Friday, June 27, 2008

Sahot, Trabajo At Karapatan!

Multisec Mob Ng Sahod, Trabajo, at Karapatan!

June 26, 2008

We participated in a 2,500 strong multisectoral mobilization. The march highlighted the immediate economic crisis: rising food, oil and electricity prices, as well as low wages, hunger and home demolitions. The rallying cry was for the ouster of GMA.

The cultural presentations and props at the rally were effective at re-creating the struggles of the masses.

Pahirap sa Masa! Patalsikin si Gloria!

Ilitaw at Palayain Karen at Sherlyn!

June 25, 2008, the second anniversary of the forced disappearance of Karen and Sherlyn, two University of the Philippines students, accused of no more than standing on the side of the most oppressed sectors of Philippine society. Karen and Sherlyn were snatched in Bulacan, along with peasant Manuel Merino, from a rural farming community. To this day, Karen and Sherlyn have not been resurfaced, and their fate is unknown.

On this day Aiyanas and I attended a forum and protest rally at the UP, to call for the surfacing of Karen and Sherlyn, to educate the students and faculty of UP on the human rights situation in the Philippines, and to demonstrate to UP administrators and the government of the Philippines that political persecution and terrorizing of progressive forces must be stopped!

Context:


It is in the context of the daily human rights violations, of forced displacement due to military counterinsurgency and corporate plunder of natural resources, such as Canadian mining operations, that the struggle for genuine human rights, for land reform, and for national liberation arises.

Recent trends in poverty exacerbate a nation already pushed to the brink by political corruption, IMF/WB structural adjustment conditionality, WTO enforced trade liberalization, deregulation and privatization, and an intensified counter-insurgency program.

Annual average incomes have been dropping, from 145,000 Pesos in 2000 to 125,000 Pesos in 2006; this sum amounts to a National average daily income of Canadian $255 per month. 10%, or a full 1/5th of the workforce is working overseas in order to send home the vital remittances which keep the economy of the Philippines afloat.

It was in the context of the complete abdication of responsibility for the masses of Filipinos by the Gloria Macapagal Regime that UP students Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan decided to dedicate their talents and energies towards serving the people through legal means. Sherlyn, an award-winning athlete, was the Basic Masses Integration Officer of the UP Student Council, responsible for connecting students with the lived conditions and struggles of workers and peasants, joining in pickets and actions, as well as taking students out on exposure trips to the communities and the countryside. Karen was a generous-hearted social sciences student who actively supported the struggles of the workers and peasants, and who participated in a rural exposure trip. It was on such a trip to an impoverished community to integrate with peasants, that these two bright young women were snatched by military forces and ‘disappeared’.

Since Gloria Macapagal Arroyo took power in 2001 following the ouster of President Joseph Estrada, there have been more than 900 extrajudicial killings, including leaders and activists from the trade-union, peasant, women, health and student sectors as well as from progressive political party lists. As the rate of the killings has decreased (but not stopped) in response to international pressure generated by grassroots and establishment human rights groups, the rate of enforced disappearances has simultaneously increased with 193 victims to date, most of them in 2006 and 2007 when international attention was most focused on the human rights situation in the Philippines. Yet, already this year there have been 13 extrajudicial killings and 1 forced disappearance!

All sectors of progressive Filipinos have felt the impact of the red-baiting, intense harassment, and political terrorism of the GMA regime. Both students and teachers alike have been targeted. On January 10, 2007, Jose Maria Sui, a 53-year-old university professor, was shot dead in his classroom on the University of Eastern Philippines North Samar campus. There have been 9 documented killings of teachers, and one teacher forcibly disappeared, according to the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), a legal organization of progressive teachers. Two of those victims of extrajudicial killings were members of the ACT National Congress.

There is a direct relationship between the black propaganda of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and those victims of extrajudicial killings. Jose Maria Sui was directly named in a red-baiting flier distributed on campus, and the very next week became a victim of extrajudicial killings. On the website of the AFP, progressive activists and popular organizations will be directly named as a de-facto list of political targets.

After the forum and memorial performances dedicated to Karen and Sherlyn, we piled out of the auditorium and marched to the Student Union building with the rallying cry:
“Karen at Sherlyn! Palayain!”

Monday, June 23, 2008

ILPS Reflections

Just returned to Manila after a fulfilling Third International Assembly of the International League of People’s Struggles in Hong Kong!

Naturally, it was a pleasure to connect again with comrades such as Wali from Pakistan, Raquel from Brazil, and Lyn and Richard from the USA, to deepen our understanding about their work and strengthen our connections. It was such a pleasure and a privilege to talk in depth with our US comrades about our organizing work, our successes, our challenges, and our vision; after such discussions I felt the lack of mentorship for me and Aiyanas in Vancouver. However, we are resolved to march forward, and to maintain our deepened connections in the USA.

It was lovely to share a cabin with our Indian comrades and to witness some very charming conversations between Billy and Saibaba from the Revolutionary Democratic Front of India, a highly respected revolutionary leader and esteemed speaker at the conference. It was heart-warming that even though this man was expected to present at numerous workshops, and has a leadership role nationally and internationally, he is still readily willing and able to connect with a 6 year old. Of course, it left me somewhat saddened at the lack of family culture in the Left in Vancouver, outside the Kalayaan Centre, that is. The Organizing Centre’s focus on building communities of resistance will ultimately address this.

The keynote addresses on Wednesday were invigorating.

Varavara Rao, the leader of the Revolutionary Democratic Front of India, denied a travel visa to HK, was the keynote speaker via G.N. Saibaba, who presented his paper. Varavara concretely explained the inter-imperialist rivalries as a major contradiction; rivalries to be found in the breakdown of WTO negotiations, conflicts over oil and gas, the Euro threatening the hegemony of the dollar, and the ascendancy of Chinese and Russian economic and military powers.

To quote Varavara: “While these are bleak days for the world wide imperialist economy singing the songs of its dark times there are definitely songs of possibilities, of revolutionary opportunities, songs of freedom, of revolution for the most oppressed and wretched of the earth in this whirlpool of deepening crisis of imperialism.”
Varavara overviewed the vast and growing economic independent zones in India which are organized by the revolutionary forces.
Varavara concluded: "everlasting peace is only possible with the struggles that establish genuine peace, by removing exploitation of man by man”.

Jose Maria Sison, the founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines and Chairman of the ILPS, labelled as a ‘terrorist’ by the Canadian government, gave the report from the Chair.
A highlight of Professor Sison’s presentation was his clear and concise direction to launch and strengthen mass organizations; to initiate and launch mass campaigns; to take up the major concerns and disseminate the analysis and action as widely as possible. Professor Sison really hyped the practice at this Assembly, calling for forces to arise where they did not exist and strengthen where they did exist.

There was representation from Kenya in Wahu Kaara of the Kenyan Debt Relief Network. To resounding applause, Wahu remarked that “a world with justice, a world with peace, a world with human dignity, and a world where none suffer from want is here with us today!”

The workshops were rewarding. The workshop on the cause of National and Social Liberation was filled with rich learning on global history, geo-politics, and current analysis. With presentations from 8 respected leaders, including Kali Williams form the Malcom X Grassroots Movement from the US, the global overview was rewarding. The workshop on the Health Concern was an excellent opportunity to update with comrades from the health sector, and to carry on the theme of Professor Sison on the launching of new mass organizations; to present the history and progression of the Alliance for People’s Health as a case study. The conference plenary accepted our resolutions to continue the Health Now! Campaign and to promote the Health Workers’ Call for Peace and Justice. A migrant health worker’s conference in 2009 should give additional impetus to this work!
http://vcn.bc.ca/~aph

Aiyanas wants me to add that a highlight was my performance with Sophia at the cultural night. Sophia was brave, and volunteered to sing for us! She did a beautiful job, and garnered great applause, even though she forgot the final verse. The resounding applause came after I announced that this was our children’s third ILPS hosted conference!

The cultural night all around was definitely a highlight. Aiyanas had the opportunity for a deep discussion on Indian politics with Amit from the Committee for Release of Indian Political Prisoners. The rousing performances, messages of solidarity, and warm feelings of camaraderie that permeated the evening were inspirational. Not to mention Wali’s pop-star performance of an Urdu human rights song – we hope at the next ILPS conference he will be able to bring his 4-year-old daughter to co-star with him!

We leave the Third International Assembly with new friends, a renewed commitment to struggle for unity, to build our mass anti-imperialist organizations, reach out to new member organizations, build the AI united front, and further the struggle for social and economic justice.

In memory of Ka Bel…
Tuloy Ang Laban!
Long Live International Solidarity!

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Picassa Albums

If you click on the slide show and link to Picassa, we have posted some photo albums.

Photos of Boso Boso Health Work

Boso Boso Health Work

Saturday June 15

Back from Boso Boso, where I finally got to experience some great hands on health work, as well as experience herbal hunting, and do my first popular education on women's health and childbirth! While this trip didn't provide much opportunity for Aiyanas, as we anticipate Negros will, he did get to spend some quality time playing basketball and gathered quite the local B-ball posse! The kids loved the rice fields, the beautiful forests, and the zillion friends they made.

Too tired to write much now. I write this from the CHD office, where we are sleeping tonight, exhausted from moving around, adjusting and re-adjusting. Today Aiyanas and I visited the provincial prison in Bulacan and accompanied a physican from Health Action for Human Rights on a medical visit to one of the political prisoners. So many activities to fill our time.

Back to Boso Boso. This particular community based health program was initiated in 1993 in reponse to the crisis in maternal mortality and morbidity due to the long travel to the nearest public hospital and the unpaved status of the road at that time. Now the program is 15 years old, and has hit a plateau. There are many skilled CHWs, but they have become clinic-focussed and too heavily geared towards their small Western-based pharmacy. My schedule of prenatal clinic, herbal gathering, and maternal-child health education was intended to help re-inspire the CHWs to get back out into the community, do home visits again, and refresh their tremendous herbal knowledge. It was exciting for me to a) be able to share my skills concretely, b) learn so much in such a short time about available herbal remedies, and c) use all of the knowledge and teaching skills I have practiced so much at South Commmunity over the last year and a half. While I saw many pitfalls of Community Based Health Programs, there were many successes gained through this program, and some leadership and direction could spark some innovative new practices for Boso Boso.

The highlight of this exposure / health integration was the prenatal visit I did in what I could best describe as a sweat shop where women were sewing children's clothing for some brand name I didn't recognize. The door-to-door prenatal afternoon was incredible, and I hope to do this more in Negros. The most challenging visit was the young woman having her second baby and suffering terrible pain from a large palpable symphysis pubis separation; I hope the PT pointers and mobility suggestions I passed on will help - but sleeping on the floor and doing physical work all day will not!

Sleeping is what I must do now. Good night, all.

Another Week, Another Rally!

Saturday June 7, 2008

Well, today is a rest day for us, and we are heading out to the Mall of Asia for a movie, to pick up some popular education supplies like big paper and markers for teaching, and to eat Jamaican patties, which are masarap!

Thursday June 5 we had another urban poor exposure in Pasig, but this time we met with party list Bayan Muna organizers and discussed the process they followed in organizing their community. This was a great overview of their organizing work. It is similar to the process followed in other communities: starting with health sector work, medical missions, gaining contacts, starting committees, going deeper with the organizing. I now have a good sense of how things are initiated and followed through. Billy, in particular, enjoyed this day, as he made some friends and played pass the basketball – they couldn’t really play as the courtyard we were meeting in was far too small. The girls were having giggle fits as Billy is so much taller than the older boys. This was a special exposure for me as I met the 2 community midwives, one who does the home births and one who runs the birth centre. It was so much fun, and we had many laughs over birth stories and sharing the differences and similarities in our experiences. The birth centre was lovely! I will post some photos. It would be great to come back and spend some time with these midwives; they are very skilled and caring, with about 15 births each per month and each other as back up - they even do breeches! They have been working for 12 years, so much experience. What a chance it would be for me to learn, and to share my own knowledge!

Friday we had a 5 hour meeting and discussion with the Director of International Affairs for Bayan, the New Patriotic Alliance. It was a fabulous discussion. We covered all of the core issues: economics, low wages, hunger and poverty, political killings, political corruption, the struggle to oust GMA, the US military, mining, and Comprehensive Agreement on Agrarian Reform (CARP) and landlessness. We also had the privilege of discussing their organizing process, from which I drew many ideas and lessons; and the longer-term vision of social change, but that is all too much for this blog.

After our marathon meeting on Friday, I shared more with the two women who are CHD organizers as well as graduates of the Fabella School of Midwifery. They are fairly new grads, eager to start a clinic and do births and maternal-child care as a component of their organizing work. It is inspiring that midwives play such a central role in CHD organizing work. It was a fun discussion because we were sharing the differences in maternity care, such as the importance of tetanus vaccination in pregnancy and avoiding neonatal tetanus – something we are definitely not taught at UBC. I informed them that I brought some emergency skills text books and I think we will do some deeper skills sharing after I return from Boso Boso. I hope that their vision comes to reality and I can provide some assistance in the future; I would like to do the same thing in Vancouver – so we have great contacts in each other!!

Finally, to wrap up a busy and fruitful Friday, we attended a marathon march and rally. We started at the Lung Centre with a protest of the health workers against government plans to privatize several speciality hospitals, as well as a general rally to raise the wages and reduce the prices of rice and oil; basically to alleviate the economic hardship of the people that is leading to rising hunger, malnutrition and disease. Sophia enjoyed this rally as she met some friends and played clapping games. After a rousing rally, we marched to join the KMU and other unions in protesting the VAT (value added tax) which exacerbates hardship in such difficult times and ends up lining the pockets of corporations and corrupt politicians. Finally, we marched as a larger group to the DAR (Dept of Agriculture) to support the peasants in their demand to scrap CARP (Comprehensive Agreement on Agrarian Reform) and institute a just distribution of land. It was a 3 ½ hour marathon, and it was just getting going at the DAR when Aiyanas, the kids and I headed home for a late dinner and bed time!

After this lovely rest, clean, wash, grocery shop and pack weekend, we are heading out to Boso Boso on Monday. In this semi-rural community the Parish Priest has organized for women to come to the clinic to see me for 3 mornings! So my role as a midwife is finally coming to life. However, I am also to do some teaching. On top of that, I am bringing my compact birth kit just in case! One of the CHD midwives is joining us in case of a birth and to help with the popular education and training on mat-child health. This is good, as CHD has much experience with their style of teaching, and I would appreciate to at least see how someone does it here before I am solo on the content, just supported with translation!

Each experience teaches me (all of us, really) about the experiences, conditions and struggles of the Filipino people. It is also, however, very exciting to think of the possibilities to use my growing skill sets back in Canada; for Community Diagnosis, for organizing projects, for health work, and for building that community of resistance we were dreaming about at the OC. Finally, the possibilities for ongoing solidarity work are great. Now off this computer!

Monday, June 2, 2008

Payatas Exposure Slide Show

Some Personal Shots

Ka Bels Memorial Protest March

Payatas Exposure Trip

May 31, 2008

Today was our exposure at Payatas; the community built on the cusp of the Quezon City dump site, ironically also adjoining the water reservoir!

Kuya Rod picked us up and we met Mel and Teresa on the way to meet Ate Anna and Ate Nanay, two Payatas Community Health Workers. When we arrived we made our way to Ate Anna’s house, and shortly Ate Nanay arrived with her granddaughter and another CHW named Ariel (also Anna’s son). After we briefly shared about the reasons for our trip, we had a good discussion about the experience of organizing on the health concerns in Payatas and on many other issues, including working as scavengers in the dump.

There is so much to recount that it is difficult to put it all down, but we think it is important to document and share. I have tried to categorize to make sense of it all and write the bulk, and Aiyanas will go through and edit and add, so this is really a joint venture!

Context and Housing Conditions:

Ate Nanay moved to the Payatas dump area in 1981; many people come to this area from the provinces, either permanently from displacement, or temporarily due to the seasonal nature of the peasant income. It is a long-standing squat, and there is a struggle over the title to the land. The government is in negotiation for the land, but they want to sell the community members the land title, which is expensive – the land was cleared and the homes built by the labour of the people! One of the CHWs we met, Ariel, pays ‘rent’ of p1,000/month to live in the one-room house ‘owned’ by another Payatas resident while he and his family await surgery for their daughter Mariel before return to the provinces.

There are 300 houses in Payatas Area B, with overcrowded houses. The population was hard to clarify, but I did manage to learn that there are 9 babies born every week in Payatas Area B. The CHWs joked with me that they don’t have family planning, but rather family ‘planting’ – which got laughs from all of the CHWs. But more on the health issues as we go.

Another major issue is water; there is no water in Payatas, rather people pay to have drums of water trucked in at a dear price. Yet, this is the only option unless the community becomes a member of a private water company and pays a p500 monthly fee for piping in water.

Work Issues:

Now put these prices in context. When asked how much she earns per day, Ate Nanay answered that, after paying scavenging all week, at the end of the week she will have about p100. The scavengers must pay an annual access fee and have an ID card to work in the dump. Then weekly, after gathering the boxes, cartons, bottles, plastic, metal, etc, they must pay p15 to have the dump truck drive them to the junk shop to trade in their goods. This is a monthly income of about 10 Canadian dollars, or p400, per working adult / child (13 is the legal age to start being a scavenger) – so how could these families pay p500 for water supply?

In 2001, 200 houses built too close to the edge of the dump were buried in a sudden landslide during a downpour. People were buried alive. It was declared an emergency and many NGOs and the government came in to assist with a rescue effort, but still hundreds died. It was the media attention that brought the rescue effort, and it is ironic that the neglect and corruption of the government caused the landslide, and then they come in to the ‘rescue’ to look good for the media. The memorial for the landslide victims is the loveliest, most peaceful place in the area; what about the living? What about all those kids playing in the garbage?

Following the landslide there was a brief ban on scavenging on the dumpsite and building houses in close to the mountain of garbage. However, with time things returned to ‘normal’ and now the possibility for a repeat of the disaster is certainly there. However the area residents, and especially the workers don’t want to bring attention to the conditions for fear that the dump will be shut down and they will lose their livelihood.

Scavenger work is very dangerous work. Ate Nanay says she would rather die from working than from hunger. With housing inaccessible, and even rice prices up to p32-40 per kilo, the scavengers are really backed into a corner. When we first met Nanay she had just come from one of the sites where the government distributes subsidized rice. Although she lined up for hours she was not able to buy any, they ran out. She informed us that even when she is able to buy the reduced price (p18 per kilo) rice, she is limited to 3 kilos. Ate Nanay told us she could get 2 meals per kilo of rice – how many meals of plain rice does one weeks work provide?

Ate Nanay has a remarkable ability to laugh and crack jokes about the struggles she faces; she informs us the dump is her ‘great big office’ and her scavengers hook is her ‘great long ball pen’!

Health Issues:

Remember that the major cause of death in children is still preventable communicable diseases and accidents. Imaging living in such cramped quarters, with no sanitation or running water, not being able to wash your hands or have a running shower. Not enough proper food leads to malnutrition, unsanitary conditions lead to diarrhea, which can be life threatening, especially among malnourished children. Malnutrition – diarrhea – severe malnutrition – chronic diarrhea – death.

Tuberculosis is a major health concern in Payatas, as in all poor communities in the Philippines. It is difficult to treat here, as medications are very expensive, and even if the public health unit has enough stock to treat their current caseload, the patients must miss work and travel to the health unit EVERY DAY for their medication. Hence people are taking their medications for only one or two months, until they feel better, rather than their full six month course required to completely cure. This mistreatment leads to antibiotic resistant tuberculosis, which would be disastrous and heart breaking. In order to have proper treatment, these families need not only access to the proper medications, but also compensation for missed work time and adequate housing and nutrition!!

Skin infections are also another major source of morbidity. In the CHD clinic I saw a young baby who had multiple infected carbuncles on his scalp from scratching insect bites with dirty hands. This baby was very ill with the number of large skin infections. It is living in poverty that leads to these disorders. Mariel, the daughter of Ariel, has a cyst on her leg that has steadily worsened over a year, and now requires surgery to remove. It is so frustrating to hear this story! If they had had proper treatment in the province, this family would not have had to leave their work, move into Manila, and live in a dump while awaiting an overpriced surgery for their daughter. Already they have been waiting a month, hoping each day for a text message from the hospital that Mariel can receive her treatment. It is shocking and saddening that people are forced to such ends.

I already mentioned that in Payatas there are 9 babies born every week in Area B. Most of these babies are born at home, primarily with a Hilot, or traditional healer. There are midwives in Payatas, but they charge from p1,500 up to p5,000 for a delivery, and so only those families lucky enough to afford it can have the benefit of formal training and most importantly, western medicine when needed. A Hilot will often deliver for a small fee, and sometimes for a T-Y (Thank You). Recently a mother delivered with a Hilot, and had a postpartum hemorrhage (PPH). The Hilots do not have access to oxytocin or other medications for PPH, and so this young woman bled to death while her husband desperately rushed to the pharmacy for medications. By the time he returned, she was dead. Knowing how quickly a woman can bleed out after a delivery, it is maddening that the DOH does not give Hilots the basic training necessary to administer medications and a birth kit to carry with them!! My brain was turning with ideas for a future project to do some basic emergency birth training with the Hilots and garner some donated medications and small equipments for deliveries!

We were admiring Ariel’s baby son, when he explained that they had 3 children, but his middle baby died when she was 18 months due to a malformed heart / congenital heart defect. They did not have timely diagnosis and no surgery was performed. It was very moving to hear him explain how they were in the province and came into the hospital in Manila, but it was not enough, and she died. We discussed the genetics of heart defects, and I know this is a huge worry for Ariel, as he holds his baby son, wondering what the future holds. I didn’t bring my stethoscope that day, but I sure wished I had it. How could this family raise the money for the diagnostics, let alone any open heart surgery? Mel told me that at the Philippine Heart Centre they only accept 2 charity patients per month, and many are dead by the time their turn arrives. Last year we had a baby in our practice in Vancouver with transposition of the great arteries detected shortly after delivery; within days of birth, the neonatal cardiologists at Children’s Hospital had a detailed complex care plan in place and were discussing how to best approach surgery. While he will have lifelong limitations, this baby had a very high probability of survival.

Back to Payatas! Another health concern I witnessed is that animals are kept in the houses, as there is no other place to keep them. We met one young CHW in training who is also a student nurse. Her family is raising pigs in the house to pay her tuition of p7000 per 6 month semester. The current pig lives in a pen in the rear of the house, next to the sleeping area. Unfortunately, one pig is not enough to pay this tuition, so the money has to be garnered from other sources. Animals are a source of livelihood and food, but also of disease. When children touch the animals and then eat or put their hands in their mouths, this can cause diarrhea and worms. There is just no other option until the plunder of the Philippines by transnational corporations is stopped and the wealth of this rich nation is divided according to need.

The Peoples Response: Training CHWs and Getting Organized

Naturally, there is a response of the people to this situation. There is the KBK, KilosBayan para sa Kalasugan (People’s Movement for Health), a chapter of the Council for Health and Development and the local coalition of community based health programs. They provide basic health services, herbal medicines, and ongoing community health worker training (CHWs). They also participate in the broader campaigns of the health sector, such as the campaign for cheaper medicines, as well as the broader movement activities. If you check out my slide show, you will see the KBK banner flying in the Ka Bel memorial and protest march!

Our time in Payatas was a wonderful experience. We are very thankful to Ate Nanay, Ate Anna, Ariel and all of the Payatas members who were generous with their time and sharing their lives and struggles with us!

Tuloy ang Laban!

Sunday, June 1, 2008

May 30 Manila Update!!

Hello again! Our time in Manila is passing rapidly, and our lofty objectives are perhaps now more reasonable as the realities of life in a massive Third World city are now the realities of our daily lives! It is amazing that we are entering our fourth week here; we have 6 months left and so much to learn and do. I am really starting to feel settled in, knowing where to shop, what places we like to eat out, where to buy the best mangos and pineapples (though sadly Aiyanas has discovered, via whole-body rash, that he is allergic to pineapple), and how to get from place to place on jeepny, bus and train.

I mentioned in our last blog entry that we have been attending the Parangal of Ka Bel in Manila. On Wednesday, Sophia and I attended the funeral procession and protest march from the House of Representatives to the burial site for Ka Bel. It was a shame that Aiyanas was sick, and Billy was too much for me to manage on such a long protest. Sophia was very patient with all the waiting, and great with the marching! After congregating outside the gates of the HOR, enduring a very long wait as the ceremony and ‘necrological services’ dragged on in the HOR, we were finally marching with the massive vehicle caravan following behind us. There were many chants of, ‘Ka Crispin Beltran, Tuloy ang Laban’ (continue the struggle), chants for a minimum wage pay rise that Ka Bel was fighting for, and many other chants in support of workers and peasants.

The crowd was massive. It is difficult to compare with Vancouver geographically / spatially and in terms of numbers. I heard the next day that there were over 300 vehicles in the procession, and these are not cars, but buses, flat bed trucks, and jeepneys that can pack in the people. After an hour of marching, the crowds piled into the caravan and drove for another 5 hours through a winding route to the graveyard. Sophia and I did not join the caravan, but rather caught a jeepny home, as by this time we were on our 7th hour and Sophia was most definitely running out of steam and the sun was baking (my first sunburn, though a pretty minor one thanks to all the umbrellas). The caravan toured through many poor neighbourhoods to give the people a chance to respect this historical leader who was such a champion of their rights. Indeed, people poured out of their stores and homes to chant along with the passing crowd as we were marching; even the little kids raising their fists and chanting “Tuloy ang Laban!”

It was inspiring to participate in this historic event. And imagine, oh Vancouverites, that this massive mobilization happened with one week’s preparation!

On a more personal note, Wednesday night, I killed our first cockroach. Being on the 8th floor in a concrete building, we thought perhaps we were immune; 3 weeks of safety before the dreaded event. And then, arriving home with Sophia after dark on Wednesday, with Aiyanas and Billy in the bedroom and the light off in the kitchen/living room (2 room apartment) – the moment came – I flipped on the fluorescent over the sink and heard a clacking and scuttling and there the giant beast was! It was at least 2.5 inches long, and rustled as it moved. I tell you, the neighbours must have though an axe murderer was let loose in our apartment, because by this time Sophia, Billy and I were all screaming. I wasn’t sure how to kill it, and I was terrified! I grabbed a newspaper, but knew this wasn’t going to do the trick, so Sophia grabbed Aiyanas’ shoe; I knocked it to the flood, put the paper on the roach and then smashed it with the shoe. It made a sickening cracking noise! At least I had my wits about me to save Aiyanas’ shoe from the copious amounts of roach guts that were spread on the newspaper.

Carrying on with a busy schedule, Thursday I toured 5 public, semi-private, and completely private hospitals. It was painfully obvious how disparate the private is from the fully public. This truly warrants a blog entry all of its own, and will work on this in the days to come – perhaps an article, instead? I have been hoping to write for a few publications on the impacts of neoliberal economics on health and the people’s response.

I know Aiyanas has written a great entry on transportation in Manila, but I wanted to add my experience of commuting. On Thursday we travelled to the hospitals by walking, jeepneys and buses. We spent almost one hour travelling from the CHD office to the first hospital we toured; we took 2 jeepneys, which travelled winding and convoluted routes, and then finally one bus. We paid a total of p25 each for the trip. When I got home I looked at it on the map, and saw that I could have walked it in less time, except that with the sun, the humidity, and the pollution, walking is completely exhausting! Our family often walks to and from the CHD office, or grocery shopping, etc, though people are often surprised to hear this. With four of us, the costs for transportation add up quickly. If you read my ‘National Situation’ blog, perhaps you remember that accidents are the second leading cause of death in children. Certainly the high cost of transportation, or lack of transportation, greatly contributes. The family motorcycle is a common sight, with the entire family, even little babies, riding all piled on one motorcycle. Every time I see this I remember when I was a volunteer at McMaster Hospital, and worked with an 8 year old boy who fell off a motorcycle with his dad when he was just 18 months old, massive head trauma, very sad.

Today Aiyanas and I had our sharing with the staff of CHD. It was good to have the chance to outline our work in Vancouver, our struggles and successes, our plans for Vancouver organizing and what we hope to accomplish upon our return in terms of ongoing solidarity.

This is already very long! More soon.

Transportation in the Philippines

The rising price of gas has created a crisis in transportation here in Manila. In some ways this crisis parallels the situation in Vancouver as the rising cost of transportation swallows even more of the income of working class people, tightening already tight budgets and pushing those at the margins towards poverty.

However there is an added dimension here in the Manila that arises from the reality of a very low rate of private car ownership, and thus reliance on various forms ‘mass’ transport. This mass transport system is almost entirely privately owned and operated, and even the light rail system, which is owned by the government, is run based on a market, user-pay logic.

Manila’s transportation system has been held up by some neoliberal transportation commentators as a model of free market transportation, with the “invisible hand” creating an amazing transportation network amid chaos. Indeed from a birds-eye view the network of jeepny, pedicabs (motorized and non-motorized tricycles), diesel buses, and taxis connecting to the several jam-packed light rail lines has a certain poetry to it.

The reality on the ground is anything but poetic. Take the romantic jeepny, the poster child of Manila transport. These transportation workhorses can pack in 12 – 18 passengers along two benches with two or more people sitting up front with the driver, all in a vehicle about the size of a small mini-van. Windows are open so that passengers and driver are exposed to all the pollution of the congested Manila streets. That means clouds of exhaust billow in as you sit and wait at a clogged and chaotic intersection.

While the fare is low (starting at 8.00 Philippine pisos) the short, convoluted routes mean frequent transfers, each one with a new fare. That’s because each jeepny is owner operated so there is no planning of the system, and each driver needs to choose a route where they can maximize the fares for each run.

The drivers’ work all day in the blazing sun, calculating fares and giving change as the fares are passed up hand along the row of passengers. And although the minimum fare is regulated the drivers are lucky if they make 150.00 – 200.00 pisos (about $5) per day once fuel and maintenance costs for vehicles are factored in.

Meanwhile, those who do not own a car and rely on these forms of transportation, basically the entire working class and a significant proportion of the middle class, end up paying a significant proportion of their income on transportation. One of the organizers at the NGO we are working with here in the Philippines, spends 100 pisos on her daily commute. In a context where about 30% of the population subsists on less than $1 (42 pisos) per day and the take home pay of a nurse is as little as 8,000 per month, that kind of expenditure for transportation is significant and prohibitive.

With the rapid increase in gas prices there has been a great debate on how best to deal with the rising costs for the tens of thousands of owner-operators in the transportation sector. The government, which regulates fares, has characterized this as a balance between the needs of transportation workers and the needs of the ‘transportation’ consumer.

This shell game is possible because of the privatized nature of the transportation sector, and the minimal role of role of the government in providing for this necessary public service. As one organizer put it to me, it’s really everyone (drivers and riders) against the oil companies, who have continued to post huge monopoly profits right through the ‘crisis’.

Recognizing this underlying class struggle, PISTON, a progressive union of jeepny drivers has called for the elimination of the Value Added Tax (VAT) on fuel and for the government to regulate oil prices instead of a fare increase. Last week PISTON staged a one day strike, with the support of BAYAN, the broad alliance of progressive forces, which stopped traffic at key intersections in Manila and other cities. Unfortunately the strike did not have the impact it might have because other transportation unions, which had originally intended to participate, pulled out at the last minute cowed by police intimidation and red-baiting.

Nonetheless more struggles can be expected in this area, unless gas prices spontaneously free fall, which seems highly unlikely. The government policy of small fare increases is unlikely to placate either drivers or passengers, neither of whom can afford this kind of squeeze on their income. Meanwhile, actions like the one taken by PISTON will continue to highlight that there is no neoliberal ‘market’ solution to the crisis and point the finger at the government’s priorities of pleasing foreign investors and financing a repressive counter-insurgency rather than meeting people’s basic needs.

The Rural Dimension

The impact of high fuel costs is also felt in the countryside, but here there is an added dimension. In the name of achieving energy self-sufficiency the Department of Energy is phasing in a 10% mandatory biofuel content. The requirement is a boon to the sugar industry which is the main source of biofuel here, but anything but a boon for poor farmers living in sugar producing regions.

With limited market for Philippine sugar in recent years sugar producing areas like the island of Negros had seen some limited land redistribution under the (misnamed) Comprehensive Agricultural Reform Program (CARP). While the CARP was vastly inadequate, it did allow for some small farmers to secure a piece of land, albeit with considerable debt. Now with the reinvigorated domestic market for sugar as biofuel, the big plantation owners are once again reconsolidating farms, using the leverage of debt, as well as an amenable military, to absorb the smaller farms. Meanwhile the farmers and their families are forced back into a long standing semi-feudal relationship of dependence on the local big landlords.