By ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW
www.nordis.net

Twenty years ago, twelve Senators expressed their patriotic love for their country by terminating, through a Senate Resolution, the occupation of 23 prime sites by the United States Military as their bases.

It can be recalled that after World War II, where the Philippines was dragged into the war by US, the US facilitated a treaty known as the RP-US Military Bases Agreement which handed to the Americans these 23 areas in the Philippines as their military bases in exchange for military support like giving their surplus materials and training to the Philippine military. The areas covered included Clark, Subic and Camp John Hay in Baguio City where the Voice of America (VOA) was hosted; VOA is a communication facility for the US in Asia.

Before and on that historic date, I remember the political situation to be very tense. The US, Pres. Corazon “Cory” Aquino, businessmen and those working in the hospitality industry in the US military bases in Central Luzon pressured the Senators to vote for the extension of the US military bases in the country. On the other hand, nationalist and patriotic sectors also mobilized their forces to the Batasan to give moral support for the Senators who would vote for the termination of the military bases and instead use these areas for the economic development of the Filipinos.

The political tide tilted to the love of country. On September 16, 1991, twelve Senators voted for the termination while eleven Senators voted for the retention of the military bases. Known as the Magnificent 12, those who voted for the termination of the US bases are: Senate President Jovito Salonga and Senators Wigberto Tanada, Teofisto Guingona, Rene Saguisag, Victor Ziga, Sotero Laurel, Ernesto Maceda, Agapito Aquino, Juan Ponce Enrile, Joseph Estrada, Orlando Mercado, and Aquilino Pimentel. (I don’t need to identify the 11 senators who voted in favor of the US military bases extension, as they are not worth any space in my column especially the Senator who allegedly received $ 13.7 million from the US for his labor organization.) Though done 20 years ago, I salute these 12 brave Senators for that patriotic act. Their action is worth of emulation by the Filipinos, particularly the youth.

At the height of the debate and few days before the historic votation in the Senate, I joined the mobilizations for the termination of the treaty. The delegation from Northern Luzon was led by the Saranay ti Umili ti Amianan and the Cordillera Peoples Alliance. The mobilizations – from all walks of life from North to the South – camped out at the Senate grounds. The issues raised included sovereignty – like the cases committed by US servicemen in the country which cannot be tried under Philippine law.

Senator Wigberto Tañada was one of the personalities consistent in the Anti-US Bases campaign. He tried all means to raise the issue into principled discussions in the Senate. He was the principal sponsor of Senate Resolution 1259 which sought the non-concurrence to the proposed bases treaty. In his sponsorship of the resolution, his words reverbrated in the air: “A historic and economic opportunity awaits the Philippines as the Filipino people, reinforced by the mandate of their Constitution, now seek to remove the last visible vestiges of colonialism in this country, the US military bases. Upon the powers vested in us by the will of our people, through the Constitution, let us be a beacon of the long-shackled hopes of our martyrs and nation.”

I can still remember that we were watching through television the Senate deliberation on the military bases. It started from 9 AM to 8:15 PM, where the 23 Senators took turns explaining their votes. The 24th Senator Raul Manglapuz was appointed earlier as Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs. It was Senator Jovito Salonga who spoke last and explained his stand. And the result: 12 Senators voted for the termination of the US military bases. The next was a jubilant celebration for Filipinos: the US bases must pack and go!

That was 20 years ago. Presently, the Philippines faced another one-sided agreement which does not only trample on our sovereignty. It extends to the Philippines, the war policy of the United States of America – the RP–US Visiting Forces Agreement, a treaty adopted by the Senate. Will history repeat itself? Will nationalist-inspired politicians be elected in the Senate to terminate this lopsided treaty? Only history will tell! # nordis.net

By MARY LOU MARIGZA
www.nordis.net

James Balao is one of the founders of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance. He had championed indigenous peoples rights as a student and as a researcher of the collective rights of national minorities. He had articulated the aspirations and programs of the indigenous peoples even as a high school and college student paper editor. He fought for the development of the Cordilleras for the benefit of the Cordillerans and for provisions of services long deprived in the interior. He proposed alternative practices patterned after the unity building practices of the tribes. He held positions even in their clan as recognition that intelligence, maturity and keen judgment are not only the domain of the elderly.

James was abducted by elements of the state security forces in a waiting shed with people around in La Trinidad three years ago. To this day, we continue to look for him and search every military camp and write to all concerned agencies about his whereabouts. We have asked military authorities and the civilian bureaucracy. We have written articles and distributed leaflets, we have gone to radio stations and TV stations. We have stormed the heavens, we have scoured the seas and rivers. We have asked the wind to bring our messages to him wherever he is. To this day, we continue to seek him and all desaparecidos. We lift the prayers of their families and loved ones for their safe return, their safety where they are now, their health and peace of mind.

To those of us who have been imprisoned, abducted, tortured, harassed, sentenced with trumped up charges, we feel the pain and agony of their families as they seek their loved ones in military camp after military camp.

Martial law was lifted years ago but the effects of martial rule remain and cling like hungry leeches to the state forces. Even the judiciary has not been purged of the iron hand it has wielded despite attempts by human rights advocates to protect the citizens thru writ and passion. Whether we like to admit it or not, we are living under the shadow of the dark days of martial law, we are not safe, we do not know when the knock in the night will come or when the men with unmarked cars will abduct us to destinations unkown.

Busal ang ating mga bibig, piniringan ang ating mga mata at pilit tinatakpan ang ating mga tenga. Kumakabog ang ating dibdib sa pagpupumiglas na makawala. James, saan ka man nila itinatago, asahan mong hindi kami titigil hanggat di ka namin nakikitang malaya. # nordis.net

By KATHLEEN T. OKUBO
www.nordis.net

The jeepney drivers organizations are going on a nationwide strike. I wish we commuting, jeepney-bus-taxi riding citizens stressed out by the rough roads, dirty and stinking garbage on the streets, rickety PU transport ride, stressed out driver and noisy griping co-passenger; Yes, all of us join their ranks and march with the drivers. After all we ride in their vehicles, gripe and cuss with them as we go through the artificial riverbed roads of the city, and worry about raising funds for our daily needs like them, Everyday! Maybe a break from our daily routine and marching with fist in the air while belting out an out of tune tenor of “presyo ng gas, ibagsak!” will at least take or air all that stress out. We can learn something to stave out all that misdirected angst against these artificial rise in prices being put on our shoulders as members of the greater Filipino people.

On Bulatlat was a news item about a study made by a Marcelo Tecson, who worked with the government agency handling the former Oil Price Stabilization Fund, that revealed “the myth of the oil deregulation law’s promises to bring down prices and the fact that the government can revert to oil price regulation without needing subsidies.”

Tomorrow Sept. 19, Monday, if the drivers organizations in the City are strong enough to march the streets in support of the nationwide transport strike, it would be helpful to understand their protest because it affects us all. Like a string of dominoes, it touches all aspects of our everyday economic activity and needs. Instead of grrrring, we should be gratefull somebody is protesting against the greed of these oil cartels, the corruption they have promoted and graft practices they have supported to protect their scandalously sinful profits squeezed out of the population of a third world nation like your country. Walk with the striking drivers and learn a thing or two.

It just so happen that these drivers are involved in the daily rigours of operating public transportation that they have a better knowledge of the business that affects their daily earnings. It is more from the study of their livelihood operations and situations or conditions that directly affects their source of income that they discover how these big oil businesses wantonly exploit the end user – that is the PU drivers and us.

It is also because of the study of the drivers’ livelihood that they came across and trust the information that our legislators who authored and passed that Oil Deregulation Law were not sincere when these lawmakers said that the deregulation law was to protect the greater Filipino nation. It has turned out that the oil deregulation was all just talk, and it is by that law that the oil companies “raise and raise, and drop a little” the price of oil so many times. It has turned out that even without that law, the government could have (and should always have had) protected its people (the drivers, transport owners and us commuters) from such unfair business pratices that has added so much pain in the gut of everyone of us.

It is not as if these drivers and their leaders simply go on strike anytime or whenever they want. For the past decade, the organized groups of transport workers and operators have had negotiations and public fora with transport owners, other transport unions, gasoline station owners and organizations, local oil companies, members of Congress, Senate and recently, even the president just to regulate the high fuel price problem.

Simply because these drivers are in the same economic boat like the rest of us, I trust they represent our opinion – to regulate a fair price for fuel – to make life a bit easier for all.

Piston (Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide), is asking: for a rollback in pump prices to correct the oil overpricing; to scrap the oil deregulation law; suspend or scrap the value-added tax on oil products and toll fees. Would you agree that these are all advantageous for the greater Filipino population? That includes us Igorots too.

That same article said, “Tecson reportedly based his estimates of huge leaps on oil companies’ profit margins with the implementation of Oil Deregulation Law, based on data given by experts contracted by the government itself.” # nordis.net

By ALDWIN QUITASOL
www.nordis.net

Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime — Aristotle

It was so sad to hear the previous week’s local news that a girl’s dead body was dumped just like that by a fellow youth days after accidentally shooting her, as claimed by the self-confessed perpetrator. The out-of-school girl when still alive used to hang-out with friends who were engaged in that anti-social activity of sniffing drugs. She was said to be hanging-out with people who had standing warrants of arrest for drug pushing as well as using. Prior to the girl’s death, they were preparing for a drug session in the house of one of her friends.

What was very sad is this girl was the daughter of an overseas Filipino worker who went to slave it out just to earn a little more than what she used to earn here in the Philippines.Those who were close to her especially her kin, no one can explain why she was not going to school. Why was she going with people who are into the drug trade? Why was she taking drugs? What was wrong with her and what were her problems?

Was this girl rebelling against her parents? Did she feel abandoned? Did she think she was growing up and getting older without guidance from her mother? Why is her mother working abroad far from her anyway instead of taking care of her daughter? What kind of society is she living in?

So many questions that one has to look deeper for the answer.

Many parents think that when they work abroad, it will bring a brighter future to their children. They can send them to school, provide them whatever they need and ensure financial security. And some of them, tired of being impoverished in a country where the wealthy rules, dream of becoming rich.

Under the repressive system of government gave our OFWs a brand for consolation, “ang mga bagong bayani” (modern day heroes) of the country because of the remittances they add to the country’s treasury. And many so-called programs and assistance programs are being provided these OFW’s as a “tribute” to their heroism. Despite these “recognitions” and attention government claims to have given them, many are still victims of physical and mental abuse from their employers or from the law enforcers of the government of the country they work in.

Many times Filipinos hear of their countrymen, relatives and friends being jailed or condemned to the death chambers for various alleged crimes or violations that many claim are trumped up or due to ignorance of the foreign legal system. It is so irritating though that ambassadors and officials representing government through the Philippine embassies abroad have proven to be inutile in many of these cases. There were instances that these officials and envoys instead of helping their kababayans make things worst. Even without the proper protection from their government, the lack of education and skills, many of our fellow Filipinos still opt to take the risk and go look for work abroad. Often they have no choice there is country marred by job scarcity and wages even below the poverty line.

There are also questions that need answers, when will Filipino workers be secured in their jobs, receive just wages, and better benefits in their own country with a so that they will not have to go to abroad? And even for those who are working abroad, when will they feel secure because they know that their government is ready and really behind them; concerned for them and their families instead of only counting how much remittances they can bring into the country? # nordis.net

By REV. LUNA DINGAYAN
www.nordis.net

“It is by his wounds that you have been healed.” — 1 Peter 2:24

The 9/11 Tragedy

The 9/11 terrorists attack in the US ten years ago is perhaps one of the worst, if not the worst, tragedy that happened in recent times. More than 3,000 people from various nationalities, including 20 Filipinos died that fateful day. The death recently of the main culprit, Osama Bin Laden, caused many to rejoice and to feel that justice has been finally served, but many are still nursing the tragic memories of their loved ones’ untimely death.

There are those, however, who tried to overcome the tragedy by putting meaning to it, and turning it into a blessing. Rudy Abad is one of them. He is a wealthy philanthropist, a retired Filipino-American business executive whose wife Marie Rose died in the 9/11 New York tragedy. His wife was in her office in the 89th floor of the World Trade Center twin towers when they collapsed. His wife is a New York born daughter from an Italian immigrant family.

Rudy donated more than $60,000 to Gawad Kalinga in the name of his wife for the construction of a village for destitute families in Tondo. “It was the tragedy that opened your eyes, that makes you want to do something far and beyond. If the tragedy did not happen, I don’t know that I would have been moved to do this thing.” These are the words of Rudy Abad. Thus, the once notorious area in Tondo is now turned into a tidy village named after Marie Rose Abad. Indeed, the tragedy becomes a blessing.

God’s Nature

Tragedies are supposed to have no place in God’s good creation. But nevertheless, tragedies do happen in this created world. They are very much part of the reality of life. Does this mean that God is not really that Almighty and loving as shown by these tragedies? Not at all! As a matter of fact, it is in times of tragedies that God would show us His power and love. God has a way of turning a tragedy into a blessing. Thus, the 9/11 tragedy that caused the death of Rudy Abad’s wife made him more compassionate and generous to the poor and destitute.

Jesus’ death on the cross is a tragedy. Perhaps, there is nothing more tragic than the crucifixion of an innocent person who spent his life in the service of the people in obedience to God. But God turned this tragic event into a blessing by making it a source of our salvation. The First Letter of Peter says, “It is by his wounds that you have been healed.”(I Peter 2:24).

Lesson in Life

Tragedies teach us lessons in life the hard and painful way. One important lesson we must all learn from the 9/11 tragedy is the fact that we can never be secured until everyone is secured. We cannot be secured by making other people’s lives insecure. The US National Security Doctrine may have made this only remaining superpower secured but at the expense of other nations.

This doctrine made us think that it is alright to have wars in many lands as long as it is not in American soil. But this kind of doctrine would not work anymore with the 9/11. Indeed, no one is secured unless everyone is secured. It is a hard lesson to learn and to live by. But it is only by learning this lesson and putting it into practice that terrorism in this world may come to an end so that those who died in the 9/11 would have not died in vain. # nordis.net