Vendetta, not accountability (2)

“The past can’t hurt you anymore unless you let it.” -Alan Moore, V for Vendetta

THE following are the other characters in this charade of justice called the impeachment complaint against Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

If you were watching the same impeachment hearing on television last week, I would not blame you if you feel like it’s a déjà vu. It has been as fast as the congressional inquiry against Sen. Leila de Lima.

So far, we have mentioned two of the characters behind this show. The bruised lawyer and the architect predicated the complaint. Now let’s dig deeper into the cast and characters.

The Pork-Loving Butterfly

The chairman of the House committee on justice is in charge of facilitating the deliberation on the impeachment complaint against Sereno. He is none other than Oriental Mindoro 2nd District Rep. Reynaldo Umali.

What is his beef against Sereno, you ask?

To be fair, he may have a grudge against all the justices who ruled that the Priority Development Assistance Funds unconstitutional or pork barrel.

In September 2013, he was accused of funneling P10 million into a non-government organization allegedly owned by the alleged pork barrel queen herself, Janet Lim-Napoles. In his defense, Umali claimed that the money did not come from his pork barrel but from the then Agriculture Secretary Presco Alcala’s Priority Development Fund.

In December 2013, Umali revealed that he was working on impeachment cases against as many as three Supreme Court justices for flip-flopping on their decisions on the PDAF.

You must remember that Sereno was already the chief justice when the High Tribunal ruled the PDAF unconstitutional.

Let’s not also forget that Umali first belonged to the Liberal Party. That’s right, the “dilawan.” He skittered on to the now ruling party, PDP-Laban, just as the so-called supermajority was forming in the Lower House.

The Bypassed Justice

One male Supreme Court Justice has been poised to be the next chief justice. At least, that’s what he has allegedly been saying to the SC staff for the longest time.

According to reports from SC staff, he makes frequent proclamations that he will be the next chief justice and his wife will be the next presiding justice of the Court of Appeals.

So, you can just imagine his dismay when the then President Benigno Simeon Aquino III chose Sereno over him as the next chief justice. This decision, however, was not entirely a vindictive move on the part of PNoy.

Talk has it that he deliberately did not submit an application during the process of discernment for appointing the next chief justice. He felt that he was a shoo-in for the position and his regular visits to Malacañang have given him that assurance (of sorts).

The Meme Girl

A meme, with the picture of another SC justice on it, has been going around on social media platforms with the caption: “I-tag mo ang ka opisina mo na backstabber.”

Insiders at SC claim she went the rounds to seek the support of other justices against Sereno. To quote: “She does her rounds with judges on a mission to spread gossip about the Chief Justice.”

However, Sereno still supported her in her bid as head of the Women’s Judges Association of which she still heads to this day.

In 2011, she was accused of misusing funds. The World Bank told her that the SC will have to return the US$199 thousand (P8.6 million) of the US$21-million loan which was meant for judicial reform but was instead used for projects not covered by the loan agreement.

In July this year, the Justice allegedly circulated a memorandum to the other SC justices containing the very same three objections in lawyer Lorenzo Gadon’s 27-allegation complaint against Sereno.

So, there. That cast of characters complete the Sereno impeachment circus. If your suspects behind this circus aren’t listed in this two-part series, then chances are you are more inquisitive than I am. Please do contact me, electronically or personally, so we can add those to my next My Wit’s End.

However, you have to back it up with facts. We don’t just whip up something out of thin air. Don’t be afraid because you’ll also be covered by the Sotto Law.

Also referred to as the Press Freedom Law (RA 53), the Sotto Law protects the publisher, editor, columnist or duly accredited reporter of any newspaper, magazine or periodical of general circulation. It protects the journalist from being compelled to name his news source.

Yesterday, Digong Dada submitted his proposal for the extension of martial rule in Mindanao. So let’s maximize the rights and civil liberties we have now while we still can.

Road to perdition

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” – Saint Bernard of Clairvaux [c. 1150]

AS if the execution of 17-year old Kian Loyd delos Santos, under the pretext of this administration’s bloody war on drugs, is not enough, Education Secretary Leonor Briones still pushed on to issue Department Order No. 40, Series of 2017 — the “Guidelines for the Conduct of Random Drug Testing in Public and Private Secondary Schools.”

I find it hypocritical when Briones issued a statement condemning the murder of delos Santos and 29 other minors before him when the drug testing will seriously undermine the safety and the right to education of all the other minors. (Yes, other minors have been killed under Digong Dada’s so-called war on drugs.)

Look, I understand that we need to stop illegal drugs from destroying the youth. Let me extend an olive branch then. I think it is accurate to say that most, if not all, Filipinos want to see the end of the drug menace that has gripped this country.

However, even if we declare this as our “basis of unity,” there are still two schools of thought on how to go about ending the drug scourge to contend with. These are through rehabilitation and by a war of attrition.

I’d like to state upfront that I’m for rehabilitation because for me substance abuse is a health problem. You may not agree with me but that’s that.

It’s not that I can’t break it down for you but if you’re one of the zombies who is pissed off because the Commission on Human Rights isn’t investigating crimes committed by drug addicts and other mentally ill people, none of what I write here will make sense to you anyway. So, I’ll cut to the chase because I’m digressing already.

As New York-based Human Rights Watch’s Phelim Kine statement: “Imposing mandatory drug testing of students when Philippine police are committing rampant summary killings of alleged drug users puts countless children in danger for failing a drug test. Education officials should be protecting students, not putting them in harm’s way through mandatory drug tests.”

Although Briones assured the lawmakers during the hearing on the Department of Education’s 2018 budget that the results of the random drug testing will be kept confidential, the schools are still empowered to impose sanctions on the students who will test positive which includes expulsion or denial of admission.

Let me digress on this for a while. My friend Rhona Canoy, who runs the International School in Kauswagan, told me they also conduct drug tests. It is random and is not mandatory, she tells me. Failing their drug test, she said, will not be a reason for expulsion since they have rehabilitation in mind.

Now back to the point I was making. So the government, in effect, will not only push the troubled youth out of school but will also put them in the crosshairs of the overzealous police and their community assets. It will create the impetus of a whole new wave of other “delos Santoses” in its wake.

Like in delos Santos’ case, we have seen how the police did their “intelligence gathering.” They killed him first and then looked for pieces of “damning evidence” to justify their kill. They even scoured through Facebook for that “damning evidence.”

So even if Briones assures parents that the list of the drug test results would be kept confidential, what’s to keep the police from getting their hands on this list when push comes to shove? You ask how? The Deped order is based on Republic Act 9165, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs of 2002. Who enforces this law? You’re correct — the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the police. You can be sure that they will have access to this list. Even barangays have their own list, for crying out loud. I will discuss this administration’s penchant for “lists” next week.

I fear that if this administration will stubbornly continue on this path, we will be counting more dead bodies of our youth in the days to come.

Yes, we all want the drug scourge to end. That is a good and noble intention — to protect what Dr. Jose Rizal called the “hope of our nation.”

However, this war on attrition against drugs will kill the youth much faster than the drugs themselves will destroy their future if we continue to tread this road. And yes, Secretary Briones, their blood would be on your hands, too.

Hunting fake news (1)

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” – Dr. Seuss

AS promised, I will be sharing to you, my dear readers, tips on how to hunt for fake news. More importantly, what to do about it. Understandably, this will take more than one column. Here’s the first of two parts on fake news.

Ever since social media platforms became “weaponized” for political gain, fake news has been the buzz word all over the blogosphere. I cited an example about Philippine News Agency’s fake news article entitled “95 nations in 3rd UPR convinced no EJKs in PHL” in my last column. I also discussed PNA’s attempt to cover it up with another article–slightly reworded but equally deceiving “PHL’s human rights situation commended at UPR.” A government functionary said they were commended by the UN Human Rights Commission on its 27th Universal Period Review. They didn’t. The team was commended on particular points like what it has done to combat human trafficking but other than that the review pretty much grotesque. To say that UPR27 commended the country for its human rights situation is a lie meant to deceive the more gullible, Facebook “like” addicts and share-a-holics.

Then last week, another seeming example propped up.

While terrorists burned buildings and soldiers dropping bombs in Marawi City last week, Manila-based Philippine Daily Inquirer’s web platform posted five photos which supposedly depicted the aftermath of the siege of the city. However, these photos were actually outdated and some of the photos were not even taken or depicting Marawi City.

An enterprising troll made a meme on PDI’s editorial gaffe which naturally trended on social media platforms. I say “naturally” because the meme obviously meant to rile up netizens. A troll even actually suggested to burn down PDI’s offices in Makati.

On May 24, 6:11 pm, PDI’s web platform Inquirer.net posted an erratum on it. They claimed the photos they posted came from a reliable source but before they could complete their vetting process or did a simple reverse-image search, they posted all the five photos anyway.

“That was a mistake, and we apologize unreservedly,” PDI’s erratum reads. They then offered to impose “necessary sanctions” to ensure the same mistake will not happen again.

For me, the enterprising troll who pointed PDI’s mistake did nothing wrong although the motive behind the meme is suspicious at best. I think it is healthy to point out mistakes in news articles. News, after all, is communication and the process isn’t completed without feedback.

I have pointed out on my Facebook wall that that is how a professional news organization acts when confronted with their mistakes. However, I would be remiss if I don’t also point out the difference between misinformation and disinformation.

Disinformation and misinformation are two different animals. Misinformation is inadvertent (read: wala gituyo; hindi sinadya) while disinformation is deliberate (read: gituyo; sinadya). The former is unintentionally inaccurate while the latter is intentionally false.

As National Union of Journalists in the Philippines director and Interaksyon editor Nonoy Espina puts it: “Wrong news is a whole universe away from fake news.”

So how can we scrutinize a news post, whether this be a misinformation or a blatant disinformation, on social media platforms in particular and the Internet in general.

1. Check if the uniform resource locator (URL). URLs are the web addresses of the articles in the Internet. Many propagandists have intentionally made web addresses to sound like it is of a legitimate news media organizations. Examples of these include: ABCnews.com.co, Bloomberg.ma, cnn-trending.com, NBCNews.com.co, washingtonpost.com.co, etc.

Notice that most of the fake news web sites have a suffix “.co.”

2. Read beyond the headline of a news post. I, as I assume you do to, see these almost all the time on Facebook. People sharing “news articles” based on the headline but have not really read the entire article. Worse, they will caption the link with an inappropriate comment because as I said they haven’t really read the article.
3. While you’re reading a news article, check for exaggerations. Fake news are meant to rile up or elicit strong emotions to drive web traffic and further inflamed on social media platforms. Naturally, fake news would have exaggerations.
4. Check if the data presented on the “news article” is corroborated or supported by experts on the particular field or other news media web sites. Okay, that sounds more daunting of a task as I would have preferred. Maybe this acronym can help: GIN (Google It, Numbnuts).
5. This next tip will sound idiotic but believe me many have done this–sharing a news article without checking the date of publication. Digong Dada’s drummer boy Peter Lavina did it by posting a photo of a rape victim meant to rile up support for the war on drugs. However, the photo was from another continent, Brazil and from an entirely different timeline. So before you share, check out the date, huh?
6. Always cross-check the site with other reliable sources on the web. Real news articles may differ in angling, perspective, or even syntax but these will always have the same basic accounting of the story. Like if there are two reporters of different news organizations covering a story, they might approach the story differently but they will always be, essentially, the same story.

Now, why would anybody deliberately lie to you on the Internet, you ask.

The answer is simple. As I have written at the start of this column: Social media platforms have been weaponized to serve political interests. It’s no longer just a virtual hangout for your friends.

So be a responsible netizen.

Let me leave you with these words of wisdom from veteran reporter Ellen Tordesillas: “There’s no excuse for spreading lies even if you don’t like a person. If you have to spread lies to protect or promote your principal, that means there is something wrong not only with your principal but also with you.” (to be continued)

Uncreative non-fiction

“Truth was unimportant and entirely subordinate to tactics and psychology.” -Joseph Goebbels, Nazi party propagandist

I WOULD like to thank the Philippine News Agency for making this column a helluva lot easier to write by posting not one but two fake news articles. Now we have two articles to dissect which will be easier to separate truth from Goebbels-like propaganda.

I was thinking of sharing with you, my dear avid readers (Yes, all 250 of you), the things I learned at a seminar I attended last week. The seminar was about how to spot fake news. I prepared notes on the subject when PNA posted those fake news stories on their website.

This means that I might have to make this a two-part opinion piece. I will discuss and share tips on how to hunt for fake news on my second installment. But for now, let’s first tackle PNA’s latest foray into blatant disinformation.

Unfortunately for us, PNA took down the story and edited the fake news articles.

But good for us because many in the mainstream media (this paper included) screen grabbed the articles before PNA took down the article.

That’s good news for us because now, at least, we know PNA and the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) still feel “hiya.” Well, they should be, since their salaries are taxpayers’ money.

On May 15, PNA ran a story entitled: “95 nations in 3rd UPR convinced no EJKs in PHL.” The story, which ran for five days, claimed that 95 member-states who were present in the 27th Universal Period Review of the of the United Nations Human Rights Council believed in Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano’s report that there are no extrajudicial killings in the country.

Newly appointed Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson wasted no time in posting the erroneous article on her blog on May 18. So the “crusading” blogger–who branded mainstream media “presstitutes”–now became an official “presstitute” of this administration by passing along an inaccurate article.

Vera Files checked its blog and found that as of May 20, at least 8,000 netizens had reacted and more than 900 gullible ones shared it.

The international council took notice of the erroneous article that it posted on its official Twitter account on May 19: “#UPR27 Clarification: To our best knowledge, 95 states were not convinced that EJK is non-existent.” The UN body then posted the full webcast of the UPR session.

The government news wires service took down the story on May 20 (may hiya rin pala) but not before posting a replacement story which is still inaccurate and also served to bolster Cayetano’s claim that the UPR was impressed with his report on the human rights situation in the country. The replacement story bears the odd title: “PHL’s human rights situation commended at UPR.”

So what did really happen at the 27th UPR? To answer this. I went to the international body’s website, www.upr-info.org. Here are samples of the real recommendations of the member-states:

• Further consolidate its national human rights infrastructure, including support to the Commission on Human Rights. (Egypt)
• Continue to improve its capacity to uphold human rights, including by increasing the Commission on Human Rights’ (CHR) fiscal autonomy and organizational capacity, as well as further efforts to prevent human rights violations by Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippines National Police personnel. (Australia)
• Continue to work as a matter of urgency to ensure that there are mechanisms to completely eliminate torture and extrajudicial killings, and to intensify its efforts to carry out investigations and prosecutions on extrajudicial killings and punish those responsible. (Trinidad and Tobago)
• Conduct independent and impartial inquiry in relation to all enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions and that the perpetrators of these crimes be brought to justice. (France)
• Work towards the complete elimination of torture and extrajudicial killings, and intensify efforts to carry out the prosecution of such crimes. (The Holy See) For the newbies: The Holy See means The Vatican.
• Further capacity building, such as through human rights education targeting government authorities, particularly law enforcement agencies, and an effective implementation of a national oversight mechanism. (Japan)
• Continue the work to build up the capacity in the area of human rights protection, including through strengthening the national human rights institution. (Russian Federation)

That last one should be a doozy, considering that President Rodrigo Duterte is visiting Russia this week.

For good measure, I also audited the database on the UPR website. I found that extrajudicial killings were mentioned 18 times. Human rights violation was cited 81 times in the 191 recommendations and 74 of which are recommendations that seek “general action” in the categories of action that need to be done. A general action is No. 4 in the action categories of the council. The action categories are: 1 – Minimal action 2 – Continuing action 3 – Considering action 4 – General action 5 – Specific action.

So there. Good luck with your lies and disinformation, PNA and PCOO.

Postponing democracy

“IF barangay elections were not held, the power of the people to elect their own leaders and not allow their leaders to just be appointed will be removed away from them. That is a terrible diminution of the power of our people granted to them under a democratic rule.” -former Senator Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr., father of the Local Government Code

THIS administration will be wasting a lot of resources should its minions at Batasan Hill decide to postpone again the barangay and SK elections this October.

Elections Commissioner Luie Guia posted on his Facebook wall that existing laws need to be amendment before the elections could be declared postponed.

“Comelec is aware of what seems to be the declared preference of the political leadership to have the polls reset (or) canceled. It is best however that the decision on the matter be formalized via amendatory legislation the soonest.

“All that the poll body can do now is to slow down a bit in its preparation, but this can only hold temporarily. At a certain point and without the amendatory legislation coming out, it would already be constrained to go full blast,” Guia’s post reads in part.

Guia, however, predicates this statement by reminding citizens that “organizing elections is not a simple task. It is an enormous logistical operation that requires adequate preparation time and commitment of substantial resources.”

As a father to one of Comelec’s election workers in the city, I am appalled by the amount of money this administration will be wasting if it did decide to postpone the elections. As Guia jokingly told me over the weekend: “Comelec father ka nga pala.”

I made my own calculations and came up with P1,406,052. That amount only accounts for the paid man-hours of the election workers manning the satellite registrations in the city alone. It does not include the overtime pays (when they work on Saturdays and Sundays). It does not include the electricity that powers the computers, biometric equipment, the reams of paper and other logistical resources needed in every satellite registration. It does not include the physical hazards these election workers face in the hinterland barangays.

I arrived at that amount by multiplying the number of days (277 to be exact since City Comelec started its satellite registrations since July last year) to the daily average wage of a casual election worker (P423 from the P11,000 monthly salary of a casual worker). Then I multiplied that number to the number of election workers manning each satellite registration (12 election workers).

Guia said via private message that if Congress amends the election law within the next month or two, there won’t be much wastage.

So, timing is key. I just hope that we still have enough thinking legislators in both houses of Congress.

Meanwhile, we, the electorate, wait.

I have seen how the City Comelec has labored and the commitment it has in making sure those voters will be able to choose who will lead them in the most basic unit of political body in the Republic.

As the father of the Local Government Code puts it: “Getting the barangay officials elected by the people of the barangay concerned makes them beholden to their voters. Appointing them, on the other hand, makes them feel they owe a debt of gratitude to the appointing power that they have somehow to repay.”

Postponing the barangay and SK elections is a very dangerous precedent. The next thing you know, you’ll just realize in horror that you have willingly surrendered your liberties to a dictator who has scared you on the pretext that we have been a narco-state in the last “six or seven years.” Pfft.

Fake obituary

OF all the clauses in the code of ethics in journalism, the most memorable one for me is: “Do no harm.” I know it is more of a guideline than an actual rule but you can understand the damage you could do to your fellow human beings when you broadcast or publish just about anything without the checking the facts before reporting it.

Humans as we are, we are all bound to commit mistakes.

I once inadvertently “killed” an associate justice of the Court of Appeals by choosing the wrong photo to go with the banner story of a judge who died. The associate justice was so mad that he sent me a letter. I remember becoming a bit nervous because it was written on his official stationary. You know the kind that starts with “from the desk of associate justice…” He asked me to explain within 72 hours why he should not sue me in court.

I explained that it happened because his photo was erroneously filed in a folder under his name. After asking for an apology, profusely, we published an erratum the next day explaining that the photo was not of the judge who died, and that we committed a mistake.

In my 10 years or so in the print medium, I have made mistakes. However, it is another thing when you willingly lie or quote imaginary sources or text messages sent by who-knows-who.

Over the weekend, President Elipe broadcast over Magnum Radio that he received text messages about Opol Mayor Maximo Seno supposedly passing away. Seno subsequently told this paper that it was a lie, and that, obviously, he is alive. He went to the US for a three-month medical leave. Imagine what the false information has done to his family, friends, and worse, his constituents in Opol.

Just so the ex-councilor would understand, let’s turn him into an example. Again, this is just hypothetical. How would Elipe’s loved ones feel if a broadcaster, quoting an imaginary source, falsely reports that he was abducted by the Maute group and then beheaded? Of course, the broadcaster could, like him, hide behind the Sotto Law that allows him not to divulge the identity of his news source. But wait, I recall Prof. Chell Diokno teaching us that the Sotto Law (Shields Law in the US) only protects journalists in the print medium. Sorry, I digressed.

Going back to the Elipe's lie, because he broadcast the terrible rumor passing off as a “news item” over a radio station, his listeners could have taken it as a legitimate news. What if a close relative of Seno with a medical condition keeled over after hearing Elipe’s fake news? Would Elipe be responsible for such death?

It was like Martin Andanar quoting an “intel report” that the journalists who covered the press conference of Sen. Antonio Trillanes III were given $1,000 each.

Working in mass media should not be taken lightly. There will consequences to everything you publish or broadcast. Andanar got demoted for maligning the Senate press corps. What do you think will happen to Elipe?

Just recently, this paper erroneously accredited a photo to our correspondent although it was not his. We have since admitted our faux pas, apologized, took down the photo and article, and published a clarificatory article the very next day.

Still the group felt pissed off. But that’s another story all together because it turned out their beef was misdirected at us when they were really pissed off with another group with the same name.

Post no bill, please

CONSIDERING how many times this regime has been finding ways to mess up our civil liberties, it should change its logo to a fist with the middle finger sticking out.

As if the be-wigged stooge of President Digong Dada at the justice department hasn’t wrangled the Republic’s judicial system enough to serve the regime’s vendetta, here comes another stooge who wants to impose the historically “effective” ghetto-like branding – all, of course, in the name of waging the war on drugs.

About a fortnight ago, Interior Secretary Ismael Sueño opined to label houses that are supposedly “drug free” with a decal telling people the house is such.

Sueño suggests this will be better than the violent Oplan Tokhang. He is so convinced there is nothing inherently wrong with this that he vilified Amnesty International-Philippines when the latter called him out on his plan to brand houses. Sueño even resorted to a childish play on words against the Nobel Prize laureate saying: “They should be branded as human wrong group, not human rights group.”

Who will determine if the household is indeed drug-free? Who will evaluate and confirm this as a fact? How will they categorize and what are the rules of implementation of this branding campaign?

This came to him, Sueño said, after meeting with the regional peace and order councils recently.

He said this regime is shifting to a non-violent and positive way to combat illegal drugs. Is he admitting that Oplan Tokhang was wrong? The plastering of “drug free” stickers on houses, he said, will not be a police operation but by the civilian peace and order councils from the regional down to the barangay level.

Hasn’t Sueño been listening to his boss? Didn’t Digong Dada push for the postponement of the barangay elections because “most” barangay officials are allegedly involved in the illegal drugs trade? Now, Sueño wants these people allegedly involved in illegal drug trafficking to decide which house in their barangay is drug-free? If he doesn’t see the problem of conflicts of interest in that arrangement, I personally don’t know what will.

How sure is Sueño that this new branding campaign will not be used by barangay chairpersons as a subtle campaign for their own pedestrian political careers? Let’s not forget we are going to elect a new set of barangay officials this coming October. I, for one, am not expecting for such decal. This is because I have been at odds with our barangay chairman in Consolacion – a Roa, I might add – since he practically abdicated his mandate to policing our village of drug users and hooligans. My regular (at 165 of them) readers will bear this out since I have been writing about his governance style or to be accurate his lack of it.

Plus, let me remind Mr. Sueño that we are in the Philippines – a third world impoverished country – where a house does not automatically mean one family. I live in a house being shared by two other families. Should our brilliant barangay chairman decide not to stick a decal on our house on my account – just to get back at me – won’t that be unfair for the other two families, who may or may not be involved in illegal drugs?

I am most certain that this will be used arbitrarily by barangay chairpersons who want to stay as chairpersons in their barangays after October.

“Plus, let me remind Mr. Sueño that we are in the Philippines…”

Which company will be printing the drug-free decals. Who stands to gain from this enterprise? In street vernacular: Pila man gyud, ser?

I mean, how different is this to Nazi Germany’s posting of a Star of David on the homes of Jews not too long ago. This may be a reverse of what Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim did before, spray-painting houses of suspected drug traffickers but its effect is still the same. It will discriminate the household members of a house with no drug-free sticker plastered on it.

So, no, Mr. Sueño, I will not participate in your version of a Star of David – respect my right to private property and post no bill, please.

Ode to horses of Troy

Unite! Oh, paladins of Mother Earth

Let their maculate aggress be for naught

They’re wolves in ewe’s fleece, cowardly and guileful

Scuttlebutt, Trojan horses, chicane-sleuths

Chesty hubris of a bruised ego

Grown tender, deluded of bygone glories

Heed not the hoggish imp’s salvo

Our crusade transcends his inanities

The imp’s derogation, we shall overcome

And justice for all

NOTE: Re-blogged in commemoration of the 4th anniversary of Mamamayan Ayaw sa Airspray (Maas)--residents of Lower Sirib, Calinan, Davao City, victims of development aggression we hosted here in the city.


IT HAD RAINED all afternoon that day, cold and soggy, she tried to push the thought out of her mind.

She had been tossing and turning on her banig most of the night. Somehow she could not rest easy, all the more—sleep. She felt as if two thousand crickets were sniveling from all directions.

Finally, she sat up and gaped blankly at a portion of a lit parol that managed to sneak its multi-hued lights into their rip-ridden tent.

Alas! Sleep still eluded her.

The night, conversely, was deafeningly quiet. As expected, no cargo trucks passed the road that could have easily engulfed them with dust and petrol fumes. Even the stars that night seemed to shine brighter than she had gazed them for the past month.

But, like her thoughts that night, the draft of the chilly December breeze that crept into their makeshift shelter, was an unwelcome interruption that made slumber for her even more difficult.

Except for their assigned night-watch and her, all of their members were fast asleep—albeit cramped inside their 4x2 meter-shelter.

It was the eve of the 24th of December, and it was her first time to be away from home on such an important evening. Evenings like these are meant to be spent with kin and loved ones. Not this year, at least for Gina and her neighbors.

“Really, I don’t mind spending my Christmas Eve here, away from my family,” blurted Gina.

Home for Gina and her neighbors is Purok 3, Lower Sirib, Calinan, Davao city.

Gina and her neighbors have been encamped just beside the street—over a canal—a few meters from the Court of Appeals here in Cagayan de Oro city. Her group, Mamamayan Ayaw sa Aerial Spray, are on a drive to defend their right to life and healthy environment. Theirs is a basic struggle for sobriety amidst chaotic social structures.

You see, from where Gina lived, near a banana plantation, have been constantly sprayed—along with the bananas—with agro-chemicals.

Gina suffered skin rashes. These worsen, she observed, when the plane that sprayed the agro-chemicals meet crosswinds where the agro-chemicals would definitely drift unto Gina’s neighborhood.

Her other neighbors had it much worse. Many suffered from pulmonary diseases while some mothers gave birth to sickly children. The aerial spraying in the little community beside the banana plantation has adversely affected their way of life.

Theirs is a community of peasants and agri-workers. Their well-being is their only capital for their livelihood—toiling the earth.

Long ago, three years to be exact, they won a battle when the local legislature in their city enacted an ordinance banning the practice of aerial spraying in banana plantations.

When the banana growers questioned the legality of the ordinance in a regional trial court, Gina and her neighbors won yet another battle. The circuit court ruled that there was nothing wrong with the ordinance and that it even upheld the constitutional right of every person to life and a healthy environment.

But the banana growers, having all the resources at their disposal, lodged a question on the constitutionality of the city ordinance to a higher court—Court of Appeals.

It was becoming clear to Gina that they may have won some battles but the banana growers would not easily give up the war.

At that instant, Gina and her neighbors decided that they have had enough of the aerial spraying.

“Dili mi mga peste,” was to be their battle cry.

They decided to take their struggle a notch higher. They decided to come here where the appellate court holds its office.

When they arrived in Cagayan de Oro city, they immediately went to the Court of Appeals and set up camp a few meters away.

After more than a month, Gina and her neighbors had been shouted and glared at, pushed and shoved, harassed and arrested, promised and lied at. But the struggle continues, Gina vowed.

She did not mind having to spend this year’s Christmas Eve away from her home. She did not mind the dust and petrol fumes every time a cargo truck passes their encampment. Gina does not even mind that they have to cramp themselves in their makeshift shelter by the road whenever they have to eat, hold a meeting or sleep.

It was not because she was cold and soggy that night. It was not because of the draft in their makeshift shelter every time the chilly December breeze blew that she could not sleep that night.

Gina did not mind being away from her kin this Christmas Eve because as she reasoned: “What we are doing here is for all of us, so that this thing that has been slowly killing us will be stopped.”

What bugged her this year’s Christmas Eve was her realization that the environment including its inhabitants are being raised to the altar of greed and profit and yet it takes so agonizingly slow for “learned” individuals to see what is right in front of their noses.

Gina could not sleep thinking that as the rights of the people are being trampled wantonly; the supposed vanguards of truth and justice are as lame as their excuses and counter proposals.

It is already fourteen past two in the early morn of Christmas day but sleep still evaded Gina.

Hence, Gina made a solemn oath on her very first Christmas Eve alone, without kin but with kindred spirits, to continue the struggle not only for her rights but more so the rights of those who are downtrodden. Those who have been stripped of their dignity and opportunity by the very people who have sworn to serve them.

What started for Gina as a struggle for her right to life has blossomed into a warm and resolute fervor to serve the people.

Unexpectedly, Gina yawned.

She smirked when she finally felt sleepy—probably weakened by her internal debate that seemingly long dreary evening.

She felt relieved as she laid her head to sleep thinking that tomorrow will, yet, be another day of struggle and that she should be well-rested if she was to continue to struggle for our rights and justice for all.

Of following orders and understanding 'em

 It is only natural for people to want to protect their hard-earned properties.

I DO NOT want to be a wet blanket—pardon the pun—especially since this city's Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (CDRRMC) has already celebrated its “zero-casualty” feat¹ in responding to super typhoon 'Pablo' (International code name: Bopha) that pummeled Cagayan de Oro and other parts of the island, last week.

Even if the “zero-casualty” claim has raised some, if not many, eyebrows, I still say City Hall has done quite a feat as compared to its response—or the lack of it—when tropical storm Sendong (International code name: Washi) flooded this city and claimed some 600 lives and destroyed at least hundreds of millions of infrastructure, properties and agricultural production.

While City Hall sycophants are busy patting each others back for a job well done, there is something we should reexamine if only to further improve our city's disaster response in future calamities—natural and man-made.

Let us take a closer look at the supposed forced evacuation order of Mayor Vicente “Dongkoy” Emano at the height of 'Pablo,' ang how the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office (Cocpo) implemented the order.

Under the Disaster Risk Reduction Management Law (RA 10121), the local chief executive can exercise its police powers to order a forced evacuation in areas where widespread danger is imminent, of which Emano did on December 4 shortly after raising the alert level to code red. The city then, has been included in the list of areas under storm signal number 3.

I, personally, was sort of excited to see this order in action because one, it was going to be my first time to see a forced evacuation implemented and I only see this in the movies and news coverages on calamities elsewhere in the country.

That day, together with international news wires photojournalists—Froilan Gallardo (Associated Press), JB Deveza (Agence France Presse) and Cai Panlilio (Thomson Reuters)—we visited Sitio Tambo, a community of shacks beside Cagayan River and were surprised to see people, albeit only adult men, still in their shacks.

“We have already evacuated my wife and four daughters to an evacuation center in Zone 8 last Monday afternoon. But we opted to stay behind because we are afraid our homes would be looted. Just last night (December 3), we spied and prevented some people trying to get into the houses of our neighbors,” Felix Araneta, married, 39 years old said when I asked him why he was still in his home despite the code red alert of CDRRMC.

However, when a SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) patrol car entered the community, that day, the five police officers appeared clueless as to the mechanics of the order.

I approached one of the officers and asked him if they were in the area to implement the mayor's force evacuation order in the community and how they intend to do it. The officer replied they were indeed in the community to effect the mayor's order. However, it was clear in his reply that they did not understand what forced evacuation is.

“We will go around the community to persuade the people to evacuate their homes but if they insist on staying, we cannot really force them to,” the officer said.

ABS-CBN TVPatrol Northern Mindanao anchor Primy Cane, Philippine Daily Inquirer correspondent Bobby Lagsa and other local reporters experience quite the same disappointment in Sitio Tibasak, Barangay Macasandig that same day^.2

Acting city police director Senior Superintendent Antonio Montalba, who arrived in Tibasak two hours late after Emano issued the force evacuation order, told reporters that—he said they were late because they were still having breakfast—they waited for CDRRMC assistant officer Engr. Armen Cuenca to go with them in implementing the order.

Just in case there will be cases filed against them for implementing a direct order of the city mayor, he reasoned to the flabbergasted reporters. Anyway, most of the people in the geohazard areas have already voluntarily evacuated their homes days before, Montalba reportedly added.

Lagsa—in a Facebook thread—quoted Montalba as saying, “wala na lang nako pugsa pud kay gabii na og gusto nako matulog (I did not force the people who stayed behind because the night was drawing near and I wanted to get some sleep),” in the CDRRMC Exit Conference on Wednesday (December 5).

It is only natural for people to want to protect their hard-earned properties. Ergo, for force evacuation to be effective, the people need to be reassured that even if they leave their houses, their properties will be safe from looting.

We can see force evacuation effectively implemented in the Bicol region whenever Mt. Mayon threatens to unleash its wrath. Truck loads of government security forces would go to geohazard areas and physically taken out of harm's way. These security forces stay behind and search every house in the community to make sure every one has been evacuated.

While the people are being transported to the evacuation centers, they could see that the security forces stayed behind to guard their homes from possible looters.

Had Montalba understood his orders, the force evacuation would have been implemented effectively. Ergo, properly implementing the “risk reduction” concept of RA 10121.

Pablo would have been Kagay-anons' first-hand experience of this law in action.

______ 

1 http://www.goldstardailynews.com.ph/mindanao/casualty-takes-new-meaning-in-c-de-oro.html

2 http://www.goldstardailynews.com.ph/mindanao/montalba-takes-his-time-food-first-evacuation-later.html