opinion


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The Manila Times WEDNESDAY


D e cember 8, 2010


Edit orial Unconstitutional


dent’s supporters, questioned its legality. In a press conference held after the solemn first anniversary commemoration of President Corazon Aquino’s death, the President told critics of his Executive Order (EO) No. 1 and the Truth Commission the EO created to just take their complaints to the Supreme Court. “Ang huhusga ay ang Supreme Court. [The Supreme Court will decide.] Sa palagay ko yun ang nararapat na venue. [In my opinion, that is the proper venue.]” Yesterday (Tuesday), the Philippine Supreme Court announced its decision on the petitions filed on August 12, 2010, asking the Court to declare Executive Order No. 1 and the creation of the Truth Commission unconstitutional. The SC agreed with the petitioners.


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What the President tasked his Truth Commission to do Created in Executive Order No. 1 on July 30, 2010, the Truth


Commission is tasked to probe into the reports and allegations of corruption during the nine years that former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo governed our country.


It is required to submit its findings and recommendations to the President, the Congress, and the Ombudsman. Whoever helped President Aquino draft EO No. 1 was mindful of the limits of presidential power to recast the duties of executive departments as defined by existing laws and the Constitution. So EO No. 1 did not enable the Truth Commission to usurp the power of the Depart- ment of Justice and the Ombudsman to file charges against the accused—mainly, of course, former President Arroyo but also whoever the TC would have found liable for graft and corrupt acts. The hearings of the TC would be open to the public. The President appointed former Chief Justice Hilarion Davide chair of the commission. The other TC members are former Supreme Court justices Flerida Ruth P. Romero and Romeo J. Callejo Sr. and law professors Carlos P. Medina Jr. and Menardo I. Guevarra. Davide’s appointment was ironic. It was he, at the head of the High Court at the time, who proclaimed and swore in President Arroyo at the EDSA stage. By that act, President Joseph Estrada’s ouster by People Power Revolt No. 2 became a reality. That is why on August 7, 2010, President Estrada criticized President Aquino’s appointment of Davide and called for an investigation on Davide’s allegedly anomalous disposition of the judiciary fund (which various groups have been asking the Supreme Court to be transparent about). Soon, Senator Jinggoy Estrada also assailed Davide’s appointment.


An act of partisan-politics The creation of the Truth Commission, while welcomed no doubt


by most of the 70-plus percent of the population who trust, admire and adore President Noynoy Aquino, was also seen as an act of partisan politics, an extension of the Aquino-versus-Arroyo “good- versus-evil” campaign.


Prosecuting, if not persecuting, the Arroyos was an essential element of the Aquino campaign and creating something like the Truth Commission was veritably a campaign promise. It did not surprise anybody to hear President Aquino say on June


29, 2010, a day before he formally took his oath of office, that he was immediately creating a Truth Commission. Then in his July 26, 2010, State of the Nation Address he made good his earlier promise and drew wild applause when he announced that his first executive order was the Truth Commission’s creation. He did so on July 30, 2010. Then the very next day, the pro-Gloria Arroyo camp in the House


of Representatives (there is a larger group of Lakas-Kampi CMD members of the House who are now officially pro-Aquino, having become members of the majority coalition) declared that it was considering a move to challenge the constitutionality of EO No. 1. But on that same day of July 31, 2010, the Leftist political organiza- tion Bayan, spoke against the Truth Commission—not because Bayan did not favor its creation but because EO No. 1 was only interested in the pecuniary sins of the Arroyo administration but not about human rights violations. On August 12, 2010, Congressman Edcel Lagman (the Minority Leader) and fellow opposition party members, Reps. Rodolfo Albano Jr., Simeon Datumanong and Orlando Fua Jr., filed their petition before the SC. Some allies of President Noynoy Aquino agreed with Lagman. Among the constitutional infirmities Rep. Lagman cited when arguing against EO No. 1, is that only Congress is empowered by the fundamen- tal law of our land to create such a body and to give it a budget. A pro-Noynoy Aquino lawmaker and a former executive secretary of the President’s late mother, Senator Joker Arroyo agrees. To him the Truth Commission created through an executive order was but a paper tiger.


The partisan-political nature of the Truth Commission shone through when on September 28, 2010, during oral argumentation on the petition, Solicitor General Jose Anselmo Cadiz told the Supremes that the creation of the Truth Commission was driven by the Office of the Ombudsman’s failure to prosecute graft and corruption cases under the Arroyo administration. That accusation against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, who staunchly denies it, is highly charged politically.


Another former Cabinet member of the President’s mother is former Sen. Rene Saguisag. He wrote in his Manila Times column (in a piece titled “Truth Commission reservations”): “No doubt Congress can create an office, such as a Truth Commission [TC]. But, may P-Noy? It may require a huge budget only Congress can set aside. What will be ex-CJ’s Jun Davide’s mandate as TC head honcho? To ‘investigate allegations of graft and other corruption scandals as well as human rights violations’ this decade? Whew! Suppose GMA, et al., snub the body as illegal: can it cite them for contempt? Permit me to doubt . . . We cannot ride roughshod over the human rights of the Arroyos and the generals who plotted to take over in January 2000 [correct], as GMA acknowledged on February 20, 2001, following the power grab a year later. But, we must guard against VICTOR’S JUSTICE . . . .” Will the Palace and the Truth Commissioners file a motion for reconsideration? If they do, won’t that be another instance of the President going against his own word—“Ang huhusga ay ang Supreme Court.”


WEDNESDAY December 8, 2010 The Manila Times DANTE F. M. ANG 2ND, Executive Editor


FRED DE LA ROSA, Chairman Editorial Board RENE Q. BAS, Editor in Chief ROMY P. MARIÑAS, News Editor


ARNOLD S. TENORIO, Business Editor CONRAD M. CARIÑO, National Editor


TESSA MAURICIO-ARRIOLA, Lifestyle Editor ARIS L. SOLIS, Regions Editor


PERRY GIL MALLARI, Acting Sports Editor BRIAN M. AFUANG, Art Director RENE H. DILAN, Photo Editor


 DANTE F. M. ANG 2ND, President and CEO


Telephone All Departments. 524-5665 to 67 Telefax 528-1729; Subscription: 524-5664 Local 222 URL http://www.manilatimes.net • e-mail newsboy1@manilatimes.net Letters to the editor


THE MANILA TIMES is published daily at 2/F Dante Ang and Associates Building, 409 A. Soriano Avenue, Intramuros, Manila 1002


VOLUME 112 NUMBER 058


Reviving nuclear specter T


HEY’RE at it again—propo- nents of nuclear power, that


is. Here and there, the observant news consumer cannot help but detect an ongoing publicity cam- paign that aims to deodorize nu- clear energy, depict it as “clean, renewable and cheap” when in fact it is none of those. The apparently well-funded PR


drive is also banking on a projec- tion of severe power outage next year, and hoping that it would induce panic that, in turn, will lead to official and public surren- der to the nuclear option. True, Mark Cojuangco is no longer a congressman but his wife- replacement, Pangasinan Rep. Kimi S. Cojuangco, has refiled the bill he originally submitted in order to re- activate the mothballed Bataan Nu- clear Power Plant (BNPP). Con- gresswoman Cojuangco did so just weeks after she was sworn into of- fice as a neophyte lawmaker. The Cojuangco bill aims to re- habilitate the fully paid but decommissioned BNPP, for which the country has already paid over US$2 billion—and mil- lions more in annual mainte- nance expenses.


That it is being “maintained” at all is proof that nuke propo- nents continue to hope that they could somehow overcome popu- lar resistance to their hazardous technology someday.


Sitting idle atop an earthquake fault for nearly a quarter of a cen- tury, the BNPP has been de- scribed by critics as a “monument to government corruption and nuclear folly.”


One of those critics is Roberto


Verzola, UP engineering profes- sor and Philippine Greens leader, among other credentials and involvements. Verzola was among the first to score the original bill seeking to


ment to overcome, this will open the floodgates to more nuclear plants, possibly in your region or province. Or even in your home- town,” Verzola said. “Remember: several studies


DAN MARIANO


“revive” the BNPP. “The cost of rehabilitation has been estimated at $1 billion,” he said of the bill filed by Mark Cojuangco. “Considering the history of cost escalation in the nuclear in- dustry, however, the actual cost may reach two to three times the initial estimates, or even more,” Verzola added.


The Green activist also disa- bused Filipinos who do not re- side near the BNPP and who might think that the nuclear plant issue is none of their business. “Filipinos living far from Bataan may think they have more urgent concerns than a nuclear plant,” Verzola said. “They must think again, for several reasons.” Verzola listed down those rea- sons one by one.


First, the Cojuangco proposal will fund the BNPP rehabilitation from a tax to be levied on the consumption of electricity, whether it is from a hydropower, wind, solar, coal or oil plant. “Thus, every electricity con- sumer from Batanes to Tawi-Tawi will be hit financially,” Verzola said. “That means most of us.” Second, the government has plans for 10 more nuclear plants all over the archipelago, but those plans could not be implemented because of anti-nuclear opposi- tion. According to Verzola, the target sites are a closely guarded government secret.


“If the opposition to the BNPP is weak enough for the govern-


have indicated that leukemia and other cancers are more common, especially among children, within five to ten kilometers of nuclear plants,” he warned. Third, huge government pro- jects draw corrupt bureaucrats like flies to garbage.


“These huge nuclear projects, costing several billion dollars each, will suck in funds from other government projects. They will mire the country in deeper debt,” Verzola said. “Yet much of the money will simply line the pockets of bureaucrats, suppliers and contractors. In the end, we the taxpayers, our grandchildren, and their grandchildren will end up footing the entire bill, as we did with the BNPP.”


Espousing other energy


sources, Verzola pointed out: “We have so many rivers, waterfalls and hot springs that can provide us cleaner, safer, cheaper hydro- electric and geothermal power. Wind and wave can further sup- plement these.” Looking forward, Verzola drew a hopeful scenario where filthy fossil fuels and dangerous nuclear energy would have be- come irrelevant. “For years now, the prices of computers, LCD projectors, digital cameras, and other electronic equipment have been steadily go- ing down, thanks to large-scale pro- duction,” said Verzola, widely hailed as the pioneer of informa- tion technology in the Philippines. “The basic element in all these products is silicon, the same raw material used in solar panels,” he said. “With the large-scale produc-


tion of solar panels which have been announced in China, Ger- many and other countries, we may soon enjoy cheap solar power too. Then we may not even need a Meralco or an electric coop to en- joy the benefits of electricity.” Verzola, however, warned: “But


the government will have no money for any of these, if we open our doors to the BNPP and ten other nuclear plants.”


Hot air


Speaking of alternative energy sources, I came across an article about a new technology that could produce bio-fuel from hu- man breath. According to the Liverpool Daily


Post, the Liverpool John Lennon Airport is testing a revolutionary device that converts the breath of passengers into biofuel. The machine is called Eco-box and its developers said it captures the carbon dioxide exhaled by travelers “for recycling into fuel to be used in the airport’s diesel vehicles and heating system.” The Post further reported: “Origo Industries, based at Daresbury Laboratory science and innovation campus near Warrington, has de- vised a technique to feed captured emissions to algae, to produce a biomass cake that can be converted into green fuel.” Origo’s carbon-capture trial device at the Liverpool airport was projected to produce 250 liters of biofuel a day. A bigger a machine, its manufacturers said, could generate as much as 3,000 liters daily. Imagine how much bio-diesel could be produced from all the hot air that rises out of the Con- gress of the Philippines and other government facilities.


dansoy26@yahoo.com Regressive farm policies and the prostrate peasantry


EEKING redress for their griev- ances was much easier for farmers in the old days, when much of the economy was agri- culture-based and the feudal con- text reduced them to serfdom. And tension was always high in the farming areas.


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When their frustrations reached boiling point, and they wanted immediate redress for their usu- ally deep-seated grievance, they would go on a rampage. During the countless times we were plowing the fields, many of my next of kin who were restless young peasants then told me how they vented their rage: they would wrap red bandanas around their heads—and just like wild men— burn the standing crops of their abusive landlord. At times, they took to the ex- treme—such as cutting off the heads of the exploitative landlords. Be- cause it was an environment of rich versus poor and all the institutions of government were there to protect the rich, the path to their skewed view of attaining justice, they be- lieved, was the biblical eye-for-eye. Eventually, they formed a peas- ant-based army to seize state power. The peasant insurrection was crushed because of several strategic and tactical failures. But it really scared those in power. The legal moves done by govern- ments at carrying agrarian justice, from land reform to institutional- izing cheap loans for farmers, were a response to the insurrection. If the farmers just took their serfdom in stride, nothing of these efforts at amelioration would have been


MARLEN V. RONQUILLO


done by the state. Between the violent then and timid, passive now, a sea change radically altered the economic and political conditions. The share of agriculture dropped. It is now merely 15 to 19 percent of GDP. The share of agricultural workers in relation to the coun- try’s total workforce is still high, between 20 to 24 percent, but these are either workers in the corporate farms—or small farm- ers who cannot work overseas. Unlike France, in which its Jose


Boves are given attention by gov- ernment despite their insignifi- cant numbers, or unlike Japan, where a handful of farmers can stalemate the construction of Narita for months, the reduced share of agriculture in relation to total economic activity resulted in token—or lip service—atten- tion given to Filipino farmers. The last time the farmers got real attention from government was during the time of Mr. Marcos. When was the last time peas- ant leaders were honored guests at the Palace and not used as props for a policy charade? This was during the rule of Mr. Marcos. Today, the Palace has not only


scrapped the phone numbers and addresses of peasant leader from its Rolodex. It just rams through agri- culture policies without taking into consideration the welfare of farm- ers. Consulting them? No way. The Palace knows that even its most bru- tal anti-peasant or anti-agricultural policies can sail through without any sort of hitch because the farm- ers are prostrate. Or has been stripped of their last fiber of outrage. It is really hard to reconcile the violent then and the timid now. But the protesting spirit—and the willingness to back an aggrieved sense with outsized outrage and physical violence—is now gone. So far, the agriculture-related policies carried out by the Aquino government have been anti- farmer and anti-agriculture to the core. The agriculture budget is P21-billion short of what is really needed to spur real growth. The P9-billion hybrid seed fund had been scrapped from the budget— and diverted into a jumbo dole- out fund for the poor.


The funding for the public ter- tiary school system had been scaled down, emasculating fur- ther the already-limited funding for the public research universi- ties that help produce important research work for agricultural ge- netics and the like. Now, the government is plan- ning to kill the rice sector with a thousand cuts.


The planned lifting of the im- portation caps under the QR or quantitative restrictions for rice will effectively flood the market with imported rice. Tariffs are not


much of a deterrent in preventing the flooding of the market with imported rice—unless the boun- den tariff is impossibly high. You cant levy higher-than-nor- mal tariffs under a WTO regime— and it has been that way since our accession to the trade body in 1995. The short-term plan of govern- ment is the scrapping of all the institutions and instrumentalities that give a semblance of protec- tion to the country’s rice farmers and when you say rice farmers, these are the small farmers with an average farms of 1.5 hectares. There is a condition that allows


governments to do this. It first gives the farmers all the tools and the support they need to be com- petitive, from the provision of ir- rigation, adequate farm infra- structure, provision of post-har- vest facilities, energetic extension support, competitive (not even cheap) credit etc. Then make them sink or swim depending on their capabilities.


But this is not the case. The


government will first strip the farmers of their life jackets. Then, they are thrown overboard into the deep, shark-infested seas. This is actually forthcoming. There is no hesitation on the part of government, not even a mild pause in between because of wor- ries this might stir the sleeping beast inside the farmers. The government fully knows the outrage is gone and the rage-filled farmer with the red bandana be- longs to an all-too-distant memory.


mvrong@yahoo.com


IGHT after President Benigno Aquino 3rd created the Truth Commission, politically motivated critics as well as earnest and well-meaning legal minds, who are in fact the Presi-


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