In Typhoons’ Wake, Filipinos Search for Victims - NYTimes.com

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By CARLOS H. CONDE

MANILA — Using picks, shovels and bare hands, rescuers and volunteers searched Sunday for bodies buried by dozens of landslides in the Philippines, as the country struggled to recover from successive typhoons that have killed more than 600 people.

The exact number of casualties from the landslides and the floods caused by the last typhoon, Parma, was hard to determine.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council reported a countrywide death toll of 193 from Parma. It takes time, however, for the council to confirm regional tolls.

The number of deaths was expected to rise as rescuers searched mountainous and interior areas in the northern Philippines, where Parma lingered for a week before leaving the country on Friday.

“Dozens of people are still missing,” said Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres, spokesman for the National Disaster Coordinating Council, according to Reuters. “We have heavy equipment there, but our rescuers are very cautious because they are also at risk.”

He continued: “As of now, food and relief materials can only be delivered by helicopters because it would take two to five days to clear up roads and bridges washed out by floods and landslides.”

In late September, Typhoon Ketsana battered Manila and nearby provinces, killing 337 people. Several areas affected by Ketsana remained flooded on Sunday.

Parma, which first hit the Philippines on Oct. 3 but returned on Thursday, caused more than $100 million in damage to crops and property. The northern Philippines, particularly central Luzon, supplies more than half of the country’s rice; Parma damaged vast tracts of paddies that were to be harvested this month.

Parma has been particularly disastrous because it hit remote, mountainous areas, where use of heavy equipment is limited.

“Much of the rescue work is done manually,” said Santos Nero, deputy secretary general of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance, a nonprofit organization that is involved in the rescue and relief operations.

The destruction has been heavy in Benguet Province, where at least six landslides were reported and where more than 150 bodies have been recovered.

Mr. Nero said damming and erosion caused by extensive mining in Benguet, which has been going on for at least a hundred years, exposed whole communities to danger. “Our worry now is that the next storm could unleash so much rain that it might break the tailings dams of these mining companies,” Mr. Nero said by telephone from Baguio City, where his group is based. “That would be the worst disaster.”

Much of Pangasinan Province, in the plains of central Luzon, was inundated by floodwaters released from several dams that submerged more than a hundred villages downstream. Residents said it rained for three consecutive days before the release of the dam water. The government, using helicopters from both the Philippine and the United States military, has resorted to airdropping relief supplies because of the isolation of many villages.

Parma not only flooded cities and towns, it also rendered major roads and highways impassable and destroyed several bridges that connect the provinces to the capital, Manila.

SSRN-From Rebels to Soldiers: An Analysis of the Philippine and East Timorese Policy Integrating Former Moro National Liberation Front (Mnlf) and Falintil Combatants into the Armed Forces by Rosalie Hall

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Hall, Rosalie A., From Rebels to Soldiers: An Analysis of the Philippine and
East Timorese Policy Integrating Former Moro National Liberation Front
(Mnlf) and Falintil Combatants into the Armed Forces (2009). APSA 2009
Toronto Meeting Paper. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1450242

Full-text is downloadable free.

Abstract:

The Philippines and East Timor are two countries whose governments have
integrated ex-insurgents into their regular armed forces and police. In the
Philippines, the arrangement to integrate 5,000 rebels came out of the final
peace agreement signed between the government and the Moro National
Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1996. The MNLF integrees were mixed into the
regular police and military units deployed in conflict areas in Mindanao.
The East Timorese case, on the other hand, involved the in-take of
ex-Falintil combatants into the newly created state military within the
framework of demobilization and disarmament. Previous studies on security
sector reform point to the shortcomings in training and military
organizational culture for units with ex-rebels in the ranks. Integration
policy both as a peace strategy and a security sector reform initiative is
problematized in view of the gender-blind assumptions behind it and
differential economic benefits it confers. The politicized nature of the
policy itself--that is, the negotiations between international actors and
local stakeholders over the decision to integrate, who to select and the
concomitant consequences of this decision to security force composition and
professionalism invite theorizing. This paper is based on a comparative
research project funded by Toyota Foundation's Southeast Asian Regional
Exchange Program, which examines and compares the policy behind the
selection, training, placement and utilization of rebel-integrees into the
East Timor Defense Force (FDTL) and the Philippine army to respond to
internal security challenges. It probes how international actors (the United
Nations, donors, third parties and neighbors), national/local political
authorities and civil society representatives informed the policies. The
gendered assumptions made by those who crafted the integration policy will
also be looked at. In addition, the research will examine how identity
markers (in the Philippine case, religion; in East Timor, ethnicity) inform
the ways in which the ex-rebels function inside the armed forces. The
implication of the integration policy into the future prospects for peace in
both countries will also be explored.

Keywords: rebel integration, military merger, Falintil, Moro National
Liberation Front

VOA News - Rescue Workers Search for Survivors from Asian Disasters, Death Toll Likely to Rise

By Daniel Schearf Bangkok 02 October 2009

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Indonesian youth clean up rubbles in their home destroyed by earthquake in Pariaman, coastal town about 40 miles northwest of Padang, West Sumatra

Authorities say the death toll from an earthquake in Indonesia is likely to pass 1,000 as underequipped rescue workers dig through rubble for survivors. And the Philippines is on alert as a new typhoon heads toward the islands days after Typhoon Ketsana killed more than 400 people there and in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos.

Indonesian rescue workers are digging by hand Friday, trying to find survivors among the hundreds of people believed trapped under piles of concrete.

Wednesday's earthquake struck off the coast of western Sumatra, with most of the damage in the city of Padang.

VOA's Jakarta correspondent, Brian Padden, has just arrived in Padang. He says the streets are busy with people and aid workers are pouring into the city.

"Just from the airport itself, it's like every third or fourth building we passed, there's serious damage, many have collapsed completely," he said. "Electricity is out everywhere. … There are long lines at gas stations, people are lined up with containers waiting to get the limited supply of gasoline that's here in the area."

Padden says the damage from Wednesday's quake is much worse than that from an earthquake in early September.

"In the last earthquake that hit Java, damage there was scattered, there'd be little pinpoints of damage. Here it seems everywhere, it's everywhere you look," he said.

Indonesia has asked for foreign aid to help with rescue efforts and support those affected by the 7.6 magnitude quake.

Numerous countries have offered assistance, including the United States, which pledged $3 million to help the quake victims.

Washington has also pledged aid for victims of a tropical storm that struck the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos this week. The storm killed more than 400 people in the region.

Typhoon Ketsana made landfall in the Philippines on Saturday, flooding parts of the capital, Manila and leaving tens of thousands homeless.

The Philippines is warning people to leave low-lying areas as another powerful typhoon nears.

In other natural disasters, the death toll from tsunami waves that hit the pacific islands of Samoa, American Samoa, and Tonga is nearing 200.

BBC - Philippines braces for new storm

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The Philippines has ordered the evacuation of thousands of people from areas in the path of a second powerful typhoon to hit the country in a week.

Typhoon Parma is expected to hit the main island of Luzon north of the capital Manila early on Saturday.

Officials fear a second disaster after Typhoon Ketsana caused the worst floods in the Philippines in decades.

Ketsana caused nearly 300 deaths in the Philippines, as well as more than 100 in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

Parts of the Philippines near Manila remain flooded after Ketsana dropped a month's worth of rain in 12 hours last Saturday.

'Strongest typhoon'

President Gloria Arroyo appeared on national television to order the evacuation of low-lying coastal areas threatened by the new typhoon.

"We need that preventative evacuation," she said.

The military and police have been put on alert and civilian agencies have been ordered to stockpile food, water and medicine.

The Philippine weather bureau said Parma, with winds of up to 230km/h (140mph), would be the strongest typhoon to hit the country since 2006.

Nathaniel Cruz, the head weather forecaster in the Philippines, said Parma could yet change direction and miss the country, adding that it was carrying less rain than Ketsana.

But he said its strong winds could be highly destructive.

"We are dealing with a very strong typhoon [and] there is a big possibility that this typhoon will gather more strength," Mr Cruz said.

There are also fears that more heavy rain could worsen flooding left from the earlier typhoon.

"We're concerned about the effects of more rain on the relief work in flooded areas because the water level could rise again," said Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro.

Thousands homeless

Ketsana, with winds of up to 100km/h (60mph), hit the Philippines early last Saturday, crossing the main northern island of Luzon before heading out toward the South China Sea.

Almost two million people were affected by the flooding in Manila, the worst to hit the city in 40 years. At one point, 80% of the city was submerged.

Tens of thousands of people were left homeless.

Ketsana went on to hit the mainland of South-East Asia where it is now confirmed to have killed 99 people in Vietnam, 16 in Laos and 14 in Cambodia.

Most of the people have died in flooding or landslides caused by the sudden, heavy rain.

Authorities in Vietnam have been delivering food and water by speed boat and helicopter to isolated communities affected by Ketsana.

Some villages in Vietnam and Cambodia remained cut off by mudslides and flooding.

VOA News - Philippines Launches Massive Relief Operation After Flood

By Heda Bayron Hong Kong 28 September 2009

Bayron Report - Download (MP3)
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The Philippines has appealed for international assistance following the worst flooding in more than 40 years. At least 140 people have been killed as a result of the heavy rains and, as the death toll from the disaster continues to rise, the government has been overwhelmed by its scale.

Elated flood victims reach out to receive relief goods after flood water subsides in Cainta, east of Manila, 28 Sep 2009

The Philippine government is scrambling to provide shelter, food and basic supplies for hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the floods.

Tropical storm Ketsana brought torrential rains to the northern Philippines Saturday, inundating most of the capital Manila and surrounding provinces. Surging water washed away buildings and cars. Scores of people were killed and many are still missing.

President Gloria Arroyo called the disaster an "extreme event" that has strained the government's capabilities to the limit. She said rescue efforts will continue until all residents are accounted for.

Two days after the flooding, rescue and relief operations continue to be hampered by the lack of rubber boats and helicopters. Many victims are demanding answers from local authorities for the lack of advance warning and the slow response to the emergency. Victims said they were stranded on their rooftops for hours before help arrived.

Flood waters in some areas subsided Monday but thousands of homes are still without power.

The government has appealed for international humanitarian assistance. Vilma Cabrera, assistant secretary of the Philippine Social Welfare Department, said Monday her agency needs donations of basic necessities.

"Right now we need mats, blankets, mosquito nets, cooking utensils. We need hygiene kits and we need flashlights and lighting equipment," said Cabrera.

People have been warned about the danger of water-borne diseases. Schools are closed until Tuesday and many offices remain shut.

Storms lash the Philippines every year and tropical Storm Ketsana was not one of the strongest, but it brought very large amounts of rain. In Manila Saturday, a month's worth of rain fell in 12 hours.

Asia Times - Trees of Profit

Image by IceNineJon via Flickr

By Muhammad Cohen

HONG KONG - Cutting down Asia's forests has for decades been an easy way to get rich. Now a trio of pan-Asian "serial entrepreneurs" hope to prove planting trees can be a moneymaker, too. Paolo Delgado, Paolo Conconi and Victor Yap started Project Oikos last year hoping to profit from concerns about global warming. But their primary goal is to educate Asians about the benefits of tree planting and protecting forests.

The trio launched a website, www.projectoikos.com, where people can buy trees priced at US$10 and dedicate them to loved ones or special events. Buyers get a certificate (save paper and don't print it) that includes the dedication and a tracking number to identify their tree.

Project Oikos is one of several services that allow people to buy
trees for a variety of reasons. Equinox Publishing, a sponsor of WWF Indonesia's NewTrees planting program for corporate customers (see In a haze, Indonesia slows deforestation Asia Times Online, September 26, 2009), recently released My Baby Tree, a smart phone application as a retail version of the NewTrees corporate. Buyers can purchase a tree, locate it via an online map and give it a virtual watering by shaking their phone.

Different from many other online tree planting programs, Project Oikos aims to move beyond the virtual experience. "As we kept on digging we found that while planting trees does make a difference, the reality in this ever growing world is that the act of planting trees alone is not enough to make a substantial change in the world's environment," Delgado, who calls himself the project's creative director, said.

Delgado, a Philippine native educated in the US who worked in China before basing himself in Manila, and Conconi, an Italian citizen who worked with Danone in France before moving to Asia in 1992, germinated the idea over drinks in Beijing last year.

"We are both quite professionally driven and tend to forget things that are not alarmed on our phone calendars," Delgado said. "We were laughing about all of the silly, last minute gifts we purchased for girlfriends, when we forgot birthdays or anniversaries while off on some business trip somewhere.

"Buying a star was one of the most memorable, as it was last minute, reasonable, doable by Internet, and turned out to be hugely romantic - this was back in the '90s. Paolo [Conconi] then said, 'What if we sold trees'?"

That turned out to be a prescient suggestion. "I grew up active in the Boy Scouts, then became an avid mountaineer and scuba diver," said Delgado, whose family links to Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP) span three generations. "When you grow up around these influences, you become quite aware of the environment and our impact on it."

Those scouting links led his family's logistics company, Delgado Brothers, to partner with BSP and Coca-Cola on "Go Green", a project to plant 200,000 trees across the Philippines using saplings grown in BSP nurseries. The connection gave Delgado a potential source for trees and a process for planting them. Yap, a Hong Kong native who has worked with a variety of multinationals, joined the team to provide international marketing expertise, and Project Oikos was born.

The name Oikos traces to ancient Greece. "Oikos was the basic family unit, the shared center of an individual's world," Delgado explains. "In today's globalized world, we believe the environment has become our modern oikos. It is the center of our world, and we all should care for the well being of our shared oikos."

"Everyone is screaming about the environment and how we need to reduce this footprint, recycle that plastic, but for a lot of the developing world - particularly Southeast Asia - there is not enough information out there for individuals to understand exactly what the problem is and what they can do to assist ... This is why at Project Oikos we put a focus on developing an experience that we hope can change mindsets."

Down and dirty
Project Oikos doesn't only want participants to buy trees, it wants them to pick up a shovel and plant them as part of events it stages to build public awareness. "We involve local environmental groups, so that they too can gain some exposure and be part of the resource group that the public has access to," Delgado said.

Because trees absorb carbon wherever they grow, plantings don't need to be in wilderness areas. "There is that saying, 'if a tree falls in the woods and nobody hears it ... ' [and] similarly, 'if a tree is planted and nobody knows it ...' Planting areas need to be in line with our focus on creating awareness," Delgado said. "We try to pick high visibility areas that can generate media impact as well as drive up participation."

For example, in the Intramuros area of Manila, Oikos staged plantings following a scandal that revealed decades-old trees were cut there. Another large planting took place at Manila's Smoky Mountain, the former central garbage dump that was transformed into a low-income housing area.

Planting events have been held in several areas of the Philippines and Malaysia, where co-founder Conconi now lives, in partnership with environmental groups, schools, community organizations, government and publications. Conconi says Project Oikos hopes to expand its base of corporate clients to build joint marketing campaigns. Targets include high profile polluters such as airlines, using trees to offset carbon emissions from passengers' travel.

"We feel that Project Oikos is a great CSR [corporate social responsibility] investment," Delgado says. "With the global financial crisis still reverberating through most companies, we offer an inexpensive alternative to traditional corporate gifts; we can be a part of company-client bonding experiences, and we fulfill CSR requirements."

Although it's traditionally non-profit organizations that offer CSR programs, Oikos' partners decided to make theirs a for-profit venture. "What we knew that we wanted was the ability to run Project Oikos like a business, with good professionals at each location for the activities," Delgado says. "We wanted it to have the freedom to invest in local organizations that were already in existence and making a difference in their own way.”

"We also felt that it would be wonderful to someday have Project Oikos work like a sort of investment fund, where MR = MC [marginal revenue equals marginal costs; the point at which profits are maximized], where we are answerable to investors for returns and growth,” he said. “It may be developing awareness today, but perhaps something related but different tomorrow. In this way, we keep ourselves sharp and efficient. I guess with these sort of ideas, a for-profit was the best way we knew how."

Project Oikos' founders are looking to clean up in every sense, and, everyone, including Mother Earth, can profit from their success.

Former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen told America’s story to the world as a US diplomat and is author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, financial crisis, and cheap lingerie. Follow Muhammad Cohen’s blog for more on the media and Asia, his adopted home.

Curbed in Towns, Philippines Islamists Take to the Forests - NYTimes.com

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By NORIMITSU ONISHI

LAMITAN, Philippines — Early this decade, American soldiers landed on the island of Basilan, here in the southern Philippines, to help root out the militant Islamic separatist group Abu Sayyaf. Now, Basilan’s biggest towns, once overrun by Abu Sayyaf and criminal groups, have become safe enough that a local Avon lady trolls unworriedly for customers.

Still, despite seven years of joint military missions and American development projects, much of the island outside main towns like Lamitan remains unsafe. Abu Sayyaf members, sheltered by sympathetic residents, continue to operate in the interior’s dense forests, even as the United States recently extended the deployment of troops in the southern Philippines.

Last month, Abu Sayyaf guerrillas killed 23 Philippine soldiers in a battle in the south of Basilan. This month, on the neighboring island of Jolo, Abu Sayyaf members, reinforced by a contingent from Basilan, killed eight soldiers in fierce fighting that displaced thousands of civilians. More than 40 insurgents were killed, though at least 10 were believed to have belonged to a different Muslim separatist group.

“We haven’t been able to eliminate the root cause of the problem,” said Maj. Armel Tolato, the commander of a Philippine Marine battalion here, explaining why Abu Sayyaf had not been eradicated. “It cannot be addressed alone by the military. It’s derived from the dynamics here, political and cultural. It’s very complex.” In an interview at a base shared with American troops, he said: “We’re just dealing with the armed elements. We might kill them. But there are young ones to take their place.”

Basilan, like many other Muslim and Christian areas in the southern Philippines, has a long history of political violence, clan warfare and corruption. Experts believe that Abu Sayyaf has been protected not only by friends and family, but also by friendly political and military officials.

It received support from Al Qaeda in the early 1990s and is believed to be sheltering leaders of the Indonesian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah. But as most of its original leaders have been killed or captured, Abu Sayyaf and its new recruits are said to be motivated less by radical Islamist ideology than by banditry, especially the lucrative kidnappings for ransom for which it has become known.

Last month, after consulting with the Philippine government, the United States decided to extend the operation of its force in the southern Philippines, known as the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines and composed of 600 elite counterinsurgency soldiers. The announcement drew angry responses from left-leaning politicians and news media; American officials declined to be interviewed for this article.

Since establishing the task force in 2002, the United States has provided the Philippines with $1.6 billion in military and economic aid. Much of that, including $400 million from the United States Agency for International Development, has been funneled into Mindanao in the southern Philippines, where Abu Sayyaf and another Muslim separatist group operate.

Some 1,300 American soldiers first arrived in 2002 in Basilan, which has a population of less than half a million, to support the Philippine military against Abu Sayyaf. Today, a force of 600 soldiers remains, spread out here and in the region, supplying its Philippine counterpart with intelligence, training and technology. According to the agreement with the Philippines, the American soldiers are prohibited from engaging in direct combat.

The Americans have also been directing development assistance here, including building roads, bridges and buildings; improving cellphone service and encouraging local businesses; training teachers and wiring schools for the Internet; and providing temporary medical and dental clinics.

But American troops have typically let their Filipino counterparts deal with the residents, thereby burnishing the image of the Philippines military, which has long been viewed as an occupying force in the south’s Muslim areas. “More people are doing business in Basilan because there’s much less fighting and kidnapping now,” said Wilma Amirul, 30, the Avon saleswoman, who was taking the morning ferry here from Zamboanga, the nearest city on the mainland. “Before, even the poor were kidnapped for ransom.”

Ms. Amirul, who has been selling cosmetics in Zamboanga for six years, said she started coming regularly to Basilan five months ago to expand her clientele. Another passenger, Jose Wee, 63, a candle manufacturer, said he now visited Basilan freely to sell his products — an indispensable item because of the frequent blackouts here. “The situation is good now, but maybe for the meantime only,” he said. “If the Americans leave, the Abu Sayyaf might regroup.”

Under a deep blue sky with low-lying clouds, the ferry arrived in Lamitan, fringed with white beaches and palm trees, dotted with simple houses made of wood or concrete. Soldiers guarded 30 checkpoints along roads into town.

Lamitan, along with Isabela, the provincial capital, is the only town on the island with a sizable Christian population. Roderick H. Furigay, 47, the mayor of Lamitan and the only Christian among Basilan’s 12 mayors, strongly backed the American presence because he believed the Philippine military lacked “adequate capability.” He called himself the “No. 1 target” of Abu Sayyaf — “threats are like breakfast to me” — as he toured the American-financed projects around town, accompanied by bodyguards.

“Peace here in Basilan is so elusive,” Mr. Furigay said, adding that poor governance created an environment in which groups like Abu Sayyaf grew. “Most of our leaders in Basilan are not really sincere. Most of them are holding their positions just to enrich themselves.” He said that because Abu Sayyaf’s leadership had been decimated, the group’s members were now motivated by “grievances.”

“There’s little ideology,” he said, estimating that Abu Sayyaf’s core members numbered fewer than 20 in Basilan.

That assessment was shared by other islanders, including those less welcoming of an American presence. Al-Rasheed M. Sakkalahul, Basilan’s vice governor, estimated that only 10 were longtime, ideologically driven members. But he said they were able to mobilize about 100 supporters in a conflict.

“All the rest are ordinary bandits, even civilians without any training on how to handle firearms,” Mr. Sakkalahul, 52, said at his office in Isabela. “They join Abu Sayyaf so they can divide ransom money from kidnapping victims.” He said that given those circumstances, he was skeptical of the American force’s presence here and complained that he had not been given facts about the mission. “You are my visitor in my house,” Mr. Sakkalahul said. “You just enter my house without even knocking on my door. What is your purpose in coming?”

Maj. Ramon D. Hontiveros, a spokesman for the task force’s Philippine side, said it was trying to “work through local politicians” and “keep the military footprint as small as possible.”

He said, “The Americans come with a lot of baggage, but the new roads and buildings they’ve brought here will outlive any controversy.”

UNICEF - Resources on child protection in Southeast Asia

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Reversing the Trend : Child Trafficking in East and Southeast Asia
This report is a regional assessment of UNICEF’s efforts to address child trafficking, drawing on country assessments conducted in China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam in early 2008. It also highlights trends, gaps, lessons learned, promising and good practices across the region. Despite varying contexts and different experiences across these countries. Click to download the report.

Everyday fears: A study of children’s perceptions of living in the southern border area of Thailand
The study found that the children suffer anxiety and stress associated with the ongoing threat andanticipation of violence, as well as their own violent experiences and their proximity to places vulnerableto violent attacks. Their everyday experiences...

Someone that matters: The quality of care in childcare institutions in Indonesia
A joint report released by DEPSOS, Save the Children and UNICEF is the first ever comprehensive research into the quality of care in childcare institutions in Indonesia. The report provides a detailed assessment of 37 childcare institutions across 6 provi

Illegal firearms compound Mindanao insecurity - IRIN

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Reuters AlertNet - Mindanao food security still a challenge, says WFP

22 Sep 2009 11:23:56 GMT

Source: IRIN

Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.

MANILA, 22 September 2009 (IRIN) - Food security will continue to remain a key concern for thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) on the southern island of Mindanao, despite moves towards possible peace talks, says the World Food Programme (WFP)."Our main concern is that those who remain IDPs receive the required assistance they need, while those who are able to return to their homes get the same," Stephen Anderson, country representative for the UN food agency, told IRIN in Manila.His comments come a week after the government and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) agreed to resume peace talks, brokered by Malaysia.The announcement prompted renewed hope that many IDPs might soon be able to return home, say observers.Negotiations collapsed in August 2008 after the country's Supreme Court declared a preliminary accord on an expanded Muslim autonomous region as unconstitutional, prompting fresh clashes and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people in the decades-old conflict between government forces and the 12,000-strong MILF.While many IDPs have since returned home, according to government sources, more than 250,000 remain displaced due to the conflict and are now living in evacuation centres or with host families, the vast majority - 91 percent - in central Maguindanao Province.Early recovery and rehabilitationBut even if security does improve and more people return, many have lost everything, including their homes, property and livelihoods, and will continue to need assistance."If people have been out of their homes for over a year, it's not as though you just return, turn on the light and resume your life," Anderson said, citing the importance of early recovery and rehabilitation efforts."It will be a big challenge to get that geared up," he said, referring to the need for food-for-work programmes and other measures."This protracted period of displacement has put immense pressure on people's livelihoods. It certainly has had a food security impact," he said, noting the difficult time they will have in rebuilding their lives.For at least a few months they will need continued assistance, as well as regular monitoring thereafter, the WFP official said.Poor indicatorsYet conditions in many areas were already precarious before the resumption of the latest violence last year.The longstanding conflict has severely affected the health and nutrition of the people of Mindanao, where infant and maternal mortality rates are 30 percent and 80 percent higher respectively than national levels, and one-third of all children under five are stunted, according to WFP.Educational indicators are far below the national average, with only 33 percent of children completing primary school, compared with 67 percent in the rest of the country.Moreover, various assessments show that 40 percent of parents do not send their children to school, with lack of food cited as a contributing factor, according to WFP.Since August 2008, the UN food agency has supported the government-led relief response, providing 17,500MT of food assistance to affected families.At the height of the displacement, WFP reached some 89,000 families or more than 530,000 people in August/September 2008.ds/mw

Philippine senator wants to renegotiate US accord - SFGate

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

(09-23) 05:30 PDT MANILA, Philippines (AP) --

The head of the Philippine Senate's foreign relations committee called Wednesday for the renegotiation of a military accord with the U.S. that allows American soldiers to help Filipino troops fight al-Qaida-linked militants, saying it violates the country's constitution.

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago presented a resolution from her committee urging the Department of Foreign Affairs to renegotiate the Visiting Forces Agreement or terminate it if the United States refuses.

The continued presence of U.S. troops in the country over the past 10 years since the approval of the accord circumvents a constitutional ban on foreign military bases unless covered by a treaty, she said.

"The Americans have been here for 10 years ... can we still call that temporary? Can we still call that a visit?" she said.

The agreement allows U.S. troops to engage in joint training exercises with Filipino soldiers and governs their conduct in the country. But Santiago said that U.S. troops are fully armed while embedded with Filipino combat troops.

"When they embed themselves ... they are actually baiting the rebels so that they can fire back," she said.

The Philippine Constitution prohibits foreigners from engaging in combat operations "in traditional warfare, or in unconventional warfare," she said.

U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Rebecca Thompson said the agreement is "an important element" in relations between Manila and Washington.

"It is important that our two countries have an open dialogue to make sure it continues to work well," she said.

An estimated 600 U.S. troops are currently stationed in the Philippines, mostly in the south where the Philippine military has been battling the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group and its ally, the Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiyah.

The Philippine military's gains against the militants — including the killing and capture of key leaders and operatives — have been credited to training and intelligence provided by the Americans.

The agreement came under fire in 2006 when it was cited as the basis for the U.S. Embassy's custody of a U.S. Marine while he was on trial on charges of raping a Filipino woman. He was later acquitted by the Philippine Supreme Court.

In a statement, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said the agreement, along with the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty with the U.S., "remain important, useful and relevant, not only for Philippine national interest but also for regional peace, security and prosperity."

It said the agreement has helped the country, whose military expenditure is the second lowest in Southeast Asia, to modernize its armed forces. It said it also has contributed to fighting the global war on terrorism and provided civil-military and humanitarian aid to impoverished southern communities.

"The Philippines' relationship with the United States in general, and its defense and security cooperation in particular, constitute a strategic partnership that is long-standing and mutually beneficial. With no other country does the Philippines have such deep and diversified ties," the statement said.

Politics is indeed unfair - Manila Times

Philippine presidents come into office via two routes. The first is winning the office after the requisite apprenticeship. Presidents who assumed office under this route started by building up resumes (the bona fides to be president), the necessary linkages and a formidable funding base. Finally, all of these preprations are capped by developing a sense of gravitas or political heft. And the swagger of a winner.

There are two recent presidents who came to office via this safe path—Fidel V. Ramos, who cultivated a Steady Eddie image, and Joseph Estrada, who became president after serving as mayor, senator and vice president. In terms of professional work and academic training, Ramos was the more prepared one. But he did not have Estrada’s more formidable plus—charisma.

In contrast, former President Cory Aquino returned home after her husband’s assassination in 1983 “to bury Ninoy.” Politics consumed her life but it was not something she sought and relished. She was the steadiest support base to her husband, true, but one largely uninvolved in the mechanics and application of politics.

So when she returned home in 1983, the most she thought she would do was to help unite the political opposition to Marcos, help break the regime and help in the restoration of Philippine democracy. No one thought that the silent but palpable courage she demonstrated during those tense days after Ninoy’s murder would move the usually chauvinistic leaders of the political opposition to ask her to be their leader.
The intersection and confluence of several events changed her standing overnight: from the widow who bore so much of the tragic events in her life with strength to the leader of the opposition, and later, candidate in the snap presidential election of February 1986.

So this is the second one-great and extra-ordinary events pushing one with neither ambition nor preparation into the presidency. The 2010 presidential election is developing into another 1986.

A few months back, Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino 3rd was the most enthusiastic supporter of then LP presidential candidate Mar Roxas. There was hardly a public occasion attended by the two that ended without Noynoy endorsing Roxas. Noy-noy was determined to be Mar’s most vocal supporter, cajoling the entire Liberal Party leadership to line up behind Roxas.

Then came the death of her mother, a well-loved former president. Her funeral stirred a lot of memories, aroused the slumbering sense of public duty among those who opted to stay out of politics and its dirty innards. The fond and teary recollection of the days her mother was president and was mother to the country so defied the ningas kugon burst of sympathy, and was potent enough to move the attention to her only son, who, by then, was neither a candidate or even a known presidential material. Suddenly, there was this glimmer of Noynoy as a possible president.

The attention did linger. And lasted. Suddenly, out of nowhere, there was this push to make Noynoy the presidential candidate of the party. Other big events followed in succession and the climax came with the decision of Roxas to give up his presidential bid in favor of his most vocal supporter.

To the critics, it was a political soap opera. Maybe, but it was definitely a political blockbuster. A recent survey of Luzon voters showed Noynoy Aquino getting one out of every two voting preferences cast. Even the phony surveys staged by other presidential hopefuls to stop what appears to be a pro-Noynoy juggernaut revealed Aquino’s competitiveness.

As if the rise of Noynoy were not enough, the Lakas-CMD—the ruling party—has named a Gibo-Ronnie tandem as its preferred team. Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and DILG Secretary Ronnie V. Puno used to be outside of the ruling party’s radar screen. It was either Noli or Bayani.

All over the landscape, fresh names with neither the plan nor the long preparation to compete in the presidential polls, have eclipsed those who have prepared long and hard. The usual names have either been rendered irrelevant or have flamed out.
Now, it is all about Noynoy and Gibo.

It is not fair, according to critics: second cousins from the same province occupying the primest political space. And from the same region (Central Luzon) that has so far contributed five Philippine presidents.
But as we said before, life and politics are essentially unfair.

mvrong@yahoo.com

Philippine Soldiers Find Rebel Stronghold After Deadly Fight - WSJ.com

" style="border: medium none ; display: block;">Image by The Mindanao Examiner via Flickr

By JAMES HOOKWAY

Philippine authorities said soldiers killed as many as 17 suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group Sunday and discovered a heavily fortified bunker complex that appears to be the group's base of operations on an island that has given them years of trouble.

The discovery could explain why Abu Sayyaf has remained so elusive on the relatively small island of Jolo, about 590 miles south of Manila, despite years of U.S. military assistance and training in the area.

Philippine soldiers were tracking suspected Abu Sayyaf members when they stumbled on the complex, military officials said. The complex could accommodate as many as 500 people, and the various bunkers were connected by a network of trenches cut into the steep mountainside, said Ben Dolorfino, a lieutenant general in the Philippine army. During Sunday's six-hour battle, the military called in air strikes, he said.

Abu Sayyaf guerrillas Monday ambushed and killed eight Philippine soldiers who were returning to base after securing the rebels' lair, authorities said.

The guerrilla group, which first came to international prominence in 2000 for kidnapping and ransoming tourists, has baffled Philippine military officials for the way its members seemingly melt away into Jolo's dense foliage. The unearthing of the bunker network suggests how Abu Sayyaf has been able to persist on the roughly 40-mile-wide island despite intensive manhunts and the use of U.S. satellites.

The loss of the apparent rebel base marks the second major blow to Islamist terrorist groups operating in Southeast Asia in the past week. On Thursday, Indonesian police tracked down and killed Noordin Mohamed Top in central Java. Mr. Noordin, a Malaysian national, participated in or masterminded a series of terrorist strikes against Western interests in Indonesia, including bombings in Bail in 2002 and 2005 and an attack on two Jakarta hotels in July.

Philippine military officials are now preparing to examine the Jolo bunker complex for further clues to how the seemingly loose-knit Abu Sayyaf and its top leaders operate. Philippine authorities said Sunday's battle may already have disrupted a meeting between Abu Sayyaf chieftains who were being tracked in the area, including Isnilon Hapilon, for whom the U.S. is offering a bounty of $5 million for information leading to his capture.

Formed in the late 1980s with financing provided by Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law, Abu Sayyaf was intended to radicalize the Philippines' more established Muslim insurgency, but for a period it degenerated into kidnapping for ransom.

The group later attempted to attract the attention of al Qaeda-linked financiers by teaming up with militants in neighboring Malaysian and Indonesia, including members of the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah group, which orchestrated the Bali bombings. Philippine intelligence officials say Abu Sayyaf is still harboring two important Indonesian terrorist suspects, Umar Patek and Dulmatin, who are wanted for their alleged role in the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed over 200 people.

The Abu Sayyaf rebels themselves have planned major terrorist attacks across the Philippines, including the firebombing of a crowded ferry in Manila Bay in 2004 that killed 116 people.

Write to James Hookway at james.hookway@wsj.com

Uneasy Engagement - China Spreads Aid in Africa, With a Catch - Series - NYTimes.com

Image via Wikipedia

By SHARON LaFRANIERE and JOHN GROBLER

WINDHOEK, Namibia — It is not every day that global leaders set foot in this southern African nation of gravel roads, towering sand dunes and a mere two million people. So when President Hu Jintao of China touched down here in February 2007 with a 130-person delegation in tow, it clearly was not just a courtesy call.

And in fact, China soon granted Namibia a big low-interest loan, which Namibia tapped to buy $55.3 million worth of Chinese-made cargo scanners to deter smugglers. It was a neat illustration, Chinese officials said, of how doing good in Namibia could do well for China, too.

Or so it seemed until Namibia charged that the state-controlled company selected by China to provide the scanners — a company until recently run by President Hu’s son — had facilitated the deal with millions of dollars in illegal kickbacks. And until China threw up barriers when Namibian investigators asked for help looking into the matter.

Now the scanners seem to illustrate something else: the aura of boosterism, secrecy and back-room deals that has clouded China’s use of billions of dollars in foreign aid to court the developing world.

From Pakistan to Angola to Kyrgyzstan, China is using its enormous pool of foreign currency savings to cement diplomatic alliances, secure access to natural resources and drum up business for its flagship companies. Foreign aid — typically cut-rate loans, sometimes bundled with more commercial lines of credit — is central to this effort.

Leaders of developing nations have embraced China’s sales pitch of easy credit, without Western-style demands for political or economic reform, for a host of unmet needs. The results can be clearly seen in new roads, power plants, and telecommunications networks across the African continent — more than 200 projects since 2001, many financed with preferential loans from the Chinese government’s Exim Bank.

Increasingly, though, experts argue that China’s aid comes with a major catch: It must be used to buy goods or services from companies, many of them state-controlled, that Chinese officials select themselves. Competitive bidding by the borrowing nation is discouraged, and China pulls a veil over vital data like project costs, loan terms and repayment conditions. Even the dollar amount of loans offered as foreign aid is treated as a state secret.

Anticorruption crusaders complain that secrecy invites corruption, and that corruption debases foreign assistance.

“China is using this financing to buy the loyalty of the political elite,” said Harry Roque, a University of the Philippines law professor who is challenging the legality of Chinese-financed projects in the Philippines. “It is a very effective tool of soft diplomacy. But it is bad for the citizens who have to repay these loans for graft-ridden contracts.”

In fact, such secrecy runs counter to international norms for foreign assistance. In a part of the world prone to corruption and poor governance, it also raises questions about who actually benefits from China’s projects. The answers, international development specialists say, are hidden from public view.

“We know more about China’s military expenditures than we do about its foreign aid,” said David Shambaugh, an author and China scholar at George Washington University. “Foreign aid really is a glaring contradiction to the broader trend of China’s adherence to international norms. It is so strikingly opaque it really makes one wonder what they are trying to hide.”

Until recently, wealthy nations could hardly hold themselves out as an example of how to run foreign aid, either. Many projects turned out to be tainted by corruption or geared to enrich the donor nation’s contractors, not the impoverished borrowers. But over the past 10 or 15 years, some 30 developed nations under the umbrella of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (O.E.C.D.) have made a concerted effort to clean up their assistance programs.

They demanded that foreign money be awarded and spent transparently, using competitive bidding and outlawing bribery. Increasingly, they also are also pushing to give borrowers more choice among suppliers and contractors, rather than insisting that funds be recycled back to the donor nation’s companies.

China, which is not a member of the O.E.C.D., is operating under rules that the West has largely abandoned. It mixes aid and business in secret government-to-government agreements. It requires that foreign aid contracts be awarded to Chinese contractors it picks through a closed-door bidding process in Beijing. Its attempts to prevent corrupt practices by its companies overseas appear weak.

Some developing nations insist on independently comparing prices before accepting China’s largesse. Others do not bother. “Very often they are getting something they wouldn’t be able to get without China’s financing,” said Chris Alden, a specialist on China-African relations with the London School of Economics and Political Science. “They presume that the Chinese are going to give value for money.”

Development experts say they have tried to convince the Chinese government that better safeguards and a more open process will enhance its efforts to gain influence and business. If its projects collapse because of kickbacks or inflated costs, they argue, China will end up exporting not only goods and services, but a reputation for corruption that it is already battling at home.

But Deborah Brautigam, the author of a coming book on China’s economic ties with Africa titled “The Dragon’s Gift,” says Beijing is hesitant to hobble its companies with Western-style restraints before they have become world-class competitors.

Thinking Business, Not Ethics

“The Chinese are kind of starting out where everyone else was years ago, and they see themselves as being at a disadvantage,” Ms. Brautigam said. “The Chinese don’t particularly want a big scandal. That doesn’t further their interests. They just want their companies to get business.”

Sometimes they get both. In 2007, the Philippines was forced to cancel a $460 million contract with the Beijing scanner company, Nuctech Company Ltd., to set up satellite-based classroom instruction after critics protested the company had no expertise in education.

It also canceled a $329 million contract awarded to ZTE Corporation, a state-controlled Chinese communications company, after allegations of enormous kickbacks. ZTE denied bribing anyone, but the controversy has lingered. Last month an antigraft panel recommended filing criminal charges against two Philippines officials in connection with the contract.

A Manila-based nonprofit group, the Center for International Law, has mounted a legal challenge against still another Chinese contract in the Philippines, to build a $500 million railroad. Professor Roque, who leads the center, contends that the price of China’s state-owned contractor “was simply plucked out of the sky.” Officially, China’s directive to its companies is toe an ethical line overseas.

“Our enterprises must conform to international rules when running business, must be open and transparent, should go through a bidding process for big projects and forbid inappropriate deals and reject corruption and kickbacks,” Wen Jiabao, China’s prime minister, told a group of Chinese businessmen in Zambia in 2006.

But China has no specific law against bribing foreign officials. And the government seems none too eager to investigate or punish companies it selects if they turn out to have engaged in shady practices overseas.

Indeed, it has an added incentive to look the other way because of the state’s ties to many foreign aid contractors — connections that sometimes extend to families of the Communist Party elite.

In January, for example, the World Bank barred four state-controlled Chinese companies from competing for its work after an investigation showed that they tried to rig bids for bank projects in the Philippines. But two of those companies remain on the Chinese Commerce Ministry’s list of approved foreign aid contractors, according to its Web site.

The Namibia controversy is especially delicate because until late last year, the contractor’s president was Mr. Hu’s son, Hu Haifeng. The younger Mr. Hu is now Communist Party secretary of an umbrella company that includes Nuctech and dozens of other companies. As soon as allegations against the company surfaced this summer, China’s censors swung into action, blocking all mention of the scandal in the Chinese news media and on the Internet.

“This is a signal to everyone to back off,” said Russell Leigh Moses, an analyst of Chinese politics in Beijing. “Everyone goes into default mode, because once you get the ball rolling, no one knows where it will stop. No one wants their rice bowl broken.”

Nuctech has denied any wrongdoing in court papers filed here in Windhoek. A spokeswoman said the company had no comment because the matter was unresolved. China’s Commerce Ministry and other government agencies did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Namibia’s anticorruption investigators allege that Nuctech funneled $4.2 million in kickbacks to a front company set up by a Namibian official, who split the funds with her business partner and Nuctech’s southern Africa representative, a Chinese citizen.

A Deal Ends in Arrests

China has promoted Nuctech as one of its global “champions.” In 10 years the company has gained customers in more than 60 countries, marketing advanced-technology scanners that help detect contraband or dangerous materials inside cargo containers. Nuctech’s spokesman says it is the only Chinese company that makes such equipment.

The Namibian government was interested in equipping its airports, seaports and border posts with scanners to comply with stricter regulations on international commerce. On a state visit to China in 2005, Hifikepunye Pohamba, Namibia’s president, visited Nuctech’s headquarters and factory, according to court testimony. The following year, Nuctech sent a representative, Yang Fan, to Windhoek, Namibia’s capital.

Hu Jintao’s visit to Windhoek a few months later opened up an option for finance. “China says the sky is the limit. Just say what you want,” said Carl Schlettwein, the permanent secretary of the Namibian Finance Ministry, who participated in the negotiations.

At first, Mr. Schlettwein said, the talks stalled because Namibia was unwilling to grant China access to its substantial mineral deposits in exchange for lines of credit. Once China dropped that condition, Namibia agreed in principle to a $100 million, 20-year-loan at a 2.5 percent interest rate, then well below the market. “Purely from a financial point of view, it was a fine deal,” Mr. Schlettwein said.

Namibian officials decided to draw on the credit line to finance most of the cost of the scanners. Mr. Schlettwein, who negotiated the scanner contract, said he wanted to seek competitive bids from scanner suppliers around the world, but Chinese negotiators refused.

“They said ‘that is not our system,’ “ he said. “ ‘We tell you from whom you buy the equipment.’ All of us, including the minister, were very worried about the nontransparent way of doing things,” he said, but reasoned that the Chinese government “will not unduly cheat us.”

Last March, less than a week after the Finance Ministry paid Nuctech an initial $12.8 million, Mr. Schlettwein’s unease turned to distress.

A Windhoek bank official, following the strictures of Namibia’s new money-laundering act, called to ask why Nuctech had deposited $4.2 million in the account of a consulting company set up by Tekla Lameck, a Namibian public service commissioner.

Mr. Schlettwein, who says that he has never met Ms. Lameck and that she had nothing to do with the scanner purchase, alerted Namibia’s anticorruption commission. In July, Ms. Lameck, her business partner and Nuctech’s representative in Windhoek were arrested on suspicion of violating Namibia’s anticorruption law. All three have denied wrongdoing.

Investigations Galore

Investigators charge that Nuctech agreed to hire Ms. Lameck’s consulting company, Teko Trading, in 2007, a month after President Hu’s visit. Nuctech agreed to pay Teko 10 percent of the contract if the average price of one scanner was $2.5 million. If the price was higher, Nuctech would pay Teko 50 percent of the added cost. A subsequent agreement fixed the amount of commissions at $12.8 million, according to court records.

At his bail hearing last month, Yang Fan, Nuctech’s representative, said his company hired Teko because “Teko explained how to do business here in Namibia.” He did not elaborate. But in 2007, another Namibian official complained to the anticorruption commission that Ms. Lameck had introduced herself to the Chinese Embassy in Windhoek as a representative of Swapo, Namibia’s governing political party. She claimed that no business could be done in Namibia without Swapo’s involvement, the complainant said.

Investigators have been seeking Nuctech’s explanation of the affair for more than two months. There is little sign the company has complied with their requests, although investigators say they remain hopeful.

Namibia’s chief national prosecutor, Martha Imalwa, traveled to Beijing in July, hoping to question officials from Nuctech and another company involved in a separate inquiry. But according to her deputy, Danie Small, Ms. Imalwa was allowed to present questions only to the international division of China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate.

A court has temporarily frozen $12.8 million in Nuctech’s assets while the inquiry continues. Meanwhile, at Namibia’s Finance Ministry, Mr. Schlettwein is belatedly trying to determine what other buyers paid for comparable scanners. When he asked South African officials for pricing information, he said, he was told Nuctech’s contract there is also under investigation.

Perhaps predictably, competitors say Namibia agreed to pay far too much. Peter Kant, a vice-president at Nuctech’s American rival, Rapiscan Systems, said that comparable equipment and services costs about $28 million, or $25 million less than Nuctech’s contract.

Mr. Schlettwein last month tried to send a letter through official channels to Rong Yonglin, Nuctech’s chairman, to ask that the contract be renegotiated. But a Chinese Embassy official in Windhoek refused to accept the correspondence, saying he knew no one with that name.

Stephen Castle contributed reporting from Brussels, and Carlos H. Conde from Manila. Jonathan Ansfield contributed research from Beijing.