Finally, Marcos victims to receive compensation

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

Filed Under: Justice & Rights, Litigation & Regulations, Graft & Corruption, Crime and Law and Justice

MANILA, Philippines—Twenty-five years after the dictator Ferdinand Marcos was ousted in the 1986 People Power revolution, victims of his oppressive regime will at long last receive some compensation for their suffering.

The settlement will be paid out starting March 1, the US-based Kohn Swift and Graf law office informed the class action claimants in a letter dated Feb. 7.

“It is my great pleasure to inform you that your claim is eligible for payment for the peso equivalent of $1,000 from the settlement fund in this litigation,” said the letter signed by Robert Swift, the class suit lead counsel.

Last January, Honolulu Judge Manuel Real approved the distribution of $7.5 million to settle a class action suit filed in 1986 by rights abuse victims of the Marcos regime.

In 1995, a landmark decision by a US federal jury in Honolulu found the Marcos estate liable for torture, summary executions and disappearances of about 10,000 people and awarded the victims $2 billion in damages.

A total of 9,539 victims had joined the class suit but this number has been reportedly reduced to 7,526 because of questions of eligibility.

Claimants should have submitted both the 1993 and 1999 claim forms in order to be considered eligible. (This reporter and an Inquirer editor are claimants.)

The money will be distributed at the office of the Commission on Human Rights, SAAC Building, UP complex, Quezon City, from March 1 to 7. The letter clarified that the CHR is allowing the use of its space but is not participating in the distribution.

Payment will only be made in person. The office will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day from March 1 to 7.

Claimants with last names beginning with the letters A through E must appear on March 1; F through J, March 2; K through O, March 3; P through T, March 4; V through Z, March 7. Those who cannot appear on these dates will be seen on March 7.

Claimants may not come on any other day.

Claimants have to bring with them the original of the Feb. 7, 2011, letter and any two of the following forms of identification: Voter’s ID, GSIS, SSS, driver’s license, TIN, NBI clearance with picture, seaman’s book issued by Marina, senior citizen ID, postal ID, or any other government-issued photo ID.

No one will receive payment unless his or her identity is verified. No power of attorney will be accepted. If the claimant is deceased, a death certificate must be presented by the next of kin.

After receiving payment, payees will sign a receipt of payment, photographs will be taken and kept by class counsel to be used to verify identities should there be future distribution.

The check will be in Philippine pesos in the claimant’s name drawn on a local bank so that the payee may deposit or cash the check on the same day the payment is received.

Swift clarified that class counsel receives compensation through the court so there is no obligation on the part of claimants to pay class counsel.

The court has also ruled that if a claimant is represented by a personal counsel in the litigation, personal counsel may not receive more than five percent of the payment.

No human rights organization or other group is entitled to any portion of the claimant’s payment.

According to Swift, the litigation to collect on the 1995 judgment continues, so there could be additional distributions in the future.

The settlement looks like a miserable pittance compared to the claimants’ claim against the billions of dollars in ill-gotten Marcos wealth.

But no one is protesting because this could just be the first tranche, and there could be more distributions in the future.

And more importantly, “this is not about the money but a historic victory that would vindicate the human victims of an evil reign,” stressed one claimant.

1986 bishops' power: like the wrath of God

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

(This is a much shortened, revised version of my long article that came out in the Mr. and Ms. Special edition, Feb. 21-27, 1986. This is about how the Catholic bishops weighed in to help effect a tipping point. )

FINALLY SOMETHING was beginning to unravel. Out of the silent halls of the Catholic Church, the voices of the hierarchy crackled. The 1986 post-election statement of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) came down like the wrath of God.

Valentine’s Day 1986 will be written into Philippine history as the day the bishops condemned in their loudest voices a political exercise. Lifting up their hemlines, they at last waded into muddy waters to cross the moat and lay siege, so to speak, to an impenetrable fortress.

The bishops’ statement was, by far, the most scathing ever released by the CBCP then. It outdid all previous pastoral letters, statements and exhortations. And although nowhere in the statement was there mention of who was guilty in the elections they described as “unparalleled in the fraudulence of the conduct,” there was no mistaking who the bishops meant.

As former hostaged Jesuit Bishop Federico Escaler of the Ipil Prelature in Zamboanga del Sur unabashedly exclaimed: “Marcos will be boiling mad!”

Scoring the systematic disenfranchisement of voters, the widespread and massive vote-buying, the deliberate tampering with the election returns, intimidation, harassment, terrorism and murder, the bishops took issue with “a government in possession of power.” Signed by Cebu Archbishop and CBCP president Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, the statement warned: “If such a government does not of itself freely correct the evil it has inflicted on the people,” then it is the bishops’ serious moral obligation to denounce and correct the evil.

“We are morally certain that the people’s real will for change has been manifested,” said Bishop Teodoro Bacani. Added Bishop Francisco Claver, SJ: “The mandate for change is very clear. You make up your mind what the change means.”

Although the bishops did not go into specifics regarding the action to be taken, they prescribed “active resistance of evil by peaceful means—in the manner of Christ.” Their call would later take shape in Corazon C. Aquino’s seven-point program of civil obedience presented at the “Tagumpay ng Bayan” rally in Luneta where she called for a boycott of the crony banks, media, corporations and the delay of payments to the government. The bishops’ presence at the rally bolstered Aquino’s claim of victory in the elections.

When President Ferdinand E. Marcos imposed martial law in 1972, there was nary a whimper of protest from the CBCP. The silence sent shivers down the rank and file. As was expected, not a few militant Church people found themselves either arrested, detained, tortured, killed or deported.

Fast forward to 1986. They had come a long way, these monsignors.

Before the 1986 February snap elections, the CBCP released an exhortation, “We Must Obey God Rather Than Man,” calling on the faithful “not [to] passively surrender to the forces of evil and allow them to unilaterally determine the conduct and results of these elections.” Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin and his auxiliary bishops had written one in Dec. 1985 while Vidal also issued one for Cebu. Several bishops issued letters for their respective dioceses.

Coming out with the 1986 post-election statement was not easy. As Bishop Antonio Fortich of Bacolod said on their first day of deliberation, “It is 90 degrees Fahrenheit in here.” Closeted for days in the CBCP headquarters in Intramuros, several times retreating in silence to pray and discern, the 66 bishops (among the more than 100, several of whom were retired) divided themselves into groups and presented their reports on the elections. Namfrel’s Jose Concepcion, Vicente Jayme and Jose Feria came to give reports.

Not to be outdone, Imelda Marcos did a Nicodemus and came in the dead of night to reportedly try to convince the bishops not to come out with the statement.

Cory Aquino came, too, two hours before the bishops’ press conference to “assure Vidal of my non-violent course of action.” Outside the CBCP gates some 100 pro-Marcos people picketed. Some of them did not know why they were picketing.

There were two drafts to choose from. The bishops voted for the stronger one. Among the members of the drafting committee were Claver, Escaler and Bacani.

Four theologians helped in the drafting of the statement. They were Fathers Lambino, SJ, de Achutegui, SJ, Gomez, OP and Miranda, SVD. Vatican Secretary of State Agostino Cardinal Casaroli, sent guidelines which, Escaler said, were more or less followed.

While many bishops emerged from the conference beaming with satisfaction, there were a few who abstained from voting for the letter. Escaler said, “But it was all done in an open spirit. We were practically unanimous.”

In inceptum finis est. A beginning foreshadowing the end.

Postscript: It was Jaime Cardinal Sin, the archbishop of Manila, who issued the call to arms, so to speak, after elements in the military declared a putsch and broke away from the Marcos government on the night of Feb. 22. Sin shepherded millions to Edsa to support the putschists and prevent Marcos’ firepower from crushing the uprising. After three days of people power, the world watched the downfall of the Marcos dictatorship and hailed the rise of Corazon C. Aquino as the new president of the Republic.

Send feedback to cerespd@gmail.com or www.ceresdoyo.com

My car was SWP (stolen while parked)!

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

Filed Under: Transport, Road Transport, Crime, Robbery and theft

THE FEELING is indescribable, surreal. There’s an ice-cold ball in the pit of your stomach. Your mouth is dry. You wish you were just in the middle of a bad dream. Everyone around you has a ghastly look on their faces.

This is how it is during the first moments when you realize that your car has been stolen. All you can mutter is, my car was just here and now it’s gone!

On Dec. 28, 2002, I went to a friend’s house on Malakas St. in Diliman, Quezon City for a Christmas holiday lunch. I parked my one-and-a-half year-old Honda Civic on the street, unaware that I was in the “carnap capital” of the Philippines. Emerging from the gathering an hour later, I found my car gone.

I can say that after that experience, I became an expert on the subject of carnapping. I even wrote a three-part series on the what, where, why and how of it (Inquirer, April 25-27, 2003). Researching and writing the series was cathartic. It gave meaning to my ordeal. I valiantly told myself that I was not just a victim but one of the chosen meant to spread the bad news about the evil that was stalking the land.

What factors make Quezon City the car theft capital of the Philippines? Where in Quezon City is your car most likely to get stolen (circa 2002)? Where might you find “chopped up” parts of your stolen car being sold as “original?” How does a stolen car get resurrected and acquire a new identity? Has a car thief ever been convicted and sent to prison? These were some of the questions I answered in that series. Let me reprise the answers a bit:

So you’ve just lost your car to thieves. Here are the steps one should take immediately, steps I went through myself. A word of advice: go about the task serenely and put yourself in a state of equanimity. Bear in mind that it’s only a car that you lost, not your limbs, not your life.

1. If your car was stolen while parked (SWP) or forcibly taken (FT), report the incident immediately to the police precinct in the area where it happened. Bring your original registration papers which you keep at home or in your bag. (Never keep original copies in your car.) You will then be asked to write a complaint sheet, after which you will be issued a certification. That is not the end of it.

2. I was then made to proceed to the defunct Task Force Limbas of the Traffic Management Group (TMG) in Camp Crame to present the complaint sheet and certification. I was issued an alarm sheet containing the circumstances pertaining to my loss. I was told that the police was also going to send out an alarm to various regions. At that time, Task Force Limbas was the group assigned to combat car theft, hijacking and highway robbery.

3. The Philippine National Police’s TMG issues the certificate of non-recovery (for insurance claims) after 90 days at the most. To get this you have to submit clear machine copies of the complaint and alarm sheets mentioned earlier, plus identification document and picture. There’s a lot of paper work, I promise you.

Call it a privilege for journalists or what, but I did not have to wait 90 days. The head of TMG himself asked me if I needed my certificate of non-recovery even before the 90 days were up. (I was then doing research for my series on car theft and he was among those I interviewed.) I needed a car replacement right away and TMG’s top gun took pity on me. It helped that I did not look like I stole my own car or had it stolen to claim the insurance money. I had an Inquirer news story on the Metro page to show for it. In fact, I was one of two journalists who lost a car that day, both in Quezon City, the news reports said.

4. Be ready for more paper work for insurance claims. From the branch of the Land Tranportation Office (LTO) where your vehicle was originally registered, get clear and authenticated copies of the following: vehicle sales invoice, LTO confirmation certificate, LTO motor vehicle report showing the stencil of the motor and chassis numbers, PNO motor vehicle clearance certificate, and other proofs of ownership.

5. Read your insurance policy. Some insurance companies have add-ons in fine print which are in their favor. For example, if the vehicle was destroyed because of acts of terrorism or acts of God, the insurance company does not pay. Also, insurance companies do not always explain that the amount the car is insured for is not always what the claimant will get.

So if your car is insured for so much starting January 1 and it was stolen on December 31 of the same year, chances are the insurance company will slap some 12 months-worth of car depreciation and deduct from whatever you thought you could claim.

I argued with the insurance guys and said that it shouldn’t be that way because cars are insured yearly, not monthly. I argued well and they paid. I bought a new car immediately, my way of putting the trauma behind me.

There are many ways to lose a car as there are many ways to die by murder. The most common, as police blotters show, is SWP. This can happen in open public places, guarded parking lots, around churches, hospitals, restaurants, in front of homes.

Vehicles are also taken from inside people’s homes. Car thieves break in, open the gate and drive off with the vehicle. Or cars are taken from malls despite security guards supposedly patrolling the pay parking lots.

This from a police report: A family goes to a mall and parks the van in the guarded pay-parking lot. Several hours of shopping later, the family finds the van gone. Mall management says it takes no responsibility for stolen parked cars and please, the car owners are told, next time read the fine print on the parking stub.

Or vehicles can be forcibly taken (FT). According to a police report, a doctor left his home very early in the morning, for an emergency call perhaps, and was stopped by armed men. At gunpoint, his car was taken from him right at his gate.

When rent-a-car operators lose a vehicle to car renters, the case is listed under “failed to return” or FTR. The last one could fall under qualified theft. Used car dealers are favorite targets these days.

Cars dozing in the home garage are not 100 percent safe. A couple living on Malakas Street in Quezon City heard sounds coming from their driveway one night. When they peeped through the window, they saw their Pajero quietly moving out of their gate. When the Pajero reached the road, the wheel must have locked and the car refused to move. The carnappers fled under cover of darkness.

The number of vehicles stolen while parked is higher than those forcibly taken. While poking a gun could produce faster results, stealing a parked car could be easier if one knows how. Car thieves have fine-tuned the operation so that all it takes is a click, a kick and a snip, if no one is watching. Given a little more time, they can disable the anti-theft alarm system.

Those who steal parked cars are a varied lot. Most of them do not have firearms, only tools for opening and starting the vehicle. This way, if they are caught in the act, they could say they were only stealing valuables and would be charged only with petty theft.

Those who do SWP – the ones who run the errands and deliver the goods – are the small fry. It is the big fish who attend to the makeover, acquisition of new registration papers and eventual sale of the stolen property, either as a new (resurrected) car, or in pieces, a.k.a., “chop-chop.” They have the connections.

Organized gangs of car thieves maintain garages where the stolen MVs (motor vehicles) are brought. Years ago, a big place in posh Ayala-Alabang was discovered to be the “parking lot” of stolen vehicles.

But these MVs are not kept for long under a blanket. If the stolen MV, say a Honda CRV, is an “order” – yes, there are orders – it is brought right away to a place for the make-over.

Stolen MVs, more often than not, reach their intended destinations before the so-called nationwide alert is issued. Despite the archipelagic nature of the Philippines, which requires island-hopping, many stolen MVs leave Metro Manila for the provinces without much hassle.

There have been stories about middle-income island provinces suddenly awash in second-hand cars with spanking new looks. The more expensive top-of-the line sport utility vehicles (SUV) need not go far but, some police sources reveal, some of these vehicles were taken to as far as Indonesia, via the back door some years back.

Anti-car theft officials have bemoaned the scrapping of the clearance for interisland travel or transport of MVs. Clearance is a deterrent to car theft, but this has been a hassle for motorists who do interisland travel on wheels.

I don’t know if insurance companies still sell total wrecks along with these wrecked vehicles’ papers. The buyers are not interested in the junk but in the junk’s papers and serialized parts. These wrecks will be resurrected in the body of a stolen MV, most likely an “order” from a client.

Stolen MVs will assume the identities of the wrecks in the same way that fugitives take on the identities of dead persons, preferably unknowns.

But this type of operation is deliberate and needs a lot of planning. It is not worth it if the vehicle to be brought back to life is not top-of-the-line.

The anti-fencing law (PD 1612) and anti-car theft law (RA 6539) are supposed to curb carnapping and prevent the sale of stolen motor vehicles. The bad news is that despite these laws, hardly anyone has been convicted and jailed for car theft.

Police superintendent Alberto M. Taguiam Jr., chief of the Traffic Management Group’s legal division, said that for a car thief to get convicted, the victim has to fully cooperate or file a complaint.

There have to be witnesses, with the car thief preferably caught in the act. Mere possession of a stolen vehicle does not constitute car theft. The suspect can instead be charged with violating the anti-fencing law, a lesser offense.

Sadly enough, as recent cases have shown, criminals have gotten more creative every day. The recent targets: Used car dealers who are victims of FTR (failed to return). Criminals pose as can’t-do-any-harm prospective buyers who even have children tagging along with them. And worse, they take the dealers along for the test drive and murder them, as have happened to victims Emerson Lozano and Venson Evangelista.

Without the connivance of bad elements in government agencies, car thieves cannot thrive and indulge in this lucrative criminal activity. Stolen vehicles can become cash only if they go through “legal” processing in government agencies and if government functionaries and law enforcers perform shut-eye operations. •

ALARUMS
Eight ways to keep your vehicle safe from carnappers


Sunday Inquirer Magazine
First Posted 15:27:00 02/19/2011

Filed Under: Crime, Robbery and theft, Transport, Road Transport, Safety of Citizens, Security (general)

CAR thieves who steal vehicles while they’re parked are experts in opening car doors, dismantling anti-theft gadgets and even disabling the alarm system. That anti-theft gadget hooked on the steering wheel and the break pedal is easy to unhinge, says one anti-car theft expert. “One good kick and it comes off.”
1. In the absence of an alarm system, the expert suggests the metal bar that is placed across the steering wheel. It can’t be kicked and locks the wheel more securely. It’s no match against a gun, of course.
2, While keeping a copy of the OR-CR (official receipt-car registration) in the car is necessary for police checks, it is better to keep this in one’s wallet or bag. Why? If car thieves find a copy of the car’s OR-CR in your car, they’d know right away who the owner is. If they see that your car’s registration renewal is up soon, they could have someone pose as the car owner, register the motor vehicle under the owner’s name in another place and request for a new car plate number. The car’s color could even be changed.
3. Beware of valet parking. One should also avoid leaving the car key with valet parking attendants. If you have to, leave the duplicate, not the main key that can open the trunk. The key could go to the wrong hands and be duplicated, and the car marked as easy prey.
4. Through the car plate number, the car owner’s name and address can easily be found at the LTO records and the owner’s whereabouts tracked. Car thieves also go to parking lots, park their decrepit car, pick up someone else’s car and drive away with it. Guards don’t always read the plate number written on the parking stub to see if the car being driven out is the right one. Car thieves would have more difficulty with parking that uses digital cards.
5. Read the fine print on parking stubs. Mall and parking lot owners say they are not responsible for losses. One should always turn on the alarm system or secure the wheel with an anti-theft gadget.
6. Most paid parking places have warnings for drivers not to stay inside the car while waiting. The same applies when parked in public places. Inside paid parking areas, car thieves could still take the car and parking stub at gun point.
7. If a suspicious vehicle is trailing you, drive fast to the nearest police outpost or to a place that you think is safe. And if a gun is pointed at you, give up the car. Your life is more important.
8. Before going out of your gate and when coming in especially at night, look around for suspicious characters near your gate. They could take your car at gun point and worse, ask you to open your home to them.

From interviews by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo

PH as state party in International Criminal Court

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

Filed Under: Crime and Law and Justice, Judiciary (system of justice), Foreign affairs & international relations

A FEW more pushes and a significant feature will be added to the Philippines’ history as a democratic nation. A few more steps and the Philippines will stand side by side with great democratic nations that have ratified the Rome Statute and joined the International Criminal Court (ICC).

After years of lobbying by ICC advocates in the Philippines, it looks like the waiting will soon be over. But two midwives—the executive and the legislative branches of government—will have to help in the birthing.

A backgrounder: The Rome Statute is the founding treaty of the ICC, the first permanent international court that is capable of trying perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. With headquarters in The Hague, The Netherlands, the ICC represents one of the world’s most significant opportunities to prevent or drastically reduce the deaths and devastation caused by conflict. Created in 2002, the ICC is now a fully functional judicial institution, with all of the senior officials of the court in place.

With the 2010 ratification by Moldova, Bangladesh, Seychelles and Sta. Lucia, the number of ICC state parties has reached 114 or more than half of the world’s nations. Ratifying the statute will mean joining the global movement to end impunity.

The good news is that the only remaining government agency hereabouts that had consistently opposed ratification, the Department of National Defense, has finally changed its stand. The Coalition for the ICC (CICC-Philippines) has written a letter to President Benigno Aquino III asking that his office transmit the ratification bill to the Senate. This move is required by the Constitution. A two-thirds vote in the Senate is needed for the bill to be passed.

The Philippines is among the 139 signatory states, having signed the statute in 2000, but is not yet among the state parties now numbering 114. Being a signatory is one thing, getting a country to ratify and participate is another. The Philippines has seen developments in the ICC and was actively engaged in the United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an ICC in 1998. This means that the Philippines had demonstrated its commitment to the international justice system as enshrined in the Rome Statute of the ICC.

According to the CICC, ratifying the treaty would be consistent with the Philippine government’s commitment to uphold human rights as enshrined in the Constitution, and to advance international law as reflected in “The Philippine Act on Crimes against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes against Humanity,” adopted on Dec. 11, 2009. Mr. Aquino reaffirmed this commitment during International Human Rights Day in December last year.

Former CICC co-chair and now head of the Commission on Human Rights Etta Rosales has stressed that “ratifying the Rome Statute would demonstrate the commitment of the new government of the Philippines to uphold justice, human rights and the rule of law.” She urged the President “to facilitate the prompt treatment of the ratification dossier to allow the Philippines to continue its path toward becoming a state party to the treaty.”

Next month ICC President and Judge Sang Hyun Song will be visiting the Philippines for the second time and he hopes to meet with the President. Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Loren Legarda, said to be ICC advocates, are expected to move for the Senate to adopt the ratification bill. But the President has to make the first move.

Asia and the Pacific region are underrepresented in the ICC. Only seven Asian states—Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Japan, South Korea, Mongolia and Timor-Leste—are ICC members. The Philippines’ inclusion will strengthen the region’s participation in the ICC and encourage other states in Asia to join the growing global movement for accountability for the most serious crimes and to fight impunity. The Philippines is now the focus of the Universal Ratification Campaign, a monthly worldwide campaign to encourage countries to ratify the Rome Statute.

As an ICC state party, the Philippines can participate in the annual Assembly of States Parties, the ICC’s governing body. During such assemblies states make important decisions in relation to the administration of the court, including the election of judges and prosecutor.

A year from now, six judges, the prosecutor and deputy prosecutor will complete their terms of office and vacate their positions. This, ICC advocates said, will be a good opportunity for the Philippines and other state parties in Asia to nominate candidates to these posts to ensure better representation in this new justice mechanism.

Central to the court’s mandate, the CICC explained, is “the principle of complementarity,” which holds that the court will only intervene if national legal systems are unable or unwilling to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.

There are currently five active investigations before the Court: the Central African Republic; the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Darfur, Sudan; Uganda, and Kenya. The ICC has publicly issued 12 arrest warrants and three summonses. Three trials are ongoing. The Office of the Prosecutor has announced that it is examining at least 10 situations on four continents, including those in Afghanistan, Chad, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Georgia, Guinea, Honduras, South Korea, Nigeria and Palestine.

No to impunity. Yes to the ICC.

Send feedback to cerespd@gmail.com or www.ceresdoyo.com

Study finds smelling flowers hazardous

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


 
Philippine Daily Inquirer/NEWS/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo
(unshortened version)
MANILA, Philippines—Don’t eat the flowers. But is it safe to smell them?
On the eve of Valentine’s Day, which triggers a huge demand for flowers, an international food organization issued a warning on the toll pesticides used in the flower growing takes on flower workers.

FIAN, an international human rights organization that has been for the right to food for more than 20 years and which has a network in the Philippines, disclosed the results of a study that showed the adverse health impact of pesticides in Ugandan flower production for the European market.

FIAN called attention to the European campaign “Fair Flowers—for Human Rights” and its study on the toxic effects of pesticides in flower production to back up its warning.
The study was conducted by a partner in the campaign, the Uganda Workers’ Education Association (UWEA).
Prodded by the study’s alarming findings, campaign organizers are demanding stricter controls on pesticide residue on flowers imported by the European Union, and are asking that the country of origin of imported flowers should be indicated.
UWEA is urging public institutions, flower traders, and consumers to buy “socially and environmentally produced flowers.”
There are as yet no environmental, health, or labor watchdogs checking whether flower farm workers in the Philippines are exposed to the danger or how they are being protected when handling pesticides, in spite of the vigilance of advocates for organic food production.
FIAN said the study showed that flower workers in all areas of production were exposed to pesticides.
It said that more than 40 percent of the interviewed workers never used protective equipment. Because of lack or inadequate protective equipment and limited knowledge on the recommended use of pesticides, a large number of workers showed symptoms that were “very likely the consequences of pesticide exposure.”
Ugandan workers, FIAN noted, had reported problems such as chest discomfort, skin irritation, headaches, and sleep disorders. Workers in other flower-producing countries had reported similar ailments.
“The lack of adequate protection is caused by employers’ ruthless ignorance of national and international occupational health and security standards,” said Sophie Vessel of FIAN Austria.
“The respective governments lack the political will to control the implementation of labor laws,” said Gertrud Falk of FIAN Germany.
The findings in Uganda are backed by surveys of the Pesticide Action Network in Africa, Asia and Latin America and are in line with the conclusion that that highly hazardous pesticides are often used in the agricultural sector and that workers rarely get full personal protective equipment.
FIAN said that the use of hazardous pesticides in flower production is higher than that of agricultural food production because flowers are normally not eaten.  The European Union has not set a threshold for pesticide residue on imported flowers, FIAN lamented.

Alena Věžníková of the Ecumenical Academy of Prague said: “Many workers fear not being able to earn an income for the family in the future due to injuries and the possible long term effects of pesticide exposure.” Added Florence Kroff of FIAN Belgium: “When
mothers reach home after work, they often hug their children before changing clothes.” This means the families of the workers could be affected as well.

“In our ongoing petition, said Clara Moeremans from Netwerk Bewust Verbruiken, “we ask the decision makers in the European Union to call for a European legislation which makes it obligatory that flowers imported to the European Union are examined for pesticide residue. Pesticides which the World Health Organization categorizes as hazardous (WHO class I) should not be allowed to enter the European Union market.”

”Furthermore, an increasing demand for fair flowers by the labels Flower Label Program (FLP) and FAIRTRADE can put more pressure on the owners of the Ugandan flower farms to convince them to comply with their standards,” added Steffi Neumann of Vamos Muenster.
Online petitions and links to the study could be accessed on the Internet. Flowers for Human Rights pose these questions:

·       Are you aware that the cut flower you buy in the supermarket or at your florist might have travelled thousands of kilometres to please you at home or in the office? Indeed, an increasing share of flowers which are sold in Europe is grown in countries close to the equator.

·       Do you wonder why? Around the equator conditions for growing flowers are more favourable than in Europe. Those countries don't have cold winters, they constantly have 12 hours daylight and they have fertile soil. Labour is cheap and, labour and environmental laws are not as strict as in Europe, or at least, they are not enforced.

·       Are you concerned about the latter? We, too, are. That's why we have started a campaign to raise awareness on labour rights, workers' health, and environmental protection in the flower industry.

The link to the to the study is: www.flowers-for-human-rights.org while the link to the online petition is:  http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/fairflowers/

Love is On the Air

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

A RADIO listener calls to air her worst fear. In her husband’s pockets, she says, she’s been finding table napkins with the cellphone numbers of women who, she discovered, work in entertainment joints. What is she to do?

A night watchman sobs unabashedly on the phone, talking about his unrequited love for a woman who has rejected his affections. Alone in the dark, lovelorn and forlorn, the young man pours out his heart, grateful for the listening ear.

From the United Kingdom, a Filipino nanny calls to say she has received a text message of endearment from her husband. Oh, but the message was not meant for her, she found out, but for someone else. “Wrong send!” she cries.

A distraught mother calls to say she is about to end her life and her three children’s. For almost two hours, the riveting real-life drama unfolds on air on the popular “Dr. Love Radio Show,” and listeners who are tuned in participate directly and indirectly in preventing a tragedy from happening.

Hosted by Brother Jun Banaag O.P., Dr. Love Radio Show (DLRS) airs from 10 p.m. to midnight from Monday to Friday on DZMM (630 khz). But since DZMM airs as a “teleradyo,” listeners can not only tune in to DLRS on the radio, but also watch it on cable television.

Brother Jun is “Dr. Love,” and callers address him either way, like he is their close friend or trusted confidante. Juanito Banaag in real life (he is not a Junior, he clarifies), Brother Jun is a veteran radio broadcaster and disc jockey with decades of experience in radio. The title “Brother” and the O.P. after his name have to do with his being a lay member of the Dominican Order (O.P. for Order of Preachers). He is a husband, father and grandfather who, because of his own past experiences, is right at home in the love department.

DLRS is a two-hour counseling program with people calling in to air their problems for Brother Jun/Dr. Love to address. Listeners may also send text messages. In between are breaking news aired live from all over the country, and songs of yesteryears.

Incidentally, another two-hour Dr. Love program (1 to 3 p.m. Monday to Friday), also hosted by Brother Jun, began airing last month but this is entirely devoted to music of a bygone era and without the counseling component. Audience response has been amazing, a sign that many people pine for the hit tunes of yesteryears that bring people back to their youth.

Seven hours later, at 10 p.m., Bro. Jun is back on air and segues into counseling mode, with the same music menu and breaking news. In between calls, there is the song refrain, “Dr. Love, give me Dr. Love, you’re the one I have been dreaming of…” while a red heart throbs onscreen. Sometimes, one hears a few bars of “Somewhere in Time” from the mushy movie of the same title. Kitschy sounds, indeed, for a veteran DJ who has a vast repertoire of vintage love tunes.

When the calls and text messages start to come in, Brother Jun is in his element. “There are more female callers than male callers,” he says. “DLRS was initially for the young, those having LQs (lovers’ quarrels), and then it evolved. Now we deal with marital and family problems, infidelity among them. Priests tell me that these are issues that they cannot tackle fully in the confessional.”

Calls come from all over the country and abroad, some from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). Many send greetings, others have life-threatening problems, like that of “Janice” who thought that ending her children’s life and her own was her only option. (We wrote about this in detail in our Nov. 4, 2010 Human Face column. The piece’s title was “Miracle, Live on Dr. Love Radio Show.”)

Although Brother Jun says he received some negative feedback on how he handled this problem – he focused on the sick children who were themselves emergency cases instead of the suicidal Janice – the fact is, Janice momentarily forgot her dark intentions. A horde of listeners, many of them taxi drivers who drove to the hospital to lend her support, became part of the unfolding drama. (Janice and her errant husband are now undergoing counseling.)

Then there was the case of a man who also wanted to kill himself because his wife had left him. “We were able to convince him not to do it,” Brother Jun says. And there was a battered maid who was kept like a prisoner by her employer, and on whose behalf a neighbor called Dr. Love. The program, with the help of taxi drivers, field reporters, neighbors, the police and barangay officials, came to her rescue.

Because Brother Jun has a network of good-hearted contacts, he is able to refer cases to them, some on the spot as in the case of Janice, which got an undersecretary of health heading for the hospital in the dead of night to attend to her case.

Oh, but he has received death threats, too, says Brother Jun, although they are few and far between. “There was this police officer who sent a message that said, ‘P...i…mo, itutumba kita (You, s.o.b., I will put you down).’ This was because his mistress had called the program and I advised her to break off with him, and she did.”

Brother Jun’s in-your-face counseling style has some counselees taking a direct hit. But take it or leave it. He does not mince words and even resorts to name-calling, but with a smile. “Yung kambing mong asawa,” (Your goat of a husband) or “Kuneho ka (You, rabbit, you),” he castigates a man with multiple partners. And he can be sassy as well, almost vulgar at times. To a woman weighed down by the outcome of an illicit affair: “Bakit mo kasi ibinaba ang panty mo? (But why did you pull down your panty?)”

To female callers who feign being virginal but are playing with fire, Brother Jun cannot resist delivering the coup d’grace: “Hija, naisuko mo na ba ang Bataan?” (colloquial for “Have you given up your virginity?”) Opo (yes), Dr. Love, the caller confesses. Brother Jun does not instantly call down fire and brimstone but he can deliver a mouthful to stress the consequences of an illicit liaison.

“Sa madaling salita, kabit ka, (In short, you are a mistress),” he says unequivocably to a kept woman. Fortunately, Brother Jun’s sense of humor and naughty asides more than make up for his sometimes merciless assaults. He can be funny, and many of his fans tune in not because they have problems but because they are entertained.

Brother Jun, one finds out, was not born yesterday. He is as human as his callers. Soon turning 60, he often openly admits on air that he’s “been there, done that,” that he was himself a prodigal husband for 10 years. Admission, he says, is one way of showing his contrition. Now a full-fledged lay Dominican, Brother Jun and his wife Lourdes are also involved in church ministries. He is a much sought after preacher and speaker, not just because of his speaking voice but because of the wisdom he imparts.

“We underwent eight years of spiritual formation,” he says. Like their religious counterparts, lay aspirants to the Dominican Order such as the Banaag couple have to pass through several stages – postulancy, novitiate, temporary and perpetual vows. Brother Jun is vice provincial of the lay Dominicans in the Philippines.

Brother Jun studied theater arts at the Far Eastern University and was drawn into radio broadcasting while he was still in college. His stints in different radio stations are too many to mention, but his last one before moving to ABS-CBN’s DZMM was on Radio Veritas, where “Dr. Love” had its beginnings.

In tackling the cases he encounters on air, Bro. Jun hews close to the official teachings of the Catholic Church. He makes his stand on extramarital sex, abortion, divorce. He urges battered spouses to get out of the union if the abusive partner does not show signs of reform. A wife should be able to prove to her incorrigible philandering husband that she and the children can strike it out on their own. And sex education? “I tried doing that in one program in the past,” he says. Alas, people from the prude sector of society raised a howl.

The problems are varied, colorful, puzzling, shocking, even hilarious. But most if not all have to do with relationships—in the family, at work, with neighbors and even strangers (e.g., courtship via text or email and the danger it could pose). Issues of health, money and religious beliefs thicken the heady mix. The youngest caller, he remembers, was an eight-year-old whose mother was suffering from a kidney ailment.

Brother Jun ends his program with the next day’s gospel reading and strains of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Pie Jesu.” DLRS, he is pleased to say, has received two citations from the Catholic Mass Media Awards. But even more rewarding are the feedback and assurance from listeners.

“This program is not a job,” Brother Jun/Dr. Love muses. “This is an apostolate.” •

Blame game in Reyes' suicide

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

A nun I know very well keeps a photo of her grade school class to which she and former Armed Forces Chief of Staff Angelo T. Reyes belonged. Reyes, she told me, was a big, bright kid, one of the good boys who would walk her home after class hours. They became tinikling partners in Grace 5.

Unbearable pain of betrayal. Unbearable pain of exposure. Failure. Humiliation. Rejection. Defeat. Shame. Guilt. These are just a few factors that are casually cited as reasons why people kill themselves. But suicide is not as simple as cause and effect, experts say.

Whatever it was precisely that pushed former AFP chief and four-time cabinet secretary Reyes to pull the trigger on himself two days ago we will never know for sure. All of the above? Those who had been watching last week’s hearings at the Senate and saw Reyes so suddenly and so publicly put on the spot and made to categorically admit or deny his receiving millions of pesos taken from military coffers would surely say that the process that Reyes went through was indeed humiliating.

Humiliating because the question was suddenly sprung on him, so humiliating because it took Reyes some time to compose himself and say yes or no. Humiliating because he is known to have had great accomplishments as a military man and government official, then suddenly his integrity was being questioned. The onus was on him and he was being put alongside alleged crooks in the military, multi-millionaire Gen. Carlos F. Garcia among them. And Reyes’ main accuser was no other than his own subordinate in the service and his kumpare, Lt. Col. George Rabusa of the military’s budget department.

How much could a man take? And is suicide the only option? Why should a much decorated general crumble because of allegations? Why must he succumb when there was yet no case filed against him? Did he fear the outcomes? Did he think killing himself would uphold his honor and protect his family? Would ending it all put a stop to the investigations and protect the military institution that he had served?

I thought Garcia was the more likely candidate for suicide given the piles of damning evidence that support the plunder charge against him. But obviously, Garcia would rather resort to a plea bargain, that is, plead guilty to a lesser crime, than kill himself. It was, in fact, his plea bargain so easily granted by the Office of the Ombudsman that riled the lawmakers who then called for an investigation.

From out of the Pandora’s box that was flung open by the Garcia plunder case was the accusation against Reyes. Bolstered by former government auditor Heidi Mendoza’s expose, the not-so-hidden rot in the military establishment was being forced out into the open. Reyes who had served the Arroyo administration and was no longer in government service became fair game.

Reyes’ elder and defender, retired Commodore Rex Robles makes it appear as if Reyes was singled out for the slaughter. As in, why him only? People expect more to be revealed so Reyes’ supporters shouldn’t think he was meant to take all the arrows by his lonesome. Sure, some of Reyes’ senate investigators who might have had an axe to grind against him could not suppress their delight in pushing him to the wall. But this does not mean that Rabusa’s expose should be ignored. It is just the tip of the iceberg.

To portray Reyes at this time as a sacrificial lamb that chose death over dishonor would make the investigations look as if some lawmakers are merely out to settle scores. Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile stressed that while he felt sad about his friend’s demise, “I must uphold the right of the Senate to conduct an investigation in aid of legislation.” Giving up this prerogative, he said, may lead to a breakdown of “this government, this nation, this institution.”

In other words, the investigation is not for bleeding hearts. Even Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago who had herself experienced suicide in her family said plainly that, yes, with death, Reyes’ liability has been extinguished, but his family is not yet off the hook.

Sen. Gregorio Honasan hs proposed closed-door investigations for sensitive cases so as not to unduly expose suspects to public humiliation and tarnish their reputation, suspects who might turn out innocent after all. It is plain to see that the manner of questioning in investigations leaves much to be desired. So much browbeating, verbal bullying and threatening. Can’t these lawmakers speak softly and carry a big stick?

The blame game in suicide cases is to be expected but is off the mark. Those who do not know better tend to assign blame or, afflicted with guilt, they think that death could have been prevented, if only... But suicide is more complicated than we think. A psychotherapist I know well had told me that “there are many factors that combine and interact and we have to know how they work together…” I quoted her in a piece I wrote about a poverty-stricken girl who hanged herself and who was being lionized in the media as a martyr-hero. Poverty, it turned out, was not necessarily the triggering factor.

No one expected Reyes, a soldier to the core, to immediately capitulate to that first beating at the senate investigation. There is more to his suicide than meets the eye. Reyes chose to bring what he knew to his grave but, sadly, he leaves his family, whom he sought to protect, to fend for themselves and face the music.

It was early morning. The general aimed his gun at his heart and ended his life at the resting place of his parents, his blood splattering on the marble slab on his beloved Mamang’s grave. What did Reyes intend these to mean? 

Send feedback to cerespd@gmail.com or www.ceresdoyo.com

Hail, Heidi

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

I WRITE this piece to add to the many voices and written pieces hailing the good, the true and the wonderful that have risen out of the deadly scum that threatens to drown this nation.

This hurried piece may not sound like a piece of erudition but I write this to humbly and personally say, “Thank you, Heidi Mendoza.” Thank you for braving the way in the wilderness, for shaking the fortress, for showing us how to be a Filipino patriot, for the unforgettable shining moment.

These past days I’ve been constantly hearing comments about the bad news hogging the headlines both in the print and the broadcast media. Where are the good news? Many demand to know. Surely there must be a lot out there, they say to my face. It’s as if we in the media have not been looking for the good news hard enough.

But even from out of the bad news comes the good—such as the earth-shaking revelations of former government fraud auditor Heidi Mendoza of the Commission on Audit (COA) who shocked this nation with her detailed account of how millions in Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) funds were funneled to where they shouldn’t be, and in such a crass and craven way. How persons deliberately carried out their dark intentions. That’s not good news?

But it is. The good news here is the fact that one brave woman came out of the dark to tell the world what she knew, how she knew, why she knew. She was right there where this happened and she would have none of it. And so she eventually resigned in disgust despite the tempting gifts being dangled before her. But not before she had gotten a good grasp of the evil that was creeping and could point to damning evidence that would boost her suspicions and findings.

But, yes, credit must also go to former Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo who tapped Mendoza to help boost the plunder case against former Armed Forces of the Philippines comptroller Carlos F. Garcia. Marcelo’s work has indeed borne fruit and he, like his biblical namesake, can now chant the “Nunc Dimittis.”

Now, years later, here is Mendoza, springing on us everything that she knew and showing proofs of what she had discovered. She didn’t stumble on them accidentally, she had a specific job to do as the auditor assigned to the AFP. Mendoza could have easily gotten snared in the web of corruption inside a formidable institution whose leaders have long been under a cloud of doubt. She could have easily succumbed and done cover-up work.

As some auditors are reportedly wont to do. I have learned that some auditors who are assigned to government agencies conspire with the agencies’ personnel in shady activities and the pocketing of funds, even teaching the uninitiated a thing or two. Bantay-salakay, these people are called, and they should be tarred and feathered along with their accomplices and then marched down Commonwealth Avenue.

There are whistle-blowers who are credible because they were once participants in irregularities such as bribery, payola, kickbacks, etc. and are trying to come clean because they would be in hot water anyway, they fear for their lives or suddenly have a crisis of conscience. Mendoza is different. She had not helped herself to dirty money. She kept what she knew in her heart and waited for the right moment to come.

Bravery does not mean being unafraid. Mendoza is afraid, especially for her young children who she thinks she has put in harm’s way and who have yet to fully understand the significance of her brave act. She said so herself during the hearing at the House of Representatives as she pleaded for their safety and protection. One child suffered a mild heart attack, she said. Another asked if her mother really loved her children, else why would she put them under stress?

But bravery is not about being unafraid, it is about pushing the limits to do what is right and good and true despite one’s own fears and uncertainties. Then with one’s daring and resolve comes the grace of fortitude.

I could feel my blood rising to my face as I watched the hearing live on TV and on seeing Garcia, who is facing charges of plunder and who just might get away with a lighter sentence and keep much of his loot in unbelievable amounts, courtesy of the present Office of the Ombudsman that agreed to a plea bargain despite damning evidence. That was what the hearing was all about: how Garcia might get away with a plea bargain. Could this be reversed?

But more riveting than the plea bargain issue was Mendoza’s bombshell about missing funds in the millions, taken from the P200-million United Nations fund representing reimbursement for peacekeeping operations and equipment. This was explained in detail in Wednesday’s front page. This is not all that Garcia is being charged for.

It does not take a genius of an auditor to spot the red flags, as Mendoza called her unusual finds in the bank transactions, but it takes a dedicated person, a woman of true grit, to pursue the trail and find out where the red flags lead to and then declare: This is wrong, I will have none of this. I will expose this to the world because the Filipinos have the right to know.

Heidi Mendoza’s first name reminds me of the character in Johanna Spyri’s famous classic children’s story, “Heidi, the Girl from the Swiss Alps.” Might she have been named after the brave, precocious orphaned Alpine girl who brought sunshine and meaning to the lives of persons around her?

Mendoza now joins the ranks of whistle-blowers, Clarissa Ocampo among them, who have come forward to tell us about the bad, the ugly and the odorous and, in the process, became the good news themselves.