drive out the big plunderers! - bannedthought.net · ang bayanis published fortnightly by the...

The serious and widespread devastationwrought by the recent back to back typhoonsdemonstrated the extent of the destruction,

poverty and suffering that have befallen the peo-ple in the hands of the big foreign and local capi-talist owners of commercial mining, logging andother plunderous businesses. This is a fact that haslong been repeatedly proven in the country's histo-ry.

Despite the havoc they have wrought, however,it is these companes that have been prioritized bythe ruling puppet state.

The Philippines is among the five countriesworldwide that have the richest mineral deposits. Ithas the second richest gold deposits, the third rich-est copper deposits and the sixth richest chromitedeposits. The country is among the world's top tenproducers of these minerals. It is also rich in silver,nickel, marble, limestone, clay and feldspar.

But it is only the big foreign and compradormining companies that extract these minerals andtheir cohorts in the ruling class that have benefit-ed from the country's mineral wealth.

Gloria Arroyo has gone all-out inpushing the Philippine Mining Act of1995, which provides even more priv-ileges to foreign mining companies.The law, which has Arroyo as oneof its authors when she was stillsenator allows the entry of 100%foreign-owned mining companies. It al-so allows them to operate for up to 75 years in up

This issue’s highlights...

Coal mining in Surigao del Sur

PAGE 4

Massive floods in Laguna and NCR

PAGE 8

NPA seizes 18 firearmsin ComVal

PAGE 11

Pahayagan ng Partido Komunista ng PilipinasPinapatnubayan ng Marxismo-Leninismo-MaoismoANG

English EditionVolume XL Number 21

November 7, 2009www.philippinerevolution.net

Editorial

Drive out the big plunderers!to 81,000-hectare concessions or up to 400,000hectares per company. Their investments are pro-tected and they are allowed to repariate 100% oftheir profits and capital. In 2003, Arroyo issued Ex-ecutive Order 270 (National Policy Agenda for Revi-talizing Mining in the Philippines) that made iteven easier for the puppet government to approveapplications of big foreign and comprador miningcompanies.

The widespread seizure of ancestral lands, thedestruction of the environment and livelihoods that

Ang Bayan is published fortnightly by the Central Committeeof the Communist Party of the Philippines

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Vol. X No. 21 November 7, 2009

ContentsEditorial: Big plunderers 1Commercial mining 2Paramilitary forces in mining 3Coal mining in Surigao Sur 4Mining in Panay 5Mining in Negros 6Mining in Cordillera 7SUDECOR: Destroyer of forests 8Massive floods in Laguna and NCR 8Relief operations in NCR 9DSWD’s lies 10NPA seizes 18 firearms 11US troops in Bukidnon 11Fascist state on a rampage 12Obama’s war in Afghanistan 15

ANG

2 ANG BAYAN November 7, 2009

accompany large-scale commer-cial mining have spurred thepeople to mount their strongopposition.

In the face of all this, oneof Arroyo's first official actswhen she took power in 2001was to conduct a security as-sessment of areas facing threatsto "peace and order." More than60% of such areas had largemining companies. Many ofthese places were also identi-fied as areas of operation of theNew People's Army. Counter-guerrilla military operationshave thus been stepped up toprotect big mining companies.People's protests and resistancein these areas have also beenbrutally suppressed.

In spite of this, there havebeen many acts of resistance bythe people against the plunder-ers who have been destroyingtheir livelihoods and puttingthem in danger during disas-ters. In many areas nationwide,various sectors have been unit-ing to take action against theoperations of big commercialmining and logging interests.

They hold the Arroyo regime ac-countable in the main for theintensified plunder they havesuffered these past few years.

The revolutionary forces areone with the people in defend-ing the national patrimony andthe environment.

In response to, and in sup-port of, the people's struggles,the armed revolutionary forceshave been meting punishment onthe most destructive and mostbrutal foreign and compradorplunderers. These actions arenecessary to stop the worst plun-derers from lording it over thecountry, especially in areas whererevolutionary power is exercised.

Thus, military, paramilitaryand security forces employed bythe plunderers to protect theirdestructive and antipeople en-terprises are among the primarytargets of the armed revolution-ary forces.

The Filipino people and therevolutionary forces are deter-mined to resist, cripple anddrive out the plunderers andtheir fascist protectors. ~

Large-scalecommercial mining

As of December 2008, the Ar-royo government had ap-

proved 319 agreements for large-scale mining covering 722,000hectares nationwide. Eighteenout of the 24 priority areasopened to large-scale foreign andcomprador mining operations areancestral lands seized from na-tional minorities.

Up to 14.5 million hectares oralmost half of the country's totalland area are covered by variousold and new mining applications:more than 2.7 million hectaresare under Financial-TechnicalAgreements (FTAA), another2.7million hectares under MineralProduction Sharing Agreements(MPSA) and more than nine mil-lion hectares under ExplorationPermit Applications (EPA). Morethan 53% of these places are innational minority areas.

Most of the mines thatopened in the last decade are en-gaged in open-pit mining, wherewide areas of forestland andmountainous areas are excavatedto find the targeted mineralsmore easily. Mining companiesare likewise allowed to dig up

3ANG BAYAN November 7, 2009

forests and cut trees for the con-struction of roads, buildings andother needs.

These mines also throw awaybillions of tons of toxic waste,killing rivers, lakes and otherbodies of water.

Meanwhile, the governmenthas only been earning up to `5million annually from the 1-2%excise tax paid by these compa-nies. This is a drop in the bucketcompared to the `114 billion intaxes collected annually fromworkers and ordinary employees.

The mining companies alsohave a minuscule contribution toemployment. From 2006 to 2007,they added a mere 0.4% to thenumber of employed workers,from 141,000 to 149,000.

In stark contrast to the Fil-ipino people's failure to benefitfrom these companies, the latterhave been raking in gargantuanprofits. In 2006, they registereda net profit of `72.5 billion, a134% leap from the 2004 figure.

It therefore comes as nosurpise that investments in themining sector more than doubledduring this period. From 2004 upto the end of 2007, foreign com-panies poured up to $1.4 millioninto the mining sector.

Arroyo is among those whohave personally profited im-mensely from large-scale mining.For the past nine years, she, herfamily and her cohorts have beenraking in huge profits from lucra-tive contracts granted by herregime to big foreign miningcompanies and Arroyo's dummycompanies like Nihao Mineral Re-sources International Incorporat-ed which have entered into part-nerships with these firms. Allthese belie the US-Arroyoregime's claims that large-scalecommercial mining is "the coun-try's economic savior." ~

Special paramilitary forces protectmining companies

The reactionary puppet regime is not content with setting up mil-itary camps of the AFP's regular forces near big mining compa-

nies and regularly conducting military operations as well as sup-pressing and terrorizing those who oppose large-scale mining oper-ations. The AFP has also been recruiting and assigning military andparamilitary forces under the supervision of the Investment DefenseForce (IDF) which was formed in 2008 to train and assist private se-curity forces and hired goons of big mining companies.

In fact, elements of the Citi-zens' Armed Forces GeographicalUnit (CAFGU) assigned by theAFP to these companies andknown as Special Civilian ArmedAuxiliary (SCAA) actually serveas reinforcements for the privatesecurity forces of big miningcompanies.

One example is the arrange-ment between the 1st ID andToronto Ventures Inc. ResourceDevelopment (TVIRD) in Zambo-anga del Norte and another isthat between the 7th ID andDMCI Mining Corp. in Zambales.

These forces jointly perpe-trate saturation drives, maul-ings, abductions, intimidationand other abuses in communi-ties around the mining sites.

More military and paramili-tary forces have also been em-bedded among private securityforces of big mining companies,among them Lafayette in Rapu-Rapu, Albay; Filminera in Mas-bate; Marcopper in Marinduque;NMRDC in Compostela Valley; RioTuba in Palawan; Crew Mineralsin Mindoro Oriental; and Cli-m a xA r i m -c o / O x i -ana in Nueva Vizcaya, Abra,Batangas and Zambales.

It is not only mining cor-porations and big commerciallogging interests that have tie-

ups with regular military, para-military and private securityforces. One of the first compa-nies to maintain a special mili-tary and paramilitary unit incombination with private securi-ty forces is the Paper IndustriesCorp. of the Philippines (PICOP)in Surigao del Sur. Its specialparamilitary force is known as"Picop Battalion" or "ArmedForces of the Picop."

So many killings, abductions,harassment and various otherabuses by these forces havebeen documented by humanrights advocacy groups. Manymore remain unreported. Most ofthose affected are national mi-norities and poor peasants whohave repeatedly suffered abusesand deprived of their rights andadequate livelihood. ~


Contracts (COCs) by the Depart-ment of Energy. Foremost amongthem is the Philippine NationalOil Company-Exploration Corpora-tion (PNOC-EC), a subsidiary ofthe government-owned PNOC. ThePNOC-EC is targeting the estimat-ed 42 million metric tons of coaldeposits in the area betweenLanuza Bay and Lianga Bay inSurigao del Sur.

Benguet Corporation also hasa COC to mine coal in the towns ofLianga, Marihatag and San Migueland the Great Wall Mining & Pow-er Corporation also for the townsof San Migual and Tandag.Lodestar Holdings InvestmentCorporation also bought the COCof Abacus Consolidated Resources& Holdings Inc. and is currently apartner of Oriental Vision MiningPhilippines Corp. (OVMPC), whichis owned by Salvador B. ZamoraII, who has invested `300 millionin this project.

In September, a COC wasgranted to the Oriental Energy andPower Corporation which is plan-ning to invest up to `50 millionin its operations in Surigao delSur. ASK Mining and ExplorationCorp. also has a COC for the towns

of Cagwait and Marihatag,Surigao del Sur.

The Manobo Lumad arethoroughly opposing thesemining projects in their an-cestral lands. They are awarethat these corporations willdestroy the environment andtheir livelihoods. Because ofthe opposition of the Lumadmasses, these corporationshave not yet started withtheir plans of plunder. Withthe Lumad people's show ofdetermination to oppose min-ing in their ancestral lands,they will continue to defeatthe plunderers and defend thecountry's patrimony. ~

Coal mining is at the root of militarization in Surigao del Sur

The extensive militarization and human rights violations in thevarious towns of Surigao del Sur this past year are linked to plansby big corporations to seize several thousands of hectares of for-

est and upland areas in Andap Valley Complex to mine for coal.

These past four years, variousManobo communities have beentargets of military operations. Theobjective of these operations is tobreak the Manobo's determinedopposition to plans to mine coalin their ancestral lands. The occu-pation by soldiers of the 58th IBof Manobo communities in Lianga,Surigao del Sur from July-Augustthat resulted in the two-monthevacuation of Lumad folk is thethird since 2006.

In particular, the objective ofthe Armed Forces of the Philip-pines in militarizing Manobo com-munities is the recruitment of res-idents into Task Force Gantangan-Bagani Force (TFG-BF). Armedparamilitary groups like the TFG-

BF are formed by the military fromthe ranks of the Lumad.

By maintaining its presence inthe area, the AFP wishes to instillfear among the Lumad in order toforce them to give their Free, Pri-or and Informed Consent (FPIC).The FPIC, a document required un-der the Mining Act of 1995, sup-posedly signifies that the nation-al minorities have granted permis-sion to corporations to conductmining operations in their ances-tral lands.

At least six big bourgeois com-prador companies are targetingthe Manobo's ancestral lands inthe towns of Tago, Tandag, Liangaand San Miguel. These corpora-tions were granted Coal Operating

5ANG BAYAN Nobyembre 7, 2009

the already denuded forests.Panay island’s forest cover isdown to only 17.2% while that ofGuimaras is only 0.6%. This willlead to more landslides and im-mense flooding during typhoons,as what occurred in 2008 whentyphoon Frank ravaged the region.

50-year moratorium on min-ing. The awarding by the DENR ofpermits to these big mining com-panies is in violation of a resolu-tion adopted by the Capiz Provin-cial Board, said Defend Patrimony.In 1999, amid the heat of protestactions against mining in Panay,the Provincial Board passed a res-olution to suspend large-scalemining in Capiz for 15 years. In2002, the Board amended the res-olution and extended the morato-rium to 50 years. The moratoriumon mining was the first ever inthe history of the antiminingstruggle in the country.

When the Mining Act of 1995was passed, the Madiaas Ecologi-cal Movement led an allout strug-gle against this destructive law.The mass actions slowly led to thedenial of mining applications inPanay and Guimaras. But whenthe US-Arroyo regime completelyopened the country to foreigncapitalists, mining applicationsonce again increased.

The local government of Capizclosely guards the entry of bigmining corporations in theprovince. But the big foreign andlocal capitalists still manage tofind means to worm their way in-to the province. Their accompliceis the DENR national office whichapproves the mining applications.To skirt criticism, the DENR hasonly been granting permits forsmall-scale mining to these com-panies, but the permits covercontiguous areas.

In the face of such maneuver-ing, the Madiaas Ecological Move-

Fight against large-scalemining in Panay intensifies

Various groups in Panay and Guimaras have united in their effortsto further the campaign against large-scale mining which is de-stroying lives, livelihoods and the environment. They reaffirmed

this unity in a multisectoral gathering at the Bethel Temple in IloiloCity on October 7. This was attended by Defend Patrimony-Panay, Ma-diaas Ecological Movement, Iglesia Filipina Independiente, GlobalBaptist Peace Network, Young Christian Workers, Promotion of ChurchPeople's Response, Convention of the Philippine Baptist Churches,Karapatan, Bayan Muna and BAYAN-Panay. After this, the Capiz chap-ter of Defend Patrimony was formed in Roxas City on October 10.

Geobelyn Lopez of the MadiaasEcological Movement said thatbased on records of the Depart-ment of Environment and NaturalResources (DENR) as of August2009, a total of up to 22.6 thou-sand hectares in Panay andGuimaras have been opened tocommericial mining. The largestof these can be found in Capizwhere 10.5 thousand hectareswere awarded to Teresa MarbleCorporation, Quarry VenturesPhilippines, Inc. and Walter Min-ing and Industrial DevelopmentCorporation. This is followed byIloilo (8.9 thousand hectares);Guimaras (1.8 thousand hec-tares); Antique (1.04 thousandhectares); and Aklan (334.8 hec-tares).

The three sister companiesTeresa Marble Corporation, TMCInternational Corporation andQuarry Ventures Philippines, Inc.were awarded Mineral ProductionSharing Agreements (MPSA) by theDENR covering more than 16,000hectares. It is initially involved inthe exploration of gold and cop-per. These companies (which areowned by the big business familyDee) control 71% of all approvedmining applications in Panay.

There are still pending miningapplications—63.2 thousand hec-

tares in Capiz and 34.7 thousandhectares in Guimaras (or 60% ofthe latter’s entire land area).

The initiation of these miningcompanies' operations will putthe environment and the liveli-hoods of the people in Panay andGuimaras in grave danger, accord-ing to Lopez. This will finish off


ment is calling on the people todefend the victories they haveachieved against commericalmining and environmental de-struction.

Teresa Marble Corporationhas now started exploring forcopper and gold in thebarangays of Aglimucon, Quina-bunglan and Canapian, all inMaayon town and Barangay Tinain the town of Dumarao, Capiz.Thousands of residents in theseareas have signed a petition let-ter which was sent to theProvincial Board. Their educationcampaigns, information dissemi-nation and protest actionsagainst the mines have been on-going since 2008. In particular,the town council of Maayon haspassed a resolution in support ofthe people's actions.

In Guimaras and other is-lands. The struggle of Guimarasfolk against commercial miningis also ongoing. On March 26,the town council of Nueva Valen-cia passed a resolution againstthe mining operations of Fil-Asian Strategic Resources andProperties Corp. (FASRPC), asubsidiary of the Australia-basedRusina Mining NL.

Nueva Valencia is a town insouthwest Guimaras and was thesite of a massive oil spill in2006. Nine of its 20 villages areincluded in the FASRPC's 2,400-hectare gold and copper explo-ration area. The island's rich re-sources which have yet to recov-er from the devastation causedby the oil spill are now in dangeranew. A signature campaignagainst the mining activities hasbeen launched by all of thetown's 20 villages.

The FASRPC also has a pend-ing application to mine 621 hec-tares in Pan de Asucar Island inthe town of Concepcion, Iloilo.

Mining in Negros

Aside from sugarcane, Negros is rich in mineral deposits. Thereis an estimated 590.6 million metric tons (MT) of primary cop-per ore and 25.2 MT of primary gold ore in Negros Occidental.

There are also rich deposits of silver, molybdenum and other mineralswith agricultural and industrial uses. Negros Oriental is also rich ingold, copper, sulfur and magnesium.

Large-scale commercial min-ing was begun in 1957 by theMarinduque Mining and IndustrialCorporation (also known as Mari-calum) in Sipalay, Negros Occi-dental. This was followed byPhilex Gold which started com-mercial mining in 1994. The oper-ations of these two big companiesdevastated many areas in thecountryside as well as fishinggrounds. Entire villages wereforced to evacuate as a result ofthe mining operations and de-struction of the environment.Protests eventually intensifiedand Maricalum Mining was forcedto close in 2001. Philex Gold alsostopped its operations in 2002.

But when the US-Arroyoregime completely opened thecountry to giant foreign capitalistinterests, the big mining compa-nies returned to Negros. Miningapplications already cover 47% ofNegros' total agricultural landarea.

Based on data from the Miningand Geosciences Bureau as of Jan-uary 2008, Mineral ProductionSharing Agreements of the follow-ing companies have already beenapproved: Oriental Quarry and De-velopment Corp. in Basay, NegrosOriental (770 hectares); NegrosRR Cement Corp. in Guihulnganand La Libertad, Negros Oriental(3,100 hectares), which are bothinvolved in exploration activitiesfor limestone and shale; VulcanIndustrial and Mining Corp. in Hi-nobaan, Negros Occidental (477

hectares), which is involved inthe exploration of copper andgold; Philex Gold Philippines, Inc.in Hinobaan and Sipalay, NegrosOccidental (2,673 hectares) whichis involved in commercial copperand gold mining; Silicon Develop-ment Corp. in Babiera and Sagay,Negros Occidental (109.51 hec-tares), which is exploring for sili-ca, sand and quartz; and ColetMining and Development Corp.,which is exploring for gold, silver,copper and molybdenum.

The operations of these min-ing companies cover 9.4 thousandhectares. Altai Philippines MiningCorporation also has pending ap-plications for the exploration ofsulfur and other minerals coveringthree towns in Negros Oriental.

Meanwhile, the livelihoods ofthe fisherfolk are being ruineddue to the dumping of mine tail-ings in the rivers and creeks thatempty towards the ocean. An in-vestigation in October 2007 ofoffshore mining has revealed thatfish kills in Tañon Strait (betweenNegros Oriental and Cebu) haveoccurred each time a seismic sur-vey is conducted by mining cor-porations in the seawaters offGuihulngan, Vallehermoso andSan Carlos in Negros Oriental.More than 100 payaw (fish-aggre-gating devices) have also beenruined and the fisherfolk losetheir livelihood every time theyare prohibited from fishing withinthe five-kilometer radius near theareas affected by the fish kills. ~

Mining is behind thedevastation in the Cordilleras

The widespread devastation that transpired in the Cordilleras in Oc-tober has further strengthened the people's call to end the destruc-tion and plunder wrought by big foreign mining corporations. The

extensive denudation of the mountains is the main reason behind theflooding and landslides that occurred.

This has caused severe disloca-tion among the people as well asdestruction to agricultural land,the denudation of forests and theloss of lives and livelihoods.

Based on data from the Depart-ment of Environment and NaturalResources, there are now only665,603 hectares of forest remain-ing in the region, down from1,553,599 hectares. This has ag-gravated air and water pollutionand has led to the destruction ofmajor river systems. An example isthe severe pollution of the AbraRiver as a result of the dumping byLepanto Consolidated Mining Cor-poration of toxic waste. The pollu-tion of the Abra River already ex-tends to the China Sea.

Severe air and water pollutionhas also resulted in a 60% reduc-tion of rice production in the re-gion.

Foreign mining corporationshave already made billions of dol-lars worth of profits from almost acentury of operations. Despite this,the people of the Cordilleras re-main poor and agriculture, fishingand logging are still their mainsources of income. The govern-ment's own census shows thatCordillera is the fifth most impov-erished region nationwide. ~


The worst and most extensivecalamity in the history of theCordilleras occurred at the heightof typhoon Pepeng on October 8.As many as 309 were killed, 114were injured and 36 went missingfrom the floods and more than 100from the landslides. More than abillion pesos worth of agriculturalproducts and infrastructure weredestroyed. Up to 52,225 families ormore than 255,000 people fled toevacuation centers.

The most number of victimscame from Benguet, where morethan 200 were killed. Flood waterswere as high as 10 feet in severalplaces in Baguio which for severaldays were isolated due to the de-struction of roads leading to thoseareas. The towns of La Trinidad,Mankayan, Bakun, Atok and manyothers were also devastated.

Large-scale and destructivemining in the Cordilleras. Thedamage caused to the environmentby the big foreign mining corpora-tions and corrupt agencies of thereactionary government are thenumber one cause of the wide-spread flooding and landslides inthe Cordillera.

According to the Cordillera Peo-ples Alliance (CPA), "extensivecommercial mining in the Cordillerahas already caused irreversible de-struction to the environment". Italso pointed to, and criticized, thecapitalist production predominantthroughout the world and its ex-

ploitation of the environment andworld’s resources. It lambasted thegovernment for passing and imple-mented laws that contributed toworsening climate change and nat-ural calamities.

The Cordillera region makes uponly 6% of the country. But 25% ofthe country's gold reserves and39% of its copper reserves can befound in the region, despite a cen-tury of mining activities by big for-eign corporations. The larger re-serves can be found in the provinceof Benguet.

Thus, almost 66% of the entireland area of the Cordilleras is al-ready covered by various miningapplications. Five out of the 24 pri-ority projects granted permissionby the Arroyo regime to conductlarge-scale mining can be found inthe region. These are Far-South-east, Teresa Gold and Victoria Pro-ject of Lepanto; Project 3000 ofthe Itugon-Suyoc Mines; PacdalCopper Expansion of Philex Mining;and Batong Buhay in Kalinga.

Benguet has long been plun-dered by giant foreign mining cor-porations. Lepanto ConsolidatedMining Corporation has been min-ing gold in the town of Mankayanfor 73 years since 1930. Currently,mining exploration is being carriedout by the British-owned companyBezant in Ginaoang, Mankayan.Philex Mining Corporation has beenmining in the town of Itogon for adecade.


Massive flooding in Lagunaand Metro Manila

Massive floods submerged hundreds of barangays around La-guna de Bay after typhoon Ondoy unleashed its fury. Ondoybrought floods of up to 10 feet high that inundated hun-

dreds of communities and affected more than 700,000 residents.Laguna de Bay is the Philip-

pines' biggest lake. It is bound-ed on the north by Rizalprovince, on the south by Lagu-na province and the west byMetro Manila. It empties intoManila Bay via the Pasig River.After typhoon Ondoy, water lev-els in Laguna de Bay rose andflooded surrounding towns.

But the floods could not beblamed solely on typhoon On-doy. Long before the typhoonunleashed its wrath, areas in thevicinity of the lake have alreadybeen experiencing floods.

One of the culprits of thefloods: the closure of the Napin-dan Hydraulic Control Structure(NHCS).

The NHCS was built in 1983at the endpoint of the NapindanChannel, which lies at the up-stream portion of the Pasig Riv-er that connects Laguna de Bayto Manila Bay. It was built toprevent the periodic entry of saltwater from Manila Bay to Lagunade Bay, and in accordance withplans by the reactionary govern-ment to convert the lake into aprimary source of potable water.

It has been years since theLaguna Lake Development Au-thority (LLDA) opened the NHCS,resulting in water accumulatingin Laguna de Bay. In addition,water from the Marikina River islikewise being diverted towardsLaguna de Bay through theManggahan Floodway in Pasig,thus causing water levels in the

lake to rise further. Typhoon Ondoy only has-

tened the occurrence of a gravetragedy that was bound to hap-pen as a result of the NHCS's clo-sure. Members of the Pam-bansang Lakas ng Kilusang Ma-mamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pa-malakaya) in Rizal and Lagunasaid that even before the havocwrought by the typhoon, fisher-folk and residents have alreadynoticed the lake's rising waterlevel that consequently causedflooding in over 30 towns ofRizal, Laguna and Metro Manila.

During typhoon Ondoy'sheight and its aftermath, hun-dreds of barangays in 20 townsin Laguna practically vanished.The affected towns were Bay,Biñan, Cabuyao, Calauan,Kalayaan, Los Baños, Lumban,Mabitac, Paete, Pakil, Pangil, Pi-la, San Pedro, Siniloan, Sta. Cruzand Victoria, not to mention thecities of Calamba and Sta. Rosa.Some barangays in Pagsanjanand Sta. Maria were flooded aswell and so were the towns ofCainta and Pateros and the citiesof Marikina, Pasig and Taguig. Aweek after the typhoon, townssurrounding Laguna de Bay re-mained submerged in water.

The Social Action Center ofthe Diocese of San Pablo report-ed on October 4 that up to 13died and 750,248 or 30% of La-guna's 2.5 million residents wereforced to flee due to the floods.

For its part, Pamalakaya has

SUDECOR:Destroyer of theforests

Stop SUDECOR! Thus demandedthe people of Caraga against

the company responsible for thedenudation and destruction of thelast remaining forests of Surigaodel Sur. Within the company's con-cession are the only remaining vir-gin forests in Surigao, which havebeen vastly reduced from 69,000hectares to a mere 3,000 hectares.Cutting down lawaan (shorea) treesis rampant in the area.

SUDECOR has been deprivingboth the Lumad and non-Lumad oflivelihood for four decades. Ownedby the big comprador bourgeoisPuyat family, SUDECOR has beenconniving with the bureaucrat cap-italists in the Department of Envi-ronment and Natural Resources inthe unbridled plunder of the moun-tains and forests.

SUDECOR uses bulldozer drag-ging, which is an illegal loggingmethod. On a daily basis, over 30bulldozers cut down trees, dragthem and destroy everything intheir path. As a result, rivers arerapidly being destroyed due to sil-tation from landslides. The riversalso dry up during droughts andswell up during the rainy season,causing severe flooding. In addi-tion, the streams have also beendrying out and animals have beenlosing their habitats. Such devas-tation has been wreaking havoc onthe lives of the Lumad people,farmers and workers because of thedestruction of their livelihood.

In order for them to keepamassing exorbitant profits, thePuyat family formed the SpecialCivilian Auxiliary Army. A companyunder the 58th IB has also been avirtual fixture within SUDECOR. ~


long been demanding that the LL-DA open the NHCS, or tear it downaltogether. But these demandsfell on deaf ears. The LLDA man-agement claimed that it wouldnot be easy for water from Lagu-na de Bay to flow to NapindanChannel in Taguig towards thePasig River because of the pres-ence of thousands of urban poorfamilies along the channel'sbanks.

Strong criticism has promptedthe reactionary government to an-nounce recently that it would bereopening the NHCS. In exchange,however, the Arroyo government,through the LLDA and the Depart-ment of Natural Resources ispushing for the forced evacuationof residents by the lakeside inMuntinlupa, Pasig, Taguig, Caintaand Taytay. They are all smallfisherfolk and urban poor familieswho have long been living in thearea.

The truth is that the severeflooding and the NHCS' closureare being used as pretexts to pushthrough with the forced evacua-tion of urban poor families livingin the lake's vicinity. There areplans to reclaim some 5,000 hec-tares from the lake in Muntinlupa,Pateros and Taguig to pave theway for the construction of an in-ternational airport, several con-dominiums and posh hotels aswell as six roads and dikes. TheDENR and the LLDA are also plan-ning to reclaim other areas of La-guna de Bay in Muntinlupa,Taguig and Los Baños, Laguna.

These destructive projects willonly worsen flooding in Laguna,Rizal and Metro Manila becausethey will block the flow of water.

The opening of the NHCS willlikewise be done at the cost ofevicting thousands of families liv-ing along the Napindan Channeland Manggahan Floodway. ~

Timely assistance for victims in the NationalCapital Region

Metro Manila was among the most severely affected by typhoonOndoy's rampage in September, claiming 123 lives and forcinghundreds of thousands of families to flee their homes.

But right at the height of thetyphoon, progressive organiza-tions in the National Capital Re-gion (NCR) exemplified readinessand timely response when theyassisted the victims and providedservices to them.

On September 26, at theheight of typhoon Ondoy, an ac-tivist group in Maybunga, PasigCity was quick to launch relief op-erations. Two groups were dis-patched to save residents caughtin the flood. They used a jeepneyto transport the victims and con-verted a barangay hall into anevacuation center. Even non-pro-gressive groups were encouragedto help out in evacuating the peo-ple. The activists even pulled to-gether their remaining funds tobuy half a sack of rice to makeporridge for the victims at theevacuation center.

The following morning,other pro-

gressive organizations and politi-cal parties in the NCR alsolaunched relief operations. Theyimmediately formed KilusangBayanihan—a broad disaster re-sponse movement. They were ableto solicit donations for food, med-icines and other items from sever-al institutions led by CREST (Com-munity Response for Enlighten-ment Service and Transformation)and other organizations.

The youth, on the other hand,formed the Serve the PeopleBrigade to manage relief opera-tions in other areas. They recruit-ed fellow youth as volunteersfrom schools and communities.They launched relief operationsand cleanup drives in Tumana andMalanday in Marikina. Residents,meanwhile, helped each other outin cleaning up their areas.

A manifesto was also passedaround to determine the needsand requests of the victims.

These simultaneous ef-forts elicited a positiveresponse from gratified

residents especiallyon the issues oflivelihood and basic

services whose provisionhas long been neglected by thereactionary government. Whenthe masses saw the persever-ance of activist volunteers inhelping their fellow Filipinos,they shouted, raising theirclenched fists, "That's right, weshould fight."


teers.It is clear that DSWD was lying

to conceal a sinister plan. Willthese relief goods only surfaceduring the upcoming elections?Will the powers-that-be makemoney out of them?

Whatever the plan is and who-ever is behind this, this is shame-less thievery. What is even moreoutrageous is the fact that thevictims of calamity are being vic-timized again, this time by beingrobbed. ~

Stealing from the victims of disaster

Ahuge warehouse of the Department of Social Welfare and Develop-ment (DSWD) in Pasay City was found to contain stocks of reliefgoods that are not being distributed to victims of typhoons Ondoy

and Pepeng, according to a recent exposé over the internet. The piles ofcots, blankets, food and various other relief goods for typhoon victimsare part of millions of dollars worth of donations from the United NationsChildren's Fund (UNICEF) and other donor countries.

Ella Rose, the volunteer at thewarehouse who revealed the sus-picious accumulation of reliefgoods said that the volunteerswere only instructed to pack 10cans of sardines, a detergent bar,several bars of bath soap and afew personal items. Importeditems still inside their boxes re-main untouched. Volunteers werealso not allowed to pack Coleman-branded cots as well boxes fromJapan with yet undetermineditems, toys and many others.

The DSWD failed to convinceanyone with its flimsy explana-tions on why they have such ahuge stock of relief goods thathave not yet been distributed. Af-ter several calls made by the US-based newspaper Philippine Newsfor Sec. Esperanza Cabral demand-ing an immediate explanation,the only excuse she could comeup with was that they lacked vol-

unteers to distribute these goods.Who can believe that there is

a lack of volunteers? Efforts ofvarious groups and institutions tocome to the victims' aid havebeen met with an outpouring ofsupport from people who volun-tarily gave time to help out.

The truth is that it was diffi-cult to be accepted as a volunteerin the warehouse, as discoveredby Ella Rose and seven other fel-low volunteers when they went tothe DSWD to help in packing reliefgoods. They even needed backersjust to get accepted.

They were even more surprisedto see only one DSWD employeeand a guard inside the more than1,000-square meter warehouse. Itwas also ridiculous for the agencyto say that it needed to rotate allthe volunteers every four hoursbecause the stockroom could onlyaccommodate up to 50 volun-

These activities also providedan opportunity for the progressiveparties and organizations to re-cruit more volunteers and mem-bers.

They proceeded to Pasig tolaunch the succeeding relief oper-ations.

Meanwhile, Akap-Bata Philip-pines and Akap-Bata sectoral or-ganization also launched a seriesof relief operations. Task ForceAkap-Bata began in Sta. Lucia,Pasig City on September 29. OnSeptember 30, they went toPanghulo in Malabon and San

Roque in Navotas City. On October1, they conducted relief operationsin Tunasan, Muntinlupa City. Dur-ing typhoon Pepeng, they distrib-uted relief goods in Marikina Cityon October 2 and used the RotaryClub of Marikina office as reliefcenter.

That same day, progressive or-ganizations in the NCR launched acleanup drive. They gathered atthe Marikina Bayan Sports Complexand lit candles for the typhoonvictims. They also staged a picketto condemn the government's neg-lect of the people. This was fol-

lowed by a similar activity on Oc-tober 10 where people cleaned upstreets and houses in Malanday,Marikina. These organizations alsoinitiated a petition-signing cam-paign to demand from the reac-tionary government efficient serv-ice, price controls and assistanceto typhoon victims.

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-NCR chair Roy Velez said that thehouse cleanup drive is only an ini-tial step and that there is direneed for a bigger cleanup by thepeople of the government and so-ciety as a whole. ~


VICTORIOUS NPA OFFENSIVES

The raid was a big slap to the10th Infantry Division and its no-torious Oplan Bantay Laya 2(OBL2) campaign, said the 4thPBC-MAC. The 72nd IB is under thecommand of the Philippine Army10th ID.

The Red guerrillas employed aruse and the element of surprise.Wearing Special Forces (SF) uni-forms, it became easy for the Redfighters to enter the detachment

after they were able to ar-rest its commander, Cpl.Dominador Alegre whowas outside the de-tachment at thetime. Thevaliant NPAforces quickly dis-armed the elementsof the Citizens'Armed Forces GeographicalUnit.

The 4th Pulang Bagani Company of the Merardo Arce Command (4thPBC-MAC) seized 18 high-powered firearms at the 72nd IB patrolbase in Sitio New Kapatagan, Barangay Casoon, Monkayo, Com-

postela Valley on November 2 without firing a single shot.

NPA seizes 18 firearms in Compostela Valley

Seized were ten Garands, fivecarbines, two M16s and an M14 ri-fle. The comrades also seized anICOM radio, several rounds of am-munition and other military para-phernalia such as combat boots,backpacks, ammunition pouchesand military uniforms.

After the victorious raid, theRed guerrillas brought CorporalAlegre with them. He is currentlyundergoing an investigation to

find out if he has commit-ted violations against the

revolutionary movementand the people. The

Merardo Arce Com-mand will be issu-ing a statementabout him in duetime. ~

US troops in Bukidnon

American troops actively join counter-guerrillaoperations of the Armed Forces of the Philip-pines (AFP) in Bukidnon. Thus revealed Na-

tional Democratic Front (NDF)-Mindanao spokesper-son Jorge "Ka Oris" Madlos. Ka Oris pointed to theactive role of US military personnel in combat op-erations against the NPA in the hinterlands ofBukidnon.

ment in military operations in Min-danao. The reports are added proofthat US troops under the Joint Spe-

cial Operations Task Force(JSOTF)-Philippines are join-

ing AFP units in launchingcounterrevolutionary op-erations in the island.

These incidents pro-vide clear evidence of the

US's intensifying military in-tervention and fascist crimesin connivance with local

puppet troops.The NDF-Mindanao contin-

ues to expose the Americantroops' involvement in actualcombat operations in the coun-

try, especially against the revolu-tionary forces and the people.The local NPA commands inBukidnon have been directed toclosely monitor these movementsand the American troops' activeparticipation in counterrevolu-

tionary and antipeople militaryactions. ~

He cited four separate inci-dents. In mid-February and earlyJuly, there were sightings of Amer-ican soldiers participating in com-bat operations in Quezon, Bukid-non. The troops, including a unit ofthe Armed Forces of the Philippines(AFP) encountered an NPA unit andterrorized residents in the area. InApril and again in September, UStroops were seen with AFP soldiersin Valencia and Malaybalay askinglocal residents about the possiblewhereabouts of the NPA and eventhreatened civilians in the area.

On topof these re-ports, theNDF-Mindanao al-so received similarinformation from re-liable sources in SouthCotabato, CentralMindanao and theDavao provinces.

These reports allthe more belie state-ments by American offi-cials denying theirtroops' actual involve-


FASCIST STATE ON A RAMPAGE

Military agents illegallyarrest 3 students

The Free Zamboanguita 3 Movement hasdemanded the immediate release of three

students arbitrarily arrested by militaryagents on October 18 in Zamboanguita, Ne-gros Oriental. They are Maria Carla Alvarico,a member of the College Editors Guild of thePhilippines; Karlo Cabahug, member of theLeague of Filipino Students-Cebu; and GlenAbsin, a student at the University of Cebu.

Elements of the 79th IB arrested themwhile they were conducting research togeth-er with the Kahugpungan Alang sa Ugma saGamay'ng Mag-uuma or KAUGMAON aboutthe possible effects of jathropa cultivationin the province. They are now jailed at theZamboanguita, Negros Oriental Police Sta-tion under false charges that they are NewPeople's Army members. They were alsocharged with rebellion.

The CEGP and LFS are demanding not on-ly the release of the three detainees but al-so the dropping of trumped-up chargesagainst them at the Dumaguete City Region-al Trial Court. ~

Daisy Arago, Executive Director ofCTUHR-Cebu. “They want to weak-en the resolve of the volunteersfrom working for their aspira-tions.” The office has been activein conducting training and educa-tion campaigns on human rightsafter the establishment of its lo-cal chapter in April. It is also ac-tive in supporting the Unity forWorkers Rights (U4WR), a broadorganization of workers and work-ers rights advocates. The U4WRwas established as a result of themass layoffs of workers at theMactan Economic Zone (MEZ)which was struck by the crisis ofthe world capitalist system. ~

Military agents case CTUHRoffice in Cebu

Military agents have been conducting surveillance operations onthe Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) branchoffice in Mactan City, Cebu. This began in September when a

number of burly men in crewcuts and armed with side guns regularlymonitored the people entering the CTUHR office.

CTUHR volunteers reportedthat these military agents taketurns in taking pictures of whoev-er was headed towards the privatecompound where the CTUHR-Cebuoffice is located. On October 2,these military assets even set up

a table in front of the compoundwhile the office workers wereholding a meeting. They scam-pered away when the workerswent out of the office and alsotook their pictures.

This is mere intimidation, said

5,000 people in Mindoro hold protestMore than 5,000 Mindoro resi-

dents launched a march-rallyon October 30 in Calapan, OrientalMindoro against the Departmentof Environment and Natural Re-sources (DENR) for granting anEnvironmental Compliance Cer-tificate on October 14 to Intex Resources Corporation, anickel mining company.

The protesters paraded mock coffins marked with theIntex company logo and pictures of DENR Sec. Lito Atien-za to symbolize their fury.

The DENR granted Intex permission to operate andmine nickel over 11,216 hectares of what is primarily awatershed area that is the source of the Mag-asawangTubig and Bukayao river system.

The mining company will be diverting water from themajor source of irrigation for about 40,000 hectares ofrice fields in the towns of Calapan, Naujan, Baco and Vic-toria.

The march-rally was led by Alyansa Laban sa Mina orAlamin and was attended by students, professionals, em-ployees and local government officials, religious organi-zations, non-government and multisectoral organizationsand delegates from the towns of Victoria, Socorro, Pina-malayan and Naujan. ~


But a rice shortage is alsolooming in other Asian countriesdue to the destruction of millionsof tons of staple crops caused bysuccessive floods and droughts.This situation is bound to raiserice prices and result in a riceshortage in the poorest nations of

the world.India, for instance, which is

one of the world's leading rice ex-porters is poised to import from1.1 to 3.8 million tons of ricenext year to address its own riceshortage after being hit by a se-ries of droughts. It also remains

start talking with the farmers andnot to his uncle Danding Con-juangco.

Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pili-pinas deputy secretary-generalRandall Echanis, on the otherhand, said Aquino's presidentialambitions have a price, and hecannot afford to be noncommittalor passive over the nearing HLIdeadline. He cannot use as an ex-cuse his family's small share ofstocks in the hacienda. If he as-pires to become president, hemust be able to revolve issues likethis, added Echanis.

The KMP reiterated its call toscrap the Comprehensive AgrarianReform Program with Extensionand Reforms which is an instru-ment to deceive the farmers. Theydemanded genuine agrarian re-form under the Genuine AgrarianReform Bill and the distributionof HLI lands to the farmers.

A day before the evictiondeadline, the farmers will be com-memorating the fifth anniversaryof the massacre that took placeon November 16, 2004 where 12farmers and two youth were mer-cilessly killed by military ele-ments, police forces and goons ofthe Conjuangcos. ~

Rice shortage in Asia

The Arroyo government has announced that it will be forced to in-crease rice importation as a result of the destruction of several rice

fields due to typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng. At least 925,000 tons ofrice crops were destroyed in the Philippines due to these typhoons.

Hacienda Luisita residentsordered to leave

The management of Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) has imposed adeadline on the hacienda's farmers and residents to leave theirhomes and farmlots.

Almost 5,000 HLI farmers oc-cupying a 2,000-hectare lot arebeing threatened with eviction.Led by estate manager HermanGregorio Jr., the HLI managementissued a memorandum on Decem-ber 18, 2008 demanding that res-idents leave the hacienda andstop farming. The deadline wasoriginally set for October 30 butprotest actions by residentsforced the HLI management tomove it to November 15, 2009.

On the other hand, AnakpawisRep. Rafael Mariano expressed ap-prehension that the Cojuangcofamily which owns HLI may onceagain employ police and militaryforces to forcibly evict the resi-dents. The lawmaker also de-nounced plans by San Miguel Cor-poration owner Danding Cojuang-co to convert a part of the ha-cienda into a training center forthe 2014 Asian Games.

It seems that Danding Co-

juangco is evading his responsi-bility to distribute the haciendalands to the farmers, said Mari-ano. He added that Coquangco isfully aware of the 2006 SupremeCourt decision cancelling theStock Distribution Option (SDO)through a Temporary RestrainingOrder issued to the HLI manage-ment. The SDO is a scheme where-in HLI distributed worthless cor-porate stocks to the farmers in-stead of distributing the haciendalands to them.

The farmers have requestedSen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino IIIto mediate so that the haciendalands could be distributed rightaway, since it should have beendone a long time ago. UnitedLuisita Workers Union (ULWU)chair Lito Bais has challenged thesenator by telling him that if heis truly interested in distributingthe lands and giving closure tothe HLI issue, he himself should

unclear if China, which controlshalf of the world's rice supply,will export rice. Thailand is alsounsure of opening up its bufferstock.

A rice crisis and a shortage ofother staples in 2008 led to riotsin at least 30 countries. Backthen, Thailand, Vietnam and In-dia, the biggest rice producers,controlled their grain stocks toprotect their own domestic con-sumption. In the Philippines,people stood in long queues tobuy low-quality rice at subsidizedprices while traders hoarded rice


supplies.The devastation wrought by typhoons Ondoy

and Pepeng has merely brought to the fore theimpending rice crisis. But it is a crisis deeplyrooted in the Arroyo regime's failure to ensuresufficient agricultural land and support to farm-ers. Instead, the regime has relentlessly been al-lowing the massive conversion of agriculturallands to non-agricultural use.

More than 1.5 million hectares have beentransferred to agribusinesses since 2005, accord-ing to the Philippine Agricultural Developmentand Commercial Corporation. Most of these landsare now planted to high-value commercial cropsinstead of rice and corn. Worse, the Arroyo gov-ernment has recently approved the granting ofthree million hectares of land to foreign agro-corporations, including 60,000 hectares to theJapanese-owned Pacific Bio-Fields Corporation.The Department of Environment and Natural Re-sources has also already allowed the exclusiveuse of 375,091 hectares of land for jatropha cul-tivation, and even opened 30 hectares more topublic bidding.

Land conversion has already had dire conse-quences. Since the 1990s, rice lands have beenreduced by 87,000 hectares and corn lands by al-most 300,000 hectares. Because of the conse-quent rice shortage, at least 10% of the Filipinopeople's rice consumption is sourced fromabroad. The Philippines is currently the world'sbiggest rice importer. ~

Number of poor increases�Ibon

MORE and more people consider themselves poor,based on a survey by IBON Foundation in October. Thesurvey was conducted after typhoons Ondoy andPepeng left a wide swath of destruction across thecountry.

The nationwide survey was conducted from Octo-ber 2 to 8 with 1,496 respondents. The survey showedthat seven out of ten people or 71.4% consider them-selves poor, a 4% increase from Ibon's survey resultsin July. Majority of the respondents were from MetroManila, registering 62.4% of the total survey results.This is higher by 13% compared with the July resultsof 49%.

The survey also shows that 57% of the respon-dents believe that their family income is not sufficientto meet their basic needs, a 4% increase compared toresults last July.

Philippines won't receive $2M military aidfrom US

THE Philippine government will not be receiving $2million in military aid from the US government thisyear due to the Arroyo regime's notorious record ofhuman rights violations. This was revealed byBayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares who had just ar-rived from his US trip where he was able to talkwith US State Department officials.

Colmenares likewise said that the Philippineswill also probably not be receiving such military aidfrom the US in 2010 because the US House of Rep-resentatives has filed a resolution stating that itwill only release the $2 million military assistanceif the Arroyo regime implements three conditionspertaining to the observance of human rights.

These are the implementation of recommenda-tions by United Nations Special Rapporteur Prof.Philip Alston on how to stop extrajudicial killingsand abductions; the investigation and trial of mil-itary personnel accused of human rights violations;and a stop to threats and atrocities committed bythe AFP against members of legal organizationsand human rights advocates.

Alston also recommended, among others, thatGen. Jovito Palparan, now a congressman, be puton trial for grave human rights abuses.


DEVELOPMENTS OVERSEAS

Obama's war in Afghanistan

US Pres. Barack Obama has ordered an additional 13,000 Amer-ican troops in Afghanistan on top of the 21,000 troops hesent there in April. The orders were given amid growing inter-

national criticism of the war in Afghanistan and announcements byGermany and other US allies of their intention to withdraw theirtroops.

The soldiers are not part ofthe over 40,000 troops being re-quested by Gen. Stanley Mc-Chrystal, commander of US andNATO forces in Afghani-stan. In August, he sub-mitted a report to Oba-ma and the NATOstating that if the USdoes not send addi-tional troops at the soon-est time possible, theTaliban will quicklytake over Afghanistan.

The additional13,000 forces are pur-portedly supportfo r c e s—e n g i -n e e r s ,m e d i c a lpersonnel,intelligenceexperts andm i l i t a r ypolice—who are al-legedly non-combat-ants being sent there towin the hearts and minds ofthe Afghan people.

Obama approved the quietdeployment of additional troopsin October, only a few days afterhe was granted the Nobel PeacePrize for his alleged "unique ef-forts in strengthening diplomacyand international cooperation."This award earned widespread

denunciation since it was grant-ed amid the US's escalating warin Afghanistan.

The troop buildup approvedby Obama brings the number of

US forces deployed inIraq and Afghanistanto a level higher

than that which pre-vailed at the height of

the war in Iraq in late2007 and early 2008. As

of October, there were65,000 American forces in

Afghanistan and 124,000 inIraq. At the height of the war

in Iraq, US troops num-bered 26,000 in Af-

ghanistan and160,000 in Iraq.

Meanwh i l e,as a re-

sult ofstrong

c r i t i -c i s m s

against theUS' continuingand intensify-ing war in Af-

ghanistan, Washington is stilllocked in debate on the biggertroop deployment requested byGeneral McChrystal. There is alsofurious debate in Washington onproposals for the US to draw up atroop withdrawal strategy in Af-ghanistan. ~

US warnedagainst deadlydrone attacks

The United Nations (UN) haswarned the United States

government against growingincidents of drone attacks pri-marily in Afghanistan and Pak-istan.

Drones are remote-con-trolled aircraft. Aside fromdrones used in surveillance,there are drones used to attackand bomb particular targets.

Since US President BarackObama assumed office, therehas been an increasing numberof drone attacks on areas con-sidered as "terrorist lairs"along the Pakistani-Afghanborder.

Drones have already killedabout 600 people in northwestPakistan since August 2008.

According to Prof. Philip Al-ston, UN special rapporteur onextrajudicial killings, the USshould explain the legal basisfor attacking individuals withdrones.

The US, he added, has theresponsibility to ensure thatthese drones are not being uti-lized for arbitrary and extraju-dicial assassinations.

He also said that the USCentral Intelligence Agency(CIA) has to show accountabil-ity to international laws whichban arbitrary executions.

It is the CIA that identifiespersons and communities to betargeted by drones. ~

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