Please vote for our project on Brighter Planet, and help FACES win a $5000 Project Fund!
Face2Face is a service learning program dedicated to developing environmental justice leadership among young Filipino/Americans and allies.
Through cross-cultural education, Face2Face participants learn firsthand about environmental justice struggles that connect California and the Philippines, and are empowered to turn education into action.
The lives of frontline communities on both sides of the Pacific are directly impacted by the practices of big oil companies including Chevron. We’ve joined with Bay Area organizations like the Asian/Pacific Environmental Network to deepen awareness of local struggles against big oil. Residents lead Face2Face participants on “toxic tours” neighboring Chevron facilities in Richmond. They learn how residents organize to defend their health and environment, and efforts to build healthy alternatives.
Participants travel to the Philippines to spend two weeks exchanging, living with, and deepening relationships with FACES’ partner communities, which include civil society, women’s groups, youth, elders, and indigenous community members. We not only learn how their land, air, bodies and water are polluted by multinational corporations like Chevron, but build alliances to take action back home.
Face2Face has lasting impacts beyond the program. Participants share personal experiences through a community event and workshops at schools, universities, and community centers. Many alumnae go on to become leaders with FACES’ Chevron Campaign, which joins with Bay Area and Manila communities to pressure Chevron to clean up their operations and be a good corporate neighbor.
We’ve seen alumnae continue on with research, author reports on Chevron’s impacts, and develop popular education curriculum like “Big Oil, Toxic Neighbors: A Legacy of Danger” which encouraging participants to reflect on their relationship with oil and understand energy issues through a personal, local and global lens.
FACES sees Face2Face as a crucial part of the climate justice movement. From across the Pacific, we witness communities taking bold action against environmental and climate destruction. Focusing on the Filipino/American experience, we develop the voice of our underrepresented communities, so we can take action together on the issues that affect us all.
FACES seeks $5000 to allow Face2Face to continue for it’s 6th year. We are led by committed volunteers, and funds will go towards program costs for participants who would otherwise be unable to attend and educational community events.
$1500: in-country costs for 3 participants
$2700: US-Manila roundtrip airfare for 3 participants $300: 1 reportback event for 150-200 community members
$300: 5 community workshops $200: art supplies (photos, etc)
In addition to Brighter Planet funds, we will seek donated resources including local venue space and food donations.
This program is a success if we can:
1) Engage participants in meaningful discussions and build relationships with communities in both the Bay Area and the Philippines
2) Hold a successful trip reportback, “Balikbayan” (“Returning Home”) that reaches 150-200 Bay Area community members, and 5+ community workshops
3) Continue engaging alumnae in local Chevron Campaign and climate justice activism
With the support of Brighter Planet, Face2Face will engage the Filipino/American and Bay Area community to build climate justice for us all. Thanks!
01 April 2010
10 February 2010
Pandacan Leaders Host Oil Depot Forum February 2010
PUP Hosts Anti-Pollution Campaign
Juvien Galano, PUP News, Volume VII, Issue No. 4, February 16-28, 2010
"Implication of Oil Depot to the School and Community Life" was the theme of the forum held at the OVPRD Audio Visual Room of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines Mabini Campus on February 7, 2010. This information dissemination campaign is focused on increasing awareness of the threats posed by the Pandacan Oil Depot in Pandacan, Manila.
Leaders from different organizations gathered in this event to give their insights and ideas about what may happen if disasters involving the oil depot arise. The gathering was opened by a presentation of videos from different parts of the world with accidents, primarily explosions, in oil depots.
As stressed by Mr. Tito Roque, board member of Advocates for Environmental and Social Justice, the countries in the video presentaion do not only meet the minimum requirements but exceeded the security and precautionary facilities and processes to ensure their safety from unexpected circumstances.
This is the same contention the organizers of the forum are trying to bring up aside from the depot's proximity in residential areas and schools. Together with AESJ, the College of Arts Department of Psychology Committee on Extension and Community Outreach, Department of Humanities, Institute of Social History/Research Institute for Politics and Economics, Teachers and Employees Association for Change, Education Reforms, and Solidarity, Inc. were all in unity in the call to relocate the oil depot.
Another issue that was raised and should really be taken into serious consideration by the people who run the Pandacan Oil Depot is its age. The facilities in the 33 hectare land, according to Mr. Roque, are already 94 years old and may be wearing out by now.
AESJ secretary general Mr. Sixto Carlos laid all the propositions on the post-relocation phase of the oil depot. Their organization is suggesting to convert the land area, which is currently housed by three big oil companies Chevron (Caltex), Shell, and Petron, for a low cost housing project for the urban poor. Also, a portion of it may be turned into a commercial area, a school, or probably a hospital.
March of last year, the Supreme Court has released a decision in favor of relocation of the oil depot but a counter action was signed by the City of Manila through City Ordinance 8187 that did not only give right to the oil depot to stay but allowed its management to put up another industry in the vicinity of oil depot compound.
To resolve the issue, the concerned organizations promised to continue to fight for the safety and general welfare of the people of Manila and neighboring cities that are also threatened by existence of the oil depots.
Juvien Galano, PUP News, Volume VII, Issue No. 4, February 16-28, 2010
"Implication of Oil Depot to the School and Community Life" was the theme of the forum held at the OVPRD Audio Visual Room of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines Mabini Campus on February 7, 2010. This information dissemination campaign is focused on increasing awareness of the threats posed by the Pandacan Oil Depot in Pandacan, Manila.
Leaders from different organizations gathered in this event to give their insights and ideas about what may happen if disasters involving the oil depot arise. The gathering was opened by a presentation of videos from different parts of the world with accidents, primarily explosions, in oil depots.
As stressed by Mr. Tito Roque, board member of Advocates for Environmental and Social Justice, the countries in the video presentaion do not only meet the minimum requirements but exceeded the security and precautionary facilities and processes to ensure their safety from unexpected circumstances.
This is the same contention the organizers of the forum are trying to bring up aside from the depot's proximity in residential areas and schools. Together with AESJ, the College of Arts Department of Psychology Committee on Extension and Community Outreach, Department of Humanities, Institute of Social History/Research Institute for Politics and Economics, Teachers and Employees Association for Change, Education Reforms, and Solidarity, Inc. were all in unity in the call to relocate the oil depot.
Another issue that was raised and should really be taken into serious consideration by the people who run the Pandacan Oil Depot is its age. The facilities in the 33 hectare land, according to Mr. Roque, are already 94 years old and may be wearing out by now.
AESJ secretary general Mr. Sixto Carlos laid all the propositions on the post-relocation phase of the oil depot. Their organization is suggesting to convert the land area, which is currently housed by three big oil companies Chevron (Caltex), Shell, and Petron, for a low cost housing project for the urban poor. Also, a portion of it may be turned into a commercial area, a school, or probably a hospital.
March of last year, the Supreme Court has released a decision in favor of relocation of the oil depot but a counter action was signed by the City of Manila through City Ordinance 8187 that did not only give right to the oil depot to stay but allowed its management to put up another industry in the vicinity of oil depot compound.
To resolve the issue, the concerned organizations promised to continue to fight for the safety and general welfare of the people of Manila and neighboring cities that are also threatened by existence of the oil depots.
20 October 2009
Chevron to Get Award for Its Philippine Operations?
October 20, 2009
FACES was shocked to hear that Chevron Corp. Philippines is being considered for the U.S. 2009 Award for Corporate Excellence. Read FACES letter of concern sent to US Secretary of State Clinton below:
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20520
202-647-4000, 202-647-5936 fax
October 20, 2009
Dear Secretary of State Clinton,
We were shocked to hear that Chevron Corp. Philippines is being considered for your 2009 Award for Corporate Excellence. We respectfully ask you to remove Chevron Philippines from your awards list as thousands of Filipinos and Filipino-Americans have an active campaign against this polluting corporation.
Our US-based organization, the Filipino/American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity (FACES), and our Philippines-based partner, Advocates for Environmental and Social Justice (AESJ) have been campaigning for years to relocate of the massive Chevron oil depot from metro Manila. The multitude of toxic oil tanks that tower next to homes, schools and a river endanger the lives of millions of Filipinos (1).
The Philippine Supreme Court (2), as well as numerous ordinances over several years[3], has ordered Chevron Philippines to move their depot operations from Manila but Chevron continues to ignore and stall out this order. The people of Manila, that include high-ranking Catholic Church leaders, are even currently gathering electorate petition signatures to oust the Chevron depots. (3)
And the recent typhoons that have battered the Philippines are a stark reminder that Chevron’s tanks of toxic chemicals leach onto the community far too easily.
Chevron Philippines is no corporation to be proud of, not by the US or the Philippines. A little corporate donation to a local project does not replace the many lives lost and harmed due to their toxic operations in the fenceline communities of the Manila oil depots, as well as around the world where they operate. Read the “True Cost of Chevron” report (www.truecostofchevron.com) that chronicles the active world-wide campaigns against them, from the open pit disasters in Ecuador to human rights violations in Nigeria. (5)
We respectfully urge to rescind your nomination and vote for Chevron Philippines from your annual corporate excellence awards. Instead, we hope you will join FACES, AESJ, the Philippine Supreme Court, and thousands of Manila residents to ensure that Chevron relocate its Manila oil depots now.
Sincerely,
Aileen Suzara, FACES Board Chair
Mari Rose Taruc, FACES Chevron Campaign Coordinator
(1) Francesca Francia, “Broken Promise In Manila,” http://www.gcmonitor.org/article.php?id=87.
(2) Mike Frialde & Evelyn Macairan, “SC orders removal of Manila oil depot,” Philippine Star, 8 March 2007. And “20 Manila councilors backing oil depot hit,” Inquirer.net, 1 April 2009.
(3) Council of Manila, Ordinance No. 8027, Section 3, Manila, 13 December 2001. And G.R. No. 156052, Social Justice Society vs. Atienza, 13 February 2008.
(4) “People’s initiative vs depot launched,” Inquirer.net, 23 June 2009.
(5) Antonia Juhasz et al, “True Cost of Chevron: An Alternative Annual Report,” May 2009.
29 August 2009
Statement: Repeal Ordinance 8187!
STATEMENT
ADVOCATES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL JUSTICE (AESJ)
AUGUST 25, 2009
Repeal Ordinance 8187! Relocate the Pandacan Oil Depot Now!
The Advocates for Environmental and Social Justice (AESJ) joins other concerned citizens of Manila in pushing for a People’s Initiative aimed at repealing Manila City Ordinance 8187. Approved by Mayor Alfredo Lim and his cohorts in the city council, Ordinance 8187 allows the huge and dangerous oil depot to remain in Pandacan, once more putting profits of the oil companies over and above the health, security and lives of people. The People’s Initiative is a legal instrument by which the people could directly, through a signature campaign and eventually a plebiscite, junk laws and ordinances that go against their welfare.
After the petition of more than 2000 Manila citizen-signatories to repeal Ordinance 8187 has been rejected by the Manila city council, the concerned citizens and groups behind the People’s Initiative are now petitioning the COMELEC to carry out its responsibility under the law to set up the necessary mechanism by which Manila voters through their signatures can signify their opposition to Ordinance 8187. We, the People’s Initiative on Ordinance 8187, are confident in collecting the necessary number of signatures that will pave the way to holding a Manila-wide plebiscite on the Repeal of Ordinance 8187. We hope COMELEC would ensure the realization of a legitimate exercise allowing people to have a decisive say on an issue, that the Supreme Court itself on the oil depot said, is an issue of the right to life.
Oil Depot: a threat to people’s lives
Contrary to claims of the oil companies and their allies in the city government, oil depots can never be safe from accidents caused by technical and human failures and also from terrorist attacks; the catastrophic accidents in oil depots even in highly developed countries prove this. The only safety measure that can be adopted is for them to relocate in areas with sufficient buffer zone from the nearest communities. The various accidents that have occurred over the years within and outside the Pandacan oil depot involving accidental explosions along its pipeline, leaks in its storage tanks, its exploding tankers on the road and the like have simply been lucky close calls. The Pandacan oil depot certainly remains a disaster waiting to happen.
Right to Life and Public Trust Betrayed
The long and difficult struggle to relocate the Pandacan oil depot finally bore fruit with a landmark decision of the Supreme Court in 2008 and which it re-affirmed in 2009. The Supreme Court recognized the validity of City Ordinance 8027 which ordered the relocation of the Pandacan oil depot. It upheld the local government’s powers to enact legislation for the general welfare of the city and even praised the precedence given by the ordinance to the right to life (of the residents) over the right to property and profits (of the oil companies). The Supreme Court thus ordered the phase out and eventual relocation of the Pandacan oil depot.
But within a matter of weeks and against widespread public opposition, Mayor Lim, the vice-mayor and their cohort councilors have railroaded the passage of City Ordinance 8187 which permits highly pollutive and extremely hazardous industries in Manila allowing thus the continued stay of the oil depot in Pandacan. They preferred to betray public trust and serve the interests of the oil companies instead of protecting life, health and the environment.
Alternatives: A Call to Action
Phase out and relocation of the oil depot is the only answer.
The Big 3 (Shell, Caltex, Pteron) and their mouth pieces in the city hall have argued that relocation will result in economic problems because of a loss of livelihood opportunities. Ironically, only 5% of their “employees” are Pandacan residents, and 60% of their employees are contractual and have no security of tenure in their work.
Moreover, relocation does not mean loss of jobs for the general economy but only a relocation of job opportunities to another part of Luzon. The gradual removal and relocation of the oil depot will also actually generate additional employment as more workers will be needed to carry out the process. Meanwhile, current employees are given time to look for other jobs or may be transferred to where the depots will be relocated.
The area occupied by the depot can then be developed anew and pave the way for the establishment of commercial enterprises, service institutions like schools, clinics or hospitals, recreational facilities as well as affordable housing for the urban poor of Manila. The possibilities for development as well as new and more employment opportunities are varied and numerous.
To avoid disaster and to uphold life, health and the environment with these alternatives, we must act swiftly and decisively to repeal City Ordinance 8187 through the People’s Initiative (local initiative) as provided under the Local Government Code.
We Manilenos have filed a petition for local initiative to repeal City Ordinance No. 8187. At least 10% of registered voters in Manila are needed to sign the petition.
We call on fellow Manilenos and concerned citizens to join us in this decisive battle to defend our beloved city from the dangers it faces. We must save Pandacan, we must save Manila!
ADVOCATES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL JUSTICE (AESJ)
AUGUST 25, 2009
Repeal Ordinance 8187! Relocate the Pandacan Oil Depot Now!
The Advocates for Environmental and Social Justice (AESJ) joins other concerned citizens of Manila in pushing for a People’s Initiative aimed at repealing Manila City Ordinance 8187. Approved by Mayor Alfredo Lim and his cohorts in the city council, Ordinance 8187 allows the huge and dangerous oil depot to remain in Pandacan, once more putting profits of the oil companies over and above the health, security and lives of people. The People’s Initiative is a legal instrument by which the people could directly, through a signature campaign and eventually a plebiscite, junk laws and ordinances that go against their welfare.
After the petition of more than 2000 Manila citizen-signatories to repeal Ordinance 8187 has been rejected by the Manila city council, the concerned citizens and groups behind the People’s Initiative are now petitioning the COMELEC to carry out its responsibility under the law to set up the necessary mechanism by which Manila voters through their signatures can signify their opposition to Ordinance 8187. We, the People’s Initiative on Ordinance 8187, are confident in collecting the necessary number of signatures that will pave the way to holding a Manila-wide plebiscite on the Repeal of Ordinance 8187. We hope COMELEC would ensure the realization of a legitimate exercise allowing people to have a decisive say on an issue, that the Supreme Court itself on the oil depot said, is an issue of the right to life.
Oil Depot: a threat to people’s lives
Contrary to claims of the oil companies and their allies in the city government, oil depots can never be safe from accidents caused by technical and human failures and also from terrorist attacks; the catastrophic accidents in oil depots even in highly developed countries prove this. The only safety measure that can be adopted is for them to relocate in areas with sufficient buffer zone from the nearest communities. The various accidents that have occurred over the years within and outside the Pandacan oil depot involving accidental explosions along its pipeline, leaks in its storage tanks, its exploding tankers on the road and the like have simply been lucky close calls. The Pandacan oil depot certainly remains a disaster waiting to happen.
Right to Life and Public Trust Betrayed
The long and difficult struggle to relocate the Pandacan oil depot finally bore fruit with a landmark decision of the Supreme Court in 2008 and which it re-affirmed in 2009. The Supreme Court recognized the validity of City Ordinance 8027 which ordered the relocation of the Pandacan oil depot. It upheld the local government’s powers to enact legislation for the general welfare of the city and even praised the precedence given by the ordinance to the right to life (of the residents) over the right to property and profits (of the oil companies). The Supreme Court thus ordered the phase out and eventual relocation of the Pandacan oil depot.
But within a matter of weeks and against widespread public opposition, Mayor Lim, the vice-mayor and their cohort councilors have railroaded the passage of City Ordinance 8187 which permits highly pollutive and extremely hazardous industries in Manila allowing thus the continued stay of the oil depot in Pandacan. They preferred to betray public trust and serve the interests of the oil companies instead of protecting life, health and the environment.
Alternatives: A Call to Action
Phase out and relocation of the oil depot is the only answer.
The Big 3 (Shell, Caltex, Pteron) and their mouth pieces in the city hall have argued that relocation will result in economic problems because of a loss of livelihood opportunities. Ironically, only 5% of their “employees” are Pandacan residents, and 60% of their employees are contractual and have no security of tenure in their work.
Moreover, relocation does not mean loss of jobs for the general economy but only a relocation of job opportunities to another part of Luzon. The gradual removal and relocation of the oil depot will also actually generate additional employment as more workers will be needed to carry out the process. Meanwhile, current employees are given time to look for other jobs or may be transferred to where the depots will be relocated.
The area occupied by the depot can then be developed anew and pave the way for the establishment of commercial enterprises, service institutions like schools, clinics or hospitals, recreational facilities as well as affordable housing for the urban poor of Manila. The possibilities for development as well as new and more employment opportunities are varied and numerous.
To avoid disaster and to uphold life, health and the environment with these alternatives, we must act swiftly and decisively to repeal City Ordinance 8187 through the People’s Initiative (local initiative) as provided under the Local Government Code.
We Manilenos have filed a petition for local initiative to repeal City Ordinance No. 8187. At least 10% of registered voters in Manila are needed to sign the petition.
We call on fellow Manilenos and concerned citizens to join us in this decisive battle to defend our beloved city from the dangers it faces. We must save Pandacan, we must save Manila!
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