Website of Former Ambassador Rigoberto Tiglao » Features

Kaphilca’s Tribute to Ambassador Bobi Tiglao

pam — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 15:25:45 +0000

STATEMENT

pam — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 13:43:29 +0000

I have stayed in Greece after 30 September because Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo wanted me to stay as ambassador until the end of the year to complete certain important work at the Embassy that would have been more easily done by me because of my deep or long involvement in these particular matters.

I had wanted to, and expected to to be back in Manila end-June. In fact I started 24 June 2010 a regular Thursday column at the Philippine Daily Inquirer as I had expected to be back by the end of the month, especially since it had a standing policy of not allowing government officials to have a regular opinion column in the newspaper.

Romulo had assured me that my stay would be extended first on 15 September and then on 9 September.

However President Aquino later on decided not to extend my stay. I learned only 8 October from an editor in Manila who directly talked to the President that he would not extend my stay. I received the official memorandum on this from Sec. Romulo only 15 October.

BusinessWorld feature: “The Tenacious Mr. Tiglao”

staff — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 08:00:29 +0000

The following article in the 6 July 2010 issue of the Philippines’ premiere business newspaper, BusinessWorld featured Ambassador Rigoberto Tiglao who started his journalistic career in 1982 at Business Day, the predecessor entity of BusinessWorld.

The Tenacious Mr. Tiglao

By Anna Patricia G. Valerio, BusinessWorld

UNLIKE MOST DISSIDENTS in the Martial Law era, Rigoberto Tiglao was sent to jail even before he could lash his pen at the repressive regime.

Imprisoned with his late wife, the feminist Raquel Edralin-Tiglao, for being ardent activists during Marcos’ dictatorial rule, Mr. Tiglao was released in late 1970s after spending almost two years in jail.

But his ordeal had far from ended. Finding a job right after captivity proved to be a challenge, given the scarlet letter stamped on members of the anti-Marcos underground movement. “With a family to support, I joined an Ateneo research institution and then, because of higher pay, [I moved to] the Development Academy of the Philippines,” he says. But it wouldn’t take long for the state-run organization to throw him out upon orders from the military intelligence, who identified him as a security risk.

It was the Philippine Center for Advanced Studies, set up by the late political writer Adrian Cristobal and staffed by Conrado de Quiros and Luis Teodoro, that took him in until he landed a job at Business Day. A fellow Marcos critic, Abrino Aydinan, had just gotten a stint at the newspaper, and told him the company was unbiased with its applicants: it would employ political “ex-detainees” at the time when most firms considered them social outcasts.

He started as a “beat-less” reporter under then Business Day managing editor Jose “Ping” Galang, covering topics that ranged from corporate strategic management to human resource development—tasks which, given the political atmosphere at the time, failed to set him on fire. “The economic roof was falling, as the first global debt crisis that Latin America had triggered erupted and exposed the weaknesses of the Marcos regime’s economic fundamentals. [I had a sense] that it would be hitting the fan soon,” he says.

But Mr. Tiglao managed to uncork major stories on his own: he once convinced a human resource manager to hand him a copy of a survey on executive pay rates in the country—a report that companies had to pay for, but which Business Day ended up publishing for everyone’s perusal.

His resourcefulness won him bigger beats, including a rather colorful shift at the Central Bank of the Philippines, the forerunner of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). When he wasn’t sniffing around for soundbites from the bank’s top brass or tweaking its poorly written press releases, Mr. Tiglao could be found near the photocopying machine, sneakily getting his hands on top secret World Bank and International Monetary Fund reports. “[The clerk would photocopy] the minutes of a Monetary Board meeting, and recklessly throw away imperfect copies, which of course I got. I would write stories based on these fully confidential reports as if they were just routine information,” he says. It was only a matter of time before he gained access to an executive’s quarters—by befriending one of the staff members. “That person would allow me to rest in the official’s office, with all his files lying around.”

All this digging ended in the afternoon, when Mr. Tiglao would rush back to the office to hand in the day’s bounty to his editor. “There weren’t cellphones or e-mail then, and even faxes were hard to come by,” he says.

But his biggest scoop was to come from a rather unremarkable statement. At the end of one of the press conferences called by then finance minister Cesar Virata, Mr. Tiglao approached him to inquire about the import statistics cited during the discussion. “[I asked him,] ‘Were your import figures wrong?’ and he said, ‘I guess so.’”

The reply proved to be critical in uncovering how the Central Bank, in cahoots with the Philippine National Bank (PNB), doctored the country’s international reserves to cover up its bankruptcy. Noticing a marked spike in the import figures, Mr. Tiglao trooped to the Bureau of Import Statistics, a territory unknown to other journalists then, to probe into the numbers’ accuracy.

“The bureaucrats there were also surprised over the figures and were investigating the matter, only to find out that the wrong figure was a manipulation of the PNB to cover up the fact that the country was on the brink of a debt crisis,” he says. The exposé helped bring forth the New Central Bank Act in 1993, which called for the establishment of the BSP, an autonomous monetary authority.

On a fellowship at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism At Harvard University, Mr. Tiglao came across Howard Simons, the foundation’s curator. Mr. Simons had just resigned from his prior post as managing editor of The Washington Post, where he directed the paper’s famous coverage of the Watergate scandal.

“After many discussions, I asked him if he could fund a research on investigative journalism in the US,” says Mr. Tiglao. Mr. Simons obliged, enabling him to conduct interviews with several American investigative journalism centers. It was a study that prompted him, along with eight other local journalists, among them Sheila Coronel and Malou Mangahas, to establish the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) in 1989.

For all his dogged determination to dig up newsworthy accounts, Mr. Tiglao also knows when to put the dot on a certain story. “Plan for tomorrow,” says the former presidential spokesperson. “Know when your cheese is moved, and move on.”

Greece’s new law on citizenship and voting rights of migrants

staff — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 07:30:30 +0000

Because of the many inquiries received by our Embassy, and as a service to our nationals, we saw it fit to translate Greece’s new Law 3838 which revises “provisions on the acquisition of Greek citizenship and the political participation of Greeks abroad and migrants who legally reside in Greece ” Translated by the Embassy’s official translator/interepreter Ms. Eleni Laios.

PUBLISHED IN THE GOVERNMENT GAZETTE

OF THE HELLENIC REPUBLIC

Volume 1 , No. 49

24 March 2010

LAW 3838

Updated provisions on the acquisition of Greek citizenship and the political participation of Greeks abroad and migrants who legally reside in Greece. Other provisions.

CHAPTER A.

AMENDMENTS OF THE CODE

ON GREEK CITIZENSHIP

Article 1

Article 1 of the Code on Greek Citizenship , as it was ratified by Law 3284/2004 (government gazette 217A) is hereby amended as follows :

Article 1

By right , by birth .

1. The child of a Greek national acquires Greek citizenship by birth.

2. Any person who is born on Greek territory acquires Greek citizenship provided that :

a. one of his/her parents is born in Greece and resides permanently in the Country since his/her birth, or

b. the person does not acquire foreign citizenship at birth , nor can it acquire foreign citizenship following official statement of the parents before the local foreign authorities , if such statement is required by the Law of the parents’ country , or

c. the person is declared of unknown origin , as long as the fact that it is impossible to establish the eventually acquired foreign citizenship by birth is not due to the parent’s refusal to cooperate .

Article 1A is added after Article 1 and reads as follows :

1A. Upon statement or application on the grounds that he/she was born in Greece or that he/she studies in a school in Greece

Article 1A

1. The child of alien parents who is born in Greece and continues to reside

in Greece and whose parents have been both legally residing in Greece for at least five consecutive years acquires Greek citizenship by birth , provided that the parents submit (by mutual consent) the relevant affidavit and file an application for the registration of their child to the municipal rolls of the local municipality of their permanent residence . In this case, the child acquires citizenship from the date of their affidavit. If the child was born before the completion of the 5-year legal stay of both parents in Greece, the joint affidavit as well as the application for the child’s registration shall be submitted upon the completion of the 5-year legal stay of the second parent . The child acquires Greek citizenship upon submission of their affidavit.

2. The child of alien parents who has successfully completed at least 6 grades of a Greek school in Greece and resides legally and permanently in Greece acquires Greek citizenship upon completion of the 6^th grade .The child’s parents should file a joint affidavit and an application for their child’s registration to the municipal rolls of the municipality of their permanent residence. The child will acquire citizenship within a period of three years. In case of subsequent submission of the affidavit and the application and until the child becomes of legal age , citizenship shall be acquired upon submission of the relevant affidavit and application .

3. Greek citizenship may be acquired by children of alien parents upon affidavit of the parents , in accordance with the preceding paragraphs , only if both parents have been residing legally in Greece and are holders of a valid official document proving their legal stay.

4. In case the child has only one parent or in case the child’s parents have acquired the refugee status , the parent or the person who is assigned the custody of the child may apply for the child’s citizenship , in conformity with the preceding paragraphs ( provided that the provisions of the preceding paragraphs are also met). In case of unaccompanied children who avail of the status of international protection , the affidavit and application shall be submitted by the commissioner or the child’s representative , who must have been appointed in conformity with paragraph 1 , article 30 of Presidential Decree No. 906 / 2008 ( Government Gazette No. 152A’)

5. Prior to the registration in the municipal rolls , the municipality forwards copies of the supporting documents to the relevant issuing authorities , so as to confirm their accuracy . Within 15 days from receipt of such confirmation , the municipality forwards the application and the supporting documents to the competent authorities of the local Regional Directorate .

Within two months from receipt of the file , the Secretary General of the Regional Directorate issues an order for the local municipality to register the child in its Municipal Rolls. Said order is published in the Government Gazette. The child’s registration in the Municipal Rolls takes place within 6 months from the submission of both , the affidavit and the application.

6. In case the parents failed to submit the joint affidavit and application until the child reached the legal age , the child is entitled to personally submit said affidavit and application at the local municipality of his/her legal permanent residence , provided that he/she is a holder of valid documents. The child avails of this right within the exclusive period of 3 years from completion of the age of 18. The application can be rejected if there is penal impediment or on the grounds of national security . The competent authorities will check the existence of any negative record of the child within a deadline of 6 months at the maximum. The above-mentioned procedure and deadlines may be suspended in accordance with the provision of paragraph 4 of article 31 . The decision of the Secretary General of the Regional Directorate is being issued within a year from submission of the affidavit and application . In this case , Greek citizenship is being acquired from the time of submission of the affidavit and application .

7. In accordance with the definition provided for by the present Law , certifications of submission of supporting documents or other documents allowing the holder to temporarily stay in Greece until examination of his/her application by the competent administrative or judicial authorities or awaiting administrative decision , are not considered documents establishing legal residence in the country . The law stipulates that there is a competent authority which is in charge of examining the validity of the permanent residence permit of the parents and child , when the affidavit and application are submitted when the child is already of legal age.

8. Upon submission of the affidavit and the application for the child’s registration in the Municipal Rolls , a fee of 100.00 E (one hundred Euro) should be paid to the local municipality .

Article 2

Article 5 of the Code on Greek Citizenship is being amended as follows :

“ Article 5 ”

Requirements for naturalization .

1. An alien who wishes to become Greek citizen through naturalization should meet the following requirements :

He/She should be of legal age at the time of submission of the application for naturalization.
He/She should not be irrevocably sentenced for an offence committed intentionally for the decade which precedes the date of submission of the application for naturalization , nor he/she should be deprived of his/her freedom by court decision for one year or even for 6 months , regardless of the time the sentence was pronounced , nor he/she should be sentenced for crimes against the country’s regime , treason , manslaughter , severe physical injuries , crimes in connection with smuggling of drugs , money laundering , international economic crimes , crimes in connection with the use of high technology equipment , crimes in connection with child trafficking , child prostitution and child pornography ( Law 3625/2007 , Government Gazette 290A’ ) , crimes in connection with affiliation or creation of a criminal organization (article 187 and 187A of the Penal Code ) , resistance against the authorities , kidnapping , molestation , sexual harassment , economic exploitation of human lives , theft , hold-up , fraud , blackmailing , usury , forgery , false declaration , possession of fake documents , calumny , smuggling of weapons , smuggling of antiquities , human trafficking , facilitating the illegal entry , or transportation of undocumented aliens in Greece or providing shelter to them.
He/She should not be due for deportation nor should he/she be in pending legal status in Greece.
He/She should be legally residing in Greece for seven (7) consecutive years preceding the submission of application for naturalization . The period of legal stay cannot include the period of time that an alien was assigned in Greece as administrative or diplomatic staff of a foreign mission . Those who are citizens of an EU member-state , the spouses of Greek nationals who have a child , those who have the custody of a child of Greek citizenship ( as long as it was not acquired as stipulated by article 1A paragraph 2 ) , those who are officially recognized as political refugees and non-native people may apply for naturalization provided that they have been legally residing in Greece for at least three (3) consecutive years. As far as spouses of Greek diplomats are concerned , the period of time that they have resided abroad due to their Greek spouse’s assignment counts as well in the required time for naturalization , provided that they have completed –any time - one (1) year of residence in Greece.

For aliens of Greek descent and those who are born and continuously reside in Greece , the 7 year requirement does not apply.

e. He/She should be holder of one of the following documents of legal

residence :

aa) Long term residence permit , in conformity with the provisions

of Presidential Decree No. 150/2006 (Government Gazette No. 160A),

ab) Certification or any other type of residence permit which is being

issued to citizens of EU member-states , in accordance with the

provisions of Presidential Decree No. 160 / 2007 (Government Gazette

No. 135A).

ac) Residence Card or any other residence document which is being

issued to family members of a Greek citizen or to a citizen of an

EU member-state or to the parents of a minor native , in

compliance with the provisions of articles 61, 63 and 94 of Law

3386 / 2005 ,

ad) Card of recognized political refugee or status of auxiliary protection

or family members of holders of such cards , including cards which

were issued in accordance with Presidential Decrees No. 61/1999

( Government Gazette No. 63A) , No. 90/2008 ( Government Gazette

No. 138A) , No. 96/2008(Government Gazette No. 152A) , No. 167/2008

(Government Gazette No. 223A ) and No. 81/2009 ( Government

Gazette No. 99A)

ae) Travel documents or special cards which have been issued by a

national (Greek) authority , in conformity with the provisions of the

New York International Convention on the status of non-natives ,

which was ratified by Law 139/1975 (Government Gazette No. 176A)

af) Card or any other type of residence document issued to Greeks

from abroad , with the exception of the Special Identification Card

of Greeks from abroad.

2. Residence permits or cards of legal residence quoted in paragraph e

may be amended , replaced or abolished by Presidential Decree .

Article 3

Articles 5A and 5B will be added to Article 5 of the Code of Greek Citizenship to read as follows :

Article 5A

Substantial Requirements for Naturalization

1. An alien who wishes to become Greek citizen through naturalization should meet the following requirements , in addition to those stipulated by the previous article :

He/She should have sufficient knowledge of the Greek language , so as to be able to perform the duties and obligations resulting from his capacity as Greek citizen.
He/She should be smoothly integrated in the country’s economic and social life. The following factors will be mainly considered so as to establish the alien’s integration into the Greek society : the knowledge

of Greek history and Greek civilization , the applicant’s professional life

and economic activities in general , his/her eventual public or social

welfare activities , his/her eventual enrolment in Greek educational

agencies , his/her participation in the organization of social events or

associations , in which many of the members are Greek citizens , his/her

eventual kinship by affinity with a Greek citizen , the regular payment of

his/her taxes and social security premiums , the possession of property

and his/her financial status in general.

He/She should be able to participate actively and substantially to the

country’s political life as well as to respect its fundamental principles.

The following facts will be taken into consideration for a person’s

Participation in the country’s political life : the sufficient knowledge of

the Constitutional regime of the Hellenic Republic , the knowledge of

the Greek political history , specially modern Greek history. In order to

adopt the Greek political identity , the interested party should be actively

participating in political unions or associations , where Greek citizens are

participating as well. Earlier participation in the elections of the local government will also be considered.

2. In accordance with article 12 , a Naturalization Committee will be

formed so as to examine if the applicant meets the requirements of the

previous paragraph.

The Naturalization Committee reserves the right to organize special

exams/test so as to establish the substantial prerequisites stipulated by

paragraph 1. The specifications of the special test and its content will

be decided upon by joint Decision of the Minister of Interior ,

e-Governance and Decentralization and the Minister of Education,

Long Life Learning and Religions.

Article 5B

Security reasons

The alien who wishes to become Greek citizen should not be considered

a threat to public order and national security. The Ministry of Citizens’

Protection is the competent authority to provide such information about

the alien .

Article 4

Article 6 of the Code on Greek Citizenship is being replaced as follows:

Article 6

Requirements for naturalization

The alien who wishes to be naturalized has to submit an affidavit at the municipality of his/her permanent residence as well as an application

for naturalization at the Regional Directorate of his/her local municipality.

2. The affidavit for naturalization will be executed before the Mayor ,

in the presence of two Greek citizens who will act as witnesses. The

affidavit will be logged in a book and a copy will be furnished to the

interested party. Printed material on the requirements for naturalization

will also be given to the applicant.

3. The application for naturalization is addressed to the Minister of Interior,

Decentralization and e-Governance and will include the following

documents :

Copy of the affidavit for naturalization .
Copy of the passport , travel document or other identity document.
A valid document of legal residence , as provided for by paragraph

e of Article 5 of the present Law.

d. Birth certificate or any equivalent document issued in accordance

with the alien’s national state legislation . If the alien avails of

international protection in his/her capacity as political refugee or is

under the status of auxiliary protection or he/she is non-native ,

therefore he/she cannot provide a birth certificate , the recognition

of political refugee , or the document proving his status of auxiliary

protection or his/her non-native card should be submitted. If the alien

was born in Greece , his/her birth certificate will be accepted by the

authorities. If the alien cannot avail of a passport , as stipulated by

paragraph 1 , section c of article 84 of the Law 3386/2005 , his/her

legal residence permit (which is applicable in such cases ) will be

accepted.

e. Copy of payment of taxes or income tax return declaration of the

last financial year .

f. Copy of his/her Registration Number in a Social Security Foundation

( AMKA in Greek).

Payment of 700 E (seven hundred euro) application fee . In case the

alien has to re-apply , application fee is 200 E (two hundred euro) .

Greeks from abroad , citizens of other EU member-states , recognized

political refugees and non-natives pay an application fee of 100 E

(one hundred euro ) every time they apply.

Article 5

Article 7 of the Code on Greek citizenship is hereby replaced as

follows :

Article 7

Naturalization procedure

The Regional Directorate examines if the applicant’s file is complete

and if he meets the requirements of article 5 . The Secretary General

of the Regional Directorate rejects the application if the applicant

does not meet the requirements.

If the applicant meets the requirements of article 5 of this Law, the

Regional Directorate requests the competent authorities to issue a

Police clearance certificate and a certification of non deportation

order . It also requests the Ministry of Citizens’ Protection if the

applicant is considered a threat to public order and national security.

The security Police authorities are bound to reply within a deadline

of four months .However , they can also forward directly their report

to the Minister of Interior , Decentralization and e-Governance at any

stage of the procedure . If the security police fails to reply on time ,

this does not consider an impediment for the Minister to issue a

Decision.

If no action has been taken within the above-mentioned prescribed

period , the application for naturalization will be examined by the

Naturalization Committee . Concurrently , the Regional Directorate

calls the alien for an interview on a specific date and time . On

the date of the interview , the alien has to submit to the

Naturalization Committe any documents providing evidence that he/

she has sufficient knowledge of the Greek language as well as any

other data pertaining to the requirements for his/her naturalization.

The alien’s summons to appear for an interview before the competent

authorities will be made against written receipt . His/her failure to

appear can only be accepted in case of objectively justified incapacity

of appearance . In case his/her failure to appear is not justified , the

application for naturalization will be rejected by the Minister .

The Committee reserves the right to ask the applicant to undergo a

special test , in conformity with a joint Ministerial Decision (paragraph

3 ,article 5A ).

The Naturalization Committee drafts a detailed report on the questions

made to the applicants who were interviewed and their answers. Said

report is then forwarded to the Ministry of Interior , Decentralization

and e-governance together with the Committee’s recommendation and

the applicant’s complete file . Notification of the report will be sent

to the applicant who reserves the right to submit any objections in

writing , within a deadline of fifteen days to the Citizenship Council. Facts concerning issues of public order or national security will not be notified to the applicant.

In case of doubt on the contents of the Committee’s recommendations,

the Minister of Interior may forward the case to the Citizenship Council ( article 28).

Aliens of Greek origin who are holders of alien’s residence permit of

Greek origin do not need to undergo interview before the Naturalization Committee. The Minister of Interior , Decentralization and e-Governance makes his own decision without prior recommendation by the Committee , except for special cases. The file

will be forwarded to the Committee for its recommendation only in

case of doubt on whether the interested party meets the substantial

requirements for naturalization or not.

Article 6

Article 8 of the Code on Greek Citizenship will be replaced as follows :

Article 8

Decision on naturalization – Justification

Naturalization takes place upon decision of the Minister of Interior, Decentralization and e-Governance , which is being published in the Government Gazette .
The decision on such application for naturalization will be taken in

conformity with the provisions of the Code on Administrative Procedure .

The submission of a new application for naturalization is allowed

one year after the rejection of the previous application.

Article 7

Article 9 of the Code on Greek Citizenship , as ratified by Law 3284/

2004 shall include one more paragraph (paragraph 4) :

The oath to the present article will be taken as well by the person who acquires Greek citizenship by affidavit once he/she becomes of legal age , in accordance with Article 1A of the present Code , within one year from execution of said affidavit.

Article 8

Article 12 of the Code on Greek Citizenship is being replaced as follows :

Article 12

Naturalization Committee

There will be one Naturalization Committee for each Region and it will be composed of the following persons :
1. The Head of the local General Regional Directorate who will be the Chairman
2. One member of the local Higher Education Establishments, preferably from the areas of sociology , psychology or similar faculties. The member and deputy member will be

appointed by the Administration of the local Higher Education Establishment.

One officer from the Direction of Citizenship of the Ministry of Interior , Decentralization and e-Governance.

Effective 01 January 2011 , his position will be filled by a

representative of the secondary self-government authority of

the region in which it is located the municipality where the

application for naturalization was filed. The same applies to

the acting representative .

The Head of the Regional Direction , and
A member and a deputy member who will be appointed by

the National Committee on Human Rights.

2. The Naturalization Committee is formed upon Decision of

the Secretary General of the Region. The Secretary General

appoints as well the Deputy Chairman and the Committee’s

Deputy members . An administrative staff of the Regional

Direction and his deputy will be appointed as Secretaries . The

person who handles the case participates in the Committee , but

he does not have the right to vote .

3. The term of the members of the Naturalization Committee is

two years.

4. The emoluments of the Committee’s members will be decided

upon by the Minister of Interior , Decentralization and e-

Governance.

Article 9

Article 19 of the Code on Greek Citizenship is being replaced as follows :

IV. Loss of Greek Citizenship

which was acquired by children of aliens

by means of affidavit or naturalization of their parents.

Article 19

Children of alien parents who acquired Greek citizenship while they were minor by joint affidavit of their parents (provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 of article 1A ) or by naturalization of one of their parents , in accordance with article 11 , they may renounce Greek citizenship by submitting an application and affidavit to the municipality in which they are enrolled , or if they reside abroad , they

may apply to the Greek Consular authority of the place of their permanent residence , within a deadline of one year from the date he/she became of legal age. Copy of the affidavit and application is forwarded to the Regional Directorate as well as to the Ministry of Interior , Decentralization and e-Governance .

Within a month from receipt of the relevant file , the

Secretary General of the Regional Directorate issues a

Decision accepting the application to renounce citizenship.

The Decision is being published in the Government

Gazette.

Article 10

Paragraphs 3 and 4 will be added to Article 25 of the Code on

Greek Citizenship , to read as follows :

3. Citizenship Directions may be established in any Region by Presidental

Decree. Said Decree makes provisions as well for their head-offices ,

their structure , the duties and responsibilities of the staff , the number

of staff and their qualifications.

In particular , for the Region of Attica , there could be three Directions

while for the Region of Central Macedonia only two.

4. Every year , Regional Directorates send to the Ministry of Interior ,

Decentralization and e-Governance statistics on the acquisition or loss

of citizenship .Said statistics must be compiled until the end of March

of the following year and are being published in the Ministry ‘s web-

site . The data include the following :

date of birth
sex
civil status
residence
duration of stay in Greece
legal grounds of acquisition
previous citizenship

Article 11

Article 28 of the Code on Greek Citizenship is hereby replaced as follows :

Article 28

Citizenship Council

The Citizenship Council

a. decides on :

aa) appeals submitted by alien applicants against the recommendations of the

Naturalization Committee , or

ab) cases which are referred to the Council by the Minister

b. acts as advisory Council on citizenship cases , in conformity with the Law.

2. The Citizenship Council is formed upon decision of the Minister of

Interior, Decentralization and e-Governance and is composed of the

following members :

An honorary member of the State Council , who acts as Chairman ,
The Secretary General of Migration Policy of the Ministry of Interior,

Decentralization and e-Governance ,

A legal adviser of the Government
A professor or assistant professor specialized in Private International

Law as well as a professor or assistant professor specialized in Public

International Law or in Constitutional Law , from one of the country’s

Higher Education establishments

The Head of the Direction of Citizenship of the Ministry of Interior ,

Decentralization and e-Governance .

The members of the Council who are absent or cannot attend shall be

replaced by their legal deputies.

3. The Head of the competent office of the Direction of Citizenship of

the Ministry of Interior participates as adviser but he does not have

the right to vote.

4. The Citizenship Council operates in conformity with the provisions of

Articles 13-15 of Law 2690/1999 (Government Gazette No. 45A).

Article 12

Article 31 of the Code on Greek Citizenship is hereby replaced as follows:

Article 31

Deadlines

For the naturalization , the following deadlines are set by the Law from the date of submission of the application :

The deadline from the date of submission of the application for naturalization until the date of the interview is six (6) months. Within this period of time , the competent office of the Regional Directorate is obliged to obtain the supporting documents from the other authorities as well as to secure a report by the security services of the

Ministry of Citizen’s Protection. If the application is not complete , the

deadline takes effect from the time the file is completed or from the

time that the alien submits another application with a complete file. Any delay in obtaining the supporting documents from other authorities

does not affect the processing of the alien’s file.

The deadline of submission of the Naturalization’s Committee’s report/

recommendation to the Ministry of Interior is four (4) months after the

interview.

The deadline for the issuance of the Minister’s decision and its

publication in the Government Gazette is two (2) months.

The deadline for the case of citizenship is eighteen (18) months from

the date of application until the issuance of the decision.

3. In case the documents cannot be processed within the above-mentioned

deadlines , the competent authority notifies the interested party in writing

about the reasons of the delay. The same document is forwarded to the

Minister of Interior , Decentralization and e-Governance , who can order

the immediate processing of the file so as to meet the deadline set by

the Law.

4. The above-mentioned deadlines as well as the whole procedure of

naturalization may be suspended in case of pending court hearings or

court decisions which deprive the alien of his freedom for one year or

for criminal offences . Such cases constitute an impediment for

naturalization . The applicant’s appeal before the Citizenship Council or

the Minister’s decision to forward an application to the Citizenship

Council may also be grounds for suspending the case.

Article 13

Article 32 of the Code on Greek Citizenship , as it was ratified by Law

3284/2004 and is still into effect , will include one more paragraph :

(paragraph 3)

The supporting documents which are submitted together with the affidavit and application for registration in the municipal rolls (provided for by article 1A of this Code) will be decided upon by the Minister of Interior , Decentralization and e-Governance.

CHAPTER B.

Participation of aliens of Greek descent and legally-residing migrants

in the elections of the First Degree Local Self –Administration

Article 14

The right to vote

Aliens of Greek descent and aliens from third countries may participate in the elections of the First Degree Local Self-Administration with the right to vote provided that :

They have reached the age of eighteen.
They have not been sentenced for a crime or for an offence which deprives them ( even if they were Greek nationals ) of their political rights (article 59 and 60 of the Penal Code ).
They should be under one of the following categories of legally residing aliens :

Holders of Special Card of Alien of Greek descent or family members of holders of such card , provided that they have completed 5 years of consecutive legal stay in Greece
Holders of Residence Permit of Indefinite Duration or 10-year Residence Permit , in conformity with the provisions of Law 2910/2001 (Government Gazette 91A) and paragraph 2 of article 91 of Law 3386/2005
Aliens who avail of the status of Long Term Residents , in accordance with the provisions of Presidential Decree No. 150/2006 (Government Gazette 160A) or paragraph 7 of article 40 of Law 3731/2008 (Government Gazette No. 263A) .
Holders of “ Permanent Residence Permits ” , in their capacity as family members of a Greek citizen or a citizen of an EU member-state in conformity with the provisions of article 63 of Law 3386/2005 and article 17 of Presidential Decree No. 106/2007 (Government Gazette 135A) or those who are holders of Residence Permits in their capacity as family members of a Greek citizen or a citizen of an EU member-state and has been legally residing in our country for five (5) consecutive years
If they are parents of minor Greek children and have been legally residing in Greece for five consecutive years
If they have been recognized as political refugees or if they avail of the status of auxiliary protection or protection for humanitarian reasons , including their family members , and they have completed five consecutive years of legal residence in our country ( Presidential Decrees No. 61/1999 , 90/2008 , 96/2008 , 167/2008 and 81/2009)
If they are holders of travel documents or special Card issued by a Greek authority in accordance with the provisions of the New York International Convention concerning the status of non-natives and provided that they have been legally residing in the country for five (5) consecutive years from the date of issuance of such documents.
If they are holders of Alien’s Residence Permit of Greek descent and they have completed five (5) consecutive years of legal stay from the date of issuance of such permit.

Article 15

Application for enrolment in special voting registers

The persons who are under the above-mentioned categories and

wish to vote they should file an application for their enrolment in

a special voting register of the municipality in which they

submitted their application for residence permit , provided that they

permanently reside there . The persons who are under the category

3a, 3f, 3g and 3e of the previous article should submit their

application for enrolment in the special voting register of the

municipality in which they have been residing for the last two

years.

The persons who are entitled for enrolment in special voting

registers but have transferred to another municipality ( meaning other than the municipality which issued the residence permit ,they

may enroll in the voting register of the municipality in which they have been residing for the last two years.

Applications for enrolment in the special voting register should

be filed together with the following supporting documents :

Certified true copy of the valid residence permit . The person

cannot apply if he is a holder of certification of submission of

supporting documents for the issuance or renewal of residence

permit .

b. Certified true copy of a valid passport , with the exception of

those who objectively do not hold a passport , as stipulated in

paragraph 1 , section c of article 84 of the Law 3386/2005 and

paragraph 3 f, g and h of article 14.

c. The supporting documents providing evidence that a person has

been residing in the municipality for the last two years will be

required only in cases provided for by the present Law. In

general , the supporting documents providing evidence about a

person’s residence are the same as those which are applicable

to Greek citizens ( article 15 , paragraph 7 of Municipal Code).

d. Certificate of police clearance.

Article 16

How to exercise the right to vote

The right to vote will be exercised exclusively by those who are enrolled in the special voting registers of the municipality . At the time of voting , they should be holders of one of the valid

Residence permits quoted in Article 14 of the present Law.

Those who are enrolled in the special voting registers will

exercise their right to vote together with all other citizens in

specific polling stations .

3. The identification of the persons will be made on the basis of

their valid residence permit and their valid passport (if required).

Article 17

The right to be elected

People who have the right to vote and are enrolled in the special voting registers of Article 15 and have completed the age of 21 at the time of the elections , they may be elected as municipal councilors or local councilors , provided that they have

sufficient knowledge of the Greek language so as to be able to

perform their duties and they meet the requirements of paragraph

1 of article 34 of the Municipal Code ( Law 3463/2006 Government Gazette No. 114A ).

2. The restrictions concerning the assignment of government positions

stipulated by article 3 , paragraph 11 of Presidential Decree No.

133/1997 , as it was amended by Presidential Decree No. 164 /

1997 , and Presidential Decrees No. 320/1999 and 130/2002 are also

applicable to the persons quoted in the previous paragraph.

3. The persons of paragraph 1 will be acknowledged as candidates

by the competent Court , as long as they have a valid residence

permit and a valid passport , with the exception of persons quoted

in paragraph 3b of article 15 of the present Law.

4. Upon submission of the candidacy , each candidate should submit

as well the following documents :

Official declaration stating his/her citizenship and permanent

address in Greece, official declaration that he/she has sufficient

knowledge of the Greek language so as to perform his/her duties

in case he/she is elected and statement that he/she is not a

candidate in another municipality in Greece , nor he is a

candidate of another political party in the same municipality.

b. Certification of enrolment in the special voting register of the

municipality in which he/she is a candidate.

c. Certified true copy of a valid residence permit . In this case ,

the certification for submission of documents for the renewal

of the expired permit is considered valid.

d. Certified true copy of the passport , with the exception of the

cases quoted in paragraph 3b of article 15 of the present Law.

Article 18

Drafting special voting registers

Voters of article 14 of this Law will be included in special

voting registers which will be drafted per municipality or electoral

district . Voting registers will include the following data : sex,

surname , first name , other names , father’s name , mother’s name,

name of spouse and maiden name of spouse , date and place of

birth , residence address in Greece ( street , no , district , community,

municipality ) citizenship , passport no (if required) , valid residence

permit no and special voting register no. The full name of said

voters should be either in Greek or in English letters , so as to

read the same as their other official documents. In case there is

no exact date of birth of the voter , it will be considered that

he/she was born on 01 January of the year of birth.

Prior to the enrolment in the special voting registers , the

municipalities verify the accuracy of th e voter’s personal

data and his/her official documents through the Ministry of

Interior , Decentralization and e-Governance and the Ministry of

Citizens’ Protection . This procedure does not apply to aliens of

Greek descent , who may simply apply for a certification from

the issuing authorities of their residence permit . In case a voter’s

personal data are found incorrect , the enrolment cannot be made

and the interested party is instructed by the municipality to apply

to the competent authority for its verification.

Article 19

Updating special voting registers ,

Striking off voters

1. The provisions of articles 7 to 20 of Presidential Decree No. 96/

2007 ( Government Gazette No. 116A) are being implemented in

cases of enrolment , changes , appeals and striking off voters from

the register.

2. Voters of article 14 , paragraph 1 of the present Law can be

struck off the voting registers , as follows :

Upon their application
If they no longer meet the voter’s requirements
If they acquire Greek citizenship .The Direction of Citizen-

ship is bound to inform the Direction on Elections about

any cases of naturalization .

3. The Ministry of Interior , Decentralization and e-Governance is in

charge of striking off the special voting registers all those who

are deprived of their right to vote. In this connection , the Courts

of First Instance send to the Ministry of Interior , Decentralization

and e-Governance a detailed list which enables it to identify such

voters in the special voting register . This procedure takes place

every two months ( within the first ten days ).

Article 20

Issues such as the age limit , the entitlement to the right to vote , the

impediments to such right , the eventual incompatibilities and other

restrictions in order to be elected and any other issue which is not

clearly defined in the provisions of articles 14 to 19 of the present

Law are being regulated by the provisions of Presidential Decree No.

133/1997 (Government Gazette No. 121A) , by the legislation on the

election of Members of Parliament and by the Municipal Code.

Article 21

1. During the initial implementation of articles 14 to 20 of this Law,

the deadline for enrolment in the special voting registers of article

17 expires on 30 June 2010.

2. However , an extension of the above-mentioned deadline ( not exceeding

the period of two months ) may be granted upon decision of the Minister

of Interior , Decentralization and e-Governance.

CHAPTER C.

TRANSITIONAL - FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 22

Pending applications for naturalization

Pending applications for naturalization will be processed in conformity

with the provisions for naturalization which were in effect prior to this

Law. The Naturalization Committee takes into consideration the essential

requirements of Articles 5A and 5B of the Code on Greek Citizenship,

while its decision will be based on article 8 paragraph 2 of the same

Code. In case it is verified that the interested alien has completed at

least five consecutive years of legal residence in Greece , his / her

pending application cannot be rejected on such grounds.

2. The operation of the Naturalization Committee of the Ministry of

Interior , Decentralization and e-Governance ( including its formation and

responsibilities provided by article 12 of the Code on Greek

Citizenship, as it was into effect before its amendment by article 8 of

the present Law ) is hereby extended until the issuance of Decision on

applications for naturalization which were pending at the time that the

present Law came into effect.

3. Pending applications for naturalization and citizenship will be processed

within a deadline of three years from the date that this Law takes

effect.

Photos at Independence Day Celebration with the Filipino Community at the Zappeion Complex, Athens

staff — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 11:08:41 +0000

Noynoy’s Mother Cory Triggered the Global Wave of Democratizations

staff — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:03:04 +0000

No peaceful People Power without Cory

By Rigoberto D. Tiglao
Philippine Daily Inquirer
August 21, 2009

Corazon Aquino may well be the first Filipino to have a global impact: She inspired the nonviolent democracy movements that swept the globe in the past two decades.

It is Cory who has a lasting impact on the world.

Real heroes are not comic-book superheroes; they emerge from very real factors and very real situations. But heroes, nonetheless.

An exaggeration?

First of all, we need to clarify.

The EDSA revolution was the result of the collective action of Filipinos. It resulted from a confluence of events, from the assassination of Cory’s husband in 1983, the virtual collapse of the economy starting in 1984, the failed coup attempt by Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and his boys and their decision, together with Constabulary Chief Fidel Ramos, to dig in for a heroic last stand at Camp Crame, Jaime Cardinal Sin’s calling on the faithful to defend failed coup plotters, the massive turnout of people at EDSA (Epifanio de los Santos Avenue), and the military’s refusal to shoot demonstrators.

Yet things most probably would not have turned out as a peaceful people power revolution if not for Corazon Aquino’s moral authority, her appeals—never threats—for Ferdinand Marcos to heed the call of the people and step down peacefully.

They were certainly brave, but Ramos and Enrile, the latter toting an Uzi submachine gun, and beside them the gung-ho RAM boys wearing bandoleros, didn’t exactly send a message that they wanted a peaceful resolution to the conflict. They were gearing for combat, with the crowds at EDSA delaying Marcos’ armed response, and giving time for other military units to defect to them for a showdown with the dictator’s troops.

Gandhian aura

Cory’s decision on Feb. 25, 1986 to take her oath of office not in Camp Crame but in a civilian venue, not only sent the strongest message that she was now assuming power peacefully. How could Marcos after all order the arrest of such a gentle widow who claimed to be Philippine President now?

Without the Gandhi-like aura of Cory, the EDSA revolt in February 1986 could have ended up like the Plaza Mendiola massacre, of course much, much bloodier. Violently dispersing a crowd, as an Asian nation demonstrated a few years after, is after all something a regime can do and still survive. But after that, what? Either a more cruel martial law, and then years, even decades of civil war.

‘Tita’ figure

With Cory as a kind of a mother, or “Tita” figure hovering over EDSA, it became a defining moment for Filipinos: Even if their brotherhood they called the Philippines was a very young one, they—even Marcos and his generals—realized in their hearts that brothers shouldn’t really be killing brothers.

Why, even criminals on those days remarkably stopped killing and robbing people; the communist urban guerrillas kept their 45s in their safe houses and maybe even fingered rosaries with the nuns at Camp Crame.

But are we exaggerating the global impact of Cory and the People Power revolution?

Look at the facts.

Before EDSA 1, the only two instances of a peaceful end to dictatorships were Portugal’s Carnation Revolution and the fall of the Greek junta, both in 1974. But both were actually colonels’ coups—probably the inspiration for RAM—and the world soon forgot about these two restorations of democracy.

Democratic domino effect

But after the Philippine People Power revolution, there was, as it were, the quickening of democratic impulses.

Just a year after the EDSA uprising, huge people’s rallies challenged South Korea’s strongman, former general Chun Doo-hwa, which eventually led to democratic reforms, among them the direct election of the president. Chile’s Pinochet lost his iron grip in power in 1989.

While Poland’s “Solidarity” movement started in the 1980s, it gained momentum only after 1986, with Lech Walesa assuming power in 1989. Indeed, in his visit to Manila in 1995, Walesa said: “Your peaceful People Power Revolution was an inspiration to us for our own revolution.”

From then on, it was a democratic domino effect: Poland’s people power revolution in turn inspired the Singing Revolutions in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in the Baltic states in 1989, as well as the East German democracy movement that finally tore the Berlin wall down; and Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution—which all contributed to the demise of one of the two most powerful anti-democratic states in the world.

South Africa was well on the path of armed revolution waged by the military organization “Spear of the Nation,” but then in the wake of peaceful strikes and protests, in 1990, the new president, F.W. de Klerk, started negotiations that peacefully ended apartheid rule by 1993.

Global meme

At the very least, “People Power” became a global meme, using the evolutionist Richard Dawkins’ term for cultural ideas, beliefs, and practices—e.g, a handshake, the birthday cake, monogamy, belief in an afterlife—that replicate rapidly among humans and accepted as normal practices or incontrovertible truths, even without people knowing why or where they came from.

Used before 1986 as a term for the role small communities played in changing government policies and practice, “people power” after the EDSA revolt came to mean a peaceful revolution participated in by “the people.”

That it had become a global meme is reflected by the fact that one scholar on the scene reported that East German democracy activists mentioned “people power” often in 1989, even if they didn’t even know that a country called the Philippines existed.

The many books printed in the 1990s on the anti-monarchist movement in Nepal, the communist Naxalite insurgency in Bihar, India, the democratization movements in Eastern Europe were all titled People Power or had that term in their titles, without any mention at all of the Philippines.

Not just romantic nation

That our People Power Revolution inspired democratization movements worldwide isn’t just a romantic notion, but based on certain rather mundane facts.

For one thing, it was the new, more powerful role of media that got people around the globe to be inspired by People Power.

CNN in 1986 was just a few years old, employing greenhorn, underpaid reporters. For the first time in history, through CNN, people were watching a revolution as it happened, with all its poignant images—no, videos—such as nuns praying the rosary in front of tanks, demonstrators putting flowers into soldiers’ gun barrels. And you can understand them: from the convent-school Cory to the NPA regular, they were articulate in English!

The 1980s were the heyday of international magazines as well as of dashing, hard-drinking “foreign correspondents.” Things got boring since the end of the Vietnam War in 1974, and they scoured the world for romantic stories of good vs evil and the story of a widowed housewife challenging a dictator was an epic story.

One Christian missionary left his ministry to string for several US and European newspapers.

Dreams of Pulitzer

Droves of American reporters dreaming of the Pulitzer Prize descended on Manila. It was indeed an assignment from heaven: You didn’t need translators, and Filipinos, even RAM coup plotters, were so talkative.

And after a hard day’s work covering the rallies, the nightlife in Malate was just fantastic. Five-star hotel accommodations and great rep expense required great stories that people got excited about. The Cory story landed on the front pages of many, many newspapers; Time, Newsweek, Far Eastern Economic Review, Asiaweek, and many more would make Cory and the People Power revolution their cover stories.

Morality play told, retold

With these, Cory’s morality play would be told and retold faster and broader than any similar revolution in the modern era. No wonder it inspired in such a short time peoples from different countries living under dictatorships.

Furthermore, with the “technology” for People Power, as it were, developed in the country, there were people actively propagating the idea—and raking in a lot of money for their work.

The political consultancy group Sawyer Miller were close-in, on-the-ground advisers for the Cory camp whose people reportedly wrote some of her speeches and gave her advice in the February elections up to the revolt. (Cf: James Harding, Alpha Dogs: The Americans Who Turned Political Spin into a Global Business.)

With Cory’s victory in the People Power revolution, the firm’s prestige shot up, their “technology,” even if pejoratively described as the art of the political spin, was studied, their political-consultancy business model adopted by a host of new Washington-based firms.

Harding noted in his book: “On the back of the success in Chile and the Philippines, Sawyer Miller spread across the South American continent…”

When the firm’s principal David Sawyer died in 1999, Sen. Daniel Moynihan stood up on the floor of the US Senate to mourn him, saying, among other things, that Sawyer “helped to open up the governments of Eastern Europe and Latin America by introducing mass communication into their electoral processes.”

An exaggeration

“The Sawyer Miller group had a lasting impact on the world because their craft worked,” Harding wrote.

Now, that is an exaggeration. Sawyer would have been nothing without the People Power revolt. And there wouldn’t have been a People Power revolt without Cory.

After Rizal, the globalist who first envisioned the “Filipino,” and Bonifacio the nationalist revolutionary, enters now into our nation’s pantheon of heroes, Cory, the icon of world democracy.

(The author is currently ambassador to Greece . He used to be editor in chief of inq7.net.)

President Aquino Appoints DFA Undersecretaries

staff — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:48:12 +0000

July 2010 – President Benigno C. Aquino III appointed Erlinda F. Basilio, Rafael E. Seguis and Esteban B. Conejos Jr. as undersecretaries of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Their oaths of office were administered by Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto G. Romulo in simple ceremonies held at the DFA today. ”The appointment of these undersecretaries shows the full confidence of President Aquino in our work. I trust that these undersecretaries carry on the best tradition and practices of the Department, and with team spirit and hard work, we will succeed,” Secretary Romulo said.

Basilio and Conejos were reappointed to their previous positions as Undersecretary for Policy and Migrant Workers’ Affairs, respectively, while Seguis is now Undersecretary for Administration.

“With the objective of promoting national interest, including promoting and protecting the welfare of our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), and with the help of DFA’s geographic offices, we will pursue the policy directions set by President Aquino,” Undersecretary Basilio said.

For his part, Undersecretary Seguis stated, “I have served the DFA for 46 years and several administrations, from Diosdado Macapagal to her daughter Gloria, and from Corazon Aquino and now her son Benigno III. I have come full circle, and I will fulfill the expectations set out by the new administration and the public.”

“As long as I am at the Office of Migrant Workers Affairs, the DFA will be at the forefront of providing protection and promoting the welfare of our OFWs,” Undersecretary Conejos said.

Undersecretary Basilio came from the ranks, starting as Foreign Affairs Officer IV in 1970. She served as Ambassador to Sweden (1997-2003) and Permanent Representative to the Philippine Mission to the United Nations in Geneva (2007-2010). At the DFA, she served as Assistant Secretary for Asia and Pacific Affairs (1995-1997) and Undersecretary for Policy (2006-2007).

Starting at the DFA in 1962 as a Technical Assistant, Undersecretary Seguis passed the Foreign Service Officers examination in 1973 and also rose from the ranks. He served as Ambassdor to Iraq (1991-1996), Saudi Arabia (1999-2002) and Indonesia (2003). At the Home Office, he served as Assistant Secretary for Middle East and African Affairs (1996-1999), and Undersecretary for Special and Ocean Concerns (2003-2010) and concurrently Chairperson of the Government Negotiating Panel for Peace Talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Undersecretary Conejos was appointed as Undersecetary for Migrant Workers Affairs in 2006. Previously, he was Department of National Defense Undersecretary for Operations (1998-2001). END (photos by: Mark Santos and Benjie Remo, DFA-PISU)

Madame Getsy Tiglao is the incoming President Emeritus of Athens Women’s International Club

staff — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:08:56 +0000

Madame Getsy S. Tiglao

Madame Getsy S. Tiglao, the wife of Philippine Ambassador to Greece Rigoberto D. Tiglao, has been appointed as the new Honorary President of the Women’s International Club (WIC) of Athens for the incoming year 2010 by the organization’s officers.

Mrs. Tiglao said that she considers it a great honour to have been chosen as the President Emeritus of the WIC, a prestigious women’s organization with chapters all over the world. She is the first Filipino to be picked as Honorary President of the Club.

Mrs. Tiglao is a veteran journalist and former editor-in-chief of Inq7.net, which had been the joint news website of the Philppine Daily Inquirer and GMA-7. She has been a member of the WIC since 2006 and is an active participant of its Ethnic Cooking Circles and other activities.

WIC-Athens was founded over 30 years ago, and it believes in fostering friendship and mutual understanding among women of different nationalities, and aims to contribute to the cultural development of women in general.

The incoming President for 2010 of WIC is Olga Roupas from Greece; Vice President Siu Ling Versluys from HongKong-China; Treasurer Pepita Wahren from Finland; Hospitality Officer Mariola Ipsilant from Poland; Programme Officer Leopoldine Theophanopoulos from Germany; Membership Officer Sharon Chelmis from New Zealand; Corresponding Secretary Liz Moffat from the United Kingdom; Recording Secretary Charu Batra from India; Activities Officers Loukia Nicola-Tsigos from Cyprus and Evie Makris from USA; Publications Officer Maria Freitas from Brazil; Auditors Mary-Lou Theodore from USA and Charlotte Scarpidis from USA; and Alternative Auditors Penny Smith from Ireland and Denise Nairn from the UK.

Ambassador reminds Filipinos of voting days for the 2010 National Elections

staff — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 09:54:58 +0000

Ambassador Rigoberto D. Tiglao reminded Filipinos in Greece and Athens that overseas absentee voting will be held at the Athens Embassy from 10 April 2010 to 10 May 2010 from 9AM to 5 PM at the premises of the Philippine Embassy at 26 Antheon St., Paleo Psychico, Athens. ” I appeal to our kababayans registered as overseas voters at the Athens embassy to exercise this democratic right, and duty, and make sure that they will be in Athens during the month-long voting period,” the Ambassador said.

However, the law on overseas voting however specified that Filipinos voting in the Embassy or Consulate in the country where they reside or work must have registered there first, which is a different registration from what they may have done in the Philippines.

For the 2010 elections, such registration period for overseas absentee voters ended on 31 August 2009. This means those only those who had registered at the Embassy during this period as overseas absentee voter will be able to vote in the elections next year. Unfortunately, The transfer of a Filipino’s registration as voter in the Philippines to Athens can not be done anymore.

We hope though that our countrymen who have not registered as an overseas worker will still be able to exercise their democratic right and duty by coinciding perhaps their visit to the Philppines on election day, which will be on May 10, 2010.

The Ambassador noted that registered overseas voters may verify if they are registered voters at the website of the Commission on Elections, specifically by filling out the forms at this URL: http://www.comelec.gov.ph/oavlist/findpost.aspx.

Why We Are Where We Are / RP Has Turned the Corner

admin — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 11:23:07 +0000

WHY WE ARE WHERE WE ARE

By Rigoberto D. Tiglao

Philippine Daily Inquirer, 30 August 2009

The election season finds many a Filipino thinking not only who should be the next president, but pondering why the country – a nation of rich natural resources and talented people – can’t seem to get its act together, why it’s fallen back.

To understand why the country is where it is today, we have to look back more, even beyond our lands. After all, our country’s problems were created not just in the past decades, nor had it been isolated from the rest of the world.

For starters, when our nation was born in the 19^th century, it was already among the poor nations of the world, compared to European civilization which at that time made up the richest section of humanity.

But the world was bifurcated into the rich and poor sections only in the last 300 of the 8,000 years after the first human civilization emerged. The economic conditions of peoples all over the world since the fall of the Roman Empire were roughly the same, and it was only in the early 18^th century when the economies of Western Europe, and its main offshoot, the United States, pulled away from those of the rest of the world

Chart 1 plots this phenomenon, to include the Philippines and several Asian nations’ economic status measured by gross domestic product per capita, from 1820 to1940.

Chart 1: The Great Divergence

But how could different groups of the same Homo sapiens species, having the same brain power, have so different levels of well-being? Why did European-civilization economies surge ahead while most of the economies of Asia, Africa, and Latin America stagnated?

Historians have called this astonishing phenomenon “The Great Divergence” of the 18^th century, which created the present structure in which the world is starkly divided, with a few exceptions, into the rich European-civilization nations on the one hand, and, on the other, the rest of the world, where we are.

Explanations for this Great Divergence range from the cultural (the earthly, individualistic “Protestant Ethic” against the other-worldly, communal Catholic ethos); the geographic (e.g., the vast coal deposits near England’s major industrial centres provided cheap energy to the first factories); the catastrophic (Europe’s wars and plagues reduced populations so much that feudalism collapsed and technologies to increase productivity just had to be invented); the sociological (capitalism which emerged only in Europe invented its growth engine); and the technological (European technology, invented accidentally in most cases, just happened to be superior).

Whatever the most accurate explanation or set of explanations turn out to be, the factors that created European growth operated only within that continent (or transplanted to North America). The Philippines was not only far from Europe on the other side of the planet; it was annexed as a colony first by Spain and then by the US, and its economy yoked to serve these countries.

One powerful explanation for the Great Divergence is colonialism: that much of the growth of Europe was through the forcible extraction of labor (slavery mainly) as well as mineral and agricultural resources from the areas it colonized. Europe’s earliest factories were also given a boost by the markets – e.g., English manufactured textiles beating wiping out Indian hand-woven fabrics — artificially created in the colonies.

Colonial economy created structures of underdevelopment that blocked the adoption of capitalism and of modern technology in what would be the poor countries. Archetypical of this is the Philippines’ coconut plantations, created mainly by the Dutch-British Unilever and the US Procter and Gamble at the turn of the 18^th century to extract coconut oil, the raw material for soap and margarine. The resulting lower costs for these two products helped lower wages in Europe even as these created two of the most powerful multinationals in the world.

For the Philippines though, it created a type of economy that discouraged capital investments and resulted only in long-term productivity declines. The poorest areas in the country today — where both Moro and communist insurgencies have festered — are those in which lands are mostly planted to coconuts.

Even after the Age of Colonialism had ended, its impact has been such that the former USSR and Maoist China transformed it into a propaganda tool to make developing countries hate the US and other Western powers during the Cold War, and as a counter-foil to deep anti-communist thinking. Our local time-warped communists still rank “US imperialism” as the No. 1 reason for the country’s poverty, two decades after the term had completely vanished in Soviet and Maoist Chinese propaganda.

But the Great Divergence is only one part of the story of why we are where we are. There are more recent factors.

As late as 1820, the Philippines, even if it was poor compared to its colonizer Spain, was the most well-off in Asia, its $776 GDP per capita a bit bigger than Japan’s $737, and way above South Korea’s $604. Those of other Asian countries were all below $650.

However, Japan in the early 20^th century, and then South Korea and Taiwan in the 1970s and 1980s, would grow so fast to completely overtake our country, and break out of the structures created by the Great Divergence to become as rich as the Western nations.

Japan during its Meiji Restoration period at the turn of the century swiftly undertook a national movement to adopt Western technology. Waves of Japanese academics, scientists and engineers were sent to the US and Europe to learn Western technology. Japan quickly modernized to the level of European-civilization nations. Even devastated in World War II, it swiftly recovered to become one of the richest nations. It was a feat Taiwan and Korea would replicate.

It is the good news of the 20^th century: While Western-civilization countries developed modern social and material technologies, these tools are universal and are not racially- or culturally- bound. Any nation can adopt and use them in a matter of a few generations. Read Sony and Toyota for Japan; Samsung or LG and Kia for Korea; Acer for Taiwan.

For our country though, that was the time when we lost out to our neighbours. Korea and Taiwan overtook us in the 1960s, that by 2000 the average $15,500 GDP per capita of these countries – which before the war was smaller than ours – was six times that of our $2,385.

Worse news: Thailand’s GDP per capita outpaced ours in 1976; Indonesia’s in 1986, when we were busy in the People Power Revolution . We’re now ahead only of the war-torn countries of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

What happened?

THE PHILIPPINES’ PERFECT STORMS
Plot the Philippines’ growth rates since 1965 together with the average for Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia and why the Philippines stagnated clearly emerges.

Chart 2: Perfect Storms

The shaded area in chart 2, between the two lines represents the difference in the economic growth rates of the Philippines and the average of the rates of these three Southeast Asian countries.

These areas represent growth the country would have at the very least achieved, but which it didn’t for quite unique reasons. The shaded areas symbolize, as it were, the perfect political-economic storms that hit the Philippines mainly in the last two decades of the 20^th century, and explain why we lost out to our Asian neighbours.

The economic factor for the first storm of the 1970s was a global event, the oil shock of the 1970s. But it was political turmoil that made things a lot worse. An anti-Marcos student movement emerged, resulting in the unprecedented, violent street confrontations in 1970.

In August 21, 1971, the nearly perfect crime of the Plaza Miranda bombing had the effect its Communist Party perpetrators wanted: the worsening of the split within “the ruling class”, each warring faction represented by the Lopez and the Marcos clans.

The attack created an image that factions of the Philippine elite were now against each other’s throats, not only in rhetoric but physically, radically changing the decades-old genteel, non-violent rules of competition within the national elite.

With the support of the US since the military bases agreement would expire in 1974, and in order to remain in power since the 1935 constitution barred him from a third term, Ferdinand Marcos imposed his dictatorship September 1972.

The economy actually did well under martial law until 1976. It would eventually turn out to be the worst thing that ever happened to the country – because of developments that led to its end, and developments after its end.

Philippine history and its economic condition today would have been totally different if Marcos had turned over power to an elected successor right after the 1976. But then his fear of violent retribution for the Plaza Miranda bombing, universally blamed on him, probably convinced Marcos to hold on to the reins of power.

Benigno Aquino escaped death from the Plaza Miranda attack on August 21, 1971. In 1983, he changed plans while in Taiwan and returned to Manila on another August 21, to be killed most probably even before his feet touched Philippine soil.

The economy actually was already in trouble because of the global financial crisis, triggered by the unprecedented foreign-debt default by the biggest Latin American countries in late 1982. Aquino’s assassination unleashed widespread outrage that made up the political ingredient in this second of the country’s political-economic storms.

Widespread public opinion that Marcos massively cheated in the snap, presidential elections in 1985 created an explosive political situation that led to the economy’s worst recession ever, contracting 7% annually in 1984 and 1985. That paved the way for the unfolding of events towards the 1986 EDSA Revolution.

The restoration of democracy turned out though to be a brief, clear and cheerful day before the country’s third perfect political and economic storm broke out, the result of the most unfortunate confluence of several factors and events.

First, the electricity crisis erupted in 1987, due to the junking of the 620-megawatt nuclear plant project and the suspension of other power projects. This further debilitated the economy and discouraged investments. Second, military mutineers launched seven coup attempts against Corazon Aquino’s government while the New People’s Army went on a rampage of assassinating high-profile personalities. These created the image of a country in anarchy.

Dormant for 450 years, Mt. Pinatubo erupted in June 1991 – the second biggest volcanic eruption in the world in the 20^th century. Who would invest in a country with a big mushroom cloud looming near its capital, which forced even the mighty US military to abandon its biggest airbase in Asia?

And then, of all times, Mitsui executive Naboyuki Wakaoji was kidnapped by the NPA in November 1986. With Japanese TV showing him crying with his finger cut off, the Philippines became a place few Japanese would dare go. But that was when Japanese capital embarked on its great migration abroad – which was one of the most important factors that spurred the economic surge of Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. By the 1990s, most Toshiba and Sony laptops would have the tag ‘Made in Malaysia’, or in Thailand.

There are many theories why our country remains poor; google the topic and there are more than a thousand entries — a popular topic in Filipino internet chattering. Corruption, our weak sense of nationhood, ‘bad’ cultural traits (e.g, ‘crab mentality’, the bahala na attitude, katamaran) are favourite explanations. Population is a factor that stares us in the face, and in the streets, but fear of the Catholic Church has muted debate on it. With their dogma of the zero-sum game of class-struggle, Filipino communists have succeeded in turning much of the national discourse into an exploited-versus-the-exploiter, people-versus-the-government mentality – an ethos of internecine hate.

But we are products of historical events. We are a young nation, born only in the 19^th century – and in the first place, born poor. And just when several other poor nations worked their way to get richer in the 70s and 80s, we were derailed partly by communist and separatist insurgencies, but more importantly, by unique confluences of events leading to and after 1986.

The Philippines’ People Power Revolution was a boon for humanity: it inspired democratization movements against all forms of dictatorships all over the globe. However, we paid dearly for it.

(The author is the Philippine Ambassador to Greece and Cyprus. This article is a condensed version of a chapter in a book he is writing.)

RP has turned the corner

(This article is a companion piece that was published together with the previous article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, 30 August 2009.)

HOW PHILIPPINE ADMINISTRATIONS FARED Average Rates of Growth/Decline
	GDP growth	Inflation	Peso Depreciation	Cost of Money*
Marcos Martial Law (1973-1985)	3.3	17.4	-7.0	14.2
Corazon Aquino (1986-1992)	3.4	9.1	-4.2	17.2
Fidel Ramos (1992-1997)	3.8	7.6	-4.8	13.4
Joseph Estrada (1998-2000)	2.9	6.4	-11.6	11.8
Gloria M. Arroyo (2001-2008)	5.0	5.6	-0.7	6.2
*90-day Treasury bills Source: World Bank data, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas

By Rigoberto D. Tiglao

AN UNLUCKY country ours has been, but it is turning the corner. Look at Chart 2 again: the dark clouds were vanishing in the 1990s. We are well on the way toward the clear skies of political stability and therefore economic growth.

There have even been two years, in 1997 and then in 2007, when the Philippine growth rate outpaced our neighbors’. The country’s 7.2-percent growth rate in 2007 was its highest in the last three decades, faster than the 5.5 percent of Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

Look at the big picture, look at the cold facts, and our country is far, far from being, as one columnist wrote, “sickly dying.” It is progressing not as much as we like to, and need to, but at least, there is progress, as political stability and our other democratic institutions are strengthened.

As shown in the table, except for the downward blip during the administration of former president Joseph Estrada, the average economic growth rates since the Marcos era have been increasing; inflation and interest rates decreasing; and the peso’s international value stabilizing. (See Table: How Philippine administrations fared.)

The past teaches us two lessons. First, as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan had dramatically demonstrated, not only European civilization’s material technology but its social technology – i.e. its institutions – can be adopted rapidly to create economic prosperity.

Second, the basic requirement for economic growth is political stability. And representative democracy with its mechanisms is still the best system for such stability –yes, that’s how important the elections in 2010 are.

People power in 1986 was an awe-inspiring event that should strengthen our cohesion as a nation. But ochlocracy – the rule of a shouting, frenzied mob, which the ancient Greeks, who invented democracy, already criticized 2,500 years ago – is a depraved, mistaken interpretation of the Edsa revolution.