LETTER TO THE LAW DEPARTMENT, COMELEC

REPLY TO MOTU PROPRIO TO

DENY CANDIDACY OF THE RESPONDENT

WILHELMINA S. OROZCO

Respondent

versus SPA NO. 15-033 (DC) (MP)

COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS

THROUGH THE LAW DEPARTMENT

Petitioner

REPLIES

TO THIS HONORABLE COMMISSION, Respondent respectfully replies:

A. THE FACTS:

1. The Petitioner-Law Department rejected the Certificate of Candidacy for a Senatorial Position of the.Respondent filed for 9 May 2016 National and Local Elections. However the reasons given are nebulous, confusing and downright authoritarian. It

a. Claims that “the Respondent has no bona fide intention to run for the office for which the COC has been filed, and thus prevents a faithful determination of the true will of the electorate;” and

b. Has labeled the Respondent a “nuisance,” a word taken from the Batasan Pambansa, Omnibus Election Code. (Actually a piece of legislation that came out of that authoritarian, one-man rule and which had caused the Filipino people to rise up against it in 1986 in order to restore democracy as a system and to guarantee human rights.)

B. THE REASONS: To support its contention, it mentions the following:

1. “Respondent listed her occupation as a Media Prod(ucer)-Educator. While such is a noble way to earn a living, it is respectfully submitted that absent clear proof of her financially capability, Respondent will not be able to sustain the financial rigors of waging a nationwide campaign. (6.7)“

2. “While it is true that 'the right to vote and to be voted for shall not be dependent upon the wealth of the individual concerned, whereas social justice presupposes equal opportunity for all, rich and poor alike, and that, accordingly, no person shall, by reason of poverty be denied the chance to be elected to public office' reality is a bitter pill that Respondent has to swallow.” (6.8.)

REPLIES OF THE RESPONDENT

A. ABOUT THE RESPONDENT:

1. Petitioner-Law Department's Little Knowledge of Media

a. Regarding “a” the Petitioner-Law Department has very little knowledge of the communication media. Media constitute various forms – print, radio, tv and film, as well as person-to-person, and person-to-public communication.

b. Petitioner shows ignorance, maybe omits or has lack of knowledge as it belittles the media profession of the Respondent. On the contrary, the Respondent is very knowledgeable about the use of Media in all aspects of life. She finished Master in Communication from Ateneo de Manila University, has a doctorate in Philosophy and Education and right now is engaged in media production within the non-government field, a non-commercial endeavor, where advocacies for socio-political issues are rife. Thus the Respondent is well-versed in the various media forms and their uses for pushing and advancing messages that center on many advocacies and issues.

c. Respondent has financed her media productions in many creative ways-- through her project presentations to funders or through appeals to generous patrons and sponsors. Conducting an election campaign is not so difficult for a media person like her – as she has the gifts of speech and writing both very necessary for being in media and being successful in sending messages across to the public, especially in the position aspired for.

d. Petitioner-Law Department fails to consider the many years of involvement, engagement and deep immersion of the Respondent as a media practitioner. Actually Respondent has been writing since 1982 – essays, short stories, dramas, and long political articles, among others. She has gained the support of many folks in the media and the public in general because of her capability to use various forms of communication to bring her messages across to them.

Now, campaigning for the position of Senator could be an easy task because the Respondent could always tap personally her media colleagues, friends and even unmet media individuals and the public in general, located nationwide for support of her …...... 2

candidacy as should she win, she would work diligently for about a better welfare for them. In fact, the Respondent's major platform is to raise the status of the masses in society, especially the disadvantaged sectors. (Please see submitted Oro Magnifico Program of Action)

In other words, as a Media Producer, the Respondent has an arsenal of information, knowledge, experience and know-how in disseminating important ideas in public, using all the different kinds of media, which could all be easily practiced during the election campaign.

Google Norge thirdforce-prg (Philippines for Responsive Governance)

e. The Petitioner-Law Department has very little knowledge of or maybe simply ignores the work of the Respondent whereas she has been widely read here and abroad. Her blog, Google Norge thirdforce-prg which she started in 2008 and has maintained until today is being read in Asia, North America even as far as Alaska where a friend lives, in Europe and the Middle East. To confirm this, Google regularly uploads information in a world map where the blog is being disseminated and read.

B. HOLDING PUBLIC OFFICE

Petitioner-Law Department's View of Holding Public Office = Diluted Interpretation of the Provision in the Constitution

1. The Constitution guarantees equal access to opportunities for public service.... Art. II, Section 26. By denying the Respondent her Candidacy, the Petitioner-Law Department's knowledge of that act of Holding Public office becomes glaring and wanting. It is violating the Constitution by denying the Respondent her right to run for public office.

2. To the Petitioner-Law Department, Holding Public Office is engaging in a capitalistic endeavor –the individual candidate, without a party must be able to sustain (meaning have enough spending money) the campaign, have funds, and insure his/her victory through the polls. This is a rather narrow view of the role of the Commission on Elections in the country.

Public Service, a General Category; Holding Public Office, a Sub-Category

3. To the Petitioner-Law Department, Holding Public Office is the same as Public Service. Petitioner forgets that Public Service is a general category, philosophically and politically. Philosophically, it means a service that is run for the benefit of the general ….....................................................................................................................................4 public. The sub-categories are: helping the disadvantaged groups, disseminating information on political matters for public consumption AND holding office, among others. Politically, Public Service means acting in order to create and make changes for the public.

4. Now, “Holding Office” is not a general but rather a specific category falling under the general heading of Public Service. To hold office is to be in public service. In terms of significance, holding office cannot be higher in significance than that of public service. The latter is all encompassing and general, while the former is very specific.

Therefore, the Petitioner - Law Department MISUNDERSTANDS and DILUTES the meaning of Public Service. By denying Respondent the right to run for office, it has distorted the meaning of and statement in the Constitution from being equal to unequal access to opportunities for public service.

5. Right vs Privilege. To state that running for public office is a mere 'privilege subject to limitations imposed by law,” is to rewrite the Constitution. “Privilege” cannot be a substitute for “right.” Nor should Right be capriciously changed to Privilege. Privilege is a capricious benefit that can be recalled at any time but Right is just entitlement, so fundamental that it cannot be obliterated by anyone. It is bestowed upon the Filipino people. To say that to run for public office is a mere privilege subject to limitations imposed by law is committing a gross violation of the fundamental law of the land. The Constitution guarantees equal access to public service; ergo, everyone should be allowed to file their candidacies and be allowed to be judged by the public except for health reasons – for example physiological may be mentioned as obstructive of serving the public, but incapacity to conduct a campaign is not at all nor should it be a hindrance because the Constitution states that everyone should have equal access to serve in office.

6. Beyond its Purview It is beyond the role of the Comelec to meddle into how any Candidate/s should conduct their campaigns as these all depend on their creativity. To allow others to be free to conduct their own and disallow others is to be selective, elitist and discriminatory. However, it has a responsibility to insure that all the barangays are informed about the backgrounds of each candidate ahead of the voting period.

7. Libelous Word. The Petitioner had called the Respondent a nuisance. Yet the

Philippine Constitution avers that the “State values the dignity of every human person and guarantees full respect for human rights. ARTICLE II DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES AND STATE POLICIES............................................................................................................................................................4

“Nuisance” means, an obnoxious or annoying person, thing, condition, practice, etc. In what manner, or what action, did the Respondent do to merit such a libelous name? The only interaction the Respondent has had with the Petitioner has been through the submission of the certificate of candidacy and nothing more. Now if the Petitioner-Law Department relied on the reports of other individuals or agencies such as the military and the police, then they become suspect. The only reason why they should produce any negative report is because the Respondent has been highly critical of anti-democratic practices in Philippine society.

Yet the Petitioner-Law Department violates this Constitutional provision thus blatantly destroying her reputation. Calling candidates nuisance based on pieces of paper and not a thorough understanding of their biography, of having interviewed them, or their having been assessed by competent personnel with regard to their total existence is tantamount

to committing Libel, a civil offense that is penalized by law.

8. Legacy of Marcosian One-Man Rule

Most ironically, the Petitioner-Law Department quoted from the Batas Pambansa Blg. 881 revised under the Omnibus Election Code of the Philippines, lifting the word "nuisance" without analyzing its implications. Batas Pambansa Blg. 881 is a product of the one-man rule in the country in 1985. Marcos used the word "nuisance" in order to downgrade his opponents, all of his enemies who were plotting to bring him down. Ergo, after 1986 the term should have been changed to a more humane one in order to give recognition to the political act of the people in bringing down his one-man rule and installing a democratic regime in the country.

So what guarantees can we have from the Comelec to guarantee full respect for human rights? For the Commission to become a true Filipino People's institution based on what we had fought for in 1986, then it must contend with the language being used within and being disseminated to the public and revise those that are anti-democratic. This is to insure the protection of the rights of the people to a democratic, humane, just and orderly access to public office as well as peaceful transition of leadership.

9. Discriminatory Act. The Constitution declares that The State recognizes the role of women in nation-building, and shall ensure the fundamental equality before the law of women and men. Art II, Section 14. The Petitioner-Law Department commits the act of discrimination against the Respondent.

Contrary to the fundamental law of the land, the Petitioner-Law Department omits or fails to mention, intentionally or unintentionally, that the Respondent is a woman and and ..............................................................................................................................5 deserves equal treatment before the law. It ignores if not totally omits its own role in ensuring the access of women to public office. The Respondent submitted her bio-data and program of action when she filed her COC but this was clearly glossed over totally as can be gleaned from its blanket conclusion. Ironically, one Petitioner signee is a woman.

10. Denial of Responsibility of Public Information Functions. The (Omnibus Election Code) law states in Sec. 10 that . Election expenses. - Except in barangay elections, such expenses as may be necessary and reasonable in connection with the elections, referenda, plebiscites and other similar exercises shall be paid by the Commission. The Commission may direct that in the provinces, cities, or municipalities, the election expenses chargeable to the Commission be advanced by the province, city or municipality concerned subject to reimbursement by the Commission upon presentation of the proper bill.

The Petitioner-Law Department fails to recognize , or denies the responsibility of the Commission for the onus of informing the public as to the background of candidates for positions yet it is mentioned above.

Considering the archipelagic character of the country, it is stringently difficult to inform every voter in the region about the candidates. Only political parties and moneyed individuals can do that. So, when the Petitioner-Law Department mentions that “the Respondent has no bona fide intention to run for public office...absent clear proof of her financial capability, Respondent will not be able to sustain the financial rigors of waging a nationwide campaign,” it is committing the gross error of putting an added qualifier to be a candidate on the part of the Respondent, which is not sanctioned by the Constitution nor by the Omnibus Election Code. As well, it clearly discriminates against the sincerely patriotic poor and handicapped from exercising the opportunities for holding public office.

11. Jumping from Principled to Pragmatic Analysis. Moreover, the Petitioner-Law Department commits double speak when it says that “while it is true that 'the right to vote and to be voted for shall not be dependent upon the wealth of the individual concerned...reality is a bitter pill that Respondent has to swallow.” Now what kind of thought is that that jumps from a principled to a highly pragmatic stand? Is this not a case of saying one thing and then meaning another thing? Should the State allow such kind of thinking to prevail in the Commission? The Petitioner-Law Department glosses over the import of the above provision and has committed an erroneous way of thinking which should be dismissed by the higher echelons of the Commission as a warped and .anti-democratic act. It presents itself as knowledgeable about the law but its mistakes in thinking are highly gross: creating a favorable climate for the moneyed class only to be able to vie for public office. Worse, it states its bias in a very sardonic way, as if the Respondent has to swallow the poison of being rejected. The bitter pill is that the country …................................................................................................................................ 7

has a Petitioner-Law Department with great feelings of self-aggrandizement.

Elitism and discrimination based on wealth have no room in a democratic regime. These are the bitter pills of living under the aegis of a Petitioner-Law Department who twists the law to for reasons nobody can fathom.

3. Actually, RA No. 6646, An Act Introducing Additional Reforms In The Electoral System and For Other Purposes, promulgated on 5 January 1998 states that “the Commission shall cause to be printed certified lists of candidates containing the names of all registered candidates for each office to be voted for in each province, city or municipality immediately followed by the nickname or stage name of each candidate duly registered in his certificate of candidacy and his political party affiliation, if any. Said list shall be posted inside each voting booth during the voting period. Whenever practicable, the board of inspectors shall cause said list of candidates to be written clearly and legibly on the blackboard or on manila paper for posting at a conspicuous place inside the polling place. The Constitution emphasizes equal access to public service.”

In other words, during the voting period, the voters are given the chance to make a judgment right away about the credentials of the candidates. The exposure here is only in terms of the name, and not the background of the candidates. Now is there enough time to make a decent assessment of the capability of a candidate? This situation opens up the voters to familiar recall of names based on media exposure done by the candidates and not on the basis of qualifications anymore. Will there be room for an informed choice?

4. Petitioner-Law Department Transferring Promotions Responsibility Completely to Candidates Instead Of Carrying The Onus. In truth, the State, through the Commission, is burdened with the function of informing the public, to publicize as to who are qualified to run and not solely the individual candidates' acting responsibly. Self-promotion could be deceiving and downright misleading. Some candidates could hide their true nature and because they have the money could put out glossy tarpaulins and posters, give away lots of paraphernalia and sweet talk voters in order to encourage them to their side. Twin examples are these Congress representatives who got voted upon but later on turned out to be “nuisance officials” coming to the Congress sessions for only seven out of 34 sessions in 2014.

By confining its activities to informing the public only during the voting day itself nary any information on the candidates, save their names, the Commission is disallowing the public from making a good vote.

…............................................. 8

WHEREFORE, the Respondent prays that the Honorable Commission would stop the implementation of the Petitioner-Law Department's Judgment as it is highly flawed based on the premises above. And also to approve her Certificate of Candidacy based on principles inscribed in the Philippine Constitution. The positive move shall show the seriousness of the Commission in the political exercise of voting as as the lifeblood that would define the future of everyone in society.

SIGNED THIS 2 NOVEMBER 2015 IN MANILA, PHILIPPINES

WILHELMINA S. OROZCO

Respondent

TO BE FREE TO SERVE OUR PEOPLE

Dear Compatriots, Kababayan, Kabaro and Friends,

I really feel insulted that the Comelec had dropped me from the list of senatorial candidates after it had run my name in its website for more than a week. 

When I called its office, Joy, of the Law Department had told me that the name was (and of the other candidates) there because to alert them to correct the spelling or if it was all right to use the same. 

Then suddenly it was gone. 

I don't understand this style of governance at all. What kind of leadership do we have in the Comelec? It says one thing and then the next day does the opposite. We are being given the run-around. 

Then someone had told me that the winning candidates because of the picos machines are already known (and some people had been paid off already). In other words, "lutong makaw" and election. 

Folks, we did not conduct People Power in 1986 only to be led into this kind of rigmarole under a person whose mother was a key player in that event. 

We have all the reasons to change our society as its development is getting concentrated on the top of the social ladder. We, the movers of that PP should be at the forefront to show our kababayan and the world that we know how to reconstruct our society so that development filters down to the very lowest rungs. 

And the Comelec plays a big role on that. Unfortunately, its moves are largely governed by reactionary principles, anti-human rights (lowering the dignity of candidates by calling those it rejects as "nuisance"), abuse of authority ( appropriating for itself the choosing of candidates based on questionable grounds like having money), favoring political parties and marginalizing independent candidates, or being selective in choosing who are the independents who can run, a very grave distortion of the provisions of the Constitution regarding the equality of everyone before the law; and reducing the right to join public service to privilege (in favor of the moneyed elite), again another distortion of the Philippine Constitution of 1987 which was framed after the PP Movement. 

I have sent my complaint to the Ombudsman but I have been told that it could take time before it would be resolved. And if it is political, then it should go to the Supreme Court; but if administrative then it would be programmed as one of the issues it needs to resolve. 

Please help me resolve this issue, my Compatriots, Kababayan, Kabaro and Friends. I want to serve our country, our people and show that we could do more if we work within the structure than outside. Social Media can bring about great changes in our country and reduce the stature of people who become stumbling blocks to our being dignified citizens not only of this country but of the world. 

Please write a complaint to the Comelec about their highhanded handling of my case and kindly send a copy to my email: miravera2010@gmail.com. Please put COMPLAINT as the opening word so that I could compile them altogether right away and I could respond to you. 

For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

Nelson Mandela

COMELEC SENATORIAL LIST 2016 SUBJECT TO EDITING

List of Senatorial Candidates for Verification

Below is the list of senatorial candidates published by the COMELEC to allow candidates to check their names as they would appear on the ballot, thus subject to editing.

1. ALBANI, SHARIFF (IND)
2. ALI, ALDIN (WPPPMM)
3. ALUNAN, RAFFY (IND)
4. AMBOLODTO, INA (LP)
5. AQUINO, TONYBOY (IND)
6. ARQUIZA, GODOFREDO (IND)
7. BALIGOD, LEVITO (IND)
8. BELGICA, GRECO (IND)
9. BELLO, WALDEN (IND)
10. CAM, SANDRA (PMP)
11. CATMON, JOEL (PGRP)
12. CHAVEZ, MEL (WPPPMM)
13. COLMENARES, NERI (MKBYN)
14. DE LIMA, LEILA (LP)
15. DOMAGOSO, ISKO MORENO (PMP)
16. DORONA, RAY (IND)
17. DRILON, FRANK (LP)
18. GADON, LARRY (KBL)
19. GATCHALIAN, WIN (NPC)
20. GORDON, DICK (IND)
21. GUINGONA, TG (LP)
22. HONTIVEROS, RISA (AKBYN)
23. JAAFAR, PRINCESS ANGEL (IND)
24. KABALU, EID (IND)
25. KAPUNAN, ATTY. LORNA (AKSYON)
26. KIRAM, PRINCESS JACEL (UNA)
27. LACSAMANA, ALMA MORENO (UNA)
28. LACSON, PANFILO (IND)
29. LAGARE, MR. JUROR (IND)
30. LANGIT, REY (UNA)
31. LAPID, MARK (AKSYON)
32. LIBAN, DANTE (IND)
33. MAGANTO, ROMEO (LAKAS)
34. MANZANO, EDU (IND)
35. MONTANO, ALLAN (UNA)
36. MONTAÑO, MON (IND)
37. NAPEÑAS, GETULIO (UNA)
38. OPLE, SUSAN (NP)
39. OROZCO, EMMA (IND)
40. OSMEÑA, SERGIO III (IND)
41. PACQUIAO, MANNY (UNA)
42. PAEZ, MR. COOP (IND)
43. PAGDILAO, SAMUEL (IND)
44. PALPARAN, JOVITO JR. (IND)
45. PANGILINAN, KIKO (LP)
46. PETILLA, CARLOS JERICHO (LP)
47. RECTO, RALPH (LP)
48. RODRIGUEZ, ROGER (IND)
49. ROMUALDEZ, MARTIN (LAKAS)
50. ROMULO, ROMAN (IND)
51. SANTIAGO, DIONISIO (IND)
52. SOTTO, VICENTE (NPC)
53. TOLENTINO, FRANCIS (IND)
54. VALEROSO, DIOSDADO (IND)
55. VILLANUEVA, JOEL TESDAMAN (LP)
56. ZUBIRI, MIGZ (IND)

Finding Love in the Age of Suppression

Finding Love in the Age of Suppression

Wilhelmina S. Orozco

The streets of Hong Kong could not show me which way to go: to the shopping malls or to be with the migrant workers in the big plaza. If I would be at the shopping malls, I would have to part with some of the honorarium I received from the conference which could very well tide over my needs for the next months. But if my feet would take me to the plaza, I would feel very low, very depressed. Why because I could not understand how the migrant workers I had met, many of whom were elementary teachers back home, could be assuming lowly domestic help jobs, demeaning themselves just to earn a pittance but enough for the education of their children.

In the home that I had stayed during one conference, I slept in a room with a domestic helper, Rene and found her leafing through her family album every night, wiping the plastic sheets covering the pictures as if wanting to caress her children while also drying her eyes from falling tears. The scene was heart-tugging and also reminded me of the migrants in better position in Paris. They lived a more well-off lifestyle, better salaries, and a daily view of a first class city of the arts, with the Louvre and the Left Bank teeming with peripatetic artists and café- habitués.

Somehow, my feet did take me to the plaza, and as I shuffled from group to group of why, almost all women offering the newsletter of the Makamasa organization, I had felt a great kinship with them, as if they were my own neighbors with whom I could share family stories. Reading the word, Makamasa as title of the newsletter, many looked at me with suspicion. Am I brainwashing them with the same radical ideas? “Anong organisasyon mo?” one asked me with great imperiousness.

“Makamasa,” I said. She leafed through the newsletter, thankful probably that the name did not sound like any of those radical ones that they knew. After a bit of hesitation she gave me 2 Hong Kong dollars, donation, not the price as I did not print any on the newsletter. Before I could say thanks, I heard something that made my heart skip a beat.

Tak, tak, tak, went the footsteps on the concrete pavement of the huge town plaza, a big quadrangle in the heart of Hong Kong with a monument of a former British head of the colony. The sounds were like the marching footsteps of soldiers in Nazi films full of German villains and American heroes always battling each other with the latter winning the war. They evoked images of Jews captured under orders from Hitler who were deluded to bathe inside concentration camps up north in Germany but instead were sent to bathrooms only to breathe unwittingly, lethal gas emitting from the water taps.

Where do the sounds come from, I asked myself, with my heart pounding more rapidly, and various images rushing through my mind like the ravaging floods in Manila. The more alone in this foreign country. Then suddenly an incident flashed which concurred with the image of the first Hong Kong police.

While coming from Kenya, and passing through Seychelles, I disembarked from the plane in Hong Kong for transfer to another plane. No direct flights to Manila were available from Europe, much more so from Africa. Hong Kong and Singapore, countries smaller than the Philippines were the transit points for the Philippine planes or those originating from Manila. At the HK airport, two police officers in dark navy blue uniforms were posted by the visa counter.

One brusquely asked me to open my handcarried baggage. I did so pronto, unzipping my bag. With a stick, he searched all over its contents. Not satisfied, he poured everything on the counter while another officer checked my passport. All my paraphernalia fell on the counter, my toothbrush, toopaste, perfume, comb, notebook, pens, etcetera. Not smiling at all, nor appearing satisfied with what he had seen or had not seen, he left the contents sprawling on the counter and motioned to me to remove my things things.

“Hey you, you scattered all my things here. You put them back.” But he did not budge an inch. He just held more strongly his armalyte, as if to say, “Don’t threaten me as I can shoot you with this if I want to.”

“You are a brute,” I cried as I angrily put back all my things in my bag, and left in a huff. But I saw another Filipina beside him, smirking at what had happened to me as if gloating over my misery. Later on, a friend revealed, that that woman, the coordinator of our trip, had whispered to the uniformed HK authorities that I was a radical.

This woman is the same individual that I had reported to a North American funding agency as having cheated us of our exact share in the conference fees. Yes, I remembered very well, she was two passengers ahead of me. So, that was why she was there beside the airport police while he was examining my things, gloating like a senora over my predicament. Probably, presupposing that all communists carry arms, that Hong Kong police immediately had gone into action, without even asking if the information was true or not.

The whole Hong Kong of three islands at that time was very wary of communists, as the People's Republic Of China was about to annex the country again after a century of British rule. Britain took over the reins of power there after defeating the Chinese in the Opium war???

My reminiscence was broken by the sounds of the footsteps. Three HK policemen in black uniform were marching together around the plaza, passing by groups of workers some seated and others standing by. Some were agog as to where they were headed for, while others continued playing cards on the pavement, as if trying to regard the incident as just an ordinary occurrence to any foreigner there.

I followed, feeling my instincts as a media person seeking out to the bottom of any scoop. Then I saw where they stopped: in front of a brown woman, with a basket of bananas in front of her. She was beautiful, dark-skinned, with big black eyes, and smiling!. She was smiling, yet a smile with shame that she had committed something very grave.

She bowed her head walking with the policemen who had whisked her away to the van that would bring her to the police precint.

Ano, ide-deport na siya?

Dadalhin yan sa police station.

Depende sa kaso yan. Kung wala siyang visa, maaari.
Pero kung meron, fine lang yan.

Bakit, ano ba ang kasalanan niya?

Bawal magtinda dito sa plaza.

Ano ang tinda niya?

Saging.

Pero bakit bawal?

Ano ka ba, hindi ka ba nagtatrabaho rito?

Hay naku, turista yan. Iha, alam mo naman dito, palaki ng mga puti. Bawal ang mag vendor-vendor ka sa kalye. Hindi paris sa atin. Puwede kang magtinda kahit sa'n mo gusto.

Yes at that time, in MetroManila vendors could sell anywhere; but now, the new chair of the MetroManila Development Authority had deemed it his crusade to crucify all vendors caught occupying sidewalks for their wares to be sold. How fast time flies, how quickly things change, I had told myself.

My own son used to have a kikiam stall situated at the steps of a building at Philcoa, the entrance to the Commonwealth Avenue going to the outskirts of Quezon City. His business was going well run by a simple maid, as he attended to it daily. He would drive all the way to Quiapo to buy the ingredients, and then the maid, sheltered in the house of his grandmother, would prepare everything, carry the supplies on her slingbag, and then with the water jug on the trolley would ride to Philcoa every late morning. Late because customers, mostly poor students of the State University with very little allowance, used to flock to her at that time to have their lunch. Yes, they only had kikiam and rice and then a glass of gulaman to gulp down as lunches.

The atmosphere in the HK plaza was suffocating, quite foggy. I tried being with the vendor to help her up to the vehicle, but the policemen motioned to me not to follow while swishing their arms. So, the girl followed by the police climbed the back of the jeep, and then drove away

Bakit siya nagtitinda pa?

E paanong magkakasya ang kita niya e ang daming mga anak sa ‘Pinas?

Balewala yang huli-huli na yan. Paglabas niyan, tingnan mo, magtitinda uli yan.

Aba, kapag tatlong beses ka nang nahuli, deported ka na.

May palugit pa rin.

Ganun na nga.

All migrant workers lose their human rights and adopt that of the foreign country’s unless a more humane bilateral agreement is struck between the originating and the receiving governments.

My flat, a small room full of books became heaven-sent as I retreated to it, where I was staying. I had come to Hong Kong to join a women’s conference of academicians. My other co-delegates were billeted in a hotel. No way could I afford the rates, so with the help of Arthur, an Australian guy working for an NGO in Australia, and living with his partner in a flat, I had been able to stay in the stockroom full of books. No problem, I told myself. I love books. I could spend the whole night reading them. . Arthur gave me the keys to the flat below them which contained the publications of the non-government organization that was helping migrants.

For many years already, I had been teaching women in Tondo how to read and write. I would produce reading materials and literacy books which would be funded by Arthur’s organization. These then would be given away to the women as complementary materials to the literacy sessions which I would conduct. Topics included how to know their bodies as women, how to take care of the environment, how to read and write from a feminist viewpoint, among others. Feminist literacy was a new method that I had developed in the course of reading Paulo Freire, the Latin American pedagogy writer. He introduced the idea of teaching the alphabet and then giving examples of words that were close to the lives of women. For example, in teaching the letter, “b” the learners write “babae” on the page. So seeing that word, the women would associate it with questions like, “Sino ang ilaw ng tahanan?” When they answer, “babae,” I would point to the word. So by association with the loaded meaning, the women could remember easily how it was written.

It was already night when I arrived the following day at her flat. I had had only a light dinner at the conference and had felt particularly tired as the memory of the woman vendor would cross my mind now and then. I opened and locked the room, and then wended through all the stocks of books and publications in the living room. Ah, my bed. How bouncy, how warm. If only for that, I could say that my trip to Hong Kong was really heavenly. Am I very lucky to have had Arthur as a friend. He reminded me of my former boyfriend in London, the accent, not the face. There was something about the British accent that I really find fascinating. It was as if I am listening to the real way of speaking English. Why after all, the Americans who came to the Philippines could trace their roots to England. Except that, many of the American migrants belonged to the lower classes, or were either subalterns and ex-prisoners wanting to have a new life in the so-called New World.

But he life of migrant workers could be truly very hard, very difficult. I surmised that even the grandparents of that new US president, an Afro-American, could have been so tragic, that his mother had endeavored to supplant her parent’s status and raise the family’s achievements by getting her own doctoral degree in anthropology.

Now, all over the world, Filipino migrant workers are finding jobs to eke out a living but taking advantage of educational opportunities is farthest from their mind, and/or could be highly unattainable. They just go through life, day-by-day, grinding daily to feed themselves and their families.

I knew how difficult the lives of domestic helpers abroad. Everyday, she would read in the papers about those who have been maltreated or murdered by their employes. This was also why, she had proposed a legislative measure to the labor committee chair to make their working status under live-out arrangement, no longer live-in. But as usual, it takes the bureaucracy many months before that can become a law in order to force the Labor Department to be sensitive to the plight of the helpers.

Is it so difficult to feel for them? Not really, if one had gone abroad and lived with them, or even seen them at those city plazas conglomerating to revive their sagging self-esteem among compatriots. How dehumanizing, how demeaning, I felt that the migrant workers propping up the economies of foreign countries would not even find a building for them to congregate in. In that Hong Kong city plaza, she saw them, “nakasalampak,” talking animatedly among each other, carrying bags of goods that they had bought from stores with night sales.

I approached one group and offered them a newsletter containing news opinions about migration. In the front page was a prayer meant to strengthen the inner selves of the workers. But she was readily asked, by one, who read the prayer, “Katolika ka ba?” “No, I am ecumenical. I pray wherever my feet take me. If I find myself wanting to pray, I go to the nearest church, regardless of religion.” The woman looked at her sideways, as if in doubt over the contents of the newsletter. But later on, she did buy a copy, only for P2. I could have given it away but she knew that if anything was free, the workers would not consider it valuable enough to buy.

I plopped down on the bed and in a few minutes, she was already asleep, feeling so tired from the many activities she had gone through.

Earlier at the conference, she had asked one of her co-delegates to stop combing her hair and putting make up while in front of the dining table while a foreign guest was delivering her speech at the podium. Instead of listening to her, the delegate continued doing her thing and then kept her comb and lipstick inside the bag. No, she was not listening at all to the speech. Who cares? She, a secretary to the President’s office in a university in the Philippines, was there to enjoy the honorarium and to be able to shop for the finest clothes, bags and shoes in Hong Kong.

Suddenly, I heard raps on the door. She thought they were only in her dream but the raps continued. Then she got up, and walked to the door. She asked, without opening it, “Who is it?” “Police.” “Why?” Then these people started speaking in Chinese. I immediately went by the window and called for Arthur who was living just above her room. “Arthur, some men want to come in here. They say they are from the police. Shall I let them in?”

“Yes, I, let them in, please. ” She went hesitatingly to the door, unlocked it, and as she was just opening the door, three men immediately barged in, going to the different parts of the flat. Then they searched even the windows. The men were speaking in Chinese. Then one said, “Passport, passport.” I went inside her room and got her pouch bag which she had placed under her pillow. She picked her passport and then went to the living room again just to emphasize to this uncouth bunch that she had legitimate reasons for being in Hong Kong. After leafing through her passport, the men retreated, while nodding at her. She immediately locked the door, rested her back on it and then heaved a sigh of relief. “When will these all end,” she said to herself.

I was so disgusted with the lack of manners of these police. But what can she do? She had felt very uncomfortable and alone in a land that was highly inhospitable to foreigners. Or maybe not all foreigners, only to those who look like the migrant workers. She was so thankful upon seeing Arthur the following night, carrying four bottles of beer, two for her and two for him which they finished in the course of exchanging pleasantries. Then Arthur became more serious.

“No, it was not you they were after. They probably just searched the place to see if an illegal migrant was here. Some tenants in this building could have alerted them that you were around. Since they did not know you, they had probably thought you were illegal.”

I wanted Arthur to embrace her at least and make her feel warm and safe But she was too shy to ask. She had always viewed physical proximity as anathema, especially since Arthur had his lived-in partner with him. She was drawn to his gentle ways but could not get herself to show an ounce of tenderness towards him, although she had an inkling that he had brought the beer to loosen up her uptightness.

Upon reaching the country. I readily sent a card to him and his girlfriend, thanking them for providing her with shelter through all that time. She picked a card with a painting of a woman and her child riding a card pulled by a carabao with the father on top. Arthur liked everything indigenous. His mind is no longer that of an intellectual whose interest in the arts could be just global. Everything connected with his work, has to have that national character pertinent to the people that he was serving. At the same time, I felt proud about sending him a scene that was still real in the Philippines since not many farms have been mechanized. Still, some farmers use the carabao for plowing the fields and the card depicted the farming family on their rest day, probably going to town to replenish their household supplies, or to bring the child to a doctor for check-up. One never would know what the artist had intended the subjects to be.

Published in Ani Journal of the Cultural Center of the Philippines

A few months after, I received a reply from Arthur with the letter postmarked Australia. Why he had gone back to his country. She immediately opened it and read the contents. “Dear I, I have split up with my lived-in partner. We have very great difference. She wants to have a child, but I don’t. I can’t imagine how anyone would want to add to the world’s population at this time when there is too much hunger, when food is scarce and medicines for health are very expensive. It is better this way, that we part peacefully. As she and I are still young, we would still be able to find our way in this world more successfully I hope., Love, Arthur.”

All the images of Hong Kong, the arrested domestic helper, the conference, the barging in of the police in the flat, came rushing in the mind of I. Finally, that evening of drinking beer with Arthur caught her attention more deeply. Why, why didn’t he say so that time?

Ah, he is really a gentleman, not forcing his way into her heart although he had known her to be separated from her husband. I held the letter close to her chest and then shut her eyes, mulling over how he would answer him. “Is there room for another person in her life?”

PEOPLE OR THINGS?

Good evening, Folks. There are only 8 female senatorial candidates versus 44 males. Is that good or not? And I am still not sure if I would be able to retain my slot because the Comelec has threatened to revise the list. Does that mean that it would reduce the number or add more names?

I think that  applications for positions for serving the country should be handled delicately. Holding public office is the ultimate in one's life whether it be in the barangay or the presidency. To give up oneself, and serve the public, to make the people and their concerns as a 24-7 job is the highest form of sacrifice. Ergo, applicants for positions need to feel the caring and serious hand of Comelec officials in dealing with their applications. 

Comelec officials could watch their language and their actions to see if they are injuring the psyche, the emotions, or insulting the intelligence of the applicants. That is almost an axiomatic behavior as far as personnel management theories are concerned. 

In other words, whether one is handling personnel for political positions or for corporate concerns, the dictum is that they are PEOPLE, with emotions, body, mind and spirit. Ergo the rule is that we should be humane, and because I am a Christian, then Christian too. Believing in the teachings of Christ could be a step toward reflecting on our actions, whether we are treating people as things or as themselves, people. 

Sometimes, one could be drowned in routine and thus see people as mere numbers which would be really very sad.