Former President now Representative of Pampanga Gloria Macapagal Arroyo could be celebrating profusely now with the decision of the Ombudsman clearing her of any involvement of that much talked-about corrupt practice in the P728 million fertilizer fund scam of 2004. The Ombudsman says they see no “factual or legal basis” for the former President to be held liable for illegal acts committed by subordinates. The P728 million worth of fertilizers was released by the Department of Agriculture under its program Ginintuang Masaganang Ani project to finance the purchase of farm inputs like fertilizers and pesticides intended for 181 farmer-beneficiaries nationwide. The Commission on Audit findings, however, revealed that many of the beneficiaries did not receive these farm inputs. It was alleged that these funds were diverted to finance GMA’s presidential campaign in 2004. It took almost a decade for the Ombudsman to finally rule that charges against the former President lack “factual and legal basis” of her involvement in the scam. The Ombudsman was too slow in coming up with such decision and yet we doubt its findings. What happened to command responsibility? Former DA Secretary Luis Lorenzo and his undersecretary Jocelyn “Jocjoc” Bolante are still in the list of those charged with the scam. With such a large amount of P728 million fertilizer fund is it possible that they were the ONLY ones responsible with full confidence to release this without approval or go-signal from higher authorities like the President, the chief executive who implements such projects? Maybe a credible explanation is in order by the Ombudsman.
Wheels of justice grind not only slowly but releases doubtful results
Another delayed reaction from government (Part I – Who/Which Entity/s are Culprits?)
Two days ago, The Philippine Star carried a news “DA bans trade of brown algae and sea grass in the wild”, which we involved in conservation campaign of protecting and preserving the country’s resources, find such a warning quite delayed! For, indeed, gathering of wild seaweeds has been going on for some time already. The DA pronouncement is very incomplete as it fails to specific the particular species of ‘brown algae and sea grass’, considering that Philippine waters host many species of the above 2 marine plant groups’! The concerned government offices could have just called up any of the Filipino biologists to help them identify which group/species of the marine plants are the subjects of their pronouncement! However, myself of the few Filipino Phycologists (researchers on marine algae/seaweeds), I would believe that both DA and BFAR refer to the larger/macro-brown algae as those classified under Genus Sargassum. This brown seaweeds are the most dominant marine vegetation in the Philippines’ rocky seacoasts from the southern tip of Tawi-Tawi and up to the northern end of Batanes Provinces, including its northernmost island of Y’Ami. Recently, an informant e-mailed me an alarming information that gathering of Sargassum in the Provinces of Leyte and Samar has reached a point when the plants are just grabbed and pulled from its rocky substratum. The illegal brown seaweed gatherers easily gets workers from fisherfolks displaced by Typhoon Yolanda, who accept the job out of necessity, their means of livelihood having come to a halt after the destruction of their fishing boats, nets and other fishing paraphernalia. But what appears puzzling is the question, we in marine water-based research are asking: WHO/WHICH OFFICE HAS ISSUED THE PERMIT TO GATHER SEAWEEDS AND SEA GRASSES IN THE PHILIPPINES? And, WHO CAN STOP AND PUT TO JAIL THESE OFFENDERS FOR DESTROYING THE COUNTRY’S MARINE ECOSYSTEM? By mandate, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), an agency under the Department of Agriculture, is supposed to implement the Philippines Fisheries Law and other such laws meant to protect the country’s marine resources, seaweeds, sea grasses, corals, fish. Shell-fish, and mangrove vegetation. However, we are all aware of the limitations of BFAR in monitoring activities taking place in the country’s coastal lines, dubbed much longer than continental USA!
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NEXT TOPIC : Continuation – Part II – “Conserving, Protecting, Documenting, and Publishing the Philippines’ Marine Resources” SHARE S & T THOUGHTS through E-Mail: drpacjr@yahoo.com.
Downsides in “build back safer” drive
The entire world knew the enormity of destruction that the central Philippines, especially Leyte and a number of coastal towns and cities in Eastern Visayas, suffered in the Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan attack November last year. Millions of lives were adversely affected with tens of thousands having lost their homes and livelihood. Rebuilding lives with difficulty could be an understatement because beneath the critical assessment lie more intricate challenges that need to be addressed more seriously and collectively. United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, in its Humanitarian Bulletin April 2014 issue reported “2 million people are still living without adequate or durable shelter nearly six months since Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan destroyed or damaged their homes.” It added that while more survivors started rebuilding their homes, the need for support for them to complete construction and ensured their access to basic services like water and sanitation as well as education and livelihoods persist.” This it disclosed without necessarily pointing an accusing finger at any agency in the government or other sector. In the approximately 520,000 houses damaged and 490,000 destroyed, the DSWD Shelter Cluster Monitoring Assessment Report informed that 80,000 houses have been completely repaired or rebuilt during the first six months of the response. 140,000 houses that had been severely damaged by wind and flood, have been partially repaired and only show minor damage now. The UN OCHA noted, “as soon as the storm had passed, the survivors started rebuilding their lives with the support of more than 70 Shelter Cluster Partners. In the five months that lapsed after sty Yolanda/Haiyan’s strike in Eastern Visayas, the UN has helped 133,000 households to build back, provided tools and other materials as well as training including storm frisk mitigation. The agency further disclosed that the rebuilding happened faster than in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake or in Aceh after the 2004 tsunami. The UN partly attributes this positive outcome to the donors’ generous contributions that allowed the UN and its partners to implement the emergency relief phase of the response. UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator a.i. for the Philippines, Klaus Beck, the humanitarian community’s response was made possible by timely funding. “It was made more efficient by the fact that this country, Government and people are accustomed to dealing with disasters, many emergency structures were already in place,” he said during the press briefing UN OCHA called for the six-months-after-typhoon assessment. He added, “The Philippine authorities, including national and local government, UN agencies and non-governmental organizations an the Filipino people all contributed to the massive response.” He said further that to date the humanitarian situation is stable. He however noted that the “life-saving gains we have made remain fragile.” Beck declared, “Millions of survivors require ongoing assistance, with the most pressing needs related to shelter and restoring livelihoods.” He explained that although the most basic emergency shelter needs were met at the beginning of the response, “millions of those whose homes were lost or damaged now live in inadequate shelter, leaving them extremely vulnerable.” He disclosed that over 5,000 of the most vulnerable families live in evacuation centers and tent cities, such as in Tacloban City and Guiuan (Eastern Samar). This is scene is patent in areas hard hit by typhoon Haiyan’s whirlwind and storm surge, in spite of the collective efforts from the corss section of the society in helping the survivors whose homes were destroyed or severely damaged to build back their homes. Beck advanced that supporting an additional 380,000 households is now critical. A crucial factor is the timely release of the funds needed to fuel the rehabilitation before another storm or the rainy season sets in that could. He stressed, “The $788 million appeal is now 56 percent funded,” admitting that the agency “urgently need fresh funding to support critical programming over the next six months. He said that over the next six months, the UN and its humanitarian partners will continue to prioritize shelter and livelihoods programming, while continuing to provide that most vulnerable people with additional assistance and protections services. While it may seem that funding is the major concern in the build back safer endeavor, the Shelter Cluster noted some more critical concerns. It noted, “Up to 200,000 families potentially face relocation from areas deemed unsafe due to the risk of storms and floods. However, the continuing policy gaps related to the proposed “no dwelling zones “is deeply distressing to the affected survivors.” The Clusters pushed that these issues need to be resolved quickly. It added, “property rights and ownership issues make it difficult to access enough land for building and reconstructing both transitional and permanent shelters. A report of the International Organization for Migration showed that some of the country’s most vulnerable and devastated areas are critically short of evacuation centers. The IOM ssurvey disclosed that of the 634 buildings designated as evacuation centers before Haiyan, only 8 percent remain usable today. It added. “Over 400 other edifices would need major rehabilitation before they can be used, while a quarter of them are totally destroyed.” The “build back safer” is losing its sense with the not so quite durable houses that are now being rebuilt or built, those that could withstand the next major storm, due to lack of good quality bilding materials such as fixings and corrugated iron sheeting. UN’s Shelter Cluster expressed fear that the focus on relocation from these areas makes life very uncertain for the families living there. “More emphasis needs to be put on alternative risk mitigation measures, as well as livelihoods opportunities,” it stated. UN OCHA reported, “The government and the Humanitarian Country Team partners have embarked on a search for more useable land, particularly in Tacloban City and the heavily affect ted municipalities in Leyte, and Municipal land-search committees are being established for this purpose. Beck finally commented that the UN want to help survivors to build back safer “so that the next massive storm does not bring the terrible levels of devastation that we saw with Haiyan.”
Lessons learned
Exactly half a year had passed since super typhoon Yolanda struck us all to the nadir of our being. We were saved by the grace of God and those who perished to the great beyond were the silent martyrs that served as the unwilling sacrifice for all that we are today. We mourn the passing of the multitude of casualties, both those who were found and the many more who remain missing. We who were given the second chance to continue this journey called life are confronted with the enormous challenge of rising from our great fall and rebuilding our lives better than where we were before the disaster. The great challenge for the victims of the super typhoon is to muster the strength and will power to bounce back and build back better. This has been the mantra among all agencies and non-government organizations, whether local, national or international. The church and other religious organizations had likewise espoused the idea of leaving the old a thing of the past and encouraging victims to build back better than where they were situated before the disaster. While there are a myriad of resources from various nooks across the globe, the task at hand is to ensure that there would be no duplication of assistance. This will optimize the use of available resources and serve those in dire need as assistance would be made available out of the excess from those who already had been given assistance. But above all the challenges people encounter as we go into transition from relief to recovery, this writer would like to posit his humble learning from the reportedly worst and gravest super typhoon in human history. Human law teaches us that: “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the law.” (article 3, section 1, Philippine Constitution.) Natural law taught us that: “Any person can be deprived of his life, liberty or property without due process of law, without any protection of the law or even without your notice and even against your will and consent.” (super typhoon Yolanda taught us so.) Divine law assures us that: “All persons can regain and recover his life, liberty or property and be afforded unconditional protection by the grace of our loving and merciful God.” personal reflection on my own lessons in life. The greatest lesson for us all is to live by the fundamental laws on human relations. Let us all acknowledge the basic tenet that before we can seek pardon and mercy, we must first accept our faults and be sorry by asking for apology. Before we can ask for forgiveness, we must first bare the truth and seek for justice. Comments to alellema@yahoo.com
Lord and master of the Internet
THIS is what we ought to be. As much as possible we should avoid becoming slaves of the Internet, helplessly dependent on it, totally at its mercy, already losing effective dominion over our instincts, passions and our other weaknesses that this new technology can mindlessly if sweetly stimulate all the way to our destruction. This is now a major concern, since even a cursory look around can yield abundant pieces of evidence of men and women, boys and girls, young and old, healthy and sick, completely blown away by the dizzying freefall of its deceptive beauty and usefulness. One can see a sharp rise of couch potatoes, tied to laziness, idleness and complacency, swallowed up in a sinkhole of inanities and trivialities, willing victims of the urges of pride and vanity, self-seeking and self-assertion, lust and greed. There is some kind of addiction afflicting many of the people. Many are practically defenceless and clueless to the tricks and traps of the Internet. In its wake are left the debris of disorder, anguish, frustrations, conflicts, etc. To be sure, this new technology gives us a lot of advantages. For these, we have to be very thankful. But we should not forget that these good things always come with a price, and in fact, a high price, because if misused and abused, they can spoil us into a rotten pulp much more than what illicit drugs can cause. It can be a Trojan horse. The harm inflicted by its misuse is of the spiritual type, not just of the body. And if we believe that the spirit is the one that in the end gives life to the body, so once it is impaired if not rendered practically dead, then the body actually suffers tremendously, irrespective of how good and healthy it may look based on the appearance alone. We have to ring the alarm and warn everyone of this present and clear danger. More than this, we have to set about teaching and helping everyone on how to use the Internet properly. I believe this is an issue that cannot be handled by giving out platitudes alone or occasional reminders, etc. It has to be taken like the bull by the horns. We should not take it for granted, or lightly. This is a very serious issue that affects all of us irrespective of our political colors or socio-cultural conditions. The aim is to equip everyone adequately by clarifying the true nature of freedom and how it can be lived properly with respect to the use of the Internet. “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful,” St. Paul warns. (1 Cor 6,12) “All things are lawful for me, but I will not be enslaved by anything.” Alas, not many realize the wisdom of this truth of faith. For many, freedom is, as they say, what comes naturally, that is, what their passions, feelings, curiosities, etc., urge them. We need to disabuse ourselves of this false and dangerous understanding of freedom. More than that, we need to acquire the appropriate attitude and skills to live the true nature of freedom and its consequences. A basic requirement for this is faith in God that is nourished through prayer, sacrifice or self-discipline, study of the doctrine of our faith, especially with respect to morality, recourse to the sacraments which are the ordinary channels of God’s grace, lifelong development of virtues, and the art of spiritual or interior struggle and warfare. There’s always a great and indispensable need for us to grow and mature spiritually. Now is the time to realize more deeply that this particular need has to be attended to first of all and always, and never to be sacrificed in exchange of some immediate, practical but very perishable benefits that the Internet and other worldly things can give us. We need to develop our spiritual or interior life, nourishing it always with the truths of our faith and the many and endless acts of hope and charity. Only in this way can we have dominion and mastery over our earthly affairs. For some practical guidelines, it might be helpful to determine and limit our time of going to the Internet. Let’s avoid going to it at the instance of our whims. Definitely, it should be made to compete with our time for meals, family gatherings, work, and especially our prayers and other spiritual activities. We need to practice temperance, restraint and moderation always. We have to keep close guarding of our senses, both the external and internal.
Group turned over 150 bancas to fishermen hit by Yolanda
BABATNGON, Leyte-Survivors of Typhoon Yolanda in Eastern Visayas received paddled bancas as livelihood assistance from the Marriage Encounter of the Philippines, Inc. (MEFP). In a simple ceremony held last May 13, 2014 at 9:30 in the morning, former presidential economic adviser Robert Aventajado, together with lawyers Jun Berto Dazo and Elmer Sy, both officers of MEFP, turned over to the Archdiocese of Palo 150 paddled bancas. Rev. Fr. Isagani Petilos represented archbishop John Du during the turn over ceremony held in Barangay Rizal, this town. Also present during the turnover of the bancas were town councilor Lenny Lugnasin, Joey Chan, representing Mayor Charita Chan and officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources led by its executive regional director, Leonardo Sibbaluca. The MEFP is the umbrella organization of ME (marriage encounter) community numbering around 100 communities whose apostolate is to strengthen marriage bonds among couples and to evangelize the same particularly on the knowledge of married life. Aventajado stressed that the project is the initiative of the MEFP as part of their social outreached projects to help especially those who were adversely affected by the super typhoon. The identification of the intended beneficiaries was made by the archdiocese of Palo through the parish priests of their respective parishes. The assistance given to the beneficiaries were bancas made of solid wood and marine plywood. (TOMAS CICERO C. MAYE)