Yearender: Human rights protection in RP sinks to 'terrible low' By Katherine Adraneda (The Philippine Star) Updated January 01, 2010 12:00 AM MANILA, Philippines - The country’s dismal reputation on human rights promotion and protection got worse in 2009. After declaring a “dismal” state of human rights defense in the country in 2008, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) affirmed that 2009 was not any better. CHR chair Leila de Lima said the prevailing culture of impunity by allies of the Arroyo administration saw the Philippines “sink to a terrible low” in terms of human rights protection. De Lima said the massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao last month can be considered as “a foreshadowing of even worse things to come.” The massacre has been blamed on a family of politicians that are allied with the Arroyo administration. “That slaughter offers us a foreshadowing of the other horrors and brutalities we will continue to face, if we do not find meaningful and lasting solutions...

Tagubilin at Habilin Sa pagtatapos ng taong 2009, gusto ko dito ibahagi itong tula na sinulat ni Pete Lacaba na binigkas ni Armida Siguion-Reyna. [Mula sa www.ellentordesillas.com] Mabuhay ka, kaibigan! Mabuhay ka! Iyan ang una’t huli kong Tagubilin at habilin: Mabuhay ka! Sa edad kong ito, marami akong maibibigay na payo. Mayaman ako sa payo. Maghugas ka ng kamay bago kumain. Maghugas ka ng kamay pagkatapos kumain. Pero huwag kang maghuhugas ng kamay para lang makaiwas sa sisi. Huwag kang maghuhugas ng kamay kung may inaapi Na kaya mong tulungan. Paupuin sa bus ang matatanda at ang mga may kalong na sanggol. Magpasalamat sa nagmamagandang-loob. Matuto sa karanasan ng matatanda Pero huwag magpatali sa kaisipang makaluma. Huwag piliting matulog kung ayaw kang dalawin ng antok. Huwag pag-aksayahan ng panahon ang walang utang na loob. Huwag makipagtalo sa bobo at baka ka mapagkamalang bobo. Huwag bubulong-bulong sa mga panahong kailangang sumigaw. Huwag kang manalig sa bulung-bulungan. Hu...

I said this earlier, in my blogs last year, that if Erap runs, he might win. Mr. Tony Gatmaitan, an astute political analyst, concurs. Let us see where Villar's billions and Noynoy's minions will be picked up after the Erap juggernaut is over. Ain't I glad, finally, that I am not running in this election. I am writing a novel about it, though. Satirical, but I hope also sweet. And the politicians running in 2010 will have a field day gleaning who they are among the characters in my novel. The Comelec included. Ha! The best revenge, said Oscar Wilde, is to write well. *** An Estrada surge on eve of campaign PIPELINE Antonio Gatmaitan Daily Tribune 12/30/2009 At about the time when things were winding down, Pulse Asia and Social Weather Stations, the two respected and widely accepted pollsters published assessments of the 2010 presidential elections, two days apart, a fortnight ago. Electoral track record Absent any satisfactory measure of performance, every candidate would h...

Liberation through education Editorial (The Philippine Star) Updated December 30, 2009 12:00 AM There is reason to celebrate the memory of national hero Jose Rizal today. This year education took center stage in national life after a teacher received international recognition as a “hero” for his novel way of bringing education to the poorest of the poor. Efren Peñaflorida, CNN “Hero of the Year,” struggled out of poverty and became a teacher to help others less privileged like him. Rizal would have approved. The inspiration for many Filipino rebels against Spain famously refused to endorse an armed uprising, instead advocating liberation for the masses through education. Well-traveled and educated in Europe, Rizal knew the value of a good education and wanted it for his compatriots. He was an early advocate of non-violent change, but the Spanish colonizers saw him merely as a threat and executed him 113 years ago today, triggering the Philippine revolution. The commemoration of Rizal’s...

The scalpel's tip LODESTAR By Danton Remoto (The Philippine Star) Updated December 28, 2009 12:00 AM The Highest Hiding Place is the first book of L. Lacambra Ypil, but it already bodes many good things for this young poet. Just published by the Ateneo de Manila University Press, this book of poems is a young man’s book. It deals with what T.S. Eliot called “memory and desire,” which fuses the past and the future. It deals with childhood and adolescence and young adulthood, the personas in the poems trembling with new discoveries, with singular fears and dreams. Ypil was born and raised in Cebu, earned a BS in biology at the Ateneo de Manila University, and spent a few years at the UP College of Medicine. He has won the prestigious Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Literature in 2006 as well as the Philippines Free Press Award for Poetry in 2001. He has just finished his MA in Literary and Cultural Studies at the Ateneo and writes a bi-monthly column, “Dog-Eaters in the Wrong N...

Remoto’s dilemma and Comelec’s Political Homophobia December 16th, 2009 by Patricio Mangubat www.filipinovoices.com Now, let me write about Danton Remoto. Remoto, as you know, is the chairman and founder of Ang Ladlad, a partylist organization. Remoto has just been dealt with two devastating blows—his partylist org was disqualified and just yesterday, he was also stricken out of the list of qualified senatorial candidates. The second division chaired by no less than Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer handed a fatal blow to Ang Ladlad when he disqualified the organization for being “redundant“. Now, Remoto was also disqualified as a senatorial candidate because of his alleged lack of organization and resources. This is clearly a sign that the Comelec is suffering from homophobia. How in the world did they determined that Remoto does not have a machinery to use for a national campaign? Remoto’s name alone attracts millions of votes. Remoto, undeniably, has already established a name as a gay r...

By Lilita Balane, Newsbreak | 12/17/2009 5:00 PM Newsbreak www.abs-cbnnews.com Gay community is not special, and therefore not marginalized, says poll chief The election chief broke the tie in the poll body's vote on Thursday to deny with finality a gay group's bid to participate in the party-list election in 2010. The first division of the Commission on Elections (Comelec)--composed of Commissioners Gregorio Larrazabal, Rene Sarmiento, and Armando Velasco--voted to grant Ang Ladlad’s appeal to get accredited. The second division--composed of Commissioners Nicodemo Ferrer, Lucenito Tagle, and Elias Yusoph--maintained their earlier ruling disqualifying the group. Chair Jose Melo sided with the second division to junk Ang Ladlad’s appeal. Melo countered Ang Ladlad’s argument that the November 12 ruling of poll body applied religious beliefs instead of using public or secular morals in deciding the gay group's application for accreditation. Melo said that what the secon...