Beauty and the bees

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

When, in the past, many beauty pageant contestants almost always mentioned care for the environment as their advocacy, this time there was none of that. Not in the 65th Miss Universe pageant held in the Philippines last week, which was hard to beat in its pomp and pageantry.

Held here for the third time, the pageant put the Philippines on the world’s tourism map as intended, with the beautiful spots highlighted, the people’s warmth on full display.

But the issue of the environment was sidelined. Had it been so overused? Is it no longer a sexy advocacy that would make the judges and the crowd sit up and listen? Mother Nature statements might no longer work, so on with new advocacies, the more daring and unheard of the better.

The thing about celebrities turned ambassadors of goodwill is that the advocacies they pick might become mere objects of lip service because these are difficult to accomplish. What we really need to hear is something more specific and workable.

What about Mother Nature’s woes that we want addressed in very specific ways? Is it polluted rivers, endangered polar bears, the destruction of forests, the vanishing indigenous tree species? And how does, say, a beauty queen proceed to do something concrete about it?

Which brings me to the latest news about very important members of the so-called web of life: bees. The latest news on bees is that a species of bumblebee is now on the endangered list, or is in “a race against extinction,” the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced two weeks ago. The population of the rusty patched bumblebee has dramatically declined by 87 percent in the past 20 years. There have been other bad news on bees before this.

We know by now that when the bee population is in trouble, Planet Earth is in trouble. No bees, not enough food on the planet. Bees help plants that need insect intervention by pollination to produce fruits, seeds, nuts and flowers. We learned this fact in grade school but took it for granted. We thought bees are forever. We equate them only with honey—honey for our pancakes and waffles, and for some, their beauty regimen or as a medicinal agent.

Some time back the Food and Agriculture Organization issued the reminder: “Bees are bellwethers for the healthy agricultural ecosystems they help create.”

I am part of a Facebook group concerned with Philippine native bees and the indigenous people who make sure that bees thrive in our forests. The group is Blessed Bees and Forest Discussion Group (Bee-yaya ng Gubat). We have been invited to this group because of our interest in pure, wild, raw honey.

But the more important thing about this is how to contribute in making wild honey hunting in the Philippines sustainable. And what species of bees are we referring to here? They are the native giant bees or apis dorsata. They thrive in the south Sierra Madre, in the forest triboundary of Rizal, Quezon and Bulacan.

Darwin Flores of Smart Communications Inc. has been providing technical support (part of Smart’s corporate social responsibility) to indigenous groups including the Dumagat of Sierra Madre. The “honey advocacy” resulted in better harvesting conditions and handling of the honey. Transporters have been provided with back frames so that carrying their load across rugged trails and rivers would not be so difficult. We pay a little more for this golden sweetness that, or so it is said, has an eternal shelf life.

The giant apis cordata are stinging bees but the indigenous folk have a way of “taming” them. Honey supply is not limitless; much has to be left for the honeybees that produce them. The Dumagat themselves declare the beginning and end of the harvesting season. The next honey-gathering season starts again this March. The Dumagat have constructed a Bahay Bubuyog in the mountains of Rizal. The specs are based on the University of the Philippines-Los Banos beekeeping training.

Last year Darwin sent an advisory that the intense El Niño heat had affected the flowering of the forest trees that supply the nectar and pollen. He had to equitably allocate the honey among those who ordered. I must say I had my fill and with enough to share contained in mason jars.

I have been advised not to advertise the where, how and how much lest profiteers find their way into the forest primeval. #

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"Crime-ation'

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

Crime-ation (noun): hiding a crime of murder by cremating the body of the victim and disposing of the ashes.

That’s a word I have just coined to add to the crime lexicon. A proper name that has also just come up is “Camp Crime”; it was derived from Camp Crame, the name of the national headquarters of the Philippine National Police, where a heinous crime, the murder of a South Korean kidnap-for-ransom victim, was carried out in October 2016 by PNP members. The crime site was just a stone’s throw away from the residence of PNP chief Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa.

According to initial investigations, South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo was murdered on the day that he was abducted—yet ransom was exacted from his family. The prime suspects, ranking police officials, are now in hot water. There is finger-pointing as to who masterminded the deed, who carried out the deed, who stood to gain from the deed. It was, to borrow a title from the Miss Marple movie series, murder most foul.

Jee’s body was cremated in a regular (licensed and operating) funeral facility. This is the part of the criminal modus that I am interested in. I have not known of anything like this, not even from the “CSI” series on TV that features unimaginable crimes being solved through pluck, luck, and, most importantly, scientific means.

We’ve known of human corpses being incinerated, buried in the ground, sealed in drums, or thrown into the sea. The perpetrators of the 2009 Maguindanao/Ampatuan massacre used a backhoe to dig a mass grave where the dead were hastily buried. More than 50 persons, including media workers and passersby, lost their lives in that preelection massacre.

The killers of Ruby Rose Barrameda put her corpse in a drum that was sealed with concrete and thrown into the waters off Navotas. When the drum was fished out in 2009, Barrameda’s body was there, intact and with signs of the cruelty she underwent. Her estranged husband was the prime suspect.

Hitler used gas chambers and incinerators in the Nazi concentration camps to wipe out millions of Jews from the face of the earth. Photographs and documentary films from the World War II archives show piles of emaciated bodies ready for disposal. I have the book “The Last Days of Dachau” which has photos of the dead and near-dead that the Allied Forces found when they arrived. In this day and age it is difficult to hide such mass extermination or what we call ethnocide.

I have always wondered about rescue and retrieval groups operating after tragedies. Do they take photos of the unidentified dead in body bags and number them before these are temporarily buried or cremated en masse?

Modern-day cremation facilities taking part in a crime cover-up, as in Jee’s case, was unheard-of in the past. An anticrime group is now seeking an investigation into the cremation procedures of mortuaries. What papers should be required in cremation—the dead’s identity, death certificate, family’s consent, etc.?

Once the corpse of a crime victim is cremated, the so-called main body of evidence is erased. There is no body to exhume and autopsy, no DNA to extract, no poisons to find. The ashes, if preserved, are almost of the same kind as other ashes, except perhaps if there are metals that survived the extreme heat.

In Jee’s case, there was only his golf set that was found in the funeral facility, a supposed gift in exchange for services rendered. But surely there were witnesses—the undertakers, for example—who handled Jee’s corpse and prepared it for cremation. What were they told, what did they know? Who took away the ashes and flushed these down the toilet?

A report by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism says Jee was cremated as “Jose Ruamar Salvador, Filipino.” Did anyone take a photo—surreptitiously, or as a regular procedure—of the dead Jee? Did it occur to any of the undertakers that there might be foul play? And that they were performing a “crime-ation”? Are they also criminally liable?

Are authorities looking into this new criminal modus? Time to put funeral facilities and their services under scrutiny. Dead men tell no tales, or so it is said, but there is no such thing as a perfect crime. #

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The Pinkpussyhat Project

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

Here’s something US President-elect Donald Trump said about women in 2005 that was recorded and surfaced during the US presidential election: “Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.” For women who value their essence and dignity, that is an insult.



Participants in the Women's March on Washington make their way down Independence Avenue Jan. 21. (CNS photo / Bob Roller)

Hereabouts, President Duterte, when asked by a male reporter about his health, retorted angrily and spoke about foul-smelling vaginas. Well, Trump won over Hillary Clinton but his controversial win is still a puzzle, with some help from Russian hackers, US intelligence has revealed. As the Inquirer banner headline said yesterday: “World on edge as Trump era nears.”

The blurb below the headline: “From China to Germany, nations across the globe are accustomed to US President-elect Donald Trump’s provocative Twitter messages, but they are less clear about whether his remarks represent meaningful policy guidelines, personal judgments or passing whims.”

Trump’s remark where he used the “p” word sure shows the kind of worrisome president of women he could be. What is it about women’s private parts that these have to be disdainfully dragged into discussions? And what is it about the men who refer to them in such a distasteful and derogatory manner?

On Jan. 21, the day after Trump is sworn into office, the National Mall in Washington could become a sea of pink if women are able to mobilize enough people attending the Women’s March to wear pink pussyhats. The march is meant to call attention to civil and human rights issues which include women’s rights. About 1.7 million people can fit in the Washington Mall.

The term “pussyhat” comes from Trump’s infamous statement. The hat—a knitted rectangle-shaped bonnet with two corners that look like cat ears when worn—is meant to be a visual statement, a protest against the denigration of women as exemplified by no less than the man who would be the president of the most powerful nation in the world.

The pussyhat idea was hatched by two women from Los Angeles—Krista Suh and Jayna Zweiman, who have called on those attending the Women’s March to wear pink pussyhats. Those who cannot be there can knit the hats for those who can’t make them. The website https://www.pussyhatproject.com/ shows how.

They’re bonnets with ears. I think one can even make do with fabric if knitting is not among one’s talents. Even cardboard might do. Women in the United States are encouraged to hold knitting parties to make hats for their sisters. It is cold over there so knits are in fashion. A problem: Pink yarn is running out, a report said.

(Here in the tropics, Filipino women are not into knitting but more into crocheting.)

The Pussyhat Project stresses the “power of the handmade”: “Knitting and crochet are traditionally women’s crafts, and we want to celebrate these arts. Knitting circles are sometimes scoffed at as frivolous ‘gossiping circles.’ When really, these circles are powerful gatherings of women, a safe space to talk, a place where women support women. Anything handmade shows a level of care, and we care about women’s rights, so it is appropriate to symbolize this march with a handmade item, one made with a skill that has been passed down from women to women for generations.”

There is the “power of pussy”: “We love the clever wordplay of ‘pussyhat’ and ‘pussycat,’ but yes, ‘pussy’ is also a derogatory term for female genitalia. We chose this loaded word for our project because we want to reclaim the term as a means of empowerment… Women, whether transgender or cisgender, are mistreated in this society. In order to get fair treatment, the answer is not to take away our pussies, the answer is not to deny our femaleness and femininity, the answer is to demand fair treatment….”

I wish our American sisters, Fil-Ams among them, great pink success. This kind of project should go global.

To quote Eve Ensler of “The Vagina Monologues” fame, founder of V-Day and on how these became phenomenal: “Something is unfolding. It is both mystical and practical. It requires that we show up, do our exercise and get out of the way.”#

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Terror truck attacks

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

What will they think of next? What weapons of terrorism will they use next to kill and maim innocents, paralyze communities with fear, and keep people in a heightened state of anxiety?

These thoughts were uppermost in my mind while the yearly procession of the image of the Black Nazarene was in progress on Jan. 9. Drawing millions of devotees that fill the main streets of Manila, the procession keeps getting bigger every year.

I experienced this up close decades ago when the procession was just confined to the Quiapo and Sta. Cruz areas and the Black Nazarene was not brought to the Rizal Park where, as the practice is now, the procession or traslacion would begin. Some photojournalist friends and I situated ourselves on the high concrete island near Quiapo Church, there to wait for the surging crowd. It was awesome then; it is phantasmagoric now, an almost terrifying, orgiastic feast of faith, indeed.

Last Tuesday’s traslacion of about five kilometers lasted 22 hours. It left the Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park at 5 a.m. on Tuesday and reached the minor basilica of St. John the Baptist, the home of the Black Nazarene, at 3:20 a.m. on Wednesday. I was awake to see on TV the poon, with cross and all, stagger into the church entrance. There was no hint of weariness in the devotees’ shouts of “Viva!”

The day before the feast, the Inquirer headline was “Faith swells amid terror alert.”

I had this recent devotional phenomenon in mind because of the series of terror attacks late last year. These came in the form of the ubiquitous trucks one sees everywhere, only they did not ferry goods and could have gone through checkpoints unimpeded. They were not loaded with cargo meant to explode upon reaching their objects of destruction. The drivers simply drove into crowds of people. They did not dissolve in fiery balls like in explosive suicide attacks. The trucks just went “wayward” and plowed into people, killing many of them. The drivers then simply jumped out, disappearing in the melee, leaving the scene of the carnage undetected, their evil intent accomplished.

Is this the new form of terrorist attacks? To borrow the title of an ancient TV Western, have truck will terrorize.

The recent truck attacks happened in France and Germany last year and in Israel last weekend.

In the seaside city of Nice in France in July, a truck plowed into a crowd during Bastille Day celebrations, killing 84 people and injuring dozens, many of them severely. The driver was shot dead by the police. French President Francois Hollande called it a terrorist attack.

Last Dec. 19, a truck drove into a Christmas market in Berlin. A news report said 12 people died in the attack. The Islamic State claimed responsibility and released a video where Anis Amri, the Tunisian driver, was shown pledging allegiance to the IS chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Amri, 24, was later killed in a shootout with police in Milan.

On Jan. 9, a Reuters news report said at least four persons were killed in a truck attack in Jerusalem: “A Palestinian who may be linked to IS rammed his speeding truck into a group of Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem Sunday, killing four people and wounding 15 others before being shot dead in one of the deadliest attacks in a year-long campaign of violence, Israeli police said.

“Five people were arrested Sunday—including the assailant’s father and brother-in-law—in connection with the attack.” Speaking at the scene of the slaughter, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there “definitely could be a connection” between Sunday’s horrific attack and similar IS truck attacks in France and Germany in recent months.

Hereabouts, we’ve had previews of this but not of the terrorist kind. How many cases of trucks hitting homes by the roadside have we had?

Some months ago a wayward truck plowed into an RTW tiangge in Taytay, Rizal. The tiangge is the town’s showcase. I had been there a couple of times to shop and see the local RTW industry come alive. The tiangge by the highway was a perfect hit for a truck with faulty brakes.

We can’t be sitting ducks.#

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Journalism is not a game or a joke

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

Who elected the press?” is the title of a 1980 piece by Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc, who was editor in chief of the Inquirer for 25 years until she passed away on Christmas Eve of 2015.

She wrote the piece when she was the editor of Panorama magazine. It was one of her pieces that displeased the Marcos dictatorship and was therefore censored—the last straw that caused her forced resignation. Truth to tell, I did put her in trouble then, with several of my own risky pieces in the magazine.

LJM’s “Who elected the press?” was on my mind while reading the Dec. 30 statement of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) titled “Di po laro ang pagbabalita, Mr. President!” (Journalism is not a game, Mr. President!) The statement is in crisp Filipino, with an English translation provided.

First, let me share excerpts from LJM’s piece that was written because Ferdinand Marcos and his minions tried to keep a tight grip on the press, which kept fighting back during the dictatorship’s waning years.

“Who elected the press? No one… “Yet it is the only private institution that is protected by the Philippine Constitution as it is by other democratic states… (She cited provisions in the Constitution.-CPD)

“By the fundamental law of the land, the press has the right, the authority, the moral obligation, the duty to ask questions, to dig up facts and winnow fact from fiction and present them to the public in the free market of ideas, to hold up a mirror to society reflecting both the potholes as well as the smooth, concrete highways, to focus on the raw display of power of public officials, to promote the living arts as well as the art of living, to record, dramatize, applaud and celebrate the events, the men and women who are sobering, civilizing and inspiring forces of society.

“Because of the unique role and function of the press sanctified by the Constitution, its practitioners have to be women and men who look on their work not only as source of income but as a vocation that demands continuous study, curiosity, enthusiasm, a level of joy, inspiration, integrity and laughter… Our motives must be free, as free as the press itself is envisioned to be.

“So help us God, unelected as we are.”

Now from the NUJP: “With due respect, Mr. President, the NUJP deliberately wrote this statement in the national language to stress the importance of clear communications and to ensure everyone understands what we wish to say.

“In your interviews with media on Thursday, you again said you were ‘playing’ with us and are ’fond’ of ’joking around.’ Which is why it is the responsibility of reporters to examine everything you say, if it is true or not, and we are to blame if our reports do not reflect the message you wish to impart.

“We beg your pardon but, we reject outright your point of view. Not because we have no wish to examine your words—it is part of our job to do so—but because, as President of the Philippines, you have the responsibility and the duty of being clear in all your statements to the nation and the world.

“There are times for joking or even nonsense. But because you are the President, all your public statements are considered—and it is only proper to do so—administration policy. Besides, many of your ardent supporters consider even your jokes as marching orders while the corrupt and the criminals inside and outside government also use these to justify their heinous designs. In such a situation, would it not be more prudent if you stopped playing with us and tamed your penchant for jokes?

“…If your statements are not clear and if it is not clear whether you are serious or joking, the problem lies with you and not with us or with the people. We are serious in our work and obligation to treat seriously and report faithfully everything that issues from the President’s lips.

“Do not foist on others your obligation to speak clearly, Mr. President.”

And you keep mumbling to yourself, we noticed.#

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'Sanayan lang'

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

Photo by Kristine Angeli Sabillo

In English, “sanayan lang” roughly translates as “one gets used to it.” Or, to borrow a line from the musical “My Fair Lady,” one grows accustomed to a face, to someone, to something, but in a “loverly” way.

There are things to which one should not simply get accustomed, so that one becomes numb and disabled from reacting. Among these are suffering, cruelty and a host of other evils that are inflicted on persons.

Even while I was writing this piece TV news was reporting on deaths, not by typhoon, tsunami, or earthquake, but by guns. Not in some war-torn country but in your neighborhood or some blocks away from where you live. It is still killing season hereabouts; a so-called war waged on some specific societal plague has turned into a contagion. Anyone who has an axe to grind, a long-held grudge or a motive, can find use in that so-called war, pack a gun, mount a motorbike, and ride off into the night.

At the Baclaran Church, the Redemptorist Fathers have mounted a photo exhibit of the killings. So un-Christmas-y you might say, but wasn’t the newly born Jesus himself the object of killers let loose by a despot named Herod?

Yesterday, Dec. 28, was the Feast of the Holy Innocents, which commemorates the mass killing of babies that targeted the Infant Jesus. As the prophet Jeremiah had foretold, “A voice was heard in Rama, sobbing and loudly lamenting: it was Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted because they were no more.”

One of several books I received this Christmas was “Sanayan Lang Ang Pagpatay,” a smoldering collection of poems in Filipino (152 in all) by Jesuit Fr. Albert Eduave Alejo (High Chair, 2016). The title roughly translates as “one gets used to committing murder.”

But before reading the poem with the murderous title, break into a smile while reading the dedication: “Alay sa Tatay ko at Mama ko/ na unang nagturo sa akin/ kung paanong magparagán ng kamiseta/maghati ng buhok na de pomada/wumasiwas ng muestra/ at bumigkas ng tulang patirada.”

Here is the tulang patirada, “Sanayan Lang Ang Pagpatay [para sa sector nating pumapatay ng tao]”. I heard the poem being read at a gathering of women.

Pagpatay ng tao? Sanayan lang ’yan pare Parang sa butiki.
Sa una siyempre Ikaw’y nangingimi.
Hindi mo masikmurang
Tiradurin o hampasing tulad ng ipis o lamok
Pagkat para bang lagi ’yang nakadapo
Sa noo ng santo sa altar
At tila may tinig na nagsasabing Bawal bawal bawal ’yang pumatay.
Subalit tulad lang ng maraming bagay
Ang pagpatay ay natututuhan din kung magtitiyaga
Kang makinig sa may higit ng karanasan.
Nakuha ko sa tiyuhin ko kung paanong balibagin ng tsinelas
O pilantakin ng lampin ang nakatitig na butiki sa aming kisame
At kapag nalaglag na’t nagkikisay sa sahig
Ay agad ipitin ng hindi makapuslit
Habang dahan-dahang tinitipon ang buong bigat
Sa isang paang nakatalingkayad: sabay bagsak.
Magandang pagsasanay ito sapagkat
Hindi mo nakikita, naririnig lang na lumalangutngut
Ang buto’t bungo ng lintik na butiking hindi na makahalutiktik.
           (Kung sa bagay, kilabot din ’yan sa mga gamu-gamo.)
Nang magtagal-tagal ay naging malikhain na rin
Ang aking mga kamay sa pagdukit ng mata,
Pagbleyd ng paa, pagpisa ng itlog sa loob ng tiyan
Hanggang mamilipit ’yang parang nasa ibabaw ng baga.
O kung panahon ng Pasko’t maraming paputok
Maingat kong sinusubuan ’yan ng rebentador
Upang sa pagsabog ay mapagpaalaman ang nguso at buntot.
            (Ang hindi ko lamang maintindihan ay kung bakit
             Patuloy pa rin ’yang nadaragdagan.)
Kaya’t ang pagpatay ay nakakasawa rin kung minsan.
Mabuti na lamang at nakaluluwang ng loob
Ang pinto at bintanang kahit hindi mo sinasadya
Ay may sariling paraan ng pagpuksa ng buhay.
Ganyan lang talaga ang pagpatay:
Kung hindi ako ay iba naman ang babanat;
Kung hindi ngayon ay sa iba namang oras.
Subalit ang higit na nagbibigay sa akin ng lakas ng loob
Ay malalim nating pagsasamahan:
Habang ako’y pumapatay, kayo nama’y nanonood.
                                                               ****
May 2017 be less bloody than the year just passed. May Divine Light shine brightly on your life and loves in the year ahead and beyond. God makes all things new. #

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The Wise Women

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

You have heard the “would have” story about the Three Wise Women at the birth of Jesus. Its origin is unknown. Some humorless know-it-alls question its biblical, theological, geographical and even astronomical (something about the guiding star) possibility. But here it is, anyway.

“What would have happened if it had been Three Wise Women instead of Three Wise Men? They would have asked for directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole, and brought practical gifts.”

The killjoys have a sequel to this that is unflattering to women. It tells about what the Three Wise Women did after they had left the Nativity scene. So much for scrooges who can’t take a Christmas story with a gender-sensitive twist.

But, indeed, the women can be relied upon, as the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has often stressed. In its latest report, the FAO said “women hold the key to building a world free from hunger and poverty. But gender inequality is putting a brake on sustainable development.”

FAO director-general Jose Graziano da Silva said recently that achieving gender equality and empowering women is not only the right thing to do but is also a critical ingredient in the fight against extreme poverty, hunger and malnutrition. Speaking at a high-level event co-organized by the FAO, the European Commission and the Slovak Presidency of the Council of the European Union in collaboration with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (Ifad), the World Food Programme (WFP) and UN Women, Da Silva said: “Women are the backbone of our work in agriculture,” adding that women comprise 45 percent of the agricultural labor force in developing countries. That figure is rising to 60 percent in parts of Africa and Asia.

What do these numbers mean? They underscore the importance of ensuring that rural women enjoy a level playing field. “It’s all about opportunity. Evidence shows that when women have opportunities, the yields on their farms increase—also their incomes. Natural resources are better managed. Nutrition is improved. And livelihoods are more secured,” Da Silva said.

This is why rural women are key players in the effort to achieve all of the Sustainable Development Goals, but especially SDG2, freeing the world from hunger and malnutrition, he added. So if Zero Hunger is to be achieved, women have to be involved. There is no way to get it done without them. Neven Mimica, European Union commissioner for international cooperation and development, told event participants: “It is often said that if you educate a woman, you educate a whole generation. The same is true when we empower women across the board—not only through access to knowledge, but also to resources, to equal opportunities, and by giving them a voice.”

Yet current statistics suggest that the world is falling short on this score, Mimica said. “We know that agricultural yields would rise by almost a third if women had the same access to resources as men. As a result, there would be up to 150 million fewer hungry people in the world. And we know that children have significantly better prospects for the future when their mothers are healthy, wealthy and educated. Especially during the first 1,000 days of a child’s life,” he said, adding: “If we are serious about putting an end to poverty and hunger once and for all, then we all need to step up our support for rural women. As an investment in families, in our communities, in our wider societies, and in our planet’s future.”

And so the need to close the gender gap. Although nearly half the world’s agricultural labor force is female, women own less than 20 percent of agricultural land. The FAO has it figured out: If women farmers had the same access to resources as men, the number of hungry people in the world could be reduced by up to 150 million due to productivity gains.
                                                              ****
I have headed to the “wilderness” where I will thrive on the proverbial locusts and wild honey while awaiting The One. Maranatha! Have a good Christmas, everyone. #

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Forgiveness does not erase the crime

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

For the traditional pre-Christmas simbang gabi (dawn masses, actually), the first of which is scheduled at dawn tomorrow, there will be an anticipated Mass at 9 p.m. tonight (Thursday) in front of the People Power monument on Edsa. It is dubbed “Sambayanan, simbang gabi ng siklab bayan.” (Samba means worship, and sambayanan means people or society.)

A people in worshipful, prayerful gathering. A people crying out to the Savior, “Maranatha!” Halina! Come! Bring candles, your aching hearts, your trembling hopes. The gathering, sponsored by The Coalition Against the Marcos Burial at the Libingan Ng Mga Bayani (CAMB-LNMB), is the first of this year’s Advent dawn Masses.

The Filipino Catholic practice is rich in symbolism as it prepares the faithful for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, Savior and the Light of the world. The gathering hopes to highlight the concerns of many, especially the “encroaching darkness in these troubled times.”

The organizers stress that in view of all these, “Christmas then takes on a deeper meaning, imbuing the Filipino nation with strength and courage to band together, to seek truth and justice and the preservation of our hard-won and most cherished freedoms as symbolized in the People Power monument.”

I hope the gathering turns out to be a really solemn gathering and not an occasion for onlookers, cynics and skeptics to grouse about those who do not want to “forgive and forget” and who refuse to “move on”—that is, the victims of Ferdinand Marcos’ martial rule who insist on history being set aright, not revised or twisted for the benefit of those who had wounded and scarred this nation.

Forgive, this is what revisionists so sanctimoniously admonish those who insist on the truth and who expose the lies for the young generation to see. Forgive? Move on?

I will not tire saying this: Those who underwent horrendous sufferings during the Marcos dictatorship have long moved on with the scars, lifted up their bloody memories to the heavens, cleansed their hearts of anger for their very own sake and peace of mind. (Though some succumbed to the trauma and lived a troubled existence.) But the survivors—how to continue getting on with their lives when they are suddenly given the most painful cut of all? The tyrant and plunderer who gave them hell, dead for 27 years, was given a hero’s burial in hallowed grounds reserved for the valiant and noble. No thanks to President Duterte and nine of the 15 Supreme Court justices.

Forgiveness does not absolve the criminal. Forgiveness does not erase the crime. Forgiveness and absolution are not for the unrepentant. So those who use the profound “F” word in vain, think again.

Metanoia is the Greek word for repentance. Meta means “after” and nous means “mind.” Metanoia requires a change in the mind or in the inner person.

Nobody from the Marcos family has sincerely shown atonement or sought forgiveness from the victims of martial rule. Is the compensation due the victims (Republic Act No. 10368) all about money? No. Above all, it is to show the Marcoses’ culpability.

When the Swiss government returned the ill-gotten wealth stashed in Swiss banks, it was on condition that the Philippine government give it to the martial law victims. What better way to show there was tyranny and plunder, what better way to show there were victims? In the case of the class suit filed in a Hawaii court and won by close to 10,000 victims/claimants (worth $2 billion), their victory was also meant to show that, indeed, there were that many victims and that much stolen wealth.

The hunt for the missing “Marcos art” worth billions of dollars is seeking fresh momentum, a New York Times report said. Finders keepers—the Philippine government or the almost 10,000 claimants.

In this season of Advent and hopeful waiting, it behooves us to cleanse ourselves of resentment, to open ourselves to hope and gladness, but we must also be compelled to be carriers of truth and light and not pull down the shroud of darkness and untruths that would carry us back to the anni terribilis, the dreadful years when we were in shackles. #

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Martial law killed them in their youth

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

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.
—from “Dirge Without Music” by Edna St. Vincent Millay

For lack of space, I could not write about each of the 19 new heroes/martyrs honored on Nov. 30 at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani in last week’s banner story of the Inquirer (“19 heroes to be honored at Bantayog,” 11/29/16). The lives of the six young men who were slain in their prime during the Marcos dictatorship are worth knowing about.

Eduardo Aquino (1953-1973) was 20 when he was killed. Born in Pangasinan, he was the youngest of eight children, the family’s doted-on, boy-next-door type, what one would now call a fashionista. He became an activist when he was studying political science at the University of the Philippines. When martial law was declared in 1972, Aquino left school and got involved in political work among farmers in Tarlac. He died when soldiers from Camp Macabulos in Sitio Pagasa, Tarlac, fired at the hut where he was meeting with farmers. He and his companions were unarmed.

Marciano “Chuck” Anastacio (1955-1982) was 27 when he was killed. Baguio-born, he went through a difficult adolescence. He studied at the University of the East for a while. He figured in brawls and was into drugs and alcohol until he met a female activist who opened his eyes to the ills of society. His life found direction and because organizing was second nature to him, he got involved in labor issues.

In 1980 a military agent shot Anastacio in the face and left him for dead in an isolated garbage dump. He spent a month in intensive care where he was put under surveillance. When he was well enough, he headed to the Sierra Madre to join the armed resistance. He and a companion were seen captured alive on Dec. 18, 1982. But the following day their bullet-riddled bodies were paraded in front of the San Jose Panganiban town hall in Camarines Norte. Two months later, his family, with the help of the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines and the Paracale parish, was able to claim his remains, which were found wrapped in plastic and left in a dumpsite near the town cemetery.

Fortunato Camus (1949-1976) was killed at 26. Born in Cebu, he became a youth organizer of the Consolidation of Reforms for the Youth in the University of the Visayas where he studied law for two years. He later joined the armed resistance in Luzon against the Marcos dictatorship. He was killed in an encounter with the military in Nueva Ecija.

Hernando Cortez (1954-1983) was 29 when he was killed reportedly during an encounter with the military. His family believes otherwise. Cortez attended the Gregorio Araneta University in Caloocan City. A trade union organizer, he was with labor leaders when the military raided their meeting place. The Task Force Detainees reported that he was tortured before he was killed.

Edgardo Dojillo (1948-1972) was 24 when he was killed. A popular figure in the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos where he studied accountancy, he led consciousness-raising events against the exploitation of the sacada in Sugarlandia. A few weeks into the Marcos dictatorship, Dojillo and a friend were on a motorcycle when they were ambushed by members of the Philippine Constabulary. Badly wounded, the two were tied up and hung like animal carcasses on the side of a cargo truck, then transferred to a weapons carrier where they bled to death.

Ricardo Filio (1953-1976) was 22 when he was killed by friendly fire while government military operations were going on in Laac (now part of Compostela Valley). Filio was a student in Ateneo de Davao when he joined the Left-leaning Kabataang Makabayan. Because of his activities, his family’s house was raided and he had to seek sanctuary in the hills. He was among the first recruits of the New People’s Army in Davao.

They are the unang alay (first offerings), as the song goes. #

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Forgiveness for the unrepentant

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

Art work by Edicio dela Torre

It is one thing to have forgiveness in one’s heart for tormentors and abusers, even for the most hardened and unrepentant, and, in silence, lift one’s pain to the heavens—something victims can do for themselves to exorcise the pain. But it is quite another to bestow honors on the hardened and unrepentant, allow them to reopen wounds and mock the victims of their unspeakable crimes—and expect the victims to call it forgiveness, or moving on.

To those who, with good intentions, admonish the victims to forgive because that is choosing the better part, I say: That is indeed godly. But it is quite insensitive to say “Forgive” or “Move on” while watching the unrepentant deny their culpability, spit at the wounds of victims and claim honors for a tyrant and plunderer. Does forgiveness mean allowing the uncontrite to strut about with impunity while the wounded nurse their reopened wounds?  

Think what it is like to have one’s wound reopened and rubbed with salt, vinegar (sukang Iloko) and the hottest chili pepper.

To those who preach forgiveness from the goodness of their souls, I will not snarl at you, but please find it in your hearts to see things from the side of those who suffered extreme pain during the Marcos dictatorship. This is not about forgiveness of sins, this is about justice.

Please do not talk about moving on and letting go because many victims of the Marcos dictatorship have indeed done that, while proudly bearing the scars, even the unhealed wounds, of yesteryears. But allowing the unrepentant beneficiaries of the Marcos loot to dig at the victims’ pain and sneakily bury the dictator in hallowed grounds with honors—does allowing this constitute forgiveness?

Hateful and unforgiving—this is how victims of Marcos tyranny are labeled by those who wish to shut them up. But why turn the tables on the victims? Why demonize those who truly suffered and knew what it was like to take the blows, to be made to sit on blocks of ice, to be made to drink urine and eat feces, to go through water torture and bear the unnamable pain of loss for the disappearance of loved ones or finding their mutilated remains?

Why portray as vengeful those whose rights were trampled upon and whose properties were taken away? But how do you call those who wish to revise history by honoring the dishonored former soldier and president? How do you forgive an unrepentant family whose members continue to flaunt their impunity?

Lord, forgive them for they know not what they do—is this the prayer we want victims to say to their offenders every time their rights are trampled? Why should we expect so much from the victims but not from the uncontrite victimizers and their cheering squad?

And then there are those who say, “That happened more than 30 years ago, let history be the judge.” Precisely! We are now in that historical future and judgement is due. If it is not now, when in the future? A thousand years from now?

There are those who sneer and say, “Well, the victims went to the Supreme Court, and now that the Supreme Court has spoken, they complain and protest?” When the victims went to the Supreme Court, they were called petitioners. They pleaded that their side be heard, that the honorable justices see the justness of their plea. They did not go there to simply seek an opinion, as in “Tell us, is this red or green?” and whatever is handed down should be good enough. No.

And so the weeping and gnashing of teeth, the raising of fists, the howling in the streets.

“Not yet, Rizal, not yet,” the poet Rafael Zulueta da Costa’s cry pierces the darkening sky, “the land has need of young blood…”

Many millennials—those who knew little about the atrocities committed under martial rule—are now eager to know the truth from their elders. And having known, they do not want a repeat now and in the future. Hear them roar.#

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19 heroes to be honored at Bantayog

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

The names of 19 people who fought the Marcos dictatorship have been engraved on the Wall of Remembrance at Bantayog ng mga Bayani in Quezon City. They will be honored in solemn ceremonies tomorrow, Bonifacio Day. The names include those of the late Inquirer editor in chief Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc and former Sen. Jovito Salonga. —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

Three journalists led by the late Inquirer editor in chief, Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc, are among 19 honorees whose names will be added to the roster of heroes on Bantayog ng mga Bayani in Quezon City during solemn ceremonies on Wednesday. The event will also coincide with the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation, which was founded in 1986 shortly after the Edsa People Power Revolution that toppled the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Aside from Magsanoc, 74 (1941-2015), the other journalists to be honored are Antonio L. Zumel, 69 (1932-2001), and Lourdes Estella-Simbulan, 53 (1957-2011). Their names and those of the others have been etched on the black granite of the Wall of Remembrance.

Seven of the honorees are from the youth sector. They are Marciano Anastacio Jr., 27 (1955-1982); Eduardo Q. Aquino, 20 (1953-1973); Fortunato Camus, 26 (1949-1976); Hernando Cortez, 29 (1954-1983); Edgardo Dojillo, 24; Ricardo P. Filio, 22 (1953-1976); and Joel O. Jose, 35 (1951-1987). All seven honorees, except one, were killed in their prime during the martial law years that lasted from 1972 to 1986.

Various sectors

The honorees from various sectors are Jovito R. Salonga, 95 (1920-2016), public servant, lawyer, senator; Simplicio Villados, 70, (1928-1998), labor; Danilo Vizmanos, 60 (1928-1998), professional, retired soldier; Manuel G. Dorotan, 35 (1948- 1983), professional; Ma. Margarita F. Gomez, 65 (1947-2012), women’s sector; Benjamin H. Cervantes, 74 (1938-2013), the arts. Three come from the church sector: Bishop Julio L. Labayen, 89 (1926-2016); Romulo Peralta, 60 (1941-2001); and Jose T. Tangente, 37 (1949-1987).

Details about the lives and heroic sacrifices of each of the honorees may be found on www.bantayog.org.

Speaking truth to power

Magsanoc was editor in chief of the Philippine Daily Inquirer from 1990 to 2015. She was the editor of Panorama magazine from the late 1970s to 1980, when the articles she published and her own writings displeased the powers-that-be. She used the written word to challenge the Marcos dictatorship.

Her forced resignation sparked indignation in the media sector. After the assassination of former Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. in 1983, Magsanoc edited Mr & Ms Special Edition that exposed the excesses of the Marcos regime. She was among those who attended the birth of the Inquirer in 1985.

A multiawarded journalist, Magsanoc died of natural causes on Dec. 24, 2015. After her death, then President Benigno Aquino III conferred on her the People Power Award. The Philippine Senate passed a resolution citing her contribution to the restoration of press freedom. Bantayog cites Magsanoc “for speaking truth to power” and “for testing the limits of press freedom as writer and editor.”

The citation for Magsanoc on the Bantayog ng mga Bayani reads:

For unleashing the power of the written word for the common good, for justice, freedom and democracy;

For challenging and exposing the excesses of the Marcos dictatorship through the media even at great personal risk;

For testing the limits of press freedom as writer and editor, for defying media restrictions and censorship under martial rule and for facing up to the wrath of the dictatorship;

For encouraging and giving space to bold and daring writers despite threats from the powers-that-be;

For the warmth, kindness and understanding she showed those who were victims of tyranny;

For keeping the vigil lamps lighted in the media so that freedom won may never again be taken away;

And for speaking truth to power without fear, for her faith in her fellow Filipinos, for placing above herself, God, family and country.”

Fearless for freedom

Salonga, a lawyer, former senator and prolific writer, was known for his uncompromising stance against martial rule. In 1980 he was arrested, detained and charged with subversion. Upon his release, the Salonga family lived in exile in the United States until freedom was restored in 1986.

Labayen was a “voice in the wilderness” when many in the Catholic Church hierarchy had yet to find their voices during the dark days of martial rule. He immersed himself among the poor of his prelature, espoused social justice and gave voice to the oppressed. He risked the ire of the dictatorship.

Agent for change

Cervantes, an outspoken critic of the Marcos dictatorship, used theater and film as an agent for change and to raise people’s political awareness. He was on the front line of street rallies against the dictatorship. He was detained three times—in 1975, 1977 and 1985.

Zumel was a newspaperman. When martial law was declared, he went underground and joined the leftist underground movement and spent many years in remote and difficult places where he continued to write and fight the dictatorship. heroes. After the overthrow of the Marcos dictatorship, Zumel represented the communist-led National Democratic Front in peace talks with the administration of President Corazon C. Aquino in 1986. When the talks failed, he sought political asylum in The Netherlands, where he died in 2001.

287 names to date

The 19 2016 honorees bring to 287 the names engraved on The Wall, which stands just meters away from the 13.5-meter bronze monument created by renowned sculptor Eduardo Castrillo.

The monument depicts a defiant mother holding a fallen son. The monument, the commemorative wall and other structures at Bantayog Memorial Center are dedicated to the nation’s modern-day martyrs and heroes who fought against all odds to help restore freedom, peace, justice, truth and democracy in the Philippines.

Through its Never Again Never Forget Project, Bantayog addresses “attempts by certain groups to rewrite Philippine history, to confuse the young generation about the truths of the Marcos dictatorship, to erase its horrors, abuses and deceptions and to have it remembered as a ‘golden era’ in the Philippines.” Bantayog’s activities include publishing biographies, dissemination of informative materials, film showing, roving exhibitions and museum tours.

The Bantayog complex now includes a building that houses a small auditorium, library, archives and a museum. Its 1.5-hectare property on Quezon Avenue and Edsa was donated by the administration of President Corazon Aquino, through Land Bank of the Philippines, in 1986. Every year, names are added to the Wall of Remembrance. The first 65 names were engraved on the wall in 1992. The Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation is chaired by former senator Wigberto Tanada. Salonga served as chair emeritus before he died. May Rodriguez is the executive director.

The ceremonies on Wednesday will begin at 4 p.m. The public is invited. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/848784/19-heroes-to-be-honored-at-bantayog

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Caught sleeping

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

Whether or not it was a toenail of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, or a clump of his hair, or an arm bone, or his wax likeness that was hastily buried with military honors in the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LMNB)—translated as cemetery for heroes—on Nov. 18, that whole exercise was one of deception, cunning and stealth on the part not only of the Marcoses but also of some feckless government authorities who allowed it.

Now those accessories to the wanton disregard for the judicial process—President Duterte included—are all feigning cluelessness. Because not yet final and executory was the Supreme Court’s Nov. 8 majority decision (9-5-1) that dug deep at the martial law victims’ wounds and denied their petition to prevent the dictator’s burial on hallowed grounds. A motion for reconsideration was forthcoming.

Clueless? Also feckless. From President Duterte and the presidential staff to the military officers who flew the Marcos family and the dictator’s 27-year-old corpse (if indeed there was a corpse) from Ilocos Norte to LNMB and who provided the honors—none of them had earlier knowledge that the burial was going to take place that soon?

This is quite plain to see—President Duterte’s campaign promise to the Marcoses has been accomplished. Consummatum est?

But as is often said to us and by us, “Wait lang.”

It is way past the November day of remembering the dead, but here we are, still preoccupied by issues pertaining to corpses, cadavers and other forms of human remains. The corpses, whether touched or not by methamphetamine hydrochloride, continue to pile up. Even those already in police custody or safely behind bars end up dead with the “nanlaban” reason always invoked.

Separately, a number of government bureaucrats have joined the body count lately—one from the Bureau of Internal Revenue, another from the Bureau of Customs, money-collecting bureaus both. Both took in assassins’ bullets. A director from the Energy Regulatory Commission ended his own life and opened a can of worms.

Now comes another corpse or non-corpse, supposedly that of the dictator Marcos, that is causing upheaval in the streets because, “like a thief in the night,” the Marcos family went through with the burial without so much as a by-your-leave. Government authorities who were supposed to be in the know simply said they knew neither the day nor the hour and were caught by surprise. In street-corner journalese, “nakatulog sa pansitan” (fell asleep at the noodle house) or caught sleeping on the job.

If that were so, barbarians would be at the gates and the country’s protectors would not know it. Scary. So much for the simplest information gathering.

And so, indeed, now there is banging at the gates and there will be more from martial law victims and their supporters upon the arrival of President Duterte from the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meet in Peru. Worth noting was the President’s absence at the gala dinner for heads of state and, later, at the Apec “class photo.” He was jetlagged and sleepy, was his presidential reason for not showing up. Did he have one Peruvian Pisco too many? He had eyes only for Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jing Ping.

So while he was sleeping in the land of Machu Picchu, his subalterns back home were also sleeping on the job—deliberately, one can’t help concluding—and let the thieves come in the dead of night.

Speaking of true heroes, 19 heroes and martyrs—three journalists among them—will be honored on Nov. 30, at the Bantayog ng mg Bayani which marks its 30th anniversary this year. The ceremonies will start at 4 p.m.

The names, to be announced soon, will be added to the more than 200 names etched on the black granite Wall of Remembrance. The Bantayog Memorial Center is located on Quezon Avenue corner Edsa, near Centris. The entrance is beside the National Power Corporation. The public is invited.

Come early and find familiar names—of comrades, friends and persons you knew and admired—on The Wall. Light candles, offer flowers and prayers. Celebrate their lives.

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