GMA could suffer same fate as Honduras leader, Binay warns, By Rhodina Villanueva, Updated June 30, 2009

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=482432&publicationSubCategoryId=63
MANILA, Philippines – Opposition leader and Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay said Mrs. Arroyo might end up like ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya if she and her allies persist in trying to stay in power beyond 2010.

“Mrs. Arroyo should view the events in Honduras as a wake-up call. She should not test the patience of the people, especially the military, with the supposed plan to force the current Armed Forces chief into early retirement to pave the way for a diehard Gloria loyalist,” Binay said.

Zelaya was ousted in a military coup and forced into exile after announcing plans to change the Constitution to allow him to run again for president after the end of his fixed four-year term. His country’s Supreme Court had declared the planned term extension illegal.

Binay also said the planned “self-coup” by generals perceived as rabidly pro-Mrs. Arroyo would further fuel unrest within the military and galvanize opposition to her regime.

The reported “self-coup” within the military leadership – dubbed “Oplan August Moon” – is supposedly intended to put generals identified with Class ’78 of the Philippine Military Academy in key positions before the end of the year. Mrs. Arroyo is an adopted member of Class ’78.

“Such a plan falls in place with the recent moves by Mrs. Arroyo to extend her hold on power by pushing for amendments to the Constitution,” he said.

“Nothing happens by accident under the regime of Mrs. Arroyo. And a plan to consolidate her hold on the military leadership would be a logical part of a larger plan to stay in power beyond 2010,” he said.

“Should Oplan August Moon turn out to be true, then we should prepare for the worst, since you will have both the AFP and even the PNP under the command of known Gloria loyalists, and this will happen during the election period, a very critical period for the country but most especially for Mrs. Arroyo,” he said.

In the alleged coup plot, AFP chief of staff Gen. Victor Ibrado would be “forced into retirement” and replaced by Army chief Lt. Gen. Delfin Bangit.

Binay said he also got reports that a certain police general has been telling people that he would be the next PNP chief by December.

“During the election period, Mrs. Arroyo will have complete control over the AFP and PNP leadership. She will definitely use this to her advantage, whether to ensure the victory of her anointed candidate, or to impose emergency rule and even martial law,” Binay said.

Denunciation

Cuba’s Ambassador to Manila condemned the coup in Honduras and said his country will never recognize the regime installed by the military.

“We denounce the coup d’etat in Honduras. The Cuban position is not to negotiate with the military. This is not the solution and this (new leadership) is not the government of the people,” Ambassador Jorge Rey Jimenez told The STAR.

Jimenez also condemned the Honduran military’s violation of the diplomatic immunity of Cuba’s Ambassador to Tegucigalpa Juan Carlos Hernandez, who was kidnapped and beaten along with Honduran Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas in the presence of the Venezuelan and Nicaraguan ambassadors.

“Nobody knows what happened to her (Rodas). And the kidnapping of ambassadors is a violation of diplomatic immunity of ambassadors in Honduras. This fascist coup and break of constitutional situation and democratic situation in Honduras took the president who was legally voted,” Jimenez added.

Hours later, Hernandez was released and, with the help of friends, returned to the Cuban embassy. – With Pia Lee-Brago

Philippine Regime's Con-Ass a path to dictatorship, martial law, Posted in BAYAN USA

June 3rd, 2009








Contact: Rhonda Ramiro
Secretary-General, BAYAN USA
secgen@bayanusa.org

http://bayanusa.org/

Filipino-Americans under the banner of BAYAN USA, an alliance of 14 Filipino organizations in the United States, are expressing outrage over last night’s vote by the Philippine House of Representatives to approve House Resolution 1109, which would allow for the convening of a Constiuent Assembly (Con-Ass) made of members of the Lower House and Senate in order to amend the 1987 Philippine Constitution, or enact Charter-Change (Cha-Cha).

“Con-Ass is a major step towards transforming an undeclared martial rule into the official dictatorship of the Arroyo government,” states BAYAN USA Chair Berna Ellorin. “It is one of the biggest threats to democracy in the Philippines since the days of the Marcos dictatorship, and it must be stopped.”

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo herself has repeatedly sung of the praises of her proposed amendments to the 1987 Philippine Consitution, including total economic liberalization in favor of foreign corporate interests as well as lifting existing provisions prohibiting the establishment of permanent military bases by foreign troops. But it is the proposed amendment by the Arroyo administration to shift the Philippine government into a parliamentary system, combined with the lifting of provisions that limit martial law powers, that has drawn the most opposition from Filipinos in the Philippines and worldwide.

“Arroyo intends to take over as the new Prime Minister with an indefinite term status if Cha-Cha is passed,” Ellorin continued. “This provides an official policy framework in the Constitution for fascist dicatorship and martial law.”

Cronyism

BAYAN USA also criticized the validity of last night’s Lower House vote for HR 1109, as the vote only came from the one legislative body in the bicameral Philippine Congress.

“They cannot vote without the Senate,” Ellorin continued. “This so-called ‘House Majority’ that voted in support of Con-Ass are not Arroyo allies, but those who have been bribed by the Arroyo administration through pork barrel money in exchange for loyalty to Arroyo. Even the opposition was prevented from airing their views. This is cronyism no different from the Marcos era of massive graft and corruption.”

BAYAN USA also raised that with rampant cronyism at play in the Philippine Congress, it is certain that the Constituent Assembly to convene will not have the best interests of the Filipino people in mind when altering the Philippine Constitution.

Clamor Needed Overseas

Record highs in the number of overseas absentee voter (OAV) registration from Filipinos abroad, including the United States, provides strong indication of overseas clamor to vote Arroyo out of office by 2010.

“Filipinos, especially those of us overseas, cannot trust their own government these days. Filipinos abroad are compelled to be part of the change they would like to see in Philippine politics,” Ellorin ended. “But aside from our ballots, we must engage in community actions and public pressure to make our opposition to Cha-Cha visible to Manila. After all, we keep the Philippine economy afloat with our billions in dollar remittances every year. We must be part of saving what is left of democracy in the Philippine Constitution and in our homeland.”

Street demonstrations protesting HR 1109 have already been confronted with violent dispersals by police near the Batasan Complex in Quezon City.

Posted in BAYAN USA

Philippines ‘another Colombia’ for murdered union activists

Source: CUPE web site
May 15, 2009 07:51 PM




Visit by teachers’ union rep reveals grim labour relations climate in SE Asian state

BURNABY—Thanks to the Canada-Colombia free trade agreement, not to mention CUPE’s international solidarity projects over the years, most union members today are well aware of the climate of fear and intimidation that haunts every union activist in the South American country.

But human rights abuses, including the murder or disappearance of trade union leaders, may be just as bad—or even worse—in the Philippines, according to a leading Filipino union activist who is touring Canada this month.

Antonio Tinio, national chairperson of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), paid a visit to CUPE’s B.C. regional office on Monday, May 11 to share his experiences with CUPE members and staff. Tinio, and another Filipino union activist scheduled to arrive in B.C. on May 14, were on a national tour sponsored by CUPE National’s Global Justice fund.

Privatization gone mad

The portrait Tinio painted of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s administration was one of unbridled privatization in which Filipino workers’ rights are trampled for the sake of maximum foreign investment.

The struggle is especially desperate in the education sector, where tuition fees at the University of the Philippines went up 300 per cent last year alone.

“The slashing of higher education budgets for universities and colleges, and the outsourcing of such services as security, janitorial and food, has been a trend since the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s,” Tinio told the CUPE gathering.

“This period has seen the linking of universities with big corporations. The U of P has leased a lot of land to corporations, and we’re seeing a lot of call centres and business outsourcing within the campus.”

In response to Arroyo’s freeze of school teachers’ wages, union activists are also campaigning to raise those salaries by 75 per cent over three years.

A policy drenched in blood

Between 2001, when Arroyo first came to power, and March 2009, 1,009 unionists and activists have been killed, while another 204 have been victims of “involuntary disappearances,” said Tinio.

“The activists who have been killed come from organized labour, peasant organizations, women, human rights, students, teachers, and other professional organizations.”

The ACT leader said that Arroyo regime has failed to institute substantive reforms recommended two years ago by United Nations’ special rapporteur Philip Alston to put a stop to extrajudicial killings in the Philippines.

This verdict was released just a few days ago by Alston himself, providing an update.

Alston’s 2007 report concluded that activists were being targeted by the nation’s military forces. The deaths of three ACT members since the mid-decade have been particularly chilling. One woman, a college professor, was stabbed in 2005, while a male teacher was shot by masked gunmen in 2006 as he was walking home from school. In 2007, a teacher was shot dead in front of his students.

In another case, a 22-year-old substitute teacher was shot dead because she was believed to be the daughter of a rebel leader.

International support makes a difference

Notwithstanding the lack of political reform, Tinio told the CUPE gathering that international pressure on the Arroyo government has gone some way to help reduce the killings and disappearances. Since 2006, an avalanche of e-mails and letters has called for the government to stop the killings, end impunity for the murderers, and support human rights. Since 2006, the numbers have gone from 220 recorded cases of murdered unionists to 94 in 2007 and 64 in 2008.

Tinio concluded that Canadian unionists can help by passing convention resolutions to support ACT’s campaign, by establishing worker-to-worker solidarity missions with the Philippines, and by writing to the Arroyo and Harper governments to demand justice for the victims of extrajudicial killings.

Tinio also hopes to produce a video documentary on human and labour rights in the Philippines, and is soliciting funds for the project.