AS long as libel is a criminal offense, there remains a threat to freedom of expression,media practitioners declared as they marked Press Freedom Day.

 “I used to think that criminal libel is a necessary evil. It is the only weapon against frequent abuses of media. Unfortunately, this weapon has been variously abused by people in power,” Amado P. Macasaet, Philippine Press Institute (PPI) chairman-president and Malaya publisher, said in a forum at De La Salle University-Manila  last week.

Macasaet said he could never forget the 10 libel cases filed by former First Gentleman Mike Arroyo against him and 46 other journalists. “It was the worst example of how powerful people can threaten journalists with prison terms and fines we may not be able to pay in the event of final conviction,” he said.

Tina Malone, US embassy information officer, noted that when journalists around the world are threatened and jailed, they are being censored as well.

“The truth is replaced by fear, and all of us suffer,” she said.

What is problematic about the Philippine libel law is the premise that truth is not a complete defense. “Even if you are stating the truth, if they can prove that there is malice, you can still spend time in jail, which is ridiculous,” lawyer Harry Roque of the Center for International Law and the director of the Institute of International Legal Studies and Law Center of the University of the Philippines College of Law, said.

Roque cited the case of Alexis Adonis, a Davao-based broadcaster who was convicted of libel in 2007. This was for reading over his radio program an article from the tabloid Abante claiming that former Davao City Rep. Prospero Nograles (whose name was not mentioned by Adonis) was caught with his pants down while running away from the husband of  a woman he was  alleged to be with in a hotel room.

Adonis spent more than two years in prison.

“He had to spend time with criminals whom he exposed in his radio program,” Roque said. “And you could imagine how happy these characters were.”

The UNHRC asked the Philippine government to compensate Adonis for the time served in prison, and to take steps to prevent similar violations from occurring in the future, like reviewing the law on libel.

Earlier this year the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) declared that the  libel law in the Philippines is discordant with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, or freedom of expression.

Rowena C. Paraan, secretary-general of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), said the public must take practical actions in order to decriminalize libel.

She suggested a 10-step action plan, which includes educating media practitioners on libel and ethics, intensifying national and international campaigns, and using the social media for campaigning, among others.

According to Paraan, it is crucial to inform the public that freedom of expression is not for media practitioners alone, but for everyone.

Bloggers like JR Bustamante and Jane Uymatiao advocated the use of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to push for the decriminalization of libel. They said simple hash tags can do a lot to pressure the politicians.

Almost all states in the United States have decriminalized libel. Unlike the Philippines, other countries treat libel only as a civil offense that is punishable by fine.

The Philippine libel law, which is embodied in Article 353-364 of the Revised Penal Code, classifies libel as a “crime against honor.” The punishment for libel is a minimum imprisonment of six months and one day and a fine ranging from P200 pesos to P6, 000.

The Philippine government said libel can be decriminalized but it has to be included in the entire Revised Penal Code revision project which, Roque said, will surely “take forever.” Thus,  journalists urged Congress to file a one-sentence law repealing the current libel law.

As observed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), threats against journalists are on the rise. As of December 2011, the Community to Protect Journalists reported that 179 journalists have been put behind bars around the world.

The Manila forum was held in partnership with the United States Embassy. Simultaneous forums were held in Cebu, Baguio, Bulacan and Cagayan de Oro to mark World Press Freedom Day.

(Eimor Santos and Reynard Magtoto are journalism students of the University of the Philippines and Bicol University, respectively, who are writing for VERA Files as part of their internship.)

Text by LLOYD REYES

Photos by VINCENT GO

THE tension between the Philippines and China continues to simmer as more than a hundred protesters  gathered in front of the Chinese Consulate General in Makati Friday to  denounce what they called as  “China’s continued bullying of the Philippines” over conflicting  ownership claims of the Scarborough Shoal also known as Panatag shoal.

“China, Back off!” and “Soberanya, ipaglaban! (Fight for sovereignty),” read the protestors’ placards in what is seen as the biggest protest action staged against China in the Philippines.

Carlo Aquino Vargas, AKBAYAN Party List media officer, said they joined the protest rally to pressure superpower China to stop using “might’ against the Philippines and resolve territorial conflicts through international arbitration.

She said the protest was an idea of the US Pinoys for Good Governance (USP4GG) which is spearheading a global protest against China.

USP4GG, which has  New York-based  businesswoman Loida Nicolas-Lewis among its leaders, was formed to promote  “good governance principles in the Philippines and encourage vigilance to protect the welfare of the Filipino people.”

Vargas accused China of trying to intimidate the Philippines. “Hindi mo naman kailangang maging isang experto upang alamin na isang super power ang China at ang Pilipinas ay ‘di hamak na maliit na bansa at di ganon kalakas ang kanyang pwersa. (You don’t have to be an expert to know that China is a super power while the Philippines is very small and has little resources.),” he said.

The Philippines and China have conflicting territorial claims over islands in the Spratlys in the South China Sea, which the Philippine government now calls West Philippine Sea. China claims ownership of the whole South China Sea. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also claim ownership of some of the islands in the area.

China also claims ownership of Scarborough shoal, which is not located in the South China Sea. The shoal, which is 124 nautical miles away from Zambales in Northern Philippines, is about 1,000 nautical miles from China.

Through the years, there have been several cases of arrests by the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Coast Guard of Chinese fishermen in the vicinity of Scarborough shoal. The latest was last April 9 when the Philippine Navy warship BRP Gregorio del Pilar found eight Chinese fishing vessels in the area. Before the Chinese fishermen were apprehended, Chinese Marine Surveillance ships came which outnumbered the Philippine ship.

BRP del Pilar had been pulled out of the Scarborough area and replaced by a Philippine Coast Guard vessel in consonance with the government’s policy of “White to white”( civilian ships are to deal only with civilian ships, in this case the Philippine Coast Guard to the Chinese Marine Surveillance) and  “Gray to gray”, meaning  navy to navy.

The standoff in Scarborough shoal has reached the cyberspace where hacking of government websites of both sides has occurred.

The Philippines, through the Department of Foreign Affairs, has asked China to settle the conflict at the United Nations International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). China refused.

Vargas  echoed that challenge to China bring the issue to ITLOS.The same sentiments were raised by Jackson Gan, a 58-year old Filipino of Chinese descent and president of Federated Associations of Manepower Exporters Inc (FAME).

Gan said, “The Scarborough Shoal is a property that can be discussed. We don’t have to fight and bully everybody.” He said that there is a proper venue for this matter, “Hindi natin kailangang mapunta sa away. (We don’t have to fight.)”

If worse comes to worst, Gan said that the Philippines stands no chance against China’s military might. “We are underdogs in this, economically, militarily,” he said.

Another Filipino of foreign roots, Ramon Carrion, founding director of Spirit of EDSA Foundation, said “I am here to stand together with the rest of the Filipino people in the indignation against all this bullying going on by China.”

Carrion said China claims that Scarborough Shoal has been part of their territory since 1279, the Yuan Dynasty. “With the logic that China is using, they could have claimed the moon to be theirs had they sent the first man there. Italy could claim the entirety of Europe because of the scale of the Roman Empire’s reign.”

“We are here to embarrass China, that’s all we can do”, he said.

In a statement former Akbayan representative  Risa Hontiveros said  “through a common sensical computation” they want to prove that Zambales and Palawan are Philippine  territory. They are pushing for a diplomatic and political solution on the Scarborough issue.

 (Lloyd Reyes is a journalism student of the University of the Philippines who is writing for VERA Files as part of  his internship.)

“LISTEN, do not privatize the country’s power industry.”

This was the message of some 70 delegates of the Global Union Federations (GUFs) to financial executives of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which it blamed for the current power crisis in Visayas and Mindanao.

The GUFs’ message was aired at the May 1 Labor Day rally and repeated at the recently concluded  45^th ADB Annual Governors’ Meeting. It wants the ADB to be held accountable for the power crisis, which has resulted in four-to-five- hour rotating brownouts in those regions.

The GUFs is composed of the  Public Services International (PSI), Building and Wood Workers International (BWI), the Union Network International (UNI), and the International Transport Federation (ITF), representing about 70 million workers across the globe in the public sector, building and construction, services, and transport sectors.

“As you can see, the ADB provided loans to privatize the power sector way back in 2001,” Katherine Loh, PSI sub-regional secretary for South East Asia, said.

ADB and other major creditors reportedly pressured the national government to fully privatize the state-owned the National Power Corporation (Napocor) and to enact Republic Act 9136, or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) that provided for the full privatization of the electric power industry in the country.

In 1998, the ADB extended a US$300-M loan to finance the government’s power sector restructuring program. The ADB, being a lead development agency in the Philippine energy sector, has provided 29 loans totaling $2.33 billion to that sector since 1971.

The GUFs said EPIRA was intended to be the solution to the country’s electricity problems, but the promised benefits of a restructured power industry did not materialize. It said the EPIRA law should thus be amended.

The energy costs for consumers continued to rise while people in the Visayas and Mindanao continued to experience daily brownouts, adversely affecting their incomes and livelihoods.

“Mga alas onse, alas dose, low (ang) power supply, (kaya)  biglang mamamatay appliances mo kasi kulang ang kuryente (About 11pm, 12 midnight, the power supply is low so, suddenly the appliances shut down because of insufficient electricity),” Ian Mariano, PSI Asia Pacific project coordinator, reported.

“P11.45 per kwh ang binabayaran (na kuryente) sa Iloilo, kaya mahal (P11.45 kwh is the power  rate in Iloilo, which is expensive),” according to Mariano, who hails from that city.

The Philippine national average rate of P8.14 per kwh is more expensive than the P5 per kwh rate in neighboring countries.

Mariano said power supply is costlier in the Philippines because it is not subsidized by the government.

“Dapat government responsibility yun;  hindi responsibility ng private sector (It should be the government’s responsibility not the private sector’s responsibility),” he said.

According to the ADB’s Sector Assessment Summary on Energy, the Visayas and Mindanao suffered power shortages in mid-2010 because of a decline in the dependable capacity of hydroelectric plants.  The Mindanao grid depends heavily on hydropower.

Apolinar Z. Tolentino Jr., regional representative of BWI Asia-Pacific, said that in the Philippines, about 80 percent still require access to public powering supply.

Based on the  2009-2030 Power Development Plan of the Department of Energy (DOE), only 815 MW of an additional capacity of 1, 050 MW between 2009 and 2014 are expected to come on stream in Luzon. In Mindanao, only 100 MW will come on stream out of the 500 MW required.

“Utos sa amin ng Pangulo na ang mga kaukulang mga departamento ay pag-aaralan po ang mga panukala nyo. At makakaasa po kayo kapag napag-aralan po ito kami po ay muling haharap sa ating Pangulo upang gawan ng kaukulang aksyon (The order of the President to  us was that the concerned departments should study your suggestions. And you can expect that after we have studied them, we will again face the President for appropriate action),” Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad told the protesters.

Secretary Abad was directed by President Benigno Simeon Aquino III to personally appear in his behalf and talk to the protesting workers and international labor union leaders from 13 members countries of the GUFs (including the Philippines) at the May 1 rally on Mendiola Bridge in Manila.

Global unions like the GUFs are international trade union organizations working together with a shared commitment to the ideals and principles of the trade union movement. They share a common determination to organize, defend human rights and labor standards everywhere.

(The author is a journalism student of Bicol University who is writing for VERA Files as part of his internship.)

By HOMER TEODORO

SEVENTY-YEAR-OLD Felix Nacpil Sr. jumped in joy when he heard the news about last week’s final ruling of the Supreme Court awarding the Hacienda Luisita sugar estate owned by the family of President Benigno Cojuangco Aquino III to their 6,296 farm workers.

Nacpil, one of the farmer beneficiaries, has been fighting for the right to own the 5,000-hectare Hacienda Luisita since he was in his 20s, or about 50 years now. He was the founding chairman of the Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (AMBALA), one of the groups representing the farmers of the contested sugar plantation.

Despite the SC decision in their favor, Nacpil is wary that the Cojuangcos will do everything to stop the distribution of their land to the farmers. He noted that a few days following their SC victory, a press conference was held by a rival farmers’ group which he associated with the Cojuangcos.

In that press con, Noel Mallari said his group of farmers belonging to the Association of 1989 Original Farm workers (AOF) represents the true beneficiaries of Hacienda Luisita. He used to be Nacpil’s co-chairman at Ambala before forming its two other rival groups — the Farm Workers Agrarian Reform Movement (FARM)-Luisita and now AOF, which he set up after leaving the former group. (The fourth rival group is the Lehitimong Manggagawang Bukid ng Hacienda Luisita, or LMBHL.)

Nacpil  said he knows Mallari very well because he is his grandson, who lives in Barangay Mabilog, Conccepcion, Tarlac like him. He said he kicked Mallari out of their organization (AMBALA) in 2003 because of “his pro-management stand.”

“Noel, I am telling you to stop your foolishness before we end up doing each other wrong,” Nacpil advised Mallari.

He added: “The Government is Noynoy and Noynoy is a Cojuangco. How can we expect him to extend help to the farmers of Hacienda Luisita? We do not have financiers to finance us in planting. Most of us do not even know how to plant palay because all our lives we have been planting sugarcane.”

President Aquino III however assured that Malacanang would implement the SC ruling on the distribution of his family-owned Hacienda Luisita to their farm workers.

Leonor Teroza, AMBALA secretary-general, said some barangay officials inside Hacienda Luisita are insisting that they should be the ones to distribute the lands to the farmers. She said these barangay officials are being used by the Cojuangcos to pit them against the farmers.

Teroza said: “The Cojuangcos know the weakness of the people in the Hacienda Luisita and that is money. Money is what they will use to instigate chaos among us farmers so that there will be problem in the distribution of land. The Cojuangcos are known for this old tactics ever since.”

The lawyer of Hacienda Luista, Inc. (HLI) is questioning the exclusion of some  4,000 plus beneficiaries from the SC ruling. There are more than 10,000 beneficiaries in the list of HLI   management, which AMBALA and its mother union, United Luisita Workers Union (ULWU), questioned.

Lito Bais, ULWU president, said that management’s bloated list does not reflect the real beneficiaries as shown in their list.

Felix Nacpil, Jr., AMBALA chairman,  expressed fears that the Cojuangcos will push these beneficiaries in management’s list to ask for their share of land, adding, “And if not given share, they will get mad at us and this may start a misunderstanding among us farmers.”

The older Nacpil advised his son as the present head of AMBALA to first register their group as a non-stock and non-profit organization so that nongovernment organizations (NGOs) who want to help will be dealing with a legitimate group inside Hacienda Luisita.

The leaders of Ambala and ULWU are set to meet to plan their concerted moves before the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) representatives conduct an ocular inspection inside Hacienda Luisita.

“We will do it (distribution) immediately. Again, we will first have to conduct ocular inspection of the landholding and valuation will follow,” Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes has been quoted as saying in news reports.

He told newsmen it may take from eight months to one year before they can implement the ruling of the Supreme Court at Hacienda Luisita.

By  HOMER TEODORO

THERE’S a brewing tension between labor unions and 10 barangay chairmen of Hacienda Luisita because of their conflicting lists of farmer-beneficiaries considered to own and possess the 4,915.75-hectare sugar land estate of the Cojuangco family in Tarlac.

The Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (AMBALA), the United Luisita Workers Union (ULWU), and the 10 barangay chairmen have their own list of beneficiaries to be given agricultural lands in Hacienda Luisita.

AMBALA and ULWU began taking over the 300 hectares of the Cojuangco sugar estate that had been sold to Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) as well as the large tract of land which the Hacienda Luisita supervisors occupied following the Supreme Court ruling of Nov. 24, 2011.

In that decision, the high tribunal ordered the Hacienda Luisita, Incorporated (HLI) to distribute the land to the farmers in line with the laws governing the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

The HLI filed a motion for reconsideration claiming P10 billion as just compensation, which is still pending in court.

The farmers, for their part, demanded their share in the amount paid by the Government for the sale of part of the contested land now being used by the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) and the Luisita Industrial Park.

To avoid any untoward incident, the 10 barangay chairmen invited the military inside the hacienda, a  move that militant farmers did not welcome as they do not want the military to have a part in the internal problem of Hacienda Luisita.

Bishop Florentino Cinense of the Tarlac Diocese expressed fear that Hacienda Luisita which everybody claims as theirs may not be enough land to bury the dead bodies if a worst-case scenario happens.

It could be recalled that hundreds were wounded and seven farmers killed in the November 2004 rally in front of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT) — Hacienda Luisita’s sugar mill.

Indeed, gone were the days when life was simple and peaceful inside Hacienda Luisita.

Old residents of the sugar plantation recalled that everybody was rejoicing every time the month of September came because this signaled the beginning of the “Kabyaw” (milling season of sugarcane) that lasted for about six or seven months.

Hundreds of 6×6 trucks loaded with tons and tons of freshly cut sugarcane lined up at the CAT yard, waiting to unload their precious cargo. A thanksgiving mass for the pre-milling and post-milling season was offered at the Lourdes Church of Barangay (Village) Central.

Before Christmas Day, the workers received their Christmas bonuses while their children happily lined up in front of the CAT gate, waiting for their names to be called to receive gifts of toys and some cash.

After the Kabyaw, a sports competition among workers and staff of the departments of the sugar factory was staged. This was the regular cycle of life inside Hacienda Luisita then.

The late Benigno Simeon “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr., husband of former president Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino, was the first CAT administrator and farm manager of Hacienda Luisita.

The income of CAT was doubled when it began milling refined sugar in 1964. Forming a Union was encouraged hence the birth of the ULWU and the Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union (CATLU).

In 1970, the farm workers and laborers inside Hacienda Luisita staged their first strike. They  demanded that the land be distributed to them. The leader of the strike, a certain Samut, was kidnapped and was not seen anymore.

The new leaders opted for a Collective Bargaining Agreement between CATLU and Management. Among the benefits given the farmers were free medical consultation and hospitalization; monthly medicine allowance for the permanent employees; signing bonus; overtime and night premium; Christmas bonus; midyear bonus; and  13^th month pay.

In 1980, the Marcos regime filed a case against the Tarlac Development Corporation (TADECO), a corporation engaged mainly in agriculture owned by Jose Cojuangco, at the Manila Regional Trial Court in order to put Hacienda Luisita under the control of the Ministry of the Agrarian Reform and to distribute it to the peasant farmers.

The political rivalry of Marcos and Ninoy was already in its peak by this time. In 1985, the Manila RTC released the decision ordering the TADECO to place Hacienda Luisita under the Ministry of the Agrarian Reform after the Government paid the owner  P3, 988 million. The decision was not implemented because of the EDSA Revolution.

During the Cory Aquino administration, the Solicitor General, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and Bangko Central appealed in 1988 the RTC decision of 1985 before the Court of Appeals. The CA junked the RTC decision.

On June 10, 1988, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Act became a law. The government proudly announced that the CARP would become the cornerstone of the Aquino Administration and Hacienda Luisita would be the showcase of this program.

But Agrarian Reform Secretary Philip Juico, the president’s sister-in-law Margarita “Ting-Ting” Cojuangco, and the town mayors of Tarlac City, La Paz and Concepcion formulated the Stock Distribution Option (SDO) scheme through a “referendum” to make it appear that the Hacienda Luisita workers liked the SDO better than to own a piece of land.

Stock certificates were distributed to the workers. Yet, they grew restless against the Cojuangco management because the benefits promised them were not delivered like their 33% shares in the conversion of the land into industrial, the dividends of stock shares, and their work pay became small, among other things.

The farmers believe that peace will only be achieved inside Hacienda Luisita if the land will be distributed to them, saying “NO Land, NO Peace.”

DAGUPAN CITY—No more extraction of black sand on the shores of Lingayen Gulf.

Representatives of the Pangasinan provincial government reached this agreement on Wednesday with residents of four Lingayen barangays—Sabangan, Estanza, Capandanan and Malimpec—opposing the mining of black sand near the gulf.

In a dialogue initiated and presided over by Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas at the Archbishop’s Palace here, Provincial Administrator Rafael Baraan said the extraction of magnetite, commonly called black sand, has been stopped and rehabilitation of the area has started.

Baraan had earlier said the magnetite or black sand appeared while the provincial government was doing site development of a proposed 18-hole golf course, one of the first identified projects in the development of a 300-hectare land into an eco-tourism zone.  He had said the extraction “was just accidental and never intended.”

During the one-and-a-half-hour dialogue on Wednesday, Vicente Oliquino, barangay kagawad of Sabangan, said black sand mining in the four barangays was stopped after a cease and desist order was issued against the activity.

But Oliquino, who led the 20-delegation that represented the complainants in the dialogue, said residents feared extraction might resume because the mining equipment has not been pulled out from the affected areas.

On the residents’ petition, Baraan said the provincial government will remove the equipment to assure them that no extraction is ongoing or will happen in the future.

Despite the agreement, the complainants said they will remain vigilant. “Patuloy kaming magbabantay upang mapangalagaan ang ating kalikasan (We will remain on our guard to protect the environment),” Oliquino said.

The residents have yet to decide whether to still file legal damages against the government for extracting black sand in their barangays.

Archbishop Villegas advised the provincial government and Lingayen residents to always resort to “dialogue, openness and truth” to resolve any misunderstanding.

He said both parties share a common desire: “We want Lingayen to be better…We want the environment to be protected.”

HEALTH Secretary Enrique T. Ona said Wednesday the increase in Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in the Philippines is alarming and requires a more focused approach to reverse it.

On the eve of World Aids Day which is observed every Dec. 1, Ona disclosed that for January-September 2011 period , an average of six new HIV infections daily was reported, significantly up compared to one new case every two days a decade ago.

“The HIV situation, while alarming, is concentrated among key populations at higher risk and not the public at large. This provides us with greater opportunity to halt and reverse the trend in the next few years,” Ona said.

However, Ona said halting and reversing the current trend “will require a more focused, multi-sectoral approach and an efficient implementation of prevention and control programs.”

The health chief said the increase in the new HIV infection was largely due to the spread of the virus among males who have unprotected sex with other males and also among injecting drug users who share contaminated needles.

The DoH secretary called for a more rational resource allocation of money intended to combat HIV/Aids in the country in the face of the cancellation of the Round 11 of The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis, and Malaria funding and investments worldwide.

The September 2011 Philippine Department of Health HIV and AIDS Registry showed that there were 253 new HIV cases for the month of reporting, the highest number of new HIV infections ever reported.

The September 2011 report also showed that of the new 253 HIV cases, the age group 20-29 years old reported the most number of cases, or 57 percent. Ninety-five percent were males belonging to the age group 16-67 years old; 83 percent were males who have sex with other males. Fiftty-three percent or 135 cases were from the National Capital Region.

The same report said 226 cases revealed sexual contact as the mode of transmission while 27 cases said they shared needles with injecting drug users.

Five of the 253 new HIV cases have progressed into AIDS cases, all of them males within the age group of 18-50 years old. Two of the five AIDS cases have died in September, one was aged 40 and the other 49.

Sixteen of the new 253 HIV cases were overseas Filipino workers, 11 males and five females belonging to the age group 24-59 years old. All cases said they acquired HIV through sexual contact, 10 via heterosexual sex, one via homosexual sex, and five via bisexual sex.

Bus driver Daniel Espinosa has been ordered arrested for the death of journalist Chit Estella (Photo by MARIO IGNACIO IV)

By ARTHA KIRA PAREDES

A QUEZON City regional trial court on Wednesday ordered the arrest of bus driver Daniel Espinosa charged in the death of journalism professor and VERA Files trustee Lourdes “Chit” Estella Simbulan after he was a no show at his arraignment.

Espinosa, driver of the Universal Guiding Star bus that rammed the taxi Estella was riding on Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City on May 13, is facing charges of reckless imprudence resulting in damage to property with homicide.

Also charged is Victor Ancheta, driver of the Nova bus, which police investigation showed was the first to hit the taxi.

Bus driver Victor Ancheta (center) pleads not guilty to the charge of reckless imprudence resulting in damage to property with homicide (Photo by MARIO IGNACIO IV)

Judge Ralph Lee of Branch 83 pushed through with the arraignment despite Ancheta’s petition to move the arraignment because, he said, was implicated by a mere testimony of a witness.

Lee denied the petition, saying “the motion for reconsideration is not a ground under the rules of court to suspend proceedings, it should be via petition to refute before the Department of Justice.”

Ancheta entered a “not guilty” plea. The pre-trial conference is scheduled on Jan. 25.

Police reported that both drivers fled the scene after their buses hit the Abu Abbey taxi near the UP-Ayala Land Technohub. Estella, 53, was killed instantly. Damage to the taxi amounted to P250,000.

Under Article 365 (Criminal Negligence) of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines, reckless imprudence “consists in voluntary, but without malice, doing or falling to do an act from which material damage results by reason of inexcusable lack of precaution on the part of the person performing of failing to perform such act, taking into consideration his employment or occupation, degree of intelligence, physical condition and other circumstances regarding persons, time and place.”

Espinosa, who was found to driving beyond the 60-kilometer-per-hour speed limit at the time of the accident, went in hiding after the incident and surrendered days later in Davao City to Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

Espinos, 39, a native of Bansalan, Davao del Sur, was reported to have been involved in four other traffic violations before the said accident.

In his counter affidavit, however, Espinosa said he did not exceed the speed limit on Commonwealth. He also blamed taxi driver Vito Jagunos for occupying the yellow lane meant for buses and the two Nova buses, one driven by Ancheta, which were racing against each other.

On the day of the accident, Estella was on her way to meet friends at the Technohub just across the University of the Philippines, Diliman where she taught journalism at the College of Mass Communication. She was a journalist for three decades.

On Sept. 26, the Quezon City Council in Resolution No. 5311 recognized the “immense contributions” of Estella as “one of the country’s premier academicians and journalists.

Judge Lee is a known “Ondoy hero” who drove his Jet Ski in floodwaters to save around 100 residents of Sta. Monica, Novaliches, Quezon City.

Torture victims Ibrahim Makasulay Alimanan (left) and Allamin Balotintic Samal (Photo by Mario Ignacio IV)

COTABATO CITY–No sufficient evidence.

The City Prosecutor’s Office in Kidapawan City has dismissed due to insufficient evidence the complaint filed against three police officers of North Cotabato who were accused of torturing suspects in the bombing of a bus that left nine people killed in October last year.

In a 10-page resolution dated Sept.  26  and released recently, City Prosecutor Al Calica and Assistant Prosectuor Melvin Lamata said they found no sufficient evidence to charge Supt. Alexander C. Tagum, operations chief of the North Cotabato police, Insp. Joan R. Resurrecion and PO2 Manuel de Guzman Marquez Jr. with violation of Republic Act 9745 or the anti-torture law.

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By PATRICK KING PASCUAL

NEW cases of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the country reached an all-time high of 204 in July this year, the highest number of new cases recorded by the Department of Health in a month to date.

The virus is now infecting seven Filipinos every 24 hours, up from last year’s average of five new HIV patients daily.

Latest data showed that a total of 1,220 cases were registered in the first seven months of this year alone, bringing to 7,235 the total number of HIV  cases since 1984 when the first such case was recorded in the Philippines.

According to the DOH, 90 percent of the positive cases were males, 20 to 29 years old. It added that 107 of the 204 HIV cases recorded in July  were from the National Capital Region.

It added that the most common means of transmission of the virus was sexual, mostly from MSM (or men who have sex with men). Others were from female sex workers and injecting drug users.

The World Health Organization noted that the Philippines is one of seven countries in the world where there has been a continuous rise of HIV-AIDS cases in the last eight years amid a global slowdown. The other six countries are Armenia, Bangladesh, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

If this trend continues, the Philippine government may need P1 billion every year to produce Antiretroviral Medicines (ARVs) to help slow down the spread of the HIV virus and aid people living with HIV and/or AIDS (PLWHAs).

The Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC) already warned that the number of HIV cases in the country could balloon to 46,000 by 2015 if no concrete programs to educate the people about the disease and a system to control the spread of the virus were put in place.

Five members of Congress have filed House Bill 5312, or the proposed Comprehensive AIDS Prevention, Treatment, Care and Support Policy and Plan Act of 2011, to energize the multi-sectoral PNAC and jumpstart a new National HIV and AIDS Plan with definite strategies, operating guidelines and targets supported by a P400 million budget.

Authors of the bill included Arlene Bag-ao (Akbayan party-list), Jorge Banal (Quezon City), Ma. Isabelle Climaco (Zamboanga City), Janette Garin (Iloilo) and Arnel Ty (LPG Marketers’ Association party-list)

Ty said HB 5312 enjoins particular agencies to conduct programs that will help decrease the growing number of HIV cases in the country and to improve the conditions of PLWHAs.

PLWHAs are protected by Republic Act  8504, or the Philippine AIDS Prevention and Control Act of 1998. All government agencies, medical institutions and individuals are mandated to keep all information regarding PLWHAs confidential.

A person or institution found violating this law face penalties that include imprisonment from two months to four years, and revocation of their license and permits.

When a person is HIV-positive it does not mean he has AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).

HIV is a condition in the human body in which there is a progressive deterioration of the immune system (body defense) or the ability to fight off disease.

AIDS is a disease of the human immune system when it is greatly weakened by HIV. This makes the infected individual vulnerable to other life threatening infections.

There is still no permanent cure for HIV and AIDS, but there are ARVs that may help slow down the growth and spread of the HIV virus.

Several medical institutions  offer medical assistance to PLWHAs, like counselling, regular monitoring of their vital status, and providing them medical attention.