‘Angry Birds’ of the Philippines

By admin | December 26, 2011

This is the year of tweeting birds, homeless migratory birds, and angry birds. Are there angry birds in the Philippines?

Ibong Adarna is the original ‘angry bird’ of the Philippines. It’s a classic in Philippine literature although its author is unknown. It’s a required reading material in schools so students are familiar with the story of this mythical bird whose enchanting voice can magically heal wounds and rare illnesses. But Adarna’s charm is deadly since it possesses the power to turn humans into stones. Below is an excerpt of the original text of Ibong Adarna:

Sa Tabor na cabunducan
ang siyang quinalalaguian,
cahoy na hinahapunan
Piedras Platas ang pangalan.
Cun arao ay uala roon
itong encantadang ibon,
sa iba sumasalilong
at nagpapaui nang gutom.
Cun gabing catahimican
ualang malay ang sino man,
ay siyang pag-oui lamang
sa Tabor na cabunducan.

Ay ano’i, nang tahimic na
ang gabí ay lumalim na,
siya nangang pagdating na
niyong ibong encantada.
Dumapo na siyang agad
sa cahoy na Piedras Platás,
balahibo ay nangulág
pinalitán niyang agad.
At capagdaca’i, nagcantá
itong ibong encantada,
ang tinig ay sabihin pa
tantong caliga-ligaya.
Ang príncipe ay hindi na
nacaringig nang pagcantá,
pagtúlog ay sabihin pa
himbing na ualang capara.
Ang sa ibong ugali na
cun matapos na magcantá,
ay siyang pag-táe niya
at matutulog pagdaca.
Sa masamáng capalaran
ang príncipe’i, natai-an,
ay naguing bató ngang tunay
ang catauan niyang mahal.

Matanglawin (Hawkeye) is a character in Rizal’s second novel, El Filibusterismo. He’s a Luzon bandit formerly known as Kabesang Tales, a cabeza de barangay (barangay head) in Sagpang. Matanglawin’s criminal activities are described in chapter 28 of the book

“Matanglawin was the terror of Luzon…It burned a sugar-mill in Batangas and destroyed the crops, on the following day it murdered the Justice of the Peace of Tiani, and on the next took possession of the town of Cavite, carrying off the arms from the town hall. The central provinces, from Tayabas to Pangasinan, suffered from his depredations, and his bloody name extended from Albay in the south to Kagayan in the north. The towns, disarmed through mistrust on the part of a weak government, fell easy prey into his hands—at his approach the fields were abandoned by the farmers, the herds were scattered, while a trail of blood and fire marked his passage. Matanglawin laughed at the severe measures ordered by the government against the tulisanes, since from them only the people in the outlying villages suffered, being captured and maltreated if they resisted the band, and if they made peace with it being flogged and deported by the government, provided they completed the journey and did not meet with a fatal accident on the way. Thanks to these terrible alternatives many of the country folk decided to enlist under his command.”

Tales the farmer became Matanglawin the bandit because of the oppression and injustice he suffered when the friars took possession of his land and received no support from the civil government. Here’s how Tales reacted when he learned about the plan of the friars to rob him of his precious land

“Poor Tales turned pale, he felt a buzzing in his ears, he saw in the red mist that rose before his eyes his wife and daughter, pallid, emaciated, dying, victims of the intermittent fevers—then he saw the thick forest converted into productive fields, he saw the stream of sweat watering its furrows, he saw himself plowing under the hot sun, bruising his feet against the stones and roots, while this friar had been driving about in his carriage with the wretch who was to get the land following like a slave behind his master.”

Aves de Rapiña (Birds of Prey) is the title of a controversial 1908 editorial written by Fidel Reyes in the nationalist newspaper El Renacimiento. Secretary of Interior Dean Conant Worcester sued the paper for libel because of the article. Worcester won the case but it didn’t invalidate the message of the editorial which accurately depicted the true intentions of US colonial rule in the Philippines.

“The eagle, symbolizing liberty and power, is the bird of prey that counts with the most followers. And men, individually as well as collectively, have frequently aped the most rapacious of birds in order to triumph in their acts of plunder as well as in their acts of robbery and theft against their fellowmen.

“Climbing the mountains of Benguet with the supposed objective of classifying and measuring the skulls of the Igorrotes, with the pretext of studying them in order to civilize them, they go there to really search, as they fly in the air with the eyes of a bird of prey, the locations of gold deposits, (the hidden booty in the midst of the sad mountains), with the aim of later grabbing these for themselves. And thanks to the facilities, supposedly legal with which they do, and undo, their acts at their own pleasure, that they always get to grab these treasures for their own benefit.

“Such are the characteristics of the men who are at the same time an eagle that surprises and devours, a vulture who gorges itself with putrid meat, an owl who feigns petulant omniscience, and a vampire that silently sucks the victim’s blood until leaving her with deathlike pallor.”

Mga Ibong Mandaragit is a socio-political novel written by National Artist for Literature Amado V. Hernandez. It was published in 1969, a year before the author’s death. The book is about the continuing neocolonial subjugation of the Philippines after World War II. It exposes the numerous social problems of agrarian Philippines and the decadent rule of the oligarchic class. It’s still a required reading material for third year high school students in many schools. The book is praised not just for its literary merits but also for its brave articulation of the necessity for radical politics to successfully reform Philippine society.

Bayan Ko is a poem by Jose Corazon de Jesus written in 1929. It has become the most popular protest song in the country especially during the Martial Law years. It’s most famous lines reflected the yearning of Filipinos to be free from colonial and neocolonial bondage and other forms of oppression.

Ibon mang may layang lumipad,
kulungin mo at umiiyak!
Bayan pa kayang sakdal dilag,
Ang ‘di magnasang makaalpas?
Pilipinas kong minumutya,
Pugad ng luha ko’t dalita,
Aking adhika,
Makita kang sakdal laya!

The Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi) is the king of Philippine birds. It was officially declared the country’s national bird in 1995. For a long time it was mocked as a monkey-eating eagle but scientists insisted that it’s an inaccurate moniker for our Haring Agila.

Perhaps the real angry bird is the so-called Maya. First, it was never recognized as a national bird though many Filipinos (including me) grew up thinking that it was the original national bird. Second, the little brown bird we call Maya is actually not the real Maya.

But we will soon have thousands of angry migratory birds if the planned reclamation project in Manila Bay near Coastal Road and Freedom Island will push through. Despite its polluted waters, Manila Bay is still the preferred stopover of migratory birds but the Noynoy Aquino government had just issued an order to demolish the bird sanctuary when it approved a reclamation project in a critical habitat area in Manila Bay.

There are two ways to describe the birds inside cockpit arenas. Either the sabong birds have anger management issues or they are born warriors. Pinikpikan could be the horror code for birds which fear torture. #itlognitopacio is the most infamous angry bird in the Philippines today (apologies to the birds of the world).

Special mention should go to Ibon Foundation, one of the very few angry bird think-tanks in the country.

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Aquino’s Human Rights Problem

By admin | December 23, 2011

Please visit the special page I created about Philippine Airport Terminals. I also edited my profile page

The Philippines is often recognized by global institutions for its strong commitment to human rights. Indeed, compared with other countries in the region, where government critics are given insanely long prison sentences and media reports are heavily censored by the authorities, the freedom loving Philippines may seem like a viable and vibrant democratic state to the casual international observer.

But the existence of Western-style democracy in the country doesn’t mean it’s fully compliant with international human rights norms. There’s a free press in the Philippines, but it’s also one of the most dangerous countries for journalists. Activists and political dissidents are free to organize rallies and assemblies even without securing police permits, but many of them have become victims of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances over the past decade.

Indeed, human rights violations became so intense during the incumbency of Gloria Arroyo that a U.N. Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions visited the Philippines in 2007 to investigate the rise in political killings, torture, and kidnapping in the country. Arroyo’s atrocious human rights record was also one of the major issues in last year’s presidential elections, which saw a landslide victory for the opposition.

And since President Benigno Aquino III was one of the leaders who decried the human rights violations committed by the previous administration, human rights groups had high expectations that the killings of activists and journalists would stop. And the killings did stop, but only for a brief time.

To the surprise of human rights defenders, the new government hasn’t bothered to file appropriate charges against military officials involved in well-documented cases of human rights violations. Activists demanded an end to the climate of impunity that allowed perpetrators of the most heinous crimes against humanity to remain unpunished, but they received no concrete response from the government.

The latest report drafted by Karapatan, a human rights NGO, reveals the poor performance of the Aquino government when it comes to human rights. The numbers are very disappointing: There are 64 victims of extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary killings from July 1, 2010 to October 31, 2011. This translates to one political killing per week in the past 16 months. According to the same report, 6 victims are women and 37 are human rights workers. More than 40 percent of the victims are peasants followed by indigenous peoples and workers. There are 9 cases of enforced disappearances and 52 cases of torture.

The government claims there are no political prisoners in the Philippines but Karapatan was able to count 78 prisoners who had been arrested in the past year because of their political beliefs and activities. Karapatan added that there are 356 political detainees in the country who are facing various trumped-up charges.

The group observed that human rights violations tend to be higher in areas where development and infrastructure projects have been identified by the government like large-scale mining, power plants, and airports. In particular, the recent decision of the government to approve the formation of a Special Civilian Armed Auxiliary to secure mining operations is blamed for the heightened attacks against environment defenders and tribal community leaders.

And since the Philippines is confronted with two insurgencies – the world’s longest communist insurgency and a Muslim separatist movement – the slow pace of peace negotiations between the government and the rebels means more civilians are being harmed or killed in conflict areas. Thousands of villagers have also been forced to evacuate their homes in many parts of Mindanao Island because of military operations and the armed activities of rebels.

Aquino should remember the promises he made during his campaign if he wants to address these human rights issues. First, he should mainstream a pro-human rights agenda in the policymaking process. Second, he should tackle the roots of the armed conflict as his government prepares to fast track the peace talks with both the communist and Muslim rebels.

Edited version of a post I submitted for The Diplomat

Jail Gloria

I agree that Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo deserves ‘special treatment’ because she was former president of the Republic. As a concession to her camp, let’s give Rep. Arroyo the chance to choose her preferred detention facility in Metro Manila. After inquiring from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, we learned that there are 25 jails in Metro Manila, 19 of which can accommodate female prisoners.

Name of Jail Female Population

1. Caloocan City Jail 108
2. Las Pinas 83
3. Makati 81
4. Malabon 38
5. Manila 773
6. Mandaluyong 98
7. Marikina 46
8. Muntinlupa 84
9. Paranaque 116
10. Pasay 109
11. Pasig 92
12. Taguig 61
13. Valenzuela 40
14. Navotas 30
15. San Juan 31
16. Pateros 9
17. Quezon City Female Dorm 550
18. Rodriguez 21
19. San Mateo 24

It’s clear that we don’t have a shortage of prisons in Metro Manila so let’s stop looking for hospitals or houses suitable for Rep. Arroyo.

I’m certain that our jail wardens will be honored if their prison will be chosen by Rep. Arroyo. They can reserve a special room where Arroyo can meet visiting relatives, friends and lawyers.

If Arroyo’s wish to be placed under La Vista house arrest is granted, it will be very unfair to the 2,394 female prisoners in Metro Manila who are looking forward to be jailmates with the former president.

First posted on Kabataan Partylist

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Timor-Leste’s Debt Plan

By admin | December 14, 2011

With 37 votes in favor, 19 against and 3 abstentions, Timor-Leste’s parliament initially approved on November 11 the general terms of the government’s proposed budget of $1.763 billion for the year 2012.

2012 promises to be an exciting and significant year for this tiny nation. It will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Restoration of Independence, the 100th anniversary of the Manufahi Revolt and the 500th anniversary of the arrival of the first Portuguese in the country. It will also conduct the third presidential and parliamentary elections since democracy was restored.

During the budget deliberations, civil society groups questioned the abnormal increase in the budget, the country’s continued dependence on oil revenues, and the unusually high number of mega infrastructure projects. But the most controversial issue was the decision of the government to obtain foreign debt next year. Timor-Leste currently has no debt from other countries or international financial institutions.

The Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis notes that the increase in the country’s budget is one of the highest in the world. In nominal terms, the 2012 budget is 35 percent higher than 2011. If adjusted to inflation, it’s 25 percent larger than last year, while the budget has grown 273 percent since 2006. The group cited a report from the IMF World Economic Outlook that identified Zimbabwe as the only country in the world whose state budget grew faster during the last four years. Many are concerned about the inflationary impact of rising state expenditures.

Many from the Institute are also concerned that the budget doesn’t reflect the need to develop non-oil industries. Income from oil and gas provides 95 percent of state revenues, making Timor-Leste the most petroleum-export dependent country in the world. “In the medium term, our oil wealth can’t even pay for provide half the level of services the government will provide next year. That’s why we need to develop our non-oil economy.”

Meanwhile, some parliamentarians criticized the decreasing budget allocation for the education, health, and agriculture sectors and alleged that the government “prefers investing in mega projects which are beyond its capacity to execute and will end up in misuse of lots of money.” One of these huge infrastructure investments is the Tasi Mane Project, which will involve the development of an integrated petroleum infrastructure in the county’s south coastal zone in the next two decades.

But the most controversial, if not unpopular, budget-related issue is the plan by the government to secure $33 million in loans for the Dili sanitation and construction of national roads. It’s the first time the government has asked parliament to approve a proposal to borrow money from foreign institutions, and it immediately drew opposition from civil society groups who initiated a petition drive signed by more than 137 organizations based in 32 countries urging the government to “keep the nation debt-free and refrain from borrowing money from international lenders to protect its future generations.” The groups warned that “Rather than repeat the mistakes of other developing countries that have struggled with debt during recent decades, Timor-Leste should learn from their experiences, which often inflicted great hardships on their people.”

Despite the criticisms, the government maintained that the budget is service and development oriented, and will stimulate the local economy while addressing the human development needs of the people. The government also boasted that the budget process is one of the most transparent in the world. Indeed, it created a Budget Transparency Portal that allows the public to access budget documents. It also provides a daily summary of budget deliberations in parliament.

For the government, the budget proposal reflects the renewed optimism in the country’s future, but for many civil society groups, the budget could harm the economy in the long run.

Written for The Diplomat

Malaysia’s Troubling “Peace” Bill

The Malaysian Parliament has unanimously approved the controversial Peaceful Assembly Bill, which critics warned would make it extremely difficult for citizens to organize protest activities. Activists denounced it as a repressive measure intended to curtail the people’s freedom of speech and expression.

The opposition, for its part, was so outraged by the hasty introduction of the measure (MPs received copies of the bill only on November 22) that they staged a walkout during the voting process. Outside the parliament, lawyers organized a “freedom walk” to dramatize their rejection of the bill, which they think is in violation of several international human rights norms. Protesters also took Prime Minister Najib Razak to task for reneging on his pledge during the Malaysia Day celebration in September to review section 27 of the Police Act 1967 in order to uphold the people’s freedom of assembly.

Lim Chee Wee, president of the Malaysian Bar, identified the dangerous provisions of the bill that could undermine the constitutional rights of Malaysian citizens:

1) Prohibition of street protests;

2) Prohibition of organization of assemblies by persons below the age of twenty one years;

3) Prohibition of participation in peaceful assemblies of children below the age of fifteen years;

4) Unduly onerous responsibilities and restrictions on organizers and assemblies;

5) Excessive fines for non-compliance of the bill.

Civil libertarians are also horrified over the other insidious provisions of the bill, like the prohibition of rallies near a place of worship or any area that the government may declare as “protected,” the banning of foreign journalists in a protest assembly, and the granting of power to the police to use tear gas, chemical-laced water, batons and shields as well as arbitrary arrests on participants if these are deemed necessary by authorities to make the assembly peaceful and orderly. Activists are also worried over a provision that gives police forces the right to disperse an assembly if participants are heard giving statements that “promote feelings of ill-will, discontent or hostility among the public.”

Police are given such extensive powers to disperse assemblies without official permits that even an outdoor birthday party can be classified as an event that needs police approval. Furthermore, the police can impose numerous conditions when they approve the conduct of an assembly. And, if they decide to disperse a crowd, they are given the right to use “all reasonable force” in dealing with protesters.

Perhaps the restrictive Peaceful Assembly Bill is the government’s preemptive legal effort to prevent another Bersih (clean) march, which could further weaken the ruling coalition’s chances in the next elections. Bersih was organized in July by election reform advocates, but it has evolved into a strong political movement after the police violently dispersed a crowd of about 50,000 in the streets of Kuala Lumpur.

Maybe the bill won’t be able to stop Bersih or other protest assemblies organized by the big political forces, but it can minimize the influence of these events by limiting the protest actions in select venues. And because of the broad definitions used in the bill, it can also affect the activities of non-political groups.

After Bersih, everybody expected the government to implement reforms that would convince the people about its commitment to democracy and transparency. But with this bill, it seems the government prefers to provoke its enemies and weaken their ability to shape public opinion by banning street protests. The bill appears proof that the government is afraid of the radical potential of Bersih and the emergence of a Malaysian Spring that could finally deliver the fatal blow to the ruling coalition’s decades-old reign in Malaysia.

Written for The Diplomat

Posted in east asia | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Geopolitical Mathematics of Cash Transfers

By admin | December 5, 2011

Part 1: My critique of President Noynoy Aquino’s Pantawid Pamilya Program

The Department of Social Welfare and Development has been bombarding us with statistical reports on the Conditional Cash Transfer program. It’s either they are obsessively transparent or they are merely trying to convince skeptics that the program’s mega funding is justified. The Liberal diehards can use the data to trumpet the effectiveness of CCT as an innovative poverty reduction measure while the angry opposition birds can cite the excessive amount of taxpayers’ money allocated for a single program.

But there are other ways to interpret the DSWD reports and one of them is to link the numbers to the geopolitical distribution of poverty in the archipelago. They can affirm and even expose the existence of extreme poverty in supposedly first class municipalities. The numbers can be overwhelming and the ‘shock effect’ can distract us for a while but once we relate the numbers-that-appear-insignificant to the national poverty situation, they start to become useful and their political value becomes visible.

One of the success indicators attributed to CCT is the alleged high compliance rate of beneficiaries in fulfilling the conditionalities, like attending schools and health centers. But in presenting this achievement, the DSWD also revealed and validated (with extreme accuracy) the failure of both local and national governments in their mandate to deliver appropriate health and education services to our children

4th Quarter 2010

3-5 years old, not attending school: 56,504
3-5 years old, attending school: 72,489
6-14 years old, not attending school: 93,228
6-14 years old, attending school: 449,457
0-5 years-old, not attending health center: 36,793
0-5 years-old, attending health center: 223,477

In less than four months this year, the DSWD managed to expand the CCT registered households by 700,000. Maybe that’s what P21.1 billion can accomplish. But the DSWD also succeeded in delisting 200,000 households from the program. What was the crime committed by the ex-CCT beneficiaries? In Metro Manila, four of them were accused of fraud while 3,599 inclusion errors were recorded throughout the country. But most of the delisted households were found guilty of the heinous crime of ‘not attending assemblies’ conducted by the agency. Curiously, 61 beneficiaries in Central Luzon were delisted because they are no longer poor anymore. Balato!

 

March 2011

July 2011
CCT registered households

1.596 million

2.2 million
Female beneficiaries

1.417 million

2.04 million
6-14 years old beneficiaries

2.3 million

3.96 million
0-2 years old beneficiaries

4,101

403,547
Indigenous Peoples beneficiaries

298,713

417,024
Households delisted from the program

46,740

155,944
Delisted because of inclusion error

3,599
Delisted because didn’t attend assembly

46,622

112,734
Delisted in ARMM because didn’t attend assembly

2,815
Delisted in NCR because of fraud

4
Delisted in Region 3 because ‘not poor anymore’

61

Most of the beneficiaries are located in Mindanao and the share of ARMM is the biggest in the country. That the ‘very poor’ reside in Mindanao could also probably mean that most of the moderately poor, slightly poor, and the invisible poor are also to be found on the island. And CCT-defined poverty is not just a problem ‘there’ in Mindanao: look at the Bicol numbers. What’s the government’s official intervention to alleviate their conditions? Or maybe we are too fixated with the CCT viagra pill that we are unable to see the need to develop a holistic policy to deal with poverty and its discontents.

CCT registration

Region

March 2011

July 2011
ARMM

150,982

264,267
Caraga

128,603

144,145
Mimaropa

115,083

136,802
Western Mindanao

183,787

199,522
Bicol

186,667

251,278
Region X

197,761
Luzon

664,832
Mindanao

1.058 million

There are provinces which are not included in the CCT program because there are no qualified beneficiaries there (Batanes) but the program is already operational in 75 cities, 950 municipalities, and 79 provinces. Despite the program expansion, there are still politicians who are complaining about the non-inclusion of some of their constituents. By asking DSWD to accept more beneficiaries in their areas, aren’t they admitting their failure to solve poverty in their jurisdictions? Below are some of the CCT provinces and the rising number of CCT households

Provinces

March 2011

July 2011
Sulu

55,122

73,181
Maguindanao

37,324

87,282
Lanao del Sur

38,165

69,699
Agusan del Sur

46,307

46,454
Surigao Sur

31,424

32,602
Quezon

33,753

66,084
Oriental Mindoro

33,460

45,161
Zamboanga del Norte

74,117

73,974
Zamboanga del Sur

78,829

85,529
Masbate

71,683

78,196
Iloilo

28,980

62,078
Lanao del Norte

60,828

62,299

Tell me the number of CCT households in your town and I’ll tell you what kind of leader you are. Maybe this applies to the Ampatuans who ruled Maguindanao and ARMM for several years.

Meanwhile, superstar cities like Iloilo, Zamboanga, Davao, Quezon City, General Santos, and Makati (ganito kami sa Makati) have high CCT registrations. Maybe their leaders are more concerned about how to impress credit rating analysts and business competitiveness experts that they failed to notice the widening economic inequality in their places.

And speaking of municipalities which recorded high levels of CCT poverty, Rapu-Rapu and Compostela proved that there may be life after mining but it’s a poor one. Lesson for local leaders: Think twice before embracing the seductive offer of mining firms.

Caraga towns Bunawan (Lolong giant crocodile) and Claver (NPA mining raid) have been in the news recently but the poverty rates in these places also deserve a special mention.

Next time we go to a Friday mass in Quiapo, think of the 21 very poor households in the historic area. Can’t we ask the rich devotees to do something about the unlucky 21?

Municipalities/Cities

March 2011

July 2011
Ampatuan, Maguindanao

4,174
Zamboanga City

19,335

19,443
Quiapo

21

21
Tondo 1-2

7,798

8,445
Quezon City

8,477

9,480
Iloilo City

7,629

7,645
Iligan City

9,046

9,577
Sultan Naga Dimaporo

5,175

5,175
Davao City

16,384

16,579
Pikit, North Cotabato

10,650

10,783
General Santos City

8,006

8,050
Makati

907

910
Cagayan de Oro

8,762

9,087
Claver, Surigao del Norte

1,764

1,764
Bunawan, Agusan Norte

2,800

2,798
Rapu-Rapu, Albay

482

482
Compostela

834

4,567

Tourism will bring dollar receipts (and sex tourists according to a US diplomat) but poverty elimination isn’t a guarantee. See listing below. CamSur and Cebu may be the country’s top tourist attractions yet the poverty index in these towns is quite alarming. Sadly, after years of eco-tourism in Puerto Princesa and Palawan, they remain poverty-stricken destinations. On the other, could the non-inclusion of Puerto Galera, Panglao, and Malay (Boracay) mean there are no CCT poor in these popular tourist destinations?

Tourist Destinations

March 2011

July 2011
Palawan

57,417

58,838
Puerto Princesa

4,599

4,577
Coron

2,660

2,660
El Nido

2,461

2,461
Camarines Sur

46,129

82,413
Caramoan

4,075

4,089
Donsol

4,537

4,537
Baguio

1,034

1,050
Nasugbu

394

394
Tagaytay

413

413
Dapitan City

3,876

3,876
Intramuros

101

109
Daanbantayan, Cebu

461

4,096
Cebu City

4,466

4,506
Samal Island

477

5,760
Gen Luna, Siargao

1,377

1,377

A senatorial candidate once complained that scions of prominent political families are lucky since their family names are also the names of streets, towns, and buildings in the country. They can bank on a name-recall strategy to win in the polls. We are familiar with the famous streets, airports, and landmark buildings named after former presidents and heroes but we seldom acknowledge the lesser known towns which got their names also from dead presidents and heroes. Through the DSWD reports, we are able to list the towns named after former presidents and the existence of CCT poverty in these places. Who are the ‘poorest presidents’? How should their families react to the fact that the towns which are named in honor of them are afflicted with CCT poverty levels?

President’ Towns

March 2011

July 2011
Marcos, Ilocos Norte

681

674
Quirino, Isabela

726
Pres Roxas, Capiz

447

1,361
Quezon, Nueva Ecija

474

476
Aguinaldo, Cavite

286

288
Quezon, Quezon

999
Pres Roxas, North Cotabato

2,483

2,627
Aquino, Sultan Kudarat

3,030

3,029
Marcos, Sultan Kudarat

3,182
Roxas, Mindoro Oriental

3,749
Magsaysay, Mindoro Occidental

3,036

3,036
Magsaysay, Palawan

689

735
Roxas, Palawan

4,438

4,445
Roxas, Zamboanga del Norte

3,309

3,304
Magsaysay, Zamboanga del Sur

2,113

2,117
Pres C.P. Garcia, Bohol

1,973

1,988
Quezon, Bukidnon

5,106
Magsaysay, Misamis Oriental

2,801

2,784
Magsaysay, Davao del Sur

453

449
Pres Quirino, Sultan Kudarat

1,740

As of September 2011, the cash grants released by the DSWD for the current year have reached P9.2 billion. Below is the list of regions which received substantial amounts from the agency. Notice the billion peso CCT funds for Bicol?

Region

Amount

NCR

P274.3 million

Calabarzon

P375.7 million

Mimaropa

P592.8 million

Bicol

P1.084 billion

Western Visayas

P620.4 million

Central Visayas

P584.4 million

Eastern Visayas

P593.4 million

Western Mindanao

P1.107 billion

Region X

P895.16 million

Region XI

P507.38 million

Caraga

P732.03 million

ARMM

P904.84 million

The DSWD targets the location of the poorest of the poor in the same way the military hunts the lair of its rebel enemies. Precise. Detailed. Ruthlessly efficient. Mission objectives couched in a neutral-sounding, technical language. After locating the poor and giving them a dose of CCT, what’s the state’s next ‘shock therapy’ for them? The poor, because they are poor, are easily subjected to various social experiments even if these are highly discriminatory.

In imperial regimes, maps were technological tools used to impose hegemony in the colonized territories. Maps didn’t merely define the boundaries of the Empire but more significantly, they placed the subdued populations under the cartographic monitoring of rulers. Maps performed military functions in aid of modernity and the fanatical drive to spread the civilizing mission to the barbarian worlds. In short, there is nothing innocent in the quasi-scientific categorization of individuals and groups in an enclosed space.

Like military maps, the hyper-accurate matrix of CCT beneficiaries supports the power imperative of the dominant faction of the ruling class. If the CCT fails (and it’s bound to fail because it’s not designed to disturb the roots of deprivation in the country), will politicians in search of stability be able to resist the compulsion to use the DSWD database to exclude and even exterminate the unwanted (system losses) poorest of the poor from mainstream society?

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Sex, Politics & Seksualiti Merdeka

By admin | December 3, 2011

First organized in 2008, the Seksualiti Merdeka festival has been an annual celebration of sexual diversity and gender rights in Malaysia. It promotes the human rights and acceptance of the LGBT community through films, art workshops, stage plays, and seminars. Themed ‘Queer Without Fear,’ this year’s vision is for everyone “to be free from discrimination, harassment and violence for their sexual orientations and their gender identities.”

According to organizers, festival attendance grew from 500 people in 2008, to 1,500 last year. A bigger number was expected this year, but unfortunately, the police decided to be a party pooper by banning the festival activities. They even threatened to arrest any individual who defies the ban; the organizers were also summoned for questioning.

Police justified the ban by arguing that the festival “could create disharmony, enmity and disturb public order.” The police could, truth be told, be referring to the tiny but loud protests of conservative groups that denounced the festival for promoting “free sex” and the gay lifestyle. They are the same groups that expressed opposition to the upcoming Elton John concert in Malaysia.

The festival organizers, which represent a coalition of groups that includes the Malaysian Bar Council and Amnesty International, reminded the government about their right to conduct peaceful forums, workshops and performances. They added that the “intimidating displays of hatred and ignorance towards us, and calls for us to be shut down, demonstrate why we absolutely need a safe space and event like Seksualiti Merdeka.”

They should also note the fact that Malaysia was a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 1948 before becoming a member of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, “vowing to respect sexual rights as universal rights based on the inherent freedom, equality and dignity of all human beings.”

According to MP Charles Santiago of Klang, the government and police have exposed themselves to the world as “callous, intolerant and homophobic” when they banned Seksualiti Merdeka. But he also believes there’s a more sinister reason why the festival was banned: “Driven by the need to stay in power, the government has fashioned the controversy surrounding the festival for its own political mileage. Clearly the ban demonstrates the ongoing persecution against Ambiga.” Aside from being a supporter of Seksualiti Merdeka, Ambiga is a Malaysian lawyer who spearheaded Bersih 2.0, a popular movement for electoral reforms that damaged the credibility of the ruling political coalition.

The ban generated an international outcry from human rights groups and LGBT networks, which sent protest letters to the Malaysian government. They demanded the lifting of the ban against Seksualiti Merdeka, they asked police not to arrest or intimidate the festival organizers, and they called for the protection of the organizers from private actor violence.

The groups added that the ban also proved that it’s necessary to “conduct a public awareness campaign about equality before the law and non-discrimination, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.” They asked authorities to train police officials with regard to LGBT rights “to end arbitrary harassment of LGBT individuals, their speech and assembly.”

But organizers of the Seksualiti Merdeka festival perhaps should also thank the government and the police for banning their event since it made a lot of noise in the news and the public actually came to know more about LGBT rights, gender equality and sexual tolerance (or the lack of it) in society. Unlike in previous years, the festival’s objectives became popular this year because of the ban.

The opposition should also use this opportunity to remind the people that as the prime minister talks about his 1Malaysia national unity slogan, his actions and policies are actually creating more divisions in the country.

Written for The Diplomat

Burma’s Opium Addiction

Opium cultivation is on the increase in the Palaung communities in the northern Shan State of Burma. This fact was revealed in a study published last month by the Palaung Women’s Organization. Indeed, it would seem the local authorities are not only aware of the problem, but are aggressively promoting and protecting the opium trade there.

The group reported that opium growing in the 15 villages in Namkham Township has increased by 79 percent in the past two years. In 2008, there were only 617 hectares of opium fields in the area. This year the figure is expected to rise to 1,109 hectares. About 12 villages that hadn’t previously grown opium have started to grow it since 2009.

Drug addiction has also worsened in Palaung communities. In one village, the group discovered that 91 percent of males aged 15 and over were addicted to drugs. The drug menace has also caused the crime rate to go up, including a spike in cases involving domestic violence.

The group is blaming the local and national government for the revival of the opium industry in the area, even accusing a local MP of being the key protector of the opium trade in the region. The group cited testimony from a villager that former militia leader Kyaw Myint had promised Namkham voters that they could plant opium without regulation for 5 years if they voted for him. Kyaw Myint ran under the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, which dominated last year’s elections.

Palaung farmers were tea growers, but the decline of the tea industry, which is heavily controlled by the junta-dominated government, has forced them to switch to opium growing in order to survive. Meanwhile, opium cultivation is tolerated because politicians, soldiers, police, and militia forces can collect high taxes and bribes.

The local women’s group believes that the national government allowed Kyaw Myint’s illegal drug activities to flourish in exchange for its support for the government’s military campaign against ethnic rebels. It said the issue “highlights the nexus between drug production and power relations in Burma’s conflict-ridden Shan State.” It added that the government “needs to rely on its army infrastructure, including local paramilitary forces, to suppress the ethnic resistance movements,” even if the pro-government forces are sustained by the opium trade.

This latest alternative drug report by a local NGO, which covered only one province of Burma, should inspire the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to conduct a more independent study of the drug situation in the country, since it only relies on the data submitted by the junta-backed government. The fact is that the UNODC reliance on government statistics has blinded the agency and weakened its capacity to address the worsening drug problem in the country.

At a minimum, the Burmese government should investigate the illicit drug cultivation in the Shan State. It should be ready to punish public officials and military officers who are found guilty of protecting the opium trade, and it should also assist opium farmers by promoting alternative crop development. Instead of turning a blind eye to the evils of drug use, it should launch an awareness campaign targeting the young about the need to combat the dangerous impact of illegal drugs in society.

Written for The Diplomat

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Statistics, Hashtags, and Political Blogging

By admin | November 27, 2011

Excerpts of my presentation in the Visayas Blogging Summit 2011 in Cebu

It’s fair to assume that we are fascinated with numbers, except of course during our student days when we cursed calculus, algebra, and our math wizard classmates. But as a general rule, it seems we often equate truth with numbers. A thing, an event, a place, a person, an issue becomes more real if they are linked to statistics. And so we use numbers and impressive statistics in our presentations, lectures, conversations, and essays to increase our credibility. We bombard our audience and readers with numbers to convince and even intimidate them into believing to what we are saying or writing. The statement ‘The Philippines is a poor nation’ becomes more believable if we turn it into this statement: ‘The Philippines is an archipelago of 7,107 islands inhabited by 94 million people but one-fifth of the population is surviving on less than two dollars everyday.’ It seems easier to count the hungry stomachs than explain this tragedy.

Let’s admit that we prefer to cite statistics than to be part of them. We like to highlight the depressing numbers which are not directly linked to our lives. Chances are that a person who writes about poverty statistics, number of road accidents, and school drop-out rates is not part of that unfortunate segment of the population. We are unconsciously writing about the miseries suffered by other people.

This brings me to the popular usage of hashtags today. I think hashtags do not merely reflect our desire to ‘trend’ globally. We use hashtags to spread an idea, create a message and promote conversations around it. If carefully chosen, hashtags can dominate the cyberspace and influence the political landscape. The use of hashtags is our attempt to shape the interpretation of an event. But it can also lead to the emergence of something new, something unexpected in the social and political realms. Hashtags represent our active engagement in the world – they are statistics-in-the-making. When we propose a hashtag, we are actually seeking collaboration. We are continually in search of virtual collectives who will support our initiatives.

In the past, poverty discussions were dominated by depressing statistics. Well, poverty discussions today are still about depressing statistics but by using the #poverty hashtag, we are able to expand the conversations as we enjoin others to share their views and thoughts. We seek to provoke their passions and persuade them to do something about the existence of poverty in a land of plenty. And through the #change hashtag, we try to challenge other netizens so that the passive cyber exchange of 140 characters will lead to concrete actions in the real world. From tweeting birds, we become angry birds. From decorative plants, we decide to make that great leap and fight the zombies. It’s the power of the networked mob.

But the #change hashtag can’t dominate the trending wars consistently. Most of the time, the #viceganda hashtag tops the trending topics. It’s only during momentous political phases that hashtags like #ArroyoArrest or #itlognitopacio are able to register their strong presence in the twitterspehere. But during ordinary times, it’s hard to beat Vice Ganda, Anne Curtis or Vicky Belo. So should we admonish the showbiz twitterers? Not at all. Well, it won’t hurt to be more critical sometimes. But we must recognize that the political value of our mundane online ranting, and even our silly tweets, becomes visible when despots try to clamp down on the web. We should count the non-political netizens as among those who can be tapped in the resistance every time web access is restricted. Authorities are sometimes afraid to antagonize this constituency.

When Cambodian authorities banned Blogspot early this year, and Blogspot’s only fault was that it’s the preferred web portal of the political opposition, Cambodian netizens quickly reacted and demanded the restoration of Blogspot access. It’s when netizens are prevented from exercising their right to post their favorite photos, the right to share, like and comment on the most ordinary and non-political issues that often trigger widespread collaboration in the cyberspace.

So yes, the campaign to protect and strengthen our internet freedoms is also a defense of the right of ordinary internet users to use the web for whatever purpose. Our task today as committed bloggers, while we are enjoying almost unhampered web access, is to prepare everybody on how to respond collectively and even militantly when the political situation becomes difficult for web users. Please don’t forget that the state still has the regulatory power to shut down the internet. Even the US and UK, the two self-declared most democratic societies in the world, had no qualms when they proposed to filter or censor twitter when riots and mass actions threatened the stabilities of their cities.

Our social media campaigns should be appreciated as part of the learning phase – it’s the time when we are experimenting with the various social uses and applications of the web with the hope that one day, and I hope that day will never come, the skills we acquired and our accumulated positive practices will be our weapons in defending our web freedoms against various tyrannies.

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No Country for Young Politicians

By admin | November 17, 2011

There are no young politicians in the Philippines. Politicians are getting younger but their politics remain old. The new faces, the fashionable and adorable ones, come from the same old boring brand. According to the Asian Institute of Management Policy Center, seventy-seven percent (77 percent) of legislators aged 26-40 belong to political dynasties. They are temporary substitutes for parents and relatives who are barred by law from seeking another term for the same position. Worse, there are those who join the family business even if the old timers, the ‘old porkers’, have not yet retired. They flaunt their power and questionable wealth in public while clinging to the conceited belief that only their family members possess the intellectual competence and dedication required for public service. They spend their idle days accumulating more capital for the family hoard while inflating their egos.

Politicians die young. There are rebellious children who are quite ashamed of their family legacy. They are desperate to shed the trapo image. They try to be different by espousing popular advocacies while some are publicly contradicting their relatives. But their idealism is often defeated by the unbearable weight of the old system. How could they fight the trapo old guards in the parliamentary political arena and expect to emerge unscathed? How could they succeed in creating history if they are unable and unwilling to imagine the possibility of political reforms through non-electoral politics? Humbled by their powerlessness and overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of the system, they surrender to the seductive appeal of the status quo. They become reborn reactionaries guided by this mantra: ‘Stop fighting, start compromising. The system is imperfect but we can still make it work. I want to fight but I want to retain my privileges.’ In short, they want their pork and eat it too while the leftover is given to charity. Convinced that fighting the system is a losing battle, they turn their attention to the next elections. And so everyday we see their smiling faces plastered all over the town, we hear and read their awkward one-liners on TV or radio and even on the internet, and we are helpless to their aggressive use of PR magic and media manipulation. Their fulltime day job is to deceive the people through the most sophisticated and even ruthless means. The promising young politician has mutated into a trapo walking dead monster. It’s the worst kind of death.

Youth without youth. The curious case of Juan Ponce Enrile or the rehabilitation of his image from a hated Marcos crony to being the third most important statesman in the country is simply unbelievable. It’s a very disturbing, frightening political phenomenon. His life story teaches the youth that a person can still manage to become respectable in mainstream politics after being loyal to a fascist dictator for many years and despite participating in the bloody mutilation of democratic ideals in society (military dictatorship, human rights violations, coup, dagdag-bawas). It’s scary to see the rise of closet Enrile fans who are impressed with his legal brilliance while seeking to replicate his staying power in politics. Are we then doomed to a future dominated by Enrile zombies? Fortunately, we have the shining example of senior citizen activists as a viable alternative to the figure of Enrile. The 1960s radicals and the First Quarter Storm generation have remained politically relevant despite shunning electoral politics for many decades. Despite their age, they continue to battle the three evils of society (imperialism, bureaucratic capitalism, feudalism). They revived the mass movement and the revolution in their youth and they are still at it. They are the political Harry Potter, the boys and girls who lived (and survived Voldemort/Marcos). They are the political Peter Pan, the boys and girls who refused to grow old. Forget Enrile, who keeps reinventing himself as a fake and pathetic champion of the masses. (Forget Belo too). The secret to eternal youth is to take the road of revolution.

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Occupy Singapore Flop

By admin | November 13, 2011

Inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement, last week saw hundreds of protests against corporate greed and economic inequality spring up around the world. In Singapore, similar action was organized in the financial district to highlight the widening economic gap in the country and to ‘engage the public in creating a new form of democracy.’ But it seems Singaporeans had other things on their mind, because nobody showed up in Raffles Place. Even the organizers didn’t identify themselves to the media, which went there to document the protest.

Is this a sign that Singapore’s ‘99 percent’ is satisfied with the economy? Did the protest fail because the obscene accumulation of wealth by a few corporations that provoked the Wall Street protest is a non-issue in prosperous Singapore?

The ‘Occupy Raffles Place’ flop shouldn’t allow us to forget that Singapore has by some measures the highest rate of inequality among developed nations. It was the first city in Asia to experience recession in the wake of the global financial crisis in 2008, and while its economy has already rebounded, ordinary Singaporeans continue to suffer from stagnant wages, job losses and the rising cost of living. In fact, last May’s election results saw the ruling party suffer its worst-ever electoral setback.

So, if there are valid reasons to ‘occupy’ Singapore, and if the people are searching for alternatives, why did the protest fail? The threat issued by the police against the organizers of the ‘Occupy’ event could have discouraged any interested Singaporeans (and even foreigners) from joining the protest. Singapore might have the most open economy in the world, but it has restrictive laws that make it difficult for its citizens to organize and participate in political assemblies. (Of course, the nameless organizers should also be blamed for their poor planning and failure to offer creative methods of circumventing Singapore’s repressive laws).

Still, the organizers and believers in the ‘Occupy’ movement shouldn’t lose faith over the zero attendance in their initial attempt to introduce a more assertive form of political action in Singapore. They must appreciate the fact that they were able to rattle the Singapore government, especially the police, with a simple announcement posted on Facebook. Also, both local and foreign journalists were there to cover the protest, which highlights the newsworthiness of the action. Netizens were prepared to popularize the protest in cyberspace. If a non-event could generate such a surprising reaction from the government and the public, imagine the political impact of a well-attended ‘Occupy Singapore.’

The opposition and other dissident forces should seize the potential of the ‘Occupy’ idea and transform it into a reality.

Written for The Diplomat

Timor-Leste’s Tasi Mane Project

Part of Timor-Leste’s Strategic Development Plan is the building of three industrial clusters on the country’s southwest coast, which will be the backbone of its petroleum industry. But civil society groups have warned that the ambitious project will have little impact on the economy.

The Tasi Mane (Male Sea) Project will involve the development of an integrated petroleum infrastructure in the coastal zone from Suai to Beaço over the next two decades. The plan includes the construction of the Suai Supply Base cluster, the Betano Refinery and Petrochemical Industry cluster, and the Beaço LNG-Plant cluster.

Suai will become a centre for providing services, logistics, fabrications and human resources for the petroleum industry. The supply base will require the establishment of a sea port in Kamanasa, a housing complex, heavy metals workshop, shipbuilding and repair facilities and a rehabilitated Suai airport. In Betano, a refinery and petrochemical complex will rise in a new centre that will be known as Petroleum City. And finally, in Beaco, an LNG Plant complex will be constructed near the towns of Nova Beaco and Nova Viqueque. The existing airport at Viqueque will be upgraded into a regional airport.

Aside from addressing the long term domestic energy requirements of Timor-Leste, the Tasi Mane Project is expected to generate substantial revenues, jobs, and livelihood opportunities in the country’s southern corridor. The government is confident that it will boost the petroleum sector, which can be used to directly promote the industrialization of the economy.

Timor-Leste is dependent on its oil revenues, but economists have already advised it to diversify its economy by venturing into non-oil activities since its oil and gas reserves are estimated to reach its peak in 13 years. But La’o Hamutuk, a Timor-Leste-based NGO, believes that Tasi Mane reflects the continuing dependence of the country on the petroleum industry. In its critique of the government’s development strategy, the group noted that petroleum processing seems to be the only industrial development discussed in the paper. ‘What about agricultural processing, or light industry to replace imported products?’ the group asked.

The group also questioned the government allocation of over 30 million for the Tasi Mane project, which is more than twice the budget of the Agriculture Ministry. ‘We lamented the nearly exclusive focus on the petroleum industry and resulting in lost opportunities to explore other possibilities for economic development,’ the group said.

The project blueprint is also silent on the concrete and real impact of Tasi Mane on the local economy and the communities in the south coast. ‘Nothing is said about how many jobs these projects will provide for Timorese workers, how much land they will take from uses such as agriculture and fishing, how many people will have to be displaced, or how much revenue they will generate for the state,’ La’o Hamutuk added.

Parliament is being urged by the NGO not to grant the government a blank cheque for a project that’s lacking transparency and whose economic viability is in doubt.

Still, the Tasi Mane Project is the flagship programme of Timor-Leste’s development strategy, and it has much potential since it can harness the country’s petroleum resources for the long term benefit of the local population. It can redirect the oil revenues to spur industrialization and the diversification of the local economy. But the issues raised by La’o Hamutuk and other NGOs are also valid, and they require immediate government consideration and action. Timor-Leste’s leaders must clarify these issues by engaging and consulting with the people, especially the communities that will be affected or displaced by Tasi Mane.

Written for The Diplomat

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Southeast Asia: Social Media and Human Rights

By admin | November 6, 2011

Delivered during the Amnesty International Western USA Conference in Los Angeles, November 5, 2011. Thanks @KalaMendoza for the invitation

We already know that social media is a powerful information and communication tool. It has wonderful uses: Monitor, share, and create news; build networks, enhance communications; reach a broader audience while at the same time engage public authorities. From being an innovative aspect of our work, it’s now an essential component in achieving our goals. It’s already part of an organizer’s daily tasks. Why? Because it’s effective as a platform to promote good governance, transparency, and human rights.

A government which has many things to hide is afraid of social media. It limits web access, censors web content, and even punishes cyber dissidents. But since the social applications of social media are increasing, a repressive government is sometimes forced to relax web restrictions in order not to antagonize its non-politicized constituents.

It’s suspicious when the government becomes the cheerleader and unlikely protector of web freedoms. This happens when the government guarantees the ‘freedoms’ of internet users: freedom to criticize another country, freedom to look and act like fools in the web, freedom to worship entertainment stars, freedom to praise the royal family, and freedom to cheer and heckle during sports events.

Suspicious because it’s during these ‘normal’ times when governments build consensus on questionable and controversial issues. Yes the internet promotes democracy but it can also spread hate, racism, and xenophobia. Furthermore, it’s a very reliable surveillance weapon. Beware of Big Brother and the ‘thousands of little brothers’ who are monitoring our online activities. Despite its usefulness, unfortunately, the internet can also harm the security and privacy of individuals and most especially activists.

We are told that the internet gives us a broader perspective of the world. This is partially correct. On my way here to Los Angeles last night, I saw a glimpse of the whole city. I realized that the satellite view of LA in the evening makes it almost indistinguishable from other cities of the world. From that vantage point, it’s difficult to judge whether a city is rich or poor, well-planned or disorganized. We don’t know if the bright street lights serve a rich neighborhood or an urban poor village. We don’t know if the houses are foreclosed or not. We don’t know if the congregation in the park is a religious event, musical festival or political rally.

To acquire more accurate information, we need to be on the ground; we need to integrate in the community. It’s through our conversations in the social media that we learn the nitty gritty details of our world.

But the internet is flooded with so many irrelevant details. We are constantly bombarded with tons of spam and trashy information. We can google a person, place, event, and we get instant results. We can fact-check everything, even the spelling and grammar. But it doesn’t always improve our understanding of the world. Often, the results we get fail to provide context of the situation.

Who will give the necessary context? Who will identify the stakeholders, the actors, the victims, the aggressors? Human rights activists have a big role to perform in mainstreaming the use of social media for democratic causes. It’s crucial that we recognize that the popular social media tools were encoded not to advance human rights but to generate profit. Therefore, we must persevere as we promote the human rights agenda in the public debates.

Let me cite a few creative and inspiring examples of how activists, journalists, and ordinary citizens in our region have tapped the potential of the internet to campaign for human rights and democracy.

When Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi was released from prison last year, the government banned the news journals from reporting about it. Since sports news are often uncensored there, a news journal carried these seemingly harmless headlines: “Sunderland Freeze Chelsea,” “United Stunned by Villa” & “Arsenal Advance to Grab Their Hope.” But they were intercepted as a code since the paper used light-color letters in the headlines to highlight this message: “Su Free. Unite & Advance to Grab The Hope.”

The Bersih democracy movement in Malaysia. is another outstanding example of netizen activism or citizen media participation in the political sphere. The event which was initially organized to ask for electoral reforms became a pro-democracy political action in the end because of the massive participation of the civilian population in the streets on one hand, and the exaggerated and violent reaction of the state on the other. Bersih is now the revolution’s name in Malaysia. And social media was maximized to broaden Bersih’s appeal among the apolitical segments of the local internet community. More importantly, it gave Malaysians the opportunity to imagine the formation of a united and patriotic community of individuals committed to the defense of democracy. Social media’s prominent role in Bersih proved that it’s more than a useful tool in elections exploited by politicians and professional political groups. It taught us that the intelligent use of social media can help us win more freedoms in the cyberspace and in the real world.

Facebook profile pictures ‘disappeared’ in the Philippines when activists asked their friends to remove their pictures during the International Day of the Disappeared in remembrance of the disappeared in the Philippines and around the world. When a lawmaker proposed a ban on planking protests, it provoked students to post more planking photos. Suddenly, planking has become a legitimate form of protest.

A curry solidarity action was organized in Singapore after it was reported that a couple were told by authorities not to cook curry when their complaining neighbors are at home. #hiogat became a popular hashtag in Thailand during the elections after a woman raised a placard while the Prime Minister was delivering a speech. #hiogat means He Is Only Good at Talking. A mapping project in Cambodia revealed the poor state of prison facilities in the country. In Indonesia, netizens launched a successful fund drive to support a housewife who was sued by a hospital for sending an email complaint to a friend.

What are some lessons we can highlight? Weak IT infrastructure in many countries of the region didn’t prevent the spread of internet use. And despite restrictions, activists were able to maximize the political value of the internet. However, we must stress that the campaign for human rights should also include the demand to improve internet access since the government’s initial attempt to ‘tame’ the internet is to make it expensive for ordinary citizens.

This is already obvious but I must still emphasize the reminder that grassroots organizing is superior over our internet activities. Campaign strategies are more effective if online activities are linked to offline solidarity actions. On the other hand, cyber activism becomes a potent force only if it is fused with grassroots activism. Online activism minus the essential offline component is impressive and creative but politically impotent. It gives a false impression that change is possible by being aggressive and passionate only in the virtual world. It prevents the educated segment of the population from developing a genuine link with the working masses. Last month, Occupy Singapore was announced on Facebook and it generated a lot of media interest. But it seems Singaporeans were preoccupied with something else since nobody showed up in the protest. Lesson: Before and after we ‘occupy’, we must organize.

Next reminder: We shouldn’t underestimate the sophistication of government censorship which filters alleged ‘immoral’ web content. Governments justify the imposition of draconian measures by invoking the name of innocent subjects like the children who need to be protected from dangerous influence in the cyberspace. The top prohibited contents are subversive political ideas and pornography. For example, Thailand has blocked more than 400,000 ‘harmful’ webpages. It hired cyber cops who report websites that ‘insult’ the King. Meanwhile, regulators in Cambodia appealed to ISPs last January to censor anti-Khmer websites which unfortunately included the popular blog platform Blogspot. Blogspot’s only fault was that it seemed to be the preferred online portal of various opposition groups and critical media networks in Cambodia.

The media is often fascinated with trending topics, hashtags that drive internet traffic, viral videos, and popular memes. Our task should be to create new hashtags; and to highlight the topics that didn’t trend, webpages that didn’t generate many hits, and issues that were underreported by the mainstream media.

The internet is able to document our protest activities in realtime but not all human rights defenders can afford to reveal their identities. We must protect the safety of activists, including those who rely on the internet for their political activities.

Language is also an important issue. Translation of statements, petitions and speeches written or delivered in other languages; documentation of protests by migrants, refugees, and people who live outside the internet zone. Our activists must reach these places.

Activism in the 21st century features new action words like texting, retweeting, clicking, chatting and social networking. But 20th century action words are still more persuasive and powerful – like talking, organizing, marching, pushing and rallying. Everyday, we should combine words like virtual and real, Facebook like and picket chant, hashtag and occupy.

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Even in the Philippines people live*

By admin | November 3, 2011

The Philippines receives international attention every time a freak storm hits the islands. It becomes more interesting to the global audience if floods, volcanic eruptions and super quakes destroy the communities of islanders. It’s pitied for being the most disaster-prone country in the world. But it also ‘trends’ because of its youtube-famous dancing prisoners, boxing champs, Imelda Marcos shoes, and legislators who want to ban planking protests. It seems the Philippines becomes visible in the news radar only if strange things happen in the 7,107 islands.

But the country’s image shouldn’t be reduced to the world of exotic and magic.

Indeed, ‘really existing’ poverty in the country is obscene. If a gated community is built near an urban poor sprawl, the public debate will focus on the actual and imagined excesses of the poor instead of redirecting the righteous indignation of the twittering classes (previously known as chattering classes) to the vulgar display of social inequality. It seems easier to inflame the tsunami rage of the TV-crazed mob by highlighting the criminal activities of the masa than, for example, to build opposition to the irresponsible and elitist decision of the government to lower the indicators of poverty. Solve poverty by redefining it, clever!

But then again, the Philippines should be more than about disasters and Smokey Mountain. It may be famous for its white sand beaches and giant crocodiles but even in these islands of contradictions people live. The islanders, the ‘orphans of the Pacific’, know how to cook adobo and sinigang; but more than their love for merrymaking and baby making, they know how to fight. They produced super maids and super nannies but they also gave us superheroes and super revolutionaries.

The Philippines is guilty of bringing Marcos to this world (and maybe even Hitler if rumors are true) but it’s the same country where Rizal was born. It’s the land of Bonifacio and Jacinto who launched Asia’s first anti-colonial revolution in the late 19th century. Before Sun Yat Sen and Gandhi, there was the anti-Spanish Katipuneros and their bolos. It’s the country which exposed the imperialism of the great US of A when its people resisted the American occupation in the early 1900s. Out of the ruins of the second world war (beautiful old Manila was the second most devastated city in the world next to Warsaw), the Philippine Republic – Asia’s first after the war – was established. Filipinos defied the dictatorship in the 1970s and wowed the world with their peaceful People Power uprising in Edsa in 1986.

Recently, protesting workers and farmers ‘occupied’ Mendiola and proclaimed themselves the ’75 percent’ who are urging the 24 percent (professionals, students, middle forces) to join the struggle against the oppressive rule of the ‘1 percent’. Behold the exploited majority as they affirm their readiness to challenge the supremacy of the political dynasties.

Yes Wikileaks, there is poverty, repression, and old style imperialist meddling in the Philippines; but why dwell on these depressing topics?

The people’s movement in the islands is actually intensifying. The armed revolution has been raging in the archipelago for more than four decades already and it’s officially the world’s longest insurgency. The oppressors, the apathetic, the conformists, and the clueless observers couldn’t understand why the rebellion is thriving in the country despite the dramatic fall of the communist bloc. But the serious students of history, the oppressed, and the dreamers of a new future clearly understand the logic of revolution. They know that tyranny can’t exist without provoking anger and resistance in society.

From the Middle East to the Americas, the people are raising the level of fighting. Arab Spring. Occupy Movements. General Strikes. People’s War. Dictators are ousted in unceremonial ways but more significantly, the people are learning how to fight back. They are reclaiming politics by asserting the power of organized collectives. The one percent has the purchasing power but the people, the grassroots, has the real power to change the world. The poor will not reject charity but solidarity is superior.

The search for the perfect hashtag to capture the essence of revolution should be abandoned since the truth has to be experienced in the real world. It’s through the participation in the daily struggles that life becomes more meaningful. It’s when workers, farmers, and the rest of the exploited are united in the revolution that they are able to create history, even as they viciously confront their differences.

Therefore, the fire of life is burning in the Philippines because its people are waging a revolution. From the cities to the boondocks, the flags of the mass movement are standing proud.

*From Anton Chekhov’s short story In Exile, “Even in Siberia people live.”

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