'Human Face,' the book

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

The Manila International Book Fair is ongoing (Sept. 11 to 15) at the SMX Convention Center at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City. Among the participants is Anvil Publishing, copublisher (with Inquirer Books) of my book, “Human Face: A Journalist’s Encounters and Awakenings” (2013). There will be as much as 80 percent off 724 Anvil titles and 50 percent off 697 titles. I hope my newest book is among the discounted ones.

Some people have asked me when “Human Face,” the book, was or will be launched. We didn’t formally launch it, but it made its debut at the exhibit of the Women Writers in Media Now (WOMEN) of which I am a member. There were 17 of us who exhibited our more than 30 years of works and memorabilia at the Ateneo Library of Women’s Writings (Aliww) from February to April 2013.

If “Human Face” (336 pages) has to be launched at all (it’s already in 80 National Bookstores nationwide), it might have to be launched with my other book “You Can’t Interview God: Church Women and Men in the News” (Anvil, 2013) which is going to press any time soon. We want this to make it on time for the Philippine Conference on the New Evangelization in mid-October.

Unlike “Human Face” which is a compilation of column pieces, “You Can’t Interview God” is a mixed bag—profiles, features, column pieces and news stories. Will write about it (plug it, that is) when it is out. We hope to come up with an affordable price for young people who might want to read about inspiring lives.

So, okay, this might sound like—to borrow a Norman Mailer title—an advertisement for myself, but if I can write about other people’s works, why not about mine?

As I said in my “Writer’s Note,” the daunting part about publishing “Human Face” was shaking up close to 2,000 articles (features, investigative stories, special reports, news articles and column pieces I had written) in their resting places, separating the “Human Face” columns—over 1,000 of them—and choosing less than 100. The 93 pieces in the book are representative of various topics and issues.

My filing system for both hard and soft copies of my articles that date back to my early writing days is relatively orderly. What was daunting was being confronted by the memory load these articles carried.

The book’s title, “Human Face,” explains itself; choosing the subtitle took some time. Journalists are averse to long words and I couldn’t find shorter ones. So “a journalist’s encounters and awakenings” it had to be. Like in my previous book’s title, the word journalist had to be there, to show where the writer is coming from. Somewhere in the book I wrote about the beginnings of my writing life.

Under my byline on the title page is my name written in ancient indigenous script used in pre-colonial times. The cover photo was shot in a T’boli area near Lake Sebu. I stopped an overloaded jeep and clicked twice. Only after I looked at the shots and counted the faces did I realize that I had something rarely seen in this world. Only in the Philippines.

Many of the pieces included in the book are also in my blogsite, www.ceresdoyo.com.

The humbling part was contemplating how the trove got to be written. That it is only by divine grace that I have understood the power and meaning of the word, and the confounding process the word takes—from reality to brain, heart, soul and hands, to pen, paper or keyboard and finally to the printed or digital page—and the world.

The heartwarming part was calling to mind the persons who had assisted or conspired so that these pieces could be written, see print, be read, and finally be included in the book. They are mentioned in the “Writer’s Note.”

It would be quite immodest for me to quote the blurbs on the back cover written by Lorna Kalaw-Tirol, journalist and editor, who wrote the Foreword; Leticia Jimenez-Magsanoc, Inquirer editor in chief; and Virginia R. Moreno, poet and playwright. But if you need to see the front and back covers of the book I can e-mail them to you. Like most books, “Human Face” will be an e-book, too.

The book is dedicated “to the faceless, nameless, voiceless.” The book’s 92 pieces are divided into 16 chapters: Herstory, Beyond Borders, Poor and Obscure, Faces of War, Wet and Wild, Cry Justice, Breaking Through, Tribes are Us, Brave Hearts, Faith and Fire, Pressed Freedom, OFW, Remembering, Encore, Outer Spaces and So Pinoy. Each chapter breaker is a blurb taken from one of the pieces.

The prequel is titled, “Better Dead than Read: The Years of Writing Dangerously,” a piece I wrote for the Sunday Inquirer Magazine on the 40th anniversary of the proclamation of the dreaded martial law. Those dark years of martial rule was when all the writing began. “Suicide journalism” was how editor Magsanoc called what I did. I look back and say, only by the grace of God.

Well, let me end by quoting from Stephen King’s “On Writing: A memoir of the Craft,” one of his two nonfiction books. “Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It’s about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy…

“Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up.”

 

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Historic 'Cuartel de Sto. Domingo'

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

“This mute sentinel challenges us to peer into the past, (for it) to be appreciated in the present and safeguarded as a legacy for all time. Cuartel de Santo Domingo evokes a quiet strength and historicity yet to be fully told, the steadfastness of whoever held the ground there.” Words from Nonia D. Tiongco, a Santa Rosa City historian and resident.

Not a few were curious as to how I got to photograph that now hidden structure, at different times the detention house of big-time detainees with big-time cases—former President Joseph Estrada (for plunder), Moro National Liberation Front chair Nur Misuari, and coup plotter Sen. Gregorio Honasan. And since a few days ago, of Janet Lim-Napoles, one of the alleged brains behind the blockbuster P10-billion pork barrel scam. It was the Inquirer’s banner photo last Saturday, Aug. 31, before Malacañang released inside photos of the bungalow.

I didn’t climb over barbed wires to get inside the Philippine National Police’s Special Action Force training camp. I was there two years ago as a tourist. You see, Fort Sto. Domingo is a historic site, with Spanish-era ruins inside it.

 My college classmates and I make lakwatsa and visit historic sites every now and then, so one day, we decided to explore the old Sta. Rosa. I tracked down our classmate Nonia Tiongco, a history major who has done extensive research on Cuartel de Santo Domingo which is in Sta. Rosa, her hometown. A volunteer cultural worker, Nonia was able to get the permits so that we could go inside the fort. She served as our guide not only in Cuartel but for other sites.

For the curious, here are some excerpts from my Sunday Inquirer Magazine story. I will again post some photos in my blogsite.

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Marcos victims may get $10 million from from buyer of Imleda's Monet

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

In this photo provided by the United States Attorney’s Office in New York shows an an 1881 painting by Impressionist master Claude Monet entitled “L’Eglise et La Seine a Vetheuil.” AP

MANILA, Philippines—Members of the class suit against the estate of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos recently received a “notice of class action settlement” from their lawyer Robert A. Swift through Filipino cocounsel Rodrigo C. Domingo pursuant to an order of the US District Court to the District Court of Hawaii.

The notice informed members that the court would, among other things, decide whether a settlement between the class and the owner of a (Monet) painting formerly belonging to Imelda Marcos was fair, reasonable and adequate.

The court would also decide whether the class counsel’s second interim request for an award of fees and reimbursement of expenses was reasonable. Finally, it would decide whether the request for an incentive award to a class representative was reasonable.

The notice said that in November 2012, the district attorney of New York county unsealed an indictment against Vilma Bautista, former personal assistant to Imelda Marcos, which said that Bautista had sold a valuable French impressionist painting (the Monet) to an unknown buyer without authority from Marcos for $32 million.

Swift immediately filed a lawsuit against Bautista in New York Supreme Court seeking the painting, other art works owned by Marcos and the proceeds from the sale of the painting.

Second suit

As Swift was preparing to file a second lawsuit against others involved in the sale of the painting, discussions took place between himself and the buyer of the painting. In June 2013, the buyer agreed to pay the class suit members $10 million.

The $10 million was deposited in the class settlement fund in the Hawaii Federal Court. Swift said that in exchange for the payment, the class and its members would release the owner from all claims to the painting.

The notification said the Hawaii court will hold a hearing on Oct. 10 and then will consider whether to finally approve the settlement agreement as “fair, reasonable and adequate.”

It will be recalled that in April 1986 a suit was filed against the strongman Marcos on behalf of 9,539 Filipinos, or their heirs, who were tortured, summarily executed or disappeared during Marcos’ rule between September 1972 and February 1986. The estate of Ferdinand E. Marcos was substituted as the defendant upon Marcos’ death in 1989.

The Hawaii Federal Court entered a judgment on Feb. 3, 1995, in favor of the class in the amount of $1.96 billion. But the collection of the amount was hindered by the concealment of assets. For this, the Marcos estate was found in contempt of court. In January 2011 the court entered a judgment of contempt for $353 million.

Swift’s notification said that should the court grant final approval, the settlement of $10 million will be distributed to class members. The lawyer will ask the court to give $1,000 each to eligible class members in 2014.

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Habiba Sarabi: Rebuilding lives in a once fabled land

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



RM Awardee Habiba Sarabi, governor
 of Bamyan province, Afghanistan.
Photo by Ma Ceres P. Doyo


 After the land of turquoise blue lakes, awesome cliffs and sweet pomegranates had been turned into a place of terror, violence and death, after the once fabled land of misty valleys, craggy hills and historic monuments had become a battlefield, what is there to do?


“Rebuilding lives and the land in a socially divided nation” is the daunting task and challenge for Habiba Sarabi, governor of Bamyan province in Afghanistan. This was also the running theme of her sharing sessions with those eager to learn from her experience.

The first and only woman governor in a “fiercely patriarchal” nation that has gone through years of strife brought about by foreign domination, warring tribes, warlordism and terrorist attacks, Sarabi has shown what an educated woman, wife, mother and leader can do for her suffering people.

Hopeful persistence

Sarabi, 57, is one of this year’s Ramon Magsaysay awardees. In choosing her, the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) recognized “her bold exercise of leadership to build up a functioning local government against daunting odds, serving her people with a hopeful persistence grounded in her abiding commitment to peace and development in Afghanistan.”

Coming from a family of relative means, Sarabi studied pharmacy in a Kabul university and later specialized in hematology in India. She was teaching at Kabul Medical Science College when the fearsome and extremist Taliban seized power in 1996, sowed terror among the populace and imposed harsh measures, especially on women.

Taliban rule GOV. HABIBA SARABI of Bamyan province, Afghanistan. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

But before the rise of the Taliban, Afghanistan was already a troubled country. Russian occupation (1979 to 1989), the civil war among mujahideen groups (1992 to 1996) and Western intervention had already sown the seeds of chaos in the predominantly Muslim country. It did not take long for Afghanistan to become a lair and training ground for anti-West extremist groups, the ones linked with Osama bin Laden among them. This was not the case when Sarabi was growing up. “The tribes got along,” she said.

To escape Taliban rule, Sarabi fled with her children to Pakistan where the children could continue their education while she became a teacher and activist. She joined other Afghan women in organizing the Humanitarian Assistance for the Women and Children of Afghanistan (Hawca). She went to refugee camps, held classes on women’s rights and organized doctors to work in the camps.

Despite the risks during those years, Sarabi would traverse on foot the mountainous Afghanistan-Pakistan border to supervise some 80 literacy classes. She served as general manager of Afghan Institute of Learning in Peshawar, Pakistan.

After the fall of the Taliban in 2001, Sarabi and her children returned to Kabul. She immediately set up a Hawca office, resumed teaching and continued her work in the field of women’s rights and literacy.

Appointed governor

An ambassadorial post was offered to Sarabi but she declined it. In 2003, she was appointed to head the Ministry of Women’s Affairs under the government of President Hamid Karzai. Her abilities did not go unnoticed. In 2005 she was appointed, that is, on her own proposal, as governor of Bamyan (population 500,000), a poor province in the central highlands, 150 kilometers from the capital Kabul. The appointment was a challenge because Sarabi was not a native of Bamyan. There were some opposition and even jokes about her.

With her businessman husband and three grown children left behind in Kabul, Sarabi buckled down to work at her new post.

Bamyan saw many changes on Sarabi’s watch. Roads and other infrastructure projects as well as health services were among her priorities. But the education of women was always important to her. Now, more women in Bamyan are building careers, something once forbidden by the Taliban.

Educating women

“When you educate a man, you educate only a person,” Sarabi told a crowd of young people. “But when you educate a woman, you educate a community.” Women’s rights, along with peace and prosperity, are among her dreams for her people. “That is why we have to work with families, so that we can educate the men,” she said. To make them see.

Among her immediate concerns are child and maternal mortality and the lack of health professionals. Safe drinking water is badly needed. Agriculture is not easy in Bamyan because of poor soil, Sarabi said. Afghanistan is a land of harsh winters (as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius) and fierce summers.

Before Sarabi became the governor, Bamyan had only 41 health centers; in 2009 the province had 89. Bamyan had no asphalt roads in the past; now 200 kilometers are asphalted. The number of students has increased from 100,533 in 2005 to 135,000 in 2009. There used to be only 367 students in higher education (seven of them women); this increased to 2,627 (418 women) in 2009.

There used to be only 100 beds for tourists; now there are 1,000. The number of policewomen has increased from one to 21.

Ethnic differences

Because Bamyan happens to be a place with natural, historical and archaeological assets that have great potential for tourism, Sarabi established the 570-km Band-e-Amir National Park, which is Afghanistan’s first. Bamyan is the site of the tall ancient Buddha statues that the Taliban destroyed. (What remains is now a Unesco Heritage site.) The destruction caused international furor.

“Though we are Muslim, we wanted to preserve those ancient Buddha statues,” Sarabi said. “The Taliban wanted to erase our history.” Being a member of an ethnic and religious minority (she is a Hazara and a Shi’ite), Sarabi is very aware of conflicts and hostilities that could arise among her people because of ethnic and religious differences. But she remains undaunted.

Sarabi recalls an incident where male religious leaders accused her of preaching during a religious feast, something women were not allowed, and she could have been punished. “Luckily we had video footage of that occasion,” she said. “I was not preaching at all.” She was giving instructions.

Rebuilding trust

Death threats do not scare her. The governor puts great importance on transparency and accountability in governance and the rule of law. (She had sent her own bodyguard to jail.) The media, she said, have been a big help.

Sarabi notes with sadness that one of the casualties of the conflicts in her country is trust. “It is easy to build trust, but it is hard to rebuild trust. We have to earn the confidence of the elders,” she said. One has to be attuned to the “sensitivity of society,” she added.

“We have to inspire the next generation, we have to go beyond the family,” she said. Her daughter and two sons are very lucky that they are educated, she mused. She is very proud of her daughter, who has a Master’s Degree in Development Management from Germany and is now in the United States working for her doctorate in economics. Sarabi expects her back.

Sarabi does not hide her cynicism about international aid. “They have their own …,” she said. But she is aware of the implications of the withdrawal of international forces in 2014, including the decline in foreign aid. The challenge is awesome, the future is uncertain but there is no stopping Sarabi in continuing what she has begun.

Recognition

International donors have noticed Sarabi’s accomplishments. She is considered among the top performers in local government. This has earned for her province budgetary rewards.

The Ramon Magsaysay recognition is not Sarabi’s first. She was among Time magazine’s 2008 Heroes of the Environment. She also received citations from the French government in 2007 and from a US organization in 2005. This year she received an Outstanding Performance Award after selection “by referendum” in 34 provinces.

Sarabi is only the second Afghan to receive the RM award, which started 55 years ago. The first was Sima Samar, a woman and doctor, who was awarded in 1994. Sarabi and Samar know each other. This year’s batch of RM awardees brings to 301 the number of awardees. The award is named after the charismatic Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay, who died in a plane crash in 1957.

The RM Awards honors “change-makers” who have created “ripples from the base of the pyramid,” women and men who have shown “greatness of spirit and transformative leadership in Asia.” http://globalnation.inquirer.net/84673/habiba-sarabi-rebuilding-lives-in-a-once-fabled-land

 

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Court okays Napoles transfer to Laguna fort

ESTRADA WAS HERE This bungalow inside the Fort Sto. Domingo training camp for police special forces in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, awaits its latest occupant, Janet Lim-Napoles, after playing host to previous detainees like former President Joseph Estrada, former Moro National Liberation Front chair Nur Misuari and Sen. Gringo Honasan, Fort Sto. Domingo. Photo by CERES DOYO

Phiilppine Daily Inquirer/by Jaymee Gamil
Janet Lim-Napoles will be on the move again, this time to Laguna province. The Makati Regional Trial Court granted Friday the transfer of Napoles from the Makati City Jail to Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, saying the “high-profile detainee” needs a safer jail facility. Judge Elmo Alameda issued the four-page order granting the petition of Napoles with her lawyer, Lorna Kapunan, citing a “clear danger to her life.” Napoles was brought to the Makati jail Thursday night from the national police headquarters in Camp Crame where she was held in custody after she surrendered to President Benigno Aquino Wednesday night. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Friday justified the special security arrangements for Napoles, saying various groups or people were after the businesswoman and that security concerns with regard to her were “legitimate.” De Lima said it was not only powerful and wealthy personalities involved in the alleged P10-billion pork scam who want to “silence” Napoles. She said other groups that want to put the Aquino administration in a bad light might also be after her. The Makati City Jail admitted it couldn’t guarantee the safety of the high-profile suspect. A Makati court late Friday granted the petition from Napoles to be transferred to Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna. But the Inquirer has learned that the wife of the head of the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) is an incorporator of Ventures Investigative and Security Services Inc., the security agency of Napoles’ husband, Jimmy, the documents of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed. The SEC information sheets showed that Annalou P. Constantino is an incorporator of Ventures Investigative and Security Services Inc. Constantino is the wife of Chief Supt. Noel Gicano Constantino, PNPA director. The PNPA compound is located along Gen. Mariano Castañeda road in Silang town, Cavite province, not far from Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna province, where Napoles would be detained, as ordered by the Makati Regional Trial Court on Friday. As of press time Friday night, however, Napoles was still at the Makati jail. Makati Judge Elmo Alameda granted the motion to transfer Napoles from Makati City Jail, where she was taken late Thursday, to Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna province, which is a training camp for police special forces. Kapunan’s arguments To support her argument for Napoles’ transfer, lawyer Lorna Kapunan presented before the court the Makati jail warden, Chief Insp. Fermin Enriquez, who admitted that the facility “could not guarantee the safety, 24/7” of Napoles. Enriquez said the jail did not have enough personnel to secure such a “high-profile” suspect. The warden noted that during Napoles’ transfer to the Makati jail on Thursday night, the facility’s 65 organic personnel had to be augmented by more than 50 personnel from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) headquarters and the PNP. The ideal ratio of one jail guard to seven inmates could not be met, with 545 detainees at the jail, 104 at the female dormitory alone, Enriquez said. Alternative facilities Alameda agreed that based on Enriquez’s testimony, “without [the] additional personnel … which entails additional expenses for their maintenance,” the regular security personnel of the jail could not secure Napoles “given the number of visitors who are expected to visit her in the coming days,” including the media and high-ranking government officials. Asked to recommend an alternate detention center by Alameda, Enriquez suggested the BJMP-run district jail at Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City, or the PNP detention facility in Camp Crame. Kapunan also called to the witness stand Senior Supt. Roberto Fajardo of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-National Capital Region who was the lead escort when Napoles was transferred from Camp Crame to Makati City Jail on Thursday night. Security risks Asked what security risks he thought Napoles was facing in jail, Fajardo said: “From what I know, since [Napoles] will be implicating a lot of higher officials, the threat is very real.” It was Fajardo who recommended Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna province, prompted by Kapunan who asked what he would suggest as an alternate detention facility. “I will recommend the former detention centers for [Moro National Liberation Front founder] Nur Misuari and [coup plotter] Sen. Gringo Honasan,” Fajardo said. Laguna camp secure He guaranteed the camp was very secure as it was also the site of a training school for the PNP Special Action Force. Deposed President Joseph Estrada (now mayor of Manila) was also briefly detained at Fort Sto. Domingo in 2001 while awaiting trial for plunder. Following Fajardo’s suggestion, Kapunan told the court to allow Napoles’ lawyers to “verbally modify” their request for transfer to add the Laguna facility to the jail options, which originally only listed Camp Bagong Diwa and Camp Crame. Enriquez also gave his recommendation for the Laguna facility. The prosecution, which initially expressed apprehension about travel time and security en route during hearings, eventually gave up protesting “as long as [Napoles] could be brought [to the Makati court] safely” for the hearings. The court sheriff has served copies of the court order for the transfer to PNP Director General Alan Purisima, Fajardo and Enriquez, and was, as of press time, on his way to serve the order to the Fort Sto. Domingo camp commander. Napoles and her brother, Reynald Lim, are facing serious illegal detention charges in Alameda’s sala, based on accusations made by Napoles’ cousin and former employee, Benhur Luy. Napoles is also alleged to be the mastermind of the P10-billion pork barrel scam, of which Luy is the primary whistle-blower. Napoles went into hiding after Alameda ordered her arrested on Aug. 14. She surrendered to President Aquino on Wednesday night, was turned over to the PNP at Camp Crame in Quezon City, and detained in an office at Makati City Jail late Thursday. Death threats “Even if these (threats) have not been validated, I think we can give these allegations the benefit of the doubt. We can give these some preliminary merit because it is possible that other people would be [linked to the scam], they would think of something bad,” De Lima said in an interview. “Common sense and logic tell us that given her very status now as the hottest figure in the country. It’s not farfetched that various groups would become interested for their own selfish partisan agenda and we would have chaos,” she said. De Lima said she had instructed the National Bureau of Investigation to work with the police in verifying the security threats against Napoles. She noted that Napoles’ petition asking to be transferred from Makati City Jail claimed that “she’s in grave, imminent and real danger.” “She has been receiving death threats. There’s credible information indicating that there are people who want to silence her,” Napoles said, reading from Napoles’ petition. Explaining to the media the security risks that Napoles was facing inside the Makati jail, Kapunan said: “It’s really possible for anyone with any intention to silence Mrs. Napoles to just pose as family. The warden also said there had been riots two weeks ago, and public rallies outside. It’s not far it can also happen inside. “We also told the court: Why would you waste government resources just to watch over her when she can be transferred to a safer facility?” Kapunan told reporters after yesterday’s hearing. “We hope [Napoles] is not still detained [at Makati City Jail] by Saturday and Sunday. We are confident that judge is very reasonable and that he has the safety and security of Mrs. Napoles at heart,” Kapunan said. Two motions for inhibition filed against Alameda—separately filed by Napoles and Lim’s counsels—were also discussed during yesterday’s hearing, but have only been submitted for resolution by the court. With reports from Nancy C. Carvajal and Philip C. Tubeza, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Kristine Angeli Sabillo, INQUIRER.ne Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/478255/court-okays-napoles-transfer-to-laguna-fort#ixzz2dVZQlbdY Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook

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Endless could haves, should haves, would haves

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

The stolen billions could have been spent for this … and that. Millions of poor people could have benefited … countless lives would have been improved, etc. Instead, the money went to the pockets of a few greedy individuals.

The should haves, could haves and would haves are endless.

And now we are not surprised that the waylaid P10 billion is just the tip of the iceberg. More pork barrel-“ghost NGOs” tie-ups are being uncovered.

The pork barrel scam has emboldened many to publicly air their grievances through statements, letters and songs. And rallies, too, such as the ones last Aug. 26. People condemn, question, protest, challenge and offer suggestions. The common refrain is: THIS MUST STOP. The guilty must be punished, severely punished.

Through e-mail come statements and letters that stress the countless benefits the billions of pesos could have produced if only these were not “creatively” stolen. But they also come with suggestions and questions on why this blockbuster scam went on for so long.

The EcoWaste Coalition is quite specific: The P10-billion squandered public funds could have funded:

1. One million whole-day training activities on ecological solid waste management involving 50 million people at P10,000/50-person activity covering meals, hand-outs, speakers’ honoraria and other basic incidental expenses.

2. One million to 2 million materials recovery facilities (MRFs) at P5,000-P10,000/facility for rural barangay; and 20,000 to 200,000 MRFs at P50,000-P500,000/facility for urban barangays; MRFs serve as depositories for segregated discards that can be reused, recycled or composted to minimize the volume of trash sent to residual waste landfill.

3. Twenty-two thousand two hundred twenty-two biodegradables shredder (7 hp, 1.5 tons/hour) costing P450,000/machine to cut up garden or farm waste and other organics into small pieces to speed up the composting process.

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Ground swell in August

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

Something about August. Many of us who are August-born have not failed to notice that the many fateful and earthshaking events in this country’s historical timeline happened in this month. It is a month when we remember guns, bombs, blood, fire and water tearing through our nation’s life—the Plaza Miranda bombing, the assassination of Ninoy Aquino, etc. So life-changing were these August events that when we look back through the veil of mist we can’t help but be overcome by the memories.
 

Yesterday was Ninoy Aquino’s 30th death anniversary and I couldn’t help but remember where I was, what I was, and how I was at that time. I do remember being among the first few to go to his home on Times Street in Quezon City when there was yet no jostling throng and before Cory and the Aquino children arrived from the United States and his body was transferred to Santo Domingo Church where People Power would have its beginnings.
 

There he was, without a see-through glass over him. And there I was just staring down at him, at his bruised face and bloody shirt. I could have touched him. I had no inkling then that a ground swell of protest would soon be shaking the seat of power and roaring through the streets for three years until the evil regime crashed to the ground.

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Tagle: 'You can be better than this'

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

Fighting back tears, Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle answered ABS-CBN reporter Nina Corpus’ question on the alleged channeling of a staggering P10 billion in lawmakers’ pork barrel funds to fake nongovernment organizations. What, she asked, would the cardinal want to say to those who engineered the scam?
 

While the cardinal was clearing a lump in his throat a hush fell on the room full of journalists invited to the press briefing on the Philippine Conference on New Evangelization (PCNE) in October.
 

It had been a lively press briefing and open forum until Corpus popped the last question.
 

I paraphrase here some of Tagle’s words that stuck to my mind. How he wished, he said, that those who were involved in the scam—an intricate web, he called it—would walk the city streets at night and behold the hungry poor while they spread out on the sidewalks pieces of cardboard that would serve as their bedding for the night.
 

Choking on his words, Tagle said that if only they (the plunderers) would touch the poor and look into their eyes… But no, he said sadly, slowly, emphatically, “the poor are absent in their minds.” What burst the dam inside me were his direct words to THEM: “You can be better than this.”
 

No fire and brimstone from him, only simple words that carried a big message, a plea almost.  I am again writing those words now. “You can be better than this.”  My heart quickens, my spirit harkens to the sound of it. Only now do my eyes moisten.

I remember the controversial movie “Priest” and the words unleashed by the angry bishop to one of his priests caught in flagrante delicto committing an indiscretion: “You are a boil on the Body of Christ, a disgusting boil about to erupt and spill out its pus.” I couldn’t help quoting that in my movie review.
 

But it is not always the fiery words that get to me or that I aim to catch. If I may digress, during the martial law years, I joined a fact-finding mission that investigated human rights violations in the hinterlands. We interviewed victims of military atrocities. We listened and wrote down their stories about how the soldiers raided their village and wrecked their homes. But there was this little woman who said nothing to the lawyers. She was squatting and a bit shaky when I spoke to her alone. Then in a soft and trembling voice she began: “All the chickens flew away.”
 

For me, that sentence was louder than the sound of machine guns.

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Legit but fake--an oxymoron?

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

I have not yet heard anyone utter “legit but fake” in one breath to describe the nongovernment organizations that allegedly siphoned off some P10 billion in lawmakers’ pork barrel funds and have none or little to show in terms of beneficiaries and accomplishments.

But I have heard the words “legitimate/accredited” from those allegedly involved and their defenders. And the words “fake/bogus/fly-by-night/dummy” used interchangeably by the accusers, investigators, whistle-blowers and shocked citizens of this republic.

So what do we have here, NGOs (foundations, people’s organizations, civil society groups) that are “legit but fake”? Sounds like an oxymoron, which is defined as “a rhetorical figure in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combined.”

Or maybe “legit but fake” is not an oxymoron, after all. Something can still be legit as far as registration and accreditation are concerned, as one accrediting official of the Department of Agriculture tearfully said while describing her official role in the blockbuster scam. Her and her family’s reputation has been tarnished, she rued, when all she did was to approve NGO applicants (for funding) whose papers were in order—that is, they have been duly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In other words, how could she deny accreditation for applicants whose SEC papers were in order? What reasons had she to doubt? She even could have added that what happens after accreditation is something else or beyond her duties. Fair enough. But didn’t she see some red flags to forewarn her? Again, maybe it was not in her job description. Sigh.

Applicants for funding with selfish motives can hire the best lawyers to help them set up nonprofit organizations—NGOs, so-called—and put together required papers for SEC registration. Once the papers are in order, these lawyers’ efficient messengers can do the following up. And voila, new NGOs are born. No sweat.

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NGOs eager for NGO transparency (2)

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

Last week I wrote about nongovernment organizations coming together to address alleged corruption in their sector. In attendance were 50 NGO/civil society representatives concerned about the recent exposés of lawmakers’ pork barrel funds being channeled into bogus NGOs. The exposés have badly smeared the NGO/CS sector.
 

The founders of bogus and fly-by-night NGOs who pocketed the people’s money should be lined up against the wall, but there are also legitimate NGOs that are problematic in the financial accountability and transparency department. The former are really the devil’s to start with, but the latter that are legit and were founded for noble reasons can also fall into a pit because they are run by human beings with frailties and inordinate wants, or because not enough preventive mechanisms have been put in place.

 

One reader wrote: “NGOs, for some time now, have been perceived as money machines. You don’t even have to put anything in. Just accredit an NGO and voila… They invented NGOs for their funds to have a semblance of legitimacy when disbursed. The [pork barrel] is the root of all these. Funds have to go somewhere and it does not matter where. One source of corruption among funding and implementing organizations is the specter of underspending. Funding agencies, you see, have a specific amount to [disburse] to qualified implementing organizations for a given year. For example, USAid has to distribute the money or else it will be reprimanded by the financial bigwigs of the US State Department.
 

“The implementing NGOs, in turn, have to spend the money within a limited time, say, one year, or else they will be blacklisted by the funder. But there is a delay in the NGOs’ recruitment of additional staff, [procurement of] vehicles, supplies, medicines… Delay here, delay there. In the end, the directors and managers will spend the money on something else and produce bogus receipts. The devil is called underspending and money is burned in the process.”

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NGOs eager for NGO transparency (1)

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

Last year I wrote a column piece, “Corruption in NGOs” (Opinion, 9/12/12), after the Inquirer ran a banner story on the alleged mishandling of funds by a nongovernment organization working against the trafficking of women and girls. I mentioned that a couple of years before then, I wrote a cover story on that NGO for the Sunday Inquirer Magazine after it won an international award.

How would I have known then that not long after, trouble of the financial kind would erupt with no less than USAid seeking explanations for the use of the funds it had channeled through that NGO? If I am not mistaken, a case is now pending in court. So I withhold my final judgment.

Not a few, myself included, were shocked by the alleged mishandling of funds. But I did hear a few comments from NGO veterans that it was only a matter of time before such malpractice would be laid bare. Little did I know that the piece I wrote last year would disturb some NGO workers.

I was told only recently that a reaction letter to that piece had been written but was never sent because of certain considerations. Was it the right time? Was the tone of the letter right? What good would it serve?

With the controversy erupting recently over the alleged P10-billion scam involving fake NGOs as channels of the pork barrel funds of certain lawmakers, NGOs of good standing are again aghast that their sector is being tainted.

And so a well-attended roundtable discussion of about 50 NGO representatives was held last week. I was among the invited and, to my surprise, was even cited as among the inciters that led to the gathering.

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Consumers' concerns on GE foods

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

We are what we eat, so the saying goes, but we should also be able to know about the safety of what we eat, and make our choice.

Here recently to speak about the dangers to health and the environment of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and genetically engineered (GE) foods was Jeffrey M. Smith, American author of the best-selling books “Seeds of Deception” and “Genetic Roulette.” Smith was going to China but he could not resist the Filipinos’ invitation, so he made a side trip that resulted in an enriching week for the No2GMO network composed of civil-society groups, academics and consumers. Smith also met with some lawmakers. He spoke at gatherings in Metro Manila, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac and South Cotabato.

GMOs continue to be in the local and international news. Because of questions about their safety, there is now a clamor from consumers for truthful labeling of food items. (Once in a while I do see grocery items labeled “GMO-free,” and I read the fine print to see where they came from.)

While GMOs used to be the concern of food producers and environmentalists who worried about seed sources, the havoc on the environment and the possible extinction of old species, now consumers are also calling attention to the problem. Consumers, after all, are the ones at the receiving end of the food chain. They also have the power to demand to know what are being sold to them.

Among the groups that welcomed Smith were Consumer Rights for Safe Food (CRSF), National Consumer Affairs Council, and Sarilaya, a women’s group committed to gender and development. Smith told his audiences that 64 countries now require labeling of GE foods or ban these outright. He said that in the United States, the legislatures of Connecticut and Maine have passed labeling laws and more than two dozen other states have introduced similar legislation. Nine out of 10 Americans want GE foods labeled and 53 percent said they would avoid GMOs if these were thus labeled.

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