Discovering one's 'inner dancer'

Discovering one's 'inner dancer'


Posted 02:13am (Mla time) Jan 30, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A13 of the January 30, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


BAGETS may have the kilig movies of Piolo and Bea, Richard and Angel for spice or consolation this Valentine season, but more ahh... mature couples will find their thrills in "Shall We Dance," which opens in theaters next week.

Based on the 1996 Japanese original of the same title, "Shall We Dance" transplants the repressed Tokyo salary man in the first movie to Chicago, where he has become a middle-aged lawyer. John Clark (Richard Gere) finds himself asking-much like his clients who have him sum up their lives for them in wills-"Is that all there is?"

By all conventional standards, Clark is a man who has nothing left to wish for. His wife Bev (Susan Sarandon) puts her finger on it when she tells him that "There is nothing in a box that you want or that I can give you." He has a successful career, a smart and lovely wife, and two loving children. But there is a part of him that hungers for more.

One evening, while aboard a commuter train, Clark happens to look up and catches a glimpse of a beautiful young woman (Jennifer Lopez) looking pensively out of the window of a dance studio. Intrigued by her air of sadness and longing, he decides to satisfy his curiosity.

Entirely out of character, and out of the loop of familiar conventionality, Clark finds himself enrolling for a beginner's dance class at Miss Mitzi's Dance Studio, sharing the dance floor with two losers, and with Bobbie, a manic ballroom wannabe whom her studio classmates have dubbed "The Bobbienator." Clark also discovers that another lawyer in his firm (Stanley Tucci), who styles himself a jock at work, is in reality a dance fanatic who disguises his identity on the dance floor for fear of ridicule. As he puts it: "You don't know how much pressure there is on a straight man who loves to dance."


* * *

BUT of all the people he discovers in his new world of dance, it is Paulina, the woman whose soulful gaze out of the window first drew him in, who most intrigues Clark. It turns out that she is an accomplished ballroom dancer, who was good enough to make it to the finals of the world's top ballroom competition, only to return not just defeated but vanquished in spirit.

When Paulina rebuffs Clark's invitation for dinner, suggesting that he frequents the dance studio only to get closer to her, the lawyer initially considers giving up his new-found vocation. But he realizes that dancing has captured his heart and ignited his passion, that his visits to the dance studio are no longer about Paulina, but rather about answering a deeper need.

However, Clark's budding romance with dance leaves his wife feeling left out. Worried about her husband's frequent late nights and changed personality, and wondering if he is having an affair, Bev hires a private detective to look into his nocturnal activities. When the detective invites her to watch Clark compete in the finals of Chicago's foremost dance competition, Bev feels for the first time shut out of her husband's life, that he not only kept a secret from her, but deliberately excluded her from something that had apparently become a vital part of his life.

Can John Clark, upright citizen and happy family man, co-exist with John Clark the whiz at waltz?


* * *

TRYING to explain to the private detective why people get married, Bev Clark says it's because a person needs "a witness to one's life." Everyone, save for the rare and fortunate few, tread through life in anonymity, she says. And the reason a man or a woman gets married is to be assured that at least one other person gets to witness your life, gets to know you in intimate detail and can testify that your existence held some meaning.

When Bev confronts John about why he kept his life in the dance studio a secret, he confesses that he was afraid of shattering the image of happiness and security that they had built around their marriage. Indeed, "old marrieds" know of this hunger-this search for personal meaning and fulfillment even as one strives to meet the demands of career, family, society.

"Shall We Dance" may not have the usual elements of cinematic romance. The male lead does not waltz into the sunset with his romantic interest. But it does affirm the value of love-for oneself and one's unspoken dreams, for the people who give meaning to one's life, and for dance and the wonderful exhilaration and freedom it allows.

There have been many movies made of and about dance-there's even a tribute to Cyd Charisse in one scene of "Shall We Dance." But this movie tells the story not only about how one life is transformed by the power of dance. It also tells of how a family is created in the dingy confines of the dance studio, and how many individuals are allowed-like butterflies bursting out of their cocoons-to become their real selves on the dance floor.


* * *

QUITE obviously, this movie would not have worked had it not been Richard Gere playing the lead. As the lawyer discovering his inner dancer, Gere lends just the right touch of vulnerability and verve to John Clark. He is quite a sight in a tuxedo, affirming that gray hair and laugh lines only add to a man's allure. Jennifer Lopez has never looked more sultry, and never has a movie showed off her bootyliciousness in quite so compelling a manner as in "Shall We Dance." I bet young men (and older women) will be re-playing J Lo's tango with Gere endless times once the DVD goes on the market.

Susan Sarandon, the production notes claim, was chosen to play the role of Bev for her "distinct embodiment of feminine intelligence." Wives watching this movie will find themselves rooting for her character; for if husbands could harbor inner Astaires, wives, too can testify there's more than a little J Lo in them.

Urgent appeals

Urgent appeals


Posted 07:02am (Mla time) Jan 29, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A15 of the January 29, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


BY E-MAIL comes an urgent appeal in behalf of the women members of the Nagkakaisang Kababaihan ng Angeles City (Nagka), who find themselves embroiled in a "David and Goliath" struggle against the city government and Mayor Carmelo Lazatin.

Nagka is composed of women survivors of military prostitution and sexual exploitation who were dislocated by both the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo and the departure of the American forces from Clark Air Base. Around the time of the bases negotiations, Wedpro, an organization devoted to research, documentation and organization around women's issues, was commissioned to look into the situation of the women sex workers in the area and suggest means by which government could help them through the transition.

After the women were organized into Nagka in 1992, the Angeles city government decided to allocate a piece of public land then covered by lahar for use by the organization to help the women embark on income-generating activities.

The women put up stalls for eateries and shops in the area, but through the years, especially after the influx of foreigners who put up bars and entertainment places nearby, the humble stalls suddenly found themselves in the middle of a prime business property. This was when Nagka's troubles started.

Starting 1998, when the area became prime property, Nagka found itself having a harder time dealing with City Hall. "Every year, for so many years, they had to argue (with officials) why they should be allowed to continue," a backgrounder notes.


* * *

LAST year, Nagka joined dialogue-meetings with Lazatin, the City Council and barangay officials precisely to discuss the status of their occupation of the stalls.

Last November and December, unidentified men began to drop by the stalls, threatening and harassing the women stallholders. The dialogues continued until last Jan. 12. But even as the women were at the mayor's residence waiting for another dialogue, local government personnel showed up and announced a demolition, without benefit of a formal notice or order. When the women heard about it and informed the mayor, he supposedly remarked: "Wala na akong pakialam [I no longer care]."

With the help of Wedpro and other supporters, the women of Nagka approached national government offices for help, including the Office of the Vice President and the Commission on Human Rights, and through their intervention, succeeded in getting the mayor to issue a letter ordering the demolition of stalls to be held in abeyance pending further studies and the search for a relocation site. But just five days later, a demolition team of about 10 men started tearing down one of the stalls. When the Nagka officers showed them Lazatin's letter, they were even accused of creating a "forgery." The destruction of the rest of the stalls stopped only after barangay officials intervened.


* * *

FINDING their appeals to the mayor's goodwill unheeded (the councilors who had previously supported the women had slowly backed away), the women of Nagka went to court, with their counsel Evalyn Ursua filing a petition for a temporary restraining order against the continuance of the demolition. In the meantime, the demolition continued until most of the stalls were torn down.

Unfortunately, the local court declared that the issue was now a "fait accompli" since most of the structures had already been destroyed. An appeal was immediately filed and a decision is still awaited.

Meanwhile, the women have remained in the area, renaming their place "Nagka's Café by the Ruins," though despite their show of bravado, the women confess to living in fear for their safety.

"Fait accompli" it may be, but the destruction of Nagka's stalls for commercial development shouldn't be allowed to remain unchallenged or unpunished. Else, how will women who bought into government's promises of support and "rehabilitation" believe government's word again when it says it is looking after their interests?


* * *

ANOTHER urgent matter concerns the "survival" of 10 ancestral homes in the town of Baclayon, Bohol, each built around the turn of the century and cared for by the descendants of the original homeowners.

In a letter to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, representatives of the families appealed to the President to intervene in the plans of the Bohol provincial government to demolish their ancestral homes as part of the widening of the Baclayon coastal highway, which the houses border.

"In several dialogues with Gov. Erico Aumentado and after lodging with the authorities several letters of protest, we have been assured by the governor that a two-kilometer stretch east and west of the beautiful and historical church complex of Baclayon will be spared from the widening," the homeowners wrote the President.

And yet, despite these assurances, the Department of Public Works and Highways in Bohol indicated in a meeting with Baclayon residents that plans for the widening of the two-kilometer stretch of road would proceed. "If implemented, most of (our) houses will suffer partial or full demolition," the concerned homeowners write, while part of the church's belfry will be affected, too.

"We are not against development or modernization per se," the letter-writers state. What they are against is "destroying a major part of the tangible heritage that makes up the cultural identity of our community and town."

Achieving a happy middle ground is not all that impossible, the homeowners say. Officials need only look at the examples of Silay (in Negros Occidental) and Carcar (in Cebu) to realize how the past can continue to co-exist with the present and help shape the future.

A land of hope and progress

A land of hope and progress


Posted 11:30pm (Mla time) Jan 25, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A13 of the January 26, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


WHILE waiting for our flight to Manila last week, our media group together with representatives of Knowledge Channel Foundation Inc. and other Lopez companies, were joined at the GenSan airport lounge by City Mayor Pedro Acharon Jr., Sarangani Gov. Miguel Rene Dominguez and Rep. Darlene Antonino Custodio.

The three officials also happen to be among the country's youngest elective officials. Darlene is the youngest congresswoman and, if I'm not mistaken, the second youngest member of Congress, while Dominguez, the son of former Aquino Cabinet member and presidential adviser on Mindanao Paul Dominguez, is the youngest provincial governor. Acharon is in his 40s though he looks many years younger.

Maybe that's the reason the three serve in what has got to be one of the most dynamic and economically progressive regions in the country. GenSan is the hub of the entire Socsksargen (for South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and Gen. Santos City) region, or "development cluster" in the language of technocrats. It derives its wealth from a long and rich coastline, fertile farm fields and plantations, and an excellent road and communications network. At the risk of sounding like a promotional brochure, GenSan also boasts of a world-class airport, pier and fish port. Some in our group who braved the early morning wake-up call got to see the last for themselves, observing the unloading of tuna from deep-sea fishing vessels straight to processing and canning plants.

Seven tuna canneries (out of nine in the entire Philippines) are found in GenSan, each employing some 1,500 workers, many of them young migrant women. The constant influx of migrants in search of jobs from all around the country can account for GenSan's high population growth rate of 5.34 percent. Antonino-Custodio says that if one were to discount in-migration, GenSan's growth rate would be closer to one-two percent.


* * *

THE RAPID growth in population and the fevered pace of development throughout the region bring with it attendant problems, of course.

First is the depletion of tuna resources, with deep-sea fishing vessels harvesting the migratory tuna in waters off the Pacific Islands and near Indonesia. Sarangani Bay, said the owner of one of GenSan's canneries, has long been "fished out" of tuna. Many of the cannery factory owners, in fact, anchor their businesses on deep-sea fishing.

Pacific tuna, said the cannery factory owner, is vastly preferred over the "oilier" Atlantic tuna that spawn in cold waters. Philbest, a canning factory we visited, exports its canned tuna to the United States and to Europe.

Sarangani, meanwhile, relies on a more varied "menu" of agriculture and aquaculture products to anchor its development. The province is the third largest producer of coconuts in the country, and exports as well fruits and vegetables and rice and corn. Sarangani is also noted for its bangus, with the Dominguezes' Sarangani Bay Bangus already a popular brand of frozen daing na bangus in Manila. Tilapia and prawns are also cultivated in fish ponds and prawn farms.

Dominguez has also earmarked several potential industries for further development, such as oil palm plantations, activated carbon production and marble mining.


* * *

ONE of the ironies about Mindanao business and development is that, despite rhetoric about the island's being the country's "promised land," it's rich natural resources have yet to be fully tapped while the national government has yet to pour the amount of resources needed to bring that vaunted promise to fruition.

On our way from Datu Paglas in Maguindanao to GenSan, we stopped by fruit stalls on the highway in Polomolok, the site of the huge Dole plantation devoted to pineapples and other fruits and agricultural products.

I've always felt a special connection to Polomolok as my father in a way "founded" the town, being the administrator of a group of "pioneers" who settled in this spot in the Koronadal Valley before the war, under the "Land to the Landless" program headed by Gen. Paulino Santos, after whom the city is named.

A former judge who now serves as a city councilor in GenSan, whom I met at a dinner tendered by the mayor, told me he knows of my late father's pioneering work from years of adjudicating land ownership disputes in which my father's name was often invoked as having "granted" ownership of the disputed parcel of land to one of the parties.

So it was with a pang that I realized that my first ever visit to Polomolok should consist of only a brief stopover at a fruit stall along the highway.


* * *

STILL, whatever sentiments I harbored vanished with my first taste of Polomolok pineapple, which the woman vendor peeled before us in a dazzling unbroken spiral of the tough pineapple peel. It was like imbibing sugared water, the tangy pineapple flesh lending but a sharp note to the overall sweetness.

We filled our van with boxes of pineapple, bananas, chico, guapple, bright pink macopa, and even clumps of green asparagus. I imagined my parents and the other pioneers, landless farmers from Luzon and the Visayas, running their fingers through the rich loamy soil and imagining their future in the new paradise they had founded.

For my parents, World War II brought an end to those hopes in Mindanao. They never returned to Polomolok except for a brief visit to disinter the bones of their first-born who had died there as a baby. Today, I wonder what they would think if they could behold both the promise fulfilled and the decades of frustration. Their story belongs to the past, but the future of Socsksargen lies in the hands of the young officials we met and the dreams they are able to fulfill.

A man and a town

A man and a town


Posted 01:19am (Mla time) Jan 23, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A13 of the January 23, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


IN 2000 and then again in 2002, at the height of the military actions against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Central Mindanao, workers at the La Frutera Banana Plantation in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao, became restive. Many of them were, after all, former separatist rebels with the MILF and even the Moro National Liberation Front, and almost all of them were Muslims.

Hearing of the bombings and strafing in Buliok, and how thousands of residents-Christians, lumads and Muslims-were forced to flee to Pikit and Pagalungan, the men in the plantation gnashed their teeth in frustration, threatening to take up arms once more. But the late Hashim Salamat, then chair of the MILF, sent a message directing them not to leave their work in the plantation because it was just as important as the armed struggle.

Still, says Datu Ibrahim "Toto" Paglas III, former mayor of Datu Paglas (the town is named after his grandfather), the town was not spared the impact of the war. In 2000, more than a thousand families from the Ligwasan Marsh sought refuge there. In 2002, hearing of the plight of the war refugees, La Frutera employees brought relief goods, including bananas, to the evacuation centers. When the military raided a training camp of the MILF and found La Frutera bananas in the storage rooms, a general confronted Paglas, wanting to know why he was aiding and abetting the rebels. "I could only scratch my head and tell him their families must have given them to the rebels."

That is how Paglas, the moving spirit behind La Frutera, successfully plays a balancing game, running a successful agricultural export enterprise in one of the least developed corners of the country, and, as he puts it, "transforming a war zone to an economic zone."


* * *

FOR this feat, Paglas has been recognized both here and abroad for his leadership and the economic miracle he has pulled off.

He brings up his lack of a college degree so often in his speeches and conversations that one suspects he's actually proud of it. But unlike others-say, Erap who poked fun at educated people and downgraded the importance of schooling-Datu Toto earnestly declares that "education is the bottom line" in the race to address the economic problems that confront the country, most especially the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Though he ran for governor of the ARMM and lost to Parouk Hussin ("Would you believe I even supposedly lost in my own town?" he exclaims), Paglas, a former three-term mayor who was succeeded by his younger brother, Abubakar, better known as "Totoy," now rejects the political route to development. "We need to give our people economic opportunities," he says. "No matter how many peace accords they sign, it will all be a waste of ink if the warriors have nothing to go back to but poverty and hopelessness."


* * *

IN HER book "Jalan-jalan: A Journey through EAGA" (written with Criselda Yabes), Marites Danguilan Vitug describes the town of Datu Paglas as "a place made extraordinary by its people, inspired by a leader restless for change."

In his first term as mayor, Paglas concentrated on restoring or, perhaps, establishing, peace and order in his town. It had been the site of fighting between MNLF troops and soldiers since the 1970s, and became the stomping ground of cattle rustlers and highway robbers when the skirmishes quieted. There were also periodic outbreaks of "family feuds caused by land disputes, political rivalries, or personal animosities." Paglas, who stands at six feet and exudes a manly appeal, managed to tame the "wild" townsfolk mainly by proving that no one would be spared if he did wrong. "I wasn't afraid to arrest and punish even my own relatives," he recalls, which wasn't all that easy since everyone in the town is in some way related to him by blood or affinity.

After chasing the criminals away, Datu Toto then went after potential investors. In 1996, with the help of a sympathetic Ramos administration, he was able to bring in investors from Saudi Arabia and Italy, and even from Manila, and established La Frutera. Chiquita Banana brought in consultants from Panama and even Israel. Today, the company exports bananas under the brands Chiquita Banana and Unifrutti to the Middle East, Japan, Iran, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea. It has just established a foothold in China.


* * *

MORE important, La Frutera employs over 2,000 workers, 30 percent of whom are women (mostly in fruit-handling and packing), in its 1,200-hectare Datu Paglas plantation. It has also expanded to Bukidnon, where it leases a property planted to golden pineapple and white asparagus; as well as to Lanao del Sur.

The plantation has spawned a network of allied industries: a truck hauling service to bring the bananas to Davao, banana chips processing, a rural bank (a rarity in Muslim areas), motor repair shops, small restaurants and, of course, sari-sari stores.

Still, poverty persists in Datu Paglas despite the many signs of economic improvement. Which is why Datu Toto makes good use of the network he has built here and abroad to entice private investors as well as non-government organizations and international aid agencies to come to the aid of his town and region. When Paglas met Rina Lopez Bautista of the Knowledge Channel at a conference in Bangkok, the latter was so impressed that for the launching of their Team Mindanao project to bring education TV to schools in the ARMM, "we had no other site in mind but Datu Paglas."

Thanks to Datu Toto, the town and its leader will remain "top of mind" with whoever is looking for hope in the poorest part of Mindanao.

Bringing TV to the classroom

Bringing TV to the classroom


Posted 02:12am (Mla time) Jan 22, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A13 of the January 22, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


TELEVISION may be derided as the "boob tube," but there is no denying its power. The ease with which novelty songs and dance moves, like "Otso-otso" or "Spaghetti Song," are picked up, learned and popularized attest to the extraordinary "teaching" power of TV, as well as to the viewing public's capacity (even eagerness!) to learn, retain and replicate what they see and hear on this medium.

For five years now, "Knowledge Channel" has been tapping TV's power as an educational medium by airing curriculum-based material that supplement the traditional "chalk and blackboard" lectures of teachers. Though its shows are aired on cable channels, Knowledge Channel Foundation has also embarked on a drive to bring its shows within the reach (or the eyes and ears-and minds) of public school students nationwide. Backed by a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Education, the Knowledge Channel today reaches almost two million elementary students and 700,000 high school students in 1,400 schools throughout 57 provinces.

Rina Lopez Bautista, president and CEO of Knowledge Channel Foundation Inc. (KCFI), is particularly proud of the fact that Knowledge Channel is beamed as far north as Itbayat, Batanes, and as far south as Bongao, Tawi-tawi.

This is because the foundation has worked, alongside numerous partners and sponsors, to bring not just free TV sets to public schools, but also free cable and satellite access, as well training and orientation to teachers and principals on the optimal use of this teaching tool.

* * *

OVER THE LAST few days, this columnist was with a delegation of officers and staff of KCFI and other entities with the Lopez Group of Companies, as well as other media representatives, for the launch of Team Mindanao. Team Mindanao stands for "Television Education for Muslim Mindanao," a three-year project funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by an alliance of partners led by KCFI.

Team Mindanao is aimed at beaming the Knowledge Channel to 150 public schools and their students in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), bringing "world-class education to those who are in need of it."

Would not the money have been better used to build classrooms or provide schools with such basics as desks and cement floors? Thomas Kral, chief of the Office of Education of USAID, said one of their major concerns about the educational system in the ARMM schools was the high drop-out rate, with a source claiming only three percent of grade one enrollees manage to graduate from elementary, and of these, only 12 percent go on to finish high school. "Why build more classrooms if children are leaving school in such numbers?" Kral asked in an interview. "Perhaps what we need to address is the relevance and quality of the education that these schoolchildren get."

* * *

AT THE LAUNCH of Team Mindanao in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao, which is itself a model of development not just for ARMM but for the whole country (more on this later), a student of the Datu Paglas National High School, accepting "the gift of knowledge" in behalf of other young people in ARMM, declared that "we have entered the world of information technology."

But for some schools and students, Knowledge Channel might well be their portal to the world of modernity. Doris Nuval, KCFI officer in charge of resource mobilization who has been based since November in Cotabato City to oversee Team Mindanao, tells of visiting schools in impoverished areas where the students squatted on floor planks resting on dirt floors. It nearly broke her heart to disqualify such schools, said Doris, mainly because they had no electricity or else their electrical supply was spotty and unreliable.

Part of Team Mindanao project's goals, in fact, is to provide schools in such areas with alternative and renewable energy (such as solar panels), and in other areas without access to cable, access to the Knowledge Channel through satellite technology. Perhaps in areas sunk in the mire of underdevelopment, what young people need is the chance to leapfrog to the world of technological advancements. Thanks to Knowledge Channel, that world has just been opened up to them.

* * *

IS there such a thing as "the politics of dress”? Yes, there is, asserts political theorist and historian Dr. Mina Roces.

In fact, on Tuesday, Jan. 25, from 2:30 p.m.-5 p.m., she will expound on this theory when she opens the "Feminist Centennial Lecture Series" with a talk entitled "Ang Tela, Ang Terno, at Ang Boto: the Role of Clothing and Dress in the Suffrage Movement." The lecture will be held at St. John Room, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, St. Scholastica's College, Leon Guinto St., Malate, Manila.

The Feminist Centennial Lecture Series is sponsored by the NGO-GO National Network of the Feminist Centennial in the Philippines and the Department of History, Sociology and Political Science of St. Scholastica's College.

Dr. Roces teaches in the School of History of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. She is the author of "Women, Power and Kinship Politics: Female Power in Post-War Philippines" and "Kinship Politics: The Lopez Family: 1956-2000."

In "Ang Tela, Ang Terno at ang Boto," she explores "the politics of dress in the 20th century, focusing on how dress was linked to political agendas and political self-presentations in Philippine politics. It argues that there was a tension between Filipino Dress and Western Dress, which represented opposing identities." Is there a lesson somewhere here for the fashionistas of today?

Goodwill and good intentions

Goodwill and good intentions


Posted 02:35am (Mla time) Jan 21, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A15 of the January 21, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


IN LATE November, typhoons Yoyong and Winnie slammed into Eastern Luzon, with the unusually heavy volume of rains, combined with the effects of rampant logging on the slopes of the Sierra Madre mountain range, creating an environmental and human disaster (more than 1,000 people died) in Quezon and Aurora provinces, and parts of Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Nueva Ecija and Bicol. Most devastated were the towns of Infanta, Gen. Nakar, Real, Dingalan, Baler, San Luis and Maria Aurora.

These towns also happen to be near or in areas contested by the New People's Army and the military for well over two decades now. In fact, the townsfolk of Infanta and General Nakar had just declared their towns a "Zone of Peace, Freedom and Development" last September after a march/ prayer rally in reaction to several killings related to the armed conflict.

While the fighting was halted briefly in the wake of the deadly mudslides and devastation, news filtered out of the calamity area that a troop of government soldiers had been ambushed even while the soldiers were undertaking relief operations. The news spurred the participants in a peace conference, "Panaw sa Kalinaw" held last Dec. 3-5 in Davao, to call for a "typhoon-related ceasefire," even if only in Luzon, as well as an early and longer Christmas ceasefire.

When the government and National Democratic Front (NDF) peace negotiating panels met in Utrecht, the Netherlands from Dec. 16-17, both parties expressed openness, though only informally, to calling for a ceasefire in the typhoon-affected areas. Soon after, both the Armed Forces and the NPA unilaterally declared ceasefires, but only for the duration of the holiday season. Despite a few violations, the ceasefires were basically honored by both parties. The ceasefires have since lapsed.

* * *

NOW the government and the NDF are challenged to look beyond the emergency and give the survivors in the devastated areas "space and time to heal," to recover from the trauma and loss, return to their ruined homes and farmlands, and then rebuild their lives and start anew.

The Philippine National Red Cross has appealed for, at the very least, a "six-month humanitarian ceasefire," reasoning that this is the minimum period needed to complete the relief operations and get the longer-term rehabilitation and development programs off the ground.

As their informal agreements during the December talks in Utrecht showed, both the government and the NDF are not averse to agreeing on common actions for the common good. There seems to be enough goodwill on both sides to make a go of the humanitarian ceasefire. Perhaps all they need is a little push from us, the public, to show that there is public opinion support for not just a humanitarian ceasefire, but for a just and peaceful end to the armed conflict.

For now, statements of support for the call for a humanitarian ceasefire are circulating among civil society groups (how about parish priests copying the statements and circulating them among their parishioners during Sunday Mass?), in hopes that a massive show of favorable public opinion would spur both government and the NDF into doing the right thing. Communities in the calamity-affected towns are also being asked to issue their own appeal, especially from their standpoint as survivors of the calamity.

Peace groups also propose that personages or groups mutually acceptable to both parties, such as the Catholic Bishops' Conference and the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, or the Red Cross, be approached to take the lead role in monitoring the ceasefire.

* * *

BUT even now, peace advocates are looking at steps that they and the townsfolk in the disaster areas could take to make the most of the ceasefire, once it is called.

For one, leaders of the Zone of Peace, Freedom and Development, declared in Infanta and General Nakar, could issue a re-declaration of the peace zone. Then volunteers from schools, civic organizations and other such groups could highlight the "window" provided by the ceasefire through humanitarian action, such as helping clean up houses and buildings buried in mud, assisting in infrastructure work, building houses and repairing school buildings, raising funds for sustainable livelihood programs, and pushing for a log ban as well as looking for alternative livelihoods for those engaged in the timber trade.

Over the long term, say peace advocates, "the ceasefire can be an opportunity for confidence building among the government, the NDF and the citizenry, especially if the ceasefire can be bilateral between the GRP and NDF, with openness to monitoring by local citizens' groups."

If the campaign for a humanitarian ceasefire is successful, the minimum six-month period could also be marked, say peace advocates, "as a period of national solidarity with victims of disasters, including those of the Asian tsunami, a time for acts of sacrifice, generosity, caring and helping others to heal."

Great and grand dreams and schemes-but only if all sides manage to come to an understanding and agreement on the need for an extended ceasefire.

* * *

MEANWHILE, the public is invited to a concert launching the Call for a Humanitarian Ceasefire tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 22 from 6-9 p.m. at the Conspiracy Garden Caf‚ on Visayas Avenue. Entrance to the concert, called "Pagbangon sa Unos-Konsiyerto para sa Kapayapaan," is free, but donations are encouraged. Organizers would also welcome sponsors (with a donation of at least P5,000) and donors (P1,000 or more) to defray expenses as well as to raise money for a debriefing program for local community groups in the affected areas.

Come to the concert and lend your voice to the call for a humanitarian ceasefire for our brothers and sisters badly in need of healing!

A room of one's own

A room of one's own


Updated 05:12am (Mla time) Jan 16, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A1 of the January 16, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


FOR my 50th birthday (there, I've admitted it in public!), my sweet Tita Chul, youngest sister of my Papa, gifted me with wine, a breadbasket and a cheese board and an offering of books from other people. One book, "Women of Tammuz," was from novelist Azucena Grajo Uranza, a distant relative of ours who completed her tetralogy of novels on Philippine history with this volume. Three other books came as a packet "from a fan," as Tita Chul mysteriously put it. One of them came tightly wrapped in durable paper with the cryptic inscription: "An old book on Feminism..."

I never got the "fan's" identity from my aunt, but the book on feminism turned out to be a copy of "Feminism: The Essential Historical Writings," edited by Miriam Schneir (Vintage Books, 1972).

The book contains essays, fiction, memoirs and letters by "the major feminist writers," including several men; and it shows a bias toward American writers and activists. An exception proved to be Virginia Woolf, who was British, and was represented in the book by her essay "A Room of One's Own." I have not read the essay in full before, though I was familiar with its most famous line: "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction."

I felt drawn to the essay, the final selection in the book, because, of course, I am a woman writer-but only of opinion and not of fiction-and also because I have recently been gifted with a room of my own.


* * *

WE call the room my "office," salvaged from our garage which used to be a storeroom for all sorts of household junk, and which now houses my "working" books (for lack of space, the ones my family reads for pleasure have been banished to another corner of our home), my formerly helter-skelter files, my very own wooden desk and all the technology a writer in this day and age needs or thinks she needs: fax machine, printer, scanner and laptop.

I have always loved those scenes in mystery thrillers, where a detective enters a victim's or suspect's home and tries to discern the personality, passions and perversities of the person from the titles on the book shelves. Just now, gazing at my (for now) orderly row of bookshelves crammed with books, I wonder what conclusions a stranger would draw from the titles displayed. Of course, there are books on my abiding passions: the women's movement, feminism, reproductive health, children, journalism. But there are also books on other interests: history, travel, literature and a boxed set of writings on sex called, of course, "The Sex Box."

What sort of woman do my books say I am? That I am a feminist, journalist, wife and mother. With an interest in history and literature. Who travels a lot. And who enjoys sex (or at least reading about it!). At 50, one can't ask for a better summation of one's life so far, right?


* * *

BUT my family and friends have not spared this "room of my own" from their commentary.

"Are you going to run for barangay chairman?" relatives wanted to know. They then drew up scenarios of our neighbors' queuing before my door, with battered women sobbing into my laptop, begging for help. Well, I do get my share of sob stories, but that's not why I got this room.

The reason, if you must know, is that my work as a columnist, particularly the constant flow of paper that accompanies it, had long overstepped the invisible boundaries of my workspace in the conjugal bedroom. I had a huge desk and generous counterspace, not to mention cabinets to hold my books and files. But every inch of available space have been colonized by papers that had flitted in like errant pigeons each time I would return from a conference, or pass by the Inquirer to pick up my mail.

This room then is as much banishment as shelter. We needed a place for the flocks of paper to roost in, so the bedroom could return to its original function as a place for rest, recreation and escape from the workday world.

But in this place of banishment, I also harbor hopes of generating not just reams of paper-press releases, letters, newsletters, research studies, newspaper clippings that constitute the basis for much of my material-but real fruits of honest labor. In this place of quiet and order (at least, for now), the writer in me hopes words will come with ease and felicity. It is space and silence I crave, not more public involvement and a queue of supplicants!


* * *

IT is not just space and freedom, and material security that Virginia Woolf meant when she issued her famous dictum. I would like to believe that her prescription for women writers also called for quiet and introspection, the luxury of shutting off the world from time to time, and the privilege of putting one's art, or work, or vocation, before anything else, including family, without being assailed by guilt or self-loathing.

As Woolf put it: "...if we have the habit of freedom and the courage to write exactly what we think; if we escape a little from the common sitting-room and see human beings not always in their relation to each other but in relation to reality; and the sky, too, and the trees or whatever it may be in themselves;...if we face the fact, for it is a fact, that there is no arm to cling to, but that we go alone and that our relation is to the world of reality and not to the world of men and women, then the opportunity will come..."

A journalist is trained to think and write amid any number of distractions, even falling bombs. But there comes a time when quiet -- even if only in one's mind -- becomes necessary for creation. And a room of one's own greatly helps create that state of quiet and peace.

Human rights for all

Human rights for all


Updated 01:05am (Mla time) Jan 15, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A15 of the January 15, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


LIFE in the post-9/11 world has been difficult for many, particularly for migrants to Western countries but especially to the United States, for world travelers who must put up with seemingly endless security procedures and the constant threat of hijacking, and of course for the survivors, loved ones and friends of all who perished in the attacks, not just in New York, but in places like Bali and Madrid.

But none has been more adversely affected by the events at the World Trade Center than Muslims all over the world. Afghan and Iraqi civilians know firsthand what happens to "innocent bystanders" when they get caught between a world superpower and an implacable foe. But Muslims from the rest of the world, including Filipino Muslims, have also felt the brunt of the stigma, fear and loathing attached to all who profess belief in Allah. This even if, out of all the Muslims in the world, perhaps less than one percent were and are involved in terrorism or even support the terrorists.

That hasn't stopped Filipino authorities, caught up in anti-Muslim paranoia, from targeting Muslims, who also happen to be Filipino citizens, at the slightest bit of intelligence implicating them in alleged plots against national security. Since 9/11, there have been numerous raids on Muslim-dominated areas, including armed action, with little proof proffered on the validity of the charges and the guilt of those arrested.

* * *

THE LATEST incident involved the arrest of 16 Muslims at the Islamic Information Center (IIC) on Taft Avenue who were there for the Friday prayers. Law enforcement officials claimed they had intelligence that indicated there was a plan to sabotage the Feast of the Nazarene in Quiapo, which was to take place in two days. Those arrested, according to members of the Muslim community, included pilgrims going on Hajj (the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, the center of Islam), and prominent Muslim leaders, including Afghani Alonto, head of the IIC.

Alonto is the youngest son of the late Sen. Domocao Alonto and he remains under detention in Camp Crame.

"The original target was the Islamic Center on the second floor of the Abaton Building in Quiapo. However, a lawyer was present who questioned the legality of the raid since the WPD raiding team could not produce a search/arrest warrant. The raiding party then proceeded to the next center where it succeeded in arresting the 16 Muslims, including three women," says a statement signed by prominent Filipino Muslims, and including a Catholic priest based in Mindanao.

The raid on the IIC and the warrantless arrest of Muslim Filipinos, "under the guise of a war against terror," they asserted, mark a "new crackdown" on the Muslim population in Manila.

"Since 9/11, thousands of Muslims have been arrested in similar illegal raids. While most have been released, hundreds are still languishing in jails. Many of those detained have no charges filed against them. Moreover, there are documented allegations of human rights violations of our brothers and sisters in jail, including torture and sexual abuse of the women," the statement adds.

The targeting of Muslim Filipinos is not taking place in isolation. As the statement points out, the US government, in a 2002 assessment of the human rights situation in the Philippines, has pointed out "serious problems" in some areas, including extrajudicial killings, disappearances, torture and arbitrary arrest and detention, with particular attention paid to the PNP as "the worst abuser of human rights."

* * *

"WE are angered and alarmed that the Arroyo government, while it pursues peace negotiations with the MILF, allows blatant violations of the human rights of Muslims," the signatories stress.

"We demand the release of innocent Filipinos who have been detained on the pretext of being terrorists.

"We call on all peace and civil rights advocates to be on guard, be steadfast in the quest for genuine peace. Human rights must never be sacrificed in the war against terror. To do so undermines the very fabric of democracy and ensures the success of elements who threaten our society.

"We demand that all Muslim leaders in the government come forward to protect the rights and liberty of all Muslims and non-Muslim Filipinos."

Among the signatories are former Sen. Santanina Rasul, founding chair of the Muslim Women Peace Advocates Council, Amina Rasul of the Philippine Council for Islam and Democracy (PCID), other prominent Christian and Muslim leaders, Nena Undag, chair, and Mona Muktar, co-chair and other leaders of the Lumad-Moro Women Solidarity for Human Rights, and Fr. Eliseo Mercado, OMI.

* * *

AS the statement implies, at risk under the present scenario are the human rights not just of our Muslim brethren but of all Filipinos, if we remain silent and stand idly by while we allow the rights of a few to be trampled. Law enforcers may protest that as part of the "war on terror" they have been forced to take short cuts and cannot afford the niceties of legal procedures. But those procedures exist for a reason, and the protection of the individual against the powerful state is just one compelling reason.

Even more offensive is the religious and ethnic profiling employed in the course of going after alleged terrorists. Non-Muslim Filipinos may feel they have nothing to fear in a post-9/11 world, save maybe from faceless terrorists who may strike from out of nowhere. It may be the highest irony yet if the biggest threat stems not from the unseen terrorist, but from the all-powerful and ubiquitous agents of the state.

Unpresidential Estrada

Unpresidential Estrada


Updated 02:55am (Mla time) Jan 14, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A15 of the January 14, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


A LADY radio commentator wanted to know why former President Joseph Estrada arrived in Hong Kong clad only in a denim jacket and jeans, and a checkered cotton shirt. The look, she implied, seemed fit for one of the ruffians that Estrada, popularly known as “Erap,” used to portray onscreen rather than a former head of state.

Erap replied that he had wanted to change into more formal wear but he wasn't allowed to pass by his family home in Greenhills, and so he was "forced" to travel to Hong Kong only in the clothes that were available in his Taytay rest house.

But it seems that it would take more than a spiffy suit to make Mr. Estrada "presidential." Certainly, his remark that the burning of the OB van owned by broadcast giant ABS-CBN should serve as a warning to media organizations "engaged in biased reporting" is not only not presidential, but irresponsible and dangerous, too.

Is the ousted president supporting, by implication, the torching of media facilities by people who happen to disagree with the opinions expressed by employees of a media establishment, or with the manner in which they cover the news? Malacañang is right, at least in this instance. The attack on the ABS-CBN remote coverage facility is part of the general campaign of intimidation and suppression of our supposedly "free" media. It finds its crudest and most extreme expression in the murder of journalists, but burning vehicles and officially sponsored advertisers' boycotts are also arms in the arsenal of those who would bend media to their will.

Our Constitution protects freedom of the press, recognizing how a free press serves the ends of democracy by helping create an informed citizenry and serving as a check to abusive government. So when the press comes under attack, democracy is attacked, too.

* * *

INSTEAD of expressing concern or appealing to the alleged followers of Fernando Poe Jr. who claimed responsibility for the attacks, Estrada chose to fan the flames of discord. When FPJ's widow Susan Roces castigated ABS-CBN reporter Karen Davila for what she claimed was the network's "mistreatment" of her and her late husband in the recent presidential campaign, many were aware that hers weren't isolated sentiments. "Tita Swanie" was merely echoing the feelings of most, if not all, opposition supporters. This, even if an independent content analysis of the media coverage of the last elections showed that there were more news reports about Fernando Poe Jr. than any other presidential candidate, including the incumbent Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

I'm sure the destruction of an OB van was not what Roces intended when she let loose with her "real" feelings about the local media. Her husband's followers have also been quick to distance themselves and their organizations from this act of vandalism. Rez Cortez, a movie actor and organizer for FPJ, even speculated that "other parties" might have wanted to widen the gap between them and the media.

But all their denials and diplomatese have been rendered useless by Erap's latest unpresidential pronouncement. He sounds like he's even condoning what those hooligans did. And by going on about how the media are "abusing" their powers, he even seems to be encouraging copycat attacks. Nanggagatong pa.

* * *

QUERIED about speculations on how he and the Arroyo government have arrived at an "accommodation," Erap replied: "If we have really arrived at a compromise, do you think I would be talking this way?"

Well, from the looks of it, Erap does seem to be enjoying extraordinarily special treatment, if not from Malacañang, then from the Sandiganbayan anti-graft corut. When he complains about how he has to beg for favors at every turn, he sounds more like a churlish ingrate than a statesman enduring the hardships of imprisonment out of principle.

Filipino doctors had long been saying that the knee operation that Estrada underwent in Hong Kong could have been performed by Filipino specialists in a Philippine hospital. That he was allowed to travel to Hong Kong (he wanted to go to the United States) already constituted a huge favor. And how does he receive his good fortune? By abusing the trust of the court and leaving his hospital room to live it up in a deluxe resort-hotel!

Not only should Estrada be returned to the country posthaste, he should be punished for his misbehavior by being removed from his "rest house arrest" and placed in a real penitentiary. Okay, if he needs physical therapy for his knees, the Veterans Memorial Medical Center will do for now. But it's time we put an end to this travesty of a long-extended trial and comfy detention. How can we teach our people that "crime does not pay" otherwise?

* * *

THE LOVE of luxury, the need to live it high on the hog, that has always been Erap's weakness.

If you remember, he began his presidential term by plunging into major and costly renovation projects, from the Malacañang Guest House to the presidential yacht. And his three years in the presidency was marked by daily bacchanals that featured groaning buffet tables and "pa-morningan" drinking sessions at the presidential residence.

Such a stupendous lifestyle demanded high financing, of course, and so Erap stumbled into his Waterloo, the jueteng scandal. If love of money is the root of all evil, then love of the good life is the earth upon which corruption thrives.

Despite his years of detention, Erap hasn't learned any lessons, it seems. I think there wouldn't have been too much of a fuss raised about Erap's Hong Kong treatment if he had been circumspect and kept within the bounds of the Sandiganbayan's orders. But Estrada obviously believes he shouldn't be made to suffer the fate of ordinary mortals and that he deserves no less than the highest standards of living. The government should respond in kind and subject him to the strictest standards of detention.

Space and time to heal

Space and time to heal


Updated 04:51am (Mla time) Jan 19, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A13 of the January 19, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


THE LATEST news on the tsunami relief front is that officials of the United Nations have temporarily banned aid workers from traveling to certain parts of Aceh province in Indonesia, the area hardest hit by the tsunami and nearest the epicenter of the earthquake that triggered the killer tides. The travel restrictions were due to reports of renewed fighting between Indonesian government troops and separatist rebels, who have been waging a war for an independent Aceh for decades.

But rebel leader Tengku Mucksalmina told the Associated Press that aid workers had nothing to fear, dismissing government claims that insurgents might attack relief convoys to steal food for their fighters. "Our mothers, our wives, our children are victims [of] this tragedy. We would never ambush any convoy with aid for them," Mucksalmina told AP. "We want them [aid groups] to stay. We ask them not to leave the Acehnese people who are suffering."

Aid and relief efforts in Sri Lanka had also been reported
as being hampered by continued conflict between the government forces representing the majority Sinhalese population, and rebels fighting for the creation of an independent Tamil nation in the north of the island. There had been reports of Tamil raids on aid and relief convoys on the grounds that much of the relief goods were going to Sinhalese-dominated areas and none to the Tamils. On the other hand, there had also been reports that mobs of Sinhalese were blocking convoys destined for Tamil-dominated areas, insisting that they needed the relief materials more.

One would think that at a time of great emergency and urgent need, such as the post-tsunami crisis, people would set aside their political, ethnic and religious differences and concentrate instead on recovering the dead and coming to the aid of survivors. That they apparently have not done so in Sri Lanka and Indonesia is a grave disappointment. Can we do better here in the Philippines?

* * *

AS is traditional during the Christmas season, both the New People's Army and the Armed Forces of the Philippines called for unilateral ceasefires that both ended early this month.

The Philippine National Red Cross, in a statement issued last Jan. 4, called for an extension of the ceasefire in the provinces of Quezon and Aurora, the areas hardest hit by successive typhoons and mudslides late last year. "The Philippine National Red Cross and other organizations continue to conduct ongoing relief and rehabilitation operations, including health missions, in the area," the Red Cross statement said. "We estimate a necessary rehabilitation and reconstruction period of six months, especially for housing and shelter which include relocation of evacuees to safe areas. This rehabilitation work would be safeguarded, uninterrupted and facilitated were there to be an extended humanitarian ceasefire even only in at least seven municipalities (in the affected provinces ), which would allow safe, secure and unimpeded flow of rehabilitation resources and efforts."

The Red Cross calls on the Philippine government and the Armed Forces on one hand, and the National Democratic Front and the NPA on the other, "to immediately declare their respective unilateral humanitarian ceasefires or suspension of offensive military operations for six months or from January to June 2005."

Supporting this call of the Red Cross are other non-government organizations and peace groups, most notably the National Peace Conference. "In light of the great tragedy of the tsunami bringing so much death and devastation globally, and our own smaller-scale but still terrible disaster in Eastern Luzon, we need to focus on saving lives and rehabilitating communities. We ask for this 'humanitarian pause' to enable the safe conduct of critical relief and rehabilitation efforts," the NPC statement said.

* * *

AT THE SAME time, groups supporting the unilateral ceasefires also call on the government and communist rebels to "hold the soonest possible talks for a bilateral humanitarian ceasefire, to agree on mechanics, and to discuss other concrete measures of goodwill and confidence-building for the peace negotiations."

In a statement that is now making the rounds of civil society organizations for signatures, the various groups issued this appeal to both sides of the conflict: "The ceasefire should be a period of national solidarity with victims of disasters, globally as well as in the country, a time for acts of sacrifice, generosity and caring for those most vulnerable and despondent.

"We commit to such solidarity, as we resolve to pursue justice and uproot the exploitative structures that continue to devastate the Filipino people."

* * *

A CONCERT to launch the call for a humanitarian ceasefire, called "Pagbangon sa Unos-Panawagan para sa Kapayapaan" (Peace Concert for a Humanitarian Ceasefire in Calamity Areas) will be held this Saturday, Jan. 22 from 6-9 p.m. at the Conspiracy Garden Café (59 Visayas Ave., Quezon City).

Proceeds from the concert will go to a project on community debriefing for residents in Infanta, Real and General Nakar, including leaders of people's organizations, teachers and children. The project will be implemented by the Mediators Network, the Ateneo Psychology Department and the Gaston Z. Ortigas Peace Institute.

Entrance is free but donations are encouraged. Organizers are also hoping that more sponsors and donors agree to sign on and support this effort to raise public awareness of the need for a humanitarian ceasefire in our own disaster areas. As a support statement puts it: "Give the communities space and time to heal." That is all they ask, and that is the least that they deserve.

Disastrous consequences

Disastrous consequences


Updated 00:12am (Mla time) Jan 18, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A11 of the January 18, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.


IT WAS a most touching portrait, that of former South African President Nelson Mandela, his wife Graca Machel and grandson at the memorial service for Mandela's son Makgatho.

Mandela had earlier revealed that Makgatho, his son by his first wife Evelyn, died as a result of AIDS. The announcement was regarded by many as an act of supreme courage, as it broke "one of the most stubborn African taboos surrounding the pandemic."

While HIV/AIDS affects an estimated one in nine South Africans, more people than in any other nation, there's still a lot of denial and superstition surrounding the disease. Publicly admitting his son's disease, and thereby defying the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS, Mandela not only added a personal dimension to the discussion of the disease, he also raised its public profile and proved it could affect members of even the "best" families.

Shame and stigma attached to AIDS have served to drive the disease underground, with people living with HIV/AIDS forced to conceal their condition for fear of being abandoned by their families, losing their jobs or shunned by their friends. By coming out in public with his son's HIV status before his death, Mandela has served to lift some of the veil of secrecy surrounding AIDS, and perhaps hasten the world's response to the pandemic.

Mandela had long been an outspoken advocate of AIDS awareness, long before he even knew about Makgatho's illness, he clarified, and even while South African officials were still in denial about the disease.

Ironically, one of the consequences of the tsunami disaster, which has provoked a global outpouring of aid and assistance to the affected countries, is a feared reduction in international commitments to fighting AIDS. World leaders should not lose their focus on AIDS. For while the tsunami may have killed more than 150,000 people, HIV/AIDS continues to kill thousands around the world every day, "equivalent to a tsunami every two weeks," an official of UNAIDS said.

* * *

AMONG THE MORE than 100,000 victims of the tsunami disaster, women and girls face problems specific to their gender, a United Nations study reveals.

The tsunami may have made no distinction between men and women, but it has produced "some very gender-specific after-shocks," the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said recently. These range from women's traditional role in caring for the sick to increased cases of rape and abuse, some of which are taking place even in evacuation centers.

The FAO report said understanding and measuring the differences in needs between men and women tsunami victims is "essential for an effective response," stressing the need to raise awareness on gender issues among decision- and policy-makers "to ensure that women's and men's different needs are reflected in policies, practices and resources through the phases of relief, rehabilitation and development."

The burden on women may have increased due to the high number of people injured or who become ill as epidemics develop, FAO said, noting that due to the traditional division of labor in households in the tsunami-hit areas, women are expected to take care of the sick and injured members of the family. They also have the responsibility to fetch water and may now need to increase the amount of time dedicated to collecting both drinking water and fresh water for agriculture crops.

* * *

THEN there's the matter of sexual violence, with the number of reported sexual assaults of women and girls rising, especially in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, two of the hardest-hit areas. Fear of sexual violence will affect the lives and chances of survival of women and girl survivors long after the crisis has passed, since it has been found to limit women's and girls' mobility, for example in search of new economic opportunities, FAO added.

"Likewise, this fear is behind their reluctance to moving into camps where they could have access to food. Women and children are often the most vulnerable because of their lower socio-economic standing, in terms of limited access to necessary resources. They lack influence due to inequality and disempowerment, and have often less decision-making power and control over their lives," it said.

Looking at longer-term needs, FAO called for the provision of credit and financial assets to both men and women according to their livelihood needs.

Differentiating between the survivors by age and sex will facilitate a sustainable response, it added, calling for the empowerment of women by recruiting them for assessments and ensuring their full representation in community groups and meetings to ensure that they play a full role in decision-making about relief.

* * *

MEANWHILE, here's another call for a humane response to the victims of another kind of disaster, the one that befell Baguio as a result of the meningococcemia scare.

The Good Shepherd Sisters wish to inform regular patrons of their Baguio convent products, like the incomparable ube jam, strawberry preserves, breads and cookies, that these are now available at their Quezon City convent (behind St. Bridget's School along Aurora Boulevard in Cubao). Extremely popular among Baguio residents and visitors alike, such that the store at peak seasons have to limit the number of bottles of ube jam sold per customer, the Good Shepherd products are more than just tasty treats. Proceeds from the sales are used to finance the studies of scholars as well as to provide employment for poor residents.

With meningococcemia driving away tourists and visitors, as well as buyers of the Good Shepherd products, the scholarship program is now in peril. Do drop by the Good Shepherd convent in Quezon City and help keep a good program going.

Economic outlook in 2005

Economic outlook in 2005


Updated 11:56pm (Mla time) Jan 17, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A11 of the January 18, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.


IT WAS a most touching portrait, that of former South African President Nelson Mandela, his wife Graca Machel and grandson at the memorial service for Mandela's son Makgatho.

Mandela had earlier revealed that Makgatho, his son by his first wife Evelyn, died as a result of AIDS. The announcement was regarded by many as an act of supreme courage, as it broke "one of the most stubborn African taboos surrounding the pandemic."

While HIV/AIDS affects an estimated one in nine South Africans, more people than in any other nation, there's still a lot of denial and superstition surrounding the disease. Publicly admitting his son's disease, and thereby defying the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS, Mandela not only added a personal dimension to the discussion of the disease, he also raised its public profile and proved it could affect members of even the "best" families.

Shame and stigma attached to AIDS have served to drive the disease underground, with people living with HIV/AIDS forced to conceal their condition for fear of being abandoned by their families, losing their jobs or shunned by their friends. By coming out in public with his son's HIV status before his death, Mandela has served to lift some of the veil of secrecy surrounding AIDS, and perhaps hasten the world's response to the pandemic.

Mandela had long been an outspoken advocate of AIDS awareness, long before he even knew about Makgatho's illness, he clarified, and even while South African officials were still in denial about the disease.

Ironically, one of the consequences of the tsunami disaster, which has provoked a global outpouring of aid and assistance to the affected countries, is a feared reduction in international commitments to fighting AIDS. World leaders should not lose their focus on AIDS. For while the tsunami may have killed more than 150,000 people, HIV/AIDS continues to kill thousands around the world every day, "equivalent to a tsunami every two weeks," an official of UNAIDS said.

* * *

AMONG THE MORE than 100,000 victims of the tsunami disaster, women and girls face problems specific to their gender, a United Nations study reveals.

The tsunami may have made no distinction between men and women, but it has produced "some very gender-specific after-shocks," the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said recently. These range from women's traditional role in caring for the sick to increased cases of rape and abuse, some of which are taking place even in evacuation centers.

The FAO report said understanding and measuring the differences in needs between men and women tsunami victims is "essential for an effective response," stressing the need to raise awareness on gender issues among decision- and policy-makers "to ensure that women's and men's different needs are reflected in policies, practices and resources through the phases of relief, rehabilitation and development."

The burden on women may have increased due to the high number of people injured or who become ill as epidemics develop, FAO said, noting that due to the traditional division of labor in households in the tsunami-hit areas, women are expected to take care of the sick and injured members of the family. They also have the responsibility to fetch water and may now need to increase the amount of time dedicated to collecting both drinking water and fresh water for agriculture crops.

* * *

THEN there's the matter of sexual violence, with the number of reported sexual assaults of women and girls rising, especially in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, two of the hardest-hit areas. Fear of sexual violence will affect the lives and chances of survival of women and girl survivors long after the crisis has passed, since it has been found to limit women's and girls' mobility, for example in search of new economic opportunities, FAO added.

"Likewise, this fear is behind their reluctance to moving into camps where they could have access to food. Women and children are often the most vulnerable because of their lower socio-economic standing, in terms of limited access to necessary resources. They lack influence due to inequality and disempowerment, and have often less decision-making power and control over their lives," it said.

Looking at longer-term needs, FAO called for the provision of credit and financial assets to both men and women according to their livelihood needs.

Differentiating between the survivors by age and sex will facilitate a sustainable response, it added, calling for the empowerment of women by recruiting them for assessments and ensuring their full representation in community groups and meetings to ensure that they play a full role in decision-making about relief.

* * *

MEANWHILE, here's another call for a humane response to the victims of another kind of disaster, the one that befell Baguio as a result of the meningococcemia scare.

The Good Shepherd Sisters wish to inform regular patrons of their Baguio convent products, like the incomparable ube jam, strawberry preserves, breads and cookies, that these are now available at their Quezon City convent (behind St. Bridget's School along Aurora Boulevard in Cubao). Extremely popular among Baguio residents and visitors alike, such that the store at peak seasons have to limit the number of bottles of ube jam sold per customer, the Good Shepherd products are more than just tasty treats. Proceeds from the sales are used to finance the studies of scholars as well as to provide employment for poor residents.

With meningococcemia driving away tourists and visitors, as well as buyers of the Good Shepherd products, the scholarship program is now in peril. Do drop by the Good Shepherd convent in Quezon City and help keep a good program going.

Getting a 'good pap'

Getting a 'good pap'


Updated 10:54pm (Mla time) Jan 10, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A11 of the January 11, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.


HERE'S what the "V Book" says about "getting a good Pap": "An optimal Pap test depends on several different elements: a good sample, proper interpretation of that sample, a good screening lab, and an accurate reading. Each aspect along the way holds opportunities for error."

While there is little the average woman can do to ensure the quality of the lab work and interpretation of her sample, there are some things she can do to ensure that her doctor or clinic gets a good sample. Here are the "V Book"'s recommendations:

• Don't use intravaginal medication or douches for 24 hours before the sample is taken.

• Don't have intercourse or use contraceptive jelly or cream for 24 hours before your Pap.

• Don't schedule a Pap when your period is due. Small amounts of blood will not interfere with evaluation of the cells, but large amounts during the menses are likely to make the smear impossible to interpret.

• Don't wait until after your Pap is finished at an annual exam to tell your clinician about other V symptoms you're having (for example: bleeding, itching, secretions -- RJD). Talk about your problems first and let her/him decide whether to go ahead with the Pap.

• Dr. Elizabeth Stewart, primary author of the "V Book," says women shouldn't try to "sanitize" their V areas before they come for a consultation. Odor and appearance of the vagina and vulva are some of the factors doctors use to diagnose an ailment, if any.

* * *

HERE'S more on the ongoing "Patricia" trial on a vaccine to protect young women from the two types of HPV (human papilloma virus) that have been linked to 70 percent of all cervical cancer cases.

Dr. Wen del Rosario Raymundo, one of the investigators in the trial based at the San Pablo Colleges Medical Center (her husband John, also an Ob-Gyn, is a co-investigator) says that aside from the present centers where volunteers may sign up (aside from San Pablo, these are Makati Medical Center, De La Salle University Medical Center in Cavite and Calamba Medical Center), new centers will soon be set up. These are at UP-PGH, University of Perpetual Help and Healthserv in Los Baños.

To repeat, women volunteers need to be from 15 to 25 years old, in good health and not pregnant or breastfeeding (and not planning to get pregnant within the next eight months). Dr. Raymundo stresses that the vaccines, Pap smears and gynecologic exams are all free of charge, though volunteers need to commit to 10 scheduled visits over the four years of the research trial. "The specimens for Pap smears are sent to the US since we have a centralized lab to standardize results," adds Wen.

In contrast to the complaint of investigators based at Makati Med that volunteers have been difficult to attract, Wen says the response of women from San Pablo, chosen to represent a rural setting, has been "very encouraging." "Women in a rural setting do not give as much priority to their reproductive health care. Majority of the women I see have never had a Pap smear or even have an idea of what it is! They do not even know what or where the cervix is!" And right there is the reason cervical cancer, despite its manageable nature, continues to kill so many Filipino women.

By the way, National Cancer Consciousness Week will be observed from Jan. 16-21. On Jan. 16, Sunday, National Cancer Survivors' Day will be observed with a Mass and get-together at 11 a.m. at the Our Lady of Miraculous Medal Church in Project 4. Cancer survivors, their families, caregivers, friends and supporters are all invited to join them in their celebration of life.

* * *

AMID THE MANY problems that survivors of the South and Southeast Asian tsunami tragedy confront, from starvation to disease, homelessness to violence, the "same old problems" continue to haunt them. If the tsunami devastated parts of the world already reeling from hardship, the flood of relief and aid, already in the billions of dollars, can only address the more immediate needs of survivors. Structural problems, like hunger and poverty, will continue to blight their lives. Long-standing concerns, such as reproductive health and violence against women, on the other hand, not only will continue to exist, but have even been exacerbated by the crisis.

The United Nations Fund for Population (UNFPA) estimates that there are at least 150,000 pregnant women in tsunami-affected areas, and of these, 50,000 will be giving birth within the next three months.

How these women could give birth safely, and how they are expected to care for their newborns amid the devastation, is a question that seems to have escaped the attention of much of the world. Even under normal circumstances, notes the UNFPA, 15 percent of births will be attended by complications. The percentage of women dying from childbirth, or of infants dying soon after birth, can be expected to rise in these countries where, to quote an observer, "the health infrastructure has been largely destroyed, and traditional midwives have been sidelined."

To prevent unnecessary deaths, the UNFPA has begun distributing "safe birth kits" among pregnant women in the evacuation centers. The contents of each kit are eloquent testament to how little it takes to ensure the survival of both mother and child at delivery: a sterile plastic sheet, a bar of soap, a razor blade to cut the umbilical cord, and a string to tie off the cord. A simple step to ensure a child survives the first hours after birth is to keep him or her warm, wrapped in a clean blanket or piece of cloth.

Whether both mother and child survive the other challenges of their post-tsunami existence, though, is another question altogether.

A health scandal

A health scandal


Updated 11:23am (Mla time) Jan 09, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A13 of the January 9, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


IN "THE V Book: A Doctor's Guide to Complete Vulvovaginal Health," Dr. Elizabeth G. Stewart and her co-author Paula Spencer have this to say about the Pap smear: "It's the single most cost-effective disease screening test known to modern medicine. Since the introduction of the Pap smear, cancer rates and death rates from cervical cancer have drastically dropped..."

I've put an ellipsis at the end of the sentence because what Dr. Stewart didn't mention is that the Pap smear has led to plunging cancer and death rates due to cervical cancer mainly in the developed world. This is because, thanks to widespread information drives and public health programs, women in developed countries are quite aware of the need to have the test done regularly, and can afford to pay for this fairly simple and low-cost procedure.

In the developing world, though, public awareness about the Pap smear and about cervical cancer is still fairly low, and only a few women have come to think of screening as part of their routine health care. Thus, while the World Health Organization estimates that about 510,000 women worldwide are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year and some 288,000 of them will die of the ailment, the vast majority of the fatalities will be from developing countries, including the Philippines.

While crucial for diagnosing cervical cancer, the Pap smear and similar tests are only screening tools. As Dr. Stewart notes: "While the Pap smear is a lifesaver when it comes to identifying abnormalities of the cervix before they develop into cancer, it's not a test for anything else. A normal Pap doesn't mean everything is all right with the V's (vagina and vulva); it only means no precancer cells were found in the cervix."

And yet many women, and doctors as well, seem to rely on the Pap smear to screen for other infections and problems. Dr. Wen del Rosario Raymundo, an OB-Gyn and investigator on the cervical cancer vaccine trial at the San Pablo Colleges Medical Center, tells of patients who think of Pap smear as "pagpapalinis" [cleansing] of genitals. Apparently, not even their doctors had told them what exactly a Pap smear is.

* * *

AS I wrote in yesterday's column, cervical cancer is the only form of cancer whose cause is known and easily identifiable. The onset and even precursors of cervical cancer are also easy to identify and the precancerous cells themselves take from three to 10 years to develop into cancer. It is even possible to reverse cancerous or precancerous conditions, through strategies ranging from adapting a healthier lifestyle to laser or invasive surgery. And with the ongoing "Patricia" (PApilloma TRIal for the Prevention of Cervical Cancer in Young Adults) trial for a vaccine, it may well soon be the only preventable form of cancer.

Given all that we know about it, it's clearly a scandal why so many women continue to die of cervical cancer.

Dr. Genara Manuel-Limson, chief investigator for the Patricia trial in the Philippines, says without irony that cervical cancer "is a good cancer to fight," as both patient and doctor are given plenty of chances to diagnose, treat and recover from the disease. She outlines the following "protocol" for the diagnosis and treatment of cervical cancer:

A woman should go for her first Pap smear three years after her first intercourse. This, no matter how early she starts becoming sexually active, as early sexual initiation is considered a risk factor. She should then go for a Pap smear at least once a year, though after three consecutive "normal" Pap results, she may need to go for the tests only at two-three year intervals.

* * *

THERE are alternative procedures to the Pap. Increasingly popular is the "acid wash," which calls for staining a woman's cervix with a solution and allows the doctor or clinic personnel to visually observe the presence of lesions. Doctors also warn against the many "false negatives" from "traditional" Pap smears, mainly because the commonly used cotton swabs don't easily offer up all the cells they harvest. Out on the market now are testing kits that use brushes and allow for better "harvests." It should also be clear that the accuracy of a Pap smear result depends highly on the skills of the lab technicians analyzing the samples. It also matters how soon the patient gets the lab results, not the least of which is to reduce the period of anxiety that she must endure.

If the clinician finds "abnormal" results from the Pap smear, the patient will most probably be told to undergo a colposcopy, which allows for a more detailed microscopic examination of the cervix. In case of "equivocal" findings, says Dr. Limson, the doctor will also probably order an HPV DNA test, which will confirm whether the patient has an HPV infection (two types of HPV -- out of possibly 100 -- are directly linked to cervical cancer). The problem with an HPV DNA test, at this point, is that it's fairly expensive, about P2,000 a procedure.

* * *

BUT even with a positive HPV finding, it's still not the end of the world, or the beginning of cervical cancer. What doctors look for, says Dr. Limson, is "persistent" HPV infection. A sexually active woman in her 20s, she says, will probably test positive for HPV, which is fairly common, but will be able to get rid of it. But if she still tests positive for HPV 10 years later, her doctor will begin to watch her more closely as persistent infection could lead to cervical cancer.

All the doctors stress the need for regular screening, as cervical cancer in the early stages displays no symptoms. If a woman reports pain in her genital area, abnormal discharge or bleeding, "she's probably in the late stage already," says Dr. Limson.

A 'daughter vaccine'

A 'daughter vaccine'


Updated 00:52am (Mla time) Jan 08, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A13 of the January 8, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


THERE'S an exciting medical experiment going on that holds particular promise for all the world's women, and the Philippines is part of this groundbreaking research. The experiment is the ongoing "Patricia" clinical research trial for the development of a vaccine against cervical cancer, the fifth most common cause of death from cancer in women worldwide.

In the Philippines, the most common cancer afflicting women is breast cancer (we have the highest rate of breast cancer incidence in all of Asia), but more women die from cervical cancer. The reason for this, say medical authorities, is that many women with cervical cancer come for consultation only when it is too late, or not at all. Which is ironic, if not tragic, because cervical cancer is so far the only form of cancer whose cause is known and detectable. It is also easy to diagnose even at an early stage and develops over time, which means a woman diagnosed early enough has time to get treatment and even get cured. And so far, cervical cancer is the only form of cancer for which a vaccine is being developed.

The lead investigator for the "Patricia" trial in the Philippines is Dr. Genara Manuel-Limson, an obstetrician-gynecologist and gynecologic oncologist (or specialist in cancers of a woman's reproductive system), based at the Makati Medical Center. Asked why she agreed to head the clinical trial in the country, Dr. Limson said it was the "chance to address the high morbidity (illness) and mortality rate of cervical cancer in the Philippines." She added: "Eighty percent of all cervical cancers in the world occur in Asia, and of those cases, 75 percent are in the Philippines."

Dr. Limson's associate, Dr. Glenn Benitez, says his "dream" is for "cervical cancer to go the way of hepatitis B," which has been largely controlled through widespread use of vaccines.

* * *

DOCTORS Limson and Benitez stress that the "Patricia" trial, which is taking place in 14 countries, has been approved by both the US Food and Drug Administration and the local Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD). The ongoing trial is on its third phase, having begun in 1982, and Dr. Benitez says that if all goes well and the results are satisfactory, we could be looking at the vaccine becoming available in as little as five years.

Aside from Makati Med, other trial sites are the Calamba Medical Center, San Pedro (Laguna) Medical Center, and De La Salle University-Cavite, with other medical establishments to be accredited soon.

For the trial to be successful, though, volunteers are needed. If you are a woman aged 15-25 years, in good health, and not pregnant and not intending to become pregnant in the next eight months, then you're qualified to be a volunteer. Volunteers, according to handouts prepared by the vaccine manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline, will receive "three doses of a vaccine over a six-month period." For research purposes, the trial consists of "double-blind" samples, that is, neither the dispenser nor the receiver knows who among the volunteers will be receiving a dose of the experimental vaccine or a "control" vaccine against hepatitis A infection, which causes liver disease.

* * *

IN ALL, a volunteer will have to commit to 10 scheduled visits over the course of four years, during which she will not only receive the vaccines, but will also be regularly monitored, by some of the country's top ob-gyns, for her obstetrical and gynecological health.

Some of the procedures a volunteer will have to undergo include regular blood tests and pelvic exams to check not only how well the vaccine is working, but also if the volunteer has contracted an HPV infection, if she has contracted a different sexually transmitted infection, or if she is at risk of developing cervical cancer.

"If any of these is the case, you will receive free medical treatment to address the problem," the handouts declare.

Strictly speaking, the experimental vaccine is directed at preventing infection by the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which is a "very common" infection transmitted during sexual intercourse (against which even the condom offers no protection!), and two types of which -- T16 and T18 -- have been linked to two-thirds of all cervical cancers. "So if we succeed in vaccinating young women from just these two types of HPV," asserts Dr. Limson, "then we would have prevented 75 percent of all cervical cancers!"

Overall, some 13,000 volunteers are needed from around the world. Notes the handout: "The global nature of the clinical research trial is important -- it will show how well the vaccine works in women from many different ethnic groups and cultures." And, I might add, enjoying varying standards of health care, too.

* * *

THIS experimental vaccine has been dubbed a "daughter vaccine," in anticipation that parents will be the ones most motivated to make it available to their daughters who, should the trials prove successful, will no longer run the risk of developing cervical cancer once they become sexually active.

Unfortunately, in the Philippines, some hang-ups about sex and medical experimentation are standing in the way of a successful trial. Dr. Wen del Rosario, a member of the clinical research team in Laguna who first alerted me to the ongoing trial, says there is still some controversy over making the vaccine available to, say, 13- or 14-year-old girls. "It's like you're anticipating that they will be having sex soon," she says.

Dr. Limson also admits that it has been difficult for her team to attract volunteers, who are discouraged by friends and family who claim that "you will only be experimented upon."

"I think it points to a prevailing cynicism and lack of trust among our populace," she says.

Messages from the Jalosjos scandal

Messages from the Jalosjos scandal


Updated 01:12am (Mla time) Jan 07, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A13 of the January 7, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


DURING THE TRIAL of then-congressman Romeo Jalosjos for raping a girl (who was 11 years old at the time the crime was committed but 13 during the trial), the one thing I kept in mind was the image of my own daughter, who was about the same age as the victim. I couldn't bring myself to imagine her going through the ordeal that the girl recounted in detail to her lawyer and subsequently to the Inquirer. Just reading the transcript of the interview, I felt my insides tightening into a knot, nausea threatening.

At the time, one of the Jalosjos team's defenses was to insist that the congressman, who had paid for the girl's sexual services through her stepfather, did not know the girl's real age. He claimed to have thought she was 18 or so. His lawyers pointed out that the girl was, in the vernacular, "malaking bulas," or big-boned. But looking at the girl's pictures, and knowing she was 11 at the time of the rape, most everyone saw through the defense team's ruse.

Anyone who has ever had a daughter or who has beheld a preteen female, or who is or has been a preteen female, knows there's a huge difference in appearance between an 11-year-old and an 18-year-old. And as the girl herself testified, the congressman, while assessing her like a slab of raw meat, asked her pointblank if she already had her period. Now, why would he ask about her menstrual period if he was sure she was already of age?

But we're not arguing the former congressman's guilt or innocence here. He went through a much-publicized trial, had the means to hire the best possible defense team that money and influence could buy, and was convicted. That conviction was subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court, after which the so-called worthies of the House of Representatives then and only then saw fit to declare him unfit to count among their ranks.

* * *

BUT they still wish to hold him in their embrace, apparently and if Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez is to be believed.

The Inquirer editorial is right on. Why is the justice secretary speaking and acting like the new lawyer of Jalosjos? And even if a sizeable number of legislators (publish their names, we want to know who they are!) have signed a petition for his release or parole or pardon on "humanitarian grounds," the principle of separation of powers dictates that the justice secretary defend the actions and decisions of his own department's prosecutorial team. Unless, as alter ego of the President, Gonzalez is really implementing the wishes of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

If that were true, then I can only say shame on her, for she knows full well the burden that violence against women and girls can inflict on its victims. Hadn't she spoken out in public herself about the sexual harassment of her daughter Luli, who was a young adult at the time? Will she have us believe that so heinous a crime as the rape of a child can be mitigated by political influence?

When the former congressman was finally convicted, women's and children's rights advocates rejoiced not only because one girl finally found justice, but also because, we thought at the time, his conviction sent many important messages to Philippine society.

For starters, the fate that befell Jalosjos underscored that it is a crime and a sin to have sex with a child, this even if one has paid for his or her "services" (or especially if one has paid for sex, which is bad enough), or if one has supposedly secured the child's "consent" (a concept that is dubious at best).

Secondly, we had hoped that Jalosjos' excursion to the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa would show men, but especially powerful, influential and wealthy men, that not all their money and political clout could shield them from the law.

* * *

WHAT message would Jalosjos' untimely release, even before he has served a quarter of his double life sentence, send to society now?

Several come to mind: That it's all right to force, coerce, inveigle or buy a child into having sex with you. In which case all our children are now at risk, for what makes you think pedophiles and just plain randy influentials would stop at child prostitutes or children of the poor?

For another, that, as respondents in a TV news survey assert, there is really a two-tiered justice system at work in our land: justice for the rich, and justice for the poor. And the rich, no matter the crime -- shooting the suspected mistress of your husband, shooting your battered wife in the abdomen, or raping a child -- can and do get away with murder or rape.

And finally, that the rich and the powerful will always stick by their own kind. While so quick and careless to condemn humble public servants or bureaucrats for the slightest infraction or slight, our members of Congress, for instance, choose to take their own sweet time repudiating a friend, especially if he or his family continues to wield power in his locality.

On New Year's Eve, our extended family played host once again to the young women and girls from the Nazareth and Bethany Growth Centers, both managed by Sister Sol Perpinan's Third World Movement against the Exploitation of Women, on their annual Christmas caroling drive.

Even if by now my siblings and their spouses know the girls are either former sex workers or are survivors of sexual and physical abuse, our talk after their departure centered once more on how astonishingly young and innocent they all looked. And we all involuntarily looked at our own daughters, saying a silent prayer of thanks.

Maybe that's what we should all do in the wake of this latest Jalosjos scandal. But we shouldn't stop at thanking God for sparing our daughters, or the girls we know. We should all be roused to anger and indignation and action, that his friends and sponsors would feel our wrath.

Wounded souls and women of strength

Wounded souls and women of strength


Updated 09:28pm (Mla time) Jan 04, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
INQ7.net



Editor's Note: Published on page A13 of the January 5, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


NEAR the end of the last year, Corazon Alma de Leon, former chair of the Civil Service Commission and former secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, sent me a copy of "Heart and Soul," a book which is actually a compilation of four books she had written between 1999 and 2004: "Heart and Soul 1 and 2," "Heart and Soul 3: Lessons from Wounded Souls," and "Heart and Soul 4: Memo Notes to Marita."

Of the four books, "Lessons from Wounded Souls" seems the most intriguing, having been structured to follow the Stations of the Cross and consisting of reflections on various social problems that Alma had encountered in the course of her work in government and with various civic organizations.

Here's an excerpt from "The Carrying of the Cross," a reflection on the fate of child survivors of abuse, an addendum, as it were, to the previous columns on the resilience of child survivors and how their adult caregivers could tap into the children's own strengths to set them on the road to recovery.

* * *

WE all carry many crosses from family and friends, with friends and family. But there is a cross that is truly difficult to carry and that is the cross of child abuse. For the scar is there, the chip is there and when the die is cast, only then will we know that the cross is no more for we have cast it aside and that we are free at last. These young girls have found their own freedom as they carried their crosses.

Benilda, 16, was admitted to a shelter when she was found roaming around Metro Manila. Her hearing and speech are both impaired and, as only she can tell, she related that she ran away from home because of maltreatment due to frequent quarrels of her parents. Kind souls sponsored her medical assessment and she was provided a hearing aid. She is now in school sponsored by a volunteer couple and adjusting well in the school for the deaf and got the most improved award. She is awaiting travel to the US for medical treatment to be sponsored by the volunteer couple.

Nadine, 15, was picked up by a nun through their community outreach program. She lived with her grandmother who had no resources to care for her...She was placed in the home for neglected children where it was discovered that she (had) a disability, due to cerebral palsy...(After) surgery (she) can now walk with the aid of a walker...She never stops dreaming and still believes that a bright future lies ahead of her.

Rina, 17,...was referred for temporary shelter at the children's home after she voluntarily left her employer's home in 1997. Before her employment, she was cared for by a surrogate father who later left for the US. She was endorsed to the relatives of her surrogate father where she was maltreated. Later she sought the help of her teacher who eventually became her employer...

Melanie, 13, orphaned, was brought for protective custody to the children's home. She was physically abused by her parental grandaunt. Her mother died at childbirth while her father died (in a) robbery together with her sister. Her life with her grandaunt was full of pain as she was slapped, pinched, spanked and her hair pulled for any wrongdoing. She never felt loved and so she developed a certain amount of insecurity. She now looks forward to living with a maternal aunt.

* * *

WHAT lessons can we learn from these wounded souls? It is the lesson of hope. For when one has hope, hope has everything. Thus, the maxim "What you make out of life is all up to you" holds for these children.

We cannot thank Benilda, Nadine, Rina and Melanie enough for enabling us to see their stories...We are sorry that life has not been that kind to them, particularly with the uncaring society that envelops them. But they know, somewhere outside, there is love that awaits and this love when nurtured gives hope. And we said hope has everything.

Why do we need to learn from Benilda, Nadine, Rina and Melanie? Because after them there are still many wounded souls who suffer child abuse of many forms, psychological and physical abuse, neglect, cruelty, sexual abuse and emotional maltreatment...

These are the silent emergencies which need to be addressed here and now.

These are the crosses we all must bear for in the end it is our children, and children's children who will be "carrying the cross" and it continues to be sorrowful but a mystery no longer.

* * *

NINA Lim Yuson, president of the TOWNS Foundation, sent this Christmas message to all of us TOWNSwomen and it struck me as something so true and so wise that I decided to share it with all my readers of whatever sex or gender. Here's "the difference between a strong woman and a woman of strength."

A strong woman works out every day to keep her body in shape... but a woman of strength builds relationships to keep her soul in shape. A strong woman isn't afraid of anything... but a woman of strength shows courage in the midst of her fear.

A strong woman won't let anyone get the best of her... but a woman of strength gives the best of herself to everyone. A strong woman makes mistakes and avoids the same in the future... a woman of strength realizes life's mistakes can also be unexpected blessings and capitalizes on them. A strong woman wears a look of confidence on her face... but a woman of strength wears grace. A strong woman has faith that she is strong enough for the journey... but a woman of strength has faith that it is in the journey that she will become strong.

One last quote for the New Year: "I can handle anything that life throws at me. I may not be able to handle it well, or correctly, or gracefully, or with finesse, or expediently, but I will handle it."