Pinoy Weekly | Government’s own data reveal ‘embarrassing’ response to Yolanda victims

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 07:47 PM PST

Less than 1% of Yolanda victims have been provided temporary shelter by the government, according to DSWD data. Ilang-Ilang Quijano

Scientists and computer professionals who conducted a “data audit” of the Aquino administration’s online portal to track foreign aid for victims of typhoon Yolanda said that the Foreign Aid Transparency Hub (FAiTH), like the government’s relief and rehabilitation efforts, is actually a “failure.”

As AGHAM and Computer Professionals’ Union (CPU) celebrated the worldwide Open Data Day last February 22, they noted that the FAiTH website is frequently inaccessible to users, and has inconsistent and incomplete data.

They also said that data published in the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) website reveal the government’s own “embarrassing” response to the disaster.

No faith in FAiTH

“We experienced difficulty in browsing its full report, http://www.gov.ph/faith/full-report/. For open data initiatives to be useful, it should first and foremost be able to handle requests from users,” the CPU said of FAiTH.

FAiTH, as described in its website, is “an online portal of information on calamity aid and assistance, whether in cash or in kind, received by the Philippines from nations and multilateral organizations, as well as those coursed through our embassies abroad.”

A link to FAiTH’s full report is often broken, according to CPU.

The group of computer professionals said that FAiTH offers three possible data sources with a downloadable csv file. This file provides a listing of foreign donations. However, “a simple total of these sources returned inconsistent figures,” the group said.

Furthermore, it was observed that there are countries with double entries of donations, affecting accuracy and reliability of the data. There is also no data available yet on how these donations are disbursed, according to CPU.

“They must do their job by addressing the conflicting information of FAiTH and address the absence of information on humanitarian aid spending. It seems that they are equating transparency and open governance to websites with infographics and downloadable raw data,” said Gladys Regaldo, CPU deputy national coordinator.

Meanwhile, the scientists’ group AGHAM conducted its own data audit of the DSWD’s 100th day of typhoon Yolanda report.

“A close look on the agency’s data reveals an embarrassing, if not outright appalling, response towards the disaster,” says Finesa Cosico, AGHAM secretary general.

According to AGHAM’s audit of the DSWD report, an average of four food packs were given per family of Yolanda survivors in Eastern Visayas. These packs contained either 3-kg, 6-kg, or 25-kg of rice each.

“For a typical family, this ration (for 100 days) is not even able to provide 1% of the daily calorie requirement set by international humanitarian agencies. Ground reports even indicate that survivors actually received a measly 2 kg pack of rice. It is no wonder that survivors are crying for additional relief,” said Cosico.

AGHAM also noted that the DSWD’s cash-for-work program only benefitted a “negligible” 1.6% of affected families.

Based on the agency’s website, this figure amounted to 17,105 individuals, who were paid P245 to 260 daily for a period of 10 days.

Furthermore, the group observed that “there is almost no effort to provide houses, temporary or permanent.”

DSWD data reveals that only 0.17% of affected families, or a total of 1,455 families, were transferred to bunkhouses. These were the same bunkhouses that figured in controversy after being found substandard.

“The DSWD’s report is just one indication that points to the government’s criminal negligence. The manner and measures the government have taken since Day 1 of the disaster up until now show utter insensitivity to the plight of the survivors and incompetence in providing for the needs of Filipino people,” said Cosico.

Adding insult to injury, she added, was President Aquino’s refusal to heed the survivors’ demand for P40,000 immediate cash relief.

More than 17,000 signatures demanding cash relief were brought to Malacañang by the Yolanda victims’ group People Surge, but the petition was thumbed down by Aquino.

The CPU scoffed at plans by the administration to put up another website to monitor reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts.

“It appears that the BS Aquino regime has this obsession with websites. There are existing portals like data.gov.ph and gov.ph/faith where they can publish so-called reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts. Clearly, the lack of websites is not the problem…Looking at their performance on 100th day of Yolanda incident, they still have to double efforts to actually have something to post on any website they will create,” Regalado said.

Joma Sison hits China for South China Sea claims

Belarmino Dabalos Saguing
27/02/2014

Jose Maria Sison, head of International People's Struggles (ILPS) (downloaded internet photo)

The founder of the Communist party of the Philippines (CPP), Jose Maria Sison, crtiticized what he called “China’s absurd imperialist and capitalist designs in the West Philippine Sea including the Panatag Shoal, where Chinese poachers triggered a standoff between Philippine and Chinese authorities. He paragoned China’s claims as and  like “Italy claiming all areas previously occupied by the Roman Empire.”

According to Sison, presently head of the International People’s Struggles (ILPS),   “The name China Sea was invented by European cartographers and should not lead anyone to think that the entire sea belongs to China. In the same vein, neither does the entire Indian Ocean belong to India.”

Sison’s remarks came in response to questions posed by Bayan Secretary General Renato Reyes about the standoff between the Philippines and China at Panatag Shoal, internationally known as Scarborough Shoal. Bayan, shared Sison’s answers with the Inquirer by e-mail.

International Convention Definitions

“The United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS) is the strongest legal basis for the definition of the territorial sea and exclusive economic zone of the Philippine archipelago,. Also, archaeological evidence shows that the islands, reefs and shoals at issue have been used by inhabitants of what is now the Philippines since prehistoric times,” Sison said in a rare agreement with the position of the government.

President Benigno Aquino III, in his statements on disputed territories in the West Philippine Sea, has repeatedly referred to the Unclos and its provision for a 200-nautical-mile exclusive zone in explaining the legitimacy of the country’s claims in the disputed waters.

“As a matter of principle, the Filipino people must assert their national sovereignty and Philippine territorial integrity over the issue of the Spratlys (Kalayaan) and other islands, reefs and shoals [that] are well within the 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone defined by the Unclos,” Sison said.

“According to the Philippine reactionary government, it submitted on time to the UN the necessary scientific and technical grounds to define the Philippine 200-mile EEZ under Unclos,” Sison noted.

He said there was archaeological proof that “the islands, reefs and shoals at issue have been used by inhabitants of what is now the Philippines since prehistoric times.”

“But the Philippine reactionary government muddles the issue and undermines its own position by making historical claims that date back only to a few decades ago when pseudo-admiral Tomas Cloma made formal claims to the Kalayaan group of islands,” Sison said, reverting to his usual criticism of the government. [http://globalnation.inquirer.net/34279/sison-chides-china-for-absurd-panatag-claim#ixzz2uULZEJBy]

In answer to the question by Renato Reyes on how the Filipino people should react to the incursions of China in territories claimed by the Philippines, Sison said the government “should desist from self-fulfilling its claim of China’s aggression by engaging in an anti-China scare campaign.The Filipino people and progressive forces must oppose what may be deemed as incursions and what may appear as aggressive behavior of China with regard to the territories belonging to the Philippines,”

Sison added that the Filipino people and progressive forces "must consciously differentiate their position from that of the Aquino regime, its military subalterns and its Akbayan special agents who pretend to be superpatriots against China but are in fact servile to the interests of US imperialism. According to him, tThe Aquino administration and its allies are using the anti-China campaign “to justify the escalation of US military intervention in the Philippines and US hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region. Sison do not believe  that the United States and China would go to war against each other. The United States is a treaty ally of the Philippines, with such military accords as the Mutual Defense Treaty and the Visiting Forces Agreement.

Read more: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/34279/sison-chides-china-for-absurd-panatag-claim#ixzz2uUOdypTX

Condemm the e-martial law declared by President BS Aquino

Belarmino Dabalos Saguing
Rome, Italy 26/02/2014

Although we hail the Supreme Court headed by Aquino appointed Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines rightfully removed a few of the patently unconstitutional and repressive aspects of RA 10175, including provisions on giving government the power to collect and monitor real-time data, as well as to take down websites or online content it deems violative of the law without court warrant, we still consider the law as an assault on the last democratic bastion of freedom of speech and expression because the provision on the online libel which was inserted by Sen. Sotto to stem criticism against him was retained and together with the other controversial provisions of the law, was upheld by the high court as “constitutional”.

 This law is a clear violation of THE 1987 CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES ARTICLE III BILL OF RTIGHTS Section 4. No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.

At the very moment when criticism of government iniquity is of utmost importance, the Aquino administration flouts our fundamental rights by pushing for the constitutionality of online libel under Republic Act No. 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

 Members of the press are very familiar with criminal libel as an instrument of the powerful, influential and moneyed to threaten and cow them to silence. Many a journalist has paid a heavy price for defying such threats and simply doing their job. Media groups have been campaigning for years to decriminalize libel, as it creates a “chilling effect” on journalists and impedes on our constitutionally-protected freedom of the press and expression. The United Nations Human Rights Committee, in October 2011, even agreed with the Philippine media advocacy and human rights groups, and called our existing libel law “excessive” and violative of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in which the Philippine government is a signatory. (Pinoy Weekly 24 Feb. 2014)

For the past three years, the administration has clearly wielded a strong influence on the dominant media. To bolster its image and deflect criticism, the administration has employed the most cunning of public relations and social media teams to direct the public attention away from the increasing poverty and destitution among Filipinos.

We must remember that the Aquino administration, specifically its Department of Justice, actively campaigned to have the law passed and nodded on by the high court says much about the Presidency’s contempt for criticism. Now, with RA 10175, it wields another weapon against criticism: the threat of online libel, the force of criminal prosecution against those who would criticize the President and its policies.

The Internet, despite its still-limited reach, has been the democratic space where the alternative press often disseminates its stories. Many citizens use it to express their own criticisms of the government and the political and economic system. Workers, for instance, take to the Internet to express their criticism of their employers and their poor labor conditions. Students and the youth have been known to extensively use the Internet to criticize school officials and administrators as well as critique the government’s policy of budget cuts to education. Other sectors have also maximized the Internet to advocate for their basic democratic rights. The online medium, meanwhile, has also been used as a tool for organizing protest, as evidenced by the huge, anti-pork barrel protests last year. (Pinoy Weekly 24 Feb. 2014)

The timing of the Supreme Court’s upholding of the very contested law, clearly show that the Aquino Administration needs the RA 10175 as legal shield from wrath of the people.

For this, we, the netizens must condemm and resist this e-martial law declared by President BS Aquino against the people.

Read more at http://pinoyweekly.org/new/2014/02/resist-aquinos-e-martial-law/  

Pinoy Weekly Online | Photos | Militant workers, progressive groups breach police line, hold protest near US Embassy

by Macky Macaspac

Militant groups marched towards the US Embassy in Manila. Macky Macaspac

A brief scuffle ensued after progressive groups led by the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) breached police line guarding the US Embassy on Feb. 25, Tuesday. The groups condemned President Aquino’s announcement on Friday that an agreement allowing the return of US military bases into the country is nearing completion.

The agreement, will be presented to US President Obama when he visits the country. They vowed that similar protests will greet Pres. Barack Obama’s visit this coming April.

Members of Manila Police District made several attempts to prevent the protesters from reaching the embassy area. But protesters resisted, and were able to hold program right in front of the US embassy.

The group also condemned the alleged “unseen hand” of the US government in elite-sponsored demonstrations in Venezuela to force President Maduro to resign.

















Short URL: http://pinoyweekly.org/new/?p=28150

- See more at: http://pinoyweekly.org/new/2014/02/photos-militant-workers-progressive-groups-breach-police-line-hold-protest-near-us-embassy/#sthash.MKwS4tu1.dpuf

Resist Cybercrime Prevention Act!

Belarmino Dabalos Saguing
Rome, Italy 25/02/2014

Since the Supreme Court have ruled that the Cybercrime Prevention Act as constitutional, one may now consider the Art. 4 of the constitutional as rubbish, and the only medium for the marginated sectors of our society to express their opinions is opened to repressions by the fascists.

It must not be forgotten that repression has always been the intent of politicians who crafted and passed the law, and of the president who signed it in the most hasty and non-transparent manner.

It must not be forgotten that Filipinos just woke up one day in the grip of this draconian law; and while due to our collective show of outrage and resistance the court struck down certain provisions that most brazenly assault our democratic rights (such as the power to take down websites, real-time collection of traffic data), the law remains as undemocratic as the institutions that made it. 

More than ever, the free thinking people must resist directly and actively this assault on the freedom of expression. We need a collective and united front against this repressive law now, not tomorrow. The corrupt politicians who created and passed it into a law are on the attacking  now and therewill be no tomorrow waiting for us while this law remain in vigor.

Oo Babae, Kakaiba Ka Sa Lahat Ng Nilalang

Tunay ngang isang yaman at biyaya Siyang tahimik,mapagmahal at matiyaga Sa puso'y may haplos, matamis at kaaya-aya Anumang sakit sa kanya'y 'di dama’t nawawala Katataga’t pag-asa, mababanaag sa kanyang mukha O babae, sa mundo’y alay ka ng Diyos Ama


At sa malambot mong mga kamay Walang pusong bato kapag kumaway Halik mo sa batang walang muwang Nagtuturo ng pagmamahal, galit ay walang puwang Pati haplos mo sa taong napakapusok Oo babae, gayuma mo'y nag-aalis poot


Tulad sa buhay na itong napakagulo Pagkamahinahon mo ang mag aayos nito Kung kayamana'y nawawalan ang tao Makikita sa'yo , kahalagahang higit pa sa ginto O, babae kapag nawala ang iyong bango Saan pa mangagaling halimuyak n’yaring mundo?


Babae, napakahirap mang maintindihan Kakaiba ka sa lahat ng bawat nilalang Biyaya ka ng Diyos sa mga kalalakihan Siyang katuwang sa pag-aalaga ng kalikasan
Sa sinapupunan, buhay ay magtutuloy ng walang hangan Sa'yo nakasalalay ang kinabukasan ng sanlibutan


Oo’t tunay kapag siya'y umiyak Iisa lamang ang laging siyang tiyak Tama na lahat pati kanyang mali At kailan ma'y hindi siya nagkamali Kaya't lalaki, mabuti pa'y ika'y tumabi Magbigay galang sa mga babaing may luha sa pisngi

O, siya na isang mapagmahal na ina Tulad din ng isang mabuting asawa Mga kapatid na kasaria’y mas mahina Mga babaeng mapagmahal at maaruga Tunay na pag- ibig ang dala sa bawat tuwina Mga babae nga'y anghel ng pamilya


Mga lalaki'y alam ang katotohanan Kung bakit ika'y dapat pangalagahan Pagmamahal at paggalang huwag pagkaitan Oo babae, hinugot kang tunay sa tadyang Malayo sa paa upang hindi maapakan Malapit sa puso nang maibig at mapagsilbihan


Ano ba iyon na nasa kalangitan? Napakaningning, napakalaki't parang ilawan Bituin,Oo babae ika'y parang ganyan Sa loob at labas man ng isang tahanan Liwanag kang tunay na walang katapusan Isang walang katumbas na kayamanan Tunay, mabuhay ka magpakailan man



(ni: Demetrio 'Bong' Rafanan)

Yolanda victims snobbed by the president and tagged as red pawns by rehab czar

Belarmino Dabalos Saguing
Rome, Italy 20/02/2014

In the news

Sister Edita Eslopor, chairperson of the 12,000-strong alliance  called People Surge

President  Benigno Aquino III refused to meet with survivors of super typhoon Yolanda who trooped to Malacañang Monday to demand P40,000 in cash assistance per family and the revocation of the no-build zone policy along coastal areas.

Sister Edita Eslopor, chairperson of the 12,000-strong alliance of Yolanda survivors called People Surge said “We thought the President would meet with us. But a personnel from the records office came out to receive their petition instead. Maybe he was afraid to face the survivors of Yolanda. They said in two hours we will know their response. But we haven’t heard from them yet,” the Benedictine nun said.

“We were like criminals entering the Palace, with police escorts,” she added.

Eslopor also slammed Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman for bragging about $6 million in aid from the UN Children’s Fund or UNICEF and including it in the government’s dole program. “The problem with the DSWD is that it is claiming credit where it is not due,” she said.

“We thank the UNICEF for the humanitarian assistance. But the Aquino government should have rendered emergency cash assistance and other kinds of relief three months ago, not today. That is sheer criminal negligence. Does Dinky Soliman realize how many of the so-called most vulnerable – including pregnant women and malnourished children -- have suffered for the past months, and may have died, because the government balked at releasing funds for the people while it was at the same time embroiled in the pork barrel scandal? For the past three months, the DSWD has not been carrying out any significant social amelioration program but has merely acted as the facilitator for foreign and local donors.” Said Eslopor.  

 --   http://manilastandardtoday.com/2014/02/18/aquino-snubs-storm-victims/

Dismissed and tagged as red pawns

Meanwhile, rehab czar Panfilo Lacson on Thursday dismissed protesting survivors of typhoon Yolanda as pawns of communist agitators out to destabilize the government.

“It is becoming obvious that their agenda is destabilization and not the welfare of the Yolanda survivors,” Lacson said in an interview, questioning the motives of People Surge, which he said is being used by leftist groups to destabilize the government.

 “Based on intelligence reports, the super typhoon also affected the cadre infrastructure of the New People’s Army in Eastern Visayas. So they are now using the survivors to rebuild their network,” said Lacson a former senator and police chief.

Presidential mouthpiece Edwin Lacierda said the government would not be distracted from its plans to rehabilitate the calamity-stricken areas.

Lacierda dismissed the comments by People Surge leaders as political statements and said the government would not be cowed by them.

“We will not be deterred by those political statements. Our responsibility is to bring them back on their feet. There will always be criticisms but our determination will never diminish, will not wane, because that is our responsibility,” he told reporters in a press briefing at the Palace.                                                  -- http://manilastandardtoday.com/2014/02/21/ping-tags-protesting-yolanda-victims-as-communist-pawns-/