TXTPower released the following statement regarding the new promo price of P0.50 per text message announced yesterday by President Arroyo in her speech before Congress:

The economist Mrs. Arroyo is trying to cheat the public over the so-called 50 percent reduction in texting rates which she pompously announced in her eighth State of the Nation Address yesterday, according to consumer group TXTPower.

“The truth is, text messages may already cost less than 50 centavos. The forward march of mobile technology and the gigantic profit rates for the past years have lowered the cost of sending text messages to absurdly low levels, far lower than P0.50,” said TXTPower president Anthony Ian Cruz.

Cruz said that “the setting of a price of P1.00 before and P0.50 now, upon the request of Mrs. Arroyo, is obviously arbitrary and does not reflect the real cost of texting.”

NOTE: Text of speech updated

Bayan chair and BusinessWorld columnist Dr. Carol P. Araullo delivers this speech later today at a rally some blocks away from Batasan Pambansa.

Dr. Araullo told me over the phone that this speech does not aim to drown the public with statistics. It focuses on helping us make sense of the situation — and more importantly as an inspiration for collective action.

Read on…

SONA ng Mamamayan
Ni Dr. Carol P. Araullo
Tagapangulo, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan

Magandang tanghali sa lahat ng dumalo sa pagtitipon natin dito sa lansangan para ihayag ang tunay na kalagayan ng bayan, makiisa at magprotesta dito sa tinatawag nating SONA ng Mamamayan. Mabuhay kayo!

Sapagkat alam nating pawang kasinungalingan ang manggagaling kay Gng. Arroyo sa kanyang bibigkasing SONA sa Konggreso, ayaw nating palampasin ang insultong ito. Gusto nating patunayan na hindi na niya kayang lokohin pa ang taumbayan.

Tomorrow, de facto President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo delivers her 8th State of the Nation Address surrounded outside Congress and nationwide by protests.

In preparation, the youth group LFS sent out this video together with its full lyrics:

The protests start 10:00 am with a march from Tandang Sora/Luzon towards Capitol Hills Estate, just before St. Peter’s Church. The march will be led by a papier mache effigy of Arroyo that would be burned later in the day.

Global OFW group Migrante has started an online petition seeking the removal of the 0.15 percent government tax and bank levies on remittances sent by migrant workers.

Migrante forgot to add that also affected by these onerous and unfair charges are the home-based entrepreneurs who do online jobs for clients from across the world. These “netrepreneurs” receive payment through the same remittance channels.

I wasn’t able to attend and witness it (bummer) and so I opted for the next best thing: Ask his office for a copy of the speech Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo delivered today, July 10, at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City.

The speech is part of the UP Centennial Lecture Series, one of the events marking 100 years of UP.

Full text of Ocampo’s speech titled “UP will forge through risk-filled neoliberal terrain; so will militant activism persist: An Outsider’s View of the University of the Philippines” follows:

Before we begin, may I invite everyone to stand up for three minutes of silence in honor of the former students of the University of the Philippines who gave up their lives in the continuing struggle for national liberation, economic emancipation, social justice, equitable development and genuine and lasting peace for the Filipino people.

The Department of Foreign Affairs tonight quietly announced through a press release that the Philippines was recently elected vice president of the United Nations Human Rights Council, even amid the government’s reputation of demonizing, jailing, falsely accusing, and killing dissenters.

This is a most cruel joke from the UNHRC and the Arroyo government. The UNHRC should have set aside the Philippine nomination, while the Philippines should have had the decency to improve first the human rights record before running for such a post.

Congratulations to Gabriela, the country’s national alliance of women’s organizations, and to advertising company DDB DM9 JaymeSyfu for winning the bronze in the prestigious Cannes Lions 2008!

See the winning Gabriela ad entry here, titled “Duct Tape” which deals with “action against spousal abuse”. The bronze won by the ad is said to be the first Cannes Lion won by a Philippine advertising company.

President Arroyo’s deputy spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo issued the following statement yesterday regarding the death of Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran:

Our condolences to the family of the late Cong. Beltran. We share their grief in this time of great personal loss. While congressman Beltran and the Armed Forces may have stood at opposite poles in the pursuit of our respective mission, we regarded him with respect. Like many of our soldier-heroes, he stood for what he believed in. And in my personal view, he is a true Filipino.