Some Privacy, Anyone?

Rosalia Labanon

The following is a sad story written in remembrance of Rosalia Labanon. Rosalia was the secretary of the Barangay Tribal Council of barangay Altavista. She strongly believed in the IPRA law and personally committed herself to the protection of the ancestral domain of the Bagobo-Tagabawa. She had a heart for the environment and firmly spoke out against illegal logging operations in Bansalan. She was one of the people monitoring her area to report possible violations of logging prohibitions.

In April 2008, word got round that illegal commercial logging operations were taking place in purok 6 in Altavista. Rosalia, alarmed by the news, went up to the area and, seeing the violations, decided to contact local authorities to put a halt to the illegal logging. Her intervention triggered a chain of communications from the local level up to higher authorities. Through the office of the Protected Area Superintendent, a police detachment was sent to the area to stop the operation and confiscate the logged timber. It seemed that this case proved the effectiveness of coordinated action and it was assumed that those responsible for the illegal operation would be penalized accordingly.

But there was a catch… The people behind the enterprise had obtained a certificate at the municipal level under the pretence of non-commercial gathering of timber for the building of a police outpost in the barangay. The certificate was meant to cover the real intention, which was to supply and sell timber to a buyer from Manila. As the transaction fell through, those involved saw their business collapse and their secret deal exposed to the public. They knew that Rosalia had been the one to report the case to the authorities.

By an unfortunate twist of fate, Rosalia and Boy Alimento, one of the men behind the transaction, met each other at the Bansalan bus terminal, in the heart of the Poblacion. Rosalia publicly inquired about the status of the case, and Boy half-heartedly admitted that a warrant of arrest had been issued against them. Boy felt humiliated by Rosalia’s question, took his motorcycle and left Rosalia with the words: Makita na lang ta sa Altavista – We’ll see each other in Altavista. Rosalia had planned to visit her farm in Sunop and mounted one of the habal-habal motorcycles to take her up to her farm. On the way to Altavista, Boy blocked the road by parking his motorcycle across the path. He took out his sundang and stabbed Rosalia until she fell to the ground. Rosalia was rushed to the hospital, but died along the way…

Horse Fighting

In previous posts I already wrote about spider fighting and cock fighting. For those who thought they'd seen it all, well... not really. The clip below was shot during a horse fight in barangay Managa. Horse fighting is a popular sport in Bagobo culture and no tribal day is complete without it. This is how it works. Two stallions are encircled by a crowd of people. Then, a mare is brought in to tempt both males until they fight each other over the 'love' of the mare. The fight ends when one of the horses flees. I guess a lot can be said about this custom, but I'll leave it up to you to comment...

Some People from Bansalan

The Reproductive Health Bill

As we speak, a controversial bill is pending at the House of representatives of the Philippines. The Reproductive Health and Population Development Act aims - among other things - to enhance people's knowledge on family planning methods. The act has become the object of controversy because it suggests contraception as one way for families to limit the number of children they bring into this world. The Philippines have a rapidly growing population and many families have more children than they can feed and send to school. Birth control is badly needed, but for conservative voices in the country - and there are quite a few, believe me -, use of contraception is a bridge too far. It will probably not surpsrise you that the good old catholic church is up in arms and out on crusade against artificial contraception. Don't get me wrong, I think the church has a right to voice its opinion on the matter, but nothing justifies the way it condems and judges people who choose to use contraception and how it bashes the bill for spreading information about it. The following is an excerpt from an interview with archbishop Oscar Cruz for The Inquirer :

In the Roman times, wealthy families were known for their love of feasting, eating, drinking and merrymaking. In their houses, there was a thing called vomitorium. The practice was that when they were filled up, they would go to the vomitorium and tickle their throat to vomit what they had eaten or drunk. So they were hungry again and would eat again. Artificial contraception is like that - couples have sex, put it in, spit it out, have sex again.


This excerpt is - in my opinion - sadly ironic. The lust our respected archbishop is condemning, is no one else's but his own. I suggest he seek a psychiatrist to come to terms with his own lust before he condems others for theirs. What bothers me most is not so much the fact that he opposes contraception - everyone is entitled to his opinion -, but he has no right to condemn others. His words are, to say the least, not very christian. Judge not lest ye be judged... The Reproductive Health Bill does not promote sex for pleasure, it simply states the responsibility to inform people about the option of artificial birth control and facilitate their access to anticonception.

Philippine Energy Plan

This Friday I attended one of the public consultations for the Philippine Energy Plan 2008-2030. Of course I was not invited, but I was asked by our executive director - who is co-chair of the Economy and Development Committee for region XI - to... 'represent' her. It was a funny experience. I was, as usual, the only white person in the room. More importantly, I was the ONLY person representing an NGO (a fact I discovered when NGO representatives were asked to stand up...). I believe that says a lot about the intentions of this energy plan. The plan is simple enough: we need to tap as much power resources as fast as we can. Privatization is the answer to that, since corporate companies have the kind of capital government can only dream of. The people in the audience, therefore, were either government or businessmen. As an NGO with environmental concerns, you are basically waving a flag in space. It is somewhat demotivating that after the passing of so many laws on environmental protection and indigenous peoples' rights, the Philippine government still pretends as if the natural resources are just up for grabs and everyone can just tap them. As if the land is vacant space... But it was also enlightening to see things from a completely different perspective. From the point of view of a government that is facing an energy crisis and has a lot of natural resources untapped, the importance of something like IP rights becomes a tiny issue compared to the big economical challenges. The moderator of our workshop talked about 'irrational stakeholders', and I guess he was talking about silly old us caring for the environment and IP rights. It also somewhat humbles you, I guess, to see how easily those things are downplayed at that level. Anyway, I did feel out of place between rich and fat investors I must say...

Ayo Ayo! Another goodbye...

Last Sunday I joined Lilli to visit her family and say goodbye to Rojen, her cousin. He'll be working in Dubai as an architect for a year. A great opportunity, for sure, given that Dubai is somewhat the architectural capital of the world.

But it was sad to see him go... We had a lot of fun together and although he had been planning his trip for a long time, it seemed as though he would always be there...He is now one of millions of Filipinos who go and work abroad for a salary that is often four times higher than what they'd be paid in the Philippines.

We promised that we'd see each other somewhere in Europe, so I wonder where that will be: Paris? Berlin? Or - I hardly dare to mention it - Bruges... ?

Low

The song below will probably always remind me of the Philippines. I have no idea whether it is popular in other parts of the world, but the song 'Low' by 'Florida Ft T-Pain' has been a constant hit from the very first moment we arrived in the Philippines. You can hear it literally everywhere: on the radio, on tv, in the jeepney, on the bus, in bars and clubs, in the mall, on the street... In fact, I can hear it playing at this very moment, although I have no idea where it comes from. The first few notes have become something like a mantra...

Hamlet

This post is not about a famous Danish prince but about a sad phenomenon that is troubling some of the farmer communities in Mount Apo. A ‘hamlet’ is a temporary village to which upland farmers are forced to move due to rebel activity in the highlands. Since the 1970’s, rebels of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) have been operating in Mount Apo. Up till this day, they regularly clash with the army in the lowlands after which they redraw in the upland forests. When hiding uphill, the NPA demands food and shelter from the local farmers. The army, therefore, forcibly moves farmers to ‘hamlets’ to cut off the NPA from food supply.

For upland farmers, this situation is disastrous. Clashes between the army and the NPA often prevent them from harvesting their crops so that everything goes to waste. Since the farmers cannot stay overnight on their farms, they have to hike or ride horseback to their farms every morning and return in the afternoon. As the farmers are malnourished, the trip is tiring and tedious.

Kapwa is working in some of the areas where farmers are ‘hamleted’. In Sinoron, a very sad thing happened not so long ago. Kapwa had supplied rice seedlings to be planted in the uplands. Out of sheer hunger, some of the farmers had no choice but to cook the seedlings and eat them to be able to survive. Kapwa is now helping the farmers to also grow rubber trees to relieve poverty. Rubber trees don’t need much care and once they are full-grown, you can harvest every other day. There is no threat of harvests going to waste and it cannot feed rebels looking for food. Rubber is expensive, so it would bring a good price. It is a long-term investment, though, since rubber trees need some 7 years to grow.