Filed under: Human Rights | Tags: ampatuan massacre, bulatlat, kodao, luz ilagan, pinoy weekly, Raymund Villanueva, satur ocampo
http://ow.ly/10VFV
Something happened during the National Interfaith Mission for Peace and Justice visit to the massacre site in Barangay Salman, Ampatuan, Maguindanao, last January 23 that leaves a bad taste in the mouth. As an “embedded” Bulatlat correspondent in the mission from Cotabato City, I, along with my Kodao and Pinoy Weekly colleagues, had no inkling that something was wrong when we started out that day.
The mission organized a site visit to allow families to visit the site of the gruesome massacre that claimed the lives of 58, thirty-two of whom were journalists. Even before mission participants left from Manila to Cotabato, it was clear to us that Bayan Muna representative Satur Ocampo and Gabriela representative Luz Ilagan were to be invited. It was impressed on me that their presence would be good for the mission as it would be easier for the organizers to ask for additional security from the Philippine Army, the Philippine National Police and local officials.
The two’s participation would not have been out of place. Ka Satur was himself a journalist, a human-rights victim many times over and a human-rights defender for the longest time. Ka Luz is a Mindanaoan and herself a human-rights defender.
Apparently, their presence was resented by some journalists who were also in Salman that day.
Pinoy Weekly’s Ilang-Ilang Quijano and I, along with filmmakers Kiri Dalena and Adjani Arumpac, were on the 10-wheel truck that brought about a thousand bags of relief goods for the hundreds of evacuees forced from their homes after the massacre. As the convoy was about to turn off from the highway to the site, it was held up for several minutes. Still not suspecting anything, we sat it out and waited for the convoy to move once again. From several meters away I saw that some vehicles were blocking the narrow dirt road and some people were talking on the side. I also saw families in groups wearing “Justice Now” shirts moving about. It was a bit curious as I was expecting everyone to start pushing for the massacre site by then.
It was at this point that Ka Satur alighted to ask the group of journalists from Davao what is keeping their vehicles in the middle of the road. He greeted the persons he knew but he was snubbed. Taken aback, Ka Satur retreated back to his vehicle and patiently waited for the situation to be sorted out.
The convoy soon moved. As our truck turned the corner, the journalists were calling on Ilang to alight from the truck and join their group. I heard them say, “Di kasya yang truck niyo! Malambot ang lupa! Baba na kayo!” Still unsuspecting that something was amiss, Ilang even stuck her tongue out as if to say “What? Do you know how hard it is to climb on top of this?” Ilang and I laughed it off as just one of those group antics and ribbing we have gotten used to when we’re among media friends.
At the site, we still did not suspect anything was wrong. All the families were there and many hugged and thanked Ka Satur for expressing solidarity in their quest for justice.
There was a time though when I was rudely interrupted from taking a picture of a victim’s kin. A portly woman I have not met before said “Please, no!” and blocked my camera. It wasn’t as if I was poking my camera right into my subject’s face — her back was turned and I had a telephoto on. But thinking the woman was another relative, I backed off. (Of the other subject I was taking close ups of, Ma. Reynafe Momay-Castillo, she later added me on Facebook and asked permission to send my pictures to her relatives abroad.)
All throughout the program, Ka Satur and Ka Luz did not speak. They kept a respectful distance when the victims’ relatives lit candles and scattered flowers. They allowed the relatives to finish before offering candles and flowers themselves.
We came to know of the problem on the way back to Cotabato. I was flabbergasted. I could not believe that some of the journalists resented Ka Satur’s participation. I resolved to find out more.
The journalists said they resented Ka Satur’s smiling pictures on the side of the vehicles used in the convoy. They also were wary of “politicians” joining the commemoration as it was “stealing the moment” from the families. They also said that they want to give families space to grieve and not let other photographers/journalists intrude in on them at the site.
All sounds bull to me.
First, the vehicles with Ka Satur’s tarpaulins were parked a kilometer away from the site. Besides, they could very easily ask the organizers to take the tarps down in the several minutes the convoy was blocked. Moreover, Ka Satur was not aware that supporters had put his tarpaulins on three convoy vehicles.
Second, Ka Satur is no ordinary politician. As mentioned above, he was already a journalist long before the other journalists learned to spell their names. He was himself a victim many times over. He had every right to be there.
Third, the group should give other journalists the benefit of the doubt. We just might know how to comport ourselves during sensitive moments, or we could be asked nicely.
The next day, I was floored when I read an Inquirer.net story maliciously twisting many things during the commemoration. It quoted Periodico Banat’s Freddie Solinap as having said that Ka Satur “tainted” the event with his “politicking.” Solinap was also quoted to have said he did not ask for help from any politician. The story even quoted families to be equally resentful, accusing Ocampo of taking advance of the occasion for his political ambition. (Oh, the article was full of vitriol. Malisyoso talaga.)
Solinap and his group may not have asked for the help of this “politician.” But the mission did. And I know the mission planned this ahead of whatever plans the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines had for that day. Solinap may not want Ka Satur’s help but other families and organizations do. He should speak for himself and not arrogate unto himself the entire justice campaign for the Ampatuan Massacre. I symphatize that he lost colleagues and friends in the massacre, but so did the mission organizers and participants.
(It did not end there. I heard from an inside source that this group was still fulminating when they got back to General Santos City and were still railing long into their poolside drinking session.)
And there lies the rub. As far as I know, it was the mission which planned this and Solinap’s group were only invited to participate. They could very well have declined participation. And since they arrived in Salman two hours before the convoy did, they could have proceeded to the massacre site on their own and have evaded these politicians and their leftist supporters. Why did they not?
Granting that they have their own plans and “nasapawan” sila ng convoy, is it enough reason to be rude to a fellow journalist and a kind person like Ka Satur? Is it enough reason to badmouth this “politician” in articles and forums?
Sure, Ka Satur is running for the senate in this year’s election. But to merely say he is a politician is dumb.
To say that there was just a breakdown in the coordination between the mission organizers and the journalists’ group from Southern Mindanao is an oversimplification. I suspect they may already be blinded by their self-ascribed role so that they do not want others to figure prominently in the campaign for justice for the massacre victims.
Isn’t this a disservice to the memory of colleagues and other victims who lost their lives that dark day of November 23?
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: ampatuan massacre, bulatlat, gloria arroyo, human rights violations, ka-blog!, kalinaw mindanao, karapatan, kawangib, Philippines, Raymund Villanueva, selda
http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/01/27/other-victims-of-ampatuan-massacre-displaced-suffer-neglect/
AMPATUAN, Maguindanao — In the barrio now notorious as the site of the November 23 massacre that killed 58 people, hundreds of hungry families lingered in a tent city clustered around mango trees. In Barangay Salman, in this town, families seek shelter during humid days and chilly nights inside shacks of plastic sheets and woven coconut fronds of not more than five square meters in size,.
Evacuees relied solely on doleouts to survive and had to wait in line to use the few hastily erected toilets around the tent city. They received no medical attention even as children were getting sick from the lack of food and sanitation.
A sea of begging and shoving refugees mobbed the truck bearing a thousand bags of relief goods as it was still being parked. The police and organizers were helpless in making the evacuees form a line for an orderly distribution of goods.
Ampatuan evacuees cannot return home. View slideshow (Photo by Raymund B. Villanueva / bulatlat.com)
Despite the deplorable conditions, the evacuees were unable to return to their homes because of the climate of fear that prevails to this day. Although heavily militarized, reports of the continued presence of the Ampatuan clan’s private army still persist.
This was revealed by Kalinaw Mindanao, which held a National Interfaith Mission for Peace and Justice in Maguindanao last January 22 to 26. Kalinaw Mindanao is an alliance organization composed of human-rights groups, lawyers groups and Moro and church-based organizations.
“These evacuees are the hidden victims of human-rights violations caused by the warlordism of the Ampatuans and heavy military presence in the province,” Kalinaw Mindanao spokesperson Bai Ali Indayla said.
The evacuees and police and military officials confirmed to the mission the presence of unidentified armed men roaming in the area. Threats against civilians persisted in the form of house-burning, as was the case last January 12 when eight houses were torched in Sitio Agapok.
Maguindanao police director Senior Superintendent Alex Lineses also told the mission that several civilians who were arrested during the imposition of martial law on the province remained in custody. It is not clear whether formal charges have been brought against them.
The mission also reported in a press conference in Davao City last January 26 that majority of the evacuees were eyewitnesses to the massacre, but were too afraid to speak up. It also confirmed that, at the time of the massacre, there were about 400 elements of the Philippine National Police at the Ampatuan municipal hall, only about a kilometer from the entrance to the massacre site from the national highway. “The massacre could have been prevented had the authorities only performed their duty,” the official mission report said.
“The plight of these civilians, who are also victims of the Ampatuan massacre, should be addressed. They will not live a normal and peaceful life unless the Ampatuans are swiftly brought to justice, its private armies completely dismantled, and all police and military authorities made to answer for their complicity in the crime,” Lovella de Castro, Karapatan secretary-general, one of the convenors, said.
De Castro said that the Ampatuan massacre has brought the number of extrajudicial killings under the Arroyo government to 1,188. Not one perpetrator of any of these killings have been punished.
“We will continue to demand the accountability of the Arroyo administration for the Ampatuan massacre and other human-rights violations, even after the elections. We cannot move forward as a nation unless Arroyo and the Ampatuans are punished. Unless this happens, expect the climate of fear and culture of impunity in Maguindanao and elsewhere in the country to continue,” De Castro added.
Earlier, families of victims killed in the November 23 massacre joined the interfaith mission on a solemn commemoration. Motoring from Davao, General Santos, Koronadal and Cotabato cities, the families offered prayers, lit candles, released white balloons and scattered rose petals on the site of the most gruesome politically motivated carnage in recent history.
Lawyer Carlos Isagani Zarate of the Alliance Against Impunity in Maguindanao, one of the mission organizers, said that the visit was organized to “show our support to the families in our mutual search for justice.”
The mission was organized with the help of Barug Katungod Mindanao, Alliance Against Impunity in Mindanao , Karapatan, Kawagib Moro Human Rights Alliance, Selda, and Pagbabago! Movement for Change. Church groups also participated, most notably the nuns of the Religious of the Good Shepherd, Iglesia Filipina Indipendiente, United Church of Christ in the Philippines, and the United Methodist Church.
Zarate lamented that, to date, only Andal Ampatuan Jr. has been tried for murder. The rest of the Ampatuans, powerful allies of the Arroyo administration, are charged with rebellion, which Zarate fears could be easily be dismissed.
Evacuees receive relief goods from progressive groups. View slideshow (Photo by Raymund B. Villanueva / bulatlat.com)
Cotabato City councilor and retired professor Mario Ridao addressed his son Anthony in his speech at the massacre site. “Son, mom and I are here to bring you flowers and light candles… Why did this happen to us?” he wept. Anthony Ridao and his group were not part of the convoy but were merely driving along the highway when the journalists and supporters of the Mangudadatus were stopped by the private army believed to have been personally led by Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr.
Other families thanked the mission for organizing the event, the first for many of them, as well as about 250 to 300 participants who traveled from as far sa Basilan Province and Manila for the mission.
Media groups and representatives Satur Ocampo and Luz Ilagan of Bayan Muna and Gabriela, respectively, joined the families and the mission participants in the march to and commemoration at the massacre site. Ocampo and Ilagan declined to speak during the program, however, saying the event was for the families.
As the program ended, tarpaulins printed with calls for justice and the victims’ names were laid out as markers. (Bulatlat.com)
Filed under: Uncategorized
January 22, 2010 / Day 1
AMPATUAN: Bulatlat will provide live updates from Maguindanao throughout FFM that began there today, courtesy of Kodao Productions.
AMPATUAN: 15 members of National Interfaith Mission for Peace and Justice arrive in Cotabato City for Maguindanao fact-finding mission.
AMPATUAN: No ARMM and Cotabato officials available to talk to FFM delegates as part of preparations for visit to massacre site tomorrow.
AMPATUAN: Maguindanao FFM delegates observe that Cotabato City is crawling w/ government
troops. ARMM compound also guarded by army platoon.
AMPATUAN: Karapatan secretary-general Beh De Castro–”The Ampatuans were never really politically uprooted after the massacre.”
AMPATUAN: “Despite our well-grounded fears for our safety, we will proceed with our mission tomorrow,” says Karapatan secgen Beh De Castro.
January 23, 2010 / Day 2
AMPATUAN: Interfaith Mission for Peace and Justice is preparing to travel to the site of the massacre in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao.
AMPATUAN: Interfaith mission left Cotabato City for Ampatuan, Maguindanao 15 minutes ago.
AMPATUAN: Interfaith mission now has 150 participants, expected to reach 300 once in Ampatuan. They are in a 14-vehicle convoy.
AMPATUAN: At least 33 relatives of Ampatuan massacre victims will join the interfaith mission at the site to mark 2nd month of carnage.
AMPATUAN: The convoy is expected to pass at least 20 army & police checkpoints before reaching the massacre site in Ampatuan town.
AMPATUAN: A Philippine eagle soars as the mission drives past Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao.
AMPATUAN: Cloudy skies over Guindulngan, Maguindanao.
AMPATUAN: Mission reaches Ampatuan clan’s fiefdom as it crosses Datu Saudi Ampatuan town, Maguindanao.
AMPATUAN: (10:52am) Drizzling in Datu Unsay, Maguindanao.
AMPATUAN: (10:55am) Mission reaches Maguindanao capital, Shariff Aguak; pass by Ampatuan mansions.
AMPATUAN: (11:02am) Mission links up with more media groups in front of Ampatuan town hall. Army and police troops in full battle gear.
AMPATUAN: (11:12am) Army troops stationed in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, arrived from Isabela province 10 days ago.
AMPATUAN: (11:23am) Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and Gabriela Rep. Luz Ilagan arrive in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, to join the mission.
AMPATUAN: (11:46am) Reps. Ocampo and Ilagan told by Ampatuan local officials they wish to bring peace and order back to Ampatuan town.
AMPATUAN: (11:50am) Ampatuan OIC Pindaton Magelna–”If they already planned this, they have their own town. Why do it in Ampatuan town?”
AMPATUAN: (11:52am) More than 300 FFM delegates settle down to an early lunch before proceeding to the massacre site.
AMPATUAN: (12:16pm) Interfaith mission leaves Ampatuan town hall to proceed to Brgy. Salman, site of the November 23 massacre.
AMPATUAN:(12:28pm) Mission arrives at Brgy. Salman ‘Tent City’ where evacuees were relocated after massacre. 900 families stay in lean-tos.
AMPATUAN: (12:32pm) Interfaith mission convoy leaving highway; on gravel and dirt road to the massacre site.
AMPATUAN: (12:37pm) Brgy. Salman residents say they heard gunshots on Nov. 23 and ran for home.
AMPATUAN: (12:37pm) Brgy. Salman residents were ordered not to go to the massacre site and evacuate to the barangay hall.
AMPATUAN: (12:49pm) No more residents live in Sitio Tugapok, Brgy. Salman. This hilly community was ground zero during the Nov 23 massacre.
AMPATUAN: (12:57pm) Mission begins to trek. Massacre site within sight. Place is eerily silent.
AMPATUAN: (1:01pm) White cogon flowers line the dirt road to massacre site while blue hills keep a silent watch. Victims’ families arrive.
AMPATUAN: (1:05pm) Inter-faith prayer begins in massacre site. Mission vows to the 57 victims: “You may rest in peace while we seek justice”.
AMPATUAN:(1:11pm) Prof Ridao to son & victim Anthony—“Son,mom and I are here to bring you flowers & light candles…Why did this happen to us?”
AMPATUAN: (1:16pm) Widow of DZRH’s Henry Araneta: “I thank everyone who came here to show sympathy and join our quest for justice.”
AMPATUAN:(1:21pm) Karapatan secgen Beh De Castro–”We can’t help but weep whenever we come to hear of more of these extrajudicial killings.”
AMPATUAN: Candles are lit, flowers are scattered and white balloons are released in memory of the victims of the Maguindanao massacre.
AMPATUAN: Massacre 2nd month commemoration ends. Mission delegates now distribute relief goods to evacuees.
AMPATUAN: FFM delegates composed of media groups, human rights orgs, lawyer groups, church people, sectoral & regional orgs and partylists.
AMPATUAN: Relief operation for evacuees in Sitio Masalay, Brgy. Salman, Ampatuan, mobbed.
AMPATUAN: Fr. Diony Cabillas of Karapatan–”Imagine a thousand families forcibly evacuated because of the massacre.”
AMPATUAN: BayanMuna & Gabriela are only partylists to conduct relief mission in Maguindanao despite being cheated past 3 national elections
AMPATUAN: Partylists that praised the Ampatuans before the massacre have yet to make their presence felt in Maguindanao.
AMPATUAN: Mission delegates on the way back to Cotabato City.
AMPATUAN: Mission passes by huts where people reside for census purposes so Ampatuans can create more municipalities & mayors in their clan.
AMPATUAN: Mission arrives in Cotabato City. Other participants on their way home to Koronadal, General Santos and Davao cities.
AMPATUAN: Karapatan secgen Beh de Castro—“Victims’ families are grateful for the strong support provided by hundreds of mission participants.”
AMPATUAN: Mission solidarity night ongoing w/ Notre Dame students singing uplifting songs. For first time today, victims’s families smiled.
AMPATUAN: Kalinaw-Mindanao’s Amirah Lidasan–”We will fight on for justice for the victims of the ampatuan massacre, for all our rights.”
AMPATUAN: Kawagib secgen Bay Ali to mission delegates–”Because of your solidarity, we feel we are not alone in our quest for…”
AMPATUAN: Kawagib secgen Bay Ali to mission delegates–”… justice for victims of human rights violations in our Mindanao homeland.”
AMPATUAN: NUJP and Pinoy Weekly’s Ilang-Ilang Quijano–”The Ampatuan massacre made the ranks of journalists more aware…”
AMPATUAN: Ilang-ilang Quijano–”…that we have to fight for the people’s right to information and meaningful change.”
AMPATUAN: Mario Ridao, father of victim Anthony: ” Tonight’s speeches says so much about why a growing number are now more aware of human rights.”
AMPATUAN: Sammy Maulana of Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society–”Beyond the Maguindanao and countless other massacres, the greatest crime is the denial of the Bangsamoro’s right to self-determination.”
AMPATUAN: Solidarity night concludes, ending second day of the Interfaith Mission for Justice and Peace in Maguindanao.
January 24, 2010 / Day 3
AMPATUAN: Human rights forum starts w/ Islamic, Christian & Lumad prayers. Karapatan’s Beh De Castro & Rep. Satur Ocampo begin presentation.
AMPATUAN: Hustisya national coordinator Evangeline Hernandez–”She was killed because of her involvement, but I have come to realize…
AMPATUAN: … that my daughter Benjaline made the right decision to become a human rights defender.”
AMPATUAN: MAKABAYAN Senatoriable Satur Ocampo–”The reason why we have so many human rights violations is because…
AMPATUAN: … the military has a commander-in-chief who is Ampatuan-like in her disregard for life.”
AMPATUAN: Rep. Satur Ocampo–”I don’t know if Noynoy is naive or ignorant but I wasn’t released after EDSA 1.”
AMPATUAN: Rep. Satur Ocampo–”I escaped before Cory was installed by people power. Personally, I don’t owe Cory anything.”
AMPATUAN: Rep. Ocampo–”Nograles didn’t know what’s happening under his nose when he told Davao peasants we voted for CARPer. We opposed it!”
AMPATUAN: Kalinaw Mindanao’s Amirah Ali Lidasan–”Our culture does not agree with this impunity….
AMPATUAN: …Things just exploded when families whose rise to power were initially nurtured by their alliances are now elbowing each other.”
AMPATUAN: Alliance to End Impunity in Mindanao launched; to include families of victims of massacre, lawyers groups & human rights orgs.
AMPATUAN: Interfaith mission on its way to Davao City.
AMPATUAN: Mission slowed down by a cloudburst in Pikit, North Cotabato.
AMPATUAN: Mission pitstop in Kabacan, North Cotabato. Rain has stopped.
AMPATUAN: Mission reaches Digos City, capital of Davao del Sur. Strong rain making roads slippery.
AMPATUAN: Mission pulled over by a police checkpoint for the third time; reaches Davao City’s Ulas district.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Aid operations went into full swing two days after “Ondoy” devastated Metro Manila and other parts of the northern Philippines as various organizations started distributing relief goods to calamity victims.
By RAYMUND VILLANUEVA
Bulatlat.com
http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2009/09/29/various-groups-launch-%E2%80%98ondoy%E2%80%99-relief-operations/
MANILA — Aid operations went into full swing two days after “Ondoy” devastated Metro Manila and other parts of the northern Philippines as various organizations started distributing relief goods to calamity victims.
Gabriela Women’s Party, the National Council of Churches of the Philippines, and ABS-CBN Foundation-Gawad Kapamilya distributed one thousand bags of rice, canned food, drinking water and other items to victims of Barangay Bagong Silangan in Quezon City Monday afternoon.
Led by GWP representative Luzviminda Ilagan and ABS-CBN contract stars Angel Locsin and Candy Pangilinan, the relief mission focused on families who lost members during last Saturday’s deluge. About 20 Bagong Silangan residents died, mostly children.
Samahan ng Maralitang Kababaihang Nagkakaisa (Samakana), a Gabriela member organization, coordinated the relief efforts, distributing numbered stubs to affected residents to facilitate the mission.
Meanwhile, the Citizens’ Disaster Response Center (CDRC) started receiving donations in their Quezon City headquarters Monday morning. Residents from the upscale Times Street neighbourhood as well as Center for Volunteerism in the Philippines (CERV-Philippines) volunteered to repack relief items into plastic bags for distribution on Tuesday.
CDRC Advocacy and Campaign officer Dakila Aquino said that they have already identified “priority areas” where they would be sending the relief goods that they have collected.
“As much as possible, we wanted to reach out to everyone but we have limited resources. We are in need of donations such as rice, dried fish, monggo beans, medicines, clothes and blankets,” Aquino said.
Kabataan Partylist also launched its relief drive, identifying four relief centers: its headquarters at #118-B Sct. Rallos in Quezon City, University of Student Council Office, Vinzons Hall, UP Diliman, College of Social Work and Community Development Sudent Council, UP Diliman and College of Arts and Sciences Student Council Office, UP Manila.
Even consumer advocacy group TXTPower has solicited donations for victims of Ondoy. As of 3:25 pm of Sept. 28, TXTPower received almost P600,000 monetary donations. All donations will be turned over to the Philippine National Red Cross.
Health advocacy groups formed the Samahang Oplan Sagip as a response to the disaster. It has been accepting donations in cash and in kind for the victims of the typhoon. Donations may be sent to the Council for Health and Development at #35 Examiner St. West Triangle, Quezon City with tel. nos. 929-81-09. Monetary donations may be deposited to the following accounts: Philippine National Bank Savings Account # 219-8303219 and Bank of Philippine Islands US $ account # 314 00 5391 with the swift code BPIPHMM. The group issues receipts when needed.
Meanwhile, Bayan Muna has canceled its anniversary celebration this Wednesday to give way to relief operations in Marikina on Sep. 30 and Montalban, Rizal on Oct. 1. They accept donations at their office located 45 K-7th St., Brgy. Kamias, Quezon City.
According to various data gathered by the CDRC, the number of families affected by Ondoy increased to 89,116 families or 448,454 persons.
The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) reported that 100 people died in the National Capital Region, CAR, and Region IV-A.
In Metro Manila, over 5,000 people from 45 barangays were evacuated after incessant rains caused heavy flooding in Manila, Marikina, Malabon, Muntinlupa, Makati, Pasay, Pasig, Valenzuela, San Juan and Quezon City. A total of 50 road sections were also left impassable to vehicles due to raging flood waters, leaving several commuters stranded.
The total cost of damage has already reached P108.9 million. The damage to infrastructure has reached P108.7 million; and to agriculture P212,537.
In Pasig, one of the hardest hit cities, subdivisions on Barangay Sta Lucia are still submerged in chest-deep waters. On Saturday night, two-storey houses were submerged, trapping thousands, including patients in a hospital.
“The waters were dark brown and thick like soup. It was unlike anything we have seen in these parts at all,” Sta. Lucia High School teacher Karen Villanueva said. She and her students escaped being trapped inside their inundated school by scaling walls and crossing roofs to reach a three-storey house near the school. Floodwaters only started to subside on Monday morning.
Victims complained of lost cellular phone signals when these were most needed. “Communication was very important for us during those times of distress. We were failed by the networks, particularly Globe,” one of the victims said.
They also assailed military and police choppers who did not give food and water to hungry and dehydrated victims who spent two chilly nights on house roofs. “We saw lots of helicopters hovering above our heads but gave no relief. Only a small private chopper gave us a couple of food bags,” one of them said.
Victims trapped inside their submerged houses only started coming out Monday morning. They walked from Sta Lucia to C5 Road to escape while residents who could not come home since Saturday trudged the other way.
After being trapped in his Makati office for two days, Arnold Dizon finally reached home Monday morning to find his elderly and ailing parents trapped inside their house for two days without electricity and were running low on food and drinking water.
Cries of relief were heard all over the inundated Marietta-Romeo Village as family members were reunited while some residents silently started cleaning their destroyed houses.
Roads leading to the place were blocked by vehicles of all sizes washed away by Ondoy’s raging waters.
In nine hours, “Ondoy” reportedly dumped rainwater equal to an entire month during a rainy season. While Hurricane Katrina poured 380 cm of water, Ondoy dumped 410 cm of rains causing the worst flooding in the Philippine capital in the last 40 years.
With climate change at hand, the country would be most likely to experience more Ondoy, Aquino underscored the need to push for the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Bill, a law that would empower the local government unit in addressing such calamity. (with reports from Janess Ann Ellao and Ronalyn Olea)
Because it wasn’t a story about multi-million peso properties in high-end areas in the United States, this story was buried in just about the most unimportant page of yesterday’s Inquirer:
1 dead in fight over stuffed toy
A fight over an old discarded stuffed toy left a scavenger dead and another wounded yesterday afternoon. PO2 Norlan Margallo of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit identified the two as Jimson Navarro and Jun Flores, both residents of Payatas, Quezon City. Margallo said Flores stabbed Navarro dead after an argument over the ownership of a stuffed bear which they found in the dump. Witnesses said the two men grabbed the toy at the same time, both refusing to let go, as they argued over who got to keep it. During the struggle, Flores punched Navarro in the face and then pulled out a knife which he used to stab the victim repeatedly. Police said Navarro died on the spot while Flores fled brom the dump, bringing with him the stuffed toy. –Nancy Carvajal.
If you have been to a dump site and have seen how this people live you would not really be surprised. To the scavengers a scrap, a piece of plastic or rusted metal is a step closer to a next meal, whenever that comes. The stuffed bear they fought over must be for a child cruelly denied a toy by their poverty. Obviously, an old and discarded toy is enough reason to kill another person who also claims it.
I am not justifying the killing. What I am condemning is the grinding poverty that pushed these scavengers to such actions even when the president’s children acquire expensive houses without even declaring them, as required by law.
Filed under: art
It’s not everyday one loses a friend.
Today is one such.
Fresh from a week-long video training gig in the Visayas I finally got to read a letter sent to me by this (now former) friend. It was about his long-running quarrel with an officemate that I previously said was out of our hands to mediate. My reply this morning was more of the same.
Within minutes of sending my second reply I received a riposte from the guy saying our office’s decision was gravely mistaken. His anger was as obvious as my beer gut—huge. He also wrote we need not be friends anymore.
I again wrote to him it was his decision and that I wish him luck. His reply was: “There’s nothing to talk about anymore!!!” (Note the three exclamation points!)
Now, this guy I admired very much. His name is in the legal and human rights books when he went up against Martial Law’s main bowwow, now Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile. He is also a major poet, which was why I became friends with him in the first place. I am also ninong to one of his daughters and I am good friends with another daughter.
The stories this former friend bandies around about his number one enemy makes my close-cropped hair curl. On the other hand, the things I heard about this former friend makes my close-cropped hair positively kinky. What have they been doing in their past lives?
But that’s just it. All these alleged things happened in a previous life. Why should we be dragged into it? Some other group has looked into it and has decided accordingly. According to set processes and after judicious consideration of things, one was subsequently booted out of the organization and one remains to be in good standing. Who am I to intervene, especially when I myself have doubts about a party’s intentions?
When I lose friends I sometimes ask myself if I was at fault. This time I was surprised to realize I am not bothered at all. In fact, this afternoon, I napped twice and then Pom and I went shopping. Tonight, in lieu of dinner, I drank a couple of light beer while wolfing down a hundred pesos worth of isaw. Suitably tipsy afterwards, I played with Panda.
Filed under: Human Rights, politics | Tags: cebu city, expensive dinner, gloria macapagal arroyo, le cirque, new york, Philippines, raymund b villanueva, tuslob-buwa
A few months back, I wrote about knowing Cebu—its entrails, nooks, crannies and real face. http://www.facebook.com/raymund.villanueva?ref=name#/notes.php?id=1293317554&start=50&hash=fbf48670aaf915c65e2c26f87d2e4264
Following up on said training and workshop we are back for more advanced exercises that again required some of our teams to visit Cebu’s urban poor communities.
We visited Barangay Pasil in downtown Cebu this time. This is just about the most feared community in all of Cebu and I wonder if any Osmena, Rama, Garcia, Lhuiller or Koreans have been to its innermost alleys and shanties. It felt like Back of Matimco, Payatas, Estero de Magdalena, Veterans, Valenzuela all over again. If you have been to communities like these, you know what I’m talking about. If not, I won’t bother trying to tell you. It’s beyond words.
Three things struck me the most on this visit.
First, the alleyways have banks of computers lined against the dark walls. You put a peso coin into the slots and you can have internet for six minutes. For five pesos, the womenfolk can chat with dirty old foreign men looking for desperate Filipinas for thirty minutes. This is the contemporary twist to Dingdong Avanzado’s 80s ditty “Tatlong Bentesingko”.
Second, they have drinking water stations that have coin slots as well. Put in a peso and you can fill a glass or a soda bottle. The water they get from their taps is just no good.
Third, they have this street food called Tuslob-buwa. They dip nipa-wrapped rice balls (puso) in vats of boiling pig’s brain with bits of liver for taste. They do not pay for the dip. They only pay for the puso, which is PhP2.50 each (less than 5 US cents). This unique street food is definitely hepatitis-bait but is a popular way of staving off hunger pangs.
It’s been three days since I took pictures of these kids eating Tuslob-buwa in Barangay Pasil and I can’t get them off my mind. How hungrily they ate those rice balls is seared so deeply in my mind that I have had two nightmares on this already.
http://www.facebook.com/raymund.villanueva?ref=name#/photo.php?pid=30604165&id=1293317554
And then yesterday, I read this: http://www.nypost.com/seven/08072009/gossip/pagesix/eat_and_drink_183333.htm
Looking out on the beautiful hills of Talamban from my room’s balcony, I am filled with so much love for our beloved President, Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Ate glo, we love her so much. It’s okay that many Filipinas feel that dirty old foreign men are their only hope for deliverance just as long as she has finally met her US president to legitimize her presidency. It’s okay that many children can only eat boiled pig’s brain as long as she has caviar. It’s okay that we have to pay a peso for a sip of water just as long as she can have bottles of Krug.
Long live our President! Mabuhay!
Filed under: Human Rights, history, politics | Tags: Corazon Aquino, Cory, death of Corazon C Aquino, death of cory, gloria, gloria macapagal arroyo, Philippines
I woke up to a bad news today—Corazon Aquino, world democracy icon and former Philippine President, died at 3:18 this morning.
I first saw it on BBC. Then I frantically punched the remote commander and, sure enough, ABS-CBN and GMA were at it again, trying to outdo each other’s spins on Cory. Suddenly, an epiphany in Philippine broadcast journalism was happening before our very eyes—that closed mortuary gates and drawn windows require full coverage and running commentaries over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Then, once in a while, they would put a reporter before the camera and ask the same questions that have been answered and reported on barely thirty minutes back. As their version of a fast ball a reporter interviews Cory’s parish priest about the late President’s favourite church chair and makes her pitch to make her report be made part of the growing ammunition to the expected sob fest that is sure to follow.
When GMA managed to air gloria’s message about Cory’s passing first they made sure we know we got it from them first. Methinks it’s akin to being Brutus’ first megaphone after Julius Ceasar has been butchered on the marble steps of the Roman Senate. Big deal.
How sad.
I then woke up my wife and drove to the CERV office. I had the compelling urge to smash Thor’s mallet on the screen and make myself to be a buffoon so we had to be outa there pronto. I am only consoled by the fact that since I will be virtually cloistered in the next week or so I will be able to escape most of this inanity from our two biggest networks. Cebu, here I come.
There are several questions for Cory I would gladly have given my left eye for.
- What really happened and what were your thoughts right after the Mendiola Massacre?
- Ditto the Hacienda Luisita Massacre?
- Ditto the atrocities committed under Lambat Bitag I and II?
- What and/or pushed you to recall Prof Jose Maria Sison’s Philippine passport forcing him to seek asylum in The Netherlands?
- What was really the plan about the GRP-NDFP peace talks in 1986?
- Why did you not use the inherent powers of your revolutionary/newly-established government to order a genuine and general agrarian reform that could have ended the ongoing civil war and pushed this country towards genuine development?
- What made you risk your reputation to support the extension of the Military Bases Agreement with the imperialist United States when you know the people already wanted out?
- Why did you not punish the soldiers who launched nine coups against you and nearly killed your only son?
- What made you choose FVR over Mitra?
- Did you pen a call to the Filipino people on what we should do against the next woman president after you who has turned to be as worse as the dictator Marcos?
These are questions that our networks are very hesitant to ask and seek answers to. In fact, it took the CNN to ask the first probing questions about Cory’s legacy, which the ABS-CBN’s senior reporter deftly skirted around instead of answering directly.
I have always been critical of Cory. The first nine questions gnaw at my mind when I think about her and her legacy. I only started to like her some when she spoke out against gloria. (Finally, she admitted, she could no longer stand her as it reminds her too much of the satan she helped oust from power 23 years ago!)
Let me be Filipino in ending this piece: I am sad that Cory died, more so that most Filipinos wanted the other woman President to go first. Compared to our current Madam President Cory was all the saint the world makes her to be.
Filed under: Uncategorized
“My continued detention (until today) shows that the Government of the Republic of the Philippines is not serious in lifting the suspension of the Jasig. There is political pressure to keep me in jail. But they are no match against the mass movement who spared no effort in their support,” Principe said.
By RAYMUND B. VILLANUEVA
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — Political detainee Elizabeth Principe walked out of the Philippine National Police Custodial Center at Camp Crame at 4:25 in the afternoon of July 21, a full two weeks after the fourth and last of the criminal charges against her was dismissed by a Regional Trial Court in Nueva Vizcaya.
Wearing a blue blouse, smiling broadly and raising a clenched fist, Principe walked out of her jail accompanied by daughter Lorena Santos and welcomed at the gate by Gabriela Rep. Liza Maza.
On the day of her release, Principe started a hunger strike which was accompanied by a sympathy strike by all women detainees at the custodial center. The hunger strike subsequently spread throughout the center. She is the “mayora” (leader) of the women detainees at Camp Crame.
Principe revealed that her latest release order reached the PNP Custodial Center last July 14, which was forwarded to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group last July 15. Her release was approved by CIDG last July 20 but instead of releasing her, the PNP submitted the order to the Armed Forces of the Philippines “for comment.”
Elizabeth Principe and daughter Lorena Santos celebrate. View more pictures. (Photo by Raymund B. Villanueva / bulatlat.com)
Santos and Principe’s lawyers asked the PNP what legal basis was there to justify the move.
“I owe no debt of gratitude to this government for my release. I owe my freedom to the mass movement and my lawyers,” Principe said.
Visibly elated by her release, Principe said that she is happy that she is “happy to be back in the larger society.”
“After one year and seven months in detention, I am raring to rejoin the struggle against this unjust regime and social system,” she added.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita announced that the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees is again operational starting July 17.
“My continued detention (until today) shows that the Government of the Republic of the Philippines is not serious in lifting the suspension of the Jasig. There is political pressure to keep me in jail. But they are no match against the mass movement who spared no effort in their support,” she said.
Principe said her fellow political detainees at the custodial center asked her to work for their release as well. Still in detention are political prisoners Randall Echanis, Eduardo Serrano, Eduardo Sarmiento, Angelina, Ipong, Prospero Agudo, among others.
She said that she is ready to participate in the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines in her capacity as consultant for the latter.
“I now rejoin the movement to oust Gloria Arroyo,” Principe said. (With reports from Ronalyn Olea / bulatlat.com) http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2009/07/21/elizabeth-principe-%E2%80%98i-am-raring-to-rejoin-the-struggle-against-this-unjust-regime%E2%80%99/
Filed under: Travel | Tags: banahaw, dolores quezon, food trip, jay herrera, kinabuhayan cafe, pom villanueva, Raymund Villanueva, Travel, ugu bigyan
After a huge lunch, followed by a delicious dessert, it took us some time to work up appetites for dinner at Kinabuhayan Café. But dinner had to be served and we had no choice but to seat ourselves for another feast.
It was curry risotto with steamed chicken this time, sprinkled and topped with curry and alagao leaves. An artfully sliced tomato filled with horse radish (malunggay) pesto decorated the plate. Plus there were more chayote and carrot strings with sliced tomatoes on the side to cool down our tongues from the delightful assaults of the spicy rice.
I am no big fan of food wastage but here was one serving that totally defeated me. I finished off the chicken to the bone and cleaned off the vegetables but I failed, despite best efforts, to chow down all the rice. I wish I had Cris Balleta or Aya Santos’ legendary appetites for this kind of meal. Too much; too good.
Jay was genuinely surprised when I told him earlier our trip was to celebrate Pom’s 33rd birthday. But he wasn’t too surprised to hurriedly bake a “pineapple upside down cake” for her. If the cake was only half-decent I would still be touched for my wife. But the cake was superlative. So can I say I was doubly-touched?
While wolfing down generous slices of the cake and washing them down with this bed & breakfast’s legendary coffee, Jay re-entered the dining area bearing a gift for Pom. It was inside a small Pandan box tied with abaca string. The gift was an original Ugu Bigyan clay sculpture with his signature leaf design and relief. (Bigyan’s workshop is 30 minutes away from here [by appointment] which is another good side trip to Kinabuhayan aside from the delights of Banahaw, San Pablo City’s seven lakes, and Casa San Pablo.)
Wait! There’s more! After dinner and retreating to our hut Jay gave us a white bignay wine with appropriate glasses. Our favourite fruit wine! And Jay wasn’t even told about this.
And just before calling it a night Jay allowed us to copy his classical guitar collection of traditional Filipino love songs from different regions in the country. (These were the background music during our candle-lit dinner and we were the only guests.)
Little touches like these are making this trip memorable already.
