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Vol. 44 No. 2 • FEBRUARY 2010<br />

Php 70. 00


“<br />

Quote in the Act<br />

“The population is hungry, and they are quick to get<br />

angry.”<br />

Dr. Marlene Dorismond Adrien, an advocate for the hungry who has a radio<br />

program in Port-Au-Prince in Haiti; describing desperation of the populace over<br />

food shortage and distribution mismanagement of relief good continue to mount<br />

as fake food coupons spread in Haiti’s capital.<br />

“I call on the whole country: ‘Switch off the lights.’”<br />

Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela; as he declared an “electricity<br />

emergency” due to drought in Venezuela that relies on hydroelectricity for 70%<br />

of its power despite its huge crude oil reserves; but critics say poor management<br />

and underinvestment are the real reasons for undermining the power grid.<br />

““The true cause of the crisis is the decline in the birth rate.”<br />

“Women have stronger characters than men because<br />

when they say no they mean no, and they are less<br />

corruptible.”<br />

Boiko M. Borisov, prime minister of Bulgaria during the inauguration of<br />

the women’s wing of his center-right political party; dubbed as an “unlikely<br />

feminist,” perhaps he is unaware his dictum may not be true in other countries,<br />

like the Philippines.<br />

Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, President of the Institute for the World of Religion; in a<br />

recent interview on Vatican Television said that bankers are not the cause of the<br />

global economic crisis but ordinary people who do not “believe in the future” and<br />

have few or no children.<br />

““Unless we priests have an experience or are strongly<br />

convinced of being loved by God, we cannot lead the<br />

people to this liberating experience of God’s love.”<br />

Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the papal household; in one of his talks to<br />

the 2nd National Congress of the Clergy held at the World Trade Center in Pasay<br />

City on January 25-29, 2010.<br />

“To transform our political order—how imperative<br />

this task is today!”<br />

Nerio Odchimar, bishop of Tandag and President of the Catholic Bishops’<br />

Conference of the Philippines; in a Pastoral Statement issued on the occasion<br />

of the 100th Plenary Assembly of Philippines’ bishops held in Manila in<br />

January 2010.<br />

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<strong>IMPACT</strong><br />

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PEDRO C. QUITORIO III<br />

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2<br />

<strong>IMPACT</strong> • February 2010


EDITORIAL<br />

Relax! ................................................................... 27<br />

COVER STORY<br />

CONTENTS<br />

Upholding the Rights of Migrant Workers ... 16<br />

ARTICLES<br />

Second National Congress of the Clergy ...... 4<br />

Equity, economy, and environment ................. 9<br />

<strong>IMPACT</strong> February 2010 / Vol 44 • No 2<br />

Hands across the waters ................................. 11<br />

Thrice a victim of labor migration ............... 20<br />

DEPARTMENTS<br />

Quote in the Act ................................................. 2<br />

News Features ................................................... 14<br />

Statements .......................................................... 22<br />

From the Blogs ................................................... 26<br />

From the Inbox .................................................. 28<br />

Book Reviews ..................................................... 29<br />

Entertainment .................................................... 30<br />

Asia Briefing ...................................................... 31<br />

There is no mistaking that<br />

the 2nd National Congress<br />

of the Clergy was<br />

a phenomenal success. The<br />

sight of more than five thousand<br />

priests robed in white was<br />

spectacular—during liturgical<br />

celebrations especially at confessions,<br />

and on the 1.2-kilometer<br />

procession towards Cuneta<br />

Astrodome in Pasay City.<br />

But numbers alone do not<br />

a success make—except from<br />

the mobilization point of view.<br />

And neither is the shedding of<br />

tears no matter how profuse,<br />

as some comments tended—<br />

implying, consciously or otherwise,<br />

that priests were really<br />

in deep renewal because some<br />

of them were seen teary-eyed<br />

at one session or two. But<br />

measuring up goodness by<br />

the number of wet hankies is<br />

very tentative and reminiscent<br />

of the heydays of the Cursillo<br />

when one had to elicit a tearful<br />

sentiment to the satisfaction of<br />

the “rollesta.”<br />

Transformation in human<br />

nature—and so with the clergy—is<br />

an itinerary. Or, better,<br />

perhaps, a gestation. Even<br />

Paul of Tarsus was nary an<br />

exception. He had to become<br />

a recluse in Damascus<br />

for some days before the<br />

miracle of change thumped<br />

the streets. But, of course,<br />

human transformation<br />

maybe understood better<br />

in the macro context of<br />

the economy of salvation—which<br />

really saying too much.<br />

It maybe safe and realistic to<br />

say that the effect of the national<br />

clergy congress, which was actually<br />

a retreat, will be felt after<br />

some time, if ever. But definitely,<br />

it will neither be quantifiable nor<br />

even be verifiable in, say, social<br />

surveys. To think otherwise would<br />

be cornering enough the power of<br />

the Holy Spirit—and, one hastens<br />

to add, the gift of Holy Orders. It<br />

would suffice for now to tell that a<br />

great number of priests gathered,<br />

reflected and prayed.<br />

In the meantime, the demands of<br />

evangelization hung like a Jewish<br />

zikaron or even perhaps as a sword<br />

of Damocles in the very core of the<br />

fast-changing lifestyles of priests.<br />

Of late, the laity that is developing<br />

to be not as timid as before has<br />

demanded of the clergy “to hold<br />

high the moral compass that will<br />

light our way, and…to provide the<br />

prophetic pastoral accompaniment<br />

that will strengthen us in fulfilling<br />

our role and mission as sons and<br />

daughters of God.”<br />

The Second Plenary Council<br />

of the Philippines already<br />

said this in some other words<br />

nineteen years ago this year.<br />

But then again, even the implementation<br />

of plenary councils is<br />

also a journey.<br />

This issue opens with a very<br />

timely article on the Second<br />

National Congress of the Clergy<br />

written by Pinky Barrientos,<br />

FSP. Our staff writer, Fr. Paul<br />

Marquez, pens our cover story<br />

“Upholding the Rights of Migrant<br />

Workers” as the country<br />

marks the 24th National<br />

Migrants Sunday this month.<br />

On the side story, Fr. Edwin<br />

Corros notes that most Filipino<br />

Migrant Workers do not bother<br />

to know about their rights or the<br />

migrants’ labor policy, perhaps<br />

because they are too engrossed<br />

with the more basic need of their<br />

own and their family’s survival.<br />

Read on.<br />

Volume 44 • Number 2 3


ARTICLES<br />

Second National Congres<br />

A call to spiritual renewal and d<br />

4<br />

<strong>IMPACT</strong> • February 2010


ARTICLES<br />

By Pinky Barrientos, FSP<br />

© Roy Lagarde / CBCP Media<br />

Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, OFMCap<br />

s of the Clergy<br />

eeper commitment<br />

© Roy Lagarde / CBCP Media © Roy Lagarde / CBCP Media<br />

It was breathtaking.<br />

Thousands of priests, their<br />

white garments flailing against the<br />

wind, marched the 1.2 kilometers stretch<br />

of Roxas Boulevard from World Trade<br />

Center to Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay<br />

City for the 3:30 p.m. closing Mass of<br />

the Second National Congress of the<br />

Clergy.<br />

Visibly energized by the inspiring<br />

conferences given by Fr. Raniero<br />

Cantalamessa, who guided the fiveday<br />

retreat congress, the priests were<br />

all praises with what transpired during<br />

the congress.<br />

“[It is] very exciting to see 5,500<br />

or so priests gathered solely to pray,<br />

celebrating the Eucharist, reciting the<br />

Holy Rosary and going to confessions<br />

and observing the Holy Hour,” said Fr.<br />

Joey Faller, a priest from the Diocese<br />

of Lucena and famous for his healing<br />

ministry.<br />

Fr. Fidel Penafiel, parish priest<br />

of Coron, Palawan said the challenging<br />

talks and the spirit of camaraderie<br />

among brother priests have boosted his<br />

feelings and increased his desire to serve<br />

his flock and God more faithfully.<br />

The clergy congress, held at the<br />

World Trade Center from January 25-29<br />

has assembled 5,542 priests across the<br />

country. Some priests from abroad also<br />

came to participate while others who<br />

were here for one reason or another at<br />

the time of the congress took the opportunity<br />

to join. Close to a hundred<br />

bishops also participated in the congress<br />

as the event was held right after the<br />

100th plenary assembly of the bishops’<br />

conference.<br />

Organized by the Episcopal Commission<br />

on Clergy of the Catholic<br />

Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines,<br />

the event was the highlight of the Philippines<br />

Church’s celebration of the Year<br />

for Priests centered on the same theme:<br />

“Faithfulness of Christ, faithfulness of<br />

priests.”<br />

Msgr. Gerardo Santos, a member<br />

of the program committee said the<br />

basic objective of the congress was to<br />

provide the priests a deep and religious<br />

experience that will hopefully lead to a<br />

spiritual conversion and greater commitment.<br />

Record-breaking<br />

Speaking before the 5,542 priestsparticipants<br />

that filled the massive hall<br />

Volume 44 • Number 2 5


ARTICLES<br />

© Roy Lagarde / CBCP Media<br />

of World Trade Center during the opening<br />

of the second congress on January<br />

25, His Eminence Gaudencio Cardinal<br />

Rosales noted the surge in number of<br />

participants. The first congress, considered<br />

historical and unprecedented<br />

because of its 4,000 participants paled<br />

in comparison with the second congress<br />

at least in terms of attendance.<br />

“…we have broken our own record<br />

by filling this hall with more than 5,000<br />

priests,” the cardinal exclaimed.<br />

Former Ambassador to the Vatican<br />

Henrietta de Villa, chair of the NCC II<br />

Central Coordinating Committee said<br />

they ran out of kits and other materials<br />

since they only prepared 5,300 of these.<br />

So those who came late had to make do<br />

with what were given them, prepared<br />

at the last minute.<br />

But like a mother speaking fondly<br />

of her children, De Villa was all praises<br />

for the clergy.<br />

“The priests are so very nice.<br />

They understood, nobody complained<br />

that one has none what the other got.<br />

I guess that’s also a gift of the spirit,”<br />

De Villa said.<br />

An event waiting to happen<br />

Cardinal Rosales said the convening<br />

of a second congress for the clergy<br />

was an event waiting to happen since<br />

it has been thought of many times<br />

as soon as the first congress in 2004<br />

concluded.<br />

The first congress was held at a<br />

time when controversies hounded the<br />

Church because of the accusations of<br />

sexual misconduct among some of her<br />

priests, particularly in America and<br />

Europe.<br />

It was different this time though,<br />

as it was convened as a response to the<br />

call of the Holy Father for the entire<br />

Church to celebrate meaningfully the<br />

year for priests which the Vatican has<br />

promulgated to mark the 150th death<br />

anniversary of the saintly cure of Ars,<br />

St. John Mary Vianney.<br />

According to the cardinal, two attempts<br />

have been made since 2004 to<br />

assemble the clergy once again since<br />

many of the participants of the first<br />

congress had asked for a follow up of<br />

the first congress.<br />

“There is spiritual hunger in the<br />

priests and that passion among them<br />

to meet brothers again and that desire<br />

must be encouraged and sustained,” the<br />

cardinal said during the opening of the<br />

second national congress.<br />

Another try was made when the<br />

Holy Father went to Sydney, Australia<br />

to preside the World Youth Day celebration.<br />

The thought of having the pope very<br />

near to the Philippines again inflamed<br />

the desire to hold the congress of clergy.<br />

But as divine providence would have it,<br />

again the effort did not materialize.<br />

Nonetheless, the grace of God indeed<br />

strikes when the time is right. On<br />

March 16, 2009, in a meeting with members<br />

of the Pontifical Congregation for<br />

Clergy, Pope Benedict XVI announced<br />

a special year for priests beginning June<br />

19, 2009 to June 19, 2010 to commemorate<br />

the 150th death anniversary of St.<br />

John Mary Vianney.<br />

Year for Priests<br />

In establishing a year dedicated to<br />

the clergy, the Holy Father wanted to<br />

lead the priests into a deeper reflection<br />

of the greatness of their priestly<br />

vocation. At the general audience on<br />

June 24, 2009, the pope explained that<br />

the celebration aimed to encourage the<br />

priests in their striving for spiritual<br />

perfection.<br />

“The purpose of this Year for Priests,<br />

…is therefore to encourage every priest<br />

in this striving for spiritual perfection<br />

on which, above all, the effectiveness<br />

of their ministry depends, and first and<br />

foremost to help priests—and with them<br />

the entire People of God—to rediscover<br />

and to reinforce their knowledge of<br />

the extraordinary, indispensable gift<br />

of Grace which the ordained minister<br />

represents for those who have received<br />

it, for the whole Church and for the<br />

world which would be lost without the<br />

Real Presence of Christ.”<br />

The Vatican proclamation signaled<br />

the right time for the CBCP Commission<br />

on Clergy to put into action the congress<br />

plan that has been long prepared, merely<br />

waiting for the right time to be implemented.<br />

The plan for a second clergy<br />

congress was ratified during the CBCP<br />

Plenary Assembly last July 2009.<br />

A call to renewal and deeper commitment<br />

Chosen preacher for the five-day<br />

congress was Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa,<br />

OFMCap, who electrified the clergy<br />

with his charismatic preaching punctuated<br />

with singing of songs Amazing<br />

Grace (obviously his favorite hymn) and<br />

Lord, Here I Am, and inviting participants<br />

to resounding proclamations of<br />

God is love, Christ is risen, etc.<br />

During the congress, Cantalamessa<br />

delivered five meditations which he<br />

always began with a solemn invocation<br />

to the Holy Spirit.<br />

Iba Bishop Florentino Lavarias,<br />

who currently sits as the chair of the<br />

Commission on Clergy said, “Fr. Raniero<br />

invited us to call upon the Spirit,<br />

precisely because the congress is focused<br />

on interior renewal and every<br />

renewal is the work of the Spirit.”<br />

Cantalamessa’s conferences delved<br />

on the three important elements in the<br />

life of the priests—the Eucharist, the<br />

sacrament of reconciliation and the gift<br />

of celibacy.<br />

The Capuchin monk expounded<br />

on the importance of the Eucharist in<br />

the life of the priests, urging them to<br />

be focused on the person they are representing,<br />

who is Jesus.<br />

He also led the clergy to realize<br />

that relationship with Jesus is also a<br />

relationship with the Holy Trinity which<br />

6<br />

<strong>IMPACT</strong> • February 2010


Volume 44 • Number 2 7<br />

© Roy Lagarde / CBCP Media


Second National Congress of the Clergy<br />

eventually flows out to others.<br />

Cantalamessa led the clergy to<br />

meditate on the importance of the sacrament<br />

of reconciliation on the third day,<br />

guiding the priests to look into themselves<br />

and their unworthiness, not to<br />

devalue themselves, but to acknowledge<br />

the failures committed and receive the<br />

gift of forgiveness.<br />

The penitential service followed by<br />

the sacrament of confession was one of<br />

the highlights of the five-day congress.<br />

The entire plenary hall with lights<br />

dimmed and entirely quiet, conjured in<br />

mind the imagery of the prodigal son<br />

seeking the loving forgiveness of the<br />

father, as<br />

p r i e s t s<br />

lined up<br />

to confess<br />

their sins<br />

to fellow<br />

priests.<br />

“ I t<br />

t a k e s a<br />

priest to<br />

understand<br />

his fellow<br />

p r i e s t , ”<br />

Faller said<br />

of the confession.<br />

Capping<br />

his<br />

talks on<br />

t h e l a s t<br />

day, Cantalamessa<br />

focused on<br />

the gift of<br />

c e l i b a c y<br />

which according<br />

to<br />

him is founded in a special relationship<br />

and trust in and with Jesus.<br />

The life of celibacy gives the priests<br />

wings to fly. Because of celibacy, the<br />

priest is able to give his undivided attention<br />

to the Lord. It is not a burden,<br />

he said.<br />

“As a marriage without love is an<br />

empty shell or even hell, so is celibacy<br />

without love for Jesus can be an empty<br />

shell,” Cantalamessa said.<br />

“This state of life is best of all a<br />

relationship with Jesus. We are not an<br />

unmarried people. We are married only<br />

not to a creature, but to the Creator,”<br />

he stressed.<br />

Relationship in the life of the priest<br />

is relationship with God the Trinity,<br />

relationship with the Church and relationship<br />

with himself.<br />

Bishop Lavarias, reflecting on the<br />

issue said that alongside recognizing<br />

one’s lack of fidelity is the acknowledgment<br />

of God’s fidelity toward us.<br />

Speaking on a personal note, he said,<br />

“I believe that for us priests, Jesus is<br />

fidelity… that I often take for granted,<br />

but taking that for granted I lose sight<br />

of my ministry, the fidelity of one who<br />

called me that I need to manifest and<br />

share to his people.”<br />

A graced moment<br />

Preacher to the Papal household<br />

since 1980, Cantalamessa gives meditation<br />

every Friday during seasons of<br />

Advent and Lent to the Pope, Cardinals,<br />

Bishops and Prelates and General Superiors<br />

of Religious Orders.<br />

“This is really a graced moment,”<br />

De Villa said of the retreat. “…Fr. Cantalamessa<br />

is such a spiritual man, and<br />

yet very human also in his approach.<br />

He just really came precisely for the<br />

congress upon the invitation of Cardinal<br />

Rosales,” she added.<br />

De Villa said Fr. Cantalamessa<br />

was also moved by the big assembly of<br />

priests that he remarked, “Only in the<br />

Philippines can these things happen, so<br />

many priests in one gathering.”<br />

The former ambassador said NCC II<br />

surpassed the international gathering of<br />

priests in Ars, France held August last<br />

year in terms of number of participants.<br />

That international retreat assembled<br />

only about 1,500 priests worldwide.<br />

Challenges<br />

To the participants, the words of Fr.<br />

Cantalamessa evoked a refreshing newness,<br />

challenging them to a creative response<br />

to their priestly commitment.<br />

According to Fr. Fernando Suarez<br />

of the Companions of the Cross, also<br />

known as the healing priest, the greatest<br />

challenge for priests is how to be<br />

sensitive and relevant and make people<br />

listen, attract and influence them to go<br />

back to God.<br />

Holding<br />

up banners<br />

bearing<br />

names<br />

of their<br />

respective<br />

dioceses,<br />

the sight of<br />

chasubleclad<br />

clergy<br />

in procession<br />

for us<br />

m e m b e r s<br />

of the flock<br />

was quite a<br />

statement.<br />

We come<br />

face to face<br />

with the<br />

reality that<br />

our clergy<br />

whom we<br />

often put<br />

up on a<br />

pedestal<br />

are but human<br />

beings<br />

like us. They too have feet of clay. But<br />

the realization should not stop there.<br />

Just as they minister to our various<br />

needs and walk with us in our<br />

spiritual journey, we too ought to accompany<br />

them with our prayers that<br />

they remain faithful to their priestly<br />

commitment.<br />

This was what Cardinal Rosales<br />

stressed once again in his homily during<br />

the closing Mass calling on priests to live<br />

steadfastly their priestly vocation.<br />

“The priest will, therefore, start his<br />

renewal on what is essentially priestly.<br />

The priest is a creature of the Holy<br />

Spirit by virtue of his anointing… Once<br />

anointed, the priest shouts to the entire<br />

world that he already belongs completely,<br />

and for all times, to God!” I<br />

© Roy Lagarde / CBCP Media<br />

8<br />

<strong>IMPACT</strong> • February 2010


© tfchildrenofthestorm.wordpress.com<br />

Equity,<br />

economy,<br />

and environment<br />

By Rene E. Ofreneo, Ph.D<br />

Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng in 2009 bared fully two<br />

major environmental threats to our population and<br />

economy.<br />

First, the unprecedented high level of rainfall unleashed<br />

by these storms, which resulted in the destructive<br />

floods in Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon, is<br />

directly attributable to the phenomenon of global warming<br />

or climate change (CC). The Philippines happens to be in<br />

the global short list of countries that are most vulnerable<br />

to CC. In fact, CC is also responsible for the long-running<br />

cycle of El Niño/La Niña (drought/excessive rain) weather<br />

aberrations, which have hurt our agricultural sector in the<br />

last two decades. With the global deadlock on the needed<br />

carbon emission reduction, 1 expect more CC-related catastrophes<br />

to hit the country, including sea rises that are<br />

likely to inundate many coastal communities and towns of<br />

the archipelago.<br />

Secondly, the twin storms bared the sad state of the<br />

Philippine environment—neglected and badly degraded.<br />

There are no forests to halt the downward flow of the rushing<br />

flood water to the low lands, on one hand, and prevent<br />

landslides, hillslides and mudslides in the high lands, on the<br />

other. In most of the cities and urban areas, the flow of flood<br />

water towards the seas is impeded by silted river systems,<br />

clogged/missing esteros, undeveloped/malfunctioning/missing<br />

drainage systems and undisposed solid wastes in many<br />

places. The floods in Metro Manila also revealed the failure<br />

of past and present local government units as well as of the<br />

different National Administrations in crafting and enforcing<br />

a national land use policy, a critical component of which is<br />

an urban zoning and development program. For instance,<br />

the Marikina Valley was supposed to remain a valley (not a<br />

major residential/commercial area), a spillway in Paranaque<br />

was supposed to be built in the l980s to prevent floods in<br />

Metro Manila, and, yes, the Laguna Lake was supposed to<br />

be decongested of fish pens, commercial buildings, resorts<br />

and houses.<br />

What then can we learn from the Ondoy-Pepeng episodes?<br />

There are many. But for a group of concerned clergy,<br />

laity, civil society advocates and academics, the triple challenges<br />

of coherence, justice and inclusion are key concerns<br />

that must not be neglected in any policy formulation related<br />

to climate change mitigation/adaptation and environmental<br />

renewal. This is the raison d’etre for the formation of the<br />

Climate Change Congress of the Philippines (CCCP), with<br />

Archbishop Antonio Ledesma serving as a Lead Convenor.<br />

Echoing the latest papal encyclical “Caritas en Veritate”,<br />

Archbishop Ledesma calls for people’s unity to insure “intergenerational<br />

justice”. Obviously, a failure by the present<br />

generation to mitigate climate change and rehabilitate the<br />

environment means catastrophe for the next generation,<br />

just as the present generation is suffering today from the<br />

environmental abuses of the past.<br />

Two key coherence-justice-inclusion issues raised by<br />

the CCCP are as follows:<br />

One, both environmental threats (CC and degradation)<br />

are people’s issues. People’s lives, homes and livelihoods<br />

Volume 44 • Number 2 9


Equity, economy and environment<br />

© gva-environment.blogspot.com<br />

are the most affected by these threats. The people<br />

should not only be informed about what the government<br />

is doing about these threats but should also,<br />

and more importantly, be involved in the crafting of<br />

appropriate responses. It is ironic, for instance, that<br />

the houses of many urban poor victims of Ondoy and<br />

Pepeng are now being demolished without notice,<br />

without consultation and without any clear accompanying<br />

program of relocation-cum-employment.<br />

Such a program of demolition, justified in the name<br />

of environmental protection, is a non-solution to the<br />

environmental stress and will only aggravate the<br />

environmental and social tensions in the country.<br />

Two, the twin environmental threats are inextricably<br />

linked to the larger issue of what development<br />

model must be pursued by the country.<br />

Since its acquisition of Independence in 1946, the<br />

Philippines has been sacrificing the environment<br />

and extracting natural resources in an irresponsible<br />

manner to finance development. From the 1950s<br />

to the mid-1970s, it used its timber and mineral<br />

exports (copper, gold, iron, silver, etc.) to finance its importation<br />

of oil, machinery, industrial raw materials and<br />

non-essential goods. From the mid-1970s to the present,<br />

the failure of an export-oriented program dependent on<br />

a few exports (garments, electronics) to take off means<br />

continuing deforestation, destructive mining, decimation<br />

of the country’s mangroves and coral reefs, poisoning of<br />

the air, river, land and water systems (through chemical<br />

agriculture, industrial effluents and unchecked proliferation<br />

of smoke-spewing vehicles), and the conversion of<br />

the watershed areas, hillsides, beach fronts, parks and even<br />

irrigated lands into exclusive private resorts, golf courses<br />

and housing/real estate/infra projects for the moneyed elite<br />

and foreign investors.<br />

This unjust and environmentally-destructive development<br />

model must stop and must be overhauled. Instead, the<br />

government must put in place, with the participation of all<br />

sectors of society, a program of sustainable development in all<br />

areas of the economy. For example, the Philippines, through<br />

its organic farming advocates, has already accumulated so<br />

much experiences (despite some bureaucratic reluctance and<br />

even opposition in the beginning) in sustainable agriculture<br />

that helps renew the soil, creates more jobs, lessens dependence<br />

on food imports and rebuilds the forests. Why not a<br />

no-nonsense national program of sustainable agriculture? This<br />

program, of course, will require completion of the agrarian<br />

reform program, the transformation of small farmers into<br />

modern eco-agribusiness producers and the abandonment<br />

of the policy of agricultural import liberalization.<br />

In services, there are examples of the unlimited potentials<br />

of a green economy model, e.g., eco-tourism in Palawan<br />

and Bohol. The challenge is how to integrate environment<br />

in the business planning of every service industry and make<br />

environment as its selling point.<br />

In industry, a green economy model means more investments<br />

on environmentally-friendly but value-adding and<br />

job-creating projects such as green transport facilities, green<br />

buildings, mass transport, recyling and renewable industries<br />

and so on. A happy outcome of such effort should be the<br />

abandonment of the low-technology-cheap-labor policy in<br />

favor of higher-technology-higher-labor-productivity arrangement,<br />

which is only possible through a mutual recognition<br />

by both labor and management of their responsibility<br />

to each other and to the larger society. In short, a shift to a<br />

green economy is a formula for industrial peace and<br />

higher level of industrial development.<br />

Clearly, addressing the twin threats of climate<br />

change and environmental degradation can also<br />

be an opportunity to unite the people in renewing<br />

the environment and the economy. Is Philippine<br />

society prepared for such a renewal? The CCCP’s<br />

answer: Oras Na, or as the young generation puts<br />

it, Now Na. I<br />

ENDNOTE:<br />

[1] In the December 2009 Summit on Climate Change, the<br />

big developed and developing countries, which are the big<br />

global emitters of carbon dioxide, failed to make concrete<br />

commitments on emission reduction. Hence, the frustration of<br />

reduction advocates, who were hoping Copenhagen to become<br />

Hopenhagen and who now call the city Brokenhagen. The<br />

Philippines is a low carbon emitter because its industrialization<br />

failure means it has no major industry emitters, while its denuded<br />

forests means it has no large forests to burn, as what seems to<br />

be happening in Brazil and Indonesia.<br />

© ricelander.wordpress.com<br />

10<br />

<strong>IMPACT</strong> • February 2010


ARTICLES<br />

By Mario Añabieza & Paul Watts<br />

There are unique challenges that<br />

face the world’s 20 million smallscale<br />

fisherfolk in the Philippines,<br />

including higher poverty rates and<br />

declining fish catch. A recent program<br />

sponsored by Volunteer Services Overseas<br />

(VSO) International and the Philippine<br />

Aurora State College of Technology<br />

(ASCOT) has led to new partnerships<br />

involving local government and nongovernment<br />

organizations. Together<br />

transformation in less developed countries<br />

with limited government resources<br />

also requires the direct grassroots involvement<br />

of fisherfolk in a bottom-up<br />

or beneficiary led approaches.<br />

Fisherfolk involvement<br />

Mario Añabieza, a fisherman has<br />

worked for many years on the development<br />

of PAMANA Ka sa Pilipinas,<br />

the national fisherfolk alliance of marine<br />

protected area (MPA) managers.<br />

Pamana is helping to transform 120<br />

Hands across the waters<br />

Sustainability through Philippine fisherfolk empowerment<br />

these agencies<br />

along with<br />

PAMANA Ka<br />

sa Pilipinas,<br />

the national<br />

fisherfolk alliance<br />

of marine<br />

protected<br />

area (MPA)<br />

managers have<br />

initiated an<br />

approach that<br />

has continued<br />

even after the<br />

closing of the<br />

VSO placement<br />

program<br />

in the country.<br />

Although<br />

VSO volunteers<br />

are no<br />

longer sent<br />

to the Philippines,<br />

a new<br />

international<br />

organization,<br />

DALUHAY,<br />

has emerged to continue the work with<br />

ASCOT, Pamana and local government.<br />

The focus of this partnership is on local<br />

and national changes that create empowerment<br />

and sustainability within marine<br />

livelihoods and support the nutritional<br />

health of Filipinos.<br />

The Philippines depends more upon<br />

marine protein than any other large<br />

Asian country. Managing marine ecosystems<br />

are most often considered by jurisdictions<br />

and international agencies as<br />

a top-down activity. However, fisheries<br />

individual Filipino communities into<br />

one voice for positive change and sustainability.<br />

Local marine tenure, shared<br />

administrative or enforcement resources<br />

and advocacy activities form the core of<br />

Pamana’s organizational actions. Currently<br />

through a Canadian-Philippine<br />

collaboration led by Daluhay, Pamana is<br />

revitalizing its national communication<br />

network and considering further their<br />

role and potential partners in local health<br />

(and nutrition) programs. One goal is to<br />

create a new strategic plan for Pamana<br />

within the next twelve months, based<br />

primarily upon volunteer fisherfolk<br />

involvement.<br />

Increasingly, academic research<br />

supports the beneficiary led approach as<br />

critical for the changes required in marine<br />

sustainability, particularly in less<br />

developed countries. MPAs represent a<br />

potential to merge aspects of traditional<br />

and local ecological knowledge with<br />

other scientific approaches and create<br />

renewed hope for improved livelihoods<br />

and sustainable fisheries. Linking individual<br />

MPAs<br />

into larger<br />

ecosystem approaches<br />

is<br />

not easy, especially<br />

given<br />

the limited<br />

communication<br />

resources<br />

in less developed<br />

countries<br />

such as the<br />

P h i l i p p i n e s .<br />

The challenge<br />

is to synthesise<br />

ecosystem<br />

plans across<br />

jurisdictional<br />

and agency<br />

b o u n d a r i e s .<br />

As the number<br />

one global priority<br />

for marine<br />

biodiversity<br />

and related<br />

l i v e l i h o o d s ,<br />

the Philippine<br />

waters have<br />

been divided into just 6 marine bioregions.<br />

The North Philippine Sea is one<br />

of these bioregions with 10 provinces<br />

along the open Pacific seaboard, where<br />

Pamana has previously had very few<br />

members. Aurora Province is strategically<br />

located half way along the coast<br />

of this sea (Figure 1).<br />

FIGURE 1. Marine Bioregions of the<br />

Philippines and MPAs of<br />

Aurora Province<br />

Ecosystem-based management<br />

Paul Watts is a Canadian ethnoecologist<br />

recruited by VSO International as<br />

to work at ASCOT on the sustainability<br />

Volume 44 • Number 2 11


ARTICLES<br />

and ecohealth from the perspective<br />

of people as part of the ecosystem.<br />

Through this initiative there emerged<br />

a Philippine first Marine Bioregional<br />

approach to the North Philippine Sea.<br />

Previously, fisheries management in the<br />

Philippines has been generally limited<br />

to smaller areas often defined by specific<br />

coral reefs rather than fish stocks<br />

associated with bioregions.<br />

The current goal is to strategically<br />

develop the capacity of both jurisdictions<br />

and beneficiaries to scale up local<br />

and MPA activities for larger (bioregional)<br />

ecosystem-based management. The<br />

North Philippine Sea is a strategic area<br />

to build inter-provincial cooperation due<br />

to a fisherfolk dependence on deep water<br />

or pelagic fish species. The fish stocks<br />

migrate over large areas and require a<br />

similar scale approach to management<br />

and resource partitioning.<br />

However, the success of any resource/livelihood<br />

program can perhaps<br />

best be measured by the level of integration<br />

with local government. It is not<br />

just the location of Aurora Province<br />

that makes it a good choice to form the<br />

secretariat for the evolving bioregional<br />

program. Through the leadership of<br />

Governor Bellaflor Angara-Castillo and<br />

USAID financial support, an Aurora<br />

Inter Local Government Unit (LGU)<br />

Coastal Resource Management unit was<br />

formed. Initially, four of seven Aurora<br />

coastal municipalities cooperated on<br />

an Inter-LGU Fisheries Management<br />

Plan. The initiative was led by several<br />

offices and coordinated by Reymar<br />

Tercero. Strategically, this province<br />

wide approach to CRM assists local<br />

municipal governments in coordinating<br />

activities over larger areas that better<br />

represent shared fish stocks. Further,<br />

working in cooperation with the University<br />

of Philippines Marine Science<br />

Institute, the local partnership was able<br />

to determine a need for inter-provincial<br />

collaboration, particularly on the shared<br />

deep water tuna stocks. In parallel activities,<br />

Pamana has been developing<br />

baywide cooperative strategies amongst<br />

its members and partnerships with corporate<br />

agencies such as SMART. The<br />

merging of these approaches has led to<br />

the concept of the North Philippine Sea<br />

Marine Bioregion program, in part based<br />

upon strategic MPA activities.<br />

Health linkages<br />

The marine resources of the world<br />

are in decline and this is particularly<br />

evident in the Philippines and Aurora<br />

Province. Globally, MPAs are the functional<br />

ecological unit that links fisherfolk<br />

with the marine science approach.<br />

MPAs are often considered critical<br />

interventions for the sustainability of<br />

nutritional health within communities,<br />

yet little data is available. This linkage<br />

within the Philippines and Pamana’s<br />

unique role was one topic of discussion<br />

12<br />

<strong>IMPACT</strong> • February 2010<br />

Contributed photo


Hands across the waters<br />

at a December 2008 Forum in Merida<br />

Mexico, sponsored by the International<br />

Ecohealth organization. The Ecohealth<br />

organization focuses on the health<br />

linkages between the environment and<br />

people; considering their inseparable<br />

value. The application of local, institutional<br />

and social mechanisms to the<br />

ecological approach can be extended<br />

through representation to create a<br />

shared forum for larger ecosystem<br />

units such as the Marine Bioregions<br />

of the Philippines. This participatory<br />

approach for primary beneficiaries<br />

has the potential to apply the wealth<br />

of knowledge and efforts of fisherfolk<br />

to large marine ecosystems. Through<br />

engaged fisherfolk, MPAs can also provide<br />

additional opportunities for large<br />

scale monitoring and research. The<br />

current approach to the management of<br />

change is meant to focus strategically<br />

on sustainability and ecohealth, not<br />

exclusively on jurisdiction, institutions<br />

or specific beneficiary groups. Currently<br />

in Aurora we are analyzing the<br />

results of a province wide participatory<br />

process with fisherfolk and Pamana,<br />

in relation to a national assessment of<br />

established Pamana members.<br />

Social process<br />

There is a tendency in fisheries science<br />

to focus on specific mathematical<br />

research results, such as a change in<br />

catch per unit effort or fisheries production.<br />

However, a focus on social-process<br />

and human transformation is equally if<br />

not more critical than the biophysical<br />

side of fisheries. There is competition<br />

for coastal resources between individual<br />

fishing communities; between communities<br />

and commercial operations, and<br />

even with other activities such as tourism.<br />

Emerging from the international<br />

program of VSO, ASCOT has adopted<br />

a mandate that includes placing priority<br />

on communication and coordination that<br />

can help to transform these competitive<br />

situations into a joint plan for sustainability.<br />

ASCOT, through the creation<br />

of a visiting Chair in Ethnoecology<br />

initiated an academe-jurisdictional partnership<br />

effectively scaling down from<br />

provincial governance and up though<br />

all seven coastal municipalities and<br />

their fisherfolk. We are now reaching<br />

out to the other nine provinces in this<br />

marine bioregion.<br />

Advancing this approach to socialprocess<br />

requires the engagement of a<br />

wide range of organizations. The public<br />

participation approach to considering<br />

ecosystem capacity has been integrated<br />

through a successfully completed action<br />

research doctoral thesis at the South<br />

East Asia Interdisciplinary Institute. In<br />

partnership with the Maximo T. Kalaw<br />

Institute of Sustainable Development,<br />

Eduardo Macose, Director of ASCOT’s<br />

Extensions program focused his thesis<br />

on the participation process, including<br />

representation from civil society, the<br />

church and the general public. These<br />

linkages provide a strong advocacy<br />

base for advancing social-process, local<br />

fisherfolk empowerment and directional<br />

change.<br />

Consensus and capacity building<br />

The next phase of the fisherfolk<br />

program will involve establishing the<br />

inter-provincial and bioregional consensus<br />

building process. This developing<br />

program has now been endorsed<br />

by the University of the Philippines<br />

Marine Science Institute, the Aurora<br />

Marine Research Institute and the<br />

Philippine Commission on Marine<br />

and Aquatic Research and Development.<br />

Perhaps many future ecological<br />

interventions involving less developed<br />

countries might occur on a similar fashion:<br />

identifying common ecosystem<br />

resources and building inter-agency<br />

and inter-jurisdictional consensus towards<br />

shared goals.<br />

The Aurora program has now compiled<br />

a province-wide summary of fish<br />

harvest and fisherfolk for Aurora and<br />

has invited the other nine Governors<br />

and provinces on the North Philippine<br />

Sea (Sorsogon, Albay, Catanduanes, Camarines<br />

Sur, Camarines Norte, Quezon,<br />

Isabela, Cagayan and Batanes) to share<br />

leadership in a bioregional approach.<br />

Fisherfolk reaching across the waters<br />

to communicate and, with government<br />

help, to produce similar fisheries data<br />

sets could be an effective way of managing<br />

large ecosystems.<br />

From a management standpoint,<br />

the Aurora combination of top-down<br />

and bottom-up approaches focuses<br />

strategically on capacity building towards<br />

ecological integrity priorities.<br />

This strategy emphasises the (poorly<br />

researched) relationship between human<br />

health and ecosystem health, now known<br />

internationally as ecohealth. Pamana has<br />

previously been an organization that<br />

would consider applications for organizational<br />

membership. However, the<br />

current North Philippine Sea initiative<br />

is intended to reach out and empower<br />

fisherfolk themselves through Pamana,<br />

to facilitate stronger local, MPA and<br />

bioregional management approaches.<br />

This program brings fisherfolk and their<br />

supporters together, extending hands<br />

across many oceans to lend support and<br />

build advocacy towards better livelihoods<br />

and a sustainable planet. There<br />

is a saying in the Philippines – pa-untiunti<br />

or ‘little by little’….together we<br />

move forward. I<br />

Contributed photo<br />

Volume 44 • Number 2 13


NEWS<br />

FEATURES<br />

Taize pilgrimage heralds a change of heart<br />

MANILA, Feb. 6, 2010—Meeting the challenges in the<br />

world, from social to political, requires an individual change<br />

of heart, a religious leader said.<br />

Brother Alois Löser, head of the Taize ecumenical group,<br />

said major problems in the world demand more than just<br />

economic and technological proposals.<br />

Bro. Alois had looked at the world’s problems from the<br />

point of view of the work that the Church, as the family of<br />

God, has to do.<br />

Such challenges, according to him, require an ethical<br />

behavior which respects<br />

the principles of universal<br />

solidarity, social justice<br />

and responsibility.<br />

“We all feel that<br />

there needs to be major<br />

changes in our world.<br />

The structures of our<br />

societies and patterns<br />

of thought from the past<br />

are providing to be inadequate<br />

and insufficient<br />

to create greater justice<br />

on earth, to reduce<br />

poverty, to ensure that<br />

persons and peoples can<br />

live together in peace,”<br />

Bro. Alois said.<br />

“But we (must) also<br />

discover that necessary<br />

change, particularly an<br />

Interfaith leaders to tackle roots of poverty<br />

JAKARTA, Indonesia, Feb. 1, 2010—<br />

Poverty, climate change and a lack of<br />

education and good governance are the<br />

key factors robbing people of their right<br />

to a decent life, 70 religious leaders<br />

from Indonesia and the U.S. who met<br />

here say.<br />

“We believe these concerns present<br />

common challenges and responsibilities<br />

to each of us and our communities.<br />

“We are committed to taking common<br />

action on urgent challenges that<br />

confront us all,” the leaders said in a<br />

joint recommendation issued at the end<br />

of an interfaith forum last week.<br />

The recommendations were presented<br />

jointly by Cardinal Theodore<br />

McCarrick of Washington D.C. and<br />

Bachtiar Effendi of Muhammadiyah<br />

Indonesia’s second-largest Islamic organization.<br />

Vast numbers of people are trapped<br />

in “unprecedented structural poverty”<br />

and denied any means of escape.<br />

“Our religious communities are urgently<br />

called to respond to this structural<br />

poverty in new ways so as to enhance<br />

our communities’ already established<br />

and valuable practices of charity and<br />

philanthropy,” they said.<br />

It was essential and urgent to educate<br />

religious communities on the causes<br />

of structural poverty and to work with<br />

governments.<br />

Local religious communities, women’s<br />

and youth groups and schools will<br />

contribute to grassroots-led development<br />

and public health programs, the<br />

leaders said.<br />

They will plan to develop multireligious<br />

partnerships while engaging<br />

the public sector in order to equip<br />

local religious communities for such<br />

programs.<br />

Rapid global warming, pollution<br />

and the depletion of natural resources<br />

have threatened the foundation of human<br />

life.<br />

“Our religious communities are<br />

called to protect the integrity of the<br />

environment, even while they are also<br />

called to advance a just and sustainable<br />

overhaul of the world economic and financial system, is not<br />

possible without a change in the human heart,” he said.<br />

Bro. Alois made the statement during the “Taize Pilgrimage<br />

of Trust” held at the Don Bosco Technical Institute in<br />

Makati City.<br />

Pilgrims<br />

Around 3,000 young pilgrims—Christians and Muslims—from<br />

Asian countries as well as from Europe, Australia,<br />

New Zealand and even from North America attended<br />

the gathering.<br />

Bro. Alois stressed that in today’s world, people “thirst<br />

for life in (its) fullness.”<br />

In every human heart there is longing, the longing to<br />

be loved and to love, he said. At the same time, he added,<br />

people experience that said longing is only rarely satisfied,<br />

and never for all time.<br />

“From discouraging us, this can allow us to discover over<br />

and over again a personal communion with God,” he said.<br />

“And then our heart changes. And not only our heart,<br />

but also our way of looking and our behavior.”<br />

“We become more capable of discerning what is good<br />

and what is bad; without being naive we become better<br />

able to dialogue, to reach out to others, to make our life a<br />

pilgrimage of trust,” said Bro. Alois, adding that “And in<br />

this way we will contribute as believers to help determine<br />

the face of the new world that is emerging.”<br />

The pilgrimage at the Don Bosco ended on Feb. 7 with<br />

a Eucharistic celebration led by Manila Archbishop Gaudencio<br />

Cardinal Rosales and several other bishops and priests.<br />

(Roy Lagarde)<br />

development for all,” they said.<br />

In education it was important to<br />

promote the freedom of belief for all and<br />

to honor the value of diverse religious<br />

contributions to the good of society.<br />

“Religious communities must equip<br />

themselves to work with each other to<br />

advance the common good while retaining<br />

their distinct religious identities,”<br />

they said.<br />

They also called upon the existing<br />

Indonesian, American, and international<br />

religious and multi-religious bodies to<br />

both support them and join them in their<br />

commitment to shared action.<br />

Tod Brown, president of the US<br />

Conference of Catholic Bishops (USC-<br />

CB) also attended the meeting.<br />

On the Indonesian side, participants<br />

included leaders of the Indonesian Bishops’<br />

Conference, Indonesian Council of<br />

Churches, Confucian Supreme Council<br />

in Indonesia (Matakin), Indonesian<br />

Buddhist Council (Walubi), Muhammadyah,<br />

Nadhlatul Ulama (NU), the<br />

Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) and<br />

the Indonesian Committee for Religions<br />

and Peace. (CNA)<br />

14<br />

<strong>IMPACT</strong> • February 2010


NEWS<br />

FEATURES<br />

CBCP official<br />

awarded for work<br />

with Mangyans<br />

MANILA, Jan. 31, 2010—An SVD missionary<br />

who has recently been appointed<br />

executive secretary of the Episcopal<br />

Commission for Indigenous People of<br />

the Catholic Bishops Conference of the<br />

Philippines (CBCP) has been cited for<br />

his exemplary mission work among the<br />

Mangyan people.<br />

Fr. Ewald Dinter, SVD, who spent<br />

more than 40 years of his life serving the<br />

Mangyan communities of Oriental Mindoro<br />

was given the Saint Joseph Freinademtz<br />

Award for epitomizing “prophetic<br />

dialogue and inculturation on his mission<br />

contribution, following the charism of the<br />

SVD and its founding generations.”<br />

The awarding was held January<br />

29 at the Fr. Peter Yang Hall, St. Jude<br />

Catholic School, Manila capping the<br />

three-year centennial celebration of<br />

SVD’s “100 years of missionary presence”<br />

in the Philippines.<br />

Awarded together with Dinter were<br />

other SVDs and a lay person who have<br />

made significant contribution in the<br />

mission of helping the poor.<br />

Fr. Leo Schmitt, SVD, received the<br />

St. Arnold Janssen Mission Award for<br />

building low-cost housing for the poor,<br />

while Fr. Wilhelm van Kuijk, SVD, a 98<br />

year-old missionary who has spent 61<br />

years in the Philippines was conferred<br />

the Centennial Award for his missionary<br />

and religious commitment.<br />

Meanwhile, Mrs. Beatriz Buenavista-Evangelista,<br />

a lay person who ministered<br />

among the prisoners in Quezon<br />

City Jail was given the Divine Word<br />

Award for her meritorious contribution<br />

in the mission.<br />

Organizations and institutions who<br />

are closely involved in the promotion<br />

of SVD mission were also cited.<br />

The Samahang Bagong Buhay<br />

Foundation, Inc. was conferred the<br />

Vivat Cor Iesu Award for its role in<br />

accomplishing Fr. Schmitt’s housing<br />

projects.<br />

The Communio Award went to St.<br />

Martin Mission Hospital of Sablayan,<br />

Occidental Mindoro for helping and<br />

treating poor and indigenous peoples<br />

despite financial constraints.<br />

The St. Jude Archdiocesan Shrine<br />

and Parish in San Miguel, Manila was<br />

210 million migrants on the move<br />

for the New Year of the Tiger<br />

BEIJING, China, Feb. 6, 2010—<br />

Tens of millions of migrants begin<br />

their exodus for the Chinese New<br />

Year which falls on 14 February,<br />

to return home from the big cities<br />

where they work. But this time<br />

many of them are hoping to find<br />

work close to their rural village<br />

and stay there.<br />

For the vast majority of immigrants,<br />

the New Lunar Year is the<br />

only opportunity to return home,<br />

where many have left parents and<br />

children. The railways are besieged<br />

by endless queues of people laden with bags and it is estimated there will be<br />

no less than 210 million passengers in 40 days, the equivalent to the population<br />

of Russia, even for trips lasting more than 20 hours on uncomfortable<br />

wooden seats, carrying their homemade meals.<br />

This year, many migrants hope to find work close to home and not come<br />

back to the big cities, where for decades they live as second-class citizens<br />

without health care or free schooling for their children, with little protection<br />

at work and forced to pay high rents to live in several in-room dormitories.<br />

On February 3 in Zhengzhou (Henan) the farmer Wu Xianmin stabbed<br />

to death two migrant workers who were protesting against the wage cuts to<br />

3 Yuan (less than 30 euro cents) per day.<br />

In the crowded station in Guangzhou, Li Beiyong tells the South China<br />

Morning Post that during the holidays she will seek "a decent job near home."<br />

Li, 24, works as a waitress in a hotel in Ningbo, south of Shanghai, and earns<br />

1500 Yuan per month. "The pay might be lower- she says-but the cost of living<br />

is also less. There I might get on better".<br />

Just a year ago, many migrants returned from their holidays to find their<br />

factories closed, with no warning. Now, by contrast, there is a shortage of<br />

manpower. Many migrants find work nearer home, now that the poor interior<br />

provinces are becoming more prosperous in addition to the declining age of<br />

the working population as a result of single-child policy and young people<br />

seeking better jobs than manual labour.<br />

Finally, government funding, to stimulate the economy, has created jobs across<br />

the country and thus removed the workforce from the factories in the east.<br />

Beijing wants to stimulate the creation of jobs throughout the country, to<br />

make the economy less dependent on exports abroad. To the point that many<br />

factories have even increased wages, in need of manpower. (AsiaNews)<br />

conferred the Fr. Peter Yang Award for<br />

its contribution to the SVD Chinese<br />

mission in the Philippines.<br />

The Catechists of Abra were given<br />

the Abra Mission Award for their long<br />

and enduring apostolate of religious<br />

instruction particularly in the public<br />

schools of Abra.<br />

The SVD awards committee also<br />

gave a Special Recognition Award to<br />

the Congregation of the Immaculate<br />

Heart of Mary (CICM) for the support<br />

they have given to the SVD mission in<br />

the Philippines.<br />

The eight awardees received a goldplated<br />

medallion and a P50,000.00 cash<br />

reward each.<br />

The SVD Mission Awards was<br />

launched last year by the Society of<br />

Divine Word in partnership with St. Jude<br />

Catholic School during the centennial<br />

celebration of SVD’s missionary presence<br />

in the country.<br />

The awards aim to recognize Catholic<br />

and non-Catholic individuals, groups,<br />

and, institutions that greatly contributed<br />

to the realization of SVD's mission in<br />

the country. (CBCPNews)<br />

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By Fr. Paul Marquez, SSP<br />

Comprehensive UN Treaty on Migrants’ rights<br />

The International Convention on the Protection of the<br />

Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their<br />

Families is the most comprehensive international<br />

treaty dealing with the rights of migrant workers and the<br />

latest of the seven so-called core international human rights<br />

conventions, which together form the United Nations human<br />

rights treaty system.<br />

The drafting of the Convention began in 1980, after<br />

the United Nations General Assembly established an Openended<br />

Working Group to draft an international instrument<br />

for the promotion and protection of the rights of migrant<br />

workers. Membership of the Working Group was open to all<br />

UN member States and it benefited the cooperation of the<br />

UN Commission on Human Rights, the UN Commission for<br />

Social Development, ILO, UNESCO and WHO. The Working<br />

Group met annually during General Assembly sessions<br />

and after ten years of negotiations produced the text of the<br />

International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of<br />

All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. The<br />

Convention was adopted without a vote and opened for<br />

signature pursuant to General Assembly resolution 45/158,<br />

on 18 December 1990.<br />

The Convention does not stand in isolation but on the<br />

one hand complements internationally recognized labor<br />

standards and on the other hand specifies the application<br />

of generally recognized human rights standards to migrant<br />

workers and their families. The Convention protects the human<br />

rights of migrant workers at all stages of the migration<br />

process, in the country of origin, the country of transit and<br />

the country of employment, by imposing ensuing obligations<br />

on States parties.<br />

UPHOLDI<br />

RIGH<br />

OF MIG<br />

WORK<br />

International Migration Convention entered into force<br />

On July 1, 2003, the International Convention on the<br />

Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members<br />

of their Families entered into force, when the threshold of 20<br />

ratifying states was reached in March 2003 after the states of<br />

El Salvador and Guatemala had ratified the Convention.<br />

Twenty-two states have ratified the Convention on Migrants’<br />

Rights in the following years: Egypt, Morocco (1993),<br />

Seychelles (1994), Colombia, Philippines, Uganda (1995), Sri<br />

Lanka, Senegal, Bosnia & Herzegovina (1996), Cape Verde<br />

(1997), Azerbaijan, Mexico (1999), Ghana, Guinea, Bolivia<br />

(2000), Uruguay, Belize (2001), Tajikistan, Ecuador (2002)<br />

and El Salvador, Guatemala, (2003) Mali (acceded).<br />

The ratification of the Convention by a state means that<br />

the legislative or law-making branch of its government has<br />

adopted the Convention and promised to incorporate it into<br />

its national laws. From 1 July 2003, these countries (included<br />

in the list above) will be legally bound by the Convention.<br />

Moreover, the application of the Convention will be<br />

monitored by the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of<br />

All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (CMW).<br />

Ten experts will be recognized as impartial authorities in<br />

the field by the Convention and will be elected by the states<br />

that have ratified the Convention (article 72). It held its first<br />

session in March 2004.<br />

At its second session, held from 25 to 29 April 2005 in<br />

Geneva, the Committee discussed its working methods in<br />

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relation to the consideration of States reports. The Committee<br />

decided that it will follow the practices developed by other<br />

human rights treaty bodies. In particular, after a report has<br />

been received from a State party, the Committee will welcome<br />

supplementary information from civil society and NGO’s<br />

including alternative reports in order to enable it to develop<br />

a balanced view of the situation in the country concerned.<br />

In recognition of its expertise in labor related matters,<br />

the Convention assigns a special role to the International<br />

Labor Office both specifically to assist the Committee with<br />

the consideration of States parties’ reports and generally to<br />

participate in the Committee’s meetings in a consultative<br />

capacity. The Committee also pursues regular dialogue with<br />

other specialized agencies and intergovernmental organizations<br />

as well as with non-governmental organizations.<br />

A Response to Migration: A Global Phenomenon<br />

The United Nations Convention on the Protection of the<br />

Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families<br />

is an international response towards migration, a global<br />

phenomenon. In 2005, the number of international migrants is<br />

between 185 and 192 million. This represents approximately<br />

three per cent of the world population, and is comparable to<br />

the population of Brazil. Nearly all countries are concerned<br />

with migration, whether as sending, transit, or receiving<br />

countries, or as a combination of these. International migration<br />

has become an intrinsic feature of globalization.<br />

The Convention constitutes a comprehensive international<br />

treaty regarding the protection of migrant workers’<br />

rights. It emphasizes the connection between migration and<br />

human rights, which is increasingly becoming a crucial<br />

policy topic worldwide.<br />

The Convention on Migrant Workers defines the rights<br />

of migrant workers under two main headings: a) Human<br />

Rights of migrant workers and members of their families<br />

(Part III): applicable to all migrant workers (undocumented<br />

included); b) Other Rights of migrant workers and members<br />

of their families (Part IV): applicable only to migrant workers<br />

in a regular situation.<br />

Human Rights of Migrant Workers and Members of<br />

their Families<br />

The Convention is not proposing new human rights for<br />

migrant workers. Part III of the Convention is a reiteration<br />

of the basic rights which are enshrined in the Universal Declaration<br />

of Human Rights and elaborated in the international<br />

human rights treaties adopted by most nations.<br />

The Convention seeks to draw the attention of the international<br />

community to the dehumanization of migrant workers<br />

and members of their families, many of whom being deprived<br />

of their basic human rights. Indeed, legislation implementing<br />

other basic treaties in some States utilizes terminology<br />

covering citizens and/or residents, de jura excluding many<br />

migrants, especially those in irregular situations.<br />

• Basic freedoms<br />

Applying these fundamental rights to migrant workers<br />

and members of their families, the Convention provides for<br />

their right to leave and enter the State of origin (Art. 1). The<br />

inhumane living and working conditions and physical (and<br />

sexual) abuse that many migrant workers must endure are<br />

covered by the reaffirmation of their “right to life” (Art. 9)<br />

and prohibition against cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment<br />

Volume 44 • Number 2 17<br />

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COVER<br />

STORY<br />

or punishment (Art. 10) as well as slavery or servitude and<br />

forced or compulsory labour (Art. 11). Migrant workers are<br />

also entitled to basic freedoms like the freedom of thought,<br />

conscience and religion (Art. 12), and the right to hold and<br />

express opinions (Art. 13). Their property should not be<br />

confiscated arbitrarily (Art. 15).<br />

• Due process<br />

The Convention then goes on to explain in detail the<br />

need to ensure due process for migrant workers and members<br />

of their families (Art. 16-20). Investigations, arrests and detentions<br />

are to be carried out in accordance with established<br />

procedures. Their right to equality with nationals of the State<br />

before the courts and tribunals must be respected. They must<br />

be provided with necessary legal assistance, interpreters and<br />

information in a language understood by them. When imposing<br />

a sentence, humanitarian considerations regarding the person’s<br />

migrant status should be taken into account. The arbitrary<br />

expulsion of migrant workers is prohibited (Art. 22).<br />

• Right to privacy<br />

A migrant worker is entitled to his or her honor and<br />

reputation and also privacy, which extends to one’s home,<br />

family and all communications<br />

(Art. 14).<br />

• Equality with nationals<br />

Migrant workers are to be<br />

treated as equal to the nationals<br />

of the host country in respect of<br />

remuneration and conditions of<br />

work [overtime, hours of work,<br />

weekly rest, holidays with pay,<br />

safety, health, termination of<br />

work contract, minimum age,<br />

restrictions on home work, etc<br />

(Art. 25)]. Equality with nationals<br />

extends also to social security<br />

benefits (Art. 27) and emergency<br />

medical care (Art. 28).<br />

• Transfer of earnings<br />

On completion of their<br />

term of employment, migrant<br />

workers have the right to transfer<br />

their earnings and savings<br />

as well as their personal effects<br />

and belongings (Art. 32).<br />

• Right to information<br />

They have the right to<br />

be informed by the States concerned<br />

about their rights arising<br />

from the present Convention as<br />

well as the conditions of their<br />

admission, and their rights and<br />

obligations in those States. Such<br />

information should be made<br />

available to migrant workers<br />

free of charge and in a language<br />

understood by them (Art. 33).<br />

United Nations, New York City<br />

Other Rights of Migrant<br />

Workers and Members of their<br />

Families<br />

Providing additional rights<br />

for migrant workers and members<br />

of their families in a regular situation, the Convention<br />

seeks to discourage illegal labor migration, as human problems<br />

are worse in the case of irregular migration.<br />

• Right to be temporarily absent<br />

Migrant workers should be allowed to be temporarily<br />

absent, for reasons of family needs and obligations, without<br />

effect on their authorization to stay or work.<br />

• Freedom of movement<br />

They should have the right to move freely in the territory<br />

of the State of employment and they should also be<br />

free to choose where they wish to reside (Art. 39).<br />

• Equality with nationals<br />

Migrant workers must have access to educational,<br />

vocational and social services. In addition to the areas<br />

mentioned in Article 25, migrant workers and members of<br />

their families shall enjoy equality with nationals of the State<br />

of employment in the following areas: access to education,<br />

vocational guidance and placement services, vocational training,<br />

retraining, housing including social housing schemes,<br />

protection against exploitation in respect of rents, social and<br />

health services, cooperatives and self-managed enterprises,<br />

access to participation in cultural life (Art. 43). Members<br />

of the families of migrant workers also shall enjoy equality<br />

with national of States of employment in having access to<br />

these services (Art. 45). Migrant workers shall enjoy equality<br />

of treatment in respect of protection against dismissal,<br />

unemployment benefits, access to public work schemes<br />

intended to combat unemployment in the event of<br />

loss of work or termination of other remunerated<br />

activity (Art. 54).<br />

• Employment contract violations<br />

When work contracts are violated<br />

by the employer, the migrant worker<br />

should have the right to address his<br />

or her case to the competent authorities<br />

in the State of employment (Art.<br />

54 (d)). They shall have the right to<br />

equal treatment with nationals and<br />

be entitled to a fair and public hearing<br />

by a competent, independent<br />

and impartial tribunal established<br />

by law (Art. 18, 1).<br />

• Rights of undocumented<br />

(‘illegal’) workers<br />

The Convention recognizes<br />

that “the human problems<br />

involved in migration are even<br />

more serious in the case of irregular<br />

migration” and the need<br />

to encourage appropriate action<br />

“to prevent and eliminate<br />

clandestine movements and<br />

trafficking in migrant workers,<br />

while at the same time<br />

assuring the protection<br />

of their fundamental<br />

rights”<br />

(Preamble). As<br />

measures for preventing<br />

and eliminating<br />

illegal labor<br />

© norman.walsh.name<br />

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Upholding the Rights of Migrant Workers<br />

migration, the Convention proposes that the States concerned<br />

should collaborate in taking appropriate actions against<br />

the dissemination of misleading information relating to<br />

emigration and immigration, to detect and eradicate illegal<br />

or clandestine movements of migrant workers and impose<br />

sanctions on those who are responsible for organizing and<br />

operating such movements as well as employers of illegal<br />

migrant workers (Art. 68). However, the fundamental rights<br />

of undocumented migrant workers are protected by the<br />

Convention (Art. 8-35).<br />

The Outcome of a long Process<br />

The Convention is the outcome of a long process at the<br />

international level. Human flaws have always been a concern<br />

of the international community and of UN agencies.<br />

The 1951 Convention on Refugees constituted a crucial<br />

step in improving the fate of refugees and in establishing<br />

global management of this issue. The International Labor<br />

Organization (ILO) has elaborated two Conventions that<br />

aim at protecting migrant workers: Convention 97 (1949)<br />

and Convention 143 (1975). In the seventies, it was recognized<br />

that migrants constitute a vulnerable group and that<br />

the promotion of human rights for this population required<br />

a special UN convention.<br />

A working group was created in 1980, chaired by Mexico.<br />

It drew up the International Convention on the Protection<br />

of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their<br />

Families, which was adopted at the 69th plenary meeting of<br />

the General Assembly on December 18, 1990.<br />

A campaign for the Ratification of the Convention<br />

was launched in 1998, following several other initiatives<br />

promoting the ratification of the Convention. The Steering<br />

Committee of the Campaign was convened in Geneva by an<br />

NGO called Migrants Rights International, with the objective<br />

of establishing a broad base for a global campaign for the<br />

ratification and entry into force of the Convention. Currently,<br />

the Steering Committee of the Campaign is composed of<br />

organizations: UN agencies, trade unions, NGOs and other<br />

international organizations. Three United Nations entities<br />

belong to the Steering Committee of the Campaign:<br />

• The United Nations High Commissioner for Human<br />

Rights (UNHCHR) has a Special Rapporteur dealing with<br />

the human rights of migrants;<br />

• The International Labor Organization (ILO) deals with<br />

the promotion and protection of labor standards. As such, it<br />

is active in the protection of migrant workers’ rights;<br />

• The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural<br />

Organization (UNESCO) is concerned with migrants’<br />

human rights and with the promotion of migrants’ social<br />

integration, as well as with the protection of cultural diversity.<br />

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is<br />

also a member of the Steering Committee. IOM is a leading<br />

international organization in the field of migration. It is<br />

an intergovernmental agency outside the UN system with<br />

some 100 members. It seeks to advance the understanding<br />

of migration issue and to promote the orderly management<br />

of migration to the benefit of both migrants and societies.<br />

Ratification of the Convention<br />

The status of the ratification of the Convention remains<br />

below expectation. After it was adopted by the General Assembly,<br />

it took thirteen years for the Convention to collect<br />

the twenty ratifications necessary for its entry into force, on<br />

1 July 2003. As of today the Convention has been ratified<br />

by 29 State parties.<br />

The role of non-governmental organizations in campaigning<br />

for the entry into force of the Convention has been<br />

quite remarkable. They were the driving force in the Steering<br />

Committee of the Global Campaign for Ratification of<br />

the Convention which was first covered in 1998. This was<br />

a unique alliance involving the United Nations secretariat,<br />

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intergovernmental agencies and leading international human<br />

rights, church, labor, migrant and women’s organizations.<br />

The Steering Committee’s activities at international and national<br />

levels in order to publicize and raise awareness of the<br />

Convention through the Global Campaign led to a salutary<br />

increase in the number of ratifications and signatures.<br />

It is worth nothing that the 29 States parties are principally<br />

sending States, although<br />

some of them are also transit<br />

and receiving States. None of<br />

the major receiving States has<br />

ratified the Convention. When<br />

we consider the geographical<br />

distribution of the States parties,<br />

we note that 12 are from Africa,<br />

9 from Latin America and the<br />

Caribbean, 7 from Asia, and 1<br />

from Central and Eastern Europe.<br />

Another 15 States have signed but<br />

not ratified the Convention. As of<br />

May 2005, no Western State has<br />

signed or ratified the Convention,<br />

although some of them were<br />

actively involved in the Convention’s<br />

drafting process.<br />

Obstacles to Ratification<br />

This brings us to the question of the possible obstacles<br />

to ratification. How is it that the Convention has met with<br />

so little enthusiasm by States, including those States who<br />

are usually quick to champion human rights? UNESCO has<br />

carried out several interesting studies on this matter.<br />

Firstly, it is obvious that the contents of one or other<br />

provision may be unacceptable to some States, for instance<br />

because it would give rights that would go beyond its capacities.<br />

Fortunately, the Convention itself has foreseen<br />

the possibility of entering reservations to the application<br />

of certain articles. This obstacle is therefore one that can<br />

be overcome by a careful study of the compatibility of the<br />

domestic legislation with the rights contained in the Convention,<br />

and the drafting of pertinent<br />

reservations.<br />

Secondly, the Convention has<br />

given rise to many misconceptions.<br />

One of the common misconceptions<br />

is the often expressed opinion<br />

that the Convention favors irregular<br />

migration. It is clear from the<br />

text of the Convention that it does<br />

not and that, on the contrary, the<br />

concept of giving rights to irregular<br />

migrant workers was inspired<br />

not only by the basic principle of<br />

respect for the dignity of all human<br />

beings, but also by the desire to<br />

discourage recourse by employers<br />

to irregular labor by making it<br />

much less advantageous, as unequivocally expressed in the<br />

preamble of the Convention.<br />

Thirdly, many countries fear the high cost of developing<br />

an infrastructure for the implementation of the Convention.<br />

The Convention is a long and complex instrument that provides<br />

many rights in different fields, and the implementation<br />

thereof consequently involves many government departments,<br />

coordination of which may not be an easy task. It<br />

is illustrative in this respect that none of the States parties<br />

© ishamaec.wordpress.com<br />

By Fr. Edwin Corros, CS<br />

Joven de la Cruz (not his real name)<br />

was a former overseas Filipino<br />

worker (OFW) from Antipolo, Rizal.<br />

He has sought the assistance of the<br />

Episcopal Commission on Migrants and<br />

Itinerant People (ECMI), complaining<br />

of harassment from the lending agency<br />

that paid his placement fee to get a job<br />

in Taiwan as a factory worker. He was<br />

repatriated when the factory where he<br />

was employed temporarily cut down its<br />

operations due to lesser demand of IT<br />

products in United States and Europe<br />

because of global economic recession.<br />

Afraid of being jailed for not paying his<br />

debts, he sought ECMI’s help.<br />

When he arrived in Taiwan in March<br />

2008, De la Cruz did not find anything<br />

unusual about his employment. Three<br />

months later, his employer announced<br />

that the factory will operate only thrice<br />

a week. This meant that Joven and<br />

other foreign migrant workers would<br />

only work three days weekly, hence, will<br />

also receive a salary that was equivalent<br />

to the three-day job. The company’s<br />

management had explained that it could<br />

not afford to pay all the workers due<br />

to the low demand of their company’s<br />

product. With his salary cut into almost<br />

half of his initial monthly wage, Joven<br />

had to face the consequence of being<br />

unable to pay his debts arising from the<br />

placement fee he had borrowed in the<br />

Philippines. Added to this burden, the<br />

workers also had to pay their board and<br />

lodging on days they were not working.<br />

This unexpected turn of events came as<br />

a big blow to Joven and his co-workers.<br />

All they could do was to wait for their<br />

condition to improve.<br />

Few weeks later, the company offered<br />

the migrant workers the possibility<br />

of repatriation with a free airline ticket.<br />

Realizing that he had just been working<br />

without saving, plus the fact that<br />

his salary was not enough to pay his<br />

debts, Joven had immediately accepted<br />

the offer. Before leaving Taiwan he was<br />

asked to sign a document implying he<br />

had resigned from work. Although he<br />

was not sure of the consequence of<br />

such decision, he decided to sign the<br />

document because he did not have<br />

the chance to seek help from the<br />

Manila Economic and Cultural Office<br />

(MECO) in Taipei, the Philippines de<br />

facto embassy.<br />

A month after his arrival in the country,<br />

Joven started receiving a statement<br />

of account from the lending company<br />

that paid his placement fee for Taiwan.<br />

He called up the lending company explaining<br />

why he was not able to pay his<br />

debt. Unfortunately, after explaining his<br />

incapacity to pay, he received a stronger<br />

letter demanding that he pay his debts<br />

including accumulated interests and<br />

surcharges or else he will be brought to<br />

court. It was this threat of being jailed<br />

that brought Joven to seek ECMI’s help<br />

through the Antipolo Diocesan Commission<br />

for Migrants.<br />

The case of Joven is a usual<br />

example how some overseas Filipino<br />

20<br />

<strong>IMPACT</strong> • February 2010


Upholding the Rights of Migrant Workers<br />

have managed to present their first report on time, partly<br />

because the preparation of the report on the implementation<br />

of the Convention demands close cooperation between<br />

different branches of government and is thus time- and<br />

resource-consuming.<br />

Other obstacles are of a political nature. The present day<br />

climate is not very conducive to discussing the granting of<br />

rights to migrant workers. Public opinion in many receiving<br />

countries has turned against migrants who are perceived as<br />

competition and thus a danger to local people’s jobs. Prejudices<br />

against migrants are aggravated by the trend to view<br />

foreigners as potential terrorists.<br />

Recommendations<br />

The range of obstacles to the acceptance of the UN Convention<br />

on Migrants’ Rights is wide, and fostering further ratifications<br />

of this treaty will require substantial effort. Among the<br />

possible ways of achieving this goal, one can notably mention<br />

the following recommendations:<br />

Promoting a better understanding of the content of the<br />

Convention; given the misconceptions surrounding this treaty,<br />

it is worth repeating that more information is needed.<br />

A campaign in favor of the notion of rights for migrants<br />

and of the situation of undocumented migrants; the idea that<br />

migrants constitute a vulnerable group and that they need<br />

adequate legal protection is not yet accepted and needs to be<br />

promoted. Similarly, the idea that undocumented migrants<br />

deserve a minimal degree of legal protection meets strong<br />

opposition. It is necessary to stress the socio-economic<br />

contributions made by both documented and undocumented<br />

migrants, even if access to rights should never be conditioned<br />

to economic considerations.<br />

Developing capacity-building in migration policies and<br />

training local experts; all too often, migration takes place in<br />

an institutional and political vacuum or is only minimally<br />

managed by state authorities. This calls for improving state<br />

capacities in addressing migration challenges.<br />

Involving the social actors concerned by migration; it is<br />

a far-reaching phenomenon that affects most segments of the<br />

societies in which<br />

it takes place.<br />

Along with states,<br />

civil society should<br />

therefore be adequately<br />

prepared<br />

to face migration.<br />

NGOs already play<br />

a key role, but other<br />

social actors –<br />

such as the media,<br />

schools, employers,<br />

unions, police<br />

and health professionals<br />

– should be<br />

involved.<br />

A d d r e s s i n g<br />

fears of ‘being<br />

first’ by working<br />

at a regional level;<br />

states are reluctant<br />

to take the risk of<br />

being among the<br />

first to ratify the<br />

Convention. This<br />

calls for promot-<br />

Rights, page 25<br />

workers are cheated and abused by<br />

exploitative recruiters who take advantage<br />

of migrant workers’ vulnerability.<br />

Joven’s deployment was facilitated<br />

by paying a placement fee through a<br />

lending company that was most likely<br />

owned or linked to the same job placement<br />

company. He was even illegally<br />

charged with P120,000 pesos (overcharged)<br />

as placement fee, a violation<br />

to the allowable placement fee set<br />

by Philippine Overseas Employment<br />

Agency (POEA). Luckily, Joven had<br />

declared an affidavit that such huge<br />

amount was being demanded from him,<br />

to be paid in a monthly amortization<br />

payment deductible from his salary<br />

every fifteen days while working in a<br />

Taiwanese factory. When his case was<br />

brought to the attention of the POEA,<br />

he was not anymore forced to pay the<br />

remaining balance of his debt. He could<br />

have brought his placement agency to<br />

court for having cheated him, but he<br />

did not bother to do so. All he wanted<br />

then was to stop the lending company<br />

from harassing him.<br />

Joven could have sought assistance<br />

from the Labor Attaché of MECO<br />

in Taipei before signing the document<br />

attesting his resignation. But then he<br />

was not probably aware of his rights<br />

nor was familiar where to seek help.<br />

By asking him to sign the document,<br />

it was clear that the company wanted<br />

to clear itself of any liability in case<br />

workers would complain in the future.<br />

Taiwanese companies are not allowed<br />

to hire foreign workers once proven<br />

that they had been involved in illegally<br />

terminating their migrant workers.<br />

There are several lessons to be<br />

learned from the case of Joven. Ignorance<br />

of migrants’ labor policy on the<br />

part of any prospective migrant worker<br />

leaves him or her highly vulnerable to<br />

exploitation and abuse. OFW’s should<br />

Victim, page 25<br />

Filipino overseas workers in Hong Kong spend<br />

their free day shopping at downtown’s business<br />

district.<br />

© Roy Lagarde / CBCP Media<br />

Volume 44 • Number 2 21


STATEMENTS<br />

‘The Justice of God Has Been Manifested<br />

Through Faith in Jesus Christ’<br />

Message of Pope Benedict XVI for Lent 2010<br />

Dear Brothers and Sisters!<br />

Each year, on the occasion of Lent, the Church<br />

invites us to a sincere review of our life in light of<br />

the teachings of the Gospel. This year, I would like to offer<br />

you some reflections on the great theme of justice, beginning<br />

from the Pauline affirmation: "The justice of God has<br />

been manifested through faith in Jesus Christ" (cf. Rm 3,<br />

21-22).<br />

Justice: "dare cuique suum"<br />

First of all, I want to consider the meaning of the term<br />

"justice," which in common usage implies "to render to<br />

every man his due," according to<br />

the famous expression of Ulpian, a<br />

Roman jurist of the third century.<br />

In reality, however, this classical<br />

definition does not specify what<br />

"due" is to be rendered to each<br />

person. What man needs most<br />

cannot be guaranteed to him by<br />

law. In order to live life to the<br />

full, something more intimate<br />

is necessary that can be granted<br />

only as a gift: we could say that<br />

man lives by that love which<br />

only God can communicate since<br />

He created the human person in<br />

His image and likeness. Material<br />

goods are certainly useful and<br />

required—indeed Jesus Himself<br />

was concerned to heal the sick,<br />

feed the crowds that followed Him<br />

and surely condemns the indifference<br />

that even today forces hundreds of millions into death<br />

through lack of food, water and medicine—yet "distributive"<br />

justice does not render to the human being the totality of<br />

his "due." Just as man needs bread, so does man have even<br />

more need of God. Saint Augustine notes: if "justice is that<br />

virtue which gives every one his due ... where, then, is the<br />

justice of man, when he deserts the true God?" (De civitate<br />

Dei, XIX, 21).<br />

What is the Cause of Injustice?<br />

The Evangelist Mark reports the following words of Jesus,<br />

which are inserted within the debate at that time regarding<br />

what is pure and impure: "There is nothing outside a man<br />

which by going into him can defile him; but the things which<br />

come out of a man are what defile him … What comes out of<br />

a man is what defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart<br />

of man, come evil thoughts" (Mk 7, 14-15, 20-21). Beyond<br />

the immediate question concerning food, we can detect in<br />

the reaction of the Pharisees a permanent temptation within<br />

man: to situate the origin of evil in an exterior cause. Many<br />

modern ideologies deep down have this presupposition: since<br />

injustice comes "from outside," in order for justice to reign,<br />

it is sufficient to remove the exterior causes that prevent it<br />

being achieved. This way of thinking—Jesus warns—is ingenuous<br />

and shortsighted. Injustice, the fruit of evil, does not<br />

have exclusively external roots; its origin lies in the human<br />

heart, where the seeds are found of a mysterious cooperation<br />

with evil. With bitterness the Psalmist recognises this:<br />

"Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my<br />

mother conceive me" (Ps 51,7). Indeed, man is weakened<br />

by an intense influence, which wounds his capacity to enter<br />

into communion with the other.<br />

By nature, he is open to sharing<br />

freely, but he finds in his<br />

being a strange force of gravity<br />

that makes him turn in and affirm<br />

himself above and against others:<br />

this is egoism, the result of original<br />

sin. Adam and Eve, seduced by Satan’s<br />

lie, snatching the mysterious<br />

fruit against the divine command,<br />

replaced the logic of trusting in<br />

Love with that of suspicion and<br />

competition; the logic of receiving<br />

and trustfully expecting from the<br />

Other with anxiously seizing and<br />

doing on one’s own (cf. Gn 3, 1-6),<br />

experiencing, as a consequence, a<br />

sense of disquiet and uncertainty.<br />

How can man free himself from<br />

this selfish influence and open<br />

himself to love?<br />

© www.ankawa.com<br />

Justice and Sedaqah<br />

At the heart of the wisdom of Israel, we find a profound<br />

link between faith in God who "lifts the needy from the ash<br />

heap" (Ps 113,7) and justice towards one’s neighbor. The Hebrew<br />

word itself that indicates the virtue of justice, sedaqah,<br />

expresses this well. Sedaqah, in fact, signifies on the one<br />

hand full acceptance of the will of the God of Israel; on the<br />

other hand, equity in relation to one’s neighbour (cf. Ex 20,<br />

12-17), especially the poor, the stranger, the orphan and the<br />

widow (cf. Dt 10, 18-19). But the two meanings are linked<br />

because giving to the poor for the Israelite is none other than<br />

restoring what is owed to God, who had pity on the misery<br />

of His people. It was not by chance that the gift to Moses of<br />

the tablets of the Law on Mount Sinai took place after the<br />

crossing of the Red Sea. Listening to the Law presupposes<br />

faith in God who first "heard the cry" of His people and<br />

"came down to deliver them out of hand of the Egyptians"<br />

(cf. Ex 3,8). God is attentive to the cry of the poor and in<br />

return asks to be listened to: He asks for justice towards<br />

the poor (cf. Sir 4,4-5, 8-9), the stranger (cf. Ex 22,20), the<br />

22<br />

<strong>IMPACT</strong> • February 2010


STATEMENTS<br />

slave (cf. Dt 15, 12-18). In order to enter into justice, it is<br />

thus necessary to leave that illusion of self-sufficiency, the<br />

profound state of closure, which is the very origin of injustice.<br />

In other words, what is needed is an even deeper "exodus"<br />

than that accomplished by God with Moses, a liberation of<br />

the heart, which the Law on its own is powerless to realize.<br />

Does man have any hope of justice then?<br />

Christ, the Justice of God<br />

The Christian Good News responds positively to man’s<br />

thirst for justice, as Saint Paul affirms in the Letter to the<br />

Romans: "But now the justice of God has been manifested<br />

apart from law … the justice of God through faith in Jesus<br />

Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; since<br />

all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are<br />

justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption which<br />

is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by<br />

his blood, to be received by faith" (3, 21-25).<br />

What then is the justice of Christ? Above all, it is the<br />

justice that comes from grace, where it is not man who makes<br />

amends, heals himself and others. The fact that "expiation"<br />

flows from the "blood" of Christ signifies that it is not man’s<br />

sacrifices that free him from the weight of his faults, but the<br />

loving act of God who opens Himself in the extreme, even<br />

to the point of bearing in Himself the "curse" due to man<br />

so as to give in return the "blessing" due to God (cf. Gal 3,<br />

13-14). But this raises an immediate objection: what kind<br />

of justice is this where the just man dies for the guilty and<br />

the guilty receives in return the blessing due to the just one?<br />

Would this not mean that each one receives the contrary of<br />

his "due"? In reality, here we discover divine justice, which<br />

is so profoundly different from its human counterpart. God<br />

has paid for us the price of the exchange in His Son, a price<br />

that is truly exorbitant. Before the justice of the Cross, man<br />

may rebel for this reveals how man is not a self-sufficient<br />

being, but in need of another in order to realize himself fully.<br />

Conversion to Christ, believing in the Gospel, ultimately<br />

means this: to exit the illusion of self-sufficiency in order to<br />

discover and accept one’s own need—the need of others and<br />

God, the need of His forgiveness and His friendship. So we<br />

understand how faith is altogether different from a natural,<br />

good-feeling, obvious fact: humility is required to accept<br />

that I need another to free me from "what is mine," to give<br />

me gratuitously "what is His." This happens especially in the<br />

sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. Thanks to<br />

Christ’s action, we may enter into the "greatest" justice, which<br />

is that of love (cf. Rm 13, 8-10), the justice that recognizes<br />

itself in every case more a debtor than a creditor, because it<br />

has received more than could ever have been expected.<br />

Strengthened by this very experience, the Christian is<br />

moved to contribute to creating just societies, where all<br />

receive what is necessary to live according to the dignity<br />

proper to the human person and where justice is enlivened<br />

by love.<br />

Dear brothers and sisters, Lent culminates in the Paschal<br />

Triduum, in which this year, too, we shall celebrate divine<br />

justice—the fullness of charity, gift, salvation. May this<br />

penitential season be for every Christian a time of authentic<br />

conversion and intense knowledge of the mystery of Christ,<br />

who came to fulfill every justice. With these sentiments, I<br />

cordially impart to all of you my Apostolic Blessing.<br />

From the Vatican, 30 October 2009<br />

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI<br />

A Call for Vigilance and Involvement<br />

A Pastoral Statement of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference<br />

of the Philippines (CBCP) on the occasion of its 100th<br />

General Assembly held at Pius XII Center, Manila<br />

“Seek good and not evil that you may live.” (Amos 5,14)<br />

Beloved People of God:<br />

God is calling us to participate<br />

in transforming our<br />

society, to “seek good and not evil”<br />

(Amos 5,14). This is part of our mission<br />

as People of God (cf. Justice in<br />

the World, 1971). In 1991 the Second<br />

Plenary Council of the Philippines<br />

(PCP II) called the lay people to fulfill<br />

their responsibility in renewing the<br />

political order. In 2001 the National<br />

Pastoral Consultation on Church Renewal<br />

(NPCCR) made this task one of<br />

the nine major pastoral priorities of<br />

the Church. The same call is echoed<br />

by the pastoral letter last year on the<br />

Year of the Two Hearts for Peace<br />

Building and Lay Participation in<br />

Social Change.<br />

I. Our Situation<br />

To transform our political order—<br />

how imperative this task is today!<br />

The election fever is on us! Campaign<br />

advertisements, presidential debates,<br />

and sadly, political killings, fill our<br />

media. Outrageous political violence has<br />

awakened us to the reality that if we do<br />

not keep watch together as a nation our<br />

electoral processes can drag us down.<br />

The existence of private armies, the proliferation<br />

of loose fire arms, and political<br />

dynasties are obstacles to the growth of<br />

a genuine democratic system.<br />

II. Calls<br />

A. Discernment<br />

In this situation we urge once more<br />

all Filipinos to form circles of discernment<br />

so that they can see, judge, and<br />

act together on issues of public concern<br />

according to moral values. Moreover,<br />

we remind once again the Catholic laity<br />

that it is their right and duty to support<br />

candidates that are qualified and have<br />

a record of striving for the common<br />

good. They should not hesitate to engage<br />

in principled partisan politics. We are<br />

asked to first articulate the key values<br />

and principles by which we can evaluate<br />

individual candidates across political<br />

parties. This is the kind of politics in<br />

Volume 44 • Number 2 23


STATEMENTS<br />

which Gospel values form the bases of<br />

our choice of candidates and not party<br />

or family loyalties.<br />

B. On Automated Elections<br />

We have always hoped for a modernized,<br />

better, and faster form of<br />

voting and counting, imbued with<br />

transparency and integrity. Automated<br />

election has been in use for some time in<br />

many countries. For the first time in our<br />

history we are adopting one example<br />

of poll automation called Automated<br />

Election System (AES). But at this late<br />

hour there are still many questions regarding<br />

the AES that revolve around the<br />

readiness of personnel and equipment<br />

as well as the readiness of the electorate<br />

in the use of the system. Even more<br />

important, many serious questions<br />

about the reliability and integrity of the<br />

equipment and the personnel involved<br />

have not been satisfactorily answered.<br />

To be sure those who are responsible<br />

for the AES are striving to make the<br />

system work.<br />

But we must make sure that there<br />

are prepared fall back positions that<br />

can be quickly adopted when there<br />

are some glitches in the system and<br />

in the logistics. We have to be vigilant<br />

and be involved. One example<br />

would be to help in educating voters<br />

regarding the AES and in using the<br />

equipment.<br />

C. To Candidates<br />

We ask the candidates, already at<br />

this point, to start serving the nation<br />

by being honest and sincere in educating<br />

the people on the situation of our<br />

country in their campaign. They should<br />

not campaign to manipulate the perceptions<br />

of the people but to help them<br />

to make good choices for the sake of<br />

the country. They are to present their<br />

platforms and convictions rather than<br />

attack others.<br />

D. To Peace-keepers<br />

We call on our soldiers and the<br />

police to be extra-vigilant so as to bring<br />

about peaceful elections. They should<br />

not allow themselves to be used by politicians<br />

or ideological groups. Rather,<br />

they should be vigorous in disarming<br />

illegally armed elements.<br />

E. To Voters<br />

We appeal directly to you, our<br />

fellow countrymen and women, as<br />

well as to all members of our Basic<br />

Ecclesial Communities and religious<br />

lay organizations to exercise your right<br />

to vote wisely i.e. following the criteria<br />

indicated several times in our previous<br />

pastoral letters. Automated elections<br />

will not give us good public officials.<br />

Ultimately the leaders that our country<br />

shall have will depend on our wise<br />

choice of candidates. Do not be swayed<br />

by survey results or political advertisements.<br />

Follow the dictates of your<br />

conscience after<br />

a prayerful and<br />

collective period<br />

of discernment.<br />

“Winnability” is<br />

not at all a criterion<br />

for voting!<br />

The vote you cast<br />

will be a vote for<br />

the good of your<br />

country and your<br />

children’s future.<br />

Serve the common<br />

good with your<br />

precious vote!<br />

III. Signs of<br />

Hope<br />

In spite of the<br />

grim scenario that<br />

some may paint<br />

that every election<br />

is just the same,<br />

we feel winds of<br />

change for the better.<br />

Many of our<br />

faithful are now<br />

heeding the call of<br />

their pastors to be<br />

actively engaged in<br />

politics. Many are<br />

running for public<br />

office issuing<br />

from the call of<br />

faith and service so<br />

that people should<br />

no longer vote<br />

simply for the lesser evil among the<br />

candidates. There are now many civil<br />

society groups that are concerned and<br />

are actively moving to ensure that this<br />

election of 2010 will be an honest and<br />

credible one. We especially note with<br />

encouragement many young people who<br />

go out of their way to offer their services<br />

for the good of our nation. These<br />

signs are fruits of the efforts of many in<br />

the past years to educate our people to<br />

develop their social conscience and to<br />

make their faith the motivation of their<br />

political actions. Pope Benedict XVI<br />

teaches us: “Worship pleasing to God<br />

can never be a purely private matter,<br />

without consequences for our relationship<br />

with others: it demands a public<br />

witness of our faith” (Sacrosanctum<br />

Concilium #83)<br />

Let us be ever vigilant for our country.<br />

Together let us be involved in the<br />

coming automated elections. Let us vote<br />

wisely that we may have God-fearing<br />

and honest people as our leaders.<br />

May our Blessed Mother, Our Lady<br />

of Peace, be our guide and teacher in<br />

our hope for a better tomorrow. May<br />

our Good Lord receive our offerings<br />

of prayers, good intentions and selfless<br />

service for the good of our people! To<br />

Him be the glory forever. Amen.<br />

+NEREO P. ODCHIMAR, DD<br />

Bishop of Tandag<br />

President<br />

Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the<br />

Philippines<br />

January 24, 2010<br />

© CBCP Media<br />

24<br />

<strong>IMPACT</strong> • February 2010


When the tide is raised all sorts of boats rise with<br />

it, from large to small ones, from the lowly<br />

banca to the mighty battleship, and from the<br />

old to the new.<br />

We, presidential candidates to the May 2010 elections,<br />

seek to raise the tide of Philippine politics by publicly<br />

committing ourselves to a covenant of peaceful and clean<br />

elections as well as good governance and transparency. We<br />

recognize that how we and our followers conduct ourselves<br />

during the campaign and election period is already indicative<br />

and determinative of how we shall conduct ourselves<br />

as public servants if and when we are elected.<br />

We shall promote principled partisan politics by respecting<br />

the dignity of voters and their consciences, and<br />

their need for well-informed choices. We shall not resort<br />

to vote buying and its variations, and condemn all forms<br />

of intimidation, violence, and misrepresentation.<br />

There is a river of change flowing through our land,<br />

fed by various tributaries of change. People are searching<br />

for meaningful political change that leads to a transformed<br />

nation that allows them to dream and to work towards<br />

achieving these dreams and promote the common good.<br />

We want to be part of this meaningful political change<br />

for a transformed nation. We commit ourselves and call<br />

on our followers to be the change we and our people seek<br />

at this crucial junction of our national life. We cannot do<br />

STATEMENTS<br />

Raising the Tide of Philippine Politics:<br />

A Covenant for Presidential Aspirants to the May 2010 Elections<br />

this by our powers alone. We call on all Filipino citizens to<br />

journey with us and we hold ourselves accountable to them.<br />

Finally, we ask the Lord to accompany us in this journey<br />

of change and transformation that starts with ourselves.<br />

So help us God.<br />

Signed this 22nd day of January 2010 at the Cebu<br />

International Convention Center, Mandaue City.<br />

Candidates:<br />

Sen. Benigno Aquino III<br />

Former President Joseph Ejercito Estrada<br />

Sen. Richard Gordon<br />

Former Secretary Gilberto Teodoro<br />

Bro. Eddie Villanueva<br />

Sen. Manuel Villar<br />

Witnesses:<br />

Gordon Alan P. Joseph, President<br />

Cebu Business Club<br />

Eric Ng Mendoza, President<br />

Mandaue Chamber of Commerce & Industry<br />

Consul Samuel Chioson<br />

Cebu Chamber of Commerce & Industry<br />

Rights, from page 21<br />

ing cooperation between them to avoid<br />

a competition that is extremely unfavorable<br />

to ratification of the Convention.<br />

Encouraging Western countries<br />

to ratify; western receiving countries<br />

are home to large migrant populations<br />

and play an influential role in shaping<br />

other countries’ attitudes towards the<br />

Convention. Any strategy aiming at<br />

fostering ratification will have to address<br />

Western states’ reluctance towards<br />

the Convention, despite the difficulties<br />

that can be expected.<br />

Helping countries implement the<br />

Convention; once the Convention is<br />

ratified and has entered into force, its<br />

implementation needs to be fostered.<br />

Along with the UN Committee monitoring<br />

the Convention, there is therefore a<br />

need to help countries – and especially<br />

sending countries—to put the Convention<br />

into practice.<br />

The amount of work that is needed is<br />

huge, and so are the efforts that will have<br />

to be made. This may inspire some pessimism<br />

and discouragement. However, the<br />

Convention has the very merit of existing;<br />

it represents a unique agreement at the<br />

world level on the minimal degree of legal<br />

protection that migrants should enjoy. It<br />

makes sense therefore to make full use of<br />

the Convention, which remains one of the<br />

most crucial tools in improving migrants’<br />

Victim, from page 21<br />

be familiar with Republic<br />

Act 8042 better known<br />

as the Migrant Workers<br />

and Overseas Filipino<br />

Act of 1995. Knowing<br />

this particular law can<br />

protect migrant workers<br />

from the possible<br />

abuse of labor agents<br />

and brokers. If they are<br />

not able to personally<br />

defend themselves, they<br />

should know at least<br />

that there are agencies<br />

that can help them fight<br />

for their rights. A worker<br />

who knows the law but<br />

unfortunately, is willing<br />

to surrender its implementation<br />

is doomed to<br />

be violated. Moreover,<br />

one maybe familiar with<br />

the law but is afraid to<br />

fight for its implementation<br />

will definitely run the<br />

risk of encountering the<br />

same abuses that Joven<br />

had suffered from. It is<br />

therefore important that<br />

people who are afraid<br />

to fight for their rights<br />

for fear of losing their<br />

jobs, should know there<br />

are institutions that are<br />

willing to help them. In<br />

most countries in Asia<br />

and Europe, chaplains<br />

for Filipino migrant communities<br />

are expected to<br />

assist migrant workers<br />

in their social and labor<br />

problems. All the OFWs<br />

need to do is to approach<br />

the priests that work in<br />

their communities.<br />

In the case of repatri-<br />

rights throughout the world. I<br />

(Fr. Paul Marquez, a priest of the<br />

Society of St. Paul, is a staff writer of<br />

Impact.)<br />

ated OFWs, they can go<br />

directly to POEA or OWWA<br />

to seek assistance. ECMI<br />

also continues to assist<br />

any OFW who would encounter<br />

problem in their<br />

overseas work. For address<br />

and telephone number<br />

of migrant chaplains<br />

overseas, OFWs can call<br />

ECMI at 527-4135 to 42 or<br />

they can also email ECMI<br />

at ecmicbcp07@yahoo.<br />

com. ECMI would like to<br />

caution OFWs however<br />

that it does not have a<br />

direct link with countries<br />

in the Middle East except<br />

Israel, Kuwait and Lebanon.<br />

Hence, assistance<br />

to OFWs working in the<br />

Middle East is difficult to<br />

pursue. I<br />

Volume 44 • Number 2 25


FROM THE<br />

BLOGS<br />

Ten year<br />

marriage contract<br />

Now that this matter of a proposed temporary marriage<br />

contract has somehow subsided in excited<br />

contemplation and spirited discussion, it might be but<br />

proper and just to look into the matter with more calm and<br />

prudence—in the light of on the ground concrete and practical<br />

realities. Truth to say, such a demeaning look at marriage<br />

and consequent frivolous proposition on its temporary time<br />

frame, ultimately have one and the same victims, viz., the<br />

men and women who go for such a temporary conjugal union,<br />

specially so the children. This is not to mention their negative<br />

impact on society as a whole when the adult and youth<br />

concerned respectively disseminate their unsound personal<br />

value systems and propagate empirical grave misfortunes<br />

in their respective communities—as countries with Divorce<br />

Law amply prove.<br />

Men and women who enter temporary marriages basically<br />

say that they are not serious about one another, that they take<br />

the human family lightly, and that consider marriage but some<br />

kind of for-the-moment diversion or a by-the-way option. On<br />

the other hand, the children born of their exploratory union<br />

are not certain what future holds for them, which of their<br />

parents would get and have them, whom between their father<br />

and mother would they come to love or to hate.<br />

A temporary marriage contract for ten—more or less—<br />

years, implies the following composite nauseating if not<br />

traumatic experience when the husband and wife decide to<br />

call it quits upon expiration of the spousal contract: One,<br />

division of the domestic abode—which is disturbing. Two,<br />

division of conjugal properties—which is troublesome. Three,<br />

division of the children—which is traumatic. At the same<br />

time, all these dividing ventures strongly imply division<br />

of affection and mental posture, division of affiliation and<br />

loyalty among the family members concerned.<br />

It is both right and practical to forward the following<br />

concrete and rational principles: First of all, those who<br />

do not believe and/ or who cannot accept a lifetime conjugal<br />

partnership should not get married at all. Second,<br />

those who subscribe to a more or less ten-year marriage<br />

contract, should be prepared to say how many temporal<br />

marriages are they prepared to contract, how many homes<br />

are they ready to break. Third, most important of all, those<br />

who accept marriage with a given time frame should be<br />

prepared to say and decide how many children they are<br />

willing to divide.<br />

By the way, to say that marriage is but a “contract”, is<br />

in fact, neither true nor right. Reason: As such, marriage<br />

would be no more, no better than a business contract, a lease<br />

contract, a car contract, and million and one other contracts.<br />

The truth is that marriage is a covenant, a compact, a vow—<br />

all of which immediately imply constancy, permanence,<br />

stability. This is why as a rule, men, women and children<br />

with a broken marriage behind them, usually do not become<br />

better persons for it. This is sad but true.<br />

To say it lightly, marriage is not like a taxi that a man<br />

and a woman flag down, ride in, and thereafter leave it as a<br />

matter of course, when they no longer need it.<br />

www.ovc.blogspot.com<br />

Truth. Justice.<br />

Peace<br />

Thus stands the tripod whereupon development<br />

depends from on and stands on. In the same way,<br />

deceit, iniquity and dissension guarantee and<br />

promote socio-economic retrogression. The triumph<br />

of truth brings about justice. The reign of justice<br />

ushers in peace. These observations are not simply<br />

academically understandable but also empirically<br />

true. When there is prevalent falsity, then there is a<br />

regime of injustice and thus come to fore all kinds of<br />

unending resentment and discontentment in different<br />

places, in different degrees and different manifestations<br />

as well.<br />

Thus it is that even the Philippine Constitution provides:<br />

“The State shall promote social justice in all phases<br />

of national development.” (State Policies, Sec. 10). This<br />

signal and candid constitutional provision equivalently<br />

says: One, with social justice goes development. Two,<br />

deterioration goes with social injustice. Three, take a<br />

good look around and know how this country fares in<br />

conjunction with the above cited not simply logical but<br />

also realistic State Policy.<br />

To put it more bluntly, injustice is a social curse.<br />

When the powerful and the wealthy are above the law,<br />

when the poor and miserable are crowding local jails<br />

and prisons, when the law is used to oppress and not to<br />

liberate, then something is not merely wrong but also appalling<br />

and revolting. Injustice is the supreme guarantee<br />

of individual disgust and/or social discontent. Justice<br />

is such an elementary mandate that there is nothing<br />

like injustice to foment not merely division, not simply<br />

revolution but war even.<br />

Take away but a candy from but a little child, and<br />

this will most probably cry as a matter of course. The<br />

child feels that the candy is his or hers. Thus when<br />

taken away, the child is offended by the injustice of<br />

losing it. If this is true with but children, it is not<br />

hard to imagine what injustice does to an adult, how<br />

does this feel, what the same will do. If one is poor<br />

because this is aware or knows that he or she is indolent<br />

and/or vicious, if somebody is prosecuted for<br />

a wrong doing, and if someone is jailed because of<br />

his or her proven wrongdoing, then the subject party<br />

knows in conscience that justice is simply served—<br />

even though the same may register strong protests<br />

every now and then.<br />

The cardinal question that now comes to mind is<br />

precisely the following—a query that is admittedly<br />

shameful to think about, as well as embarrassing to ask:<br />

Is a dysfunctional justice system the main legacy of this<br />

no less than some nine year old reigning administration<br />

to the country? A negative answer thereto would require<br />

much explaining to do, and would demand much more<br />

to make it convincing.<br />

www.ovc.blogspot.com<br />

26<br />

<strong>IMPACT</strong> • February 2010


EDITORIAL<br />

The often cited valiant yet actually<br />

disturbing, fearless but<br />

precisely distressing yell, is<br />

in fact three-tiered: “Do not panic!<br />

Relax lang! Kayang-kaya ito!”<br />

Given the saddening recent past, the<br />

now gloomy existing present and<br />

the forthcoming uncertain days of<br />

the socio-economic situation and<br />

political scenery of the Philippines,<br />

the quoted extra-optimistic cheer can<br />

be considered as a false bravado or a<br />

big joke. Ever since such historical<br />

shout was made by an energy Czar<br />

and quoted by tri-media, both the<br />

importers and consumers of fuel are<br />

precisely in continuous panic and<br />

hysteria, not to mention suspicion and<br />

ire on the part of the general public.<br />

This is somehow like the often<br />

repeated hurrah of the still reigning<br />

leader: “The economic fundamentals<br />

are in place.” Never mind what this<br />

impressive expression really means<br />

and/or how it truly works. The standing<br />

fact is that the country suffers from<br />

pervasive poverty, has a below stan-<br />

Relax!<br />

dard public educational system, has no<br />

employment for its citizens, does not even<br />

produce enough rice for people to eat, and<br />

presently neither has affordable sugar for<br />

its population—not to mention the long<br />

agony brought about by indirect taxation<br />

of Filipinos from birth to death.<br />

There are brazen graft and corrupt<br />

practices in the government from top<br />

to bottom. There are innumerable killings,<br />

regular murders and massacres<br />

that even gained international infamy.<br />

There are criminals all over the land.<br />

There are more pushers and drug syndicates.<br />

Even the supposed arm of the law<br />

often becomes the arm of lawlessness.<br />

The guns in the hands of those who<br />

exactly should not have them, has in<br />

a way brought back the country to the<br />

cowboy and Indian times. Do not panic!<br />

Relax lang! Kayang-kaya ito!<br />

The world of politics is burning<br />

with both serious and hilarious accusations<br />

and counter-accusations. The<br />

political candidates are literally and<br />

flagrantly throwing money away—<br />

surely for them to get much, so very<br />

much more in return when elected.<br />

The guns and goons are all out.<br />

The private armies are all in. The<br />

constant danger to lives and limbs<br />

is real. Even the innocent get hurt,<br />

if not killed. Do not panic! Relax<br />

lang! Kayang-kaya ito!<br />

Suspect and suspicious, accused<br />

and accuser, and furthermore<br />

doubted if not distrusted, wherefore<br />

confused if not lost—this is<br />

COMELEC. Among the still few<br />

machines in, there is even a number<br />

that barely works. Electricity is not<br />

certain in distant parts of the country,<br />

during election day. Some places are<br />

in fact no man’s land. Clustering<br />

some 1,000 thousand voters using<br />

but one voting machine for but some<br />

hours of a day, is not comforting to<br />

contemplate. The ballots are about<br />

two feet long. The jammers are in.<br />

The technicians are not. The watchers<br />

do not know what to watch out<br />

for. There is the possibility of the<br />

failure of election. Do not panic!<br />

Relax lang. Kayang-kaya ito!<br />

Illustration by Bladimer Usi<br />

Volume 44 • Number 2 27


FROM THE<br />

INBOX<br />

From the e-mail messages of lanbergado@cbcpworld.net<br />

The girl in the CD store<br />

There was once a guy who suffered from cancer... a<br />

cancer that can't be treated. He was 18 years old and<br />

he could die anytime. All his life, he was stuck in his<br />

house being taken cared by his mother. He never went outside.<br />

But he was sick of staying home<br />

and wanted to go out for once. So<br />

he asked his mother and she gave<br />

him permission.<br />

He walked down his block and<br />

found a lot of stores. He passed a CD<br />

store and looked through the front<br />

door for a second as he walked. He<br />

stopped and went back to look into<br />

the store. He saw a young girl about<br />

his age and he knew it was love at<br />

first sight. He opened the door and<br />

walked in, not looking at anything<br />

else but her. He walked closer and<br />

closer until he was finally at the<br />

front desk where she sat.<br />

She looked up and asked, "Can I help you?"<br />

She smiled and he thought it was the most beautiful smile<br />

he has ever seen before and wanted to kiss her right there.<br />

He said, "Uh... Yeah... Umm... I would like to buy a CD."<br />

He picked one out and gave her money for it.<br />

"Would you like me to wrap it for you?" she asked,<br />

smiling her cute smile again.<br />

He nodded and she went to the back.<br />

She came back with the wrapped CD and gave it to him.<br />

He took it and walked out of the store. He went home and<br />

from then on, he went to that store everyday and bought a<br />

CD, and she wrapped it for him. He took the CD home and<br />

put it in his closet. He was still too shy to ask her out. He<br />

Lessons learned<br />

One day, the father of a very<br />

wealthy family took his son on<br />

a trip to the country with the<br />

express purpose of showing him how<br />

poor people live.<br />

They spent a couple of days and<br />

nights on the farm of what would be<br />

considered a very poor family.<br />

On their return from their trip, the father<br />

asked his son, “How was the trip?”<br />

“It was great, Dad.”<br />

“Did you see how poor people live?”<br />

the father asked.<br />

“Oh yeah,” said the son.<br />

“So, tell me, what did you learn<br />

from the trip?” asked the father.<br />

The son answered: “I saw that we<br />

have one dog and they had four. We have<br />

a pool that reaches to the middle of our<br />

garden and they have a creek that has no<br />

end. We have imported lanterns in our<br />

garden and they have the stars at night.<br />

Our patio reaches to the front yard and<br />

they have the whole horizon.<br />

“We have a small piece of land<br />

to live on and they have fields that go<br />

beyond our sight.<br />

“We have servants who serve us,<br />

but they serve others. We buy our food,<br />

but they grow theirs.<br />

“We have walls around our property<br />

to protect us, they have friends to<br />

protect them.”<br />

The boy’s father was speechless.<br />

Then his son added, “Thanks Dad<br />

for showing me how poor we are.”<br />

really wanted to but he couldn't. His mother found out about<br />

this and told him to just ask her.<br />

So the next day, he took all his courage and went to the<br />

store. He bought a CD like he did everyday and once again<br />

she went to the back of the store<br />

and came back with it wrapped.<br />

He took it and when she wasn't<br />

looking, he left his phone number<br />

on the desk and ran out...<br />

!!!RRRRRING!!!<br />

The mother picked up the<br />

phone and said, "Hello?"<br />

It was the girl! She asked for<br />

the boy and the mother started to<br />

cry and said, "You don't know? He<br />

passed away yesterday..."<br />

The line was quiet except for<br />

the cries of the boy's mother. Later<br />

during the day, the mother went<br />

into the boy's room because she<br />

wanted to remember him. She thought she would start by<br />

looking at his clothes. So she opened the closet. She saw<br />

piles and piles of unopened CDs. Surprised to find all those<br />

CDs, she picked one up and sat down on the bed and started<br />

to open one.<br />

Inside, there was a CD and as she took it out of the<br />

wrapper, a piece of paper fell out. The mother picked it up<br />

and started to read.<br />

It said: Hi... I think U R really cute. Do u wanna go out<br />

with me? Love, Jacelyn<br />

The mother opened another CD.<br />

Again there was a piece of paper. It said: Hi... I think U<br />

R really cute. Do u wanna go out with me? Love, Jacelyn.<br />

© www.flickr.com/photos/sweetbeat<br />

© www.flickr.com/photos/kaymusings<br />

28<br />

<strong>IMPACT</strong> • February 2010


ook<br />

Reviews<br />

Joyce Rupp<br />

Meaningful Moments<br />

Fr. Jerry Orbos, SVD<br />

A book of short<br />

reflections on<br />

life’s meaningful<br />

moments.<br />

Fr. Jerry Orbos<br />

believes in “moments<br />

spirituality”,<br />

that of<br />

finding meaning<br />

and finding<br />

God in ordinary<br />

moments of our<br />

life. His nine<br />

books on Moments<br />

series<br />

are all stories<br />

of personal encounters,<br />

little<br />

coincidences,<br />

funny anecdotes,<br />

and uplifting<br />

stories which<br />

have colored<br />

and shaped his<br />

life of 29 years<br />

in the priestly<br />

ministry.<br />

Open the Door<br />

A Journey to the True Self<br />

In this latest<br />

book published<br />

b y P a u l i n e s<br />

P u b l i s h i n g<br />

H o u s e , w e l l<br />

known spiritual<br />

writer and retreat<br />

director<br />

J o y c e R u p p<br />

invites readers<br />

once again to<br />

take the spiritual<br />

journey to<br />

self awareness<br />

by entering the<br />

door of their<br />

hearts. Using<br />

the image of the<br />

door as a symbol<br />

for spiritual<br />

growth, Rupp<br />

guides readers<br />

to discover the<br />

richness that<br />

are hidden within<br />

their inner<br />

self. Designed<br />

as a six-week<br />

process with a reflection for each day of the week, the book is<br />

an excellent companion and guide for those who wish to embark<br />

on a journey to self-discovery.<br />

Reflections for the Working Soul<br />

Bishop Precioso Cantillas, SDB, DD & Teresa Tunay, OCDS<br />

The demands<br />

o f o u r w o r k<br />

can sometimes<br />

drain us of energy<br />

which consequently<br />

lead<br />

us to go on doing<br />

our duties<br />

and work perfunctorily.<br />

This<br />

book of reflections<br />

provides<br />

readers with<br />

some inspiring<br />

insights that will<br />

lead them to understand<br />

more<br />

profoundly the<br />

spirituality of<br />

work. Originally<br />

published as a<br />

column in one<br />

of the leading<br />

national dailies,<br />

the 52 sets of<br />

reflections in<br />

this volume are<br />

the authors’ “humble offering to those who work, especially<br />

those toiling away from the limelight, those who labor in dire<br />

working conditions, the millions of unrecognized ‘lowly’ workers<br />

who are moved in their work by sheer faith in the honorableness<br />

of honest labor.”<br />

The Priesthood<br />

Pope Benedict XVI<br />

This book by St.<br />

Pauls comes<br />

at a time when<br />

the National<br />

Congress of the<br />

Clergy in the<br />

Philippines had<br />

just ended. Especially<br />

published<br />

on this year dedicated<br />

for priests,<br />

this book gathers<br />

the reflections of<br />

the Holy Father<br />

on the topic of<br />

p r i e s t h o o d .<br />

The reflections<br />

are drawn from<br />

“homilies and<br />

meetings with<br />

the clergy of Italian<br />

dioceses and<br />

of the world on<br />

the occasion of<br />

the pope’s pastoral<br />

visits and<br />

apostolic trips.”<br />

Volume 44 • Number 2 29


ENTERTAINMENT<br />

Ca t h o l i c INi t i a t i v e fo r<br />

Enl i g h t e n e d Mov i e App r e c i a t i o n<br />

African-American teenager Michael Oher a.k.a Big<br />

Mike (Quinton Aaron) feels outcast in a Christian<br />

school due to variety of reasons from his low academic<br />

qualification to his big body frame for his age, skin color<br />

and being oddly silent apparently due to his complicated<br />

childhood. When Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) sees<br />

Michael wandering in the street on one cold night, she invites<br />

him to sleep over in the house with her family -- husband<br />

Sean (Tim McGraw) and children SJ (Jae Head) and Collins<br />

(Lily Collins). The generosity of Touhy family does not<br />

end with overnight place of sleep for Michael but finding a<br />

new family where he is loved and accepted. On discovery<br />

of his niche in playing football, he gets the full support of<br />

the Tuohy family to the point of going all the way to process<br />

legal guardianship for him and get a tutor to improve<br />

his academic profile. When Michael starts to make a name<br />

in sports, tempting scholarship packages come to his plate<br />

from different schools. However, when he finally chooses<br />

Cast: Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Quinton Aaron, Jae<br />

Head, Lily Collins<br />

Director: John Lee Hancock<br />

Producers: Gil Netter, Broderick Johnson, Andrew Kosove<br />

Screenwriter: John Hancock<br />

Music: Carter Burwell<br />

Editor: Mark Livolsi<br />

Genre: Drama<br />

Cinematography: Alar Kivilo<br />

Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures<br />

Location: USA<br />

Running Time: 100 mins.<br />

Technical Assessment: ••••<br />

Moral Assessment: <br />

CINEMA Rating: For viewers aged 13 and below with<br />

parental guidance<br />

one, those schools that he rejects make him believe that<br />

Tuohy family's motivation for helping him is to influence<br />

his decision for choice of school. After all those things done<br />

for him by Tuohy family is Michael up to be cynical about<br />

them, isolates himself and feels outcast again? How about<br />

the promising sports career?<br />

Based on the book Evolution of a Game, The Blind Side<br />

offers an inspiring story complimented by excellent treatment<br />

by the director and the casting that fits each character.<br />

There are combined drama and comedy, conventional and<br />

unconventional family settings, and theme of social relevance.<br />

The lines are meaningful and put to life by good portrayal<br />

of the actors especially Bullock. The cinematography captured<br />

the settings for a good production design to establish<br />

highlight of each scene. Overall, film The Blind Side is way<br />

above in the technical aspects and keep up to the essence of<br />

a very good story.<br />

The film shows that an act of kindness cannot be contained,<br />

there is overflow. Leigh Anne influenced others<br />

primarily her family then the coach, the teachers and school<br />

officials to extend kindness to Michael, and this creates<br />

a pleasant environment for everybody. It brings positive<br />

change not only to the recipient but also to the giver. The<br />

film projects both a strong and soft woman in the character<br />

of Leigh Anne, an understanding and supportive husband,<br />

obedient and loving children to their parents. The film is also<br />

a good reminder for key people in the schools, sports, law<br />

enforcer of their responsibility to make or unmake a person<br />

especially at a young age. Rather to look at each young<br />

person as an opportunity to see potentials of good citizens<br />

in the making. Whilst the story is about Michael, the key<br />

messages to address the moral dimension are found in the<br />

people around him. Overall the film offers a lot of positive<br />

values not only in the family situation but throughout the<br />

school, community and society at large.<br />

30<br />

<strong>IMPACT</strong> • February 2010


ASIA<br />

BRIEFING<br />

INDIA<br />

Avalanche kills soldiers<br />

At least 11 Indian soldiers<br />

were killed after an<br />

avalanche hit Indian army’s<br />

High Attitude Warfare<br />

School in northwest Kashmir,<br />

a mountainous region<br />

near the border with Pakistan<br />

on Feb. 9. Dozens of<br />

soldiers were buried in the<br />

snow. About 400 soldiers<br />

are based at the camp which<br />

has been completely covered<br />

by the avalanche.<br />

CHINA<br />

Police shuts hacker<br />

training school<br />

While Google threatened<br />

to quit China last<br />

month after a serious hacking<br />

attempt, authorities<br />

have closed down what it<br />

claims to be the country’s<br />

largest hacker training website<br />

and nabbed three of its<br />

members. Police said the<br />

"Black Hawk Safety Net"<br />

taught hacking techniques<br />

and provided malicious<br />

software downloads for its<br />

12,000 members.<br />

SRI LANKA<br />

Ex-army commander<br />

nabbed<br />

Authorities have arrested<br />

former army commander<br />

and losing presidential candidate<br />

Gen. Sarath Fonseka.<br />

He will reportedly be<br />

court-martialed for allegedly<br />

planning to overthrow the<br />

government. Fonseka was<br />

taken into custody by Sri<br />

Lanka troops who stormed<br />

the offices of the main opposition<br />

alliance which had<br />

backed his candidacy.<br />

BURMA<br />

Aussie boosts aid to<br />

Burma<br />

Australia is giving a 40<br />

percent increase in humanitarian<br />

aid to Burma, hoping<br />

to spur a democratic<br />

election later this year and<br />

create political change. But<br />

long-time Burma-watchers<br />

warn the generals who control<br />

the country are masters<br />

of the political charade<br />

and say Australia should<br />

be careful trying to deliver<br />

more aid under their rule.<br />

AFGHANISTAN<br />

Afghans flee offensive<br />

in Marjah<br />

Some 2,000 men, women<br />

and children fearing imminent<br />

fighting between<br />

the Taliban and US troops,<br />

loaded up trucks and fled<br />

their homes Feb. 8 in Afghanistan’s<br />

southern district<br />

ahead of a military offensive<br />

intended to clear Taliban<br />

militants. Thousands of<br />

NATO and Afghan troops<br />

are expected to carry out<br />

the operation in the Marjah<br />

area of Helmand province<br />

within the month.<br />

NEPAL<br />

Media mogul killed<br />

Media mogul and Space<br />

Time network head Jamim<br />

Shah, a media mogul here,<br />

has been shot dead in Kathmandu,<br />

the country’s capital.<br />

Shah was killed on Feb. 8 in<br />

broad daylight close to the<br />

British and Indian embassies.<br />

Shah was accused by<br />

the Indian government of<br />

having links to major Indian<br />

crime syndicate, and to Pakistan's<br />

intelligence agency.<br />

MALAYSIA<br />

Police nab Iranian trio<br />

in drug bust<br />

Three Iranians, two<br />

women and one man, were<br />

nabbed while attempting<br />

to smuggle drugs—worth<br />

nearly $4 million—into Malaysia.<br />

The suspects were<br />

carrying over 50 kilos of<br />

amphetamines, at Kuala<br />

Lumpur International Airport.<br />

Trafficking drugs carries<br />

a mandatory death<br />

sentence in Malaysia.<br />

TAIWAN<br />

US sells weapons to Taiwan;<br />

China angered<br />

Kao Hua-chu, Taiwan’s<br />

defense minister has vowed<br />

to seek more weaponry<br />

from the US triggering anger<br />

from the Chinese government.<br />

The announcement<br />

came a week after the<br />

announcement of a $US6.4<br />

billion arms deal with America<br />

which angered China.<br />

Hua-chu said the deal will<br />

help stabilise the Taiwan<br />

Strait and give the island<br />

greater confidence in pushing<br />

for talks with China.<br />

VIETNAM<br />

Govt tackles US at WTO<br />

over shrimp imports<br />

The Vietnamese government<br />

has filed its first<br />

anti-dumping case with the<br />

World Trade Organization.<br />

Reports said the case is<br />

against anti-dumping tariffs<br />

imposed by the US<br />

on frozen shrimp. The US<br />

has imposed tariffs ranging<br />

between 4 to 26 percent on<br />

Vietnamese shrimp exporters.<br />

Vietnam joined the<br />

WTO three years ago.<br />

CAMBODIA<br />

Withdrawal of disputed<br />

Google map sought<br />

“Professionally irresponsible.”<br />

This was how Cambodia<br />

accused the internet<br />

search engine company<br />

Google over its map of an<br />

ancient temple which is<br />

at the centre of a border<br />

dispute with Thailand. In<br />

a letter—which the AFP<br />

news agency reports to<br />

have seen—the government<br />

said the Google map<br />

'places almost half of the<br />

disputed Preah Vihear temple<br />

in Thailand'. Cambodia<br />

has asked for the map to be<br />

replaced with a new one.<br />

ISRAEL<br />

Military probes fail Gaza<br />

war victims<br />

The Israeli gov’t has<br />

failed to demonstrate that<br />

it will conduct thorough and<br />

impartial investigations into<br />

alleged laws-of-war violations<br />

by its forces during<br />

last year's Gaza conflict,<br />

Human Rights Watch said.<br />

An independent investigation<br />

is needed if perpetrators<br />

of abuse, including<br />

senior military and political<br />

officials who set policies<br />

that violated the laws of war,<br />

are to be held accountable,<br />

it added.<br />

Volume 44 • Number 2 31

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