'Guideposts for Governance'

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

OFF THE PRESS IS DR. JESUS P. ESTANISLAO’S book “Guideposts for Governance” which moist-eyed candidates hoping to win in the May 10 elections should read and take to heart.

Estanislao is founding chair of the Institute for Solidarity in Asia (ISA) and was finance secretary during the Aquino administration. Early this month, I wrote about the efforts of ISA and other groups helping government agencies and local government units as they go through a process of transformation. ISA is an independent, non-partisan, not-for-profit institution that seeks to improve public governance through citizen participation.

“This is a more compelling story than the elections,” Estanislao said then. “Here are government agencies backed by private sector partners saying that governance reforms cannot take a back seat even during an election season.”

In “Guideposts for Governance,” Estanislao reminds that the word “governance” does not apply only to the highest level of a nation’s government. Good governance is for civic groups, corporations, institutions and local government units as well.

But Estanislao also strongly reminds the reader about the role of the individual. Before any group can be effectively governed, he says, the basic unit of any group—the individual—must know how to govern himself or herself. He therefore argues for personal governance which is key to successful governance of groups—big or small, local or global, private or government.

In “Guideposts,” Estanislao argues for the creation of a unique culture driven by four core values: integrity, fairness, courage and orderliness. These values must be nurtured at the personal, organizational and national levels. And always, he goes back to the individual.

Estanislao says that many of the lessons on good governance culture discussed in his book he learned from his experience in building and cultivating such a culture at the Development Bank of the Philippines and the University of Asia and the Pacific.

The book has four main parts: 1. Personal Governance, 2. Institutional Values, 3. Social Values, 4. Institutionalizing a Governance Culture.

In the first part, Estanislao argues for a personal-values program on which governance is built. Values, like ideals and ideas, are abstract, Estanislao says, and they need to be translated into flesh-and-blood circumstances; they need to be made real, and not just occasionally but habitually. Yes, to the point that they become personal virtues.

“This is what a personal-governance program seeks to achieve,” he writes, “to help every individual within the corporation or institution make a habit of good acts, which thereby become personal virtues, giving flesh and real substance to personal values.”

I like this “habit of good acts” which seems to be getting lost in the din of the daily grind, in government institutions especially, where the lowliest among us turn to for succor and basic services. One need not be in a service-oriented agency or group to get into the “habit of good acts.” (I think this would make a good catch phrase that many public servants could live by.)

Estanislao cannot emphasize enough the importance of “a center of governance and leadership” which he keeps mentioning in his book. I presume it means both a physical and a moral center.

“Guideposts,” to me, is a highly cerebral book and is not summer reading fare. Post-election reading maybe, to challenge the candidates’ obdurate brain cells that got fried in the summer heat. It is probably best dissected and digested in a workshop setting where real-life situations can be presented.

A sampler: “A center for governance and leadership promotes and instills a governance culture that facilitates the achievement of breakthrough results through the proper execution of strategy. Through such a culture, which everyone in the institution or organization imbibes and actually exhibits, those breakthrough results should represent merely a peak from which to scale even higher peaks.

“Sustaining such a high-level performance by taking a systemic approach to strategy formulation and execution is what the institutionalization of proper governance does at all levels, and indeed delivers down to the level of individuals within the organization. That is the premium that the performance governance system (PGS) should provide.”

The PGS is a local adaptation of the Balance Scorecard System applied to the public sector in several countries to track their performance against a set of goals. ISA has been using this for government agencies and local government units undergoing transformation.

A part of the book that should be easy for candidates is Part 1, Chapter 1 which is on integrity.

“For all of us, integrity means honesty, that we never take what is not rightfully our own. It means staying clean, free from the slime and dirt of graft and corruption.

“But for any center for governance and leadership, integrity means much more than being free from the stain of corruption. It means wholesomeness: that everyone in a governance unit—be it a corporation, a national institution, a sectoral organization, an LGU, or any other public or private governance unit—lives his or her life and work in full consistency with his or her ideals and values.

“We are wholesome if we manage to keep ourselves whole amid the vicissitudes of our work and life. We do not allow ourselves to broken into bits and pieces… we have clear priorities to serve, definite goals to achieve within certain time frames… there is full inner consistency in our work and life.”

Heavy as it is, “Guideposts” is a gold mine for good governance.

How green is your presidential candidate?

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

A WONDROUS EARTH DAY!

Greenpeace and EcoWaste Coalition released yesterday, as promised, the 2010 Green Electoral Initiative (GEI) survey final results which were based on the presidential candidates’ position on environmental issues.

Of all the many urgent advocacies worthy of presidential attention, it was the environmental advocacy that was able to compel the presidential bets to come out openly with their platforms. The GEI survey enabled the presidential bets to articulate their green agenda. The candidates did so not during debates, forums or miting de abanse, not through 30-second sound bites, but on paper, with their signatures affixed.

So how did they fare?

Noted environmentalist Nicanor Perlas, Senators Jamby Madrigal and Richard Gordon emerge the “greenest,” with the latter two having an almost equal ranking. Trailing them are evangelist Eddie Villanueva, Senators Benigno Aquino III and Manny Villar and councilor JC de los Reyes. Former President Joseph Estrada and former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro did not respond to the survey. Their scores: Perlas (94.2), Madrigal (78.68), Gordon (78.45), Villanueva (70.87), Aquino (64.94), Villar (62.59), De los Reyes (38.31), Estrada (0), Teodoro (0).

Issues covered were climate change, solid waste, chemical pollution and consumer safety, sustainable agriculture and genetically engineered crops, water, forests, nuclear power and mining. Even problems such as billboards from hell were also tackled.

The presidential bets also had to present their environmental track record. Plus their answers to two important questions: 1) If elected president, what would be your first environmental act during your first 100 days in office? 2) What qualities would you want your environment secretary to have?

Check out their complete individual responses as well as scores and ranking for particular issues at www.greenpeace.org.ph/elections. They are in Cyberspace for all to read and evaluate.

I must say that more important than the rankings and scores is the quality of the individual responses. A high overall ranking or score should not be taken as an endorsement from the GEI team. Voters should use the survey results in forming their judgment of candidates or, in the future, use them to remind the winning candidate of his/her original stand or promise.

Some highlights of the 2010 GEI survey:

1. All favor the phaseout of coal power and support the increasing share of renewable energy (geothermal, wind, solar, etc.) in the country’s energy mix.

2. All support the full-scale implementation of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, or RA 9003, as well as a ban on single-use plastic bags.

3. Perlas, de los Reyes, Villanueva, Madrigal and Gordon support a ban on field trials and the commercialization of genetically engineered crops. Villar and Aquino propose more studies.

4. All are against the importation of genetically engineered food crops into the country.

5. All support the position of the Department of Health to stop the aerial spraying of agro-chemicals in banana plantations.

6. All are for the establishment of national targets to progressively reduce the amount of chemical pesticides and fertilizers in agriculture.

7. All are in favor of amending the Clean Water Act to incorporate a framework of Zero Discharge of hazardous chemicals from factories and domestic sources.

8. All support the imposition of a total commercial log ban in the remaining forest areas.

9. With the exception of Villar, all respondents are against the proposed re-commissioning of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. Perlas, Madrigal, Villanueva, de los Reyes are clearly opposed to nuclear power as an option, while Villar, Gordon and Aquino see the need for more studies based on the experience of other countries and the opinion of experts.

10. All express support for an Alternative Mining Code which seeks to revise the current framework of the mining industry.

11. Most candidates oppose the proliferation of huge billboards (Perlas, Delos Reyes, Madrigal, Gordon, Aquino), and all express the need to regulate them.

12. All see anti-smoke belching as a priority, with Perlas committing to solve the problem during his first 100 days, and Gordon vowing to go out to the streets with emission tester in hand and stop violators himself.

I must make a disclosure. Being one of the evaluators, I have been privy to the GEI survey since the beginning. The other evaluators are noted environmental lawyer and TOYM awardee Ipat Luna; GAIA co-coordinator and former EcoWaste Coalition president Manny Calonzo; NGO representative to the National Solid Waste Management Commission and EcoWaste member Eileen Sison; and 2003 Goldman Environmental Prize winner, Time magazine hero for the environment and director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia Von Hernandez.

* * *

Environmentally incorrect campaign ad: One presidential candidate’s latest TV ad likens an evil path to an ahas (snake). It shows a winding road that looks like the body of a serpent. Whoever created that ad has not heard of creation spirituality or the web of life which is inclusive of all creatures. Or does not know the meaning of speciesist and speciesism (“human intolerance or discrimination on the basis of species”). Humans with evil attributes should not be likened to innocent creatures such as crabs, snakes, crocodiles, sharks and vultures that serve a good purpose on this earth. That is so yesterday! Don’t say loan shark, say usurer. Don’t give scheming politicians animal names. Call them names.

Butanding!

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

“WHEN I say jump,” our smiling Butanding Interaction Officer (BIO) named Recto said to the five of us, “you jump into the water. Do not hesitate. Forget everything and jump. And when I say, look down, look down.” He presumed no one was faint of heart and that we believed we were in safe hands.

Our boat was several kilometers from the shore and we were sailing on deep water. It was a great morning. The April sun was ablaze, the water was very calm and with nary a ripple or wave. Azure sky, azure sea.

Please God, I prayed, show us these enormous creatures of the deep.

Then the spotter signaled for us to get ready. We lowered our goggles and bit the snorkel mouthpiece. We all sat side by side on the bamboo ledge on the side of the boat, eager and excited. The boatman turned off the engine and suddenly it was so quiet. With a paddle, he navigated toward a spot.

“Jump!” our BIO hollered and, without hesitation, we all jumped with him into the sea, feet first. It was like a leap of faith. “Relax!” he said, after our heads surfaced. After a few seconds he commanded, “Look down!” We all dipped our heads into the water and gazed into the deep.

There it was, a couple of meters below me, a butanding waiting to be seen. I was beholding a huge grayish blue, speckled whale shark, flaunting its wide back. It didn’t splash or wiggle, it was just there. It was a sight to behold. And then it was gone.

We had several sightings and jumps. For the last one I decided to stay on the boat and view from a distance the butanding gliding near the surface. I saw it as a dark silhouette on a background of blue. And then it lowered itself and vanished from my sight.

I don’t want to say more about my personal experience. You have to experience it for yourself. I was told that some are moved to tears. It’s like seeing the Mayon Volcano or the Grand Canyon for the first time except that the butanding does not stay fixed before your eyes, it decides when to swim away.

The presence of whale sharks (rhincodon typus) in Donsol is not a modern-day phenomenon. The locals had known about them for more than 100 years but it was only in the last decade that they became convinced that these sharks were harmless and not fearsome like their predatory counterparts. The butanding are the world’s biggest fish and could grow up to more than 15 meters. Donsol is now known as the world’s “Whale Shark Capital.” Time magazine called the butanding experience “Best Animal Encounter in Asia”.

For so long the butanding were only fished for their meat. They were not considered an important presence with great ecological significance and eco-tourism potential. Or that their preservation could provide environmental lessons.

According to our info kit, things changed in 1998 when professional divers led by Romir Aglugub discovered their presence and interacted with them. The divers proved that the whale sharks were docile and fed only on krill and other small creatures. Donsol was/is a rich feeding ground for these huge sharks. After that “discovery” one thing led to another and the rest is history.

Interaction with the butanding is strictly regulated by the Department of Tourism. The World Wildlife Fund provides guidelines which includes limited number of interactors (six to a boat), no scuba diving, three-meter distance, no touching, no mobbing by boats or swimmers. The Butanding Interaction Office gives briefings before a trip.

But despite the regulations, the butanding have bad days, such as when one gets hit by a boat propeller, or shot for commercial reasons. It’s a wonder that they have not moved away somewhere else to feed, but continue to return every year, with peak season from February to May. This year, the butanding festival is from April 26 to May 5.

And the fireflies. Included in our Donsol visit was a night cruise on Ogod River. It was a moonless night but a million stars brightened up the sky. I had not seen the heavens that way in a long, long time. The boatmen used flashlights to guide our way to a place downstream where we could find mangrove trees lighted up with fireflies. After gazing at the heavens for some time our eyes turned to the trees that were ablaze and pulsating. To my eyes, the fireflies became a symphony of lights competing with the stars.

Our weekend trip was not all about whale sharks. Our caravan stopped for meals, rest and sights. We rested at the Quezon National Park, had photo shoots in Albay’s Cagsawa ruins with Mayon volcano as backdrop, visited the Camarines Sur’s Watersports Complex famous for wakeboarding.

And so here’s sharing with you our Inquirer summer adventure, with thanks to the Inquirer’s Outdoors Club organizers, fellow adventurers, drivers, photographers, and especially Inquirer Supplements editor Aries Espinosa and Motoring Section’s Tessa Salazar who were on top of the trip and drove like pros. (Photos are featured on their pages.) Thanks to Toyota Motors (for providing the comfy vans, SUVs, pick-up), the resorts, the tourism council and people of Donsol, Sorsogon and all those who helped make this April interlude memorable.

It was a whale of an outing for 60 of us. A great time was had by all.

Columnist-turned-cloistered nun continues ‘life as prayer and prayer as life’

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

Columnist, UP prof, cloistered nun, turns 90: The writing continues

SHE TALKS a mile a minute. She is abreast with the goings-on in the world, perhaps more than most. With fire and frenzy she continues to write as if deadlines were still part of her life.

Her erudition and sparkling intellect shine through in conversations. She laughs, she listens, she remembers. She talks about the Philippines with great passion. Through her body of written works, she communicates to the world.

All that, but for more than three decades now, prayer and total commitment to God have been the essence of her life, the defining mark of her vocation.

Josefina D. Constantino, JD or Jo to her countless friends, former colleagues and students, is contemplative nun Sister Teresa Joseph Patrick of Jesus and Mary of the Order of Discalced Carmelites (OCD). On March 28, she turned 90.

Leaving all

A former professor of literature at the University of the Philippines (UP), and later, a daily columnist of The Manila Chronicle while working at the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), JD answered the call to the religious life in 1974 at the age of 54 and joined the contemplative, cloistered Carmelite order. This meant leaving all—family, friends, freedom, a flourishing career—in order to live a life of prayer, silence and sacrifice while observing the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

Today, one could say that the world that Sr. Teresa had left behind has not totally left her alone. It is right at her door at the Monastery of St. Therese on Gilmore Ave. in Quezon City.

They continue to come—friends, former colleagues, ideologues, intellectuals, religious, writers, seekers. The learned and the simple of mind, the rich and the poor, the distraught and the joyful, the needy and the thankful, the confused and the enlightened. Many ask for prayers, others just want to commune with her. This is not to say that her life of contemplation has been compromised.

Except for a slight limp, Sr. Teresa is relatively well for her age. And although she no longer belongs to the rat-race world that is our lot, she, the contemplative, remains in the heart of it. For isn’t contemplation “a long loving gaze at the world”?

World War II

Josefina D. Constantino was born on March 28, 1920 in Tondo, Manila when Philippines was under American rule. It was during the decade of the ‘20s that the works of Filipino women writers began to flourish.

JD was the fourth of five children. Her parents, Jose and Susana, were not persons of great means but they were persons of great faith. JD attended Torres High School and the University of the UP where she took up B.S. in Education and graduated cum laude and class valedictorian in 1940. Soon after, her father died.

JD was teaching at the Mapa and Torres High Schools when World War II broke out. “I refused to teach the Japanese Co-Prosperity Sphere program,” she recalled, and instead took a job as a social worker at the Department of Social Welfare.

“The war literally blasted me out into an ‘unreal city’,” she said, borrowing words from T.S. Eliot. “We ministered to all types of emergency needs and to the returning prisoners of war from Capas, and survivors of the Death March.” Daily she walked the streets of Manila beholding suffering, deprivation and death.

After the war, JD joined UP. In 1947 she was sent to Columbia University in the U.S. where she finished her M.A. in English and Comparative Literature. A favorite professor, Mark van Doren, introduced her to Trappist monk Thomas Merton’s writings and his book “The Seven Storey Mountain.”

‘Truly global’

Upon her return JD taught Contemporary British and American Literature and other period courses. “My postwar students were sharp and gifted,” she recounted. “My universe was more truly global. I had become cosmic in spirit and more deeply Christian. Literature was once again my life and love.” Inquirer columnist Belinda O. Cunanan and Press Secretary Cris Icban Jr. were among her students.

But UP was not a bed of roses. “And then the persecution of the Faith in UP began. I was the finest target, making the trio with Pres. Vidal Tan and Fr. John P. Delaney SJ. That fight made me a national figure overnight, for the alumni who rallied behind me were all over the country. That was my first crucible after the war.”

She was secretary to UP’s president until 1955 when she received a faculty fellowship in Humanities from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She was away for a year and upon her return found herself again besieged. In 1960, she resigned.

“It was over the issue of academic freedom and faculty integrity,” she explained. She wrote a searing five-part article about it in the Sunday Times Magazine. JD moved on but she remained involved in education. She was executive secretary of the Foundation for Private Education and special assistant to the chair of DBP. In 1966, the Ateneo de Manila University conferred on her the Ozanam Award to recognize her contribution to society as a lay Catholic educator, writer and civic-minded citizen.

‘Faith and Freedom’

JD’s name became familiar to newspaper readers because of her commentaries. When the Manila Chronicle asked her to write regularly she agreed and wrote the column “Faith and Freedom” five times a week for seven years until 1972 when martial law was imposed and newspapers were shut down.

But during all those years that JD’s career seemed to be taking a certain trajectory, there was something that she was nurturing secretly. She had a strong desire to offer her life completely to God. The story of her vocation is detailed in her semi-autobiographical book “Cry, Beloved Mother Church, Rejoice!” and “Priest of Fire and Flame”, a collection of essays about Fr. James Moran.

Moran was JD’s confessor for many years starting her UP days when she had to be instructed in the faith until the ripening of her vocation. “He sent me to the nuns in St. Theresa’s College for catechism lessons,” Sr. Teresa recalled. “He was horrified that at age 22 I had not read a single Catholic book.” Moran would soon learn that his precocious ward was questioning many articles of the faith.

Forlorn hope realized

While the war raged, Fr. Moran remained under house arrest at Carmel in Gilmore where JD would see him for spiritual direction. Soon she found herself drawn to the Carmelites and wanted to join them. But this was not going to happen until 30 years later. As Fr. Moran told her, “You will have to live in the forlorn hope of it.” For she had family duties to fulfill. During those waiting years JD belonged to the Third Order or Carmel. Marriage was never in her mind.

In 1973, JD knew it was time. “The definitive call to Carmel came. Leave all! With Fr. Moran I discerned for a year—the devil or the real call of God.” On March 25, 1974, JD entered Carmel. At about the hour of her entrance, Fr. Moran breathed his last. Her friends quipped:

“Magpapakulong din lang pala, bakit hindi pa sa Crame?” (She wanted to get confined, so why not in Crame?) Camp Crame was where many anti-Marcos activists were jailed.

“I took to Carmel as fish to water,” Sr. Teresa recounted. “I was finally home, never to leave it. I was enamored and awed interchangeably of what I thought was a medieval but fascinatingly modern habitat, shuttling between Trent and Vatican I and gingerly taking steps to Vatican II. I was interiorly rejoicing over the many hours of prayer and the silence and solitude I had forever so longed for. It was truer now—life as prayer and prayer as life.”

She however soon realized that she was useless in carrying out monastery tasks. She had to be taught everything—cleaning bathrooms, sewing, washing, cooking. “Once,” she recounted laughing, “I put popcorn in the pancit.” She thought she was being creative.

Vows

In 1979 Sr. Teresa Joseph Patrick of Jesus and Mary pronounced her final vows. Carmel would be forever.

But while immersed in oases of prayer in the monastery, in deserts and through storms that challenged the soul, the writer in her did not die. She wrote unceasingly, but always under obedience. Today, her written works as a Carmelite nun are relatively voluminous. Among the major ones are “Cry, Beloved Mother Church Rejoice!” and two volumes of “Personalizing Russia” which are reflections on her stay in Russia where she observed contemplative life and the life of the Church.

Her “Faith and Freedom” columns have been compiled in a book, her reflections, meditations, recollections, letters, prayers and essays have been printed in pamphlets and booklets and sometimes, even in newspapers, but with Susana Jose as byline. Computer illiterate, Sr. Teresa does everything in longhand that that can drive an encoder mad.

A voracious reader, she has a remarkable grasp of literature, philosophy, theology, spirituality and current events which is evident in her writings. She is conversant with the writings of Jewish scholar Edith Stein (Carmelite saint Teresa Benedicta, who was killed by the Nazis), Saints Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross as she is with Rizal, Dante and biggies of literature.

And now the Ateneo Library of Women’s Works is asking Sr. Teresa to please preserve all her written stuff, including drafts, notes and whatever else, for archiving.

Like a dam

And what is writing like in Carmel? What has 36 years in Carmel been like for someone turning 90?

“Whenever I have to write,” she mused, “I reflect on the subject and I pray double. I have no difficulty at all about ideas because I am easily filled literally, when I switch on the floodgates of God’s gifts and insights. It’s like a dam. I don’t even have to think. I only have to turn the key, or lift the beam and the ideas rush like a roaring tide until they settle as waves gently and constantly oscillating, all in my mind and heart, as praise to God.

“It is because, in nothingness, I find myself immersed in God’s being which is Truth, constant light. Only when I assert my will and intent does the light reveal flaps of luminosity which begin to globe and define themselves as thoughts, which then I am made to perceive.

“My difficulty then comes when I know I can develop any or all of these ideas further yet I don’t know which of them must be shared. Holding them all in my mind as God’s own, I wait for the light. I wait for the signal.”

Writing, she said, is her way of sharing the fruits of her contemplation. “I also want to honor the poor, they of pure faith.”

Union with God

Sr. Teresa’s spiritual journey would require a lengthy narration but she is also able to summarize it in concise words.

“Our contemplative life is an unending desert with surprises long and far between along the way, both ways—in community life and in one’s prayer life. Yet, all the time, one’s union with God is marked by advances towards the very center of our soul. For as our holy father St. John of the Cross tells us: ‘any degree of union brings one already to the center of (the) soul where the King reigns.’

“The cloister makes possible for us God’s gifts of pure joy, from pure wisdom, which basically comes from pure suffering, transformed by the Spirit specially through the crown jewels of Carmel which to me are the Mass, the Divine Office or the prayer of the church, and the hours of adoration or mental and personal prayer.

“These hours of prayer are gloriously free hours, free only for God and which is pure worship, because all else are naturally woven into the daily tapestry of unceasing prayer with vigils far into the night and long before dawn.” Without the contemplatives, she said paraphrasing Merton, this country would have broken apart.

“These pure hours of timeless, spaceless, wordless, imageless being in Being, this pregnant emptiness, Christ fills through the Spirit for the whole humankind and the cosmos.” In the words of St. Teresa of Avila: “Solo Dios basta.” (God alone suffices.)

All these have been purely God’s own work in her soul, Sr. Teresa said as she looked back. “This is what contemplative life has been to me—yielding peace that surpasseth understanding, the ultimate happiness possible on earth.”#

More eco-pledges from presidential bets

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

GREENPEACE AND ECOWASTE COALITION have just released the second and third batches of the Green Electoral Initiatives (GEI) survey results based on the presidential candidates’ position on environmental issues.

I have been privy to the GEI survey since the beginning, during the survey work and the evaluation of the candidates’ responses. A good number of responses are quite impressive and reveal a lot about the candidates’ “greenness,” their knowledge of the issues and the solutions they would implement if elected. The overall ranking will be released on or before Earth Day, April 22.

I must say that just as important as the rankings, which the evaluators gave each candidate for every major issue, is the quality and content of the individual responses. Our hope is that these candidates will stay firm in their positions and be part of the solutions, wherever they will be after the elections, that is, win or lose.

I will not take up rankings now but I would like to say that the GEI survey has indeed forced the presidential bets to think and articulate their platforms. For the electorate’s part, we could later make them deliver on their green promises.

On the issue of solid waste management, seven of the nine presidential bets are in favor of an outright or eventual ban on single-use plastic bags and other plastic-based disposable containers, which are largely blamed for clogged waterways, floods and ocean pollution.

Sen. Benigno Aquino III, Sen. Richard Gordon, Sen. Jamby Madrigal, Sen. Manuel Villar, Councilor JC de los Reyes, environmentalist Nicanor Perlas and evangelist Eddie Villanueva are in favor of an eventual ban. They are aware of the wastefulness and the ecological harm resulting from the unchecked disposal of plastic trash in dumps, storm drains and water bodies.

(Former President Joseph Estrada and Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro did not participate in the GEI survey.)

Some are proposing specific measures to curb plastic bag use in the country which, according to Madrigal, would be about 16 million plastic bags daily. Like Gordon and Perlas, Madrigal is also proposing the imposition of taxes and disincentives. Aquino and Villar want vigorous efforts to maximize plastic waste recovery, re-use and recycling.

Perlas gives clear-cut proposals on how to improve the implementation of RA 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act and move the country away from dirty waste disposal towards Zero Waste.

His five-point action plan consists of the following: 1) accelerating the adoption of zero waste management, 2) restructuring the whole garbage disposal system to enable segregation at source, composting of organic wastes, recycling of non-biodegradable waste, and proper disposal of toxic wastes (including medical wastes), 3) establishing strategic partnerships with civil society and business, 4) highlighting and rewarding cities and towns that have exemplary solid waste management systems, and 5) instituting a well thought-out system of taxes and incentives that can address the challenge of plastic waste and promote sustainable waste management.

Perlas may be among the cellar dwellers but there are many things candidates for any position could learn from him. After all, there are no patents, no intellectual property rights on green. The more copycats the better.

Gordon warns: “I will give local governments a firm deadline to properly implement their waste management plans, but if they continue to fail, I will not hesitate to use my powers of supervision and control as chief executive.”

Madrigal will direct the Department of Interior and Local Government and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources within the first 100 days of her office to submit an inventory report of non-compliant local government units and demand immediate accountability.

“Zero Waste must be deeply ingrained in our citizens as a cultural practice for it to have nationwide impact,” Villanueva adds.

Greenpeace Southeast Asia executive director Von Hernandez says banning single-use plastic bags is indeed vital in solving the waste crisis.

EcoWaste president Roy Alvarez says: “The expressed intent of the seven presidential bets to act against plastics pollution should send a strong signal to the National Solid Waste Management Commission about the urgent need to impose a policy that will effectively phase out and ultimately ban single-use plastic bags. The commission has been remiss in performing this mandate, opting to kowtow instead to the vested interests of plastic manufacturers.”

The presidential bets even tackle lead-free paints and sound like consumer advocates.

Gordon, Madrigal and Villar point to the health and environmental hazards posed by lead in paints, with Gordon stressing that “we cannot allow toxins that severely affect human health—and intellectual capacity at that—to proliferate.”

Perlas and Villanueva stress that alternatives to lead in paints exist. “But,” Perlas adds, “we need a strong consumer protection agency that is free from inappropriate industry influence, one that involves civil society participation.”

On the broader issue of chemical safety, Perlas, Gordon, Villanueva and Madrigal offer the most extensive inputs, impressing the GEI evaluators. They propose the integration of chemical safety into the country’s health, environment and development agenda through consumer information and education, product labeling, and public disclosure of chemicals in materials, products and wastes.

Yes, they are speaking the green language. More on Earth Day.

His priestly calling

Sunday Inquirer Magazine/FEATURE/by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo

“I HAVE found my real path.”

It took many years and many circuitous paths before Felixberto “Tito” Santos of Baliuag, Bulacan could finally say that he has found his true calling. Tito did not end up in the priesthood, to which he had felt he might be called at some point, but his present life is now spent creating artful priestly raiment for those called to the altar and the service of God’s people.

“Not in my wildest dreams did I imagine myself in this work,” Tito says. “But then God is full of surprises. This is a gift from heaven.” 

Tito is the proprietor and general manager of Chez les Saints (which means house of saints), a thriving enterprise that produces liturgical vestments worn by priests and used in churches for all seasons and occasions.

 A fine arts graduate of the University of Santo Tomas, Tito started off making uniforms for the corporate world and had a flourishing garments business from the 1970s to the early 1990s. He won big contracts and had more than he needed. He worked hard, he played hard. The money was good.

The calling

One day, he just left it all. “I had always felt a calling but I didn’t want to think about it,” Tito confides. “I was about 38 years old then. I thought, could I be a religious brother?” Or a priest?

He sought the advice of the bishop of Malolos who urged him to have an exposure by living and working in a Catholic parish in Bulacan. “I went to Norzagaray but there was no room in the inn,” Tito recounts. “Then I went to Angat. Fr. Domingo “Memeng” Salonga took me in. It was July 21, the feast of St. Elijah.” Tito would stay in Angat for almost three years.

Even without a teaching background, Tito was made to teach at the Colegio de Santa Monica de Angat. “We introduced art into the parish and the school,” says Tito who couldn’t help making a connection. “My parish in Baliuag is named after St. Augustine and then I was in this school named after his mother.”

Angat of his heart

In Angat, Tito says he did not have the comforts of home but he knew he was where he was supposed to be. “I had my share of heartaches,” he confides, “but there I knew my creator. I learned to listen. I learned from Fr. Memeng and Ms. Angie Angeles of the Notre Dame de Vie. They taught me to believe and trust. They taught me gratitude.”

Angat, it turned out, was a turning point in his life. Says Tito, “Angat will always be part of my heart.”

One day, Fr. Memeng told Tito: “Hindi ka magiging pari.” (You will not become a priest). Let us wait a while. God will show us signs.”

Not long after, Tito recalls, Fr. Memeng came home from a retreat with pieces of cloth to be sewn. Tito took them home to Baliuag and worked on them. He produced pieces, stoles mostly, that were brought to San Carlos Seminary in Makati for an exhibition.

“I met Msgr. Chito Bernardo, rector of Bahay Pari in San Carlos,” Tito recalls. “He introduced me and my works to Singapore.” One thing led to another. “It was so fast,” Tito gushes. “The Lord was very organized.”

Into the sacred

It did not take long for Tito to realize that he was being led back full circle to garments, only this time, he would be working on the sacred. And so with a heart full of gratitude, Tito opened a new chapter in his life and set off as if saying, introibo ad altare Dei (I will go unto the altar of God).

In 1998, Tito took a course on liturgical designs so he could enhance the meaning and beauty of his creations. Now, Tito says, no one can question his designs. The art and symbols he uses are not mere products of his imagination, he notes, they strictly adhere to what is liturgically correct and proper.

To make a long story short, Chez les Saints came into being. It did not take long for Tito to go international, bring his works to church exhibitions abroad (US, Europe, Asia), meet big-time vestment makers and find a market. “In the beginning I knew next to nothing about all these,” he says with a laugh, “that you’re supposed to bring a catalog and all that.”

Now Tito knows his way around, and Chez les Saints is listed in the directory of vestment makers of the world. His Philippine-made vestments are now sold in outlets abroad and several cities in the Philippines.

Grateful

“But the Lord never spoils,” reminds Tito who’s had his share of life-threatening physical ailments. He suffered a ruptured appendix and later, kidney failure that required frequent dialysis. In 2006 Tito underwent a kidney transplant. “I don’t know why God frequently chooses me,” he says without rancor and then promptly adds, “But God always preserves me.”

The eldest of four children, Tito, now in his 50s, comes from a family of means. Only sister Bernadette is a Regional Trial Court judge in Manila, brother Elpi is a special child, and Joji, the youngest and the only married one, is actively involved in the business side of Chez les Saints. “We are a very close-knit family,” Tito says, “we never quarrel about money.”

Then two years ago, Tito suffered a stroke that affected his right arm and his mobility. He now uses a cane and a battery-operated scooter to get around. “I have no reason not to be grateful,” he quips. The work must go on.

Not for the money

In fact Tito had a busy booth at the five-day National Congress of the Clergy II held last January which gathered more than 5,000 priests from all over the country and abroad. He raffled off many vestments to the delight of the priests and gave discounts to those from poor parishes. He knew many of the priests at the congress. “I don’t think about the money,” Tito chuckles, adding that Chez les Saints was among those contracted to make the thousands of stoles that the priests and bishops used during the congress.

Chez les Saints gives employment to about 80 women and men. Production (designing, cutting, sewing, embroidery) is done in the Santos family compound in Baliuag. A statue of St. Joseph stands guard at the entrance. Huge fabric lamps designed by Tito adorn the compound. On the driveway is a head turner of a delivery van which has life-size pictures of a model wearing priestly vestments. The workshops sit coolly under huge trees that rustle with the wind. Tito’s office is almost entirely made of bamboo. Behind his desk are spools of thread in different colors. “I need these around me when I put the colors into my designs,” explains Tito.

The showroom is in an air-conditioned section of the main house. There one could gawk at the finished products for altar wear—chasubles, stoles, albs, copes, bishop’s miters—as well as altar items used for mass—palls, purificators, etc.

Chasubles (the outer garment used by priests during mass) come in a variety of designs and fabrics that are easy to wash. Some have semi-abstract designs, others have biblical symbols (like loaves and fishes) rendered in modern strokes. There are made-to-order ones with images of patron saints, Jesus or Mary. Most have intricate machine embroidery while some have apliqués . Gold embroidery, piping and trimmings are common features.

The chasubles come in the colors of the liturgical seasons—green, red, purple, pink and white (cream or golden yellow). There is blue for Marian feasts.

One of Tito’s most beautiful chasuble designs is called “Sunrise” which has an environmental theme that depicts the glory of God’s creation. Other popular designs have names such as St. Andrew’s fish, ikat, native, multiplication. Some have carnival shoulders (embroidery around the shoulders), others have front-and-back vertical designs.

“We cater to all tastes,” Tito says. “Some priests are grandioso, others, 10 years na hindi pa nagpapalit. (others have not changed their vestments in 10 years.)

Stoles (hung around the neck) also come in different liturgical colors and designs. Stoles can go with plain chasubles. There are two-color back-to-back stoles that are easy to wash and fit into mass kits or the backpacks of priests on the go.

The copes (used for benediction and processions) and albs (worn under the chasuble) also come in many designs—Flores, Iniguez, Tapas, Batanes, Sicily, etc.

Last month Tito opened a Chez les Saints showroom in UP Village Quezon City managed by his nieces. No less than Bataan bishop Socrates Villegas celebrated the mass. Tito is now preparing for an international liturgical exhibit in 2011. Check out Tito’s creations at www.chezlessaints.com.

Tito muses: “St. John Mary Vianney, the patron saint of priests, though he was poor, always wore beautiful vestments for mass. I always dress properly for church. I wear barong when it’s the birthday of Jesus. Sana mabihisan ko lahat ng mga pari. (I wish I could dress up all the priests).” He reminds: “The mass is the highest form of prayer.”

Tanay folk stuck in calvary 6 months after ‘Ondoy’

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

TANAY, RIZAL—For Elmer Dimarukot, Tanay is a forgotten town in Rizal province. He and other victims of Tropical Storm “Ondoy” have not received any help from the government six months after it struck.

In order for his family to survive, he said, he digs up pieces of wood buried in mud and turns them into charcoal to sell. Many do this to earn a living.

“It has been six months since the disaster,” is the Tanay folks’ constant refrain that evokes memories of the great disaster last September that killed hundreds of people and destroyed many parts of the National Capital Region and neighboring provinces.

About 100 residents of several barangays (villages) in Tanay recently met with local representatives of government agencies to present their needs.

At the Wawa gym were representatives of the local government, Department of Social Welfare and Development, National Irrigation Authority, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and Department of Agriculture.

The people were not asking for relief goods or dole-outs. They wanted government help so that that their lives could go back to normal, and more importantly, so that they could earn a living. They said their means of livelihood had been destroyed.

Many women who earn by sewing at home said their sewing machines were damaged by flood waters and were beyond repair. Fishermen said their fishing boats were either washed away or destroyed. Farmers said their farms needed repair and the water sources needed to be tapped.

To add to their woes, microfinance groups that have been operating in their area long before Ondoy struck have squeezed them to pay their loans even though it was clear that Ondoy had all but wiped out everything they had.

“They told us not to blame the typhoon,” a woman complained.

Relocation sites

Some 360 families are still living in a temporary relocation area in Tanay. In all, more than 1,000 families have been affected and continue to suffer, said Cope (Community Organizing of the Philippines Enterprises) Foundation community worker Hervy Beran.

Among the places in Tanay that need attention are Sitio Gabihan and Sitio Bayuo 1 and 2 in Barangay Kutyo, Ausmolo, Inarda, Riverside, Barangays Wawa and Kay Buto.

In Sitio Gabihan, 31 of the original 230 families are still living in tents. Two to seven families live in one tent. There is no electricity. Many children are getting sick. Families worry that there is no assurance as to where they will be moved and how the Balik Probinsiya program will proceed.

Filemon Buena, 47, of the 1,000-strong Kapatirang ng Malayang Maliliit na Mangingisda sa Pilipinas (Kampi), said many fishermen lost their fishing boats. He said rampaging waters brought with them big rocks and logs that destroyed the fishing boats.

Laguna de Bay is the fishermen’s main source of livelihood.

Washed away

Carmen Pineda, 58, a seamstress, said she lost her two sewing machines. “They were washed away with our house and little store.” Right now her family is living with a neighbor for whom she does odd jobs. She also wants to know what areas are covered by the so-called danger zone and what it means for them whose homes are in those zones.

Victims of Ondoy have listed their needs for government agencies to address. Among them are livelihood projects, house repair, road repair, river dike, irrigation for farms, electricity, deep wells, irrigation and seed capital.

According to Cope, Oxfam and Handicap International have helped in providing temporary shelters, toilets and other hygiene needs.

“Bear it a little more,” was the response of the local administrator who said the mayor was trying to address the problem but added that the municipal government cannot do it alone.

Danger zones

The project coordinator of the relocation site also said that there were strict guidelines on granting residential lots. Families that are not on the list were urged to register with the help of Cope and offer proof that they are indeed in need of aid.

The issue regarding the danger zones has yet to be resolved because of budget problems while the problem of damaged fishing boats and fishermen’s livelihood is considered difficult, but BFAR promised to provide fingerlings.

Beran of Cope said community leaders will go to the office of the mayor to formally present their detailed request.

Amador Villar, a fisherman leader, said of the help they are hoping for: “I hope it does not take long. We might just be forgotten.”