NAGPAKABANANG MGA KAHUGPUNGAN SA KATAWHAN SA SYUDAD SA SUGBO

C/o KILUSAN office at 690-C D. Jakosalem St., Brgy. Kamagayan, Cebu City

Tel. No.: (032) 253-9682

Email add: kpd_n_cebu@yahoo.com

Blogsite: http://kpd-cebu.blogspot.com

Sulat para sa mga Konsehal sa Syudad sa Sugbo nga Mabination sa mga Kabus nga taga-Dakbayan

(Para sa pagpapasar sa Moratorium on Demolisyon Ordinance)

Ang katawhang kabus nga taga Dakbayan sa Sugbo masulub-on sa karong panahon human sa balita nga gibabagan ni Mayor Mike Rama ang pagpapasar sa Ordinansa nga nagdumili sa pagdemolish sa mga pampublikong kayutaan subay sa hurisdiksyon sa Syudad sa Sugbo sulod sa usa ka tuig (Moratorium Against Demolition Ordinance).  Nagdag-om ang kalangitan subay sa pagkadismaya sa katawhang kabus ning maong balita.  Ang desisyon inanay sagpa ug  pangandoy sa mga kabus nipanaw.  Unta nga ang tinguha wala’y lain kung dili patas nga katungod dili gahum sa Gubyernong nitalikod sa konsituenteng gipanumpaan nga pagasilbihan.

Ang pangandoy alang sa desinte ug makatawhanong pagpuyo angay lang ipaduso hangtod maangkon kini.  Tungod ug gumikan nga batakang panginahanglan ug nilagdaan sa Balaod nga usa ka tawhanong katungod.  Apan wala kini ilha sa Gubyernong buta’ ug hakug sa gahum, ingon balaod gigamit pabor para sa mga adunahan ug mga dagkong tigpapatigayon.

Sa kahimtang namong mga kabus –walay yuta, walay balay, walay trabaho- gigamit ang among kaugalingong kusug aron makahatag ug serbisyo ngadto sa ubang kabus sama namo, imbis mahimong pabug-at sa katilingban, kini mismo kay dalaygon. Nakasugakod kami sa among pagpuyo pinaagi sa matinud-anon, kakugi, taas nga trabaho, bisan paman dili igo ang kita, dili sama sa mga opisyal sa gobyerno nga naglungkab sa kwarta sa publiko.

Kay miserabli ang among kinabuhi, ug ang among pagtumaw sa kayutaan sa Syudad kay hugaw sa panan-aw sa mga adunahan ug gamhanan, kini dili among tinuyuan. Ang katilingban mao ang nagpaubos sa ing-ani nga kahimtang; ug ang katilingban ang angayang magbuhat ug maayong opurtunidad alang kanamo aron mapalambo kini. Ang kamaut ug kakabus sa among pagpuyo dili matabunan sa mga pangpagwapa lang nga kausaban, sama sa gustong buhaton sa gobyerno ni Rama. Hinuon, ang lihok ni Mayor Rama sa pagpagwapa/panindot naghatag ug mas grabing kadaut sa kinabuhi sa mga kabus.

Sama sa uban, nagbayad usab kami ug buhis. Tungod walay makaikyas sa VAT. Naa kami’y susamang katungod ni bisan kinsang nagbayad ug buhis nga maserbisyohan sa gobyerno.   Kami mga Pilipino, kinsa anaay patrimonyang katungod niining Pilipinas ug labaw sa tanan sa ni bisan kinsang langyaw. Sama sa ubang Pilipino, naghandom kami ug paglambo. Simpli lang namong gipangayo nga sa unsa man o tanang kalambuan kinahanglan maapil, dili kay walay labot, ang kabag-ang  kabus, ilabi na ang apektado/nagpakabanang sektor.

Ug labaw sa tanan, mga tawo kami, kabahin sa katawhan. Naghuna-huna, mubati, nag-ugmad nga mga tawo nga naningkamot nga magamit among tawhanong kapasidad aron mabuhat among bahin sa kini nga katilingban.  Apan sa among kapasikaran nanginahanglan sa inyong tabang, tabang para kami mulambo ug makatagamtam man lang sa gamay’ng kahupayan ug alibyo gikan sa demolisyon.  Minghangyo nga unta kamo bumati kanamo.

Nga ang Administrasyon ni Rama mihikaw kanamo sa among pulos isip tawo ug ang among dignidad isip tawo- aron ang langyaw nga mamuhunan moginansya ug ang mga turista malingaw.

Unta dili kamo susama ni Mayor Mike Rama nga mitalikod na kanamo.  Hangyo namo nga unta inyong ipapasar ang Ordinansa nga muhatag kanamo ug kahigayunan nga makig-alayon sa Gubyerno aron kami makiangayon nga mapahimutang ug dili yanong sikad-sikaran.  Inyong boto sa ummabot Miyerkules, Nobyembre 25, 2015 among bantayan.  Itratar isip inyong timaan sa inyong gipanumpaan.  Hangyo kami kaninyo, saksi ang langit, dungga ang tingug sa katawhang kabus kaninyo nangaliyupo.  IPAPASAR ANG ORDINANSA!

Nagkahiusa sa ngalan sa katawhang nagpakabana,

Emalyn M. Aliviano

Spokesperson

Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya-Cebu (KILUSAN-Cebu)

Elizabeth Dicdican

President

Pagkakaisa ng mga Kababaihan para sa Kalayaan (KAISA KA-Mambaling)

Soledad Cordova

Representative-Council of Leaders

United Small Vendors of Cebu City (USVCC)

Roldan Dicdican

Acting President

Sitio Naba Neighborhood Association (SNNA)

Floro Enricoso

President

Alliance of People’s Organization Working for Empowerment and Resettlement (ALLPOWER)

Ronald Lamberte

President

Warwick Barracks Relocated Vendors’ Urban Poor Association (WBRVUPA)

Virginia Canoy

President

Sitio Tangke Home Owners’ Association (STHOA)

Marifel Candia

President

Sitio Tangke Panaghiusa Residents’ Association

Crisis and War Clouds over APEC 2015 Summit

The administration of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino (PNoy) is hosting the 23^rd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Summit on November 18-19. This is the second time the Philippines is venue for the gathering of 21 heads of “economies” that all belong to world’s top 50. 

The neo-liberal globalization jargon “economy”, instead of state or government, is used not just to accommodate Hong Kong and Taiwan. The word “economy” creates a false sense the summit is not a global political event. This is despite the fact that the world’s leading economic and military powers, the US, China, Russia and Japan, are members of APEC.  Any major move by any of them, especially by the US, influence and can change the world situation 

Crisis and war clouds overshadow APEC 2015

Several earth-shaking developments have happened since 1996, the first time APEC Leaders’ Summit was held in the Philippines. That was 5 years to 9/11 and start of “US War against Terror”. There were then no US wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and no US-backed wars in East Ukraine and Yemen. There was no Islamic State (IS) yet at that time, though the al Qaeda and Taliban were already known.

That was 19 years to the start of Russia-led “War against Islamic State (IS)”. It was 18 years before the simmering conflict in South China reached boiling point. It was 19 years before the US pointed at China and Russia as the challengers to the global order it has been shaping since the end of World War 2. That was 12 years to the 2008 outbreak of the global crisis that persists until now.

APEC 2015 is overshadowed by crisis and war clouds. The 7-year crisis has further worsened. Since the outbreak of the crisis, every succeeding annual APEC Summit was tense. In the 2014 summit in China, US President Obama held sideline meetings with heads of countries that were approved for membership in the China-less Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).  

Intense finance and trade rivalry between US and China

APEC 2015 comes at the heels of the signing of the draft agreement on TPP by 12 countries last October 5. TPP is a US scheme to remain the dominant economy dictating the terms of global investment and trade. President Obama confirmed this to media, “Because if we (US) don’t, China would”.

The TPP countries are APEC members: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, USA and Vietnam. TPP would be open to new members after the draft agreement is ratified by the 12 founding members.

The TPP is worse than critics expected. It would thoroughly liberalize and deregulate national economies for the greater freedom of movement and profit-making of leading American and Japanese private monopolists especially in automobile, agriculture and pharmaceutical industries. TPP would make labor more flexible and deregulated, especially on wages and job security.  It opens wider the gates for trade in services, which is mainly the traffic of skilled labor and professionals, whereby foreign investors can bring workers from their home bases and low-wage countries.

The stalled negotiations for TPP were activated and pushed by the US after 50 of 57 founding member-countries of China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) confirmed their membership in the signing ceremony in Beijing last June 29.  Other than China, signatories include Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Switzerland, Netherlands, Norway, Iran, Israel, Brazil, Russia, India, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam and others.  The 7 other founding members- Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Denmark, Poland and Kuwait, are yet to confirm membership and each one’s amount of share in the bank. Twenty (20) more countries applied for membership in the AIIB. 

China-led AIIB is not in the purview of APEC though it certainly would matter in the coming summit. The US and Japan are not joining AIIB. It would surely compete with the World Bank and Asian Development Bank that the two countries dominate.

Wars and escalating war provocations

Millions of refugees from wars in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and elsewhere poured into Europe, welcomed by Europeans, but barred by their governments. The endless wars that US wages and supports have displaced over 60M people worldwide, the largest number of refugees since World War 2.  Annual US war and military spending is nearly 50% of world’s total defense and military expenditures! But the fund of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) is not even 1% of US’s annual military and war budget! 

Despite the refugee crisis, the frequency of beatings of war drums intensified. US-Russia and US-China wars are now close to reality. Russia-US war is hairline to reality since the former engaged directly in bombing the IS and other terrorist groups in Syria. The world knows that the IS, Al Nusra and al Qaeda are “allies” of and aided by the US in the already four years “civil war” to overthrow the Assad regime in Syria.  The war that has raged from 2011 has already caused the death of more than 250,000 Syrian civilians.

The US is not serious about Russia’s proposal for a political solution to the war in Syria. For the US, it’s ”the head of Assad or war”. After its training of “moderate rebels” failed miserably, the US is ready to deploy 50 soldiers from its Special Forces to assist the “Free Syrian Army” even as it continues to arm the IS. Lately the US is considering the deployment of F-15 jet fighter planes to Syria. F-15 is designed mainly for aerial battles with US’s enemy’s warplanes.    

In the APEC side of the world, the US, a non-party to the dispute, has taken over and has raised the territorial row in the South China Sea among China, Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan,  to direct confrontation with China. The adamant assertion by China of “territorial sovereignty” over reefs and shoals altered into “islands” with structures for defense purposes and its outright disregard of the rights of other claimants, give reasons for the US to raise its war banner with “freedom of navigation” slogan.

The US has stepped-up its challenge to China’s assertion. US Navy destroyer, USS Lassen deliberately sailed within the 12 nautical mile territorial limit of China-claimed Subi Reef last October 27. This elicited sharp, “We are not afraid of war”, reaction from China. Just days before the 2015 APEC Summit, the US, the declining but still the mightiest nation-state on earth, jacked-up war provocations on China. Two US B-52 bombers conducted “routine flight” over the “artificial islands” of China.

This is despite the case filed by the Philippines against China before the International Tribunal on Law of the Seas (ITLOS). Other claimants have done the same before, but China just ignored them. Now, in the eve of APEC 2015, China is passing on to the Philippines the burden of undoing the “troubles” arising from filing the case. 

Japan is also adding to the rising tension.  The Abe government of Japan, in contravention of its constitution, passed militarist laws redefining Japan’s self defense posture into “collective self-defense” and its pacifist policy into “proactive pacifism”.  This move was condemned by China and South Korea and earned negative remarks from Australia. Only the US and Philippine presidents praised Abe for the passage of the laws despite strong opposition by the Japanese people.

APEC: Dysfunctional mechanism for economic co-operation and peaceful co-existence    

Twenty heads of “economies” are coming to Manila. The leading figures are US President Obama, China’s President Xi Jin ping, Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe, Russia’s PM Dmitry Medvedev and, South Korea’s President Park Geun-ye.

The theme of the APEC 2015 Leaders’ Summit, “Building inclusive economies; Building a better world”, is ironic.  The China-less TPP that favors big private monopoly capitalists is top in the agenda of the summit. The agenda includes climate change and disaster preparedness. But the US and the other big powers are pursuing wars and preparing for bigger wars that would certainly aggravate the humanitarian crisis resulting from present wars.

APEC security was beefed-up starting today following the series of shootings and bombings by alleged IS elements that left more than 120 people dead in Paris, France. The vicinity of Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City has been transformed into veritable war zone, complete with anti-aircraft weapons.

The 2015 APEC Leaders’ Summit is a monument to a more dysfunctional multi-lateral mechanism for global progress and peace. The Filipino people have to bear the burden of hosting the summit, which is an arena for big power rivalry, at the cost of P10B of public funds and the curtailment of their freedom of movement and right to protest along with peoples of other nationalities.

Genuine international progress and peace rely on the solidarity and struggle of the world’s peoples against the moribund, decadent and predatory – crisis and war prone- global capitalism.

Dismantle APEC!

Advance international solidarity and struggle against imperialism, crisis and war!

IPAPASAR ANG MORATORIUM ORDINANCE ON DEMOLITION AND EVICTION WITHIN THE PUBLIC LANDS OF CEBU CITY

Nobyembre 13, 2014

Ang desente, hapsay, ug adunay dignidad nga kapuy-an ug pabalay usa ka batakang panginahanglunon sa taw isip mag-protekta sa atoa sa unsa mang matang sa panahon. Usa kini ka pundamental nga katungod nato ug kini giila sa mga International Human Rights Movement ug sa atoa mismong Konstitusyon ug sa ingon nga angay kini nga paga-respetuhon.

Apan ubos sa administrasyon ni Mayor Mike Rama ug sa iyang mantra nga “Hapsayon ang gubot, Limpyuhon ang hugaw, Pahumuton ang baho”, gikan sa iyang paglingkod isip mayor sa syudad ug hantod karon, daghan ang mga demolisyon ug mga clearing operations nga napatuman sa nagkadaiyang komunidad ug mga kadalanan kung hain kini hingpit nga gipatuman. Pero kung imong tukion ang mga nahitabong clearing operations nga ilang gipatuman ug gipahigayun, kasagaran ini iligal o wala naga-subay sa saktong proseso ug pamaagi sa balaod. Susama sa nahipalgan sa mga taga Warwick Barracks, Carbon kun hain human sila nasunugan o gi-sunog atong Enero sa niaging tuig, wala na sila gi-pabalik sa maong luna kung asa sila tawhanong nagpakabuhi, ug ang sobrang panimalay nga wala masunog, gi-demolis pud sab, madugo nga demolisyon ang nahipalgan sa mga taw didto. Hangtud karon nagpabiling nakigbisug ug naghandom ang mga taga Warwick Barracks nga sila mahataga’g hustisya tungod kay katungod sa kapuy-an ug panginabuhian mismo ang gihikaw sa ilaha. Mao pud sab ang nahipalgan sa mga sidewalk vendors sa syudad, ubos sa polisiyang Zero Vending Policy, sila nakasinati ug pagpang-harass sa han-ay sa mga PROBE gikan adtong Nobyembre niaging tuig ug hantod karon, biktima pud sab sila sa mga clearing operations nga dili makiangayon tungod kay wala gyud kini konsultasyon sa han-ay sa mga vendors ug walay saktong alternatibo o relokasyon para sa ilaha ilabi na sa mga vendors sa N. Bacalso(E-Mall ug South Bus Terminal), katungod kini sa panginabuhian ug dili dapat nga ihikaw sa ilaha.

Daghan pang mga komunidad sa dakbayan ang nakasinati aning mga demolisyon sa ngalan sa mga dagkong negosyo nga mao ang prayoridad sa atong gobyernu karon, ang kapait lang ang mga kabus gipangsalikway. Gatusan na ka pamilya nga hangtud karon, nagpabilin nga wala pa gyud intawn mahiluna, tungud kay desenteng panimalay ug panginabuhian ang nahikaw sa ilaha, mga estudyante nga nahunong nalang sap ag-eskwela. Unsa nalay palaabuton sa atong mga pamilya, kaugmaon sa atong mga anak kun kini nga pamaagi nila magpabilin nga hingpit.

Busa magkahiusa kita sa pag-uyon ug pag-suporta aron mapapasar kini sa Mayor ang duh aka ordinansa nga Moratorium on Eviction or Demolition of Dwelings in Public Lands o gang Ordinansa pagpasiguro sa pagpatuman sa Sec. 28 sa UDHA kun Urban Development and Housing Act. Kini nga mga ordinansa mupugong sa demolisyon kungwala pa kini mu-agi sa saktong proseso sa balaud ug kung hain siguruhon nga anaa ang pag-konsulta sa mga apektado, ug pagtugot sa Local Housing Board nga muhimo para sa checklisting, maghimu ug guidelines, ug magsiguro pagpasunod sa probisyon sa UDHA, ug labaw sa tanan ang paghatag ug alternatibo nga haum sa mga direktang apektado sa demolisyon o sa katawhang kabus. Kini nga mga ordinansa gi-aprubahan o napapasar na sa Konseho, kang Mayor Mike Rama nalang.

Walay maayong rason nga dili kini aprubahan sa mayor kay obligasyon kini niya isip amahan sa syudad ug labaw sa tanan, interes kini sa katawhan tungod kay katungod kini nato isip taw nga adunay dignidad, dili kita mga hayop nga pwede lang sa bisan-asa magpuyo.