The Sigiriya Experience

Posted on November 2nd, 2009 by manjabayang

The Sigiriya Experience

I am not a morning person. I have to be literally dragged out of bed most of the time, if I need to be roused early.It was one of those mornings that I had to get up at 5:00 a.m. because, as I was told, we needed to start early for Sigiriya which is between 3-4 hours away from Kandy where we decided to camp for the night.I dragged myself out of bed and took a quick shower, drowsily packed my bag and headed for the car.It was a ‘no talking’ morning with all my senses all asleep.Not even the brief visit to the Temple of Tooth can kick me off my drowsy self.Even with a 3-hour drive, I was not that excited to start the day.

My spirit was even dampened when the entrance fee to Sigiriya for foreigners was way much more than that for the locals.Foreigners are charged US$25 while locals only pay half a dollar.Isn’t that discriminatorily absurd?But I told myself, well, I came a quarter way round the globe to see this, so I might as well see it.It was a decision I will never regret.

Sigiriya, often called the ‘Lion Rock’, or the ‘Mount of Remembrance’ or the ‘Palace in the Sky’, is an ancient rock fortress and palace built between AD 477-495 and is located in the Matale district of the Central Province of Sri Lanka.It is one of the seven World Heritage Sites of Sri Lanka.

Walking through the palace’s ruins and climbing up the 370-meter high rock was an extraordinary experience for me. I was introduced to phenomenal architecture and engineering prowess that have survived centuries.It is a manifestation of the unimaginable ingenuity and creativity of architects and engineers whose works survived so many generations.

A vast expanse of network of gardens and reservoirs surround the towering rock which stands in its grandeur in the middle of lush greens.The rock can be seen from miles afar and appears to have been misplaced in a wide plain of thick forest and lavish foliage.The water reservoir unbelievably functions well until these days.Some of the water channels around the ruins have been used as natural cooling system for the king and his people.The garden and water reservoir stretch for a few hundred meters until the base of the rock where the ascent to the summit starts.

It takes one fit body and mind to climb up the winding stairwell gliding up and around the huge rock.A few hundred sweats from the bottom is the mirror wall made up of a certain kind of porcelain.Several poetic verses are etched across portions of the wall.Somewhere near this wall are several preserved frescoes showcasing beautiful topless maidens adorned with beads and jewelries.Further up the rock are the lion’s paws near the entrance to another set of winding stairwells to the rock’s summit.

Along these winding stairwells, one can be drowned with the breathtaking views of nature surrounding the majestic rock. The towering image of Budha standing tall a few kilometers from the rock, can be seen like a miniature monument amidst vast and verdant greens.

I reached the rock’s summit with a few buckets of sweat off my body and despite the scorching heat of the sun.One can only sigh in amazement at this magnificence. Everything was constructed and done spectacularly and I am honestly without any word to describe the feeling I have.I will certainly go back, and bide my time exploring every wonder of this exquisite beauty.

N.b. My most profound thanks to Dr. U.A.K. Tennakoon for his unconditional kindness.

Sigiriya, view from the sky.

Sigiriya, view from the sky.Posing near the entrance to Sigiriya.

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“Kami ay laging nag-iisa”: Boy Yuchengco responds to the Lacson Expose

Posted on September 28th, 2009 by manjabayang

My name is Boyu, short for Boy Yuchengco, aka Alfonso SyCip Yuchengco, Jr.

A couple of days after Senator Lacson’s “privilege” i was contacted by one of our security people who had spoken with a former PAOCTF member. This PAOCTF agent confirmed basically what we knew even then. It was me Estrada had ordered “kidnapped”. Yes, kidnapped, not just arrested. And Yes, Me, not my brother, Tito.

Due to their Low INTEL, they mistook my brother for me, primarily due to the fact that my brother, Tito, and i have the same first name - “Alfonso”. I, the JR, and he, the Third. The nickname “Boy” is given to the Juniors in the family. My brother, who worked at the Bank at the time, being also named after my father, ‘they’ simply assumed was the “Boy”, the Junior. They could not imagine that there was another ‘Alfonso son’ lurking around in the vault.

As a result, when these men came to the Bank looking for “Boy Yuchengco”, all they got was, “Boy Yuchengco? There’s no Boy Yuchengco here.” Wish someone in RCBC had also asked them, “You sure you have the right Bank?” Ha!

Media in general, and INQUIRER, in particular, have this thing where they just can’t understand why my father never went after Estrada “long after the intimidation factor disappeared following Estrada’s ouster from the presidency”. (Quote from Inquirer editorial)

Well, why do you think the Chinese are favorite victims of KFR gangs and Government crooks? One, we will do anything for our children, especially when our SONS are threatened, especially when the SON involved is the favorite SON.

Two, even if Estrada had been ousted from the presidency, who says the “intimidation factor had disappeared”? Remember, you guys Set Your Criminals Free! Free to commit more crimes, more intimidation. Free to send their goons after us.

Three, We Chinese are not Ninoy. We have learned, that in the Philippines, “Kami ay laging Nag-iisa!” We cannot expect help or protection from the authorities seeing as to how it is the authorities who tend to come after us.

Can you all not see the Fear Factor involved? If you still cannot, then, i doubt very much you guys will ever be able to reform anything in this country.

The next curiosity noted - “But, they were paid!”. Forgetting that this is very much beside the point when the person didn’t want to sell to begin with.

I have told some in media that they should look into the history of PLDT. This because once people know the history, know how tied to my father PLDT was from the time the Americans owned it, they might just understand why my father would never have wanted to let go of any of it.

It’s as if GSIS paid the Lopezes for MERALCO, even though the Lopezes never want to sell to GSIS and GSIS sent people to threaten the life of one of the Lopez scions to force the sale anyway.

Speaking of the Lopezes, when the TITA took over, they got everything back that Marcos took from them. No questions asked, no red tapes. However, the shares of PLDT taken from my father by Marcos (Yes, this happened once before!) and given to Cojuangco to hold in his (Marcos’) name is now even part of what was sold to First (Metro) Pacific by TbC.

“Tita TITA! Bakit kami hindi?” Was it because it involved a Cojuangco? Why the “Kamag-Anak Shuffle”? This is one reason i cannot kowtow to the TITA. Not that i blame her. She definitely was “Good People”, no doubt about it. However, she was too naive. And, she allowed a lot of people, relatives and others, to ruin what could have been a real honest-to-goodness bloodless revolution. One that could have finally changed Flip Society for the Better and “for GOOD”.

AS for the rest of the “story”. I do not have first hand knowledge as to what did or did not happen. I only know of the threat to me because i had been warned by one of my sisters then to lay low. Btw, another thing that showed “their Low INTEL” - Pretending to arrest me on “trumped-up drug charges” - was that it wouldn’t have worked. I was in ReHab then, had been for some time. In fact, i was already in the HalfWay House of New Beginnings when all that was happening. So, how does one arrest someone for drugs when the person is already inside the ReHab?

I am passing this information around for no other reason then to draw some of the flak from my father who is now quite old and a bit frail. I also want “them” to leave my brother alone. I also pass this around to remind people that it’s easy for Actors to pretend, to fool people, even the Santa Tita. But please don’t forget that the guy was, and is, a Gangster. Just look at his friends and “barkada”… You are who you hang out with.

Please pass this around. Are we all going to finally take a stand against the crooks in Government and the Private sector? Or, Nag-iisa lang ba kami ulit?

Btw, this missive in no way defends or sides with Senator Lac. As far as i’m concerned, they’re all crooks and should be locked up in the same cell. I-sama na rin ninyo si GrandMA.

BUT, when are the Filipino people ever going to do this? When are we going to start sincerely helping one another rather than claw & rip off one another?

When are we all ever going to learn and live the real meaning of “Maka-Tao” (’Maki-Tao’)? When are we ever going to relearn the true sense of “Utang na Loob”, wherein we live for, and assist, one another because we care and not because we are being paid for it?

MaBuhay ang Pinoy! MaBuhay rin sana ang Tsinoy!

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Philippine Permanent Mission to the UN Offends Indigenous Peoples

Posted on August 16th, 2009 by manjabayang

Philippine Permanent Mission to the UN Offends Indigenous Peoples

Geneva, Switzerland -Representatives of indigenous peoples, organizations and support groups paid a visit to the Philippine Ambassador and the Philippine Permanent Mission to the United Nations here in Geneva, on Thursday, August 13, 2009.It was a courtesy call turned sour when the Mr. Dennis Lipatan of the Permanent Mission flared up in the middle of discussions and with a raging voice and trembling fingers, pointed at one of the representative of the support group, shouting “Do you even know what is FPIC?Do you even know what is ancestral domain?”He then stood up and left the meeting room.

FPIC is free, prior and informed consent which is the right exercised by indigenous peoples and communities before any projects or polices directly or indirectly affecting them, be launched in their territories.Mr. Lipatan directed his outburst to Mr. Cathal Doyle of the Irish Human Rights Center who is doing his doctorate on FPIC.Mr. Doyle has been in the Philippines in the past years traveling to more than twenty (20) indigenous communities to conduct interviews and researches.He also had the several meetings with officials of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and numerous discussions with support groups and non-government organization (NGO) in the Philippines.

Mr. Lipatan’s outburst was brought about by the discussion on the issue of the indigenous peoples now living in Didipio, Nueva Vizcaya.Mr. Lipatan insisted that no FPIC is required if the mining companies would want to mine in Didipio because the residents are migrants and they have individual tax declarations.He argues that the mining companies only need to ask for the agreement of individual owners of the lands.Mr. Doyle started to explain that the new guidelines of NCIP states that FPIC is required whenever indigenous peoples are directly or indirectly affected by any development project.Mr. Lipatan however cut Mr. Doyle with his outburst.

Mr. Peter Duyapat, an indigenous elder from Didipio who was present during the meeting, compared the meeting to that of their numerous confrontations with NCIP officials in the Philippines who are so antagonistic to indigenous peoples’ rights.Mr. Duyapat patiently relayed the situation of their community to Ambassador Erlinda Basilio and the members of the Permanent Mission only to be told that they have no right to FPIC.Mr. Lipatan even accused the group of complicating a very simple problem.

Ms. Robie Halip of the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) also commented that her group agreed to meet with the Permanent Mission to give their respect to the Ambassador and the members of the mission and not to squabble with them because there is no intention to come into agreement on issues raised by indigenous peoples.

The indigenous elders and NGOs were further disheartened when Ambassador Basilio repeatedly stated that “all of us (Filipinos) are indigenous peoples”.This statement of the Ambassador mirrors the alarming inadequacy of awareness of even high government officials on the concept of indigenous peoples.

UN CERD

The group consisting of indigenous peoples’ representatives, NGOs and support groups, are in Geneva to present a Shadow Report which they submitted to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).The Philippines ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and is required to submit a periodic report every four years, to the CERD.However, it only submitted a report once in 1997 until the CERD called its attention on its failure to submit thus on June 30, 2008, the Philippines submitted its country report.

If the State Report does not reflect actual situations, civil society can also submit their own report which they usually call the Shadow Report, to counter allegations of the government in their State Report. In June 2009, a Shadow Report focusing on the rights of indigenous peoples was submitted to the ICERD.

In the August 2009 CERD sessions, the Philippines will be under review.Civil society will have one hour on August 18, 2009 to present their report and recommendations to the committee.The groups from indigenous communities and NGOs is composed of Peter Duyapat from Didipio, Nueva Vizcaya, Timauy Jose Anoy and Timuay Noval Lambo from Sibugay, Zamboanga, Mary Ann Manja Bayang of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Monitor, Ann Rhia Muhi from the Legal Rights Center, and from the Indigenous Peoples Links are Geoffrey Nettleton, Lodel Magbanua and Andy Whitmore.They are joined by Cathal Doyle from the Irish Human Rights Center.

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ARREST OF LOZADA: ABUSE OF THE LEGAL SYSTEM TO SUPPRESS THE TRUTH

Posted on April 30th, 2009 by manjabayang

PRESS RELEASE

April 30, 2009

ARREST OF LOZADA:  ABUSE OF THE LEGAL SYSTEM TO SUPPRESS THE TRUTH

The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers condemn the recent arrest and detention of Jun Lozada as nothing more than an attempt to finally bury the truth in the NBN ZTE anomaly.    As members of the legal profession we are extremely concerned with Pres. Gloria Arroyo’s unjust use of the legal system to harass legitimate dissent and promote impunity.     Worse, the same justice system is used to exempt presidential allies from investigation and prosecution.

Even if a cabinet member  testified under oath in an official Senate hearing that former Comelec Chairman Benjamin  Abalos bribed him with 200 Million pesos in the deal, Abalos was never prosecuted by the Ombudsman or the Justice Department.  While Abalos remains free today, Jun Lozada  is under arrest.  The Melo Commission, the very Commission created by Pres. Arroyo to investigate extra judicial killings, found Gen. Jovito Palparan accountable for the killings but he was never even investigated for human rights violations. The UNCHR has found criminally liable for the murder of Eden Marcellana and Eddie Gumanoy and this criminalized government ha allowed the criminal to become a congressman. Gen. Palparan is now in Congress, Jun Lozada languishes in jail.

The recent attack against Jun Lozada is part of a government attempt to silence its critics and cover up its criminal acts.  Members of various peoples organizations like Karapatan,  the late Crispin Beltran and the Batasan Five, even human rights lawyers like Atty. Ming Saladero have been victims of harassment cases filed by the Arroyo government.

The recent arrest of Jun Lozada will not be the last since this is but a mere part of Pres. Arroyo’s policy to violate constitutional rights to maintain herself in power.  We ask members of the legal profession and the people to condemn the arrest of Lozada and express visible support to him. We must demand that Pres. Arroyo cease from using the legal processes to suppress dissent and cover up crimes.

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The Supreme Court Decision on the Party List case: An Analysis

Posted on April 29th, 2009 by manjabayang

The Supreme Court Decision on the Party List case: An Analysis

By:Cleto R. Villacorta III

It is every judge’s dream of a decision to make.Truly it is a decision that touched more on imprinting a policy than the settlement of a justiciable controversy, one that could have been resolved either way without fear of infringing constitutional tenets.Barangay Association for National Advancement and Transparency (BANAT) v. Commission on Elections et al., G.R. No. 179271, April 20, 2009, and its companion cases is like filling in of details where Congress failed to legislate, an affirmative action to give meaning to the relevant texts of the Constitution and beyond – to bring order to the political mess of a party-list system.

Briefly Banat introduced key concepts in party-list representation.First it revised the mathematics of bringing in party-list representatives.Second it allowed more seats to be occupied in the House of Representatives so the twenty percent (20%) constituency could be achieved.Third it reinterpreted the two percent (2%) threshold vote in the Party-List Law, RA 7941.And fourth it did not sanction the domination by a single group or select groups of the party-list bloc in Congress, hence, the stress on the three (3)-seat cap.These parameters ushered in corrections that gave new life to party-list representation if not by doctrinal revisions then at least by injecting new interesting faces as Congresspersons.

But the basics remained the same.Banat is simply the reincarnation of the three (3) basic tenets of party-list representation – marginalized, underrepresented and small.Those who have no constituency can be represented in Congress.Those who are ignored by political parties can have a voice in Congress.Those who otherwise would be called nuisance can have a part in the political spoils.At its best new ideas are infused in lawmaking but at its worst in a manner of speaking it has democratize the access to political largesse.And all these because marginalization and underrepresentation have been equated with smallness – the smaller one is the suppression of its voice becomes greater.The idea appears logical.For in Philippine society one who could throw its weight around is not and cannot be ignored; it could find an ally somewhere somehow.

Here lies the conundrum.Some say that the party-list representation should help fringed political parties to be a strong voice in Congress by allowing them to sit more than three (3) representatives in proportion to their tallied votes.But others say, when this happens the fringe ceases to be crumbs and themselves turn into one of the largest political players in this jurisdiction.This was the divide in the Banat case between the have-nots and the haves: the definition of proportional representation revolved on the two percent (2%) threshold vote and the three (3) – seat cap.Thus these questions: must the Supreme Court lift the two percent (2%) threshold; must it do away with the three (3)-seat cap; must it maintain both; must it choose only one of them in defining proportional representation; must it respect the status quo.

Banat chose to stick to smallness, who because small could never gain access to Congress.The consequences may now be terrible even horrible, with the ascension to power of personalities whom one would never think of becoming members of the House of Representatives.Say Gen. Palparan or the President’s relatives.Then again that is what the party-list system in the country is all about – smallness and the rationale behind it, which is, being small is synonymous with marginalization and underrepresentation.

In the end forget about the ideal – it was never meant to be.One person, one vote.Not by majority.Not even by plurality.But by accident of the twenty percent (20%) party-list constituency.By the demand of a mathematical formula so this could be filled in.One becomes the people’s representative no matter how small a number the principals may be.No matter that looneys could band together and demand representation in law-making.But that is making a judgment on who should sit and who should not.Surely no one should dare propose imposing such judgment call.It was how we conceive our party-list system to be.Beggars cannot be choosers, and there certainly could not be one set of rule for one and a different set for another.Literally, one person, one vote, one representative.Ah, well, at least, it is the ultimate of ultimate democracy.

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COURT: PRESIDENT ARROYO ET AL. ABDUCTED ACTIVIST JAMES BALAO

Posted on January 23rd, 2009 by manjabayang

COURT: PRESIDENT ARROYO ET AL. ABDUCTED ACTIVIST JAMES BALAO

IN A BOLD DECISION promulgated on January 19, 2009, the first on the writ of amparo in the Cordillera Region, the Regional Trial Court-Branch 63 in La Trinidad, Benguet found substantial evidence to link President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Alexander Yano, PNP Chief Jesus Versoza, Brig. Gen. Reynaldo Mapagu, P/Dir. Edgardo Doromal, Maj. Gen. Isagani Cachuela and Senior Supreintendent Eugene Martin, to the abduction and continued disappearance of activist James Balao.These government officials were the respondents in a petition for the issuance of the writ of amparo filed by the family and co-workers of James Balao in September 2008.Judge Benigno M. Galacgac penned the Decision in this case.

The Court’s thirteen (13)-page Decision directed the respondents to “(a) disclose where James Balao is detained or confined, (b) to release James Balao considering his unlawful detention since his abduction and (c) to cease and desist from further inflicting harm upon his person.”In reaching this Decision the Court found that James Balao disappeared because of his “activist/political leanings.”The Court also chided respondents for its “very limited, superficial, and one-sided” investigation on James Balao’s enforced disappearance, and for using “technicalities and evidentiary jargon to thwart [the] Petition to surface the activist.”

Equally important, in an unprecedented move, the Court has recognized the need for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to respond to a petition for the issuance of a writ of amparo.The Court brilliantly supported this tack on the President’s own duty to be informed of the goings-on around her and to enforce the rule of law.This ruling of the Court provides substance to the otherwise empty statement that “no one is above the law.”By this Decision the President can be held accountable for every case of human rights abuse, especially enforced disappearances, even simply on the level of ensuring the reappearance of the disappeared.

Through its independence and commitment to the rule of law, the Court has pinned the responsibility for James Balao’s disappearance and reappearance upon President Arroyo and her cohorts.

However, the fight is not over.The bottom line is we need to find James Balao.We thus deplore the Court’s ruling to deny the interim reliefs prayed for, especially the issuance of an inspection order.An inspection order would have saved much time and effort in locating James Balao.Still, we are hopeful that the process of executing the Decision pending appeal, with all ancillary reliefs, would reverse an otherwise empty victory.The Court has found – and rightly so – that James Balao is in the hands of the Respondents.The Court must exercise its vast powers so that justice be done though the mighty respondents fall.As the Court has rightfully quoted,

The tribunals are the palladium of the civil liberties of the people.They are the sanctuary where the fundamental human rights are safeguarded.Shall we fail in the crucial hours of actual test? Shall we disappoint the unfortunate victim?This is the last asylum where the victim can resort to.Shall we reject him with freezing indifference?Here comes for salvation a drowning man.Shall we throw him to his doom?From the deepest bottom of our souls surges a powerful No, as an overpowering answer.No.We cannot do that.We must protect the victim.It is our unavoidable duty.It is an imperative mandate of the conscience.[1]

National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers

CAR Chapter

#55 Upper Ferguson Road

2600 Baguio City

Tel/fax: +63-74-4452586

nuplcordillera@gmail.com

[1] Reyes vs. Crisologo, G.R. No. L-54. 9-27-45.

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Mental Hospital Menu

Posted on October 6th, 2008 by manjabayang

MENTAL  HOSPITAL PHONE MENU

Hello and  thank you for calling The State Mental Hospital.

Please select from the  following options menu:

If you are  obsessive-compulsive, press 1 repeatedly.

If you are  co-dependent, please ask someone to press 2 for you.

If you  have multiple personalities, press 3, 4, 5 and 6.

If you are  paranoid, we know who you are and what you want, stay on the line so we can  trace your call.

If you are  delusional, press 7 and your call will be forwarded to the Mother  Ship.

If you are  schizophrenic, listen carefully and a little voice will tell you which number  to press.

If you are  manic-depressive, it doesn’t matter which number you press, nothing will make  you happy anyway.

If you are  dyslexic, press 9696969696969696.

If you are  bipolar, please leave a message after the beep or before the beep or after the  beep. Please wait for the beep.

If you  have short-term memory loss, press 9. If you have short-term memory loss,  press 9. If you have short-term memory loss, press 9.

If you  have low self-esteem, please hang up our operators are too busy to talk with  you.

If you are  menopausal, put the gun down, hang up, turn on the fan, lie down and cry. You  won’t be crazy forever.

If you are  blonde, don’t press any buttons, you’ll just mess it up.

This coming week is National Mental Health Care week.

You can do your part by  remembering to contact at least one unstable person to show you  care.

Well, my job is done . . . . . Your  turn.

Nice day ahead!

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My Good Samaritan is from India

Posted on October 2nd, 2008 by manjabayang

My Good Samaritan is from India

It was one normally busy day for me, leaving the house at the nick of time to rush to a meeting in town. I jumped into my car and slowly moved out into the main highway traffic. About half a kilometer away, my car coughed and stopped. I started it again and after two meters, it coughed some more and did not anymore start. I was in the middle of a busy road so I got out of the car and opened the hood so that motorists would know that there was a problem with my car and to prevent anyone form unnecessarily blowing off their horns.

I stood at the shoulder of the road and tried to call a friend whose office was nearby. Unfortunately, he was not at the office. I tried to call my office and the person who could have helped me was out of the office. I stood there worrying about what I should do. There were a lot of vehicles who just passed me by. The persons I was supposed to meet with were calling me and I had to explain that I got stuck in the middle of the road and had to appeal for them to wait for me.

I was really hoping that some Good Samaritan will stop and share his gas with me. I waited long until a car stopped. The driver, who I suspect was in his early twenty’s, went out and asked me what was wrong. I told him that I ran out of gas and then he went back to his car and informed his companion who went out of the car. I noticed that he was not a Filipino and he looks like some of the businessmen in the city whom we always refer to as ‘Bombays’. He asked me if I had a container for gas to which I answered in the negative. He then offered to fetch some gas for me.

When they returned with a gallon of gas after some minutes, I asked them how much I owe them and the ‘Bombay’ insisted that I should not pay. I started to chat with him and I learned that he was the Chief Administrative Officer of the International Department of Medicine of St. Louis University. His name is V. Rameshkumar and he is from India. Of course, I was immensely thankful to him and I told him so.

Filipinos normally boast about their hospitality and good values like these are something extraordinary. On that day however, I realized that in my own land where I was supposed to depend on my people, my people passed me by at a time that I needed them – and my Good Samaritan was a foreigner – and a very busy person I suspect, who went out of his way to help a person in need. I realized, after all, that hospitality and good virtues are universal- and the Filipinos are losing it.

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Dejavu in Taiwan and feeling at home among its mountains…..

Posted on September 21st, 2008 by manjabayang

Dejavu in Taiwan and feeling at home among its mountains…..

It was so many years ago that I dreamt of walking along a crowded business street, all the signage above every store a combination of symbols that look like Chinese characters. I was thinking then that that was an impossible situation as I would never have the means of going to another country to be able to see these kinds of places. That was so many pounds ago.

Amidst the heavy downpour in the afternoon of September 6, 2008 and a few pounds heavier, I experienced a sense of dejavu as I walked the streets of Namasha Township, Kaohshiung County, Taiwan. It was a small town and we were in the center darting from one store to another dodging the rain. It was a ‘taro town’ (gabi). It was so abundant with this root crop and therefore produces everything out of taro. There were taro candies, taro pastries, taro cakes, taro preserves, taro ice cream and a lot of other products made of taro. Every store sells all of these taro products. There was even a very big taro cement plant near the bridge towards the river. Every store offers ‘free taste’ of all these taro products. Since the cakes, which tasted the best, were expensive for my standard, I enjoyed the ‘free taste’ in every store and ended up full after going through the whole strip of taro stores. One of our companions, a Taiwanese, bought us one box each of taro candies in the end. She also bought us one umbrella each so we can go through the stores faster because we were supposed to go back to the village in half an hour. She was such a generous woman.

Takanua Village, Namasha Township, which the venue of the Asian workshop on climate change and indigenous health that we were holding was half an hour from this town. It was more than two hours by car from Kaohshiung City. I wasn’t able to see much during the drive from the airport because it was midnight. I was only able to notice that the roads were generally good although narrow, except for a few portions which were destroyed by the recent typhoons. Mountain walls were eroded and a lot of road danger signs were put up along these areas. At day time, one could see the cascading mountains thick with tropical plants and underbrush lining the streets towards the horizon. The land is obviously fertile. The Namasha river flows smoothly and cleanly opposite and parallel to the road that snakes through the mountainside towards Takanua. I was told by Ibu, one of the indigenous persons who hosted us, told me that the people in this area still go hunting in their forests for wild pigs and deer. Bamboos are also aplenty. We were fed bamboo shoots almost everyday. Sayote were equally as regularly served.

I felt that I have not left home. Their culture was too much similar to the indigenous peoples in the Philippines. Their traditional costumes were as colorful, their dances and songs as joyful, and their rituals as sacred. They had mountains lush with trees and greens and birds that howl in the night and sing in the day along with the gushing sound of clean river waters and water falls. There are too many similarities in culture but not in development and economic condition. They have good road networks except for the portions recently destroyed by the typhoons and which were immediately being repaired. They had clean environs and one could smell the sweetness of the earth with the rising of the sun in the early mornings. One of the villagers told me that they are poor in this area. But my goodness! Each of them has a car of their own and the public transport is least used so the bus only leaves once in the morning and returns in the afternoon.

But the indigenous tribes in Taiwan are also victims of capitalist oppression leading to the destruction of indigenous culture and environment. One morning, I was amazed at the hugeness of a mango held by a small child. It was almost as big as her head and later, I saw villages packing mangoes of this size for export. I was however saddened when I was told that these mangoes are genetically modified organisms (GMO). Like in the Philippines, the agriculture of indigenous peoples in Taiwan has been corrupted by capitalist interests. In the long term, no one will suffer but the indigenous peoples themselves.

My stay in Taiwan was cut short by a meeting that I had to attend in Manila. I felt sad that I did not have the time to frolic in their clean and cool rivers or enjoy the rush of the water falls.

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Unity Statement of Kusog sa Katawhang Lumad sa Mindanao (Kalumaran) on the MOA-AD and Peace in Mindanao

Posted on September 13th, 2008 by manjabayang

We, the Council members of Kusog sa Katawhang Lumad sa Mindanao (Kalumaran), an alliance of fifty-six Lumad organizations from the regions of Mindanao, unite on the following:

We Lumads firmly support the Bangsamoro people’s struggle for ancestral domain and the Right to Self-Determination.

History shows that even with the distinct identity of the Lumad and Bangsamoro, both have fought together against colonialism and national oppression. Longstanding peace pacts between Moro and Lumad tribes, such as the dyandi, tampuda, sandugo, sapa, sinumlite, and others, further formalized this relationship.

Presently, the majority poor of the Lumad, Moro and settlers in Mindanao suffer from a common problem of landlessness. We suffer from the plunder of our lands by multinational corporations engaged in logging, mining, and agribusiness enterprises. We likewise suffer militarization in our communities like in Caraga, Davao Provinces, Socsksargen, Zamboanga, Bukidnon and other areas that result in massive evacuation and dislocation of communities.

The Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) is an expression of the Bangsamoro’s Right to Self-Determination by defining the foundation, concept and principles that recognize the ancestral domain of the Bangsamoro. It also affirms and acknowledges the Lumad’s Right to Self-Determination by recognizing Lumad territories under the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE).

However, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the big landlords, big businesses and imperialist powers have used the MOA-AD to further their interests.

Arroyo and the big landlords have exploited the issues surrounding the MOA-AD to mislead and divide the Filipino people. They have done so by calling on civilians to take up arms against the Moro people as a means of protecting their own vast tracks of land and businesses. Warlords such as Manny Piñol of North Cotabato, who plays a big role in defending the multinational corporations in his province, have further incited violence and disunity. However, the marginalized Filipino people, especially the Lumads, are not swayed by this manipulation because it is clear whose interests such calls serve.

Kalumaran denounces the Arroyo government’s abandonment of peace negotiations between the GRP-MILF and the GRP-NDF and its policy of disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) which will only wreak more havoc on our communities already bearing the burden of Arroyo’s militarist policies.

Arroyo took advantage of the confusion on the MOA-AD to launch “all-out war” against the Bangsamoro and Lumad communities. After abandoning peace negotiations, Arroyo stressed the call for surrender – even fake surrender of civilians— and the provision of firearms to civilians and vigilante groups like the Ilaga. Her government has also provoked division and conflict among the Lumads by using fake tribal leaders like Joel Unad, Ruben Labawan, Ramon Bayaan, Luis Lambac, Deo Mampatilan, Lito Gawilan and their organizations such as the Mindanao Indigenous Peoples Conference for Peace and Development (MIPCPD) which are supported by the military.

By Arroyo’s design, the MOA-AD becomes a justification to push for Charter Change, thereby extending her term.

Imperialist countries also intend to exploit the MOA-AD to hasten the plunder of the ancestral land of the Lumad and Bangsamoro. The United States has been intervening in the events in Mindanao in various forms. The United States Institute for Peace (USIP) has been intervening in the peace process and pushing its design that serves US policy interests. Furthermore, the presence of US armed forces in Mindanao through the Balikatan Exercises and other activities is now permanent. Other imperialist countries like Japan, Canada, Australia and the European Union have been giving aid to Bangsamoro areas; but this comes with strings attached as it is meant to pave the way for their business interests such as mining.

Our experience under the Indigenous People’s Rights Act (IPRA) over the past ten years has shown that the law and the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) are used as instruments to facilitate the entrance and plunder of multinational corporations in our territories. The issuance of ancestral domain titles under the IPRA does not aid in the defense of the ancestral domain, but rather works in favor of big business interests.

Under such conditions, the way to assert the Right to Self-Determination and to defend ancestral domain is not simply defining territories, but rather actively defending the land from plunder and promoting the collective rights of the indigenous peoples and Bangsamoro.

Genuine autonomy cannot be achieved as long as the elite, the big landlords, big businesspeople and their foreign capitalist cohorts remain in power. They will always use any and every means to defend and promote their economic interests.

All Filipino people who are exploited and oppressed should unite to defend the ancestral domain towards genuine national liberation of the entire Filipino people. This is the only way to assure the genuine establishment of the Right to Self-Determination of the Bangsamoro and Lumad peoples, and to resolve our common problems such as landlessness, militarization, and plunder of our natural resources.

Our calls:

Assert the Right to Self-Determination and ancestral domain of the Moro and Lumad by stopping development aggression in our territories!

Stop the Disarmament, Demobilization, and Re-integration (DDR) policy and resume the peace talks between the GRP-MILF and GRP-NDF!

Stop militarization, all-out war and fake surrendering of the Moro, Lumad, and settlers!

Lumad, Moro and Settlers unite! Defend land and life in Mindanao!

Approved during the Council Meeting of Kalumaran in Cagayan de Oro City on September 7, 2008.

References:

Dulphing Ogan

0909-554-8217

Kerlan Fanagel

0919-271-4767

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