A statement by MAKABAYAN
June 4, 2009 

With the Congress passage of HB 1109 that seek amendment of the Philippine Constitution by themselves via Constitutional assembly, with a clear motive  express by the majority of congressmen which is to provide foreigners the right to exploit Philippine natural resources and privately own land in the Philippines and amass profit out of it. These are restricted under the 1987 Philippine Constitution provision which, because of the particular circumstances under which it was drafted, upheld national patrimony or the Filipino people’s sovereign right to control the nation’s natural resources. Though the 1987 Constitution is still in place, millions of Filipinos are increasingly losing whatever piece of the Philippines they have been clinging to.  Filipino peasants are losing the land they till, as foreigners - American, Japanese, Chinese and Malaysians among others - take renewed  interest in utilizing our land for their jatropha, sugarcane, coconut production for biofuels and other industrial uses; for expanded banana, pineapple and other fruit production for their canneries and markets.  Communities are being demolished to give way to five-star hotels, luxurious condominiums and subdivisions, golf courses, and other resorts – haven and playground for the rich and powerful.  Others are being relocated as they become endangered by operation of foreign mining corporations. All these at the instance of the government, in its collusion with foreign interests in circumventing the Constitution, in utter disregard for the people’s well-being.

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