Greetings to Everyone!!!

Safety on the road

Recently, one of the buses of Don Mariano Transit figured in an accident where it is reported that 18 people died (see photo below).

Photo Credit: Manila Bulletin, December 16, 2013 by Michael Varcas

The attention of everyone, especially our government officials, is most earnestly called towards past proposals, suggestions, recommendations, encouragement, admonitions, for making transport safety a key concern of the public sector.

At this time, whether or not the Philippine Government under Pres. Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino the 3rd will listen to all these unsolicited advice will be the determinant of the future of public safety on the streets of the country, sea and ocean lanes, and the Philippine air ways.

One of the hundreds of proposals on transport safety became a certified legislation of the Ramos Administration in 1994-1995. It was an executive order draft that instead was forwarded with strong endorsement by former President Fidel V. Ramos to the two houses of Congress to be made into Law due to the inclusion of a component providing for changes in users' fees and charges in the transportation industry.

Because Congress holds the power of the purse and is the only one mandated to create taxes, fees and charges that will be levied upon the public, Congress was the last stop of the proposal for transport safety. Under the late Pres. Corazon Aquino, the same proposal was submitted to Malacanang because of the need for a Philippine council on Safety - or any kind of agency concerned with Safety in general.

If we look at our Philippine Government's structure, there is a myriad of government units, offices, bureaus on safety. From the Department of Labor, Health, National Defense, Transportation and Communications, and the list goes on and on. Despite this however, or because of too many duplicating functions, there is a seeming confusion as to who will be responsible for this and that concern on Safety.

Hundreds of world, international, regional Conventions, conferences and Workshops are held all over the the globe on Safety. The United Nations, cognizant of the value and importance of the universal concern of Safety, has elevated its status consistently from low to a very high Category under the UN Structure.

Therefore a single agency, unifying at least a wide array of safety concerns and lessening the duplication and conflicts of functions of too many agencies under the bureaucracy was proposed.

Out of these proposals, at least one was favored to become law: the National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) Act that came about due to the strong wording by Malacanang stating that the proposed law was part of its certified legislative agenda for the period.

That certified priority legislation under the Ramos administration, became law. Secretary Vicente Rivera, past head of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) disclosed that former Congressman Manuel A. Roxas III and Senator Franklin D. Drilon were very instrumental in making the draft bill become law.

During her tenure in Malacanang, the late Philippine President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, appointed a lady by the name of Emilia Boncodin to the post of Director at the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

Eventually, Ms. Boncodin rose in the ranks and became Assistant Secretary, Undersecretary and yet was the source of complaints from too many sectors due to her insistence on ten percent (10%) commission or kickback for herself when it became her turn to be the one to release the payments to government service providers. When the supplier-contractors could not produce the cash, Ms. Boncodin will hold the payment hostage in return for a post-dated cheque or any other debt instrument, bank note that will ensure her 10% kickback will be paid.

However enormous and tremendous were the monies earned by this Boncodin in the past due to the immense, uncontrollable power of hostaging and illegal detention of the DBM, Boncodin refused and returned the enacted and signed (by President Ramos) Law creating the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to Congress.

Her reason was that DBM did not have Fifty Million Philippine Pesos (Php50-M) to cover the operationalization of the NTSB into a functional office. While amassing more than a few billions in office, Boncodin refused to fund Php50-M for the NTSB Law.  More  >  >

Speeding and bad road structures

Yahoo: CCTV shows Don Mariano Transit speeding before tragedy

From yahoo.com, a video shows that the killer bus owned by the Don Mariano Transit that took 18 lives of its passengers was on a speeding frenzy prior to the accident, the report says.

The authorities reviewing the video say the bus was running at more than 100 kilometers per hour while at the point of the accident the speed limit was only 80 kilometers per hour.

Bad road design and structure in RP

A comment by "A Yahoo User" on the video sourced from ANC, says thus:

if one where to look closely at the footage, one can see that there was water in the path of the bus. What does this mean? I believe that the swerving may be the cause of hydroplaning.that and the speed of the bus i believe could be the main causes of the bus falling

By design, the coupling of speeding vehicles and bad road designs and structures that are common in poor or developing countries are a mortal combination. Compounded with dilapidated vehicle features and parts - that as claimed by the Skyway administration was evident in the Don Mariano Transit bus unit's totally bald tires with treads wholly worn away - the accident was bound to happen.

Letter to the President and DOTC

Open Letter to His Excellency Benigno Simeon Aquino III, 

President of the Philippines

and Honorable Joseph Emilio Abaya, Secretary

Department of Transportation and Communications

Dear President Aquino and Secretary Abaya:

Between 1989-1990, we began the advocacy for a Philippine safety agency that led to the passage of the Republic Act to create the NTSB - National Transportation Safety Board.

Shown below is the reconstruction of the briefing on the need to operationalize the National Transportation Safety Board. We revised the briefing over and over again. The updating of the voluminous data on accidents over land, to include actuarial and statistical computations of the probabilities of new accidents for extended, extrapolated periods, is not included since it would be too tasking for us and we do not have the resources nor are equipped any longer to undertake the job.

In the past, we were fortunate to be working with a foreign counterpart - the Harris Corporation Florida USA, a conglomerate with over 100 companies under its wings, that allowed us to opportunity to campaign for the privatization of the then Air Transportation Office's ATS (Air Traffic Service) as well as to push for the creation of the Philippines' transport safety agency.

- Original proponents for National Transport Safety Board 1994

Read more from here.

hmes 2013: Support PHIVOLCS' modernization please, now!

Source: http://www.hazmapping.com

From over 40 casualties, the death toll has risen to nearly 100 in the Carmen, Bohol Province-Cebu City earthquake. At that figure, the Carmen-Cebu tremor can qualify as a Killer Quake. Cebu and nearby areas has to be declared to be in a state of calamity. There are limited manuevers that aircraft can make at the Cebu airport due to the cracking and opening up of the airport's runways.

The six million dollar question is: how many more incidents like those in Carmen, Bohol and Cebu City and the other ones in Leyte, Samar will we be expecting?

Were the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Philvolcs) prepared adequately enough with equipment to monitor ground movement, tectonic plate disturbance, the nearly 100 deaths could have been avoided. 27 Billion Philippine Pesos is earmarked for pork barrel in the 2014 General Appropriations Act out of a total expenditure program of 2.26 Trillion Philippine Pesos. Would it be difficult to allocate even half of that pork barrel budget for emergency preparedness, disaster risk reduction, equipment upgrade?

Past Warnings of Big Disaster

This site has been warning the public for more than four years since the time of the former President, Mrs. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Due to the total torpedoing of the private sector (Corinthian Gardens, Forbes Park, Dasmarinas Village, the owners of high rise condominiums at the left side of EDSA southbound, among others), of the program for predicting highly lethal effects of a major tremor in Metro Manila and the replication of this effort in many urban areas in the country by the same sector in collusion with some corrupt officials in the government, a large disaster and environmental hazards summit was proposed to be supported by the Philippine Government and the United Nations, among other institutions from many other sectors - including the non-profit (minus the Napoles et al NGOs).

Wanting responses

It is reiterated that in the time of Mrs. Arroyo, only the then Administrator of the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA), Ms. Elaine Bautista, now Mrs. Horn, had the small effort to make an email message to the proponents of the 2010 Disaster and Environmental Hazards Mapping Summit. And that was only because the United Nations Environment Programm (UNEP)  told the former Ms. Bautista to get in touch with HMES 2010 organizing group. At the time, concurrent to her post in MARINA, Ms. Bautista was considered a friend of UNEP and a significant point person for the Philippine Government in relation to selected UNEP concerns - particularly about emergency and assistance.

When Mr. Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino 3rd became President, the organizing group wrote to Ms. Corazon Juliano Soliman of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and Gen. Voltaire Tuvera Gazmin. Ms. Soliman did not respond. It was noticed however that several days later, Gen. Gazmin, the Secretary of the Department of National Defense gave an interview to national media.

In that interview, when Gazmin was asked about what the people should do when a disaster strikes, he replied: "Run for your lives."

Carrying the barest minimum luggage in their bodies, the poor, helpless people in above photos must have taken advice similar to that of Gen. Voltaire Gazmin's to leave and forget belongings elsewhere and to "run for your lives."

It will appear that the kind of response the government has given is exceedingly wanting in substance. It is hoped however that as a grandfather and parent, Gazmin to no fault of his own was merely showing his personal concern for the safety of the life of the average citizen. He was probably very well-meaning and was admonishing the people not to bring their television sets, beds, furniture, cash safety vaults, washing machines, cabinets, sofa, stoves with their fuel gas tanks, desk-stand-ceiling fans, air conditioners, desktop computers and refrigerators outside of their homes and instead to proceed to a more safe location and be saved in time of major catastrophe.

The head of the Philvolcs, Dr. Renato Solidum absolutely cannot be faulted and is blameless. For decades, had been ready to accept the support for equipment upgrade and modernization. Despite the billions of funds allocated to the departments of the government, the great oversight of perpetually forgetting to take care of the Philvolcs modernization programme has consistently been committed by this government.

Despite the billions lost for the personal enrichment of selected persons in our public sector and their intimate partners in very enterprising undertakings in the private sector, no one has shown keen interest in allowing the Philvolcs to finally get hold of the adequate funding for acquisition of hardware and software that will highly increase its forecasting accuracy and its earthquake trending studies and research on the major faults all over the country. Click here for more.

Making neighborhoods safe, peaceful and orderly with community residents' active participation

In January 2013, the Center for Man and Society proposed to government an integrated action plan specially designed to mold a culture of cooperation and positive morale between the residents in a community and their law enforcement officers. The action plan, suggested to the Philippine National Police derives information inputs from both the public and private sector through the building and utilization of unique social infrastructures. The significance of the action plan is that it includes handling of macro issues that are of monumental significance and relevance to the Philippine National Police.

Parameters

• The establishment at the regional level of community relations group units.
• Enhancing the PNP Image as a vital driving force to undertake this action plan.
• Establishing social mechanisms and software at grassroots level.
• Holding the Community Security, Safety, Peace and Order Summit at the end of the year in 2013. The holding of the special Summit on Community Security, Safety, Peace and Order is designed to bring together stakeholders in constructively critiquing and enhancing the running program to establish social mechanisms and install software to uphold peace and order, safety and stability at the grassroots level.

Targeted Outcomes

• Enlarged safe spaces in as many areas of the country
• Executed tripartite agreement between PNP, homeowners’ groups or local communities and the services sector for community crime reduction.
• Activated a full function network to provide force multipliers for effective civil relations during local and national crisis as well as fortuitous events like natural calamities and disasters
• Replicated these networking activities for the purpose of the electoral exercise as well as for other subnational and national significant events
• Assembled important stakeholders to critique and improve the plan to bring about community peace, order, safety and stability and allow the people themselves to take the lead in the process.

Time Frame. The duration and the time to implement the plan will be from 2013 to July 2016 -- at the end of the term of His Excellency Benigno Simeon Aquino III, President of the Republic of the Philippines.

Administration. Limited special activities to be undertaken:

Signing Tripartite Agreement. This distinctive covenant, while very specific and targeted in scope, will be the cornerstone of a cooperative venture between the PNP, a service provider, the homeowners’ groups and / or local communities and service provider.

The role of PNP is to provide the spearhead for the action plan. This entails building social infrastructures and embed applicable software (techniques/tactics) to reduce crime, potential terror attacks, political violence, and acts of anarchy, among other similar occurrences. The key players on one side in this undertaking are homeowners’ groups all over the country or their counterpart local villages not covered by organized homeowners’ organizations. On the other side, the service provider is tasked with the social infrastructure building and putting in place needed software.

The PNP’s positioning in the resulting social infrastructure, will be its current post as keeper of the peace and order in the community and in Philippine society. On the other hand, the homeowners’ groups and local communities will be the key information sources of the PNP, while the service provider component will be the constructor or builder of the infrastructures.

Special research-communication audit. The value of the PNP HOTLINE 117 is in the database that it will be able to generate. Together with the database from other units, special audit of selected target individuals / units for evaluation of current communications by selected parties as well as the involvement of members of the service therein, in relation to selective high profile issues.

Evaluating the action plan. The following method for measuring results will take the form of:

• monthly report on work in progress;
• formalized reports for presentation at staff meetings;
• periodic briefings of the higher authorities
• year-end summary for the annual report; and,
• a national assessment Summit on Community Security, Safety Peace and Order at the end of the year 2013.

A Paradigm for Grassroots Based Peace

In January 2013, Center for Man and Society (Centre di Humanes et Societas, Inc. - CHS) proposed an action plan for community-based security, safety, peace and orderto the government. From February to April 2013, painstaking efforts were undertaken to foster the adoption of the action plan.

The present model conceived and being propagated in advanced societies centers on "increasing safe spaces."

On the other hand, a project undertaken during the early 70s that was backed by the United States of America's National Security Council undertook a social program to promote peace in the neighborhoods through the concept of full community involvement and participation.

This program by the US government was a resounding success and was achieved through the training of residents in a community by a composite of trainors on law enforcement and highly capable sociologists-community organizers.

In the Philippines, a parallel of this community organizing design was originally espoused by the group of Ms. Corazon J. Soliman, Atty. Hector Soliman, Mr. Rolando B. Modina, Ms. Charo Modina, Ms. Karina David, Solomon P. Botictic through the social development (NGO) community in the late 1980s. European AidNGOs were the target donors for this design.

This parallel design of the Ms. Soliman of the NGO community centered on conflict-endangered zones (barangays, cluster of barangays, components of towns and cities) where there is war or extreme politically-rooted hostilities. The US model focused more on the neighborhood not afflicted by war but threatened every day by minor conflicts and imperiled by the visiting of newbie or hardened offenders ready to commit crime, or succumb to killing fellow humans during the act.

In the present paradigm, it was envisaged that a combined effort designed for both war-torn communities as well as villages unaffected by warfare while threatened by injurious intent and malfeasance or high crime. As an assessment and year-end culmination of activities, it was suggested to hold a community safety, peace and order summit around the end of each year.

At the same summit, for incentives to all to continue working for community-based peace and order, it is envisioned the recognition of individuals who have contributed their precious time, talent and resources for the promotion of peace and order in our Philippine communities and our simple neighborhoods. For this purpose, we resolve to acknowledge with immense Filipino pride and honor, the Golden Olive Branch Peace Award for promoting peace at the grassroots, in the community.

Confusion at the War Front

Who is this man? He is known as Atty. Emmanuel Fontanilla. He calls himself the Official Spokesman of the Moro National Liberation Front. When Hon. Sec. Manuel Roxas III visited Zamboanga, he was interviewed by media together with the honorable secretary. What is his real role and standing in the MNLF? Does Chairman Misuari Nur owe his life to this man who lays claim to MNLF as if it was his own turf? Presumably, he must have been baptized into Islam; even if so, what real clout does he have with that mammoth organization of armed fighters that even with firearms they would not lift a finger to shut his mouth? (Photo credit: Borneo Insider)

Feed from Rebus 21

Despite the danger of escalating tensions towards full-scale war, certain shady individuals are goading both parties enmeshed in the hostilities and appear to be the ones who organized the hostage-taking as well as the burning of entire villages in Zamboanga.

Captured persons alleged to be members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) confessed to interrogators that they were not ordered to participate in a war.

Before jumping off from Basilan into Zamboanga-bound bancas (small sea vessels commonly used by fishermen), they were told to support the prayer rally - educational assembly or teach-in against the pork barrel at the EDSA Shrine in Ortigas by holding a similar rally in Zamboanga City. Read more from here.

So much for the MNLF Spokesman saying that the rebels fighting government forces are fake MNLF fighters. After a few days, upon the arrival of Sec. Manuel Roxas and Sec. Voltaire Gazmin, the Spokesman's brain experienced a turn around and his mouth was shooting off statements to the effect that Chairman Nur Misuari owned up to the planning of the hostage-taking and now the burning of villages in Zamboanga City.

All is not fair in love and war.

Increasing safe spaces, aggressive law enforcement

This site is honored to publish a brief article from a cooperator in the quest for community-based peace, security and safety.

Guest article from security and safety experts of Rebus 21:

The goal of community-based peace, security and safety should be precluded by a more aggressive law enforcement system.

Force impetus should be able to interdict perpetrators of crime similar to the case of the brutal killing of Ms. Kristelle Davantes. Click here for a brief bio of Kristelle at linkedin.

This site fully sympathizes with and supports the family of the late Ms. Kristelle Davantes, together with friends and colleagues who put up the Justice for Kae campaign.

The closure of the case for the peace of mind of those who loved Kristelle, fondly called Kae by those close to her is called for.

This dovetails with the earlier assertion that law enforcement should be more aggressive, more responsive to society and the host community that law enforcers are bound to serve.

Ms. Davantes' victimology profile fairly relatively fits that of a particular group or groups that prey upon helpless owners of vehicles that the group desires to possess. In many cases, the perpetrators receive an order for a particular year make, model and possibly color of a motor vehicle. The criminal elements will themselves scout for such a vehicle and in a number of cases, will utilize their contacts as scouts for the type of vehicle in question.

Once the closest match is found, the criminals will undertake all means to obtain the vehicle by illegal means and as an unfortunate resort, as in the case of Ms. Kristelle Davantes, by use of excessive force. In this case, the excesses led to the demise of such a promising, young and vibrant person as Ms. Kristelle Davantes.

In special cases such as the modus operandi used in obtainig the vehicle of Ms. Kristelle Davantes, the criminals should have been heavily influenced by prohibited substances or were experiencing the withdrawal effects of said substances, where intense paranoia and fear visits upon the substance abuser and is likely to commit acts that he or she may eventually not even fully remember in the future.

The public sector will rue the scorn of the affected publics and reap exhorbitantly expensive endless negative consequences unless it will pay the steep price to capture or wipe out the elements perpetrating this kind of crime. Email: workers@rebus21.shop.ms.

Threat of Fourth Generation Warfare

With immense pleasure this site hosts the following guest article contributed by Rebus 21.

Guest commentary by Rebus 21:

Events in Western Mindanao at the present time all point towards escalating fourth generation war.

4G warfare is defined as amorphous (without shape and specific definition), stateless, borderless, non-conventional war. However, it is also timeless. For demonstration, the overly protracted conflict between Israel and selected Middle East neighbors have overblown into 4G warfare.

In its most meaningful manifestation as the burning of Islamic villages at the outset of the 1980s in Mindanao that led to the long-standing Muslim secessionist posture and the rise of highly non-conventional war in Western Mindanao that spilled over disproportionately to Central Mindanao after the late Salamat Hashim broke ties with Misuari Nur.

This is being repeated in a formerly Islamic trading capital town, Zamboanga City now populated also by a dominantly Christian population who learned to speak a language that is half Spanish and half vernacular dialect.

Failure in negotiations and lack of crisis scenario planning and management, futures modeling and war gaming exercise among many other significant and trivial factors, brought the present situation in Western Mindanao to what it is today. Read more from here.

Related articles:

Business Mirror: Increasing number of Zamboanga casualties

Bloomberg.com on spreading violence in Zamboanga

Xinhua.net warning about threat escalating

ANC: Analyst says government must listen to Misuari

Sunstar: Cebu raises alert level

Philippine Star: Government force augmentation - 500 Scout Rangers sent to Zamboanga

Blogger: Is Sabah and Sarawak going to be attacked

CNN early news on hostage taking in Zamboanga

Community based safety, peace and order program and recognition awards

PROGRAM FOR COMMUNITY SECURITY, SAFETY, PEACE AND ORDER

This is an Integrated Intra-Communication Plan and Public Communication Plan specially designed to mold a culture of cooperation and positive morale. It is intended to surface and deliver timely solutions, applications, for selected special issues to special publics (audiences) on vital national issues / events such as the following:

• Special Community Crime Reduction / Prevention Program
• Special Public Communication Program for enhancing PNP Image
• Community Peace, Security and Safety Summit on November 30, 2013 (in time for National Heroes Day)
• Localized and National Crisis Events Public Communications – including for Subnational (Regional) and National Disasters
• 2013 Safe and Peaceful Elections Public Communications
• 2016 Safe and Peaceful Elections Public Communications

GOLDEN OLIVE BRANCH AWARD OR PRIZE RECOGNITION AND AWARDS PROJECT

This a project to give recognition and incentive to those who gave major contributions to establishing and promoting peace and order, security and safety within the Philippine community (neighborhood, Sitio, Purok, Barangay, etc.).

Even those that had died or passed away are entitled to receive the prize posthumous, and all the benefits therefrom.

It is a project that to help promote among the youth the importance of working for community-based peace and order by granting scholarships to young high school students and providing grant funds for the education of children of posthumous awardees.

Golden Olive Branch Awards 2013

Related Awards and Recognitions for Peace:

Nobel Peace Prize

Mahatma Gandhi Peace Award

Fellowship of Reconciliation Peace Award

GOI Culture of Peace Award

GOI Peace Award

Vancouver YMCA Power of Peace Award

International Peace Award

American Peace Award

DUCCI Peace Award

World Vision Peacebuilding Award

Pilosio Building The Peace Award

Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Awards

Dayton Literary Peace Prize

The Beacon 2013 Peace Awards

Children's Peace Literature Awards

Coexist Peace Award

Business for Peace Awards

Tanenbaum Peacemakers in Action Awards

Peace Direct (Charity and Peace Awards)

The Harris Wofford Global Citizen Award

The Sargent Shriver Award for Distinguished Humanitarian Service

The Loret Miller Ruppe Award for Outstanding Community Service

Media Peace Awards

Messengers of Peace Award

CINEMA FOR PEACE

Pax Christi International Peace Awards

Nigeria N-Peace Awards 2013

Rose Rees Peace Awards

Peace Awards - Week of Peace

Davis Projects for Peace Awards

London Peace Awards

Gusi Peace Prize International

Maurice J and Fay B. Karpf Peace Award

Greater Tacoma Peace Prize

Peace initiatives

A long time ago, the United States Security Council undertook a project with its pilot being in California, to educate members of a community to band together to form an alert, vigilant body that would aid each other in providing help, getting immediate police response, securing emergency technicians during medical and health crises, among others.

This was done by deploying a capable group of social development experts with key specializations in community organizing, forming and harnessing social networks that provided the key role in molding the pilot project communities.

Results from the project were highly positive. This kind of model will be adapted in the Philippines through the effort of the Philippine National Police and the active involvement of stakeholders in the communities all around the country.

The November 30 2013 Conference

A Summit on Community-Led Peace, Security and Safety

Various stakeholders in the preservation of peace and order in the community will attend the Summit on Community Peace, Security, Safety scheduled at the end of the year 2013 with the main venues at the Philippine International Convention Center and Manila Hotel.

The diplomatic community will be invited to participate in the event to glean from our brothers from foreign countries their own experiences in keeping the peace and stability in their very own communities that they call home.

In vague form, peace, safety, security, order and stability is often discussed as if these were mere concepts, ideas, consequential aspects of life, career, vocations and others.

However, safety is only seldom talked about in relation to habitat, except when trouble happens, crime takes place and terrorism reaches our doorsteps.

The ultimate discussion of safety, peace, security, order and stability should nevermore be done far from the place we call home. Peace and order, security, safety must be an adjunct of the conditions prevailing in where we live, where we raise our families, where we reaffirm and re-create ourselves to be able to face the outside world anew.

In the light of too many targeted violence incidents in the United States, even Europe and many other countries, we have to bring the concept of upholding the peace and safety of the person and security of property down to the grassroots. Therefore, in many and in all orchestrations towards keeping the peace, maintaining the order, the community itself must become the lead participant.

Hence, beyond the age-old dictum of people participation, of community involvement, our call is for community-led efforts. Let the communities lead!

The communities have nothing to lose but their chains!