Achieving Happiness

Owing to recent developments in the office wherein my 33-year old millionaire boss dragged me through the coals and told me that I have a problem with authority, I am relying more and more on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy to get me through the day.

The publisher, my ‘boss’ (I will never have any real boss but Crispin Beltran) told me to my face that I am ‘too argumentative’ and that I ‘have problems dealing with authority figures.’

Meaning him.

Because as editor of this freaking newspaper, I’m the one who calls the shots regarding the bleeding content, the pictures, and the freakin’ thrust of each section.

Anyways. Mainit ang ulo ko.

In the 20-minute meeting I had with the publisher, my ‘boss,’ I argued and defended my editorial decisions and, well, myself. He thinks that while I have a problem with authority, I have not ’stepped up to the bat’ and ‘exerted enough authority with the staff.’

What’s…slightly amusing about all this is that the other staff (in this company, not just in the paper), seem to think that I’m the ‘katapat’ of the boss.

Because I answer back. Because I argue. Because, well, I look at the boss in the eye and tell him that I. FREAKING. DISAGREE.

Okay, so I don’t say ‘I freaking disagree.’ Delete the adverb.

Aaaargh. Ang init ng ulo ko.

So I have this LOTR Map of Middle Earth Map. I keep looking at it. And I think, shet, sa Pilipinas political actvists, human rights advocates, journalists,  civil libertarians, progressive members of the clergy are being slaughtered by Orcs and Urukhai, tapos andito ako sa Hong Kong dealing with, well, he’s not exactly Sauron, but rather a spoiled Elf.

Bukas na kung bakit niya ko ino-okray, at kung bakit naman ako belligerent.

Utang na loob, pera lang ang lamang niya sa akin. This spoiled Elf.

I grew up with parents who encouraged questions and curiousity. Because we weren’t rich but weren’t exactly poor either (borderline middle-class, straddling the demarcation that separated the just-getting-by with the uh-oh-the-bills-are-in-what-are-we-going-to-do), my parents always gave us books. Books on my birthday,books for Christmas, books whenever we went to La Solidaridad and there was something new on the shelves.

I grew up thinking and believing that everybody read. That reading came as naturally as breathing to everyone, and when after coming home from school,children like myself would plonk in front of the tv, not turn it on but read a library book or a store-bought book instead.

Reading kept me (and my sister Majalla who learned to read at two years old, the freak) occupied for days on end. I would read and ponder over the words I didn’t understand or the concepts that made me confused; and when something proved too much for my young brain, I would go to my papa or my mom.

I remember reading DH Laurence’s ‘Sons and Lovers’ at 10 years old, and I remember being bewildered by it. The idea of an adult son being burdened by the influence of his mother, the tension or, I used to term it with my then still limited vocabulary, the ’something not quite right of a feeling’ between the protagonist Paul and his blood kin was very strange to me.

I remember asking my parents about this one time when we were all in the sala after dinner, after the dishes were washed (i don’t recall if it was I or my Ate Majal’s turn to clear up).

"Why is this story so dark? It’s a little upsetting to read it," I asked them both.

My parents looked at each other and didn’t immediately answer.

Looking back, I suppose it was a tight-rope walking kind of moment when your 10 year old asks you about tangled family relationships that are tinged with just a bit of, a hint of, incest and parental jealousy.

"The main character, the man, anak, is troubled. He has a lot on his mind, and the author is trying to conveying that with his description," my mother answered.

I guess I must’ve nodded. Or something. I don’t think I quite understood the explanation because at the time, I was still quite impressionable and had a bit of difficulty defining fiction as something that could completely emerge from imagination.  Malay ko ba na classic ang Sons and Lovers and that it’s been praised by some for being the first English novel to be genuinely working-class in origin and focus.

Earlier back when I was eight, (I was told about this), I asked my grandmother Lola Luming what an orgasm was.

"I read about it in Princess Daisy," I said. (This is by Judith Krantz, I think? mala Danielle Steele yata. I haven’t read anything by Danielle Steele, but I can guess what her books are about based on the titles and the covers.) "The woman had an orgasm. What’s that exactly?"

There was a sudden hush, then a burst of laughter. The living room in my grandparents house in Santiago, Isabela erupted with the sound of adults choking back their guffaws.

My Lola- a college professor and dean - treated the eight-year old’s question with respect.

"An orgasm is a feeling. A strong physical feeling," she said kindly.

"Yun lang naman pala, e!", I retorted to my relatives who laughed.

When I was older, I realized the less obvious but not less compelling reasons my parents had for teaching us to read.

It had to do with finances.

Books were cheaper than toys. Really. Especially if you consider that the toys I wanted were Fisher-Price and Mattel products (Lego, Barbies among the more banal ones; the others, well, I liked rag dolls and teddy bears as big as my myself). To get me interested in reading was the sure-fire way to divert me from the toy section in the department stores. My parents were both government employees, and they couldn’t afford to buy us flashier toys. Hence, books.

Books were recyclable: one could read them over and over and learn something new every time as the reader grew older with experience and awareness.

Books were also a way of keeping me home even when upset.  I was a highly-strung kid who got easily affected by words and facial expressions and imagined slights. When I was six, my father teased me too much about something or the other (I think he called me pango too many times, comparing my nose to a small pile of tomatoes in the market). Sniffing, I threatened to run away and even stuffed a small basket with clothes and made a make-shift hobo bag with a length of laundry line and a piece of wood.

"Ayaw ko na dito! I’m never going to come back!" I cried.

My father was unfazed. He followed and walked next to me while I tearfully yet angrily made my grand exit.

"O sige, wag ka nang uuwi, ha? Ipapamigay na namin yung mga libro mo."

Needless to say, niligpit ko ang balutan ko (there are pictures of this. My dad took photos while I was sniffing, trying hard not to cry as I packed up, and when I actually started leaving the neighborhood. I managed to walk 100 meters away from the house).

Why did I write all this?
Wala lang. I’m trying to justify the fact that I spent $200 on books last week (second hand naman, $35-$55 each) and not feel freakin’ guilty about it. Also, I bought a big map of Middle-Earth and it is so beatiful.

Aaaaargh.

Haven’t much time to blog these days (because I blog during my breaks, and I’ve spending more time outside the office in the last two,three days), so will make bullet points instead:

1. Arthur Golden’s ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ is interesting. Detailed and descriptive. It’s not, however, memorable. My life and views about people and things have not changed — nothing in the book influenced me or touched me, so to speak. The language was straightforward narrative, journalese-seeming. Despite the sufferings of the narrator (the Geisha) and the harshness of the conditions she faced, I did not feel much compassion. Yet again, it was how the story was written. Arthur Golden is clearly mostly an academic, and not a spinner of tales.

2. The most recent killings, aaaaaargh! Palagi na lang mapait ang panlasa ko tuwing umaga after reading Inq7 or opening my email and all these reports about activists being killed by the %^(^&*)*)*@#%$ military come flooding in.

I have noticed, however, that my officemates are also alarmed. They were actually the ones who informed me, having checked the Inq7 earlier than I did yesterday. I’m glad that there’s more talk about political developments around here. Makes the work easier, especially the part when we choose the stories, the sources, the treatment and the pictures.

3. I’m beginning to hate my publisher’s guts. Why? because he’s a capitalist, that’s why. He cares little for the content and slant of the paper and the stories, and all he’s concerned about is how advertisers gave us their business every issue. Oh well. That should be expected. But still, it annoys the hell out of me.  Money is his end-all, be-all. O siguro ganun talaga lagi ang tungalian ng publisher at editor?

Sayang nga lang at hindi niya nakikita ang maari niyang maging kontribusyon sa buhay at kapakanan ng mga migrante dito sa Hong Kong. He has two newspapers, for chrissake. Hong Kong News is in English and Filipino; and Suara, which is in Bahasa.

Daily I recite this mantra: "He’s a capitalist, he’s a capitalist, he’s a capitalist. Making more money is his main goal in life and how much he makes is the measure of his self-worth…"

This is also a surefire, iron-clad reason why I cannot stay here too long. Really, daily I realize this is all just a break from my real life. I’m grateful for the things I’m learning, I’m grateful for the salary (my first real salary! hahahaha. Hindi raket, kundi aktwal na sweldo. Nakakatawa talaga), pero juice ko pineapple. iba talaga ang daigdig kung saan ang pinaka-mahalaga ay ang pera. Kakaloka.

4.  I am still looking for hamsters. Chi sez that Hong Kongites consider them as rodents, so nach to my chances of finding any in the petstores.

5. It’s Mothers’ Day tomorrow! Three cheers for my mom, the best Mom in the world!

6.For the most part because my husband isn’t with me, I’m bored as hell.

Hay naku, eto na naman ang US, fomenting war. Binalikan na naman ang Iran, and it’s using the same old accusation: the supposed existence of weapons of mass destruction and the possibility of a country developing its nuclear capability and becoming a threat to international security.

Ang kapal talaga ng mukha ng mga nasa US government! The freakin’ global bully with the biggest armory of nuclear weapons (and the biggest war industry — arms creation, dealing and trade) points its fingers at countries like Iran (who insists that it’s developing its nuclear capability for the sake of improving  its energy resources) and cries ‘terrorist!’

Sino ba ang tunay na terorista?

Ang haba na talaga ng listahan ng mga kasalanan ng Estados Unidos at ng mga nauna at kasalukuyang pamahalaan nito laban sa mamamayan ng daigdig.

Also, Condoleeza Rice is a disgrace to all women.

We are now monitoring the developments in Iraq with bated breath and fingers crossed. Wag tayong pumayag na maging ang Iran ay bombahin din ng US. Kung nagkataon, World War III na talaga. Ito kasing United Nations, namby-pamby din pagdating sa mga dikta ng US. Mahina ang tindig, malambot ang tikas. Di kayang humadlang nang matibay at solido. Hmmph.

—————————-

  Iran Letter to Bush Criticizes U.S. Govt 

Iran’s president declared in a letter to President Bush that democracy had failed worldwide and lamented "an ever-increasing global hatred" of the U.S. government.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice swiftly rejected the letter, saying it made no progress toward resolving questions about Tehran’s suspect nuclear program.

"This letter is not the place that one would find an opening to engage on the nuclear issue or anything of the sort," Rice said in an interview with The Associated Press. "It isn’t addressing the issues that we’re dealing with in a concrete way."

Rice’s comments were the most detailed response from the United States to the letter, the first from an Iranian head of state to an American president since the 1979 hostage crisis at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

The letter from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made only an oblique reference to Iran’s nuclear intentions. It asked why "any technological and scientific achievement reached in the Middle East region is translated into and portrayed as a threat to the Zionist regime."

Otherwise, it lambasted Bush for his handling of the Sept. 11 attacks, accused the media of spreading lies about the  Iraq war and railed against the United States for its support of Israel. It questioned whether the world would be a different place if the money spent on Iraq had been spent to fight poverty.

"Would not your administration’s political and economic standing have been stronger?" the letter said. "And I am most sorry to say, would there have been an ever- increasing global hatred of the American government?

Iran’s top nuclear negotiator called the surprise letter a new "diplomatic opening" between the two countries, but Rice said it failed to resolve the dispute over the Iranian nuclear program — the focus of intense U.N. Security Council debate this week. White

House press secretary Scott McClellan said Bush had been briefed on the letter, which the White House received Monday through the Swiss Embassy in Tehran.

"There’s nothing in here that would suggest that we’re on any different course than we were before we got the letter," Rice said.

Even though the letter hardly touched on nuclear issues, officials said it appeared timed with a push by the United States, Britain, France and Germany for a Security Council vote to restrain the Islamic regime’s nuclear ambitions. Both China and Russia are opposed to leveling sanctions against Iran and the letter could provide them support.

Rice, who said she expected no quick action on sanctions, met privately for more than two hours Monday night on Iran with foreign ministers from the other permanent members of the council.

Her spokesman gave no details of the substance of the discussions, but described the talks as strategic and not focused on specific steps.

The United States is concerned that Iran’s program is a cover for making nuclear weapons, while Iran contends it has the right to process uranium as fuel in nuclear reactors to generate electricity.

In the letter, Ahmadinejad says that people around the world have lost faith in international institutions and questions whether the Bush administration has covered up some evidence surrounding the Sept. 11 attacks.

Liberalism and Western-style democracy "have not been able to help realize the ideals of humanity," said the letter, obtained late Monday by The Associated Press. "Today these two concepts have failed. Those with insight can already hear the sounds of the shattering and fall of the ideology and thoughts of the Liberal democratic systems."

The Iranian government spokesman who disclosed the communication did not mention the nuclear standoff and said the missive spoke to the larger U.S.-Iranian conflict. Gholam-Hossein Elham said the letter proposed "new solutions for getting out of international problems and the current fragile situation of the world."

Yet the document makes no concrete proposals and does not suggest new talks. Instead, Ahmadinejad suggests that Bush should look inward, saying there was an increasing hatred worldwide of the United States, and that history shows how "repressive and cruel governments do not survive."

"How much longer will the blood of the innocent men, women and children be spilled on the streets, and people’s houses destroyed over their heads? Are you pleased with the current condition of the world? Do you think present policies can continue?"

The letter was the lead item on several Iranian television and radio news shows throughout the day. The official IRNA announced it and also carried international reaction to it. Iran’s only evening daily, the state-owned Ettalaat, carried a large story on its front page under the headline: "Important letter from Ahmadinejad to the American president."

In Turkey, Ali Larijani, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, said the Iranians were looking for a positive response but would be patient.

"Perhaps it could lead to a new diplomatic opening. It needs to be given some time," Larijani said in a television interview.

Ahmadinejad travels Tuesday to Indonesia, which has expressed support for nuclear energy development but opposition to nuclear weapons.

These are pictures from Kenneth Roland Guda’s photo-blog, Pitik-Bulag http://pitikbulag.motime.com/ How he managed to smuggle in his camera is truly an achievement. O hindi talaga nagbabantay yung PNP sa labas ng pinto ni Ka Bel sa Heart Center?

Beltran turns ‘hyper’ as Batasan 5 drop in for a visit
May 10, 2006
By DJ Yap
Inquirer
Editor’s Note: Published on Page A1 of the May 10, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
YESTERDAY’S visit of the “Batasan 5” to their unofficial sixth member, Anakpawis party-list Representative Crispin Beltran, so pleased him that his blood pressure shot up to 160 over 90.

But otherwise, it was a lively meeting of old friends, no matter that it was held under heavy security in Beltran’s hospital room at the Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City.

One topic that stood out in the animated conversation was Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez.

“He’s one of the factors that’s keeping my blood pressure high. Another one is [President Gloria Macapagal] Arroyo,” the hypertensive Beltran joked.

The visit to Beltran, 73, was one of the first things that Representatives Satur Ocampo, Joel Virador, Teodoro Casiño, Rafael Mariano and Liza Maza did collectively after they left the protective custody of the House of Representatives on Monday.

Wearing “Free Ka Bel” buttons on their shirts and bearing fruits and a pack of uraro, a native pastry, the Batasan 5 arrived at Room 427 at a little past 3 p.m.

The visitors were warned not to get too close to their colleague because he was taking a type of medication that emitted radiation.

“Free Ka Bel Movement” spokesperson Dennis Maga said Beltran was suffering from a cyst in the right kidney, carotid plaque, which causes blockage in blood flow in the carotid area, and signs of a cardiovascular ailment.

Beltran is being treated with Thallium 201, a drug known to emit radiation, according to his daughter Olivia Lalusis.

The medication will determine his heart’s “movement,” enabling the doctors to determine the cause of his high blood pressure, she said.

The radiation warning did not stop Ocampo and Maza from hugging and bussing their colleague on the cheek.

Dressed in a hospital gown, the smiling Beltran appeared to be in high spirits as he shook hands with his visitors.

A nurse took Beltran’s blood pressure, found that it had risen to 160/90, and gave him a pill.

‘That’s your line’

The meeting was marked by shared notes on political developments.

Beltran recalled how he found himself clapping when Casiño boldly said on television that arresting the Batasan 5 would be “politically bloody” for the Arroyo administration.

“Actually, that’s your line,” Casiño said, eliciting laughter from Beltran.

The lawmakers talked about Beltran’s arrest in Bulacan province on Feb. 25, and how Ocampo et al. narrowly avoided arrest after holding a press conference at the Sulo Hotel in Quezon City on the same day.

Ocampo recounted how he and his colleagues had to negotiate the side streets around the hotel after leaving it through a basement exit.

The six lawmakers also discussed developments in their respective cases. Some commented that the Department of Justice motion seeking the inhibition of Makati Regional Trial Court Judge Jenny Lind Delorino could spell bad news for Beltran, whose rebellion case is being heard in the same court.

Virador said the cases of the six lawmakers were obviously linked to Presidential Proclamation No. 1017, despite government statements to the contrary.

Ms Arroyo issued PP 1017 imposing a weeklong state of national emergency on Feb. 24.

In a ruling last week, the Supreme Court declared that certain provisions of PP 1017, including those involving warrantless arrests, were illegal.

Show biz gossip

But apart from political talk, the six lawmakers indulged in show biz gossip.

Out of nowhere, Beltran commented on how Keanna Reeves, winner of the ABS-CBN reality show “Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition,” was helping Maza’s party-list group, Gabriela, in its advocacy.

“What she has been saying is very positive for Gabriela and the women’s movement,” Beltran said.

Soon, Casiño was saying that he had met Reeves’ “housemate,” Bianca Gonzales, a TV host.

“Sila pa rin ba ni (Is she still seeing TV director) Lino Cayetano?” Mariano said, referring to Gonzales’ erstwhile boyfriend.

Amid the laughter, one lawmaker was heard saying: “I heard that [TV host] Mariel Rodriguez and [‘Pinoy Big Brother’ housemate] Zanjoe Marudo are now together.”

But the topic that kept recurring in the conversation was Justice Secretary Gonzalez.

Ocampo said Gonzalez’s temper could be traced to the kidney dialysis he is reportedly undergoing.

“Naaburido na talaga siya, sa akin (The strain is getting to him, especially about me),” Beltran said.

“He reacted quite strongly to [Senator Panfilo] Lacson’s exposé [of his dialysis],” Ocampo said. “Di talaga naman yun isyu (It really isn’t an issue).”

Gonzalez has said he underwent dialysis only once a long time ago.

Beltran’s case

In Nairobi, Kenya, where he is attending the Inter-Parliamentary Union summit, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said he had brought the cases of the six lawmakers to the attention of the foreign parliamentarians.

“I just ended argument before IPU human rights committee charging the [Philippine] government with violation of the human rights of the Batasan 5 and Beltran [at 3:30 p.m. Monday, Kenya time],” he said in a text message.

Pimentel, who is attending the summit along with Senate President Franklin Drilon and Senators Richard Gordon and Lacson, said the IPU human rights committee appeared more interested in Beltran’s case.

“My impression is that [it] would focus on Beltran’s case because he’s still in detention,” he said.

Ironically, at the April 2005 IPU summit in Manila, it was Casiño who distributed letters to the parliamentarians, urging them to look into the killing, detention and harassment of militant Filipino group leaders and members.

Commenting on Justice Secretary Gonzalez’s threat to file new charges against the Batasan 5, Pimentel said: “Of course, Gonzalez wants to impress his boss. … But he’s clearly on the wrong side of justice.” With a report from TJ Burgonio

This is an excerpt from an email I got from one of my kids ( I have three - Tin, Lyn and Lisa, all brilliant and huwarang mga aktibista), and does one wonder why I often feel teary? —

hi ayns! si ka bel naiiyak tuwing nababasa nya yung mga sulat para sa kanya…at sabi ng mga anak ni ka bel, pinaka-naiiyak daw siya sa mga sulat mo.. actually, na-witness ko one time…yun ay nung pinabasa ko sa kanya itong latest mong email. nagkunwari na nga lang ako tulog e (hanggang sa nakatulog ako nang tuluyan) kasi di ko alam sasabihin sa kanya…

—

What the heck am I doing here when back home there’s so much work to do?!

I ask myself that every morning as soon as I wake up, and it’s the last thought I have before I close my eyes at night.

What I’m doing here is this: I am getting my bearings back (Imagine a small drawstring back full of ball bearings, some of them crustry with mud, rough and dry with ochre rust. I’ve lost someof the clean and shiny ones through carelessness, so I need to clean up the remaining bearings!); getting  all my ducks in a straight line (I have pretty wayward ducks.  Some walk in a zigzag pattern, others slouch and drag their webbed feet).

My better sense tells me that it’s right and even necessary that I take this break. I’ve become so depressed in the last year that towards the second half of 2005 I’ve had crying jag purely out of mental exhaustion and emotional distress. I’ve neglected my friends (except for a few whom I truly cannot do without. Like Walkie or Nova. I didn’t feel comfortable confiding to the others like Jang and Tonyo because, well, I knew for a fact that they were fatigued out of their skulls as well); and I’ve become such a bitch to my husband (who just laughs and sleeps when I’m raving like a harpy).

My heart, however, is heavy and weighted like lead.

I miss my family, I miss my friends, I miss the Movement and the energy of the people I work for and with, I miss my dogs. I wish I were back home…

But.

But I cannot see myself going back to the same work again.

Aaaaargh! I get the shingles just thinking about it. I panic and hyperventilate. I can’t face it!!!

The routine of office work (in Congress. Aaaaargh! Writing all those resolutions that end up nowhere. Ok, so I do know they’re expressions of the aspirations of the people’s organizations and movements we represent, but strictly from a writer’s point of view, my brain cramped. )

Destress.
Hay.

I need to run again.

Gad.

—

Crash course review on the Filipino-American War. Next month we will have a special issue on Philippine Independence (Meron Nga Ba?) and I’m trolling the web for material.

I’ve only been at it for an hour and I’m already seething.

I remember having this exact same feeling of almost uncontainable anger way back in college.

In our Kasaysayan II class, our professor Dr.Zeus Salazar made us go watch Raymond Red’s ‘Sakay’ which starred Julio Diaz (where is that guy anyways? Sayang siya, a. Especially when you think how majority of the so-called actors of today in Philippine cinema can’t dramatize or comedy-act their way out of a paper bag).

We were told to watch the film then write a review.

So I went. I wasn’t an activist then — only a student who wanted to make good grades and hopefully learn a few good  things along the way.

I sat in the dark theatre where there were only six or seven of us (not counting the old man who swept the floors before the film started, and the gut who operated the projector),and as I stared at the screen at the atrocities that unfolded before me, I got steadily, more and more angry.

Memories not my own became mine.

The cold fact of  history with the burning heat of indignation and outrage of a insult and wound recently suffered.

Imagine how it is to realize how my country’s history is so part of my own self and life.

The burden of our nation’s history and past is something we all bear on our shoulders, and the weight only lightens when we struggle to share this history — the brutality inflicted upon a fledgling nation and an innocent people — and destroy the roots that connect the present day’s atrocities to yesterday’s creation of a murdering system of degradation, exploitation and war.

Gad, reading history is painful. 

Fight isn’t over, triumphant Batasan 5 declare

May 09, 2006

By Michael Lim Ubac, DJ Yap, Philip C. Tubeza

Inquirer

Editor’s Note: Published on page A1 of the May 9, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE BIG smiles, the clenched fists, the chants said it all.

Proud and defiant, the so-called “Batasan 5” party-list lawmakers strode out to freedom yesterday, ending a 70-day stand at the House of Representatives.

Supporters clasped their hands, embraced them, showered them with petals.

“The fight isn’t over … Lalaban tayo! Lalaban tayo! Lalaban tayo! (We will keep on fighting!),” Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo thundered after he and fellow Representatives Teodoro Casiño, Rafael Mariano, Joel Virador and Liza Maza walked through the main gate of the Batasan complex.

Earlier, in a symbolic gesture, House security officer Antonio Collera shut the massive steel gate as the five lawmakers approached.

As if following a script, Ocampo and the four other legislators swung it open at about 11 a.m.

The frenzied throng of militant leaders gathered outside the gate erupted in cheers.

There were no policemen anywhere near.

The five had sought refuge  in the House on Feb. 27 to evade arrest after state prosecutors filed rebellion charges against them for their alleged involvement in the rightist-leftist plot to overthrow President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The standoff ended after a Makati judge refused to accept the rebellion charges and the National Security Council ordered the police to allow the five lawmakers to leave the House freely.

But one other member of the militant lawmakers’ group was clearly missing yesterday –Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran, who remained in custody on a separate rebellion charge.

The ailing Beltran is confined at the Philippine Heart Center on East Avenue, Quezon City.

House minority members, led by Sorsogon Rep. Francis Escudero, and opposition Sen. Jamby Madrigal escorted the militant congressmen out of the House complex.

A lone police car stood by 2 km away.

Accepting defeat

Climbing atop a van, Ocampo told the crowd that the Cabinet cluster committee on internal security had “accepted defeat.”

“There is no rebellion case against us and no justification to block us, or arrest us!” he said.

Raising his left fist, Ocampo said: “We won during the years of martial law. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will not want a repetition of those times. We will fight.”

Arms linked, the lawmakers and their supporters then chanted “Gloria, terrorist.”

Breathe the free air

They marched briefly to Commonwealth Avenue near the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court and then motored to the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.

“Now, we can breathe the free air,” Maza said. But she also said that the threat of arrest continued to hang over their heads.

“Justice prevailed,” Mariano said. “We proved from the very beginning that we had nothing to do with the fabricated, manufactured rebellion case.”

Young Harvey

A shower of bougainvillea petals rained on the lawmakers when they arrived on the UP campus.

For 14-year-old Harvey Rafael Virador, son of Representative Virador, his father’s release simply meant the family’s return to “normal life.”

“Now, we’ll be able to do the things we used to do, like go to the mall or have outings at the beach or the park,” he said.

Satur Ocampo’s wife, activist writer and former UP journalism professor Carolina Malay, said her husband was a free man again.

“There are many Filipinos who are very good … This is a government we don’t deserve,” Malay said.

Countersuit planned

Mariano’s wife Lita said: “On top of worrying about my husband, I was also worried that the government would take it out on our children.”

The counsel for the Batasan 5 said the group was preparing criminal, civil and administrative cases against Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, state prosecutors and police officials for allegedly conspiring to frame them.

Lawyer Romeo Capulong said the group will sue Gonzalez and the others so that the abuses his clients endured would not be repeated.

Disciplinary action

He added the group would ask for “disciplinary action” against the government lawyers.

“We have to show our people that these things should not be allowed to pass and be committed over and over again,” Capulong said.

Besides Gonzalez, the other officials the group will sue include Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño, the DoJ panel of prosecutors and ranking Philippine National Police officials.

“Someone must answer for what happened,” Casiño said.

The human rights group Karapatan said the stand taken by the Batasan 5 and Beltran would strengthen the campaign against Ms Arroyo.

“(They) have asserted their rights to due process … That is what every Filipino should do — stand up against any affront to our rights,” Karapatan secretary general Marie Hilao-Enriquez said.

Yehey! Malaya na sina Ka Satur, Ka Paeng, Ka Joel, Teddy at Liza! Yehey!

Ang saya-saya siguro ngayon sa Pilipinas! The coverage in GMA-7 (the flash report, at least)

Which is a great thing. We seldom have anything really worth celebrating.

I fervently hope that Raul Gonzales falls on his face while walking down the Malacanang carpetted hallway.

—-

Okaaay, we’ve just started celebrating when this news comes in:

Unidentified elements lobbed a grenade at the Anakpawis-Kidapawan City Office in Suerte Subdivision at around 9:15 last night, adding to the list of continuing violence against the progressive party list.

Seriously injured in the assault were Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN)-North Cotabato Spokesperson Jobani Tacadao, 24 years old, and Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) staff Ogie Abalde, 25 years old.

Prior to the grenade attack, Anakpawis-Kidapawan staff Delle Fano reported that they were under surveillance by suspected military elements from the 39 th Infantry Battalion under 602nd Brigade in an old 4×4 type vehicle while they were hanging streamers around Kidapawan City on the evening of May 1st. Unidentified persons aboard the vehicle were shooting footage through a video camera. Three men aboard motorcycles were also seen taking pictures of Anakpawis staff using a digital camera.

At the time of the grenade attack, Anakpawis-Kidapawan staff were busy campaigning for the release of Anakpawis Congressman Crispin Beltran and the junking of the Arroyo- proposed Charter Change, even hanging a streamer outlined with the said call.

Meanwhile, Benedicto Manaoag, 52 years old, and the Chairperson of Anakpawis-Marisol Chapter in Angeles City, Pampanga, was abducted by unidentified elements last May 5 (Friday). He remains missing up to now.

—-

  My husband is accusing me of ‘not documenting’ the things I’ve been doing here in Hong Kong; that I have not written about my life here enough.

I explain to him that for the most part, I spend my time working. Producing the newspaper which has 40 freakin’ pages. (Okay, so maybe if the ads are taken out, the text content will amount to only 27 or so. But hey, that’s still a lot of pages to fill).

All in all, there are only four , five writers for the paper.  Chi and I are the regulars, along with Sherill who’s our correspondent in the Philippines and who turns in half the RP news and the showbiz stories. The rest are contributors.

Like I’ve mentioned in a previous blog, there are only two Filipino newspapers here in Hong Kong. Hong Kong News and the Sun, and Chi and I both think that it’s a heavy responsibility to come up with a good issue of HK News every time.

After work, I go straight home, turn on the tv, and start dinner. Then after wash-up, I get ready for bed and select the book-of-the-night. I’m averaging a book every two nights, aaaargh. My eyes are yelling bloody murder. In the last three nights far, I’ve finished Sue Townsend’s latest (and last?) Adrian Mole book, the Capuccino Years; and Memoirs of a Geisha.

I should get new glasses.
Or better, I should stop reading in bed.

Anyways.

The other night we had dinner with Mrs. Daphne Kwok, a former LFS member and now a socio-civic leader in the Filipino community here. She hosted a despidada dinner for the family of Mark Jairus Mendoza, the 2 and a half-year old boy who underwent a successful liver transplant recently.

During dinner, (a small group of, what, 10 people? I was actually expecting a minimum of 30. Surprise, surprise. Pretty intimate gathering> I was invited, I think, because of my being an LFS alumna, like she was. Secondary na lang yung pagiging EIC ng dyaryo. Maniwala kayo sa hindi, parang status symbol dito ang pagiging peryodista. Samantalang sa Pilipinas, kung journalist ka at matapat sa tungkulin, may tatak ng bullseye sa noo mo), the talk turned to politics. People were hedging their bets on how long Macapagal-Arroyo will stay in power.

Needless to say, it was a talk I enjoyed. I really didn’t contribute much to it. I much preferred listening. Also, well, it’s dead certain that they already know what my stands are. I’ve been making sure of the anti-GMA position in the paper since I got here. 

So  I just sat there, tsk-tsk-tsking and shaking my head. Oh, Gloria! You wretched excuse for a president.

What was served? Spinach salad with a vinaigrette that was out of this world. BBQ. Inihaw na isda. Roasted chicken. For desert there was tiramisu (delicious tasting air-cake) and cheesecake (which was soo heavy I couldn’t finish my sliver). Then there was tanglad tea and soyamilk with gingko nuts.

There’s this art documentary show hosted by Brit Tim Marlow, and he. is.so. smart.

Wala lang, I’ve been following his program for the last three months and he gets cuter and cuter. Last week, he featured the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) and discussed how American artists took the wind out of their European counterparts’ sails when Jackson Pollock began making his splash-and-dribble paintings (Pollock, by the way, had his roots in social realist and protest art).

I’m not aware of Tim Marlow’s background, but he never fails to explain that groundbreaking forms of art and artistic expressions are often the product of protest and dissent against the status quo. Against cultural and religious beliefs that kept, say, women as second-class citizens; or as the rich as the main determinants of what makes art and what isn’t.

Things like that.

Or art as expressions of anger against global poverty and war.

Malaaaaaayo ang Causeway Bay sa Central kung nasaan ang government offices ng Hong Kong. Sabi ko nga kay Eman (Villanueva, secretary-general ng United Filipinos in Hong Kong o UNIFIL), test of commitment din talaga ang lakarin ang kahabaan ng sementong iyon na na binubuo ng mga kalsadang dumaan sa tatlong distrito.

It wasn’t so much the distance — I’ve walked the same route with thousands of other anti-WTO protestors in December 2005; plus back at home, I’ve participated in longer walks a.k.a Lakbayans — but the slowwwwwness of the pace.

Here in Hong Kong where people are always in a rushrushrush, a frenzied, almost maddened hurry to get to and from work, to walk slowly is crime.

Yesterday, to walk sloooowly was to protest. Ang init pa man din. At malagkit ang hangin. Pollution is also a problem here (saan ba hindi?Siguro sa New Zealand…)

I wished so much I was back at home and able to hear the speeches (samantalang dati, hindi na ako nakikinig. hahaha. Loko lang. Pag mga taga-Baranggay Pesante ang nagsasalita saka mga taga-HR, all ears ako. Also, pag mga taga-YS like, say, Vencer Crisostomo or Mong Palatino.); but being with OFWs and Kasamas here (not to mention workers from Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand and of course Hong Kong) yesterday was still a very good experience.