PHILIPPINE POST

Ampatuans tried to secure amnesty for cache of guns

2011-11-25T08:15:00.001-08:00

Maguindanao Massacre, Year 2
http://pcij.org/maguindanao/

BY ED LINGAO

Philippine Centre for Investigative Journalism
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011

First of Two Parts

JUST A few weeks after the Nov. 23, 2009 Maguindanao Massacre, where 58people including 32 journalists were executed in a remote barangay in Ampatuantown, officials of the Firearms and Explosives Division (FED) of the PhilippineNational Police (PNP) were surprised to receive a deluge of applications forgun amnesty from one particular province in Mindanao.

Every once in a while, the national government offers a gun amnesty tothe general public. These amnesty offers are a general pardon of sorts, wherepeople with loose or unlicensed firearms are allowed to have illegal gunslicensed and registered in their names.

But this batch of applications raised a red flag among officials of thePNP-FED, the agency tasked with regulating gun ownership and use in thecountry.

First of all, almost all the new applications originated fromMaguindanao province, where the massacre occurred.

Second, the applicants were mostly members of the local civilianvolunteer organizations, or CVOs, the local militia. Interestingly, members ofMaguindanao’s CVOs who owed loyalty to the Ampatuan clan, had been implicatedin the massacre.

Third, many of the firearms were the highly-priced Bushmaster M4A3, avariant of the M4 carbine used by many special forces units. Just a few yearsearlier, the Ampatuan clan, through the Maguindanao provincial government, hadpurchased 50 Bushmasters through gun trader Crisostomo Aquino, allegedly tofight the terrorist threat in the province. The end users of the Bushmasters, pricedat P120,000 each, were supposed to be members of the Maguindanao PNP.

Sr. Superintendent Danilo Maligalig, then operations chief of thePNP-FED, recalls that this batch of amnesty applications, “numbering around ahundred,” immediately caught the attention of firearms regulators.

The gun amnesty, provided for through Executive Order 817 signed bythen President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in June 2009 as part of the NationalFirearms Control Program (NFCP), had expired on Nov. 30, 2009, or a few daysbefore this batch of amnesty applications swamped the FED.

From cops to CVOs

“Sinubukan nilang ipahabol ang mga ito (They tried to get this pastus),” Maligalig recalls.

Maligalig says investigation by the FED later showed that thesefirearms were the same guns issued to the Maguindanao PNP to fight the rebelMoro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and other armed groups in the region.

But police officials were puzzled how these firearms found their way tothe CVOs, who then tried to acquire legal possession of them through thefirearms amnesty program. What made the applications all the more unusual wasthe fact that the guns had never even been declared lost by the local PNP inthe first place.

To Maligalig and other FED officials, this much was clear: firearmsmeant for the government arsenals had found their way to armed groups loyal tothe Ampatuans.

Too, the clan appeared to be scrambling to save its arsenal and retainits armed might in the wake of the government crackdown against the firepowerof the Ampatuans.

But more importantly, it was an sign of how the Ampatuan clan, likeother well-armed political families, may have mastered the art of finding andtaking advantage of apparent loopholes in firearms laws and amnesty programs inorder to build, arm, and maintain a parallel arsenal that rivals even that ofthe national government’s.

At the same time, it put into question the entire firearms regulationsystem, including the fact that some state agencies such as the Armed Forces ofthe Philippines (AFP) deem themselves exempt from such rules.

Alarming findings

Maligalig says that FED officials immediately suspended that batch offirearms amnesty applications while a probe was underway.

The results of the probe were alarming.

Maligalig, who acted as vice chairman of the investigating committeeformed by the FED, said they found that many of the firearms bought withgovernment funds supposedly for the local PNP were really meant to be used bythe Ampatuan militia.

Under PNP rules, local governments may purchase firearms for the use ofthe local police force. These purchases are, however, covered by an end-usercertificate, which specifies who is the firearm’s real user. In the case of theBushmaster carbines, the guns were supposed to go straight to police officersassigned in Maguindanao.

“The guns were meant for the local police of Maguindanao, in fact thememorandum receipts (MR) were in the name of the policemen assigned,” saysMaligalig. “Pero pirma lang ‘yun (But these were just signatures on paper.) Theactual distribution of the guns was made to the militia members.”

He says that a closer scrutiny of the firearms applications showed thatsome of the CVO members applying for gun amnesty were in fact implicated in theMaguindanao Massacre itself.

Wanted-list pics

“If you look at the pictures on the wanted list,” says Maligalig,“these were the same pictures in the amnesty applications application.”

A number of these CVO members were later arrested and have beenincluded in the Maguindanao Massacre case now pending before the Quezon CityRegional Trial Court.

Maligalig says it appeared that the clan had ordered militia members tohave these high-powered firearms placed under the amnesty program, in order tospare them from confiscation by the government.

“When things got hairy, they (the Ampatuans) attempted to have theirfirearms placed under the amnesty program,” Maligalig tells the PCIJ.“Pinangalan lang ang mga baril sa mga militia (They just tried to have the gunsregistered in the name of their milita members).”

In all, some 1,200 firearms were reported by the AFP to have beenunearthed, confiscated, or recovered in Maguindanao province following theMaguindanao Massacre, according to AFP spokesmen in 2010.

Most of these firearms were old and obsolete firearms usually issued tomembers of the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Units (CAFGUs) and CVOs, theso-called force multipliers authorized through Executive Order 546 signed bythen President Gloria Arroyo in July 2006.

High-powered metal

A number of these recovered firearms, however, are clearly high-poweredand high-end. Among the firearms recovered, as listed by the Mindanao-basednews cooperative Mindanews, were:

■Four 60-mm mortars with ammunition;

■Two 81mm mortars;

■A 90mm recoilless rifle (actually amisnomer. The recoilless rifle fires a shaped charge that can punch a holethrough armored vehicles);

■A 57-mm recoilless rifle;

■One Barrett sniper rifle (a specializedsniper weapon that delivers a half-inch slug with an effective range of1.8 kilometers. The model recovered was a civilian version, although Barrettsniper rifles are normally not sold to private individuals but only togovernments);

■Three M60 light machine guns (the standardmachine gun of the AFP and the PNP);

■One .50 caliber heavy machine gun, alsocapable of punching holes in armored vehicles; and

■Various high-powered rifles and hand guns

Of these firearms, some 300 guns were turned over to the PNP Region 12crime laboratory in General Santos City on suspicion that they were directlyinvolved in the Maguindanao Massacre. So far, four of these confiscated gunshave already been matched with slugs recovered from the victims and the site,according to Task Force Maguindanao head Chief Superintendent Benito Estipona.It is not clear if any of these firearms were part of the batch that CVOs triedto have registered under the amnesty program.

One long, one short

As a general rule, the country’s laws regulating firearms ownershiplimits the number of firearms owned by private citizens to “one long, oneshort,” or one rifle and one pistol.

In addition, private citizens are only allowed to own bolt-action orsemi-automatic rifles with caliber no larger than .22 of an inch. The usualexemption is for gun club members, who are allowed a maximum of 10 rifles, butonly “for sporting use.”

Yet according to the findings of the lifestyle check conducted byDeputy Ombudsman Humphrey Monteroso on the Ampatuan assets and submitted by theAnti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to the Court of Appeals, the Ampatuan clanhas at least 157 firearms of various calibers registered in the PNP-FED’sFirearms Identification Management System (FIMS) masterfile.

Of these 157 registered firearms, 23 are listed under the name of AndalSalibo Ampatuan Sr., and 26 under the name of Zaldy Uy Ampatuan. Eighteen gunsare registered under the name of Andal Uy Ampatuan Jr., while another 15 areregistered in the name of his brother Anwar.

(An earlier report by the PCIJ, quoting PNP-FED officials, pegged thenumber of firearms registered to members of the Ampatuan clan at 271,distributed among 103 persons with the surname Ampatuan.)

How then were the Ampatuans able to register so many firearms undertheir names?

Big cache of guns

Current officials of the PNP-FED refused repeated requests by the PCIJfor an interview. But Police Chief Superintendent Ricardo Marquez, executiveofficer of the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management, says“the only way I can think of” how the clan was able to pull off such a feat isthrough the numerous amnesty programs offered over the years. This is becauseunder the amnesty program, an applicant can register any number of firearms.

Marquez says even long firearms are included in the amnesty program.“The (limit) of only one-long, one-short is effectively overruled (by theamnesty),” he adds.

Since 1992, the government has offered at least 12 amnesty programsthat would enable holders of loose firearms to have them registered andlegalized for a fee.

But there is yet one more apparent loophole in the amnesty program thatallows gun owners to collect and legally own high-powered firearms. Under thecountry’s gun laws, private citizens are not allowed to own high-powered riflesof 5.56 mm or 7.62 mm. These are the calibers of the standard M-16 rifle andthe M1 Garand or the M14 rifle used by the police and the military.

The various amnesty programs, though, allow applicants to ownhigh-powered rifles so long as they do not exceed 7.62mm. This means anapplicant for amnesty can, once approved, legally own his own arsenal ofhigh-powered firearms that are not available to ordinary citizens.

‘Designer guns’

A quick inspection of the list of firearms registered under the namesof the Ampatuans, meantime, also reveals a proclivity, not just forhigh-powered firearms, but for “designer guns,” as described by one securityconsultant, as well.

Of the 23 firearms listed under his name, Andal Sr. owns anIsraeli-made 5.56 Negev light machine gun, a belt-fed or drum-fed machine gunthat is hardly for sporting use. The Israel Weapon Industries website describesthe Negev as “a small, light weight advanced machine gun” that allows “accurateand fast controlled fire for close quarter battle or an automatic mode thatallows maximum firepower.”

In addition, Andal Sr. owns a Heckler and Koch MP7 submachine gun, anew generation of submachine guns whose 4.6mm bullets can punch holes throughbulletproof vests. Manufacturer Heckler and Koch’s official website describesthe MP7’s ammunition as capable of penetrating a bulletproof vest “comprised of1.6mm titanium plates and 20 layers of Kevlar, out to 200 meters and beyond.”

Andal Sr. also owns 18 pistols and three other high-powered rifles.

Not to be outdone, Zaldy Ampatuan owns a Negev light machinegun, two HKMP7 submachine guns, an HK UMP40 submachine gun, and two Israeli-made Tavorassault rifles, the same rifle now being issued to the Israeli Defense Forces(IDF). This is aside from the 11 pistols and one shotgun that he owns.

Andal Jr., for his part, has 18 registered firearms, according to PNPrecords. These range from an OAR 556 rifle to a 5.7 caliber Fabrique Nationalesubmachine gun.

Expensive buys

A gun expert consulted by the PCIJ calls these “designer guns” that arevery expensive, and hard to come by. An MP7 can be purchased in the Philippinesfor P 700,000 to P900,000 each because it is so rare, the expert says. TheTavor, with its bullpup design and built-in illuminated sights, can fetchanywhere from P600,000 to P700,000. A Negev light machinegun, because of itsfunctionality, would be worth around P 1.2M in the Philippine market, he says.

In an email reply to PCIJ’s written queries, Andal Ampatuan Sr.’slawyer, Sigfrid Fortun, dismisses suggestions that the Ampatuans had used theamnesty programs to build up their weapons arsenal.

“Whether they used the Amnesty Program to legitimize their possessionof these weapons is arguable,” Fortun writes. “One thing is certain, though,when an unlicensed firearm is brought to the fold of the law and the PNPaccepts it to license it, is this not far better than having loose firearmswhere the government does not even know exactly how many firearms one has inhis possession? Now how can this submission to the fold of the law be immoralor illegal?”

Indeed, the argument is echoed by some police officials who see noproblem with the liberal application of gun amnesty proclamations.

Marquez and Maligalig, for instance, both say it is better to encouragegun owners to have their loose firearms licensed, than to have these floatingaround unregistered.

Maligalig says the PNP-FED purposely made the amnesty proclamations moreliberal “to ferret out” the loose firearms. He notes, “It was needed so that wecould account all of those unrecorded.”

“The aim is to get the firearms registered, get their ballisticcharacteristics, and stencil them so that when they are used in a crime, theycan be traced to their owners,” Marquez points out. “What’s the bettersituation, more guns that aren’t registered or have an amnesty program that hasloose guns registered and stenciled?”

But he says there is an aspect of gun control that does need immediateattention. Over the years, he says, only civilians have been strictly followingthe letter of the law on firearms purchase and ownership. The likes of the AFP,effectively the biggest armed group in the country, apparently do not believe theyhave to follow such rules on firearms.

For example, Marquez says that firearms acquisitions made by AFP unitsoutside of the regular arms dealers have largely been unregistered andunlicensed. Maligalig also says that AFP arms purchases go “undeclared.”

Floating around

For this reason, there are firearms floating around in the grey areabetween formal military units and the local government militias that thegovernment has no records of. As such, it is much easier for high-poweredfirearms supposedly destined for the AFP to disappear into a black hole ofsorts.

“When firearms are bought from a dealer, they are automaticallyregistered,” says Marquez. “But when firearms are not acquired through thatprocess, they are not registered. Some of the firearms of the AFP were throughforeign military sales, so these were given directly to the AFP.”

“Our suggestion,” he says, “is for everybody’s firearms, especiallygovernment firearms, to be registered, and their records kept by the PNP,meaning ballistics records, stencils, etc.”

But the paperwork for such a process would probably have to competewith those from local officials who seem to believe they have to have aformidable arsenal in order to govern.

They fancied guns

Lawyer Fortun, for one, describes that the Ampatuans are “publicofficials who, during their incumbency, fancied guns (like most Alpha males).This was public knowledge.”

Yet he also defends the large number of firearms registered under thenames of the Ampatuan family members by saying that the clan “was used by andhad assisted the Government to fight the MILF.”

“Unsay (Andal Jr.) was in the forefront of these armed encounters,”Fortun says in his email reply to PCIJ’s queries. “They were the ‘stay-behindunits’ after the army completed its assault on known MILF territories. Theytook over and held the ground after the army had returned to their securecamps, and they kept the area they held MILF-free.”

According to Fortun, though, many of exotic firearms listed under thenames of the Ampatuans were actually “gifts from constituents and others.”

Curiously, a PCIJ report on the guns of the Ampatuan clan published in2010 also mentioned the fondness of some Ampatuan family members to give gunsas gifts as well. Former Maguindanao Martial Law administrator Lt. Gen.Raymundo Ferrer had told the PCIJ that he had been offered one of the Tavorassault rifles of Zaldy Ampatuan as a gift a few weeks after the MaguindanaoMassacre.

“Sir, kunin mo na lang, sa iyo na lang daw ang Tavor ni RG (Sir, justget it, RG’s Tavor is yours),” Ferrer recalls the aide of Zaldy as telling himover the phone.

On another occasion before the massacre, Ferrer recalled havingreceived a brand new M4 assault rifle as a gift after a meeting with ZaldyAmpatuan. Ferrer said the gun was thrust on him by an Ampatuan aide while hewas leaving.

A basic M4 assault rifle, without accessories, costs from $2,000 to2,800 when purchased in bulk. —PCIJ, November 2011

Justice and Rule of Law in the Philippines, Maguindanao Massacre, ZaldyAmpatuan

SC orders distribution of Hacienda Luisita

2011-11-24T08:50:00.001-08:00

A copy of the Supreme Court en banc resolution on the Hacienda Luisitacase.

BY IRA P. PEDRASA, abs-cbnNEWS.com
Posted at 11/23/2011 11:12 PM | Updated as of 11/24/2011 1:30 AM

MANILA, Philippines—Saying farmer-beneficiaries will not benefit fromdistribution of shares of stock, the Supreme Court has ordered the distributionof 4,915.7466 hectares (has.) of Hacienda Luisita, the sugar estate owned bythe relatives of President Benigno Aquino III.

In a 56-page resolution promulgated Wednesday and penned by AssociateJustice Presbitero Velasco Jr., the high court modified its decision in Julythat allowed 6,296 farmer-beneficiaries to choose between ownership ofagricultural land or shares of stock representing the value of the sugarestate.

"In line with our finding that control over agricultural landsmust always be in the hands of the farmers, we consider our ruling that thequalified FWBs [farmworker beneficiaries] should be given an option to remainas stockholders of (Hacienda Luisita Inc.), inasmuch as these qualified FWBswill never gain control given the present proportion of (the)shareholdings," the new decision says.

It was a unanimous decision, where 14 of 15 magistrates voted for thedistribution of lands. Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio did not takepart.

Some of the magistrates, however, gave separate concurring anddissenting opinions that tackled several provisions including the valuation ofthe lands.

The decision explained that the stock distribution plan put forward bythe management will never provide the control sought by the FWBs. Control, inthis case, means 50% plus at least one share of the common shares.

Taking into account the P590,554,220 total assets of HLI, the value ofthe land in question is P196,630,000 or 33.296%.

"There is even no assurance that 100% of the 118,391,976.85 sharesissued to the FWBs will all be voted in favor of staying in HLI, taking intoaccount the previous referendum among the farmers where said shares were notvoted unanimously in favor of retaining the (stock plan)," the decisionsays.

The high court noted that if the farmers choose stocks, they will betreated as common shareholders not protected by the Comprehensive AgrarianReform Law.

HLI ordered to pay P1.33 billionto beneficiaries

The SC also reiterated its ruling in July ordering HLI to pay the 6,296farmers a total of P1.33 billion broken down as follows:

•P500 million HLI received fromLuisita Realty Inc. for the sale of 200 hectares of land in 1996;

•P750 million for the sale ofthe Luisita Industrial Park; and,

•P80,511,500 for the sale of the80.51-hectare lot for the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) road network.

The 3% of the proceeds of the transfers that were paid earlier to thefarmers shall be deducted from the P1.33 billion.

The just compensation for the landowners, on the other hand, will beassessed by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the Land Bank of thePhilippines.

The valuation compensation will be reckoned from November 21, 1989, thedate of the issuance of the original resolution that was questioned by HLI.

DAR was ordered to submit a compliance report after 6 months fromfinality of judgment. It was also ordered to submit quarterly reports on theexecution of the judgment.

President Aquino divested his shares from Hacienda Luisita Inc.following his victory in the May 2010 presidential elections. It is now ownedmainly by his uncles and aunts.

During the 2010 election campaign, he promised to find ways and meansto transfer the assets of Hacienda Luisita to farmer beneficiaries. He alsosaid he had asked his "extended family" to support his position.

A friendship with Pops across 34 years

2011-10-20T18:54:00.000-07:00

GUNNED DOWN Fr. Fausto Tentorio, a member of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME), parish priest of Arakan, North Cotabato, was gunned down this morning in his convent 8:30 a.m., Monday, October 17, 2011. File Photo courtesy of PIME Philipines.

A SOJOURNER’S VIEW: A friendship with Pops across 34 years
By Karl M. Gaspar C.Ss.R. Tuesday October 18, 2011 Filed under:
SOMEONE ELSE'S WINDOWS. By H. Marcos C. Mordeno

CEBU CITY (MindaNews/18 October) — The first text came just before 10 a.m. on the 17th of October, 2011 with these words—Fr. Fausto Tentorio, Italian priest basd in arakan, servng the lumads and farmers since the 80s was shot dead ds am. Lets pray 4 hs soul and demand justice 4 hs unjust death. Pls standby 4 advisory trip to arakan 4 hs wake. Because it was sent by good friend Norma Javellana from Davao City who is ever so reliable with accurate reporting, I had no reason to doubt that the news was true.

I was at our retreat house on Nivel Hills in Cebu City when the text reached me. Our community of Redemptorists was gathered on this hill for our day of recollection and I was contemplating on the life of St. Gerard Majella C.Ss.R., a Redemptorist saint who was a Brother. He was born in Moro Lucano in southern Italy in 1726, died on 16 October 1755, beatified in 1893 and canonized in 1904. He died at age 29 of tuberculosis, three years after the joined the Redemptorists. We celebrated his feast day on Sunday, which also happened to be the 20th anniversary of the martyrdom of Fr. Satur Neri of the Diocese of Malaybalay, gunned down because of his anti-logging advocacy.

The first thought that came to mind as I read the text that brought very sad news was this: the Mindanao Church has another martyr, another saint! The mind has a way of cushioning the impact of a news that brings tremendous shock! I recalled when I first heard the news that my late father was killed; I thought—what will happen to the wonderful gardens that he was tilling in our backyard!

My mind continued to assert itself so that my heart would not cave in. I immediately thought of those who should know immediately about what happened in Arakan. I thought of old friends from the Diocese of Kidapawan and colleagues of the Mindanao Church’s MSPC network, those in the circle of friends working in solidarity with the Lumad (Mindanao’s indigenous peoples), the Kaliwat Theatre Collective (who had worked for three years with Fr. Fausto who was fondly called Pops) and others who knew and cared for Pops. I also texted a friend at the Ateneo de Manila University Press as they just published my book—MANOBO DREAMS IN ARAKAN: A People’s Struggle to Keep Their Homeland—in which Fr. Fausto figures prominently.

In the next hour or so, texts flew all over the islands. After an hour, there was a lull. Then I surrendered to the desire of the heart to grieve and tears fell. Once there was a respite from the primordial need to let go of the deep sadness that so consumed my total being, I remembered snapshots of the past 34 years since I first met Pops.

Our paths first crossed at the Maryknoll Language School in Lanang, Davao City. It was sometime in 1978 (or 1979?). I was then the Executive Secretary of the Mindanao-Sulu Pastoral Conference Secretariat and that work brought me into close association with practically all the religious congregations with communities in Mindanao-Sulu. I had met the PIME missionaries and visited their communities in Ayala, Zamboanga City and Siocon, Zamboanga del Sur. As I was an occasional lecturer on Filipino culture and the Mindanao-Sulu church at the Maryknoll School, I met the PIMEs who went there to study Cebuano-Bisaya.

He wasn’t known as Pops then. We called him Fausto and he easily stood out in class. With his curly long hair, moustache and sharp eyes, he had the look of a prophet! Like a few other PIMEs and other foreign missionaries who preferred to go to the hinterlands of Mindanao, he didn’t worry about what people thought of his appearance. He wore whatever was simple and comfortable and that was always a T-shirt, rugged pants and rubber slippers. Many people would have joked that he looked like Jesus Christ the vagabond.

Fausto had a hunger to know as much as could be known about the Philippines and Mindanao, about the people and their culture, the problems of the country (this was at the height of martial rule) and what the people were doing to resist the Marcos dictatorship. He asked a lot of questions inside and outside the classroom. He sought to do good in learning the local language. He was an ideal student and one knew that he would do well as a missionary in Mindanao. As he was also gentle and soft-spoken, one intuited that even if he would take a militant stance as a progressive church worker he would not get into trouble with the military and their henchmen.

After his language studies, I would see him again and again and again. Our paths crossed a hundred times through the 34 years of our friendship owing to the convergences of our vocation and interests. Most of these were during PIME gatherings to which I would be invited, diocesan assemblies in the Diocese of Kidapawan including gatherings of those who work among Lumads and later in Arakan where Fausto would be assigned for close to three decades.

The Redemptorist Mission Team based in Iligan City was invited to conduct a mission in the Mother of Perpetual Help Parish in Arakan, Cotabato in 1986. I had joined the Redemptorists by then and spent time in Arakan. Fausto was already working there with lay associates engaged in various social development projects—that dealt with issues of land, health, education and livelihood—at the service of the Manobo communities. That provided a good chance to catch up with him.

In the next decade, two developments brought us together again. First was the initiative of a few church workers and those of the IP-NGOs to pick up on the ruins of LUMAD MINDANAO, the network of Indigenous Peoples’ Organizations that were set up and which thrived during the martial rule. In the years following February 1986, LUMAD MINDANAO faced organizational problems and collapsed. Fausto’s confrere, a well-known and well-respected figure in the IP circles, Fr. Peter Geremia, PIME, was one of the key people in this initiative to set up another network that would respond to the post-1986 realities of Lumad organizing. Thus was born PANAGTAGBO. In various activities launched by PANAGTAGBO, literally I would have panagtagbos (encounter) with Fausto and the Lumad leaders he was associated with in Arakan.

Then in the wake of the DENR’s Departamental Order No. 2 (DAO-2) that came out in 1993, there arose a possibility for the Lumad to have some level of control and ownership of their ancestral domain through the issuance of the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT). Fausto—who was then becoming more known as Pops to those outside of Arakan—contacted the Kaliwat Theatre Collective, then headed by Nestor Horfilla, to assist their group in Arakan to apply for a CADT. Thus was born the cultural project of Kaliwat in collaboration with the Tribal Filipino Program under Pops and the Manobo’s IPO, the Manobo Lumadnong Panaghiusa (MALUPA). As I am an honorary member of Arakan, I got to tag along in some of the activities connected to this project.

Fast forward to my doctoral studies at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City which began in mid-1996. When I thought of topics for my dissertation, at the top of the list was to look into the collaborative effort of these three civil society agents in Arakan. Ultimately, when I began to do fieldwork in 1998, there was only one choice left, namely go to Arakan. One of the major reasons for this decision was that Pops was there to fully back me up.

By the late 1990s, I was already in my early-50s and Pops was in his late 40s. Both of us were growing older and we’ve had our ups and downs in our social and pastoral engagements. We were comparing about the remaining hair still standing on our heads and how it was getting more difficult to climb the steep mountain slopes. I made it a point to spend week-ends in the convento during the year of my fieldwork in Arakan. Through the night we had long chats.

He shared his heartaches about what was happening in Arakan, the frustrations he faced with the work. He felt so sad that the well-to-do Ilonggo settlers who have come to Arakan have grabbed the Manobos’ land. That the government continued to be in the hands of settlers and provided so little for the needs of the Manobos. That rich landowners and businessmen were continuing to find ways to set up plantations. That Ilonggo parishioners continued to ask him why he cared so little for them and that he only paid attention to the needs of the Lumad.

And he shared about his fear that despite what he and his colleagues—including highly committed Manobo leaders—were doing for and on behalf of the Manobo, there was no assurance that they could continue to encourage them to remain united in their struggle for self-determination for the sake of their children’s children.

By the beginning of this millennium I was out of Arakan. I finished my dissertation. went to Arakan to give Pops, his colleagues and the MALUPA leaders with a copy of the dissertation as I have promised, then quickly returned to our mission team and did missions across Mindanao including those in IP communities. The years quickly went by. My encounters with Pops became rare as it was not that easy anymore to just go off to Arakan. Even as I was still attending the meetings of the Episcopal Commission on Indigenous Peoples both the regional and national levels, he would rather not join such conferences. I didn’t blame him as he always preferred to be in the field rather than in ssembly halls or conference rooms. But I continued to hear about what he was oing as I bumped into his confreres and colleagues every now and then.

When the book Manobo Dreams in Arakan got published in middle of this year, I planned to have a book launch where he, the MALUPA leaders and the original members of Kaliwat would attend. As it was not possible to do it in Arakan or even Kidapawan (owing to time and financial constraints), the next best site would be in Digos City. My friends at Cor Jesu College including Donna Celebrado who used to be a member of Kaliwat, were going to organize it. I looked forward with a lot of excitement to that possibility, mainly to see Pops again and catch up with the recent developments as well as be updated with how things were in Arakan.

Alas, it wasn’t going to happen. And the reason was because it came to pass that Pops’ fears would come true. The unity among the Manobos in Arakan which was at one time one of the strongest among IP communities in Mindanao had earlier fragmented. MALUPA had split into two camps. They and Pops could not all come to attend the book launch.

If I knew then what I know now, I could have taken the four-hour trip to Arakan and sought Pops and give him a copy of the book. That would have pleased him, not so much because he cared for books but he would have welcomed a chat where he would explain to me why the split finally took place.

It would have been a sad story to listen to.

But the sadder part of this whole story is that Pops is gone.

(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Redemptorist Brother Karl
Gaspar of Davao City, is author of several books, including “To be poor and
obscure,” “Mystic Wanderers in the Land of Perpetual Departures,” “The Masses
are Messiah: Contemplating the Filipino Soul,” and the recently-launched“Manobo
Dreams in Arakan.” He writes two columns for MindaNews, one in English [A
Sojourner's Views] and the other in Binisaya [Panaw-Lantaw].)

ASYANO

2011-01-29T14:46:00.000-08:00

By Jose F. Lacaba
Reprinted from http://kapetesapatalim.blogspot.com/2011/01/asyano.html

A recent “Pinoy Kasi” column by Michael Tan, “Intsik” (Philippine Daily Inquirer, January 28, 2011), reminded me of a paper I wrote back in 2008 for a “literature forum for writers of Asia,” on the subject of “Asia, from Extinction to Formation.” That writers’ conference, held in the last week of May 2008 in Pohang POSCO, South Korea, was sponsored by the Seoul-based quarterly journal Asia: Magazine of Asian Literature, with the POSCO TJ Park Foundation as co-sponsor.

This is the paper I wrote for that conference. It was published in the Spring 2009 issue of Asia: Magazine of Asian Literature (Vol. 12), with the above-the-title kicker “What It Means to Live as a Writer in Asia.”

Asyano
By Jose F. Lacaba

My country, the Philippines, is geographically situated in Asia. That makes me, not only a Filipino, but also an Asian—or, as we say in my native tongue, Asyano. I am both Filipino and Asyano.

My facial features and the color of my skin advertise my Asyano origins to the rest of the world. Although Mexicans in the telenovelas shown on Philippine television look like Filipinos to us, I don’t recall ever having been mistaken for Latino. In Europe and the United States, I am invariably seen as Asyano, even if the exact country of origin remains an unknown factor: I have often been asked if I am Chinese, or Indonesian, or Malaysian, or Thai.

In fact, I do have a bit of Chinese blood. My great-grandmother on my mother’s side was pure Chinese. Her family name was Quiogue—that’s spelled in the Spanish way, but it sounds unmistakably Chinese. Many Filipinos, like me, are of mixed race, mestizos of Spanish, or American, or Arab, or Chinese ancestry, and lately, of Japanese and Korean ancestry as well.

So my compatriots and I are, to repeat, both Filipino and Asyano. But I have a confession to make. Though I am Asyano by virtue of geography and bloodline, my country’s colonial history and the continuing economic, political, and sociocultural dominance of former colonizers in our daily lives, plus the educational system that shaped me, have all but cut me off from my Asian roots. And I am not alone in this predicament.

We have, in my country, a joke in the form of a riddle, which is at the same time sociopolitical commentary in disguise: “What’s brown on the outside and white on the inside?” The literal answer to the riddle is: coconut. But at the same time we see the native coconut as a self-criticial metaphor for ourselves, for what we have become: we may be brown-skinned Asians on the outside, but on the inside, in our minds and even in our hearts, we continue to carry the baggage of our colonial past. We have what we call a “colonial mentality.”

This means, in the concrete, that while we are nominally an independent republic, we remain in many ways a colony, a protectorate, an adjunct of our most influential former colonial master, the United States.

So our government continues to conduct its affairs in the language of the colonizer: executive orders, congressional laws, and court rulings are written in English, or what passes for English. As consumers, we often belittle the output of our native economy, referring to it as “local,” meaning, shoddy and inferior, compared with goods that we call “stateside,” that is, imported from the U.S.A., even if “imported from the U.S.A.” these days does not necessarily mean “made in U.S.A.” Our educational system is still debating the merits and demerits of bilingualism, and there are highly placed officials in government who want to revert to the exclusive use of English as medium of instruction. In the sociocultural arena, Hollywood movies are still seen as superior to the productions of our own film industry, whether mainstream or indie; bookstores are stocked with U.S. bestsellers and trade books, while books by Filipino authors are relegated to an exotic section called Filipiniana; and the prestigious print publications are still English-language newspapers and magazines.

I am, of course, being unduly harsh. I have put myself in the role of the pessimist who sees the glass as half-empty rather than half-full. In truth, times have changed.

Today, we no longer have U.S. military bases on Philippine soil, even if we still have U.S. troops operating in the field in the guise of “visiting forces.” Primetime newscasts on the top-rating free channels are now primarily conducted in Filipino and in other Philippine languages, although you can still catch English-language newscasts on cable channels. As a part-time professorial lecturer at the state-owned University of the Philippines, I can teach in a combination of Tagalog and English, that linguistic hybrid that we call Taglish, even if the textbooks and reference materials that my students use are in English.

I belong to a generation that was once required to observe an English-only rule on campus and in classrooms, and we were fined if we were caught speaking in a Philippine language. But it was this same generation, the generation that came of age in the Sixties, that eventually rebelled against the prevailing colonial mentality and took up the banner of nationalism. It is no exaggeration to say that this generation’s efforts contributed to the political climate that led to the pullout of U.S. bases and the institution of the still-controversial bilingual policy of education, among other notable achievements.

One of the side effects of the nationalist movement was my personal decision to stop writing poetry in English, to write poetry exclusively in Filipino. I also used Filipino when I went into occasional scriptwriting for cinema and television. But at the same time, to earn a decent regular income, I continued—and still continue—to use English in my writing and editing work as a journalist.

I struggle on a daily basis with these contradictions. I live uncomfortably with these contradictions.

This brings me back to the personal contradiction I mentioned earlier. In addition to being Filipino, I am, to repeat, Asyano by virtue of geography and bloodline. And yet, as a writer, I must shamefacedly admit that my knowledge of Asian traditions and cultures is minimal.

In the early Sixties, as a college student enrolled in the humanities, I was exposed to the Japanese haiku and the Malayan pantun in poetry, and to the ukiyo-e woodblock prints of Hokusai and Hiroshige. Then, in the mid-Sixties, when I was already working as a reporter, the international political situation led many of my generation—writers, artists, cultural workers, and journalists included—to turn to Vietnam and China for inspiration. Poets, myself included, worked on translations of the poetry of Ho Chi Minh and Mao Zedong, in the search for a new poetics, for different metaphors and rhythms that could adequately deal with the agonies and guilt feelings of those tumultuous times.

Yet these past efforts to recognize my Asian-ness were in the nature of wading in shallow waters, not an immersion. I remained, in effect, submerged in the Greco-Roman, Judeo-Christian, Anglo-American tradition, the tradition I inherited as a result of my schooling and my own private reading.

We are meeting here today in a time of great devastation and unbearable torment in Asia. An earthquake in China, a cyclone in Burma, tsunamis in India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Sri Lanka, and supertyphoons in my own country, the Philippines—the atmospheric upheavals are matched by the turbulence in the political sphere, perpetually shaken by protest marches, coup attempts, suicide bombings, massacres, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, ruthless terrorist attacks, equally ruthless counter-terrorist attacks by invading armies, and never-ending charges and counter-charges of graft and corruption, of exploitation and oppression.

But I am a senior citizen now, old and gray and full of sleep, and coping with gout and skin allergies and bronchitis and adult-onset asthma, not to mention erectile dysfunction. While I keep reminding myself that I should not allow my sense of outrage to grow old along with me, I find myself unable to shake my sleeping muse out of her stupor, long enough to bring Asia and its discontents into my verse.

“Poetry makes nothing happen,” W.H. Auden once wrote. “It survives / In the valley of its saying where executives / Would never want to tamper; it flows south / From ranches of isolation and the busy griefs, / Raw towns that we believe and die in; it survives, / A way of happening, a mouth.”

On the other hand, to paraphrase Bertolt Brecht, we may not be able to do much with literature as our weapon, but without it the rulers would sleep more soundly.

For poetry and literature to survive and to disturb the sleep of rulers, they need a place in which to grow. And for Asia to occupy a significant place in our poetry and literature, they need Asian fields on which to thrive.

The co-sponsor of our conference today, Asia: Magazine of Asian Literature, has been providing an outlet for the publication of Asian literary works. Writers’ conferences such as this one are also helpful because they provide a forum for us to share ideas and experiences, and perhaps even to air grievances, real or imagined.

But perhaps we also need a specifically Asian literary festival similar to the Osian’s-Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema, a literary festival in which we can be exposed, not to academic disquisitions, but to poetry and fiction and drama.

Perhaps we need a literary contest similar to the Asian Games, a literary contest for Asian writers dealing with Asian themes.

And certainly we need programs of translation that will make sense of the Babel of tongues in which we speak and write, programs of translation that will make our books and our literature accessible not only to English-speaking elites, but also to readers in our native tongues. Soap operas and telenovelas from Korea and Taiwan, known in the Philippines as Koreanovelas and Chinovelas, along with anime from Japan, won a wide following among Filipino televiewers after they were dubbed in Tagalog. Could a similar translation process achieve similar results for our poetry and fiction and drama?

Well, we can dream, can’t we? And dreams can make things happen.

I hope I will still be around when they happen, so that I can tell my unborn grandchildren that, unlike me and my generation, they can become not only Asyano on the outside but also Asyano on the inside.

‘Faltering judicial system’ hinders Ampatuan massacre case

2010-11-14T12:21:00.000-08:00

BY CARLOS H. CONDE
The New York Times
Published: Nov. 11, 2010

MANILA — Nearly a year after 57 people, including dozens of journalists and media workers, were massacred in the southern Philippines, prosecution of the case has been jeopardized by a ‘‘faltering judicial system,’’ with forensic evidence mishandled, the trial unreasonably delayed and witnesses offered bribes and subjected to violence, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.

A report from the New York-based organization said President Benigno S. Aquino III ‘‘must follow through on commitments to ensure justice’’ in the killings that took place on Nov. 23, 2009, in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao Province.

‘‘We are very concerned about this case and that is why we demand demonstrable reforms from President Aquino while he still has the mandate to do so,’’ Shawn Crispin, the New York-based committee’s senior Southeast Asia representative and the author of the report, said in an interview Wednesday.

The killings are believed to be the worst case of political violence in this country’s history and the worst known single attack on journalists in the world, according to watchdog groups.

The victims were on a convoy heading toward the election office in Maguindanao Province to file the candidacy papers of Esmael Mangudadatu, who was to run for governor against the then-incumbent Andal Ampatuan Sr., when they were stopped at a roadblock by gunmen. They were then brought to a grassy hilltop where they were killed and buried.

Nearly 200 defendants, including Mr. Ampatuan and his son, Andal Ampatuan Jr., have been charged in the killings.

Philip Sigfrid Fortun, a lawyer for Mr. Ampatuan Jr., was quoted in the CPJ report as denying that his clients were involved in the murders or that they attempted to bribe families of victims.

The trial of the case began only in September and is expected to take years, if not decades, to complete because there are at least 196 suspects and more than 200 witnesses listed by prosecutors.

Of the 196 suspects in the case, only 66 are in custody while the remaining 130, most of them police officers and members of the Ampatuan militia, are at large. Of the 66 in custody only 19 are actually on trial, although 28 more were arraigned on Wednesday, when they pleaded not guilty.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima acknowledged on Wednesday that “given the number of victims as well as the magnitude of the crime, there are still gaps and deficiencies in case management.” However, she said in an interview, her department “is currently taking serious steps toward speedier and focused proceedings.”

Mr. Crispin said he is encouraged by the arrests of the Ampatuans and four other members of the clan, which ruled Maguindanao province for years and for which Ampatuan town is named. Additionally, Mr. Crispin credited the Aquino government for having implemented certain reforms, such as increasing the budget of the witness protection program. But more reforms need to be introduced to ensure the judicial process in the country is not compromised, he said.

The committee said it found that at least two relatives of the victims had been offered bribes, which they refused, by men who claimed to represent the Ampatuans. It also said that witnesses and their relatives had been harassed and attacked. One potential witness, a reputed member of a militia maintained by the Ampatuans who had given interviews detailing what he said was his role in the killings, was killed in June under ‘‘unclear circumstances,’’ the report said.

Witnesses are crucial in this case because forensic evidence gathered at the massacre site was either mishandled or contaminated, the report said.

That reflects a systemic problem, according to Human Rights Watch, which has also been monitoring the case. ‘‘Here in the Philippines, witness testimony is the most important in cases like this and that is the bigger problem,’’ Elaine Pearson, the group’s deputy director for Asia, said in an interview. ‘‘We need to enhance the capability to gather and handle forensic evidence.’’

The 15th Philippine Congress: Clans keep tight grip on power

2010-08-09T18:01:00.000-07:00

BY TITA C. VALDERRAMA
The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
July 29, 2010 at 9:12 am

MOSTLY the same old names but new faces, first-timers and benchwarmers, veterans and returnees. This is the composition of both the Senate and the House of Representatives of the 15th Congress.

Of the 12 senators elected to a six-year term last May 10, only two are first-time senators (Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Teofisto Guingona III) while seven will serve their second term, and three others are returnees, or had previously served in the Senate.

But even the neophyte senators, who are namesakes of their fathers, are not exactly novatos in politics. Marcos had served as congressman and governor of his home province of Ilocos Norte. Guingona had finished his three-term limit in the House. Both their parents had served as senators. Marcos’s father, the late strongman Ferdinand, ruled as president for 20 years, including 14 under martial law.

Guingona’s father, Teofisto Jr., was handpicked to serve as vice president to former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from 2001 to 2004.

Re-elected to a second six-year term were Senators Pia Cayetano, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Franklin Drilon, Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Ejercito, Manuel “Lito” Lapid and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. Then, too, there are the Senate returnees - Sergio Osmena III, Ralph Recto and Vicente “Tito” Sotto.

Three of the re-elected senators (Defensor-Santiago, Drilon, and Enrile) are, in fact, returnees twice over. Enrile was at the Senate in 1987 to 1992 and in 1995 to 2001. He took a break to serve as congressman representing Cagayan province, and then returned to the Senate in 2004.

In the House of Representatives, there are 95 first-time district congressmen, including former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who took the district represented in the previous Congress by her elder son, Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, and former Senator Rodolfo Biazon, who ran and won in the district that his son, Rozzano Rufino, had represented in the last nine years.

The elder Biazon had reached his two-term limit at the Senate while the younger Biazon ran for the Senate to take his father’s place but lost.

Celebrities

Celebrities from politics and entertainment litter the list of the House members. Apart from former President Arroyo and former Senator Biazon, the flamboyant former First Lady Imelda Romualdez-Marcos and Georgina Perez-de Venecia, wife of five-time Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. are also representatives of Leyte and Pangasinan, respectively.

Not to be left out, boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, congressman of the lone district of Sarangani province, lifted from Frost in a privilege speech on the second session day to spell out his plans in the next three years.

Beauty and star-appeal have been added, too, courtesy of Lucy Torres-Gomez (Leyte) and Jesusa Victoria H. Bautista a.k.a. Lani Mercado-Revilla (Cavite).

Except for Romualdez-Marcos, this is the first time for De Venecia, Pacquiao, Torres-Gomez and Mercado-Revilla to sit in Congress. De Venecia and Mercado-Revilla, however, had always been immersed in politics and public service, if unofficially, through their respective spouses, Speaker De Venecia and Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.

Ahead of the opening of Congress last Monday, Pacquiao, Torres-Gomez and Mercado-Revilla had enrolled in short programs for new legislators conducted by the Development Academy of the Philippines and the University of the Philippine National College of Public Administration and Governance.

Clans still rule

The cast of characters has changed somehow for the party-list groups. Of the 35 party-list representatives who had taken their oath as of July 27, only one of the 16 first-termers had served before in Congress. In addition, 13 party-list representatives are on their second term, and six, on their third and last term.

Politics remains a family affair in many congressional districts where the political clans have held steadfastly on to their seats.

There are 18 House returnees, or members who had previously served in the same districts they now represent. They are retaking their posts from a spouse, son, daughter, or another close relative who had precisely warmed the seat for a term or two to keep political rivals out of their turf.

In lieu of at least 41 representatives who had either reached their three-term limit or ran for another elective position, close relatives had come in as substitute players. That reads as either spouse, mother, father, son, daughter, brother, sister, or in-law.

At least 33 other members of the 14th Congress had been replaced by their spouse, son or daughter, brother or sister, in-law, or political protégé and surrogate. A few others had run for another position and fielded a relative to take over their congressional seats. An example is Exequiel Javier who had reached his three-term limit as congressman of Antique, and is now governor of the province. His son, Paulo Everardo Javier, took over his House seat.

They might claim to have won the votes but in truth, a good number of the members of Congress belong to political clans that have kept politics and business in their city, town, district, province, or region under tight grip for decades.

Winners, losers

To be sure, a reversal of fortunes, and thus a few changes, had unfolded in the House, albeit in musical chairs fashion. Hitherto in the political minority, the Liberal Party of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III has forged a multi-party coalition and turned majority.

Former President Arroyo has slid down to join her two sons in the House, and together they would play their new role as opposition lawmakers. She now sits as representative of the Pampanga district that her elder son Juan Miguel had occupied for two terms; he now sits as first-term nominee of party-list Ang Galing Pinoy.

Younger son, Diosdado Ignacio, is a second-term solon from Camarines Sur, representing a new congressional district that Congress has had to create to accommodate Arroyo’s budget secretary, Rolando Andaya Jr. whose district Diosdado Ignacio had represented earlier.

Andaya had served for three terms in the first district of Camarines Sur, the same seat that his father and namesake, Rolando Sr., had occupied for three terms from 1987 to 1998.

Apart from Andaya, at least six other former “stars” of the old regime are now simply House members. They are former agriculture secretary Arthur Yap, who ran unopposed as congressman of the third district of Bohol; former presidential spokesman Anthony Golez, representing the lone district of Bacolod City; former presidential legal counsel Sergio Apostol, who reclaimed the second district of Leyte from his wife; former TESDA chief Augusto Syjuco, who replaced his wife to represent the second district of Iloilo; former housing executive Romero Federico Quimbo, Marikina City’s second district; and former agriculture undersecretary Jesus Emmanuel M. Paras, Bukidnon’s first district.

Whether or not they will take on the role of opposition or fiscalizer might also depend in large measure on how far they will go to defend the Arroyo administration from sundry allegations of irregularities and midnight deals.

In truth, while some Arroyo government officials won, a few other big names lost big in the May 10 elections. Among them were former Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, who lost to Tomas Apacible in the first congressional district of Batangas; former Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, who was defeated in the mayoralty race in Iloilo City. Gonzalez’s son and namesake, Raul Jr., also lost in his re-election bid as congressman of Iloilo City.

Jailed, died

The quaint casting of characters in the House continues to evolve and amaze still. Even before it could convene last Monday, one member had been arrested and jailed, while another had succumbed to an illness.

Before he could assume his second term as congressman of Ilocos Sur’s first district, Rep. Ronald V. Singson found himself behind bars in Hong Kong for possession of 26.1 grams of cocaine and two tablets of valium when he arrived at the airport on July 11.

An article on Singson’s website described the 41-year-old lawmaker as “a fair-haired boy” of his controversial father, Ilocos Sur Governor Luis “Chavit” Singson and as “a young man who has the distinction of having a father whose daring exploits including that of being the central figure behind the unseating of a President may find no parallel in the future.”

Meanwhile, third-term Cagayan Rep. Florencio L. Vargas, 78, died of leukemia on July 22. He was governor of the province from 1998 to 2001.

Year after year, the House of Representatives has been expanding its membership. From less than 200 legislative districts 10 years ago, the House now has 228 districts, including nine created by the 14th Congress, and a growing roster of party-list representatives.

Thanks to the previous Congress, Cavite politicians now have more positions to fill. From three legislative districts, the province now has seven. The provinces of Agusan del Sur and Camarines Sur have one more each, while Iligan City, Lapu-Lapu City and Navotas now have their own legislative districts.

Parking place

The House has also become a convenient “parking” place for senators, governors, and mayors who have reached their term limits set under the 1987 Constitution. Others are bench-warmers for a parent, brother or sister, son or daughter, in-law, or political patron or protégé. In some instances, two members of a family or leaders of two controlling families in a locality have simply switched positions to make sure their rivals won’t have a chance to get into power.

At least nine of the incumbent congressmen were provincial governors in the previous term.

They are: Angelica Amante-Matba of Agusan del Norte, Ma. Valentina Plaza of Agusan del Sur, Rogelio Espina of Biliran, Joselito Mendoza of Bulacan, Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar, Raul Daza of Northern Samar, Milagrosa Tan of Western Samar, Aurora Cerilles of Zamboanga del Sur and Loreto Ocampos of Misamis Occidental.

Seven members of the previous House of Representatives are now provincial governors. They are: Abraham Mitra of Palawan, Exequiel Javier of Antique, Alfonso Umali Jr. of Oriental Mindoro, Edgar Chatto of Bohol, Paul Daza of Northern Samar, Carmencita Reyes of Marinduque, and Herminia Ramiro of Misamis Occidental.

There are at least six incumbent congressmen who were city or municipal mayors in their previous term. They are: Tobias Tiangco of Navotas, Jerry Trenas of Iloilo City, Feliciano Belmonte Jr. of Quezon City, Joseph Victor Ejercito of San Juan, Sigfrido Tinga of Taguig City and Tomas Osmena of Cebu City.

At least two former congressmen are now mayors: Ma. Laarni Cayetano of Taguig and Del de Guzman of Marikina City. Cayetano defeated former congressman and Supreme Court Associate Justice Dante Tinga, father of Sigfrido Tinga who ruled Taguig City as mayor for three terms before becoming a congressman.

While there is one former senator in the House, the Senate has two former congressmen in its roster: Teofisto Guingona III and Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Their colleagues: Rodolfo Plaza of Agusan del Sur, Rozzano Rufino Biazon of Muntinlupa, Nereus Acosta of Bukidnon, Risa Hontiveros of party-list Akbayan and Satur Ocampo and Liza Maza of Bayan Muna party-list lost in their bid to the Senate.

Also, there are two retired police generals in the House: Romeo M. Acop of Antipolo City’s second district, and Leopoldo N. Bataoil of Pangasinan’s second district. Acop used to be with PNP’s Criminal Investigation Service while Bataoil headed the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).

All in the family

Seven senators have immediate family members in the House: Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile is the father of Cagayan Rep. Juan Ponce Enrile Jr.; Sen Edgardo Angara is the father of Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara; Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. is the father of Las Pinas City Rep. Mark A. Villar; Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri and Bukidnon Rep. Jose Zubiri III are brothers; Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is a son of Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda R. Marcos; Sen. Jinggoy Estrada is a half-brother of San Juan City Rep. Joseph Victor Ejercito; and, Sen. Ramon Revilla and Cavite Rep. Lani Mercado are a couple.

These do not count yet cousins, in-laws, and other relatives in Congress.

There are also siblings and mother-son tandems in the same legislative body. At the Senate, Alan Peter Cayetano and Pia Cayetano are siblings, while former President Arroyo is with her two sons at the House: Camarines Sur Rep. Dato Arroyo and Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo of party-list Ang Galing Pinoy.

Lanao del Norte’s two districts are now represented by the mother-daughter tandem of Imelda Quibranza-Dimaporo and Fatima Aliah Q. Dimaporo. Two of Cebu’s six districts have the father and son tandem of Pablo P. Garcia and Pablo John F. Garcia.

In Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga Sibugay, three relatives of convicted child rapist and former congressman Romeo Jalosjos are occupying House seats: nephew Frederick Seth Pal Jalosjos and brother Cesar Jalosjos in the first and third districts of Zamboanga del Norte, respectively, and son Romeo Jalosjos Jr. in Zamboanga Sibugay.

Malabon City Rep. Josephine Veronique Lacson-Noel is the wife of An Waray party-list Rep. Florencio “Bem” Noel while Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez is an elder brother of Abante Mindanao party-list Rep. Maximo B. Rodriguez Jr.

President Benigno Aquino III has at least three relatives in the present Congress: Carmen Cojuangco of Pangasinan (wife of second cousin Marcos Cojuangco); Enrique M. Cojuangco of Tarlac (brother of businessman Eduardo Cojuangco who is an estranged first cousin of the President’s late mother); and Tarlac third district’s Jeci Aquino Lapus, a second-degree uncle.

At least three congressmen have immediate family members in the Aquino Cabinet: Batanes Rep. Henedina R. Abad is the wife of Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad; Quezon Rep. Irvin Alcala is a son of Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala; and Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo is a son of Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo.

The secretaries of budget and agriculture had served as congressmen while Romulo was at the Senate from 1987 to 1998. Then President Arroyo tapped him as finance secretary in January 2001, then as executive secretary in May 2001 until he was moved in 2004 to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

—The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), July 2010

Tony Meloto’s appeals and our challenge to him in the next 100 days

2010-07-11T12:48:00.000-07:00

Reprinted from FILIPINO VOICES
July 10, 2010

BY PATRICIO MANGUBAT

Tony Meloto’s article today at the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) (titled “The Challenge of a 100 days”) makes one think of how people should act in these 100 days of the Aquino administration. As early as the eighth day though, thousands of people are already starting to complain. Some are questioning the wisdom of the President in appointing people tainted with graft and corruption, while others say, the President is not really serious in creating a new government out of the old and discredited one.

Meloto’s advice for Filipinos is simple—do the little things, be honest and therefore, contribute to nation-building. But, is that really nation-building, in the first place?

We don’t need to tell Filipinos to be honest–most of us are. We don’t need to tell Filipinos to be like this and that because most are already hard-working, patient, and doing their small or little things in their own and simple ways already, Mr. Meloto. It is like we are blaming the rest of the Filipinos for the monumental ills of this country when everyone is really contributing his share towards maintaining the stability of this small republic.

Consider this—70% of the revenues collected by government comes from personal income tax. The 30% or so left are supposed to be the burden of company owners. But, what do these company owners do? They cheat. They don’t give those taxes they are supposed to give to the government.

Some, like Lucio Tan, were able to go scot-free from his 23-billion-peso tax obligation. And there are others. Maybe Mr. Meloto should direct his appeals and pleas to Tan and the rest of those other tax cheats, and not to the ordinary Filipino who religiously pay his taxes despite the very threat in his daily existence.

We pay our taxes, yes, even that stupid VAT. That VAT, by the way, was imposed on us because the previous government stole the monies of the Filipino People.

Those “honorables” and “his” and “her excellencies” and those “technocrats” and “Harvard” and Oxford graduates or graduates of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) were so intelligent and so greedy, they pocketed much of the collected money, therefore, creating that humongous budget deficit. Government needs to plug the hemorrhage and what they think was the best way to do it? Impose higher taxes or some tax measure like VAT to the ordinary Filipino, who did not cheat, nor stole a single cent from the national coffers.

What others stole, the hapless citizentry pays back with his hard-earned money.
Those big loans and budget deficits were not supposed to happen if our government, especially these “honorables” had the decency of not stealing from us and just keeping their promises of austerity and living within their means.

Mr. Meloto, ordinary Filipinos do not cheat their wives—it is those moneyed people who do. What these people do with their stash? They buy luxurious condominium units for their paramours. The money that is supposed to build hundreds of low-cost houses for us, the ordinary Filipino, are being used to purchased luxury items, such as houses and condominiums. And what Mr. Meloto thinks of nation-building? It is bridging gaps.

To build a strong nation, we must learn to engage everyone, bridge gaps that divide, and leverage limited resources by encouraging those who have to give more to those who have less. While we must engage every politician without judgment and without compromise, our cause of nation-building must transcend politics. Politics is for politicians, nation-building is for everyone—from the highest leader of the land to the weakest squatter in the poorest slum. It is for ordinary citizens like me to help provide connectivity to the un-reached, build trust among the wary and give hope to those in despair. In the first 100 days, let us be a people of faith.
It is very easy for Mr. Meloto to say that “in the first 100 days, let us be a people of faith” because he is not as poor and as desperate as many of us. He can still wait for changes. He can still say that nation-building should transcend politics, that it should be apart from politics.

Nation building has always been, and will continue to be political. Apart from culture, there is nothing more that will bind us, Filipinos together than politics. This shared belief in the greatness of this country is always politically-driven.

This is how his social class wants us, ordinary Filipinos, to do—wait patiently while they, the ruling class, fix their acts together. Mr. Meloto, we have waited for decades. The poor has waited for nine long years for change to happen. Actually, even prior to Mrs. Arroyo’s time, the poor has waited and has been patient. Hope started to flicker when Cory Aquino transcended the presidency. That hope lingered for six more years, and nothing substantial happened, no change that would benefit every single poor folk out there.

When you came out to our communities in the late ’90s Mr. Meloto, what you saw are patient and poor Filipinos who hoped for change and received loose change instead. Mr. Meloto, how can we unite the rich and the poor when their interests vary? Will they unite seriously by just giving the poor their houses through the generosity of the rich?

How will engagement happen when the very members of your class, refuse to even see us in our misery? We constantly engage government in our daily lives and we always appeal to the rich and the powerful to help us, since we suffer in poverty due to the inequality they so bestow and reap in this beautiful land.

The reason we are poor is not on our own making, oh no. We are poor because the money that we are supposed to have are not being given to us. Look at our pay slips. The ordinary Filipino worker is the lowest paid among Asian workers. We spend our hard-earned monies trying to pay for those exorbitant Meralco rates, the highest in the region. We buy food stuffs priced higher than what our Asian neighbours pay for. We even pay for higher priced water, which runs abundant deep in our lands but exploited and transformed into a commodity by “intelligent and greedy” technocrats like Babes Singson and Ping de Jesus, who now run our DPWH and DOTC.

Mr. Meloto, be our bridge by asking owners of companies to pay us decent wages, the correct ones.

Mr. Meloto, be our bridge by asking food manufacturers to lower their prices and for giant oil companies to give us what is our due. Lower gasoline and diesel prices and we can save some of our hard-earned monthly wages for the education of our kids.

Meloto’s appeals are just being used by the ruling class, the elites, to manage the raging anger within the breasts of every ordinary Filipino against the ruling order. While we pray, and wait, governments steal, cheat and lie before us.

Meloto’s appeal to those who believed and helped Noynoy Aquino ascend the highest rungs of power is this:

Let us not trivialize the opportunity to start right with our petty politics nor be influenced by ugly cynics who do not see anything good in this country or in this life. Let us be radical optimists and hope-weavers for a change, to give our new leader and our country a chance. It is imperative for those who worked hard for his victory to remain noble and true by not expecting any favors in return for their efforts. Great leaders are often pulled down by followers who demand their share of power. Great chances to do great good are spoiled when nobility is exchanged for the spoils of victory. On the other hand if asked by their leader to do a crucial task, they must also be humble enough to accept. From our new President, let us demand nothing but faith in himself that he can be faithful to his covenant to govern with integrity, courage, and justice.

Mr. Meloto, every poor Pinoy is a cynic, so the poor Pinoy is ugly? I thought you want to be the “bridge” between the poor and the rich? Why describe cynics ugly? Is Patricia Evangelista, for example, ugly? Are those people who demand and hammer out the demands of the people before this new administration, ugly because they don’t believe in your appeal for them to just sit back, relax and have faith that everything will correct itself eventually.

And who, among us, ordinary and poor Filipinos who trooped the polls last May 10, and voted for Noynoy wanted anything from him, except social justice? Meloto’s appeal is for those of his own class who gave their monies to fund Noynoy’s electoral machinery. The appeal fell on deaf ears, as members of Hyatt 10 and others are now occupying positions of power. They were not humble though, Mr. Meloto. They scrambled for and lobbied to be appointed.

It is easy to say, Mr. Meloto, that the least we can demand from our new president is faith.

No, Mr. Meloto, I do not agree.

We, the ordinary Pinoy, demand loyalty to the promises he eloquently delivered in his numerous speeches, particularly that one last June 30. We demand swift action to the ordinary problems we so face.

And Mr. Meloto, it is our right to demand to this new administration things which past dispensations have so long denied us. Mr. Meloto, you can sit in your chair and think of things of how to give houses to a select few of us, but, for us, we cannot do that. We cannot sit idly by and wait while manna falls from the mahogany dinner table in Malacanang. Oh, no.

The elites, the ones you regularly hob-nob, promised change. And we, the ordinary Pinoy, want nothing but demand these elites what they so promised. Lastly, we find Meloto appealing this to us, ordinary Filipinos.

”From every Filipino, let us also demand nothing less than faith in ourselves that we can transform an entire nation—slum after slum, barrio after barrio—by transforming ourselves first. Let us not simply depend on the awesome power of the President and blame everything on him if he fails to deliver. Rather, let us harness the awesome power of the people, united and committed to do good, to help the President deliver.”

Mr. Meloto, where were you in the last couple of decades? We, ordinary Filipinos, have been helping our government for decades. Instead of helping us and correct the ills of our nation, these administrations have been helping themselves. We, the ordinary Pinoy, have always been united in just one cause—SOCIAL JUSTICE.

This term has been inscribed in our charter and repeated so many times in various provisions of the 1987 Constitution. Yet, what do these ruling elites do? They simply don’t know what social justice means! For them, it is as empty as the promises they sow during elections.

We, the ordinary Pinoy, have been paying our taxes, buying those food stuffs and higher prices of gasoline and diesel and trying hard to save money so that we avoid getting our electricity services cut. We follow traffic rules. That wangwang appeal is not for us, but for members of the elite who have one.

We follow the law, and what do we get? Poorly-constructed roads and bridges. Are we supposed to help government do its job of making sure our roads and bridges are at least of local standards?

Not enough money to give free education to our kids. Are we supposed to help our government pay for the “free education” of our kids when we already did that thru payment of VAT and income taxes? How much more, Mr. Meloto?

Inept public service when we go to government agencies to get our passports, our land titles, our birth certificates and even the death certificates of our kin. When we ask for police assistance, no one goes and attends to our needs because of lack of police personnel. Are we supposed to just pray and wait for all these things to come when we, ordinary citizens, have been paying government religiously for all our lives, for them to just do their work and give us the things we so rightly deserve?
No, Mr. Meloto.

We have waited all these years. Who do we blame but ourselves eventually when the dust settles down and after six years, we find ourselves still under extreme conditions? When all are finished blaming Arroyo for all these miseries and we find Aquino responsible for exacerbating our condition, who do we blame but ourselves for being cynics?

I was once a revolutionary optimist, Mr. Meloto. I have been so faithful and patient. Are you saying that we, ordinary Pinoys, are supposed to wait for the ruling class to have an epiphany just for our sake? No, Mr. Meloto. Like other “public servants” before him, Noynoy Aquino will not get our praise when we see that he bungles his job like others before him. We will definitely blame him if the social conditions continue the way they are right now. Blame ourselves for the erring ways of the elite? No, Mr. Meloto, we will not fall to this friar-inspired pathological trap you want us to fall into.

Aggravator and aggrandizer

2010-04-27T01:41:00.000-07:00

BY LUIS V. TEODORO

April 23, 2010

Instead of turning a bad thing into a good thing, acting Justice Secretary Alberto Agra did exactly the opposite: he turned what was already a bad thing into something worse.

From the way he keeps smiling at the cameras, he looks as if he’s gained something from the whole wretched mess. But it’s certainly not the improvement of his public image or that of the government he serves. The widespread public cynicism over the capacity of the so-called justice system to do justice to those who’ve been aggrieved, as expressed in various ways by those familiar with the role of the Ampatuans in the so-called victory of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2004 and of her candidates for the Senate in 2007, is now universal. (The results of a survey on which government agency the public trusts the least should be interesting.)

Agra has also succeeded in creating a firestorm of outrage directed not only against himself, but also against Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. If Agra’s boss thought that only her henchman would attract the lightning bolts of criticism and protest over the order to drop two of the Ampatuans from multiple murder charges in connection with the November 23 massacre of 57 people, she has another think coming. Expect Agra’s caper to add to the continuing slide of Arroyo’s already subterranean approval ratings, although she cares about that about as much as a tarantula cares about its prey.

But what’s ironic is that some Filipinos did give the justice system the benefit of the doubt last November, and many of those Filipinos were journalists and media practitioners. If they didn’t they wouldn’t have gone to the justice system for redress, but to the streets or elsewhere straightaway.

In the first place it was journalists who helped the government get the facts about the massacre right — the police were contaminating the crime scene by handling the bodies every which way, so there was little help from that direction — by sending fact-finding teams to Maguindanao almost immediately after that terrible event.

Despite their maddening experience with official indifference and incompetence, and, in some cases, partisanship for the suspects in the arrest and prosecution of the killers of journalists since 2001, some journalist groups also fielded private prosecutors to help government prosecutors do their jobs. These groups have also worked with government prosecutors by providing whatever information they could so a credible case could be assembled against the people accused of involvement in the murders.

Some journalist and media advocacy groups even assumed such government tasks as providing immediate humanitarian aid and scholarships for the families and children of the survivors. Through their lawyers and by providing funds to fly the relatives to Manila so they can attend hearings, the same groups are still helping in the prosecution of the alleged murderers of the 32 journalists killed.

The way the country’s leading journalists have comported themselves during the many scandals and crises the Arroyo government has generated suggests that the Philippine press — or at least the better part of it — is not so much into undermining the government, but in trying to make things work as they should. Their relationship to the government only seems adversarial; in reality they recognize the crucial role of government in the shaping of the country’s present and future. It’s not the press but the Arroyo government and such of its minions as Agra who have been recalcitrant in implementing the country’s laws, for example, or in finding creative ways around them, and in concealing what they’re doing from the media and the public.

The same attitude has been evident in past administrations. All governments lie and try to conceal wrongdoing. But the officials of no other administration in memory has been as deliberately non-transparent, non-accountable, blithely abusive of power, contemptuous of public opinion, and hostile to the press as Arroyo and her officials.

Although the administration is crawling with similar creatures, Arroyo election lawyer Agra is a near-perfect example of non-accountability and smug indifference to public opinion.

Interviewed by the print and broadcast media, Agra betrayed the most minimal understanding of official accountability to the citizenry he’s supposed to serve. To questions from the media meant to solicit an explanation for his order to drop the multiple murder charges against Zaldy and Akmad Ampatuan, the most Agra could say was that it was his prerogative to review the recommendations of DOJ prosecutors.

He used the word “prerogative” so often it was obvious it was both his excuse and his conceit. It wasn’t the public’s reaction he was concerned with, but Malacanang’s. He repeatedly said it was Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s opinion that mattered to him; it apparently never occurred to him that public opinion weighs heaviest on public officials in societies that claim to be democratic.

But having reached the limits of their patience, their outrage relentlessly aggravated not only by such acts as Agra’s but also by his indifference to the public and its demand for justice, the citizenry could justly argue that what obtains in the Philippines is not a democracy but a plutocracy, the self-serving minions of which eagerly pander to the whims of those who rule it so they may themselves enter the exclusive circles of the powerful. Agra probably has millions of reasons for acting the way he did, and for practically telling the entire country and all Filipinos that their opinions about anything don’t matter in the least. But none of those millions have anything to do with legality, and least of all with justice. (BusinessWorld)

Lacson: Dismissal of rebellion case, first of many to exculpate the Ampatuans from complicity in the Ampatuan massacre

2010-03-30T16:38:00.000-07:00

Posted by Patricio Mangubat
March 30, 2010

As what this writer wrote several posts ago, the Maguindanao massacre case will be dismissed before the Holy week and attempts at formally closing the case will happen after this period, or on the second week of April. Now, it happened. Though Malacanang wants to lead efforts to appeal for reconsideration, just to appease rising public anger, the palace ruse fell by the wayside. Evidently, the dismissal of the case was actually brought by Arroyo herself when she declared martial law and charged the Ampatuans with rebellion.

The question remains--what happens then to the other case, that of multiple murder?

Atty. Alex Lacson is the first to articulate the question that lingers in the minds of many--since the rebellion case was dismissed, what happens now to the pieces of evidence recovered by the military? Will the prosecution still use them as additional evidence in the multiple murder case? Or will the court then just dump these pieces of evidence?

Lacson believes that this dismissal is just the first of many attempts by this administration to assist their strongest political ally in Mindanao. As we know, the Ampatuans know of many secrets about the Arroyos particularly that so-called Hello Garci operations.

Int’l Solidarity Mission’s report: 23 recommendations on the 23 Nov massacre

2010-01-24T17:15:00.000-08:00

MindaNews
Sunday, 24 January 2010 23:26

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/24 January 2010) – “Massacre in the Phillippines: International Solidarity Mission Rapid Assessment Report” listed 23 recommendations on four areas of concern in the aftermath of the November 23 massacre in Ampatuan, Maguindanao: addressing the massacre and the long prevailing culture of impunity for the murders of media personnel in the Philippines; support for the families of victims; government and judicial issues; and the security of journalists working in the Philippines.

Some of the recommendations are being implemented already such as trauma-counselling and legal support for the media victims’ families.

The recommendations were made by international media organizations – International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), International News Safety Institute (INSI), International Media Support (IMS), Union Network International (UNI), Thai Journalists Association (TJA) and Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) whose representatives visited Mindanao and Manila on December 5 to 11.

The recommendations also took into account the findings of an independent fact-finding report prepared by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) with the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), news organisation Mindanews, and members of the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists (FFFJ), immediately after the massacre.

It also called on the international community to monitor developments in the Philippines to ensure that the massacre is properly investigated, that the perpetrators are punished and that such atrocities against journalists and media workers can never happen again.

The following are the recommendations. A copy of the full report is available at http://asiapacific.ifj.org//assets/docs/203/037/15d11cb-013d725.pdf

Support for families of the victims

1. Families of the victims must be provided with trauma counselling and further follow-up support.

2. Families must be provided with legal support to pursue the prosecution of perpetrators, given the likelihood of protracted delays in the justice system. They must also be given support in bringing pressure on the Arroyo Government to pursue its own procedures.

3. Other areas of legal assistance may be required in terms of the ongoing welfare of the families and this should also be made available as needed.

4. The families of all victims must be given immediate financial support as well as follow-up assistance to help generate a sustainable income and assistance in finding employment in cases where the victim was the sole breadwinner for the family.

5. The mission welcomes the NUJP’s intention to extend its scholarship program for the children of slain journalists - now running for five years - to address the needs of at least 75 children and dependents of the massacre victims.

6. A safety assessment must be undertaken for each of the victims’ families and appropriate measures taken to ensure their ongoing security. This is urgently required during the gathering of evidence and the lead-up and subsequent trial.

Military and Police

7. A full investigation is required into the actions of General Cayton, then Commander of the 6th Infantry Division, immediately preceding the massacre.

8. A full investigation is required into reports that several members of the Philippine National Police were involved in the massacre. The Government must take all necessary steps to remove corrupt police and ensure all police in Maguindanao act in accordance with their responsibility
to protect and serve citizens. Any police found to work with ruling clans and warlords must be stripped of their positions and punished.

9. The Government must instigate immediately a thorough investigation and overhaul of structures covering local government, the military and police to redress the failure
of authority and accountability in the administration of Maguindanao province (and other provinces across the Philippines) and ensure that law and order is respected.

10. The Government must immediately provide training for its military and police to ensure that those responsible for the safety and security of citizens, including media personnel, are aware of their obligations under United Nations Resolution 1738. The resolution “condemns intentional attacks against journalists, media professionals and associated personnel, as such, in situations of armed conflict, and calls upon all parties to put an end to such practices.”

Investigation and Prosecution

11. The Government and local authorities must undertake all necessary measures to fully investigate the massacre and to ensure all evidence is properly preserved and available.
12. The Government and local authorities must provide all necessary measures for the protection and safety of witnesses, investigators, prosecutors, lawyers and judges throughout the investigation and trial process.

13. The Government must ensure that observers and human rights groups have full and open access to legal proceedings to ensure an open and transparent investigation and trial.

14. The Government must ensure that families of the victims are given access to all relevant documentation regarding the massacre, the investigation and resulting legal proceedings.

15. The Government should ensure that sufficient resources are made available to prosecutors and the judiciary to guarantee a speedy and effective trial of those accused of this massacre. It may be necessary to establish a special tribunal for this purpose.
Martial Law

16. The Government is urged not to reimpose martial law in light of concerns it could be restored in the lead-up to the May 10 elections with a consequent risk of human rights abuses. The mission therefore urges the Government to use due legal process without the resort to brute force that could undermine any prosecutions.

Compensation

17. The Government is responsible for providing effective, adequate and ongoing compensation to the families of all victims.

Journalism in the Philippines

18. The Government must take measures to protect media personnel who witnessed the events of November 23, including the provision of a safe haven during the investigation and legal process.

19. Journalists working in Mindanao must be provided with trauma counselling.

20. Support is needed to assist the NUJP to establish a regional safety office in Mindanao (working with the NUJP’s Manila-based Safety Office) before the May 2010 elections, in order to provide safety training and support for journalists covering the campaign. The office would
also seek to monitor the effect of the massacre on reportage in the region as well as ongoing threats to journalists’ safety.

21. Support is further needed to assist the NUJP and other organisations to revise safety procedures for journalists and media houses across the country. Complementing this, assistance is required to upgrade the skills of current safety trainers and to train more locally based trainers who can work with media at the local level across the country, most efficiently through NUJP local chapters.

22. The Government must ensure a safe environment in which media across the country can report fairly and critically on the conduct of the campaign for the May 10 elections.
International obligations and actions

23. The Government is urged to acknowledge and act on its commitments under International Obligations and Actions to ensure protection and safety for media personnel as citizens working in the public interest.

Relevant international instruments including the Geneva Conventions, the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, and the 2006 United Nations Security Council Resolution 1738 must be respected.

The report, dated December 2009, was launched in Koronadal City on January 23, 2010 in the presence of the media victims’ families.

The launching of the mission report was also the launching date for the newly-organized “Justice Now!” organization of the families of media victims. (MindaNews)

Bong Revilla: 'Show only one Hollywood movie a month'

2010-01-03T16:37:00.000-08:00

Sunday, January 3, 2010

By Noel Vera

"Hollywood movies? Did someone say Hollywood movies?"

"We should show only one Hollywood movie a month."

It's a hot topic of discussion among online Filipinos. For the record, I'm not a big fan of Revilla Jr.'s movies on the whole but I do sympathize with his sentiments.

Hollywood has always had a powerful influence on world cinema but its latest serious attempt to conquer foreign markets is actually quite recent--around the '90s or so, or about the time when Governor Schwarzenegger's movie career was at its height (Coincidence? I think not; Sylvester Stallone's films also did well internationally around this time). Hollywood's global push helped destroy the once-robust Hong Kong film, and brought both South Korea and Mexico to their knees (South Korea has since recovered, partly by imposing quotas).

France has long survived by subsidizing its film production and, during trade conferences, championing cultural diversity over open-market distribution of films (In other words, it kept speaking out against Hollywood imperialism). Of the commercially successful cinemas of the world, only India does not impose quotas--and that mainly because its cinema is so successful (it produces eight hundred films a year to Hollywood's 200 plus films) it doesn't need to protect itself.

Mainland China is an interesting case all its own. Not as commercially successful as India, it is nevertheless such an economic powerhouse, with a market larger than any American studio executive's wet-dream fantasy (and I'm sure they can fantasize) it can lay down strict quota rules and pretty much get away with doing so, just because no one can force it to do otherwise. China is in every way in an enviable position, but it's a position few other countries can emulate.

But India (and China in its own fashion) seem to be the exceptions that prove the rule. Trend seems to be, if you want a successful local cinema you needed to restrict the number of Hollywood films screening in your local cinemas. That, or you provide your production outfits with assistance of some kind, the way France does--anything to level the playing field.

I've actually suggested this very action on an online forum, in pinoydvd.com. Some five years later that discussion seem more relevant than ever, and recent arguments to and fro on the issue sound suspiciously familiar. One online forum poster at one point asked "if we ban Hollywood films, what are we to do next? How do we get our next Harry Potter, or Iron Man 2?"

That was too tempting to let pass. "Then," I responded, "we're left with the works of relatively new filmmakers like Lav Diaz, Raya Martin, John Torres, Brillante Mendoza, Sherad Anthony Sanchez, Rico Ilarde, Dennis Marasigan, Auraeus Solito, Richard Somes, Veronica Velasco. We're left with the works of established directors such as Raymond Red, Laurice Guillen, Chito Rono, Maryo J. delos Reyes, Joey Reyes, Gil Portes, Joyce Bernal, Marilou Diaza-Abaya, and (hopefully, someday) new work from masters like Mike de Leon, Celso Ad. Castillo, Mario O'Hara.

"What a terrible situation!"

Maguindanao massacre: Why Andal Ampatuan Jr. thought he could get away with it

2009-12-03T19:21:00.000-08:00

Published on December 4, 2009
Posted by Davao Today

By Alex Tizon
Knight International Journalism Fellow
Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

THE BODY count of the Maguindanao Massacre has gone up each of the past five days. The count is now at 57, with authorities continuing to sift through the blood-soaked dirt just outside the town of Shariff Aguak. Thirty of the victims were journalists and at least twenty-two were women. The women were raped and their genitals shot at close range.

Expect the numbers to change in the coming days. What will likely not change is the identity of the accused mastermind of the killings: a smug, round-faced blip of a man named Andal Ampatuan Jr., a local mayor and the son of a powerful political patriarch who is allied with no less than the president of the Philippines.

The suspect reportedly ordered the massacre to prevent a rival politician from challenging him in the upcoming gubernatorial election. According to at least twenty eyewitnesses who have testified to the Department of Justice, it was Ampatuan’s plan to ambush the caravan of six cars, kill all the occupants and then bury the victims and their vehicles in large pre-dug pits. Burying the victims, he thought, would erase the evidence.

Ampatuan actually believed he could get away with it. But the plan went awry when word spread that army soldiers were in the area and the attackers panicked, leaving a half-buried massacre scene. So frenzied were those last moments that even the operator of the government backhoe used to dig the pits was reportedly killed to minimize witnesses.

Word trickled out and by Tuesday the whole world knew about the Nov. 23 massacre. For the rest of the week officials have filled the airwaves and front pages with their horrified reactions but it doesn’t take a telepath to know that some of the “horror” was for the benefit of the international audience.

For those not familiar with contemporary life in the Philippines, it must be pointed out that political violence here is a norm, and that people like Andal Ampatuan Jr. are no aberration. There are many more like him scattered like vermin droppings throughout the country. The system creates Ampatuans.

The reason Monday’s incident became international news is because of the high number of victims killed all at once and because so many were journalists and women. Had the killings been spread out over weeks and months, very few outside of the province would have heard of it.

“The massacre in Maguindanao may stand out for a long time for its brazenness, but the forces that shaped it are by no means isolated or peculiar to Muslim Mindanao,” writes Randy David in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. David is a sociology professor at the University of the Philippines. “These forces lurk in many regions of our country….”

I’m in the Philippines to work on a poverty-related media project called Suriin Ang Kahirapan or Audit of Poverty. One of the aims is to create a network of citizen journalists in the country’s five poorest provinces. Maguindanao is one of the Suriin provinces.

In all five of the Suriin provinces, there is a dynastic political family like the Ampatuans and a hatchet man – or two or three – like Andal Ampatuan Jr. Until Monday, none have been foolhardy enough to slay all their enemies in one fell swoop. The usual modus operandi is to knock them off one at a time and as quietly as possible.

For instance, in the Suriin province of Masbate, an island north of Mindanao, there have reportedly been as many as 30 politically related murders over the past year, and many of the killings can be tied to one family that has been in power for years. All know the name but no one will say it out loud. Who would dare? Like in Maguindanao, most of the local police and military take their orders from the ruling family. Those who have dared cross family members end up shot on some lonely stretch of gravel, their corpses no more than road kill. Hardly anyone on the outside knows – or cares – about the killings in Masbate.

In Maguindanao, the Ampatuans have controlled local politics for most of the decade, and the current governor, Andal Ampatuan Sr., had been grooming his son to take over his post. The Ampatuans had grown accustomed to running unopposed in local elections, so terrified were potential opponents.

So when one rival announced he would oppose Ampatuan for the governorship, the clan was incensed. The heretic, a local vice mayor named Esmael Mangudadatu, sent his wife and two sisters – accompanied by a retinue of lawyers and journalists – to the county seat to file his certificate of candidacy, apparently believing that not even the Ampatuans would murder women in cold blood. It was this caravan that was intercepted and massacred. Some of the victims reportedly were forced to eat filing documents before they were shot.

Ampatuan family members “act like gods” in Maguindanao, Leila de Lima told the Armed Forces of the Philippines. De Lima, chairwoman of the Philippines Commission on Human Rights, said there have been similar, but smaller-scale killings, linked to the Ampatuan family, but up until now witnesses have been afraid to come forward.

Today, Ampatuan sits in a Manila jail awaiting further proceedings. He was persuaded to turn himself in on Thursday by an emissary sent by President Gloria Arroyo herself. Many believe the administration was forced to act because of overwhelming international pressure. The emissary, special advisor Jesus Dureza, accompanied Ampatuan on government aircraft all the way to Manila where, upon parting, Dureza and Ampatuan shook hands and hugged.

Can you imagine the president of the United States sending an ambassador to negotiate with a man suspected of wiping out 64 people, and then having that ambassador accompany the suspect on private aircraft to the nation’s Capitol where they say good-bye with a hug? A hug!? Can you imagine President Clinton providing red-carpet treatment to Branch Davidian leader David Koresh or Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh?

The Ampatuans have long been coddled by officials high in government. The Ampatuans were well-known allies of Arroyo, and have been photographed together with the president in various locations including Malacanang (the equivalent of the White House). The Ampatuans “delivered” Maguindanao province to Arroyo in the last election, and did so with frightening efficacy, signing up entire towns and villages – often with not a single dissenting vote.

The administration, in return, has taken a hands-off approach to Maguindanao. Provincial officials, for example, can choose their own police chiefs and officers, many of whom end up as bodyguards or hitmen. These officials also end up using taxpayer money, intended for anti-terrorist programs, to deputize and arm groups of mercenaries officially known as Civilian Volunteer Officers, or CVOs. The end result is that people like Ampatuan have created their own private armies and rule their territories like warlords.

It came as a surprise to no one that among those implicated in Monday’s massacre are all of Ampatuan’s CVOs, and nearly all of the highest ranking police and military officers in the province. Already their courtroom defenses have become apparent in the few interview snippets that have gone public: They were only following orders. Of course.

Ampatuan and his family hobnobbed with the president. His father was a three-term governor and his brother a governor of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, of which Maguindanao is a part; his relatives were mayors of half the towns; he was insulated and protected by local police, and he had his own mercenary army to do his bidding in a far-flung region populated by poor and illiterate farmers. Ampatuan believed he could get away with it because he’d been groomed all his life to think so.

There are many others like him in the country’s 83 provinces, rogues with government titles who believe they’ll never be caught. And most of them will be right.

(Alex Tizon is working with the PCIJ on a crowd-sourcing project that will help media track government efforts to alleviate poverty in the country’s five poorest provinces, including Maguindanao. As national correspondent of The Los Angeles Times, he has reported on the war in Iraq and Hurricane Katrina, and as staff writer for The Seattle Times from 1986 to 2003, received the 1997 Pulitzer Prize in investigative journalism for a series on corruption in the federal Indian Housing Program.)

Bound to happen

2009-11-30T17:21:00.000-08:00

November 30th, 2009
By Nereo Lujan
The Daily Guardian

While the Ampatuans of Maguindanao is already an old and powerful Moro clan in Mindanao, wielding political power around the province even before the birth of the republic, it was not until 1986 that they became known nationally following the appointment of Datu Andal Ampatuan, Sr. as officer-in-charge of Shariff Aguak town by then President Corazon Aquino. He was the town’s vice mayor during the Marcos regime who endeared himself to the military for helping them fight the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

But the Ampatuans became more powerful following Datu Andal’s election as provincial governor in 2001, defeating Zacaria Candao. It was a victory that was described as military-supported, as Candao was suspected to be a supporter of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Datu Andal was re-elected in 2004 while his sons and grandsons were sworn into office either as mayors or vice mayors. Three of them ran unopposed. The elder Ampatuan’s nephew, former Justice Secretary Simeon Datumanong, also got reelected as representative.

The Ampatuans did not only make themselves win the elections of 2004 but they delivered a winning margin of at least 300,000 for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo over Fernando Poe Jr. The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) reported that in seven towns ruled by the pro-Arroyo Ampatuan clan, Arroyo won over Poe by an incredible vote ratio of 82,411 to 142 (or 99.83 percent to 0.17 percent). In two towns, Arroyo garnered all the votes, with Poe getting zero.

That’s the reason why Arroyo loves the Ampatuans so much, despite a number of political murders attributed to the clan. She owes her victory to them. In 2005, the Arroyo administration repaid the Ampatuans by endorsing the candidacy of Datu Andal’s son Zaldy, then 38 years old, for governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). He won, the youngest ever to become head of the regional government. But the election, boycotted by the MILF and other rival candidates, was marred by allegations of multiple voters’ registrations and other acts of cheating.

The Ampatuans endeared themselves more to Arroyo when they allegedly provided shelter to Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano after he went into hiding when his name figured in the so-called “Hello Garci” scandal. The controversy, which broke out in June 2005, involved recordings of a wire-tapped conversation between the President and Garcillano over alleged attempts to rig the May 2004 elections, which almost cost Arroyo her post. Garcillano went missing after issuing an affidavit clearing Arroyo of poll fraud.

In August that year, the House of Representatives ordered Garcillano arrested after he ignored its summons twice. Reports then surfaced that he was spotted in Singapore but on December 4, Garcillano turned himself in to authorities in Maguindanao. A week earlier, he even gave an interview to ANC wearing a Moro scarf. The MILF said Garcillano was in Maguindanao all along, allegedly sheltered by the Ampatuans.

Because of the favors that the Ampatuans gave to Arroyo, Malacañang has been turning a blind eye on the private army that they built over the years. Despite a constitutional ban on private armies, the Ampatuans have an excuse. In July 2006, Arroyo issued Executive Order 546 allowing local officials and the Philippine National Police to deputize barangay tanods as “force multipliers” in the fight against insurgents. In practice, the EO allows local officials to convert their private armed groups into legal entities with a fancy name: Civilian Volunteer Organizations (CVOs).

Interestingly, writes Jaileen Jimeno of PCIJ, Arroyo issued the EO just weeks after a bombing in the Shariff Aguak public market that killed five people. Datu Andal, who has survived several other ambushes, was said to have been the target in that attack.

“It was Arroyo who gave the Ampatuan clan the authority to recruit and arm civilians to assist in fighting ‘insurgents’ in the region,” writes Jose Maria Sison, founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines. “As a result, the Ampatuans now have a 500-strong army, which includes 200 special armed civilian auxiliary forces, as well as entire regular military and police units assigned to ensure the security of the clan members.”

Sison, in his paper “The Structure of Reactionary Violence and Human Rights Violations in the Philippines” published by the think-tank Ibon Foundation, describes the Ampatuan clan as a prime example of feudal-fascist warlords who are coddled and nurtured by the national ruling clique in order to secure their hold over local populations and resources. “The Ampatuans are among the most loyal vassals of the Arroyo ruling clique and responsible for orchestrating the electoral fraud in the region through which Arroyo has kept herself in power,” notes Sison.

“Clearly the Ampatuans consider themselves untouchable because of their loyal ties to the incumbent President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who has deliberately created a climate of impunity for human rights violators and mass murderers in the Philippines,” adds Sison. He cites reports that recorded over 800 extra-judicial killings in the country since Arroyo’s ascent to power in 2001, which includes 51 incidents of massacres victimizing 255 persons. Not one has been punished for these vilest of crimes.

The horrendous mass slaughter in Maguindanao was a massacre waiting to happen. Had it not for Malacañang’s tolerance of senseless killings, those 64 casualties – among them children, women and journalists – could still be alive today. And it is this same tolerance that made monsters out of the Ampatuans and their private army.

State of emergency

2009-11-25T13:35:00.000-08:00

By Amando Doronila
Philippine Daily Inquirer
November 25, 2009

THE MAY 2010 national election was marred by the bloodiest massacre on Monday forcing President Macapagal-Arroyo to declare a state of emergency in two provinces and one city. This was the first time an emergency was declared in relation to an election, although past Philippine elections have often been marked by violence between private armies of provincial political warlords.

The carnage in Maguindanao set the gruesome tone of election-related violence. The massacre took place outside the matrix of the fighting stemming from the clashes in Mindanao between government forces and Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels fighting for the establishment of a separate Bangsamoro homeland in Mindanao.

The casualties were both Muslims and Christians, and no group associated with the MILF or the Moro National Liberation Front has been linked to the massacre. The President declared the emergency after Presidential Adviser for Mindanao Jesus Dureza recommended the extraordinary measure to facilitate the disbandment of armed groups and prevent the escalation of violence. The President condemned the attack and said no effort would be spared to find those responsible. “Civilized society has no place for this kind of violence,” she said.

The human rights organization, Amnesty International, reported the killings of at least 21 civilians, including journalists, relatives and supporters of a family of local politicians, and said the slaughter was the first to be linked to the May 2010 election. According to first reports, a group of about 45 people were ambushed and abducted by about 100 armed men. The military reported that it had recovered the bodies of 13 women and eight men, some of them mutilated.

Reports said Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu, led by his wife Genalyn, was waylaid at 10:30 a.m. by armed men, while they were on their way to file the vice mayor’s certificate of candidacy for provincial governor at the provincial office of the Commission on Elections on Shariff Aguak. The Philippine Council for Islam and Democracy said the brutal violence brought the state of lawlessness in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) “to a new low.”

Previous elections in the ARMM were marred by violence and widespread cheating. The deputy director for Asia Pacific of Amnesty International said, “These killings underline the danger facing civilians in the run up to the national elections.”

According to Vice Mayor Mangudadatu, among those killed where his wife, his two sisters—Eden, vice mayor of Mangudadato town, and Farina—and his legal counsels Cynthia Oquendo and Connie Brizuela. Mangudadatu is running for governor, a post held by Gov. Andal Ampatuan, whose son, the mayor of Unsay town, is reported to be seeking to fill. The Mangudadatus are reported to be engaged in a long-running feud with the Ampatuan clan, which counts among its members Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan of the ARMM.

The slaughter reaped the biggest haul of deaths among journalists, who were covering the filing of Mangudadatu’s certificate of candidacy, in one stroke of violence. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said, “Covering the news has always been dangerous in the Philippines, but the wanton killing of so many people makes this an assault on the very fabric of the country’s democracy.”

This condemnation echoed the statement of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines which said: “This [massacre] not only erases all doubts about the Philippines being the most dangerous country for journalists in the world, outside of Iraq, it could very well place the country on the map as a candidate for a failed democracy.”

More than 38 Filipino journalists have been killed for their work since 1992, and 27 others have been killed for reasons other than their work. NUJP pointed out that very few cases have been brought to trial, giving the Philippines one of the worst records of impunity in cases involving the killing of journalists in the world, as well in cases involving the extra-judicial executions of leftist activists by anonymous death squads.

Whether or not the crackdown ordered by President Arroyo on the private armies of Mindanao warlords will lead to their disbandment and stop violence from escalating into vendettas is very much in doubt. The army is fully engaged in fighting the Islamic separatist rebels, and can ill afford to divert its effort and forces to disarming the armies of warlords.

President Arroyo is widely perceived to have benefited from the ARMM’s “reservoir of votes” during the 2004 presidential election, in which her intervention in the tally is widely believed to have led to the rigging of the election, allowing her to win.

The Maguindanao slaughter has heightened fears that the declaration of emergency in area could lay the ground for a possible declaration of a failure of election in some parts of the country, giving the President an excuse to suspend the results from such places and opening the way for the rigging of results later. The emergency declaration, no matter how limited in scope, is being made at a critical moment of an election in which the President is widely suspected of grabbing opportunities to suspending it.

Kalikot sa Dukot

2009-11-22T13:38:00.000-08:00

November 21, 2009

Ni Teo S. Marasigan

Mahusay ang pagpapakita ng pagiging brutal ng karahasang pinawalan ng rehimeng Arroyo sa mga aktibista at maging sa mga manggagawang pangkarapatang pantao at mamamahayag – na, katulad ng mga aktibista, ay nagsisiwalat ng lagay ng mga mamamayan. Mahusay rin ang pagpapakita kung paano nilalaro ng militar ang opinyong publiko sa pamamagitan ng simpleng pagbaligtad ng mga kwento – imbes na militar ang gumawa ng isang bagay, ibibintang ito sa New People’s Army o NPA.

Nakatulong ang paggamit sa pagbabalik-tanaw at hindi pagiging linyar ng naratibo. Ang hinala ko, solusyon ito sa praktikal na problemang hinarap ng mga gumawa ng pelikula, dahil nga nakatuon ito sa tortyur. Naiadya nito ang mga manonood sa tuluy-tuloy na panonood sa karahasang dinanas ng magkasintahan sa kamay ng militar.

Mahigpit ang pagkakatahi ng istorya, at lalong dapat itong papurihan dahil ayon kay Bonifacio P. Ilagan, sumulat ng script ng pelikula, batay ang lahat ng laman ng istorya sa mga kwentong naganap sa totoong buhay – ibig sabihin, sa mga aktwal na dinanas ng mga aktibista sa bansa. Sa matatag na pagharap nina Junix at Maricel sa pagpapahirap ng militar – hindi nagsuplong, walang ipinahamak – maaalala tuloy ang iba pang katulad na kwento ng iba pang progresibo at rebolusyunaryo sa bansa.

Isa pang martir sa labanang iyun sa Panay si Antonio Hilario (TonyHil), inaalala ng mga kasama kahit ngayon bilang “utak pang-organisasyon” ng Samahan ng Demokratikong Kabataan… [S]ugatan si TonyHil. Sabi ng mga nakasaksi, inilibing nang buhay si TonyHil ng mga sundalo ng kaaway. Nang nakataas ang kamao ng pagbabalikwas, sumisigaw siya ng “Mabuhay ang Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas!” habang sadistang tinatabunan ng lupa ng kaaway. [Antonio Zumel, “Remembering the Martyrs,” 1992 nasa Radical Prose: Selected Writings, 2004.]

Sa mga hindi aktibista, ipinapakilala ng pelikula ang panganib na dulot ng cellular phone sa mga aktibista – na tumampok sa panahon ng paghahari ng rehimeng Arroyo.

Para sa karaniwang tao, normal na gamit pangkomunikasyon lang ito at pinagmumulan ng kasiyahan sa araw-araw. Pero bukod sa narito ang mga taong kaugnayan ng isang aktibista, ginagamit din itong pang-tukoy ng kinaroroonan niya. Sa panahon ng rehimeng Arroyo, maraming kwento tungkol sa bagay na ito.

Sa isang probinsya, bago lumaganap sa mga aktibista ang kaalaman tungkol sa panganib ng cellphone, nagpupulong ang ilan sa kanila:
Aktibista 1: (Nakatingin sa cellphone.) Oh, bakit nagte-text ka pa eh kaharap lang kita? Tsaka narinig mo naman ang sinabi niya, bakit itinatanong mo pa ulit?
Aktibista 2: Hindi ako nagte-text.

Bagamat naipakita ng pelikula na wasto at makatarungan ang ginagawa ng mga aktibista, mas madiin ito sa pagsasabi ng isang punto: Na kung inaakusahan man sila ng kung anong kasalanan ng Estado, hindi sila dapat basta na lang dukutin o barilin, kundi litisin at ipakulong. Ito naman talaga ang pagtinging mas makakahatak sa mas marami para tumutol at lumaban sa pagdukot at pagpaslang sa mga aktibista.

Tiyak, gayunman, na mapapaisip ang mga nagpasyang maging kritikal sa pelikula kung bakit pinatay ng kapatid ni Junix ang militar na bagamat oo nga’t nagtortyur at pumatay sa kanyang kapatid ay dapat din sigurong iharap sa batas at parusahan batay dito. Hindi ba’t labag ito sa sinasabi ng pelikula?

Dito hirap ang maraming liberal sa bansa: ang igiit ang dapat habang kinikilala ang totoo – ang igiit na dapat parusahan sa batas ang mga inaakusahang nagkasala rito habang kinikilalang marami ang gumagamit ng dahas labas sa Estado para maghanap ng katarungan sa mga pandarahas ng militar.

Ano ang kaibahan ng liberal at Marxista?
Kapag nakakita sila ng pulubi sa kalsada…
Sasabihin ng liberal: Hindi gumagana ang sistema.
Sasabihin ng Marxista: Gumagana ang sistema.

Ang hinala ko, pinatay ng kapatid ni Junix ang militar sa dulo hindi bilang personal na paghihiganti, kundi bilang miyembro ng NPA. Ang pinangyarihan ng pagpatay – ang sabungan – ang batayan ko. May inilathala kasi dati ang Pinoy Weekly tungkol sa pagpatay ng NPA sa isang elemento ng militar na napatunayan nitong responsable sa pagdukot at pagpatay sa mga aktibista sa Bicol, na naganap din sa sabungan.

Pero ang hinala ko, hindi naunawaan ng mga manonood na NPA sa yugtong iyun ang kapatid ni Junix. Wala naman kasing anumang palatandaan sa pelikula na ganito nga. Pero NPA man o hindi, malamang na papalakpakan ang eksenang ito ng mga manonood – bunsod ng pagkasuklam sa pagpapahirap na ginawa kina Junix at Maricel.

Hindi makakawala ang Dukot sa paghahambing sa Orapronobis. Sila naman kasi ang pinakamatapang na mga pelikulang progresibo sa kasaysayan ng bansa. Pareho silang nag-endorso ng paggamit ng dahas, at nagpapatanggap sa mga manonood na may mga tao sa lipunan na naitutulak na gumamit nito – anuman ang paghusga natin sa kanila.

Lumabas ang Orapronobis noong 1987; ang Dukot, ngayong 2009. Pareho silang kumukwestyon sa “demokrasya” sa bansa. Pareho silang lumabas sa isang panahon ng paghupa ng pampulitikang panunupil – kumpara sa panahon ng diktadurang US-Marcos at kasagsagan ng pampulitikang pagpaslang ng rehimeng Arroyo.

May pagkagulat sa pagkamalay at pagkagalit na dulot ng Orapronobis – na ang mga porma ng pampulitikang panunupil na namayagpag noong panahon ng diktadura ay nagpapatuloy sa bagong rehimeng tinatawag na “demokratiko.” May pagkagulat dahil may pag-asang namamayani sa bagong rehimen, bukod pa sa ang militarisasyon sa kanayunan na isiniwalat ng pelikula ay hindi gaanong malaganap sa kaalaaman lalo na ng mga manonood na nakabase sa urban at ibang probinsyang hindi naging puntirya.

Bagamat may pagkagulat din sa pagkamalay at pagkagalit na dulot ng Dukot, mas dulot ito ng tindi ng brutalidad na ipinakita, na lingid sa kaalaman ng marami. May pangkalahatang kaalaman na kasi ang mga manonood sa isyu ng pampulitikang pagpaslang at pagdukot. Wala rin kasing namamayaning pag-asa sa demokrasya, kundi papadausdos na pesimismo at sinisismo rito at sa posibilidad nito sa bansa.

Kinakaya pa ng ibang bansa na panatilihin ang mga relasyon sa pag-aari sa pamamagitan ng mga pamamaraang tila hindi kasing-marahas tulad ng gamit sa ibang bansa. Nagagawa pa ng demokrasya sa mga bansang ito ang pagkamit ng resultang siyang dahilan kung bakit kailangan ang karahasan sa iba – sa partikular, ang tiyakin ang pribadong pag-aari ng mga kagamitan sa produksyon. [Bertolt Brecht, “Writing the Truth: Five Difficulties,” nasa Galileo, 1966.]

Ang problema sa Dukot, gayunman, ay nasa karakter na si Junix. Bukod sa pagiging masigasig na aktibista at marubdob na mangingibig, wala nang ipinakita sa pagkatao niya. Sa panahong tinotortyur siya at si Maricel, mas matatandaan siyang nagbigay ng palaban at matalas-sa-pulitikang mga pahayag. Na para bang sapat na tanganan ang mga pahayag na ito para maging matatag sa harap ng matinding pagpapahirap.

Sa tingin ko, hindi. Marami ang kailangan para maging matatag sa gitna ng tortyur at banta ng kamatayan. At ito sana ang naisama sa mga pagbabalik-tanaw sa buhay ni Junix: ang mga kwento ng katatagan ng mga naharap sa parehong sitwasyon, ang epekto ng pagtataksil sa mga kapwa-aktibista sa kanila at sa mga inoorganisang anakpawis, ang pagmamahal sa mga kasama at masa, ang mga biruan, at iba pa. Hindi naipakita ang paghango ng isang aktibista sa kultura ng paglaban at pagrerebolusyon sa bansa ng lakas para kaharapin ang pandarahas at banta ng pagpatay. Pwedeng sa ganitong konteksto umangat ang personalidad niya, o maipakitang nahubog.

Tampok ang paghahambing kung paanong mula sa pag-oorganisa at pamumuhay ay ikinahon ang katawan nina Junix at Maricel hanggang sa tuluyang pinatay ang mga ito at kung paano, sa kabilang banda at kasabay naman, umalpas ang katawan ng kanilang mga magulang sa tradisyunal na mga espasyo ng mga ito patungo sa paglaban.

Salamat sa mga manggagawang pangkarapatang pantao at sa buong kilusang progresibo, makatotohanan ang optimismo ng kwento ng pelikula: Na bagamat hindi mapapalitan ang mga aktibistang nagbuwis ng buhay, maging ang kamatayan nila ay pagkakataon para dumami ang mga lumalahok sa kilusang progresibo.

Where the trains run on time

2009-11-16T14:45:00.000-08:00

By Luis V. Teodoro
www.luisteodoro.com
November 6, 2009

The results of a poll recently released by the US-based Gallup Organization say that some 700 million people worldwide would move to another country if they could.

No, Filipinos didn’t lead the pack, despite the 2007 finding that nearly 20 percent of the population would take the next plane for another country — any country — if they could, and Philippine airports’ being choked daily with the 6,000 people who’re either leaving for jobs abroad or permanently relocating elsewhere. Ahead of everyone else was the population of sub-Saharan Africa, of which 38 percent was most anxious to pack up and go.

Sub-Saharan Africa is a vast region south of the Sahara desert which includes practically every country (50) in the continent except the six countries that comprise North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Western Sahara).

With a total population of around 650 million (or some ten percent of the world’s total), the region includes some of the poorest — and most volatile and conflict-ridden — countries in the world, including such headline grabbers as Somalia and the Congo.

Sixty percent of all people with HIV — the virus that causes AIDS — are from the region, with an estimated 22 million men and women infected out of the global total of 32.9 million. Seventy five percent of all deaths from AIDS worldwide occurred in the region in 2007.

With poverty, AIDS, ethnic cleansing, and such other woes as piracy and the proliferation of armed groups of various stripes as part of daily life in many countries of the region, it’s a wonder that the number of those who want to leave isn’t higher.

In contrast to Sub-Saharan Africans, Asians wanted least to leave, with only one in ten of those polled saying they would, despite the number of Sri Lankans, Pakistanis, Indians. Bangladeshis, Indonesians, Filipinos, etc. who’ve left their countries to drive cabs in New York or to scrub toilets in London.

As a sub-group, Filipinos are among the most likely Asians to leave. Some go as mail order brides who end up sitting out winters in the US mid-West, others as truck drivers and construction workers braving improvised explosive devices and suicide bombers in Afghanistan. Large numbers of professionals, especially the doctors and nurses of which the Philippines has a shortage, also leave each month for jobs in other countries. While others leave as immigrants, the most preferred country being the United States, where there were 600,000 documented Filipinos in 2008, practically everyone who leaves for the US, Canada or any other developed country would prefer to stay there permanently.

As for the undocumented — the “TNTs” of Filipino migration lore — they’re not only in the United States but also in places as diverse as Italy, the Middle Eastern countries (Dubai and Saudi Arabia, for example), and even Croatia.

Despite what seems to be the obvious answers (poverty, limited economic opportunities) why Filipinos leave has been a perennial subject of debate in talk shows, newspaper columns and academic forums.

Some commentators attribute it all to greed. One broadsheet (not the BusinessWorld) excoriated a soon- to- be medical graduate who was planning to immediately leave for the United States for wanting to live in luxury and for his lack of patriotism, in a display of the self-righteousness the more comfortable in these parts share — “comfort” being defined in terms of a house in a (flood-prone) Manila suburb, a car in the garage, and a six figure salary at least.

The migration-as-greed-thesis does have some validity — but only in some cases, in which leaving the country for, say, the United States, is primarily driven by the immense propaganda impact of Western, mostly US, cultural fare to which allegedly “English-speaking” Filipinos are exposed 24/7. While more and more Western countries are adopting stricter immigration laws, the TV shows, movies and music they blanket the world with daily continue to entice millions with dreams of an earthly paradise in New York or Sydney.

But while among the lower middle classes the desire for some level of luxury otherwise unattainable in the Philippines moves some Filipinos who’ve had some education to leave, at least one other factor accounts for middle class migration. It’s the desire for order and predictability, which in turn has a bearing on a family and its children’s future. If you can’t predict what will happen next year, or even next month, planning for the future doesn’t make much, or even any, sense. (Those who invested in college assurance plans, for example, found this out soon enough when the companies they had put their money in went bankrupt.)

One Filipino academic, asked why he moved to the US, quoted Benito Mussolini’s boast about fascist Italy: at least the trains run on time. Indeed the trains run on time, the mail’s delivered on schedule, and the garbage collected regularly in such places as much of Europe, the United States, Australia, Japan, Canada as well as on that emerging destination of choice, New Zealand. But it does come at a price, among them having to live with racism and random violence, among others.

If some Filipinos do leave out of choice, many more do so because they have to. To this category belong the tens of thousands of migrant workers from poor families who can’t get jobs in a country where development has been at a standstill, or who do have jobs, but still can’t provide their families with the medical care, shelter and education to which every human being is entitled. More and more of these are women, and they’re the ones who’ve had to bear long hours of work, abuse, and even being beaten and murdered in some cases for the sake of their parents, siblings, husbands and children back home.

Mail order brides are on the other hand not always solely driven by dreams of comfort — or even, in some instances, the simple and piteous need to be in a situation where “I can eat enough and what I want”. Many leave for countries they may not even know anything about so they can send home something for brothers, sisters and parents. They’re not Out There in search of a place where the trains run on time and the mail’s delivered on schedule. They’re there because they need to be. (BusinessWorld)

Jesus in yellow

2009-11-08T16:36:00.000-08:00

Method To Madness
By Patricia Evangelista
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:50:00 11/07/2009

THE GRASS IS YELLOW OUTSIDE THE GATES OF HACIENDA LUISITA. Jesus walked here once. His father watched him die, almost five years to this day. Nov. 16 was when close to 15,000 tenants gathered to protest their treatment under the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita. Dispersal units charged with a thousand soldiers in full battle gear. The Northern Command numbered over five hundred. Stones and shouts, water cannons, tanks that barreled into gates. It was three in the afternoon. The sun burned yellow. The father heard it first: rifle cracks, a barrage of bullets punching through bodies. Jesus died that day, one of seven reported union deaths. They tell me there are more whose names were never reported.

They called it a massacre. Sen. Benigno Aquino III called it propaganda.

On that day, Federico Laza and other farmhands loaded the 38-year-old Jesus into a tricycle. The father wept and Jesus bled. It was too late when they brought him to the hospital. The police claimed they found powder burns on Jesus’ hands, proof he, too, had a gun. The autopsy said otherwise.

Today, Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III runs for president of the country his father died for.

I believed in him, not very long ago. I believed in him in spite of a long-ago interview on Hacienda Luisita, on his first run as senator. As it happened, I was standing by Federico Laza, looking at a death certificate, while Noynoy claimed the dead were Manila radicals shipped to Tarlac for the purpose of terrorizing the hacienda. He said the farmers were content, and that all I knew were left-wing lies. The Cojuangcos still own Luisita, even if on paper they are meant to share profit with the same starving farmers who are worse off now than before they were made to sign land meant for them into stock market shares.

And still I was glad Noynoy was running, believed his mistakes, and his mother’s, were a result of their class and could change in the lead-up to 2010. I believed he could bring together a scattered field of candidates, pare down the fight between administration and opposition. I believed that the myth of the Aquinos behind him would be enough to convince his rivals to throw their support behind one candidate, and allow him to prove he was not just a paper doll hero, a crudely-cut outline of his parents. I was afraid he might lose. Now I am afraid he may win. I wish I still believed in him, because without him there’s very little left in the rogue’s gallery of would-be leaders.

For months he has been leading headlines. The Aquino son, soaring on the wings of heroes. His rivals have not stepped back; the field is still open. A fever sweeps through the media, crowning Noynoy, the man who has yet to say anything that is not an echo of the old revolution. Remember my father. Remember my mother. Vote for me, and you vote for them. And that is all. It has been months since he became suddenly the nation’s moral choice, and there is little resembling platform, policy or position. Miracle, they call him. This is the revolution, say his supporters. This is Edsa. So he may not be as intelligent. So he may not be as articulate. So he may not have proven himself. And because we are faced with the usual array of the corrupt and the devout, we wait, we believe. And we are rewarded, in all its cinematic splendor, by a music video.

The scene is a forest, in the dark of the night. Yellow shirts and soft yellow light, Regine Velasquez by a fire in the woods, singing of togetherness and unity and a farewell to fear. There is the small child, offering a bamboo torch to the senator. There is talk show host Boy Abunda, standing on a boat manned by a young boy. There is Kris Aquino, Noynoy’s sister, who is rumored to have been wining and dining A-list celebrities to support her brother. It is national unity via television ratings: the top stars of the warring networks linked by yellow. ABS-CBN’s darlings of prime time television are lit beautifully in the flickering firelight, holding their bamboo torches, hair bouncing as they walk, smiling soulfully into the distance. The camera lets GMA7’s number one love team Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera look lovingly at each other as they walk on, a smiling Sharon Cuneta raises a lantern, Ogie Alcasid marches with torch. There is the odd farmer and soldier, but it’s clear who the stars are. And so the full shot, a great phalanx of torch-bearing, yellow-clad men and women marching to battle, the celebrities at the front lines. Through it all, Noynoy smiles at children, at people, at the camera, smiles blankly, and you can almost hear him count in his head the seconds before he has to turn to the lens. In the end, he leaps awkwardly up to a mound of soil, surrounded by his beautiful constituency, and a sun explodes behind him in shattering brilliance.

In a nation where government responsibility has shifted to the media, and calls for aid are directed to newsroom desks instead of the hotlines of the National Disaster Coordinating Council, this sort of move isn’t particularly surprising. A united GMA7 and ABS-CBN may seem like the best of metaphors for a united nation, but it says very much about the sort of man Noynoy Aquino is. Flanked by stars, surrounded by celebrities, content to ride on the waving banner stamped with his parents’ faces. There is no message, other than that personality is king. There are no voices, not even his. His defenders say it’s not the time for campaign—and yet that video rolls on and on in prime time television. You are not alone, they say, but who stands with you? Anne Curtis? Ate Shawie? Marielle Rodriguez? Just recently, Noynoy promised to give up his share of Hacienda Luisita, and yet denies knowing of eviction notices to farmers even while the case sits in the Supreme Court. Laza continues to march in rallies, five years after a bullet ripped a good man away. Nothing has changed, the same songs, the same names, the same injustices.

They say the miracles are colored yellow now—the yellow of thick lengths of ribbon, the triumphant swags of bright flag, the inside edge of a flame on a bamboo torch held up to a camera lens, the same yellow of grass outside the gates of Hacienda Luisita, where a man named Jesus once walked with his father.

FDC calls for debt moratorium, reparations from World Bank, ADB

2009-10-17T08:50:00.000-07:00

Friday, 16 October 2009 12:07 p.m.

QUEZON CITY, PHILIPPINES – Desperate times call for drastic measures.

Instead of relying on usual remedies like new borrowings to finance the relief and rehabilitation efforts and the reconstruction of public structures damaged or destroyed by Ketsana (Ondoy) and Parma (Pepeng), the government should firmly and unilaterally call for a debt moratorium, and sternly seek reparations from developed countries’ governments and international financial institutions like the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the current climate crisis.

These were the demands made by the Freedom from Debt Coalition as Congress approved Wednesday the P12-billion supplemental budget for the emergency relief and rehabilitation efforts and as the government shifted the purpose of the P50-billion bonds from funding the Economic Resiliency Program to reconstruction of public infrastructures. The US$1.1-billion bonds will be offered by the state-run National Development Company (NDC) next week.

“This is the time for bold measures,” stressed Lidy Nacpil, FDC vice president. “Relying again on usual measures such as floating bonds would sink the country deeper into the debt and deficit spiral.” “While financing mechanisms should immediately be pursued to provide immediate relief and rehabilitation, it must not be at the expense of bloating the national government debt and our fiscal deficit—all of which shall be borne eventually by the people including the typhoon victims. It would be a case of victimizing the already victims,” she said.

FDC raised the same sentiment on the P12-billion supplementary budget which will be sourced out from different quarters such as the 2009 General Appropriations Act’s unprogrammed funds. “The mere fact that unprogrammed funds are ‘unprogrammed’ means that their sources of financing are dependent on available savings or other extra revenues. Since we have none, this would only become a license for the government to incur additional borrowings,” Nacpil said.

Debt moratorium

“Instead of tapping new borrowings, the government must freeze external debt payments and re-channel freed up funds to finance government’s relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction programs. More than ever, the recent catastrophe must become an occasion for the country to renege from paying external debts many of which are challenged as illegitimate.”

FDC said the moratorium should be until an official comprehensive investigation and audit of all public debt and contingent liabilities is completed while “unbendable” policies such as the Automatic Debt Servicing Provision of the Revised Administrative Code of 1987 which perpetuate our debt problem is overhauled.

The group also said there should be no interest accruing on debts during the moratorium period. It said accumulated principal payments of these debts should not be paid immediately after the moratorium but should be spread out over time.

It was reported that total external debt payment in the proposed P1.541 trillion 2010 budget is P253.459 billion, more than enough money says FDC, to fund any national rehabilitation and reconstruction program.

Reparations

The group is also demanding the Arroyo government to seek reparations from developed countries’ governments and international financial institutions like the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the current climate crisis. FDC said developed countries, transnational corporations and financial institutions must own up to their historical responsibility for their plunder and extraction of developing countries’ resources and minerals as well as for funding technologies and industries that exacerbate the climate crisis.

According to Nacpil, the World Bank and ADB have been funding fossil fuel projects for many decades with investments amounting to $51.4 billion and $7.3 billion, respectively, in Asia alone.

“As such, instead of begging for assistance and aid, instead of acting like beggars and helpless victims, we should be demanding reparations and just compensation for the climate crisis they largely contributed in the first place,” Nacpil concluded.

Was it the rain? Or the waters from the dam?

2009-10-04T14:27:00.000-07:00

SPECIAL FROM http://www.barriosiete.com/
http://barriosiete.com/was-it-the-rain-or-the-waters-from-the-dam/
October 5, 2009

While typhoon Ondoy was devastating Manila and the floodwaters was raging, killing hundreds of people, devastating properties, it has never occurred into my mind…the waters from the dam.

Never.

Until I read something…it said….

Moreover, Pantabangan Mayor Romeo Borja Sr. said that the National Irrigation Administration was justified in ordering the release of water from the dam reservoir since there is a coming typhoon. “It is better for them to release water now when there is still no rains than when the typhoon and rains are already there,” he said. Source: Ondoy ruins P307-million Ecija crops

Interviews upon interviews of people who were flood victims where almost in unison and in chorus saying that floodwaters were rising very fast! “Ambilis pong tumaas nang tubig!” That’s what we all heard. Over and over.

In all my life, I have never heard of a rain to have caused such massive flooding – in a very short period of time. Flooding in New Orleans was not caused by rain. It was caused by the levee breaking up!

And then, I read another story:

Officials of Bulacan, which hosts the Angat and Ipo dams, have said that the water releases should not be blamed for the massive flooding in Metro Manila and Central Luzon. The amount of rain that fell on Sept. 26 was unusually high. Source: Pimentel to lead class action suit

So, they want us to believe that it was the rain? Massive rain?

But Pimentel is not satisfied. He is already talking with lawyers and is studying facts and collecting evidence in order to find out which dam managers failed to take necessary precautions or “recklessly” allowed water to flow out of the dams. The La Mesa, Angat and Ipo dams are near Metro Manila. Source: Pimentel to lead class action suit

If true, this is terrible! Just like Senator Pimentel, I’d like to know if indeed the the very sudden rise in floodwaters was caused by the waters released from the dams, and not just the unusually heavy rainfall. And shouldn’t they have warned that they will be releasing waters from the dam?

The Great Flood

2009-09-30T14:02:00.000-07:00

An aerial view aboard a Philippine Air Force chopper shows devastation brought by Tropical Storm Ketsana in Cainta, province of Rizal, eastern Manila.

NI JULIET DE LOZA/NOEL ABUEL/ERALYN PRADO /DINDO MATINING/JB SALARZON/TINA MENDOZA/AFP

Ginulantang kahapon ng walang patid na buhos ng ulan na hatid ng bagyong “Ondoy” ang rehiyon ng Luzon kung saan pangunahing sinalanta ay ang Metro Manila matapos nitong palubugin sa ga-hita hanggang lampas-taong baha ang 90 per cent ng kalungsuran.

Kasabay nito ay naitala ang 9-kataong nasawi dulot ng hagupit ni “Ondoy” sa iba’t ibang panig ng rehiyon.

Paliwanag naman ng Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) flood forecasting center, ang bumuhos na ulan kahapon ay katumbas ng halos dalawang linggong normal na pag-ulan.

Nabatid pa na simula alas-otso hanggang alas-11:00 pa lamang ng umaga ay umabot na sa 112 millimeters ang volume ng bumuhos na ulan at sobra-sobra na umano ito para bumaha ang malaking bahagi ng Kalakhang Maynila.

Bagama’t sunud-sunod ang bagyong pumasok sa teritoryo ng Pilipinas nitong nakalipas na tatlong linggo, ang pinagsama-sama nilang buhos ay naitala lamang sa sukat na 300 millimeters.

Samantala, isa pa sa nakadagdag ng biglang paglaki ng tubig ay ang obligadong pagpapakawala ng tubig mula sa mga water reservoir na mabilis na napuno at umangat ang tubig sa critical level dahil na rin sa walang patid at tila galit na galit na buhos ng ulan.

Unang nagpakawala ng tubig ang La Mesa Dam matapos umakyat sa 80.15 meters ang antas ng tubig dito. Sinundan ito ng pag-akyat din sa critical level ng tubig sa Angat Dam kaya’t napilitan din itong magpakawala ng tubig dakong alas-11:00 ng umaga.

Ilang oras makaraan ito ay nagpahayag din ang Magat Dam sa lalawigan ng Isabela na posible rin silang magpakawala ng tubig dahil sa mabilis na pag-akyat sa critical level.

Ang Ipo Dam ang unang nagbawas ng tubig dakong ala-1:20 ng madaling-araw nang buksan ang gates 2, 3 at 4. Makaraan ang ilang oras ay isinara na ang gate 2 at ang gates 3 at 4 na lamang ang iniwang nakabukas hanggang kahapon.

Bilang direktang resulta, 25 barangay sa Marilao, Meycauayan, San Miguel at Bocaue sa Bulacan ang lumubog sa flashfloods.

Sa pang-alas-dos ng hapong ulat ng National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), umabot sa 33 barangay sa Metro Manila ang iniulat na lumubog sa baha: isa sa Maynila, dalawa sa Marikina City, anim sa Malabon City, dalawa sa Muntinlupa City, lima sa Quezon City, isa sa Makati City, isa sa Pasay City, lima sa Pasig City, isa sa Valenzuela City at siyam sa San Juan City.

Bukod pa rito, 37 kalsada sa Kalakhang Maynila ang idineklarang “impassable” o hindi madaanan ng maliliit na sasakyan.

Nguni't sa ulat ng Manila Police District (MPD) district tactical operations center, sa Maynila pa lamang ay 33 major at minor streets na ang hindi madaanan pagsapit pa lamang ng alas-12:30 ng tanghali.

Bunga nito, kinailangang gumamit ng mga 6x6 o 10-wheeler truck ang mga kawani ng Manila City Hall sa paghahatid ng mga relief goods sa evacuation centers at maging sa pag-rescue sa mga na-trap sa baha.

Sa kahabaan ng Epifanio Delos Santos Ave. (EDSA), daan-daang commuters ang na-stranded sa hindi inaasahang paglaki ng baha rito kung saan marami sa mga ito ang sumugod na at nagpakabasa sa ulan habang sinasagasa ang ga-tuhod hanggang ga-baywang na baha makaraan ang siyam na oras na pagtitiyaga sa walang galawang trapiko.

Sa Makati City, mahigit 1,000 pamilya sa Silverio Compound ng San Isidro ang kinailangang iligtas sa ga-bewang na baha. Samantalang umakyat din hanggang tuhod ang baha sa San Antonio, Palanan at Olimpia.

“We need the help of the concerned agencies to help us evacuating hundreds of (families) in eight out of nine barangays in Muntinlupa. They are in danger,” pagsusumamo ni Muntinlupa City Rep. Rufino Biazon.

Ang mga tirahang barung-barong ng mahigit 1,000 pamilya sa San Isidro, Parañaque City ay nilamon din ng malaking tubig.

Bunga nito, nagpasaklolo kahapon si Parañaque City Rep. Roilo Golez sa pamahalaan upang saklolohan ang mahigit 5,000 pamilyang naapektuhan ng baha sa kanyang distrito. Karamihan umano sa mga ito ay ngayon pa lamang nakalasap ng baha sa kauna-unahang pagkakataon.

Si Bayan Muna partylist Rep. Teodoro Casiño, sa kabilang dako, ay nangalampag naman ng rescue teams para saklolohan ang mga pamilyang na-trap sa biglang pagbaha kung saan marami sa mga ito ay nasa bubungan na ng kanilang bungalow na mga bahay sa kasagsagan ng buhos ng ulan.

Sa Kabikulan, tinatayang 1,000 hanggang 2,000-katao ang na-stranded matapos na harangin ng Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) ang kanilang paglalayag.

Sa inisyal na ulat na 9-kataong nasawi, isa rito ay mag-ama na nabagsakan ng isang bumagsak na pader sa kasagsagan ng baha at buhos ng ulan samantalang apat na bata ang nalunod at tatlo pa ang tinangay ng malakas na agos.

Ondoy, Ang Bagyo

2009-09-29T19:08:00.000-07:00

BY MINNIE QUEMUEL
SPECIAL REPORT
Las Pinas, Metro Manila, Philippines, Sunday, September 27, 2009

The rains started even before 8 a.m. last Saturday. I was awake and was supposed to wash clothes but didn’t.

The rains fell hard and next thing I knew, the bridge connecting Phase 1 (us) to Phase 2 was under water, kaya pala a long line of vehicles was lining up in front of our house, they couldn't see the bridge. The water outside was already knee deep, and it’s a good thing may pader kami, kung hindi, pumasok na ang tubig sa bahay.

After several minutes, passing tricycles (ito na lamang ang pwedeng lumusong sa baha) would push debris to our garage. The debris/basura came from the nearby creek.

I was dumbfounded to know that the Project 8 house (remember the Quemuel house?) was under water and all my in-laws had evacuated to higher grounds....WALA silang nadala. The water rose that fast. The Q house is near a creek, too.

Meanwhile, my youngest brother who lives in Sta. Mesa, was crying for help—the water had submerged the first floor of their house and they fled to the second floor—WALA rin silang nadalang kasangkapan. He has three young children and his elderly in laws lived next door.

I was desperately contacting all government agencies, the Red Cross, the radio/TV stations—but to no avail. Busy lahat. The rains continued until almost 6 p.m.

Nakakatakot. This is the first time that the whole Metro Manila and nearby provinces went under!!! Nataranta ang gobyerno—and the local governments are not prepared for such a big disaster.

In a certain subdivision in Marikina, rescuers found dead people who had climbed to their roofs but couldn’t stand the cold or fell to the waters.

On TV, there was a group of people (relatives maybe) who were atop a roof that had dislodged from the main house and was carried away by rampaging waters in Marikina!!! Horrific—in front of you, you see people needing help, but you couldn’t do anything. Namatay yata ang lahat na iyon. They couldn’t have survived those angry waters.

I was praying na huminto na ang ulan, kasi kung hindi, we will evacuate—on foot! Wala akong kotse at walang sasakyan dito like jeep, bus, or taxi na dumadaan Digoy (2nd son) was in their subdivision and couldn’t come, kasi baha din ang dadaanan niya at hindi pwede ang kotse niya.

Tootsie (1st son) was already on alert with his two young daughters (aged 4, and another, 7 months) and wife in case they also had to evacuate on foot. The water in front of their house was already waist high! Tumirik na ang aming Pinoy jeep (all of 38 years na ito!).

All of us were on edge. We kept texting each other and sisters from abroad were texting too. Yung mga kapatid ko sa Japan and States were panicking—they wanted to know what was happening.

All of us here were mesmerized by the visuals before us—buti na lamang may koryente. Hindi naman kasi malakas ang hangin. I couldn't bring relief goods to my in laws and brod, baka bukas na kapag wala na ang baha.

That is the latest muna.

AFTERMATH: Tuesday, September 29

Among the relatives, itong youngest brod ko ang tinamaan—lahat ng kasangkapan niya, sira na kasi nababad sa tubig sa first floor nila. Yung in-laws ko ang hardest hit kasi they had to evacuate when the water rose while they were watching “Wowowee.” Buti na lang may back door sila. But all they had were the clothes on their back. Sila itong tinutulungan ko kahit pakonti-konti. (MQ)

For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV

For more information on typhoon aftermath and Relief Sites:
1) A map that helps the victims of Ondoy/Ketsana: http://baratillo.net/
2) Alerts and information (updated): Manuel L. Quezon III—The Daily Dose
http://www.quezon.ph/category/daily/

Wishful Thinking for Philippine Cinema

2009-09-13T17:16:00.000-07:00

On September 1, 2009, film critics Alexis Tioseco and Nika Bohinc were murdered in their home in Quezon City, Philippines. Born in 1981, Alexis Tioseco was founder and editor-in-chief of Criticine, an online journal of Southeast Asian cinema. Nika Bohinc was editor of EKRAN, an international magazine on film based in Slovenia.

By Alexis A. Tioseco

March 15, 2009, 3:57 am (Shorter version originally published as an addendum to an article in Rogue Magazine, extended final version which appears below published in Philippines Free Press week of December 13, 2008).

I wish that the Film Development Council of the Philippines would understand the value of the money they’re given and consider going to Paris and spending P5 million of their P25 million allotment for a showcase given by a young festival an investment, and not just a vacation.
They support filmmakers with finished films to go abroad to festivals for the pride they bring their country—I wish instead they would support their films locally, and help them get seen by a larger Filipino audience.

I cry for the loss of Manuel Conde’s Juan Tamad films.

I cry for a country that can’t convince that one Filipino-American who owns the only known print of Conde’s Genghis Khan in its original language to return (i.e. sell) the film back to his mother country.

I cry for the generations of Filipinos, myself included, that can no longer see Gerry De Leon’s Daigdig ng Mga Api, and instead have scans of movie ads to admire on the internet (with sincere thanks to Simon Santos and James De la Rosa).

I mourn a heritage that has allowed through neglect the prints of Mario O’Hara’s Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos and Peque Gallaga’s Oro, Plata, Mata to turn flush sepia.

I cry for a Union Bank and University of the Philippines that conspire in apathy to let the master negatives of treasures produced by Bancom Audiovision rot in rooms only air-conditioned half the day and in cans untouched for years and years.

I pray for a city government or even enterprising and concerned theater owners to consider setting aside 50 centavos or a peso of a ticket for the preservation of our national audiovisual heritage. There have been flood taxes siphoned from movie tickets for crying out loud—this should be easy!

I wish Cinemalaya, which, thanks to the media and the government’s press mileage behind it, has a great festive excitement, would actually put their efforts in the service of Philippine cinema, and not their own self-involved attempt to start a micro-industry.

I wish filmmakers would stop listening to Robbie Tan.

I wish Cinema One, which takes more risks, gives more money and often produces better films than Cinemalaya, would actually give filmmakers some rights to their work and stop swindling them.

I wish Cinemanila, which has introduced to the country more great films than any other institution, doesn’t stop showing them on 35mm.

I wish Cinemanila would publish their full schedule in advance: it’s difficult to plot what films to watch when you don’t know which ones will show again.

I wish the Goethe-initiated Silent Film Festival, with live scores by Filipino musicians, would continue annually, and that one year they get to show a Chaplin, a Griffith, a Dreyer, and maybe a Vertov or Medvedkin.

I wish Lav Diaz would have larger budgets to maneuver and shoot with. And would work with the ace production designer Cesar Hernando once again.

I wish more people saw Lav Diaz’s films rather than just respecting his stance, and using him as a symbol.

I wish Raymond Red would get to make Makapili and/or return to making fantastic shorts in the experimental mode.

I wish Raymond Red would still get to shoot on celluloid.

I wish John Torres would sacrifice the image quality of his HDV camera for the special intimacy and spontaneity he is able to achieve with his 1ccd camera. Or get a smaller HDV camera.

I wish Mike De Leon would make another movie… please.

I wish Roxlee would get enough money to buy the time necessary to make an animated feature.

I wish everyone would buy a copy of Nicanor Tiongson and Cesar Hernando’s richly illustrated The Cinema of Manuel Conde.

I wish there were more books on Philippine cinema.

I wish a book series was started that published classic screenplays.

I hope Noel Vera gets to write his book on Mario O’Hara.

I wish a close study of the entire oeuvre of Ishmael Bernal were made.

I wish older commentators would understand: Lino Brocka is dead.

I wish younger filmmakers would understand: Lino Brocka compromised when he had to because he had to, and perhaps even, at times, too much. You are living in a different time. The excuse that Brocka made more than 60 films therefore you can afford your own mediocre ones does not hold water.

I wish we had less tourist cinema.

I wish we had less formula cinema—“real-time” anyone?

I wish Cinefilipino had put out Maalaala Mo Kaya with the reels in the proper order.

I wish Cinefilipino would have put our their Brocka titles with just a little bit of care and affection, providing some writing on the film or special features to contextualize them rather than just throw them out their bare to earn.

I wish Nestor Torre would open his eyes…

I wish the Manunuri books on Philippine cinema in the ’70s and ’80s would go back in print.

I wish the Manunuri actually cared about Philippine cinema today.

I wish more of the Manunuri actually reviewed films instead of just giving out awards.

I wish the Young Critics Circle were actually young.

I wish the Young Critics Circle were actually critics.

I wish Francis “Oggs” Cruz, Richard Bolisay, and Dodo Dayao would get space in the broadsheets, because they’re far more interesting than anyone writing there regularly.

I wish we didn’t have a cinema of the press (more on this soon).

I wish Noel Vera would move back.

I wish Hammy Sotto were still alive.

I wish Hammy Sotto’s manuscripts would get published.

I wish film preservation activist Jo Atienza was still in Manila.

I wish we had a fully-supported Film Museum.

I wish we had a Cinematheque.

I wish the UP Film Center had better seats, and more important, showed better films.

I wish more non-filmmakers from the Philippines would get to travel to festivals.

I wish film were taught in high schools.

I wish we had more film lovers and less bureaucrats in important positions in the field of cinema.

I wish Teddy Co would get the recognition that he deserves for his selfless work.

I wish Teddy Co would write more as his ideas deserve to be recorded.

I wish co-ops would co-operate.

I wish Khavn De La Cruz would get to make his musical EDSA XXX.

I wish the Max Santiago feature would get made, and that shorts would finally come to my hands on DVD (Hi Marla!).

I hope Tad Ermitano never stops writing and playing in his cave.

I wish Lourd De Veyra would continue writing on actors and cinema.

I wish Raymond Lee’s UFO success.

I wish Albert Banzon would get more credit.

I wish we had more regional feature films, and more support for regional filmmakers.

I wish everyone would watch When Timawa Meets Delgado.

I wish someone would lower MTRCB rates for screening fees, especially for festivals.

I wish someone, anyone, would make a good, thought-provoking film about the Philippine upper class.

I wish Ketchup Eusebio would get more leading roles.

I wish Elijah Castillo would appear in a lot more films. Soon.

I wish Cesar Hernando would get to make a video transfer of his experimental short Botika, Bituka.

I wish filmmakers had some integrity and told Viva to screw themselves when offered another exploitation film.

I wish more people could see the film Bontoc Eulogy by Marlon Fuentes.

I wish Vic Del Rosario wasn’t presidential adviser on Entertainment, given the shlock they produce, and yes, that includes the films that starred First-Son Mikey Arroyo.

I wish Star Cinema would stop—just stop.

I wish there was a film library that people could go to in order to read books on cinema.

I wish the MMFF were not in the hands of the same people who install public urinals (admittedly useful).

I wish the MMDA didn’t call those circles and boxes Art.

I wish that MMDA Art wasn’t so much better than every MMFF film.

I wish a certain festival in December didn’t consider box office as a criteria for its main prize (which comes with rewards). We don’t give cultural awards to Wowowee, do we? Well, not yet…

I wish I could see how “commercial viability” was computed.

I wish Mother Lily didn’t have a monopoly on the Metro Manila Film Festival.

I wish Mother Lily took better care, or rather took care at all, of the good films she unwittingly produced in the past.

I wish Mother Lily would get to see Raya’s Long Live Philippine Cinema! …or maybe not.

I wish the Hammy Sotto-led Philippine Cinema in the ’90s book, with excellent interviews and a complete filmography of the decade, and which has been completed for several years, would finally get printed.

I wish all the old Mowelfund shorts—including the works of Regiben Romana, the Alcazaren Brothers, Louie Quirino and Donna Sales, Raymond Red and Noel Lim—would come out on DVD.

I wish a book would be written about all the Mowelfund shorts.

I wish a book on Philippine poster art would be released.

I always look forward to the rest of Nick Deocampo’s projected four-to-five volume history on Philippine cinema—at least someone is writing it.

I wish there were a pure film studies course available in the Philippines.

I wish that venues that are censorship (and therefore MTRCB fee) exempt would understand the vital role they play and take more responsibility.

I wish we had a regular film journal. Why don’t we? We have enough critics groups and awarding bodies.

I wish more film teachers were approaching cinema from cinema.

I wish R.A. Rivera would get to make his first feature soon.

I wish Quark Henares refrains from selling out again, because if he doesn’t, he has the potential to be one of the important ones.

I wish more people would get to see In Da Red Korner. It deserves to be reconsidered.

I wish Rogue Magazine would cut down their featuring of foreign films in the gallery section when there is so much to write about locally that doesn’t get covered in other media beyond sloppy journalism.

I wish the government would sponsor DVD releases of the surviving films of Lamberto Avellana, Gerardo De Leon and all other classics that still exist.

I wish FPJ Productions would again screen the footage of Gerry De Leon’s unfinished Juan de la Cruz (the icon, by the way, that was invented by this magazine).

I wish less filmmakers compromised.

I wish more filmmakers admitted when they did.

I wish we focused our attention more on audience education, development and literacy, than on dumbing down films to pander to them.

I wish Philippine cinema all the success in the world.

http://www.criticine.com/interview_article.php?id=21

Mar Roxas Supports Candidacy of Noynoy Aquino for President in 2010

2009-09-02T18:54:00.000-07:00

http://filipinovoices.com/
September 3, 2009

Statement of Senator Mar Roxas supporting the candidacy of Senator Noynoy Aquino for President come 2010, complete and full text of speech. See Video on right column.

Country above self. Bayan bago ang sarili.

Iyan ang habilin ng aking lolo, President Manuel Roxas.

Our nation is in trouble. Leadership is bankrupt. Institutions are in disarray. People are hungry. Noynoy Aquino and I share the same outrage over the mess we are all in, the same way we share the solution–clean, honest, selfless public service.

Marami at matindi ang mga problema ng bansa. Kailangan nating ayusin. Matindi ang kalaban. We need a determined force for good far stronger than the festering evil around us.
We need to fight just as our own fathers fought dictatorship, and just as both died believing that good will conquer evil.

Noynoy and I want to make a difference, but we also know that we need to unite to achieve what we want.

I am the President of the Liberal Party.

It is within my power to preside over a potentially divisive process or to make the party a bridge for the forces of change. I choose to lead unity, not division. Bilang pinuno ng aking Partido, magdedesisyon ako.

Mahal ko ang Partido Liberal. My grandfather founded it. My father led it during the most difficult times of Martial Law. Sa harap ng peligro, sa kabila ng napakaraming tukso–hindi siya sumuko. He inspired me–to stay the course, to fight the good fight, to pass the test of true character. To believe.

Over the weekend, Noynoy and I had many long conversations… Masinsinang usapan. We agreed: Let us forget about ourselves for a moment. This is not about us, this is about our people and our country. This is about our common dream. The dream of our parents.

But let us not remain a country of dreamers. Tama na ang pangarap. Gawin na natin, ngayon. Today, I am announcing my support for the candidacy of Noynoy Aquino for President in 2010. Noy has made it clear to me that he wants to carry the torch of leadership.

The passing of our beloved former President Aquino has reawakened a passion among us. I acknowledge this as fuel to bring us to the realization of our dream: Good will triumph over evil.
Ito na ang pinakamabigat na desisyon sa buhay ko. Maniwala man kayo o hindi, ginagawa ko ito para sa bayan, para sa inyo. I do this for unity in support of change. And if that means that somebody must make the sacrifice, it must be me. Ako na.

To you, Noy, I say: I began the campaign to sow the seeds para sa pagbabago at reporma. You must now be the one to grow them in the arena of leadership. Hindi kami maghihiwalay ni Noy. I will stand with him.

At sa aking mga kababayan, sa mga nagtiwala sa akin: Mahal na mahal ko po kayo. Mahal na mahal ko po ang ating bayan. Hindi rin tayo maghihiwalay. Itutuloy natin ang pagbabago sa ating bansa. Itutuloy natin ang laban para sa reporma!

Kay Noy, at sa aking mga kababayan: Country above self! Bayan bago sarili! Hindi ko kayo pababayaan! Lalaban tayo!

Simplicity

2009-08-18T09:09:00.000-07:00

Guest Editorial
Reprinted from Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:18:00 08/18/2009

After the uproar over what some sectors have called “extravagant and ostentatious” spending by government officials on foreign trips, now should be an opportune time to remind them of Republic Act 6713, the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

Section 4 (h) of RA 6713 says in part that “public officials shall lead modest lives appropriate to their positions and income” and that “they shall not engage in extravagant or ostentatious displays of wealth.” It behooves government officials, especially the high-ranking ones, to remember the law because they should lead the nation not just by precept but by example.

Government officials have to remember that they are not the owners but the stewards of public money. They have to spend it wisely and prudently, like any head of a family. They have to have a hierarchy of values, a schedule of priorities and a sense of proportion in the expenditure of public money.

Even when they are spending their personal funds while on a trip abroad, they have to remember that they come from a poor country where the poverty incidence is 26.9 per cent and 23.7 per cent of households suffer involuntary hunger. It would be the height of insensitivity for them to splurge on luxury hotels and expensive restaurants when millions of their countrymen are starving and living in hovels.

We are not saying that the President, Cabinet members and members of Congress should just eat at a hamburger or hot dog stand or stay in fleabag hotels while abroad. After all, they represent the Philippines while they are abroad and they have to stay in respectable hotels and eat at the better restaurants and not just cafeterias. But certainly they should not choose to stay in expensive five-star hotels and dine in the classiest restaurants.

The wise and prudent expenditure of public funds is not just a matter of following the letter and spirit of the law. It is not just a matter of scrimping on government funds at a time of a global and national economic crunch. It is also a matter of ethical correctness.

Perhaps government officials should remember the example of former Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yew of Singapore, one of the richest countries in Asia, who came to the Philippines many years ago with his wife and a few aides aboard a commercial jet. Taking a commercial airline did not diminish his stature as a leader in Asia. If anything, it impressed many people that the leader of a rich nation had the humility and practical good sense to travel aboard a commercial airline and not in a private jet .

And why can’t our government officials follow the example of the late former President Corazon Aquino, member of an old rich clan, who practiced voluntary simplicity and kept government spending on presidential trips at a minimum? At a time like this, when the plight of millions of Filipinos has been exacerbated by a global economic downturn, government officials have to set the example in austerity and voluntary simplicity.

Can Arroyo afford to declare martial law?

2009-07-14T18:01:00.000-07:00

PUBLISHED ON JULY 11, 2009 AT 11:52 AM

Talk is rife that the Arroyo government would proclaim martial law, especially after the series of bombings that rocked several parts of the Philippines. However, the Arroyo regime sorely lacks the factors that enabled the dictator Ferdinand Marcos to successfully impose martial rule. The bottomline: if Arroyo declares martial law, she would be adding fuel to the fire of the people’s anger.

BY BENJIE OLIVEROS
Analysis
Bulatlat.com

MANILA — The day started like any other. But things were very much different. Television screens went blank; all that one could hear on the radio was static. On the streets, the people were going about their daily business but one could feel the uneasiness in the air. Gone were the almost daily demonstrations and clashes between the Metrocom (Metropolitan Command) and the protesters. The bombings also stopped.

By the time Ferdinand Marcos’s information minister Francisco Tatad appeared on air to read Proclamation 1081, the military and police had established control over the country, conducting simultaneous raids and arrests of activists and the opposition, padlocking television and radio stations, and manning checkpoints that control the movement of people.

In one broad sweep, Marcos was able to install himself as dictator. He subsequently “legitimized” his hold to power by reconvening the 1971 constitutional convention to effect a shift to a parliamentary system of government, with a strong president and a weak prime minister.

While activists and the opposition had been saying all along that Marcos would declare martial law, especially after he suspended the writ of habeas corpus more than a year before, in August 1971, many Filipinos were still surprised when he did declare it.

The element of surprise and the capability to exercise complete control through the military and police – these were the two major factors that enabled Marcos to successfully declare martial law. And when he was able to do so, he tried to consolidate his rule by proclaiming that he would usher in a “New Society” that was characterized by order, as opposed to the anarchy of the past, and prosperity for all, versus the oligopolistic control of the old society. There were some who actually believed him or were willing to tolerate martial law and see whether he would be able to deliver on his promises — at least during the early years.

Of course, another essential factor that enabled Marcos to declare martial law was the support of the US. The Laurel-Langley Agreement, which granted American businessmen the same rights as Filipinos, was about to expire in 1974 and the US wanted to make sure that its interests were protected thereafter. The US then supported dictators who protected its interests all over the world.

Today, talk is rife that the Arroyo government would proclaim martial law, especially after the series of bombings that rocked several parts of the country. However, the Arroyo government sorely lacks the factors that enabled Marcos to successfully impose martial rule. Arroyo could no longer use the element of surprise as the progressive movement and the opposition have been preparing for possible martial law. When the Arroyo government issued Presidential Proclamation 1017 (PP1017) in 2006, placing the country under a state of national emergency, it was immediately challenged by street demonstrations and through a petition filed before the Supreme Court.

While the chain of command of the military still holds, the regime could not be too sure about the loyalties of the military and police if and when it declares martial law or another state of national emergency. The divisiveness of the military and police forces is evidenced by repeated attempts by some officers to call on soldiers and police officials to withdraw support from the Arroyo government. In the event that Arroyo is able to pull it off, it has no credibility left that would enable it to hold on to power even for a year. Its unresolved issues of corruption and bribery, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and other human-rights violations would continue to haunt it. More importantly, the Filipino people had flexed its political muscle to oust a dictator before and they are likely to do it again.

As to the US, it would decide again on the basis of its interests. If it thinks that supporting a dictator would be the best way to advance its interest now that it is under a deep economic crisis, it would support Arroyo. After all, Washington has been pushing for amendments to the 1987 Philippine Constitution to remove restrictions on the activities of its monopoly corporations.

But if the US thinks that supporting a dictator is not in its best interest now because of its Bush-tarnished image and that doing so would create a situation that would strengthen the Left and other patriotic groups and individuals, it would not support Arroyo.

These, perhaps, are what keeps the Arroyo government in check whenever it is inclined to declare martial law. But this does not mean that it would not or could not declare martial law or another state of national emergency. It could still do so in a moment of desperation such as in February 2006 or, as former speaker Jose de Venecia revealed, in 2007.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the recent bombings. And it is not farfetched that these were done to create a climate of fear to justify declaring martial law or a state of national emergency. The holding of a constituent assembly in the next few weeks would not be as smooth as the Arroyo government would have wanted and the May 2010 elections, when Arroyo is supposed to step down, is drawing near. If it does try to declare martial law or another state of national emergency, it would be adding fuel to the fire of the people’ anger. http://www.bulatlat.com/

What are 1109, 9006, and 9369 in Arroyo’s agenda?

2009-06-28T19:21:00.000-07:00

ISSUE ANALYSIS No. 08
Series of 2009

Surely, for nine years, this administration has been obsessed with the numbers game starting with the liquidation of impeachment charges. With the May 2010 elections around the corner, the numbers 1109, 9006, and 9369 may just be what the sitting president would need to spend the rest of her life in power.

By the Policy Study, Publication, and Advocacy
Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG)
June 17, 2009

Like the flock of presidential aspirants, Mrs. Gloria M. Arroyo will spend the rest of her presidential term removing all impediments to her bid to stay in office beyond June 2010.

The knots to this grand design are quite clear: They can be seen in the President’s frequent provincial forays, orchestrated moves by her allies in Congress, new appointments to her Cabinet, the armed forces, and even the Supreme Court, the recent merger of Kampi and Lakas-CMD, and an election scheme. All these point to the fact that Arroyo’s plan to stay in power is not hers alone to pursue but smacks of a grand conspiracy involving her allies in Congress, Cabinet secretaries, key LGU officials, and others. The success of the strategy rests on Arroyo’s ability to command significant loyalty from elements she has maintained through patronage all these years – as well as logistical support and her allies’ own cunning maneuvers.

By far the clearest sign radiates from some Cabinet secretaries, Mrs. Arroyo’s election lawyer, and local executives in Central Luzon – the traditional bailiwick of the Macapagals. Former Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, now the presidential legal counsel, last week confirmed that Mrs. Arroyo will run for a congressional seat in Pampanga for her “self-preservation,” a claim echoed by the agrarian secretary, a press undersecretary, and local politicians in Central Luzon. Mrs. Arroyo has visited Pampanga, her home province, 17 times this year. She hinted as early as 2007 about her plan to run for a seat in Congress.

The President’s election advisers can cite the Fair Election Act of 2001 (RA 9006), particularly Section 14 which deems a candidate running for presidency not resigned from his/her elective position. This section is claimed to have been inserted by stealth but the whole act was enacted and signed into law anyway in February 2001, a month after Arroyo became president following the Edsa 2 uprising.

HR 1109

Arroyo’s plan to run for her son Mikey Arroyo’s legislative seat in Pampanga is consistent with her House allies’ railroading of House Resolution 1109. Approved on June 3 in a marathon session by the Arroyo-dominated House, the resolution empowers Congress to convene into a Constituent Assembly in which both the lower and upper (Senate) chambers would vote jointly – not separately – to amend the 1987 Constitution. Arroyo’s House allies said they will push through the Con-Ass even without the Senate participation as soon as Congress resumes session in late July.

Some of the congressmen, however, are dangling the proposal to adopt a federal system of government to bait senators, led by Aquilino Pimentel – its original proponent – in supporting the House initiative. The pro-Con-Ass legislators are basically the same House members who voted down four impeachment complaints filed against Mrs. Arroyo since 2005 over allegations of election cheating in 2004, culpable violation of the constitution, human rights violations, and other crimes. Since 2005, it has been their singular role to support the retention or extension of the besieged President in power.

HR 1109 has been billed as yet another move by Arroyo and her allies to ram through a parliamentary system by charter change, with Arroyo seating as Prime Minister and with those voting for the resolution enjoying a term extension. The plan was apparently hatched on the sidelines of the recent merger of Arroyo’s Kampi party and Lakas-CMD and, according to some of her allies, had the President’s imprimatur.

Both her election to Congress and the Con-Ass are conjoined to allow her a seat in a new parliamentary set-up. The nixing of a parliament, however, will not prevent Pampanga representative Gloria M. Arroyo from eventually taking over as the next House speaker under a scenario where it will remain dominated by the coalesced Kampi and Lakas-CMD after the 2010 elections.

Presidential successor

Mrs. Arroyo’s immediate dilemma is who she will anoint as her presidential successor if and when the May 2010 elections are held. Her current vice president, Noli de Castro, who is also reportedly leading in the popularity polls is well advised that running for president under the wing of Kampi-Lakas will likely be a “kiss of death” - thus his reported preference to run as an independent with another independent candidate for VP, Sen. Francis Pangilinan.

Will the other presidential aspirants, like Sens. Francis Escudero or Loren Legarda, members of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) under Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr., an ally of the President, welcome being adopted by Mrs. Arroyo’s coalition as guest candidates? Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, who has declared his availability as the Malacanang nominee, can be a fallback choice and his campaign can be bankrolled by administration resources with military support. Teodoro, an emerging pro-U.S. politician, may team up with Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno, who was implicated in dagdag-bawas (vote-padding and –shaving) during the 1992 elections where Fidel V. Ramos won as president.

RA 9369 is now being implemented under the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) full automation or automated election system (AES). Fully endorsed by Mrs. Arroyo, the AES will use the optical mark reader (OMR) machines to be supplied by the winning bidder, the Dutch-Venezuelan company Smartmatic, whose local partner, TIM, is reportedly based in Cebu where the President got her “swing votes” in the rigged 2004 elections.

Comelec has assured the public there will be clean and credible elections in May 2010 with the use of the OMR but many voters are probably unaware of the automated system’s potential flaws as well as vulnerabilities to electronic cheating. Some observers now ask: In the likely scenario of automation breakdown, will there be a failure of elections and, if so, will this not justify the extension of Arroyo power? An emergency situation which can be declared well within the term of Arroyo may result either in the extension of her presidency or in a holdover government led by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, also a known Arroyo ally.

No solid opposition bloc

Any of these options will likely come into fruition in the absence of a solid opposition bloc that will challenge Arroyo and ensure an anti-Arroyo opposition victory in the 2010 presidential and local elections. Five months away to the deadline for the filing of candidacy in the coming automated elections, the broad but divided anti-Arroyo opposition has yet to put its act together in order to forge a formidable bloc with a national machinery that can match that of the Arroyo coalition. With the current fractiousness of the broad opposition camp showing no immediate prospects of fielding a common candidate there may yet emerge at least three opposition presidential contenders, making the total number of serious aspirants to five, in addition to Noli de Castro and the administration bet.

“Self-preservation” lurks in the shadow of the Arroyo agenda. Stepping down voluntarily at the end of her term will unleash a deluge of lawsuits to make her pay for the alleged crimes she had committed while in office since 2001. She must stay in power to shield herself against any lawsuit even if some observers believe being House speaker or prime minister does not necessarily give her legal immunity.

Progressive forces, including those aching for reform in the country’s political and electoral systems, should now face the reality that Mrs. Arroyo and her supporters are positioning themselves for power extension as shrewdly as the traditional opposition appears to be headed for electoral uncertainties. More effective and creative strategies are needed, certainly more than the reactive protestations against fraud, corruption, persecution, and dirt politics that people have known of this administration for nine years.

Surely, for nine years, this administration has been obsessed with the numbers game starting with the liquidation of impeachment charges. With the May 2010 elections around the corner, the numbers 1109, 9006, and 9369 may just be what the sitting president would need to spend the rest of her life in power.

http://www.cenpeg.org/

It’s battle of good vs evil, church leaders say of cha-cha fight

2009-06-09T19:19:00.000-07:00

Religious leaders from various denominations affirm their commitment against charter change.

From left: Caloocan City Bishop Deogracias Iniguez, Senator Mar Roxas, NBN-ZTE star witness Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada, Monsignor Pedro Quitoria and lawyer Ricardo Ribo.

(Photo by Janess Ann J. Ellao / bulatlat.com)

PUBLISHED ON June 10, 2009

Several religious leaders have vowed to never abandon the Filipino people in their struggle to defeat the regime’s attempt to change the Constitution. Arroyo, they say, “has surpassed the brutality and evilness of martial law.”

BY JANESS ANN J. ELLAO

BULATLAT

MANILA – Mother Mary John Mananzan, OSB, never swore in her life. Despite having seen so much corruption and injustice all these years, she said she has never cursed. These days, however, Mananzan has the convent-bred and Catholic-educated Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to thank for losing her manners, if not her cool.

“This is not only a matter of politics,” Mananzan firmly said at a press conference on Wednesday. This, she said, is also about “good and evil.”

Mananzan, co-chair of the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP), was among the religious leaders who have come out publicly against the efforts by Arroyo and her allies to change the Constitution. Many say this is just a way to extend Arroyo’s term or make her prime minister so she can, among other motives, enjoy immunity from the many legal cases that are sure to be filed against her once she is out of power next year.

Thousands of Filipinos are expected to take to the streets on Wednesday to protest charter change. (Read related story below.)If the Philippines’s religious leaders will be cowed, “who is left to shout for the truth?” Bishop Godofredo J. David of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) asked during the press briefing at the Ilustrado restaurant in Intramuros, Manila.

Bishop Jessie Suarez of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines said the Church will “never turn its back on its responsibility to uphold the truth.”

David said only few would benefit from charter change. “Our county has so many problems to deal with. I wonder why everyone was willing to stay up late and railroad this bill,” he said, referring to House Resolution 1109 passed last week by Arroyo’s allies in Congress. The bill paves the way for the convening of Congress as a constituent assembly, one of ways the Constitution can be amended.

Sister Maureen S. Catabian of the Interfaith Justice Peace Network said that there are more relevant problems that the current administration needs to address. She underscored the less priority given to education and health services for poor Filipinos.

Catabian said more Filipinos are leaving the country as migrant workers because of lack of local employment in the country. “The congressmen are not prioritizing these. They are more focused on getting privileges and personal favors from this administration despite the widespread poverty in the Philippines,” she said.

Bishop Lito Tangonan of the United Methodist Church said before anyone thinks of changing the Constitution, those in power should be changed first. He said charter change is illegitimate since the majority of the Filipino people had no say in the approval of House Resolution 1109.

Father Joe Dizon of Solidarity Philippines said his group is “very dismayed” that upon surviving the dark period of martial law under the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, “we now have Gloria.” Arroyo, he said, “has surpassed the brutality and evilness of martial law.”

“Gloria, in its literal sense, is a beautiful word. But since the president is named after it, the meaning of Gloria becomes ugly,” said Bishop Elmer Bolocan, also of the UCCP.

Father Charlie Ricafort of the Task Force on Urban Conscientization of the AMRSP said the Arroyo administration has not learned from history. He said attempts by previous regimes to tinker with the Constitution failed because the people protested.

Mananzan, of the AMRSP, conceded that not all bishops from the Roman Catholic Church support the anti-charter change position she and her colleagues have taken. But, she said, they will not wait for the bishops to make up their minds. “We are mature and grown-ups,” she said. “We do not wait for anyone to lead us.”

But Mananzan said that even if representatives of Muslims and the Iglesia ni Kristo were not present in the press conference, she was sure that they would soon take a stand against charter change.

Despite the lack of over support from the Catholic bishops in the movement against charter change, Dizon said they did not have problems coordinating with various church sectors. “The gang rape committed by the Lower House bound us to call for the people to stand up and show their righteous indignation against charter change,” he said.

Dizon warned that if the administration will push through with the constituent assembly, religious leaders will not hesitate to organize bigger protest actions. “We assure the people that we will be with them in the streets,” Dizon said. (Bulatlat.com)

All set for Wednesday’s anti-Arroyo protests across the Philippines

2009-06-09T19:13:00.000-07:00

PUBLISHED ON June 9, 2009
BULATLAT

MANILA – Groups across the Philippines are gearing up for what they promised to be one of the biggest nationwide protests against the Arroyo administration and its efforts to amend the Constitution.

From Makati City, where the rally in the capital will be held, to General Santos City, in Mindanao, Filipinos are making final arrangements for the protest tomorrow, June 10, according to the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), the umbrella organization of people’s organizations.

And Bayan says Wednesday’s mobilizations will just be the beginning. “There will be no let-up in protests,” said Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes Jr.

Wednesday’s protests, Reyes said in a statement, is just the “opening salvo” in a series of protests leading up to the Sona, or the State of the Nation Address by Arroyo scheduled in Congress next month.

“The Sona would be a major political battleground insofar as pushing the Con-Ass is concerned. We hope to mobilize what could be the biggest Sona protest in Arroyo’s eight years in office,” Reyes said.

Carol Araullo, Bayan’s chairperson, called on Filipinos to go out in the streets on Wednesday. “Let us not be fooled into complacency by this regime. The threat of charter change and Arroyo staying in power is now more real than ever,” Araullo said.

Araullo said Arroyo’s denials that she would not seek to rule beyond 2010, when her term ends, is “meaningless,” pointing out that Arroyo had lied about her intentions in the past, most notably her promise, made in 2002, not to run for office in 2004.

Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano said Filipinos should protest charter change because “convening the con-ass next month is Ms Arroyo’s last and final push in her bid to achieve political immunity.” Mariano was referring to the constituent assembly, a way for Congress to amend the Constitution.

Last week, Arroyo’s allies in Congress railroaded a resolution that constituted the Lower House as a constituent assembly, much to the consternation of senators, opposition legislators and many Filipinos.

“All roads lead to Ayala Avenue and other urban centers in the country on Wednesday,” Mariano said. “We call on all our regional and provincial chapters to launch simultaneous protests in major urban centers nationwide.”

Already, preparations are underway. The Ayala rally, which will be held at the intersection of Ayala Avenue and Paseo de Roxas, will feature a 15-minute interfaith service, a comedy skit between characters “Juana Change” and “Pacquito Yu,” the recitation of the Bagong Panatang Makabayan written by National Artist Bienvendio Lumbera, and a photo mosaic of all the legislators who voted or supported House Resolution 1109. Senators have also been invited to attend the protest.

The rally program will be directed by multi-awarded film maker Carlitos Siguion Reyna. It will also feature performances by bands and stage personalities. The program is expected to start at 5 p.m. up to 8 p.m., although protesters are expected to be in Makati as early as 12 noon.

In Baguio, a march rally has been scheduled. It will be led by Tungtungan Ti Umili-Cordillera People’s Alliance and to be participated in by the Catholic bishop of Baguio City, women religious congregations, city officials and local personalities.

In the Southern Tagalong region, protests have been scheduled in Calamba City, Lucena City, Batangas (Batangas City, Nasugbu), Cavite (Bacoor, Dasmariñas and Silang), and in Antipolo City in Rizal province.

In the Bicol region, mobilizations are expected in Sorsogon, where a torch march will start at 5 p.m; Naga City, where a march rally and program at Plaza Quinze Martires will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The rallies will be led by Bayan-Camarines Sur.

In Legazpi City, Bayan-Albay will lead a picket at the Department of Agrarian Reform and at the congressional office of Rep. Al Francis Bichara. This will be followed by a march rally and program in front of the Albay capitol. Also joining the protest action are the Social Action Center in Legazpi City, NGOs and people’s organizations in Albay under the ALPRODEV as well as Bayan member organizations.

In the Visayas, march rallies have been scheduled in Cebu City, to be led by Bayan and other allied groups, as well as the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Cebu Chapter, and Jesus Is Lord movement and other religious groups. Ricado Cardinal Vidal is expected to join the protest.

Also in Cebu, protesters will converge at 9 a.m. on Wednesday at the Fuente Osmeña. They will then march through Gaisano Metro Colon en route to the Malacañang sa Sugbo, Arroyo’s office in Cebu.

In Tagbilaran City, a rally will be led by Bayan-Bohol and opposition parties and others groups.

In Bacolod City, Bayan-Negros will march beginning 10 a.m. Wednesday. The rally will be attended by Bishop vicente Navarra.

In Iloilo City, the Iloilo Movement Against Arroyo’s Charter Change and Bayan-Panay will spearhead the protest.

In Mindanao, protest marches and rallies have been scheduled in General Santos City at 5 p.m.

In Cagayan de Oro City, the rally will start at 9 a.m. up to 2 p.m. at the Divisoria. This will be led by the People’s March Against Charter Change and Bayan-North Central Mindanao, together with the churches, the academe and members of the opposition parties.

Similar protest actions have been planned for Iligan City, Bukidnon and Davao City.

In the Caraga region, groups have planned protests in Butuan City and Cabadbaran City in Agusan del Norte; Bayugan City and San Francisco in Agusan del Sur, and Surigao City.

Bulatlat will cover the nationwide protests throughout the day, using real-time and live updates on its website. (Bulatlat.com / With reports from Ronalyn V. Olea in Manila and Ritche T. Salgado in Cebu City.)

A mother in prison in a foreign land

2009-05-18T18:49:00.000-07:00

Every year, many Filipinos leave the country to seek greener pastures abroad. This scenario usually involves parents leaving their families and believing that a career overseas will be able to provide a better future for them. They sacrifice by being away from their loved ones in exchange for a more financially-secure life. One of these overseas Filipino workers is Cecilia Alcaraz, an English teacher in Taiwan who ended up in prison and was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Taiwan Appellate Court for the robbery and murder of a Taiwanese jobs broker.

BY ANNA KRISTINA P. VIRTUSIO
Reprinted from Bulatlat
May 9, 2009

Every year, many Filipinos leave the country to seek greener pastures abroad. According to independent think-tank and research institution IBON Foundation, about nine to 10 million Filipinos work in 192 countries worldwide. In 2008 alone, more than 3,5000 Filipinos were leaving the country everyday.

This scenario usually involves parents leaving their families and believing that a career overseas will be able to provide a better future for them. They sacrifice by being away from their loved ones in exchange for a more financially-secure life.

One of these overseas Filipino workers is Cecilia Alcaraz, an English teacher in Taiwan who ended up in prison and was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Taiwan Appellate Court for the robbery and murder of a Taiwanese jobs broker.

Forced to leave

Alcaraz, 48, is a single parent to four boys. Jerome, her 19-year old son said that his mother was able to provide well for them even before she went abroad. She tended their own sari-sari store and sold rice cakes.

“Para lang makaraos kami sa araw-araw, ginagawa niya lahat kasi siya’y single parent,” said Jerome. (Just so we could meet our daily needs, she does everything because she is a single parent.)

However, the time came when her income from having a sari-sari (variety) store and from selling rice cakes was no longer enough for all four children who were attending school. Thus, in 2001, she was forced to work as a domestic helper in Taiwan to earn a larger sum of money for the family.

“Siyempre apat kaming nag-aaral noon, kaya siya nagpunta sa ibang bansa para makaahon (kami) sa hirap,” Jerome explained. (There were four of us studying then, so she went abroad to ease our difficulties.)

A happy person and a loving mother

Alcaraz’s older sister Rosalinda described her as a happy person. She used to be the life of the family, especially to their parents when they were still alive, as she was loud and talkative.
“Kaya kapag ‘yan ay nawawala sa amin, wala ang gulo. Siya ang nagbibigay ng kasiyahan sa amin, said Rosalinda who even laughed while talking about her sister. (That is why the fun stops when she is not around. She is the one who gives us joy.)

Rosalinda described Alcaraz as the type of mother who persevered so much just to be able to support her family.

“Si Cecilia ay matatag, malakas ang loob at saka mabait sa mga anak, kaya maski solong katawan talagang sinisikap niya na masalba ang kanyang pamilya kasi siya ay single parent,” Rosalinda said. (Cecilia is strong and courageous and she is kind to her children, which is why although she does the work alone, she strives to keep her family afloat, especially because she is a single parent.)

Away from home

Jerome told Bulatlat that her mother regularly sent money for them. Whenever she called and asked them about their needs, especially in school, they would be receiving money from her in just two weeks.

Rosalinda also recalled that reading letters from the family became Alcaraz’s pastime while working in Taiwan.

“Kaya ang hiling niya, siya ay sulatan kasi iyon lang ang kaniyang inaasahan (nang) sa araw-araw ay meron siyang nababasa, pinababalik-balik,” said Rosalinda. (That is why her request was for us to send her letters regularly so that she would have something to look forward to everyday. She read our letters over and over.)

Sons want her home

While Alcaraz’s fate in Taiwan remains uncertain, her children still hope that she would be returning home soon.

“ (Sana ay) tutukan nang mabuti ang kaso ng nanay ko, huwag pabayaan. Saka 'yun nga ang hiling nami, na mapauwi. Lagi ko ngang sinasabi gusto ko makasama ang magulang ko. Syempre ilang taon namin siyang di nakakasama,” said Jerome. (I hope they monitor and follow-up my mother’s case thoroughly. Our only wish is for her to be sent home. I have always said that what I wanted was to be with my mother. We have not been together for years already.)

This coming Mother’s Day, Alcaraz will be staying in jail. Many mothers like her will not be coming home to celebrate the occasion with their children. Mother’s Day, for them, remains to be one of the many important dates like Christmas, New Year and birthdays which pass without being with their loved ones. (Bulatlat.com)

Masters and servants

2009-04-25T18:48:00.000-07:00

By Luis V. Teodoro
www.luisteodoro.com
April 17, 2009

LEAVE IT to Filipino politicians to miss the point and to say the patriotic thing when Filipinos are insulted, or seem to have been insulted.

It doesn’t matter where the insult or seeming insult came from. Whether from a respected and much awarded writer like the US magazine Atlantic’s James Fallows, or some hack in Hongkong — where, despite decolonization, the English- language newspapers are still edited by US, British, Australian and New Zealand expatriates — the country’s pols will react in the same way and practically in the same terms.

As if it could be enforced, congressman urged a Philippine ban on the online version of the Hongkong magazine where a certain Chip Tsao said in a column that the Philippines was a nation of servants and had no right to press its claim on the Spratlys. As if Tsao cared, another government worthy said Tsao should be declared persona non grata and barred from entering the Philippines. The professional patriots in the op-ed pages also weighed in with the usual invectives, while the morons who infest the blogosphere threw at Tsao the typical epithets from their limited vocabularies that they trot out in place of arguments.

Almost the same reactions had greeted the Atlantic’s James Fallows’ “damaged culture” article in November 1987. In trying to account for the Philippines’ continuing decline into poverty, Fallows found a cause far beyond the Marcos kleptocracy, which had fallen a year earlier. He found it in Philippine culture.

“It seems to me that the prospects for the Philippines are about as dismal as those for, say, South Korea are bright,” said Fallows.

“In each case the basic explanation seems to be culture: in the one case a culture that brings out the productive best in the Koreans (or the Japanese, or now even the Thais), and in the other a culture that pulls many Filipinos toward their most self-destructive, self-defeating worst.”

Fallows cited the corruption, the selfishness, the culture of mediocrity (manifest in the “puwede na” mentality), the total lack of care for the environment, for neighbors and community — even for the entire nation itself — among Filipinos whether rich or poor.

It was Chip Tsao recently. It was Fallows then. The self-anointed patriots in government, the media and even a few from academia got on their high horses to excoriate Fallows, accusing him of making sweeping generalizations, of arrogance, and even racism. But Fallows’ piece was well-researched and thought out, and seemed genuinely interested in finding an explanation for the Philippines’ lagging behind its neighbors, where Tsao’s was no more than an effort to get a laugh at an entire community’s expense by pandering to common prejudice.

Never mind the huge difference between the Tsao and Fallows pieces. Both received the same expressions of anger. The outrage would have been touching had it been driven by real concern for the country, and if (1) neither Tsao’s nor Fallows’ allegations were true, and (2) if many of the very same “patriots” who’re so quick to rise to perceived insults were not the very culprits responsible for the country’s current predicament as well as its beneficiaries.

Hardly had the dust settled on the mini-controversy Tsao’s piece had generated when Our Great Leader, the patriotic Mrs. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, was reported to be on the prowl in the Middle East, begging for jobs for Filipinos, at least some of which would be for nannies, housemaids and other domestics.

The usual suspects, led by Press Secretary Cerge Remonde, who everyday he’s in office shows us how badly English — especially the pronunciation of it — has deteriorated in the Philippines, announced Mrs. Arroyo’s being assured that thousands of jobs would be available for Filipinos in Dubai and other countries.

In their exuberance, neither Arroyo nor Remonde displayed any familiarity with Republic Act 8042, or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1994, which declares that while it recognizes “the significant contribution of Filipino migrant workers to the national economy through their foreign exchange remittances, the State does not promote overseas employment as a means to sustain economic growth and achieve national development.” (underscoring provided).

And yet there they were, Mrs Arroyo and her subalterns, glorying in having been assured those jobs, declaring how beneficial they would be to the economy, etc., etc. — in short speaking as if promoting overseas employment rather than employment at home were national policy.

Which it might well be. So incapable is the Philippine political class of creating the jobs that would keep Filipinos home and spare them the insults that scrubbing toilets and mopping floors inevitably provoke that promoting overseas employment is de facto policy.

It’s a quick way out of the unrest mass unemployment breeds. It’s also a means of keeping the country afloat — and its officials in multiple houses, limousines, mistresses and dollar accounts abroad. And yet it is individuals from this same political class who inveigh equally against the imbecilities of people like Tsao (who argued that he was just being satirical, as if that excused racism) and the insights of a perceptive observer like Fallows.

Fallows after all gave expression to something many thinking Filipinos have long suspected as to the reason why, alone among all Southeast Asia countries, and despite its being ahead of its neighbors from the 1950s to the 1960s, the Philippines has not only remained poor but has grown poorer. And it’s not because of its putrid leadership alone.

But Fallows did fail to consider the US factor. It was after all the United States which has contributed significantly to the making of the “me first” culture of selfishness, mediocrity and dependence which finds expression in the exit mentality that’s made millions of Filipinos servants abroad rather than masters at home.

In validation of Fallows’ thesis on their damaged culture, Filipinos and their so-called leaders rant and rave when someone tells them what they don’t want to hear. It’s their way of denying the truth and evading the urgent need to do anything about their sorry lot. (BusinessWorld)

Pagtulay Sa Alambre

2009-04-06T18:13:00.000-07:00

(Isang Liham sa mga Filipina na Naninirahan sa Estados Unidos)*

NI JOI BARRIOS
Inilathala ng Bulatlat
Abril 4, 2009

Mahal na kabaro,
Mahal na kapatid,
Ang balita tungkol sa babaeng ginahis,
nagsakdal,
at nagpalit ng testimonya
ay balitang batid kong lumatay sa bawa't dibdib,
pinipilit ang bawa't isa
na bumagtas sa ngayon at sa nakalipas,
sa ngayon at sa hinaharap.
Pagkat paano nalilimot ang gahasa?
Ang paghablot ng dangal?
Ang dahas ng pag-angkin?
Tayong lahat ay mga babaeng naglalakad sa alambreng nakasabit,
waring tumatawid sa hangin.
Araw-araw ay naninimbang,
isang paa sa harap ng isa pang paa,
hawak nang nakadipa ang kahoy na mahaba,
tinitiyak ng pagtitig sa patutunguhan
na hindi sasablay sa bawa't paglapat,
na ang tindig,
ay mananatiling matatag.

Nabubuhay tayo sa bayang mapanakop
habang ang diwa ay nananahan
sa Inang Bayan sa silangan.
At tulad niyang hinalay, lumaban,
at nag-alinlangan,
Araw-araw nating hinaharap, tinitimbang,
ang bawa't tanong at kontradiksiyon.
Ay, kayraming tanong, kayraming kontradiksiyon.
Hawakan sa ating mga kamay ang alaala
nina Victoria Laktaw na minsan nang tumula tungkol sa gahasa,
ni Karangalan, ang babaeng tinalikuran si Macamcam,
sa dulang ipinalabas sa tanghalan sangsiglo na ang nakalipas,
ni Tandang Sora, na sa edad na nobenta
ay hindi sumumpa ng katapatan sa dayuhan.
Kung sabay-sabay tayong hindi iwawalay
ang pagtitig sa dako pa roong patuloy na pakikipaghamok,
ang bawa't hakbang, saan mang sulok ng daigdig,
ay ambag nating hakbang,
sa tunay na kalayaan ng bayang Iniibig.

Hindi totoong walang pangamba ang mga tumutulay sa alambre.
Nananalig lang sila na bukong-bukong man ay pumihit,
ang talampakan ay hindi manginginig sa pag-apak sa lubid.
* * *
Tightrope Walking
(A Letter to All Filipinas Living in the United States)
Published in Bulatlat: April 4, 2009

Dear fellow Filipina,
Dear sister,
The news on the woman raped,
the plaintiff who recanted her testimony,
was news that whipped our hearts,
news that asked us to bridge the present and the past,
the present and the future.
How does one forget the violation of the body,
the stripping of dignity,
the violence of conquest?
We are women walking tightropes,
seemingly floating on air.
Each day a balancing act,
one foot in front of another,
arms outstretched holding on a balance pole,
eyes front to the point of destination,
the key to the certainty of our steps,
the stability of our stand.
We live in a colonizing nation
while our spirits reside
in our mother country in the East.
Like her, the woman raped, she who fought,
and then again, went forward and backward,
Each day, we face, we weigh,
our questions and contradictions.
Yes, so many questions, so many contradictions.
And yet, we hold in our hands the memory
of the Victoria Laktaws,
poets who wrote verses on colonial rape.
of Karangalan, or Honor, the heroine who rejected Macamcam the Greedy
in a play performed a century past.
Of Tandang Sora, the 90-year-old revolutionary
who refused to take an oath of allegiance to America.
Together, if we look towards the struggle in the homeland,
each step we take, anywhere in the world,
is a step we offer towards the freedom
of the country of our hearts.
It is not true that tightrope walkers have no fear.
They just have faith that even when the ankle pivots,
the soles of their feet will never sway.

*This poem was inspired by the work and statements of Nicole’s lawyer, Ging Ursua, as well as other fellow TOWNS members (June, Tita Letty, Lorna, Nina, Tessy, etc.) who have fought hard not only for Nicole but also for true sovereignty in the Philippines. I also acknowledge Gabriela Philippines’s consistent struggle against the Visiting Forces Agreement. I dedicate this poem to the following women I work with in the US: Kuusela Hilo, whom I relied on for comfort and friendship when I was a homemaker in Boston; to Chat Aban, Rachel Redondiez, Rhonda Ramiro, and Roseli Ilano, my co-workers in the Bay area, and to Julia Camagong, my friend and fellow Peryante member for twenty-five years.

The showman of Manila

2009-03-24T18:38:00.000-07:00

In a top hat and “barong Tagalog,” Carlos Celdran entertains, and sometimes offends, tourists to the Philippines.

By Carlos H. Conde
http://www.globalpost.com/
Published: March 19, 2009 20:39 ET

MANILA — Carlos Celdran has been called “Manila’s pied piper.” But a more apt description might be a clown with a sledgehammer, who smashes long-held notions about Philippine history and culture.

As the city’s most popular guide, he can often be found leading a pack of 30-odd tourists, many of them westerners, on his weekly tours of the city’s cultural and historical sites.

In addition to drawing on his background in visual and performing arts — Celdran conducts his tours wearing a top hat and “barong Tagalog” (the national shirt for Filipino men), and waving a miniature American flag — he injects his tours with a liberal political bent that is both irreverent and entertaining.

For example, at a recent tour of Intramuros — the “walled city” in Manila where Spaniards protected themselves against a mob of Muslims in the 16th century — Celdran wowed his mostly Caucasian audience with politically charged references, all delivered in his vaudevillian style. He described the Roman Catholic leadership in the Philippines during that period as “Catholic Talibans” running a “theocracy” that suppressed Filipinos’ desire for independence.

And inside the San Agustin Church — considered the mother of Philippine colonial churches — Celdran herded his audience into a chamber filled with tombs of Filipinos who died in World War II. He launched into a tirade against World War II U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur, blaming him for destroying Manila (here he showed a photograph of a bomb from a U.S. plane) in an attempt to get rid of the Japanese.

Celdran also ridiculed MacArthur as a showman, alleging that when MacArthur landed on the shores of Leyte, he re-staged the event so a Life magazine photographer could perfectly capture the moment he waded into the water.

“He was a better actor than a general,” Celdran, pipe in hand, boomed, eliciting a faint but firm snicker from one of the elderly Americans in the group.

In a way, Celdran knows whereof he speaks. A pudgy 36-year-old of Spanish, American and Chinese descent, Celdran studied fine arts at the University of the Philippines and graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design before shifting to performing arts. He interned with New York City’s Blue Man Group and later formed a performing arts group in Manila.

He put his interest in Philippine culture and history to use by joining Manila’s Heritage Conservation Society, where he was a volunteer tour guide. “I would wear no costume, and people would get bored halfway through my spiel,” he once told a writer. So Celdran decided to branch out on his own.

His success is well known: In 2007, he was recognized as one of Manila’s “Most Inspiring Entrepreneurs” by the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship.

Celdran relies heavily on costumes and props, and draws on his theatrical background. He wears a headset connected to the portable speaker dangling from his waist, and has a small music player, which he uses to play Filipino folk songs and “Yankee Doodle Dandy.” To heighten the tension about a tale of Filipinos killed in World War II, he snaps his fingers rhythmically; at another point, he slams shut a book of old pictures so hard that his audience is startled.

Today, his walking tours are by appointment only (he’s strict about confirmations), and they’re limited to 30 tourists. His business grows through word of mouth and on the Internet, despite the rather steep price tag: about 1,000 pesos per person (roughly $20).

In addition to his tour of Intramuros, Celdran offers tours of Manila’s Chinatown and an overnight tour of Corregidor, the island off Manila Bay that the Americans and Filipino used to defend the country from the Japanese during World War II.

Growing in popularity is his “Living La Vida Imelda!” tour, which takes visitors to the cultural sites that former first lady Imelda Marcos built in the 1970s and 1980s (this tour involves 1970s attire). “It is infused with disco music, gossip, geo-politics of the Cold War and everything you did not need to know about Imelda,” he said.

Despite the politics that creep into his tours, Celdran pooh-poohs the notion that some might get offended or turned off. “It’s all song and dance,” he whispered as he sashayed down the cobblestones of Intramuros. “Don’t take it seriously.”

Anatomiya ng Jologs

2009-03-01T07:15:00.001-08:00

February 20, 2009
by kapirasong kritika

Hindi pa sila “jologs.” Paglaki pa nila. Sa isang banda’y kinakaawaan pa sila ng mga petiburgis. Paglaki nila, kapag niyakap na nila ang pagkahubog sa kanila bilang kabataan, baka hindi na. (Galing ang magagandang larawan sa Bampogi.multiply. Salamat!)

[1] Mga kabataan sila, tinedyer at mas matanda pa. Kadalasan, nakatira sa mga komunidad ng maralitang tagalungsod – iyung tinatawag ng iba na “iskwater,” “iskwa-kwa,” “iskwating” – o maralita sa kanayunan. Mga anak ng mga manggagawa, magsasaka at mala-manggagawa, gayundin ng mga tinatawag na “lumpen” – mga sangkot sa mga gawaing anti-sosyal: nagnanakaw, nagbebenta ng droga, sangkot sa prostitusyon.

[2] Lantad sila sa iba’t ibang midya: telebisyon (ang iba’y may cable TV, at karamiha’y may mga programa at estasyong nagpapalabas ng mga music video), radyo, Internet. Gayundin sa iba’t ibang gaheto para sa midya: cellphone para sa musika at video, murang mga DVD player at DVD para sa mga pelikula, ang iba’y may mga i-pod para sa musika.

[3] Kung papaniwalaan ang suri ni Fredric Jameson, Marxistang Amerikano, na tampok na kahulugan ng “globalisasyon” sa antas ng kultura ang pag-igting ng komunikasyon at midya – na resulta ng pag-unlad ng teknolohiya para sa mga ito – masasabing anak ang mga “jologs” ng globalisasyon. Hindi aksidenteng nagsimula silang tawaging ganyan noong huling bahagi ng dekada ’90, matapos ang pagrurok ng magagandang retorika kaugnay ng “globalisasyon” – bagamat tiyak na sintomas din sila ng pagpapatuloy ng isang matagal-nang tradisyon ng pag-uugnayan ng mga uri sa lipunan.

[4] Noong huling bahagi ng dekada ’90, “hip-hop” ang subkulturang makikita sa kanila. Nitong huli, iba na: iyung tinatawag na “punk” bagama't malaganap din ang tinatawag na “emo rock.” May pagkakatulad ang hip-hop at punk: Nagmula ang una sa maralitang mga komunidad ng mga Aprikano-Amerikano sa US, nagmula ang ikalawa sa mga komunidad ng manggagawa sa Britanya. May hibo ng angas at protesta sa rasista at elitistang lipunan, bagamat madalas na seksista rin, ang una. Mas tampok ang angas at protesta sa elitistang lipunan ng ikalawa. Pareho silang palaban, taas-noo.

[5] Ang“emo rock,” sa kabilang banda, ay tila mas impluwensya ng mga bandang Kano. Mahilig sa itim, naglulunoy sa kalungkutang kadalasa’y resulta ng pag-ibig. May nakapagsabing kakatwa ang mga titik ng mga kantang “emo”: kadalasang tungkol sa pag-ibig na hindi nauunawaan, dahil hindi naman nasasabi at inuunawa, at nagdudulot ng grabeng pighati sa personaheng kumakanta. Kabaligtaran samakatwid ng mga titik ng mga kanta ng Bon Jovi, halimbawa, na OA – “over-the-top,” sabi ni Kenneth Guda – ang pagpapahayag ng pag-ibig: “I wanna lay you down in a bed of roses / Cause tonight I sleep in a bed of nails / I wanna be just as close as the Holy Ghost is…”

[6] Pananamit at pisikal na itsura ang tampok na tatak nila. Nakakabili sila sa mga murang tindahan ng damit, ukay-ukay at mumurahing stall sa mga mall. Kasabay ng paglalako sa kanila ng iba’t ibang subkultura, binibihisan din sila; kasabay ng pagbibigay ng pantasya ang pananamit. Maaaring ang mga damit na ito ang binibili nila sa perang dati na nilang inilalaan sa damit, maaaring katas ng pinaghirapan ng mga magulang o kamag-anak na OFW, nagtatrabaho, o gumagawa ng mga aktibidad na anti-sosyal. Mayroon din silang bukod-tangi at tawag-pansing mga estilo sa buhok.

[7] May mga espasyo rin sila, kung saan madalas silang nakikita ng mga tumatawag sa kanilang “jologs”: mga mall, lalo na iyung hindi pang-alta sosyedad, mga bakanteng lote para sa mga nagse-skateboard, mga Internet café. Parang ulap na punung-puno ng ulan, naglalakad sila sa kalsada, sama-sama sa pagdalo sa mga konsyertong rock.

[8] Hindi naman sila nagpipilit na magmukhang mayaman. Isa lang ang subkulturang niyayakap nila sa iilang imahe at molde ng pagiging kabataan – at oo, ng “uso” at “astig” din – na nakahapag sa kanila, na ipinang-aakit at idinidikdik din sa kanila. Wala silang gaanong pagpipilian. Pero dahil dito, tinawag at tinatawag silang “jologs.”

[9] Hindi tinatawag na “jologs” ang mahirap na nakasuot ng damit na karaniwan nang itinuturing na pang-mahirap tulad ng maruming t-shirt at pantalong maong. Hindi “jologs” ang magsasakang naka-kamisa chino, kahit ang taong-grasa, ang manggagawang naka-uniporme. Pero “jologs” ang mga maralita na tila umaalis sa pang-kulturang “lugar” na itinatakda sa kanila ng lipunan – tumutulad sa mga Amerikano, lumilibot sa mga espasyo kung saan nakikita sila ng iba. Tiwala sa sarili, masayang ipinapakita ang kanilang subkultura, bagama't parang may sariling mundo sa pagsasaya.

[10] Kaya pang-distansya ng mga nasa nakatataas na uri ang salitang “jologs” – pagmamaliit (sa mga binabansagan) at pagmamataas (ng mga nagbabansag). Partikular ang uring gumagamit nito: petiburgis – mga estudyante, propesyunal. Sila ang mas lantad sa mga “jologs,” hindi ang mga anak ng mga burgesya-komprador at malalaking panginoong maylupa. Bihira sigurong marinig ang salitang ito sa mga mansyon ng mga Cojuangco at Lopez. Kaya nilang iwasan at layuan ang mga “jologs.” Ang mga petiburgis, hindi. Sila ang nababastusan sa mga ito, naaalibadbaran, nandidiri.

[11] Jologs ang Cueshe, hindi ang Bamboo – “far from it!” pahabol pa ng iba. Jologs si Vhong Navarro, hindi si Billy Crawford. Jologs si Andrew E. pero hindi si Gloc-9. Jologs si Marian Rivera, bagama't hindi na daw si Judy Ann Santos. Sa mga sirkulo ng mga petiburgis, tinatawag nang “jologs” ang kung anu-ano at kung sinu-sino na maaaring niyayakap sa aktwal ng mga tinatawag na “jologs” at maaari ring hindi. Ang hindi niyayakap ng mga “jologs,” may marka nila, ng pagiging “masa”: malabis sa emosyon o kaya’y kengkoy, may palatandaan ng pagiging maledukado at mahirap.

[12] Obserbasyon ni Barbara Ehrenreich, progresibong manunulat na Amerikana, paunti nang paunti ang pagkakataong magkita nang mata-sa-mata ng mayayaman at mahihirap sa US. Ang mayayaman, sa ibang lugar nakatira, nagtatrabaho, namimili, nagpapalipas-oras, nagrerelaks. May mga sasakyan sila – ang iba’y panghimpapawid pa – para makalipat-lipat sa kanilang mga espasyo. May katulad na obserbasyon si Neferti Xina M. Tadiar, feministang Pinay, sa sikat niyang sanaysay hinggil sa mga flyover sa Metro Manila. Aniya, paraan din ang mga istrukturang ito para malampasan at maiwasan ng mayayaman sa bansa ang mga espasyo ng mahihirap na naglawa sa ibaba – tindahan sa bangketa, barung-barong, traysikel at pedikab.

[13] Pagpapatuloy ng tunguhin at lohikang ito ang panukalang magtayo ng pader paikot sa UP: ang ilayo ang mga anak-mayaman at umaastang anak-mayaman sa “banta” ng mga “jologs” at ng mga kauri nila – kasama na ang kontrobersyal na mga krimen sa kampus. Natural na sa UP ito magiging isyu, dahil matagal nang nababakuran ang Ateneo, La Salle at iba pa. Gusto nitong panatilihin ang pantasyang liberal ng isang unibersidad ng malayang talakayan sa balangkas ng konserbatibong mga hakbangin – kasama ang pag-demolish sa mga tahanan ng mga maralita sa paligid ng kampus. Ang pagkilala na bahagi ang UP ng lipunan ay nagtutulak ng pagpapatianod sa mapanupil na mga hakbanging ginagamit ng lipunan laban sa maralita.

[14] Ang paghubog ng mga bagong midya sa kabataan, na isa sa mga nagluwal ng “jologs” ay isa ring dahilan sa naikwento ng isang kaibigang organisador ng mga kabataan at estudyante: Na mabilis dumami sa mga komunidad ng maralita ang Karatula o Kabataang Artista para sa Tunay na Kalayaan, makabayang organisasyong pangkultura ng kabataan.

[15] Ang “jologs” na ba ngayon ang dating “bakya”?
(Salamat kina Angela at Katrina Stuart-Santiago, nabalitaan ko ang talakayan sa blogosphere tungkol sa insidente ng “panggugulo” ng mga “jologs” sa fair ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas noong Pebrero 13.)

19 Pebrero 2009
Heto naman ang isinulat ni Prop. Roland B. Tolentino tungkol sa mga “jologs” at ng makatang si Jose F. Lacaba tungkol sa mga “bakya.”

Nood tayo! Ipapalabas palang muli ang Pagsambang Bayan, sikat na dula ng isa sa pinakamasipag – jingle lang ang pahinga! – at pinakamahusay na progresibong manggagawang pangkulturang si Bonifacio P. Ilagan.

Czarina

2009-02-01T20:38:00.000-08:00

January 30th, 2009/BUSINESSWORLD
http://www.luisteodoro.com/

BY LUIS V. TEODORO

Filipinos aren’t Russians but how they love to designate “czars” to head this or that campaign or group of offices. It’s a practice they’ve picked up from U.S. media and officialdom. Both have the habit of attaching the label to anyone who’s been given powers over several agencies in pursuit of a common goal. One suspects it’s the media that started it all, and that officialdom merely picked up on it, like that linguistic atrocity, “presidentiable” or even — eww — “senatoriable.”

Philippine media and Malacanang itself seemed hard put over what to call her when Mrs. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo put herself on top of the so-called Philippine anti-drug effort. They ended up calling her Czarina, which didn’t remind me of Catherine the Great, but of Pooh Bah– the pompous, self-important and useless official in Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta, The Mikado.

Just how useless was Mrs. Arroyo’s self-anointment? As (still disputed) President of the Philippines, Mrs. Arroyo already has command over all the offices and agencies involved, and which can still be involved, in the anti-drug campaign (if you can call something that’s half-heartedly carried out a “campaign”) of the Philippine government. These agencies include all units in the Office of the President, as well as the Departments of Justice, Defense, Finance, Transportation and Highways and even Education, and all other agencies attached to them.

The President of the Philippines is in fact the czar (or czarina) of the country of our despair, the Philippine government being highly centralized and its powers concentrated in whoever’s ensconced, legally or illegally, in the Palace by the Pasig. Not for nothing does “command responsibility” fall frequently from the lips of the opposition whenever they dig up some anomaly in this or that agency. Both de facto as well as de jure, the President of the Philippines might as well be the entire Philippine government for the powers that he or she wields. He or she does command — and has the responsibility.

What then could have moved Mrs. Arroyo to so pointlessly designate herself? The unkind assumption is that it was to take the heat off the Department of Justice, whose prosecutors were being accused of intervening — for the usual considerations, of course — in the “Alabang Boys” case. The DOJ is after all one of Mrs. Arroyo’s favorite departments, and it won’t do for Raul Gonzalez to look as if he were presiding over an office of extortionists and bribe-takers.

But even more crucially will it not do for the Philippines to continue being a marijuana producer as well as exporter and transshipment point for methamphetamine and precursor chemicals to Guam, Saipan and the U.S. mainland. The U.S. government is understandably concerned, and has been for a long time, the U.S. drug problem being of such major proportions it’s become a national security issue. Mrs. Arroyo can’t be seen as soft on a problem the U.S. is as concerned about as terrorism, thus her sudden focus on a problem that’s been there for ages, which has grown during her watch, and about which she had not been particularly anxious until this January.

But the hoopla isn’t likely to delude the U.S. government into thinking that something’s actually being done. There’s the announcement that students, and lately, their professors and teachers, will be subjected to random drug testing. Random drug testing is a strategy straight out of the unlamented Bush administration, which in 2007 doubled the US anti-drug budget by allocating millions of dollars more for it.

Unfortunately it doesn’t work — at least not according to British and U.S. experience. While it does seem like a no-brainer to assume that the threat of random drug tests, whether among students, teachers, government and private sector employees, etc., would discourage probable users, thus shrinking the market for illegal drugs, it hasn’t been very successful in deterring students in the U.S. and the U.K. from drug use.

That’s in the U.S. and the U.K., of course, but what would be the basis for random drug tests as a deterrent to drug use in the Philippines? There’s no available study on its effectiveness, and the only reason for its being adopted here seems to be its use in the U.S.

What has been established, on the other hand, is the role of corruption in the persistence and growth of the drug problem, whether in the Philippines or elsewhere. About the Philippines, the U.S. State Department’s Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs points out that “corruption among the police, judiciary, and elected officials continues to be a significant impediment to Philippine law enforcement efforts.”

The Bureau noted the involvement of Drug Enforcement Agency and police operatives in the sale of confiscated drugs, a practice well- known in law enforcement and police reporters’ circles. There is also the involvement of local officials in the smuggling of drugs and precursor chemicals (the chemicals used to manufacture drugs like methamphetamine or “shabu”) into and out of the Philippines. This country, the Bureau noted in its 2007 report, is “a smugglers’ paradise,” given the number of its islands, length of its coastline, and officials eager for a share of drug trade billions.

As for corrupt judges, the “Alabang Boys” scandal suggests that illegal drug cases may not even be reaching the courts, and seem likely to die at the prosecutorial level. That, of course, is the main lesson emerging from that scandal. But it’s a lesson far from being heeded. Not only will the “Alabang Boys” not be tried, no one in the DOJ will lose his retirement pension either.

All of which says that Mrs. Arroyo should be addressing the corruption issue rather than approving random drug tests which are themselves untested in the Philippine setting as a deterrent to drug use.

Our Czarina has also announced the appointment of retired general Jovito Palparan to the Dangerous Drugs Board, which the short-sighted are hailing as a harbinger of streets and rivers choked with drug-lord bodies. You wish. The fly in this ointment is a reminder from the U.S. Ambassador that the Philippine government should prosecute human rights violators. Our Czarina should take heed. When it comes to the US, she’s not so much Czarina as governor of a U.S. dependency. (BusinessWorld)

Coping with the crisis In 2009: Back to basics

2009-01-08T18:38:00.000-08:00

http://info.ibon.org/

Written by IBON Media

Is it possible for the Philippine economy to emerge from the global crisis in 2009?

IBON Features—The global economic situation is expected to continue deteriorating until 2010 and even beyond, and the Philippines is going to be severely affected by the worsening crisis. Yet it is still possible to mitigate the effects on the country, and more importantly, to emerge from this period of crisis with a genuinely strengthening and forward-moving economy.

Various factors will come into fuller play by next year and action must be taken as soon as possible. The economy has been deteriorating steadily in recent years despite government hype and, as it is, growth has been slowing since the start of the year. The onset of global financial and economic turmoil however now pushes it into a deeper crisis that it is poorly equipped to deal with.

Economic distress

The slowdown that begun in 2008 and will carry through until next year is clear. Growth this year and next year could easily turn out the slowest in a decade. Joblessness will increase and add to the 4.1 million unemployed – estimated to include the jobless statistically removed from the labor force to lower officially reported figures – and 6.8 million underemployed as of 2007.
The number of jobless and underemployed next year will very likely rise to well over 11-12 million.

Retrenchments and closures will be most immediately felt in the goods and services export sectors. Particularly affected will be the major sub sectors of electronics (67% of exports in 2007), apparel and clothing (5%), and furniture and woodcrafts (2%). The US in particular is the largest buyer of Philippine garments and furniture and receives 80% of total garments exports and 60% of total furniture exports. The crisis will weaken global demand for laptops, cameras and cellular phones which are the primary users of the semi-conductors and microprocessors that the country exports. As it is, the country’s export-oriented electronics sub sector employs some 500,000-600,000 workers. The US is also the world’s largest end-consumer of electronics.

The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry will also likely be badly affected with the US accounting for over two-thirds of foreign equity and 90% of BPO export revenue. The grand target of 940,000 BPO jobs by 2010 is even more impossible especially with employment at most at just 320,000 now. Similarly with local tourism and business travel outfits where hotels and restaurants will feel the pinch of less foreign and domestic visitors.

The jobs situation has clearly started to worsen in 2008. The number of jobless Filipinos drastically increased by 279,000 in October from the same period last year and increased the unemployment rate by 0.6 percentage points. Rough approximations correcting for the government's recent maneuver of underestimating unemployment place the number of jobless Filipinos at around 4.3 million and the unemployment rate at over 11 percent.

The important manufacturing sector lost another 159,000 jobs from the year before, the transport, storage and communication sector lost 10,000 jobs, and financial intermediation lost 4,000 jobs. These trends are likely to continue until next year and be aggravated by deteriorating jobs in construction, finance and wholesale and retail trade. Small and medium enterprises in particular will have a harder time borrowing with creditors preferring perceived "safer" large borrowers.

Filipinos working overseas in distressed countries and sectors face layoffs or at least lower incomes. This is not just in the US where the crisis first erupted but also wherever in the world they might be and no country is untouched by the tumult. The US is notable though in that over half of all remittances– reaching 52% or US$7.6 B of US$14.5 B in 2007– come from the US or via US-based banks.

Overseas Filipinos will do their best and be making even greater sacrifices to maintain remittances to their families in the country. But remittance flows are still certain to weaken in 2009 and perhaps even significantly. At the very least there will be a slowdown in deployments to the US, Europe, Middle East, East Asia and seaborne work where the overwhelming number of overseas Filipinos go and a corresponding drop in growth of remittances from abroad. The corresponding drop in household incomes will have repercussions on domestic sales of consumer goods and services and even of residential real estate.

The job losses and squeeze on wages, benefits and remittances will combine with rising prices and have an immediate impact on household incomes that will cause poverty to rise. But the spending will also have further depressing effects – possibly beginning with domestic wholesale, retailing and food services as stores and restaurants face lower consumer spending. Additional pressure comes from the generalized slowdown due to overall economic uncertainty, lower consumption, tighter credit and depressed investments. The poorer business sentiment and tightening of capital flows is already reflected in steep stock market drops and much higher interest rates.

External financing for the country is dropping steeply. The US$912 million net outflow of foreign portfolio investments in the January-October 2008 period is a drastic reversal from the US$3.7 billion inflow in the same period last year. Net FDI is going in the same direction and fell by more than half to US$1.1 billion in January-August 2008 from US$2.5 billion in the same period in 2007. There is also a strong possibility that the rate at which official development assistance (ODA) is declining will worsen in the coming years as donor governments prioritize domestic financing needs. As it is, ODA has already fallen 30% to US$9.2 billion last year from US$13.2 billion in 2001.

Immediate relief and strengthening the economy

There are two stages in coping with the crisis.

The first stage is to arrest the slowdown in economic activity and the corresponding worsening in unemployment, incomes and poverty. This is critical especially since the country has already been suffering record unemployment, falling incomes and rising poverty in the last few years. The effects of the economic downturn must be countered by stimulating the economy through expansionary and, importantly, equity-building policies. This includes:

1. Providing immediate emergency food, income and work relief.
2. Increasing public spending on health care, basic education and housing for the people and restoring real per capita social services spending to at least 1997 levels.
3. Increasing public spending on labor-intensive and rural infrastructure projects that will directly improve people's livelihoods.
4. Public resources can be freed by:
• Suspending debt payments. This can begin with, but not be restricted to, debt to foreign creditors receiving bail-outs from their governments.
• Drastically reducing military spending.
• Cracking down on corruption. This is especially critical to prevent leakages into politicians' electoral war chests for 2010.
5. Giving priority to Filipino producers in government procurement and aid-funded projects.
6. Implementing a P125 across the board nationwide wage hike and a PhP3,000 increase in government salaries.
7. Removing the VAT on oil products and increasing taxation of wealth, luxury goods and services, and on unproductive assets and transactions.
8. Reducing interest rates while ensuring that credit remains available.

There is also a need to immediately stabilize capital flows with capital controls, especially against outflows right now, and supporting the exchange rate. Capital controls must be used to defend against speculative attacks or financial transactions not related to trade and production.

The advanced capitalist countries are pushed to become all the more aggressive in pushing to open up neo-colonial countries as vents for their crisis. There are two particular areas of concern.

The first is how the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and other creditors will exploit the situation to leverage further policy conditionalities through their loans and aid. The second is how free trade agreements (FTAs) will be packaged as solutions for slowing domestic economies. This includes not just FTAs between vastly unequal parties but also those packaged as intra-Third World deals that merely create regional production lines for the benefit of the big powers. All maneuvering such as these must be vigorously opposed.

The second stage involves laying the foundations for economic development and reducing internal and external vulnerabilities to inevitable crises. Unsound fundamentals do not just make short-term prospects poor but also make long-term development prospects bleak. The welfare of tens of millions of Filipinos will not improve given current trends of deteriorating manufacturing, backward agriculture, poor savings and investment rates (i.e., capital accumulation), failing social services, falling incomes and rising poverty. In terms of the overall economy, it is particularly critical to genuinely strengthen domestic agriculture and industry.

The economy's problems are far beyond piecemeal solutions.

A radical change in socio-economic policies is needed if there is going to be any hope of lifting the tens of millions of poor Filipinos out of their deprivation. This much is clear from the Philippine's poor development experience and chronic poverty over the last six decades: the stubbornly elite-biased and increasingly "free market"-oriented policies are a development dead-end.

Alternative socioeconomic policies must be geared towards what is strategically necessary to improve the economy and people's welfare. In the concrete economic and political conditions of Philippine society today this can only mean genuine agrarian reform and national industrialization. IBON Features

The corruption network

2008-12-31T15:22:00.000-08:00

http://www.cenpeg.org/

By Alice G. Guillermo

IN our country today, we are enmeshed in a dense culture of corruption as big financial scandals involving millions are the daily fare in the news. Political corruption or bureaucrat capitalism is the use of government powers by government officials for illegal private gain to enrich themselves or ensure their continuity in office.

Corruption takes many forms—bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, graft, and outright embezzlement. Even more, in our context, we are not faced with only petty or isolated cases of corruption but with a massive endemic phenomenon involving all levels of government and which is being institutionalized and normalized by the state in its function and practice of governance.

In the practice of corruption, the present government has steadily built an apparatus in a bid to legalize it. One feature is the gradual loss of transparency in order to conceal wrongdoing and make it appear legal and within moral bounds. What is invoked is the so-called “presidential prerogative” in which the head of state may determine certain actions, such as whether certain officials will or will not testify in senate investigations or will outright bar certain personalities from testifying. It may thus choose to withhold information from the public—as in the most recent instance of denying access to the police blotters under the pretext of protecting women and children bit so that the facts may be manipulated to favor the perpetrators of crimes sanctioned by the state. The government shifts the blame on journalists who seek to ferret out the truth which may turn out to be unfavorable to the powers that be.

The government thus seeks to strip away transparency and replace it with a thick blanket of denial, seeking to turn the public into the proverbial monkeys of no-see, no hear, and no-talk. The killing of journalists and their harassment by legal suits—as many as 72 have been slapped with suits in Southern Tagalog—completes the dismal picture.

This government is known to be one of the most corrupt, if not the most corrupt, as well as the worst violators of human rights.

Any vision of government that works for the good of the people is not in existence today. Most officials of government use their office to exploit the people to the hilt, to deny their rights and insult their poverty by various means rather than improve their living conditions. Corrupt officials enrich themselves by every means, such as taxation, like the onerous E-vat which they refuse to withdraw because it is a source of easy money for the government, or deals in constructions, infrastructure, and telecommunications with foreign governments, such as the recent NBN-ZTE, involving kickbacks in millions or billions of pesos which they hope to grab at all costs, or the Bolante fertilizer scam involving huge sums of money. In this highly exploitative situation, the state doles out Php 500 pesos for low users of electricity and distributes cheap substandard rice to see the poor form long lines in the sun, an insult to their human dignity. As De Venecia commented referring to the widespread bribery in government, “Everybody is for sale.”

As our leaders take pride in claiming that we are the closest to the United States, even “more American than Americans,” as the president declared in a recent trip to Hong Kong, the president’s recent trips to the U.S. show her eagerness to maintain this dubious position even with Bush out of the picture, since the government has most closely assumed the American system, to its benefit. What was particularly instructive in the past U.S. election were the many insights into U. S. political ideology that have been espoused by the present dispensation. George Bush’s admonition in the midst of the present economic crisis “to stick to capitalism” is probably ringing in the ears of high government officials. In connection with the recent U.S. election, we have also keenly and surprisingly perceived the use of two words in particular: “liberal” and “socialism.” Senator McCain, Obama’s Republican rival, described him as ‘the most liberal of senators” thus declaring himself as conservative rightwing. Riding on religion, Sarah Palin, who was noted by a top American journalist for her “no-content” speeches, warned that Obama would experiment with socialism. It is thus a matter of note that the many Americans still attach negative attitudes and connotations to the words “liberal” and “socialist” in their political ideology.

Most particularly, the absence of a true political vision for the people on the part of the Filipino ruling class stems from the concept of state governance as a corporate capitalist activity and that running the country is like running a corporation for profit. In the recent crisis of Wall Street, it was also found out that the CEOs who headed big corporations awarded themselves with multimillions in salaries. This unbridled greed led to big cases of corruption like ENRON in which people lost their pensions, while more such cases eventually led to the downfall of Wall Street. And here in our country, the use of official position for personal gain is at its most furious and intense in the search for lucrative deals and discovering opportunities for plundering the national patrimony.

In this corporate state, all aspects of life are turned into commodities. There is a massive fetishization of everything including human relations, health, environment, education in which all these become objects to be bought and sold, thus resulting in moral corruption, the decline of human values, lack of regard for the good of others, and, at the end, a profound alienation from oneself and one’s basic humanity and that of our fellowmen. Individuals, families, groups are only viewed as opportunities for exploitation and money-making, thus market surveys are conduced to research on the profit-making efficiency of corporations.

Because of this condition, the lives of the people are continually being jeopardized. In a time of lavish government spending and corruption, the basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter are neglected or not attended to by state institutions. Any concern to improve the quality of food and nutrition on the part of the state is a sham. There was a recent nutrition survey in the barangays where the interviewees were given a few packs of instant noodles, cookies and iodized salt to give flavor to rice. As though each family should at least have these. While on the contrary, Macapagal-Arroyo goes on junkets abroad with a big retinue, complete with gifts of shopping bags filled with branded items.

Shelter is largely an initiative of non-government institutions and it has not yet reached the numerous families who live in the slums and under the bridges. For many families, unaffordable rent makes them resort to squatting or living in the slums. Many, too, cannot afford health care and medical services, not to speak of expensive operations which are clearly outside the resources even of the middle class. What the government instead wants to develop is medical tourism meant to attract foreign tourists and retirees to avail of our medical services. In Asia, the Philippines has the most expensive medicines because it is in the grip of the foreign drug companies who impose their high prices in exchange for corrupt deals. Medicine and medical services are just another area for profit.

Education which should have to do with enlightening and nurturing the minds of the youth is also a big source of corruption. The educational system is in the grip of the World Bank which finances textbooks favorable to American interests. Primary and secondary education has not been upgraded and the general lack of competence in teaching mathematics and science has proven to be detrimental to the country’s development. Thus, the country becomes, under the conditions of globalization, only a source of cheap labor and a market and dumping ground for First World products.

In whatever system, progress cannot be possible without a solid basis in mathematics and science, but up to now educators are still bickering over the language issue, resulting in a setback and delay in learning. Also, since education is a market commodity to squeeze profit from, tuition fees in the universities and particularly in the University of the Philippines (no longer the state university but a national university) have been raised, in the UP by 300%, a huge increase which has effectively barred thousands of students from enrolling in college. To these high university officials is squarely laid the blame for almost a whole generation of youth deprived of higher learning, doomed to be OFW domestics in the absence of local opportunities , or salespersons, drug agents, call center youth, or unemployed housewives—a sheer waste of human resources.

To bar the a significant section of the youth from education only shows a basic lack of faith in the Filipino—that these youth, many of them talented but poor are disposable and undeserving of higher education and may simply be consigned to the general pathetic lack of opportunity that is at the root of our underdevelopment. What operates is a policy of exclusion and not of inclusion, where people are discriminated against because of their inability to pay and where the elite are raised to be utterly indifferent to the poverty around them as they enjoy social privileges and their wealth through academic titles, connections with the globalist system, and executive remunerations.

The environment is likewise regarded as an area of great possibilities for corruption. The official frame of mind is to exploit the environment rather than to nurture it. Of course, one began on the wrong foot with Parity Rights after independence when the Philippines gave the Americans equal right to exploit our natural resources to our great disadvantage. We have long been suppliers of raw material and a market for much more expensive finished products. Now, along this line of thinking, important mines are offered for exploitation or ownership by foreign corporations. Logging is again another destructive practice because, aside from denuding forests, it also removes the top soil, thus causing massive flooding in the provinces. Again, logging is mostly for the benefit of foreigners with their technology. There is also insufficient legislature for curbing pollution in the air or water. The residues of factories pollute the water which is a source of life. The reason why there is little improvement in installing anti-pollution systems can be the clandestine exchange of sums. All our rich natural resources, even possible oil reserves, are open to foreigners to plunder and profit from until these resources are finally exhausted.

The blatant graft and corruption in government and its unbridled rapacity is permeating people’s lives and warping their values. It is effacing the values of honor, integrity, and honesty with the bad example of the ruling elite who cannot be models for the youth. The government officials who are addressed by the words “Honorable” show that the honorific label is only a formality, if not a hypocrisy. In this government, we are fast losing our pride and self-esteem which can be readily bought by government officials with bags filled with filthy lucre or foreign-branded luxuries. Thus has the government, knowing the difficult times which they themselves have brought out, has played on the weaknesses of people so as to justify their own massive corruption. In the newspapers, there is no end to the staggering cases of official corruption, the NBN-ZTE which the president herself signed in China, the Bolante fertilizer scam, the Eurogenerals who traveled to Russia bringing large sums. All these have called forth the slogan: “Moderate your greed!”

In this connection, it has been a lucky season for prominent criminals who have been coddled or released by the State. Let us not forget the midnight transfer of the rapist Marine Cpl Daniel Smith to the U.S. Embassy with the Jesuit Fr. James Reuter to comfort and speak for him. At the same time, there were negotiations with Spain to release a Spanish Filipino national to its custody, one of the murderers of the two Chiong sisters of Cebu and recently there was the release from jail of Teehankee with relations in high places, who was imprisoned for the murder of two young people. The precedent for this was the release of Manero who killed Father Favali and engaged in the odious crime of cannibalism. Whether rich or poor as in the case of Manero, these involved ruling class interests which could benefit from these actions.

Another deep flaw of governance is rampant nepotism where a family or clan is star-studded with one or several senators, congressmen, cabinet members, etc. This was true of the Marcos/Imelda conjugal dictatorship and their clan and of the Cory Aquino Kamag-anak Incorporated. Now, how could the training for public office leap from the hollow posturings of a third-rate movie actor to that of a congressman scion representing an invented constituency. A recent example is the presidential gift of 2 billion pesos to Bicol congressman and son Datu to spend on his province. The difficulty of expunging nepotism lies in the insufficient political education of the people, especially in the provinces, which is taken advantage of by the state. Masses think that they are beholden to families and familiar names especially among the traditionally wealthy, with the notion that it is the rich class who are empowered to govern. So, in a town, the traditional landlords become their employers, bosses, and ninongs to whom they beg for sums in an emergency.

And so the cycle of the rich holding public office continues. The poor are kept in a condition of dependency beneficial to their officials. For, all in all, the country lacks a system of just remunerations and efficient wealth distribution so that the laborers and poor are always at the bottom rung. This may be only in keeping with the distaste of Americans for wealth-sharing that right-wing conservatives will not engage in, as well as for their primary principles of individualism and profit-orientation giving rise to billionaires who play an important in the economics of government.

The change of mentality is shown in the proliferation of words pertaining to corruption as in the book Corruptionary. But here we should also note that while many of the words have a touch of ubiquitous Filipino humor, there is also much of irony and sarcasm. The book describes the many forms that corruption takes and warns the reader of these scams of which he and Philippine society in general, may easily become victims of. With these officials, corruption has so deeply permeated society that it may become the governing principle to which lesser employees contribute or participate in their own way, thus perpetuating a government of kleptocracy from which the general masses can only feel a profound alienation as well as the powerful desire and initiative to recuperate our national honor.

—Plenary paper for “Corruptionary: A Cultural Innovation for Good Governance,” a national study conference organized by the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) in partnership with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), Dec. 8-9, 2008, University Hotel, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City.

The 12 crises of 2009

2008-12-28T20:32:00.000-08:00

http://moncasiple.wordpress.com/

BY MON CASIPLE

Let me project to 2009–the crisis year for the Philippines.

1. Cha-cha and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA)’s drive to retain power.

2. Seven retirements, seven appointments, and the crisis of independence and relevance of the Supreme Court.

3. Global recession and its effect on the Philippine foreign trade, foreign credit, foreign investments, overseas and local jobs, local business viability, local banking, and political stability.

4. The poverty and hunger crisis.

5. Oil price, exchange rate, and inflation crisis.

6. Continuing crisis of extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, and media killings.

7. Crisis of the failed peace process and talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

8. Election violence and election manipulation.

9. Credibility and popularity of the GMA administration.

10. Threat of some form of martial law and military’s political meddling.

11. Crisis of rampant government corruption.

12. Crisis in delivery of government basic services to the poor.

Some of these will be solved in 2009; others will worsen; and still others are treated by the government as non-crisis.

The GMA politics of survival–if continued into the new year–can easily bring her administration into a role as part of the problem, not into the role as part of the solution.

A people power greeting to us all as we usher in the year 2009.

Landlord victory, democracy’s loss

2008-12-28T20:08:00.000-08:00

http://moncasiple.wordpress.com/
Published December 19, 2008
BY MON CASIPLE

Congress approved a six-month extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) for the second time. Albeit, with new twist. It prohibited the mandatory and compulsory distribution of land, allowing only the Voluntary Offer to Sell (VOS) mode of land acquisition.

By this act alone, the landlord-dominated Congress ended the constitutional mandate of social justice–at least–until six months hence. However, given the current political climate, this six-month grace is more of a farcical drama of a near-death patient being merely fanned instead of being given oxygen and other restorative drugs.

The only thing that is keeping the agrarian reform program alive is the stiff resistance of the peasantry themselves and their broad supporters, including the Catholic Church itself. The latter knows the social upheaval consequent to a failed asset transfer in the agrarian sector.

The main political lesson from the struggle in the current agrarian reform issue is that the political ruling class is feeling pretty well secured and is prepared to abandon even pretensions at democratization. The ruling state is slowly evolving–if not already there–from a post-Marcos elitist democracy to an oligarchic state. In this situation, the fragile electoral democracy may easily slide into a farcical electoral democracy, even to some form of an oligarchic autocracy.

The current struggle over charter change basically reflects this struggle between the strengthening and broadening of Philippine democracy versus the impulse to institute oligarchic rule.

With a dead CARP, the demise of the promise of the 1986 people power is not far. The stage is thus set for another people power struggle.

Fire the driver

2008-11-29T19:38:00.000-08:00

http://www.aer.ph/
Dispatches from the Enchanted Kingdom
By Manuel Buencamino
Wednesday, 26 November 2008

Buencamino is a fellow of Action for Economic Reforms. "Fire the Driver" was published in the Business Mirror on November 26, 2008, page A6.

Let’s grant that those who advocate Charter change love their country as much as those who push for impeachment. Both groups believe the country needs reform, but they disagree on the means.

Charter changers, like the communists, blame the system. They say we stand a better chance of getting to where we want to go if we change the form of government. Simply put, we’ll get there faster if we had a better car. Impeachers, on the other hand, believe that not even a Rolls Royce will get you there if you have a monkey at the wheel.

Last Sunday, I read an article by Patricia Evangelista, a columnist for another daily. It was the story of one Raymond Manalo, a suspected communist sympathizer who was abducted, detained, and tortured by the military.

Here are excerpts from his story:

“Sometimes, when the soldiers are drinking, they take you out of your cage and play with you. The game varies, but it is usually the same. Two by fours, chains, an open gardening hose shoved down your nose. You crawl back to your cage, on your hands and knees. You wake up to screaming, to the sound of grown men begging, and you wonder which one it is this time. Sometimes, one of your cellmates will disappear. Sometimes, they don’t come back.

“Then they take you away, and there is a doctor, pills, antibiotics, a bed. They tell you they are taking you home to see your parents. You meet the man they call The Butcher, and he tells you to tell your parents not to join the rallies, to stay away from human rights groups, that they would ruin your life and your brother’s. He tells you, this small man in shorts, that if you can only prove you’re on his side now, he would let you and your brother live. He gives you a box of vitamins, and tells you that they are expensive: P35 per pill.”

Thank God for tender mercies.

But it gets better.

“And in April 2007, you hear a woman begging, and when you are ordered to fix dinner, you see Sherlyn, lying naked on a chair that had fallen on the floor, both wrists and one tied leg propped up. You see them hit her with wooden planks, see her electrocuted, beaten, half-drowned. You see them amuse themselves with her body, poke sticks into her vagina, shove a water hose into her nose and mouth. And you see the soldiers wives’ watch.”

What sort of human being would invite his wife to witness such atrocities; what kind of woman would go and watch her husband dehumanize another woman?

Torture is now entertainment. How will changing the system without replacing the one who called a torturer “my hero” stop human rights abuses? Charter change will be nothing more than putting a different gun a different gun in the hands of monsters.

There is a direct link between human rights abuses and corruption. One flows from the other. Human rights abuses become rampant when people impoverished by unabated corruption begin to demand reforms. Free speech is curtailed through intimidation; discontent and dissent are suppressedthrough extrajudicial detentions, disappearances, and killings.

Will Charter change put a dent on corruption if the same crooks remain in the driver’s seat?

Corruption is the ugly part of human nature. It can never be totally eliminated, unless you want to eliminate all humans. The most one can hope for is to keep corruption at a minimum. But that does not mean we adopt Romulo Neri’s fatalistic philosophy of “moderating greed.”

Instead, we need to make sure everybody understands that those who steal are guaranteed severe punishment. That’s the only way to raise the cost-benefit ratio of corruption.

Asking crooks to amend the Charter so they can hang on to their position is like buying a new car instead of firing a reckless driver. Let’s change the driver before we even begin to think about tinkering with the car because, more often than not, the problem is with the driver and not the car.

Impeaching Gloria Arroyo is a more effective game changer than changing the system but keeping everyone in place.

Becoming instruments of healing in Mindanao

2008-11-21T18:32:00.000-08:00

www.pinoypress.net
PUBLISHED ON November 19, 2008 AT 10:37 AM

By Rohaniza Sumndad
Philippines Country Director, Asia America Initiative

After the breakdown of the Mindanao peace process during August and September 2008, a new round of armed conflict began. The United Nations claims that around 500,000 persons — Christians and Muslims — including at least 300,000 infants and children were displaced from their homes without the basic necessities of life.

In urgent response, in mid-September Asia America Initiative conducted an emergency humanitarian relief mission. We visited refugee camps and war-torn communities in provinces such as Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur and Cotabato. In mid-October, AAI’s Philippines Country Director Rohaniza Sumndad traveled back to Mindanao to partner with Operation Blessing to conduct Post-Traumatic Stress Counselors Training for humanitarian workers in support of the refugees. Ms. Sumndad reflects:

Mindanao is my homeland. Its unsurpassable beauty of lush farm fields, mineral resources, crystal clear water and a wide spectrum of tribes, cultures and languages make it one of the most fascinating places in Southeast Asia. Tragically, poverty, corruption and violence have robbed our futures. It is the stunning wealth of this land that has led to decades of conflict, pitting family against family, clan against clan and Muslim versus Christian: It is my ties to this land and its people that have made me a peacemaker.

During the past few months, Hope for the normal life that we all dream of has been shattered once again by armed conflict. According to the United Nations some 500,000 people in Mindanao, especially children, have been displaced from their homes and live in the shadow of fear due to continued armed conflict. There is a great need to heal and rebuild communities that have been traumatized by violence. During thirty years of war in Muslim Mindanao this has never been done.

“Child warriors” fighting in guerrilla armies are as young as 12 and 13 years old. Government soldiers are as young as 18. Schools with no chairs, books or supplies for basic education are burned to the ground or turned into artillery fire bases or refugee camps. The healing process, which must begin in each person and family, whether Christian or Muslim, is essential to overcome the extreme distress, fear and even hatred that prolong the ongoing cycles of vengeful communal violence. I have been fortunate as a young Muslim woman from this impoverished area of conflict, to have the benefit of graduating from a respected college in the country’s capitol. Now, holding a leadership position in an international NGO specializing in community-based projects in areas of conflict, I have developed a commitment to building “Bridges of Peace.” My colleagues and I are utilizing the common humanity between my country’s Muslim and Christian peoples with full respect to our religious diversity.

In early September, shortly after the Philippine Government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front peace process broke down, I was accompanied on a relief mission to the area of conflict by Asia America Initiative founder Albert Santoli who traveled from the United States to help me organize and carry medicines, nutritional supplies and toys for traumatized children. In Mindanao, we were assisted by our college student volunteers who are called AAI Catalysts for Peace headed by a medical student from MSU-IIT, Ralphtrin Hermosisima.

In each refugee or internally displaced person shelter we visited, we shared medicines, food supplements and toys — even forks and spoons and plastic to build tents. In each location, local officials, social workers and doctors expressed their concern about psychological and emotional trauma suffered by people who fled for their lives. They stated that without proper counseling interventions, the people’s trauma and fear of ongoing violence might cause their communities to fall apart.

In 2007 and early 2008, AAI had already begun doing healing activities in conflicted areas of Sulu and Basilan provinces, through our Kiddie Fun Day events as part of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process H.E.L.P. [Health Education Livelihood Programs] Caravans. Now, in Central Mindanao, as the threat of religious war is escalating, we - as an interfaith but secular organization — began partnering efforts with a faith-based NGO, Operation Blessing, Philippines, who specializes in Emergency Relief.

Our purpose is to conduct TRAUMA DEBRIEFING SEMINARS and COUNSELOR TRAINING WORKSHOPS for Christian and Muslim social workers, public officials and all sectors in the communities. We also traveled to refugee camps with AAI’s energetic local college student volunteers to conduct a program which we call, A FUN DAY: BRINGING HOPE AND CHEERS TO COMMUNITIES. We could not have done this without the partnership of the Provincial Governments of Iligan City, Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur.

The big-hearted staff of Operation Blessing (OB) Philippines developed a curriculum for healing traumatic stress through dialogue and sharing experiences. Some 90 professionals from the disciplines of social work, education, health, religious clergy, student leaders and even Christian soldiers who had been involved in armed confrontations against local Muslim guerrillas. To everyone’s surprise, religion and diverse culture was not a divisive factor. We all focused on our common humanity and addressed the suffering of the war victims. The training was aimed to give proper orientation and to provide different professional sectors with knowledge and skills in trauma healing sessions through the Self-Awareness — emphasizing on Healing and Peace should come from within. The most important attribute is to be a good listener. The Fun Day activities for children and their families instill hope and promote peace awareness through music, arts, games and laughter. The fun activities trigger a healing antidote to anger, trauma and distrust.

The Seminar and Workshop

The Trauma Debriefing Seminar and Workshop was conducted in the Provincial Capitol of Lanao del Sur in partnership with Operation Blessing and the Provincial Government of Lanao del Sur through Governor Mamintal Adiong Jr. It was attended by a diverse cross-section of professional people from Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte. Local government officials, Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council members, Muslim Ulama religious leaders, Youth and Women Group leaders, Social Workers, NGOs, Philippine military officers and Christian Faith Based groups all attended. We were educated in the psychological process of stress and trauma by professional counselors. Then we separated into group sessions to practice counseling and group discussions. After two days of training, all participants were encouraged to apply the techniques they learned in their home communities.

I was deeply touched during the training in the predominantly Muslim city of Marawi. A middle-aged female social worker repeatedly expressed negative comments like, “peace is never possible,” and “groups like you cannot do anything about what’s going on.” She did not want the military to be present in the training. I became curious about her background and her negativity towards giving peace a chance.

Coming from Lanao del Sur, I was not afraid to ask local people who this woman was. Twenty years earlier, her husband had been killed by the military in fighting between the [non-terrorist] Moro National Liberation Front and government forces. For confidentiality, I will not mention her name but my conclusion was this: Her past still haunts her. She’s among the many persons who never received proper counseling to help her overcome her traumatic experiences — not to mention the extreme pain she suffered from because of death of her loved ones.

I gained respect for her because despite her many critical statements, she never left nor walked out of the training. I was trying to empathize and continually observed her. As the sessions went on, her negativity slowly diminished. She freely participated and cooperated with the rest of the group. Throughout the latter sessions, she sat silently and listened intently, very different from how she was acting at the start of the training.

Most of the participants said that it was their first time to undergo training on post-traumatic stress or Trauma Healing. They all realized the importance of incorporating it in their Disaster Management programs. The debriefing workshops acted as an icebreaker among professionals from different sectors. This was especially important because of the negative notion by local people against the military combatants. The practice exercises paved the way to for dialogue among different groups.

Compassion and Consistency are the Keys for Healing

As the training experiences were completed, participants discussed the next steps for instituting post-traumatic stress counseling among all cultural groups suffering from armed conflict. Ms. Grace Alag, the speaker from Operation Blessing, Philippines, encouraged the participants to network and create a support network. This can help facilitate consistent and continually improved trauma counseling in communities afflicted by conflict. Everyone, Christian and Muslim, left the Social Hall of the Provincial Capitol of Lanao del Sur with one goal in mind: To be instruments of Hope to facilitate healing in their communities.

Body of Lies

2008-11-15T15:01:00.000-08:00

PUBLISHED ON November 11, 2008 AT 6:18 PM

By Carlos H. Conde
http://www.pinoypress.net/

Ever since the United States sent its troops to the Philippines in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks, the Filipino people have been fed the line that the Americans are here either to help the people of Mindanao through humanitarian projects or to help train the Philippine military combat terrorism. The US troops have stayed in the country for so long now that not only have we lost count of exactly how many of them have remained – for all practical purposes, the Americans have set up camps in Mindanao. We know so little else about what they do here except some morsels of information contained in the occasional press release from the US embassy about medical missions and such.

Meanwhile, Filipino officials, particularly those belonging to the political opposition, have either lost interest in knowing exactly what the Americans are up to down south or they, too, had bought the line that all those undetermined number of troops, all those millions of dollars spent since 2002, are so the people of Basilan and Sulu can enjoy potable water or have their cleft lip fixed.

There had been assertions, of course, that there’s more to the presence of the US troops in Mindanao than meets the eye. Focus on the Global South, an international NGO, maintained, for instance, that the Americans have been engaged in an “offensive war” in Mindanao. Leftist groups, naturally, have been calling for the US troops’ pullout, particularly after the Americans suddenly sprouted everywhere — from Basilan, they moved to Sulu then to the Lanao provinces and God knows where else. And the usual line was, of course, they were on humanitarian or medical missions.

Perhaps the first real glimpse of the true nature of the US military’s presence in the south was the mission in 2002 that led to the rescue of Gracia Burnham, the American missionary, who, together with her husband Martin and several others, was kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf in 2001. The group has been linked to al Qaeda.

And today, The New York Times reported that the US military has used, since 2004, a “broad, secret authority to carry out nearly a dozen previously undisclosed attacks against Al Qaeda and other militants in Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere.”

“These military raids typically carried out by Special Operations forces, were authorized by a classified order that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld signed in the spring of 2004 with the approval of President Bush, the officials said. The secret order gave the military new authority to attack the Qaeda terrorist network anywhere in the world, and a more sweeping mandate to conduct operations in countries not at war with the United States.”

The paper also reported about operations that reminded me of Body of Lies, the movie starring Russell Crowe and Leonardo diCaprio that was shown here recently. “In 2006, for example, a Navy Seal team raided a suspected militants’ compound in the Bajaur region of Pakistan, according to a former top official of the Central Intelligence Agency. Officials watched the entire mission — captured by the video camera of a remotely piloted Predator aircraft — in real time in the C.I.A.’s Counterterrorist Center at the agency’s headquarters in Virginia 7,000 miles away.”

The New York Times report tells us not to believe whatever the US and the Philippine governments have been telling us since this “war on terror” began. Although the Philippines was not mentioned in the report, it is not difficult to imagine that we are one of the “other countries” where the US had launched these secret attacks.

If anything, this should give politicians a reason to ascertain exactly what the US is doing in Mindanao. As this report indicates, a strong argument can be made that this American presence may have violated Philippine laws.

If the US military can have its way in countries that are less friendly to Washington – Pakistan, for instance – how much more in the Philippines where Americans are given far greater access, whose people bestow on them a tremendous amount of trust that they probably will not find elsewhere?

Carlos H. Conde is a journalist based in Manila.

Women migrants debunk empowerment myth, vow to continue struggle for rights

2008-11-14T09:34:00.000-08:00

Jobs available to women are “mere extension of stereotype women roles as homemakers and as sex objects.” These are, in essence, gender-oppressive roles made to appear as formal work placing women in situations open to abuse and exploitation.

BY RONALYN V. OLEA
Bulatlat/MIGRANT WATCH

A Filipina in dire need lured by promises of gainful employment in Singapore ending up being forced into sexual slavery. A Thai domestic helper in Hong Kong who is paid meager wages. Women from poor countries sold as brides to Taiwanese men. Highly-educated Mongolian women forced to take on jobs not related to their profession. All of them are bound twice—as migrants and as women.

Women migrants who attended the International Assembly of Migrants and Refugees (IAMR) this October shared their predicaments, debunking claims that migration has led to the empowerment of women.

The so-called feminization of migration, the United Nations and the International Labor Organization (ILO) claim, has the potential in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment.

But women migrants think otherwise.

Eni Lestari, chairperson of the International Migrants Alliance (IMA) said that the current trade of migration is not voluntary but forced migration. She said migrant workers are like commodities owned by the sending governments to be exported to other governments, in exchange for remittances and as a way to reduce unemployment.

Lestari said that even before migration, political and economic structures propagate a patriarchal culture. Society views women as slaves who are subordinated by men, she said.
Lestari, an Indonesian who works as a domestic helper in Hong Kong, said that most women migrants surrender their power to their employer or recruitment agency. Women are made docile and are vulnerable to all forms of violations.

Prostituted

Samantha (not her real name), 40, is the breadwinner of a family of 13.

Like many Filipinos looking for a decent job, Samantha and her niece Clarissa (not her real name) applied for a job in Singapore.

Before leaving, she stayed at the residence of the recruiter, known to her only as Amanda, in Caloocan City. She, her niece and the other talents practiced moves for a Malay dance.

During the orientation, Samantha and the others were instructed to say they were just on a holiday when questioned by immigration authorities in Singapore. They were even given “show money” for the authorities. She was also told that they would not encounter any difficulty with immigration officers in the Philippines because everything had been settled.

On July 14, she left for Singapore. What appeared to be a harmless job turned out to be a nightmare. Upon their arrival, Amanda confiscated all of their cellular phones. They were brought to bar, the main door of which is always locked. Worse, they were forced to have sex with customers of the bar.

“We cannot just sit; we are obliged to sell sex. We have no choice,” Samantha said.

They were told that they have to raise 5,200 Singaporean dollars for their placement fee.

On July 15, Samantha had a Japanese customer who paid 100 Singaporean dollars for three hours of “service.”

“I was crying, it was my first time to have sex with someone I don’t love,” said Samantha, crying.

The next day, Samantha said she learned that Amanda’s real name is Cindy Domingo.

They are prohibited from saying anything about their situation. When talking to their relatives over the phone, Amanda or Cindy would listen and would always warn them not to cry.

Samantha said Amanda would hurl invectives at them. “She even listens to our conversations with customers… She does not keep a list of the money we give her,” said Samantha.

When her visa was about to expire, Amanda took her to Malaysia where stayed for three to four hours so she could renew her visa.

In August, a British customer “hired” Samantha for eight days. She was paid 8,000 Singaporean dollars. “All the money went to Amanda,” related Samantha.

She was determined to escape so she pretended to be nice to Amanda. Just before she left, she witnessed how Amanda slapped another woman victim. “She pulled her hair, banged her head on the wall… I wanted to help her, she was so skinny and helpless but I could not do anything,” said Samantha.

On Sept. 7, she flew back to Manila with the hope of getting back at Amanda and of helping out the other victims of sex trafficking.

Outright lie

In its position paper, women’s group GABRIELA said, “That migration leads to development is an outright lie. That migration of Filipinas can lead to women’s empowerment is a ludicrous notion…The truth is more and more women are being sold as domestic helpers, as entertainers, as caregivers and as mail-order brides in exchange for their dollar remittances.”

“The stark truth, as shown by the Philippine experience, is that women migrant workers find themselves in situations that are very disempowering,” the group maintained.

GABRIELA said jobs available to women are “mere extension of stereotype women roles as homemakers and as sex objects.”

“These are, in essence, gender-oppressive roles made to appear as formal work that place women in situations open to abuse and exploitation,” it said.

Only hope

GABRIELA said the organization and collective actions of migrants and their families are their only hope for protection and better conditions.

“Just as globalization created a borderless exploitation of workers, it has fortunately also paved the way for a borderless organization of oppressed peoples as exemplified by the growing and developing organization of migrants worldwide,” the group said.

It added, “Women migrants must actively take part in the growing resistance against neoliberal policies by building women migrants’ organizations, strengthening their alliances with anti-globalization women’s groups and participating actively in people’s organizations in their own countries or their host countries.” (Bulatlat.com)

Labor Migration: A dangerous doctrine

2008-11-08T06:38:00.000-08:00

www.cenpeg.org
ISSUE ANALYSIS No. 15 Series of 2008

The more the economy is stagnant, the less its ability to create jobs, the more dependent government becomes on overseas labor deployment

By the Policy Study, Publication and Advocacy (PSPA) Program Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG)
November 3, 2008

If the state policy making and legislative agenda do not change course, the whole nation will wake up one day to find that remittances accumulated through off-shore migration or labor exportation have become government’s No. 1 pillar of economic sustainability.

Right now, foreign trade and investment – steered by neo-liberal globalization – and reliance on overseas development assistance are the first two pillars, followed by the export of Filipino labor. The state policy of globalization as specified by privatization, liberalization, deregulation, and labor-only contracting binds the three major pillars together.

Labor migration has become the safety valve to the country’s unemployment crisis and a major source of foreign exchange: It has surged way past the domestic job market as the remaining option for many Filipinos. In 2000 alone, more than 800,000 Filipinos were deployed abroad while only less than 200,000 were effectively added to the domestic labor market.(1)

As unemployment has worsened under the Arroyo administration compared to the past 50 years, some 3,000 Filipinos leave the country every day for overseas jobs – or a total of more than 1 million every year.

With remittances growing by the year – $14.4 billion in 2007 constituting 10 per cent of the country’s GDP – the government target is to increase labor migration to 2 million by 2010.(2) And the government is determined to meet the target: From January to April this year there were 516,466 migrant workers deployed thus raising the daily departure to 4,314 from last year’s 3,000.

In fact, remittances sent by overseas Filipinos have outstripped both foreign direct investment (FDI) and overseas development assistance (ODA) which have declined in the past several years. FDI was $2.93 billion in 2007 but minus payments to loans the actual investment inflows fell by 69.3 per cent to only $341 million. Last year’s $14.4 billion remittances is equal to 25 per cent of the total ODA received by the Philippines – that is, in 20 years or from 1986-2006 ($39.9 billion).

In general, last year's global foreign remittances already totalled thrice the amount of aid given by donor countries to developing nations: $300 billion against $104 billion. No wonder labor migration is now being trumpeted by the United Nations and other multilateral organizations as a centerpiece program for developing economies.

For a government whose economic policy is subordinated to bitter policy prescriptions of the IMF and WB and adherence to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Arroyo regime’s agenda to make labor migration as a major source of government income received a boost from no less than UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Speaking before the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) on Oct. 29 in Manila, Ban Ki-moon, who is also South Korea’s former foreign minister, hailed migration as “a tool to help lift us out the (current global) economic crisis…(where) countries can draw the greatest possible development benefits.”

A model for migration

Organizers of GFMD chose Manila as the forum venue on account of the Philippines’ being a role model for labor migration among developing countries and chiefly because of the remittances accruing from foreign employment.

Of some 8.2 million Filipinos(3) living and working in more than 193 countries/territories around the world, 43 per cent are permanent immigrants while the rest or 4.7 million are temporary or contract workers. The Philippines is one of the leading sources of migrant labor in the world market. But it tops in the deployment of caregivers and domestics, 90 per cent of them women, as well as in nurses, seafarers (30 per cent of the world supply), and other medical workers and professionals.

Hypocritically since the Marcos years, the government denies the existence of a labor export policy. What it cannot hide however is the existence of a government infrastructure developed since the Marcos years that gives prime attention to the export of Filipino workers and professionals. This infrastructure promotes and processes out-migration, exacts – extorts, if you will – various exorbitant fees from outgoing OFWs, accredits recruitment agencies, provides skills training and immigration lectures, and supposedly earmarks benefits for the migrant workers and their families. This bureaucracy, which is headed by the President, includes the labor department’s Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC), Technical Education and Skills Authority (TESDA), and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) with its office of migrant affairs and various Philippine Labor Offices (POLOS) based in many countries.

The government also sends several high-level missions every year to market Filipino labor abroad while job fairs for overseas employment are constantly held at home. Before it hosted the GFMD, Arroyo officials joined the first annual Transatlantic Forum on Migration and Integration (TFMI) held last July in Germany. Last month, President Gloria M. Arroyo signed into law the controversial Japan Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) which increases the number of Filipino nurses and caregivers deployable to Japan in exchange for relaxing restrictions to the latter’s exports and investments in the country.

No domestic economy

The promotion of labor out-migration is driven by the fact that the country does not have a viable domestic economy to speak of – an economy that generates adequate jobs to its people. Despite government land reform, 70 per cent of agricultural land remains in the hands of landlords leaving the country’s millions of farmers unproductive and without a stable income.
Instead of basic industries, what the country has are globally-integrated assembly lines or repackaging plants that exploit labor with low wages and lack of job security because of government’s labor contracting policy.

Moreover, labor wages are frozen low in order to attract foreign investment. It is the same policy that government promotes abroad to market Filipino skills in the form of caregivers, construction workers, and other workers. Filipino seafarers are preferred by international shipping companies because the government tolerates the low wages paid them even if monthly benchmark salaries are higher.

Attribute all these to government’s adherence to neo-colonial and now neo-liberal policies which open the country’s weak economy to unrestricted foreign trade and investment threatening not only the productive livelihoods of many Filipinos but also resulting in the shutdown of small industries. Neo-liberal policies exacerbate poverty and unemployment and are generally counter-productive in terms of building a self-sustaining economy and giving jobs.

Epic proportions

With some 4 million jobless Filipinos and another 12 per cent underemployed, unemployment under Arroyo has worsened – in epic proportions since the last 50 years. Thus out-migration is a safety valve to the unemployed, including thousands of professionals – the last exit from a country that is about to implode in a social unrest.

Labor out-migration has also become a political tool of sorts used by the regime to arrest a growing restlessness – if not discontent – among the people against a corrupt and weak government for its inability to provide jobs and a better future for its people. Yet while its economic management increasingly relies on foreign remittances the government has not seriously taken steps to safeguard the rights of OFWs and improve their labor conditions. For instance, of 193 destination countries for Filipino workers the country has only a handful of bilateral labor agreements.

The more the economy is stagnant, the less its ability to create jobs, the more dependent government becomes on overseas labor deployment. What government cannot provide it sells in the world market to help sustain the economies of advanced countries – that bear constant crisis anyway – and the domestic needs of their ageing populations. But this is dangerous, and not only because even before the government would take this extreme option the whole economy would have collapsed. It will erode the urgency for drastic policy reform and new governance and it will calm the people into complacency and defeatism. Or it can be used by the government to evade comprehensive policy reform that would make the economy more responsive to the basic social and economic rights of the people.

But in the first place what can we expect from a government that persists in the doctrine established by previous regimes embedding economic policies to global, transnational business perspectives? Instructive at this point is a critique of the GFMD by the parallel International Assembly of Migrants and Refugees (IAMR)(4) last week: The GFMD and the UN secretary general’s pro-migration declaration “arose in the midst of the worsening world economic crisis – where far more advanced…countries are fighting their way out of this crisis even as they retain their…control and power, while poverty, unemployment, and underdevelopment continue to aggravate the lives of peoples of Third World countries.” __________________________________________
End notes

(1) S.P. Go, “Remittances and International Labor Migration: Impact on the Philippines,” Metropolis Inter-Conference Seminar on Immigration and Homeland, May 9-12, 2002, Dubrovnik.

(2) Migrant labor remittances do not include those brought home directly by vacationing Filipinos or by door-to-door transactions, thus the total remittances could be more. In 2007, it is estimated to be as much as $18 billion.

(3) According to the government Commission on Filipino Overseas (CFO, 2008). Other estimates put the number at 10 million in nearly 197 countries.

(4) Held also in Manila on Oct. 28-30, 2008, the IAMR was organized by Migrante International together with the International Migrants Alliance (IMA), IBON Foundation, and other groups.

Norms for democracy

2008-11-06T11:44:00.000-08:00

www.manilatimes.net
Friday, November 07, 2008
EDITORIAL
From The Manila Times

Once again the United States of America, our former “mother country”—in other words, the state of which were were a colony), has given us and the world an example to follow in the ways of democracy. In particular, the conduct of last Tuesday’s presidential and senatorial election is something we Filipinos should try our best to emulate.

Yes, there were mild instances of voter registration and possibly actually voting fraud. But these were immediately resolved. And the cases reported in Ohio, which seemed to be the worst, were apparently shown to have been wildly exaggerated.

Before nightfall of election day, there were already states in which the clear winner—between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen John McCain—as well as the winners of the senatorial contests were already known. By Tuesday night (Wednesday in Manila), the final winners were known so that The Manila Times Thursday issue already had the frontpage headline “MR. PRESIDENT” with the large picture of President-elect Barack Hussein Obama.

The transparency of the electoral process, the probity of election officers, the vigilance and fairness of election watchers of both the Democratic and Republican parties are things we Filipinos must resolve to have in the 2010 elections.

All the hate that anti-Americans all over the world have felt and expressed these past years for President G. W. Bush seemed to vanish with the victory of Mr. Obama.

For he has become a symbol of hope for a better America and a better world. The fact that he is the first black to become president of the United States made not only African-Americans but also all minority people of the United States weep with joy. Even Filipino Muslims—our Moros—and the Arabs are pinning their hopes for a world without war on President-elect Obama.

Once more the inspiring vision of a clean US election recalled—to those who have America in their hearts like many Filipinos as well as, for instance, many Englishmen, Japanese, Koreans, Hong Kongites and Indians—the opening words by Thomas Jefferson of the Declaration of American Independence and the peroration of President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. These documents were learned by that generation of Filipinos who experienced being members of the American commonwealth. They are still studied by students of political science everywhere in the world.

Says the preamble to the US Declaration of Independence:“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness . . .”

And says President Abe Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address: “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

McCain’s example

The defeated Republican candidate for president, Sen. John McCain, is well recognized as an American hero who “started making sacrifices for his country since he was 17 years old.” Held as a prisoner of war and tortured by his Vietnamese captors, he refused to be freed as a special case when the North Vietnam officials, on learning that his father was an Admiral of the US Navy, wanted to release him. MrCain wanted his fellow prisoners to be freed with him.

In conceding defeat to Mr. Obama, Mr. McCain again gave an inspiring example of patriotism. As soon as it was clear that he had no more chance of winning, Mr. McCain called up Mr. Obama and congratulated him.

Then he publicly announced his concession, calling on all Americans and particularly those who fought for him against Mr. Obama to unite behind the new leader of the American nation.

“My friends, we have come to the end of a long journey. The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly . . . A little while ago, I had the honor of calling senator Barack Obama to congratulate him on being elected the next president of the country that we both love,” he said.

“In a contest as long and difficult as this campaign has been, his success alone commands my respect for his ability and perseverance.” He then paid tribute to Mr. Obama’s virtues and gave special acknowledgement of the historic importance of America’s having chosen the first black president of the United States.

Will we Filipinos ever become as patriotic in our politics as Mr. McCain? Will defeated candidates in our country ever learn to ask us, the citizenry, to unite and help the winning candidate succeed in doing a good job serving the people? Will defeated candidates ever learn not to work to undermine the elected officials?

Obama wins; first black U.S. president

2008-11-05T08:42:00.000-08:00

http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed7/idUSN05502158
Obama rides wind of change to historic US victory
Wed Nov 5, 2008 9:16 am EST

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

“WASHINGTON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Barack Obama rode a wave of voter discontent to an historic White House victory, promising change as the first black U.S. president but facing enormous challenges from a deep economic crisis and two lingering wars.

“Obama led Democrats to a sweeping victory that expanded their majorities in both houses of Congress as Americans emphatically rejected Republican President George W. Bush's eight years of leadership.

“Raucous street celebrations erupted across the country, but Obama will have little time to enjoy the victory. He was expected to start work on Wednesday, planning his formal takeover on Jan. 20 and assembling a team to tackle the financial crisis and other challenges.

“The son of a black father from Kenya and white mother from Kansas, Obama was born when black Americans were still battling segregationist policies in the South. His triumph over Republican rival John McCain on Tuesday is a milestone that could help the United States get beyond its long, brutal history of racism.

“It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, at this defining moment, change has come to America," Obama, 47, told some 240,000 ecstatic supporters gathered in Chicago's Grant Park.”

From Philippine Daily Inquirer
Newsstand
Why Obama has won
By John NeryPhilippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:57:00 10/28/2008

“…It is in the culture of politics that Obama has already won: This former community organizer has turned his campaign into one massive organizing effort unlike anything seen before—a campaign that has the potential to change the political game in the United States forever.

“Last Oct. 8, the Huffington Post published the first part of Zack Exley’s detailed report on Obama’s “ground game.” The piece begins: “Inside the Obama campaign, almost without anyone noticing, an insurgent generation of organizers has built the Progressive movement a brand new and potentially durable people’s organization, in a dozen states, rooted at the neighborhood level.”

“What follows (verified by numerous other reports, such as those that can be found in Nate Silver’s fivethirtyeight.com) is detail after revealing, riveting detail about a political movement.

“Win or lose, ‘The New Organizers’ have already transformed thousands of communities—and revolutionized the way organizing itself will be understood and practiced for at least the next generation. Obama must continue to feed and lead the organization they have built—either as president or in opposition.”

From Philippine Daily Inquirer
There's The Rub
Dramatic
By Conrado de Quiros
First Posted 02:22:00 11/05/2008

“…As in Marcos’ time, murder and mayhem are running riot in this country again. Gonzales says nothing will change whether Obama or McCain becomes US president. He wishes. If Obama wins, the killings of journalists and political activists won’t be lost on the eyes of Washington. If Obama wins, the complaints of Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, and the UN Special Rapporteur about the Philippines’ “culture of impunity” won’t be lost on the ears of Washington. Certainly, Obama won’t dismiss Philip Alston as “just a ‘muchacho’ [houseboy] of the UN.” While at this, I’d be very curious to hear what Raul Gonzalez has to say about a black US president.

“With Gonzales and company now going for high-profile targets (the latest is James Balao, an outstanding alumnus of the University of the Philippines in Baguio City and founding member of the Cordillera People’s Alliance) in a bloody, archaic and senseless campaign to rid the world of communists, or people they presume to be so, an Obama presidency will be as welcome to them as an Arroyo impeachment. One case especially has the potential to become America’s symbolic gesture to restore human rights to the Philippines, and that is the case of Jonas Burgos. Jonas’ father at least, if not Jonas himself, is well known to Americans. Joe Burgos was named one of the 100 most important journalists in the world by international news organizations at the end of the last century. That his son should become a “desaparecido” [disappeared] for being just as vigilant as he is in the defense of freedom, only a George Bush or a John McCain can ignore.

“All this may not seem much in the grand scheme of geopolitics. But it sure as hell means the world to those who have lost kin and friend to a murderous regime. It sure as hell means the world to those who believe in justice and freedom and democracy and continue to fight for them. In any case, who says geopolitics is a grand scheme?

“Human life is the grandest scheme of all. Saving it is the most dramatic change there is.”

The Philippines: The collapse of peace in Mindanao

2008-11-03T12:09:00.000-08:00

From PinoyPress
http://www.pinoypress.net/
PUBLISHED ON October 25, 2008 AT 8:27 PM

Jakarta/Brussels, 23 October 2008: A new Supreme Court ruling has ended hope of a peaceful resolution in the near future to the decades-old conflict between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Philippines government.

The Philippines: The Collapse of Peace in Mindanao,* the latest briefing from the International Crisis Group, says the immediate task now is to prevent escalation of fighting and discourage the government and local officials from arming civilians. Interested governments and donors should press both sides to keep existing ceasefire mechanisms in place, while quietly urging a return to talks.

“Peace talks have broken down before but never in this way, with government institutions and the political elite fundamentally rejecting the achievements of the negotiators. It will be much harder this time, even if talks resume, to simply pick up from where they left off,” says Sidney Jones, Crisis Group Senior Adviser.

The court ruling on 14 October, preceded by an injunction on 4 August, effectively killed an extraordinary Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain that was the culmination of eleven years’ negotiation. It acknowledged the Muslims of Mindanao, the Bangsamoro, as a First Nation and gave wide powers to the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) that was to be set up as their homeland. The agreement was negotiated with little public consultation, and when the extent of the BJE’s proposed territory was revealed – even though affected communities were to be offered a chance to opt in or out in a plebiscite – local officials demanded the signing be stopped.

A few MILF “renegade” commanders then launched attacks on civilians and the military responded with “punitive actions” against them. Renewed fighting has claimed some 100 civilian lives and displaced some 390,000 but remains largely restricted to areas where these commanders operate. Several factors are militating against a return of the two sides to all-out war, but the Supreme Court ruling and the sense that the strategy of talking peace has failed could lead other commanders to join the “renegades.”

“Both sides need to learn lessons from this debacle,” says John Virgoe, Crisis Group’s South East Asia Project Director. “The government needs to be more engaged with its own negotiating team, head off potential spoilers through consultation or cooptation, and be prepared to deliver what it promises. The MILF needs to show more backbone in dealing with errant commanders.”

The U.S. financial crisis and the Philippines’ economic debacle

2008-10-30T11:21:00.000-07:00

http://www.cenpeg.org/
The Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG)
ISSUE ANALYSIS No. 14 Series of 2008

Having produced only disastrous results, economic management can no longer be left in the hands of an elite corps of bureaucrats and technocrats who ape lock, stock and barrel models purposely to make corporate profits bigger at the expense of workers, farmers, and other marginal sectors.

By the Policy Study, Publication and AdvocacyCenter for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) September 29, 2008

The opposing views proliferating in the media on whether the U.S. financial meltdown will have an extensive impact on the Philippine economy are expected and time may help settle this debate. By zeroing on the element of “impact”, however, these divergent views – voiced largely by economic authorities, bankers, and financial analysts – only miss the truth about the country’s economic anchors, a core issue that is hardly touched every time a financial crisis in the U.S. happens. They forget that neo-liberalism, enforced in most parts of the world by U.S.-led global capitalism, has left billions of people more marginalized and their lives more miserable by the day.

The Philippine economy has been fettered by prolonged unequal ties with its former colonial master – the U.S. - and by being made an appendage to global capitalism. This imbalanced relationship takes its roots, among others, in post-war onerous impositions, one-sided trade agreements, bitter debt payment programs, and unilaterally-enforced credit arrangements.

At the heart of this historical imposition is the Philippine presidency and its economic generals who have perpetuated this unequal relationship for decades, keeping the Philippines always at the receiving end of global capitalism’s periodic crisis. The current U.S. financial crisis – a result of the unregulated speculative financial sector leading to a housing mortgage mess and credit crunch – should compel everyone to reject this inherently disastrous economic model and work toward an independent, people-oriented economic policy.

'Dark age'

To begin with, the Arroyo government is lying through its teeth when it assures the business community not to fear as the country will ride out America’s financial meltdown even if this has all the makings of a second Great Depression or what European groups call a modern “dark age.”

However, as early as January this year, even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) foresaw the Philippines and the rest of Southeast Asia – and other developing regions - as bearing the brunt of the global impact from a major economic slowdown in the U.S. The recession, the Fund said, will trigger a stiffer export competition from China at the expense of the Philippines and other export-driven countries in the region such as Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

Making a similar forecast, the economic intelligence center Euromonitor projected that the Philippines and other countries in Southeast Asia heavily dependent on exports to the U.S. will be hit by the economic slowdown as the export demand by the world’s biggest economy declines.

Indeed, the U.S. remains a major destination for Philippine exports. About 20 per cent of the country’s exports go directly to the U.S. Another 50 per cent of the exports go to Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, and Malaysia but these are actually components assembled into products that end up in the U.S. market. All these mean that cuts on the U.S. export demand could be potentially devastating to 70per cent of the country’s exports.

Aside from export manufacturing, highly dependent on the U.S. market are the information technology-enabled industry and the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector. In 2005 these accounted for 90 per cent of BPO export revenues and over two-thirds of foreign equity.

At the receiving end

Each time the U.S. economy tumbles, the Philippines and the rest of the world are bumped aside. Being in the clutches of the U.S. economic hegemony since colonial times, however, the Philippines is at the receiving end of the crisis of capitalism that America passes on to small, developing countries and emerging economies.

To recall, America bought the Philippines from Spain at the end of the 19th century in the period of U.S. capitalist expansion and its conquests for market, cheap labor, and raw materials in Asia Pacific. A strong lobby mounted by U.S. producers against Philippine exports during the Great Depression of the 1930s led to the transition that ended with the granting of independence.

But the grant of independence in 1946 was conditioned upon onerous agreements that tied the Philippines to a “free trade” allowing the unrestricted entry of U.S. exports with parity rights for American citizens to exploit the country’s natural wealth, and own properties and strategic industries.

Emerging from the war in control of more than half of the global wealth and awash with trade surpluses, America had to keep the Philippines and other countries in its grip where it could dump its excess commodities, exploit their cheap raw materials, expand finance capital operations, and extend a new-found military hegemony. Accordingly, national security doctrines during the period emphasized the importance of maintaining a pro-U.S. government in the Philippines that would guarantee America’s over-arching economic and military objectives.

Over the next 60 years, the Philippines’ economic dependence on the U.S. gave birth to treaties and policies allowing the entrenchment of U.S. strategic enterprises and investments, the export of raw commodities, heavy reliance on foreign investments, and the elimination of protectionism.

This neo-colonial structure maintained the system of landlordism and a bourgeoisie that depended on the plunder of natural resources and export of cheap raw commodities. As a result, the local economy became lethargic and generally backward, unable to shield itself from the rise and fall of an increasingly globalized economy where modern agriculture, a strong industrial base, and protective barriers are the keys to survival.

Bitter prescriptions

Imbalanced trade, a weak manufacturing base, and heavy borrowings further resulted in the accumulation of foreign debt that made successive and corrupt administrations accommodating to bitter economic pills prescribed by the IMF and World Bank.

Under the regime of the structural adjustment program (SAP), up to 50 per cent of the national budget went to automatic debt servicing, regressive taxes were increased while social services were reduced, and strategic public corporations went to private hands many of them TNCs.

The government’s commitment to globalization and World Trade Organization (WTO) led to the deregulation of the oil industry. Import liberalization displaced the country’s small producers while tens of thousands of workers lost their regular jobs due to labor-only contract system.

These economic policies took shape in the midst of the periodic crisis of contemporary capitalism battering the U.S. and other capitalist countries. Holding neo-liberalism with a sacred aura, the country’s economic strategists laughed off criticisms from progressive groups that this “new” capitalist paradigm was designed to bring relief to the leading capitalist economies at the expense of the Philippines along with other emerging economies.

Champions of neo-liberal globalization have shown no empirical evidence to support their claim of “equal playing field” and economic growth. On the contrary, neo-liberalism has lost its appeal as it has only widened the gap between rich and poor the world over. Today, nearly three billion people – half the world's population – are living on less than two dollars a day. Conversely, the richest 2 per cent of adults in the world own more than half of global household wealth.

Poverty and unemployment

Here at home, claims of economic growth based on GDP cannot hide the unprecedented increase in the number of poor Filipinos by three million (2003-2006), with the total conservative number of poor now 27 million. Current increases in the prices of oil and food products aggravated by the adverse impact of the U.S. meltdown will likely increase the number of poor several times in the coming years.

Meantime, about 4.1 million people are jobless with the country facing a 10.8 per cent underemployment record in 2007. At least 3,000 Filipinos leave the country everyday in search of jobs abroad. There are other grim statistics about the Philippines human development rating that will make it hard to see any positive signs of success attributed to government’s neo-liberal policies.

The management of the country’s economy is a serious responsibility that should be grounded on the people’s rights and well-being, above all else. Having produced only disastrous results, economic management can no longer be left in the hands of an elite corps of bureaucrats and technocrats who ape lock, stock and barrel models purposely to make corporate profits bigger at the expense of workers, farmers, and other marginal sectors.

Clearly, the most recent financial crisis in the U.S. has dealt a mortal blow to the failed but deadly practices of neo-liberalism the world over and undoubtedly lays the groundwork for the crafting of alternative policies more responsive to the needs of the powerless and marginalized in our societies. We can start right here in our country by working for the end of the destructive and rapacious rule by the elite and building people-centered democratic governance. http://www.cenpeg.org/

Blogpost from a Filipina overseas worker in Switzerland

2008-10-28T07:06:00.000-07:00

http://thewandererstales.blogspot.com/
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Exodus

You shall not molest or oppress an alien,
for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.
(Ex 22:20)

I remember the first time when my mother left us to work abroad. I was young then and we were left in the care of our minders. It was temporary and only lasted a month. When it happened again when I was 15, I still couldn't comprehend how a mother could leave her children in search of money. It lasted almost two years. In my youth, I reasoned that I didn't need the money but her presence. I spent many nights crying and hating the fact that we had to be in that kind of situation.

I am only one of millions who experienced this. The Philippines has 1 in 8 people who go abroad. That's 10 million people and if multiplied by the families it affects, it could reach 50 million people. There are families who have been separated for more than 25 years.

But due to economic reasons, it has become almost a national strategy to send out people so that the Filipinos could search for greener pastures abroad. The remittances of the Overseas Filipino Workers or OFWs has kept the Philippine economy afloat that they have been called the country's "new heroes."

But what do the OFWs go through when they're abroad? I have been witness to the attempted suicides, abortions and predicaments of the OFWs when I was in Abu Dhabi. I remember the blood stains of an abortion on the carpet that I spent hours trying to scrub off. I saw a bloodied wrist as it was getting bandaged after a suicide attempt. I heard the many horror stories and saw the lashes in the women's prison when a young Filipina (almost my age 15) was hit on her bare back 100 times with a reed leaving red blood marks on her skin because she had killed the man that raped her. Rape was common and yet the women kept it to themselves because they had to send money back home for their families. I saw the cramped quarters of the takas or runaways whose employers had abused them.

I am now in Switzerland and I am still privy to the many stories of broken homes, mistresses, depression and wayward children back home because of lack of adult supervision. It haunts me that families have to be apart because parents seek to provide a better future for their children, a brighter tomorrow that they couldn't have imagined if they had stayed back home.

But I understand now, I am an OFW myself. I am sending home money to my family and I am far away with only friends to call family. It is difficult and it is still painful but I have learned to live with the situation because as a migrant here, I am treated with respect and dignity.

I reflect on the reading for today in Exodus. It is not the first time that people have left their countries of origin in search of better tomorrows. To reiterate Dr. Manuel Dayrit's talk during the Workshop on Migration and Development a few weeks ago, we weren't the first to migrate, it was the Jews, then the Africans and the massive exodus of all the nations. And migration had a spiritual aspect.

And in those times, migrants were treated unkindly and unjustly, oftentimes becoming slaves. These days, there's the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and what Atty. Cej Jimenez calls for is that migrants' rights be included in the basic human rights. Everybody needs to be treated with dignity and that migration is not dealing in commodities but in human persons.

There are three different types of aliens or strangers.

1. One is to be feared – those that are deemed to be dangerous and are a threat to society.
2. One that needs to be taken cared of – like the victim in the story of the Good Samaritan.
3. One to be respected – like the Good Samaritan.

This is the line of thought of the Couples for Christ thrust to build the Church of the Pilgrim. When the Jews were slaves, they not only brought themselves but also their faith. Each pilgrim or migrant brings with himself his culture and his belief system. Thus, migration does not only have an economic or political value but also a spiritual face. It is in those times that introduction to the one God – Yahweh – began. And from then on, whenever a believer travels, he spreads the Good News or spreads his belief. And because migration is rampant, there is a need to build a Church for the Pilgrim and to take care of the spiritual needs of the migrants.

Since we are all pilgrims on this earth, one way or another, we should not forget to remember that we should treat strangers and aliens with the utmost respect befitting a human person and a person who is created by God in His image. In today's Gospel, we are reminded that the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, mind and strength and also to love our neighbour as God has loved us.

This call brings us the challenge of loving every person in need and not to oppress anybody because if we were in their shoes, we wouldn't want to be taken advantage of or to be subjected to ill-treatment. We would like to be respected and to be treated as human beings worthy of living with our dignity in tact.

Tomorrow marks the day of a week-long forum on migration and development. Many nation states will come to Manila for the Global Forum on Migration and Development and will deal with issues relating to the many migrants who have made the world a smaller place because boundaries are blurred. Let us continue to pray that migration will become a migration out of choice and not out of need. And that if we are faced with becoming migrants that people will treat us with dignity and if we meet migrants that we will answer the call to love our neighbours as God has loved us.

Arroyo’s labor export policy and GFMD 'promote trafficking of Filipino women'

2008-10-24T16:23:00.000-07:00

PUBLISHED ON October 24, 2008 AT 4:20 PM
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BY BULATLAT

A women’s party list group scored the Arroyo government and the Global Forum for Migration and Development (GFMD) for the intensified trafficking of Filipino women and children. To show their disgust for the Arroyo government and the GFMD, the Gabriela Women’s Party held a protest parade this morning at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Pasay City.

Gabriela Women’s Party’s “Parade of Pinays for Export (PX),” highlighted the plight of Filipino women who were trafficked as mail order brides, domestic workers and caregivers, and prostituted women in countries such as the US, Singapore, Japan, Kuwait, and Canada, among others.

According to reports, some 300,000 to 400,000 Filipino women are victims of trafficking yearly. They are among the 12.3 million victims of forced labor or servitude worldwide.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said that the Philippines belongs to the top five countries in the world with the most number of human trafficking victims, 80 per cent of the victims are female minors. The DFA reported some 238 cases of trafficking in 2007, 212 of these are cases of sex trafficking in Singapore.

Cristina Palabay, Gabriela Women’s Party secretary general, said that Arroyo’s labor export policy ‘legitimizes the trafficking of our women and children to precarious and exploitative situations in host countries.’

”Without jobs and livelihood within the Philippines, victims are lured, deceived and facilitated by profit-hungry syndicate recruiters and even government officials with promises of different jobs, good compensation, high wages and benefits,” Palabay said.

Palabay disclosed that despite the enactment of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act in 2003, there were only eight convictions involving 11 persons out of more than 200 cases filed in violation of the law.

Palabay also said that by highlighting the Philippine government as the role model among nations for exporting labor and by pursuing regular and protective forms of migration, “the GFMD’s role in the promotion of trafficking of women and children becomes clearer.”

Palabay said that with the generation of some $28 billion from the illegal industry of trafficking of women and children, the GFMD sees trafficking as a “profitable industry.”

The group will participate in the International Assembly of Migrants and Refugees (IAMR), a counter forum to the GFMD, on October 28 to 30. (Bulatlat.com)

Beyond remembering

2008-10-20T08:40:00.000-07:00

Reprinted from BULATLAT

PUBLISHED ON October 4, 2008 AT 6:33 PM
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Review of Nilikhang KasaysayanVisual Art Exhibit Sept. 21 – Nov. 28, 2008 Bantayog Memorial Center Quezon Avenue cor. EDSA, Quezon City

The martial law that Ferdinand Edralin Marcos imposed in 1972 left a tragic imprint, snippets of terror and malevolent signs. In the visual art exhibit Nilikhang Kasaysayan, the violence of the tumultuous years under the Marcos dictatorship is rekindled, claiming a familiar place in the repressive undercurrent of the present regime.

BY JEFFREY OCAMPO
Contributor, CULTURE/Bulatlat

For the visual art exhibit Nilikhang Kasaysayan (Created History), artist-curator Edgar Talusan Fernandez enjoined his fellow artists to mount the show on the 36th anniversary of the declaration of martial law by the dictator Ferdinand Edralin Marcos. More than an effort at commemorating its declaration and the atrocious events that transpired after, the exhibit is a bitter commentary on the continued infliction of violence against the people who, in their impoverished condition, struggle for societal change.

Though the administrations after Marcos’ have tried to veil their rule with illusions of peace and the presence of a “democratic space,” the present generation is familiar with the pain, agony and terror the children experienced under martial law. It is precisely because similar faces hound the scene and the Palace stands with the same, old façade. The exhibit does not only evoke sympathy from viewers; it impresses on them the need for discernment and a critical re-examination of present times.

The visual works included in the exhibit are along the “social realist” genre. Alice Guillermo, foremost art critic in the country, describes social realism as a movement in art that spouses the ideology of the marginalized. It fearlessly depicts social realities and reflects the aspirations of the people for genuine change. Perusing the rich visual narrative of each work of art, one would be transported back to the decade of terror that typified Marcos’ rule. At the same time, one would also be conveyed into a stream of realization that history has repeated itself.

The paintings done with oil and acrylic framed years ago are placed on the contemporary wall imposing its taunting significance in the present-day state of affairs. The paintings done only during recent years reflect the unchanging times and the unrealized aspirations of the past generation.

TERROR

Because the participating artists lived under the repressive circumstances of the martial law years and in one way or another experienced the iron fist of the Marcos regime, the images eloquently depicted in their works are vivid accounts of history, coming from the very core of the political tumult.

Ana Fer’s “Batas Militar” (Martial Law, 1984, rubbercut) illustrates the hardships experienced by the people under the rule of Marcos. Depicted alongside the dictator are his wife, Imelda and cronies on his right and his soldiers on his left. His tie, which bears the symbol of the American flag, represents his government’s puppetry to the US. Meanwhile, inverted above Marcos are images of the people suffering from this situation. The print presents the cruel interplay of power not only during the Marcos administration, but in almost all administrations in post-colonial Philippines.

Another work portraying the terror of martial law years is Pablo Baens Santos’ “Panangis ni Ina” (Mother’s Cries, 1984, oil on canvas). The sight of the figures lying lifeless on the ground and those in bondage while undergoing torture brings the image of the mother to tears. Yet, the work presents not a woman who has given in to a helpless situation, but a woman who has her despair translated into rage. The rage that can be seen from the look in her eyes is a rage that would bring her up from her knees to fight for justice for her brood. Baens Santos’ choice of medium and the heavy strokes employed add intensity to the visual narrative of the work.

Jose Tence Ruiz’s depiction of a hanged animal carcass, meanwhile, signifies the grimness of the rampant human rights violations during the martial law years. The concentration of colors set against a dark background completes the dour image of fright lurking around the unmoving and lifeless image.

RESISTANCE

While a social realist work of art brings before the viewers social realities in its most honest depiction, it can also reflect the people’s aspiration for genuine change. As a consequence of oppression and political slavery, the people’s constant longing and struggle for freedom is itself an ever-present social reality.

Fernandez’ “Lakbay ng Panahon” (Journey Through the Times, 1985, acrylic on canvas) explains why “the history of Filipino people is a history of class struggle.” It shows the resistance of Filipino people from the Spanish colonial period to the war of aggression waged in the country by the Americans with crucial roles played by local ruling class. The presence of the image of Andres Bonifacio, as well as of indigenous peoples, imply the primary role historically played by the oppressed classes in the re-shaping of history. The red cloth that seems to enfold the people connotes the radicalism of the Filipino people’s struggle throughout its long history.

Another work depicting resistance is Baens Santos’ “Boycott” (1981, oil on canvas). “Boycott” continues to be used by students and workers as a protest form. Like most of Baens Santos’ works, this particular piece used the interplay of colors to denote both the darkness of the situation and the longing of the people for change.

TEXTURE OF WORDS, “VISUAL POETICS”

In the collaborative work of visual artist Antipas Delotavo and poet Jesus Manuel Santiago, text and visuals are infused to create a powerful work of art that screams despite the subdued imagery and resigned subject depicted in the huge canvas. In the four-panel artwork entitled “Eksenang Tahimik” (Quiet Scene, 2008, oil on canvas), the first three parts show tight arms, hands clutching a gun and a finger ready to pull the trigger the moment the delirious taste for killing enters the brain of the assassin. An assassin whose face is not shown points to one direction only: a man with a bowed head seemingly waiting for the bullet to enter the back of his skull.

Scribbled throughout the first three panels are lines of Santiago’s poem. The use of ochre for writing the text creates an impression that the writer scratched through the grim-colored surface. The friction between the surface and the strokes of handwriting creates a spark-like effect that appears to be an effort to peel off the darkness of the “quiet scene.”

On the fourth panel, there is picture of a forest with a dog sniffing across the ground to locate a buried corpse.

Similarly, Brenda Fajardo used text to introduce before the viewer the revolutionary poet Emanuel Lacaba. Entitled “Alay kay Eman” (Dedicated to Eman, 1996, acrylic on paper), the work presents Lacaba not as a hero to be distinguished from others but as a revolutionary who had become one with the masses. Lacaba, who was summarily executed in 1976 in Davao del Norte, was one of the young activists who, during the dictatorship of Marcos, decided to leave the city to organize peasants in the countryside.

PERPETUAL LONGING FOR FREEDOM

Edicio de la Torre’s work “Piglas” (Breaking Free, 2008, acrylic on canvas), features a white dove, the universal symbol of freedom. Around the dove are images of people bathed in red, perhaps implying that freedom, indeed, requires radical change to be brought about by the movement of the people.

Clearly, the works in this visual art exhibit are presented not merely to enable viewers to remember a page in history but to trace the road to freedom through the trail of blood shed during the past struggles of the Filipino people. It reminds viewers that to remember is also to learn from the past. The images speak not only of the perpetual terror but also of the exigent and urgent need to end it. (Bulatlat.com)

Sinking deeper into crisis

2008-10-12T13:30:00.001-07:00

REPRINTED FROM BULATLAT/ October 11, 2008 AT 11:28 PM
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It is true that the financial crisis affecting the US and the other centers of capitalism, including Germany, UK and Japan, would not bring the country down into a recession and crisis. The Philippines is already in a state of crisis, in the first place. What it would do is to sink the country deeper into crisis as the main factors propping up the economy would weaken, and the advanced capitalist countries would accelerate the plunder of the country through ramming through agreements and policies that would help mitigate the impact of the crisis in their own countries while worsening it in ours.

BY BENJIE OLIVEROS
ANALYSIS / Bulatlat

When the series of bankruptcies began on September 15, 2008, the Arroyo government told the public that the exposure of local banks to Lehman Brothers was too small to affect the local economy. Later, President Arroyo assured the people that contingency plans and safety nets are being readied just in case. But now the Arroyo government is talking about “staying the course” as rougher times are ahead.

It is true that the financial crisis affecting the US and the other centers of capitalism, including Germany, UK and Japan, would not bring the country down into a recession and crisis. The Philippines is already in a state of crisis, in the first place. What it would do is to sink the country deeper into crisis as the main factors propping up the economy would weaken, and the advanced capitalist countries would accelerate the plunder of the country through ramming through agreements and policies that would help mitigate the impact of the crisis in their own countries while worsening it in ours.

Loans would be hard to come by as credit tightens. There is currently an international credit freeze as banks refuse to lend even to each other. This credit squeeze is supposedly the target of $700 billion bailout plan of the US and the UK’s £500 billion bailout package. But these would merely keep their banks afloat and would not increase the amount of money available for lending, especially to other countries. The Arroyo government already announced that it would stop its practice of prepaying loans before their dates of maturity as the value of the peso is sinking, and perhaps in anticipation of the tightening of credit.

Remittances of overseas Filipinos would likewise be affected as the job situation in the US worsens. The US has shed 760,000 jobs from January to September 2008, and this would definitely affect Filipinos residing there. The US is the single biggest source of remittances from overseas Filipinos at 49 percent of the total.

Even the temporary source of dollar reserves, portfolio investments is already affected with a net outflow of $636 million during the first half of the year.

The so-called sunshine industry of local employment Business Process Outsourcing, which is current employing around 200,000 graduates and is perhaps the only industry that has still been aggressively hiring before the crisis erupted, would also be affected as 90 percent of its contracts are from US companies.

Passing on the crisis

The timing of the passage of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) by the Senate was not only insidious — as it was passed late Wednesday night on the last day of session before the Senate goes on a one month recess — it also shows the urgency by which Japan wanted it passed. Aside from containing unconstitutional provisions, the JPEPA is more for the benefit of Japan than the Philippines. It is aimed at liberalizing trade and investments between both countries. But the trade relations that would be intensified favors Japan more than the Philippines.

According to data gathered by IBON Foundation, in 2003, Japan’s exports to the Philippines amounted to ¥1.0419 trillion, consisting mainly of machinery and industrial goods. On the other hand, Philippine exports to Japan amounted to ¥815.5 billion, consisting mainly of bananas, mangoes, and other fruits and farm products, which are mainly produced by TNCs (Transnational corporations) such as Del Monte and Dole. This translates into a negative trade balance for the Philippines in the amount of ¥226.4 billion. Intensifying trade between both countries would only worsen the country’s trade deficit more.

In terms of investments, Japan wanted to do away with foreign equity limitations. In 2007, Japan was the second biggest investor in the Philippines, with direct investments amounting to P38.587 billion ($836,157,579 at the 2007 average exchange rate of $1=P46.148) . But cumulatively, it is the biggest investor at $3.9 billion as of 2005. With the various tax holidays, fiscal incentives, and the right to repatriate profits freely, Japanese corporations gain more out of investments than the Philippines, which, at most, gains from the foreign exchange they bring in and the minimal employment generated by their corporations. Also included in the agreement, is a provision for “Performance Requirement Prohibitions”, which disallow the Philippine government from setting requirements or conditions to Japanese investors, such as requiring them to use or purchase domestic goods and local services.

The Philippine government is hyping about the supposed opening up of Japan to nurses and other health workers. But they have to undergo language training and qualification requirements. While acquiring these skills they can be hired as apprentices who are reportedly overworked and underpaid in Japan.

This is the first bilateral agreement entered into by the Philippines. With the slow pace of agreements at the World Trade Organization - mainly caused by resistance and disagreements regarding removal of protectionist policies and subsidies being maintained, ironically, by advanced capitalist countries — and the world economic crisis, it is expected that the Philippines would be pressured to enter into more disadvantageous bilateral agreements by other advanced capitalist countries that are likewise frantically searching for fields of investment, which would enable them to take advantage of cheaper costs, including labor, and penetrate more markets to generate higher profits to help them stave off the crisis.

These, on the other hand, would result in higher current account deficits for the country, more bankruptcies of local firms and agricultural producers who would lose out in the competition with giant TNCs, more extraction and destruction of the country’s natural resources, more landlessness and displacements as TNCs grab the land of farmers and indigenous peoples, and more exploitation of workers, all adding up to a worsening of the crisis of the Philippines.

Staying the course

Amid the crisis, the Arroyo government is determined to “stay the course” of high taxes, liberalization, deregulation, and privatization. But for whom?

While the government is pushing forward with the privatization of the remaining assets of the government, such as in the power and energy sectors — as it tries to sell its remaining assets in power generation and transmission and its 40 percent stake in Petron — the US, UK, Germany, Netherlands, and other advanced capitalist countries are taking over their banks and investments houses, and mortgage lending firms.

As the Arroyo government refuses to compel oil companies to roll back pump prices consistent with its policy of deregulation, advanced capitalist countries are talking about regulating their financial sector, even to the extent of setting ceilings on the salaries and benefits of executives, and regulating lending activities.

While the Arroyo government is further opening up the country to the entry of imports and investments to the detriment of local manufacturing and agriculture, advanced capitalist countries are pushing for bilateral agreements favoring their own TNCs.

And as the Arroyo government refuses to repeal the VAT even in the face of high prices, the US has included in its bailout plan, tax rebates for its citizens and the UK is compelling banks that avail of its own bailout plan to extend normal credit lines to homeowners and small businesses.

In justifying the UK bailout plan, Prime Minister Gordon Brown was quoted as saying, “This is not a time for conventional thinking or outdated dogma but for the fresh and innovative intervention that gets to the heart of the problem.” (Funny how the same argument was used against those opposing globalization.)

More repression

The course that the Arroyo government is stubbornly taking is bringing it in direct confrontation with the Filipino people who are already suffering from the crisis, and are being asked to take more. This would surely make the people more restless and would most probably result in a strong protest movement.

Consistent with its dictatorial ways, the Arroyo government would respond to this with more repressive measures and human rights violations. And it would get ample support from the US, which would also expectedly intensify its “war on terror” to prop up its ailing economy by giving business to its military weapons industry, to impose its will on developing countries to get greater concessions for its TNCs, and to assert its political-military hegemony amid the crisis in the world. This would only sharpen the contradictions between the oppressed peoples of the world versus the advanced capitalist countries and its client states. Bulatlat