Sexy, Innocent Child-Woman

More thoughts about the Philippines

To everyone who shared their thoughts about the political crisis in the Philippines on my blog, thank you. Some of us may have different views, but I respect your opinions anyway.

While browsing through the Inquirer website, I came across this column by Raul Pangalangan. I am posting it because I support his views. It represents my standpoint toward the Gloriagate fiasco. Isn't it ironic how several of the highest officials in the country (Marcos, Erap, and now GMA) are brazen enough to break the law, then appeal to the public to "respect the Constitution?" Sure, another EDSA is overrated, and the problem is not so much with the leaders we install as with the corrupt system.

The tempting of the fed-up Filipino
July 08, 2005
By Raul Pangalangan
Inquirer News Service

"RESPECT the Constitution!" seems to be the most politically acceptable slogan of the hour. Yet history shows that our legal system has time and again shown its ambivalence to extra-constitutional change and, each time, we as a people have reacted differently.

Ferdinand Marcos governed under the 1973 Constitution, which was approved by a mere show of hands when we were under martial law -- woefully short of what the law required, namely, a proper plebiscite with appropriate safeguards. Yet the Supreme Court said, so what if it was illegal so long as the people have accepted the new Constitution? The sovereign people have spoken, who are we to stand in the way?

The Court asked: "If [the people] had risen up in arms and by force deposed the then existing government ..., there could not be the least doubt that their act would ... not be subject to judicial review .... We do not see [this] situation [to] be any different ..., if no force had been resorted to and the people, in defiance of the existing Constitution but peacefully ... ordained a new Constitution."

Until Marcos was ousted at Edsa People Power I in 1986, the nation's liberals and democrats reviled this infamous decision as judicial capitulation, or in the polite language of the time, as too much "judicial statesmanship."

After Edsa I, however, the Court similarly invoked the "political question doctrine" to uphold Cory Aquino's government, but this time, the same liberals and democrats applauded with gusto. Cory promulgated her "Freedom Constitution," not by virtue of a plebiscite, but through the "direct exercise of the power of the Filipino people." The Supreme Court justices, all Cory appointees, found that she became president "in violation of the provisions of the 1973 Constitution as ... Mr. Marcos [had already been declared] the winner in the [snap] elections" and that her government was "revolutionary in the sense that it came into existence in defiance of existing legal processes"-but its legitimacy was "not a justiciable matter [but] belongs to the realm of politics where only the people ... are the judge."

Constitutionalism faced its next challenge at Edsa People Power II, where people power ousted a genuinely elected president, Joseph Estrada. Then-Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo could take over only in case of his death, permanent disability, removal via impeachment, or resignation. But Estrada was alive, able, not impeached, and had not resigned. The Court could have taken the path of least resistance and invoked the political question doctrine, exactly the way it did in the earlier cases. Or, the Court could have institutionalized people power unabashedly, and said that Estrada was "incapacited," not by sickness but by induced political paralysis through "withdrawal of support" by various centers of power in government, including the military and civil society.

But no, the Court held that, unlike Cory who was candid about the extra-constitutional character of her government, Ms Arroyo had assumed office snugly under the present Constitution. Thus, the rather creative version that Estrada had "constructively resigned" based not on his resignation letter but on the Angara diaries. Most telling however were the warnings by the other justices about the "hooting throng," the "innate perils of people power," and their "disquietude [that] the use of 'people power' ['an amorphous ... concept'] to create a vacancy in the presidency [can very well] encourag[e] People Power Three, People Power Four, and People Power ad infinitum."

I cited all these in a May 2001 lecture for the Supreme Court's Centennial, but I could not have imagined we would face the power of this prophecy so soon with Ms Arroyo's June 2005 "apology."

All the Sunday front pages in the major dailies showed wonderful photos of a reflective Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, suffused in soft lighting in just the right hues and in the quiet of her study, doing what we all had longed for her to do: sit down and use her God-given talents to solve our country's problems. Her campaigners had denigrated her opponent as a high school dropout, and exalted her Ph.D. in Economics. If you voted for her because of her superior brains, congratulations; on Sunday, she finally sat down to use them.

Until then, she was content with photo ops, attending prayer rallies here, distributing goodies there. Government policies sounded fine on paper, but were hostage to politics in practice, negotiable at every turn, to pay for every political debt, or assuage each passing "tampo" [tantrums] by some loyal "trapo" [traditional politician]. And, as the Garci tapes reveal, no government office was too sacred for her will to power.

The Commission on Elections is an independent constitutional body, yet "Garci" could speak to "Ma'am" about rigging the vote ("'yung pinadagdagan ninyo" [those you had padded]). The Constitution speaks of a "professional" Armed Forces of the Philippines "insulated from politics," yet the tapes reveal names of officers made to act like faithful Mafia capos. Ah, yes, and that "dukut" [abduction] operation to prevent a witnesses from testifying -- that's straight from "The Godfather." Talk about devils quoting Scripture.

What exactly does the Rule of Law mean? It doesn't mean the mechanical application of rules. Rather it means governance through accountable institutions that can be held to respect our fundamental rights, including the sanctity of our vote. Uphold the Constitution, by all means, but don't use it as a refuge for waffling and fence-sitting. Uphold constitutionalism, by all means, just make sure you seize not upon "the letter that killeth but [upon] the spirit that giveth life."

found herself @ 8:37 PM 6 comments

Weekend in Waukegan

WAAAH! I just spent the last four hours typing a long-ass entry about my weekend and some reflections about it, when my Internet connection got cut. Malamang nabura rin ang sinulat ko. =( I don't have a strong Internet connection at my apartment, as I just discovered today, so I think I'll have to blog at the computer lab in school, as much as possible.

***

I spent this past weekend with my nun-friends from the congregation I've been in contact with for the past four years (I went to their high school, but I wasn't close to them because I felt they were a bunch of mean, crabby, close-minded nuns, for the most part. So it's funny how our paths crossed right after I graduated from college. I got to see a different side of them, and now, they're a major part of my life). Sr. Rose Therese, the postulant directress, invited me to spend the weekend in their postulancy center in Waukegan, IL. Since this weekend was one of my last "free weekends" (because tomorrow, I start a new part-time job at the women's archives office in my school) and I'm always happy to go somewhere and get away from Chicago--or at least, my neighborhood--every once in a while, I took her up on her offer. I took the Metra train from Chicago to Waukegan in the afternoon of Friday the 8th. I missed the train I was supposed to take because I went to the wrong platform (after rushing to get to the train station on time--stupid, noh?), so I ended up taking a later train. At any rate, I got to Waukegan in one piece.

The Waukegan community was a full house this past weekend. There are four sisters and two associates (what they call women who are applying to the congregation, but haven't formally entered), to begin with. And another young lady stayed over that weekend. So there were eight of us in the house. We were as international as we could get, with one American sister, one German sister, two Indonesian sisters, two Vietnamese ladies (one associate and one visitor), and two Filipinas (one associate and the uncategorizable me), not to mention one Argentinian sister who dropped by for lunch. I've always appreciated the internationality of the congregation I visited. Meeting sisters from all over the world has really widened my horizons. I also feel really welcome with them because they make an effort to reach out to me and include me in their activities or conversations without being patronizing.

The sisters invited some novices and theology students from their brother congregation for Mass, followed by a get-together on Friday evening. At first, I was a bit nervous because of a traumatic experience I had in the recent past. You see, I was sexually harrassed by C, a seminarian (a theology student) from that congregation, in my own apartment in October of 2003, right before my midterms. When I confided in Fr. JF, a Filipino priest from that order who went to my school and who I considered a friend then, I got a very defensive and even arrogant response. This chauvinist pig of a priest uttered such lines as, "Ikaw kasi, napaibig tuloy siya sa iyo," and "Masanay ka na" (in the event that I become a nun) and reduced the seminarian's actions to a formation issue. When I e-mailed the priest to say I was really offended by his response, he sent me three harsh e-mails, accused me of being "judgmental, un-Christian, and unhuman (sic--may Ph.D. at tatlong MA nga siya pero di naman marunong mag-Ingles, hehehe)" on account of my note, and insinuated that I was being vindictive. Oh, and after telling me he wasn't interested to learn about the details about what C did to me, Fr. JF had the nerve to forward my e-mail to Sr. Rose Therese, on the pretext that I really needed help. To make a long story short, anything that had to do with the brother congregation of my nun-friends brought back VERY BAD MEMORIES.

As soon as the seminarians arrived, I immediately checked to see if C was there. Thank God he wasn't there--although I almost flipped out because one of the theology students looked like him. I actually had fun hanging out with the novices and theology students I met that night. We played games after dinner and I bonded with some of them. Hehe, I sensed the theology student who looks like C was kinda fond of me because there were times when he singled me out and took candid shots of me and he gave me a hug during the last game we played. But I didn't feel violated or anything of that sort. Next to C, the seminarians I met are saints.

After the seminarians left, I helped the sisters clean up. Ate Purita, the Pinay associate, and I spent the rest of Friday night talking. She shared her family and work background and vocation stories with me, and I shared a little bit of my experiences with the nuns and how I ended up searching in and discerning the religious life after my "wild girl" years. We talked till 2 AM.

The rest of the weekend was pretty low-key. I heard mass with the sisters and Ate Purita in the mornings. I also helped clean the house yesterday (Saturday) morning, after which Sr. Edel (from Indonesia) took me and Ate Purita around Waukegan. I got to see the different parishes where they work. When we got home, Ate Purita and I spent the rest of the afternoon surfing the Inquirer website to read up on the latest political developments in the Philippines, and I showed her the "Hello Garci" transcripts (nakakahiya kasi mas updated pa yata si Sr. Edel kaysa sa amin. Pati si Susan Roces, kilala niya). We also ended up talking some more until it was time for dinner. This time, we talked about my life experiences, particularly my colorful love life. I got the sense that Ate Purita was conservative, bordering on homophobic (toward lesbians), so medyo censored ang kuwento ko. But I did tell her na pang-"autovolt" ang appeal ko and I'm not homophobic, so it's up to her to read between the lines.

After supper, Sr. Rose Therese, Sr. Edel, Ate Purita, and I watched Hotel Rwanda, a heartbreaking movie about the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. I had a lot to pray about that night. The next time I complain about my homesickness, I'd better remember those who survived the genocide but had to flee the country and start over as refugees in foreign lands.

Today, the sisters had a mission appeal scheduled at the Immaculate Concepcion Parish in Waukegan. They set up booths with literature and pictures of the congregation. I helped manage one of the tables after the mass I attended. I occasionally got mistaken for a nun, but the funny thing is, I didn't mind--and for once, I didn't get all defensive and clarify that I was just a friend of the nuns. I used to be so particular about it, as in.

I went home with Sr. Edel, Sr. Lauren (from Germany), and Ate Purita right before the next mass. While waiting for Sr. Rose Therese to come home so we could have lunch, Ate Purita and I talked some more. Sr. Rose Therese thought it was so funny for us to talk nonstop. The other visitor and I left shortly after lunch. Sr. Rose Therese gave us a ride home, and Teresa (the Vietnamese associate) accompanied her.

Weirdly enough, when I stayed with the sisters, I didn't feel like I was a visitor. I felt so at home with them, to the point that I felt I had lived at their house for ages, instead of just visiting for the weekend. Wala lang. Wonder what that means. If I tell Sr. Dinah about it, I bet she'll have a good laugh.

found herself @ 11:08 PM 0 comments

"Blow job"

No, I am not talking about oral sex. In Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) parlance, "blow job" is synonymous with the word "farce" or "travesty." It refers to the act of pulling someone's leg, making things up, and utilizing smooth-talking tactics in order to appease a person or a group of people. (NOTE: In appropriating such a term and re-defining it to fit their context, the inmates of CIW allude to a diablo [Filipino for demon] that speaks untruths. Diablo also sounds like "blow job" when you invert the syllables, which is consistent with the way Pinoys like to invert words, at least in colloquial language. I learned this when I visited CIW when I went home last year.) To borrow this term from CIW jargon, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's actions represent a big bad "blow job." Her blanket denials, insincere apologies, empty promises, "surface reforms," what have you, say it all. And if I may add, she's really screwing the country over.

"Blow job" number 1: "Hello, Garci" and GMA's "lapse in judgment"

Madam President, you have the nerve to insist that you did not cheat in last year's elections and that you won fair and square, at the same time that you admit to having called Garcillano, supposedly out of anxiety about the results of the elections. Calling a COMELEC official--16 times at that--is not a mere lapse in judgment. It is a criminal act, something that you, the highest official in the country, must be penalized for. Ordinary people realize that. No wonder your credibility and approval ratings are at their lowest right now. Ma'am naman, with all due respect, magsisinungaling na nga lang kayo, di niyo pa magawa nang maayos. Palpak ang drama niyo. Try translating "lapse in judgment" into Tagalog, Bisaya, and other native Filipino languages, and see if the common tao can understand you.

"Blow job" number 2: The First Gentleman and the Spoiled Son on "exile"

Madam President, your husband's and son's voluntary "exile" is a blatant cover-up. What kind of sacrifice is their departure, especially since a trip to the US is a luxury for most Filipinos? It's not like they're gonna work their asses off here. It also implicitly speaks of their guilt. When you're on trial and you do everything in your power to up and leave, it can only mean you're hiding something. Otherwise, you would stay and face your issues squarely.

"Blow job" number 3: The planned mass resignation of the cabinet and the reforms purported by GMA

Again, I can see right through you. This is nothing but a diversionary tactic, as you continue to cling to power like a leech--especially since you still have a few credible members in your cabinet, like Dinky Soliman, Emilia Boncodin, and Teresita Deles. Your request for your Cabinet to resign en masse is nothing but a gimmick. Pray tell, what constitutional amendments do you wish to initiate at this point? The problem is not so much with your Cabinet but with you. You say "'our country is hungry' for a resolution to the political uncertainties that have plagued us these past few weeks." Honey, it's because you helped trigger the political uncertainties in the first place. You are the problem. The buck stops with you. Resign for the good of the country. Or face impeachment.

***

Don't get me wrong. I do not support the members of the opposition, who are trying to use the situation to their advantage and are not the most credible people either. Neither am I a fan of Susan Roces or Rez Cortez (utang na loob!). I do not support the installation of a transitional military/revolutionary government under the likes of Abat. I still believe in the Constitution, even if I have issues with Noli de Castro's capacity to lead the Philippines because if my memory serves me right, he was fawning over Erap on live TV five years ago when the juetengate expose was underway and anti-Erap protests were taking place.

I just wish GMA had the decency to resign because her credibility is a big fat question mark at this point. Well, it was so, even before the May 2004 elections and the Gloriagate hullabaloo took place, anyway. Her only saving grace was that she was considered the "lesser evil." But now, the economy is going to the dogs and the political situation is as volatile as it can get, all because of the presidential crisis. She cannot continue to make "lapses in judgment" at our expense. She benefitted from EDSA Dos as the constitutional successor, even with the concerns that she was simply the lesser evil, but she did not live up to her mandate. And now, she is making like Erap and clinging to power at all costs. (During the impeachment trial, did Erap not propose surface reforms, like rescinding the death penalty?) I feel so disillusioned and helpless and I am inclined to question what another EDSA could do.

One thing's for sure: I did not vote for her.

found herself @ 7:35 PM 4 comments

Weekend in Michigan

Happy belated 4th of July weekend, everyone! NV and Teacher Sol, sorry for not replying to your messages. I was out of town and had limited internet access then.

I spent my 4th of July weekend in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I took the train there on the night of Friday the 1st and came back in the morning of Monday the 4th. My good friend Elizabeth, who was a student at Loyola during my first year, lives in Grand Rapids, so I always welcome the opportunity to visit her. She lives in the motherhouse of the Grand Rapids Dominicans (although she's about to move out this week), and once served as a Dominican Volunteer from 2003-2004. The Grand Rapids Dominicans have become my friends since then, and their place has become my erstwhile getaway whenever my life in Chicago gets a little too crazy for me. In June of 2004, I visited them, bringing along two Filipina sisters who were based here, even if Elizabeth was away on retreat. And whenever Sr. Kathi, the vocation director, comes to Chicago, we meet up.

My trip was a welcome respite from the pressures of my life here, not to mention the heartaches that recently resurfaced, haha =) Funny, I was up till early in the morning, even if I stayed in the convent. Elizabeth and I talked till 230AM during my first night there. Last Saturday and Sunday, we were out late because we went to the beach to watch the fireworks with Sr. Kathi (and on Sunday night, with Sr. Mary, the formation director, Sr. Maria, who is from Brazil and is studying English in Michigan, and Ruth, the new postulant) and didn't get home till 1230AM or so. (Gimikera rin pala ang mga madre, haha.) No wonder I've been so sleepy all week. I had fun, though. Watching the fireworks with my friends was surely a healing experience for me. And God knows how much I needed it then.

I left my camera at home so I felt kinda naked during the trip because I could have taken so many wonderful pictures of the scenery. Good thing Sr. Kathi had her camera. I'm uploading some pictures of my trip. Enjoy!




Elizabeth (to my left), me, Sr. Mary (holding the balloon), and Sr. Kathi (not in the picture) welcoming Ruth (to my right) into the Grand Rapids Dominicans











Me and Elizabeth at the Holland State Park Beach in Holland, MI








Still at the beach with Elizabeth




Sunset at Lake Michigan




Hangin' out at the beach in Cadillac, MI, with Elizabeth, Sr. Mary, Ruth, and Sr. Maria; I'm laughing so hard because Sr. Mary said "Celibacy!" right before Sr. Kathi snapped the picture.

found herself @ 6:27 PM 4 comments

An upsetting article

I was in Grand Rapids, Michigan for the 4th of July weekend when I read this article on the Inquirer website. It hit home--especially since I know some inmates, both in CIW and Bilibid, who were incarcerated when they were minors. One of them is my namesake, and she's still in prison. She is now 20 or 21 years old, I believe, and she has a three-year-old son. She used to be on death row. Last year, her sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. During my last visit to the Philippines (December of 2004), several inmates in CIW told me that the cases of the death row inmates--except for those who had been "affirmed" of their death sentences, that is--were under review, including Dianne's case. With all the political turmoil in the Philippines right now, it is not surprising that the issues of juvenile offenders have been placed on the back burner (for the nth time).

How ironic that a predominantly Christian country such as ours would allow its children to languish in prisons and jails and to be corrupted by the system. The hypocrisy of our sorry excuse for a government is so obscene (Oops, baka ma-censor ako nito). To be passive in the face of the crisis in the criminal justice system is tantamount to consenting to the status quo.

I am posting the article for your perusal. As fellow blogger Bambit said, the outrage must be felt by all who read it.


21 children in jail await execution
By Veronica Uy
INQ7.net

First posted 09:32pm (Mla time) July 02, 2005

Taken from http://news.inq7.net/top/index.php?index=1&story_id=42145

TWENTY-ONE of the 2,000 or so children in jail throughout the country are on death row, an official of the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) has said.Eighty percent of the 2,000 are first-time offenders, and 11 percent are girls.In an interview with INQ7.net, CWC executive director Lina Laigo said the 21 condemned children were either convicted of homicide or murder."But nobody bothered to look into the circumstances of their crimes," said Laigo, a former secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).In some instances, juvenile suspects were tried as adults for lack of record on their age, she said. "But there are other ways of determining a person's age aside from birth certificates."

The CWC, DSWD and the United Nations Children's Fund have been lobbying Congress to enact the proposed Comprehensive Juvenile Justice Law. It seeks to provide special protection to children in conflict with the law.

Laigo said the bill has four key provisions: raise the child's age from nine to 12 years old to be criminally liable, establish separate detention centers for children, provide a diversion program to keep them out of jail, and to institute "restorative justice" in the law.

Restorative justice, Laigo explained, essentially seeks to repair the damage done to victims. This way, public safety is enhanced as the offender, victim, and the community come together to prevent juvenile delinquency.

The campaign for the protection of child offenders has been going on for 10 years, and the bill to comprehensively address juvenile felony has been waiting Congressional action since 1998. However, it has been sidelined by other issues, Laigo lamented.

"We started five congresses ago," she said. "Maybe we don't realize that children, especially children in conflict with the law, must be given priority."Child advocates maintain that "jail is no place for a child" and a death sentence is too heavy a verdict for erring children.

found herself @ 5:54 PM 0 comments