Here she is…

And now the inside…

Kriselda Volks before…

Migrante: Bayani sa Ekonomiya, Bayani sa Politika

Overseas Filipino workers’ (OFWs) from all over the world are fuming mad over the recent Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Resolution delisting Migrante Sectoral Party (MSP) from the list of qualified Party-List groups for the May 10, 2010 elections.

In Resolution No. 8679, promulgated by the COMELEC en banc on October 13, 2009; the poll body ruled to delete Migrante and 25 other groups from the list of registered party-lists for allegedly failing to “participate in the last two (2) preceding elections OR fails to obtain at least two percentum (2%) of the votes cast under the party-list system in the two (2) preceding elections.”

Immediately, Migrante issued a statement condemning the COMELEC ruling saying that such a move from the poll body was “anomalous” and “unacceptable.”

“The Comelec decision is highly irregular since it veered away from the process where partylist are only removed from the list after due notice and hearing as provided by law. This time, however, the Comelec issued a resolution to remove 26 partylist groups first then asked concerned parties to just submit written opposition if there are any. This is unacceptable,” Garry Martinez, chairperson of Migrante International exclaimed.

Aside from the lack of due process, Migrante also said the COMELEC committed a blunder when it deleted 5 of the 26 Party-lists just because they failed to get 2 percent in one election and was not able to participate in another election. The 5 groups were
Migrante, Abanse Pinay, AK, PCDO-ACTO and PGBI.

“This clearly negates the qualifier in the provision wherein the instance of failure should be committed twice and in two preceding elections,” Martinez asserted.

The Migrante leader likewise denounced the COMELEC’s “desperation” as it is purposely trimming down the list of participating party-list groups in 2010. He noted that if the official ballot for the 2010 elections would be “ridiculously long” because of the number of party-lists wanting to participate, the COMELEC has no one to blame but itself.

“It was the sole agency that approved the registration of those partylist who cannot even be considered as part of the marginalized sector as defined in the Constitution. The Comelec’s desperate scheme to reduce the numbers of participating partylist groups at present should not be done at the expense of the true and legitimate representatives of marginalized sectors,” Martinez protested.

He lamented that only ones who’ll stand to benefit from this “anomalous” ruling are “Malacanang backed party-list groups” such as Maria Lourdes Arroyo’s (sister of the First Gentleman) Ang Kasangga Partylist and Jovito Palparan’s (notoriously known as The Butcher) Bantay Partylist.

“Unfortunately, it is only the Malacanang backed partylist groups who are going to benefit from this Comelec decision while legitimate representatives of the marginalized sectors of our society are getting denied of their right to due proccess,” he said.

Martinez said his group is preparing to file a formal protest before the COMELEC. Protest actions from Migrante chapters and its allied Filipino organizations all over the world are also in the drawing board to express the OFW sector’s collective sentiment towards the unjust COMELEC ruling.

Black Friday Protests

Elsewhere around the world, OFWs are up in arms.

Filipinos in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has declared to hold Black Friday Protests in the Kingdom to protest the COMELEC ruling.

“Delisting MSP means delisting OFWs in the political arena,” exclaimed Migrante Jeddah Chapter Chairperson Bob Fajarito as he called on all his compatriots in the Kingdom to wear black every Friday as a sign of their united disappointment. He also encouraged OFWs to bombard the COMELEC with protest letters via email.

For his part, Migrante Saudi Arabia Chairperson A.M. Ociones said COMELEC Resolution No. 8679 “marginalized the migrants even more.”

“Definitely, this is contrary to the real intent of the Partylist Law of encouraging the participation of the un-represented and marginalized sectors of society in the democratic process of nation-building,” he said.

Ociones said the Migrante’s deletion would be a big blow to OFWs all over the world, most especially in the Middle East which has been touted to be the “epicenter of migrants’ human rights violations.”

Said Ociones: “With the proven track record of Migrante in fiscalizing the government to act in favor, and respond to the most pressing needs of OFWs, getting MSP in the next Congress as Party-list representative is the greatest hope the Filipino migrants can ever achieve.”

Meanwhile, Marco Luciano of Migrante Canada asserted that the COMELEC’s en banc decision “is tantamount to suppressing the rights of a party that seeks nothing but to represent in the House of Representatives the millions of Filipino migrants all over the world.”

“Not only is it a violation of due process leading to the disenfranchisement of a group that has truly served the interests of Filipino migrant workers and their families the world over. It opens the door for the Malacanang-backed party-list groups to dominate the coming party-list election, thus serving the ruling administration’s objective of prolonging its rule,” he said.

COMELEC robbed OFWs twice

Filipinos from down under also joined like minded kababayans all over the globe in deploring the COMELEC’s move.  Dennis Maga, National Coordinator for Migrante New Zealand said that overseas Filipinos were robbed of their votes by the COMELEC twice: “first, through its failure to ensure the registration of more OFW voters; and now, by unjustly disqualifying Migrante from the 2010 party-list elections.”

“It is the height of injustice that the Commission on Elections, in a recent en banc resolution, qualified the Malacañang-supported fake party-list groups like the one represented by the notorious Jovito Palparan to gain a seat in Congress, while disqualifying the leading and genuine advocate of the welfare of the marginalized overseas Filipino workers.”

Photos coutesy of Yboy Macatiag

IS GLORIA THE NEW IMELDA?

Filipinos in New York Respond to Arroyo’s “Simple” Meals

Despite the claims of the Arroyo administration, there are certainly simple, inexpensive culinary pleasures to be had in New York City. While the Big Apple is certainly home to Wall Street power lunches, Tavern On The Green, and the Russian Tea Room, it is also home to the $1 pizza slice, the $1.25 hot dog from the street vendor, and the $4 over rice plate in Chinatown.

And with New York unemployment reaching a record high of 400,000 in 2008 due to the economic crisis, these cheap eats are becoming everyday fare for more and more New Yorkers.

In fact, New Yorkers would be the first to rebuke Philippine Presidential Press Secretary Cerge Remonde’s claims that the recent New York City dinner of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her travel entourage was a “simple” dinner, or the line that such expensive rates are “standard” in New York City.

There was nothing “simple” about Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s entourage drawing up a $20,000 tab for two tables at the ritzy Le Cirque Restaurant in Manhattan. Surely such a feast for the 65 Philippine bureaucrats who literally wined and dined to their hearts content could have easily fed several small villages in the Philippines itself. What blows our minds even more is the recent news that the infamous $20k extravaganza was preceded by a similar $15k fete in Washington DC, where Arroyo and her entourage dined at Bobby Van’s Steakhouse after her state visit with President Barack Obama.

As Filipinos in New York, this degree of extravagance from a Philippine Head of State is both vulgar and, unfortunately, familiar. Before the fall of the Marcos dictatorship in 1986, former First Lady Imelda Marcos was known for closing entire floors in Saks Fifth Avenue for her million-dollar shopping sprees. In 1982, Imelda arrived in New York to shop with 40 assistants and 300 suitcases. The previous year, Imelda purchased a Park Avenue apartment and its contents for a lump sum of $9.5 million. According to People Magazine, the then-First Lady even imported workers from the Philippines to help in refurbishing rooms in the Manhattan properties she bought. At it’s height, the Marcos family had purchased billions worth in New York City real estate, including the $51 million Crown Building and the $60 million Herald Center. Ironically, Imelda declined on purchasing the Empire State Building at $750 million, claiming it was “too ostentatious”.

But while the rest of the world was agasp and Filipinos vowed never again to such bawdy displays of lavishness, Arroyo’s latest spending spree on her so-called “simple” meals indicate she may have been taking notes from the so-called Steel Butterfly all along.

Conversely, a 2008 survey in the Philippines conducted by Gallup International revealed that four out of every ten Filipinos reported having little or no food at all on their tables in the last 12 months. At 90 million, the Philippines has one of the highest population growth rates in Asia. The Arroyo government’s failure to resolve increasing food insecurity in the country leaves hunger and malnourishment a reality for the majority of families in the Philippines.The most acute pangs of hunger remain in the densely-populated urban slum communities of Metro Manila, where just stone’s throw away from Arroyo’s residence, at least half a million families lack food.

Such excessive spending on food in the face of extreme hunger cannot be tolerated. Arroyo and friends have some serious explaining to do to the millions of poor Filipinos, including our families, whom we strive to support with our hard-earned remittances.

If $20k for dinner is “simple”, then how much would “decent”, “normal”, and “fancy” cost, by Arroyo standards? And if the Marcoses still have the gall to this day to swear by their dead patriarch’s glass coffin that they did not spend billions in Philippine public funds for their own whims, even amidst credible evidence indicating gross graft and corruption on their part, aren’t Arroyo, Remonde, et al playing the same tune when it comes to their arrogantly unapologetic stand on these dinner tabs? Does one need to be a communist to put two and two together, or is this a case of plain common sense?

In fact, an examination of Arroyo’s penchant for lavish spending of public funds during foreign trips coupled with her propensity for political repression and human rights violations of her own countrymen, may make her the star combination of both Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos’ worst traits– all wrapped up in a tiny 4′11″ moled package.

Is Gloria the New Imelda in terms of spending? With her “simple” dinner costing tens of thousands in US dollars, the answer doesn’t look too bright for us mere $1.25 hot dog eaters. But then again, do we really want her to stick around in office long enough to find out?

Let us take our cue from Philippine history. In 1983, the death of one Aquino, who’s star shone brightly against the darkness of tyranny and corruption, contributed to fast tracking an ongoing people’s movement that toppled a dictatorship marked by repression, corruption and obscene lavishness. Today, in 2009, with the Arroyo administration embodying these same traits, shouldn’t the death of another Aquino, who perhaps shined even brighter, do the same?

Here’s Kriselda after sanding and yet another coat of paint. Still not finished though.

I recently bought a 1974 Volkswagen Beetle. Named her Kriselda Volks, hehe.

Got it at a very reasonable price, considering that she runs and has a pretty ok body. Kriselda’s still in the shop right now to have her body fixed and painted.

Wish me luck!

I’m getting sick and tired of seeing Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque everyday on national TV while informing the public of new cases of H1N1 virus in the country.

Don’t get me wrong, just like everybody else I want to know the latest news on the virus. But what sickens me is my suspicion that the Secretary might be doing this not in service to the public, but in aid of elections.

Duque’s political ambition is not unknown to many. Word has it that the Health Secretary might gun for a Senate seat in the next year’s elections.

And by all indications, he’s doing a good job of keeping his face and name plastered and spoken on TV repeatedly. Indeed the virus scare is a perfect opportunity for him and his handlers to ensure name recall.

Not only because the H1N1 is something that all of us is interested in, it is also a perfect running story for Duque. But as he goes on with his daily ritual of “updating” the public on the virus; he only succeeds in sowing fear and panic among the populace.

Why? Because in almost all of his daily press conferences and media interviews all he and his underlings dish out are statistics that seem to shoot up every minute. I remember hearing the Secretary over the radio while preparing leaving for work one morning that confirmed H1N1 cases in the country number only to about a hundred plus. But when I again saw and heard him talking in a noon time news cast; I was stunned to learn that confirmed cases rose to almost two fold.

I read somewhere that the DOH is doing all of this in the name of “transparency.” But could anyone enlighten me why the hell their figures are screamingly different from that of the World Health Organization?

As of this writing, confirmed cases in the country now reached 473. But according to the WHO website, the Philippines have only a total of 344 and 33 newly confirmed cases. One can only speculate why the hell these two agencies hold differing statistics.

But the mere disparity in the statistics of our leading local health agency and that of its global counterpart is a serious cause for alarm for all of us who have been subjected to Duque’s daily fare of scaring the public with his swelling numbers. This is a just cause to investigate how the DOH is currently handling the pandemic.

Is the DOH really prepared and on top of the situation? Or is it only capable of keeping tabs of how many Filipinos are getting sick of the dreaded flu virus and terrorizing the public everyday?

Sowing fear and panic is a clear form of terrorism according to Gloria’s Anti-Terror Law.

I admit, I am scared. But not so much because the flu’s coming to get me sometime soon (I am armed with a hand sanitizer hehe). But because I think the DOH is inordinately ill prepared should the pandemic reach catastrophic proportions in the country.

Note that the Philippine medical system is currently in tatters because almost all of our health workers are scrambling to leave the country for jobs abroad. Who’s going to nurse us should the DOH’s prediction that 25% of the country is in danger of being affected by the novel flu strain?

Not Duque, I suppose. He doesn’t even bother to inform us of how many of those in his rising statistics have been cleared of the flu. Makes me even more convinced that he’s only in it to advance his political ambitions.

But then again, I hope I’m wrong.

(Photo courtesy: Reuters)

The US Chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, or BAYAN USA, an alliance of 14 Filipino social justice organizations across the United States, is elated to confirm that Filipina-American activist Melissa Roxas, 32, surfaced hours ago in Manila as of Sunday, May 24th. BAYAN USA confirmed this report with the human rights group Karapatan. A detailed account about the circumstances of her surfacing is still forthcoming.

“We are happy to hear about Melissa’s surfacing, but we are still concerned about the whereabouts of her two companions, Juanito Carabeo and John Edward Handoc, who were abducted along with Melissa on May 19th and are still missing to this day,” states BAYAN USA Chair Bernadette Ellorin. “We fully intend to pursue the demand for the surfacing of Carabeo and Handoc, as well as justice for Melissa. This abduction should never have taken place.”

Roxas, Carabeo, and Handoc, all members of a medical mission team in La Paz, Tarlac, were reportedly abducted at gunpoint by at least eight masked men in the middle of the night last week. Upon learning of Roxas, Carabeo, and Handoc’s enforced disappearance, BAYAN USA, along with BAYAN Philippines and Karapatan, exerted strong efforts calling for their immediate surfacing, including releasing an online petition addressed to US elected officials that gathered hundreds of signatures in a matter of hours.

“Because more than five days had passed since their abduction, we believe Melissa’s surfacing is a direct result of rapid community response and international pressure exerted from the Philippines and the United States first and foremost,” Ellorin continued. BAYAN USA in Southern California has also been working closely with Roxas’ family in Los Angeles in their campaign efforts to surface Roxas and her companions in the Philippines.

Roxas, a founding member of the cultural organization Habi-Arts in Los Angeles and founding Southern California Representative for BAYAN USA, went to the Philippines in 2007 to pursue human rights advocacy full-time. Her move was set amidst an acute human rights crisis in the Philippines that includes reports of rampant extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, illegal arrest, torture, and summary executions. In 2005, Roxas participated in an international fact-finding mission investigating human rights violations throughout the Philippines under the Arroyo administration.

On Wednesday, May 27th, BAYAN USA member organizations across the United States will be launching actions denouncing the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), a military pact that allows for the basing of US military troops in over 20 ports throughout the Philippines. Included in these actions will be the call for justice for Melissa Roxas and for the immediate surfacing of Juanito Carabeo and John Edward Handoc. BAYAN USA firmly believes the continuing, unabated human rights violations committed by the Philippine military and death squads are generously funded by US military aid to the Arroyo government. BAYAN USA also ultimately holds the Arroyo government accountable for the pattern of killings and abductions against civilians critical of the regime since 2001.

“As we continue to campaign for justice for Melissa, Juanito, and John Edward, we are consciously raising awareness of the role of US tax dollars in funding these abductions and other human rights violations. There are hundreds more victims of politically-motivated abductions in the Philippines that are still missing to this day,” Ellorin ended. ###

BAYAN-USA, an alliance of 14 Filipino American organizations and chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan Philippines), is calling on President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the Department of National Defense, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to immediately surface Melissa Roxas, an American citizen of Filipino descent who was abducted in the Philippines on May 19. BAYAN-USA also urgently calls on our representatives in the U.S. Congress to act quickly to ensure the safe return of Roxas.

Roxas is a well-known Filipino American activist, who served as the first Regional Coordinator of BAYAN-USA in Los Angeles and co-founded the cultural organization Habi Arts. Roxas is an active human rights advocate and was instrumental in organizing a BAYAN-USA contingent that participated in the International Solidarity Mission in 2005, an international fact finding mission that called attention to the escalating human rights violations in the Philippines. Roxas went to the Philippines in 2007 to pursue human rights work, where she became a full time volunteer health worker. She was abducted on May 19, 2009 at approximately 1:30 PM in Sitio Bagong Sikat, Barangay kapanikian, La Paz, Tarlac. She was with two other volunteers, Juanito Carabeo and John Edward Handoc.

Based on reports filed by the human rights group KARAPATAN and the La Paz police, Roxas and her companions were taken by at least 8 armed, hooded men riding two motorcycles and a Besta van without any license plate numbers. There has been no word on the whereabouts and condition of Roxas and her companions since the abduction. The circumstances of Roxas’ abduction typify the abductions and enforced disappearances of over 200 innocent civilians, allegedly last seen in the hands of suspected state security forces.

“We are deeply concerned about the abduction of Melissa Roxas, Juanito Carabeo and John Edward Handoc. We call for Melissa and her companions to be immediately surfaced unharmed,” said BAYAN-USA Secretary General Rhonda Ramiro. “We condemn the ongoing abductions and human rights violations that have been rampant under the Arroyo administration and victimized thousands of innocent people.”

The search for Roxas and her companions will be spearheaded by the human rights organization KARAPATAN, while BAYAN-USA, its member organizations, and allies will undertake an international campaign to exert pressure on the Arroyo government to surface Roxas. “We appeal to our elected officials, members of the Filipino American community, and all people in the U.S. who believe in human rights to take action to surface Melissa and her companions. Since we were founded in 2005, BAYAN-USA has campaigned ceaselessly for an end to the human rights violations in the Philippines, and we will not stop until we obtain justice for Melissa and all victims of human rights violations under Arroyo.”

Yup, Hong Kong based columnist Chip Tsao sure looks like our favorite funny man Mr. Bean. But unlike Mr. Bean, who could make us laugh to tears easily without even muttering a word, Mr. Tsao is not at all funny. And, this self-confessed “patriotic Chinese man” has learned of it the hard way.

Recently, Tsao wrote the article “The War At Home” that appeared on Hong Kong Magazine and on its online site March 27, 2009. In his piece, Tsao ranted about Manila’s claim over the disputed Spratly group of Islands. This, according to him is “beyond reproach.”

“The reason: there are more than 130,000 Filipina maids working as $3,580-a-month cheap labor in Hong Kong. As a nation of servants, you don’t flex your muscles at your master, from whom you earn most of your bread and butter,” wrote Mr. Tsao.

Of course, Mr. Tsao’s unsavory remarks made a whole nation’s blood boil. Filipinos from all walks of life and from all over the planet, lambasted the writer for this out and out “racial slur.”

Outrage

Reactions from angry Filipinos flew in from different directions. This ranged from demanding an unconditional public apology from Mr. Tsao and from the publishers of the magazine; to the filing of a stern diplomatic protest by the Philippine government; to a nationwide boycott of all things Hong Kong. Migrante International, the largest OFW alliance worldwide, even wanted Chip Tsao declared “persona non grata” in the Philippines.

Migrante couldn’t be more correct when they said:

“The article written by Mr. Chip Tsao smacks of unqualified racial bias that vilifies the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos in Hong Kong and puts them in danger of persecution and harm. We demand no less than a public apology from Mr. Tsao and from the Hong Kong Magazine for allowing this bigoted garbage to appear on its pages.”

The Philippines’ Bureau of Immigration (BI) responded to Migrante’s call. In a directive issued Monday, BI chief Marcelino Libanan ordered that columnist Chip Tsao be barred from entering the Philippines pending a public apology on his part for the national insult. Libanan even volunteered to one day give Tsao a personal tour of the Philippines if only to drive home the point that ours is not a “nation of servants” but a “nation of professionals.”

Of late, and after stirring up a hornet’s nest of outrage, Tsao’s publisher and editors have apologized “unreservedly” for any offense caused by the article. But Tsao has yet to issue his.

In a recent AFP report, Tsao even hinted that “people in Hong Kong,” Filipinos included, who were riled at his writing, couldn’t take a joke. He explained that he has just “taken a dramatic role to express the sentiment of Chinese nationalism.”

“It’s my usual tongue-in-the-cheek, satirical writing style. People in Hong Kong are not used to this style, but native English speakers would have no problem understanding my message,” he said.

State of denial

From his own words, we can deduce that Tsao is in a state of denial and that he’s not about to say sorry in spite of the international indignation that he has caused. Tsao is still bent on passing off his racist article as a “satire,” sorely missing the point that no one’s even laughing.

United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL-MIGRANTE HK), a group of Filipino workers in the former British colony, through its Chairperson Dolores Balladares, a domestic worker; gave Tsao, “a best selling author and columnist,” a dressing down and a lecture on what really constitutes a political satire.

“Political satire as a journalistic device is used to challenge or even make fun of authorities and the status quo. Mr. Tsao did not do so in his latest column. Instead, he further beats up the already low and downtrodden.

Behind such lines that Mr. Tsao may likely but wrongly justify as satire, there lies the precarious reinforcement of the master-slave treatment of domestic workers. Mr. Tsao makes it appear that it is alright to denigrate us and take potshots at us.

In his failed attempt to be witty, Mr. Tsao regrettably trivialized the very serious domestic workers’ situation in Hong Kong society. Such an article to appear publicly is very dangerous for it projects that it can be socially-permissible to treat domestic workers as no more than slaves ready to be lectured, ordered around, easily threatened with termination, and made to jump at every whim of employers.”

Disaster has a passport

Chip Tsao has to realize the lesson that – as a by-line in Mr. Bean’s recent movie goes – ‘Disaster has a passport.’ This lesson was learned quite bitterly by Filipino journalist and self-confessed “diva” Malu Fernandez after she collectively derided the army of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) when she said in an article that she would rather slash her wrist than be trapped in a plane loaded with OFWs; and the US TV giant ABC who aired a ‘Desperate Housewives’ episode in 2007 which belittled the Philippines’ medical profession.

As a nation that is buttressed by the hard-earned money sent home by almost 10 million overseas Filipino workers scattered in 192 countries all over the world, we are a country that is easily fumed each time somebody attacks the dignity of even a single OFW.

Almost all of us have a parent, a better half, a sibling or a friend overseas, courtesy of the past and present regime’s three decade old Labor Export Program that is why we automatically relate to racial slurs as that of our own.

But while Chip Tsao deserved the disaster he’s in right now and that it is but just to rile at every Chip, Malu and Susan Meyers (character in Desperate Housewives played by actress Teri Hatcher) out there, we should also hold the Philippine government accountable for exporting three thousand Filipinos on a daily basis to dirty, difficult and dangerous jobs overseas in exchange for their billions of dollars of remittances.

If only we Filipinos could channel our impressive demonstration of collective outrage at the successive racial slurs we have encountered, into militant resolve and action to radically change the socio-political landscape in the country so no one would be forced to be an OFW and run the risk of being denigrated, humiliated and treated as second class citizens abroad; I’m sure Mr. Chip Tsao wouldn’t be enjoying the international attention he’s in right now because “Luisa,” his Filipina maid, wouldn’t be working for him in Hong Kong, cleaning his toilet and windows for “16 hours a day.”

Luisa would be in Hong Kong as a tourist and not as a maid. Otherwise, she’d be with her family here at home, happily cleaning her own toilet and windows while contributing, in her own little way, to the betterment and progress of her country.

This is the kind of society we Filipinos should rage about and work hard for.

The month of March this year may forever be ingrained in Philippine history as among the worst to ever hit Filipino women.

Though it is supposed to be “Women’s Month,” the string of events that unfolded recently made it a lot like the government’s so-called observance of “Fire Prevention Month” (which coincidentally falls on the same month as that of Women’s); a time where, quite paradoxically, incidents of fire happen to hit us most.

On the first day of March, I was awakened by a loud and seemingly unending blare of sirens. I think this was around 9 AM. I thought there was a fire nearby, so I hurriedly went up my roof to check if there is a cloud of black smoke in the vicinity. Fortunately, there was none and the entire ruckus was just a parade of fire trucks to warn us against playing fire – March being fire prevention month and all.

Seriously though, that earsplitting commemoration didn’t sink into me until I happened to open my TV and learned on the news that a fire has razed the Baguio City Public Market and an SM Mall in Cavite. “Ahh, Fire Prevention Month nga pala ngayon,” I told myself. “Kaya pala may parada ang mga bumbero.”

For me, the government’s, particularly that of the Bureau of Fire Protection’s (BFP) yearly commemoration of the “Fire Prevention Month” is just a smokescreen to hide their utter inability to protect us from fires in one of the hottest months of the year. We all know that the BFP is poorly equipped and undermanned. So I only have pity for those brave firefighters who regularly come to blows with major fires donning only tattered and substandard firefighting clothes while their bosses up the ladder have only grease lining both their mouths and pockets for eating lechon on a regular basis and for the millions of grease money forked from private companies who sell the same substandard firefighting equipment.

That, my friends, is my brief explanation why I think “Fire Prevention Month” is a joke.

And so when I heard of the news that a twenty one year old woman was brutally murdered and molested on the night of March Fifth in Davao; I thought this incident would surely solidify the women’s movement that’s set to march on March 8 for International Women’s Day.

Also, I knew this would be a setback to the peace process, considering that the victim is a daughter of legendary New People’s Army Commander Parago. The victim was elementary teacher Rebelyn Pitao.

And then, after an alleged and much touted “30 minute” phone call of US President Barack Obama to de facto Philippine President Gloria Arroyo recently, “Nicole” was reported to have suddenly “recanted” her story on her alleged rape by US Serviceman Lance Corporal Daniel Smith.

Her so called “recantation” was widely seen by her lawyers and the women’s groups as an underhanded ploy to weaken the Filipino people’s movement against the lopsided Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). They also asserted that the US government, with the help of the Arroyo regime, has pressured “Nicole” to issue her alleged “recantation” to weaken the rape case against Smith, thus making it possible to finally spirit him out of “detention” from the US Embassy.

Indeed, “Nicole’s” sudden turn around is suspect. Note that this happened at the height of clamor to have the VFA abrogated. And after the Obama-GMA phone chit-chat, note further that the Philippine government has resurrected from the dead moves to extradite police officers Mancao and Dumlao who is believed to hold the key in pinning the mastermind on the murder of PR man Bubby Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito.

The Department of (In) Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales has publicly said that Mancao and Dumlao are ready to link opposition stalwart Senator Panfilo Lacson and former President Joseph Estrada to the Dacer-Corbito killing.

Ex deal? Probably. But one thing’s for sure: This government is ready to sacrifice the dignity, not only that of rape victim “Nicole” but the entire nation’s as well, for its own political survival.

And then the unthinkable happened. Former Congressman Romeo Jalosjos, who was convicted of raping an 11 year-old in 1996, was ordered released courtesy of an executive clemency issued by the de facto President. (Play Smoke’s funny Jalosjos game here. I scored 185!).

The joke that is the annual “Fire Prevention Month” has indeed rubbed off to “Women’s Month” under Gloria Arroyo. To think that we have a woman presenting herself as President.

I sure dread the day when I’d be saying “Aah, Women’s Month pala ngayon. Kaya pala may nagahasa na naman.” I hope this would come not in my lifetime.