Cracked Mirrors

In september zal een groepje voormalige straatkinderen uit de Filipijnen in Leuven een eigen theaterproductie opvoeren. De kinderen vertellen, zingen en dansen hun verhaal, dat van de straat, en de kracht en volharding die hen verandering bracht. De voorstelling is georganiseerd door het Vlaams Internationaal Centrum in samenwerking met de Provincie Vlaams Brabant. Het is een mooi initiatief en het wordt vast een heel interessante voorstelling, dus twijfel niet om langs te gaan! Je steunt er ook projecten in de Filipijnen mee!

Kapwa's 30th Birthday Anniversary :)

KAPWA UPLIFTMENT Celebrates 30th Founding Anniversary

source: http://www.phildhrra-mindanao.org/2009/07/kapwa-upliftment-celebrates-30th-founding-anniversary/

The KAPWA Upliftment Foundation marked its 30th anniversary celebration on July 3, 2009 at KAPWA Office located at Juna Subdivision, Matina, Davao City. With its theme “Building Partnership for Sustainable Development”, the ocassion was actively participated by former colleagues , development partners, IP leaders of partner communities and friends of KAPWA.

The celebration commenced with a thanksgiving mass celebrated by Fr. Emeterio Barcelon, SJ, the founding Chair of KAPWA Upliftment. A short program followed, with Mr. Ferdinand Marañon, KAPWA Board Chairman, welcomed the guests and visitors to the activity. Fr. Barcelon S.J., inspired the visitors especially KAPWA workers with his inspirational talk encouraging KAPWA workers to be more dedicated and committed in sharing its mission of service to others towards building a better future. A brief presentation on the KAPWA history was shared by Ms. Alma Monica de la Paz, the Executive Director. Central to its celebration was the book launching of KAPWA’s publication entitled “Change and Challenge”. This highlighted KAPWA’s experiences and learnings in their struggles of assisting the Indigenous peoples and upland communities in improving their quality of life while restoring the environment in the uplands.

For the past 30 years, KAPWA has devoted its services to serving the rural poor who live in deforested areas. It has provided services that have enabled them to acquire rights over the land they till, organize start up collective enterprises and enabled them to adapt farming systems appropriate to upland areas.

KAPWA has also trained non-government organizations, community based organizations and church workers on forest tenure and agroforestry technologies. We have worked side by side with local governments and other government and civic groups to protect our natural resources and restore degraded sites.

Founded on July 3, 1979, inspired by Fr. Emeterio J. Barcelon, S.J. as an entity to nurture service to others based on the teachings of the late Fr. Pedro Aruppe, S.J., then Jesuit Father General.

Germans to light candles vs extrajudicial killings in the Philippines

Written by Dateline Philippines

Wednesday, 20 May 2009 09:33

MANILA, Philippines – Members of Protestant churches in Germany will light more than 1000 candles in the city of Bremen on May 22 to call attention to the continued political killings in the Philippines. The activity, dubbed “Sumabay Tayo! Walking together – for justice!” is part of the “Kirchentag,” a biennial gathering of German Protestant churches that is based on a theme and draws thousands of people from all faiths, Hannah Wolf, spokeprson for the activity, said in an emailed statement. The candles will commemorate each of the more than 1,000 activists and political dissenters murdered since 2001, when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came to power. Among the victims of extrajudicial killings are church people, lawyers, journalists, human rights defenders, farmers, workers, students and trade unionists. The protesters will also launch a signature campaign meant to pressure the Philippine government to “investigate the killings, compensate survivors and relatives of the victims, and to end not only the political killings, but all human rights violations in the Philippines.” Wolf, in the statement, said the activity’s organizers fear a deterioration of the “existing climate of impunity” with retired general Jovito Palparan’s assumption of a congressional seat representing the party-list Bantay. Palparan is accused by human rights groups of responsibility for hundreds of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in areas he was assigned to as a military commander. “Palparan is known beyond Philippine borders as a notorious human rights violator who, like others, must be prosecuted and brought to justice,” Wolf said. Philipp Bück, coordinator of the German-based Action Network Human Rights-Philippines, said in the same statement: “More cases need to be prosecuted and perpetrators punished, particularly with regards to command responsibility within the police and military.” In March, the network conducted a mission in the Philippines to look into the implementation of recommendations by various international human rights experts and groups on how to end the killings and disappearances. Recently, United Nations special rapporteur Philip Alston, in a follow-up report to his fact-finding mission in 2007, said the government has failed to implement any of his recommendations and, thus, failed to quell the impunity that encouraged the commission of extrajudicial killings and other human rights abuses. In his original findings, Alston blamed most of the murders on a government counterinsurgency strategy that deliberately targeted members and leaders of legal organizations that authorities openly tagged legal fronts of the communist rebel movement.

Duterte Revisited - Mayor under Siege (At Last...)

Some time ago I posted an interview on this blog with Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte: http://pieterthys.blogspot.com/2008/11/rodrigo-duterte-mayor-of-davao-city.html

Since then, the case of the vigilante killings in Davao City has snowballed. In February 2009, Davao City set a sad record. 80 people were murdered. The highest death toll in the shortest month of the year... The Commission on Human Rights headed by Attorney Leila De Lima came to Davao City to investigate a presumed connection between Mayor Duterte and the so-called Davao Death Squad. Duterte, as usual, denied the existence of the Davao Death Squad as well as any connections between the city government and the vigilante killings. Something doesn't quite add up, of course. Duterte prides himself in having rid his city of drug-pushers, rapists and murderers, but a gang of killers going about executing those very same criminals without taking the pains of disguising themselves somehow escaped his attention...


Attorney De Lima - who heads the commisision - rightly emphasized that Mayor Duterte is responsible for the killings any which way. Either he orchestrates the killings, in which case he should be put to trial and sent to prison. Or he merely tolerates it, which would make him a felony to serial killing. Or he really is powerless in stopping the Davao Death Squad, which would make him a highly inept mayor. His city, after all, is the murder capital of Mindanao. Not quite the haven of safety he advertises it to be.

Yet, in my personal opinion, there is someting even more disturbing about the whole case. Even if it were true that Duterte has nothing to do with the killings and that his only responsibility lies in his unwillingness or ineptness to stop them, then there is still that one startling fact: the vast majority of the people in Davao City assume that Duterte is behind the Davao Death Squad, and they applaud him for it. You will be hard-pressed to find anyone genuinely shocked about the killings. Even among local NGO people, it is not uncommon to hear people sanction the killings because 'it has made Davao City a safer place for ordinary citizens'. Although I can understand the people, I do think that there is something terribly wrong with an electorate that massively tolerates extra-judicial killings...

Final Presentation

So there I was... After months of visiting projects, talking to people and documenting snippets of their lives in pictures, the time had come for me to present my writings to the people I had been writing about: the Bagobo-Tagabawa of Mount Apo. I was pretty nervous, as you can imagine. It was also time to let go of scribbled notes in Cebuano and just speak from the top of my head (with a trembling voice, I admit, hehe). It was nice to see all the tribal leaders gathered and a real privelege for me to present my work to them. It must be odd to see yourself in print, but the stories were well received by the leaders. If all goes well, the stories will soon be published...

Cebu Prisoners Perform "Thriller"

Here is an infamous video of Cebu prisoners doing Thriller. Yes, in the Philippines, convicts develop their dancing skills as part of their prison sentence. I saw it on Edward's blog, and I thought it was too good not to share it with you. Enjoy!

Just so you know...

Bagobo-Tagabawa Culture and Arts

The Malupo Farmers Multi-Purpose Cooperative - A Story

Hedcor Sibulan: Hedcor Project Floods the Land of Farmer

The picture below was taken in the farm of a small-scale farmer from barangay Jose Rizal, located in the lower portions of Mount Apo. The farmer's land was flooded because of the construction of a hydropower plant by Hedcor inside Mount Apo Natural Park.

This farmer lost half a hectare of his farm due to the Hedcor project. He has been struggling to get the damage to his property compensated since he will permanently lose part of his income. This farmer is not the only one who suffers the negative effects of the Hedcor project. The construction of roads and dams and the cutting of trees causes dirt and rocks to wash into the river. The people who live downstream from the Hedcor project have witnessed the water of the Sibulan River - which used to be one of the cleanest in the country - turn brown. People can no longer drink from the river, bathe or wash clothes. People who go to the river to catch fish now return without catch. Unlike the people uphill, who have been promised infrastructure works and money by Hedcor in exchange for their consent for the project, the communities downstream have had no voice in the decision. They, however, are the ones truly affected...



Last week president Arroyo visited the Hedcor Sibulan project. For those who were still wondering why this environmentally and socially risky project was allowed to be implemented in a protected area, the visit of Arroyo should make it obvious that Hedcor is the darling of the president. Perhaps her visit was also a (not so very) silent wink towards the Davao City Council to endorse Hedcor's plans in Tamugan. Hopefully the Davao City Council will hold on to the Davao Water Code which prohibits projects like this in Tamugan.

There is strong pressure, though, not only from the national government. Similarly to what happened in Mount Apo, Hedcor has succeeded in getting the consent from the affected communities by promising money and 'development'. The law prohibits companies to force commnities to give their consent to their projects. Promising millions of pesos to poor communities, however, is probably the most efficient form of pressure imaginable. The law cannot prevent companies like Hedcor from buying their way into an area. Once the communties support the project, all other permits tend to follow, even if environmental laws have to be amended.

Mount Apo is not only a protected area, it is also the ancestral domain of the Bagobo-Tagabawa. In the video below, you can see the tribal chieftain of the Bagobo-Tagabawa, dressed up for the occasion, expressing words of praise to the benefits Hedcor brings to 'his people'. Ironically, the place where the tribal leader and president Arroyo are standing is right opposite the farm that was flooded because of the Hedcor project. If only that tribal leader had pointed towards the opposite bank of the river to show the real effects of this project...

Hot Spring, Makilala, Mount Apo

While visiting a partner organization of Broederlijk Delen in Makilala, we made a trip to one of Mount Apo's hot springs. It is a weird sight seeing boiling water rise up from underneath the rocks.

A bit further from this small spring is an entire lake filled with boiling water. Sometimes animals would slip into the lake and leave nothing but their skeletons...

On a more positive note: you can take a natural sauna in some of the caves where the volcanic steam erupts through the cracks in the rocks.

Obama on Religion and Diversity

I love this speech by Obama...

Kapwa Upliftment Foundation

Ancestral Domain of the Bagobo-Tagabawa in Makilala

Abbreviations

Filipinos are absolutely fond of abbreviations. After 8 months in the Philippines, I have learnt how to find my way through documents riddled with abbreviations. An example: “In 1993, the DENR issued DAO 2 which contained the guidelines for the recognition of ADs. Successful IP claimants were issued a CADC to their AD. In 1997, the Philippine government passed the IPRA law. With the passing of IPRA, NCIP was established and took over the AD claims from DENR. CADCs could now be converted to CADTs. Successful CADT claimants are expected to draw an ADSDPP for the management of their AD. NCIP then empowers the BTC and MTC to implement the ADSDPP.”

It’s not only government agencies that like to use abbreviations, by the way. Kissing in public, for instance, is popularly called ‘PDA’, ‘Public Display of Affection’… Office personnel have a specific term for doing nothing while seeming very busy. It’s called ‘AIDS’, ‘As If Doing Something’…

Life of Brian

A clip from Monty Python's Life of Brian that has always made me smile

"Mga muslim diha" - The 'Other' In Philippine Society

Today I was reading through "The God Delusion", a best-selling non-fiction book by Richard Dawkins, a British biologist whom you probably know as the author of "The Selfish Gene". I had started reading it to look for some inspiration. During the annual reflection sessions in Kapwa, one of the employees said that he would like to present some readings from the bible to the other staff members. He has been reading the bible passionately for a couple of years now and wants to share it with us. From personal conversations, I know that he believes the bible to be unquestionable Truth. Our executive director suggested that we turned it into an activity in which people answer the question "What do I believe in?". Needless to say, all eyes were suddenly on me, as my confession (that seems to be the right word for it) that I am an atheist has obviously not yet been digested.

I must admit that the question "What do I believe in?" makes me uncomfortable, and I wouldn't know what exactly to answer to it. Of course, in daily life, the choices you make, the things you do and what you feel when seeing and hearing what happens in the world all point at what you consider to be right or wrong and what escapes your ethical judgement. I would have no idea, however, how to present this as a system of beliefs. As I was reading through "The God Delusion", I got excited with the intellectual vigour of Dawkins, the passionate way in which he explains evolution and the wit and brilliance with which he denounces religion.

But when I closed the book, I was still wondering: "What do I believe in?". Do I care that evolution explains what people had so long seen as a magical creation of God? I agree with Dawkins, of course, but that's not the point. What does it mean to me apart from being a fun read? Well, it also showed me the strength of critical thought. I think that I firmly believe that as human beings we have the rare talent of continuously questioning the world and what we think we know about the world and about ourselves. Perhaps that is the only message I wish I could convey when I try to answer the question "What do I believe in?". And I do believe it is needed...

Mindanao is a peculiar place in terms of accepting difference. Although it is de facto multi-ethnic and multi-religious, it certainly is not multi-cultural and it doesn't deal with differences very well. That is particularly obvious when it comes to religion. Does it make sense that, in a country where many people are non-christians (whether it be atheists or people of another religion), christian payers are said at every public occasion (be it at the start of school, a hearing in the city hall, a speech of the president or, for that matter, a meeting in an NGO)? If only people would expose their children to the reality of the multitude of beliefs, opinions, scientific theories, ethical theories, practical lifestyles...

Something that has always left me speechless is the deep-rooted, all-pervasive prejudice against muslims in Mindanao. You cannot as much as suggest that you would go to a muslim neighbourhood, or quite a lot of people would immediately say: ayaw, mga muslim diha ("don't go there, they are Muslims"). Perhaps it is one of the reasons why I am so weary of religion, certainly of the uncritical kind, since it has such a strong tendency to favour 'us' and condemn whoever we call 'them'...

Faces and Gestures

A while ago, Maya and I were talking about gestures and facial expressions. Filipinos are notoriously skilled in conveying messages through facial expressions and body language. For example, if you want to pass through a group of people, you are supposed to make a small bow (a gesture of humbleness) and stretch both arms in front of you, as if carving out a virtual path in the air by which you will make your way through the group of people.

Smiles can be particularly ambiguous to foreigners, as they tend to convey a wide range of messages we do not usually associate with smiles (such as embarrassment, apology,...). You can read all about it on Lilli's blog.

If you want to survive in the Philippines, of course you have to be able to recognize and produce some of the gestures and facial expression. So, let's practice...

1. 'corrupt': the gesture below is used to indicate that someone is corrupt without actually spelling it out and saying it. The gesture evokes a coin of money. Sometimes, when you ask a Filipino if this or that politician is doing a good job, the only reply you get is this sign, accompanied with a disapproving facial expression. Most people in the West would probably understand this sign to mean 'ok' or 'excellent' (though without the face of course :)

2. 'Over there': Filipinos do not point with their hands, but with their lips. So if you ask 'where is the mall?', people will point their lips in the direction where you need to go. This is only done, of course, if it is not too far, although the further one stretches his lips outward, the further your destination will be. For unsuspecting foreigners, it looks like a kiss.

3. 'what?': a short way of saying 'what?' in Filipino languages is by using the word 'ha?'. Many Filipinos, however, do not bother to say the word, but simply open their mouth as if they are going to say it, but without producing the sound. The result is something that we would define as a look of amazement, surprise or wonder. It only works, of course, if you are face to face with the person who didn't catch you :)

4. 'Hey, how are you?': This is a facial expression used to greet people you do not intend to talk to. It is used to greet passers-by in the street.You raise your eyebrows as high as possible and accompany it with a smile. It is important to tip your head back while doing it. If you make this gesture to any stranger on the street, he will reply with exactly the same expression.

5. 'I don't like that person': If you ask someone whether they like a certain person whom they actually cannot stand, they might use this facial expression. It expresses dismay about someone's personality. It almost seems to suggest that, apart from having a undesirable personality, the person also emits a particularly discomforting odour that necessitates you to close your nostrils....

And, now that I look back at these pictures, the overall message they convey is: I should really shave...