All You Need is Love

So I’m sitting in the PCPR office, finally the office of my work, typing away on the computer. The only thing: no internet. Yeah, that’s right. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner: type on the computer at the office when I have a free moment, save it to a disk drive and then upload later. Brilliant!!!! I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner. I guess it doesn’t really save time, not in the daily allotment of it, but it at least saves money, and I guess since time is money, in a way, through faulty logic, it kind of saves time too. (By the way, that is WAY faulty logic; you can’t do a reverse syllogism like that, got it?).

The thing is I should be typing a report right now. I’ve finally been given work to do at PCPR, today being my second day here, and I guess an immediate task as well. I’m supposed to write some sort of reflective, I guess personal report on my reactions and feelings to all of the human rights violations (HRVs) of the past year in Cebu. Let me say first off that in their summary matrix there are 53 separate cases, often with multiple victims. Just thought you’d like to know that to start off with. Now this “assignment” is the language that the representative from KARAPATAN who is asking me to write this before the end of the month gave me, but I don’t think it quite translates into what I’m supposed to do.
So, yes, in my usual fashion, I’m stalling. I guess part of it is that I’m doing what I always do and dreading writing what can be equated to a report or paper (can they really give you such assignments after you graduate college?!) I guess the other thing that is keeping me from performing such a task is that I always worry what kind of expectations people have for me. I always assume them to be a little too high, which you can chalk up to either modesty or self deprecation. Take your pick. Still, the use that Dennis (the leader from KARAPATAN) was insinuating seems to carry with it a rather humbling importance. Why they give such a task to me, I don’t know. But there it is. It’s supposed to be used for the upcoming Human Rights Day (did you know of such a day? December 10th, mark your calendars), and they want to get started a little early this year with a press conference on December 1st. Yeah, intimidation? It’s knocking at my door.

Well that’s just the surface of it. Underneath it all are a lot of fact sheets on the HRVs that are really quite disturbing. I’ll be honest, some of them I look at and wonder why someone would even bother to call any fact finding groups up to investigate, those of seemingly less importance than things like tortures and killings. Still, they are just as justified. Everyone, no matter how small the offense may seem, deserves to be heard when their rights are violated. If someone comes onto your property, demanding to speak to you or another member of your family, asking you all kinds of questions, and telling you they’ll be watching you, isn’t that traipsing all over your innate, inalienable human rights? Of course it is. So even down to the smallest infraction has to be documented, and thus has to be included and reported and reflected on by little ol’ me.

I’ll attach a copy to a blog someday when I actually get things done. Sound good?

So besides that, if you would like an update on ASEAN, here it is.

Dennis came out with three press statements today against the actions of the government and the military in regards to the summit. In the wake of ‘security’ for those attending, Lt. Col. Lasangue of the AFP-3rd Civil Relations Group has condemned thirteen unnamed communities as harboring or being infiltrated with communists. Now how much sense does that make? He then equated such a claim with claiming that Osama Bin Laden was hiding out somewhere in Cebu, which he would surely send just as many troops into the suspected areas with just as much justification. It makes the military able to simply claim suspicion to justify any type of military presence in the homes of peaceful people. Most likely these are in fact sites of those who are critical of the demolitions, aka ‘beautification’ for the summit. People such as these have already been victims of military harassment as I described above, of whose fact sheets I’ve been reading.

If you want to know what would warrant such blatant speaking out try looking at the excess funds that have been allotted to completely the Cebu International Civic Center. Such a project was proposed earlier in Cebu, for what I’m not sure, when the current Governor’s father was in office (many government seats are passed in family lines since where else would the exorbitant funds needed come?), but was widely protested as funds were not available and the necessity wasn’t evident. However, when the ASEAN summit was moved to Cebu (from Myanmar, so moved because of their high record of HRVs, ironic, eh?), the governor saw the opportunity for such a construction and therefore asked for large funds totally close to a half billion for its completion. Why was she so dead set on such a project? Because it’s the perfect opportunity for under the table transactions of which she can benefit. Finding the right contractors, workers, etc. means she gets the payoff and pockets it. It’s not great to say that’s not an uncommon practice, and it’s certainly not unfair to assume such a situation. Sorry for the reality. So she originally totaled a bill of P450M, but has recently asked for an additional P65M. Besides that, the total funds allotted for not only the CICC, but for the ‘beautification’ and demolitions that have been carried out totals P1.2B (or $24M USD). Please don’t be fooled by such a conversion. Twenty-four million is far from one-point-two billion, but only in comparison and in looking at the first figure first. Also think where that money is going. Remember that demolitions of communities are going on all over the city, especially along the ‘ceremonial route’ for the ASEAN delegates. These people are being demoted from simply “the poor” to “eyesores” which has absolutely no inherent human qualities.

Finally (well probably not), the 7th Marine Battalion Landing Team, who a few weeks ago were arrested for causing trouble in a bar in Lapu-Lapu City (close to Cebu City), recently came out with a warning to those who would opposed them with a wild display of arms. They were found showing off for public viewing their newly polished canons and armor, for security during the summit. I guess I don’t need to say much more on what type of message their trying to send out, or at whom it is aimed.

And last to round out my disturbing news, two shocking events occurred last night. One, thankfully, was merely an accident, but none-the-less quite disturbing. I thankfully was not present for the duration of the scare, but came back, literally minutes after it was quelled. It turns out there was a minor fire last night on the roof of the adjoining building to mine. In other words think of me as the store next door in a small shopping center. My roommate told me, reassuringly, that there is a fire wall between the two, and we were in no real danger. Still, to have a fire so close to your home and your things is quite scary. I guess the most frightening thing occurred when Paz, a co-worker of PCPR who is the store next door to mine, tried calling the fire department. Because of all the ruckus and preparations for the summit, no nearby departments were available for the whole city. The nearest department she could contact was three hours away. Yes, three hours of fire burning had the staff here not acted quickly and been blessed enough to have a first hose of their own. I guess in some ways even accidents are affected simply for the sake of appearances to the rest of Southeast Asia.

And to top it all off…yes, there’s one more thing.

I got an e-mail last night from my fellow intern and friend in Bohol. She is currently “sick” with some sort of infection that is causing some swelling in random spots on her body. This is keeping her from going back, almost thankfully, to her second assignment site in Dagahoy in Bohol. There, she is being requested to present herself to the Barangay Captain for the sake of seeming, I guess, like some sort of agitator. The other day while in a group of her co-workers and friends, they were approached by a man in civilian attire, claiming to want to know where the NPA (National People’s Army, of whom the government is always searching and claiming conspiracies with those people who are rather outspoken) was meeting. Believing, and justifiably, that this man was actual a military man, they went away and asked Helen to take a picture of him with her camera so they could go to the police. Later, while resting in her host home, she observed a man sitting on his motorcycle, watching their house for a good 30-45 minutes. The scary thing was reading all this that my friend was going through after just having left work here at PCPR from reading very similar accounts that all ended in increasing degrees of severity. This makes me very worried for her, first and foremost, but also for the people she is with. Bohol is a very militarized island and many people have left there or ceased communication with others outside the island.

For the sake of everyone reading, please don’t be alarmed. Be outraged that such a thing is allowed to happen to anyone, especially the Filipino people, but don’t be alarmed. Helen is and will be safe. Should things become any more dangerous, she will be evacuated from the island immediately to safety. She will even be evacuated should things be even slightly upsetting, the reason being not only her safety, but the safety of others who cannot look after Helen and themselves. So please don’t worry. I’m sure everything is fine. It is simply the reality of the situation and hearing of it happening to someone you know that is the most upsetting.

And also, in case my mother is reading this, I’m FINE and SAFE. I promise.

Honestly, foreigners may be harassed once in awhile, like the Canadian fact finding team who was just here and in reported on today in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. However, one is far safer as a Westerner than as a native Filipino. It’s a sad way to find peace of mind for one’s self, which is self preservation and honestly I think quite sinful, but so be it. I hope you all pray for those Filipinos being persecuted yesterday, today, and tomorrow, unceasingly.

On a lighter note, which I am apt to include, the Americanly-successful comedy “Borat…” came out today in Cebu. I’m planning on catching a showing on Friday as a little way to escape the harsh realities of the Philippines for awhile and instead laugh at the ridiculous realities of the States.

Oh! And I also learned in a letter from Becca today that our reflection retreat in January will be held in the BEAUTIFUL island of Palawan (the western most island that sticks out like an arm) near the underground river and Porta Princessa. Also, that possibly all of the interns will be visiting me not only just before we all fly to Palawan, but for the ASEAN summit!!! You can’t imagine how excited this makes me as not only is there safety in numbers, but I’ve been missing them ever so much since October. I always love when I can share parts of my life with others, and thus I will share Cebu with them. It should be exciting.