Participating politically in the Philippines especially if you are a writer is like swimming in a sea of crocodiles. Yes, everywhere I go, ever since I started writing not only about women's oppression, I have been harassed from my home up to the places I go to. At home, my things are tampered with. My room is intruded and my things get disorganized. No matter how hard I try to put order, by labelling my things, they simply get chaotic again. The labels are removed; my articles placed elsewhere. And the most important documents I need for the moment suddenly disappear from my table. On the road, I meet people seemingly planted to create havoc as I pass by. Today, 25 July, my deceased father's birthday, a woman with plenty of goods to sell on her shoulders blocked my path. When I said, "Excuse me" to mean, let me pass, she said "Aba oobaho," meaning "Yes bad odor." I knew then that she was planted because the military and police intelligence have this bad habit of letting scavengers with carts pass my house as I go out of the gate; of making people both men and women carrying plastic bags of waste go out; of making trucks of Leonel Waste Managing Co., pass by the same streets I am supposed to go through, etcetera, etcetera. Are these done because I am relating with the people of Smokey Mountain that huge pile of garbage with plenty of scavengers. Not only is this their form of harassment. Even dogs are used, especially black and white. Because I have related with the Black and white movement to oust Gloria Arroyo, the illegitimate president of the Philippines, the military has made it their business to make people pass me by as they are dressed in black and white; of making dogs colored b and w be in the vicinity of the place that I will pass through.
Even tv and radio programs like M., , an announcer over a national tv, joins the fray by presenting news at that exact time I am listening over the radio. Or maybe it is his traffic engineer doing that, but as radio manager, he surely has a hand on it. Right now, I am listening and watching partially the tv news with him in it. He reported an item about dogs.
You see, as a committed media practitioner, we are called watchdogs. And they have done those things to literally insult us.
Worst of all, are those men who brush my left chest -- sexual harassment to the hilt, whether I ride a bus, a jeep, stand by a street talking to a vendor, etc. etc. The act is so repetitive that I suspect now that this has been made deliberate.
And so, I think that the administration of this illegitimate president is making these moves because they are paranoid about their powers being taken away.
Anyway, I am listing this down to remind those who are entering politics to be on their guard against hoping for a red carpet welcome. There are a lot of sacrifices.
Also, I think that we should make the military write its history now. Everyday the military should keep track of all their sins against the Filipino people -- how they harassed, sexually, physically and emotionally the critics. In this manner, they would be able to compare their acts with their predecessors. And future soldiers will know whom to emulate and whom to denigrate as "protectors of the people and the country."
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
Rainy days before SONA
It's raining cats and dogs in Quezon city. Sometimes, this makes me very afraid because the floods might enter the house again. Before, it used to take 4 to 5 days of continuous rains for our house to get flooded. Now it sometimes takes only a few hours. Ever since the huge four-story SM Centerpoint mall was constructed along Aurora Boulevard, the waters have had a hard time receding from the roads. They accumulate and then keep our place inaccessible for hours and hours. Poor families scamper to the Betty Go Belmonte Elementary public school or go atop the rooftops of their shanties for safety.
I have experienced being cooped up on the second floor of our small house at the back of the compound of my mother's residence. Luckily, I was able to buy food and so did not have to worry where to eat. But what was difficult was relieving myself. Talk about economic development and GDPs.
It is already 2007 and the environmental problems have worsened. I have been hoping that MetroManila would have cured itself of them but unfortunately, the situation is getting graver. I wonder why pumping stations are not set up at strategic points of the metropolis so that when the rains come, they get activated and help the people deal with the rains more conveniently.
But you know, these floods have a certain use. I notice that they come during those times when there are grave political events happening in the country. Like today is three days before the State-of-the-Nation address will be delivered by gma at the Batasang Pambansa. The military and the police are on red alert already. I noticed this morning that the tricycles kep moving about in front of our house every five minutes or so and they go vroom vrooming when near our place, sounding as if the noise was meant for us to hear clearly or get irritated badly.
Sometimes no amount of scientific analysis suffices to explain phenomena in our land. Maybe in some near future, we would finally be able to get officials whose mission in life is really to serve the people and not their pockets.
I have experienced being cooped up on the second floor of our small house at the back of the compound of my mother's residence. Luckily, I was able to buy food and so did not have to worry where to eat. But what was difficult was relieving myself. Talk about economic development and GDPs.
It is already 2007 and the environmental problems have worsened. I have been hoping that MetroManila would have cured itself of them but unfortunately, the situation is getting graver. I wonder why pumping stations are not set up at strategic points of the metropolis so that when the rains come, they get activated and help the people deal with the rains more conveniently.
But you know, these floods have a certain use. I notice that they come during those times when there are grave political events happening in the country. Like today is three days before the State-of-the-Nation address will be delivered by gma at the Batasang Pambansa. The military and the police are on red alert already. I noticed this morning that the tricycles kep moving about in front of our house every five minutes or so and they go vroom vrooming when near our place, sounding as if the noise was meant for us to hear clearly or get irritated badly.
Sometimes no amount of scientific analysis suffices to explain phenomena in our land. Maybe in some near future, we would finally be able to get officials whose mission in life is really to serve the people and not their pockets.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Something Funny
When you are in the Philippines, it is very hard to laugh. In fact comedy tv programs are formatting and reformatting because their audience is dwindling and they need to find the right mix of writers who could tickle the funny bones seriously.
It is very difficult being a critic, much more a political and cultural critic. The powers-that-be have links from the telephone, to cellphone, up to even internet servers. Would you believe that this Yahoo always opens with a reference to a dog, whenever I surf? The engineers there seem to know when I am working in front of the computer. They seem to be knowledgeable about my whereabouts 24 hours of the day. Sometimes, I feel like going to another planet for a vacation. There seems to be no let up of harassment ever since I started writing heavy political opinions especially about the illegitimacy of the presidency in the Philippines (GMA)
It is sad that a woman should be a very reviled president now. From Cory to Gloria Arroy are miles and miles of differences. Cory was loved by the people until she became partial to FVR in the campaign for presidential elections in 1992. The people voted for Miriam, the nemesis of FVR who was cheated of her votes. The people were shocked by the outcome of the elections. They did not move at all to help defend Miriam against the theft of her presidential title. Perhaps because FVR is a military man and then Cory, the supposed democracy defender backed him up. Cardinal Sin also did not move an inch, though in 1986 he was calling for everyone to join the massing up at EDSA to boot out the dictator and his cohorts.
Anyway, so many things are coming up and the overseas Filipino workers and professionals are gearing up to make 2010 a truly clean, legitimate and pro-masses elections up to the presidency. The groups have the resources to put up candidates. I am helping them as well in terms of the groundworks. We hope to found a party that would really address the problems of the Filipino people. By that time, if we are successful, we will surely have a hearty laugh, something that is heaven-sent.
It is very difficult being a critic, much more a political and cultural critic. The powers-that-be have links from the telephone, to cellphone, up to even internet servers. Would you believe that this Yahoo always opens with a reference to a dog, whenever I surf? The engineers there seem to know when I am working in front of the computer. They seem to be knowledgeable about my whereabouts 24 hours of the day. Sometimes, I feel like going to another planet for a vacation. There seems to be no let up of harassment ever since I started writing heavy political opinions especially about the illegitimacy of the presidency in the Philippines (GMA)
It is sad that a woman should be a very reviled president now. From Cory to Gloria Arroy are miles and miles of differences. Cory was loved by the people until she became partial to FVR in the campaign for presidential elections in 1992. The people voted for Miriam, the nemesis of FVR who was cheated of her votes. The people were shocked by the outcome of the elections. They did not move at all to help defend Miriam against the theft of her presidential title. Perhaps because FVR is a military man and then Cory, the supposed democracy defender backed him up. Cardinal Sin also did not move an inch, though in 1986 he was calling for everyone to join the massing up at EDSA to boot out the dictator and his cohorts.
Anyway, so many things are coming up and the overseas Filipino workers and professionals are gearing up to make 2010 a truly clean, legitimate and pro-masses elections up to the presidency. The groups have the resources to put up candidates. I am helping them as well in terms of the groundworks. We hope to found a party that would really address the problems of the Filipino people. By that time, if we are successful, we will surely have a hearty laugh, something that is heaven-sent.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Unsung Heroine: Ka Tonyang
Overseas Filipino Workers do not just work and earn to death in other countries. Many serve the needy OFWs without expecting anything in return like Tonette Binsol or Ka Tonyang. They are the unsung Filipino heroes and heroines abroad who just serve endless to the point of neglecting their own health. Ka Tonyang died of a stroke. Now, I would like to give way to the article about her by Nathaniel Duenas, architect and now living in the United States who knew her personally:
Tonette Binsol (or Ka Tonyang) was studying and living in Japan in the late 80's when we first met in the internet. She created the scholarship program for several indigenous children in the Zambales and Sierra Madre and (which was) later spread to other indigenous peoples all over the country. Her love for her ancestral country(folks) was genuine and her knowlege was shared to all.
Ka Tonyang was synonimous to 'Mother Theresa' (whose) compassion and kindness to the (oppressed) and in need (are legendary). She championed the 'working Pinays in Japan' and created a network of worldwide concerned OFC through Fil-IT which later on expanded to other e-groups of OF/OFWs.
We had worked together since 1985 creating several 'internet cafes' in the provinces and remote locations allowing students and kids access to the free yahoo email and communicating concerns and issues on livelihood, education, communication, elections, enterpreneurship, and the advancement in technology.
Tonette has helped thousands of indigent children especially the Aetas and other indigenous tribes in realizing their dreams to elevate themselves to a higher and rewarding way of life. She gathered used computers from Japanese banks and financial institutions and crated them in shiploads to various locations in the Philippines. Her dreams of generating a new breed of Pilipinos came true from every individual she touch.
I recommended her for a University of Stanford Grant in 1999 but her commitment to the far reaches of the OF/OFWs (was consuming) her time - managing dozens of egroups and websites, seeking financial assistance and investors to assist the less fortunate and those neglected by OWWA left on their own at the mercy of their foreign employers.
Tonette pioneered the OF/OFW empowerment through self-reliance with the generosity of the Japanese people and the contributions of the worldwide audience of concerned citizens.
Ka Tonyang will always remain in the hearts of our people. May her tribe flourish in those who believe in her cause.
Goodbye my good friend, hope to see you soon.
Nat
Tonette Binsol (or Ka Tonyang) was studying and living in Japan in the late 80's when we first met in the internet. She created the scholarship program for several indigenous children in the Zambales and Sierra Madre and (which was) later spread to other indigenous peoples all over the country. Her love for her ancestral country(folks) was genuine and her knowlege was shared to all.
Ka Tonyang was synonimous to 'Mother Theresa' (whose) compassion and kindness to the (oppressed) and in need (are legendary). She championed the 'working Pinays in Japan' and created a network of worldwide concerned OFC through Fil-IT which later on expanded to other e-groups of OF/OFWs.
We had worked together since 1985 creating several 'internet cafes' in the provinces and remote locations allowing students and kids access to the free yahoo email and communicating concerns and issues on livelihood, education, communication, elections, enterpreneurship, and the advancement in technology.
Tonette has helped thousands of indigent children especially the Aetas and other indigenous tribes in realizing their dreams to elevate themselves to a higher and rewarding way of life. She gathered used computers from Japanese banks and financial institutions and crated them in shiploads to various locations in the Philippines. Her dreams of generating a new breed of Pilipinos came true from every individual she touch.
I recommended her for a University of Stanford Grant in 1999 but her commitment to the far reaches of the OF/OFWs (was consuming) her time - managing dozens of egroups and websites, seeking financial assistance and investors to assist the less fortunate and those neglected by OWWA left on their own at the mercy of their foreign employers.
Tonette pioneered the OF/OFW empowerment through self-reliance with the generosity of the Japanese people and the contributions of the worldwide audience of concerned citizens.
Ka Tonyang will always remain in the hearts of our people. May her tribe flourish in those who believe in her cause.
Goodbye my good friend, hope to see you soon.
Nat
Saturday, July 7, 2007
AUTHENTIC BEING. The Philippines is still a beautiful country. Baguio is only 7 hours away from Manila and I can breathe fresh air everywhere except when a polluting jeepney or a public smoker passes by, sometimes instigated by some kind of evil force to do so. Yet I am happy to be here in Baguio, spending my birthday and feeling light and breezy.
Forget politics, forget election cheaters, forget political dogmatists. Hah! I am here to recharge my batteries. I wish I could also turn off my cellphone and keep my watch but I can't. They are part of my body system already.
Mines View Park is about 15 minutes away from or within the city is still beautiful despite the commercialism of the area. There are many stores with Ilocano and Kankanaey vendors (not wearing their traditional costumes, mind you) selling Baguio-made handicrafts like woodcarvings, knitted ponchos, and the like. I bought the dreamcatcher. I love this although it is adopted from the Native Americans. There is something mysterious in its shape -- round and with spider-web designs inside, and with feathers as decor around. I will give it to my grandchild to keep under her pillow so she can dream beautiful dreams.
Then I also bought strawberry wine to drink in my room as I write or fix my primer. Sweet, I presume it is going to be sweet, but it's okay. I love anything native. I used to keep wine at home and drink it every night after a hard walking day in MetroManila. But I developed some kidney problem so I had to stop it.
Also I took pictures of the foggy valleys with the mountains receding into the background and the colorful flowers by the wayside. The latter are not found in Manila because they grow only in cold climate. Perhaps the Fil-Ams, once they take a vacation, can bring home some to California and other States to grow to remind them of Baguio everyday.
This morning when my bus arrived from Manila, I walked around and found the Igorot stairs outside of that famous restaurant, Barrio Fiesta, I think. Four Igorot women sculptures (human size) are seated on the staircase pulling lice from each other's head in succession. How funny. There is something quaint about Igorot humour. I did not like though the gory men sculptures carrying a decapitated head, and another a pig. Eeky. I am sure the Igorots no longer do that -- headhunting?
Some would say that is the primitive side of the ethnic tribes but there is a way of showing the past of a people -- not necessarily drawing to the idea by creating 15 feet tall sculptures. Yes, an artist can present his or her own interpretation of realities and come out distorting present value systems of the ethnic tribes and could be hewing closely to respect of human rights already.
One thing I wished I had experienced -- hearing ethnic instruments and music being played at Mines View Park and all over the city, if only to remind me that I am already in another place, not the busy, crazy and sooty MetroManila. I told the driver, Ely, that they could provide authentic musicians and performers there so that they could also earn every hour for 15 minutes. Then they could also hire students who might have need for allowance. There is nothing like feeling, acting and being authentic.
Anyway, here is more to finding beautiful spots in the Philippines.
Forget politics, forget election cheaters, forget political dogmatists. Hah! I am here to recharge my batteries. I wish I could also turn off my cellphone and keep my watch but I can't. They are part of my body system already.
Mines View Park is about 15 minutes away from or within the city is still beautiful despite the commercialism of the area. There are many stores with Ilocano and Kankanaey vendors (not wearing their traditional costumes, mind you) selling Baguio-made handicrafts like woodcarvings, knitted ponchos, and the like. I bought the dreamcatcher. I love this although it is adopted from the Native Americans. There is something mysterious in its shape -- round and with spider-web designs inside, and with feathers as decor around. I will give it to my grandchild to keep under her pillow so she can dream beautiful dreams.
Then I also bought strawberry wine to drink in my room as I write or fix my primer. Sweet, I presume it is going to be sweet, but it's okay. I love anything native. I used to keep wine at home and drink it every night after a hard walking day in MetroManila. But I developed some kidney problem so I had to stop it.
Also I took pictures of the foggy valleys with the mountains receding into the background and the colorful flowers by the wayside. The latter are not found in Manila because they grow only in cold climate. Perhaps the Fil-Ams, once they take a vacation, can bring home some to California and other States to grow to remind them of Baguio everyday.
This morning when my bus arrived from Manila, I walked around and found the Igorot stairs outside of that famous restaurant, Barrio Fiesta, I think. Four Igorot women sculptures (human size) are seated on the staircase pulling lice from each other's head in succession. How funny. There is something quaint about Igorot humour. I did not like though the gory men sculptures carrying a decapitated head, and another a pig. Eeky. I am sure the Igorots no longer do that -- headhunting?
Some would say that is the primitive side of the ethnic tribes but there is a way of showing the past of a people -- not necessarily drawing to the idea by creating 15 feet tall sculptures. Yes, an artist can present his or her own interpretation of realities and come out distorting present value systems of the ethnic tribes and could be hewing closely to respect of human rights already.
One thing I wished I had experienced -- hearing ethnic instruments and music being played at Mines View Park and all over the city, if only to remind me that I am already in another place, not the busy, crazy and sooty MetroManila. I told the driver, Ely, that they could provide authentic musicians and performers there so that they could also earn every hour for 15 minutes. Then they could also hire students who might have need for allowance. There is nothing like feeling, acting and being authentic.
Anyway, here is more to finding beautiful spots in the Philippines.
CITY OF PINES. A foggy city. City of my youth. Summer capital of the Philippines. That is Baguio. And I was surprised to find that it has retained its "villagey" character. I am staying at the Baguio Cooperative and Credit 4-story Building in the heart of the city. Did you know that it is number one among Century cooperatives, meaning the first in the list of coops with 100 million shared capital? Yes the Mountain Province people are a great lot in terms of cooperative undertaking. It lends to members twice or three times the amount the gave as capital based on the length of period they have been in.
Coops are not viable projects for funding agencies because of the high mortality rate, but this one beats them all. It is possible to have a successful cooperative venture. The interest rate is 2% or so per month, cheaper than bank rates.
I think this kind of NGO work is really worth emulating. Imagine, they have a Lingap Fund loan for peddlers and nobody has applied for it. The loans applied for are in the range of hundreds of thousands, which speak a lot about the business acumen of Baguio folks.
How I wish we could replicate this in Manila among the urban poor sectors.
Coops are not viable projects for funding agencies because of the high mortality rate, but this one beats them all. It is possible to have a successful cooperative venture. The interest rate is 2% or so per month, cheaper than bank rates.
I think this kind of NGO work is really worth emulating. Imagine, they have a Lingap Fund loan for peddlers and nobody has applied for it. The loans applied for are in the range of hundreds of thousands, which speak a lot about the business acumen of Baguio folks.
How I wish we could replicate this in Manila among the urban poor sectors.
Healing
Leaving our country is a very painful process the second time around. Whether for a job or to attend a conference, it is very difficult seeing from the airplane those little islands that become dots later on as the plane zooms up into the skies. I feel so much loss, so much pain knowing that those kids waving goodbye from the barbed-wire fences surrounding the airport would not see us again, or me again for a few weeks or days or so.
Why is this so? The Philippines remains in a tender spot in our hearts. She is Inang Bayan, barefooted, a woman in flag-draped clothes with long hair, and sad eyes looking at a man in Katipunero uniform with the sambalilo on his hand kneeling before her with one knee as if asking for her blessings.
We could be in pain knowing how our kababayan will be left behind in the care of a government that is not that totally sincere in bringing about changes, from poverty to prosperity, from injustice to justice, from inequalities to equalities. And we feel powerless in the face of forces that seem to get petrified in the pedestals they are in.
Yet we also know that deep inside we must discard certain values like those feudal ones of being too polite in the face of oppression, of being too accommodating of friends who exhibit intolerance or even are manipulative of political processes in organizations. We need to be broadminded and carry on changes within ourselves so that we come out assertive in the face of these forces that could spell a difference in the way we participate in our society.
Also, we must look at religion as not merel a ritual of saying prayers or attending masses but a way to renew our spiritual energies so that we will be able to face those forces again and again and not feel defeat everytime we meet them. Our prayers have to be changed too, not all the time saying "mea culpa, mea culpa, mea culpa," as soon as we reach the steps of the church. No we must say, "I come my God to pray and be nurtured. Bring your blessings please so that I may love my life and be strong to face those who wish to bring evil to me and to my country. Give us your caring hands that we may not feel down when so many problems seem to overwhelm us." Yes, I believe that the Church has to constantly re-invent itself, to revise those prayers that bring about a slavish mentality to unnatural forces. The Church must not only preach humility but also strength to overcome those proud and arrogant powerful forces that refuse to see the handwriting on the wall.
Noli me tangere. Touch me not, said Rizal. Why because the wounds are so deep and to touch them is to bring about more pain. Let us all heal that pain.
Why is this so? The Philippines remains in a tender spot in our hearts. She is Inang Bayan, barefooted, a woman in flag-draped clothes with long hair, and sad eyes looking at a man in Katipunero uniform with the sambalilo on his hand kneeling before her with one knee as if asking for her blessings.
We could be in pain knowing how our kababayan will be left behind in the care of a government that is not that totally sincere in bringing about changes, from poverty to prosperity, from injustice to justice, from inequalities to equalities. And we feel powerless in the face of forces that seem to get petrified in the pedestals they are in.
Yet we also know that deep inside we must discard certain values like those feudal ones of being too polite in the face of oppression, of being too accommodating of friends who exhibit intolerance or even are manipulative of political processes in organizations. We need to be broadminded and carry on changes within ourselves so that we come out assertive in the face of these forces that could spell a difference in the way we participate in our society.
Also, we must look at religion as not merel a ritual of saying prayers or attending masses but a way to renew our spiritual energies so that we will be able to face those forces again and again and not feel defeat everytime we meet them. Our prayers have to be changed too, not all the time saying "mea culpa, mea culpa, mea culpa," as soon as we reach the steps of the church. No we must say, "I come my God to pray and be nurtured. Bring your blessings please so that I may love my life and be strong to face those who wish to bring evil to me and to my country. Give us your caring hands that we may not feel down when so many problems seem to overwhelm us." Yes, I believe that the Church has to constantly re-invent itself, to revise those prayers that bring about a slavish mentality to unnatural forces. The Church must not only preach humility but also strength to overcome those proud and arrogant powerful forces that refuse to see the handwriting on the wall.
Noli me tangere. Touch me not, said Rizal. Why because the wounds are so deep and to touch them is to bring about more pain. Let us all heal that pain.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Foreign domestic helpers: modern day slaves
Since the eighties, we in the women's movement have been decrying the lot of domestic helpers, how they are the modern day slaves of the world. Can you imagine working more than 12 hours a day without overtime? And some of them get flatironed on their backs, slapped, raped, and even forced to jump from high rise buildings just to escape from further oppression. Yet the International Labour Organization seems to turn a blind eye to their plight.
Domestic helpers are most women and they would enter this domestic job simply because there are no other opportunities for them in their home countries. Now what is wrong with their going abroad? There is nothing wrong except that the ILO does not look at their working conditions if the countries follow humane rules and regulations. Any employer who has a servant/s at his or her beck and call would be apt to or be attracted to order them around any time of day. Many of these employers would not have read the UN Declaration of Human Rights, and so they are bound to oppress their servants. The Middle Eastern countries have the greater number of employers who really go beyond the norm of what could be said to be humane treatment of domestic helpers. Reports are replete of wives of Arab men feeling jealous over Filipino maids who then suffer the brunt of their rocky marriages.
Unfortunately, not even the presence of labor attaches in those countries could help the maids when they run into problems. Instead they even become victims of these officials, charged with or raped just so they could be given shelter. Sick.
Moreover, the low self-esteem that domestic helpers suffer from could run for generations. They could carry that to their deathbed or they could suffer from so much psychologically that they would commit suicide to end their suffering.
The domestic helpers are in a very sick workplace, a very traumatic situation. The time is over ripe to address their problems. Their situation will improve only if their working conditions are changed, overhauled, revolutionized!
I think that it is high time that the ILO put its foot down and say stop to all this modern day slavery. The ILO is in the best position to mediate, intervene and put an end to the sufferings of domestic helpers. Let domestic service be onely 8-hour a day job, and with free vacations every months. Then require all receiving countries to provide dormitories for them to retire into every day. Let no domestic helper work overnight in their employer's home.
Let this labor organization acquire a meaningful existence by showing its sympathetic arm to our sisters in the domestic service.
Domestic helpers are most women and they would enter this domestic job simply because there are no other opportunities for them in their home countries. Now what is wrong with their going abroad? There is nothing wrong except that the ILO does not look at their working conditions if the countries follow humane rules and regulations. Any employer who has a servant/s at his or her beck and call would be apt to or be attracted to order them around any time of day. Many of these employers would not have read the UN Declaration of Human Rights, and so they are bound to oppress their servants. The Middle Eastern countries have the greater number of employers who really go beyond the norm of what could be said to be humane treatment of domestic helpers. Reports are replete of wives of Arab men feeling jealous over Filipino maids who then suffer the brunt of their rocky marriages.
Unfortunately, not even the presence of labor attaches in those countries could help the maids when they run into problems. Instead they even become victims of these officials, charged with or raped just so they could be given shelter. Sick.
Moreover, the low self-esteem that domestic helpers suffer from could run for generations. They could carry that to their deathbed or they could suffer from so much psychologically that they would commit suicide to end their suffering.
The domestic helpers are in a very sick workplace, a very traumatic situation. The time is over ripe to address their problems. Their situation will improve only if their working conditions are changed, overhauled, revolutionized!
I think that it is high time that the ILO put its foot down and say stop to all this modern day slavery. The ILO is in the best position to mediate, intervene and put an end to the sufferings of domestic helpers. Let domestic service be onely 8-hour a day job, and with free vacations every months. Then require all receiving countries to provide dormitories for them to retire into every day. Let no domestic helper work overnight in their employer's home.
Let this labor organization acquire a meaningful existence by showing its sympathetic arm to our sisters in the domestic service.
Monday, July 2, 2007
On being humane
How could we make being humane a way of life in this world? How could we tell everyone to be kind, nurturing and good to everyone? Christians view being humane as part of being Christ-like. Political ideologues theorize and practice an ideology, with being humane embeded like a package into all the discussions. Government officials skirt the issue and think in terms of laws and implementing them or perhaps, they think that their work exemplifies already one's being humane.
This word humane really interests me. You see, we have different ways of relating with the world, with our societies. We think differently - on how to be of service to others, or on how to have a more meaningful life. But we generally think that to be humane is part of being human already.
Now, some people think being humane is time-bound: they may be humane now, but not tomorrow. They may be humane towards one particular group of people but not with some. Yet the word is etched in the UN Declaration of Human Rights; so everyone is expected to be humane.
If persons are part of a group of authority, what are the boundaries of their being humane? Is it being humane to stop others from exercising their human rights? Of course it is not and that is why there are many investigations going on, especially in the case of extra judicial killings in the Philippines.
So what we mean here is that to define being humane is to put up a model for human relationships. What is the relationship between two people, between one person and a group of persons; between and among groups of people? We say being humane in all these instances is being kind, nurturing and good, is it not?
But supposing one is in a position of putting into order the lives of other people, like government officials. Being in a position of authority, then they are expected to follow the UN Declaration of Human Rights and to insure that everyone is treated humanely, whether a criminal, a prisoner, or just a plain citizen. Unfortunately, not all government officials are of this bent of mind. Some even do away with lives of other people, those journalists and members of legal mass organizations, some of whom even belong to the religious sector.
From my end, I would like to ask: Is authority vested with that right to invade the privacy of people, to tamper with their things at home, to hire relatives or maids or servants to steal things of people who are committed to exercising their human rights? Does being in a position of authority give that right to them to do these things, with impunity? I have experienced such cases in many instances and I am appalled because I believe and practice doing things in the most lawful manner. I even publish my writings or get them to be published so that I would be known as acting and working on legal grounds. Yet, I have suffered from my laptop being hacked, my USB flash being pilfered (with the thief, seemingly in the know where and when to get it from my bag), my planner containing telephone lists and dates with people, being stolen or misplaced in the confines of my room, and even my celfone being jammed -- important phone numbers being suddenly delisted. Worse is paying people to act in a derisive manner towards me in public and in meetings with people where they have planted spies. And worst of all, is the sexual harassment. Once, I went to a spa to get a massage. As I was lying down on the bed, a masseus came in with a cellfone, and turned up the dimmed lights and suddenly flung up the blanket covering my body. I was too shocked to know what had happened. But I never returned there anymore. I knew that somebody had order her to do this to me.
Here is where I think being humane is no longer being practiced by the intelligence staff in particular of the Philippine government. and that intelligence is no longer used to advance being humane; nor government budget used to follow the UN Declaration of Human Rights. Anyone who criticizes, even through writing is considered an enemy of the State and is to be stopped at all costs, whether to steal, supposedly borrow or even destroy those things that a person uses to advance his or her ideas, and so much more: to bring down the self-esteem of that person in order to paralyze him/her from writing and criticizing.
Let my writings be records of human rights in the Philippines, under a woman president who does not squirm nor flinch at any of those instances mentioned. I believe that history later on will be written about her - and pity her grandchildren and great, great grandchildren for being a willing captive of a military that has no qualms about being not humane.
Till then, have a nice day.
This word humane really interests me. You see, we have different ways of relating with the world, with our societies. We think differently - on how to be of service to others, or on how to have a more meaningful life. But we generally think that to be humane is part of being human already.
Now, some people think being humane is time-bound: they may be humane now, but not tomorrow. They may be humane towards one particular group of people but not with some. Yet the word is etched in the UN Declaration of Human Rights; so everyone is expected to be humane.
If persons are part of a group of authority, what are the boundaries of their being humane? Is it being humane to stop others from exercising their human rights? Of course it is not and that is why there are many investigations going on, especially in the case of extra judicial killings in the Philippines.
So what we mean here is that to define being humane is to put up a model for human relationships. What is the relationship between two people, between one person and a group of persons; between and among groups of people? We say being humane in all these instances is being kind, nurturing and good, is it not?
But supposing one is in a position of putting into order the lives of other people, like government officials. Being in a position of authority, then they are expected to follow the UN Declaration of Human Rights and to insure that everyone is treated humanely, whether a criminal, a prisoner, or just a plain citizen. Unfortunately, not all government officials are of this bent of mind. Some even do away with lives of other people, those journalists and members of legal mass organizations, some of whom even belong to the religious sector.
From my end, I would like to ask: Is authority vested with that right to invade the privacy of people, to tamper with their things at home, to hire relatives or maids or servants to steal things of people who are committed to exercising their human rights? Does being in a position of authority give that right to them to do these things, with impunity? I have experienced such cases in many instances and I am appalled because I believe and practice doing things in the most lawful manner. I even publish my writings or get them to be published so that I would be known as acting and working on legal grounds. Yet, I have suffered from my laptop being hacked, my USB flash being pilfered (with the thief, seemingly in the know where and when to get it from my bag), my planner containing telephone lists and dates with people, being stolen or misplaced in the confines of my room, and even my celfone being jammed -- important phone numbers being suddenly delisted. Worse is paying people to act in a derisive manner towards me in public and in meetings with people where they have planted spies. And worst of all, is the sexual harassment. Once, I went to a spa to get a massage. As I was lying down on the bed, a masseus came in with a cellfone, and turned up the dimmed lights and suddenly flung up the blanket covering my body. I was too shocked to know what had happened. But I never returned there anymore. I knew that somebody had order her to do this to me.
Here is where I think being humane is no longer being practiced by the intelligence staff in particular of the Philippine government. and that intelligence is no longer used to advance being humane; nor government budget used to follow the UN Declaration of Human Rights. Anyone who criticizes, even through writing is considered an enemy of the State and is to be stopped at all costs, whether to steal, supposedly borrow or even destroy those things that a person uses to advance his or her ideas, and so much more: to bring down the self-esteem of that person in order to paralyze him/her from writing and criticizing.
Let my writings be records of human rights in the Philippines, under a woman president who does not squirm nor flinch at any of those instances mentioned. I believe that history later on will be written about her - and pity her grandchildren and great, great grandchildren for being a willing captive of a military that has no qualms about being not humane.
Sometimes, I think I am being drawn to be not humane, myself, by the situation I am in. during those instances, I breathe in and out, exhale and inhale, and blank my mind to get a fresher view of life.
Till then, have a nice day.
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