My childhood and the dying sakada child

Posted on by

I was reading my old blogs and deleting spam comments when I encountered two comments that prompted me to resurrect this blog today.

The entry was about Joel Abong, the symbol of poverty in the Philippines, the poster child of the sufferings of the sakadas in the 1980s. He haunted my childhood, changing me forever and ever. (No, he’s not the reason why I am fat today. Let’s just say I’m scarred forever because there will always be a part of me that would hanker for a meaningful job, instead of getting rich and have a happy ignorant life.)

One of the comments in my old blog directed me to Kim Komenich‘s page devoted to his coverage of the Philippines during the tumultuous Marcos regime leading to Cory Aquino’s ascent to presidency.

Photo by Kim Komenich/San Francisco Examiner) Young tuberculosis/malnutrition victim Joel Abong is among the hardest-hit of the children at The Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Hospital in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental. The hospital is home to a clinic where about a dozen kids are being treated for third degree malnutrition as a result of lack of food due to sugar layoffs. Joel’s father, a fisherman, cannot make enough money to feed Joel and his six siblings. It is doubtful whether Joel, photographed on May, 4, 1985, will recover. (revolutionrevisited.com/remember)

I remember Joel Abong as a sakada child whose emaciated body was plastered all over the newspaper’s front page (and for the life of me I cannot remember what newspaper was that because I’m not sure if it was right before or after EDSA I). Now I don’t know if my parents mistook him for a sakada child, the newspapers mistook him for a sakada child or, as one of the commenters in my old blog claimed, his parents were paid by the photojournalist to pass him off as a sakada child.

Little did I know that this child — skin and bones and all — would haunt me for eternity.

My mother always showed me the newspaper clipping of Joel Abong whenever i threw tantrums and didn’t want to eat. I was really a picky eater then. She often reminded me that I was fortunate that I had something to fill me up whereas this child did not. (Don’t get me started–my parents didn’t care about the psychological repercussions of my harsh education as long as I grew up to be a compassionate and mulat na Filipino).

Because of that, I could not forget that image and his name.

His memory was again resurrected in my head when I watched Maalaala Mo Kaya four years ago featuring a sakada family. Two of the letter sender’s siblings died of hunger and neglect, because of their parents’ ignorance and because their situation was further aggravated by their father’s abusive nature and irresponsibility. I cried towards the end of the episode and I couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason why… Maybe because the drunkard, abusive father asked for forgiveness from his son whom he banished more than 15 years ago or because of the plight of the letter sender’s family.

When MKK showed the ashen corpse of the letter sender’s youngest sibling, the image of Joel Abong suddenly flashed through my mind. No, they didn’t look alike but their lasting impression on me was the same: it was that of horror.

At the back of my mind I know people like them die everyday and stark realities like these every now and then get shown on TV. I’m angry that a child could die like. What makes me more frustrated was that I don’t know if my being a journalist is making any dent to their situation. I don’t know if I am making a difference. Our housekeeper that time asked me (she was watching MKK with me that time when we were having dinner) if it’s true that such things happen. Yes, I replied. It happens everyday. And I don’t know if I am doing anything about it.

We, the burgis crowd, are lucky we don’t know the realities of what this woman lives with everyday. We only get to do stories about them. We only get to read them. Like poverty pornography in print.

–

I remember my friend of so many years became so disillusioned with multilateral/bilateral projects/grants/loans after being part of one of those “aid” projects in the country. Part of her job was going around the country, to the most depressed places you could think of, and see the areas that needed “development”, to put it simply.

She met a family from a province down south who cut and gathered firewood for a living. All of the children had to work alongside their parents day in and day out so that they could earn a maximum of P250 a day. Collectively. for a day’s work each of them only earned P50.

In contrast, her bosses — the project consultants — were earning at least P350,000 a month. She complained that some of them weren’t even reporting to the office and weren’t doing any work at all since most of the “work” just piled up on other people. As if these consultants were just milking the project of those much-needed dollars that should be going to these impoverished families. She knew they weren’t doing anything much to help solve the poverty problem and all of what they were producing were papers, recommendations — those sort of stuff that wouldn’t really put food in those wood gatherer’s stomachs.

She asked whether there were any sense at all in these projects. She asked me, why can’t these multilateral or bilateral agencies just use the P350,000 paid to each of those “consultants” to help the wood gatherers and their kind instead?

She was so distraught and disillusioned. She resigned from her high-paying job (at that time) and wandered around for a while until she found herself again.

I couldn’t blame her. I would be questioning my raison d’ etre if I were put in her shoes.

Was my father right all along? The debate still continues if these loans do really help the poor.

—

And now back to the sakadas, I wonder about the sugar workers of the azucareras in the south. I wonder what happened to Joel Abong, his family. I wonder about the farmers who continue to suffer, with climate change, with the failure of WTO agreements and the so-called safety nets that economists promised two decades ago.

I wonder about where I will be going.

 

 

 

 

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW WHEN DATING A JOURNALIST

Posted on by

I found this entry from an old blog of mine when I was looking for inspiration to pick up blogging again. I still find it relevant to my life, especially that I am an online journalist who lives in a much faster news cycle.

—-

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW WHEN DATING A JOURNALIST

i’m taking a cue from 5 things you should know when dating a journalist. (which is a little too arrogant for my taste. no wonder the author is still single).

here is my version, philippine context.

1. we’re perpetually poor. we cannot take you to fancy restaurants—unless we have gift checks. since we’re poor, expect us to to go dutch.

2. we drop everything when our desks a.k.a editors call to do some breaking stories.

3. we are forever tethered to our laptops and cellphones because of item number 2 above. no, it’s not because we’re having an affair or we have another boyfriend in another city or building. it’s just when the mother ship calls, we have to answer. live with it.

one classic example was our colleague who lost everything to tropical storm ‘ondoy’ last year. the only ones she was able to save were her children, the shirts on their backs, her cellphone and laptop.

4. we are not part of the philippines as we are not covered by regular, special or any other holidays. sometimes long weekends as a result of public holidays being moved to monday or friday mean more work for us.

5. we have irregular working hours. sometimes we can work at home but sometimes we can log in 14-hour day workdays. deal with it.

6. we wake up at 9 am (if we really want to be sprite and early) because of item number 5 above. so don’t call us in the morning. we’re not half-human before 9 am.

7. we just love our coffee. some of us run on caffeine because long press conferences and senate hearings make us sleepy. just look at the roster of senate front-runners: bong, jinggoy, lito lapid…

8. we’re assholes and bitches by nature (the degree varies from one journalist and news organization to another) because we have to be. i haven’t met any shrinking violet journalist or if ever there was one, she/he would have been out of the business within a year. we deal with some of the country’s most powerful, famous/infamous, richest and brightest/dumbest. we have to be tougher so that we can talk to them at eye level. if you can’t take that, then i’m sorry we are not for each other. move on.

9. we may sound like we are name-dropping on purpose when we talk about our day-to-day affairs with you. some of us do but most of the time we barely notice that we already sound like arrogant fools. but no, that’s life for us.

10. we lead interesting lives. that’s one aspect that attracted you to us. we are interesting. we must be knowledgeable about so many things so that we can write about anything—even if we really don’t know anything at all. we like to bluff our way out of any article or situation.

11. and we lead dangerous lives. and most of the time we live for it. as one older colleague said, “yey may libel [case] na ako! i’m made!” talk about being twisted.

12. we’re grammar nazis/snobs. even if some of us are grammatically flawed.

13. we always carry big bags. especially women journalists. we have to have our: digital recorders, digital cameras, notebooks, tons of pens, laptops, 2 cellphones and/or wireless landline, chargers for all of our gadgets—on top of our regular stuff like kikay kits and whatnot.

14. we like gossip. we like to gossip. that’s how we get our leads.

15. we work hard, we party hard. we like our beer. and karaoke. if you can’t dig it, then we are not meant for each other.

16. we are jaded. the greatest cynics of this country.

17. we like interviewing our dates. that’s how we get our information. if we cannot pry it out of you, then we talk to different people who orbit you or those people who may even just be remotely related or known to you. that’s how we operate. if you can’t take the hot seat, then get out. but that’s a shame—that means we really like you.

18. we always have deadlines. sometimes deadlines come first before you do. because deadlines can really kill us. our editors are nasty beasts, especially when they haven’t had their coffees. we’re talking, walking time bombs.

19. we easily get bored. if you’re an uninteresting person, then good luck, we won’t be seeing you ever again!

20. we’re hard to pin down. we cannot exactly tell you where we would be at 2 pm because we might be a) doing an ambush interview and God knows where that would be; b) we may be chasing a story and God knows where that would lead us; c) unless there is a press conference scheduled at that time, we cannot tell you exactly what we would be doing then.

OBAMA IN MANILA

Posted on by

Next week will be hectic with US President Barack Obama visiting Manila. Top concern for me are the traffic and tight security–the bane of my life as a harried reporter.

As for the expected outcomes of his visit, as far as I know, it would be mostly about geopolitics and economy would not be as important as the former. I was invited for a teleconference by the US Chamber of Commerce but due to logistical reasons, I wasn’t able to participate. Supposedly, the main topics of discussion are the themes for Obama’s visit to Asia, which are:

  • swift conclusion of a high-standard Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement;
  • implementation of KORU;
  • and bilateral trade and economic relations.

Now, I wonder where I will be deployed…

King Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah, second left, addresses President Barack Obama at a state dinner on Sunday. Photograph: Mohd Rasfan/AFP/Getty Images

He is now in Malaysia, to strengthen the geopolitical clout of the Americans on that side of the world.

Barack Obama visits Malaysia with economy and security on agenda – The GuardianOpening the first visit to Malaysia by a US president in nearly half a century, Barack Obama looked ahead Saturday to economic and security talks with the prime minister, Najib Razak, who leads a south-east Asian nation with an important role in Obama’s efforts to forge deeper ties with the region.

Stepping on to a red carpet at the Royal Malaysian Air Base, Obama was whisked by limousine to Kuala Lumpur’s Parliament Square, where a 21-gun salute rang out as Malaysia’s king and prime minister greeted Obama under muggy skies and a yellow awning. A military band played the US and Malaysian national anthems twice and Obama inspected an elaborate honour guard in crisp green and white before the arrival ceremony came to a close.

Read the rest of the article here.

THE TRUTH HURTS

Posted on by

Sabi nga ng isa sa mga sources namin sa pork barrel scam na ito, we will never see another plunder case of this magnitude go on trial if a big fish wont be convicted. Napoles is not the big fish. Just one conviction is all we need. Three convictions would be so sweet. If no one is convicted, tatamarin na ang mga tao. There would be no more whistleblowers, no more Benhurs et al going on record. Nothing. Because those who would be willing to sacrifice their lives (or their way of living and their families) will see that it will be pointless.

POST-SCRIPT | My take on the flesh-eating bacteria brouhaha

Posted on by

I didn’t have time to blog about this when this issue was raging on and on and on…(was knee-deep in work) but I was able to give my two cents’ worth on the subject via Facebook on February 27. Here it is:

Ang tinuturo kong subject ngayong sem ay News Reporting. Basic journalism. Ano ang tinuturo sa basic journalism? Always get the side of authority/government/regulator to confirm/deny your story, to give balance. Di tinatakbo ng isang responsableng editor ang istoryang wala nito. I am a science journalist by training and ano ang itinuro sa akin sa undergrad at ng nanay kong scientist? Always try to get and explain the science behind a phenomenon or simple event. RESEARCH. It was supposedly a two-part special report, ergo, somebody had enough time to contact DOH. No one did. Not even the editor. And there was even an attempt to connect it to a prophecy. And you say there was no intent to scare the public? This cant even be termed as kuryente eh. Kuryente is katangahan at nabibiktima din ako nito. Pero ito ibang level. Ok, class dismissed. I’m so pissed off to continue my lecture. Write a 2,000-word essay about this incident and email it to the newsroom concerned. Deadline saturday.

To complete this blog entry, I am posting here Alan Robles‘ blog/satire about the issue:

Art by Vincent Trinidad courtsey of www.hotmanila.ph

Flesh eating bacteria deny reports they’re invading the Philippines

By Alan Robles

Flesh-eating bacteria yesterday denied they were invading the Philippines, dismissing news reports of such an attack as “a stupid hoax.”

In an exclusive interview conducted via microscope, two of the organisms — one of which identified itself as Sid Bafarges-Bacterium and the other as “just Duane” — scoffed at the sensationalist reports.

“Why would we invade the Philippines…what was that province again? Why would we go there? Is there something immunologically delicious there?”, Bafarges-Bacterium asked.

Early this week, a report by a TV network claimed an outbreak in Pangasinan province of the dreaded necrotizing fasciitis, a rare bacterial infection that destroys skin and muscle tissue. The story was based on a reporter’s interview of just two people with alleged “mysterious” skin ailments. To emphasize the medical seriousness of the report, the reporter wore a mask and what looked like a protective suit.

Social networks went wild over the story, as well as the anchor’s claim that the “outbreak” was connected to a prediction of doom made by a shady looking foreign prophet who resembled a bad cartoonist’s concept of a child molester. Internet commenters had a field day shrieking religious warnings and prayers until a few hours later, when government health officials clarified the two alleged “victims” were actually suffering psioriasis and leprosy, respectively, and there was no outbreak at all.

“Stupid no?”, “Bafarges-Bacterium said. “If bacteria could laugh I’d be bursting my cell walls right now.”

“Hey, maybe that reporter or anchor was suffering from the dreaded brain-eating amoeba”, Duane suggested.

“If that anchor got infected by an amoeba that would probably be the first fully functioning cell that got into his head,” Bafarges-Bacterium volunteered.

The two flesh-eating microorganisms said they were tried of being sensationalized on slow news days.

“Take this ‘flesh-eating bacteria’ crap,” Bafarges Bacterium said. “Strictly speaking there’s no single microorganism that causes necrotizing fasciitis, there are several kinds of us, and for your information, we DON’T really EAT flesh, we release toxins that destroy skin and subcutaneous tissue.”

He added: “Take it from this microorganism, the chances of an outbreak of necrotizing fasciitis in Pangasinan are about the same as finding a decent science journalist in this country.”

“You tell them Sid,” Duane said.

Bafarges-Bacterium ranted: “And what is this thing linking our outbreak to this dubious looking prophet? Why would we work with someone like that, although I admit he does look like a low life, but we have standards in the microbial community.”

He warned, “and don’t you confuse us with brain-eating organisms either, that’s an amoeba, you’ll find it inside most Marcos loyalists.”

The bacterium cautioned Filipinos about being too gullible.

“Besides why would we WANT to invade the Philippines? You already have a surplus of vicious corrosive bacterium. Have you checked your Senate lately?”