“Costa Pacifica” world class hotel started to rise in Aurora

BALER, Aurora, September 18, 2011-To cater to the ever-growing tourism industry in the province, a three story world-class resort hotel named “Costa Pacifica” started its construction now with seventy eight (78) rooms at a three hectare site at Barangay Sabang which is the favorite surfing destination of local and foreign tourists.

Senator Edgardo J. Angara said that the modernize hotel will charge the cheapest rate among the hotels here in the country and is now being built by the internationally acclaimed Raintree Company which is known builders of several high-end hotels and manager of the Discovery Suites in Ortigas and Boracay, restaurants, food courts and food parks along Ayala Avenue.

Annabella Wisniewski, Raintree president briefed Angara about the project Friday afternoon together with Raeana Cranbourne, who is the firm’s project director, a half-Filipina and half-Australian.

Wisniewski said that the hotel will have a restaurant and cafeteria where meetings, conferences and socials can be held. It will be completed in December 2012, with a soft opening a month earlier.

“This type of hotel is appropriate for Filipino hospitality. It’s a terrific industry because Filipinos are naturally hospitable. The project will also give many attributes to tourism industry,” Wisniewski told newsmen.

She said that a prominent architect Ed Calma designed the hotel which construction has already generated 150 local jobs.

Wisniewski said that their firm decided to build a world-class hotel in this capital town to cash in on the booming tourism industry and to spur countryside development. “Besides, we want to showcase the beauty of Baler as a premier tourist destination and tourism can generate a lot of revenues,” she said.        

“The hotel facility they are putting up in the province is very accessible from Manila and is located in the only beach area surrounded by the land-locked provinces of Nueva Ecija and Nueva Vizcaya,” Wisniewski said, adding that her firm is also taking care of the renovation of the adjacent Bahia 1 and Bahia 2 hotels which have a total of 33 rooms.

Angara said that his sister Governor Bellaflor Angara-Castillo is working on having the area near the chain of hotels into a tourism enterprise zone, the tourism equivalent of a special economic zone with tax incentives for locators.

As a tourism enterprise zone, it will get state funding from the Tourism Industry and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) which will construct building, access road, water systems and related facilities.

The establishment of the hotel is expected to further increase tourist arrivals in the province which registered a 300 percent jump over the last five years.

Provincial Tourism Office (PTO) records showed that visitor arrivals in the province reached a record-high of 68,395 in 2010 from a measly 11,534 in 2006. The province lured 10,778 tourists in 2007, 27,935 in 2008 and 52,316 in 2009.

In recognition of the feat, PTO chief Michael Palispis was adjudged provincial tourism officer for 2010 by the Department of Tourism.

Back to Wisniewski, she has been in the hotel and restaurant business for the past 40 years. She was the first Filipina graduate in hotel and restaurant management at Cornell University and has worked in major hotel firms abroad such as Hilton Hotel and Marriot Hotel in Honolulu, Washington hotel, New York hotel and in Singapore.

Wisniewski decided to return in the country to contribute towards the development of hotel and restaurant nationwide. She said that the project will generate income, opportunities and employments among the villagers of Aurora. (Jason de Asis)

P332.5M Aurora ecozone budget approval in congress

CASIGURAN, Aurora, September 18, 2011-In the midst of protests from its oppositionists and after massive cuts made by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the House of Representatives approved last Wednesday the proposed P332.5-million 2012 budget for the Aurora economic zone wherein the budget is a far cry from the ecozone officials’ submitted budget proposal to the DBM of P3.565 billion.

“The 2012 is only less than 10 percent of the ecozone’s submitted budget proposal for the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone (APECO),” ecozone officials said.

APECO President Robbie Mathay revealed that the budget proposal was approved in the plenary along with other attached agencies of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), saying that of the P332.5 million, P55 million has been appropriated for personnel services and P277.5 million for capital outlay, including building construction, land acquisition among others.

Prior to the budget approval, Congressman Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara said that a pre-plenary conference was held last September 5 wherein Anakpawis Party-list Representative Rafael Mariano addressed some questions to APECO officials, including the alleged massive displacement of landowners, farmers and fisherfolks.

Mathay gave an assurance that no massive displacement would take place and that the ecozone will inform everybody of the project impact.

Last June 21, 2011, DBM Secretary Florencio Abad stated in his letter to Mathay that they were recommending P332.5 million after a review of the proposed project. “The DBM recommended budget was arrived at applying the zero-base budgeting approach whereby major on-going programs and projects were assessed and reviewed as to relevance, and after assessing APECO’S demonstrated absorptive capacity,” Abad said.

Congressman Angara and Governor Bellaflor Angara-Castillo admitted that the budget cuts would slow down the pace of construction works inside the ecozone. 

The approval of the project budget also followed intense lobbying by known anti-APECO groups among them the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) which warned that such approval may lead to the wholesale destruction in this town where the project is located and nearby towns in Aurora province.

The groups complaining about massive displacement of farmers and fishermen, land-grabbing and harassment of local folks were Pamalakaya national chairperson Fernando Hicap and vice chairperson for Luzon Salvador France who earlier submitted a position paper to the 125-member House committee on appropriations chaired by Congressman Emilio Abaya. The clergy of the prelature of infanta also opposed the ecozone project. (Jason de Asis)

Tourist arrivals in Aurora heats up

BALER, Aurora, September 18, 2011-Tourist arrivals in this province continue to heat up as provincial tourism office (PTO) records showed that tourist arrivals in the first semester of this year already surpassed the whole year tourist arrivals last year.

Governor Bellaflor Angara-Castillo said that tourism industry continues to boom in this province explaining that the number of tourists for the first six (6) months of 2011 already reached 73,689, way above the 68,395 tourists registered in 2010.

Angara-Castillo said that the growth of the local industry is remarkable and the tourism figures are considered phenomenal since the province does not have yet the requisite hotel and infrastructure facilities which are natural come-ons for tourists.

Over the last five years, Michael Palispis, provincial tourism officer chief said that the tourism gains of the province will further improve the 300 percent tourist arrivals in the province.

Visitor arrivals in the province reached a record-high of 68,395 last year from a measly 8,774 last 2005 based on the PTO records, stating that the province lured 11,534 tourists in 2006; 10,778 in 2007; 27,935 in 2008 and 52,316 in 2009. In recognition of the feat, the Department of Tourism (DOT) adjudged Palispis as provincial tourism officer for 2010.

“The tremendous arrivals of visitors recorded in the province were even a conservative estimate since this did not include those who checked in “home-stay” facilities, adding that the two of the major hotel facilities in this capital town are always fully booked because of the on-rush of in-bound visitors,” Palispis said.

Angara-Castillo said that the provincial government is aggressively promoting tourism with the crafting of an Aurora Forest Recreation and Rest Area, Park Development (AFRRAPD), a provincial tourism blueprint which it submitted to the Department of Tourism for inclusion in the National Tourism Master Plan.

Included in the AFRRAPD are the construction of a hotel, conference hall and recreational facilities for water sports activities such as wakeboarding, jet skiing, kayaking, rappelling, and mountain trail.

Angara-Castillo said that the tourism blueprint is one of her development priority agenda where they also launched its own “Balik-Aurora” campaign where “balikbayan” tourists are fetched at the airport and brought to various destinations in the province in line with the declaration of the years 2011 to 2016 as the country’s “Homecoming Years for Pinoys” in accordance to Aquino’s proclamation 181 to boost tourism by attracting “balikbayans”. (Jason de Asis)

P594-M Aurora new modern hospital to rise within 3 months

BALER, Aurora, September 17, 2011-Governor Bellaflor J. Angara-Castillo said that this province will have a P594-million new modern hospital complete with state-of-the-art equipment and facilities within three (3) months.

“The Japanese contractors assured that the upgrading of the Aurora Memorial Hospital at a 3.8-hectare lot in Barangay Reserva will be completed in December and will start full-blast operation by February 19, 2012 on the occasion of the province’s anniversary,” Angara-Castillo revealed, adding that the completion of the project by the end of the year is ahead by three months from the original target completion date of fifteen (15) months.

The governor made the announcement after the briefings by the Japanese consultants and contractors whom she identified as project manager Hatano, consultant’s representative Yasuhiro Matsumoto, Manabu Tokita and Sadaharu Shioni of the Toyo Construction Co. Ltd. which was commissioned by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to construct the project.

The hospital will have administration, emergency and operation and delivery buildings; 50-bed capacity ward buildings, service building, and ancillary buildings such as a guardhouse, mortuary and others once it was completed.

“The hospital project is the complete package since it will be equipped with sophisticated equipment,” Angara-Castillo said, saying that  the  hospital will have dental, physical therapy and radiology equipment such as general x-ray system, automatic  x-ray film processor and ultrasound machine for general examination; laboratory equipment (hematology analyzer and autopsy table), central supply and sterilization room equipment and equipment for the ward such as infant warmer and mechanical ventilator.

It also includes other equipments like four defibrillators, anesthesia apparatus with vaporizer, operating tables and EENT.

The project is funded through a P509-million grant from the Japanese government’ and P85-million in counterpart funding from the provincial government.

Angara-Castillo said that the grant-in aid provided by the Japanese government for the project is a testament to its generosity considering that when it was about to be implemented, a killer earthquake and tsunami struck Japan.

“When the tsunami hit Japan, I was having reservations about the project but the Japanese government assured us they would proceed with the aid in spite of the crisis,” she said.

The lot for the hospital was donated by Angara-Castillo’s brother, Senator Edgardo J. Angara, who initiated the project along with Congressman Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, Mayor Arthur J. Angara and Japanese Ambassador Makoto Katsura.

The existing 70-year-old memorial hospital in the town proper does not have enough facilities at this point in time. The AMH is functioning only as a small hospital covering the central towns of the province prior to the upgrading of the project.

The present 25-bed capacity hospital’s license was even lowered from Level 2 to Level 1 when the Department of Health (DOH) clamped down on hospitals without a trained surgeon and an anesthesiologist.

Last 2009, the provincial government prompted to seek assistance from the Japanese government which conducted a preparatory survey and dispatched a basic design team.

With upgraded facilities, the AMH would be able to confine 800 more patients per year without transferring them to other places, thus reducing their expenses. It would also increase the total patient-days confined from the present 7,700 patient-days to 13,000 patient-days.

Improved facilities would not only enhance the quality of the hospital’s medical services but also examination and medical care capacities, especially in surgery, obstetrics and gynecology departments.

AMH is also being eyed as the province’s training institution for the midwifery and nursing students from the University of the Philippines School of Health Sciences. (Jason de Asis)

Civil society groups renew call for Sierra Madre’s preservation

MANILA, September 16, 2011—A network of environmentalists and civil society groups renewed its call for the protection of the biodiversity of Sierra Madre Mountain Range.

The call was made during the official launch of the network’s Save Sierra Madre Day celebrations on Sept. 9.

Fr. Pete Montallana, chair of the Save Sierra Madre Network (SSMN), in an earlier statement, expressed alarm on the fast disappearing biodiversity of the mountain ranges due to rampant logging and other human activities harmful to the preservation of the mountain rainforests.

SSMN represents Dumagat tribes and other indigenous peoples, local communities, environmentalists, faith-based organizations, and other forest protection advocates.

“What is disturbing is that Sierra Madre’s biodiversity-rich rainforest, which enables the mountain range to shield much of Luzon from raging Pacific storms, is fast diminishing due to rampant logging, quarrying and other developmental aggressions, such as dam, landfill and garbage dump projects,” Montallana has previously stated.

The priest, who was a recipient of Fr. Neri Satur Awards for Environmental Heroism, stressed the importance of weeding out corruption within the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), citing the “unholy alliance” between corrupt DENR officials and illegal loggers.

President Benigno Aquino III has declared September 26 as Save Sierra Madre Day through Proclamation No. 233 signed on August 10, 2011.

The September 26 celebration of Save Sierra Madre Day coincides with the anniversary of Typhoon Ondoy that claimed numerous lives and destroyed properties due to heavy flooding.

Last February 1, the president also issued a logging moratorium in natural and residual forests through Executive Order No. 23.

SSMN members in Metro Manila area are planning to have a Mass and other activities on September 26 in Marikina City, one of the most affected areas by Ondoy.

Members based in Quezon, Bulacan, Rizal, Aurora, and Nueva Ecija will be holding tree-planting activities, thanksgiving masses, and a mountain-climbing trip in their own provinces.

Rich in biodiversity, the Sierra Madre is the largest remaining tract of rainforest in the country with about 1.4 million hectares, 400,000 of which are primary or old-growth forests.

The forests contain more than 3,500 plant species, more than half of which are endemic or unique to the Philippines, and at least a hundred of which are endangered.

It is also home to about 70 threatened animal species which include the Philippine eagle, golden-crowned flying fox, and pygmy forest frog. (CBCPNews)

Budget increase for SUCs gathers support from Congress

MANILA, September 15, 2011—The increase for the budget of the state universities and colleges (SUCs) has been garnering much support in the Lower House.

Kabataan Partylist Rep. Raymond Palatino, in a statement said that Representatives Teddy Casiño and Neri Colmenares (Bayan Muna), Emmy de Jesus and Luz Ilagan (Gabriela), Rafael Mariano (Anakpawis), Antonio Tinio (ACT Teachers), Bernadette Herrera-Dy (Bagong Henerasyon) Rufus B. Rodriguez (2nd district, Cagayan de Oro City), Karlo Alexei B. Nograles (1st district, Davao City), Juan Edgardo Angara (Aurora and Chairman of House Committee on Higher and Technical Education) and Josefina M. Joson (1st district, Nueva Ecija and Vice Chair of Committee on Appropriations) had joined their call for a higher subsidy for SUCs.

Even Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairperson Patricia B. Licuanan had joined the bandwagon for pressing the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to increase the meager budget for State-run higher educational institutions (HEIs).

Palatino said that during the interpellation and plenary debates, Jocson had said that her committee will “concretely address the requested increases.”

Aside from the decreasing budget, Palatino also stressed the “reframing” of the existing education policies which serve as the “root cause” of SUC budget cut.

The young lawmaker said, the DBM ‘systematically’ reduces the budget allocation for the SUCs as per advice from the World Bank.

“Is it not ironic that both DBM and WB publicize social betterment as they aggressively push for budget cuts to SUCs? We have to understand that social progress and development will not be possible in the absence of a strong public tertiary education system. SUCs need sufficient funds to be able to qualitatively function,” the lawmaker said.

Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick S. Pabillo, chief of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ National Secretariat for Social Action (CBCP-NASSA), and Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, earlier, had expressed their full support in increasing the budget of SUCs.

On September 19 to 23, different students, youth, and academic organizations will stage a nationwide protest against budget cuts, not only in education but also for other social services. (Noel Sales Barcelona/CBCPNews)

Baler chief of police relieve over crime waves

BALER, Aurora, September 15, 2011-Police Superintendent Benjamin Villasis, chief of police here was relieved by Senior Superintendent Ervin Gumban, provincial director of the Aurora police based in Camp Ravina over the mounting crimes of high-profile robbery-holdup and theft incidents.

Villasis was replaced by Chief Inspector Edgardo Togonon who is assigned formerly as the provincial spokesperson chief and now concurrently PNP chief for operation at Camp Ravina a month after Mayor Arthur J. Angara criticized Gumban and  Villasis over the failure of police to stem the tide of robberies and hold-ups.

Central Luzon regional director Chief Superintendent Edgardo Ladao from Camp Olivas, Pampanga, downplayed the relief of Villasis, saying that the latter went on official leave. “Since he has gone on leave, Gumban replaced him with Togonon and that’s no problem with me,” he said in a phone interview.

Earlier, Angara said that he was totally disgusted with the performance of the PNP in combating lawlessness in this capital town, particularly the rush in high-profile robbery-holdup and theft.

This after unidentified men broke inside the service center of the Aurora Electric Cooperative along Gloria St., Barangay Suklayin last month and ran away with P193,798 worth of cash and other valuables.

Angara was particularly angered that the latest incident happened near the police station. He said with a new police chief, he expects crimes to go down.

He said that his leadership is being embarrassed by the crime wave particularly as this town – Aurora’s smallest municipality but which is the center of education, trade and commerce - is experiencing an unprecedented tourism boom.

Angara said that Villasis texted him after relinquishing his post and even sent him a “thank you” message.

Vice Mayor Nelianto Bihasa, who was with Angara during the birthday bash of the mayor’s sister, Governor Bellaflor Angara-Castillo at the capitol compound Wednesday night said he warned Togonon to shape up and make sure crimes would go on a downward turn.

Angara-Castillo said that she is expecting that Togonon will immediately conduct case tracking and back tracking of unsolved criminal case to solve the crime waves here.

The crime surge was such that according to Camp Olivas, 170 incidents of theft and 56 robbery cases had taken place in the province from January to June 2011. The first semester report showed that Aurora – on record  as the most peaceful province in the region – even registered higher incidents of theft compared with the more populous Tarlac province which posted only 135 theft cases.

Last July alone, four robbery-holdup incidents were perpetrated one after another, even victimizing a reporter, a prominent contractor, a former board member and a government employee.

Back to Villasis, a reliable source said that despite the alleged failure of Villasis to solve the high profile robbery holdup and theft incidents here in Baler, Villasis is reportedly soon to replace Police Superintendent Eliseo Cruz, an outstanding policeman of the year nationwide who is manning Cabanatuan City police force in Nueva Ecija as chosen by Mayor Jay Vergara. (Jason de Asis)

Campus journalists cried foul over campus freedom violations

MANILA, September 14, 2011—Campus journalists cried foul after the Adamson University allegedly barred the members of the Editorial Board of the Adamson Chronicle from enrolling for the first semester of the current school year, withholding the news organ’s funds, and preventing its circulation officer to distribute the printed materials.

Former Trinity Observer editor-in-chief Romina Astudillo and now secretary-general of the College Editors’ Guild of the Philippines-National Capital Region (CEGP-NCR) said in a statement that the case of Adamson University is just one of the numerous cases of campus press freedom violations recorded by their office early this year.

Astudillo said the Pamantasang Lungsod ng Muntinlupa plans to close The Warden, the official student publication of the said city-run university, because of its “subversive” contents. Astudillo cited the criticism of the paper against the policies of the current government of President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III and its stance on the collection of “college development fees.”

The campus organ of the Technological University of the Philippines-Manila, the Artisan, would now be under the direct supervision of the academic personnel of TUP as the university administration had revised its Student Code and amended some other policies being implemented by the Office of Student Affairs, according to Astudillo.

The woman press freedom advocate also said that the Mindanao State University– Institute of Information Technology has been controlling the funds of Silahis, their official student publication.

“Reports from CEGP Mindanao show that the total funds of Silahis amounting from P8 million (US$186,784.96) to P13 million ($303,525.55) [are being controlled] alongside the censorship done by the administration,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Pillars of Negros State University and the Collegiate Highlight of the University of Southeastern Philippines are experiencing campus militarization and since Marcos’ Martial Rule, The National—the National University’s official newspaper—had remained padlocked and never been attempted to reopen it.

“The school administrators are using the flawed provisions of the Campus Journalism Act of 1991 to pacify student publications. Many instances that the school administrators arbitrarily replace the existing members of the editorial board with editors who are under their control and supervision,” the campus press leader said.

Astudillo furthered that campus journalists are also target of extrajudicial and summary executions.

During the administration of Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Benjaline “Beng” Hernandez, the CEGP national vice-president for Mindanao, had been summarily executed by the alleged elements of the military while doing a research on the state of the peasantry in the Arakan Valley, Mindanao.

Astudillo said that the United Nations had already issued a resolution stating that the Philippines’ state forces should be held accountable for the death of Hernandez, but until now, none of her killers had been arrested or jailed.

At present, CEGP has already gathered more than 320 cases of campus press freedom violations, Astudillo said.

Nonetheless, the CEGP blames the government itself for the continuous violations of the freedom of the press.

Astudillo explains that the exclusion of the Freedom on Information (FOI) Bill from the priority legislations of the current government is a clear sign of neglect of the current administration to human rights, particularly with the freedom of the people to information and to express themselves. (Noel Sales Barcelona/CBCPNews)

Senate approves People’s Survival Fund on 3rd reading

MANILA, September 13, 2011-Senators’ passed the People’s Survival Fund (PSF) Bill on Third Reading that would allow local governments and communities to put in place climate mitigation practices to lessen the destructive impact of natural disasters.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile lauded the PSF measure saying that the lack of funding seems to be the main deterrent to solving the country’s problems in dealing with the effects of climate change yearly.

“The PSF is a fund that intends to provide incentives for early adaptation measures by allocating finances for local resilience-building needs,” Enrile said, believing that the sooner the People’s Survival Fund is approved by the House and the sooner it is enacted into law, the earlier the government will be able to implement policies and reforms geared towards building a country that is not only climate-resilient but economically sound as well.

The PSF bill is principally sponsored by Enrile and co-sponsored by Senators Loren Lagarda, Ralph G. Recto, Franklin M. Drilon and Manuel “Lito” M. Lapid.

To reflect prevailing conditions in the country, Enrile pointed out that government intervention on climate change and disaster risk reduction should be given more importance.

Enrile said that the recent rains that inundated major parts of Visayas and Mindanao not only caused loss of lives and destruction to property, but also destroyed sources of livelihood, adding that adaptation finance should always be seen as an investment, and not a cost.

The bill was unanimously approved after consideration of Drilon’s amendment to appropriate the amount of P1 billion annually to be used for the fund under the General Appropriations Act (GAA).

The PSF aimed to strengthen the Climate Change Act of 2009. PSF is a special trust fund for the financing of adaptation programs and projects based on climate change action plans of local government units and communities. Private donations, if any, shall be exempted from donor’s tax.

Among the uses of the fund stated in Section 20 of the proposed measure are adaptation activities in the areas of water resources management, land management, agriculture and fisheries, health, infrastructure development, fragile ecosystems including mountainous ecosystems, and integrated coastal zone management.

Authors of the bill also said that the PSF aims to improve the monitoring of diseases triggered by climate change and in the same vein, improving the country’s disease control and prevention measures and at the same time improve the country’s forecasting and early warning systems as part of disaster-preparedness measures for climate related hazards, among others.

The Fund will be managed by a PSF Board composed by one commissioner coming from the Climate Change Commission, the Department of Finance, Department of Budget and Management, the National Economic and Development Authority and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, together with representatives from government financial institutions, the business sector and non-government organizations under the bill. (Jason de Asis)

The untold story of Bacalzo’s possible early retirement

MANILA, September 13, 2011-Unknown to many retired Philippine National  Police Chief Director General Raul M. Bacalzo tendered his retirement from the service three years ago.

Bacalzo’s wife Levy said that call it destiny or just plain luck, retired PNP Chief Director General Bacalzo would not have been the 16^th chief of the 140,000-strong police organization if his retirement papers were approved way back in 2008 where she confirmed the retirement plan.

Mrs. Bacalzo said that her husband was forced to retire to devote more time for his family. Back then, she recalled that her husband was abroad when a call from Camp Crame came telling him he was needed there.

“At that time, Bacalzo was head of the PNP Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management,” Mrs. Bacalzo said.

There were reports that Mrs. Bacalzo was “pressuring” him to decide to retire early because she wanted him to spend quality time with her and their kids.

She said that they were really having indifference on him because when there were occasions in the family, he almost always failed to come and join them because of his work at the PNP.

But somehow, Camp Crame officers were able to dissuade Bacalzo from proceeding with his retirement.

“He asked me what he should do and I asked him what was his desire. When he said he was staying put, I said, okay go ahead,” she said.

The wife said they have no inkling that two years later, he would be named PNP Chief by President Aquino, replacing Jesus Versoza.

“We had not talked about that possibility. In fact, we were so surprised when he got appointed,” she recalled.

During his speech relinquishing the post, Bacalzo mentioned that his relatives went home from abroad to make sure he was retiring.

He then turned to his wife, assuring her he was indeed retiring. “This is not a promise but a statement,” he said. 

Bacalzo admitted that it must have been destiny that propelled him to the highest police post of the land. “Pasensiya sila hindi natuloy ang retirement ko (They should bear with the fact that my retirement then did not push through),” he said of other police officers in line who would have taken his post last year.

Bacalzo is reportedly mulling over several options on his retirement, among which is to teach in his high school alma mater in Batangas for free. (Jason de Asis)

Bacalzo says no demoralization over choice of Bartolome as top cop

MANILA, September 12, 2011-Retired Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, Director General Raul Bacalzo yesterday said that no demoralization swept the ranks of the police organization despite the choice of Deputy Director General Nicanor Bartolome, explaining that police officers are professionals and they know that choosing the PNP Chief is the prerogative of the President.

“Besides, there was already a precedent, as in the case of Ping,” he said, referring to Senator Panfilo Lacson who was appointed PNP chief in 1998 by then-President Joseph Estrada ahead of other more senior officers. Lacson was a member of the PMA’s Batch ’71.

Bacalzo made the observation after turning over the reins of the PNP to Bartolome, a member of the Philippine Military Academy’s Class 1980, at the PNP multi-purpose center in Camp Crame which was witnessed by no less than President Aquino, former President Fidel Ramos and Lacson himself. When Lacson was appointed PNP chief, he bypassed other senior officers like general Jewel Canson.

In the case of Bartolome, his appointment as the 17^th PNP Chief also breached the seniority tradition as he went ahead of Deputy Director General Benjamin Delarmino of Batch ’77 and Deputy Director General Raul Castaneda, the Deputy Chief for Operations.

Director Alfredo Caballes, chief of the PNP Directorate for Plans, also downplayed the appointment of Bartolome. “Even if there were controversies, there were not much,” he said.

One general who requested anonymity, said that the designation of Bartolome over more senior police officers, is no longer an issue considering that police officers know it’s the President’s call.

He said that there is no demoralization within those who were bypassed. They look at it with a degree of realism because let’s face it, it’s the President who decides who will be the next PNP Chief.

The police officer said Bartolome, though not the most senior, is already ripe for the post, having served as one-star general for a long time already. (Jason de Asis)

Church assesses growth of BECs

MANILA, Sept. 12, 2011—Fifty years after the Second Vatican Council, Church leaders are looking back on how the growth of basic ecclesial communities in Asia have been faithful to the vision that brought them to their very existence.

BEC practitioners from India, Sri Lanka, Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, China and the Philippines gathered at the One World Community Service Center in Taipei from September 2 to 5 for the Asian Continental BEC Meeting to report on the state and development of BECs in their
respective countries.

Fr. Amado Picardal of the Episcopal Commission on Basic Ecclesial Communities of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines reported on the state of the BECs in the Philippines.

“Each (of us) gave a report on the state of the BECs in (our) country and how the BECs have realized the vision of a renewed Church of Vatican II and the challenges that (we) face at present,” Picardal said.

“I am just amazed about the growth of BECs not just in the Philippines but also other countries in Asia. This is a sign of hope of the vitality of the Church in this region,” the priest added.

According to Picardal, the conference, themed "BECs in Asia 50 years after Vatican II," was held in preparation for the anniversary of the Second Vatican Council next year, when a separate conference for BEC practitioners all over the world will be held in Germany.

“This meeting was [a] preparation the intercontinental gathering on BECs which will be held in Tubingen, Germany next year. The Latin American BEC continental conference has already been held. The other continental conferences in Africa and North America will also be held
soon,” he said.

The continental conferences and that which is slated in Germany next year are meant to identify the challenges to the BECs in Asia and throughout the world “in the light of the recent social, economic, and cultural developments, especially globalization and post or late modernity.” (CBCPNews)

Abortion stats based on inflated hospital records

MANILA, September 11, 2011—One of the Senate sponsors of the controversial “reproductive health” (RH) bill admitted Tuesday that statistics being used by pro-RH advocates are merely “extrapolations” and are therefore not exact.

Tuesday’s floor debates brought into the open how pro-RH lobbyists have been calculating the supposed number of abortions in the country, which Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago claims is at 570,000 annually.

Under interpellation by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Santiago—a sponsor of the RH bill—revealed that the figure came from 2008 extrapolations by the Guttmacher Institute and the UP Population Institute.

The New York-based Guttmacher Institute is the former research arm of the pro-abortion group Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of abortion services in the US.

Loopholes in computing abortion statistics

To arrive at the total number of abortions in a year, Santiago said the Guttmacher methodology simply multiplies the number of women hospitalized for complications due to abortion “by a factor of 6 or 7.” She did not explain how the so-called multiplier was derived.

“In other words this may or may not be true,” Enrile said, to which Santiago replied in the affirmative.

“But to imply that they were pulled out of thin air is unfair,” Santiago said.

The Guttmacher paper in question, available publicly on the Internet, estimated 3.371 million pregnancies in 2008—out of which 17% (573,000) supposedly led to “induced abortions.”

Guttmacher claimed that based on hospital records, there were 90,000 admissions in 2008, which means the multiplier used by Guttmacher was between 6 and 7 to produce an inflated figure of 573,000 induced abortions—easily half of abortions in the United States, where abortion is legal.

During the debates, Enrile pointed out that Guttmacher made the extrapolation based on data from way back in 2000, or more than a decade ago.

A check on the methodology of the 2008 extrapolation showed that hospital records were not really examined that year. The methodology states: “Numbers of induced abortions by region, 2008: We applied the regional number of induced abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–49 in 2000 (the most recent data available) to the numbers of women aged 15–49 in 2008.”

The 2000 data is contained in the older study “The Incidence of Induced Abortion in the Philippines: Current Level and Recent Trends,” also by Guttmacher and UP.

That study, published in 2005, claimed 78,901 women were hospitalized due to abortion complications across all regions in the country. Multiplying it by a factor of 6 inflates the figure to 473,408 – the supposed level of induced abortions in 2000.

Relied on anecdotal evidence, indirect estimates

The older study, however, admits having “limited information” on the prevalence of abortion, as it relied on “anecdotal evidence” and a 2006 survey of health workers which merely “suggested” that about one in four women with abortion complications needed to be hospitalized, or a multiplier of 5.

To account for improvements in the “safety of abortion” over the years, Guttmacher and UP simply adjusted the inflation factor to between 5 and 7.

Even the figure attributed to hospital records is extrapolated or merely based on “indirect estimates,” it turns out. A total of 2,039 hospitals were identified, but usable reports were obtained for only 1,658.

For 1,180 hospitals, the study merely assumed that “the number of women admitted for abortion complications was half the number of patients admitted for the 10th leading cause of admission.” Nearly 400 hospitals did not even have data at all, but were nevertheless assigned 6,000 supposed hospitalizations.

Guttmacher’s 2008 methodology, meanwhile did not consider factors known to reduce maternal mortality or even attempt to get more reliable counts.

Santiago defended Guttmacher on Tuesday, saying: “Apparently they have a track record of reasonable accuracy.”

Tuesday’s debates saw a calmer Santiago, who even used the word “opo” to answer Enrile’s questions.

‘11 mothers die everyday’ a PR phrase

In contrast, the other RH sponsor, Sen. Pia Cayetano, was visibly irritated by the Senate President’s queries, which she dismissed as “repetitive.”

“Don’t teach me how to interpellate,” Enrile said. “Don’t teach me how to answer,” Cayetano replied.

Cayetano and Enrile clashed over the oft-repeated statistic of 11 maternal deaths a day, which had been found to be based on old data but is now being attributed by the pro-RH lobby to the maximum estimate by government statisticians.

The World Health Organization (WHO) placed maternal deaths in 2008 at just 5.75 a day.

In an apparent admission that “11 a day” is only for public relations purposes, Cayetano said: “‘11 mothers die everyday’ is a phrase used by NGOs to drive home the point.”

Enrile appealed to the pro-RH lobby not to take him to task for questioning the data used to push for the RH bill, saying he was doing so only to place the entire issue in the records of the Senate.

To recall, pro-RH lobbyists last month waged a social-networking demolition job on Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, who questioned the basis of the “11 a day” statistic.

“I want to make sure that statistical numbers used for the possible passage of this bill are beyond doubt,” Enrile said. (CBCP for Life)