there's supposed to be a rizal marker on the facade of the fonda,

but it was nowhere to be found when we got there!

our guess: the facade was refurbished, and in the process the marker was removed.

hmm, wonder if the philippine embassy knew about this...

MADRID

islas filipinas metro stop

inside the metro station

from the islas filipinas metro stop,
we got to the avenida de filipinas in madrid

at the end of the avenida, we spotted the rizal monument!

posing proudly in the foreground

another one...

...and yet another

details...

mi ultimo adios

oh, those lovely words...

the marker

the monument up close
rizal is much taller here than he actually was
and compared to his usual monuments

admiring rizal up close

VIVA MADRID!

one of the places that showed up in bianca's research...
unfortunately, it was closed, not sure if just for renovation or permanently;
there were people working inside, discarding tiles and all

marker saying that this is the place rizal and his compatriots used to frequent in their time

interesting facade...what lofty discussions must have taken place here!

barcelona and madrid in 10 days (part 2): the three of us

2011-04-20T02:21:00.002+08:00

unlike europe the first time around, we had more pictures together in spain. thanks to meanne!

in the park behind arc d'triompe

orienting ourselves in plaza espana, going to montjuic

fashion plates :)

in montjuic

the three of us in montserrat

yes, we've been walking lots!

see the cross in the background? we reached it!

nice and cool

barcelona and madrid in 10 days

2011-04-20T02:04:00.004+08:00

it was quick, but it was great. we had a short break in spain early april. thanks to julie, our gracious host in barcelona, the gardenflies finally made it to spain.

posting here some of the photos.

starting off with photos already posted on facebook:

bianca and joy, in front of the santa caterina cuines restaurant, april 6

the gardenflies with meanne, on montserrat, april 5

with the hosts

birthday girl in park guell

bianca on montjuic

(see the note? tama!)

the chavez clan 2010

2010-12-30T03:11:00.004+08:00

88 of us showed up, a very lucky number...

plus 1 (inay) made the mob a more auspicious 89

chavez family reunion 2010

2010-12-30T02:45:00.005+08:00

we hosted it again this year, and we held it in hardin florencia. we prepared all the food, save for the lechon and dinuguan that went with it. family on facebook already posted tons of photos. below are the only photos i got...

with inay

chrismassy white

prety in pink: tita priming's family (missing tita priming

fiery family: tito caloy's (missing tito caloy)

bright and yellow: tita dadie's family

biggest and most color-coordinated family

(and earliest to arrive too): tita fe's

Christmas 2010

2010-12-30T02:10:00.007+08:00

we were busy in the kitchen and holding fort...so i don't have many photos of christmas eve. here are the ones i managed to take...

it's always about the food...yum...

house favorite, rosemary ribs

potato salad

garlic shrimp linguini

christmas ham

asupara maki with cheese (unusual but good combination)

....and family

james and family visiting from cebu

bianca flanked by nanay and tita dory

bianca

it was fun, as always...

remembering dad

2010-11-04T00:57:00.004+08:00

‎"Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was. I am I, and you are you, and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched,unchanged. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by the old familiar name. Speak of me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference into your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was. There is absolute and unbroken continuity. What is this death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just round the corner. All is well. Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before. How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!"

Death is Nothing At All
by Henry Scott Holland ~ 1847-1918

Dad passed two years ago.

An AEC, good; but where's my right to information?

2010-11-02T00:57:00.003+08:00

by: Nepomuceno Malaluan and Jenina Joy Chavez

The Bangkok Post

Published: 30/10/2010 at 12:00 AM

The Asean Charter includes as one of the purposes of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the promotion of "a people-oriented Asean in which all sectors of society are encouraged to participate in, and benefit from, the process of Asean integration and community building".

As Asean moves ahead with work relating to the implementation of the Asean Charter including through the Road Map for an Asean Economic Community (AEC) and the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), it is high time that Asean made good its rhetoric of people orientation, and started the process of developing and adopting a Freedom of, or Access to, Information Policy for Asean.

By this we mean a set of concrete rules or policies providing for the substantive and procedural details by which the people in the region are able to access information produced or received by Asean and its many organs in the course of its work, subject only to a narrow list of reasonable exceptions.

- We claim this as a right, based on public interest norms as well as internationally accepted legal principles.

- From a public interest perspective, an access to information policy will provide an indispensable platform to secure accountability, greater participation, and better policies for truly responsive community building in the region. It will also play a facilitating role for people's advocacy on urgent regional concerns as well as in pushing for alternatives.

- On the legal front, the right to information is now recognised as an obligation not just by individual states but by intergovernmental bodies as well. Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." This article comprehends not just freedom of expression, but a distinct right to information as well, which is confirmed by state practice at both national and international levels.

Read the full article.

Why Prosecuting GMA is an election issue

2010-05-06T12:51:00.001+08:00

Why Prosecuting GMA is an election issue

by Jenina Joy Chavez
Wednesday, 05 May 2010
Over the years, Filipinos have come to accept that corruption is a part of Philippine politics. But history has shown that if the indications of culpability are strong, people are moved to do something. This happened in EDSA 1986 – sobra na, tama na! was the call against Marcos. This also happened in EDSA Dos when Filipinos saw firsthand how the paper trail of corruption led directly to Mr. Estrada. President Arroyo’s incumbency has been hounded by highly publicized controversies. The Senate investigations on the ZTE and the fertilizer scam, extensively covered by media, gave the public access to testimony and documentation of corruption. A Note on Corruption Corruption is neither the only nor the main reason for our economic woes, but it does imply direct economic costs. First, corruption results in the loss of significant resources that could have been available for productive activities and social services. The World Bank estimated that in the 20-year period between 1977 and 1997, the Philippines lost US$48 billion. In a speech in May 2006, Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrrez claimed that we lost the same amount to corruption in only five years from 2001 to 2005.
Read more...

checking in, and cleaning up

2010-05-04T16:24:00.003+08:00

it's been a while, again...

the long absence resulted in spam comments mushrooming from everywhere. worse, it was difficult to retrieve the old account...

but tadah!

-- spam comments cleaned up

-- admin privileges given to a member's account (hehe, mine!)

-- and voila, some activity finally on this blog

later..

Inflate, Confuse, Oversimplify

2009-07-31T03:10:00.001+08:00

Or how to read GMA’s economic achievements reported in her last SONA

by Jenina Joy Chavez

Years ago I got a gift from one of my best friends and economics thesis partner, a slim book of burnt orange cover reeking of dusty newsprint. It was written almost four decades earlier when I first got it, but I had to laugh and get reassurance from my friend that she was not trying to imply anything, because I was then connected with an organization churning out alternative economic facts and figures. In my numbers-crazed existence, mainly to highlight what was wrong with the world, that little book, How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1954), shook me with humor and gave me a newfound respect for statistics. Old-timer Huff pointed out the many ways statistics is prone to misuse through graphical misrepresentation, over-reading of trends, and faulty cause-and-effect reasoning. Sure, one does not need data to fall prey to bad arguments, but she would sound more convincing with some statistics.

In her last State of the Nation Address (SONA) Monday afternoon, Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, was clever with her statistics – not cluttered but sparing, not comprehensive but selective, and not explaining the nasty details but ascribing trends. In short, she did well with what Huff warned statistics is used for, that is, “to sensationalize, inflate, confuse, and oversimplify”.

Monday’s SONA was an attempt to cast doubt on what people know so well, and to convince them of what she supposedly did for them. What makes it easy for her to cast such doubt is her polarizing of the issues between her and the traditional opposition, which also suffers from lack of credibility. Again and again, we ordinary folks are taken only as spectators, with uncritically incomplete information thrown our way, and overlooking that we are supposed to be active participants in political and economic life, and hence know better.

Mrs. Arroyo’s bold claim was that “the story of the Philippines in 2008 is that the country weathered a succession of global crises in fuel, in food, then in finance and finally, economy in a global recession, never losing focus and with economic fundamentals intact”.

But do the details add up? She did not provide them, so let’s see what official data show, and look at some of her outrageous claims on inflation, poverty, income and employment:

>>Read the full article.

Bobo ng Diliman

2009-07-06T00:19:00.000+08:00

(from my Facebook Note)

They sang in rallies and recorded "awiting di ordinaryo" just as I left my hometown to enter high school in Manila. I have not seen them play, and their members graduated even before I could join UP. But UP Sintunado wrote songs that were socially aware but fun, a tad realistic but not as g&d as most of the protest music of their time...though I wished they were more crazily irreverent. And geez, I wish I met them.

When I finally entered UP, an LFS comrade and UP Diliman's resident sandal expert (who became USC Chair) would sing one of their songs in rallies and student gatherings. I don't actually remember him singing another tune, though I am certain he did, but this one.

Bobo ng Diliman, set to Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode, is a song about a student rebelling against spurious history lessons.

I am tagging my UP contemporaries in the hope that they have not forgotten, and friends I wished I had the chance to meet in UP but are umm, more mature, who no doubt witnessed and enjoyed a much more politically and intellectually stimulating UP than I had. Haha, bawal umangal. Kahit sino.

For more on UP Sintunado, follow this link: http://ulrengx.multiply.com/music

For more on Amante Jimenez...hmmm...

BOBO NG DILIMAN
Category: Music
Genre: Rock
Artist: UP Sintunado
BOBO NG DILIMAN
(Ani Montano/Chuck Berry)

ako'y nagkakamot ng talampakan
gusto ko nang layasan ang eskuwelahan
wala naman akong natututunan
lagi akong pinag-iinitan
lalong lumalabo ang kinabukasan
laging binabagsak sa mga exam

ako'y pinagbabasa nila ng libro
ngunit di matanggap ng aking ulo
si Washington daw ay matapang na tao
aba'y nandiyan naman si Bonifacio
mabuti pang ako'y mag-aral magluto
busog ako't wala pang sakit ng ulo

koro:
SIGE! (SIGE!) durugin niyo ako
SIGE! (SIGE!) wasakin niyo ako
SIGE! (SIGE!) durugin niyo ako
SIGE! (SIGE!) wasakin niyo ako
may araw din ang mga kontrabidang tao
tiyak na maglalaho sa mundong ito

tawag ng titser ko sa akin ay bobo
dahil sa exam laging bagsak ako
di lang niya alam sa iba ako'y uno
ayaw maniwala siya pala'ng bobo
biruin niyo sa klase kapag siya'y magturo
nakakatulog lahat ng ka-eskuwela ko

ad lib

koro (2x)

Does anybody have an MP3 of this song?

Politics Failed Our Constitution

2009-07-06T00:17:00.000+08:00

Politics Failed Our Constitution
by Jenina Joy Chavez, Julie delos Reyes, Herbert Docena, Aya Fabros, Mary Lou Malig, Mary Ann Manahan, Cathy Ordona, Joseph Purugganan, Qiqo Simbol, Lourdes Torres and Walden Bello
Focus on the Global South Philippines Team
24 June 2009

On June 2, 2009, the House of Representatives outdid ignoble acts of the past by ramming through House Resolution 1109, the Resolution that seeks to convene Congress into a Constituent Assembly that will consider amendments or revisions to the 1987 Constitution. Aided by sheer numbers, the House majority not only successfully abbreviated the debate extremely crucial in such an important issue as tinkering with the basic law of the land, they also managed to strip the notorious resolution of dignity by voting viva voce.

What is it in the Constitution that politicians find so objectionable that barely a decade after it was promulgated, the administration of then-President Ramos launched a campaign to revise it, even funding a Supreme Court-rejected ‘people’s initiative’ campaign through the Pirma (People’s Initiative for Reforms, Modernization and Action)? The campaign to change (revise or amend) the Constitution persisted during Estrada’s short-lived stay in office, and has blossomed during Arroyo’s over-extended presidency.

Ramos had a set of proposed reforms that included a shift from a presidential form of government to a parliamentary system, and scrapping land ownership restrictions for foreigners. In 2006, an even more extensive list of proposals emanated from the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments. It contains both changes proposed by Ramos, but also includes the shift to a federal system, the extension of the terms of office of local elective officials from three to five years, and the removal of nationality restrictions on sectors like advertising etc. (See Matrix prepared by PCIJ)

Unfortunately, these proposed changes have not been thoroughly and publicly discussed, that one wonders who the motive forces behind them are. It also convolutes understanding when those with earnest desire to improve the Constitution – e.g. to increase representation by marginalized sectors, to cure certain weaknesses in the provisions on the declaration of martial law and the powers of the president, or simply to clean it up for language and length – fail to build constituencies for their ideas, and get mixed-up with the underlying highly-charged and politicized incentive to change the Constitution.

The main debate centers on the timing and the mode of the change that will be effected. Many say that the Constitution needs revising to keep up with the times, but they say ‘not now, not yet’. A prime consideration is the apprehension that any change to the Constitution now will just be used by the unscrupulous Arroyo and her cohorts to perpetuate themselves in power. This is valid fear as Arroyo is notorious for reneging on her word, and for blatantly messing up most of the country’s institutions (to wit: the election scandal, brinkmanship on civil rights, commandeering Congress, abuse of appointive powers, abuse of pardoning powers, the list goes on).

How and who will change the Constitution is also a big debate. We do not trust Congress – the same people who have slithered their way to power through patronage and corruption – with a valuable document like the Constitution. Not when they managed to water down the agrarian reform extension law; and not when they are preoccupied with a right of reply bill ostensibly to protect themselves from being shamed by their own actions. Not a Congress that would shout aye without the courage of explaining why a Constitutional change is necessary, and what changes they mean to make. And not a House of Representatives that is not beyond declaring itself Congress and convening as a Constituent Assembly without the House of Senate. Many would say a Constitutional Convention is better, when delegates are elected for the express purpose of amending the Constitution. Another mode -- people's initiative, where amendments come from the people (or at least 12% of total registered voters, 12% in every legislative district) themselves -- is rarely discussed these days after the PIRMA experience.

Making the mode of Chacha the hot issue of the day could distract us from more essential questions that we need to focus on. Instead of squabbling about who should revise the Constitution, it should first be made clear what specific amendments one wants to push.

Beyond the when, who and how, there are basic questions that we must go back to: is the 1987 Constitution inadequate? Has it failed us that we need to change it? If so, what changes do we want to make, and should not these changes be the main consideration for any Chacha or ConAss, rather than the Chacha or ConAss per se? Otherwise, what assurance do we have that when we open the Constitution up for amendments yet unidentified, they will not touch the provisions that we should fight to preserve?

Imperfect as the 1987 Constitution might be, it remains the most progressive Constitution we’ve had, and reminds us of the high ideals and aspirations that buoyed the national pride after the people booted out a dictator. It represents a break away from the old, of starting fresh. While coming from mixed backgrounds and political inclinations, the Commissioners who crafted the 1987 Constitution were of high probity and integrity – traits that intervening history has taught us to be wary of ascribing to any body now. It was born of a historical moment when national unity was high, a moment far from the fractiousness of today. Only one in three Filipinos support charter change today, according to surveys, a far cry from the 76% mandate the Constitution got in 1987.

And why not? The 1987 Constitution has a strong declaration on peace, freedom, independent foreign policy, and self-reliant and independent national economy. It has an extensive and progressive Bill of Rights. It clips the powers of the Presidency and strengthens the checks and balances in Government. It has strong language on social justice, equity and redistribution, and reserves preferential treatment to Filipino labor, business and industry, in specific areas like land ownership, exploitation of natural resources, and certain economic sectors.

The 1987 Constitution yet to realize its full potential, as significant mandates have yet to be given enabling legislations or substantive action. The list is long – right to information of public concern, industrialization and full employment based on sound agricultural development and agrarian reform, duty of the State to promote distributive justice and intervene when the common good demands, a progressive system of taxation, equitably diffusing wealth and political power for the common good, urban land reform and housing, the right of people and their organizations to effective and reasonable participation, the anti-political dynasty provision, among others.

Why not fight to preserve these progressive provisions? Why not give life and substance to the many Constitutional mandates we have yet to fully enjoy? The failings of our economy and our political system are not because of the Constitution. It is our politics that has failed the Constitution.

We are told that it is precisely the progressive aspects (esp. the economic provisions) of the Constitution that will be changed, supposedly because they are fetters to our economic development. But it is precisely such restrictions that made possible economic development in a number of Asian countries, like South Korea, and in other cases, such as China, hey have not prevented the massive entry of foreign investment. Moreover, the same people are not complaining that we still do not have access to official information, or that the people have yet to be given a chance to participate meaningfully in economic and political decision-making. How is it that restrictions on foreigners owning lands hold us back, and not the continued entrenchment of the same political families election after election after election?

Beyond Arroyo – and we emphasize that we don’t want her to extend a second beyond her term, there are other forces behind the Chacha. It is not speculation that foreign chambers of commerce and some neo-liberal entities are involved, and their interests intersect with greedy political forces. They are so focused on the act of changing the Constitution that they do not bother to clearly articulate what is wrong with what we have now and what they propose to replace it with. The reason is simple. The changes they envision, now or even later, are not for us ordinary Filipinos but for those who want to use the opening of Chacha to further insinuate their interests into our system.

VIVA VOCE

2009-07-06T00:15:00.000+08:00

Viva Voce
by Jenina Joy Chavez

To give his New Society legitimacy, deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos after proclaiming Martial Law in September 1972 had the people gather in barangay halls all over the country to ratify a new Constitution. In lieu of a plebiscite, a popular vote where people either accept or reject a proposal, people were asked to raise their hands if they were in favor of the new Constitution. This manner of voting is called viva voce or a voice vote.

A voice vote is a voting method used where voters respond verbally to questions being asked. The decision on who wins the vote is decided by the presiding officer, ostensibly based on the number of hands or the loudness of voice during the vote. In this mode, it is impossible to put names or numbers to who voted which way, and the measure voted on is presumed to be unanimously endorsed or agreed to.

Voice votes are used for non-controversial matters. For instance, the House of Representatives would usually use voice votes during the second reading of proposed House Bills and Resolutions. However, the final vote for a bill is done nominally, that is, legislators and their votes are clearly identified. For landmark legislation, Members of Congress even ask to explain their votes. In the case of Resolutions, however, this practice is relaxed since Resolutions may be considered less weighty than an actual law.

However, there is another reason why nominal voting is avoided and voice voting resorted to – ironically, it is when the measure in consideration is very controversial. The case of the 1973 Constitution is for expediency, and punctuated the utter lack of respect for the people’s right to vote, among others. The case of H.R. 1109 is sheer cowardice, an act of a Congress that understands the absence of dignity in what it was doing and sought political cover through an anonymous vote. Indeed, if the subtext of the 1973 ayes was an answer to the question “who has not eaten yet?”, the subtext of the June 2, 2009 vote was so shameful nobody wanted to be put on record. After all, who would admit to having betrayed the national interest by saying aye to “who wants their pork barrel now?”.

mom's facebook

2009-05-29T00:50:00.002+08:00

well, i heard that mom announced that dad has a new blog on facebook.

she didn't announce mine.

well, it doesn't exactly help that she doesn't know that i have a new blog, but still. she should at least check my profile once in a while. :P

hehe. i know i'm overreacting, so here it is, my new blog.

that's all for now.

but please, check out my blog.

you know you want to.
:P

Well.....

2009-05-26T20:21:00.002+08:00

Hi, it's me again.

Well, I just noticed that the blog is dead, so here I am, reviving it. :P Maybe it's because mom and dad have been busy these past few months. I dunno. But, since the last post was about the holidays, I guess I might as well update.

Well, we spent the summer vacation in Camuguin (I'm sure mom will write about that soon).

Well, that's all.

My classes begin soon, though, June 8. I am an incoming high school freshman at Philippine Science High School. My section is Sapphire (I think; I don't quite remember).

Well, that's all, I guess.

And, by the way, dad has a new blog, Food, Places & Philippine Society (yes, apparently they mix). He plans to make it kind of like a cookbook, with political commentaries at the side. :P He hopes that it will be, well, popular. All I can say to that is: don't get your hopes up, dad. :P Well, anyway, if you read this (which is nobody, I presume), read his blog, too. It's just starting, though, and doesn't even have a proper template yet (like this blog), but I expect it will get better soon. :P

Well, that's all, I guess.

"Well," count: 6
(Parentheses) count: 5

Hehe..... That's just my writing style, I guess.

P.S.
",I guess" count:5vv

That's all, I guess---THIS IS THE LAST ONE OF THOSE, I PROMISE!

holiday 2008 photos

2009-01-07T00:24:00.006+08:00

cousins, 8 from the malaluan side, 2 from the chavez side
bianca as common denominator
(other chavez cousins not in photo are james michael [asleep],
and joshua and julianne [in the u.s.])

nepo preparing his mushroom/asparagus and bacon wrap

naning, thea, gio and jing

after years of wishing, bianca finally got to visit the enchanted kingdom

during the chavez reunion 2008

fuzzing over james michael in the lanai

minutes before the countdown to 2009

happy new year!

baby james michael oblivious to all the new year noise

just before the media noche

after the new year mass

gio and yanyan playing chess

chill

on the way to the airport (james and family going home)

the clan chavez

2009-01-06T21:52:00.005+08:00

it was daddy's idea to have this yearly family gathering, and we're happy to note that this year we are completing the second rotation already.

mamay esteban and nanay victoria chavez produced a big clan. the families of tito benny, tita fe, tito nardo, daddy, and tita nene would easily fill a hall of a hundred seats, and the clan is growing by the year.

it's still a challenge to remember everyone, especially the younger ones (i, of course, know all the first cousins and their partners), but the annual reunion is a good way of keeping everyone updated.

the chavez family reunion 2008 was hosted by tito caloy's family (tita nene passed two years ago). and aside from kuya jerome's reference to "nalalagas na parang dahon" during the invocation (but let's face it, we're all still smarting from daddy's passing), the reunion was light and fun.

we hope to see everyone again in this year's reunion -- on december 30, hosted by tita dadie's family.

tita priming's family

tita dadie's family

our family (minus jojo, geena, joshua and juliane)

the hosts -- tito caloy's family

the matriarchs

loud first cousins

bianca and yanyan with their dance number

thanks

2009-01-04T23:31:00.003+08:00

two months ago today dad left us. we wish to thank everyone who sent their sympathy and support during our time of grief.

apologies to those who have not received their thank you cards yet.

last hurray for 2008: all bianca-related

2009-01-04T22:49:00.007+08:00

14 medals for Pinoy whiz kids

MATARAM, Lombok Island—The Philippines reaped 14 medals, including a gold in science, at the fifth International Mathematics and Science Olympiad (Imso) for Primary School that concluded in this Indonesian city on Thursday.

Bianca Mae Malaluan, a sixth-grade student at St. Bridget College in Batangas, won a gold medal in science in the two-day competition that drew 140 participants from 10 countries in Asia and Africa.

Read full story.

the philippine science team

bianca on day 1 of competition

bianca on day 2 of competition

team philippines with tutors and supervisors

more wishes

2008-12-22T10:47:00.002+08:00

hehe... demanding bah?
well.... heto, names lang...
si Tamora Pierce at yung den of shadows(series) ni Amelia Atwater-Rhodes.
:D
Soooper demending ko, no?
Well, it is Christmas. :P

By the way, have you watched Pan's Labyrinth? It's a great thriller movie about a girl, Ofelia, who loves fairy tales and then finds herself in the middle of one. It's a Spanish movie directed by Guillermo del Torros, who directed Hellboy, I think.
Anyways, it's just great. I luuuuuurve it!!!!!!!!

And sorry if I'm demanding... :P
Heh.

more books for bianca

2008-12-19T11:04:00.006+08:00

hi all, here are some more additions to bianca's list. all books.

Endymion Spring (Matthew Skelton) *TAKEN*
Sweep (origins) (Cate Tiernan) *TAKEN*
The House of Power (Patrick Carman) *TAKEN*
Ink Death (Cornelia Funke) -- she has the first two books already *TAKEN*
The Historian (Elizabeth Kostova) *TAKEN*
The Constant Princess (Philippa Gregory) *TAKEN*
something interesting about ancient dragons

a heads up...she's seen the John Grisham section and became very interested. i asked why, and she said 'he's got so many!' but please, if you're getting any book, please don't prioritize this.

thanks.

bianca's christmas wishlist

2008-12-10T16:52:00.006+08:00

for those who keep asking, below is bianca's christmas list. she said to write it down as is, without edits. so here goes..

* a wallet (yung maganda tapos may lalagyan na ng whatevs...) *TAKEN*
* a proper case for my iPod nano (2nd gen sya, purple sana)
* a laptop?!? (demanding!) uuy, ganun?
* Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr *TAKEN*
* The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Stewart *TAKEN*
* any good adventure-fantasy book (NO TWILIGHT SERIES!)
* art supplies, how to draw manga books...
* stationery set, or whatever you call a set of pens and notebooks... *TAKEN*
* umm, a good music CD? i like bossa nova, rock, pop...^-^
* a good DVD/VCD! can be a movie or series or documentary
* there's this "Enviro-battery" set...it doesn't have to be strictly that...basta science-related
* money na lang? hehehe...
* headbands, maybe some hair things
* Adobe Photoshop and (hala, nalimutan ko yung tawag) yung animation program ng Adobe...nalimutan ko tawag eh

umm, yun lang...di naman ako demanding eh (di daw!)

ay, tay lang, may pahabol pah:

* bala ng DS --
Civilization Revolution
Pokemon Diamond (kahit di na pearl) ayun!
umm, yung maganda
Guitar Hero
* ayy! at camera

sigh...pardon the side comments. and please don't mind the big items. those are meant for us.

Dad

2008-11-25T14:52:00.004+08:00

In Memoriam
JOSE C. CHAVEZ
21 February 1938 - 04 November 2008

we were all there around him. mommy, kuya, jam, jasmin, nepo, and i. my two brothers (james and jojo) who couldn't be there talked to him on the phone. it was not a wait for something to end, but a moment of being together for the last time and forever.

we express our collective grief in a very subtle way. we go on with life as usual. but while our family tries to help each other fill the void that he left, dad will forever be missed, and eternally loved.

paalam, daddy.

Umm... Update?

2008-10-05T19:55:00.003+08:00

Well, there's your evidence that I STILL have ECOWB.... I mean, that's like the longest writer's block in the history of time!!!! :D
Oh, well...
Anyway, if ANYONE, remotely ANYONE is reading this, please pray for me on Wednesday... Starting as soon as possible.... I'll have my division G.I contest on the 8th, and, welll.... let's just say that I'm so not ready! LOLz...
Anyway... Just dropped by to tell you that I'm extremely hung over HP fanfics!! Stil hating Twilight.... aXBut I kinda like the START (haven't finished it yet.... and it looks like I won't) of New Moon... But I hate Bella there.... Whe was so.... clingy. Like: Oh no Edward left me, my life has ended! I mean. UGH!!!!
Oh well... Guess that's all...... :P

P.S. I suddenly realize that this is meant for my other blog. Oh well. The glory of copy-paste. :D

focus in negros

2008-09-22T11:12:00.008+08:00

it was not a grammatical mistake. i meant, the focus staff in negros. we had a series of activities in bacolod, escalante and la castellana in august. i post a few photos here. apologies for the incomplete tags/captions (perhaps you can help?).

bangkero

the boatman who took us to the jomabo island resort for the staff retreat

meanne with task force mapalad (tfm) members

tfm president

tfm kids

the cane of life

the house he left behind
julie, joy and guide
our guide used to be a farmer leader in this land. he was asked to leave we he 'started to cause trouble'

a DAR sign

focus staff and our guide posing in front of the la castellana municipal hall
standing: julie, lou, qiqo
seated: guide, meanne, herbert, aya

the women of focus philippines
(aya, joy, meanne and julie; not in photo is lou; ml left early for manila)

dusk

some fun after work

2008-09-22T10:42:00.004+08:00

the drts (development roundtable series) core group had a meeting on september 18 and 19. we stayed in casa san pablo, a relaxing quaint place in the middle of bustling san pablo city. it was an intense day-and-a-half, but it was also smooth and quick. no difficult people, no unresolved controversies. everybody was open, and generous about their comments and contributions, which made the meeting not un-fun at all.

after the meeting, we went to kusina salud, a garden restaurant in the vacation home of renowned designer patis tesoro.

some photos below:

drts core group members enjoying the feast. we liked the pako (fern) salad, and the sans rival best.

julie and meanne cozying up to the place

meanne and joy doing the koreanovela pose (joy got the fingers wrong)

interesting decorative mobile -- geckos and all kinds of local lizards

for the more serious photos, visit the drts website. they should be posted soon.

congratulations, bianca!

2008-09-14T12:27:00.007+08:00

bianca won the science quiz division level on friday, september 12.

bianca's medal

yesterday, after her review class, we went out to dinner and got her a new book. she's not supposed to read too many non-science/match/civics book until after november 15. but she did well, and she deserves a break.

bianca with her dad in serendra

we're proud of you, bungka!

bianca with her new book

It's me!!!

2008-09-12T20:18:00.004+08:00

Bianx... Remember me??

Of course you do. I'm very unforgettable. Hehe.

Anyway, I decided to post because I'm in a blog- posting mood, and I haven't posted anything here for a VERY long time.

Well, please check my blog. Please.

I won the Division Science Quiz Bee earlier today! Yahoo! There's a downside, though. There'll be a regional bee and that only means..... more studying. And more studying means...... less (fiction) books!!!! :( But mom promised to buy me a celebratorial book tomorrow. :D

Umm.... I have a new poem but I don't remember where my copy is...... I'll just let mom post it here when I find it.

Well, guess that's all. Be sure to check my blog, k? I put my complaints on Twilight and HP there..... :D

~bianx~

conversion

2008-09-04T09:06:00.008+08:00

when we moved to the farm four years ago, eartha was our only dog. she was free to go wherever she wanted, though her preferred sleeping quarters was inay's lanai. soon a few more dogs (all mongrels and cross breeds) joined her and eartha eventually gave birth to some pups herself, so we decided to give them a dedicated place of their own.

alas, the new dogs and pups did not get the same attention and training that eartha had growing up -- they are rowdy free-spirited dogs that would not be fenced in. the place we set up then became almost exclusively eartha's haven, though used as a feeding station for the other dogs too.

eartha passed early this year, and none of the dogs would go to her place anymore. eartha was with us for a total of ten (10) years -- from Scout Fuentebella to Project 8 to Novaliches and then to the farm -- and we just let that area sit there. it had been left untouched.

but moving on, we recently decided to make good use of eartha's haven and convert it into an herbal garden. it will take a bit of work, but we made a good start this morning by actually being there and cleaning up a bit.

eartha's haven
it has an area of around 120 sq. m., with mesh wire and madre cacao fence, and a white iron gate.
at the center is a shed (about 12 sq. m.) with concrete floor and galvanized iron roofing.
there used to be a papag (wooden bed) for eartha's use.

morning light
view of the place (from the right side) covered in early morning light streaming through the canopy of leaves

sitting area
what used to be eartha's shed is converted into a small outdoor sitting area

my dad and nepo

the right-hand side of the garden is where new vegetable patches will be.
herbs will be in plant boxes on the left side as well as the back and front of the shed.

view of the house from the sitting area
the pahuhutan (a local mango variety) tree will have to go to make way for sunlight during the day.
too bad, it used to be bianca's favorite tree, but the vegetable patches will need all the sunlight they can get.

the indian mango tree at the back (left side) of the shed stays.

we are excited about this new project. it is easy, and provides long term easy exercise and lots of satisfaction for us. it also helps us expand the area of the farm that we are able to develop.

we will post photos of the progress of the project as we go a long.

meanwhile, below are three nice photos i took this morning...

sampaloc
tamarind tree just outside (right side towards the back) the herbal-garden-to-be

dust and brook on the lanai

desert rose
this is the oldest plant we have. it was a bonsai desert rose when we got it from a fair in
dolores, quezon weeks before bianca's christening. yaya tuna, however,
transferred it to the ground when we were in novaliches.
we dug it out and brought it with us when we transferred apartments
and finally gave it a permanent place just outside the lanai in the farm.

JICA girls

2008-09-03T10:47:00.005+08:00

about 14 years ago, after quitting my first job, i had a short stint with the ODA (grants) arm of the japanese government in the philippines. it was nothing fancy -- i did mostly project liaison work, and i got to work with the project formulation adviser and was assigned to the planning section at the time. i left after three months and decided to go freelance for more than a year before ending up in my current organization (yes, i've been here for that long).

the stint was short, but there i met some very good friends. one is now a human resource and training consultant, another is with an international health organization in manila, and still another teaches primary school in the u.s.

below are some photos of our reunion in july, when jackie came home for a visit with son noah.

jackie, jackie's friend jovie, osel (she's still with jica), marissa, joy, buneeh

migo, noah, bianca, moira
not in photo: aaron paul

with ninang marissa (she's bianca's godmother)

marissa with nepo
nepo is very popular with my friends, not least because of his cooking

a scheduled outing in batangas has been postponed twice already, but we're committed to finally have it this year, hopefully within the month?

newest addition to the family

2008-09-03T09:31:00.004+08:00

it's a boy! the second one for my brother james and his wife, marivic. a baby brother for kuya john marvin a.k.a. yanyan.

i saw my brother's family in cebu city in june just a month before my sister-in-law was due to give birth, and then again in the last week of august.

here are some photos from the visits.

marivic at full term

yanyan writing a note to lola cecil as mom marivic looks on

yanyan with tita joy

james' family with the new baby

kuya yanyan with james michael

james michael with tita joy

voila! a real chavez looker =)

ASEAN Talk

2008-08-29T17:45:00.003+08:00

Group scores Asean charter for lack of migrant labor laws
08/29/2008 | 02:18 PM

MANILA, Philippines - A group of civil society organizations have expressed disappointment over the “non-mention" of migrant labor issues in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Charter.

Asked to comment on the charter during ratification hearings by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Thursday, the Solidarity for Asian Peoples' Advocacies (Sapa) Working Group and of the Philippine Working Group on Asean also pointed to a “limited reference" to gender and women’s rights, internal conflicts, asylum seekers, and indigenous peoples.

“Missing elements (in the charter) include the non-mention of migrant labor which makes up a substantial portion of labor flows in the region," said Jenina Joy Chavez, who spoke on behalf of the working groups.

Sapa Working Group on Asean is composed of more than 100 civil organizations with national and regional organization members who work specifically on the Asean Charter building process.

“The Charter is a disappointment, falling short of what is needed to establish a ‘people-centered,’ ‘people-empowered’, or ‘people-oriented’ Asean," said Chavez.

Read full article.

Econ Talk

2008-08-29T10:57:00.004+08:00

TALK OF THE TOWN
8 steps to address economic crisis
By Herbert Docena, Jenina Joy Chavez
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines—Despite Malacanang’s attempts to give a positive spin to the crisis, government’s own data unambiguously attest to how Filipinos are reeling from an economic downturn made worse by increases in the price of basic commodities. The signs are grim: The 7.3-percent GDP growth of a year ago dipped to 5.2 percent in the first quarter of 2008.

About 9.5 million of the country’s 33.5 million workers are either unemployed or underemployed. Inflation in July rose 12.2 percent, the highest in almost 17 years. Prices of diesel and gasoline last month jumped 64 percent and 48 percent, respectively, from their levels in July last year. Also staggering was the inflation in food, which shot up to 18.6 percent. The price of rice rose 50 percent. Little wonder that 2.8 million families, or 15.7 percent of the total number of households, experienced hunger.

A more visionary leadership would have implemented an emergency response while laying the ground for long-term measures. Instead, the crisis has been used as an excuse to gain political points. Government’s answer is an elaborate dole package that is a palliative at best. The crisis is caused by fundamental weaknesses in the economy. These include government’s perennial lack of funds, the inability of the majority of the population to contribute to and gain from the economy due to their lack of incomes or assets, and the power of a few to dominate the economy in ways that promote their interests over the larger public’s.

We put forward an eight-point agenda that address—instead of evade—these problems.

Read full article.

for moms

2008-05-19T18:32:00.004+08:00

i got this from my college dorm e-group. a belated happy mother's day gift. i hope you enjoy it.

SA UGOY NG DUYAN

Music by Lucio San Pedro
Lyrics by Levi Celerio

Sana’y di nagmaliw ang dati kong araw
Nang munti pang bata sa piling ni nanay
Nais kong maulit ang awit ni inang mahal
Awit ng pag-ibig habang ako'y nasa duyan

Sana’y di nagmaliw ang dati kong araw
Nang munti pang bata sa piling ni nanay
Nais kong maulit ang awit ni inang mahal
Awit ng pag-ibig habang ako'y nasa duyan

Refrain:
Sa aking pagtulog na labis ang himbing
Ang bantay ko'y tala, ang tanod ko’y bituin
Sa piling ni nanay, langit ay buhay
Puso kong may dusa sabik sa ugoy ng duyan

Sana'y di nagmaliw ang dati kong araw
Nang munti pang bata sa piling ni nanay
Nais kong maulit ang awit ni inang mahal
Awit ng pag-ibig habang ako’y nasa duyan

Sa aking pagtulog na labis ang himbing
Ang bantay ko'y tala, ang tanod ko'y bituin
Sa piling ni nanay, langit ay buhay
Puso kong may dusa sabik sa ugoy ng duyan

Nais kong matulog sa dating duyan ko, inay
Oh! inay

MAG-INA SA BANIG
ni Nestor Leynes
1960

This song describes one's longing for a mother's embrace and lullaby in the face of life's many pains and suffering.

GLOSSARY

ugoy -- swinging movement as in a hammock
duyan -- a baby's hammock, also mother's arms
sana -- a term to express wish

magmaliw -- to disappear

dati -- past, former

munti -- small, little

piling -- in one's embrace

maulit -- to happen again

nanay -- mother, synonymous to ina, inang, inay

himbing -- deep slumber

bantay -- guard, synonymous to tanod

tala -- star, synonymous to bituin

langit -- heaven

sabik -- to long for something

corruption is a question of leadership

2008-02-14T22:16:00.004+08:00

This is the first draft of the Action for Economic Reforms statement calling on GMA to resign. It was collectively revised for sharpening and shortening. Some of the omitted points, however, may have some value for reference, where space is less a concern such as in this blogspot.

Corruption is a Question of Leadership
GMA Resign NOW!

Nepomuceno Malaluan
(Draft for the Action for Economic Reforms statement calling on GMA to resign)
08 February 2008

“He was on good terms with the authorities, agile, flexible, and even audacious when it came to speculating with other people’s property. He was the only rival, and a frightening one at that, of a man named Pérez when it came to rents and auctions of merchandise or jobs that the Philippine Government entrusts to private individuals.”
Jose Rizal, Noli Me Tangere
Chapter 6: Captain Tiago
(Harold Augenbraum Translation)

Criminal justice will have to wait, affording the parties their substantive and procedural rights before the courts of law. But politically for us Filipinos who read, watched, heard and observed the statements and testimonies of accusers, witnesses, and government defenders in the ZTE-NBN controversy, we need not wait. The testimony of Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada, Jr., made under oath before the Senate on 08 February 2008, gave us the moral certainty that corruption attended the ZTE-NBN deal. With the suggestion that a similar anomaly most likely attended the South Rail project, along with other things we already know about past controversies, the ZTE-NBN is not isolated in government procurement, whether they be on loan or BOT basis.

And at what scale! For the ordinary Filipino families, 50% of whom earn a poverty income of at most PhP10,000.00 per month, the amount of kick-back that Commission Chairman Benjamin Abalos asked to be protected is mind boggling. At the time the deal was being negotiated, based on Mr. Lozada’s testimony he was asking to protect a US$130 million kickback. At the exchange rate at the time the deal was signed in Boao, China in April 2007, its peso value would have been PhP6.2 billion. Such amount is nearly double the budget of the Department of Agriculture for 2008. Now we understand what plunder truly means.

The Philippines is not lacking in laws and institutions against corruption. The 1987 Constitution devotes an entire article of 18 sections (Article XI) to provisions on accountability of public officers. The Revised Penal Code punishes malfeasance and misfeasance in office of public officers, including bribery, frauds against the public treasury, and malversation of public funds. Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, expands the punishable corrupt practices even further. Republic Act 7080 defines and penalizes the crime of plunder. The country has a powerful Office of the Ombudsman, with the duty to investigate and prosecute illegal acts or omissions by public officers and employees. It also has a special court, the Sandiganbayan, with jurisdiction to try high-ranking public officials for graft and corruption. To underscore the fight against graft and corruption as a priority thrust of the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA), she has created the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission to investigate and hear administrative cases and complaints against erring Presidential Appointees, and to assist the President in the campaign against graft and corruption.
Still, in the Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index, the Philippines ranked 131st most corrupt among 180 countries surveyed.

The puzzle of persistent corruption in the Philippines has triggered a sizeable effort to address corruption in the country. International and bilateral financial institutions and foundations have provided resources to study the problem and introduce anti-corruption strategies and programs. Economists and policy analysts have done the same. Non-government organizations have also contributed to the efforts to address corruption. The resulting analysis and the measures adopted have been comprehensive and deep. These include regulatory reforms, agency-level reforms and capacity building, judicial reforms, changes in the procurement law, strengthening of the anti-corruption lead agencies, and introduction of various anti-corruption activities such as lifestyle checks and values formation.

In the complexity of the anti-corruption analysis and measures, what was missed was the simplest answer to the problem: Corruption is a question of leadership.

The plunder exemplified by the ZTE-NBN deal goes all the way up to GMA. In the testimony of Joey de Venecia, GMA’s husband, Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, was a central figure in securing the kickback. While Filipinos were not satisfied with the weight of Joey de Venecia’s testimony, being an interested party in the deal, the candid, credible and detailed testimony of Jun Lozada as well as the circumstances surrounding his appearance before the Senate, sealed in the Filipino people’s eyes the moral certainty of Mike Arroyo’s central role. But what is also now also crystal clear to the Filipino people is that the buck does not stop at Mike Arroyo. His influence is crucial not because of his own accord, but of whom he represents: the exercise of the power and prerogatives of the highest executive of the land.

Such role of GMA we know by necessary implication. We caught a glimpse of this in action in another controversy -- we distinctly heard her wiretapped voice in her telephone conversation with former Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano on her election. However, the possibility of a direct testimony on GMA’s participation in the ZTE-NBN deal as well as with other similar deals is remote, if not unlikely. We have seen the extent to which she will use her powers to prevent this from happening – the issuance of the unconstitutional Executive Order 464 to derail Senate investigations, the invocation of executive privilege in the testimony of former NEDA Director General Romulo Neri on the question of GMA’s participation, and the deployment of state forces to abduct Jun Lozada and prevent him from testifying.

With the top leadership at the heart of the biggest corrupt deals, no wonder corruption remains unabated. Under the leadership of a non-corrupt president, anti-corruption programs and institutions will be effective. Under a corrupt presidency, the same programs and institutions only become a protective veil for corruption itself. GMA’s public reaction to the testimony of Jun Lozada is instructive. She was reported to have ordered the Department of Justice to investigate the testimony of Jun Lozada. The Justice Secretary was quick to dismiss Lozada’s testimony as part of a “drama”.

But Filipinos know better. No amount of media spin by GMA’s propagandists such as DILG Secretary Ronaldo Puno, former Executive Secretary Mike Defensor, and Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye can now distort the truth, for it is “like water bursting forth from a monumental dam”.

With GMAs repeated betrayal of the public trust, she has no right to sit as President a minute longer. GMA must step down now. All other officials involved in the ZTE-NBN deal, including Secretary Romy Neri, DOTC Secretary Leandro Mendoza, and members of the NEDA-ICC must also step down from their government posts. The officials involved in the abduction of Jun Lozada and its cover-up in the media, such as PNP Chief Avelino Razon, Secretary Lito Atienza and DILG Secretary Ronaldo Puno, must likewise step down.

We call on government officials with integrity left to take a stand. We call on moral beacons, such as Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales, to break their silence and make a stand.

To be sure, with GMA out, there are no guarantees of the kind of leaders that will emerge, or what alternatives we will have. But that is a matter we will have to deal later, after we take the necessary first step of excising from power GMA’s corrupt presidency.

We end with an excerpt from Thomas Cleary’s translations of Huainanzi, a record of sayings on civilization, culture, and government:

“The reason why leaders are set up is to eliminate violence and quell disorder. Now they take advantage of the power of the people to become plunderers themselves. They are like winged tigers – why shouldn’t they be eliminated? If you want to raise fish in a pond, you have to get rid of otters; if you want to raise domestic animals, you have to get rid of wolves – how much the more so when governing people!”

TIGIL NA: filipinos won't be taken for a ride...

2008-02-14T13:12:00.003+08:00

If you're on Facebook, please join this group TIGIL NA: filipinos won't be taken for a ride.

I post here the Intro:


Name:	TIGIL NA: filipinos won't be taken for a ride...
Type:	Common Interest - Current Events
Description:	if you have been following the recent developments in the philippines, then you are aware that jun lozada's testimony implicating the powers-that-be in grand-scale corruption with the ZTE-NBN deal is nothing new. in fact, this is nothing more than a case of 'more of the same'. gloria macapagal arroyo, her family, and her cabinet men have been linked to various scandals - corruption, massive cheating in the elections, bribery, and now even kidnapping of a whistleblower whose life was endangered when he was taken for a ride against his will. if you are like me, then you must be clearly disgusted with the politics of it. if you are like me, then you are enraged by these brazen acts that have gone unpunished. if you are like me, then you must be feeling that knot in your gut that just compels you to say something, to do something... because enough is enough. TAMA NA. TIGIL NA. i will not sit idly and let our corrupt and cheating 'leaders' carry on as if all is well and forgiven. i will not be silent, lest my silence give the impression that i tolerate these acts. i will do something, anything just so it is known that i am angry. i will not be taken for a ride... if you feel exactly the same, join the group and invite those who are as disgusted as we are. if you feel like doing something, anything at all, join the group and let us know what 'tiny acts of bravery' we can do together. if you want to speak up and be counted, then go ahead and let your anger out - post your thoughts on the wall, join the daily noise barrage, observe a minute of silence everyday wherever you are... however you release your anger, do it. walk it out, talk it out, type it out, dance it out... let it out! by the way, if you're not filipino but you're disheartened and disgusted just the same... then you have as much stake in this as we do. join us too.

a question of leadership

2008-02-11T20:44:00.000+08:00

GMA: Resign NOW!

Action for Economic Reforms

Michael Alba, Ma. Luz Anigan, Krupskaya M. Añonuevo, Manuel Buencamino, Jessica Reyes-Cantos, Agham Cuevas, Jenina Joy Chavez, Sylvia Estrada-Claudio, Ramon Fernan III, Alvin Firmeza, Margarita F. Gomez, Jose Ernesto Ledesma, Fides Lim, Solomon Lumba, Nepomuceno Malaluan, Cristina Morales, Rene Ofreneo, Rafael Paredes, Rene R. Raya, U-Primo Rodriguez, Rina Rosales, Filomeno S. Sta. Ana III

11 February 2008

He was on good terms with the authorities, agile, flexible, and even audacious when it came to speculating with other people’s property. He was the only rival, and a frightening one at that, of a man named Pérez when it came to rents and auctions of merchandise or jobs that the Philippine Government entrusts to private individuals.

Jose Rizal, Noli Me Tangere, Chapter 6: Captain Tiago (Harold Augenbraum Translation)

Criminal justice will come, but now is the time to take political action. The testimony of Rodolfo Lozada, Jr., made under oath before the Senate, gives us the moral certainty to condemn the massive corruption in the ZTE-NBN deal. With the suggestion that a similar anomaly most likely attended the South Rail project, along with other previous scandals, the ZTE-NBN is not an isolated case of unbridled corruption.

And at what scale! For the ordinary Filipino families, 50% of whom earn a meager income of less than Php 300 per day, the kickback amounting to US$130 million—which Lozada said “Commission” Chairman Benjamin Abalos asked him to protect—is mind boggling.

Very revolting, too, was the abduction of Mr. Lozada abduction, upon the order of Malacañang. Here is an instance in which the Palace micromanaged, and mangled, a kidnapping to silence a whistleblower.

What was plunder by a colonial government in Rizal’s time is now plunder by a Mafia occupying Malacañang. The first family is the capo di tutti capi, the boss of all bosses. The Macapagal-Arroyo family has turned the Philippine government into a mafia family, with Cabinet men, congressmen, and other functionaries as their mob lieutenants. We have state capture not by the elite but by a Filipino mafia headed by the first family.

The Philippines is not lacking in laws and institutions against corruption and plunder. The 1987 Constitution devotes an entire article of 18 sections (Article XI) to provisions on accountability of public officers. The Revised Penal Code punishes malfeasance and misfeasance in office of public officers, including bribery, frauds against the public treasury, and malversation of public funds. The Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, expands the punishable corrupt practices even further. Republic Act 7080 defines and penalizes the crime of plunder. We have a powerful Office of the Ombudsman, with the duty to investigate and prosecute illegal acts or omissions by public officers and employees. We also have a special court, the Sandiganbayan, with jurisdiction to try high-ranking public officials for graft and corruption. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) has created the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission to investigate and hear administrative cases and complaints against erring Presidential Appointees, and to assist the President in the campaign against graft and corruption.

Much effort has been undertaken to address chronic corruption. Multilateral and bilateral donors, economists and policy analysts, and non-government organizations have studied the problem and proposed anti-corruption strategies and programs. The measures adopted have been comprehensive and deep. These include regulatory reforms, agency-level reforms and capacity building, judicial reforms, changes in the procurement law, strengthening of the anti-corruption lead agencies, and introduction of various anti-corruption activities such as lifestyle checks and values formation.

Despite all this, what is missing is the simplest answer to the problem: Fighting corruption is a question of leadership.

Since the leadership itself is brazenly engaged in plunder, corruption remains unabated. Under the leadership of a non-corrupt president, anti-corruption programs and institutions will be effective. Under a corrupt presidency, the same programs and institutions only become a protective veil for corruption itself. GMA’s public reaction to the testimony of Lozada is instructive. She was reported to have ordered the Department of Justice to investigate Lozada’s testimony. The Justice Secretary was quick to dismiss Lozada’s testimony as part of a “drama.”

The plunder exemplified by the ZTE-NBN deal goes all the way up to GMA. In the testimony of Joey de Venecia, GMA’s husband, Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, was a central figure in securing the kickback. The candid, credible and detailed testimony of Jun Lozada, in relation to his abduction and the overpricing of the ZTE-NBN contract points to Malacañang as the culprit. It is crystal clear that the buck does not stop at Mike Arroyo. His influence is crucial not because of his own accord, but of whom he represents: the exercise of the power and prerogatives of the highest executive of the land.

GMA is using her vast powers and resources of the State to scuttle the Senate investigation: The issuance of the unconstitutional Executive Order 464 that prevents Cabinet officials from appearing in Senate inquiries, the invocation of executive privilege in the testimony of former NEDA Director General Romulo Neri on the question of GMA’s approval of the corrupt ZTE-NBN deal, and the abduction of Lozada to prevent him from testifying.

With GMA’s repeated betrayal of the public trust, she has no right to sit as President a minute longer. All other officials involved in the ZTE-NBN deal, including Secretary Romy Neri, DOTC Secretary Leandro Mendoza, and members of the NEDA-ICC must step down from their government posts. The officials involved in the abduction of Jun Lozada and its cover-up in the media, such as PNP Chief Avelino Razon, Secretary Lito Atienza and DILG Secretary Ronaldo Puno, must likewise step down.

We must expunge the Philippine Mafia.

Top 4 Bummers this 2007

2008-01-11T17:25:00.000+08:00

Hmm.... I'll just post the things I'm thankful for another time....
Anyway, here's my list:

4. Not getting the editorial position I want...... Ok, so I am the news editor, but I wanted to be feature and literary!!!

3. My cousins growing up. They're not fun to play with anymore!!!! :P

2. Like mom, mosquitoes attacking me..... But unlike her, I keep on scratching, so now I've got lots of wounds!!! hehe...

1.Having ECOWB.... or an Extreme Case of Writer's Bock..... There! I dunno what to write here!!! :P

the best and worst of 2007

2008-01-05T14:14:00.001+08:00

before plunging into the new blogging year, let us first share with you what we consider to be the best and the worst things that happened to us in 2007. i will go first, and bianca will give her lists later.

top 10 things i am most thankful for

10. WORK and having met my commitments. it was very busy and exhausting, but it was also extremely satisfying -- from the ACSC II media blitz to the 1st SAPA GF to the ACSC III and the SAPA media blitz in Singapore, to the Investment workshop, all the DRTS stuff, the Puerto Galera Manila staff retreat...it was all great! writing commitments were met, most of them on time too. for travel and speaking, i declined most invites unrelated to ASEAN, regionalism and Philippine stuff, but had been very generous to those that were.

9. seeing the gorgeous Bukhansan on a short visit to Seoul in late January.

8. dulce de leche from Colonia del Sacramento, umm, umm. i had to be there to get it too.

7. being introduced to the wonderful sinful world of Royce chocolates in Singapore. Royce is a Japanese brand, and my favorite line is the nama (especially bitter and champagne), the nutty bars, and the macadamia chocs. yum.

6. discovering that Royce is in Bangkok too! okay, i am shallow -- but it's chocolates! you'll find Royce in Paragon and the Emporium. in Singapore it's in the Takashimaya and the SunTec.

5. Arctic (one of eartha's pups) surviving a near-fatal feeding accident. i cannot overemphasize this: DO NOT feed dogs fish bones. he's now hefty and healthy, and together with the others in the pack (there are seven of them), he makes us all feel secure in the farm everyday

4. great buys from travel. i am great at shopping, and i stock up on good gift materials. i only have one foolproof rule: get only what i would use myself. here are my favorite stash from 2007: the giraffe and gazelle from Nairobi (they were sticking out of my hand-carried luggage and people sniggered when they saw them, but hey they're in my living room now), pashminas from Kathmandu at 20% the price from the cheapest place outside Nepal, Thai sofas (three of them!), and books!

3. visiting Montevideo a second time. the place is lovely, and i wouldn't mind going back despite what Herbert refers to as 'inter-galactic' travel. i could get cabin fever from the long wait at the Frankfurt airport, but just the thought of Montevideo made me all excited.

2. our family holiday in Europe. really sweet downtime.

1. 2007 being a great year for Nepo and Bianca too! Bianca made news editor (though she really wanted features or literary) of her school paper, won in the civics quiz division level and placed second at regionals, and not dreading math all that much anymore. Nepo got to do what he liked and what he is good at.

2007 was good, and i thank friends, colleagues and family who helped make it so.

now the not-so-good things...

top 5 bummers

5. almost getting pickpocketed in Rome (and i wondered why everyone was warning me about the buses and trains). i caught the guy with half his arm (yep his elbow was already in) inside my bag. thanks to bianca's sweater that was piled on top of everything, the jerk did not get anything.

4. having my phone stolen in SECURE Singapore. in the police station there was a sign that read: "low crime rate does not mean no crime", ha. i did not feel so bad about the phone at all, but i lost data (including photos) i would never recover.

3. Walden's party bombing at the polls and not getting enough votes for him to have a seat in Congress. oh well.

2. being attacked by mosquitoes everywhere there are mosquitoes. the rainy season was particularly dreadful. i got bitten in places i didn't know mosquitoes could reach.

1. Philippine politics. it's too depressing to give details.

in sum, the good outweighed the bad...and i am really very hopeful for 2008.

SHADOW (a new poem by bianca)

2007-12-13T21:28:00.000+08:00

I am here but I am not felt
Always here but seldom seen
Hiding in the darkness
In fact, darkness itself
Never taken any notice of
When will I shine?
Shine as bright as the stars I see
The stars I see at night?
I am a shadow
Hiding somewhere where no one can see me
And when someone would shed some light
I would run and take my flight
But I know one day I won't run away
And I will be seen
And I will be heard
And someone will see me for who I am...

- 13 December 2007

work ad

2007-12-10T18:13:00.000+08:00

finally the development roundtable series (drts) will be coming to the visayas. on wednesday, i will be in leyte to give a short presentation during the first visayas development forum.

please click on the photo for a better view of the poster. for more information on the drts process, please follow this link.

facebook

2007-12-10T18:09:00.000+08:00

bianca will be surprised. i am finally on facebook. let's see if anything happens to it...we can barely keep this blog running.

ASEAN Run

2007-11-20T12:50:00.000+08:00

bianca is not happy that the blog has become text-heavy and overly-serious in the past few posts, making it uninteresting to read. well i think it is necessary to have these posts, but i have to agree with her that the past few posts make the blog less attractive. so i will try to remedy that by not posting the entire papers and just providing links.

here is another one...

New ASEAN Charter lacks vision
Bangkok Post, November 20, 2007
Southeast Asian government leaders will sign a document this week in Singapore that fails many tests
By JENINA JOY CHAVEZ

When leaders of the member governments of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) meet for their 13th summit in Singapore today, the world's attention will be focused on what they will do on the matter of Burma. The Burma question has become a yearly embarrassment and pressure point for Asean, and everyone is curious whether the collective global indignation after the September violence will prompt Asean leaders to do something different this year.

The expectation that Asean will do something different also arises from its announcement three years ago that it will embark on building a charter to formalise itself, establish the legal framework that would define the duties and responsibilities of its members, and guide its relationship with external partners. This was followed by instructions to the Eminent Persons Group, which was appointed to draw up recommendations on what the charter should contain, to be ''daring and visionary''.

The document, which will turn Asean into a rules-based legal entity like the European Union, will be signed by the bloc's 10 leaders at the summit. Read more...

The article also came out of the Jakarta Post today.

ASEAN Charter scrutinized

2007-11-17T02:07:00.000+08:00

Solidarity for Asian Peoples’ Advocacies (SAPA) Working Group on ASEAN
Analysis of the ASEAN Charter

When the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) announced that it will embark on a process of building a Charter to formalize its agreements and establish its legal framework, civil society groups paid attention. While ASEAN has been generally inaccessible and non-transparent, national and regional CSOs and social movements saw the strategic value of engaging the Charter process. We saw it as a space to stake claims on ASEAN and to demand accountability for its actions. We saw the Charter building process as an anchor for discussing ASEAN and generating interest on what the Association does. By engaging the process, CSOs and social movements hoped to pry open possibilities for transforming ASEAN into a rules-based organization that would work for the mutual benefit not only of ASEAN states but of ASEAN peoples and communities as well

The Solidarity for Asian Peoples’ Advocacies (SAPA) Working Group on ASEAN invested time and energy to engage the ASEAN Charter building process. SAPA WG on ASEAN made three formal submissions to the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) – on the Political-Security Pillar (EPG consultation, Ubud, Bali/April 2006), on the Economic Pillar (EPG consultation, Singapore/June 2006), and on the Socio-Cultural Pillar and Institutional Mechanisms (Meeting with Ambassador Rosario Manalo, Special Adviser to Mr. Fidel V. Ramos, EPG Member for the Philippines, Manila/November 2006). The WG also participated in the only regional consultation held by the High Level Task Force (HLTF) on the drafting of the ASEAN Charter in March 2007 in Manila, and reiterated the main points of its submissions. Aside from the regional consultations that the SAPA WG on ASEAN worked hard to intervene in, the different network members also initiated national processes in 2006 and 2007 to help introduce ASEAN to civil society and inform them of the Charter that was being drafted.

The Charter drafting had been kept away from public access and scrutiny, making difficult any engagement in the process. The Charter will be signed on November 20^th during the 13^th Leaders Summit, but it was only on November 7^th, when a copy of the final draft adopted by the High Level Task Force on the drafting of the ASEAN Charter was leaked to the media, that the Charter finally became known to the public.

The Charter is a disappointment. It is a document that falls short of what is needed to establish a “people-centered” and “people-empowered” ASEAN. It succeeds in codifying past ASEAN agreements, and consolidating the legal framework that would define the Association. However, it fails to put people at the center, much less empower them. The Charter is all about how Governments will interact with each other, but not about how they also should interact with the people. There are no clear spaces created or procedures established to institutionalize the role of citizens and civil society organizations in regional community-building. And where the Charter is able to protect sovereign interest of Governments, and enshrine confidence building though consensus, it lacks the necessary details for the settlement of disputes, dealing with internal conflicts, and disciplining or sanctioning Members who are remiss in their obligations.

The market-oriented language of the Charter expresses its bias for the economic project in the region, without recognition that this may be in conflict with the social and economic justice that the Charter is also supposed to uphold. The centrality of redistribution and economic solidarity to the goals of poverty eradication, social justice and lasting peace, is not acknowledged. Furthermore, the market orientation betrays the preference for a “one-size fits all” economic policy of trade and financial liberalization, failing to recognize the heterodox economic thinking that formed the basis of economic successes in the region in the past.

The Charter is gender blind and does not recognize the primacy of the regional environment.

Finally, the landmark inclusion of human rights in the Preamble and in the statement of Principles is belied by the lack of detail in the long-awaited human rights body.

Following are the SAPA WG on ASEAN’s specific comments on the Charter:

Preamble

1. The opening paragraph sets the tone for the entire Charter, highlighting the priority of the government over the individual citizen. A truly people-centered ASEAN should establish that governments are there to serve the needs and interests of citizens, and governments who fail in their duties and responsibilities should not be protected by ASEAN. A braver opening line should read, “WE, THE PEOPLES of ASEAN”, rather than “WE, THE PEOPLES of the Member States of ASEAN”.

2. Human rights are overarching and should form the basic principle of ASEAN from which all other principles flow. In this sense, human rights should be integral in all the work of ASEAN. Instead, human rights is placed low down on the list as a specific issue in Articles 1 and 2), and, symbolically, placed beneath the principles of sovereignty and non-interference.

3. While the Preamble and Chapter 1 uphold human rights and fundamental freedoms, the draft Charter only explicitly states adherence to the UN Charter, International Law and international humanitarian law, but does not explicitly recognize universally accepted human rights principles, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and recently signed international agreements that expand on human rights, norms and standards. The reference to adherence to the “rule of law, good governance and the principles of democracy and constitutional government” in Article 2h, however, may be a good handle to demand for the implementation of these principles in every member-state, especially in the case of Burma.

4. No mention is made of the role of ASEAN in the protection of the environment.

Chapters 1: Purposes and Principles

5. Article 1.5 and Article 2n, related to market and trade, are the most bothersome. These provisions explicitly talk only about “facilitating the movement of business persons and professionals”, “the free-flow of capital”, and “the elimination of all barriers to market-driven economy”, but do not provide at all for the promotion of redistributive justice, poverty eradication and growth with equity – ideals equally important to advance in a regional set-up, nor do they recognize social dialogue and core labor standards. These also fail to give importance to the role state instruments and cooperation in achieving social goals.

6. The same paragraph mentions the movement of “business persons, professional, talents, labour” but does not make explicit reference to migrant workers who make up a significant part of regional labor flows. There is also no reference to the movement of other people such as asylum seekers.

7. Article 1.7 qualifies the promotion and protection of human rights “with due regard to the rights and responsibilities of the Member States of ASEAN”. This wording is dangerous, because it undermines the fundamental elements of the universality and inalienability of human rights. It is not made clear what these “rights and responsibilities” of member states are, leaving the way open for governments to violate human rights in the pursuit of their self-defined “national interest”.

8. The provision on sustainable development, protection of the region’s environment and sustainability of natural resources in Article 1.9 was put in the same plane as the reference to “high quality of life of its people”, clearly reinforcing the dominance of the economic agenda of the ASEAN over environmentally sustainable development.

9. Most of the statements are mother/parenthood statements and much is left to further interpretation and how it is going to be concretely operationalized in the ASEAN. Does the language in Article 1.4 referring to “just, democratic, harmonious environment” and Article 1.11 on “…providing them with equitable access to opportunities for....justice” translate to agrarian reform/access and control over natural resources? Will the language in Article 9 on “sustainable development” mean the upliftment of the lives of small-scale farmers, fishers, and the rest of the rural poor and the promotion of sustainable agriculture and the non-promotion of the chemical intensive, bio-technology/GMO agriculture? Does Article 1.13 on “people-oriented ASEAN” include all sectors, including organizations of the rural and urban poor, as well as semi-skilled workers, including migrant workers?

10. While Article 1.13 states that participation of all peoples is encouraged, nowhere in the Chapter does it explicitly state how this will be actualized. The Charter does not create consultative and advisory mechanisms comprised of non-state actors and civil society groups, with adequate representation from all sectors. Neither does it create a mechanism for regularly engaging citizens within the region.

11. Article 1.14 needs to make specific reference to indigenous peoples, rather than simply referring to “diverse culture” which is too general.

12. Article 2.2e needs to establish that states also have a “responsibility to protect”, that is, the responsibility to protect people from gross violations of human rights. All ASEAN heads of state and government accepted this concept of the “responsibility to protect” at the UN World Summit in September 2005.

13. Article 2.2h/i makes no mention as to what happens, such as sanctions, if states do not adhere “to the rule of law, good governance, the principles of democracy and constitutional government” or “respect for fundamental freedoms, the promotion and protection of human rights, and the promotion of social justice.”

Chapter 3: Membership

14. The principle of non-interference (Preamble, Chapter 1, Article 2e/f) that characterizes the “ASEAN Way” is further reaffirmed in the Charter. However, we believe that exceptions must be made for clearly defined regional standards for state behavior, particularly on human rights and environment, serious breaches of which may carry ASEAN-imposed sanctions.

15. While on the whole we agree that there should be equality of rights and obligations among Members, there should also be a socializing factor whereby better resourced members are able to contribute to special funds to assist other members in the spirit of solidarity, cooperation, and regional redistribution.

Chapter 4: Organs

16. The Charter provides for the establishment of a human rights body, committing all member states to its creation. However, no further details are included regarding the setting up of the body, its roles and responsibilities, or the timeframe for its creation. Considering the more than a decade of work many sectors have put into the creation of an ASEAN human rights mechanism, the Charter should have had more details in it, and not run the risk of making this landmark provision inconsequential in operation.

17. There will be more meetings (of the ASEAN Leaders and the Foreign Ministers, and of the new organs created in the Charter), but it is unclear how these additional meetings and new organs will bring about a people-centered ASEAN. Almost all of the organs remain state- or government-oriented.

18. Article 15 redefines the role of the ASEAN Foundation as a collaborator with the different ASEAN bodies in support of “community-building’. It is only under this article that “civil society” is mentioned. This redefinition seems to imply that the ASEAN Foundation now becomes captured by purely official ASEAN agenda. Whereas before CSOs could apply for support without getting ASEAN accreditation or approval (and the ASEAN Secretariat sits only ex-officio in the Board), the ASEAN Foundation now becomes an internal entity to serve official ASEAN agenda.

19. In outlining the main decision making organs within ASEAN, there is not a single mention of engagement with citizens and civil society (except in the context of the ASEAN Foundation), or the means by which citizens and civil society can influence decisions and processes of the ASEAN.

20. Gender equality in the choice of officials in the ASEAN bodies is only mentioned under the provisions on the Secretary General, but is absent everywhere else.

Chapter 5: Entities Associated with ASEAN

21. Unfortunately we are unable to obtain a copy of the annexes, including Annex 2 which supposedly lists the entities associated with ASEAN. The expectation is that this is where citizens and civil society participation is institutionalized in the ASEAN, but even this is not certain. Like a few other bodies created in the Charter, the entities mentioned here are yet undefined, with rules and criteria for engagement still to be determined by the yet to be formed Committee of Permanent Representatives .

Chapter 7: Decision-Making

22. Chapter 7 still puts premium on consensus as the institutional and the preferred mode of decision-making. The affirmation of consultation and consensus actually encourages unanimity based on the least common denominator, and leaves much room for recalcitrant members to sabotage any consensus building processes around democratic values and the principles of the rule of law and good governance. Furthermore, to leave it to the ASEAN Summit to decide on a specific decision making process should consensus not be achieved allows for even greater leeway for political accommodation for which the ASEAN is historically known.

23. The Charter does not specify any space for citizens and civil society groups in policy-and decision-making, detracting from the essence of consultation and consensus-building by not affirming the people-centered principle of building regional identity through people’s participation.

24. Chapter 7 Article 21 leaves the prescription of each ASEAN Community Council's rules of procedure to each council. There should be a mechanism to standardize the procedures for all councils.

Chapter 8: Settlement of Disputes

25. Disputes implied in the Charter only cover conflicts between and among ASEAN states, and do not address internal conflicts which are also significant in the region.

26. Except for disputes concerning economic agreements, for which the ASEAN Protocol for Enhanced Dispute Settlement Mechanism shall govern, the Charter provides for the establishment of dispute settlement mechanisms but for which no process or timeframe has been prescribed.

27. The issue of compliance is not addressed organically, except for cases to be referred to the ASEAN Summit for decision, limiting the efficacy of the to-be-established DSMs because the Summit by practice would yield to political exigencies.

28. The Charter does not recognize the need to establish conflict prevention and early warning mechanisms at the regional level with the involvement of citizens and civil society with demonstrated capacity to assist in conflict situations.

Chapter 9: Budget and Finance

29. Aside from provisions on “internal and external audit”, the Charter does not provide clear mechanisms for how the budget and finance of the Association can be made transparent and accessible to the public.

Chapter 10: Administration and Procedure

30. The ASEAN Charter does not mention how Chairmanship by countries whose leadership faces legitimacy questions shall be dealt with.

31. The choice of English as the working language of ASEAN, without reference to the use of regional languages for at least some purposes, leaves a big gap in terms of the need to promote national languages as a means to promote and protect the cultural heritage of the region.

32. The Charter does not provide for clear mechanisms for transparency and access to official information, and official processes, in the ASEAN.

Chapter 12: External Relations

33. Article 41.4 states that “in the conduct of external relations of ASEAN, Member States shall, on the basis of unity and solidarity, coordinate and Endeavour a common position and pursue joint actions”. This is a bold statement that affirms the centrality of ASEAN. Considering the less-than-unified positions espoused by individual Member Countries in multilateral fora (e.g. the WTO) in the past, it is interesting to know how the ASEAN would go about crafting common positions after the Charter is signed.

34. Consistent with the overall absence of the role of citizens and civil society in ASEAN, the Charter does not say anything about their role in helping ASEAN to develop and to determine its foreign policy, and in determining the status of external partners of ASEAN.

35. Considering the importance of migrant workers and their families in the conduct of ASEAN’s external relations, the absence of any mention about labor mobility as an issue to be discussed with external partners is glaring.

Chapter 13: General and Final Provisions

36. It is provided that the “Charter shall be subject to ratification by all ASEAN member states in accordance with their respective internal procedure”. This is short of what the Second and Third ASEAN Civil Society Conference (ACSC-II and III) called for, which is ratification by popular referendum.

37. The provision on Review (Article 50) only gives the requisite timeline (of five years after the Charter enters into force) but no clear procedures for its conduct, including who will be involved and how extensive such involvement would be.

The Solidarity for Asian Peoples’ Advocacies (SAPA) is an open platform for consultation, cooperation and coordination among and between Asian social movements and civil society organizations including NGOs, people organizations and trade unions who are engaged in action, advocacy and lobbying at the level of inter-governmental processes and organizations. SAPA aims to enhance cooperation among its members and partners to increase the impact and effectiveness of their engagement with inter-governmental bodies. Currently, there are four Working Groups in SAPA: Working Group on ASEAN (WG-ASEAN), Working Group on the UN Human Rights Mechanisms (WG-UNHR), Working Group on Migration and Labor (WG-ML), and Working Group on North East Asia (WG-NEA). There is also an Informal Caucus on South Asia.

The SAPA WG on ASEAN is a common platform for collective action on ASEAN advocacy. The WG-ASEAN respects and promotes the multiplicity of perspectives, strategies and forms employed by its individual members, as it strives for specific unities in ASEAN-related advocacy and action. Presently, the SAPA WG on ASEAN has more than 100 CSOs, national and regional organizations, as members.

Further information and documents related to SAPA and SAPA WG on ASEAN activities may be downloaded from http://www.asiasapa.org.

For more information, please contact the SAPA WG on ASEAN Focal Points:
Corinna Lopa, Southeast Asian Committee for Advocacy, clopa@seaca.net, +63-928-5025685
Anselmo Lee, FORUM-ASIA, Anselmo@forum-asia.org, +66-81-8689178

For more information on the SAPA WG on ASEAN’s engagement of the ASEAN Charter process, please contact:
Jenina Joy Chavez, Focus on the Global South, j.chavez@focusweb.org, +63-918-9026716
Alexander Chandra, Institute of Global Justice, alex@globaljust.org, +62-817-790440

JPEPA Ratification: Threat Economics

2007-11-12T01:18:00.002+08:00

This article comes out in the Yellow Pad column of the Business World today.

JPEPA Ratification: Threat Economics
Rene Ofreneo and Nepomuceno Malaluan

In their paper titled “JPEPA: Why the Need to Ratify”, economists Josef Yap, Erlinda Medalla and Rafaelita Aldaba outlined the arguments in support of the ratification of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA). In brief, the arguments include the following claims: a positive impact on gross domestic product (GDP), generation of jobs, and poverty reduction. Such impact is expected to result from greater access to the Japanese market in terms of trade and movement of natural persons and from declining prices, rising incomes, and increased Japanese foreign direct investment (FDI). Fail to ratify, and we lose all these opportunities.

This is the same kind of threat economics that economists deployed in the 1994 World Trade Organization (WTO) debate. In that debate, the executive, with the support of free trade economists, bamboozled everybody by saying that if we did not ratify the country’s membership in the WTO, we would lose the opportunity to create half a million new jobs in industry and another half million jobs in agriculture every year.

Now we are back in the same old game: Ratify or we lose trade, ratify or we lose markets, ratify or we lose jobs, ratify or we lose investments. They are pointing a gun at us.

However, we now have the benefit of experience of the results of the trade liberalization that we undertook. Trade liberalization has failed to deliver on its promises. We did not see the modernization in agriculture; it remains trapped in low productivity. We did not see the massive expansion in industry; it has stagnated, with services picking up the employment of the expanding work-force. We did not see the employment and income revolution we were promised. Instead, what liberalization created was disillusionment and lack of faith in opportunities in the home country, intensifying the pressure on Filipinos to leave for work abroad.

Given this backdrop, it is doubtful whether threat economics will have the same efficacy as before.

In addition to being made skeptical by experience, many of the projections on JPEPA overemphasize the positive and hide the negative. For instance, Yap, et.al. claim that declining prices and rising incomes will reduce poverty, with more than 200,000 persons moving up the poverty line. Such emphasis on the overall effect fails to note the distributional effects. The analysis of Caesar Cororaton from which the overall effect appears to have been derived, has the following detailed findings: With JPEPA, the contraction in agriculture intensifies, agricultural wages decline, and unemployment rate in agricultural labor deteriorates, as the reverse holds for industry, particularly non-food manufacturing. Income inequality worsens.

Yap, et.al. claim that JPEPA can boost the growth and competitiveness of auto parts makers and car assemblers. Yet Article 27 of JPEPA and its implementing guidelines explicitly recognize trade in “used four-wheeled motor vehicles.” Auto workers unions are furious about this because out of the 200,000 new vehicles registered annually at the LTO (Land Transportation Office), only 80,000 to 90,000 are locally assembled by the members of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines (CAMPI) and about 30,000 to 40,000 are produced by jeepney manufacturers. These mean that about 80,000 are imported, many of them second-hand used vehicles from Japan. In contrast, Japan’s EPA with Malaysia has a clear provision on the cooperation to enhance competitiveness in the Malaysian automotive industry. Malaysia and Thailand, the favored hub of Japanese automakers and auto parts, have explicit and strict rules against trade in second-hand vehicles and parts.

Yap et.al. claim that the Philippines is expected to lead the deployment of nurses and caregivers to Japan. Will Japanese health workers simply look away as Filipinos fill up the health care positions? Can our health workers learn the Japanese language quickly? Also, what will be the impact of this on our own health care at this time when skills problems are already being felt given the exodus of nurses to traditional destinations?

In terms of market concessions, Yap et.al. claim that almost 95% of Philippine industrial and agricultural export will face zero duties immediately from the implementation date. What is not said is how much of these already have a zero tariff base in the first place. The goods that Japan was protecting at the time JPEPA was being negotiated will mostly be subject to phased liberalization. In addition, Japan asked for the exclusion of more tariff lines from the coverage of liberalization.

Much is said about our already very low tariff levels within the 0 to 3% range. In other words, with nothing more to liberalize, we must be getting a good deal. Yet obviously we liberalize some more as they do not dispute the estimated PhP3.7-4.2 billion projected foregone tariff revenues for the first year of JPEPA implementation alone.

More important, however, is that the very low base tariff range for the Philippines is what was wrong with the JPEPA negotiation in the first place. The very low tariff range was the result of the deep, universal and unilateral trade liberalization based on the belief that it was the country’s ticket to economic progress. But while this achieved the general lowering of consumer prices, it failed to produce the promised restructuring, employment and income effect.

The unilateral trade liberalizers will never see the problem in the liberalization we undertook. See, for instance, Yap et. al.’s analysis of the auto parts sector: it is weak and underdeveloped due to “lack of capital and technology." It will not be about the withdrawal of tariff protection and content requirement in fact weakening this industry. But the recent news report about Toyota Motors is instructive. Tokuichi Uranishi, vice president of Toyota for planning in Tokyo, said that the aggressive trade liberalization of the Philippines in the auto industry has made it difficult for Toyota to decide how to maintain its assembly plant in Sta. Rosa.

Given the outcome of the Philippine liberalization strategy, other competing strategies can lay better claim to effectiveness in achieving growth and poverty reduction. For instance, Harvard professor Dani Rodrik positively revisits other strategies:

§ Import-substituting industrialization apparently worked well in a very broad range of countries in terms of raising domestic investment and enhancing productivity. The proximate cause for the collapse of many of the economies that followed this strategy was more their inability to appropriately adjust macroeconomic policies to external shocks, rather than being imposed by the trade strategy.

§ The success of the outward-oriented industrialization strategy of the East Asian tigers, rather than being attributable principally to opening up, had to do substantially with the active role taken by these governments in shaping their allocation of resources.

§ Recent success stories of China and India follow dual tracks of state and market mechanisms, rather than across-the-board liberalization.

The Philippines had the opportunity to adjust its baseline tariff range, considering that it goes beyond the country’s tariff bindings in the World Trade Organization (WTO), when the WTO negotiations collapsed in the Cancun Ministerial Conference in September 2003. That was an opportunity for the country to recast its trade and industrial policy, no longer tied down by the simplistic formula of deep, unilateral, and universal trade liberalization. Had it done that, the bilateral negotiations with Japan and with other countries would have started from a point of higher leverage.

Unfortunately for us, instead of seizing the opportunity to make prior adjustments, we went straight ahead to pursuing efforts to “deepen economic integration” via the bilateral and regional agreements route. This they did with limited consultation and without public access to information.

In place of informed and accountable policy-making, what we get is threat economics.

Ofreneo and Malaluan are trustees of Action for Economic Reforms (www.aer.ph).

Confidential ASEAN Charter Leaked

2007-11-07T19:10:00.000+08:00

This story is taken from the Focus on the Global South website.

Previously kept from public view, the draft charter of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been leaked to the media and is now available online. Alternative Thai media organization, Prachatai, has obtained a copy of the said Charter and posted it on their website. (To download, please follow this link: http://www.prachatai.com/english/news.php?id=362)

The Charter is a document meant to formalize the ASEAN by codifying its previous agreements and introducing more permanent and formal institutional and legal arrangements. It has been in the works for almost a year now. The High Level Task Force (HLTF) on the drafting of the ASEAN Charter came up with a final draft during its 13^th meeting in late October, but the Charter has been kept from public scrutiny from Day 1.

Focus on the Global South, together with several other groups comprising the Solidarity for Asian Peoples Advocacies (SAPA) Working Group on ASEAN, participated in limited consultation processes of both the HLTF and the earlier body (the Eminent Persons Group) tasked to draft recommendations for the Charter framework. In all, SAPA WG on ASEAN has made three submissions on the three pillars of ASEAN cooperation – political security, economic and socio-cultural. To view these submissions, please follow this link: http://www.focusweb.org/revisiting-southeast-asian-regionalism.html

The Thai National Legislative Assembly (NLA) discusses the ASEAN Charter today, in accordance with a provision in the 2007 Thai Constitution requiring that any agreement be endorsed by the parliament before it is signed. The Thai NLA will be the first to see the Charter within ASEAN, outside of the HTLF and the ASEAN Foreign Ministers who oversee the Charter drafting process.

In the interest of transparency and access to official information, readers are encouraged to download the Charter and distribute it to as a wide a public as possible. We participate actively in the drafting and amendment of our national Constitutions. There is no reason why we should be prevented from accessing the drafting of the regional Constitution, the ASEAN Charter.

Focus will be posting its analysis of the draft Charter very soon.

ACSC III Statements

2007-11-06T07:58:00.000+08:00

Third ASEAN+ Civil Society Conference (ACSC-III)
2-4 November 2007, Singapore

Singapore Declaration
(Final Version)

1. We, about 200 participants from civil society organizations and trade unions across Southeast Asia gathered at the Third ASEAN+ Civil Society Conference (ACSC-III) in Singapore on 2-4 November 2007 to discuss issues of common concerns to people’s lives in the context of the upcoming 13^th ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) Summit which is scheduled to take action on the adoption of an ASEAN Charter.

2. Based on our deliberations during the ACSC-III under the theme “Moving Forward – Building an ASEAN+ People’s Agenda” III as well as in line with the statements adopted at the ACSC-I (Kuala Lumpur, Dec. 2005) and ACSC-II (Cebu in Dec. 2006) and submission of proposals to Eminent People’s Group (EPG) and High-level Task Force for the ASEAN Charter by SAPA (Solidarity for Asian People’s Advocacy) Working Group on ASEAN, we strongly urge the ASEAN and its member-states to consider our proposals and demands in their deliberations of the proposed draft Charter at the Summit.

a) Universally recognized values, principles and normative standards should be fully enshrined, in all standard-setting processes within the ASEAN, in particular, human rights, social and economic justice, participatory democracy and rule of law, right to development, ecologically sustainable development, cultural diversity, gender equality, peace and people’s security and peaceful transformation of conflicts.

b) People-centered regional cooperation and solidarity in accordance with the above-mentioned values and principle should be a key guiding principle for regional integration process in ASEAN.

c) A holistic approach should be adopted that reflects the universality, indivisibility, interdependence and interrelatedness of human rights.

d) All key international legal instruments including human rights, humanitarian law and core labour and environmental standards should be ratified and fully implemented.

e) Effective mechanism should be established for accountability and participation of civil society organizations, trade unions, social movements, rural sector and other affected communities in all processes and deliberations of ASEAN and its bodies.

f) Effective measures to eliminate all forms of direct and indirect discriminations and promote substantive equality for the full development and advancement of all disempowered and marginalized sectors, in particular women.

g) Effective measures should be established to prevent conflicts and systematic and gross human rights violations within the ASEAN and within countries in the region including strict imposition of sanctions on violators.

h) Effective measures should be developed and implemented to address the adverse impact of globalization and regional integration.

i) An ASEAN Environment Community should be established to promote and protect ASEAN's environmental integrity and sustainability in line with the other three pillars (Economic, Security and Socio-Cultural).

j) An effective and accountable human rights mechanism for ASEAN in accordance with international standards should be established.

3. We also strongly support the Statement of the Singapore Civil Society issued by the Singapore Working Group for ASEAN (SWGA) for the ACSC-III which echoes most of our calls in this Declaration, particularly on the need for ASEAN member-states to ratify key human rights Conventions and prioritize human rights education; guarantee decent work; enable the people to exercise their freedoms of expression, organization and collective bargaining; providing social protection and social security; recognition of the right to self-determination of cultural identity and the rights of indigenous peoples; and ensure the participation of women in politics at all levels.

4. We call on the ASEAN and its member-states to ensure that these fundamental principles and demands are enshrined in the ASEAN Charter towards the realization of a caring and sharing ASEAN Community.

5. Heads of States should ensure that the following requirements are met before the signing of the ASEAN Charter:

a) Ensure transparency through the disclosure of the draft ASEAN Charter for meaningful public consultations and discussions, and guarantee substantive peoples participation at the national and regional levels in the adoption of the ASEAN Charter

b) End and prevent all serious breaches of principles that should be fundamental to the ASEAN, including undemocratic change of government and systematic and gross violations of human rights

6. We reaffirm our call for the ASEAN to require democratic referendum process at the national level to allow the peoples in each country to give direct mandate to the ASEAN Charter.

7. We urge the ASEAN to create effective mechanisms for transparency, accountability, people’s participation, and Social Dialogue.

8. We reaffirm our strong commitment to work for the creation of a just, people-centered, caring and sharing ASEAN Community that shall be enshrined in an ASEAN Peoples’ Charter.

9. Through this Declaration, we are launching the process of drafting the ASEAN Peoples’ Charter that will embody the shared values and collective aspirations of the peoples of the region. We commit to drafting an ASEAN Peoples’ Charter by the ACSC-IV to be held in Thailand in 2008.

* * * * * * * * * *

Third ASEAN+ Civil Society Conference (ACSC-III)
2-4 November 2007, Singapore

"No Bloody Hand on an ASEAN Charter"
(Final Version)

1. We, the participants of the ASEAN+ Civil Society Conference (ACSC-III) held in Singapore on 2-4 November 2007:

2. inspired by the courage of the people of Burma in standing up for their basic rights in the face of continuous repression by the Burmese military regime, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC),

3. outraged by the use of violence against peaceful demonstrators,

4. strongly condemn SPDC’s brutal crackdown on the monks’ led peaceful protests since 26 September 2007,

5. denounce the ongoing attacks on the ethnic nationalities by the SPDC, and human rights violations including extrajudicial killings, forced labour, forced relocation, forced recruitment of child soldiers, and sexual violence against women and girls,

6. urge the SPDC to end all acts of violence against civilians, the immediate release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners, and to begin the process of tripartite dialogue with the National League for Democracy (NLD) and ethnic nationalities,

7. Urge the SPDC to fully cooperate with the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation of Burma, Mr. Paul Pinheiro, and give him unconditional access to people and locations during his mission,

8. Appeal to the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy, Mr. Ibrahim Gambari, to initiate steps towards genuine political reform including genuine dialogue with all political groups in the country, as recommended by the UN,

9. Call on the Indonesian government, being the current Chair of the UN Security Council, to proactively advocate the imposition of sanctions and other targeted measures by the UNSC.

10. Call on neighbouring countries, particularly Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia to take concrete measures to bring meaningful pressure on the Burmese junta, including the instigation of an arms embargo and measures to stem the flow of resources from ASEAN countries to the Burmese army and its associated elites.

11. Call on the ASEAN

a) to reject the roadmap to democracy drawn up by the SPDC and advocate tripartite dialogue

b) to postpone the signing of the ASEAN Charter by the military junta at the upcoming 13^th ASEAN Summit (Singapore, 18-22 Nov. 2007) until the political crisis in Burma is resolved in accordance with international human rights standards. Failing this, it must consider suspending Burma’s membership from ASEAN if the SPDC continues to ignore all calls to find a lasting resolution to the crisis in Burma.

c) to urge China and India to take concrete measures to pressure the SPDC to engage in a democratic process of reform.

No Bloody Hands on an ASEAN Charter

2007-11-06T07:52:00.000+08:00

PRESS RELEASE

(Singapore, 5 November 2007) Over 200 participants from civil society organizations and trade unions from across Southeast Asia and beyond have called upon the leaders of ASEAN to postpone the signing of the ASEAN Charter due to the Burmese junta's recent violent crackdown on peaceful protests.

At the conclusion of the third ASEAN + Civil Society Conference (ACSC III) held in Singapore from 2-4 November, all participants agreed that the current political crisis in Burma must first be resolved in accordance with basic human rights standards before ASEAN's leaders can sign a Charter for a "caring, sharing community" (ACSC III declarations attached).

Participants urged ASEAN countries, particularly Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, to do more than issue strong statements and to take concrete action, including the imposition of an arms embargo and the stemming of the flow of resources to the military junta. There was also a call on the Indonesian government, as current Chair of the UN Security Council, to advocate the imposition of sanctions and other targeted measures, and for ASEAN to place more pressure on China and India to take concrete measures to bring the Burmese military generals to engage in a democratic process of reform.

Apart from the focus on events in Burma, participants also agreed that ASEAN's approach to drafting a "people's charter" had been far from people centred, with no release of a draft version of the Charter for civil society to consider and provide feedback on prior to its signing at the upcoming ASEAN Summit in Singapore (18-22 November). Any engagement that had taken place with civil society had been little more than a public relations exercise. Therefore, participants demanded that ASEAN go through a process of "meaningful public consultation and discussion" before signing a Charter on behalf of the people of Southeast Asia and, furthermore, that a referendum on the Charter be held in each member state.

In response to dissatisfaction over the entire Charter drafting process, the decision was taken to launch the drafting of an alternative ASEAN People's Charter by national and regional civil society groups "that will embody the shared values and collective aspirations of the peoples of the region", and which will be completed prior to the 2008 ASEAN Summit in Thailand.

Background information:

ACSC III was organized in Singapore by the following civil society organizations:

Asian Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in Rural Areas (AsiaDHRRA), Focus on the Global South, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Human Rights Working Group - Indonesia, Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA), South East Asian Committee for Advocacy (SEACA), Think Center – Singapore, and Third World Network (TWN).

There was also an ACSC III Singapore Local Organizing Committee.

The local host was Union Network International-APRO.

For further information, please contact:

- Sinapan Samydorai, President of Think Centre - Singapore and member of the Local Organizing Committee for ACSC III, at samysd@pacific.net.sg;

- Corinna Lopa, Regional Coordinator for SEACA, at clopa@seaca.net;

- Anselmo Lee, Executive Director of FORUM-ASIA, at anselmo@forum-asia.org.

the third asean civil society conference

2007-10-23T22:38:00.000+08:00

The 3rd ASEAN Civil Society Conference (ACSC) shall be held in Singapore on 2-4 November 2007, prior to the holding of the 13^th ASEAN Summit of Leaders in the same city on the third week of November 2007. The ACSC is being hosted by the Union Network International-Asia Pacific Regional Office (UNI-APRO) and co-organized by the Singapore Local Organizing Committee led by Think Centre. Regional networks of civil society organizations coming together under the SAPA (Solidarity for Asian People's Advocacies), as well as participants to the 1^stACSC (Shah Alam, Malaysia in 2005) and 2^nd ACSC (Cebu City, Philippines in 2006) are also co-organizers of the 3^rd ACSC.

ACSC-3 will have plenaries, concurrent workshops, cultural and multi-media events, a Quiz, a solidarity night and spaces for independent interactions and caucuses. There will be a two-panel plenary on Singapore, to increase civil society understanding of Singapore as a state and Singapore as a society where communities and groups interact on issues similarly faced by communities and groups elsewhere in ASEAN. The plenary seeks to increase dialogue and interaction between civil society groups and social movements in Singapore and the rest of ASEAN.

For more information on ACSC-3, click here.

template upgrade...and problems

2007-10-07T13:19:00.000+08:00

hi all!

i upgraded the blog template to be able to add new page elements and all that. however, for some reason the post titles are now underlined, and i am unable to fix this. will keep trying, though, until that small distraction is removed. first, i have to ask friends who might know what to do...and then find more time to tinker with the blog.

and oh, another thing, i still cannot make the profile box show (i want it above the contributors) on the left-hand column. when i check, it says a profile is already added and i did make a profile before. how come it is nowhere to be found?

until next time.

midnight

2007-10-07T10:05:00.000+08:00

here is bianca's poem which i excitedly sent out to friends and family (by SMS!) more than two months back. i visited bianca's blog and she has not posted it there yet.

midnight

there is a beauty when i sleep
that i but seldom see
when darkness fills the airy sky
and stars stare right at me

the trees sway slowly to the wind
the clouds drift through the sky
the owl's big eyes steadily look for prey
while crickets sing a lullaby

there is a beauty when i sleep
that i but seldom see
i hope to feel, i hope to hear
what it offers me

moonbeams slide gaily on the leaves
they give an eerie glow
the time is perfect for a lover
to say "i love you so"

there is a beauty when i sleep
that i but seldom see
when darkness feels the airy sky
and stars stare right at me

- bianca, 7/24/07

kusina ni apolonia

2007-10-05T00:30:00.000+08:00

three weeks ago, i got an invitation to a small get-together with friends (we were all members of the same political organization) from university. sadly, i was not able to go. the good news is, i got reconnected with an old friend, jules. this entry is not about him, but about his latest project.

jules opened a small restaurant called kusina ni apolonia in marikina, carrying a fresh, local and seasonal food philosophy.

i have not been to the place, so i cannot say anything about the food yet, but the menu looks really promising. after this series of events and deadlines i have to deal with, visiting jules' resto is top on my list of things to do. and promise, i will post a review of the food and the place here. soon...

the place:
kusina ni apolonia
43 rainbow st. sss village, marikina

free burma!

2007-10-04T06:52:00.000+08:00

visit the FREE BURMA website now.