Thousands of Syrian refugees are suffering and dying across Europe and the Philippine Government must play an active role in helping them. For several years, the Philippines has not known any huge role in foreign affairs aside from creating a fuss with the South China Sea. While the dispute helps concretize our sovereignty over uncertain waters and territories, we do not have an active role in aiding countries elsewhere.

Whatever the reason for the lack of initiative, whether that be a greater focus on local politics or limited government funds, we have to stress the importance of becoming an important player in global issues. The Philippines is but a dot in the world map for many countries across the world, however, by dipping our toes into the crisis in Europe, we can place ourselves at the center of world affairs as the country that has made all the difference.

The crisis in Europe shows a lack of concern by European leaders. While Germany promised to take their fair share of refugees and lobbied for its neighbors to do the same, political red tape, inaction and even racism and discrimination blocked off efforts for a coherent plan to address the current situation.

Hungary and other countries refused refugees on the idea that European has “Christian roots” and that a cultural and religious divide prevents them from taking in the migrants. However, accepting only “Christian” refugees show that there is no religious divide but instead, discrimination of those who are not “European” to begin with.

The viral photo of the drowned Syrian boy called the attention of the global community. But, no one wants to take an active role simply because of the thought that a European crisis matters to Europe only. While the distance of the crisis does alienate most countries from taking an active role, there are other ways to help aside from accepting refugees (although accepting a fair share will help a lot). States can lobby European countries to do their part in alleviating the crisis. In addition, a generous amount of aid will help those refugees struggling in camps that are in the Middle East and even in Europe. There are no excuses for inaction.

Why help

The Philippines, in its history, helped refugees in the past. We accepted Vietnamese, Russian, Jewish, and Rohingya refugees, and they repaid us back with more than what we have offered them in aid.

For example, former Vietnamese refugees donated millions to help those affected by Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda). Whatever acts of kindness we showed before, we have been repaid and remembered well for. Filipinos are talented in many fields such as sports, academics and the arts. But, if there is anything we need to show the world is that we Filipinos also have a heart.

Many skeptics will cite the fact that our government cannot even help all of our countrymen, so how will they help the refugees. Others will vehemently reject the idea because our taxes should only go to Filipinos and not to foreigners.

But, as a people, we must remember that before we are Filipino, Christian, Muslim or anything else, we are first human. We roam the streets crying for the separation of Church and state, asking for the abolition of the RH Law, rejecting divorce, same-sex marriage and abortion for religious reasons. But, wouldn’t it be hypocritical to say we reject our fellow brethren abroad for our own selfish reasons? The Christian faith, which a majority of Filipinos believe in, revolves around compassion for others before our own needs. Political and personal needs should be set aside.

To the president

President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, if you are reading this now, I humbly ask you to participate actively in helping these refugees in Europe and the Middle East. 

The Philippines government should consider improving its foreign policy abroad by helping the refugees in Europe through 3 ways: directly accepting refugees into the country and integrating them into Philippine society, actively lobbying European governments to allow safe passage and settlement through their borders for the refugees and or providing assistance with on the spot aid workers or donating a share to lighten Europe's financial burden.

The first one is the most controversial but the one that will directly affect the lives of the refugees. Integration and financial burden will accompany them into the country – with heavy resistance, but if the government has enough initiative into caring for the refugees, this is the best option. Empirically, migrants never steal jobs of local workers and actually contribute to diversity, culture and the economy. But, common fallacies that still unfortunately prevail will wall off any efforts of this kind. However, there is no monetary value to human life.

The second option is easier to accomplish but will create a huge failure is the lobbying is weak or ineffective. The casualties resulting from failed lobbying and deadlocks from policy makers can cost thousands if not millions of lives. The greatest example of the former is the Rwandan genocide where lobbying by certain policymakers vetoed any potential efforts to prevent a massacre of almost 800,000 Rwandans. The last option is the safest and has moderate gains. The refugee crisis is forecasted to cost Germany alone 10 billion euros.

Financial aid will go along way to helping European governments shoulder these painful expenses. Whatever option the Philippine government decides, it should take preemptive action before learning from hindsight. Henry Kissinger did say that action in foreign policy should always be done before the event and not cleaned up after the mess was made. The worst the government of europe, the Philippines and we as global citizens can do is nothing.

I can go over a hundred reasons why accepting refugees will be beneficial for the economy, for our culture and even for our dignity as Filipinos. But, more importantly, I hope you realize that before you were president, before you even entered politics, and before you were even signed a Filipino, you are human like them.  - Rappler.com 

Sign the petition to ask the Philippine government to help the Syrian Refugees.

Josh Ahyong, a graduate student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, DC majoring in International Relations and Economics, hopes to work for the United Nations or the World Bank and help address issues such as poverty and conflict. He is from Mandaluyong City.

Makabuluhan ang rally ng Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) na isinagawa sa loob ng 5 araw nitong Agosto. Mabibigat ang mga panlipunang usapin na pinatingkad ng mga pangyayaring naganap.

Ayon sa INC, nagprotesta sila dahil tinanggap ni Justice Secretary Leila de Lima ang reklamong illegal detention ng dating ministro ng INC na si Isaiah Samson laban sa ilang miyembro ng kanilang liderato. Masyado raw pinaboran ni De Lima ang kasong ito. Dapat daw bigyan ng pansin ang higit na mabibigat na isyu, tulad ng pagkamatay ng mga sundalo sa Mamasapano at 'yung katiwalian ng Disbursement Accelaration Program o DAP. Dahil dito ay nilalabag diumano ng gobyerno ang prinsipyo ng “separation of church and state.”

Mali ang interpretasyon ng INC sa prinsipyong ito. Habang hindi dapat pakialaman ng gobyerno ang pananampalataya (o di pananampalataya) ng bawa’t mamamayan, hindi ito nangangahulugan na walang karapatan ang gobyernong manghimasok sa anumang relihiyosong institusyon kapag may naganap na krimen. 

Umiinit ang ulo ko sa palusot na “marami pang ibang higit na mahalagang isyu at bakit kami pa ang tinutukan.” Kasinungalian ito dahil paulit-ulit nang ipinaliwanag ng Department of Justice Ona idinaraan sa tamang paraan ang kaso. Inaasahan ba nila na huwag na lang pansinin? At ano kung marami pang ibang kaso na mas mabigat? Lahat na lang ng kinakasuhan na makapangyarihan ay ganito ang palusot – na pinag-iinitan sila, na pinupulitika sila, na mayroong higit na “big time” na dapat unahin.

Higit na nakakainis na gamitin ang pangangatwirang ito ng isang grupong ipinangangalandakan ang pagsunod sa tamang landas, isang grupong naniniwala na, sa kaharian ng Diyos, walang pagkakamali, maliit man o malaki, ang hindi mabibigyan na karampatang parusa.

Sa ilalim ng Konstitusyon natin, may tungkulin din ang mga relihiyon sa taumbayan. Dapat ding hindi sila makialam sa gobyerno. Linawin natin ito: may karapatan ang lahat ng relihiyon na magtatag ng organisasyon, magtayo ng mga kapilya, magparami ng mga kasapi, magpatupad ng mga patakaran, at magpahayag ng mga opinyon na sang-ayon sa kanilang pananampalataya. Bawal makialam ang gobyerno sa mga gawaing ito.

Nguni’t hindi rin dapat gumawa ng mga hakbang ang anumang relihiyon upang paboran sila ng gobyerno kaysa ibang relihiyon o mga indibidwal na may ibang paniniwala. 

Kaya sa akin lang, ang ginagawang bloc voting ng Iglesia ay paglabag din sa prinsipyo ng separation of church and state. Ang kaisa-isa kong boto ay nawawalan ng integridad dahil sa pinagsamang lakas ng bloc votes.

Kaya naman hindi nakapagtataka na napakaraming bulok na pulitiko ang sunod-sunuran sa INC. Di nakapagtataka na kaya nilang iluklok sa puwesto ang ilan sa kanilang miyembro o kinagigliwang tao. Kaya’t umiling na lang ako nang ang Iglesia pa ang lumaban para sa prinsipyo ng “separation of church and state”  na matagal na nilang nilabag upang maging makapangyarihan sila.

Respeto sa relihiyon

Dapat respetuhin ang pananampalataya o di pananampalataya ng bawa’t isa. Mayroon akong empleyado na Iglesia. Bukas sa loob kong bigyang daan ang kanyang pagsamba kahit dapat ay nagtatrabaho siya. Hindi ibinabawas sa suweldo niya ang undertime niya kapag sumasamba siya. Sa trabaho niya, dapat ko siyang maasahan, kahit Sabado o Linggo. Nguni’t ni minsan hindi siya nakarinig sa akin kapag hindi niya magampanan ang trabaho niya dahil sa pagsamba.

Ang aking respeto ay humahantong sa hindi pagbatikos sa pananampalataya ng iba kahit pa sa tingin ko ay mali ang sinasabi nila tungkol sa Diyos. Huwag lang nilang ipilit sa akin o sa iba, nananahimik naman ako. Nguni’t kapag karapatan na ng ibang tao ang nakasalalay, kapag may krimen nang naganap, naperwisyo ang marami sa trapik, o nanghihimasok ang isang relihiyon sa mga proseso ng hustisya, hindi na protektado sa panghihimasok ng gobyerno ang anumang relihiyon o pribadong institusyon.

At kapag nagpahayag ang mga relihiyoso ng opinyon sa anumang isyung politikal –  reproductive health man o tungkol sa paghiwalay ng simbahan o estado – hindi na pambabastos ang batikusin sila ng kapwa mamamayan. 

Nabisto ang mga trapo

Nagkabistuhan tuloy kung sino ang mga pulitikong isusuko ang diwa ng ating Konstitusyon para sa boto. Alam ng mga sumulat ng Konsitusyon at ng taumbayan na nagpatibay nito na hindi dapat iasa lamang sa kabanalan ng mga relihiyoso ang paniniguro na walang nakakalamang sa gobyerno. Tungkulin ng mga inihalal ng taumbayan na huwag bigyang daan ang kahit anong relihiyon na naghahangad na sakupin ang gobyerno.

Inasahan kong hindi kukunsintihin ng mga namumuno ang nangyaring rally. Oo nga’t hindi puwedeng yurakan ang karapatang mag-rally. Sang-ayon ako sa posisyon ng DILG na “maximum tolerance” sa karapatang iyon. Nguni’t iba ang pagbibigay respeto sa kanilang karapatan, iba ang pagsang-ayon sa baluktot nilang katwiran.

Kaya’t laking gulat ko nang kinunsinti pa ng ilang pulitiko ang nangyari. Ayon kay Senator Chiz Escudero, di dapat pakikialaman ang panloob na pamamalakad ng INC. Para raw itong problema ng isang pamilya na dapat ayusin sa loob ng pamilya.

Hello, Senator? May isang mamamayan ng Republika na nagngangalang Isaiah Samson na nagsasabing ang mga batas ng bayan ay nilabag. Ang tawag mo doon ay, "panloob na pamamalakad ng Simbahan"? Dagdag pa, hindi na nila kapamilya si Samson. Itiniwalag na nila.

Naku, ha? Hayaan na rin natin na abusuhin ng tao ang kanyang anak at asawa, panloob lang naman na away 'yun. At sakaling may gusto akong ipapatay, ipapagawa ko sa loob ng simbahan sa pari, ministro, o imam. 

Ayon naman kay Senator Grace Poe, “Ang mga tao na 'yan, ang dinedepensahan nila ay ang kanilang paniniwala.”

Hindi po, Senador. Ang mga taong 'yan ang nanghimasok sa gobyerno. Sa totoo’y naiintindihan ko kung ang mga pari at ministro ay gustong palakasin ang kanilang mga simbahan at sakupin ang gobyerno – di ako sang-ayon nguni’t naiintindihan ko. Ang hindi ko maintindihan ay ang isang inihalal na opisyal na handang isuko ang gobyerno sa anumang simbahan. Sumumpa kang ipagtatanggol ang Republika ng Pilipinas, ganyan mo ipagtatanggol?

Pinakasipsip itong Si VP Jejomar Binay, na binaligtad pa ang katotohanan. Tinanggap nang buong-buo ang linya ng INC na sila ang inaapi.

Baliktad po, VP Binay. Sinubukan po ng isang grupo na pilitin ang gobyerno na isantabi ang seryosong kaso laban sa kanila. Ganun po ba ang balak ninyo kung maging presidente na kayo? Na isuko ang Republika sa kahit sinong nagra-rally na may hawak na humigit kumulang na 2 milyong boto? 

Insulto ang panawagan nina Poe, Escudero, at Binay na magpaliwanag si Secretary De Lima sa mga nagra-rally na INC. Kaunting respeto naman po sa kapwa kawani ng gobyerno. Hiwalay po ang lehislatura sa ehekutibo. Ang boss po ni De Lima ay ang Presidente. Siya ang may karapatang magsabi kay Secretary De Lima kung papaano niya gagawin ang trabaho niya. At kahit Presidente pa man siya, wala siyang kapangyarihang sabihin kay De Lima na labagin ang batas.

Kapangyarihan ng social media 

Mabuti na lamang at may social media. Tawagin na akong OA, nguni’t tila nanganib ang ating demokrasya noong mga araw na iyon. Sa aking palagay, hindi dapat bumigay ang gobyerno. Nguni’t tila si Pangulong Aquino lamang at ang kanyang gabinete ang handang manindigan. Hindi ako nakakaseguro na kakayanin nilang lampasan ang walang-panalong sitwasyon na kinalalagyan ng gobyerno dahil sa rally ng INC.

Hanggang nabalitaan ko ang trending ng #DeLimaBringtheTruth sa twitter. Hanggang sa iba’t ibang paraan – text, Facebook, reaksyon sa mga online na pahayagan – naging malinaw ang sentimyento ng taumbayan.

Sa aking palagay, nagkaroon ng magandang resolusyon ang gulo dahil din sa aktibismo ng pagkarami-raming tumutol sa pagkilos ng INC at sa mga pulitikong kunsintidor.

Sa aking palagay, hindi naisip ng mga taga-INC at ng mga trapo ang kapasidad ng milyon-milyong Filipino na magbigay ng opinyon sa pamamagitan ng mga makabagong teknolohiya sa komunikasyon.

At ito, ang isa pang makabuluhang naganap. Ngayon ko pa lang nakita sa Pilipinas na may isang politikal sitwasyong nalutas ang social media sa paraang hindi inasahan ng mga kampong sanay sa pulitika at power play.

Makabuluhan ang mga huling araw ng Agosto para sa ating bayan. Dahil sa pinagsama-samang lakas ng netizens at sa paninidigan ng ilang opisyal, binuhay natin ang atin Konsitutsyon. Marami pang gagawin upang maging ganap ang prinsipyo ng paghihiwalay ng simbahan at estado. Harinawa’y ang nangyari nitong Agosto ay isang magandang simula. – Rappler.com

Isang pagpapamalas dapat ng kapangyarihan at lakas ang pagdagsa nila sa EDSA. Isang panawagan iyon sa mga kapatiran ng Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) na tutulan ang umano’y panghihimasok ng pamahalaan sa mga panloob na usapin ng matandang iglesia.

(READ: English version of #AnimatED: Iglesia ni Cristo's diminished clout in 2016)

Ipinaabot hanggang Cebu at Davao ang utos na magprotesta sa kalsada. Ambisyoso ang tinarget nilang laki ng pagtitipon: isang milyong miyembro. Dapat ay bawal sa mga taga-INC ang sumali sa mga rally; nakakagulo anila ito sa katiwasayan at kalagayan ng lipunan. Pero noong Huwebes, Agosto 27, pagkatapos ng kanilang lingguhang pagsamba, inutusan sila ng mga ministro na tumuloy sa Department of Justice para umano’y ipaglaban ang kanilang pananampalataya’t doktrina. “Lamay” daw ang ginagawa nila, pero pinagandang tawag lang iyon sa “rally” – ano pa’t meron silang stage, naglalakasang speaker, at mga tarpaulin.

Ipinagkalat ng mga lider nila na naglabas na ng warrant of arrest si Justice Secretary Leila de Lima laban sa 8 miyembro ng Sanggunian na inireklamo ng pinatalsik na ministrong si Isaias Samson Jr – na siya ring nagbunyag ng korupsiyong nangyayari sa loob ng iglesia. Katunayan, wala pa ngang naitatalagang tagausig na magsasagawa ng pangunang imbestigasyon dito.

Nakaangkla sa isang kasinungalingan ang panawagang magprotesta ang kawan ng INC. Hindi ito nakita o tinanggihan itong makita ng ilang mga miyembro. Patunay na maaring mahadlangan ng relihiyon ang pag-intindi at mapanuring pagpuna sa sitwasyon.

Sinulsulan ng mga ministro ng INC ang kanilang mga miyembro, umano’y espesyal na atensiyon ang ibinibigay ni De Lima sa illegal detention case na isinampa ni Samson. Anila, malinaw na pinanghihimasukan ng estado ang mga usapin sa loob ng Iglesia, at dapat ipamukha sa estado ang limitasyon ng kapangyarihan nito.

Inuusig daw sila, kaya iginigiit nila ang pagbubukod ng iglesia at estado. Nguni't ang mga tagapamuno nga ng Iglesia ang unang-unang nanghihimasok sa pamahalaan kapag inilalako nila ang bloc vote ng mga miyembro tuwing eleksiyon, kapalit ng pagpupuwesto sa gobyerno ng mga pinapaboran nilang tao.

Pagdating ng Biyernes at Sabado, ikalawa at ikatlong gabi ng kanilang rally, naharangan na ng Iglesia ang ilang bahagi ng EDSA. Lumobo ang kanilang bilang habang mistulang maaamong tupa ang mga alkalde na pinahaba ang bisa ng kanilang permit, at todo-pigil ang mga puwersa ng pambansang pamahalaan.

Tumiklop ang mga may kapangyarihan sa kabila ng paninirang-puri, kawalan ng galang, at panawagan pa ng INC na sumama sa kanila ang mga pulis para umano’y humingi ng hustisya para sa mga miyembro ng Special Action Force na namatay sa Mamasapano. Umaalingawngaw sa sabang ng Shaw Boulevard at EDSA ang “Hostess siya!” Katawa-tawa at kagulat-gulat na pinangunahan pa ng mga lider ng Iglesia ang pang-aalipusta sa justice secretary.

Mamalikmata ka sa nagaganap.

Para Linggo, Agosto 30, inaasahan ng mga taga-Iglesia na umabot sila sa 500,000 para mapuno at maharangan ang EDSA. Pero kinapos sila – hindi man lang nasakop ng kapatirang nagsirating ang kalahati ng highway na dati nang dinagsaan ng isa hanggang dalawang milyon noong People Power Revolution ng 1986.

Malinaw sa liit ng bilang ng nagsirating sa EDSA, may pagtatalo na sa loob ng dati’y buo at matibay na Iglesia. Walang ibang dahilan kung bakit manipis ang mga tao sa rally: may mga nawalan na ng gana, o kaya’y tumututol, sa loob ng Iglesia. Hindi ba ito isinulong ng mga lokal na ministro? Nanlalamig lang talaga ang mga miyembro?

Imposibleng hindi nakita ng mga politiko at kandidato ang magiging epekto sa 2016 ng mga maling hakbang ng liderato ng INC, pati ang tangka nilang manipulahin ang mga tao. Nililinaw namin: ang liderato ang nagkamali, hindi ang mismong Iglesia, dahil sila'y magkaiba.

Para sa mga tatakbo sa 2016, ito ang mga mensahe ng mga pangyayari:

• Hindi iisa ang isip ng mga miyembro ng malaking Iglesiang ito.
• Alamat na lang ang tinatawag na bloc vote ng INC sa 2016.
• Nawalan ng simpatya ang publiko sa mga pinuno ng Iglesia at sa kanilang ipinaglalaban – dahil nagsinungaling sila. Malinaw na hindi kalayaan ng relihiyon o hustisya ang hinahabol nila.
• Humina ang simpatya ang mga taga-media sa liderato ng Iglesia, dahil hinayaan nilang saktan at takutin ng mga miyembro nila ang mga mamamahayag.
• Hindi makabubuti ang hayagang ugnayan sa mga lider ng Iglesia dahil bumagsak na ang kanilang kredibilidad.

Maaaring makabangon pa ang INC mula sa krisis na ito, o tuluyan itong mawasak. Nakasalalay ang lahat sa magiging tugon ng kanilang mga mananampalataya.

Sa panahon ng social media, nakita na siguro ng 101-taong Iglesia na hindi na mapagtatakpan ang madidilim na lihim. Katibayan nito marahil ang patuloy na pagsusulat ni “Antonio Ebanghelista” – ang tagaloob na nagsiwalat ng mga anomalya sa INC – at ng marami pang Iglesia bloggers at mga gumagamit ng Facebook na hindi na tatahimik lamang. – Rappler.com

The EDSA mobilization was supposed to be an open demonstration of power and strength. It was a call to all Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) brethren to protest what was described as government’s meddling in the internal affairs of the century-old church.  

(READ: Filipino version of #AnimatED: Sa 2016, basag na boto ng Iglesia ni Cristo)

The call to mobilize Iglesia followers echoed as far away as Cebu and Davao, with an ambitious nationwide target of one million attending the protest actions.

INC followers are prohibited from attending rallies, seen as disruptive of the peace and the status quo. But on Thursday, August 27, after their usual church service, they were ordered to proceed to the Department of Justice to fight for faith and doctrine. They said it was a "vigil," when it was really just a euphemism for a rally, replete with a stage, blaring speakers, and tarpaulins.

Leaders spread the word that Justice Secretary Leila de Lima had issued an arrest warrant against the 8 Sanggunian or Council members named by expelled minister Isaias Samson Jr – the same man who spoke out against corruption within. In reality, no prosecutor had even been assigned to conduct a preliminary investigation.

The attempt to rally the flock was anchored on false information, which the less discerning failed or refused to see through – talk about religion being a barrier to genuine understanding and critical thought.

Agitating their followers, INC ministers said special attention was being given by De Lima to the illegal detention case filed by Samson. It was a clear case of the state interfering in the affairs of the Iglesia, they said, and this power must be taught to know its limits.

They cried persecution and demanded separation of church and state when, in fact, Iglesia leaders are known to flex their muscles and ask for appointments in government in exchange for their bloc vote every election season.

By Friday and Saturday, the second and third nights of their rally, the Iglesia had accomplished their own version of Occupy EDSA. Their numbers had swollen and local chief executives meekly provided them with extended permits, while the national government exercised maximum tolerance.

Never mind if there was slander, irreverence, and a call to join their ranks supposedly to demand justice for the fallen Special Action Force troopers in Mamasapano. “Hostess siya (She's a prostitute)!" reverberated in the intersection of Shaw Boulevard and EDSA, the comical yet egregious chanting led by supposed religious leaders who were publicly vilifying the justice secretary.

It was an incredible spectacle.

By Sunday night, August 30, Iglesia contingents were expected to flood and block the entire stretch of EDSA with 500,000. But the brethren who came were not enough to fill even half the highway that gathered up to about one to two million in the People Power Revolution of 1986. 

Clearly, dissension within what used to be a tightly-knit church had manifested yet again through numbers. Disenchantment and defiance could only be the explanation for the lower-than-expected turnout. Did the district ministers not work hard enough? Or was the response simply tepid?

Politicians and candidates in 2016 surely cannot miss the significance of the INC leadership’s missteps and attempts at manipulation. We stress the leadership, and not the church itself, for the two are separate.

From where we stand, these are the central messages for those eyeing a run in 2016:

• The Iglesia is not a homogeneous behemoth.
• An INC bloc vote will be more so a myth in 2016.
• Public sympathy for the Iglesia’s leaders and their cause has weakened because of the disinformation they resorted to. This was obviously not about freedom of religion or even justice.
• Media sympathy for the Iglesia leadership who allowed intimidation and harassment of some journalists has diminished.
• Open association with Iglesia leaders can be fatal because of credibility issues.

In the end, the INC as an institution may emerge either stronger or ruined, depending on how believers respond to this present crisis. 

In the age of social media, the 101-year-old church probably now sees that things aren’t what they used to be and that deep, dark secrets can no longer be repressed for too long. 

The continued existence of “Antonio Ebanghelista,” the INC's in-house and anonymous blogger; the numerous other Iglesia bloggers and Facebook users who have remained unknown and similarly disruptive are perhaps the best proof. – Rappler.com

When we talk about climate change, we talk about the science, the economy, the financing. The last 20 years of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations has always been about the numbers, the statistics, and the data. How much carbon emissions should we mitigate? How much resources do we need to adapt? How much will this cost our gross domestic product (GDP)?

Have we become to obssessed with numbers that we have forgotten what it has always been about — the people?

'Sinking communities'

Climate change is more than an economic and an environmental problem. At the heart of climate change is its impact on people. Small island-nations like Tuvalu, Kiribati, and the Marshall Islands are slowly disappearing. These are the lands their people lived in for thousands of years, that have defined who they are, that they have written songs and stories about. Who will these people be without their land? Where will they go?

We do not even need to go far to hear these stories. Here at home, many Filipinos have lost their lives because of extreme weather events. We have lost more than 6,000 in Haiyan alone. Farmers have been losing crops because of drought. Fisherfolks have had less fish catch due to warming waters. We also have sinking coastal islands in Surigao del Sur, Surigao del Norte, and Agusan del Norte with some residents already being forced to relocate. (READ: 72% of Filipinos 'very concerned' about climate change – survey)

According to the United Nations Human Rights Council in a UN Resolution last 2008, climate change “poses an immediate and far-reaching threat to people and communities around the world and has implications for the full enjoyment of human rights.” In addition, another study made by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in January 2009 said that global warming “will potentially have implications for the full range of human rights.”

The Philippines has become a strong supporter to include human rights in the climate agreement. Tony La Vina, negotiator from the Philippines, said, “Climate change is an issue of communities, peoples, individuals. It is about people experiencing this issue, not in 20 years, but now.” (READ: How the Paris climate deal can save lives)

“Climate change is creating human rights violations. A global climate regime without human rights in the center does not make sense,” La Vina added.

Small steps

In the Geneva Convention held last February, 18 countries pledged to promote and respect human rights in climate action. These countries were Chile, Costa Rica, France, Guatemala, Ireland, Kiribati, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Mexico, Palau, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Uganda, Uruguay, Samoa, and Sweden.

During the Bonn Ad Hoc Working group on the Durban Platform (ADP) negotiations last August 21 to September 4, there were more support in the inclusion of human rights in the agreement, one of the few positive developments in the negotiations. Bangladesh, Cote d’ivoire, and Norway were 3 countries who made the support.

On the other hand, the most controversial contention came from Saudi Arabia, who were more concerned about whether human rights meant lesbian, gays, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) rights and suggested deleting it from the agreement.

However, the Philippines remains positive. “With more countries supporting us, there is a strong chance that human rights will be included in the agreement,” La Vina said. (READ: The last 10 days: Setting a clear direction for the Paris climate talks)

Human rights and climate change have not always been linked together. However, as more and more people are affected, the more we realize that climate change does have a direct link with human rights. Our most basic right, the right to life, is always at risk because of these impacts. Developing countries know this as they live with these realities everyday. The question is, who is to be held responsible for these human rights violations? And how can they be held responsible? (READ: Disasters, climate change and leadership, Greenpeace head: Southeast Asia needs more climate leadership)

In June of this year, a historical decision was made by The Hague in favor of their citizens. Some 886 Dutch citizens decided to sue their government’s inaction over climate change. The court sided with the citizens, ordering the Dutch government to cut its emissions by 25%, in what people call a “landmark ruling.”

“You cannot ruin your world and accept that this climate change will have human rights infringement effects all over the world and then decide that there’s no role for the law to play,” Dutch lawyer Roger Cox told Pacific Standard.

With more countries agreeing to put human rights inside the climate agreement, will we see more human rights cases against governments’ inactions or will we see governments act before their citizens file cases against them? Is this why countries such as Saudi Arabia are very hesitant in including human rights as part of the agreement? (READ: A call for climate justice)

At the end of the day, the impacts of climate change are more than just numbers. The 6,000 people who died in Haiyan were 6,000 hopes and dreams, and 6,000 futures cut short. In the two decades of the climate negotiations, many human rights have been violated.

Are we ready to put humans at the center of the climate conversation? Or will we let developed countries just reduce them into numbers? - Rappler.com

Renee Juliene Karunungan, 25, is the Advocacy Director of Dakila. Dakila has been campaigning for climate justice since 2009. She is also a climate tracker for Adopt A Negotiator.

Mga 2009 noong nag-exposure trip kami ni Angel sa Lianga, Surigao del Sur, sa pakikipag-ugnayan sa Rural Missionaries of the Philippines at sa Promotion of Church People's Response.

Tumuloy kami sa ALCADEV alternative school sa komunidad ng mga lumad. Naging mainit ang pagtanggap nila sa amin. Walang kuryente at telebisyon doon, kaya hindi kilala ng mga tao si Angel (maliban dun sa isang bata na napanganga sa tapat niya dahil kamukha daw siya nung artista na nasa cover ng notebook nya).

Mahusay ang sistema ng paaralan. Sinasanay nila ang kanilang mga mag-aaral na hindi lang basta matutong magbasa, sumulat, at magbilang kundi magkaroon din ng siyentipiko at kritikal na pag-iisip, maunlad na kaalaman sa agrikultura, at oryentasyong maglingkod sa komunidad at bansa.

Doon, ang mga bata ay nakatira sa dorm ng paaralan para matiyak na hindi sila mahihirapang maglakad nang milya-milya sa bundok patungong paaralan, at matiyak rin na masustansya ang kanilang mga kinakain. Ang distansya, kakulangan sa nutrisyon, at kahirapan kasi ang mga karaniwang sumasagka para makapagtapos sila sa pag-aaral.

Sa umaga ay lumalahok sila sa produksyon para gamitin ang kanilang kaalaman sa siyentipikong agrikultura. Meron silang mga gulayan, palayan, maliit na palaisdaan, babuyan, manukan, filtration system na pinagkukuhanan ng malinis na tubig, at iba pang mga pinagmumulan ng kabuhayan para masustena ang pangangailangan ng mga mag-aaral at komunidad. 

Binibigyan din ng aralin ang mga magulang upang makasabay sila sa kaalaman ng kanilang mga anak. Ang mga kababaihan ay sinasanay din sa paggamot at pagpapaanak dahil malayo ang komunidad sa hospital.

Ang komunidad ng mga lumad ay may sariling mga pamamaraan din sa pamamahala. Iginagalang nila ang mga nakatatanda at may mga grupo ng matatanda na tumutulong sa pamamahala. Hindi man kasing kumplikado ng katulad sa atin, mas epektibo naman ito at nakikiisa ang mga tao rito.

Lahat ay sumusunod. Halimbawa nito ay ang pagbabawal nila sa pag-inom ng alak upang mapanatili ang kaayusan sa komunidad. Mula nang ipinatupad ito ay zero crime rate na sa komunidad.

Subalit sa kasalukuyan, nakakaranas na sila ng mga krimen tulad ng mga pagpaslang, panggagahasa, pangha-harass, at pagpapalayas ng mga miyembro ng militar. Ang mga dapat na nagangalaga sa kaayusan at tagaprotekta ay sila pang naghahasik ng kaguluhan at yumuyurak sa karapatan ng mga lumad.

Itinataboy ang mga lumad mula sa lupaing minana nila sa mga ninuno para pagminahan ito ng malalaking korporasyon. Kahit matanda o bata ay hindi iginalang. Wala silang patawad. Winasak nila ang tahimik, simple, at masayang pamumuhay ng mga lumad, maging ang kinabukasan ng mga bata at pagsisikap ng komunidad na umunlad. 

Nang mabalitaan ko ang nangyaring pagpatay sa executive director ng ALCADEV, sa isang lumad leader at sa isa pang katutubo, binalikan ko ang mga alaala ng Lianga. Binalikan ko ang masayahing mga mukha sa mga litrato. Ngayon ay napalitan na marahil ng hinagpis. 

Naalala ko pa nung pinagsalita kami isa-isa sa isang programa. Naubusan ako ng sasabihin kasi gabi-gabi naman halos ay may program kung saan pinagsasalita rin kami. Kaya ang nasabi ko, "Sana po ay magtagal pa kayo...(mental block)...sa mundong ito..." At nagtawanan sila nang malakas.

– Rappler.com

Si Angela Colmenares-Sabino, isang environmentalist, ay nakatatandang kapatid ng aktres na si Angel Locsin. Nakiisa ang aktres sa #StopLumadKillings campaign matapos mabalitaan ang kalagayan ng mga katutubong dati nilang binisita sa Mindanao.

In retrospect, Senator Grace Poe will be grateful about the events in the month of August. 

In particular, the filing of the disqualification case against her by Rizalino David and her blunder in her response to the Iglesia ni Cristo protest against Justice Secretary Leila de Lima unexpectedly tested her at an early stage of the presidential campaign. Even as she has not yet declared, Senator Poe has been subjected to criticism, hatred and vitriol. Her patriotism has been questioned; even her husband and children’s love for our country has been attacked.

Indeed, in August, Senator Poe suffered the equivalent of political hazing.

If she survived that month with her character intact, and most importantly with her family strong and united, she would now be ready for prime time. If she decides not to run, particularly because of her family and especially her young daughters, I would respect that. One should never sacrifice family ever even for a good cause. If Senator Poe however chose not to run, I would consider that a big loss for the country. We need good options for 2016 and she, alongside Mayor Rudy Duterte, would present an alternative to the two big anti-change and anti-reform establishment parties. While I am not ready to endorse her now or even to vote for her, I would like the option of doing that in May 2016.

It is imperative that Grace Poe’s campaign learns from the INC fiasco. It was not that she said the wrong thing; indeed, we have to respect everyone’s rights and especially on the exercise of religion.

What was incomplete in her statement is that she did not support Justice Secretary de Lima’s action of investigating a criminal complaint properly filed in the Department of Justice. By remaining silent on that, Senator Poe appeared to be siding with INC for political reasons.

What worsened matters is that Senator Chiz Escudero, expected to be her vice-presidential candidate, went all the way to support the INC by saying that Secretary de Lima should prioritize other investigations and leave INC alone with their internal problems. People conflated Escudero’s statement with Poe’s and concluded they are both pro-INC and are willing to openly disregard the rule of law for the sake of getting the group’s vote. 

The truth is only Duterte got it right; ironically it was the archenemy of de Lima who supported her while Binay went on record also to fully support INC and Roxas was balanced in asking INC to respect of the rights of others affected by the protest. The mitigating circumstance in the case of Poe, lost in the noise that followed her remarks, was that her statement was given in an ambush interview compounded further by an error committed by a campaign volunteer. 

The clear lesson here is for Senator Poe and her staff to be very disciplined from now on. No ambush interviews especially when there is a controversy; she should have access to experts who can give her instant advice; her staff must always be monitoring social media to warn her of the mood of people; and of course, no longer must it happen that an ordinary volunteer can upload critical material without clearance from the senior communications people in the campaign.

Elephant in the room

There is another thing that Senator Poe must do.

Aside from the legal issues on citizenship and residence that she must face, there is another elephant in the room in Poe’s campaign and that is Senator Escudero. Now, let me be clear: I believe Senator Escudero is the right choice as VP for Poe. They are good friends, they are compatible, and they trust each other. This is a recipe for a good partnership. 

Personally, my experience with Senator Escudero has always been positive, with him always being respectful of this simple professor (although I never taught him, I suspect my being a UP Law professor has earned me that treatment from this powerful politician). Nonetheless, it is clear to me that there must be a sharp distinction between the Poe and Escudero campaigns, with the latter subordinate to the former.

The truth is that Senator Escudero is not popular with some quarters that believe him to be a traditional politician, as a traitor (in the 2010 elections when he engineered the NoyBi campaign), and even as corrupt. To these quarters, Senator Poe is tainted by the association with Escudero and the experience with the INC controversy is positive proof of how Poe is just the puppet of her best friend in the Senate.

Having observed the steeliness and strong will of Senator Poe, I do not believe that she is a puppet of Escudero, but perception in politics is sometimes more important than reality. And definitely the perception is there and it will be hard for that to disappear unless the Poe campaign takes serious and visible steps to distance itself from the Escudero VP campaign.

The truth is that the presidential and vice-presidential elections are different elections. People cross over all the time and mix their votes. This will happen again in 2016.

There must, of course, be coordination between the two campaigns with Escudero’s subordinate to Poe’s. In practice, that means Senator Poe must always be taking the lead on policy statements and Senator Escudero must always wait until the latter has spoken before he weighs in to support her. 

Get more advisers

An important element of this distancing is that Senator Poe must widen her circle of advisers and not rely just on Senator Escudero’s views as sound as they must be.

Senator Poe’s response to the INC crisis made her sound like a traditional politician. She lost some votes because of that, some of which she will not be able to regain while others can be persuaded to return to her fold. She must now work hard to do that, and especially focus her efforts on the millennials who will be the majority of voters in next year’s elections. 

Among the declared and potential candidates, as we saw in her Nueva Ecija and Pangasinan stints, Senator Poe is the only one who speaks and understands the language of the millennials. She clearly has a big advantage over her rivals. But it would be a mistake to talk down to these young voters. She must inspire them and call on them to be excellent for the country.

But to do that, Senator Poe must be excellent herself and abandon the ways of the traditional, wheeling-dealing, and insincere traditional poltician.

The political hazing of Grace Poe came at a good time. It is my hope that her initiation into presidential politics did not embitter or destroy her. What does not kill you makes you stronger, as the saying goes. But only if you learn your lessons. – Rappler.com

The decision of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to withdraw his presidential bid confirms a three-cornered fight in the 2016 presidential elections.

The decision of the perceived strongman from Mindanao to flee from the fight leaves Vice President Jejomar Binay, Senator Grace Poe, and Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II as the serious contenders to slug it out in 2016. Other presidential bets could fill the political vacuum left by Duterte, but the presidency is a toss-up among Binay, Poe, and Roxas.

While Duterte felt that flight was the better choice over fight, the three contenders have chosen to throw their hats into the political ring, as indicated by the intense preparations their camps have been pursuing lately. Their strategies vary, but the ultimate goal is the same: the capture of Malacañang in 2016.

Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, son of the dictator that plunged the country into the morass of authoritarianism, was reported to have been mulling to run for the presidency instead of joining Binay as his running mate. But he is not taken seriously, as latest opinion polls did not show him visible on the political horizon. Whether he runs for president or vice president is immaterial.

Although Duterte did not explain his reasons for his decision to back out from the 2016 presidential polls, it was said that the anti-crime warrior did not appreciate the failure of those pledges of final and political support to materialize at his disposal. He deemed it prudent and smart to withdraw than slug it out in the open without the political wherewithal.

On the other hand, the three presidential contenders have been reportedly beefing up their war chests and organizing in the grassroots level to prepare their well-oiled political machineries in 2016. They are all in a fighting mode. But they have their own dilemmas. Unless they properly manage their difficulties, their candidacies would be doomed.

Whoever manages those difficulties emerges the winner in 2016.

Poe’s dilemma

Poe’s situation is probably the most unique among the serious presidential bets. Although she has yet to declare officially her decision to seek the presidency, she is already being hounded by lawsuits on the citizenship and residency issues confronting her.

Poe is the first presidential candidate in Philippine history to have renounced her Filipino citizenship and reacquired it to hold a political office. No previous presidential candidate was once an alien before she sought the presidency. Hence, she faces questions about her loyalty, aside from other issues like competence, integrity, and ability to withstand crises.

Critics said Poe’s renunciation of her Filipino citizenship on Oct. 18, 2001, the date she took her oath as United States citizen, constitutes an abandonment of her native country. It also constitutes a willful act that virtually disqualifies her from seeking the country’s highest political post. The presidency is different, according to critics, as they pointed out that even her family (husband and kids) remain American citizens.

Invoking the clean hands doctrine, critics said every presidential candidate could only seek the people’s mandate with clean hands. Any doubt on her loyalty to the country disqualifies automatically a presidential contender.

Poe’s legal strategy to meet head on the lawsuits filed by defeated senatorial candidate Rizalito David Jr. before the Senate Electoral Tribunal and the watchdog Commission on Elections remain unclear. Critics however averred that she faces rough sailing since her political enemies are using documents which she herself had signed, to back up their claims on her citizenship and residency issues.

At this point, the most plausible defense is for her lawyers to dribble those lawsuits, extend the discussions until the elections come, and convert all those residency and citizenship issues into political issues, which only the people would answer and decide through the ballot.

Raising the political issue doctrine is the surefire formula to counter her issue as a legitimate presidential contender. This is a tall order for her lawyers, but bringing those citizenship and residency issues beyond the legal parameters could also trigger political permutations, which nobody could fathom at the moment. The endgame could hurt her.

But this is the rational and sustainable strategy for Poe. Staying on a purely legal course could result in a political disaster for her. It could be said, however, that the viability of Poe’s quest for the presidency lies essentially in favorable decisions on those lawsuits. Nothing less than favorable would strengthen her presidential bid.

Binay’s political free fall

Not much has changed in the Binay camp. His political free fall continues, as his political enemies keep on filing one plunder charge after another against him. At the moment, Binay faces four separate plunder charges before the Office of the Ombudsman. That makes him the former or incumbent local official, who has the most number of plunder charges before the Office of the Ombudsman.

In brief, his presidential run is simply unsustainable. No voter in his right mind would elect somebody widely perceived as a crook. Binay’s political strategy is to keep in touch with the “unthinking masses,” who would still vote for him despite widespread perceptions that he is corrupt.   

His strategy to meet those corruption charges has remained unchanged, too, even as the last day of the filing of certificates of presidential candidacy fast approaches. Binay has remained steadfast in his refusal to answer those corruption charges before the Senate, opting to believe and insist that those charges were the handiwork of his political enemies.

Binay is now experiencing the dreaded subtraction syndrome, where his erstwhile political supporters are leaving him fast, as if they are a bunch of rats jumping out of the sinking Binay ship. It remains unclear on who would benefit from the political fallout currently taking place at the Binay camp.

It appears that Binay could not sustain his provincial sorties, as his contacts and supporters in those select provinces make a diaspora to the other political camps.

Centripetal forces at Mar’s camp

While Poe confronts legal questions on her citizenship and residency and Binay faces plunder charges, his subsequent political free fall, and centrifugal tendencies in his ranks, Roxas and his handlers have to manage a far different dilemma, which is the emerging centripetal tendencies in his camp.

While political supporters keep on knocking and arriving at his camp, the ugly face of political opportunism emerges. Opportunism and political attraction are two sides of the same coin. One goes with the other.

Roxas has become the center of political gravity after President Benigno Aquino III endorsed him as his successor. He is the proverbial sugar candy, where ants form a line to have a taste of its sweetness. Hence, the ruling Liberal Party would have to distinguish the genuine political supporter, who would work for his election, from those opportunists, who are simply riding on his political windfall and taking advantage of the party in power.

It is a pleasant problem nevertheless. The LP could be compared to a baseball team with excellent pitchers. The coach could hardly decide on the pitcher he would field on a certain day. It is not easy to manage and counter those opportunistic streaks in a party in power. 

To a large extent, every politician is an opportunist.

LP strategists have what could be considered modest goals for Roxas. They expect his popularity rating at 14 percent based on latest opinion poll to shoot up by two or three percentage points after the President’s endorsement. When it goes up to 20 percent by October, Roxas is in business.

Still, the political imperative for Roxas and the ruling LP is to solidify and conserve its energy and strength for the gruelling political run-up and campaign as its treads the tortuous route to electoral victory in 2016. They have to make serious judgment calls that could make or unmake their presidential candidate.

The flux and flow may favor them today but not tomorrow. Whom the gods would favor at the end of the day is always the question.– Rappler.com

Philip M. Lustre Jr. is a freelance journalist who covered the economic and political beats. He is now involved in book writing projects. Email him at ba.ipe.lustre@gmail.com.

It’s been a bloodbath for the Lumad, the collective name for the indigenous peoples of the southern Philippines island of Mindanao. On August 18, Philippine government soldiers allegedly 5 five members of a Lumad family – including children ages 13 and 17 – in Bukidnon province. On September 1, suspected members of a government-backed paramilitary group killed the director of a tribal school in Surigao del Sur province, along with two others.  Since May, hundreds of Lumads have taken refuge in an evacuation camp in Davao City after government forces overran their communities as part of an ongoing offensive against the communist New People’s Army (NPA) insurgency.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines has denied involvement in the Surigao killings and alleged that the 5 killed in Bukidnon were NPA guerrillas, which  the rebels disputed. President Benigno Aquino III said on Tuesday that “there is no campaign to kill anybody in this country,” in response to a question about the recent Lumad killings, but announced neither measures to protect them nor investigations into these most recent incidents.

But if Aquino’s response was disappointingly predictable, the public reaction has been anything but. Many Filipinos reacted with visceral anger, venting their frustration on social media at what they perceived as a fundamental government failure to protect one of the country’s most vulnerable communities. The hashtags #StopKillingLumads and #StopLumadKillings are trending on Twitter, one of the rare instances in which a human rights issue has captivated the country’s social media. Legislators have tapped those public sentiments by filing resolutions calling for congressional investigations.

Mindanao has long been a hotbed of the communist insurgency, fueled mainly by widespread poverty, military abuses, and the displacement of tribal communities by mining companies, plantations, and other large business operations. Many of these businesses use the military and authorized paramilitaries to encroach upon the Lumads’ ancestral domains. The recent incidents were just the latest in decades of conflict in the southern tribal areas.

The Aquino administration has a responsibility to hold accountable whoever might be responsible for these and other abuses in Mindanao. The government needs to make clear that the military, paramilitaries, and the companies that underwrite the projects linked to these human rights violations will no longer enjoy impunity. News coverage, social media outrage, and congressional investigations won’t change anything unless the government stops turning a blind eye to the sufferings of the Lumads and starts prosecuting their abusers. – Rappler.com 

Carlos Conde is a researcher for the Asia Division at Human Rights Watch.

The Faculty of Arts and Letters (AB) of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) suspended the haircut and hair color policy last year after a campaign was launched by students. But the AB administration has recently re-implemented the policy.

The hair policy is part of the University of Santo Tomas’ Good Grooming Policy under the University’s Code of Conduct and Discipline (PPS Number 1027). It is stated that, "Good grooming includes the wearing of the prescribed college uniform, the authorized shoes, the ID, the male haircut and other considerations that are similar to these."

The hair policy reads, “Unless otherwise allowed by the administrators of the particular Faculty/College/Institute/ School for specific reasons, male students are not allowed to sport long hair. Hair should not touch the collar of the uniform.

The use of hairpins, pony tails, headbands, etc by male students is not allowed either.

There is no mention of a prohibition on hair color in the handbook. 

How it started 

However, AB students had been approaching me, reporting that they were being told by security guards in the building to dye their hair black.

Some also reported that the guards were taking their identification cards, and that the students were being ordered to go to the dean’s office. Alarmed by this, the Union of Journalists of the Philippines-UST (UJP-UST) tried to confirm the implementation of the policy, and found out that indeed, it would again take effect in AB.

 UJP-UST, in order to give voice to Thomasians opposing the said policy and to inform people of what the students think, launched last week the #NoToUSTHairPolicy photo movement. 

The student movement against UST’s hair policy is more than about students “ranting” for their supposed “vanity and narcissistic desires.”

It is seen as an issue of the lack of consultation with students – them being the primary stakeholders of the institution – in the policy making of the university. More than that, it has a clear link to the fascist or repressive character of the system of education here in the Philippines. 

Before enrolling in UST, Thomasians would have to pledge agreement with the policies imposed by the university, or they would not be allowed to proceed in the enrollment procedures.

Students have no choice but to comply with the policies at hand, without questioning or having a say about them. It is appalling how students are dictated to “just follow rules,” no matter what the substance of the rule is, and “keep their opinions to themselves,” which is observably a way of teaching them uncritical submission and blind obedience.

By complying with the university’s haircut and hair color policy, students, most especially those in the College of Fine Arts and Design (CFAD) and UST’s liberal arts college, the Faculty of Arts and Letters, would have no freedom to express themselves through their hair color or hair length.

The policy also limits the promotion of student diversity, and can further limit how students who are part of the LGBTQ sector would want to express their gender.

Not a measure of one's academic performance 

Hair color and hair length do not, in any way, affect a student's academic performance, and these surely do not determine an individual's morality. The university being a Catholic institution would also not be considered a justification since there is no Papal Encyclical, Apostolic/Pastoral Exhortation, or anything written in the Bible which states that a person is immoral or less of a person because of his hair color or hair length. Having short hair (for men) or having black or "earth-colored" hair does not equate to being morally good. "Even Jesus Christ had long hair," students would even point out. This is a clear manifestation that both hair color and hair length do not define one’s being.

Moreover, it is misleading to reason out that students must look “decent”– for there is no definite image of how a decent person must look like.

Also, the meaning of the word “decent” itself would be subjective to how people would define it.

The idea that these students would eventually need to have “proper grooming” once they enter the corporate world should also be crossed out since there are people with corporate jobs having different hair color, long hair, or various hair styles, and these do not affect their performance in their work.

Unncessary policies? 

The more people try to justify such unnecessary policies, the more the students would conform and think it’s alright to obey without critical thinking.

To dismiss such issues and identify them as “petty” would result to students becoming indifferent and apathetic to all other issues concerning them. Furthermore, students will not be able to take part in solving larger and more important issues if they cannot solve simple ones such as these. – Rappler.com 

Maria Denise Paglinawan is a 3rd year journalism student in UST. She is founder and chairperson of UJP-UST. 

Earlier this May, the Philippine government proudly proclaimed the country’s improved performance in this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report (TTCR).

At 82^nd in 2013, the country jumped eight notches, making it the Philippines’ most improved ranking since 2007.  

Also, the Philippines has experienced sustained record growth in domestic and international tourism, both in terms of sheer number and increased revenue. Earlier this year, the Department of Tourism (DOT) reported a 3.25% increase from 4.68 million in 2013 to 4.83 million tourist arrivals in 2014, marking the fifth consecutive year of record international arrivals – but this was also part of an overall 18-year trend interrupted only by global political, economic and health crises. 

There is indeed every reason to hope for the industry’s potential growth.

The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) estimates that tourism directly contributed 4.2% of national GDP, or PHP 533 billion, in 2014. It projects that this direct contribution will grow 5.6% annually to PHP 964 billion by 2025. Together with government’s reinvigorated attitude and vision towards tourism promotion, the DOT will still likely attain record arrivals this year and the next, even as it falls short of the projections indicated in the National Tourism Development Plan. 

Congratulations are definitely in order. Key reforms initiated by previous and present DOT Secretaries, and those enshrined in the Tourism Act of 2009 (Republic Act No. 9593), have helped the industry reach where it is today. 

However, fully understanding our progress, and properly formulating policy, require deeper analysis into the context of the achievement.

Our understanding of our performance must consider the question of capacity. An examination of the top rung of the TTCR rankings would show that they, by and large, are occupied by developed countries that have the resources and instituitions to devote to tourism and its supporting or related industries.

Figure 2. Summery of Top Rankings in the 2015, 2013, and 2011 WEF Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report

There appears to be a correlation between the level of economic development and tourism rankings. Indeed, a wealthier country is able to develop infrastructure, provide social services, improve the quality of education and skills of its people, and protect natural and cultural heritage that support the tourism industry.

Figure 3.  TTCI score and GDP per capita from the 2012 WEF ASEAN Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report

This was an observation specifcially noted in a special 2012 WEF TTCR for ASEAN, that “in 2011… the first 34 countries – and 41 of the top 50 – are advanced economies, including Singapore, the only ASEAN member to belong to that group.” In the current ranking, using World Bank income data, twelve middle income countries make it into the top fifty, with China (17) leading the pack. But all except one (Indonesia [50]) were classified by the World Bank in 2013 as upper middle income countries (with an income per capita of USD 4,126 to 12,745).

We think that it is in this context – evaluating our performance against our economic capacity or potential, and within the context of the Southeast Asian Region – that we can obtain a fairer, more nuanced assessment of our own ranking over time. 

Figures  4– 7: Per Capita Gross Domestic Product and WTTC Rankings of ASEAN Countries (2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015)*

Source: World Bank and WEF TTCRs for 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015

Let us disregard for now the outsized performance of Singapore and Brunei, which as micro-states, present different developmental contexts. Focusing on the other five economies – excluding the Philippines – we find that their TTCR performances correlate to their levels of economic development.  

The Philippines however displays a different pattern.

Collective effort

In 2009, its TTCR rank and GDP per capita rank coincided, placing it between Vietnam and Indonesia. That pattern however breaks in 2011 and 2013, with Vietnam outranking the Philippines despite having a lower GDP per capita. 

We posit that, during that period, the Philippines was performing below the capacity of its economy to support the growth of the tourism industry. While the situation was rectified in 2015, the Philippines was only marginally better, with a TTCR score higher than Vietnam by 0.03 points, despite having a GDP per capita higher than Vietnam’s by 38%, with Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia leading the pack.

In sum, our tourism performance is improving, but it is not yet at a level at which our economy should allow us to perform. Indeed, to be truly competitive, we should even be performing above that level. That is where dedicated government commitment should take us.

Given its potential to generate opportunities and investment throughout the country, tourism has always been identified as one of the key priority areas of the Philippine government. But improving the state of the industry should go beyond tourism marketing and promotion, but also to allocating and devoting the proper resources to support other aspects of development that support tourism – strengthening land use planning and tourism standards regulation, establishing tourism enterprise zones, building the airports and seaports, improving public services, among many others.

In the proposed P3 trillion budget for 2016, P 2.95 billion will be allotted for the Department of Tourism (DOT), almost 30% higher than last year’s budget.

The DOT’s attached agencies – the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) and the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) among others – have modest budgets of their own.

But supporting tourism goes beyond the core tourism agencies.

An examination of the WEF criteria would show that it takes as much investments in infrastructure, health services, education, and ensuring that there is a stable business environment to drive the competitiveness of the country’s tourism industry and in turn, be a significant contributor to the economy.

The collective effort of other government agencies besides DOT, like the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Department of Transportation and Communications, the Department of Trade and Industry, and even the Department of Finance, is a step toward achieving this goal. – Rappler.com

*Myanmar and Laos were included in the 2015 TTCR for the first time, while Brunei was excluded.

Mark Evidente is President of TwoEco, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in tourism development.  He is both a lawyer and licensed environmental planner by profession, and a senior lecturer at the University of the Philippines’ Asian Institute of Tourism. He graduated from both Yale University and the University of the Philippines, and had worked with Sen. Dick Gordon in drafting the Tourism Act of 2009. Vanessa Pepino is a research associate at TwoEco, Inc., and is a graduate of political science from De La Salle University.

The new Marcos supporters, according to Bongbong Marcos, want to bring back the time of his father when everything was peaceful and in order. He says that even the older people tell him, "Buti pa noong panahon ni Marcos, maginhawa ang buhay...(It's better during the time of Marcos, life was good...)"

He's not lying about what they say. When I was young during the Marcos years, it wasn't unusual to hear adults praise the Marcos administration for maintaining "peace" in the streets and the creation of a new and better republic.

"Mabuti pa nung panahon ni Marcos, tahimik," said our household help when I was growing up. I knew better than to confirm this with my parents. They were wise enough not to speak about that administration, because during those years any talk about the government could mean one's death.

A different story

Anyone who wasn't in denial during that time knew there was a different story unfolding at night. A far cry from the flowery songs and proclamations of this "new republic," young people were being rounded up, tortured, raped, and killed. Abductions and disappearances where commonplace and all one needed to do was to whimper something not so positive about the administration to land a place in jail.

It's easy to be fooled by outward appearances. Look at modern-day North Korea – filled with citizens who outwardly show a godlike worship for their leader but really fear for their lives and being imprisoned for merely looking at images of their "good leader" the wrong way. It's the same as Manila was then, its clean streets and seemingly bustling city in the seventies and eighties, boasting rapid development and international acclaim.

The ones who were brave enough to speak up were incarcerated and killed. If you didn't know anybody who spoke against the Marcoses in those days, it's because silence was the only defense against that cruel dictatorship.

The price of opposition

Archimedes Trajano was a young student who questioned Imee Marcos during a Kabataan Barangay meeting. He was abducted and killed at 21 years old. He was only one example of what it was like to oppose that administration even in the most minor of ways.

Amnesty International has estimated that during Martial Law, 70,000  people were imprisoned, 34,000 were tortured, and 3,240 were killed.  We are still feeling the effects of large-scale corruption and human rights violations to this day.

To the new Marcos youth who think the Marcoses are so cool, handsome, glamorous, and deserve their place in government, just ask around. Ask your parents. If you don't get an answer, ask your friends' parents. Unless they benefitted from the Marcos regime or were hiding under a rock, they know something horrible was happening after dark. Once you hear the stories, it will be something you will hope will never happen to our country again.

An imperfect democracy

I can say this now because we are not under martial law, and even if our democracy has faults, it isn't a dictatorship that would get me arrested for saying the Marcoses are still the Philippines' greatest and most shameless offenders.

But guess what will happen if they ever reach that kind of power again? If this intelligent, handsome man charms you into believing that his father did everything right?

Right now we are already the laughing stock for our collective amnesia, as evidenced by the comical cast of the recent Obama state dinner. We are fond of returning crooks to their posts and electing corrupt former presidents into mayoral positions. A minority religious sect has been able to strong arm our government by way of illegal demonstrations and political favors.

We are just the kind of country where ignorance may cause history to repeat itself, when the son of a cruel dictator has the audacity to say, "There is nothing to apologize for. Should we say sorry for the roads built?"

These are not bygones

Bongbong Marcos is like a holocaust denier. He has no choice because admitting that one's family is vicious and merciless beyond human comprehension would make them question the ease of their own lives. It is more convenient to believe these collateral damages as necessary. "May nasagasaan (Some were stepped on)," said Bongbong, as if all those who were harmed were simply a means to an end.

These are not bygones to forgive and forget. First of all, to forgive, there must be an admission of offense. To forget, there cannot be a whitewashing of their offenses in contrast with the scars in victims' accounts and those of their fractured families. We are still feeling the effects of the Marcoses' corruption. His family members and cronies still hold positions in government and business. The Marcos wealth is still hidden and growing.

Fortunately, the wiser ones among us know not to listen to such fables and convenient truths. Those who survived moved on to tell their stories and became as productive as those who didn't make it wanted to be.

Unfortunately, the impressionable ones among us might actually believe that the Marcos years were a wonderful time, if the flowery images are to be believed and the horrific stories are still absent from our children's history books.

Find the truth

The difference is that now we have an interconnected world. Everything can be looked up, offenses can be easily unearthed. There are online accounts of murder, rape, torture, and barbecue sticks being shoved into penises as a means of interrogation.

Social media has brought me to your screen to tell you that even if I'm not that old to have been an activist during the Marcos years, I still remember a world of terror and fear. I know that my classmates' brothers and fathers disappeared, and their mothers were raped for speaking up. That many of the people who fled to the US during those actually did so for their own lives. I've met them here. Their stories are not pretty. Many remain silent, just like survivors of war.

In times of doubt about whether an offense happened or not, do you ask the victim or the perpetrator? Do you ever expect a cruel person to say they are wrong?

A brief look into history will show the truth. Bongbong is right about that. And it is our study of it and our empathy with the pains of others that will keep us fighting against the possibility of that happening again.

The Marcos years were dark and evil – not bright and good as some were led to believe.

As they say, those who don't heed the lessons of history are bound to repeat it. Or in much simpler terms:

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Let's stop being fools, please. Let's tell our young people the painful stories of the Marcos years before it's too late. - Rappler.com

I recently directed traffic for three hours on the block where I live. Scratch that from my bucket list.

Near the end of what seemed like an endless parade of hotheads and tail fumes, I wanted to pee and was thirsty at the same time. I wanted to sit but to leave was impossible.

Believe me, I tried. Walked up to Ayala to see how bad it was, and realizing it was terrible, I thought to just raise my collar and slink away to my apartment and my cats and couch.

But what would that have made me? A coward who rages when he can, and escapes when he can.

Here are 7 things I learned manning Rufino Corner San Agustin in Makati until midnight:

1. There are some people you can help, and there are some people who are just screwed.

2. Either way, it's all temporary.

3. Most people are understanding when you impede their progress, but only when they see that you have nothing to gain.

4. Other people are just selfish pricks.

5. Sometimes, all you can really, really do is make sure that someone has an opening.

6. VOLUNTEERING IS ANYTHING BUT A THANKLESS JOB. People can be appreciative, and hopefully, will pass on the virtue of being a man for others. Anyway, there's always Facebook for you to tell people what you did, in the hopes that they can do the same. And that before you criticize the men who stand in our streets, in the sun, in the rain, in the smoke and the heat for 8 hours, you might stop and think whether you've done your part as the solution.

7. If you want to be better than Mother Teresa, have a bottle of water in your car, and give it to the next man in uniform who whether or not you think he's an idiot is really thirsty. (It might make his bladder burst, but he probably needs a break from that goddamn yellow box once in a while.) - Rappler.com

Carlos Garchitorena is marketing manager for the Manila Symphony Orchestra

This article was originally posted on the author's Facebook page. This article is published with permission from the author.

Upon landing in Beijing as a Philippine delegate to the APEC Voices of the Future (VOF) program, I expected our schedule to be flooded with lectures and seminars consisting of chief executive officers (CEOs), heads of state, and cabinet officials exchanging ideas on investment and trade.

This was not entirely the case.

Throughout our stay, we were fully immersed in Chinese culture, treated to the most exotic and gastronomic Chinese cuisine and were toured around famous landmarks that showed off China’s claim to civilization. It was completely remarkable.

The APEC VOF program was held in November 2014 and winter was just kicking in. There were times when we had to wake up as early as 4:30 am, to get to our destination for the day.

One of my most memorable experiences was when we trekked the Great Wall of China in the freezing cold. It was the most grueling and satisfying climb of my life. Now that I look back on that experience, I do not even recall being extremely tired.

All I can remember now is the bonding with all of the youth delegates and admiring the breathtaking scenery.

Building bridges across cultures

The APEC VOF is an annual youth program that gathers 150 young leaders and educators from the 21 APEC Economies.  

Being an official Philippine representative in last year’s event was truly a remarkable experience. It was as an amazing chance to engage with other youth delegates in both a formal and informal setting about political, social and cultural issues.

I was delighted to be given this rare opportunity to discuss our perspectives on the APEC vision with CEOs, top policy makers and ABAC members. Through this program, we were able to attend the APEC CEO summit and witness world leaders and businessmen have open discussions on trade, investment and economic growth. It was inspiring to see that the majority of those who asked questions during the open forum were the youth delegates rather than the CEOs and businessmen.

On the last night of the program, each delegation had to perform its own cultural presentation. Each delegation was vying to be the best yet routing for the others to succeed as well. It was a refreshing way of sharing each other’s culture and forging friendships.

Cooperation and camaraderie rang throughout the entire night. Finally, when we gave each other tokens that symbolized each of our countries, we were showing to the world that we symbolized hope and unity, an end to all kinds of disputes. 

The APEC VOF program in Beijing was a melting pot of different cultures and perspectives. We all came from different backgrounds and followed different paths in life, yet we had a common goal - to help build a better future for our countries.

Being part of the APEC VOF gave me a deeper understanding of the importance of APEC and why it is necessary for countries to get together and find a common platform on economic issues.

After my APEC VOF experience in China, I realized that the host country has the enormous advantage in showcasing all that it has to offer in terms of people, culture, and economic viability, but that’s not all.

This coming November 2015, the Philippines will be hosting the APEC CEO summit. In that summit, world leaders, fortune 500 CEOs, top businessmen, and a multitude of delegates will get a first hand taste of what the Philippines is all about.

The last time the Philippines hosted the APEC CEO summit was way back in 1996 when Fidel V. Ramos was still President. So many things have happened to our country since then. This time around, we call the shots on how to showcase our country as an emerging economy viable for investment.

This November 2015, let’s show the world what we’ve got. - Rappler.com 

This year, APEC VOF will be held on November 12 to 19 in Manila. By working and learning together, APEC Voices’ teams share their views on the APEC vision with world leaders, senior officials and even chief executive officers. Applications are now open for Philippine youth delegates and educators. To download the application form and other program details you may visit www.apec2015ceosummit.ph/voices2015. Deadline of submission of applications is on September 18, 2015.

Angelica Cañete is a graduating student from De La Salle University Manila (DLSU) with a degree in Applied Economics. She also has an EDGE certificate of business management from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. She was an official Philippine delegate to the APEC 2014 Voices of the Future program in Beijing, People's Republic of China. Angelica was part of numerous organizations in DLSU and was a volunteer for events such as the Philippine Model Congress and the De La Salle Worlds 2011-2012 (World Universities Debating Championship). She loves to travel and explore new places.

Ok, it is only once in a couple of decades that the UP Maroons are able to achieve feats that are unexpected of them. So there is every reason to be part of the merriment over what the old alma mater’s basketball team had done: win two straight games.

The last time we had something (better) than this was when Benjie Paras, Ronnie Magsanoc, and Eric Altamirano led the Maroons to a UAAP championship victory in 1986. This was doubly significant for many of us because the dictator was ousted. When we residents of the historic Narra Residence Hall got drunk that night at the grandstand, savoring the alcohol that was freely flowing all over (they said then it was fully paid by  President Edgardo Angara), we were also celebrating Marcos’ unceremonious and pitiable departure from power.

We all had that feeling that we were both getting out of a double Stygian nightmare: UP as the perennial basketball loser and the more than a decade of authoritarian rule. That was truly a great time to celebrate.

Yet by the time the alcohol had completely permeated our blood streams, we became nostalgic of the Maroons of yore – perennial losers to everyone save the NU Bulldogs (and this even occasionally). We felt sad because in a way, a long tradition – that of losing – had also come to an end.

For those long years of getting used to it, we also developed, how would you call it – coping mechanisms to rationalize why it seemed the Fates (God?) were always unfair to our Maroons.

The most popular was to taunt the fans of the winning teams. In my time (gosh, I sound really old!), one could not take advance Physical Education classes unless one passed swimming and the perennially-dull-but-easy-to-pass PE 1. Apart from retraining ourselves on how to brush our teeth or wash our faces, PE 1 also required us to attend all the Maroons' basketball games – at far away Rizal Memorial Stadium!

As soon as the opposing team began to increase its lead, their fans would begin to mock us with such lines as – “Matalino pero kulelat! Hoy, saan nyo ba ginagamit yang utak 'nyo? (You're intelligent but last-placers. Hey, how do you use your brains?)” They were making fun of the portrait (a true one then) of UP students as nerds whose intelligence never extended into the rough world of sports, where real men – and women – were tested to their limits.

The less courageous among us withdrew farther into the density of their thick eyeglasses or slowly scampered out of the stadium especially after attendance was taken. But there were a few of us who fought back.

The one riposte I can never forget was our response to what these hicks heaped on us. It went like this: “Mga p___ ina  ninyo, dadating din ang araw na ga-graduate  kayo, at pagdating ng araw na iyon magtatrabaho kayo para sa amin! Pagdating ng araw na 'yan, tingnan natin kung sino ang tunay na matatalino!!” ("You SOBs, on the day you graduate, and when time for you to find work, you will be slaving under us! When that time comes, let's see who are the more intelligent ones!")

At that point the frenzied emotions that were  associated with sports, the bellicose madness  that placed sports alongside wars as a means of rallying the masses, would also envelope us. These bastards insulted the alma mater, so now they had to be put in their proper place. It did not matter if you were a reactionary frat-man, a math wizard, a budding Home Economics expert, a capitalist-in-training, or an activist helping the Communist Party recover its presence inside campus. We were all kapit-bisig as we tried to outmatch the other side with our bile. 

(As an aside – this sense of superiority also explained why a man of the masses like Lean Alejandro would shamelessly proclaim that “There are only two schools, UP and others!”)

In that brief moment, after being hit with an insult from the other side, we temporarily set aside our differences and reminded them who we were: the national-elite-in-training lording over the hoi polloi.

This was our consuelo de bobo (consolation), something that made us feel good after we left the Rizal Stadium with the Maroons trailing a school beside Quiapo by 30 points. It was a battle lost, but by the end of the war, we UP graduates would dominate.

Mao Tse Tung had one of those metaphors that every UP activist memorized even in their dreams – that of turning a bad thing into a good thing. Our Maroons lost their games a lot, but we continued to have that limpid feeling that in the end, everything will be right in the world.

For UP rules that world. Then Benjie Paras and company changed all that. We began to entertain the possibility of a UP dynasty. That fantasy lasted for a year and we were back to our losing ways. Many of us heaved a sigh of relief. The tradition has been restored, the normalcy of losing has returned to the Diliman Commune.

Sadly, the elitism that made us comfort ourselves also began to erode, and in a few years the alma mater was producing graduates no different from those who finished in the schools beside Quiapo. – Rappler.com

Patricio N. Abinales is an OFW.

Editor's note: Celebrity host KC Montero earned the ire of many netizens on Thursday, September 11, after he said in his radio program that mothers should cover their breasts when breastfeeding in public. (READ: Should mothers cover their breasts while breastfeeding?)

I actually wasn’t able to listen to your banter on your radio program about breastfeeding mothers to cover their breast while doing so. But it has now become a talk of the town especially for the breastfeeding community.

Obviously, you’ve pissed them off! And to quote one of your tweets: “We are not against public breastfeeding, but while I believe that is every mother’s right to breastfeed wherever and whenever you want, I just feel that discretion is also necessary to not make other people around you feelawkard or uncomfortable, and to stop perverts from staring.” 

Well as you’ve said, you are entitled to your own opinion. Granted. But let me say to you, your opinion is nothing but hypocritical, insensitive and misogynistic.

And please stop saying you are not against breastfeeding in public because you are. Stop saying you know their rights because I am pretty sure you don’t.  As you’ve said on your radio program, “they breastfeed as if they own the mall.” Stop saying anything against breastfeeding because you know nothing.

Listen.

I am also a man. I am actually a “breastfeeding Tatay (father)” with our 4-week old Baby Boy.

And I feel you, Bro. But I don’t understand where your stance is coming from. Well, that’s why I find your statement hypocritical.

I find it hypocritical that someone coming from an industry that promotes decadency, where boobs are indiscriminately being exposed to the public from TV to print and women are treated as commodities, is saying women should cover their breasts while feeding their children.

Well, for your information, mothers do not breastfeed publicly because they merely want to show their breasts. It is not even to commercialize themselves. It is actually not a big deal to them because they are just feeding their babies. It is normal.

Why should it be a big deal to you? Why is it offensive to you seeing a mother feeding her child?

The problem lies on how you see woman’s breasts and how you respect them. And to see or associate breasts in a sexual manner is ignorant and misogynistic. Even Pope Francis has no problem with a mother breastfeeding next to him. In fact, he encourages mothers to feed their babies in church whenever it is needed. 

Other people may have an opinion same as yours. They are even more insensitive to the breastfeeding mothers. And it hurts us husbands who fully support our wives in this journey.

Our children need nourishment. It hurts us when we see our wives being humiliated by authorities, by strangers, known personalities like you, and even our own families because they opted to breastfeed publicly without covering their breasts.

Breastfeeding mothers deserve respect. They do nothing wrong. They are actually giving the best to our children through breastfeeding. 

Just like what a friend of mine who is also a proud breastfeeding mother said, “Basically a woman’s body is not sinful but if it made you sin, then it is your fault not the woman’s.” The choice to cover or not rests on the mother and not on onlookers.

It is not about being inconsiderate to others. In case you don’t want to see breasts of a breastfeeding mother, then go away. Nursing mothers don’t breastfeed in public for your pleasure. 

You are one of the reasons why advocates work so hard to normalize breastfeeding. Breastfeeding isn’t awkward. It supposed to be normal. Breasts were created to provide nourishment to an offspring. It is not just for you sexual pleasure.

I even feel more proud seeing my wife breastfeeding our baby in public. I want her to breastfeed in public without a cover because we want to make breastfeeding a normal thing in our society, an acceptable way of nourishing our child.

We know we have a lot more things to do to make other people realize our advocacy – to normalize breastfeeding. Our society needs it. In a country where people are suffering from extreme poverty, breastfeeding is one of the greatest things to do to nourish our child. And we hope that time will come when people are smiling instead of getting annoyed or offended when they see breastfeeding mothers.

In our case, as we also have a child who happens to be a boy, I want the values, the respect for woman and her body to be instilled in our child, so that when he grows up, he will not simply be distracted or offended by a woman breastfeeding her child. 

Lastly, I hope you learned from mothers who expressed their sentiments through Twitter and Facebook. They are deeply hurt by your words. You’ve caused them pain. This confirms why your opinion is not just your own opinion – because you are a public icon. You are supposed to be sensitive with what you say. Remember, as a celebrity your voice is louder than us. And I hope you use this opportunity to promote goodwill to our generation.– Rappler.com

Jaime de Guzman is a 25-year-old father. He is a member of the following support groups: Breastfeeding Pinays, Babywearing Philippines, Modern Cloth and Nappying Philippines, and Gentle Birth Philippines.

Abortion is a reality for Filipino women. The illegality of abortion has not deterred Filipino women from inducing unsafe abortion. It has only made it dangerous for them where estimates in 2012 show that 610,000 women resorted to abortion, over 100,000 women were hospitalized and 3 women die every day due to unsafe abortion complications.

Just this August, Maria (not her real name), a 21-year old rape victim who became pregnant as a result of the rape with a child with dwarfism condition, died a day after giving birth due to childbirth complications.  Her mother lamented that her daughter might be alive today had her daughter been able access to safe and legal abortion.

I have interviewed many poor women who divulged risking their health and lives by self-inducing abortion using catheters or dispensing drugs without proper dosage and supervision eventually suffering complications.  

Such cases are common in our country where over half of the pregnancies are unintended, and about 17% and one-third of the unintended pregnancies end in abortion nationwide and in the National Capital Region, respectively, and where two-thirds of those who induce abortion are poor.  

Views, religion, and abortion 

The 2004 national survey on abortion showed that nearly 90% of those who induce abortion are Catholic. Regardless of Church teachings, Filipino women still resort to abortion with the poor, rural and young women being the most vulnerable to self-induced unsafe abortion.

Although the Reproductive Health (RH) Law provides humane, non-judgmental, compassionate post-abortion care and, a law known as RA 8344 provides for stabilizing patients in serious cases such as when a woman is bleeding due to complications from self-induced unsafe abortion, making abortion safe and legal is the best means for women who resort to abortion to be assured that their health and lives are not at risk. 

 Even with RA 8344, the problem, in the past years and until now, is that some medical health care providers erroneously deny life-saving procedures even in cases of intrauterine fetal death where therapeutic abortion is needed to save the life of the woman.  

In cases of ectopic pregnancy where the pregnancy occurs outside the uterine cavity, surgery is necessary to save a woman’s life. Within a few hours from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, the abdomen becomes rigid and the woman goes into shock. Ectopic pregnancy is a life-threatening, emergency condition requiring immediate surgery.

Expressing negative views on abortion is dangerous because it maintains the status quo where many medical providers threaten women with prosecution in cases of intrauterine fetal death, spontaneous abortion, abortion due to trauma from intimate partner violence and self-induced abortion.  

As a consequence of these threats of prosecution, women end up dying because they delay going to hospitals or do not seek emergency medical care at all.

Judgmental views about known abortifacients such as Cytotec must be eliminated because these are lifesaving medications necessary for the evacuation of the uterus for incomplete abortion, missed abortion, intrauterine fetal death, severe eclampsia, labor induction, post-partum hemorrhage, and cervical ripening prior to obstetrical/gynecological procedures such as therapeutic curettage and insertion of intrauterine devices.

Abortion and law

The current criminal law on abortion is an outdated colonial law that violates the rights to health and life of Filipino women.  

It was a direct translation of the old Spanish Penal Code of 1870s that used to criminalize abortion—in the time of the Spanish friars and conquistadores.  Without knowing the full consequences of such a harsh and restrictive law, our Congress enacted the criminal provision in our Revised Penal Code of 1930.  

At the time the law was adopted, Filipino women did not even have the right to vote, there was no Universal Declaration of Human Rights and no international human rights treaties such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR, 1976), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR, 1976), Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW, 1981), Convention Against Torture (CAT, 1987), and Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1990).  These came much later.

Denying women access to safe and legal abortion is a means to control women’s bodies, propagating subordination of women where women’s decisions including personal decisions related to pregnancy and childbirth are totally disregarded. 

Permitting restrictions on women’s right to decide their own bodies perpetuate discrimination against women and inequality of women in law in clear violation of women’s right to equal protection of the law and women’s right to privacy.  

Allowing penal provisions imposed on women who induce abortion and those who assist them to prevail in Philippine law based on religious standards violates the constitutional guarantee of non-establishment of religion. 

Denying access to safe and legal abortion is a public health issue.  

The illegality of abortion with no clear exceptions drives women to self-induce abortion unnecessarily endangering their health and lives. If we want health care service providers to provide humane, non-judgmental, compassionate post-abortion care and if we want to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity due to unsafe abortion, then we should rethink the archaic colonial law that restricts access to safe and legal abortion.

We should also welcome discussion on exceptions in cases of rape, incest, danger to the health and life of the woman, grave fetal infirmity incompatible with life outside the uterus, or allow abortion up to 14 weeks of pregnancy or, better yet, simply repeal the penal provisions imposing penalty on the women who induce abortion and the service providers assisting them.

In other countries

Access to safe and legal abortion is also a social justice issue with rich women being able to go to places like Hong Kong where abortion is safe and legal while poor women who do not have funds to go abroad end up self-inducing unsafeabortion.  

We need to address the prevailing inequality besetting poor women. Serving this social justice concern will contribute to greatly reducing maternal deaths and morbidity related to self-induced unsafe abortion.  

Allowing outmoded colonial penal laws on abortion in Philippine law makes us all complicit to the estimated 3 women who die each day from self-induced unsafe abortion.  Letting such law prevail in our society breeds hatred and hostility towards Filipino women who resorted to self-induced and unsafe abortion. Our laws should never countenance this.   

Other predominantly Catholic countries and former Spanish colonies have liberalized their laws on abortion. 

Spain legalized abortion on request during the first 14 weeks of the pregnancy in 2010 and other predominantly Catholic countries such as Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal, Poland, Hungary, Costa Rica, and Ireland and former Spanish colonies such as Uruguay and Colombia allowed abortion on certain grounds. This leaves the Philippines to contend with its antiquated colonial Spanish law.  

Asian countries such as China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam have liberal abortion laws while Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand have recently liberalized their laws to allow abortion on certain grounds.

Some people mistakenly believe that the Philippine Constitution prohibits abortion because of the provision on equal protection of the life of the woman and the unborn from conception.  

On the contrary, other countries with constitutions and laws explicitly protecting the life of the unborn or life from conception allow abortion under certain exceptions such as Ireland, Slovak Republic, Poland, Kenya, Hungary, and Costa Rica.

In the complaint of LC v Peru filed with the Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee), L.C. was 13 years old when a 34-year old man started sexually abusing her.  She became pregnant as a result of the rape and, in a state of depression, attempted suicide by jumping from a building, suffering spinal injuries with “a risk of permanent disability."  

Despite her serious and deteriorating condition, her doctors refused to perform an operation because she was pregnant and denied her request for therapeutic abortion. L.C. then miscarried spontaneously.  

The Committee recommended to Peru in 2009 to provide reparation to L.C., review its laws to establish effective access to therapeutic abortion, include protocols to ensure health services are available and accessible in public facilities, and decriminalize abortion when the pregnancy results from rape.

The 2006 CEDAW Concluding Comments recommended for the Philippines to remove the punitive provisions imposed on women who induce abortion and to provide access to quality services for the management of complications arising from unsafe abortions to reduce maternal mortality rates.

In the 2014 CEDAW Committee report on the inquiry on reproductive rights violations in the Philippines, the Committee recommended for the Philippines to amend articles 256 to 259 of the Revised Penal Code to “legalize abortion in cases of rape, incest, threats to the life and/or health of the mother, or serious malformation of the fetus and decriminalize all other cases where women undergo abortion.”

Upholding reproductive rights

In this day and age, we must uphold reproductive rights to the fullest extent where we champion women’s rights. Our country will be a step closer to women’s equality when every woman who decides to have an abortion is able to do so in a safe and legal manner.  

We owe such enabling environment to our mothers, sisters, and daughters who risked their health and lives by making the difficult decision to self-induce unsafe abortion and most especially to the women and adolescent girls who were hospitalized, threatened by health care providers, and those who died because of our long-standing restrictive abortion laws. 

Our rule of law is governed by secular standards, not religious standards.  To uphold women’s rights to equality and eliminate discrimination, women must have access to safe and legal abortion. Philippine law must uphold secular standards, human rights, and public health. 

We should all should work towards a humane society where no woman should die from unsafe abortion. Making abortion safe and legal will save the lives of women. – Rappler.com 

Clara Rita Padilla is the founder and executive director of EnGendeRights. She spearheaded the submission of the request for inquiry to the CEDAW Committee. She holds a Juris Doctor degree from the Ateneo de Manila University and has been practicing law for over 21 years working in the field of gender, gender-based violence, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.

Photo of equipment and ultrasonograph from Shutterstock  

Many of us will never forget that day (or night for us in Asia).  I was on a treadmill in Jakarta when I saw the first plane crash into the World Trade Center.  I thought it was a movie so I made sure I was watching CNN.  I was.  

Something bothered me because this felt like a memory.  I turned up the sound and called Lynn Felton, my minder at CNN's International Desk.  It sounded like chaos over the phone as she told me what little we knew - some of which I was hearing echoed on television half a world away.  Then the second plane crashed, and it clicked.

I heard this before - and read it in a police interrogation report in the mid-90s in the Philippines.  I told Lynn about it, and she put Eli Flournoy on speakerphone.  I talked about a dim memory.  By the time we finished our call, I had my marching orders: get on the first flight to the Philippines and get to the bottom of what authorities in the Philippines would call the 'blueprint for 9/11.'

That night before I left the gym to run home, change and pack, I called my sister and my mother - both of whom worked in New York City. My mom worked uptown on Park Avenue (thank God, a few years back, her office was at the World Trade Center), and my sister worked downtown.  Our family monitored them as they found each other and walked through a devastated New York City across the George Washington Bridge.  From 8:30 in the morning, they walked to safety, and my father picked them up - along with strangers they walked with - after midnight on the New Jersey side of the GW Bridge.  Until today, Dad talks about the kindness of strangers and how stores gave away sneakers to women walking to safety.

9/11 changed my life as a journalist. In those first few days, I found the documents, talked to officials on this side of the ocean while Kelli Arena worked the FBI and sources in Washington, DC. It took nearly a week to get legal clearance to publish the first of many exclusive reports.

Since then, I've spent most of my career tracking how 9/11 happened: documenting the links from Southeast Asia to al-Qaeda, pulling together information to help chart the growth and evolution of this virulent ideology that is at the core of some of the most worst terrorist attacks in the world.  I wrote two books: Seeds of Terror chronicled the links and showed how seemingly random attacks and fiery clashes between Muslims and Christians were fueled by this network; and From Bin Laden to Facebook looked at how the jihadi virus spread in the virtual world and anticipated the enormous potential to spread on social media now exploited by the Islamic State also known as ISIS, ISIL or Da'esch, a loose Arab acronym.

14 years later, we see an open, public fight between leaders of al-Qaeda, which is a shadow of its former self, and ISIS, the Islamic State in Iraq & Syria, which is taking center stage as the global threat.  ISIS accomplished what al-Qaeda never did: fight and win land for the Islamic Caliphate both are trying to build.

On the eve of this year's anniversary, al-Qaeda released a 45 minute audio tape of its leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who took over in 2011 after the death of Osama bin Laden. Al-Zawahiri openly attacks ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a fight for supporters. He accused al-Baghdadi of "sedition" for declaring himself the 4th Caliph last year.

“We have endured a lot of harm from Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his brothers," said al-Zawahiri, "And we preferred to respond with as little as possible, out of our concern to extinguish the fire of sedition.  But Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his brothers did not leave us a choice, for they have demanded that all the mujahideen reject their confirmed pledges of allegiance, and to pledge allegiance to them for what they claim of a Caliphate."

Still, there's a caveat: al-Zawahiri leaves the door open for cooperation against the West in Iraq & Syria, recognizing a common enemy and perhaps wanting a share of ISIS' victory.

On the 14th anniversary of 9/11, ISIS issued a broad threat triggering increased security in Japanese embassies around the world, including in Jakarta.  Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population and was the operations base of Jemaah Islamiyah, once al-Qaeda's arm in Southeast Asia.  That network, like al-Qaeda, has been degraded, but the ideology remains in home-grown groups, some of which have thrown their support to ISIS.

Luhut Panjaitan, Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Security and Political Affairs, told Rappler that although hundreds of Indonesians have joined ISIS in the past year, its threat is "manageable."

"We are working very hard in order to contain the influence of ISIS within the country," said Luhut.  "It's a manageable threat for now, but if we don't do something, this can also become bigger in the future."

Sidney Jones, founder of Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, talks about how Malaysian members of ISIS communicate on social media, enabling easier recruitment of their networks below.

US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg told Rappler that countries should watch social media and use it to fight ISIS. In a wide-ranging interview this week, Goldberg talked about how "lone wolves" influenced on social media has expanded the threat.

“What we need to do, obviously – and it’s true in the Philippine context, the Southeast Asian context, and the global context, certainly true in the United States – is redouble our efforts to work together in law enforcement and intelligence," he told me.  "And watch the social media to see what’s happening out there. Try to counter the message but also be very vigilant."

He said: “I think what we need to think about in a global sense is how social media presence generates lone wolves and attacks that have really no organic relationships, but instead have a relationship that is one of trying to inspire people to act on their own.”

Social network analysis, however, can trace the spread of the message.  Authorities must learn to upgrade from physical link analysis of people to social network analysis in the virtual world because social media has become terrorism's new batteground.  (READ: How to fight ISIS on social media)

Rohan Gunaratna gives a good primer here of the relationship between ISIS and al-Qaeda as well as the priorities and dangers ahead.  "Al-Qaeda is a kindergarten group compared to ISIS," he told me.

Finally, let me end with lessons learned from the Philippines in 1995.  I wrote what you'll read below in 2011 for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 partly because I was disturbed that authorites had declared victory over al-Qaeda. Today, the same ideology, in a more brutal reincarnation, powers ISIS. The lessons below remain relevant today.  

10 years after 9/11: Lessons from the Philippines

The catastrophic attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 ripped off a veneer and exposed what was growing beneath the surface: al Qaeda’s successful efforts to tap Muslim grievances around the world and infect disparate, home-grown groups with its global jihad. Al Qaeda has helped groups like Jemaah Islamiyah in Southeast Asia target the “Near Enemy” – their governments, and the “Far Enemy” – the United States.

It now appears that 9/11 was the peak of al Qaeda’s strength, when it reached from its caves in Afghanistan to destroy symbols of modernity, forcing governments around the world to change outdated paradigms of Cold War defense structures. Bin Laden’s victory was short-lived: 9/11 was a strategic error for his forces because now they were exposed and vulnerable. In the next decade, they would never be that strong again.

Since 9/11, there has been no other al Qaeda attack on US soil or any other al Qaeda attack of a similar magnitude anywhere. Osama bin Laden is dead, and most of al-Qaeda’s ‘legacy leaders’ have been killed and replaced. More than 40 plots have been foiled in the last decade, according to the Heritage Foundation. Some officials have declared all of this a “victory,” but lessons from the Philippines show that the next defeat can come from the jaws of “victory.”

In 1995, the architect of 9/11, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (known in intelligence circles as KSM), evaded arrest in the Philippines in what was then lauded as “the greatest counterterrorism victory.” US and Filipino officials foiled “Bojinka,” a plot for midair explosions on 11 US airplanes flying from Asia. If KSM’s plot had succeeded, more people would have died in the planned “48 hours of terror” than in the Sept. 11 attacks.

The terrorist cell headed by KSM in the Philippines included his nephew, Ramzi Yousef, who bombed the World Trade Center in 1993; Abdul Hakim Murad, perhaps the first commercial pilot recruited by al Qaeda; Wali Khan Amin Shah, who fought with bin Laden in Afghanistan; and bin Laden’s brother-in-law, Mohammed Jamal Khalifa.

KSM powered al Qaeda’s drive as a learning organization, taking many of the cell’s plots from that time, incorporating them into training at al Qaeda’s camps, and resuscitating them through the years:

• Shoe bombing: First tested by Yousef in the Philippines, this technique resulted in a successful midair explosion on Philippine Airlines in 1994, and was later taught by KSM to his recruit, Richard Reid, the shoe-bomber, in 2001.
• Cyanide: Discussions in the Philippines on the use of cyanide for terror attacks with the Abu Sayyaf would resurface again in the early 2000s in Great Britain.
• Attacks on nuclear reactors: Plots discovered in the Philippines would resurface again in 2002.
• Liquid bombs: This tactic was tested three times in the Philippines in 1994, including exploration of methods for getting bomb elements through airport security. It would resurface again in 2006 during the London liquid bombs plot – a later version of Bojinka.

Finally, there was one plot so fantastic no one paid attention, neither law enforcement and intelligence agencies, nor journalists closely following terrorism. Murad, the pilot trained in the United States, told his Filipino interrogators about a suicide mission involving planes:

[H]e will board any American commercial aircraft pretending to be an ordinary passenger …. There will be no bomb or any explosive that he will use in its execution. It is simply a [suicide] mission that he is very much willing to execute.

Among the targets he named: the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The interrogation report was from January 1995. Authorities in the Philippines have called it the blueprint for 9/11.

Six years after the pilot told authorities about the plans, the World Trade Center Towers were attacked again. What his nephew started in 1993, KSM finished in 2001. Jet fuel from two planes that slammed into the buildings weakened the structures at a molecular level, causing the towers to collapse hours after the impact. Nearly 3,000 people died that day, exactly 10 years ago.

The lesson from the Philippines in 1995 is simple: Don’t underestimate the power of one person and one idea.

Aside from KSM, one other man escaped the 1995 dragnet: the Indonesian cleric Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali. He did exactly what KSM did for al Qaeda, except he did it for its Southeast Asian arm, Jemaah Islamiyah, or JI. Hambali built JI’s network and became its operations chief, planning and carrying out the region’s deadliest attacks, including the Bali bombing in 2002 that killed 202 people.

The fierce reaction from law enforcement agencies around the world to the Sept. 11 attacks has affected al Qaeda and JI similarly: their centralized command structures have been hit hard, and their operational capabilities have been degraded.

Still, the old networks remain and continue to spread al Qaeda’s virulent ideology. Let’s call it the jihadi virus. Smaller, more ad hoc and less professional cells carry out attacks without central coordination. These cells also continue to recruit, and they have caused the development of the networks to grow in a more haphazard pattern.

The central core of both al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah have been weakened, but their ideology has sparked a movement. The networks have been degraded, but it is now more difficult for law enforcement to predict when and where the next attack will occur. This can result in smaller, disparate attacks happening more frequently, as has been seen this year in Indonesia and the Philippines.

The danger is that these isolated cells and/or individuals may spontaneously regenerate some form of a network around them to carry out larger plots, something that occurred in Indonesia with the return of the Bali bomber, Dulmatin, and the discovery in 2010 of the Aceh training camps.

All this shows that despite counterterrorism successes, it’s hard to declare victory given the viral nature of al-Qaeda’s ideology. All it takes are the right leaders to spark a regeneration that can allow the network to carry out larger-scale attacks.

Remember the Philippines in 1995. - Rappler.com

When policemen who should otherwise be running after criminals are deployed to man traffic in one of Asia’s most congested capitals, then we have a problem.  

Don’t get us wrong. The new policy of deploying the Highway Patrol Group (HPG) of the Philippine National Police to guard EDSA’s so-called choke points apparently works – Tuesday night’s "carmageddon" notwithstanding. EDSA’s 6 major intersections have been cleared of "colorum" buses, unlicensed vehicles, and illegal vendors. On normal days, commuters used to seeing clogged parts of EDSA post photos of a clear highway – and remarks of disbelief.

Police presence on EDSA indicates an emergency situation. It’s an acknowledgement on the part of the administration that the traffic problem has reached crisis proportions. 

But it is one thing to deal with an emergency, it is another to address a problem that will not go away anytime soon. It is one thing to be lulled by a semblance of normalcy, it is another to know that a band-aid solution can only do so much.

The HPG’s primary task is to run after car and motorcycle thieves, smugglers, killers riding in tandem, and on-the-run criminals in our highways. It has had its share of controversies, miscalculations, and overkill.

In due time, the HPG will find itself asking the hard question: why are we here on EDSA fixing traffic?

That question will come sooner rather than later, as certain as the rise of criminality in the election season.

While it is true that law enforcement is part of the traffic problem, it is not its core. The mess we are in is a result of a maze of interconnected rules and policies that unfortunately have not boosted mass transportation, have not reduced demand for cars and driving, and have not provided businessmen enough incentive to help in building, improving, or managing infrastructure.

Experts say the country is losing P2.4 billion (about $513 million) a day due to traffic. Those numbers say nothing of the impact this has on the way we live, the way we work, and the way we build our future. Quality of air suffers, our parks are turned into parking lots, our anxiety levels grow each time the rush hour sets in – every single day.

Studies have also pointed to how the lack of a viable mass transportation condemns low-income families to poverty.

Reported the New York Times recently: “In a large, continuing study of upward mobility based at Harvard, commuting time has emerged as the single strongest factor in the odds of escaping poverty. The longer an average commute in a given county, the worse the chances of low-income families there moving up the ladder.”

And so we need more than this show of police force on EDSA.

The government should buckle down and find a more comprehensive, systematic, and lasting solution to a seemingly lasting problem. It should stop praising its stop-gap and superficial approach to the issue. 

We are not wanting in recommendation from experts – from ways to fix the problematic coding system, to providing disincentives to the purchase of cars, to maximizing our road network and using modern technology to connect its signals, to adopting the Bus Rapid Transit that’s been effective elsewhere in Asia and in Latin America, to reorganizing buses, to imposing car-pooling in gated subdivisions and schools.

If the government is invested in addressing this problem, then it can make things happen. After all, it has managed to oust a chief justice, pass a controversial reproductive health law, approve a sin tax law opposed by big business, among others.

Surely it can be just as comprehensive and dead-set when it comes to Manila’s everyday nightmare? – Rappler.com 

I write this with rage and grief, and also with guilt. This is not a rant but a call for action based on shared responsibility. But because that action is urgently needed, it is written without my usual diplomatic and dispassionate filters. 

I will speak truth to power, even at the risk of angering some colleagues and groups. But I will be fair and constructive and suggest concrete steps that can stop the Lumad killings in Surigao del Sur and address the roots of these recent events.

This must be done before it spreads any further. This militarization started in Bukidnon and Davao del Norte and now has jumped to Surigao. It’s anyone guess where this goes next but it won’t stop unless drastic measures are taken.

Above all, if we want these atrocities to stop, we must leave the Lumad alone – allow them to independently make decisions about their ancestral domains, their natural resources, their educational system (including the choice of their teachers), and other matters critical to them. We must completely respect their right to free and prior informed consent – starting with entering their territory.

Both the military and the New People’s Army (NPA) must pull out of their areas, all of which must be demilitarized and declared peace zones. All economic activities by outsiders, including mining operations, must be stopped and all applications frozen in those areas so the conflict does not expand further. This should be done immediately in the affected areas and if necessary through all Lumad areas of Mindanao. 

Why should we care about the Lumad?

Lumad is a collective term, meaning homegrown or indigenous, used to refer to 15-18 ethno-linguistic groups in Mindanao. Among those usually included as Lumad are the Subanen, B’laan, Mandaya, Higaonon, Banwaon, Talaandig, Ubo, Manobo, T’boli, Tiruray, Bagobo,Tagakaolo, Dibabawon, Manguangan, and Mansaka. It should be noted that from these groups there are hundreds and even thousands of sub-groupings that are independent or at best loosely related to each other even when there are many linguistic and cultural similarities among them.

Why should we care about the Lumad? We must be concerned because they are among the poorest and marginalized in our society.

The Lumad are also among the most peaceful and gentle, and therefore the most vulnerable. When provoked however, like their counterparts in Luzon and the Visayas, the Lumad fight back as they have done with the Spanish and American colonizers and the national government in the more recent past. Because many of the island’s natural resources, especially minerals, are in Lumad territory, they are frequently attacked and their ancestral domains encroached upon by outsiders. Such development aggression in turn becomes the breeding ground of the national democratic revolution and the communist insurgency. 

There will be no peace in Mindanao and in the Philippines if the rights of the Lumad are ignored and disregarded. Even the successful establishment of the Bangsamoro will not lead to peace without the full inclusion of the Lumad.

What is happening to the Lumad?

Last September 1, 2015, Lumad educator Emerito Samarca, executive director of the Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development, a school recognized for its innovative and effective way of teaching, was found in a room in the school, with hands and feet bound, throat slit. As reported by  interAksyon.com, TV 5’s news website, on that same day, two Lumad leaders Dionel Campos and Datu Juvillo Sinzo were also executed, in front of hundreds of children and residents in Han-ayan, Lianga, Surigao del Sur. It is alleged that the educator and leaders were killed by a tribal paramilitary force formed and organized by the military to fight the NPA.

As a result of the September 1 killings, more than 3,000 Lumad refugees are now in Tandag, capital town of Surigao del Sur.  

In a strongly worded editorial, interaksyon.com describes Surigao del Sur Governor Johnny Pimentel as not mincing words about whom he blames: “He has had the balls to speak not only about how and by whom all of this nightmare started, he has a pretty good idea how it can all be put to a just and satisfying end. Pimentel says the militias and their military handlers should be prosecuted – even killed if necessary.” 

This is not the first time that Lumad in Mindanao has been attacked and their leaders killed in the name of the fight against communist rebels.

Just a few months ago, hundreds of Lumad from Bukidnon and Davao del Norte evacuated to Davao City to flee from military operations in their ancestral domains. There was a charge that the evacuees in Davao City had been kidnapped by militants. But in a dramatic confrontation with Representative Nancy Catamco, Chairperson of the committee on indigenous peoples of the House Of Representatives, it was established by the Davao City government that the Lumad had in fact sought refuge as their supporters have claimed. Mayor Rody Duterte himself affirmed this and backed the Lumad refugees against Catamco’s claim that they were not in Davao out of their own free will. This was later affirmed by United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons Chaloka Beyan who denied the military claim that the Lumad in Davao City had been trafficked. 

To be fair, the military has said it welcomes any probe, with the Manila Standard quoting Brig. Gen. Joselito Kakilala, Commander of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Civil Relations Service (AFP-CRS) as promising: “We will cooperate and support any official investigation. Killings of defenseless civilian is outside of the military parameter. We do not condone these atrocities.” In the same report, AFP spokesman Restituto Padilla also denied the hand of the military in the killings. Padilla is quoted as saying: “The AFP is also doing its own internal investigation to ascertain if AFP actions were appropriate relative to this unfortunate event.” The spokesman assured the public that the military had the interest of the Lumad and respect for their culture  “foremost in their minds.”

In contrast to these assurances of the military are the poignant words of Michelle Campos, daughter of one of the slain Lumad leaders. Inday Espina-Varona, in an article on ABS-CBNnews.com quotes her as saying: "My message to the government, especially our honorable President is, stop your Oplan Bayanihan that supposedly leads to peace and progress. Because the reality is, it has never brought peace or progress. You say it will bring peace to the lumad. Yes, it is true peace could come to our community because by then the paramilitary would have killed us all. And once all lumad who defend their ancestral lands have been killed, the capitalists will enjoy progress because they will be able to mine our lands." 

The big picture: the elephants in the room

I have worked in many Lumad areas for 30  years as an environmental and human rights lawyer and know the dynamics very well. There are two elephants in the room here – at a superficial level, the communist insurgency and the national democratic revolution which finds the Lumad squeezed between the military and the New People’s Army; at a deeper level, this is about control over natural resources, especially the minerals, that are abundant in Lumad territory.

The truth is that this is not even principally about the insurgency even if both sides are using the Lumad for propaganda. As I mentioned to Carmela Fonbuena in an article she wrote for Rappler on this issue, it's about control of natural resources and ancestral domain. Before it was about logging. Now it's mining. 

I know that because when I was environmental undersecretary in the 1990s I had to mediate many conflicts in the area and at the bottom of it, it was because military and paramilitary forces were used to expel the Lumad from their domains and the NPA came in to take advantage of the situation by becoming the protectors of the Lumad and get their support for the national democratic struggle. That in turn became the excuse to implement programs like Oplan Bayanihan that divides the Lumad and pit them against each other.

It is a lie and a falsehood to lay the blame on the killings on the NPAs or even on internal conflicts as is now being circulated by propagandists. This red-baiting assures you that the season of killing will continue; this is the kind of propaganda which will get even more Lumad killed. Indeed, this is a go signal for that. It is immoral, downright evil, for propagandists and other people to trumpet this line. And it is especially sad that some peace workers are mouthing this.

At the same time, it must be also said as forcefully that the presence of the NPA has made the Lumad more vulnerable and has worsened their situation. Knowing personally many military officials, as colleagues and as students, I cannot imagine them tolerating serious human rights violations. But things happen, as they say, in the fog of war when our solders are faced with an enemy that knows how to disappear into the masses. I suppose that this is the same feeling of tribal militiamen – they too are afraid and so strike at whoever they believe threaten them.

Sadly, if in fact this is about the control of natural resources and ancestral domains, then the military, tribal militia, the Lumad communities, and the NPA are just pawns to drive the people away from their territory.

What needs to be done

The first thing to be done, as already pointed out, is to demilitarize the area and for peace zones to be declared in all affected Lumad areas. The military and the NPA must withdraw immediately. The tribal militia in Surigao del Sur and elsewhere must be disarmed. Those who killed the Lumad educators and leaders should be arrested, charged, and held accountable for the murders they committed.

An international investigation must be conducted in parallel with a Commission on Human Rights (CHR) investigation. This is necessary not only to determine the facts of the killings and aid in the prosecution also to identify the root causes of the conflict within Lumad territory. I fully trust the new Chairman of the CHR but it would work best if he put together a mission composed of credible and independent individuals that will take on the task of investigation. 

I strongly suggest that the government invite UN Rapporteur for the rights of indigenous peoples Vicky Tauli-Corpuz to visit the affected areas and report on what she sees and make the appropriate recommendations. Vicky knows the Philippines very well, being a Filipina herself, and she is experienced in doing these investigations. Having worked with Vicky for decades on international and national indigenous peoples’ concerns, she has no ideological agenda in what is happening and will be guided only by the best interest of the Lumad.

If needed, human rights groups might consider filing a petition for a writ of amparo, requesting the Supreme Court to order the military and tribal militia from entering and having a presence in Lumad territory.

In the meantime, religious leaders must band with political leaders to make sure that no further killings happen. Already this is happening with the National Council of Churches in the Philippines and the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines standing strongly with the Lumad. I suggest that high-profile delegations of these Churches and religious organizations be sent to the affected areas and accompany the Lumad back to their homes and stay with them until their safety is totally secure.

Political leaders have also begun speaking out with Vice President Jejomar Binay, and Senators Grace Poe and Loren Legarda taking the lead. It would be good if we could hear our Mindanao senators TG Guingona and Koko Pimentel speak out on this as well. The Representatives from the Agusan and Surigao provinces, or perhaps all districts where there are Lumad, might also want to do this.

Government agencies like the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) must come in and do their job. The NCIP must ensure certifications of Free and Prior Informed Consent have been correctly given and the proper Certificates of Ancestral Domains have been issued. The DENR must make an inventory of natural resource and mining permits and agreements and make sure they are not exacerbating the situation. In fact, as I pointed out at the beginning of this article, such permits and agreements (and applications for them) must be put on hold to make sure they are not the reason of the conflict.

The Department of Education has a special role in addressing this problem. As the interaskyon.com editorial pointed out: “Educated lumad like Samarca are looked upon as dangerous. They are tagged as rebel coddlers just because of the accident of birthrights and geography, (i.e., rebel camps are near their villages) - if not as communists themselves because, you know, they demand rights, schooling, support, concern for their environment, good governance and responsible practices from extractive industries.”

The sad part is that DEPED has been complicit in what is happening to the Lumad. Knowing the good people that are leading the department, I am sure that this was unintentional. How could any of them imagine that the closure of several Lumad schools earlier this year would lead to the evacuations in Bukidnon and Davao del Norte? How could a department circular allowing military and militiamen to set up camps within public schools in Lumad areas lead to the killing of the wonderful and great educator Emerito Samarca? But these are the unintended consequences when redbaiting propaganda is accepted without question. People die as a result when that happens.

My hope now is that DEPED Secretary Armin Luistro will prioritize this and take the necessary steps so further killings of educators do not happen. Among others, I respectfully suggest that the good secretary reach out to the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines, fellow religious and church workers who know most about what is happening to the Lumad. I have known of the work of the Rural Missionaries for decades. They have been consistent in their service to Church and people. Long before Jorge Bergoglio became Pope Francis, the Rural Missionaries have been immersed in the peripheries.

At the beginning of this article, I said I write this with rage, grief and guilt. I am angry because of the terrible injustice that is being done to these wonderful peoples we collectively call Lumad. I am filled with sorrow because the people that have been killed are the best of their peoples, the leaders and educators.

And I feel guilty because I did not act quickly enough. I am ashamed of myself for ignoring the signs, for using ideological and not human rights lens when this attack on the Lumad became evident.

But today, I put aside my guilt and shame aside and say: I stand by the Lumad. Today, this Filipino and this Mindanawon say: I am Lumad. Let’s all be. – Rappler.com