MURDERED MEDIA PRACTITIONERS, NINOY, PNOY, AND THE FOI

So many media practitioners have sacrificed their lives in the name of truth and justice but what have we done for them in return? 

The Maguindanao massacre until now has not been decided upon despite the very glaring evidences, the number of witnesses, and the overt surrender of the accused to the charges, despite not really admitting it vocally or in writing. Come to think of it, why are the women in charge walking so slowly in this case: the judge and the DOJ secretary. Why can't we make a decision already instead of allowing the accused to further tempt the victims relatives to surrender their right to justice? I cannot fathom what is inside the minds of these people. I am really sorry to say. I thought that justice is so easy to dispense with once you have all the evidences. The media people who died there must be turning on their graves. 

How about the death of journalist Marilyn Esperat, the one who spilled the beans on the overpricing of farm inputs and the siphoning of public funds intended for farmers into private hands? She was murdered on in Tacurong, Mindanao, on 24 March 2005.  "She accused the department of Agriculture of being one of the country's most corrupt government agencies. In the last 10 years, she had filed dozens of lawsuits ranging from the smuggling of agricultural products, " according to news reports. Accused are alleged masterminds Osmena Montaner and Estrella Sabay. Legal counself for Esperat family is Prima Jesusa Quinsayas. Folks everything is in limbo. 


How about the Marcos millions? How many practitioners were killed,  murdered, arrested, jailed and maimed during the Marcos regime? Many even went into self-exile. Countless. Yet his kins have been elected and are now sitting calmly in the legislative branch. 

Anyway, news of corruption is hogging the headlines. It is a good omen that finally, justice is being served properly. Actually, we could ask, what does it take to trap a corrupt official? 

Isn't it enough a breeze that names have already cropped up as to who are having green hands in the Philippine bureaucracy. (As an aside I really admire our media for being brave to name names, fearless of any libel suits that could come their way. But that's the way it should be, isn't it? To be courageous and let the people's banner for good governance fly freely. )

No naming names is not enough. I would like to see them return the money of the people and the judgment be carried out on them. 

Why are media practitioners easily relegated to the bottom where justice is supposed to be served to them? I think it is because some could readily be bought by envelopes. That is why those who stick by the moral rules appear odd to those corrupt people who think money can buy everything. Perhaps, the media could start cleansing the ranks as well and slowly ease out those who are "writing praises" all the time. 

By the way, Ninoy was a journalist before he became a politician.  He was the youngest war correspondent to cover the Korean War for the newspaper The Manila Times of Joaquin "Chino" Roces. Because of his journalistic feats, he received the Philippine Legion of Honor award from President Elpidio Quirino at age 18. 

Based on the background of his father, PNoy could create a more solid achievement than his father by passing the Freedom of Information bill under his administration. He and his family owe a lot to media in terms of having been given broad coverage of their father's assassination, his mom's presidential campaigns, which catapulted her to the presidency later on. Without the help of media, I doubt it if they would be in their places now. 

iT WOULD BE THE HEIGHT OF GRATITUDE TO SEE THAT PNOY IS READY TO GIVE THE MEDIA WHAT WE DESERVE -- THE FREEDOM TO GET INFORMATION FROM ALL SOURCES IN SOCIETY IN THE SERVICE OF TRUTH AND JUSTICE. 

Now for what purposes do we need the FOI? Not only to ferret out the names of corrupt officials, but also to see how the web of corruption is created, how it grows and grows and the changes in the lifestyles of those officials who are very brazen in appropriating the people's money. 

Another thing, we would like to know why some agencies have a double face when it comes to releasing what the people own. For example, I have P1500 with Banco Filipino. The Philippine Deposit Insurance Company said that all those with savings of P10,000 and below may get their deposits without question, just an ID. Yet, in my case, I was made to present many IDs, and to make sure that the face in the ID is large enough to be recognized. I wrote to Mr. Valentin Araneta, the head of PDIC  who then threw my letter to the legal department. So I just quoted to myself a statement from Rizal's novel: "Isipin mo na lang na kinain ng mga buwaya."

What else can we use the FOI for? To ask the Intellectual Property Office why they lost my proposal for my invention, the footrest way back in the 80's. Now they want me to present a new proposal. Meanwhile, China has been manufacturing a similar invention and my earnings have not come at all. 

Also, I lost two cellphones last March 14, 2013. I went to the office of PNP Allan Purisima and complained. My letter was tossed here and there -- Galas police station, Camp Karingal. I told them that when I complained to the outpost police officer, Ryan Aguila,  at the corner of E Rodriguez and Araneta Avenue, He told me, "Ma'am if we are able to get back the sim card would that be enough for you?"



Well Folks, let's pray and pray, (as Cory used to do) that the results of this movement to cleanse the government would end happily, with the con artists behind bars. 

DEAR PRINCE GEORGE,

DEAR PRINCE GEORGE, 

What great luck you have. and what a lucky day in July  for you to have been born to the royal family of Britain. I am sure your grandma in heaven is smiling endlessly to the new hope that you exude as you step into this world. But you see, I see a different view of your coming. I don't expect you to be following the footsteps of the royalties, who just do all those figurative acts to show that they are to be more respected than the ordinary folks. People will be addressing you "Your Royal Highness." You will travel first class all the time. You will have a retinue of guards while sleeping, waking up, eating, walking, jogging, swimming, travelling, watching movies, etcetera etcetera. 

However, By the time you are grown up, say twenty-five years from now which is 2039, I hope you would have read already the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and that should you become king right away, then let it be that you announce that you will live a commoner's life, be with the British people from the down ranks; that you will make the Buckingham Palace a museum for the people to see the great regard they have made to the royalties of the past and that by then it was time for the British people to shine themselves, no longer feeling awed and ahh-ed by the sights of princesses, queens, princes and kings, but of themselves as real human beings entitled to all the respect and regard of everyone, whether from the upper or lower levels.

I do think that Britain has had a relatively peaceful life, save for the incidents in Ireland, and that is because of the presence of your queen who has led the country through many ups and downs in the national politics. But then isn't it time that the people themselves take over and truly present themselves as the drivers of the nation to its greatness. What is greatness but that ability to make every country worthwhile living for everyone -- uplifting the poor, helping the marginalized, and making sure that everyone enjoy their lifetimes in this world, IMMENSELY! Don't you think! (Folks, this keyboard doesn't have a question mark. Pasensiya na.)

So, Prince George Welcome to this imperfect World!

Written on July 26, 2013

SONA and the MRT

It's funny how th State of the Nation Address or the SONA of PNoy could elicit various opinions, ranging from high praises to didactic downgrading of what he had said.

Actually, PNoy was walking like a technocrat when he delivered his speech, focusing on the infrastructural projects, the incomes from the various agencies, the need to raise this and that, and so much more. He did not talk about the lives of the Filipino people. And that is very sad. He said nothing about how the various sectors have benefitted from his governance. Instead, he had those little episodes about the police who helped a car driver, the recipients of the Conditional Cash Transfer, and the policewoman who caught a holdupper. But he did not say, "I allowed the DOLE to raise the salaries of the workers; to give them free health services;" etc.

One thing that I would like to focus on is the transportation at the MRT. I think PNoy used the anti-people perspective when he said that the real cost of transpo at the MRT is 60 pesos and that the government subsidizes so much as we only pay something like 15 pesos.

I think that is not how an official of the land should speak. Instead, he should have said, I know that the people are having a hard time exercising their freedom of mobility. "So I will make sure that they are able to exercise that to the utmost by making the earnings of the customs pay for their fares."

Is that not the case of a leader-- you look for ways and means to ease the burden of living on the prople. Actually, I was mulling over the earnings of the MRT. For an hour, the MRT is earning a million pesos -- transporting people from SM North EDSA to Taft and back. Multiply that by 8 hours, so that would be 8 hours -- and the MRT operates beyond 8 hours. So in a month that would P240 million pesos. So in ayear it is earning something like P1.9 B.

I think that the problem of maintenance occurs only because there are very few coaches. If the MRT would buy more, then maintenance would not be difficult because there won't be so much need to deal with overloading that destroys the coaches.

Now why can we not manufacture those coaches ourselves. Along the PNR railroad tracks, I see lots of urban poor, creating their makeshift coasters that use the tracks for transporting their passengers from Pandacan to Vito Cruz. Yes, their makeshift "trains" are so reliable that many patronize them. And should there be a real train passing by, all they do is unload all of the passengers and then lift their makeshift vehicle to the side. They return it once the train has passed.

I am sure, we can readily manufacture those trains, maybe even try to make them look like jeepneys.  Instead of buying from Czechoslovakia, we must harness our own resources, the ingenuity of our people and create our own.

Hay naku, that would be the day when we can say, we have arrived.

ASSESSING FILIPINO WOMEN'S STATUS UNDER PINOY

HOW HAVE WOMEN FARED UNDER PINOY'S ADMINISTRATION?
 by Wilhelmina S. Orozco 

 

What can we say about our economic, social, cultural and political statuses?

Have we become progressive? Have we uplifted our status so that we can look the world in the eye and say, Hey we have arrived?

The status of women should be half of Pinoy's state-of-the-nation or SONA address. Without women, the whole population of the Philippines would not exist. Without women, there would not be any caretakers of the home, the gardens, the babies and children who parade without end in our streets. This morning, I saw Angelica, an elementary student who studied arts and singing briefly  in our home. She had a missing front tooth. And I asked her have you gone to a dentist? She replied, my mother has not brought me there. No she did not say my father, but my mother. This means that a child even up to 8 or ten is still regularly cared for by her mother. 




Where are women truly visible in the economic field? Where else but in the markets, where they sell fish, vegetables, fruits and "kagi-kagi," just to be able to add income to the family. A dear market vendor recently lost her husband due to illness. Now she tends her stall at San Juan with sad eyes but which she tries to hid with always a smile, her upper teeth missing. She told me one time that she works there 24-7, meaning to say, no days off and seven days a week, 24 hours a day. I could imagine her sleeping in one of the corners. Yet she endures the stench of the place which seems to not have had any washing at all for ages. 

Really, as an aside, I wonder, why the departments of health and trade, as well as the local government units have not imposed a daily cleanliness of the markets whereas, they are the source of crops used for food by the people. In Quiapo, it is terrible. The market is darkly-lit, the pathways slippery, and the smell, my God, I don't know where they came from. 

And so women working in the markets have to endure these situations just so that they could have a grander feeling of being part of the earning family, of being part of the bigger society where "progress" is supposed to be working. 

So where else do we find the women? At 11 pm, and at 4:30 p.m. or thereabouts, we see them fetching their children from school. They carry the bags all the way home because they are so heavy that it is highly impossible for the children to carry them by themselves. I wonder why the schools do not have lockers so that the children will just have to bring home those they need to review? I think it is sadistic if the school required all the books and notebooks to be carried home and then brought back again the following morning. 

Or maybe, if the school is rich enough, it can lend i-pads to each student so that schooling would be a paperless endeavor. 

Back to women's status in life: if women were to be called earning prosperously at all, I think we should credit the private companies that have employed them. I am sure that with Filipino women's ingenuity in handling managerial tasks, they could have earned the respect and humane treatment they deserve from their bosses, who I surmise would be in their 40's and 50's and would have gone through so many literature about the equality of women and men not only in the home but also the workplace. 

Dearth in the arts
How about in the arts? Well, I am sad that Cecile Guidote-Alvarez lost her award as national artist, together with Pitoy Moreno and Carlo Caparas. I think that her means of acquiring the award was questionable but not her being an expert in theatre. In fact she founded the Philippine Educational Theatre Association or PETA but unfortunately abandoned it during martial law when she had to flee the country because of the politically repressive regime.

Meanwhile, Fides Cuyugan, soprano got an award from a private body, together with two others. One will not, without diminishing her qualifications, that the three were attached to institutions which truly supported their artistic endeavors and thus helped them a lot in earning the award. But how about those who remain the in the fringes but still manage to produce works instead of having to beg from institutions that have their own stable of artists to support? I listened to a dancer express his woes -- that ballet is no longer supported by the National Commission on Culture and the Arts, "in perpetuity." Why so? No explanation perhaps only because is is western art. So? There are many experimental modern dances with ballet steps containing very highly significant themes that delve on human existence. Are we going to curtail the development of such arts?

I am so glad that Lisa Macuja is able to do her own thing, completely, and she has her own theatre company and...and theatre building to present her shows, without censorship. Lisa has been able to exist as a ballet dancer all these years simply because she has been highly supported by her husband, Mr. Elizalde, a lover of the arts. 


Another successful theatre person is Prof. Alegria Ferrer who has been able to turn around the earnings of the Abelardo  Hall from nil zero to more than thousands per performance. She has been able to professionalize theatre management so that even the workers who work overtime there during performances, get paid their OT pay. I remember when I held our drama-musicale, in the latter part of the eighties, Ang Kuwento ni Aling Edna, Perlita at Sara which tackled the life of the mother forced to push her daughters to prostitution, one a Mabini salon sexy dancer and the other a Japayuki. I composed the music for it, and had it arranged professionally by a dear friend through the intercession of Tita Lucrecia Kasilag, the National Artist.  During the presentation, there were no workers who could help us because they had to be paid separately from their regular salaries. And UP at that time did not have funds to do so. So we had to hire a private company to do it for us.

Regarding women's participation in the arts, there is not much of research going on. But what I would like to know is how many women receive grants from the grant-making institutions in the country. For myself, I just lost an opportunity to earn from writing this year. One of the more lucrative outlets is Ani Journal where for fiction one could receive as much as P3,000 plus. But the Cultural Center of the Philippines bosses decided to postpone printing to February 2014. Cruel is it not when the topic is about "Our Bodies."

Well it seems the female population in our country does not mind exposing their thighs in the streets. And so what do we have now, but a doubling of teenage pregnancies. Why can't the authorities have a total approach to curbing the population by starting from the way women dress up? Why can't Pinoy ask the women to please wear modest clothes, not those that make you look like you just came out of your beds?

The department of education as well as the commission on higher education don't lift a finger at all to make the female young be more protective of their physical attributes instead of just simply allowing them to be paraded in the streets. Doesn't MetroManila now look like one beach resort? Even this restaurant where I take my sometimes midnight dinner recently had an OJT whose skirt was five inches high from the knee and the place suddenly looked cheap. I just had to ask her to please lower her hemline because it did not blend well with the surrounding.

Female icons
So who are the female icons that the girl youths can look up to? A TV actress, the sexiest according to a magazine? The beauty contest winners who have to parade their bodies before winning any award at all? Sad to say, but we seem to lack icons simply because those who excel are hardly talked about, hardly written about. But in the religious sector, I would credit Ruth of the Center for Community Transformation or CCT led by Ruth Callanta and who is now battling cancer. She is currently undergoing chemotherapy and please let us pray for her early recovery. The CCT has many communities that she, aided by the board,  had helped economically and spiritually. "Microfinance is a range of financial services that CCT offers to poor and low-income clients, particularly micro-entrepreneurs as platform for sharing the Gospel. These financial services include business loans, savings, and housing loans...The first loan released to all clients is 4,000 PHP (USD94). Succeeding loans are increased by 2,000 PHP (USD47) with each new cycle. No collateral is required for the loans which are paid for in cycles of four to six months. Clients with good repayment records and potential for success are offered medium business loans starting at  51,000 PHP (1,999 USD) and a maximum of 750,000 PHP (17,646 USD)." as reported in their website." Many communities have availed of these and you should read their annual report, poor people whose lives have turned around, not through panhandling but through sheer industriousness. To show the magnitude of the help, "there are CCT microfinance offices in 23 provinces, 49 cities, and 42 towns of the Philippines."

Ruth has managed to use her Midas-hands to help a lot of people indeed. 
   
Another  female icon I think is Mel Tiangco whose base, the Kapuso Foundation runs daily news of individuals and communities that they have helped over the 24-oras News Program. Is it any wonder that women seem to shine best under helping institutions? It looks very natural for women to be nurturing of others. But we must guard against absorbing the negativities of the surroundings that we revolve in. Sometimes we could catch those and get sick ourselves. What we have to do is sweep them away everyday after we have met with the folks. 

This I learned from the Jewish women in California who were running the Women Helping Women. The head told me that every night they would meet together, pray and ask for help to remove whatever negative elements have entered their bodies and to give them fresh and stronger bodies to deal with the next day's challenges. 

Yes, we must work and get involved in the political and social processes of our country with that idea that later on we could be creating the right images that the youth must follow, one that is committed and has strong love of country. 

So what are the areas that women can excel in? I still think the Filipino women are natural artists. Our minds and emotions, are attuned to things artistic, from music to painting to crafts. The government must find a way to make the arts and music lucrative professions for women in this country. It can encourage more support from private groups so that women will continually have projects and work.  The NCCA must be commanded to open the grants, 50% to women artists. Also its annual report should be made known through the website. 

Pinoy should not worry about not having a ladylove or a First Lady if his term goes down in history as the best one that truly cared for the women of the Philippines. That is the more significant part of his administration that should not be dismissed or ignored. Unfortunately, two problems besetting homemakers now -- expensive light and water -- have become heavy burdens to carry and no end is in sight to release us from them. How will Pinoy address these two problems in his SONA?

Let us wish him a better completion of his term with iconic achievements that will make every Filipino girl child and woman -- including the elderly -- happy.


 

OUR RIGHT TO OUR BODIES

Despite the entry of the Philippines to the new millenium, questions still arise on whether women could control our bodies or not. Other people seem to not run out of reasons for having a say on our bodies -- "no you can't use contraceptives; "no you can't use artificial means when having sex;" "no...no...no...." 

With the piles of "no's that we receive it seems as if we are an evil lot. But who is evil actually? What is evil?

When a mother who can hardly feed three children decides to use contraceptives, is she at fault for wanting freedom from caring for additional children?

When a mother has great difficulty preparing her three children to school, her husband pitching in to bring them to school, are they at fault should they decide to have had enough of pregnancies? 

When local governments have great difficulty balancing budgets so that more would be allotted for education, instead of for maternal child and health care, could they be faulted at all for supporting the passage of the Reproductive Health law?

Our priorities seem to be askew. Most of the leaders in the country do not put themselves in the shoes of parents, especially of women and so are just mouthing this and that platitude. Why can't they go and visit Tondo, the former site of Smokey Mountain, now re-labeled "Paradise Heights" to hide the ugly truth of its past, just to see how many children there are playing in the streets? Just to know that teenaged girls are already selling their bodies in order to be able to eat. 

Now, even the State University has researched that there has been a 50% increase in teen pregnancies owing to the unbridled use of internet that showcases sex stories and/or photos. What will become of these girls once their babies arrive? Will they still be able to continue their education? If not, how will they fend for themselves and their babies?

Pragmatism is needed when dealing with overcrowding, with uncontrolled population expansion. Political leaders need to be practical and say "enough of new people coming into the country." 

I tried talking to an ordinary fellow about instructions on how to get to a place. I had to tell him several times where I wanted to go. Then I thought to myself, if he was not kidding, he could be one of those drop-outs whose knowledge got truncated by poverty. And so his brain did not develop well.This is a clear case of underdevelopment.

And should we have many people who can hardly understand simple instructions, then we can be sure that tyrants will arise, those who have money and power. They will be lording it over in a country full of "yes" people.

If that happens, we can now say that our education was a failure; all that so-called progress is mirage because it fails to touch the lives of the greater number of the populace.

Perhaps we need to find new educators, new leader-visionaries who would see well into the future on how we can move the country forward not in terms of curtailing women's right to our bodies, definitely.

THIRD WORLD PHILIPPINES

Our country is purported to belong to the Third World sphere -- those countries which are sources of raw materials for the First World. But there are many other qualities of a third world country that can be gleaned here in our surroundings.

For one, you see garbage trucks running around at any time of the day with all its polluting smell filling up the road. No you don't see such scenes in the First world.

Two,  the markets are always dirty, seem never to have been cleaned at all. I once lived in London near a market and it was always cleaned with a large hose so that you would not be able to smell fish or meat at all.

3.  Many jeepney drivers still think that their vehicle is a private service and so drivers smoke in great abandon, or drive and swerve without thinking of their passengers' safety.

4. Tricycle fares may have been standardized, but in our barangay, the drivers charge so much. While in other barangays drivers wait to fill up their vehicles with two to five passengers, those in our barangay, only want one so that they can charge more. How about that?

5. Water bills go up and down. A jeepney driver complained to me how their bill went up to P6,000 but when he complained, it reverted to the usual fee of P300 per month. But the next month, it was P7,000 again and so he had had to go back to the water utilities office to complain.

6. My facebook account has been hacked. No matter how I complain, and try to reset my passwords, some one or a group are hacking it, so that it reverts to "try again." Why is our country run this way? The freedom to communicate has gone haywire. No this does not look like what the Jeffersonians envisioned a society should be, nor what Cory had said, we would be after the People Power movement.

I could mention more. But truly this business of being in a TW country can be very stressful. Folks, aren't you glad you are in some other country? If I get a chance to live again, I would like to try another country to be in.

peace an elusive commodity

Several times I have tried accessing my article on this title but then it always goes berserk. It turns out a  very bad alphabet all letters y. But last night when I reported it to the Fil-Am Forum group, I was able to retrieve it in my laptop and copied in usb. Unfortunately it is now going haywire again. I wonder why it has become so.

Folks a lot of people are watching everything I write. They are afraid of being talked about for their silly moves to run the world.

Surveillance has no room in a decent society. To descend to that level to retrogress.

TAMPERING WITH (ANGELINA'S) THE HUMAN BODY

by Wilhelmina S. Orozco

A great number of writings have been produced regarding the use of alternative methods of dealing with cancer. In the Philippines, a group has come up with one that combines allopathic and alternative approaches. One of its officers said that the results are positive, about 80% overcome their illness. However, one very important component of that is the development of a positive attitude towards healing. If a patient thinks that her illness will progress and that there is no more hope for her, then she will surely go and meet our Maker. But if she refuses to be bothered by the illness and instead focuses on what she can still do in this life, realizing her own dreams and always fixing her mind to that day when she would be free of the disease, then success is really on the way.

Now I feel sad that Angelina Jolie decided to have her breasts removed because of the "tendency" for her to acquire the disease as her relatives who had died of it. That was just a "tendency" and yet she jumped into the fire rightaway, as if competing with the disease so as not to take her life away. True to the movie roles she has given life to, Angelina becomes a superheroine of her ownself, not seeing her moves as highly destructive of her feminine body. Now she is even going to have her ovaries removed.

No, this is not the way we should deal with our bodies, we women. We need to see ourselves as whole always, our bodies as God-given, and therefore designed to be beneficial to our pursuits in life. Angelina must divest herself of all the advice of her doctors who I believe are knife-happy just so they could share the light she gives off in the world.

And that light, consists not only of the inspiring female roles that she has essayed on screen, but in real life, her charitable acts to the needy especially in Africa. Moreover, she has pulled Brad Pitt even to her advocacies.  Her life, which she has spent even adopting children from other races, is so unique for a highly-celebrated movie individual, that destroying all her breasts and next her ovaries is somewhat like smirching her political activist role in life.

No I don't believe that Angelina should allow herself to be cut up here and there when there is not even an ounce of illness in her organs. It is mind-boggling what she is trying to do with her body. Could it be a case  a kind of grief or guilt that takes on a different manifestation, and that is through self-immolation, a destruction of one's physical body?

Maybe, Angelina needs a counsellor not those doctors who have a weird view of dealing with cancer.

ON CREATING HUMANE SPACES

by Wilhelmina S. Orozco 

Who are the worst victims of urban traffic? The drivers? The motorcyclists? The bicycle riders? Not at all. They are the commuters, the hoi polloi who are saving on transportation fare, who go through crowded areas just to jostle to get a seat on a bus or a jeepney. 

I have been observing people as I move from one place to another, from my home to Makati to present project proposals, or to a printer in Quezon City to have our magazine Regalo printed, to UP to have cheap xeroxing and internet that is only P10 per hour. Yes, this is the cheapest I can get in Metromanila but it has limitations -- no printing and connections are slow. You can count from one to twenty seconds. But nonetheless, puede pasar. 

Why more do I say that commuters are the worst victims? We walk through very narrow pedestrian lanes that are occupied by construction companies, or used as parking spaces, or by vendors selling cigarettes, mineral water and candies, 

And when we walk up to the MRT overground train station, we have to contend with 20 to 30 steps as the elevator is not working and there is no escalator. Can you imagine a paraplegic using the MRT? It will take him or her a half hour to climb, I guess. pregnant women with children will also have a hard time negotiating the stairs. Some girls with short shorts and boys appear to show off their skills at climbing up, rushing to reach the top for a date or just to compete with the slower ones.Then the senior citizens are truly the most pitiful lot. Not only do they slowly climb up the staircase; they also have to keep up with the crowd or else get pushed around, although the Filipino commuters is general are very respectful of the elderly. (I would like to say that when I am inside the trains and every seat is occupied, I manage to wangle a seat by telling a male or female passenger, "Excuse me, senior citizen. May I sit down? i can't stand too long on my feet." Readily they give up the seat which has almost always a sign at the back "Please give up the seat to the elderly. Also an announcement is always made by the driver to remind the passengers their duty to the senior citizens.

Then more and more high rise buildings are going up here. What I don't like in them, apart from the dizzying heights is their proximity to the roads. They are too close so that when you walk past them, it is as if they could fall down on you at anytime. At Sta. Mesa, there are towering buildings but they are about 20 meters away from Aurora Boulevard. However, the next residential tower is too close to the streets giving that eerie feeling that once the earthquake strikes, we could all be lying underneath its rubbles at any time. Is there no law governing the boundaries of high rise buildings? Why are building permit officers too timid to say no to owner-proponents of such edifices when these are supposed to last for years and years.

And so I would like to present a bill to aid the following needy sectors: the senior citizens, pregnant women and the disabled who live in urban areas and are experiencing those horrific circumstances . It shall contain the following:

1. All train stations shall have an escalator going up and going down. (Las Pinas city has a lot of them.)

2. Pedestrian sidewalks should be two meters wide. Vehicles parked along sidewalks shall be towed right away. 

3. Senior citizen payment counters should be respected at all times. Supermarkets that do not follow this shall be fined P5,000 pesos per violation. 

4. All streetlamps should be properly maintained. Local units should have citizen alert watchdogs that will inform officials if they are still working or not. 

5. Local units should spend 30 per cent of their annual budget for the maintenance of facilities that are used by senior citizens in public places. 

6. Supermarkets and malls should have toilets, at 1 is to 30 at every floor  and covering 200 square meters. 

 7. Every barangay should have a telephone or cellphone line and designated officials that will specially attend to the needs of the these sectors. Cases of violence, verbal or physical have to be dealt with right away.The need for transport should also be addressed by the barangay by these sectors.

8. The barangay has to inform the public how much the budget is allotted per year and the allotment for these sectors at a prominent place. 

9. All educational institutions should provide free tuition for those needy sectors who wish to enrol in their courses. The CHED, the DEP ED, TESDA and private educational institutions may designate the schools offering courses for free.

10 School bus or jeepney services should be provided to accommodate them at schools, especially if they are night schools. 

11. Public and barangay libraries should contain latest books, pamphlets and brochures on how these needy sectors could avail of services without appearing mendicant. 

12. Social work officers at every barangay should visit the homes of these needy sectors and inquire with respect and sympathy about their condition; provide moral and physical support if necessary.The DSWD should announce the name of the officer to all the homes in the neighborhood, his or her phone number and hours of work. The service should be on a 24-hour basis. 

In London, senior citizens enjoy meals on wheels -- breakfast, lunch and dinner served them through bus service. Hot! A social worker also visits them daily if not every other day. Each home of the citizen has a phone line. The government provides allowance to them.

Many ideas could crop up among our Kababayan abroad as they can compare the facilities and services provided these sectors with ours. I would be happy to receive them as we are now in the process of creating humane spaces, not just running after economic gains.

* Painting by Claude Monet Le Pont Japonais a Giverny

MAKING WAR A THING OF THE PAST

by Wilhelmina S. Orozco 

Peace is very elusive nowadays  in this world. Wherever anyone goes or flies, I am sure they will encounter war. In the south, we have the AFP versus the Abu Sayyaf. In Southeast Asia, the Taliban versus the Pakistani government and the world; the Middle East – within Syria, the rebels the Syrian National Coalition versus the dictator President Bashar al-Assad.

                                    (Picasso's Guernica,reaction to the bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War )

A  report states that”  The authorities are accused of arresting democracy and human rights activists, censoring websites, detaining bloggers, and imposing travel bans. Arbitrary detention, torture, and disappearances are widespread.^[78] Although Syria's constitution guarantees gender equality, critics say that personal statutes laws and the penal code discriminate against women and girls. Moreover, it also grants leniency for so-called 'Honour killing'.^[78] As of 9 November 2011 during the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, the United Nations reported that of the over 3500 total deaths, over 250 deaths were children as young as 2 years old, and that boys as young as 11 years old have been gang raped by security services officers.^”

^{Would we say that evil is engulfing the world, that we cannot view any goodness op\verpowering the devil in the near future? To take a religious approach seems} 

too conservative and that we should make a sociological and historical assessment of what is going on before labeling people and events. But when we are faced with deaths everyday, surely there is someone there who wants to play God, and who thinks he can terminate the life of anyone, destroy the surroundings without permission from anyone. That kind of situation makes a mockery of the history of the United Nations in trying to create a peaceful world through the unity of all nations.

Yet, we can only sigh and wish that things would change overnight. But when we hear superpower countries siding with the Syrian president and not guaranteeing a democratic rule in Syria, our view of democracy becomes hazy and hopes are dashed easily. Why because those superpowers are economically entrenched and have the necessary and a wealth of  defenses to strengthen not only their own but even dictatorial regimes.

We remember very well after the 1986 election and Marcos, the dictator declared himself the winner, the USSR readily sent congratulatory statements without regard for the feelings of the people who suffered 14 years of dictatorial rule and who wanted him out of the picture.

So when we are faced with international politics, we in the Philippines seem to be just a dot in the atmosphere as “big brothers” are lording it over us. We are merely pawns and not queens nor even horses that could challenge the king’s position as in chess. And yet, our country could be the broadest exporter of labor power as even in Russia, our compatriots can be found working.

I think that the presence of the Filipino people in many parts of the world could help a lot in bringing about peace, if only our people were not so self-effacing. If only they could be proud of our country, of where they come from, of our own historical background whence we belong to the first country in Asia to say goodbye to a colonial power; then maybe, they could assert the need to preserve life. Is that not what our religions tell us? Life is valuable, should not be extinguished and everyone should have space in this world and survive for so long as they can and want.

In fact, the role of the Syrian rebels in wanting to overthrow Assad who has held power since 1971 is akin to our own struggle against the dictatorship in 1986. Marcos held power from 1971 and was booted out in 1986. In this era, Assad is holding onto power and has managed to get the nods of Russia and China which then brings me to this point. Latest reports say:

“Russians had recently delivered the advanced S-300 surface to air missile systems, weapons that could help his forces fend off western efforts to establish a no-fly zone over the Middle Eastern nation engulfed in a civil war that has claimed as many as 90,000 lives. Russia and Iran have been supplying arms to Assad, including Kalashnikov rifles and anti-ship cruise missiles. But a shipment of S-300s would raise the stakes in the area, and Israel has threatened to take military action if those shipments are made.” (Fox-news report)

Why are these two communist countries so eager to support a dictatorship? Why do they insist on making the world a nervous wreck, teetering between life and death: “are we going to live till tomorrow or not? How long will that war be? When will it end? Will it spread to our grounds?”

Those questions are legitimate especially when asked by children, those vulnerable beings who are victims of adults playing with guns and arms like toys.

I think that any war in any country should be the legitimate concern of everyone. Just because a country is several thousand miles awayis no reason for us to turn a blind eye to its consequences. Everyone should be afraid, should experience terror, should raise hell should any individual or country for that matter starts to use guns or even drones to annihilate a person or a people. Shouldn’t we?

I was asked once, what we should do with drug pushers in a jeepney. I said they deserve to die only because it is very difficult to arrest them without sacrificing the lives of our police officers, and because they have destroyed the lives of their victims already. But come to think of it, I think that their  presence should make us think of more humane ways of netting them and making them truly reformed individuals in humane societies. A province in our country has even elected a drug-connected leader, one would say. But that is a very great exception. Maybe fears of how far the powers of that leader could go have been sown to make the people there vote for her.

But going back to Syria, I think that we should really pray for the civil war to end there soon. I pray that the presidents would soften their hearts and let not only reason but sympathy and empathy towards children and women be activated so that war would be a thing of the past in this millennium and beyond.