consumers' coalition for truthful information

As demanded by our individual and collective dignity…

“We Dare Declare

Our Stand for the Truth!”

‘Let The Flame Of Truth Enlighten Us All and Set Us Free!’.

N THIS DAY, February 25, 2009, 23rd anniversary of our victory over the tyranny that had been founded on deception, secrecy and suppression of Truth, we of the Consumers and Communicators for Truthful Information (CCTI), who have all signed the commitment to work for a Culture of Truth, and all the other citizens who have agreed and will agree with us, solemnly stand before our people and flag and dare declare:

Invoking the basic rights and best interests of the citizens of this country as the sovereign body politic and as descendants of heroic ancestors of millennia and centuries past, we now stand firm and unequivocal to seek, reveal, uphold and protect the integrity of the Truth in all out collective and individual affairs, and vow to campaign for this as a necessary reflection of our human dignity, as a standard of honorable living and interaction, in governance and in all public and private endeavors. As we do so, we are invoking the honor of our heroes, the inspiration of Rizal and Bonifacio together in synergy, the long and continuing heritage of all our heroes and heroines known and unknown.

We demand an end to the “unmoderated greed” and grand conspiracies especially in the centers and corridors of power, an end to arrogant policies of secrecy and impunity, in schemes that defraud, disenfranchise and imperil our people, compromise our health and environment, mire our economy in suicidal and masochistic policies of “free trade,” and carelessly pawn away or sell down the river the well-being of our future generations.

We shall not countenance irresponsible legislating, as what is now ongoing with the proposal to hastily commission and operate the nuclear power plant in Bataan, without even looking into the government-commissioned scientific and technical investigations pointing to a minimum of 40,000 defects, risking accidents that can result in radioactive contamination. This bill expects to bank not on common sense but only on the sheer number of solons in the Palace corral. We are reminded of Marcos’ Batasan. If not now, the respective constituents of these “approve-without-thinking” solons will soon start asking them for some respectable explanations about the the basis of their own votes for the BNPP, a vestige of the previous dictatorship’s frauds and deceptions.

We shall not countenance the technical legality of the “executive privilege” to hide the truth and make a mockery of public accountability; in fact we demand that all government functionaries honor their duty to reply. It is only the technicality of a majority vote in the High Tribunal that supports such “executive privilege,” reminding us that the same Tribunal, subject to obvious pressures bearing on its members, once blessed as “legal” (the words used then were that “there is no further justiciable obstacle” to) the dictatorship that we eventually deposed as soon as we could muster the united will power to do so, with our commitment to the Truth as part of that will power. It took us more than a dozen years to muster that courage needed to dare declare such a stand.

Let us all unite aloud for the Truth. Let us all be active stakeholders of upholding it, as unmistakably as we stood for it 23 years ago. Let us now be intolerant of deception from any which direction, even from our own ranks. Let us all build a strong CULTURE OF TRUTH for all Filipinos to manifest in our public and private lives! Let a new call reverberate in our hearts and minds, from deep within our personal and collective honor -- Mula ngayon, SA TOTOO LANG!

Manila, Philippines, February 25, 2009

Consumers and Communicators for Truthful Information

(Sgd.) Vic del Fierro, chairperson

(Sgd.) Ed Aurelio C. Reyes, secretary-general

(Sgd.) Walter C. Caancan, national spokesman

INITIAL SIGNATORIES to CCTI’s STATEMENT

on the 23rd Anniversary of our Victory over Tyranny:

Jose L. Pavia, publisher of Mabuhay, member of the Philippine Press Institute
Prof. Pedro Salvador, professor, International Academy of Management and Economics
Prof. Edilberto P. de Lunas, professor, International Academy of Management and Economics; Colegio de San Juan de Letran; and Rizal Technological University
Marie R. Marciano, president, Mother Earth Foundation; chair emeritus, SanibLakas ng mga Aktibong Lingkod ng Inang Kalikasan (SALIKA)
Cristine Gonzales, member, Kaisangbuhay inc., volunteer, Pamayanang SanibLakas ng Pilipinas Secretariat
Loretta Ann Pargas Rosales, former member, House of Representatives; vice chair, Freedom From Debt Coalition (FDC)

Edward C. Sta. Ana, deputy sec.-general, Pamayanang SanibLakas ng Pilipinas; coordinator, Kilusang Lakas Pamayanan
Josefina C. Sta. Ana, member, Kilusang Lakas Pamayanan
Rene Pineda, president, Concerned Citizens Against Pollution (COCAP); and member, SALIKA
Rex Deveraturda, member, Consumers & Communicators for Truthful Information (CCTI), and Ginikanan para sa Kalikasan
Dr. Angelina Galang, overall coordinator, Green Convergence for Safe Food, Healthy Environment and Sustainable ..Economy
Dr. Ernesto R. Gonzales, president, National Economic Protectionism Association (NEPA)
Dr. Victoria M. Segovia, national coordinator, Civil Society Counterpart Council for Sustainable Dev’t (CSCCSD)
Edgardo Talusan-Fernandez, well-known Filipino painter; former chair, Sanib-Sining Movement for Synaesthetics
Rolando Ocampo, leader, Sagip-Monumento Campaign; member, Kamalaysayan Solidarity on Sense of History
Rodolfo Noel I. Lozada Jr., whistle-blower and star witness, Senate investigation of ZTE-NBN Deal
Rodne R. Galicha, sites of struggles officer, Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM); and member, The Women and Men of Sibuyan and Sentinels League for Environment Inc (Sibuyan ISLE)
Rei Panaligan, coordinator, Eco-Waste Coalition
Antonio Claparols, International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN); president. Ecological Society of the Phils.
Edgar V. Rosero, professor in Phil. History and Rizal; coordinator Knights of Rizal; and member, Kamalaysayan
Jocelyn Manzo, coordinator, Kamalaysayan Solidarity on Sense of History
Francis Comendador, Office of Student Affairs, Adult Education, Miriam College, QC; former vice president, SanibLakas
Ernesto Sta Cruz, Davao-based environmental conservationist; member, Sanib-Sining Movement for Synergetics
Dadivas, George O., President, SanibLakas ng mga Aktibong Lingkod ng Inang Kalikasan (SALIKA)
Sister Arnold Maria Noel, SSpS, board member, BALAY Rehabilitation Center, Inc.
Faustino G. Mendoza, Jr., president, Pamayanang Saniblakas ng Pilipinas, and SanibLakas Foundation
Jose Eduardo Velasquez, vice-president, Pamayanang Saniblakas ng Pilipinas; vice chair, Kamalaysayan Solidarity on Sense of History; vice-pres., National Economic Protectionism Association (NEPA)
Emmanuel Tagunicar, light and life sharer, Poblacion, Makati City, Metro Manila
Bernardo Delmendo, concerned citizen, San Jose del Monte, Bulacan
John Carlos G. de los Reyes, city councilor, City of Olongapo