Still Automagic

It’s another Automagic election season.

Troubleshooting the PCOS machines in the 2013 elections. | Photo from @Venzie

In 2010, we were perplexed not once but twice by the number of registered voters revealed by the vote canvassing servers of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC). First, Congress discovered in their servers a total of 256 million voters. Later, the national canvassing came out with a list that indicated 153 million registered voters. During that time, we only had a total population of over 92 million and just 50.7 million registered voters.

Venezuela-based corporation Smartmatic, co-implementer of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines used in our automated election system (AES), claimed they were merely errors in the coding that did not affect the actual canvassed vote results. How did they face this problem? They simply tweaked the codes right after and claimed it fixed in a jiffy. Never mind the 654 verified irregularities reported by watchdog Kontra Daya then — the problem was fixed and the results are once again officially infallible.

Fast forward to present-day 2013: COMELEC’s official citizen’s arm PPCRV began airing live unofficial tallies of around 10 million votes already cast when only 1.82 percent or 1,418 of the 77,829 precincts have transmitted their votes, equivalent to only 1.42 million votes assuming a maximum of 1,000 voters per precinct. Again, a quick huddle of COMELEC, PPCRV, media and the big trapo parties led to the consensus that it was, yet again, another coding problem, this time in PPCRV’s system end. This supposedly led to the unofficial tally’s accidental double-counting, a scripting error that Smartmatic conveniently claims can also be patched up quicker than you can say Hocus PCOS.

At this point, the numbers are now moot. Kontra Daya correctly pointed out that the fact “that Smartmatic can change the script of the source code during the canvassing shows serious problems with the entire automated system.”  From 2010 to the present, Smartmatic was able to simply and quickly ‘fix’ the AES’ source code with no means of confirming the integrity of the changes made, seeing as there was no source code review opened to the public in the first place to either confirm or dispel observed problems with the electoral system.

Never mind that Kontra Daya reported 367 verified irregularities (as of 11:54PM this evening of election day, and counting) this time around, about 60 percent of which involved PCOS errors. Mass media quickly swallowed COMELEC, Smartmatic and PPCRV’s explanations hook, line and sinker, and wants you to believe in its credibility too. Time to bring out the party poppers and celebrate democracy at work, they say.

Yep. It’s still an Automagic Election season this year.#

How Teddy came up on top of the #Harapan2013 twitter conversation

The #Harapan2013 Senatorial debate of ABS-CBN was a format very different from #RapplerDebate — time limits of answers ranged from only 15 seconds for the fast questions, to a minute for the panelist questions. Again, our Makabayan senatorial bet Teddy Casiño was there, along with several other candidates. Twitter was clearly abuzz with the senatorial debate as the #Harapan2013 hashtag continues to be a top trender as of 10AM today.

While fanatics of Risa Hontiveros were raving about her on Twitter, and even capturing a moment when the former Akbayan Party-list representative penetrated Twitter’s trending list, this single tweet completely changed the #Harapan2013 landscape:

I was impressed by the candidate Teddy Casino in #harapan2013. Il research on his track record. I might vote for him.

— jose marie viceral (@vicegandako) April 21, 2013

I used the Tweet Archivist to analyze the hashtag’s trends — the tool shows which Twitter handles got the most mentions in all #Harapan2013 tweets, which words were the most used, and which hashtags accompanied #Harapan2013 the most. The results were amazing:

MEASURE OF USERS MENTIONED ALONGSIDE #Harapan2013

User Mentions	Count
@vicegandako	373
@teddycasino	241
@ANCALERTS	172
@risahontiveros	133
@ABSCBNNews	110
@TeamTeddyCasino	63
@Koko_Pimentel	37
@UPsaHalalan	31
@lyndajumilla	22
@SerbisyongKoko	22
@robertmarion	17
@ABSCBN_Halalan	15
@NUSPhilippines	15
@bamaquino	15
@gabrielaphils	14
@KatDeCastro	14
@iampeachaceron	13
@HEARTdino	12
@psychsakura	12
@jejunmar	11
@ShutangInaBeks	11
@ImRichardYap08	11
@peaceflores	11
@akapbata	10
@jumarjomar	10

MEASURE OF HASHTAGS USED ALONGSIDE #Harapan2013

Hashtag	Count
#teddycasino	27
#hontiveros	24
#halalan2013	19
#camerajuan	18
#phvote	14
#hagedorn	11
#teampnoy	11
#principled	9
#progressive	9
#responsive	8
#rhbill	6
#lgbt	6
#botoparasabata	5
#risahontiveros	5
#halalan20	4
#halal	4
#danielpadillaasaprawr	4
#kathrynbernardoasaprawr	4
#antidynasty	4
#teddycasiño	4
#votebam	4
#magic8	4
#paspasan	3
#philhealth	3
#ofw	3

MEASURE OF WORDS USED ALONGSIDE #Harapan2013

Word	Count
SA	618
ANG	558
TEDDY	398
NA	374
CASINO	342
NG	323
TRACK	290
IMPRESSED	287
RECORD	286
RESEARCH	277
IL	276
CANDIDATE	271
VOTE	260
MGA	227
HONTIVEROS	116
KO	114
APRIL	108
SALAMAT	100
AKO	97
MARAMING	96
RISA	95
PO	92
KAY	85
KANDIDATO	84
PA	78

That single tweet made Casiño trend to the top of the #Harapan2013 Twitter discussion, as followers of Vice Ganda and his fan club retweeted the statement in agreement.

Interestingly and ironically, Hontiveros, obviously Teddy’s closest competitor in the #Harapan2013 trends, earlier bought political ad space in Vice’s talk show, Gandang Gabi Vice. Teddy, meanwhile, had only the sharp and correct analyses and proposed solutions to convince the comic yet cerebral celebrity to express interest about his candidacy.

Our deepest gratitude to Vice Ganda for considering Teddy and sharing it to the Twitterverse. Congratulations to Teddy and to all our compatriots in the Makabayan Coalition for a job well done in advancing the politics of change! This is one small step — let’s continue struggling for that giant leap!

A karaniwang tao’s view on the 2013 online electoral campaign so far

I recently participated in the #RapplerDebate Hangout last Saturday to discuss the social media campaign trail so far in the Philippines’ 2013 elections, representing Team Teddy Casino. The connection was quite bad where we held the live chat, so I wasn’t able to effectively participate in the discussion. They did gave us guide questions, though, and here’s my answers to their questions.

My finest moment in the Hangout — showing off my shirt to the viewing public.

1. Campaigns in the world of Twitter and Facebook
   • Is it different?
     Social networks are extensions of our social spheres. Campaigning online is thus essentially no different with how activists engage, organize and mobilize in the real world: we promote our advocacies, we explain our positions on issues, and we invite them to both online and offline activities.What new media brought into the equation is the access – with the right strategy, there is now the potential to reach 25 to 30 million Filipinos across socio-economic classes without the barriers of distance and geography.On the other hand, there are unique limitations to digital campaigning: despite recently being touted by the United Nations as a human right, internet access is still severely limited by high prices of internet rates, slow speed, and its concentration in urban areas.
   • Is it a priority? How much time and effort is spent on social media?
     It is an integral component of our electoral campaign, but it is not the priority. An obvious reason is that traditional media still has the overwhelmingly greatest reach in the playing field. But to progressive political activists, the electoral fight isn’t a mere race to sweep votes, we’re also looking into getting solid votes that will translate into commitment for social action beyond the election period.

     So while it is not the priority strategy to win the electoral campaign, our new media campaign is of much importance as it is a venue to saturate a captured online audience with sustained political education at a very low cost.We have a small team of multi-taskers who are focused on ensuring the spread of high-quality content that will help Filipino citizens to understand better and even encourage them to participate in our advocacies.

     Our work flow allows us to fully campaign during the peak online hours of peak week days, while formulating and creating content during its off-peak hours. We call Saturdays and Sundays weekends but we’re usually using it to do weekly assessments and plannings.
     

• Why spend that much time?
  It is an opportunity to solidly educate and organize our ever expanding supporter base to help them understand the structural roots of the problems of mass poverty, corruption, lack of social services, and the destruction of our environment that our country faces.Hindi tulad ng mga trapo na kailangan lang ang atensyon at suporta ng mamamayan tuwing eleksyon, sinisikap namin makabuklod sila sa buong panahon naming pagkilos.
  

2. Online vs on ground
   • How different is engagement online and in real life?
     Netizens are more opinionated, and why not: they are exposed to a barrage of information and insights. The more active ones are also more influential to their own social spheres. Unfortunately, there is still a persisting culture of slacktivism – that is, online advocacy that doesn’t translate into real-world actions – which has to be addressed by our online campaigners. To be able to tap netizens for campaigning especially for activities in real life contributes greatly to Teddy’s run for a politics of change.

   • Limitations of social media: only a certain class can be reached. How do you balance that out?
     We try to mobilize online supporters to campaign in their own social spheres – or to link up directly with our party chapters in every province. That’s the basic problem we try to address: ensuring the vote conversions aren’t limited to the individuals we directly reached online, but to access their own networks as well.

3. Tales from the campaign trail
   • What issues have you come across online?Well, of course we face the usual vilification of the Left. In fact, we regularly experience what seems to be “operations” by hardcore militarists who throw the usual tirades of anti-communism and evangelize AFP modernization. The standard practice: discern trolls from truth-seekers, ignore the former, enlighten the latter, and regulate the unruly.

   • Any social media booboos so far? Lessons from those?
     One of our campaigners got into a tweet war with a journalist. And the incident was still being milked long after the apologies have been expressed and accepted. Then of course, there have been little mistakes such as typos, mistweets, etc. But its natural when the team is composed of volunteer activists and advocates – the campaign, after all, is the fight of the karaniwang tao for the karaniwang tao. Tao lang, nagkakamali din.

     But so far, we have made the editorial of our content and engagements tighter. Teddy’s consistently among the top 12 most engaging candidates. Nothing resonates more with the people than words that are sincere, earnest, and correct in articulating the problems our nation faces and in answering them comprehensive solutions.

   • Has social media and the Internet made campaigning easier or harder?
     It has indeed given opportunities for the champions of new politics to get the message across, but it is also replete with its own limitations and problems. The willingness of advocates to maximize all these new tools and venues for social change available to us is what will decide if it will be easier or harder.

4. Moving forward: the road to 2016
   • Internet, social media, mobile device use will only boom in the following years. How do you think this will affect campaigns 3 years from now?
     Social media, like all scientific and technological advances, can be equally wielded both by those who seek change and those who maintain the status quo. Let us make sure that the people have the initiative to use these to their advantage.

5. Parting messages from each campaign
   To our fellow netizens, the 2013 elections presents to us a unique opportunity to have our very own, a karaniwang tao, and a netizen through and through, in the Senate. We deserve to have our voice represented and heard echoing ever stronger in Congress. Ipanalo natin ang Karaniwang Tao, Teddy Casiño po sa Senado.

If you want to see the entire Hangout to see what the other social media operators (with much better connections) had to say, you can watch it here:

Manila Bay’s beauty beyond the sunset

Parishioners, residents and green groups held a processional protest against impending reclamation projects in Manila Bay. Photo from Kalikasan PNE

Paranaque residents, parishioners and other concerned groups observed Viernes Dolores last March 22 with a Kalbaryo (Way of the Cross) processional protest, with prayers and performances of environmental poetry and music in opposition to plans of reclaiming environmentally-critical foreshore areas in Manila Bay into a sprawling business complex.

Prior to this, a silent human chain was organized by 3,000 people across Roxas Boulevard to witness the beautiful sunset that made the bay an iconic landmark – and as a symbol of the broad unity of people opposed to the Manila Solar City reclamation project. Regular coastal cleanups have also been done in Freedom Island, the 175-hectare bird sanctuary smack in the middle of the project area, in an effort to significantly remove the clutter from one of the Metro’s last green areas.

The aesthetic value alone of Manila Bay could inspire such creative gestures of stewardship over Manila Bay. But its beauty goes beyond the picturesque views and bird watching hotspots: advocates have long explained the significant role of the Manila Bay ecosystem to lives in the area connected all the way up to the global big picture.

Just days ago, the Las Pinas-Paranaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area (LPPCHEA) where the country’s only urban bird sanctuary can be found became the sixth site in the Philippines to join the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance, signifying its global significance to biodiversity. Indeed, LPPCHEA is home to at least 5,000 migratory and resident birds on a given day, including 47 rare species such as the Chinese Egret and the Philippine Duck.

A verdant mangrove forest sprawling in the waters of Manila Bay is the last of its kind in the National Capital Region. Photo from Kalikasan PNE

Birds aren’t just eye candy for nature lovers. According to the Iowa University’s Nature Mapping Program, these animals are important links in the food chains and webs of the ecosystems they traverse. They are agents of life, dispersing seeds, pollens and other bio-mass that help propagate plants and other organisms vital to a healthy environment. They also serve as natural pest controls, regulating insect populations by feeding on them.

Birds are also important biological indicators, playing a major role in analyzing and creating awareness about the lethal qualities of DDT and other pesticides in “Silent Spring”, the famed book that started the world-wide environmental movement written by biologist Rachel Carson. Indeed, to see LPPCHEA’s bird population to have dwindled to its current state from a healthy average of around 28,000 back in the 70s is indicative of the level of impact so-called development projects in the capital have on our quality of life.

While infamous for its scores of floating garbage and bouts of red tide and fish kills, large parts of Manila Bay are still teeming with sea life. Home to diverse marine ecosystems of coral reefs and sea grasses, it remains as one of the most important suppliers of fisheries in the country. Just last year, a butanding (Whale Shark) was sighted in Manila Bay indicating the possibility of more favorable feeding conditions, such as a spurt in alamang (krill) and dilis (anchovy) populations. Marine scientists pointed out that butanding feeding visits in Manila Bay were more common back then.

Any news of an increasingly productive Manila Bay is definitely welcome news. Fisheries accounts for 80 percent of the Filipino’s average animal protein intake and, more importantly, the livelihood of one out of ten Filipinos. According to the environment group Kalikasan, Manila Bay plays a crucial role as a link in various marine ecosystems (including the LPPCHEA bird sanctuary) that sustain fisheries production in the country. That fisherfolk have reported a drop in fish catch from a high average of 15 kilos to a measly 1 to 3 kilos a day, and largely due to reclamation activity, is reason enough to cheer for a solitary butanding sighting.

The real beauty of Manila Bay lies in the unseen: despite the pollution and abuse from development aggression, it remains a highly important source of life interconnected to various ecosystems across the country.

In the People’s Resolution on Reclamation formulated by about 200 fisherfolk leaders, experts, lawyers and environmental advocates, they cited the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) to have called land reclamation as one of the most irreversible forms of environmental degradation. With this as context, they pointed out that 38,272 hectares or one-tenth of our country’s coastal and marine habitats will be covered by various reclamation projects under the National Reclamation Plan. 70 percent or a third of these will be done solely in Manila Bay.

The famed Manila Bay sunset is just one of a plethora of reasons why people oppose reclamation pojects that would affect its integrity. Photo by Kalikasan PNE

That unique and romantic sunset view that cannot be seen in any other country isn’t the only poignancy that is threatened to be lost if these reclamation projects push through. I can think of a few more proudly Pinoy experiences that can possibly be affected:

• Cebu’s famous seafood feast Sutukil (a portmanteau of Visayan words Sugba or grilling, Tula or stewing, and Kinilaw or ceviche) I was lucky enough to experience during a workshop in Cebu may remain a once in a lifetime experience if the seafood prices rise further due to depletion, something the Cordova Reclamation Project will surely aggravate if it pushes through.

• We have our own seafood fare in Metro Manila called the Dampa seafood markets and restaurants, where you can buy the freshest catch of the day from fishing villages and have them cooked the way you want it. The abundance of these Dampa markets are likewise threatened.

• LPPCHEA’s bird sanctuary has the potential of becoming an international bird watching attraction. The 2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation in the United States revealed how 71.8 million Americans took up bird watching as a hobby in 2011. This is in US alone. Imagine bringing that traffic into the Philippines. We’re better off developing ecotourism facilities than reclamation projects.

Beyond creature comforts, we must consider above all the welfare and dignity of our fisherfolks, inextricably linked to the need for a healthy coastal and marine ecosystem. UN FAO considers them to be among the poorest of the poor in the Philippines. It is their development that we must put into foremost consideration. After all, isn’t human dignity the most beautiful thing to witness anywhere in the world? #

Leon Dulce is the campaign coordinator of the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment and a grassroots new media trainer for the Computer Professionals’ Union. He casually blogs and tweets in his spare time. Originally published in the OY! Project.

Mining Plunder and Politics

This is the unedited version of my latest article from the OY! Project.

 

The 18th anniversary of RA 7942 or the Mining Act of 1995’s passage was greeted with protests by environment groups last March 3 with pronouncements of an ‘all-out war’ of environmental activists, indigenous peoples, religious groups and other progressive groups against the current mining regime.

 

Indeed, recent major events have heightened the growing criticism and outcry against the national mining policy continuing under the Aquino government.

 

A public forum conducted last February 15 by the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment, Advocates of Science & Technology for the People and Center for Environmental Concerns-Philippines presented findings of separate environmental investigation missions or EIMs conducted in Itogon, Benguet and Sofronio Española, Palawan to verify the socio-economic and environmental impacts of large-scale mining operations in those areas.

Laboratory findings conducted confirmed that there was massive heavy metal poisoning that led to the biological death of the Balog River due to the tailings dam failure in the Philex Mining Corporation’s Padcal gold and copper mine project in Benguet. Meanwhile, the report on the effects of Citinickel’s nickel mining revealed levels of nickel contamination 250 times greater than the acceptable standard. Farmers and fisherfolk also reported significantly reduced fish catches and harvests.

 

Meanwhile, the collapse of a large-scale coal mine in Semirara, Antique that led to the death of five miners and five more missing was a grisly reminder to the public of the grave occupational hazards that large-scale miners are unable to address for its workers. But as early as 2009, a national consultation on coal mining      already reported environmental and health problems the Semirara coal mine has brought to adjacent communities.

 

Amidst all this, Pres. Benigno Aquino III, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources immediately thereafter, granted an environmental compliance certificate to Xstrata-SMI’s Tampakan Project in South Cotabato despite extensive opposition from communities and the progressive scientific community.

 

This has been the story of large-scale mining under the auspices of RA 7942 – which was and still is purported by its proponents as among the best mining policies in the world that strikes a balance between environmental protection and economic development.

 

The Politics of Destructive Mining

But we know better. The Mining Act was authored by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo when she was still a senator in the early 90s through the guidance of the International Monetary Fund-World Bank and the Asian Development Bank’s structural adjustment programs towards the goal of globalization.

 

This means that our national mining policy aims to completely liberalize or open up the country’s mining industry for foreign investment and dominance. A mining industry dominated by foreign transnational corporations is extractive in nature, focused on harnessing raw minerals for the cheapest price in the fastest time possible to fuel their respective economies, not our own.

 

It is also historically unsustainable, with no violator ever paying due negative external costs and with no roadmap whatsoever for the forging of domestic downstream industries that would make our economy self-reliant. For instance, there have been at least 21 mine tailings dam failures recorded involving these large-scale mining operations in the past 25 years, and little or none of these have been sufficiently addressed.

 

Why has this atrocious mining practice persisted? A political system dominated by big businessmen and landlords who are themselves moneyed by mining is one important factor – and there is no better example than the current Aquino administration.

 

In the 2010 elections, it was revealed that Aquino’s electoral campaign received significant contributions from mining magnate Zamora (P5 million) and former environment secretary and known pro-mining consultant Fulgencio Factoran Jr. (P20 million). Two years into his presidency, we are already seeing the fruits of the mining lobby’s investments: mining companies were exempted from the Executive Order No. 23 or the log ban.  We also saw the passage of Executive Order No. 79 or the mining EO, which green groups assailed for overriding local mining bans and accelerating the process of liberalizing the industry.

 

The Politics of People’s Mining

It is said that the 2013 mid-term elections is a referendum on the direction the Aquino government has taken. Clearly, Aquino’s policies on mining have exacted extensive damage on the integrity of our critical ecosystems and grassroots communities. All those instrumental to Aquino’s mining regime deserve our protest votes against them.

 

We must scrutinize the track record and platforms of every candidate based on standards of a People’s Mining Policy. The Defend Patrimony Alliance have long pushed for a policy agenda on mining that involves reorienting the industry from a liberalized to a domestic-oriented development pathway, pushing for more stringent environmental and socio-economic regulations and penalties for violators, and a genuinely democratic management and utilization of our mineral resources, especially for the mining-affected communities.

 

But the people’s mining as a platform agenda in the current electoral arena is, unfortunately, lacking. There is Edward Hagedorn, running as an independent senatoriable with a pro-environment platform and a track record in opposing mining projects in Puerto Princesa, has given little detail on his plans to address large-scale mining legislative-wise and on a national scale. Akbayan’s Risa Hontiveros, while consistent in pushing for the Alternative Minerals Management Bill, continues to be silent on the EO 79.

 

From Teddy Casino’s Facebook Page

The consistent voice so far is Makabayan’s lone senatorial bet Teddy Casiño, the principal author of the People’s Mining Bill in Congress directly formulated from Defend Patrimony’s policy agenda.  Casiño has a long-standing track record since in addressing the issue of mining way back in 2002 as one of the original signatories of the Dapitan Initiative, a declaration pushing for the scrapping of the Mining Act of 1995 and the formulation of an alternative ‘People’s Mining Act.’

 

Beyond these, we hear too little about the plans of our future leaders on mining, especially from the dominant coalitions of LP and UNA. If these candidates refuse to talk and much less walk the public’s cry for a People’s Mining, make sure to leave them out of your ballots. We owe that much to our future generations.#

 

Leon Dulce is the campaign coordinator of the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment and a grassroots new media trainer for the Computer Professionals’ Union. He casually blogs and tweets in his spare time.

 

 

Ruminations on Kristel’s Life and the Education System

We all know the news about the suicide of a UPM freshie, Kristel, because of her forced leave of absence. While the majority have condoled and expressed anger over an increasingly elitist education system, there are those who have focused on the victim’s individual weaknesses, claiming that generations of poor students before her were able to get on by.

In everything there are always internal and external factors. Obviously the externality of a harsh, elitist education system and policy is a significant driver. But before we judge Kristel to be made of weaker stuff, we should know her socio-historical context first.

She was the eldest of her siblings and the only one in her family able to make it to college. As early as 2001, her family’s signs of desperate poverty are already apparent: her mother wrote to the Phil Star tabloid asking for any opportunity to make Kristel a child star.

It turns out, she was a performing student through her elementary and high school days despite their poverty: . That is saying something of her quality that does not smack of ‘weakness.’

Her parents demonstrate themselves as a strong life support: they are with her even in appealing, on bended knees, for her continuity in enrollment, loan, and every step a destitute Iska can take to get on by. The UPM admin refused all of that.

These are only glimpses. A deeper analysis is needed to find out what made other poor students of stronger mettle. But one thing was clearly demonstrated in this sad little episode of UP: the system failed Kristel. And it was surely this system that served as a critical tipping point, her professors in behavioral science attested.

It is something we can and should have addressed. If we removed the social context that tipped her, she might have had a better chance. I don’t have beef with people introspecting on how to build their loved ones’ character in the face of adversity. But I believe it is far more important to resolve an education system that presents suicide as an extreme option.

Tubbataha: Justice beyond financial compensation

Unedited version of my article in The Philippine Online Chronicles’ OY! Project. Enjoy!

 

SAVE TUBBATAHA. Environmental activists displayed colorful marine-themed placards calling for immediate redresses in the destruction of over 4,000 sqm of mature corals in the Tubbataha Reef National Park. Photo by Leon Dulce

The grim numbers of Tubbataha are slowly sinking in.

The estimated damage on coral reefs in the Tubbataha Reef Natural Park caused by the minesweeper USS Guardian is now pegged at an extent of 4,500 square meters, which rise to as high as 10 meters. This level of coral maturity required 2,500 years of growth. Its destruction will affect the home of more than 350 species of corals, 600 species of fish, 2 species of sea turtles, 12 species of marine mammals, 56 species of invertebrates and 7 types of birds. An estimate of at least 600 kilos worth of annual fish catch is expected to be lost.

These data were discussed at length in a gathering of environmentalists, scientists, fisherfolks, lawyers, women’s groups and other sectoral organizations held in Quezon City last February 23. The ecological, socio-economic and political impacts of the minesweeper USS Guardian’s grounding on the Tubbataha Reef National Park were assessed to form a broad unity that will claim economic and social justice for the maritime disaster.

The implications of the incident are expected to go beyond the patch of corals that may seem minuscule to the uninformed. Frances Quimpo, executive director of the Center for Environmental Concerns – Philippines (CEC Phils), said scientific studies demonstrate the integral role of Tubbataha Reef to seed the entire Sulu Sea with coral and fish larvae.

The Reef is in the very heart of the Coral Triangle, a globally critical and biodiversity-rich area that covers marine ecosystems in Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste. Its disruption spells disaster especially for our local small fisherfolks who are considered the nation’s poorest in 2006 and 2009 with a poverty incidence ranging from 23.9 to 66.7 percent according to the National Statistics Coordination Board.

From left: Marine ecologist Dr. Rex Montebon, fisherfolk leader Pedro Gonzales, women’s rights activist Joms Salvador and physicist Dr. Giovanni Tapang presenting scientific, socio-economic and political assessments of the Tubbataha grounding incident. Photo by Leon Dulce

 

Tubbataha also a problem of sovereignty, patrimony

The women’s group Gabriela called the incident “the Rape of Tubbataha” for its clear violations of our country’s national patrimony and sovereign rights as a free nation. Aside from violating several sections of Republic Act 10067 or the Tubbataha Reefs National Park Act of 2009, the disaster was the latest of long-standing unpunished environmental and social crimes that military forces of the United States have done with impunity in the Philippines.

The Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), among other onerous bilateral agreements with the US government, was pinpointed as the underlying policy that allowed for such grave abuses from their warships and troops.

Green groups have previously noted how past military exercises involving naval maneuverings and live fire exercises under the VFA have already caused the destruction of coral reefs, the pollution of ecosystems and even the death of civilians. In 2004, US naval ships indiscriminately discharged sewage waste and oil in Subic Bay, a feat repeated by the tanker MT Glenn Guardian when it dumped 189,500 liters of hazardous domestic waste and 760 liters of toxic bilge water again into Subic.

Renato Reyes Jr., secretary general of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, noted how routine port calls of frigates, submarines and other US naval warships are presently being made almost on a monthly basis due to the VFA and in line with their rebalancing of forces from West Asia to the Asia-Pacific to challenge the regional dominance of China.

Dr. Giovanni Tapang, chairperson of the AGHAM-Advocates of Science & Technology for the People warned that there may be more to the incident than just an accident, noting reports that billions of barrels of crude oil may be lying underneath Tubbataha. In fact, 15,000 hectares of Tubbataha were originally covered by oil exploration efforts.

Justice beyond financial compensation

In response to the grounding incident, involved US personnel offered no explanation for their trip to Tubbataha and their hostile response to park managers and Philippine Coastguard personnel who attempted to get near the grounded USS Guardian. Instead, they merely expressed their apologies and willingness to pay for financial compensation.

The Aquino government displayed a clear reluctance to answer this issue. Clearly, such responses from both the US and Philippine governments will not sit well with the Filipino people.

The forum organizers led by CEC Phils, Gabriela, the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment and the Center for Women’s Resources, united in the demand for “justice beyond financial compensation”, calling for the prosecution of liable officials and the payment of all charges necessary to restore Tubbataha Reef to its pristine state prior to the grounding.

Participants of the confab led the formation of Task Force Tubbataha (TFT), an alliance convened by environment, women and other sectoral groups pushing for the due prosecution of liable entities in the Tubbataha grounding and the revocation of the VFA. Among the proposals of the TFT’s initial conveners include the following:

• The formation of a multi-disciplinary Technical Working Group that will assess the extent of reef damage, including a baseline inventory of the different types and characteristics of the affected coral reefs, the economic valuation of their ecosystem services, and even the socio-economic indicators of surrounding communities affected by the impacts of the grounding incident;

• Immediately conduct an independent and impartial investigation into the incident to verify the motives, errors and culpability of the erring US personnel as well as the negligence of local public officials mandated to address this issue;

• Exhaust all legal actions possible to compel government agencies to enforce laws on our environment and sovereignty, hold accountable all erring US personnel and agencies and reverse onerous bilateral agreements such as the VFA and the Mutual Defense Treaty.

The TFT said they are prepared to bring the issue even up to the United Nations. Earlier, Bayan Muna Partylist Representative Teddy Casiño and Kabataan Partylist Representative Raymond Palatino filed House Resolution 3012 condemning the incident and calling for immediate redresses. These efforts must come together in a massive coordinated effort to win this landmark fight that would not only rehabilitate a World Heritage Site, but may very well bring back the dignity of the Philippines as a nation.#

Leon Dulce is the campaign coordinator of the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment and a grassroots new media trainer for the Computer Professionals’ Union. He casually blogs and tweets in his spare time.