Accents
"I'm leaving on a jet plane…" (3)
Oakland, California, Dec. 13 -- I continue with the "gems" (call them what you will) -- droplets of words culled from past columns that I hope had created ripples in the mighty ocean of your mind. And I continue with the remaining lines of last week's quote from the great Robert F. Kennedy: "Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greek [Aeschylus] wrote so many years ago: To tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. Let us dedicate ourselves to that and say a prayer for our country and our people." Lines that inspire this columnist to churn out words for country and people, yes folks, for Bayan Ko.
I winged to the other side of the globe, John Denver's lyrics blending with mine (Every song I sing, I sing for you… Every word I write, I write for you), and this time I have Simon and Garfunkel to make a bridge over troubled water (that is about to reach boiling point with the Con-ass and the Con-con at fierce cross-currents). Like a bridge over troubled water, I lay down (ever so humbly) these snippets to ease the mind… The country's time will come to shine… Her dreams are on their way, and we will see them shine… Like a bridge over troubled water, I'm sailing right behind… Oh yes, I'm writing right behind… These words then to form the planks that make the bridge:
Are you who you say you are?
The dramatis personae involved are who they say they are. I.D.s are unnecessary (in congressional hearings). Only a bit of camouflage. A face as white as snow looks squarely into the camera; a guilty conscience doesn't show. A saintly mien hides the crocodile within. Methinks acting awards should be given to the trapos (traditional politicians, not too different from the dirt rag) who continue fooling the people and enriching themselves...
Do banking institutions exercise as much caution over government bureaucrats as they do over private individuals when the former handle public money? Double standard is an ugly term. I hope bank officers are not being cowed by power.
SELDA, desaparecidos, atbp.
SELDA is Samahan ng mga Detainee Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya. Days, months, years of anxiety in the detention cell differed as to how long for each of the detained. My husband Rudy endured six months in the Marcos stockade and two months of provincial arrest. Many were victims of torture, e.g., being made to lie down between two chairs as a sort of bridge after which the stomach was whacked with a club. There were women stripped naked and forced to sit on a block of ice. Other atrocities of the Marcos regime crippled the body but failed to bend the spirit.
'Disappearances'or Desaparecidos is not identical to other human rights violations such as torture, extra-judicial executions, and arbitrary detentions where the fate of the prisoner or detainee is known. The uncertainty torments in the case of a 'disappearance.' Could he/she have decomposed six feet under the ground or have been left to rot in some killing field? Or does he/she still breathe with life in Timbuktu?
Aliwasa: concert by the river
Ambon (Artista at Manunulat nga Makibanwahanon) belted out songs to refute that "kasagana-an daw ay sa Cha-Cha makukuha (progress is obtainable through charter change)," songs that awaken, shake the complacent, and stir up the uninvolved to "Magmulat, Kumilos, Magparami." Call them activists, radicals, revolutionaries, they are all restless, uneasy, impatient over the happenings obtaining in the country: human rights abuses, graft and corruption, betrayal of public trust, electoral fraud and cover-up, etc., etc., ad nauseam. Veterans of the Marcos detention cell sang with the Ambon concertists along with young students and street parliamentarians…
I know idealists count in the audience, that in many there beats a humane and compassionate heart that will wrestle and stand firm against the onslaught of human rights violations and the iniquity of an exploitative, oppressive society. Hearts steadfast to fight what seems to be an unbeatable foe, resolute to right what seems to be an unrightable wrong in order to reach the seemingly unreachable stars, to paraphrase the song.
…And benefits for all
More than just the spreading of benefits, there should be justice; otherwise, the uneven, unfair, unjust distribution of benefits would rankle -- as it does rankle in the members of the three unions in the University of Iloilo: the UI Faculty Union, the UI Employees Association, and the UI Security Guards Union.
Food for thought from one more column: "Far from being a business proposition, what is a university but a wellspring of knowledge and a citadel of freedom. It must pursue everything that is fair and just and not exploitative. Otherwise, the name university is but a farce."
No parking
Absolutely NO PARKING to drivers who don't fall in the category of the handicapped. They can read all right but they refuse to heed the sign PARKING SPACE FOR THE DISABLED. Perhaps the meaning is beyond them because they are not literate enough. Usurpers of Privilege -- that tag should be made to hang around their necks as soon as they step out of their cars cozily parked on the space designated for the disabled.
The large sign PARKING SPACE FOR THE DISABLED is useless if the space is free to all takers, open to individuals insensitive to moral dictates. True, management shows caring, concern, social responsibility by providing convenient parking spaces for the disabled. Nevertheless, this concern must go beyond appearances by being enforced. Indeed, what good is a rule or any ordinance for that matter if the same is not enforced?
Unchristian, I wrote
The folks narrated how the girl even called out for "Tabang!" (Help!) giving the lie to her intention of ending it all. In that moment of near death, could she not have asked for forgiveness in a direct confession to her Maker and was thus absolved of sinfulness, hence, worthy of religious service? In its awesome majesty, mustn't the law resolve doubts in favor of the accused? Or of those who have less in life? The Church that has showered merciful understanding on its own pedophiles (the cracks in its armor became international scandal), the same Church showed not a tiny piece of charity to this poor family who was requesting blessings for one of their own.
The Church that opens its doors to criminals ad nauseam, to adulterers and concubines, to murderers and drug addicts, to hypocrites and politicians of all shades, the same Church had closed its doors to one simple-minded girl who, to paraphrase Shakespeare, had loved too well and perhaps not too wisely.
IAPL: lawyering for the people
What is so significant about the International Association of People's Lawyers or IAPL is its mission: "lawyering for the people." It is a "federation of organizations of people's lawyers in various countries but especially in those where oppression is most severe, the violations of human rights are most widespread, and the people's struggle is most intense," IAPL came into being at a Founding Congress held Dec. 8-10, 2004 in Doorn, Netherlands attended by 26 human rights lawyers representing 10 countries in Asia, Latin America, and Europe: Afghanistan, Belgium, Colombia, Greece, India, Mexico, Nepal, Netherlands, Philippines, and Turkey.
IAPL cries dissent
A power-packed magazine in defense of the democratic rights of the people is aptly titled Dissent, the official publication of the IAPL. Issue No.5, 2006 of Dissent, circulated in the IAPL 3rd Congress in Davao last Oct. 13-16, bannered the theme: The Role of Lawyers in Defending the Democratic Rights of the People. A footer in the magazine says it all: "The IAPL is an international organization of human rights lawyers, paralegals, law students and legal workers that aims to contribute to the establishment of a just and humane world order and use the legal profession to obtain immediate and concrete gains for the people's struggles for national freedom, social justice, democracy and respect for human rights."
Atty. Raf Jespers of Progress Lawyers Network of Belgium writes that The War on Terror in Europe is a deliberate strategy to criminalize every resistance against capitalism. "There is a growing resistance in the EU against this 'war on terror' which has degenerated into a war against fundamental rights and especially to the criminalizing of every political and social movement that dares to question the exploitation of capital with the scandalous profits and enrichment of a fraction of the population."
ILAC: lawyers for the people
An Iloilo-based group of human rights lawyers, ILAC (Iloilo Legal Assistance Center) is committed to advocacy for the poor, the deprived, the oppressed and marginalized sectors in society. It handles cases for the underprivileged--workers, farmers, indigenous people, the urban poor, women and children, the youth and students--in defense of their rights and promotion of their interests.
Seven lawyers have bonded themselves together to provide legal assistance to "the least of the brethren": Attys. Janne Baterna, Steve Cercado, Sol Gamosa, Eli Guiloreza, Rudy Lagoc, Pet Melliza, and Bong San Felix--the Magnificent Seven as moviedom would have it. Putting aside allusions to brute force, striking physique, and lightning speed that characterize the actors in the film, here in Iloilo are legal personalities who tussle using brain power to lawyer for the people.
Will you vote for Pacquiao?
The attributes I look for in a candidate for public office? I go for the composite of three: integrity, nationalism, competence. Sterling honesty that shines atop a moral high ground, nationalism that burns in the heart to promote the interest of country and people, and competence in governance springing from intellect and education recognized and respected by the international community. These attributes were enshrined in the late staunch nationalists Claro M. Recto, Jose P. Laurel, Jose Diokno, Lorenzo Tanada, and Ninoy Aquino, and in venerable old man Jovito Salonga. We are still on the watch whether our present crop of young leaders will fit in their mold.
(Comments to lagoc@hargray.com)