Friday, September 27, 2013

Pass the People's FOI Act Now!



In 2002, more than half a century after the very first session of the UN General Assembly that pronounced* freedom of information (FOI) as a "fundamental human right" and the "touchstone of all the freedoms to which the United Nations is consecrated," advocates and organizations from around the world, gathered in a conference in Bulgaria, declared the 28th of September as the International Right to Know Day. Since that day, around 65 countries** have adopted their own versions of laws implementing FOI, constituting about two thirds of today's total number of countries with FOI laws.

In the Philippines, the citizens' right to access public information was first nominally recognized under the 1973 Constitution. This was followed by a declaration in the 1987 Constitution of full public disclosure as a policy of the State. However, without a law providing for procedures and penalties for violations, these express constitutional provisions have been nothing more than words on paper. Indeed, without an FOI act, Marcos smoothly facilitated a dictatorship, Estrada and Arroyo freely stole while in power, and Napoles, transcending administrations, schemed for senators and congressmen fake projects and NGOs.

Thus, in the midst of scandals of systemic corruption orchestrated for years and decades beyond the public eye, UP Alyansa ng mga Mag-aaral para sa Panlipunang Katwiran at Kaunlaran (UP ALYANSA), in solidarity with more than a hundred other organizations under the FOI Youth Initiative (FYI) and the Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition, challenges the legislature on this eve of the International Right to Know Day: Legislate the People's FOI Act now.

For a right so basic in any democracy, the struggle for freedom of information in the country has been far too long. 

As years pass by without an FOI act, billions and billions of public funds are lost to secret transactions and unexplained items of expenditures in government. The pork barrel scam today, for example, covers several years of misuse and misappropriation in the past that would have been discovered earlier by the public under the People's FOI Act. If only the measure were already in force, ordinary citizens would have had the right to demand, through appropriate procedures, information on PDAF projects in the past - including reports on disbursements and whether or not the projects were in fact implemented. If officials charged with custody of these documents refused, penalties under the law would have been imposed.

Beyond procedures and penalties, however, the People's FOI Act also represents a crucial element of democratic political life: a culture of participatory governance. If passed, the People's FOI Act will institutionalize people power by providing access to information needed by ordinary citizens to take a more active role in policymaking, administration, and service delivery. Indeed, beyond the obvious benefits of the measure to media institutions, the People's FOI Act will also encourage professionals, academics, volunteers, and legitimate non-profit organizations, with their dynamism and political will, to conduct research initiatives, start visionary projects, and assist government in its various services. The end result is a mature democratic culture wherein both government and civil society serve as key partners in governance.

The struggle for freedom of information in the country must now therefore end. While we laud the recent expression of support from Malacanang and the start of plenary debates over the proposed legislation in the Senate, the real battle now lies in the House of Representatives, where the bill met its fiercest, albeit hushed, opposition in the previous Congress.

Thus, we challenge the President, who promised passage of the bill during his election campaign in 2010, to start walking the talk and certify the People's FOI Act as urgent. Indeed, without an FOI act, the Aquino administration would have practically failed in its anti-corruption drive. Without the passage of the People's FOI Act, the tuwid na daan will be nothing more than a PR campaign and a slogan for impeaching and arresting opponents.



Pass the People's Freedom of Information Act NOW!

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

UP dean, student council demand sanctions over frat rumble

Student-led Anti-Fraternity Related Violence Watch (SAWA) Head Jackie Canlas (L) assists UP CSSP Student Council Chair Yanna Perez (R) in the filing of a case against Alpha Phi Beta and Beta Sigma in the UP Student Disciplinary Tribunal after a rumble between the two fraternities last week.



QUEZON CITY, Philippines – After a violent altercation last week between fraternities that left several students injured, a college dean and student council from the University of the Philippines Diliman are demanding an end to fraternity-related violence through administrative sanctions.

UP College of Social Sciences and Philosophy Dean Michael Tan and Student Council Chair Yanna Perez filed on Wednesday a complaint against fraternities Alpha Phi Beta and Beta Sigma over a rumble between the two fraternities last September 18.

The complaint accused Raymund Cruz Lopez, Marcus Cabrera, Don Ballustre, Mark Gabriel De Jesus, Bryan Joseph Costales, Miguel Barreto, and several other members of the fraternities “of engaging in a fraternity rumble, as defined in Section 1(A)(1), Rule I, Revised Rules Governing Fraternities, Sororities, and other Student Organizations.”

Last year, the college filed a similar complaint against Alpha Phi Beta and Alpha Sigma, but the Diliman Legal Office which serves as the prosecutor in cases of fraternity violence has yet to forward the case to the Student Disciplinary Tribunal. “It is a frustrating fact that well-connected fraternities in UP are never punished for rumbles and hazing,” Perez said.

According to Perez, the unwritten policy of UP’s administration is to back off once fraternities figuring in a rumble have reached a “truce.” Because of this “truce policy,” fraternities have never been punished administratively in UP, Perez said. Rumbles, under UP’s rules, are punishable by suspension to expulsion.

The Student-led Anti-Fraternity Related Violence Watch (SAWA), composed of students from the UP College of Law, provided legal assistance in the filing of the complaint. The organization’s head, Jackie Canlas, explained that after the filing of the complaint, a preliminary inquiry should be conducted by the Diliman Legal Office.

“The solution to ending the culture of violence among fraternities in UP is to set an example. The university must dispense justice by punishing violent fraternities with suspension or expulsion,” Canlas said.

Fraternities in UP were formed during the university’s early decades in the 1900s. Since then, several students have been victims to hazing and rumbles. Cris Mendez was the most recent case of a student dying from fraternity-related violence. The Mendez case remains unresolved.

“Impunity in the country starts with the youth. When fraternity members think they are somehow above the law because of their connections, one can only imagine what they will be capable of once they graduate and become the country’s next leaders,” Canlas added.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

NO to Impunity: On the APB-Beta Sigma rumble (Sept 18, 2013)




No one is above the law. And no truce between criminals can be allowed to circumvent justice.

In the afternoon of September 18, 2013, while the University Student Council and different organizations were protesting at the AS Steps the impending P1.43B budget cut on UP, an incident of fraternity-related violence erupted in campus that left at least six frat men injured and several students and other bystanders emotionally distressed and fearing for their own safety.

According to reports, the violent altercation between members of Alpha Phi Beta and Beta Sigma happened just meters away from the USC event, at the latter's tambayan in Benton Hall. Witnesses claim that the rumble started when at least five members of APB proceeded to Beta Sigma's tambayan to allegedly "resolve" an earlier disagreement between the two frats. The supposed discussion however turned into a violent exchange of fists and blows. Officers from the UP Diliman Police (UPDP) eventually came to the scene upon receiving a report from a nearby security guard. The rumble stopped and the UPDP arrested the frat men involved, including those who were reportedly attempting to escape in a red Suzuki Alto.

Thereafter, six of the frat men involved were brought to the UPDP headquarters where they were detained for several hours. Three representatives from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs (OVCSA) were also present in the UPDP HQ. Eventually, Atty. Viktor Pablo Trinidad, a lawyer for the detained frat men, arrived and declared to the UPDP and OVCSA representatives that they will not file charges and will resolve the matter on their own. The six frat men, named Raymund Cruz Lopez, Marcuz Cabrera, Don Ballustre, Mark Gabirel De Jesus, Bryan Joseph Costales, and Miguel Angelito Barreto, were released by 10:00PM of the same day (Sept 18). At least two of the detained, Costales and Barreto, are identifiable members of APB who ran for student council positions in the past.

Two days later or on September 20, Friday, the two fraternities have reportedly entered into a truce, the Greek-letter community's term for the ceasing of hostilities in the middle of a frat war. On the same day, the USC was scheduled to hold a General Assembly on the matter but failed to reach a quorum. Deliberation was thus rescheduled to Monday, September 23.

Ever since our foundation in 2000, UP ALYANSA has been committed to the complete elimination of fraternity-related violence in the University. Rumbles and hazing have no place in an institution of higher learning funded by the people's blood and sweat. It is a disturbing irony that, as UP demands for a higher budget for 2014, students who are invested with the people's money, instead of pursuing academic excellence in their respective fields, hit one another in the name of "brotherhood." There is little difference between the values of violent frat men and corrupt politicians running the country: Appearing as "leaders," they really have nothing more than their own "family interests" to protect. And, using their massive influence and hidden networks in the system, they simply manage to get away with it.

Candles have been lit and handprints marked, yet the culture of violence and impunity among the University's fraternities, a culture that dates all the way back to the early decades of UP, persist. We assert that the solution is simple, obvious, and direct, and should not be any different from the solution to the larger culture of corruption and impunity in our country: Exact justice. Fraternity-related violence must be policed, prosecuted, and punished. An example must be made to deter the perpetration of violence and to show fraternities that no one, absolutely no one, is above the law.

Truces are not enough. Violence cannot be tolerated simply because its perpetrators have entered into an agreement to suppress the issue. There can be no valid agreement between criminals that a crime has not happened. The truce policy, whereby fraternities escape the mandated judicial process under the Rules and Regulations Governing Fraternities, Sororities, and Other Student Organizations* after a truce has been reached between the hostile frats, must be abolished and justice must be served not only for retribution but also for the deterrence of future incidents of violence.

We call on the University administration, long inutile on the incidents of fraternity-related violence in UP, to finally begin the process of holding the guilty accountable.The administration must not let this incident, like all other incidents in the past, simply pass. Indeed, it is an insult to the University's tradition of demanding accountability in governance when its own administration willfully and voluntarily assists in the failure of justice. In doing so, the administration becomes no better than accessories to fraternity-related violence, having abused its public functions to conceal and assist in the escape of principals to the crime.

We also call on the USC, officers of which include members from both Alpha Phi Beta (Vice Chairperson Jules Guiang) and Beta Sigma (Fine Arts Representative Baloy de Laza), to make a concrete effort in demanding justice from this incident of fraternity-related violence. On its own, the USC must file charges against the erring fraternities and lead the students in the campaign to demand a swift disposition of this case by the Student Disciplinary Tribunal. Indeed, the USC is challenged to stand for our right as students to a safe and secure campus and not the interests of violent fraternities.

Finally, we call on every Iskolar ng Bayan to join us as we gather on Wednesday, September 25, 4:00PM, at the AS Steps to collectively condemn this and previous incidents of fraternity-related violence in UP.



Iskolar para sa Bayan, pagtagumpayan ang isang Unibersidad na mapayapa at walang karahasan!

SAWANG SAWA na kami sa fraternity-related violence!

NO to impunity! End the culture of violence in UP!

Saturday, September 14, 2013

UP, Unite against the Budget Cut!



We will not be silent.

Hidden behind a touted net increase in the budget for state universities and colleges is possibly the largest budget cut under President Aquino's administration on the University of the Philippines. As the House of Representatives prepares to debate the 2014 general appropriations bill on the floor next week, the proposed item for UP is pegged at P8,098,325,000, or P1.43 billion less than the P9.53 billion allocated for this year.

The main budget component affected is capital outlay, which is used for the acquisition of fixed assets such as buildings and other facilities. This year, the executive has proposed to give UP zero capital outlay, even as the Board of Regents proposed P1.91 billion in additional funding requirements for the component out of its total proposed P17.1 billion for 2014.

The budget cut comes in the midst of the pork barrel scam, amounting to P10 billion lost to private pockets and a total of P25.2 billion for next year's Priority Development Assistance Fund or PDAF. Thus, there can be no excuse for austerity or cost-cutting from the executive. If the President insists on thrift in the cases of UP and other state universities, then why the willingness to spend more than three times UP's allocation on a discretionary, lump sum item as congressional pork? Why is it so difficult to spend on UP and other SUCs while it seems so easy to disburse pork funds to unchecked projects and bogus NGOs?

We cannot let this pass. While the aggregate budget for education and SUCs increased, UP must not be left behind. Indeed, our experience this year, more than any other year, only proves with greater certainty how crucial government subsidy is for the University. If only UP were fully funded by the State, the administration would not have been ridiculously stringent in enforcing its policies on payment and Kristel would have been saved from her ordeal.

In the coming weeks, the UP community must unite to protest against the P1.43 billion budget cut. We have done this in the past and have earned substantial victories for doing so. After a series of marches, demonstrations, and direct negotiations with CHED and members of Congress, we succeeded in securing an increase of almost P4 billion for this year's budget. 

We will sustain our victory. On September 18, Wednesday, we will march as one UP around Diliman's Academic Oval and troop to the House of Representatives to claim what is ours - our right to education. We will not be silent.


UP, Unite against the Budget Cut!

Ituloy ang napagtagumpayan - para sa UP, para sa Bayan!
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