Chiz Escudero

I support the Cebu City government in its claim that the South Reclamation Project’s (SRP) transfer of ownership is valid and required no congressional approval after a local leader disputed in court the legality of the land transfer and its lease.

This is my reaction to queries about the transfer of the national government of an approximately 330 hectares of land to the city government without congressional authority.

Without in any way interfering or influencing the outcome of the case, I am of the firm belief that under the local government code, other existing laws and relevant decision of the Supreme Court, the national government’s transfer of the reclaimed area’s full ownership to Cebu City is legal and as such, made it a patrimonial property of the city. This is my reaction as a lawyer and as a teacher of Land Titles and Decrees at the University of the Philippines College of Law.

Being a patrimonial property of the city, it may dispose of it in any way it deems necessary as provided by Section 22 of the Local Government Code and it can lease or sell portions of the SRP to private individuals as well as qualified corporations.

The Cebu City South Reclamation Project, now the South Road Properties (SRP), funded from a loan given by the Japanese government, aims to reduce poverty incidence and accelerate economic growth in Metro Cebu as export  processing zones and light industries are envisioned to sprout on the reclaimed area, bringing in 100,000 jobs for Cebuanos.

The project, a major endeavor of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, would also boost further the tourism industry in the region as condominiums and hotels would also rise on its beachfront.

In our fight against poverty, political differences should be set aside as far more important matters, like this one, should first be addressed.

I condemn the latest extrajudicial execution in Sorsogon and held the Philippine National Police responsible for it.

A police report says William Jeruz, 44, of San Juan, Sorsogon City, was shot at close range by a lone gunman on a motorcycle early Monday morning. The victim had just emerged from an eatery owned by a cousin of his only a few meters away from city hall.

The crime is especially repulsive in that the victim was killed in front of one of his two children. The police should exert all efforts to identify and lock up these cold-blooded killers who have been terrorizing the whole province. That is, if they have any sense of responsibility at all.

Jeruz is the 49th victim of summary execution in the region and the 63rd KMP leader killed nationwide.  There are now 843 victims of extrajudicial killings.   

The victim was an organizer of Samahan ng Mga Magbubukid sa Sorsogon (SAMASOR), a provincial chapter of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP). He was to attend the National Coconut Farmers Convention at the University of the Philippines in Diliman the day he was killed but begged off at the last minute because of lack of fare money.

In a previous blog, I have also denounced the police for their failure to arrest the killer of Federico Esclares Jr., president of Association of Barangay Captains. The barangay official, along with his driver and another hand, had been shot by a lone gunman, who remains at large up to the present. 

In that blog entry, I demanded the relief of Provincial Director Joel Regondola and Regional Director Ricardo Padilla.

The bloodied tracks of the killers lead to the doorstep of the police, in a manner of speaking. I refuse to believe that the security forces have something to do with the crimes, but the fact that no suspects have been arrested makes that conclusion inevitable,

For so long now people in the countryside have been living in constant fear. The police should hang its head in shame for its failure to end the reign of terror.

There is no doubt that assassins in the employ of certain elements of the police and the military carry out the assassinations. The only question on people’s minds is whether the administration sanctions the crimes.

If it does not, now is the time to prove it. It must identify and arrest the killers so that we can have peace at last.

Having 45 million voters out of a population of 87 million are still incredibly high.

Commissioner Rene Sarmiento of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced that 1.13 million names had been removed from the voters’ list. He said the names are those of people who are already dead or have gone abroad as indicated by their failure to vote in two consecutive elections.  The people who remain in the list, the official claimed, are legitimate voters.

It is not possible that more than half of the population are voters. The Philippines, with its high population growth, is a country of young people. That means, there are more children than there are adults in the population.

But I’ll take Mr. Sarmiento’s word for it. As a start, however, I hope that the Comelec will continue to disseminate the list of voters early so that people will know the voters in their respective precincts.

The list of voters must be made available early to prevent cheating. There are 10 million Filipinos living and working overseas, and political parties at the grassroots level know who these people are. 

The rule requires that names of voters who fail to exercise the right of suffrage in two consecutive elections must be removed from the list. Of course, migrant workers who are away only temporarily should be retained. But nobody should be allowed to vote in the name of an absent or dead voter.

Early dissemination of the voters’ list will also prevent confusion on election day. Some Comelec provincial officers, at the behest of the party in power, transfer names from one precinct to another precisely for that purpose.

A month ago, I have already demanded that the poll body purge the list of voters, as it could not be possible that more than half of the 87 million Filipinos are voters. At the time, the huge number of voters could be the result of multiple registration and registration of non-existent voters.

The government must think out of the box in its search for solution to the housing backlog, which officially stands at four million.

The country is clearly losing the battle against homelessness, and that requires a more creative approach to the problem. The government might consider constructing tenements for rent, in addition to single-detached houses for sale.

The government dutifully builds thousands of houses every year, but  most people cannot afford to buy them. The reason is clear enough: the land upon which the houses are constructed has been purchased at a high price.

If you factor in the cost of building materials and the profit the contractor has to make, you’ll end up with houses that are anything but low-cost, although they are classified as such.

As a result the people for whom the houses are intended shy away. 

We tend to equate squatters with seasonal construction workers and sidewalk vendors. But a quick survey of the slum areas will show that they host teachers and policemen as well. There are even bank tellers among them, even middle-line management personnel from the private sector.

A government study shows there are more than 600,000 squatter households nationwide, with Metro Manila hosting more than half of that number.

In other countries, government workers, even those occupying the lowest ranks, are classified middle class. In the Philippines, they live in the slums, with all the risks associated with that condition.

The government must review its policy on housing, especially with regard to the average income families. I propose that a joint executive-congressional commission be formed to look into the matter, of course in coordination with the real estate firms, housing development companies, and the urban poor.

I warn the government and the private sector against converting productive farmlands into biofuel crop plantations, as the practice if allowed could worsen food shortage in the country.

Development of alternative fuel is commendable, but it should not be pursued at the expense of food production. The scramble to plant jethropa and other crops intended for ethanol and biodiesel production could exert an upward pressure on the prices of food.

The country has been losing farmlands to subdivision and golf course developers in the past decades.

I suppose we need to construct housing projects, but removing the remaining acreage from rice and corn production is totally unacceptable. That would amount to snatching food from the mouth of people. 

Food at affordable prices should take precedence over other considerations.

I urge the government to study the wisdom of turning sugar cane into ethanol and coconut into biodiesel. If the crops are to be diverted for industrial purposes, the government should make sure the program does not affect the nation’s sugar and edible oil supply.

As regards corn, I don’t think it should be converted into fuel to run motor vehicles. The crop is staple food for a sizeable portion of the population, and its use for other purpose is unacceptable. 

Quoting a study made recently by the University of Minnesota, the mad rush to ethanol production threatens to get food out of the hands of people who need them most.

According to the study the US is devoting more than 90 million acres this year to corn, the largest for the crop in 63 years. The tack is expected to result in the reduction of acreage devoted to wheat, rice and soybean.

The US can afford to do that because it has so much land to juggle around. Not the Philippines. To produce enough food for our people, we need to expand, not reduce acreage devoted to rice.

In spite of the expanded corn production in the US, the prices of the commodity in the world market are expected to go up by 20 percent in 2010 and 41 percent by 2020. As a result, the study further notes, the number of chronically hungry people worldwide could rise to 1.2 billion.

I urge the government to put in place a set of programs that will enable the country to withstand the ill-effects of the global warming phenomenon.

The Philippines ought to prepare itself for the social and economic disruption that lies in the next decade and beyond. I advise both sides of the political divide to get together and reach a national consensus on how best to deal with the problem.

In a 1,400-page report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that the expected rise of global temperature by 1.5 degrees to 2.5 degrees Celsius will result in more frequent and more violent storms on one hand and, on the other, more frequent and prolonged droughts. It also warned that poor countries, which are the least responsible, will suffer the most from the greenhouse effects.

The Philippines can blunt the effects of droughts, although it cannot stop the violent storms.

We need to build more dams and water reservoirs. To ensure continuous water flow, we need to declare a moratorium on commercial logging operation and allow the forest cover to rejuvenate.

The Philippines must keep the sea around it in pristine condition as the linchpin of its environment protection program.

Of all crimes against the environment, the rape of the coral reefs is the most insidious. From the air you can readily see the trees being felled in the forest. Nobody realizes the destruction taking place at the bottom of the sea until it is too late.

For that reason I urge the government to conduct an educational campaign in coastal communities, adding that people must be told that the steady decline of their fish catch over the years can be traced to the degradation of the coral reefs.

Our energy consumption is so negligible that it wouldn’t make any difference even if we stopped using oil- and gas-based fuel altogether. In other words, there is not much we can do to stop global warming. But we can look after the interest of our own people. And we must.

All studies point to the US and other industrialized countries as the ones to blame for the catastrophic climate change.

I ask the Philippine government to be more insistent on its demand that Filipino World War II veterans get the full benefits due them from the US Government and to assist them in whatever way they can.

On the occasion of the observance of Araw ng Kagitingan, I urge President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to speak with a loud voice, to denounce if necessary the continuing inaction of the US Congress if only to draw attention to the grave injustice done to the Filipino fighting men.

The time for diplomatic nicety is over. The veterans are already in their late 70s and early 80s. It won’t be long before they join their comrades, who died without getting the benefits promised them.

The sacrifices and determination of Filipino officers and men in the US Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) delayed the landing of the Japanese Imperial Forces in the Philippines and allowed the Allies to regroup in Australia. It is for that reason, that US and British forces were able eventually to rally their human and material resources to defeat Japan.

The US concentrated war materiel in Europe, leaving the Filipinos to fend for themselves, first as regular soldiers and later as guerillas. In all those dark years, these gallant men fought the enemy with unflagging zeal. It is regrettable that 61 years after the war ended, the US Government has yet to redeem its promise to these soldiers.

The Veterans Health Care Authorities Extension and Improvement Act of 2003, unanimously passed by the US Senate, provides medical benefits to approximately 9,500 Filipino veterans residing in the US.

The same benefits should be given to veterans who for some reason or another chose to remain in the country of their birth. There are about 70,000 Filipino veterans residing in the Philippines, and making the artificial distinction is grossly unfair.

The veterans, whether they live in the US or the Philippines, have made the same sacrifices. They must be treated equally.

But the biggest injustice started when the US Congress, with the passage of the US Supplementary Appropriation Rescission Act of 1946, fixed the pension and other benefits for Filipino veteran at one half that of American veteran.

The US Congress should repeal that law. It is a slur against the Filipino people, who demonstrated courage and devotion to the ideals of liberty and freedom when they rose in revolt against Spain, the first national struggle against colonization in Asia.

I commend the Bureau of Customs for the seizure of corals for it is necessary to show that the government is serious about protecting the country’s ocean resources.

Commissioner Napoleon Morales was reported to have announced the confiscation of red and white corals from M/V Princess of the Universe, while the ship was docked at the North Harbor. The corals, said to be worth P10 million, are to be made into jewelry accessory or used as aquarium display.

I urge the seizure as well of the ship and the prosecution of the smugglers, as well as officials of the Bureau of Customs and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in Zamboanga City, who had cleared the shipment.

At first glance, the offense looks minor, but the illegal practice results in the destruction of the coral reefs that serve as spawning grounds for countless number of fish species.

Hardly a day passes without the Coast Guard announcing the apprehension of Chinese poachers in Philippine waters. I appeal to the government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs, to make the necessary representation with the People’s Republic of China to stop the intrusion.

Poachers don’t confine themselves to coral harvesting. It must be pointed out that foreign fishermen train residents of coastal communities in the use of cyanide to stun fish but not enough to kill them. Live exotic fish, prepared and cooked before customers, command a high price in specialty restaurants in Hong Kong.

Of all crimes against the environment, the rape of the coral reefs is the most insidious. From the air you can readily see the trees being felled in the forest. Nobody realizes the destruction taking place at the bottom of the sea until it is too late.

The Philippines, being an archipelago, cannot afford the destruction of the sea on which it depends for its continued existence. I urge the government to conduct an educational campaign in coastal communities. People must be told that the steady decline of their fish catch over the years can be traced to cyanide and dynamite fishing methods.

A recent report tells us we are most vulnerable to the effects of the global warming phenomenon. If we do not protect our natural resources, we will perish long before the rising waters from the melting icecaps drown all of us.

I urge the government and private corporations to work together to revive the flagging manufacturing industry.

I regret that the country is obsessed with the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector. I acknowledged the salutary effects of call centers, but their combined revenue of $2.4 billion accounts for only 2.4 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and their 163,000 employees hardly make a dent on the high unemployment figure.

We lost out first to South Korea, then by Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Unless we arrest the decline in the manufacturing industry, we will be overtaken by Vietnam and Cambodia as well.

In its 2007 report, the Asian Development Bank noted that the Philippines, since the 1990s, had seen tens of thousands of plants close down, relegating the country to the bottom of the heap.

The Philippines, being an English speaking country, has a clear advantage over its neighbors. It is estimated that by 2010, the BPO sector will cause the creation of close to 600,000 new jobs. But by then the labor force will have expanded as well, and only by rejuvenating industry, along with agriculture, could the country hope to keep in step with it.

We are the only country in region that speaks the American variety of the English language, and that explains the scramble by US firms to set up call center firms here.

But the problem is that call centers are not knowledge intensive.

Quoting the ADB report, it must be noted that Filipinos working in software development make up for only 13 percent of the BPO sector, in contrast to those of India who constitute a whooping 70 percent.

We can parlay our advantage but we must try to increase our share of workers in knowledge based industry.

I believe that the annual expenditure for health services and education should increase proportionately to the budget to ensure that they keep up with the annual demands of a growing population.

I would push the concept of indexing specifically as regards to the two important items once I and other members of the opposition gain control of the Senate and House of Representatives after the May 14 elections.

It is a pity that the government is placing more emphasis on other programs at the expense of the health and education of the people.

The country spends only 1 percent of the gross national product on health services, far below the 5 percent recommended by the World Health Organization. As a result there are now more people dying without even seeing a doctor or getting medicine.

The government is equally indifferent to education. The system lacks competent teachers and the textbooks to teach the subjects simply because there is no money for training and for the purchase of teaching materials. The number of classrooms constructed every year, he added, also lags behind the expanding population of schoolchildren. 

For many of our people, education, which is supposed to be universal, has become a distant dream. Those who get to finish college lack the necessary skills to compete in the labor market. 

To free more money for health and education, the legislature needs to review the law providing for automatic appropriation of the public debt, which is eating up more than 30 percent of the national budget.

We ought to look at a more selective repayment scheme based on our requirements on one hand and our capacity to pay on the other. I’m sure our foreign creditors are willing to give us enough leeway so that we can attend to our national priorities. All we need is to explain our situation.

If that fails the country can always plead its cause before the United Nations and its various agencies.