The Sunday Times The truth will set us free T


HE truth is supposed to set us free, if it is allowed to come out of the darkness into the light of knowledge. It will free us from ig- norance, free us to see the reali- ties of goodness and of evil around us that has plunged the nation into crises. The truth will empower us to overcome evil and prevent it from recurring. It will enable us to judge the morality and legality of the decisions and actions of those who have power and authority over us. It is the win- dow of transparency that will hold all in positions of authority; in families, society or the church, accountable for their decisions and actions. It will guide us to know what is right and wrong, true and false, and good and bad. The exposure of the truth will guide society to act with determi-


nation, be filled with moral cour- age to see justice, decency and in- tegrity live in the land. The truth will give us courage to overcome wickedness, corruption and crimi- nal behavior. The evil will be seen in the blinding light of what real- ity is. We will know what happened and how and why it was allowed to grow as a cancer in the society and then justice may be possible. But when it is buried in the darkness of unknowing, then all forms of evil will triumph over good. Closing doors to the truth can lead to the gross violation of the rule of law and brings oppres- sion, murders and outrageous crimes. The politicians that can hide behind the curtain of re- pressed truth delights in impu- nity and brings disaster and un- told suffering on the people.


FR. SHAY CULLEN


All who have suffered from in- justice and hardship desire with all their heart to see the wrong- doers brought to justice. They hunger and thirst for the truth to reveal the evil acts of the rulers that have hurt others in the past years by their greed and avarice and an arrogant belief in their superiority and entitlement as the supreme rulers of the nation. The President’s Executive Or- der No.1 to set up a “Truth Com-


What unites us I


T is ironic that for those look ing for a cassus belli to pit the people of President Benigno “Pnoy” Aquino 3rd against each other, it is the peace process that would provide it. Alexander Padilla, chairman of


the government peace panel, after meeting in Hong Kong Luis Jalandoni, chief negotiator of the communist-led National Demo- cratic Front of the Philippines (NDF), had announced, “a Christ- mas suspension of offensive mili- tary operations will be observed from December 16, traditionally the beginning of Simbang Gabi or Misa de Gallo up to and until mid- night of January 3, 2011, or a total duration of 18 full days, the long- est cease-fire period agreed upon the last 10 years.” The following day, the Presi-


dent’s adviser on the peace proc- ess was reported to have acknowl- edged that the duration of the ceasefire ran closer to 19 days than the “18 full days” that Padilla had announced (and the Inquirer had bannered). Who ap- praised her of the discrepancy? Did she discover it herself. Appar- ently, someone missed the fact that December has 31 days. In any case, Secretary Deles said, “I suspect, when the chair


BENJAMIN G. DEFENSOR


[Padilla] made the statement, he did a plus-minus of the dates and got it wrong,” Deles said in a text message to the Inquirer. This opens up a nit-pickers paradise. The Inquirer said the cease-fire was to take effect from 12:01 a.m. of December 16 to 11:59 of Janu- ary 3. Does it end at noon or mid- night? If at noon, it is nearer 19 days. If at midnight, it is 19 days. We all know what it is all about. Let us just go with the wish of the season: Peace . . . to men of good- will. For it would seem that this year’s Yuletide season has been abbreviated because of the litur- gical calendar. But it only seems that way. Commercially, of course, it could start as early as June. Preparations for the Christmas season, for Catholics anyway, opens on the first Sunday of Ad- vent which, this year, was on No-


»news analysis


FM: N.Korea committed to ‘army first’ policy and reliance on nukes


BY MARIA ANTONOVA


MOSCOW: North Korea vowed to push ahead with its “army first” policy and rely on nuclear weapons to defend itself from the joint forces of South Korea and the United States. But the bellicose language of


Foreign Minister Pak Ui-Chun was immediately followed by the announcement that he would travel to Russia beginning today, Sunday December 12, up to December 15. This was an apparent bid to negotiate a peaceful end to the nuclear crisis. The reclusive state’s chief


diplomat told Russia’s Interfax news agency that he would pay a rare visit to Moscow on December 12 to 15 to discuss “bilateral relations and key international problems.” But he stressed in comments from


Pyongyang that his country would respond to any pressure with force, and that it would rely on nuclear weapons for deterrence.


North Korea is “assured of the


rectitude of our choice of the songun (army first) policy, and in strengthening a defense that relies on nuclear forces for deterrence,” said Pak. His comments came amid a flurry of behind-the-scenes diplomatic activity aimed at calming tensions that escalated further with the Stalinist state’s November 23 shelling of a South Korean island in the Yellow Sea.


China—which has failed to


condemn the attack despite strong US pressure—sent senior foreign affairs official Dai Bingguo to Pyongyang to meet leader Kim Jong-Il. Chinese news reports said the


two sides had reached a “consensus” on the peninsula but provided no further details. US Deputy Secretary of State


James Steinberg is also scheduled to visit Beijing next week in a bid to press the Chinese to take stronger action.


FARM’s views on CCT do not reflect FIAN’s


FIAN Phils. Inc., on The Manila Times report on Monday, 15 No- vember, “Group hits CCT for Luisita farm workers,” by James Konstantin Galvez.


IT has come to our attention that an article, “Group hits CCT for Luisita farm workers” by James Konstantin Galvez, was published in the Nov. 15, 2010 issue of The Manila Times and also on The Manila Times web site. The article said Foodfirst In- formation Action Network-Phil-


Unlike Beijing, Moscow has lost much of its influence on Pyongyang since the Soviet era. As a consequence, it has also been


far more critical of the Stalinist state, with which it does not even have a functioning rail link. Moscow has repeatedly urged


North Korea to rejoin the six-party peace process with South Korea, China, the United States, Japan and Russia, refusing to back Pyongyang’s demand for direct negotiations with Washington. And Moscow repeated that message on Friday in a sign of what is to come in the Pak-Lavrov talks. “We need to think about creating


conditions to restart talks between the six parties,” Grigory Logvinov, said Russia’s deputy pointman on North Korea, told Interfax. “The atmosphere in the region is


in a heated state,” Logvinov said in comments released moments after Pak’s threat. “The main thing is to take steps to release the tension. All sides


must avoid taking any actions that can escalate the situation,” the Russian diplomat added. North Korea’s Pak said Pyongyang


was always ready to negotiate. “Even in the atmosphere of the


escalated situation, we have expressed support of resuming the six-party negotiation process,” he said.


Some analysts suggested that


North Korea was turning to its former Communist provider as an act of desperation and because it was running out of other options. “The visit of the North Korean


minister to Moscow is a symbolic event. Russia is not the main actor in settling the Korean conflict, but no one else is able to do anything,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs. “North Korea does not perceive Russia as part of the hostile West, nor does it fear it like China. Russian diplomacy has the chance to play a positive role, relieve tension, quell passions, so that the sides stop looking at each other through their gun sights.” Russia last played a major role in the crisis in 2001, when Kim Jong-Il famously took a train across the country from Kremlin talks with then President Vladimir Putin.


Send comments to opinion@manilatimes.net or write to the Opinion Editor, The Manila Times, 371 A. Bonifacio Drive, Port Area, Manila


ippines (FIAN Philippines) had recommended the inclusion of families in Hacienda Luisita in the government’s Condi- tional Cash Transfer (CCT) Program. The PAMALAKAYA fisherfolk group criticized the “recommendation” as “insane and patently stupid.” There was indeed a study commissioned by FIAN Philip- pines on the plight of farmers in Hacienda Luisita. This was


conducted by Mr. Danny Carranza of Katarungan and Kate Briola of FIAN Philip- pines in October in Hacienda Luisita, Tarlac. This was under- taken pursuant to the thrust of FIAN to support the right to adequate food. However, the findings and recommenda- tions stated in the study are still for the consideration and approval by FIAN. The views expressed by the


Luisita farmers and farm workers with respect to the inclusion of their families in the government’s CCT program, are the views of FARM (Farm Workers Agrarian Reform Movement), not of FIAN’s. May we put it on record that FARM’s views of the CCT do not reflect the posi- tion of FIAN on the matter.


Aurea G. Miclat-Teves President


FIAN Philippines Aurea Miclat-Teves Project Develop- ment Institute (PDI) Office Address: 91 Madasalin Street, Sikatuna Vil- lage, Quezon City Tel. No.: (02) 351-7553 Fax No.: (02) 436-3593 website:www.projectdevelopment institute.org cell 0918-9093044


vember 28. The regular Christmas season starts on Christmas Eve and runs until the Sunday after Epiphany when the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is celebrated. When in places where Epiphany is celebrated on January 6, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is on the Sunday following it. All these is important for those


who want to know until when may Christmas gifts be given or received or to businesses that cater to the needs of Christmas. I f Christmas giving ends on Epiphany or the Feast of the Three Kings, the season is radically short- ened this year. Epiphany is on the Sunday after New Year’s Day. But if it ends on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, gift-giving for Christmas, will be up to January 9. One may give gifts at anytime, for all sorts of occasions. But Christmas gifts have a special value, that is why givers have become “technical” about Christmas gifts. Christmas bonuses for workers used to be considered gifts. After all a “bonus” is something given over and above what is necessary. When government gave Christmas bonuses the force of law, it became the 13th-month pay. So now, bo- nuses, continue to be awarded over and above the 13th-month


pay which is required by law. That is why we have all sorts of bonuses to justify “gifts” out- side the Yuletide season. But there are other bonuses in the offing. Among others, despite the to-do over the cease-fire pe- riod, the resumption of the peace talks with the NDF appears to be assured next year. Congress ap- pears to be on the way to concur- ring with the President’s amnesty proposal for mutinous and rebel soldiers. What is more, Secretary of Labor Rosalinda Baldoz’s han- dling of the critical labor situa- tion at Philippine Airlines ap- pears to have the support of Malacañang. A strike at the Phil- ippine flag carrier could be a so- lution worse than the problem all around. It could engender a hefty bundle of problems that could wreak havoc on the nation’s oth- erwise recovering economy. On these troubled times, let the spirit of the season, joy and peace, fill the air. Let us, even for just a little while, do what one United States president once said in a similar situation, “let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems that divide us.”


opinion@manilatimes.net


mission,” sought to uncover the alleged corruption of the previ- ous administration, was perhaps inspired by the Truth commis- sion set up in South Africa after the fall of the apartheid govern- ment which helped to bring out the truth about the torture, bru- tality and the murder committed by the elite regime. The Philippine Truth Com- mission, created by executive order of President Aquino soon after his election and assump- tion of power, was to look into the alleged corrupt practices and scandals of the previous administration. It has been de- clared unconstitutional by a majority of the Supreme Court justices appointed by the former President Gloria Arroyo. It cannot be overturned unless


the court reverses itself no mat- ter how angry is the nation. The Justices can be given the benefit of any doubt that they acted according to their conscience and belief in their correct interpre- tation of the Constitution and that the Truth Commission would be unfair and unjust to the accused. Other say they were faithful and honest to their debt of honor, their “utang na loob,” considered a great virtue in Philippine soci- ety. But Filipinos ask if there is not a greater debt of honor to the Filipino people. Some ask if the oath of office is to rule in favor of the greater good, the true rule of morality and to allow the truth to shine out.


Those politicians accused and suspected of corruption who have such power and influence to block


THE SCENE


Phones are a feminist issue in Bangladesh


BY CAT BARTON AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE


DHAKA: Dressed in a colorful sari, clutching boxes of herbal tea in one hand and a battered old Nokia mobile phone in the other, Monowara Talukder doesn’t look like the average business executive. But in just six years, Talukder has built an international herbal tea empire in Bangla- desh that employs 1,500 female farmers, wins orders from ma- jor Western health food chains, and has a turnover of 44 mil- lion taka ($625,000). She was among the first peo- ple to sign up for a mobile phone when they arrived in the country in 1997. The costs were high, but the 48-year-old mother of four says she has never regretted the investment. “My mobile phone has helped so much with the busi- ness—it is absolutely crucial for distribution and marketing,” Talukder told Agence France- Presse over a cup of her signa- ture Tulsi, or Holy Basil, tea in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka. “I don’t have an office or


showroom so people just ring me on the mobile to place or- ders. I now have my products in all 64 districts of Bangladesh and get orders from buyers in Australia, Kuwait and Nepal.” She proudly shows off text messages from an Australian company which has just placed a major order for tea bags. “I went to a green trade fair in September and put up post- ers with my mobile phone number on. Now I am getting all these orders from overseas,” she said.


But not all women are as lucky


as Talukder. The telecoms indus- try body GSMA says a woman liv- ing in South Asia is 37-percent less likely than a man to own a mobile phone—the world’s worst telecoms “gender gap.” Traditional attitudes, which mean the first phone in a house- hold will often go to the hus- band with the second going to the eldest son, were identified as one part of the problem. In a bid to tackle the inequal-


ity, Mwomen—a new project backed by US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Cherie Blair, wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair—was launched in October. Mwomen aims to get mo- bile phones to some 150 mil- lion women globally within three years through public- private partnerships.


The project has attracted backing from at least 20 ma-


jor mobile phone compa- nies, including giants Nokia and Vodafone. “Closing the mobile phone gender gap in South Asia repre- sents a $3.6-billion market op- portunity for the mobile indus- try,” Trina DasGupta of the GSMA told Agence France-Presse. “And a 10-percent increase in mobile phone penetration rates is linked to an increase in GDP of 1.2 percent in low to middle income countries.”


Another project in Bangla- desh is the “village phone” by Grameen Phone, the telecoms wing of Nobel Prize-winning Grameen Bank.


Grameen created “village phone ladies” by giving poor rural women loans to buy a mobile phone. Each woman then charges others in her vil- lage to use the phone, giving her a small income and putting the community on the tel- ephone network. At least 364,000 women have joined the scheme since it began in 1997, although cheaper hand- sets and a fall in calling costs may soon make the model outdated. One Mwomen partner, Bang- lalink, the country’s second largest mobile phone company, said Mwomen’s approach worked because it combined development objectives with profit-making. “The gender gap is an oppor- tunity for us, commercially. We were the first people to actually target women with specific cam- paigns,” Irum Iqbal, head of communication at Banglalink, told Agence France-Presse. In 2005, the company launched a calling plan called “Ladies First” followed by a separate ad- vertising campaign featuring a young, female journalist who gets her big break thanks to a tip she receives on her mobile. “It is obviously just good busi- ness sense for us and has been our communication strategy since the beginning,” Iqbal said. For tea entrepreneur Mono-


wara Talukder, the benefits of a mobile phone are now spread- ing to the female farmers she employs in her native Gai- bandha district in the coun- try’s north, one of the poorest parts of Bangladesh. “I’m really proud as about


1,200 of them have been able to buy mobile phones because of growing Tulsi,” she said. “They now use their phones to get better harvests. They can call an information hot- line on crops, call me to re- port any problems with har- vests. It has really transformed everything for them.”


Global view


the normal course of investiga- tion, revelation and prosecution deserved such a truth commission to clear their names. Thus, the in- nocent will be proven to be so and the guilty, if any, will be brought to justice in a court of law. There is nothing to prevent the


nongovernment organizations and advocates of human rights from setting up a citizen’s fact- finding tribunal and to bring out the truth and for the media to report it. The Department of Jus- tice can then act on the evidence and the truth revealed and brings charges as the evidence de- mands. The wall of impunity from investigation and prosecu- tion must be torn down. The truth must be revealed.


preda@info.com.ph


SUNDAY


D e cember 12, 2010


A 5


opinion


ONE MAN’S MEAT


REFLECTIONS


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