AKBAYAN bares “administration fronts” in the party-list race March 26, 2007
Posted by s511 in Elections 2007, electoral reform, party-list system and elections.7 comments
Is the government persecuting anti-GMA party-lists to ensure the
victory of its “front organizations?”
This was the question raised by Akbayan party-list today as it
revealed that several administration-backed groups, from Sigaw ng
Bayan members to those that have been initiated by government
officials, have been accredited by the Commission on Elections.
AKBAYAN Party-list appealed to the Commission on Elections to get its
act together and revisit its list of accredited party-list
organizations and parties that the poll body has allowed to run under
the list system in May’s elections.
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Rep. Etta Rosales talks about admin fronts masquerading as party-lists March 26, 2007
Posted by s511 in Elections 2007, electoral reforms.add a comment
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Rather than arrest Satur, why not train your guns on Cuenca who continues to squat on farmers’ land? March 13, 2007
Posted by s511 in agrarian reform, Human Rights, left killings, party-list system and elections, The Left.6 comments
In behalf of Akbayan, I condemn in the strongest possible terms the continuing persecution and impending arrest of Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo. The more than twenty year old charge of multiple murder against Satur committed at the time he was under military detention reflects the same disdain by the authorities for justice and the rule of law that met the arrest of Rep. Crispin Beltran on trumped up charges over a year ago.
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Akbayan solon calls for immediate installation of farmers in Cuenca land February 28, 2007
Posted by s511 in agrarian reform, Press Releases.add a comment
Akbayan Rep. Etta Rosales today called on the Department of Agrarian Reform Sec. Nasser Pangandaman to facilitate the immediate installation of farmer beneficiaries in Negros lands belonging to Roberto Cuenca.
The Malaga farmers, who have set up camp in front of the DAR premises have been granted certificates of land ownership awards and the DAR itself has admitted on national television that no more impediments should block the awarding of the lands to the farmers.
“It is sad that farmers are being pitted against farmers to delay the installation of the beneficiaries because the land that they are claiming is separate from the one claimed by another group,” said Rosales.
“The secretary’s pronouncements that the farmer beneficiaries are fake holds no water since the list has already been cleansed, going through an inclusion and exclusion process,” added Rosales. “The only impediment is the landlord himself who is unwilling to part with prime lands that under the law, should not belong to him.”
“There is no more process to be undertaken, nothing else that needs to be done except install the farmers,” explained Rosales. “The DAR should instead support the farmers and give them appropriate support services to help uplift their lives.”
“The Arroyo government has the recovered Marcos wealth at its disposal, and out of P35 billion, about P20 billion should go into land acquisitiona nd distribution and P7 billion should go to support services,” Rosales pointed out. “Lack of money cannt be used as an excuse either.”
“Farmers in the area have already been killed, harassed and initimidated by Blue Guards supposedly under the employ of the landlord and this should also be investigated,” added Rosales. “No ifs and buts just because Cuenca is a balae of Iggy Arroyo.”
“Government should understand that landlessness and the resulting poverty is the root cause of armed resistance in the countryside and instead of an unnecessary anti-terror bill it is this social injustice that must be addressed once and for all.”
Solons call for internet posting of voters list February 20, 2007
Posted by s511 in electoral reforms.5 comments
At least 25 solons today pushed for the immediate publication, preferably through the internet of the certified finalized list of registered voters for the 2007 elections.
“The availability and accessibility of this list is crucial in ensuring that its integrity is assured,” said Akbayan Rep. Etta Rosales. “If the public could access it easily, flying voters, erroneous registrations and such will be addressed and eliminated.”
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HOUSE RESOLUTION 1540: A CALL FOR COMELEC TRANSPARENCY IN THE PUBLICATION OF THE REGISTERED VOTERS’ LIST February 20, 2007
Posted by s511 in electoral reforms, Human Rights, party-list system and elections, Position Papers, Press Statements.1 comment so far
One of the basic ills of our flawed electoral process we had inherited from the Marcos regime and which continues as a major problem to the present is the bloated and questionable voters’ list.
When the late Mr. Ferdinand Marcos called for presidential snap elections on 7 February 1986, he succeeded in disenfranchising an estimated one million two hundred thousand voters by collapsing precincts and transferring the list of voters from one precinct to another in opposition bailiwick areas. This bad habit from the Marcos years continues to haunt us with oftentimes the sheer incompetence or inefficiency of some COMELEC personnel. On the other hand, it has been known to all and sundry that certain unscrupulous elements considered experts in the field of elections have done more harm than good to the ordinary voting populace by using their skills in the manipulation of votes known to all as dagdag-bawas. The charges against Mr. Garcillano in the Garci case filed before the joint committee hearings of Information, Suffrage, National Defense and Communications Technology has magnified this in perspective in the last 2004 elections, yet up to now nothing definitive has been done to guard against possible election fraud in the coming 2007 polls. The implementation of the Automated Electoral Systems Act cannot be enforced, according to Comelec for time constraints.
Akbayan holds mass for Marcos victims and passage of compensation bill February 19, 2007
Posted by s511 in Human Rights, Legislation, Marcos Wealth.4 comments
Akbayan party-list today held a mass at the South Wing lobby of the House of Representatives to commemorate the victims of the Marcos regime in line with the pending approval of the compensation bill into law.
ON THE RATIFICATION OF THE COMPENSATION BILL AS PRIORITY IN THE AGENDA OF THE SPECIAL SESSION February 19, 2007
Posted by s511 in Human Rights, Marcos Wealth, Press Statements.add a comment
The Palace Proclamation 1235 asserts that a number of very important bills that have failed ratification this 13th Congress can no longer afford to wait for the 14th Congress. Going through the legislative grind could take another three tedious years which becomes such a waste of time.
We could not agree more. It becomes a crime to the people when bills that had been drafted with their active and steadfast participation and lobby in the past nine years should once again be shoved and shelved without rhyme or reason.
Small Arms and Light Weapons February 7, 2007
Posted by s511 in Speeches.add a comment
Closing Remarks delivered during the Parliamentarians for Global Action Asian regional workshop on Small Arms and the Arms Trade Treaty, February 7, 2007, House of Representatives
I would like to thank all of you for taking the time to attend this very relevant gathering.
The issue of illicit trade in small arms and light weapons could not come at a more opportune time. It has been reported that 638 million small arms around the world, and that by 2020 the number of deaths caused by these weapons will outnumber of deaths caused by malaria, for example. In the Philippines, the small scale gun manufacturing business is booming fueled in part by the longstanding conflicts in Mindanao and the communist insurgency. There are about 415,000 small arms in the country today, their manufacture and use fuelling further internal conflict and threatening our pursuit of peace based on justice.
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KMU and brethren do not own monopoly on outrage and grief January 24, 2007
Posted by s511 in Human Rights, left killings, The Left.4 comments
January 23, 2007
It is saddening that out of nowhere, the Kilusang Mayo Uno has now come out with a malicious release attacking Akbayan and its officers over the issue of extra-judicial killings.
They complain that Akbayan is using the issue for its own purpose. As if issues this grave could be owned by one group alone.
This sectarian behavior is unworthy and disturbing. We wonder whether it ever occurred to KMU for even one edifying moment that these killings include quite a number of Akbayan peasant leaders, mass movement members and local governmnet officials? The KMU seems to be saying that they and they alone have the right to protest gross human rights violations.
The Official Blog of Rep. Etta Rosales 