Books in memory of trees

When you read the following excerpt and you are not awed and moved to action and meditation, you must not be a child of Earth.

``The Spaniards called her Mother Mountain, this vast range stretching down the northeastern flank of the island of Luzon like the heaving back of massive whales. Through the years, the trees and slopes of the Sierra Madre, acting like giant windbreaks, broke the backs of tropical cyclones swirling in from the West Pacific. She was also a weather maker. Her peaks and lonely upland valleys, blanketed with great sweeps of rain forest, were magnets for moisture, constantly building towering stacks of cumulus clouds, and rain. Bringing precious water to the rivers and rice fields of the thirsty lowlands. Her twisted branches and massive buttressed roots sheltered and nourished more plants and animals than anywhere else in Luzon. This intricate food chain, believed to have more components and interactive links than any other habitat on the surface of the earth, kept the forest alive…After thousands and thousands of years, the gentle, wandering Dumagats have found no other home like this endless tract of green, where time has pooled for generations.’’

That, my dear reader, is the brief introduction of the amazing book ``The Last Great Forest: Luzon’s Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park’’ (Bookmark, 2000) by Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan who now heads the World Wildlife Fund in the Philippines. The book is wildly designed, by the way, and handy too, and those not keen on reading might just pause to dig into it.

Farmers used to only reading the signs on the soil liked the book that I had to buy a few more copies a couple of years ago. How many of our politicians who gather no life-giving moss on their mouths have read this?

The book is a forest of information, illustrations and colored photographs and your heart will swell with pride after learning that we have, in our bosom, an Eden so alive. You’d worry too about its future, given the greed of this generation. In fact, the first chapter is titled ``The Philippines: A Century of Deforestation’’.

After a heart-stopping introduction, the book segues into what this amazing place is all about. Ocean and rainforest within kissing distance of each other, people and wildlife living side by side, enriching each other and the wondrous web of life that makes this planet work. I wouldn’t have minded the inclusion of the unseen elementals—nymphs, fairies and dwarves--to complete the picture.

I heard the grandeur of Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor and a Lucio San Pedro cantata the first time I went over the book. Okay, maybe Enya’s tantalizing ``In Memory of Trees’’ for some. I’m not being facetious when I say that, but indeed, my senses go on overdrive when I know that the printed word is also alive to tell the world. But is anyone up there in the glass-and-chrome towers with hardwood furniture listening, and doing something?

My friend Marites Vitug’s earth-shaking book ``Power from the Forest: The Politics of Logging’’ (Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, 1993) was an award-winning opus that was supposed to alert everyone to the politicians’ involvement in the destruction of our forest preserve.

The first chapter has, in fact, a photo of the coffin of a victim of the 1991 Ormoc mudslide that killed more than 5,000 people. Chapter 6, ``The Senate’s Wake-up Call’’ is about the debate on a total or a selective log ban. It was Sen. Aquilino Pimentel that authored the bill calling for the 25-year total ban with Sen. Orlando Mercado arguing in its favor and Sen. Heherson Alvarez for selective. Read about how the battle was lost or won depending on which side you are.

``Loggers in Congress: Making Concessions’’. shows why, in a conservative setting such as Congress, a bill that would ban commercial logging and hurt the interests of some its members would not progress.

And who are the defenders and the raiders? ``The insurgency war had bred new logging interests,’’ the book says, ``the rebels and the military who have made the forests their battleground and their sources of income.’’ Aray. ``But amid this gloomy foreboding, there are shafts of light. The indigenous peoples and rural folk who have lived in or around these forests are starting to stir as well as a growing number of non-government organizations and concerned individuals.’’

Am writing about these forest-bred books in the wake of the killer disaster that buried towns and families under water, mud, rocks and logs unleashed by the angry mountains last week.

A newly elected senator said on TV that she has been alone in her crusade these past six or so years. I turned off the TV. Quipped an editor: ``Ang kapal.’’ What did she make of those who lost their lives—journalists and church people included—in the past 15 years while exposing the raiders of the forests?

Once in his or her life, a person should go on a retreat to a rainforest to listen to it throb and drink of its juices. I’ve been in one—thick, damp and bewildering--where one could be helpless if not for those who knew the terrain. There time stood still while my heart raced upon beholding the charm of the smallest wildlife and the majesty of trees.

****

Scholasticans and friends! Come to a dinner-show featuring Ryan Cayabyab and his wife Emmy’s high school class of 1979 at St. Cecilia’s Hall in St. Scholastica’s College, Dec. 11 at 6 p.m. Alumna Tina Monson-Palma will emcee. This is for the school and priory’s archives-museum and in preparation for the college’s 2006 centennial. Call 0918-9220566 or 0917-8125277.

20 years since Bhopal

In this season of disasters, both natural and man-made, it behooves us to remember the Bhopal tragedy in India which killed more than 20,000 and whose aftereffects continue to destroy the health of thousands. It was one of the worst ecological disasters in history, rivaling Chernobyl in Russia, and it could have been prevented.

Many of the youth of today and the future might not know about Bhopal because the tragedy is not likely going to make it to the textbooks. Does it not qualify as a historical entry like the 79 A.D. Mt. Vesuvius eruption that buried Pompeii? Will our own 1991 Ormoc mudslide that killed thousands in a blink of an eye make it to our error-ridden textbooks (which are a huge disaster in themselves)? And didn’t we see a likeness of Ormoc in the past few days? And not to forget the Marcopper disaster in Marinduque.

On the night of Dec. 2 and early morning of Dec. 3, 1984, a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal began leaking some 27 tons of the methyl isocynate (MIC), a deadly gas. According to The Bhopal Medical Appeal and Sambhavna Trust that espouse the cause of victims, none of the six safety systems designed to contain that kind of a leak was operational and soon the gas to spread throughout the city.

An estimated half a million people were exposed to the gas and 20,000 have so far died as a result of this. More than 120,000 continue to suffer ailments such as blindness, breathing problems, and reproductive disorders.

The site has never been truly cleaned up and Bhopal residents continue to be poisoned, say environmental groups, Greenpeace among them. Greenpeace-Philippines is bringing up Bhopal to remind us all that there might be a deadly keg somewhere waiting to explode. Remember Chemphil a few months ago?

In 1999, Greenpeace reported that chemicals causing cancer, brain damage and brain defects were found in the water at the Bhopal accident site. These were in extremely high levels, that is, several million times higher. Trichloroethene, known to impair fetal development, was found at levels 50 times more than the accepted safe limits.

A 2002 testing report revealed that poisons such as 1, 3, 5 trichlorobenzene, dichloromethane, chloroform, lead and mercury were present in the breast milk of nursing women.

Michigan-based Dow Chemical purchased Union Carbide and acquired its assets in 2001. Dow Chemical is said to have steadfastly refused to clean up the site, provide safe drinking water, compensate the victims or disclose the composition of the gas leak which doctors need to know in order to treat the victims. It’s supposed to be a ``trade secret.’’

Union Carbide sticks to the figure of 3,800 victims. But according to reports, ``municipal workers who picked up bodies with their own hands, loading them onto trucks for burial in mass graves or to be burned on mass pyres, reckon they shifted at least 15,000 bodies. Survivors, basing their estimates on the number of shrouds sold in the city, conservatively claim about 8,000 died in the first week. Such body counts become meaningless when you know that the dying has never stopped.’’

The Bhopal Union Carbide pesticide factory seemed problematic since the time it was built in the 1970s. India seemed, at first, a huge market for pest control products. It did not turn out that way. The poor farmers, who constantly battled with droughts and floods, could not afford the pesticides. The plant never reached its full capacity and ceased active production in the early 1980s.

As reports go, a great quantity of chemicals remained there even while the plant’s safety system was allowed to deteriorate. It seemed logical for management to think that since the plant had ceased production, there was no threat. They were wrong.

Here was how it started: ``Regular maintenance had fallen into such disrepair that on the night of Dec. 2, when an employee was flushing a corroded pipe, multiple stopcocks failed and allowed water to flow freely into the largest tack of MIC. Exposure to this water soon led to an uncontrolled reaction; the tank was blown out of its concrete sarcophagus and spewed a deadly cloud of MIC, hydrogen cyanide, mono methyl amine and other chemicals that hugged the ground. Blown by the prevailing winds, this cloud settle over much of Bhopal. Soon, thereafter, people began to die.’’

In 1989, five years after the disaster, Union Carbide, in a partial settlement with the Indian government, paid some $470 million compensation. The victims were not part of the negotiations and many felt cheated by the $300 to $500 each received. It could not cover many years’ of medical treatment. Those who were awarded aren’t necessarily better off now than those who were not.

About 50,000 Bhopalis who were injured could no longer return to work or move freely about. Those with relatives to care for them are lucky. Many have no one to look after them because their next of kin had all died.

The Bhopal local government has charged Union Carbide’s CEO Warren Anderson with manslaughter and if convicted, he could serve 10 years in prison. Warren evaded international arrest and a summons to appear before a US court.

In Aug. 2002, Greenpeace found Warren living a life of luxury in the Hamptons. Says a report: ``Neither the American nor the Indian government seem interested in disturbing him with an extradition, despite the recent scandals over corporate crime…The Union Carbide Corporation itself was charged with culpable homicide, a criminal charge whose penalty has no upper limit. These charges have never been resolved, as Union Carbide, like its former CEO, has refused to appear before an Indian court.’’

Women and AIDS

It’s six days before World AIDS Day which falls on Dec. 1. This year’s theme is ``Women and AIDS’’. For the past two successive years (2002 and 2003) the theme was ``Stigma and Discrimination’’. That this ran for two years means that the problem took a lot of time and effort to address.

In 2001 the theme was ``I care, don’t you?’’ and in 2000 it was ``AIDS: Men make a difference.’’ There has been a variety of themes since 1988. Now it’s the women’s turn.

HIV-AIDS has been around for more than two decades, at least, and millions have died of it since it was identified in the early 1980s. How much do you know? Here’s a little quiz that might bring up a few hard facts. See how you fare.

1. Doctors in the US first became aware of HIV-AIDS in a)1974 b)1981 c)1984
2. Which part of the world has the greatest number of people with HIV-AIDS? a)Asia b)Africa c)North America
3. HIV is a)virus b)bacteria c)fungus
4. You can tell that a person has HIV because he/she a)looks tired or ill b)has a bad cough c)no way to tell
5. When was the first World AIDS Day? a)1984 b)1988 c)1994
6. If a pregnant woman is HIV positive and takes a special drug to prevent mother-to-child transmission, what are the chances that her baby will be HIV positive? a)2% b)40% c)100%
7. A woman who is breastfeeding can pass HIV to her baby through her milk. a)true b)false c)only if she has full-blown AIDS
8. Globally, the number of women living with HIV is a)1 million b)17 million c) 38 million
9. In heterosexual sex, who is more likely to become infected with HIV from an HIV positive partner? a)man b)woman c)both
10. A lesbian can be infected with HIV only if she has sex with a man a)true b)false
11. Globally, most women become infected with HIV through a)childbirth b)unprotected sex c)blood transfusion, d)injecting drugs
12. If a pregnant woman is HIV positive, what are the chances that her baby will be HIV positive? a)30% b)2% c)100%
13. What was the name of the first Filipino who came forward in 1992 to say she was suffering from AIDS, told her story and died shortly after? a)Dolzura b)Sara Jane c)Rachel
14. Who played her in the movie? a)Hilda Coronel b) Nora Aunor c)Vilma Santos
15. Approximately, how many people are living with HIV-AIDS today? a)10.2 million b)20.4M c)40M
16. Roughly, how many people are infected with HIV every day? a)15,000 b)16,000 c)8,000
17. Worldwide, what is the age range most infected with HIV? a)0-14 b)15-24 c)35-44
18. Roughly, how many people died of AIDS in 2003? a)1.7 million b)5M c)3M

Research has shown that there is no significant difference between women and men in their progress from being HIV-positive to having full-blown AIDS. However, it has been proven that women are more susceptible to HIV infection than men because of their genital configuration. Women--those who are victims of sexual violence especially--are more prone to bleeding and tearing, and this makes them more vulnerable to HIV infection.

The Global Movement for Microbicides is trying to address this problem of women through new prevention technologies while ensuring that as science proceeds, the public interest is protected and the rights of trial participants are respected.

Microbicides are not yet available, but when they are in five years or so, they are supposed to help protect women from HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STD). The word microbicides refers to ``a range of products that share one common characteristic: the ability to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV and other STDs when applied topically. A microbicide could be produced in many forms, including gels, creams, suppositories, films, or as a sponge or ring that releases the active ingredient over time.’’

Now let’s not think this is going to make more women promiscuous or give people a false sense of safety. While reading up on this I was not thinking about prostitution, I was thinking of the millions of HIV positive women in Sub-Saharan Africa and societies that are oppressive to women.

Most women in such cultures cannot say no to their infected husbands, they cannot require them to wear condoms. Microbicides would enable women to protect themselves without their partners knowing it.

Researchers have shown mathematically that if even a small proportion of women in lower income countries used a 60-percent efficacious microbicide in half the sexual encounters where condoms are not used, 2.5 million HIV infections could be averted over three years.

Not all microbicides prevent pregnancy. Non-contraceptive ones are also being developed. Women could get pregnant, if they want to, by their STD- or HIV-positive husbands while protecting themselves and their offspring from HIV.

Today’s prevention options(condom, mutual monogamy and STD treatment) may not be feasible for millions of women. Many poor women lack social and economic power to demand fidelity or condoms. They cannot leave partnerships that put their lives at risk. What option is left for them?

Though still years away from being available, microbicides are already being discussed by women’s groups. Microbicides could help break the chain of HIV transmission from men to women to babies.

Microbicides do not require the male partner’s cooperation thereby giving women the power to protect themselves and the sense that they have rights.

I hope no religious zealot will protest to defend the right of sperms swimming in HIV goo and deny women their right to live long for themselves and their offspring.

Answers to the quiz: 1(b) 2(b) 3(a) 4(c) 5(b) 6(a) 7(a) 8(b) 9(b) 10(b) 11(b) 12(a) 13(a) 14(c) 15(c) 16(a) 17(b) 18(c)

Media and hoaxes

If I came out with your story and found out later that there was no iota of truth to what you had told me, I am going to sue you, right?

I had said this a few times to interviewees who had told me stories that were either too good or too bad to be true and especially if it put certain persons in a bad light. Of course, this was said with a smile on my face and only after I had made the interviewees realize that I had given my time and heart and mind to hear them out. And so to remind and speak softly while carrying a big stick, so to speak.

I remember someone who broke into tears when I said this and my heart broke along with that storyteller’s but it had to be said even if there were supporters who stood by the veracity of the story and the credibility of the storyteller.

Nothing personal, I explained ever so gently. I’m just protecting my paper, I said. It helped a lot when the subject had a written account and all I had to do was for him or her to sign it. That is, if there was no sworn statement to begin with. One could always use tapes and videos. But there is nothing foolproof in this world.

Sometimes, because of security reasons the interviewee wants to hide behind an alias. But if the interviewee was the one who sought me out, I have reason to say, good for you, but what about me? Ako ang mapapatay dito. (I could get killed for this.) You have to help me prove that you’re real.

It’s bad enough to be taken for a ride, it’s worse than death for a journalist to be accused of fabricating a story and, worst of all, to be proven that one did.

I say these in the aftermath of the hoax that was spun by a mother-daughter team and who involved their pastor and church in the elaborate lie. The girl’s supposed against-all-odds triumph in an international science contest in Australia got a lot of media mileage even as it put in a bad light public officials they accused of having refused them help. Hearts bled. Doubters were harshly criticized.

Well, yesterday, the Bread of Life Ministries came out with a paid announcement apologizing to the media and parties put in a bad light and explaining how this all came about.

It was edifying to note that the media did not go all out to pillory the San Juans after their hoax was uncovered. Help should be on the way for mother and daughter.

I was curious about the legal implications of all these so I consulted a lawyer. Estafa does not apply because there did not seem to be a financial motive. Apologies have been made so libel is out. But this case could fall under the ``Special Protection of Children Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act.’’ Faye is only 12 years old and she has been dragged into this by her own mother.

A diagnosis of emotional/mental disturbance could get Mrs. San Juan off the hook. I’m not saying the case should land in court, but this should be processed from all angles by parties concerned, and with compassion, especially for Faye, uppermost. Away from the media.

As for the media, the lawyer said, it is ``Buyers, beware.’’ Take it on the chin.

Do a Google search (``media+hoax’’) on the internet and you’ll find fantastic tales that the media have fallen for.

For example, there was this ``Dole Army’’, a group of masked anarchists who supposedly dwelled in the storm-water drains under Melbourne. This ``army’’ urged citizens to defraud the government of welfare benefits. TV channels fell for the story. The ``Dole Army’’, it turned out, was just a bunch of pranksters who later owned up to the hoax.

There was the case of Norma Khuori, best-selling author of ``Forbidden Love’’ who narrated the story of her friend Dalia, supposedly a victim of honor killing in Jordan. Honor killing is the practice of murdering women who have done dishonor to their families. Dalia, a Muslim, was supposed to have fallen in love with a Christian. Honor killings are still being practiced in some Muslim societies.

The book was an instant hit. Sure, it raised the level of aware about violence against women. But Dalia was pure invention and it was proven that Khouri, a long-time US citizen of Jordanian origin, couldn’t have known someone like Dalia.

Random House later withdrew the books from the bookstores. The huge success became a huge literary scandal. I thought, why didn’t Khuori just sell her book as fiction?

Now I am becoming skeptical of these confessional autobiographies that drip blood, tears and a lot of saliva.

Some years ago, a US journalist was discovered to have fabricated the Pulitzer Prize-winning story about a drug dependent, and last year, a US reporter was severely censured for having plagiarized or passed off a major story as his own work. I don’t remember the details now, but it was a bad day for journalism.

And then there is the reverse—the ``hoax theory’’ which puts the lie on what the world has accepted as the truth. That is, the truth being peddled as a hoax.

For example, there is a group that pushes the belief that the landing on the moon was a hoax. The proponents of this theory, shown in a TV documentary, were prepared with their scientific arguments and proofs.

There are those who propagate the ``no planes theory’’ that says the video footage of the planes that crashed on the World Trade Center twin towers in New York in 2001 was a hoax perpetuated by high-tech tricksters from the TV networks.

As to Faye and her mother, may they be rehabilitated. What is in store for Faye now? What is it like inside her? Be brave, girl, all is not lost.

Pearl of great price

``Dahil sa paniniwala ng mga Palawano na ang isang isda ay pinahahati sa lahat, nang dumating ang mga Cagayancillo tinanggap namin sila, nang dumating ang mga Muslim tinanggap namin sila, nang dumating ang mga Kristiyano tinanggap namin sila, nang dumating si Cojuangco ay pinaalis kaming lahat. Masakit ang nangyari.’’ (Because of the Palawanos’ belief that a fish is to be divided among all, when the Cagayancillo came we accepted them, when the Muslims came we accepted them, when the Christians came we accepted them, when Cojuangco came we were all driven out. This is painful for us.’’

Words of Pala’wan elder Upo Gariba in his narration about Apu, also known as Bugsok Island. He was quoted in Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel’s Nov. 8 privilege speech. The congresswoman condemned Jewelmer Inc. and the Philippine National Police’s blocking of Pandanan Channel, preventing fishermen and their supporters from entering what they claimed were their ancestral fishing grounds.

Jewelmer has filed a case against the groups involved.

Last week, this column came out with Jewelmer’s response to the NGOs and PO’s accusations that the pearl farm, owned by business tycoon Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. and partners, have displaced indigenous groups and barred them from fishing in their ancestral domain.

Sambilog and Task Force Bugsuk strongly belie Jewelmer’s claims point by point. Excerpts.

``Our struggle to fish in the waters currently prohibited by Jewelmer is a struggle to claim both our rights as indigenous peoples (IP) under the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) and our rights as small municipal fishers under the Fisheries Code. We believe (Jewelmer has) violated our rights as fishers. We have learned about the case of Puyat Pearl Farms in Culion, Palawan. The local government ruled that the farm operator should open navigational routes because they were established traditional navigational routes…

``Our members come from barangays Puring, Tagnato and Buliluyan in Bataraza town; and barangays Sibaring, Pandanan and sitio Marihangin of barangay Bugsuk of Balabac town. We do not have members from barangay Bugsuk itself. The residents there now are workers of the corporations under Cojuangco. Many of them were from Tarlac and Negros, brought in in the 1970s to the early 80s to work in Cojuangco's farms and ranches. That barangay is known to residents in surrounding barangays as `the private barangay’.

``The Pala'wan and Molbog along with the settlers were forced to leave their land in Bugsuk and Pandanan. They were compensated for the trees, but not for their land. Many of them were relocated in areas which were not as productive…Remember this was martial law time. The people said that they were rounded up in a meeting by Danding Cojuangco himself, and soldiers with their guns surrounded them all. And during that meeting, they were given two options: to sell or to leave.

``What is full compensation (and being) willingly, properly, legally relocated? (Y)ou cleared the land, made it productive, loved it, built your dreams on it, then one day, you are told to sell or to leave…to sign blank documents, and under the gun, they tell you the price of your tree, instead of you naming your price.

``The proof that this happened? No legal document, of course. No pictures, of course. This was at the beginning of martial law. And Danding Cojuangco was good in hiding behind the cloak of legality by having those Deeds of Exchanges, using the Republic Act 926 (for the land swap), by forcing people to sign documents. But there are still living testimonies from Pala'wan, Molbog and settlers, on what happened during those fateful years.

``We will pursue and welcome a full and independent investigation on this gross historical injustice and for government to put a just closure by giving back the land and waters to the victims and to the small fishers and farmers who have been given rights over these resources by new legislations after the EDSA Revolution such as the Fisheries Code, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) and IPRA.

``Records furnished us show that since the formation of SAMBILOG in 2000 no SAMBILOG members have been caught doing cyanide and dynamite fishing in these areas…We assert that these (accusations) are vain attempts of Jewelmer at harassing the small fishers and drawing attention from Jewelmer’s illegal operations, their use of brute force to govern over the area and their illegal closure of the traditional navigational passage of the channel between Bugsuk and Pandanan islands.

``We question Jewelmer’s authority in confirming whether members fall within the purview of indigenous peoples (IP). This process is under the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples…

``We learned that several groups, composed of Pala'wan and Molbog tribes, were being formed, allegedly through the help of Jewelmer to contest SAMBILOG's claim and to make their own ancestral claim. If Jewelmer does not believe that the area was inhabited by the indigenous peoples, why are they forming groups to also lay claim on ancestral domains? Some of their leaders said that Jewelmer promised them boats and fishing equipment, and allowed them to fish in their `prohibited areas’.

``On August 18, 2003, The Environmental Management Bureau of the DENR Region IV office filed a notice of violation to Jewelmer /Ecofarm Systems and Resources Inc. stating that their Pearl Farm Expansion project located in Balabac, Palawan was implemented without the required Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) and in violation of Section 6. Article IX of DENR Administrative Order No. 96-37…’’

Jewelmer justifies

In the interest of fairness, I am running in full the response of Jewelmer to my Oct. 21 column piece ``Fishers, pearls and Jewelmer.’’ The news peg there was Sambilog and Task Force Bugsuk’s attempt to fish in waters claimed by some members of indigenous peoples (IP) of Palawan to be part of their ancestral domain and to cross the Pandanan channel, both of which are off limits because of the presence of Jewelmer’s pearl farm. They were joined by Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel. A congressional inquiry is being planned.

Sambilog and Task Force Bugsuk will have their chance next week to demolish some of Jewelmer’s claims.

Here is Jewelmer:

``We are constrained to address the points contained in the aforementioned article for the purpose of presenting the side of Jewelmer International Corp. (Jewelmer) and, at the same time, rectifying the apparent distortion of facts and misrepresentations made by parties associated with the Samahan ng mga Katutubo sa Dulo ng Timog Palawan (Sambilog).

``1. Jewelmer has been operating a marine concession in the municipality since 1979. Since the commencement of its operations, the corporation has complied with the relevant laws and regulations required for the pursuit of such business endeavor. Moreover, Jewelmer has actively participated in the conservation and preservation of all marine life and natural resources within the concession area. A verification with the municipality of Balabac, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development will confirm that: (i) the corporation has submitted all the requirements imposed by such government entities for the operation of the marine concession, (ii) such operations do not require the issuance of the environmental compliance certificate and (iii) no violations have been attributable to Jewelmer at any point in time.

``2. To the best of the knowledge of Jewelmer, and based on the relevant records in the custody of government agencies (e.g., DENR, the Bureau of Lands and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources), the islands of Bugsuk and Pandanan, inclusive of the adjoining marine concession area leased by the municipality of Balabac to Jewelmer, have not been inhabited by indigenous people. Neither has there been a displacement of supposed ethnic and indigenous fishermen from such areas considering:

a. The previous inhabitants of such areas were transients and settlers who did not belong to any indigenous tribes of Palawan.

b. b. Such inhabitants were willingly, properly and legally relocated to adjoining areas of their choice and fully compensated for their property rights.

``Taking into account the foregoing, the claim asserted by Sambilog that the aforestated areas form part of their `ancestral domain’ is bereft of any factual or legal basis.

``3. Perhaps, the author of the article (that’s me—CPD) has not been apprised of the underlying reasons for the request for assistance made by Jewelmer to the Philippine National Police headed by Supt. Rey Lañada. Recently, the operations of Jewelmer have been subject of intermittent harassment by parties who claim to be members of Sambilog. On numerous occasions, such parties have entered the concession area and resorted to illegal means of fishing through the use of cyanide and dynamite. In addition, the corporation suffered loss and damage to its facilities and equipment due to the unauthorized entry of such parties to the concession area. The local authorities of the municipality of Balabac will confirm the nature and extent of the unlawful acts perpetuated by the said parties within the concession area.

``Owing to the aforementioned acts, Jewelmer, as the aggrieved party, had no other recourse but to request the assistance of the PNP to protect the interests of the corporation. Being the lawful operator of an ongoing business concern, such request for assistance was necessary in the light of contemplated and unauthorized entry of Sambilog in the concession area. The assistance extended by the PNP to Jewelmer was in consonance with their mandated duty to protect any person from imminent threat to their proprietary rights.

``4. Without the benefit of prior inquiry and verification, the author may have been, unwittingly, misled by the purported leaders of Sambilog. We would like to take this opportunity to call your attention to the following points.

``a. Jewelmer, through its representatives, together with the DENR and the officials of the municipality of Balabac, has participated in discussions with the representatives of Task Force Bugsuk in discussions with the representatives of Task Force Bugsuk and Sambilog. During such discussions, Sambilog agreed to make available and provide the parties with a complete listing of its members for the purpose of confirming whether such members fall within the purview of `indigenous people’ as defined under the provisions of the Ipra Act of 1997. To date Sambilog has not complied with such agreement.

``b. The majority of Sambilog are not (and never have been) constituents of the municipality of Balabac. Most of Sambilog's purported members are transients and residents of the municipality of Batarraza.

c. Certain members of Sambilog, namely Oscar Pelayo, have been reported to the local authorities of both municipalities as the parties responsible for dynamite and cyanide fishing.

``Such illegal acts have led to the wanton destruction of coral reefs and other forms of marine life in the marine areas adjacent to the municipality of Batarraza.’’

Angela Poblador
Jewelmer chief communications officer
Rm. 701 National Life Insurance Bldg.
6762 Ayala Ave., Makati City

Limbo un-rocked

Today, Nov. 2, is All Souls Day, the day for our dear departed. But feast-loving Filipinos always do the feasting and remembering in advance as if there might be no more tomorrow. And so Nov. 1, All Saints Day, is what Filipinos consider araw ng mga patay.

We Filipinos have a way of advancing the calendar to suit our festive mood. Well, All Souls Day is the harbinger of the Christmas season. Tomorrow the Christmas season “officially” begins in these islands. It will last for two months.

But hold on awhile to the 11th month. We all have our early memories of this November feast that sends Filipino families in droves to their old hometowns. Celebrations in the provinces are so much more folksy and Pinoy, unlike those in Metro Manila where the feast has taken on an American macabre flavor that I find corny and TH.

On the solemn side of memory lane, some melodies refuse to die. I can still sing the first and last lines of the Latin Gregorian chant that the Benedictine sisters chanted during the Mass for the Dead in the beautiful neo-Romanesque chapel in school. “Dies irae, dies illa, solvet saeclum in favilla…” Translated as, “Nigher still, and still more nigh, Draws the day of prophecy…”

It ends with the soaring, “Lacrymosa dies illa, Qua resurget ex favilla…” “Full of tears and full of dread, is the day that wakes the dead…”

Oh, it soaked my soul and shook the ramparts of my young heart.

This being the season that makes us ponder life after death, there is now no reason to wonder where limbo is. The vacuous place has been erased from the afterlife. The Roman Catholic Church had created that place during the Middle Ages, last year the magisterium decided to delete it. (Will so-called plenary indulgences be the next to go?)

Blame the creation of the limbo hypothesis on the concept of the stamp of original sin and the outdated way that it was taught.

Last year Pope Benedict XVI abolished the concept of limbo, the place where, Catholics were made to believe, the souls of un-baptized children went. The year before he died, Pope John Paul II had created a commission to come up with a “more coherent and illuminating” doctrine on this neither-here-nor-there place in the Great Beyond.

Pope Benedict XVI (Cardinal Josep Ratzinger then) had presided over the first sessions before he became Pope. A report said that he is on record as saying that limbo has no place in modern Catholicism. In 1984 he was already quoted as saying that limbo had “never been a definitive truth of the faith”.

Limbo has been scrapped.

Limbo comes from the Latin word limbus that means edge or boundary. It was supposed to be the transit area for the souls of the people who lived good lives but died before the resurrection of Jesus two millennia ago. Only on the Last Judgment will they all move on to heaven. Neat arrangement.

Limbo was also supposed to be the permanent home of the babies who died in infancy (and the fetuses too) that didn’t get freed from original sin through baptism. There they were supposed to live in a state of natural happiness, whatever that means.

Here’s something I read: “In the Divine Comedy, Dante depicts limbo as the first circle of hell, located beyond the river of Acheron but before the judgment seat of Minos. The virtuous pagans of classical history and mythology inhabit a brightly lit and beautiful—but somber—castle which is seemingly a medievalized version of Elysium. (A) semi-infernal region, above limbo or the other side of Acheron, but inside the gate of Hell also exists—it is the vestibule of hell and houses so-called ‘neutralists’ or ‘opportunists’ who devoted their lives neither to good nor to evil…” A place for fence sitters and opportunists!

Now that limbo has been demolished, where did its occupants proceed? Or where were they all the time? In heaven, I presume.

Nowhere in the Bible is limbo mentioned, but it is supposed to be the “bosom of Abraham” which is twice mentioned in the Bible. This bosom is supposed to be a blissful state where the good and the righteous of the pre-Jesus era await their eternal reward. It is neither heaven nor hell, it is a transit lounge before entering paradise.

I read somewhere that the gospel story about the “good thief” who was crucified and died beside Jesus is a case that should tweak this limbo theory. Jesus promised him that they would be together “this day” in paradise. Right away?

Well the answer, some say, is in the punctuation mark, the comma. (The celebrated writer Pico Iyer has a great essay on the comma and what it can do.) Did Jesus say, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise” or “Truly I say to you today, you shall be with me in paradise”? The latter means that the thief had to wait in limbo until the resurrection made it possible for him to enter the Pearly Gates.

This is grist for biblical nitpickers. I bring this up only to say it is good that limbo has been deleted from the file folders, it has been erased from the landscape of the afterlife. But the word limbo will stay in colloquial lingo. It means neither here nor there.

The limbo of the afterlife had nothing to do with the limbo dance that originated in the Caribbean. Limbo rock comes from Jamaican English limba or to bend (from the English limber). Limbo rock we all know. It uses a stick below which dancers must bend backwards as they proceed. Limbo dancing is believed to have started from cramped and smelly slave ships that brought Africans to the Americas.

That was not limbo, that was hell. But the real hell is where slave traders—the modern-day ones, specially--should go.