A SEGMENT of the agriculture industry is seeking the immediate imposition of higher tariffs on imported rice to provide relief for farmers suffering from competition from foreign grain.
“We are convinced we must change the tariff, because it’s P12 (per kilo) and the farmgate price for palay (unmilled rice) is now P11-P12.40 [per kilo]. They are losing money,” Ernesto M. Ordonez, chairman and co-founder of Alyansa Agrikultura, told BusinessWorld in an interview.
“If you do it now, you stop (imports). You don’t do it now, they will continue until you do it,” he added.
Alyansa Agrikultura is a group of 42 federations and organizations from the agriculture and fisheries sectors. Mr. Ordonez did not say what an appropriate tariff might be.
Under the Rice Tariffication Law, the government liberalized imports of rice while collecting a 35% tariff on Southeast Asian grain.
Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar told reporters in September that rice imports in the March to August period totaled 2.4 million metric tons (MMT), well above the level of imports needed to meet domestic demand, estimated at 1.5 MMT to 2 MMT.
The Philippines is 93% self-sufficient in rice, and needs to import the remaining 7%.
The Agriculture department is looking into imposing possible safeguard measures on rice imports by October, a course of action authorized by the Safeguard Measures Act if the government deems an industry to have suffered harm from unfair foreign competition. — Vincent Mariel P. Galang
THE National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said it hopes to complete a final draft of legislation that will be proposed as the National Land Use Act within the year, although its eventual form will depend on further input from the various Cabinet members.
“Within the year, we’re hoping,” NEDA Undersecretary for Regional Development Adoracion M. Navarro told reporters on the sidelines of the National Land Use Act for Food Security forum Tuesday in Quezon City.
“We are targeting (end of the year) but we’re not sure kung makukuha namin lahat ng (if we can obtain) endorsements (of the) cabinet clusters,” he added.
The National Land Use Act has been in the works since 1994, during the administration of President Fidel V. Ramos. The legislation was proposed as Senate Bill No. 1522 during the 17th Congress, when it was billed as a “policy for the rational, holistic, and just allocation, utilization, management and development of our land resources.”
In 2017, it made it through the House as House Bill 5240, with five versions of the bill presented in the Senate, where no public hearings were held.
Ms. Navarro said that out of the six cabinet clusters, NEDA has secured the endorsements of the Climate Change Adaptation, Mitigation and Disaster Risk Reduction cluster, and the Human Development and Poverty Reduction cluster.
It has yet to secure endorsements from the Economic Development cluster, Security, Justice and Peace cluster, Participatory Governance cluster, and the Infrastructure cluster.
Currently, land use is regulated by local governments under the authority granted by Section 20 of Republic Act (RA) 7160, or the Local Government Code of 1991, and the Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) No. 54-1995.
These give a city or municipality the authority to reclassify agricultural land when it is considered unfit for agricultural use. The limits of reclassification are 15% of total land area for highly urbanized and independent component cities; 10% for component cities and first to third class municipalities; and 5% for fourth to sixth class municipalities.
“It’s been 20 years… We hope that understanding would push us towards this direction,” Patrick M. Velez, a partnership expert for parliamentary alliances with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, told reporters after the forum.
FAO Philippines launched the FAO Legislative Advisory Group-Philippines (FLAG-PH) in January 2018 to help ensure food security and adequate nutrition for the Philippines.
Mr. Velez said the issue of land use is central in his main advocacy of food security.
“It’s a prime concern for everyone. As FAO, we also understand the need for direction on a specific land use. We’re also pushing for a food security framework kasi wala tayo nito (because we do not have this). We get lost in the passage of several other laws na nawawala yung ating (that we lose) attention on the basics,” he said.
“The National Land Use Act will give you a framework on how to address the use of limited resources such as land,” he added.
He also said that the passage of the legislation will provide the government with a baseline estimate of how much land can be allocated for food production, which the Philippines does not have.
“It’s a balance of different forces. You have your business sector, your agriculture sector, and right now malakas yung business sector (the business sector is strong)… but you have to understand the Land Use Act does not only speak of agriculture or food security,” Mr. Velez said.
“Government right now is trying very hard to answer all of these questions but in the absence of a law that provides you a direction medyo mahirap sya (it quite difficult). The framework will also be important,” he noted. — Vincent Mariel P. Galang
In these times when loans are easily available through online consumer financing or other private lending companies, when there is easy access to online cash loans without any collateral requirements, complex approval procedures, or prolonged application waiting time, many people resort to purchasing their personal needs and wants by obtaining loans through the aforesaid manner. However, unfair and abusive debt collection practices as a result of these loans often lead to extreme amounts of stress. Often, this practice has contributed to the loss of income or employment, marital instability, medical issues, personal bankruptcies, social embarrassment, and invasion of personal privacy. The borrower feels completely defeated and without energy to pursue a course of action to stop the activities and bring perpetrators to justice.
With this in mind, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has taken steps to address the widespread use of abusive, deceptive and unfair debt collection practices of many creditors and debt collectors, particularly financing companies and lending companies. The SEC released SEC Memorandum Circular No. 18, Series of 2019 (SEC MC No. 18-19) on the prohibition of unfair debt collection practices of financing companies and lending companies, which became effective on Sept. 7. Issued in response to numerous complaints of alleged harassment of borrowers and the use of abusive, unethical, and unfair means to collect debt, the SEC has somehow given refuge and protection to borrowers.
Similar to Section 4304Q.11 of the Manual of Regulations for Non-Bank Financial Institutions, SEC MC No. 18-19 has identified the following as unfair debt collection practice: (i) the use or threat of use of violence or other criminal means to harm the physical person, reputation, or property of any person; (ii) use of threat to take any action that cannot be legally taken; (iii) use of obscenities, insults or profane language the natural consequence of which is to abuse the borrower and/or which amount to a criminal act or offense under applicable laws; (iv) disclosure or publication of the names and other personal information of the borrowers who allegedly refuse to pay debts, subject to exceptions; (v) communicating or threatening to communicate to any person loan information, which is known, or which should be known, to be false, including the failure to communicate that the debt is being disputed, subject to exceptions; (vi) use of any false representation or deceptive means to collect or attempt to collect any debt or to obtain information concerning a borrower; (vii) making contact at unreasonable/inconvenient times or hours, which shall be defined as contact before 6 a.m. or after 10 p.m., unless the account is past due for more than 15 days, or the borrower has given express consent that said times are the only reasonable or convenient opportunities for contact; and, (viii) contacting the persons in the borrower’s contact list other than those named as guarantors or co-makers.
Financing and lending companies have been required to adopt policies and procedures to require their personnel handling the collection of accounts to disclose his/her full name or true identity to the borrower. While these companies can outsource collection of debts, they will maintain the responsibility in complying with the proposed circular. Republic Act No. 8556 or the Financing Company Act of 1998, as amended and Republic Act No. 9474 or the Lending Company Regulation Act of 2007 have given the SEC regulatory and supervisory authority over financing companies and lending companies, which justified the imposition of penalties ranging from P25,000 to P1,000,000, as well as suspension or revocation of the certificate of authority to operate as a financing or lending company. This is without prejudice to other penalties that may be imposed pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 902-A or the SEC Reorganization Act, Republic Act No. 11232 or the Revised Corporation Code, and all other relevant laws and regulations.
This could be an important step to stop debt collection harassment. Perhaps our law makers can consider the passage of a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to further protect consumers against debt collection abuses. Borrowers should also be given the opportunity to verify or validate the debt and dispute such debt when warranted. They should also be afforded the option to stop immediate contact or cease communication from the collector. Persons who feel victimized by unfair and deceptive debt collection practices should have adequate legal remedy against these abuses.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author. This article is for general informational and educational purposes, and not offered as, and does not constitute, legal advice or legal opinion.
Mara Kristina O. Recto is an Associate of the Corporate and Special Projects Department of the Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz Law Offices (ACCRALAW).
According to PAGASA, “climate change is happening now,” adding that “it is most likely due to the observed increase in greenhouse gas concentrations from such activities as the burning of fossil fuels and land use change.” Recent scientific studies have begun calling it a “climate crisis,” one that is an existential threat to all life on the planet. The government, through PAGASA, mildly describes it as posing “considerable challenges to man and the environment and will continue to do so in the future.”
Then, why does it seem like business-as-usual in this regard? Is the general public merely out of the loop or there is very little being done by the government that warrants landing on the news? A lot of people confuse what is important and what is urgent, thinking that the two are synonymous. If we are to believe what we see, hear, and read, then this is an emergency — and that means it is both important and urgent.
It is baffling, to say the least, that our government and politicians have thought of emergency powers for the Metro Manila traffic, have conceived a war on illegal drugs, have spent valuable Senate time on investigating the Good Conduct Time Allowance, and yet have not even considered climate change as resembling an emergency.
True, the administration has displayed pro-environment actions by rejecting and returning the importation of waste from Canada and other countries. What about the use of coal energy? The Department of Energy (DoE) has adopted a fair balance approach that aims to be responsive to a global responsibility to address climate change and the dilemma of producing enough affordable and reliable electricity to sustain economic growth for a fast-growing population. President Duterte, whether sincerely or paying lip service, mentioned in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) that “we recognize the urgent need to ensure the sustainability and availability of resources and the development of alternative ones.” He added that the government shall “fast-track the development of renewable energy sources and reduce dependence on the traditional energy sources such as coal.”
Is the bureaucracy heeding the call of the President? Coal continues to dominate the mix of energy sources at 53%. There is in the pipeline close to 30 new coal projects. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources reportedly, granted an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) to a proposed 15-megawatt coal plant in Palawan.
Consistent with the DoE’s power mix policy and push to close the looming power supply gaps, the “supercritical” coal-fired power plant in Mauban, Quezon of San Buenaventura Power Ltd. (SBPL) has been permitted to operate, adding 500 megawatts just in time for several anticipated maintenance shutdowns starting this October. This is the first new generation High Efficiency Low Emission (HELE) technology replacing old inefficient coal plants in Japan and Europe, setting new benchmarks in reducing both emissions and costs. Seems like a sensible technology-driven compromise aligned with the DoE’s balancing posture.
These may not sound like the President’s directive is being taken seriously, or he does not really mean what he said in his SONA.
And, there are those who actively support the continued use of coal. They accuse those against it as being alarmists. Their pro-coal stance is based on arguments that other countries use coal even more. Off hand, this may sound valid, but a closer analysis yields a logical fallacy — just because others are doing it too does not make something right.
While we are on the philosophical alley, Pascal’s wager comes to mind in this discourse. Blaise Pascal, the 17th-century French philosopher and mathematician, said that humans bet with their lives that God either exists or does not. Should people believe in God or not? What happens one way or the other? If it turns out that God does not exist — to be discovered upon one’s death — only finite loss would have been given up, such as pleasures, etc. On the other hand, if God does exist, eternity in heaven in infinitely gained and infinite loss of eternity in hell is avoided. Therefore, he argued, it is in the best interest of man to believe in God.
Applied roughly on the discussions about the use of coal energy, if we discontinue operating (and building new) coal plants and, as it turns out, the continued use of this fossil fuel will not lead to the annihilation of life on the planet, then what is the worse that would have happened? Frequent blackouts, as the coal defenders argue, that will place the country under darkness. But we also stand to gain with cleaner and renewable energy.
A couple of weeks ago, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) signalled the red alert for the blue planet. Banks, including Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, and Barclays, adopted a position away from fossil fuels in their loan portfolios.
The warming of the oceans leads to stronger typhoons and a rise in the sea level. This is, in part, due to the melting of glaciers. Moreover, with higher sea levels and its possible intrusion, agricultural areas near the coast could turn saline.
Our leaders have a moral obligation to address the climate crisis. And this is exactly the message of 16-year-old Greta Thunberg from Sweden, who walked out of school to raise awareness of climate issues. She has called on people to behave as if we were in an emergency, inspiring protests in other countries. In her public messages, she claims that the young probably do not even have a future anymore because that future was sold so that a small number of people could make unimaginable amounts of money. Who are these people who are more interested in getting wealthy than caring for the environment and for the future of the next generations?
Do Filipinos really have a short-term memory and no foresight? After all, not too long after the country booted out the Marcoses, they were back in power. I dare say that we lack the sense that we are all in this together. Observing how Filipinos act, there is a very strong tendency to believe that the dominant predisposition is every man for himself.
Let me ask you. Should we really be more concerned about frequent blackouts than the survival of life on earth? Should we sacrifice the future of succeeding generations for the convenience of having uninterrupted power supply for the current generation? Where are our priorities?
Edwin Santiago is a Fellow and Member of the Editorial Board, Stratbase ADR Institute.
Reacting to my piece, “Cost of living and cost of dying,” which listed the Philippines as among the inexpensive countries to live in — even to die in — my friend Gelly Aganon gave me a gentle reality check. Gelly is a prominent Filipino-American community leader and was publisher-editor of a business magazine in Southern California. She lived for several years in Makati with her husband, Titong Aganon, but decided to relocate to Los Angeles after he passed away. She posted the following on social media:
“Greg, I lived in Manila for 12 years straight before Titong passed away! I’ve got to tell you that the standard of living was quite costly! My condo was paid for but I still had to fork over $300 a month for HOA dues. A live-in maid is about $200. We didn’t have a driver, but that would be another $300. Food was a BIG cost for us! About $500. Electricity another $300 without air con, about $500 with aircon. Water was about $20; cable $50; internet $30; cell $50.
“I found the cost of living high especially if you factored in CASH only medical expenses! Very expensive! Plus gasoline and real estate taxes were at least $3,000 a year if not more. I didn’t even factor in going out at all! Although the senior discounts at restaurants were a real treat!
“Your figures for dying?!?! The hospital ER costs so much. The hospital mortuary is separate charges. The funeral is separate from the embalming. Then the casket is between P100k-P300k. Several days for the wake and NOW, you have to have catered food 24/7 to feed people who come. Throw in cost of flowers and the cost of the place where the wake is held! Then the people that have to prepare the soil where you’ll be buried, the pay for the priests who say mass, the hearse, car for family… the burial plot!!! The photographer/ videographer! The tombstone is a separate expense.
“You’ll end up slightly lower than the cost here. Greg. I usually agree with you majority of the time! But, my experience was completely different! That was how it was living in Metro Manila!
“I love the Philippines despite the terrible traffic conditions! But it is getting quite expensive to live there. Perhaps, it would be much bearable if we could get REAL health insurance like we have here, it would mitigate the cost of living!”
Gelly is right, of course, if you choose to live what I refer to as “the Makati lifestyle,” meaning a relatively upper class standard of living. I guess I should clarify that living in the Philippines — even in Makati — according to middle-to-lower class standards (what demographers refer to as Class CD, I think) can still be pretty inexpensive.
My wife, Gigi, and I stayed in Parañaque for almost two months recently and, I must say, I enjoyed being a señorito during our entire stay, without using up our dollar baon (allowance) — you know, breakfast waiting for you in the morning with the maid serving you fresh-from-skillet fried eggs and hot coffee plus danggit, longanisa, and sinangag (dried fish, sausage, and fried rice). And I didn’t have to wash the dishes myself.
Now we’re back in the US and I’m back to washing dishes (a friend misheard me and asked if I was back in Washington, DC and I replied, “No, washing-ton dishes!”).
Anyway, we’re also back to fresh-from-the drier clothes, wrinkles and all. In Parañaque, my newly laundered clothes were always pressed — even my boxer shorts were pressed and neatly folded!
Of course, some things were rather expensive. The electricity bill for one month cost us the equivalent of $200 compared to less than $150 in San Francisco. But then, that was because the aircon was on 24/7 because of the heat (San Francisco has “natural” air conditioning).
But our weekly supermarket bills were about the half the cost in California and the nearby palengke (wet market) yielded fresh fruits and seafood at bargain prices. We would occasionally treat ourselves to halo-halo (a shaved ice dessert) at Chow King for the equivalent of a dollar each serving (compared to almost five dollars at Pinoy eating places in San Francisco). On the other hand, lunch at a posh restaurant at McKinley Hill in Taguig was at SF prices.
My cousin Addi Batica who is from Samar and Minnesota had his own take on living inexpensively, in reacting to my column, particularly when I mentioned Mexico as a low-cost retirement haven.
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“Mexico looks attractive to me, what with the beer, culture, tasty food, plus I’m comfortable communicating in Spanish. However, they don’t have bahalina (tuba, wine from fermented coconut or nipa palm) over there, and I prefer doing tagay (toasting) with relatives and barkadas (friends).”
Addi, was a Samar activist who was imprisoned by the Marcos military before immigrating to the US. He worked as a community development worker in Latin America for many years, so he knows all about living with Hispanics, as well as the tuba culture among Waray-Warays.
Concerning the cost of dying, I fully sympathize with what Gelly had to go through with her husband’s demise. But the expenses she enumerated would be strange to the ears of the squatters across the creek from my house. Besides, I cannot imagine Gelly hosting a pasugal (gambling at the wake to raise funds) and collecting abuloy (donations) from neighbors to cover Titong’s going away expenses.
In sum, if you live a relatively simple life, living in the Philippines can be cheap. On the other hand, if you choose to splurge (what my advertising colleague Louie Morales describes as “for the spirit”), you won’t feel at ease in Manila without several thousand bucks in your wallet or a credit card.
There is a Filipino saying, “Mas malaki ang butones, mas malaki ang uhales.” (The bigger the button, the bigger the button hole).
In other words, the cost of living depends on the lifestyle you choose. The same may be said about the cost of dying.
Greg B. Macabenta is an advertising and communications man shuttling between San Francisco and Manila and providing unique insights on issues from both perspectives.
I spoke last week at a summit for campus safety, security, and disaster resilience. I called for a broad alliance of school stakeholders (administrators, faculty, staff, employees, safety/security officers and students) and partners (military, police, media, local officials, emergency response organizations), to ensure readiness, mitigate risk, rapidly respond to emergencies, and skillfully manage crises.
Preparedness considers the whole gamut of risk and threat assessments, proper organization, the right mindset, the required skills, situational awareness, carefully thought out plans and programs, scenario-driven drills until practice makes perfect to reduce risk, handle emergencies, and fully recover from a crisis. Experts realize the challenges of integrated action and mission accomplishment because such an undertaking has many moving parts. Orchestrating their moves and obtaining desired outcomes are understandably hard work.
I’ve sat on the boards of several schools, so this subject matter is quite familiar to me. I can say confidently that our schools are target rich environments where risks and threats continually threaten their safety and security. As such, their bounden duty is to save lives and property from death, loss, and destruction. It requires all the necessary attributes for mission accomplishment such as: dynamic leadership, hands-on management, hawk-like monitoring, tight networking, effective communication, timely information, integration of effort, teamwork, instinctive action, passion, dedication, and commitment.
Internally, schools encounter theft or pilferage of office equipment and supplies; fire-related, sports-related, food-related, transport-related, and lab-related accidents; violence attributable to neuro-psychiatric cases, gang fights, bullying, and hazing; depression leading to suicides; and maltreatment of students by faculty members. Kids of single parents or from broken homes, and negligent school management and supervision cause all kinds of problems in school. And if the administrators, faculty, and staff are slow on the uptake, expect tragic results and consequences.
Externally, schools are also victimized by robbers; infiltrated by drug syndicates and subversive elements resulting in recruitment, lawlessness, dropouts, and tragic outcomes; terrorism (bombing, hostage-taking, massacres); and natural disasters such as earthquakes and sudden extreme weather. Terror-related attacks in school or when students are in transit are quite worrisome. But nothing could be more terrifying and widespread in scope than a super-quake when survival becomes the problem of an entire society that’s caught unprepared.
Let me share at this point the best practices for school security and safety and disaster resilience planning in five key strategy areas:
First, training school administrators, teachers, and support staff (school resource officers and security officers, secretaries, custodians, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, etc.) because the first and best line of defense is a well-trained, highly alert school staff and student body.
Second, evaluate how the school is organized to mitigate and deal with crises. Is it effectively organized to monitor for situational awareness, mitigate risk, and manage crises? Schools that are not or are poorly organized or those that “go through the motions” are bound to experience tragic outcomes.
Third, evaluate and refine school safety and security measures. They’re often equated with physical, tangible measures such as metal detectors, surveillance cameras, and trained K-9. While these are necessary, they’re only as good as the human element behind it. A sampling of basic cost-effective measures include reducing the number of open doors, having functional communications systems, trimming trees and shrubs for natural visibility, and establishing procedures for accurate and timely reporting.
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Fourth, updating and exercise school emergency preparedness plans. While schools have plans and teams on paper, these are sitting on shelves collecting dust. They are no good to anyone. Emergency plans should address strategies and preparedness processes such as lockdowns, evacuations, parent-student reunification procedures, school transport mobilization, communications protocols with parents and the media, and mental health services. All that means that all the teams must be trained. Plans should be reviewed (in cooperation with public safety partners) and updated, at least, annually.
Schools must work with public safety officials to identify staging areas for media, parents, medical personnel and security first responders. Plans must be regularly tested and adjusted in order to reach their maximum potential. It’s about drills, drill,s and more drills until practice makes perfect.
Tabletop exercises and full scale simulation drills are valuable in teaching important lessons for the crisis teams, public safety and community agency partners and other key stakeholders. Schools should practice lockdown drills over the course of a school year as they do fire and earthquake drills. It should be practiced in a realistic manner, unannounced, in the times and manner they would experience in a real emergency.
Form school threat assessment teams. Create a threat assessment protocol. Train staff on threat assessment.
Fifth, strengthen partnerships with public safety officials. School administrators and crisis team members should meet regularly, at least twice a year, with public safety partners (police, fire, emergency medical services, emergency management agencies, Red Cross, etc. Public safety partners should be involved in the development and updating of school emergency plans and tabletop exercises.
Schools should number each entrance/exit door so first responders can easily identify specific entrances/exists when called to respond to an incident and/or to manage a tactical response. Schools should also provide police and fire departments with updated floor plans and blueprints for their reference for tactical responses.
Police are strongly encouraged to train and practice the rapid-response-to-active-shooter techniques. Schools should make their schools and school buses available after-hours and/or on weekends so SWAT teams can practice responding to scenarios in these settings. They should work with first responders to create, implement, and train on school threat assessment protocols.
The schools have a grave responsibility to keep everyone who belongs there safe and secure against all kinds of risk, natural and man-made. Lives and property are on the line, and the school must mobilize all of its stakeholders to adopt a mindset of ensuring each other’s safety and security. It will take pro-active, charismatically persuasive, and persistent leadership to instill that culture.
Rafael M. Alunan III is a former Secretary of Interior and Local Government and chairs the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations.
Security Sector, according to the United Nations, is a broad term often used to describe the structures, institutions, and personnel responsible for the management, provision and oversight of security in a country. Security institutions include defense, law enforcement, corrections, intelligence services, border management, customs, elements of the judicial sector, management and oversight bodies, and other non-state actors and civil society groups.
Security Sector Governance (SSG) and Security Sector Reform (SSR) are buzzwords that describe the desire to bring good governance and a reform agenda to the heart of the sector.
It is a process that targets primarily the core security forces — i.e. the military and the police — to ensure that they are accountable to the democratic civilian authority, are respectful of human rights and international humanitarian law, and are bound by the rule of law. The process also looks at the civilian institutions in charge of management, support, and oversight of the security forces, to ensure that they diligently perform their function.
In the Philippines, reform, particularly in the military and the police, started as far back as post martial law/post Marcos dictatorship. Under the 1987 Constitution, the military was ordered “back to the barracks” and out of the halls governance. It was not an easy process. To use the analogy of the late Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr., involving the military in politics is like squeezing the toothpaste from the tube — once the paste is out, it is difficult to put it back in. It was indeed a painstaking process for the institutions. The military organization was deeply divided between those who heeded the new Constitution and those who resisted giving up power. Those who tried to resist initiated several coup d’état attempts during the time of President Corazon Aquino. These attempts at grabbing power further eroded the people’s confidence in the military. Note that since the institution was used by President Marcos during the dictatorship, the military was regarded with disdain by the people, the very same people that the institution was supposed to “protect and defend.” In opinion surveys, the military and police ranked as among the most corrupt and least trusted by the people.
These events forced these institutions to take a hard look at themselves and what their role should be in a country transitioning to democracy. The “professional soldiers” heeded the recommendations of civilian oversight bodies to fully operationalize the “back to the barracks” order of the Constitution. On the other hand, the Philippine National Police, separated from the military by virtue of Republic Act 6975 (1990), likewise initiated reforms within the institution. These efforts eventually paid off when, in the Social Weather Stations survey conducted from March 30-April 2, 2016, the trust rating for the Armed Forces was at 75%, and that of the Philippine National Police at 69%.
Security Sector Reform (SSR) became a popular concept when President Benigno Aquino III included it in his social contract with the people. While the term may be new, the process is not. The reforms in the security sector largely coincide with the broader democratization agenda of the country, and the intensity to which it was pursued is contingent on the strength of the democratization process.
Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, our neighbors also caught wind of the SSR process.
Indonesia started with their process at almost the same time as the Philippines, coinciding with the end of the New Order regime of President Suharto. Its SSR process followed almost the same trajectory as the Philippines’, focusing on the separation of the police and military function, especially relative to their internal security issues.
The controversial implementation of the Internal Security Act in Malaysia and the people’s negative reaction to it contributed to the clamor for greater democratic space.
In Myanmar, the military leadership slowly but carefully began as early as 1988 to open up power to civilians, albeit on a limited scale. The process eventually found momentum with the Constitution of 2010, showing its steady ascent to instituting democratic reforms in the country.
Thailand suffered a setback when the military took over power in 2006. The democratization of the country, in fact, has always suffered set-backs with the military’s involvement in politics.
Indeed, the agenda for security sector reform is tailgating the larger democratization process in the region. But in a context where internal armed conflicts continue to beset a country, SSR/SSG is not only an agenda to institute good governance principles. Measures have to be instituted to ensure that the security forces prevent atrocities from happening, and, much more, to ensure that the security institutions do not contribute nor perpetrate abuses on peoples’ rights. In countries that continue to address internal armed conflicts, SSR and SSG must fulfill three main goals: to establish a professional, accountable and modern security force that is capable of addressing the broad security demands of the state and the people; to ensure that the security forces will not be instruments of atrocities and abuse of the rights of the people; and, to establish an effective, critical, and constructive civilian oversight mechanisms over the security forces.
These are the crux of the matter. SSG is a political and policy decision. Its success requires the commitment and dedication of policy makers, as well as the resilience of the institutions to the reform process. Reform and good governance don’t happen overnight. It requires dedicated leadership, communication, and consultation with all stakeholders, and commitment and political will of process owners to see the reform through
On Oct. 7 to 9, the DCAF Geneva Center for Security Sector Governance and the Ateneo de Manila University, through its Ateneo Initiative for Southeast Asian Studies (AISEAS), will convene the Southeast Asia Forum on Security Sector Governance, to be held in the Philippines. Nine countries from Southeast Asia are represented in the forum. The forum hopes to provide a venue where the different countries in the region can discuss the SSR agenda of their countries as well as the SSR agenda in the region; and to formalize the establishment of a Southeast Asia network on SSR.
Jennifer Santiago Oreta, PhD, is a faculty member of the Department of Political Science of the Ateneo de Manila University, and the current Director of AISEAS. She is also a member of the Human Security Advocates, a civil society group focused on security governance and community development.
THE PESO strengthened against the dollar on the back of positive local data and in line with the performance of regional currencies.
The local unit ended at P51.77 against the greenback on Tuesday, climbing nine centavos from its P51.86-to-a-dollar close on Monday.
The peso opened at P51.87 versus the dollar. Its weakest point was recorded at P51.90, while its intraday best was at P51.69 against the greenback.
Dollars traded on Tuesday climbed to $1.131 billion against the $828.6 million seen on Monday.
UnionBank of the Philippines, Inc. chief economist Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion attributed the peso’s strength to both international and local factors.
“It may have been due to the general jump in markets across Asia. The positive GIR (gross international reserves) numbers may have driven the uptick as well,” Mr. Asuncion said in a text message.
“The peso was stronger today…a day after the announcement of the GIR, thereby fundamentally providing a greater buffer for the peso exchange rate,” Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) chief economist Michael L. Ricafort said in a text message on Tuesday.
Most Asian currencies edged higher on Tuesday with the Chinese yuan firming the most after reopening from a week long holiday while investors held positions ahead of the high level Sino-US trade talks on Thursday and Friday.
Prospects for progress in US-China trade talks dimmed on Monday after Washington blacklisted Chinese companies but comments by US President Donald Trump and his top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow on looming trade talks were generally upbeat.
“We think there’s a chance we could do something very substantial,” Mr. Trump said about the talks.
This comes after a media report stated that China is looking to narrow the scope of the talks.
Meanwhile, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported on Monday that the country’s gross international reserves hit a record high of $86.163 billion as of September.
For today, UnionBank’s Mr. Asuncion said the peso could range from P51.50-51.80 versus the dollar, while RCBC’s Mr. Ricafort said it may end within P51.60-51.90. — LWTNwithReuters
THE BENCHMARK INDEX rebounded yesterday ahead of the fresh round of trade negotiations between the United States and China scheduled later this week.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 73.50 points or 0.95% on Tuesday to close at 7,756.72, as the broader all shares index climbed 22.22 points or 0.47% to 4,688.39.
“The trade talk between US and China on Thursday as well as the low prices of stocks due to the sell off last week may have probably influenced investors to hunt bargain stocks,” Timson Securities, Inc. Trader Jervin S. de Celis said in a text message on Tuesday.
The two economic giants are scheduled to resume trade talks this week, which Bloomberg reported will likely veer away from discussions on reforming Chinese industrial policy and government subsidies.
“Investors are…anticipating that if the two countries strike a good deal, then that should bolster market sentiment ahead of the corporate earnings release in November and that will somehow alleviate worries on the condition of the global economy in the middle of the trade war between US and China,” Mr. De Celis said.
For Philstocks Financial, Inc. Senior Research Analyst Japhet Louis O. Tantiangco, the market was also affected by positive data from the central bank on Monday. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported that the country’s gross international reserves (GIR) climbed to a record-high $86.163 billion at end-September.
“The market’s gains today can be attributed to our record high gross international reserves as of end of September 2019. With a high GIR level, our currency can be protected from external shocks. A stable currency in return would help boost our local market,” Mr. Tantiangco said on Tuesday.
Buying activity in shares of SM Investments Corp. (SM), Ayala Corp. (AC), Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) and BDO Unibank, Inc. (BDO) also drove up the main index, as the consolidated growth of the four firms reached 56 points at the end of yesterday’s trading.
Most sectoral indices moved up on Tuesday, with mining and oil leading the pack with a 174.45-point increase or 1.94% to end at 9,157.67.
Holding firms followed as it added 134.79 points or 1.79% to 7,639.04, while industrials rose 133.95 points or 1.28% to 10,594.84.
Property shares also picked up by 9.36 points or 0.23% to 4,043.91 and financials added 2.41 points or 0.13% to 1,792.41.
The lone declining sectoral index was services, which fell 2.93 points or 0.19% to close the session at 1,513.45.
Trading volume increased to 1.02 billion yesterday, with a total value of P6.95 billion, higher than Monday’s P5.84 billion worth of shares.
Advancers outpaced decliners, 116 to 66, while 51 names closed unchanged.
THE COUNTRY’S anti-graft court has rejected for insufficient evidence a 31-year-old lawsuit accusing the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos and his wife Imelda of using dummies to amass more than P1 billion in ill-gotten assets.
The Sandiganbayan Second Division in a 30-age decision dated Sept. 25 junked the civil suit against them and Rustan Commercial Corp. founders Bienvenido Tantoco, Sr. and Gliceria Tantoco, whom the government had accused of acting as Marcos dummies.
“Evidently, plaintiff republic failed to prove by preponderance of evidence that the defendants by themselves, or in conspiracy with defendants Marcoses obtained ill-gotten wealth,” according to a copy of the court ruling obtained by media yesterday.
The Presidential Commission on Good Government in 1998 accused the Marcoses and Tantocos of conspiring to obtain expensive artworks and jewelry, designer clothes, properties in New York and several companies including Rustan International Marketing using state funds.
The late President Corazon C. Aquino created the body in the 1980s to go after billions of dollars worth of assets that the Marcoses allegedly stole from Philippine coffers.
The government later expanded the civil suit to include properties in Hawaii, Rome, Italy and Forbes Park in Makati City as well as personal properties such as cars, cash, notes, loans and three Cessna planes.
The government had also accused the Tantocos of acquiring a franchise, through a presidential decree, to operate duty-free shops that tried to conceal real ownership.
The couple allegedly paid only a franchise tax of 7%. But only 2% of the tax went to the state, the rest allegedly becoming Imelda Marcos’s source of petty cash.
“The alleged participation of the defendants in securing the issuance of the presidential decree was not established,” according to the decision written by Justice Michael Frederick Musngi. “The claim that 5% of the franchise tax went to Imelda Marcos has no evidentiary support.”
The court noted that the prosecution presented only four witnesses, and the court admitted only 11 documents.
During the late president’s 20-year rule, his wife, who served several terms as congresswoman after returning from exile in the US, amassed a large collection of art, jewelry, property and — most famously — at least 1,000 pairs of designer shoes.
The Marcoses collected paintings by Van Gogh, Michelangelo, Cezanne, Rembrandt and Rafael and Michelangelo, palatial homes in the US and the Philippines, gold necklaces and diamond tiaras before they were ousted in a popular uprising in 1986. At that time, investigators put their wealth at about $10 billion.
The same court in August rejected for insufficient evidence a 30-year-old government lawsuit seeking to recover P102 billion of alleged ill-gotten wealth of the dictator, his family and their associates.
The Sandiganbayan Second Division said the state had miserably failed to prove that Mr. Marcos and his widow Imelda had illegally given out loans to several companies at the government’s expense.
“It takes 30-plus years to prove our innocence,” Marcos daughter Imee R. Marcos, now a senator, told reporters yesterday.
Solicitor General Jose C. Calida would have to decide whether to appeal the case, presidential spokesman Salvador S. Panelo said at a briefing in Malacañang.
“If it’s ill-gotten, then we should always run after it,” he said. “It should be the policy of all governments to run after ill-gotten wealth.” — Vince Angelo C. Ferreras
A MANILA trial court has allowed news website Rappler to file a motion seeking to dismiss a cyberlibel suit against it and its founder.
Judge Rainelda H. Estacio-Montesa gave Rappler and Chief Executive Officer Maria A. Ressa 10 days to file the pleading, according to a copy of the order. Prosecutors will have 10 days to answer.
The case will be submitted for decision after that, the court said.
Businessman Wilfredo D. Keng sued Rappler for publishing an article on May 29, 2012 that said he owned a car used by the late Chief Justice Renato C. Corona and was involved in illegal activities.
The Senate convicted Mr. Corona in 2012 for corruption, — Vann Marlo M. Villegas
THE SUPREME Court has again deferred action on the ballot recount results involving the vice presidential election protest of former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr.
The magistrates, sitting as members of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), did not take action on the case in Tuesday’s session, court spokesman Brian Keith F. Hosaka said in a mobile-phone message.
“The case remains pending and is still being deliberated by the members of the tribunal,” he said.
Mr. Marcos filed the election protest in 2016 against Vice President Maria Leonor G. Robredo, who is now halfway through her term.
Justice Alfredo Benjamin S. Caguioa submitted last month a report on the recount in three pilot provinces chosen by Mr. Marcos where massive cheating allegedly occurred. The three provinces were Iloilo, Negros Oriental and Camarines Sur.
Ms. Robredo has asked the tribunal to give her a copy of the report “to put to rest the speculations in the greater interest of transparency.”
The court has belied a Philippine Star column that said it had ruled 8-6 in favor of Mr. Marcos. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas
