Pinoys can solve corruption, study says

Tracing back corruption in Philippine history, a group of experts at the University of the Philippines says Filipinos in the 21st century can finally solve this problem that dates back from the Spanish colonial period’s polo y servicio which conscripted  men, 15 years old and above, to work by force on shipyards and churches, among others. This, aside from the tributo paid in cash or in kind to feed Spain’s growing population of frailes and Gobernador General’s guardia civiles plus the Indio laborers who serve them.

To be exempted from forced labor and separation from home for more than a month, our relatively moneyed ancestors bribed Spanish officials to be listed as sick, lame or disabled while the penniless poor sweat it out, lest they be imprisoned or whipped. From this time, bribery has become a way of life to maneuver one’s way through government red tape;  be able to get a business or driver’s license at much speed; or cover up money trails of a multimillion non-existent government project – from the clerk at the bottom rung of the ladder up to the highest seat in you-know-where.

However, no matter how hopelessly systemic and endemic corruption may seem to be, Professor Leonor Briones said solutions to age-old corruption are possible based on the successes of Pinoys, which she highlighted in her presentation of the study recently.

While the Pinoy has the “Divisoria style” of bidding where everyone wants to buy everything at a bargain price, bidding here and there to be able to pocket more money, the “Cory Model”, a.k.a. housewife style, cleaning, managing and checking her own Cabinet has been the best so far. She cited improvement of government systems and procedures, provision and distribution of more public goods and clear rules and regulations are the solutions to corruption, among others.

Former President Corazon Aquino had held each member of the Cabinet responsible in eradicating graft and corruption in the executive branch of government, monitored them and asked for a written monthly report of what had transpired during the anti-corruption campaign, Briones said.

“To combat corruption in a public office , its head must lead the way,” Briones, endearingly called Ma’am Liling at the UP National College of Public Administration and Governance, said.

She also cited as example former Commission on Audit Chairman Francisco Tantuico, who upon finding “irregular, unnecessary, excessive, and extravagant” expenses in the Marcos government, acted immediately and dismissed summarily government officials who had been corrupt.

Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Regalado Singson quietly removed corrupt officials under his agency that resulted to the decrease of contractors’ price by 20 percent, she noted.

Also a good example  of government agencies that had been successful in eradicating “market-centered corruption” are the National Census and Statistics Office, Bureau of Quarantine and International Health Surveillance and the Makati Municipal Government for its traffic enforcement, she said.

Briones likewise cited the National Kidney and Transplant Institute and the country’s Treasury Office for their transparency in their bidding and awarding processes.

While corruption remains a scourge among poor and developing societies, the Philippine anti-corruption campaign has already moved on as number of corruption cases has decreased since 2005, claimed Professor Danilo Reyes, member of the group conducting the study. Its status has changed for the better until 2011. As per Corruption Perception Index (CPI), Reyes said the Philippines ranked 6th among the most corrupt countries in the APEC region, tying with Vietnam; Cambodia ranked 5th, Indonesia 4th, Pakistan 3rd, Myanmar 2nd, and Bangladesh at the top in 2005. From 6th rank, the Philippines has slid down to the 17th, according to the recent CPI, a welcome development.

Topping the list of countries with less corruption in 2011 are Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and Malaysia, respectively, according to the study.

Back home, the World Bank study recommends that the school system should “inculcate discipline and strict implementation of laws and for the Filipino people to discipline themselves.” It also suggests that the Philippine school system craft teaching modules on cultivating honesty and advocating against corruption from the kindergarten up the tertiary level.

Deaths in the military

Deaths in the military – that of a general, young navy officers, and a foot soldier – reveal of a systemic corruption from the high echelons down to the battlefield in the military. Their lost lives point to an organized crime that is happening inside and outside the military.

While these deaths devastated the immediate families , presence of an unknown organized entity in many levels sends shivers up my spine. Exposing, covering up or cleansing the military system of that well-entrenched organized brotherhood aka mafia, as my military friends termed, may cause one his own life. It is either you speak up and die, or you keep it to yourself and die of “hiya” we Filipinos know to the core.

Philip Andrew Pestano, a 23-year old navy officer who graduated from the Philippine Military Academy PMA), allegedly killed himself on 27 September 1995. He was found lying motionless perpendicular to his bed with a .45 caliber gun between his feet. Investigators found a suicide note on the table inside his room.

He was engaged to be married . He will never commit suicide, his parents testified. His mistahs (PMA batch 1994) said the penmanship in the suicide note was not his.

The young military man serving as a logistics officer had been a witness to illegal logging and drug trafficking while onboard the military ship where he was assigned. In a complaint his parents filed at the United Nations in 2007, it is said the ship’s commander allowed the ferrying of more than 14,000 board feet of logs even without legal authorization. Pestano objected to the loading of the illegal cargos.

Military officers Zosimo Villanueva and Alvin Parone who also knew of the illegal logging and drug trafficking were also murdered a week after Pestano died. Both had tipped Pestano of “the concealed bulk of illegal drugs in the more than 20 sacks of rice cargoes aboard the ship.”

PO3 Fidel Tagaytay, the radio operator assigned the day Pestano died, had also been missing. His wife testified her husband knew many things about Pestano’s death because he was the duty operator at that time.

In  2000, then would-be Sergeant Samuel Esguerra of the 42nd Infantry Brigade was demoted back to being a Corporal and was forcibly assigned  to Bicol where two young men killed him in self-defense allegedly. He was under the government’s Witness Protection Program he sought after revealing that his officer and fellow soldiers gunned down a helpless businesswoman accused of being a member of the New People’s Army in Quezon. The Commission on Human Rights and the Court found the officer and soldiers guilty of murder and robbery.

Esguerra testified that his officer and fellow soldiers divided the loot among themselves after killing the businesswoman. He also knew of the guns and bullets the soldiers sell to private citizens and NPA members who are their relatives and friends when their monthly pays and allowances are delayed.

Hope we all learn from the recent death of former Defense Secretary General Angelo Reyes.

All about my daughter

(For this week, National Daughters’ Week,  I am giving way to my daughter’s essay she wrote when she was 16 to get a glimpse of how she thinks. Now is your time to shine, Maui.)

We are five in the family. I have two older brothers; that makes me the unica hija and the bunsung-bunso. I am given much love and care being the youngest and the only girl in the family. My parents and brothers are very protective; they allow no one to do me any harm (who would want a loved one be hurt in the first place?). Though this is the case, my parents gave me the freedom to play and explore the world. I used to play in our neighborhood with lots of toys and lots of playmates. It was fun playing and inventing different games with them.

Nanay always tells me that I can play whatever I want – responsibly. There is no such thing as a girl’s toy or a boy’s toy or a girl’s game or a boy’s game. I can play any game that interests me.

Being hurt, getting bruises, scratches and wounds are normal things. My parents do not scold me whenever I go home with such skin abrasions. They tell me it is part of being a child. It is a learning experience. So I do not cry whenever these things happen. I have a high tolerance to pain.

We also take care of a lot of pets. We experienced having five dogs and seven puppies, four cats, and a flock of doves in our home. They are all part of our family. We love them. I think this is why I grew up with so much love and compassion to animals. That’s why when I was in grade five I decided to become a vegetarian. Nanay earlier did. Tatay, Kuya, and Diko did not change their food preferences but they respected our decision.

When I was little, Nanay already gave me the freedom of choice – to choose the things that I like; the things that I want; and the things that interest me. When I was around four years old, I already got to shop and choose the clothes that I want to wear. I remember telling a saleslady, “Pabayaan nyo po akong magdesisyon” because she was suggesting me to buy something that I did not like. I just can’t help but smile whenever I remember that moment. I think this is why I have become independent. I am not afraid to decide on my own. I felt trusted and responsible for everything that I think or do.

Nanay tells me that I talk like an adult when I was little. We have had a lot of sensible conversations. I had so many questions in my mind, and I expected her to give all the answers. I was a really inquisitive kid. This explains why I like to talk with people and share them my views about life.

I started cooking at the age of four. Scrambled egg was the first dish that I have ever cooked. Then I added milk, so it became scrambled egg with milk – I consider it the product of my first food invention/experimentation. I have enjoyed cooking since then. Tatay taught me how to make pancakes out of flour, eggs, oil, water and milk. I was already cooking at the age of five. I needed to stand on a chair because I was so small that I could not reach the stove to cook my “dishes”. Now, I can cook normally. And I am proud that I have learned to cook a lot of dishes – from Filipino cuisine (sinigang, diningdeng, tinola, tinuktok, adobo, nilaga, etc,) to foreign ones  (pansit, spaghetti, lasagna, brownies, etc.), all of which are vegetarian dishes. Some were taught by Nanay, some were from recipe books, and some were products of my creativity and imagination.

When I started schooling, my parents guided me all the way. They always remind me that I am good at everything that I do, be it on sports or academics. When I was in elementary, I did my assignments and projects. Nanay helps and guides me and makes sure that I really did the school work. From then on, I learned to take responsibility. In school, I have always been elected or chosen to lead a group or our class (group leader/class officer). This has built my self-esteem.

When I was in middle school, I used to play Titser Titseran with my playmates who are much younger than I am. Our classes (game) were held in our house on a regular basis. I teach them real lessons (baking, math formulas, good values, etc.) with real subjects (GMRC, Math, Science, English, Filipino, Hekasi, Arts, HE) with even real break times (recess/lunch). I even made a class list, grades, and gave report cards at the end of the grading. On weekdays, they visit our house after their classes in school. I helped them with their assignments. I became their tutor.

My parents enrolled me in basic swimming lessons when I was in grade three; basic gymnastics when I was in grade five; voice lessons and advanced swimming lessons when I was in grade six; piano lessons when I was in first year high school; and flute lessons when I was in second year high school. They encouraged me to do everything that interests me and excel in whatever I want to do.

I started dancing when I was three years old (I think). I had my first official dance presentation when I was four. In elementary, I have always been dancing for school programs (intermission numbers). When I got in high school, I became a varsity swimmer and competed with other athletes. In my second year, our school principal invited me to dance an Indian dance in the school’s morning assembly and I became famous for it. In my third year in high school, I realized that swimming was really not my passion, but dancing. So I joined my high school’s pep squad.

I grew up having a close relationship with my family. My brothers and I used to play together. We always kiss our parents and tell them how much we love them. Our parents too are very affectionate. We established an open relationship. I can tell them anything! I think this is one of the reasons why I am not yet interested in looking for a partner. I do not feel empty, for my family’s love completes me.

I grew up with confidence. I always keep in mind what Nanay always tells me – I am a strong woman. I have the freedom of choice; freedom of expression, but I should act responsibly. I can stand for my beliefs. I am somebody. (Rosa Mirasol Esguerra Melencio)

Raising two sons and a daughter while the father is away

Raising two sons and a daughter can be complicated and extremely hard but not actually as difficult with the help of my husband who dotes on the children, my parents who really love their grandchildren (perhaps more than their children) and my mother-in-law who has always been there for me in the absence of a babysitter or house help.

True, there were tough times when I almost surrendered to impatience and wish I could resign as a mother but realizes that motherhood is a permanent position with a job description that calls for the flexing of the muscles, extending of patience till it reaches the heavens, wit that is always challenged and intelligence far more than Einstein’s.

While the two older boys – almost four years apart – were toddlers, they both told me: “Nanay pakakasalan kita paglaki ko (Mother, I will marry you when I grow up).” Same thing with our daughter who also told me when she was about two years old: “Ikaw ang gusto kong asawa paglaki ko (I want you to be my wife when I grow up),” to which I replied: “Hindi puwede. Nanay mo ako (You cannot. I am your Mother.)” My daughter retorted: “Sige, si Tatay na lang. (Then I will marry Father).” To which I answered: “Hindi puwede. Tatay mo siya (You cannot. He is your Father.)”

Unrelenting to be unmarried, my toddler daughter quipped: “E, di si Kuya na lang (I will marry my big brother then).” I was almost laughing when I told her: “Hindi puwede, kapatid mo siya (You cannot marry your brother).” Finally exasperated, this daughter realized: “E, di hindi rin puwede si Diko?” (Then I cannot marry my other brother?).” Yes, I said, explaining to her that she cannot marry anyone in the family.

“Hindi na lang ako mag-aasawa (Then I will no longer get married),” she finally resigned.

The boys’ and her concept of the family at tender age revolved around us five – father, mother and siblings – who eat, play, work and live under one roof. Nothing more, nothing less. So much so that when my husband went abroad to work, the five of us were all devastated. Separation is the most painful feeling for a child (and adults too).

We all dread the day when my husband was scheduled to fly back to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to work as an editor in an English newspaper there. He has been leaving the Philippines yearly for 13 years but we never became used to it. Once we lost sight of him when he boards the tricycle (my husband is so used to simple living that even when he is already earning dollars he prefers to take public transport), the two boys would go to their room hurriedly. The eldest son would lie on his bed facing the wall; the second son would bury his face in the pillow, sobbing. The daughter waits for an airplane to pass by and waves goodbye thinking that her father is always in every airplane.

As for me, I tell myself that nothing and nobody can break our family. The husband writes almost every day and play puzzles and whatever games that can be had on paper with the two boys. The toddler daughter writes back to his father in scribbles telling him how she misses him and asks him when he is coming home again.

“Forgive us”: 500 years of Church’s recorded sinning against the women

The Catholic Church’s asking for forgiveness for the sins it has committed against women is now put to test in the Philippines. Will the Reproductive Health Bill that the Church has openly declared war with finally pass this September? Let us go back to history more than 500 years ago to see how the unfolding of events has molded the women’s lives to what it is now.

Year 1484. A Papal Bull, whom book writers Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger inspired with their printed Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of the Witches) to ferret out alleged witches, mostly women, had been issued approving the Inquisition’s prosecuting and burning of women at the stake.

It was a systematic persecution that hundreds of European women who may had been suspected of possessing stones, books, herbs, cauldrons, stick brooms  or may had a list of recipes for herbal medicine preparations or who had gone to a neighbor seeking help on how to cure a headache – were enough evidence to convict them as witches, and thus, punished with death by burning.

Year 1521 and onward. Spanish chroniclers Antonio Pigafetta, Miguel de Loarca, and Antonio de Morga, and 100 years later Fr. Ignacio Alcina, had been one in saying that Indio women were “very vicious and sensual” and that this ‘carnal pleasure” was the fault of lumay or gayuma prescribed and concocted by the ancient herbolaria, a witchdoctor or native priestesses called babaylans.

The Spaniards had declared war against the babaylans following the Inquisitors’ paradigm in Europe because they embody the early pagan beliefs that were said to be the works of Satan. Their rituals, dances, prayers and chants were all against the laws of the Church that was even made virulent with the babaylan efforts to drive the Spaniards away from the islands.

Women’s bodies represented the “perverse” Evil that must be subjugated. The Spanish colonizers’ patriarchal world view had been particularly challenged by the Filipino society’s sexual freedom (with no concept of women’s virginity and presence of divorce, among others) and matrilineal system of naming the offspring.

Abuses, rapes, slavery, impregnations, public humiliations and whippings had been too many that Pastoral Letters and Instructions to Clergy were issued to the Spaniards in the Philippines to at least review how the women were particularly treated in the islands.

Year 1995. Pope John Paul II, in a gesture of humility and admission, had asked the women forgiveness for the Church’s persecution of the witches and wrongly placed religious piety. In His Holiness’ Letter to the Women, the Pope had asked forgiveness for burning them at the stake and historical degradation of countless women around the world.

Year 2009. Reproductive Health Bill 5043 sponsor Representative Edcel Lagman in his speech at the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines’ (FPOP) 40^th anniversary last August expressed hopes that the bill will be passed this September. This controversial RH Bill which has been the center of debates between RH Bill advocates and the Catholic Church represented by the Pro-Life Movement provides for a “national policy on reproductive health, responsible parenthood and population development.”

Church position supporters –for the nth time – have called this RH Bill “Satan’s work” much like Europe’s early Inquisitors and Philippines’ Spanish colonizers condemning again women to a life of oblivion.

The congressman from Albay said that 113 representatives have already supported the bill with some secretly backing it up for fear of reprisal and backlash from the Church group. Only 76 votes are needed for the RH Bill to become a law.

September 15, 2009. University of the Philippines and Gregorian University in Rome graduate Reverend Father Carlos Reyes, in The Peacemakers’ Circle Foundation’s forum titled “Freedom of Religion in Islam and Catholic Christianity” reiterated Pope John Paul II’s asking of forgiveness to the women.

“Forgive us for persecuting you; forgive us for degrading you.”

RH Bill now, to my mind, becomes an acid test, for the Church.

May our nameless and hapless women ancestors now rest in peace.

Serenity in sincerity

Former Philippine President Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino died peacefully in her sleep in the wee hours of the first day of August. Her daughters describe her face as “almost smiling” and as if in deep slumber, a forever slumber in serenity.

Bouquet of red, white and yellow flowers from ordinary Filipino people has been piling up at the slightly opened gate of her private residence at Times Street in Quezon City since Saturday. Only her family driver is there to receive and stack them along the fence.

The words “thank you”, “goodbye”, “farewell” and “we love you” were written on the notes that came along with the flowers.

Described as a symbol of simplicity and sincerity, her driver of 46 years, Teody Lansangan, said he is grateful to the former President who helped him send all of his four children to college. “I also stopped smoking because of her prodding,” Lansangan described how her boss influenced his life.

“She treated me like a family member,” the teary-eyed driver said.

General Ramon Montano who served as the chief of the defunct Philippine Constabulary disclosed how he was surprised of the magnanimity and “coolness” of the former President in times of crisis. Remembering the most cherished moment with her, he said he was surprised to have found the president cooking in the Malacanang kitchen while tear gases were being thrown at the Palace gates during one of the eight coup attempts during her presidency.

“Her simplicity and strength of character are worth emulating,” the general said.

“She is the most sincere person I have known in my life,” her former Cabinet Secretary and Senator Franklin Drilon spoke of her. She was very careful of spending the country’s money and makes sure she spends her own personal money, earned from Hacienda Luisita, for dinners or personal pictures that can pass off as state expenses.

She was not lavish and even wears again her old dresses asking her personal advisers “What is wrong with wearing an old dress again?”

Everybody –from the ordinary folks in the street up to high government officials-has been mourning for the demise of the “beacon of democracy” and the first Filipino woman president due to a long battle with colon cancer at 76.

Philippine flags in government offices were lowered at half mast while a staccato of 21-gun salutes were fired on air at the military camps in honor of their former commander-in-chief. An eight cannon ball volley of fire, never heard by residents who live close by, was first fired at Camp Aguinaldo along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, the seat of the Philippine national defense. It is being fired every 30 minutes thereafter until her funeral on Wednesday, declared a non-working holiday by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Her cortege as she is being brought by honor guards atop a six-wheeler truck off to Manila Cathedral, met by grief stricken ordinary citizens who showered her banner-draped coffin with yellow confetti, equals that of her husband Ninoy Aquino’s funeral- also in August 25 years ago. People describe her as a person with a “pure heart.”

Trully, there is serenity in sincerity. Adieu, Madame President.