On the Visiting Forces Agreement

Demystifying EDSA

Serious Music

Pinoy Comedy

The War in Gaza

The Philippines and Israel:
A History of Complicity, an Imperative for Action
By Herbert Docena

In 1947, the future of the Middle East stood before a vote at the United Nations General Assembly. The British empire had earlier expressed support for a Jewish “national home” in colonized Palestine, effectively promising to give away land they did not own. This promise was seized on by Zionists who had envisioned the creation in Palestine of an exclusively Jewish state, a project which drew more support following the Holocaust.

The only problem: Palestine, which Zionists describe as a “land without people for a people without land,” happened to have people.

On the table at the UN was Resolution 181, which – in proposing to partition Palestine between Arabs and Jews – effectively sought to legitimize settler-colonialism. Under the plan, the Jewish state was to be allocated 55% of the total land, even though the Jewish population at that time constituted only one-third of Palestine’s population and owned only 6% of the land.

Approved by the Zionists – who never made a secret of their plans to eventually expand their state – and rejected by Palestinians, the resolution was backed by the US and other colonial powers but opposed by many Arab and other formerly colonized countries. Lacking the required majority, the resolution stood on the verge of defeat – until three countries, pressured by the US, switched votes.
One of them was the Philippines.

Since then, Israel proceeded to invoke the resolution to justify its creation but has since defied its other provisions: In 1948, it seized more land through what even Israeli historians now agree to be a case of “ethnic cleansing,” expelling over 1.4 million Palestinians and defying UN resolutions to let them return. Then, in 1967, Israel conquered more land and evicted more Palestinians. Until now, what remains of Palestine – constituting only 22% of the original land that was to be partitioned and getting smaller as illegal Israeli settlements expand – remain under illegal Israeli occupation.
Through all this, the Philippines has been a complicit ally.

Itself a recipient of US military aid like Israel, the Philippines has for the most part followed the cue of the US in its unquestioning support of Israel’s policies. In 2006, as Israel subjected Lebanon – including Filipino workers – to collective punishment by aerial bombardment, the Philippines went along with the US in refusing to condemn Israeli aggression. At the UN Human Rights Council that month, the Philippines went against the majority in condemning Israeli operations.

Today, as Israel invades Gaza, the Philippines again refuses to speak out. In its view, what is happening is but an unfortunate contest between equally intransigent sides, as initiated by Hamas, rather than the latest instance of aggression by an occupying power against an occupied people.

This despite the fact that, contrary to the Israeli spin, it was Israel that yet again fired the first shot: As UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk has pointed out, Hamas had been complying with the ceasefire which began in June 2006, and even offered to extend it. Israel, for its part, repeatedly undermined it by turning Gaza into a ghetto. To Hamas’ offer, Israel responded with air strikes. Then last November, Israel killed ten Palestinians, effectively ending the truce, and forcing Hamas to react.
The ensuing offensive has further undermined the only solution that could end Hamas’ largely ineffectual rocket fire – that of a just and peaceful settlement which the Palestinians have long sought, as evidenced by their willingness to accept the little that remains of Palestine for their own state existing alongside Israel, or if not that, of a single state in which all Jews and Arabs would have equal rights. It is a solution which more Israelis are also coming to embrace, but which Zionists continue to fear and reject.

What Israel is doing is therefore not self-defense but a continuation of the Zionist dream to solve the problem posed by Palestinians: If the so-called “land without people for a people without land” happens to have people, then the final solution is to get rid of those people.
As this solution is imposed, the Philippines can continue its complicity, just as it did in 1947 when it supported the disastrous UN partition. Or it could do something decent, just as it did in the 1940s when – even as most other countries turned away desperate Jews fleeing from the Holocaust – the Philippines opened its doors to them.

Today, as another people are subjected to mass murder, ordinary Filipinos should challenge the government’s complicity and take action. On this, UN General Assembly President Fr. Miguel Brockman has pointed to one concrete proposal: support the call – called for by Palestinians as well as peace-loving Israelis – for a global boycott, divestments, and sanctions campaign against Israel of the scale that ended apartheid in South Africa. Consumers should stop buying from companies that support Israel, Manila should cut its “sister-city” ties with Haifa, universities should stop inviting Zionist professors, cultural groups should not show Israeli films, and so on.

This campaign understandably raises a lot of questions but discussion is better than silence – the silence of those who look aside and of those who disappear.#

Herbert Docena (

herbert@focusweb.org) is with the Stop the War Coalition - Philippines. For more information on the Global Boycotts, Divestments, and Sanctions campaign, see http://www.bdsmovement.net/

The Perils of the White Elephant

The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant has been given several monikers since its conception – the white elephant, Morong monster and the ghost of Morong, among others. It has also been alluded to as a glorified stove by no less than the proponent himself, Pangasinan Representative Mark Cojuangco.

Monikers aside, there really is nothing (from the Wikipedia data that the proponent has constantly been referring to for facts) that makes the BNPP worth reviving. To revive something that has been killed over 2 decades ago is not something that is worth our time and budget. And in this time of imminent peril, our lawmakers must not be distracted by quick fix solutions under the guise of ‘modernity’.

“Nuclear power plants are, next to nuclear warheads themselves, the most dangerous devices that man has ever created. Their construction and proliferation is the most irresponsible, in fact the most criminal, act ever to have taken place on this planet” said Patrick Moore who was among the most vociferous members of Greenpeace strongly opposed to Nuclear power, has sold his soul to the dark side to become a nuclear energy lobbyist. He has been given undue importance by misrepresenting himself as an environmentalist expert (for financial gain).

The justification to revive the plant is an official abuse of scientific data, according to Dr. Kelvin S. Rodolfo, adjunct professor University of the Philippines – Diliman NIGS. Scientific studies show that BNPP is unsafe. No country has ever solved the problem of nuclear waste storage and disposal. To operate a 20-year old plant is like playing Russian roulette. In the event of a natural disaster, i.e. an earthquake or a volcanic eruption, the disaster knows no bounds – death, cancer, leukemia, respiratory ailments – the dismal list goes on. Experts have spoken about the real score on BNPP. Who will you believe and trust your future with? A man who portrays to know the facts and who claims that you can get more radiation from a banana than from standing beside a nuclear power plant for one year or from experts who are backed with sound scientific facts and data? The choice is yours.

Whether we admit it or not, we are the children of climate change. It is unforgivable for us to leave behind a planet in a worse condition from when we first set foot on. Anyone who argues to differ is a schizoid who “can feel completely secure only by imagining the world as a vast empire of inert objects ruled by the self’s unfettered will”, according to Ira Chernus, “Nuclear Madness”.

What’s worse than nuclear renaissance is the phenomenon of apathy and indifference amongst the public. I am ashamed for those who pay a blind eye to what is obviously wrong and instead continue treading on with their lives in a nonchalant manner, not affected whatsoever. Were they not paying attention in class during discussions on Jose Rizal, particularly when he said “The youth is the hope of our future?”

Let us bid nuclear fantasies and apathy a farewell and learn to speak, act and stand up for the planet now.

http://greenpeacesoutheastasia.wordpress.com/tag/bataan-nuclear-power-plant/

The Agrarian Question

WHAT CAN BE DONE FOR THE PASSAGE OF THE CARPER BILL?

· We should push Congress to perform its constitutional duty of enacting a law extending CARP with the necessary reforms especially those contained in House Bill 4077 and Senate Bill 266 at the soonest possible time.

· We must push Congress to revoke Join Rsolution No. 19 in order to give way to land acquisition and distribution through Compulsory Acquisition.

· We should resist and block anti-CARP bills like the Perfecting Amendment Bills proposed by Congressman Villafuerte

· We should continue our struggle of relentlessly upholding the rights of the farmers and farmworkers in order to promote the principles of justice and equity enshrined in our Constitution

· Strengthen our collective resolve and commitment and work to expand agrarian reform constituents to support the nationwide call to extend and reform CARP

Extending CARP with Reforms

The CARP as a development framework is supposed to pave the way for the country’s aspirations for sustainable economic development and industrialization by infusing fresh capital, infrastructure and lasting peace into agricultural areas. CARP seeks to correct centuries of social injustices and at the same time usher in genuine economic development by diffusing wealth and opportunity to many. The relationship between agricultural and countryside development as brought about by efficient agrarian reform and the modernization and industrialization of a nation cannot be gainsaid and has been proven many times over by the experiences of many countries.

Success stories on proper CARP implementation are numerous. Studies show that the Program, in many parts of the country, has improved the lives of farmers and their households; freed millions from hunger and destitution; brought peace to the countryside; sent more children to schools; developed and modernized agricultural lands; built and paved more roads, warehouses and post harvest facilities; provided credit and technical assistance to the rural areas. If completed, CARP will be able to lift from poverty and hunger an additional 1.7 million Filipinos, mostly from the rural areas, and facilitate the increase of the middle class. With an enlarged middle class, businesses will grow, politics will become more modern and the economy will be in better shape for all Filipinos in the 21st century.

Twenty years after it was first enacted into law, the Program once again is facing an impending end to its funding allocation in the national budget in 2008, despite the fact that CARP is far from complete. According to the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), 1.3 Million hectares of the most productive private agricultural lands still have not been covered by the program as of 2006. The roots of the problem can be traced to the government’s failure to put the required institutional, fiscal and infrastructural support; compounded by DAR’s inefficiency and corruption.

A need to accelerate the implementation of the Land Acquisition and Distribution (LAD) component of the CARP and complete once and for all this most urgent part of the Program will usher the country into agro-industrialization and modernization similar to the development path taken by many of our neighbor countries - Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Moreover, the lessons in the two decades worth of CARP implementation compel the adoption of measures to address the loopholes of the law on agrarian reform. Among the necessary reforms are strengthening the credit and support service delivery, making indefeasible the titles on the land awarded to agrarian reform beneficiaries, ensuring the actual, physical distribution and possession of lands and reorganizing the DAR bureaucracy for better performance and more farmer participation.