On the Maguindanao massacre 5th anniversary: “58 dead, 5 years, 0 justice”

Note:  This photo-essay was the special feature of the 28 Nov-04 Dec 2014 edition of FilAm Star, the weeky 'newspaper for Filipinos in mainstream America.'  This blogger/author is the Manila-based Special News/Photo Correspondent of the paper.

Message of the IFJ-NUJP to President Aquino: "58 Dead, 5 Years, 0 Justice"

Five years ago, on 23 November 2009, 58 men and women were gunned down in Barangay Salman of Ampatuan town in Maguindanao province.  They were on a convoy to the Commission on Elections office in the provincial capital town of Shariff Aguak to file the certificate of candidacy of then Buluan vice-mayor Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu for governor of the province.

The victims of what is now considered the worst election-related violence in Philippine history included, among others, Mangudadatu’s wife and 32 journalists and media workers. Some of them were dumped in a pre-dug mass grave using a backhoe of the provincial government.

The alleged masterminds behind the massacre -  Andal Ampatuan, Sr., Andal Ampatuan, Jr. and Zaldy Ampatuan  - and 109 of their followers have been arrested and charged.  The trial has been going on since 2010 with hearings conducted twice a week, but it is slowed down by postponements of hearings.

Banner of the NUJP at Bantayog ng mga Bayani.

“58 dead, 5 years, zero justice,” the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NJUP) rated the country’s judicial system during their press conference at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Shrine in Quezon City on 23 November,

The IFJ is representing more than 600,000 journalists in 134 countries.  It has conducted several missions to the Philippines with regard to the Maguindanao massacre and had made recommendations and requests to the government.

Last week, the IFJ with an international delegation and NJUP conducted a mission in the country on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the massacre.   Their purpose was to investigate the government’s effort to secure justice for the victims. The mission visited the massacre site; and spoke to families of the victims, members of the local media community in southern Mindanao, the police, justice and government representatives including Justice Secretary Leila De Lima.

Banner of the UP College of Mass Commucations in the campus.

The IFJ-NUJP mission will issue a full report on December 23  on these key concerns:  (a) a climate of fear continues to pervade southern Mindanao, and has led to self-censorship and safety fears for local media; (b) media organizations have failed to address the safety issues affecting their staff; (c) witnesses in the case remain vulnerable with one being killed in the past week taking to at least four who have been murdered before giving evidence in the trial; and (d) five years on and the families of the victims continue to suffer financially and psychologically and more must be done to support them particularly as they have been subject to offers of bribes to drop their civil actions in the case.

“The Philippines is undoubtedly an epicentre of impunity,” said Jane Worthington, IFJ Asia-Pacific acting director, “and this massacre puts the world’s attention on the inability of governments to investigate crimes against journalists. This was the single largest slaughter of media workers and five years on not a single conviction has been recorded.” 

Australian representative Mike Dobbie, who has led all IFJ missions since 2009, said: “It’s clear there has been little progress in ensuring justice for the massacre victims, while the suspects in the crime continue to make efforts to stall the case at every turn.”

Philippa McDonald, vice president of the journalists union in Australia (the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, MEAA) and a director of Oceania’s Media, Safety and Solidarity Fund expressed how heartbreaking it is to witness the grief and the trauma of the families of the victims all this time. “Children are growing up without a breadwinner, families are facing dreadful financial hardship and they’re suffering enormously,” she said. “Their faith that justice will be delivered is severely shaken.”

Editha Tiamzon, widow of Daniel
Tiamzon, one of the media workers
killed in Ampatuan.

The lingering grief and the trauma were strongly felt from the recollection of Editha Tiamzon, wife of Daniel Tiamzon, a media worker of UNTV, who, she said “was the last one to be dug up from the mass grave.” 

When she walked around the art installation recreating the dead bodies of the massacre victims in various arrangements of disarray, she could not help but cry especially when she was reading the names of murdered journalists and media workers, one of them being her husband.  

The art installation was composed of representations of the dead bodies of media workers: dismembered or in gestures of pain and suffering.  They were made of newspapers signifying their kind of work. 

Mrs Tiamzon cried when she went around the art installation recreating

the massacre scene littered with dead bodies.

Taking off from the Maguindanao massacre, Schave De Rozario, the General Secretary of the National Union of Journalists Malaysia and representative of the South East Asia Journalists Union (SEAJU) spoke of the “the coldblooded murders of journalists seem to be a growing solution resorted to by politically linked groups, the powerful and corrupt in the South-East Asian region”. 

“The scourge of impunity across the region as a result of this massacre indicates that these forces in the region believe that it is OK to kill journalists and for politicians to do nothing,” he said. “The region needs action and governments must move to protect media freedom.”

Nonoy Espina, director of the NUJP, spoke of the climate of fear that is still very strong in Maguindanao and the rest of the region.  He expressed concerns about the safety of journalists.  He cited journalists in Davao being accused of being sympathizers of the New People’s Army, of being placed under surveillance, and also of journalists in Quezon and southern Tagalog provinces being threatened.

The art installation with the remembrance wall of the

Bantayog ng mga Bayani as background

During these more than four years of President Aquino’s term, 33 journalists have been killed.  “Most of the murdered,” Espina said, “received threats first.”  He mentioned that of the 177 murders of journalists, there had been 10 convictions so far of look-outs, drivers, etc. but zero of masterminds.

The IFJ-NUJP mission said that Justice Secretary De Lima acknowledged the failings of the judicial system. According to the mission, she told them that “there is still a culture of impunity and that is something that we’re trying to address and eradicate.”

The mission is encouraged by her remarks that financial support for the families of the victims on her agenda and she is intending to raise it with President Aquino.

Art installation representations of victims.

A weekend with Higantes and Botong Francisco in Angono

Note:  This photo-essay appeared in the 21-27 November 2014 edition of FilAm Story, the weekly "newspaper for Filipinos in mainstream America" published in San Francisco, CA. This author/blogger is the Manila-based Special Photo/News Correspondent based of the paper.

A typical Angnuno figure in the Angono landscape.

The town’s name Angono is said to have been derived from “Angnuno” or “Ang nuno”, the mythical dwarf of Filipino folklore.  Thus, it does not surprise that sculptures of a small bearded man with a conical hat can be found all over the place as decorative pieces in buildings, yards and pedestals of barangay or street markers.

The higante (giant) is the other iconic Angono figure, which slightly derives from the fearsome towering creature of the Pinoy folkloric underworld.  The town’s higante though has human features.  The head is made of papier mache and the face is shaped to resemble a familiar character of the community, may be a neighbor, a government official, or even a National Artist like painter Carlos ‘Botong’ Francisco or musician Lucio San Pedro.

The body construct is of bamboo. The lower half is a cylinder around four to five feet in diameter made up of bamboo loops and strips, and curved at the top to make the waist. Thus, whether male or female, the higante is made to wear a colorful skirt, which hides the man inside who provides the higante’s feet.  The skirt has an inconspicuous peeping hole for the man to see where he is going.  

The ornate retablo altar of the Angono church

All in all, the higante may be as tall as twelve feet although some are now smaller and lighter for young boys to carry.

The higante has its bamboo hands built in akimbo, and the explanation is historical. According to town historians, Angono used to be a hacienda during the Spanish past. The giant effigy was crafted by the farmers as their satirical symbol of protest against the cruelty of their landlords. Thus, it was a caricature of the hacenderos or hacenderas who had their hands high up on their hips when they went around bossing the tillers of their farmlands. 

The tradition started with only a family of higantes – the trio of a bearded father, his wife with hair tied in a knot and wearing dangling earrings and their young son -- heading the procession honoring the town patron saint San Clemente during his fiesta day on November 23. 

The traditional higantes father, mother and son (top photo),
and the Jollibee tatay, nanay, ate and kuya (bottom).

Through the years, the number of higantes in the religious procession grew bringing more colorful fun to the fiesta celebration from the way they walk, dance, turn around, and bend or bow to each other or to the viewing public. It’s said that they used to scare the children too.

 They have ceased to be the old protest symbols. They are now artistic expressions of the Angono people. Popular accounts say that the Higantes Festival came about in the late 1980s upon the suggestion of one of the town artists, the late Perdigon Vocalan, who also put up the very well known Balaw-Balaw Specialty Restaurant where so called exotic dishes are the culinary centerpieces.

The Higantes Festival this year came a week earlier (November 16) than the town fiesta (November 22-23). The Festival was thus socio-civic, obviously designed to pursue Angono’s tourism agenda. 

Higantes with familiar faces: Mayor and
vice-mayor (top left), National Artists Botong
Francisco and Lucio San Pedro (bottom).

The religious celebration is a wet tradition. On San Clemente’s day, revelry includes dousing with water although people dressed up on their way to work may be spared the wet treatment as decreed in a municipal ordinance, which reportedly penalizes ‘offenders’.   Visitors are advised beforehand to get prepared for the wetting when they go around town, watch the street and fluvial processions, and also for getting a douse of muddy water from Laguna de Bay when the fluvial procession returns.

This water element could have been considered by the Angono tourism officials when they set the Festival apart from the fiesta proper. Most of the higantes population will still participate in the religious procession with the higante family still leading the way.  

In the old days, the higantes depicted the farmers, fishermen, vendors and other familiar characters that made up this rural town of Rizal. In the November16 festival this year, the characters we saw among the many tall and small higantes, many in traditional Filipino costumes and some in modern attire, included representations of the mayor and vice-mayor, and possibly other local officials, a Muslim effigy, a Jollibee higantes family comprising tatay, nanay, ate and kuya, and the National Artists Botong Francisco and Lucio San Pedro advertising a laundry soap.

Parade of higantes included Manny Pacquiao (top left) and a

Muslim representative (bottom right).

Our visit to Angono was completely memorable because of the visit to the house of the real artistic giant Carlos ‘Botong’ V. Francisco, proclaimed National Artist for Painting in 1973. The restored house cum studio is now a museum. Our fraternity brod Jay-r Pinpino arranged this Sunday visit with Carlos Francisco II, grandson of the National Artist, an artist himself, and ‘Totong’ to his friends.

We took a look at the various awards and citations that Botong received, reproductions of his famous mural paintings hanging in the National Museum, Manila City Hall, or in private collections, and pictures showing him at work on his “Bayanihan” mural, as a Boy Scout leader, among others. 

We were curious about the whereabouts of studies he made for his mural paintings, sketches of his set and costume designs for the classical Filipino movies like Siete Infantes de Lara, Ibong Adarna and the Juan Tamad series, etc.

Totong told us that when his grandfather died, his daughter who lived in America brought with her the collection of Botong’s works. Upon her death, her brother (Totong’s father) brought these back to the Philippines. They are now being evaluated and indexed before they go into a conservation depository. There are several companies interested to take custody of this collection of art works, and one of them is Iglesia ni Cristo. Good news is that a special exhibition is coming very soon. 

Relief sculptures on "The Art Gallery of the Streets" based on
Botong's illustrations in Serafin Lanot's book of poems (top
photo), and Lucio San Pedro's famous song "Sa Ugoy ng Duyan"
(bottom).

Botong and Lucio San Pedro lived on the same street: Doña Aurora in Barangay Poblacion Itaas. Parades and processions pass this way. It leads to the church.

The marker says that the barangay hosts “The Art Gallery on the Streets”, open for free viewing any time, comprising relief sculptures mounted on walls along streets, principally on Doña Aurora. These are all based on Botong’s drawings, paintings and murals executed by Angono artists Charlie Anorico, Gerry Bantang, Atoy Apostadero, Alex Villaluz and Edwin Moreno.

These relief sculptures translate Botong’s painterly interpretation of historical events such as the martyrdom of Rizal or the first mass at Limasawa to visitors. They also recreate tradition, customs and practices such as bayanihan, orasyon, harana and the fiesta in visible forms for the modern sightseer.

Sculptures based on Botong's 'History of Medicine'

 (top photo) and 'Juego de Prenda' (bottom).

This “Art Gallery on the Streets” is indeed a fitting tribute to the real higantes Botong and Lucio.

There’s a new term we learned as we went down Doña Aurora Street: endramada. Pairs of bamboo poles are planted on opposite sides of the street, and between each pair, across the street, an endramada is hanged bearing symbolic objects, may be representing the livelihood of the town, barangay or house owner.

We were looking at a fish between “Viva” proclamations of Cristo Rey and San Clemente, colorful shirts, big cut-outs of colorful muffins, a net with a mermaid and fish figures, jersey t-shirts of different colors, and, because Christmas is approaching, stars and Christmas lights.

This endramada tradition could have died with the changing times and lifestyles if not for the intervention of Botong Francisco. The story goes that he invoked the importance of Doña Aurora Street to their lives and he asked the men to pledge that they will keep this tradition alive even if the other streets would cease to do so.

Thus, if we dare wake up again so early in the morning to make the trip to Angono on November 23, fiesta day of San Clemente, we will pass under the canopy of endramadas, possibly soaking wet, in the company of the colorful higantes as the procession wends its way from the church to banks of Laguna de Bay.

Endramadas on Dona Aurora Street.

By the way, we’ve been warned too. It’s not only water that will keep flowing.  Shots of distilled spirits will come every which way.  Douse and souse!

Typhoon Yolanda commemoration: survivors rising through tears and lingering fears

Note: This photo-essay was featured in the 14-20 November 2014 edition of FilAm Star, the weekly 'newspaper for Filipinos in mainstream America' published in San Francisco, CA. The author/blogger is the Philippine-based Special News/Photo Correspondent of the said paper.

Candle-lit sharing of messages to the public during the 'Rise Up for Abundant Life'
liturgical commemoration of Yolanda at the St. Andrew's Theological Seminary.

It's been a year since Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda with its 155 mph winds and seven-meter high storm surge flattened towns and cities and snuffed out lives in Eastern Visayas, The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) is still validating the number of casualties although it had set its body count at 6,300. Observers claim that this may go up to more than 10,000 if the casualty or missing lists from all affected barangays are tallied.

While there were lives lost, there are the survivors coping with the terrible loss of loved ones, and trying to move on despite the anguish and lingering fears.

Ferdinand ‘Nick’ and Doris ‘Chai’ Quieta of Tanauan, Leyte lost all their four children: the eldest, a young lady of 11, and the youngest, a little baby, just a year-old.  Both are agriculturists, alumni of the Visayas State University.  Before the storm struck, Chai brought her kids to the safety of her mother’s concrete house. Seventeen perished in that house - the Quieta children, their cousins, and their grandmother.

Wena Sanchez and Cha Escala, young women filmmakers from Leyte, tell their heartbreaking struggle to live on through their documentary ‘Nick and Chai’. Sanchez came to know about their despair through her sister-in-law, who happen to be the couple’s classmate and close friend, and godmother of one of the children.

Chai tells that she felt that with the loss of their children, they had no more need for planting. She found a packet of seeds though in her bag, and she thought that if these sprout in a few days, she will take that as a sign for them to move on, and they did. Pretty soon, they were encouraging their neighbors for everyone to set up a communal garden and show the world that they can stand on their own.

The documentary ‘Nick & Chai’ by Cha Escala & Wena Sanchez is
about a couple who lost all their children.

For six months, from March to September 2013, the filmmakers captured the despair and hope, tears amid little joys, prayerful and playful moments, daily trips to the mass grave, planting and sharing the harvests from the garden, and being parents to the neighborhood children.

Nick says, "Everything reminds us of our children. When we see plants, we see them. When we see chickens, we see them. When we look at the moon, the stars ... We've accepted everything. It's just the longing that's hard to deal with." When he spoke before a gathering of his fellow alumni, he asked them to put their right hand over the heart, and loudly proclaim with him and Chai that "life goes on."

'Nick and Chai' won the Best Picture award in the Quezon City International Film Festival on 05-11 November, just in time for the Yolanda commemoration. It could very well be the message of hope to the world when it goes to various film festivals abroad.

The story of Nick and Chai was amplified by testimonies of two other survivors during the “Rise Up for Abundant Life” Typhoon Haiyan Commemoration organized by the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) at the Saint Andrew’s Theological Seminary in Quezon City.

Meriam Rosario of Estancia, Ilo-ilo and Toto Cajes of Baje,Samar showed other slices of life after Yolanda in various communities.

Rosario lamented that up to now they have not yet received the attention of government. They were moved from the coastal areas to the bunkhouses provided by the NCCP and built on hilly grounds.  She grieved about harassment of women, and how DSWD denied relief benefits to people like her who joined groups advocating faster response to their plight. “Hindi pa kami okay,” she said, “isa ako sa di pa nakabangon.”

Survivor Toto Cajes speaking about the death his loved ones

On the other hand, Cajes could not help but cry as he recalled how his family desperately clung to the ceiling during the surge but they felt like they were in a washing machine with the waters churning around them. He lost his wife and two children. One survived because he clung to branch of a mango tree.  He said they have not received any assistance yet from government.

The “Rise Up” commemoration gave a view of the response of religious organizations to the relief, recovery and rehabilitation needs of the people after Yolanda.

Just like in any disaster scenario, many individuals, non-government organizations and government agencies particularly the DSWD immediately organized relief operations to distribute basic food items and other primary needs of the survivors.

Generally, the NCCP member churches embarked on rehabilitation programs after their relief missions.  Some of them like the Board of Women’s Work of the United Methodist Church provided psycho-social support to the survivors. Skills training was also a component of their rehabilitation projects.

Display on post-Yolanda rehabilitation work of the NCCP.

The ‘Anglican Relief for Typhoon Yolanda Survivors’ had men and women working together in the housing project.   In Palo, Leyte, people were taught the natural farming system and organic feeds formulation for hog and poultry raising using resources found in the community. Their approach asks the community to use their resources and capacities instead of highlighting their needs and problems. They also want the community to pay back so that other communities can use the fund for similar ventures, say, housing.

The DAMBANA ( Damayang Simbahans sa Panahon ng Disaster) response is embodied in the PrayFastBuild concept. The ‘Fast’ asks the donor to give up a meal or snacks so that he can help in raising funds. Thus, relief materials went to various provinces, shelter and livelihood for families in Capiz, and agricultural seedlings, implements and fishing boats to Western Samar.

The United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) captured their rehabilitation-in-action through these programs: (a) aerobic rice planting; (b) solar lights beyond borders; (c) pig raising, pay it forward style; and (d) returning life, uplifting hopes.

‘Rise Up for Abundant Life’ symbols: coconut seedling, water, lighted candle, Bible and cross.

With regard to government, the word is out that President Benigno Aquino III has approved the Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Recovery Plan (CRRP) for areas hit by Yolanda.

According to the Office of the Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery (OPARR) headed by Secretary Panfilo Lacson, “the lives of Typhoon Yolanda victims shall be restored and built-back-better [using] Php170.92 billion, allocated for the four primary rehabilitation areas:  Infrastructure (Php35.15 B), Social services (Php26.40 B), Resettlement (P75.68 B), and Livelihood (P33.68 BT).

The infrastructure allocation is for the repair, rehab or reconstruction of national roads and bridges, airports, ports, classrooms, school buildings, LGU halls, public markets, among many others.

Social services cover college scholarship grants, textbooks, health services and medicines, forest land rehab, agroforestry development, shelter assistance, assistance to LGUs in the formulation of Comprehensive Land-Use Plan (CLUP), among others.

The resettlement fund for the victims is for housing units, safe and suitable resettlement sites, sustainable livelihood opportunities in new settlement sites, and other related projects.

The livelihood allocation is for, among others, expansion of food and income base, and capacity development in local employment promotion and local economic development.

The government committed to complete the 25,000 projects under the CRRP in 2016. President Aquino grumbled about doing things right in reply to criticisms on the slow response of government to disaster. The question nags: will government deliver within that tight timeline?

Photo-grab of an IBON Foundation slide showing government assistance to affected families

Then there are the foreign donors, whose pledges or actual contributions can be viewed online at the Foreign Aid Transparency Hub (FAITH) through http://www.gov.ph/faith/full-report. 

The latest posting tells that foreign aid pledged is USD 1,643,038,277.66, comprising cash (USD 1,011,033,311.26) and non-cash (USD 632,004,966.40) pledges.

The foreign aid received is USD 386,590,532.07. The total cash received by government is USD 26,788,176.68, and the non-cash is USD 28,459,720.94. The total received by NGOs, multilaterals and others is USD 330,836,632.01.

According to reports, OPARR refers LGUs or national government agencies to foreign donors, or the foreign diplomats and international agencies go to OPARR to look for projects they can finance. In most cases, foreign donors and governments are the ones that implement their projects.

The European Union, for example, has provided humanitarian assistance and early recovery interventions. Lately, it spoke of the high vulnerability of the Philippines to climate change, and it is offering its assistance under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Roses for the liturgical commemoration of Typhoon Yolanda.

NCCP also stressed “Climate Justice” as the underlying theme of the “Rise Up” commemoration because Yolanda/Haiyan showed the country’s vulnerability to climate change.  Their continuing prayer is for “people [to be] prioritized over profits – clean energy instead of monopolized fossil fuels, rehabilitated and protected forests instead of large-scale mining, lives and livelihood of the people over big businesses.”

Dayaw: celebrating the rich cultures of Philippine indigenous peoples

Note: This photo-essay was featured in the 07-13 November 2014 issue of FilAm Star, the weekly "newspaper for Filipinos in mainstream America" published in San Francisco, CA. The author/blogger is the Philippines-based Special News/Photo Correspondent of the paper.

The Philippine indigenous population is estimated to be between 10 and 20 percent of the official total population of about 92 million in the national census of 2010, which reportedly included an ethnicity variable for the first time.

We have yet to see an official figure but roughly, the higher estimate would be around 19 million indigenous Filipinos from Batanes to Tawi-Tawi. It’s for them that Presidential Proclamation 1906 of 05 October 2009 declared October every year as National Indigenous Peoples’ Month. 

In December 2009, the first Indigenous Peoples’ Festival was held in Roxas City. Tagged Dayaw in October the next year, it became the official festive celebration of Philippine indigenous cultures led by the Subcommission on Cultural Communities and Traditional Arts (SCCTA) of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) in partnership with other government agencies, private companies and non-government organizations.  Dayaw connotes respect in Ilokano, a sense of pride in Hiligaynon, and praise in Waray.

Dayaw 2014 carries the theme “Katutubong Filipino para sa Kalikasan at Kapayapaan (Indigenous Filipino for the Environment and Peace)” to three festival venues: Baguio City in October, Bacolod City and Zamboanga City, both in November. 

Indigenous Peoples (IPs) from Luzon, Mindoro and Palawan came together at the convention center in  Baguio City for two days, 22 and 23 October, and showcased the richness of their respective cultures and heritage:  Ibaloy/Kankanaey, Bikolano, Bolinao/Pangasinense, Bugkalot, Iloko, Ivatan/Itbayat, Kalanguya/Ifugao, Kalinga, Kapampangan/Tagalog/Sambal, Kasiguranin, Mangyan cluster, Palawani/Molbog/Jama Mapun, Tagbanua/Pala’wan/Batak, Tinggian/Itneg, Agta/Ita/ Kabihug, Apayao/Isnag, Ayta of Tarlac, Pampanga, Bataan and Zambales, Balangao/Bontok/Applai, Gaddang/Isinay, and Ibanag/Yogad/Itawit/Malaweg.

Their Dayaw was a kaleidoscope of colorful traditional costumes, headgears and accessories, alongside those that bear heavy influences of colonial and modern fashion styles.  Ears listened to a symphony of indigenous musical rhythms from gongs and other ethnic instruments of the Cordillera and other ethnic groups, and the lilting dance tunes of the Ilocano, Tagalog, Pangasinan, Quezon and Bicolano lowlanders. 

The cooking demos provided a tasting binge of exquisite ethnic cuisines like the Ifugao tangbul of cattle hide and meat cooked for an hour over hot coals in a bamboo tube, the Ivatan version of arroz Valenciana, the fried rice cake called Jaa of the Jama Mapun,  and dishes of buting and kurapan sea shells from Casiguran, Quezon,  among others.  

The big hits in the demonstration of traditional games were the Zambales Aytas’ basketball, where players shoot the ball into a basket at the back of a running opponent, and the wrestling match of the Bugkalots, which is intended to test the strength and endurance of their menfolk. Foursomes or more of Bontoks intertwine their legs and hop around in a game called pakpakaak. The Jama Mapuns have the batin, which is similar to the patintero. Some games are common like the ‘tatsing’ or hitting of targets (shells to the Ivatans, large lipay seeds to the Tinggians) out of an encircled area.

Demonstrations of traditional crafts such as mat and cloth weaving elicited great attention; likewise, the products displayed or sold. Schools of Living Traditions (SLT) help preserve these crafts and other cultural forms for the next generations.

A flagship program of the SCCTA, the SLT is intent on “perpetuating knowledge on traditional performances, crafts, oral traditions and indigenous language .... [in] a venue where a “culture specialist/master” of a particular traditional art form imparts to a group of interested youth the skills and techniques of such form .”  There are now more than 600 SLT benefitting  around 18,000 young people who learn traditional crafts – mat/basket/cloth weaving; making musical instruments, traditional medicine, pottery making, dancing, music and chanting, traditional cuisine, affirming “mayamang kultura ng katutubo”.

In the Baguio Dayaw, twelve elderly  SLT Cultural Masters were honored:  Rosa B. Fianza and Meriam Garas (for making of tradional attire called daoit with patda embroidery); Sebia Bucok , Emilia Bangibang and Carina Amsiwen (for cloth weaving and accessories making); Cornelio Cafayan (for history and culture and playing of Gaddang traditional instruments like the tongatong and barembeng);Rebecca Mataba, Teodoro Tillema, Michael Kiwas and Modesta Batiller (for music and dances); Nurmida Abubakar Jamili (mat weaving); Sublito Tiblak (tabig and tingkop making).

In pursuit of the festival theme, the IPs had an indoor campfire-like round of information exchange on the initiatives of their communities to protect the environment, and on their indigenous methods of keeping peace among themselves.

Planting trees and protecting forests, sustaining soil fertility, and water resources management were common threads in their interactive discussions. These indicate their strong attachment to their ancestral lands and all the resources contained within their territories.  In this regard, tenurial security is a major concern of the IPs, and the processing of their Certificates of Ancestral Domain Titles (CADTs) remains a priority task of the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).

As to conflict resolutions, many of these communities still resort to the traditional peace pacts and the mediation of the councils of elders although small town politics sometimes adversely affect the ages-old peacekeeping processes.

Their rights are recognized by the Constitution, amplified by Republic Act 8371 or the IPRA, “The Indigenous Peoples’ Act of 1997”, which recognizes, protects and promotes these rights, and the National Commission  on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) was created for these purposes.

Zambales Aytas playing their version of basketball.

According to the IPRA, Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples refer to  “a  group of people or homogenous societies ... who have continuously lived as organized community on communally bounded and defined territory, and who have, under claims of ownership since time immemorial, occupied, possessed and utilized such territories, sharing common bonds of language, customs, traditions and other distinctive cultural traits, or who have, through resistance to political, social and cultural inroads of colonization, non-indigenous religions and cultures, became historically differentiated from the majority of Filipinos.”  Also included are “ peoples who are regarded as indigenous on account of their descent from the populations which inhabited the country, at the time of conquest or colonization, or at the time of inroads of non-indigenous religions and cultures, or the establishment of present state boundaries, who retain some or all of their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions, but who may have been displaced from their traditional domains or who may have resettled outside their ancestral domains.”

These legal definitions somehow provided context to the address of Dr Al Anwar Anzar, NCCA Commissioner for the SCCTA, during the opening program. He told his audience of indigenous groups that “you are the true maharlika because you did not succumb to colonization.”

The people of the archipelago during the pre-Hispanic times were independent communities or villages of tribes or clans.  Many were “reduced” or settled into towns under the church bells by the Spanish colonizers. But there were also communities who remained independent with their own political governance, socio-cultural and justice systems.   

Anzar reminded that colonization resulted in the categorization of the Filipino people into cultural minorities or majorities.  He emphasized that we should not allow history to repeat itself by setting Filipinos apart.

Wrestling is a test of strength among the Bugkalots.

“Let’s not forget that indigenous peoples are not tourist attractions,” he also counselled, “they are part of our history, the color of the nation.”

His hopeful vision is of Dayaw all in one place, and all the indigenous peoples from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao achieving a higher level of understanding and peace, which can happen if they have full trust with each other.

“We must value our heritage,” he said, “and Dayaw is an effective strategy to strengthen our culture.”

Quezon City celebrates its Diamond Jubilee

Note:  This photo-essay appeared in the 17-23 October 2014 issue of the FilAm Star, the weekly "newspaper for Filipinos in mainstream America," which is published in San Francisco, CA.  This version includes more pictures.  The author/blogger is the Manila-based Special News/Photo Correspondent of the paper.

The set of commemorative stamps shows the  histo-

rical Tandang Sora and Emilio Jacinto Shrines, the 

SM North EDSA that started the shopping mall trend 

in MManila, and the UP Ayala Technohub, the first

campus-based technology park in the Philippines.

(This is a photo-scan of actual stamps issued by

PhilPost for the Diamond Jubilee.)

The afternoon rains did not spoil the spirit of celebrating the 75^th anniversary of Quezon City. The grand celebrations went on under the hot morning sun and the afternoon drizzles and downpours of the 11^th and 12^th of October .

This Diamond Jubilee date happened to be the second Sunday of October, which is, in the Roman Catholic church calendar, the feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary, the religious and historical La Naval, the “pintakasi” or patroness of the city, enshrined at the Dominican Sto. Domingo Church on Quezon Avenue.

Seventy five years ago, on 12 October 1939, President Manuel L. Quezon signed the city’s charter, Commonwealth Act. No 502, originally Bill No. 1206 that the National Assembly deliberated on. A hot issue of argument was amending the original city name of Balintawak to Quezon. Historical accounts tell that Quezon himself had to be convinced to have the city bear his name. When he was consulted, he is said to have replied, “Why can’t you wait until I’m dead, before you name anything after me?” He was eventually convinced.

Quezon envisioned a “paradise for working men - dwellings with all the comforts of sanitation and with playgrounds near-by for children, to be constructed by the government and given in sale or lease to the laborers or employees at cost” after a tour of the possible site of his dream city.

The Diliman estate of the Tuason family was deemed best site for a government housing project for laborers and employees. On September 27, 1939, President Quezon stressed the “necessity of early approval of the charter of the proposed city in Diliman site.” Bill No. 1206 was proposed by Assembylman Ramon P. Mitra of the second district of Mountain Province, and approved on September 28, 1939.

The Quezon Heritage House, relocated from New Manila to the Quezon Memorial Circle, is now a 

museum of Quezon memorabilia.  The room of President Quezon features his formal white attire, 

his boots and a bed sheet embroidered with his name.

In 1939, the population was estimated at around 58,000. The population peaked to around 2.8 million in the national census of 2010 with the annual population growth rate was estimated at 2.42 percent for the period 2000-2010.

The Quezon City folks who attended the celebrations at the Quezon Memorial Circle or at their district centers comprised a broader demographic definition of working class: from informal settlers to residents of affluent villages or high-rise condominiums.

The youth participated in sports, musical and dancing events. The senior citizens from all the six city districts had their sunny morning program of dancing exhibitions at the Circle. Large contingents from the districts and other guests aimed to dance at the largest Zuma fitness outdoor party and break the Guinness World record set by India in September 2012.  This was rained out, but reports say that many participants were not dismayed and went on Zumba dancing wet and wild.

High school children with colorful props along the route of the La Naval’s exit 

from the Misa ng Bayan venue (left). Senior women in indigenous Mindanao 

costumes for their dance exhibition (right).

This year the city’s Gawad Parangal that started in 2002 became honorific for the Commonwealth President and city founder. The 2014 roster of Manuel L. Quezon Gawad Parangal awardees comprise ‘workers’ of different distinctions: actress Nora C. Aunor; woman leader Dr. Lilia B. De Lima; economist Dr. Benjamin E. Diokno; Executive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa Jr.; OFW advocate and journalist Susan V. Ople; National Artist for Music Ramon P. Santos; SC Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes P. A. Sereno; broadcast journalist Howie Severino; DPWH Secretary Rogelio L. Singson; CCP President Raul M. Sunico; Jollibee Chairman and CEO Tony Tan Caktiong; and investigative journalist Marites D. Vitug. 

The city charter defined the boundaries of QC comprising 7,355 hectares composed the eight big land estates that government acquired, and barrios carved out from Caloocan, San Juan, Marikina, Pasig, Montalban and San Mateo. Some barrios reverted back to Mandaluyong and Marikina in 1941, and additional ones were acquired from Caloocan in 1948.

Within these boundaries would spring in the 1950s the first morphs of Quezon’s government housing project: the Project 1 to 8 homes.  The ‘Project’ still remains part of postal addresses while upper-scale villages with foreign-sounding names continue to be developed within the city limits. Informal settlements though blight the social fabric of the city even as urban development is pursued with by public and private partners.

The construction of the College of Liberal Arts and College of Law buildings of the University of the Philippines in Diliman started by end-1939. World War II interrupted, and the transfer officially began ten years later. 

At the QC Food Festival on Maginhawa: Two sisters and a cousin charm with their smiles 

and dishes at their Fat Dads food stall (left). Foodies can also order dish sets called Quiapo 

Ilalim, Monumento, etc. and enjoy them inside this vehicle at Gerry’s Jeepney. 

Sikatuna Village near UP-Diliman campus has provided lodging places for students, a viable market of food establishments that can offer budget meals.  Most of these eating places are on Maginhawa Street; thus, its whole stretch was the venue of the whole-day Quezon City Food Festival on October 11 where foodies enjoyed indoor or al-fresco the signature dishes of restaurants there.

Farther away from the city center is La Loma, the iconic place of the crispy lechon. Also on the 11^th, seventy five lechons were brought in parade into rows of long tables covered with banana leaves for boodle feasting. It was free to ticketed delegations from the city districts. Participants, including Mayor Herbert Bautista and Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte, were provided with paper bibs printed with the slogan “Salu-salong Saya sa La Loma” and thin right hand plastic kitchen glove for the kamayan eating style. The boodle fun did not take very long to finish. As someone jested, the lechons were completely zapped “sa isang kisap-mata” (in the blink of an eye).

Typical lechon scene in La Loma (left). Mayor Herbert Bautista and Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte enjoy

eating lechon kamayan style (right).

Outstanding institutions located in several city districts also received the Manuel L. Quezon Gawad Parangal:  Kamuning Bakery (QC’s pioneer bakery); Pangkat Kawayan (unique youth orchestra and bamboo ensemble); Quezon City High School (QC’s first public secondary school); Quirino Memorial Medical Center (leading government tertiary medical center in QC); and Veterans Memorial Medical Center (QC’s most outstanding public institution for 2014).

The historical and religious institution, the Sto. Domingo Church, like UP was also a migrant. It settled in Quezon City after World War II. The original church in Intramuros was razed to the ground during the liberation of Manila.

The image of the La Naval at the Misa ng Bayan held at the Quezon Memorial Circle (left), 

and at the grand procession in her honor from Sto. Domingo Church (right), both on 12 October.

With the Diamond Jubilee celebration and the feast of the La Naval in synch on 12 October, the program that day opened with a Misa ng Bayan, which was graced by the image of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, at the Quezon Memorial Circle.  In attendance as guest of honor was Vice-President Jejomar Binay, who, as expected, drew media and crowd attention after the religious services.

The civic Jubilee events were capped by the Parangal ceremonies at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum, which featured performances of world-class Filipino entertainment and musical talents.  On the religious side, Roman Catholic devotees were not dampened by the afternoon rains to proceed with the grand procession honoring the La Naval.

Sci-fi characters roam around the Quezon Memorial Shrine to entertain Jubilee 

celebrators (left). Clowns on stilts stand tall over young martial arts kids (right).

In his address before the National Assembly in 18 September 1939, President said, “I dream of a capital city that, politically shall be the seat of the national government; aesthetically the showplace of the nation – a place that thousands of people will come and visit as the epitome of culture and spirit of the country; socially, a dignified concentration of human life, aspirations and endeavors and achievements; and economically, as a productive, self-contained community.”

The Quezon City Resiliency Initiatives for 2014-2020 include the innovative waste-to-energy plant in Payatas [the former dump site of the city’s garbage], the city government is looking at as a possible business venture of the QC Development Authority and Public Private Partnership scheme.

Klinika Bernardo, the city-owned diagnostic and treatment facility for HIV-AIDS strategically located on EDSA, is at the forefront of the city’s health initiatives. Reportedly, it is the first government unit to include HIV-AIDS among its health priorities.  Its Computerized Health Information Tracking System (CHITS) is the city’s low cost computerization initiative interconnecting 65 local health centers for effective and efficient delivery of health services.  Five of these health centers have dialysis clinics, three already have completed the requirements for licensing to operate.

Still on people watch though is the Philippine Children’s Medical Center on Quezon Avenue. There had been announcements that it will no longer be transferred to another site. The move to relocate raised a big howl of protest from the public. Apparently, developers around the area were eyeing the hospital site as well, and city hall supported the transfer.  

The float of barangay Payatas used recyclable waste materials

 and highlighted their onsite waste-to-energy and housing projects.

QC calls its socialized housing program “precedent-setting in scale and deeply rooted in terms of sustainability and multi-partnership arrangements.”   There are ten housing projects going on; around 2,400 units have been constructed with around 8,000 more to go. Housing beneficiaries are trained in livelihood projects by the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP). Scholarships are made available to children who are qualified to enter college. 

May a sustainable housing program put an end to violence that expectedly comes with the demolition of informal settlements in the city.  May MLQ’s dream of “paradise for working men” come to pass.