1) ED Session on Green Government Postponed

Our planned ED (Education Discussion) Session for the Kabalai NCR chapter last February 18 was postponed due to problems with venue confirmation. The topic for this ED session is "Re-Organizing Government Towards A Green Philippines". Key topics for discussion are: a) Green Perspective on Decentralization, Federalism and Charter Change; b) Basics on the Federalism Issues in the Philippines (including debate vs Constituent Assembly vs Constitutional Convention); c) Structural government change through extra-constitutonal means: the Transitory Revolutionary Government (TRG) Proposal.

An Ateneo de Manila contact facilitated by Bea Misa has agreed to help us secure a new venue. We are moving this ED session to March 18 (Saturday) from 2pm to 6pm. Exact details to be confirmed. This is part of a simutaneous youth forum on structural change by many YSDA members. For more information, please visit the online project page at: http://projects.takingitglobal.org/green_government

For more insight and informaton about Filipino youth's perspective on structural social change in our current government, i would also like to recommend you visit www.yes2change.org

Given what has happened lately during the 20th anniversary of the EDSA revolution, this ED session has become more relevant and we need to push through with this for all our members so that we can be better informed about our political choices and options in the next few weeks or months.

2) Kabalai featured in BROOD Newsletter

Brotherhood of Destiny Inc., a fellow member organization in YSDA featured kabalai in their latest newsletter. You can download it at http://www.broodonline.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=59&func=fileinfo&id=49. For more information about BROOD, visit them at www.broodonline.com

This should remind us to start discussing how we will revive our own newsletter: BANTAY BALAI (Earth Watch!). Does anyone want to volunteer? Email me please kabalai_chair@yahoo.com

3) New Egroup (kabalai_members@groups.takingitglobal.org)

Having our egroup in yahoo is problematic because the yahoogroups no longer allows automatic subsription. You may have noticed that we have moved to a new egroup in Taking IT Global. Please use our egroup to post messages to all members.

4) Youth for CBFM Petition

The YSDA website (www.ysda.org) recently featured a call from the CBFM Communities National Federation asking the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) to recall its recent orders cancelling all Community Based Forest Management (CBFM) contracts all over the country due to the failure of some of these contracts. Recalling an earlier position of the YSDA supportive of CBFM as a main strategy for sustainable forest management, the network has openly declared its support to the CBFM. A Youth for CBFM Online Petition has been initiated by YSDA. Bea Misa, Kabalai rep to YSDA has signed up in behalf of Kabalai to support this petition. If you want to sign up individually or if you want to encourage others to sign up, please visit the online petition at: http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/youth4cbfm/

If you want to understand this issue more, we would like to encourage you to join the YSDA online forum on this at: http://www.ysda.org/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=83&topic=39.0

5) Old Kabalai Logo

Ickx Tan, one of the founders of Kabalai shared to all the old Kabalai logo which should remind us that Kabalai is a merger of two organization with very distinct nature: Kabalay (Kampo Kabataan para sa Kalayaan) and EWOC (Earth Watchers Outdoor Club). Kabalay is an activist youth collective promoting sense of Filipino culture and history. EWOC is an environmental, youth outdoor club with an eco-preneurial spirit. To download the old kabalai logo, pls visit: <http://files.tiggroups.org/31812/KKK.jpg>

6) Update on Membership Confirmation

Fritz Balgos, who is now based in Davao city has expressed interest to be active again in Kabalai. Kabalai Metro Davao Chapter Coordinator, Jani Liboon has welcomed Fritz and will meet with him soon.

Jill Roque, based here in Metro Manila has likewise expres her interest to be active in Kabalai; initially expressing interest to support Kabalai Chair, Roy Cabonegro's membership in the NCR Airshed Management Board representing Kabalai in behalf of YSDA. (more on this in update 7) Lets all welcome Fritz and Jill!

7) NCR Airshed Management Board

Kabalai Chair Roy Cabonegro has been named in a DENR Special Order constituting the members of the NCR (National Capital Region or Metro Manila) Airshed Management Board. The board is a legal multi-stakeholder mechanism who is tasked to ensure the quality of the airshed covering Metro Manila and its nearby environment. Roy will sit here as Kabalai in behalf of YSDA. More information on this in the next issue.

8) CFTF-Kabalai merger?

Kabalai is not yet legally registered. This year, we want to register ourselves into a coperative so that the benefits of our ecoturs redowns to the benefits of members. However, a part of Kabalai character (being an advocacy group on green lifestyle issues, environmental educations and community-based ecotourism and Philippine culture and history) is not for profit at all but voluntary and activists. The Kabalai NCR chapter wants to register earlier in SEC as an NGO so that it can pursue its partnership with Angelicum college for its ecowaste project.

Some of us who started kabalai before coming together to form Kabalai first came together as part of a fledging organization called Conserving for Tomorrow Foundation (CFTF) who were organizing nature awareness camps and eco tours in the early 90s. A large part of the Kabalai character (its outdoor environmental education and eco-preneurial character) we owe toour experience in CFTF. To date CFTF remains a registered foundation but is no longer operating. Its current board (who are mostly now senior citizens) have been wanting to turn over CFTF to a younger batch who will take over the revive it. In this regard, Kabalai Chair Roy Cabonegro and Sec Gen Ellen Estares; both former CFTF members are proposing the following:

We offer to the remaing board of the CFTF to turn over the CFTF to Kabalai as our legal shell and integrate Kabalai and CFTF. The Kabalai name will be apended to CFTF as CFTF's local name. Thus the new group will be known as Kabalai (also known as Conserving for Tomorrow Foundation). 1 or 2 of the original CFTF board will be retained. The rest will be from Kabalai.
Kabalai members will be the memebrs of CFTF. SInce CFTF have not maintained their membership, we may invite them to join but we need not wait for them to come back
We will integrate all Kabalai work in this new Kabalai-CFTF organization

Later on, out of members of Kabalai-CFTF, we will open membership for the Kabalai-CFTF Ecotour Cooperative. The coop will donate portion of its earning to the Kabalai-CFTF; making the coop a fund raising extension of the main organization. The coop will be exclusive to Kabalai-CFTF members.

Ellen and Roy are set to have an exploratory meeting with the remaining CFTF board to discuss these. We assume that the CFTF BIR registration, financial systems and document such official receipts (ORs) and a bank account are still intact. The old board can offer an office address for this new group but I can work from home on the daily operation of this group. The rest of our operation will be online on a good website.

9) Kuro-Kuro Ukol sa Demokrasya! : Reflections on the Current National Situation by: Roy Cabonegro (*)

Ako simple lang ang pananaw dito.

Ang mas nakikinabang na kakaunti lamang sa kasalukuyang sistema ng lipunan ay makikipagpatayan na maipagpatuloy ang ganitong uri ng sistema. Hindi na dapat kataka taka yan.

Sa kasawiang palad, ang ganitong uri ng sistema ay nagpapasarap at nagpapayaman sa buhay ng iilan lang habang pumapatay at nagpapahirap sa karamihan.

Ang tanong ay kung ang gusto nating pagbabago ay pundamental tungo sa pagrerepaso ng kasalukuyang sistema ng lipunan o pagpapalit lang ng mukha ng mga namumuno at nagpapakasasa.

Ito ang tunay na batayan ng siyang dapat magwaging idelohiya sa laban ng mga idelohiya ngayon!

Ang gobyerno bilang pangunahing institusyon na nagdadala ng interes ng estado ay dapat itinutulak ang interes ng lahat ng mamamayan nito kung saan nangagaling ang tunay na awtoridad at soberentiya. Sa katotoahang sa isang lipunan, iba-iba at nagbabangaan ang interes ng mga mamamayan nito, ang esensya ng demokrasya ("rule of many") ay unahin ang interes ng nakararami. Ang nakararami sa aitng lipunan ay ang mga mahihirap. Interes nila ang dapat inuuna ng estado at ng gobyerno.

May karapatan sa pagaalsa ang taong bayan laban sa gobyernong hindi interes ng karamihan ang inuuna.

> English Translation:

I have a simple way of looking at this. It is no longer suprising that the minority who benefits more from this current system of our society will do anything and even kill to keep the status quo.

Unfortunately this system only makes a few rich and happy while the majority suffers and even die because of this.

The queston is whether the change we are supporting now are fundamental societal change that will change the entire system or will it merely change the people who will continue to plunder and abuse the rest for thier own benefit and the benefit of the few.

This is the real benchmark for the ideology that should win the battle of ideology raging now in our society.

Government, which is the main instiution of the state should promote the interest of all its citizens as it it from the people themselves that true authority and sovereignty resides. However, we all know that interests of different groups of people in a given society varies and often conflicts with each other. In a democracy which means the rule of the majority, it is the obligation of the government to prioritize the interest of the majority. In the Philippine society, the majority are the poor. It is therefor their interest that our government should prioritize.

People have the right to revolt against a government whose interest it does not prioritize!

(* Ito ay personal na opinyon at pananaw ng may akda at di opisyal na pahayag ng Kabalai. Gayunpaman mainam na paunang opinyon ito na sana ay magbukas ng malalim na paguusap at pagninilay-nilay sa loob ng Kabalai. - This is a personal opinion and perspective of the author and not an official statement of Kabalai. Nonetheless, it is hoped that this initial expression of opinion would catalyze deeper discussions within Kabalai. To contact the author, please email rcabonegro2001@yahoo.com )