Philippines update

President Benigno Aquino III said Tuesday that the country's economy grew by 7.6 percent last year and not 7.3 percent as earlier announced.

Sen. Angara throws support to Reproductive Health Bill:

Senator Edgardo Angara has thrown his support behind the controversial Reproductive Health bill despite intensified campaign against it by the Catholic Church.

“I'm more inclined to supporting it but I'm not in favor [of] the so-called abortion provision... I want to be sure that's not there,” Angara told reporters Tuesday.

But while he was inclined to support the bill, the senator expressed concern about its implementation.

Angara also joined calls for the continuation of the dialogue between critics and advocates of the bill “instead of threatening each other.”

The senator though acknowledged that like the Charter change proposal, the RH bill issue was also divisive since it involves emotion.

“Charter change is an intellectual debate. This RH bill, meanwhile, involves mothers and children, conception and faith… You know, no social issue is not divisive. If it’s not divisive, it’s not important,” he said in Filipino.

“But let's not divide and fragment just because of this single issue. The same issue has gone through many Catholic countries, more Catholic and more devout than us – Brazil , Portugal, Spain , Italy without this traumatic and indecent name-calling,” he further said.

And while Sarangani Representative Manny Pacquiao's stand against the bill would impact on the pro-RH campaign, Angara reminded that majority of Filipinos are supporting the proposed legislation.

“Of course Manny has a lot of admirers. He has an influence on the issue. But I think let's not mislead the mood of our people,” he said.

“The people are for it. Whatever measure you take, whether it’s SWS (Social Weather Station) or Manny Pacquiao -- people are for it because they live with poverty and misery everyday so they want also some help from their church and from their government,” the senator added.

Solons back ex-Solicitor Geneneral Frank Chavez nomination for ombudsman 

The nomination of former Solicitor General Frank Chavez for ombudsman got the support of some members of the House of Representatives, a Radyo Inquirer report Tuesday said.

Quoting Bayan-Muna Representative Neri Colmenares, the report said Chavez has passed the qualifications for the post and could be an asset to the Aquino administration because of his anti- corruption campaign.

The report also quoted Aurora Representative Juan Edgardo Angara as saying that. Chavez was best for the position because of his bravery and his ability and capacity to lead the office left by Merceditas Gutierrez who resigned amid corruption allegations.

Meanwhile, Batangas Representative Hermilando Mandanas said that though the House has approved Chavez's nomination, it wouldl be President Benigno Aquino III who would have the final say.

Chavez was endorsed by the Whistle-blowers Association (WBA

) who submitted a letter of nomination before the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) signed by fertilizer fund scam whistle-blower Jose Barredo, jueteng witness Sandra Cam, Hello Garci witness Vidal Doble and ballot secrecy witness Melchor Magtubo.

Average 10% hike in colleges’ tuition justified--CHED 

The average 10-percent increase in the tuition rates of 281 private colleges and universities across the country was justified and unstoppable, an official of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) said Monday.

“If prices in Metro Manila kept jacking up, schools have a right to increase tuition,” Julito Vitriolo, executive director of CHEd told the Philippine Daily Inquirer over the phone.

Of the 1,792 colleges and universities in the country, 281 or 15 percent will be raising their tuition this coming school year.

The CHEd official said that higher education institutions (HEIs) could only have an increase if they have submitted the necessary requirements and beat the April 1 deadline. The requirements include a letter of intent to increase tuition, consultation with students and parents, and certificates of consultation and intended compliance.

According to Vitrolio, CHEd is not an approving body and schools could raise tuition and other fees as long as requirements are met, schools could raise tuition and other fees.

Only a handful of the more than 300 HEIs that applied for tuition increase failed to comply and subsequently could not make the raise, he added.

CHEd reports that 69 of the private colleges and universities that have taken steps to increase their tuition are in Metro Manila. These schools include St. Luke's College of Medicine, which would hike up their tuition by 12 percent, and the University of the East (UE) College of Medicine, Ateneo de Manila University, Ateneo Graduate School of Business, Miriam College, Assumption College and OB Montessori by 5 percent.

The University of Santo Tomas, De La Salle University and UE Manila are set to increase their tuition rates by around 4 percent.

The average across the country, the increase in tuition was pegged at 10 percent, Vitriolo said.

Vitriolo said 70 percent of the increase must go to the salaries of the teachers while the 20 percent should be directed to the improvement of school equipment and facilities.

Militant youth groups have criticized CHEd for allegedly breaking its promise in 2010 of discouraging tuition hikes this school year.

“There has been no significant change in CHEd under (the Aquino) administration. For the longest time, CHEd has been toothless in regulating tuition hikes despite numerous complaints and protests from students and parent,” Einstein Recedes, president of the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP).

US embassy denies US Marines in Mindanao are here to stay 

The United States embassy on Monday denied that a US marine battalion would be permanently deployed in Zamboanga City, a bustling city in Southern Philippines, a Radyo Inquirer report said.

Rebecca Brown Thompson, press attaché and US embassy spokesperson, countered an earlier statement of former president Joseph Ejercito Estrada, stressing that the US marines will be tentatively staying in the province as part of the bilateral training exercises between the US battalion and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Estrada had earlier declared that US marine forces have been permanently allowed to stay in Zamboanga City.

Thompson clarified in an e-mail to DZIQ that the US marine battalion will only stay in the province until the government’s request for the assistance from the marines lapse.

Aside from being the center of economic activities in Mindanao with its modern international seaport, Zamboanga is the seat of one of the largest number of military and police bases in the country.

It is home to the 3rd Air Division at Edwin Andrews Air Base, which handles the Air Force of the Philippines in the city; and the 6th Naval District in Camp General Basilio Navarro, also known as Western Mindanao Command, the main headquarters of Armed Forces of the Philippines in the western part of Mindanao. The Philippine Army, Philippine Marines, and Philippine Navy are assigned to that command. "Camp Enrile", and three other military camps, are likewise located in the city.

Thompson emphasized that the US respects the sovereignty of the Philippine government. But she noted that the US government is open to any agreement, or negotiation regarding changes that the Philippine government would like to implement in the current relationship between the two countries..

War on Terror

Hundreds of US troops have been working in the southern Philippines since 2002. Their role has been to help train local soldiers in the battle against insurgents, and their presence ostensibly divides local opinion. 

Philippine troops have been battling insurgents for decades

It is one of the most ignored, but perhaps one of the most successful, fronts in the United States’ so-called War on Terror.

As part of the Joint Special Operations Task Force, US troops have been training their Philippine counterparts in counter-terrorism and provide financial and logistical support.

Their presence coincides with a stepped-up US aid budget enabling better roads, schools, clinics, ports and more.

Officially the US troops are not involved in any combat operations. In US embassy words, the programme combines the "iron fist and hand of friendship".

Yet there are many conspiracy theories about what the troops are doing - ranging from eavesdropping on Indonesia to buying the way back into a permanent military presence in the Philippines, which the US lost in 1991.

Concerns persist

A source in the US intelligence security industry argued that both of these theories are nonsense.

"The US is seeing a regional terror threat and sees the south [of the Philippines] as a potential free haven and incubation area for more radical elements,” he pointed out.

"The US role is training and assistance, as part of a long term effort to develop local capabilities,” he added

US-Philippine military co-operation sparks occasional protests. The source, who is based in Manila, acknowledged that the US is taking a low profile because this approach is more sustainable.

"If you've got a constructive presence in a village, you've hopefully got a medium to long term contribution to employment, to health, to education," he explained. "And, more tactically, with a constructive relationship with the villagers, they start talking to you."

There is some support among Filipinos, but concerns persist - both about sovereignty and about what the US presence might be doing to already delicate relationships in the south.

Independence groups from the Muslim minority Moro people were fighting the Manila government three decades before the War on Terror was declared.

Peace talks are now in progress between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Manila government.

But the Abu Sayyaf group, long seen within Asia as a gang of kidnappers and smugglers, continues to pose a threat to law and order.

In the 1990s, Philippine military intelligence claimed that hundreds of Indonesian militants were training with their Muslim brothers in the south.

Members of the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiah (JI) militant group have sought refuge and practised bomb-making in the Philippines.

'Second coming' of US

Sometimes opposition to the US troops is expressed as an ideological aversion to any foreign presence in the Philippines - which was once an American colony.

Julkifli Wadi, a professor at the Islamic Studies Institute of the University of the Philippines, argued in a television interview that "neo-colonialism" is an inadequate word to explain the US role in his country.

Instead, he said the south is suffering from "multiple colonialisms" with the War on Terror amounting to the "second coming" of the US.

Guide to Philippines conflict

"On the one hand, the Philippines government is able to make her presence felt on the radar screen of US foreign policy, and therefore receive hefty financial assistance, making it appear that there is indeed a threat," he said.

On the other hand, he claimed that the US is "using the Philippines as a cover for its wider engagement in the region".

To other analysts, the labelling of undesirables as Abu Sayyaf or other terrorists is imprecise and perhaps disingenuous.

"Our feeling is that Abu Sayyaf is decimated," said Amina Rasul, director of the Philippine Council for Islam and Democracy think-tank, in an interview with BBC earlier this year..

"The other group they're trying to hunt is Jemaah Islamiah . Is this hunt something that requires the combined forces of the Philippine and US militaries?" asked Ms Rasul.

She noted that, in Indonesia and elsewhere in the region, successful counter-terrorism had been led by local police, not foreign soldiers.

"The more we look at the situation in the south, the more many of us realise they should be strengthening the capacity of local police agencies.

"First, they are local, they know local intelligence, they are plugged into local networks. Any act they do against terrorists will never be seen as a move of the non-Muslim majority against a Muslim community," Ms Rasul pointed out