'Paawa" tearjerkers from the media

I agree with Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano when he wished that media would focus more on the magnitude of the crime rather on the supposed difficult prison conditions the senators accused of plunder will have to live with. “Difficult” means newly painted rooms with bath for each celebrity detainee, foam beds, electric fans—amenities regular detainees can only dream of. But still a far cry from the supercomfortable lives these wealthy senators have been used to.

Day in and day out these past few days, the media have been casing the Philippine National Police main headquarters where the PNP Custodial Center is located. The center serves as the place of detention for the accused senators Bong Revilla and Jinggoy Estrada, perhaps the first among the many linked to the PDAF scam. The third accused, Juan Ponce Enrile who is 90 years old, might be placed under hospital or house arrest.

President Aquino prefers leniency for Enrile on humanitarian grounds. This does not mean leniency on the part of the Sandiganbayan where the plunder cases will be tried.

“All I ask from the media is to… focus on the crime rather than do stories portraying the condition of the accused as unfortunate,” Cayetano said. One tabloid headlined the presence of rats and cockroaches in the PNP Custodial Center. There are rats and cockroaches in places where they can feed—homes, offices, restaurants—so what’s the big deal? A pest infestation is a different story.

Cayetano lamented that the media “lost its focus” in its coverage of the multibillion pork barrel scam to which lawmakers and bureaucrats have been linked. “The focus should be (on) how the crime is punished and not (on) the plight of those being detained.” His reminder: “We should remember that the poor and hungry farmers are the real victims here. Almost all the major corruption issues in the government involved agriculture funds like the fertilizer fund scam, swine scam and this issue of pork barrel funds.” And so Cayetano would rather not visit the detainees “because I remembered the victims of the crime.”

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Our daily garlic

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



I do not remember a time when garlic made the news because it became rare and expensive. Perhaps now is the first time most of us are experiencing the problem and getting daily news about it.

Prices have gone up 10 times or more, and those in the food preparation business are alarmed. Self-styled chefs at home or in turo-turo cannot use enough of this kitchen mainstay because its price has hit the roof. Is there really a shortage? Is it an artificial one, a manipulated shortage meant to benefit some sectors? Is there a problem on the ground where this important cooking ingredient is grown? Is it environmental, agricultural, cultural, economic?

Who are making a killing? If there were, I wish it were our garlic farmers who have long suffered because of the dumping of cheap imported garlic on the market. Consumers have preferred the imported kind because it is cheaper, bigger, and easier to peel. Never mind that it is not as pungent and aromatic, and therefore you need to use more of it. Locally produced garlic, though smaller, is stronger in flavor and aroma but more expensive. You know the variety is local because the bulbs are usually bunched together, with their stems in a braid. They make for nice kitchen decor, too.

The last time I went to the grocery I chose the locally grown garlic in a braid and ignored the higher price as my way of patronizing our local produce. Would you do that if you were running a food business?

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Coconut sunrise, sunset

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

I once wrote a column piece, “Coconut sunrise” (4/25/13), on the amazing wonders and possibilities of the coconut that have not been fully tapped because there is little government support for coconut advocates’ out-of-the-box thinking and daring. In other words, the coconut industry has been seen mainly as a source of cooking oil. A pity because the wonder tree—its fruits, especially—has so many other possibilities that can even be more in demand worldwide and, therefore, more profitable.
 

Thanks to Harry Belafonte’s hit song “Coconut Woman,” the wonders of the coconut had been immortalized in song long before coconut advocates of this decade aggressively pushed it to its deserved place in the world’s diet and quashed the West’s self-serving black prop.
 

Coconut refers not only to the edible fruit (or nut) but to the entire wonder tree—from root to crown—that this country has been blessed to have plenty of. The Coconut Society of the Philippines had come out with a position paper titled “Fresco Processing versus Copra Processing.” Think of the coconut as a fruit, a health drink. And, yes, even as a vegetable to be harvested (as ubod) every so many years and grow it as such, but in a different way.
 

Advocates of fresco (or fresh) processing, among them the Philippine Coconut Society, argues that the coconut farmer will earn more by NOT producing copra, but “by selling whole nuts for fresh processing.” This has been studied, computed and tried, but still there are few daring producers and little government support. (More on this at another time.)
 

And now the coconut industry is facing the gloomy presence of a pest that has wiped out more than a million coconut trees in the past year or so. Delayed concerted action is killing more coconuts faster than one can sing “Coconut Woman.”
 

Recently the Philippine Coconut Society and BalikProbinsiya (a countryside entrepreneurship advocacy group) issued a statement on this most unwelcome “coconut challenge” or cocopest. I give space to their lamentations:
 

“Both the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) and Department of Agriculture (DA) appear  incapable if not clueless as to how to contain and cure the virulent coconut diseases and insect infestations that, as of latest count, have destroyed over 1,000,000 trees in Batangas, 250,000 in Laguna, 400,000 in Quezon and 150,000 in Cavite.  And since local government units (LGUs) depend on the knowhow that are supposed to come from DA and PCA, LGUs probably wouldn’t be able to help much as the Calabarzon coconut casualty count passes the 2,000,000 mark.
 

“Assured by civil service laws of tenure and compensation and protected by their respective padrinos, government bureaucrats have no reason to do any actual work for ‘P-Noy’s bosses’  but just regularly collect their fat paychecks after 15 days of shuffling paper and endlessly attending new seminars to eat good food, engage in gossip with fellow bureaucrats and collect ‘honoraria.’   Some supposedly specialized personnel don’t even stay in their assigned postings (except during paydays) but manage to move around the country like tourists… That’s one reason why the infestation has reached its current extent.
 

“PCA seems convinced that producing predators is the solution—but can PCA technical staff train people to raise the predators and deploy these to affected areas?   Scheduling problems have cropped up, due to the capriciousness of a diva-entomologist who insists that all training must be held at the PCA Alaminos nursery rather than onsite at each major plantation.  But the question remains: Will predators be effective?  It didn’t work too well when last attempted because too many insects had been created due to the long time it took to bring out the predators.  And has anyone projected the possible threats of predator multiplication to the Philippine environment?  That cure may turn out to be worse than the disease.
 

“Evaluating the predator option has done little more than provide a few favored bureaucrats an opportunity to go on a junket to Indonesia to look for insects to import to the Philippines, as if we didn’t have enough insects and leeches here already…
 

“Announcements by DA and PCA that P40,000,000 would fund a SAGIP team for a ‘spray-and-prune’ effort also raised questions.  First, how is this new plan different from the one done by PCA’s SICAT team and on which PCA spent P20,000,000?  This SAGIP is a rerun on a wider scale and won’t succeed.  Buying and positioning cranes and chainsaws are equally preposterous as indiscriminate chemical cures, giving new meaning to what the ‘C’ in PCA stands for.  In the end, this will just add more parts of the Philippines to the infestation map.
 

“Admission of a problem and failures to solve it is a healthy sign.  Some even say that DA/PCA may already have a cure; otherwise they would just stonewall on this.  An announcement of a solution would certainly be good for all concerned.  Hopefully, the rumors that a successful trial has been held in Bay, Laguna, and is now being evaluated by [Secretary Proceso] Alcala’s office has some basis.  Let’s all pray that such is the case.
 

“But until such is confirmed, it’s up to individual plantation owners, subsistence farmers and wage earners to now think of ways to save their farm-based livelihoods.  In this regard, larger corporations and landowners may wish to enlist the participation of smaller farmer compatriots to develop an appropriate response to the Calabarzon Coconut Challenge. Already, concerned plantations have begun to take steps to be more proactive given government’s failures.”#

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Not complicated: Wedding vows for two women in love

Sunday Inquirer Magazine/FEATURES/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo



Two women, a Filipino and an American, will legally marry each other this month before an American judge in Illinois. Or, should circumstances allow, before a willing Catholic priest licensed to officiate civil weddings.

Erlinda Perlado, 55, and American Joan Mertens, 70, were betrothed to each other in 2010 in a union ceremony led by a woman priest of the Ecumenical Catholic Communion.


With Mertens’ fiancee visa petition for Perlado finally approved by the US embassy, marriage is in the offing, possibly this month.


“WARMTH AND AFFINITY”: Mertens and Perlado during their union ceremony in 2010. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

It’s a union that might raise brows and hackles in the Philippines where, according to the Constitution, marriage can exist only between a man and a woman. Meanwhile, in the US, several states, among them California, Iowa, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New Mexico have accepted and legalized same-sex marriages.

Perlado’s and Mertens’ love story began in the US where both attended a 2005 summer renewal course at the Rockhaven Ecozoic Center in House Springs, Missouri.

Perlado was then working with the Integrated Pastoral Development Initiative (IPDI), a Philippine-based management and consultancy group when she decided to take a sabbatical leave that year. She wanted to close a period in her life that began after she had left the religious life.

At Rockhaven, Perlado and the other participants had sessions on self-integration, dream work, shibashi and the arts. They also learned about native American spirituality.

“I was there as a scholar,” the former religious said. “And so I volunteered to help with everyday chores.”

A graduate of the Mapua Institute of Technology who had passed the board for chemical engineers, Perlado joined the Carmelite Sisters of Charity, a Catholic apostolic congregation of women, when she was 22. She was a religious sister with vows for more than 20 years and was a vocation director at one time.

In 2002, Perlado asked for exclaustration, a temporary leave from her congregation. In 2005 she left the religious life for good. “My personal charism didn’t jive with the congregation’s,” she explained. “While in exclaustration I allowed myself to be who I was as a woman.” She needed time to find out who she really was, she said, adding that her search led her to Rockhaven.

Mertens, who was in the same Rockhaven group as Perlado, was herself a former member of a Catholic religious congregation founded in the US. She was a religious sister for 13 years and has been a special education teacher most of her life. When she met Perlado, her 15-year relationship with her partner had just ended.

“When Joan and I met for the first time, there was warmth and affinity between us right away,” Perlado recalled. After a month of being together in Rockhaven, she found the courage to reveal her feelings to Mertens. “I told her, ‘I like you.’ I am the gregarious type, you know.” Being a Filipino, she said expressing what she felt was just an opener to making friends.

Mertens had responded: “I like you, too, but I am not ready for a new relationship now.”

As far as Perlado was concerned, finding a partner was not even a goal. However, she disclosed that two years earlier, she had a special female friend, a Swiss. Their relationship, she said, was an eye-opening experience. Looking back, she said she had realized that even when she was a religious sister, there were women who were attracted to her.

After that Rockhaven summer course, Perlado said she and Mertens “parted as friends.” While Mertens got busy selling her house and moving to a smaller one, she stayed at Rockhaven to help out.

Since Mertens’ new place was near Rockhaven, the two would regularly meet to eat out or watch a movie. Occasionally, Perlado would spend weekends with Mertens.

One time, on the day that Perlado was leaving for New York and New Jersey to visit her aunts, she received an early morning phone call from Mertens asking her to call as soon as she arrived in New York. That call led to regular phone calls between them every evening, daily conversations that developed their relationship further and bridged the distance somewhat.

“There was only ‘MU’ (mutual understanding) between us at that time. Joan wanted to continue the relationship,” Perlado recalled.

When she came back to Rockhaven to continue her sabbatical in early September, Perlado said she and Mertens would sometimes meet, dine out, watch a movie or go to St. Louis. Sometimes she would spend weekends with Mertens, or visit the latter’s mom.

In October 2005, the two women went to the Lake of the Ozarks and decided to make their relationship exclusive. On Nov. 9, 2005, they confirmed their relationship in a blessing ceremony led by Sr. Tobias Hagan CSI, founder of Rockhaven. “That marked our engagement as a couple,” Perlado said.

Soon after, she left for the Philippines to continue her work with IPDI. Mertens followed during her spring break in March 2006. Her trip to the Philippines was her first outside the US. Mertens stayed for two weeks and visited several places, among them, Baguio City and Quezon. She also met Perlado’s family and friends. She would visit the Philippines twice more, in 2006, and has even learned to go to some places by herself.

That year, Perlado returned to St. Louis, Missouri to spend Christmas with Mertens’ family, thus further deepening their relationship. In 2007, she got a partial scholarship from The United Church of Christ-Hawaii Conference for a Master’s in Pastoral Studies at the Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, where she pursued the course from 2008 to 2011.

“It was a good time for Joan and myself because we were able to live together as a couple and know each other better,” Perlado recalled. “In 2010 we decided it was time to go through a union ceremony. Unfortunately my mom got sick and eventually died in July that year. So we moved the ceremony from July to August.

“The union ceremony was a happy one. We honored the memory of our mothers, Evelyn and Ester. The ceremony was held in a log house that Joan had built and which I helped finish. It is in a wooded subdivision in House Springs. I call it our winter Swiss Alps cabin. The house is made of white pine logs. I helped Joan put up some of the walls and install bamboo flooring. I also helped in the interior decoration.

“Later we had ourselves registered as domestic partners in Columbia in Missouri. We are legally recognized as ‘a couple in a domestic partnership’ so we are able to share our insurance,” she said.

While doing a clinical pastoral education (CPE) course and training as a chaplain at Barnes Jewish Hospital-Washington University, Perlado also registered Mertens in her insurance. Her CPE course, Perlado said, helped her in coming out.

After she graduated from Eden in 2011, Perlado applied for work to be with Mertens. “Unfortunately, it was a bad time because the US economy was down,” she said. “I tried to get employment at a local Franciscan retreat, and the Franciscans tried to get a work permit for me at the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) but the application was denied.”

Her student visa had expired so in December of 2011, Perlado had to go back to the Philippines. She did not want to stay on without a proper visa while waiting for the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) to be struck down.

DOMA was the law banning the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage already legalized in several US states. In 2013, the US Supreme Court ruled the ban unconstitutional.

In a majority opinion, US Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote: “The federal statute is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and to injure those whom the State, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity. By seeking to displace this protection and treating those persons as living in marriages less respected than others, the federal statute is in violation of the Fifth Amendment.”

“While separated,” Perlado recalled, “Joan and I were praying and hoping that the DOMA would be no more. Friends and family support helped us a lot.”

During that waiting time, she would fly to the US every so often to be with Mertens. “I was there in 2013 but we still could not get married until the DOMA was struck down. Our lawyer advised us not to, because then I won’t be able to go in and out (of the US). In the meantime, we supported the human rights campaign against the DOMA. What a joy it was for us when it was finally struck down in 2013. It was a kind of miracle, a real blessing from God, indeed.”

The elated couple thought it would be smooth sailing from then on. Mertens petitioned Perlado as a fiancée, much like what engaged heterosexual couples do. But Perlado had to go through medical tests and a waiting period of about six months for her health clearance. After the final hurdle—Perlado’s interview at the US embassy—her fiancee visa was approved. This means a civil wedding for the couple this month.

“It is required and expected that we get married legally within three months after I get to the US,” Perlado explained. “We will likely get married before a judge in Chicago where same-sex marriage is allowed.

“We already had sacramental rites before Rev. Jessica Rowley, assistant pastor of the Saints Clare and Francis Parish of the Ecumenical Catholic Communion which is affiliated with the old Catholic Church of the Netherlands,” she added.

Perlado and Mertens have been through several union ceremonies and spiritual blessings, but it is the legal wedding that will confirm that they are indeed a married couple before the law.

While Perlado still considers herself a member of the Catholic Church and is happy that her decision has been accepted by individuals within the church, she knows that the institutional church cannot grant her and Mertens marital status.

“My family accepts my decision,” she said, adding that “Joan’s brother has a same-sex partner. I have a first cousin in the US who is into a male-male relationship and who has children who are twins.”

But she and Mertens have not considered raising children since it is late for them to do so.

Last March, Perlado graduated with a second master’s degree—in Religious Studies, major in Women and Religion—from the Institute of Formation and Religious Studies, a Catholic institution for religious in Quezon City. She sometimes facilitates spiritual retreats for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community. She also serves as a consultant in a church-related women’s organization.

“My mother knew I have kept my faith,” Perlado said. “She saw me holding the rosary and we prayed together before she died. I have never felt that I am condemned. My relationship with God has not changed. My relationship with Joan is deep. We share a lot of things together especially in faith and spirituality. We are good for each other.”

The friends of both Perlado and Mertens, church people among them, have only good wishes for the couple. Quipped Perlado: “It is hard to wait to be with my honey Joanie. We miss being together a lot. May God’s blessings be with us.” •

                                                                   ****
                           To Have and To Hold, Regardless of Gender

Same sex marriages are probably the latest, most revolutionary social change in recent years. Already, 17 states in the United States have legalized same-sex marriages as of February 2014.

6 by court decision California* (June 28, 2013), Connecticut (Nov. 12, 2008), Iowa (Apr. 24, 2009), Massachusetts (May 17, 2004), New Jersey (Oct. 21, 2013), New Mexico (Dec. 19, 2013)

9 by state legislature Delaware (July 1, 2013), Hawaii (Dec. 2, 2013), Illinois (law will take effect June 1, 2014), Minnesota (Aug. 1, 2013), New Hampshire (Jan. 1, 2010), New York (July 24, 2011), Rhode Island (Aug. 1, 2013), Washington, DC (2010) and Vermont (Sep. 1, 2009)

3 by popular vote Maine (Dec. 29, 2012), Maryland (Jan. 1, 2013), Washington (Dec. 9, 2012)

Still, there are 33 states that currently ban same-sex marriages.

26 by constitutional amendment and state law: Alabama (2006, 1998), Alaska (1998, 1996), Arizona (2008, 1996), Arkansas (2004, 1997), Colorado (2006, 2000), Florida (2008, 1997), Georgia (2004, 1996), Idaho (2006, 1996), Kansas (2005, 1996), Kentucky (2004, 1998), Louisiana (2004, 1999), Michigan (2004, 1996), Mississippi (2004, 1997), Missouri (2004, 1996), Montana (2004, 1997), North Carolina (2012, 1995), North Dakota (2004, 1997), Ohio (2004, 2004), Oklahoma (2004, 1996), South Carolina (2006, 1996), South Dakota (2006, 1996), Tennessee (2006, 1996), Texas (2005, 1997), Utah (2004, 1997), Virginia (2006, 1997), and Wisconsin (2006, 1979)

3 by constitutional amendment: Nebraska (2000), Nevada (2002), Oregon (2004)

4 by state law: Indiana (1997), Pennsylvania (1996), West Virginia (2000), Wyoming (2003)

All over the world, 18 countries aside from the US, have legalized same-sex marriages:

Argentina (2010), Belgium (2003), Brazil (2013), Canada (2005), Denmark (2012), England/Wales (2013), France (2013), Iceland (2010), The Netherlands (2000), New Zealand (2013), Norway (2009), Portugal (2010), Scotland (2014), South Africa (2006), (Spain (2005), Sweden (2009), Uruguay (2013); Mexico (2009, only in some jurisdictions) Source: gaymarriage.procon.org; pewforum.org Inquirer Research

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Giving stolem money to the Church

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

When someone gives stolen money to the Church or to religious groups, what does the giver have in mind or hope to happen? That he will receive pardon for his sins? That the evil that he has done will somehow be balanced by the good that will come out of the donation? That God’s punishment in this life or in the afterlife will not be more severe than if he just took it all? So that Church persons and those in the know would think so highly of him they couldn’t, for the life of them, imagine that such a generous giver has stained hands? Panghugas kamay(serving as hand sanitizer)? To polish one’s image (as in Na-polish)?

Much has been made of the donations that Janet Lim Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the multibillion-peso pork barrel scam, lavished on some Church persons or Church projects. Now she’s saying that she should not be called mastermind, brains, or queen of it all, but that is another issue. Whatever she is called, she does not deny that she donated money—in the name of her deceased mother, she said—to Church persons or Church institutions. The act may be seen as one with redemptive value, if not for the fact that what was stolen was stolen, and the donation, whether a big part or an infinitesimally small part of the loot, is not supposed to be given away at whim by the one who stole the money.

One cannot polish one’s image that way. The sheen will be gone in no time. The truth will be out.

Napoles cannot be likened to Robin Hood who stole from the rich in order to give to the poor or, in this age of widening societal gaps, the so-called Church of the Poor. Robin Hood did not steal for himself or for his next of kin. He and his Merry Men of Sherwood Forest did not live easy lives. Still, whether in the medieval setting or under present-day laws, that style of philanthropy or altruism is considered criminal. Thou shalt not use the name of the poor in vain.

 Napoles and her bagmen and bagwomen stole—allegedly—from the poor to give to the already rich and those who wanted to be richer. What she gave away for Church purposes (if at all they were used for Church purposes) does not expiate her evil deeds.

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El Niño redux

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

In 1997, or 17 years ago, I wrote a three-part series on the El Niño phenomenon. I did a lot of reading on the subject on hard copy. The Internet was not yet just a click away. I tried to understand the scientific explanations, I interviewed experts and those who might be affected—the pre-writing part, we call it. Then I sat down to write. I remember receiving a science and technology award for that special report and going home with a cash award and a trophy. (They gave cash awards in those days.) Yes, for writing about an impending calamitous phenomenon.

I remember little of that long piece now. I have to again get acquainted with the subject of El Niño/La Niña. But this time, gathering information is easier. The Internet is now just a click away. I called up the Inquirer library to ask if my November 1997 special report had been digitalized and if I could please be sent a copy via e-mail. I did not want to dig into my clippings. After a few minutes I received a copy via e-mail. (Thanks, Ellen.)

How technology has made getting information faster and easier. But don’t we all wish that science and technology, which are developing by leaps and bounds, would also solve the world’s weather problems just as fast? If they can’t, there is the consolation that they can at least be used to deliver the bad news and warnings pretty fast so that the world as we know it does not perish sooner but later.

We are now being inundated with El Niño warnings for 2014, and the weird weather we will experience—hot-dry, wet-wild. Some places will get the worst of one or the other, or both. Food producers will feel the blow, but so will the rest of us who are dependent on what the much abused earth, sea and sky can deliver to our dining tables given the hostile conditions.

What things did I say about El Niño in 1997? “An unwelcome climatic phenomenon that, scientists say, will confound us all,” I began. I quoted something I had read: “A global-scale oceanographic/meteorological phenomenon that develops in the Pacific, most often off Peru. It is associated with extreme climatic variability characterized by devastating rains, winds, drought and other events that could result in economic disaster.”

I did interview at that time Pagasa’s chief meteorologist, Aida Jose, and this is what I gathered: El Niño is not a direct result of global warming that is blamed on the havoc that human beings have done to the earth, sea and sky. There is something else that is at work on this planet and in the atmosphere, something that has gone on for millions of years outside of humankind’s doings.

Doesn’t the Bible have stories of strange climatic conditions that brought about deluges and droughts as well as plagues and famines? During the time of the pharaohs and the prophets, there was as yet no greenhouse effect, no hole in the ozone layer to speak of.

But here is the big But. The severity of the effects of El Niño will be proportionate to the severity of the situation on the ground—that is, how badly people have treated the areas that it will hit. Water will be doubly scarce in logged-over areas. Floodwaters will be doubly high in places with clogged canals. In other words, humans have only themselves to blame.

It’s bad enough that a calamity of biblical proportion outside of humankind’s doing—literally the act of God—occurs. But when it doubles in severity because of uncaring citizens of Earth, we are indeed the worse for it.

I did learn that during a severe El Niño event, sea surface temperatures are measurably higher than normal over a large expanse of the South Pacific which can prevail for more than a year. The implication of El Niño spreads from the local to the global. It is linked to the devastating climatic impacts on North America, Europe, West Africa and India, not just in the Southern Pacific. This occurrence in the Pacific clearly affects the rest of the world because of the extra heat it generates and the storms it triggers. An unlikely wind-ocean conspiracy results in temperature change over a large equatorial swath of the Pacific Ocean and further results in weird weather and extreme situations.

Climatologists and meteorologists can explain away the dynamics at work, but the why of it is the mystery. So, are we prepared for El Niño’s return? Without El Niño, the Philippines has had more than its share of calamities in the past years. How much more can we endure?

From my readings, I gathered that El Niño experts bewail the fact that forecasters sound too conservative for fear of causing a panic. Panic could mean increase in food prices because of expected poor agricultural production. What to do?

Now scientists are saying that the El Niño event that occurs every 20 years or so could become more frequent, like every 10 years, due to global warming. We can now blame ourselves for its devastating frequency. Think about this: more severe and more frequent. A quadruple whammy. It’s not all God’s doing then.

Today scientists are discovering how El Niño responds to global warming. There is El Niño and there is extreme El Niño, which develops differently from the regular El Niño that originates in the Western Pacific. Extreme El Niño has a different area of origin—the normally cold and dry eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean.

An El Niño event usually straddles two years, which means that the 2014 event will spill over to 2015. Already, scientists are about to declare that 2014 could be the hottest yet since temperature recording began, and that there would be more devastating floods, droughts, wild fires and other calamities that will befall our planet.

Oratio imperata, our plea for divine deliverance, will have effects only if we buckle down to prepare. Like Noah, we have to do our part.

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Claiming reparation for HR violations

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

May 12 was the first day of submission of reparation/compensation claims by victims of human rights violations under martial law. This is provided for in Republic Act No. 10368, or “An Act providing for reparation and recognition of victims of human rights violations during the Marcos regime, documentation of said violations, appropriating funds therefor and for other purposes.”

President Aquino signed the law on Feb. 25, 2013, the 27th anniversary of the People Power revolt that toppled the Marcos dictatorship. It took a year for the President to constitute the nine-member claims board and a few months for the board to draw up the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) that would be the basis for the processing of claims.

Reparation will be drawn from the P10 billion that the government has allotted (from recovered Marcos ill-gotten wealth) for the victims. This is apart from the $2 billion (P88 billion) assigned by the Hawaii Court for the members of a class suit.

I was one of the early birds at the HRV Claims Board (HRVCB) office at Virata Hall on E. Jacinto Street, University of the Philippines Diliman. It was a nice place to be because of the huge trees that cast cooling shadows on the grounds where claimants were warmly welcomed and assigned numbers, and where they filled out forms and had their documents assessed by legal and paralegal staff in nipa-bamboo kiosks.

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Women in the news

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

In the news almost every day in the past weeks and until now are three women involved in crimes: Janet Lim-Napoles, Ruby Chan Tuason and Deniece Cornejo. Also in the news are the women going after wrongdoers: Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares and Commission on Audit Chair Grace Pulido-Tan.

Napoles is the alleged queen behind the multibillion-peso scam that involved lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance Fund allocations that were channeled through dubious nongovernment organizations of her making. Tuason is the confessed bag lady who served as conduit between Napoles and lawmakers who were recipients of kickbacks of their own PDAFs coming from Napoles. Cornejo is a young woman—22 years old—who filed a rape complaint that backfired on her when the purported rapist, an entertainment celebrity, charged her and her group (one of them well-connected) with serious illegal detention, extortion, etc.

Comments on how women have been hogging the headlines—in negative or positive ways—are not few and far between. But what of it? Do men have the monopoly of being criminals and crime-busters?

Those who expect women to be the better half of the population are having a rude awakening. Well, alas, indeed. This is not to say that women have come full circle by becoming at par with men in committing headline-grabbing crimes, plunder and extortion among them. “Coming full circle” may not be the right way to describe it. “Gone astray” is more like it. It is hard to accept that just because the females of the species are now in step with the males in terms of positive achievements, they now have an equal share of the blame for the evil sown in this world.

For the women who commit wrong, there are the words “Kababae mong tao.” You’re a woman and more is expected of you. For the men, it is “Kalalake mong tao.” You’re a man and you’re not supposed to be weak. After the Moor’s last sigh on losing Alhambra came the admonition that reverberates to this day: “You do well to weep like a woman for what you failed to defend as a man.” And it was his mother who said that to him.

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JPII in 1981: walking a tightrope

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

Before and during Pope John Paul II’s second visit to the Philippines in 1995, the Inquirer ran many articles on him. One of the pieces I had to write was about his first visit in 1981. Good thing I still had my 1981 notes! With JPII’s canonization (also Pope John XXIII’s) set on April 27, I visit the 1981 scenes once again through that article. Here is a much shorter version:

Everything was at fever pitch by the time JPII went down the Alitalia jet and kissed Philippine soil. For the next six days (Feb. 17-22, 1981) of his pastoral visit, he became the darling of millions of cheering Filipinos. JPII, without really trying, had power. If only he would use it to cast down and castigate tyrants. 

Everywhere he went there was a throng, sometimes millions strong, that rushed to get a glimpse of him. There were oceans of people praying, shrieking, fainting, waving, sobbing. That was perhaps the most rousing welcome ever given a visiting foreign dignitary, unparalleled in the Philippines’ history.
The welcome was typical Filipino hospitality, Filipino affection gone wild and free.

Many wanted to cash in—dictator and street peddler, conservative and radical, sinner and saint, the Left and the Right. The Left-leaning People’s Assembly on the Pope’s Arrival (Papa) grabbed the opportunity to make an exposé of the evils that Ferdinand Marcos’ dictatorship stood for. At the mammoth gathering at the Quezon Memorial Circle, activists suddenly unfurled a big streamer on behalf of political prisoners. This caught the eye of the Pope.

The Marcos regime clumsily did all it could to put itself in the good graces of JPII and the foreign press. Marcos was perhaps apprehensive that the Pope might throw some invectives in his direction. A month before the Pope’s arrival, Marcos announced the “fake lifting” of martial law. Marcos tried his best to get JPII on his side and spoke of a revolution that was pounding at the gates.

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Agnihotra for Earth's health

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

On April 9, Araw ng Kagitingan, I attended a workshop offered by kindred souls concerned about the healing of Earth and its inhabitants. But more than just being concerned about our wounded planet, these persons are preoccupied with the enrichment of our earthly dwelling and our own human lives.

Accepting the invitation was easy because the workshop was to be held in a farm set up and tended by friends of more than three decades, a place where I have felt at home since its beginnings. I wrote a cover story about this place in the Sunday Inquirer Magazine many years ago when it seemed so very far away, when little was heard about women of good education and comfortable means who put their hands on the plow and tilled fields. I am referring to my friends Emma Alday and Isyang Lagahit, who had left the comfort of convent life to dig into the riches of the earth.

Off I went to the farm in Tiaong, Quezon, site of the “Bahay Madre,” the cradle of the Susi Foundation that continues to serve farmers and advocates natural and organic farming and other soul-enriching pursuits. I was one of 20 or so persons of very diverse backgrounds who were seeking, if not already walking, the same less-trodden path.

Our group had a journalist (me), women farmers, a brass sculptor, a chemist, teaching scientists/agriculturists, information technologists, promoters of indigenous culture, a soprano and her Belgian husband, several NGO veterans, a young Frenchwoman from an NGO, two women from a shelter for abused children, and a transgender (now a woman). Four have had religious formation in a convent setting, and two were drug addicts who have recovered and who now help the young find wholeness.

“Agnihotra” practitioners freely shared (it has to be free) their knowledge and experience of this ancient yajna (ritual or sacrifice) that began in ancient Hindu civilization. Many Agnihotra practitioners around the world are into natural farming. Scientists are now discovering that Agnihotra resonates with their fields of expertise.

After almost a whole day of exercises, reflections and nourishing farm food, we were ready for Agnihotra. The word is derived from the Sanskrit agni which means fire, and hotra or healing. Agnihotra is a process of purifying the atmosphere through a especially prepared fire. It is performed at sunrise and sunset. The use of healing fire goes back to the ancient science of Ayurveda.

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Fr. Suarez says last Mass on Easter before returning donated land to San Miguel

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

 

The “healing priest” Fr. Fernando Suarez will celebrate his last Mass at MonteMaria in Alfonso town, Cavite province, on Easter Sunday after his Mary Mother of the Poor Foundation (MMPF) decided to return the 33-hectare property donated to it by San Miguel Corp. (SMC).
 

Suarez is known in the Philippines and abroad for his gift of healing. Many people who have experienced or witnessed the miraculous healing have confirmed the priest’s gift.
 

But like most gifted people, Suarez always says he is only a channel and that it is God who heals those who have faith.

Not all bishops welcome Suarez in their ecclesiastical territories and some have been speaking unfavorably of him in a recent series of reports on the Monte Maria property published in the Inquirer.
 

But Bishop Antonio Palang, SVD, DD Vicar Apostolic of the Vicariate of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro province, has issued a letter to dispel doubts about his integrity.
 

In that letter, Bishop Palang says: “To whom it may concern: Between March 5 and 9, 2014, a series of articles was printed in the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper. The article alleged irregularities in the charitable foundation called Mary Mother of the Poor that [Fr. Fernando Suarez] founded. In addition, his healing ministry and lifestyle were also attacked.
 

“I certify that the accusations in these articles are unfounded and not true. Fr. Fernando Suarez [of the] Missionaries of Mary Mother of the Poor is a priest of good standing in the Apostolic Vicariate of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro.”

 

San Mig and MonteMaria

 

Last month, the Inquirer published a five-part series that highlighted the withdrawal by food and beer giant San Miguel Corp. (SMC) of its donation of a 33-hectare property in Alfonso town, Cavite province, that would have been the site of an MMPF project, the MonteMaria Shrine complex, which would include a statue of the Virgin Mary taller than the 30-meter Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.
 

Among the reasons cited was failure of the MMPF to erect the structures within five years of the donation.

The series also quoted critics who questioned Suarez’s ministry and lifestyle.
 

Suarez was in the Holy Land when the series was published. In his absence, MMPF board member Deedee Sytangco (former spokesperson of President Cory Aquino) offered some explanation.
 

Only after Suarez had returned from the pilgrimage that he was able to air his side, which appeared in the fifth part of the series.
 

“It was too late, the damage had been done,” a friend of Suarez said.
 

Columnist Ramon Tulfo also wrote negatively about Suarez. The priest later said Tulfo had personally apologized, admitted he was misinformed and sought to be prayed over.
 

GMA News Channel 11’s “Mareng Winnie’s Bawal ang Pasaway” aired Winnie Monsod’s interview with Suarez for two Monday nights last month.
 

Monsod asked Suarez point-blank about the allegations. Suarez either explained them away or flatly denied them.

When asked if he thought SMC might have had something to do with the bad press he was getting, Suarez answered yes.

Christian forgiveness
 

Suarez himself had admitted that MMPF could not meet SMC’s expectation, which was to build the Marian complex as originally planned within five years. The foundation has decided to return the property.
 

Interviewed backstage by a TV5 crew after last Palm Sunday’s Mass, Suarez confirmed that the SMC property will indeed be returned.
 

The MMPF, he said, had offered SMC one of three things: Make a loan so that the MonteMaria project could proceed, build a columbarium, or just build the statue of the Virgin Mary. SC rejected all three.
 

The original MonteMaria project is no more. But a Marian site for prayer and healing remains on the horizon.

Suarez has denied accusations of having a lavish lifestyle, but admitted that playing tennis kept him sane, his way of warding off stress, and that he was merely invited to tennis clubs frequented by the rich.“I ask for nothing, I decline nothing,” he would always say when questioned about donations to him and to the foundation.
 

Suarez ministers to both the poor and the rich, to people from all walks of life who come to his healing Masses.

‘MOVING ON, REJOICING’ “The healing priest,” Fr. Fernando Suarez, delivers the homily during the Palm Sunday Mass at Meralco Theater.He spoke about moving on with service and sacrifice with rejoicing. CERES P. DOYO

He had some strong words for those who had written negatively about him without getting his side.Merely saying later that they were misinformed, which was not an excuse.He considered suing for libel those who besmirched his reputation and his ministry but Christian forgiveness prevailed over him, he said.

 

Moving on

 

Despite the negative publicity, Suarez continues to pack them in. The Meralco Theater was packed when he concelebrated Mass and delivered the homily on Palm Sunday.
 

The homily theme assigned to him, “Moving On,” was in sync with his personal decision to move ahead and not look back on hurts and accusations hurled at him.
 

Pointing to the cross as a starting point, Suarez urged the people to move on from there toward sacrifice and service. Suarez gave meaning to every letter in the word “cross.”  C, he said, stood for Jesus saying, “Come to me.”  R was not only for repentance but, more important, for rejoicing. O stood for openness to God’s message. The two S’s in the word “cross” stood for sacrifice and service, which, Suarez said, is what mission is all about.

 

Mission, not commission

 

“Mission,” he stressed, “not asking for commission.”

He could have been referring to the P10-billion pork barrel scam that involved lawmakers and government officials who allegedly channeled public funds to dubious organizations and into their own bank accounts.

Those who seek commissions, Suarez said, end up in distress.

Admitting to being a fan of Pope Francis, Suarez, while delivering his homily, was holding a copy of the Pontiff’s apostolic exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel)” and often quoted from it.He sometimes picked up his cell phone and read from it quotes from the Pope.

 

Live joyful lives

 

Christians must live joyful lives, he said, echoing the Pope’s exhortation. “Do not be too hard on yourself,” he said, paraphrasing Sirach 14:11: “My child, treat yourself well. Do not deprive yourself of enjoyment.”

As long as it is not sinful, Suarez added. But he also said: “Do not be afraid of the cross. Jesus is offering us joy. Then we can move on.”

Shifting to a light mood, Suarez said someone commented about his good looks. “I said it’s because I am being persecuted,” he said, laughing.Suarez’s down-home homilies and Batangueño humor resonate well with Filipinos from all walks of life.

 

Ministry among Mangyan

 

Suarez also spoke about his new mission assignment among the Mangyan in Occidental Mindoro.

Bishop Palang recently assigned him to be the apostolic vicar to the Mangyan in the diocese in addition to MMPF apostolate among the poor and the running of a formation house for seminarians on the remote island of Ilin off Occidental Mindoro.
 

He separated from the Canada-based Companions of the Cross and founded the Missionaries of Mary Mother of the Poor (MMMP), which has a “pious association” status for now.Bishop Palang took Suarez and his group into his diocese several years ago.Suarez described his arduous mountain trek to a Mangyan community in Lagnas town in Mindoro and the difficult life of the Mangyan.
 

“When I asked them what we could do together, their answer was, ‘Father, let us build a church,’” he said. Poor as the Mangyan were, they did not ask for material assistance, he added.

Road to God's heart
 

Suarez was one of six priests who concelebrated the midday Mass after the Palm Sunday Family Recollection organized by the Angel Mission, a group of lay people animated by Fr. Jerry Orbos, SVD.
 

The yearly recollection for lay people is now in its 18th year, said Sytangco, one of the organizers.The other Mass celebrants aside from Orbos were SVD priests Ed Guarin and Paul Dogba; Nelson Cabanero, SMM, and Eliseo Santos, SDB.The blessing of the palms was part of the service.
 

Before the Mass, the audience listened to personal testimonies from lay people who had undergone physical and moral sufferings followed by the healing of body and spirit. Santos, a Salesian, delighted the audience with his talk punctuated with witty remarks and his creative use of props.

 

Let it go, let it be
 

Orbos, who writes a Sunday column in the Inquirer, kept pointing to the road to God’s heart. He sang the refrain of the hit song “Let It Go” that segued into the Beatles’ “Let It Be.” After the Mass, Suarez did a general healing prayer for those with physical, mental and spiritual ailments. He did not go down to the audience to touch the sick. Instead, a priest holding a monstrance with the consecrated host went around for eucharistic healing. #

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