ON CREATING GOOD ROLE MODELS

I was shocked when a government secretary told me while we were seated at the UP Church of the Risen that the young people of Lanao del Sur were aspiring  to become Isis members. That was sometime in February. Then this morning I heard it again over the radio. 

Why do the young easily hold on to the same dreams of ISIS? Because their parents were given money. 

Is it really poverty that drives people to accept any job --even if it means committing atrocities?

I think what we must do is make sure that our leaders are role models for the young. Good leaders may have the people in their hearts and minds but their behavior leaves a lot to be desired. The company they keep may not project the right model even. 

I would suggest that Good Government Leaders must be chosen not once a year but monthly and rewarded handsomely. Both public and private  organizations could create that beautiful atmosphere in our society where doing good is appreciated and praised. 

The Veil of Veronica by Hans Memling 026.jpg

REBELS OR TERRORISTS?

       RA 6968 defines Rebellion this way:  : "Article 134. Rebellion or insurrection – How committed. – "he crime of rebellion or insurrection is committed by rising and taking arms against the Government for the purpose of removing from the allegiance to said Government or its laws, the territory of the Republic of the Philippines or any part thereof, of any body of land, naval or other armed forces, or depriving the Chief Executive or the Legislature, wholly or partially, of any of their powers or prerogatives."

RA9372 defines a terrorist and the acts that could be labelled terrorism: .- Any person who commits an act punishable under any of the following provisions of the Revised Penal Code:

a. Article 122 (Piracy in General and Mutiny in the High Seas or in the Philippine Waters);

b. Article 134 (Rebellion or Insurrection);

c. Article 134-a (Coup d' Etat), including acts committed by private persons;

d. Article 248 (Murder);

e. Article 267 (Kidnapping and Serious Illegal Detention);

f. Article 324 (Crimes Involving Destruction), or under

1. Presidential Decree No. 1613 (The Law on Arson);

2. Republic Act No. 6969 (Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Waste Control Act of 1990);

3. Republic Act No. 5207, (Atomic Energy Regulatory and Liability Act of 1968);

4. Republic Act No. 6235 (Anti-Hijacking Law);

5. Presidential Decree No. 532 (Anti-Piracy and Anti-Highway Robbery Law of 1974); and,

6. Presidential Decree No. 1866, as amended (Decree Codifying the Laws on Illegal and Unlawful Possession, Manufacture, Dealing in, Acquisition or Disposition of Firearms, Ammunitions or Explosives)

thereby sowing and creating a condition of widespread and extraordinary fear and panic among the populace, in order to coerce the government to give in to an unlawful demand shall be guilty of the crime of terrorism and shall suffer the penalty of forty (40) years of imprisonment, without the benefit of parole as provided for under Act No. 4103, otherwise known as the Indeterminate Sentence Law, as amended.

SEC. 4. Conspiracy to Commit Terrorism. - Persons who conspire to commit the crime of terrorism shall suffer the penalty of forty (40) years of imprisonment.

There is conspiracy when two or more persons come to an agreement concerning the commission of the crime of terrorism as defined in Section 3 hereof and decide to commit the same.

Confusing Definitions:

Although these definitions are legally correct, however, the use of the word "rebel" in society connotes a different meaning. To be a rebel, as I knew it in the 60's was to be a nonconformist; to be someone who does not want to be identified as part of a group; as one who has unique ideas; one who dresses up differently; thinks differently from other people. The movies is replete with rebels. James Dean, that movie idol was a rebel. Robin Padilla was labeled a rebel. Richard Gomez performed rebellious roles in the movies. And of course, our very own icon, FPJ performed many heroic rebellious roles, more often than not the masses' hero rebelling against socio-political and religious iniquities . The masses adored them because in the end they produced a feeling of victory over the wrongdoings of other people whom they encountered in the story. 

In other words, the word "rebel" has a kind of a romantic connotation. 

Hence, to say that the terrorists in Marawi are rebels does not bring about that horror that the people feel when watching how they massacre, murder, kill through sniper's bullets, behead their victims. The Isis-inspired terrorists as rebels do not give that "romantic" meaning to the word "rebel" because they are plain violence-prone individuals whose moral view of war is simply to do away with anyone who opposes them. 

Hence when i hear reports that call these terrorists "rebelde" or "rebel" I cringe in uneasiness because they are not heroic people who have any worthwhile ideal to be followed. 

Should we not try to use terrorist instead of rebel, when reporting on these wayward people and aliens in Marawi?

BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE

Folks, do you know this song?

The moon belongs to everyone
The best things in life are free
The stars belong to everyone
They gleam there for you and me

The flowers in spring
The robins that sing
The sunbeams that shine
They're yours, they're mine

And love can come to everyone
The best things in life are free

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7ps3G3hhM0

WATCH JULY 24 BEST THINGS!

WHY ETHICS?

Ethics is a much maligned philosophical concept. It is not given much emphasis at schools, nor in reality, especially in the world of business. When business owners do their business, they are supposed to check if their practices affect the other people's activities, or if they harm the environment, or get to destroy their properties. The construction business is very vulnerable to charges of malpractices actually, from noise, to air to environmental pollution in general.

In the academic field, who would be the guilty ones? The guards who act as if they own the school. I entered a university recently and the guard asked me where I was going. I asked if there was a xerox store and he said "none" and that it was located outside. So I told him, “You are lying.”

How could that guard be accepted in an academic institution when all academes are supposed to teach honesty, truthfulness, and how to be a humane being?

What is the next ethical subject that needs to be emphasized? Teachers should not hide important ideas from students. Some though become so tired of teaching that they forget there are some ideas that still need to be expounded on to the students. And so they graduate students who are half-baked.

For example, at UP, a teacher gave us 1970's old research articles. And it was already 1992 at that time, wherein the topic was already so advance that his articles were completely outdated and irrelevant. Did you know that he gave me a grade of 1.75 while other students who hardly squeaked over his ignorance of developments in the world education got 1.5 and 1.25? I charged him legally at the UP Legal Department with discrimination. Nothing happened. The lawyer with whom I was in touch resigned from his job, I had found out later on. 

Then he even said that he gave me a low grade because I did not attend the trip to the Emilio Aguinaldo Research Science and Technology School, during the semester I was enrolled in his class, ironically, Sociology of Education, despite the fact that I had gone to Beijing to attend the International Gathering of Women to celebrate the end of another UN Decade for Women and where I had represented my organization, Makabayang Kababaihan ng Masa or MAKAMASA, whose literacy experiences for urban poor women I had written about.

Folks, that's UP in the 90's.

The most recent experience I had had with UP was when I asked the UP College of Law and the National Center for Public Governance or NCIPAG if they knew any Marawi donations accepting depot or the phone number of VP Leni Robredo to whom I would just deliver the goods.

Folks, nada. The academe is not the best place for such an information for asking the accession number of the second highest position of the land. Anyway, I was able to access it when I called up the Senate office of Risa H. My goodness, I had to go round and round just to get it. By the way, I also called the office of Sec Andanar whose people gave me wrong numbers to contact. In one, I was answered by the photo section. In another by the executive director's office who did not bother to look for the number but instead told me that that is not the office for me to ask. She was the one who gave me the number which turned out to be the photo section. 

BEING HELPFUL. As a governing body, all agencies have to be helpful. Helpful to every citizen whether they are asking for information or real help for some emergency.

The library, a repository of old and latest books, magazines and newspapers must be open to all sorts of queries. I deposited my newspaper articles (xeroxed) to the office of the director of the UP Main Library many years ago. I had wanted the younger generations to read them as examples of using the media to question iniquities in public governance, under my column, “Equal Quest” in the Business World; “Unliktao (Unlad, Likas, Tao)” in the Philippine Post; and “Serimbar” in the Chronicle.

Horror of horrors, when I looked in the index cards and in the OPAC, where a listing of available resources were supposed to be there, I could not find a single article of mine, except for the books that have been displayed there for years and years like Feminist Objectives in the Third World and Other Writings(1983), Economic Refugees: Voyage of the Commoditized (1985); Serimbar, Feminist Reflections (1996) ; and Towards Our Own Image:Cinema(1985). I was really very disappointed but later on, I was told that the articles had been placed under the Archives which were not listed in the index boxes nor the OPAC.

Ergo, only true-blue blooded researchers who have the guts and untiring efforts to search would find my political writings there. Last time I complained about this, I had been told that the office of the Chancellor would look into the matter.

But I have grown wiser. I contacted the Department of Library Science under Dean Kate Obille and they are very open about my papers. 

Where is Ethics a valuable subject to be learned? In the Kindergarten, the grades K to 12, and in College. Children as young as 5 years old must learn not to grab the toys of other classmates; nor use his or her fist when someone rejects his/her pleas or requests for sharing a toy.

A child must also learn to give truthful information. Did you see that TV advert about a child who looked away when he saw his parent lying to a visitor? I think that was a very good ad which should not be taken away but should be aired not and then.

In a neighborhood, a child was asked where his parents were, and he answered they were asleep. At another time, they were away. Those are lies because I checked with the parents later on.

Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct. What is accepted as proper etiquette may not necessarily be ethical. In terms of etiquette we must show deference to older people. Ethically, we must consider and respect their condition all the time at all places and situations. 

I recall now, A party was held in celebration of the anniversary of a school. I was asked by a staff in the institution to pose in a photograph with a former First Lady known for her extravagance. I demurred and left the room. To the hosts of that institution, I was disrespectful. But I could not accept the fact that she and her family was responsible for tearing away the most fruitful years of my life, spent visiting political detention centers.

Was that ethically correct? In terms of right and wrong, I was right to feel that way. Maybe I was wrong the way I had acted but it was a spur of the moment and I could not contain myself at that time. 

In the field of governance, I think that the most ethical concept that has to be learned by anyone serving in the government is that their positions are not personal possessions. They are just occupying those posts in order to be most effective in touching the lives of the people.

To serve is almost a mantra. Every morning when they wake up, I would suggest to the government people to pray and meditate that their day will be valuable and fruitful for the people they serve and that they would always wear a smile and be accommodating of queries and requests for help.

Painting by Picasso, Etude de Personnages

OUR RIGHTS

Do we have the right to write?

Do we have the right to have work? If you are a writer, are you allowed to write freely?

Do we have the right to complain? It takes a system to write a complaint. Are all knowledgeable about how to complain?

Do we have the right to be secure in our jobs? A barangay tanod complained to me that they do not enjoy even a GSIS coverage. Yet their lives are always in danger. They face every conflict, be it family, or neighbors against each other which could result in injuries. Yet they and their family cannot look forward to anything should they lose their lives in the process of pacifying conflicting individuals.

Do we have the right not to wait too long whenever we approach government offices? I think that all people who look for assistance from government should be given speedy attention. At SSS, I tried renewing my membership and I waited for an hour. The lady at the desk was taking so long attending to one customer and there was a long queue of people. SSS has billions of pesos yet it scrimpts on people who could respond to queries right away. Moreover, its requirements need to be updated especially as they apply to women members because of the enactment of the Magna Carta for women. 

Do we have the right to have barangay telephones available whenever we need access? I used to be able to call up the barangay even in the middle of the night. That was when I had a PLDT number. But then Sun Cellular offered free calls to PLDT numbers under its P200 a month prepaid card. That was an ingenious way to take PLDT subscribers away from the croc fees. Unfortunately, now I cannot call up our barangay. Why, because their phones belong to Bayantel. Suncell cannot connect with Bayantel.

So now, I call up Camp Karingal to ask the operator to get in touch with our barangay regarding my complaints. And the police woman there is very acommodating but not so industrious in really getting connected. As you know, drop calls, no ringing, etc.

Do seniors have the right to choose the time they want to watch a movie? We are slotted to Mondays and Tuesdays and up to 5pm only. Why can't we view the movie after 5 pm. Are we being treated like like patients who have to be home by a certain time?

And why can't we view movies on weekends with our relatives who could have the time for family bonding?

I think that senior citizens have to make noise about the way we are being treated. I would cite also the pedestrian bridges and overpasses. They do not have escalators. The MRT elevators are always out of order so much so that it is a very great ordeal having to travel around MetroManila.

Do we have the right to have clean markets? I think we do. Our markets should undergo washing every night after the business of marketing is finished. Because that is not being done, most markets have rats and all other insects in them. I pity the market vendors who spend the night there securing their “paninda” for the next day.

Do we have the right to cheap food? I don't know who the National Food Authority or the NFA works for and why it exists. Foodstuff in MetroManila is too expensive. One hundred pesos will only buy two things, a pizza and a bottle of coconut juice. For a worker who earns P450 a day, that is too much. 25% of the salary will be sliced right away.

Lots in MetroManila are being taken over by big real estate developers who build high rise buildings. It is very eeky having to pass by them because they are so high and the threat of the Big One sends fears every time. Supposing it just happens today or tomorrow, will we survive at all? Are those high rise buildings strong enough to withstand Intensity 8 and more?

Do we have the right to have a beautiful scenery of MetroManila, bereft of electric and other wire cables hanging up there like spaghetti cooked in the sidewalks? Do we have the right to require cable and telephone companies to have aesthetic eyes so that they could see how ugly our cities are due to their wires which are absent in Makati's major avenues?

Do we have the right to complain? The last time I complained about those wires and the PNP harassing me under Gen. Purisima, my son died in Singapore under suspicious circumstances. 

Let us not forget the rights of the Marawi people. In the rehab program, I believe that they should allot one hill as a memorial to all those who died in the siege, soldiers and citizens. Let the people remember that they did not die in vain, and that their memory will always be etched in the minds of the people. We should have a huge brass plate with the names of those who died etched on it. Then a piece of sculpture depicting Maranao culture and bravery could be put up there. Let there be a contest on the design of the sculpoture to give a chance to everyone to exercise their imagination. Nearby, let us have a fountain with spiritual icons where the people may drop coins to make wishes for the departed. 

Do we have the right to WI-FI? Yes we do in many public places. But there should also be anti-jamming devices because some unscrupulous individuals manage to make their nefarious ways overcome them. I have suffered a lot of times at not being able to connect to the internet, just like now where I am typing this, because a stronger device is around barring me from exercising my RIGHT TO WRITE! As soon as a guard passes by, I feel tremors because most of them have a jamming app in their celphones. 

So, President Duterte, I salute you for your bravery in tackling the big multinational companies and corrupt officials. I would salute you again if you would kindly attend to our rights above. 

May the Maranao tribe prosper and increase!

SOLVING THE BANE IN PEOPLE'S BELIEF IN GOVERNMENT

Many people believe that the government exists to solve the people's problems.  They also believe that not all in the government are pristine workers and officials whose primary goal is to serve the people. Some people, they say are just out to make a fast buck and don't give a damn whether they destroy the image of government or not. 

In order to help the present administration ride over the people's creeping distrust, let us present some suggestions that will move employees to focus their attention on the real problems besetting us. 

1. Building permit officers should not only approve building plans on paper, but also conduct interviews on whether the residents in the area approve of the plans. For example, in our subdivision, the rule was that only 4 to 5 floor high buildings should be built. But right now, many buildings reach as high as 8 floors, 7 floors livable and the 8th probably a party venue. 

Anyway, they are enjoying the time of their life at our expense who have to suffer -- lack of sunshine in the morning,  no more breezy terraces because the building has covered that part where the wind usually blows; no more sight of the dawn, sunset, the moon, whichever direction the building is covering. 

2. When the government builds the skyway, the same thing should happen. Before a skyway, or much less a road is built, there should be a barangay assembly, complete with written invitations, signed as received by the residents and attended by them. Should they be absent, then they should explain why. The meeting should be announced in written form and through tarpaulins per street. The purok leader should take charge of these. 

Right now, the Skyway going up north is covering the street of Araneta Avenue. Would you believe Folks that in some parts, the bridge or its pillar is only a few meters away from the  windows of the buildings on both sides?

During the construction of the MRT 3, I complained to the office of Mayor Estrada, and the Supreme Court about its coverage. Later I had been told by one of the engineers that because of my letters, they had had to redesign the whole thing. Thus you can see the fruits of that labor, Folks. The MRT3 is not so invasive of our view of the sky, does not hug the streets so that below the tracks would be too dark; and the beauty of Legarda street has been partially reserved as it winds its way at the back of some houses, leading to San Beda College. 

I think that is what you call responsiveness of the government to rational bases of the complaints of mine. I will try to upload that in the future if I find the document again. 

3. When approving businesses, especially food vending, the local government units should require hygiene workshops for the workers in the stalls. They should also make the owners of the businesses learn how to deal with complaints, to reply to complaints in a courteous manner, to keep everything in writing and to give the business permits office a copy of how they have acted on such complaints. 

4. When allowing the raising of rentals, business permit offices must rein in extreme increases. For example, I noticed way back in the early millenium, that the music stores were slowly disapppearing one by one. Yamaha I can only visit in Makati. RJ Music Store only at Robinsons. Lyric is still around with two shops, one in Horseshoe Drive and another at the Araneta Center. 

However, I rue the disappearance of bookstores most of all. Popular Bookstore left Doroteo Jose  and settled down at Tomas Morato Avenue. Bookmark left Escolta and Timog permanently. I don't see them at all. Alemars is truly gone. Goodwill Bookstore at Glorietta is also gone. 

Folks correct e please if something is missing or incorrect in my data. I am writing this based on my personal experience of visiting these stores. 

I think the effect of losing our music and bookstores is what I would call de-culturalization of the people. Our society is no longer enhancing the cultural values of the people -- that need to deal with the finer things of life like art which could make them value humanity and to deal with expanding their knowledge through reading books. Instead, the stores that proliferate are those engaging them to deal with their highly individualistic lifestyles -- clothing, restaurant and food catering, sports equipment, celphones and other gadgets, etcetera, etcetera. 

MetroManila should be known as a beautiful metropolis that caters to all the aspects of human and social life and not a truncated fascination with hedonistic desires and pleasures. I am suggesting to MMDA to raise the quality of their standards for developing and improving our urban life and not rest contented by continuing the past administrations' pitfalls of creating us into zombies of the world -- moving about from pleasure to pleasure not knowing what the ultimate pursuit of life should be. 

5. When building roads and sidewalks, construction companies should not be allowed to go their merry way. They should inform the people who will be affected by their diggings, how long the disturbance shall be. At UP, in front of the Church of the Risen Lord, the DPWH allowed the company to dig the street and the sidewalk to prepare it to be cemented. Thus this caused the worshippers to go around the block just to enter the Church. Is this the way, the DPWH exercises religious tolerance? It does not seem to understand what it means. 

Thus, I called up the UP Police to tell them (as it was a Sunday and the admin happens to be closed at that time) to control the movements of these diggers and not allow them to treat the students, the faculty, the whole academic community in that boorish way., I don't know if something happened at all because the last time I was there, I still had great difficulty entering and exiting from CRL where I am a choir member. 

The greatest disorder is that the construction companies more often than not, work even in the middle of the night disturbing our sleep by the rattling of the concrete mixers, or thebuse of backhoes to remove the old concrete road. 

I wonder if the DENR knows all of these at all. 

6. When a construction is being done, the workers sleep in the site. And what happens afterwards? At night, they have drinking sprees and music loudly blaring in the wee hours of the night. 

At one point, in my frustration from the noise, I had had to call the police at Camp Karingal to tell off these workers to stop creating that noise. Luckily, the problem got solved. But one day, when I passed by the gate of that construction site, all the male workers were there staring at me and possibly laughing at what I had done. 

I think air pollution is not really understood as a bad thing, except when it is smoke coming from smoke belchers. Noise pollution is hardly minded at all. We really need a good environmental education regarding all these matters. 

7. Worst of all, when there are buildings being constructed, painting is done towards the end and the smell of the varnish and all other paints permeate the streets where the people pass by. There is no move at all to shield the people outside from the pernicious smell of chemicals. 

I wonder if the DENR is aware of these at all. 

To whom should we go when this happens? The barangay is saddled with too many problems already. 



Should we call on shamans to help us move the government to make it more responsive? If the Marawi siege was immediately attended to, I am sure the next things that will follow would be to strengthen the whole executive department already. 

(A shaman is someone who is regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of benevolent and malevolent spirits, who typically enters into a trance state during a ritual, and practices divination and healing.)

WAVE IT

I saw many small American paper flags at a supermarket yesterday and realized that tomorrow is the independence day of my American friends and kababayan in the United States. I am very happy for them that they are enjoying their stay in the land of milk and honey as we always say. However, with the threats of violence at any instant,that feeling could be diminished easily and probably they could be asking themseles, "was it right for me to settle down here at all?"

Everywhere there is now violence, in our country, the Philippines, included. When I visited Europe in the 80's I could never this high level of violence at all. But in 1994, while I was in the underground taking a train in London, I heard a loud explosion. Then while approaching the platform where I would take the ride to Reading where my cousin, Carol lived, I saw three East European people, two men and one woman. They were changing clothes hurriedly. I wanted to shout and call the attention of the police, but I was afraid that they would turn their anger against me. And so I just went by casually as if I had not noticed anything. 

Going back to America, I wonder what kind of independence  they could be asking themselves now? Independence to elect the highest official of the land has been compromised. And isn't that what the liberators in 1776 fought for, the right not only to be free from the aristocrats of Britain but also to elect their own officials?

Indeed times have been a-changing. 

What big problems did the Americans overcome in the last three centuries? In 1920, the American women were given the right to vote which was carried over to our country in 1937 under the administration of  Americans.  It was only in 1955 when Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks, women of color had refused to give up their seats in the bus as colored people had to take the seats at the back of the bus and reserve the front seats for the white people. 

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 gave the black people the right to vote, labor rights and other basic civil rights, including their right not to be segregated in society. 

In the 70's the second wave of the feminist movement in the United States arose which had focused on social as well as personal Individual rights of women such as in the family, the workplace and in the larger society -- the changes in the custody and divorce law among others. *

Culturally, the US has a lot to offer, from Broadway shows to operas, puppetry, film and digital innovations, and many many more. 

Those are not too far from our memory and we are grateful that the experiences of liberation in many aspects of the American people inspired our activists also to pursue similar movements. In the 60's we had the onset of the women's movement which focused on love of country versus imperialism. In the 80's, our own second wave of feminism focussed on the same  individual rights of women in the family, the community and the larger society. It has continued to this day. 

But the very affluence in the United States is very difficult to achieve in our country, except by a few moneyed elite. The US has a large middle class who can afford to have clothes-changing through the four seasons, and have their refrigerators stacked with food for a week, whereas our population has a larger sector of poor people -- living in carts, sleeping on the sidewalks,  making love on top of tombstones at the Manila North Cemetery for lack of funds to go to a motel, maybe, children who climb onto jeepneys and wipe shoes in the hope of getting a coin or paper bill, and many many more. 

What am I saying here? The freedom that the Americans got in 1776 has brought them to where they are now, a lot wealthier that our own -- culturally, economically, but sad to say politically made barren by the ascendancy of a pretender to the throne. 

Who knows, next year what kind of independence celebration the United States will have? 

Anyway, wave, wave it high the flag of independence!


(* sexuality, family, the workplace,reproductive rights, de facto inequalities, and official legal inequalities.^[4] Second-wave feminism also drew attention to domestic violence and marital rape issues, establishment of rape crisis and battered women's shelters, and changes in custody and divorce law.

Many historians view the second-wave feminist era in America as ending in the early 1980s with the intra-feminism disputes of thefeminist sex wars over issues such as sexuality and pornography, which ushered in the era of third-wave feminism in the early 1990s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-wave_feminism)^{[5][6][7][8][9]}