Mind Feeds / Mind Feeds
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/mindfeeds/mindfeeds/view/20080514-136457/Public-Education-Endangered-in-California
GLOBAL NETWORKING
Global Networking : Public Education Endangered in California
By Rodel Rodis
INQUIRER.net
Posted date: May 14, 2008
There are close to 4,000 Filipino students enrolled at the City College of San Francisco, by far the largest Filipino student body outside the Philippines. Their large presence accounts for why four of the last eight student body presidents at the main Ocean campus have been Filipinos. They are beneficiaries of California's landmark 1960 Master Plan for Education which transformed educational opportunity in California for several generations and became the national model for public higher education.
The Plan defined specific roles for the University of California (UC), the California State University (CSU), and the California Community Colleges system (CCC). Its underlying principle was that some form of higher education should be available to everyone, based not on their economic means but on their academic persistence and proficiency.
But now that principle is in jeopardy, after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that the projected budget deficit for this year is close to $20 billion dollars, which will mean deep cuts in education. Although the state has weathered budget crises in the past, this time may turn out to be the worst for California public education and particularly for its community colleges.
Because property tax revenues are coming in far lower than predicted when the budget was signed last summer, the Governor’s budget proposes to cut community colleges by nearly half a billion dollars to cover the shortfall, including about $92 million that will immediately be trimmed from their budgets by July 1, 2008.
For City College of San Francisco, this shortfall translates to nearly a $3 million loss, enough to defund about 460 course sections. Although operating costs continue to increase by nearly 5 percent, with health care costs increasing into the double digits, the state is not providing any money to cover the inflationary costs, creating an $8 million hole in the projected $195-M annual budget of City College.
How will City College deal with this budget crisis so that it can continue to educate its 110,000 students in 10 campuses throughout San Francisco?
Eighty-five percent of the students who attend City College work, so they need to get through college as fast as possible. Others need to make up or fill-in so that they can complete their studies or transfer to a 4-year college or university. Many want to accelerate their course work in order to enter the job market as soon as possible. For them, summer school classes are not a luxury, they are a necessity.
To deal with the crisis, City College will not replace administrative, faculty, or staff retirements. If the Governor’s proposed budget becomes a reality, City College will have no choice but to eliminate 500 classes, 50 of which are English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. This will result in larger class sizes, longer lines, fewer offerings, and less student services, all of which translate to a longer time before the students achieve their educational goals.
City College will also have to dip into its reserves to help balance its budget for this fiscal year. But, unfortunately, this is not a one-year budget problem. Next year, 2008-2009, is expected to be devastating.
To deal with the problem, the state’s Legislative Analyst is proposing a hike in student fees from $20 to $26 per unit, a 30% increase in one year. The last time tuition fees were increased, 300,000 students statewide dropped out, many postponing their college education for at least a year.
The impact of the proposed tuition fee increase will not be shared equally as it will fall hardest on the most vulnerable students, students who have just lost their jobs and cannot afford to pay the increased fees. Students who have budgeted $6 per day for food would have to go two weeks with no food to pay for the fee increases.
Furthermore, since the proposed tuition fee increases will be for all of public higher education in California, fewer students will be able to afford a CSU or UC education, and more of them will have to rely on the California community colleges for their education. Their entry will edge out the traditional community college student, with the least educated and those with the lowest income pushed out and denied their opportunity to achieve the American Dream.
The present fiscal crisis can be traced back to the November 17, 2003 Executive Order of Gov. Schwarzenegger eliminating the $200 Vehicle License Fee (VLF), an election vow he fulfilled but which has meant an aggregate loss of $9-B in general revenues, much of which would have gone to education.
To avert the crisis, new revenue enhancements need to be part of the budget solution, not just cuts. There should be no fee increases for the students as the budget should not be balanced on their backs.
Now, more than ever, the Filipino community should demand that public higher education must be enhanced, not reduced.
Rodel Rodis is a Trustee of the San Francisco Community College Board; he has served three terms as Board President and chair of the Finance Committee.
Comments can be sent to Rodel50@aol.com or log on to rodel50.blogspot.com or write to Law Offices of Rodel Rodis at 2429 Ocean Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94127, or call (415) 334-7800.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Save our pastor
Mind Feeds / Mind Feeds
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/mindfeeds/mindfeeds/view/20080506-134927/Save-our-pastor
GLOBAL NETWORKING
Global Networking : Save our pastor
By Rodel Rodis
INQUIRER.net
Posted date: May 06, 2008
When Pope Benedict XVI delivered a homily at the Nationals Stadium in Washington DC on April 17, 2008, he asked the congregation to “love your priests and to affirm them in the excellent work that they do.”
A few hundred miles north of that stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey, the faithful parishioners of the St. Frances Cabrini Parish led by Joseph Cicerella, are doing just that. They fervently love their parish priest, Fr. Edgardo Abano, and they’re waging a holy war against the local Bishop to get him back.
Last year Bishop Paul Gregory Bootkoski of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Metuchen, N.J. informed Fr. Abano that the diocese will be closing down St. Frances Cabrini Catholic School because enrollment was down, the school was underused and St. Frances Cabrini Church was subsidizing the school.
Despite the subsidy, Fr. Abano’s church was still able to pay the yearly assessments to the Diocese but not enough to pay the Diocesan debts. For some unknown reason, in 2000, the Metuchen Diocese “forgave” debts owed by many parishes in honor of Jubilee Year, with the exception of St. Frances Cabrini Parish. Bishop Bootkoski believed that if the Cabrini school closed down, the parish would be able to pay off its diocesan debts. But Fr. Abano disagreed and led his parishioners in protesting the planned closure of the parish school.
In the middle of this dispute in September last year, the diocese contacted the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office in New Jersey to report that Glenn Obrero, a Filipino diocesan employee and a seminarian at the Immaculate Conception Seminary, had filed a complaint of sexual misconduct against Fr. Abano in 2005. Obrero, who had been petitioned by the diocese for a work visa in 2005, complained that Fr. Abano had inappropriately touched him in the chest and buttocks when he first started working for the diocese.
Bishop Bootkoski did nothing about Obrero’s complaint until September of 2007 when he was locked in a dispute with Fr. Abano over the fate of the Cabrini school.
On October 19, 2007, Glenn Obrero was at a police station when he made a tapped phone call to Fr. Abano to wish him a happy birthday. As planned with the police investigators, Obrero steered the Tagalog conversation to the “touching” incident which occurred in 2005. After the phone call, a court interpreter, Bong Nepomuceno, translated the transcripts into English which were then reviewed by the police.
On October 23, 2007, after reviewing the transcripts, the police arrested Fr. Abano at the Cabrini parish rectory charging him with sexual misconduct. The police denied Fr. Abano’s request to be allowed to put on his clothes and was brought to the police station for booking in his undershirt, shorts and slippers. On the same night, he was released on $1,500 bail.
The following day, Bishop Bootkoski asked Fr. Abano to resign as Pastor of St. Frances Cabrini Parish (since 1992); as Director of the Office of Multicultural Ministries of the Metuchen Diocese that oversees nine ethnic ministries; as Chairman of the Commission for the Filipino Apostolate of the Diocese of Metuchen; and as Head Shepherd of the Association of Filipino Catholic Charismatic Prayer Communities of the U.S.A. and Canada, an association with around 40,000 members. Fr. Abano dutifully complied.
Fr. Abano was ordained as a priest in the United States on May 18, 1985 and had served many parishes in New Jersey prior to St. Frances Cabrini Parish including; Our Lady of Lourdes in Whitehouse Station; Immaculate Concepcion Church in Somerville, Saints Philip and James Church in Phillipsburg; and Our Lady of Fatima in Piscataway.
His arrest on October 23, 2007 was carried by local and international news and media services including The Filipino Channel, ABS-CBN, which reported the incident to its international audience.
Supporters of Fr. Abano set up a legal defense fund and hired Joseph Benedict, a highly-regarded criminal defense lawyer to represent Fr. Abano. They created a website, http:www.SaveOurPastor.org, to express show their full support for Fr. Abano.
Atty. Benedict hired another Tagalog interpreter to listen to the tape and translate it. The new translation showed that Fr. Abano denied ever touching Obrero while the first translation showed no such denial, which the police had misconstrued as affirming the misconduct.
“The denials were there (in the new transcript),” Benedict said, “I’m not sure that Fr. Abano would have been charged in the first place if they had an accurate transcript.” He then filed for trial by grand jury based on the new translation which contradicted the key piece of evidence the prosecutor’s office had on the alleged crime.
On February 22, 2008, Fr. Abano and Obrero both testified separately before a grand jury in New Brunswick, N.J. After only 45 minutes of grand jury deliberation, Middlesex Assistant Prosecutor Christie Bevacqua announced that the jury issued a “no bill” finding which meant that the prosecution had no case. All charges against Fr. Abano were dropped.
After the findings were announced, Bishop Bootkoski released a statement saying that he would review the grand jury’s findings and meet with Fr. Abano before making a decision about the priest’s future.
According to Fr. Abano’s sister, his primary focus right now is to “clear his good name” and that of his family. He wants “to get back his faculties to practice his priestly ministry.” This test of faith has “only strengthened his resolve and conviction that he will continue his vocation as a priest to serve God and His people.”
More than 70 days have passed and Bishop Bootkoski still has not made a decision about Fr. Abano’s fate. Please contact Bishop Bootkoski (bishop@diometuchen.org) and urge him to reinstate Fr. Abano to his parish and to the national posts that he was compelled to resign from. Tell him to heed the Pope's words.
My thanks to Merci Javier from Pinoywired.com for bringing this case to my attention. Please send comments to Rodel50@aol.com or log on to rodel50.blogspot.com or write to Law Offices of Rodel Rodis at 2429 Ocean Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94127, or call (415) 334-7800.
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/mindfeeds/mindfeeds/view/20080506-134927/Save-our-pastor
GLOBAL NETWORKING
Global Networking : Save our pastor
By Rodel Rodis
INQUIRER.net
Posted date: May 06, 2008
When Pope Benedict XVI delivered a homily at the Nationals Stadium in Washington DC on April 17, 2008, he asked the congregation to “love your priests and to affirm them in the excellent work that they do.”
A few hundred miles north of that stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey, the faithful parishioners of the St. Frances Cabrini Parish led by Joseph Cicerella, are doing just that. They fervently love their parish priest, Fr. Edgardo Abano, and they’re waging a holy war against the local Bishop to get him back.
Last year Bishop Paul Gregory Bootkoski of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Metuchen, N.J. informed Fr. Abano that the diocese will be closing down St. Frances Cabrini Catholic School because enrollment was down, the school was underused and St. Frances Cabrini Church was subsidizing the school.
Despite the subsidy, Fr. Abano’s church was still able to pay the yearly assessments to the Diocese but not enough to pay the Diocesan debts. For some unknown reason, in 2000, the Metuchen Diocese “forgave” debts owed by many parishes in honor of Jubilee Year, with the exception of St. Frances Cabrini Parish. Bishop Bootkoski believed that if the Cabrini school closed down, the parish would be able to pay off its diocesan debts. But Fr. Abano disagreed and led his parishioners in protesting the planned closure of the parish school.
In the middle of this dispute in September last year, the diocese contacted the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office in New Jersey to report that Glenn Obrero, a Filipino diocesan employee and a seminarian at the Immaculate Conception Seminary, had filed a complaint of sexual misconduct against Fr. Abano in 2005. Obrero, who had been petitioned by the diocese for a work visa in 2005, complained that Fr. Abano had inappropriately touched him in the chest and buttocks when he first started working for the diocese.
Bishop Bootkoski did nothing about Obrero’s complaint until September of 2007 when he was locked in a dispute with Fr. Abano over the fate of the Cabrini school.
On October 19, 2007, Glenn Obrero was at a police station when he made a tapped phone call to Fr. Abano to wish him a happy birthday. As planned with the police investigators, Obrero steered the Tagalog conversation to the “touching” incident which occurred in 2005. After the phone call, a court interpreter, Bong Nepomuceno, translated the transcripts into English which were then reviewed by the police.
On October 23, 2007, after reviewing the transcripts, the police arrested Fr. Abano at the Cabrini parish rectory charging him with sexual misconduct. The police denied Fr. Abano’s request to be allowed to put on his clothes and was brought to the police station for booking in his undershirt, shorts and slippers. On the same night, he was released on $1,500 bail.
The following day, Bishop Bootkoski asked Fr. Abano to resign as Pastor of St. Frances Cabrini Parish (since 1992); as Director of the Office of Multicultural Ministries of the Metuchen Diocese that oversees nine ethnic ministries; as Chairman of the Commission for the Filipino Apostolate of the Diocese of Metuchen; and as Head Shepherd of the Association of Filipino Catholic Charismatic Prayer Communities of the U.S.A. and Canada, an association with around 40,000 members. Fr. Abano dutifully complied.
Fr. Abano was ordained as a priest in the United States on May 18, 1985 and had served many parishes in New Jersey prior to St. Frances Cabrini Parish including; Our Lady of Lourdes in Whitehouse Station; Immaculate Concepcion Church in Somerville, Saints Philip and James Church in Phillipsburg; and Our Lady of Fatima in Piscataway.
His arrest on October 23, 2007 was carried by local and international news and media services including The Filipino Channel, ABS-CBN, which reported the incident to its international audience.
Supporters of Fr. Abano set up a legal defense fund and hired Joseph Benedict, a highly-regarded criminal defense lawyer to represent Fr. Abano. They created a website, http:www.SaveOurPastor.org, to express show their full support for Fr. Abano.
Atty. Benedict hired another Tagalog interpreter to listen to the tape and translate it. The new translation showed that Fr. Abano denied ever touching Obrero while the first translation showed no such denial, which the police had misconstrued as affirming the misconduct.
“The denials were there (in the new transcript),” Benedict said, “I’m not sure that Fr. Abano would have been charged in the first place if they had an accurate transcript.” He then filed for trial by grand jury based on the new translation which contradicted the key piece of evidence the prosecutor’s office had on the alleged crime.
On February 22, 2008, Fr. Abano and Obrero both testified separately before a grand jury in New Brunswick, N.J. After only 45 minutes of grand jury deliberation, Middlesex Assistant Prosecutor Christie Bevacqua announced that the jury issued a “no bill” finding which meant that the prosecution had no case. All charges against Fr. Abano were dropped.
After the findings were announced, Bishop Bootkoski released a statement saying that he would review the grand jury’s findings and meet with Fr. Abano before making a decision about the priest’s future.
According to Fr. Abano’s sister, his primary focus right now is to “clear his good name” and that of his family. He wants “to get back his faculties to practice his priestly ministry.” This test of faith has “only strengthened his resolve and conviction that he will continue his vocation as a priest to serve God and His people.”
More than 70 days have passed and Bishop Bootkoski still has not made a decision about Fr. Abano’s fate. Please contact Bishop Bootkoski (bishop@diometuchen.org) and urge him to reinstate Fr. Abano to his parish and to the national posts that he was compelled to resign from. Tell him to heed the Pope's words.
My thanks to Merci Javier from Pinoywired.com for bringing this case to my attention. Please send comments to Rodel50@aol.com or log on to rodel50.blogspot.com or write to Law Offices of Rodel Rodis at 2429 Ocean Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94127, or call (415) 334-7800.
The first Filipino
Mind Feeds / Mind Feeds
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/mindfeeds/mindfeeds/view/20080429-133372/The-first-Filipino
GLOBAL NETWORKING
Global Networking : The first Filipino
By Rodel Rodis
INQUIRER.net
Posted date: April 29, 2008
This is a speech I delivered after receiving the Dr. Jose Rizal Achievement Award at the induction of officers of the Filipino Bar Association of Northern California (FBANC) held on April 25, 2008 in San Francisco.
This award holds special significance to me as my mother was born and raised in Calamba, Laguna, just a short block from the home where Dr. Jose Rizal was born on June 19, 1861. As a child, I spent many summers with my grandfather where I would often stroll over to Rizal’s childhood home, which had become a museum. I remember devouring all the books about Rizal that I could find there.
As it turned out, I went to elementary school at the Letran College in Intramuros in the walled city of Manila just a few blocks from Fort Santiago, where Rizal was incarcerated and executed on December 30, 1896. In between his birth in Calamba and his death near Fort Santiago, Rizal informed and defined the Filipino national identity.
Before Dr. Rizal, the people who lived in Las Islas Filipinas were generally called indios by their colonial masters. In the logs of Spanish galleon ships plying the Manila-Acapulco trade, the native mariners were referred to as “Luzon indios” or “Visayan indios” but always “indios” regardless of whether they were Ilocanos, Tagalogs, Cebuanos, Ilonggos or any number of disunited, disparate tribes.
The word “Filipino,” after King Felipe II of Spain, was a pejorative insult employed by Spanish citizens born in Spain of pure Spanish blood to put down and denigrate Spanish citizens born in the Philippine Islands whose parents were not pure Spaniards. Through his writings, Dr. Rizal elevated Filipino and infused it with a distinct racial, ethnic, cultural and political identity. We became one people in one nation because of Dr. Jose Rizal and we all would not now be members of the "Filipino" Bar Association of Northern California if it were not for him.
I am aware that there are still many Filipinos who reject their own national identity. When I attended a conference in Atlanta many years ago, I sought out Filipinos from the thousands of delegates there. When I spotted someone who might be Pinoy, I went up to him and asked him if he was Filipino and he replied "I was."
What he does not understand is that while he may no longer consider himself a Filipino, others will. He may find himself as I did five years ago in a Walgreens store paying $44.32 worth of goods with an old but genuine $100 bill only to have the white manager call the police based on his suspicion that the bill may be counterfeit simply because the bearer is a Filipino. The white police officers may believe the bill is counterfeit simply because the suspect they arrested, as they wrote down in the police report, was wearing "khaki shirt, khaki pants" with perhaps a khaki skin.
Racial profiling does not distinguish between those who consider themselves Filipino and those who believe they are “former Filipinos.” What my Walgreens experience taught me is that even in this day and age, no matter what individual honors you achieve, you will not be judged by your character but by the mere color of your skin.
We are fortunate to belong to a legal profession that can do something about racial profiling. I sued Walgreens and that billion dollar company settled with me for an undisclosed sum. I sued the San Francisco Police Department and the police officers who arrested me. The police department issued an apology and issued a new policy directing officers not to arrest anyone suspected of using a counterfeit bill without some evidence that the suspect knew the bill was counterfeit.
But the two white San Francisco police officers that arrested me, admittedly without probable cause, brought my state civil case against them to the federal court where they filed a motion to dismiss my suit on the basis of qualified immunity. When the judge denied their motion, the officers appealed the case to the Ninth Circuit which issued a published opinion on August 28, 2007 upholding the federal court decision.
Unfortunately, the police officers have chosen to appeal the case all the way to the US Supreme Court. If that Court grants certiorari to hear their appeal, then I invite all the members of the Filipino Bar to join me in Washington DC to hear oral arguments on this significant civil rights issue. Chief Justice Charles Hughes once said “If you think the Constitution provides you security, remember that they are just words. If you think the laws provide you protection, remember that they are just statutes. The real power of the people lies in those who interpret the Constitution to benefit the people. “
That, my fellow Filipino attorneys, is our challenge - to use the law to help and benefit our community, in the proud spirit of Dr. Jose Rizal.
Please send comments to _Rodel50@aol.com_ (mailto:Rodel50@aol.com) or log on to rodel50.
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/mindfeeds/mindfeeds/view/20080429-133372/The-first-Filipino
GLOBAL NETWORKING
Global Networking : The first Filipino
By Rodel Rodis
INQUIRER.net
Posted date: April 29, 2008
This is a speech I delivered after receiving the Dr. Jose Rizal Achievement Award at the induction of officers of the Filipino Bar Association of Northern California (FBANC) held on April 25, 2008 in San Francisco.
This award holds special significance to me as my mother was born and raised in Calamba, Laguna, just a short block from the home where Dr. Jose Rizal was born on June 19, 1861. As a child, I spent many summers with my grandfather where I would often stroll over to Rizal’s childhood home, which had become a museum. I remember devouring all the books about Rizal that I could find there.
As it turned out, I went to elementary school at the Letran College in Intramuros in the walled city of Manila just a few blocks from Fort Santiago, where Rizal was incarcerated and executed on December 30, 1896. In between his birth in Calamba and his death near Fort Santiago, Rizal informed and defined the Filipino national identity.
Before Dr. Rizal, the people who lived in Las Islas Filipinas were generally called indios by their colonial masters. In the logs of Spanish galleon ships plying the Manila-Acapulco trade, the native mariners were referred to as “Luzon indios” or “Visayan indios” but always “indios” regardless of whether they were Ilocanos, Tagalogs, Cebuanos, Ilonggos or any number of disunited, disparate tribes.
The word “Filipino,” after King Felipe II of Spain, was a pejorative insult employed by Spanish citizens born in Spain of pure Spanish blood to put down and denigrate Spanish citizens born in the Philippine Islands whose parents were not pure Spaniards. Through his writings, Dr. Rizal elevated Filipino and infused it with a distinct racial, ethnic, cultural and political identity. We became one people in one nation because of Dr. Jose Rizal and we all would not now be members of the "Filipino" Bar Association of Northern California if it were not for him.
I am aware that there are still many Filipinos who reject their own national identity. When I attended a conference in Atlanta many years ago, I sought out Filipinos from the thousands of delegates there. When I spotted someone who might be Pinoy, I went up to him and asked him if he was Filipino and he replied "I was."
What he does not understand is that while he may no longer consider himself a Filipino, others will. He may find himself as I did five years ago in a Walgreens store paying $44.32 worth of goods with an old but genuine $100 bill only to have the white manager call the police based on his suspicion that the bill may be counterfeit simply because the bearer is a Filipino. The white police officers may believe the bill is counterfeit simply because the suspect they arrested, as they wrote down in the police report, was wearing "khaki shirt, khaki pants" with perhaps a khaki skin.
Racial profiling does not distinguish between those who consider themselves Filipino and those who believe they are “former Filipinos.” What my Walgreens experience taught me is that even in this day and age, no matter what individual honors you achieve, you will not be judged by your character but by the mere color of your skin.
We are fortunate to belong to a legal profession that can do something about racial profiling. I sued Walgreens and that billion dollar company settled with me for an undisclosed sum. I sued the San Francisco Police Department and the police officers who arrested me. The police department issued an apology and issued a new policy directing officers not to arrest anyone suspected of using a counterfeit bill without some evidence that the suspect knew the bill was counterfeit.
But the two white San Francisco police officers that arrested me, admittedly without probable cause, brought my state civil case against them to the federal court where they filed a motion to dismiss my suit on the basis of qualified immunity. When the judge denied their motion, the officers appealed the case to the Ninth Circuit which issued a published opinion on August 28, 2007 upholding the federal court decision.
Unfortunately, the police officers have chosen to appeal the case all the way to the US Supreme Court. If that Court grants certiorari to hear their appeal, then I invite all the members of the Filipino Bar to join me in Washington DC to hear oral arguments on this significant civil rights issue. Chief Justice Charles Hughes once said “If you think the Constitution provides you security, remember that they are just words. If you think the laws provide you protection, remember that they are just statutes. The real power of the people lies in those who interpret the Constitution to benefit the people. “
That, my fellow Filipino attorneys, is our challenge - to use the law to help and benefit our community, in the proud spirit of Dr. Jose Rizal.
Please send comments to _Rodel50@aol.com_ (mailto:Rodel50@aol.com) or log on to rodel50.
Tina’s children
Mind Feeds / Mind Feeds
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/mindfeeds/mindfeeds/view/20080423-132159/Tinas-children
GLOBAL NETWORKING
Global Networking : Tina’s children
By Rodel Rodis
INQUIRER.net
Posted date: April 23, 2008
The severe rice shortage that may yet result in food riots in the Philippines has forced the staunchly “Pro-Life” government of Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to belatedly concede the need to raise public awareness of population control.
After years of rejecting United Nations and USAID funding for family planning programs, the government has finally realized that maintaining current levels of rice production is not nearly enough when the Philippine population is growing by at least 2 million a year. In 1945, there were 20-M Filipinos. By 2000, the population had risen to 76.5-M. Less than 8 years later, it is now 88.57-M and is expected to break the 100-M mark in just 5 years.
According to former Health Secretary Alberto Romualdez, “the worst part of it all is that the people who are growing at a faster rate are Filipinos who could not afford it. And the rich who have the money, are actually not growing at all, with a growth rate of zero percent,” he said.
With less arable land available for rice production and higher costs for fuel, seeds and fertilizers, the government is straining to retain previous levels of productivity that, even if successful, will still yield little or no rice for 2-M people.
According to a study just released by the European Union (2008 Philippine Development Forum), "Continued rapid population growth in the Philippines is draining health and economic resources and slowing down economic growth. It also threatens the sustainability of rural livelihoods and is inexorably destroying the remaining natural forest and marine habitats. The poor are paying the highest price, both individually and collectively. The European Union therefore calls for the effective implementation of a comprehensive national family planning policy, promoting access to family planning methods."
But raising public awareness of population control is not enough if the only kind of birth control endorsed by the government is the “natural family planning method” where couples are encouraged to have sex only during certain “safe” periods in a woman’s menstrual cycle, a method otherwise known as “the Vatican roulette”.
Alas, even this wholly unreliable method cannot be effectively promoted because, according to Malacañang Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, the national government is “no longer involved in implementing the birth control program since this has been devolved to local government units (LGUs)” where the local chief executives are in charge of implementing birth control policies in their jurisdictions.
What compounds the problem is that even discussing the need for population control has drawn opposition from the Catholic Church and pro-lifers in the Arroyo Administration led by former Manila Mayor Lito Atienza, currently Secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources. Atienza believes that the solution to the present food crisis is a strong agricultural production program and not birth control.
When Atienza was mayor of Manila from 2000 to 2006, he issued Executive Order 003 (EO 003) banning the use of artificial contraceptives in all of Manila ’s public health facilities. Although not officially, this order was even extended to private pharmacies and drug stores in Manila which were prohibited from selling any artificial method of birth control, even condoms.
Although Atienza is no longer mayor, his ban still remains in effect. So in January of this year, 20 directly affected women filed suit to invalidate EO 003. One of the female plaintiffs, Tina, age 36, wanted to have only two children, according to her affidavit. Before Atienza was elected mayor, Manila had a health policy which allowed her to obtain contraceptive supplies from the Manila health system. After Atienza abolished this program, Tina gave birth to two more children. After 4 children, she asked to have her tubes tied (tubal ligation) so that she could no longer have babies, but this was not allowed because of EO 003. Tina now has eight children.
In her affidavit, Tina stated:
"Our daily income is 150 pesos from scavenging. My family’s breakfast includes three sachets of coffee and a few pieces of pandesal [bread rolls]. One kilo of rice is insufficient for lunch and dinner. We make do with soy sauce or salt if we can’t afford to buy ten pesos’ worth of cooked vegetable for lunch or dried fish for dinner. If our daily earnings only amount to below 70 pesos, we only have bread for dinner.
"My children are malnourished. Oftentimes, they miss a meal. My sixth child, who was underweight at birth, hasn’t recovered yet. I give each of my children five pesos for school allowance. I feel sorry for them because I can’t buy them school shoes. They miss lunch if they have to pay something in school. One of my children had to stop going to school.
"My eldest son died of rheumatic heart disease. Most of our earnings went to his medication. My husband lost his job as security guard, after he was unable to pay more than 3,000 pesos needed to renew his license.”
What kind of lives have Tina and her children been condemned to live? Is being pro-life being pro-miserable life?
Please send comments to Rodel50@aol.com or log on to rodel50.blogspot.com or write to Law Offices of Rodel Rodis at 2429 Ocean Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94127, or call (415) 334-7800.
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/mindfeeds/mindfeeds/view/20080423-132159/Tinas-children
GLOBAL NETWORKING
Global Networking : Tina’s children
By Rodel Rodis
INQUIRER.net
Posted date: April 23, 2008
The severe rice shortage that may yet result in food riots in the Philippines has forced the staunchly “Pro-Life” government of Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to belatedly concede the need to raise public awareness of population control.
After years of rejecting United Nations and USAID funding for family planning programs, the government has finally realized that maintaining current levels of rice production is not nearly enough when the Philippine population is growing by at least 2 million a year. In 1945, there were 20-M Filipinos. By 2000, the population had risen to 76.5-M. Less than 8 years later, it is now 88.57-M and is expected to break the 100-M mark in just 5 years.
According to former Health Secretary Alberto Romualdez, “the worst part of it all is that the people who are growing at a faster rate are Filipinos who could not afford it. And the rich who have the money, are actually not growing at all, with a growth rate of zero percent,” he said.
With less arable land available for rice production and higher costs for fuel, seeds and fertilizers, the government is straining to retain previous levels of productivity that, even if successful, will still yield little or no rice for 2-M people.
According to a study just released by the European Union (2008 Philippine Development Forum), "Continued rapid population growth in the Philippines is draining health and economic resources and slowing down economic growth. It also threatens the sustainability of rural livelihoods and is inexorably destroying the remaining natural forest and marine habitats. The poor are paying the highest price, both individually and collectively. The European Union therefore calls for the effective implementation of a comprehensive national family planning policy, promoting access to family planning methods."
But raising public awareness of population control is not enough if the only kind of birth control endorsed by the government is the “natural family planning method” where couples are encouraged to have sex only during certain “safe” periods in a woman’s menstrual cycle, a method otherwise known as “the Vatican roulette”.
Alas, even this wholly unreliable method cannot be effectively promoted because, according to Malacañang Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, the national government is “no longer involved in implementing the birth control program since this has been devolved to local government units (LGUs)” where the local chief executives are in charge of implementing birth control policies in their jurisdictions.
What compounds the problem is that even discussing the need for population control has drawn opposition from the Catholic Church and pro-lifers in the Arroyo Administration led by former Manila Mayor Lito Atienza, currently Secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources. Atienza believes that the solution to the present food crisis is a strong agricultural production program and not birth control.
When Atienza was mayor of Manila from 2000 to 2006, he issued Executive Order 003 (EO 003) banning the use of artificial contraceptives in all of Manila ’s public health facilities. Although not officially, this order was even extended to private pharmacies and drug stores in Manila which were prohibited from selling any artificial method of birth control, even condoms.
Although Atienza is no longer mayor, his ban still remains in effect. So in January of this year, 20 directly affected women filed suit to invalidate EO 003. One of the female plaintiffs, Tina, age 36, wanted to have only two children, according to her affidavit. Before Atienza was elected mayor, Manila had a health policy which allowed her to obtain contraceptive supplies from the Manila health system. After Atienza abolished this program, Tina gave birth to two more children. After 4 children, she asked to have her tubes tied (tubal ligation) so that she could no longer have babies, but this was not allowed because of EO 003. Tina now has eight children.
In her affidavit, Tina stated:
"Our daily income is 150 pesos from scavenging. My family’s breakfast includes three sachets of coffee and a few pieces of pandesal [bread rolls]. One kilo of rice is insufficient for lunch and dinner. We make do with soy sauce or salt if we can’t afford to buy ten pesos’ worth of cooked vegetable for lunch or dried fish for dinner. If our daily earnings only amount to below 70 pesos, we only have bread for dinner.
"My children are malnourished. Oftentimes, they miss a meal. My sixth child, who was underweight at birth, hasn’t recovered yet. I give each of my children five pesos for school allowance. I feel sorry for them because I can’t buy them school shoes. They miss lunch if they have to pay something in school. One of my children had to stop going to school.
"My eldest son died of rheumatic heart disease. Most of our earnings went to his medication. My husband lost his job as security guard, after he was unable to pay more than 3,000 pesos needed to renew his license.”
What kind of lives have Tina and her children been condemned to live? Is being pro-life being pro-miserable life?
Please send comments to Rodel50@aol.com or log on to rodel50.blogspot.com or write to Law Offices of Rodel Rodis at 2429 Ocean Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94127, or call (415) 334-7800.
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