Maligayang Kaarawan Ms Ami Mabalay

Huli man daw at magaling, maihahabol pa rin. Nais ko lang bumati sa iyo ng isang maligayang kaarawan. Sana ay matanggap mo ang lahat ng mga biyaya na ninanais mo. Ipagpatuloy ang mga nasimulan mo at ang patuloy na pakikilahok sa pakikibaka ng mga magsasaka para sa tunay na reporma sa lupa.

Pagpupugay sa iyong patuloy na pagpupunyagi sa pagmumulat, pag-oorganisa at pagpapakilos sa mga kabataan at estudyante.

Mabuhay ka sa iyong kaarawan.

SALOT

Jess Santiago
Composed for and first sang at the National Study Conference on Corruption (NSCC)*
January 14, 2005


Mayroong mikrobyong ngayo'y kumakalat
Ang inaatake ay puso at utak
Ang unang biktima ay ang ating budhi
Ngayo'y wala ng tama at wala nang mali

Mula sa munting sityo hanggang sa munisipyo
Mula punong lungsod hanggang kapitolyo
Mula sa kongreso hanggang sa senado
Laganap ang sakit lalo sa palasyo
Mula sa ibaba hanggang sa itaas
Laki ng kurakot kumporme sa antas

Salot, salot
Ang mga kurakot salot
Salot, salot
Ang mga kurakot salot

Mula kawanihan hanggang kagawaran
Hanggang sa gabinete ng pamahalaan
Silang humahawak ng kapangyarihan
Mula sa barangay hanggang Malakanyang
Silang ating mga pinagkakatiwalaan
Sila ang pasimuno sa katiwalian

Salot, salot. . .

Kabuhaya'y baldado, ang gobyerno'y lumpo
Dapat ng sugpuin ang salot na ito
Kanser ng lipunan ay ating ilantad
Sama-sama nating ihanap ng lunas (ang)

Salot, salot. . .

Mula sa pulisya hanggang sa militar
Mikrobyo'y laganap hanggang sa hukuman
Katumbas ng pirma ay sobreng makapal
Ay, mga pinuno na sobrang garapal
Talamak na sakit, grabeng karamdaman
Di kayang lunasan sa patapal-tapal (ang)

Salot, salot. . .

NSCC was spearheaded by the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG), IBON Foundation, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) with the participation of Action Against Corruption and Tyranny Now (ACT Now), Center for Communication Matters (CCM), Citizens Coalition for Good Governance (CCGG), Concerned Artist of the Philippines (CAP), Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE), KAIROS, Labor Network Against Corruption and Tyranny (LANCET), Muntinlupa Alliance Against Corruption (MAAC), National Union of Journalist of the Philippines (NUJP), PATRIOTS, Plunder Watch, Volunteer Against Crime and Corruption (VACC)

Dissecting Corruption book to be launched Dec. 19

Pulse Asia recently revealed that President Gloria M. Arroyo is rated by Filipinos as the most corrupt president, followed by Ferdinand Marcos, Joseph Estrada, Fidel V. Ramos, and Corazon Aquino, who was given a rating of 1 percent. A couple of years ago, two of the country's presidents, Marcos and Estrada, were counted as among the world's most corrupt leaders, based on an international survey. For several years now, the Philippines has been ranked among the most corrupt countries in the world - No. 10 in the whole world, according to the November 2007 report of Transparency International.

Will there be no end to corruption in the Philippines? Many Filipinos view corruption with cynicism, as a malady that will persist no matter who the president is. Others believe that only a sweeping change in government and a surgical reform of the political system will eliminate corruption.

The book, Dissecting Corruption: Philippine Perspectives, seeks to probe into the basic roots of corruption and traces its historical and systemic aspects. It also examines how corruption ravages government, the military, and business with the Filipino people ending up as the losers.

The book is being launched to mark the International Day against Corruption which was on Dec. 9. It will be CenPEG's fourth book in four years.

Published by the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG), Dissecting Corruption will be launched on Dec. 19, 2007, 8:30 – 11 a.m. at the CSWCD Bldg. grounds, UP Diliman, Quezon City. The book compiles papers presented during the National Study Conference on Corruption held in January 2005 at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, with the late Commissioner Haydee Yorac as the keynote speaker. Prof. Felipe Miranda will also give brief remarks about Pulse Asia's latest survey on President Arroyo.A policy institute founded in 2004, CenPEG conducts research, issue analysis, forums and roundtable discussions as well as media advocacy about politics, governance, elections, corruption, and other issues. Its corps of Fellows includes Dr. Bienvenido Lumbera, who also serves as Board chair; Profs. Rivera, Roland Simbulan, Luis Teodoro, Ben Lim, Felix Muga II, Lani Abad, and Bobby Tuazon; Drs. Leni Jara and Ed Clemente. Evi-Ta Jimenez is CenPEG's Executive Director.

Pagbati sa matagumpay na Reunion ng mga NNARA-Youth

Pagbati sa matagumpay na paglulunsad ng reunion ng mga NNARA-Youth noong nakaraang Disyembre 14, 2007, 6-9 ng gabi sa UP Diliman, Balay Kalinaw.

Nagsama sama ang mga NNARA-Youth (Batches 1995 hanggang 2007) mula sa UP Diliman, UP Manila, at PUP. Ang pagsasama-samang ito ay patunay lamang na ang NNARA-Youth ay patuloy na sumusuporta sa pakikibaka ng mga magsasaka kahit sa anumang propesyon sila naglilingkod ngayon.

Ang renewal ng kanilang paninindigan para sa pagsuporta sa laban ng mga magsasaka para sa pagkakamit nila ng tunay na reporma sa lupa ay isa sa mga naging highlights ng nasabing pagtitipon.

Mabuhay ang NNARA-Youth! Mabuhay ang mga kabataang naglilingkod sa interes ng mga magsasaka!

Ipagpatuloy ninyo ang inyong magandang simulain. Magmulat, mag-organisa at magpakilos sa hanay ng mga kabataan at estudyante.

Para sa Natatanging Kaibigan

Isang pagbati ng maligayang kaarawan sa isang kaibigan, kapatid at kasama.
Hangad ko ang kasaganahan, kaginhawaan ng iyong buhay at malusog na pangangatawang malayo sa anumang karamdaman.
Maraming salamat sa lahat ng mga bagay na iyong naitulong, sa mga panahon na naging bahagi ng iyong mga kalungkutan at kasiyahan.

Mabuhay ka Bb. Carla Corpuz, aking kaibigan, kasama, at nakababatang kapatid.

A FRAMEWORK ON STUDYING CORRUPTION

15 Areas of Attention or Why Corruption Persists

1. Corruption may be defined as the use of public resource and public power for personal ends, with bribery as its common form.

2. While the tendency in our country is to limit its meaning meaning to wrongdoing by government officials, or official corruption, private individuals may be, and are often involved as partners, co-conspirators, and beneficiaries in the use of public resources and abuse of power or government position for personal ends. Many bureaucrats in government are themselves involved in large-scale corruption in connivance with business patrons and/or partners.

3. The Philippines ranks 4th most corrupt country in Asia according to Hongkong's Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) and in Transparency International's Global Corruption Barometer on 2007our country now ranks 10th from rank 36th among 102 countries in TI's 2005 corruption index, validating perceptions that government corruption is widespread. It also reveals that corruption occurs massively among the poorest countries of the world like the Philippines, but is considerably less in the industrialized world.

4. Poor countries share characteristics other than poverty:
* Many are former colonies whose development has been arrested as a result, and whose societies have remained essentially backward, feudal and agrarian both economically and politically.

* Aside from the long experience in colonial and semi-colonial rule, there is the dominance o elite politics.

* The apparent failure of government institutions to respond fairly and justly to the people's problem.

* Limited democratic practices provide fertile ground for corruption to flourish and

* The inability and unwillingness on the part of the political elite to address the underlying roots of corruption and to bring accountable bureaucracy to the people help corruption to take firm root.

5. Corruption is endemic, chronic, and pervasive in these countries where internal -- political, economic, social, cultural and behavioral -- actors combine in contributing to corruption and ethical bankruptcy in government.

6. Industrialized countries that still have corruption as a major problem have governments that are generally characterized by backward, feudal and personalistic relations, and most of all invariably controlled or influenced by vested interest groups rather than public service.

7. In poor and backward countries like the Philippines, corruption is a consequence of the feudal relations that have persisted for centuries, in which kinship and other ties play a leading role in officials' bending or breaking the rules, and in colluding with private profit-hungry individuals.

8. Familial and other relations are an important factor in fostering corruption where family members and "compadres" are often officials' partners and beneficiaries. When patronage and nepotism exist, corruption thrives easily.

9. The dominantly feudal, familial, and personalistic relations undermine state institutions, and constitute the basic weakness of Philippine governance.

10. In particular, Philippine bureaucracy is ridden with corruption where every transaction to clinch a

• FRANCHISE
• CONTRACT
  
• LICENSE
• PERMIT
• CONCESSION

Is most often seen as a source of personal profit.

11. Sources of corruption are everywhere in Philippine bureaucracy:

• Court Decisions
• Traffic Violations
• Procurement of Supplies
• Government Subsidies
• Medical and Health Care
• Trust Funds
• Subscription to private companies
• Government Loans
• Departmental, Executive and Legislative budget
• Logging and Mining Concessions
• Calamity Funds, among others.

12. Officials from top down to the lower levels who amass wealth from or use their positions of authority to influence laws, decisions or projects, resort to all kinds of tricks to manipulate financial transactions; many even involve themselves in criminal syndicates with the help of crooked cops or military and engage in other anti-social activities. These are the bureaucrat capitalists, bureaucrats in government who engage in business for themselves at the expense of dedicated public service.

13. The effects of corruption are:

• Aggravates the problem of poverty which results from policies that favor the local elite and their patrons who control and hold access to government resources and use these for their personal benefit. This situation exacerbates the already vast disparities between rich and poor, and consequently, in more concentration of power among the former.
• Abuse of power lead to serious wastage of 20-40% of total resources set apart for development.
• Data covering Asia, Africa, Latin America show that corruption has a deleterious, often devastating effect on administrative performance and economic and political development corroding people's trust, favoring the privileged and powerful elite.

This abusive and concentration of power has led to wider corruption as the greedy powerful holders appropriate an even greater share of both the limited wealth of the country and government resources to themselves and their families / friends.

14. There are many varied ways to measure corrupt practices, among these are:

• Lifestyle check against actual income
• Lifestyle check on immediate relatives, friends and personal "foundations" or "charity causes" who / which maybe channels of personal businesses using public resources
• Statements of assets and liabilities.

But these are not pursued relentlessly and in most cases, only selectively.

15. As long as this state of affairs remains where governance is controlled only by few wealthy political elite in government who treat government as one big business from where to draw personal profits, and as public service only for political expediency, corruption will always be a serious problem of government, whatever is its form of government.

Prepared by:
Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG)
Policy Study, Publication and Advocacy (PSPA)

Itanong nyo na!

Sa may mga tanong/comment/suggestion regarding sa NSTP Project Implementation, ito na ang panahon para gawin ito.

CORRUPTION o Korupsyon sige nga!

Pairalin po natin ang ating mapanuring pag-iisip, ang pakikinig sa ating paligid, at pag-oobserba sa sa mga tao na nakapaligid sa ating pang-araw araw na gawain.

Nais naming makahingi ng mga termino, salita, katawagan na ginagamit sa pang-araw-araw hinggil sa korupsyon. Hal. Kotong, lagay, etc. At ipaliwanag o bigyan ito ng kahulugan(depinisyon) batay sa paggamit sa salita.

Maraming Salamat.

Book Launching

Isang paanyaya mula sa Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) para sa pagpapasinaya ng librong Dissecting Corruption: Philippine Perspectives. December 19, 2007. 8:30 ng umaga hanggang 12 ng tanghali sa UP CSWCD.

Matapos ang pagpapasinaya sa aklat, magkakaroon ng pagkilala sa mga natatanging Human Rights Advocacy, at ilang mga aktibidad para sa mga barangay na naging bahagi ng mga adbokasiya ng CenPEG.

Tama ba ang Transport Strike?

Napapanahong katanungan sa napapanahong isyu na sa kasalukuyan ay nararanasan nating mga mamamayan, ang patuloy na pagtaas ng presyo ng langis. At sa mga susunod na taon ay lalo pang tataas kung hindi natin ito tututulan.

Nakaasa ang ating enerhiya sa langis. Kaya nga kapag tumaas ang presyo nito, kasabay na tataas ang presyo ng mga bilihin, kuryente, tubig, pamasahe , serbisyo at iba pa. Ang kuryente, makinarya, maging ang gamit sa pagsasaka at pangingisda, at maging pampublikong transportasyon ay apektado. Kaya nga tumitindi ang hirap ng mamamayan sa tuwing tataas ang presyo ng langis.

Ang patuloy na pagtaas ng presyo ng langis ay nangangahulugan ng patuloy na pagpapahirap sa mga mamamayan, magsasaka, manggagawa, at maging ng mga tsuper ng pampublikong transportasyon. Hindi sapat ang kanilang kinikita para matustusan ang kanilang pamilya.

Sa kabila ng mga panawagan na mag roll back ng presyo ng langis, nagtuluy-tuloy ang pagtaas nito. Hindi rin sapat ang ginagawa ng pamahalaan para sa pagtuklas ng alternatibong mapagkukunan ng enerhiya.

Isa sa mga pamamaraan upang mapigilan ang pagtaas ng presyo ng langis ay ang pagre-regulate ng pamahalaan sa presyo nito, pag basura sa oil deregulation law, at pagsasabansa ng industriya ng langis.

Nagpanukala ang IBON foundation ng pitong reporma na pamalit sa deregulasyon:

1. Sentralisadong pagbili ng imported na langis.
2. Palitan ng kalakal at iba pang di-tradisyunal na kalakalan.
3. Pondo na sasalo sa anumang biglaang pagtaas.
4. Pagbili muli ng gobyerno sa Petron.
5. Aktibong pagpasok ng gobyerno sa pagre-refine ng langis.
6. Pagtiyak na makatwiran ang presyo sa gasolinahan
7. Kontrol ng estado sa paghahanap, pagmimina, pagpapaunlad at paggamit ng langis.

Ngunit ang higit pa ring mapagpasya ay ang pagkilos ng mga mamamayan, katulad ng isinasagawang transport strike. Bagamat sinasabi sa mga balita na hindi gaanong naka apekto ito sa mga tao ngayong araw, ang mahalaga pa rin sa aking pagtingin ay ang pagpapakita na maraming mamamayan ang tumututol at sumusuporta sa transport strike. Hindi naman layunin ng transpost strike na ito na paralisahin, isabotahe, at guluhion ang pang araw-araw nating gawain, nais ng mga tsuper na ipakita ang tunay nilang nararanasan at saloobin sa isyu ng pagtaas ng presyo ng langis.

Tagumpay kung gayon para sa mamamayan ang maipakita na sa pamamagitan ng mga ganitong pagkilos, nagkakaroon ng malawak na opinyong publiko hinggil sa usapin ng langis. Mailunsad ng maayos ang kanilang pagkilos sa kabila ng mga batikos at pananakot ng pamahalaan na may mga elementong manggugulo sa kanila, at sa hindi pagsama ng mga malalaking transport groups na hindi matibay ang liderato at madaling sumuko lalo na at ang mga pinuno naman nila ay hindi nararanasan ang krisis na tinatamasa ng mga tsuper sa pampublikong transportasyon.

To all my NSTP Students

Magandang Araw sa lahat! Kamusta ang unang araw ng inyong implementasyon? Kamusta ang unang araw ng pagpunta sa komunidad? Paalala lang sa lahat na sundan ang mga ipinadala kong forms sa inyo. Ipadala sa aking email add ang mga Reflections Paper/ Progress Reports ninyo sa unang araw ng pagpunta sa komunidad, NGO, barangay. Gamitin ang Form D Progress Report.

Pahabol:

Ihanda ang inyong mga logbook para sa mga minutes at reports hinggil sa ginawa ninyo sa unang araw ng inyong pagpunta sa komunidad. Siguraduhin na nasususnod ang lahat ng mga polisiya sa paglulunsad natin ng ating mga gawain sa barangay/center/institution.

Sa mga team leaders siguraduhin na naka uniporme ang inyong mga kamag-aral tuwing pupunta ng community. Paki send din sa akin ang inyong schedule ng pagpunta sa barangay, simula sa Dec8 hanggang sa matapos ang inyong proyekto. Ilagay ang Oras ng pagpunta at pag-alis.

Maraming Salamat