Group calls for Pampanga reforms

NO TO RECALL! YES TO REFORMS!

The results of the May 2007 gubernatorial elections brought ripples of hope around the country that any well-meaning Kapampangan would be proud of. Shunning the usual practices characteristic of traditional and patronage politics, we elected Gov. Eddie Panlilio on the basis of his good governance platform. It was one shining moment for Pampanga that future generations can always look back to for inspiration.

We recognize the many gains that the Panlilio administration has attained for Pampanga after just a year in office. We are especially grateful for the:

Sincere efforts to address sectoral issues and concerns by institutionalizing structures and mechanisms (e.g. Indigenous Peoples’ Council, Youth Development Council, Persons with Disabilities, etc.)

Increase in quarry collections and the immediate distribution of the shares of the participating local government units

Convening of the Provincial Development Council after several years of inactivity

We STRONGLY REJECT the recall initiative filed against Gov. Panlilio at this point in time. A year after the elections, we are just beginning to heal the wounds of divisions through dialogues and peaceful negotiations. Holding a divisive political exercise so soon will only re-open the as yet unhealed wounds and undermine efforts for Pampanga’s progress.

We enjoin our political leaders and the Kapampangan populace to give PEACE AND UNITY a chance especially at this time when we are confronted with a global economic crisis that renders us all vulnerable. We respect the mandate that the people have accorded Governor Eddie Panlilio in the same way that we respect the mandate given to Vice-Governor Joseller Guiao, the members of the Provincial Board and the rest of Pampanga’s duly-elected officials.

While we say no to recall at this instant, we challenge the Panlilio administration to immediately implement MUCH-NEEDED REFORMS, foremost among which are:

Ensure checks and balances at the Capitol by not concentrating power and authority on the Provincial Administrator who holds other positions of influence. We recommend the creation of a Multi-Sectoral Advisory Council composed of experts and stakeholders in priority development areas to enhance the participatory character of the Panlilio administration;

Give flesh to good governance in Pampanga first and foremost. Breathe life to the campaign platform of “Daing ding Pakakalulu, Iyatad king Kapitolyo” by laying down foundations for economic empowerment to wean the people away from jueteng;

Offer a peaceful resolution to the impasse with the BALAS boys. BALAS being the cornerstone of the Panlilio administration’s achievements, it is but fitting to accord the BALAS workers the basic courtesy of due process in confronting allegations of anomalies. We urge Gov. Panlilio to honor his promise of unconditional reinstatement of the BALAS boys who went on strike to dramatize their protest against unjust treatment. We recommend the creation of an investigative body that will look into the alleged anomalies as basis for imposing sanctions on those found guilty and clearing the names of those who are not guilty.

Pampanga stands to lose much if we are to continue this political tug of war that has been adversely affecting our province’s growth and development. We say NO TO RECALL and YES TO REFORMS as we commit to cooperate with both the Executive and Legislative branches of the Provincial Government in making good governance happen in our beloved Pampanga.

-KAPAMPANGAN MARANGAL, INC. (KMI)

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August 26th, 2008 | Posted in statement | No Comments

Teachers’ wages deteriorate as tuition fees soar

While Filipino families are still coping from escalating prices of basic commodities like rice, bread and meat products and the never-ending rise of oil prices, they are once again faced by enrollment woes this month: tuition fee hikes.The Department of Education has already announced that the tuition fee increase in private elementary and high schools this school year may range from 2% to 10%. Such can only be expected from a deregulated and commercialized education system, with the government allowing schools to increase their fees at will, the Educators’ Forum for Development (EFD) said.

But while tuition fees in years past went up by as much as 20%, teachers’ compensation has been declining by as much based on the government’s own survey.

According to the latest Occupational Wages Survey of the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics, the average monthly wage rates of teaching professionals in private elementary and high schools range from P12,039 to P13,906 as of 2006. What is shocking is that these wages shrank by as much as 20% compared to what teachers received in 2004. (See Table)

Average Monthly Wage Rates of Full-Time Teachers in Private Education Services, June 2004 and August 2006 (in peso)
2004 2006 % Change

General Secondary Education Teachers 14,991 12,039 (19.7)
Science and Mathematics Teachers 14,626 13,034 (10.9)
Vocational Education Teachers 13,219 13,324 0.8
General Elementary Education Teachers 14,486 13,800 (4.7)
Science and Math Elem. Educ Teachers 15,434 13,906 (9.9)
Pre-Elementary Education Teachers 12,842 12,389 (3.5)

Source: Occupational Wages Survey, Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics

According to online job services company Jobstreet.com, the lowest salary a fresh grad teacher actually receives from private schools is a measly P7,000. Even teachers with one to four years experience are paid as low as P8,500 a month. Based on this, the lowest paid public school teacher with a basic pay of P10,933 appears to be better off.

The DepEd justifies the approval of petitions for tuition fee hikes with its so-called 70-20-10 requirements ? 70% of the increase should go to the upgrading of school equipment, 20% for the acquisition of textbooks, and 10% for teachers’ salary upgrade. Yet even this paltry 10% for the faculty does not reach their hands. It is clear that teachers continue to be underpaid and their supposed share in the yearly tuition increases is only a figment of government officials’ imagination.

The EFD, an association of teachers and educators committed to social transformation, deplores the government’s abandonment of its responsibility to ensure the people’s access to education.
The EFD also takes issue with the government and private school owners’ use of teachers’ pay hike as an excuse to raise tuition fees. Teachers indeed deserve higher compensation for decent living, but school owners should provide this without charging the students exorbitant tuition and other fees. (end)

The Educators’ Forum for Development (EFD) is an association of educators committed to social transformation. It was established in 2002 by the IBON Partnership in Education for Development and other progressive educators, including founding chairperson Bienvenido Lumbrera.

May 26th, 2008 | Posted in statement | No Comments

Rep. Crispin Beltran 75

“If helping the poor is a crime, and fighting for freedom is rebellion, then I plead guilty as charged.” - Ka Bel

News reports Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran has been diagnosed as “brain dead” at the Far Eastern University hospital in Quezon City after falling from
the roof of his home in Barangay Muzon Tuesday morning.Family decided to transfer him to another hospital but sufferred cardiac arrest along the way.

Congress Profile

Beltran, Crispin B.

Sectoral Representative
PL - ANAKPAWIS
Term: 3
Age: 75
Date of Birth: 07 January 1933
Place of Birth: Bacacay, Albay
Religion: Catholic
Civil Status: M
Spouse: Rosario Soto Beltran
Other Profession: Labor Leader
Rm. S-602, House of Representatives, Quezon City
Phone: 931-5001 local 7300, 9316615

May 20th, 2008 | Posted in Crispin Beltran | No Comments

The so-called EDSA revolution of Sen. Enrile

Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile bursted when I saw the news last Wednesday when Sen. Biazon was speaking in the floor in support of a resolution commending the award for outstanding Philippine soldiers of 2008 given by the Rotary Club of Makati Metro and the Metrobank Foundation Inc. The Senate Resolution No. 359 is a congratulatory resolution for the Ten Outstanding Soldiers of 2008. It was introduced by Senate President Manny Villar and sponsored by Senator Benigno Aquino III. As the former AFP Chief of Staff and the current chairman of the Senate Committee on National Defense and Security, Senator Rodolfo G. Biazon delivered a short remark regarding the resolution.

Sen. Rodolfo Biazon is used to the word “so-called”. I have heard him talk several times in different ocassions and his use of “so-called” is overused. I may be naive, but there are people who are using a particular word that its repetition seemed to be good to hear but funny and sometimes irritating. Take for example the words “basically” or “however” . I have a teacher-friend who overused these words and yet he thought maybe those words are just adlib for something that is not necessary or needed in describing one particular thing or just simply a filler in stressing a point. What the heck, I prefer to overuse the words “at the end of the day, ” and I think so are you. But that’s not what I write about.

What most hilarious on that so-called outburst of Sen. Enrile is that he “laid his life” on EDSA revoution. I dont think he laid his life to promote democracy but to grab power from former dictator Ferdinand Marcos who was then in terrible conditions both from power because of almost daily street protests due to the assasination of oppositionist Benigno Aquino and the massive election cheatings where Mr. Marcos was challenged to an election of Aquino’s wife, Cory and from physical condition of having lupus which only the close aides including Sen. Enrile knew then.

I believe that EDSA uprising will happen even without Mr. Enrile and his RAM boys. The streets were flooded with daily protests. People knew Cory won. The shouts of protests reverberated straight to Malacanang that even the steel gates can no longer hold its stand.

And because Mr. Enrile sensed that the support of United States was waning for Mr. Marcos in order to stabilise its political and business interests in the country, the then defense chief took the opportunity to grab power even if the shouts were for Cory. So we get what people wanted, ousting Marcos and Cory took over.

And yes, Mr. Enrile, Philippine history will not forget your participation in Martial Law and your “so-called” staged car ambush. Even if you voted against the presence of U.S. military bases in the senate or presently fighting for a lower electricity cost, people will not forget that in those dark years of Martial Law, you are seated just next to Mr. Marcos.

May 16th, 2008 | Posted in statement | No Comments

On power play and consumer empowerment

What became clearer in Monday’s hearing of the Joint Congressional Power Commission (JCPC) is not the immediate reduction in power rates but the electrifying power play between the Lopezes and the government for control of Meralco.
 
Designed purposely to address the high cost of power in the country, the JCPC hearing was supposed to look for ways to reduce the cost of power in the country, which is among the highest in the world.
 
Though many issues contributing to the high electricity rates such as the imposition of VAT, system loss charge and other pass-on rates were discussed, it was obviously the raging power play between the Lopezes and the Arroyo government for control of Meralco that occupied center stage.
 
Hearing GSIS President Winston Garcia himself accused of mismanaging the government employees’ pension fund, talk about inefficiency in the management of Meralco is already mind boggling.  And for a Meralco director like him, who represents 33 percent of the country’s biggest utility to be denied access to corporate records, is even more baffling.  These are corporate matters easily resolved, not in public debate, but within the company’s walls or in the courts.  There must be a bigger purpose behind Garcia’s moves. And there must be something the Lopezes don’t want the public—Garcia’s bosses most especially—to know.
 
It is our position that Meralco must be made to answer for all the burdens it has been unjustly imposing onto its customers, including the deals it has made with Mrs. Arroyo at the expense of the unknowing public.  This it must do, in the interest of justice—and justice has long been overdue. 
 
But the company should not be made a convenient excuse by the Arroyo government to save its own skin and evade its culpability over this complex problem of high electricity rates.  From the signing of the EPIRA into law, to the non-renegotiation of the contracts with IPPs, to the deals with the Lopezes at the expense of the public, to the higher rates and higher returns to Napocor and Transco, to the privatization deals and bids—these involve billions of pesos and it is quite impossible to imagine the Arroyo administration not dipping its fingers into these magnificent pies.
 
The Freedom from Debt Coalition would like to issue a stern warning to Mrs. Arroyo, her family and allies in Malacañang: Stop the power grab. Do not use a legitimate and burning popular issue of high electricity rates to serve your own selfish interests. With feeling, we say in one emphatic voice: Back off!
 
Rather than allow itself to be used as a pawn in this power play, the PowerCom can seriously consider another option: consumer ownership. We at the Freedom from Debt Coalition have been pushing for this since 2005, when the issue of the P30-B Meralco refund first surfaced.
 
It is high time we departed from the old school that treated consumers simply as captive markets rather than as rightful owners of a public utility.  These public utilities were built by peoples’ money.  It is time to give the power back to where it rightfully belongs.  Privatization, however, has made this option next to impossible.  But we’ll keep pursuing this option, not only because it is more democratic. In the final analysis making a utility accountable to its owners who are also its consumers will render electricity prices more reasonable and fair. And render power grabs and power deals by power-hungry elites a thing of the past.
 
Likewise, members of the JCPC should consider the immediate overhauling of EPIRA if they want to convert their words into action.  This policy framework failed, and will not usher in a brighter energy future for the country. Lawmakers should stop pointing their fingers at others as if they themselves had no hand in creating the monster of failed privatization policy and flawed electricity reforms under EPIRA. 
 
Why is Meralco involved in ’sweetheart deals’ with other Lopez-owned IPPs?  Because EPIRA allows cross-ownership.  Why is Meralco buying more than 50 percent of its total supply from its own IPPs?  Because EPIRA allows it to do so.  Why are Meralco rates higher that other distribution utilities? Because EPIRA and the ERC allowed the use of different rate methodologies.  Why is it that whoever controls Meralco controls the power sector? Because EPIRA renders it so.
 
How about the IPP contracts that made us pay P7.71/kWh from Casecnan rather than at NPC’s P3.89 generation charge?  Again, EPIRA requires us to pay for them until the end of the contract.  Imagine half of the price cut if this contract were rescinded.
 
When asked yesterday if NPC can supply the needed requirement of Meralco to avail of its cheaper price, the answer is predictably no.  Why?  Because with almost 50 percent of its generating capacity already privatized and the remaining to be finished this year, how can a dying NPC enter into a long-term supply contract with Meralco. 
 
Now if lawmakers only see the devil in the Lopezes and ignore the bigger power play being hatched and the failed policies behind these high electricity rates, they had better switch off the lights in both houses of Congress. Or pay our electric bills. Or failing that, shoot their own feet.
 

May 14th, 2008 | Posted in Rate Increase | No Comments

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