Tambuling Batangas Publication January 24-30, 2018 Issue | Page 8

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Duterte to leads launch new air-
traffic system
PASAY CITY-- President
Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday
led the inauguration of
the new Communication,
Navigation, Surveillance /
Air
Traffic
Management
(CNS/ATM) system at the
Civil Aviation Authority
of the Philippines (CAAP)
compound in Pasay City.

CNS/ATM is a state-
of-the art computer and
satellite-based air traffic
management
technology,
which is similar to that being
used by Australia, Taiwan,
and other European countries.
The
project
establishes
an
aviation
infrastructure to more than
40 airports, air navigation
facilities and air traffic
control facilities nationwide,
from Basco, Batanes in the
North to Jolo in the South.

In
his
speech,
President Duterte described
new CNS/ATM systems as
an important milestone in the
modernization and expansion
of the country’s aviation
program.

“I am happy to join
you today (Tuesday) as
we launch the CNS/ATM
Systems. This is the answer
to the call for a much needed
infrastructure to upgrade
the
country’s
inadequate
and aging navigation system
which lagged behind those
neighbors in the region,”
Duterte said.
The
President
thanked Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA)
for financing the CNS/ATM
Systems project that will
enhance safety, reliability and
efficiency of the air traffic
service in the country.
mula sa pahina 3
DSWD’s Unconditional Cash Transfer to
benefit 10 million households for 3 years
QUEZON CITY -- Some 10
million households will be the
beneficiaries of Unconditional
Cash Transfer (UCT),a new
program of the Department
of
Social
Welfare
and
Development (DSWD) that
will be implemented for three
years starting end of the month.
This was announced by DSWD
officer-in-charge
Emmanuel
Leyco in a press conference on
Monday.

The
UCT
is
a
component of the national
government’s Tax Reform for
Acceleration and Inclusion
(TRAIN) program that aims
to assist indigent Filipinos
that will be affected by the
rising prices because of the
implementation of the new tax
reform program.

“DSWD was given
the responsibility by congress
to implement the distribution
of the P200 per month UCT,
and we will carry out that
responsibility
the
most
efficient way that we can. We
have put together a mechanism
that will enable us to distribute
the P200 UCT to 10 million
Filipinos who belong to the
poorer sectors of the country,”
Leyco said.

He added that DSWD
will set up a new program
management office (PMO)
which will focus on the
payroll generation, beneficiary
validation, and the release
of the funds to the UCT
beneficiaries.

“We aim to finish the
distribution of the 1st tranche
of UCT to all 10 million
beneficiaries before the end of
June 2018. We will continue to
coordinate with the Department
of Finance - the lead agency
in the crafting of the TRAIN
program-- the Land Bank of
the Philippines wherein the
UCT funds are lodged, as well
as other possible partners to
ensure that the implementation
of the UCT will go smoothly,”
he said.

As
stipulated
in
the TRAIN act, DSWD will
implement the UCT scheme
for three years. It will release
P2,400 (P200 per month) in
2018 and a total of P3,600
(P300 per month) in 2019 and
in 2020. P24 billion has been
earmarked for the 2018 UCT
implementation in the FY 2018
GAA.
“Ten
million
households/individuals
will
receive the UCT. Of this figure,
4.4 million are Pantawid
Pamilya beneficiaries. DSWD
will facilitate the payment to
1.8 million beneficiaries with
sundan sa pahina 3
President Rodrigo Duterte assisted by DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade unveil a marker during the inauguration of Communication,
Navigation, Surveillance /Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) system at the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP)
compound in Pasay City. (Photo courtesy of RTVM)
Marcos Martial Law rights victims to get
in Fort Bonifacio under
reparation on or before May torture
the then First Lieutenant Voltaire
By MARYA SALAMAT
MANILA – Rey Ordiz was 21
years old when the late President
Ferdinand Marcos declared
Martial Law. A student at the
time, he was active in organizing
the youth-students and workers
sector in Pasay, an activity he
took upon himself together with
other activists after he learned
of the sorry plight of workers in
a US Tobacco company in their
area.

Now he is 68 years
old. He is one of the members
of SELDA (Samahan ng Ex-
detainees Laban sa Detensyon at
Aresto). Even in their senior years,
their struggle is not over. Along
with other former youth activists,
now also in their senior years,
they trooped last Wednesday
January 17 to the office of the
Human Rights Victims’ Claims
Board for a meeting with its
chairperson, Lina Sarmiento.
Their goal: follow-up and make
sure that before its term of office
ends on May 2018, it should
have satisfactorily completed
the processing of all claims for
reparation by the Martial Law
victims.
Trinidad
Herrera-
Repuno, president of SELDA,
said the victims of Martial
Law
under
Marcos
are
united in seeking justice and
indemnification. But this early,
she said, they are against any
possible extension again of the
term of this claims board.

With more than 30
SELDA members including
Ordiz,
Repuno
met
with
Sarmiento, who promised to finish
indeed all the required processing
of claims for reparation of all
“qualified martial law victims”
under Marcos.
A struggle for reparation

Sarmiento said their
office also wanted to swiftly
complete their job. She explained
that the processing is already
more than 99-percent completed.
All that they needed to do now
is to address the appeals that
invariably follow some of the
decisions handed by the board.

According to Sarmiento,
some claims are either denied
or the value of compensation
granted is being slashed. They
give “points” based on how
terrible the rights violations are.
They comb through the accounts
and evidence, they note and cross-
reference for inconsistencies,
and then they measure all these
against the applicable law such
as the law against torture. If the
verified account of a claimant
mentioned modes of torture
specified in the law, the victim
gets certain points which have
corresponding monetary and non-
monetary compensation.

Rey Ordiz got seven
points. Others got just three to
five. Ordiz was arrested and
tortured in 1972. He told Bulatlat
that one of his fellow detainees
was deeply traumatized by the
torture that he was not the same
after their release. “May tama” pa
rin siya hanggang ngayon.” (He’s
not right in the head until now.)

Recalling his days of
Gazmin, he said, “We thought
we were going to die there.” For
fifteen days they had no food and
water. To survive, they drunk
their own bodily fluids. After 15
days of torture, Ordiz’s group
was gathered in a “graduation
ceremony” in Fort Bonifacio.

They were made to
dance naked on top of a long
table, before a cheering audience
composed of members of the
Philippine Army and their guests.

Ordiz said the soldiers
played with the detainees’
private body parts. At one point,
they made Ordiz and two other
naked male detainees kiss each
other lips-to-lips as the soldiers
cheered.

He wrote these in the
account he submitted to the
Human Rights Victims’ Claims
Board. He compared the process
(of getting a semblance of
indemnification) to something
like this: “O, anak, sipain kita,
etong candy.” (Here, child, I
kicked you, here’s a candy.) And
the candy was given in parts.

“Tayo ay magkakampi”
(We are allies), Sarmiento told
the SELDA members. She asked
for their cooperation so the board
could finish the processing of
claims and the reparation.

Given that they are in
charge of processing thousands of
claims, they have computerized
the process. In sending the
letter detailing their decision
to the claimants, they entered
agreements with the Philpost to
deliver it with accompanying
sundan sa pahina 6