,661 21 $,' ())(&7,9(1(66...SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2007 3 COVER STORY THE PHILIPPINES and aid...

ISSN 1655-5295

AIDON EFFECTIVENESS

E D U C A T I O N F O R D E V E L O P M E N T2

IBON IBON IBON IBON IBON Foundation - InternationalFoundation - InternationalFoundation - InternationalFoundation - InternationalFoundation - International holds therights to the contents of this publication. The

publication may be cited in part as long as IBON-International is properly acknowledged as the source

and IBON-International is furnished copies of thefinal work where the quotation or citation appears.

C O V E RC O V E RC O V E RC O V E RC O V E RVol. 6, No. 5 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2007

ISSN 1655-5295

NEWSNEWSNEWSNEWSNEWS55555

The Philippines andThe Philippines andThe Philippines andThe Philippines andThe Philippines andaid conditionalityaid conditionalityaid conditionalityaid conditionalityaid conditionalitySonny Africa

33333

66666

1010101010

1313131313

1616161616

1818181818

2222222222

2525252525

3030303030

3131313131

Antonio Tujan, Jr.International DirectorInternational DirectorInternational DirectorInternational DirectorInternational Director

International DepartmentInternational DepartmentInternational DepartmentInternational DepartmentInternational Department

Maria Theresa Nera-LauronHead, International DepartmentHead, International DepartmentHead, International DepartmentHead, International DepartmentHead, International Department

Layout Art istLayout Art istLayout Art istLayout Art istLayout Art istFlorenio Bambao

Cover Art istCover Art istCover Art istCover Art istCover Art istJenny Padilla

Photo CreditsPhoto CreditsPhoto CreditsPhoto CreditsPhoto CreditsBayanMuna/Bulatlat

BulatlatKenneth guda/Pinoy WeeklyDavid Sproule/Oxfam AUS

Curt Carnemark/WorldBankIBON Internationalrednuht/flickr.comBusinessweek.com

photo: Jamie Martin/World BankDOD/Pingnews.com

innocent_tauruscian/flickr.comlahore.metblogs.com

Bagwis

Education for Development MagazineEducation for Development MagazineEducation for Development MagazineEducation for Development MagazineEducation for Development Magazineis published by

International Dept., IBON FoundationInternational Dept., IBON FoundationInternational Dept., IBON FoundationInternational Dept., IBON FoundationInternational Dept., IBON FoundationIBON Center

114 Timog Avenue, Quezon City1103 Philippines

E-mail Address: [email protected]. Nos. +632 927 7060 to 62

Local 202Fax +632 425 1387

12345671234567123456712345671234567Education for Development

FEATURES ON AID:FEATURES ON AID:FEATURES ON AID:FEATURES ON AID:FEATURES ON AID:Digging Our Graves:Digging Our Graves:Digging Our Graves:Digging Our Graves:Digging Our Graves:ODA and mining investments inODA and mining investments inODA and mining investments inODA and mining investments inODA and mining investments inthe Phi l ippinesthe Phi l ippinesthe Phi l ippinesthe Phi l ippinesthe Phi l ippinesLisa Ito and Dr. Giovanni Tapang

Donor condit ional i ty cont inues toDonor condit ional i ty cont inues toDonor condit ional i ty cont inues toDonor condit ional i ty cont inues toDonor condit ional i ty cont inues tohamper aid effectiveness in Ghanahamper aid effectiveness in Ghanahamper aid effectiveness in Ghanahamper aid effectiveness in Ghanahamper aid effectiveness in GhanaEURODAD

The third High Level ForumThe third High Level ForumThe third High Level ForumThe third High Level ForumThe third High Level Forumon aid effect ivenesson aid effect ivenesson aid effect ivenesson aid effect ivenesson aid effect ivenessAjoy Datta

Civi l soc iety organizat ionsCiv i l soc iety organizat ionsCiv i l soc iety organizat ionsCiv i l soc iety organizat ionsCiv i l soc iety organizat ionsand aid effect ivenessand aid effect ivenessand aid effect ivenessand aid effect ivenessand aid effect ivenessRoA Secretariat

WORLD ECONOMY:WORLD ECONOMY:WORLD ECONOMY:WORLD ECONOMY:WORLD ECONOMY:Uncertainty rules as f inancialUncertainty rules as f inancialUncertainty rules as f inancialUncertainty rules as f inancialUncertainty rules as f inancialvolat i l i ty volat i l i ty volat i l i ty volat i l i ty volat i l i ty spreads wor ldwidespreads wor ldwidespreads wor ldwidespreads wor ldwidespreads wor ldwideMartin Khor

GLOBALIZATION ISSUES:GLOBALIZATION ISSUES:GLOBALIZATION ISSUES:GLOBALIZATION ISSUES:GLOBALIZATION ISSUES:Global hunger sti l l on the rise,Global hunger sti l l on the rise,Global hunger sti l l on the rise,Global hunger sti l l on the rise,Global hunger sti l l on the rise,says UN rights expertsays UN rights expertsays UN rights expertsays UN rights expertsays UN rights expertKanaga Raja

SPECIAL FEATURES:SPECIAL FEATURES:SPECIAL FEATURES:SPECIAL FEATURES:SPECIAL FEATURES:MMMMMusharraf and his collaboratorsusharraf and his collaboratorsusharraf and his collaboratorsusharraf and his collaboratorsusharraf and his collaboratorsS Akbar Zaidi

WI-FI Technology: SafetyWI-FI Technology: SafetyWI-FI Technology: SafetyWI-FI Technology: SafetyWI-FI Technology: SafetyUnproven; Are We Victims of theUnproven; Are We Victims of theUnproven; Are We Victims of theUnproven; Are We Victims of theUnproven; Are We Victims of theWireless Age?Wireless Age?Wireless Age?Wireless Age?Wireless Age?Utusan Konsumer

L E T T E R SL E T T E R SL E T T E R SL E T T E R SL E T T E R S

STATS & NUMBERS:STATS & NUMBERS:STATS & NUMBERS:STATS & NUMBERS:STATS & NUMBERS:Lost revenues from corruptionLost revenues from corruptionLost revenues from corruptionLost revenues from corruptionLost revenues from corruption‘scandalous’ ‘scandalous’ ‘scandalous’ ‘scandalous’ ‘scandalous’ amid worsening stateamid worsening stateamid worsening stateamid worsening stateamid worsening stateof poor famil iesof poor famil iesof poor famil iesof poor famil iesof poor famil iesIBON Foundation

2828282828

SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2007 3

COVER STORYTHE PHILIPPINESand aid conditionality

IBON Foundation, Inc.IBON Foundation, Inc.IBON Foundation, Inc.IBON Foundation, Inc.IBON Foundation, Inc.

he Paris Declaration was signed in 2005with official donors committing to improvethe effectiveness of their officialdevelopment aid (ODA) towards greaterreductions in poverty and inequality. Theaid reform agenda promoted spans

ownership, alignment, harmonization, managing forresults and mutual accountability with a dozenindicators for monitoring progress. But despite all thisand after all the attention given them, the most basicquestion can still be asked: what is it really about aidthat makes it “ineffective” and unhelpful in reducingpoverty and inequality?

For all the concerns the Paris Declaration raises it isunfortunately conspicuously silent on conditionalities.Yet among the wide range of aid and aid-relatedconcerns this is likely the biggest problem with themost far-reaching adverse effects. The reality is that“aid effectiveness” cannot just be about improved aiddelivery and management or more efficient aidprocesses. The issue of conditionality is central andthere is a strong case for arguing that the Paris

Declaration and the aid reform agenda will be futile if itdoesn’t meaningfully address this.

“Conditionalities” are basically any specificrequirements donors ask of recipient governmentsbefore they give aid, whether loans or grants. In doingthis, donors consciously exploit the economicweakness of underdeveloped countries which sufferscarce capital, foreign exchange and fiscal resources.They purposely wield ODA in pursuit of their foreignpolicy interests and use the corresponding financialpressure to leverage actions that they want therecipient government to undertake. In many cases italso helps that large-scale ODA provides lucrativeopportunities for corrupt officials and localbusinessmen.

Policy conditionalities invariably involve “free market”policies of trade and investment liberalization,privatization and deregulation. These are of coursepackaged as rational economic policies thatultimately benefit domestic economies and peoples,even some unavoidable short-term pain or adjustment

T

PHOTO: BAYAN MUNA/BULATLAT


C O V E RC O V E RC O V E RC O V E RC O V E R

is conceded. However thePhilippine experience is acautionary tale of the real effect ofsuch policy conditionalities.

Philippines policyconditionalities

The Philippines has a long historyof ODA conditionalities particularlyassociated with the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) and WorldBank (WB). To be sure, conditiona-lities aren’t the only factor indomestic socioeconomic policy-making. Nonetheless they’ve beena significant influence especially inthe last three decades - withsevere effects on the localeconomy and the lives andlivelihoods of millions of Filipinos.

The country’s first loan with theIMF in 1962 was on condition ofthe removal of foreign exchangecontrols and resulted in a suddendrastic devaluation of the pesoagainst the dollar. The next fourdecades had 24 IMF loans totalingUS$3.0 billion and SDR3.1 billionand each of which more or lesscontained the standard IMF“stabilization program” of tightfiscal and monetary policies. Thelast IMF loan, for instance, was aUS$1.4 billion stand-by arrange-ment from 1998-2000 which had110 conditionalities euphemis-tically called “structural reformmeasures”.

Likewise with the WB. Thecountry’s first structuraladjustment loan (SAL) with theWB in 1980 - which was onlymonths away from being the WB’sfirst such loan anywhere in theworld - initiated trade liberalizationwhich the Philippines is in the finalstages of today. To date there havebeen some US$2.8 billion in WBstructural and sectoral adjustmentloans. The most recent is aUS$250 million DevelopmentPolicy Loan in 2006 which among

others covered fiscal austerity andnew taxes - picking up from wherethe IMF left off - as well as powerprivatization.

IMF and WB aid conditionalitiesespecially since the 1990s havebeen far-ranging and included,among others: tax reform, importliberalization, oil deregulation,power sector reform, retail tradeliberalization, financial and bankingsector reform, securities reform,privatization and general foreigninvestment liberalization. All thesehave gone far in turning thePhilippines into one of SoutheastAsia’s most open economies withthe lowest tariffs and leastrestrictions on foreign capital, nextonly to Singapore.

“Globalization” andunderdevelopment

The effect on the economy hasbeen dramatic. Trade measured asa percentage of gross domesticproduct (GDP) has doubled, from52% in 1980 to 105% in 2005,while foreign investment by thesame measure has nearlyquadrupled, from 4% to 14 percent.Yet the Philippines is morebackward than ever. The country’sproductive sectors are devastated.Manufacturing is a smaller share ofthe economy than it was in the1960s as well as the most foreign-dominated it has ever been.Agriculture’s share in the economyis at historically low levels,agricultural trade deficits have beenrising since the mid-1990s, and thecountry is more dependent than ithas ever been on imported food.

Most tellingly, joblessness hasbeen at record highs for over sixyears now and the unemploymentrate has averaged over 11% with, in2006, 12 million jobless orotherwise underemployed Filipinos.This deteriorating situation drivessome 3,500 overseas to find wok

everyday and there are now some9-10 million overseas Filipinoworkers (OFWs), or “economicrefugees”, scattered in over 190countries. There is severe povertyespecially at the lowest incomelevels which is disguised bysharpening inequality. In any case,some 69 million Filipinos or 80% ofthe population struggle to surviveon the equivalent of some US$2 orless a day. Around 46 millionFilipinos go hungry everyday andcannot meet even minimumnutritional requirements.

But policy conditionalities have notjust been about macroeconomicpolicies and have been applied ona sector per sector basis, withmuch the same devastatingeffects. Nor has it been only theIMF and WB which have used ODAto leverage desired “free market”outcomes. The case of healthsector is just one example.

The Philippines’ public healthsector cannot be said to have everbeen very substantial, even it hadlong dominated the country’shealth service system, yet thisinadequacy has become evenworse in recent decades. The firstWB Health Development Project in1989 worth US$70.1 millionarguably began the process ofthoroughgoing health privatizationin the country. This combined withconsecutive technical assistanceefforts to establish privatization anddecentralization as the centralthrust of public health policy. Mostrecently, the Asian DevelopmentBank’s (ADB) US$200.0 millionHealth Sector DevelopmentProgram in 2004 covers healthcare financing, public hospitalfinancial autonomy, andrationalization of health facilitiesand performance. The WB alsoprovided US$110.0 million in 2006as National Sector Support forHealth Reform.

(continued on page 11)


NEWS NEWS

IBON to WTO Head Lamy:Aid shouldn’t be used to promote trade

evelopment aidshould not be used topromote thedeveloped countries’“free trade” agenda,independent think-

tank IBON Foundation said today,as World Trade Organization(WTO) Director-General PascalLamy arrives in Manila to kick offan Asian Development Bankconference on Mobilizing Aid forTrade (AfT).

The WTO defines AfT as “donorfunds” channeled to finance trade-related technical assistance andinfrastructure, plus aid used todevelop productive (supply-side)capacity.

According to IBON research headSonny Africa, development aidcould be of assistance toresource-starved underdevelopedcountries such as the Philippines .But this can only happen if aid is

DJPEPA undermines RP constitution,

shuts door to real economic dev’the Japan PhilippinesEconomic PartnershipAgreement (JPEPA)violates provisions ofthe 1987 Constitutionwhich are vital to the

country's future economic develop-ment, according to independentthink-tank IBON Foundation.

The JPEPA directly underminesthe intent of the Constitutionalmandate to promote the "preferen-tial use of Filipino labor, domesticmaterials and locally-producedgoods", IBON research headSonny Africa said. The JPEPA'svarious provisions on NationalTreatment in Articles 17 (goods),73 (services), 89 (investment), 131(government procurement) preventthe Philippines from activelysupporting Filipino producers.

The JPEPA moreover severelyrestricts the country to pass lawssetting economic policy byprohibiting performance require-

ments. This effectively preventsCongress from enacting laws thatensure that the country benefitsfrom Japanese investments.

Africa pointed out that under theAgreement, the country would beprohibited from enacting localcontent requirements, local laborrequirements and technologytransfer provisions.

The JPEPA's provisions ontaxation expropriation also lay thegroundwork for legal challenges tofuture tax measures, effectivelyprotecting the profits of Japanesecorporations at the expense of thecountry's right to tax all economicactivity within its jurisdiction.

The country's past experience withfree trade validates the wisdom ofsuch economic protectionsguaranteed in the Constitution,Africa said. Trade as a share ofgross domestic product (GDP) hasdoubled from in recent years. Over

that same period, foreigninvestment quadrupled as a shareof GDP, from 4% to some 15percent. And yet joblessness hassoared to historic highs withunemployment rates of 11% andsome 11 million Filipinos eitherjobless or looking for more work.The share of domesticmanufacturing to GDP hascontinued to fall to 23%, as hasemployment in the sector to 9%,while agricultural deficits have beenhigh and rising since the mid-1990s.

According to Africa, the provisionsin the Philippine Constitution arebased on solid historicalexperience of countries that havereached any kind of industrial oragricultural development, includingJapan itself. But the JPEPAenshrines a defeatist policy-making and in doing so violates the1987 Constitution’s vital economicprovisions. IBON Foundation,Inc.

divorced from the ‘free trade’economic agenda of rich donorcountries and decisions over whereit is channelled and how it isimplemented are placed under thecontrol of local shareholders.

Lamy’s intention of promoting aidfor trade only affirms how the WTOdangles development instrumentslike aid to Third World countriessuch as the Philippines to forceopen their economies further. IBONFoundation, Inc.

T


FEATURES ON AID

DIGGING OUR GRAVES:ODA and mining

investments in thePhilippines

Lisa Ito (Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment) andLisa Ito (Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment) andLisa Ito (Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment) andLisa Ito (Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment) andLisa Ito (Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment) andDr. Giovanni Tapang (Center for People’s Development and Governance)Dr. Giovanni Tapang (Center for People’s Development and Governance)Dr. Giovanni Tapang (Center for People’s Development and Governance)Dr. Giovanni Tapang (Center for People’s Development and Governance)Dr. Giovanni Tapang (Center for People’s Development and Governance)

mining liberalization as a national policy and lobbyingfor the enactment of the current Mining Law. Thisliberalization is part of the structural adjustmentprograms began by the World Bank and theInternational Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1980.Aid institutions provided funding for mineral resourceinvestigations that would later on be cited as a basisfor revitalizing the mining industry. During the lull inmining activities in the early 1980s, the Philippine

The Invisible Hand: DevelopmentAid and the liberalization ofPhilippine Mining

International financing and developmentaid institutions have been instrumental

not only in providing outside financing for miningprojects but also in steering Philippine nationalpolicies towards mining. Institutions such as theWorld Bank have figured prominently in promoting

TLafayette plant at Rapu-rapu Island

PHOTO: KENNETH GUDA/PINOY WEEKLY


government conducted mineralpotential studies in the countrywith help from the United NationsDevelopment Program (UNDP), theAsian Development Bank (ADB) aswell as US, British, German andJapanese governmental aid.

Dealing with the Aquino andRamos administrations,development aid institutionsexplicitly moved for theliberalization of existing countrycontrols in the mining industry aswell as other economic sectors,such as the oil industry. In theEconomic Integration program in1992 of the World Bank was a loantied to a recommendation for thePhilippine government to attractmore foreign investors and toexpand the coverage of foreignparticipation in variousindustries,including mining.

The ADB directly influenced theliberalization of the mining sectorand in a 1993/94 study put forwardan explicit recommendation forimmediate action to enact a newmining code with far more openand generous terms for investorsthan the past mining laws.

These studies and recommen-dations eventually shaped thegovernment’s thrust on liberalizingand restructuring the miningindustry which culminated onMarch 6, 1995, when formerPresident Fidel V. Ramos signedthe Mining Act of 1995 (RepublicAct 7942) into law followinginstruction and support from theWorld Bank, UNDP, and AsianDevelopment Bank.

RA 7942 was passed in tandemwith other laws aiming to effect thepolicies of liberalization,deregulation, and privatization,including RA 8179 (Amendment tothe 1991 Foreign Investment Act)and RA 8180 (Downstream OilDeregulation Act), as well as

accession to the GeneralAgreement on Tariffs and Trades-World Trade Organization (GATT-WTO).

Eventually, development support tothe Philippines extended beyondthe forging of Mining Act of 1995 topromotion of mining investments,increased security aid to areas ofmining projects as well astechnical support to the Philippinegovernment’s capacity to facilitateand monitor mining operations.

Speaking at a National MiningConference in December 2003,then World Bank Country DirectorRobert Van Pulley exhortedPhilippine government officials,mining industry members, and civilsociety groups to pursue mining asa means to “increase economicgrowth and expand the publicrevenue base needed to achievesustainable development and toreduce poverty”.

Van Pulley also disclosed that theWorld Bank, along with fundingsupport from the Australian,Canadian, Japanese and U.S.governments, has assisted in thepromotion of mining in thePhilippines by facilitating resourcespeakers, conferences, and minestudy tours.

President Arroyo quicklyresponded to this call by the WorldBank barely a month later byenacting supplementary policies toRA 7942, such as Executive Order270 (National Policy Agenda onRevitalizing Mining in thePhilippines) on 14 January 2004,which categorically declared“mineral development” as one ofthe Arroyo administration’s maineconomic programs, and directedthe Environment Department tocraft a National Mineral Action Plan(NMAP). These pro-miningliberalization measures reached aclimax in December 2004 when the

F E A T U R E S O N A I D

Supreme Court reversed its earlierdecision that stated that certainprovisions of RA 7942 wereunconstitutional.

More foreign mining firms havegrabbed the opportunity to enterthe Philippines since then. As ofOctober 2006, the Philippinegovernment has approved a varietyof mining permits covering514,948.76, or more than half amillion hectares of Philippine landsnationwide under RA 7942.

The DENR approved 28 explorationpermits (EPs) covering a total of89,828.76 hectares, 229 MineralProduction Sharing Agreements(MPSAs) covering a total of373,201 hectares and 2 Financialand Technical AssistanceAgreements (FTAAs) covering51,919 hectares of land nationwide.

An additional 2,000 applications formining permits remain pending forapproval to date, including 43 FTAAapplications covering around 2.16million hectares or some 8% ofPhilippine territorial land.

The Arroyo administration has alsoopenly declared support for 24Priority Mining Projectsencompassing a total of 176,000hectares, mostly in the CordilleraRegion, Southern Mindanao Regionand Caraga Region. Largest amongthese are the Tampakan CopperProject (31,600 has.) in SouthCotabato, Amacan Copper Project(27,058 has) in Compostela Valley,Nonoc Nickel Project (25,000 has)in Surigao del Norte, DidipioCopper Project (21,465 has.) inNueva Vizcaya, and Pujada NickelProject (11,799 has) in DavaoOriental.

The ADB’s invisible hand stretchesuntil the present. Theirrecommendation in a 1993/94study includes Intermediate TermRecommendations which lists the


following for consideration of thegovernment to enable it to revivethe Philippine mineral industry:• government’s limited role and

policy formulation on the mineralsector;

• negotiations of the MPSAs andFTAAs;

• environmental concerns;• the decentralization of national

government functions vis-à-visthat of the local government;

• the promotion of the mineralsector;

• changes in the fiscal regime;and,

• the strengthening of the Minesand Geosciences Bureau.

Official Development Aid andMining Investments: The caseof Australia

Direct official development aid byAustralia can be correlated to theinflux of Australian mining investorsin the Philippines. This fact wasnot lost to the National Economicand Development Agency teamwho visited Canberra in 2005 todiscuss Australian ODA who saidthat “the constitutionality of thePhilippine Mining Act will surelyhave a positive effect on thebilateral trade relations betweenthe Philippines and Australia.”

AusAID previously fundedfeasibility studies related toaeromagnetic surveys of thePhilippines to identify potentialmineral deposits as well asprograms in reduction in red-tapein land administration. Presently, itis funneling aid to securityprograms and peace-buildingefforts in Mindanao where four ofthe largest mining projects arelocated.

Australian-Philippines war gamesare also being held under the guiseof an RP-Australia defense pact,which includes military support.

The deployment of Australiantroops will be concentrated in thesouthern Philippines region wheremining investments especially fromAustralian firms are on the rise.This includes BHP Billiton - theworld’s largest mining firm - inPujada Peninsula in Davao Orientaland Claver in Surigao del Norte,Medusa Mining in EasternMindanao, Red 5 in Siana inSurigao del Norte, Indophil inSouth Cotabato, Climax-Arimco inSurigao del Norte.

More and more Philippine “priority”mining projects owned byAustralian mining firms are gettinginto trouble for causingenvironmental damage, humanrights violations and communityunrest for the past few years, yetthe Arroyo administration’s silenceseems to have been bought byAustralian aid and investments.

The following Australian firms havefigured in recent mining relateddisasters and rights violations:

Lafayette Mining Limited- whichowns 74% of the Rapu-RapuPolymetallic Project in Albay thatbegan operations in April 2005. Sixmonths later, on October 11 and 312005, two mine tailings spillsoccurred that resulted in fish kills.Despite this, Lafayette wasallowed by the DENR to continuefull commercial operations.Community residents in Albaycontinue to oppose the project.


BHP Billiton - the world’s largestmining firm is developing fournickel exploration sites in thePhilippines, including a potential$1.8 billion project in the mineral-rich southern island of Mindanao.BHP Billiton recently entered intoan agreement with the SibuyanNickel Property Development Corp.(SNPDC) in Romblon, which hasyet to clear its acocuntability inthe fatal shooting of anti-miningadvocate Arman Marin lastOctober 3.

Royalco Resources Ltd. - theforeign partner of OxianaPhilippines in its mining project inKasibu, Nueva Vizcaya. Last July,seven indigenous people’s tribes inKasibu have banded together in abarricade to block the entry ofOxiana’s exploration equipmentinto their communities.

Australian and New Zealand firmsare estimated to account for anestimated one-fourth of theinvestments in the Philippinemining sector

Lessons from MiningLiberalization: Marinduque

The liberalization of the miningindustry since the Mining Act of1995 has brought littleimprovement to the lives of theFilipino people, and death,


destruction and displacement tocommunities affected by theincreased mining operations.

The country’s record of miningaccidents is evidence of this. Mostinfamous is the Marcopper disasterof 1996, on Marinduque Island,when a mine tailings spill of morethan four million metric tons ofwaste caused widespread floodingand damage to farm lands andproperty. Villages were evacuatedand an estimated 20,000 peoplealong the Boac River were affected.The river was subsequentlydeclared biologically dead.

The Marinduque Mining Project,managed and controlled by PlacerDome (then Placer DevelopmentLimited), was given a USD 40million loan from the ADB in 1992promising daily 30,000 tons ofoutput from the mine. The spillcontaminated the Boac, Mogpogand Makulapnit river systemswith an estimated over 3million cubic meters oftailings that drained into theCalancan Bay bringing with ithigh levels of heavy metalsthat are environmentally toxicto fish stocks and marineflora.

What can be done?

The Filipino people believethat mining has afundamental role in nationalindustrialization and that itcan be responsibly utilizedfor the people’s welfare: tomeet the needs of hospitalsand schools, homes andindustries. Mining has itsrightful place in a societywhere governance andscience and technology is forthe people, and not forcorporate interests. Miningcan be made sustainable ifpursued at a much balancedscale in contrast to the


present practices of all-out mineralextraction for export, uncheckedwaste generation, and plunder.

However, the current policies andprograms brought about by miningliberalization, pushed andstrengthened by internationalfinancing institutions and officialdevelopment aid, practically sellthe country’s remaining mineralreserves, lands and waterways toforeigners. These are pursued atthe expense of grave ecologicaldestruction, threats to the people’shealth and livelihood, and dubiouseconomic gains. When localcommunities oppose these foreignmining projects, the state uses itsown military forces— whosefirearms and training are“enhanced” by foreign aid—tointimidate, threaten, or even kill.

Furthermore, many of these mininggiants that are now encouraged by

the government to invest in thePhilippines-such as BHP Billitonand Anglo-American-are notoriousin other countries for their role ingrave environmental disasters,spotty human rights records, andanti-labor histories.

BHP Billiton, the world’s largestmining company which is eyeing amulti-million dollar nickel project inPujada, Davao Oriental, faces a $4billion class suit by the people ofPapua New Guinea. For twodecades, it dumped 80,000 tons ofmine tailings filled with toxic heavymetals such as lead directly intothe Fly and Ok Tedi rivers, ruiningthe livelihoods of the people,poisoning forests, andcontaminating river systems.Anglo-American, the fourth largestmining company in the world, paidits South African laborers theworld’s lowest wages and wasnamed as one of the main toxic

lead polluters in NorthAmerica. Now, it hasnumerous miningoperations in the Cordilleraand Mindanao, some ofwhich have been evenclassified by thegovernment as “priorityprojects”.

This should not and mustnot happen in thePhilippines. Developmentagenda and programsshould truly mirror thepeople’s basic aspirationsand address their realneeds and problems andthe communities aroundRapu-Rapu, Kasibu andSibuyan has shown thatconcerted action will betheir answer againstdevelopment aggressionthat ruin the environment,physically andeconomically displacepeople and communities,harm and kill people.

Michael (top) and Jay (bottom). Michael has skin problems which localpeople blame on the mine waste pumped into Calancan Bay.

PHOTO: DAVID SPROULE/OXFAM AUS


Donor conditionality continues to hamperaid effectiveness in Ghana

Lucy HayesLucy HayesLucy HayesLucy HayesLucy HayesEURODADEURODADEURODADEURODADEURODAD

eliminated. The evaluation seems to suggest thatdonors have been tinkering around at the margins ofreal “partnership” with developing country governmentsand that it is time they grow up and develop a moremature relationship based on trust. One way ofbuilding this would be to agree upfront on eight dueprocess principles that the government would agreeto. These should be things that the government isdoing anyway, and not adhering to them would indeedto be a reason to cut funding. Performance-basedconditions, however, should not. The eight “dueprocess” that are recommended are:

1. Continued respect for democracy and humanrights;

2. Maintenance of fiscal and monetary policiesconsistent with macro-economic stability andgrowth;

3. Adherence to a clear poverty reduction strategyand allocation of resources in line with this;


onditionality on aid – specifically onbudget support – should cease. This isa key message of an extensive newJoint evaluation of Multi Donor BudgetSupport in Ghana. According to theevaluation, there is “no evidence that

(conditionality) is generating effective incentives forthe faster implementation of reforms but it isundermining the quality of dialogue, generatingunnecessarily high transaction costs and divertingattention away from the fundamental issues”. In factconditionality has led to a dialogue that is “superficial”and “confrontational” undermining the potential formore strategic and constructive dialogue that wouldbe an indication of a more genuine partnership.

Donor practice of providing base level grants whichmay then be topped up with “incentive tranches” forgood behaviour also come under attack by theevaluators and they recommend that they be

C

PHOTO: CURT CARNEMARK/WORLDBANK


4. Respect for nationalbudgetary and procurementlegislation and the relatedsystems to ensure thatspending is in line with theapproved budget and followsrequired procedures;

5. Continuing reforms toimprove the quality of thesesystems and raise value formoney;

6. Transparent measurement ofthe results of publicspending and use of theseto improve sectoral policies;and

7. Continuous strengthening ofthe quality of governanceand public administration,and periodic publicassessments to assessprogress

These due process principleswould mean a fundamental shiftaway from the current donornegotiated performanceconditions. According to theauthors, “it entails anassessment that Government isacting in good faith and followingits own legal requirements aswell as international norms oftranspa-rency and fiscaldiscipline”.

The monitoring of results wouldbecome a key part of theprocess. This would not be to tieaid transfers to specificperformance targets or outcomeindicators but as a means ofmonitoring progress. Whereresults were not achieved and itwas deemed to be a result of thegovernment not respecting the“due process” principles, thenbudget support could be cut.

Results so far

The evaluation finds that budgetsupport to Ghana has overallbeen quite positive. Thereduction in domestic debt and

the increase in poverty-relatedexpenditures would not havebeen possible without it. Budgetsupport has contributed toparticularly good results in theeducation sector. Totalenrolment of 6-11 year olds inprivate and public schools hasjumped by nearly 20% from2004/05 – 2005/06 and there hasbeen a 5% growth in the numberof public schools and an 8%growth in the number of teachersfrom 1999/00 to 2004/05. Multi-donor budget support fundswere also found to be morepredictable and lower intransaction costs than other aidmodalities.

Given these positive results, it isperhaps surprising that budgetsupport has actually beendeclining and not increasing inrecent years. In 2003, budgetsupport represented 39% of totalODA and 13% of total spending.This declined in 2005 to 27%and 9% respectively.

An important conclusion of theevaluation however, is that multi-donor budget support in Ghanacould be greatly improved if itwere conceived as a tool forbudget financing rather than as atool for leveraging policy changeas is currently the case. TheGhanaian government needs toput in place a clear aid policyand strengthen the budgetprocess and absorptive capacityof the government in order tofacilitate this change inapproach. Some of thesereforms have already started tobe instituted.

The largest donors to theGhanaian multi-donor budgetsupport programme were (fromhighest): World Bank, DFID,African Development Bank, EU,Netherlands, Canada andGermany.


(continued from page 4)

National government (NG) healthspending has correspondinglyfallen steeply from what wasalready a low “peak” of 0.74% ofGDP in 1990-91, to just 0.31%programmed in the 2008 NGbudget. The impact of deterioratingpublic health services in thecontext of a poor population withincomes not even enough fordecent living - much less able tocope with sudden healthemergencies - is evident. Forinstance, the proportion ofFilipinos dying without medicalattention is increasing; 74% ofdeaths in 1975 were attended bytrained health professionalscompared to just 67% in 2002.Coverage of fully-immunizedchildren has fallen from 69% in1993 to 60% in 2003. In the 2008NG budget, there are conspicuouscuts in programs for the poorestsuch as in subsidies to indigentpatients and for the publichospitals they go to.

Aside from macroeconomic andsectoral conditionalities, it mayeven be argued that alongside thisshould be the implicit debt serviceconditionality. While not formallywritten in any specific loan orgrant agreement, the unspokendonor demand for all debt to behonored is clear. In thePhilippines, as with many otherheavily indebted countriesworldwide, this means high andrising foreign debt payments. Thecountry’s debt stock was US$17billion in 1980. Over US$130 billionhas since been paid in debtservice yet the debt stock hascontinued to rise and stands atsome US$64 billion today.

Key lessons

The Philippine experience affirmsthe adverse effect ofconditionalities. There has been



severe and accumulating damageto economy and to people’s livesand livelihoods that has been worstfor the most vulnerable sectors(e.g., peasants, labor, informalworkers, women, children,migrants and others).

But apart from these socio-economic effects the very processof aid and conditionalities hasaltered the policy-makinglandscape itself. The relentlessefforts over decades has resultedin much greater “internalization” bythe Philippine government and itstechnocrats of the “free market”policy content of conditionalities.National “development” strategiesare now virtually indistinguishablefrom what donors want and there isnow unparalleled ideologicalconvergence with donor prioritiesand concerns. Among thedomestic business community,corporate elites have aligned withforeign capital and add to thesemblance of these policies’“legitimacy”. The way in whichconditionalities influence policyhas then evolved to seem lessintrusive or externally imposed.

There is even a PhilippineDevelopment Forum (PDF) whichregularly brings together donorsand the country’s top policymakers

to define and thresh outsocioeconomic policythrusts.

And still, the basicvulnerability to the financialcarrot of ODA remains withthe country’s need forcapital, foreign exchangeand fiscal resources asstark as ever. Thegovernment’s fiscal bind isrevealing. In 2006, nearly90% of the nationalgovernment’s total revenueof P980 billion went toforeign and domestic debtservice (i.e., P854 billion).

With only P126 billion remainingand yet P734 billion in total non-debt expenditure, the governmenthad to borrow some more andended up financing 83% of its non-debt expenditure from additionalborrowing, especially from ODA.This reliance on borrowingtranslates into considerable donorcountry leverage. As it is, ODAcommitments (not disbursements)in 2006 reached US$9.5 billion(P488 billion at prevailing exchangerates), and ODA took up over 40%of the country’s foreign debt stock.

Areas for CSO action

In terms of the Paris Declaration,the question is how its ostensibleaid reform agenda can be linked tothe larger development frameworkthat the people need and that civilsociety organizations (CSO)advocate. Reforms in delivery andmanagement are important but - asthe Philippine experience points to- removing the undue direct andindirect donor influence on nationalpolicies through ODA is crucial.

The demand to remove all explicitand especially “free market”conditionalities in ODA is thencentral. These conditionalities arearguably the single biggest barrierto aid effectiveness which not only

makes aid developmentallyineffective but actually counter-productive. Without meaningfulreductions the danger is that theaid reform agenda will be merelydiversionary and a smokescreen tocontinue pushing destructive“globalization” policies. And whiletheir removal may not automati-cally result in development, it willat least remove a key adverseinfluence on domestic policies.

There are also other areas foraction. Donor-proposedmechanisms that further increasetheir individual and collectiveleverage over recipient countrypolicies should be opposed,especially those that are IMF- andWB-centered, This includes suchas Poverty Reduction StrategyPapers (PRSP), CountryAssistance Strategies (CAS),Highly-Indebted Poor Countries(HIPC) initiative and others. Debtcancellation is also criticalinasmuch as continued andburdensome debt servicing is apervasive, albeit merely implicit,conditionality. On the other hand,more aid should go to health,education, water and sanitationespecially for countries withgreater absolute poverty.

CSOs can also work towardsmaking governments moretransparent and accountable. Theycan undertake efforts at creatingthe domestic policy and politicalconditions to overcomebackwardness. The CSO voice,capacity and role in the aid systemcan be strengthened. At the end ofthe day, however, the link of ODA toself-interested donor foreign policyis a basic constraint in the currentaid system. This points to howfundamental changes that de-linkODA from donor foreign policy may,more than anything else, gofurthest towards making aid buildingsocieties that genuinely serve thepeople’s interests and welfare.

PHOT

O: B

ULAT

LAT


The third High Level Forum

on aid effectiveness

Ajoy DattaAjoy DattaAjoy DattaAjoy DattaAjoy DattaForum on the Future of AidForum on the Future of AidForum on the Future of AidForum on the Future of AidForum on the Future of Aid

1) The Marketplace, which will provide anopportunity for different actors to showcase goodand innovative practices and lessons frompromoting aid effectiveness;

2) Roundtable meetings, which will provide anopportunity for in-depth discussion on key issuesto facilitate and support decision making andpolicy endorsement on aid effectiveness; and

3) Ministerial-Level Meeting, which is expected toconclude the HLF 3 with an endorsement of aministerial statement based on high-leveldiscussions and negotiation around key issues.

Management of the HLF-3

The overall responsibility for the substance of the HLF3 rests with the Working Party on Aid Effectiveness.This was set up in May 2003 in the context of theinternational consensus reached at Monterrey on theactions needed to promote a global partnership fordevelopment and accelerate progress towards theMDGs. The Working Party is mandated to promote,facilitate and monitor the Paris Declaration. It is aninternational forum in which equal numbers of bilateraldonors and partner countries are represented, withparticipation from all the multilateral banks, theOECD, and the United Nations. Under the umbrella ofthe Working Party, the Steering Committee, chairedby the Chair of the Working Party with the WorldBank and the Government of Ghana as vice-chairs,meets on a quarterly basis to provide advice on thecontent of the Forum. The Core Group, comprised ofthe World Bank, the Government of Ghana andOECD, is undertaking much of the preparatory work,including overseeing the planning of preparatoryevents.

The HLF-3 consultation process

Consultation processes leading up to HLF 3 areunderpinned by the desire to:


he Paris Declaration

The Paris Declaration was signed in2005 by 107 countries, 26 InternationalOrganisations and 14 International CivilSociety Organisations. This moved the

aid effectiveness agenda beyond the generalconsensus around making aid more effective incombating poverty and accelerating progress inachieving the MDGS, reached at Rome in 2003,towards committing its signatories to take action tostrengthen national ownership, aid alignment andharmonisation, mutual accountability and resultsorientation . The Paris Declaration presents amonitoring framework to assess progress towardfulfilling these commitments, based on 12 actionablebaseline survey against the targets and indicators in2006/07 in 34 countries receiving aid . The OECD haspublished an overview of the results to the ParisDeclaration and the country chapters. A second roundof monitoring will be organised in the first quarter of2008 and will be an important contribution to theAccra High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness to beheld between 2nd and 4th September 2008.

The High Level Forum in Accra

The main objectives of the third High Level Forum onaid effectiveness in Accra (HLF 3) are:

1) to review the progress made in implementing theParis Declaration;

2) broaden and deepen the dialogue on aideffectiveness by giving space and voice to partnercountries and newer actors, such as Civil SocietyOrganisations and emerging donors; and

3) identify the action needed to make progress inimproving aid effectiveness for 2010 and beyond.

Structure of the consultation

The HLF 3 will be organised as a three-tier structure:

T


1) deepen the understanding onaid effectiveness issues;

2) build ownership of the Accraagenda; and

3) help build consensus aroundkey issues by the broadestrange of actors.

Several strands of consultationevents are planned or underway.Four rounds of mini-consultationmeetings with partner countrieswere carried out from June toSeptember 2007 in Mauritius,Ghana, Honduras and thePhilippines. Inviting eight to tenpartner countries primarily from theregion, the consultation meetingsidentified important issues for HLF3 through frank discussions aroundissues and challenges partnercountries face when implementingthe Paris commitments at countrylevel. These consultations areexpected to be followed-up bybroader regional consultations in2008 in order to start to buildconsensus around key aideffectiveness issues amongst abroader range of actors.

Specific consultations are alsounderway or planned aroundvarious relevant topics on aideffectiveness. This includes eachof the Joint Ventures on PublicFinancial Management, Procure-ment, Managing for DevelopmentResults and Monitoring the ParisDeclaration, the DAC subsidiarybodies (DAC Network on Govern-ment, Fragile States, Evaluation,Gender Equality, PovertyReduction, Conflict, Peace andDevelopment, Environment, andthe Working Party on Statistics),other institutions (for example, theWorld Health Organisation and theGlobal Fund) and other informalworking groups. It is expected thatthese workstreams will providesupporting analytic work on varioustopics through consultation withvarious stakeholders.

In addition to the official HLFprocess, there are two parallelspaces for CSOs in the process tothe HLF in Accra, 2008: The officialprocess, led by the Advisory Groupon Civil Society and Aid Effect-iveness (AG-CSO), which wasestablished by the Working Partyon Aid Effectiveness; and theCSO’s own parallel process.

The Official CSO process

The official CSO process aims todiscuss how civil society’s owncontribution to development couldbe enhanced, with the ParisDeclaration taken as a keyreference point, as well as provideadvice on CSO participation in theofficial process in Accra. The AGCSO pursues outcomes in threeareas: better recognition and voiceof CSOs in discussions of aideffectiveness; applying andenriching the international aideffectiveness agenda; and sharinggood practice. The AG takes theParis Declaration and the aideffectiveness principles containedtherein as a reference point uponwhich to build as required to meetthe requirements of its specificmandate.

The AG-CSO is a multi-stakeholdergroup consisting of 12 members,including three members each fromdeveloping country partnergovernments, donors, and civilsociety organizations (CSOs) fromdeveloped and developing countriesand is intended to function at leastuntil the HLF3. The AG-CSO havescheduled five regionalconsultations to involve SouthernCSOs, one Northern CSOconsultationv(in Belgium andorganised by CONCORD, anumbrella of European CSOplatforms) and a North/South CSOconsultation (in Johannesburgbringing together selectedrepresentatives from each of theregional consultations, including


the Northern Consultation toanalyse the outcomes of theregional consultations and discussoutstanding North/South civilSociety issues related to CSO aideffectiveness) all to take placebetween September 2007 andSeptember 2008, to receive inputon the official process.

Except for the NorthernConsultation, each consultationwill have a two-day CSOs-onlysession in which approximatelyhalf the time is devoted to CSOperspectives on the current aideffectiveness agenda (the ParisDeclaration) and the remainingtime is devoted to case studies,best practices and issues in CSOaid effectiveness. This will then befollowed by a day-and-a-half in amulti-stakeholder format withSouthern CSOs, governmentrepresentations, donors andNorthern CSOs.

Nordic Plus, aid effectivenessand civil society

A number of donors, led byNorway, are organizing a researchprogram on reforming donorfunding models and mechanismsfor supporting civil society atcountry level, from an aideffectiveness perspective. Thisresearch will identify the strengthsand weaknesses of current fundingmechanisms and makerecommendations for support tomore harmonized, transparent andcollectively effective support toNGOs/CSOs. In carrying out theresearch, country analyses willlook at the strengths andweaknesses of the structure, valueand impact of civil society withinthe particular country.

While it is unclear how CSOs willcontribute to this research, Norwayis a member of the Advisory Groupand will presumably feed theresults to the AG-CSO.


The International CSO forum

The AG-CSO will be bringingtogether approximately 150 to 200CSOs from the South and theNorth, donor representatives andSouthern government representa-tives for an International Forum toconsider the results of theconsultations (and from otherprocesses related to the mandateof the AG-CSO). This will be heldin Ottawa, Canada between 3rdand 6th February 2008. TheInternational Forum will offeranalysis and advice to the AdvisoryGroup on issues related to itsmandate. The Advisory Group inturn will be providing somerecommendations on CSO aideffectiveness to the Working Partyon Aid Effectiveness, the bodyhosted by the DAC to monitor theimplementation of the ParisDeclaration.

Most of the CSO participants forthe International Forum will beidentified through the regionalconsultations; however, there willbe space for other interestedCSOs who have considered someof the issues involved and/or haveproduced case studies related tothese issues. The CanadianCouncil for InternationalCooperation (which is a member ofthe Advisory Group) has beenmandated by the Advisory Group toorganize this Forum.

The CSO parallel process

The CSO Parallel process aims toinfluence the outcomes of theofficial HLF process in the monthsleading up to Accra by raisingCSOs’ concerns around the aideffectiveness agenda and itsbroader implications fordevelopment effectiveness. Thisprocess brings together variouslocal, national, regional andinternational NGOs who areengaged in aid architecture and

effectiveness issues. This processis led by the International CSOSteering Group for the Accra HighLevel (ISG), which promotes theparticipation of CSOs in the AG-CSO sponsored consultations andaims to support CSOs to criticallyanalyse the aid effectivenessagenda. There are a series ofnational and regional consultationsleading up to the above mentionedinternational conference in Ottawain February 2008. All of this willfeed into the High-Level Forum inAccra. In addition, the ISG hascreated a new web site,www.betteraid.org, which bringstogether the latest information onCSO perspectives and plansrelating to the Accra High LevelForum on aid effectiveness.

The network is keen to developawareness of the aid effectivenessagenda at the local and nationallevel and sees the HLF-3 as animportant opportunity for bringingabout discussion and debate andthe engagement of CSOs on thesaid agenda. CSO concernsinclude among others, governanceand accountability, ownership,effective aid delivery, tied aid andconditionality, at the same timeensuring that the core issues ofgender equality, human rights andsolidarity in the aid architecture areseriously addressed.

The list of current partner networksinvolved in this initiative includeAlliance 2015, Eurodad, SocialWatch, Civicus, IBIS, Reality ofAid, Third World Network (TWN),IBON, and CONCORD. The ISG iscurrently under the chairmanship ofIBON in the Philippines.

The ISG has proposed twopotential engagements with officialprocess planning the High LevelForum (the Working Party on AidEffectiveness, based at the OECDDAC and its Steering Committeefor the High Level Forum):

1) The Advisory Group on CSOsand Aid Effectiveness will bemeeting on 5-6 November2007. The Chair of the AdvisoryGroup will invite members ofthe CSO International SteeringCommittee and members ofthe Steering Committee of theWorking Party on AidEffectiveness to a half dayengagement on issues ofconcern to CSOs for the HighLevel Forum. The timing forthis meeting during these twodays has not yet beenconfirmed.

2) The full Working Party on AidEffectiveness (23 donors, 23partner governments from theSouth, multilateral donors) willbe meeting on 27-28 November2007. The CSO InternationalSteering Committee is indiscussion with the Chair ofthe Working Party,Ambassador Cedergren fromSweden, to arrange a meetingwith the Working Party forselected members of the CSOInternational SteeringCommittee. The timing andagenda for such a meeting isyet to be confirmed.

In addition, the Canada-basedHalifax Initiative is planning aConference on InternationalFinance and Cooperation, timed totake advantage of participantscoming to Ottawa for the AdvisoryGroup’s International Forum. TheHalifax Initiative is a coalition ofCanadian CSOs working on reformof the international financialinstitutions.

The themes of this conference areintended to cover a broader scopeof international financing issuesthan development assistance. Thisis due to be held from 1st to 2ndFebruary 2008.

The follow-up to Accra (HLF-4) willbe taking place in December 2011.


Civil society organizations

and aid efand aid efand aid efand aid efand aid effffffectivectivectivectivectivenessenessenessenesseness

Secretar iatSecretar iatSecretar iatSecretar iatSecretar iatReality of AidReality of AidReality of AidReality of AidReality of Aid

international aid architecture and engagement ofCSOs in general discussions of aid effectiveness(recognition and voice);

2. Improved understanding of the applicability andlimitations of the Paris Declaration for addressingissues of aid effectiveness of importance toCSOs, including how CSOs can better contributeto aid effectiveness (applying and enriching theinternational aid effectiveness agenda); and

3. Improved understanding of good practice relatingto civil society and aid effectiveness by CSOsthemselves, by donors and by developing countrygovernments (lessons of good practice).

Starting September of this year, as mandated by theAG on CSOs and AidEffectiveness, the Realityof Aid Network togetherwith its local partnersorganized five regionalworkshops held in theSouthern regions.

Regional workshops wereheld for the regions ofAsia (North, Central andEast) and The Pacific(Hanoi, Viet Nam); Southand West Asia(Kathmandu, Nepal) ;West, Central and NorthAfrica (Cotonou, Benin);East and Southern Africa(Lusaka, Zambia); andthe Americas (Managua,Nicaragua).

The regional workshopsprovided an avenue for

ollowing the need for a more effective aidregime, the Advisory Group (AG) on CivilSociety Organizations (CSOs)programmed a CSO process towardsAccra HLF 3 in 2008. This processcomprised consultations and conferences

among Civil Society Organizations in the national andregional level. It is intended to draw the perspectivesof CSOs towards aid effectiveness together withCSOs concerns particularly to the Paris Declaration.

The Advisory Group specifically identified threeoutcomes for these activities:

1. Better understanding and recognition of the rolesof civil society organizations (CSOs) asdevelopment actors and as part of the


F

Regional workshop held in Viet Nam

PHOT

O: IB

ON


dialogues amongSouthern CSO platformsas well as internationalNGOs, donor agenciesand governmentrepresentatives. Theagenda included plenarysessions where casestudies/reports werepresented by the CSOswhich brought theparticipants into deeperunderstanding in thepressing issue of aideffectiveness and theParis Declaration, andon how they canparticipate in the crucialprocesses towardsAccra High Level Forumin 2008.

In these events, theSouthern CSOs wereable to register theirissues and concerns on theprevailing aid regime and theirissues and concerns on aideffectiveness and the ParisDeclaration.

The consultations proved thatSouthern CSOs had a relativelylimited understanding of the ParisDeclaration; however, despite this,it cannot be denied that they havea strong and broad sense of aideffectiveness. The ParisDeclaration, according toSouthern CSOs, is welcomed asa step toward aid effectivenessalthough lacking strength withprovisions of delivering aideffectively.

In the proposition of SouthernCSOs, the central issue thatshould be pursued towards aideffectiveness is the strengtheningof Democratic Ownership, Rights-based Development, NationalDevelopment and Gender Equality.

The Paris Declaration focused onthe policies which are narrowly


shaped from donor-governmentperspectives. It discounted therecipients of aid which are thosebelonging in the grassroots and themarginalized, sectors and it did notprovide proper acknowledgment tothe role of civil societyorganizations which play crucialrole as development actors.

The Paris Declaration is weak onnot setting explicit mechanisms onhow accountability shall beimposed on donors andgovernment. Democratic ownershipalso posed a large issue on thepart of the CSOs as theyexpressed their experiences withthe donor led aid policies andprograms. The genuine purpose ofaid is not being fully recognizedbecause this is being hampered bydonor serving interests.

Aid management was alsoquestioned in the Paris Declarationas it did not provide strongcommitment on the part of donorand government particularly on theissue of untying of aid. The Paris

Declaration even has no target toeliminate or reduce economicpolicy conditionality.

CSOs contend that for the ParisDeclaration to be applicable in itspurpose of aid effectiveness, itshould first recognize CSOs’ rolenot only as development actors butmoreso within the context ofgovernance and the explicit socialrepresentation of different sectorsof society from grassroots and allmarginalized sectors.

CSOs also reiterated that donorsand government should alsoacknowledge the crucial role ofCSOs as effective component inthe delivery of service to the poorand their role in socialtransformation.

These critical and important pointswill be deliberated by the AG andwill be proposed to the WorkingParty to address CSOs and AidEffectiveness at the High LevelForum in Accra and in thesucceeding processes.

Regional workshop held in Nepal

PHOTO: IBON


WORLD ECONOMY

Uncertainty rules as financial volatility

spreads worldwide

Global financial markets are in a state of turmoil as a result of amortgage loan crisis originating from the US. Uncertainty prevails

as no one knows how massive the losses in the US housingmarket will be and how extensively it has affected (and will

affect) financial institutions across the globe. It remains to beseen how this financial crisis will play out and whether it will

trigger a global economic downturn.

Martin KhorMartin KhorMartin KhorMartin KhorMartin KhorThird World NetworkThird World NetworkThird World NetworkThird World NetworkThird World Network

The ‘carry trade’

Another complication is the ‘unwinding’ of the ‘carrytrade’, in which funds have borrowed heavily inJapanese yen (that carries low interest rates) toinvest or lend in assets in countries with higherinterest rates.

The current crisis has increased the value of the yen,thus reducing or wiping out the advantage gained inthe difference in interest rates by the ‘carry traders’,since more of the currencies invested in has to bespent when buying back yen to repay the yen-denominated loans.

The hedge funds and others involved in the carry tradehave started ‘unwinding’, by selling off their assets incountries with high interest rates, and returning theiryen-denominated loans.

‘The carry trade, particularly using the low-yield yen,has been a huge source of funding for speculativetrades across asset classes,’ according to aFinancial Times article. But now the yen is surging astraders take bets off the table. ‘All of a sudden, the

NCERTAINTY and volatility in financialmarkets across the world appears likelyto persist as more news emerges onbanks and funds hit by the losses andthe mess originating from the ‘sub-prime’ mortgage market in the United

States.

The uncertainty arises from lack of information onwhich institutions are affected, and thus on where it issafe or unsafe to invest in.

A major problem is that the effects have spread farbeyond the institutions that are directly hit by lossescaused by the US sub-prime mortgage markets.Since investors do not know which institutions are introuble, there is a general loss of confidence and arising demand to redeem their investments in equityand hedge funds, including in those that were notdirectly hit by the sub-prime mortgage crisis.

As the funds face higher redemption demands in theirhome countries, they have to pull their money backfrom investments they have made abroad, for examplein stock markets in Asia.

U


W O R L D E C O N O M Y

carry trade is frightening and a bigsell,’ it quoted a financial analyst.

As the yen carry trade unwinds,and more yen is in demand to payback the loans, this sends theJapanese currency’s value evenhigher, which in turn makes it moreurgent for more ‘unwinding’ to takeplace.

These two factors – higherredemption demand and theunwinding of the carry trade – mayaccount significantly for the sharesselloff in at least some of the Asianstock markets.

An article in the InternationalHerald Tribune on 18 August saidthat ‘the market volatility createdby the unwinding of carry trades,which has ripped through all kindsof assets, is something mostpeople can do without. And itfeeds on itself: volatility inexchange rates makes cheap-yenborrowing increasingly risky,necessitating more unwinding...

‘Many of the market declines arethe result of forced selling by fund

managers. As investors losemoney, they begin to cash in theirholdings in funds, forcing managersto sell stocks even if they do notbelieve it is wise to do so.

‘Falling asset prices compel manybrokers to ask investors to depositmore cash, which forces moreinvestors to sell their holdings toraise cash. All this sellingexacerbates the pace of declines,creating a vicious cycle in whichmore selling begets even moreselling.’

The financial volatility originatingfrom the United States’ mortgagemarket has widened and spreadacross the world, hitting moresectors like stock markets andinvestment funds operated bybanks.

Central banks in Europe, theUnited States and Asia have takenaction to pump hundreds of billionsof dollars into their bankingsystems, in an attempt to preventthe conversion of a liquidityshortage into a full-scale creditcrunch and, eventually, an

economic recession. The USFederal Reserve also cut itsdiscount rate (the rate at which itlends to banks) by 0.5 points to5.75%. However, there will mostlikely be more turbulence in thedays and weeks ahead, asevidence of the damage caused tomore financial institutions by themarket turmoil emerges.

The intervention by a conservativeinstitution like the EuropeanCentral Bank (ECB) was sounexpected and stunning that aFinancial Times columnistwondered whether ‘there issomething truly nasty lurking outthere in relation to credit lossesthat only the ECB knows about.’

The actions showed up theseriousness of the situation, asmore financial institutions showedsigns of being hit by the crisis thatstarted in the sub-prime housemortgage sector in the US. Banksand funds that lent or invested inthat sector have suffered losses,and other institutions that arelinked to these have also sufferedsecondary effects.

PHOTO: REDNUHT/FLICKR.COM


One of the biggest shocks hasbeen the announcement on 9August that the big French bankBNP Paribas had stoppedwithdrawals from three of itsinvestment funds, which wereexposed to the US sub-primemortgage market.

The crisis has thus now affectedthe investing public, which isunable to redeem their investmentsfrom the affected funds.

The bank said that the freeze on thefunds was due to the ‘completeevaporation of liquidity’ in certainmarket segments in the US(meaning that there were nobuyers). The combined value of thethree funds was 1.6 billion euros,down from 2 billion euros on 27 July.

Other investment funds have alsobeen hit, according to the FinancialTimes. The North American EquityOpportunities fund run by GoldmanSachs fell 12% in July and another12% in August so far. The bighedge fund RenaissanceTechnologies is also reported to beexperiencing difficulties.

The Dutch investment bank NIBCon 9 August also reported 2007

first-half losses due to exposure tothe sub-prime market. In earlyMay, the Swiss bank UBSannounced that its affiliated fundDillon Read had lost 150 millionSwiss francs on US sub-primeinvestments.

The most publicised Europeaninstitution hit by the sub-primecrisis is the German bank IKB,whose affiliate Rhineland Fundinghad bought 14 billion euros ofbonds in the US, some backed byUS sub-prime mortgages.

Massive losses from its operationsled to a German government-organised rescue including a 3.5billion euro bailout plus 14.6 billioneuros in liquidity guarantees, to beshouldered by other Germanbanks. The chief German financialregulator said that there was risk ofthe worst financial crisis since the1930s.

The irony is that IKB had earnedthe praise of the rating agencyMoody’s in December 2006, forsuccessfully diversifying itsbusiness activities outsideGermany.

In the US, the bank Bear Stearnsin early July closed two hedgefunds after nearly total losses onbets on the sub-prime marketworth over $20 billion.

Other institutions to have beenhard hit included the US’ biggestmortgage lender CountrywideFinancial, which was reported by arating agency as facing possiblebankruptcy; the KKR financial firmdisclosed it may lose up to $250million due to the mortgage crisis;a Goldman Sachs hedge fund lost$1.8 billion and required an internalrescue; Canadian bank CIBC hadto write off C$290 million; and anAustralian hedge fund (BasisCapital) with $1 billion revealed ithad lost 80% of its value.

The turmoil of the last few weekshas led to uncertainties as to whatlies ahead, and how the crisis willplay out.

‘Investors are finding it hard to dealwith two big uncertainties,’ said aWall Street Journal column. ‘Noone knows how big the lossesfrom US housing will eventuallyturn out to be, or who will sufferthem.’

The economist Paul Krugman inhis New York Times column on 10August gave his view on how thedrying up of liquidity can produce achain reaction of defaults.

‘Financial institution A can’t sell itsmortgage-backed securities, so itcan’t raise enough cash tomake the payment it owes toinstitution B, which then doesn’thave the cash to pay institution C– and those who do have cash siton it, because they don’t trustanyone else to repay a loan, whichmakes things even worse.’

The most scary thing aboutliquidity crises, said Krugman, isthat it is very hard for policymakersto do anything about them. Thecentral banks can respond bycutting interest rates or lendingmoney to banks that are short ofcash.

‘But when liquidity dries up, thenormal tools of policy lose much oftheir effectiveness,’ said Krugman.‘Reducing the cost of moneydoesn’t do much for borrowers ifnobody is willing to make loans.Ensuring that banks have plenty ofcash doesn’t do much if the cashstays in the banks’ vaults.’

In such an environment, mostanalysts believe the problems areso serious that central bankmeasures such as pumping fundsinto the system and reducinginterest rates may calm the


“Investors arefinding it hard todeal with two biguncertainties. No

one knows how bigthe losses from US

housing willeventually turn outto be, or who will

suffer them.”


markets for a fewdays, but the fearswill return to spookthe markets.

Central bankers inAsian countries havetried to calm theirmarkets bydownplaying theeffects that the USsub-prime crisis willhave on theireconomies.

The South Koreanfinance ministry on13 August said that itwill supply funds tothe banking system if there is aliquidity shortage. It said thatKorean institutions had invested$850 million in the US sub-primemarket.

In Malaysia, the central bankgovernor said that Malaysianinstitutions were not exposed tothe sub-prime market, that therewas adequate liquidity in thesystem, and there was no need forany intervention.


However, news has since emergedthat three Asian banks have beenheavily exposed to the US sub-prime sector, raising fears thatbanks from the region are morevulnerable to the crisis than initiallythought.

In any case, given the high degreeof interdependence betweendifferent types of markets, andbetween different financialinstitutions and companies, linkedthrough many layers of exposure,many types of financialinstruments, and through manyleveraged and speculative funds,Asia cannot expect to be sparedthe adverse effects of the crisis.The roller-coaster ride in thefinancial markets thus looks set tocontinue into the foreseeablefuture.

Criminal tactics

Meanwhile, calls are being madeto the financial authorities not onlyto act to stem the crisis but toinvestigate the parties responsibleand to punish them.

Danny Schechter, editor ofMediaChannel.org, and director ofthe new film, In Debt We Trust:America Before the Bubble Bursts,

“We shoulddemand criminalpenalties for theprofiteers whostarted out to

enrich themselvesand seem to have

ended updestroying the very

system theymisused.”

said that it is a matterof time before the sub-prime credit crunch isseen for what it is: ‘asub-crime Ponzischeme in whichmillions of people arelosing their homesbecause of criminaland fraudulent tacticsused by financialinstitutions that poseas respectableplayers in a highlyrigged casino-likemarket system.’

According toSchechter, companies

suspended their usual ‘standards’and ‘rules’ and self-styled ‘duediligence’ and knowingly suckedmoney out of people with poorcredit records. These companiesare themselves imploding andcollapsing worldwide.

‘This was done deliberately, withforethought and malice, a wellorchestrated plan to create armiesof “suckers” and steal – yes, Isaid it – their monies to leverageeven bigger deals. Their greed hadno limits, until the schemecollapsed.

‘Behind it all were the so-called“Masters of the Universe”, the wisemen of Wall Street who workedbehind the scenes to turnmortgage brokers and smalllenders into part of what will oneday be seen as a criminal networkworthy of prosecution under theconspiracy laws.’

‘We should demand criminalpenalties for the profiteers whostarted out to enrich themselvesand seem to have ended updestroying the very system theymisused.’ Resurgence # 204/204

Martin Khor is Director of the Third

World Network.

PHOTO: BUSINESSWEEK.COM


Global hunger still on the rise,

says UN rights expert

Despite commitments made by governments at internationalsummits to reduce global hunger, more and more people still

suffer from the lack of food and the number is increasing.

Kanaga RajaKanaga RajaKanaga RajaKanaga RajaKanaga RajaThird World NetworkThird World NetworkThird World NetworkThird World NetworkThird World Network

Yet, hunger and famine are not inevitable, the rightsexpert said, adding that according to the Food andAgriculture Organization (FAO), the world alreadyproduces enough food to feed every child, woman andman, and could feed 12 billion people, double thecurrent world population. “Our world is richer than ever before, so how can weaccept that 6 million children under five are killedevery year by malnutrition and related diseases,” heasked. In his report, the Special Rapporteur called theattention of the General Assembly to situations ofspecial concern relating to the right to food, as wellas to positive initiatives of governments to combathunger. He also called the attention of the General Assemblyto two emerging issues: first, the issue of thepotentially grave negative impact of biofuels (oragrofuels) on the right to food; the second, the urgentneed to improve protection for people who are fleeingfrom hunger, famine and starvation in their countries oforigin and face numerous human rights violations ifthey try to cross borders into developed countries. In his conclusions and recommendations, the rightsexpert said that all States should take immediateaction to realize the human right to food of all theirpeople. All States should also ensure that theirinternational political and economic policies, includinginternational trade agreements, do not have a negativeimpact on the right to food in other countries. In this context, said Ziegler, European Union (EU)governments must ensure that economic partnershipagreements with African, Caribbean and Pacific

lobal levels of hunger continue to rise,with the number of people sufferingfrom hunger increasing to 854 millionpeople and has been rising every yearsince 1996, Jean Ziegler, according tothe United Nations Special Rapporteur

on the right to food. In a report (A/62/289) to be presented in the thirdweek of October to the sixty-second session of theUN General Assembly in New York, the rights expertsaid that virtually no progress has been made onreducing hunger, despite the commitments made bygovernments in 1996 at the first World Food Summitand again at the Millennium Summit in 2000. More than 6 million children still die every year fromhunger and hunger-related causes before their fifthbirthday, he said, pointing out that “this isunacceptable.” “All human beings have the right to live in dignity, freefrom hunger. The right to food is a human right,” hestressed. In an address at a media briefing in advance of WorldFood Day on 16 October, Ziegler regretted that afterseven years of his tenure as UN Special Rapporteuron the right to food, he was unable to report areduction in the number of persons suffering fromviolations of the right to food. On the contrary, he said, despite real advances indifferent countries, such as China, India, South Africa,and several Latin American and Caribbean countries,there has been little overall progress in reducing thenumber of victims of hunger and malnutrition aroundthe world.

GLOBALIZATION ISSUES

G


G L O B A L I Z A T I O N I S S U E SG L O B A L I Z A T I O N I S S U E SG L O B A L I Z A T I O N I S S U E SG L O B A L I Z A T I O N I S S U E SG L O B A L I Z A T I O N I S S U E S

countries do not negatively affectthe progressive realization of theright to food in those countries andinclude safeguard mechanisms toallow appropriate responses to anyresulting food insecurity andhunger. The Special Rapporteur’s report tothe General Assembly highlightedsome recent positive developmentswith respect to the right to food. He welcomed the initiative of sixAfrican governments and theUnited Nations to establish a roadmap to tackle the root causes ofrising hunger across the Horn ofAfrica. The multiple causes of foodinsecurity in the region will beaddressed through initiatives toimprove food security and increaseprotection of the right to food of thepopulations there. During his official mission to Boliviafrom 29 April to 6 May 2007, theSpecial Rapporteur observedimportant positive developmentswith respect to the realization ofthe right to food. The government istaking action to addressmalnutrition. One quarter of allBolivian children, mostly

indigenous children, are gravelyundernourished. He said that the government’s ZeroMalnutrition programme couldserve as an example to the rest ofthe world. Resources gained fromincreasing taxes on theexploitation of Bolivia’s oil and gasreserves will go directly towardsthe Zero Malnutrition programme. Ziegler also welcomed thedynamism of the Latin Americanand Caribbean region in general,and particularly the adoption of theregional initiative to eradicatehunger and guarantee food securityunder the “Iniciativa America Latinay Caribe sin Hambre”. Thisinitiative makes the realization ofthe right to adequate food for alland at all levels a key priority inthe region. On the other hand, the rightsexpert expressed deep concernsover the food crises that currentlythreaten the lives of millions ofpeople across southern Africa. InLesotho, over 400,000 of thecountry’s population of 1.9 millionpeople face food shortages and arestruggling to meet their basic food

needs owing to the country’s mostsevere drought in 30 years. In Swaziland, one third of thepopulation is without food after theworst annual maize harvest onrecord, due to an extended dryspell and high temperatures. Thishas led to surges in maize pricesand reductions in the availability offood, which have affected people’saccess to food, particularly amongthe poorest of the poor who live onless than $1 per day. The Special Rapporteur was alsovery concerned about the terms ofnew agreements being negotiatedby the European Union under neweconomic partnership agreementswith the African, Caribbean andPacific (ACP) countries. He drewthe urgent attention of all States,particularly members of the EU, tothe implications that this may haveon the right to food of poor farmersin the developing world. He was particularly concernedabout the potential negative impactof greater trade liberalization onpeasant farmers in the ACPcountries, especially given unfaircompetition with highly subsidizedEU production. He said that in these countries,where up to 80% of the populationcan be involved in peasantagriculture, unfair competition maypush millions of ACP peoples outof agriculture, when there are fewother employment options. In addition, the new economicpartnership agreements are likelyto lead to loss of substantialrevenue for ACP governments,which are mostly heavilydependent on import taxes to raisegovernment revenue. Ziegler cited the World Bank,which estimates that in sub-Saharan Africa, tariff revenues

PHOT

O: J

AMIE

MAR

TIN/

WOR

LD B

ANK


average between 7% and 10% ofgovernment revenue. Eliminating tariffs on EU importswould lower tariff revenuesconsiderably, forcing thesecountries to cut fiscal expenditureand therefore putting socialprogrammes at risk and affectinggovernments’ ability to meet theirobligations towards economic,social and cultural rights, includingthe right to food. The Special Rapporteur alsoexpressed grave concern thatbiofuels will bring hunger in theirwake. The rights expert wasrequested to examine urgently theimpact of agrofuels on therealization of the right to foodduring his dialogue withgovernments at the session of theHuman Rights Council in June2007. In his present report, Ziegler saidthat rushing to turn food crops -maize, wheat, sugar, palm oil - intofuel for cars, without firstexamining the impact on globalhunger is a recipe for disaster. It isestimated that to fill one car tankwith biofuel (about 50 litres) wouldrequire about 200 kg of maize -enough to feed one person for oneyear. He noted that increasinglyunconvinced of the positive netimpact of the production ofagrofuels on carbon dioxideemissions, non-governmentalorganizations have started to callfor a global moratorium on theexpansion of agrofuels until thepotential social, environmental andhuman rights impacts can be fullyexamined and appropriateregulatory structures put in placeto prevent or mitigate any negativeimpacts. The report said that globalconsumption of agrofuels (the two

main types of agrofuel arebioethanol and biodiesel) is low,but will rise rapidly under targetsset in the EU, the United Statesand Latin America. The EU has settargets requiring that agrofuelsprovide up to 10% of transport fuelsby 2020. The United States hasalso set targets to increase theuse of agrofuel. But the target objectives cannot bemet by agricultural production inthe industrialized countries.Therefore, the industrializedcountries of the North are veryinterested in the production of thecountries of the southernhemisphere to meet these needs. While increasing the production ofbiofuels could bring positivebenefits for climate change and forfarmers in developing countries,including by improving foodsecurity, if the benefits trickledown, the rights expert said that itis also important to examine thepotential of biofuels to threaten therealization of the right to food. “The greatest risk is thatdependence on the agro-industrialmodel of production will fail tobenefit poor peasant farmers andwill generate violations of the rightto food.” Among the concerns that Zieglerhighlighted are that the prices ofbasic staple foods are likely toincrease, threatening economicaccess to sufficient food,particularly for the poorest whoalready spend a high proportion oftheir incomes on food. It is estimated that there could bea rise of 20% in the internationalprice of maize between now and2010, and 41% by 2020. Theprices of vegetable oil crops,especially soya and sunflowerseeds could increase by 26% by2010 and 76% by 2020, and wheat

prices could increase by 11% andthen by 30%. Although increasing food pricesshould theoretically benefit millionsof people working as peasantfarmers in developing countries,this is not always the case. Manyfarming families are net buyers ofstaple foods, as they do not haveenough land to be self-sufficient,and will therefore be affected byrising consumer prices, saidZiegler. The Special Rapporteur called fora five-year moratorium on biofuelproduction using current methods,to allow time for technologies tobe devised and regulatorystructures to be put in place toprotect against negativeenvironmental, social and humanrights impacts. Many measures can be put inplace during such a moratorium toensure that biofuel production canhave positive impacts and respectthe right to adequate food. These measures include promotingthe need to reduce overall energyconsumption and maintainingfocus on all other methods ofimproving energy efficiency;moving immediately to “secondgeneration” technologies forproducing biofuels, which wouldreduce the competition betweenfood and fuel - agricultural wastesand crop residues could be used;adopting technologies that usenon-food crops, particularly cropsthat can be grown in semi-arid andarid regions; and ensuring thatbiofuel production is based onfamily agriculture, rather thanindustrial models of agriculture, inorder to ensure more employmentand rural development thatprovides opportunities, rather thancompetition, to poor peasantfarmers. Third World NetworkFeatures

G L O B A L I Z A T I O N I S S U E SG L O B A L I Z A T I O N I S S U E SG L O B A L I Z A T I O N I S S U E SG L O B A L I Z A T I O N I S S U E SG L O B A L I Z A T I O N I S S U E S


SPECIAL FEATURES

MUSHARRAF

and his collaborators

S Akbar ZaidiS Akbar ZaidiS Akbar ZaidiS Akbar ZaidiS Akbar ZaidiEconomic Polit ical WeeklyEconomic Polit ical WeeklyEconomic Polit ical WeeklyEconomic Polit ical WeeklyEconomic Polit ical Weekly

eligible to contest the election for president ofPakistan (after he had actually done so, one mustadd), there was growing speculation that it could ruleagainst him. There are few people if any, laypersonsor analysts, who believe that Musharraf has imposedthe emergency for any “national interest”, as heproclaimed, and there is agreement that this step wastaken exclusively to save his own skin and uniform.

Harsh restraints

The fact that the lawyers, who have become thevanguard in a popular struggle against Musharraf,would be targeted, was also probably expected. AfterMarch 9, this year when the chief justice of Pakistanwas first removed, the main opposition in the streetsof Pakistan came from the lawyers all acrossPakistan. That movement from March to Septemberwas a popular protest against the interference of thepresident-general in the affairs of the highest judiciary.The lawyers first protested the removal of the chiefjustice, and occasionally the movement began to

he emergency in Pakistan has revealedthe truth not just about Musharraf’smoderate enlightenment, but also aboutthe country’s liberal elite and thecollaborationist political leaders,especially of the Pakistan People’s

Party. So much for president-general PervezMusharraf’s policy of moderate enlightenment. Or wasit, enlightened moderation? One forgets. Whatever itwas, it is probably buried under the events of the lastfew days following the announcement of theemergency/martial law in Pakistan. It is not just thatan emergency has been enforced in Pakistan which isof importance, but its nature and form are also ofconsiderable interest.

The fact that the Supreme Court has been attackedby Pervez Musharraf, and the judges removed and/orasked to take a new oath, was perhaps the mostexpected response to any potential extra-constitutional move to be taken by the general. Withthe Court expected to rule on whether Musharraf was

T

PHOT

O: D

OD/P

INGN

EWS.

COM

Pakistan Presidentand General PervezMusharraf


verbally attack the military aswell. Importantly, politicalparties did not play a role ofany significance in the lawyers’protests, and hence theirmovement always remainedpopular rather than political.

Occasionally, in the proteststhis year, the heavy-handedarm of the military state alsofell upon the media, particularlythe electronic media which wasreporting live, almost everypublic event of the chief justiceand all his meetings. Mediapersons were roughed up andsome television stations wereransacked by the police, allcaptured live on television. Allforms of protest in the countrywere being beamed live for allto participate in. The currentclampdown has this majordifference, that for at least the firsteight days, all private televisionchannels, including thosebroadcasting news and analysis,sports, music, and even foodprogrammes, were completelybanned. Even international newschannels have been blocked.

This attack on the media by thepresident-general affirms twothings. Firstly, that this is anintolerant, dictatorial, repressiveregime, which has no patience withdissent, and for whom moderateenlightenment has very differentmeanings than

Date post:	20-Oct-2020
Category:	Documents
Upload:	others
View:	2 times
Download:	0 times

,661 21 $,' ())(&7,9(1(66...SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2007 3 COVER STORY THE PHILIPPINES and aid...

Documents