Achieving Happiness

I’m addicted to this trading post website asia.expat. Everyday I check it to see if there’s anything good for sale (second hand books, laptops, computers, gadgets, etc)  and I am never disappointed. It’s like window shopping while sitting down.

I get upset whenever I check the category on pets, though. Hong Kong is so small that there’s no room for pets, and many stupid people buy dogs or cats at the petstores at ridiculously high prices and when they (the stupid people) get tired of the pets, they throw them out. Rescue shelters post so many pleas asking subscribers to help and adopt a stray or donate for their food. 

The pictures I posted here are some of the puppies in the animal shelters. These ones where found in the Midlevels squashed in boxes and left near the garbage bins. They were rescued, and in the nick of time, too. It’s very hot and humid here these days, and the puppies could’ve suffocated inside the boxes.

———————————-

My mom and I talked last night, and the topic of conversation was two things: that National Book Store is going to open a branch in Kowloon sometime soon; and Palparan’s spreading influence.

She was the one who brought up both issues.

About the first, I said that if NB sells a wider range of books and at a lower prices compared to Dymocks and Page One, it will have a fighting chance. As for me, though, I buy my books second-hand so I’m not reall excited. In the meantime, when we got to the second topic, I asked her to pray very hard that the NPA get Palparan — a bullet straight to the head.

"I can’t do that, anak!", she exclaimed. She sounded so horrified. "We can’t pray for someone to die!"

"Okay mom. So please tell me who’s going to stop Palparan from his campaign against human rights advocates and progressives? The police? The military?"

She couldn’t answer. Through the last five years I’ve made sure that my mom — and when he was still alive, my dad — know all about the monster who is Jovito Palparan. She knows that horrors that Palparan has wrought through the years, the blood-soaked trail he has left all over Mindoro, the Visayas and now Central Luzon. When Palparan was awarded a Silver Star a few months ago, she called up just to express her outrage.

So now I asked her to appeal to her God and ask Him to aid the NPA in ridding the Philippines of Palparan.

"Well, mom — who’s going to get Palparan? Who’s going to stop him? Arroyo’s only too happy to have that monster roaming the regions butchering activists and civilians. She even gave him a medal for it, remember?"

My mom, understandably, was stumped.  Then, after a few seconds,  strict Roman Catholic, St. Teresa’s alumni and mass-once-a-day person, my mom says ‘Sana nga galingan ng NPA..," and her voice trailed off.

"Mom, please pray for a blessed bullet to hit its mark faithfully and fatally."

My mother just sighed.

Arroyo and her various monster-henchmen know that by launching this all-out war, they are distracting the mass movement from its immediate goal to have her ousted from power. Human rights organizations and people’s groups are being made to count bodies of killed members and civilizians. Instead of being able to focus on the immediate political campaign to  remove GMA from power, people’s groups are sidetracked.

It’s very deliberate on the Arroyo government’s part. It isn’t really as if there’s any chance that the AFP can defeat the NPA that the government has launched its all-out war; it did so because the real targets are civilians and legal political activists and human rights activists, all of whom are part of legal mass movement working for Arroyo’s ouster through legal means. 

The all-out war against the NPA never ceased anyway. It’s been on for years.

————–

UP Students Abducted in Central Luzon   (from Arkibong Bayan reports)

Two students from the University of the Philippines (UP) - Diliman and a peasant organizer were abducted in Hagonoy, Bulacan las Monday.

Ms. Karen Empeño, a BA Sociology student of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy and a member of the League of Filipino Students-UP Diliman, Ms. Sherlyn Cadapan, an award-winning triathlete from the College of Human Kinetics (CHK) and a former representative to the University Student Council of UP Diliman, together with Mr. Manuel Merino, were abducted by suspected military men at around 2 a.m, July 26.

The UP community holds protest actions today, demanding the release of the three.

A fact sheet prepared by a human rights group in Central Luzon, tells how the three were abducted. The report says a 14 year old witnessed the abduction by hooded men who identified themselves as "vigilantes," forcibly entering the house where the three were staying.

TIPO NG PAGLABAG: Pagdukot, Pambubugbog, Pananakot

MGA BIKTIMA

1. Manuel Merino

2. Shierlyn Capalan

3. Karen Impeno

PETSA AT ORAS NG PANGYAYARI: Hunyo 26, 2006 alas 2:00 ng umaga

LUGAR NG PANGYAYARI: Purok 6, Brgy. San Miguel, Hagonoy, Bulakan

MGA PINAGHIHINALAANG MAY KAGAGAWAN: Mga 15-kataong nakasibilyan, mga naka-bonnet ng itim at nagpakilalang mga vigilante group daw sila.

BUOD NG PANGYAYARI:

Noong Hunyo 26, 2006, Lunes, alas 2:00 ng umaga ay sapilitang pumasok ang anim na mga di kilalang kalalakihang sibilyan armado ng mahahabang baril sa bahay ni Ginoong William Halili Ramos.

Anim na sibilyang naka-bonnet ng itim armado ng mahahabang baril ang kumatok sa kanilang bahay. Nag-alalang buksan ng huli ang pinto, sumilip muna siya sa bintana kasama ng kaniyang anak na si Wilfredo Ramos 14 na taong gulang. Nang di agad niya nabuksan ang pinto ay sumigaw ang isa na "bumaba ang lahat ng mga tao sa loob ng bahay kapag hindi ninyo binuksan bibilangan ko kayo!" Dito na napilitang buksan ni Ginoong Ramos ang pinto.

Pagkabukas ng pinto, agad siyang hinablot ng isang malaking lalaki, ibinalya pahiga sa semento piniringan at inilabas ng bahay kasama ang anak na si Wilfredo. Si Manuel Merino na noo’y nasa itaas ng bahay ay bumaba kaya nang makita siya ng mga armadong kalalakihan ay agad siyang binayo sa tiyan gamit ang mahabang baril kung saan ang puluhan ng baril ang pinambayo. Pagkabagsak sa semento ay itinali siya, inilabas sa bahay at isinakay sa pampasaherong dyip na nakahimpil sa humigit kumulang 100 meter mula sa bahay nila Ginoong Ramos.

Ang batang si Wilfredo na noo’y nasa labas din ng bahay ay nakitang bitbit na din ng armadong kalalakihan sina Karen at Sherlyn. Ang dalawa ay kinuha sa bahay ng kanyang tiyahin, isang bahay ang pagitan mula sa kanilang bahay. Duon natulog ang mga nabanggit. Hinubaran si Karen ng pang-itaas na damit at ginamit na pampering sa kanya. Isinakay sila sa nabanggit ding sasakyan. Bumaybay ang sasakyan direksiyon patungo sa Iba, Hagonoy.

Note: Hunyo 26, 2006, alas 11:00 ng tanghali, naglunsad ng FFM (fact-finding mission) Dineny sa Iba HQ at Hangga

Sometimes I think I am much too fragile to live.

Or maybe I just need a boatload of drugs.

I think it’s my parents’ fault for having sheltered me so much when we (my sister and I) were growing up and making us believe that people were, for the most part, good.

I can totally relate to Haley Joel Osment’s character in ‘The Sixth Sense;’ only I don’t see dead people, I see bad people.

Someone very, very close to me (I won’t say whom, because he hates it when I mention him in my blog) always tell me ‘Masasanay ka din. Ganyan talaga ang lipunan. Kaya nga natin pinipilit baguhin.’

I don’t know, I don’t think I will ever get used to the way things are in the Philippines, in the world, the way the darkness always almost overpowers all light and so many people are denied most things that are necessary to ensure a complete, productive and happy human being.

All those religion classes in elementary school, aaargh.

Growing up in a household of idealists can make a child believe in social fairytales.

Stephen King visited Hong Kong and delivered a lecture at the HK university two weeks ago. The gist of his message was this: in order for humanity to survive, we must conquer space.

That was a pretty chilling message. It’s like he was saying that the world is so fucked up — the environment destroyed, wars erupting everywhere, diseases that are the products of scientific experiments gone wrong  (or more realistically, experiments that were geared towards creating biological weapons) — there is no saving this planet so let’s all hie off to other planets.

Gad.

Please don’t mind me today. I’m not in a very cheery sort of mind right now. So tired these last few days and reading the news isn’t doing anything to improve my mood. The second impeachment complaint against Arroyo has been filed, but already there are reports that the Minority Bloc in congress is falling apart at the seams, unity is cracking. This is frustrating.

In the meantime, I was really bummed out by those stories about Arroyo meeting Pope Benedict. I actually felt like throwing up. Why didn’t she turn into a pillar of ashes as soon as she got withing 1,000 meters of the Vatican?!

Anyways. Am looking forward to watching a cartoon movie tomorrow and on Sunday, tuduh! - the First Filipino Women Migrant Workers Summit.It will be from 1:00 - 6:00 pm at the Hong Kong University
According to the advisory sent by the United Filipinos in Hong Kong UNIFIL) which is sponsoring the activity, the Summit is expected to gather more than 400 women leaders from 80 organizations of Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong.

The Summit will discuss the major issues of Filipino women domestic workers most especially the policies of the Philippine and Hong Kong governments that impact on migrant workers and our families. Topics of workshops include the Philippine national situation and the condition of our families, recruitment and overcharging of recruitment agencies, Philippine government’s fees to migrant workers, provision of services and protection by the Philippine government, labor and immigration concerns of Filipino domestic workers, the debt trap, services of the Hong Kong government to migrant workers, and on police matters and procedures.

In particular, policies that will be tackled include the OWWA Omnibus Policies, Republic Act 8042 (Migrants Act of 1995), New Conditions of Stay (Two-Week Rule), Minimum Allowable Wage and the Labour Ordinance.

The Summit will come up with a list of demands for the Philippine and Hong Kong governments as well as a plan of action for campaign, lobbying, advocacy and education.

The following is a profile I wrote on the president of UNIFIL, Dollores Balladares.

Estudyante pa lang siya sa Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), malinaw na kay Dolores ‘Dolo’ Balladares kung ano ang gusto niyang gawin sa buhay. “Ayaw kong maging biktima sa lipunan. Gusto ko, alam ko kung ano ang nangyayari sa paligid ko at kung ano ang epekto sa akin.”

Maliit na babae si Dolo, 36-taong gulang. Malambing ngunit may tapang siya kung magsalita. Kung papakinggan siya, madali kang makukumbinse dahil sa sinseridad ng kanyang mga sinasabi.  At kung kapwa-OFW ka, marami kang matututunan mula sa kanyang karanasan at pagkilos.

Presidente ng United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL), ang pinaka-progresibo at malawak na alyansa ng mga organisasyong migranteng Pilipino sa Hong Kong,  nagtapos si Dolo ng business administration, major in management.

“Kagaya na rin ng maraming Pinoy na nag-OFW, tulak ng pangangailangan ang pagpunta ko sa ibang bansa. Pag-gradweyt ko, pinilit kong makahanap ng trabaho sa Pilipinas pero maliit ang sweldo at hindi sapat na makabuhay ng pamilya,” aniya. Nasa Pilipinas ang asawa ni Dolo, isang dating OFW sa Saudi na nagtatrabaho sa construction.

Dumating si Dolo sa Hong Kong noong 1995, at parang malaking maleta niyang bitbit ang kanyang oryentasyon ng paglilingkod; oryentasyong natutunan niya mula sa kanyang mga sinalihang student organizations sa PUP gaya ng Students for National Democracy (SND) at Lakas ng Kabataan ng Bayan ng Cagayan Valley.

Naging member agad si Dolo sa Pinatud Asaleng Tiumuli (PSU)at tumulong sa Asia Pacific Migrants Mission (APMM). Taong 1996 siya nahalal sa Unifil bilang deputy-secretary general, at nang lumaon, naging tagapagsalita na rin siya ng Migrante Sectoral Party. Pagsapit naman ng 9^th Congress ng Unifil noong Enero 2004 siya nahalal bilang presidente nito.

Mahaba-haba na rin ang panahong nilagi niya  Hong Kong bilang domestic helper, pero sa buong panahon na iyon, nagawa niyang ipagpatuloy ang kanyang pagiging socially-aware at progresibo.

“Nung unang kontrata ko, mahirap talaga. Friday kasi nun ang holiday ko. Nang mag-expire ang kontrata at pumirma ako ng bago sa iba namang employer, winork-out ko na Linggo ang holiday ko, at mabigyan ng panahon para makalahok ako sa mga aktibidad ng organization ko,” paliwanag ni Dolo.

Pinagsikapan din niyang ‘imulat’ ang kanyang employer hanggang maging sympathetic ito at ang kanyang pamilya sa mga ginagawa ni Dolo.

“Nakatulong din na nakikita niya ako kasama ang  Unifil na lumalabas sa tv, nababasa sa dyaryo. Lalo na nung panahon ng mga protesta laban sa World Trade Organization (WTO) noong December 2005, at  sa mga activities kaugnay sa wage hike, pagbasura sa levy at iba pang migrants issues na talagang tinuunan ng local media,” kwento pa niya.

Minsan pa daw, pina-paalalahanan siya ng kanyang employer na mag-ingat. “Up-to-date din sila sa mga kampanya ng Unifil at sa mga activities namin.”

Pangunahin sa mga gawain ni Dolo sa Unifil ang manghikayat sa mga OFW na pag-aralan ang mga developments sa Pilipinas at mga local issues na may epekto sa migrante.

“Sinisikap naming bigyan ng venue ang mga OFW para matuto tungkol sa kalagayan nila. Kauna-unawa naman na maraming OFW ang ayaw maki-alam sa mga isyung ‘seryoso’; hindi madali ang makulong sa bahay ng anim na araw, walang ibang kausap na Pilipino, at maraming mga bawal na ikilos o gawin. Siyempre, pag nakalabas ng bahay pag holiday, gustong magsayaw, maki-tsismis at makibalita. Ang layunin ng Unifil, maging isang organisasyon kung saan makakakita sila ng tuwa at saya, pero matututo din kung paano tindigan ang kanilang kagalingan at mga karapatan,” paliwanag niya.

Hilig ni Dolo ang pagkanta at ito din ang hilig ng maraming OFW, kaya naman regular ding nagpapa-videoke ang Unifil sa Chater Road pag Linggo o tuwing may major activity.

“Pagbabalanse ito ng kung ano’ng gusto ng mga migrante, at ng anong kailangan nila. Marami sa mga kababayan natin ang sabik sa balita ng kung ano’ng talagang nangyayari sa Pilipinas,” paliwanag niya.
            Ayon kay Dolo, mga migrante ang unang nagre-react sa mga pagbabago sa ekonomya ng Pilipinas. “Hindi ba’t tuwing may oil price hike, o kapag tumaas ang singil sa kuryente, o sa pabahay, tubig, edukasyon o kalusugan, apektado ang mga OFW? Nagpapadala tayo ng remittance buwan-buwan, pero pagdating sa Pilipinas, kakarampot ang halaga dahil nga bumabagsak ang ekonomya. Mahalagang alam din ng mga OFW kung bakit nga lumalala ang economy,” aniya.

Kaugnay naman sa relasyon ng Unifil sa Philippine Consulate, sinasabi ni Dolo na nais naman talagang makipag-tulungan ng grupo sa mga opsiyales – “Para sa kagalingan ng OFW, bakit hindi? Pero walang pagko-compromise pagdating sa stands at demands sa mga isyu.”
Isa  sa mga ipinaglaban at pinagtagumpayan ng Unifil kasama ng iba pang Pinoy migrant groups ang isyu ng pagbubukas ng consulate pag Linggo.

“Taong 2000 o 2001 lang nang magsimulang maging open ang konsulado tuwing Linggo. Iginiit talaga ng mga OFW na bukas ang konsulado sa araw na holiday ang mga migrante,” pagbabalik-tanaw niya. “Sa ngayon naman, hinaharap din namin ang mga changes sa operasyon sa Konsulado. Halimbawa, madaming OFW ang nagrereklamo ngayon tungkol sa queue-less document processing. Sana mapag-usapan ito nang maayos ng mga groups at ng officials ng ating consulate,” aniya. 

Ibang isyu pang aktibong kinakampanya ng Unifil ang pagbabalik sa P3,3670 na sahod ng mga OFW, ang pagbasura sa levy, at ngayon naman, ang pagpapahusay sa serbisyo ng konsulado. Tinayo ng Unifil ang Bantay Konsulado na sinusuportahan na ng 30 na iba pang grupo.

“Hindi rin namin kinakaligtaan ang mga nangyayari sa Pilipinas. Sa ngayon,  nagsasalita ang Unifil laban sa lumalalang political repression ng gobyerno ni Mrs. Arroyo. Aktibo rin kami sa paglalantad sa corruption at pagpapabaya sa serbisyo-sosyal; at pagliit ng budget allocations para sa welfare ng mga OFW sa iba’t-ibang bansa.”

            Sa July 2, isasagawa ng Unifil ang kauna-unahang Filipino Migrant Workers Summit sa Hong Kong University Library Building sa Bonham Road, Hong Kong Island.  Bubuuin sa makasaysayang pagtitipon na ito ang isang Migrants Agenda na ipapadala sa gobyernong Arroyo at sa gobyerno na rin ng Hong Kong.
”Mahirap maging OFW, pero mas mahirap maging OFW na hindi alam kung ano ang iyong mga karapatan. Mas maraming OFW na nagsasalita sa mga isyu, mas mainam. Ipaabot natin ang ating tinig hanggang sa Pilipinas, at sama-samang buuin ang isang bayan na hindi na kailangang iwan upang magpa-alipin sa ibang bansa,” pagwawakas niya.

Tomorrow I’ll try to go to Mong Kok and look for my favorite robots, namely Voltes V and Daimos. Oh yeah, Optimus Prime as well! My sister Majalla, geek that she is, used to have a crush on Optimus Prime and, when she was younger, Mazinger Z. She was maybe eight or nine when she started telling me the plot of Mazinger Z. She’s also the one who got me hooked on Transformers.

It sez a lot about my sister that she related more to robots (even if only in cartoons) than to real people. Even now she is ever a mystery to me. My beautiful brilliant sister, intelligent and…strangely fragile.

more tomorrow.

It’s Wednesday morning and it’s raining outside. I have also made up my mind about quitting Hong Kong News. Too many differences with the publisher.

(this.href, ‘_blank’, ‘width=510,height=340,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0′); return false">

Nakalimbag ang mga balita ng ating panahon
sa dugong pinapulandit ng mga punlo
mula sa mga dibdib,
mula sa mga ulo
ng mga nabuhay upang muling maging tao
ang mga pinapagbubuhay-hayop ng mga naghahari
sa pamamagitan ng kinamkam na kayamanan
at ninakaw na kapangyarihan.

May bahaging pumapanaw sa bawat isa sa atin
sa bawat maganap na ganitong pagpaslang.
Sapagkat ang mga paghingang di na natin maririnig kailanman
ay katunog,
katunog ng bawat paghinga nitong sambayanan.
Dugo ng ating bayan ang pinapulandit ng mga punlo
mula sa kanilang mga dibdib at ulo.

Binabawasan nila tayo
sapagkat ibig nilang tayo’y yumuko
at himurin ang kanilang mga paa,
parang mga aso.
Ayaw nilang tayo’y maging tao.

Tayo ba’y tutulad na lamang sa mga aso?

Hindi natin nararapat na bitiwan
ang ating pagpapakatao.
Lalo nga ngayong nararapat na tayo’y magpakatao
sapagkat kung yuyuko tayo’t hihimurin ang kanilang mga paa,
parang tayo na rin ang nagpaputok ng baril
parang tayo na rin ang nagpaputok ng baril
sa mga naglaan ng buhay upang ang lahat ay maging tao.

———–

"Free To Decide" (this is for my publisher)

It’s not worth anything,
More than this at all.
I’ll live as I choose,
Or I will not live at all.

So return to where you come from,
Return to where you dwell,
Because harassment’s not my forte,
But you do it very well.

I’m free to decide, I’m free to decide,
And I’m not so suicidal after all.
I’m free to decide, I’m free to decide,
And I’m not so suicidal after all,
At all, at all, at all.

You must have nothing,
More with your time to do.
There’s a war in Russia,
And Sarajevo too.

So to hell with what you’re thinking,
And to hell with your narrow mind,
You’re so distracted from the real thing,
You should leave your life behind, behind.

‘Cause I’m free to decide, I’m free to decide,
And I’m not so suicidal after all,
I’m free to decide, I’m free to decide,
And I’m not so suicidal after all,
At all, at all, at all.

I’m free to decide, I’m free to decide,
And I’m not so suicidal after all,
At all, at all, at all.

This is a song by the Cranberries, by the way.
—————-

Douglas Coupland has a new novel! It was launched last May in Canada!

Every morning when I walk from the ferry at Central towards the Shun Tak building, I think to myself, "Crap, am heading towards Mordor again, and I don’t have the freakin’ One Ring with me…."

To paraphrase U2, ‘Monday, Bloody Monday."

My rabbit Herbert (’Herbie’) died last weekend. He was six years old. He was with my friend Walkie at the time. Gad. I feel  depressed about it, but it isn’t as if there’s anything I can do about it.

I loved Herbie terribly much. He was a gift from my friend Sunny. I got him when he was about three weeks old, then in a week he grew so big on a diet of lettuce, carrot and pellets. I let him roam around my room in the former KMU office in Tomas Morato, and he gnawed on 1) the table legs; 2) my new Mojos; and 3) my loafers.

He was a gray and white rabbit, and while there were times when he could be stubborn (I would call and call and call on him and he would just look at me. When I stopped calling, that’s when he’d hop towards me and sit at my feet), for the most part he had a very sweet nature.

Because of him, I appreciated Richard Adam’s ‘Watership Down’ all the more; and I knew that rabbits are really quite intelligent creatures. (Anybody who has a DVD copy of the 1978 movie of the same title? Pahiram naman.)

Gad, I miss Herbert!!

———-

I’m rediscovering Sinead ‘O Connor and am listening to her CD ‘Universal Mother." I loved all the songs in that album when I was in college, but it was a tape copy I had, so all the rewinding took its toll on the tape…

Anyways, I brought a second hand copy from Flow, and again I am carried away by Sinead’s prayers for Ireland.

——

From PDI - POPE BENEDICT XVI is likely to be invited by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to visit the Philippines at their meeting scheduled for today at the Vatican.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye told reporters that the President, who left for an eight-day visit to Europe yesterday, would invite the Pope to visit the Philippines, which just abolished the death penalty.

Ms Arroyo on Saturday signed a law abolishing the death penalty after Congress granted her wish to finally put a stop to the execution of death convicts.

Man, it’s a wonder Arroyo doesn’t spontaneously combust everytime she comes within a foot of a priest or a nun; or within a kilometer’s radius of any Church or Mosque.

She’s such a hypocrite. (What Pope Benedict should do is pray for the Philippines and have the likes of Arroyo, Raul and Norberto Gonzales and Jovito Palparan turn into cockroaches at midnight. )

I am all for the abolition of the death penalty. Under a government like Arroyo’s and under the incumbent economic and political system wherein the law is biased against the poor and grossly favors the rich and influential, the death penalty is being carried out not so much as a deterrent against criminality but as a manifestation of how crooked the justice system is, and how severely lacking it is in rationality and compassion. 

When I think of how many thousands of Filipinos are downed by disease, hunger and poverty and everyday, I can come up with a hundred reasons to wage war. Povery and social injustice are undeniable reasons criminality continues to worsen; but the large-scale corruption and theft of the ruling classes are infinitely worse, and this is what those who fight for genuine social change focus on.

—

When I think about what goes on in the Philippines everyday, I feel like tearing my hair out.

Then I think of what my friend Raymond says - ‘focus on what you can change and stick to your efforts. Don’t bang you head against the wall everytime you hear bad news. Every days brings bad news, so how will that leave you and your head?"

Okay then. I want to bang somebody else’s head against the wall. Like Palparan’s for instance. And Raul Gonzales’.

The one sitting next to me in the first picture is Richard del Valle, singer and marketing man extraordinaire. In the second pix I’m with Martin and Emil, two local artists. Manong Emil is a Philippine Collegian alumni and post People Power 1 activist. The last one, the guy who’s trying to figure out the Hong Kong trail map, is my friend Raymond Letourneau (he was the one I went up the mountain with last Tuesday).

It makes my husband worry that I might be getting too happy in Hong Kong because I’ve made a few good friends. That I’d want to stay here for good.

The fact, however, is this, I also have friends back at home in the Philippines; and I miss them. Having friends here is a major bonus to my being able to write and write and write. But home is where my husband, my family, friends and the Movement is, so it won’t be long til I’m in the Philippines again.

This is something Ray emailed me after we talked about the Macapagal-Arroyo campaign’s drive to crush the NPA (and most likely butcher thousands more civilians in the process). We found a crab (!) up in the mountains, and it was so bizarre.

"Howard the Mountain Crab” and his NPA stories

They walked slowly through the jungle - guns drawn. With every drop of rain or crack of a branch they stood wearily watching – listening – ready at any moment to be in full battle with the unknown. The crunch crunch sound that was omnipresent ubiquitous around them, seemed to rise and drop.

As they walked around the large tree they almost crushed the bright orange creature that they, having lived in the mountains all their life, had never seen nor knew what to make of it. As they came closer, guns ready, Howard looked up and said “Mabuhay”

And so the story of Howard the crab and his life with the NPA began. His many heroic feats and valor would prove much greater than anything he had done in the past including the escape form the pot – which would turnout to be the smallest feat of his incredible life. And why in Philippine history this great orange crab would go down in history as the major factor in the rebirth of this great nation."

I think I’ll write a longer story about Howard. I don’t know why the heck Ray chose to name the wee creature ‘Howard.’

——————-

Jus me, kung alam ko lang saan magbabayad ng revolutionary tax sa NPA, sa kanila na lang ako maghuhulog. Sa bawat piso na binabayaran ng mga Pilipino sa mga produktong binibili sa tindahan, o serbisyong ginagamit, kalahati o higit pa ang napupunta sa buwis at tubo. Hindi naman bumabalik sa akin o sa pamilya ko ang buwis.

I don’t think the NPA is severely reliant on taxes. That would be the Macapagal-Arroyo government (heavily dependent on taxes and OFW remittances). I should think that NPA survives mainly on the support of the common Filipinos — donations of food and medicine and equipment and such. That would be more logical.

Maybe the Commission on Audit can go check the records of the NPA, harharhar.

———

After changing my blog’s title many times ("I wish my dog could talk," "Scourge of Good," Trephination Procedures"), I finally settled on ‘Achieving Happiness." It’s a fitting name to what I want to have for myself and others.

I stumbled upon this great quote from Epicurus which, to me, states that all human efforts are directed towards finding happiness; but there is a definite kind of happiness that he philosophized about: the kind that gives one fulfillment, denies no one justice, and allows one to evolve as a human being without the encrumbrances of unncessary things (such as ostentatious wealth, fame and power).

The  underscoring is mine.

"Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in the search of it when he has grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul. And to say that the season for studying philosophy has not yet come, or that it is past and gone, is like saying that the season for happiness is not yet or that it is now no more. Therefore, both old and young alike ought to seek wisdom, the former in order that, as age comes over him, he may be young in good things because of the grace of what has been, and the latter in order that, while he is young, he may at the same time be old, because he has no fear of the things which are to come. So we must exercise ourselves in the things which bring happiness, since, if that be present, we have everything, and, if that be absent, all our actions are directed towards attaining it.” —Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus

It makes activists HAPPY to be doing what they’re doing — dreaming awake, creating bit by bit a new kind of society and a new kind of life. It makes me happy to know that though still I live under an unjust system of politics and economics, I am doing my share in fighting this system. The psychological returns are tremendous. If it can only be converted to money, I’d be freaking wealthier than Bill Gates.

  How does that old cliche go? People who live by the sword, die by the sword.

Sure thing. I agree.

In real life, though, particularly in the Philippines, it’s people who mainly use their  their pens, their words, their voices who are being killed.

Do I have a problem with the AFP going after the NPA? No. They’re both armed groups, and it is a civil war after all, with one revolutionary army fighting a mercenary counterpart.

My problem is when civilians are being targetted. Non-combatants.

Do people deserve to be killed for their political beliefs? For dreams they carry in their hearts for a nation where the workers and the farmers will no longer be exploited, and there’s a fair chance of genuine economic progress to take root? Where the true history of the defenders of the poor since Andres Bonifacio’s time will be taught in school? Where the whims and habits and hobbies of the lazy rich will not be emulated, and a mass-oriented, scientific culture will be propagated (Nah, nah. Don’t fear George Orwell’s 1984 too much)?

The rich have dreams, but their dreams are mainly for themselves, and they’re such a teeny-weeny group of people and interests.

I prefer to share the dream of the poor majority. And dreams, while they are worth dying for, I would much rather live for them. So who lives? Whose dreams will survive the dreaming and become reality? Whose reality should we all be dreaming to create? 

Tell me of a dream a big businessman or a landowner has, and I will tell how certain it is that this dream excludes the poor majority. Big businessmen, landowners, and their families and connections have ruled the Philippines for centuries, and they sucked the lifeblood out of the poor  far too long. To them, the lives of workers and peasants count for nothing.

I want an alternative to this kind of set-up.

I want a society where it’s the poor and their genuine representatives who call the shots.

At dahil mangangarap na rin lang ako, pangangarapin ko na ang isang lipunan kung saan walang mga uring nagsasamantala. Kung saan walang malalaking tao, institusyon at kapangyarihan na sobrang hiwalay sa masa at mamamayan na magagawa ng mga ito na apakan at durugin ang mga simpleng pangarap ng mga karaniwang tao para sa pagkain, tirahan at tiyak na kinabukasan.

There’s a war out there, and there laws and principles guiding the conduct of war.  It would be naive and foolish to turn ones’ back on the reality of wars and liberation movements and how international law acknowledges their existence and thus there are guidelines.

Ginagalang ba ito ng gobyerno ng Pilipinas? Sa pagharap nito sa CPP-NPA-NDF?

How frustrating , people who know very little about the NPA and who they are, who comprises the People’s Army, can easily dismiss what the NPA stands for, fights for.

I can’t even begin to explain how I feel about the NPA. How I feel so much hope in the fact that a genuine army of the Filipino people exists, that this army is there to fight and defend the poor; that there is a different set of laws that govern the countryside, and that these laws are more fair, more just than anything that this incumbent adminstration and its predecessors can ever boast of implementing.

Trivia: Sino ang pinaka-bumubuo ng kasapian ng NPA? Mga tulad ko pa na peti-burgis? Hinde!

Saang uri at saray ng lipunan nagmumula ang pamunuan ng CPP-NDF kung aalamin talaga ng intelligence ng gobyernong Arroyo? Sa mga tulad ko na peti-burgis? Hinde rin!

Comparing the AFP and the NPA is like comparing the deep blue ocean with a fetid and polluted stream; or a starlit sky with a ceiling of blinding disco light, foul yellow-white.

And what’s wrong with revenge? Don’t tell me that eveything will be forgiven in heaven, and that the millions of Filipinos who suffer slow death by poverty, miseducation and poor health should continue to suffer in silence and forgive the arbiters of their pain and misery.

Kung lumapit ba ang 100 magsasaka sa panginoong lupa o asendero na kumamkam sa lupain ng probinsya, at sinabi ng mga magsasaka: sana’y ibigay mo na ang lupa sa amin dahil namamatay kami at ang aming mga pamilya sa gutom, ibibigay ba ng panginoong may lupa ang lupa?

I believe in revolutionary violence. In violences that cleanses the country, rights the ills done to the poor, justice meted out in blood, but the blood of the enemy, the exploiters and their supporters  and not the defenseless poor.  Not the blood of the farmers and peasants. Not the blood of the workers and the urban poor.

Isang masakit na katotohanan ng sangkatauhan na kailangang mag digmaan; at dahil riyalidad yan ng tunggalin ng pampulitika at pang-ekonomyang interes, mas mainam at mas tama na lumahok sa digmaan sa panig ng mga inaapi. Throughout history, it’s the ruling classes — the monarchy, the landed gentry, the business classes, the capitalists and the governments they fund- who have launched wars in the name of profit.

Pambala sa kanyon ang mahihirap. Kung mamamatay din lang sa digmaan, hindi ba’t mas mainam nang mamamatay sa isang digmaan kung saan pinaniniwaalan ko ang ipinaglalaban ko?

In the case of the NPA, land and economic independence and security; a justice system that’s not biased towards the rich and economic elite; a social system that upholds the interest of those who cultivate the land and run the factories.

May the dreams of the poor and exploited, those denied justice by the current ruling system come to pass; and may the dreams of the exploiters turn to waking nightmares that never end.

My dream is to read quietly in a corner in Luneta park,  look back upon the decades of strife in my country, and die knowing that the big businessmen and the landowners have been stripped of their power, wealth and influence. 

Last night was the Philippine Association in Hong Kong (PAHK) charity ball, and it was held in the posh Four Seasons Hotel. I went with the rest of the staff of the paper and our publisher and his wife, and despite my initial extreme discomfort at the idea of going, I had a good time.

No, I didn’t wear a gown. I wore a $20 barong I bought last Friday at World Wide, $50 shoes and black slacks I brought with me from the Philippines. No make-up, no hair ornaments, no jewelry. All this made me feel at ease and like myself, so I felt free to just be me and oggle everyone else and their dazzling clothes.

I am a socially awkward being, and there is nothing I can do about it. It takes too much effort to pretend to be graceful. My parents (if I were to search for anyone to blame) didn’t teach us about social graces (okay, so maybe my mom tried, but my dad said ‘who cares if they don’t know which fork to use? A fork’s a fork.’) My publisher cornered me and told me I should know how to ‘present myself.’

‘But I’m only a writer. I write, and what’s on the page is what’s importarnt," I protested.

He retorted, "But you’re not in a writing situation right now."

I wanted to answer back, "Writers are always in a writing situation. Everything around us is material. There is nothing and no one we can’t write about when we choose to."

Proof positive, here I am, writing down what took place last night. I suppose David wanted me to ‘present myself’ better because I’m representing his newspaper, and I can understand that. Maybe next time there’s a function, I can be less…myself and be more of a…girl.

I am pleased with myself that I am learning to be more lighthearted and less angry and frustrated withthe middle-class. It doesn’t do me any good to feel upset over what I, perhaps too self-righteously- believe to be their heartless indifference to what’s happening to OFWs here in Hong Kong, or more importantly, to the worsening political and economic situation back home.

It’s most unfortunate, but I suppose I should begin to accept that IT IS NOT EVERYONE WHO CAN CARE about other people, and consider the welfare of others as something they should be concerned about.

Right now I’m taking a crash course on the philosophy of Michel de Montaigne, a French Renaissance philosopher who believed that wisdom did not automatically came with learning; and that the body, the physical self is often superior to reason although most people (especially those who view themselves as intellectuals and philosophers) won’t admit it.

It’s like this: a man is writing down his thesis on, say, how Arthur Schopenhauer’s philosophy on the uselessness of existence. He (the thesis guy) is all agitated and fired  up because he believes he has found new insight on Schonpenhauer and all these words are bubbling inside his head and he wants to write them down as fast as he can.

Most unfortunately though, his stomach is also bubbling. A wretched inferno of badly-digested food and he has to stop writing and closet himself in the toilet for an hour. He reasons that if he stops writing, the ideas will leave him, or the mood will fade; but his body is insisting that he immediately vacate his bowels or else. He cannot reason with his body: it will do as it will, thus he abandons his work and heads off to the john.

Montaigne says it would be foolish to ignore our physicality, our physiognomy and biology even as we study philosophy and aspire towards higher learning and achievement.

Exactly. This is also something the German philosopher Karl Marx understood deeply, and acted upon when he made his  body of work. It is not enought that we understand what happens to the stars and the planets, or how clouds form, we should pay attention to our bodies and how they are affected by the environment, o society and history.

He took it higher: philosophy, or reasoning, must serve the greater interest of the greatest number of people. In newly-industrializing Germany and Europe at the time of his writing, it was the workers, their bodies and their welfare he focused on. How workers were affected by the changes around them, whether they were being left behind, ignored or was the impact of these changes around them destructive. Marx’s philosophy was laid down on solid ground, and they did not aim for the stars.

"A virtuous, ordinary life, striving for wisdom but never far from folly, is achievement enough," Montaigne counsels.

Marx set his standard for virtue higher:  to unearth the roots of exploitation and to amend the damage done by the alienation of workers from the means by which they can create better, more productive lives for themselves and their families. 

—-

Macapagal-Arroyo declares war against the NPA and alleges that the AFP will succeed in crushing the insurgency in 10 years.
How many people - civilians, progressives, mass activists, sympatizers — does she intend to kill to achieve this? They will never be able to defeat the NPA unless they kill their hundreds of thousands of supporters who give the NPA food, shelter, clothing, information and everything else they need to survive.

The NPA is a source of hope for many in the countryside who have suffered the cruelty and exploitation of landowners, their hired men, and the AFP all their lives. This is why the NPA continues to exist and to flourish. Because the NPA and the CPP-NDF give alternatives to the current set-up of inhumanity and injustice in the Philippines.

Those who think that an eye-for-eye philosophy when it comes to resolving social conflict is too harsh, or immoral or against the will of God should think: is what’s happening to the poor now, under the ruling elite and their armed forces not harsh, immoral or against eveything that stands for good?

A gun is a gun. It becomes a weapon of killing or a weapon of justified self defense and liberation depending on who wields it. If my enemy came to me wielding a gun and threatened my family and everything I have worked hard for, I will not be able to hold him back with words and intellectual or moral arguments. I would use a gun myself.

How did I come to such realizations? By studying philosophy, world history, my country’s own history, and using common sense. It is so painful that Filipinos have to kill each other, but who started the war and gave cause to the poor to fight back with arms and in self-defense? 

From the Inquirer, June 16, 2006: President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Friday ordered the release of one billion pesos to fund intensified operations against communist rebels, calling the money “an investment that will yield peace dividends to the economy.”

Sure, sure. Increasing the allocations for military operations, that’s something that will benefit the people, particularly those living in the provinces, the areas where the most human rights violations take place. The Armed Forces of the Philippines are genuine peacemakers, and the citizenry love and respect them even as they conduct their hamletting operations.

I am reminded of a story written by Gelacio Guillermo titled ‘Bukatot’ (click here for link) or a basket-type trap for fresh water fish. In it, soldiers act as the personal body guards and army of a landowner, and they’re the ones who get the farmers and farmworkers in line. When the landowner becomes displeased by the refusal of a poor farmer to sell him his tobacco crop for an insultingly low price, the landowner orders the soldiers to shoot the farmer and his wife.

The young son, because he was fishing in the small stream when the soldiers arrived, escapes the fate of his parents. He comes home in the late afternoon’s stifling heat and sees the bloodied bodies of his parents slumped in front of their bahay kubo.

The boy runs, blindly, runs wherever his feet chooses to take him, and soon the sun goes down and the boy does not return.

The next day, the neighbors come for a visit to see their kabaranggay — the farmer whose life was ended by m14 bullets. They are met with a gruesome sight.  As they gather around the bodies, somebody else comes and announces: "May mga bangkay din sa paanan ng bundok, mga sundalo, lima. Basag ang kanilang mga bungo, parang tig-iisang bala ang pumasok sa bawat isang ulo. "Kasama sa mga bangkay si Don Enrique…"

It’s not a mystery, what happened. The villagers felt deep sadness and anger at what has been done to their neighbor who has always been a good friend, a man who helped built the village school and stood up against the landowner and his unreasonable demands; but they were silent and indifferent to the deaths of the soldiers. Inside they knew what took place: the exercise of justice by who knew how to wield weapons, but with a clear knowledge on whose name these should be used and for what purpose.

From January 21, 2001 to May 31, 2006, there are 679 victims of political killings, 350 victims of frustrated killing and 168 persons were abducted and remain missing to this day.

Macapagal-Arroyo with the support of the US government, has been implementing Oplan Bantay Laya that has targeted civilians – dissidents and ordinary Filipinos alike. Of the 679 civilians arbitrarily killed, 301 were activists and 378 have no known political affiliations.