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.

****

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.

Shrine for the poor

Call it congruence, synchronicity or what, but this week brought a couple of church-related news that are good news.

Rising fast in Tandang Sora in Quezon City is a shrine, Santuario de San Vicente de Paul, dedicated to the cause of the poor of the city. It is named after the 17th-century French saint who dedicated his life to the very poor.

The Santuario’s raison d’etre sounds best in Pilipino: ``Ang tunay na esensiya ng Santuario de San Vicente de Paul ay hindi tumutukoy sa malamig na semento at matayog na pader. Ang Santuario ay ang mga taong bumubuo nito. Ang mahihirap ang tanging buhay ng Santuario, at ang mayayamang nais magbahagi ng kanilang biyaya sa mahihirap ang magiging katuwang nito na magsisilbing kamay at paa para sa patuloy na paglago. Ang Santuario… ay yayakap sa lahat ng uri ng tao, mayaman man o mahirap. Misyon ng simbahang ito ang bigyan ng sapat na atensiyon at pagkalinga ang mahihirap at kulang palad.’’

For those who don’t understand Pilipino: ``The essence of Santuario de San Vicente de Paul lies not in the cold concrete and the high walls. The Santuario is the people who form it. The life of the Santuario draws mainly from the poor, and the rich who want to share their blessings with the poor are the partners who would serve as hands and feet so that it will flourish. The Santuario will embrace all, both the rich and the poor. This church’s mission is to give attention and care to the poor and the less fortunate.’’



The Santuario will cost P100 to P150 million, I am told. Structures could vanish in a wink, but the spirit and vision behind them, if nurtured and built into hearts, could remain for all time. Church is more than just structure, we all know that, and this shrine that is taking shape is already showing in concrete how a church lives and breathes and thrives. But this is jumping the gun.

The cost would have made me groan had I not known about the spirit behind the project. Well, it wasn’t as if the money was all there in the beginning and suddenly it was all going to be poured into a cold structure. But, as the saying goes, if you build it they will come. The funds came as the building progressed, and the poor, yes, even the poor, continue to give their widow’s mite, because the shrine is theirs, and they know they belong. This is their cathedral. They say it speaks to them of hope.

Come to think of it, the so-called ``church of the poor’’ need not literally be a replica of the hovels that the poor live in, though I also do not want to see a gilded edifice soaring in the midst of destitution and the people who run it enjoying five-star comfort.

The Santuario is within the six-hectare seminary grounds of the Vincentian Fathers who run ministries in that part of Quezon City. Yes, they’re doing an amazing job over there, especially at the Payatas garbage dump.

According to Father Atilano Fajardo, the awe-struck project director who has not ceased being amazed by how fast the dream is becoming a reality, they started with a mere half a million pesos. I hope the P150-million ``investment’’ will multiply a hundred-fold and generate more concern of the city’s most neglected.

Held last Sunday, on the eve of the feast of St. Vincent, was a ``lakad alay’’ (walkathon) that started from the QC Hall and ended at the Santuario site. Walking together were the poor and the not so poor of the church as well as city officials. Mayor Feliciano Belmonte read the city ordinance declaring St. Vincent the ``patron of the urban poor of Quezon City.’’ (A city ordinance? Isn’t this crossing the church-state demarcation line?)

The structure is, first and foremost, a place of worship. It is a gathering place. A bridge between people, between rich and poor, Fr. Atilano says. It will be a ``listening church that becomes the voice of the unheard.’’ To be built into it are programs to help the poor. These should form the centerpiece, if you ask me. The city government has promised to be involved in the programs. But I hope politicians keep their hands off or it will be messy.

The church is a combination of classic and modern complemented by Filipino highlights. The history of the Philippine church and ``preferential option for the poor’’ will be depicted on the stained glass windows and the walls. Noted artists are donating their talents for these. The church will seat about 2,000 people. There will even be a catwalk for stage presentations. At the ossuary in the basement, one can view a depiction of Filipino burial customs.

Why build the shrine in these difficult times? The primer answers: ``Precisely because of the poverty we see around us, the shrine will serve as a visible representation of how one’s life should be dedicated to the service of the poor, while at the same time serve as an inspiration for all Filipino Christians to be of service to those most in need.’’

Indeed, it is a sign of contradiction. I say this as a compliment.

If you want to be involved, contact Fr. Fajardo at afajardo@cmphilippines.org.ph or 9309387. Don’t’ lose your cool if the woman who answers the phone asks: ``From what company? And what are you going to talk about (with Father)?’’. I wanted to tell her I was an ailing prostitute who wanted to help.

****

Ongoing in Manila is the international convention of the United Evangelical Mission which is tackling globalization, human rights, the AIDS crisis, economic injustice and violence against women. The UEM is an organization of 34 member churches in Asia, Africa and Europe. High on its agenda is the negative effects of globalization.

VP Noli writes re `riles’

Very welcome is the letter to this column from Vice President Noli de Castro in response to our concern about the poor families living along the railroad tracks. Tens of thousands of these families will have to go when construction of the modern railway system (the North Rail) starts in a couple of months. The railway project is part of the Strong Republic Transit System, a flagship project of the Arroyo administration.

VP de Castro’s letter is welcome because it would be a gauge for those in the ``Bantay Riles’’ (non-government and people’s organizations) in monitoring how the government handles the human side of this project that will change the landscape and they way people live and travel.

Sure, we all need new ways of doing things and the long awaited modern transit system is welcome but we also need to preserve the dignity of human beings, the poor most especially, who live dangerously along the tracks.

As to the big illegal structures built along the way by the non-poor who wanted to free-load, bulldoze them tomorrow.

Note that VP de Castro does not use the word squatters. He uses the word settlers.
``Thank you very much for your concern over the plight of `riles’ settlers who will be affected by the railway rehabilitation project, which you wrote about in your Sept. 9 column, `Bantay Riles.’



``As Chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) I would like to give you seom background information and updates on the resettlement of the `riles’ settlers.

``While actual work for the North Rail project is yet to begin, the difficult task of relocating the `tens of thousands of families along the railroad tracks’ as you put it, has already commenced as early as last year according to the resettlement plan which HUDCC helped to prepare.

``In fact we have completed the clearing of the Right of Way (ROW) along the Kalookan alignment of North Rail which involved the relocation of 626 informal settler families who either opted to resettle at the Towerville housing project in San Jose, Del Monte or availed of the `Balik-Probinsya’ program, with an assistance package worth P15,000 for transportation, as well as food vouchers.

``From 2002 to March 2004, seven consultations have been held in Kalookan alone which were convened by HUDCC, NHA, an attached agency of HUDCC, and participated in by the concerned agencies including Philippine National Railways (PNR), North Luzon Railway Corporation-Bases Conversion Development Authority (NLRC-BCDA), National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), Philippine Commission on the Urban Poor (PCUP), Commission on Human Rights (CHR), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Education (DepEd), and the Department of Health (DOH), as well as NGOs such as the Urban Poor Associates.

``In all these consultations, the concerned families and communities were fully informed of their relocation options. We also made it clear that the resettlement program will be beneficiary-led and in-city, to the extent allowed by the budget. This is to minimize the adverse effects of dislocation among the affected families.

The resettlement program likewise provides for an assistance package amounting to P201,970.00 per family. This amount covers serviced home lots, housing materials loan, livelihood assistance, water/power connections as well as food allowance. As indicated earlier, we are also offering the Balik Probinsya program to families who will opt to go back to their provinces.

``We are now prioritizing the clearing of the ROW for the Malabon alignment which will connect to the Kalookan segment. This will affect 3,399 families, of which 400 have already expressed their desire to vacate the area voluntarily.

``While the HUDCC-NHA has already held previous consultations with communities who will be affected by future clearing and relocation operations in the Malabon area, local inter-agency committee (LIAC) meetings are continuously being convened every two weeks by the local government of Malabon. These meetings are participated in by various agencies such as the PCUP, DOTC, NAPC, HUDCC-NHA, and representatives of various people’s organizations.

``Meanwhile, parallel consultations are also being undertaken weekly by the HUDCC-NHA and PCUP with the affected residents. We would like to invite you to attend these consultations to observe how they are conducted and to give you a better idea of the issues and concerns of the various sectors involved.

``AS to the funding aspect, the resettlement program for both North and South Rail settlers will require an estimated P8 billion. HUDCC is now in the final stage of contracting a loan from the National Development Company (NDC) amounting to P3.5 billion. This will be sourced from a planned flotation of NDC bonds.

``The Department of Budget and Management, on the other hand, committed to immediately release P100 million to NHA, and another P150 million within the month for the project. This will be used to start the relocation along the Malabon alignment by the end of this month.

``Much of the work still lies ahead of us, and we remain firm in our commitment to protect the welfare of the families to be relocated.

``As the new HUDCC chairman, I bring to this position my long-time personal and professional experience in dealing with and serving the Filipino masses. Thus, I can personally guarantee you that I will exert every effort to make sure that the families living along the railways will not have to ``go through a worst phase’’ in the course of giving them a better life away from the dangers and the poor living conditions which they have had to bear with for a long time.

``Thank you very much.

``Sincerely yours,
Vice President Noli de Castro.’’

1,347 unfound

They went missing and have not been found until today. They are the 1,347 victims of ``enforced disappearance’’ from 1971 to 2003. They are the so-called desaparecidos (disappeared) who walked into the darkness and were never seen again.

Sept. 21 is upon us again. It will rake up painful memories and open wide the wounds that never quite heal. It is a time to pause to see where we have healed and where still we bleed. Justice still eludes the countless who had suffered while those who caused the suffering walk with their heads high.

Thirty two years ago on Sept. 21, 1972, when Pres. Marcos declared martial law, many people feared for their lives and their loved ones. But that day, they could not have imagined the greater horror, the sorrow, the darkness that would later visit countless lives.

Although some families already had a foretaste of what was to come the year before (the first case of disappearance happened in 1971) they had no inkling of what still lay ahead. The Reign of Terror would later cut a wide bloody swath across the land and for 14 years the dictatorship would hold the nation in its tight grip.



Next week, on Sept. 22, at 10 a.m., the ``Bantayog ng mga Desaparecido’’ will be unveiled at the Redemptorist Church grounds in Baclaran. The Bantayog includes the refurbished Flame of Courage Monument created by artist Lito Mondejar in 1994 and the new 21 granite slabs on which the names of the 1,347 victims are etched. The Bantayog was designed by painter-sculptor Bessie Rifareal who began work in 2003.

This place is dedicated to those who offered their lives for the country and whose ideals remain an inspiration for many who work for a just and free society. It is also dedicated to the families who carry the burden of loss and continue to bravely face the future while continuing to pick up the shards of their lives.

The Flame of Courage Monument depicts the figure of a woman holding a lighted torch. She is in search of someone. With her is a little child holding a picture of the one they are looking for. The life-size monument symbolizes struggle and undying hope.

Come, pray and remember in this hallowed place. Come, pray and make a vow never to let unbridled tyranny destroy lives again.

Behind this endeavor is Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND). FIND has been behind projects helping the families in their search for the missing and for justice as well.

FIND continues to document cases of disappearances. Yes, abductions and summary killings continue to this day. The latest case happened in 2003. FIND documents ``state perpetuated’’ cases only. Cases that were, at first, thought to be the handiwork of the military and later proven to have been part of the communist ``purge’’ or wrongful execution of communist militants by their own comrades have been removed from the list. A FIND staffer however said that FIND continues to assist the families of victims of these executions because they have become part of the FIND family. They now have their own memorial at the University of the Philippines’ sunken garden.

Just a little footnote. I’ve always had a problem with what the acronym FIND stands for. FIND stands for Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance. How can one be a victim of one’s own disappearance, be it voluntary or involuntary? Disappearance is the result, not the cause. Like there is no such thing as a victim of death. One is a victim of abduction, torture, oppression, etc. but not of disappearance or death.

``Families of the disappeared victims of tyranny’’ (or whatever) is more precise although it would not fit the four-letter acronym. Here the word disappeared is a noun (not a verb) and is the English translation of the Spanish desaparecido or the missing. Desaparecido was commonly used in Latin America where military dictators ruled with impunity.

Sorry ha, but that’s been bothering me for years. What’s in a name? A lot.

One of the known victims of military abduction is Father Rudy Romano, a Redemptorist priest who disappeared in 1985 in Cebu where he was assigned at that time. The Redemptorists’ hospitality to the memorial for the disappeared partly stems from the fact that one of their own has been missing for almost 20 years. The search for Fr. Romano was long and arduous. It sparked international interest and led to the highest court of the land. And just like in any search, it had its share of rumors, bum steers, hoaxes and hearsay. The details are in the biography ``Romano of the Philippines’’ written by Lilette Chan-Santos.

At a small media dinner I attended some years ago, a military general said he believed Fr. Romano was abducted ``by the PC’’.

Johannes Barroso was arrested in 1975 together with Eugenio Flores and Nenita Luneta in Cabanatuan City by members of the 5th Constabulary Security Unit of the Philippines Constabulary and brought to the PC headquarters in the city. Barroso would later disappear without a trace. The military denied having arrested him.

And there is 20-year-old UP-Los Banos student Gerardo Faustino who was arrested in Makati by a military intelligence group in 1977. There is Prudencio Bati-on of Sta. Cruz, Manila who disappeared on March 1, 1999. By the way, the Inquirer editor in chief’s first cousin, Leticia Pascual, is also among the disappeared.

The last line of the dedication at the Bantayog reads: ``Para sa ating lahat na nagpapatuloy ng laban na sinimulan ng mga desaparecido para sa katarungan, kalayaan at pagkakapantay-pantay.#

Bantay riles

So what is everybody waiting for, the President wanted to know.

There’s no stopping the North Rail project, we are told, and I couldn’t help thinking of ``The Runaway Train’’, the 1988 bone-rattling movie that left viewers breathless and all shook up.

Ten hours after she returned from her state visit to China, Pres. Macapagal-Arroyo expressed impatience over the slowness of the North Rail project that would span the Manila-Clark (Pampanga) distance. Actual work on the ground has yet to start. China had already released the $400 million for the first phase that would connect Manila to Malolos, Bulacan.

Ms. Arroyo’s trip to China had a lot to do with this project. The Chinese Eximbank has also approved the second phase. During her pulong bayan held at the Cubao LRT station, the President, reports said, was impatience personified. She even called for North Rail president Jose Cortez Jr. who was having coffee in another LRT platform. Start now, she ordered. There were no reports about Cortez spilling his coffee and getting scalded.

The Strong Republic Transit System is one of the President’s flagship infrastructure projects meant to boost economic growth and employment. Who does not want to have a modernized railway system that would get people and products faster to their destinations and minus the hassle of road travel? Who does not want a clean, well lighted train speeding with a humming sound, minus garbage bags piling on its roof?



But wait. How do you uproot the tens of thousands of families living along the railroad tracks? Most motorists see them only on the periphery of their vision as they cross the tracks. If you are on a helicopter you’d have a better view of the colonies clustered on both sides of the tracks.

Many would probably ask—how in heaven’s name did homes proliferate in these dangerous areas? Dangerous is an understatement. Many homes are a foot away from the tracks. A few months ago I did a two-part series on the dangers of living along the riles. I’ve interviewed some survivors of train hits and I couldn’t help thinking that it seems a miracle that the number of casualties is not bigger than what is listed.

Riles denizens are a death-defying breed indeed. Why, they’ve even invented the foot-propelled trolley that runs on the tracks and ferries passengers from point to point.

But the question now is not how communities grew along the tracks. The question now is how to uproot them from there, how to relocate them in a manner that is humane. Some 35,000 families are going to be affected by the North Rail project alone. The south is another story. From the north to the south there are about 70,000 riles families.

Relocation does not mean dislocation in the physical sense only. There are psychological, socio-cultural and emotional factors that have to be considered. A whole way of life is going to vanish, hopefully to be replaced by a better one. But what if life gets worse before it gets better? Must the poorest go through a worst phase?

This is the issue that Representatives Mario Aguja, Ana Theresia Hontiveros-Baraquel and Loretta Ann Rosales of Akbayan Party want to address.

They recently filed House Resolution 165 directing the committees on Housing and Urban Development and on Civil, Political and Human Rights ``to investigate the North Rail and South Manila Commuter Rail rehabilitation projects and its effects on the residents living in areas adjacent to the railway tracks.’’ Fourteen other representatives co-authored the resolution, among them, Alan Peter Cayetano, Roilo Golez, Reylina Nicolas, Miles Roces, Luis Asistio and Eduardo Zialcita.

They cited article XIII of the Constitution that says that ``urban or rural poor dwellers shall not be evicted nor their dwellings demolished, except in accordance with law and in a just and humane manner.’’ The Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992 also prescribes for a ``just and humane eviction.’’

Because of the great number to be affected by the railway rehab projects, Aguja, Hontiveros-Baraquel and Rosales are calling on government agencies concerned in the North Rail and South Manila Commuter Rail Projects to present to Congress and to the public their concrete resettlement plans.

These agencies are the Philippine National Railways, NEDA, Department of Transportation and Communication, Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, National Housing Authority, project proponent North Luzon Railways Corporation. The local governments too.

Where are the resettlement sites for the families to be affected? What are the social preparations being made? Have public consultations been conducted? What are the timetables?

What is the budget, what are the sources of funds for this massive resettlement operation? What are the lead implementing agencies that will assure that the process complies with laws and respects human rights?

Aguja has recommended that lawmakers from districts to be affected set aside portions of their pork barrel for the riles dwellers’ resettlement. He has also commended the efforts of Bantay Riles, a new coalition of organizations monitoring the railway projects.

The north’s first phase will be 32.2 kms. The total project cost is US$503 million. It will have four stations located in Caloocan, Valenzuela, Marilao, Bocaue, Guiguinto and Malolos.

Phase 2 will be a branch line to Subic. Phase 3 will connect Caloocan to Fort Bonifacio Global City. Phase 4 goes all the way to San Fernando, La Union. Partial Operation is in 2006, project completion in 2007.

Bantay Riles is watching. I hope church groups would do the same. Yes, the bulldozers are sure to come.