Global Voices » Karlo Mikhail Mongaya

Philippines: Military Bombings Create Refugees

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Mon, 28 May 2012 10:23:19 +0000

Despite the commitment of the Armed Forces of the Philippines of having “zero” human rights abuses for 2012, peasants and indigenous peoples in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao have been forced to flee their land in the past few months because of increased military presence and activities in the area. The residents have become bakwits - the local term for refugees.

The destructive tropical storm Sendong and a spate of flash floods and landslides hit Mindanao last year, thus creating scores of refugees. Mindanao has also been home to thousands of people fleeing from heavy fighting between Muslim secessionist rebels and government forces.

There are no grave calamities, but many have been forced to leave their communities lately as a result of intense combat operations and bombings by military forces in the provinces of Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, Surigao, Agusan, Cotabato, Davao, Compostela Valley, Zamboanga Peninsula, and Bukidnon.

These communities are known to be sitting on top of mineral-rich areas eyed by multinational corporations. But the military has also pinpointed these areas as strongholds of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed group, the New People's Army (NPA).

The human rights alliance Karapatan has warned that more communities are threatened to be displaced to make way for the entry of large-scale mining operations in the island, with the military serving to drive away the people in favor of big business.

The people's livelihoods are displaced. Their children have stopped schooling. Dislocated from their homes, they have sought temporary shelter in evacuation centers. Here are some of the stories documented by Karapatan and circulated in email groups:

Antolin Gimo, member of KAMASS-KMP, a local organization of peasants from Mahaba, Marihatag, Surigao del Sur. Antolin’s peasant community is targeted for coal and nickel mining operations that is reportedly going to start soon. The people of Bgy. Mahaba went through a series of forciblee vacuation from their homes in 2006 and yearly, from 2009 to the present. On March 2011, elements from the 29th and 23rd IBPA launched air and land reconnaissance missions against the NPA, shelling the areas around the communities.

Bebeth Calinawan Enriquez, member of Butuan City-RTR-Cabadbaran City-Tubay Intermunicipal Mamanwa Organization (APOGAN), a local Mamanwa organization from Cabadbaran, Agusan del Norte. She is among the 215 families who fled their homes in March this year due a series of bombings and strafing. Canons were stationed in the middle of the fields, only about 20 meters away from the houses. The Mamanwa are still in evacuation centers in Butuan City, and neighboring barangays, away from their homes and livelihood. On September 2011, Bebeth Calinawan was shot at by the military, detained, and was presented by the military to the media as a victim of the NPAs landmines. Bebeth is also a witness to the hard life in the evacuation centers: of post-traumatic stress, the lack of food, of sleeping on cold cemented floors, of sickness affecting the evacuees, of the government’s lack of response and rejection of their pleas.

Maritess Bulawan, chairperson of Nagkahiusang Mag-uuma sa Kibawe (Namaki) in Kibawe, Bukidnon. Maritess is among the peasant leaders in Kibawe who actively oppose the building of the Pulangi mega-Dam-V that will drown peasant communities. She was involved in the negotiations with local traders from whom they get their farm inputs and to whom they sell their produce. On April 1, 183 families from the town of Maritess evacuated when the military, using two tora-tora planes, dropped 14 bombs that affected three barangays. One civilian, according to Maritess was wounded by bomb splinter. The military also occupied a public elementary school. Maritess believes that the military operation was a retaliation to the previous encounter with the NPA. But as in many other instances, the military train their guns against the civilians. As an active peasant leader, Maritess has caught the ire of the military.

The latest forced evacuations involve at least 80 families from Trento, Agusan del Sur who fled bombings and military operations last May 7, 2012. Karapatan has documented at least 6,556 victims of forced evacuation under the Oplan Bayanihan counterinsurgency plan of the Noynoy Aquino administration.

Indigenous people's groups, environmentalists, and human rights advocates held protest actions at the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) last April to condemn militarization. Here is a video of the protests:

Philippines: Demolition of Urban Poor Village Sparks Indignation

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 01:45:14 +0000

At least one person was killed and scores were injured after police forces fired on protesting residents of Silverio Compound in Paranaque City defending their homes from being demolished.

(A young resident who was gunned down during the demolition. Photo from Tudla)

The Silverio Compound is home to at least 28,000 urban poor families. The residents contend that a total of 4 individuals were killed. The violent demolition has sparked a wave of indignation online.

Billionaire Henry Sy's SM Development Corporation (SMDC) owns the 9.7 hectare lot which it plans to clear for the construction of condominiums and commercial establishments.

This is not the first time that Henry Sy's SM shopping mall entered into controversy. Protests against SMDC also erupted against the planned removal of pine trees for one of its mall expansion program.

(Residents prepare to defend their homes in Silverio Compund. Photo from Tudla)

The police confirmed the killing of Arnel Leonor, 21 years old. Residents said that Bodging Isaias, 16 years old, Rodman Ortega, 16 years old and Raymond Aquino, 36 years old were also killed by police gunfire.

Youth activist leader and blogger Vencer Crisostomo shares a comprehensive narrative account of the bloody incident:

News video footages and documentation by citizen media groups showed members of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) armed with M16 rifles firing indiscriminately as they dipersed residents who formed a human barricade to try to stop police and demolition teams. Also shown were scores being arrested, bloodied and beaten up even as they were already in the custody of the police.

After several rounds of volley gunfire, Arnel Leonor Tolentino, 21 was confirmed dead by gunshot on the head and several others also shot in vital areas are in critical condition. Not a few residents have gunshot wounds in their arms and legs, some as young as 15-16 years old.

SMDC has repeatedly denied any connection with the brutal demolition. But government documents obtained by residents indicate the company as a “housing development partner.”

Parañaque Mayor Florencio Bernabe have confirmed plans to use the lot for commercial purposes for the city government. There is also a plan to build a medium-rise housing project but this will only occupy a small portion of the property as shown by the project's master plan.

The violent demolition reminded Like a Rolling Stone of the 2004 Hacienda Luisita massacre where striking farm workers were shot by military and police forces.

I feared that a whitewash would take place given the statements of the Mayor. In the Luisita massacre, the authorities claimed that farmers were armed, that violence started from the ranks of the farmers and that the farmers were infiltrated by “outsiders” who were agitating them.

The same storyline is now being repeated by the authorities even before an investigation into the incident has taken place. Authorities are saying that residents were armed too, that they started the violence and that they were infiltrated by “outsiders”. The idea here is simple. Blame the victims and problem goes away.

Citizen media writer Kenneth Roland Guda believes that the Noynoy Aquino government should also be held accountable for the massacre in Silverio Compound.

Hindi lamang usapin ito ng command responsibility. May direktang pananagutan ang administrasyong Aquino sa paggamit ng dahas sa mga sibilyang tumututol sa demolisyon. Kinalinga ng administrasyong ito ang patuloy na pagsasanay at pag-aarmas sa malulupit at brutal na mga yunit ng militar at pulisya na may masasamang rekord ng paglabag sa karapatang pantao.

This is not just a matter of command responsibility. The Aquino administration is directly accountable for the use of violence against civilians opposing the demolition. This administration nurtured the continued training and arming of vicious and brutal military and police units that have a bad record of human rights violations.

The official statement and appeal of the residents of silverio compound, Paranaque was also posted online.

The policemen are supposed to serve and protect the people but why send more than 300 policemen and demolition teams to destroy our ranks and the whole community and kill us?

We strongly oppose the massive demolition of our community. The demolition of our public market is only part of the continued plan to demolish the whole 9.7 hectares of Silverio Compound to give way to the business center of Henry Sy and to wipe out all small vendors in favour of the HYPERMARKET of the Sy family.

A Radical's Nut is encouraging support for what he calls a “fight for the right to live.”

While the residents of Silverio Compound remain undaunted by oppression and brutality, they need all the support that they can muster to ensure that justice will be served. At the same time, they also need assistance – medical, legal, etc. – to help them cope with the tragedy inflicted on them by institutions that are supposed to uphold their rights and promote their interests.

Some reactions on Twitter:

@ellacolmenares: SM: Silverio Massacre http://fb.me/1AJQ26eas

@Ralpipay: @piabisikleta Re-watched the footage of Silverio massacre and Red some articles eto ba ang tinatawag nating #PinoyPride #ItsMoreFuninPH

@Ralpipay: @piabisikleta Re-watched the footage of Silverio massacre and read some articles is this what we call #PinoyPride #ItsMoreFuninPH

@mobilemaui: Massacre: “To kill people in numbers, especially brutally and indiscriminately” Yun ang ginawa sa #Silverio compound. #justice

@YourConnoisseur: OMG! Silverio compound massacre! And it happened under the administration of #PNoy.

@jaellao: Today was a bloody hell day for residents of Silverio Compound. It's also the 29th month since the Ampatuan Massacre.

A video documentation of the resident's barricades and the bloody dispersal:

Photos and video via Tudla Productions. Some rights reserved.

Philippine Education Prior and During Spanish Colonization

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 01:23:05 +0000

Red-ayglasses blogs about the state of Philippine education during pre-colonial times and under Spanish colonial rule.

Philippines: Counterinsurgency Primer

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 01:22:11 +0000

Karapatan, an alliance working for the promotion and protection of human rights in the Philippines, uploaded a PDF copy of its comic book entitled Oplan Bayanihan for Beginners. The book is an introduction to Oplan Bayanihan, the government's counterinsurgency campaign which is being linked by human rights advocates to the continuing spate of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and other human rights violations in the country.

US War Drones in the Philippines

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 01:23:07 +0000

A Radical's Nut looks at how US war drones or “unmanned aerial assault crafts” violates Philippine sovereignty and endanger the lives of ordinary Filipino civilians.

Philippines: Students Prevented from Graduating Over Facebook Bikini Photos

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 11:28:54 +0000

The Saint Theresa's College, an exclusive all-girls Catholic school managed by nuns in the central Philippine island of Cebu, sparked public outrage when it barred five high school students from joining the graduation ceremony because of photos posted on their Facebook accounts showing them wearing bikinis.

This despite a ruling issued by the Cebu Regional Trial Court ordering the school to allow the students to join the graduation ceremony. The affected students and their parents complained against the lack of due process and the arbitrary imposition of harsh sanctions. The school simply claimed that the court order was deficient.

St Theresa's College logo

The students decried the the school administration's alleged verbal assault on their persons with accusations of having “loose morals,” of being “sluts,” “drunks,” and “drug addicts.” They said that the photos were private and that the school accessed the student's Facebook account without permission.

Administrators said that the photos violated the student handbook by being “obscene, sexually provocative, and revolting to the sense of any decent person.” While the five students were barred from joining the ceremonies, the school has officially declared them as graduates.

Some “loyal” alumni of the school have stepped into the fray to protect what they perceive to be “biased” attacks against the reputation of their alma mater:

Contrary to what the complainant has stated, the school said to have given due process to these five young ladies. First step was that they asked the five to write, in their own words and penmanship, what had conspired in the said photos. These written accounts were then read and assessed. The school then called the parents to tell them what had happened; they explain the violations made by their children and the corresponding consequences of their misconduct. The parents, after the explanation, were then asked to sign if they were to conform to the said sanctions, to which they did.

But Momblogger, also a STC graduate, said that while her alma mater has the right to prescribe its own proper behavioral requirements, she said this standards should consider recent developments like the rise of social media:

In this age of social media, this will not be the last instance of STC students posting comments , pictures in Facebook or other social media sites. It might be time for STC Cebu to accept certain realities and adjust to them in a positive and constructive way. Why call them out with abusive language as “easy, drunks and addicts”? Name calling will not result in constructive engagement.

attyatwork.com shares the summary of the school's defense of its actions in a press conference called for immediately after the controversial graduation:

STC did not hack the facebook accounts of the girls, contrary to the insinuations of many news articles. Some STC students who didn’t like the photos reported the matter to the school admin. The school has always reminded the girls to uphold responsible use of social networking sites for their own protection and security. To ensure the students’ adherence to this, the student handbook prohibits “posing and uploading pictures on the internet that entail body exposure.”

The student press alliance College Editors Guild of the Philippines condemned the school for barring the students from joining the ceremony, saying this constituted a violation of students rights:

We commend the court ruling of Judge Wilfredo Fiel Navarro of the Cebu Regional Trial Court (RTC) for giving justice to the case of the students. The judge, more than the mentors in the school, saw that the concerned were still minors and the rash judgement and punishment would do more harm than good.

We condemn STC’s defiance to the court order. Adding to the unjust treatment to the students, they also did not allow them to go inside the school gates during the graduation day. They were treated like personae non gratae, they were denied even an entrance to the school they have been studying in since elementary school.

Raul Pangalangan, former College of Law Dean at the University of the Philippines, pointed out that the school may have intruded into the privacy of the students:

The photograph was apparently posted on the girl’s Facebook account whose privacy settings allowed access only to her friends. The school officials were not her Facebook friends, and were kibitzers into the child’s zone of privacy. Indeed, if indeed the girl’s privacy settings gave access only to her friends, the girl’s Facebook posts are technically hearsay vis-à-vis the school officials because they were not privy to her posts.

In a Blog Watch piece, youth leader Vencer Crisostomo said that the incident is indicative of the generally repressive and reactionary character of the Philippine educational system:

These incidents show only the tip of the iceberg. Repressive and fascist-like acts of the same nature are being implemented in most schools in the country. There are numbers of reports of students being punished and even expelled from schools due to exercise of freedom to expression, organization and association, and are being punished for their political advocacies or religious beliefs.

There should be a thorough review of the state of campus and student rights in the country. Basic rights and civil liberties are not waived nor nullified once a student enrolls or enters a school. In the same light, “academic freedom” or “autonomy” could never mean that a school is exempted from respecting human rights.

Twitter reactions

Reactions on social networking site Twitter were aghast at the “harsh” treatment of the girls:

@vincecinches: Hail the STC Bikini 5! #wth

@Tito_Ces: Admonish the girl for breaking the rules but beyond that is being morally hypocritical when bishops keep quiet abt pedos.

@TheDoraism: Unreasonably strict, conservative nuns.

@francesdoplon: On the STC bikini incident: Religious school or secular, admin should limit their jurisdiction to campus and leave parenting to parents.

@janram49: St. Theresa's College, let the punishment fit the crime. #STC

But there were also some, especially loyal alumni of the school, that expressed sympathy for the besieged school officials:

@bonjustin8: I wonder why many people are bent on lynching the admins of St. Theresa's College - Cebu. Is it wrong for a school to uphold its standards?

@ohyesitsTIFF: St. Theresa's College is a HIGHLY CONSERVATIVE EXCLUSIVE SCHOOL. There's a reason why parents and students are given student handbooks.

@ArianneJuanillo: St Theresa's College is a Catholic school governed by the teachings of the Catholic Church.They are expected to form the values of children.

A similar incident also happened in another Catholic high school in a city in the country's capital wherein six students were not allowed to graduate and receive their diplomas after they uploaded photos of themselves simulating a kissing scene.

Philippines: Government Fails to Stop ‘Noynoying'

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 19:18:28 +0000

What started as a substitute to the now banned planking protests is now the latest hit sensation in the Philippines. As a protest pose, ‘Noynoying' simply involves sitting around, lying on the ground, or staring on empty space, and doing nothing.

Activists first coined ‘Noynoying' to describe Philippine President Noynoy Aquino's inaction on the soaring prices of oil, tuition and other school fees, and other basic goods and services, rising inequality, and poverty, among others.

Government fails to stop Noynoying

Government efforts to stop the growing popularity of ‘Noynoying' have all failed miserably. The term became even more popular after the Palace released several photos showing the president supposedly “at work” to counteract the charges of ‘Noynoying'. These were quickly photoshopped and uploaded online as Internet memes.

The latest ‘Noynoying' images showed the president together with Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials who also became notorious last year after they edited photos of themselves to make it appear that they were “working” on a Manila Bay wall destroyed by a typhoon.

Here are some samples of noynoying memes now circulating on the Internet:

‘Noynoying' now has its own entry in Wikipedia, which has expanded from a simple one short paragraph description to a lengthy treatise on the origin of the term.

On Noynoying's growing popularity

Taken from the president's nickname Noynoy, ‘Noynoying' has been widely embraced by the public to mean doing nothing in the face of pressing matters that need action. Filipino netizens have been discussing why ‘Noynoying' gained its present popularity.

A member of the Aquino regime's cabinet called Noynoying an “annoying” publicity gimmick by government critics:

It is a sub-plot to a more prolonged campaign against the government by its political enemies. Because these people are having a hard time attacking government policies, they resort to ad hominem attacks on PNoy, stooping so low as to question his mental condition.

Blogger Teo Marasigan replies that the rise of Noynoying is not just the work of a few activists:

Pumatok ang Noynoying dahil sapul nito ang sentimyento sa pangulo ng mga mamamayan. Sa likod ng masasayang ngiti at masasarap na pangako ng pangulo, ramdam ang pagtindi ng hirap at gutom ng mga tao.

Noynoying became popular because it summed up the sentiments of the people about the president. Behind the happy smiles and sweet promises of the president, the worsening poverty and hunger are felt by the people.

John Marcel Ragaza meanwhile blogs that Noynoying, annoying as it maybe for the president and his officials, is not just an attack on the president's person.

Noynoying is a symbolic protest that goes beyond criticism of the president's character. The public and even Malacanang should not misconstrue Noynoying, and any act of creative protest for that matter, as a plain assault to person of Aquino. Rather, it is an insult directed at the kind of governance that is being espoused not only by Aquino but even by his predecessors, to the elite rule that has long dominated the country, to a leadership that sadly contributes to the suffering of marginalized Filipinos through the protection of elite interests. Noynoying is just a catchy verb, but it nevertheless pierces and offends because it is truthful.

The bottom line for the endurance of Noynoying, Like a Rolling Stone observes, is the Aquino government's willful disregard for people's issues:

It is Aquino and his officials who appear to be living in a different world, a place where there are only happy mall-goers, rosy stock market indices and busy construction sites that point to economic growth. In this world, oil prices are not a problem no matter how high they get. Poverty is just a state of mind and unemployment is fiction.

Be thankful Mr. President that today’s protests are still tinged with humor. There might come a time when there will only be anger over your government’s inaction.

Lastly, youth activist leader Vencer Crisostomo lists down some concrete steps that the Aquino regime can do, instead of mere photo releases and denials, to stop accusations of Noynoying:

Stopping oil price hikes, implementing genuine land reform, significantly raising wages, imposing a moratorium on tuition and other school fee increases, ending impunity and human rights abuses, standing up against US intervention, and ending foreign plunder and mining of the country's natural resources, among many others.

Philippines: Noynoying is the New Planking

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 10:51:40 +0000

Once fashionable and popular, planking has been eclipsed by a new sensation that has gripped many Filipinos around the globe. Planking was last year’s standard pose in youth and student protests against education budget cuts. Noynoying is the new planking in the Philippines.

Introduced in response to the President Noynoy Aquino regime’s inaction on oil price hikes, Noynoying is derived from the root word Noynoy, the nickname of Philippine President Benigno Aquino III. It is described as “doing nothing when in fact you have something to do.”

The pose first hit the public in last Thursday's (15 March) anti-oil price hike protest after government officials threatened to arrest those who will do planking during the protest actions. Despite efforts by the Palace to shrug off noynoying by saying it won’t have any effect on the public, it has in fact now gone viral online.

Noynoying Twitter Trends

It has inspired a Facebook fan page which gained over 800 likes in a day and various internet memes. The hashtag #noynoying, Chantal’s Doodle points out, was top nine in the Philippines trends in Twitter the day the pose came out in public.

To counter the notion that the President is not doing anything on people’s concerns, the Philippine government Official Gazette released a photo of the President supposedly busy at work:

But netizens like the Momblogger has pointed out discrepancies, like the presence of TV and DVD remote controls, in one of the photos supposedly showing the president at “work.”

Freedomwall.net user Ian points out that President Noynoy has no one to blame for the growing popularity of noynoying but himself:

Portrayal of Noynoying made me remember the not so distant past. Partying while half of the nation is being ravaged by Sendong and reacted only when the public noticed of such inaction was making him the push-button president. He is the man who had written or worked the least while he was still in the Congress or the Senate. Being a chain smoker is not a good example and making a promise to stop when he’ll win the presidency but then finally broke it is a worst one.

Blogger Pat Mangubat of the New Philippine Revolution describes noynoying as the new form of governance:

What better way to describe what this government is doing than parody the very popular photo of Noynoy in a pensive mood? That photo, which was used during the 2010 elections, became somewhat a symbol, an attraction if you wish, to convince the middle classes that Pnoy is the “one”, a some sort of Pinoy Obama, who has the skills and the wherewithal to push this country into progress. Now, two years and a half into office, and nothing seems to move at all, except perhaps the cash registers of Big Business who is now cashing in on the somewhat catatonic state of this government.

Some tweet reactions on noynoying:

@ang_mungo: A word for not responding until after 10 days from a disaster or crisis, e.g. a super typhoon or a hostage crisis. What is…?

@vhongcrimson: lacierda: #noynoying di bebenta~ ~hellow? bentang benta kya ang #noynoying hahaha~ mura lng ksi to eh, at di pa nag tataas ng presyo~ ^^v

@vhongcrimson: [Presidential Spokesperson] Lacierda: #noynoying will not sell–hello? #noynoying really sells hahaha — its cheap, and does not yet increase its price

@chriscahilig: In fairness, “noynoying” is a self-explanatory word. The first time I read “noynoying” in a sentence, I knew right away what it meant.

@momblogger: Indeed @PresidentNoy is a working president. Question: for whom? Whose interest is this President interested on fulfilling? Big Oil firms?

@gangbadoy: That's funny, yung “Noynoying” sa amin, verb din na ang ibig sabihin ay “date ng date ng date, pero hindi nagpapakasal.” #VocabHomework

@gangbadoy: That's funny, with us “Noynoying is a verb that means “always dating but not proceeding with marriage”

@MangPandoy: That's a good idea. Today, I will go #noynoying! May hostage crisis ba kamo? Kakain lang ako. May bagyo? Pa-party ako! [There's a hostage crisis? I'll just eat. There's a storm? I'll party!]

@dee_knees05: It is not just “noynoying” that young Filipinos are adopting from President Benigno Aquino III's known habit. More young Filipinos smoking.

@dudeinterrupted: Just like Imeldific, the word #Noynoying will soon find its way to the LEXICON.

The youth activist group Anakbayan has released a guide on “How to Do the NOYNOYING” and called for more pressure on the Aquino government to act on people’s issues like the oil price hike.

How to do The NOYNOYING:
1. Get a group of people
2. Find a busy public space
3. Sit down/lie on the floor and act like you're doing nothing, lazy, stupid, and like Noynoy
4. Take a picture or video and post in Twiter using #noynoying, or upload and post at facebook.com/Noynoying2012

Here's one of the noynoying memes making the rounds online:

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All pictures are from Facebook page of Noynoying and from youth group Anakbayan.

Philippines: Protest Against Removal of Trees by Shopping Mall

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:52:23 +0000

The plan of SM City Baguio shopping mall in north Philippines to remove more than 100 trees to make way for a new parking lot and entertainment site has been greeted by massive protests from concerned citizens and various cause-oriented groups. SM is owned by the Philippines' richest businessman.

Thousands marched through the streets of Baguio City last January 20, to defend the trees and call on the public to boycott SM City Baguio. The hashtag #ProtectBaguiotrees became the top Twitter trend in the country that day.

Take Me to the Riot makes the Joni Mitchel song refrain “They paved paradise to put up a parking lot” the starting point of her musings on the issue:

Funnily, it feels like the entire history of that mountain is all about uprooting and displacement. Tribes – like the Kankanaey, Igorots, and Ifugao - were uprooted from the heart of the city and were displaced to other places. Some had to move to other areas in Benguet.

These people, like those trees, have been around older than any SM Baguio, 7-11 or McDonald’s in Session rd. But commercialism, in this case parking lots, are always stronger–enough to uproot and displace those who have known the land longer and maybe even more intimately.

Protest in front of SM Baguio. Photo from @KrissyAngela

A Mommy Who Tries Living Life to the Fullest!, inspired by the pro-environment Wall-E 3D animation, points out the lack of significant difference between uprooting and transferring the trees and cutting them down.

These promises are good if you don't know what happened to the past trees that were being earth balled. Dr. Michael Bengwayan (executive director of Cordillera Ecological Center-PINE TREE) said that, for the 497 pine trees that were being earth-balled by Camp John Hay Development Corp. last 1994, only less than 20% survived and those not dead were showing signs of deteriorating. So, we should expect that out of the 187 Pine Trees that will be uprooted, more or less only 30 trees will survive.

Baguio City residents decry the lack of public consultations and are questioning the issuance of permit to the mall for the removal of the trees. Student writers hit the government's connivance with big business:

Worse, even the current administration sanctions this one-sided step and seems to refuse in protecting the interests of the larger population. President Aquino along with city officials themselves shows no disapproval of this plan and the DENR issued the permit for the implementation.

Stretching the Symbolic meanwhile concludes that the cause is ultimately against the “world capitalist system”:

This is not just a battle for the trees, or against SM corporations and their corporate greed; this is a battle for our people, of Baguio and the country, against the large system where tree-cutting projects like this are just one of the numerous evil manifestations. This is fight against a system where things are done for the benefit of a few and at the expense of the many.

Philippines: Historical Site Restoration

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:19:42 +0000

Mark Segador documents the efforts to restore the now decaying historical sites in Iloilo City, Philippines.

Philippines: Mass Movement and Pop Songs

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:18:42 +0000

Vencer Crisostomo looks at last year's mass movement high points in the Philippines through the lens of western pop songs.

Philippines: Revolutionary heritage

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 12:57:29 +0000

The Museo de Santisima Trinidad curator reviews Angela Stuart-Santiago’s Revolutionary Routes: Five Stories of Incarceration, Exile, Murder and Betrayal in Tayabas Province, 1891-1980. The book is a history of her family and the revolutionary struggles against the Spanish, American, and Japanese colonizers up to the early years of the Philippine republic. It is based on the memoir of her grandmother originally written in Spanish.

Philippines: Malong and Typhoon Sendong Evacuees

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 12:55:01 +0000

Journalist Keith Bacongco writes about how Typhoon Sendong evacuees in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao uses the malong, a traditional Muslim blanket, to cope with the disaster.

Philippines: Filipina Amazons

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:18:57 +0000

Vina Lanzona's new history book, Amazons of the Huk Rebellion, tells the many stories of Filipina women involved in the Huk Rebellion from the 1940s up to the 1950s. This is reviewed online at The PCIJ Blog.

Philippines: Davao Tagalog

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:17:22 +0000

RM Bulesco blogs about what he calls “Davao Tagalog,” a mongrel language combing Cebuano, Tagalog, and other Filipino languages that is spoken in the southern Philippine city of Davao.