Guest Columnist
The docking of the USS North Carolina (SSN77) at Subic Bay, May 13, appears to be a sign that the issue of US military bases and the concomitant presence of US military troops has gone full circle. The submarine is being touted as “one of the stealthiest, most technologically advanced submarines in the world. It brings to the region the capability to conduct the full spectrum of potential submarine missions including anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface ship warfare, strike, naval special warfare involving special operations forces, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, and mine warfare.”
In its “Food Security and Poverty in Asia and the Pacific” report released the first week of May, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) noted that while the Philippines achieved a reduction in poverty (in terms of official statistics), it still has to address undernourishment and hunger. The release of the report came at the heels of the annual governor’s meeting of the ADB held in Manila. In the said meeting, noted “development economist” Jeffrey Sachs was the keynote speaker, who stressed that while there is economic growth in Asia, it has to look into the social and environmental costs of this growth, i.e. inequality and climate change.
It was a blistering hot day in November 2009 when I went to the protest picket line outside the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).There were about forty people on hunger strike in tents led by father Edwin Gariguez. He is a servant-leader dedicated to empowering the Mangyan indigenous people of Mindoro, to organize and protect their rights and lands from the onslaught of the massive open-pit mining project of the Intex Resources.
Rarely does one see Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III to be so unequivocal and firm about policy issues. But recently, he did exhibit political will and decisiveness. Unfortunately for the working people, he demonstrated his resolve in rejecting two important issues confronting the Filipino worker: the call for a P125 increase in the daily minimum wage nationwide, and a proposed law prohibiting contractualization of labor. For this, he was branded as “anti-worker” by progressive labor groups.
There is so much government and media hype over the country’s disputes with China. First it was about the territorial dispute over the Spratly Islands. Now it is about the standoff at Scarborough shoal. It seems as if somebody is trying to stoke the tensions or create a crisis.
At the center of it all is Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III who swings from declaring that he is all for a diplomatic resolution to the Spratly islands dispute to begging for assurances of support and weapons from the US; from sending a coast guard cutter to the Scarborough shoal purportedly to “defuse the tension” to declaring that his government is not inclined to go to war with China. But now the US-RP joint military exercises are being held near the disputed waters.
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary.
Yet the law is still making the news, as several states are applying for waivers from the law. Some school officials have found it difficult to meet the law's standards requiring that every student -- even those that are poor or in minority groups -- make progress each year.
NCLB might need some tinkering. As the discussion about re-authorization continues, it's vital for students and the future of this country that the core principles of accountability, transparency and equality be preserved.
“Just as ecologists define ecosystems by the presence of certain ‘indicator species’ of plants and birds, torture is an indicator species of a regime that it is engaged in a deeply anti-democratic project, even if that regime happens to have come to power through elections.” – Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine
People may perhaps be wondering why President Benigno “Noynoy” C. Aquino III has been playing blind, deaf, and mute to the calls for justice of victims of human rights violations of the previous administrations, from the Marcos dictatorship to the equally-hated regime of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. While the Aquino government appears to be finally running after Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for electoral fraud, it has not filed any case of human rights violation against the former president nor has it made any effort to try to search for the disappeared when it is in its power to do so. What appears to be more ironical is that the number of victims of human rights violations of this administration, which has won on the slogan of change, is rapidly increasing.
What was perhaps intended as a form of protest that would land at least a photo in newspapers and a video clip in the evening news became viral locally and internationally. Noynoying is trending in Twitter, and, according to an article in ABS-CBN News online, it has 3,685 likes on Facebook so far. The Wall Street Journal wrote an article on it. And it has landed a page in Wikipedia.
At first, Malacañang tried to ignore it with President Aquino saying he would not honor it with a response. In any case, for two consecutive days after, the Philippine Daily Inquirer published photos of the president working. But now the president appeared miffed. He said he has the statistics to prove his accomplishments but it is difficult to let people see it if they do not want to see.
I have written a number of articles on how pump prices of oil are being kept high. Let me summarize the main reasons:
First, there is a monopoly of oil. The big oil companies – Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, then Chevron Texaco in fourth, which is followed by the relatively smaller oil companies such as Total– are vertically integrated. They control the production and distribution of oil and natural gas: from exploration, extraction, refining, distribution to your friendly gasoline station. Since they control the supply, they control the prices.
The law of classical economics dictates that when demand exceeds supply, prices go up and dampens demand until it reaches equilibrium with the supply. On the other hand, when demand is low and supply exceeds it, prices would go down until demand increases and achieves equilibrium with supply. This is called the invisible hand of the market. This is the logic of neoclassical or neo-liberal economics, thus, the push for limiting government intervention in the economy through deregulation, liberalization and privatization.
