Ka-Blog!

Pom and I spent New Year’s Eve here in the city.  I had no desire to go through another 15-hour drive in crawling traffic back to Manila again, along with tens of thousands of motorists so soon.  Besides, what little money we had Pom blew on real nice gifts for me and for my godchildren who have grown too many for my frayed pockets.  But I can’t blame myself for having many friends; I blame the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy in the Philippines for being condom-phobes when its clout should be spent more railing against widespread human rights violations in the country.

Instead of observing the New Year rituals at our little rented apartment or at my mother’s house a few steps away we drove ourselves to the CERV dorm come midnight of the 31^st and spent it with my in-laws.  We thought there would be less smoke because the subdivision has less people, thus less firecrackers and smoke.  How wrong we were.  I guess people at gated communities had more money to burn.  The firecracker smoke was as thick as the sitting president’s sense of shame.  It was foggy and the soupy air wouldn’t let go of the smoke.  It was hard to breathe.

I am thinking of all the money burnt because of this useless and stupid Chinese superstition. I am thinking of how many classrooms we could build, how many trees we could plant, or how many medicines we could buy for our projects with the money wasted. I am thinking of the damage to the city’s air quality.  I am thinking how stupid this country is for not outlawing pedestrian firecrackers.

Driving through the city the next day I noticed how the smoke cleared marvelously.  News reports said there were less firecrackers lit up this time because of the crisis.  This is how it is with Filipinos sometimes.It would take a crisis of monstrous proportions to make us sober up a bit.  Still, I think there was too much paputok for anyone’s good.

= = = = =

A dear friend turned up to “celebrate” with us.  This was unexpected.  Not that we don’t want him hanging out with us but we were sad to have him.  His in-laws did not want him to see his estranged wife and their two kids.  He also failed to see them last Christmas.

This friend committed some stupid mistakes in the past that jeopardized his marriage and his relations with his in-laws.  It all started when he started earning some and things were apparently dandy.  But he did not have a good handle on things and he let them slip away.

Now, he is paying for those mistakes in a cruel way.  To send gifts for the kids over the holidays he had to ask another friend to do it for him.

If my friend is my brother-in-law I could have kicked him in the groin.  But he is genuinely repentant and is desperate to set things straight—unlike one of my brothers in law.  The latter I would love to kick in the groin but I’ll try not to kill my friend.  I think he deserves one last chance.

My friend is part Chinese.  He insisted on buying and lighting firecrackers to drive away bad luck.  I did not want him to (because it stresses Panda too much) but I let him.  In exchange I forced him to take some sip of the wine.  He became gigglier after that but there was no joy in his eyes.  I am pulling my hair off sometimes because of all my problems and troubles, but this is one problem I can never be able to bear with as much courage as my friend does.

Positive wishes are nothing more than good intentions.  But I wish for a better year for him.

= = = = =

Instead of resolutions (because it is stupid to have them when you know you can’t stick to them anyway), let me write down my top ten wishes for the year:

1. Please, do not let this year pass with gloria still in the palace.
2. Please, no cha-cha.
3. Please, make Barack a better American president than the outgoing one (because the imperialist US government is doubly insufferable when we have the likes of Dubya at the top).
4. Please, do not let the imperialist-controlled global economy affect the Philippine country too much (because you can’t squeeze any thing more from an emaciated cow ‘cept blood).
5. A stop to all the human rights violations and justice to all victims of state HRVs.
6. Good health to all my loved ones and friends.
7. More happiness in the family.
8. Fiscal health.
9. An approved break (to give me one chance to do the things I want to do for myself).
10. World Peace.

Last Christmas I wrote about three old men, one of whom was already dead at the time.  Earlier this year one of them died as well and the last one is barely hanging on.  I wish for him to live a little bit longer as we are planning a huge event to honor him while he still can see how much he is loved.

But this holiday season for me is all about kids.

Last Saturday, five days before Christmas, our radio program’s main guest was little ten-year old Nicole.She was very small for her age but quite tough and feisty for someone so young.  It’s no surprise really.  This kid sells rags on Manila’s mean streets right after school, weaving in and out of deadly traffic to earn thirty pesos everyday.  Her family lives in Tatalon, a nasty barangay of drug addicts, other petty crimes and grinding poverty.  Her father is house painter who is usually out of job while her mother is a laundrywoman.  We asked little Nicole why they are poor, she told us it’s because government officials pocket money meant for the poor.  We asked little Nicole what must be done, she yelled, “Oust gloria!” and “Imperyalismo ibagsak!”  We asked Nicole what she wanted for Christmas and she told us she just wants a day at the Quezon Circle with her family.  We asked Nicole what she really yearned for Christmas she told us she wanted a day at StarCity (a carnival).  Nicole told us in a quivering voice she has never been to StarCity and that none of four siblings (two of whom have become adults) have been to a carnival.

I saw Fred, the booth technician, hanging on to the kid’s every word.  It took a lot from me to hold back tears.

Last Sunday, I met Bechay and her parents.  I had the happy task of telling them that ten-year old girl will be sponsored by one of CERV’s former volunteers.  She will be receiving education support from Rebecca Snell of Australia, ensuring her fare and lunch money—two of the biggest reasons why millions of Filipino kids drop out of school.  But while making one kid happy is more like my idea of Christmas, I kept thinking about Nicole.

Monday came and it was the day I promised I’d take my seven-year old niece Chloe to Snow World inside StarCity.  We brought Andrea along, Pom’s precocious ten-year old niece.  My entire side of the family was there too.  It turned out that Chloe couldn’t bear the minus 15 degree chill but Andrea was showing a lot of teeth throughout—grinning like a horse from sheer joy.  We all had a good time bonding but my thoughts were punctured by Nicole and her dream of visiting the place.

On our way home and while waiting for the traffic light to turn green at a street corner, a woman with a thin and frail child in her arms tried to grab the soda my sister was drinking.  My startled sister cried out.  That put a damper on our upbeat mood.  But if I was that woman and my child is dying with hunger in my arms, I would do far worse.  I’d kill even if needed to save my child.

Driving around the city these past few days I saw a lot more kids begging on the streets.  Most where caroling but in the Philippine context, they were really begging.  And they were joined by a lot more adults.  Most were namamasko but in the Philippine context, it is really begging.

Christmas came and Pom and I gave dozens of gifts to our godchildren, nieces and nephews.  We felt like kids ourselves when we were opening gifts.  (Of course, we grinned and shrieked like kids for every gift we liked and obligatorily smiled for every gift we didn’t like so much—especially when the giver was present.)

Now, it’s the day after Christmas.  I again remember Nicole and wonder if she received any gift at all.  I remember all the kids who asked me for pamasko but who I failed.

There will come a time, hopefully in the near future, when I may be able to raise funds to take Nicole and her siblings to StarCity.  But there will never be a time when I can afford to give gifts to every kid who knocks on my car window.  There are just too many poor kids around.

Something is really wrong with this country.  We can not even assure our children of a good Christmas, not to mention assure them of a life the rest of the year. Perhaps, it is time we listen to kids like Nicole.

Muntadar al-Zeidi will be, from hereon, a household name for years to come.  While many will think of him as notorious, millions, if not billions, around the globe applaud his most memorable act to date: throw shoes at Bush and call him a dog.

I watched the deed over CNN this morning—a man throwing a pair of shoes at Bush who appeared to be having a press conference.  I learned later that Bush was in a hush-hush last visit to a country he ravaged with unjust war.  Al-Zeidi also called him a dog before throwing his footwear against the US President.

Succeeding reports educated me that throwing/hitting someone with a shoe and calling him a dog are the worst insults an Iraqi may hurl against another person.  An Iraqi at the receiving end of those insults is driven to great shame.  Bush’s response?  “So what if he threw shoes at me?”

But even with Bush’s apparently nonchalant response, I think it was false bravado on his part.  Even to a non-Iraqi, Al-Zeidi’s act is hugely embarrassing.  That Bush is (still) the President of the lone superpower and is the holder of the most powerful office in the world should magnify the insults a million-fold.  That billions around the world must be viewing it again and again should multiply it even more.

This incident will be one of the things Bush will be most remembered about even when he is no longer President.

Now, was Al-Zeidi justified in doing it?  Let me put it this way—if your country were ravaged by a war justified on totally baseless claims (WMD); if millions of your countrymen were dead because of it; if foreign aggressors are still occupying your country; and if the brains (now, this is a misnomer) behind all these comes to your country still saying he was right, won’t you feel the same degree of rage that this journalist felt?

Don’t get me wrong—I was shocked by what I saw on TV and I was still shocked when I reviewed it on YouTube.  I asked myself how a United States President could be treated in such a manner.

But when I put myself in Al-Zeidi’s shoes (pun intended), I can’t bring myself to denounce him.  I believe he was feeling the same towering rage Senator Mar Roxas felt when he called gloria’s cha-cha “Putang-ina!” And if I can bring myself to understand Roxas, why can’t I understand Al-Zeidi?

In fact, my only problem with the Iraqi journalist was his aim.

sa katanghalian ng iyong panahon

banat ang mga litid ng kasiglahan

sa panahong maganit ang bilis ng isip

bansot ang hakbang sa tagubilin

sa kagustuhang makita ang hulô

tumitiad at tumitingala

upang makatiyak ang kinaroroonan

yumuyuko sa lupa

sa walang-patid na paron-paritong mga sulatin

ang mga tiklado ay tinta ang bugâ at hindi tunog

ang walang-sawang ikid ng mga taon

paniguradong tatanda kang muli

at ang iyong kasaysayan ay singhaba na ng iyong nilakbay

ang iyong mga akda ay madadagdagan ang talab

sa libro, polyeto, dyaryo, pader

sa marami pang makababasa

patagal nang patagal

padami nang padami

Meg

06 Disyembre 2008

12:33-12:52

hatinggabi doon Sa Isang Bahay

I got invited to a blogger’s event at Bonifacio   High Street last Friday.  It was hosted by Fully Booked (www.fullybookedonline.com).  Pom and I braved the horrendous Friday afternoon C5 traffic from QC as I was looking forward to being inside the modern-looking building I’ve passed by many times before.

The press release handed to us read in part:

“Fully Booked, the concept bookstore that is a haven for book enthusiasts all-over (sic), in partnership with YEHEY!, the # (sic)1Philippine portal, welcomed bloggers to an afternoon of fun learning, good food and exciting prizes at TopShelf, Fully Booked’s premiere events place.

“Bloggers were treated to a scrumptious feast…”

Okay.  Stop! “Scrumptious”?  I did not know this archaic word is still in use!  Who but the chi-chi set still employs it?  It sounds (and screams) like “pretentious”!  Are we describing crispy danggit here?

Badly-written releases besides, the event was a success.  Hundreds attended and the food was good.  I wouldn’t call it a feast (pasta and roast beef slivers) but good indeed.  It was fun too.  Many participated in the games that gave away good books (what else?) as prizes.

When all the eating and games were over, Fully Booked made the participants choose two books from piles in a corner.  Pom and I were able to snap up three Isabel Allendes and a Salman Rushdie.  Friend and Yehey! section ed (Tech) Maui Hermitanio got a James Bond 007 Art (Meron pala?) coffee table book and a chick lit title.  Award-winning blogger Tonyo Cruz chose a Gore Vidal and a thick book about Rock & Roll heroes.  Not bad, eh?

But what is it with events like this?  They see an unfamiliar face and they ask him where he or she blogs.  This is probably the usual—to open up conversations—but I really felt like they were taking the measure of me.  (I told those who asked I keep seven sites, I contribute to two online mags and I get blog rolled by several others.  Saka naman ako nangitian. Hahahaha!)

Anyway, for a QC denizen, the frightful drive to Taguig just to visit this Fully Booked branch should be worth it every time.  The bookstore chain’s flagship store (they have eight) rivals NBS-Cubao in terms of floor space but, unlike the latter, its aisles were wide, neat and well thought out.  The music is soft and (while we were there, at least) are not Christmas carols (buti naman).  The lighting is just right and there’s none of the harsh glare from fluorescent tubes of old.  If one had been to an Ikea store Fully Booked-BHS has the same feel to it.  You will be drawn to visit the other sections and floors.  The basement is the comics and stationery sections.  It also has a movie theater that sits 62 behinds.  The ground floor is where the staff is waiting to assist you.  The second floor is the children’s and lifestyle sections.  The third floor is full of business and professional books.  Oh, and this where you could have expensive yet inferior kape courtesy of Starbucks.  A music section occupies the fourth floor as well as an art books segment.  Fully Booked also hosts book launchings, story-telling sessions and workshops.  And then there’s TopShelf at the fifth floor.  Now go and earn some moolah to give yourself a treat at Fully Booked.

The highlight of the evening for us (aside from spending time with Tonyo and Mao, of course) was finding on a most prominent shelf on the ground floor Jeffrey Archer’s “Prisoner of Birth.”  Man!  This bookstore has class!  I just learned about this new novel a few weeks back and Fully Booked already had it.  I have never, NEVER! received such service from Powerbooks.  Their Trinoma store still does not have a local title I asked them to look for me TWO YEARS BACK. Maraming salamat po! To think I had been a Powerbooks customer since their first store along Arnaiz.  To be fair, Powerbooks allows reading and has seats.  So Fully Booked must do it as well.

Anyway, I wish to tell our hosts that not all the books we took home that night were giveaways.  Bumili din naman po kami.

The heretofore mentioned and quoted press release said a Fully Booked branch may “rise” (Ano ito?  Monay na umaalsa?) a Trinoma branch sometime this month.  Goodie!  Three stores in QC! Ang layo ng Taguig, ano! I just hope it’s a big store though.

I am not transferring allegiance from my dear Morayta second hand book stalls to big time bookstores like Fully Booked just yet.  But any store that gives me free books and has the latest Jeffrey Archer titles on its shelves is definitely worth a visit from time to time.

While waiting for their boarding call at an airport lounge, a Chinese, an American and a Filipino chatted up about the respective state of their country’s finances.

Chinese: Our government is opening up a $600 billion loan facility for the workers of the world to better cope with the financial crisis.

American: You crazy Reds! Why bother with the workers? Our $700 billion bailout plan is for the real money-makers—the multinational corporations.

Filipino: You slowpokes! Our government officials already pocketed P700 million earmarked for farmers!

I know I am being corny here, using the classic Hapon-Amerikano-Filipino joke template that always shows Filipinos getting the better of anyone. Never mind that, in these jokes, we often appear to be the biggest jackasses of all.

There is really nothing funny about the current global financial crisis, of course. I myself am not laughing.  Our family’s livelihood is dependent on foreigners having enough dispensable cash to volunteer with our NGO.  And we are getting less application for 2009.  Belt-tightening, here I come!

What I wish to underscore here though is how different governments deal differently with the impending global meltdown.

The Chinese government, eager to show the world they have not betrayed their Socialist ideology, is saying they wish to help embattled workers worldwide.  I don’t know if they are sincere as it remains to be seen how this amount would eventually be used.  But I like the idea.

The Americans, well, their instinct tells them to save their greedy and grossly-mismanaged giants before anyone else.  Today, I read about how the Big Three car companies (Ford, GM, Chrysler) are asking for $25 billion golden parachute.  It’s like saying, “Hey, thanks for fucking up the global economy.Take this moolah, go yatch-sailing and drink up on Piper Heidsieck!”

The Philippine government?  Well, gma and her officials do not care about the people.In fact, based on their actions, they want us all dead.  They hardly ever care about Pinoy companies either—at least the honest and tax-paying ones.  All they care about is how to line up their pockets.  So we have these stealing and lying phenomena called Joc-joc Bolante and the Euro generals.

And we have all this talk about gma trying to extend her term of terror beyond 2010.  This is not as far-fetched as one may be excused to initially think.  How else should be interpret Juan Ponce Enrile’s shocking rise to the senate presidency (sworn in by Gregorio Honasan, no less?)  I am hard pressed to think of a stranger thing happening with this government.

I feel like crying sometimes.   I am worried to death about this country’s collective future.

But I am not one to commit suicide over these turn of events. Pinoy yata ako. So I turn to our old reliable.In times like these, I try to find humor in the events as they crash around me like fat raindrops under a menacing cloudburst.  I am so desperate to be able to laugh. Pinoy nga ako.

Yes, I try to laugh about these things.  But I am not saying I’m not doing anything about them. Ika nga ni kumpareng Peter Ustinov, “Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious.”  I maintain that in this tragedy called the Philippines, there is no business as serious as humor.

I’ve been to Cebu many times before.  My earlier visits were either to give lectures, seminars and workshops or to attend forums.  But I did not get to know the city well; I was never given the chance to explore and discover the place, much less spend not-work-related time with the proud Cebuanos.  (There was a time when Pom and I stopped by Cebu for a brief lay-over that lasted only several hours.That only allowed us to pop by SM to catch a movie before we went on our way.)

This weeklong trip is about a video production workshop—with two small differences compared with the others.  Incorporated into the program is a practicum that entails visits to marginalized communities in and around the city and a “breather” that allows for some beer drinking and singing.(What novelty!)

I was tasked to handle a workshop group that had to shoot in an urban poor community.  Subangdaku (Big River) is a Mandaue village teeming with industrial and commercial real estate.  But in its nooks and crannies, hidden by huge billboards and tall walls, are communities that totally belie appearances of genuine progress in this biggest of southern hubs in the Philippines.

We were let off our pick-up truck on the gravel driveway of a lumberyard.  The shotgun-toting guard looked at our cameras and glared at us.  I thought we must be at the wrong place because I saw no shanties and we were clearly not welcome.  Suddenly, from a small gap between two walls emerged people who animatedly talked to our guide.  Then I saw it—the pathway we had to take to reach our real destination.

It was narrow.  It was barely half-a-meter wide, made more constricting by jutting trees and posts.  It was really an old and clogged-up drainage ditch which 200 families had to use as access road to the nearest jeepney-serviced avenue.  I felt claustrophobic but I willed it away as I had to recall my hopscotch skills (Meron ba?) to avoid the innumerable putrid puddles and holes on the pathway.  Two hundred meters of the mazelike twists and 90-degree turns the pathway opened up to reveal a wastewater lake where shanties floated and babies played.

This was Sitio Likod-sa-Matimco where residents had to wear rain boots to go anywhere (from buying anything from the neighborhood stores to fetching water).  They have to inhale the stench every second they are in the community.Even their tiny chapel is flooded when it rains.  They have one communal bathroom.

The lumberyard on the eastern side refuses to give them right-of-way.  The container terminal likewise refuses.So they have to content themselves with the pathways.  With the community below sea level and boxed in on all sides by reclaimed territory, all water drain their way and stay permanently.

I climbed Smokey Mountain and visited its residents and shanties during its “heyday” in the 1980s.  We lived near the railroad tracks of Sampaloc.  I was exposed to communities like Tondo’s Estero de Magdalena when I was a younger activist.  I worked as a student and teacher organizer in Payatas.  I am familiar with such poverty and inhumane living conditions.   But I am always shocked when I visit such places.Always.

The other workshop teams had similar experiences.  Palanca awardee Boni Ilagan was similarly shocked when he and his workshop groups climbed the hills of Talamban to see even more abject communities.  And right below them were huge houses of the rich with tiled roofs, manicured lawns and cars parked on their garages.  In the distance are the skyscrapers of Cebu and the sprawling resorts of the rich and (sigh) foreign.

Because my team was planning to do a video short on roads, they thought of shooting scenes on Colon, the country’s oldest existing street.  Amid the swirling human and vehicle traffic we met rubber stamp makers and food vendors who have had no business the entire day and an old woman kneeling on the street corner begging.  Our soundperson, while standing in front of a Jollibee store, was approached by a man who whispered in his ear, “Magkano?” (How much?)

By the shores of Mactan Strait, up on the hills of Talamban, and in the navel of the city center, poverty is still present—if one dares to just even look.

= = = =

Last night, plied with Red Horse, young Visayan activists sang Max Urban and Vis-Rock (Visayan Rock) songs.  From what I got to understand, the songs were very funny and earthy.  I knew about the genius of Max Urban syempre.  So I asked about Vis-Rock which I heard about for the first time.These are rock bands who could be likened to Parokya ni Edgar and Eraserheads in Manila, they said.

I think so too.  Parokya and E-heads are funny and, sometimes, their songs bite. Yano too (before they fried their brains).  Vis-Rock songs are oftentimes novel yet are piercing social commentaries.  Love songs and protest pieces against human trafficking in one, for example.Indeed, Dodongs singing about pined-for Indays who prefer 80-year old white American text mates are both funny and sad.

I like Vis-Rock.Yes, as much as I like Red Horse.

On March 22, 2007 Shara Hizarsa was waiting for her father to bring lunch to school she would later share with him.  He cooked and brought food for her without fail since Abner Hizarsa left the underground communist movement due to frail health.

But no one arrived for the girl’s lunch that day.

It had been 19 months since.  There is still no father to cook and bring food for Shara.

Last October 13, the girl commemorated her 12^th birthday.  Even her mother Cris was absent.Cris joined dozens of relatives of the forcibly disappeared under the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo regime in a fact-finding mission in Barangay Bliss, Limay, Bataan.

Horror camp

In an abandoned military camp near the World War 2 monument Mount Samat, about 50 human rights workers under Karapatan and Desaperacidos, the victims’ relatives, officials and staff of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and University of the Philippines (UP) anthropologists (led by Dr Francisco Datar) dug holes on the ground, hoping to find remains of summary execution victims.  They were led to the site by Raymond Manalo, one of two brothers who escaped the 24^th Infantry Battalion of the 7^th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army.Manalo said that he and his brother Reynaldo were taken to the camp on the 21^st or the 22^nd of November 2006.  A week later, he saw missing UP student Karen Empeno and Manuel Merino.  Sometime later they were joined by Sherlyn Cadapan, another abducted UP student.

In the said camp Raymond was ordered to help build the barracks, cook and clean house for the soldiers, led by a certain Major Donald “Allan” Caigas.  He witnessed how the two students were hung upside down on one foot with sticks repeatedly rammed in their private parts.  After each torture session on the women Raymond was ordered to clean the room of the victims’ blood and feces and even wash their underwear.He recalled of many nights he went to sleep with blood-curdling screams ringing in his ears.

Raymond also recounted in his affidavit that he, his brother Reynaldo and Merino were taken to cattle-rustling and harassment missions by the soldiers led by Caigas.  He witnessed the execution of random farmers in outlaying villages as well as abduction victims in the camp.

One dark night in June 2007, soldiers took Merino from their holding room saying (retired) Major General Jovito S Palparan wanted to talk to him.  Several minutes after, he saw Merino being marched to a grassy field 50 meters away from the camp’s barbed-wire perimeter.  Standing by a window, Manalo heard screams and moans, like someone who was startled (“Parang nagulat.”), followed by two gun shots.“Siguro hindi nadale sa saksak, kaya binaril,” he said.  (“They probably failed to kill him by stabbing so they shot him.”)  Then he saw what looked like a bonfire that lasted late into the night.  The next morning, he was told not to look for Merino as he has already “joined” Cadapan and Empeno. “Pinatay si ‘Tay Manuel dahil sabi ng militar matanda na siya,” Raymond added.  (“Manuel was killed because the military said he was already old.”)

In July, the Manalo brothers were taken to Caigas’ farm in Bolinao, Pangasinan to work as laborers where they escaped on the night of August 12.

“Clear and convincing” testimony

The government and army’s top officials took turns belying Raymond’s testimony by denying the existence of the camp.  Defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro and retired Armed Forces Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr said that Manalo’s testimony was “baseless.”  Lt Gen Isagani Cachuela, PA Northern Luzon commanding general, said that he would not know about the existence of the camp in Barangay Bliss.  Maj Gen Ralph Villanueva, 7^th ID commander which has jurisdiction over the 24^th IB, echoed Cachuela’s statement saying he “still has to find out.”Last September 20, PA spokesperson Lt Col Romeo Brawner also issued a statement saying Cadapan, Empeno and Merino were nowhere to be found in any army camp where their relatives and supporters claimed they were detained.

But residents of Barangay Bliss are one in saying there indeed was a military camp in their village.  The Philippine Daily Inquirer also reported that former Bataan vice governor Rogelio Roque confirmed the military used to occupy the area, which is adjacent to his property.

Despite the military’s efforts Raymond’s testimony convinced both the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court as “factual,” “harrowing” as well as “clear and convincing.”  Last October 6, the High Tribunal affirmed the appellate court’s decision to grant the privilege of the writ of amparo to both Manalo brothers, providing them protection from state forces.  The order also affirmed the possible culpability of Palparan in their abduction and torture, along with Cadapan, Empeno, Merino and others.  The SC also rejected the 7^th ID’s investigation as “very limited, superficial and one-sided.”

CHR chair Leila de Lima, for her part said, “The Manalo brothers, for me, have the most significant testimony in the extralegal killings and enforced disappearances.”

“I will prove to them I am right”

A week after being granted the privilege of the writ of amparo Raymond led the fact-finding mission to the military camp.  Before the sun rose, Raymond had already identified the camp lay-out while other mission members busied themselves in setting up tents and cordoning areas where the possible gravesites were.  It was obvious that painstaking effort was made to erase the camp’s footprint in the area.The concrete hut floors, the basketball court, the flag pole as well as the Marian grotto were broken up and thrown in a clump of bamboo trees a hundred meters away.  All the holes were backfilled and the water pipes were removed.  Still, amid the shrubbery and the wildflowers that overrun the abandoned camp and under the sprawling shades of the dozen huge mango trees that blanketed the area Raymond managed to identify the spot of every structure that stood in the military camp.

“Hindi ko aakalaing babalik pa ako rito.Takot ako, nanginginig, giniginaw.’Nung una kaming dinala rito, akala namin ay isa-salvage na kami,” Raymond said.  (“I never thought I will come back here.I am afraid, shaking, and I feel cold.When we were first taken here, we thought we would already be summarily killed.”)

By the time the CHR team arrived by mid-morning the mission was ready to dig and document whatever could be found in the area.

At noontime, De Lima arrived from Manila and conducted an ocular inspection of the possible grave sites.She also ordered additional diggers to complement the Karapatan team who found the stony soil difficult to penetrate beyond a foot and a half.

The first four holes in three possible grave sites produced negative results.  But there were signs of unusual human activity such as burnt tarpaulins, tabletop covers, shoes, among others.Raymond identified one shirt which might have belonged to Cadapan.  The anthropologists also confirmed that some of the spots pinpointed by Raymond bore “disturbances” by human activity.

As dusk neared on the mission’s first day, a fifth hole was dug which the experts said was “promising” as the soil was still soft and comparatively loose past two feet.  It was then that the experts ordered a halt to the diggings on account of the approaching darkness.

Night falls on the mission camp

Under the pale light thrown by old-fashioned “petromax” lamps, the remaining 30-odd human rights workers ate dinner while a squad of Philippine National Police-Regional Mobile Group troopers kept a somewhat loose perimeter security.  Before dinner was over a deluge fell on the camp, overturning tents and soaking both mission members and clothing and equipment.  The victims’ relatives bussed back to Manila due to security considerations, along with some Manila-based journalists.Only then did the CHR-sourced generator arrive from the town proper to provide electricity.

By seven o’clock, as the pale moon was peeking behind the dissipating rain clouds the camp turned in despite their wet clothes and soaked sleeping provisions.  At eight o’clock the generator was turned off and the last mobile phone calls and text messages were sent.  Even the police retreated inside their tents and vehicles.  Soon enough, only the night birds and insects could be heard, broken by the snores of the weary.

“Breakthrough”

The mission’s second day started with a briefing between the CHR, UP and Karapatan teams.  Datar expressed confidence that if Raymond was telling the truth, they would find human remains such as small bones of the hand and feet.“  These are the things that betray the perpetrators of the crime,” he said.

But that morning provided more disappointments.  Site Three was abandoned after it produced no convincing evidence.  A new site further a-field was opened in the hope of more positive results.  Dr Datar quizzed Raymond several times and asked him to walk from the camp’s edge to the where he thought Merino was taken at least four times.  Raymond also informed the expert he remembered that Merino was wearing an old pair of yellow “Beach Walk” flip flops.  Assured that Raymond was certain about his coordinates and facts Datar ordered the widening of Site One.

While standing on the edge of the camp Raymond found clothing on the ground, nearly covered with soil.  When he picked it up, he identified it to have belonged to Caigas. “Shorts ito ni Caigas. ‘Basic Wear’ and tatak.  Siya lang ang meron nito—pantulog niya,” he said.  (These are Caigas’ ‘Basic Wear’ brand short pants.Only he had them—as sleepwear.”  He said he was certain because he washed the soldiers’ dirty laundry.

At exactly 12:30 in the afternoon excitement gripped team members on Site One.  What was thought to be just a layer of burnt wood close to the surface yielded a four centimeter splinter Datar immediately identified as human bone.  The expert then ordered a wider surface scraping of the site.Before the team decided to take a delayed lunch break the hole already produced 15 more bone pieces.

When digging resumed still more bones were found on the burnt out hole.  At 3:45, Datar’s graduate assistant struck another vital piece of evidence—an overturned slipper found on the edge of the small cavity with yellow straps and bearing the brand name “Beach Walk.”  When Raymond saw the article, he exclaimed “’Yan ‘yun!Kay ‘Tay Manuel!‘Yan ‘yun!” (That’s it! That’s old man Manuel’s.That’s it!)  Datar then said, “Positive na tayo.” (“We are already positive about this grave site.”)  A few minutes later a simple ring band was also found as well as a human vertebra.

At five o’clock, the digging and scraping has reached the hole’s edge.  Datar said that based on the materials gathered and examined by the UP, CHR and Karapatan experts on the site firewood and rubber tires were placed at the hole’s bottom before the victim was placed in a fetal position wrapped in a mattress.  “These foreign objects and the victim’s position explain why the hole is relatively small,” he said.  Datar added that the grave site was covered with un-burnt soil in the perpetrators’ efforts to conceal the spot.

Datar however hastened to add that it would be impossible to extract DNA from the “carbonized” bones.  He also said that he still has to study the specimens in the laboratory to ascertain which parts of the body the bones came from.

Strong proof

Still, the physical anthropologist commended Raymond’s fortitude. “May lakas siya ng loob na sabihin (ang nalalaman),” he said.  (“He was courageous to speak out.”).  “It was clear there were human activities in the areas he pointed out,” Datar added.

“Nabuhayan ako ng loob,” Raymond said. “Kung wala tayong nakita e di lalo na nilang sasabihing sinungaling ako,” he added.  (“I had a morale boost.  If we found nothing here, the military will say I lied all the more.”)

Raymond’s legal counsel Rex JMA Fernandez is optimistic about the results of the fact-finding mission.  “What Raymond said (about their abduction and killings) was proven today.  Moreover, there was deliberate purpose to sanitize the burial place.  If you take a closer look, the camp was big.  It was not cursory but a protracted occupation of the place (by the military). That Palparan was involved in the tortures will be validated by this finding in all the cases.  However much the military would try to undermine the results of this mission, Raymond is a very credible witness,” the lawyer explained.

Fernandez added that he wants the area declared the area a crime site.  “I think they should continue digging and investigating.  They should also interview the locals,” he said.

The mission ends, the quest for justice continues

Before dusk of the second day, all the holes were backfilled as the mission camp was being dismantled.  Raymond Manalo walked one last time to the grave site, accompanied by the Karapatan team and Dr Datar.  The CHR team chose not to join them.

A makeshift cross was planted on the grave site.  Some wildflowers were picked and placed at the foot of the cross.Cheap white candles were lit around a one of flat stones used to cover up the crime.  Fr Diony Caballes led the prayers while the mission members joined hands around the makeshift grave.  After the prayers, shouts of “Justice!” rang several times.

Then everyone broke down.Copious tears flowed on Raymond’s scarred face, his shoulders askew in physical and emotional pain.  The chests of relatives of the forcibly disappeared heaved in grief while Datar’s own eyes were moist and red.

As the sun was setting behind Mt Samat the mission members walked away from the grave now looking more desolate with the weak flicker of candles amid the creeping darkness.  Finally, Raymond turned his back on the site where Manuel Merino was killed, leaving the wild flowers to bloom in a land that has seen such horror finally coming to light.

Paper delivered before UP Mass Com studes, 10 September 08

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By inviting us to talk about the state of alternative media, you have accorded us the honor of being called part of alternative media.  Coming from future media practitioners, it is a distinct honor.Maraming salamat po.

Allow me first to tell you a bit about Kodao Productions and in the process give you an idea of what an alternative media outfit have to contend with under the present dispensation.

Kodao is a long strip of knotted rattan rope; each knot represents an event that members of the community must attend—meetings, festivals, weddings, and others.  It is a Lumad word and Kodao is an ancient form of calendar.

When progressive filmmakers, broadcasters, writers, journalists and artists (including one National Artist for Literature and one Palanca Award winner) were sure there will be another people power uprising in 2000, they thought of forming a multi-media production outfit to document the people’s participation in another historical event.Remember that factions of the ruling class and the military both claim they made history happen in 1986 the most.  They tried to downplay the vital role played by the progressives in ousting the dictatorship.

And so we were there in 2001, with cheap prosumer cameras which have started to become affordable.This is important.More on this later.  After Edsa Dos, Kodao came out with its first video docu, Oust!

A few weeks later, we were offered free daily airtime on the AM radio station of the so-called people power network.  And Ngayon Na, Bayan! was born.  It was a radio program that advocated transparency and good governance.  It tackled issues not for the sake of commenting on the news and developments.  Rather, it tried to analyze issues from the point of view of the common person.  Of course, it was progressive, or leftist to some.

Kodao Productions’ video docus and its radio programs are alternative in the sense that we produce them not for commercial considerations.  We do not produce so we can have income from advertisements.  That’s one.

Second, we have a different take on issues we tackle.  We feature personalities that can never be called poster boys or girls but whose contributions to nation building are more important than animals called politicians and showbiz personalities—not that we did not and do not feature politicians. Depende lang kung sino sila or kung ano ang papel nila sa isyung pinag-uusapan. So we feature jeepney drivers, people’s lawyers, barrio doctors, development workers, journalists, rebels, laundry persons, human rights workers, churchpeople—mga taong kinaiinisan ng magaling na pamahalaan.  In our radio program, we give each sector and issue a particular episode.  Mondays are about economic issues, Tuesdays are for religion and society, Wednesdays are for women’s issues, Thursdays are for the other basic sectors like the workers and peasants, Fridays for good governance.  This lineup was changed, depending on which grabs the people’s attention the most at the time.

One innovation we pioneered was remote-recording radio program episodes with poor communities.In seaside communities in Southern Tagalog, in a peasant community in Central Luzon, an under-the-bridge community in Taytay, in the middle of a park in Hong Kong, in an urban poor community in Navotas, at Hacienda Luisita right after the massacre in 2005.  We were there.

Not content with what we were already doing, we started giving trainings to our main publics.  We trained out of school youths, factory workers, community women and peasants on videography, broadcasting, writing for radio, newswriting, reporting, photography and others.  We helped one peasant organization put up and operate a community radio station and became one of the most active advocates of community radio broadcasting in the process.

For our video and radio productions, we go to communities and hold sinehang- and radyo-hang bayans.  Because we can not compete with telenovelas in communities with power supply and many TV sets we go to communities where they hardly have television or radio sets.  The reception is always fantastic.

That is why we prefer to be called community journalists/broadcasters/media institutions rather than alternative media.

Kodao is still producing the kind of video docus we have been producing since 2001.  Now, we have a new radio program with kids as on-board broadcasters, reporters, radio drama talents, reporters, and writers.  It is a radio program and drama for kids and by kids, with only a few adults thrown in.  (Kaya Natin ‘To, Kids, DWIZ 882 khz, Saturdays, 4:30 to 5:30 in the afternoon.)  And they are no ordinary children.  All of them come from urban and rural poor communities.  Many of them are out of school—some of them are hardly literate but all are intelligent.  A few of them are victims of physical abuse, domestic violence, state terrorism, child pornography and prostitution, and rape and incest.

We like to believe we were good at it.  We’ve won awards from the KBP, the CMMA and the Cultural Center of the Philippines for both our radio and video productions, even our historical radio dramas.  In fact, Ngayon Na, Bayan! was finalist in the CMMA for five straight years.Our videos were featured in video docu festivals here and abroad.

We also would like to believe we are effective.  When this sitting president illegally declared a state of national emergency, Ngayon Na, Bayan! was the first media casualty.  We were told not to show up at the radio station within two hours of its announcement.  Subsequently, we were among those charged with rebellion, along with 55 other personalities.  The government’s hooded witness even claimed in his affidavit that we were the Communist Party of the Philippines’ propaganda arm.He said he knew this because he joined Kodao in 1989. E 2001 lang kami pormal na nabuo.Magaling, di ba?

Then the community radio station we helped build and operate was attacked and burned to the ground on July 2, 2006.  Six staff members, out of school youths and peasants, were beaten up, hogtied, blindfolded and terrorized.  The police and the fire department did not respond until nine hours later even when they are both just a stone’s throw away.  Two presidents and several officers of the peasant organization that owned the station were killed one after the other.  We suspect the military to be the only perpetrator, because they’ve harassed them so many times before.  Besides, even if the military are innocent, what kind of government allows such things to happen and go unpunished?

These harassments are not exclusive to members of the so-called alternative media, of course.  This also happens to members of the so-called mainstream media.

Now, on to other things which make us “alternative”.  Earlier, I mentioned about affordable cameras, digital audio recorders, and canned sound effects on CDs and from the internet, plus computer software that make video and audio editing within reach of groups that do not depend on big money from the advertisers for equipment and production and distribution costs.  I am sure you know that cheaper equipment and great advancements in information technology brought about the phenomenon called citizen journalism.  On the internet, we can upload our productions for an even wider audience.  This is the development which made it possible for groups like Kodao to go into this line of work full time. Ganito rin sa digital cinema, di ba? And I think that even the so-called mainstream media recognizes this.  Now, there is a marriage of sorts as the big networks are asking people to contribute reports with the use of consumer cameras, even mobile phones.CNN has its I-report, ABS-CBN News has its citizen patrol. Traffic situationers are broadcast through 3G mobile phones.

To end this, let me underscore three things:

1. There are so many people, sectors, interests, issues that are underserved by the so-called commercial media because of their editorial limitations that are dictated by their advertisers.  These are the things that compel us to be.

1. To be a media practitioner under a regime like this is very difficult; to be a community media practitioner under a regime like this is dangerous to one’s health.

1. Nevertheless, it is very fulfilling and highly recommended.