Yakapin: Batang Hilagang Mindanao (YBHM)

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Think of one bear as one smile, one hug – one young life given joy and love this Christmas. Two thousand years ago, a child was (and is) the reason why we celebrate the most important holiday of the year.” Cathy Babao

How can one even begin to comprehend the loss of lives now reaching 1400 dead and missing in Northern Mindanao due to Tropical Storm Sendong . Imagine the grim statistics:

1. At least 19,759 families or 108,130 persons are affected by the calamity according to the National Disaster Risk Response Management Council (NDRRMC).

2. UNICEF Philippines estimates that 43,000 children are affected by the calamity.

Residents were caught unaware as the floods rose rapidly at around 2 a.m. Saturday, while they were sleeping. Many of the victims were recovered in mud.

When you hear this kind of news, one begins to ask is there a silver lining to all this? It may not be apparent yet but silver lining for the TS Sendong victims is collecting stuffed toys for the children and toiletries for the women affected by the wrath of Typhoon Sendong.

You ask “not slippers, clothes, water?”..Yes they need all that too and I am sure everyone else is donating whatever they can. It’s good to feel empathy, post, forward donation centers and contact numbers — but it’s another thing to take action. The simplest would be to TEXT 2899 with the message RED (amount you wish to give 100, 200, 500, 1000) and the funds will go directly to Red Cross. There are a hundred ways to take action, and mine is collating credible sources of donation in kind and in cash.

My friend Cathy (my co-founder of our grief advocacy, The Compassionate Friends) shows another way through Yakapin: Batang Hilagang Mindanao (YBHM) . Let me explain first.

See, children in trauma experience a lot of nightmares. The power of a hug, or something that they can hug cannot be underestimated. I took part in Cathy’s project five years ago when she initiated the “Thousand Bears for Bicol Project”. It was also around Christmas time too. You cannot simply imagine the joy the children felt when they received these teddy bears.

Cathy contacted the Regional Missionaries of the Philippines -Northern Mindanao Region after she spotted a poignant poster of a father with his child on a friend’s wall. She took that as her cue. Under their wing in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan are thousands of displaced women and children. This is Cathy’s small way of helping out. This is something that she had done before which is to collect stuffed toys for the children in the evacuation centers and to put together toiletry kits for the women affected by Sendong.

How to donate to the children

Here are the simple guidelines :

1. For stuffed toys please send clean, friendly looking toys (no pigs please, owing to cultural and religious sensitivities) in any size ideally, big enough for a child to hug.

2. For toiletry kits, each bag will contain the following items : toothbrush, tooth paste, soap, sanitary napkins (10 pcs), comb or brush, underwear (2 pcs) face towel, laundry soap — just the basics so the women can also take care of themselves as they take care of their children.

If you wish to help, please email her at cathybabao@gmail.com

Cathy plans to assemble the toys and goods throughout the holidays and deliver them to CDO just before the new year. She will need volunteers for drop off points in various parts of QC, San Juan, Pasig, Pasay, Makati, and Alabang. If you wish to volunteer your homes, establishments or offices as drop off points, please send me an email.

Please see a list of areas for drop-off here

Alabang – 12 Brentwood Street, Hillsborough, West Service Road, Alabang Look for Magding or JC

Greenhills : 33 Madison Street, North Greenhills, San Juan. Look for Ann or Shirley

Asuncion Berenguer, Inc. 3/f Homestudio Building, 63 Connecticut Street (same building as Homestudio, Torch resto and Bose) Northeast Greenhills . Please leave with guard and indicate ““Bears for YBHM”

Makati — The Citadel Inn, 5007 P. Burgos Street, Makati City c/o Andre Urbina

Marikina: 1 Ferdinand Marcos Street, Industrial Valley Subdivision, Marikina Leave with guard please indicate ““Bears for YBHM”

Paranaque — Johnson and Johnson, Edison Road, Paranaque City (Edison is street by Zuellig) Leave with guard, indicate ““Bears for YBHM”

14 C. Diamond Street. Greenheights Village Sucat Paranaqueque Look for Yaya Marlene

Quezon City: A-2 Dona Sotera, Pilarville Subd.,Quezon City c/o Dennis Mariano
41 Milkyway Drive, Blue Ridge B, Quezon City Look for Lily

C1C3 Narra Heights Condominium #28, Mariposa Street, Quezon City (near Camp Crame)

Eastwood area : Unit 5c Eastwood Lafayette Tower 3, Eastwood Avenue Libis Q.C (In front of Watsons, near Mcdonalds) Leave with guard indicate ““Bears for YBHM”

Let us all do our small share to help Northern Mindanao.

Every bear or stuffed toy that arrives matters because it counts towards making one more child happy. To share and to give is the true essence of the season.

A new and soft teddy bear costs about as much as a Starbucks frapuccino or a ticket to the cinema — a small price that will go a long way in bringing back hope and a smile into a child’s life.
May you all be blessed to be a blessing to others.

Two years after the Ampatuan Massacre, and still no justice? #endimpunityinPH #kilosna #IDEI #Nov23

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If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. ~ Desmond Tutu

I can’t believe it’s been two years since that gruesome Ampatuan Massacre hit me like a bolt of lightning. Shock, dismay and utter disbelief. Outrageous! I condemned the brutality through social media and a blog post over at Blog Watch.

maguindanao-massacre
Photo Credits to Reuter
View Slideshow of Other Photos (Warning: very graphic)

Today I feel the same. Utter disbelief that only two Ampatuans have been arraigned. Only 93 of the 196 accused have been arrested. The 300 and 320 witnesses listed by prosecution and defense lawyers respectively may take 200 years to present to court, according to veteran human rights lawyer and litigator Senator Joker Arroyo.

200 years? Unbelievable.

Why is justice painfully slow? Can’t Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 do anything to speed up the process?

I believe the Supreme Court who has jurisdiction over the hearings can do something to speed up the trial.

1. Can’t the least guilty (drivers, police who were forced to be at the crime sceme) bargain for lesser penalty or become state witness? Make a statement to be used against the other.

2. DOJ Secretary De Lima needs to focus on the Ampatuan trial. Give more resources to Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221.

3. Why not fix the government’s Witness Protection Program (WPP) which have been contributing to the delay of the trial.

4. Whatever happened to the four of the accused who have applied for witness conversion but were denied by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court? Can’t they be reconsidered?

5. Can we have daily hearings? Ignore the complaints of the Ampatuan lawyers on the over thrice-weekly hearings.

6. Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes should not handle any other cases so she can concentrate fully on the documents and the hearing.

Meanwhile the families of the 58 Ampatuan massacre victims – mostly Mindanao based-journalists, continue to suffer from the loss of their loved ones, most were family breadwinners.

I don’t know the intricacies of the Court but I hope the Department of Justice will also focus on the Ampatuan trial and NOT be fixated over the Arroyo election sabotage case?

But you , my dear readers can help. I would like to invite you to use the power of communication and the Internet to speak out for justice and against the continued impunity with which those who wish to suppress freedom of expression impose the ultimate censorship – death – and how the apathy and inaction of government has made this so.

Here is how:

You may use the following materials to join the online campaign for the International Day to End Impunity (IDEI) Blog Action Day on November 21.

Use the hastags #endimpunityinPH #kilosna #IDEI #Nov23 for the campaign.

This is my contribution for Blog Action Day initiated by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines as part of the countdown for the International Day to End Impunity on Nov. 23, the second anniversary of the Maguindanao Massacre.

Justice to Journalists/Media Workers killed in the line of duty as of Nov. 10, 2011

CMFR List of Filipino Journalists/Media Workers killed in the line of duty as of Nov. 10, 2011

7 billion and me : Where do I fit into this story of human life?

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The countdown to the world’s population is expected to hit seven billion soon. I want to reflect on how I fit into this story of human life. After growing very slowly for most of human history, the number of people on Earth has more than doubled in the last 50 years. I feel quite ambivalent about these figures. While it it means people are living longer and more children are surviving worldwide, not everyone has benefited from this achievement or the higher quality of life that this implies.

7 billion and me

By filling out the number in this calculator, I see myself fitting in the world’s population.

In 1500, the population is estimated at 500 million but in 2011, it is 7,000,000,000

When I was born, I was the 2,873,706,564th person on Earth and the 76,375,542,810th person to have lived since history began.

The figure is an estimate of how many people were alive on my date of birth. It is one possible value based on global population figures and estimates of growth rates over time. Data before 1950 is less accurate than figures after that date. The second figure includes calculations based on the methodology of scholar Carl Haub, who estimated how many people had been alive since 50,000 B.C. His calculation has been amended by the UN to include additional points in time.

I’d like to take you further through the UN Population Fund’s detailed population calculator, 7 billion and me to see more.

On the same day I was born 278,627 were born throughout the world. It is interesting to add that on the day I was born, 910,171,342 were living in cities and towns

1,963,529,226 were living in rural areas
1,433,951,908 were women
1,439,748,660 were men
1,041,043,490 were under age 15
and 226,759,928 were over age 60

How does the world population of 7 billion affect me?

On the day I was born , 2,873,700,568 people were alive and 6,839,911,966 were born since then. Sadly, 2,713,691,135 people have died since I was born. As a result, the population today is 6,999,921,400

The Philippine population

The Philippines population is pegged at 93,800, 552. Every hour, there are 265 births, 60 deaths with an average yearly growth of +1.7%

In developing nations, where improvements in health care and sanitation are seeing death rates fall, birth rates still remain relatively high. This is leading to rapidly rising populations. In fact, 97 out of every 100 new people on the planet are currently born in developing countries. Qatar – which has a large immigrant workforce – has seen its population rise rapidly in recent years. In richer economies, although death rates are also low, widely-available birth control and a desire for smaller families keep birth rates subdued. Fewer babies ensures populations level off or even decline. Moldova, although poor by European standards, has seen its population drop mainly because of emigration.

The average life expectancy in the Philippines is 67.8 years with female at 71.3 on average and male at 64.5.

Japan’s high life expectancy has been put down to a combination of a healthy diet and good public health provision, which includes regular check-ups. The low life expectancy of those born in poorer countries, such as the Central African Republic, is explained by a number of factors, including poverty, conflict, poor access to health care and the high prevalence of Aids.

What’s next?

The global population will continue to increase during my lifetime and beyond, reaching 10 billion by 2083. It is expected that the rate of growth will slow down. Most of the current growth is happening within the developing world.

Longer lives: Death rates and birth rates are falling in my area. This means working-age people like myself will be supporting increasing numbers of older people during the next decades. By 2050 , there will be just 4.6 working-age people for every person aged 65 or above – a decrease of 63% from 2000.

Battle for resources: It is estimated that the richest group of countries consumes double the resources used by other areas of the world – including the Philippines. The UN estimates that if current population and consumption trends continue, by the 2030s we will need the equivalent of two Earths to support us.

Wow, those statistics are frightening.

I believe that the youth hold the key to the future, with the potential to transform the global political landscape and to propel economies through their creativity and capacities for innovation.

““But the opportunity to realize youth’s great potential must be seized now. We should be investing in the health and education of our youth. This would yield enormous returns in economic growth and development for generations to come.”

Did you know? Every day 1,000 women die giving birth – one every 90 seconds.

And 4,991 people is the amount the population has grown while I have been working on these stats?

Ensure every child is wanted & every birth is safe.

The clock is ticking. 1 day to 7 billion.

Where do you fit into this story of human life? Put your birthday in this calculator.

Saving the (Tassie) Devils and other threatened species of the world

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I never really knew much about the animal kingdom outside of my country not that I was indifferent. I was just unaware of the endangered species of other countries. I knew our Monkey eating eagle is one of our more endangered species but other countries? I never even knew much about Tasmania until I visited my daughter in Melbourne. It was her idea to see Tasmania. My travel to Australia drew out my curiosity of the unusual flora and fauna of this continent. One of them is the often misunderstood Tasmanian devil. Being aware about the care of these animals will surely give me a deeper understanding in caring for our own Philippine animals.

My fascination with the Tassie devils and other natural Australian animals prompts me to write this entry but there is more than that. The fact remains that National Threatened Species Day which happens to be on the 7th of September each year is just two days away. The day is to commemorate the loss of the last known Tasmanian tiger in captivity, which sadly occurred in Hobart in 1936.

It was a tragic loss and everyone in Australia is working hard to make sure the Tasmanian devil doesn’t follow in the tiger’s footsteps.

I have been to two animal sanctuaries here in Australia but the Bonorong Wildlife sanctuary gave me the opportunity to be up close with the animals.

Bonorong houses 17 fantastic devils. A number of their devils are hand-reared and have amazing personalities. I thought these devils were evil animals based on their namesakes. Devils are a very misunderstood animal. I was utterly amazed when I saw how friendly and playful the devils were with their keeper.

As you can see, this devil lost one of his legs. Bonorong assists injured and orphaned wildlife and even gives support line 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

I spotted this devil with a joey. Population of devils were not a problem before the Europeans arrived. Traditionally their numbers were controlled by food availability, competition with other devils and quolls, loss of habitat, persecution and roadkills. But the greatest recent threat to devils across Tasmania is the Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD).

Around 70 percent of the Tasmanian devil population disappeared as a result of the disease, and if the current rate of decline continues, devils could become extinct in the wild in 30 to 50 years, says Elizabeth Murchison, now a postdoctoral researcher at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Hinxton, England. Murchison, a native of Tasmania who grew up seeing devils in the wild.

The Tasmanian devil can still be saved from possible extinction. Securing a population of healthy devils, away from disease, in zoos, wildlife parks and free range enclosures around Australia is something that is being done now. Looking after this population over the next 25-50 years, while continuing the fight to maintain devils in the wild may help but it costs a lot of money. There is this one site that shows you “How can we save the Tasmanian devil? One devil at a time!”

I wonder if these devils will suffer the same fate as the Tassie Tigers. It would be sad to see animals get extinct. I hopped on to Kangaroo country which lifted up my spirits. The kangaroos seemed a bit intimidating at first but I got the hang of it as soon as I knew how to feed them.

I learned females are safer to feed but I caught a male kangaroo wanting to be fed. Scary so I just threw food in his direction.

It is amazing how these kangaroos can be friendly. They are also gentle with the children.

Seeing a baby kangaroo is just so heart warming. The joey seems so cozy with her mommy.

It would be great if the Philippines have an animal sanctuary instead of a zoo. People will learn to appreciate the animals and learn to protect them.

I would have never appreciated any of these experiences if it were not for my daughter  who wanted to visit these wonderful animals.

The Philippines should have a similar sanctuary and wildlife park for all our threatened species.

Wait, our marine life is already threatened. When is the Philippine’s National Threatened Species Day ? Do we even have one?

Most of the photos here by my daughter using a Nikon D7000. Some photos are from my iphone though

We must all work to make the world worthy of its children

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The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The brouhaha of the alleged child abuse committed by Willie Revillame and the filing of a child abuse complaint at the fiscal paved the way for the approval of an important legislation that will protect the rights of children against abuse. The bill, ““An Act Promoting Positive and Non-violent Discipline of Children” authored by Reps. Susan Yap and Bernadette Herrera-D was approved in the House of Representatives on 3rd and final reading last April, the month of the Willie Revillame brouhaha.

Perhaps it was the public awareness over child abuse issues that awakened the minds of our dear legislators.

Now comes the President with good news. The President issued Executive Order No.53 that strengthens the government initiatives for children’s protection from different forms of abuse — physical, sexual, prostitution, child labor, neglect and other relevant forms of violations. This EO 53 is created to amend the existing Executive Order No. 275 that was issued in 1995 and formed the Committee for the Special Protection of Children (CSPC).

Under the new EO, President Aquino organized CSPC, an inter-agency body that directly acts and coordinates with different agencies for the precise implementation of Republic Act 7610, also known as the Anti-Child Abuse Act.

This also directs monitoring of investigation and prosecution of cases that violate the Anti-Child Abuse Act and other child-related criminal laws.

That is certainly good news from President Aquino’s government. On my Human Rights day article “Who will speak for the children?”, I hoped that a clear agenda pertaining to Filipino children’s welfare will be established by the President.

I am grateful that our president took time to strengthen the law against child abuse that includes child labor; children-victims of sexual abuse and commercial sexual exploitation; abandoned and neglected or children without primary caregivers; children of indigenous cultural groups; child-victims of disasters; children in situations of armed conflict; street children; and, children in conflict with the law.

This is just the first step toward the shift of cultural and generational ways of child care. These are the future citizens of our country that offer hope. As Gandhi once said “if we are ever to have real peace in this world we shall have to begin with the children. ” If we don’t stand up for our children, then we don’t stand for much.

You and I must all contribute to make the world worthy of its children.

Recycling is a good thing to do

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“I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security. Defense of our resources is just as important as defense abroad. Otherwise what is there to defend?”
— Robert Redford

I just arrived from Vietnam for a media briefing on HP Closed Loop recycling. We all know recycling is a good thing to do. As a consumer, it makes me feel good to know not everything I consume goes to garbage.

Before the media briefing, I took my sweet time enjoying the beach in Da Nang. This quiet city is a refreshing respite from busy Manila.

It was a great opportunity to be together with media from India, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, China to witness the closed loop recycling in Lavergne ‘s Da Nang plant. Sometimes it is hard to believe that plastics can be recycled but yes, it can be done.

It is wonderful to see companies like HP that are doing it right now because all of this will have an accumulated effect on all of our tomorrows.

All these solid wastes are the discarded leftovers of our advanced consumer society. The billions upon billions of these wastes is mind boggling. This growing mountain of trash represents not only an attitude of indifference toward valuable natural resources, but also a serious economic and public health problem.

It is inevitable that destroying the ecosystem also destroy ourselves.

There we were at the plant to check on HP and Lavergne’s partnership on an industry-first ink cartridge disassembly machine, which can separate the plastic, foam, ink and metal components of returned cartridges more effectively and recover a higher percentage of re-usable content. It is the industry‘s first closed loop ink cartridge recycling process, combining plastic from post-consumer recycled Original HP Ink cartridges and other sources, such as recycled water and soda bottles, in the manufacturing of new Original HP Ink cartridges. It is estimated that this facility will reduce 6% in the plastic carbon footprint as soon as it is fully operational.

Imagine if every business can recycle their plastics?

Business is beautiful when it’s a vehicle for serving the common good of man and the environment. Wouldn’t it be great if we all help create an economic system that will respect and protect Mother Earth – one which would “replace corporate globalization with a global network of local living economies.”?

“Our choices at all levels—individual, community, corporate and government—affect nature. And they affect us.”
— David Suzuki

On the alleged Azkals rape victim in TV interviews

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Update– Read Chuvaness “Credibly Challenged” for photos of the alleged rape victim with some Azkals team members.

She seemed uncomfortable. Her eyes looked uneasy. Pia Guanio appeared just as uneasy as she probed answers from Amanda Coling, the alleged rape victim of 4 Azkals team members. As the interview continued, I felt like squirming on my chair. It felt painful to watch. Whose idea was it to show an alleged rape victim where no case has been filed yet? No formal charges have been filed against the Azkals members. Now Amanda Coling is the butt of jokes in Twitter, her name trending in Twitter worldwide ( at least for 90 minutes). I don’t feel comfortable with the interview because she did not issue a statement on TV. So what was the purpose of all this?

People in twitter think it is all for publicity. I feel she wants her job back and to clear her name. A few days ago she felt harassed about losing her job and on the interview, she felt upset. This is what she said two days ago.

““That’s [ejection from show] harassment. This is my job and I insisted that I’d be part of the show… I put my heart to it, I dedicated myself. All my efforts are nasayang lang kasi I’m not going to be part of it.”

One tweep is “not judging Amanda Coling. I just think she should just file the case and stop the interviews because it’s really not helping her any.” My friend thinks that the “biggest problem with this new trending topic is that it feeds into a meme that justice can only be had in a trial by publicity.” Another argues that ” her name was put out there, so she can’t hide. Appearing on TV was the right decision, to show the world she isn’t afraid.”

Allegations of fraud are hounding a German who accused 4 members of the Philippine Azkals national football team of raping a woman. It seems the source of the alleged rape is tainted.

Rape is a serious crime. True or not, I hope things are not exaggerated. My mom blogger friend “hopes this case (and the way people are reacting to it) doesn’t take away from the fact that rape is a violent criminal act. No means No.”

I hope she comes out with her official statement soon to set the record straight. One argued in Twitter that “If what she is saying is true, then Amanda Coling should take the stand in court. And when I say “court”, I dont mean “Showbiz Central”.” It is unfair for the Azkals, for her and other rape victims. And if she was indeed raped, I hope she files a case.

Meanwhile in Twitter, there are tweets who poke fun at her. A few are sympathetic but most are just skeptical.

Celebrating the Rizal in me

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“It’s a useless life that is not concentrated to a great ideal. It’s like a stone wasted on the field without becoming a part of any edifice.” Jose Rizal

I braved the rains and drove all the way to Fort Santiago in my period costume to celebrate Jose Rizal’s 150th birthday. Celebrating Rizal’s 150th birth anniversary is not just a one day affair or even a year-long sesquicentennial festivities.

The organizers decided to call this celebration ““MY RIZAL” as it “engages all of us to be a part of what JOSE RIZAL stood for. It invites us to internalize a version of RIZAL in our own personal lives. It inspires us to feel the hero in each one of us, and to follow RIZAL’s footsteps in his true love for country.”

I look at the Rizal in me. Just like some of the bloggers and social media users that joined me in Fort Santiago, each of us have our own advocacy and ideals.

In my role as a blogger and editor of Blog Watch, I call out the societal evils such as environmental destruction and child abuse. I hold President Aquino accountable for his campaign promises. I believe in the promise and unwavering passion of the youth. I am sure Jose Rizal will also fight for the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill (RH Bill).

Most of all, love of country is what I am fighting for. Who wouldn’t want a good future for their children, and children’s children. I still cannot understand why corrupt officials exist. Why do they think only of themselves? It is a long and difficult road to fighting corruption and poverty. But if we call upon ourselves to check our government and talk about it, we have gained something.

Rizal’s ideals, as exemplified by his life, his works and his heroism, are universal. They live in each one of us in many ways.

We can live Rizal now.

“Filipinos don’t realize that victory is the child of struggle, that joy blossoms from suffering, and redemption is a product of sacrifice.”- Jose Rizal

The ocean is a mighty harmonist

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““I have always loved the beach. The smell of the salty water, the wind in my face, the gentle roar of the waves all combine to create a sense of peace and calm.” –Anonymous

I grew up in Cebu, surrounded by blue skies, sunny smiles and the deep blue sea. The beach was always a family activity every weekend. No ritzy mall or entertainment centers during my childhood days circa early 1960 to distract me. The picnic by the sea is what I called fun. Mom prepared a picnic basket containing our lunch of roasted chicken and apple pie and it was off to the most popular beach destination, Talisay just 20 minutes away.

There was just something magical at the beach. Time doesn’t move hour to hour but mood to moment. It is as if I live by the currents, plan by the tides and follow the sun. The beach is probably the only place children actually entertain themselves without parents having to think of million ways to distract them.

Perhaps my dad noticed these frequent trips and decided to buy a small property near the beach in Talisay and in Mactan Island. How we loved the bahay kubo nestled under the coconut tree.

College years brought me further away from Cebu. Being based in Manila, the beach was just too far away to travel even once a month. I miss the memories of joy in a summer breeze and sinking my toes in the sand.

I often tell my children these stories ..how as college students, we would just get to the car and travel to the beach. The pretty little fishes swimming by the sea shore. How fascinating it was to spot the sea horse or sand dollar during low tides.

Everyone in our family returns to the beach instinctively, just like the sea turtles. Robert Henri asks himself, ““Why do we love the sea? It is because it has some potent power to make us think things we like to think.”

Each one of us looks at the sea differently. For me, the sea represents my roots. Appreciating its beauty, breadth and power is appreciating my existence, who I am and why I am here. Like the ocean, all of us are connected and interdependent yet each person is significant in its existence. Even John F. Kennedy felt tied to the ocean. “And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch – we are going back from whence we came… ”

““Just as the wave cannot exist for itself, but is ever a part of the heaving surface of the ocean, so must I never live my life for itself, but always in the experience which is going on around me.”
–Albert Schweitzer

““We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.”
–Mother Teresa


Photo of El Nido by Anna Oposa

““Our memories of the ocean will linger on, long after our footprints in the sand are gone.”
–Anonymous

Let us all act now to save our seas, what’s left of our coral reefs and to protect our marine life so those beautiful and important natural resources are preserved for our children and future generations to enjoy.

Join Blog Action Day on June 8. Details here.
Save the Philippine Seas!
The ocean is a mighty harmonist… (William Wordsworth)

The cat killer convicted for animal cruelty

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Remember the Cat Killer that I wrote on April 17, 2009? Wow, that was two years ago. Instead of sentencing him to six months to two-year jail term as mandated by law, Judge Catherine Manodon ordered Candare to pay a P2,000 fine (46 dollars) for violating the country’s Animal Welfare Act. He will also do volunteer work for Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) in the next two to six months. Candare is the first person in the country to be convicted of animal cruelty.

Two years ago , I was beyond horrified that someone could engage in a brutal act. I gasped at his description, I pulled it on its tail and threw it. Then like some pro wrestler I jumped on it and my feet landed on it’s torso. Slam! Felt good!. But as I continued reading, I got more appalled by the comments of the readers as the poster/blogger called for action ““Wanted Dead or Alive”“. Geesh, what kind of call for action is that? You might be a ““Cat Killer Killer”?

Both sides were just so cruel. I believe he needed help and compassion by the agencies concerned not a lynch mob approach.

A parent by the name of Cyn Buhain Baello is appalled at my “compassion” without even reading the context of my article on the Cat Killer

Have compassion for a man like Joseph Carlo Candare? A person like him who kills a cat for no reason other than for his enjoyment? He is a sadistic psychologically disturbed individual! What are you saying here?!? I am appalled at your misdirected “compassion”! For a parent like me I think his parents should teach him this early that such actions will only deteriorate later to physical injury (or murder) directed towards human beings – that’s the first sign that a man is crazy and can kill…even people. To even suggest “compassion” and “understanding” (Nonsense!) on your part means you tolerate these kind of behavior. This guy need jail time and he deserves every minute of it – 6 months to 6 years![/buzz]

My reply to Cyn was this “You are an amazing parent. But I am not you. A parent like me would want the kid to have therapy . Not all parents are like you who can teach their kids the proper way. Yes I suggest compassion and understanding for him to be rehabilitated. What can jail time do huh?”

Was the punishment just? I don’t know how Courts determine the degree of the judgement. There must be a formula or something but one can see Candare did violate the law on animal welfare. He is the first person to be convicted of animal cruelty in the Philippines. Something must have triggered him to enjoy killing the cat. Rendering community work with Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) and seeing the psychologist will help him heal.

Tweeters were disappointed that the conviction was light. I think it is light too. It is not grave enough. Community service should have been longer. Some feel a jail time should have been given. Instead of jail time, I was hoping he underwent therapy to treat the underlying cause of his cruelty. The good news here is the court decision will raise awareness to our animal welfare laws .

Be kind to animals.

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