I was invited by a group of independent film makers and social activists to participate in their film showing and forum entitled, "RIGHTS". Although my schedule was pretty hectic that day, I said yes. It was last Sept 21, Friday. On this day we remembered the declaration of Martial Law by the then President, Ferdinand Marcos. I wasn't even born when Martial Law was declared but it is not an excuse not to know what happened.

While I was preparing to go to my classes, I received a text/sms message telling me that the MTRCB or (Movie and TV Review and Classification Board) headed by Laguardia (real family name although metaphorical since it means "the guardian") banned the showing of "RIGHTS". But you may ask, why? Here's the thing:

RIGHTS is a collection of advertisements and short films showing the human rights violation, extra-judicial killings, and forced disappearances among the political and social activists who are questioning or are critical of the current administration. The collection does not only show the human rights violation but it also calls for human protection. So what's wrong with calloing for a humane, pro-people and pro-justice government? Nothing. Nothing is wrong with that. However, the collection of films was sabotaged in the office of the MTRCB. A pornographic film was inserted in the collection of human rights films. With this, the MTRCB had a good reason to ban the showing of RIGHTS. But of course, activists and film makers would not leave it at that so they protested. So Chairman Laguardia, finally, gave it a yes only with rated-X.
Human Rights films rated as X, where in the world could you find such rating?! Or where in the world could you find a movie, or tv show is being "guarded" or reviewed by a group of....never mind. I cannot blame Laguardia, she has too much pressure on her back. Why is the government so scared of revealing and fining the truth, as if the truth will topple them?


Funny, because if you check the everyday shows on the local channels, you will see women in two-piece dancing erotically in front of kids. You will hear nasty, greed, and rude comments from tv hosts all the time. The hot news even in headlines are always about a celebrity "sleeping with someone" or talking about their sex life. Every hour you will hear a child being sexually molested by their own father or uncle or their neighbor. Everyday of the week you have a show or shows that make fun of the poor by making them share their deep dark secrets on tv, and after they cry a hell lot, they are asked to lap/pole dance or sing as if they are in American Idol. I am so bothered by this actually. Where do you draw the line? Where and when can you say that this is immoral (showing human rights violation by the government and the police) and this is moral (who's sleeping with who or a 75-year-old woman dancing in an erotic way so she can get money).

I dont want to sound moralistic but I feel that our basic moral duties is to uphold the human rights. if you feel that you can cover the reality by displacing it or by using entertainment, then something is wrong.


NB:
*Nothing is wrong with lap dancing and pole dancing, as I learned about them--how they are connected to women's body and spirituality; it is the context/situation where I feel, it should be guarded. Not everyone is intelligent enough (to put it blatantly) to understand the connection as more people tend to thrive on what is shallow, dull and unimportant.

Tomorrow, we will witness the result of Former President Erap's plunder case. I think, if he wouldbe acquitted, GMA have to step down because it means, her presidency is null and void. If Erap would be found guilty, there would surely be mass protests. Well, actually either way there will be political and social unrest.

To be honest, I was part of the so-called "EDSA 2". I was there, as a young idealist school girl who thought that I deserved a better president--someone who does not display his being drunkard or playboy. I was there with my friends and two teachers. We were holding the banner of our school. We were only six from school and, yes, our 2 profs. We felt that our president should be a good example to us, the youth. Of course, all the rallies we joined were kept from our parents. We had to turn off our cell phones so nobody, especially our parents, could contact us and hear our screams: Erap Resign! One time, my dad who was in Europe at that time called my mom and said not to allow me to go to rallies because something worse might happen. But could any parents suppress the growing idealism of the youth? I wanted to make a stand and I wanted everyone to know where I belong.

However, there has never been a true political change--there has never been a real nationalist or patriot among the government officials. All of them just want to feed their own ego, to feed their own desire to power and money.

And I thought, the worse part would be civil war and violent rallies. But none of it happened. The WORST part was: I FELT, WE WERE JUST USED BY THE THEN VICE PRESIDENT, GMA, AND HER ALLIES TO FULFILL HER POLITICAL CAREER. I thought having a drunkard and playboy president (or having perjury and plunder cases) was bad enough but having a president who cheats deliberately (Hello Garci Scandal and recent local elections) and drains the money of my countrymen (the underground deals with big companies, like ZTE broadband) and who has several cases of human rights violation (forced disappearances) ...no words could express the kind of betrayal I felt for myself and my country.

Poverty is the worse kind of human rights violation, says Ghandi. And although, the statistics say that we've economic growth since the time of GMA because our money and the stocks market are going strong, the real economy which make up the 80% or so of our country, do not feel it. For one, we are an OFW economy, which means, our economy is based on the number of Filipinos working abroad. This means, that if dollar depreciates, then the money that the families of OFWs receive will have lesser value and harder to manage. Plus the fact that the strenghtening of Peso does not mean a stronger economy, it just means the value of dollar has plummeted in the world market. Second thing, what do we care about the stock market? How many Filipinos can afford to buy stocks? Most of them who could afford are foreigners, so what that does got to do with the mass and real economy? I've interviewed people who could no longer afford to eat even canned sardines. Yes, from canned sardines to noodles to dried fish to "knorr cubes!". Yes, knorr cubes!!! Some families just buy this piece of chicken cubes (6php/pc) which they make as a hot broth to go with their rice in lieu of viand. You call that growing economy?

Corruption is a major problem in my country especially now. Dishonesty and lack of conscience are spin-offs of that.

NB:
I'm not an economist like our President, I'm just a girl, expressing an opinion.

Why I love Einstein? He is not only a genius, he can actually speak my mind:

"This topic brings me to that worst outcrop of herd life, the military system, which I abhor... This plague-spot of civilization ought to be abolished with all possible speed. Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I hate them!

He was saddened by the fact that E=MC2 was used destructively rather than creatively. Sigh.

**The writer thought she is being humorous.

FROM BORACAY TO GREECE
(Ms Malu Fernandez’ article which appeared recently in People Asia magazine.)
BY MALU FERNANDEZ - Summer comes and goes. Most of the time I am out if the country for work. But I’m stuck here, I ignore the heat and stay in a temperature-controlled room of 18 degrees – cold enough to make the windows sweat. This year I decided to go off tangent and pick places I have never been to before.
Much to my chagrin, I had never been to the beach. You see, I hate the sand, the bugs and the mosquitoes, but I figured it would be fun with everyone around. As we reached the villa I was spraying Baygon everywhere. I thought I had nearly killed myself with all the insect repellant and Lysol disinfectant I kept on spraying. I am so not into roughing it up. For me, the minimum requirement for traveling is a Holiday Inn.
A couple of days later saw us walking down to Station 2 where D’mall was and I was trying my best not to freak out as the beach was filled with algae, which were collecting on my Adidas all-terrain. (I refuse to wear Havaianas and scratch my pedicure.) Finally as we walked back , I was dazzled by a beautiful white structure, so white it glistened under the sun. This brilliant apparition was Discovery Shores, an oasis in the middle of the island. Not only do the staff headed by Jun Parreno make you feel at home, the food by chef David Pardo de Ayala is fabulous as well. And after seeing the whole poolside and the fabulous rooms done by Budgi Layug, I wanted to move there. But I was too ashamed to ditch my friends and forego the huge amount I already paid for my share of the villa. So I promised to go back another time in order to luxuriate in their fabulous surroundings.
Meanwhile, when all of this was going on, I was on the cell phone with my jet set buddy Ron Sato planning an impromptu trip. You see, Ron is my travel buddy who lives in Los Angeles, so between his schedule and mine, the logistics are a nightmare. The week of Easter, however, was open for both of us so I said: “Pick a country!” We decided on Greece and off we went. But getting there was a bloddy nightmare. To save on my ticket, I bravely took an economy class seat on Emirates as recommended by my travel agent. Ron excitedly told me to go for it – Emirates had won best economy class and some award. However I forgot that the hub was in Dubai and the majority of the OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) were stationed there. The duty-free shop was overrun with Filipino workers selling cell phones and perfume. Meanwhile, I wanted to slash my wrist at the thought of being trapped in a plane with all of them. Of course, everyone in economy class was yelled at for having overweight hand-carries. Mine was 17kg (ssshhhh!). That was all my makeup and accessories I would never risk losing if my luggage ended in the middle of the Sahara desert.
While I was on the plane (where the seats were so small I had bruises on my legs), my only consolation was the entertainment on the small flat screen in front of me. But it was busted, so I heaved a sigh, popped my sleeping pills and dozed off to the sounds of gum chewing and endless yelling of “HOY! Kumusta ka na? At taga san ka? Domestic helper ka rin ba?” Translation: “Hey there? Where are you from? Are you a domestic helper as well?” I though I had died and God had sent me to my very own private hell.
After a nine-hour flight, I finally landed and made my way around Athens to the Ledra Marriott hotel, washed the plane off me and got a text from my other editor Gianna Maniego. She told me my weekly deadline was moved up due to the holidays. In a state of panic, I was about to have a major meltdown because I hadn’t slept for 48 hours, the Louis Vuittons under my eyes were enormous and all I wanted was a hot shower and a bed. At that point, I didn’t know where to go as there wasn’t enough time to plan a sight-seeing trip and take in the sights in order to meet my deadline so I decided to go off on a train and head to the Athens Mall.
As they say – when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping. My buddy Ron and I were laughing so hard because we flew all the way to Greece to go to a mall and eat in Ruby Tuesdays (an American chain like Chili’s). After covering my deadline, we planned to soak in the sites for the next day and headed off to the Parthenon on top of the Acropolis, climbing every step in my gold, open-toed sandals. You see, I followed the weather report on CNN but apparently the forecast was wrong because it was still winter. So I bravely went about in a lightweight sweater and a throw, climbing the Acropolis and driving to the edge of the Aegean sea by the Temple of Poseidon.
After a whole day of sight seeing I decided I have had enough of the historical sites. I adamantly wanted to go to Santorini to see the Caldero houses but due to time constraints, we were unable to go. I guess God was watching out for us because the ferry we were supposed to take sank in the middle of the Aegean Sea. I could already see myself screaming “SAVE MY ACCESSORIES!!!!” And swimming with head above water so I don’t mess up my makeup… See, I told you I hate the beach! For the rest of the stay we ended up going around the shopping district in Monasteriki and the garment district in Ermou. Old habits indeed never die!
On my way back, I had to bravely take the economy flight once more. This time I had already resigned myself to being trapped like a sardine in a sardine can with all these OFWs smelling of AXE and Charlie cologne while Jo Malone evaporated into thin air. However, for the first time in my natural life I was elated to go back to the Philippines so I could go back to Discovery Shores in Boracay and sip a tropical drink under the fabulous hat I bought in Greece. There I was sending MMS pictures to my buddy Ron trying to entice him to come over, but I didn’t succeed. Instead, I got two other friends join me in sipping cocktails with a fabulous sunset and ocean view while planting my feet firmly on the bug-free cement flooring by the poolside of Discovery Shores.
All in all, it’s been a pretty good summer. Jetting from the Aegean Sea to the Pacific may sound a bit pretentious until you wake up in economy class smelling like air freshener. Not to mention looking at your bank balance after paying for all your trips, which surely smacks reality in your face. But for a couple of weeks, I had the great escape I planned for this long hot summer.
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