This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 16, May 29-June 4, 2005
RP lawyers get
international support The Committee for the
Defense of Lawyers (Codal), a local group of lawyers and legal practitioners in
the Philippines, announced last May 27 that Jitendra Sharma, president of the
International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL), promised to tackle the
issue of the attacks against lawyers and judges in the Philippines at their 16th
congress in Paris, France from June 7 to 11. The Netherlands-based
International Association of People's Lawyers (IAPL) earlier stated that the
Philippines has become a dangerous place for lawyers, judges and members of the
legal profession. Codal records show that
three lawyers and a law student were killed this year. Seven were killed last
year. Codal spokesperson Rachel
Pastores said that unlike the Philippine president, the international legal
community is not silent on this issue. * * * Scientists group denounce
bill to tax texters Dr. Giovanni Tapang,
chairperson of the scientists group Samahan ng Nagtataguyod ng Agham at
Teknolohiya para sa Sambayanan (Agham), described Pangasinan Rep. Mark
Cojuanco’s Special Infrastructure Modernization Fund in House Bill 3977 as a
“thoughtless and laughable attempt to increase the coffers available for
corruption and a lame attempt to pass on infrastructure costs to texters.” “They have already passed
the VAT (value-added tax) which increases (the cost of goods and services), now
they want to put the burden of building roads on us,” he said.
New health chief liable for
OFW fund transfer Migrante Sectoral Party (MSP)
criticized last May 26 the Department of Health’s newly appointed secretary Dr.
Francisco Duque III after reports quoted him saying “the President had prepared
me for this job and that as then Vice President, had a hand in making him a
permanent member of Philhealth's (Philippine Health Insurance Corporation) board
of directors in 1999.” MSP chairperson Connie
Bragas-Regalado said Duque’s statement “reveals the corrupt thinking of high
officialdom in the bureaucracy and the obscene system of political patronage
being worsened by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.” Bragas-Regalado also said
that Duque, former Philhealth president, was behind the distribution of the free
Philhealth cards with the President’s photos to four million poor Filipinos
during the 2004 election campaign. She also said that he also “doggedly pursued”
the illegal transfer of more than P530 million ($9.74 million) from OFW health
care trust fund money from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA). © 2004 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
Despite the bill’s prohibition to pass on the 50-centavo ($0.01, based
on an exchange rate of P54.40 per US dollar) specific tax on every mobile phone
text message, telecommunication companies can always find ways to pass on these
increases to consumers by simply reducing further free text messages of a call
card or increase the cost of every text message sent.
According to Agham ─ a member and convenor of TxtPower, a group against telecom
monopoly that is pushing for cheap and accessible communications for all ─ there
are about 36 million Filipino texters who will shoulder the cost of the tax if
approved.
The group called on the Commission on Appointments (COA) to block
Duque’s appointment “to protect the Department of Health that is already
beleaguered with a low budget for services to the poor.” Bulatlat