11 February 2009
GOD BLESS YOU PRESIDENT CORY!
Friday, February 20, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Demands of Dignity by Prof. Ed Aurelio "DING" Reyes
February 4, 2009
Prof. Ed Aurelio "DING" Reyes launched his book "Demands of Dignity," at IAME. Prof. Ding is shown below signing a copy of his book.
Here, Prof. Ding poses for a picture with friends, among them no less than Dr. Emmanuel T. Santos, aka Noli Santos (as in Noli Santos International Tower, that's where the IAME is located).
In his Introduction, Prof. DING explains best the rationale for his present volume:
"Ten years ago, on the occasion of the Golden and Centennial anniversaries of UDHR [Universal Declaration of Human Rights] and TP [Treaty of Paris of 1898], respectively, an active network promoting a keen sense of history among the peoples of the Philippines spearheaded together with the largest alliance of human rights advocates in the country a human rights-oriented and historically-mandated project in the form of a '1998 Philippine Declaration of Felicitation and Protest.'
Through the efforts of Kamalaysayan and the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) this was formulated and subsequently signed by over 300 history-oriented educators, human rights [advocates] and students from all over the country, and copies were delivered to the respective embassies of Spain and the United States, the office of the United Nations resident representative in the Philippines, and some other official addressees, including the embassy of France.
This 1998 Philippine Declaration expresses, among others, a demand for an official apology from Spain and the same from the US. We got a response from the Spanish ambassador, and his makes for a very interesting reading.
Now, a full decade later, Kamalaysayan is launching as a campaign project a deeper and broader discourse on the contents of this 1998 Declaration, covering the effort to foster a deeper understanding and firmer grasp of both international documents along with their respective implications and consequences, and elaborating on the items for which we have earlier aired demands for apology.
To jumpstart this campaign and provide an intial folio of materials for circulation and discussion, this writer was tasked to put together this book, one of the thickest and most well-researched among his two dozen or so published works, full-titled, Demands of Dignity: Developing the Discourse on the Philippine December 10th Declaration, a Decade After. This book comes out in standard hard-copy version of about 180 pages, and in electronic full and popular versions mainly for an international audience.
The first two chapters tackle why the UDHR and the TP are, respectively, "a cause for celebration" and "a cause for indignation." The third chapter elaborates in detail the bases of the demands for Spanish and American official apology to the Filipino people and to Humanity, and the last two chapters respond to the Spanish written response and to the American non-response to the 1998 Declaration.
We have been asked why we still bother with these two very old documents 'just because they got signed on the same date.' Actually, these two are much more closely related than that -- they are mutually relevant. And they form part of our continuing past, for better and for worse. They are part of the History of Humankind, of all of us. They are both covered by the Demands of Human Dignity."
Mr. Max de Mesa, Chairperson of PAHRA, wrote the foreword. This is what he says:
"The author challenges our sense of time in relation to human rights. How far can we appropriately and effectively reach out from the past to correct the present and to work together for common dignity in the future?
The people' struggles inform and reshape the human rights discourse not only its language but its content as well. To be effective and relevant, human rights defenders from the concerned parties must thus engage in solidarity with those who struggle for their dignity and rights. The people in turn must engage the duty-holders, as well as all claim-holders of human rights to ensure that they all enjoy the full implementation of these rights and obtain dignity for all concerned."
Dr. Noli Santos wrote:
"Demands of Dignity by Ed Aurelio C. Reyes is a fresh historical contribution to the mainstream radical intellectual tradition of Philippine struggle for recognition of human dignity, independence, freedom and democracy."
He ended his Prologue, thus:
"With the hindsight of history, we call on President Obama to issue a statement of apology to the Filipino people and the Republic of the Philippines to show to the world that America still stands by its basic values of respect for human dignity, life, liberty, freedom, truth, justice and pursuit of happiness. We also request President Obama to order the immediate return of the historic Bells of Balangiga taken by the American forces and are still being kept in the US after more than 100 years. This bell is part of the natural treasure of the Philippines."
To me, Demands of Dignity is unfolding, interactive history -- this is a theme that I will be returning to from time to time.
It summons us as a nation to keep confronting our past, to move on beyond that past when we have learned its more relevant lessons to forge a future that beckons with peace, justice, progress and dignity.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Morale Booster from Old, Formidable Warrior Jovito Salonga
6 February 2009
This afternoon, I had the chance to talk over the phone with Senator Jovito Salonga. I had faxed to his office at Kilosbayan and to his residence my appeal to the Philippine government to suspend the diggings at Monumento and give way to public consultation that will save the Monumento from further desecration.
Senator Salonga was kind enough to hear my small voice over the phone. He was in agreement with the call for consultation over the issue of protecting national dignity and honor at the Bonifacio Monument. I expect to hear a public pronouncement on Monumento from Sen. Jovito Salonga, easily one of the greatest living Filipinos.
Humility is a hallmark of this man's character.
Here's an excerpt from Senator Salonga's "A Letter to the Filipino Youth of Today" published in the maiden issue of Living News and Good Education, June 1, 2005 (the entire article is found in the The Jovito R. Salonga Journal).
"Later, Japanese troops landed in Lingayen, Pangasinan, and in several places in Luzon. Filipino-American troops in those places fought back but had to retreat to Bataan and Corregidor. On December 26, 1941, Manila was declared an open city, which means the Japanese could enter freely without armed resistance. On January 2, 1942, Japanese officers and soldiers were swarming around Manila and surrounding areas, such as Pasig and Marikina. Because of the abuses committed by the enemy, especially against Filipino women and children, I went underground and joined the fight against Japan. During the Holy Week of 1942, I was captured by the Japanese military police (kempeitai), was tortured, jailed in Pasig, then to Fort Santiago, transferred to the City Jail on San Marcelino, then to the Old Bilibid on Azcarraga, and eventually sentenced by the Japanese military tribunal to a prison term of 15 years of hard labor. By a stroke of good luck, I was released from Muntinglupa one year later (1941) on the occasion of kigen setsu the Foundation Day of Japan. In 1944, I was allowed by the Supreme Court to take the bar examination and I passed it with a good rating. I joined the guerrillas in Rizal. US forces landed in Leyte; in the second week of January 1945, they landed in Lingayen, Pangasinan and Manila was liberated by American GIs, guided by Filipino guerrillas, in February 1945. Other places were also liberated in quick succession. The atomic bomb was dropped by US Air Force on 2 Japanese cities: Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Japan surrendered to the US in August 1945."
How's that again? "Passed the bar with a good rating?"
Here's what another source say really happened:
"However, because of the advent of World War II, he postponed taking the Philippine Bar Examination until 1944—which he and José Diokno both topped with a grade point average of 95.3%, the 2nd highest score in Philippine Bar history (Florenz Regalado holds 1st place)."
For more on Senator Jovito Salonga, please see this Wikipedia article: Jovito Salonga.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
UP Manila Social Sciences Week, Feb. 2-7, 2009
4 February 2009
These are some of the pictures that I took during the UP Manila Social Sciences Week.
The gentlemen you see wearing rayadillo uniforms, c. 1898, with rank insignias supposedly designed by immortal Filipino painter Juan Luna, are Mr. Nonito Flores (left), a businessman and Engr. Pedro Antonio V. Javier, a senior quality engineer working for Amkor Tech Phil. Both are members of the "Buhay na Kasaysayan" reenactment group.
Obviously, this is a work in progress... Please bear with me. Babalik po ako.
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