It has been particularly dirty and stinky in Manila this week. It’s turned hot and muggy again too which is probably why there is so much pollution hanging around. There is a family who lives at the vacant car park on the way that I walk to the LRT station. They are pretty new residents there and have taken to burning their rubbish in the morning. It’s pretty common here for families to burn rubbish on the streets – plastic and all. But the main cause of the pollution is probably the traffic – mainly the public transportation that spews huge amounts of fumes along the streets. The buses here are all hand-me-downs from Japan and Korea. You can still see the foreign characters on the sides of the buses and most of them probably haven’t been serviced since they were replaced with newer, cleaner, more fuel efficient buses and dumped here in the Philippines.
The main vehicles that clog the streets however, are jeepneys. Modeled on ex-US military vehicles used in the Philippines throughout World War II, jeepneys are everywhere in Manila and serve as a popular mode of public transport. They are loud (I’m pretty sure they don’t they use mufflers), and spew out the worst fumes. People walk with handkerchiefs along many of the main thoroughfares – you can see the grit hanging in the air (remember everything here is still diesel) and you see it when you wipe your face – nice! Jeepneys have set routes and are pretty cheap to ride (7.50 pesos – about 20 Aussie cents). You can get on and off anywhere along their route which makes them very effective at bringing traffic to a standstill. Often they are the only vehicles on the road, and yesterday morning I noticed how many of them were either half full, or driving around with no passengers whatsoever. There definitely seems to be a saturation of jeepneys around the place but for many people, driving a jeepney, taxi, or tricycle is their only source of livelihood here.
This is a jeepney - in Manila you are no longer allowed to ride on the top.
Just as scary as the damage I know is being done to my lungs by living here, is the dirty, stinky politics being played out. After last week’s rumours that a martial law-type proclamation was being drafted (think Marcos), this week GMA (Gloria Macapagal Arroyo) has issued EO (Executive Order) 464. A bit of context – the Hello Garci tapes hit the news earlier this year – they were tapped phone calls ‘allegedly’ between GMA and the Electoral Commission Chief in Mindanao – Garcilliano – discussing how GMA was assured to win by at least 1 million votes in the upcoming Presidential election (held in 2004). Mr ‘Garci’ has literally disappeared from the country and GMA’s public apology and effective killing of impeachment attempts in Congress have dominated news in recent months. But nothing really seems to be happening. Her political support is still strong enough for her to keep her job, and she’s definitely weathering the political storm well.
Anyway, the Senate Committee is running some investigation on what went on – EO 464 bans all administrators (public servants) and military officials from testifying in the Senate and House hearings without her permission. Yesterday a Marine General and his Deputy were called before a Senate inquiry. They testified and were subsequently sacked for disobeying EO 464. They also now face court marshal hearings. It’s pretty big news because the military has presented a unified supportive stance on Maam President. The EO basically gags all witnesses from testifying and essentially shuts down the Senate Enquiry that has been producing pretty damning evidence. Dirty indeed.
A view from our appartment - Manila on a less polluted day. The pollution at least makes for nice sunsets! In the picture you can see the LRT train that I ride to and from work every day.
Last weekend was another busy one without Neil! On Friday I went to watch The Constant Gardener with some of the girls from work. I had just finished the book by John La Carre and I would recommend the movie. Saturday we went out for Sally's birthday. We had a yummy breakfast (champagne and orange, ricotta pancakes and coffee - very indulgent) then we went out to watch the Austrailan Rules Football Grand final at a sports bar in Makati. After a quick change of clothes we were out again for dinner at Global Cafe in Makati - here are some photos. We finished the evening with dessert at Max Brennans (?) a place specialising in chocoloate!!
Ange, Nat, Sally, Me and Lynette - our SAGRIC 'in-country manager' at Sally's birthday dinner
Smokey Mountain - named firstly as a mountain becauseit has been as high as 35 m and secondly because it smokes almost continuously during the hot summermonths. Waste from the City of Manila was first dumped here almost 50 years ago. Before that it was actuallya fishing village, the sea is now a kilometre or soaway from Smokey. The land has been reclaimed with dumped garbage over the years.
Around 15 years ago if you went to Smokey Mountain you would have found around 4,000 families living on andaround the active dumpsite. The families were mostly poor migrants who came to Manila from the provinces insearch of work. Smokey was a good location because itwas cheap to live on and its close proximity to theports where itinerant work could be found. Contrary to popular belief, not all the families living there were scavengers. Of course, a large number of them did tryand scrape together a living from pulling anything ofany value out of the numerous trucks that dumped rubbish there every day.
In 1993, Smokey Mountain was closed and the government made a promise to provide housing to the squatters and to rehabilitate the mountain (we’re still waiting forthat last one). Around 3,000 families were housed intemporary accommodation nearby while the new permanent accommodation was constructed. The rest of the families were housed in other areas or accepted cashgrants.
The temporary housing, which stretched from what was supposed to be 2 years to about 10 years, is a fairlysqualid example of accommodation. From what Iunderstand, the two storey structures were open insideand families were to construct their own walls to getprivacy. There was only 1 bathroom per floor. Iimagine that would have had to be shared by 50families. The temporary housing is still there and anew bunch of squatters has moved in. Now, with noelectricity or running water and no-one responsiblefor any repairs, it is quite a depressing area.
Last year, the families were moved into their new accommodation, the permanent housing. This is alsosometimes referred to as Paradise Heights. Although Inotice that tends to be by outsiders, the residentsstill refer to it as Smokey Mountain. It probably hassomething to do with the still smoking, still 25 oddmetre high mountain of garbage never more than 100 maway from all the housing.
The new housing is 5 stories high, with 24 units on each floor. Someone said to me once the units are about 32 square metres. Each unit has its own bathroomwith a toilet and shower head. The sleeping quartersare a mezzanine level about half the size of thebottom level. A lot of the residents have donerenovations and extended their mezzanine to cover thewhole area. They have electricity and water is available from 6 am - 8 am and 6 pm - 8 pm daily,which means water needs to be stored for toilet flushing, washing and cooking in big containers duringthe ‘off’ hours.
Last week, I met a woman who lived in her unit withher husband, five children, 2 dogs, 4 puppies and acat! So I think privacy might be a foreign concept insome of the units. Not to mention peace and quiet!
This is what it's all about...
The People
A strong part of the Filipino culture is dependent on having good relationships with the people you are engaging with. In my more cynical moments I would saythis practice tends to perpetuate the cycle ofcorruption, but it has also given me a greatopportunity to meet a lot of wonderful people. As partof my job I have been visiting residents in theirhomes, just getting to know them and to chat about their environmental concerns. I thought I would sharewith you a few of the stories.
The gay culture in the Philippines is like much of South East Asia – very definitely present, most oftenwidely accepted and involving a lot of dressing up tolook like women. Although, unlike Thailand, most ofthe gay men in the Philippines can’t afford boob jobsso you see a lot of skinny flat chested men in skimpy clothes and a lot of makeup. The giveaways are theflat chest and the adam’s apple. A few weeks ago I waschatting with some of the Smokey gay population, intheir hairdressing salon. One of the ‘ladies’ had alovely photo of herself up on the wall from when shehad entered the Miss Gay Paradise Heights. She didn’twin, although I thought she looked pretty good in herphoto, so I wonder what the winner looked like! They were all very happy to talk candidly about themselves. This lady had been taking hormone tablets to growboobs for about 2 years, but had stopped taking thembecause she was worried about the side effects on theheart. They cost about $4.50 for 4 months. But it musthave worked because she had some great cleavage in herMiss Gay Paradise Heights photo.
Being a strongly catholic country with a growing population, there are a lot of kids at Smokey. Although I am not quite Pied Piper status yet,everytime I am there the kids will be yelling out tome “Hi Maam” “Hi Joe” “Whats your name” “Americano”“Whats your favourite colour” or whatever else theylearnt in English this week. Normally I just smile,sometimes I have a bit of a chat in which case they goall shy and hide behind their friends and I always correct the American assumption. And of course thereis a lot of giggling and commenting in Tagalog. MostlyI have no idea what they are talking about butrecently I had a colleague with me and when a littleboy of about 3 was tearing around me yelling inTagalog I was able to ask her what he said. When shes topped laughing, she translated that he had beenyelling ‘Everybody, look at her, look at her face. It’s different to all the other faces’.
Kids here, who are normally so noisy go all shy when a camera is pulled out.
Yesterday I was talking with a woman who was clearly very happy. The story came out that the day beforethey had been on television and won 5000 pesos (amonths wages here or about $125). And how had they won this? Well they came second in some kind of a pettalent contest (I assume) with a pair of dancing rats. I was privileged enough to see the rats in question,and to see one of them dancing against the wall of its cage. What a talent! Paul McDermott you gotta seethis!
I have also heard some tragic stories. I was in a house yesterday and noticed there was no TV. I thoughtthat it was unusual, in fact it was the first house Ihad been in with no TV. It came out that their house had recently been robbed, by their son-in-law, who isaddicted to shabu (a cheap local drug). He also beatshis wife, their daughter, and has done so for years and has made death threats against the whole family. They have a small child who wandered in while I was there, no doubt her grandmothers house is a safe haven. They make their living by making and selling arice sweet. If they sell all they make, they earnaround $4 a day. On that they must send their youngestson to school as well as all the other daily expenses.I felt helpless hearing this story, but I am sure there are many more like that. I guess all any of uscan do is try and make a difference the best way we know how. Hopefully, my project will create a few more long term sustainable jobs for the community.
Wherever I go, I am almost always offered food and adrink. I have never been asked for money when walking around. Yet I know how much some of these people earn,my colleagues have not been paid for 6 weeks and are scrounging around for things to sell to make some money to be able to come to work. And still everyone is generous with what they have, if its their time,their contacts or what food they have. Some days at Smokey I look around and see a povertystricken area, I hear stories that make me want to cryand I pass filthy children returning from scavenging jobs who look longingly at the other kids singing songs in the day care centre. But some days I can see why people don’t want to leave when they start earningbetter money – it’s a very strong community, childrencan run around with their friends and everyone islooking out for everyone elses kids. People are smiling. A lot of the residents help set up livelihood programs, to help other residents who are probablyonly marginally worse off than themselves. It’s also agreat place for me to introduce a waste segregationprogram because I don’t need to spend much timetalking about the effects of poor waste management, these people know more about it than me and they areprobably some of the best segregators in the world.
So that’s a little bit of my world. I’ll be here for another 6 months or so and hopefully I will be able tomeet some more of the incredibly friendly andwelcoming Smokey folk. You can check out some photos of my workplace on my website – www.flickr.com/photos/nataliejiricek
I meant to write about Pinikpikan after returning from Bagiuo. What is Pinikpikan? Well, it’s a Bagiuo delicacy that I semi-witnessed while walking down a street on a cool, pleasant morning in Bagiuo. But I’ll let this website explain –
Not for people with weak hearts.
Ever heard of pinikpikan? This is one of the most exotic food of the people from the highland provinces of the Philippines. Sometimes we call it the "killing-me-softly" recipe because of the way this is preparped before being cooked. The following may not exactly be the way the Igorots do it but this is my son's instructions the way my son saw the guys prepared it.
Put one wing of a chicken on a flat surface. Hold the head, one wing, and the legs in the one hand. Using a club softly beat the other wing from the inside. Beat it so it does not break the bones. Beat the wing from the inside to the tip, and then back again. You must do this twice. Repeat for the other wing. After beating the wings, lay the head of the chicken, on the flat surface, facing one way. Beat the neck from the top to the bottom. You may probably wonder why the chicken has to be beaten. The reason to beat the chicken is to make the blood coagulate on the wings and on the neck. The wings get thick and look big when cooked. It is said that it tastes better as well. Another reason is when the blood coagulates, you then have to butcher the chicken, and blood does not drip as much. If done right, there would be very little blood dripping to the ground.
Now you must kill the chicken. To kill the chicken, hold the chicken firmly by the feet and wings in one hand. Use a club to hit the back of its head, just below the comb. Not too hard, or the chicken will bleed. One blow should do it. Use a torch or fire, burn the feathers off. Keep burning the chicken until it starts to look a little bit burnt. Don't worry, the burnt look is only at the surface because it was only the feathers that got burnt. Once the feathers are burnt off remove the remaining feathers. Use tweezers if necessary to remove the roots of the feathers. My dad is not an Igorot that's why he does that, but the real Igorots don't bother removing them anymore. Clean the inside of the chicken and then cut the chicken into medium sized pieces and put them into a pot. Add etag if you have any. Cook on high heat until meat is tender. When the chicken is done, add chayote or any vegetables of your choice into the pot. Add salt and remove the pot from the heat. Keep covered. Leave for four minutes minutes. Stir the soup and enjoy.
** To make etag, get a side of bacon and slice it into squares about an inch long. Dredge the meat in coarse salt and put in a ceramic bowl. Cover it and let it dry in open air for about 3 days. Keep in a dry container for about 3-5 weeks.**
And yes, to confirm the chicken is alive when they beat it! When my workmates first described this to me I thought they meant that the chicken was dead when it was beaten. But no! Walking down the street in Baguio we saw a Pinikpikan store. There were live chickens in cages and we saw some people buying the end product of a charcoaled chicken still with its feathers and everything! After thinking that it wouldn’t be too bad to try this local delicacy, I decided that it may just be one of those foods that I’ll pass on please.
More pleasurable is another Pinikpikan, a local Baguio band comprised of local artists playing local instruments. Here’s the story: It all started in 1989 at the first Baguio Arts Festival, Baguio City, home to many of the Pinikpikan - Participating artists from Manila had joined up with members of the Baguio Arts Guild at a dinner at Cafe by the Ruins after the festival's opening. As they sat around the Cafe's Dap-ay (a circular rock and stone installation found in tribal villages in the northern Cordillera where elders hold their council and rituals) someone picked up a couple of pieces of pinewood meant for the fire raging at the center. Another picked up some bamboo segments. Rum and beer bottles were used. So were covers of pots and pans. Rocks were pounded. Sticks flailed. A rhythm was born. Very Igorot in its influence. Then the rock band The Blank joined with lead and bass guitars. A keyboard was set up. A couple of guys brought out their saxophone and flutes. Manong Bencab called them the Pinikpikan, after a Mountain Province chicken dish which is prepared with an Igorot beat.
Macel, Chi and I ate breakfast at Café by the Ruins where I bought one of their CDs. It’s a beautiful café and much more enjoyable and friendly to the animals than it’s namesake! (Although Neil isn’t a big fan of some of the wailing . . .)
Neil left for Australia on Friday leaving me all alone. But there were lots of things planned for the weekend so I didn’t feel too lonely. On Friday night I was invited to watch one of the AFL semi-finals in Malate. Unfortunately I had a series of meetings on the other side of town at the University of the Philippines. With the rain and Friday traffic, by the time I would have arrived there the game would have been half way through, so instead I went home to relax before Jarrah’s going away party. Jarrah is an AYAD who arrived in the intake before us and has been working with Sally at the Asian Council for People’s Culture (ACPC) . He had his going away party at a restaurant-type place called Conspiracy in Quezon City which plays live local music. On Friday night a local artist called Joey Ayala was playing. He was very entertaining. Most of the Manila AYADs came along, as did Irene from my work which was great.
On Saturday I slept in and headed down to do some grocery shopping. In the afternoon I headed over to Malate to meet up with Ange and Kate at the Instituto Cervantes (Spanish sponsored Institute) to watch The Motorcycle Diaries (nice website). I had become confused thinking that this was a movie version of The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance which I had been lent to me by the son of a women that mom sings with in Perth and whom Melissa and I had bumped into at a youth hostel in Geneva in 1998? The book was ok, a kind of philosophical look at . . . quality and stuff. OK so I don’t remember it too well but the guy who leant it to me had raved about it, I though it was ok, and deduced that it was a guy type of thing. Actually, Neil would probably really appreciate it. Anyway, despite the confusion, the movie was great! In Spanish with English subtitles, the movie was about an trip of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara and Alberto Grenada throughout South America on a motorcycle in their early years. The trip appeared to be the basis of the foundation of Che’s ideals and beliefs for a unified America respecting the marginalised - particularly displaced indigenous peoples. The scenery in the movie was fantastic and I would recommend it to others to see (I think it’s on DVD now). Plus it really made me want to go spend some serious time in South and Central America!
Afterwards, Ange and I went for some dinner and then I went home for an early night in bed.
Sunday morning was an early one for a Sunday! I met Dette from my work at 8.30 and headed through Quiapo where we met Anna and ventured down to Manila Zoo for Dette’s birthday. There we met Aleth and her 4 year old daughter Tracy and Macel and her partner Chi for a nice Sunday stroll around the zoo. We went on a boat ride and saw a few strange Filipino animals that I had never seen before. Tapos (then), we went to eat some lunch. Here in the Philippines when it is your birthday you treat everyone else rather than be treated yourself. And it is a tradition to eat pancit (noodles). They call them birthday noodles. I went home after lunch for a nice afternoon nap and woke up on Monday feeling the best that I have felt in about 4 weeks (ie. Normal)! Hurrah!
This recent sickness has knocked me around a bit. I think the persistent heat, which along with the rain creates a high level of humidity probably isn’t helping either. But it’s been tough getting over this one and I wish I could have a break in Australia for a week or two. Neil is leaving on Friday for Perth. I notice it will be a sunny 19 degrees there today. Not 31, raining and humid. But the main purpose of his trip is to visit his step-mum Barbara and his sister and her children who have just returned from a few years in the UK. Unfortunately I only have a limited amount of leave and it hasn't been possible for me to join him at this time He’ll be there for about 10 days and will return just before his birthday on the 29th. Upon his return we'll head down to a place in the Visayas called Apo Island, near Dumaguete on Negros Oriental to celebrate Neil's birthday. Apo Island is pretty well known for its well preserved coral reef that has been successfully protected from dynamite fishing!! (unlike many other coral reef areas in the Philippines) We will do an introductory scuba dive while there and the small island itself is supposedly very peaceful and very pretty. This will be our first trip down to an island in the Visayas and I’m really looking forward to it.
We told our Tagalog teacher on Monday that we didn’t want to continue Tagalog anymore. We’ve done about 10 lessons with her and feel like much of the time has been wasted. She had never taught Tagalog before (only English to Korean students) and when we asked questions she was unable to provide us with some concrete answers. For example: Pwede mo bang ipakita sa akin sa mapa? (Can you show me on the map?) why is the bang – ba + ng joined together when in other cases it is separate, ba (to indicate a question) and ng (a ligature, another confusing aspect of Filipino). And when do you use ipakita and when do you use nakakita and when do you you use just kita (all are versions of 'see'). And when do you use 'akin' me and 'ako' I/me? Stuff like that. Anyway, so we’ve (hopefully) found someone who is a little more qualified and hopefully it will all go well. But I shouldn’t blame our teacher too too much. For my conversational Tagalog to improve I really need to start talking MORE!!!
I’ve become addicted to eating grapefruit for breakfast. I think it has become my favourite fruit – a pretty big call as I do miss Australian grapes. Here the grapefruits are imported from South Africa I think, so they aren’t too cheap, but they seem to be a bit sweeter than the ones in Australia. Perhaps they are just a different variety. The Philippines has some great fruit though. Much more than the apples and oranges that dominate the Australian shelves. When I get home, I’ll have a Filipino food party, because much of it can be found in Australia, but I had never tried it. Mangosteens, lychees, lanzones, rambutans, atis, stinky durian, dragonfruit (which looks very pretty but which I haven't yet tasted). Most of it is pretty sweet but all in all is pretty good.
Work is going well. Being sick I hit a bit of a brick wall again as to the focus of what I need to be doing here. But I am working on a couple of discussion papers on possible plans so hopefully that will reinvigorate thoughts about how to improve things. As I've said before, generally the women I work with here hold similar ideas about what is needed to enhance their work - money and more resources. Unfortunately I am unable to bring this to a large extent. But I guess an extra pair of hands and a sounding board goes a little way to helping out around here. It's become an ongoing discussion with a few other AYADs here and with the in-country manager. And it was a question raised when I was back in AusAID in Australia. Just to what extent can a single volunteer help an organisation? I guess it would differ between different organisations, and even within different parts of organisations depending on the individuals working there and the contexts in which the volunteer is working. One of my colleagues here is seriously considering volunteering with a women's organisation in Pakistan. I'm excited for her - she is very matalino (intelligent) and could impart a lot of knowledge. I guess when it comes down to it, I would encourage people to go and volunteer for a while. You learn a lot and the transfer of knowledge and ideas on both sides can be rewarding and valuable (a plug for the AYAD program, new assignments are advertised I think on the 15th of September). And despite the pollution, humidity, sicknesses, msg-ridden salty sweet food and frustrations of Manila, it is fun to be overseas. You just need to really remember it sometimes.
Well it had to happen – a political post. I am working in the government after all. And a hell of a lot of political rumblings have been going on in the Philippines since our arrival. Its really a wonder that a political post hasn’t appeared sooner! I guess what really prompted it is that I've been attending a number of seminars on Charter Change in the Philippines. On Tuesday it was, 'Charter Change: Will it Drive Economic Growth and Democratization?' and last week, 'Charter Change: possibilities for Local Sectoral Representation Advocacy’. Local Sectoral Representation, or rather advocating for the passage of an LSR bill through Congress is one of my tasks here at NCRFW. It’s been causing us a bit of grief, partly because it has been around for so long (I think over 10 years people have been pushing for an LSR bill) but also because of the current political situation. The forum was a chance to look more into the political implications of the proposed governance reform process on LSR advocacy and it was hosted by the LSR Task Force of which NCRFW is a member.
There has been a recent push in politics here to under go charter change, otherwise known as; 'cha cha' to reform the political system and move the Philippines from a unitary and presidential system of government to a federal and parliamentary one (like Australia’s for example). There has been a bit of a long history in the Philippines for cha cha, from Marcos through Ramos to the current Arroyo government. A lot of it has been about Presidents trying to stay in power (they are only technically allowed one term of 6 years), but it has also surfaced again lately due to recent political controversies – the Hello Garci tapes, alleged cheating in the latest election, ongoing juenteng, the 'self-exile’ of Gloria’s husband to the US, impeachment processes, and ongoing graft and corruption claims throughout the government.
The meeting was all in Tagalog so I only got a general understanding but one of the presenters, Dr Jose Rocamora, Executive Director of the Institute on Popular Democracy (IPD) gave a good speech with some great quotes such as: - When talking about whether cha cha should go ahead, "Gloria has to face the music before we dance the cha-cha". - When talking about the absence of strong political parties along with the desire to move to a parliamentary system where functioning political parties are essential, ‘it’s the age old question of which comes first, the chicken or the egg. In the Philippines we have our Pinoy answer, balut. Here Dr Rocamora is proposing that 50% of all Parliamentary seats are delegated to party list representatives to facilitate the strengthening of political parties in the Philippines.
For LSR, the recommendations weren’t so positive, but overall it was one of the more informative and useful advocacy meetings. Since the talk on cha cha has reignited here, and the realisation of how rotten politics are here in the Philippines, Neil and I both have been reflecting on the Australian system - which although has problems of its own, we think is a much more positive and responsive system than the one currently in operation here. I’ll be giving a bit of a talk on the Australian system to the staff at NCRFW as a practical example of a parliamentary, federal system and what the office may expect if cha cha goes ahead. At least my office mates and many Filipinos are engaging in the debate! It’s good to see, and a positive development.
Just to finish, I thought I would add something more about the context of Charter Change in the Philippines from a publication of the Citizens’ Movement for a Federal Philippines (CMEF) and the KC Institute of Federal-Parliamentary Democracy entitled, Charter Change for Good Governance: Towards a Federal Republic of the Philippines with a Parliamentary Government by Jose Veloso Abueva. I think it is a good introduction to why changes are necessary to improve governance in the Philippines.
”EDSA 1 and 2 : In a non-violent explosion of “people power” at EDSA [the main artery road in Manila] from February 22 to 25, 1986, tens of thousands of outraged but unarmed Filipinos gathered to defend a small but swelling band of military rebels. United in their anguished cry for ‘Justice, Freedom and Democracy’, they peacefully immobilized the armed forces of the 13 year Marcos dictatorship. On the forth day they banished the dictator into exile [interestingly, his daughter is now a House of Representatives member and his son, Governor].
“In January 2001, not only at ESDA in Metro Manila but also in many cities, citizens gathered and employed “people power” once more to bring down a president who was perceived to be abusive and corrupt. [Estrada – an ex-movie star. Interestingly his wife and son are both Senators in the 24-person national senate] Aggrieved citizens felt good once again, but “people power” alone could not bring us the good governance that we really need as a developing nation and democracy.
“We restored an outmoded system of democracy. The restoration of free elections and electoral democracy under the 1987 Constitution has not checked our pervasive problems of mass poverty, unemployment, corruption, social inequality, injustice, rebellion and the environment. Underdevelopment and population shill force legions of Filipinos to migrate [approximately 10% of Filipinos live and work overseas] as our country lags farther behind our advanced neighbors in the region. Political and economic power remains concentrated at the top of the social pyramid. . .
“We restored our adversarial separation of powers in a presidential system that daily creates conflict and gridlock between the Executive and Congress, with a vengeance. Our obsolete form of government and dysfunctional political parties sustain our politics of personality, patronage, cronyism and corruption without public accountability. . .
“We should recognize our glaring lack of ‘good governance’ which can be understood as the sustained, institutionalized capacity of the government to make the right decisions and policies and to implement them effectively to solve our problems and realize our goals. This gaping lack is what sets the Philippines apart from our progressive democratic neighbors (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand) and our progressive semi-democratic neighbors (Singapore, Malaysia, China).
“Basically, good governance is the primordial responsibility of our national leadership. But since the mid-1960s we have suffered a collective failure of our political leadership to reform our institutions of governance for the common good. In spite of some good leaders here and there, most of our leaders have helped to preserve our traditional political system in which their power is rooted and nurtured.
“Pervasive poverty, insecurity and dependency, as well as lack of civic competence, compel many citizens to play their passive role in traditional politics. Our kind of capitalist or market economy also perpetuates our elitist political system. Moreover, the status quo of bad governance is sustained if we cannot build a deeper sense of nationhood, a stronger commitment to the common good and the national interest, spirituality, moral values, and modern ethical behavior. We need more of our reform-minded leaders in government, business and civil society to push for institutional reforms for good governance. We need responsible and reform-minded citizens in a growing middle class and a modern political culture. We need to break out of our vicious cycle of deficits in good governance and democracy.”
Just a quick post to update people on what I have been going - I haven't had much of a chance to get on a computer to post lately. There is a long post in the works, so hopefully I'll get it organised soon. But I've also been sick again, had some days of work and ventured into a medical clinic for blood tests to see what was wrong with me (very vague symptoms of nauseau, constant headaches and needing a lot of sleep). They didn't find anything serious which is good, but prescribed antibiotics. After 7 days I am starting to feel better and more recovered, but this one knocked me around a bit.
We had Lyndon, an AYAD from Bohol come stay with us last week, and Franc is now back in Manila and stayed with us for a few days. Unfortunately we didn't head out much while they were here due to my sickness, but we'll see Lyndon later in the year with a trip to Bohol. Here's a pic from Franc's website - the traffic on EDSA (main road thoroughfare in Manila.
Friday afternoon Macel and I made our way to Baguio - a 2hr bus ride up into the mountains. We arrived at about 7 and met Macel's partner Chii who had come up from Manila to join us for our Satruday in Bagio. We dumped our bags and headed out for dinner. We went for dinner at a nice place near the large Bagio Cathedral which overlooked the city.
The next day we got up early and went for breakfast at the Cafe by the Ruins. This is a great little cafe - open air, bamboo, local art works and Philippino food. I wish there were more restaurants like this in Manila! I ate french toast and maple syrup. Yum.
Me and Macel at Cafe by the Ruins
Afterwards we headed up to Mines View, which overlooked the surrounding mountains. Next on our whril wind tour of Bagio was to the Bagio market place where we bought pasalubong (food for people at work) and a few little presents for ourselves and other people. We then went back to the hotel, packed up our stuff and headed about 5kms out of Bagio to Tam-awan Village.
Tam-awan Village is a replica of a traditional Cordillera community with reconstructed huts made of hand-hewn pine wood and thatched roofs. The village is a popular haunt of Baguio artists who regularly hold exhibits in the compound and an eclectic mix of workshops from painting, pottery, paper-making to performance arts. One can even see as far as the South China Sea on a cloudless day if one stands on the topmost part of the village. There are a number of old Igorot huts within the village from Ifugao (the rice terraces that Neil and I visited a few months earlier) and Kalinga which will allow you to see how the homes of the mountain people really look like.
Macel and I heading up to Tam-awan Village
View of Tam-awan Village. The two rice God statues white and black guard the entrance.
Next we were off to Camp John Hay, an area developed in the early 1900’s by the United States Armed Forces as a r&r place for their troops. Now it's a large recreation area open to the public. We headed to another nice little cafe that served chocolate. After a long, fun but exhausting day, we jumped back on the bus to Manila.
Emily at the Chocolate cafe - I forget what it is called!
A view from our appartment - Manila on a less polluted day. The pollution at least makes for nice sunsets! In the picture you can see the LRT train that I ride to and from work every day.
