Group Justifies Violence in Christ’s Name

 It has all the trimmings of  a regular soap opera—villains, victims, and a plot that thickens at every turn but not quite enough so as to foretell the episode’s final season.

 

Saying they will refuse even the help of court-appointed lawyers for their defense, members of the group that calls itself Jesus Christ Followers say they will let their students defend them in court, in effect pitting six students aged between 11 and 19 years, against seasoned government prosecutors.

 

Guarded by teams of policemen in combat fatigues and armed with assault rifles, 13 members of  the Jesus Christ Followers, hand-cuffed in pairs, nevertheless remained obstinately defiant when brought to court Tuesday for an inquest proceeding at the office of Prosecutor Lorimer Delima.

 

Charged with direct assault, disobedience to persons of authority, serious physical injury, and obstruction of justice among others, the thirteen were transferred  to the Lumbia City Jail Wednesday, still mouthing threats liberally laced with invective.

 

“We will turn this country upside down,” Emilinda Tiongco, Jesus Christ Followers School owner and one of those arrested, said.

 

Tiongco said they intend to showcase their students as proof of the school’s superior academic standards by letting the six students defend them in court. Calling the state prosecutors “garbage,” Tiongco said the group is confident  that their students, though lacking in legal training, will shame the prosecutors with their eloquence.

 

“We demand that every case (they have) against the JCF be reopened and we demand a public trial,” Tingco added, promising fresh twists to the already week-long drama.

 

Calling themselves modern-day apostles of Jesus Christ, the group’s aims are a curious mix of spiritual doctrines and secular aspirations. The Jesus Christ Followers School was  established  by former Middle East OFWs Onofre and Emilinda Tiongco in 1999. Convinced that the solution to the financial difficulties of the average Filipino is to find work abroad, Onofre Tiongco said they were driven by the desire to provide people with the means, through education, to that end. This and the compulsion to spread an unusual interpretation  of the teachings of Jesus Christ.

 

Contrary to the conventional Christian doctrine of loving your enemies, the group finds violence and acceptable alternative. The group believes Jesus Christ was a violent as well as a non-violent man-god. And violence in response to oppression or perceived oppression is justified according to the group’s interpretation of the Bible. 

 

 This explains the group’s stubborn resistance to authorities. Wielding steel pipes, sticks, rocks and human excrement wrapped in plastic, the group fought local police on Jan 28 leaving three police officers injured and the arrest of twenty-two members of the group, many of whom likewise sustained injuries.

 

The violent confrontation  was triggered by the refusal of school officials to hand over one of their students, a 16-year old, to her parents. The child had sought refuge inside the school compound, where several of the teachers also reside, after quarreling  with her parents. School officials repeatedly  refused to release the child  to relatives  prompting the parents to seek the help of local police authorities.

 

Fourteen JCF students aged between nine and 16 who were inside the school premises when the confrontation took place last Friday were subsequently placed under the custody of the office of the  City Social Welfare and Development. Ten of the 14 were later ordered released to their parents after three days in CSWD custody.

 

Jackson Adonis, whose four children aged 9, 10, 12, and 16 were among those held, questioned the authorities’ reasons for preventing them from getting immediate custody of  their children after Friday’s clash. But he says they have no plans of suing.

 

“I am a jeepney driver. My wife is a market vendor. We can not fight the government,” Adonis said.

 

The clash was the latest of  a series of confrontations that began in 2003. The incident, however, need not have occurred had a previous Department of Education (DepEd) recommendation urging the school’s closure been executed, according to local police officials who wish to remain anonymous. The DepEd had recommended the school’s  closure two years ago after finding the school deficient in complying with DepEd requirements.

 

According to Rosita Cang, Education Supervisor III, DepEd Region 10, the school’s temporary permit to operate had lapsed and school officials, led by owner Emelinda Tiangco and school administrator Rhapsody Dacudao, refused to apply for recognition. The school, too, had adopted a curriculum different from the DepEd-prescribed curriculum for primary and secondary instruction.

 

“This office does not have the right to close schools. We only recommend to the PNP,” Cang said when asked why the JCF school continued to operate two years after the closure order.

 

Cang explained that the DepEd does not have enforcement powers and can only recommend to the proper authorities for appropriate action. She added that she finds the school owner’s refusal to comply difficult to understand considering that any educational institution in the country must as a norm follow the standard requirements for operation. Otherwise, Cang said, schools that do not implement the DepEd guidelines will be denied recognition and as such, graduates as well as students who wish to transfer to another school will not be given credits for courses taken.

 

The JCF school, aside from skirting the DepEd requirements for operation, follow the British curriculum for primary and secondary education, JCF school officials say. But Tiongco admitted that they only lifted their system of instruction from the Internet and there was no direct communication with British educational experts.

 

“We teach subjects that are offered in Britain, we do not follow the DepEd system,” Tiongco said.

 

There are no Filipino subjects, however, as these are deemed not important.

 

“Why do we have to study it when we already know it?” Tiongco said.

 

Tiongco explained that their goal is to produce graduates that will pass the entrance examinations of the best universities in the world. To judge their students competence, Tiongco said instead of the customary 70%, passing mark at JCF is 90% for all subjects.

 

“We are going to raise that to 95% and eventually to 100% and we are not going to graduate any student who can not attain the 100% passing mark?”Tiongco said.

 

With these standards, Tiongco said their system of instruction is far more superior to that prescribed by the DepEd adding that it is the DepEd  that should scrap its own system and adopt the JCF system.

 

But just who constitutes proper authorities for the implementation of DepEd  recommendations for schools operating without licenses is murky. City Police Director S/Supt. Honorio Cervantes of the Cagayan de Oro Police Office (COCPO) said that the police has no direct authority to close schools in the absence of a clear directive from local authorities.

 

 

first published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, 27 February 2005

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White Water Rafting in Cagayan de Oro

It is 5:30  on a Monday morning and Rupert Domingo is awakened by the insistent pinging of his cell phone. He had deliberately set the alarm 30 minutes early the night before. He wanted to start early, re-check the equipment, and make sure everything is in order.

He reaches for the phone, turns the alarm off, and swings his feet from  bed and stands somewhat shakily. He really should knock off a can or two from his customary 8 cans. But yesterday was a particularly good run and a guy is, afterall, entitled to some good time with his friends.

He walks to the kitchen and fixes himself a strong cup of coffee. Twelve years, he thinks, and he still gets butterflies in his stomach at the thought of yet another day shooting the rapids.

Soon the rest of the guys from the Cagayan de Oro Whitewater Rafting Adventure Company will begin to arrive at his home which also serves as an office of sorts for the group.

Seven AM. The three other active members of the company—Tata Bioco, Chisum Factura, and Babars Barreto—have arrived together with the two hired jeepneys bearing all the necessary equipment. All are clad in shorts and rubber sandals,  the preferred “office” attire, and a short meeting is called to order by Domingo.

Domingo, the godfather of Cagayan de Oro whitewater rafting and the unspoken leader of the group, begins by asking if any of the two jeepney drivers smoke.

“You cannot smoke the whole time you are with us,” he tells them.

Domingo explains that smokers often pollute the environment without even their knowing it. Most of the guys that make up the CDO White Water Rafting Co., Domingo says, are former smokers but they all quit the habit after realizing the foolishness of proclaiming themselves avid environmentalists one minute and lighting up the next.

Seven thirty. With the briefing done, the group packs into the two jeepneys carrying six rafts. They are joined by two more river guides, friends from the Northern Mindanao Mountaineering Society (NORMMS), and the group proceeds to DV Soria to meet and pick up the day’s clients.

 

The CDO White Water Rafting Adventure Co. was established a decade ago by a group of intrepid outdoorsmen, bonded by years of alcohol-induced camaraderie on mountain top campsites,  whose desire to share the love for the outdoors became the cornerstone of  a thriving business.

All of the incorporators of the company were members of the Northern Mindanao Mountaineering Society (NORMMS) and in between climbs, society members would often try other activities related to mountaineering.

“We began thinking about white water rafting in 1993 after seeing the sport in the Discovery Channel,” says Tata Bioco.

Bioco recalls their first run 12 years ago, from Taguanao to Carmen Bridge (a distance of 8 kilometers), and laughs hysterically with the rest of the group.

“We had no helmets, no life vests,” Bioco says.

“What we had was a Sevylor still-water raft, wooden paddles salvaged from bangkas, and lots of bravado borne out of inexperience,” Bioco says.

“We had so much fun that right after that first run, all of us were hooked on rafting,”Bioco says.

A year later, the group experienced its first flip. By then, they had tried runs from farther up river, where the rapids ranged from challenging to downright crazy, considering that they had no safety equipment whatsoever.

“That first flip, on June 14, 1994, made us realize the value of  having safety gear,” Bioco says.

And so the group scrounged around for life vests (most with names of shipping companies prominently printed in front) and helmets (of the sort worn by BMX riders).  They also made the inevitable decision to buy a raft specifically designed for white water rafting. They bought their first raft, second-hand, for $900 in the US.

The following year, out of the prodding of friends, eight NORMMS members decided to pool their money and invest in a company patterned after the outfitter companies in the US—companies that provide outdoor guides and equipment  for clients, for a fee of course. And so began the Cagayan de Oro White Water Rafting Adventure Company.

Ten years later, from the unbelievably cheap initial fee of P100, the group now charges P1200 per person. With 12 white water rafts, each with a carrying capacity of 9 paying clients, the group averages 3-4 runs per week, year-round. The group also no longer uses what they call “tora-tora” safety gear (gear “requisitioned” from various sources) and has invested in a complete line of safety equipment designed for the perils of white water rafting.

Out of the largesse of white water rafting, the group was able to form Sinkhole Ventures last year, a subsidiary that runs the Macahambus Adventure Park. The park is located at the 150-feet deep Macahambus Gorge, the site of a famous battle between Filipino revolutionaries and American soldiers at the turn of the 20^th century.

But financial success has dulled none of  the group’s core concerns; the group’s passion for the outdoors has lost none of its luster.

“The river is the lifeblood of our business,” Rupert Domingo says.

To minimize the environmental impact of river runs, the group, with the help of local officials and volunteers, regularly conducts river clean-ups twice a month. They also encourage communities along the river to avoid dumping their wastes in the river. Partly to prod local initiative and partly to help uplift the livelihood of locals, the group distributed livestock to various families, most of whom are also porters for their clients, in exchange for their commitment to keep the river clean.

“It is a pity that not too many people realize the ecological importance of this river,” Chisum Factura says.

“Cagayan River serves as a refuge for several plant and animal species,” Factura says.

“Kaingin farming, logging, quarrying, and the irresponsible dumping of untreated sewage all do damage that may prove disastrous in the long term,” Factura says.

 

“Eeeasy, eeasy, easy,” Domingo tells the paddlers in his raft as they approach the last of the 14 rapids. As with each of his 600 runs, his eyes squint in the sunlight, picking out the surest way through the frothing, churning white water. He could feel his muscles, hot with adrenaline, go taut in anticipation of the sudden, frantic, almost hysterical paddling ahead.

“Hard left! Hard left! Hard left!” He calls from astern, quickly adjusting the tempo and direction of his paddling to correct the raft’s course. The raft’s bow rises convulsively as it crests the foaming water and is jarred by another and still another and another till it settles in the water, clear at last of the swirling backwash that would have held it.

All cheer as they hold their paddles high in a gesture of jubilation and, to some large extent, relief. And then the silly, sheepish grins at the sight of each other’s foolish bravado.

It is now 2:30 PM. The last four hours has been one of easy, quiet paddling one moment, so quiet one could almost hear the swish of fish underneath, and thundering, roaring paddle strokes battling the white water the next. Domingo smiles as he watches from his perch the satisfied grins of his clients and he thinks, with luck and good health, he could probably do this till he’s too old to lift an aluminum paddle. He nods to Factura in the next raft, smiles at the river and thinks”, God it’s good to be alive

first published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer

27 March 2005

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Shut Up

“We have always said that a balanced budget was our goal by the time we leave office. That remains our target. We are well on our way to meeting that goal. Our surplus in April more than doubled year on year due to higher tax collection. Our cumulative budget deficit from January to April fell to P25.8 billion. I’m confident that we will be able to sustain progress on the budget front… for the first time in a generation, our budget is under control; we are lowering our deficit and raising unprecedented amounts of revenue. We do not want and will not go back to the days of heavy deficit spending. Our commitment to economic reform has proven effective.” —GMA, Speaking at the launch of the $550-million cable network facility of PLDT Tuesday, 27 May 2008

A Balanced budget. Raising unprecedented amounts of revenue. Economic reform proven effective. Pardon me Madam President, Does this mean the crisis is over?

Call me stupid. But the truth is I can not understand how GMA can make such a callous, immoral statement. Callous because we must bear increasing gasoline/diesel prices week after week after week for the next couple of months. Callous because with every increase in pump prices government is making money. Callous because prices of all commodities have been rising too while incomes have effectively fallen.

Callous because more and more of us are going hungry.

Government is raising an unprecedented amount of revenue? Of course it is. Most of the revenue she is talking about comes from VAT as all of us know only too well. Which means, too, that government is profiting from our collective misery.

Ordinarily we do not begrudge government for its effort to raise money. It can not, afterall, function without money. But these are not ordinary times. Woldwide the price of oil is skyrocketing. Same for rice. Same for almost every conceivable thing—from diapers to toothpicks. But must we be so helpless in front of it all?

Immoral because amidst all these misery, there is no real effort to curb corruption. Whatever happened to ZTE? Whatever happened to each and every single corruption scandal that has blanketed this administration like the plague?

The truth is no one of note in this administration has been made to account for each and every case of wrongdoing since 2001. Every effort to ferret out the truth has been stonewalled; every effort to make someone accountable for every cent stolen has gone to naught.

Now what assurance do we have that money from the government’s “unprecedented revenue collection” will go to social services as claimed?  What assurance do we have that the “higher tax collection” will result to less of us going hungry?

Stop the spin, Madam President. Cut taxes and clean up your house before making speeches about how better off we are supposed to be. Otherwise, just shut up. 
 
 
 

Whiter Upriver

For two years now I have been urging the guys behind Kagay to open the section above Ugiaban Bridge to those willing to kiss class 4 to class 5 rapids. Kagay, the pioneer of Cagayan de Oro’s whitewater rafting outfitters, made several exploratory runs upriver two years ago. I was with them in one of those early runs and I have been wanting to go back since.

There is talk now of building a dam just before Ugiaban Bridge. Several groups, notably the City Council of Cagayan de Oro as well as the Oro Chamber (of Commerce in Industry), have opposed the  proposal. But with the prices of coal and crude oil projected to skyrocket worldwide in the next five years coupled with rising demand for power, who knows how long opposition to the dam can hold out.

That said, there really is not much choice but to go upriver. Which really is not so bad. Not so bad at all.

So Be It

Many of us may recoil at the thought of yet another Senate investigation especially since there never seems to be any closure to any of the Senate inquiries into government wrongdoing. But we must brace ourselves for yet another. Again. 

The Senate should promptly look into the controversy that has surrounded the $2 billion shipyard that Hanjin is building inside the PHIVIDEC in Tagoloan. The mayor of Tagoloan is crying bribery; Hanjin is saying extortion. If only to get at the truth of the matter, the Senate should launch a formal investigation pronto. 

From where I am sitting, it is inevitable that a project of such magnitude will be mired in controversy. A project involving billions of dollars is naturally a magnet for people, inside as well as outside government, out to make a fast buck. And the process, it seems, leaves a lot of opportunities for predators to make a killing. 

I am wondering, for instance, why a particularly big investor such as Hanjin would have to deal with a lot of government institutions, from the national level down to the baranggay, instead of dealing with a minimum number of government offices. We work really hard to woo businesses into investing and then we make them go through a lot of trouble before they can actually do business here. I mean, that is one of the biggest frustrations of businessmen in this country—the many many permits you have to get and, it goes without saying but I will say it anyway, the many many palms you have to grease before you even begin to think about finally setting up shop. Or, with the right connections, set up shop and let “S.O.P.” do what it does—areglo. 

I am not saying that Hanjin is without fault especially since they have recently been embroiled in another controversy for building condominiums right in the middle of the forest apparently without first obtaining an ECC. But is it not supposed to be the role of PHIVIDEC as the industrial estate administrator to make sure that every permit has been complied with and that no Philippine law is broken? Is it not the role of PHIVIDEC to coordinate with LGUs?  

What I am driving at is simple— pare down the process of doing business in this country to the barest minimum, with the least government contact as possible, and you minimize the opportunities for corruption. We all know how bad corruption is in this country. We are in fact one of the most corrupt countries in the world.  

The problem lies in the fact that businesses deal with too many tiers in the government bureaucracy and have to secure too many permits before they can operate. And with the government not serious in purging its ranks of the grafters and the corrupt, there is just too many opportunities for wrongdoing.  

There used to be a saying in the campaign for safe sex, forgive me the allegory, that may be applicable here—“If you can not be good, be safe.” What this means, in the context of the said campaign, is that if you can not control yourself, then do not put yourself in a situation where you know you will lose control.  

In like manner, we should eliminate the situations which make corruption possible, not just trust in the goodness of our civil servants and wish for the best. And if legislation needs to be crafted to make this possible, then so be it.

Ilad

I remember buying a 25-kg sack of rice for P650 around this time of the month last year. A month ago the same 25-kg sack was selling for P750. Now it is P900 per 25 kg sack.  

The government tells us there is no supply shortage, only a price crisis. But by whichever term you call it, it is clear that rice is becoming too expensive, especially since the prices of fuel and almost all commodities have also gone way up while incomes have remained the same. 

To add to our already growing list of woes, GMA, in an interview with a foreign newspaper, said that she is mulling cutting the government’s rice subsidy. This means NFA will no longer sell rice at a heavily subsidized price of P18.25 per kilo which is about half its actual cost. Expect NFA rice to be sold nearer to the price of the cheapest commercial rice which is around P30-P32 per kilo. In place of this, the government is announcing a P5 billion aid program which will benefit around 300,000 families in the country’s 20 poorest provinces.  

A publicity stunt? You betcha. 

Consider these. Every administration has always had a program that specifically targets  the “poorest of the poor” in the poorest provinces. Ramos had his Social Reform Agenda, Erap had his own version, and I believe Cory and even Marcos had theirs. Presidents have always had poverty alleviation programs on top of their to-do lists because, come to think of it, a large chunk of this country’s population has always been mired in poverty. In fact, a good part of the every administration’s tenure is spent trying to address the various problems that perpetuate poverty incidence—such as land reform, unemployment, underemployment, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. 

So what is special about the APP? Nothing in particular. Except that it is being touted as a replacement to the rice subsidy. Even DSWD Esperanza Cabral admitted the program has been implemented in some provinces as early as January this year, months before the shit, in terms of the rice and fuel crisis, hit the fan so to speak. So in effect the government is telling us that it will withdraw the rice subsidy at this horrific time of crisis and replace it with something that it already, regularly does. 

Second, the APP program will be in the form of “health and education incentives” to the poor to be given in a span of five years. A family that sends children to health centers gets P500 a month plus P300 for every child who logs at least 85% school attendance a month. The program, however, limits the aid to three children per household for every qualified family for a maximum of P1,400 per qualified family. 

There are those who say this program teaches the poor to be lazy; there are those who defend the project for the immediate help it gives. I shall not attempt to argue about the merits of this program except to say that this should not be used in place of the rice subsidy. We are in the middle of a food crisis afterall and, if I remember it correctly Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (taught in Psychology 101) identifies food as the more basic need than health and education. First a man must eat. Then he can think about health and other things.    

What happens if the government persists in cutting the subsidy that has allowed people, from the “poorest of the poor” to middle income earners, to buy NFA rice for P18.25 per kilo? It may be important to take note that a hungry man, as they say, is an angry man.

Damn Drivers

I have been told many times that you can find the worst drivers in the country in our very own Cagayan de Oro City. Traffic rules are among the simplest rules. Yet many of the drivers here, I am inclined to believe, are blissfully unaware of the existence of such rules.  

Forget defensive driving, there are no defensive drivers here, just patsies. Just stand in any of the city’s street corners and observe—I am sure that one of the first things you’ll notice is how aggressive everyone is. Here bigger is always better. 

The chaos in our streets is telling. Traffic rules are among the simplest to follow. People do not need degrees in molecular biology or applied chemistry to know that red means stop, yellow means pause, green means go. Common sense tells us to keep intersections open to traffic, just as it tells us to signal before turning and to respect other people’s right to the road. And yet very few bear this in mind. 

But why should we care? We break the rules and what happens? Absolutely nothing  ninety nine percent of the time. Which is why we drive the way we do because there really is no terrible consequence if and when we drive recklessly and with abandon. More often than not, there are no policemen waiting, lurking in the corner. Oh traffic enforcers may be guarding an intersection one day. But the odds that they will be there tomorrow are 50-50 at best. So people break the traffic rules because there never is any certainty of being caught. 

Also, we should care because, as we probably all know, one of the prerequisites of a good city is order. There is a reason why there is no peace without order. Order makes everything easier. There is safety in order. Order allows us to proceed to doing things of more import. Order makes living with strangers bearable. We are, afterall, just a couple of hundred thousand strangers living together, breathing the same air, using the same roads. 

Pretending To Speak English

I do not know what it is they find in Cagayan de Oro so appealing or if they are just passing through, en route to somewhere scenic and exotic, wherever that may be. By “they” I am referring to Caucasian tourists who, to their credit, remain unfazed to the simple fact that Cagayan de Oro is in Mindanao(which is too often viewed abroad as a war zone which is of course farthest from the truth). 

Ordinarily I would pay little attention to them, finding most of them polite and generally unassuming. Many would come to the shop, nod to the waitress good morning, order coffee and breakfast, and then generally keep to themselves. Some would offer compliments and a warm thank you just before leaving. And some would be back at about the same time the next morning and order the exact same thing they ate the day before. 

But every so often, someone comes and rankles your nerves. It is understandable, there are bound to be some rotten characters among the many that come. Too often, you forget about the little unpleasantness and be thankful just the same for the business. 

But sometimes the plain arrogance and crappy attitude get to you. Sometimes you meet someone who offends to high heavens with his bad manners; someone that makes you wish you took that lesson instead of thinking yourself too old for boxing. 

Just about the other day, for instance, a middle-aged white male, obviously American, came to the shop at around 8 am asking, in a drawl, “what you got for ehy-tshee.” He was referring  to the banner hung outside, advertising our breakfast meal (a choice of tapa, longanisa, corned beef, tocino, and bangus served with brewed coffee, garlic rice, and two fried eggs—this is a plug if you haven’t noticed—we are at the corner of velez and chavez sts. in DV Soria). But the hapless waitress, rattled perhaps by having to deal with a foreigner, could not make out what he was saying. And so she kept on repeating over and over something about the coffee being included in the meal. In obvious frustration for having to explain himself so early in the morning, the American suddenly said, ”Nevermind, I’m going someplace else where the waitress does not PRETEND to speak English.” 

This rather arrogant behavior is sadly too common among English-speaking foreigners visiting the country. Perhaps because non-English speaking foreigners are forced, like ourselves, to adopt an alien tongue to communicate, they are more likely to make greater efforts to reach out and be understood. Which is as it should be. 

Native English-speakers, on the other hand, generally are not burdened by that kind of mind-set. They think that since the Philippines prides itself, rather wrongly at that, with having been once part of the United States of Bush Jr., then they are entitled to expect to be spoken to in perfect, grammatically correct English.  

This is bullshit, of course. We are, afterall, in our own country and whether we speak crooked English; whether we speak using our own dialect or whether we choose not to speak at all is our business. It is they who are here and hence… well, you get the picture. 

Even the much trumpeted virtue—Filipino hospitality—has to have its limits.