found articles abt fvr

Media and the millennium
development goals

By Fidel Valdez Ramos, Former President of the Philippines

Conclusion

[Speech of the former president, who is chairman of both the Ramos Peace and Development Foundation (RPDEV) and the Boao forum for Asia (BFA), at the Asian Media Information & Communication Center’s 17th Annual International Conference, Manila Hotel, July 15, 2008.]

(In the first part, former President Ramos described how the countries of the Asia-Pacific region have been falling behind in achieving the UN-set millennium development goals. He also showed that aside from the region’s divide in income, health and opportunity, there is also “Knowledge or Digital” divide.)

Overcoming the Knowledge Divide to attain the MDGs. A country’s attainment of its Millennium Development Goals depends to a large extent on its access to knowledge and information. Knowledge empowers people; it enables them to make informed choices and decisions.

For instance, many new health protocols and discoveries can now deal efficiently with health problems endemic in poor countries. Unfortunately, impoverished societies and individuals do not yet have access to this crucial body of information.

Lack of access can be attributed to communication-related issues and concerns such as lack of awareness and/or knowledge; lack of ICT and media infrastructures; inadequate technology transfer; unfocused promotion and commercialization strategies; and inhibitive protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) controlled by large trans­national corporations.

Theoretically, people now have technologically unlimited options in applying communication media to human concerns that impact on development—in areas such as health, nutrition, education, literacy, welfare, environment, livelihood and so forth.

UNICEF, for instance, has acknowledged that the surge in communication capacity has now made it possible to access knowledge and technology on child survival, reproductive health, environmental protection, and other parameters of sustainable development to the worlds disadvantage peoples. As early as 1988, UNICEF estimated that if, at that time, such technologies and knowledge were shared with the world’s poorest of the poor, then the world could reduce, by at least half, the insidious carnage of 250,000 child-deaths each week.

Action agenda toward attaining the MDGs

In the light of all these, what then should be the action agenda for communicators in the Asia-Pacific?

First, we need a broader and deeper spectrum of truly creative communication strategies. “More of the same” will no longer suffice.

Second, we must come up with more imaginative, easily-understood packaging for MDG messages—packaging that will make this crucial messages easily available to the poorest of the poor in order to foster self-help and self reliance.

Third, we have to facilitate participatory processes in our MDG communication programs. These should be empowering for ordinary people who are the most numerous among the stakeholders so that they can take part in the planning and decision-making for their better future. Development should focus on sustainable changed that benefits margina­lized people whom development has left behind.

And finally, but not the least, we should deal with the politico-economic problems affecting the use of ICT to attain our MDGs. The most obvious is the inequity in access to ICT hardware. Government and civil society, particularly the philanthropic sectors, should work together more intimately to set up more public access facilities such as community electronic-centers and internet access-desks in our barangay halls.

We should also deal more effectively with the issue of IPRs. In this regard, government and international organizations such as the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) should promote the equitable use of public domain information and “a more democratic commons.”

Atty. Adrian S. Cristobal Jr., Director-General of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPO-Phil), makes this cogent observation: “A number of Philippine biodiversity and genetic resources have been lost to foreign patenting without the corresponding benefit-sharing for our country. Our country is losing billions of pesos in potential income to illegal bio-prospectors and bio-pirates of bio-diversity and genetic resources.”

Author Roberto Verzola of the University of the Philippines reports that developed economies use IPRs as a legal mechanism to limit or to prevent information sharing. The rich countries generally regard IPR as a “monopoly right” intended to prevent profits. He laments that: “Advance countries think nothing of pirating our best scientists, engineers, technicians, and other professionals. They also pirate our genetic resources. Their scientist roam the world pirating biodi­versity resources like micro-organisms, plants and animals, and even human DNA. They then claim monopoly ownership over the genetic information they extract, patent them, and sell them back to us at high prices.”

In the light of these unforeseen consequences of new technologies, AMIC should really venture beyond massage development and technical processes into a truly innovative configuration and application of ICT to the attainment of our Millennium Development Goals—on schedule.

There are politico-economic issues at the global and regional levels that the international community must resolve if leaders sincerely wish to facilitate the free flow of knowledge and information that will benefit the poorest of the poor.

Summing up

In closing, let me challenge communication practitioners in the Asia Pacific to commit themselves to a deeper partnership with the leaders and policy- makers in the region and in our respective countries. Together, practitioners and policy- makers should work to ensure that media information, and knowledge through the ever- unfolding areas of ICTs are made to converge towards the center of gravity of all our development efforts.

Only by forging such intimate partnership can our countries hope to achieve our MDGs. Only through such as synergistic national, original, and development for generations to come.

In simple terms, all of the above are what we in the Ramos Peace and Development Foundation (RPDEV) call our caring, sharing and daring for each other—and for our common interests. Caring and sharing are easy enough for Filipinos to do, because we as Filipinos to do, because we as a people are naturally friendly, hospitable, compassionate, helpful, generous, and even forgiving.

But daring really means to give more than to take; to sacrifice for the common good; to take united action to overcome challenges; daring means to perform, reform and transform, and to help others to have better lives. Daring means standing up for the younger generations and the limited, fragile environment that should still be able to support life even after we are long gone. Daring means the exercise of consistent political will. Daring means not just physical courage, but also intestinal fortitude. Daring means caring and sharing. Caring, sharing and daring, in fact, are among the key commitments that have worked for us in times of challenge, calamity and crisis in the past. These virtues—if manifested in media and in our professions and embedded in our governance—will enable us to win a better future.

Kaya ba natin ito??? (Can we do this???)

Thank you and Mabuhay—Best wishes to all!!!



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Ramos wants Lakas to be super party

By Joyce Pangco Pañares

Baguio City—Former President Fidel Ramos wants the ruling party Lakas Christian-Muslim Democrats to merge with two other parties and get Senate President Manuel Villar and Senator Loren Legarda into the roster of potential standard-bearer for the 2010 polls.

Ramos, chairman emeritus of Lakas, made known his sentiments through his spokesman who said the former president was dissatisfied with the way the Lakas merger with Kampi was proceeding.

Ramos would also like Lakas to have Villar’s Nacionalista Party and Nationalist People’s Coalition as partners for the 2010 elections, Ed Malay said. Nacionalista and NPC are members of the old Lakas-led coalition.

With the two parties under its wings, Lakas could emerge as a super party and dominate the 2010 elections, according to Malay.

Ramos was not happy with the process as exemplified in the Lakas-Kampi regional agreement in Davao City where the first regional merger was signed without prior consultation with party leaders. “He does not want this [merger] rammed into the throats of our members,” Malay said.

Lakas secretary general Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri declined to react on Ramos’ idea except to say that the former leader failed to attend the regional meeting in Baguio City because of health reasons. He just had a surgery to remove potentially cancerous facial warts, Zubiri said. “But it is not life-threatening,” Zubiri said in an interview.

Ramos stayed at the Asian Hospital and Medical Center in Muntinlupa for four days and was discharged on Wednesday.

“He’s not really opposed to the merger with Kampi but he wants to merge with other member-parties in the coalition, specifically NP and NPC which already have presidential candidates of their own,” Malay said.

Ramos’ vision for Lakas as a super party will include Nacionalista and NPC, thus effectively wiping out the opposition in the 2010 presidential race, according to sources.

Villar is considered a strong presidential bet while NPC counts on Legarda, Senator Francis Escudero, and Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro among its potential standard bearer.

“So far, Lakas only has two candidates—[Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Bayani] Fernando and [Quezon City Mayor Sonny] Belmonte and Kampi does not even have one yet,” Malay said. “We have to expand our choices by including other political parties if we really want a super party by 2010.”

Kampi chairman Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said it could take a year to finish all the regional mergers before the final merger is done at the national level, with Lakas as the surviving party.

Both parties also agreed to adopt the “equity of the incumbent” principle to prevent a repeat of the debacle the administration suffered during the 2007 senatorial elections. Lack of coordination saw candidates from Lakas and Kampi running against each other at the local level.

Of the 12 administration candidates during last year’s polls, only three managed to win—a failure attributed largely to the fact that many local candidates from Lakas and Kampi have failed to campaign for the national candidates as they fought against each other in the regional level.

Mrs. Arroyo, Lakas chairman, said the merger of the country’s two biggest political parties, which account for almost 200 national and 8,000 local officials, will result in continuity in policies to move the country forward. She is also the moving force behind the creation of Kampi in the 1980s.

“Our unity will bring us to First World status within the next generation,” the President said after witnessing the signing of the regional merger declaration.

Earlier, Mrs. Arroyo said the Lakas-Kampi merger will signal the success of whoever will be chosen as the administration’s standard bearer in the 2010 presidential elections.

“We will continue to work hard to fulfill our Philippine Reform Agenda until the day I turn the national leadership over to my successor, who I’m sure will be whoever Lakas-Kampi will support, because we will work for victory to propagate our agenda,” Mrs. Arroyo said.

Meanwhile, 200 officials of the six provinces in the Cordillera Administrative Region pledged their support for the Lakas-Kampi regional merger, the second of such deals to be signed by the two parties. They signed up for the merger at the Camp John Hay grounds.

Baguio City Rep. Mauricio Domogan of Lakas and Kalinga Rep. Manuel Agyao of Kampi signed the declaration of merger.

Speaker Prospero Nograles, Lakas president, said once the merger is completed, the unified party will have in its fold 143 congressmen, 55 governors, 85 city mayors, 945 municipal mayors and over 7,000 vice governors, councilors and board members. with Roderick Osis


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Worry warts: Ramos not in Lakas, Kampi merger meet

By Christine Avendaño, Vincent Cabreza
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:46:00 07/19/2008

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines--For the second time, former President Fidel Ramos Friday skipped a regional merger meeting between the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas) and the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi), because he was reportedly recovering from the removal of facial warts.

But his spokesperson, Ed Malay, also told reporters about Ramos' initial displeasure over the merger of the two administration parties and his desire for Lakas to merge not only with Kampi but also with two other coalition partners--the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC) of tycoon Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco and the Nacionalista Party (NP) of Senate President Manuel Villar Jr.

Malay said Ramos, the Lakas chair emeritus, had wanted a merger with the two other parties because the resulting coalition would then "instantly" have "a roster of presidential candidates."

Ramos was a no-show at the signing by the two parties of a formal agreement to merge at the regional level, in their overall strategy to form one party in time for the 2010 presidential election. The first such event was held last month in Davao City.

Malacañang had earlier announced that Ramos would attend Friday's merger meeting in the Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR), but changed its advisory on Thursday afternoon.

President Macapagal-Arroyo witnessed the signing of the second merger agreement at Camp John Hay. Later in a speech, she made no reference to Ramos' absence and merely rallied her partymates to continue to unify.

"Our unity will strongly pave the way to bring our country to First World status by the next generation," Ms Arroyo said.

Facial warts

Malay said the 80-year-old former President could not make it because he had just had facial warts removed.

Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, the secretary general of Lakas, said he and other party leaders saw Ramos on July 15, when the latter was discharged from the Asian Hospital in Muntinlupa City.

He said Ramos had told them to proceed with the merger consultations.

"Actually, for the record, he (Ramos) couldn't make it because he has just had this surgical procedure. He had a lot of skin warts that could lead to skin cancer. That's the truth and nothing but the truth," Zubiri told reporters before the start of the meeting.

He said Ramos had been invited to attend the next regional Lakas-Kampi merger meeting in Cagayan de Oro on Aug. 1.

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, the secretary general of Kampi, also told reporters that he and other officials "could only wish Mr. Ramos would be present at every occasion, but we can understand if he had other things to do."

"But the main players here are the regional local officials ... These are regional affairs," Puno said.

Bottom-up

Zubiri said the merger process between Lakas and Kampi was moving fast, and that the two parties were following a "bottom-up" approach that involved consultations with the lower levels, as desired by Ms Arroyo and Speaker Prospero Nograles.

He said they intended to consult with partymates in 14 regions and, thus, it would take a year to complete the process.

"We really believe [the process] should be consultative rather than [involving] a directive from the top," Zubiri said.

He said it would be "useless" if Lakas and Kampi leaders in Manila made "an outright declaration" of a merger, "and then those down there, governors and mayors, would say, 'The merger was just at that level, and we will not abide by it.'"

Zubiri said certain areas, such as Bicol and Central Luzon, could pose problems as far as a Lakas-Kampi merger was concerned.

He said they had to tread carefully in Pangasinan, the stronghold of Rep. Jose de Venecia, the former Speaker and erstwhile Lakas president, although he expressed hope that the latter would support the merger.

"Because at the end of the day, this is a 'balik Lakas' program," he said, pointing out that Kampi members were all ex-members of Lakas.

No consultation in Davao

Like Zubiri, Puno said he expected the merger to be completed in a year.

Asked whether Kampi wanted a merger with other coalition partners, Puno said it wanted a merger with Lakas but "the others had not gone in that direction."

Explaining Ramos' position on the matter, Malay told reporters that the former President wanted Lakas members "on the ground" to be consulted.

He said no consultation was made in the first regional merger meeting last month: "What happened in Davao was that they were all gathered in a hotel room. Then there were speeches, then after that, they prepared the declaration of merger, then both parties signed it in the presence of the President."

Malay noted, however, that Friday's merger meeting was "different" because Lakas members in the Cordillera and the provinces of Abra, Kalinga and Apayao were consulted.

"That's what he wants--for members to be consulted," Malay said.

He reiterated that Ramos was not opposed to the Lakas-Kampi merger but wanted Lakas to also merge with the NPC and NP.

"What he's probably looking at is, if you can work for a merger of these political parties, you will instantly have a roster of presidential candidates," Malay said.

What's in a name?

Zubiri said the merged party would be called "Lakas-Kampi-CMD" because Lakas was the "surviving party."

But some members of the two parties referred to it as the "Kampi-Lakas" party.

Officially, Lakas should retain the title, according to Baguio Rep. Mauricio Domogan, the Lakas Cordillera coordinator.

He said the national directorates of the two parties had yet to address the proposed name, "Lakas-Kampi-CMD," but added that it should not be a bone of contention.

He said Lakas members in the Cordillera had agreed to a merger only if the party would remain a dominant force.

"We want to be the dominant party in this merger," Domogan told reporters in a press conference on Thursday night.

"Technically, the merger means we can no longer distinguish between Lakas and Kampi, but congressional records would show that the majority of these party men came from Lakas," he said.

Nograles said the merger was necessary.

"We don't want to lose in 2010...We are already the party in power," he said.

Nograles also said the new party would be composed of 143 congressional representatives, 55 governors, eight city mayors, 945 town mayors and 7,000 vice governors, vice mayors, provincial board members and town councilors.

Arroyo's term

Domogan dismissed speculations that the merger would assure Ms Arroyo an extended term of office.

The speculations are being fueled by a bid to amend the 1987 Constitution, but Domogan said it was not part of the agenda in the merger talks.

"If we do this, our credibility will be destroyed," he said.

Former Sen. Heherson Alvarez, the Lakas-CMD vice president for Luzon, said the possible presidential candidates had yet to be discussed in the merger meetings.

But Zubiri kept addressing Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chair Bayani Fernando, who attended Friday's event, as the "presidentiable."

At present, Lakas is considering Fernando and Quezon City Mayor Feliciano "Sonny" Belmonte for the 2010 polls. No names are being mentioned in the Kampi camp.

In the NPC, among the possible presidential candidates are Senators Loren Legarda and Francis Escudero and Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. NP is eyeing Villar as its standard-bearer.

No lifting of VAT

In her speech, the President said merging Lakas and Kampi would give her the political strength to back the "hard economic decisions" her administration had made.

She said lifting the value-added tax (VAT) on oil and power may be a popular sentiment but would actually benefit only the rich.

"The best solution is one that has worked … To reverse now [is to] give up enduring strength for popular but unpopular short-term gains. We exercise political will only if we have political strength that comes from the unity of our two strong parties," Ms Arroyo said.

Prepared for global crisis

According to Ms Arroyo, her decision to impose the VAT on oil and power has been heavily criticized, but without these economic policies, the effects of the global oil and food crisis would have been worse for the Philippines.

"If the VAT on oil and electricity is lifted, how will we replace about P80 billion in revenues, which is mostly used for the poor?" she said, adding:

"The global crisis did not catch us unprepared or without reserves. Thank God and thank our Lakas-Kampi majority in Congress."
With reports from Desiree Caluza and Donna Demetillo, Inquirer Northern Luzon



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Ermita: Not all Lakas events require Ramos' presence (12:55 p.m.)

MANILA -- A Malacañang official downplayed Saturday the absence of former president Fidel V. Ramos in the merger of Lakas and Kampi officials in Baguio City, saying not all events require his presence.

Executive secretary Eduardo Ermita said Ramos is merely chairman emeritus of Lakas and is consulted from time to time on matters concerning the party.

"Samantalang siya ang kinikilala natin na permanent leader ng partido, di natin pwede sabihin sa lahat na ginagawa ng partido very active siya mag-a-attend (He is acknowledged as the permanent leader of the party but we cannot expect him to attend every event of Lakas)," Ermita said on government-run dzRB radio.

Ermita is a member of Lakas and was a trusted aide of Ramos during the latter's term as president from 1992 to 1998.

Ramos was absent from Friday's merger of Lakas and Kampi officials in Cordillera, fueling speculations of a rift between him and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. (JMR