|Activism is not a crime!|

Greenpeace Philippines 
Activism is not a crime! - Unjust Sentence for Anti-whaling Activists Condemned by Greenpeace Feature story - September 7, 2010

Greenpeace has condemned as disproportionate and unjust a one year jail term, suspended for three years, imposed on two Greenpeace activists, who exposed widespread corruption in the Japanese government’s Southern Ocean whaling program.

Former VP De Castro to face Senate probe on housing loan mess again

APEC is for America

Why is APEC important for America?
 Washington DC, United States, 29 March 2010 - APEC Senior Official, Kurt Tong discusses APEC and priorities for 2011, when APEC will be hosted by the United States:

[QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS TO APEC]

What is APEC?

APEC stands for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. It is an organisation of economies in the Asia-Pacific region formed to foster economic cooperation and trade among them with a view of enhancing international trade. Its members work together to reduce trade barrier, open investment opportunities, ease the exchange of goods, services, resources and technical know-how, and strengthen economic and technical cooperation among them.

APEC Leaders' Declarations

APEC Economic Leaders Meetings are held once a year in the APEC host economy. Declarations from these meetings set the policy agenda for APEC.

[APEC Leaders' Declaration]

APEC LEADERS ECONOMIC VISION STATEMENT

Blake Island, Seattle
20 November, 1993

We have held an unprecedented meeting of the economic leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. In this post Cold War era, we have an opportunity to build a new economic foundation for the Asia Pacific that harnesses the energy of our diverse economies, strengthens cooperation and promotes prosperity.
Our meeting reflects the emergence of a new voice for the Asia Pacific in world affairs. As we prepare to enter the twenty-first century, we believe our dynamic region, representing forty percent of the world's population and fifty percent of its GNP, will play an important role in the global economy, leading the way in economic growth and trade expansion.

The foundation of our economic growth has been the open multilateral trading system. Therefore, we pledge our utmost efforts to bring the Uruguay Round to a successful conclusion by December 15. We are determined the Asia Pacific region will lead the way in taking concrete steps to produce the strongest possible outcome in Geneva. Increased participation by APEC economies in a strengthened GATT system also will facilitate greater regional cooperation.

Our success has been the result of the ability of our societies to adapt to changing circumstances. Our economies are moving toward interdependence and there is a growing sense of community among us. We are united in our commitment to create a stable and prosperous future for our people.
Recognizing our economic interdependence as well as our economic diversity, we envision a community of Asia Pacific economies in which:

The spirit of openness and partnership deepens, enabling us to find cooperative solutions to the challenges of our rapidly changing regional and global economy;

We are a vast Asia Pacific market of two billion people where dynamic economic growth continues, contributing to an expanding world economy and supporting an open international trading system;
We continue to reduce trade and investment barriers so that our trade expands within the region and with the world and goods, services, capital and investment flow freely among our economies;
Our people share the benefits of economic growth through higher incomes, high skilled and high paying jobs and increased mobility;

Improved education and training produce rising literacy rates, provide the skills for maintaining economic growth and encourage the sharing of ideas that contribute to the arts and sciences;
Advances in telecommunications and transportation shrink time and distance barriers in our region and link our economies so that goods and people move quickly and efficiently;
Our environment is improved as we protect the quality of our air, water and green spaces and manage our energy sources and renewable resources to ensure sustainable growth and provide a more secure future for our people.

We recognize this vision will become a reality only if we work together actively to secure it. We are convinced we can succeed. We intend to use our shared vision as a guide for developing the future of our region.
We reaffirm our support for the continued development of APEC as a forum dedicated to producing tangible economic benefits to the region. We urge APEC to expand its economic dialogue and advance its specific work projects. The entrepreneurial spirit and market-oriented policies that have driven our economic dynamism will continue to be fostered within APEC.

We welcome the challenge presented to us in the report of the APEC Eminent Persons Group to achieve free trade in the Asia Pacific, advance global trade liberalization and launch concrete programs to move us toward those long-term goals. We ask APEC to undertake work aimed at deepening and broadening the outcome of the Uruguay Round, strengthening trade and investment liberalization in the region, and facilitating regional cooperation, including in such areas as standards.

We agree to convene a meeting of APEC Finance Ministers to consult on broad economic issues including macroeconomic developments and capital flows. We believe such discussions will help us address some of the challenges facing the region, including ensuring non-inflationary regional growth, financing investment and infrastructure development, and promoting capital market development.

We ask business leaders to establish a Pacific Business Forum to identify issues APEC should address to facilitate regional trade and investment and encourage the further development of business networks throughout the region. We also ask APEC to strengthen its policy dialogue on small and medium size business enterprises.

We agree to make an investment in our future generations by establishing an APEC Education Program to develop regional cooperation in higher education, study key regional economic issues, improve worker skills, facilitate cultural and intellectual exchanges, enhance labor mobility and foster understanding of the diversity of our region. We agree to establish an APEC Business Volunteer Program to promote cooperation among us in the areas of human resource development and the exchange of management skills and techniques.
As members of APEC, we are committed to deepening our spirit of community based on our shared vision of achieving stability, security and prosperity for our peoples.

[What is ASIA PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC)?]

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, is the premier forum for facilitating economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region .

APEC is the only inter governmental grouping in the world operating on the basis of non-binding commitments, open dialogue and equal respect for the views of all participants. Unlike the WTO or other multilateral trade bodies, APEC has no treaty obligations required of its participants. Decisions made within APEC are reached by consensus and commitments are undertaken on a voluntary basis.

APEC has 21 members - referred to as "Member Economies" - which account for approximately 40.5%¹ of the world's population, approximately 54.2%¹ of world GDP and about 43.7%² of world trade.

APEC's 21 Member Economies are Australia; Brunei Darussalam; Canada; Chile; People's Republic of China; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; Republic of Korea; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Peru; The Republic of the Philippines; The Russian Federation; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; United States of America; Viet Nam.

Purpose and Goals
APEC was established in 1989 to further enhance economic growth and prosperity for the region and to strengthen the Asia-Pacific community.

Since its inception, APEC has worked to reduce tariffs and other trade barriers across the Asia-Pacific region, creating efficient domestic economies and dramatically increasing exports. Key to achieving APEC's vision are what are referred to as the 'Bogor Goals' of free and open trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific by 2010 for industrialised economies and 2020 for developing economies. These goals were adopted by Leaders at their 1994 meeting in Bogor, Indonesia.

Learn more about the Bogor Goals in the 1994 Leaders' Declaration.

Free and open trade and investment helps economies to grow, creates jobs and provides greater opportunities for international trade and investment. In contrast, protectionism keeps prices high and fosters inefficiencies in certain industries. Free and open trade helps to lower the costs of production and thus reduces the prices of goods and services - a direct benefit to all.

APEC also works to create an environment for the safe and efficient movement of goods, services and people across borders in the region through policy alignment and economic and technical cooperation.


<sup>1 Sources:
The APEC Region Trade and Investment 2008

2 Sources:
The APEC Region Trade and Investment 2008
World Trade [Trade in goods and services (exports + imports)]</sup>

[China’s next leaders]

Sunday, 07 November 2010 00:00

China and the Philippines have become more tightly bound in commercial and investment relations than most Filipinos realize.
China is financing a lot of our infrastructure projects. Many Chinese companies—most if not all of them state-owned—are involved in many of our most important developmental activities.

China is the Philippines’ third largest trading partner. It is also our third largest donor partner and, despite the hostage-taking tragedy, continues to be a major—our fourth largest—source of visitors, tourists and businessmen, from abroad.

PH-PRC economic, political and cultural relations are growing, and bound to continue to deepen and expand, if only because of our nearness to each other. In a certain sense, though in very different forms, the same political, commercial and political imperatives that made the Philippines an important partner of China in dealing with the New World (the Americas) and Old Europe during the 250 years of the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade (1565 to 1815) are at work today. Geography and the resulting geopolitics tie China and us together.

This physical proximity, and the accidents of history, have imposed on the leaders of the Philippines and China—because millions of Filipinos and Chinese (especially those of Fujian, Guangdong and Hong Kong SAR) are blood relatives and in other ways sharers of a common personal history—a mission to take each other’s nation more sensitively, more caringly.

That goes for Philippine presidents and Cabinet members, as well as lawmakers in both chambers of our Congress, as well as for leaders in the different departments of life in the private sector.

That is the reason we have offered our readers today’s Special Report on the new generation of China’s leaders who will be coming in from 2012 onward.

The words of the former Secretary General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), Ambassador Rod Severino, who is now head of the Asean Studies Center at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), in Singapore, bear repeating here. He was addressing an unsolicited advice to presidential-election winner Benigno Aquino 3rd in an article titled “A Foreign Policy Agenda for the New Philippine President” in Opinion Asia on May 14, 2010.

Ambassador Severino wrote this about China.

“Relations with China.
“President Aquino may have to make an early visit to Beijing, if only to focus his mind on this all-important relationship, to take the measure of China’s decision-makers, and to have a first-hand look at Chinese realities. Some of the issues to deal with are the conflicting claims of the Philippines and China to land features in the South China Sea and the uncertain nature of the maritime regimes there, the competition with China for markets and investments, the opportunities that a rapidly rising China presents to the Philippines, and the links between Chinese firms and powerful Filipinos. For the Philippines, China is both an opportunity and a challenge; it is both a rising power with which the Philippines has a territorial dispute and a surging market that can be an engine of growth for the region of which the country is a part. In any case, China is a looming force in East Asia while being held down by a number of internal constraints.
The Philippines ought to approach its relations with China with utmost seriousness and sophistication, taking these tensions and seeming contradictions into account. http://manilatimes.net/index.php/component/content/article/83-opinion-columnist/31646-chinas-next-leaders 

[Filipinos less happy in 2010]

The level of happiness among poor Filipinos fell “dramatically” over the last three years, according to the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB).
In its Statistically Speaking, NSCB Secretary General Romulo Virola on Tuesday said that the level of happiness did not change much between 2007 and 2008, but dramatically went down in 2010.
He added that the level of the perception-based (using a single question) happiness went down to 47.40 percent from 70.89 percent in 2008 and 69.44 percent in 2007.

Virola said that among the low-income group this year, women are happiest with their family, love life and food, while men are happiest with their sex life, love life and food.

“The men are not very happy with their family, however, a great mismatch with the women and a cause for concern,” he noted.
Other important sources of happiness for women are work, food, and peace and security.

But while peace and security and work are also important to men, food is only ninth most important to men compared to fifth among women.

“This might mean one of the following: that husbands have to take their wives to dinner every now and then; or that unless they can be more convincing in describing their dinner as “ang sarap, [that’s delicious] darling!,” they should learn to cook the dinner themselves. Of course it is understood that husbands should never dare compare the wife’s adobo sa embutido ni nanay [of mother]!,” Virola said.

Adobo and embutido are meat dishes and seen as all-time favorites among Filipinos.
The NSCB chief said that the biggest disparity in the rankings is on sex life.

Virola added that men find it 10th most important with a rating of 8.2 but women find it 18th most important with a rating of 6.8 on a scale of 1 to 10.
Women find love life only 10th most important with a rating of 8.2, but men find it 6th most important with a rating of 8.7.

“This is easy to trivialize, but the unmet expectations for love and sex by either partner can surely lead to problems, and must be managed properly and professionally. In fact, this is probably one explanation for the finding that 8 percent of sexual violence against ever-married women were perpetrated by the husband,” Virola said.

He added that the most important for men and women is family followed by health, religion, work, peace and security and food.
The NSCB chief said that importance of friends as a source of happiness has gone down from No. 4 in 2007 to No. 12 this year.

By Darwin G. Amojelar, Senior Reporter
ManilaTimes.net

Fount of intelligence and wisdom

President Benigno Aquino 3rd deserves to be praised for slashing his P650-million intelligence fund by P250 million. It shows him to be a man of integrity and self-abnegation. One might say that in this matter, President PNoy is a fount of intelligence and wisdom. He no doubt wishes his act to be taken as an example by other heads of government agencies, each of whom also has an intelligence fund.

His intelligence fund as President of the Philippines is P650 million. By giving up P250 million, his intelligence fund has shrunk to only P400 million.


That is still a large amount. And it takes integrity and a generous spirit of frugality to give up P250 million that he could actually use in any way he pleases—as long as he wrote in a piece of paper that it was for gathering intelligence and placed the piece of paper in a sealed envelop and gave this to the government auditors. The auditors then take the President’s word that the money was properly used for intelligence gathering.

Liquidation by certification
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Franklin Drilon wants the entire concept of the intelligence fund for non-police and military agencies reviewed and the money placed in the regular budget. He described how the money is accounted for to meet legal requirements—without proper and detailed examination by the Commission on Audit.

Malacañang agrees to the review of the intelligence fund system.

Drilon told media this manner of accounting for the intelligence fund is called “liquidation by certification.” Among government people it is also called the “envelope system of liquidation,” he added.

“You write in a piece of paper the use of intelligence fund to purchase intelligence information from a certain Juan de la Cruz. You put the piece of paper in an envelope, then you seal it, and you give it to the Commission on Audit [COA[, and you have liquidated the amount,” the senator (and former senate president) said. He added that the COA auditors have the power to open the sealed envelop and read what it says. But they cannot question the President (or any official who has intelligence funds has submitted a certificate of liquidation).

Senator Drilon and everybody else agrees that security officers of the government—especially those in the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Immigration Department, and perhaps even the specially designated units of the Bureaus of Customs and Internal Revenue—should have an intelligence fund. That budget is necessary.

Intelligence funds have been abused
But for other government offices, it does seem ridiculous to have department secretaries and bureau chiefs given intelligence funds exempt from the rules of transparency and COA scrutiny.

Senator Drilon says the use of the intel fund has been abused so much by previous administrations.
So he wants to place the intelligence fund under regular budget items rather than being included as a lump sum under the label “intelligence fund” which is not subject to proper auditing procedures.

The Ilongo senator wants intelligence funds to be reprogrammed “to line functions” and therefore no longer be treated as confidential. These should then be subject to regular auditing by COA.
The 2010 budget allocates P1.380 billion for intelligence funds.

The total 2011 budget allocation for intelligence funds for the various offices in the PNoy administration is P1.425 billion. This lump sum intelligence fund does not cover the intelligence funds for military and police use. And this P1.425 billion neither includes intelligence funds allocated by local government units for their own use nor funds allocated by the directors of government corporations and other state enterprises for their own use.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile agrees—even if he says the P1.425 billion for the intelligence fund in the current budget is a small part of the 2011 P1.6-trillion budget—that intelligence funds for non-security agencies and offices should be made part of the regular budgets and be subject to normal auditing.

Mr. Enrile said the President’s office is not an intelligence gathering agency. It is in fact a user of intelligence obtained by all the intelligence-gathering units.

Legacy of the Cold War and Martial Law regime
Every government office was given an intelligence budget during the Cold War years. The purpose of the fund is for the chief of the agency or office to be able to unearth useful and vital information for the national interest, often related to national security, that would otherwise never be obtained.

It reflects the anti-communist paranoia that pervaded the Martial Law regime.

It veritably made each head of agency, and his or her close assistants, an extension of the police and military intelligence service. Its use is supposed to be totally sub rosa. That is why the intelligence fund is not audited in detail by the Commission on Audit. That system must be abolished. Fount of intelligence and wisdom