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Warriors of grace and steel: The women in the peace panel

April 8, 2014April 8, 2014 Ed Lingao Leave a comment

THE NAYSAYERS said they couldn’t do it, but in the end, the women negotiators in the peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) showed that they had what some of their male counterparts didn’t – grace and steel.

Peace advocates and civil society organizations on Tuesday paid tribute to the women who fought for peace – and won it – in a forum on The Women at the Peace Table at the Ateneo de Manila University. The forum highlights the role played by women in an arena long controlled and dominated by men – conflict, and conflict resolution.

The job certainly did not come easy for Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, head of the government peace panel that clinched the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro with the MILF last March 27. Ferrer, appointed by President Benigno S. Aquino III in December 2012 as panel chairperson, had to confront doubts not just from her counterparts in the MILF, but also from within.

Director Ilona Gracia Jalijali, head of the government peace panel secretariat, recalled how the MILF panel appeared to have “a problem” with Ferrer’s appointment at the start. However, the MILF panel indicated to the Palace that they would respect the President’s decision to appoint Ferrer. Both panels would eventually recognize the importance of earning that respect during the tough negotiations that lay ahead.

Jalijali praised the MILF for “their willingness, even though they were uncomfortable with the prospect of having a woman as a chairperson (of the government panel), their willingness to accept it and to adjust to it.”

“We knew that they (MILF) had a problem with it internally, but they found a way to communicate to Malacanang that they would respect the choice of the President whether she is a woman or not. That was a kind of professionalism, a willingness to open yourself up to goodwill and good faith negotiations,” Jalijali said.

Ferrer proved to be a tough negotiator, with the aggressiveness to push when needed, and the grace to pull back when necessary. Ironically, Ferrer indicates that it was she who had to push her male colleagues in the panel to be more aggressive.

Government peace panel member Senen Bacani, for example, was described as the “coolest” in the group. Bacani relates that sometimes, he would have to remind Ferrer of the need to soften her position. During one heated round of negotiations, Ferrer recalls, she felt Bacani tapping her under the table to urge her to soften up.

“We needed our men to also be more aggressive than (they have been),” Ferrer said, drawing cheers from the forum participants.

Ferrer said the presence of women in the government negotiating panel was part of “an opening up process” that showed both panels the need to have a broader view of gender and women’s issues.

“This is one of the opening up processes,” Ferrer said. “At the end of it, I would say that they now have a better appreciation of what we have been trying to put forward in terms of women’s issues and gender issues, but with all the sensitivities, all the cultural and religious sensitivities.”

Peace Process adviser Teresita ‘Ging’ Deles however said this does not mean that the gender barrier had already been broken – more likely, it was the women who had the perseverance, determination, attention to detail, and persistence to get things done. In the long history of the quest for peace, Deles said she noticed how it was always the women in civil society who held the course steadily while the men came and went. It was a kind of dedication that bore fruit last March 27 when government and the MILF signed the peace deal.

Deles pointed out that since the fall of Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, the issue of peace had become “a very seasonal issue.”

“When there is a problem, people would come to the meetings. When it is quiet, they do not come,” she said. All throughout this time, Deles said three women held the fort – Risa Hontiveros, Karen Tanada, and herself.

“That is how, in the peace movement, the women became the mainstays. It is a cause where you have to be there in good times or bad. You do the housework of the peace movement, you do the leadership. In the beginning, women were not so confident about issues on security. But since we were always there, we stood up and took on the role,” Deles said.

Undersecretary Zenonida Brosas, head of the technical working group on normalization, relates how the women members of the panel had to work with a conservative rebel group dominated by men. For example, Brosas related how they were nervous at the start when they were tasked to engage MILF senior and battle-hardened commanders in the discussion on normalization. Normalization is the process of having rebel groups lay down their guns and embrace a peaceful process.

In the end, the women found common ground with the warriors by talking about family and home. These were issues that everyone could relate to, whether warrior or peacemaker. After all, family and home had to be the only real reasons why people go to war in the first place.

But the female panel members had just as much difficulty with their own side, with the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines. “These are all men who are used to the chain of command,” one panel officer said. “You need to have a lot of grace and steel to keep them on the line.”

But there were light moments too to highlight the intricacies of the gender issue in the peace talks. When both the government and the MILF finally agreed on the wording of the peace agreement, Ferrer went up to MILF negotiating panel chairman Mohagher Iqbal and asked him: “No hug?”

“After (that agreement), Iye (Ferrer) offered Chairman Iqbal: No hug?” related Jalijali to the cheers of the forum participants.

“That is how you see that things have progressed,” Jalijali said. “Because now I think he is comfortable hugging.” This last remark drew loud applause from the audience. However, it is still unclear if Iqbal agreed to a hug from Ferrer.

By the last leg of the peace negotiations, however, it appeared clear that things were also changing from the side of the MILF.

Jalijali said it came to a point when the MILF started bringing in an alternate MILF panel negotiator who is also a woman. “In the previous tables with the MNLF and in the beginning with the MILF, you don’t see women in their group. But they were able to bring in women, and you can see they also respect women, and the important role that they contribute,” Jalijali said.

After the forum, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process also launched the magazine Kababaihan at Kapayapaan, a bi-annual magazine on the role of women in the peace process. The magazine, edited by Paulynn Paredes Sicam, will highlight the role of women as peacebuilders, not just in negotiations, but in the field where peace matters the most.

DATA A DAY: Gifts during holidays

February 19, 2014February 19, 2014 Ed Lingao Leave a comment

THE HOLIDAYS are over (even Valentines, if you wish to consider that one), but there’s a touchy question for Filipinos who simply love to give and receive goodies: When may public officials receive gifts?

Public officials, of course, are supposed to insulate themselves from the monetary or financial influences of any sector. This way, they would focus only on delivering services to the majority who do not have any financial or economic clout. This way too, their decisions or recommendations are not swayed by such considerations.

But what about those holidays that Filipinos simply love? May public officials receive gifts during the Christmas season? If they are, is there a limit to the value of the gifts?

For today’s Data a Day:

TRUE OR FALSE: Public officials may receive gifts on holidays in the course of performing their duties.

For the answer to that question, just visit the Data a Day website, or go to the PCIJ’s MoneyPolitics online site.

‘Democracy’ or mob rule? Thai TV, media caught in crossfire

December 3, 2013December 3, 2013 mcmangahas Leave a comment

“DEMOCRACY” has become a much debated and misunderstood word these days in Thailand.

Nearly all partisans and parties — “yellow shirts”, “red shirts”, the Army, the police, the business chambers, the academics, and the diplomats — declare it as their cause celebre. They digress, however, on what it means, and for what ends they claim it.

Street battles in Bangkok since last Saturday between police forces and anti-government rallyists have so far killed four persons and injured about a hundred.

On one side are the “yellow shirts” led by former deputy prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban, subject of an arrest warrant for his role in the police crackdown that killed 91 “red shirts” in 2010. Suthep, former prime minister Abhisit, and their fellow Democrat Party members had resigned their posts in parliament ahead of the rallies that started 33 days ago.

Suthep and his “People’s Democratic Reform Committee” had issued a 48-hour ultimatum ending today for Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to step down and dissolve Parliament so his “People’s Council” of handpicked “good” leaders could take over and later conduct direct elections.

Suthep has directed the rallyists to seize control of government offices and exhorted civil servants not to report for work. Today, Tuesday, he said the “yellow shirts” will complete their takeover of the Government House (office of the prime minister), the Parliament, and the Metropolitan Police Bureau.

Suthep’s declared ultimate goal: “to rid Thailand of the Thaksin regime” and install a “perfect democracy” under an “ideal” constitutional monarchy.

Yingluck is, of course, the younger sister of former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who had been sentenced by the courts to serve time in jail for corruption. He is, however, on exile in some undisclosed location but is accused by the yellow shirts to be the power behind his kid sister’s government.

On the other side are the “red shirts” led by the Pheu Thai party aligned with Yingluck and Thaksin that commands numerical majority in Parliament. Thaksin is seen to be the chief beneficiary of an amnesty bill that Yingluck had pushed Parliament to pass, but which the lawmakers eventually voted down, on account of the “yellow shirts” rallies.

Press reports say it was Thaksin’s idea to marshall about 70,000 “red shirts” to troop to Bangkok for a pro-government rally on Saturday at a sports stadium, stoking the fires of tension even more. On Sunday though, after the street skirmishes had started, the “red shirts” ended their rally.

Caught in the crossfire of this confusing discourse on “democracy” are six free-to-air television stations where Suthep’s forces had mounted rallies and compelled network managers to follow their wishes: broadcast Suthep’s statements and news about the protest rallies BUT deny air time to the statements of Yingluck and news from the government.

The leading English-language newspapers of Thailand — The Bangkok Post and The Nation — offer fresh, incisive perspectives on the situation.

Stay informed, read on.

PDRC shows its ugly side
Editorial of The Bangkok Post, 3 Dec 2013

THE SERIAL assaults on Sunday by the misnamed People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) on broadcasters was a direct threat to freedom of the press.

The group led and sponsored intimidating visits to all the major TV stations. Accompanied in each case by groups of supporters, PDRC leaders demanded the broadcasters cease their programmes and carry only the propaganda of Blue Sky TV, the Democrat Party’s station and mouthpiece for the current anti-government movement.

These visits and demands were unwelcome and unacceptable. They recall the mob of red-shirt thugs who assaulted and disrupted this newspaper and other media outlets in the last days of the May 2010 violence.

The attempts on Sunday to intimidate broadcasters showed the very ugliest side of the group led by the politician Suthep Thaugsuban. Attempts to censor TV news coverage have no place in society, especially not when backed by physical threats from mobs.

Let us be clear on the PDRC’s stance.

The group did not demand balanced media coverage. It did not raise the obvious and valid point that TV broadcasters bow too frequently and too timidly to government demands. It did not ask for a fair hearing by the top TV stations. All of the above, and more, are legitimate complaints about TV news and broadcasting in general, which is often unprofessional in its coverage.
The mob visitors, however, demanded that the stations air only their statements, programmes and speeches.

The unmistakable if unstated end to the demand was “or else”, backed by force of numbers. Worse, four of the six threatened programming executives bowed to it.

Channels 3, 5, 7 and Thai PBS spliced into Blue Sky TV’s protest coverage, to carry a speech by Mr Suthep from beginning to end, exactly as the PDRC had ordered. At Channel 9, producers carried the Blue Sky feed for 10 minutes, then cut away and resumed scheduled programming.

Only Channel 11 refused to alter its schedule for the PDRC leader’s speech. Earlier in the day, Channel 11 received a visit from the former Democrat MP Thaworn Senneam, now a leading member of the PDRC. Backed by a mob of hundreds, he told officials they must carry the afternoon speech of Mr Suthep — and apparently thought he had intimidated the Channel 11 staff. But Channel 11 resisted and continued with its normal broadcasting.

Unfortunately, its refusal to concede to the PDRC demand was not because it values press freedom, but because Channel 11 is a government mouthpiece. It is not where you go for fair coverage. Yet the PDRC’s “visit” and threats to Channel 11 are unacceptable.

For the past two months, virtually every party and person with a stake in Thai politics has proudly claimed to represent true “democracy”. There may be plenty of room for discussion on what it entails. One thing, however, is clear. No country, no regime, no loyal opposition is democratic if it demands or supports attacks on freedom of the press. No society can claim to be democratic unless it has a free press.

The PDRC cannot claim to be democratic while also trying to control the media. A democratic nation has a wide variety of media. In no way is the coverage on Blue Sky TV superior. Freedom of the press is the most reliable way to keep the nation informed.

Related editorial:
Protest claims its first deaths, The Bangkok Post Editorial, 2 Dec 2013

Democracy or mob rule?
Editorial of The Nation, December 3, 2013

SUTHEP Thaugsuban’s goal of a “people’s assembly” under the monarchy undermines our democratic foundations
A bad democracy, according to Aristotle, is a democracy true to its name, where the demos (people) exercise the kratos (power). A good democracy, the Greek philosopher said, comes as close as possible to the ideal regime of the politeia (politics), and contrives to distance the people.

In other words, when people exercise power without a clear political platform, the result tends to be chaos and anarchy. Thus any political community needs a clear platform through which “people power” is harnessed and ordered.

The protest led by seasoned politician Suthep Thaugsuban has once again exercised “people power” in street battles. Until he has a clear platform for what he calls “perfect democracy”, this country will remain in turmoil.

Protest is a powerful and effective way for people to express their will in a democratic system, but it quickly becomes dangerous when used as an instrument to change
an elected government.

It is a sign of a healthy democracy to see people on the streets expressing their demands, but there is no point in them seizing and occupying state buildings and government offices. Such a move might partially paralyse the Yingluck administration, but it could also paralyse the country’s wider operations too.

Under the prevailing democratic norm, Thailand has clear rules governing a change in leaders. The government has the power to dissolve Parliament and call a new election. Then, any opposition with a strong enough policy platform has the chance of winning and forming a new government. Or the courts can rule a government guilty of wrongdoing and order it to step down, paving the way for a fresh election.

In contrast, Suthep’s goal — a “people’s assembly” that will ensure “perfect democracy” under the monarchy — seems undemocratic.

Though the term itself might sound democratic, it is in fact problematic. Suthep has suggested that the people’s assembly be selected by a committee. But who would have the power to appoint its members — and by what authority?

The protesters, even if they numbered in the millions, could never be an authentic source of authority, never mind the sovereign power in the nation. The fact is that no single group of protesters could ever accurately represent the will of our 65-million-strong population. There might be, let’s say, a few million who agree with Suthep’s campaign, but what about the rest? How would a “people’s assembly” treat them? How would it accommodate their will and demands?

The democracy that this country understands and aspires to is premised on a universal agreement not only about its ends, but also about its means, meaning and values. In a good democracy, the means justify the ends, not the other way around.

Maguindanao Year 4: PCIJ docus on media murders in campus tour

November 21, 2013November 21, 2013 Ed Lingao Leave a comment

IN COMMEMORATION of the fourth anniversary of the Ampatuan massacre, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), together with other media organizations such as the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists (FFFJ) and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), has been holding a series of documentary screenings in various colleges and universities.

On November 15, the PCIJ partnered with the Journalism Club of the University of the Philippines – Diliman for the first leg of the campus roadshow. About forty to fifty students – a mix of freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors – attended the activity, which showcased the PCIJ documentary “Angkan Inc.”. The documentary features the clans of Maguindanao and the dynamics of history, culture, tradition, and politics in the province that gave rise to influential political families such as the Ampatuan clan, whose patriarch has been tagged as the mastermind in the 2009 Maguindanao Massacre where 58 people, including 32 journalists, were murdered.

The Angkan, Inc. documentary was produced by the PCIJ with assistance from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The second leg of the campus roadshow was held at the Centro Escolar University last November 18, where about a hundred Mass Communication students attended. PCIJ Multimedia Director Ed Lingao served as the main speaker for the activity. He presented PCIJ documentaries on media killings and the culture of impunity. Among the cases discussed were the killings of Marlyn Esperat, the first journalist to expose the P700 million fertilizer fund scam where former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was implicated, and Palawan environmental broadcaster Gerry Ortega.

The third leg was held at the University of the Philippines – Los Banos last November 19. The documentary showing and discussion were attended not only by UPLB students, but also by high school and college students from nearby towns and cities. With theme,”Clan Feuds and the Press: Maguindanao Massacre Four Years After” , the forum featured the Angkan Inc. documentary and discussions from FFFJ Legal Counsel Atty. Prima Jesusa Quinsayas and Ed Lingao.

Yolanda: More sad, bad numbers

November 11, 2013November 11, 2013 mcmangahas Leave a comment

THE NUMBERS of the dead and the missing keep rising, yet the scale and severity of the catastrophe that super typhoon Yolanda exacted in 41 or over half of the Philippines’ 80 provinces have yet to unravel.

Official sources on ground are counting casualty figures by the tens of thousands, even as relief and rescue teams have yet to reach many villages that to this day are without power, water, and communication lines. The absolute figures — incomparably dreadful for sure — are hard to come by, and yet the disaster and emergency assistance that must be addressed posthaste is sure to be incredibly massive and difficult.

In its latest situational report as of Sunday, Nov. 10, 7 pm, the National Disaster Relief and Risk Management Council (NDRRMC) revealed more devastating numbers from the aftermath of Yolanda:

• Casualty toll, official count as of Nov. 10, 7 pm: 229 dead, 45 injured, 28 missing.

• Affected population: 2,055,630 families or 9,497,847 persons in 7,027 barangays in 41 provinces of Regions IV-A, IV-B, V, VI, VII, VIII, X, XI, and CARAGA.

• Damaged houses: A total of 19,551, including 13,191 totally damaged and 6,360 partially damaged.

• Roads and bridges: Three roads remain impassable in Regions VI and VIII.

• Cost of damage: P138,552,546.55 worth of damage to infrastructure (P13,797,500) and agriculture (P124,755,046.55)

• Power outage: The following areas are sill without electricity – Cardona, Rizal; Naujan, Calapan City, Pinamalayan, Bulalacao, Victoria, and Bansud in Oriental Mindoro; Coron, Roxas, Busuanga, Magsaysay, and Cuyo in Palawan; San Jose, Magsaysay, Rizal, and Calintaan in Occidental Mindoro; some towns of Albay and Camarines Sur; portions of Antique and Iloilo; 24 towns of northern Cebu, including San Francisco, Camotes, Tuburan and parts of Danao City; Guihuingan City and Canlaon City in Negros Oriental; and the entire provinces of Romblon, Masbate, Marinduque, Capiz, Aklan, Bohol, Biliran, Leyte, Southern Leyte, Samar, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Dinagat Islands, Surigao del Norte, and Surigao del Sur.

Power supply had been restored earlier in the provinces of Quezon and Camiguin, the towns of Angono and Binangonan in Rizal; Pagsanjan, Paete, Pakil, Pangil, Cavinti, Victoria, Rizal, and Mabitac in Laguna; Paluan, Sta. Cruz, Sablayan, and Abra de Ilog in Occidental Mindoro; Sibulan and Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental; and Siquijor, Siquijor.

• Communication lines: As of Sunday evening, Globe Telecom has restored its signal in Tacloban City, but also in only 20 percent of the affected sites in the Visayas, and only 30 percent of the affected sites in Luzon and Mindanao.

• Cost of assistance: A total of P21,365,510.21 worth of relief assistance has been provided to the affected families, including P10,536,477.60 from the Department of Social Welfare and development, P6,565,051.69 from local government units, and P4,262,980.92 from the Department of Health.