Congress bloc vows bigger Mindanao budget for 2013

MINDANAO can be assured of a hefty share of the country's General Appropriations Act (GAA) as the 62-member Mindanao lawmakers bloc vowed for more budget for the island-region next year.

Representative Arnulfo Go, 2nd District of Sultan Kudarat representative and House Committee Chair on Mindanao Affairs, said that they could seek for bigger allocation to fund various Mindanao programs and projects during the budget deliberations.



"We really see to it that national line agencies shall allot an equal share of their budget to Mindanao," Go said during the press conference for the Mindanao Economy and Environment Summit, a multi-sector gathering aimed at building constituency and formulating actions plans for the development and management of Mindanao watersheds, held here recently.

He said that his committee has been advocating for an increased budget allocation for Mindanao especially in terms of agri-fishery development and infrastructure.

Go said that Mindanao's contiguous production areas and agro-climatic conditions can support a year-round agricultural production, thus, making the island-region the country's food basket.

Moreover, the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) is poised to work with Mindanao legislators in pushing for the island's bigger share in the national budget.

"We can't pursue all our peace and development interventions in Mindanao if we don’t have enough resources," said Secretary Luwalhati Antonino, MinDA chairperson.

She added that Mindanao has to catch up with mainstream national development, having been a victim of development disparity and economic inequity.

"Mindanao should have equity or parity of access to national development and progress," she said.

Antonino said that as early as 2010, MinDA has been rallying for the island-region’s equitable share in the national budget which resulted in the increased allocation for Mindanao for fiscal years 2011 and 2012.

"For this year Mindanao got an increased total budget allocation amounting to P219 billion which is about 34 percent higher compared to what the island-region received in 2011," said Antonino.

Citing this year's Regional Allocation of the Expenditure Program of Select Departments/Special Purpose Funds for Mindanao by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Antonino said that the Department of Agriculture (DA) through its Food Self-sufficiency by 2013 Program has allocated Mindanao with P14 billion this year.

"Our farmers can greatly benefit from this amount which is intended to construct and rehabilitate irrigation systems and post-harvest facilities in Mindanao," Antonino said.

On the other hand, she said that the island-region shall receive P18 billion from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
"Mindanao is host to six out of the country's top ten poorest provinces”, said Antonino and she pointed out that a big portion of DSWD's budget shall be spent for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

The island-region only received P295.5 million from DSWD last year. "Department of Health's budget for Mindanao went double this year," said Antonino, adding that Mindanao's budget allocation for health services now amounted to P4 billion.

Moreover, Antonino said that in terms of interconnecting the island-region with more bridges and road networks, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has already programmed a P20.5 billion worth of projects for Mindanao.

“For 2011, Mindanao only got P13.2 billion for public works," she said.

PALATINO, KABATAAN PARTYLIST WITHDRAW 'ANTI-CHRIST'' BILL

Statement of Kabataan Partylist on HB 6330

Kabataan Partylist is withdrawing House Bill 6330, or An Act Empowering Heads of Offices and Departments to Strictly Implement the Constitutional Provisions on Religious Freedom in Government Offices, in response to the appeal and clamor of our members, constituents, supporters, various groups, institutions and the general public to reconsider the filing of such measure.


Kabataan Partylist seeks to clarify that the bill has no intention to “ban God”, suppress any religion or belief and prevent government employees from practicing their faith. The purpose of the bill is to ensure that government offices do not favor one religion over the other, or discriminate one against the other.

Kabataan Partylist sincerely apologizes for any offense the bill caused. We are sad that we hurt the religious sentiments of many, when our desire was to uphold and promote religious sensitivity and harmony.


We hope the conversations will continue about the need to respect different beliefs in society. We are encouraged by the fact that despite the misunderstandings, the bill initiated relevant discussions on freedom of religion as one of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution.


Kabataan Partylist would rather bring to the public’s attention other pending and priority bills and advocacies that it had been promoting for the past three years and which need utmost attention at present. Among these are the need for education reforms, protection of workers’ rights, environment protection, good governance and cosumer rights empowerment. In particular, the passage of measures such as the Tuition Regulation Bill, review of the K+12 program, Students’ Rights Act, Anti-No Permit, No Exam Act, BPO Workers’ Welfare Act and Public Wi-Fi Bill. ###

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THIS BLOG IS A WORK IN PROGRESS

BINAY SLAMS DOOR ON EX-SPEAKER PROSPERO NOGRALES' ENTRY INTO PDP

If Dabawenyos cringed at the thought of Nograles as a politician and voted him down in his three bids for the mayoral seat, the feeling is the same even in the higher echelons of the national political scene.
    Nobody wants to be in the company of the former Davao City First District congressman and former House Speaker, except maybe the discredited former president Gloria Arroyo.
    Vice President Jejomar Binay, president of the Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino (PDP) said Nograles has not applied for membership in the PDP, but his body language when interviewed by Davao City-based media showed Nograles may have no room in the party if he decides to join.
    Binay was in Davao City last week as guest speaker in an assembly of Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) officials and a mining conference organized by the Philippine Society of Mining Engineers.
    The vice president, whose party has coalesced with the Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) of former President Joseph Estrada under the United Nationalists Alliance (UNA), said however that PDP has accepted Mayor Sara Duterte's resignation from the party.
    Binay's feeling about Nograles echoed down to Wendel Avisado, PDP secretary general and deputy commissioner of the Housing and Land Use and Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) headed by Binay.
    Avisado, who resigned as Davao city councilor shortly after the 2010 elections to join Binay, said PDP has closed the door for Nograles' entry into the party.
    Excuse me, but there is no basis for Nograles to be accepted as a member of PDP, said Avisado who accompanied Binay in the Davao City sortie.
    Avisado said however that the PDP would still support the Dutertes. ROGER M. BALANZA

DAVAO CITY VICE MAYOR RODRIIGO DUTERTE SUFFERING FROM HANGOVER OF 18-YEAR MAYORAL STINT

Rody to Sara: "Nag-meyor-meyor lang ko 'day"

    Davao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte continues to suffer from the hangover of having been city mayor for 20 years to explain why at times he acts and talks as if he is still the mayor.

    In the Gikan sa Masa Para sa Masa television program hosted by lawyer Geraldine Tiu on ABS/CBN on Sunday, Duterte asked pardon from daughter Mayor Sara Duterte for his sometimes absent-minded intrusion into her domain.

    I forget sometimes that I am no longer the city mayor, he said.

    I am sorry, but naga-meyor-meyor lang ko, said Duterte who at times, when pressed for comments on issues involving the executive,  would say that official decisions must emanate from the city mayor.

    Most often however, he would issue "mayoral" statements like ordering police to crack down on crime, warning criminals about their fate if they persists or clash head-on with poliicies issued by the mayor.

    Duterte admits that The ' pa-meyor-meyor' (mayoral stunt) is a hangover from his having been city mayor for 18 years.

    But Duterte may be staging a comeback in 2013 to regain the mayoral seat, after he said that if he would run again it would not be for the congressional post.

    Duterte was the First District congressman from 1998 to 2001. He returned as mayor in 2001 after a one-term break.

    He said work in Congress is "boring and lousy."

    He said he is suited to the job of the mayor because he can come face-to-face with the problems of the people, especially on peace and order.

    Talks inside the Duterte-led Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod is that the elder Duterte would be running for mayor, Mayor Sara Duterte for the First District Congress seat against former House Speaker Prospero Nograles and councilor Paolo Duterte against incumbent congressman karlo Nograles in the vice mayoral contest.

PALATINO & LUCIFER - THE DURIAN BEAT by ROGER M. BALANZA

   If the reactions were to be the basis as to where he should be exiled, Kabataan Partylist representative Raymond Palatino would be living in hell with Lucifer.

    Or maybe to Jolo to be beheaded by the extremist fundamentalist Abu Sayyaf.

    The upstart young congressman stirred a hornets' nest with his proposal to ban religious icons and symbols in government offices, and such Catholic rites as prayers before start of a government ceremony or event.

    The assault by Palatino on religion, fate and belief that on the surface zeroed in on Catholics ---the cross and a framed image of Jesus Christ are most common religious symbols in government offices of pre-dominatly Catholic Philippines---raised varied reactions from bishops down to laymen.

    "Son of Lucifer!!" This was sent as a comment to a post on the Palatino stunt in durianburgdavao mindanao newsblog, the online version of Mindanao's hottest weekly newspaper THE DURIAN POST.

    House Bill 6330 said Archbishop-Emeritus Oscar V. Cruz, former archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan in Pangasinan is "harsh."

    Msgr. Pedro Quitorio, media director of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), wondered aloud why Palatino would put this bill ahead of other more pressing problems that burden the people.

    Priests being holy hold their verbal punches in commenting on issues that deserve, in this case, a solid punch to the face of Palatino but Catholic laymen do not have that restriction.

    Send him to hell! was the comment of another commenter also sent to durianburgdavao.

    Palatino has admitted that he is a Catholic but we suspect he is not practicing his religion.

    Palatino's political flag, Kabataan Partylist, is known as one of the legal fronts of the NDF/CPP/NPA combine, which everybody knows run on the Maoist doctrine that does not believe in God.

    Lost in the brouhaha by Catholics over Palatino's crazy idea---maybe whispered by his commie mentors in his ears that went straight to the mouth without passing the brain--is the fact that his proposal also assaulted the Muslims and the Muslim faith.

    Being encompassing to embrace all religions and including the ban on Muslims to display their religiosity in public, Palatino should be crucified in two angles: Excommunication by the Catholic Church and issuance of a fatwa against him by the Muslims for his assault on their religion.

    Fatwa to the unknowing is a shoot-to-kill order.

    If Palatino had his way, Muslims in government service would be denied their prayers during offfice hours, and stopped from greeting people 'assalamu alakum' or 'Alahu Akbar!' This Palatino is weird!

    As our contribution to the crucifixion of Palatino, we would like to liken him to book author Salman Rusdie and the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, and maybe Ely Pamatong.

    Rushdie wrote the book Satanic Verses while the Jyllands-Posten published a series of cartoons on Muhammad that sparked anger in the Muslim world and the issuance of the fatwa.

    Never mind Pamatong, but he was supposed to get a fatwa for his preposterous and sacreligious claim, as he proposed his crazy idea of Mindanesia, a separate Christian state in Mindanao, because according to him Muslims have killed more than a million Christians in Mindanao.

   The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie was published in 1988 and was inspired in part by the life of Muhammad. Rushdie used magical realism and relied on contemporary events and people to create his characters. The title refers to the so-called “satanic verses“, a group of alleged Qur’anic verses that allow intercessory prayers to be made to three Pagan Meccan goddesses.

    The Satanic Verses sparked a major controversy when Muslims accused it of blasphemy and mocking their faith.     The outrage among some Muslims resulted in a fatwā issued against Rusdie by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran, on February 14, 1989.

     The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began after 12 editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005. The newspaper announced that this publication was an attempt to contribute to the debate regarding criticism of Islam and self-censorship.

    A protest by Danish Muslim organizations led to Islamic protests across the Muslim world. A fatwa would later be issued against the cartoonist and the editors of the Jyllands-Posten.

    We warned Pamatong about the fatwa and his claim that Muslims committed genocide against Christians in Mindanao, and what would happen to those who dabble wrongly, like Rushdie and Jyllands-Posten, with Muslim faith and anger Muslim religious sensibility. He and his mindanesia have disappeared.

    Comes now Palatino who could be a potential target of a fatwa.

    If Pope Benedict would have nothing of this mischievous brat and thinks an excommunication process would be tedious and laborious to spend on a Pinoy idiot, then the fundamentalist Sayyaf should come in to teach this Palatino the deadly lesson of his head looking at his own headless body. When was the last time that the Abus beheaded a human?

   

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ANTI-CHRIST KABATAAN PARTYLIST CONGRESSMAN RAYMOND PALATINO wants to vanish 'Jesus Christ' in government offices

PALATINO: No more religious icons in government offices

CATHOLICS: Son of Lucifer!

Manila, Philippines –  A party-list lawmaker is seeking to ban religious symbols and the holding of religious ceremonies in government offices, citing the provisions on freedom of religion in the Constitution.

Kabataan party-list Rep. Raymond Palatino, in filing a measure titled “Religious Freedom in Government Offices Act,” said his bill seeks to empower heads of offices and departments to strictly follow the constitutional provision on the freedom of religion in the exercise of their official functions, and in the use of government facilities and property.

“The constitutional provision asserts the republican and secular nature of the state, such that although laws could be religious in its deepest roots, it must have an articulable and discernible secular purpose and justification to pass scrutiny of the religion clauses,” he said.

Under Section 4 of the bill, religious ceremonies shall not be undertaken within the premises and perimeter of their offices, departments and bureaus, including publicly owned spaces and corridors within such offices, departments and bureaus.

“Religious symbols shall not be displayed within the premises and perimeter of their offices, departments and bureaus, including publicly owned spaces and corridors within such offices, departments and bureaus,” the measure stated.

Palatino cited Section 5 of the Constitution’s Bill of Rights that “the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed.  No religious test shall be required for the exercise of civil or political rights.”

“Recognizing the religious nature of the Filipinos and the elevating influence of religion in society, however, the Philippine Constitution’s religion clauses prescribe not a strict but a benevolent neutrality,” Palatino said.

He said “benevolent neutrality” recognizes that government must pursue its secular goals and interests but at the same time strive to uphold religious liberty to the greatest extent possible within flexible constitutional limits.

“However, despite the clear provisions and jurisprudence on the non-establishment and non-sponsorship of the state of any religion, it has been observed that religious ceremonies and symbols are prominently done or placed, respectively, in several government offices,” the lawmaker said.

He noted that religious ceremonies are also undertaken preparatory to the conduct of state affairs, such as the recital of ecumenical prayers before court hearings, flag ceremonies, government meetings, among others.

“The state cannot be seen to favor one religion over the other, in allowing the prominent conduct and display of religious ceremonies and symbols, respectively, in public offices and property,” Palatino