Erap in the city

Former President Joseph Estrada arrived in Zamboanga City today (17Sept08) together with Senator Loren Legarda, Senator Ernesto Maceda and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay on board a Philippine Airlines flight which came after 11 a.m.

Mr. Estrada’s wife, Senator Loi, arrived earlier.

They will be attending the golden wedding anniversary of Nonoy Tan, owner of the Aleson Shipping Lines Inc. which is based in the city.

Legarda also mentioned she will also be meeting the Zamboecozone and freeport officials to check on the status of the ecozone.

Mr. Estrada is also set to meet his supporters tomorrow morning  (18Sept08) at the historical Plaza Pershing.

Zamboanga donates goods for soldiers

In an early Sunday (14Sept08) morning ceremonies, Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat turned over goods for the soldiers to the Armed Forces chief General Alexander Yano which was held at Camp Navarro in Upper Calarian.

Some 300,000 pesos worth of goods were donated by the city government and the local Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

The complete list of items given were 85 sacks of rice, 80 cases of sardines, 30 boxes of bottled water, 360 pieces of toothbrush and toothpaste set, 20 cases of bar soap, 104 cases of instant noodles, 2 boxes of bread sticks, boxes of coffee and assorted groceries.

Yano, in turn, thanked Zamboanga City for the donations. He also showed a magazine containing children’s letters and drawing for the soldiers which they compiled to be distributed to boost the morale of the soldiers fighting insurgents and terrorist to protect the people.

Philippine Navy FOIC visits Zamboanga

The newly installed Philippine Navy flag officer in command Rear Admiral Ferdinand Golez arrived in the city on Friday (12Sept08) to visit his troops at the Naval Forces Western Mindanao head by his PMA 1976 classmate Read Admiral Emilio Marayag.

Golez in replaced outgoing Philippine Navy chief Vice Admiral Rogelio Calunsag during an August 2, 2008 turnover of command presided by the Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro.

Golez also paid a visit to Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat.

[We were only able to cover Golez' courtesy call to the mayor which came after his visit to his troops at the navy headquarters because the navy information officer failed to inform national correspondents of his visit to the city.]

Ex-army soldier killed

On Thursday (11Sept08), retired army man Lt. Santiago Piedad was gunned down by an unknown assailant as he was riding through the San Jose Gusu road with his child in a single motorcycle.

The police are still probing on the case but have detained a man who also sustained gunshot wounds.

[These was the reason why the Baliwasan area during that time was in a traffic jam.]

US soldiers in the south Philippines

Critics say the US military are overstaying in the Philippines. Are they?

US soldiers are here in the Philippines mainly to train Filipino soldiers and to provide humanitarian assistances in provinces like Sulu, Basilan and parts of central Mindanao. They started to arrive in Mindanao when the US and the Philippines held a joint military exercise in the al Qaeda linked Abu Sayyaf stronghold of Basilan. During that time, US missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham where hostages of the dreaded southern Philippine militants – Abu Sayyaf.

In recent Philippine military operations, witnesses report sighting of US soldiers near encounter sites but the Philippines and US military denies these reports saying the US soldiers who primary mission is for humanitarian services are not in any way in the immediate danger of these military operations.

In the past, national and foreign correspondents in the southern Philippines are perpetually invited by the US military public affairs officers to cover their events.  They even shuttle the media from their base to the areas where they do their humanitarian services. Recently, no more such invitations where given by the public affairs even as the US military are still doing their humanitarian efforts in the south. They owe it to the limited resources they have on the ground.

In my opinion, by discountinuing the invitations to the media to their events placed the visiting US forces in the light of the critics. What are they really doing here?

One lawyer told us that the US forces’ routinely changing their men on the ground who are just in small numbers is apt to comply with the visiting forces agreement.

The US military through is humanitarian efforts have reached to thousand and thousands of people in remote areas in the span of six years giving them medical aid, building schools, roads and bridges, helping communities build their water supplies, and promoting peace. They have also efficiently helped the Philippines in wide-scale disasters like the Guinsaugon landlside, sinking of the ferry boat and the Philippine airforce C-130 crash.

What press freedom?

[A statement of the NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS OF THE PHILIPPINES dated September 10, 2008.]

In a speech at the founding anniversary of Quirino province on Wednesday, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo again took a swipe at the Philippine media, saying it was “challenging…to govern our nation, especially with a media that is the freest in the whole world, as it was during my father’s presidency,”

The NUJP takes exception to Mrs. Arroyo’s statement on two points.

First, maybe the President should address her description of “freest media in the world” to the widows and orphans of the 60 Filipino journalists murdered since she ascended into power in 2001.

We again call attention to that fact that this is the highest death toll for the Philippine media under any sitting president, including the late Ferdinand Marcos, who was dictator for 14 years. It is also a toll almost double that of all three presidents preceding Mrs. Arroyo.

It was also under the present administration that the Philippines was, for three years running, declared the “most murderous” country in the world to practice journalism. Most murderous because, unlike war-torn Iraq – still the most dangerous in the world – where being caught in the crossfire is a daily risk, in this country, journalists are deliberately targeted for the most extreme form of censorship.

Time and again, we have pointed out that this is so because of the culture of impunity this government helps nurture in two ways – by its law enforcers’ failure to solve the bulk of the cases or get the masterminds in the handful of murders where the perpetrators have been caught or prosecuted; and by actually attempting to curtail press freedom, as it did during the February 2006 state of emergency and in last year’s mass arrest of journalists during the Manila Peninsula incident, or the many pronouncements and threats by ranking government officials.

Which brings us to the second point that disturbs us, that a president of a supposedly democratic society should find it “challenging” to govern with what she herself describes as “media that is the freest in the whole world.”

We are afraid that such statement can only worsen the climate of impunity as it may very well be taken by those who would seek to silence individual journalists or the Philippine media as a tacit endorsement of nefarious plans.

While we are at it, we will concede that the Philippine media are far from perfect. Neither are journalists saints.

The patterns of media ownership – meaning the many vested interests that own or control media organizations – and the widespread disregard of many media outfits for their personnel’s economic, professional and physical welfare, especially of the provincial correspondents who are most often in the frontlines of repression, also serve to undermine the full realization of press freedom in our country.

The poor working and economic conditions under which many of our colleagues labor, abetted by the media owners’ failure to look at the professional advancement of practitioners, has also given rise to many ethical issues.

Despite these problems, most Filipino journalists and many media organizations continue to perform their duty of delivering the information that is crucial to empowering our people as they make decisions about their individual and collective lives, even as they stand up to and fend off all attempts to curtail press freedom.

Indeed, if the Philippine media are, as Mrs. Arroyo describes them, the “freest in the whole world,” it is no thanks to her or her administration but to the continued vigilance of the independent press and journalists and the people they serve.#

Jose Torres Jr., Chairperson
Sonny Fernandez,  Secretary General

Taiwan donates garbage trucks

Three white garbaged trucks – all repainted by the city, were parked infront of the city hall on Tuesday morning (9Sept08) as the Taiwanese ambassador Donald Lee arrives to turn them over to the city government.

The garbage trucks were donated by the city of Taichong in Taiwan.

After alighting from the heavily secured convoy, Lee joined Mayor Celso Lobregat in a short ceremony to bless and officially turn over the trucks.

Lee, who said he was not afraid to be in Zamboanga City and that the city is fairly secured, promised to work to donating more for the city.

The city works to keep every barangay clean. [In Sta. Maria, I see three dump trucks already. I think the city should also employ more who will man these garbage trucks.]

New patrol cars

Recently, Mayor Celso Lobregat turned over to the city police three mutlicabs for use as patrol cars in the city as part of the security intesification drive the city is going through. He also turned over an L300 van to the Task Force Zamboanga. All these, costing about Php400-700 thousand, to keep our city secured at all times.