Sexual Rights Coalition : A Glimpse of the Other Side of the World

I descended from the Istanbul airport a few days ago with a grand view of the two continents of Europe & Asia and the bridge connecting them in the narrowest waterway.
In Istanbul, one is able to cross the two continents of Asia and Europe in two minutes.
The highways were strewn with tulips bursting in various hues and avant- garde colors.
The magnificent mosques, marvels of architecture are testaments to the Byzantine and Ottoman empires, once upon a time great empires of the world.

The international meetings convened by our Coalition for Sexual & Bodily Rights ( CSBR) are plots to change the world towards the promotion of sexual & bodily rights as human rights.
Our meetings start with a briefing on the political context of each of our countries.
So, we got feminist perspectives of the recent revolutions in the North African countries of Tunisia, & Egypt and recent events in Lebanon, Pakistan, Turkey, Malaysia & Indonesia.

The sense was that in these revolutions, religious fundamentalisms were not articulated; these historic events are for now just basically about a break from an old regime.
Where these revolutions will lead them still remains to be seen.
In Tunisia, a model of sorts in secularism, the feminists are afraid that they might lose the gains of the past century.
Tunisia is one of two countries in the Muslim world that has legally not allowed polygamy.
There is an apprehension that the feminist movements are narrowly seen as anti- religious fundamentalism and this is a limited reading because in reality women’s discourses are about everything oppressive.
But, the women are happy that recent revolutions in their countries have brought about a sense of citizenship and a democratic interest in politics.
In a related sense, I said that the Philippines is a veteran of people power revolutions but that after decades we are still so poor and so mired in systemic corruption.
The major lesson for the Philippines is to be able to continually harness the gains of the revolution towards the well being of our nation and the tasks are found in day to day moments & challenges which are as crucial as the challenges of a few days historic revolutions.

In turn, the Palestinian women are able to relate the issue of land and the issue of body politics.
The direction of technology in Israel is based on security.
The long standing issue of security on Palestine soil is related to what they call the “bodily geography of fear.”
There is no security for land as there is no security for women’s own bodies.
So- called honor crimes, archaic concepts are still the norm.
Honor crimes and honor killings done in the name of chastity and the false ideology that men own women’s bodies are NOT unlike our own crimes of passion in the Philippines.
Still, we are proud to say that it is to the credit of the women’s movement in the Philippines that we have re-classified rape as a crime against persons instead of a crime against chastity because rape is about violence and has nothing to do with chastity.
This is about the use of language or “naming” or “branding” in order to bring about a change in behavior through law or policy.

Anyway, for the Palestinian women, their perception of daily political oppression which they call the “politics of everydayness” is producing a backlash and it is these reactions to the oppression that will always be the impetus for big cultural changes and people power revolutions.

From Turkey, we were aghast to learn that the YOU TUBE is banned in their country.
 Censorship is getting worse.
The agency in-charge of communications has recently drawn up a list of so called obscene words and has asked hosting companies to not use these words as domain names.
The justification is a law that forbids “ hosting company of websites falling under the scope of catalogue crimes ( obscenity, prostitution, sexual abuse, of children etc )…”
It is so disheartening to find these restrictions from Turkey.
It so is ironic because Istanbul prides itself as one of the European capitals of culture.
It is such a misnomer to regard culture as an artifact of past grandeur and glory because culture must be a dynamic tool for the promotion of basic freedoms such as our freedom of expression.

But, there is much scope for progressive post modern future for Turkey, not because it is a country that has desired to get European Union accession and membership since the past decade but because the people’s movements like our Coalition for Sexual & Bodily Rights ( CSBR) are seriously vigilant and passionately working to protect our basic human rights.

Random Reflections on Holy Holidays

My holy week started with preparations to send off Kaye, mi unica hija for work in Manila.
Now, I am coping with what is called the empty nest syndrome or the feeling that parents experience when a child leaves home to study or work.
The feelings are both sadness and joy not unlike the sadness and joy of the holy season.
The sadness is akin to that of a post partum depression or when a long drawn out project is over.
The joy is the empathy for the excitement of a child turned adult who is trying on “life’s uniforms” and infinite possibilities away from our smothering and overprotection.

My apprehension is probably due to the fact that the Manila that I knew is not the same anymore. Manila has deteriorated so much over the years.
The floods come every year like clockwork; the face of the flood is etched in our minds as the ONDOY flood. My other fear is that much of Manila sits on an earthquake belt. So, I “ Eat, Pray and Love.” Seriously, I told my daughter to eat healthy and have faith. We both believe in the credo that faith is a lot like love and hope.

During the holy week, we hope to have respite from all the bombardment through television of all that is bad in Philippine politics.
After all the House and Senate hearings on corruption in aid of legislation, our government leaders must reflect now on the goals of our government spending.
Subsidies are crucial for our agrarian sector. Public spending on our human resources through education is an important investment.

As to revenue generation through taxes, that our government is paying attention to tax evasion by people from the center of wealth & power is an iconic gesture that should send a strong message to correctly establish the ideal relationship between the government and the citizen taxpayer.
As the saying goes, death and taxes are the only two things certain in life.

In history, we remember our heroes and activist forefathers and mothers who campaigned against “taxation without representation.”
Still, it is inefficient to collect taxes from the poor.
It is inefficient as the cost of collection is high because the taxable units are small.
The poor are our farmers and fisherfolks in the agrarian sector whose incomes are seasonal or our urban poor whose incomes are unstable.

Then, while my daughter and I were looking at the range of work options in Manila, I discover that the friends I went to school with or worked with are now the rulers and leaders of the land as cabinet members or the leaders in President Noy's team (PNoy), congresswomen and men, solicitor general, Justices, Comelec Directors, Deans of universities, or heads of social, economic and political institutions of our country.
So, I feel the faith again.
We, together with these leaders that we know so very well are directly responsible for the social, economic and political prognosis of the Philippine Republic.
For me, this feels like a renaissance and the renewal of Easter that I am looking forward to.

Non Partisan Creative Politics

When the election campaign period starts come February 2010 ( national campaign) and March 2010 ( local campaign), our non partisan politics now will ripen into non partisan political campaign lest we be accused of premature campaigning now. Non partisan politics is, of course, a reaction to traditional partisan politics. The connotation of traditional politics is that these are all about patronage politics, political dynasties and powerful political parties serving the interests of big business who are funding their campaign. Patronage politics are all about the disbursement of largesse in exchange for political favors like votes or the behest of political support to promote the hegemony of those in position of power and authority. This is very unfortunate actually because, ideally, big business and those in power and authority should be serving the interests of all and promoting development for all citizens. But, realpolitik is what it is. Non partisan people’s campaign is campaign by basic sectors and ordinary citizens. It is a citizen campaign for changes towards good governance and social development. Examples of non partisan creative politics include those by the Change Politics Movement, NoyNoy Aquino People Power Movement ( NAPM: and yes, that should be the meaning of the P for now), and the new People’s Politics of presidential aspirant Chiz Escudero as he describes it after bolting out of the Nationalists’ People Coalition (NPC) political party.

My sense, though, is that a non partisan campaign, as a stand alone campaign strategy, is not yet enough to win a national candidate. A coordinated national and local machinery and organization are crucial ingredients. Thus, a national political party is needed to win a president. Which is why, only parties with a national constituency can be registered in the Comelec as a national party. Perhaps, there is wisdom in the proposed bill that political parties should have state funding so that those without access to large funding can join a national or local election political campaign. But, then again, party list groups have registered an objection to this kind of state support to mainstream political parties which have already access to funding from many powerful sectors. Still, genuine political parties with clear political vision and platforms still need to be improved in our country.

As part of our advocacy, I am sharing here an abstract of a Development and Reform Agenda which was drafted under the auspices of our national network, the Caucus of Development NGO Networks ( CODE NGO), after a nation wide consultation among members of the Change Politics Movement and other civil society groups. We are using this reform and development agenda in our voters’ education program and we will use this for later, too, as basis to monitor compliance by elected candidates. The main points of this reform agenda are about transparency and good governance, empowerment of basic sectors, reformed system of civil service bureaucracy, constitutional reform through elected constitutional convention delegates, federalism, asset reform, social safety nets for the poor, health, population policy, education, building peace by pursuing and sustaining the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army/National Democratic Front (CPP/NPA/NDF), and the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa-Mindanao (RPMM), promoting sustainable economic development through reforms in the management of our natural resources and agricultural sector, strengthening the local economy by supporting micro, small, and medium ]enterprises (MSMEs), promoting fiscal and tax reforms by directing the lump sum allocations and “discretionary funds,” i.e. Priority Development Assistance Fund or PDAF, President's Social Fund, etc. ( pork barrel) to local governments, supporting measures that propose the inclusion of magnitude and incidence of poverty in the determination of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA), increasing government revenues and conducting a debt audit by forming a Congressional Debt Audit Commission that will scrutinize all public debt and contingent liabilities, among others.

Project Citizenship : Mar Roxas

Senator Mar Roxas was the only guest that showed up in the July 30, 2009 forum on Mindanao Peace, Economy, Environment & Youth Development. It was a forum under the auspices of the Project Citizenship of the Ateneo de Davao University ( particularly the Political Science & History program of the Social Science & Education Division and SAMAPULA, the organization of Political Science students ) and the Change Politics Movement. Other politicians such as Jejomar Binay, Grace Padaca, Francis Pangilinan, etc, who have individually expressed a desire to run for national posts were invited, too, but did not make it.

Mar Roxas said there is something to be said about those who show up and so I am giving space to him and hopefully, the rest who did not show up will have their space here another time. Senator Manuel "Mar" Araneta Roxas II was born May 13, 1957. He is the grandson of former Philippine President Manuel Roxas. Mar, an economist, is a product of the Ateneo de Manila for his basic education and studied Economics all the way at the Wharton School of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States. Mar is very eloquent and spoke a handful without notes. He would pepper his speech with Binisaya Ilonggo as he served as a congressman from Capiz from 1993 to 2000 until former President Joseph Estrada appointed him as a cabinet member for the Department of Trade & Industry. Asked what the best thing Gloria Arroyo did, he said that it was re-appointing him as head of the Department of Trade & Industry.

Then, he was asked about what is great about the Liberal Party. He said that among the current crop of Liberal Party stalwarts, no one has been tainted with wrongdoing or corruption. I wish to share to the younger generation that perhaps, the reason why Mar says current Liberal party members is because the dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1965 was once a prominent member of the Liberal Party founded by former Philippine President Manuel Roxas, and then Marcos became a turncoat after failing to get the Liberal Party's nomination for president. Marcos ran as the Nationalist Party candidate for president against the Liberal president, Diosdado Macapagal. Marcos won and was forced to step down twenty years after ( in 1986) when Cory took over as President after the EDSA people power revolution. Anyway, I felt even as a child back in 1965, that there were only two political parties : Liberal and Nacionalista. In local politics, though, delineation between what parties stood for was blurred as voters elected personalities or local kingpins and overlooked political parties. My sense is that it is still the same up to now which is really an indication for party building and for us citizens to invest ourselves in the discussion of political party platforms and national and local election issues.

Mar who is not topping but rising, though, in current presidential surveys was elected as Senator in the 2004 elections by 19, 372,888 votes and is still the highest ever garnered by a national candidate in Philippine election history.

The following are his answers to the rest of the issues :
a) On his expensive television commercials, i.e. the tricycle driver spiel, Mar says that the funds are his inheritance. While others would spend on expensive cars, he is choosing to spend his money communicating to the Filipino people.
b) On Mindanao peace : He is for peace but not carving another juridical entity out of the Philippines and that consultation on these issues are very crucial.
c) On reproductive health : he was asked how he would implement the Magna Carta of Women particularly reproductive rights: he said that definitely he is against abortion and to the students in the audience he said that providing information on reproductive health is important and that government should not impose or interfere on the couple’s decision on what is good for them in the area of reproductive health.

Many of my friends in Mindanao really took issue with the Mar Roxas stand on the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancentral Domain ( MOA-AD) particularly on the Bangsa Moro Juridical Entity (BJE). Perhaps, Mar as a politician, is also sensing the pulse of the larger majority and which is why communication and public awareness and consultations in planning alternative futures are crucial.