AMMOYO 2009
September 5, 2009
The College Editors Guild of the Philippines- La Union Chapter is proud to inform you that it will again celebrate a year of excellent campus journalism through its annual Journalism and Education Festival dubbed as “AMMOYO 2009” on September 11-13, 2009 at Paradiso Resort Hotel, Samara, Aringay, La Union.
Now on its 8th year, AMMOYO aims to gather the budding campus journalists from different secondary and tertiary schools in the region to help them become efficient and responsible writers.
Aside from journalism skills trainings, AMMOYO also offers workshops on literature and the arts and discussions on the latest socio-political issues of today.
Mr. Raffy Lerma of Philippine Daily Inquirer, Ms. Rowena Carranza of Bulatlat.com., Palanca Awardee, Mr. Erros Atalla and other renowned media practitioners are among the invited speakers.
In addition, GAWAD MANUEL ARGUILLA, the search for most outstanding literary student writers will also be held.
Join the 3rd Gawad Manuel Arguilla, College Editors Guild of the Philippines-La Union Chapter’s Annual Literary Contest.
Contest Rules:
- The contest is open to all members of the student publications within Region 1 and the Cordilleras (membership to CEGP is not a requisite) except current officers of the College Editors Guild of the
- There are two (2) divisions: English and Filipino.
- Translation of an entry submitted in one (1) division will not be qualified in the other division. The contest has three (3) categories namely:
a. Short Story b. Essay c. Poetry
- The patriotic and democratic orientation of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) must be perceived in the entries.
- The entries should be original and must be solely written by the contestant. Writers should submit only one (1) entry per category.
- Only published works in their student publications during the first semester of Academic Year 2009-20010 and/or unpublished works will be accepted in the contest.
- All entries should consist of an original and three (3) copies.
- Entries must be computerized, double-spaced on a letter-size (8 ½ X 11 inches) white bond paper, with 1” margin on all sides.
- The page number must be typed at the bottom-center margin of each page (e.g. 1 of 15).
- The font style should be Times New Roman, Arial or Book Antiqua and the font size must be 12. A soft copy (CD copy with written category and title of the entry on the top) must be provided on each entry.
- All entries must be sealed in a letter-size brown envelope. Only the title of the entry, category, and division should be written or typed on the upper left portion of the envelope.
- The author’s real name and address must not appear on the entry. An entry form must be accomplished at the secretariat area during the registration of the Ammoyo 2009.
- All entries must be personally submitted not later than 10:00 pm during the first day of Ammoyo 2009.
- Submitted copies of all entries shall remain with, and will be the property of the CEGP.
- In the short story category, an entry must be at least five (5) but not more than fifteen (15) pages.
- In the poetry category, an entry must consist of a compilation of at least three (3) but not more than five (5) poems.
- In the essay category, an entry should be at least five (5) but not more than fifteen (15) pages.
- The Board of Judges shall have the discretion not to award any prize if, in its judgment, no meritorious entry has been submitted.
20. The CEGP has the right to assign the persons who shall compose the Board of Judges in each of the categories. The decision of the majority of the Board of Judges in all categories shall be final.
- Top three on each of the categories will be declared winners.
- The names of the winners and the members of the Board of Judges will be announced on the last night of Ammoyo 2009.
For inquiries, please contact Paola 09083981869.
Demystifying Cory
August 7, 2009 
President Corazon Aquino (image from fjsanchez.wordpress.com)
Cory’s Place in History
http://www.bulatlat .com/main/ 2009/08/01/ cory-aquino% E2%80%99s- place-in- history/
The failures of her presidency notwithstanding, Cory Aquino will be remembered for helping restore democracy in the Philippines and dismantle the vestiges of the Marcos dictatorship. When the Arroyo regime increasingly became corrupt and autocratic, she again rose to the challenge. Cory fought tyranny to the very end.
Corazon Aquino, Ex-leader of Philippines, Is Dead
http://www.nytimes. com/2009/ 08/01/world/ asia/01aquino. html?_r=1&ref=global-home
Born into one of the country’s wealthy land-owning families, the Cojuangcos of Tarlac, Mrs. Aquino did not lead the social revolution that some had hoped for. She failed to institute effective land reform or to address the country’s fundamental structural ailment, the oligarchic control of power and politics.
Differences
http://opinion. inquirer. net/inquireropin ion/columns/ view/20090721- 216603/Differenc es
While Cory lingers on earth, the world begs her fight on, cling on, stay on. While Gloria lingers in Malacañang, the world begs her go down, step down, fall down. One day, and one can only hope a long time from now, when Cory faces her Maker, she will give a good accounting of herself. One day, and one can only hope that is soon, when Gloria faces her People, she will have to account for her sins.
One day, when Cory departs from this world, heaven will open for her. One day, when Gloria departs from Malacañang, heaven help her.
‘People, not Malacanang will honor Aquino’
http://newsinfo. inquirer. net/breakingnews /nation/view/ 20090802- 218411/People- not-Malacaang- will-honor- Aquino
The official, whom she refused to identify, told the family that the Palace was “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” on whether or not to mount state honors for the former president.
Cory, Dilaw at Iba Pang Paglisan
http://www.bulatlat .com/main/ 2009/08/02/ cory-dilaw- at-iba-pang- paglisan/
Nananatili siyang “puta-puta” sa henerasyong nakatunghay sa diktadurya. Sa mga hindi, ang Marcoses ay si Imeldang ikonikong lumabas sa t-shirts na parang si Che Guevarra, o si Borgy Manotoc, ang bad-boy pero model na socialite (pwede pala itong identidad). Si Cory naman ay ang kultura ng pagpiling tignan lang siya sa isang dimesyon, bilang isang santa.
Na parang siya si Joan of Arc na hinango tayo sa diktadurya, at ibinalik ang demokrasya. O birhen na dinadambana dahil siya mismo ay isang relihiyosong Katoliko. Ang one-dimensional woman mode kay Cory ang nagpalabo ng mga detalyeng makapanghuhusga sa tunay niyang kontribusyon sa kasaysayan.
The Economic Folly of Charter Change
July 22, 2009 IBON Features—Amid lack of public consultation and accusations of railroading legislative processes, the committee on constitutional amendments in the House of Representatives approved this week the resolution filed by Speaker Prospero Nograles to amend the economic provisions in the Constitution. Proponents of Charter change (Cha-cha) argue that removing the 1987 Constitution’s nationalist provisions is key to reviving foreign investment flows into the country. Yet this is a weak argument for an effort that is moreover about Pres. Arroyo’s extension in power beyond 2010. There have been repeated efforts to remove dozens of nationalist and other progressive economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution since the 1990s. The main focus is on the charter’s provisions on economic sovereignty beginning with the overall declarations of nationalist economic policy covering foreign economic relations and domestic policy thrusts (Art. II. Declaration of Principles, Sec. 7, 17, 19, 21). Other targeted provisions to be amended include: 1. Restricting foreign ownership, the degree of their involvement in decision-making and the grounds for expropriation (Art. XII, Sec. 1, 10, 11, 17, 18, 19; Art. XIV, Sec. 4; Gen. Provisions, Sec. 11) The basic argument for amending these provisions is that the wholesale removal of all manner of protection and regulation of key domestic sectors will increase foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into the country and hence promote national development. Cha-cha proponents argue that strategic enterprises, natural resources, land ownership, public utilities, professions, education, mass media and advertising should be completely opened up to foreign capital. It seems that the mere presence of foreign capital is taken to mean that development is happening. This argument however is very wrong. Foreign investment can play a role in domestic economic development only under very specific conditions and a liberal investment environment does not provide those conditions. This is proven by the experience of countries that have been able to use foreign investment to their benefit. It is also affirmed, unfortunately in a negative manner, by the poor experience of the Philippines with foreign investment. Foreign investment = development? Foreign investment is potentially useful, but a government seeking real development must set the terms for this because there is a conflict between the profits of transnational corporations (TNCs) and national development. National development priorities require monitoring, guidance and control of FDI. TNCs, on the other hand, want government intervention curtailed to give them freest play in the economy to extract and repatriate their profits. FDI can have benefits and has costs. Theoretically, the benefits include the immediate jobs created, inflow of foreign capital, increased export earnings, increased production of goods and services, and technology transfer. The costs on the other hand are job losses from the displacement of local firms and stunted local industry, the outflow or domestic speculation of profits, royalties, stunted domestic accumulation, increased imports of capital, intermediate and consumer goods, loss of natural resources, and monopoly pricing of utilities and services for profit. The benefits would not be realized spontaneously while the costs are inevitable and intrinsic to TNC operations. Without intervention by a responsible state, the results will be overwhelmingly negative. Economic sovereignty is critical to economic development. The unambiguous historical experience is that FDI must be strategically restricted and strictly controlled. This includes regulating TNC entry, establishment and their right to operate through equity and ownership restrictions, joint ventures, requiring local content and domestic reinvestment, demanding technology transfer, and others. These are vital policy tools to create linkages and benefits for the domestic economy. Sovereignty means “liberalizing” when ready to do so and on terms beneficial to the domestic economy. This is the unambiguous lesson from the long historical experience of countries as diverse as: the United States (US), Germany and Japan in the 1900s-1950; South Korea and Taiwan in the 1960s-1980s; and China, Russia and Cuba during their periods of revolutionary change. An economy will only get net benefits if the state exercises its sovereignty over FDI and requires real technology transfers, controls the use and repatriation of profits, and applies local content and other performance requirements. Moreover, strict limits on foreign equity ownership are among the most important FDI-related measures. FDI in the Philippines The Philippine experience, on the other hand, provides a clear negative example. FDI has over the last two decades been granted extraordinary privileges and fiscal incentives by the Ramos, Estrada and Arroyo administrations. The net result is that foreign investors have been able to make their profits without any real contribution to domestic social and economic development. The economic facts are straightforward. Increasing FDI has actually been accompanied by increasing unemployment, increasing labor export, falling real wages, shrinking manufacturing and more volatile growth. There have also not been any real increases in domestic capital formation or in government revenues which have increasingly relied on regressive taxes on personal consumption. The cumulative stock of FDI has doubled from some US$10 billion in 1995 to US$19 billion in 2007. Inward FDI flows increased from being equivalent to less than one percent of gross fixed capital formation in the early 1980s to between 15%-18% in the last few years. FDI accounted for 56% of total approved investments in 2007 or P215.2 billion in FDI out of total approved investments worth P385.8 billion. FDI supposedly goes towards building a strong productive economic base. However, there is nothing to indicate that all that FDI has contributed to creating a strong domestic economy able to create jobs on a sustainable basis. On the contrary, the number of jobless Filipinos has continued to rise, and the 2001-2008 period is already the worst eight-year period of recorded unemployment in the country’s history. While jobs in export processing zones or special economic zones have been increasing, these have not been able to offset job losses and stunted industrial development elsewhere in the economy. In short, foreign investment has been coming into the country but the supposed gains for economy and the people– such as jobs, poverty reduction and industrialization– are just not there. There are certainly other factors operating to explain these poor economic outcomes. But that is precisely the point: increasing foreign investment is not an end in itself. The country’s stunted development is not due to the lack of foreign investment but because of the lack of real policies to strengthen the domestic economy. Moreover, the losses to the economy from unrestrained foreign investor domination will be immense. Local enterprises and businesses, already reeling from decades of globalization, will be weakened further. The country’s scarce mineral, forestry and fishery resources will be exploited with scant benefits for the local economy, while local communities will be dislocated. The economic provisions of the charter should not and need not be changed to start developing the economy. They are tried and tested economic measures for development even if they have remained largely underused and even systematically subverted. At the same time, the country’s experience with its liberal approach to foreign investment is clear: it has poured in but the domestic economy is still unable to generate substantial capital, job creation has been stunted, natural resources have been lost and no technology has been transferred. The Cha-cha effort, among other things, is about surrendering the last remaining legal barriers to foreign exploitation of the country’s human and natural resources. IBON Features
Written by IBON Media
Thursday, 05 February 2009
Cha-cha proponents argue that removing the Constitution’s nationalist provisions is key to reviving foreign investment flows into the country. Yet this is a weak argument for an effort that is also about Pres. Arroyo’s extension in power beyond 2010.
2. Regulating the exploration, development and use of the national patrimony and defining corresponding rights, privileges and concessions (Art. XII, Sec. 2; Art. XIII, Sec. 7, 
3. Giving preference to Filipinos and stating the responsibility to protect, encourage and promote Filipino economic activity (Art. XII, Sec. 12, 14)
4. Giving the state various powers by which to assert national sovereignty, specifically in terms of:
a. Regulating trade, monopolies, and other economic activity in the public interest and in favor of Filipinos (Art. XII, Sec. 1, 6, 12, 13, 19; Art. XIV, Sec. 12; General Provisions, Sec. 11);
b. Defining treaty-making powers (Art. VII, Sec. 21); and
c. Giving the Supreme Court the power to assert the constitution’s nationalist provisions (Art. VIII, Sec. 4, 5).
Open letter to the Commission on Elections
July 4, 2009We are youth from different schools, universities, sectors and organizations. We write in the midst of the poll automation controversy that has sown not only fear but discontent among our ranks.
Fear, because the recent unfortunate developments send troubling signals that the 2010 polls is on shaky ground.
Moreover, the unraveling of First Gentleman Mike Arroyo’s close connections with some entities involved in the modernization of elections is not at all welcome news. It has only established a conjecture — that of another shady deal reminiscent of Hello Garci and other poll-related anomalies.
Discontent, because in the face of these, the Commission on Elections, the government agency tasked to ensure a clean and honest elections in 2010, has so far only provided options and alternatives that fall short of assuring the youth and the public that it is doing all it can to allay fears of a no-el or failure of elections scenario.
Preparations for the 2010 polls have been tainted early on. The manner by which the bidding was held belabors the Comelec’s failure to prepare and conduct a credible elections. The Comelec is now burdened to correct this.
If the Comelec decides to push through with the automation, it must institute concrete system safeguards.
Automated or not, the Comelec must institute reforms in the electoral system.
Above all, as an independent constitutional commission, it must be transparent. We urge the Comelec to expose interventions from whatever entity, be it the administration or any other player whose motives are suspect.
These, we see, are the only ways that the Comelec can appease the public and assure that the 2010 polls will be free from possible manipulation and further controversy.
Anomalies necessitate interrogation. And in light of the recent events, fear and discontent have now fuelled the youth’s more determined vigilance.
The youth comprises a huge percentage of the country’s voters. We will be at the forefront of selecting the next leaders of this country. Beyond this, we are tasked to change the course of history alongside the other sectors of our society.
We demand a clean and honest 2010 presidential elections. We deserve no less.
Signed.
Kabataan Party-list Rep. Mong Palatino/Alvin Peters, President, National Union of Students of the Philippines/Vijae Alquisola, President, College Editors Guild of the Philippines/Ma. Cristina Guevarra, Chairperson, Student Christian Movement/Vencer Crisostomo, Chairperson, League of Filipino Students/Ken Leonard Ramos, Chairperson, Anakbayan/Charizze Banez, Student Regent-elect, University of the Philippines System/Jacqueline Joy Eroles, UP University Student Council/Teri Ridon, Convenor, Youth ACT Now (Youth for Accountability and Truth Now)
