vonjobi: wow, congratulations! kelan ang trip? i hope i'll be around when you come. had a good time with diosa last...
Keith Bacongco: Knowing Nograles and his Big Boss...garapalan na lang talaga.
Vinia Datinguinoo Mukherjee: Congratulations, PCIJ! Mabuhay kayo!
Lead Philippines: But without credible mass media there, what is left to protect the people..?
vonjobi: it's juned sOniDo.

Latest Message 5 months ago

hopeless_race : Lets not just focus sa mga malversation of funds, sa mga overpricing..ating pagtuunan ng atensyon ang diskarte ng mga politiko na umuutang ng bilyon bilyon sa gobyerno."Small time" ang ibang pamamaraan ng pangungurakot kumpara sa pag-utang sa gobyerno ng bilyon na tunay ngang masasabing "pinaka big-time" at wala pang sabit.
hopeless_race : Mukhang tikom ang bibig ng lahat pagdating sa diskarte ng mga politiko sa pagutang ng mga bilyon bilyon sa gobyerno na tinatakbuhan. Itong pamamaraan na ito ang tunay na kumakain ng malaking porsyento ng ating national budget batay na din sa sinasabi ng world bank.
hopeless_race : Pakisilip naman po ang mga utang ni Villar sa BSP, ang mga utang nila RAMON JACINTO, RONNIE ZAMORA, JOE DE VENECIA at madami pang ibang mga pulitiko. Iilan lamang yan sa mga nababanggit sa balita na may mga malalaking utang sa gobyerno.
hopeless_race : Nagmimistulang "small time" lamang ang malversation of funds kumpara sa laki ng kinakamal ng mga umuutang sa gobyerno. At ito ay malinaw na natatakbuhan dahil hindi nga naman pwede makulong ang may-ari ng kumpanya sa pagkaka-utang lamang. Tunay na mga tuso at magagaling sa batas itong mga politiko natin. Masasabi ko na malamang lahat ng mga politiko ganito ang diskarte...wala pang kulong.
hopeless_race : PCIJ pkitingnan naman po ang mga gaya ni Villar na my malaking utang sa Gobyerno pero tinatakbuhan. Magtatayo ng kumpanya at uutang ng bilyon bilyon sa gobyerno ng walang balak bayaran. Tunay ngang walang nakukulong sa utang...ito ang prinsipyo ginagamit ng mga politiko ntin kaya nakakapagtaka kung san napupunta ang daang bilyong pera ng gobyerno.
hopeless_race : Sana itreat naman po ng media ang hacienda luisita at mendiola massacre na parang MAGUINADANAO MASSACRE. Ipublicized ang mga katotohanan at ipakita sa tao ang karumaldumal na pinaggagawa sa mga farmers dun. Untouchable po ba sila cory at danding at hindi magawang batikusin ng media about these two massacres?
hopeless_race : Kapag napaguusapan ang mendiola at hacienda luisita massacre ay parang walang nangyari at parang hindi big deal. Anu po ba ang pinagkaiba ng dalawang nabanggit na massacre sa maguindanao massacre?
hopeless_race : Its sad that we pinoys are blind to the fact of what had happened in mendiola and hacienda luisita. Ang tanong..bakit ang media ay hindi manlang matackle ang ganitong usapin? Takot ba sila kay cory at danding?
hopeless_race : Wilkins" brand, for P1.4 billion.-1999 Sugarland Multi-Food Corp. for P2.9 billion 2001- Purefoods Corp P7 billion P60 billion Coca-Cola ... See More 2002- Cosmos Bottling Corp. from RFM Corp. for P14.1 billion October 2008- GSIS' shares in Meralco worth PHP30 Billion. December 2008- country's biggest oil refiner, Petron Corporation. international company shopping spree: Australian boutique brewer J. Boag and Son for A$96 million in 2000. $97 million for Thai Amarit Brewery Ltd $35.5 mi
hopeless_race : Gud am..glad to be back.
jr_lad : rip mr. alecks pabico. you'll be greatly missed!
sevens21 : Dati input mo lng name at SSS ID makukuha mo agad STATIC INFO...
sevens21 : tawag ka sa HOTLINE nila walang ANSWER grrr we need pa namn ng static info SSS Gising!!!
sevens21 : Gawa naman po kayo ng article about SSS. Pangit ng site nila dali ma blocked ng account
guest_899 : we must check the background of each potential candidates to avoid having another big mistake like GMA
guest_899 : congratulations to PCIJ, more power and God Bless !
jazzymuver : how did Arroyo swallow that kind of things!! how come that she just spend the money our countrymen for her own sake!!
guest_3664 : i would be glad if u can include the investigation of the manner public officials announce infra projects as per COA regulation. It is frustrating to see their faces on the tarpaulin instead of the prescribed information like name of project, date of implementation,amount of contract, source/s of fund, among other things. This is very rampant here in Marikina. Thanks and more power on your noble endeavors. We need people like you to have make our country great again.
jhanz_08 : im making research on R.A 9136...with rgards to the privatization of NPC..could someone out there can let me understand more bout this matter?why was monopoly dismantled?email me..jhanycem@yahoo.com...thanks much
erika marie : P.S.:) my paper is due next week and i do hope someone could provide me these reports coming from reliable resources thank you ulit.
erika marie : P.S.
guest_4275 : i am currently doing a study regarding political killings in the philippines. could someone out there please send me human rights reports under Aquino and Ramos administration. you could send it at my email: erikamariet@yahoo.com your response would surely be very much appreciated. thank you everyone. god bless.
guest_4275 : i am currently doing a study for my paper regarding political killings in the philippines. i noted that there are no human rights reports during the Aquino and Ramos administration. could someone out there please send me reports regarding these matter? i do hope these reports came from reliable resources you could send it in my email; erikamariet@yahoo.comyour response would surely be appreciated. thanks everyone. god bless.
jayson bourne : gusto ko po maging member ng PCIJ, panu po ba? may application po ba? sana mapadalhan nyo ako ng info sa email ko... www.jboxpenshoppe@yahoo.com
jayson bourne : cory is OK, but kris & Noynoy sensationalize masyado...
guest_9891 : LABAN pa rin!
meow : boycotts worked during marcos years. how about doing it now against the businesses of the con-ass congressmen?
meow : aside from 168, what other establishments can we boycott that belong to the arroyos and their cronies?
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From dirty to waste-free elections

Posted by: Alecks P. Pabico | February 9, 2007 at 12:34 am
Filed under: 2007 Elections, Environment Watch

MANY regard the 2004 presidential elections as the dirtiest in Philippine electoral history, surpassing the record set during the 1969 polls which saw the incumbent Ferdinand Marcos sparing no expense to get himself reelected.

But while cheating is par for the course in every electoral exercise that this country has known since gaining independence, Philippine elections have always been dirty — well, literally, that is.

For every election has brought with it an avalanche of trash. No, these are not the discards generated by voting the wrong people to public office (though they do fit the category). These are rubbish left in the campaign trail of candidates from the national to the local down to the barangay level fighting for elective posts in government — posters, leaflets, streamers, banners, pamphlets, sample ballots, stickers, calendars, pins, buttons, flags, and other printed materials.

Campaign posters litter the streets of Manila. [photo by Christopher Scott]

And where once the production of candidates’ campaign materials was the sole domain of those wealthy enough to own printing presses, today’s accessible digital printing technology has also vastly improved almost everybody’s capacity for churning out even more garbage come election campaign time.

Anticipating the deluge of campaign trash in this year’s elections that they say will most likely end up in dump sites all over the country, healthy environment campaigners have decided to launch a crusade for waste-free elections to avert the messy situation.

Understandably, EcoWaste Coalition is knocking at the door of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), whom the environmentalists want to take proactive measures to check and curb waste in campaign operations and activities.

At 9:30 this morning, EcoWaste’s volunteers from various groups and communities will gather outside the office of the poll body in Intramuros, Manila to present to Commissioner Rene Sarmiento a set of guidelines for use by the Comelec, political parties and candidates to prevent and reduce campaign waste.

Ms. Earth 2006 (Water) Cathy Untalan presents EcoWaste waste-free elections guidelines to Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento. The group says it will dispatch waste-free elections patrols during the campaign period to persuade political parties and aspiring public servants to use resources judiciously and stick to earth-friendly campaign practices. It will also keep tabs on “dirty” candidates that hurt trees and spoil the surroundings with campaign trash.

“We urge all well-meaning candidates to put waste avoidance and reduction at the heart of their strategy to win, so as to minimize the health, environmental and financial costs of unwarranted campaign trash,” EcoWaste said in a statement.

Waste-free elections, according to the coalition, will diminish the wasteful consumption of paper and other valuable resources and minimize the release of toxic contaminants such as greenhouse gases, persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals into our communities and into our air, water and food supplies.

To conserve trees and protect our forests, watersheds, and ecosystems, it suggests the use of post-consumer recycled paper for campaign materials.

Data obtained by the group show that each ton of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, and 7,000 gallons of water. On the other hand, uncoated virgin printing and office paper consume 24 trees.

Ms. Earth 2006 (Water) Cathy Untalan with 'superhero' Walang Aksaya (Zero Waste) and environmentalist Roy Alvarez. The coalition also advises candidates to shun campaign materials that are hardly reused or recycled as confetti, buntings and balloons, and also to avoid environmentally problematic ones like tarpaulin, Styrofoam and other plastics because of difficulties with disposing them.

EcoWaste’s campaign has the support of Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales of the Archdiocese of Manila who early this week urged the Comelec and Filipinos from all of walks of life to team up to ensure a clean election that is free from fraud and waste.

“Sa kandidatong may malasakit sa kalikasan, may pag-asa ang bayan,” said Rosales.

“As stewards of His creation, I urge all the faithful, especially the political parties and all those running for public office, to pay careful attention to the health and environmental effects of all campaign materials and events to ensure that nothing is wasted.”

Organizations behind the EcoWaste initiative include Buklod Tao Foundation, Cavite Green Coalition, Concerned Citizens Against Pollution, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, Greenpeace Southeast Asia, Health Care Without Harm, Mother Earth Foundation, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines - National Secretariat for Social Action, Justice and Peace, November 17 Movement, Sanib Lakas ng Inang Kalikasan, and Zero Waste Philippines.

Below are EcoWaste’s 10-Point Guidelines for Political Parties and Candidates to Prevent and Reduce Campaign Waste:

1. Designate a lead team in the campaign structure that will be tasked to prevent or reduce campaign waste to zero or near-zero in all campaign activities.

2. Target zero tolerance on garbage in all campaign meetings, sorties and related activities.

Keep the campaign litter-free.

Shun throwing confetti, exploding firecrackers or releasing balloons in campaign events.

Refrain from using Styrofoam, plastic bags and other single-use containers for volunteers’ meals and drinks.

Set up segregated waste bins for biodegradable and non-biodegradable discards in campaign assemblies.

Designate “eco-volunteers” to look after the bins and guide the public in the proper separation of their discards.

Clean up right after the campaign event.

Hire a local waste picker to pick up segregated wastes from campaign venue for recycling/ composting.

3. Refrain from using excessive campaign materials such as leaflets, pamphlets, posters, stickers, decals, streamers and other campaign paraphernalia.

4. For election propaganda materials: to include a friendly reminder that says “Para sa ating kalusugan at kalikasan, huwag pong ikalat, itambak o sunugin” or its equivalent in local languages.

5. Avoid the use of specific campaign materials such as tarpaulin and other plastics as their disposal has been environmentally problematic.

6. Use post-consumer recycled paper for campaign materials to conserve trees and protect our forests, watersheds, and ecosystems. To make recycling easy, avoid using plastic-coated paper.

7. Stay away from campaign materials that are hardly reused or recycled such as confetti, buntings and balloons. These are often burned or discarded in storm drains, esteros, rivers, seas and dumps.

8. Reject grafitti or vandalism, or the willful or malicious defacing or destruction of property.

9. Harm not the trees: spare the trees of election campaign materials. Use designated common poster areas.

10. Win or lose — remove election campaign materials from all sites immediately after the election day on May 14, 2007.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 9th, 2007 and is filed under 2007 Elections, Environment Watch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 people have left comments

Thanks for your thoughtful comments Floyd. I guess the impt point is something you already touched on, that all it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.

Then there is this thought: all the surveys point to the Opposition taking over the Senate and ushering in a “Hanging Senate” where there will be at least 16 members ready to convict the President at impeachment. It’s much harder to cheat the Senate vote, and even harder because of what happened in 2004.

But the point of this post is that it is unprincipled to boycott an election just because we don’t think we will like the result.

Democracy is about freedom and opportunity, not a guarantee of results.

-Rizalist-

This comment came after I posted my comment in Dean Jorge Bocobo’s blog suffice to say he pointed out some details he thought i missed upon.

I agree with all that he wrote but i beg to differ accordingly to his arguments.

*all it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing - Now by saying this his argument became very tricky. Does he mean that by participating in a “fraud” election we become the good people doing something for evil not to triumph? Or does he mean that even before a “fraud election” becomes manifest we will be able to clean it up and make it more credible, thus making us good people? To expound further doesn’t it merit that calling the Comelec a “Commission riddled with fraud” as exampled in the last elections make my arguments valid? Perhaps the difference lies in his approach as to how he defines evil. Perhaps voting and practicing the right to vote is not evil per se but the process of how our votes are counted and made accountable is what becomes evil in the end. Other than that does he mean that by doing nothing–which is boycotting the elections, we would help this illegitimate government make an election under its regime legitimate?

*Then there is this thought: all the surveys point to the Opposition taking over the Senate and ushering in a “Hanging Senate” where there will be at least 16 members ready to convict the President at impeachment. It’s much harder to cheat the Senate vote, and even harder because of what happened in 2004. - I have yet to understand a survey in the Philippines that presents the desired results as produced by the study. Lest we forget in the 2004 elections it was FPJ who was leading the surveys and yet GMA was the one who won it. Surveys as in the case of the Philippines are either used to complement a candidate or show the truth in society. But surveys can never read ballots and award a candidate its seat in government, especially when the ones counting it are the ones who counted GMA’s in congress.

*But the point of this post is that it is unprincipled to boycott an election just because we don’t think we will like the result - Let me ask you a question why do you think we ever vote? Isn’t it because we believe that our votes will be counted? That our names registered in Comelec will be found in the right precincts and ballots? That the candidate we choose will win an election? When does it become unprincipled to choose to go against a system that doesn’t safeguard these rights? When does it become unprincipled to believe and think that before we ever get to vote we must clean our Comelec and put to justice our president?

*Democracy is about freedom and opportunity, not a guarantee of results - Now there was a saying that behind every right there exists a duty. In a democracy indeed we have a right to our freedom and free opportunities yet we should protect it so we will find the results it guarantees. I don’t know what he means by saying that Democracy being not a guarantee of results. Is he saying that just because we are able to practice our freedom to vote and our opportunity to choose our leaders we are to be equally happy even if we know for a fact that the ones handling our democracy (which is our government and Comelec) are those who manipulates them for their own ends?

I hope that this would shed light further to what I am trying to touch upon.