Php 70.00 Vol. 47 No. 07 • July 2013 - IMPACT Magazine Online!

Vol. 47 No. 07 • July 2013
Php 70. 00

Quote in the Act
“It is sad that action is only taken when damage
has been done.”
Manila Clergy, on the recent 1,000 liters oil leak along Pasig river from
one of the oil depots in Pandacan, Manila; reiterating their joint stand
to advocate for the removal of the oil depots in the district of Pandacan
which have been given extension of lease by the City government of Manila
despite popular opposition.
“Making sure that schools are resilient against natural
disasters should be a priority for any disaster risk
reduction preparedness and planning.”
Pascal Villeneuve, Unicef representative for Bangladesh; on the use of
“floating schools” by Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha, a non-profit organization
serving about 70,000 pupils in the flooded rural areas of Bangladesh.
“This adds to the growing mountain of evidence of
the heavy cost of China’s pollution”
Alex L. Wang, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles,
who studies Chinese environmental policies; on the destructive health
effects of pollution from the widespread use of coal in the north of China
that, according to recent studies, have been the cause for shortening life
expectancy of the population.
“Thirty-six countries viewed the police as the most
corrupt, the judiciary in 20 countries and the political
institutions in a whopping 51 countries.”
Datuk Paul Low, minister in the Prime Minister’s Department of Malaysia;
on the government’s move to put in place comprehensive good governance
and anti-corruption measures following the latest Transparency International
survey that showed Malaysia’s corruption as having risen to 3 percent
from 1.2 percent previously.
“The SC ruling did not only strengthen the small
coconut farmers’ legitimate claim over the 72.2 percent
shares in UCPB but reaffirmed the historical truth
that President Aquino’s uncle plundered the coco
levy funds.”
Willy Marbella, deputy secretary general of Kilusang Magbubukid ng
Pilipinas; on the recent ruling of the Supreme Court with finality that
the shares of Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr., in United Coconut Planters Bank
were owned by the government and should be used for the benefit of
coconut farmers.
IMPACT
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2 IMPACT • July 2013

CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
Dole-outs as Solutions to Poverty ............... 27
COVER STORY
Security of Tenure and
Contractualization of Labor ........................... 16
ARTICLES
Economic Error of Birth Control ......................... 4
New Congress Renewed Push for Cha-cha ..... 7
IMPACT July 2013 / Vol 47 • No. 07
Development and Decadence ............................... 9
When Authority is Perverse, Abuse is Rife ...... 10
Lay Participation in the Church's Mission ....... 11
Breastfeeding and Feminist Frustration .............. 20
DEPARTMENTS
Quote in the Act ................................................. 2
News Features ................................................... 12
Statements .......................................................... 21
From the Blogs ................................................... 26
From the Inbox .................................................. 28
Book Reviews .............................................. 29
Entertainment .............................................. 30
Asia Briefing ...................................................31
The recent ruling of the Supreme
Court that the shares
of Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr.
in United Coconut Planters Bank
(UCPB) were actually owned by the
government and should be used
for the benefit of coconut farmers
is a welcome news even as church
people, especially pro-lifers, are
still glued to their seats waiting in
suspense the verdict of the Magistrates
on the unconstitutionality
or otherwise of the Reproductive
Health Law.
The value of the contested shares
is still undisclosed, but a former
UCPB director reportedly said that
it is a “pittance” compared to the
27 percent of the shares of stock in
San Miguel Corporation worth P70
billion which the High Court also
determined to have been acquired
with the coconut levy and, therefore,
should be used for the benefit and development
of the coconut industry.
The Secretary General of Kilusang
Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, Willy
Marbella, commented that “the SC
ruling did not only strengthen the
small coconut farmers’ legitimate
claim over the 72.2 percent shares in
UCPB but reaffirmed the historical
truth that President Aquino’s uncle
plundered the coco levy funds.”
The Coco Levy Fund may now
be considered a scam which was
committed from 1973 to
1982 by no less the then
President Ferdinand Marcos
and his cronies, notably
Mr. Cojuangco, and several
others who conspired to
unjustly tax poor coconut
farmers, promising them
the development of the coconut
industry and a share of the investments.
But like all other scams in
recent memory, what really happened
was that the gargantuan
fund was shamelessly funneled
for personal profit particularly in
the purchase of United Coconut
Planters Bank and a majority stake
in San Miguel Corporation. As
inside sources would have it, the
Coco Levy Fund is now estimated
to have ballooned in the range of
P100 to P150 billion pesos in aggregate
assets.
The legal beginning of the levy
could be traced back to Republic
Act 6260, the Coconut Investment
Act of June 19, 1971. The Act
called for the creation of a Coconut
Investment Fund and a Coconut
Investment Company whose main
objective, among others, was to
fully tap the potential of the coconut
planters in order to maximize
their production and give them
greater responsibility in directing
and developing the coconut
industry. In June 30, 1973, Marcos
established the Philippine Coconut
Authority through P.D. 232 whose
mandate was “to promote accelerated
growth and development of
the coconut and other palm oils
industry so that the benefit of such
growth shall accrue to the greater
number, and to provide continued
leadership and support in the integrated
development of the industry.”
It was a stroke of brilliance;
but it was a scheme of thievery,
too, that sent poor farmers reeling
in penury and catapulted wealthy
industrialists to power—and the
government broiled in a 40-year
court battle. Martial Law was bad
enough with the concomitant human
rights violations and massive
plunder of the national coffers. But
fleecing the poor coconut farmers
from their only livelihood for the
aggrandizement of a few is equally
worse.
This issue opens with “Economic
Error of Birth Control” of Dr.
Bernardo M. Villegas. Our cover
story is written by Msgr. Arnel
Lagarejos; it’s about the contractualization
of labor. Read on.
Volume 47 • Number 07
3

ARTICLES
Economic Error
By Dr. Bernardo M.
Villegas
Total Fertility Rate
(TFR) in the Philippines
was 6 babies
per fertile woman in 1975.
Without any aggressive program
for birth control over
the last 30 years, that rate
has fallen to 3.1 babies today
through such natural trends
as later marriages, education
of women, urbanization and
industrialization. In another
thirty years, that rate will fall
below replacement of 2.1
babies per fertile woman.
The birth controllers say that
there is nothing to worry
about because even at below
replacement, population will
continue to grow because of
a “growth momentum” that
can last for decades. What
these RH Bill proponents
do not tell us is that any
growth in population that
occurs after the TFR drops
below fertility rate will be
in the number of those over
65, i.e. people will be living
longer and longer. Labor
force, however, will start to
shrink with the consequent financial
burden on a economy
that has to support more and
more retired people with less
and less productive workers.
The cases of Thailand
and China are very instructive.
Both still have growing
populations but are already
suffering from serious labor
shortages because of
aging. Both are far from being
developed countries but
are already undergoing the
demographic pains of such
highly developed countries
as Japan and Singapore. A
recent report from Digital
4 IMPACT • July 2013

ARTICLES
of Birth Control
www.en.wikipedia.org
FILE PHOTO
www.constructionweekonline.com
Volume 47 • Number 07
5

Economic Error of Birth Control
Media (May 25, 2013) estimates that Thailand
is already lacking 1.6 million workers
despite having a population of 65 million.
The following was datelined Bangkok:
“Thailand's current labor shortage will
become more severe with two government
mega projects needing at least 530,000
more workers, a senior Thai official said
today. Pravit Khingpol, Department of
Employment director general, said the
country will be short by 1.6 million persons
in the labor force and foreign workers will
have to be hired. The planned Bt 2 trillion
in infrastructure development projects
will need at least 450,00 workers and the
Bt 350 billion water management project
another 80,000 laborers, he said. The two
major projects will require workers in five
fields—management at 2 per cent, engineering
5 per cent, supervisors and skilled
labor 20 per cent, semi-skilled labor 36 per
cent and non-skilled labor 37 per cent...
the Labor Department will import workers
form Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia
to accommodate the private sector while
additional workers will be hired from other
countries such as Bangladesh and Vietnam.
The migrant workers will mostly work in
the construction and fisheries industries.”
In over just one generation of aggressive
birth control programs, Thailand
is already suffering from labor shortages.
It is clear that the so-called growth momentum
does not exist and it would be
against sustainable development for the
Philippines to aggressively promote birth
control, especially among the low-income
households who are the only ones still not
affected by a contraceptive mentality. The
same thing can be affirmed of China that
implemented, sometimes brutally, a onechild
policy. In no time at all (again no
growth momentum), China's youth labor
supply has already started to decline. A
report published by Silk Road Associates
entitled “The End of Made-in China,”
describes the labor shortage in China: “It
was once popular to talk of China's endless
supply of cheap labor. Not anymore. Labor
supply has shrunk dramatically over the
past decade. China's youth demographic
is expected to decline by 44 million over
the next 10 years, according to the United
Nation's population projection division.
Indeed, the average Chinese national is
35-year-old, compared to the average
Cambodian (23 years) and average Bangladeshi
(24 years). (The equivalent figure
in the Philippines is 23 years). The result
is massive labor shortages. Officials in the
southern Pearl River Delta, for instance,
estimate the region suffers a shortfall of
600,000 workers. Or take the example of
a major manufacturer of butane lighters
who recently remarked to us that in spite
of automating part of the factory floor
and cutting his employee numbers in half,
the average of his staff has gone from 20
years to 30 years, and now 50 years, as he
struggles to find enough labor.”
Needless to say these labor shortages
in Thailand and China have pushed their
wages upwards. Average monthly wages
in China, according to the International
Labor Organization (March 2012) are
now at $656 while that in Thailand are at
$489 as compared to $279 in the Philippines
and $295 in India. No wonder there
is an upsurge of Japanese and Korean
manufacturing enterprises moving to the
Philippines, as reported by Director General
Lilia de Lima of the Philippine Export
Processing Zone (PEZA). China is no
longer the preferred site of labor-intensive
manufacturing operations. These trends
should be a warning to our Government to
either repeal the RH Law or at least slow
down in its aggressive implementation.
The Philippine Constitution refers again
and again to sustainable development.
Obviously, the RH Bill will not promote
sustainable development. In that sense,
it is unconstitutional. There is no need to
push the TFR below replacement level at too
rapid a pace. We cannot solve the problems
of today by harming the economic welfare
of future generations who will surely suffer
labor shortages if we follow the examples
of China and Thailand. There are numerous
positive ways of addressing the problem of
mass poverty without endangering future
generations as the Chinese and the Thais
have already done. (For comments, my email
address is bernardo.villegas@uap.asia) I
www.filipinodoctorsinksa.com
www.philippinescustomerserviceblog.com
6 IMPACT • July 2013

ARTICLES
New Congress, renewed push for Cha-cha
Cha-cha to remove the nationalist economic provisions will reinforce the worst aspects of Philippine
economic policy-making and drastically reduce the country's policy space for real progress
CBCP For Life
By IBON Features
The renewed initiative for Charter
Change (Cha-cha) following the
midterm elections where Team
PNoy candidates and allies dominated
over Congress was expected. Several
lawmakers, including Liberal Party (LP)
members Speaker Feliciano Belmonte
and Rep. Romero Quimbo, announced
this week that the new Congress will push
revisions on the Constitution, especially
on what they call as “restrictive” economic
provisions.
Among the provisions that Belmonte
believes restrictive are the 60-40% equity
limitation on foreign investors, including
in educational institutions, and the ban
on foreign ownership of land and foreign
investment in mass media. LP House
members, as well as representatives in
the minority bloc, threw their support
behind Belmonte. The House speaker has
continued to lobby Congress for changes
in foreign investment limits even though
top officials of the President’s Liberal
Party, including Pres. Aquino and Senator
Franklin Drilon, have supposedly ruled
out Cha-cha.
Attracting foreign investments has
always been among the primary reasons
behind past administrations' attempts at
amending the economic provisions of
the 1987 Philippine Constitution. Big
business, US lobby groups and foreign
investors have been pushing for Chacha
to remove restrictions on foreign
ownership and nationality requirements
in public utilities, banking, media and
other vital sectors. Cha-cha has, in fact,
been described as the last barrier in fully
opening up the Philippine economy to
foreign business and capital.
Pres. Aquino's supposed disinterest
towards the push for Cha-cha does not
mean that he disagrees with its objectives.
Since the start of its term, the Aquino
administration has given liberal privileges
and generous incentives to foreign
investors. In fact, it prioritizes the same
industries that were identified by the Joint
Foreign Chambers of Commerce (JFCC)
as relevant globally, even as these areas—including
mining, tourism, business
process outsourcing industry, electronics
and information technology—have contributed
little to overall employment and
gross domestic product (GDP).
Charter Change or not
The Philippine Constitution at present
provides protection and regulation of key
domestic sectors including the preservation
of national sovereign rights over the
country’s national wealth and resources.
These provisions protect remaining key
strategic sectors such as public utilities,
education, natural resources, land ownership
and professions. But Cha-cha advocates
assert that these remaining strategic
enterprises should be completely opened
up to foreign ownership to encourage
foreign capital flow into the country.
The recent call for Charter amendments
is the latest among many attempts
to Cha-cha. The past administrations
each launched an attempt at Cha-cha
that involved amending the nationalist
economic provisions of the Constitution:
Fidel Ramos’ PIRMA or People’s Initiative
for Reform, Modernization and Action;
Joseph Estrada’s CONCORD or Constitutional
Correction for Development, and
Gloria Arroyo’s Consultative Commission
(Con-Com) and Union of Local Authorities
(ULAP)’s Cha-cha efforts. Efforts to
liberalize the economy intensified during
these administrations despite the failure
of their Cha-cha campaigns. At present,
Aquino is continuing the same economic
thrust of opening up economic sectors
to foreign investors. Its public-private
Volume 47 • Number 07
7

ARTICLES
partnership program (PPP)
encourages local and foreign
private companies to invest
in economic activities and
provide them with risk guarantees
to ensure their profits.
Aquino’s, as well as past
governments’, economic
policies have in many ways
already reduced the Constitution’s
economic provisions
to mere rhetoric. But a much
watered-down charter will
remove options for a legal
recourse to defend national
patrimony and people’s
rights amid the intensifying
role of foreign corporations
in the economy.
Before the House announced its plan
to push Cha-cha, the renewed call for Constitution
amendments came from foreign
chambers of commerce like the American
Chamber, Japan Chamber of Commerce
and Industry, the EU, among others. The
US is determining Philippine economic
policy through its so-called Partnership
for Growth (PfG) with the country while
the EU is forging a bilateral EU-PH free
trade agreements (FTA). These countries,
faced with a prolonged economic crisis,
are seeking greater access to the country’s
natural resources and economy given the
already limited space for growth in their
own economies. All these entail further
pressure on the Philippine government
to amend the Constitution.
Foreign recommendations
Foreign economic institutions have
been straightforward about advancing
their economic interests in the Philippines
through multilateral and bilateral
dealings. In recent years, no less than
the JFCC and the Office of the United
States Trade Representative (USTR)
recommended constitutional adjustments
to allow foreign business to expand their
ownership of Philippine resources, utilities
and services.
The primary recommendation of the
JFCC was to “amend Constitution restrictions
on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)”
and to “further liberalize FDI laws”. Aside
from constitutional amendments, the
JFCC also enumerated changes in laws,
which it believes hinder foreign capital
from entering the Philippine economy.
These include laws on fiscal incentives,
labor, and the negative list in the Philippine
constitution that bars foreign equity from
100% and below, including the following:
mass media; practice of all professions;
trade enterprises; cooperatives; private
security agencies; small-scale mining; utilization
of marine resources; and nuclear
weapon and pyrotechnic manufacture,
repair, stockpiling and distribution.
The JFCC enumeration also included
sections in the Constitution that regulate
and prohibit monopolies and limit foreign
equity from 60% and below in areas
such as exploration, development and
use of natural resources, public utilities
such as telecommunications, facilitation
of overseas employment, among others.
This negative list is similarly cited in the
Constitutional provisions identified by
the USTR as barriers to more open trade.
Ideally, foreign direct investments can
play a key role in development, and the
country should strategically restrict and
strictly regulate foreign investment to gain
net benefits for the economy. However, an
extremely open investment environment
such as the one created by the Philippine
government in its race-to-bottom with
other countries to attract investors does not
provide such conditions. Compared with
other Asian countries where governments
provide a responsible intervention in their
economy, the Philippines is seen to be at
a disadvantage: it has not attracted much
investment, and has not been able to extract
much advantage from existing investments
because it gives too many local incentives
to foreign investors. Foreign investment
has to be regulated to be developmentally
beneficial.
Profit over people still the bottom line
The country’s experience in the past
decades shows that creating a very open
environment for foreign investments does
not bring about economic development or
improved people's welfare in the country.
Today, the record high 11%
unemployment rate, insufficient
wages, poor social
services, weak agriculture
and manufacturing are all
significant indicators of
the country’s worsening
economy.
While the Philippine
government continues to
further open up the economy,
there has been a trend
worldwide against liberalizing
and towards protecting
the economy. In 2010,
for instance, 36 countries
pushed for economic restrictions
on foreign investment
in the natural resource
and financial sectors.
Cha-cha to remove the nationalist
economic provisions will reinforce the
worst aspects of Philippine economic
policy-making and drastically reduce the
country’s policy space for real progress.
The last decades of globalization have seen
increased foreign trade and investment
driven by a systematic neoliberal economic
policy offensive by the advanced
countries. The globalization period from
1981 to 2010, however, also saw that the
economy actually contracted – in 1984,
1985, 1991, and 1998. Overseas remittances
have also been a much greater
contributor to growth especially since
the mid-1990s than foreign investments.
These general trends give cause to question
the FDI and national development
connection. It underscores the fact that
the quantity of investment cannot in and
of itself be assumed to be a good thing.
Should Cha-cha push through, this
would result in the further diminished
government control over the economy and
compromise sovereign rights of Filipinos
over its resources. The Philippine government,
including the House representatives
pushing for Cha-cha, should realize that
the 1987 Philippine Constitution has provisions
on a “self-reliant and independent
national economy” and strident concern
for equity, redistribution and social justice.
In spirit, the present Constitution is propoor,
pro-people and pro-Filipino; it just
needs to be put into practice. I
FILE PHOTO
(IBON Foundation, Inc. is an independent
development institution established in
1978 that provides research, education,
publications, information work and
advocacy support on socioeconomic
issues.)
8 IMPACT • July 2013

Development and Decadence
FILE PHOTO
By Fr. Roy Cimagala
These two events seem to be pairing
off more often than not these days.
We can see the obvious and almost
quantum leap in technological advances all
over and the many amenities and advantages
they bring, and yet we also see sizable
areas afflicted and sinking in poverty.
That’s not all. Technological progress
may bring some economic boom, but this
latter growth many times is not evenly
distributed. Aside from poverty, there is
inequality and social injustice, the gap
between the rich and poor widening, and
worse, there is ignorance and confusion as
well, in kinds and levels unknown before.
These is such thing now as an ignorance
and confusion that pride themselves
as an expression of enlightenment, liberation,
and an affirmation of human rights
and all that. In fact, it would appear that the
line between truth and falsehood, good and
evil, fair and unfair, etc., is all but erased.
That’s why we now have such thing
as contraception, sterilization, abortion as
part of women’s rights, and infidelity and
the modern forms of promiscuity, now
euphemistically termed as polyamory, as
expressions of human freedom.
And this abnormality is affecting
practically all levels of society. It’s not
only the poor that are disadvantaged. The
rich are too. Not only the uneducated, but
also those with stratospheric academic
credentials.
The world seems to be thrown into
an ocean of theories, opinions, ideologies
that are not anymore anchored on some
absolute standards but rather on relativistic
and highly changeable human preferences
and consensus.
It’s now more a numbers game or
who have the guns and the gold that would
determine how we ought to develop. It’s
now more a matter of who enjoys some
clout over the others because he is smarter,
more talented, more persuasive, etc.
It’s this ignorance and confusion that
allows decadence to go with development,
alerting us to be more careful about how to
pursue our human progress, both individually
and collectively.
We need to be more wary of this drift
in world development, since our tendency
is to give not only more attention but rather
absolute reliance on the merely external
and popular aspects, leaving behind the
spiritual and supernatural dimensions of
our life.
The trend seems to be that the determination
of what is right and wrong, good
and evil, true and false is not anymore a
matter of consulting the very author and
creator of the world. We just make them
out ourselves.
Let’s try to remember what Christ said
very clearly. “What does it a profit a man
if he gains the whole world, but loses his
own soul?” (Mt 16, 26) Let’s never forget
that the more important and the absolutely
indispensable aspect of human progress
and development is the salvation and
perfection of our soul.
It’s in our spiritual soul, it’s in the way
we think and aspire, it’s in what we really
love and hold most dear, where the true
state of our life is determined. It’s there
where love, justice, genuine concern for
one another, and their opposites, spring
and flourish, and where their effects remain
forever, either in heaven or hell.
The material, physical and external
things only play a secondary and subsidiary
role. They are mere means, occasions and
manifestations of what we have inside.
They come and go. They are not expected
to last. We cannot bring them to heaven,
nor to hell.
Our spiritual soul is what gives life
to us. It’s the principle of life. The material
cannot have life unless infused with a
spiritual soul. And we need to remember
that the life of our spiritual soul, which is
a created soul, comes from God and needs
to remain in God.
Otherwise, our soul will have a life
simply of its own, one that is not meant
for it, since it will just nourish itself with
transient principles, not the eternal one in
whose image and likeness we have been
created.
For sure, these transient sources can
offer many elements of good that can
mesmerize us, and we may get contented
with them. But they don’t last. They don’t
actually satisfy the deepest yearning of
our soul. But to realize this, we need faith,
which is abundantly given to us but which
we need to receive and act on.
In short, to have a genuine, integral
human development and progress, all
of us, leaders and followers, need to
be more sensitive to our true spiritual
needs—our need for God and everything
he tells us through his doctrine and sacraments
now entrusted to the Church.
Otherwise, decadence will corrupt our
development. I
Volume 47 • Number 07
9

ARTICLES
When authority is
perverse, abuse is rife
By Fr. Shay Cullen
It’s all about power and fear.
Several impoverished, abused,
cheated and beaten Filipino
female workers taking shelter in
Middle Eastern Philippine embassies
have been allegedly sexually
assaulted and prostituted by some
corrupt and depraved embassy officials
of the Department of Foreign
Affairs, according to Walden Bello,
the sociologist turned Congressman
in a press conference in Manila
recently. He named two of the officials
and gave the nickname of
a third. Yet many more have been
involved in this despicable and
criminal activity and dozens of
young women have been violated.
They are vulnerable, lonely,
isolated in a foreign country and
victims of physical and sexual
abuse by their foreign employers.
They escaped and ran for help and
shelter to the Philippine embassies
in Jordan, Syria and Kuwait. These
young women, overseas Filipino
workers (OFWs), are totally dependent
on the Embassy officials
when they take them into the embassy
shelter with promises that
the Philippine Government would
protect and repatriate them.
Instead of being helped, many
of them were subjected to humiliating
and shameful sexual exploitation
by corrupt and depraved
officials themselves. Not only were
they forced to perform sexual acts
with some officials, but they were
sold into sexual slavery in the city
from which the embassy officials
earned a lot of money.
Representative Walden Bello
told a news conference that his
source is a high official of the Department
of Foreign affairs and he
named names. The young victims
were too scared and helpless to
resist the power of the government
officials. Just imagine what most
likely went on in the embassy
shelters to coerce and threaten them
into submission and docility. They
likely received threats of dire punishment
if they told anyone about it.
Imagine it might have happened
like this to a fictional young
woman named Rosa.
Embassy Official in a closed
embassy room: “Rosa, I will help
you get home to the Philippines,
you can earn some money, just let’s
have a little fun first.”
Rosa tries to resist: “No, no,
please don’t touch me, leave me
alone; that’s what the evil employer
did to me; he raped me, don’t,
don’t.”
Official, putting an angry stern
face: “You are here under my power,
if you don’t do as I say, I will send
you back to your employer and the
authorities, you will be on the street
without documents or passport,
do you understand? You will be
arrested and jailed.”
Rosa: “Please sir, don’t do that,
I want to go home I have not seen
my family for years, I have nothing,
no money, no job, no food. I have
been cheated, robbed and raped,
please don’t cancel my air ticket.”
She was by now crying and
howling, tears streaming down her
face but the official seemed to be
aroused by her distress and moved
to sexually exploit her.
Most of the Embassy employees
had to know about it, but
remained silent or worse, may have
been involved too. Why did they
not blow the whistle and come to
the rescue of the women? Their
silence can only be understood as
approval, or they were silenced by
threats and fear. A culture of fear of
higher authority can overpower the
moral values of even a strongest and
most spiritual person. Courage and
belief in human dignity and rights
and know how to get help is what
is needed.
The young women are silent
also, fear has a paralyzing
power to subjugate and render
people unable to resist or
speak against the exploiter
or abuser. Some government
authority figures have an arrogant
sense of superiority; they
tend to trivialize sexual crimes.
The worst part of all this is
that the suffering victims are
treated as if they are an enemy, a
hostile ungrateful beneficiary
out to hurt the man. We can
imagine an arrogant rapist
official scolding his abused
victim.
“You are an ungrateful
brat, no better than a prostitute,
you should feel
honored that I, an important
official and your
superior, would lower myself to
have sex with the likes of you,
an impoverished non-person.
You should be grateful for
the help we have for you
here instead of protesting and
complaining.”
Such depravity and
criminality leaves the normal
person breathless, angry
and bewildered. But for those
in positions of power and ascendency
whether it be government,
church or in the family, the
abuse of power by threats of
dire punishment against the
weak and helpless creates
deeply held fear.
The poor know the rich
and powerful can murder
and rape with impunity.
For the powerful, it seems
an entitlement, a privilege of
power. The senior Philippine
embassy officials in Jordan,
Syria and Kuwait have been
recalled to answer the complaints.
Not before their
time. I
Pinky Barrientos, FSP
10 IMPACT • July 2013

ARTICLES
Lay Participation in the Church’s Mission
Photo courtesy of Rufo Fernandez
By Fr. Amado L. Picardal, CSsR,
SThD
The Philippines has the third largest
Catholic population in the world
following Brazil and Mexico. There
are over 70 million Catholics. Yet there are
around seven thousand priests and twelve
thousand nuns! There are parishes with
over 40 thousand Catholics ministered by
one priest. It would appear that Christ’s
words apply to the Philippines: “the harvest
is abundant but the laborers are few.” How
can the Church be vibrant and continue
carrying her mission with a few priests
and religious?
One obvious solution is to vigorously
campaign for vocation to the priesthood
and religious life. This is not enough.
We cannot expect a dramatic increase of
vocation in the years ahead especially
since the number of children per family
has gone down. No matter how religious
the family is, the obligation to support the
parents and siblings is a paramount value.
Besides, very few young men and women
would be willing to commit themselves
to a life of celibacy and chastity. Still we
keep on trying.
For the Church to continue in fulfilling
her mission, she will have to rely on
the laity. This has been the emphasis since
Vatican II. The fourth chapter of Lumen
Gentium, the Constitution on the Church,
affirms that lay people have the right and
obligation to actively participate in Christ’s
and the Church’s prophetic, priestly and
pastoral mission. The Vatican II document
on the laity, Apostolicam Actuositatem,
further develops this. Blessed John Paul
II also devoted an encyclical on the laity,
Christifideles Laici. PCP II also affirms that
lay people are considered as workers of renewal
together with the clergy and religious.
Thus, when we talk about “laborers in the
vineyard of the Lord”, we have to bear in
mind that we are not only referring to the
clergy and religious but also to the laity.
Thus, we are witnessing the emergence of
lay pastoral workers and lay missionaries as
well the proliferation of lay catechists. Lay
organizations, movements and associations
are also enabling the involvement of the laity
in the Church’s life and mission. Lay people
can carry out their mission wherever they
are—at home, neighborhood, community,
workplace and schools.
There are three areas of lay participation:
(a) liturgical ministry (readers, lectors,
Eucharistic ministers, para-liturgical
leaders, etc. (b) prophetic ministry – catechesis
and evangelization, Christian
formation, etc. and (c) the kingly/servant
ministry (social action)—in promoting life,
justice, peace and the integrity of creation.
At the parish level the lay people
can be involved as pastoral workers or
members of parish formation teams. They
can also be part of the various parish commissions
(liturgy, formation, social action,
family and life, etc.), finance council and
the parish pastoral council.
While full-time paid lay pastoral
workers may be necessary, it is important
to generate volunteerism among the laity.
There is a need to promote a spirituality
of stewardship and encourage lay people
to share their time, talent and treasure in
furthering the Church’s mission. Missionary
dynamism among lay people must be
promoted and they do not have to go to
distant lands to do this.
A very important locus for active lay
participation is the Basic Ecclesial Communities
(BECs) which the Church in the
Philippines and other countries is promoting.
BECs are small communities within
the parish, located in the neighborhood,
barangay or purok, villages and lately in
condominiums. They are composed of
families where the members are close to
one another, united in prayer and worship,
they gather to reflect and share the Word
of God, and act to respond to their needs
and those of the poor—both spiritual and
material needs. They are often referred to
as a new way of being Church—the Church
at the grassroots and in the neighborhood.
These communities are led by lay leaders
but under pastoral care and authority
of their pastors—the parish priests and
parochial vicars. The parish is now being
seen as a network of small Christian communities
or BECs. In these neighborhood
communities, ordinary Catholics can be
involved in Church threefold mission: the
liturgical, evangelizing and social mission.
Blessed John Paul II recognized
BECs as locus and agents of ecclesial
communion—a cause of great hope for the
Church (Redemptoris Missio 51).
The vitality of the Church does not
only depend on the quantity and quality
of the clergy but above all in the active
participation of the lay faithful, especially
the BECs. I
Volume 47 • Number 07
11

NEWS
FEATURES
Address urban poor’s housing problems, gov’t urged
MANILA, July 2, 2013—As tension between
government authorities and informal
settlers continues to rise, a Catholic priest
has lambasted political leaders for failing
to address the need of urban poor Filipinos
to decent housing.
Fr. Edwin Gariguez, executive secretary
of the National Secretariat for Social
Action-Justice and Peace of the Catholic
Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines
(CBCP-NASSA), said that the need for
decent housing is a right of poor individuals
that must be addressed by the government.
“The issue here is if the government
is able to provide low-cost housing for the
urban poor. This issue dwells on rights—
rights that the government must address
for the benefit of its people,” he said.
Gariguez added that the failure of the
government to provide this need is the
reason why the perennial problem on land
squatting in the metro remains unsolved.
With the absence of government assistance,
urban poor families resort to building shanties
in slum areas to temporarily fend for
their housing needs.
“The problem is that the government
fails to implement real programs that would
benefit the urban poor. They (government
officials) are the ones responsible in improving
the lives of the people but they fail
to meet this basic goal, that is why most
of poor Filipinos just resort to building
shanties in slum areas,” he said.
“Who would want to live in slum
areas? Who would want to live under
bridges or on creek sides where danger
is always present? Nobody wants to live
on those places but informal settlers are
forced to do so because they do not have
a choice,” he added.
Need for quality jobs
The priest also chided the “band-aid”
solutions adopted by the government in
solving the problem on housing, saying
that instead of providing the proposed
P18,000 housing dole-out to relocate each
estero-dwelling family, government officials
must focus on providing employment
opportunities in the metro.
The government has recently proposed
to give P18,000 to each of the 20,000
estero-dwelling families for them to rent
decent homes elsewhere for a year while
the authorities are preparing permanent
relocation sites for them.
“Now that they are asking informal
settlers to leave their homes, where
would the government
relocate them? Would
they be forced to move
away from their sources of
income? When you give
them P18,000 in cash, of
course they will accept it.
But in the long run, they
will continue searching
for jobs to get a stable
source of income,” Gariguez
said, further noting
that the dole-out amount
of P18,000 is insufficient
to compensate for the
housing needs of a family
for a year.
He added that government
efforts to relocate
estero-dwelling families
would only be futile if
there are no jobs to sustain
the livelihood of the
urban poor.
“If they do not have
jobs, they will always go
back to the city where opportunity
to earn money is
definitely more abundant
than in rural areas. Even
if settling under bridges
or on creek sides will be
prohibited in the future,
they will find other means
to be able to live in the
city, eventually adding up
to the increasing population
of the urban poor,”
Gariguez said.
“It is not only shelters that they need.
They also have to be provided with decent
jobs that could sustain their day-to-day
living,” he added.
Comprehensive, integrated solution
Gariguez said that efforts to relocate
informal settlers somehow contribute to the
further worsening of the latter’s condition
as some relocation sites do not have livable
facilities and ample sources of water
and electricity.
“In the process, people are being
demoralized for being thrown to deeper
poverty,” he said.
“There are instances wherein relocation
sites do not have proper facilities,
water, and electricity. Sometimes, they
are located in remote areas that access to
education and healthcare becomes hard
to obtain. Instead of helping them solve
the problem and improve the situation,
poor Filipinos are just being led to deeper
misery,” he added.
Describing approaches done by the
government as “myopic” solutions to the
problem, he urged government officials
to adapt a comprehensive and integrated
solution to the issue that will bear long
term effects for the benefit of the people.
“When will the government adapt a
comprehensive perspective in addressing
this dilemma? Public officials always make
hasty decisions and resort to and short-term
solutions that do not really pose progress
in the long run,” he said.
“The problem is not simple. It is
complicated and could not be solved by
mere ‘band-aid’ solutions. The government
has its shortcomings. It should resort to a
more comprehensive approach in solving
the issue,” he added. (CBCPNews)
FILE PHOTO
12 IMPACT • July 2013

NEWS
FEATURES
Church groups oppose hospital privatization
MANILA, July 1, 2013— Two organizations
of religious men and men have
come out against the government’s plan
to privatize public hospitals across the
country.
In a joint statement, the Religious
Discernment Group and the Justice,
Peace and Integrity of Creation of the
Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate
Heart of Mary said privatization will
affect poor patients and government
health workers.
“We join with all people of good
will to demand that the Privatization of
National Health Services be stopped immediately,”
part of the statement reads.
According to them, the government
is supposed to protect and promote health
of the people.
“Yet, we find the Aquino administration,
through its program of privatization
of health facilities and services, completely
ignoring these legal and moral
dictums,” they said.
Privatization, they added, will further
weaken the public health care system
because it will be run like business.
Public hospitals lacked facilities,
medicines and personnel so instead of
privatizing it, they said, the government
should allocate substantial budget to
address the problems.
As the government boasts economic
“growth”, some of these gains can be
channeled to modernize and improve
public health facilities.
“We cannot allow the rights of the
poor people for adequate health care
to be sacrificed on the altar of profit,”
they added.
The religious leaders particularly
expressed concern over the planned
privatization of the Philippine Orthopedic
Center (POC), the country’s only
tertiary hospital specializing in bone and
trauma cases.
The facility currently serves 450
to 500 patients daily, of which majority
are indigent and getting free
services.
Instead of increasing the budget so
that the POC can maintain and improve
its facilities and services, they lamented
that the budget for the Center has been
cut further.
And now, they said that it will be
bid out to a private company.
They also said that the privatization
of the hospital is like allowing the
people’s right to health to become commodity
for profit.
They are also worried over the
fate of the 1,000 health workers at
the POC since the private owner will
“have the freedom to select employees.”
(CBCPNews)
Aceh 6.1 magnitude quake leaves 22 dead, over 200 injured
JAKARTA, Indonesia, July 3,
2013—The official death toll of
the 6.1 magnitude earthquake
that struck yesterday the Indonesian
province of Aceh, on
the western tip of the island of
Sumatra has reached 22, with
more than 200 people wounded
and some in serious condition.
The earthquake has caused
severe damage to buildings
and landslides. Civil protection
teams rescue operations are still
in progress, although hopes of
finding more people alive in
the rubble are fading with the
passing of time.
The epicenter of the earthquake
was the inner mountainous
area of Aceh province, at a
depth of 10 km underground.
The quake lasted for at least 15
seconds and was felt from the
capital Banda Aceh to Bener
Mariah, causing panic in an
area already battered by the
devastating tsunami of December
2004. In the regency at
least 300 people slept outside,
because of the many aftershocks—some
of which were
very strong—which followed
the main quake.
According to witnesses
the collapse of a mosque in
Central Aceh has killed at least
six children, while another 14
are still trapped under rubble.
Thousands of private homes
and public buildings have been
affected by the quake, in one
of the most earthquake prone
countries in the world.
The authorities have ordered
the deployment of soldiers
and army vehicles to help
with emergency operations.
However, in some areas access
is almost impossible due to
mudslides and landslides that
have disrupted communication
lines. Communication and
electricity supplies are also
down and in many areas it is
not known when they will be
restored.
The Indonesian archipelago
is made up of thousands of
islands and atolls surrounded
by the Pacific Ocean, in an
area known by scientists as
the "Ring of Fire". It is characterized
by intense volcanic
and seismic activity, caused
by the collision of several
continental plates. Memories
of the devastating earthquake
and subsequent tsunami that
hit the region in December
2004 are still alive in people’s
minds, with an epicenter off
the coast of Aceh, causing
hundreds of thousands of victims
throughout Asia. On 30
October 2009, another strong
earthquake affected the area
of Padang resulting in about
700 deaths. Over 180 houses
were razed to the ground.
(AsiaNews / Agencies)
www.asianews.it
Volume 47 • Number 07
13

NEWS
FEATURES
Call for Philippine court to ban
US military maneuvers
MANILA, July 2, 2013—
Environmental activists on
Tuesday filed an urgent motion
with the Supreme Court
aimed at stopping US military
exercises and port calls,
as the Philippine government
looks to give American
forces greater access amid an
ongoing territorial standoff
with China.
The latest legal challenge
to the US military
presence in the Philippines
comes after the Supreme
Court issued a “writ of nature”
against the US Navy in
April, as a result of the USS
Guardian running aground
on the Tubbataha Reef, a
Unesco World Heritage
Site.
“The growing rotational
presence in the country of
US troops renders our marine
protected areas highly
vulnerable to destruction and
degradation given the influx
of military personnel, weaponry
and naval and ground
vessels,” said Renato Reyes
of the New Patriotic Alliance,
one of the groups who
backed Tuesday’s petition.
Under the bilateral Visiting
Forces Agreement between
the Philippines and the
US, American personnel are
exempt from visa and passport
requirements and the US
maintains legal jurisdiction
if crimes are committed by
its servicemen on Philippines
soil.
The US is not permitted
to operate permanent bases
but unlimited access to the
Philippines without any clear
environmental guidelines
“reveals the fatal problems
of the Visiting Forces Agreement,”
said Reyes.
The Philippine Defense
Department last week said
it was looking to give the
United States and Japan
greater access to the country’s
military bases to counter
a perceived rising security
threat from China amid a
dispute over islands in the
South China Sea.
Assistant Foreign Affairs
Secretary Raul Hernandez
said this would be
permitted if “mutually beneficial”
for both countries
as they “continue to talk
about the modalities and the
parameters for an increased
rotational presence of US
forces.”
Edsel Tupaz, head legal
counsel of the petitioners,
said that the US should pay
for damages “prior to incurring
any unnecessary government
expenditures for the
maintenance of these ports
and port calls.”
In January, the USS
Guardian destroyed at least
2,346 sq ms of pristine and
highly diverse coral ecosystems
on the Tubbataha Reef.
In May, a US investigation
admitted fault caused by human
error. (ucanews)
Catholic entrepreneur helps Indian children
create a future through computer science
MUMBAI, India, July 2, 2013—“A
statement of professional quality is the
only way to allow poor children to make
progress and realise themselves in the
world” is this spirit with which Agnelo
Rajesh Athaide, a Catholic entrepreneur
in Mumbai, set up the St Angelo Professional
Education (SAPE), the city's
oldest computer education company in
Mumbai.
In the past 20 years, SAPE has offered
courses and scholarships to young
people who want to succeed in this line of
work. In recognition of his contribution
to computer education, he received the
Social Reformer Award for his contribution
in technology and management
education at this year's India Leadership
Conclave and Indian Affairs Business
Leadership Award.
Created in 1993, Athaide's company
has helped more than 300,000 students
graduate in computer science and enter
the workforce.
“When I started,”
the entrepreneur
said, “computer
education
was a luxury. Costs
were prohibitive
and a deterrent to a
diploma for many
young students
who could not afford
the fees of
certain schools.”
“I applied to St
Angelo the concept
of corporate social
responsibility,” he
explained, “to give
quality computer
education to groups
of lower and middle class students. I made
the social improvement [of others] the goal of
my life and company. Not only is it possible,
but also very rewarding to marry commercial
interests to community development.”
Athaide received the award on 24
June. Among the reasons, there are “his
commitment and dedication to the community”
and a desire to “serve society and
the nation through computer education.”
(AsiaNews)
www.asianews.it
14
IMPACT • July 2013

NEWS
FEATURES
Hundreds of garment workers poisoned
by factory water
www.asianews.it
DHAKA, Bangladesh, July 2,
2013—More than 200 garment
workers at Ashulia, an industrial
area near Dhaka, were
hospitalized this morning for
poisoning. All of them worked
for the same company, Rose
Dresses Ltd, which has more
than 6,000 employees. Apparently,
the workers got sick from
drinking the factory's tap water
an hour after they reported for
work. The police temporarily
shut down the plant.
Today’s case is the third of
its kind at the plant since early
June. On 5 June, 600 people
suffered bouts of vomiting,
cramps and fainting shortly
after drinking the water. On
June 28, another 250 employees
fell ill.
At first, the government
thought the workers were victims
of mass psychogenic illness.
However, doctors who
visited them confirmed that it
was poisoning.
After China, Bangladesh
is the largest garment exporter
in the world. As a whole, the
industry accounts for over 10
per cent of the country’s GDP.
At the same time, garment
workers are treated like slaves,
with little or no workplace
safety, poor hygienic conditions
and salaries of just US$
40 per month for 12 hours of
work. (AsiaNews)
Beijing open to ‘code of conduct’ on
South China Sea
BEIJING, China, July 2, 2013—Beijing
is open to the drafting of a “code
of conduct” governing disputes in the
South China Sea, a decision welcomed
by ASEAN—an association that unites
10 south-east Asian countries — as
confirmed by the Thai Foreign Minister,
who speaks of choice “very
significant”. However, in spite of the
progress made by diplomacy, tension
remains high between China and the
Philippines who continue to trade
accusations and threats. In the end,
control in the South and East China Sea
is important for the exploitation of oil
and natural gas enclosed in the marine
subsoil, as well as key trade routes.
Beijing and the nations in the
region have reached an agreement
that will lead to the organization of a
meeting at the level of Foreign Ministers,
which follows the summit already
scheduled for August in Thailand
dedicated to the disputes in the South
China Sea. The Chinese Foreign Minister
Wang Yi has confirmed Beijing's
willingness to cooperate, “so that the
sea that surrounds us is a sea of peace,
friendship and cooperation.”
The statements by the Chinese
Minister, however, are not enough to
mend the diplomatic crisis with the
Philippines. Manila accuses Beijing
of “militarization” of the South China
Sea. Fueling the tension, the alleged
encroachment in Philippine waters—
as often happened in the past—of
three vessels flying China’s flag.
For the Philippine Foreign Minister
Albert del Rosario the “massive”
presence of military and paramilitary
Chinese vessels near the Scarborough
Shoal and Second Thomas shoal is
a threat to peace in the Asia-Pacific
region.
Chinese media and public opinion
have responded harshly to the charges
from Manila, with vitriolic editorials
in the newspapers close to the government
and the party. The newspapers
speak openly of inevitable “counteroffensive”
against the Philippines,
if they continue their provocations
against Beijing. In particular, the
People's Daily—the official newspaper
of the Communist Party—is
ratcheting up aggressive tones, even
if all the players involved—China,
ASEAN countries and even the United
States, attending the summit in Brunei
with the Secretary of State John
Kerry—have no interest (currently)
to trigger open conflict.
Among the nations of the Asia-
Pacific region, China has the most
extensive claims in the South China
Sea, including the almost uninhabited
but resource-rich Spratly and Paracel
Islands. Controlling the area is of vital
strategic importance for trade as well
as oil and natural gas development.
Beijing's expansionist aims have been
met by counterclaims by Vietnam, the
Philippines, Malaysia, and the Sultanate
of Brunei. (AsiaNews / Agencies)
Volume 47 • Number 07
15

Security of Tenu
Contractualiza
COVER
STORY
“I have heard the cry of my people, because
they are held in bondage, and I have
remembered my covenant” (Ex. 6:5).
By Msgr. Arnel Lagarejos
The ascendancy of Pope Francis
to the papacy has given much
hope to the Church especially
his perceptible and profound concern
for the poor. One of the first words
he has spoken was, “How I long for
a poor Church for the poor!”
With these words spoken after
being elected pope, Jorge Bergoglio
underscored a theme that continues
to be front-and-center of his papacy.
Not surprisingly, such statements
demonstrate that Pope Francis wants
Catholics to devote greater attention
to poverty-alleviation. 1
PCP-II
Poverty alleviation is one of the
visions of the Philippine Catholic
Church. During the Second Plenary
Council of the Philippines, the Philippine
Church boldly proclaimed:
“As we approach the year 2000, in
order to credibly witness to the love
of God in Christ Jesus, Christ bids
this community . . . the laity, religious
and clergy of the Catholic Church in
the Philippines to be Church of the
poor” 2 (PCP 124). Since PCP-II, the
expression, Church of the poor, has
become a central theme and the main
thrust of the Philippine Church. And
one of the most important aspects of
being a Church of the Poor is for the
Church to be able to help the poor
people rise up from the bondage
of poverty, become self-sufficient
and regain their dignity as children
of God. 3
However more than twenty
years after PCP II, it is sad to note
that the Philippine Church has not
really taken any major concrete
step towards alleviating poverty in
the country. Whereas the domestic
anti-poverty program of the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops
has approved more than $9 million
in grants to help alleviate poverty
and injustice throughout the United
States, 4 the Philippine Church has
not allocated anything to promote
its vision of becoming a Church of
the Poor and alleviating the severe
poverty that majority of our people
are experiencing for decades. The
vision of Church of the Poor has
just remained a rhetoric. Twenty
years after PCP-II, the incidence of
poverty in the Philippines remained
as high as ever.
The Evil of Contractualization
Indeed poverty is such a complex
phenomenon and there are
numerous factors that lead to the
continuing bondage to poverty of
majority of our people. But the fact
cannot be denied, that despite the
unprecedented growth rate of 7.6%
in our Gross National Product (GDP)
which our government officials are
constantly boasting of, the resultant
effect of the massive GDP growth has
not trickled to the poor masses. And
one of the main reasons is that our
poor workers still toil for very low
wages, and are blatantly subjected
to unfair labor practices, one of
which is the contractualization and
outsourcing of regular jobs.
Contractualization is a practice
wherein laborers are given only
5-month contracts to keep them
from becoming regular employees
because according to the Philippine
Labor Law, a laborer who has completed
six months of employment
automatically becomes a permanent
employee. These contractual employees
are not given any benefit
normally given to regular employees
such as SSS, Philhealth or Pag-Ibig.
In most cases, since they are not yet
regular employees, they are given
salaries way below the prescribed
salary by the minimum wage law.
Thus, the practice of employers is
to terminate the laborer after five
months, with or without a just cause.
Now how can a person rise up from
poverty and become self sufficient if
he finds himself without a job every
after five months of work? This is
the reason why contractual workers
become perennially poor.
The main point is, labor contractualization
is illegal, unconstitutional
and immoral. The practice
of using agency contractual labor is
illegal according to provisions of
Philippine labor laws. Article 279
of the Labor Code of the Philippines
speaks of Security of Tenure for
employees. It states that “In cases of
regular employment, the employer
shall not terminate the services of an
16 IMPACT • July 2013

COVER
STORY
re and
tion of Labor
FILE PHOTO
Volume 47 • Number 07
17

COVER
STORY
employee except for a just cause.” 5
Further, the Philippine Constitution
also guarantees security of tenure for
employees. The guarantee of security of
tenure under the Constitution means that
an employee cannot be dismissed from
the service for causes other than those
provided by law and only after due process
is accorded the employee. 6 It has been also
settled that even if probationary employees
do not enjoy permanent status, they are
accorded the constitutional protection of
security of tenure. This means they may
only be terminated for just cause or when
they otherwise fail to qualify as regular
employees in accordance with reasonable
standards made known to them by the
employer at the time of their engagement. 7
Employers, local and transnational,
however have gotten away defying Philippine
labor laws. The Department of
Labor has neither clout nor guts to address
this crime. Capital makes billions
each quarter. And the great irony is, the
contractual workers who are creating all
those billions of net profit live below subsistence
level. A study by the International
Labor Organization found that the rate of
“contractualization” is now at 70% of the
Philippine workforce. Almost every large
company depends on contractual workers
to get the day’s business done.
The government guidelines on subcontracting
must protect the interests of
both capital and labor. In fact, when most
companies’ net profit amounts to millions
or billions every year, the contractual
minimum wage laborer who bleeds and
sweats to create billions of profit for his
employer, is left with not enough to eat.
The contractual agency also grabs a slice
from the employee’s daily minimum wage
as administrative fee. 8
Laborem Excercens
Ultimately, contractualization of labor
is not only illegal and unconstitutional but
more so immoral as it goes against the social
teaching of the Church. The encyclical
Laborem Excercens of Pope John Paul II
evidently indicates that full employment
is a basic human right of a laborer.
We must first direct our attention
to a fundamental issue: the question of
18
IMPACT • July 2013

Security of Tenure and Contractualization of Labor
of manpower as alternative employment,
when poverty and injustice are everywhere,
everything turns into a moral issue. 10
The workers are counting on Church
leaders to fight this decade old injustice.
And the Church ought to speak up and
do what it preaches, not only on putting
emphasis on the holy sacraments but more
so on putting flesh and blood to social
encyclicals like Laborem Exercens. 11 It
is only by means of putting a firm stand
against the evil of labor contractualization
can the Philippine Church contribute,
albeit minutely, to the alleviation of poverty
that it has envisioned in the Second
Plenary Council of the Philippines and the
teaching of our new Pontiff, Pope Francis.
There had been numerous bills pending
in Congress against this unfair labor
practice. 12 Problem is, most of them are
left unacted by our lawmakers. That is why
the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the
Philippines would like to add its voice in
order to ensure that this evil labor practice
called contractualization would be put on
halt by our lawmakers. 13
May St. Joseph, the patron of saint
of workers guide our people in combating
the evils of contractualization and thereby
realize the vision of becoming a Church of
the Poor. I
_________
1 Samuel Gregg, “Pope Francis on the True Meaning
of Poverty.” Crisis Magazine, June 5, 2013.
2 Acts and Decrees of the Second Plenary Council of
the Philippines (Manila: Catholic Bishops’ Conference
of the Philippines, 1992), xciv.
3 Arnel F. Lagarejos, The Church of the Poor:
4 Catholic News Agency, http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/us-bishops-group-approves-9-million-inanti-poverty-funds.
5 The 1976 Labor Code of the Philippines, Article 279.
6 Philippine Jurisprudence, Phil-Singapore Transport
Services, Inc., vs. NLRC, G.R. No. 95449, August
18, 1997.
7 Philippine Jurisprudence, Agoy vs. NRLC, 112096,
30 January 1996.
8 Dahli Aspillera, Malaya Business Insight, published
on Monday, 27 May 2013.
9 John Paul II, Laborem Exercens, 1 May 1981, AAS
73 (1981): 13.
10 Arthur R. Barrit, Sunstar Newspaper, September
12, 2011
11 Ibid.
12 For instance, House Bill No. 3402 introduced by
DIWA Party-list Representative Emmeline Y. Aglipay: An
act strengthening the security of tenure of employees
in the Labor Code of the Philippines.
13 How I wish that all the efforts put into action by the
CBCP against the RH Law would also be applied to
fight against this immeasurable malpractice.
FILE PHOTO
FILE PHOTO
finding work, or, in other words, the issue
of suitable employment for all who
are capable of it.” The problem is not a
lack of resources—“conspicuous natural
resources remain unused”—but poor organization.
The criterion of full employment
will only be achieved through planning
and coordination among all the indirect
employers, and a better coordination of
education with employment. 9
Thirty years after the release of the
encyclical, workers still toil for very low
wages, and are subjected to unfair labor
practices, contractualization and outsourcing
of regular jobs. And this issue is
undoubtedly a moral one. When the government
continues to encourage the export
Volume 47 • Number 07 19

ARTICLES
Breastfeeding
and feminist
frustration
FILE PHOTO
By Nicole M. King
Public health officials continue to
encourage new mothers to breastfeed
their babies for at least six months
because of the short- and long-term health
benefits to both mothers and children. Yet
adversarial feminists continue to whine
that the responsibilities of motherhood,
particularly exercised by mothers who
choose to do what is best for their children,
generate gender “inequality.”
Indeed, in their study of 1,300 firsttime
mothers, Phyllis Rippeyoung of
Acadia University and Mary Noonan of
the University of Iowa lament that breastfeeding
constricts mothers’ employment
opportunities. Compared to mothers who
use baby formula or who breastfeed for
less than six months, “long-duration breastfeeders,”
they found, “are more likely to
be non-employed in the years following
childbirth and they work fewer hours when
they are employed.” They further complain
that breastfeeding hinders “women’s full
participation in public life.”
These musings aside, the researchers’
findings are revealing. Examining data
from the National Longitudinal Survey of
Youth, Rippeyoung and Noonan quantify
“the conflict between breastfeeding and
[paid] work.” So they measure the relationship
between three types of infant nursing
(formula feeders; short-term breastfeeders;
and long-term breastfeeders) and employment
outcomes in the five years after birth.
They confine their sample to mothers who
gave birth to their first child between 1980
and 1993, while excluding teen mothers as
well as mothers who were not employed
for at least twenty-four weeks prior to
giving birth.
Not surprisingly, average earnings
for all three types of mothers declined in
the year of giving birth, yet the percentage
drop in earnings “is most extreme for
long-term breastfeeders and more modest
(and similar) for short-duration breastfeeders
and formula-feeders.” Earnings stop
declining, on average, once the child is two
years old, “but remain much lower postbirth
through the fifth year post-birth.” Yet
among long-term breastfeeders, “earnings
drop more precipitously in the year after
they have a baby and their post-birth earnings
trajectory remains lower than for the
other two groups of mothers.” Moreover,
at this stage, the long-term breastfeeders
are significantly more likely to have given
birth to additional children than the other
two categories of mothers.
These real-world findings frustrate
Rippeyoung and Noonan, who seem
unwilling to accept the reality that childrearing
responsibilities—especially with
babies, toddlers, and preschoolers—do
not easily mix with outside employment
for the average mother, and never will.
They do concede the possibility that the
very act of breastfeeding may direct a
mother’s affection towards family life
and away from outside employment. But
they nonetheless think that if federal law
protected rights of mothers to breastfeed
at the job site, mothers would more
quickly reenter the labor force after giving
birth—as if that is what most mothers
want to do, not what feminist researchers
want them to do.
Given how marriage, childbearing,
and breastfeeding more strongly correlate
with the well-being of women and children
than does outside employment, perhaps
the researchers ought to reconsider their
imaginary world and instead call for “social
and economic supports” that would ensure
a husband for every mother, and married
father for every child, resolving disparities
that really matter. I
(This article is republished with permission
from MercatorNet)
20 IMPACT • July 2013

A press statement of the 107th Bishops’ Plenary Assembly
Held at the Pope Pius XII Catholic Center in Manila,
July 6-8, 2013
We, the Catholic Bishops of the
Philippines, look forward to the
semi-annual plenary meetings of
the Catholic Bishops Conference of the
Philippines (CBCP) as valued occasions
to come together, to renew ourselves for
our pastoral ministry and to share with
each other about concerns for the people
of God in the Philippines. This year, the
midyear plenary assembly took place in the
first week of July. It started with a spiritual
retreat preached by Fr. Francis Moloney,
SDB, a Bible scholar from Australia. He
impressed on us bishops by his scholarly
yet pastoral presentation the importance of
the critical reading of the Bible in order
that the Word of God may truly animate
our task of growing in our spirituality and
in the work of New Evangelization. The
retreat took place in Betania Retreat House
in Tagaytay from July 2-4. The following
day, the various episcopal commissions
and regional groupings of the bishops met.
The plenary assembly took place
on July 6-8 at the plenary hall in Pius
XII Catholic Center. The Papal Nuncio,
Archbishop Giuseppe Pinto, who is the
official representative of the Holy Father
in the Philippines, opened the assembly
by presiding at the opening Mass and by
giving us his opening address on July 6.
His presence is a reminder that we belong
to one world-wide community, the One,
Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
This year’s midyear assembly elected
the officials of the CBCP for the next two
years. The new president of the CBCP from
December 2013 to November 2015 will be
Archbishop Socrates Villegas, the Archbishop
of Lingayen-Dagupan, and the new vicepresident
will be Archbishop Romulo Valles,
the Archbishop of Davao. New chairmen of
various commissions were also elected.
The CBCP commissions made their
reports to the body during the assembly.
Some reports touched on the organization
and management of the CBCP as an
organization, others on the apostolates of
the Church such as the mass media, vocations,
the coming World Youth Day in
Rio de Janeiro, the liturgy and others. The
following pastoral concerns particularly
challenged our collective attention on the
pressing need for integral faith formation:
1. The preparations for the International
Eucharistic
Congress
which will
be held in
Cebu in
2016. This
is an international
event that
is celebrated
by
the entire
Catholic
Church every
4 years,
so it has to
be well prepared.
The
last one was
done in Dublin, Ireland in 2012.
2. The on-going national consecration
to the Immaculate Heart of Mary which is
being done every first Saturday of the month
in all dioceses in the country. It started last
month and will end in November, which also
closes the Year of Faith. We are entrusting
ourselves as a “Pueblo Amante de Maria”
to the maternal care of the Blessed Mother
in these troubled times of ours.
3. The forthcoming hearing of the
Supreme Court on the constitutionality
of the RH Law. The bishops were updated
about the issues involved and prayers and
a show of support were solicited from all.
We are resolved to do our best to preserve
life and the family in our country.
4. An evaluation of the May elections
was done. We, bishops are very concerned
that the safeguards of the Automated Election
Law were not sufficiently carried out,
that there are many problems on the transmissions
of the ERs, that the Comelec is
stonewalling on the complaints from many
quarters on the conduct of the election,
and that many voters were disenfranchised
due to confusing voters’ lists. After one
experience of the automated election this
year’s election should have been better,
but it was not. We call for accountability
from Comelec officials and demand that
the law be followed.
5. We bishops are dismayed at the
massive vote buying and vote selling that
is experienced everywhere. The deepening
STATEMENTS
hold of political dynasties is lamentable,
although some political families have lost
their hold in a number of provinces and
cities. We should see how the principles
of common good and stewardship are to
be better imparted to our people in the
political education given to them.
6. The issues of APECO in Casiguran
and the COCONUT LEVY were also
presented to the bishops for our better
understanding. We bishops are concerned
about these issues because they are matters
of justice which deeply touch the lives of
the poor.
7. In the commission reports, other
concerns were mentioned – such as the
continuation of the peace process in Mindanao,
the speedy implementation of the
agrarian reform program, and the constant
protection of the environment.
We are thankful for the participation
and the interest of the bishops during
the plenary assembly. We go back to our
individual dioceses strengthened by the
experience of brotherhood but at the same
time challenged all the more in our ministry
to be effective bearers and proclaimers of
truth, justice, peace and love under the
leadership of Pope Francis. We hope and
pray, under the patronage of the Immaculate
Heart of Mary, to work for the growth
of our own faith and that of God’s people
whom we shepherd in this second half of
the Year of Faith under the guidance and
inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Roy Lagarde / CBCP Media
Volume 47 • Number 07
21

STATEMENTS
On the Commemoration of the 28th Anniversary
of the Disappearance of Fr. Rudy Romano, CSsR
My dear Brothers and Sisters
in our Lord Jesus Christ,
The Fourth Diocesan Synod of
Cebu in 1986 declared, “Option
for the poor is a Christian
option. Defending the human
dignity of the poor and their
hope for a human future is not
a luxury of the Church. It is
its duty.” (Cebu Synod 4, The
Servant Church, #6)
Similarly, our Holy Father
Pope Francis said that
the Year of Faith should be
“less preoccupied by nonessential
rituals but more focused
on our being agents of
God’s mercy to the poor, the
suffering and those alienated
from the Church because
the mercy of God is always
victorious!”
He also expressed his
wish, “Ah, how I would like a
Church that is poor and that
is for the poor.”
Our Holy Father would
be happy to know that in the
1980’s, this was realized in
the life and advocacy of Fr.
Rudy Romano and other church
people. Fr. Rudy and other
church people defended the
rights of the poor and the oppressed,
“even when doing so
meant alienation or persecution
from the rich and powerful.”
(PCP II, 131)
The Archdiocese of Cebu
notes that in 1986, the City
Government of Cebu installed
a marker at Tisa, Labangon,
Cebu City to mark the place
“where Fr. Rudy Romano,
a Redemptorist Father and
human rights fighter was abducted
by armed men of the
deposed Marcos Regime on
July 11, 1985.”
Likewise, the Cebu Provincial
Government in 1987,
passed a resolution “Adopting
Fr. Rudy Romano as a Son of
the Province of Cebu” since
even if he was from Samar,
“prior to his disappearance,
Fr. Romano contributed much
in terms of promoting human
rights, rendering concrete
assistance and social service
to less-privileged Cebuanos
and in making Cebu a strong
bastion of the people’s successful
fight for freedom and
justice during the dark years
of the deposed dictatorship.”
The abduction and disappearance
of Fr. Rudy and a
student leader, Levi Ybañez,
28 years ago have not been resolved.
Meanwhile, until today,
the poor peasants, fisherfolks,
workers, urban poor and other
marginalized sectors continue
to strive for their human dignity
to be upheld.
We are called to follow
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who
“lay down his life for the sheep”
(John 10:11). Fr. Rudy showed
us how to be advocates for
social renewal. He showed us
how to be like Jesus, who loved
the poor, lived and died for the
salvation of all.
Non nobis Domine,
+ JOSE S. PALMA, DD
Archbishop of Cebu
July 11, 2013
Diocesan Pastoral Statement on the May 13, 2013
National and Local Elections
FILE PHOTO
In a few days’ time, winners of the May
13, 2013 National and Local Elections
shall take their oath of office and start
serving the people who elected them into
their respective posts.
Looking back at this event, I wish
to reiterate the teaching of the Church
on our role as Catholic Voters. In the
Catechism of the Catholic Church #2240,
the Church teaches that “Catholics have a
moral obligation to promote the common
good through the exercise of their voting
privileges.” This means that citizens
should participate in the political process
at the ballot box. The Church also teaches
us that we need to vote according to the
dictates of “conscience…to follow what
he knows to be just and right” (CCC no.
1778).
There are several observations that I
wish to underline since they involve some
aspect of the Catholic Teaching on faith
and morals mentioned above:
1. There was the prevalence of vote
buying and vote selling during the elections.
We have seen long queues of people
Roy Lagarde / CBCP Media
waiting for dole outs from candidates.
There are even instances when those
who are buying votes would knock at
the gates and doors of houses in order to
buy the votes of the residents therein. It
seems that people’s votes are for sale. It
seems that the sole determinant of whom
to vote is the amount of money that they
are willing to shell out.
2. The hype about obtaining the
results of the elections in a matter of
hours due to the automation of our national
and local elections proved to be
just plain words due to the fact that the
PCOS machines failed in some instances.
These delayed further the transmission of
the election results. The Filipino people
paid for these expensive machines and
the people did not receive the desired
results. Surely, some people need to admit
culpability in this regard.
3. The spirit of Volunteerism and
Cooperation was also made manifest dur-
22 IMPACT • July 2013

STATEMENTS
ing this event by our numerous PPCRV
Volunteers, BEI’s, law enforcement officers
and Comelec Officials who tried
their very best to have a peaceful and
orderly elections.
4. There is a need for us to be
vigilant so that a repeat of the negative
realties in the political process will
not happen especially that we prepare
for the Barangay Elections in the later
part of this year and the National and
Local Elections in 2016. We need to
keep watch so that those who seek to
manipulate the results of the elections
by using gold, guns and goons will not
succeed in their schemes.
5. Let us also pray so that those
elected to public offices by the people
will truly serve the common good and
learn to give up their own ambitions and
selfish interests.
Rest assured of my prayers for
all of you as we strive together and
work for the betterment of our beloved
country in a way that is pleasing to
the Lord.
MOST REV. GILBERT A. GARCERA, DD
Bishop of Daet
June 21, 2013
Statement on the First Death Anniversary of
Bro. Willem Geertman
Today, we join the family, relatives,
friends, supporters and
the entire people of the country
especially of Central Luzon in remembering
the life of Bro. Willem Geertman.
He is a missionary brother from
Netherlands who opt to selflessly serve
the Filipino people for more than half
of his life. He is a faithful missionary
who courageously pursue the Christian
prophetic task of bringing the good
news of salvation and condemning the
evil works.
Last July 3, 2012, Bro. Willem was
mercilessly killed inside the premises
of Alay Bayan Inc. by elements who
wanted to silence him and cut short
his Christian mission. The method of
killing is a reason of doubt that the
motive of the assassins was to rob the
life out of Bro. Willem and not simply
after any amount of money.
Video footage taken from the
camera of the security outpost of the
subdivision helped in identifying the
criminals. Despite this prima facie evidence
and other witness statements, the
police authorities failed to make those
perpetrators accountable before the
bar of justice. Worst, the legal charges
filed against them were downgraded to
simple robbery with homicide. Such
legal moves of the police department
bear similarities to how they address
cases of extra-judicial killings during
the time of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
It is very alarming that state departments
water down cases of political
in nature.
It is all the more disappointing that
series of dialogue with the Department
of Justice initiated by the families and
supporters of Bro.Willem, until this
day, end up
with no final
resolution of
the case.
T h i s
signifies the
prevailing
culture of
impunity in
our nation. A
case that after
three years of
injustice, will
most likely
fall in the
same trash
bin of the
government
that have long
neglected the
cry of the victims
and their
families for
justice.
Bro. Willem
Geertman
was the
4th victim
among church people and among the
142 victims of extra judicial killings
under the watch of President Aquino. He
was assassinated by those few powerful
that fear to loosen their hold to the
people whom Bro. Willem has served.
Ensuring that justice is served to
Bro. Willem’s death is a resounding
demand of those who want significant
change. We reiterate our call to the
Aquino government to stop the killings
and put an end to the prevailing
culture of impunity. Perpetrators
must be made accountable at the
immediate.
We appeal to all faithful to put
forward the issue of human rights as it
reflects the dignity of God’s creation.
Let us firm up our resolve to never cower
in the face of threat while giving flesh
to our commitment to serve the least
and marginalized. We encourage all
church leaders to firmly stand for the
restoration of life towards its fullness.
Justice for Bro. Willem Geertman!
Justice to All Victims of Human
Rights Violations!
Promotion of Church People’s Response
July 3, 2013
www. mnnetherlands.com
Volume 47 • Number 07
23

STATEMENTS
Human Rights Should Take Precedence and Cannot be
Sacrificed in the Name of ‘Responsible’ Mining
We at the Tampakan Forum welcome
with affirmation the thorough
work done by Dr. Brigitte
Hamm, Ms. Anne Schax and Mr. Christian
Scheper of the Institute for Peace and
Development ( INEF) as presented in the
Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA)
of the Tampakan Copper-Gold Project,
an independent study commissioned and
published by MISEREOR, the German
Catholic Bishops’ Organization for Development
Cooperation and the Swiss
Catholic Lenten Fund (Fastenopfer) in
collaboration with the Swiss protestant
development organization Bread for All.
The conduct of a Human Rights Impact
Assessment by an independent and
third party institution is a welcome initiative.
It provides a better understanding
of a pressing business and human rights
issue in the country today. Such is the
Tampakan Copper-Gold Project, being
heralded by both the government and the
industry as the biggest single investment
in the Philippines which will purportedly
bring in humongous economic benefits
to the country and raise the community’s
“standard of living”.
The furor it has created stupefied
observers, revolted the directly affected
as well as different stakeholders. The exchange
of views, opinions and positions
for or against the project spanned many
years already. It has divided families,
communities, and ostracized constituents
from their governments while on ground
zero, the unfolding of once feared scenarios
into actual events and incidents is now
happening. Noticeably, concrete responses
and appropriate immediate interventions
from supposed authorities is a gaping
gap to date. If any, drastic and insensitive
measures that have only aggravated the
situation from bad to worse.
We see the impact study on human
rights as an essential element to pave the
way for a more in-depth, properly informed
and objective discussion of the issues at
hand. It would do well for government to
read it carefully and critically. It may well
be an indictment of its conduct vis-a-vis
human rights, indigenous peoples, environment
and the stewardship of Creation.
The HRIA under the frame of the UN
Guiding Principles for Business and Human
Rights is a valuable human rights tool
to guide businesses in upholding respect
for human rights in every step of their
work process, and to establish
effective remedies. Likewise, to
provide guidance for the state to
protect human rights by effectively
enforcing regulation and
to draw attention from all stakeholders
to uphold the primacy
of human rights. It is so as the
HRIA report on Tampakan Project
clearly pointed out its actual and
potential impacts in a given complex
context of the human rights
of the most vulnerable groups,
especially indigenous groups,
farmers and irrigators.
Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI),
a subsidiary of the Philippines
Glencore-Xstrata, has certainly
made a study on the environmental
and social impact of the effects on health
according to the Philippine laws. However,
none of the companies involved in the
project has so far done an impact study
on human rights in accordance with the
Guidelines. The Philippine government
has neither made nor requested the study,
no more than the Swiss state has required
the parent company to undertake one. This
does not and cannot downplay the fact of
the dire need for an independent HRIA.
The HRIA had delved into a context
which is characterized by a combination
of government failures, prevailing poverty,
a high level of marginalization and
discrimination against indigenous groups,
especially in terms of basic services, and a
generally volatile conflict situation.
It pointed out already existing and
potential high risks to the human rights of
vulnerable population should the project
proceed, as the rights to an adequate and
meaningful information and participation,
livelihoods, health, education, culture,
and the fundamental right to life, security,
and liberty.
Against the backdrop of the key
predicaments outlined by the HRIA as
precarious to such a project, the conclusion
that under such situation and existing
conditions, “a responsible open-pit mine
of this magnitude does not seem feasible”
has only corroborated the earlier critique
of the Tampakan Forum which was presented
in a public forum organized by
the Provincial local government of South
Cotabato last September 23, 2011. The
blatant disregard for fundamental human
rights was also one of the key findings
by the Tampakan Forum-led fact-finding
solidarity mission last April 2012. These
prior documents were made available to
all the stakeholders for consideration and
appropriate action but sadly it seemed it
has been relegated to the background by the
concerned government authorities, and has
not been taken seriously if not altogether
vehemently denied by SMI.
We have always reiterated that the
Philippine state is the primary bearer of
the responsibility for the fragile situation
in the Tampakan area, while SMI and
its mother company, Xstrata carry great
responsibility.
This project will result in the expulsion
of more than 5,000 indigenous people
from their ancestral domain. It is located
on a site of importance with regard to the
supply of drinking water in the region. A
site also threatened by earthquakes and by
an active volcano. The mining company’s
promise and assurance comes in the form
of techno-fix mitigating measures to master
all existing environmental risks.
From the outset, Tampakan Forum
totally agreed with the SMI’s consultant
engineers who determined that: “The Tampakan
Mine has a high potential for loss of
life and high environmental damage if the
facilities fail” [page 42 Waste Management
Report. Appendix A. SMI Environmental
and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA)
2011]. We totally disagree that Xstrata/
Indophil/SMI can design the facilities to
survive seismic activity and climate change
including tropical cyclones forever.
The way mining has been done in the
country for the past 50 years, render the fact
FILE PHOTO
24
IMPACT • July 2013

STATEMENTS
that the state at the moment, does not have
the institutional capability to evaluate and
regulate mining. This presents a quandary
on what constitutes “responsible” mining
and how will it be measured and applied
to specific situations.
Incoherent information and lack of
meaningful participation, dependency
of basic services on the future of the
project, imbalanced power relationship
between SMI and affected communities,
insufficiency of established grievance
mechanisms, accumulating grievances and
triggers of violent conflict are predicaments
that any good and responsible government
will be hard put not to simply ignore. Its
actual occurrence and manifestations right
under the nose of a mining company that
claims to be responsible speaks for itself
the truth behind this venture that cannot
be simply swept under the rug.
While we may agree with the principle
that the business of mining and human
rights can be possible in any other context,
notwithstanding the key recommendations
of the HRIA, it defies sane reasoning on
why should the Philippines permit such a
mine and carry the known and unknown
risks and costs forever. The trade-offs far
outweigh the temporary economic benefits
being dangled by the mining company and
its promoters and brokers in the government.
The HRIA on Tampakan only strengthens
the resolve of the Tampakan Forum in
pushing for the 10 point Human Rights
Agenda in Mining which includes among
others the calls to respect, protect and
fulfill IP Rights, to self determination
(FPIC), protect women human rights
defenders and IP women in mining areas,
protect our environment and right
to safe sound and balance ecology, stop
the killings of human rights defenders,
stop displacement of rural folks, protect
the rights to food, water, housing and
access to means of subsistence, stop militarization
and deployment of investment
defense forces, justice for all victims of
mining related HRVs and stop development
aggression.
Human Rights are fundamental to
us as human beings. It is enshrined in
international conventions and covenants.
It is enshrined in our own constitution. It
is embedded in our faith—Imago Dei—in
the image and likeness of God. Human
rights cannot be sacrificed in the name of
‘responsible mining’.
Even as we call on and address the
HRIA recommendations to the present administration
of President Benigno Aquino
Jr., the UK and Swiss governments and the
mining companies SMI, Glencore-Xstrata
and Indophil, the Tampakan Forum renew
our demand for the cancellation of the
FTAA. The proposed Tampakan mine
should not be allowed to proceed.
Presented for Tampakan Forum by:
Fr. Oliver Castor
PMPI Advocacy Officer
June 27, 2013
(Tampakan Forum is a technical working
group on the Tampakan mining issue
convened by the Philippine-Misereor
Partnership Inc. (PMPI) in collaboration
with Social Action Center (SAC) Marbel,
AlyansaTigil Mina (ATM), Philippine
Association for Intercultural Development
(PAFID), Legal Rights and Natural
Resources Center-Friends of Earth Philippines
(LRC-KSK), Philippine Indigenous
Peoples Links (PIPLINKS) and the London
Working Group on Mining in the Philippines
(WGMP-UK) and IUCN CESP-
SEAPRISE. CBCP-National Secretariat
for Social Action Centers, LILAK (Purple
Action for Indigenous Women’s Rights)
and Task Force Detainees Philippines
(TFDP), PhilRights.)
A Continuing Aspiration of the People for Home, Life and Dignity
The Promotion of Church People's
Response strongly condemns the
added suffering inflicted by the
Aquino administration to the people in
urban poor communities particularly in
Metro Manila. Our poor brothers and
sisters are human beings, created in the
likeness of God. People are meant to be
respected and be defended. They were
created with dignity.
As this statement is being drafted, a
number of people along Agham Road in
Quezon City have stood ground against
attempt of the demolition team to forcibly
evict them from their homes. A letter
from the Office of the Secretary to the
Mayor of Quezon City was received by
residents threatening them to be ejected
if they refuse to leave the area. The Quezon
City government has long-standing
plans of building a business district to
be developed by the Ayala Corporation.
More and more people suffer the
same fate as there are similar plans by the
government to demolish urban poor communities
this year. In the same breath, the
Aquino government is also using the issue
of flooding along the metropolis to justify
their move to displace urban poor people
living in the so-called “danger zone”.
In the midst of on-going massive
demolitions, the Aquino administration
offers a measly P18,000 per family and/
or relocation areas that are far suitable for
a decent living. Added to this misery are
the absence of employment opportunities
and lack of essential social services
such as health and education. Worst, they
also find themselves in vulnerable and
dangerous conditions especially in times
of calamity as designated relocation sites
are found to be prone to flooding and
other natural calamities.
The Aquino government’s policy
and programs towards urban poor clearly
display similarities to the previous
administration. Instead of identifying
the needs of the urban poor and show
at the very least a compassionate act, it
considers urban poor people as criminals,
hindrance to development, eye sore or
social dregs.
On this reality, we demand from
the Aquino administration to respect the
dignity and life of the urban poor and do
its obligation to provide essential social
services to the poor people. We call on
the local officials not to yield with the
national government in inflicting more
pain against poor people, instead, protect
their rights to have a decent living.
We urge faithful to join hands with
the urban poor as they long for decent
homes, determine the direction of their
lives and craft their future as promised.
As the Pastoral Message of the Church,
Gaudium et Spes, tells us, “the joys and
the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties
of the men of this age, especially those
who are poor or in any way afflicted,
these are the joys and hopes, the griefs
and anxieties of the followers of Christ.”
Reference:
Mr. Nardy Sabino
Secretary General
Promotion of Church People's Response
July 1, 2013
Volume 46 • Number 07 25

FROM THE
BLOGS
Political
representation
The fact of honest to goodness political representation
only makes real sense in a truly democratic
country that adopts the following principles: First,
the governing sovereignty in fact categorically and officially
resides in the people. Second, the people themselves
in effect delegate their sovereignty to some individuals
from their common interests and public concerns. Third,
the people’s delegated representatives then honestly and
continuously work for the common good and public welfare
of the people they precisely represent.
It is good to note that all the above observation on
political representation find their basis on the truth that just
as “polis” means city, “polites” in turn means citizen. Free
translation: As it is the people—“polites”—who make up
the country—“polis”—so it is that the people themselves
who chose their representatives—“politicians”—to govern
them and their country. Politics and politicians may nonchalantly
shrug off the objective truth that they are for the
people—and certainly not the other way around. Such is
also the basic premise why public offices held by politicians
upon the delegation of the people are categorically and
concretely intended for public service in favor of the latter.
It is for the above composite reason that among the
fatal deformities of the democratic system advocating and
promoting political representation, is the phenomenon of
political corruption—when there is then some kind of a
disgusting transit from political to but self-representation,
when service to people becomes service to oneself, families,
and friends included. In the last analysis, it is this signal
liability of corruption that undermines the nature and finality
of democracy, that makes politics “dirty,” that makes
most politicians the objects of disgust and resentment, the
target of bad jokes.
Some of the more deplored and deplorable effects
of political corruption are the following: It undermines
the significance, worth, and validity of democracy. It
cheapens politics in the same way that it makes a mockery
of politicians. But above all its deleterious effects
is that it betrays and tramples upon the principles of
social justice—specially in terms of people paying their
taxes to the government while government officials pay
themselves extremely, while forgetting to give back to
the people what they deserve by mandate of distributive
justice—such as giving them public service and working
for their common good.
It is corruption in their government manned and ran
by their own representative public officials—politicians
in particular—that causes social discontent if not social
upheaval. A basically corrupt government notwithstanding
all its allegations and pronouncements to the contrary, can
be rightfully considered as a social curse, with the people
bearing all the evil and sorrows thereof.
www.ovc.blogspot.com
‘Save the nation
movement’
It is timely in emergence. It is nationalist in spirit. It is an
imperative advocacy for the common good and public
welfare of the people of the Philippines. It is not really
hard to notice and understand its emergence, its persistent
existence, and now progressively stronger in influence
upon thinking people. There is something wrong—many
things wrong—about the socio-economic standing of the
country notwithstanding all contrary declamations of the
administration plus repeated heavenly surveys at the expense
of the Filipinos themselves.
The continued high cost of prime commodities. The
stagnant salary scale of local workers—if work there is.
The inescapable direct and/or indirect taxes of Filipinos
from birth to death. The rising cost of living and education.
The privatization of public utilities—public roads
and hospitals included. The utter lack or ever rising costs
of water and electricity. The regular increasing price of
power—gas and gasoline in particular. Sad but true: even
burial has become quite expensive.
Results: Continuous destructive and even deadly rebellions
from the left and from the south. Repeated incursions
in Philippine territorial waters as a regular occurrence.
Criminality and thievery taking place as a matter of course.
While hating the birth of people, people are precisely the
export industry of the Philippine Government—with or
without Filipino women being sold to the highest foreign
bidders for purposes of entrance to, stay in or exit from
their countries. Until something quite novel and promising
is done for the honest-to-goodness socio-economic development
of the Philippines—the country has nowhere to go;
the people have no future to look forward to. The “Save
the Nation Movement” presents and submits the following
three signal interlocking proposals that may be challenging
to accomplish but not only logical but also imperative in
content and intent:
One: The science driven double or even threefold food
production with the complimentary accompaniments of sufficient
irrigation, fertilizer manufacture, storage buildings,
farm to market roads and the like, export arrangements
included—but with the Filipino as its first beneficiaries.
Two: The use of inexhaustible, cheap, and available
power in place of the usual oil fuel that has limited and
dwindling source, that is becoming more and more expensive
plus its pollution costs. Nuclear power is worth looking into
for use in the Philippines as in other places in Asia itself.
Three: The postponement of the payment of external
debts that grew in huge and insurmountable amount simply
by the devalued exchange rate of the poor Philippine
peso—courtesy of the IMF. Such continuous manipulations
of exchange rates at the expense of poor countries
are unconscionable. The postponement will help finance
the first two proposals.
www.ovc.blogspot.com
26 IMPACT • July 2013

EDITORIAL
Dole-outs as solutions to poverty
Illustration by Brothers Matias
Millions are poor, hungry, and destitute. Thousands
have no decent houses and no clean environ
to live in. Hundreds have already died on
account of accidents and sickness—such as the pouring
of heavy rains and the killer floods thereafter. Puerile
and thus pitiful response from the present administration:
Transfer some cash to their chosen hands. Give
them some allowance to get by. Undertake band-aid
solutions to their deadly predicament. And the administration
then not merely expects but even demands the
undying gratitude of the poor and the big adulation of
the general public.
Yet, strange but true, this government readily vetoed
the “Magna Carta for the Poor” according to which the
genuine and lasting solution to poverty among more
and more Filipinos are definitely not resolved merely
by meager donations every now and then, not by plain
dole outs on various occasions, much less by regular
alms giving where the big amount of which are instead
pocketed by those precisely tasked to give them away.
This is another expression of gross graft and corrupt
practices in the country, notwithstanding all contrary
and repeated self-praises plus self-admiration of the
insensitive administration that more and more people
however in fact denounce.
Only beggars really ask for alms just as only the
indolent seek dole-outs, in the same way that charitable
organizations need donations. The “Magna Carta for
the Poor”—which was nonchalantly and immediately
considered as but garbage by the administration—is
the admirable end-product of a good number of hours
of reflections and discussions by knowledgeable and
capable legislators. More than but good will, they were
convinced that the millions of poor Filipinos must have
something much more lasting to look forward to—which
in a word is “development” specifically in terms of
socio-economic progress.
One, their need of health care. Two, their
requirement for housing. Three, their quest for
education. Four, their search for work. These are
the four keys and immediate requirements that the
poor in the country understandably require and
seek for their eventual redemption from poverty if
not downright misery. They are the necessary and
immediate agenda that the administration should
undertake and attend to.
Such is the simple and realistic combined fouragenda
proactive program that a capable and intelligent
administration should attend to, not merely giving away
money here and there—money which is not even its own
but from the people themselves through their continued
payments of direct and indirect taxes. Sad to say, the
present administration is but reactive and self-serving
in its posture and pursuant action.
Volume 47 • Number 07
27

FROM THE
INBOX
From the email messages of may_rv2003@yahoo.com
You are unique!
Think what a remarkable, unduplicatable,
and miraculous thing it is
to be you! Of all the people who
have come and gone on the earth, since
the beginning of time, not ONE of them
is like YOU!
No one who has ever lived or is
to come has had your combination of
abilities, talents, appearance, friends,
acquaintances, burdens, sorrows and
opportunities.
No one’s hair grows exactly the way
yours does. No one’s finger prints are like
yours. No one has the same combination
of secret inside jokes and family expressions
that you know.
The few people who laugh at all the
same things you do, don’t sneeze the way
you do. No one prays about exactly the
same concerns as you do. No one is loved
by the same combination of people that
love you—NO ONE!
No one before, no one to come. YOU
ARE ABSOLUTELY UNIQUE!
Enjoy that uniqueness. You do not
A
mouse looked through the crack in
the wall to see the farmer and his
wife open a package. “What food
might this contain?” the mouse wondered.
He was devastated to discover it was a
mousetrap.
Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse
proclaimed the warning: “There is a
mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap
in the house!”
The chicken clucked and scratched,
raised her head and said, “Mr. Mouse,
I can tell this is a grave
concern to you, but it
is of no consequence
to me. I cannot be bothered
by it.”
The mouse turned to
the pig and told him, “There is
a mousetrap in the house! There
is a mousetrap in the house!” The
pig sympathized, but said, “I am so
very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing
I can do about it but pray. Be assured
you are in my prayers.”
The mouse turned to the cow and said,
have to pretend in order to seem more
like someone else. You weren’t meant to
be like someone else. You do not have to
lie to conceal the parts of you that are not
like what you see in anyone else.
You were meant to be different.
Nowhere ever in all of history will the
same things be going on in anyone’s
mind, soul and spirit as are going on in
yours right now.
If you did not exist, there would
be a hole in creation, a gap in history,
something missing from the plan for
humankind.
Treasure your uniqueness. It is a gift
given only to you. Enjoy it and share it!
No one can reach out to others in
the same way that you can. No one can
speak your words. No one can convey
your meanings. No one can comfort with
your kind of comfort. No one can bring
your kind of understanding to
another person.
No one can be cheerful
and lighthearted and joyous in
The mouse trap
“There is a mousetrap in the house! There
is a mousetrap in the house!” The cow said,
“Wow, Mr. Mouse. I’m sorry for you, but
it’s no skin off my nose.”
So, the mouse returned to the house,
head down and dejected, to face the
farmer’s mousetrap alone.
That very night a sound was heard
throughout the house – like the sound of a
mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer’s
wife rushed to see what was caught. In
the darkness, she did not
see it was a venomous
snake
whose
tail the
www.metrotrader.net
your way. No one can smile your smile.
No one else can bring the whole unique
impact of you to another human being.
Share your uniqueness. Let it be free
to flow out among your family and friends
and people you meet in the rush and
clutter of living wherever you are. That
gift of yourself was given you to enjoy
and share. Give yourself away!
See it! Receive it!
Let it tickle
you! Let it
inform you
and nudge
you and in-
spire
you! YOU A R E
UNIQUE!
trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer’s
wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital
and she returned home with a fever.
Everyone knows you treat a fever
with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer
took his hatchet to the farmyard for the
soup’s main ingredient. But his wife’s
sickness continued, so friends and neighbors
came to sit with her around the
clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered
the pig. The farmer’s wife did not get
well; she died. Many people came for
her funeral, so the farmer had the cow
slaughtered to provide enough meat for
all of them.
The mouse looked upon it all from
his crack in the wall with great sadness.
So, the next time you hear someone
is facing a problem and think it doesn’t
concern you, remember, when one of us
is threatened, we are all at risk. We are
all involved in this journey called
life. We must keep an eye out for one
another and make an extra effort to
encourage one another. Each of us is
a vital thread in another person’s tapestry.
Pinky Barrientos, FSP
28 IMPACT • July 2013

ook
reviews
8 Habits of the Happy Millionaire
Create Your Wealth God’s Way
Bo Sanchez
WHY are there people who
remain poor all their life? Is
being born poor or rich define
our destiny? In this book, internationally-known
preacher
and self-made millionaire, Bo
Sanchez points out that decisions
and choices in life play
a great part in our success
or failures. In this volume, he
shares his secrets on how to
achieve wealth without losing
the right perspective in life.
Drawing from his personal
experience, the author shows
that achieving wealth for the
right reasons can make one
both rich and happy at the
same time. In this book, readers
will learn 8 habits that if followed religiously will lead them to
success and make them happy millionaires.
Meditations on the Sacrament
of the Sick
Anscar J. Chupungco, OSB
SICKNESS is part of life.
No one is spared from
experiencing some sort
of illness, serious or otherwise.
However, sickness
should not overcome
us. In fact, this
particular situation could
even become a way to
bring us closer to God.
The Anointing of the
Sick is a sacrament that
persons who are ill can
avail of to strengthen
them during their illness
and convalescence. In
this book, the author
gives a series of meditations
on the importance
of the sacrament and of
prayer as fount of grace
especially during time of
illness. Consisting of three parts, the book presents the topics on the
theology of the sacrament, the rite of celebration, and catechesis on
the Christian meaning of human sickness.
Bo Sanchez
Don’t Worry Be Happy
7 Secrets to Achieve Your Dreams and
Enjoy Great Happiness Today
FILIPINOS are a happy bunch of
people. The saying “Only in the
Philippines” points out to various idiosyncrasies
that are uniquely Filipino.
Even amid misfortunes or difficulties,
Filipinos can smile, laugh and take
things in stride. Although this attitude
sure can help a lot in creating a positive
outlook in one’s life, the author
goes further by challenging people to
use their gifts to the max and achieve
their dreams and enjoy great happiness
along the way. Having had the
privilege to meet all kinds of people
through his ministry, Bo found in
these people the common ingredient of happiness which he now
shares to his readers through this book. “If we want to be happy, we
need to overcome our fears,” and the “only antidote to fear is love.”
Meditations on the Sacrament of
Penance
Anscar J. Chupungco, OSB
THE sacrament of confession
offers the Catholic faithful the opportunity
to experience the healing
power of forgiveness that comes
from God through the absolution
given by the priest. The profound
meditations in this book help the
readers to re-discover the beauty
and power of the sacrament of
reconciliation which oftentimes
is taken for granted. The Second
Plenary Council of the Philippines
pointed this out: “Sadly, the sacrament
of reconciliation, which is
the celebration of God’s mercy, is
often neglected by priests and lay
people.” For priests, catechists and lay people, the book offers a
deeper understanding and appreciation of the sacrament of penance.
As the foreword says, the book is “founded firmly on sound
theology and relevant historical data…the truth of God’s boundless
mercy and untiring pursuit of the errant child, the hideous countenance
of sin, the depth of woundedness caused by it, the enormous
Price paid for its remission, the mediating role of the wounded and
healing Church, the celestial joy over one repentant sinner, and the
peace and harmony that come with a renewed life—all come out
eloquently as each text, each gesture is meditated on.”
Volume 47 • Number 07
29

ENTERTAINMENT
Catholic INitiative for
Enlightened Movie Appreciation
Lead cast: Angel Locsin, Toni Gonzaga, Bea Alonzo,
Shaina Magdayao, Coney Reyes, Enchong Dee; Direction:
Cathy Garcia Molina; Screenplay: Jose Javier Reyes; Editing:
Marya Ignacio; Location: Metro Manila; Genre: Comedy;
Running time: 120 minutes Distributor: Star Cinema
Technical assessment: •••
Moral Assessment: •••
CINEMA rating: V 14
MTRCB rating: PG 13
May kani-kaniyang
sikreto at problema
ang magkakapatid
na Salazar. Si Teddy (Toni
Gonzaga) ay di kagalingan na
guro sa Espanya na ngayo'y
isa na lamang katulong at
waitress. Hindi niya maamin
sa kanyang pamilya ang totoo
niyang trabaho dahil ayaw
niyang mapahiya. Si Bobby
(Bea Alonzo) ay nasa New
York bilang matagumpay na
Communications Manager na
laging umiiwas na magpakasal
sa kanyang nobyo. Galit pa
rin siya sa kapatid na si Alex
(Angel Locsin) dahil sa pagpatol
nito sa kanyang dating
kasintahang si Chad. Si Gabby
(Shaina Magdayao), ang tanging
kapatid na babaeng naiwan
sa kanilang bahay kasama
ng kanilang inang si Grace
(Coney Reyes), tumatayong
nanay-nanayan ng pamilya, at
tila papunta sa pagiging matandang
dalaga. Kakailanganin
magsiuwi nina Teddy, Bobby
at Alex nang magsumbong si
Gabby na magpapakasal ang
kanilang bunso at kaisa-isang
kapatid na lalaking si CJ sa
isang babaeng sa palagay nila
ay hindi nababagay rito. Sabay
sa pagharap sa pamilya ng
kasintahan ni CJ sa pamamanhikan
ay kakailangan din nilang
harapin ang kani-kanilang isyu
sa isa't isa. At habang pinaplano
nila kung papaanong paghihiwalayin
ang magsing-irog ay
kailangan nilang isipin kung
papaano nilang mabubuo ang
kanilang relasyon bilang magkakapatid.
Maganda sana ang konsepto
sa likod ng kwento ng 4
Sisters and A Wedding. Bago
pero hindi imposible, kakaiba
pero hindi malayong mangyari.
Mahusay sina Reyes at
Alonzo sa pagganap. Simple
at makatotohanan ang kanilang
interpretasyon sa karakter.
Bagamat magaling ang pagbitiw
ng linya nina Gonzaga, Locsin
at Magdayao, ang kanilang pagganap
ay medyo pilit at hindi
nalalayo sa pagganap nila sa iba
nilang mga naunang pelikula.
Bagamat maganda ang ideya
sa likod ng kwento hindi naman
pinagbuhusan ng pansin ang
pagbuo sa pagkatao ng bawat
tauhan. Tama na yata ang magkaroon
ng kaunting hugis ang
personalidad at kaunting kulay
kwento kahit mababaw at hilaw.
Ang pinakamaipipintas
sa Four Sisters and a Wedding
(na lagi namang pintas
sa pelikulang Pinoy) ay ang
kalabisan ng mga eksena.
Kapag iyakan, kailangang
lahat ay magbuhos ng sama
ng loob at ilitanya ang lahat
ng isyu kahit paulit-ulit nang
nabanggit sa simula pa lamang
ng sine. (Alam na ng lahat ang
kahihiyan ni Teddy sa trabaho
at ang samaan ng loob nina
Bobby at Alex, gayunpaman
ay paulit-ulit itong binabanggit
na para bang sinisigurong hindi
malilimutan ito ng manunuod.)
Masyadong madrama ang atake
sa komprontasyon at hindi na
ito makatotohanan. Nasasayang
tuloy ang pagkakataong
makapag-iwan ng aral sa manunuod.
Gayundin naman ang
istilo sa pagpapatawa—bukod
sa masyadong OA at malapit
nang maging corny, namuhunan
pa sa pambihirang apelyidong
“Bayag”. Baka kung
ginawang Santos o Cruz iyon
sa halip na Bayag ay mawawala
ang kalahati ng pagpapatawa.
Kung tutuusin ay di hamak na
mas epektibo ang pagsingit
ng mga bloopers sa huli dahil
simple lamang ito at natural.
Ipinahiniwatig ng pelikula
na ang bawat tao ay may sariling
kakanyahan na dapat unawain
at igalang. At sa loob ng
isang ugnayan, tulad ng pamilya,
ang mga pagkakaibang ito
ay maaaring maging sanhi ng
mga emosyonal na tunggalian
at di pagkakasundo. Malakas
ang mensahe ng pagtanggap
at pagpapatawad sa kabila ng
sakit at pagkukulang. Madalas
mangyari sa magkakapatid ang
inggitan, iringan at sumbatan
pero sa huli, kailangang mangibabaw
ang pagkakasundo,
hindi lamang dahil magkadugo
sila kundi dahil bilang mga
tao sa loob ng isang mahigpit
na ugnayan, ang paghihilom
ay mangyayari lamang sa
sandaling mangibabaw ang
pagmamahal at pagpapatawaran.
Sa kabila ng melodrama
nagawang ipakita ng pelikula
ang komprontasyon ng pamilya
hindi bilang tunggalian
ng pagkatao kundi pakikipagtunggali
sa sarili. Kahangahanga
rin ang pagsusumikap
ng magkakapatid naitaguyod
ang pamilya sa kabila ng mga
hinihinging sakripisyo. Muli,
binibigyang diin ang halaga
ng pamilya para sa mga Pinoy.
Binigyang diin din ang kakayahang
umahon sa pagkakamali
at magsimula muli—na siyang
nagagawa kapag natutong magpatawad
sa mga pagkukulang.
Sa kabilang banda, may mga
biro at sitwasyon na medyo
maselan at di angkop sa mga
bata kaya't mas nararapat ito
sa mga manunuod na nasa
hustong gulang.
30 IMPACT • July 2013

ASIA
BRIEFING
THAILAND. Workshop shows charity
as ‘hallmark’ of Christian life
A group of 230 Buddhist students
from schools throughout the diocese
of Chantaburi, Thailand, learned about
the importance of charity in a recent
three-day workshop on human dignity.
“Charity has no religion,” said Fr. Joseph
Phongsak, director of the Commission
on Evangelization and Inter-religious Dialogue
for the Chantaburi Diocese. “It is a
universal, common element embodied in
every…major religion.” He called charity
a “hallmark of the Christian faith” and a
“cardinal epitome of our way of life and
works,” adding that it plays a critical role
in “defend(ing) the dignity of humanity.”
Fr. Phongsak said that the human dignity
workshop aims to share “God’s infinite
love” and the inherent value and “dignity
of each human being” that are contained
in “Catholic social doctrines. (CNA)
VIETNAM. Navy chaplain honored
despite communist objections
Bishop Joseph Chau Ngoc Tri of Da
Nang recently organized and was present
at a Mass in honor of Father Vincent
Capodanno, a U.S. chaplain killed during
the Vietnam War, and encouraged his
people to ask the priest's intercession.
Ted Bronson, a retired Navy Captain,
said June 26 that Bishop Tri “is a brave
bishop, fostering Capodanno under the
umbrella” of Vietnamese communism. The
Mass, said on June 14, marked the 55th
anniversary of Fr. Capodanno's priestly
ordination. Fr. Capodanno was ordained
for the Maryknoll Missionary order, and
later became a chaplain for the U.S. Navy.
While with Maryknoll, Fr. Capodanno
served in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and then
requested to be reassigned as a chaplain
with the Marines. He was sent to Vietnam
in 1966, and requested an extension to his
tour of duty when it was up. (CNA)
INDIA. Bishops pray for victims of
devastating flood
The Catholic Bishops Conference of
India issued a June 21 statement voicing
deep “solidarity” and “concern” for victims of
severe flooding in the Uttarakhand region.
Heavy rains in the north part of the country
have created floods that have claimed more
than 600 lives and affected thousands more.
According to the Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna,
the death toll is expected to reach
1,000. The devastating floods hit in June,
in the Northern valley under the Himalayan
Mountain range. Incessant torrents led the
river basins to swell and overflow. Caritas
India, the Catholic bishops’ national aid
organization, is working to provide relief
efforts to those in need. (CNA)
JERUSALEM. Tour of Holy Land gives
‘life to biblical history’
A 10-day mission trip to Israel for
U.S. Catholic educators has allowed
the group to gain a perspective of the
Holy Land within the context of the
modern state of Israel, said the group's
chaplain. "It is not just going to the holy
sites while ignoring Israel as it is today
or ignoring the reality in terms of the
Palestinian-Jewish (conflict)," Father
Michael Dolan of the Archdiocese of
Hartford, Conn., a former teacher, told
Catholic News Service during the trip.
By visiting holy sites and engaging with
speakers from various backgrounds and
political views, the trip has "added life
to biblical history" while leading to new
ideas on how to strengthen their own
social justice teaching, he said. (CNS)
SAUDI ARABIA. Riyadh tells foreign
workers to ‘respect Ramadan’
Anyone, Muslims and non-Muslims,
caught eating, drinking, smoking or chewing
gum in daylight hours during Ramadan
could be imprisoned, whipped and expelled
from the kingdom, Saudi Arabia's Interior
Ministry said in a statement issued on the
eve of the holy month, which begins today
in Saudi Arabia. The measure, adopted
by the Interior Minister and confirmed by
sources in the Committee for the Promotion
of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (the
muttawa or religious police), primarily
affects 8 million foreign workers, mostly
Asians, who are living at present in the
country. Foreigners caught breaking the
fast in public "will be subject to deterrent
measures that include terminating their
employment contracts and expelling them
from the kingdom.” (Asianews)
CHINA. Exports drop due to global
crisis, strong yuan
For the first time in 17 months, China's
exports fell. The global economic crisis,
rising labour costs and a stronger yuan
cut exports by 3.1 per cent compared
to last year, the first decline since January
2012. Economists had expected an
increase of 4 per cent in exports and 8
per cent in imports. In particular, exports
to the United States fell by 5.4 per cent
and those to the European Union by
8.3 per cent. Although the trade surplus
increased, compared to May, from
US$ 20.4 billion to US$ 27.13 billion,
that was lower than expected by half a
billion. Negative export data come on
top of negative reports released earlier
this month about inflation and domestic
demand. (Asianews)
TAIWAN. Cycling to reduce smog in
Taipei
In order to rein in car and motorcycle
pollution, Taipei residents are rediscovering
the pleasure of cycling. Launched in March
2009, the city's YouBike bicycle-sharing
system gives people the option of picking
up a bicycle at designated spots around
the capital to use free of charge for half an
hour. Anything above 30 minutes comes
with a fee. Integrated with the city's bus and
subway network, YouBike has become a
huge success. In recent months, its use
has increased so much that the city government
wants more. In June, more than
800,000 people used it, hitting a record
34,670 users on 7 June. As of this article,
the system was used 5,099,380 times
since 11 March 2009, this according to the
YouBike website. (Asianews)
BURMA. Activist gets 10 years in prison
A court in central Myanmar has sentenced
an activist to ten years in prison for
"threatening national security" after he led
a protest against a controversial Chinesebacked
copper mine that sparked clashes
with the authorities. Judge Kaythi Hlaing
of the Shwebo city court handed Aung
Soe, an activist with Myanmar's People's
Support Network, a ten-year sentence
on July 8 after convicting him on eight
charges, including "threatening religious
purity", in connection with violence on
25 April. Aung had backed hundreds of
farmers protesting the seizure of their
land by Wan Bao Company, which is
owned by China's state-owned China
North Industries Corp. (Norinco)
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