Find your peace in this Field of Faith

Philippine Daily Inquirer-Lifestyle/ 
Feature/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo

"AS OFTEN as you can, take a trip out to the fields and pray. All the grasses will enter your prayers and give you strength to sing praises to God.”

These words from an 18th-century rabbi ring true once your feet touch the grass and the stillness embraces you like a shawl of soft rain.

Truly, this is one of the beautiful spots on Earth which the eye of the soul can behold, and can be seen by the physical eyes and felt by one’s entire being.

Field of Faith calls out gently to everyone who enters. Rest. Listen. Feel. Remember. Awaken. Heal. It might as well remind: Do not hurry, you are at home. This is a sanctuary, a repository of beauty, a haven for sojourners and seekers.

Something here is alive and nurturing. Spirit of place, it is called. A guiding hand created this place. It is meant to be shared.

Field of Faith is at the foot of a mountain in Calauan, Laguna, an hour and 40-minute drive from Manila. The four-hectare sanctuary came to be in 2004 as a family’s thanksgiving for divine healing.

Owned and maintained by the family of former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Gabriel Singson and his wife, writer Moonyeen (nee Retizos), the place was landscaped, designed and continually beautified by their daughter, Carissa Singson-Mabasa, with the help of divinely-inspired artists, gardeners and other kindred spirits.

A luminous cross surrounded by gurgling waters stands at the heart of the place. There is the chapel without walls embraced by trees. Here, one could sit alone or join others for a joyful celebration. Butterflies, birds, fish and other living things contribute their energy to the place.

Labyrinth, satsang halls

Surely something to experience is the wide open hall with the ancient labyrinth design on the floor, which one could trace, tile after tile, with one’s steps and with a meditation guide on audio.

The labyrinth walk is a Western form of prayer and meditation of the early Christians.

“Today,” Carissa explains, “walking the labyrinth has become a metaphor for the spiritual journey. It is a powerful tool for transformation. It can help inspire change and renewal, and serves as a guide to help us develop higher levels of awareness.”

“The journey of self-realization is at the heart of spiritual traditions of all religions. It is a journey to meet the self and the Divine,” she adds.

One needs time and quiet to get to the center and emerge from the labyrinth. Walk silently along this path until you feel and remember that deep inside you is something valuable and worth listening to.

The newly built satsang hall is for encounters and workshops to help people regain unity of mind, body and spirit. Lessons are taken from Eastern and Western traditions that stress the totality of one’s being and experiencing the divine. Satsang, a Sanskrit word, means “a gathering for truth.”

Wishing wall

The Shekinah Wishing Wall offers its crevices to be filled with petitions and wishes. Shekinah is a Hebrew word that means “the God who dwells within.” In Christianity and Judaism, Shekina refers to the Holy Spirit.

For those drawn to the outdoors, there’s the neo-ethnic and modern sacred art that complements the lush tropical landscape. Each spot, detail and structure has a message to impart and a charm all its own. The words of wisdom—ancient and new—embossed, engraved, painted, etched and hung on nooks and pathways, call out to be read and internalized.

Take the 800-m pathway dotted with the stations of the cross and the mysteries of the rosary rendered in either wood, resin or metal. Stop in meditation spots to rest and reflect. Various artists went to work to make this portion not just a prayer path but also an art walkway.

One need not worry about where to stay. There are comfortable rooms and modern amenities. The glass hall serves as a dining area where healthy meals are served. There is a swimming pool for those who wish to soak away.

Healing garden

When Moonyeen discovered she had stage four colon cancer in 2003, Field of Faith was not even an idea.

“From my sister, I learned about this healing garden owned by an Italian family in Toronto,” Moonyeen recalls. “People went there to pray and experienced miracles.”

She thought, why not do something similar in the Philippines?

After Moonyeen returned from therapy in Singapore, the family decided to work on a property in Laguna which had been handed down by Moonyeen’s grandfather, Isidro Retizos.

“It was a wilderness,” Carissa says. Little by little, the place became transformed into God’s field—for all faiths. The place opened in 2005.

On special times of the year like Holy Week, Field of Faith attracts people who wish to immerse in prayer, quiet and beauty. The place could be used throughout the year for retreats, seminars and other group activities.

Truly, this is God’s field. It continues to grow and is ever renewing.

For inquiries, contact 0917-8151585 or 7210081. E-mail field_of_faith@yahoo.com. Visit www.fieldoffaithsanctuary.com

One billion words for Earth

8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 28 is Earth Hour. People all over the world are urged to switch off all their lights for one hour. This is not only saving energy but also casting a Vote for Earth.

This year, Earth Hour (last Saturday of March) has been transformed into the world’s first global election, a choice between Earth and global warming. For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background could use their light switch as their vote. Switching off the lights is a vote for Earth. Leaving them on is, well…

Voting for Earth with the use of the light switch should be easier than the 2010 automated Philippine elections. And its impact is global. Staying in the dark for an hour should be an opportunity to create activities. Before you know it the 60 minutes are over and you’d probably want to stay in the dark a little longer.



The World Wildlife Fund is urging the world to vote Earth and reach the target of 1 billion votes, which will be presented to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009. This meeting will influence national policies and governments to take action against global warming, which will replace the Kyoto Protocol. It is the chance for the people of the world to make their voices heard.

Earth Hour began as a small effort in Sydney in 2007, when more than 2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. In 2008 this effort grew into a movement for global sustainability. Some 50 million people participated and switched off their lights. Familiar landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome’s Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square all stood to be counted in the darkness. We should have our own Philippine landmarks darkened. What about all those billboards from hell?

This year, 2009, Earth Hour moves to the next level. The goal: 1 billion people switching off their lights as part of a global vote for planet Earth. Vote Earth is a global call to action for every individual, every group, and every community. It is a call to stand up and do something for planet Earth and its future. Over 74 countries and territories have pledged their support and millions are expected to cast their vote for Earth this Saturday. The number is growing every day.

You can watch the numbers grow in the Earth Hour and Vote Earth websites. Even social networking sites in cyberspace—Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc.—are participating. If you are able to navigate the Internet, or if someone could do it for you, visit www.voteearth2009.org. You could register, send your short message and even upload a photo or two of yourself and of a spot on planet Earth. My message: “Amazing Earth, Great Mother, we pledge to protect you.” I uploaded a photo I took of the bright blue waters and the limestone cliffs of Coron, Palawan.

That is part of the Vote Earth campaign for “one billion words for Earth.” This is using the power of words for a cause. The present state and the future of planet Earth is something people should continue to talk about and write about. Words and images are key. One could do articles, blogs, messages, posters, streamers, stickers, buttons, etc. You can download “We Vote Earth” sample designs from the Internet. Lots of how-tos, too.

By the way, March 22 was World Water Day. Planet Earth is a watery planet that’s why it is also called the Blue Planet. Viewed from outer space, Earth looks like a blue jewel. It’s the water of the oceans that makes it blue.

Now, Earth, with its diverse and awesome life forms (including more than 6 billion humans) that need water, is sending an SOS. There is a water crisis.

The salt and fresh water of the earth remains constant but is it available and safe for every one? We all need fresh water to drink. But the availability of clean water—for all—is a problem.

According to UNEP reports, the crisis is essentially one of poor water governance. But the real tragedy is its adverse effects on the everyday lives of people, most especially the poor. Many of them live in blighted areas and suffer from water-borne diseases as well as water disasters. The quality of water suffers from the loads of waste dumped on waterways and water sources.

Here are some alarming facts about the earth’s waters.

The amount of freshwater in the world remains constant, but its uneven distribution and increasing demand create growing scarcities. At present some 40 percent of the world’s population live in areas with moderate to high water stress.

Species have been declining faster in freshwater than in any other habitat on Earth. About half the world’s wetlands have been lost and more than a fifth of known freshwater species have already been driven to extinction. Over the last 30 years, the Freshwater Species Index fell by 50 percent. WWF points out that the relatively smaller decline in North America shown by the index is deceptive, much of the loss in industrialized countries occurred before 1970.

More than 1 billion people lack access to a steady supply of clean, safe water, while 2.4 billion lack adequate sanitation. More than 2 million people die each year from associated diseases, including 6,000 children every day. The situation has been improving but, at the present rate of investment, universal access to safe drinking water cannot reasonably be anticipated before 2025 in Asia, 2040 in Latin American and the Caribbean, and 2050 in Africa.

And yes, we need water to grow food.

Every act, every word, every vote for Earth counts. Vote Earth on March 28.

Pension Now! for poor older people

I am told that the Philippines is the only country in Asia that has no social pension for poor, older people. These are mostly the ones who had not been formally employed when they were younger and therefore did not have social security or insurance that they could draw from in their older years.

Countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, India and Vietnam have some kind of social pension for the elderly poor, says Ed Gerlock, advocacy officer of the Coalition of Services of the Elderly (COSE). COSE is a non-government organization (NGO) that focuses mainly on the elderly poor.

Founded 20 years ago, COSE empowers poor older persons and helps them live productive lives even in their sunset years. Empowered, they become catalysts in their neighborhood. They serve and help one another so that they are not a burden to their families and their communities. They even go beyond their small confines to serve the community at large. And when some of them become too frail to be of service, the stronger elderly care for them.



COSE also helps the elderly who find themselves poor, uncared for and alone by linking them up with those in a similar situation. Strangers to one another in the beginning, these senior citizens begin to bond and enjoy living together like a family in group homes in a community setting. No institutionalization here.

I was in Barrio Bagong Silangan in Kalookan City recently to meet some older people, a.k.a. senior citizens, who are actively and vigorously serving their community. Bagong Silangan has five sitios and 37,500 households which are mostly from the low-income bracket. COSE has a strong presence here.

There is the Sitio Kumonoy Elderly Association (SKEA) which has 97 members. President Encarnacion Matreo, 63, says they meet regularly to address concerns related to health (medical, dental, optical), electricity, sanitation and the like. Their “Mission-Vission” (note spelling) is proudly posted on the wall for all to read.

I got to meet the women who run the Botica-Binhi, a community drugstore. I also met the elderly volunteer gerontologists. What a lively bunch they were. I was also introduced to a very, very poor elderly woman living in a tent. Illiterate, the only thing she knew how to do was scavenging which earned her P30 a day. But it was heartwarming to see how her neighbors looked after her and her daughter.

She is among those who should benefit from The Elderly Poor Pensions Act. Introduced by Rep. Eduardo Zialcita, this act “encourage(s) social and economic development through monthly pensions to the elderly poor, appropriating funds therefore.” It provides that all financially disadvantaged elderly may avail of the social pension as well as loans provided they are Filipino citizens, at least aged 60, unemployed and without adequate means for survival, and holders of a special ID issued by the appropriate government agency.

The provisions of this act shall be included in the General Appropriations Act of the year. The Department of Social Welfare and Development is mandated to promulgate the rules and regulations for its implementation. The organized elderly are still pushing for the implementation to happen soon.

COSE says that this is not welfare or dole-out but “economic development and justice for older people.”

Collaborating with COSE are about 60 older peoples organizations (OPO) in urban poor areas in Metro Manila that are engaged in community-based programs of the elderly (CBPE). The provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Camarines Norte, Cebu, Agusan del Sur and Davao as well as the cities of Baguio, Bacolod and Iligan have CBPE.

The local governments of Hagonoy in Bulacan, Barangay Ma-a in Davao City and five towns in Camarines Norte are now implementing home care assistance programs. The DSWD developed and implemented the guideless for the Neighborhood Support Services for Older Persons.

But there’s a lot more that should be done. Although COSE started the home care services in some Metro Manila communities, there is need for these services to be replicated and institutionalized by local governments.

The poor elderly have a lot to contribute to their communities. In COSE areas, the strong work as home care assistants and community gerontologists. The latter monitor the health of the aging. Others act as peer counselors and offer a listening ear to those with problems.

There are the fund raisers, community and social activities organizers. The burial fund officers see to it that bereaved families are not overburdened by expenses. The Botica-Binhi managers make available low-priced medicines.

Others act as advocacy officers to help raise awareness about current issues. The group home managers help the elderly live together independently and harmoniously. Some do writing, others do business management. And there are the teachers who mentor both young and old and who also act as guide for outsiders and students who want to be exposed to community programs and the local culture.

Notice that the prepositions in COSE are of, not for. Coalition OF Services OF the Elderly. They also serve and do not merely stand and wait. COSE believes it is important for older people to remain in the community to share their experiences and wisdom—and to teach us all about our own process of growth and aging.

COSE’s office is on the mezzanine floor of Mariwasa Bldg, 717 Aurora Blvd., QC., 7220418, cose@cosephil.org. The place is no longer big enough for group activities of the elderly. COSE is looking for a bigger place, preferably a house with outdoor space for gatherings.

So sue us

“So sue me” was a popular 1990s in-your-face dare, an I-don’t-care. But I read somewhere that its origin could be the 1950s “Guys and Dolls” movie musical starring Frank Sinatra where he sings “Serve a paper and sue me, sue me.” There’s even a So Sue Me hot sauce.

The hot sauce is on my mind as the right-of-reply bill, principally authored by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., threatens to find supporters in the House of Representatives.

Last week, a bunch of former church activists and social action workers with a couple of writers among them had lunch with Pimentel. In case you didn’t know, in the late 1970s Pimentel was legal counsel for the social action arm of the Catholic Church in the Philippines. He cut his legal teeth where most politicians, at that time, feared to tread.

After the filling Chinese lunch at his regular haunt, Pimentel stood up and merrily quipped that there is no such thing as a free lunch. For dessert, he gave us a PowerPoint presentation titled, “If journalists have the right to mortify, the public has the right to reply.” This was about his very controversial bill which journalists, I among them, are opposing vigorously. He anticipated that he would be grilled on it anyway.

Mortify? To mortify means to shame. It’s not the journalists’ God-given vocation to shame for sake of shaming. But sure, exposing shameful deeds is part of our duty.

A lot has been said and written against the bill. Many of them are so well argued they are classics that should be entered into journalism textbooks. Print and broadcast journalists have continuously articulated their opposition. But the bill has its advocates and supporters, politicians mostly, who claim media could be abusive and this bill could be the answer to media’s excesses.

Sure there are excesses and extremes, but these are not what the media exhibit every day. And the suggestion of the bill’s supporters that such excesses could be one of the reasons so many Filipino journalists are murdered every year is like saying these slain purveyors of the word had it coming. Short of saying they deserved it.

The right of reply will stop the bullets? I don’t think so. The right of reply could even give rise to excesses from those who demand it. We ain’t seen nothing yet. OMG! While Pimentel argues that the right to reply is only for those who are severely aggrieved and not just for anyone to demand, who is now to say to them, no, you are not aggrieved enough.

And how now do journalists begin to calibrate what they write or say so that their targets do not demand to make a reply every time and also in excess? And in what way, how much space, when, where, what time? As they say, the devil is in the details.

Just sue us.

Pimentel also says that with this bill, libel suits against journalists could be prevented. Like it’s going to do journalists a favor. Sure a libel suit can be a burden for journalists. I experienced this during the dark days of martial law. But in a libel case, the burden is on the accuser to prove malice. And malice is not easy to prove. The harassed journalist could end up winning the libel case and the accuser proven to be corrupt and a low-life after all. The latter would not like this. He/she would rather demand space and airing in the media in “saecula saeculorum” [forever and ever]. Easier than going to court. “Sikat ka pa.” [You even get publicity.]

Speaking of excessiveness, in 1983, a general sued me and my editor because I wrote a long magazine article that exposed the military’s human rights abuses in Bataan province. I faced a P10-million libel suit. I did not know the general from Adam and his name was not even mentioned in the article. But he claimed he had been maligned.

Who he? I later learned that at that time he was a military attaché somewhere, so how could he have been in charge of the abusive troops? It was clear that he was just used by the dictatorship to harass and sow fear. Still, after the preliminary hearing the Manila fiscal nicknamed Joe Flame had the temerity to file the case. I had to post bail.

(Among my lawyers were Joker Arroyo, Rene Saguisag, Fulgencio Factoran, Jejomar Binay, Augusto Sanchez—all of the Mabini Lawyers group headed by Lorenzo Tañada — and Saklolo Leano of the Siguion-Reyna Law Office. Happily, the case was overtaken by the 1986 People Power uprising that toppled the Marcos dictatorship, and was dropped.)

Just sue us.

Who’s afraid of libel suits? As I said, with a libel suit the journalist could be proven right and the crooks and their shameful deeds could be further exposed.

And there’s that so-called “sunset clause” in the bill that would cause the right of reply to self-destruct (my own words) after several years if the media have been proven to have adhered to the principles of fairness. It smacks of condescension. Pour on the So Sue Me hot sauce.

Responsible journalists need not be told that clashing sides deserve airing, that fairness is paramount. We have our code of ethics, and in the case of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, an in-house ombudsman, a Letters section and a Correction section. Sure, there are scalawags in media who fancy themselves to be journalists — and may their tribe decrease. These are not the ones who give the crooks sleepless nights as they are crooks themselves. It is the journalists who walk the straight and narrow, the ones who discover, know and write the truth — these are the endangered species that the powers-that-be fear most. And might want to stifle, if not eliminate.

So sue us.

* * *

Fr. Ruben Villote, former columnist of the Sunday Inquirer Magazine and founder of the Center for Migrant Youth (CMY), will celebrate the golden anniversary of his priesthood on Sunday, March 15. Mass will be at 9 a.m. at CMY, 15 Goldman St., East Fairview, Quezon City. Telephone number is +632 4286529.

Pinay caregiver dies in Canada, inspires law

Philippine Daily Inquirer/News/

By Ma. Ceres P. Doyo

MANILA, Philippines—JUANA TEJADA, a Filipino whose plight as a caregiver inspired her supporters to name a proposed Canadian law after her, has died in Toronto. She was 40.

Tejada died of complications resulting from colon cancer. The disease, which struck her when she was on her third year in Canada, had provoked a move to have her deported.

She died on Sunday, March 8, International Women’s Day.

The pending legislation would benefit foreign caregivers in Canada who may find themselves in a similar situation.

Citing humanitarian reasons and Tejada’s dedication to her work, thousands of Filipinos and non-Filipinos in Canada, the Philippines and other countries supported her plea to remain in Canada through an online petition addressed to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Fil-Canadian couple Oswald and Mila Magno started the campaign online in 2008.

No ordinary caregiver

“Juana was not just a caregiver,” Tejada’s lawyer Rafael Fabregas told the Philippine Daily Inquirer shortly after she died. “She was also the champion of a worthy cause, the Juana Tejada Law.

“No other caregiver had gone as far as she had in lobbying the Canadian government to re-think the caregiver program. The Parliamentary Committee on Citizenship and Immigration is currently reviewing proposals to reform the program, which includes the Juana Tejada Law.”

If passed, Fabregas said, the measure would exempt live-in caregivers from having to pass a second medical examination before being granted permanent residence in Canada.

Tejada arrived in Canada on a cold wintry day in March 2003. She had a difficult start. She came from Hong Kong where she had worked as a nanny for several years and where there was a SARS outbreak at that time.

SARS—Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome—is a disease whose flu-like symptoms can develop into a lethal pneumonia.

Fabregas said that upon her arrival in Canada, Tejada underwent a month-long self-imposed quarantine before getting a job.

Tejada’s Stage 4 cancer of the colon was diagnosed during her immigration examination in 2006. If not for her illness, she would have been assured of permanent residency which, according to petitioners on her behalf, she deserved.

She had served well

Owing to her illness, she was to have been deported on Aug. 8 last year.

“During the three years when she was able, Tejada, in her small way, supported the healthcare system that she now desperately needs to care for her,” the petitioners said then.

“She is no burden to the healthcare system. She is being looked after by generous and compassionate doctors who are providing their services for free.”

Through caregivers like Tejada, they argued, Canadians were able to lead productive lives. Having served well, she had more reasons to seek humanitarian protection than refugees that Canada had been known to accept, they said.

Permanent residence

The Tejada case arose around the time the movie “Caregiver,” starring Sharon Cuneta, became a box-office hit.

In July last year, Tejada was granted permanent residency status by the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). The decision, Fabregas said then, could lead to the removal of the requirement for caregivers to have a second medical examination to obtain permanent residency status.

The requirement is considered “onerous” as this applies only to caregivers.

Canada’s caregiver program grants permanent resident status to foreign domestic workers after completing three years of work and getting medical and criminal record clearances. According to an article by Nicholas Keung in The Toronto Star, 6,156 live-in caregivers became permanent residents through the program.

Caregivers must undergo two medical examinations. The first is for a work visa, and the second is for applying for immigrant status. Last year, 6,156 live-in caregivers became permanent residents through the program, Keung reported.

Hero’s welcome

Tejada was rushed to the Toronto General Hospital on March 5. She died three days later. Her husband Noli Azada and sister Bernarda, as well as friends and supporters, were beside her.

“Tejada’s remains will be flown back to the Philippines,” Fabregas said. “She deserves a hero’s welcome as her case has paved the way for others to be treated with fairness, dignity and respect.”

As of Tuesday, there was still no word when Tejada would be coming home

Pinay caregiver dies in Canada, inspires law

MANILA, Philippines—Juana Tejada, a Filipino whose plight as a caregiver inspired her supporters to name a proposed Canadian law after her, has died in Toronto. She was 40.

Tejada died of complications resulting from colon cancer. The disease, which struck her when she was on her third year in Canada, had provoked a move to have her deported.

She died on Sunday, March 8, International Women’s Day.

The pending legislation would benefit foreign caregivers in Canada who may find themselves in a similar situation.

Citing humanitarian reasons and Tejada’s dedication to her work, thousands of Filipinos and non-Filipinos in Canada, the Philippines and other countries supported her plea to remain in Canada through an online petition addressed to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Fil-Canadian couple Oswald and Mila Magno started the campaign online in 2008.

No ordinary caregiver

“Juana was not just a caregiver,” Tejada’s lawyer Rafael Fabregas told the Philippine Daily Inquirer shortly after she died. “She was also the champion of a worthy cause, the Juana Tejada Law.

“No other caregiver had gone as far as she had in lobbying the Canadian government to re-think the caregiver program. The Parliamentary Committee on Citizenship and Immigration is currently reviewing proposals to reform the program, which includes the Juana Tejada Law.”

If passed, Fabregas said, the measure would exempt live-in caregivers from having to pass a second medical examination before being granted permanent residence in Canada.

Tejada arrived in Canada on a cold wintry day in March 2003. She had a difficult start. She came from Hong Kong where she had worked as a nanny for several years and where there was a SARS outbreak at that time.

SARS—Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome—is a disease whose flu-like symptoms can develop into a lethal pneumonia.

Fabregas said that upon her arrival in Canada, Tejada underwent a month-long self-imposed quarantine before getting a job.

Tejada’s Stage 4 cancer of the colon was diagnosed during her immigration examination in 2006. If not for her illness, she would have been assured of permanent residency which, according to petitioners on her behalf, she deserved.

She had served well

Owing to her illness, she was to have been deported on Aug. 8 last year.

“During the three years when she was able, Tejada, in her small way, supported the healthcare system that she now desperately needs to care for her,” the petitioners said then.

“She is no burden to the healthcare system. She is being looked after by generous and compassionate doctors who are providing their services for free.”

Through caregivers like Tejada, they argued, Canadians were able to lead productive lives. Having served well, she had more reasons to seek humanitarian protection than refugees that Canada had been known to accept, they said.

Permanent residence

The Tejada case arose around the time the movie “Caregiver,” starring Sharon Cuneta, became a box-office hit.

In July last year, Tejada was granted permanent residency status by the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). The decision, Fabregas said then, could lead to the removal of the requirement for caregivers to have a second medical examination to obtain permanent residency status.

The requirement is considered “onerous” as this applies only to caregivers.

Canada’s caregiver program grants permanent resident status to foreign domestic workers after completing three years of work and getting medical and criminal record clearances. According to an article by Nicholas Keung in The Toronto Star, 6,156 live-in caregivers became permanent residents through the program.

Caregivers must undergo two medical examinations. The first is for a work visa, and the second is for applying for immigrant status. Last year, 6,156 live-in caregivers became permanent residents through the program, Keung reported.

Hero’s welcome

Tejada was rushed to the Toronto General Hospital on March 5. She died three days later. Her husband Noli Azada and sister Bernarda, as well as friends and supporters, were beside her.

“Tejada’s remains will be flown back to the Philippines,” Fabregas said. “She deserves a hero’s welcome as her case has paved the way for others to be treated with fairness, dignity and respect.”

As of Tuesday, there was still no word when Tejada would be coming home.

Asian fisherwomen dare to speak out

Philippine Daily Inquirer/News/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo

Fisherwomen?

Yes there are such women. And they have voices to denounce the state of the fishing industry, particularly the unregulated fishing practices that have marginalized the small fisherfolk and caused their sources of livelihood to perish.

And, of course, like their male counterparts, many fisherwomen go out to sea to fish or do significant work related to fishing.

Fisherwomen from the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia gathered here recently to train and do cross-visitation of fishing areas.

This was part of their advocacy to promote and project the “Hanoi Declaration of Women Fishers” that they signed in December last year in Vietnam.

Among the issues the fisherwomen raised were “the socio-environmental costs of intensive aquaculture, especially industrial shrimp farming and marine aquaculture.

These costs included the destruction of mangrove habitats, dislocation of artisanal fishers from their fishing grounds and exhaustion and salination of ground water.”

In the Hanoi Declaration, the artisanal fisherwomen defined themselves as “those who directly engage in the preparatory and actual fishing or fish culture and post-harvest phases of fishery production. This covers coastal and inland capture fishers, household fish processing and aquaculture.”

These women, the declaration said, had limited alternative economic opportunities and their contribution in the fisheries sector was often unrecognized. They received very small wages or shares in sales.

“Our issues and problems are the same,” Iza Gonzales, spokesperson of the Kilusan ng Kababaihang Mangingisda (KKM) said, referring to the fisherwomen from ASEAN countries.

Gonzales explained that fisherwomen would do a lot of work prior to the actual fishing itself and after. They would mend nets, sort out the fish, and market and process the fish for fish products.

“The cost of labor is now high, so instead of hiring someone who could go out to sea with them, the fishermen take along their wives,” she said.

Bibik Nurudijja of Indonesia said the fisherwomen in her country had little access to resources. They also had problems with the shrimp industry that had taken over mangroves.

She also blamed palm oil plants in fishing areas, as well as the flushing out of tailings into the sea by mining companies.

Cambodia’s Rasmey Ouk bewailed the construction by a Chinese corporation of a hydroelectric plant by the Mekong River which runs through several countries.

The famous Mekong is a rich source of livelihood for many farmers and the construction of a dam will greatly affect fishing in the river.

Vietnam’s Than Thi Hien pointed to the privatization of resources and the degradation of coastal and mangrove areas. “Vietnam has a long coastline which needs protection,” she said.

Cheap imported fish

Ruperto Aleroza, chair of the Kilusang Mangingisda (KM), said the government was not paying much attention to the fisherfolk.

“A lot of attention is given to farmers but not to the fisherfolk. During lean times, farmers can always fish, while the fisherfolk cannot farm because we have no land,” Aleroza said.

Filipino fisherfolk also had to contend with cheap imported fish.

“The imported galunggong (mackerel scad) is much cheaper,” KKM’s Gonzales said. “Many come from Japan so we call them Japayuki. A lot go to the canneries.”

KM’s Aleroza noted: “And unlike big fishing vessels that just come and go, we, the small fishers do not only catch fish … we also manage resources and rehabilitate our areas. The big fishers don’t.”

Among the principles carried by the Hanoi Declaration were technologically sound practices, equitable access to resources, social and workers’ rights, community participation and women’s rights.

The declaration would push for community-based coastal resources management (CBCRM) which would involve fisherwomen.

World Ocean Conference

Fisherfolk from Asean countries—fisherwomen included—are preparing for the World Ocean Conference that will be held in Indonesia this year.

The KM estimates that 20 to 35 million people in Southeast Asia engage in fisheries as a livelihood. A minimum of 365 million people depend on fishery products for their dietary intake.

Approximately 55 percent of the coral reefs in the region are seriously damaged or virtually dead, and 75 percent of mangrove habitats have disappeared.

According to the KM, the fish sector provides 5 to 10 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) for each Southeast Asian country and almost $8 billion in export earnings for the region.

The war is not over

Philippine Daily Inquirer/Opinion/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo

World War II Filipino veterans who fought alongside US troops more than 60 years ago will at last get some monetary compensation. The announcement came even while many of these hardy Filipino veterans here and abroad are dying every day before the cameras. Many died poor. Some died just before the announcement which means their bereaved families cannot get the compensation.

The war is not over. The veterans need to remain alive and it is heart-rending to see some of them at death’s door, hooked to tubes and machines and hanging on just until…And see that right thumb drenched in purple ink?

And the outrageous thing about this is that those who had moved to the US are getting more than their counterparts who have remained here. No wonder so many had gone to the land of milk and honey (now the land of collapsing financial institutions) even if that meant losing some of their dignity and living in deplorable conditions there.

I was able to behold this scenario in the US more than 10 years ago. US-based photographer Rick Rocamora showed me around. He had painstakingly documented the lives of these old men who hobbled on the streets of San Francisco. (I ended up doing the essay for Rocamora’s photo exhibit.) Those who stayed behind in the Philippines and grew old in the embrace of their families were better off, I must say.

I could not help asking then, what was it that drove many of these brave men to forsake the land of their youth, the land they had defended? What was it that beckoned them to distant shores at a time when shadows were falling on their lives and twilight was nigh?

America had always been in their hearts, to borrow the saying. And the dream to set foot on the land of apples, to behold the amber waves of grain, to step on the soil that suckled a Gen. MacArthur had never died.

Once strong soldiers that saw battle, they had become crumpled little men fighting yet another war—of recognition, for compensation. Their long wait was over when the US Immigration Act of 1990 finally opened the doors for them. Under that law, Filipinos who served in the US Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE), in the Philippine Commonwealth Army or in recognized guerrilla units could apply for US citizenship.

More aging veterans left home alone, in the hope that, as US citizens, they could send home part of their Supplemental Security Income ($620 then). They had to scrimp on food and lodging and many shared hole-in-the-wall accommodations so that there would be enough left for their families in the Philippines.

It was heart-rending.

****

I was at the GoNegosyo Women Entrepreneurship Summit at the World Trade Center last Monday and it was good to see so many women entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs at the affair.

Only a portion of the WTC was used so space was a problem. There were just too many bodies—a good thing—but walking around and looking at and buying products was not easy. The inspirational talk shows were jampacked. The sponsors should do this again but in a more airy and relaxing atmosphere where women could bond and share and not be so sweaty. What’s a little more space. Ah, but women thrive even in the tightest situations.

Readers wrote to ask for more information and to react to the column piece “Microfinance in these hard times” (Jan. 5). At the GoNegosyo fair, the Department of Trade and Industry distributed booklets on where to go for financing (“Financing Programs for Microenterprises”) and how to put up a business (“Nais Mo Bang Mag-negosyo?”). The former provides a listing of financing institutions and what they offer and require, etc., while the latter is a step-by-step how-to. There was a long line to the DTI booth. Those interested should contact DTI’s Bureau of Small and Medium Enterprises Development (8977596, bsmed@dti.gov.ph, www.dti.gov.ph) or the Philippine Trade Training Center for seminars (4688962 to 70, info@pttc.gov.ph, www.pttc.gov.ph).

****

Correction: Re the column piece “Gang rape-murder in Antique” (Feb. 19, 2009). The information that the father of the rape-murder victim had a stroke and died upon learning about his daughter’s fate is not true. That information was part of the letter of appeal that circulated in the internet for some time and which rallied many Antiquenos to raise an outcry so that authorities would act. Even the media were being taken to task (as in “Hoy!”…)for not responding soon enough. I was piqued but I responded by giving space to the letter of appeal, but alas, the information on the father turned out to be untrue. I am thankful the victim’s father is alive and I apologize.

There is the angle that the victim may not have been raped. It seems the investigations have been quite messy. By the way, I never named the victim or her family so I would rather not name names here.

In a follow-up article in the Inquirer article (Feb. 21), the victim’s brother was quoted as saying that the family had “felt bad about the reports so we did not want to issue any statement earlier.” How I wish those who knew the accurate details had made statements or corrections earlier before the case went global. In playing up the case in order for the authorities to act, the local media must have gotten overzealous. In the end, the media get blamed.

The rape of a woman is not only by penile penetration of her genitalia. Using force and inserting anything (inanimate objects included) into the victim’s genitalia, anus or other body orifices is also rape. Rape is no longer called a sexual crime against chastity (it is not about the victim’s chastity), it is a crime of violence against a human being.

Sunday, March 8, is International Women’s Day. Wear lilac, lavender, violet, magenta, ube, any shade of purple.