PCGG, Marcos victims in race to claim Imelda's art collection

Philippine Daily Inquirer/SPECIAL REPORT/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo

First of two parts 


The sudden move by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) to order a search of the San Juan residence, offices and other homes of the Marcos family for precious artworks that the PCGG claims should belong to the government caught many by surprise.

A GAUGUIN IN SAN JUAN Paul Gauguin’s “Still Life with Idol,” is just one of the masterpieces allegedly in the Marcos art collection that the government seized from the ancestral house in San Juan City.


Why only now?

One of those asking this question is Robert Swift, the lead lawyer of the 9,539 rights abuse victims during the martial law regime (1972 to 1986) of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who doubts the motives of the PCGG, the agency created by the first Aquino government to recover the ill-gotten assets of Marcos, his family and associates.

He believes the PCGG is “playing a game” of recovering the paintings as part of a strategy to nullify the $2-billion judgment that the victims won in a class action suit against the Marcoses in a Hawaii court.

“The PCGG has known about the paintings for over 28 years and done nothing about them until now,” said Swift.

In 1995, a US federal grand jury in Hawaii found the Marcos dictatorship liable for the torture, summary executions and disappearances of about 10,000 people and awarded the victims $2 billion in damages from the Marcos estate. According to Swift, Philippine courts have refused to recognize the $2-billion judgment while the Philippine government uses its sovereign immunity in the United States to try and prevent the members of the class suit from litigating to collect on the judgment, touting Sandiganbayan decisions forfeiting various Marcos assets in favor of the government as enforceable in the United States.

Unable to collect

In addition, Swift said the claimants in the class suit also have a 2011 US judgment against Imelda Marcos personally for $353.6 million, which they are entitled to execute on any property she owns. But again, collection of the judgment has been difficult because Philippine courts do not recognize the US judgment.

Swift himself has been engaged for decades in hunting for Marcos assets, including the art pieces—many of them by recognized masters that Marcos’ wife Imelda is said to have acquired using the Marcoses’ enormous wealth—in the interest of collecting on the $2-billion judgment.

Ill-gotten or not, the Marcos assets should be used to compensate the human rights victims of Marcos’ martial rule, he argues. “The class [suit members] are entitled to pursue any assets of Mrs. Marcos, including her art collection, because the class obtained a [2011] judgment against her personally for $353.6 million,” he said.

Finders keepers?

The PCGG and the claimants represented by Swift are therefore in a race to who gets to the trove first. Does the search mean finders keepers?

One of the Marcos art pieces that has been traced, French impressionist Claude Monet’s “Les Bassin Nymphease,” also known as “Water Lilies,” was sold by Imelda’s aide, Vilma Bautista, to a collector for $32 million. To avoid litigation, the buyer offered $10 million to the members of the class suit against the Marcos estate. Bautista and her conspirators continue to face prosecution for selling what did not belong to them.

In March, proceeds from the settlement on the Monet painting were divided among the claimants, the second distribution since 2010. (For each claimant, $1,000 in 2010 and another $1,000 in 2014.) These are a mere trickle from the $2-billion award.

More where it came from

But there’s apparently more where the Monet came from. On Oct. 1, sheriffs of the Sandiganbayan, armed with a writ of attachment from the antigraft court, seized an undetermined number of artworks from the Marcoses’ San Juan residence.

Masterpieces

The writ, issued on the request of the PCGG, covered at least eight Old Masters works in the possession of the Marcos family, including “Madonna and Child” by Michelangelo Buonarroti, “Femme Couchee VI” (Reclining Woman VI) by Pablo Picasso, “Portrait of the Marqueza de Sta. Cruz” by Francisco de Goya, “Still Life with Idol” by Paul Gauguin, “La Baignade Au Grand Temps” by Pierre Bonnard, “Vase of Chrysanthemums” by Bernard Buffet, “Jardin de Kew pres de la Serre 1892” by Camille Pissarro and “L’Aube” by Joan Miró.

Swift’s list of artworks, whose value could partly fund the rights abuse victims’ claim, is even longer at 206, not including the “Water Lilies” that was sold.

On the list of 206 are two Picassos, two Gaugins, two Botticellis, three Degases, one Matisse, one Cezanne, one Van Gogh, one El Greco, one Fra Filippo Lippi (1460), one Raphael, one Titian, one Manet, 52 Gobillards, 18 Grandma Moses and three Monets. (“Water Lilies” was one of the three Monets on the list.)

The other Monet, “L’Eglise et La Seine a Vetheuil” (also known as “L’Eglise a Vethueuil”) and an 1887 painting by French impressionist Alfred Sisley (“Langland Bay”) will soon be traced, if not already found, the lawyer said. # (To be continued)

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ICanServe@15

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo


The sisterhood had a blast! The sisterhood like no other, we love to say and tell everyone.

ICanServe celebrated its 15th anniversary last Oct. 6 at the Raffles Hotel in Makati with a rousing celebration and a gathering of breast cancer survivors and warriors who are, most of all, advocates of early detection. It was a gathering that toasted its founders, members and supporters, as well as those who had departed for the hills beyond but who served and fought well.

True to its catchphrase “Saving lives, keeping families whole,” ICanServe served up an anniversary program that was not merely focused on its members but was meant to reach out far and wide to women and men in order to raise awareness of a disease that can be licked well and good if detected early. In short, zap the invader at the gates.

All, if not most, of the attendees were energetic, can-do breast cancer survivors (myself included). Also present were special persons from the indispensable circle of support. Health workers, providers and advocates. Doctors, barangay health workers, relatives, friends, facilitators, organizers, volunteers, sponsors. Survivors in various states of wellness and stages of recovery from illness bonded, embraced, shed tears, laughed, prayed, listened to one another. Bright pink was the color theme of the celebration.

Many of us met at the 3rd ICanServe Silver Linings gathering held in Davao City in 2011 and have since become sisters and friends for the cause in our own little and big ways. Held every three years, Silver Linings is ICanServe’s educational forum and homecoming.

But the 15th anniversary last Monday was extra special. Many came even from outside Metro Manila. A whole ICanServe contingent from Cebu came and even provided an entertainment number.
 Founded in 1999, ICanServe Foundation is an advocacy group of breast cancer survivors that promotes early breast cancer detection. Its flagship program is “Ating Dibdibin,” a Filipino saying that means taking it to heart. “Dibdib” means chest or breast, or where the heart is. For ICanServe, “Ating Dibdibin” means “take your breast care to heart.”

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Fr. Pierre Tritz@100, ERDA@40

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo

Few people in this world get to be a century old. One of them is French-born Jesuit Fr. Pierre Tritz, who turned 100 last Sept. 19. The Mass and simple celebration on the 19th was cancelled because of Tropical Storm “Mario” that brought flooding in Metro Manila. The gathering is being set for another date.

Thousands of poor Filipinos who were once students as well as their families know Father Tritz because of how their lives changed for the better, because of the opportunity to be educated given them. Father Tritz, through the Educational Research and Development Assistance (Erda) Foundation which he founded 40 years ago, has enabled poor children to cross the poverty line through formal education that went alongside values formation programs that would equip them to face life head-on and become pillars of society.

Father Tritz has always emphasized: “To allow a child to go to school is to give him hope.”

Erda continues to give hope to young Filipinos who cannot afford basic education while involving countless groups and individuals here and abroad to contribute to the continuing endeavor. Erda has documented many success stories about those who made good, and also those who are giving back and paying it forward.

But Father Tritz is a story by himself (as partly told in “Father Pierre Tritz, SJ: Touching the Lives of Filipinos,” a booklet edited by Sr. Josefina Diaz, ICM). More exhaustive biographies have been written about him but they are in French (one is “Les Anti-Trottoirs de Manille: Pierre Tritz, père des enfants de la rue” by Jean Claude Darrigaud).

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Journalism under siege: The years of writing dangerously

Philippine Daily Inquirer/FEATURES/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo

(Editor’s Note: Starting Sept. 21, the 42nd anniversary of the proclamation of martial law by President Ferdinand Marcos, we have been running a series of articles to remember one of the darkest chapters in Philippine history. The articles are necessarily commemorations and more so a celebration of and a thanksgiving for the courage of the men and women who endured unspeakable pain and loss to overcome the Marcos dictatorship and regain our freedoms. These are some of their stories.)

MANILA, Philippines–Those were the years of writing dangerously. In the eyes of the oppressive Marcos regime, the defiant journalists were better dead than read, better writhing than writing.

Whenever our group of women writers is asked to speak about our harrowing experiences during the martial law years, we never forget to say: “The men were in jail or dead, so we were (wo)’manning’ the fort.”

But we did not like being described as “women with balls.”

This is the cover of the book "The Philippine Press Under Siege,
vol. 2"carrying articles by journalists arrested or threatened     
during the rule of dictator Ferdinand Marcos.                            

We had our share of frightening interrogations. I and many others were interrogated more than once for antimartial law and human rights pieces that we had written. I, and again many others, came close to being seized in the dead of night by armed men, had it not been for quick-thinking church people who came to our rescue.

But more important than ourselves and our foray into dangerous terrain were the stories that we wrote and managed to get published, thanks to the editors who paid dearly for their daring.


Future generations

What were these stories, what were they about, who wrote them? Fortunately, they have been preserved between covers for many generations to come.

In 1984 and 1985, our group, the Women Writers in Media Now (Women), came out with “The Philippine Press Under Siege,” Volumes 1 and 2, containing the “dangerous writing” that had provoked the dictatorship and brought on the horrible aftermath of such dangerous pursuits.

The collection was published by the Women’s Committee to Protect Writers and the National Press Club under the bold leadership of the late Tony Nieva.

These two volumes which we had worked on under the cover of darkness and under so much stress are now out of print. But the good news is that the National Historical Commission and the University of the Philippines Press recently agreed to resurrect them, so to speak, in a much better format, if not a better design. I am the editor of these resurrected editions.

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Interrogated by the military

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo

Since Sept. 21 (the 42nd anniversary of the imposition of Marcos’ deadly martial rule) the Inquirer has been running stories about that terrifying era (1972-1986) that saw the death of democracy and the killing, disappearance, detention and suffering of tens of thousands of Filipinos. Unrestrained evil, I call it, and today’s young Filipinos ought to know about it.

I wrote damning stories during those dangerous times and suffered the consequences, but they were nothing compared to what others went through. An assigned piece I wrote last week might come out in this paper in a day or so, but I want to share another one in this column space.

This is about my second interrogation in Fort Bonifacio on Dec. 11, 1982, by the National Intelligence Board Special Committee No. 2 led by Gen. Wilfredo Estrada. Human rights lawyer and former senator Jose W. Diokno asked lawyer Alex Padilla to be with me. The summons said I was “to shed light on confidential matters,” and that my failure to appear “shall be considered as a waiver on [my] part and the Committee will be constrained to proceed in accordance with law.”
There were about seven military officers-interrogators. After I was asked for my name, I dared ask them for theirs, which they gave. A couple of weeks later we, the individually interrogated women journalists and our media colleagues, named each one of them and haled them to the Supreme Court (petition for prohibition with preliminary injunction). We had a battery of Mabini lawyers led by former senator Lorenzo Tañada and UP law professor Perfecto Fernandez. The military backed off.

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Noli: Love in the grip of tyranny

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo

Like a thunderbolt in a dark and forbidding landscape, the character Sisa burst onto the stage and launched into an unforgettable, heartrending, four-hankie vocal and acting performance that might not be seen again in a long time.

O Inang Bayan na sadlak sa dusa (O Motherland mired in sorrow) raced through my thoughts as I beheld the grief-stricken mother in search of her lost sons, her voice rising from the gloomy depths to the gloomy beyond. She wept, she wailed, but she sustained the great soaring voice until she was reduced to a moan, until life mercifully left her.

What a searing scene. I could only gasp in awe and hold my breath. That electrifying solo performed by coloratura Antoni Mendezona rammed into my soul and shattered it to pieces.

An aside: The whistle-like portion of Mendezona’s Sisa aria reminded me of the popular Queen of the Night aria in Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.” Thanks to National Artist Felipe de Leon, who surely knew the extent of the Filipinos’ vocal prowess and who might have had that in mind when he wrote the music for National Artist Guillermo Tolentino’s libretto.

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Mabuhay, FOI champions in Congress

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo

Are political parties taking a collective stand on the freedom of information (FOI) bill that was killed at the last hour in the 15th Congress?

The hopeful news is that last Tuesday, the technical working group (TWG) of the House of Representatives committee on public information approved without objection a consolidated version of more than a dozen FOI bills. FOI advocates are hoping that this is a harbinger of good things to come—that is, the early passage of the bill in the 16th Congress.

The Right to Know, Right Now Coalition (R2KRN) considers this “a major positive development that punctuates months of active engagement and constant monitoring of the TWG process.”

R2KRN reports: “Departing from the paragraph-by-paragraph deliberation in the earlier TWG meetings, the meeting on Tuesday approved all remaining provisions, from Section 7 (f) through Section 33, as well as the Title and Short Title of the measure. This was made possible by consultations among authors and groups with the objective of reconciling provisions and forging consensus to assist and speed up the formal TWG.”

There was a blending of forces, R2KRN happily notes. Those who worked for the FOI bill’s almost uninterrupted move deserve mention and praise. They are midwives assisting in the birth of a groundbreaking law that can make a positive impact on the life of this nation. R2KRN believes that if passed in its latest consolidated form, the FOI bill will mean substantial gains for all citizens, and a definite advance of their right to information.

Here are the persons that R2KRN regards as FOI champions:

• Representatives Teddy Baguilat Jr. (Ifugao), Kaka Bag-ao (Dinagat), Ibarra Gutierrez III and Walden Bello (Akbayan), Emmeline Aglipay (Diwa), Winston Castelo (Quezon City, 2nd district), Gus Tambunting (Parañaque City, 2nd district), Leah Paquiz (Ang Nars), Jose Christopher Belmonte (Quezon City, 6th district), Anthony Bravo and Cresente Paez (Coop Natcco), Roman Romulo (Pasig City), and Sherwin Tugna and Cinchona Cruz-Gonzales (Cibac).

• The authors and key reform partners of Malacañang at the House—Rep. Leni Robredo (Camarines Sur, 3rd district) and Deputy Speaker Henedina Abad (Batanes).

• Rep. Jorge Almonte, chair of the House committee on public information, constantly assisted by his legislative staff Norman Pelinio and Karissa Jumaquio, and the committee secretariat headed by Romualdo Sta. Clara.

• Other authors who reconciled their versions through amendments, such as Representatives Magnolia Rosa Antonino-Nadres (Nueva Ecija, 4th district) and Xavier Jesus Romualdo (Camiguin).

• Malacañang’s representative to the TWG—Undersecretary Manuel L. Quezon III, working in coordination with Secretary Edwin Lacierda.

• Members present at the TWG meeting, including Representatives Gwendolyn Garcia (Cebu, 3rd district), Raul Del Mar (Cebu City, 1st district), and Sol Aragones (Laguna, 3rd district), and the other TWG members that have actively participated in the full deliberation of the exceptions in the previous meetings.

• R2KRN, itself an author of the bill through indirect initiative.

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Orphan diseases' challenge

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo

The ice bucket challenge to raise funds for and awareness of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) or Lou Gehrig’s disease is still going on. Celebrities the world over have shown video proof of their daring and generosity. There is criticism, of course, of this so-called marketing scheme, from “selfie-shness” to waste of precious water to plain exhibitionism. But the campaign worked for the good.

Many known Filipinos have accepted the ice bucket challenge, with some getting doused publicly for all to see. With the challenge catching on, some health advocates have taken the opportunity to call attention to other so-called “orphan diseases” besides ALS that strike young and poor children whose parents cry out for help. “Orphan” because these diseases are rare and do not get enough attention.

I have been privileged to meet and write about these patients, their families, doctors and the support group that continue to create awareness and raise funds that could help these children live normal, productive lives.

The Philippine Society for Orphan Disorders Inc. (PSOD) is at the forefront of the “care for rare” advocacy and coordinates efforts to sustain the quality of life of those with rare disorders. There have been many breakthroughs since PSOD’s founding in 2006. It has become a support group and has established a network of patients, families, doctors and support groups in different parts of the world. Many patients have found access to treatment and are now enjoying a better quality of life. But there’s more to be done.

So, have you heard of Pompe’s disease? What about MPS Hunter syndrome (mucopolysaccharidosis II), maple syrup urine disorder (MSUD), Gaucher disease, adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), Apert syndrome (craniosynostisis syndrome), adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) and phenylketonuria (PKU)? Lack of space prevents me from describing them in detail here.

Even if you shed tears while watching the movie “Lorenzo’s Oil,” you probably would not recall or pronounce the name of the disease—it was ALD—around which the plot revolved and the cure for which was the object of a couple’s (played by Nick Nolte and Susan Sarandon) research so that their only son would live.

The movie “Extraordinary Measures” (starring Harrison Ford as the eccentric doctor-scientist and Brendan Fraser as the father of two ailing children) also turned out great performances and gave hope that a cure, this time for Pompe’s disease, could be found. In fact they came close with enzyme replacement therapy.

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'Let them eat cake'

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo

“Let them eat cake,” the famous callous remark attributed/misattributed to Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI, went down in history and was used as an example of the powerful rich’s contempt for the poor hungry peasants clamoring for bread.

“Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” or something similar, historians say, could have been uttered by someone else long before Marie Antoinette’s time. Her contemporary Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote that there is no proof that she said it. If she said it at all, she was not the first to say it.

Whatever the context and the intent of that utterance, it has taken on a negative meaning over the centuries. More so because Marie Antoinette was guillotined for the crime of treason during the French Revolution. She became the caricature for the matapobre profligate rich.

In a Philippine context, or in a movie perhaps, an emaciated crowd could be chanting, “Bigas, bigas!” (Rice, rice!) to which a disdainful despot might respond with, “Palamunin nga ninyo ng litson!” (Shove roasted pig into their mouths!)

I smile while I write this piece because I suddenly remember a scene in the Mike de Leon 1980s movie classic “Sister Stella L.” (Vilma Santos in the title role) where a group of us women writers became women-in-black extras chanting “Welga! Welga!” at the picket line. We were crying for “jobs and justice, food and freedom.” Yes, you’d spot me there. The movie was shown despite its antidictatorship overtones.

We could very well have cried “Bigas, hindi bala!” (Rice, not bullets!) because the labor leader (Tony Santos) in the movie was gunned down. Street slogans were the rage then, the more alliterative the better. But I digress.

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Assisi Dev't Foundation gives, not receives

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo

The term “nongovernment organization” has been tarnished because corrupt individuals, in connivance with the corrupt in government, put up fly-by-night “NGOs” to which they channeled loot stolen from public coffers. Even the NGOs (nonprofit groups, foundations, etc.) with good track records are sometimes put under a cloud of suspicion simply because they are too eager to do their jobs and deliver to the poor.

Zealous muckrakers, fault-finders, or simply investigative types seize every morsel of data that could damage or condemn. This is not to say that we should refrain from doing spade work. But there is a saying about asking first before shooting or reporting, especially if it is going to damage innocent persons or the good work being done for the hungry poor.

Howard Dee, founder and chair of Assisi Development Foundation (ADF) and former ambassador to the Vatican, got the shock of his life when it made the news. So did ADF president Ben Abadiano (holder of the 2004 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership) and vice chair Viel Aquino-Dee, President Aquino’s younger sister and Dee’s daughter-in-law. The 40-year-old ADF has been doing development work among indigenous communities, championing their right to a life of dignity. It was among the lead agencies (including the Inquirer) in Tabang Mindanaw.

It continues its mission by drawing from the personal resources of the senior Dee, 84, who has laid down his entire earthly treasures (no kidding) for the NGO that he named in honor of St. Francis, the poverello of Assisi.

An Inquirer news report (“COA questions P230-M milk fund,” 8/18/14) by Gil C. Cabacungan said “[t]he milk feeding program was meant to provide 200-milliliter packs of milk to pregnant women, senior citizens and children in day care, preschool and Grade 1 ‘pre-identified by the legislators and the ADF for a period of 120 days…’”

The report continued: “In its annual audit report on the National Dairy Authority (NDA), the Commission on Audit (COA) cited dubious signatures, faulty monitoring systems, conflicts of interest in the procurement of milk and the failure of the program to live up to the Disbursement Acceleration Program’s (DAP) goal to be an economic stimulus.”

A leftist group delighted in the issue and questioned the government’s favoring a foundation, “no matter how pure the intentions and how good the track record may be,” where the President’s sister sits as vice chair.

A more important question to be answered is: Did the ADF get hold, touch, or spend the money?

In a statement, NDA administrator Grace J. Cenas clarified the role of the ADF in the Hapag-asa Nutrition program: “For the record, the ADF did not receive, hold or manage any funds for the implementation of the program. The ADF’s only role was to coordinate the identification and validation of malnourished children in different dioceses and municipalities who would have been the beneficiaries of the milk-feeding program. The ADF provides the social preparation work for the community, that is, identifying the malnourished and weighing the children, among others.

“If beneficiaries are thus validated, the process would have been as follows: 1) The NDA pays the dairy cooperative for producing and packaging the milk; 2) the cooperative delivers the milk to the diocese or municipality; 3) the diocese or municipality then takes charge of ensuring that beneficiaries receive the milk; 4) a careful reading of the COA report, particularly Annexes A and B, would also reveal that there has been no disbursement of funds for the Hapag-Asa Integrated Nutrition Program of the ADF.”

The Department of Budget and Management also said that in line with its regular process for fund releases, “all funds for the Milk Feeding Program under the NDA were released only to the NDA, and not to any of the foundations or implementing arms identified by the government-owned corporation in executing the projects.”

Present in 72 provinces, the ADF partners with the Church, academe, people’s organizations, other NGOs, barangays and municipal government units. It aims to help the poor and the oppressed become economically secure, socially responsible and morally mature by making available the following: sustainable agricultural technology, farm implements and tools; education (formal and nonformal); medical assistance, facilities and healthcare alternatives; opportunities for leadership and livelihood, skills training, and values/spiritual formation; and relief and rehabilitation of communities affected by the armed conflict in Mindanao.

How sad that a foundation so zealous and so giving is now being suspected of getting its hands on public funds, when all it did was point a finger to where the poor and hungry are, where some milk, not even money, should go.

If there is a lesson here for the well-meaning but not well-versed in the labyrinthine ways that evildoers take, it is this: Don’t even so much as point to public funds, or your pointing finger will be considered tainted. Let the corrupt just have it all. Or leave them for public lynching.

I remember quoting Dee, known to be a deeply spiritual man, after he received the Aurora Aragon Quezon Peace Award in 2006: “My heart is filled with gratitude yet I feel no sense of triumph. I feel no pride of achievement in the face of so much injustice and widespread poverty that condemns so many of our people to a life of subhuman existence.”

But just as quickly, Dee lifted spirits by quoting a French philosopher: “The important thing is to not be a success. The important thing is to be in history bearing witness. This is not the time to lose heart. Rather, it is in the darkness that our lamps should be lit and our hearts set ablaze.”#

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To Robin Williams: 'Nanu nanu'

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo

And so he’s gone. But not from our memories of laughter and sadness to which his movies moved us.

Robin Williams, 63, ended his life two days ago and we are stunned by the suddenness of it all. No final goodbye notes or video (please, let there be) to soften the loss, to make us understand and see why he turned off the lights, closed the door behind him, and left the building without so much as a by your leave.

Once, while mulling over movies, I thought that if I were to be asked who my favorite actor was, I would say without any hesitation: Robin Williams, of course.

Now that he’s gone, I imagine him walking on Van-Gogh-ish fields of flowers or on a distant pristine shore in the afterlife depicted in the heartbreaking movie “What Dreams May Come.” I can’t imagine a sadder movie brought to life by the world’s funniest actor. Or now I try to imagine him swaying to James Brown’s “I Feel Good” song that kicked off “Good Morning, Vietnam” to a rockin’ start. See, I remember that small detail.

I have watched many Williams movies on the big screen, among them “The Birdcage,” “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Good Morning, Vietnam,” “Hook,” “Awakenings,” “One-Hour Photo,” “What Dreams May Come,” and “Dead Poets Society.” They were not just very funny or sad, they had soul, a something that brought the viewer to unexplored landscapes of human life. I hope a cable TV channel would do a retrospective.

US President Barack Obama’s tribute stabbed the heart: “Robin Williams was an airman, a doctor, a genie, a nanny, a president, a professor, a bangarang Peter Pan, and everything in between. But he was one of a kind. He arrived in our lives as an alien (as Mork in TV’s “Mork and Mindy”—CPD)—but he ended up touching every element of the human spirit. He made us laugh. He made us cry. He gave his immeasurable talent freely and generously to those who need it most—from our troops stationed abroad to the marginalized on our own streets.”

“Apparent suicide” by asphyxia was how police investigators described the death of Williams, who did not hide his on-and-off battle with alcoholism and, recently, with depression. Chronic clinical depression, it must be, for there didn’t seem to be any sudden triggering factor that made him spiral down the steep hole and into the dark depths. Or was there? So many unanswered questions only Williams and those very close to him might be able to answer.

Some years ago I wrote a magazine story about a support group for the clinically depressed. I provided the hotline number. The support group forwarded to me the readers’ rain of text messages that poured in. They were mostly cries for help. Only then did I realize that there were so many of them out there. I later wrote a column piece titled “Txt mssgs frm d clncly dpressd” (March 7, 2002).

I am not a depressive, so I don’t know what it is like. Someone described it as extreme sadness and being under a dark cloud. Another said she felt heavy bricks on her chest. People do get depressed while sick, or after a loss or a traumatic experience. That is expected. But depression as a chronic illness is different and needs professional attention and treatment. Still, many who we thought had easy access to professional help chose to just end it all. The severity of it must be beyond the person’s level of endurance. We never know what it is like at that particular instance when they are alone and they suddenly decide it should be over in an instant because it’s time.

The love, appreciation and adulation that Williams had could not make him stay.

I have written several times on the subject of suicide, which springs up in the media when a well-known person carries it out “successfully” or when someone unknown or unlikely (very young, for example) commits suicide in an unusual manner or place for very strange reasons. For some information, two books I open are “The Savage God: A Study of Suicide” by A. Alvarez and “Survivors of Suicide” by Rita Robinson, a journalist.

One foundation that aims to prevent suicides especially among the Filipino youth is the Natasha Goulbourn Foundation founded by Jeanne Lim Goulbourn, who lost a daughter because of depression. The World Health Organization provides health kits for support groups, families, schools and health professionals. WHO’s “Towards Evidence-based Suicide Prevention Programmes” provides basic suicide prevention strategies, but it also stresses that there is no single solution in a heterogeneous environment—that is, one size does not fit all, and therefore the need for novel approaches.

One may ask, why efforts to prevent suicides when there are people who want to call it quits? One could rationalize that the suicide victim would be in “a better place” or beyond suffering. But what about the bereaved who will bear the loss, trauma, stigma, guilt and blame? (Though guilt should never be assigned.) Death through suicide diminishes a family and a community in many ways. On the part of the deceased there is the death of dreams and unfulfilled possibilities. The same goes for those who truly loved them and hoped in them, they who must move on.

Experts say that among the “protective beliefs” that lower the suicide risk among college students are: spirituality, family support, peer support and positive expectancy. Components of national suicide prevention are public awareness, media education, access to services, building community capacity, means restriction, training and research and evaluation.

Those of us who appreciated Williams’ gift to make us feel deeply for ourselves and others—through laughter and sadness—feel diminished and will truly miss him. To Robin Williams, thank you and “Nanu nanu.”#

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A garbage-free papal visit

Philippine Daily Inquirer/OPINION/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo

Last week, the announcement on Pope Francis’ coming to the Philippines in January made the headlines. I was not at the press conference at the Arzobispado when this was announced, so I was not able to ask the question I so wanted to be answered. It had nothing to do with doctrinal issues or Church matters crying out to be addressed. (Not that I had nothing lofty or profound in my question box.)


 

DESPITE pleas from environment advocates and local government officials not to toss their litter just anywhere, heaps of trash quickly piled up at the closing of the Black Nazarene procession in Quiapo, Manila, on Jan. 9, making this street sweeper’s job of cleaning up twice as difficult. ALEXIS CORPUZ

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle and Communications Secretary Sonny Coloma, along with several Church officials, were there. Not present was Metro Manila Development Authority Chair Francis Tolentino who, I foresee, will carry much of the burden in implementing logistical plans such as traffic and crowd control in Metro Manila. Other cities have their own plans.

I covered the two papal visits (1981 and 1995) of St. John Paul II. There were two major angles in the coverage—the sacred and the secular. The former was often, if not always, eclipsed by the latter, which had to do with police matters such as security and crowd control. Whatever profound message the visiting pontiff gave was often drowned out by possible threats to his security and other headline-grabbing police stories.

(Well, it was discovered much later that there was indeed a threat to John Paul’s life. Facing the apostolic nunciature where he stayed was a condominium building where a lair of terrorists with bomb-making paraphernalia was accidentally found, thanks to a security guard. This later led to a terrorist’s arrest somewhere by US agents.)

Anyway, one of the questions I would have wanted to ask at the press conference on Pope Francis’ coming was about garbage, trash. Huh?

Filipino Catholic crowds are known for leaving enormous piles of garbage. The morning after the Jan. 9 Black Nazarene procession or traslacion that draws more than a million frenzied devotees, the MMDA gathers tons and tons and tons of garbage strewn all over the vigil site and the procession route. Last January’s haul, according to the MMDA as reported in this newspaper, was 336 tons, or 17 truckloads, of garbage.

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