Rice shortage may cost the Philippines P60B,

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines could end up paying close to P60 billion this year for rice imports to avert a shortage, with P21.7 billion ending up as subsidies through the National Food Authority.

Sen. Francis Escudero said the rice import bill of P58.7 billion was roughly equivalent to the total value-added tax (VAT) collections from fuel, which would put the Arroyo administration in a tight spot of choosing between a “balanced budget or balanced diet.”

“(The rice import bill) is bigger than the budget of the AFP (military) or the PNP (police), and five times the allocation for the Department of Health. Taxes collected on the gas pump will just be swapped for rice. The rise in the world prices of rice, which translates into bigger corporate subsidy for the NFA, was never factored in this year’s expenditures,” said Escudero in a statement.

If the price of imported rice holds at the government’s most recent purchase of P29.40 per kilo throughout the year, Escudero said, the government would have to shoulder P10.90 per kilo of NFA rice, which was being sold at a fixed price of P18.50 per kilo.

“The P10.90 per kilo difference will be the ‘political premium’ the Arroyo administration will have to pay to prevent the perceived lack of the main food of 90 million Filipinos from exploding into a crisis fatal to an already faltering government,” Escudero said.

This means, Escudero said, that only P37 billion of the rice import bill could be recouped “assuming completely zero trading, storage and transport losses.”

This would put the Arroyo administration’s ambition of achieving a zero deficit budget this year in jeopardy

about sex education

What is sex education?

Sex education, which is sometimes called sexuality education or sex and relationships education, is the process of acquiring information and forming attitudes and beliefs about sex, sexual identity, relationships and intimacy. Sex education is also about developing young people's skills so that they make informed choices about their behaviour, and feel confident and competent about acting on these choices. It is widely accepted that young people have a right to sex education, partly because it is a means by which they are helped to protect themselves against abuse, exploitation, unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS.^{1 2 3 4 5}

What are the aims of sex education?

Sex education seeks both to reduce the risks of potentially negative outcomes from sexual behaviour like unwanted or unplanned pregnancies and infection with sexually transmitted diseases, and to enhance the quality of relationships. It is also about developing young people's ability to make decisions over their entire lifetime. Sex education that works, by which we mean that it is effective, is sex education that contributes to this overall aim.

What skills should sex education develop?

If sex education is going to be effective it needs to include opportunities for young people to develop skills, as it can hard for them to act on the basis of only having information.^{6 7} The kinds of skills young people develop as part of sex education are linked to more general life-skills. For example, being able to communicate, listen, negotiate, ask for and identify sources of help and advice, are useful life-skills and can be applied in terms of sexual relationships. Effective sex education develops young people's skills in negotiation, decision-making, assertion and listening. Other important skills include being able to recognise pressures from other people and to resist them, deal with and challenge prejudice, seek help from adults - including parents, carers and professionals - through the family, community and health and welfare services. Sex education that works, also helps equip young people with the skills to be able to differentiate between accurate and inaccurate information, discuss a range of moral and social issues and perspectives on sex and sexuality, including different cultural attitudes and sensitive issues like sexuality, abortion and contraception.^{8 9 10}

Forming attitudes and beliefs

Young people can be exposed to a wide range of attitudes and beliefs in relation to sex and sexuality. These sometimes appear contradictory and confusing. For example, some health messages emphasis the risks and dangers associated with sexual activity and some media coverage promotes the idea that being sexually active makes a person more attractive and mature. Because sex and sexuality are sensitive subjects, young people and sex educators can have strong views on what attitudes people should hold, and what moral framework should govern people's behaviour - these too can sometimes seem to be at odds. Young people are very interested in the moral and cultural frameworks that binds sex and sexuality. They often welcome opportunities to talk about issues where people have strong views, like abortion, sex before marriage, lesbian and gay issues and contraception and birth control. It is important to remember that talking in a balanced way about differences in opinion does not promote one set of views over another, or mean that one agrees with a particular view. Part of exploring and understanding cultural, religious and moral views is finding out that you can agree to disagree.

Attempts to impose narrow moralistic views about sex and sexuality on young people through sex education have failed.

People providing sex education have attitudes and beliefs of their own about sex and sexuality and it is important not to let these influence negatively the sex education that they provide. For example, even if a person believes that young people should not have sex until they are married, this does not imply withholding important information about safer sex and contraception. Attempts to impose narrow moralistic views about sex and sexuality on young people through sex education have failed.^{11 12} Rather than trying to deter or frighten young people away from having sex, effective sex education includes work on attitudes and beliefs, coupled with skills development, that enables young people to choose whether or not to have a sexual relationship taking into account the potential risks of any sexual activity.

Effective sex education also provides young people with an opportunity to explore the reasons why people have sex, and to think about how it involves emotions, respect for one self and other people and their feelings, decisions and bodies. Young people should have the chance to explore gender differences and how ethnicity and sexuality can influence people's feelings and options.^{13 14} They should be able to decide for themselves what the positive qualities of relationships are. It is important that they understand how bullying, stereotyping, abuse and exploitation can negatively influence relationships.

poverty in philipines..

I have been acutely aware of the relationship between poverty and hunger since my first trip here in 1982. As a statistical programmer cum development economist on a USAID-funded project based at Cornell, I came to Manila to analyze data from a national nutrition survey. The survey, conducted by the National Nutrition Council (NNC), provided the basis for targeting food and nutrition services designed for mothers and children in the most impoverished parts of the archipelago.

Although the work I did was both technologically primitive and abstract - tabulations painstakingly extracted from a Fujitsu computer using an ancient Fortran compiler and hand-drawn maps with stick-pins and annotations showing malnutrition prevalence rates - it was also a real eye-opener for me. While I had studied political and economic development at a theoretical level for years, those endeavors had been intellectualized and idealistic. In the process of analyzing that real world nutrition data, I came to appreciate the existential reality that underdevelopment and poverty are more than concepts in a book - they are directly related to starvation, illness, and human degradation.

Thus, I found it sad that when I returned here in 1998, the situation, while somewhat improved, was still not that good. When I again analyzed data on a nutrition study, this time for UNICEF, the numbers were still appalling. Still just numbers spit out by a computer, but still numbers reflecting real human suffering.

The NNC, the same organization I worked with so long ago, recently developed a Philippine Nutrition Country Profile with funding from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Findings showed that, just like 20 years ago, the biggest problems are protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) and micronutrient deficiencies. Paralleling the general trend in poverty statistics, there was a decline in the prevalence of malnutrition during mid-1990s, followed by gradual increases beginning in 1998. There are now approximately 4 million (32%) preschool children who are underweight-for-age, 3 million (20%) adolescents who are underweight-for-age, and 5 million (13.2%) adults who are chronically energy deficient. Vitamin A deficiency is a serious problem, with 7% of pregnant women and 8% of infants under six months being severely deficient. Iron deficiency anemia affects 57% of infants, 51% of pregnant women, and 46% of lactating women.

The primary cause of malnutrition is the inequitable distribution of food, which is related of course to poverty. The typical Filipino diet is grossly inadequate for energy and other nutrients, causing human bodies to compensate for inadequate energy intake by utilizing protein as an energy source; the usual result is PEM. This situation is unlikely to improve as long as an estimated 28 million Filipinos are unable to buy food to meet basic nutritional requirements.

14 Marines killed; 10 were beheaded

LAMITAN CITY -- They were returning to base in heavy rains after a fruitless search for kidnapped Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi when their trucks stalled in the mud. Then the firing began.

In a 10-hour gun battle that turned into a carnage, 14 Marines were killed -- 10 of them beheaded -- and nine others wounded in one of the most shocking military debacles in years in the country’s southern islands.

“They were surprised when bullets rained on them,” Brig. Gen. Ramiro Alivio told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, recounting Tuesday’s daylong clash between 50 badly outnumbered Marines and some 400 Abu Sayyaf bandits and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas in Albarka municipality (formerly Tipo-tipo) on Basilan island.

The commander of the 1st Marine Brigade based in Basilan province said several enemy combatants were also killed in the one-sided encounter.

A GMA Network television crew which covered the battle described their experience as hellish.

The network’s video footage of the fighting showed the Marines seeking cover behind their trucks and coconut trees, looking like they were not sure where the shooting was coming from.

The footage also showed soldiers trying to counterattack with a mortar but it would not fire.

Abu Sayyaf ‘signature’

A senior military officer, who did not want to be quoted for lack of authority to speak to the media, said that it was the “signature” of the Abu Sayyaf to behead people.

“Only the Abu Sayyaf is into beheading people,” the officer said in a phone interview.

Branded as a terrorist organization by foreign governments, the Abu Sayyaf has gained international notoriety for decapitating hostages, including American tourist Guillermo Sobero who was beheaded in 2001.

The officer said Tuesday’s ambush was likely a retaliation by the bandits for the death of two of their commanders in an encounter on July 5 with soldiers from the same 1st Marine Brigade.

MILF admits involvement

One of the Abu Sayyaf leaders reportedly killed in that incident was the son of Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon, who was shot in the mouth.

Late on Tuesday, the Marines initially reported suffering four dead with 10 others missing -- until the headless corpses turned up.

The MILF, with which the Arroyo administration has been engaged in off-and-on peace talks for years, admitted its troops were involved in the fighting in Barangay Ginanta but said they acted in self-defense.

Mohagher Iqbal, MILF chief negotiator, said the military sent troops to Ginanta, a known MILF territory, without proper coordination.

Iqbal said the MILF forces were taken by surprise upon seeing the soldiers and opened fire.

Search for Bossi

Four MILF guerrillas were killed while seven others were wounded in the battle, he said.

Iqbal also admitted that MILF rebels scouring the area after the firefight recovered 11 headless bodies -- compared to Alivio’s figure of 10 -- and turned these over to the authorities.

Iqbal could not explain why the soldiers were beheaded.

“I received the report that our troops beheaded seven Marines,” Iqbal said. “We are investigating and determining the identities of those involved. We have an existing policy not to harm any captured enemy.”

Alivio said the soldiers were part of a search-and-rescue effort for Fr. Bossi, 57, who was abducted in Payao town, Zamboanga Sibugay province, on June 10.

There has been no word on the whereabouts of the priest since he was taken by armed men after saying Sunday Mass.

Stuck in the mud

The Basilan fighting would seem to support, at least on surface, earlier reports that Bossi’s captors might have already moved him out of Zamboanga Sibugay.

“They must be hiding something there,” Alivio said, referring to the intensity of Tuesday’s attack on the Marines.

On July 3, his abductors sent out photos of the kidnapped priest, which led the military to suspect he was now being hidden in Basilan.

Alivio said the Marine soldiers, who rode on three military trucks, were on their way back to their headquarters in Campo Uno here after an operation in connection with the Bossi kidnapping when they were ambushed.

“One of the three trucks got stuck in mud. It was then raining hard and that made the movement of the soldiers quite difficult,” he said.

‘We were outnumbered’

Alivio said the soldiers were moving ahead slowly when they were fired upon by about 400 gunmen, who he said belonged to the MILF and the Abu Sayyaf.

Alivio said the soldiers retaliated and the heavy firefight lasted for about 10 hours.

Alivio said the headless bodies “were (those of) the missing soldiers during the firefight.”

“We were outnumbered, that’s the reason we suffered heavy casualties,” Alivio said.

Tuesday’s casualties were the most the military had suffered in a single encounter in recent years. In 2005, 12 soldiers were killed in a clash with the Abu Sayyaf in Patikul town in Sulu province.

Marine officials in Manila said they still had no information on whether the MILF was responsible for the “treacherous” ambush.

Marines spokesperson Lt. Col. Ariel Caculitan blamed “lawless elements” and the Abu Sayyaf for the ambush.

“Definitely, there will be some actions and investigations as to what really happened Tuesday,” Caculitan told reporters.

“If there was participation of some MILF members, then we would have to seek the intervention of the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) considering that the government and the MILF are currently holding peace talks and we have a ceasefire,” he said.

Acts of ‘barbarism’

Told that MILF officials were blaming the military for not coordinating with them when they entered the MILF area, Caculitan said while the area might have been MILF, a lapse in coordination was “not a go-signal to consider attacking Marine troops.”

He said it was possible that the firefight, which started at 10 a.m., lasted long because “other lawless groups” joined in, “considering blood relations and other connections in the community.”

“It was very treacherous ... our vehicles were even torched,” Caculitan said.

The Abu Sayyaf also provoked outrage and disgust from Islamic scholars and ordinary Filipinos when they beheaded seven workers in Jolo in April this year. Malacañang branded that incident “an act of barbarism.”

In 2000, the same group of bandits beheaded two school teachers as a “birthday gift” to then President Joseph Estrada after the government rejected rebel demands in exchange for the release of hostages they were holding.

In June 2001, the Abu Sayyaf beheaded Sobero as an “Independence Day gift” to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

There have been a number of low points in the history of military efforts to stamp out the Abu Sayyaf as well as the communist rebels.

In May 2000, Abu Sayyaf bandits killed 13 soldiers in Basilan’s Lantawan town, mutilating some of the corpses.

In August 2000, the military suffered one of the biggest losses in the war against insurgents when communist New People’s Army rebels killed 17 soldiers in fighting in Himamaylan town in Negros Occidental province.

In November 2001, NPA guerrillas ambushed an Army unit in Compostela Valley province, killing 18 soldiers.