In between spending the day at the headquarters and meeting with allied candidates, organizations and supporters, I joined some of Kabataan Partylist’s sorties this past week, the first in the official campaign period for the May 2010 national elections.

Our campaign platform for this elections is E 4 ALL: End corruption and tyranny, Education and employment, Environment and national patrimony, and Empowerment and equality.

Our campaign slogan is “Ipagpatuloy ang Magandang Simula,” which is a call to continue advancing the rights and welfare of the youth in Philippine Congress through the representation of Kabataan Partylist. We are proud of what we have accomplished the brief six months we were seated in the House of Representatives and we look forward to continuing our work, with two more Representatives next Congress. We may not have had constructed classrooms nor bridges like other congressmen, because as members of the opposition we are not being given our proper fund allocations, but we have filed countless bills and resolutions aimed at promoting the welfare of the youth, and successfully pushed for various campaigns including the extension of the voters registration and and the suspension of the implementation of various “no permit, no exam” policies in colleges and universities nationwide.

On our first day, we held a motorcade around Manila, starting off at Liwasang Bonifacio, onto Taft, then Espana, Morayta, and Recto through some of Manila’s major universities, distributing campaign flyers to and speaking with students and residents of nearby communities. We also passed through Sampaloc on our way back to Quezon City. Our local chapters in other parts of the country also made their own campaign kick-off activities. Our Quezon City chapter held their own motorcade in the metro’s largest city. In Baguio City, members held ‘Kabataan Fest’ at the Malcolm Square. Meanwhile, Kabataan Partylist in Panay released doves and balloons while Southern Tagalog, Negros, and Davao City chapters held grand caravans to declare the youth’s intent to continue its service to the people.

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Tags: 2010 elections, Cavite, Kabataan Partylist, Makabayan, Nacionalista Party

Why should Land Reform be a major election issue?

A huge part of our population still depends on agriculture for their livelihood. 75%, or three-fourths, in fact are farmers and farmworkers. And for every ten farmers, seven do not own the land they work on.

Farmers who do not have their own land have to work on the haciendas and estates of landlords, and corporate farms of foreign agribusinesses. As a consequence, they do not own the harvest even if they did all the labor. They do not even have a say on how the harvest should be divided and almost all the time, the division is unfair.

Many of our presidents have passed so-called land reform laws, the latest of which is Cory Aquino’s CARP (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program). CARP was supposed to expire in 1998 but was extended. On the eve of CARP’s second expiration in 2008, peasant group KMP released a study which showed that from 1988 to 2008, the figure of 70% of peasants being landless did not change.

According to the KMP, the CARP contained many ‘loopholes’ which allowed landlords to either evade CARP or regain their lands from farmer-beneficiaries. One is the SDO (stock distribution option) of Hacienda Luisita notoriety. Instead of land, peasants are given shares of stock in the corporation owning the land. Land can always be planted with crops, meaning it is a steady source of income, or at least food. Stocks can only be exchanged for cash once, and most of the time, it has little or no value.

Another loophole is that the peasants have to pay for the land. This is unfair considering that in most cases, it is the sweat and blood of the peasants and their ancestors who made the land bloom in the first place. The decades of exploited labor by the farmers are more than enough payment for the land. Additionally, the landlords overvalue their land when it is being covered by CARP. The peasants have no say because only the landlord, DAR (Dept. of Agrarian Reform), and Land Bank get to determine the land value.

The KMP also criticized the CARPER (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms) which is brainchild of Akbayan and its Representative, Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel. The CARPER did not change any of the loopholes. It only added more funds for the CARP. Coincidentally, many NGOs allied with Akbayan receive CARP funds.

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Tags: 2010 elections, CARP, Chiz Escudero, GARB, Gilbert Teodoro, land reform, landlords, Liza Maza, Makabayan, Manny Villar, Noynoy Aquino, Satur Ocampo

I had almost forgotten to write about our partylist’s national convention. Kabataan Partylist held its national convention last November 17 and 18, 2009. The first day was allotted for a plenary session among delegates from our chapters across the country. The second was a public convention with speeches from guests and performances from cultural organizations, capped off by a concert from a handful of popular bands. More then three thousand students from different schools, residents from various communities and delegates from all over the country filled the UP Bahay ng Alumni that night.

Senatorial candidates Liza Maza & Satur Ocampo were also in attendance to give solidarity messages to the youth. Other politicians also arrived and delivered brief speeches.

In his speech, Kabataan Rep. Mong Palatino laid out a youth agenda for the 2010 elections. From reforms in the education system (increase budget of public schools, universities and colleges, among others) to providing decent employment and protection for the rights of workers, Mong also stressed that good governance should also be a key platform of every candidate, taking off from the myriad of corruption scandals of the Arroyo administration. Mong also reiterated the need to prioritize the needs of the Filipino people over that of foreign interests. He stressed that the youth will make up almost 40% of the votes in the 2010 elections, and that the collective strength of the youth can determine and greatly influence the outcome of the said democratic exercise.

Tags: 2010 elections, Bahay ng Alumni, convention, Kabataan Party, Mong Palatino

I am reposting this excerpt from this blog post from Viewer Discretion with regard to the recent political music video advertisement of presidential aspirant Noynoy Aquino.

If there is anything stark about how election campaigns are shaping up, it is that there is a general agreement that the current Arroyo administration is so horrible, so corrupt, and indeed so dark (ang “paligid ay madilim”) that there is an urgent need for a way out. But decades of personality politics and the class-biased nature of our democracy and elections have and will still practically forbid the possibility of having any presidentiables from the middle/working class by mere virtue of the huge costs of an election campaign. The song “Hindi Ka Nag-Iisa” reflects this hopelessness—and more strikingly, the passivity of the bourgeoisie (“ang Pilipinas ay naghihintay, kami ay susunod”).

Of course, to deflect focus on this passivity, the song uses images of activism and rallies (“magkapit-bisig tayo”), which is strange because these are the very techniques that many petty/bourgeoisie deem “outdated” and “ineffective.” Apparently, the image of a mass demonstration (most notably used in Boni Ilagan’s historical documentary “Sa Liyab ng Libong Sulo,” definitely a more progressive and highly contextualized use of the sulo imagery, which you can watch online in six parts: 1 2 3 4 5 6) remains acknowledged as the most powerful tool in the collective struggle for social change—and while those in a comfortable social position are wont to avoid it like the plague, they are also quick to use it in pursuit of their own interests.

Tags: 2010 elections, class struggle, Noynoy Aquino, Philippine politics, rally

This commentary was originally published at Philippine Online Chronicle’s Blog Watch special section on the upcoming 2010 national elections.

I take offense when some individuals insist that the Filipino people deserve the corrupt government and the inept public officials they elect. In light of the recent calamities that struck the nation, some people have the gall to gag people from blaming their government. It is insulting. Nakakaawa na nga ang sitwasyon ng masa, sinisisi pa sila. Pinning the blame on the people is the kind of mentality that lets crooks in government get away with corruption and ineptitude. In other words, it’s a scapegoat. It’s unfortunate that some people buy it and promote it without shame.

Truly, the Filipino people do not deserve being bled dry by their inutile government. The Filipino people do not deserve being denied of adequate social services. True, it is the people who elect the politicians. But the claim on the direct relationship totally disregards the prevailing conditions of the democratic system in the Philippines, and in many places in the world for that matter.

All along, it’s akin to providing a sick man with heart disease only establishments in a fastfood-exclusive food court to choose from for his meals. (Reminds me of a government hospital along East Avenue). He cannot be faulted for choosing a Big Mac or a two piece ChickenJoy meal–the system denies him any alternative, else he induce famish upon himself. It may answer his immediate needs from hunger, but the fact is, any choice he makes in the food court will eventually harm him, some faster and more harmful than others, and will even profit and make money from his plight. What can he do? These choices, and the entire food court establishment is maintained by well-oiled machineries of propaganda and intense commercial advertising campaigns which make the establishment and the choices look very appealing–enough to induce one to consume and feel fulfillment from the consumptions, without providing the consumer, or in this case the sick man, with the space to realize the long-term effects.

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Tags: 2010 elections, Philippine politics

As youths and new registrants endure long lines to register for the 2010 polls, Kabataan Party-list Rep. Mong Palatino today questioned the legality of the Commission on Election’s shortening of the period of continuing registration up to tomorrow October 31.

Palatino today filed a Petition for Certiorari and Mandamus with Application for Preliminary Mandatory Injunction before the Supreme Court today. The full text of the petition may be read at http://tinyurl.com/yhyqwov.

Other petitioners were Jade Charmane Rose Valenzuela, Jacqueline Alexis Merced, Ana Katrina Tejero, Kenneth Carlisle Earl Eugenio and Victor Louis Crisostomo, all first-time-voters who tried but failed to register due various reasons; and Alvin Peters, president of the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), Vijae Alquisola, president of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), Ken Leonard Ramos, chairperson of Anakbayan, and, Ma. Cristina Angela Guevarra, chairperson of the Student Christian Movement of the Philippines (SCMP).

The petitioners stated that the Comelec violated the people’s right to register and, thus, right of suffrage, when it issued and implemented Comelec Resolution No. 8585, dated February 12, 2009, fixing the deadline of application of registration of voters on October 31, 2009, more than two months earlier than is prescribed by Republic Act. No. 8189 or The Voters Registration Act of 1996.

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Tags: 2010 elections, Kabataan Party, Mong Palatino, Supreme Court, voters registration

A few days ago, I went to UP Los Banos to attend a forum sponsored by a Buklod-UPLB, a student political alliance in campus. I found it odd at first because Buklod, is a “blue” party (which in terms of the spectrum of campus politics, is on the other side of the fence from where I stand), contesting student council seats from our colleagues in the militant Sakbayan. Nevertheless, I told them that appreciated that they invited someone like me, all the way from UP Diliman, to share my views, however different it may be from theirs.

The forum was about the 2010 elections and the youth’s participation in it. I was one of four panelists, others were from the Liberal Party (represented by ex-Congressman Neric Acosta), a media organization (I don’t remember which one exactly), and YouthVote Philippines.

What I said was nothing you wouldn’t have expected me to say. Among others, I said that all the hype about the youth participation in the 2010 elections is well and good. However, I stressed out that the youth’s participation goes well beyond 2010 and the elections. I encouraged everyone to sustain the heightened enthusiasm in participating in the elections and use it as the drive to participate in more democratic exercises in their school, in their communities, with other sectors of society, into the streets or wherever their passion drives them to. We cannot rely on the elections alone as the only means for effecting social change in a country plagued by systemic economic and class exploitation, especially because the elections is largely dominated by those who thrive on that kind of order.

I forget what the other speakers said. I think they all said the same thing, drumming up the same slogan of youth participation in the elections. Which is all well and good, as I’ve said.

Anyway, after the forum, I spent the rest of the day till much later into the night with my fraternity brods and our sorority sisters in Los Banos. It was actually just my third time in UPLB (the other two being just a grade school and a high school field trip to the botanical garden), and my first time to meet met most of my batchmates in Los Banos. This time I also got to go around the campus itself and the different places outside the gates. Needless to say, I had a great time and I’m looking forward to my next visit, hopefully a longer one. Soon.

Tags: 2010 elections, fraternity, Laguna, UPLB, Upsilon

Kabataan Party-list Representative Raymond “Mong” Palatino today proposed a ‘day-off with pay’ for employees to allow them to register for the 2010 elections. (see House Resolution 1336)

“Employees who work during office hours do not have time to register. By the time their shift ends, government offices conducting voters’ registration have already closed. Companies should give their employees one day-off on or before the deadline for voters’ registration to ensure that they will be able to participate in the 2010 polls, especially since most first-time workers are also first-time voters,” Palatino said.

Palatino cited the 100% Employee Voters Registration Program of Nexus, a Business Process Outsourcing Company, as an example of such an initiative. “While there are companies that launch voters’ registration programs, it would be better if all companies are mandated by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to give their employees a whole day off for them to register,” he said.

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Tags: 2010 elections, DOLE, House Resolution, Kabataan Party, labor, Mong Palatino, voters registration

With two months left before the Commission on Elections ends the continuing registration for new voters for the 2010 elections, and with only less than one million registrants out of the target five million new voters, Kabataan Partylist and the National Union of Students of the Philippines launched last Thursday, August 20, the Isang Milyon, Isang Panata campaign to rally and encourage the youth to participate in the upcoming elections. The program was held at a conference room in Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila. Student representatives from different schools around Manila were present.

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Tags: 2010 elections, COMELEC, Kabataan Party, Manila, NUSP, PLM, voters registration, youth sector

Isang milyon, isang panata. Isang libo isang bayan, isang milyon sa buong bansa, lahat namamamanata para sa pagbabago. Ito ang sama-samang pagtutulungang abutin ng kabataan at bayan. “Panata naming bumoto. Panata naming bantayan ang boto. Panata naming kumilos para sa pagbabago.” Ito ang mga katagang bibigkasin ng milyong kabataan at mamamayan. Kolektibong boses, sama-samang panata.

See you tomorrow at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) at 10 AM for the launching of the nationwide voters registration campaign!

Tags: 2010 elections, Kabataan Party, voters registration, youth sector

365 days to go

“Kabataan, tayo ang pagbabago.”

This was the message of Kabataan Party-list together with other youth and student groups as they launched a ‘youth countdown to 2010’ today.

Kabataan Party-list kicked off the countdown with a Voters’ Registration and Education campaign dubbed, ‘We Are Change’.

Other sponsors of the effort were the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights in UP (STAND-UP), College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), Student Christian Movement, League of Filipino Students, Kabataang Artista para sa Tunay na Kalayaan, Anakbayan and Youth ACT Now (Youth for Truth and Accountability Now).

Kabataan Party-list Rep. Mong Palatino said, “We are aware of numerous initiatives by various sectors to launch voters’ awareness and education projects and we express our desire to cooperate with them. ‘We Are Change,’ however, signifies the forging of youth unity for youth empowerment and active participation for change in 2010 and beyond. This is our very own countdown to change, initiated by the youth. Kabataan, tayo ang pagbabago.”

Palatino said that the We Are Change campaign aims to reach the 11 million first-time voters for 2010.

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Tags: 2010 elections, congress, elections, Kabataan Party, party-list, Philippine politics, STAND UP, voters registration, youth sector