Malum Nalu

First pictures of the controversial Falcon jet of the Papua New Guinea government

2009-11-25T21:52:00.000+10:00

Pictures by EKAR KEAPU of The National, Papua New Guinea's leading daily newspaper.

Fisheries programme comes of age in Kavieng

2009-11-25T21:03:00.000+10:00

Caption: PNG UNRE Chancellor Sir Rabbie Namaliu congratulating Augustine Galuwa, who graduated last year with a diploma in fisheries and marine resources

I'll be travelling to beautiful Kavieng, New Ireland province, tomorrow to witness the first fisheries degree graduation of University of Natural Resources and Environment students. Below is a preview of the event

By UNRE Public Relations

“I, Sir Rabbie Namaliu, Chancellor of Papua New Guinea University of Natural Resources and Environment, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the statutes, regulation and by-laws of the university, now confer the degrees, to those who have successfully completed the academic requirements of their course as laid down and duly prescribed by the academic board and approved by the council, and today, their names included in the 2009 roll of graduates of the university.”

These are the words that will signify the coming of age of the university’s fisheries and marine resources (FMR) programme on Friday Nov 27, 2009 when UNRE Chancellor Sir Rabbie Namaliu confers bachelor’s degrees on five FMR pioneer graduates – Christopher Binabat, Joseph Kendou, Robinson Liu, Priscilla Warambin and Jane Wungun.

While the moment will no doubt be a proud one for the five and their families, it will be a prouder moment for the university, National Fisheries Authority, German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), University of Bremen’s Centre for Marine Tropical Ecology (ZMT), Office of Higher Education and all those who collectively contributed to making the academic programme a success since its inception in 2006.

Many challenges including the lack of funding and teaching staff faced the programme designers when it was on the drawing board in 2005, but with determination and perseverance; and the strong professional will to bring into the higher education training a much needed skill that was lacking, they overcame these.

The fruits of their labour are the two female and three male students who will go down in history books as not only the first degree graduands of the programme but also as the first fisheries degree graduands in the country after more than 20 years.

With the world now focusing more and more on the sustainable use and conservation of natural resources and environment, the introduction of this course could not have come at a better time for the fisheries sector in the country as well as the South Pacific and the world as it provides a skilled and better qualified workforce for an industry that is rising internationally as a mainstay in the economy.

Meanwhile, also graduating on the day will be 16 students who will be awarded diplomas in fisheries and marine resources by Sir Rabbie.

They are the second batch of diplomats under the programme, the first group of seven students graduating in the inaugural FMR graduation ceremony last year.

Since the first 20 students were admitted in 2006, there has been an increase in applications from students throughout the country wanting to gain entry into the programme.

This year’s first year students also include seven Solomon Islands students who applied for the programme to help develop their country’s fisheries and marine resources.

They move to UNRE’s affiliated campus, National Fisheries College, for their second year of study.

UNRE expects to take in more Solomon Islanders for the same course next year.

For now, however, all eyes are on the five degree pioneers who will make history for the fisheries and marine resources programme, higher education training and the fisheries sector.

Unitech agriculture functions transfer to University of Natural Resources % Environment

2009-11-25T20:37:00.000+10:00

By UNRE Public Relations

University of Technology’s department of agriculture will be transferred to University of Natural Resources & Environment (UNRE).

This is the word from Minister for Higher Education, Research, Science & Technology Michael Ogio.

Mr Ogio made the announcement when officiating at a graduation ceremony for more than 100 farmers in Maprik last Friday.

According to Minister Ogio, the department would be placed at UNRE’s Sepik Central Campus in Maprik, East Sepik province, and urged the people of Sepik, particularly Maprik, to look after the college and state assets.

“The Agriculture Department at Unitech will be transferred to UNRE and will be moved to Bainyik (Maprik) but you must look after the campus and be proud that you will have an institution of higher learning at your doorstep once again,” he said.

Minster Ogio said by transferring the agriculture department, Unitech would have room to develop the gas and petroleum engineering training which it now has on the drawing board.

The move is also consistent with a National Executive Council Decision of 1996.

The 105 farmers who graduated received certificates for training received in sustainable livelihood, land use and soil fertility management and basic record and book keeping under UNRE’s integrated agriculture training programme (IATP).

They are the first group to receive the training outside the New Guinea Islands region.

Minister Ogio challenged the farmers to practice what they had learnt.

“You have received the training, now the challenge is for you to implement this and make a difference in your families and communities,” he said,

“We Papua New Guineans have a tendency to dream of big things but that is not necessary.

“If everyone collectively makes small changes and improvements in our own families, that is special and will go towards the development of this country.”

New vegetable project for Tambul

2009-11-25T19:06:00.000+10:00

Photo caption: Farmers enjoying tubers of potato from NARI's research in Tambul.-Picture courtesy of NARI

By SENIORL ANZU of NARI

A major vegetable development project will be launched on Friday at Alkena in the Tambul district of Western Highlands.

Vegetable growers in the district will celebrate and witness the official ground breaking ceremony of MKL Vegetable Farming Group and launching of a project titled “Developing a Sustainable Potato and Vegetable Production in the Tambul Valley – Western Highlands Province”.

The programme starts tomorrow with church activities.

The MKL Vegetable Farming Group is a newly-established community initiative involving farmers led by Maktol Oke, a specialist potato seed grower from Aiyaka tribe in the Upper Kaugel area of Tambul.

Mr Oke, who is also the chairman of the MKL group, said the initiative was an “impact project” for the 68, 000 people of Tambul Nebilyer district which aimed to enable farmers to increase their potato and vegetable production for cash and food to improve their livelihoods.

Mr Oke said the project received overwhelming support from Tambul/Nebilyer MP Benjamin Poponawa, Mt Giluwe local level government, district administration, Lutheran Church, local leaders and the farming community.

He said Mr Poponawa - who supported the launch preparations with K6000 - and Western Highlands Governor Tom Olga would officiate at the historic occasion.

The initiative was developed with the involvement of the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) and Fresh Produce Development Agency (FPDA).

“The Alkena Lutheran Church has provided vacant land, which has been developed into a central resource centre for seed multiplication and distribution to farmers throughout the district, province and other potato growing areas in the country,” Mr Oke said,

“The centre will also be used for farmer training, demonstration and information sharing by service providers such as NARI, FPDA and provincial division of primary industry.”

Mr Oke said the development was a collaborative effort involving the community, government agencies (NARI and FPDA) and the church and stood to benefit the entire Tambul community.

He added potato was an important food and cash crop for high-altitude areas like Tambul but the industry was thrown into chaos due to the emergence of the late blight disease.

The project is anticipated to produce clean and certified seeds to be distributed to farmers.

Tambul district has climatic conditions favorable for vegetable production.

It is the major producer of potato and temperate vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and carrots in the country and the major supplier of the renowned Mt Hagen market in terms of fresh produce.

Of Papua New Guinea's nincompoops, looters and anarchists

2009-11-25T15:29:00.000+10:00

BY ALFREDO HERNANDEZ

THE FACELESS anarchists of Papua New Guinea have spoken:

On December 31, New Year’s Eve, all trade shops like variety stores, mini-groceries, fast-food counters and the like which are owned and operated by Asians – Chinese, Malaysians, Indonesians, Filipinos, Indians, Japanese, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Thais, Burmese, Bangladesh, Pakistanis, the Talibans, and many more that are just too many to enumerate here --- will go up in flames.

They will serve as their firecrackers and pyrotechnics to greet the coming of a better New Year – the year 2010.

It will be a new beginning for all of them, the dawning of the true business enterprises for Papua New Guinean grassroots – they, who have been deprived of jobs and business opportunities that are supposed to be theirs but have been stolen by Asian entrepreneurs.

And if they still have time and not yet too drunk to run around, and the police and the firefighters are still nowhere (maybe because of flat tires, empty gasoline tanks and dried up water tanks), they would also raze to the grounds Asian-owned business and high-financed Asian establishments in Port Moresby and in urban centers in the provinces.

After all these years, these businesses have become the menace of Papua New Guinea’s fragile society.

This wholesale conflagration is to end once and for all the presence of anything Asian in Papua New Guinea – the many Asian cultures, their alleged business corruption and influences.

The burning of Port Moresby and urban centers across the country will be second to none – not even the burning of Honiara in Solomon Islands in April 2006 which annihilated the country’s China Town during the two days of rioting and displaced thousands of Chinese residents could come close as far as destruction is concerned.

Pockets in the city and urban centers will glow like embers till the wee hours of the New Year’s Day.

The anarchists said they will do this because they have the solid backing of the Parliament – well, at least one of its parliamentary committees – the bipartisan committee now probing the Anti-Asian riots last May chaired by MP Jamie Maxtone-Graham (by the way, he was sacked yesterday after being perceived by the powers-that-be as being anti-Asian, a charged which he denied but for which many are inclined to believe).

The New Year’s Eve rampage, rioting and looting will be fully supported by all national NGOs; the prominent and patriotic PNG nationalists against Asian infiltration and corruption spreading throughout the country; the South Pacific Island countries against Asian transnational crimes and illegal business; and most of all, the Melanesian Spearhead Group of Nations.

Their funds will come from these allies; this is the only way they could carry out their own brand of anarchy in the city of Port Moresby, Kundiawa town, Kiunga, Lae Rabaul town, Alotau, Madang, Goroka, Mt Hagen and many more where Asian businesses are to be found.

In a memo-email style advisory/warning that began circulating yesterday and addressed to “ALL ASIAN COTTAGE BUSINESS OWNERS IN PNG, with Subject: All Asian-Owned Cottage Businesses Must Cease by 31 December 2009, the anarchists stressed this “is not a petition to the National Government or the Asians … it’s a simple instruction with a due date which is 31 December 2009.

“That will be the only solution. Forget the government. If it can’t do it, we will do it ourselves … no need to buy candlesticks on New Year’s Eve. Honiara did it … we can do it in PNG!”

The day of your hell is coming, amen.

Well, it’s not surprising.

They are banking on the expected findings of Maxton-Graham committee that the presence of Asians in the country is the one causing all the ills of the society – from prostitution, business-influenced corruption in all government levels, economic deprivation of the grassroots and stealing from the hands of the no-read-no-write locals the opportunity to run shops and variety stores which are right now being profitably operated by the Chinese, Malaysians and Indonesians. (There are no Filipinos in this area because they are here as professionals, experts and skilled workforce working with proper documents.)

The anarchists’ bone of contention is that “the inflow of illegal Asians are stealing business opportunities and jobs from helpless Papua New Guineans … it’s costing the country simple store-keeper jobs and denying the privilege of simple citizens by owning these businesses.

“Competition among the Asian themselves has left not a chance for would-be local entrepreneurs. One just simply needs to walk down the street corner stores at Gerehu and Erima (in Port Moresby), Kundiawa town, Kiunga, Lae, Rabaul town, Alotau, Madang.

“In every one of these locations, you will see a takka box (tucker shop) store being managed by three to four odd-looking Asians who can’t even speak proper pidgin, let alone English! What the hell is happening with the laws of this country?”

Wait! Wait! Hold it right there! It appears now that the brains behind this anarchic movement are no brains at all, if you want to know the truth.

For long, long years, Papua New Guineans had been given all the chances to take up all sorts of business activities reserved for them under the law.

This included the so called cottage industry, which, according to my dictionary, is defined as “small-scale industry that can be carried on at home by family members using their own equipment”.

But they did not bother to take advantage of this opportunity. There were simply no takers.

Why? Firstly, they don’t have the initiative and aptitude to run such kind of livelihood activities.

Secondly, they don’t have the business acumen for them to succeed.

Thirdly, they don’t have the capital to operate them, particularly shops such as variety stores, fast-food stores and the like. (By the definition of a cottage industry, takka shops are not included for obvious reason.)

But most of all, they are just too illiterate to understand the complexities of how such a business enterprise works.

No banks are inclined to lend them capital. Why? They just don’t trust them; the banks don’t feel they could successfully operate a bank-funded enterprise. Banks simply don’t want to risk their money to this group.

And even the so-called micro-finance banks now proliferating across the country are still hands-off when it comes to lending to this type of borrowers.

But first of all, this question: Who are these people being rallied upon by the anarchists to assert their rights to their rightful place in the national economy by burning down Asian business enterprises?

Judging from the whole-scale rioting last May in Port Moresby, Goroka and other urban centers, the protesters-rioters-looters were none other that the community scum, raskols, murderers, rapists, drug addicts, drunkards and simply hangers-on, the unschooled and the perennial jobless.

I don’t think they are interested in running their own businesses like that of the Chinese, and thus make themselves self-sufficient or economically-sufficient. I don’t think they really understand what the so-called “reserve business opportunities” means.

For all you know, they are just the usual dole-out crowd waiting for the government to come and drop onto their laps the goodies.

What they know is that they got to have some kina for their betel nuts, homebrew, marijuana and alcohol. They’re not interested in really sweating it out to eke out a decent living with which to feed their wives and kids.

Because if they do, how come they did not open up takka shops long before the Chinese began populating PNG and start running their trade stores, their fast-food shops and the like?

The Chinese did not steal from the locals.

Instead, they poured in their money into the local economy to operate a business, and created a market that has kept the community alive. They created some business opportunities for some enterprising locals like farmers and livestock raisers. They created a market within which the exchange of goods and services became possible, something non-existent before their coming.

The Chinese are so good at this that they can survive even in the harshest environment and make their business succeed and expand.

If the Chinese entrepreneurs did not come, I can bet that there would be no stores operating until now in these critical areas.

It is very clear that it is these faceless anarchists who actually want to steal from the Chinese. And they will do this on New Year’s Eve by looting their stores and help themselves to whatever is there for the taking while the city burns.

They will do this because they want to outdo what the Honiara looters/rioters did to the Chinese businesses there in April 2006.

But I can bet my ball that not one of them would succeed as the Chinese do in running that business, simply because they don’t have the brains for this.

There are many small Papua New Guineans who are very successful in their own line of business. They never thought of making the Chinese entrepreneurs redundant because they know that on their own perseverance and sheer industry, they would make it.

Take the case of those industrious vegetable and fruit growers who are raking in profits everyday from sales of their fresh produce that are reaching wide market across the country, the biggest of which is Port Moresby.

They are very good at what they do that the local market relies on them for daily supplies of fresh veggies. These are the people that the PNG economy badly needs and not those who want to take over Chinese enterprises.

Why can’t the anarchists tell their unschooled followers that they have better chances of success if they work the land instead?

The trouble with these nincompoops is that they are only after the money in the cash box at the Chinese takka shop and that they are not willing to stretch their bones, to sweat out under the sun and to flex their muscles and work the land.

I don’t mind if police would order a shoot-to-kill against them at their first attempt to torch one legitimate Asian-owned takka shop.

The New Year’s Eve plot would be their biggest mistake because no peace-loving person would come out to glorify them as heroes or nationalists.

To the city residents, they are just gutter rats, opportunists and plain nuisance that should be consigned to Bomana jail.

Email the writer: jarahdz500@online.net.pg

alfredophernandez@thenational.com.pg

To see the original web posting, please visit http://www.batasmauricio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=903:of-pngs-nincompoops-looters-and-anarchists&catid=40:letters-from-port-moresby&Itemid=117

To see previous articles, please visit: http://www.batasmauricio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=40:letters-from-port-moresby&layout=blog&Itemid=117

The Falcon has landed!

2009-11-24T11:17:00.001+10:00

The Papua New Guinea Government’s controversial Falcon 900Ex aircraft landed at Jackson’s International airport in Port Moresby yesterday.

The aircraft, fitted with an inbuilt conference facility, modern entertainment, and an interior tailor made to suit the avid modern traveler, touched down just before 11am after an eight-hour 20 minute flight at 41,000 feet across the Pacific Ocean from Honolulu in Hawaii.

Built in France by Dassault Aviation, the aircraft in its “green state” was flown to Little Rock in Arkansas where it was prepared for Air Niugini at a cost of US$40 million, which included the interior, avionics, cabinet making, and entertainment and specified paint scheme amongst other things.

It also has cameras fitted on it to aid in bad weather

The aircraft has a five year warranty and during that time, any changes in the Falcon range will also be made to P2-ANW as it’s registered under.

It will be leased to the Government as well as private sector organisations and individuals for hire.

The aircraft is powered by three Honeywell TFE31-60 turbo fan engines and has the capacity of carrying 12 passengers in a standard configuration.

It is the finest in its class; with its classic tri-jet engines design, it can land at smaller airports and fly at high attitudes, even on hot days.

It is designed to fly 4,500 nautical miles non-stop.

Only for the lexophiles

2009-11-24T10:03:00.000+10:00

From PAUL OATES in Queensland, Australia

Some new ones, some old....
1. A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.
2. A will is a dead giveaway.
3. Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.
4. A backward poet writes inverse.
5. In a democracy it's your vote that counts; in feudalism, it's your Count that votes.
6. A chicken crossing the road: poultry in motion.
7. If you don't pay your exorcist you can get repossessed.
8. With her marriage she got a new name and a dress.
9. Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft and I'll show you A-flat miner
10. When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.
11. The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine was fully recovered.
12. A grenade fell onto a kitchen floor in France resulted in Linoleum Blownapart.
13. You are stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.
14. Local Area Network in Australia : The LAN down under.
15. He broke into song because he couldn't find the key.
16. A calendar's days are numbered.
17. A lot of money is tainted: 'Taint yours, and 'taint mine.
18. A boiled egg is hard to beat.
19. He had a photographic memory which was never developed.
20. A plateau is a high form of flattery.
21. The short fortuneteller who escaped from prison: a small medium at large.
22. Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.
23. When you've seen one shopping center you've seen a mall.
24. If you jump off a Paris bridge, you are in Seine .
25. When she saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she'd dye.
26. Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.
27. Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.
28. Acupuncture: a jab well done.
29. Marathon runners with bad shoes suffer the agony of de feet.
30. The roundest knight at king Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.
31. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian .
32. She was only a whisky maker, but he loved her still.
33. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.
34. The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.
35. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.
36. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
37. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
38. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.
39. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
40. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other, 'You stay here, I'll go on a head.'
41. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.
42. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'
43. A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital. When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse
said, 'No change yet.'
44. The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.
45. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.
46. Don't join dangerous cults: Practice safe sects.

Natural enemies of green scales

2009-11-23T16:38:00.000+10:00

Caption: Ladybird…a local natural enemy of coffee green scale.-Picture courtesy of CIC

By YVONNE NGUTLICK of CIC

Biological controls are the way to go in minimising the spread of coffee green scale (CGS) affecting the coffee industry in Papua New Guinea.

Research conducted by the Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) funded under the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) on CGS showed that most smallholder coffee farmers lived with the pest or ignored the problem due to limited knowledge on its control.

But the good news is that biological controls or natural enemies of the coffee pest are being reared under quarantine and others have been released into the field to control CGS.

The existence and effect of local natural enemies such as the ladybird (Metaphycus baruensis, and verticillium lecanii) on the CGS remains minimal.

According to technical experts on the study, this was caused by a variety of biophysical factors in the environment where the organisms existed and also due to local hyper-parasites and ants that protected the scales.

Another natural enemy, the wasp (Diversinervus stramineus), brought in from Australia to be released for CGS control, is currently being reared under quarantine.

Other control measures are cultural and chemical measures.

Cultural measures include intercropping coffee with pumpkin.

Pumpkin attracts the ladybird insects, which in turn would feed on the scales on the coffee plant.

Pruning and good coffee sanitation is also a way to control CGS.

Another option is to increase shade level.

The level of shade appears to influence CGS infestation levels.

Where shade is high, CGS infestations are lower.

Some farmers apply chilli on the coffee crop to deter ants while others use soap water. Bonfires have also proven to keep ants away by creating smoke.

Chemical measures are usually applied in larger commercial coffee plantations and estates because they can afford it.

Farmers are prepared to take up relevant CGS control techniques if the cost is low in terms of money and time.

Green scales remain major coffee pest in Papua New Guinea

2009-11-23T16:21:00.000+10:00

Caption: Coffee green scale on the coffee crop. Ants facilitate the spread of scales. –Picture courtesy of CIC

By YVONNE NGUTLICK of CIC

Coffee green scale (CGS) is currently the most-serious pest affecting the industry in Papua New Guinea.

This was revealed during a project review meeting between the Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC) and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).

Under the Australian Government, ACIAR funded a project on sustainable management of CGS in PNG undertaken by the CIC.

A major ecological survey under the project confirmed that CGS was most prevalent at 1500 metres above sea level.

Other surveys conducted by CIC showed that CGS was a major coffee pest and widespread in smallholder gardens.

The pest is widely distributed and present in most coffee growing areas, attacking both Arabica and Robusta coffee species.

Coffee green scales are soft-scale insects.

They are oval-shaped, flat and pale green in colour.

They are often associated with ants and sooty mould fungus.

The ants and fungus feed on the honeydew excreted by the scales.

The scales suck the sap of mature and young coffee trees.

In mature coffee trees, the scales and sooty mould affect the fruiting parts of coffee, while the young coffee trees have a reduced growth and eventually die due to heavy infestation.

Farmers can sustain coffee green scale infestation on the tree if infestation is at the lower and middle canopy level.

However, if infestation reaches top canopy, the cost of sustaining the crop increases and the coffee tree is likely to die.

To combat CGS on the crop, biological controls of the pest have been introduced including some cultural measures in addition to conventional chemical controls.

Cultural, biological and chemical controls are essential for the management of this pest.

Cultural control involve pruning of the unwanted or targeted parts of the crop. Biological control is the release of natural enemies of green scale and chemical control requires the use of chemicals only on heavily invested coffee blocks.

Extensive research on CGS is being carried out by CIC in collaboration with national and international partners.

An evaluation of exotic biological control agents and other potential control methods is being carried out also taking into account grower information.

Based on the findings, regional and national strategies would be developed for a implementation of CGS control.

Lutheran World Information update on final statement from regional consultation on climate change

2009-11-23T15:37:00.002+10:00

LUTHERAN WORLD INFORMATION
LWI news online: http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/Welcome.EN.html

FEATURE: Don't Cry Tears Lest They Ask for Water

Lutheran Churches Urged to Protect Communities Threatened by Climate Change

KAJIADO, Kenya/GENEVA, 22 November 2009 (LWI) – Safiel Kulei's simple statement goes to the heart of the plight of many of his neighbors hit by consecutive years of drought in Kenya.

"I had 88 cows. I sold 50. The rest died. I have nothing at the moment. I have since moved to town," said Kulei, a farmer who is an evangelist with the Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church (KELC).

Kulei is a member of the Maasai community inhabiting southern Kenya and neighboring northern Tanzania. The people's lives and economy are centered on livestock especially cattle, which are accumulated as a sign of wealth, traded or sold to settle debts, and slaughtered selectively. Before the current rains began, nearly three running years of drought decimated the community's economic mainstay and livelihoods.

"As opposed to previous years, when the clouds formed, no rains fell," Kulei said when he welcomed participants in a Lutheran World Federation (LWF) African region consultation on climate change, food security and poverty. Delegates to the LWF conference had visited the KELC Olirium mission area in the southern district of Kajiado. "When children cried, they were told to make sure there were no tears since people may ask, 'Where did you get the water?'" he said, emphasizing the scarcity of water.

The final statement from the consultation on climate change, food security and poverty in Africa is posted on the LWF Web site at: http://www.lutheranworld.org/LWF_Documents/LWF-Climate_Change_Nairobi_Statement-EN.pdf

Read the full feature article at: http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/LWI/EN/2440.EN.html

* * *
(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 140 member churches in 79 countries all over the world, with a total membership of 68.9 million. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical and interfaith relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the LWF's information service. Unless specifically noted, material presented does not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Where the dateline of an article contains the notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced with acknowledgment.]

Pacific Storms Brisbane Invitation

2009-11-23T13:33:00.000+10:00

Please click on image to enlarge.

Tourist ships in Alotau

2009-11-23T09:39:00.000+10:00

Tourist cruise ships mv True North (left) and mv Oceanic Discoverer berthed at Alotau recently during the 2009 Alotau Canoe & Kundu Festival.-Picture courtesy of PNGPCL

Get a free electronic copy of the 2010 Papua New Guinea National Budget

2009-11-22T13:47:00.001+10:00

If you want a copy of the 2010 Papua New Guinea National Budget, which was handed down by Treasurer Patrick Pruaitch last Tuesday, log on on http://www.treasury.gov.pg/ and download the PDF document.

The Hela prophesy

2009-11-22T13:07:00.000+10:00

By NEWMAN CUTHBERT

I have had the privilege of being associated with the Southern Highlands in the early part of my own childhood.
My parents were both teachers and their first posting was to a school at the old government station on the shores of Lake Kutubu and we flew into that picturesque lake from Port Moresby in a Catalina (flying Plane).
Decades on as the press officer to the Late Sir Ignatius Kilage, I took in the view from Kutubu Lodge and this now included Moro.
I was told the old government station had moved on.
I caught missals while I was there as a toddler and vaguely recall dad at times singing his favourite song Poreporena the song that told the story of the people of that village who had left home to get away from the War and told of them missing home.
Maybe my own dad missed home and sang it occasionally to express his own feelings.
Sometime later we moved to Mendi where the main street of the town is the old runway to the former Mendi airport.
Early in my teen as I was starting out in journalist, Andrew Waibiria than member for Koroba Lake Kopiago moved a motion in the old House of Assembly on September 23, 1974, to establish a new Hela province and Tari as the provincial capital.
That motion was supported by John Fifita the member for Kula in Milne Bay and Manasseh Voeto the member for Menyema.
I recall Mr Voeto being very vocal on the issue of a separate province for Hela emphasising that Mr Waibiria was not asking for the current districts to be abolished but out of one of the other districts of the Southern Highlands, Hela be established as a province.
Thomas Kavali moved for debate on the subject be adjourned and this never resumed and Mr Waibiria lost his seat to Paiale Elo in the following national elections.
Two weeks ago I returned to the Southern Highlands and arrived at Tari, the provincial capital of a brand new Hela province.
It is a vibrant little town and for those of you who are familiar with Kerema and Popondetta, Tari is bigger for a late comer.
The airport runway which is as long as Jacksons International slices the town in half straight down the middle and in the easterly direction, the Tari gap rises above the mountain ranges that form a protective ring around the Hela Province.
Hela is the name of a man and he had four sons who now make up the major tribal grouping that make up Hela province.
To understand the attitude of the sons of Hela to the ongoing issues surrounding the LNG gas project, we need to understand the Hela people, their culture and their point of view which is based on centuries old prophecy that seems to be coming true today..
“Inside Gigira burns Laitebo which when kindled, the flames will illuminate Hela and the land beyond, “ said that prophecy.
It went on to say: “When the man with the orange legs comes to take the fire from you, give him an axe and tell him to go get his own firewood for his own fire.
Today the people of Hela are seeing the man with the orange legs trying to take the fire from them and in reality they are trying to protect it from being taken so that the words of the prophecy that the Gigira Laitebo will light up Hela and the land beyond will come to pass..
The people of the province look at the Gigira Laitebo prophesy in contemporary Hela to mean the social infructure benefits accruing from the project.
More importantly the people of Hela say it means the actual physical light they see when distribution power pylons national roads, provincial feeder roads and tracks into Hela clans, hamlets and villages throughout the province and the rest of PNG and beyond in pipelines and tankers.
When the missionaries arrived in the area the people found it easy to relate God to their own religious structure where Dadagaliwabe was a spiritual being higher than all spirits and from whom the world came to light.
This is where thy translate the Gigira Laitebo to mean spiritual light which must be rekindled from within Hela funded by and spread through the proceed of development of the Gigira Llaitebo, strategically put into place from time immemorial for his own greater glory by the Yahweh of the Hebrew, El Elyon of Melkisadeck and Dadagaliwabe of the Hela.
Of the same and the one crater the English speaking world call him God.
Maybe...just maybe we can all diffuse a live wire that is in the making in Hela fuelled by politics and backed by multi million kina corporations by taking time to understand the Hela society, the story of its origin and the centuries old prophecy that to them to this very day has real meaning and now value.

Asians in PNG should now boycott Post-Courier!

2009-11-20T18:02:00.000+10:00

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ

WOULD you defend a blatant and deliberate lie? Yes, by all means … at least in PNG’s liberal media environment, Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid Post-Courier had shown in the past week that it would.

Not really. Because over the years, Post-Courier has flaunted its sheer arrogance as it printed on its pages stories whose credibility were immediately questionable, but bothering not to admit to the transgression and to rectify it.

And worst, it has even fabricated anti-Asian reports, passed them on as truth, and for which the reporters and editors stood by them even to the demise of their own credibility.

One classic example which stands unparalleled yet in the Pacific was showcased on Page 1 by this paper just very recently.

It headlined a fabricated report that proved to be very damaging to the reputation of some 10,000 Filipinos here in PNG and peddled it across the nation as “the plain truth”.

I remember my country’s despot, President Marcos, who had once said that “lies when repeatedly uttered become the truth”.

As far as I am concerned, Marcos’ dictum and what Post-Courier does in its every day reporting where it peddles lies here and there don’t differ that much. Henceforth, what this daily dishes out would always be deemed as lies, however hard you try to believe them, simply because the credibility has passed out of existence.

For one thing, it has allowed its cronies to malign and destroy some Asian reputations and institutions using its pages where lies had crawled all over, but denying those aggrieved the same opportunity of having their side on the issue at hand to see print in this very same paper, only to be told that such rejection was a management “business decision”.

The events that transpired last week had been the most unsettling, upsetting and stressing for the members of the Filipino expatriate community in Papua New Guinea.

On Tuesday, November 10, Pinoys in Port Moresby and across the country woke up to find themselves in the midst of alleged 16,000 illegal compatriots.

Having read Post-Courier’s fabricated report that there are “16,000 illegal Filipinos out of the 19,000 who are in the country right now”, they were utterly horrified and in great shock.

A simple arithmetic would immediately show there would only be 3,000 Filipinos living and working legally in the country and they include a few hundreds of those who have acquired PNG citizenship and permanent resident (PR) status. This is not the case, however.

The source of the alleged statistics, according to Post-Courier, was Philippine Ambassador to PNG, Madam Shirley Ho-Vicario, who, on Friday, November 6, purportedly testified at the Parliamentary Bi-Partisan committee probing the anti-Asian riots last May.

In her alleged testimony before a panel chaired by MP Jamie Maxtone-Graham, Madam Ho-Vicario has disclosed there are 19,000 Filipinos in PNG and of this, 80 percent, or 16,000 are illegal aliens.

The Maxtone-Graham panel wanted to know what triggered the marginalized Papua New Guineans to go into rioting and looting variety shops and grocery stores owned and operated by Chinese in the Highlands and in Port Moresby.

The locals are said to hate illegal aliens, particularly Asians whose numbers are growing because they feel that they are robbing them of jobs and livelihoods reserved for them under the law.

Shortly before noon, a flurry of emails was exchanged among Pinoy expatriates who expressed disbelief that there are 16,000 illegal Filipino workers in the country.

But their immediate reaction to the report was: “How could the Ambassador say such things that would give negative picture of the many Filipinos who are here legally and at the same time threaten their safety?

A number have even rebuked the Ambassador, calling her “traitor” and “stupid” for making public such a highly-sensitive and derogatory information.

Pinoy expatriates in Lae were up in arms, berating the Ambassador for the same reason.

One angry expatriate had even called the Philippine Embassy in Port Moresby with a threat to burn it down “for making the Filipinos look bad in the eyes of the international community”.

It could not be helped. Thousands of Pinoys in PNG are legally employed as professionals, -- accountants, pharmacists, engineers, teachers, IT experts, foresters, mining managers, company managers, administrative officers, among many others.

Joey Sena, the president of the Filipino Association of PNG (FAPNG), has called for sobriety and calm as he urged the members of the community to be vigilant of their own safety against possible physical harm that may arise following the Post-Courier report.

On the morning that the Post-Courier story broke, Madam Ho-Vicario was nursing a blood pressure already gone berserk as she read the news report, horrified that it has put words into her mouth.

“This is a pure fabrication!” she said of the story.

“How did they (Post-Courier) come up with these figures?”

I interviewed Madam Ho-Vicario at the embassy that afternoon. Distressed and fuming, she vehemently denied the report.

“The Filipino community has been put at risk because of these anti-Asian sentiments, and I, as the representative of the Philippine government here in PNG, have been maligned by the report.

“I’m vehemently denying the report … it’s all fabricated … it has no factual basis … it’s unfounded and far from the truth.

“I demand that Post-Courier retract the story and print the truth.

“There could never be 19,000 Filipinos living and working here in this country,” the Ambassador said.

“I never appeared on the said committee hearing on that day to give evidence on the anti-Asian riots.

“I was never interviewed on that matter or present at the Bi-partisan Parliamentary Inquiry last Friday.

“I never knew who MP (Philip) Kikala is, I didn’t know how he looked … I just didn’t know him,” Madam Ho-Vicario rattled off.

“I would never be able to recognize him from Adam even if you put him in front of me unless he has his nametag pinned on his chest!”

MP Kikala was the source that provided Post-Courier the fabricated figures of “19,000 Filipinos in PNG, of which 16,000 are illegal”.

Madam Ho-Vicario said there are only 10,120 expatriates in the country as of June 19. About 670 of them are permanent residents, 6,600 are temporary migrants (work permit and working visa holders) and the rest are holders of tourist visa and business visa.

Just before I filed my story on the Ambassador’s denial, I called Post-Courier’s editor-in-chief Blaise Nangoi for comment.

“We stand by our story,” he told me.

Mr Nangoi said their report was based on information their reporter obtained from a source (Mr Kikala) that was at the parliamentary committee hearing last November 6 when Madam Ho-Vicario purportedly testified.

Categorically denying this, the Ambassador said: “I was never present at the Parliament last Friday”.

The National, the leading daily in PNG, carried the denial story the next day, Wednesday, November 11, and was headlined: “Philippine Embassy denies “aliens” report.

On that day, Mr Maxtone-Graham sent an official letter to the Ambassador saying: “The front page report stated in part that you appeared in person before my inquiry on Friday, November 6, during which you gave evidence that 16,000 out of 19,000 Filipino residents in this country are doing so illegally.

“I wish to state categorically that you never appeared before my inquiry, either in person or through a representative on the date as stated by Post-Courier. Neither have we received any written submission from your Embassy.

“The newspaper report is quite erroneous …,” Mr Graham stressed.

On that night when I phoned Mr Nangoi for his comment, he said: We will not make any further report on this matter … we stand by our report.”

However, Post-Courier had a change of heart, and in its November 12 edition, published the Ambassador’s denial of her being present at the committee hearing. The daily finally admitted that it made an error in reporting that she appeared at the committee that Friday to testify.

“She did not attend and made a submission,” Post-Courier curtly said.

But still, the paper stubbornly defended its claim on the presence of 16,000 illegal Filipinos. It reported that Mr Kikala testified on a bi-partisan committee hearing last Monday (November 9) that the Ambassador “informed” him about the 16,000 illegal Filipinos in the country.

ow, it is very clear that Post-Courier has confused itself in making the report in an effort to steer clear out of further embarrassment.

First, it reported that Madam Ho-Vicario appeared at the hearing on Friday, November 6, where she purportedly testified on the presence of 16,000 illegal Filipinos out the 19,000 expatriates. But later, it backtracked and admitted that she never did so.

Then, Post-Courier contradicted itself again when it reported in its November 12 edition that it was now Mr Kikala who testified at the committee hearing on November 9 where he declared that the Ambassador “informed” him of the 16,000 illegal Filipinos.

However, instead of making Mr Kikala’s testimony the main story for the next day (November 10), it was Madam Ho-Vicario’s fabricated appearance and concocted testimony last November 6 that made the headline.

And worst, Mr Kikala was unable to tell Post-Courier on what occasion did the Ambassador divulge to him the derogatory information. Was it during a parliamentary bi-partisan hearing? Was it during lunch or dinner? Or was it during a cocktail party?

From whom did Mr Kikala obtain his statistics? Or, did he deliberately cook up some “blockbuster” story to get some attention and pluck himself out of non-revenue obscurity?

It is ironic that while the Ambassador has categorically said she “never knew MP Kikala or ever met him”, the MP insisted on claiming that he obtained the information directly from her.

JUST BEFORE Madam Ho-Vicario was posted in PNG as the Philippine government’s ambassador in February 2007, she was fully aware of the number of Filipinos that her embassy would be representing in the country. She knew too that PNG is a hardship post.

“There’s no way for me to commit the mistake of giving wrong figures pertaining to the number of Pinoys in Port Moresby,” she told me. “I’m not stupid.”

Over the years, the number of Filipino expatriates here has played between 8,000 and 10,000, with many of them going home after their contracts expired, but only to be replaced by new recruits.

And the presence of illegal Filipino workers would be one of her concerns because every time they would be in trouble, they would come to the embassy for help. But there were not many, as the Ambassador has noted since her posting more than two years ago now.

With very limited resources the embassy has, dealing with cases involving illegal Filipinos who would come for assistance would be a nagging problem even if there are only a handful of them.

How much more with 16,000? There’s just no sense for her to just dish out statistics just for kicks without creating problems later for the expatriate Filipinos and the embassy itself.

But then, if ever there are 16,000 illegal Filipinos, it should not be a problem for the Philippine Embassy to deal with. It belongs to the PNG Immigration Department.

And if there are that many, how come the PNG Government is never aware of them?

Now, the Filipino community is asking: “What is Mr Kikala’s agenda? Why is he trying to connive with Post-Courier in maligning Filipinos and foment racist’s hatred among Papua New Guineans against them? Are they moonlighting as racists?”

Why did Post-Courier reject a whole-page paid advertorial that the Filipino Association of PNG (FAPNG) was trying to place with the daily for the Monday (November 16) edition?

n this advertorial, the association is asking Post-Courier to rectify its story and correct the negative impression about the 10,000 Filipino expatriates that has been generated by its irresponsible reporting.

It said: “The Post-Courier report has caused enormous damage to our reputation as peace-loving, law-abiding and charitable residents of the international community in Papua New Guinea.

“Now, we are suddenly concerned over our safety, because erroneous report has created animosity among Papua New Guineans who feel marginalized by the present state of affairs in their own country because of enterprising Asians who they feel are robbing them of their livelihood and jobs.

“Therefore, for the sake of fair and honest journalism, we the Filipino community, respectfully ask the Post-Courier to retract its story and correct the negative impression about the 10,000 Filipino expatriates that has been generated by its irresponsible reporting.

“It is only then that our trust and confidence in this newspaper as a source of news and vital information will be restored,” the association said in the supposed advertorial for publication in Post-Courier.”

Rejecting the requested (paid) advertorial placement, Post-Courier told FAPNG president Joey Sena, as if to justify its move: “It is a business decision.”

Does this mean that it is also Post-Courier’s business to besmirch the reputation of the Filipinos when it fabricated the “16,000 aliens” report?

But FAPNG is only a small fry and Post-Courier has no problem doing it. It has done the same thing to a bigger institution like the PMIZ project, short for Pacific Marine Industrial Zone, an 815-hectare tuna processing zone now taking shape in Madang province.

Post-Courier, according to some senior Government sources, has allegedly collaborated with a certain Dr Nancy Sullivan, an American anthropologist based in Madang and who flaunts her newly-acquired PNG citizenship as her shield, in trying to sabotage the realization of the billion dollar PMIZ, a pet economic development project of Prime Minister Michael Somare.

Post-Courier did this by printing a series of damaging one-whole page advertorials paid for by ragtag groups of landowners and NGOs as well as a one-page advertorial authored by Sullivan herself discrediting the PMIZ project alongside the Members of the Cabinet who are pushing for its realization.

The advertorials, especially that of Sullivan’s, lambasted the PMIZ concept for its being unworkable, lacking in logic and damaging to the environment around the lagoon of Madang, and that it would not at all benefit the local people but only foreign investors who would be … who else? … but Asians.

However, when the PMIZ Board of Directors tried to buy a one-page advertorial to refute such allegations, Post-Courier flatly rejected it, saying it was a “business decision”.

The mere fact that it is now the PNG Government requesting publication of its advertorial so its side could also be heard by stakeholders in the local tuna industry and the entire nation, and to allay fears of the locals about the alleged harm PMIZ would create, the rejection stinks and is now viewed as being the pinnacle of this paper’s arrogance.

The immediate question comes up? Where is fairness on the part of Post-Courier?

Then the second: Is Sullivan hiding the bigger picture on the PMIZ issue by only telling the locals that they would lose their daily catch to the processing zone canneries once they begin operations and that their beautiful Madang lagoon would be tarnished forever?

Did she not tell the people of Madang that everyday, thousands of tons of tuna are being caught in PNG waters by fishing boats owned by giant overseas canneries while local fishermen could only managed to land a piece or two in every outing?

That if this massive catch by foreign tuna catchers is diverted into the PMIZ tuna plants when they begin operations, those overseas canneries, particularly in rich countries, would be deprived of rich tuna supplies, thus forcing them to close-shop and throw thousands of cannery workers out of work?

Is this why Sullivan and Post-Courier are trying to prevent the coming of the seven-tuna cannery processing zone and deprive Papua New Guineans of some 30,000 jobs and the government million dollars in tax revenues? Are they working with some groups overseas? Is there a big, well-funded foreign lobby going on against PMIZ? Post-Courier may know something about this.

And Sullivan should be deported for economic sabotage. What is the NIO (National Intelligence Office) doing, Sir Prime Minister? For all you know, Sir, your pet project is under threat from her!

MANY, MANY YEARS ago, Papua New Guineans tried to grow rice with help from Filipino experts. But Post-Courier flexed its media muscles to discourage such attempt, by running stories – Australian-written, of course -- telling the nation that rice will not grow in the country.

Sometime ago, Madam Ho-Vicario facilitated the coming of a group of Filipino rice experts to help farmers in the province start a rice farming project.

Immediately after that, she received a call from a white executive at Trukai Rice – an Australian of course -- bullied her on the phone and told her to drop the idea because “rice will not grow in PNG”.

Knowing that she has to protect a bilateral relations agreement between PNG and the Philippines by all means within her authority, the Ambassador told him to “go to hell”.

Now, rice is growing in many areas of the country, thanks to the technology provided by Asian rice experts, including Filipinos.

This time, Post-Courier is telling Papua New Guineans that the PMIZ is bad for them.

Very soon, PNG will be accepted as the new member of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian) countries. Which means this will make PNG an Asian nation and make Papua New Guineans Asian people.

So, what now Post-Courier? Once this happens, Papua New Guineans should ask this newspaper to pack up and disappear for being a menace to their welfare.

PROMINENT journalists and media persons in the country and Pacfic learnt of the series of events that transpired last week through my weekly column “Letters from Port Moresby” posted on Thursday, December 12, at www.batasmauricio.com, a website based in the Philippines.

In emails sent to me, they reacted with indignation and disgust in the manner Post-Courier handled the Filipino illegal aliens report, and were one in saying that such “rubbish” should have never been allowed to see the light of day.

Prominent media man Justin H Kili, MBE, OL, was first to drop the bomb: All I can say, Freddie, is that yet again, the Post-Courier has published another irresponsible and completely fabricated story … what a shame! I feel for the Filipinos who have been mistreated through the Post-Courier report.”

Oseah Philemon, OBE, and The National’s Momase Regional Editor, reacted indignantly: “No editor in his right frame of mind would stand by any story if he knows – after being told the facts – that the story he published is wrong, incorrect in detail and ought to be retracted.

“It is responsible and unprofessional of any editor to stand by a story when he knows his newspaper got it wrong … worse of all if the story was fabricated by the reporter.

“That reporter (Pearson Kolo) ought to be sacked forthwith. No excuses. I am rather appalled that the Post-Courier can still hold its head high after committing the worst sin in journalism.”

Mr Philemon was Post-Courier’s former editor in chief.

Alfred Sasako, a Solomon Islands journalist who worked with Post-Courier during the 80s, was fuming: It’s the sort of tabloid rubbish that should have been left to Western newspapers.

“But knowing that the Post-Courier is owned by none other than a westerner, it’s hardly surprising that that sort of story should be allowed to run. It’s what riots are made of.”

Veteran journalist Susuve Laumaea has a more scathing comment: “Freddy, this is typical yellow journalism – concocted from the wildest imagination of the reporter concerned – a story that should never have seen the light of day.

“Why didn’t the sub-editor ring the Philippine embassy to get Madam Ambassador’s name correctly, ascertained whether she appeared at the inquiry and in the process also verify the story.

“… nothing so dramatic as putting the lives of a whole race of people on the line or writing them off as illegal aliens without proof.

“When it concerns a sensitive issue such as the groundswell of anti-Asian sentiment being stirred up by the people who think they have been badly done by or that their opportunities have been unfairly seized by Asians, editors should pause and weigh the wisdom, public responsibility and social correctness of giving editorial prominence to such a story that could lead to social chaos – even blood bath, vandalism.

“A great number of Filipinos in PNG have been here since the 1970s and a majority of them are permanent residents and naturalised citizens.

“I am saddened by those who “piss” best practice journalism to the wind and can not own up to say a paper erred recklessly in publishing a blatant lie that has the potential to cause considerable grief, anxiety and terror to a group of innocent foreign guests in PNG.

“The editor in chief of Post-Courier is on record as saying … that he and the paper stood by their reporter’s story irrespective of direct response from Filipino Ambassador and the inquiry chairman (MP Jamie Maxtone-Graham) categorically denying Madam Ambassador’s appearance before the PNG parliamentary inquiry.

“The Ambassador and the committee chairman also unequivocally brushed aside the contention that 16,000 Filipinos were in PNG illegally – that was an outright obnoxious allegation but then, Post-Courier relied on another MP’s version of the story.

“In the face of authoritative rejection of the fabricated news story from direct sources concerned, the Post-Courier’s stance is deplorable.

“Like you, I was horrified at the potential damage that story would unleash.

Commenting on MP Kikala, Mr Laumaea said: Kikala should be exposed for the liar that he is. He was being more than cheeky.

“In fact, he should take the initiative to categorically and unequivocally retract any responsibility in initiating and peddling a potentially inflammatory hate campaign against Filipinos in PNG.

“With Post-Courier’s editor’s response, it makes me wonder whether this is the same P-C I grew up at. Standards of ethics, best practice etc have indeed slipped badly between generations of journos that have passed through there, I venture to suggest.”

“Would you stand by a deliberate and blatant lie?” Mr Laumaea asked in rhetorical manner, concluding his tirade at Post-Courier.

“Shocking PC story about Pinoy 'aliens',” says David Robie, journalism associate professor and director of the Pacific Media Centre based in Auckland New Zealand.

Some feedback on FaceBook:

Simon Merton: “Brata, although I personally hold a strong dislike for the owners of The National, one has to admit that these days, It is the better paper.

”The Post-Courier has turned into nothing but a gossip fueled tabloid akin to the US National Enquirer. The standards are no longer there, there is no more ethical reporting. It’s now just a big Australian corporately-funded propaganda machine.”

Darren Moore: “A disgusting display of bad journalism and even worse editing, regardless of the nationality of the owners of the newspaper ( I don't see how that has any bearing on anything, or why it should even get a mention) .

“They should indeed be sued as well as being made to publish some form of retraction and apology.”

Pacific-based journalist Lisa Williams-Lahari was herself concerned: I feel an urgent statement needs to go out from as many of us as possible. It’s a sad day for Pacific journalism, not just PNG media, when blatant lies are printed as fact, and then defended. Wow, I’m speechless!”

Ms Williams has urged the PNG Media Council to issue a statement which the Pacific Freedom Forum (PFF) could support.

She said that as the PFF co-chair has pointed out, “We will call on a return to ethics and standards and encourage a complaints process”.

WITH ALL the searing indignation from the Pacific’s respected journalists, the last nail to Post-Courier’s coffin of credibility has finally been hammered for good.

And before the stench of its death permeates the air, Asians in PNG should start boycotting this newspaper, lest they be contaminated.

Asian communities should tell their citizens owning stores and shops not to sell its copies in their establishments. Its business communities must now withdraw their dealings with Post-Courier – advertisements and all.

In the first place, why should they continue feeding a dog that bites their hands?

Email the writer: jarahdz500@online.net.pg or freddiephernandez@yahoo.com

To view the original web posting, please visit: http://www.batasmauricio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=865:asians-in-png-should-now-boycott-post-courier&catid=40:letters-from-port-moresby&Itemid=117

Kokopo's building boom

2009-11-19T13:59:00.000+10:00

Kokopo, East New Britain province, is experiencing a massive building boom.

New houses are spouting up everywhere in the East New Britain capital.

Tolai businessman Eremas Wartoto is one person who is cashing in on the current building boom in Kokopo.

He has brought in a pre-fabricated house from China (pictured), at a cost of K300, 000, and already, people are willing to pay up to K700, 000 for it.

Mr Wartoto will be bringing in 15 more of the pre-fabricated houses from Kokopo and offering them for sale in Kokopo.

Kerevat gets a new lease on life

2009-11-19T11:13:00.000+10:00

Captions: 1. New water supply (right) at the female dormitories 2. Project signboard at Kerevat National High School 3. One of the 12 dormitories that was built… project manager Stefan Segecic and construction manager Mathias Bo 4. One of the completely rundown classrooms at Kerevat 5. Project office at Kerevat 6. Kerevat National High School signboard

Rundown Kerevat National High School in the East New Britain province is getting a new lease on life.

The once-derelict dormitories are being renovated at a cost of K6 million from Rehabilitation of Education Sector Infrastructure (RESI) funding from the national government.

Twelve dormitories for both male and female students are being built by local company SWT Construction.

However, same cannot be said of the classrooms, which are completely rundown and are shocking skeletons of their former self.

I was given a guided tour of the new-look Kerevat by project manager Stefan Segecic and construction manager Mathias Bo on Sunday.

“We want to bring the dormitories to the state they were in when they were new,” Mr Segecic said.

“We started work at the end of last year and expect to finish before Christmas, so the dormitories will be ready for school year 2010.

“We did everything without interference of the work of the students.”

SWT Construction is also filling in brand-new electrical fittings and bringing in new water supply to the dormitories.”

Company owner Eremas Wartoto said he was hoping to get a variation to the existing contract with the national government so his company could also work on the classrooms.

“We are looking at the government to make an extension to the contract so we can also work on the classrooms,” he said.

“We’ve already got all the necessary materials to build the classrooms, but we’re waiting for a variation to the existing contract so that we can finalise the classrooms as well before the start of school year 2010.”

Tavurvur volcano smoking away

2009-11-17T16:06:00.000+10:00

Pictured is Tavurvur Volcano in Rabaul, East New Britain province, smoking away last Saturday. I took these pictures on the beachfront at the Queen Emma Lodge in Kokopo.

Sunrise over Kokopo today

2009-11-17T15:50:00.000+10:00

I caught this beautiful sunrise over Kokopo this morning before we left for Tokua airport to catch out Air Niugini flight back to Port Moresby. I took the pictures along the beachfront at Queen Emma Lodge, Kokopo, where I had been staying since last Saturday. A truly mesmerising sight at Kokopo this morning

InterOil records drill success

2009-11-17T10:41:00.000+10:00

PORT MORESBY, Monday, November 16: INTEROIL Corporation has announced that it has successfully logged 1,224 feet (373 meters) of the reservoir in the Antelope Reef structure.

The success announcement was registered with the New York and Port Moresby stock exchanges on Friday.

The drilling and logs to date demonstrate very good reservoir quality in the Antelope-2 well which is located 2.3 miles south of the Antelope- 1 well at Upper Purari River in Papua New Guinea’s Gulf Province.

Preliminary results from the drilling and logging of the Antelope-2 well:

· Wireline logs and third party evaluation have demonstrated a gas and gas liquids column over the entire logged vertical interval of 1,224 feet (373 meters), from 6,004 feet (1,830 meters) to 7,228 feet (2,203 meters);

· Confirmation of the reefal structure with dolomite and limestone over the total reservoir section;

· The cumulative net or productive reservoir exceeds 1,178 feet (359 meters) giving a net to gross ratio of over 96%;

· Porosity averaging over 14.0% across the entire logged interval, with some sections exceeding 20%;

· The average porosity and net to gross are better than the equivalent results derived from the Antelope-1 well.

The logged interval defined above is only the upper section of the reservoir.

The drilling has stopped here, above the zone in which oil was sampled in the Antelope-1 well, to obtain these intermediate logs and to flow test the gas portion of the reservoir before running casing.

Casing off the upper gas interval will allow us to better evaluate the lower section of the reservoir where we will be testing for a potentially higher condensate-to-gas ratio at the base of the gas column.

Due to the washouts observed on the logs throughout the wellbore, InterOil has determined that the packer required for a drill stem test is not likely to seal and would not provide definitive results on the condensate ratio.

The forward program for the well is to perform a production test, run a 7 inch liner and tie back, then drill out to test and core the lower gas interval and potential oil leg section of the reservoir. The well will be drilled to approximately 8,285 feet (2,525) meters which is 1,056 feet (322 meters) deeper than the depth logged to date.

“These results continue to surpass our expectations as the logs of the Antelope-2 well are as good, or better than what we observed in our Antelope-1 well. These results combined with the reservoir coming in high, a larger dolomite section deeper in the reservoir and an increase in average porosity are encouraging.” said Mr Phil Mulacek, Chief Executive Officer.

Remote Pomio sees the light

2009-11-16T18:00:00.001+10:00

From MALUM NALU in Kokopo

The much talked about private public partnership (PPP) has taken a completely new turn for remote Pomio, East New Britain province, one of the most-undeveloped areas of Papua New Guinea.

Tolai businessman Eremas Wartoto, owner of the SWT Group of Companies, has purchased equipment worth K15 million to bring development to Pomio, starting with the development of the 26km Uvol ring road.

The road will be constructed at a cost of K4 million from Pomio's K10m district support improvement programme.

The equipment - consisting of two wheel loaders, two motor graders, two rollers, two loaders, a piling machine, a barge, seven dump trucks, a bitumen spray truck, two water trucks, a dump truck, a concrete mixer, two prime movers, two trailers and a crusher – were launched in Kokopo on Saturday in a ceremony witnessed by Pomio MP and National Planning and Development Minister Paul Tiensten, East New Britain Governor Leo Dion, community leaders and members of the Kokopo and Rabaul business community.

Mr Wartoto, a self-made success story who is one of the biggest contractors to the Lihir gold mine and who owns Kokopo's Queen Emma Lodge among his many businesses, said there was only one way to go in the province and that was south towards Pomio.

"There is only one way for East New Britain to go, and that's towards the south coast," he told an appreciative crowd.

"You can't go back to the volcanoes (Rabaul)."

Mr Wartoto said political stability at both national and provincial level was vital for economic development.

"I can see some stability in this government," he said.

"As long as there is a good relationship between the Governor and the MPs, we can make this province become a role model for the rest of the country."

Mr Tiensten admitted that Pomio was a very difficult place to develop because of the topography and terrain, and up to now, the only roads in the area were those built by logging companies.

"Pomio is a very difficult place to develop because of the topography and terrain," he said.

"If you're talking about road accessibility, you're talking about millions.

"The topography and terrain has made Pomio an impossible place to get into."

Mr Tiensten said the PPP policy reflected the changing mindset of the government towards development of the country.

"PPP is a major policy of the government," he said.

"In the past, government tried to do everything without business houses or the churches.

"We must all work together as we are all trying to serve the same person.

"Governments in the past have failed.

"That's why we started this PPP policy.

"The establishment of this ring road is a breakthrough for Pomio.

"I want to thank logging companies like Rimbunan Hijau for helping to develop Pomio.

"By next year, you can drive from Kokopo to Tol, and on to Pomio."

Mr Dion commended Mr Tiensten for his leadership at both national and electoral level.

"I agree that to develop Pomio is very difficult," he said.

"No contractor was willing to go there because of the risks.

"I'm glad that this bold decision has been made to get this machinery into Pomio.

"It's a challenge, Minister, and a challenge to the contractor.

"It's a challenge for the people to have a road in reasonable time.

"It's been a problem but now we have a solution to this.

"I thank the Pomio people for unlocking and releasing your land for development.

"I believe that this operation in Pomio will succeed in the shortest possible time."

I'm in Kokopo

2009-11-16T17:43:00.002+10:00

I'm in beautiful Kokopo, East New Britain province, and have been there since last Saturday.
I was supposed to have travelled back to Port Moresby today but was offloaded and I'll be travelling tomorrow morning.
Otherwise, I'm really enjoying myself here at the Queen Emma Lodge where I'm staying, sitting down on the beachfront with the volcanoes of Rabaul in the background.

Malum

Is the powderkeg building up steam?

2009-11-13T16:15:00.001+10:00

From PAUL OATES in Queensland, Australia

Hey Malum,
As 'motherhood' statements go, that list from the 16th APEC Finance Minister's Conference has to be the biggest and best I've seen in a long while.
Now to something far more serious:
The news item below in The National seems to point to an increasing restlessness and a potential for full scale violence to erupt.

Once it starts, it will be very hard to stop.
What's your take on this?
Cheers mate,
Paul
___________________________

Surely someone can read the signs. The shooter in the crowd may be a better shot next time. It's only as matter of time.

VIPs stoned
Source:
ANDREW ALPHONSE in TARI
A TEAM of senior Government ministers and Members of Parliament came under attack in Tari yesterday when angry locals pelted them with stones and booed them.
The entourage was in Tari for the licence-based benefits sharing agreement (LBBSA) forums and had planned to speak to the people at the Andaija Oval when they were pelted with stones.
Police had to fire several shots into the air to prevent further trouble.
No casualties were reported.
The entourage included Southern Highlands Governor Anderson Agiru, Finance and Treasury Minister Patrick Pruaitch, Petroleum and Energy Minister William Duma, State Enterprises Minister Arthur Somare, Public Service Minister Peter O'Neill, Sports Minister Philemon Embel, Education Minister James Marape, Kagua-Erave MP James Lagea, Imbonggu MP Francis Awesa, Mendi MP Pr Isaac Joseph, Komo-Margarima MP Francis Potape and Koroba-Lake Kopiago MP John Kekeno.

They were en route to Nogoli for the opening of the Hides PDL
1 LBBSA but decided to make a stop-over in Tari to address the crowd.
The crowd of mostly youths and village chiefs from Tari town and Hayapuga areas did not appreciate the presence of the leaders.
They protested over why the electorate of Tari-Pori and its four local level government (LLG) council areas - Tari urban, Tebi, Tagali and Hayapuga - were not included in the mapping of the petroleum development licence (PDL) areas in the PNG LNG project.
They felt they were going to miss out on the benefits.
As the ministers led by the local Hela MPs took to the stage to address them, the crowd moved towards the arena and booed them.
The crowd gestured angrily and shouted at the MPs and ministers.
Attempts to calm them down were greeted with more booing, yells and whistles.
Even Mr Agiru, who commands great respect in the whole of the Hela region, could not do much to control the agitated crowd.
The shocked MPs and ministers ducked for cover and were escorted to safety at the nearby Tari district court house.
Only Mr Agiru, Mr Marape, Mr Potape and Pr Joseph stood their ground in the grandstand even as the stones came flying at them.
Sensing further trouble from the defiant crowd that simply would not listen to them, Mr Agiru told them he would come in person today (Friday) and talk to them to get their views on what they were not happy about.
He then led the ministers and MPs 3km out of Tari town to Habare Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) mission where they were picked by a helicopter and flown to Hides.
One of the leaders of the protesters and Kikita village chief, Timothy Hayara, said the people in Tari were angry because not all the Hela area was included in the PDL area, boundary and mapping.
Mr Hayara said while Komo and Lake Koroba were included in the LNG map as licenced areas, they were surprised that Tari was not included.
Youth leader Kobaiya Timu said if Tari was not included in the PDL map, there was no need for the State and the developer to come there and talk about the LBBSA forum in Tari.
He said they should do everything in Hides, Nogoli, Komo and Angore areas near the project sites.
Tari-based police highway patrol unit 20 policemen, who tried hard to keep the angry crowd under control, lost their vehicle side glass and headlights when the youths stoned the vehicle.
Police personnel flown in from outside the province to provide security at the LBBSA fired several shots into the air to disperse the angry crowd.
However, someone in the crowd also had a gun and fired back but fortunately, no-one was injured.

16th APEC FINANCE MINISTERS' MEETING JOINT MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

2009-11-12T18:42:00.000+10:00

Introduction

We, the finance ministers of the APEC economies, convened our 16th annual meeting in Singapore on 12 November 2009 under the chairmanship of Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister for Finance of Singapore. The meeting was also attended by the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, the President of the World Bank, the President of the Asian Development Bank and the Chair of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC).
We gathered in the aftermath of the worst financial crisis and global recession since the Second World War. Just a year ago, the collapse of several large financial institutions led to global credit seizures, which then evolved into a macroeconomic crisis with a plunge in global trade and output, significant job losses and simultaneous recessions around the world.
We welcomed the vigorous response of APEC members in stabilising their economies by implementing extraordinary supportive fiscal measures, rapidly easing monetary policy, encouraging the flow of credit and supporting their financial sectors in an unprecedented manner. We commended the G-20’s role in coordinating these measures at the global level and pledged to maintain policies strongly supportive of growth until a durable recovery in private demand is secured.
We strongly welcomed the expansion of the G-20 agenda from addressing the global crisis to achieving a more balanced and sustainable pattern of growth. We are also committed to pursuing economic growth that is inclusive and broad-based. Inclusive growth creates opportunities for all of our people to enjoy the benefits of regional economic integration. This will support domestic demand in the region. The efforts of APEC members will play a critical role in achieving balanced and sustainable growth, given the size and dynamism of APEC economies. We also recognised that APEC, with its strength in consensus-building and implementing multi-year initiatives, is well-placed to reinforce the momentum of the G-20 agenda.
We agreed that in the post-crisis period, key challenges facing the world economy include restoring growth potential; successfully exiting the extraordinary fiscal, financial and monetary policy measures; implementing credible medium-term fiscal consolidation strategies; and meeting the region’s massive infrastructure needs.
We noted the important contribution that free and open trade and investment regimes have made to the growth and dynamism of the APEC region. We are committed to supporting free and open trade and investment to advance Asia-Pacific and global prosperity and growth sustainability, and will actively resist protectionist measures. Despite the challenges of the crisis, we reaffirmed our strong commitment to achieve the Bogor Goals.

Fiscal Stimulus and Exit Strategies

We agreed on the crucial role that supportive fiscal measures in the APEC region had played in avoiding an even deeper global recession and resolved to remain vigilant until the economic recovery gains traction. We recognised the need to reduce and stabilise public sector debt burdens at a low and prudent level. In many economies, this will require, beyond the mere phasing out of stimulus measures, a comprehensive strategy of sustained budget consolidation, growth-enhancing reforms, and measures to address long-term demographic challenges.
We agreed that the pace of implementing exit strategies should take into account different stages in the economic recovery of member economies, the type of policy measures to be phased out, and any spillovers caused by our strategies. However, actions that would strengthen fiscal credibility without negatively affecting demand--such as measures to strengthen fiscal frameworks and some pension and health sector reforms, including those that will be phased in gradually--should start to be implemented as soon as possible.

Reforms to Support Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth

We welcomed the launch of the Framework for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth at the G-20 Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in St Andrews. We noted their agreement on a detailed timetable for a new consultative mutual assessment process. We will, as appropriate, support the work of international organisations, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), to evaluate the collective consistency of policies of individual economies and regional groupings with the shared objective of achieving strong, sustainable and balanced global growth, by providing information on our policies and forecasts.
We are committed to maintaining and increasing the dynamism of our domestic economies. We agreed that, depending on individual economies’ circumstances, a combination of macro-economic policy adjustments and structural reforms was needed to achieve this, whilst supporting balanced and sustainable global growth. We discussed how structural reforms to improve economic flexibility, raise productive potential, develop financial markets and increase private demand can contribute to raising potential output growth over the medium- to long-term and narrowing development imbalances and reducing poverty.
In this regard:

· APEC members with sustained, significant external deficits pledge to undertake policies to support private savings and undertake fiscal consolidation while maintaining open markets and strengthening export sectors.

· APEC members with sustained, significant external surpluses pledge to strengthen domestic sources of growth. According to circumstances in individual economies, this could include increasing investment, reducing financial markets distortions, boosting productivity in service sectors, improving social safety nets, and lifting constraints on demand growth.

We will undertake monetary policies consistent with price stability in the context of market oriented exchange rates that reflect underlying economic fundamentals.
We called upon APEC economies to leverage on each others’ expertise in structural reforms in specific areas. Recognising the diversity within APEC, however, there can be no single approach. Rather, structural reforms need to take into account individual economies’ stage of development, demographic trends, factor and institutional endowments and comparative advantages. We discussed the important roles that the IMF and Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) play in helping APEC economies design and implement growth reform measures as these institutions have a good contextual understanding of the region and individual APEC economies. We encouraged the Economic Committee to intensify its efforts to promote structural reform, particularly noting the importance of its work on competition policy and regulatory reform.
We directed officials to, on a pathfinder basis and in partnership with the IMF and MDBs, to identify priority areas for structural reform in economies and the region, and develop modalities to share best practices and expertise, and connect reform needs with expertise and resources from member economies, the IMF, MDBs and the private sector. This should be developed in close consultation with the APEC Economic Committee and trade officials, in order to better deliver initiatives that help drive structural reform in APEC.
We will prepare a report to our Leaders in a year’s time on our efforts to achieve stronger, more balanced, and sustained growth in the Asia-Pacific region.

Strengthening Financial Systems and Facilitating Finance for Sustained Growth

We committed to strengthen financial supervision to prevent the re-emergence in the financial system of excess credit growth and excess leverage and undertake macro prudential and regulatory policies to help prevent credit and asset price cycles from becoming forces of destabilisation.
At the same time, we recognised the importance of efficient and innovative financial systems in assuring development and continued income growth. We are committed to financial sector development and reforms oriented to improve the competitiveness and efficient operation of markets.
We agreed that it was critical to encourage the revival of cross-border investment flows. In this regard, we recognised the importance of ensuring that finance continues to flow into areas of development such as infrastructure and green growth. We also welcome ABAC's report and recognise its contribution to strengthening financial systems in the region.

Infrastructure Financing Development

The infrastructure needs of the Asia-Pacific region over the next decade are expected to be some US$750 billion a year, as economies replace aging infrastructure and build new infrastructure to keep pace with rapid economic development. The global recession vastly complicated the challenges facing APEC economies in financing infrastructure requirements, with the post-crisis investment climate characterised by strain on public balance sheets and reduced private sector risk appetite. In this regard, we noted the important role of the MDBs in helping economies upgrade necessary infrastructure in the region, thereby contributing to enhanced development capacity, poverty reduction and improved living standards. To this end, we agreed to work towards adopting sustainable and viable financing policies, and supporting technical assistance, capacity-building and knowledge-sharing initiatives to make infrastructure markets operate more effectively.
We welcomed the progress in implementing commercially viable infrastructure projects and practical PPP models to attract funding from private investors. In this regard, we encouraged economies to work with MDBs to develop and implement simple and replicable models to facilitate private investments into infrastructure. We welcomed progress towards developing common approaches towards private infrastructure investment across APEC economies, and noted the scope for further progress as demonstrated in the expert report Meeting APEC’s Post Crisis Infrastructure Challenge: Towards Commonality in PPP Infrastructure Markets. We welcomed the pathfinder initiative on developing a harmonised road map for private infrastructure provision. We also called upon MDBs to conduct studies and provide recommendations to help facilitate, catalyse and channel private sector financing into these sectors.
We affirmed the importance of incorporating the expertise and resources of the MDBs, economies and the private sector to facilitate increased private sector investment in infrastructure projects in the region. In this regard, we welcome the launch of the inaugural World Bank-Singapore Infrastructure Finance Summit, which serves as a valuable platform for the exchange of views on infrastructure financing developments, innovations in infrastructure financing and urban development, and showcase regional infrastructure initiatives and projects.

Capital Market Development

We supported the need for further capital market development and integration and to broaden and diversify the investor base. We resolved to intensify our efforts to promote capital market development efforts as these are integral to efficient intermediation of savings and capital flows, therefore contributing to enhanced long-term sustainable growth. To this end, we welcomed the ongoing capacity building initiatives to assist economies in strengthening their technical skills and knowledge base to develop and deepen their financial markets. In delivering such capacity-building, we are contributing to the broader implementation of G-20 financial sector reform priorities and the Financial Stability Board.
We reaffirmed our commitment for greater participation of financial institutions, pension funds, insurance companies and fund managers to provide depth and innovation in capital markets. We noted the successful outcomes of the 3^rd APEC Public-Private Sector Forum on bond market development, and we welcomed ABAC’s proposal to organise the fourth installment of the forum in Japan in 2010.

Trade Finance

We noted the Report of the APEC 2009 Trade Finance Follow-Up Survey, which showed that the trade finance situation in APEC economies had improved since the first survey in June 2009, and that most APEC economies expect the trade finance situation to further improve over the next six months. Nevertheless, we agreed that APEC needs to remain vigilant.

Green Economy

We recognised the need to take action to tackle the threat of climate change and working towards an ambitious outcome in Copenhagen, within the objective, provisions and principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
We agreed on the importance of rationalising and phasing out over the medium term, inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption. We recognised the importance of providing those in need with essential energy services, including through the use of targeted cash transfers and other appropriate mechanisms. We will work with our Ministers responsible for energy policies to develop implementation strategies and timeframes that reflect our individual circumstances. We ask the IMF and MDBs to offer support to economies in this process.
We also agreed on the importance of simultaneously pursuing growth and improvement of the environment through research and development in clean energy and green technology, energy conservation and efficiency, as well as mitigating and adapting to climate change and environmental degradation.
In this regard, we requested our officials to study the status of green growth in APEC and public and private financing for green industries, including roles of market-based financing.

Other Matters and the Venue for the Next Meeting

We noted the recommendations of APEC Policy Support Unit’s (PSU) study on food security.
We are committed to fighting corruption, money laundering, terrorist financing, and other criminal abuse of the financial system. In this regard, we will continue to aggressively work to implement international anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism standards and to comply with relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions. We support the Financial Action Task Force’s mandate to include responding to new threats which affect the integrity of the financial system, such as proliferation finance. We welcome APEC’s work on securing remittances and cross border payments, detecting cash couriers and bulk cash smugglers, and preventing the terrorist abuse of non-profit organisations.
We thanked Singapore for hosting the APEC Finance Ministers' Process this year. We will meet again for our 17th meeting in Kyoto, Japan in November 2010.

Papua New Guinea Filipinos maligned by 'rubbish-grade' newspaper

2009-11-12T17:10:00.000+10:00

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ

LAST Tuesday, November 10, Filipinos in this city and across Papua New Guinea woke up to find themselves in the midst of 16,000 illegal Pinoys.

Well, that is, if you are to believe what the Post-Courier, a second-rate Australian-owned daily newspaper, headlined on that day on Page 1: “16,000 aliens”, with subhead, “More than 80 per cent of Filipinos are living illegally in PNG”.

And the alleged source of the figures, according to Post-Courier?

Well, no less than the Philippine Ambassador to PNG, Madam Shirley Ho-Vicario, who has been quoted in the report.

Madam Ho-Vicario, the daily reported, testified last Friday, November 6, at the Parliamentary Bi-partisan committee probing the anti-Asian riots that occurred last May, where she purportedly revealed the existence of 19,000 Filipinos in PNG, of which 16,000 are illegal.

The committee wanted to know the reasons that triggered the marginalized Papua New Guinean to go into rioting and to loot variety shops and groceries owned and operated by Chinese in the Highlands and in Port Moresby.

The locals hate illegal aliens, particularly Asians whose numbers in PNG are growing, because they feel that these undocumented expatriates are robbing them of jobs and livelihood reserved for them under the law.

Immediately, a flurry of emails crisscrossed the PNG cyberspace, originating from Pinoy expatriates with access to the internet who expressed disbelief that there are 19,000 Filipinos in PNG, of which 16,000 are illegal.

A number have even rebuked the Ambassador, calling her “traitor” and “stupid”, for making public such highly-sensitive and derogatory information.

One hyper-sensitive Pinoy expat had called the Philippine Embassy with a threat to burn it down “for making the Filipinos look really, really bad in the eyes of the international community”.

It couldn’t be helped. Most of Pinoys in PNG are employed with valid documents as professionals – accountants, pharmacists, engineers, teachers, IT experts, foresters, miners, managers, administrative officers and others.

And now this damaging news report.

Already, Joey Sena, the president of the Filipino Association of PNG (FAPNG), has expressed concern over the safety of his compatriots around the country.

He was quite aware that the recent racist attacks on Asians, particularly the illegal Chinese, and the alleged illegal businesses they operate, could now be directed to PNG Pinoys.

But then, he tried to tell the community to remain calm and urged the members to be vigilant of their own personal safety.

That morning when the story broke, Madam Ho-Vicario was already nursing a blood-pressure gone berserk, as she read the Post-Courier, horrified that it has put words into her mouth.

“How did they (Post-Courier) come up with these figures …?” she exclaimed, as she read and re-read the report, while noting that finally, the newspaper got her name right!

“This is pure fabrication … !” she said of the story.

That noon, immediately after arriving at work, I went straight to our library to have a look at the day’s editions of PNG’s two daily newspapers – The National, the country’s leading daily where I work, and Post-Courier.

Our rival paper’s front-page headline “16,000 aliens” quickly grabbed my eyes; and reading through the story, I couldn’t believe what I was reading: That our Ambassador has spilled the beans before a Parliamentary Bi-partisan committee hearing!

Immediately, however, I doubted the reliability and credibility of the story. You know why?

The night before, at about 7.25pm, I received an email from a long-time colleague working at Post-Courier as a sub-editor (deskman), asking for the name of the Philippine Ambassador to PNG, and closing his message with: “it’s just urgent …” In the newspaper work, it’s deadline time at these hours.

I saw no harm in giving him our Ambassador’s name, although I was aware that it’s quite unethical for a newspaper to ask for some info from a rival newspaper like The National.

Looking at the news story again, it dawned on me one thing: That the reporter who filed the story on the “16,000 aliens” never saw the Ambassador at the alleged committee hearing because such hearing where she had purportedly testified on illegal Pinoys never took place.

First of all, how come he failed to know the Ambassador’s name?

I assumed that when he filed the story on Monday night, he left the name of the Philippine Ambassador to PNG blank. So, when the sub-editor, who is my colleague, edited the story, he found the Ambassador’s name missing in the copy, prompting him to get it from his own source: Me.

When I saw her at the embassy that afternoon, ‘Amba”, as we refer to her during informal chats, was fuming mad, looking like smoke was coming out of her ears and mouth, as she berated the Post- reporter who filed the story and the daily paper – Post-Courier -- that allowed a rubbish report to go to print.

“Ka Freddie, I need to counter this report as soon as possible…” Amba said immediately after we shook hands. “The (Filipino) community has been put at risk because of these anti-Asian sentiments and I, personally, have been maligned by the report.”

So what’s the real story?

“I’m denying the report … it’s all fabricated … it has no factual basis, it’s unfounded and far from the truth.

“I demand that Post-Courier retract the story and print the truth.”

“There could never be 19,000 Filipinos living and working in this country,” Amba said.

“I never appeared on the said committee hearing on that day to give evidence on this matter.

“I was never interviewed on that matter or present at the Bipartisan Parliamentary Inquiry (last Friday).

“I never know who MP (Philip) Kilala is, how he looks … I just don’t know him,” Amba said, referring to the source which provided Post-Courier the fabricated figures of “19,000 Filipinos in PNG, of which 16,000 are illegal”.

So, what’s the real score on PNG Filipinos? I asked her.

According of official figures submitted by the Philippine Embassy in Port Moresby to the Philippine Congress as required of embassies worldwide, there are only 10,120 expatriates in the country as of June 2009.

About 670 of them are permanent residents, 6,600 are temporary migrants (work permit holders), and 2,850 which are considered “undocumented or irregular” (these are the holders of business visa and tourist visa).

Since I was the one to file the report on Amba’s denial of the Post-Courier report, my boss editor reminded me to get the side of Post-Courier. So, I called the editor in chief on his cell phone.

Well, it is SOP in this job – getting both sides of the story. But it is something not practiced in Post-Courier.

“We stand by our story,” he told me over the phone.

The editor said their report was based on information their reporter obtained from a source that was at the parliamentary committee hearing when Amba purportedly gave evidence last Friday.

Categorically denying this, the Ambassador told me that afternoon that “I was never at the Parliament last Friday”.

The denial story that I filed came out the next day, Wednesday, and was headlined: “Philippine Embassy denies ‘aliens’ report”.

On the same day, the chairman of the Parliamentary Bi-partisan Committee on Asian-Owned & Operated Businesses in PNG, Jamie Maxton-Graham, Member of Parliament, sent a letter to Amba, stating:

“The front page report stated in part that you appeared in person before my inquiry on Friday, November 6, during which you gave evidence that 16,000 out of 19,000 Filipino residents in this country are doing so illegally.

“… I wish to state categorically THAT YOU NEVER APPEARED (caps mine) before my Inquiry, either in person or through a representative on the date as stated by Post-Courier. Neither have we received any written submission from your Embassy.

“The newspaper report is quite erroneous in that respect,” Chairman Maxtone-Graham stressed.

That night when I phoned Post-Courier’s editor-in-chief to get the side of his paper, he told me: “We will not make any further report on this matter … we stand by our report …”

Talk about fairness in reporting, of good journalism.

However, in today’s edition of Post-Courier, it published the Ambassador’s denial of having appeared at the committee hearing, obviously in a desperate effort to wiggle out of the shit that it has buried itself into.

It finally admitted that it made an error in reporting that she appeared before the committee on Friday, November 6. “She did not attend and made a submission,” Post-Courier said.

However, while it earlier reported that Madam Ho-Vicario actually appeared at the bi-partisan committee hearing last Friday where she purportedly disclosed the number of Filipinos in PNG and how many of them are illegal, Post-Courier has made a turn-about and is now saying in today’s report that MP Kikala stated on a bi-partisan committee hearing last Monday that the Ambassador “informed” him of the 16,000 illegal Filipinos in the country.

He, however, was unable to tell Post Courier on what occasion did the Ambassador divulge to him the derogatory information. Was it during a formal parliamentary bi-partisan hearing? Was it during lunch or dinner? Was it during a drinking spree?

Or was he just fishing for some “blockbuster” story to get some attention and pluck himself out of obscurity?

Funny, while Amba has categorically said she “never knew MP Kikala or had met him”, the (dis)honorable MP is claiming to have obtained the information directly from her.

But whatever this occasion was, it never happened. Madam Ho-Vicario was very clear in saying that “I never know who MP (Philip) Kikala is, how he looks … I just don’t know him”.

So, it’s very clear that the paper has conflicted itself while making the report in its own confusion to steer away from the heat.

And the reporter, Pearson Kolo, had “masturbated” himself to produce a highly-fabricated and incendiary story.

Well, it is very clear now that the Philippine Embassy could not expect anything fairer from the offending daily, even a follow-up story rectifying the salient points of the report – the alleged 16,000 illegal Filipinos – and reporting the actual number of Filipino expatriates, or getting the Ambassador’s side of the issue.

To seek redress, the embassy is now consulting with the legal department of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Manila for advice. It is also contemplating on bringing the issue to the Media Council.

True, Amba is bent on suing the newspaper.

Meantime, the Pinoys here are jittery as anti-Asian sentiments rage across PNG.

Thanks Post-Courier for making this hatred a reality now for us, Filipinos!

Email the writer: jarahdz500@online.net.pg

alfredophernandez@thenational.com.pg

To see previous articles, please visit: http://www.batasmauricio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=40:letters-from-port-moresby&layout=blog&Itemid=117