2012: My Personal Notes

We are surviving 2012, the end of the Mayan calendar.
The Mayan Long Count calendar ended a 5,125 –year era last Dec 21^st, 2012.
I have adopted the interpretation that this is a shift, a new beginning, another cycle or the end of an era.  It is kind of easy to see this shift not only in the light of the recent deluge in the Davao region but also in the recent events in the country.

I read the eventual passage of the Philippine Reproductive Health bill as the era towards secularism in governance. This soon to be  law is a result of thirteen years work by women’s groups.

Anna Leah Sarabia recounts, “the NGO struggle for RH began long before the first bill was filed. In 1986, during an early broadcast of Radyo Womanwatch,
Dr. Florence Tadiar announced that her group ISSA would organize a small workshop on women's health at the QC City Hall.
Princess Nemenzo joined her there, and together they founded what would become in 1989 the Women's Health Coalition. There were other temporary groupings: the Women's Health Alliance, the Marching for Life Groups, and others, until the Reproductive Health Advocacy Network was formed, and the present formation stayed. 
At the Senate, the pioneers were  Leticia Ramos Shahani, who led everyone including Juan Flavier and Rodolfo Biazon. 
The Second Wave Senate Leaders are Pia Cayetano and Miriam Defenso Santiago, with Ping Lacson, Loren Legarda and Bong Marcos.  From the lower house, we have Edcel Lagman with Janet Garin, Kimi Cojuangco, Ted Baguilat, Kaka Bag-ao, Risa Hontiveros, Walden Bello and Emmeline Aglipay.” 

This year also saw the impeachment & conviction of Chief magistrate Renato Corona.
Political pundits said that former Chief Justice Corona had been the best witness for his own prosecution: divulging his millions not reported in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities & Networth (SALN).
It was thought that a Chief Justice cannot hide behind an old 1972 confidentiality provision of the Foreign Currency Deposit Act ( FCDA) which  violates the spirit of the 1987 Constitution.
As Chief Justice much is expected from him than a narrow interpretation of law.
If he was the head of all judges, what kind of judges' orientation did we want our people to have access to?”

Then, last October 15, a Bangsamoro Framework Agreement was signed,

which among others, proposes to replace ARMM with a new political entity called Bangsamoro through a new law still to be passed by Congress.

According to former GPH peace panel Chair Marvic Leonen, the political commitments of the peace deal ensures a process under the auspices of a Transition Commission which will be created by the President of the Philippines through an executive order; the transition commission of 15 members to be appointed by PNoy will take charge of drafting & engaging with all stakeholders towards the passage of a new law (Bangsamoro Basic Law) for the Bangsamoro political entity.

 The administration of PNoy will shepherd the passage of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law by certifying the bill as urgent. Once passed, this Basic law will be ratified by the qualified voters within the territory. When ratified, the created Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) takes the place of ARMM.  

One of the contentious issues then in the MOA-AD was territory which was deemed expanded.
This time, the framework agreement lists the core territory as the current ARMM areas (five province & two cities) plus the areas which voted for inclusion in the autonomous region in the plebiscite of 2001. These areas are 6 towns of Lanao del Norte, towns of North Cotabato, Cotabato City & Isabela City.

During the year, we mourned the passing of DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo who was able to put to good use the resources of government at his disposal for the development of his city.
His voters liked this enough to vote for him as their mayor for close to two decades.
 From a low income city, Robredo was able to bring Naga City to first class status, not only increasing income for all but also making the abstract word empowerment become real & felt by the poor through civil society.
And that is why as a member of civil society, we emulate his strategy.
Defining for us the concept of local representation, is one project promoted by Jesse Robredo which is so close to our hearts in our own Alternative Law Groups Network (ALG).

And as shared by a colleague, Atty Claire Pauig Luczon, “Colleagues in ALG were so proud to work with you in ensuring that the poor & the marginalized were represented & heard in local government. We were so impressed with your work that the ALG drafted the proposed Local Representation Law patterned after the experience of Naga City, under your leadership.” 

Jose Rizal & Womanhood

Like most everyone, I grew up in awe of Rizal, the Filipino national hero.  The first fable I learned which I also used to regale my daughter as a child is Rizal’s famous comic strip of “ Ang Matsing at Pagong.” 
While I was in Grade two, about the same age that Rizal wrote “ Sa Aking Mga Kabata,”  I devoured that literary piece and I knew then that Rizal was way beyond our league. In college, in our Spanish class, we were asked to memorize  Adios Patria Adorada, ( Mi Ultimo Adios)  and I still remember most of the  lines today. My love for Spanish is a belated one and so I will take up that beautiful poem again because it is about love of country in poetic language.  Then, my Rizal three unit college course was mostly all about the Noli & Fili novels and more.

During the holidays, I read again, Rizal’s “The Philippines, A Century Hence”  and yes, our hero is a consummate political scientist and a futurist. 

Very early on, it was impressed upon us that Rizal wrote Maria Clara in his novel  as a parody of  womanhood. That the Rizal icon and representation of  womanhood  is immortalized in his “ Letter To The Young Women of Malolos.”  Like a painting or a portrait, a literature or piece of writing may draw a different insight when read again at another time. 

So, I am reading again the “Letter To The Women of Malolos”   from a feminist perspective.  Let me quote some lines which I would consider today as about empowerment of women :

“No longer does the Filipina stand with her head bowed nor does she spend her time on her knees, because she is quickened by hope in the future; no longer will the mother contribute to keeping her daughter in darkness and bring her up in contempt and moral annihilation. And no longer will the science of all sciences consist in blind submission to any unjust order, or in extreme complacency, nor will a courteous smile be deemed the only weapon against insult or humble tears the ineffable panacea for all tribulations."

I will no longer dare to annotate the above self explanatory words. Rizal said what he said. I urge you to appreciate that as a portrait of what a woman should be.

The following lines of Rizal can be a reference for religion and faith that I found inspiring: 

“You know that the will of God is different from that of the priest; that religiousness does not consist of long periods spent on your knees, nor in endless prayers, big rosarios, and grimy scapularies, but in a spotless conduct, firm intention and upright judgment. You also know that prudence does not consist in blindly obeying any whim of the little tin god, but in obeying only that which is reasonable and just, because blind obedience is itself the cause and origin of those whims, and those guilty of it are really to be blamed. The official or friar can no longer assert that they alone are responsible for their unjust orders, because God gave, each individual reason and a will of his or her own to distinguish the just from the unjust; all were born without shackles and free, and nobody has a right to subjugate the will and the spirit of another. And, why should you submit to another your thoughts, seeing that thought is noble and free?”

So, in imparting a theory of Philippine society towards nationhood: then, now and for the future, we have always looked up to the monumental hero in Dr Jose Rizal for guidance and wisdom for most anything.

Humanitarian Crisis in Davao Region ( Southeast Philippines)

Whatever each of us can do to help will surely be puny compared to the tremendous relief & rehabilitation work that needs to be done in the wake of typhoon Pablo. A few days after the landfall of typhoon Pablo, some of us joined the Philippine government through Secretary Dinky Soliman of the Department Of Social Welfare & Development (DSWD) in a humanitarian meeting in Davao City with various UN agencies, local & international NGOs for rapid assessment & to take up immediate needs & next steps for the survivors in the communities affected by storm Pablo in the Davao region. The Philippine government will have two hubs in its relief & rehabilitation efforts in the next weeks & months: Trento, Agusan del Sur for Davao Oriental & Nabunturan for Compostela Valley. The DSWD is coordinating all relief work and making sure that there will be equality of assistance & that no one is left behind in any of the affected areas.

Bringing basic immediate needs to areas isolated by destroyed bridges & consoling distraught communities are tasks which seem to be overly imagined in our recent disaster risk reduction workshops. But, our relief workers & local government leaders who are also victims are in a state of shock themselves – with not only the scale of devastation but of communities losing hope over loss of loved ones & livelihood. So, a way to go for Davao Oriental, for example, which is the coconut capital of the Philippines is to work with our Department of Agriculture to properly access the coco levy funds for the rehabilitation of the coco industry. The Department of Health must be well entrenched at the barangay level for wounds of the body and of the spirit.  

The timetable to address immediate needs for the Davao provinces affected is about six months or so but the long term rehabilitation work will take years. My sense is that while emergency and calamity humanitarian funds are available, the donor community will still have to raise more funds for long term development & rehabilitation work & only after a proper rapid assessment of the scope & scale of needs & requirements.

Part of this rapid assessment includes good information management & tools for collection of data disaggregated demographically & up to the village or barangay level. Electricity which is down in these areas is crucial in the access of these electronic data by the local government units & relief volunteer workers.

Our lessons include LGU mastery of the geo hazard maps, designation of permanent danger zones which our survivors should not go back to.

While we know that some are more vulnerable than others, my take home lesson is that from now on, all of us are vulnerable to climate change. Both rich and poor constituents were affected in the various towns of the Davao region. This was a deluge which knew no social class or other divides as storm Pablo affected all in its path.

There is an appeal to media to not further dehumanize the victims by highlighting the understandable scramble for food by our survivors who have been without food and have lost their homes during the typhoon.

Our organizations (MINCODE & PILIPINA Legal Resources Center) will forego with our traditional Christmas party rituals in solidarity during this time of humanitarian crisis and will work for relief instead. It is heartwarming that the Malacanang Palace will not be having their Christmas party, too, in order to make donations instead.

MINCODE, and PILIPINA are into relief & rehabilitation work. Mincode’s Pablo Relief Operations is “Our Help is our Christmas Prayer” in 3 provinces. The relief centers are in Carmen for Davao del Norte, Monkayo for Compostela Valley & Mati for Davao Oriental. MINCODE’s office is at No.3 Juna Avenue, Matina, Davao City.  

Before the landfall ( Nov 29, 2012 ) 

I spent the last days of November this year in my maternal grandparents’ estate in Baganga, Davao Oriental.  When I was a child, we used to travel to these parts through a big ship that passes by Baganga en route to Cebu. This time, after many years, we traveled in very well paved roads all the way to the town of Baganga.

Before reaching the Davao Oriental coastal towns with a great view of the Pacific Ocean on the horizon, one gets to see Samal Island from Lupon & Pantukan. Except the mountainous path of Tarragona & Mati City, the roads to these eastern towns are along the coasts.

A long time ago, when logging was legal, my paternal forefathers, who were in the tugboat business, used to travel to Mati via Davao gulf & to the Pacific side.  There was nothing pacific about the Pacific ocean with waves as tall as mountains & stories of incidents of near capsize were legendary. And these tall waves, I saw again last weekend in Baganga just before the landfall of the storm Pablo. I learned that waves are stronger in Davao Oriental during Amihan or Northeast monsoon which is about this time than during Habagat or Southwest monsoon at mid year.  So, imagine the mountain tall Amihan waves & howling winds reinforcing storm Pablo.

The rivers in these parts are still crystal clear clean and deep blue as can be. Fresh water shrimps and crabs are abundant in primary forest mangroves. These parts are also the coconut capital of the Philippines and with the low price of copra, the poverty is palpable.

We were traveling at late afternoon and were still on the road when the moon came out in a majestic “china moon” splendor. There were no street lights along the way but the foliage were shining like light bulbs and the crest & troughs of the ocean were in phosphorescence. But, I imagine the roads will be pitch - black without the moonlight.

The mountainous pass just before Mati City is spectacular with a view of the Dinasaur island near Dawan road. In Mati, Dahican beach is famous for its tall waves for surfing.

Some of the Davao Oriental towns like Baganga & Caraga are older settlements than Davao City as evidenced by the Caraga heritage church & old forts. It is such a pity that Baganga had to demolish its heritage old church.

Once upon a time, the four Davao provinces now ( Norte, Oriental, Del Sur & Compostela Valley) were just one province that one wonders whether so much revenues are wasted by having so many layers of bureaucratic & management structures in four provinces. Anyway, now, we are the Davao region. The Davao region can probably be one state one day in a federal system of government.

Meantime, we can only pray that the storm Pablo will just pass and our fellows and loved ones in Davao Oriental, will be blessed again to see the sunshine first - ahead of us all, as they live in the most eastern part of our land.  ( written Dec 4, 2012 during landfall) 


Photocredits : 

a) Lambajon, Baganga wharf with crowd by  Eden Jhan Licayan 
b) Baganga poblacion by Jacquelou Dayanan- Rivera