Buti Pa Sa UK...May Hiya Ang Mga Politiko!

Buti pa sa UK, may hiya ang mga politiko, at may PAKI ang mga tao.

It came out recently in the news that members of Britain's parliament were found to have used public funds for personal expenses. Some MPs used it to renovate houses or farms, some used it to pay for mortgage payments, while others were found to have used tax payer's money to pay for sex videos in a hotel. The news came out a few months ago, but the fall out is only being felt now. Ministers and MPs are apologizing, some have even offered to resign. A recent poll even showed that 72% of Britons want polls to be held now as a sign of outrage and disgusts over the scandal. PM Gordon Brown even made apublci apology on behalf of his Labor Partymates.

Buti pa sa kanila, ganyan ang nangyayari. Dito sa atin sa Pilipinas, wala kang makikitang ganyan. Yumayaman ang politoko sa hindi mapaliwanag na paraan, pero ang tao walang ginagawa o walang sinasabi. Ni hindi nga nahihiya na ipakita ng politiko namayaman siya! Dito sa atin, wala kang makikitang politikong hihingi ng tawad dahil nagkamali siya sa paggamit ng pera ng bayan: siya pa nga ang unang magagalit pag hindi siya nabigyan ng kanyang mahiwagang pork barrel. Buti pa sa UK, galit ang mga tao sa mga walang-hiyang politiko...pero dito sa atin, marahil galit nga ang marami, ngunit wala naman silang gustong gawin kasi iniisip nila wala namang mangyayari.

Sana maging halimbawa para sa atin ang ginagawa ng mga taga-Inglatera. Sana mamulat din tayo, sana mainis at magalit din tayo sa mga pagnanakaw, panloloko, at panlilinlang na ginagawa ng ilang kawani sa gobyerno. Hindi namang kailangan punta sa kalye at mag rally. Ipaalam lang natin sa kanila na galit tayo, at ipaalam natin sa kanila na hindi tayo nakakalimot, dahil sa susunod na eleksyon, mas magiging matalino na tayo sa pagpili ng ating mga politiko. Hindi na tayo magpapaloko sa mga walang-hiyang magnanakaw na kunyari lang naman ang pagnanais niyang maglingkod.

Automating the Philippine Elections: Kaya Ba?

It recently came out in the news that 1 bidder in COMELEC's attempt to automate the 2010 elections was deemed eligible, but wa snot yet declared the winning bidder. Other bidders have been disqualified, some are asking for reconsideration, while others are still trying to bid. While all this is happening, the question in some people's mind is: can we really have automated elections in a year's time? Or more importantly: can we have automated elections in 2010, that are clean, honest, orderly, transparent, and credible?

The COMELEC would like to have a fully automated system using the PCOS (Precinct Count Optical Scan) system. We would have 80,000 machines nationwide where in people will have their ballots scanned, and after the voting, results will automatically be transmitted to the municipal and city canvassing centers. Although this system seems all good and problem free, critics and skeptics have aired some concern. First, there is not enough time to actually ensure that all the needed preparations are done properly before 2010. Second, there is still doubt as to the capacity of COMELEC to handle a fully automated system. Its own automated elections advisory council, in a report, expessed doubts as to COMELEC's capacity, based n the existing technological capacity and infrastructure of the commission. There is another sector, a group of local IT experts, who are advocating that the COMELEC adopt an open election system given the time constraints and the capacity of the commission. This system still involves the usual manual voting process that we're all used to. The only new thing is that the transmission of the results will be automated. Less money needed, fewer new things to teach people, but you still have a faster electoral process, and you lessen the possibility of whole sale cheating at the canvassing level.

I personally would prefer a fully automated system - it's about time we had one in our country! But I also believe that we shouldn't force to fully automate if our COMELEC and the entire country is not prepared. What is needed now is for us to be vigilant and to guard the whole bidding and procurement process. More on this to come.

Law Student Councils unite for CARPER

WE KNOW THAT THE LAW IS ON THE FARMERS’ SIDE.

Joint Resolution No. 19, which extends the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program but without providing for compulsory acquisition, expires on June 30. On June 5, however, the second regular session of Congress will end, resuming only on the first week of July. This means that despite months of campaigning and lobbying for a struggle that has spanned decades, and because of the indifference or neglect of our representatives in Congress, we are again in the eleventh hour, with only nine session days left to pass a law that is not only constitutionality mandated, but is required by basic notions of equity and social justice.

The implementation of an agrarian reform program is a Constitutional mandate which the State may not avoid by legislative inaction. Section 4, Art. XIII of the 1987 Constitution requires the State to “undertake an agrarian reform program founded on the right of farmers and regular farmworkers who are landless, to own directly or collectively the lands they till or, in the case of other farmworkers, to receive a just share of the fruits thereof.” As it is, Joint Resolution No. 19 is unconstitutional for being contrary to the very spirit of agrarian reform. If Congress again fails to pass an agrarian reform law by June 5, it will be nothing short of a dereliction of a duty reposed on the legislative body by our Constitution.

The CARP has been in existence for 20 years, but the fruits of authentic agrarian reform in the country have yet to be reaped. 80% of privately owned agricultural lands remain undistributed. 18% of CARP beneficiaries have not received titles to the lands that they till and should rightfully own. 65% of CARP beneficiaries have no access to government support services that should be available in agrarian reform areas. Rural poverty still accounts for 70% of the country’s poor. If we are to attain social justice eloquently defined by Justice Jose P. Laurel in Calalang vs. Williams as “…the humanization of laws and the equalization of social and economic forces by the State…” then agrarian reform is a measure that must not only be continued, but must be among those prioritized.

The Philippine’s agrarian reform program needs to be given more time to fully attain the goals it was created to accomplish. Twenty years of unsatisfactory implementation clearly leaves much room for improvement and reform. House Bill 4077 and Senate Bill 2666, or the CARP Extension with Reforms Bill, reflect the needed changes to address the shortcomings that have prevented the law’s noble purpose from coming into fruition.

We, who study the law, know that laws are there for a reason. Agrarian reform is explicitly identified as a fundamental State policy in Art II Sec 21 of the Constitution. Thus, we ask that our lawmakers breathe life into this policy by enacting laws that set in motion and ensure actual and speedy results.

We, who study the law, know that while the actual provisions are drafted by the members of Congress, laws are ultimately articulations of the people’s will and expressions of the power inherent in them as citizens of a free country. Thus, we remind our lawmakers that their mandate emanates from the people, and their duty is to address their constituents’ needs, even if it means sacrificing their own interests. We reiterate that by eliminating compulsory acquisition, the agrarian reform program is reduced to no more than an empty promise. Without it, there is no reform, only more of the same.

We, who study the law, are no strangers to policies that look resolute on paper, but are torn apart and rendered useless by the selfsame provisions, where motherhood statements mask gaps, loopholes and false pretenses. Thus, we demand that Congress deliver an agrarian reform program that is responsive, sincere and faithful to the principles of social justice.

The second regular session of Congress ends in less than a month. Too much has been lost, too much sacrificed and there is too much at stake for our legislature to fail us now. We take up this cause because we, who study the law, owe it to this country. We owe it to the farmers who walked thousands of miles, and spent weeks in hunger strikes, asking to be heard. We owe it to the blood shed and lives lost. We owe it to the law that we study and pledge to serve. Because if the law cannot be used to protect those who need it the most, then it betrays its own purpose.


TIME IS RUNNING OUT! PASS THE CARPER BILLS (HB 4077 and SB 2666) NOW!!

May 18, 2009

Signed (in alphabetical order):

Student Council
Ateneo Law School
Makati City, Metro Manila

Supreme Law Council
College of Law
Silliman University
Dumaguete City, Oriental Negros

Student Council
College of Law
University of Baguio
Baguio City, Benguet

Civil Law Student Council
College of Law
University of Santo Tomas
Manila City, Metro Manila

Law Student Government
College of Law
University of the Philippines
Quezon City, Metro Manila