'No al bloqueo'

Think of yourself as a citizen of a small island nation of 11 million floating near the armpit of the United States, a powerful nation where milk and honey flow profusely so many of its citizens are groaning under the weight of obesity and too much eating.

Think of yourself as a Cuban, deprived of many necessities and opportunities simply because your neighbor, a giant nation many times your size, has leaders who are fixated in the belief that your dot of a country is a ``threat’’ to their security.

The big one squeezes the small one to make it go down on its knees and cry ``Uncle!’’ But no way, Jorge. Porque no? Because no self-respecting nation, no matter how small, will capitulate to an immoral sanction. Because no sovereign nation that knows the meaning of pride would want to take tutorials on how to run its affairs.

Today, Oct. 28, a draft resolution calling for the ending of US economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba will again be deliberated and voted on at the UN.

For the past 13 consecutive years, Cuba has been submitting resolutions to the United Nations General Assembly, demanding the lifting of the US embargo against it. This embargo/blockade, this continuous crucifixion of the Cuban people is now on its 45th year. Nothing as sustained as this has been imposed by a powerful country against a poor, little one.

As Cuban ambassador to the Philippines Ramon Medina said, the US sanctions against Cuba are the harshest in the world, much harsher than the sanctions against Iraq. Even the Pope has pleaded against this cruelty.

Last year, 179 countries, including the Philippines (which shares a Spanish and American colonial past with Cuba), voted in favor of ending the embargo. Two countries abstained. Only three (the US, Israel and the Marshall Islands) voted to continue the cruel embargo.

The US loses its case with Cuba every time the embargo issue is voted on in the UN, so what’s the problem? The US is the problem. Because it rules the world.

What does this embargo/blockade mean?

Cuba cannot export to the US, it cannot engage in sales with US entrepreneurs. Cuba is capable of exporting to the US about 15,000 tons of nickel every year, no less than 1,000 tons of cobalt and more than two million tons of cement. But it can’t.

Cuba cannot import from the US. Food may be allowed but only under special circumstances and only on cash basis. Cuba cannot access financial credits, not even private ones.

US companies, on the other hand, have to go through a difficult bureaucratic process in the US if they are to sell to Cuba. Cuba cannot use its own maritime vessels in trading operations. Only US or third-party vessels can be used. Cuba is not allowed direct banking relations with the US, so it has to go through third-country banks.

US citizens and corporations could be fined or suffer imprisonment for setting foot on Cuba. Oh, but there are many US tourists and Hemingway wannabes in Cuba. Easy. They go through Mexico. In Cuba their passports are not stamped.

In the last 45 years, Cuba has not had any access to international financial agencies. No single credit. But in 2003, the Inter-American Development Bank is said to have pumped nearly US$9 billion in credits into Latin America while the World Bank forked out US$5 billion. Nada for Cuba.

The Torricelli Act of 1992 prohibits Cuba from trading with US companies present in third countries. And third-country vessels that call at Cuban ports must wait six months before docking in US ports.

The Helms-Burton Act allows for legal sanctions in the US against third-country businesses that deal with Cuba. Company officials found to have dealings with Cuba are prevented from entering the US. Wanna steal a Cuban brand name like Havana Club? In fact, someone has beaten you to it, thanks to the Helms-Burton Act.

The list is endless.

The geopolitical configurations in the world have changed, so what’s so threatening about Cuba?

The Bush administration has supposedly set aside big sums for radio broadcasts to Cuba and to finance opposition to the Castro regime. The objective: to overthrow the present dispensation and establish US control over Cuba. Remember Nicaragua?

But despite what Cuba has had to go through, it has made great strides in the field of medicine, medical technology and microbiology which could be the envy of more developed countries. As the Cuban ambassador said, Cuba had to look for a niche where it could excel and so the world will be better because of Cuba’s potent vaccines.

But the blockade is gravely affecting all this. Cuba cannot obtain diagnostic equipment and reagents from US companies. Cuba has to turn to Europe and this means added cost.

A recent case was that of Oxoid, a British firm supplying lab reagents and culture mediums. When Oxoid was partly taken over by a US company, Cuba’s requests were turned down.

US$79 billion--this is Cuba’s estimate of the economic damage caused by the US blockade. No al bloqueo! This is the cry of Cuba and the community of nations.

I read Resolution 58/7 which Cuba will present to the UN, I learned about Cuba’s crucifixion and I bled. It ends:

``Cuba will not cease from defending her independence and she knows that her resistance contributes to the struggle waged by many peoples in this world for a more dignified life, and for the right to develop in fairer and more sustainable conditions. Neither will she ever give up the hope of one day having smooth, respectful relations with the American people.’’

Learn more about Cuba and the Philippines’ shared past. Contact the Philippines-Cuba Cultural and Friendship Association at 9950849 to 50.

Fishers, pearls and Jewelmer

In 1996, Pres. Fidel Ramos issued presidential decree 905 recognizing the South Sea Pearl as the Philippines’ national gem. The local pearl industry, the PD said, has produced the world’s largest pearl known as the ``Pearl of Allah’’ or the ``Pearl of Lao Tze.’’

What’s in a pearl? Plenty, especially if it is a South Sea pearl produced by Jewelmer International Corporation, a Cojuangco-owned pearl farm in Palawan that will soon be the subject of a congressional inquiry.

Last Oct. 16, World Food Day, and in observance of indigenous people’s (IP) month, Palawan IP from the Pala’wan and Molbog tribes rowed out to sea to exercise their right to fish in waters that used to be part of their ancestral fishing grounds. These areas occupied by Jewelmer, the IP said, have been off-limits to them for more than 20 years.

It all began in 1974, during the time of Pres. Marcos. The fishermen became victims of a land swap between business magnate Eduardo Cojuangco and Marcos.

Last Saturday, more than 200 members of the Samahan ng mga Katutubo sa Dulo ng Timog Palawan (Sambilog), accompanied by Akbayan representative Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel and members of Task Force Bugsuk, who were trying to cross the Pandanan Channel, were blocked by the Philippine National Police led by provincial director Col. Rey Lanada who came in a Jewelmer helicopter. Wow.

Our Southern Luzon correspondent Donna Virola was there to cover the encounter and she shared with me her report. Virola quoted Sambilog leader Panglima Rudy Calo as saying, ``Our purpose is to fish again in our waters and pass through Pandanan Channel which is our shortcut to nearby islands.’’ I myself received text messages from the site. One said: ``We were not able to enter the Pandanan Channel because of a heavy cable and boat barricade. PNP Prov. Director Lanada and a dozen uniformed officers acted as Jewelmer security guards. But most of the hundred fishers were able to fish in their traditional fishing grounds even for a couple of hours!!!.’’ It added that Hontiveros-Baraquel plans to conduct a congressional inquiry. May it be soon.

I first wrote about the IP-Jewelmer case on Earth Day last April after the IP ``intruded’’ into what used to be theirs—the 57,000 hectares of ancestral land and waters much of which is occupied by Jewelmer. Sambilog was invoking the IP law and demanding a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) for the fishermen as well as a cease-and-desist order for Jewelmer.

In last Saturday’s encounter, Art Palatino from the province’s environmental office even brought a map to show to Lanada that Jewelmer has gone beyond its area of 4,597.19 hectares.

But this issue goes deeper than just the IP’s right to fish or Jewelmer’s right to produce pearls. Nobody is against pearls here. If you’ve ogled at those luscious pearls in Jewelmer stores and leafed through their expensive coffee-table book, you’d know why South Sea pearls are special. Go to their website (www.jewelmer.com) and you’d think you’re reading about paradise and pearls and a hardy deep sea-diving people called Badjao and a Frenchman named Jacques Brannelle who supposedly discovered the beautiful secret of the islands, the precious pearl oyster, the pinctada maxima. He then brought over the knowledge of perliculture from French Polynesia and partnered with the Cojuangcos. Great cinematic weaving and marketing.

I’ve visited Palawan four times but always for rugged coverage. I’ve never visited any of the great resorts there but one of these days I will. That is, if they will accept pesos. No daw?

The last time I was in Palawan was when I visited Culion, the former biggest leper colony in the world, now a regular municipality and trying to be in step with the rest of the world. I’ve seen a lot of floating boxes where pearl oysters grow. You could get shot if you went near, I was told.

Task Force Bugsuk which supports the displaced fishermen said it ``is not against the propagation of the pearl industry in the country. We are only against the Jewelmer Pearl Farm and its displacing the IP from the ancestral domain, depriving them of their main sources of livelihood, discriminating against them for their ethnicity and denying them their basic right to self-determination.’’

Jewelmer, the task force said, ``has illegally blocked off vital and traditional navigational routes (preventing) the passage of other maritime vessels except their own. It has prohibited marginalized and subsistence fisherfolk from the use of even the simple and harmless fishing methods such as the hook and line, within the waters it has allegedly leased from Balabac town, a clear violation of the alleged lease agreement.’’

Jewelmer has been allowed to operate within an environmentally-critical area and despite the absence of an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) and a clearance from the Palawan Council for sustainable Development which is a violation of the law. So far, Jewelmer has refused to dialogue with the affected groups, despite the urging of Presidential Task Force 63.

Jewelmer is not the only pearl farm in Palawan. Task Force Bugsuk says it has no issue with other pearl farms or with the entire pearl industry, but only with Jewelmer.

In its website, Jewelmer quotes, in English, the first stanza of Jose Rizal’s ``Mi Ultimo Adios’’ where the national hero speaks of the motherland as the ``pearl of the orient.’’ In the original Spanish: ``Perla del mar del oriente, Nuestro perdido eden.’’ Our Eden lost. It can’t get more poignant than that.

Ah, I would like to know how that translates in the language of the Pala’wan and the Molbog. Tell me, I beseech you.

New book on family violence

A few months ago, I spent a day at the Bukid Kabataan in Cavite. The place is home and school for abused kids and is run by the Good Shepherd Sisters. One cute little boy there was known for wringing the necks of ducklings and chicks who happened to wander his way. ``I can’t help it, S’ter,’’ he would explain.

This boy is a survivor of family violence. And the book that is the subject of this column is right up his alley.

No fancy title for this book. ``The Path to Healing: A Primer on Family Violence’’ (121 pages, Anvil Publishing) is what it says it is. Written by psychologists Dr. Lourdes A. Carandang and Beatrix Aileen L.Sison, the book is a timely offering in this day and age when women are coming out of closets, bedrooms, basements and prison-homes to talk about their bloody ordeal in the hands of their spouses and partners. Timely too because the number of children who are victims seems to be increasing. The children are, in fact, the main focus of the book.

The book will be launched soon and is now available in bookstores. Are you in need of help or helping someone? ``The Path to Healing’’ is for you.

It is important to stress that the book is the result of in-depth research and intervention of the authors with families exposed to different forms of abuse. And so the extensive use of quotes from the subjects themselves.



The book is based on a pioneering research that focused not just on the abused children and the abusive parents but also on other key family members. It uses the family systems approach which is based on the belief that any stress, pain or joy experienced by one member affects all other members--``ang sakit ng kalingkingan ay nararamdaman ng buong katawan.’’

The family, the so-called basic unit of society, is under siege not just from without, but more alarmingly, from within. And so the book aims to empower family members by providing a good understanding of child abuse and the dynamics of family violence.

How and why does abuse happen? How can family members work together to stop and prevent any form of violence on a family member? What alternative and non-violent ways could be used to resolve conflicts?

The book’s authors let the reader enter the inner world of families where abuse occurs. They present real-life cases and use comics-type illustrations and diagrams to show the dynamics in a family. They also delve into the family origins of the parties involved. This is to show the roots of the violent tendencies in the distant past.

Often used are Filipino phrases (translated into English) which reflect the subjects’ way of thinking, for example, ``sinapian ako ng demonyo’’ (I was possessed by the devil). Many tips and points for reflection are also in Filipino, something counselors and therapists might find practical to use.

The book defines and tackles the four different forms of abuse—physical, sexual, verbal and emotional. It examines the intergenerational patterns, the family myths, the quality of a marital relationship, child-rearing practices, the family situation (poverty, number of children, etc.), substance abuse and other related problems of the perpetrator violence.

The little chapter on family myths is peppered with quotes that show beliefs that have not helped in curbing violence. Examples: ``Ang anak ang bubuhay o sasagip sa pamilya. (The child supports or saves the family.) ``Kayong mag-ina ang magiging asawa ko Hindi magkakalayo ang tingin ko sa inyo.’’ (Both of you, mother and child, will be my spouses. You both look almost the same to me.) ``Kakambal ko ang kamalasan sa buhay. (Misfortune is my twin.) ``Hindi ako mabubuhay kung wala akong kasamang lalaki.’’ (I cannot live without a man.) ``Ang pamilya ay dapat magkasama parati.’’ (The family should always be together.) ``Ang babae sa bahay lang.’’ (The woman is only for the house.)

The book is not all sob stories. The chapter ``Resiliency Factors: How People Survive the Abuse’’ points to the innate strengths of children that should be harnessed. Children’s natural ability to play, dream hope and bring delight, their courage to speak the truth—all these draw from a deep source that adults should recognize.

It goes without saying that a mother’s strength and the support system which extends to the community (the media included) are vital in order that children survive and transcend their ordeal.

What can families do now? The books answers this by offering ways of dealing with family conflicts. It has do’s and don’t’s in dealing with children and tips, many in Filipino, for improving the marital relationships.

The appendices contain the outline of modules on the family offered by a team of psychologists led by Carandang who is a veteran in family and child counseling. There is even a script for a skit that could be used as a basis for discussion and reflection.

Laws have been enacted and refined to help women and children who have been battered and to protect those who might be in danger. But what steps to take when currently in the face of violence and more important, what is there to know so that the victims and their supporters could take the proper action?

And most important of all, how to heal? Of what use are the legal action, the vindication, and even putting an end to the violence if there is no healing of the unseen inner wounds that have been inflicted? But for the cycle of violence to end and in order to heal well, one must also know and understand.

Carandang and Sison’s book is chockful of insights and how-to’s. It avoids the jargon of therapists, is very Pinoy and easy to read. This is one book that should be left lying around in unlikely places for anyone to pick up and read.

The physiology of hunger

Hunger is a very powerful and heavily loaded word. What is hunger?

``Hunger stalks 13 percent of Pinoy households,’’ the Inquirer’s banner recently announced. The lead sentence said, ``Hunger rose to record levels in Metro Manila and Mindanao just two months into the second term of Pres. Macapagal-Arroyo.’’

One out of every seven (15.1 percent) household heads polled by Social Weather Stations in August said his or her family had nothing to eat at least once in the last three months, triple the number of the previous year.

I don’t know whether these families missed one meal, or they had nothing to eat for one whole day during that three-month period.

A family missing one meal, even if it was only once in the last three months, because there was no money for food means a whole brood went hungry at some point. The thought of not finding food for the next meal must have added to the anxiety.

The poor know what hunger is in the most physical sense—as an intense need for food, as a weakening of the body for lack of it. Food is the first in the hierarchy of needs of all living creatures. Physical hunger is the first need that must be sated.

Experts often discuss hunger in so macro and so global a way. On their side of the divide, the non-hungry discuss the politics and economics of hunger. The spiritually inclined speak about prayer as a hunger. The health buff who has a great horror for obesity watches out for that pang, that wicked craving.



What happens inside the body when one is hungry? Not that the hungry poor care to know, for they know how it feels already. But it behooves us to realize that hunger is as physiological as blood circulating and breathing in and breathing out during meditation. Hunger is not some diffused, nameless feeling. It is real.

Here is some pop physiology I learned from my readings.

Most people think of hunger as something that is felt in the stomach that’s gone empty. We talk about humihilab ang tiyan. Indeed there is some turbulence of the acids in there and a stomach left empty for prolonged periods could end up with ulcers. But hunger is more than hilab. Ever felt faint because you skipped breakfast? That is physiological hunger. It’s different from psychological hunger or craving for, say, comfort food like dried fish on a rainy day. The psychology of hunger has more to do with incentives and taste preferences. But that is another story.

That feeling of faintness that causes people to drop to the floor during morning Mass is hunger in the truest sense. Hunger does not originate from stomach pangs. The physiology of hunger is influenced by body chemistry (insulin and glucose), the brain (hypothalamus), the so-called set point, and the basal metabolic rate.

The hypothalamus gland is mainly responsible for the feeling of hunger and satiation. The lateral hypothalamus (LH) brings on hunger. When the body is deprived of food, its blood sugar goes down and the LH releases orexin, a hunger-triggering hormone. The ventromedial hypothalamus, on the other hand, is responsible for depressing hunger. When the VH is stimulated, an animal will stop eating, but when destroyed, the eating will be unstoppable.

These complementary areas in the hypothalamus influence how much glucose is converted into fat and how much is available to fuel activity and minimize hunger. The brain system monitors the body’s state and reports to the hypothalamus, which then sends the information to the frontal lobes which decide behavior. Go, get fried rice or to-die-for chocolate cake.

The LH and VH have a way of altering the body’s weight thermostat, which predisposes the body to keep a particular weight level called set point. This makes the body adjust to the food intake, the energy output and its own basal metabolic rate (BMR).

BMR is the rate at which the body burns calories for energy depending on the fat cells, hormones and metabolism. Blessed are those who burn faster.

When the poor are constantly feeling hungry in the absence of food, it is not just the glucose level that is sending signals, their bodies are also screaming for the wide array of nutrients they have been deprived of. Think of pregnant mothers who crave for food because their bodies and babies need it.

When hunger is discussed in relation to poverty, it is often used interchangeably with malnutrition, starvation and famine. But these are four different stages and situations. Malnutrition is the inadequate intake of any of the nutrients required by the body.

So yes, the poor’s hunger is, first and foremost, as physiological as what the books say. The politics and economics of it are beyond many of them. There is so much to learn. And change.

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hungerbanquet.org. Visit this Oxfam website and take your seat at the ``banquet’’ table. Learn about hunger from the point of view of those who experience it every day. Discover the reasons why hunger exists today. It’s very interactive, with real human names and faces from real places.

Another website on hunger has a ``dining philosophers game.’’ In front of each one is a bowl of rice and between each one is one chopstick. Before one can take a bite, he must have two chopsticks—one taken from his left, the other from his right. Picture it? They must find a way to share chopsticks so they all get to eat.

I’m going back to the game after I finish this column.

Hunger is not a game, but sadly, it has been the outcome of power games.