For UMAK (NSTP) Class (CSP31, RSP13 & RSP16)

Sa mga hindi pa nakaka pagsumite ng kanilang mga report (Action Plan - Form C, Progress Report - form D, Monthly Reflection paper - Form E, at Accomplishment Report - Form F, logbook at pictures for documentation) mula unang araw ng inyong community service hanggang Jan19, last day na ng pagsusumite sa Feb2. Sa mga nagkapagpasa na, CSP31 group 4 at ilang members ng group 3, good work, pero sa susunod gawin natin siyang in paragraph form, huwag ung parang exam na sinasagutan ang mga forms. Mas maganda tingnan at mas mauunawaan ang inyong mga report kung sa paragraph form ninyo gagawin. Maging guide questions lang ang mga nakalagay na katanungan sa forms (D at E) ung sa forms C at F matrix form lang din talaga un, sundan na lang ang format.

Para sa lahat ng aking mga mag-aaral (CSP at RSP), umpisahan nyo ng i-file ang mga reports ninyo (mula 1st day ng community service hanggang matapos ninyo ang inyong community service) sa isang short brown envelope. Inaasahan kong nakalagay sa envelope ang mga reports ninyo (Monthly Reflection at progress report), kasama ng action plan at accomplishment report. Ayusin na din ang integration paper, maganda kung may mga pictures ng inyong community service.

Sa RSP class ko, may orientation para sa gagawin nating Mobilization Camp sa Mt. Makiling sa Feb 16, 1-5pm sa UMAK mini theater. Naka schedule ang inyong camping sa darating na March 14-16. ang Babayaran ninyo ay sasabihin na lang sa Feb16. Wear your NSTP uniform at neckerchiefs sa Feb16.

Mga dates na dapat tandaaan:
Feb. 16 - RSP orientation for Mobilization Camp
March 14-16 - RSP Mobilization Camp
March 17-22 - Passing of Requirements (Progress Reports, Action Plans, Accomplishment Reports, Monthly reflection paper at Integration Paper) - CSP at RSP

Maraming Salamat

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)