Feb19
‘TEACHER’ NERIC ACOSTA: DROUGHT WILL AFFECT ELECTIONS
Liberal Party Senatorial candidate and environmental advocate ‘Teacher’ Neric Acosta is alarmed over the El Niño phenomenon drying up farms—another environmental calamity with grave socio-political implications affecting the country.
“Farmers from all over the country have been complaining that the drought is affecting their crops and forcing them to find other, expensive sources for water,” Acosta points out. “The El Niño and global warming are major threats to food security.”
‘Teacher’ Neric Acosta also fears that the drought will increase the propensity of fraud and money politics in the upcoming elections. “Threats of power failure or brownouts during elections may lead to a failure of elections, cheating or sabotage. The drought, on the other hand, will lead to hunger and desperation and, thus, make vote-buying a more viable option for candidates with the resources,” Acosta says.
‘Teacher’ Neric Acosta calls on Filipinos to nurture the environment with sustainability in mind—especially since the environment is the social security system of the vast majority of the poor. *** 'Teacher' Neric Acosta remains committed to bringing environmental issues to the forefront. While he was in Congress, Acosta was the principal author of the groundbreaking Clean Air Act, which served as a model for environmental legislation in Asia. He also authored laws on clean water and solid waste management. Together with other key environmental leaders, he is a convener of the Philippine Imperative on Climate Change.
Feb25
On the anniversary of EDSA People Power
by Neric Acosta As Sage once said, once you extinguish hope, you create desperation. EDSA People Power was about a country reclaiming hope and keeping desperation at bay. The dark days of dictatorship pushed the whole country towards a sense of desperation and helplessness, but finding collective strength and inspiration as a people prepared to stake their own lives and future for the sake of democracy in 1986, People Power became an embodiment of a nation’s hope and a return to its higher self. As we commemorate EDSA 24 years later in a critical juncture in our history, we are called yet again to rise against widespread abuse of power, unabated corruption, dehumanizing poverty, and the cynical sense of creeping desperation. The 2010 elections represent more than democratic electoral exercise, but a return, more fundamentally, to the very people-powered spirit of EDSA. It is time to return to the goodness and excellence of being Filipino, to fight the evil that threatens the very fabric of our democracy and country’s future, and believe yet again as we did in 1986 that love of country is what will ultimately offer us our country’s deliverance and spirit of greatness.
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Mar08
Teacher’ Neric Acosta commemorates International Women’s Day – Let’s take care of our teachers
Liberal Party Senatorial candidate ‘Teacher’ Neric Acosta joins the international community in honoring women today. March 8, 2010 is the 91st International Women’s Day.
As this occasion showcases how women are truly ”resourceful, resilient and courageous in these times of hardship”, Acosta also uses this as an opportunity to honor Filipino school teachers—many of them women.
“Our teachers have been exemplary role models for our students especially in the countryside. They go beyond teaching Math, Science and Languages, and go the distance in imparting knowledge on life skills and life lessons. I am proud to be a product of countryside teaching at Our Lady of Lourdes in Camp Philips, Bukidnon where I finished my elementary education. Teachers, the nurturers of the future of our country, should be very well taken care of,” Acosta says.
Higher salaries and more benefits
Acosta adds that these women teachers located in the countryside have been long neglected by the government. Most of them live in poverty or below the minimum standard and have difficulty sending their own children to school. This is ironic given that for several years, the Department of Education (DepEd) has been getting the biggest chunk of the national budget. However, the DepEd has been plagued by corruption scandals including substandard school buildings, defective textbooks and anomalous student feeding programs. “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap na teachers!” says Acosta.
‘Teacher’ Neric Acosta emphasizes the strong and urgent need for the government to provide Filipino teachers with their basic rights and privileges — including increasing the teachers’ wages and salaries, sick leaves and vacation leaves, medical and life insurance, and other necessary benefits.
Dec15
Statement of Neric Acosta calling for the full accountability of martial law in Maguindanao
I join Senator Noynoy Aquino in calling for the full accountability of the President, the DND, the PNP and AFP in the aftermath of martial law in Maguindanao. Contrary to claims by Malacanang or several members of Congress that the matter is moot and academic with the lifting of martial law in Maguindanao, it behooves government, more than ever, to explain to the people why martial law had to be declared in the first place and why the full enforcement of the rule of law could not have been done to mete out justice for the victims of the Ampatuan massacre and stop the cycle of electoral violence in the province.
The cache of ammunition and firearms discovered to belong to the Ampatuans and bearing the DND stamp on several of these weapons only raise the alarming probability of complicity of this government with the vicious menace of warlordism.
The admission by the PNP in the Senate hearings that their "hands are tied" in the face of the need to disarm CVOs point to the weakness of state institutions to maintain peace and order, and reveals the fact that CVOs in the region have become instruments in the service of warlordism, rather than for the security of communities.
Democracy as we know remains under threat-- for as long justice is delayed for the victims of the November 23 heinous crime against humanity, or charges of rebellion owing the declaration of martial law raise the possibility of the perpertrators of the massacre ultimately getting away with murder(s) most foul, or if warlords and their private armies are not disarmed.
This is a time for extreme vigilance, as the country heads into a critical national election in five months. Mindanao will only know lasting peace and justice when democratic institutions are held sacred and the rule of law is upheld without fear or favor.
Neric Acosta
Liberal Party Vice-President for Mindanao
LP senatorial candidate
December 15, 2009
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